Big events, very big events in the past week. Fourth of July, of course, happy late Fourth of July!! I am very proud to be American, so proud that I drank 15 beers, 3 glasses of prosecco, 4 shots of whisky and 3 shots of tequila over the holiday weekend. Big events, bigger heartburn!! Take a Tums. Note I did not leave embarrassing posts on social media, like I usually do when I drink, that is because I was not drinking alone like I usually do. I was drinking with my sister. Yes, I have a sister, how shocking. No, you cannot date her, she is engaged to be married, and probably too old for you anyways, mdr. She is fun to drink with, because she is the only person on maman's side of the family that shares both devotion to Catholic faith and certain views, so conversations get very interesting under the liquor... but still very fun!! Even her fiancé is a riot after some drinks. Otherwise, maman was throwing a big fit on Sunday, over some nonsense thing that I best describe as a "minor inconvenience" in an unsarcastic kind of way, so I simply went to church a little earlier than usual. I have gotten really sick of her crap, so now I spend a lot more time with my father.
I am dropping out of college to join an apprenticeship program with the IBEW. Manual, blue-collar work is a much better thing for me, I think. I do not want to waste away at some college I do not belong at for the next few years, going into debt just to get a sad desk job. At least with the apprenticeship, I make decent money as I learn, and I get to learn skills that will give me purpose, and probably more chances with pretty women, mdr.
Big events at work. I had to move almost 100 rusted and defective desks out of a little corner of the boiler room. Very hot in the room, and very loud, and I had to switch my gloves a few times, but I got it done. Some are still left, some that are not in as bad of a condition, but my father and I wheeled the rest of the desks outside, next to the dumpster so the scrapper may have them. The scrapper's truck nearly fell apart as he arrived, his wife seemed very unamused.
It is very fair to say that I got a good bit of excercise, hauling those heavy things and running up and down the stairs like I had a rocket up my ass, but some may call me a foolish man for what I next assert... I think I was given a sign from God, and if not him, from Mary. In the last desk I removed from the corner, I turned it over so I may lift it by the legs, and a little bookmark fell out of it, titled "The Fifteen Promises of Mary to Christians who Recite the Rosary", and it lists the benefits, of course: reception of signal graces, the flourishment of virtuous deeds, deliverance from Purgatory, etc... I have not prayed my rosary in quite a while, I am embarrassed to admit, I have been using the excuse of "I do not have enough time" when it is very apparent that I do, given by how I am rambling on a webpage, mdr. The reception of this bookmark is too good to keep to myself, so I will show it to you as a THIRD image. First I go from only having one per post, now to two, now to three? No, I have not lost it, not just yet, at least.
I finally reset my password, so here is to 34 days without a new post. Cheers!! Happy late Month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus!! I lost my JPEG of the flag.
I am almost one month into working at my new job, custodial work for a Catholic School. I am officially an Archdiocese employee, which is pretty cool, but it is also pretty bad because they make us watch these boring training videos every so often. Do I need to be reminded of the signs that a child is being abused of neglected? You made me sit through a 3 hour video about the subject, before my first day of work, I think I am quite privvy to the signs by now!!
With a new job comes new paycheques. The first thing I bought with my first cheque? A 12-bottle case of Tyskie Gronie, Polish beer. My first day of pay, a Thursday, I buy a case, and the exact day the next week, I buy another. 24 Tyskies. I also bought a 6-pack of Yuengling Traditional yesterday, my friend Joana reccomended that I try them. Very good, very American, very patriotic... and it tastes very bready! Why eat bread when you can get the taste from a drink? They are all gone now. I still prefer Tyskie Gronie, it is now my favorite beer, something about the taste is just perfect to me. It is very refreshing, is what it is, drinking one after work is a grand pleasure.
I drank 10 of those Tyskies last Thursday, the most beer I have drunk in one sitting. Oh, what a feeling!! I felt like I was in highschool again, I was listening to that crappy punk music I used to listen to, and sending humorous (or what I thought was, at the time) voice messages to some of my friends. I always do that when I get drunk, and I kind of hate that I do it, because I sound very foolish when I am drinking. 10 beers on Thursday, 6 on Saturday, 2 today, 18 across 4 days, does not seem particularly bad. I am told I sound a lot more "French" when I am drunk, I get the accent and I say a lot of swears, I cannot help it. No, I do not regularly speak like that, I sound like any other Midwesterner when I am sober. When I was a little boy, maybe I had an accent, because mamie had one, and she was one of the few people I actually conversed with, in the day. I was bullied in school for my voice. The only time a man will get bullied for having a deep voice is when he is a little boy. My balls dropped and it got even deeper!! Yet I can sing like the best of sopranos... I say, lying through my teeth.
I tried blood sausage the other Friday. Argentinian style, so it is not very solid, it is more like loose meat, It took me by surprise!! I bite into it and a lot of it splurts out from the casing, it burned my fingers!! I decided then to find some bread to put it between, make something of a taco out of it... but with bread, not a tortilla. It was much better that way, and it is funny, because it actually kind of tasted like seasoned taco meat. I will buy it again, but perhaps a variant that is a little more solid...
I wish I had more to talk about, but in the past month I have essentially been writing little versions of these posts on my DeviantArt, to make up for my lack of access to this page. Why should I talk twice about Baek Hye-Joo, Polish deli meats, the Lutheran church with the gayrod flag, or about the Cubs game? You can read about them here. You get two pictures today, because I feel bad for not posting here...
I went to Captain Jack's Liquor yesterday, they have good prices and selection, so I bought 12 bottles of Blue Moon. Nearly froze my balls off in the beer cave. In the store was some saleswoman, marketing this new tequila. I am not very fond of tequila, she gave me a shot of it as a free sample, and I was not particularly impressed. I wont complain, why would I complain about a free shot of liquor? I used to hate looking old for my age, as a kid, but now that I am a grown man, I revel in benefits, not being carded is one of them.
That night, I drunk eight beers and watched Janggun-ui Adeul. I have talked about this movie before, but I have never watched it drunk. What an experience, rewinding to the same scene many times because I was not paying attention. The cat kept jumping on me, and trying to chew on the leg of my pants. I ate a lot of popcorn, I remember, and all of the crumbs on the carpet prove this. I had also drunken out of the toilet bowl. It was clean, at least it was clear, but my piss is always clear when I am drinking. Pure spring water! I will market it as Punchy™ Naturally Filtered Water. This morning I drank another beer, hair of the dog, as they say, leaving me three... Tonight I will watch another film from the orient, Lady Jang.
No, I did not end up finishing the movie, maman thought it would be funny to bring me out to the living room to watch The Big Bang Theory with her and my brother. They love The Big Bang Theory... I would come up with some sort of salient remark, but the fact that they watch that crap is an insult to themselves. My brother was offended by some of the things I said about the Jewish guy on the program, at least I think he was offended. No, I am not an anti-semite, that Wallowicz is just a shit-head, and he can go fuck himself. The whole cast of the show can fuck themselves, it is a terrible program and it makes happy drunks into mean drunks. Put on Leave it to Beaver, that is wholesome programming.
What is "annyeonghaseyo"? Hello in Korean, written with letters, not Hangul. I learned that during last night's escapades. I believe it is actually more like the French "enchante", or "it is a pleasure to meet you", at least I read somewhere it is like that. It is a pleasure to meet you, filthy drunk... Goodbye is quite similar, "annyeonghigaseyo". I know a few other Korean words, but demonstrating them would probably get this webpage shut down. Kudos to my pal Jongno Jim for teaching me those ones, you are the man, but you hold your liquor poorly!
I am finally employed again. Remember when I said it was most likely that I would be working at the catholic school? Yeah, I start there on the first day of June, custodial. Good hours and good pay, why would I complain? I am officially an employee of the Archdiocese of Chicago... I got a milkshake from White Castle to celebrate, as you do when the archdiocese hires you, of course.
I had the pleasure of going to two baseball games this week. The White Sox v Cubs on Sunday, and the Brewers v Cubs on Tuesday. My father got tickets for the Sunday game, and my brother had two tickets for the Tuesday game, but nobody else to bring with him, so I tagged along. I am a White Sox fan, I have been since I was just a little boy, and I have no intention on changing that. My brother, on the other hand, only became a Cubs fan last year, because "White Sox fans are mean and drunk". OK, he may have a point there... Am I really that mean?
