EDIT: oops, I thought Cowgirl was the other Underworld track on Trainspotting besides Born Slippy, but it looks like I was wrong. Oh well, still a fantastic song.

Everything…
i’m invisible…
an eraser of love…
why dont you call me i feel like flying in two…
i’m invisible…
an eraser of love…
why dont you call me i feel like flying in two…
an eraser of love…

why dont you call me i feel like flying in two…
an erazor of love

Oh my lord this thing is sweet!

-Thom

I’m not even sure if writing all of that down has helped ease my mind at all.

-Thom

Haha!

-Thom (I promise a real update will come soon)

Lets see, more recently, my car has been giving more trouble. The passenger-side window decided to stop working on me. It rolled down, and figured it wanted to stay that way. Unfortunately, while it might be a good idea to air out my car, it unfortunately makes things difficult with regard to, you know, security and keeping the elements (like rain) out. Speaking of rain, someone mentioned how they never see me angry and probably never would. Basically, what is the point in getting upset over things? I’d rather just fix whatever problem it is, and then get on with enjoying life. With that said, I discovered that my new favorite song of the moment captures my perspective perfectly. Here is where I tie it all together: The song is called “Rain” by Bishop Allen, and it can be downloaded directy via Pitchfork Media. Listen to it!

Anyway, moving on to other things … I’m in a chef-like mood all of the sudden. Buying food is becoming a hastle, so I’m playing with the idea of coking more of my own food. I love to cook, I just hate the clean up work and the fact that I never seem to have all the ingredients available, thus causing extra work on my part. Meh, but I’m gonan give it another shot. I’ve been on a tomato soup kick recently, which would go well with a simple grilled cheese sandwich… mmm, now I’m hungry all of the sudden.

You know I just realized, well, not just, but still… I keep coming to the realization that I do my best thinking when I’m tired. It’s so odd… when the sandman calls, I can barely form coherent sentances, but at the same time, I get these fantastic ideas or have these awesome flashes of inspiration. I usually forget to write it all down, and of course, by morning, I’ve forgottn most of it, except maybe the vaguest of ideas. I really need to work on cultivating this state of mind.

Ugh, I need a new external HD just to store video assets for a project I have planned. Anyone got $100 they’d be willing to toss in my general direction? That would be swell!

Oh hey, lookie, it’s raining outside… =D

-Thom

Ok, that’s all there is, hopefully my narcotic-addled mind was ledgible … =P I’ll have to share my Wisdom Teeth story another time.

-Thom

Anyway, ahem, I just had two of my wisdom teeth removed and they kinda hurt a little. The two lower teeth were impacted, so it took two hours of drilling, cutting, crushing, and pulling to get them out. Percocet is now my friend, yay! Anyway, I have to keep this short, because I’m finding it difficult to stay awake for an extended peroid of time =P

-Thom

In other news, I’ve been a movie-watching fiend recently! Just this weekend I went out to see three movies. My two favorites of the bunch would have to be Black Snake Moan and 300. Black Snake Moan I totally expected to suck and went for the potential comedic value, and left considerably surprised. I’m not gonna say that it will win any Oscars, but damn, I actually enjoyed it. Of course, seeing Christina Ricci half-naked for much of the movie and listening to some kick-ass blues music did much to turn my opinion =P 300 was also enjoyable, but not the type of movie I usually go out to see. Being a comic geek and huge fan of Frank Miller, I had to see it, and considering I read the original comic, I was very pleased with how faithful of an adaptation it was. Either way, I also wanted to take a moment to quote this kick-ass line from Pete Vonder Haar’s review of the movie:

I feel comfortable enough in my masculinity to say that if I had to stand in the presence of these men for more than ten seconds, I’d spontaneously grow a pair of ovaries.

I just re-discovered Portishead… Oh, such awesome music. Pitchfork Media linked to this really cool live video of Portishead playing at some small, secret gig in Bristol. Theck out the link! And while you are at it, check out the greatest music video of all time … HERE!. Musically, I’m still jumping from genre to genre, so who knows where I’ll be tomorrow.

It’s been months since I last mentioned video games, and of note, I have not gotten anywhere in Final Fantasy XII since my last post regarding this. It is sad, I work too damn much it would seem. Still, I’m already lusting after a PlayStation 3 now after seeing this video for Sony’s new Home service. Between LittleBigPlanet and the videos for Final Fantasy XIII, I must posses that console. Oh sadness…

Anyway, I’m trying to make a better effort to post more, I already have an idea for another post that is too tangental to append as part of this entry, so with that, I bid you all good night!

