Posts tagged journal

A day back inside the studio

0
2 years ago
by bangbang023 in

It’s been a while since I’ve done anything enjoyable at work. My current position involves a lot of numbers and a lot of paper work, but very little hands on work and it really sucks. Today, I got a slight reprieve.

My store has an audio room specifically set up with mid range audio equipment that needs a little more attention and finesse than a home theater in a box setup. Unfortunately, since I tend to work with people who don’t give a crap, the room often find itself torn apart. In this case, about 80% of the speakers weren’t working for one reason or another. It took a few hours, but I managed to fix it up as best I can given the power issues that are also plaguing the room.

It just felt good to work with my hands again, you know? I love that work and it’s the work I’m best at. Though the pictures are a little blurry because I mixed a dark room with a camera phone, you can see some of what I did. In the first picture, you can see the completely stripped down wall. In the next picture, you can see the final work. Everything was functional.

Limitations of such a small site

3
2 years ago
by bangbang023 in

I’m a guy who loves to voice his opinion about everything. That’s really not a secret. Surprisingly enough, though, not only do I enjoy doing it, but people seem to be entertained by what I have to say. Whether it be people at work or visitors to Neowin, people always seem to react to my opinions because I like to dress them up and put on a show. That’s what this site is supposed to be about. A whole place dedicated to my opinions and thoughts and emotions. The problem is that nobody really knows this place exists.

This is all stemming from recent discussions about Neowin and my last Bang On column which was posted exclusively on this site for the first time. It made sense, after leaving Neowin, to keep going with my more popular work and try to draw more visitors to my neck of the woods. It didn’t really work out as I had hoped and there was only an insignificant bump in numbers for a day or two. It was really disheartening.

I’m at a crossroads with all of this. The more I think about it, the more I feel as though it’s impossible to mix my interests and thoughts on technology and my personal life on one site. Most people don’t want to read my poems or journals and the few people who do are probably not interested in any techno babble. I can try to cram it all together and keep failing or I can figure out a better solution. Unfortunately, besides creating a second site and draining myself creatively, I have nothing.

For the few of you who do visit: Any ideas? I want to make it work and I want to include more tech talk here, but how do I mix the two worlds without alienating either one? I was considering, for starters, creating a “Tech Talk” category. Good?

Where’d the youthful stamina go?

2
2 years ago
by bangbang023 in

I remember the days when I didn’t have to worry about being out of breath or slow to get back into the groove of anything. I could run and play and frolic with no concerns whatsoever. What the hell happened to all of that?

Yesterday evening, I played a few games of 1-on-1 basketball against my roommate, James. Granted, it’s been almost ten months since I’ve played an actual game of basketball and my fractured rib still isn’t 100% healed, but that doesn’t make it any easier to swallow the results. We played three games and I lost all three. It wasn’t just rust, it was lack of stamina and a complete lack of comfort on the court that got me. I was a mess. I was out of breath and completely out of tune with my own body. It was almost embarrassing.

I miss those good old days. The days of being 16 and having infinite stamina and being completely invincible.

Eminem is dead and Best Buy is nuts

0
2 years ago
by bangbang023 in

I was really hoping Eminem would be able to capture some of the magic from his earlier albums in his upcoming release. My hopes have been shattered. I’ve listened to a few songs on YouTube, and such, and they are horrible to a point that they’re unbearable to listen to. I actually couldn’t finish listening to the song “3am” because it was just annoying. He’s using the same infantile voice he used on “Encore” and it wasn’t any good back then, so it’s just worse now. Give it up, dude.

Switching artistic mediums, Best Buy has lost their mind and started to allow people to reserve their copies of the game Modern Warfare 2. This is a game that is scheduled to hit shelves in November, November! Do people really need to reserve a copy six months in advance? It just seems so ridiculous. Each store is going to get in a few hundred copies (on release day, alone), so are reserved copies even needed anymore? Sheesh.

Those are my random thoughts for the day. Enjoy.

Happy Mothers Day

0
2 years ago
by bangbang023 in

I just want to take this time to wish two people a Happy Mothers Day.

Mom: If it weren’t for you, living on my own would be extremely difficult, with the way things at work have panned out. You’ve been amazingly supportive in every way imaginable and I’m not sure a simple “thank you” can ever capture the true amount of appreciation I have for what you do. Thank you, though, for everything.

Grandma: You’re always understanding and sympathetic and always wind up throwing small snacks my way which are a cherished treat. You also make some amazing mashed potatoes and meatloaf, which is appreciated even more. You’re the best.

To every other mother that I know who has been supportive and helpful, including Melanie’s mom, Cindy, and both of her grandmothers, Happy Mothers Day!

Another goodbye to Neowin

8
2 years ago
by bangbang023 in

It’s never an easy decision and the first go round didn’t actually last all that long, but I’ve decided to leave Neowin, again.

