Etdlahq Memorial Bar - your shelter from forum crashes

I'm quite tired.

Sunday was pwn. Had a nice day shopping with the lady, got her a new pair of boots, broadband, and a contract mobile phone. I got some sneakers and a couple of small things I needed. Went to this really nice Italian place we'd never been before. In the evening we helped the future father-in-law move stuff around the pub ready for painting and decorating, which I did today and will do again tomorrow.

It's nice to get up early and do some manual labour, for a friend. It's nice to see my work pay off. It's nice to have a huge Subway as a reward.

Watched 'I Love You, Man'. It was worth the wait, SO funny.

Life is good. Really good.
 
It's a paid holiday, so I'm just starting to drink at noon. Hey bartender... una cerveza, por favor. Dos Equis. Gracias.

edit: Jeebus. I'm totally spoiler-ing this. It's huge.

Glad to hear you're content, FastE! More...

Ever since you finished up all your course work, seems like you've been about 1000% better. It's awesome.

And speaking of awesome. I was super psyched to see such positive remarks from you concerning some of the songs I've been posting recently. Being the humble hermit-type that I am, making true connections with people are occurrences that happen too few and far between. And music has generally been the way for me.

It was first back in school bands. I usually didn't like the songs we played too much, but when everyone's feelin' good and you're getting into it, it doesn't matter if you're rockin' the house or making mistakes every other measure. You just get this collective vibe, and everything's all groovy. I think that's why I posted that jazz stuff yesterday...

My old best buddy was a drummer in those bands, and he was the only person in my life with whom I shared a musical interest. We were basically brothers, we were so close. I'm relatively quiet; he was a drummer, so the more he talked the more we got into trouble. But when we'd skip school or take trips to the nearest "city" thirty miles away, he'd throw on some CD in his car and we'd have these incredible times. He'd be banging out complicated rhythms on the steering wheel and I'd be playing a faux synth on the dashboard, and we didn't need words. All we needed was three or four beloved albums and our day couldn't possibly turn out bad.

So when you've been saying that you're digging my music, I can't help but picture you nodding your head and getting into the beats. For me, when music brings people together, there's hardly anything greater. So it meant a lot when you said those nice things. Thank you. And BTW, the stuff you'd been posting was a little infectious. I went from Weird Science, to that German track, and then John Peel... and I immediately reached for my iPod to listen to some DJ Irene, the queen of hard house. I was bangin' at work. Felt good.
[/bromance]

And to you and JayGun, thanks for the comments about my new 'tar. More..
I had originally been thinking of a scene from Time Crisis 2 where a helicopter blows up and the screen washes to an orangey-red, but when it was mini-sized it was pretty incomprehensible. So I went with something that actually represents me: a guy who gets in trouble only when he opens his mouth. I was debating which pic to use, so I decided to go with the open-mouth theme, what with both FastE's and JayGun's avatars having them. But then two days later JayGun changes his! Ruined! :crazyeyes:

One last thing. Anyone into the nerdcore scene and/or know MC Frontalot? You a fan of Penny Arcade and know their credits? I think he and his crew played between sets at this year's Blizzcon. More...
Small world, but I just found out in some crazy serendipitous way that his bass player, Blak Lotus, aka Brandon Patton, is a dude I met about a decade ago. Long story short, my drummer buddy and I were invited to go see this Massachusetts band record some songs for their (then) new album. We spent the day, chilled, drank beer. I saw a couple of their shows, have both their albums, and I love their sound... indie rock stuff. They never got off the ground and broke up in 2000. Just the other day, I was in a major department store, and I heard one of the songs from their 1999 album playing over the loudspeaker. Internet searches later, turns out Brandon's been doing kind of well for himself, even got himself nominated as a finalist for Indie Artist of the Year in '04. And as a side project, he's the bassist for the grandfather of this new nerdcore scene. Such a tiny little world.

...And for the record, I'm only a half beer in. I've had a lot to say lately and no time to say it. :coffee:

Okay, back to Spy Hunter. Difficult to do a single segment, but strangely the first half of the game went pretty smoothly. I even managed to do the impossible stage seven perfectly on the first try and was only three seconds away from achieving near god-like status. I'll start recording my runs so I can watch and learn ad nausem.

edit2: Dos mas, por favor. I gotta get to drinking a little harder before the need for sleep kicks in. Heh, the new game from EA: Need For Sleep.

Just beat Spy Hunter for the second time, and there are only two levels where I didn't achieve a fast enough time to unlock cheats. ...There were a TON of level restarts in the last six levels just to complete all missions, but it was fast. This is coming together pretty quickly, surprisingly. How long will it be before I can string all fourteen stages together, though? That's a tough one to answer...

:guiness: Drinking and driving. I don't condone it, but I'm doin' it! :grin:
 
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*slides another dosuckies to to TRM, and grabs a LongHammer*

Glad to hear the Spy Hunter progress is going well, TRM! Keep it up.

