Engage.

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

I could make this quick, and I hope I will. Throughout the day I've thought 0f a million different tangents that might be fun to explore (probably closer to 4 or 5 tangents, but you get the point), but right now I'm concerned with getting to bed at a reasonable time. I don't have a major sleep deficiet yet, and I want to keep it that way, 'cause I've been enjoying having a little energy lately.

Today's occurances (as opposed to intercourses):
1) Slept in
2) Went to work
3) Completely cleaned, mopped, and waxed the floors of both bathrooms
4) Began reorganizing our tire inventory
5) Sold a bike
6) For lunch, bought a whole chicken for $1.80! ($3.00 coupon)
7) Drooled over a new bike that got built today-a Felt track bike (single speed-fixed gear)
8) Had quality customer-salesperson interaction with a girl looking for a commuter bike. I told her that what she was looking for was the sort of bike that I have been obsessing about for several months. So I had plenty to show here--beginning with the Bianchi Milano.
9) Left work
10) Ate a hamburger and cookie for supper
11) Did a few reps of pushups and shoulder shrugs
12) Rode my bike on the rollers for 45 minutes while watching the State of the Union
13) Cleaned up and met Fern at the Balcony for Tuesday's Cosmo.

That's pretty much it. Thankyou and goodnight.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Arrr!! All I want to do is play a game of spider solitar, eat a bowl of cereal, and go to sleep; but noooo, I'm forcing myself to write about my day instead. Stupid goals!
Today (read with mopey voice) I woke up and went to work. Nothing exciting happened all day, unless you call me being my usual kickass self on the job exciting. I did fix two bike luggage boxes, thus saving the bosses a few hundred bucks. Oh right, things got more interesting after work. I went on a night ride a few miles up Rocky Canyon Road. Up the road I saw a truck that had driven off the road partially into the creek. I freaked out and turned around without being 100% sure that there wasn't someone seriously injured and lying in freezing water. Which is unacceptable. But, I went back down the road and told a couple in a truck about the stranded vehicle and they reassured me that a tow truck was on the way and that the driver was ok. Then I summitted the peak called "Table Rock". Nice view. Especially at night. Came back home and cleaned up. Made myself a dinner of PB&J and beer and hosted my girlfriend for a few hours. She had plenty to communicate to me, and while all of it was fascinating, the most noteworthy bit of news was that she was offered the job which she's been wanting for some time. Now she will work full time and know what it is like to live the high life.
Goodnight.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Like yesterday, today began with a Jennifer meetup at the Flying M coffeehouse. There we chatted about very random things. We did this for about an hour or so before she needed to start getting errands done and I needed to get to work. Work was uneventful but enoyable. I spent a little of my time tinkering on the internet and flipping through catalogs in search of a frame to serve as the basis for my current obsession/concept: a street bike; aka, urban assault vehicle. There's a void in my life which can only be filled by building and owning a lightweight, aero-dynamic, nimble, quick stopping, simple-geared, chain-guarded city bike. The problem is that there is no aero frame that I know of which can accomodate the brakes n' gears I want. So, today, I decided to give up on the aero bit and take stock of the options available. My eyes finally rested on, as they have before, a "cafe racer" bike made by Bianchi, called the Milano. A bike which we have in stock at Georges. Nearly committed to the basic framework of the concept, I began thinking of how I would "Josh it up", as my boss would say. Yes, there would be a lot of joshing it up, if I ever manage to possess the bike. Till then, its only a dream. I'm a dreamer, and the larger dreams take priority over the smaller ones. There's talk in the Joshifer camp of a trip to San Fransisco this year. I'd love to make more than one trip as well. Both trips would be what we call a priority over building a bike that would only be marginally quicker, better handling, and better shifting that what I have now.
Sometimes my common sense sickens me...
Back to my day. After work I ate spicy chicken sandwhiches while playing spider solitare (multitasker). Then I lifted weights (shoulder shrugs and curls) and did pushpus. Later, Fern picked me up and we enjoyed relaxing at Barnes and Nobles, reading mountain bike and celebrity magazines, as well as reading a very respectable work of fiction (Fern) and exploring new music (Me!).
Before letting loose on blogger, Eric and I chatted a bit about his snowboarding adventure today (his first time! congratulations Eric!) and watched highly entertaining video of bike messenger races on the crowded streets of big cities. One highlight involved the racer with the helmet camera side swiping a car and breaking off its mirror, after which the driver chased the cyclist who was riding the wrong way down a busy highway in order to avoid the angry driver yelling obscenities from the other side of the median. Another video featured a 4 piece punk band being pulled around on a trailor by a tandem bicycle through the streets of Boston. Ahh, good times. And an inspiration to me. Sometimes to have fun you have to behave recklessly. Right? Right?
Goodnight.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

