she walks in through a garden of daisies is love really the answer? or is it just emotional suicide? we are so many, so alive but dying inside do we all really have what's required to play the game of life? watching, waiting unguarded for the right one to reach me tear apart my opinions open me up and teach me the game of life man, superman both alike are crying for light who sets the limit, who sets the price to play the game of life?

I think this is one of the signs of the apocalypse. You think i'm joking, but i'm not. This isn't from some fan site, it's from f@$#ing CNN! You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you! God damn you all to hell!

Feels like a Sunset Grill afternoon.

*sigh*

According to HumorScope, my superhero identity is the suitably modest ... <ECHO>Captain Person</ECHO>. With my carbonite shorts, quantum bicycle, and trusty companion Withers i battle the fiendish Cindy the Puzzler.

Even better, i snooped into Veronica's alter ego and discovered she moonlights as the slightly more impressive Angel Woman, who foils evildoers with her fearsome Mystical Lips.

I'm still in my gleeful honeymoon period with my new car. The weather was warm enough last Sunday for me to open the moonroof on my way to SF to watch the conference championship NFL games with Danny and Donald. I'm also quite impressed with the sound system. The stereo has a tape deck and a CD player in dash, and the car has 8 speakers that produce a nice enveloping sound. If it had a line in for an iPod input i'd be exploding, but as it is i can always use a tape adapter and get decent sound quality, better than using an FM radio adapter and certainly less frustrating. V and i tried out the heated seats last weekend also, they're purty nice. Not so necessary in a place like California, but useful nonetheless. My mom was at the dealer last weekend and may have picked up a manual for me (there was none in the glove compartment when i got the car home) ... i need it to figure out the intricacies of the power seats and trip computer.

Last weekend was otherwise spent at Buzz 9 and Fallout for Rudha's birthday and return-to-San-Francisco celebration, watching two thirds of Scarface, watching a marginally enjoyable 1-1 draw between Manchester City and Blackburn with Gary, getting horrible service again at East Window, watching My Life With Morrissey at 8x frame advance for the second time, shopping on the Haight for clothes and CDs, and retaining my status as king of Mario Kart Double Dash despite challenges from Veronica, Gary, and Rudha. I also have maintained the pace of my rapid accumulation of music, grabbing albums by Oingo Boingo (5), The Fall (11), Nirvana (4), and Rage Against The Machine (2). Last week was Krautrock, focusing on Can (8), Neu! (3), Faust (1), and Kraftwerk (6). I've discovered i have a deep interest in so-called "jazz rock", encompassing 60's progressive stuff like The Soft Machine to the aforementioned Krautrock to contemporary indie bands like Tortoise and June Of 44.

I hopped in my new toy to go to work this morning, and turned on what i thought was the rear window defroster. Well, the button i pushed was where the rear window defroster button was in my Honda. I get halfway around the block and notice there's a light on the dash, one that looks suspiciously like the check engine light. WTF?!?! The car is having problems not 48 hours after i got it home?

Turns out i'd activated the ESP brake system and not the rear window defroster. Geez, am i a nervous wreck.

I must of course mention the incredibly soothing 4-nil victory Chelsea earned against Leicester City on Sunday. With the recent poor form of the team and inklings of dissent among the squad (paramount being manager Claudio Ranieri's displeasure with Hernan Crespo's handling of his injuries), it's very nice to see the squad pull off an impressive win. JFH netted twice, and Adrian Mutu got back onto the score sheet after a long drought. With United drawing against Newcastle, we pulled back within 5 points of the top. If we can hit our stride again, a challenge for the title this spring is not out of the question.

I finally made good on my promise to buy myself a new car after we got back from Boston and i moved into my cushy new job. Yesterday Veronica and i headed to Fremont, picked up my dad, then headed over to Bob Lewis Volkswagen in Fremont. My parents had bought a 2000 Cabrio there two weeks earlier and had spotted several Jettas and Passats that they thought i might be interested in. We were quickly snared by a salesman, who let me test drive a new 2003 Jetta 1.8. Not bad. My dad then suggested i test drive a V6 to see the difference in power, so we spotted one in the used lot and asked the dealer. Turned out it was a silver exterior, black interior 2003 Jetta GLX VR6, top-of-the-line, with only 750 miles on it. The test drive was purty nice, so after perusing the lot a bit more, we went inside to talk specifics. My negotiating skills (or lack thereof) didn't do me any favors, but three hours later i'd signed all the papers and was handed my new keys. Don't have a pic of the actual car yet, so for now you'll have to look at this stock photo.

