March is over, and so is peak site activity. As I mentioned in my last post, now that I'm working again, I'll have a lot less time for the site, and most of my computer time will probably be devoted to making funny funny comics. But oh well. I gave a short description of my last job a while into it, and it's time for me to do that again.
Most people work during normal hours of the day, but not me. I work while the rest of the world sleeps, and I go to bed when children leave for school. Uh, except today. Today I'm staying up to write a little post for my blog. Anyhow, the overnight shift is a little annoying, but it's not like I have any social obligations, so it's not a big deal for me. The only thing that's getting to me is that I've got less Ryan time, and I'm all about the Ryan time. My stupid family is around during all my awake hours now, and it's driving me nuts. Blasted people just watch TV all goddamned day. They have no hobbies other than sitting there and telling me that I can't listen to music while I compute because it gets in the way of their TV. Fuckers. I'll be sure to buy a wireless access point so I can internet from my room as soon as possible.
So back to the job... My daily duties are basically pulling shit back and forth. Sometimes I have to open some boxes or stock a shelf or two, but otherwise I just lug stuff around and thorw garbage in the compactor all day. It's exactly what I've been looking for in a job, and I simply love it. Easy stuff, and it really makes me work so I feel like I'm actually getting something done. The only issue is the blisters all over my feet and the chaffing of my thighs. But... that should get better in time. Right? Also, since I spend most of my time in the back, I get to spend a lot of time listeneing to the radio, which is way better than listening to customers order me around. Even better is the fact that Power (a local radio station) plays much better music in the middle of the night. So not only am I enjoying my work, but I get to rock out too. It couldn't possibly get any better. Actually, wait, it does. On my first day I came back from break, and "Stuck in the Middle With You" was playing on the radio. Having a box-cutting knife in my hand, I took the opportunity to dance around a bit and then violently slice a flap off a box. You don't get moments of concentrated awesome like that at Tim Horton's.
The people I work with seem to be on the level. The supervisors are cool enough, and the guy in charge has gotta be like 25 at most. Most of the overnight crew is all old (as in too old for me) ladies, but I'm generally on my own all night, so it's no problem. It would be nice to have a few girls my age to work with, because I could use a little visual relief now and then, but I guess I can get along all right without. We all take our breaks at the same time, which seems a bit unorthodox, but makes enough sense. I miss the quiet and solitude that come with independent breaks, but again, I can deal with it.
Let's see... What else should I mention? Oh, I get to wear whatever I damn well please. That was kind of obvious, but I figured I'd throw it out there. Riding around on a pallet jack is awesome too. At the end of the shift (which, for me, is when all the work is done - not when 6 o'clcok rolls around), I get to scoot around the store in search of any leftover pallets, which is like the highlight of the night. Pallet jack racing should be a recognized sport. Well, it was a bit disjointed (I should have been in bed about 2 hours ago), but that about sums up all I needed to say about my new job. I love it, and if you've got nothing better to do, you should totally work the overnight shift at a department store. It rocks.
So much to post about... So little urge to do it all... Well I guess first of all, I should mention that Comedy-Napalm has died. At least physically. The spirit of CN lives on through various websites which will be under their own heading on the sidebar there (eventually). And also the forums. I will eventually stick up all my CN junk here too, so don't think you've seen the end of that crap.
Secondly, I love my job. It's all so easy, and since it's all physical, it actually feels like I'm working. At the same time though, it also feels kinda like I'm not really working. The whole staying up all night and sleeping all morning is a little odd, but I'll get used to it. Did I mention that I get like an hour and a half worth of breaks? Yeah. It's sweet. But sadly it's gonna slow down site work a lot. I can't remember if I did a lot of stuff while I was working at Timmy's, but it'll probably be a little slower than that period of time.
I'm sure there was something else I meant to say... I can't remember what it was for the life of me though, so I'll just quit it now. I'll probably have all links and such fixed up soon, but I'm not sure if I've got the drive to get it all done tonight. I guess only time will tell.
So I had a "job offer" this morning. Didn't do that at Timmy's, so I had no idea what it would be. There, they just finished the interview and said they'd give me a call to tell me when I start. Turns out the thing was just a bunch of red tape, and it took less than half an hour, but I do have some light reading to do. Oh, and I officially have a job now.
Afterwards I went to McDonald's to get some breakfast, and it wasn't until I was done eating that it dawned on me that I had eaten breakfast before I left. Oops. Just thought that was kind of a funny little story.
Since I don't have anything else important to say, I'll just dump a few more links on you. I've been doing it all month, why stop now?
