Another One Bites the Dust

So Friday I'm on my way to get a burrito, when I notice police have taped off the street surrounding a nearby pharmacy. I remember a few weeks ago when this same pharmacy got robbed. But this time was different. The repeat robber comes in and demands that the employee give him drugs. The robber begins to pull out a revolver, then BLAM, the employee pulls out a gun from behind the counter and shoots the robber, killing him. The catch: the robber was carrying a plastic replica of the gun.

From the news story:

A 32-year-old man armed with a plastic replica revolver was shot to death Friday by an employee of a North Park pharmacy when he allegedly tried to rob it for a second time, authorities said.

At about 11:30 a.m., the robbery suspect, whose name has not been released, entered the FedRx Pharmacy in the 4000 block of 30th Street near Lincoln Avenue wearing latex gloves and sunglasses, said San Diego police homicide Lt. Kevin Rooney.

An employee recognized the man as the same person who allegedly robbed the business of prescription drugs at gunpoint on April 11, Rooney said.

The man again demanded drugs, and reached for the butt of what appeared to be a handgun protruding from his waistband, according to Rooney.

As the man placed his hand on the gun, the employee who recognized him pulled a gun and fatally wounded the suspect, Rooney said.

The suspect collapsed near the pharmacy's front door and the employee called police. The suspect died at the scene, Rooney said.

It turned out the man's gun was a plastic replica revolver, according to Rooney. The employee involved in the shooting was questioned and released.

The Police Department's homicide team will investigate the shooting and present its findings to the District Attorney's Office, Rooney said.

I'm not a fan of violence, but I am a fan of justice. As my neighbor said, "It's just one less crackhead out on the streets." So many times the robber gets away with it, and this one didn't. He was probably ramping up for a big weekend of fun, but got stopped short, literally. I hope he learned a valuable lesson and doesn't do it again.

Here's a photo from the street after it happened:

My Thoughts on Leaving San Diego

I will be leaving in just a little bit over a month from this vile city.

Things I will miss:

-The weather, or lack thereof
-A few select taco shops
-The Apple store being just a few minutes away
-A few friends
-A few select restaurants, including Phil's BBQ, Jimmy Carter's Mexican restaurant, and Cafe on Park. I will not miss the large amount of shitty restaurants that I visited while I was here, for example: Chili's in Point Loma, Outback Steakhouse in Mission Valley, D'Lish in Eastlake, D'Lush in the Fashion Valley mall, and for the love of Christ, DO NOT EVER go to the Sun Cafe downtown. Trust me, just stay away. It's a dump.
-As much as I hate to admit it, I will miss my house, only because it's the first place I have ever lived completely on my own. It's kind of like your first car: at first you loved it, then you hated it, then you were emotionally tied to it solely because it was your first. It may have been a piece of shit, but a lot of cool things went down there. I've spent a lot of late nights up drinking coffee, playing video games, and generally goofing off doing whatever I want in my house, and I will miss that.

Things I will not miss:

-Traffic and the general overabundance of people everywhere you go.
-Snobby people
-Illegal immigrants
-Shitty air quality
-CA Drivers
-Overpriced EVERYTHING
-Lack of decent, affordable housing
-San Diego doesn't have it's own identity. It is not a city known for anything. It just exists without any real history or definable traits.
-The graffiti in my neighborhood and my alley
-The potholes and sinkholes that are rampant throughout the city
-Inflated prices at most bars you go to
-The gas prices
-The lack of any outdoor recreational activities (camping, freshwater fishing come to mind) that are close, affordable, and that aren't packed with people.
-A wide range of many other things that I'm sure have been covered elsewhere. It's been fun, but I'm sick of this place.

And now for some thought about where I am moving, to Missoula, Montana. In a pamphlet that I got in the mail recently, there is a great quote about Missoula.

