Category: Personal
The life and times of John Fontana — personal blog posts about things John is dealing with / going through / thinking of / experiencing.
The more times change, the more they stay the same…
&You know I used to work on the Internet for a Dot-Com pre dot-bomb (I would link to my former employer but alas — the Wayback Machine doesn’t have a good copy of the site in their history) and I used to hate sitting around and waiting on people to respond to email, waiting for search engines to index pages I make, or try to stay busy finding ways to beat the system.
Certain sites are reminding me of how I hate waiting. How I loath not being able to jump in and do the job when I learn how to do it….
Thanksgiving
It’s occured to me a lot the last few days that it’s been almost exactly a year since I went under the knife… The difference a year makes is immense in so many ways and yet the more things have improved, the more they stay the same with various faccets of my life.
Today we had somewhere around 20 people over for dinner… well, 20 people would be a few too many but it fluctuated in the teens all afternoon. Uncle’s, my aunt, my cousin and her daughter, my younger brother (while Mike skipped out on things) and other family friends. It was a great get-together for the most part and I had a lot of fun with things.
I brought up what I am thankful for (“That I’m not lying in a hospital bed this year.” ) to a round of applause and through the liquor and the laughter I easily forgot where I was a year ago today or what I suffered through at the time (no, not surgery — watching George W. Bush and his faux visit to Iraq).
But someone had to ruin the day for me.
It wasn’t family – though their reaction did indeed bother me. It wasn’t friends of the family – though I notably started acting strange when some people showed up. No, it was the fact certain people turned up with both their kids in tote that I had problems with. I mean MAJOR problems. It basically ruined the evening for me….
The family pretty much embraced them and that made me further angry — as someone who has opened his arms after being stepped on and then gotten stepped on again, I couldn’t stand to watch this train wreck in action.
Speaking of train wrecks, I was happy to see Kylie was walking. Kylie being my cousin Amber’s daughter. I had gotten very upset during her first birthday party when I saw not only was she not walking but she looked like she wasn’t nearly ready for it. I’m glad I’ve been proved wrong on that one.
So… To summarize — a year later I am in good spiriits. I’m not wasting away in a hospital bed with only a friend at my side and a Subway sandwitch to eat. I’m happy I am spending time with my family and out and about… I’m thankful that I’m not having nightmares of someone’s blog or having Christmas Cards thrown out…
I’m thankful….
Bun's in the oven
Something is troubling me and it’s a blessid experiences that is culmnivating for a few of my friends right now. I’ve already made brief mention of it here on der Stoengauge but I haven’t really gone into it besides some surface concerns.
I hsve three friends — potentially four — who are pregnant. I’ve made mention of Terra being prregnant, and I made mention of Michelle being pregnant. I didn’t make mention of my younger brother’s ex-girlfriend (and close family friend) Aileen being pregnant (and much farther along than the other two girls)… This one was the first in the series of pregnancies that have come up…
And now? Melanie is late and she’s planning on taking a home pregnancy test soon.
Melanie also went ahead and said I sounded like having children was a bad thing. I felt bad because I have conveyed that image to her. Having children isn’t bad, it’s more like my state of mind right now that is making it out to be bad. It’s me – not them. It’s inexperience and loneliness talking.
I thought, in essence, having a child leads you into another stage of your life. You’re born, you’re raised, and when you become a certain age you enter anotehr stage of yoru life. Maybe I shouldn’t say age but an event? Maybe your sexual awakening, maybe something that just pushes you into having to act beyond your years…
I feel like I’m stuck at a certain stage of my life and that everyone else is eclipsing me. Love, marriage, kids… I’m so ready for more and yet I’m not ready to deal with the big issues of marriage and children (or vice versa if events unfold that way).
I wrote it, they read it…
Heh, I go on a Wal-Mart Triste and lo and behold – another letter published….
Web design work
Chantilly Lace has a pretty face
A pony tale, hanging down
But her hosting company stole the wiggle in her walk
nickle and dimed her out of the wiggle in her talk
and made a horrid sound, sound, sound, sound….
So John to the rescue — or I’m going to try to save her.
"Grand Theft A"ddiction
Maybe it’s the fact I finally got used to the streets turning back on each other? Maybe it’s the fact I can pick up prostitutes any time during the day? Or the fact I can “Clean up the ‘hood by offing Drug Dealers?
Whatever the case may be, I’ve got a jones for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and have been playing it off and on for the past week since it arrived in the mail. I’m not that far into the game knowing how deep GTA games are (missions, side missions, etc) but I’m far enough in to know I like what I see.
Gang Wars? Check. Drive bys? Check. Great music? Check. Corny Dialogue? Fuck you, nigga’!