You'd think that snow would someday fail to surprise me when I see it first thing in the morning. Well, today was not that day. I awoke to an inch of it outside my apartment and marveled over how it fell from the sky just like fake movie snow. For the briefest moment I doubted whether I could pilot my bike through the slick stuff a half mile to the Flying M coffee house where I was scheduled to meet Fern for a mocha. That brief moment of doubt was followed by a more sustained experience of fun times-setting out in the snow which was falling fast, dodging fun-runners, and managing to stay upright all the way to the M.
I sat next to Jennifer at the M and proceeded to engage her in conversation. I'm a fantastic conversationalist, by the way. There's non better at starting a discussion, and I doubt that in the wide world there is anyone that listens as intently as I. Otherwise, I'm not a huge talker, which might bother me if it weren't for the fact that conversation starters and intent listeners are roles which are critical to any quality interaction. Plus, I'd venture a guess that skills in these areas are rarer among the general populous than skills in other aspects of conversation.
I'm sorry. Slap me if I ever get that quirky again.
So, Fern told me about her restless, eventful night trying to sleep at the house she was sitting. She also told me about how her finger was nearly bitten off by a devil dog. Er, atleast a dog that acted as though it were possessed for a time. It was the very same dog that I had issues with yesterday. Goddam em'! In addition, Fern explained to me how it happened that she became covered in someone elses pubic hairs, and I explained to her how I didn't want to have sex with her ever again. There was much more said at our meeting this morning, but I don't want to steal all of Fern's good material, so I'll leave it alone.
We then jumped into the Corrolla and sped down State street in search of expensive clothing items (*fernglish) in the metropolitan center of Eagle. Expensive clothing items we found. And not only were they expensive, they rocked. Fern owns a pair of Hudsons that are so damned marvelous, that I doubted that I'd see her in anything else that came close in terms of sexinitude. Oh ho ho, but I did today. In fact, the Joes jeans she left the store with may nock the Hudsons off the throne of, um, sexinitude...? Jesus.
We stopped by a couple other high end clothing stores. One was the quintessential modern Eagle country gal store, if you get my drift. Faith Hill probably owns every peice they carried. The other store had jeans with a sequined skull affixed to the right upper thigh. Enough said. Bye the way, if anyone could explain the appeal of sequins to me, Fern and I would greatly appreciate it. And if anyone could explain the appeal of pointy toed shoes that look like they are made from the fur of a brown and white cow, I'll buy you dinner.
In Eagle we ate at Subway. Later, we would eat at Pollo Rey. This was our day to eat cheaply.
After we ate at Subway and checked out a local Bike shop in which I engaged in a completely pointless bit of small talk with someone I used to work with. "Oh, your still in school huh? How much do you have left?" That sort of shit.
We went to Dillards, which I don't count as the Mall, since Dillards has acceptable clothing items and shoes. The old guy in the shoe department must know I have a weakness for Deisel shoes because he's always bringing in the latest model. I bought the latest today. They're sooo cool. They're, um, sooo black and stuff. What can I say?
Fern and I were drawn out into the mall because we couldn't help but think of other things that we needed. Having accomplished some more shopping (something we Americans are exceptionally good at), we left the Mall with our entire life force drained. Malls tend to do that to you.
Having had her life force sapped from her very core by the mall and having not really had much to begin with (she got two hours sleep last night, maybe), Fern needed a nap. I strangely did not (naps are usually my favorite thing). So, Fern dropped me off at the M, where I spent my time reading a book about the philosophy of Communism. My thought on that: How could Hegel develop a philosophy based on the interconnectedness of everything when it is evident that seperateness exists within the great expanse of the universe. Anyway,
While Fern still napped, I walked to the Lux second hand clothing store and the Book and Game store, where I lounged and read magazines. Then I went to the Record Exchange and very nearly bought Ryan Adam's new CD "29". On the subject of Music, I'm excited about the upcoming release from the Shins, due out late spring.
Fern and I returned to her apartment and felt really lame and lethargic and indecisive until the thought occured that we coud ride our bikes at my apartment and watch an episode of Sex in the City. It was a brilliant thought. Which changed the course of the rest of the evening for us.
Now, I'm about to wrap this up, grab a bowl of icecream and watch this very strange flick that Eric rented called the Aristocrats. Hilarious, actually.

