Wednesday, December 29, 2004

Monet Coincidence

I was driving to Kevin's house and I was on Coal when I saw this car behind me that I thought looked like my ex-girlfriend's (monet) car. Then I thought "what would she be doing around here? she lives in the foothills" and figured it wasn't her. Then after another block I turned right on Amherst St. and I saw ANOTHER car that looked like Monet's that was stopped at the stop sign on Amherst. Then when I got closer it turned out that it WAS Monet! It was really weird! Especially since I never see her anywhere and I was just thinking I saw her. That was weird.

The Crazy Lady

Me and Kevin were at 66 Diner tonight and we were at the cashier to pay for the food when I noticed this schitzofranic lady behind me on a bench talking to herself. She seemed pretty crazy, she was laughing and talking to herself. So I gave the cashier the heads up "There is a crazy person in your restruant" "Where?" "Right behind me." As we were leaving we noticed that the cashier seemed to recognize the lady and gave her some ice. Then the crazy lady came out and yelled "you shouldn't say things like that!" I had no idea that she was able to hear me! I hurried and unlocked my truck and got inside. I felt bad. I really thought she was too crazy to understand what I was saying!

Friday, December 24, 2004

Change Machine

The lady at Hastings told me that "next door at Smiths there is a machine that can convert your change into money" and I told her that they take off like 10% for themselves and I work hard for my money. That would have been like $8 just for the machine to give me money in a different form... but the money I had was already perfectly usable! It's a scam, that machine. My idea is that instead of spending like 10 bucks on that machine (depending on how much change you have), you should go to a nice restruant with a friend and count it all out there and put it in rolls. You can pay for the food with the money you normally would have wasted on the machine.

Raiding The Piggy Bank

Yesterday I did some mad Christmas shopping with Luis. I spent nearly a hundred dollars.... probably about 80. But check it out, I didn't have any scratch on me so I just brought my big frog piggy bank that was full of change. Of course I had no idea how much money was in it, but I figured that it would be enough for anything I was gonna get. We went to Hastings first and I got some dvds for my mom. That cost about 40 dollars, so before we purchased them we went into the "hardback cafe" and busted out a bunch of the change and put stacks of quarters together. I put exactly 60 dollars together and poured it all into one cargo pocket. I figured that I should get about 60 together because I still needed to get Luis a present while I was there (I had him go to another part of the store while I looked). But then I realized that I could get him something even better at Titlewave Books, cos I knew some titles were there that he would most likely enjoy. So we went up to the Hastings line and got to the counter and I put down all my money and she didn't believe me that it was 60 dollars so we had to count all of it. Or at least 40 something dollars for the total of my purchase there. One of the people behind me was laughing, but I don't see why the idea of paying with change is so funny.
After that I had to get gas so I spent 7 dollars at the station and the guy behind me said "raiding the piggy bank eh? I do that a lot." Then we went to Title wave and I got Luis two books and one for myself that I had on my list of books I was wanting. The Titlewave people were really nice and when I paid with my change they even offered to help me count out a hundred pennies so they could give me a dollar. So then we went and dropped off some presents at people's houses and then went to this music store so I could find something for my dad. I got him a book on guitars and a random amount of a bunch of picks.
The total came to 29.49 so I went into the corner and dumped out some more change from the frog. I had about 28 dollars sorted out, and some dimes and pennies. But wait! I suddenly remembered about that dollar that I got from all my pennies at Titlewave! I threw that in the pile and I had enough money, and then like 30 cents extra. It was amazing how perfect it came out to be. I got everything I wanted without even counting the money or anything. I just spent it as I went along, bringing the frog in all the stores I went to. Imagine if I had spent eight dollars on gas instead of that random uneven seven dollars I shelled out. Or if the Titlewave people accepted my gracious tip of a handful of pennies that I offered. I wouldn't have had enough! But I did. I had exactly enough for the whole day.

Saturday, December 18, 2004

Stolen Thoughts On Jesus

I stumbled upon this blog entry by a girl who's blog is lizspeaks.com. To be fair, I put a link to her blog, because I am copy and pasting the post I read. The only post I read. I'm a busy man. But here it is:
------------------
10.15.2001

Thanks, Gov. Davis, for recognizing that gay people are really no different than other folks. In fact, dare I be somewhat inflammatory and suggest that giving straight people different rights than everybody else is tatamount to special rights for straight people. I would think that any law that gives greater priveledges or accessibility to one group, singling out other groups who cannot receive those services is in fact special rights. But the allegedly good christian people who stand in opposition to compassion and to seeing people for who they are rather than who they love don't see it that way.

I had meant to do a long piece on this but for now, here's the short version. All these right wing Christians who stand up and say that Jesus wouldn't like gays or blacks, or any other group you can think of are full of shit. The whole premise of Christianity means relegating the Old Testament to a bunch of interesting stories making the New Testament, which focuses on the life and times of our savior, Jesus Christ, the defining book of the Bible. Which means that the one passage talking about the atrocities at Saddam and Gomorrah that says "God hates that" referring to men lying with other men as they lie with women is now part of that collection. And for what's it's worth, translations from the original acutally mean that God hates being inhospitable to your visitors, not the gay issue.

