David's Tangled Thoughts

"Is it me or do I smell like cheetos?" [sniff] "Yeah, you smell like cheetos. What'd ya do, spill 'em?" "No. I haven't had them in a long time." (So long, that I don't even remember the last time.) "Don't know what to tell you. It's not like you stink or anything." "Yeah, but if I'd have to smell like somthing edible, I wouldn't want it to be Cheetos." "What would you want it to be?" "Don't know. Something lickable." "I'm not going to the Lion's Den* with you." *It's an adult shop.

...I have changed my name. Just for fun after reading this post.

Are you aware of the song, “How to Save a Life” by The Fray? I recently downloaded it. It expresses what I feel about a friend who I wish made better choices. To an extent it can apply to two friends. Now they are both largely out of my life which is good for me. Yet, I still wish we could still walk together. I wish I knew what I could have done for them. “How to Save a Life” by The Fray Step one you say we need to talk He walks you say sit down it's just a talk He smiles politely back at you You stare politely right on through Some sort of window to your right As he goes left and you stay right Between the lines of fear and blame And you begin to wonder why you came Where did I go wrong, I lost a friend Somewhere along in the bitterness And I would have stayed up with you all night Had I known how to save a life Let him know that you know best Cause after all you do know best Try to slip past his defense Without grant

It’s 2:30 am as I draft this but I have just woken up from a rather interesting dream. I dreamt of reading a blog post that you wrote. In reality, you didn’t write this post but believe me, for a few seconds after waking up, I was thinking how to respond to you. Understand that if I see a posting at the end of my night, I’ll quite often wait until the next day to post a response. So what I did wasn’t terribly out of the ordinary. The fact that I dreamt of a phantom blog post—of all things—and the fact that I was already forming a comment for it, is. [Enter in the standard I-realize-this-is-not-you disclaimer.] So basically, the post asked why anyone watched football. It was complete with many of the things that make your posts rather unique in comparison to the others I read. There were names and terms in bold, smart little side comments, and even a picture to some film that I have never even heard of but I’m sure rocked. Apparently, my subconscious also made up a little biographical i

I passed a sports car on my way back home today. It was small and low to the ground and it reminded me of a Ferrari. Okay--first of all it's stupid to drive one of those in this part of the state. But what really got me was that this guy was driving 47-48 in a 55mph zone. Which really means he should have been driving 60 along with the rest of us.

I have been thrown for a loop and I don't know where I am. What the hell happened? The Spartans owned the Irish and then it all went to hell. It's gotta be some kind of MSU curse where we will start on strong and then shoot ourselves in the foot. This story is getting way too familiar. Still, I refuse to give credit to Notre Dame. As Erin said so well, "Notre Dame didn't win that game. State lost it." Well, here's hoping that the Spartans got a kick in the ass because great opportunities for redemption are coming up with Ohio State and UofM.

Go State!

Three posts in one day? Whoo, I'm on a roll! Credit needs to go to my old coworker, Donnie, who showed me a new Facebook group. It is an edited down list. I've been gone so long that I don't get some of the references. My old bones are groaning! :-P You know you go to Michigan State University if... - You worry about being tear gassed during March Madness - You've had a dish of ice cream from the largest sundae you've ever seen - Even though it's -10 degrees outside, you're still not wearing a coat to the bar - You hit a duck/squirrel/person on your bike - You enjoy watching other people hit a duck/squirrel/person on their bikes - Midnight scream is the highlight of your exam week - You're a master at understanding broken English because of your TA - You've taken a tractor ride around campus - Ernie the can man was your friend - Brody Complex, you either love it or hate it - You've had to close one eye while taking a test - You play beer pong at

I am beginning to hate TV. I used to have it all the time. If I had a block of free time, I found a program that I would be interested in watching. If I didn't, I had it on as background noise. Lately, I've been getting a little apathetic about it. There aren't any new shows on this year that I am going to watch. At this point, I couldn't even tell you what's new this year. Then there are some shows that I may give up on because they aren't grabbing me like they used to. The Amazing Race : Eh, it's alright but I'm not compelled to see what happens next. None of the teams stand out and I have to deal with Dad's snippy remarks about the lesbian daughter or the gay couple. How I Met Your Mother : It took me about five minutes before I realized that I did not want to waste seven years (less or more depending how their show goes) of my life watching these people try to make a relationship. No interest in a multi -year are-they-gonna-get-together a

The stray cats that have been with us all spring and summer have been taken care of. I think my mom is actually upset and I'd be lying if I said I was completely okay with it. Dad set up a trap and took them away one by one. All I heard was that he let the first one loose somewhere near Eau Claire. Personally, I would have euthanized them instead of dropping them off in the middle of nowhere. Yes, Eau Claire people, you live in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, I don't give them much of a chance of surviving with the first freeze fast approaching. There's an animal shelter that euthanizes stray cats for free and I think it would been more humane to do that than let them suffer a slow death with winter.