Friday, January 27, 2006

"Just another day in paradise" or so a coworker always responds when asked how his day is going. And so one more day in paradise ends for me as well, except that I'm slightly more sincere, I'll posit.

Fridays are usually a mixed bag for me. I'm bound to have some fun sometime during the day, but it is also my day for chores. From the time I wake up (9-10:30) till 4:30 I am completely Fernless. And since life is pure torture without Fern around anyway, I might as well use the first half of my Friday to get various boring and teadious duties completed. Like, dishes, laundry, bill paying, and cleaning this entire house-sized apartment of mine. Today, I managed to do my laundry as well as clean and modify (remove cabinet doors to ease access to dishes) my kitchen. I've been extremely serious lately about becoming a cleaner person with a cleaner residence. I already spend an unreasonable amount of time shaving, trimming, cleaning, and dressing my person, especially if I plan on going out on the town with the Fern. Now I'm even more committed to improving the condition of my apartment. As you know, I spent most of yesterday engaged in a strenous full body workout, so after cleaning my apartment today for a couple of hours, I became disgusted with the focused, obsessive mind set of a cleaner of things, so I gave it up and focused instead on preparing myself for an evening of relaxation n' fun with Fern.

Fern picked me up (I wear the pants in the relationship but she drives the car) and we rushed over to a house in south-east-central Boise so that Fern could let the owners' dogs out to pee and/or poo. Upon opening the door to the house, the larger of the two dogs barked at me in an unreasonably loud and menacing way. I did not like its tone one bit. I stood there furrowing my brow listening to the racket until Fern tried pushing me back away from the dog. My first impression was that she was scared for my life and wanted me to start running away as fast as I could. I was having none of that! I used to be deathly afraid of dogs as a child, but it has been years since something clicked inside and all fear of canines vanished. Nevertheless, the wise move was to step back and give the mutt some personal space, as well as allow Jennifer to take the dogs out back. With the dogs free to bark their heads off in the back yard, Fern took me on a tour of the residence which she was watching for the weekend. Imagine if you will (it won't be too difficult), interior decorating that consisted of 90% flowers-fake flowers, flower printed furniture, flower printed wallpaper, flower lamp fixtures, etc-and 10% U.S. Marine Corp books, swords, photos, and the like. As I told Jennifer, I felt as though I were the enemy or devil, being an artsy fartsy liberal walking through the home of a couple who represented everything I despised (asthetically speaking-I'm sure they're descent people) about conservatism.

Quickly now, since I'm nearly typed out:
Next, Fern and I went to Funktion downtown (retailer of high-end jeans and apparel). I was dissapointed when I found out that I couldn't spend $200 on a pair of jeans I had been eyeing for a while. They had been sold. Fern tried on a few pair just to tease me, I'm guessing. Then, we walked across the street to Ha' Penny pub and had dinner. I had a barely acceptable "Dublin Dip" and Fern had a Reuben which was extremely sub-par and weird. The service was also not up to snuff (water people!). And Fern's house "cheapest" glass of Shiraz cost $6.50. Still, the food caused the area of my stomach that had been empty to fill and extend, thus serving a small purpose in preventing me from whining the rest of the night about being hungry. Ok, next, we went to Church, or as some might call it, the Neurolux, and chatted with friends, and then other things happened...