"Outside Magazine selected Missoula as one of 10 dream towns. Our formula is simple. First, each place offers a close access to a mother lode of usable outdoors, so that a paddle, a hike, a few wave sets, or a bump run after work is not possible, but routine. Each one also provides some realistic hope of making a living (enough to support a family) and a healthy supply of sub-millionaire housing. Some of our towns are classic meccas, some relatively uncelebrated burgs, but all are places that haven't bulldozed their character and don't intend to. Places that no one could mistake for Anywhere."

Easily San Diego's worst problem: it is an "Anywhere."

And now for some John Steinbeck:

"I'm in love with Montana. For other states, I have admiration, respect, recognition, and even some affection. But with Montana it is love. And it is difficult to analyze when you're in it..." - John Steinbeck, Travels with Charlie

I think the thing that I am going to love about Montana is that the people there seem more authentic to me than anywhere I have ever been before. They didn't seem like they were trying to please anyone or appear pretentious. They seemed comfortable with who they are and what they are doing. And most of them had a quiet admiration for where they lived. They don't talk about how much better they are than other states (Texas has this problem, bad), and they didn't seem ashamed of it, either. And most of them are probably quite pleased that the rest of America has all but forgotten it exists.

An afterthought:

After typing this post, I was almost ready to hit send. Then I found this gem, which just completely reiterates the last paragraph that I wrote. Another one from Steinbeck: "Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans. - John Steinbeck

After visiting Montana the first time, I said to myself: this is what I thought Texas was SUPPOSED to be like. Texas is like the California version of Montana, in my opinion. Steinbeck hit that one right on the nose. That was too weird. My thoughts exactly. And to think that Steinbeck probably wrote that 50+ years ago. Still true today.

One more, for posterity...it's a good one, and probably explains the last half of this post: "Just as converts make the best Catholics, so newcomers make the most rabidly possessive Montanans. Everyone who moves to Montana wants to be the last one allowed in." -Glenn Law, More Than Skin Deep

Ok, it's late and I have to get up in 5 hours.

This Last Weekend Completely Sucked

Let's see if I can't recap this shitty weekend in a nutshell.

-By far the worst thing that happened was that our small house was attacked by a skunk. The bedroom smelled so bad that we had to sleep on the living room floor Friday and Saturday night.

-I bought a shitty smoothie maker instead of using my old blender that for the most part worked just fine. Let me tell you, the smoothie makers with the goofy dispensers on them aren't worth shit. It's best to stick to a really good blender, and if need be, replace the blades and be happy with it.

-After my command already approved my house/job hunting leave of 20 extra days of paid vacation, a certain someone in Admin pointed out that I was not allowed that privilege, and much to my chagrin, promptly cancelled said vacation. I was not pleased about this. Now I will be staying in the shithole known as San Diego until the 26th of June.

-I had to write an 8 page research paper about why gambling is causing serious social problems in Las Vegas. Fun stuff. I only have to write the last paragraph on that paper, tidy it up, then turn it in. After that, I have to do a Math final on Thursday night, then it's time to party because I have a 4 day weekend.

-Morgan's iPod died.

/end of report. Over and out.