Grand Theft Auto in la Cuidad de San ANdreas kicks ass and I am going back to my game RIGHT NOW….
HOmesick
It took me less than 15 minutes to wish I was still back in New York when I arrived here in Florida…
Oh what a state… of disconent 🙁
Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you,
When you change with every new day?
Still I’m gonna miss you
Ahoja from the frosty north. John checking in to give a little bit of news that isn’t very important but sorta sad personal news all the same. My T900 TalkAbout Pager — ruby red — has gone missing and is in all likelyhood gone. I lost it yesterday (thus the title and the lyric) when out in Massapequa on a quick stop before venturing to see family in Jackson Heights.
It’s another end of an Era… O, Discordia….
Pre-trip bullshit
This is why I refused to travel with my father to LA —
Here it is, 6 and a half hours before the flight. 5 or less before we have to be at the airport… He has not packed a thing. He has not prepared one iota. He is sitting on his computer playing games, and earlier was busy watching TV.
To all of those who aren’t fucked over so much you don’t live at home and don’t have to deal with the same anal acts over and over again from family – I envy you.
Aloof about Rock Bottom
Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday… Things just get worse and worse. Bah
Sus ends a shitty week — or does it? There is still plenty of time for it to get shittier.
Time for the final sprint….
Polls closing in various places on the East Coast….
Plenty of time left elsewhere in America….
There will be rain if God wills it… Rain, baby, rain….
Mutter me that….
heh, two for two…
- Right now:: aqui
- Halloween::Eric Draven
- Provider::Resource
- Rescue me::Mo Town
- Confidence::edge
- Fungus::’Shrooms
- Candy corn::sweet
- Reunion::Rejoin
- Winner::vindicated
- Tradition::Pride
A certain State of Mind
It was so easy living day by day
Out of touch with the rhythm and blues
But now I need a little give and take
The New York Times, The Daily NewsIt comes down to reality
And it’s fine with me ’cause I’ve let it slide
Don’t care if it’s Chinatown or on Riverside
I don’t have any reasons
I’ve left them all behind
I’m in a New York state of mind
–Billy Joel, New York State of Mind
Home.
That’s what I’m thinking of on my next sojourn out fo the Suburban sprawl that is Palm Harbor, Florida. Not the fact those Yucking Fankees got their asses handed to them by the Bosox (can someone give me a “Hallelujah”? Can somebody give me an “Amen”?)… The fact I’m going home to the state of my birth. To the palce I spent nearly 10 years before I came to this ill ile of torment.
I’m going up with my father next week for my grandmothers birthday. Nice timing, as I had planned on going 2 weeks earlier but alas – scheduling conflicts and what not prevented that from happening. Not only will this be the first time I am in New York since 1995, but the first time I am in autumn weather (REAL autumn weather, not the sun-dried shit in Florida where everything stays green) since 1994 (ok, 2001 I was in Reno, Nevada in October… But I don’t want to count that).
I ventured 2300 miles on my own to LA, got around the city pretty good and yet thinking about going around New York intimidates me moreso than LA. It’s not the fact New Ork is a big place (which it is) but the fact so many people are crammed into such a tight spot in the city…
And that’s where I want to go in my free time — the city. Well, that and Montauk…. but I’ve already alluded to that…
A certain state of mind — the mind of an escapist? That doesn’t seem right. The mind of a fugitive from justice? Nah, I ain’t no Richard Kimble…. A pilgrim? That doesn’t feel right either but it feels more accurate and along the lines of what I am looking for…
Mutter me this….
Been a while since I did a Free Association from Unconcious Mutterings….
- Blackout:: Dark
- Platinum:: Album
- Leather and lace:: Erotica
- Court:: Martial
- Mind your own business:: Nosy
- Gambling:: Addiction
- Lily:: bouquet
- Evasive:: Manuver
- Turn-on:: Sexual
- Suspect:: zero
A long time coming in it's going
Visit FanHome…
…and get a big, fat, juicy 404 error.
An era has officially passed.
Come, Reep
Under Stephen King’s famed Demon Moon….
The Boston Red Sox have erased 86 years of pain in an instant. Congratulations, Red Sox Nation on winning the 2004 World Series!
Whine-games
I’ve known my friend Bill for a couple of years — well, six… Six years we’ve discussed things, six years we’ve talked sports and politics and shit, six years of the same old stuff….
I’ve gotten to know him pretty well and I know he is miserable because he doesn’t have the opportunity to get a job that is up to his level as a college graduate. I know that he is too high-strung to try again at a retail job… I know he’s discouraged to stick his neck out on a job and just keep trying….
I know he is wasting opportunities by sitting home and fretting over what he doesn’t like… What he doesn’t want… And what he worries about.
