The Nuclear Portals Open and the Trees Pass Through

Who doesn't like music? No one doesn't like music. I certainly doesn't not like music. I think music is quite not the worst at all. As I mentioned a long, long time ago (about three posts back), I have really developed my tastes lately, ever since I realized I can be single and still enjoy life (a profound discovery). One such taste is my music.

Recently I've delved into a genre that I've been flirting with for years, but never advanced on due to ehhh, I don't feel like it. That's all changed now and I'm well on my way to getting home base. What genre is this that has won my heart so? Could it be.....Doo-Wop? No, I'm not a necrophiliac..... but I can dream.

Progressive Rock is that of which I speak, and the object of my obsession. I don't think I've had so much fun with music before. I've been spending hours lately just listening to bands and engorging my Must Buy list. Which is perfect since I don't have any money.

I have completely fallen in love with the imagination involved in making this music. From the lyrics to the compositions, I can't get enough. Between this music and my clothes, I fear the really fucking weird person inside me is coming to the surface like a scarf made of fruit loops. Don't believe me? I'll be that guy in Walmart wearing the Walter Matthau hat, bright blue Elvis shirt with matching bright blue shorts listening to a band called Magic Pie on my lime green mp3 player.

The true obsession started during my last stint in World of Warcraft. I was spending all my time on the game sitting in Orgrimmar with a pit in my stomach that was quickly engulfing the world. In times like those I generally look for on outlet. I found it in music.... which I think is a BIG improvement over holding a grudge and moping about for a year.

A man by the name of Arjen Anthony Lucassen opened the door for me. I had a double live CD of his Star One project for a while by then, but I decided to try out his other stuff while I was sitting around. Soon I was listening to Actual Fantasy, The Electric Castle, Space Metal, The Human Equation, and others quite a lot. They allowed me to escape the rather depressing situation I was in until Blue October came along with Foiled and helped me close the door on it. Hate Me indeed.

I continued listening to Arjen's stuff, and soon started looking deeper into prog music. Who knew such a wealth of great music would be awaiting me. My Must Buy list expanded at a rapid rate, and is still growing. In fact, I added about eleven bands to it tonight. Eleven bands, in one night. Most I probably wont get to for years. They are on my list, though, and that comforts me.

Here, I'll give you a sample of what I'm looking at. As most may know, the 70s is considered the golden age of Prog, and while I don't like labeling something a golden age when the ages still roll by, there was a ton of great music made then. Some of my 70s stuff includes some of the more well known bands, such as Pink Floyd, Rush, and Genesis. The list goes on, though, and includes the following both classic and modern: Threshold, Kayak, Riverside, Zello, Satellite, Like Wendy, Magic Pie, The Flower Kings, Spock's Beard, and much much more. Lookit me, I'm a commercial.

All in all, a very fun time for me musically. Wait, make it twelve bands tonight, I'm listening to Phideaux right now, and it's quite good. That's just the clumsy segue I needed to end this post. I'm horrible at finishing a piece of high literature such as this, and usually wind up letting it sit for an hour or two while I come up with some clever like "We'll, I'm off."

.......Well, I'm off.

The Zoo is Full of People

This last Sunday was one of the free admission when you bring in expired phonebooks days. Needless to say, we went. Good news is that I took my camera, the bad is that one best the best pictures is one Rob took and I hate him for that. As I said before, this zoo is great, the animals have it good here.

Inc Pics [Race Unkown] Please Assist.


The Cheetah posed for us this time. I missed the photo op with two of them together though. Be sure to click on them for larger pictures.

One of the jaguars. This was the one I stared down last visit. Staring into the eyes of a jaguar is very unnerving.

Rob stalks his prey of choice....small humans.

The other Jaguar sleeping about 15 feet in the air.

This Colobus Monkey was sad because it wasn't on the ledge with all the cool Colobus Monkies.

Giraffes. The little one was born in July. Last time we were here it was peeking over the fence, trying to be friends with a Gazelle.

Nice group shot. Giraffes, Elephants and Warthogs. I hope to get some good shots of the warthogs one of these visits. The bull elephant is in musth, so they had to close off the the part where ya get close to them, but maybe there will be babies in the future.

A squirrel and his nut.

Mr. Lion. I hate to admit that Rob gave me the angle. I hate even more to admit that it's a great angle. I would have found it on my own. Really.

Rob is so disappointed. The Rhino's have a big outside bit to go in, but the inside is also open. This guy was playing with a bowling ball.

A penguin! One of them was swimming all around, but didn't want to take a good picture. The penguin room is one of my favorites. I should've taken a wide shot of it.

Mr. River Otter loved having his picture taken. Here he is being coy. He did not steal your fish. He swears.

Here he is again, after not having stolen any fish. He was extremely graceful underwater. One of the zookeepers came by when we were looking at him, and he started jumping around.... Zookeeping would be such a great job.

Stupid Rob. This is one big Snapping Turtle, maybe four feet long. Get a limb stuck in that mouth and say goodbye to it.