Free Time at Night

Another thing I realized lately is that for the past 10 years, I've been doing my best to get ahead. It's not possible for people to live a normal life where you do a 9-5 job, go home, and have a decent living. It just doesn't happen. For instance, I really hated this semester in college. I hate Math and I hate English. The problem is, I really don't care. I don't give a shit about Math because I get by. I don't need Math that much in my daily life, and when I do, I figure it out. English is just boring. English 101 should be where on the first day of class the teacher gives us the writing assignments and due dates. I didn't need to attend class once. I would have written the same paper every time: a B+ paper written at the last minute, just in time for class. A few more tweaks here and there, and maybe even a really hard proofread/revision and I could have gotten an A. Again, don't care. But what all this made me realize is that people don't just go to work and go home. No. In high school, most children have some extra curricular activity that they are involved with after school. I did drama, journalism, and a held a job working 30+ hours a week. Then I joined the Navy. After I got out of boot camp, I had to go through some pretty hard schooling because you weren't allowed to screw up hardly at all. Yes, we were on shore, but it wasn't that easy. Then I went to a ship, where a good portion of the time I had to spend at sea. After that, I took off 6 months to do nothing. And, I did nothing. I went to work and came home every day. Then I started school and I've been doing that every semester since then for 3-4 nights a week. And it fucking sucks. Why? Because I want free time. I want to go to work, get home, and have ZERO obligations. I just want to come home and be able to cook a good dinner without worrying about school or homework or anything else. But it isn't just me. Most people do some after school activity in high school. Then they go to college if they are lucky. Then they have to deal with schoolwork and a part time job that they hate. Then they graduate and have to start the workforce. If they do well enough, they might actually get a good job. For a good majority of people, a year or two after that they have children which of course require constant attention. Suddenly, your free time has vanished, along with any hopes of leading a normal life.

So, I want my free time back. Because of that, I am taking a little while away from school to concentrate on other, more important things. If it weren't for the whole degree thing, I probably would never set foot on a college campus ever again.

Recent News Roundup

So this site hasn't been updated in a while. I thought I'd fill in the blanks on what's been going on in my life.

-I've been in college (with a few exceptions here and there) every Tuesday through Thursday 3 hours a night. That explains some of why I haven't been updating.

-I've slowly began the process of getting ready to move to Montana. It's really starting to sink in that I'm leaving San Diego and I'm going to have to find a new/real job. It's pretty overwhelming at times, but I think I'm going to make it.

-The brothel in Butte, MT that I visited and wrote about on my site here is closing down.

-Nine Inch Nails came out with a new album called With Teeth that I've been listening to since I bought it Tuesday night. I'm still getting used to a few of the songs, but there are about 5 songs on it that I really like and have become favorites. Tom and I will be going to the NIN show at Soma San Diego on Tuesday May 31, exactly one week before I leave San Diego.

-Apple released Mac OSX 10.4 "Tiger". I'm pretty impressed with a few things in it, especially Spotlight. Dashboard is something that I don't really use that much, but it's nice for simple stuff. It's one of those things that you don't realize how much you use it until you take it away. I don't think I could live without it now that I have it. Safari was updated, but I still have a few gripes about it, but they are minor and fixed with a few third-party items. Automator is a really cool idea, but I think I really need to sit down with it and figure it out before I can actually use it that much. I think some people are going to come out with some really innovative uses for this, but it still needs to really be picked through and developed before anything decent comes of it. Basically, Automator allows you to make mini-programs or actions to do things that you do often, or just need a "robot" to do something for you. It's supposed to save time, and I think once someone really develops some ideas, it will take off. There were a few other things thrown in here and there, but nothing that major to mention. Overall a great update, but not something I would spend the money on unless you have the money or really need it. Would I do it again? Yes, but I'm an early adopter when it comes to Mac software.

-Family Guy is back, after being cancelled 4 years ago or so. I'm really a big fan of the show, so much that I've seen each episode of seasons 1-3 at least 3 times, if not a lot more. I'm also recording each episode that is coming out now on my computer, then turning those into VCD's until they come out with the DVD's. It's not anywhere near the quality of a DVD, but it will do for now. So what do I think of the new show? I love it. I think it's a lot edgier now that Seth McFarlane has Fox by the balls because it gets such good ratings.