And yet, right-wingers, preachers of hate, stand there and say that anyone not like them don't deserve the same rights, the same compassion that Jesus preached. How the hell does that work?? Jesus hung out with lepers, prostitutes and preached that everyone is no better than the lowest among them, that in God's eyes, we all deserve love. So where do they get off hating? NOTHING in Jesus' stories speak of hate being okay, rather he reached out to everyone and preached kindness and compassion, the two values that I hold more and more dear with each passing day.

So I have two messages: 1. BE NICE! Jesus most certainly was and if you're going to hold him up as the messiah you may as well get his message right and 2. get off your high horse. No one person is better or worse than any other. We are all just different and if even if you don't 'accept my alternative lifestyle' it still exists. Just like me not accepting your hatred, your anger (though you don't know me, I'm really very nice and quite harmless, unless telling bad jokes is a crime) doesn't make it go away. But that doesn't stop me from hoping.

For what it's worth, I remain undecided on the religious issue but am clear that hatred is not something that Jesus preached. So if you're going to use religion as a platform for hate, you've just got it all wrong.

-----------------------

I really liked seeing that post because it is exactly what I am always telling people. Progressives, atheists, the people I generally hang out with, always bash on Christianity. I agree that what religious people do in the name of that religion (and just about any religion) is wac. But I do have to say that everything I know about Jesus seems to be good. He was a pacisfit anti-capitalist and hoped for the well being of everyone. It's just that Christians now days just ignore everything in the Bible* and make up their own "interpretations" of it. Of course everbody will come to their different conclusions about what the Bible means. Afterall, it has blatent contradictions** so nobody can take it word for word and believe BOTH. They have to come up with one interpretation. But how can these right-wing Christian "fundamentalists" turn things around so drastically? I have come to the conclusion that "fundamentalist" (of any religion) means taking the "fundamentals" and completely doing the opposite.
Take for example Bush Jr. One of Newsweek's top selling issues (aside from 9/11) featured a cover story on "Bush and God." It said that one of the two books that Bush recently studied was Acts. Now think about Bush's tax breaks for the rich and the whole laissez faire*** Republican wet-dream. Compare that from the passage from Acts which I will present for you (Acts 4:32-35).

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

Indeed, the communist mantra "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" is dirived from the same passage that Bush read.


*If they really read the Bible they would realize that God enjoys rape and plunder from time to time.
**Read the Disinformation Book of Lists for some of those contradicitons.
***Or "lazy unfair" as I see it.

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Short Story Finished!

I finally finished the short story. Well, there is still some minor work to be done, but as a whole it is complete. You can pick up a copy at your local bookstore.... just kidding, but you can click the link below and read it. Tell me what you think in the comments... unless you are one of those people who just complain about how there aren't enough "quotation marks"; in that case, you should... not leave a comment... unless you really want to.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

PS: I posted the first chapter of the story a long time ago, but I rewrote a bunch of parts of it and now the rest of the chapters are available as well. So if you are thinking "Hey, I've already read this crap, I'm not reading it again", then think again!

Band Name

I just thought of the best band name: "Death By Democracy". How do you like that sucka? If I don't use it in some sort of band way, I could always use that title for my upcoming book (target date: mid 2005).

What Every Child Should Do

One thing that everybody should do as a child is burn down a random house (not your own), complete with people inside. Make sure to do it at a young enough age so people will think "oh, he didn't know what he was doing. He's too young!" This way, whenever you do anything bad later on in life, your parents will just say "Hey, at least it's not as bad as that time he burnt down a house." And everything you do will look good in comparison.

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Coleen and Ceece

Last night somebody text messaged my phone saying "how are you?" I don't remember what I wrote back, but then they asked me who I was so I asked them who THEY were and how they got my number. I kept saying weird things to them and they eventually said that they were trying to figure out their boyfriend's number and they dialed mine or something. And then they told me to quit text messaging them, and they put a lot of exclamation marks after they said that!!!!!! (like that). But then the next morning she sent me a message saying "are you a sleep" and I said "no" and she asked what I was doing and stuff. It's all really weird and random. Apparently it's some girl from Cibola who is 15 years old who says she is a thug "west side crip". I asked her if she stabbed anyone and she said that she stabbed two people for talking shit. I ate at Dion's with Luis tonight and got a phone call and nobody answered. And then I got a text message "you have a sexy voice" from her. She told me to call her tomorrow and gave me her number! It's super weird and random. Plus she said she had a 19 year old boyfriend. I asked "don't you have a boyfriend?" and she said "so" and "were braking up anyways." Me and Luis made a plan of saying that I'll meet her somewhere tomorrow and tell her to wear a red hat or somethign that I will know it is her when I get there. Then, we will go there to scope out the scene, but not actually tell her that it is us. We will see how that turns out.