The Sox game was the better of the two, of course. Rate Field is much better than Wrigley, I think. That is not to say Wrigley is a bad field, but it is a pain in the ass to get there, and the food prices are high, even by baseball standards. I paid 8 dollars for a bag of peanuts, yesterday, you will never catch me doing that again! Rate Field is just much more familiar to me, yesterday was my first time going to Wrigley. The Cubs, they are a lousy team. Their play is so bad, that I resorted to giving players bad nick-names, just to keep my interest. Alex Bregman? Smeg-man. PCA? Puss ConnAsse. Suzuki? Chinaman. That last one might be a little prejudiced, but it was funny at the time. At least the Sox are competent, though I think the pitchers were not so great that day. Of course, with how the Cubs play, the Sox could have the world's worst pitchers, and the Cubs would still lose. I doubt anyone who reads this blog follows baseball in the slightest, but on the Sunday game, Edgar Quero hit a two-run homer on the bottom of the overtime inning, winning the game for the Sox by 1, and winning the Crosstown Classic. The crowd went wild, me included, of course. see it, on the MLB's awful official website.
But, of course, no matter what Chicago team you are a fan of, both teams are united by one chant. "Green Bay Sucks!". It is a good chant, because it is a true chant. Even by design, it is good, because it is only 3 syllables. It is also great, because I do not have to worry about offending Wisconsinites. They do not read this blog, it is a known fact that they are all illiterates. If, for some reason, one learned to read, and is now reading this blog... what are you going to do about it, cheese-head? Green Bay Sucks!
Remember when I said my brother had secured me a job at his business? That idea fell through the floor, because of sudden management changes, or something like that. Now I am truly an unemployed man, so I have been job hunting. I applied for janitorial positions many places. The local baseball team's stadium, the hardware store, that one place that sells a lot of propane, even the catholic school my father works at (which is the job I am most likely to get, to be fair). Is that nepotist, to get a job merely because my father works there? No, because I am not getting the job simply because he works there, but because of merit. I have a lot of janitorial experience, I am sure you know, and they are in need of an extra custodian to help keep the place tidy over summer. Even if I am not formally hired there, he said he would probably just give me a bit of money to help him out around the place, regardless... anything is better than the wage I make now, zero dollars an hour!
He used to take me to work with him when I was a boy. Obviously, not when the school was in session, but on the Saturdays he would have to work in the mornings. Seeing as he would only really see us on weekends, I suppose he figured taking me and my brother to work with him would make for good bonding time. It amazed me, seeing the inner workings of a school, and how it is kept clean. He would sneak us cans of Shasta from the teacher's lounge, which is probably why I love the stuff so much nowadays. I recall his "office", which was just some unused room on the basement level, full of stray papers and crumpled cans, reeking of his cologne and of old cardboard. Looking back on it, his "office" was a dump, but I took pride in knowing that I had a father who had his own "office". I knew a few other kids in school who had wealthy fathers, who worked tech jobs and such, well, I could tell them my father had his own office, and that he managed a catholic school...'s cleaning. The "'s cleaning" was said quietly, of course, mdr. The school also has a large church connected to it, so he was tasked with keeping that clean, too. A beautiful church, my nana's memorial service was held in it... it has been over 4 years now, that amazes me in itself. Why am I so easily amazed? I lead a boring life, is why.
I am very grateful to have the father I have, I cannot imagine the disaster my life would be without him. Maman drives me insane, and my uncles surely do not make for good role models. If I were to tell you every great thing my father has done, for me, the family and for the world, or if I were to reminisce about childhood memories involving him, this blog would stretch for miles. He may have been quite a drinker when I was a boy, but he has been sober for over 7 years now. I recall him telling me and my brother, after he reached his first year of full sobriety, that he really quit drinking because of us, because he did not want his boys to have a drunk for a father, but a man. I was 13 years old. Even when he was a drunk, he was a good man at heart, but he is ten times the man today than he was then. And, yes, I do manage my liquor better than he did. He was a fighting drunk, I am a laughing and singing drunk. Ever want to make a Punchy sing? Give him booze.
Mother's Day, happy Mother's Day. It is one of those hallmark holidays, and my mother milks it for more than it is worth. I do not want to talk about it, frankly, and because this is my blog, I dont have to. She does not allow pork in the home anymore, because it is "disgusting animal". I will tell YOU who is a disgusting animal... I should not say that. Yes, maman, I want to hear about all of your political opinions which you know I do not agree with, as I cook for my brother, who is just returning from a 10-hour shift of work. That is what I want, pointless arguments, on my second day home. Such an obnoxious fucking woman, I cannot take it. Yes, I want to hear about how you hate my papa, when he has never spoken ill of you to me. I cannot wait to go see my papa, at least he treats me with respect, like I am a human being, a man.
Had a few drinks with my brother last night, as we were watching the Chicago Cubs. He is a Cubs fan, I prefer the White Sox, what does this tell you? I only had 4 bottles of Blue Moon, it was the first time I had a drink in over 6 weeks, and I needed something to ground me. It was quite good, but you are meant to serve it with an orange, and we did not have any. My brother had the other 2, he did not seem to like them as much. Gave a fine buzz, I decided to do my "Chinese voice", so I suppose you can say Hao 'Mao' Long made an appearance. Who came first, the character or the voice? Neither, the joke question "how long is a Chinaman?" came first. How old is it? Like I would know, I heard it on 3-South. Kind of a stupid show, but I can relate to it a fair bit.
Tried Bojangles chicken as I was driving back up north, my brother had driven down on Friday morning, and it did not take as long as I thought to pack everything up. Every Bojangles in Illinois is connected to a Love's gas station, very convenient. I usually do not eat fast food chicken, but let me tell you, Bojanges is fantastic. Cajun chicken on a big buttery biscuit, some of those big hashbrown rounds, and a big cup of black coffee, I was full and very happy for only $10. I can spend $10 at Mcdonalds, and feel I am ripped off, or spend $10 at KFC, and get sick, but $10 at Bojangles makes a satisfied man. My brother liked it even more than I did, he got one of those iced coffees, and said it was the best he has ever had. I am not a big fan of iced coffee myself, I have only ever made it if I already had a cold pot of the stuff laying around, I would just pour it into a near-empty half gallon of milk, and shake it up very good. Home-made iced coffee, very cheap, and very good, and not loaded with sugars!
Those coffee places, they are ripoffs. Dunkin Donuts? Dunk your hand in my wallet and Do-nut give me good value. Starbucks? Do not get me Star-ted, you mother-buck-ers. A coffee at those places is what, $6? You can get a can of cheap grounds for $6, and make 6 pots of coffee out of it. 6 cups per pot, that is 36 cups, for the price of a large coffee from these places. How much cups is a large coffee from these places? Maybe 3, at best, when they are not mixing in creams and fake sugars and those frou-frou little flavors teenage girls and metrosexuals like. What the hell is a "Blushpop", Dunkin Donuts? Sponsored by Sabrina Carpenter? She is a whore who mocks my God and poisons the radio with shitty music. Maybe I am just not their demographic. If I really need a fast food coffee, I go to Mcdonalds, they have surprisingly decent coffee, quite tasty black, and it does not ruin me financially. I have noticed that with Mcdonalds, good drinks but very poor food.
Passed by pre-calculus final, and I am quite happy about it. I was very worried about failing it, but I miraculously got a low B grade. I do not feel as though I really earned a "B", maybe it was graded on a curve. I was so happy that I decided to treat myself, and buy some candy from the Dollar Tree. A bag of Mary Janes and a bag of Chick-o-Sticks, I am like an old woman. All I need to really rub it in are some of those Argentine strawberry bonbons. I am quite fond of those, but I can never seem to find them, at least not down here. I ate both bags within an hour of buying them. Little bags, yes, but I am still ashamed of my gluttonous ways. I have always liked how the English call candies "sweets", it is kind of a whimsical thing. Do I call potato chips "salts"? No, but the English call them "crisps", so I suppose they have problems of their own. It is not like "bonbon" is much better of a word... "good good". At least it is true. All bonbons are good good, but not all sweets are sweet, some are sour, wrap your head around that one.
I have begun to pack up my things, I move out of the dorms on Friday. My brother is coming very early in the morning, he insists on coming very early. He drives like a maniac, so I will be driving home. I can imagine Dominique drives quite a lot like him. My brother is a lot like Dominique, come to think of it... does that mean I am a lot like Raoul? The decision is up to you. Most of my stuff is packed away, aside from my computer and the bedding. I defrosted my fridge. It has reeked of yellow onions for weeks, now it reeks of yellow disinfectant, yellow because it is lemon-scented.
