Time to Open Tortilla Boxes

 I made the decision last week to get some stuff out of my storage unit. I work a short day on Friday and have the weekend off. It took me until Sunday afternoon to leave my apartment. The empty bookcases called to me. I have a couple of things on the shelves but it is time to unbox some older stuff. These tortilla boxes dated May of 1994 have been unopened since I moved out of my mother's house. That was at the end of May in 1994. I put my toys into these taped up boxes and shuffled them between my mother's garage and my room at my father's apartment for years. Up until I moved to Seattle in October of 2001. 

10.5" Heat Pressed Flour Tortillas boxes from Taco Bell

According to the label, I shipped this in September of 2001. That sounds right. The 18 of 18 may be off. I have 7 of these boxes left in my possession. Did there used to be 11 more? Or were there 18 total and 7 of them were the tortilla boxes? I do think there were more of these at one time. I moved some stuff into the blue totes. Other stuff may have been in different type of boxes. I may have the old labels still. The slips are probably in some box somewhere in storage. I have kept the weirdest things over the years. 

The box waiting to be opened. Some of these boxes have labels and I should open up according to the label but I am just going to open at random. 

I do have to say, I have not had my toys displayed since Loma Prieta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Loma_Prieta_earthquake

in October of 1989. I was cleaning my room that month. My toys on this rickety white bookcase were out in the garage. I spent that quake on Marina Vista Soccer Field.  https://marinavista.mpusd.net/

Watching the grass wave was quite exciting to my 14 year old brain. 
I do not think I ever put the toys back up on the wall in my bedroom.  I was a teenager. I was trying to grow up but growing up did not mean I got rid of my toys. The five years between the earthquake and getting kicked out of my mother's does not bring any recollections to my mind about my collection. I think I was buying stuff still but nothing stands out for where I was putting the toys. 

There was one more blue tote in storage. Covered in greasy dust, I decided to throw it out. 

But what was inside it? It was the remaining stuffed toys that I own. 

I took them out of the bin and put them in the oven. AT a low heat, 170 degrees. 

I own a lot of Gorillas. I am not sure where these are going right now. 

I may do different posts for each box. OR just one post for the 7 boxes. I am not sure yet. It depends on how much writing I can get done. 

Atheist Sign

This is supposed to be on a bus. I find it funny that the Atheist gets tampered with but the Mormon signs are left alone. Does this tell you that religious people are not very tolerant individuals or is that just what I pick up?

For a long time I would say I was Atheist because of the reasons that people turn to a higher power – Alcoholics Anonymous, personal irresponsibility, and other reasons. Then I realized that I was Agnostic not because I want to believe in the Jew Christian God but because I like comic books and want to believe in the Greek and Norse Gods. Thor, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Athena, and other gods from those Pantheons. I have liked Greek mythologies since I was a little and that made me realize that to believe in the possibility of those Gods, I would have to be Agnostic not Atheist.

Recently, I have learned of another movement as well, Skeptics. I have not done any research into Skepticism so I really do not know how that would fit in my beliefs. To my quick thoughts on the matter, I would believe that Skepticism is the movement for science to replace belief. That is probably not accurate but that is my quick thought on the matter.

The other reason that I find myself more drawn to Agnostic beliefs is the fact that I want to believe in Santa Clause and Satan. Santa brings presents. Goodwill and peace to man. I think Santa is an excellent reason to have a winter holiday.

Satan was kicked out of heaven for wanting equal treatment as humans. Angels were to be subservient to humans and Satan/Lucifer did not like that. He felt that humans and angels should be treated equally. To me that makes Lucifer/Satan the first person to fight for Equal rights. At least that is the perception on events as they were presented to me a long time ago.

Usually I keep these thoughts in my head but seeing this sign torn off a bus and put next to the trash cans, just got to me this evening.

Glass Canopy

On my way to work on Saturday, I was quite surprised at this change I saw at the bus stop under the Monorail the other day.

This is the old canopy that came out from the building. This went all the way to the corner of the building. The section was taken out along 5th Avenue.

 Here is the gap where the glass canopy used to be.

Here is the new ledge/overhang that was installed to replace the glass canopy. Not quite as nice looking as the glass. Probably a lot easier to maintain. Crews were always scrubbing the glass panels.