I told BIll that he ought to seek a job outside of the Bay area… outside fo Florida as well. I know Bill and me are alike in a good number of ways and I know I am itching for a start somewhere else – somewhere new. SOmewhere that isn’t so ass-backwards as Tampa Bay… He’s talked about Boston in the past, he’s got family up there and what not… yet it’s only been talk all these years and at times I have discouraged him because of the talk…
And yet Boston should be looking awfully good to him right now.
The only thing sthat are keeping him here are his nieces and his love for Tampa Bay Sports. The family stuff I can understand, but the sports stuff is absolute bullshit in the grand scheme of things. He’s witnessed the Bucs win the Super Bowl and the Lightning win the Stanley Cup…. He’s been in attendance for one of these events (as was I) and basically the only thing left woudl be the Rays winning the World Series — but he’s more of a Boston fan than Rays fan anyway.
He’s lived here almost 30 years and now, I think, it’d be high time to get his ass out.
It’s high time I start planning on my escape as well… But I digress, that’s a story for another entry at another time.
I feel naked
It’s been almost a year since I started wearing chin hair pubes on the norm with my goatee…
I shaved this morning and looking at my face, I feel like I’m staring at a baby’s ass or something… It just ain’t natural.
It’ll be a few weeks before I get my face back where it should be with hair. Till then I’ll just… suffer….
OHMIGOD and also PLEASE DEAR GOD, NO!
Oh my God, the Boston Red Sox have become the first MLB Team to ever overcome a 3-0 defeceit to win a series and have beaten the New York Yankees to capture the American League crown! It’s wondrous! It’s amazing!
It’s a God Damned disaster in the making.
You think you’ve got enough political bullshit going on right now from Herr Dubya and John Kerry? Well, just think about this people — The Boston Red Sox versus the Houston Astros… Get Geographical…
Boston vs. Houston… Massachusettes vs. Texas…
And it barely gets any better if St. Louis wins. It’s still Boston vs. Busch 😛
It’ll be a good game for the National League tomorrow but I hope to high hell that the Astros don’t win for the sake of the media spin being absent over the next week….
I've failed you, Rebecca McKinney
There’s been a story that has been runnng pretty strongly through the Tampa Bay Area for the last week… It’s something that I take a personal interest in… No, that’s not correct. Or it just feels wrong and short stepping for me to say I take a personal interest in it.
Let me start by telling you the situation: A sixteen year old girl by the name of Rebecca McKinney was hit and killed on McMullen Booth road in Pinellas County, Florida last week. She was crossing 6 lanes of highway after the school bus dropped her off.
I tell you that I take what happened personally not because I am related to Rebecca McKinney – I never knew her. I never met her. I take personal interest in this because I feel like I have failed Rebecca McKinney and thousands of pedestrians and motorists around Pinellas County and in the Tampa Bay Area.
I’ve been vocal in the past 6 years about various transit conditions in Pinellas County. You can point out absurdities left and right, which I did, but what it comes down to is change. And from an advocates point of view, I changed absolutely shit.
And for that I apologize to Rebecca McKinney’s friends and family.
I’m not a government official – I just badgered them time and again and didn’t accomplish anything. I’m not a Department of Transportation worker. I’m just a citizen who wanted those assclowns to stop mis-designing roads and thoroughfares and making other bad decisions based on money and not wanting to spend.
The reason I feel I failed her, that I indirectly caused Rebecca’s death, is that I’ve grown tired of the rhetoric. I wasn’t vigilent… I couldn’t have changed things myself alone but I could have kept trying. I should have kept trying. I should have kept writing, I should have stopped being pissed off at the fact certain St. Petersburg Times editors weren’t thinking my letters newsworthy… Or my letters to Pinellas County Commissioners were turned into mush because of political bullshit being spewed from those very County COmmissioners who are out of touch with conditions out there. Heck, I should have started to badger Pinellas County Sherrif’s for their lack of policing the roads. There own cruisers tend to speed instead of doing traffic duty.
And what’s going to come of Rebecca’s death? That also makes me angry – there will be talk, denials, there will be scapegoats made out to appease those upset by what happened. There will be planning, workshops, there will be community forums…
And yet nothing will change. There won’t be vast improvements made for pedestrians. There won’t be driving alternatives for daily commuters who were witness to this accident. There won’t be help for law-enforcement officials to make sure drivers obey the laws of the road. The simplest plan will be adopted, the one that costs the county the least amount of money. Commissioners will applaud it and say it’s a step in the right direction…
And then nothing…
…until the next tradgedy.