Took one of those "consent & respect" training things for the next college year. The exact same thing they made me do before this year began, no updates to the material. Corporate art style nonsense rambling about crap every person already knows. I am a grown man, of course I know what sexual harassment is. Let us have an entire section on "empathy", not even describing what it is, just blaring that it is something to be shown to others. Do the exchange students do these? What if in some foreign country, "empathy" means "penis"? Then there really will be sexual assault going on. I took screenshots of some of the terrible art and doodled on them immaturely, see it on my Deviantart. Do you know what is terrible? These exact same training videos and quizzes are taken for retail jobs, so I have been going through this nonsense for years. Imagine how many work hours these HR training things waste, teaching basic lessons to men who already know. Terrible inefficiency, is what it is, and I hate it. I can imagine everyone hates it, who likes it? Kayleigh in Human Resources, maybe.
New title logo! MS Paint's finest. The font is Microgamma D Extended Bold, one of my favorites. I was originally going to make every header for the days in the same font, but it looked really awkward when I tried it, so I guess the title is extra unique now. Is it odd to have a favorite font? The way I see it, if I can have a favorite Pope, I can have a favorite font. Who is my favorite Pope? John Paul II. Kind of a cliché answer, I know... I feel I have made this joke before.
Only one more week, living on the campus. All of my classes are done with, and I only have two proper in-person finals, which end on Tuesday. What will I do, from Wednesday to Saturday? Pack my things, I suppose. I have gotten rid of and sold off a lot of my things, so it really should not be so hard. You would be very surprised how many old clothes I owned, but never wore. I only ever wear black t-shirts, and then my wife-beaters, and then my church shirt. I had some really ugly novelty T-shirts, I do not even remember how or why I had them, but now they are long gone.
The Brebis drawing was a success. People truly do like her, one of my friends described her as "adorkable"... I now suspect that the friend may be a homosexual. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but what man says "adorkable"? It is all just ridiculous. As long as he does not start to call me "sista", we will be cool.
Built a bar in my Minecraft world. I have noticed a trend, in every Minecraft world I create, I build a church and a bar. At least this one is decently sized, not the size of a solitary cell. When I make another "Minecraft World Tour" video, you can bet on seeing it... plus a little pixel art of the Bubble Bobble dragon. What is his name, Bubby? Bub? Bob? I forget.
Last night, I uploaded the entirety of Charles Aznavour's debut album, "Charles Aznavour chante... Charles Aznavour volume 1" from 1953 to Youtube. It was already on there, but not formatted very well, so I figured I would upload it in a more polished way. And in just one day, a large portion of the songs have over 30 views, arguably my most popular uploads in years. He IS basically France's answer to Frank Sinatra, so I suppose it is a given that his music is quite popular that way. I have not owned the album personally for quite a while, but I do have quite a few songs in my head... I do trip over the lyrics somewhat, though, he is quite quick with the tongue. And me? Not so much, that is why I prefer to sing Brel's songs. Et rêver, et sourire, et bâiller, et dormir...
Do you recall in the last post, saying how I felt like an old man for listening to old music? This Charles Aznavour is the oldest album I own, technically, I just realized as I type. 73 years old. For reference, I will be 73 in the year 2080. I pray that I may live that long, and much longer than that, perhaps. Many reckless types will tell you they do not mind dying young, and let me tell you something, they are foolish and unsatisfied people. Old age is to be cherished, God makes us grow old for a reason, so that we may revel in the fruits of our long journey in life. Our culture seems to have shifted, the young turning to demonize the old. Guess what other society had that phenomenon? Maoist China in the 1960s, and look how the Cultural Revolution went for them, millions died and millions more lost their long-held cultural ties. I am not Maoist, I revere the elderly for their wisdom, maybe you should too. To peer into the past is to better look into the future...
I nearly lost my computer to a malware I got trying to download a copy of Super Meat Boy for free, off of an Italian website. Let this be a lesson to not pirate games, at least not games still on the market. I sure learned my lesson... I will say, before proceeding to go through the exact same nonsense later this year. This was probably the first time in history that the built-in Windows Antivirus actually saved somebody. I recall bricking my mother's Nokia when I was a boy, it was one of their early smartphone models, by trying to download weird games on it, which had viruses on them. The only night I can recall crying myself to sleep. I do not resent my mother for such a thing, we were without much at the time and that was her only phone, what was she to do without one then? One can see humor, in an 8 year-old breaking a phone... Soon, in Quoiville, Dominique breaks Minou's phone, and she is fucking pissed!
Downloaded a Philipe Clay album, "Le danseur de Charleston" from 1957, all because I was reccomended "La gamberge" on the Youtube feed the other day. Sometimes, I feel like an old man, listening to older music. I have always been told I act quite old for my age (maybe not on the internet, mdr), but this is ridiculous. It is easy to yearn for the days when film actors could also be good singers, Philipe Clay is a great example... so is Brel, he too was in films. Name me a modern Hollywood actor with a good singing career, not aided by that auto-tune tech and those editing tricks, I bet you cannot! I shouldnt be betting, I have hardly any money as is.
Shaved. I hate how my face looks for a couple days after I shave. I get smooth cheeks, like a woman, and it makes my sideburns stick out more than they usually do. If not for my moustache and the goatee, I would like one of those butchy lesbians. With a bit of stubble, I look consistent, you know? Aesthetically pleasing. I have hair on my arms, why should I not have a little hair on the cheeks? I may shorten my sideburns, just a little bit. My face looks a bit thinner when I do, the exact same reason why I part my hair in the middle.
Who has been on my mind? Brebis Méloni. I have a high interest in her as a character, it must be hard being a sheep in a world of cats and rabbits, it also must be hard to get a haircut, with that wool. It does not help that I gave her my mamie's maiden name, it is also the name I used to order pizza with. I should draw a bit of her today, people do seem to like her. I see her kind of the same way that I see Natalie Chren, an attempt at a more realistic female character. Not just a pretty face (though that is much appreciated, mdr) you know? Depth, personality. Whereas Natalie is quite introverted, Brebis can be the opposite. She seems like the type to be very direct, to have "no filter", which may either be the best or worst quality for a cashier to have. Perhaps somewhat cynical, you would be too if you had so much student loan debt. What is her degree in? Underwater basket weaving.
Bratwurst served in the dining hall. If you do not recall the list, it is my favorite sausage. And if sausage is my favorite type of meat, does that not make bratwurst my favorite meat? I pronounce it as the Germans do, to respect it better... and it is fun to say regardless, blat-vurst! How much does one link weigh? I do not know, but I ate 6 links, and a fair bit of those sautéed mushrooms. I love mushrooms, I used to eat them raw when I was on the cross country team in high school, but I suppose they are also very nice cooked. Call me potelé as you please, but it is the first thing I have eaten today, and it is an extremely rare occurance that bratwurst is served, I must make the most of it... I must repent for my gluttony! Some ugly woman was giving me looks. She is in no position to judge me, the bitch, she has the haircut of a 12 year-old boy, and also dresses as such. I do not like to call women "bitches", it is very disrectful, but with her hair, it is doubtful that she even considers herself a woman, so why should I treat her as such? The bitch, perhaps she prefers beef sausage. Find yourself somebody who enjoys pork!
Two financial disasters within one week. I lose the majority of my cash on some stupid wager, and I max out my credit card to help my mother pay her electricity bill. Would you leave your mother to suffer without electricity? I hope not. My mother consideres her self a loser, and a failure of a mother, and it really upsets me. What is the job of a grown son to her mother? To provide for her, of course, she is old and not in the best of health, and my siblings and I try our best. I have 15 dollars left, and 3 of that goes to the church per week. Luckily enough, I went grocery shopping before both things occured, so it is not like I am without food. Yellow onions were 84 cents per pound! I bought three, but one molded. I finally thawed the andouille that was sat in my freezer for 2 months, it was very good, stewed in a pot with orzo, chopped up onions, chicken broth... It was probably the best thing I have eaten in quite a while.
Normally I would complain more about my lack of money, but I see it as a good thing, in a way. I need to be humbled, I find myself to be a very material man sometimes, which I should not be. Suffering purifies the soul, does it not? I still have pasta, I still have onions, and I still have half of a sausage, some Afghan child would kill for such things... maybe not the sausage, it is pork, but you get my point!
