Things haven't been going too well these last few days. I am not sleeping, nor am I eating. I am drinking and going through a lot of stress and emotional upheaval. I am not going to relate the details, but I did happen to notice myself in the mirror today and was a bit shocked at the physical deterioration taking place.
Especially the dent in my cheek bone... I have no idea where that came from...kinda pre-zombiesque eh? Let's see what it looks like in another week..
Almost done! I have 2 more panels to sand, primer and paint and it's finished. After I test the lights I will take it down to the DMV and see what I need to do to make sure it's legally registered to me. When I received this trailer there was no paperwork with it so I believe I can file something that will give me title...
Anyway, I have spent the last few days working on this little project and it was well worth the small amount of money I paid for parts and paint. I have been looking at trailers for some time now and just have not been able to afford one. I have a lot of uses for this.
Beyond restoring this thing I have been working on a few podcasts and some video projects. I have kind of taken a break from World of Warcraft and am enjoying the final days before the rain hits to get these things done.
I am having a problem with Blogger and the latest podcast is not posting correctly. here is a direct link to the file which you can use until I get the problem sorted out. I apologize for the inconvenience.
$172 later I have secured my unrestricted driver license! I am extremely happy. The original suspension was supposed to go until October of this year but for some reason it was lifted.
I am actually eligible for my Commercial Driver License which was an even bigger shock. I opted to obtain the Class C today because I was not prepared to take the written Class A test. I took the written test for the Class C and it was a piece of cake, but the Commercial test is a bit tougher when you haven't kept up on the little things that change year to year.
I can go back into the DMV at any point and upgrade it when I am prepared to take the written test. I will also need to get a Medical to put on file as mine has expired.
Things are looking up and moving forward... more to come..
So I went down the other day to see if I could get my restricted license which I would need until October when my real license was re-issued...
Holy shit.
I am holding a piece of paper in each hand right now. The one in my left hand is the DMV sanction which says quite clearly that my license will be suspended for 2 years. The document in my right hand is something the DMV gave me saying that if I pay roughly $200 dollars I get my "real" license back... now.
Well I am going to pay the money and run with it. I don't really understand what is going on and as I almost started to tell the DMV employee, it should be suspended for another 6 months. But I will go with the flow on this one. I quickly shut my big mouth.
This is a godsend for me, my timing right now demands that I be able to get out there and get work. Doing that with a restricted license would not only be a violation of my probation but difficult at best.
I am in the process of recording TL40 but this changes a few things in regard to what I was going to say. I am quite happy to make those changes.
Things are changing for me and I have a lot of things to talk about. I have taken time away from podcasting and have drowned myself in video games and seclusion. I have been taking the blue pill. I have done a lot of looking inward, reflecting on my life both past and present. During all of this I have not forgotten the people who I have met along the way. These people are my friends and I have been neglectful in keeping up my end of the friendships. I have been selfish but it has served a purpose for me in allowing me to focus on where I am and where I need to go from here.
I have met new friends during this time as well. All things happen for a reason, this fact is a constant and has proven itself time and again. I will be leaving the Vortex shortly and although I am not sure exactly where I am headed in the short term, I have long term goals and a path forward. October seems to be an important month in my future timeline. I do not believe this to be coincidence.
Shortly before I vanished from the podcasting community I was in the process of creating a video that I would like to release at this time. It was planned to be released some time ago but got shuffled away during my absence. The video is around 1/2 an hour long and honestly I am not sure how to post such a large file in a way that makes it accessible through iTunes. I do not want to put it up on YouTube so I am simply going to provide a link here for direct downloading if anyone is interested.
Originally this video was intended to be a bit longer and contain more than what it does now. However I feel that releasing it as is will be close enough to what the final version would have been to make it entertaining at the very least.
I said I will be leaving the Vortex shortly and that is true. This means that I will not have access to high speed internet for an undetermined length of time. Because of this I will be doing a podcast and releasing it before I leave here. I will be discussing my current situation and my path forward as well as talking about some new friends and touching base with old ones. Things seem to be coming full circle for me at this point and that is the title of the episode I am putting together [TL40 - Full Circle].
Look for this in the next couple of weeks, until then I hope everyone is doing well and if you are interested in the video just use the link below.
I believe they do. I believe every living thing has a soul. I spoke of the River of Blood that flows from this place, this Vortex, in my last podcast. It's bad. We have a graveyard here. It's full of dead dogs. Not just creepy, but also not necessary.
I added AJ's corpse to the landfill here yesterday. Originally the landlady was just going to let the vet dispose of his body. I told her that was unacceptable. They had killed him and dumped his body into a huge freezer out back of the veterinary clinic. This freezer is full of dead, frozen dogs. She grudgingly agreed to retrieve AJ's body for a proper burial. I went with her to get him. He was at the bottom and they had to remove several other bodies to reach him. He was frozen solid, inside a black plastic garbage bag.
We got him home and I began to dig a grave for him. The ground is so dry and hard packed here that it took most of the day. I had to bring a 5 gallon bucket full of water and dump it into the hole, let it soak for awhile and then dig a little further. I repeated this process about 10 times (50+ gallons of water). Finally in the early afternoon the grave was deep enough to place AJ into it.
I said goodbye to my friend and began filling the grave in with the dirt I had just removed. Originally I had told the landlady that I expected her to be present and watch as I placed him into his grave and covered him. She avoided answering me and naturally did not come out when I asked her to.
