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An excuse to blow things up.

Ah, the 4th of July. Proof that vast majority of Americans really are psychotic pyros at heart.

I did my semi-annual visit to my brother’s house tonight. It’s almost tradition, considering I’ve gone for the past three years or so. And it generally ends up being rather fun.

I mean… family… plus explosives… plus lots of beer.

How can that possibly go wrong?

It was fun, however. The food was excellent, the company was good, and I generally have a blast seeing my brother. We’re not totally dissimilar, and have a few of the same interests. Plus there’s that whole mutual upbringing we have going on, where we can sit back, drink a few beers, and shoot the breeze about how messed up our family is.

Though I’m fairly certain that’s pretty typical for most families these days.

The casualties were fairly low this year, as well. No major aerial shells were shot directly into the audience. One of Pete’s car rebuilding buddies was lighting typical ground bloom flowers and throwing them into the air, however. And two of those came very close to hitting me, as I was helping light fireworks. One of those did fly directly into the audience.

But… you know… nothing major.

Pete also wanted to show off his new toy, an XBox360. I was fairly unimpressed. The graphics are nice, and there are some interesting games for it, but my issue is still that they all seem to be first person shooters. Most of which I can play on my PC anyway. For Pete, though, that’s a major selling point, as his computer is getting a bit long in the tooth.

The amusing thing was how Dawn and Kayla were completely glued to my Nintendo DS. Pete and I would be trying to head-shot each other with sniper rifles in Call of Duty 2, while Dawn was furiously trying to figure out how to get past the level she was working on in the New Super Mario Brothers game.

I found the whole thing thoroughly entertaining… especially with Dawn’s random cursing at no one in particular.

So yes. 4th of July. Patriotism? Rubbish. Just let me blow stuff up.

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Graduation

It’s that time of year. Spring is sliding into summer, and schools across the country are having graduation ceremonies. Last night was not only the graduation ceremony for Royal, but for Big Bend Community College as well, where Danie has been studying.

I skipped the Royal graduation and decided to join Shawn and his mom in going to support Danie.

The ceremony was alright. It went by relatively fast, with two speakers that sounded as if they were reading their entire speech from note cards. Big Bend is a relatively small school as well, so the graduates went by pretty fast as they picked up their diplomas.

And Danie looked pretty happy it was over.

We had a small celebration afterwards, heading to an excellent Mexican restaurant in town. I was able to see Danie’s parents again, as well as her employers for whom she watches over triplet babies. How she manages that still boggles my mind sometimes. I can only guess that it’s helped her in the whole multi-tasking portion of her programming degree.

All in all it was a good night.

I’ve also received my invitation for my 10 year class reunion. This I’m having a harder time coming to grips with. There is this rather deep seated fear about going to my reunion, as I’ve always been the self-conscious type. Plus, honestly, I don’t see a lot on the agenda I take much interest in. The first night they’re having a cocktail and steak dinner evening at a trendy restaurant. The cocktails will be appreciated, since I think getting roaring drunk would be the only way I’d really appreciate the evening, but sitting down to a steak dinner relatively by myself just doesn’t seem that appealing. And even if I do get roaring drunk, I’d have to find a way home afterward.

The day after they’re having a golf meet. I don’t golf. I don’t plan starting to golf in a public game. Self-conscious, remember? And then that evening they’re having a family picnic where everyone can bring their kids. Very not interested in this. I have little desire to see the spawn of my old classmates.

So… that about sums it up. I’m only vaguely interested in going to the first night, but the logistics of getting home when I know I’ll want to drink a bit catches me up. And the $30 price doesn’t help.

I asked Shawn if he wanted to go with me as my life partner, but he didn’t seem that interested in the whole idea.

Though I thought it would be amusing.

Ah well.

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Farscape and slack.

I finished watching the second season of Farscape tonight. And was fairly impressed. The first half of the season started out pretty slow, with a few rather predictable, plodding, uninteresting episodes here and there. But the second half grew progressively better… and the season finale was downright good. I chalk it up to that whole “trying to secure finances for the next season” thing. Whatever the reason, it was appreciated. And I’ve been able to nominate Scorpius as my new favorite villian.

Of course, now I get to begin watching season three.

