An Update For Those Who Read

My feet finally feel a little bit more like feet rather than 2 blocks of ice. The weather has been warm latley, still below ten degrees, but warmer than it could be, so I thought I might risk wearing my Converse again. I put on my woolen socks, and put a second pair over the top of them, but the soles of the Connies are just too thin I guess, because my feet froze as I walked back from the movies to the office. I guess I won't be wearing them again till April.
I don't really have anything of note to say. Life continues. Last week I had a bout of depression which lasted a couple of days. We get paid on Fridays, that is, every second friday. I hate being paid fortnightly. But anyway, I was hoping that with last weeks paycheck I would be significantly closer to being able to buy my Mac Powerbook I've been dreaming of, but with taxes and rent taken out of it, over half my pay was gone, and my dream of actually earning enough to pay back Dad and buy a Powerbook just seemed out of reach. It's not just the loss of owning a cool computer, but the fact that if I want to use the internet, even if it's something that takes five minutes, I have to take an hour or more out of my day. And then my internet usage is limited in what I can do. I have to travel into the office, which is an hour round trip if I come in, jump on the net for the few minutes the shuttle waits, then head home. If I want to take longer, then I have to wait an hour for the next shuttle which will be an hour, so it adds up to 2 hours. Plus the computers they've given us to use only have Explorer on them, no Office programs or Word, so I can't even open a document attached. Plus they seem to have almost no virtual memory, so if you try to look at some pages, it just comes up with error messages and shuts down. It can be frustrating. So along with the loss of my Mac also went my dreams of actually using the internet to a fuller extent, no uploading photos, no checking the movie times before I leave the house, no easily updating whenever the urge takes me. It bummed me out.
But then I read a book about comics. And even though I don't really think the book did what the cover said, it was nice to share some time with someone who loves comics. He even mentioned Strontium Dog in a list of 100 things he loved about comics (some e-mail exercise that went round a few years ago apparently). And so I started to draw again, or actually I think write, though writing comics for me involves drawing, but drawing isn't writing. One of the problems one faces with comics is that there isn't a language yet to use to discuss them, one has to use terms from art or cinema or literature, which can be adequete, but don't neccasarily cover the synthesis of words and picture that is comics. (But whos says comics have to have words? Good point, but it still writing, it still telling a story or making a point or something. Or do random images make a comic? Hmm, something to ponder.) I hadn't done any writing since before I left, so it felt really good to do some, and it was on a story that had stalled on me ages ago, something I hadn't worked on for a long long time, and now I've finished it and started the the epilouge, which is also a prolouge, a connecting part of the story, a transference of focus.
And I watched Speed Racer again.
I love Speed Racer, and reccomend it to everyone even though I doubt a handful of people will actually appreciate it.
Actaully there was more going on than just the possible loss of the computer, but that was the catalyst, the thing which lowered my defences as it were, or maybe it was the straw which broke etc., either way, this time last week sucked, but I'm better now.
But really, who wants to know about that? I don't want to tell you because I don't want anyone who'd be inclined to worry to worry. But now that's it all over, except for the actuial time I have here, you can know, but it is in the past, so no longer a concern. One adjusts.
Have I told you how much I'm loving my job? The tips have dried up, I'm lucky if I get over $10 for a run down and back to Denver. But the drive can be really good. When we have a full moon up, those night drives are positivley awesome. The landscape is lit up before you, the mountains are visible, everything is clear, it truly is beautiful, wonderful. And there's something really enjoyable about cruising. I was afraid coming over here that this job might ruin driving for me, that I would be sick of it, but that hasn't happened. As I've gotten used to the roads and the van, I can just enjoy the drive now, and I do. It's what I like about skating as well, just that cruising feeling. I don't really care about jumps or tricks, just miles of smooth pavement is all I really want when I go skating.
I've also made peace with the fact that I probably won't go skiing. I realised I just don't care. It's cold out there, I don't want to spend the money, and it just seems pointless and not what I want out of a recreation. I feel better now that I've come to this realisation.
I've also started the third Stephanie Meyer book, Eclipse. The Talsiman took me a longtime to finish, because I just didn't care, I'd already read it and it just didn't seem as engaing as the first time. But then I read that comic book in less then two days and I knew I had finish it off, so I plowed through it and am now really enjoying Eclipse.
What else? I saw Gran Torino last week and really liked it. I saw Definace today and also thought it was pretty good. I need to investigate if Dark Knight is being screened in Denver again so I can see it with Imax scenes in it. Also hopefully will be able to see a 3D horror film on the same day, but as I said, need to investigate that. Cancelling my plans on going to NY ComicCon, but will investigate other ComicCon options for future.