I got a message back from the probate court. The job went to someone else. This felt like my best shot in a long time. *Sigh* On to the next one...

I found another interesting meme type thingie. It's a little different than the ones I usually come across and I thought it was kind of cool. Hat tip to Patrick . Because I'm always up for posting embarassing things about myself, I decided to give it a go. Feel free to judge me based on the music I listen to. (Thank God, the more embarassing stuff didn't come up.) Here's how it works: For some reason, Hollywood has decided that the story of your life MUST be told. Of course, all good movies need a soundtrack... Open your music player (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, etc), or mp3 player. Put it on shuffle. Press play. For every question type the song that's playing. When you go to a new question press the next button (you can't skip more than once - no cheating!). See if your soundtrack will go platinum....or not. The Soundtrack of My Life Opening Credits: “Bolero” by Canadian Brass Waking Up: "Rain" by Madonna Falling in Love: "This Is How a

I've got a MySpace account but I don't use it too often. I don't have many friends. The friends that I do have are old farts that would rather use their phones for actual phone calls than text, and whose familiarity with the internet is limited to mostly email and porn. J/K. Occassionally I get a message from the MySpace site that tells me that someone is requesting me to join some group. Lately, I've been getting this over and over: Hi David, You have been invited to join the sexies on live webcams group on MySpace. Love to but trust me, you don't want to see any of this . *shudder* :-P

I got word not too long ago that Tatay (my maternal grandfather) died a few days ago. Technically, he was my lolo but I have always called my lola (grandmother) and my lolo (grandfather) nanay and tatay respectively. Nanay is “mother” in tagalog and tatay is “father.” My cousins also refer to them that way as well. I don’t want to speak ill of the dead but his passing has not affected me in the slightest. I don’t think there was ever a time where I loved him. Nanay, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. I love her as much as Grandma even though we live on opposite sides of the globe, go years between seeing each other, and hardly ever communicate. I really can’t explain why I had no relationship with my tatay. At least, I can’t come up with one that totally tells the whole story. I suppose it has a lot to do with the fact that he just wasn’t there for me. In the late 80’s my dad was stationed in the Philippines where we lived close to my mother’s relatives. My mom died

UofM came to Notre Dame and gave them one of the biggest spankings I have ever heard. Sadly, because of work, I could not see the actual game but I did listen to it on the radio. (If my boss asks, I will deny it.) The game ended 47-21. Still PO'd about the Sparty Sucks shirt, I wasn't sure who I wanted to support. They both could have lost and I would have been happy. Quite honestly, I'm a little nervous for us Spartans. Notre Dame will be coming to East Lansing with their asses on fire. Not only will they have something to prove from Saturday's game but they will be out for revenge for what happened to them last year. Although MSU is undefeated so far, they haven't been playing against really great teams. No offense to Eastern and Idaho.

Along with Fox Trot, Baby Blues is one of my favorite comics. 31 Aug 2006 @ Baby Blues

<<--See also: Walk towards the light. My financial problems aren't solved yet, but things are at least looking up. I went up to St. Joe to take a typing test for an application to the probate court. While I was confident that I would make the minimum requirements, I blew it out of the water! I think I have a pretty good application package and I am hoping for a call soon. I talked to a loan officer about settling my car repair bill. At first it looked like I was going to have another hundred something dollar bill a month. With a little searching, we eventually got to plan that halved the payments and lowered the interest rate by 4%. I have to go back in and secure the deal next week. My paycheck was about $150 more than I was expecting it to be. I knew that I had put in a few more hours than usual, but that was still a little a much. Turns out I got the raise that I was supposed to have gotten months ago. Still pissed about the delay, but I'm so glad to have it no

I haven't had bugles in what seems like forever. I'm a little sad that they no longer fit on my fingers. No more witch nails/claws for me!