You can tell by looking at the pictures of the remaining glass panels that the panels are not very clean. I use this bus stop fairly frequently. I am surprised that I did not notice any work on the building. To have that much work go unnoticed is startling.

Bush with Dead Sara at the Neptune Theater

I did not think I was going to go to the show after all. I had not bought tickets. I had not heard from my brother. Yet tickets were still available. I had a great time at the show.

Bush was one of the first concerts I went to as an adult. I was stoked that Bush was coming to Seattle for a show. Listening to them over the last couple of months on the radio was good. Getting to see them live was exciting.

I had a conversation with the Bush merchandise guy about a shirt I used to own. I wonder what happened to it. It was a green shirt that said Bush in the M*A*S*H style. I may have to update this post later if I find a picture of me in that shirt.

 

Restroom Stall Door

Pre- Show

Balcony

Mixing Boards

Place to get Alcohol – the Bar

Justin and Josh

Bush taking the stage

Gavin Rossdale

 

 

 

 

 

Getting personal with Gavin Rossdale

 

Dancing

Glen and some of his Navy buddies joined me for the show. I drank a lot of beer and had fun.  After the concert, we went over to Earl’s on University Avenue.

I passed out on the bus ride home and ended up downtown. I rode the bus back up the hill to get home.

01/07/2011

Friday and work was it. Eventually went out to Sun Liquor later that night. Sat outside drinking my screwdriver and beer. Went back in for another round and sat outside again. I feel like I should know the bouncers name but I am bad with names. Went back in for another screwdriver which Ricardo gave to me and closed out my tab. Felt very drunk for barely drinking. I guess maybe I had not eaten since lunch. I went to Toscana’s for slices of pizza. Then I walked home. Turned on my PS3 to watch some Netflix. Started watching the Fast and the Furious. Ate some frozen pizza. Fell asleep. Not an exciting day but whatever.

01/06/2011

Work with a Dentist visit in the afternoon. The views from the chair at the Dentist’s is very nice.

A walk home after work. I was going to go to the Seattle Art Museum after work  to see Picasso but the crowd was big. I did not feel like I would be able to handle the crowd. The exhibit closes on the 17th. Mark is visiting so I think I will take him to the show.
Walking to the Seattle Art Museum, I passed this sign for the West Edge Neighborhood. I know every little block in Seattle wants to have its own identity but sometimes the names and the neighborhoods just seem silly to me.

1/4/2011

Took a #2 bus up the hill. I was going to walk home after work but the bus was there and it had rained. I walked through the park. I stopped to watch some soccer action on the field. I do not know if the rain drops on the lens or all the light sources made focusing such a problem.

There was some bike polo on one of the old tennis courts. Stopped to take a phone call near the iced over reservoir. Then on the construction wall was a picture. I took several photos but could not decide on just one.

I wonder if the construction site will blow up the red walls. Now that would be A BOOM.

Wednesday Night at the Deluxe

I did a little stalking last night with the pretext that I needed to work on my Letter of Interest for a new job at work. I knew Erin was at CAP so I went up there to work on my letter after work. I left the building so she ran into me outside the building. We had a nice chat and I put her on the #49 bus home. My knee wanted to walk so when I was trying to sit down at the library, my knee was not happy.
Then I went to the Deluxe for Burger-Rama. $4.99 for a good Bacon Onion Avocado burger plus fries is a tough deal to beat. Plus 2 beers and I was ready to go home. I did manage to get a line or two written at the library and at the Deluxe. At the Deluxe I sat next to this really warm fireplace.

After the Deluxe I came down to the Summit and ran into Chris, Brittany, and Dora. Dora is the smallest dog I know. Also the quietest and stillest dog I have seen. I never see her move. I never hear her.
A couple drinks at the Summit. Some good conversation. I was good to go home. I did not finish my letter but I had a good time. And what is more important?

Ripped Pants

I ripped some pants on Wednesday. I was wearing shorts on Thursday at work. I looked at the work load and thought I should go home early. I asked to go home and was told I could go at  14:00. I thought great. I did have Friday off and could have gone shopping on Friday but I wanted to go on Thursday so I could sleep in on Friday. I left work a little after 14:00 and went to pick up my truck.