A 16 year old girl was robbed of her life, of her future. If the Pinellas County School Board, the Pinellas County Commission, the Pinellas Sheriffs office and the Department of Transportation want to dismiss this like I believe they will ultimately do – it’s blood on their hands. If these bastards don’t think changes are in order – no matter what the cost, for the sake of lives young and old – then let them be escorted out of office post haste.
This is the 21st Century in Tampa Bay and the market is one of – if not the – worst for pedestrians and for motorsts alike. I’m sick and tired of the thrift-shopping solutions for transit woes from government officials.
Rebecca McKinney probably wouldn’t have died if changes had come to how we do things around here.
And for that, I’m sorry. My vigelence may be renewed, but at too high a cost.
Things change
About a year ago I was in real bad shape…
I can’t convey how bad it was – I thought i was going to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I thought I wasn’t goign to be able to physically perform with someone, I thought i wasn’t going to be able to go out and aout and more and would be at the mercey of someone who cared for me – or didn’t really but felt a responsibility.
At one point… exactly a year ago within the last few days — I got that wheelchair I worried aobut and my mom got upset… Telling me that if I get in one, I’m never getting out. Why would she say that? Basically it’s something that you see with elderly people who give up or who have their lives fall apart. Why try any more? It’s not like they will recover that well.
Meanwhile things continued to go down, get worse for me… It came to the point where physically trying was redundant because my body would fail onn me, int eh attempt.
Now it’s been a week since I got back from LA and it hits home every day when I think about how much things have changed in the past year. I didn’t give up, I didn’t stop fighting… I didn’t stop sticking my neck out either (but that’s a different story). The difference si night and day. Where I was doing physical rehab to try to keep some strength, now I am trying to use that strength I’ve regained to live my life agian.
Now if only I wasn’t stuck in the suburbs… but again, that’s a different story.
Everyone's eating for two…
What’s with thing sright now?
Michelle’s pregnant… She told me after she told her boyfriend Josh the news… Me and her had been talking about her feeling sick the day before and I had the creeping suspicion that she was preggo. Then again, seeing her and her boyfriend Josh all over each other usually caused that “creeping suspicion” too.
Terra is pregnant too… I’m less worried about Terra than Michelle because of circumstances and such…
But congratulations to the both of them… Certainly unplanned but certainly exciting.
Continued G-Reeve-ing
I’m still upset over the news of Christopher Reeve’s death. I’m a child of the 1980’s and Christopher Reeve as Superman was my Superman. He beat the shit out of the animated versions of Superman or the comic books… I know someone out there that doesn’t see this blog often has a picture of me as a kidd wearing a Superman outfi for Holloween….
And to think my childhood hero is gone…? It just… It makes my heart cry.
Patty Davis wrote a memorable piece in Newsweek about this death and how the Government helped it along. It ticks me off that moral law controls the United States on an issue like this.
I, myself am a disabled American and even though I can’t benefit from Stem Cell research, I certainly don’t think we should keep people from researching what benefits can come from Stem Cell research. I don’t think God would of wanted us to pass judgement on the weak like this.
I left that post mentioning Reeve’s death yesterday with a line from Stephen King’s book… that doesn’t do it justice…
Rest in peace, Superman….
The end of Roland Deschain's Journey – The Dark Tower
I’ve reviewed the last few books with just general babble in my opinion… Not talking details at all about The Dark Tower books except for those who know the Dark Tower. I’ve tried to keep my reviews spoiler free so that other people can enjoy what happens to Roland and hsi ka-tet as they approach the apex of existence: The Dark Tower.
Stephen King spins his final tale – another work of Metafiction with himself involved in the novel – in the thirty-plus year saga of the Gunslinger and his quest. It closes the door on the series but it also opens the door to the reader – the Constant Reader that Stephen likes to reffer to…. How so? ON discord perhaps? Discontent? On frustrations? On heartbreak?
It’s just a book to so many who have enjoyed them over the years, it’s a pilgrimage to the center of a fiction writers imagination.
From here on in, I want to give a constant spoiler warning… I will not be holding back on my comments… I’ll say the book kept me interested and it was a page turner… Now if you do not want to know what happens in the book — READ NO FURTHER!
—
You still here? OK… Well, lets get down to basics: Roland does indeed reach the Dark Tower and breach it…
The bad news is that King decided to get rid of some people along the way. We have a few people form past King Novels show up — including Shimmie Ruiz who happesn to be a breaker of all things — but that doesn’t really make up for the breaking of the Ka-tet. It doesn’t make up for the bitter end between Roland and Susannah (nor her choice — more on that later). Nor does it make up for the ultimate hook that closes the book out with (which I nearly skipped after reading Roland reciting names of those he has met on his journey).
