Some people

Some people would have you believe that the US is in a state of moral decay, that all the jobs are being out sourced, and we react so slowly to natural disaster that surely all of this points to the end of life as we know it.

Yes, I’m being somewhat sensational, but…

That’s all the less time you’ve got to stand around and tell me about how we’re all doomed. I know if I only had “a couple of years” I’d be doing something other than reading about how I only have “a couple of years”. Admit it, no one is really worried. Things will be ok.

Funnier If You’re Me

Shoe on my left hand: I’m a shoe!
Shoe on my right hand: How are you?
Left: I’m good, how are…
Right: WAZZUP!
Me (laughing): OMG you guys are ridiculous!

Flawed Spaghetti

As some of you may know I’m a fan of munching on raw spaghetti as a snack or even a meal sometimes. Tonight I opened a new box to do just that. I pulled out the first ceremonial noodle, and crunched down, only it didn’t feel right. At first I feared my mouth was falling apart more since mere minutes before my temporary tooth popped off after I was chewing on a pen (wtt? why isn’t the real crown on yet?).

Upon examination of the spaghetti it seems that it contained a small fissure, not a hole or a crack that ran the diameter of the noodle, nay, just a small flaw that ran the entire length. That noodle was not alone either. Many more, but not all, shared its problem. It did make the spaghetti easier to chew up, but it was different. I didn’t realize spaghetti consistency was a thing I would ever sit around and contemplate.

Overdue post

I haven’t posted in a while, but it isn’t due to a lack of things to write about. It’s more that many of the things I want to write about are tricky. Work has kept me late as a project or three comes to a head. Needless to say this creates a certain amount of temporary stress and distaste for my position, but such is work, and the good times will resume soon enough.

The girlfriend, Anne C and I are doing well and I visited her last weekend. I would write about all the fun things we did and the neat stuff I learned about Anne, but invariably it wouldn’t come off sounding happy enough or excited enough and someone will assume I didn’t have a blast. Well I’m telling you that I had a rigamorific time and if you want to know what I was up to you should have been there.

Climbing is still on! My arms are gaining definition each time we go out, Kyle and I. I’ve tried twisting the arms of Clint and Jacqui with no luck yet. Next week we’re switching our Tuesday climb to Monday so that we can go fencing at Xavier on Tuesday. I need to get back on the strip before I have to coach at UCC. Speaking of, UCC has their informational fencing meeting on the 29th which I will be attending.

I just watched Constantine, good flick. Needs a sequel. There was also a preview for a crazy animated movie with Keanu, Winona Ryder, and a few other familiar faces. It looked hot and is being put out by WB’s independent film group. I’m sure you could find it on IMDB, but I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

Website May Go Down

On Sept 28th my registration for this domain name, will.read.name will expire. I intend to renew with a GoDaddy since it’s only $10/year instead of the arm and leg over at register.com.

The point is that on the 28th and possibly a day or two after, my website AND email may not work. If you need to email me those days, you may use will.read@gmail.com. Do not add this address to your contact list. It is not permanent, will@read.name is the keeper.

More Climbing

Yesterday was day three of climbing at RockQuest. Kyle and I have gotten into a pretty good rhythm of Tuesday’s and Thursdays. This time around I tried out an alcove. This particular alcove had walls on three sides, and while there were some handholds, they were few and far between and you have to do what the climbing world calls “stemming”. Basically you have to do what you did in the dorm hallways when you wanted to hang out around the ceiling and put one foot on each of the opposing walls, same for your hands, and kind of work your way up. It’s a little easier mentally because you don’t have to think about you foot and hand placement as much. The downside is that if you fall while stemming, there’s nothing to slow you down but the rope and your belay partner.

The upside is that you use a slightly different muscle group, so if your forearms are shot from regular climbing, you can still crank out a stem and then call it a night. So far it’s been all I hoped the climbing would be. I get a good work out, I feel stronger, it’s fun, and it’s been a good bonding experience with Kyle. Last night I even made a few friends while waiting for Kyle to show up. I also just read that Wednesday nights are “ladies nights” where the entry fee is reduced by four bucks. I may have to show up a time or two for that if only to enjoy the “scenery”, lol.

Wedding #1

So yesterday was the wedding of Adrienne S. from my days of being on ASP staff. I knew my other fellow staffers, Brian and Ashley, would be there, but I didn’t think enough to realize there’d be about ten staffers in total and nearly all of them were on staff when I was.

The wedding was nice. I of course got super lost coming down, but I built in two extra hours in my trip for just such an occasion. So I made it in plenty of time and got a seat pretty close to the front. Everyone standing in the wedding looked great, especially Adrienne and I always like the stories the preachers tell at weddings.