Night.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Journal Entry

Have I been high all day?? I've been so extremely active both physically and mentally all damn day that I've got to ask myself this question. Am I flying high on fumes?? I'm reminded of a Beck song-back when Beck songs were still cool-that goes, "there's a fume in this truck, and I don't know what the fuck is up...", er, something like that.
So I've got good reason to doubt my own sobriety. Ever since 10:30 am today I've been the primary mover in an effort to get the entire showroom floor waxed at my place of employment, George's Cycles and Fitness. The stuff we've been using to wax the floor is acrylic-based (as I'm sure most waxes are) and smells a little like amonia. Whatever it is, all day it made its way into my nostrils and lungs. Hrm, maybe its time I start keeping an exact count of my brain cells.
Besides the observation that fumes where wafting off the waxed floor and into my eyes and nose, I find support for the proposition that I could be high by thinking back on my behavior today. No, I did not break out into a fit of uncontrollable, unwarranted laughter. Nor did I stuff my pie hole with dorritos, twinkies, and the like (I'm always ready and willing to). All I did was work my ass off for 12 hours straight, with little slowing. I moved bikes and display racks, vacummed, mopped, helped customers, answered the phone, and "waxed on" (no waxing off).
I've been feeling a bit feeble lately, physically speaking. I haven't worked out in the longest time. So, maybe that's why I just didn't feel like calling it quits with the hard manual labor today. Talk about a quality core muscle workout! Mopping and waxing really employ the entire mid to upper body. I fell into a rhythm-a flow, if you will-and just kept it up, hour after hour. Plus, I've got this whole "sense of accomplishment" and "pride" thing, where I feel good about myself if I perform well on the job and exceed everybody's expectations. I know, sick. Don't worry, I'm seeking help, and hope to overcome this affliction in short order. Tonight, however, I was all about exceeding expectations, and that kept me focused on the goal.
Staying with this subject, since I know it has everyone on the edge of their seat, I'll add that the reason I worked as hard and as long as I did today is because it is very difficult to get the once-a-year waxing job done during normal business hours. Its very obstructive for customers who may want to roam the shop. The extra work I did after hours tonight will take a lot of pressure off of Sandy and my coworkers tomorrow and Saturday, as they won't need to worry about trying to wax the main entry way and aisles on the bussiest days of the week.

For several months, I've been meaning to start a journal. Since Fern and I started dating a year ago, daily events have become substantially more noteworthy and worth remembering. Hell, I'm even ok with photos now, whereas when we met, I was rather anti-photo for a few good reasons. For example, photos are almost never flattering-they are usually the opposite of flattering. Also, photo takers can spoil a genuine moment, a true experience that should be about the experience and not about posing for a photo. I've come to my senses though, and have realized that sooner or later life might not be as good, or else it can only be made better by reliving the good times. I'm pro living vicariously through any means available, even photography. Why? Because its fun. And taking photos is fun. So, yay fun. ok?
Yeah, the journal. This is it for now. I can't promise entertainment. Things made for the record are rarely entertaining. If it spices things up, I might let you know when I toot or something.
Goodnight.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Lessons learned from last nights dreams:

For the visiting team, winning the game is akin to conquering your city. Allow them to raise their flags or else risk full blown armed conflict.

The reason people engage in religious ceremonies and rituals is because they are too dumb to think of any other non-religious activity that involves robes, candles, grand architecture, solemn attitudes, heartfelt singing and/or chanting, and the complete abandonment of their will.

Be sensitive to the feelings of other people in your dream. Unlike you, they may not have realized that it is a dream and may be somewhat taken aback by your behavior.

If a medium sized alligator starts chasing you around, snapping at your feet, its probably because you forgot to feed it.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Monday, January 02, 2006

The good things

God this is gimmicky, like something a 14 year old girl would post on Myspace. Or like the content of a self help, self love mini-book. Whatever. The subject of joy is so fucking important that its sort of beyond such concerns. Therefore,

My positive mood of late has made me especially adept at extracting from recent memory events and things which I enjoy. Here's a few in no particular order.

Joy is:
the first turn in a game of srabble.
a five letter word placed on the board after half an hour of scrabble play.
watching the claw successfully lift "Wee Kong", and safely deposit him into the game's chute.
walking out of a movie feeling as though it was worth 8 hundred and 50 pennies.
receiving a bonus check so large that a credit card debt which would normally take a year to pay off can be paid off tomorrow.
drinking the milk left in the bowl after having consumed all of the cereal.
good sushi.
a quality espresso drink.
riding into a 20 mph headwind, pacing a group of 100 other riders.
waking up to a free day after a long, deep sleep.
anticipating a trip.
listening to the cds you brought on a road trip.
dancing at the Balcony.
PDA at the Balcony.
Pollo Rey's fish burrito, Supremo.
a comfy chair, a white chocolate mocha, and a stack of new cycling magazines at Barnes and Nobles.
wine-tainted foreplay.
watching a professional road race on video, commentated by Phil Ligget and Paul Sherwan.
finishing a good book.
expensive, well fitting jeans...

...among other more personal things/activities.

See, the idea is to be capable of making a list of "joys" and to use that list as a guide for living. Big goals involving money, prestige, or one's place in heaven distract us from the real goal: enjoying life.

By the way, I'm sure I've posted a list like this before. A free mocha to whoever finds it.