I drove up to Northgate Mall so I could go to JC Penney’s. There was a bunch of traffic so it took me a little while to get to the Mall. I then spent a lot of time looking at clothes. I needed pants but I was not sure of how many to buy. I was not sure of the quantity to buy either. Should I buy 2 pairs just to replace the ones I ripped or should I buy 4 pairs so I have some back-ups? I eventually ended up on buying 2 pairs of pants. The pants took me a while to find though. I guess 32 inseams are popular. With the weight I have put on over the last couple of months, I was not sure what size I should buy. I went with a bigger size than the pair I ripped. I figured that buying a size a little bigger might help.

I spent over two hours looking at clothes. I looked at shirts and pants. I found this great shiny gray dress shirt. Unfortunately the shirt was a little too big. Eventually I found a shiny blue shirt. And the size was good. Then I had to find a tie. I got this other shirt too. With a new tie for that shirt too.

The blue sweater that I am currently wearing is pretty nice. Looks good and I like the color are two things that work for me. The warmth is a little much though. This sweater is not good to wear at work. The blue sweater is warmer than the gray fleece sweater that I have been wearing. The last thing that I found were some longer length boxers. Not only are the legs longer than normal boxers, I like the blue pattern ones and the black pattern ones I found. Normally I do not like anything other than a plain pattern but I can live with the patterns I found.

What else did I pick up on this day?

Boxers, shirts, ties, sweater, pants

I guess that covers everything.

Haunted

Haunted by faces

Haunted by voices

Haunted by dreams

Haunting my desires

Haunting my life

Haunting my world

Anything I touch

Anything I write

Anything I do

Days get better

Days get worse

Days get dreams

You are thought

You are force

You are everywhere

Still with you

Still with moments

Still with cherish

When do I

When do you

When do you

Cell Phone #3

I managed to damage the glass on my cell phone today. The phone is still working so I do not have to get a replacement yet. I wonder how long it will be until I do need a new phone.
Phone 1 – dropped it getting out of my truck on January 4
Phone 2 – in my pocket when I slipped off a sand bag into the ocean when I was  in Mexico
Phone 3 – in my left front pocket that hit the edge of a table at work
These were all the same models of phone.
The new Windows Phone 7 is coming out on the 8th of November. I have been thinking of getting one. This provides a nice excuse to get a new phone.

One Year Ago

This was intended to be a much longer post but I distracted myself because I could not deal with the thoughts necessary to write this post.
This weekend last year, I met a woman who changed my life. I have more to say on this woman and my life but I still can not bring myself to write.
I am going to go get drunk.
Put some random words into the tags associated with this post and you can figure out the rest.

Upcoming Posts

I need to work on a bunch of posts. Maybe if I make a list, that will compel me to work on some of them.
1. Tahiti part 3
2. Dolphins
3. Birthday Night 2010
4. Highway 1
5. Avenue of the Giants
6. Oregon Coast
7. August 1
8. Work
9. Apartment
Plus some random ones that I do not want to mention right now. The hardest one that I think to write will be the Tahiti one. Too many things that I want to say that I can not bring myself to talk about yet. But then again, the longer I do not talk about it the harder talking about it becomes.
Yes, the vague musings of my life are horrible.

Updating is a little slow right now

I have a lot of blogs I have been wanting to write. I have been a little slow on getting them done since I got back to Seattle. I have redone one three times now but keep losing my work. I do not know why I had not saved the post. I probably had not done that much work on it.

One of the things I wanted to do with this time I am in Seattle is work on my writing. Now that I am writing again, I have a lot of years to make up. I hope to get some writing done this weekend. As well as during the furlough week. I need to finish up my vacation posts.

Since I got back from vacation, I have slept a lot. I have watched a lot of movies via Netflix. Netflix streaming through my PS3 is an evil I should not allow myself.

Yet I am not working on the posts as much as I should be doing.

Did my power port on my computer break today? Am I going to have to buy a new computer this year? SHIT!

