Pumpkin Seeds: Randomonia Edition

1. Salomé doesn't want her own blog because she hates those that are of the self-absorbed, "Today, I went to..." variety. Between that and her complete disdain for politics, I'm starting to believe she really does only use my blog for the links to other people's blogs. That's what she tells me, at least! Meanwhile, she's bugging me to post my To-Do For 35 List. [Which is coming as soon as I figure it out!]

2. Five days into my 35th year and I'm sleepy, still recovering from the open bar and late night out on Tuesday. Between the two-day sales meeting and a rare after-hours, work-related function that I thoroughly enjoyed, I kind of feel like Mr. Corporate. My "Best Kept Secret" award was a nice ego boost, too. Am I selling out? Or buying in?

3. I have officially lost all interest in the upcoming Presidential election. Would someone please remind these clowns that Vietnam happened over 30 years ago and the average American couldn't care less what they were doing back then. Remember, both Clinton and Dubya, draft-dodgers supreme, beat highly decorated veterans in each of their Presidential campaigns, with Clinton doing it twice!

4. Is there a more perfect summation of the current campaigns than this?

Kerry Crushes Bush In NJ Cockroach Derby
Aug 20, 2004 7:53 am US/Eastern

(1010 WINS) NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. John Kerry crushed George Bush like a bug at the annual cockroach derby in New Brunswick...

Madagascar giant hissing cockroaches that represented the Massachusetts Democrat and Republican incumbent didn't move when the race started.

But with a little prodding, the "Kerry" roach sprinted down a six-foot tube while the "Bush" roach never moved any of its six legs.

If only the end result holds true.

5. And then there's this:

"Please explain to me why John Kerry sounds more dickish telling the truth than Bush sounds when he's lying. How is that possible?"
—Jon Stewart

6. Two trips to Midtown Comics and I still have money left on one of the two gift certificates I received for my birthday! Have I gotten more selective over the past year or am I just cheap? A combination of the two, I believe.

7. Even with a shipment of another 50 or so still to arrive from Canada (!), I am officially drowning in comic books! Between Ebay and Midtown Comics, I'm almost ready to open my own store. I am already 4/5ths of the way to owning a complete set of every Moon Knight appearance ever. EVER!!!

8. Other complete collections I now own or am closing in on:

• Arion: Lord of Atlantis


• Atari Force


• Forgotten Realms


• Suicide Squad


• Team America

Team America is by far the lamest of the group but I just couldn't pass it up. I'm halfway through the 12-issue run and am fully embarrassed for all those involved in its creation. The weird thing is, with a little polish on the scripts, I could totally see it being republished today as a jingoistic, right-wing, Invaders-like book.

9. At my birthday party on Saturday, I brought my crate of chapbooks out of the closet and presented a free-for-all buffet for everyone that was there. Books from 1997-2004, there's a few in there that I'm sure their authors have since disowned. Or should. Not the one everybody would love to get their hands on, though. Not sure if I've ever actually owned that one myself, though I saw several of the poems it contains performed way back when and think it would serve as both an amusing and invaluable example of a writer's growth.

10. I didn't give everything away, though, as there were several books I hadn't seen in awhile and actually want to read again, to see if my high opinion still holds or not. I will be reviewing some of those here in the near future!

11. It's Fantasy Football time and I'm in the middle of drafting my primary team, Starving Artists, of Exit42's GameSmack League-South Division. Four rounds in and I'm already a little nervous about my picks: Travis Henry, Kevan Barlow, Santana Moss & Javon Walker. Need to get my annual Yahoo! league started up, too. Email me if you're interested.

12. Anyone that paid $100 or more for Google stock deserves to lose their money when reality sets in next year (if not sooner) and the market adjusts to the fact that its $85 IPO was already somewhat inflated, based more on past performance than future prospects. If not for the equal match I get from my employer offsetting this weak market, I'd have rolled my 401(k) into an IRA by now and invested in a stable money market account. I'll take relatively predictable 1-2% growth over a flat-equals-losing equity market every time. The glory days are over and anyone that tells you different is either getting a commission or talking out of their ass.

13. Between Fish hosting the slams and RAC taking over as slammaster (and hopefully being given the responsibility of booking features, too), I'm thinking I now have no good excuses for missing the next two Mondays at 13, with Luis Cartagena and Eliel Lucero featuring.