You know things in Iraq must be getting back to normal when this happens...

Iraqi prostitutes back on the streets after Saddam

Werk it grrrls!

I realized recently that most of my closer friends are female. Sure, there are a few close males, but for the most part, most of the people I'd call friends are chicks. And really, some of those male friends are really female underneath. I wonder why that is. Perhaps, it stems from my school days when most every boy I became friends with betrayed me in some very minor or quite major way. What's weird, or interesting depending on your point of view, is that I've always been a little girl-shy. I didn't really date much. A few of the girls I crushed on became friends because I didn't want to embarrass myself and tell them "Hey I think I love you. *giggle*" Of course, the one's I did express my feelings to strangely are not in my life anymore. That's something to think about with a few glasses of wine... The first girl I had a serious relationship with I ended up marrying.

Not that I mind having chicks for friends. I just wish one or two of them liked football...

It's been quite a fun-filled busy few days. Friday was the possible exception, only because I was at work on a normal off day. But that was how we planned it so I could have Sunday off. On Saturday, I declared my days of playing furry animals on stage to be over. Aladdin's run ended without much fanfare, but I like to think that's because of the groups' comradery. We became a tightly-knit group of friends doing this show, so the last show wasn't so much of a "good-bye" as a "see ya real soon." I have no doubt that many of us will continue to hang out and plan group activities. I miss them already. Sunday, we held our cast party. Poinsettas and Mimosas. Not the flowers. Some "girlie-drinks" are really good. I'm still not sure about the lockes and bagels. Usually, when a show come to an end, my emotions crash. But this time, it wasn't too bad. Then again, how much lower on the emotional-scale can I get? Heh... Yeah, I've been feeling the hands of depression slowly squeeze around me for a few weeks now. Focus on the positive, ML... the positive...

Anyway, one of the local playhouse's is auditioning for Guys and Dolls. I really wanted to try out for that show. Musical theatre is one thing that bring joy to my life. Positives. So, yesterday I go to audition. A few acting buddies and aquiantences were there and we sat together. Apparently, the director was doing the singing audition last night. I had my song prepared. I was going to sing "Your Song" by Sir Elton John as arranged by the wonderful folks who produced Moulin Rouge.

After sitting though several wonderful auditions and many horrid ones, my turn was up. As I walked onto the stage, I kept telling myself to imagine I was just in the shower singing the song, or in my car. I introduced myself and the song I was about to sing, then got into position to start. After taking a few deep breaths, I nailed the first line "My gift is my song". Despite my obvious nervousness - my hands were shaking - I continued on to the next line "and this one's for you." I could feel everyone's eyes upon me; they were impressed with my voice. I continued, trying not to look anyone in the eyes, instead focusing on a point in the air. That point would be the "Satine" I was singing my love song to.

Auditioning for a complete group of strangers can be a very agonizing thing. Even though I have sung that song thousands of times, even though I know and have been told I am a great singer and have a great voice, it's still very difficult to stand up in front of 100 strangers. Just as I started to relax, it happened - I blanked on a line. As I fumbled to get through the song, the director cut me off and said "That's ok, we know you can sing." A-ha! Despite the flub-up, I had indeed impressed them. How ironic life can be! I realized a little while later the line I flubbed on was And some of these verses, they got me quite cross..." You gotta love the irony.

In the end, I was offered a chorus part, but they reherse on Sundays and I can't get my work schedule rearranged enough to accomidate. So, I will be calling the director later to tell her I can't do it. Ah, it's all for the best. I'll miss not doing the show, but there will be other shows.

As a rule, I don't mind staying late to finish up a project. But my other rule is, if you can't leave by 5:30pm, then you're not doing your job right. Really, I don't mind staying an extra hour or so to put the finishing touches on a project. Of, if the edit system crashes at 5pm, I don't mind staying to fix it.

My department is ordering lunch today - a first day of sweeps tradition - and a co-worker said that they might as well order supper, too. Apparently, they are thinking we will all be so busy as to warrent working untl 8 or 9pm. I don't think so. At least, I know I won't be. Maybe 6:30pm at the latest for me, and that's only because I got booted out the edit room while someone much slower to edit than me trys to figure out how the system works. I've only explained how to copy a video file from one job to another about 1000 times. That's not an exaggeration. A million would have been.