What's been going on?

So I was going to write an entry just kind of filling in the last couple of weeks, a kind of barometer of how I've been feeling recently, covering significant dates such as Christmas, New Years, my birthday, Jana's wedding, but I'm tired, so I'll start and see where it ends up.
So I've been here awhile now, and while I still pretty much can't wait for it to be over, I feel a lot more comfortable being here. Probably a large part of that is due to work, earning money, actually doing something. There's human interaction, whether it be with guests or comparing tips and stories on the employee shuttle to and from work. Leading up to christmas, I was making really nice tips as well which allowed me to get a portable DVD player so I can finally watch those DVDs I've been buying, which has been nice. So I guess I've settled into a groove, though I still deep down feel like I'm serving a prison service, but I like my job, the people I work with are the usual bunch of ok people, I got comics and DVDs and a weekly trip to the movies, so things are ok.
There's not all that much to say about christmas. I worked. There was snow so I guess it was a white christmas. I got to drive a Cadillac which was a really nice ride, a really really nice. Then I called home and chatted with the family, struggling to keep my eyes open. Not so different from any other day.
Same with New Years. I worked, and got home pretty much on the strike of midnight. I was going to pop into a party across the way, but when it came to it, I was tired and I couldn't be bothered interacting with drunk people, so went home and watched a movie, when I really should have gone to bed. And the tips since Christmas day haven't been as good either, so there's not all that much to say about New Years either.
But at least I got leave Colorado for a couple of days, so that was nice. Had a comfortable trip to Fort Worth, got picked up by Ernesto, Liand and Chris, some friends of Jana's. Ernesto was kind enough to pick me up, put me up the weekend, pretty much shout me every meal and drive me to the wedding, all around town and to the airport, so was pretty sweet, and I greatly appreciate it. The wedding was nice, but the church it was held in was huge, and it made me feel agrophobic. And I think there was about 8 or 7 attendents on either side. And candles, a huge amount of candles. It was all quite lovely, but it made me miss home a bit with it ostentatiousness. Jana looked beautiful of course, and if you haven't already seen photos on Facebook I'd be surprised, if you were wont to care about seeing what her dressed looked like, that is. Anyway, they got married, we went to the reception, all very nice, a nice informal reception. Then we went home so we could rest up for our big night on the town. That was fun. "The Crew" took me out to dinner at some swish Tex-Mex place, then we went to Pete's, a nightspot where they have duelling pianos, and everyone sings along getting royally drunk and has a jolly good time. That was a pretty cool place and I had a good time there, though I did have to get up on stage with a bunch of other people because it was my birthday (technically it was the 3rd in the US, but it was the 4th back home, so as far as I was concerned it was my birthday. Actaully, as I type this it's the 4th here, but I don't feel particularly like it's my birthday, felt like it was yesterday). Then we went back to the carpark where Ernesto works and went up to the top so I could see the view of Fort Worth from there. It was so nice to be back in the city, it felt really good to be up there and just drinking in the city lights. Then we went back to Ernestos, all piled into his car and went cruising for corn and Mexicans and a tour of the old neighbourhood. It was a good night, actaully a great day all round. Eventually went to bed and woke up for my "birthday" to go catch a plane and come back home. I bought comics. I did my washing. I came into work to check my e-mail. That was my birthday.
And I guess now you're up to date.