-Thom

To begin with, I’ve finally started sitting down and learning some programming languages. Everything I’ve taught myself with regards to Python and Lisp have atrophied since they have gone unused. As a result, I’ve started to read some very interesting FREE books that teach those languages. For posterity, I thought it would be prudent to post some links to them here. For Python, I’m switching my time between the excellent Dive in to Python and Think Like a Computer Scientist. The first “book” is very hand’s on, and throws you right in to the language, the other starts from the ground up covering Computer Science material and illustrating it all with Python code. Both are really cool! For Lisp, I’m falling back on the wonderful Practical Common Lisp. So far, it is well written and you can’t beat the price!

I’ve started using BitTorrent again, and I wanted to point out Dave Watanabe’s new xTorrent. It doesn’t like to connect to all of the trackers I enjoy using, but the user experience is great, and it is in beta. Hopefully the problems get ironed out. I plan to send feedback to the developer, since the search feature alone makes this little app well worth the cost!

Buying a new vehicle is not something I plan to do in the near future, but whilst surfing the vast interweb, I did take note that Volkwagen has a new concept SUV that has caught my eye. In general, I’m no fan of the SUV, but that is purely for environmental and fuel efficiency reasons. That said, the Tiguan is a compact SUV like the Honda CRV and will come with a Diesel option. Oh yeah, and it looks to be going in to production. I think I know what my next car will be! Still, maybe I can hold out for the concept T to go in to production…. yum! Since I’m talking about vehicles, let me state that I still have my eye on the Honda 599 if I ever get around to buying a motorcycle.

Now that I’ve got all that stuff outta the way… what about the life of Thom?

Hrm, my love-life has taken a turn for the interesting! Only time will tell I guess. I’ve taken one step towards moving to San Fran, but it also looks like I might have taken two steps back as well… ugh! Maybe I should have read up on policy and procedure a bit more. Oh yeah, and my back is fuckin’ killing me. I’ve been walking around like an old man for the last few days, but finally it is getting better. Shovelling snow did nothing to help my situation, but otherwise, it is slowly healing. Big ups to my brother for letting me crash at his place … my back thanks you and Callie!

Anyway, I know this whole post was random. Hopefully I can impose some more order to my chaos in short time. Hope everyone is having fun doing whatever you are doing! I know I’m trying.

-Thom (the “h” is for hentai ;)

So, what is new in my life? I think I’ll hold off on anything related to my romantic life, since, well, I honestly don’t know. Need to work on that I guess.

In other news… I’m seriously considering the move to San Francisco! All I need are a few things to fall in to place, and I might be moving there in a month or two. I’m really excitied about the prospect of moving to the west-coast, but at the same time, I’m a little scared. I didn’t quite realize it, but I’ve spent 17 years in MD. More than half my life. My family, friends, everything, are here. But, I’m not getting any younger, and a change of scenery would be awesome. Plus, I could look in to taking Graduate courses at a nice Silicon Valley school (Berkeley would be sweet). So yeah… that is probably the most interesting thing I can post about at the moment.

What else? Hrm, let see, I’ve been reading more comics recently… heh, reverting to my geeky ways! Speaking of geeky ways, I’ll be going to the Dir~en~Grey show at Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore. It kinda, just… happened. I’m not even a huge fan, but considering my last two girlfriends were in to J-Rock, I’m familiar with their music, and I think it’ll be kinda fun to go. Also in the realm of geekiness, I am currently in the middle of playing Final Fantasy XII … oh it is so good! Best. Final. Fantasy. Ever.

Oh yeah, Apple announced the iPhone, needless to say, it will be mine, oh yes, it will be mine. I so desperately need a new phone, it hurts. ::droll::

Meh, I dunno what else to put for now, so I’ll just leave on that note. Hope things are going well for the few readers I’ve got =P

-Thom

A special shout-out goes to my friend Twinkle who can be seen (twice) lookin’ all cute and loli on the second page.

I can’t read Japanese, but I’m sure the text is dedicated to talking about how awesome I was =P

Either way, head on over to your nearest Japanese importer and pick up a copy

Micah - Ruhnsong009 (2006-09-26): excellent set, I guess this fits in the Progressive House category. For lack of a better term, it’s a really chunky selection of tunes, and with the exception of a slight lull at about the 1/3 mark, it’s very upbeat. Rhunsong 008 is also good too, yo.
Way Out West - Remix & Original: this is a mix dedicated to the group, Way Out West, whom I’ve loved for a long time. I’ll probably be breaking out my copy of “The Fall” as the leaves turn colors more. This mix is a good sampling of their works, but the opening track “Melt (No Beats mix)” is worth the download alone.
Greg Benz - Aurium July 2006 Mix: excellent mix of House and Breaks tunes, not much more to add, ‘cept that you should listen to it!
DJKira - ThE SPiRiTUAL MiX (2006-08-21): excellent Progressive Breaks set, kinda slow at a few points, but there are some excellent tracks that make this one worth it.
Nick Warren - March 2006 DJNickWarren.com Website Mix: good set… I’m tired of thinking of good things to say. Music Good! Tom Tired! Argh. =P

Check this out if ya have the time… or ignore me… like you all always do =D

It just arrived last night and 30 minutes later, I was on the roads. OMG… how I missed being able to acelerate! Tom is happy once more. Now I guess I should do some other auto maintanance. Still, I am hapy with the money spent. Yay!