I will not be without cash for very long. When I go back up north in a couple weeks, my brother has a job set up for me at his business... janitorial work! I quite like janitorial work, I was highly regarded at the OfficeMax I used to work at before college, for my ability to clean deep and fast. I recall talking to my mother about my old job one day, about how I would scrub the toilets and the sinks, and mop the entire floor area of the store, and she took pity on me. Why take pity? I enjoyed it, and the store will not clean itself... I do not mean to brag, but for the 16 months I worked there, I was employee of the month 6 times. I hate not working, I really do, I love to work. Luckily when I enter my sophomore year, I can apply for an on-campus job...
Big things on DeviantArt, my most popular drawing in what is probably months. What is it? Doodles of Jucika, nude. Of course, I will not show it here, I like to think this is more of a... what do you call it? Friendly? A friendly page, I doubt nudity counts under that. I had a lot of fun drawing her, I really do yearn to draw different characters. You can see it on my DeviantArt, if you are not sensitive to cartoon nudity. Originally, I was going to make a new doodle of Hao 'Mao' Long, sitting drunk on the street with Sergei Otbrosy, remember him? I had a funny title for it too, "Dikiy Muzh-China", named after the Leningrad song "Дикий мужчина", or "Wild Man". I do not much care for ska music, but I love Sergey Shnurov's musical abilities, Vtoroy Magadanskiy is one of my favorite albums... and Hao Mao Long IS a wild man, and from China (it is a pun), and Sergei Otbrosy is a russie, so it works. It has been in my head for days, and maybe I will still draw it.
It has been nearly three weeks since I have had a drop of liquor. I crave it terribly, and I have been replacing it with coffee. Café Bustelo, I buy it in brick form because it is cheaper that way. Probably the cheapest way to get good espresso, and I get wired when I drink it purely black. Flavored cream in the coffee? That is for schoolgirls and flamboyent gays. Milk? If I had a stomachache, maybe. Sugar? I get enough from the Kedem biscuits I dip in, thank you. I used to hate black coffee... my father told me he used to hate it too, when he was my age, but then he grew up. I suppose I am growing up myself, because I am starting to quite enjoy the bitterness. There is a satisfaction to it, you know, almost a satisfaction I would get after a crisp sip of wine.
Of course, wine would make me tired and quite sociable, but the coffee wires me up, I get restless! Pasing around the room, unbuttoning and re-buttoning my shirt, singing quick songs slowly and slow songs quickly.. then I end up jumping up in down in nothing but my pajama pants and a wife-beater. Crazy behaviors, so I do not drink any coffee past 16:00 these days.
Minou's birthday was on Monday. Of course, the Quoiville canon is in 2012, and she is 34 then, so she would be 48 this year. One can only imagine how 14 long years have aged her. I made a little comic in honor of the day. It is not really funny, and I doubt a lot of people really found it so either, seeing how few favorites it got compared to my other arts. What will I draw next? Either Natalie Chren or some more of those Sport Vii characters. People really love those little, Chinese bootleg characters, and it has been a very long time since I have doodled them. I suppose Hao 'Mao' Long's oriental antics keep the people satisfied, for the time.
Listened to one of the albums I used to play quite a bit when I was going through a phase, when I was 17, "No No No" by Beirut. Boy, was I a pompous fool of the day. Beirut is a talented group of musicians, do not get me wrong, I recall so many of the tracks because they are well-composed and catchy, but this is music for pomps. Do you know who would like Beirut? Adult Raoul, because he is a pomp, a pompous fool as I was... this kind of crap is tailor-built for his pseudo-intellectual, pretentious way. Perth is my favorite track. What would be Raoul's favorite? Hmm... August Holland? Fener? Gibraltar? Whichever one is more pussy. Dominique probably makes fun of him... let me tell you something, he berates Raoul quite a lot in that short story about them, expect that to be published soon!
I made half of a pot of rice and cabbage. I do no not want to have any meat tonight, because there is Italian sausage being served in the dining hall tommorow. I figure if I eat very light, I can eat a lot more sausage. I love sausage, I am sure you already knew that, and Italian sausage is my #3 favorite. Yes, I have a list, a top 10, and you would not guess what #1 is... And I refuse to say, it would be an insult to my ancestors... oh, I doubt they care, here is my list...
1. Bratwurst
2. Andouille
3. Italian Sausage
4. Watrobianka
5. Pork Kielbasa
6. Blood Sausage
7. Summer Sausage
8. Kabanos
9. Nduja
10. Eckrich Smoked Pork
Reccomend me a sausage. If I can afford it, I will try it... unless it is one of those vegan sausages, there are cheaper ways to make me vomit around here. If one is enough of a lunatic to eat fake meats, I do not trust their tastes. No offense!
Today is the Sunday of Divine Mercy. Do you not know what that is? A Sunday in which we commemerate God's mercy, and his love. If you were to go to confession today, take communion, and truly hold trust in God, you are forgiven of all sin, and penances that would come as a product of those sins. Guess what I forgot to do? Go to confession. I am a foolish man. I bought a new church shirt yesterday at the Walmart, a nice dress shirt that was on clearance. The best 5 dollars I have spent in a while, it looks quite nice. I am trying to look a lot nicer, manlier, these days. I am not a little boy anymore, but I am sure you knew that.
I have been very reflective today. And I have been thinking about how at times I can be very hypocritical. I will criticize someone for acting immorally, and then act the same way shortly after in private, or I will claim that someone is ignorant of true faith, when I myself can be somewhat blind, just as many others are. It's too easy... Like that one song by Jacques Brel, "C'est trop facile" (Yes, I link my favorite recording of it, mdr). What do you think that means? It's too easy. Coincidentally enough, this same sense of hypocricy is a large theme of the song. Noting in the first verse, just how easy it is to go to church and release yourself of the filth that is your sin, while not making much care of the true weight of what you have actually done, that you are essentially doing no more than throwing weight unto the priest... Rarely do I resonate with music, but that did kind of hit me when I was listening today. I am guilty of doing a similar thing before, going to confession more as a chore, than as a true means to repent for my sinning. It shows not only hypocricy, but an ignorance of the importance of faith. I am pushed further to improve myself.
I think I need to get my hands on some new music. I mention Brel so much, but he is because one of the only 4 or so artists I really listen to these days. I need to branch out... Send me requests! What do you think I would like, that you listen to? Comment on my DeviantArt account, or message me on Discord! I BEG, please!
I have been praying my rosary in a kneeling position lately, I quite prefer it over simply sitting or standing as I do it, it feels much more intentional this way. I am always sitting, and I am always standing, but when am I kneeling? Usually, only during Mass. I feel it is more proper to kneel, even if it can be quite uncomfortable. Was Jesus comfortable, when he was dying on the cross? Spiritually, he was, but physically? He was not. Why should I worry about earthly comfort, when I am in the process of praying to build spiritual comfort, and my relation with God, with the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Holy Rosary as my guide? A pretty far out way to think, I would think, I recall hearing something similar by Tim Francis...
Did I forget that I had a blog? Yes, I did, really. How does something like that slip my mind? I have not been drinking, I am a forgetful man sober. I will probably turn this into a weekly/bi-weekly blog now, at least I will have more to talk about in my posts then.
What has happened in the time I have been gone? My father has gotten re-engaged (my mother was quite upset), I have stopped drinking, my sister has planned to visit me, Lent has ended, Jacques Brel turned 97 (would have, I should say, if he were alive), I have begun to make gaming videos again, and I have gotten a new crucifix for my wall.
Why stop drinking? I want to save up for the accordion, and liquor is expensive, to drink and to make. What I have done now is invest some more time into better drinks. I bought a new mug at Walmart, it was only a dollar, and smaller than my old one. I like smaller mugs, I do not drink the coffee as fast, it is good portion control. I no longer buy the generic Walmart brand pops, but Shasta Cola from the dollar store, and some of those Mexican sodas made with the real sugar. Corn syrup freaks me out a little bit, since I have truly learned what it is. I drink a good amount of Señorial now, as it is made of wine grapes, it tastes a small bit like sweet wine. What I do is leave it warm, and allow it to flatten, it is decently good that way. Sometimes I will buy a bottle of Jarritos, the orange flavor or the tamarind, and drink those warm as well. The bottles are also sold at the dollar store, so it is pretty economical...
