Where Love Doesn't Reach

The Sword of Damocles has fallen. My unemployment benefits ran out about a month ago, and for some mysterious reason I don’t qualify for the extensions that President Bush so wisely approved. (Thanks, George. Bang-up job you’re doing, by the way.) The unemployment agency has been so swamped with calls that they’ve actually shut down their phone lines and redirected their personnel resources into processing what is immediately on their plate. First of all, that’s what you get for specifically designing it so all this stuff has to be done on the phone, thereby rendering your website useless. Second of all, if the unemployment agency is so overworked right now, why don’t they hire me to help them out? Mysterious.

So that’s the end of that.

I’m about to start sub teaching at a local public school. Well, supposedly. I’m waiting for gears to turn. I actually believe I might really enjoy this gig…

I finally got my damned Master’s degree from BGSU. Jesus, it only took two more years. Maybe that will help expedite things.

I finished my Calvin and Hobbes marathon, gleaning much wisdom and enlightenment from those Sacred Texts. Calvin, as I used to be, is THE authority on making one’s own fun.

I have taken to hiking alone. I liked hiking when I lived in Kansas City, and walking is free (and the people I know are far too domesticated to do things like that with me, so I go alone). The Lewis and Clark trails, however, beat the living crap out of the Blue River Parkway trails in KC. The terrain is much more rugged, hugging the mountainous edge along the river. Fantastic scenery, and it feels more perilous, too. Two words: Amon Hen.

The McAninches had the baby a little while back, which will make for a definite change of pace when/if I visit Kirksville this November as brainstormed. However, I sincerely doubt Brad and I will make a glorious return to Mostly Live on a chariot of fire this fall. It’s a bit soon to pull a magnum opus out of my butt to present to a bunch of bobble-head undergraduates.

Speaking of composing, I started messing around with some Halloween music. Basically, I’m inspired by the soundtrack to an old PC FPS game, Blood, and I want to make my own ambience to scare the living crap out of trick-or-treaters. There’s also talk of reinvigorating a long-running(failing) idea I’ve had called Fantascapes, tweaking my ideas to accommodate a table top idea from the murky bowels of the Captain’s imaginarium. OR… I could start a choral piece, for which I already have the text, and can probably get performed and recorded within a few months. I’ve been out of composing for a while now, but the main reason I find it hard to start up again is that I don’t see the point in writing anything anymore. It’s all just time better spent job-hunting. It’s also a matter of me being distracted by every single shiny object that crosses my field of vision. “Ooh, a mock score to a nonexistent spin-off of The Terminator, that’s a fun idea!” And I’m burnt out. But my “sabbatical” is nearing its end.

I froze my gym membership until I can afford it. No karate for me, for now… not unless I can find another wide open space with a wood floor. However, my former padawan from the days of Truman State University Shotokan Karate Club contacted me, having moved to a nearby area in St. Louis. An auspicious turn, to be sure. Anything is possible. God knows I could use a good beating, too. I miss having bruised forearms from being blocked in dozens and dozens of punching drills.

I acquainted myself with two Lindenwood University students from Japan, expecting to further use them as tutors in the language, but it’s been a week and they haven’t contacted me. Oh well, I tried. I guess I should have gotten their contact info, too, but they were both females and I didn’t want to give the impression of having an ulterior motive by asking their phone numbers. Some yankee dude with two cute Japanese girls hanging off his arms… I’ll bet most people would think I’m pursuing some cliché adolescent fantasy. That pisses me off. Anyway, they haven’t added me on Facebook like they suggested, and I’m not terribly fond of the Japanese Meetup in Delmar, so… yeah, you know, whatever. The point is that I’m trying to insinuate myself into society rather than just fiddle on the roof while watching it all burn.

So there’s a sloppily assembled list of stuff that’s been going on, excluding the more unpleasant things. You didn’t want to hear about those things anyway.