I kept making promises....

...that I would actually use my blog this time around and by God have I fallen behind.  But here I am with a renewed sense of purpose and vigor (for now...Hey, at least I'm honest).

I guess the reason I so quickly abandoned my blog was because I didn't really know what I wanted to do with it.  There are two kinds of people that will read this... A) The far more likely group of people that I actually know and speak to on a regular basis.  And with this group reading I can't really expect them to want to read stories about my day when I am just going to tell them about it face to face. And B) people I do not know at all (I understand there may be people that I knew once just trying to keep in touch or noisy relatives trying to keep tabs...Hi Mom...but for the sake of the post let's move on).  I am not one to presume that anecdotes about my day off or being drained about work will be engaging enough to have people come back again after one read.

So, with that in mind the question poses itself...What the hell do I write about?  The last post I did back in February had the right feel I think.  It was a quick tight story about my life, and then my personal insight on the story.  So I think I'll try that for awhile and see how it goes...  Without any further adieu....

Just now realizing how infatuated I am with ellipses. (One period with intention)

So, as many of my friends are aware there are a few of my co-workers that I do not get along with.  It is a common issue and something I have had to personally deal with since the original crew at GameStop started getting broken up (Man, what a great group of co-workers, no drama whatsoever).

When I first started my job there were two people I worked with that were very antagonistic and deceitful. It made work a misery when I would see one of them (or God forbid both of them) at work as I arrived.  Ever since my college career I have made it a point to avoid these types of people.  The type of person that will find the most innocent thing about people and attempt to exploit it to the point of making them feel ashamed about it.  In my case terms like "Gamer", "Nerd", "Geek", etc. were thrown around as if they were dirty words.  Well light at the end of the tunnel, one of them quit to go to a different job.  And something amazing happened, the other girl (Yes, they were both women, more on that later) became nicer, friendlier, kinder.  It was incredible and I began to think, "Hey, maybe it was just the other girl.  Maybe this one wasn't so bad all along).  Boy was I wrong.

Fast forward about 6 months, new girl gets hired and seems very nice, cheery, and professional.  She meshed well with just about everyone.  Her and the aforementioned "other girl" struck up a grand friendship involving spending time together outside of work.  Then out of nowhere they both started back in with the backstabbing, name-calling, and mean-spiritedness that other girl and old girl were so skillful at.  I was so confused, because new girl and I got along fairly well.  Not so much that I would spend time with here outside of work, but you know... compatible co-workers.

Without spending too much time on the remainder of the story...final act involves other girl quitting and new girl making the same 180 degree turn other girl had made once her cohort left.  It was a revelation.

Because up to this point I had only really encountered this type of woman was in some form of education.  (Yes, my experiences have painted this phenomenon as being exclusively women, but if men have acted this way towards you let me know.)  In any form of schooling, people can find those that are truly like them a flock to each other, but outside of school its harder unless you have hobbies and whatnot to interact with people outside of work.  This type of girl only truly acts out in groups, which is why on their own these girls have acted so nice and genuine, because if they start acting this way alone then they become the target since there is no one to back them up.  I don't really know the point of this post...wait I think I have it! (Damn, most of the post gone by without another ellipse.)

We as people are social creatures, yes in a survival sense but also in a personality sense.  Let me explain.  We as creature have inherent joys, dislikes, and quirks; but it is tough to let those things out around people we either know don't share them or are unsure how they will react.  In the example of the (To borrow a phrase from a Lindsey Lohan movie) "Mean Girls", they enjoy spreading rumors, gossiping, and dragging people through the mud.  But if one of them tries to befriend me and reveal those parts of themselves, not only will I not share their excitement for "who slept with who", but more often than not I will react antagonistically.  One the same point, if I start talking to a co-worker about the Captain America movie, DnD, or a match of Halo, majority of them won't care.  Which is why it is great to find those people that share your interests, as long as it doesn't hurt others (Looking at you "Mean Girls".)

Okay, this topic goes pretty deep and its going to drag on for a long time, but that my general thought process on it.  I'm sure I'll come back to it again once the remaining co-worker finds another soulless creature to join her in cracking the same jokes about me I've heard since 3rd grade.  Anyway, I'll leave you with this... (Damn!)




“Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.”   -Mark Twain

What a weekend...