I have also drawn a few cartoons, still drawing with smaller brushes. I used to use only the 4px brush, but now I have been drawing with 2px. it works well, because it makes my drawings look like the larger 4px drawings I used to make last year. Those were a bitch to draw, but with the 2px it is quite easy, and look nearly identical. I still cannot help but feel like I need newer ideas, though.
I am replaying Toto World 3 for the Sega Master System, to upload to my Youtube channel. I had originally uploaded gameplay of the first two worlds in September, but the video quality and gameplay was quite bad, and not done with a true controller, so now I am replaying the entire game with the proper controls. I am still trying to make nicely designed thumbnails. You would think it would be easy, for a guy who doodles crappy cartoons, but no, very hard.
Drank my own urine to win a $10 dollar wager. Want to know what urine tastes like? Imagine you left a cheap beer out and open in the sun for a few hours, and somebody dumped in a lot of salt... beurk! Now, I am 10 dollars richer... what did I buy? A 6-pack of those big Eckrich smoked pork sausages. 42 ounces (1.2 kg), and yet I have a dollar left... I wish I could eat one today, but no, Friday... I had a decent peice of fish in the dining hall earlier. Not too bad...
I want to expiriment more with my art, do newer things with it. Today, I drew with the very small brush, and doodled whatever came to mind. Naturally, this led to a lot of random drawings, of random crap. I made a little animation of Dmitri. He is like a son to me... well, a mascot, at the least. For my next expiriment, I will try to draw in a different style. Ever wondered how my characters would look if drawn like old-style anime characters? I sure hope not, that is an odd thing to wonder... but maybe I will do it, it may be fun. I do not watch any of that anime... I do not watch many cartoons, come to think of it. Sometimes I will watch an old Popeye cartoon, if I have time to kill. Whenever FreedomToons puts out a new video, I usually watch it. OK, maybe I do watch quite a few cartoons, but not as much as you may think.
The other day, I uploaded all of Mireille Mathieu's debut album to Youtube. Do you like chanson? Do you like women? do you like the Provençal accent? Then you will enjoy En direct de l'Olympia. I am sure of it! See it here.
Things idiots do. What are some things idiots do? Eat a whole white onion raw, and drink a whole bottle of wine. What did I do yesterday evening? Exactly that. I made a fool of myself last night, calling people randomly and yelling at them. I recall being on a Discord voice chat, watching that one movie, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs... It was in Spanish, but my cursing was in French! Mais tais-toi, sale enculé... I am in some trouble with a few friends, for such a thing. I ended up sleeping on the floor, and I woke up at 04:00 in the morning with a terrible headache, terrible stomach pain, and terrible breath. I do not think I can eat anything with onion in it for a few days, or drink any wine... Punishment! I am being punished! Rightfully so.
I feel like vomiting, I have not vomited since last November, when I ate 5 pork steaks and drank a fair bit of vodka... ever see pink vomit? I have. Vomiting is such an odd thing, it feels awful thinking about it, but it feels so good when it goes down. To expel all of the badness out of the body... why cant it just come out the other end? At least it does not end up on the bath mat, that way. Beurk! Never eat a raw onion, the taste stays in your mouth... every time I take a breath, bad onion smell! Even a fart, worse onion smell! Why do I do what I do? Because I am a fool, is why.
I just want to get over this nonsense. They are serving pork ribs and corn casserole in the dining hall, for lunch, and I do wish to have some, but how can I if I feel like vomiting? I love pork, I am the king of pork. No, not because I am chubby, I just have a fondness for the taste. If somebody does not enjoy pork, I do not trust them as much... a man who derives himself of such an innocent pleasure, he has something to hide. If it offers any solace, Semites in the audience, I feel the same way about people who do not eat any meat... to a lesser extent.
All I needed to do was lay down for a little bit, and drink some water... drink a lot of water. Probably the most water I have ever drank in a single day, for a long time. I feel much better now, frankly, especially after I had something to eat. Pork ribs and collard greens. There was no corn casserole, it is flagrant false advertising. It was my first time ever having collard greens, not so bad. It is just like spinach, but in a good juice.
Hooked up my Playstation. Why? To watch the Adam Sandler movies I have on DVD. I know, I know, very immature and stupid films... sometimes I need something stupid, I like Billy Madison. Now I am sitting in front of my sink, because it is the only place I could put the television, and the only place with 2 outlets easy to access. It fits perfectly, frankly, I do not know how I never thought of this before. The disk tray does not open right, so I have to take off the cover and manually pull the tray out... sometimes it works fine, though. Japanese Quality! "sometimes it works fine"!.
I was up until 03:00, drinking and watching Janggun-ui Adeul, The General's Son. It is free on Youtube, with English subtitles, and genuinely one of the best films I have seen in a long time. Kim Du-han is a gangster and a half, let me tell you... Im Kwon-Taek is a genius! If you like gangster films with a lot of fighting, but a deep story, I think you will love it. I had heard of the film through the video game on NES, released by Daou in 1992. A hard fighter-style game, I am currently doing a playthrough of the game on my Youtube channel. A lot of my Youtube subscribers are from Korea, so I try to cater to them somewhat...
Made a Youtube video about Bubble Bobble. I have never been a huge fan of the game, but it is good fun. Puzzle Bobble was more of my thing, in all honesty.
It is the first day of spring, and already it is terribly hot outside. I took a very cold shower and now i am sitting in front of my broken air conditioner. This is the first time I have ever turned it on, my roommate used to be the one who would want it on... I would always just open the window if it were hot, but now that is where the heat comes from. No, I do not suck on ice cubes.
Disregard that last sentence, I did begin to suck on ice cubes to keep cool... worked very well. No, I did not put them in the wine this time, I had them seperatly.
I have understood how people can mill about in public in their pajama clothing. And I berate myself for being lazy, yet even I bother to dress for the public eye. Do not even get me started on the ladies who wear those shower caps? It is disgusting, you might as well carry around your crusty old loofa with you. They wear the shower cap, yet they smell as though they have never seen such a thing. Always such annoying people too... Do not tell me it is "culture" either, I care not for blatant lies. Nothing else makes me angrier than blatant lying.
Skipping a day, look at me. Thursday just wasnt very eventful. I did some pre-calculus work, cleaned my bathroom, went to Mass, cooked another batch of pastina, finally had some good, bitter wine... It seems like much, but I just could not find good words for what I wanted to say. I should not even type about the wine, because now I want a glass, and I cant have any on Fridays.
Every Friday, there is fish in the dining hall. Cheap breaded catfish, but I do not complain. It is quite tasty, despite the quality, and there is always a good amount of it. Even outside of Lent, I do not eat meat on Fridays, so I have essentially been having catfish, most Fridays. Sometimes I will simply not go to the dining hall, and just cook some rice or something, throw a can of sardines in the pot... real sardines, not sprats. Sprats are the smaller fish. When people say they are "packed in like a sardine", they really mean "packed in like a sprat", because real sardines are not so tightly packed. They only cost a dollar per can at the Walmart, so I always keep a few in the cabinet.
I may not go to the dining hall today, my stomach does feel a little off, greasy fish will do it no good. What do I usually do when I have a stomach ache? Drink a glass of wine. Cannot do that. Maybe I will make some pasta later. I have no sardines, what do I have? Sprats in oil. Sprats I always buy in oil, because when I pour it in the rice pot, the oil helps keep the spices on the rice. Sardines, I tend to buy in water, so I can also eat them on their own, without oily fingers. I recall when I was eating a can of cod liver while on my computer, and I spilled some of the oil on my keyboard... there is still a small mark of it on my "P" and my "[", it is practically fossilized now.
Chuck Norris died yesterday, may he rest in peace, tonight's rosary will be dedicated to his family. He will surely be up there in heaven, round-house kicking with the best of them. Probably up there with Bruce Lee, right now. Was Bruce Lee a Christian? Oh, well, he is kicking with some Christian kickers, surely. Chuck Norris is Baptist. I went to a Baptist Mass once, it was OK, I am not very fond of the singing, I prefer some solemnity. Then again, I do see the appeal, do not think I am being critical.
I have begun saving up to buy a cheap accordion. I am getting a job at my brother's business over the summer, and I will be eligible for campus employment starting in the autumn, so I can finally return to being a working man. I hate not working, in all honesty, I feel like a leech, a lazy fool. To be fair, I still do some occassional work for pay, odd jobs... but it is true, formal employment that I miss. I see it as my contribution to society. What do my cartoons do for society? Nothing, but make some people online smile. But work? I am doing a service for hundreds of people a day, then, making their lives easier, as other workers make mine. It is a matter of principle.
