The Bosque

Hello peeps,

I have decided to stop blogging on a temporary basis. I feel like I need to pull myself together better, and one of my biggest problems is that I play on the internet too much. So I've decided to try and rein myself in for a bit. I'll still be on Facebook and Twitter...just not as much as I am now. I hope to feel comfortable blogging again by August.

Thank you for your understanding.

Peace,
T-$

Let it be known that by July 31, 2009, I, Terry B of somewhat sound mind, will either have a new full-time job, or will no longer rely on my Imo's gig for the majority of my income. Said and documented this day, June 13, 2009, in the independent City of St. Louis, State of Missouri.

(imaginary seal here)

From today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, posted in full here due to its short length and the short lifespan of online newspaper stories: A city hall was evacuated after a resident found a mortar shells and took them in for inspection.

It happened Friday in Bonne Terre. City hall and a two-block radius were evacuated after a man found mortar shells while cleaning a house.

He took the shells in for city officials to inspect. Those officials weren't sure if the mortars were live, and an evacuation was ordered as a precaution.

Ammunition experts from Fort Leonard Wood were being brought in to determine if the mortars were a danger.

Bonne Terre is a small town of about 4,000, 60 miles south of St. Louis. One of my best friends spent his junior high and high school years there, and I've spent several days hanging out, getting high and drinking down there. Nice little town, but the people are a bit...ummm...let's just say I'm not surprised by this.

Say what you want about MSNBC. I do think that it tilts left these days. And I think Contessa Brewer should have had a cooler head in the beginning. But this was fucking ridiculous:



Civil discourse actually seems to have improved in recent months...hopefully, this is just a small hiccup.

"Friends and veterans, we cannot forget. What we must not forget is that D-Day was a time and a place where the bravery and the selflessness of a few was able to change the course of an entire century. At an hour of maximum danger, amid the bleakest of circumstances, men who thought themselves ordinary found within themselves the ability to do something extraordinary. They fought for their moms and sweethearts back home, for the fellow warriors they came to know as brothers. And they fought out of a simple sense of duty -- a duty sustained by the same ideals for which their countrymen had once fought and bled for over two centuries.

"That is the story of Normandy -- but also the story of America; of the Minutemen who gathered on a green in Lexington; of the Union boys from Maine who repelled a charge at Gettysburg; of the men who gave their last full measure of devotion at Inchon and Khe San; of all the young men and women whose valor and goodness still carry forward this legacy of service and sacrifice. It's a story that has never come easy, but one that always gives us hope. For as we face down the hardships and struggles of our time, and arrive at that hour for which we were born, we cannot help but draw strength from those moments in history when the best among us were somehow able to swallow their fears and secure a beachhead on an unforgiving shore.

"To those men who achieved that victory 65 years ago, we thank you for your service. May God bless you, and may God bless the memory of all those who rest here."

--President Barack Obama, 6/6/2009

(Photo by Anthony Atkielski)

...my posts so far this month have been rather blog-like. That is, they actually feel like diary entries.

Not sure why my posts are coming out like that...perhaps it's because I feel like a great deal of change is underway. I think I've finally figured out how to eat better...April is full-blown into summer classes at community college...I'm looking forward to putting together a new resume this weekend to finally get out of the pizza shop...I dunno. On one hand, it feels like everything is just going on in my head, but there are obviously some external signs.

This week was a good week at the pizza shop. Best money I've made at the shop since before Xmas. Hopefully, business will stay steady over the summer...my goal is to be out of the shop by Labor Day.

I spend way too much time online.

Yeah...big surprise there, right?

Seriously, though...I spend way too much time on here. I'd say that I'm an addict, but it is one of those things where once I put it down and get past like the first day, I'm good...like not having cable anymore.

And it's not like I really even do anything...Facebook, Twitter, news sites, Wikipedia...those are my main internet haunts. What the fuck is wrong with me?!

Maybe I'll try to severely curtail my time after I wake up later today. We'll see...

...we go to YouTube and pull up one of my favorite Queen videos. This one was made about 9 months before Freddie Mercury died:

Seriously...that's her new job...working weekends at an adult video and novelty shop. A friend of ours manages a shop out in the suburbs and needed help on weekends. April hasn't had a job in 7 months and is only looking for PT work, since she's now going to school FT. And so, my wife now works in the adult entertainment industry.

The owner of the shop asked April if I was comfortable with her working there. That's an asinine question, but I found it more funny than asinine. It's not like she's dressing up in bondage gear or making pornos. She's checking people out at the register and admitting them to the video rooms. As long as people don't fuck with her, it's all good. The hours work, it's not too far from home, the pay works and we need the $$$.

Having said that, she had a tryout as a pastry assistant at a higher-end restaurant here in the City last Friday night. That would be a great opportunity for her, so let's keep our fingers crossed that she gets it. I'd much rather see her doing something in her field close to home than the porn shop. Though the porn shop gig is a great conversation starter...for both of us. :)

So we killed the cable off, what? Almost a month ago now? And you know what? As much as I loved it, I don't really miss it. And I barely watch any TV now.

Part of that might have to do with the fact that these stupid fucking set-top boxes just suck. I don't know if things will get better after June 12th, but we can't pick up all our local channels in our bedroom. My mother-in-law can pick those channels up in the living room...but then there are other channels she can't get. And the reception sucks, even when I point the antenna in the proper signal direction. The box was $50 and the antenna was another $50...what a fantastic waste of money!

Granted, it'd be nice to have cable. But then I think April and I would be total slobs if we had it again...much like we were 2 weeks ago at our friends' house. And if I recall correctly, it sucked not to have internet access when I first moved into our apartment in '06...but I lived. It really wasn't that big of a deal. Weird...

Now I just need to channel that free time into more productive things...instead of playing on the stupid fucking computer.

Business at the pizza shop has been shit lately...to the point where it no longer really pays my bills. We've cut our expenses as best we can, but there's really nowhere else to cut at this point. I'm about to send out a new round of resumes...certainly there is a company out there that will be a good fit for me and vice versa.

I'll admit...I'm a lazy fuck to a degree...and feel a small sense of entitlement. Those days are over...they have to be. It's time to get serious, get paid and get the hell out of this house.

On a brighter note, April now has a PT job that will at least cover her bills. At the same time, she had a kitchen tryout as a Pastry Assistant on Friday at one of the higher-end restaurants in the City. It would be so awesome if she got the job...keep your fingers crossed!

I can't believe it's June 1st already. As of last week, I've been at my current pizza shop a year. Fuck that...it's time to go.

I hope this is coming across the way I'm feeling right now--hopeful, positive and determined. To quote the group Blur, "There's no other way."