For those who have read the Dark Tower novels and who have read soem of King’s other work, there has always been a indirect tie to the Tower books from his other stories. In Insomnia was a painting with two men… Patrick Danville was supposed to save the lives of those two figures and one of those men MUST NOT DIE….
Patrick was one of those two men, so it seems… As he and Roland of Gilead are the ones that are left to approach the Tower. I kid you not.
Eddie Dean hath fallen. O Discordia.
John “Jake” Chambers hath fallen. O Discordia.
Susannah Dean ventures back into one fo the many Americas in existence… This all but a day before Roland reaches the Dark Tower.
Those are the killer blows of The Dark Tower. Eddie being the most lovable character of the saga, Jake being part of the story from the very start…. It just broke my heart when I read about Eddie dying…. jake dying was shocking to me. It was shocking to Stephen King as well who explains in the book himself that, in his notes, all four of them were supposed to live to see the tower.
And Oy? Unfortunately, Wizard and Glass told you the outcome of Oy’s journey to End World….
Eddie’s death was the real problem I had with The Dark Tower – that’s just someone I couldn’t see dying and yet who’s death seemed the most likely. His death is ont he heels fo the Beam of Shardik / Manturin being saved, which adds to the bitterness of it happening.
And Jake? He saves Stephen King in the year of ’99….
Susannah and Roland venture together through a good bit of the book but dreams start telling her she must leave Roland. And leave she does…. For Eddie Cantor….Toren?
I don’t know where else to go with this discription of the book… It had most everything you have seen in the Dark Tower stories except a lengthy flashback. Chills, spills, gunslinging…. Roland never ahd the “dry twist” of arthritis… That is explained. Ted Brauntigan and Dinky Evanshaw are park of the group that saves the beams from the Breakers (say thank ya)….
And what happens when Roland reaches the Dark Tower? What happens when he reaches the top? I’ll leave you with a few words and hear them very well, I beg… I’ll leave you to read the novel itself and enjoy the novel as I did… But one line summarizes the begining and the end of this Magnum Opus of Stephen King:
The man in black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed.
The trip
Where to begin, where to begin?
“I’m only sorta gimpy. I can get there by myself.” I told a curb side check in agent for American Airlines. He smirked and let out a laugh and I went on my way into Tampa International Airport to start my trip on Tuesday morning. I had my Eastman backpack swung over my shoulders, dress pants on and my “trusty” cane in hand as I navigated the terminal and made my way to the airside concourse.
American Airlines made it real easy on me and helped me out the entire way to and from Burbank. Being it lead onto the plane by a Stewardess in Tampa or the ticket-agent trying to get me a replacement flight to Tampa from Dallas if I didn’t make that conneciton flight (more on that later)… AA kicked ass in their service.
The big thing about this that upset my parents and extended family was I was going 2200 miles by my lonesome as my first trip solo. Not to mention I’m still a gimp to one extent or another, walking with and without a cane at times.
Not like I needed to care about being gimpy once I got on the streets of LA.
If there’s one difference that is night and day in La Cuidad de Angels compared to Tampa/St. Pete and the suburbs, it’s the fact that pedestrians have the right of way. Here in Florida, I’d get run down sooner than a car actually wait to turn during a green light. In Los Angeles? I got honked at for not walking and waving cars on at an intersection. That was the biggest adjustment, and the most pleasing.
The other thing that hits me hard every time I am out there is getting used to being surrounded by minorities. Mexicans, Japaneese, African Americans, etc…. One huge eclectic mix. Here in the south, people can only hold closed minded views and hold fear when thinking about situations like that. Me? I fucking LOVED it.
Sure, there is the idea you could get jumped by a gang here and there — that was before I did some thinking and observing. Grandma’s were out walking with canes, unmolested by teens hanging out and kids walking around with CD players weren’t being attacked… I think that gives you an idea it’s safe to be out and about during the daytime and not so intimidated…
At any rate, half the reason I was able to do this trip was my buddy out west, Mark Albracht who I know from SkyscraperPage.com. Me and Mark have known each other a while and have been friends for the past year +…. He had picked me up at the airport and we also spent some time in Hollywood looking around and stuff. It was fun to be out there and see some of the places that I have only heard about (the Kodak theater, the Egyptian….. The Walk of fame…).
Damn, there is so much to talk about and yet I am just rambling through it. And at the same time, there is little to talk about because I didn’t do much while out there. While I liked being on my own on a trip, I would have loved a peer with me (not a parent) to enjoy some of the things that I passed on or didn’t spend enough time with.
