Where to hide?

The alcoves in Koningin Astridpark. . .

Polite Sneeze

Whatever happened to sneezing politely? Seriously, there are a few people in my office that when they sneeze, it sounds as if they're spraying their phlegm all over their desk. GROSS! Try to cover your nose and mouth when you sneeze. Cover it up, people! Don't Attssschoooooooo so loud that it it reaches my area. This should be common sense but apparently it isn't since multiple people have this issue in just my office alone, not to mention when I take mass transit. It's so wrong and I get so disgusted with the people that can't control their sneezing.

There is also those ultra polite people that when they sneeze they are able to keep it within their head and it seems as if their head will explode as they hold their nose and close their mouth and let the little time bomb go off. I have no problem with these people other than I'm afraid for their lives each time they do this.

So that's it, I had to get this off my chest. I may delete this post later on but it was screaming out of me especially when every time a certain someone sneezes and it's like a typhoon is launched from their cube. . . not good.

Closer

I lay down in my bed, I take one earphone and insert it into my left ear and then the same to the right ear. I lay my head back and press play. A synthesizer starts it off slow and melodic for a few turns, then a unsuspected snap of the snare brings me out of the trance I'm in and owns me.

All I can do is shudder with fear as the haunting wale comes in from the guitarist's pickups. By the time the lyrics come in, I already know this is my anthem giving me power in every situation. The guttural voice sings with a controlled yell that is un-paralleled.

Still that synthesizer and drum beat flow through my head as I listen to the words. It's insane the rush I feel listening to this song that I could hear it over and over again. As it drops it's canter leaving just the synthesizer, it feels like a lullaby putting me to sleep. . .good night

35

Well, today I turned 35, I don't feel much older although I feel very emotional being my first birthday without having my mother around to celebrate with. I didn't think it would hit me as hard as it has. Just another day. . .

The Basis of What?

Jules: What does Marcellus Wallace look like?
Brett: What?
Jules: What country you from?
Brett: What?
Jules: What ain't no country I ever heard of! They speak English in What?
Brett: What?
Jules: ENGLISH, MOTHERFUCKER! DO-YOU-SPEAK-IT?
Brett: Yes!
Jules: Then you know what I'm saying!
Brett: Yes!
Jules: Describe what Marcellus Wallace looks like!
Brett: What, I-?
Jules: [pointing his gun] Say what again. SAY WHAT AGAIN. I dare you, I double dare you, motherfucker. Say what one more goddamn time.

The never ending strive for perfection

This is one of my tattoos. With tattoos, I believe in putting them in discrete places so I can show them when I want but they're not exposed when wearing normal clothes. This tattoo is on the inside of my right bicep.

This tattoo in particular I designed and had done a few years ago when I was about 24 years old. My wife and I decided on a whim to go gettem one evening after work and we happened upon Al's Rock of Ages tattoo parlor, on El Camino Real. We were living in San Mateo and working in SF at the time. I ended up designing this puzzle theme after seeing an episode of X-files with Mulder and Scully working on a case at a carnival. Within this episode, a sideshow performer in real life was playing a character as himself, the Enigma. That sentence may not read correctly but I'm not clever enough at the moment to change it.

I'm really not sure where I'm going with this post so I think I'll stop but I will be getting another one soon. I just need to design it. Ohh wait, there was a story about getting to the tattoo parlor that goes a little like this:

My wife and I drive to the location which isn't far from our apartment at the time; I'm driving. We see the place on the left but I turned too early into a small parking lot for a apartment complex and as I drive around the back to find a place to turn around, I see a black extension cord going across the driveway and is attached to a lamp that a man is using to see under the hood as he was obviously trying to work on his truck. As I drive over the cord, I see him look at us and I just want to get the heck outta this lot since it looks a little shady. I start my 3 point turn but as I back up, I drive right over where two extension cords meet and I see his bulb flash and go out. Uh oh, he looks at his bulb and then at us in a disgusted look and I immediately high-tail it out of there, not wanting to stay to see what he would have done. When we get to the end of the driveway, we would need to go left to the tattoo parlor but I'm so freaked out about that guy's lamp and thinking it was a bad omen, I just wanted to go back home and forget about the tattoo that evening.

