Late shift number one

02:39 / 06.07.07

I'm firmly of the opinion that anyone who writes off being poor as 'character building' has either forgotten what it's like, never been there, or lying to themselves.

Still, we're all, presumably, doing better than loads of people out there.

Having not to long ago witnessed someone pulling out several hundred dollar bills to cover four people eating - without looking at the denomination - without even looking at the wallet while removing them - and telling the waiter to keep the change - I don't know that I'm psychologically capable of dealing with suddenly finding myself rich, if I were to.

02:45 / 06.07.07

Ah I know people who don't care about money. I know someone who has a $30 MILLION apartment in New York City. She has absolutely no qualms about spending money when she wants to.

In some ways it kind of sickens me the way she flaunts how much money she has. And it is not because she is rich and I am jealous. It is because of the way she acts because she has money. I would like to think that if I became rich all of a sudden, I would act more modestly and not flaunt my money. I think I would remember where I came from and what it was like when I did not have money.

02:46 / 06.07.07

Tell ya what DN. You get rich and give me the money. That way you never have to find out if you're capable or not.

02:56 / 06.07.07

See, I don't think I'm capable, but my wallet has a psychology all its own. It would probably enjoy not housing anything but ID and sugar packets all the time.

And I didn't think the guy was trying to flaunt his wealth. I usually know that when I see it, but this seemed legitimately casual; raised with money. And I was more impressed than distressed. Distress came later that evening, when I got a 'keep away from her/you're embarrassing yourself' speech from him, and reevaluated the night.

I just figure I could have a few million and I'd still spend a silly amount of time trying to avoid cover charges or finding interesting ways to buck the cost of a two drink min. without having to actually forego the two drinks. I'm used to a lack of funds enough it's reflexive.

02:59 / 06.07.07

Yeah I am pretty used to that type of stuff too. But I think I could drop that habit pretty quickly if I got money. I think that I could adapt to having money without much difficulty.

03:14 / 06.07.07

I just want enough cash to be extravagantly excentric. IS that too much to ask for?

03:29 / 06.07.07

I'd settle for eccentric, but seeing as how 'excentic' could be extravagantly unfocused or unbalanced? Yeah, I'll have some of that.

Currently, I'm thinking the deciding factor on who deserved to be wildly insanely rich is whether or not they'd buy me a batmobile along the way. That way, even if I couldn't afford to gas it up, and I could sit in it and feel all Batmanesque.

No, you're right; I'm well on my way to adopting feverdreams of powermad capitalism at this very moment! Or, money enough to make loud silly gestures and make an ass out of myself in entertaining ways solved by cutting a check later and buying the establishment and anything within a seven foot radius of the front doors.

03:36 / 06.07.07

I suspect I'd do with money if I was rich as I do with money while I'm - I dunno, sorta modest, skirting the edge of poor? I'm making more than I was but most of the time I just scrape by. I use my money haphazardly but try to avoid getting into any real trouble. I just trundle along. I don't think I have the right psychology to just toss away hundreds on whatever. I feel very guilty about spending money.

I'm off work, finally, and the pants are gone. My waist! It is happy! My legs! There is bloodflow!

03:48 / 06.07.07

Hmmm that is a very interesting description of your spending habits. I would say my spending habits are that I am a very cheap, poor guy who would just like to be able to get a little more stuff. I spend my money very wisely but I am limited in what I can consume because I am a full time student and I can only hold odd jobs because of it.

03:56 / 06.07.07

My spending habbits are quite slim. Im usually boardering on broke so when I do have money I tend to save it rather than spend. Except when my friends are involved I'll blow all the cash I have at the drop of a hat if it means having a good time.

04:19 / 06.07.07

I think the fact food gets discussed nightly on the 'lith goes a way to showing where our money and attentions might be focused. On the rich boards, it'd be a nightly discussion of a rare muscle car we all would like to own three of, but can't find on our continent right now.

It's something the talk around those comics' spawned statuettes put in my head: who the hell has the money to spare for something like that? I can't even buy all the comics I want to read. And, yet, I'm more likely to buy a movie (usually used) than rent it. It's all a matter of parsing the funds this way or that, I suppose.

04:24 / 06.07.07

I can't wrap my head around the statuettes. You can't even play with it as you might play with an action toy. They're just dead lumps of plastic that are usually badly designed, if not outright creepy. I don't see why you'd want to spend money on that and not a nice dinner or a bottle of cheap sangria.

Dec, I can't wait for you to read this comic. It's so much fun . In a horrible, painful, existentially Bizarro way.

04:39 / 06.07.07

I do have to cop to owning two (soft-vinyl ?) Lin Minmei's that stand around a foot tall and are entirely un-poseable. But, they were gifts, I presume cost no more tha fifteen dollars each, and there's no laundry or throwing her back out.

But forty dollars? Two hundred? If I were rich even, I'd probably buy a whole set of oldschool Transformers or Inhumanoids toys and arrange them on a shelf in some big battle before I'd plunk down for ten to eighteen inches of OOC White Queen.

05:09 / 06.07.07

I am sorry I am still here, I have not really been contributing recently. I don't really have much to say about expensive action figures anyway.

I am listening to the Pina Colada Song for absolutely no reason....If you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain

05:30 / 06.07.07

I'm around. Haven't decided if I'm going to sleep tonight, or crash early tomorrow.