In an attempt to break up the Farscape-fest a little bit, I’ve decided to insert a little anime here and there. For season three, I’ll also be watching a little Witch Hunter Robin, a show that fascinated me when it aired on Cartoon Network not too long ago, but something I was never able to catch all the episodes of.

In other news, things pretty much suck. I am unimpressed with my lack of ability to set and persue goals, especially when I know I am fully capable of doing so. I’m starting to apall even myself with my level of slack.

I’m just realizing once more that I need to kick myself in the ass. Perhaps with some strange Rube Goldbergian device.

I’ll think of something.

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Memorial Day

They say that this a holiday to remember all the men and woman that have died in military service.

I say that’s only partially true.

The deeper purpose of this holiday is to give the typical American household the chance to fire up their barbecue.

You couldn’t go outside today without the smell of roasted meat and barbecue sauce assaulting your senses.

Which brings me to something peculiar about American holidays. It seems they have all begun to revolve around one predominate facet.

Food.

After all, we are the only nation to have Thanksgiving, a holiday edifying the mass destruction and consumption of large poultry.

Of course, I’m just as guilty as anyone else. Don’t dare deprive me of my Halloween sweets, or the miles and miles of goodies that come with Christmas.

And they wonder why America has an obesity problem. We worship food. We glorify it… even celebrate it.

Which kind of brings me to the movie I went and saw tonight.

Yes, another movie. I think in ways it was an attempt to wash away X-Men 3 from last night.

Anyway… we went and saw Over the Hedge.

It’s cute. And rather entertaining. It’s also slow at times and rather methodical. It strives too hard to be a kids movie a large portion of the time, even though there is some content there for the older crowd as well.

And there’s an entire scene explaining human’s strange obsession with food.

In reality, though… there’s only one reason to watch the movie.

HammyHammy.

How can you resist an adorable, hyperactive squirrel?

You can’t. It’s just not possible.

 

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The summer movie train wreck has begun.

In other news…

I went and saw X-Men 3 tonight.

It was nearly as bad as I expected it to be.

Even the action scenes are kind of a sad affair, the one thing this movie was supposed to have going for it. You don’t end up really caring about the characters by the end of it, and the story is pretty damn weak all in all.

So in other words, it’s a summer blockbuster through and through.

Millions will go see it simply because they’ve invested so much into the previous movies… and the comics and characters themselves. I worry that it will simply mean more formulaic trash coming out in the future until they truly kill the fans off.

Not that I have room to speak, really. My comic collection is a sad affair of a couple Sandman anthologies and Lenore.

It didn’t stop me from giggling upon seeing the trailer for the upcoming Ghost Rider movie though. I mean… c’mon. Nicolas Cage?

I may go see it just for the absurdity of it all.

So basically… the short-list of movies I’m actually looking forward to at this point:

Cars we’re going to go see for Danie’s graduation. That should be fun. Pirates of the Caribbean… I have some reservations about it. The trailers I’ve seen so far haven’t dissuaded my fears that it will be another crappy sequel. But it has Johnny Depp. And pirates. I figure you can’t butcher something like that too badly.

And I’ll probably be eating crow in a month when it comes out.

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Secret admirer.

This may come as a bit of a surprise, but I can’t contain these feelings anymore.

I’ve met the most amazing girl.

She’s everything I’ve ever hoped to find in someone… she’s cute, funny, smart… has an amazing laugh.

Plus she has pink ponytails and hurls fireballs like nobody’s business.

Gazz at the top of the Damage MeterWe have a bit of a competition going. I think she might be more than I can handle, though. She might have a bit of an issue with mana if there’s an extended fight, but when she gets the drop on someone, not all the backstabbing in the world will help me come out on top.

Gazz, I salute you.

Just don’t be surprised if I’m a little starry eyed at times as well.

Hopefully I can get some better pictures this weekend. Time cannot go by swiftly enough.

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Missing In Anime

“If I must be lonely, I think I’d rather be alone.”

Anyone that truly knows me knows that if I’ve been listening to Stabbing Westward, something must be very, very wrong.

And yet, that little corner of my brain says that everything is actually okay.

I’m just being myself.

But what do you do when you’re not happy with yourself anymore?