This would be mom's favorite part. This little Treesnake is nearly impossible to spot each time.

Love this shot. Kept thinking he was gonna suddenly strike as I was positioning the shot. This is one of the little rattlesnake types they have at the zoo. They have a gigantic Diamondback, but he wasn't photogenic this time. He's HUGE though.

Another Rob shot. Gar are some funny lookin fish.

Mr. Albino Giant Catfish. He came right up to get his picture taken. He is BIG too.

And finally, Mr. Little Turtle. He's just like Puddles, but with four legs and different.

That's not nearly all the animals they have there, but there were some good photos to be had. The big tortoises weren't banging this time, which is sad, because last time it was the highlight of the trip. The tortoise got done, dismounted, let out a big "YEAAAAAHHH" and went to eat for five minutes while the others chased his woman around.

The LIST for Sept. 20

I hope you're ready, cause this is a big one.

The Newsarama post can be found here.

Dark Horse Comics

Conan #32
Wild Cimmerian Bull

This comic is one of those automatic buys for me. This isn't the Conan from the movie, this is Conan as he is meant to be. This particular story is another one showcasing moments in his childhood, which happen to be some of my favorite issues.

Conan & The Songs of the Dead #3 (of 5)

Two Conan comics in one week? Color me happy. This is somehow even more brutal than the main series so far. Timothy Truman draws a great Conan. Have yet to read #2, but I'm slowly catching up.

DC Comics

Hellblazer #224

The Red Right hand, Part 1

As much as I hate religion, I LOVE some of the stories that stem from it. Hellblazer is one of those stories. This is only my second issue, but I've been wanting to get into the series since I started reading comics. Last issue was a standalone one dealing with the spirit and guardian of London goin nuts. Really mystical and out there.... Right up my alley.

Shadowpact #5

My love of obscure superheroes seems to be growing by the minute. With a magical based super team with members like Blue Devil, Ragman, and Detective Chimp, how could I resist? This title actually got close to being cut, but it has redeemed itself in the last few issues.

Superman #656

Superman versus Subjekt 17. Should be a good one. I just recently started getting Superman, and I have yet to regret it. Having a great creative team on the book helps quite a bit. I tend to jump between character loyalty and creator loyatly, but this book has a healthy mix of both. The art is fantastic.

Testament #10

Down to Egypt, Part 3

Another one of the series that deal with religion. This one is really deep, if churches got their hands on it I'm sure it would go straight to the top of their most hated list. The storytelling is phenominal in how he parallels the events in the bible to those that happen in a future that is very possible. Douglas Rushkoff (the writer) cites this as the new bible.... I don't see that, but he certainly does reveal some of the dirty secrets that the churchs don't like to acknowledge. Most importantly, it's a damn good story.

Wetworks #1

The relaunch of the Wildstorm Universe begins here. I jumped on for most of the relaunch titles, since most of it sounded good. Should be interesting which ones stay for long. This is one of those I'm really curious about.

Marvel Comics

Civil War #4 (of 7)

YAY! Thor is back! Thor is easily my favorite marvel superhero, and probably my favorite hero overall. Civil War was good, but with the addition of Thor, it just got great. Unfortunately Civil War hit some huge delays, so this will be the last one til December I think. Poo.

Civil War: X-Men #3 (of 4)

One of the MANY crossover titles for Civil War. My interest for this one has suffered a brutal death. Last issue for me.

Moon Knight #5

Wow, what a dark superhero. The art in this book is just amazing, and the story is intriguing. Oh, and this book is VIOLENT......good stuff.

Nextwave #8

One of the best comics going. This book is just off the wall fun. Time to face the MINDLESS ONES!!!!! Also bad guys made of broccoli.

X-Factor #11

One of the few comics I can actually remember loving as a child. The new series has not disappointed. Not so much superhero slugfest after slugfest, and more investigative storytelling. In the last issue, one of my favorite characters, Strong Guy, appears to go rogue and kills a key witness. Why, Guido, why?

Thoughts

Whew. That's what I call a week of comics. I'm going to really have to keep my comments shorter to prevent these posts from taking my whole day. I gotta have some time to play Phantom Brave.

I Get My Kicks...

So, two weeks in and nothing much has happened. I've made myself pretty well at home here, getting used to everything. Being here twice before makes that part rather easy. This being one of the most welcoming houses I've been in doesn't hurt either. It's still a little weird just digging in the fridge for something, but somehow I will overcome.

My drive down was about as good as one could hope. Light traffic most of the way, really mild weather (thanks to the effects of a hurricane), and one beast of a car. Hardest part was the first day. Having to say goodbye, then spending most of the day driving through California proved to be one mean combo of horrible. It took everything I had to not turn around and run back home. That night in Bakersfield was just about the lonliest I've ever had.

I persevered though, and (after getting pulled over in Arizona for my windshield) made it here. Which was the right choice, as I instantly started feeling better. Job hunting will start up soon, as well as school scouting. We've already gone to the zoo, which was very impressive. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures, but we're going again on the 23rd or so for free, so I'll get pictures then.