I found Brian a few pews back along with his fiancee, Page. I guess he’s out PA now. There was a lot of generic chit chat of “Where are you now?” “What are you doing?”amongst all the staffers outside. But beyond that I really started to feel like it was ASP all over again. What I mean by that is that these are great people, politically and community minded, they all seem to be involved in working for a non-profit or a government agency, and love it passionately. It makes it hard for me to find common ground being a programmer who doesn’t listen to the news nor take much time to address the community around him.

But I danced. Oh man did I dance. I think wedding music is perhaps the best music around. Though I could do without the sharp switching between rock music and slow dances. Play that stuff in clumps. Afterwards I “stole” the punch and went to an after wedding party at the Super 8 and said good bye to everyone. I hope to keep in better touch with those people in the future.

Campout recap

Yeah, third post in under an hour, you’re probably overwhelmed, but it is only fair since I deprived you of posts for over four days. After work Friday Kyle and I headed north to a camp site about an hour away from Columbus. It was a decent enough site, but not quite as magical as our usual spot in Chain O’ Lakes.

I had gone up with some intention of seeing if Anne C wanted to pursue a relationship, but it was a slow and drawn out plan. So much to my surprise (and delight) she catches me off guard and asks me pretty much the same question before I’ve even finished unloading the car! So it was good times from then on out.

The fire was going and the conversation was ripe for a Will so I came in and made sure all the new people knew that there was no line when Will Read was in town. Lots of laughs ensued and we found our way to bed by fire light. The next morning I was up for preparing breakfast. The alleged milk did not make an appearance so I had to run to Walmart to get some (the camp store wasn’t going to open until later and my teats were dry from the milking the night before by your mom *oh snaps!*). So I cooked pancakes one by one and they all got eaten before I could even put ‘em on a plate, no one died, so I guess they were alright.

We broke out the boccie ball and frisbee along with card games and enjoyed some peaceful conversation amongst ourselves. It was different having a baby with us and interesting to get to know new people like Matt and some of the old-new people I met back at OhayoCon last year. I had forgotten to warn Anne and Kyle that you can count on at least 50% of the conversations will revolve around anime, WoW, movie/TV,internet quotes, or some combination thereof. On the upside everyone seemed to get along and common ground was found while everyone shared in their unique experiences.

More food, more sleeping, some alcohol, good company, and then a sad drive back knowing that the next day held work for us all.

Florence Y’All Baseball

I’m usually not a big fan of baseball, but going out to the park was on my list of things to do this summer. So when nick from work called and invited me out I was all for it. Minor league baseball is kinda fun, and the price was right. The seats were close and there was plenty of entertainment between innings to keep your attention. There was even goofy stuff like a beer batter, where if he struck out, beer was just a buck.

What was more important was the chance to socialize with work people outside of a work environment. Yeah Nick and I cut up at lunch and carpooling pretty well, but I got to meet his whole family and chat with his wife a bit. It’s always fascinating to see the other sides of people, and it feels good to show off another side of myself.

It also felt warm to be invited out to stuff. Between this and rock climbing I was a social butterfly. A lot of times back at Purdue I felt like I had to organize a lot of the gatherings because I was the “old guy”, and it’s nice for a change to just show up and for people to be excited I’m there as opposed to my presence being expected. I really like this life of mine and the friends that I’m making.

Climb On!

Tonight I went rock climbing with Kyle (aka Whitey) and good times were had by all. The place is RockQuest on the upper east side of Cinci putting it not too far from Salle Du Lion. I signed up for the monthly membership for a mere $50/month. I got my instruction on tying knots and tending the rope for a climber and we were on our way. I think what really sold it for me was Kyle telling me about the great workout, but when I think about it, I’d never pay $50 to be a member of a regular gym.

So why climbing? Well for one it strikes me as an activity that’s a little more social than lifting weights. As I found out tonight it requires a larger bit of thought than one might initially guess. When I had been climbing before my only goal was to get to the top, not a bad goal for someone who is fourteen and mildly afraid of heights. But now that I’m down with heights and my brain is a little sharper I took to the routes they have out on the wall. It limits the number of foot holds and hand holds you can take advantage of and you really have to think about “ok, if I put my hand here, where is my foot going to go after that?”

That last sentence kind of reminds me of other activities *wink*.

So I guess it reminds me of fencing in a way, yeah, you can just brute force it, but that’ll only take you so far. It works out to be a lot less monotonous than spending time in a traditional gym, and you’re there with a friend. And who am I to complain if the women there are all pretty fit and wearing tight clothing?