Sorry it took me so long to post.  It has been an eventful past couple of days.  I went down to Dallas with Mayday to see some friends.  It was a great time, but exhausting.  Aside from the long drive, the weekend was almost non-stop.  We went out on night one, then the next day we saw a play, went shopping, and went out to dinner.  It was great to see everyone again.  But, sadly the good times had this weekend are not the main reason I have been motivated to post.

I'm pretty drained.  In every which way.  Work is physically demanding.  But I'm not going to have a pity party.  It's just tough sometimes to see through everything that life throws at us so we can get to the good stuff.  I have been extremely blessed with a close group of friends that share my interests and that I am capable of talking to about anything and everything.  It's easy to get bogged down and begin to think about work, lack of free time, or abundance of it.  In the past month I have done all of those and many more.  But then there are these crystallizing moments of what can only be described as pure joy that snap me out of my self-imposed funk and make me realize I am blessed.

I can't help but thank those people that give my life meaning, no matter how frustrated I may get with them, how much I may annoy them at times, I always know that I have those people I can go back to when life gets to be a bit too overwhelming.


"I have a dream too, but it's about singing and dancing and making people happy. It's the kind of dream that gets better the more people you share it with. And I found a whole group of friends who have the same dream, and that makes us sort of like a family."

--"The Muppet Movie"

An unexpected way to start the day

Last night I went to bed at around midnight, which is pretty early for me.  I was just feeling really tired.  I woke up this morning, still not feeling totally all together, only to discover that my house along with all the houses on my street do not have water.  Thankfully Fallout Boy and Nice Nurse let me borrow their shower and I headed off to work.  I still wasn't feeling great, but was determined to make it through my shift.  About an hour in I had to excuse myself from a customer because I was about 30 seconds away from fainting.  I went to the back room to cool down, and eventually I was sent home.

At this point, I have been taking it easy at home watching T.V. and eating a big bowl of soup.  I feel a little better, but hopefully I'll bounce back before tonight when Mr. Rational and Literary Cat get into town.

Welp, that's all I have for now so Dpad Without Direction will leave you with this,

"A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book." 
-Irish Proverb

A great day off, filled with thought

I've always thought that days off required me to be productive, get laundry done, pick up the house, and other things that make my existence more bearable.  And I've lived by that creed for some time, but today was different.  I woke up at 8 and got caught up on my T.V. shows, then checking facebook I was reminded that I needed to check out Moustache's coffee shop downtown.  I called up Affliction, and later on he, Lobster Man, and I went to check it out.  It was actually really great, and had a good atmosphere.

After we finished I went home and was feeling pretty drained, I had gotten sick the night before and hadn't gotten much sleep.  I decided to turn on the T.V. and take a nap.  I was great until I woke up 3 hours later, my "productivity guilt" was going nuts.  I forced myself to go to get groceries, but upon returning home I wanted to do nothing more than continue my day of laziness.  It has been a great day, and I didn't get anything done.

Looking to the next few days, Mr. Rational and Literary Cat are coming to town.  Tomorrow night the Intellectuals are getting together to play D&D.  I'm excited, one because I am wrapping up the adventure I have been running for quite sometime, and two I'll get a month or two off from DMing while Mr. Rational takes over.

It's always been an odd setup since college, I feel like I have two different lives.  Not in the weird psychotic way, I have always just managed to have two different groups of friends.  The Intellectual group has always been the people I go to when I have a serious issue or want to have an intelligent discussion.  Then there are the Partyers, those people I go to when I don't want to deal with a serious issue or consciously want to make bad choices.  But something weird has been happening, the line is beginning to blur.  A couple weeks ago I got a call from Nice Nurse, who has always been the "Mama Bear" of the Intellectuals, being fiercely protective of us, called me up and asked if I was headed to the bar that night.  Not something I ever imagined would happen, but a great night with her and her husband Fallout Boy.  Before that at our group's Christmas party, the night ended with me doing shots of SoCo with Smart Musician while his wife Angel Cole looked on in amusement.

Perhaps this is the reason that most of the Partyers have slowly fallen out of my life.  Affliction is my best friend, so he has always lived in both worlds, and my ex-girlfriend Mayday started out as a Partyer but while we were together I brought her into the Intellectuals.  They are really the only two I keep in contact with on a regular basis, but part of me misses having that crazy side, the guy who lets go for a night and doesn't care about the consequences.

Well, that's it for me.  I'll see you all tomorrow.  Dpad Without Direction leaves you with this,

"Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather is one of those things that give value to survival."
- C. S. Lewis