Why an accordion? I am quick with my fingers, up to a challenge, and I wish to play an instrument that I actually enjoy the sound of... there is also a wish to be unique, I suppose. I am a bland person, I would like to stand out for something. Almost all of the men in my family play instruments, at least on my father's side, and I wish to inherit their... I do not know the word, musical skill. The only problem is that the accordion is a pricey instrument. The cheapest one I can buy in good condition is a Chinese-made model, that is about 600 dollars. The accordion is quite the popular instrument in China, apparently. In North Korea, too, it is "the people's instrument", and all teachers must learn how to play it. I find it funny, it is usually not the Orientals you think of when you think "accordion", I am sure.
I believe God gave me a sign today. I got a splitting headache, all of a sudden, just a while ago... what do I drink when I have a headache? A glass of wine. As I have said a thousand times, I cannot drink wine on Fridays, but I snapped and poured myself a glass. I was about to take a sip, when all of a sudden, a bunch of chunks of dried sediment rised to the top of the glass, nasty little pellet shapes, and it disgusted me terribly. This has never happened before, when I pour a glass, especially seeing how slowly I pour it in. Obviously, I am not going to drink up a bunch of those nasty, acrid chunks of dried yeast, so I poured the whole glass into the sink (keep in mind, I have never been one to waste liquor), not taking a single sip. Right after I poured out the glass, my headache went away in a matter of minutes. Could the headache have been the Devil, tempting me to drink? Did God will it so that I would be driven away from consuming it, by tainting the glass? As odd as it may seem, I genuinely believe it so. Ocassions like these strengthen my belief in the Catholic faith.
Wednesday. Guess who skips classes again? Me. I simply have more important matters to attend to, and there does not even seem to be anything important going on in any of the classes. I hate gen-ed classes, I cannot wait to be a Sophomore, and actually have some work to do.
Made a small batch of pastina. Yes, I brought down some acini di pepe, from up north. Came out OK, it cooked surprisingly well in the rice cooker.
Played Bubsy 3D today. I do not understand why it is so hated. The controls really are not so bad, and I am playing with a SNES controller. Sure, it is not a GREAT game, but I have certainly played many worse 3D games.
Finally had some wine. It has not fermented for long enough to be as strong and dry as I like, it has that nasty sweetness it gets when it is still too young. I still enjoyed it, none the less, like I have reunited with an old friend. Technically, I should be able to have it fermented long enough, and processed by Friday... the one day of the week I cannot have liquor. Nobody said that penance days were easy, if they were, they wouldnt be a penance!!!
Tommorow is the Feast Day of Saint Joseph, the legal father of Jesus Christ, and the husband of Mary. It is not a holy day of obligation, but I like to go to Thursday Mass regardless... hopefully I get on his good side, mdr. I invited Louie, but he said he's busy. A shame. Everything is always a shame, I need to think of a similar word... a pity! quel dommage, I should say!
sorry for a shorter blog today, but it is just that nothing has really happened... I did my laundry, but who wants to hear about that? I drew a new little cartoon of Hao 'Mao' Long, you can see that on my Deviantart.
Saint Patrick's Day. I like I am getting a cold. Irish food in the dining hall, for lunch. I quite like Irish food, you know, hopefully the dining hall does not mess up corned beef and colecannon. My father is Irish, technically, but you would not know looking at him. Of course, his last name is mine... a frog with a mick's last name, how great is that? Only in America. I get my French and Italian from my mother's side, and I certainly resemble that half better. I am told by a lot of people that know my father that I share the same kind of deamanor as him, the directness and the stone face. I take this as a compliment of course, I have looked up to my father ever since I was little, even when he was at rock-bottom. He is 7 years sober, this year. If you thought "Punchy" is my actual last name, I have bad news for you... The beauty of aliases!!!
Called my grandfather. He turned 89 two weeks ago, but he sounds 30 years younger... He lives off of nothing but TV dinners and cotton candy (he chooses to eat this way), but he is stronger than many 60-year-olds I know. He drank heavily until he was 70, and chain-smoked until he was 66, loses his wife at 85, and yet he goes along just fine. I owe it to his strength in the faith. Crazy Jack lives on! Hopefully I am so lucky, to live so long. Not only would I love to be a father one day, but a grandfather too. I am not getting any younger, you know.
Mass is at 17:00, and Confession is at 18:00. I really want to go to Confession, I really do, but I just cannot drive myself to go. I hear this is a pretty common thing, to be nervous to do it after such a long time... I should go, as I am living in mortal sin, and I am very ashamed. Expect a changed man, if and when I go. Even down south, my church pants get hair on them.
The Oscars were last night. Who really watches that crap? If I wanted to see Hollyweird celebrities circle-jerk in front of me, I would have taken a plane to Epstein Island. Forgive the dark humor. My Creative Writing professor said she was very excited for it... you can take one look at her, and know such a thing. I do not even know any of these new celebrities, I have not been in a movie theater in years, and I do not have any of those fancy streaming services with the new films. I hear about a lot of new films though, because I watch a lot of film critics of Youtube. From what they say, and what they show, I do not care for new movies.
Some of the best, if not THE best, food the dining hall has ever served. The corned beef was fantastic, perfectly tender and satisfying. Corned beef if probably my favorite beef, to be fair, as I am more fond of pork. The colecannon was as good as can be, a very generous amount of good cabbage in it. The creamed peas were also quite good. Even the coffee was good today, and normally the dining hall coffee is grey, watery mess, so that is saying something. I will probably go back before the lunch hours end, just to have another plate. I wish my friend Louie could come have some, but he has classes for the entirety of lunch hours on Tuesdays. A real shame. He has been going through some rough times recently, so I dedicated today's rosary to him. He is not Catholic, but he was very much appreciative. I think he needs good guidance, frankly, he is not part of any church, but yearns to be closer to God. Perhaps I will invite him to come to Mass with me...
Beat Super Mario World for the first time, all of the secret levels and everything. My first time beating the real version for SNES, at least, I have beaten the Taiwanese NES version by Hummer Team quite a few times. I used to be all about bootleg games, I still do play them quite often, but I am beginning to shift towards proper, licensed ones. As I grow older, I yearn for quality... i wish my Sega emulator would stop crashing, I would play some of my Master System bootleg titles. Almost all of them are from Korea, and higher quality than Chinese/Taiwanese games. That is usually how it goes with Asian quality... Japan is 1st, Korea is 2nd, China/Taiwan is 3rd. Hao 'Mao' Long must be quite bitter. I would be bitter too, if I were a cat with the teeth of a beaver. But I would rather be Hao 'Mao' Long than be Baek Tokki, Hao Mao has more freedom, and he doesn't have those lousy ears.
I do not like to get political, but something from 2 or so years ago crossed my mind, and got a laugh out of me... that White Dudes for Harris crap. Remember that? What an embarrassment, you can tell the ads were written by those West-Coast, effeminate liberal types to try to appeal to the men of the Midwest. As a man from the Midwest, let me tell you... I, and nobody else I knew, fell for that crap. Am I "man" enough to vote for a woman? Maybe... but not the one the Dems were offering, yeouch, what a stinker!!! Remember that Zoom call they had? I did not know whether to burst into laughter or vomit on my shirt, when I bared reluctant witness to it... Mark Ruffalo and that Hamil, and that Ferrel, euh, get the barf bag... Do not come after me, I did not even vote in the last election, mdr
played some Tengen Tetris. My high scores got wiped off of the ROM, and I am quite upset. I think I did beat my old high score though, I do not think I have ever gotten to level 13 before. I have been humming Brel's "Les blés" all day. I like those softer songs, acoustic, it is soothing you know, it was off that live album I downloaded... "Quand on a que l'amour" is probably my favorite song off of it, though, how touching.
I am skipping all of my classes today. I just don't care, is why. That is the problem with taking these gen-ed classes, they are too easy, and there is hardly ever any penalty for skipping them, as long as you turn in the assignments. I will probably go to the store, and buy what I need for wine and a few other things. Supposedly, it is possible to caramelize onions in a rice cooker. I will be the judge of that. But if it is true, I can actually make proper onion soup, not the poor man's version I usually put together.