I'm sure there are about 100 things I'm neglecting here. I think one of the reasons I went into hibernation, as hard as it is to admit this, was Hunter S. Thompson's suicide. That really bothered me for quite a while. I flew headlong into a dual thought process: on one hand, I really became aware of how important life is and how fragile humans are. Human mortality became really clear in my mind and haunted me for a while. On the other hand, after it happened, I went on a vacation from responsibility in my personal life. I really lived life like I didn't give a shit about anything. I drank more than usual, ate more than usual, and basically did whatever I wanted without any thought of what would come of it. I think that finally manifested in one of the worst thinking errors one can make: a completely spontaneous trip that I took with my friend Tom to Las Vegas on a late Friday night whim. In hindsight, that was a really stupid thing to do, but when you're downing Wild Turkey like water, it's hard to say no to. Logic was thrown to the wayside as we headed north on US Interstate 15. Since then, I've tried to curb my irrational behavior as much as possible.

I think another thing is that I'm stressed out about the big move to Montana. As much as I'm excited about it, I'm fearful of entering the American workforce. Not that I'm scared of work. I'm just scared that I'm going to bust my ass working at a job where I get paid shit because I don't have the connections or the education to get a real job. For the past 7+ years, I've gotten a paycheck every two weeks without fail (except once, but that's a long story). The thought of having to show up and do an honest 8 hours of work a day and perhaps get paid less than I do now is disheartening. But I try not to think about that. I try to think that I am really going to like Missoula, I'm going to get a good job, and things are going to work out. And they will.

More DJ Bashing

"You know who you are. Standing behind that deck of turntables, holding one headphone to your ear, being pretentious and aloof as you play with knobs and shuffle through records. You can just settle down, because nobody cares that you're a DJ."

Look, Nobody Cares That You are a DJ is a post similar to my post here, except that he has better photos. I've never understood what the obsession is with those guys that you see at clubs that have the 2 turntables, headphones, and a microphone. What are they doing? Why do they need to "mix" the music? What's the point? Just play a CD or an iPod. I don't understand the art of playing other people's music to maintain some kind of identity. Make your own music, douchenozzle!

Entertainment Roundup

This post was actually written on 3.12.2005, but I think I saved it to get back to later. I'm posting it now because it has some good information in it.

TV:

I can't recommend Reno 911 enough. I had heard about it on a messageboard, so I checked it out on cable one night. I think the first scene I watched was in the second season when Lt. Dangle was doing a seminar class for bad drivers. He starts reprimanding them in a harsh tone, really letting his anger go. Then he calmly asks if everyone has learned their lesson. Everyone says yes, so Dangle says the class is supposed to last for 6 hours, but as long as they've learned their lesson he would let them go. I knew from that first exposure that I'd be getting the DVD without hesitation. The value for this TV series on DVD is great. You get 14 episodes for $20. Definitely not bad for a DVD that I will watch over and over again. This is easily my second favorite TV show next to Family Guy. And that's saying a lot. Word has it that Season 2 will be on DVD in June.

I picked up Season 3 of Curb Your Enthusiasm. I really liked this one compared to the previous seasons because it had a theme built around a new restaurant that Larry is taking part in opening. It kind of gives the show some a base, instead of just random subjects from show to show. I like all the CYE shows, but this season especially held some gems.

I've also started slowly watching CSI and Law and Order. Of the two I probably like CSI better because the drama between the characters (at least in the shows I've seen) is kept to a minimum. I don't like shows where every single character has quirks and issues with everyone else. Plus, just learning about the methods they have now to catch criminals is incredible. Well, it looks good on TV at least.

Last night I caught my first episode of Henry's Film Corner on IFC featuring Henry Rollins. Henry definitely gives some good recommendations for movies. I really need to start watching more independent films.

Music:

I've been listening to a lot of different music lately.
-The Grateful Dead: Skeletons from the Closet, American Beauty, and In the Dark
-Bob Dylan: Greatest Hits
-The History of Jazz CD Set
-Nixon's Spirit (featuring Hunter S. Thompson) by Paul Oakenfold
-The last two free songs on iTunes
-Tricky
-Tripping Billies by Dave Matthews Band
-Wouldn't it be Nice by the Beach Boys
-Six Days on the Road by Dave Dudley
-Goodbye Horses by Q. Lazarus
-The Siderunners
-Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas Soundtrack
-Slunt
-Nine Inch Nails
-And a ton of other shit.