Presently, I have about 4 projects that are all due by tomorrow. Two need to be done today. All will be finished on time without having to stay ungodly late. I don't mean to come off as arrogent, but I know what my strengths are and efficiency is one of them. Speed with quality. Confidence in my work skills. That's the key.

While I wait for someone to learn to use the machines more efficiently, I think I'll send people voo-doo curses...

It's about bloody god-damn time. Shares of Everything Grey are now ready to be traded in Blogshares. Going price is rather cheap, but that's expected - only 27 cents per share.

If you use your turn signal, the reward will be me letting you in. If you don't use your turn signal, fuck off. Goddamn Houston drivers...

Only one last day of being a sweaty camel. Then, I swear I will never EVER be a furry animal in a play again! (and I'll stop talking about it) Up next, Guys and Dolls, hopefully.

I noticed you have been wearing the earrings and necklace I bought you a while ago. I didn't say anything, but I did notice. You were still wearing them this morning as you slept. Kooky how they match the ring.

Perhaps I should change the i-mood indictator more often. I am not nearly as aggrivated as that thing makes me out to be... Of course, I don't know if depressed is a better option...

Yeah. Sorry. I'm lazy. That's my only excuse. The last several days have been rather uneventful. There was the Guster concert, which was as always wonderful. Brian sang "Bridge Over Troubled Water." It was horrible and I loved it. I spent about 30 bucks on CDs from Wherehouse Music's going out of business sale. Added Matthew Sweet's Girlfriend and Garth Brooks' first album, among others to the collection. Why Garth Brooks? I don't know, it was cheap enough to feel necessary. Country Music ain't all bad, y'all. I also slept... alot... like 'til noon most days. Vacation days will do that.

The weekend went like this: sweaty camel, really sweaty camel. friends house warming party. late (because we slept 'til noon) Easter lunch at I-HOP, which I am never eating at again. straighten the living room. wash some clothes. sleep. And now I'm back at work. See, not all storys have a happy ending...

One word: Guster

Goodnight!

Barenaked Ladies have their own blog now. I'm probably the only person in the blogosphere that cares. No, probably not. But, I think there is some sort of stigma to admitting your a BNL fan. But I declare it loud and proud. And Ed is so Hott (in-side joke).

I was actually playing guitar today and realized all the songs I was lazily strumming were BNL songs. I was quite suprised when my new neighbor/friend started singing along to "Call and Answer." I thought I was the only person who really liked that song. It's very rare to find someone in this city that knows who BNL is much less listens to them.

I thought today's Friday Five would be more fun and interesting if you answered these questions about me instead. The answers are not very hard to guess if you look around the place and I think you can even find a hint or two here or in the archives. Of course, some questions will probably have to be an intuative guess. And, I'll give anyone who answers a question correctly 10 blogshares of Everything Grey (that is as soon as I figure out how the frig to get indexed properly) per correct answer (Thanx, Trish for the idea).

Here's the questions:

1. What was the first band you saw in concert?
***It was in January 1990.

2. Who is your favorite artist/band now?
***Hint: I'm going see them on April 15th in Austin.

3. What's your favorite song?
***Probably the hardest question because it constantly changes, but I'll give points for any favorite song.

4. If you could play any instrument, what would it be?
***Bonus points if you know what instraments I play.

5. If you could meet any musical icon (past or present), who would it be and why?
***Please answer in essay form. Just kidding.

Good Luck!

Don't it just figure? At work, they giveaway tickets to Rocket games and Astro games and other stuff all the time here. Usually, the way they give stuff out is by emailing everyone and asking a trivia question. Sometimes, the questions are WB-related, sometimes they are sports related. Usually, I don't even bother answering the question because I don't really care to see the Rocket's lose or the Astros lose and there's no time to sell the tickets on Ebay. As long as I know I'm right...