My wife however still wanted to do it and mentioned if she didn't get one that night, she might back out altogether so I agreed and we ended up parking on the street several streets over so that dude couldn't see where we went if he was gonna follow us which I don't think he did. We laughed at the whole situation after we got home that night but holy cow, at that moment, we were both freaked out and the auspice involving the breaking of the bulb almost made us give up on the whole tattoo thing for good; glad we didn't :)

Café au lait - Who knew?

For years now, I've been getting the standard drip coffee with an occasional Americano or an infrequent longing for a white chocolate mocha mainly from Starbucks. Yeah, Starbucks has a lot of my money. However, just recently I decided to try a Café au lait instead after hearing a co-worker say that is the only coffee they'll order when buying from an outside establishment. To those of you who are not aware of what a cafe au lait consists of, it basically is the house coffee with steamed milk, not to be confused with a Latte' which utilizes expresso instead of regular coffee.

Now at Starbucks, they've switched the name from cafe au lait to Caffè Misto. I'm not sure why, I haven't really asked them about it since it really won't change the taste of the drink at all. The main reason I buy from Starbucks is the convenient location on my way to work. I have realized though that their Misto doesn't hold a candle to a local establishment we have here in Portland called World Cup. There is something about their cafe au lait that is crazy good. I've also tried one other establishment and so far, World Cup is winning the race by a long shot.

I'm glad I branched out and tried something new. It definitely worked for me. I'd say the percentage things work for me when trying something new is very low, like 5%, well this was well within that 5%!

The Widowmaker

The term "widowmaker" can refer to many things (click on title) and when I first heard this word, it immediately connected to me and have since given myself this nickname. Now I know one is not supposed to give themselves a nickname and in the movie "Young Guns II", the character Hendry William French asks Billy the Kid for a nickname and Billy says to Hendry, you have to earn it.

Well, I'm not sure what I'll have to do to earn this nickname since the true meaning is a little violent but until then, I will be taking it as my own!

Blogging

I have been out of blogging commission for a little bit but will be returning and utilizing this canvas as a creative outlet. To my fan out there, "there are other worlds than these. . ."

Kickin' Band

VP Kicks ASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not only back but way back!

I'm back here at Bridgetown selling what I know. The stint in paper really made me realize that the grass is not greener on the other side which I thought it always was. It may have been the company I chose and the dynamic they created with each rep working as their own cell and not really accountible for what he or she has done. It just didn't work for me so I'm back in the printing game

What the paper industry taught me was that I was better off in the printing world, doing something in which I got a degree in. It's not to say the paper industry was hard but with no training and no support it became overwhelming along with some other factors that came into play.

The bottom line is, I should have never left printing as I lost about 6 months of growth here at Bridgetown.

I definitely feel happier now and where I should be.

Thanks,
Courtney

I'm back; back in the saddle agaaaiiiiin!?

Weeks after my mother has passed

What a wonderful hesitation
who would bear to feel sorry for me
dropped another pill just to calm me
collapsed to my knees and fell fast into sleep
there I was drifting
way out into the sunshine
expecting to crash but I'm tied to a string
look at me I'm a tangled puppet
I might be a mess but I'm sure can survive
find myself awake counting sad days
1-2-3 that's too many for me
dropped another pill just to find me
reached for my hand but it was already there
then I started believin'
that I fell out of a tiny raindrop
that lost its way when I decided to roam
chasing me was a hungry dweller
but I had escaped it by pretending to die
come follow me
you won't expect the illusion you'll see
it's my imagination
hand me your eyes
I will put them in front of mine
you'll see a little better
you'll see a little better
what a wonderful destination
where I am now
I can no longer see
dropped another pill just to kill me
collapsed to my knees and fell fast into sleep
there I was
there I was
there I was drifting
way out into the sunshine
expecting to crash but I'm tied to a string
look at me I'm a tangled puppet
I might be a mess but I'm sure can survive
but I had escaped it by pretending to die