Straight Edge Life

Too damn cool. Got a call last night from my friend Thor Prichard at around 9:40 or so. He tipped me off that BPE (Boogie Patrol Express) was playing at the WOW hall. So I hopped off my ass and cruised on down to the show. $5 cover. I stepped inside and it was like a flashback to Spring Fest of ‘92 at South Eugene High School. It was evil cold outside so I had to wait a good 20 minutes for my lenses to defog before I could take photos. By that time BPE broke before the second set and I proceeded to wander. Ran into a few folk but saw far fewer familiar faces than I expected. I guess BPE gained a much wider audience than just the class of ‘91, ‘92, and ‘93. Dustin Lanker was there. We chatted for a bit. Damn good to see Dustin actually. Heron Marychild, Toby K. (yeah, I forgot how to spell his last name). Dana Ledford. The entire original band members from BPE and a bunch of girls I don’t remember the names of. It was a good time.

“I hate regrets more than apologies”

– NOFX

The ONLY thing that really bums me about about the Blade franchise is that they don’t play up any of the warm sexy renaissance character typically prescribed to vampire genre movies. They’ve hit on the goth, industrial modern aspects of it. And they do that bit pretty damn well. But for as much as I like the Blade series I’d love to see at least some sort of tip of the hat to some of the better aspects of past vampire flicks. Namely, the atmospheric flavor. What ever happened to the power of the vampire to seduce? What is a vampire without sex appeal and sexual power? Now forget the fact that Jessica Biel is insanely sexy. She definitely kicks the sexy factor up simply by breathing, walking and… you get the picture. But she’s not a vampire. And she’s not trying to be sexy or to use her sexiness to defeat, overwhelm, or direct the enemy (pick one), she actually tries to make it a non-issue.

Outside of the sadly sexless atmosphere I really liked this movie. I’m a big fan of Ryan Reynolds. Wesley Snipes is tight in his third role as Blade. Ever developing that bad ass attitude to a honed point. The plot is about as feasible as you can expect from a vamp flick and the dynamics between those two and Biel are good fun. The movie is quite funny at times. I don’t have many complaints. I’d see it again. And I’d recommend you see it. Whether or not you like vampire movies.

Picked up a new client this week. It’s a fairly sizable project with a cool group of folks in a couple of buildings downtown. I’d have a nice space to work in and very open minds when it comes to new technology. Definitely the kind of thing that could take a lot of research, planning and work. Months of it. So this is good. Really good actually. And it’s probably really good to start another big project immediately after finishing another one. I’ll take what I learned from my mistakes and try to prevent them from happening again. I’ll take a lot of the stuff I learned about working inside a larger organization and put that stuff to use. It’s kinda funny because my last project was a big headache at times and I was always saying “damn, I’m going to do this differently next time” or “what the hell was I thinking when I let that happen?”. Now I guess I’m getting my chance. And it’s hip too because the data I’ll be working with is very sensitive and I’ll get to work with people who really respect security. Good times. And it may be weight off my shoulders financially if all goes well.

The man next to me is a giant. Small in physical stature but stunning in his enormous and obvious paranoia. I would say it’s speed, or espresso considering the context, but I’m not so sure. I think it’s real. Over his shoulder he looks again and again. At me, at the women in front of him. And especially at the german couple swapping architectural design ideas diagonally from his left.

I’m trying to work but watching him out of the corner of my eye is much more interesting. I wonder if I ought to snap a shot with my camera phone. That might tip him over the edge. That’s all I need, right? Getting my ass whooped or coffee thrown on me by this little dude in the blue parachute pants. Where in the heck did he get those anyway? I thought they had all biodegraded from all the crusties rubbed on them during the 80’s.

All told, today has been an interesting day. Woke up sorta early in my hideously uncomfortable bed. A lingering sign of my indecision about where and how to live. I’ve got a dangerously comfortable king size left over from my divorce at my dad’s place. But crashing there just seems wrong when I’m 29. Enough said. I can crash on my couch, and often do. But the texture of the thing makes me look like a human wicker chair when I wake up in the morning. Not to mention it smells a bit odd since I went to Reno. I’m wondering if Josie caught a mouse and stashed it under a cushion or something. I should check on that. So the day started early. Got woken up by strong winds doing their best to rip the roof off my apartment. From there I sorta rolled out of bed and got myself ready for the day.

Ok. I admit that’s not all that interesting. Actually it’s rather boring. I guess I’m feeling good enough these days that waking up doesn’t really suck anymore. I’m convinced that with all the changes in my diet, physical exercise increases, and forced changes in my perspective on life, the universe and everything, I don’t mind getting up in the morning. And that, my friends, makes the whole day potentially interesting. Nothing really exciting has happened so far today. Although I am having fun doing my best to keep paranoid guy on his toes.

Why can’t December 8th come soon enough? Blade: Trinity. Oh yeah, that’s right. Anytime a vampire movie comes out, no matter how bad, there is cause for celebration. In this case there’s a lot of cause because Jessica Biel is in it. Good God she’s a cutie.

So hopefully you all will join me in Spirit for that first midnight or matinee show. Lovely.