Well, tomorrow is "Employee Appreciation Day" and the boss-folk will cook and serve their elk lunch. Today's trivia question was asking us to guess what the main entree would be. I guessed that we'd be having what we had last year. Before I knew it, I was replying with my answer. After I hit "Send," my mind kicked in and reminded me that we're going to "Family Math Night" (I don't know exactly what that is) at the kid's school. Murphy's Law states that I have to win. Sure enough, a few minutes later I got a call asking me if I was free tonight. I said yes, even though I wasn't, on the off-chance that we finished our math in a timely manner... Muthafuck. Can't even relish the win...

I've won a few things before from office giveaway:
Rockets vs Golden State Warriors (on vacation - couldn't go)
A state of the art chrome BBQ grill (I live in an apartment with no porch or patio and I'm the only guy in Texas who doesn't BBQ).
And now, I'm stuck with 2 Astro's tickets to a game I can't go to or have time to sell (Not that I really like baseball, but I do think I should go to one game for the life experience).

When they called, they asked me not to tell anyone that we would be served steak again this year.

After today's historical events, I'm wondering how long it'll be before you can buy a little bit of that Saddam statue on E-Bay...

The Fruits of My Labor Today: Haiku for You

If I had a dime
For ev'ry minute sitting
I'd have a year's pay.

The Countdown is on.
Just need to survive until
December Seventh.

A man and woman;
Not a clue between the two.
Say Mismanagement?

If I could see them
Your lips and nose would be brown
But I just see toes.

Fluorescents blind me.
A cubicle confines me.
Windows are needed.

Efficiency rocks.
Left with much time twiddling thumbs.
Efficiency sucks.

Type click type click type
Click type click type click type click
Four hours 'til five.

A project assigned!
Yippie Skippy! Things to do!
Oh. Same as last time...

Tomorrow will be
Better because there's movies
to watch and call work.

I love it when I volunteer to do something I'm well-trained for and have done quite well in the past, but then the job isn't given to me. That way, when the job gets screwed up constantly, especially by the job-assigners, I can have a good hearty laugh. What makes it even funnier is knowing that time and energy were wasted by training two people to do a job that one person, who already knows what to do, volunteered for.

*giggle snort*

Sweaty weekend. Cleaned up on Friday night in anticipation of my mother-in-law. She didn't arrive at 1:30am, so I went to bed. In the morning, we found out she and her friend had checked into the hotel at around 3am and couldn't figure out how to call out. It was a long drive from New Orleans...

Saturday, I'm covered in neck-to-toe fur. I am a camel. Camel's have humps. They also have tails, but I can't seem to keep mine on during a show. We gauge how well the show went not by audience response but by how sweat-soaked my undershirt is. I have no desire to be a mascot. At least, my sweat doesn't stink. Bonus. Cool neighbors. Double Bonus. Sleep was good. Triple Bonus.

Sunday, Work... *sigh*

The Friday Five: a.k.a. It's too early for me to think too hard...

1. How many houses/apartments have you lived in throughout your life? Let's me count the places...
age 0 - 1 1/2: An apartment I don't remember but have pictures to prove I lived there.
age 1 1/2 - 17: The childhood home.
age 17 - 18: Good grades in high school means Free Room and Board in the Dorm, kiddies. Even though it was about a 5 mile from my parent's house, it was good to be on my own, sort to speak.
age 18 - 22: Back in the childhood home. When your roomate and his girlfrield weigh over 500+ combined, walking in on them will cure you of dorm-life.
age 22 - 24: My first apartment. My salary was so small I lived in a rent subsidized complex. No, it wasn't a ghetto, in fact, it was the best apartments in town.
age 24- 26: Moved to New Orleans for love and work. We rented a little shotgun house across the street from the railroad tracks. To be precise right across the street from where they connected the cars together... at 2 in the morning. Shook the whole house, weird when you're on the toliet. No showers, just baths. No insulation. Gas-fueled "fire in the wall" heaters. In a freeze, we could wake up and see our breath. And redneck neighbors we never talked to, but on several occasions dialed 9-1- and just waited... I almost miss it...
age 26 - present: Our lovely rented townhome. I can't wait to buy a house now...