There’s really not much to say about it, to be honest. I haven’t been writing any news, as I’ve mentioned before, and my recent health issues have really sapped away any motivation I would normally have to write. When I do get the urge to write, I want it to be on this site, even if it is for free and won’t get many views. I want to see what I can do here as far as mixing my person life with my general viewpoints and see if I can attract more visitors. I’m already considering posting a “Bang On” column here, once I actually find something to rant about.

Thanks to Mike, by the way. He and I used to clash a lot, but we’ve since overcome that and he dealt with a lot of heat for supporting my usually controversial columns.

Where’s all the music?

6
2 years ago
by bangbang023 in

I had a brief, one minute long discussion with a co-worker, today. He, generally, likes the same music that I do and he was curious if I knew of any albums to look forward to this year. The answer? “There’s nothing,” was all I could say.

I did expand on that, eventually, and mention that Smile Empty Soul has a new album coming out this summer, but he missed their brief turn in the spotlight and had never heard of them. I have to say, though, that if there is only one album coming out this year for me to look forward to, then I am damn happy that it’s Smile Empty Soul’s fourth (third, officially) effort. They’re one of the three bands (Staind and Seether) I absolutely, undeniably love and connect to. Their albums are of a small minority; they are good from the first track all the way through to the last. Man, I can’t wait.

You people have any albums worth looking forward to? Before you bother, I already know about Lil Wayne’s rock album. Don’t even…

The flowers are going to be huge

3
2 years ago
by bangbang023 in

This rain has to stop. It’s seriously depressing and, even worse, preventing me from going outside and doing stupid things like playing basketball with a yet to be healed fractured rib. Haven’t we had enough of this stuff? I get it: April showers bring May flowers. It’s May, so out with the rain and in with those damn bee bringing flowers.

I don’t know if it’s the rain or maybe work or what, but I’ve been dealing with a few things recently. For one, I can’t find any inspiration to write anything, at all. I can’t write any poems and I can’t even muster up a story or two for Neowin. If it wasn’t for my length of time on staff and the resulting pseudo tenure, I’d probably be out on my ass right now.

Probably a little more important than my writing, is the fact that, for the past three days, I’ve been dealing with varying levels of lightheadedness. Saturday, I could barely lift my head off of the pillow without feeling dizzy beyond tolerance. It’s been better the past two days, but the feeling is still there and does serve as a hindrance, sometimes. I wish I had a solution or, perhaps, even health insurance.

I’m probably going to try cranking out more journal entries, by the way, until I get my creative juices flowing again. I’m starting to crave music again, so that’s usually a good sign.

A collection of random thoughts

4
2 years ago
by bangbang023 in

I don’t have anything worth talking about that could fill an entire post, so I’m just throwing random thoughts out there. You ready? Can you dig it?

I’m getting a bit fed up with MLB 2K9. It’s just too easy to hit home runs. In a game between my roommate Chris and I, we managed to hit a total of 12 home runs. In a game he played online against some random person, the two of them managed to hit 15, with each having more home runs than base hits. Ridiculous. Between the home run fest and the frame rate slow downs near foul territory, it can be a bit frustrating at times.

My new phone, the AT&T Fuze, isn’t perfect. I’m having a hard time with battery life lately. I can’t even get through the day with it, regardless of how heavy my usage may be. The GPS is also extremely slow to lock on, though an upcoming fix from AT&T is expected. Either way, I love the phone, but I can easily acknowledge that it’s not perfect.

My rib is almost completely healed. I rarely feel any pain in it unless I accidentally lay down on that side and lay on my elbow. I can’t wait to get out and actually play some basketball. I need the competition.

I finally watched “Raiders of the Lost Ark”. It’s a good movie, but I think some people really over hype it due to it’s age. Half of the punches thrown in the movie look pathetically fake and some of the acting from the smaller roles is just sadly pathetic. Maybe the film just hasn’t aged well. I’m just not sure.

This injury is starting to annoy me

3
2 years ago
by bangbang023 in

I’m a guy and, sometimes, a stereotypical one, at that. When I fractured my rib, I thought it would be no big deal after a day or two. This damn thing is now starting to bug me as I find myself consistently being hindered by it.

Besides that every sneeze hurts like a son of a bitch and getting out of bed is way more painful that it should ever be, today was the first day I ever felt truly held back by my fractured rib. After work, I went to the park with my roommate, Chris, to play some basketball. I can’t stretch, reach for the ball, run, rebound, or shoot any deep shots without nearly killing myself. All I could do was gingerly shoot around and walk after stray shots. It sucked. I wanted to play a game, no matter how out of game shape I am. I couldn’t and it’s really bugging me.

There’s no point to this post other than allowing me to whine a bit. I want to get healthy as soon as possible so that I can actually play ball, a bit, every now an then.

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