Knowing me, I will just end up buying that instant onion soup mix, because I am a fool. It is a shame, because I love cooking, but there is only so much cooking I can do in a cramped dorm. Besides, I do not even have a proper kitchen knife, I cut vegetables with the pocket knife I keep in my jeans. I have a second pocket knife, but I use that to cut sausage.
Yes, I did end up buying the instant mix, the Walmart generic brand. I made it in the rice cooker, it was OK. Now I am ripping more ass than a... ass ripping machine. Maybe it is why old women fart so much, they eat this stuff. At least it made a decent meal, especially since each packet is only 50 cents. I found a box of peppermint tea in the back of my closet, so I made a cup. Not too bad, but nothing beats a good cup of coffee. In just a few days, the juice will have fermented into wine. I made 2 batches, I am that desperate for a drink. Of course, I cannot get drunk, but I still yearn for the enjoyment of a crisp glass... I am also glad that I have finally run out of yeast and sugar, both were getting quite old, taking up the little space I have in my cabinet. I bought a new knife, too, very sharp. I will keep it under my pillow.
I have considered improving my diet. Frankly, I do eat better now already, better than I did last year, but there is still room for improvement. Sodium is really my problem, a lot of salt. Like that soup mix I was talking about, one packet is an entire day's sodium. The sausage I eat, high in sodium. The broths of my soups, made with boullion... pure sodium, practically. If you do not know, sodium makes the body hold more water, and stimulates the appetite (I think is why so many junk foods are loaded with it). You would be surprised, not many people know this, it is like the "silent killer" of health. I may love my wine, and I may enjoy my pork and my soup, but I may not continue to take in so much salt. I believe it is also my tendency to over-season my dishes, I do love garlic salt, and the Cajun spice mix I make has a bunch of the normal salt shaken in... SALT, IT SUCKS, IS MY POINT.
Had a good chat with my Kentuckian friend. One of the first friends I ever made on the internet, over 5 years ago, and we still talk, how about that? What did we talk about? Liquor and tinned foods. He likes rum, I like wine. He likes potted meat, I like tinned herring. Now what do we talk about? The feasibility of cooking calf liver in a rice cooker. I have 2 in my freezer, I may just try to steam them...
I am on the train going back south, typing this off of Notepad because I have no WI-FI. It was my first time, praying the rosary on a train, surprisingly peaceful... until some woman decided to make a loud phone call, in the next row. What is with black women and talking so loudly on the phone, and with the speaker-phone on? I say this not in prejudice, but in observation. When I am on the train, on a bus, in a fast-food restaurant, I must hear this yelling. I do not care about your "weed money" or your "hubby", or the Mexican woman you hate, and I highly doubt anybody else on the train cares either. Her call began at about 09:30... it is 10:49, and I have felt stupider for every minute I must overhear her wailing.
Listening to Frank Sinatra. I am very fond of easy listening music, for the same reasons I am fond of chanson... It reminds me of the old times, and very soothing. In The wee Small Hours... well, in the wee small hours, I am usually asleep, I suppose Sinatra wished to sing then. Thank goodness he is not my neighbor. Brel will be in my ears, at some point, surely.
It is 11:25, and this cow of a woman is still on the phone (I was going to say bitch, but I like cow better). People are just trying to sleep, and I am trying not to drive my fist into her teeth... I mean this as an expression, I would never hit a woman. She probably is not even that bad of a woman, she just has a poor grasp of social etiquette.
There is a café car on this train, but I have no money for anything. I have never eaten or drunken on a train, I think I would be sick if I did, with all of this moving. I am thinking of that onion soup I had last night... If I could just have one more spoonful, I would be ever grateful. Now I want a beer. What is with me and this wanting? I do not deserve these pleasures, frankly, and there is pork steak being served in the dining hall tonight... I love pork steak. I love pork, period, it is the best meat. Cheap, versatile, and filling. When I am not eating pork, I am eating fish, and when I am not eating fish, I am eating pasta, and if I am not eating pasta, I am eating onions... I need to go on a diet. This is also why I could never be a Semite, they think the pig is an unclean animal... like they do not know how to fucking clean it or something? Wash the pig before it is butchered, and the problem is solved, mdr.
Baek Tokki... what a stupid name. "White Rabbit". It is funny, too, because he was originally meant to be more of a yellowish hue instead of white, like the color of Hao 'Mao' Long. I feel bad for Baek... I feel bad for all of my characters, frankly, seeing as they have ME for a creator. But, oh, poor Baek... stuck working in a gas station, ran by his hard-ass father, working with a woman whom has no interest in him. His mother is dead (either because of a car accident, or because she was trampled by elephants, I have not made up my mind), and he must live with that elitist Record. If I was in Baek's shoes, I would be a drinker... I am in my shoes, and I am a drinker. Baek's shoes probably wouldn't fit me anyways, I can not imagine he has that big of feet.
I decided to listen to a live album, a live album of Jacques Brel... Cabarets (1954-1956)/À l'Alambra (1962). Usually I am not a big fan of live albums, I have always been a studio man, but I am very pleased with it. A simpler version of Grand Jacques (c'est trop facile) is just what my life needed. Not even being sarcastic.
I am finally back home. No lady beetles or cockroaches or anything, which is a big surprise to me. Walking home from the station was only bad because of how strong the wind is. I pack light, so when the wind is heavy, it all flies around. What else flies around? My hair. What a disaster.
A tornado warning. Everyone went into the basement of the building, which is the exact reason why I refused to. Would you want to be packed into a dumpy basement, like a sprat, surrounded by overdramatic liberal blonde women and obnoxious "men"? Me neither, so I made shelter in my bathroom. I just sat in the shower with a glass of ginger ale and a flashlight for about an hour. It was kind of nice, actually, it was so quiet and peaceful... until the wind and thunder got terrible, and that siren went off 3 times. The warning is over now, seemed to be kind of an over-reaction, looking back... At least I did not waste my time in a basement, but in a shower. You cannot say I do not shower, I spent a tornado in one, mdr
Fashion. It is important to look good, but not to be fashionable. Frankly, I hate modern fashion. Women with crappy colored hair, and those nose rings? Are you a woman or are you a steer? Usually they are large enough to be one. The men are not much better, grown men dressing like little boys, and we wonder why nobody is getting married. No offense to the aesthetically retarded, mdr. When I feel poorly about how I look, I go on Instragram for 10 minutes... what a confidence booster! and I am not even an attractive man. Of course, dress how you wish, this is a free country.
It is all well and good to make fun of people's fahsion choices, but to be fair, I will make fun of my own. Boot-cut jeans, dark grey quarter-zip, one of those black t-shirts with the high collar, generic brand Walmart sneakers... no branding or anything. I dress blander than my cartoon characters, and that really says something. What do I wear to church? Swap the jeans for a black pair of pants... Foolish. What makes me dress so conservatively? Because it is harder to mess it up.
I used to watch a lot of the old Gunsmoke episodes from the 1950s, they would air them really early in the morning when I was in middle school. I found Amanda Blake beautiful then, and I still do now. She was the actress who played Kitty Russell on the show, the owner of the Long Branch Saloon. On and off set, she was a great woman. What is "Kitty" in French? Minou. I hear the episodes can all be watched for free on that one streaming service, Pluto, I suppose I will start watching them again.
My mother is making onion soup, I guess as a proper way to send me off. She has not made onion soup in years, especially not completely from scratch. Will it be good? This is my mother's cooking... it will be OK, I am sure. I have heard many times that my mamie Lelia made it very good, when I was very little. The catch? I hated soup when I was a kid, I was a very picky eater. She has been gone for nearly 5 years, I think of her every time I prepare soup myself.
I mentioned preparing soup myself earlier... my mother has fallen asleep, so now here I am, making the soup. The onions carmelized very slowly, if I had a watch, I would be checking it. My mother does not even have a clock on her wall, nor does the oven have one of those digital ones. Do people just not have clocks on the wall anymore? Even in the buildings at my college, half of the clocks are either broken or just wrong. I have a clock on the wall of my dorm room, it was only $5 at the Walmart.