-Tom

I erased my HD not too long ago, that was fun. The only thing of importance I lost were a few pictures, but that is it. Aside from that, I have spent the last few weeks reinstalling applications and getting some songs on to my computer so I can have things to listen to. It’s kinda refreshing. I have a lot of space on my HD now, and I really didn’t need all that pr0n I was stockpiling =P

Otakon was this last weekend. I got to hang out with some really great people and I had a lot of fun. By far, the best Otakon I’ve been a part of. I’m in no position to give a “con-report” like I would have years ago, but I would like to give a few shoutouts to the people that made my weekend interesting: John and Jon and the whole GR crew, Hanako and Robin (the founders and sole proprieters of the “I <3 Tom Heaton Fan Club“), Laylact the Conquerer (destroyer of cons, or at least, of 4chan Panels), Christian and Pontus (without whom no party is complete), and of course, the guests I got to party with, or at least, hang out with.

In other news, I was slated to take a motocycle safety class with my brother this weekend. I made it to the first two classes, but accidentally overslet the third class today, which makes me in-eligible to get a licence. Not all is lost, but, well, it’s a big bummer. I feel most bad for my brother who a) I wanted to hang out with and b) feels bad about my missing class. Oh well, I’m sure it will all work out in the end. I’ll be headed out to the course to see my brother pass the class tomorrow though.

Oh yeah, the staffing problems at work are finally coming to an end, so maybe I’ll get to post more often… heh, yeah, whatever. Still, it will be nice to have some normalcy again.

I’m still a little on the fence with regard to Global Warming (the topic of the film and presentation). In the past it seemed like Global Warming was the hand-wavey answer to everything (much like El Nino), as such, I have not given it much thought. Still, the weather patterns as of late have made me re-consider my initial skepticism. That is not to say that I changed my mind, but I have read over the movie’s site and plan to watch it when it comes to my area.

Anyway, I don’t plan to talk about politics, since that just turns out ugly sometimes, but I thought I’d point all of you to the subject of my interest for the last couple of hours. Check out the links, and watch the movie if your interest is piqued.

-Tom

Ok, I’m done gushing, just check it out dammit! =P

-Tom

I’ll perhaps have some pics up from my adventures on the Left Coast, but until then, here is a moment of Zen (yes, I’m the goof-ball on the left):

-Tom

Earlier this week, all of the Mac rumor sites were a-buzz with the news that Apple will be announcing the new iBook replacements (aka: the MacBook) this Tuesday. Well, Tuesday has come and gone, but Apple did not follow through with the rumors. Now, the rumor sites are saying that the announcement will come next week instead (on Tuesday).

I have the feeling that next week may come to pass with no announcement, and then the sites will just say that it will be in another week. Still Apple tends to announce new products at either special events, or on Tuesdays, and the fact that Apple has stated that they will come out with Intel iBooks before year’s end… I think the sites will ultimately be right. So, rock on rumor sites, rock on =P Maybe if we’re lucky, the second guess will be right. Hahaha.

-Tom

Anyway, on the second leg of my flight to Cali, I was seated next to this older woman who was fascinating and told me all of these stories about living in the Valley during the tech boom. In particular, she was telling me how she was employed at SGI before moving on to Netscape when they were founded. We chatted about the fall of SGI, and she was ruminating that SGI used to be the top dog, but she was disappointed to see SGI’s stock be so low (sub-dollar) and that they were de-listed from NASDAQ and all that crap. SGI (and later Apple, once she discovered I was a Mac geek) became the focus of our conversation, along with management philosophies and other related things. To be honest, I had not given much thought to SGI in the last few years, but I remember their hardware being, quite literally, the shit. My school had quite a few of their workstations, and I even knew a guy who had his own personal O2 box that made him the envy of others.

Yesterday, I open up my web browser and started looking through news sites, and what do I see but the fact that SGI filed for Chapter 11. Wow. It is really quite sad. I mention this mainly because the timing of this chance encounter on my flight strikes me as … odd. Not odd, but I can’t think of the right word for it at the moment. Anyway, just thought I’d share.

-Tom

-Tom