Listening to a lot of jazz and blues tonight. I may not be able to figure out how I'm going to turn three people down while not offending/upsetting anyone (I'm sure people have let me down easy - should've taken notes), but some Buddy Guy kinda takes the edge off. At least for tonight.

05:52 / 06.07.07

An excellent choice of music, I applaud you for listening to blues music, which is a very under-appreciated genre of music. And the person that could help you out the best with your predicament is definitely a blues singer. If you would like a laugh, you should check out this article, Blues Singer's Woman Permitted To Tell Her Side.

Anyway, I am off to bed...I took this medicine for my allergies just now and it is making me drowsy....See you later have a good night

06:06 / 06.07.07

Night, Jer.

04:04 / 07.07.07

Is there anyone here tonight, or am I the only person sitting at home on a friday night at like 1 am? I guess I understand, if I were feeling well I would be out partying and drinking too

05:43 / 07.07.07

Just returned to the 'lith. Sorting out awkward relationship stuffs, now that I've remembered, as a human being, I am an analytical tool-utilising individual, and ought to act like one, as efficiently and not-asshole-ish as possible.

You'd think people knowing me enough, would cause them to know how crap I am in certain situations and not develop those situations with me. Or address things to me when I'm within a ten-mile radius.

How's the night going for you?

iamus

05:57 / 07.07.07

People tend to be crap at their own stuff too.

The night's been very good. But it's time to sleep now.

Don't be too hard on yourself, whatever it is man.

06:13 / 07.07.07

Don't be too hard on yourself

But... but... it's one of the things I'm really good at.

No, I'm actually feeling a lot better tonight than, say, yesterday. The fireworks have finally slowed to a slow crawl of explodey sounds tonight, after days of continual bombing, so my skull's no longer an acid-filled echo chamber and the animals have calmed enough I could stop being on mess-watch.

06:48 / 07.07.07

If only it were that easy. People know my weaknesses and yet they push them anyway. Things like that happen, you just have to deal with it in the best way possible.

Well I am glad that the fireworks finally stopped for you, I understand it could be a big problem. Here they really cracked down on fireworks, they are serious about not having people do that. It all started with Rudy Guliani with his whole 'broken windows' theory.
The theory was that people who explode fireworks, jaywalk and ride bicycles on the sidewalk are more likely to commit more serious crimes like rape, robbery and murder

My night has been long and I am not feeling very well. But I can't seem to go to bed, I am not tired at all. Which is strange because you are usually tired when you are sick

06:56 / 07.07.07

Just a small bug, I hope? If 'lithers should be spared poverty, we should all stop being susceptible to illness, too.

I think I just got used to being in areas where it was so dry fireworks are severely regulated (but you can still bring absurd amounts of gunpowder and squibs back and forth across the Mex/Cal border!), so the fact Nebraska's very freely distributing them hit me kinda hard.

I'm definitely up tonight. I keep thinking I should be exhausted and hit the sack, but no. I'm weirdly proud of myself tonight, just for communicating to people better than usual. And not hitting my head against anything when I got a call from a friend's little brother, who hoped I could explain to her that 'a man's little soldiers gotta march.' There's only so close to being a Fellini film your life can get before it stops actually being painful and dramatic and everything lapses into comedy. Think I hit that point tonight.

07:08 / 07.07.07

Yes I believe it is probably a mix of a small bug and some allergies. The small bug will go away soon hopefully but the allergies are a different story...

Fireworks are almost impossible to find here but you go down to the south and they are selling them everywhere. I remember when I went to South Carolina a lot of people were selling fireworks. There was the particularly sketchy fireworks store set up between a strip club and a liquor, guns and ammo store (now there is a good combination)

About your life, at least you see the comedy in it. As the line from the classic Monty Python move Life of Brian goes "Always look on the bright side of life"

03:47 / 08.07.07

Yet again I am at home on a usual party night because I am not feeling well and I am wondering if anybody is here. I have had the most horrendous 07/07/07, I have been terribly unlucky.

My computer turned off today and it would not turn back on, which I thought was a big problem. So I was so fed up and I took my computer to the Apple Store near by to have an expert look at it. Not only is the hard drive completely broken and it can never be fixed, but I can't get anything off it either. So I can fix my computer, although it may take a while, but I lost everything that was on my computer. I am now forced to use other people's computers until mine can be fixed

I hope everyone else had better luck than me today.

02:41 / 09.07.07

Anyone up and about? I need to get myself writing but it are difficult, yarr.

02:54 / 09.07.07

Yeah I am here for the last night for a long while. How are things going?

02:58 / 09.07.07

Not bad. Is still light out and air is warm. Writing is about to be done. I've successfully opened the document and everything. You're all packed?

03:01 / 09.07.07

Yeah everything is done except the toiletries which I have to be very careful about where I put them. There is definitely going to be a lot of security after the incidents in London and Glasgow so I am being especially careful to not do anything wrong.

03:35 / 09.07.07

Have you got any specific plans about what you're going to do on your trip?

03:46 / 09.07.07

Yeah I am going to spend some time in Paris. I am going to see some friends and family that I have who live In Paris. I am going to go to the beach for a month too. I am really looking forward to that

03:48 / 09.07.07

Hello hello

03:52 / 09.07.07

hello Venger how are things going?

03:58 / 09.07.07

Heya, Hatly! How's life on the hatrack?