This is that circular logic that always gets me into heaps and heaps of trouble.

The really amusing thing, though, is that I was given a glimpse of insight the other day. A glimpse of insight offered up by anime. I was watching Neon Genesis Evangelion.

EVA-01Now, I’m disappointed as the next person about the ending of the series. Yes, I can understand and appreciate the artistic aspect of the final two episodes. I’ve watched enough anime to expect it in a way.

But it still doesn’t keep me from wanting a few simple things. Like a big mecha beat down with explosions and stuff. Or maybe… just maybe… an explanation or two about major plot threads that have been the focus of the 20 some odd episodes before the ending.

Presumptuous of myself, I know.

But some small thread of clarity in those last two episodes caused a little introspective on my part.

I hate myself at times, but I am neither more nor less than what I perceive myself to be. Than what I allow myself to be.

I am my own worst enemy, but I am also the only one that can set me free.

And, thankfully, I am not nearly as fucked up as someone that finds validation in driving around a giant biomechanical robot that houses the soul of his dead mother.

I have felt so lost and alone these past few days… these past few weeks. I have a hard time with journals… or with blogs like this… because honestly, I get sick of hearing myself.

Which isn’t good, really… when you have to put up yourself as much as any of us do.

So when a close friend called today… when I had the chance to reach out to someone I care about so much… it felt, in ways, like I allowed myself to feel again. It was just what I needed… and I can’t help but be reassured by a simple, beautiful friendship that I have always cherished.

You know who you are… and I’ve missed you. Just as much, I think, as you’ve missed me. We need to allow ourselves those times to vent, I think.

And… I’m happy.

Genuinely happy.

Something I haven’t felt in a while.

It’s time to put away the Stabbing Westward I think.

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Stranger than (science) fiction.

I’ve survived the day.

And none the worst for wear at that.

Thankfully I can get back on a somewhat sane schedule tonight. Well… as sane as usual for me.

Through the joy of Netflix, I’ve been catching up on Sci-Fi series that I missed. I decided to start with Farscape, as I have always enjoyed the Jim Henson creature shop’s work. I remember as a child being thoroughly enthralled by The Storyteller series on TV… something that I may have to find on DVD just to re-live those memories.

In Farscape, however, I have been somewhat disappointed.

Don’t get me wrong… the series certainly has its high points, and to be honest, I have only made it about half-way through the first season so far.

But there is certainly something missing. The episodes lack focus in ways… as if certain elements were brought in simply to flesh out an episode that was drastically needing something more.

I think that’s the heart of my troubles with the series, really. I get the feeling that it would of made a much better series of half-hour episodes than simply trying to fill in a full hour, even if the core of your story needs much less than that.

This is, of course, just one critic’s opinion however.

I fully intend to watch the whole series, no matter what my qualms may be.

There’s just not enough Sci-Fi out there.

I’m undecided at this point what to catch up on next. I’m thinking possibly Stargate SG-1. Or possibly Battlestar Galactica. Not that new stuff they’re putting on the Sci-Fi station, though I plan on watching that eventually too. The original… another childhood favorite.

Of course, I’m always open to suggestions, too.

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Zombie

Feel like zombie. Need sleep. So tired.

Finished taxes tonight… err.. this morning.

I get to pay again this year. Though not as bad as last year. About half the amount from last year. Really need to get my withholding adjusted at work so it’s not as bad next time.

Between car and taxes I’ve had to dip a bit into my savings, though. I’m worried about the trip to Australia at the end of the year, but I think I’ll be back on track in just a couple months. I have until July really. If I don’t have the money to get my airfare by then I’m in trouble.

I’m afraid I’ll be pretty worthless at work today too. Though they’re generally pretty understanding about tax season.

Need brains…

Braaaaaaiiiins.

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Shiny.

It’s official. There’s a 2006 Hyundai Elantra sitting out in the driveway right at this moment.

I don’t think it’s completely sunk in.

I love the car, though. It is an absolute blast to drive. I had forgotten just how fun it was to drive a stick shift, as it’s been years since I had the opportunity. I’ve only managed to kill the engine twice, as it’s taken a bit of an adjustment period. It’s certainly a lot more sensitive than my old beat-up Toyota pickup used to be. The Elantra is almost sporty. The steering is good… not sports car quality, but solid. And it’s quiet. And fuel efficient.