2. Which was your favorite and why? Despite all of its... problems... I think I like the little shotgun house the most. It had class. Sure, it was lower class, but class none the less...

3. Do you find moving house more exciting or stressful? Why?When it was moving out on my own, it was exciting. But I am NOT looking forward to moving again...

4. What's more important, location or price? I'm poor. Price is important, but the location can't be in an unsafe place. We like the neighborhood we're in now. The price is just right.

5. What features does your dream house have (pool, spa bath, big yard, etc.)? A sewing room for my wife with a pad-lock on the outside. Other than that, I'd like a garage so I can form a garage band. Other than those, I don't need certain rooms, but enough space.

I had a thought. Surely you've heard of the "Carnival of the Vanities" - you know the traveling list of links of posts from biggish bloggers. Its intention is to give exposure to posts, that for one reason or another, people didn't see. It's kind of... well, the idea behind it is here.

It's a great idea and I've participated in a couple of the Carnivals and followed the Vanities in its travels. But, I guess my problem with it is, from what I've seen, it's nearly all political content. Not that I have a problem with political 'blogs or anyone whose 'blog is political. Oh, not at all. It just seems to me that bloggers like myself who don't do much, if any, political stuff... well, The Carnival isn't quite the forum for personal 'blogs to get more exposure.

What I enjoy about reading other people's 'blogs is the "people-watchin" aspect. Hopefully, that doesn't sound "stalker-ish." In real life, I enjoy observing people and how they react to situations, so that's how I approach reading other 'blogs. It's only natural for me to "people-watch" on the web. Again, I hope that doesn't make me a stalker.

For me, content and personality is king when it comes to reading a 'blog. I think I've found some very different and unique personalities to put on the ol' blogroll, but I crave more.

So, I had a thought. What if there was a "Carnival of the Vanities" that wasn't so political? Would anyone be interested participating in a project that helps the little bloggers get more notice?

I figure it would work pretty much the same. Folks send their best posts to a host site for a week and different sites host it. I've even got a name for it: The Cult of Personalities. Or is there something like that out there already that I don't know about?

Come on, let me know what you think. Willing to help? Anyone? Anyone? Link to this post and help spread the idea around...

During the hiatus, war broke out. But you probably knew that, didn't you? I never really felt like I should address the whole war thing, but now I feel like I should.

Before the war started, I was against it. I thought that the U. N. inspections should have been given more time to work. Actually, to say I was "against war" is inaccurate. I was more against the timing of it and I did think that military action should have been authorized with the United Nations. I fully recognized that something had to be done about Saddam Hussein and his horrible treatment of his own people. Forcing him out seemed like the only option.

It's interesting to note that in the months and weeks before a single GPS-guided missile had been launched, I was surfing through many a war and anti-war blogs, left-wing and right-wing blogs. I guess I was trying to gather as much information about both sides of the issue before committing to an opinion. The problem was every site I visited made valid points about their stance. On one hand, the right-winger/pro-war folks made points like the UN needed to show it's authority, while the other side of the debate wanted more diplomacy and time. Both sides made perfect sense to me. During my own self-debate, I needed to stop blogging and the war started. So, any opinion I had about "going to war" is quite unnecessary at this point, eh?

Now, my feelings are we all need to support our troops, no matter how opposed one might be to war. In my opinion, protesting the war at this point is a useless waste of energy. It's a waste of energy because it's on and nothing will stop it until Saddam is in hell. It's quite ironic that anti-war protestors have proven to be more of a nuisance than the Iraqi troops seem to be.

I think the protestor's time and energy would be much better spent focusing on campaigning for a presidential candidate that could defeat the incumbent (of course, I don't think Bill Clinton can run again). Or, perhaps saving their energy for the surely inevitable time when the U.S. has overstayed their time in Iraqi, yet our boys aren't brought back home. Surely by election time, many folks will be quite fed up with a humongous deficit, a down economy, and government that spies on its own people and a change will be in order.