Sports Illustrated's Swimsuit 2006 site
Hilarious news report on a leprechaun sighting
Satoru Iwata's keynote address transcript
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass trailer (check the right-hand sidebar)
All sorts of video game speedruns. Impressive to say the least
Yesterday I had not one, but two job interviews. I believe that they went rather well, and I even got a call back today for orientation. So it looks like Ryan's a-gonna be working the night shift! Yeah, apparently that's not such a great thing for my body, but if it puts snacks on the table, that's all I need. I'm totally cool with the work, and the only thing I'm a little apprehensive about is how I'm going to manage to do anything else, since my whole schedule will be upside-down. In any case, it's all good because I'll be on the regular income train again. No matter how gihumongenormous a tax refund is, it still only lasts so long. To celebrate, I went out and spent craploads of money! First off, I scored the Hawksley Workman album Lover/Fighter, which is an incredible CD that I recommend you go and buy now on account of it's so awesome. Next, I ran into the South Park season 7 DVD set, so I scooped that right up. On the gaming side of things, I bought Tales of Phantasia for GBA. Great game. Hell, the whole Tales series is great, and I highly recommend you give at least one game a try. The last thing I bought (and prepare yourself for this one: you're not going to be happy with me) was a GameBoy Micro. My practical reasons for buying it just sound like excuses anyway, so we'll just chalk it up to the fact that I'll buy anything that Nintendo tries to sell me. Plus it's so tiny! I was looking for Tetris DS too (actually the original reason I went shopping), but no stores have it in stock yet, so maybe tomorrow...
So that's my tale. I've really got nothing else to announce today. I might finish uploading stuff to the DeviantART gallery this weekend, and there will probably be a new article soon too. Though it'll likely be a boring game review, so don't get too excited about that.
Oh! Hey, and don't forget that Satoru Iwata's giving his keynote speech at the GDC today, so expect a whole slew of Revolution-related info to be flying all about the intarweb over the next little while.
Apparently, PopoZao wasn't the real shit. Nope. KFed threw us a curveball. And we struck out.
"You'll pay for this, Captain Planet!"
Tetris DS is out now. I'll see you online.
Seriously, the Colbert Report is like the best show on TV since forever.
Good news everyone! I've finished yet another article! To tell the truth, it's been done and up on the site for a few days now, I just never bothered to announce it or put a link to it on the articles page. But all is in order now, so go check it out.
Also I moved a couple (like two or three) articles off of Angelfire. So, uh... yeah.
Snakes on a Plane! The trailer!
Twilight Princess will use the Revolution controller? Nizzice.
Woah! Free We Are Scientists music! If you've never listened to them, maybe this is a good time to start.
The 5 worst Transformers and Gobots ever
The Bittorrent Song - now with lyrics so you can sing along!
I want to poop back and forth. And the shirt.
Game: Plankton Life. I spent at least an hour with this one.
An old favourite: the FireMelon.
Isaac Hayes has quit South Park. Why? Because he's an easily fooled douchebag.
Yeah, there's a lot of games there, but I don't see a Panasonic Q anywhere.
I'll get right to the point: there's a new thing for you to read. Go here to read it. You know, if you think it's worth reading.
EDIT: Yo! Check out the sexy new header for the side bar. I'll have to make a new banner too, now that it's the only thing that doesn't match.
EDIT 2: Bored as I am, I've rigged up a new, more fitting banner. It's simple, but it's just a placeholder until I can think up something a little better.
Can you see what's wrong with the album cover below? Take your time, but I'm pretty sure it'll pop right out at you.
If you haven't figured it out by now, it's the breasts. Now, I may not have a degree in boob physics, but I've done more than a small army's worth of research on the subject, and I can tell you now that something there ain't right. Not only should they have flattened out a bit because she's laying down, but also because she's got her arms spread open. There's only one way that those could still be that upright in that position: her breat implants are actual melons. Even then though, they'd most likely be drooping down into her armpits. So what's the point of this whole post? Nothing really. I just wanted to point out the error there and talk about boobs a little. I've never even heard of "Bullet for my Valentine."
Today we present to you a very special Band of the Month. ...Nah. It's a normal one. But I bet I had you going for a second there, right? Well whatever, let's get it on.
I've been listening to a lot of new (to me) bands during the last couple weeks, and while a handful of them are definite candidates for the BotM title, this month I've decided to go with an old favourite: The Vandals. I've been listening to them since late '99. I'll give you two guesses where I first came across them. Give up yet? Not surprisingly, it was the first Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game. Back in that day, I wasn't overly open to different kinds of music, and the punk scene was totally new to me. I immediately took to two bands featured on the soundtrack: Goldfinger and the Vandals. Those were the glory days of Napster too, so I was still enamoured with the fact that I could download any music I wanted. That really has nothing to do with the story, but the two memories are pretty close to each other, so I figured I'd mention it. Anyhow, the fascination with the Vandals died off after a short while, only to be revived by chance a couple years later.