I think that Washington D.C. may be the top city when it comes to retarded politics but Chicago has got to come in second. God knows I love that city but sometimes… Here are a few nuggets that I pulled from the Chicago Tribune : Governor Ryan Former Governor George Ryan corruption conviction landed him a sentence of 6 ½ years in prison. Apparently I wasn’t the only one that thought he got off light. So, kudos to the attorney general who is now going after Gov. Ryan’s pension. Don’t expect me to shed any tears as his $200,000 a year pension is ripped away from him. Someone in the Ryan camp, I believe it was his lawyer, conceded that part of Gov. Ryan’s pension was able to be taken away but not all of it could. The governor’s corruption conviction stems from his time as governor and as secretary of state. They contend that he should be allowed to keep the benefits he earned during his service as a state legislator and as lieutenant governor. The attorney general said nope. She wants it a

Lately it seems like my world has been going to hell. With my feet crapping out on me, my job being more trouble than it's worth, my car dying and whole new financial problems presenting themselves, I can see why people are tempted to run away. If I could do it, I'd make a run for Canada. Tomorrow I will be going in for a typing test and seeing a loan officer. I am praying that I can get this deputy clerk position which would pay a helluva lot more than I'm making now. With any luck, no one else is going for the position. As for the loan officer, I am also hoping that I can come out with a loan-- one that is reasonable at least. So think good thoughts people. Lord knows I need all the help that I can get. I don't know if it's the drugs but I'm doing a lot better in walking. So I think I'll cling that ray of hope which indicates my luck may be changing.

This was the editorial for the State News today: Less freedom, more fear Sept. 11, 2001, changed everything. Five years later, don't stay the course. Vote for change Nov. 7. Yes, that was all. I am completely outraged. That is not an editorial. It's a bumper sticker. If students are going to be putting together a paper, they have to put in more substance than that. Do your jobs.

<<--See Also: My 9-11 There's going to be a lot of other blog posts about 9-11 today. Like last year, I thought about making a long post but I can never bring myself to do it. Nothing seems to come out the way I'd like it to. While a great many of us will take time to remember the dead, I want to take a moment and pray for those who live on.

<<--See Also: Where's My Saw? and Ouch! Damn It. Whatever I did to my left foot has now been done to the right foot. For the first time, my right foot is going all to hell. I'm wondering if I am running wrong and that may be causing it. But if that's true, why didn't this happen when I was running for the Air Force? My Dad said that I might have diabetes but I tend to doubt that as I don't have a problem with my energy levels.

I honestly like the 35-40 minute commute to work. Although it might scare fellow drivers sharing the road, I use the time to get into the zone or... zone out. Plus, I like driving in general.

I am getting sick of listening to the radio station at work. Most of the time, I have no problem but a few songs are repeatedly coming up. KT Tunstall's "Black Horse & The Cherry Tree" Panic! At The Disco's "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" Justin Timberlake's "Sexy Back" Yeah, those three songs and probably a few more that I can't identify right now, are simply over played in addition to being sucky . But I think it's funny that I can't get enough of this one rap song. And I hate rap! It's "Chain Hang Low" by Jibbs . It's based on the childhood song, "Do Your Ears Hang Low" do your chain hang low do it wobble to da flo do it shine n n the light iz it platinum iz it gold could u throw it ov'r ya shoulda if ya hott it make ya cold do your chain hang low Delightful.

My car died. Yesterday I took it to the service center to have it repaired, hoping that it was only a couple hundred dollars of damage. What a dream that was. Twenty-five hundred dollars! TWENTY-FIVE. I spent a little more than twice that for the damn car! I got the call this morning and the service guy started rattling off everything that was wrong with it. To tell you the truth, I can't remember what he said--only what it would cost. I wanted to throw up. Where was I going to come up with that kind of cash? And then he did the recommended inspection, wheel balancing, etc. At that point I thought, "What the hell, what's a couple hundred dollars more?" So now, I have to decide whether to get a bank loan first or just put it on the credit card. Now how's this for coincidence? My mom's car is currently being serviced as well. So she and I are fighting for my sister's car. We are driving each other around hoping that are schedules don't get

Apparently, I haven't been getting comments because there is some glitch preventing alpha bloggers and beta bloggers from commenting one each other's blogs using their login info. That is the reason why I'm feeling so lonely.... right ?