I've been hunting apartments on C's list for friggen hours and my eyes have started to bleed. Click a link, look at pics, look up address on GMaps, look at exterior on GMaps, no A/C units visible, return to CList. Click a link, look at pics, realize it's yet another advertisement for yet another paid apartment locator service (paid by me, not the renter), curse, click back button. Rinse. Repeat endlessly.

I need beer. In about an hour I'll need to prep the chicken and stick it on the grill.

I need to be careful not to drink too much though. Tomorrow's a big day:
The minimum: get subaru inspected in TX, get title transfered, get tags/license plates.
The medium: above + get TX drivers license.
Teh maximum (which will likely not happen): visit a free apartment locator (paid by owner/leasing company) and hope for an easy time finding a rockin apartment in a decent, safe area near a good beer bar, with (preferably) cable internet available.
 
I wish you luck for tomorrow. The one apartment locator I've used in town here was actually really good. ...She was a loon and a spacecase, but her results were pretty impeccable. You may luck out and find something that you're really excited about. I think craigslist is pretty useless; the photos are misleading, and whatever info they're telling you will be better put by someone who's been in the business a long time. If you can, look for a locator that's been around for years and has their toe in tons of places. They know best.

...And yeah, I know I drink crap beer. I drink so seldomly almost anything works. ...ALMOST. At least it's not Bud or Milwaukee Beast.

What can I get ya? <wipes down the bar>
 
Well, I'll have another longhammer. . . and no worries about the beer. I actually have no problem with Dos, as long as it's got a bit of lime and salt in. It's just that I grew up calling it DoSuckies, and never shook it. No offense, for sure.

And thanks for the notes on apartment locators. I had great luck with the CList on LI. . . but there it's mostly people posting about apartments in their basement/garage. There, there's not really the culture of massive faceless apartment complexes that we have here in TX. So CL is quite a bit less useful than I hoped. Oh well.

So the Chick is prepared (sliced garlic and ginger stuffed in the cavity and in various slits that I cut in the fatty parts; salt/pepper; and will be basted with lemon juice), and I'm about to go stick it on the grill for 1.5 hours+. Good times.
 
Isn't Spy Hunter a classic game that had no end? You just kept driving until you ran out of lives or something, or am I mistaken? Would you mind posting a vid or something?
 
The version you're talking about is the old school one made in 1983 (this one's a good run since it shows the boat part, too). There was also Super Spy Hunter for the NES in something like 1990. I owned it and it was much better, IMO, because there were set stages and boss fights. It was challenging and different, but it was really fun.

The one I'm talking about is this one. 3D world but still a glorified rail shooter. The game's design is more to frustrate than to punish. You rarely die unless you're stupid, but missing an objective because you forget where a side path is located is much more common.

I haven't tried SH2 yet. Don't want to distract myself.
 
Finished day two of two painting the girlfriend's dad's bar. It was so much fun, and so much better than Mickey D's, but very hard work.

Time to relax: Just got my PC XBOX controller through the post. I'm going to play NFS: Underground 2 through my TV on Hard, using only the Peugeot 106 (first selectable car - i.e. the worst). It's one way to waste an evening at least. Might see about a beer run to join TRM's drunk driving. Thanks for the brolove BTW dude! The feeling's mutual.
 
@TRM: that new Spy Hunter looks pretty fun-ish. I played the hell out of the original (on my Nintendo), and have some memory of the boat portion, but don't think I ever lasted more than an hour or so. . . meh.

@FE: I love house/business painting. Good times. And I'm glad things are still going well with the lady.

@pkm: I rocked Centipede too. . . and Space Invaders. . . Ahhh, the 80s and early 90s, hanging out at the mall while my dad was at work, plunking probably thousands of dollars worth of quarters into various machines at the arcade. The memories. Yuck: I'm glad that's over. :D


Well, I just got back from the Plate place and the Driver's License place. Plate place was ludicrously efficient and fast: in and out with new plates and a registration sticker in under 10 minuts. The Driver's license place, not so much. . . 2+ hours to go from #A003 (when I came in) to #A038 (my number): jeez.

But I had forgotten how much I like the DMV. It's a great melting pot. Everyone who drives needs a license. To get a license, you have to go to the DMV. So you get to see a huge cross-section of people there: all colors, shapes, sizes and ages; with bulging pockets and empty wallets; babies & small children with their mothers, high school kids getting their first DL, recent immigrants, on and on. It's really great to look around and see all the people together, united behind a common goal. Mind you, it would be nice if said goal had something to do with the greater good, but still. It's really nice. Good times.

So I'm gonna have a brief nap, then do some job hunting, and then I'll be ready for a beer. So ice me down an Arrogant Bastard. I'll be back for it in a jiffy!



Edit: Well the nap wasn't that brief. So job hunting will wait for the morrow. It's now Arrogant Bastard time! :guiness:
 
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Cheap beer :guiness: Eww...

Spent most of the evening conversing with scottee about v1.09b HF rushing as a duo. I'm sure he won't mind me telling everyone, and if he does, then... that's not what we were doing... :crazyeyes: Finally got a working install of v1.09b with the modified DLL after much :banghead: (both PC and PEBCAK related). I'm excited about all these haXX r00nZ, although it'll detract from y SWAT4 and NFSU2 questing.