At that time, the storm hit with full force, and the Vandals became a mainstay in my rotation and still sit there to this very day. I still don't own any Vandals CDs (the only one I've ever seen is the Shingo Japanese Remix Album, which I've heard is disappointing). I have downloaded a couple albums though, so I have a very good idea of their range of music. And what a range it is too. With about 13 discs under their belts, the Vandals have explored a huge variety of music styles from punk to country to metal (they've even got a Christmas album). Mostly punk though. Aside from the range of style, the other really notable thing about the band is that they write incredible lyrics. Sometimes they're serious punk-esqe lyrics, but most of the time they're just downright silly and hilarious. A couple that spring to mind immediately include "That's My Girl," "Christmas Time for my Penis" and "My Girlfriend's Dead." A couple songs are even exercises in mercilessly kicking your ass through music, like "The New You" and "I've Got an Ape Drape." In the end, though, it's pretty much all good. Like all bands, they've got a few weak songs, but they're not that common.
Honestly, I don't know what else to say. I don't want to point-by-point each album, because there are way too many. I've told the story, relayed the highlights, and that about does the usual BotM post. I could list some more songs that I recommend, but that could take forever and would look bad. At least rambling like this doesn't look bad unless you're actually reading it. I guess to sum it all up, you should look into the Vandals if you're up for something that's definitely different from anything you've ever heard before. They're definitely in their own league. Comparing them to any other band would be like comparing apples and wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube men.
The other thing I neeed to mention today is that I found a torrent for all the bonus (and uber-rare) tracks from Guitar Hero. Now I share the wealth with you. It's got some real gems on it like "Cheat on the Church," "Eueka, I've Found Love," "All of This" and "Guitar Hero." Highly recommend you take advantage of that as soon as possible. Seeders don't stay that way forever, you know. I'm gonna ask you about it the next time I see you, so either download it or make sure I don't see you.
So yesterday was pretty eventful. As it turns out, my brother's hockey team made it to the finals in their playoffs, so it was essentially required attendance (I wanted to go anyway, so it didn't make much difference). There are two notes I should add on here. First, we're talking high school hockey here, and since unlike our southern neighbours, nobody in Canada gives two shits about college sports, the fact that high school hockey has so much buzz around it is kinda impressive. Second, the game was so "hyped-up" that they decided that it would be played in the MTS Centre. I played a game in the old arena once when I still played hockey, and that was like the greatest achievement in my life, so I can assume it was pretty cool for these kids to get to play at the MTS Centre. Anyway, they got absolutely railed. Four to one doesn't sound so bad, but the way CPET was playing, I'm amazed they got the one goal they did. The only kid on the ice who seemed to know what game he was playing was my brother, and he was the goalie. The rest of them were tripping over blue lines and skating at a pace usually reserved for seniors. The defensemen spent most of the game just watching the other guys skate by and clearly couldn't be bothered enough to even try to keep the puck in the opposition's end. It was ridiculous. And sad. I still wonder how they managed to get to the final game. But I suppose the silver medal isn't so bad, considering the team's history. CPET didn't even have a hockey team until last year, and that team didn't win a single game. So yeah, second place is a definite improvement. Afterwards we went to Montana's with my grandparents and uncle for dinner, and it normally isn't worth mentioning, but if you haven't been to Montana's, you should definitely check it out. They have huge sheets of paper laid out over every table just so you can doodle all over them while you wait. Easily my favourite restaurant.
Added a new link to the ol' sidebar. Yeah. Check it out.
Really, I just wanted to try out this neat little GIF maker I got. I think I've got the hang of it. Though now that I really think of it, I commonly chastise people for using GIFs on their websites. But one won't hurt anybody, right? Right?
Oh, and you should totally visit that link. Plenty of good times for those who do.
You know you have too much free time when...
As promised, there is a new page up in the CD collection. It's the biggest one yet, though it'll be beat out in time. I've also finally gotten around to uploading some more stuff to the old DeviantART account, so check that out too. There isn't anything new (to my recollection), but it's always fun to go back and see old stuff again. Why do you think I keep archives of everything?
Something else I'd like to make note of is that I've been participating (for lack of a better word) on the internet a little more lately, and getting my name and link out there. Mostly I've been posting all over the place and "networking" over at Last.fm, and I think it's working well. Not only am I getting more varied visitors, but it's also exposing me to some really good music. I also made a comment in the X-E blog the other week and it roped in over 20 unique hits. Not a lot by internet standards, but far more than I'd normally get. This is kind of a downer for me, because it's proving that I have to be sociable to succeed. Oh well.
It's a good week for webcomics. First of all, this week's Coozy for Hire will blow you away. Secondly, I don't want to jinx it, but Cascade Failure has now been World of Warcraft-free for three weeks. Lastly, today's Penny Arcade blog is chock-full of hilarity and a crystal that I would kill babies for.
On the flip side, there seems to be some jerkass publishing a book about teh history of webcomics when he knows nothing about them. Oh, and he also apparently makes use of several well known webcomic names and characters without having asked permission. Read more about it over on the PVP blog.
101 free games. And the majority of them are pretty damned good too. There's nothing to really post about today, but I couldn't let this link slide.