Going from a car that is beat-up and noisy to one that is pristine and decked out (it has heated leather seats, fer chrissakes!) is a bit weird. I feel like i don't really belong in it, in some strange way. I love it, that's for sure, but i feel guilty somehow. Odd.

On Saturday i was able to finally watch my tivoed copy of The Godfather Part 2. I think i liked it better than the first. Excellent parallels and contrasts between Michael and Vito Corleone. I'd like to see Part 3 now, despite the plethora of horrid reviews of it. Tivo snagged Scarface for me last night. I'm catching up on all the classic gangster movies i never got around to seeing. Still have to keep an eye out for Goodfellas and Casino. And of course there are other tivo goodies waiting for me, including The Who film The Kids Are Alright and Donnie Darko.

A 2-1 loss to Liverpool (let's just pour salt in the wounds now, shall we?), and you get the feeling that the wheels have come off Chelsea's title challenge. Granted, we're still in lovely position to earn a Champions League spot next year (not to mention poised to make a run in this year's competition). And i did say at the beginning of the season that it was foolish to expect this expensively assembled squad to win everything in its first year out of the gate. But with £110 million spent, having topped the table in late November after defeating Manchester United and won our Champions League group with two famous victories over Lazio, you just expected it all to continue. Funny how defeats sting so much more now that i'm accustomed to Chelsea being one of the "elite".

At least Arsenal drew.

V and i were watching Old School on Cinemax the other night. We saw it in the theater and thought it was hilarious, but the humor seems dimmed after seeing it on cable a few times. Anyhow, during the pledge kidnapping scene they play Metallica's "Master of Puppets", a tape i used to listen to a bunch in high school. After the movie ended, i sauntered over to the computer and commenced to retrieve a bunch of headbanging stuff from my formative years. Like the aforementioned Metallica album as well as Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, and ... And Justice For All, Megadeth's Peace Sells ... But Who's Buying? and Rust In Peace, and Anthrax's Among The Living and Persistence Of Time. In addition, i finally got around to checking out Slayer (albeit 12 years late), picking up Reign In Blood, South Of Heaven, and Seasons In The Abyss.

Listening to Anthrax's "In My World" reminded me how in high school i printed out a big banner that i hung on my ceiling, bearing the opening quote:

They're gonna put me in jail?
Man, I'm already in jail.
Don't they know that my life's just one big cell?

I remember my mom joking with me about how horrible my life was. Looking back, it was a pretty silly thing to do. Good song though. I'm a bit paranoid about banging my head too much in my office.

My parents got me a Monty Python daily 2004 calendar for my desk for Christmas. We're only 6 days into the new year, and i can't stop friggin laughing. They split a sketch up over several days, so the jokes just keep building. I wasn't even familiar with this bit.

January 2

Prince: My congratulations, Wilde! Your latest play is a great success. The whole of London's talking about you. Oscar Wilde: There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

January 3/4

Wilde: Your majesty, have you met James McNeill Whistler? Prince: Yes, we've played squash together. Wilde: There is only one thing worse than playing squash together, and that is playing it by yourself ... I wish I hadn't said that. James Whistler: You did, Oscar, you did.

January 5

Wilde: Your majesty is like a big jam doughnut with cream on the top. Prince: I beg your pardon? Oscar: Um ... it was one of Whistler's. Whistler: I never said that. Oscar: You did, James, you did. Whistler: ... Well, Your Highness, what I meant was that, like a doughnut, um, your arrival gives us pleasure and your departure makes us hungry for more.

January 6

Whistler: Your Highness, you are also like a stream of bat's piss. Prince: What? Whistler: It was one of Wilde's. One of Wilde's. Wilde: It sodding was not! It was Shaw! Bernard Shaw: I ... I merely meant, Your Majesty, that you shine out like a shaft of gold when all around is dark.

What rolls down stairs? Rolls over in pairs? Rolls over your neighbor's dog? What's great for a snack? And fits on your back? It's log, log, log! It's log, it's log It's big, it's heavy, it's wood It's log, it's log It's better than bad, it's good! Go out and get your log! You're gonna love it, log!

