Dealing In The Limits

I forgot to mention that I bought Amish chicken (I don't know what that means, either) from the grocery, and some bread crumb + seasoning with it. On my first try I burnt it, and on the second I cooked it too raw. What did I get on my third try? You guessed it...a Filipino!

Yeah that joke had been incubating in my head for three weeks.

There are days when I think that New Order's Regret is the best. song. ever. Yesterday was one of those days.



Anyway.

I realize that I am and will always be a comic book geek. If there's one good thing about this city is that the library is reasonably stocked and is loaded with hidden gems. They've got a pretty decent catalog of popular fiction, non-fiction, magazines, newspapers, microfilm (blast from the past!) and reference books. So when presented with this buffet, what did I go for first? Comic books!

You'd think it would've sounded less juvenile if I said "graphic novels" but really, it doesn't. Go ahead try it.

So in the time I've been here, here's what I've read so far:

• Garage Band by Gippi (from Italy)
  
• Arkham Asylum (pre-Sandman Dave McKean!)
• Batman Year One (to prepare for the movie)
• Fallen Son: The Death of Captain America (Loeb is good)
• Blacksad by Juan Diaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido (These guys are rrrrreally good)
• Skim by the Tamaki cousins
• Sin City
  

Among others. Of course I had to read every single X-Men comic they had. My question is: what the heck happened between X-Men #11 and now? Who are these people? At least one thing hasn't changed: Chris Claremont is still the master of the betrayal plot twist.

Onto another geek angle, also at the library I found a copy of the software Design Patterns book written by the Gang of Four, with a foreword from Grady Booch, the grandpappy of UML. I saw it at Barnes & Noble but it figured it was too expensive and too heavy to bring home, so I decided to regularly go to the library to finish it instead. Which brings me to conversation we had a week ago:

"...so I'll be going to the library to finish it. But it will take away time spent at the gym."
"The geek overpowers the jock, no?"
"It's the story of my life...no, wait. The reverse. The reverse is the story of my life."

I didn't care to elaborate.

Fast As Wheels Can Turn

The following day we took our spankin' new (rental) Jeep Compass to the one reason to drive at all in the States: the outlet malls! The one we went to this Saturday was 65 miles away and basically took an hour to get there from downtown. It sounds like a long ways, but it also takes an hour to get to Glorietta from QC, so no one was complaining.

No one was complaining about the car, either. But it would've been so cool if we were able to afford a convertible and re-enact, well, every cool movie scene that included a convertible, ever. But we'll take the Jeep, thanks. No movie scenes come to mind.

So if I'm driving the speed limit (55) and people, including old ladies, are still passing me, that means that everyone else is breaking the law, right? When I described this to the folks at work Seth told me to just flip them off or something. Ah see, that I can do.

The Jefferson outlet mall itself was nothing special, but since it was Independence Day weekend, most everything was on sale. Spent around a couple of hours there, mostly procrastinating.

Oh, and I finally got to eat KFC since I got here. Yes, downtown Cincy doesn't have a KFC. Or a McDonald's. Bizarre. And sad.

On the way back we dove into the Kenwood mall to "retro-shop" (Jenny's term), wherein you look at stuff you've already bought and see if you saved money buying it when you did. You've done it too, admit it. Kenwood was more a traditional mall with the Macy's and the Dillard's and three kinds of Foot Lockers (regular, Lady and Kids). Then we ate at Cheesecake Factory, which is the franchise where Kaley Cuoco's character Penny in Big Bang Theory works. Look it up.

The next day was grocery day at Jungle Jim's which is a huge grocery with international products. Products of interest were: San Miguel Beer, San Miguel Dark Beer (I assume this is Cerveza Negra), Mang Tomas, Ligo sardines and UFC. I ended up getting the sardines, just because. I also got into a long discussion with the cheese guy on brie ($8.99 bleu-infused vs $3.99 plain. Duh.).

I also got carded for buying vino. Again, just because. I mean, hey I already have the cheese.

Something On The Surface It Stings

The long weekend actually started on Thursday night, when our client manager decided to fully indoctrinate us in American culture by taking us to the firing range. When we got there he asked me to stand near the wall. Oh no, hasn't he forgiven me for screwing up my last project manager stint yet?

But my Rizal moment didn't come to pass of course, we were actually the ones doing the shooting. We took turns firing a .40-caliber Glock 23 to a target about less than 15 feet out. (At that distance a perp would've probably taken me out before I got a shot off. But anyway.) The target was your typical blue silhouette with a bull's eye. You actually had a choice of that, a picture of your typical convenience-store robber, or a terrorist. Really. We didn't take pictures, though; we were already getting weird looks from the other uh, enthusiasts.

Now I would've been impressed that our client manager has taken up shooting firearms except that: he didn't know how to load the magazine and then proceeded to insert the magazine backwards. And then tried to shoot it with the safety on.

I also learned that the bullets can and do get jammed inside the chamber. OMG so it is a valid plot device! I should apologize to Michael Bay for all those times...

So after that he took our paper target home because one shot came really close to the bulls' eye. I didn't tell him but I'm convinced it was my shot. But anyway. So now I have GSR on my jacket. I hope washing will get that out, otherwise it's another trip to Homeland Security.

Yes I used "perp" and "GSR" in a blog post. What are you going to do about it, punk?

There were no casualties other than my innocence.

The next day was the Fourth of July. And today is the Ninth of July. Why did people stop calling it Independence Day? Because it was easier to remember it for a history test? I wouldn't be surprised...

Watched Mr. Independence Day's (that's what he calls himself now) Hancock despite RottenTomatoes very persuasive 38% rating. Whatever, it was something to do. The Dark Knight can't come soon enough.

After that we saw the fireworks display over the Ohio River from Newport, which was great. There were plenty of people on the levee mainly because there's nowhere else to go in the city for the celebration. And it's not really even in the city, it's in the next city in the next state. Oh Cincy.

More on the long weekend, next.

Roll It Over In My Mind For The Hundred-Thousandth Time

Now Pixar is just showing off.

Saw Wall-e on opening weekend. I have a couple of suggestions on how to make that movie the greatest movie of all time, but I'll wait until people back home have seen it. It's good, just short of Incredibles-good, I think.

Saw Wanted the day after and maybe it was because we saw it after Wall-e, but I came out of the cinema slightly annoyed. But at least I know exactly what my $9.75 was for. Thanks Angelina.

Anyway, the post title is taken from the Juliana Hatfield Three song "This is the Sound" on Become What You Are. I swear that record rocked my already rocking 90's.

I mention this because I got the album off Amazon, which is a first for me. Good bye per diem.

It's also because I realize that I can't escape the fact that my Cincy movie is going to have an art/indie film ending and not a Disney (and Pixar?) one.

Finally had a drink or two or three here. Something tells me I'm in for more.

Random U.S. moment: Ate at Johnny Rockets again and gorged on onion rings, which is one good thing about staying in the US. This Rockets' branch (I now just call it Rockets coz I'm so local) also features blonde twins as a couple of waitresses and I've (secretly) nicknamed them Jessica and Elizabeth. Raise your hand if you think I'm eating there again.

Oh, if anyone wants to see what Cincinnati is like, you can check out the new 3 Doors Down video for "It's Not My Time". The statue prominently shown there is the one in Fountain Square, and near the end I think the band is playing on the walkways between the mall buildings. What? You say that it looks like any other city? OMG it is, you have no idea.