In short, it will be an excellent car for the next couple of years.

My hope is that I can baby the hell out of it for the next 24 months and then see where opportunity takes me. I’m even going to do all the maintenance myself if possible. It’s time I faced down the jabs of my gear-head brothers.

I just find it surreal that I’ve doubled the odomoter on the vehicle in one day.

I also feel like my arm should be sore from all the signature signing I did today. Over a dozen different documents needed my elligible scrawl of a signature on them, and after you sign that many documents (sometimes more than once), you start to wonder if you’re missing something, even if you read all the small print. Honestly, though… working with the Hyundai dealership was one of the more pleasant experiences I’ve ever had. The staff was friendly, answered all my questions, went out of their way to find me what I wanted, and even worked to get me the best deal possible. They were able to beat the percentage rate I had on my pre-approved loan, gave a hefty cash back discount on the new vehicle purchase, and didn’t force me into things like unnecessary accessories or extended warranties. The one thing I did cave on was gap insurance, which, in my case, was something I seriously needed to get anyway. I was able to negotiate with them on it though… and after protesting that I didn’t want it a couple times, they came back with a lower rate that fit into my monthly payments beautifully. The only other issue I had was that they tried to get me to finance for 72 months instead of 60, though that was easily solved.

So, all in all, I’d have to heartily recommend Hyundai. Good service, fun cars, and an excellent warranty.

Of course, we’ll see if my tune changes the moment I have an actual problem with the vehicle.

As for the holiday… Easter is tax day for me. And, hopefully, a little bit of World of Warcraft.

I miss my kender.

by

Vroom.

I bought a new car today.

This morning I drove into Yakima (about 85 miles away) and test drove a Hyundai Elantra. And I liked it. It’s not a huge car. Definitely smaller than the Dodge Intrepid I used to drive. Though honestly, the Intrepid was almost too big. It was certainly a challenge getting around and parking it in San Francisco when I drove it down there a couple years ago. I don’t see having that problem with the Elantra. But it’s still big enough where I don’t feel completely uncomfortable driving it.

And it gets decent gas mileage, with 34 mpg (14.5 kpl) highway driving.

Honestly, I think it was the easiest sale the sales rep has had for a while. He didn’t have to talk me into it. I’d already done my homework. Consumer Reports has been my haunting ground for the past few days, and I knew the Elantra has an excellent track record. Maybe not as good as its competitors like the Toyota Corolla (warning: really bad background music. I mean… really bad) or the Honda Civic, but it handily beat them price wise.

So I’m pretty happy about the whole situation all told.

I don’t have the car yet. I was pretty specific in what I wanted, so they have to ship one up from a dealership in Oregon. For some reason, manual drive hatchbacks just aren’t that popular. Though I did give on the colour. I wanted black originally, but settled for red. Though honestly, it’s a rather pretty shade of red.

It will be in Yakima on Saturday.

I’m pretty excited. It’ll be nice to have my own wheels again. And moving into a new car eases my mind incredibly. 5 years full bumper to bumper warranty with roadside assistance. And 10 year coverage on the powertrain. It’s almost Adam proof. I sometimes wonder what I’m doing in a family of gear heads, but I figure this is something I shouldn’t be able to mess up.

So one bit of stress is mostly taken care of at this point.

Now I just need to get my taxes done.

*shudders*

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Spring Break

Things have been in a bit of turmoil the past few days.

Shawn’s little car, which I had hoped would last at least another month, has decided to become very ill. We still don’t know exactly what’s wrong with it at this point, but at the moment it has the terrifying characteristic of feeling like it’s going to tear itself apart if you get it much above 50 mph. So it’s not exactly comforting to drive. And if there was an automotive equivalent to laryngitis, this car would sound like it had it.

This has, of course, put me in a bit of a position, since I require vehicular transportation to get to work, 30 miles away.

Luckily I’ve been able to secure some financing for a vehicle, and though I’m not completely happy with the terms, it’s the only avenue I have available at the moment. The financing does dictate that I have to get a newer vehicle, which I wasn’t intending to do, as I just wanted something simple that I could commute with, but I have to admit the thought of a newer vehicle which I won’t have to worry about as much is nice. And, looking over my budget, it should fit into the big financial picture without any issues.

