My rainy day craft box

Wal-Mart's direct to DVD movie they're promoting this month is called Pure Country 2: The Gift. Except the movie poster has it without the colon so it's just Pure Country 2 The Gift and I keep thinking they should have called it Pure Country 2 The Bone. But that name is probably copyrighted and fiercely protected by a manufacturer of bumper stickers.

Tonight we did Christmas over at  kakita_shisumo and duendegrrl's place. It was an awesome flurry of gift exchanging, eating good food, and learning the dirty laundry of Bing Crosby and his White Christmas co-stars. It was great. And to top it all off, I got home to find the preview of my author bio page over at Aphrodite's Apples. Be prepared for me to annoy you with this news again once it goes public. 

Christmas and erotica are both good, but I don't think any of you want to hear about that right now. I think what you all really want to hear about how World War II really happened. That's right! It was all just an online roleplaying game.

Can't wait for the Sudetenlands Annexation expansion pack to come out, that's all I have to say.

We had a second assistant manager get transfered to another store today. It's down to two executive assistants and me. Since the guy who's leaving was supposed to be my closing buddy on Saturday night I now get to close on Saturday all by myself.

Two-and-a-half weeks and I'm closing all by myself. I am so. Not. Ready.

Oh well, at least they ordered sammiches for the guy's going away party. Free food is good.

Have you ever heard that song "Running Down A Dream" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers? I love that song but apparantely I never really listened to it. You see, there's this line that goes "Had the radio on/ Me and Dell were singin'..." Now I always assumed Dell was the name of the narrator's buddy and they were driving around in the car singing. But if you listen, the full line is "Had the radio on/ Me and Dell were singin'/ Little runaway." Dell is thus Dell Shannon who sang the famous song "Runaway."

Wow. It only took me seventeen years to figure that one out. I suck.

The entry title comes from all the fascinating things ghaidin has just been telling me about the Third Punic War. To the Romans' credit, the Carthagians really should have seen it coming.

I got thirty extra minutes of overtime this morning because we had to call an ambulance for a homeless man who collapsed in the park next door to us. It seemed nothing more than a case of severe intoxication, but you can't be too sure.

Something I've noticed about homeless men is that they tend to repeat themselves over and over again. A few months back when oreibasia stopped to assist a driver who had flipped his car, the panhandler from the nearby corner kept telling the young man "you got post-traumatic shock" over and over. This morning one of the sick man's companions, whom I'm assuming feared his friend would be robbed at the hospital kept telling me and the paramedics that "he got a lotta money on him" in an endless loop. Now I know two different scenarios aren't enough to assume that everyone in that particular demographic does this, but it is enough to be worth taking note of. Maybe they're so used to being unseen and unheard that they fear the message won't get through if they're not relentlessly persistant. All things considered, I suppose it's not an unreasonable fear.

Many Carthagians were rendered homeless after the sack of Carthage in the Third Punic War. Maybe the fact that many people know next to nothing about the Third Punic War is a testimony of what happens when homeless people do not repeat themselves.

I wanted to go see Lady In The Water tonight but it doesn't seem to be playing anywhere anymore. I wasn't expecting that. What a twist!

I have also been mandatory'd into overtime Saturday night. Here's hoping no more paramedics need to be called.

I bought the Silent Hill movie today. Yes, I am weak. I really want to buy V For Vendetta but of course it's one of the most expensive new releases ever to be newly released. I'd also like to get my hands of Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerebus for PS2 but that's clearly going to have to wait. In fact, I've never even finished the original Final Fantasy VII. I used to have no patience for turn-based combat games that interupt the narrative every two minutes for another tedious fight scene, but I think that must be changing. And what's with there being a sequel to Finaly Fantasy VII anyway? Shouldn't they just call it Finally Fantasy VII.V or something?

Have you ever noticed that everything immediately sounds more ominous when placed in the context of either a frat party or an overseas military base? Examples:

a) "I couldn't believe that barbecue cook-off last night! Eight cans of baked beans!"

Hmm... Makes sense.

b) "I couldn't believe that frat party last night! Eight cans of abked beans!"

Oh dear...

And now, the other:

a) "Once when I was watching the History Channel I learned from this girl what an Etruscan Wingnut is."

Plausable. The Etruscans were very advanced.

b) "Once while I was stationed in Germany I learned from this girl what an Etruscan Wingnut is!"

*shudder*

Did your mind immediately impose vile meanings on these statements? Did you do it because I implied that you should? Oh, the dilema of how the observer's mere presence influences an experiment's outcome! The cat is dead and alive at the same time!

And then there was the frat party where I witnessed what can only be described as the corn-creaming incident...