Girlfriend is enjoying teacher training, she'll be 9-5 all week, so I have my daytimes free for... stuff (lurking/D2/driving). I'm seeing my big sis next week which I'm excited about, as I haven't been outside Devon in over two years. There's also tattoos and comedy gigs upcoming, w00t! :thumbsup:

Seeing my sister for the week does mean I miss a work's meal for the managers as a reward for 'hard work' over the summer, at some generic pub/restaurant chain. I don't like most of the people that will be there, especially the gf's best friend, and shop talk bores me so much, I've heard 95% of all possible McJob conversations after eight years. Perhaps it's best I'm not going.

Nice story about the DMV, JSG. You deserve good things. GL with apartment hunting, as with everything you do in life.

[/optimism]

I'll have a draft Grolsch please, unless you do Tsing Tao.
 
Thanks for the well-wishes, FE! I need all the optimistic thoughts I can get! And here's a Tsing Tao and a draft Grolsch: time to exercise your Akido skills with a little double-fisting. :D And best to your sister, for sure.

And mominem are having a heavy honking pasta dish for dinner tonight, so I reheated some of yesterday's chicken. "2 minute warning" says the stepdad. We all assemble, I plate my chicken and sit down at the table. "Eff!" he says. "What the Eff! It's still ice cold?!?!?!!!1?" I pick up my chicken, stick it into the micro to keep warmish, and crack another Arrogant Bastard.

I intended to lay off after the first, or switch to weaker, smaller, lighter IPAs, but eff it.

Good times are in store for all!



Well, the stepdad was a complete and total ahole during dinner, and I called him on it, picked up my plate, washed up the dishes, and told him where to go and what to do once he got there. Shame on me for letting my emotions get the best of me, but my fragile ego will not allow disrespect or implications that I 1) don't know what I'm talking about; 2) am unqualified to speak about whatever it is I may be talking about; or 3) that I do not always act with the upmost courtesy and respect, unless and until I am disrespected. So I went outside and thought about my behavior for awhile, pounded an Arrogant Bastard, listened to some various tunes on the pod, went inside to fetch a fresh beer and apologize for my bad behavior. I received a half-hearted apology for his huge and completely inappropriate disrespect, which I accepted with an equal amount of half-heartedness. Good times.

And that calls for yet another Arrogant Bastard! But it appears that I'm presently out of Arrogant Bastards (the stepdad has gone to bed, and I'm too drunk to be particularly arrogant) so I'll have a . . . LongHammer. Yum.

Thanks for reading my aggravations, bar! and Cheers! :guiness:
 
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Jay: When I need optimistic thoughts I listen to Everybody's Free To Wear Sunscreen, and also Drops of Jupiter (but that's mainly about the gf).

My driving lesson tired me out, and I have 'clutch foot'. I'll have ONE beer before chores, v1.09b levelling and aikido.
 
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EMB at page 2?! Come on people, that's not very impressive.

Okay, if I'm having a sober time in RL, can I drink virtual alcohol? :P Naah, just a Red Bull for me, gotta get my sleeping rhythm confused again, night shifts coming up after one day off from work.

All the time I have free now, I'm going to spend with NHL2K9 Wii. Even I don't have a good TV yet, it's heck of fun. Fighting is awesome, you actually have to hit the opponent :) Maybe a bit more of that right now! ->
 
Well, I need a Dew.

I did make it to Pilot Mountain yesterday, after a journey of some 22 miles, but just as I reached the ranger station/visitor's center thingy at the base I looked at my computer and realized I had to be somewhere in an hour and 15 minutes. Considering it took me 2 hours to get there, it was going to be...special if I were to make it back on time.


But I did! It hurt, damn did it hurt, but I did it. I literally couldn't walk afterwards though, I just collapsed in a chair and didn't move for a long time. My legs were burning, my knees wouldn't work right, and even my hands were covered in blisters. My lungs gave me stabbing pain every time I inhaled, and my eyes hurt from squinting to see through my sweat-soaked sunglasses. But I made it. The worst part is that I didn't actually get to try the mountain, so I will have to do it all again. And I really don't want to.
 
Acer+Preinstalled ****= Enraged frenzied lone_wolf

Acer+preinstalled ****+asking for drivers when trying to install a clean windows vista install+not finding the drivers on the burned drivers dvd made for exactly that reason+dvd not even findable when you browse for the drivers location+no dvd drive found at all despide its physical existance=Enraged Frenzied Insane lone_wolf that will most likely verbaly **** support come tomorrow then lone_wolf will verbaly behead support persons boss and burn the carcass in insults.

The lone_wolf will demand that they give lone_wolf a new computer without their preinstalled **** that now possess my computer and refuses to be killed by normal reinstallation from a normal windows vista disc.

Lone_wolf will give his school mates at the It management course a chance to fix before lone_wolf storms the store where he brough the laptop.

For the record im pissed REALLY PISSED good thing i own a punching bag
 
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