Of course, the trip did have it’s low point – my birthday . The day started off as it normally did in LA but I had an appointment that morning. A long overdue ABI checkup. What went so bad? Being forced into an MRI that i didn’t want to have done, having to sit around for four hours until I had the prodcedure, then being in physical and emotional pain with how I was dealt with by the staff… To summarize my birthday was to summarize my life: spent with me trying to look good, voyaging, meeting a friend, being duped by a faux ally, pain, humiliation and ultimately ending alone. Great attitude, wouldn’t you say? 😛 😉
Oh, I forgot to add the part about Burbank. Saturday morning I left my hotel (after barely getting any sleep) to encounter the worst fog I had seen first hand since I was a kid. The flight was grounded until almost 9 and could have made me miss my conneciton flight home… And like I said, a ticket agent stepped right up and arranged things for me if I did miss my connection. Luckily, once airborn, we made up time lost and actually came in ahead of schedule (but still not enough time for this guy to grab a meal while on the DFW International concourse.
I’m planning on getting away some more in coming weeks. A trip to NY for instance…. Who knows where else. Where I’m wanted and where I’m curious would most likely be it.
Go Bye Bye
OK, well, I should finish packing but I am trying to take care of what I can before I go…. Like leaving a message on Der Stonegauge to say “See ya later Aligator.”
I’ll be back Saturday Night. Anything pressing? Sheer curiosity? Think I have you on my banned list on IM and in email? Send me email and you’ll find out that I haven’t. Didn’t. Wouldn’t and all that jazz.
And in the meantime — I want hockey back 🙁
To the city of light, I fly… Later Skaters!
The week ahead
This is going to be a doozy of a week for me — trying? Challenging is more like it.. Lonely as well as interesting…
LA’s fine, the sun shines most the time… and the feeling is laid back….
John’s a gimp and tends to be a wimp and he has a habit to… keep on lookin’ back. 😛
I’m going out west all alone for the first time in my life. A trip on my own itself would be a challenge but one that takes me 2500 miles without a saftey net is something that troubles the shit out of my family… and me to one extent or the other.
But I want time away form them. I need time away from them and thsi suburb (but going to the sprawl of LA is almost as bad). I’ve been stuck imobile for almost a year and now that i have my mobility back, the only thing that I want to stop me is finances and being able to pay for trips where I want to go.
Oh, there is that little matter of my birthday on Thursday too. Not that I am looking forward to beign 25 years old and basically not where I want to be. I’m trying to make headway but… Heh… I’ve accomplished a bit that I never intended too and I have things everyone accomplishes by now — except me — looming over my head. This trip is one of them… Most people do shit on there own by now or have done it once or twice. I haven’t. That’s got to change.
Ya down with ODP — DMOZ Posse
I might have already mentioned this somewhere but if I didn’t, I am back in action with the Open Source Directory Project with a couple of categories here and there.
Click here to view my Profile on there. Not much but it shows you what I edit…
If you’ve ever been interested in teh Search Engines and web directories, becomign an ODP editor is soemthing you ought to look into.
Pet Peeved
So I order another 2 pairs of slacks off Amazon.com for my trip to LA, just because I could use them.
And then I find out they won’t be arriving until the afternoon of the day I leave for California.
Bastards 🙁
Well lookie here! I post this this morning and what arrives this afternoon but two pairs of Dickie pants that I ordered…. Just in time for the trib next week so I won’t have to rely on blue jeans the entire time.
Surviving Jeanne
It’s Tuesday while I write this and it will be Wednesday afternoon when I finally get around to finishing and I have to tell you — I’m thankful… I’m greatly thankful.
It’s been two days since Hurricane Jeanne went through Florida… Two days or an eternity for those who lost power during the storm and haven’t gotten it back. It feels like an eternity because, in the Florida sun, the warmth gives away to the uncomfortable humidity and makes living feel attrocious. At least for the non-outdoors person like myself.
The storm went through Sunday and I lost power around 11:45 in the morning. Soon after my text messenger stopped working properly and I was cut off from friends who would later tell me they didn’t lose power or cable over the duration of Jeanne’s lashing of the Tampa Bay area..
It didn’t tkae long for food to spoil, or my parents to insit we gobble up ice cream and what not before it went bad. Outside, the wind howeled and I waited patiently for one of the trees in our yard to give-way to the relentless wind torrent and snap or tip over. Fortunately that never happened. Or unfortuantely? The thing si a very ratty Indian Rosewood that we would probably be better off without in our yard with it’s adventurous roots.
Time inched on and all you could do was try to read in poor light conditions or watch the storm. I kept thinking back to the fact we are so dependant on electricity that it isn’t even funny. Television? Computers? Even cell phones that worked, appliances, etc… This dependance is compounded in the Sunshine state because of the need for the ever-present air-conditioning if you are going to get through on hot and humid day.