That reminds me of a funny story, that happened back in January... A DRUNKEN RAMPAGE. I had just finished fermenting six liters of drawer wine. What do I do? Drink two liters. Keep in mind, that is about 5 glasses of wine. Straight from the bottle, like an animal, I would not do that sober (it is just not gentlemanly, you know). I did not even decant them or let them air, I just drank it straight, that residual yeast still cloying to the bottom, of both the bottle and my throat... I got very drunk. I did not recall much, but this is what my ex-roommate said I did (a thanks to him):
I climbed up onto my bed, almost falling off of it twice. I played some of Journey's older music off of my phone, and went on a tangent about how the lead singer (is it Steve Perry?) was "wailing like a bitch". I went on a rant about how white liberal women are the scorn of all that is good... I got angry (keep in mind, I am not a mean drunk, so I am told). I look over at the clock on the wall, which was set close to the foot of my bed... so I tell it to "stop looking at me" so I jump off of the bed and slap it. It FLIES off of the wall, knocking right into the 78-can stack I had set up on the adjacent wall (you know, for decoration). All of the cans come crashing down around me, pooling around my feet, and the clock had broken into peices. Cheap plastic, glass, AA batteries, and empty cans of Mr Pibb, everywhere... I slept on the floor that night, no pillow or anything. I woke up, ashamed, and bought a new (and my current) clock the next afternoon. I ended up throwing out all of the cans, too, it would take an inconveniently long time to re-stack them. Do not drink irresponsibly, lest you ruin your room, like I did mine.
Normally, at the rare time I got drunk, I do not break things. I would usually just slouch around and sing songs... and my roommate would get very annoyed, because he does not like Jacques Brel. I would sing "la haine" (you know, "comme un ivrogne, je partirai..."). He would call me a stupid frog and tell me to go to bed. What would I do? Make fun of him, because he was a nerd. Keep in mind, I do not get drunk nowadays (it is a mortal sin, apparently, I do not wish to be a fool). I still drink, but only about one glass a day, when it is available. It is lonely, drinking alone.
I watched a very sad episode of Little House on the Prarie tonight. One of Laura and Albert's friends is diagnosed with leukemia, with 6 weeks to live, so the 3 run off from home and train-hop from Minnesota to San Francisco, so that the boy may fulfill his dream of seeing the ocean, before he dies. I have been told by many in my life that I do not express my feelings much, that I am stone-faced, and always bottle up my emotions. Such is life, being a proper man, but let me tell you something... the ending made me cry. I have not cried since I watched my childhood cat die before my eyes, and I would argue I shed just as many tears now as I did then. Even as I type this, I begin to tear up... what a pussy!
I watched a movie with my mother today, some movie about the Middle Ages. It reminded me how much I hate watching movies with her. She is the kind of woman to talk through the entire thing. Some very important event in the film will be happening, and she will be talking like crazy when I am trying to watch, and trying to make all of this political commentary with no relevance. I love my mother, very much, but she is a really annoying woman, and we disagree on a lot of things.
I miss the south. I really do. The weather is much nicer, the food is higher quality, no cat hairs on my clothes, and everything is cheaper. My train leaves Sunday morning, and I will live alone again. If the time allows (those Amtrak trains always arrive really late, if you know, you know), I will probably take the bus to the grocery store, to buy the grape juice I need to make a new batch of wine. I really want a drink, I think is just because of how hungry I am. I am not eating until tonight's fish fry, at my sister's church. The cats got their hair on my church pants, and nobody has a lint roller.
I had some coffee in the first time in about a week. It did not give me the boost of energy I usually get, maybe it's that light roast or something. I usually buy those bricks of the cheap espresso, Café Bustelo, and if money is too tight, the Aldi generic version. I remember when I first bought it down south, I made a pot for my roommate to try. He had never had espresso before. He had two cups at 3 PM, and was wide awake until 3 AM.
I really miss him, but I also love living alone. He is the only man who has ever tried cod liver when I offered it to him, everybody else has rejected trying it. Let me tell you, cod liver is fantastic, and surprisingly cheap if you know where to buy it. If tuna is the "chicken" of the sea, cod liver is the "foie gras" of the sea... I would rather have foie gras than some chicken, wouldnt you? If you ever try it, have it with some good crackers (thank me later, mdr).
I want a real hair-cut. I haven't been to a barber since December 2023. I trim my own hair every so often, and I wear it in a neat, short pony-tail, but I think I will look better with shorter hair. The only downside of shorter hair, is that I would have to shave my sideburns. I have long sideburns, like it is 1976 or something... retro cool, huh? No, I am a chubby fool with poor hair. Good sideburns make a pony-tail manly, you know, I would look like a fat butch lesbian without them. I should design a character with a pony-tail... I say, forgetting about Natalie Chren. Does her hair count as a pony-tail? More like a cotton-tail, I would think.
I have never been great at giving my characters good hair. Baek Jr is a great example of this. What is that supposed to be on his head? Not even I can tell you, and I designed him. Andrej Novotny's hair is not much better, but at least you can infer that it is kind of a messy, curly sort of hair. With Baek, it is just... assymetric, swept nonsense. No wonder he is so poor with the ladies, the hair makes the man. At least my women characters have decent hair.
I hung out with my sister today. I went to her church in my original neighborhood, and we prayed the Stations of the Cross (she is the only person on the maternal side of my family who is also Catholic). Originally, we were going to attend the fish fry after, but we decided instead to go to Mcdonald's (how charming is that?) to try the Filet O Fish, neither of us had ever tried it before. It was pretty good, but I ordered mine without cheese. I never mix fish and cheese, it is just not right to me, so I only got it with tartar sauce. My sister? The opposite, cheese but no tartar sauce. Do you people really care about my, or my sister's, Mcdonald's order? Probably not, but this is a blog. We ended up going back to her apartment with the food, and watched some of that show. That show with the really ugly people, trying to sell stupid things to other really ugly people... what is it... Sharktank? Yes.
I have started a blog. Why? Because I am tired of flooding the "Posts" section of my DeviantArt page, with all of the random things I like to talk about. I figure if people are so interesting in my rambling, they can come here. Do not be surprised if some of these get very long, I have a lot to say, and I do not like to bug people directly with my problems.
I am still up north, until Sunday the 15th. It is fun and all, but is hard to get used to. I have never realized how bad Chicagoan drivers are, and how fat and ugly Pritzker looks on those campaign ads. He has started "walking" to better reach out to the average Illinoisan... yeah, right, the only walking he does is to the fridge and back. That horrendous track-suit... must be a XXXXXXXL. "Standing up for basic rights"... foolish. He surely does not stand up to pee, he has probably not seen his own penis in years. Sure, I may be a little chubby (I prefer "potelé"), but he is like a ball with arms and legs. I do not wish to be political... But oh, I have always hated him, he is a fat-headed, fat-bodied... fat moron.
One nice thing about being up north... quality pork liver paté. Bought at the Polish deli... they call it "Watrobianka", of the Northstar brand. A little pricey ($6/lb), but it is the best I have ever eaten. I can eat it between bread, on the expired Ritz crackers in my papa's cabinet, or by itself... my mouth waters just thinking about it. The closest thing I can get down south is braunschweiger. Not as good, not as smooth, but an OK substitute. I have always held a high respect for the Polish. Good food, pretty women, hard-working people, patriotic, Catholic... this is what those doomscrolling kids call "glazing", I think. Why forbid that a man appreciate good things?
I have never wanted a drink so bad in my life. I have been dry since the 5th, I finished my wine before travelling up north. I do not drink wine on Lenten Fridays... I try not to on any Friday, really, but now is when it really matters.
I have to write a mid-term paper by Sunday, for my Anthropology course. I have the intro paragraph done, and it has a stupid joke about Native Americans in it, that they were not eating hamburgers or wearing blue jeans before the Europeans came. I have to write about cultural transmission, something like that. I hardly ever attend the class... now I must wing it. I will be satisfied with a C, I get the course credit as long as I pass the class with one. I am only taking the course because my degree requires some "Social Science" credits. A good computer engineer must know anthropology, apparently.
I prayed the rosary for the first time in a while. It is not that I was intentionally slacking, but my sleep cycle has been a little messy. I have been quite literally "crashing" at random times. Is it daylight savings? Is it because I have not had a drop of alcohol, or even a drop of coffee, in an entire week? Is it because I finally have access to a comfortable bed? Probably, Probably, Probably. It is convenient, because Thursday is always the "luminous" mysteries, and I usually dedicate today's rosary to Pope John Paul II, as he not only introduced the the luminous mysteries to the set of prayers, but because he is also my personal favorite pope. I usually do not like to talk about my faith, but this is my blog, I suppose I can say all I want, mdr.