One quick side note: I do not believe this is a war for oil, as many anti-war protestor's and their signs would have you believe. No, now it's about liberating an oppressed society of humans. Later, when it's over and government contracts are being handed out, maybe, then it's about oil...

When last we left our hero, ML was busy fighting a deadly trio of arch-nemisises - Lack O'Inspiration, Ang Zi Odie with her toadies Werk and Lyphe, and, The Time Master. These three villains ganged up on our hero with hopes of finishing him off once and for all.

In the past, ML fought them all, but never all at the same time and never with the possibility of such horrible consequences. He survived Hye Skool and his junior. He battled D'Preshun to a near draw, but defeated that foe with a 1-2 combo of laidback attitude and self-worth. Now, he sits on the verge of defeat at the hands of three cunning foes.

The Time Master had always been difficult to deal with. With his Infinite-Finity Device, he could speed time up, so his rivals would feel as if they were always on the go. Or to be really nasty, he would slow time down, so the days and hours dragged on and on.

Lack O'Inspiration had a calm demeanor about him. Using in mental abilities, he could force the most intelligent person's minds to turn off. He would keep them alive, but most intelligent and all creative thoughts were quickly suppressed, leaving his victims paralyzed with self-doubt.

Ang Zi Odie was quite possibity the more cunning of the three. She would manipulate people from the shadows of her lair and surprise her victims with her presence when it was too late. Her henchmen, Werk and Lyphe, would quickly do her bidding without question, and were rewarded with their victim's soul.

Having faced each separately, ML was confident with his abilities to take them all on. The battle was inevitiable, the outcome wasn't.

The battle plan was remarkably simple. The Time Master would slow ML's day to a crawl, while Werk took cheap shots. Just when it looked like Werk would be defeated, the Time Master sped time up and Lyphe would continue the fight. The long drawn out battles with Werk and the quick catfights with Lyphe would start to take their toll on ML.

That's when Lack O'Inspiration would join the fight. His mental powers could slow ML's abilities to fight off Werk and Lyphe, and any creative thoughts the hero had would be suppressed by ML's own self-doubt and worthlessness.

When last we saw the grey man, the plan was implemented and it looked like he would be defeated. Ang Zi Odie had crept in through the shadows and proved to be the ringleader who planned our hero's demise.

But, all was not lost. ML was holding his own against the enemy. He knew he could not continue the fight forever. So, he tricked his foe into believing he was defeated. And while they celebrated, he rested... and waited.

It wasn't long before the trio became overconfident and lazy. ML was just waiting for the opportune moment. And, how appropriate, he thought, that it came on April 1st.

Lack O'Inspiration had for just a moment stopped concentrating on suppressing ML's creativity. That would be all the hero needed. ML remembered the words he kept deep down in back of his head. And he screamed them out loud!

"The Greatest Thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return!"

No, wait! Wrong story.

And he screamed them out loud!

"Only I can defeat myself."

And with that battle cry, he lept into action. Lack O'Inspriration was quickly finished off. ML just needed a burst of creativity to get the upper hand. The Time Master was a much harder foe to fight. When the Infinite-Finity Device slowed the day down, ML kept himself busy and hardly noticed. And when time was sped up, he took a few deep breaths and took time to enjoy the ride. The machine's circuits became overloaded and blew up, leaving the Time Master without powers. After his defeat, Werk and Lyphe were easily overcome. As they slinked back to their mistress master, Ang Zi Odie knew she could not face ML alone. She swore she would be back.

ML knew she would and promised to be ready. As the sun began to rise across the battlefield, our hero triumphantly shouted, "I'm back, baby!"

Sadly, only 5 people heard and they didn't seem to care...

Alternate Ending for the DVD: a.k.a When Blogger crapped out...

ML knew she would and promised to be ready. As the sun began to rise across the battlefield, ML tried to access his home lair. He typed in his codename and password into his wrist computer.

The display lit up:

"SORRY, PUBLISHING IS TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE."

What was this? It would seem that the forces of evil were still running strong. ML was triumphant but it seemed no one would know about his victory. A new enemy had surfaced - Blogg Err.

To Be Continued...