DVD Movies

Last weekend Morgan and I bought a new couch, so it was a TV watching weekend. We rented movies at the dollar movie store and sat on our new couch a lot. The first night we rented Cellular and Saw. Both are decent movies, but of the two, Cellular was probably better. I think I liked the chase scenes through LA and the continuity goofs that we found throughout the movie. Saw started off decent, then just careened into a shitty ending.

This weekend I rented Super Size Me and Code 46 (which I will be watching later on). Super Size Me is a documentary about a guy who goes on a diet of McDonald's for a month. Yeah, ok, so not the most ground-breaking idea. Obviously, he's going to have health problems, gain weight, and overall just not feel well. Big deal. But the movie is much more than that. First of all, it's funny and provocative. It's not a boring sleeper, and it's not so in-your-face to be nauseating. But the crowning achievement of this movie, in my opinion, isn't even the central idea. Throughout the movie, it weaves in and out of his steadily failing health on his diet to commentary on fast food culture, specifically McDonald's. The best extra feature of this DVD is the interview with Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser. The first thing he brings to light is that McDonald's food is scientifically designed to taste good. Literally. The most scientifically enhanced products that McDonald's offer are the chicken nuggets and the milkshakes. They are enhanced with chemicals to make it taste the way it does. One thing that he said that made sense was after calmly bashing McDonald's (and other fast food giants) is that he points out a great alternative to McDonald's: In-N-Out. While he mentions that it's not health food, he said that the food made at In-N-Out is fresh. The burgers are made from real beef (vice being freeze dried), the potatoes are cut fresh in the stores, the milkshakes are made from real ice cream, the workers get paid well, and they receive medical benefits, which is just about the opposite of McDonald's. Their beef is culled from thousands of different cattle the world over and made into patties, then frozen. Everything from McDonald's comes in frozen packages. All they do is heat it up and put it together and give it to you. Another great extra feature of the DVD is "The Smoking Fry", where they take 2 McDonald's hamburgers and a fish sandwich, and a large fry, and put them into their own clear jar for an experiment. Then they take a normal burger and fries like you would make at home and put them in their own jars. Then they let them sit. After a week, everything started to show mold except the McDonald's fries. After two weeks the mold was more pronounced on everything, but again, nothing on the Mickey D's fries. After ten weeks, everything but the McDonald's fries were molded so bad you could hardly tell what it was. The fries looked just like you buy them at McDonald's. And you're going to put that in your body? I've never liked McDonald's, ever, but I have went there a few times, always because I'm with other people and there isn't a choice, but I would never go their on my own free will. After finding out the horrible truth behind the food and the company, I will never eat there again. I highly recommend this movie.

Books

After watching Super Size Me, I had to go pick up the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser that I've been wanting to read since I first seen it at a bookstore the week it came out. I've always been into more social/sociology type books, and this book has certainly started off as a captivating read. It has managed to keep my attention for almost 50 pages, so it's a winner. Since I naturally don't like fast food, this book is certain to add some concrete facts as to why I don't. I've never really questioned why I don't like fast food, other than I think the whole thing is easily forgotten and transitory. It's not like I'm having a real meal, it's like I'm eating whatever comes out the other end of the production line. Starting this book, I've read some pretty horrifying things said by Ray Kroc and Walt Disney (he had a lot to do with McDonald's), who were both extreme cutthroat capitalists. The first part of the book goes into how we became a nation obsessed with fast food. One big thing that pushed it along was the automotive revolution leading to the inception of the drive-thru. Another thing was social change caused women to work, which meant that there wasn't a mother at home to cook and clean, thereby creating a need for something "fast, tasty, and cheap." Thus, fast food was born. So that's where I'm at now. This book is The Jungle for our times.

I finally finished the Bill Hicks biography, American Scream. If you like Bill Hicks, it's definitely worth a read.