Nothing much going on other than that. That should be changing rather soon, though. Tons of comics coming out this week, so expect a big post for the LIST.

The LIST for Sept . 13

Since I love to share things, and I love comics, I figured why not combine the two a shove what I'm reading every week into peoples faces. Brilliant if I do say so myself. So, in the spirit of being original, I have stolen the idea of the LIST from the Newsarama message boards.

This is where I'll put up a list of what comics I am getting each week, and what I think about em. You can read the original Newsarama post here.

I hope you're ready, cause here's the LIST:

DC Comics

Fables #53

Fables is easily one of my top five favorite comics of all time. Some of the best character development and writing I've had the pleasure to read. This is Part 2 of Sons of the Empire. I have yet to read Part 1, but after the events in #50, this should be good.

Marvel Comics

Annihilation #2 (of 6)

Marvel's big cosmic event. I know the headline events right now are 52 from DC and Civil War from Marvel, big this one is better than both of those. Of course, I love cosmic characters. Only one issue in and Galactus has fallen, this series is going to be one to remember.

Incredible Hulk #98

The huge Planet Hulk storyline rages on. This has been the most enjoyable Hulk has ever been for me, and he's one of my favorite marvel characters. With the recent announcement of Word War Hulk coming next year, this got even more excitement injected into it. Great time to be a Hulk fan.

Wolverine Origins #6

Unfortunately this is the last issue of this for me. I'm enjoying it a lot, but I had to make some cuts, and this one didn't make it by a small margin. Omega Red is in the new arc too....damnit.

Oni Press

Wasteland #3

Finding this was a pleasant surprise. I keep describing it as Mad Max meets Fullmetal Alchemist. I've only read the first double sized issue and it started on the right foot. This book has a really good atmosphere to it.

Thoughts

Smallish week this week, though it's high on quality. I have a feeling these posts will get longer soon, as my orders jumped in numbers for September and October (November looks like a small one so far).

Emotions Abound

Where to start.

How about back in Oregon? Rewind to March 9th of this year. That is the issue date on my GED certificate, and since I can't remember dates at all, we'll use it to start.

Let's see, what was happening then? Well, I was overcoming my social anxiety of school by jumping over a major hurdle with my GED. Spurred on by my (then) girlfriend, getting the GED led the way to many revelations for me.

When I passed all the GED tests on my first try, with all but one (math) being in the top 85 percentile after a weeks worth of study, confidence slowly started to build. I began to feel proud about something other than how good I was in a game. This, along with a few other things (nothing's better at getting a guy to do something than a good woman), led to my decision to start college. Me being the one who went to college? "Who knew" was the phrase of the month.

For my first term at UCC I decided to ease in, no use overwhelming yourself and quitting halfway through. Not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, I didn't declare a major and took Writing 121 and Business 101 to get my feet wet. I was nervous as all hell for the first week or so, then I began to get in my groove. This was also where my relationship was hitting major hitches, and ironically, where I really feel I started coming to life.

At mid-term I was full of confidence, and owned whatever room I was in. In writing I was one of the top, and certainly the biggest of the class, sparking debate and not backing down from challenges (She even had me teach one day). Business, on the other hand, I hated. It was a horrible class, and I could barely stand it, but I wasn't going to quit. In fact, my team's presentations where consistently the best each week, having only fallen below 100% once. I finished the term with a perfect 4.0 GPA and many compliments from teacher and student alike. I never felt so good about myself.

During the course of all this I had really come into my own. I started embracing my tastes, buying clothes that I wanted. The same clothes I may have been too embarrassed to wear earlier. Fully shedding the shame of being a dork that was loaded onto me through years of horrible schools (causing my eventual drop out), I became myself, and I realized, that I can do things for myself. I went into college doing it for my girlfriend, and I finished the term for me. I have finally become important enough to myself to want to do things for....myself. It's always been someone else, and I finally realized it doesn't have to be. I'm still doing what I can to put myself in a good position for an eventual family, but I am also doing it because I want to, and that's the difference.

Another thing I found out is that Oregon school credits wont transfer to other states. This dashed plans made to have Rob move up, we both get our AAs, then relocate back to Texas to get BAs. So another plan was formed, I move down, get settled, and do all of my college in Texas. Plans were soon set into motion and before I knew it, I had nothing holding me back. This is when the realization that I'd really be leaving set in.

I have lived near my family all my life. I am very close to them and love them all dearly, despite our differences. To move out of home would be big in itself, but halfway across the country? Just a tad scary. I had to do it though. If I backed out, it would be yet another thing I'd wish I had gone through with. Even if it failed miserably, I'd have given it a shot.

So after many impossibly hard goodbyes (and one LONG drive), here I am, somewhere in east Texas, writing this while sitting in Rob's comfy computer chair and drinking all his Pepsi. From here on out it is an adventure. My adventure, and I intend to make the most of it. Good things are coming my way, I will see to that.