She brought him into the world, she ordered his death and then was unwilling to look at the result of her actions. None of this sits well with me. As for AJ, I did all that I could do for him. I believe, as I stated, that dogs do in fact have a soul. I believe AJ's soul is now at rest.
And now I watch and wait for the next victim to fall before her God like dementia..
I have added some new items to the TL Swag shop. As Trucker Steve once said, "Shameless self promotion...!"
After my recent departure from Home Depot a friend found a label on one of the packages in shipping: HOME DEPOT NOBODY
This label has in turn spawned numerous jokes about me, all in fun of course! I have taken the slogan and run with it.. I got to thinking about how I could use it to my advantage and suddenly it hit me.. Why not use it as swag for TL: Essential Gear?
I worked up a few designs without actually violating any trademarks and the result is if nothing else quite humorous!
I spent the afternoon picking up job applications around town today. Friend Annie came by and picked me up, we went to the grocery stores first then progressed to other retail companies which are basically all there is in this town.
Once I get something, even part-time I can then continue seeking a better job and I will have a more stable platform to stand on while doing so. Some of the places we hit didn't give out applications but instead referred me to apply online. I'm putting my resume together this evening and will have these turned back in by the end of the week.
I finished putting the shingles on my doghouse today. I had to cover it with a tarp throughout the winter so the rains wouldn't destroy it. It's weatherproof now! I still have to finish the access doors on the back side but that should be fairly easy.
It was hot again today but not as bad as it's been. Thor hung with me and watched my progress. I still have other odd projects to get finished, stuff that I started and then didn't have time to complete. These odd projects are in addition to the on going repairs and upgrades I am doing to this shit box trailer.
Hot one today.. this morning was busy, I was up and about by 7 AM and fired up the BBQ to cook a buncha hamburger patties before they went bad. By 9 AM I was putting boards up on the fence to finish a section I hadn't done before the rains hit. I finished that and was grabbin' a beer when Thor came and told me someone was here.
Sure nuf someone was here to drop off a cute 7 month old female dobe. Her name is Mariah. We did the intake process with them and I put Mariah in one of the runs out back.
After that I've been catching up on tweets and emails, getting ready to work on the script for TL31. I have been looking around for a few people to cast into certain roles in this episode and Annie, my friend from work, is interested in helping. I set her up on Box.net so she can access the files and am working on getting her set up on twitter as well. I still will need several more people to fill slots on this and am keeping an eye out for possibilities.
I spent my day off from Home Depot finishing up a small deck in the back of the yard. I do love my DeWalt cordless impact driver.. I still need to stain it but it looks decent. Eventually the entire yard will be covered in decking and due to the slope I'll have to stage it at different levels. It'll look great when it's done (someday), but it will also keep a lot of the dirt and dust from getting inside the trailer as well. That's the real reason for doing the deck. I have to have some kind of ground cover or else it's just dirt and gravel out there.
I BBQ'd a pork roast this afternoon. Delicious! Marinated in garlic/pepper and topped with some dried, finely chopped red bell pepper.. threw in some macaroni salad and a few slices of garlic toast as well. I washed it all down with some WIDMER beer. Widmer is a brewery out of Portland, OR and I like the wheat beer they make.
I have a photo shoot / interview / video taping session scheduled for tomorrow night at a recording studio near here. I was supposed to do this for my friend Kenny Clark who is doing a CD that I featured a few months ago on my show. Now I'm not sure it's possible for me to keep the appointment. Home Depot isn't letting me off and I am scheduled to close tomorrow night. I'm kinda pissed off. We'll see what happens...
The weather has been warm, in the 80's mostly during the day but at night it's been getting kinda chilly.. at least it seems that way. Thermometer says 67 but feels like 57.. wind is picking up again this evening.. great.. I just want the 90 - 100 degree days to start, then the nights will be 70 - 80. I can deal with that, but I don't like being chilled and I fuckin' HATE the wind.
Sitting down tonight to do some recording on Fragments. This episode is gonna require a lot out of me to do it right. I have already been putting the word out that I need voice actors to do some recordings for me. I'll need both male and female voice actors - fairly talented people who can pull off some rather odd characters with a believable delivery. Then there's the issue of sound effects and cinematic scores to deal with... I'm getting a handle on that end but still have much to do.
Getting ready to BBQ some chicken... Just finished some ice cream which I shared with Thor, he loves ice cream. I only give him a little bit though because it's really not that good for him. Not only is it fattening, he doesn't get enough exercise to run it off as he should. Yeah, my fault. He has a yard but it's not setup in a way he can run easily. I need to be taking him out on my bike and running him like I used to. I know he misses that, he always wants to go when I get on my bike. Not in the same way he acts if I'm just leaving, if I get on the bike he gets really excited. He looks at me expectantly... I feel bad when he does that, and then as I cruise off down the driveway he cries. I'm a shit.
Did some weed eating today and began digging up the ground along the side of the trailer where I will begin putting in a foundation to either extend it or add a screen room, not sure which yet but one thing for sure is that either way I'm installing an outdoor shower. It will be enclosed and on a cement pad, perhaps tiled. It'll be nice in the summer. Think of the showers you see at outdoor public pools or gyms, only this will not be publicly used and will be much nicer. It's fairly simple to build once I figure the layout and add the foundation along with drainage.
It was around 90 degrees today and I had the swamp cooler going. It does a decent job of keeping things cool inside. Once I get this place insulated it'll be really efficient. Other than that I've been getting my thoughts together for my next podcast and may do some pre recordings this evening.