As i'd hoped, "Well, i'm back" were indeed the last words spoken in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. I always thought those sentiments of Sam Gamghee were a perfect understated close to the epic War of the Rings, and the final film of the trilogy did well to bring them to life. But i've gotten up to a lot more in the last month than just seeing the latest theatrical blockbuster. Read on ...

Veronica and i decided that instead of buying each other presents, we would buy ourselves one big present. Our tv has seen better days ... it doesn't have any RCA audio/video inputs (let alone S video), and the picture is slightly rotated (1° or so) because of a previous trauma ... so we decided that a new big big big tv was the way to go. We settled on a 32" Sony WEGA from Best Buy, and decided that since we were $200 under our set budget, we'd pick up an 80 hour Tivo as well. We waited a week for delivery, but in the meanwhile i set up our Tivo. The newer Tivo models have USB ports to which you can connect a network adapter to speed up program downloads, and also connect to your home computer network. So i bought a Linksys WUSB12 USB wireless ethernet adapter from Amazon, and after a day of fiddling i got the Tivo to access my wireless G router with a connection strength of 50-60%. After shelling out another $100 for the Tivo "Home Media Option", we can now play mp3's and view photos from both Veronica's eMac and my PC on the tv. Sweeeeeeet. The mp3 player is not as flexible as say a Winamp or an iTunes, but hopefully future Tivo software upgrades will change that. I'm tickled anyway.

With the Tivo installed, we awaited the delivery of our pièce de résistance. I again returned to Best Buy to buy a few S video cables and an S video switch to handle our game systems and DVD player. I rearranged the entertainment center so that the Tivo and all 3 game systems (Xbox, PS2, and Gamecube ... yes, i really am a video game junkie) fed into the switch, which then connected to the tv through the S video input, while the DVD player connected directly to the tv via an RCA audio/video input. So the delivery men come, and all they have to do is plop the thing on the entertainment center, plug in the power cable and one S video cable, and turn it on. I made the mistake of leaving them alone for a few minutes, when i returned i found one of them trying to disconnect the coaxial cable from the digital cable box. I didn't want to question the divine judgement of a professional AV installer, but i also didn't want to rebuild my whole setup, so i brushed him aside and set it up myself. Best Buy fibbed a bit ... they said this unit had 2 S video inputs, whereas in reality it has only one. I'm happy though. Very happy.

Christmas eve was spent in Fremont with my parents and my sisters. We unwrapped our presents then. I got a whole bunch of good stuff ... clothes, books (a Douglas Adams collection from mom and dad and a nice big cell biology text for my office from Alan, Arlene, and Ana), dvds (The Big Lebowski from AAA and 3/4 of Robotech: Macross from mom and dad), and a couple of Gamecube games (I-Ninja and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) from Veronica, despite our agreement. Of course, i also broke the agreement and bought her a set of martini glasses. Veronica headed off to a club later that night, while i stayed home with Cobi and watched The Godfather, a film i finally managed to see thanks to the miracle of Tivo. On Christmas we made the shorter drive to Burlingame to see my aunt, uncle, and cousin. It was fun catching up, but their cat gave me allergies something awful. I'll remember the claritin next time. A belated Christmas gift exchange / awful Arsenal/Southampton match viewing was had the following Monday at our place with Manchester United devoté Jeremy Popscene. He brought with him my brand spanking new Chelsea kit, the swank new white one with blue stripes, emblazoned with new hero Damien Duff's name and number.

I only made it to work one day the next week, to take care of affairs. In the meantime, i was basking in our newfound video glory. I also have been snatching up albums at an alarming rate. Over the last two weeks i've picked up albums by Big Star (3), Archers of Loaf (3), The Jesus Lizard (5), June of 44 (5), Pale Fountains (2), Karate (4), The Make Up (3), Pussy Galore (2), Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (5), Galaxie 500 (3), Unwound (5), Rainer Maria (3) ... whew! I could go on, but i'll spare you.

My other commitment at home was our new housemate, Cobi. She was never walked while living in L.A., and not too much over the last two years in Iowa, so i've taken to walking her daily. She loves it ... plenty of scents to sniff and plenty of lawns to "decorate". For some reason, she always decides to poop on lawns when the owner is in plain view. Embarrassing for me, but she's thrilled. In fact, Cobi loves it so much that she's now expecting her daily walk. She knows exactly where we keep the leash, and will cast errant stares in the direction of said cupboard to remind me. Before going into work last week, she guilt tripped me into running her around the block! Clever pooch. Been with us for two months and she rules the roost.

