Veteran Insomniac

Was working on a Civil War: War Crimes post, but have been super-sick the first few days of the week. It’s coming, just want it to be decent.

(Yes, I know it is not Wednesday. It was when I wrote it)

On a pretty solid trip to Portland, for the Oregon Brewfest, we stopped off at Powell’s and went in search of literary treasures. Material for many “new comic book” days to come was supplied while looking in their assembled superhero collections, as I stumbled across a good deal of the Marvel Civil War collections. I realize these are not new comic books per say, but as I only actively follow one line of comic books, I tend to pick up new books on subject of interest rather than chronological imperative. Also, as I have not really gone over it before, a good deal of these Wednesday posts will be regarding the various Civil War pieces I’ve acquired, which hopefully will be all of them.

I suppose I should dedicate the first of these to establish what kind of comic book reader I am.  My knowledge of the various canons of comic books is not just from comics themselves, but from adaptations of classic IP that was rampant during the 90’s that almost universally included “The Animated Series” following a colon. As a child of those times I was acquainted with the majority of mutants, heroes, villains, and henchmen, but not intimately familiar. It was this way until the producers of the host of Saturday morning cartoons wisely re-targeted my demographic as we came into our independent years by creating the superhero blockbuster.  It was really Bryan Singer’s X-Men that found the key balance between what works on the silver screen, and what works inside the printed panel. Comics and their characters had been tugged out of their campy roots and into the mainstream.

It took a few summers of massive CGI and a move into independence for me to pick up comic books again. As it stands, I don’t have a massive selection of books, and I greatly desire to pick up completed story arcs rather than wait through a cliffhanger every month.  As it is, I have enough of a backlog to attempt to make this a weekly post as I go over a piece of my illustrated collection.  First up, Civil War: War Crimes

This has been a busy month for me, and true to my style of updating as often as wordpress does, I’m going to commit a bit of what’s rattling around in my brain to the ether that is the internet.
After waiting for what seems like forever, I’ve finally started to work from home, and it’s everything I could have hoped for and more. I’m sleeping a lot more solidly, and I just have a lot more job satisfaction. Another really nice perk is saving money in both gas and food, since I can cook here for lunch and then take a dip in the complex pool and/or hot tub. I just have to make a much more conscious effort to leave the house, like I did for…
Esthetic Evolution. This was unlike anything I’d been to before, and yet part of me was instantly comfortable with it. I’m going to go over the whole trip chronologically, since that’ll make the most sense to read. It’d been awhile since I’d left Washington, and it was a nice change of pace to make it down to Boise. Not ten minutes have passed after leaving the airport in a friend’s van when we were impacted from the rear by a Volvoleer (one who drives a volvo). The damage to his vehicle is thus:

Nothing short of decimation. It was totally undrivable, and yet the vehicle that was our means of conveyance, some kind of toyota van, escaped nearly unscathed. I have a photo of that as well, but it’s not nearly as spectacular.  True to the reputation of the company, the operator of the machine is unharmed physically. After dealing with this debacle, provisions are readied and we made for the road up to Twin Springs for the event.  I spent most of the drive up re-reading Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, or sleeping in the back of aforementioned van.

It is hot in this place. More than I am used to, and at the verge of my comfort zone.  We erect the shade & shelter and are set in our camp for the weekend. Once I had established a basic layout of the area, I found that while I wanted to stick with the people in our little group, I was also totally comfortable with wandering off on my own, caught in my own musings. During the first day I managed to put faces to a good deal of names I’d heard my roommate use, which helps a good deal when relating to them. There was the usually drinking and eating until the music started. Both stages were pretty cool,  and the music was pretty solid. Much dancing was done, and right when I was starting to feel droopy, I was revitalized by the DJ that had just begun to play. I think it was Michael Manahan, and after listening for what seemed like an eternity, the thought of going to bed had flown from my head. I don’t think I’ve been pulled that far out of the desire for sleep by anything before, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. We finally passed out sometime around sunrise, and had about four hours of the least enjoyable sleep I’ve had in my life. Which brings us to Saturday.

Saturday was a lot like Friday, except Saturday afternoon we got to catch Odissi and Dylan Rhymes both playing not so secret sets on the Ganesh art car. Awesome. There was a flamethrower. I’m super excited to see them here in Seattle tomorrow. On the whole, the music Saturday was much better than Friday, and the only reason I didn’t make it to sunrise again was utter exhaustion. Sunday was low key, and a return to Seattle. The entire week up to today was a blur, and I was up way too early today. We’ll see what the weekend brings me this time, but if you want to get out, this Sunday at Contour is the place to be.

So I’ve been cooking a lot more actual food lately,  this week I’ve especially been inspired by one man, Jamie Oliver.  After watching Food Revolution & Jamie’s School Dinners I’ve realized that most of the food that we eat is basically shit.  Aside from lunch at Greenwood Mandarin (Crispy chicken w/ Vegetables) on Thursday, every meal I’ve had since Sunday has been home cooked & from scratch. It definitely takes more time & the kitchen really hasn’t recovered since Tuesday,  but I feel better, I’ve lost 5lbs this week, and I’m sleeping better.

I’ve made this twice, and I realize it’s a lot of cheese & butter, but I make stir fry vegetables along with it, and watch my portions.  It makes a good lunch the next day as well. For the vegetables,  I’ve been working in this template to make a garlic sauce to add to the stir fry.  Tuesday I did the baked macaroni with soy milk and a stir fry of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and a mix of white & portobello mushrooms.  Served with some rice, it was a little spicier than I expected, and came out too early. Wednesday I made a version of the sauce without soy  & mixed it into snow peas and mushrooms, with cut corn over rice.  Thursday I made the baked Mac again, but this time with skim milk, and no stir fry, but guacamole with jalapeno & lime juices to go with corn chips before hand.  Lunches have all been leftovers, and have been very filling at work.

As far as the home environment goes,  we continue to get more and more settled. A couch and futon have manifested in our living room, allowing us to, in fact,  live in it without someone sitting on the floor.  I am sure this fact will lead to a party at some point. We’re picking up a futon mattress tonight which will allow people to sleep over at our place somewhere comfortable that is not WITH me or Becky. Perhaps we should reconsider that bit, no need to sabotage ourselves further.

I may have more later, but it’ll probably just be a new post.

I’ve simply gotten used to being tired on Mondays. There isn’t much I can do about it.  My sleep schedule isn’t very flexible, but apparently my work hours are, since I start two hours early on Mondays.  The reason for it becomes less and less apparent as time goes by. Oh well. Hopefully this ends soon, cause losing a couple hours out of my evening to nap isn’t so hot.

I find myself with less and less motivation for things, I guess it’s just the beginning of the year funk that I always get in where I can’t catch a break. Oh well, everything will get sorted out. It’s tough.