Road Trip 2010

I Here I go out on the road. Not sure where the road will take me. Or where I want to go. I want to keep my schedule loose and just try to relax. Try not to do anything crazy. Find some perspective…take a breath…do some writing…get the repetitive conversations out of my head

Destination	Probability	WHY	WHEN
DC	60%	woman	July 31
Utah	10%	woman	week before July 31
Louisiana	40%	Mom	Week after July 31
Florida	30%	Aunt and Uncle	Week after July 31
San Diego, CA	80%	Comic-Con	July 24-25
Santa Cruz, CA	50%	Sister	July 26
Seaside, CA	50%	Grandparents	July 26
Hawaii	40%	some place different	July 31
Caribbean	40%	some place different	July 31
Tahiti	25%	Original Plan	July 31
Las Vegas	20%	why not?	never

At some point I may park at an airport and look for a cheap flight out to some random destination. That would be interesting.
This trip was meant to be on a plane. I was going to San Diego Comic-Con this week. Next week was going to be Tahiti. A deserted island somewhere in the South Pacific was where I wanted to spend my birthday. I took a drive up to the Northgate Mall last Friday. I realized that I need to take a road trip. So this is where this plan just fell into place. As the money came into existence, I had enough money for Comic-Con. But not enough money for Tahiti. I thought by saying no to Comic-Con I would be able to afford to go to Tahiti. And I can if I had saved my money and left on July 30th. That date was not going to work for me. I do not want to spend my birthday traveling. I want to be where I want to be when I wake up on the 31st.
Where that place I want to be is…Let the road decide!

Possible 35th Birthday Tahiti Trip Part II

Summer 2009
July 1 to September 27, 2009
Things were lining up for next years trip. I seemed to be on the path to being out of debt by December.
On July 1st, I went crazy for G.I. Joe toys. There was a spending spree for the The Rise of Cobra movie toys. Hasbro released new products to coincide with the movie release in August. Over July and August I spent a lot of money and time shopping for the toys. I spent over $2,000 on related merchandise. Including a Playstation 3 because of the G.I. Joe video game. This was before the price drop on the PS3. I think the last G.I. Joe thing I bought was some wristbands at Hot Topic. That was on September 27, 2009. Some time soon after that purchase, I realized that I was done with buying G.I. Joe merchandise. The appeal of filling my life with these toys was gone. I no longer want to buy anything. In fact, I started feeling the want to sell everything.

View Full Album

This craziness put a small hiccup on the plans for July 2010. I thought this was nothing too major though.
FALL 2009
Then in October/November I bought some electronics. The screen on my laptop died. My digital camera stopped working at the same time. I bought a new camera ($175) and a netbook ($325) in late November. October, I broke down and bought a Pre-Paid Cell phone. New stereo ($200) for my truck. Which meant a new passenger window ($200) when someone tried to steal it. Finally broke down and paid Toyota ($200) to change the dashboard lights that had been out for a long time.
In September I started wearing pants on a regular basis. This led to all sorts of wardrobe changes. Which meant spending money. I have bought pants, jeans, dress shirts, ties, and a suit.
Started drinking on a daily basis in October. At 23:00 almost every night I would go to Cafe Metropolitan and have 3 beers and a cocktail. I would do some writing. Then go home.
Started walking up the hill towards home after work. Losing weight made me have to replace those pants and jeans I had just bought. Regular walking everyday helped me work on the food side of my life. Fruits and vegetables became a staple of my diet.
END OF 2009 FINANCIAL PICTURE

Spending spree in July and August. Electronics in November. Trip to see family in December. Drinking. All these things put me further behind on getting out of debt.
But all the money problems do not address the main reason I am not going to Tahiti this year.
How to talk about that….See Part III

Apartment on July 6th, 2010

Photos from around the apartment on July 6, 2010. I just want to see what progress I have made in my apartment in the month of June. I thought today would be a good day to show the current state of the apartment.
 
I missed the July 1st deadline for having my apartment empty. Now I have 12 days to the start of my 3 week vacation. I would like to get everything out by July 18. Of course that is my last day of work. So I should have 13 days until my birthday to get the place clean.
I have to go back out walking.  I have been spending so much time on the projects that I have not been getting any exercise.

The closet today. I took this picture right before leaving the house today.

I guess this is when I sealed the closet. Because in May/June 2010 when I opened the doors, this is how it looked. Shit, to have doors not open for two years is a long time. Considering how long it has been since some of those boxes were sealed, two years is not that long after all.