All I need now is for the financial packet to arrive in the mail, and to start shopping for a vehicle. Unfortunately, I’ll have to do my shopping over the phone for the most part, though it helps that I know what I want. I’m looking for a Nissan Altima, or possibly a Maxima. I’ve always liked the Nissan vehicles, and Altima and Maxima have an excellent record. Plus they make excellent commuter vehicles, with low gas consumption and a rock solid service record. I had thought about looking into a Toyota Prius, the hybrid vehicle which has been hyped quite a bit recently, but the prices for one are extravagantly high here. I’m not entirely sure why this is, especially after talking to my overseas friend and confidant. The conspiracist part of my brain says that it’s probably due to some sort of price locking by the oil companies. The rational part says that its simply what the market here will bear. At any rate, they are simply out of my budget.

That pretty much covers my car woes for now. This next week is going to be… interesting. I have to find some way to get to work without a vehicle, and shop for a car at the same time. I’m lucky that this week was actually spring break, so it wasn’t necessary to go in to work for most of the week. Shawn and I will be borrowing a car for tomorrow so that we can at least get a day in. Then next week… I’m not sure yet what will happen.

It gives me something to stress about for the weekend, at least.

In happier news, this week has given me the opportunity to catch up on a few movies.

First up, I watched Gattaca. This is one of those movies I’ve been meaning to watch for some time, and has been popping up repeatedly on my recommend list in places like Amazon and Netflix. So I took the plunge and finally rented it. And was quite pleased by what I saw. Now, I’m not a big fan of Ethan Hawke. For some reason, he just grates me the wrong way. But I was able to tolerate his acting as the lead in this film. I think it helps that the story was something I find incredibly intriguing, and was presented in a very compelling way. Jude Law’s character was also fascinating, and he truly does steal the scene when he’s given the chance to act. This is very well done science fiction, set in the not too distant future. It’s also good to say that I’ve finally found a movie that doesn’t completely genuflect at the audience at the end. The characters stay true to their convictions. And that’s something.

Next up, I watched Cronos, the first movie directed by Guillermo del Toro. I have to say up front that I absolutely love The Devil’s Backbone. Enough that it would possibly be in my top ten most liked movies of all time. Cronos isn’t quite in the ranks of Devil’s Backbone, but it was thoroughly entertaining, and a recommended watch if you like del Toro’s work. It’s a well thought out, sometimes touching, vampire piece. The movie is a little slow in places, and has a few things that don’t completely make sense if you start picking it apart, but is balanced quite well by some fantastic imagery and a cast of characters that you actually grow quite fond of as the movie progresses. And it has Ron Perlman. Definitely worth a rental, though I don’t think I’ll be adding it to my DVD collection.

And finally, I watched Lord of War, an entertaining commentary on guns and the people that sell them. I actually wasn’t expecting much from this movie, as I’d heard mixed things about it… and you generally never know what you’re getting into with something as volatile a subject as gun running to countries in a state of unrest. The story is told very much from the point of view of a gun salesman, though. And Nicholas Cage actually plays the part quite well. To him, it’s not about what the guns are being used for. It’s not his war, or his fight, or his concern. This brings up a lot of moral conflicts in the film, some of which are presented better than others. But it does point out that even if one gun runner is stopped or put away, it wouldn’t stop the killing, as there are plenty of others out there that would take his place. You could say that the movie advocates gun control in a way, but leaves a lot of the interpretation to the viewer. I was a bit dissatisfied with the ending, though that might possibly be because its likely how it would of ended realistically. This is more of a scathing commentary on American government than anything else in this film. I’d say this is another movie that I think is worth a rental, and is actually more likely to be added to my DVD collection than Cronos. It is controversial however, so don’t expect to always enjoy or agree with the views presented. Oh… and Ethan Hawke is in it. And I did find his morally heavy-handed character as annoying as usual.

So… three movies… and all three of them I’d recommend for at least a single watch through.

I guess I could say this was the spring break of cars, stress, and movies. I’ve also started reading Enchanter, the second book of the Wayfarer Redemption series by Sara Douglas. I can tell that I’ll be spending some quality time with it over the weekend.

