...Quill Day itinerary, and several other topics...

All hail the awesome power of both the Internet and Download.com!

For lo, they hath delivered unto me a program of great worth.

Yes, that's right; I FOUND ONE!…

…a program that will eliminate 90% of the renaming of those "artist_name_-_song_title.mp3" files to "Artist Name - Song Title.mp3". It's a trial version that's good for 10 days, it's like 10 bucks for a full download...but so far, it's well-worth it.

Last night, Beaver and Corey came over, and we watched "The 25th Hour". It's a pretty damn good little flick. Me likey.

Afterwards, Beaver and I ventured to Wal-Mart, where I purchased some "just because" gifts for my sexy wife: five huge things of assorted bubble bath (lavender, plumeria, cucumber melon, aloe vera, and spa scents); a huge pink fluffy bath-towel; a bath-pillow; The Fugitive (DVD); personalized pencils; and a pack of spearmint Orbits gum. Actually, it's more a "kick off the new school year" gift assortment thing...yeah, yeah, I'm a hopelessly sappy guy - shut up. (You'd do the same if you had a wife as awesome as this.)

@Heather: Love you, baby! I hope your first day back was eventful and fun!

Speaking of that Wal-Mart run with the Beave, he and I had a chance to brainstorm on and discuss a couple of topics...we talked about all the factors of certain things, and we both decided that we just can't understand certain mentalities. It wasn't a very conclusive or decisive discussion, but one that provided some clarity nonetheless. And here it is:

Some people are just goddamned retarded, horribly immature, and pathetic, and will remain that way until they do the world a favor by dying, no matter what. These people just don’t “get” it, and it would take an act of God for them to EVER “get” it. [We both know several people who fit this bill, be it only partially or fully.]

(BTW - for those of you that THINK you know what the above is referencing specifically; you're definitely wrong.)

I've learned two things over the last week or so:

1) Dave isn't the only person who slips into "Dave time" mode. Nix is also [very] prone to it (5 hours...fuck. that.). So is my sister, Joanna.
2) I don't spend enough time with my family. I need to make more time for my grandmothers, my mom and dad, and my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Marrying Heather has opened my eyes about how close a family is capable of being, and dammit, I regret that I haven't been that way about mine thus far. This is definitely something I'm going to improve on.

@Nix: Sorry you didn't get to meet up with us, dude - but you knew the time to hitch a ride over to my place was earlier in the evening when Beaver was ready to roll. Plus, you made me wait for my dinner – to paraphrase Bill Bixby, “Please don’t make me hungry, Mr. Whitney…you won’t like me when I’m hungry.”

Oh yes, I seem to vaguely recall a promise I made concerning news about my birthday festivities...right. Here's the deal, thus far:

August 19th is the date of the big party. We will be going out to dinner that night, to the wonderful Growler's Pub (I know some aren't too big on that place, but I want to put some more beers on that card and I haven't been in forever). It'll probably be around 5:00 PM. After that, back to our apartment for drinking, possibly some games, definitely music and merriment aplenty. Since neither Heather or I have work the next day, I would like it to run as late as possible - sometime after 12 would probably be a good time for a movie or two, to keep volume down while not sacrificing any fun. So all you working-until-late people won't have to miss out, don't worry. Bring a drink product (soda, beer, liquor, etc.) and a snack product (chips, pizza rolls, frozen pizza, etc.).

As I mentioned before, gifts are not required or necessary - BUT - if you want to get me something, I would graciously accept. (HINT: Think horror movies.) *innocent look*

I have not forgotten the hell I suffered after Heather's EOtY/ToY party...I'm going to try to avoid getting THAT fucked up this time, and definitely try to take small breaks from drinking with food.

9 days until my life odometer clicks over to 27. I don't really feel old per say, but 27 is still kind of weird to think about age-wise. Fuck it...life's too short to stress over your age. :)

Oh, and apparently there's an opinion that I need to really cool it with the political stuff, that I'm wasting my time; that I suck when I "force" others to read articles/statistics, etc. etc.

Oh, I'm sorry...I guess that since I'm just ‘one person, too small to change anything’, I should just keep my mouth shut while certain undeserving politicians-on-a-power/ego-trip do everything under the sun to fuck over the common man, and heck, everything good and decent left in our already damaged country.

Look, I'm not saying that you guys 'have' to care about anything I post about Bush, the republicans, or anything else. I post what I do because I have the choice to A) say something about it or B) just accept it. And things like shitty to non-existent healthcare for millions of people; sending our brave troops away to risk their lives for oil/bullshit reasons and lies; denying rights to gays and women based solely on personal ideological beliefs; and ruin of our economy/job market and the rights of the consumer/employee against "big business" are things I absolutely refuse to "just accept".

“What’s the point? Nothing’s going to change if I vote, or post about stuff, so what’s the big deal?”

It’s the combination of assholes that reverently support and advocate this kind of thing, no matter how immoral it is, and people who are silent or indifferent that allow this bullshit to continue in our country. Sorry, but if I’m given the choice of laying down and dying like a little pussy, or putting up a fight with everything I’ve got, I’d rather go down fighting even if the outcome is the same.

You want to stay out of the bigger picture until the exact moment where it directly affects you? Be my guest…by all means. You want to not vote and take a position of neutrality because you honestly don’t think you can make a change? Fine…go for it. You don’t want to read my blog on some days because you’re just so sick of hearing about it? That’s completely your choice. But know this, all of you – from the people who would have me stop pushing to the people who don’t wanna hear any of it:

I don’t accept any of what’s going on. Maybe my efforts really are futile, maybe posting things on forums and on my blog and adamantly discussing it in public or at gatherings isn’t going to change anything. I don’t care…I’d rather stand up for what I think and feel is right than stand by and “accept” things the way you are.


Quilled Tunes: "Voodoo Child" - Jimi Hendrix
(No idea of my 'musical roots', eh? Psssh.)