We've felt a few more bumps on her body, but she doesn't seem to be showing any signs of health problems due to her recently diagnosed cancer. She seems to be having a ball with us back in California.

On New Year's Eve i crossed the bay to pick up Sean and Michelle at Oakland Airport. We then met up with Veronica, grabbed a bite at the Jeremy-endorsed East Window on 25th Avenue in San Mateo, then drove up to SF for the New Years festivities at New Wave City. I toyed with the idea of wearing my old school black leather motorcycle jacket, featuring self-painted renditions of the covers of New Order's Low Life and The Smiths' Hatful of Hollow as well as a small Siouxsie portrait. Veronica's giggles dissuaded me. At the club, Sean and i discussed a multitude of topics while Veronica and Michelle shook their groove thangs. They got me out onto the dance floor for the final song, a live version of New Order's "Temptation". We gave old friend Kevin a ride to his car afterward, only to find that there weren't any cars on the street where he parked. So we dropped him at the impound lot and headed home. The following day most of arose around noon, except for Sean who hibernated until 3pm or so. The day's script was similar to the previous day: dinner around 8pm, then to SF for a club. It was Thursday, so naturally that means Popscene. No two ways about it: this place is OVER. For a hater like myself, at any rate. A friggin terrible cover band played near-blasphemous versions of Madchester classics by Oasis, The Happy Mondays, and The Stone Roses. This was followed by Nako and DJ Axelcrap. Again, Sean and i amused ourselves. I was wearing my Chelsea kit, which prompted a couple of inquiries. Sean and i were also offered a round of drinks by a random hipster, either 1) because of the soccer paraphernelia on our persons, or 2) because he thought we were gay. Gary accompanied us home afterward for a round of SMFA friendlies. I passed out at 5:30am.

Waking up at 12:30pm the next day, i learned from Gary that him and Sean had been up until 10am playing FIFA 2004. Egad. Michelle and Veronica awoke around 2pm, and the three of us watched most of the criminally unwatchable Guy Ritchie / Madonna disaster Swept Away. Short synopsis: a rich bitch abuses an Italian fisherman on a pleasure cruise, but winds up marooned with him on a deserted island in the Mediterranean. They fall in love after he tries to rape her. Michelle and Veronica then absconded to try on wedding gowns, giving me orders to wake up Sean. I did, and we decided to attempt to fix a broken Xbox Veronica acquired through Auction Drop. It boots fine, but won't read any type of disc in the DVD-ROM drive. We tried to find a Torx wrench (needed to open the console) at Home Depot, but instead found only two unhelpful and rather bizarre employees. Thwarted in these efforts, we returned home, ordered some pizza, and whiled away the evening with more video games. Both FIFA 2004 as well as Mario Kart: Double Dash, which Veronica and i have gotten really into after not opening it for a month after buying it. Later that night we watched our DVD copy of My Life With Morrissey, a 2003 independent film about an L.A. girl obsessed with the Smiths icon. Incredibly enough, it gave Swept Away a run for the title of "Worst Movie Seen on January 2, 2004". Sex with a blow up doll with a Morrissey cutout pasted on its face, and a rape gang consisting of catholic school girls ... hrm.

Michelle and Sean headed back to L.A. on Saturday, after which i managed to find a Torx wrench at a Home Depot in San Leandro. None of the repair tips at Xbox Scene were successful however, so it seems for now the controller was the only gain from the broken Xbox. Unless i get ambitious and decide to try replacing the drive. Yesterday my folks came over to take us out to lunch and show us their new car, a 2000 Volkswagen Cabrio convertible. I'm ready to replace my beat up 1993 Honda Civic, and am thinking about a VW Jetta or Passat. Maybe next weekend, assuming my year end bonus comes through.

Other random tidbits: also saw The Last Samurai, which was quite good. Chelsea seem to be in their typical winter swoon, despite their £110 million roster. Of course, Damien Duff, Seba, and Hernan Crespo are all suffering through injuries, so we have an excuse. But excuses don't keep you top of the table. Hopefully the ship will get righted again quickly ... we're still only 4 points off the lead. Got several grants due soon, hopefully the research funds will start to come rolling in.

Happy New Year to all, and to all a good day.