Friday, December 10, 2004

Symantix

(11:03) stonepauper: the symantix are confusing
(11:04) Grayson: symantix?
is that a religion?
(11:04) stonepauper: no
(11:04) Grayson: well, lets start it
(11:04) stonepauper: it's already a taken word
(11:04) Grayson: lets start a new zion to symantia
lets all move there
i'm doing it
are you thinking of "syntax"?
(11:05) stonepauper: yeah
that too
(11:06) Grayson: well i know the word, but not what it means
and you know what it means, but not the word
so together, we are unstoppable
(11:06) stonepauper: it's like gramatical structure
now we both know both
no
wait
not syntax
syntax means like context
i think
(11:07) Grayson: damn
you aren't holding up your end of the bargin
(11:07) stonepauper: the word i was thinking of is semantics
(11:07) Grayson: speaking of zion
(11:10) stonepauper: zion?
(11:10) Grayson: you've brought us back around full circle to my new zion idea
(11:10) stonepauper: oh
(11:10) Grayson: yes, semantics, zion
(11:11) stonepauper: wait if semantics were religous people, wouldn't they worship seman?
(11:13) Grayson: they do
hes what makes em tic
not semantics
semetics
(11:16) stonepauper: oh
(11:16) Grayson: man fuck this english bullshit
(11:16) stonepauper: semites?
like jewish people?
(11:17) Grayson: yes, but semetics isn't a real word
(11:17) stonepauper: might as well be
(11:17) Grayson: semites is a group of people that speak semetics
i'm going straight to the source
i'm callin em the semetics
(11:18) stonepauper: oh
(11:18) Grayson: like when you call english speaking peoples, when you call them "english"
or when you call farsi speaking people "arabs"
see, it all ties together
wait, that was a bad example
how about when you call swedish speaking peoples, "sweedish"
thats a good example
(11:19) stonepauper: i call theme sweedes
(11:19) Grayson: thats a good theme
we should have that theme for our prom
(11:19) stonepauper: yep
(11:20) Grayson: in fact, i think hannes is already pitching that one
(11:20) stonepauper: what is hannes?
(11:20) Grayson: hannes is that sweedish kid from our school!
(11:20) stonepauper: oh
i only know him as "that sweedish kid"
(11:21) Grayson: no no no, we went over that yesterday
he listens to millencolin and his name is Hannes
(11:21) stonepauper: yeah
i got the millencolin bit
i'm not very good with names
(11:22) Grayson: and he said kari was pretty
(11:22) stonepauper: i prefer catchy monikers
(11:22) Grayson: kari is the naked one
(11:22) stonepauper: haha
she sure was
(11:22) Grayson: that was funny
her plan coulnd't have backfired worse
well, unless your CAR backfired
and we were stranded and she was stuck naked in the middle ofnowhere
(11:23) stonepauper: well actually i think she kind of enjoys driving around without clothes on
(11:23) Grayson: thats true
so i guess you could say her plan "fired"
or could you?
(11:23) stonepauper: yeah but not very straightly
(11:23) Grayson: not very straightly indeed
the symantix is a little off

Wednesday, December 08, 2004

Chomsky Comes To NM

the Good: Chomsky is coming to Sante Fe in January
the Bad: It's already sold out
the Ugly: Chomsky is an ugly old man, but he is awesome.

Tuesday, December 07, 2004

Garageband Requiem

On my dad's new computer there is a program called "Garageband" where you can make beats and music and things. I made a Requiem For A Dream song/cover today. I posted it and you can listen to it here. I plan on adding more to it.

Sunday, December 05, 2004

Movie Review: Amnityville Horror

The other day I watched this movie in which a supernatural force lurks in the building a family just recently moved into. Strange things start happening more and more as time goes on. The husband eventually goes completely crazy and chases the wife with an axe. When she locks herself in a room, he chops through the door. In the end, we find out the reason for these happenings. Apparently, a man who used to live there killed his whole family after he went insane. And here is the kicker... the NEW husband who moved in looked EXACTLY like the killer from years ago, although they were two seperate people. Sounds like a good plot huh? Well, that's exactly what Stanly Kubrick must have thought when he first saw the "Amityville Horror".
2 1/2 stars

MOVE Documentary Showing?

Remember that MOVE documentary I told you about last year? Well I've been writing an article on the MOVE lately and I thought to check into the film's website to see if it's out on video yet. It's not. So I decided to email the Guild and ask them if they are ever going to show it. They said that they were actually thinking about it. I hope they do.

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Soap is For Losers

I am on a one man mission do disprove the idea that people need to use shampoo. I haven't used shampoo for over a week and I can't tell any difference! I guess my hair doesn't smell tropical or anything, but I can't smell my hair anyways, so it doesn't matter. Shampoo is a myth that the shampoo companies try to continue for obvious reasons. And another thing, soap isn't really a necessity either. For pretty much my whole life up until last year, I never used soap when I showered. It didn't matter. You don't really need soap. You just need to wash yourself off with water, unless you are REALLY dirty for some reason. If you wash with water everyday, you will be clean. The same goes with hair, just wash it with water and it will be fine. I only use soap nowadays from peer pressure.