By six or seven in the evening, the wind and rain had relented enough to venture outside. I honestly NEEDED to be outside at this point. Cabin fever not only was driving me nuts, but being stuck with my parents and older brother — I felt cramped. I felt stuck. Of course, I wasn’t leaving the yard as the wind still gusted to 50 MPH at times, but it was better than being on the inside — starring otu into the overcast and blustery conditions.
We got power back around 11:45 Sunday night (miraculously). The only reason we had it is because our house is on the same power circit, it would seem, as the stop light at the intersection several blocks away. It was a relief to get cold again from the AC… not just cold but drier than it had been with the windows open and the humid air flowing through the house.
Yet there are neighbors still without power. WIthout cable… And it could very well have been me and my family still trying to get by without power… so like I said, I’m thankful…
And I’m rambling without even putitng up something of substance.
Gaming Appeal
So, being bored in my GTA: Vice City fetish, I went ahead and pre-ordered Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from Amazon.com.
Meanwhile I’ve been watching TV and I’ve got to say I’m thinking seriously about buying Star Wars: Battlefronts. Something about shooting Ewoks with a sniper rifle appeals to me greatly.
Travelin' man
I’m still a gimp, as I like to say. But I’m going away on my own for most of a week in a couple of weeks. Maybe that can be taken as a birthday present for myself or just a desperate need to get away. That being said – I’m going away… Way away. Californi-a.
The big thing is that this is on my own. It’s rather sad that I’m going to be a quarter century old and this will be the first time I’ve been on a trip by myself or been at a distance from my family without having some caretaker looking over me (that usually being a nurse… hello nurse! ).
It’s part of that innocent quality to my life I guess. Never having to fend for myself. But at this point, I have GOT to get away. Away from my family and away from this house. Even if I spend the entire trip in a hotel in Hollywood, too afraid to do anything, it’s a hell of a lot better than being stuck in the suburbs.
I’m supposed to have a tuneup for the ABI (hearing device) and speak to my doctor out there as well with regards to my health. But that’s supposed to take half a day and I’m going out to Hollywood for five… Craptastic!
Never forget.
I’ve said my piece and I’m sticking to it…
9-11-01… Never forget. And never forget how you’re fears have been manipulated.
We miss you Dennis “trane” Gomes
Desperate Times calll for Desperate Measures – even if you don't know the consequences?
File this under WTF —
JACKSONVILLE — A South Florida businessman says he’s going to try to reduce the strength of Hurricane Ivan by flying a Boeing 747 into the edge of the hurricane and dumping thousands of pounds of an absorbent material into the storm
You know, it’s nice that corporate America is going to try to save Florida from another Natural Disaster but if there is one thing I have learned over the years it’s that you don’t mess with Mother Nature because you can fuck things up REAL bad when trying to control her.
And a little conversation
Keith: It snowed in Edmonton last night
Keith: Grande Prairie got over a foot of snow…
John F.: winter is coming
John F.: yay :woot
Keith: Hockey season is coming! 😀
John F.: NOW CHASE THE HURRICANE AWAY
John F.: PLEAAAAAAAAASE 🙁
Can't catch a break — Ivan the Terrible
It would seem that Mother Nature is trying to assure us that Florida will not cost John Kerry the election this year… That or she’s pissed at the mess Jeb Bush has made of the state…
At any rate, Hurricane Ivan “The Terrible” is a Category Five hurricane with maximum winds of 160 MPH … And he’s got a plan for a Florida Vacation.…..
IWe’re still cleaning up from Frances which was a nuisance more than a catastrphy… A fourth hurricane to strike the state of Florida in a matter of weeks (Bonnie, Charley and Frances are the prior three) would be devestating…. ANd the damage Ivan could do on his projected path would be nothing less than total and utter.
The flattery and the frustration
Not only was I quoted in USA Today yesterday, but my quote was placed between Tony LaRussa and Crash Davis’ immortal monologue in Bull Durham… Unbelievable…
Unfortunately, the article isn’t online. That being said, unless you have Tuesday’s USA Today sports section (page 3C), you’re not going to see what was said…
From inside the storm
I don’t know how much time I have so I am going to make this entry quick — power fluctuations and momentary blackouts are routinely happening at my home in North Pinellas County…. I’ve lost an Indian Rosewood tree that I planted almost ten years ago — it snapped in two under the wind. Some fencing has been knocked down, but we’ve pretty much been fortunate… THough I can’t see much more than my property rght now.
Frances spins on… and I keep on muddling.
Frances weakens a tad
But don’t be fooled by that title folks, this thing is packing a whalop and expected to make landfall as the most powerful storm ever to hit the United States.
Most schools are closed tomorrow throughout West Central and Southern Florida….