Taken from Herb's blog . 1. What is the middle name of the first person you ever slept with? I'm a virgin! 2. What kind of underwear are you wearing and what color? navy-blue boxers 3. What is the song you want played at your funeral? I don't want a funeral. Burn me and dump my ashes into Lake Michigan. 4. Would you tell your parents if you're gay? At this point, no. But there's still time. 5. What would your last meal be before getting executed? A tub full of lumpia 6. Beatles or Stones? Oh, I don't know. I guess the Beatles. 7. If you had to pick one person on earth who should die who would you pick? Kim Jung Il 8. Beer, wine or hard liquor? Give me the liquor! I assume that getting drunk is the goal here? 9. Do you have any phobias? Balloons. Can you believe it? It's crazy. The thought of popping balloons makes me want to scream my head off. 10. What are your plans for the future? Go back to school, rack up even more debt, get a decent job, and hop

I woke up to the news that the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin , has died. I'll give you a guess as to what he died from. Alright--It wasn't by crocodile. But, it was by stingray. (I've never heard of anyone dying by stingray before.) Read the story here . Read John's take on it here and here . Figures he'd get to it before I did. I remember when I was in the Philippines. I met this guy also named David who was a student from Australia (actually, he was a student at the University of London .) At first I thought he was a Brit. So we start talking about our home countries and I brought up Steve Irwin. At the time the Crocodile Hunter was big in the States. I saw his face drop and he let out a loud grown. Had I said something wrong? Yup. Apparently, he's not as appreciated in Australia. I found that funny. Sure, Irwin was over the top but he's not someone to be embarrassed over. He's no Tom Cruise or anything. Stingray, huh? That sucks.

It's late. I've just returned home from work and I'm catching the last moments of the ND-GA Tech game. With about 10 minutes left of play it is 14-10 Notre Dame. Now normally, I would be a little happy about the lead and cheering on to increase it, but I'm a little ticked. It's not really directed towards Notre Dame but to some of their students. I was eating dinner when I saw one of the students wearing a shirt. SPARTY SUCKS 09/23/06 PAYBACK'S A BITCH My, oh my. They are sure are angry little bitches aren't they? I'm pretty sure it's a reference to when MSU beat ND. Sparty took the opportunity to plant the MSU flag on ND turf. It caused quite the stir. 09/23/06 hasn't arrived yet. This guy may have to eat his shirt. Sure Notre Dame is currently #2 in the nation, but that may not last for long! Today's MSU vs. Idaho game ended 27-17 with MSU pulling off the win. It wasn't a high profile game so I wasn't able to follow

When I read something, I have an odd habit of remembering small insignificant details. I could forget the characters, plot, or even the name of the book and yet I will remember this one thing. I remember one of my professors saying something to the effect of, "Details do not belong in a story if it's not relevant." Perhaps I fixate on the mistakes of writers without realizing it. The other day I was shopping through Meijer picking up food stuff. In the soup section, my eye was stopped by "a distinctive yellow can." I finally saw a can of Habitant pea soup. I was so excited that I took a picture. So you're probably wondering why I'm going on over a can of soup. Well, it must have been over a year ago when I came across an internet story that talked about it. --I know what some of you are thinking and you can stop right there! It wasn't one of those stories. Anyways, it was something that I always remembered and seeing it in the store brought the who

My hometown, Niles , is known as The City of Four Flags. Namely because it is the only location in Michigan to have been ruled by four countries: France, Great Britain*, Spain, and The United States of America. The city flies period flags of France, Great Britain, and Spain as they officially looked during each country’s holding of Fort St. Joseph . The U.S. flag is flown in its current design—fifty stars. In the South Bend Tribune, an article reported of a gentleman named Bob Ahrens who would like Niles to begin flying the period flag of the U.S. as it was during its control of the fort. That flag would be the thirteen stars. His argument is that if Niles was consistent with its displays, it should fly the thirteen star flag instead of the fifty star. This is based on what the flags should have looked like when flown at Fort St. Joseph. In the article, Carol Bainbridge, the director of the Fort St. Joseph Museum, said that it was highly unlikely that the thirteen star flag was flown