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Fanboy

I have come to one, inescapable conclusion.

I am going to have to buy a Nintendo DS.

At first I was waffling on the whole idea. I hadn’t seen a lot of good games for it, besides my vague obsession with Nintendogs. And I had never been much of a handheld videogame player, save for my infatuation with all things Tetris.

But Nintendo is officially left me no choice. Not only are they coming out with a new side-scrolling Mario game, but they have just recently announced a new DS Zelda game as well.

It should be known that I am a Nintendo fanboy. I started off on the Atari 2600, thanks mostly to my older brother, who had a fascination with all things Atari. But after that, it was the NES. It was one of the joys of my childhold, and I will always fondly remember time spent in front of that boxy looking console. The NES was the reason I saved up money as a child, in the hopes that I would be able to get the latest and greatest games for it. Games like Dragon Warrior, Final Fantasy, Star Tropics, Zelda, Mario, Metroid. After that it was the SNES, and then the N64. I’ve been disappointed in the Gamecube, mainly because of the severe lack of software for it. But that was a trend that started with the release of the N64, and caused, in a large part, by Nintendo’s desire to lock in developers and consumers into proprietary formats. I may be a fanboy, but I still know when my idols really suck something up.

It looks like they’ve done something right with the DS, though.

I am going to wait until the release of the DS Lite, however. So I have at least a couple months before I have the little dual screen in my hands. Which will wonderfully coincide with the summer.

The big temptation is to convince Shawn to get one too. I just think Pictochat with Shawn would be incredibly amusing.

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Blackout

Today has been… odd.

And somewhat tiring.

Going into work today, I just had a bad feeling about things. This past week has seemingly drug itself out in so many ways… and I haven’t been feeling 100% up to snuff the past couple of days. I had a hell of a time trying to get some sleep last night. I think it is partly because of the recent temperature shifts here. Spring is definitely here as its been harder and harder to reach my sleeping temperature comfort zone of just above freezing. Anyone that has ever stayed with me before knows how cold I like to keep my living area. I like to be shivering before I get under the covers, and then simply let body heat and insulation do its work.

It also is really effective in waking you up when you have to get out from under the covers and get going in the morning.

But I digress.

I still had a bad feeling about things today.

Things were quite busy once I got to work, and I wasn’t able to get in my general half-hour of e-mail checking and carousing through log reports and traffic analysis.

And then, once things were slowly getting quiet, the power went out.

Which, as any IT support staff or system administrator can tell you, is a complete nightmare.

It seems that the wind was so bad today (another side effect of spring here) that it knocked down a telephone pole. The power was out long enough that I was forced to shut down all the servers and hope that everything came up without any issues. For the most part, they did. We’ll see on Monday how broken things truly are, however.

The combination of stress and lack of sleep finally caught up with me when I got home, though. I laid down to catch a quick nap, and ended up getting about 5 hours of sleep instead. So now I have completely sabotaged my sleep schedule as well.

Though it does seem like a really good excuse to get some World of Warcraft play time in.

I actually always used to really love it when the power went out. As a kid, I have fond memories of lighting the oil lanterns scattered about the house and having fun assembling jigsaw puzzles. My absolute favorite memory, however, is from when the power went out in the middle of the night. I remember going outside and being in sheer, absolute awe at how gorgeous the stars were. I have never seen them so bright, or seeminly so close… like I truly could reach out and draw them down with my hands.

It’s another reason I miss camping, and sleeping under the stars. I truly do believe everyone should sleep outside with nothing but a sleeping bag and the stars at some point in their life.

Some things are just too breathtaking to miss.

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Creative vocabulary.

Driving into work today, Shawn had one of his creative moments. He has a strange knack for creating new words, and I’ve decided to post them here for all the world to enjoy.

So, without further adieu, here is Shawn’s word of the day.

poofer spoot (pū'fər spūt) n.

Definition: Not entirely sure. I think he was refering to a dangly bit of hose hanging from a piece of farm equipment we were driving behind. Like all Shawnisms, this is free for adaptation. For example, it could refer to a strange dance, i.e. “I’m so happy, I just want to get up and poofer spoot!”