Hurricane Frances (ongoing topic)
Hurricane Frances is predicted to be at Category Five strength when it makes landfall somewhere along the Florida Peninsula on Friday night or Saturday morning. This is a rare Meteorlogical event for storms to not only reach Category Five strength in the Atlantic but also make landfall.
Palm Beach County in South Florida has started issuing evacuation notices which go into effect in the morning.
It was reported on SkyscrapersPage ongoing Tropical Weather thread that orlando has already canceled school for Friday.
The projected path has touched a bit north since I posted the graphic this morning but still — this is a dangerous storm and highly dangerous situation for South, East, West Central and North Florida…
Frances and Florida FUBAR
Florida is in trouble…
Hurricane Watches are supposed to go into effect for Florida sometime today. Home Depot’s around Florida are already shell-shocked because of shipping their goods to CHarley-raveged Southwest and Central Florida…
Talk
I usually start off my posts with titles — sometimes they come to me immediately and set the tone for posts, sometimes they are terrible titles for posts because they have nothing to do with them, and other times they are dead on. Right now I have no title at all in mind or every title I think of contradicts what I was going to talk about.
I was going over the site web logs – just sometime I do from time to time to see who is linked to Der Stonegauge or other sites I am in control of. I’ve been catching a lot of people who’ve been siphoning graphics lately, for example. I also check those logs for search phrases that are used on the Internet that leads people to this site. Sometimes they are strange terms, sometimes they are relevant because I have posts using those titles, sometimes they are explicitly (because I use 4 letter words in posts and other posts just happen to have the matching second keyword that some pervert typed into a Search Engine) and then some terms come out of the blue.
Here’s the one that made me do a double take:
he doesn’t want to talk to me
It got me thinking… It got me wondering…. Of course, I have no phrase use on the site that even comes close to that, and of course I have no clue who went on the Internet, typed that key-phrase on a certain Search Engine and got this site as a result, but it just jarred me a bit.
So I’ll humor myself here by just typing out why it may seem like “he doesn’t want to talk to me” to this person… And what the truth may be on why “he” seems the way he is.
Read More
more weather for the weary
Latest computer projections for Hurricane Frances. This doesn’t look that good for Florida as it stands now (Monday afternoon)
Batten Down the Hatches Again???
Hurricane Frances is alive and well in the Atlantic. It is a long ways away from any land (including the Lesser Antillies) but this system is a monster and has basically no atmospheric interference to hinder it’s growth:
Strung along
I’m not even goign to leave much of an entry… Lets just say the more things seem surprising and new, the more they turn into old situations that you’ve benevonently found yourself in time and again.
Oh well, in vaugeness I degress and head west once more….
Birthdaze
It’s Birthday Time in teh Fontana Family – between my immediate family and extended family, quite a few birthdays come up around this time of year and I am always at a loss to find a gift or something to give mi familia…
And I WANT to give, I NEED to give… I hate just sitting around like a schmoe and not giving something…. That just feels really lowball.
The key problem areas are my older brother Michael and my father. Mike’s birthday comes up in a couple of weeks (August 29th) and basically he has taken an anti-materialism vow — though he seems like the most materialistic son of a bitch sometimes. He also seems to be very much into Pool lately so I am going to have to see if I can find something that fits along those lines as a gift (and no, a cue is out of the quesiton – he just bought one).
Meanwhile, I have another month before my fathers birthday. If Mike is hard to shop for, my father is impossible. ANy time of year, any holiday — outlandishly impossible. It’d be easier getting him a few days off at a casino than getting him anything material or meaningful…
IAnd I am 2 months away from #25…. I’m due out in LA on my birthday — if I can do something other than my usual trips to LA that are uneventful, it willb e a good day all by itself.
Aftermath
I regret making my “joke” about Charley’s turn — seeing the destruction that it caused and knowing it could very well have been here is very sobering.
My older borther Mike got sent by Publix to do emergency work in Ft. Myers. He’s supposed to be down there for three days but for all he knows he could be down here a lot longer….
Powered Out
In what is going to be my lst entry for at least a few hours, I wanted to report Progress ENergy will be shutting down their transmission lines and power stations at Noon today in preperation for Charley…. It’s a means of keeping their employees safe and la-de-da
It’s a hum dinger of an inconvience for the rest of us but this entire storm is a humdinger of an inconvience for the Tampa Bay Metro Region. 600 thousand+ evacuees from Pinellas and Hillsborough Counties alone? Good god damn, that’s a quarter of Tampa Bay’s population.
The full brunt of the storm is still expected to hit Tampa / St. Petersburg at around 8 PM EDT….
Good luck to those who are also riding out the storm and god bless. Until we meet again, kiddies, this is John signing off for the duration….
