Jack Bauer, Improbable Commercials, and Other Things Found on the Interwebs

My brain is dead today, along with my arms and back. As such, there will be little to no creative writing. Instead, I bring you the things that have gotten me through the day the last few days.

First is the 100 greatest moments in 24. Not only are there snarky comments on all the events, but there's YouTube clips for all of them. Truly a momentous undertaking, one worthy of all the beer and women that can be thrust upon these fine men. Also, since my mom is inexplicably suddenly into 24, this is her chance to catch up. Or at least know what I'm talking about in when I reference crazy things in that crazy show.

Next, we have the Montgomery Flea Market. Its just like. A. Mini. Mall. And also, completely insane.

Here's an interesting essay from a woman who didn't feel complete until both her legs were cut off. In much the same way that some people feel like they were born the wrong sex, this 'Susan Smith' feels she has two too many working limbs. This reminds me of a passage out of Neal Stephenson's Cryptnonomicon, where one of the characters is commenting that sometime around the age of five or six, your brain patterns just get stuck, and sometimes on very weird things. For example, his wife, for some reason, can't get off sexually unless the sex happens on antique furniture. This Smith seems to have the same problem. It doesn't appear to be sexual, but at six years old, she decided that what really needed to go were her legs.

And finally, I bring you a video from Japan. I don't know how I found it or why I ended up watching it, but this only confirms my firmly held belief that the Japanese are incredibly weird, especially the people who make anime.

Mental Health Day

I skipped work today.

I decided last night that I needed a day off. The job has really been getting to me recently. The meaningless jobs have been piling up, each one seemingly more mundane and mindless as the next. For the last few days, each time someone dropped something new on my desk, I felt like throwing it back. It doesn't help that what they say while they do the dropping usually is along the lines of "Matt, could you change these peoples' addresses in the KSS database?" or "I noticed the phone messages are really out of date. Could you change it?"

I think the fact that this is a temporary stop is finally catching up with me, especially with the prospect of other jobs on the horizon. And if I'm bad now, I'm scared to think how I'll feel when I actually have another job. It'll be Applebee's all over again.

I worked at Applebee's for a few months over the summer while I looked for a less temporary job. Once I got my current job and gave my manager my two weeks notice (actually, that happened while I was enjoying a few beers there with Oded, who was in town looking for a job of his own), I got antsy. Or maybe I just realized how much that job really sucked. With about a week before my official last day, I walked out. It was the only time I've ever done that, and probably will be the only time that I ever do, but man did that feel good.

That probably won't be happening at the OTL, because unlike Applebee's, I respect the people I work with at my current job. But if I get a job offer that I like, expect me to bouncing in my chair until that new career path starts.