My God, You Mean To Tell Me I've Not Touched This Thing In Almost A Year?!

Word life, update like a motherfucker!

So, what all has happened in my crazed life that warrants such a long hiatus, even longer than Rob T's apparent retirement?

The last voyage of the Kitty Hawk, for starters. I crossed Hawaii off my Places To Visit Before I Die List, and my mom fell in love with San Diego when my folks came up to see me. (What the hell, so did I.) And then there was Bremerton. If Sir Mix-A-Lot is writing a song about how remarkably unattractive and unintelligent a large portion of the the female population of your city is... you've got some problems.

Back in Japan for a while onboard the George Washington, helping them see what life is like out here, and no, the ship has not been on lockdown once yet.

Also, in the shock result of the year given how skewed the test was against what I've been spending the past three years doing, I made Petty Officer First Class. Which in turn catches me right up to Chris Gates, assuming he hasn't already made Master/First Sergeant.

Been getting into raiding with my tankadin on World of Warcraft, did Karazhan prior to the release of Wrath of the Lich King and recently went into Naxxramas.

IN MEMORIAM: Kenneth William Solomon, aka my last surviving grandpa, called back to the celestial home after nearly a century of devoted service. Jon Stewart may have a point about people that make the world a better place needing to stop dying, but you have clearly earned your rest.

Finally, Blog Nation, I'll be shaving my head. No, I haven't joined a cult, or even Chris's MafiaWars group he's hollering about me joining, but I'll be helping out kids with cancer. So by all means, check out the site and put some money on my melon.

Song of the Indeterminate Time Period, Part the Second: January 2K9

Grandpa, tell me about the good old days
Sometimes it feels like... this world's gone crazy
Grandpa, take me back to yesterday
When the line between right and wrong didn't seem so hazy

Did lovers really fall in love to stay
And stand beside each other come what may?
Was a promise really something people kept?
Not just something they would say?
Did families really bow their heads to pray?
Did daddies really never go away?
Ohhh, Grandpa, tell me about the good old days

Grandpa, everything is changing fast
We call it progress, but I just don't know
And Grandpa, let's wander back into the past
And paint me a picture of long ago

Did lovers really fall in love to stay
And stand beside each other come what may?
Was a promise really something people kept?
Not just something they would say?
Did families really bow their heads to pray?
Did daddies really never go away?
Ohhh, Grandpa, tell me about the good old days

-- The Judds
"Grandpa (Tell Me About The Good Old Days)"

Song of the Indeterminate Time Period, Part the First: December 2K8

It's only when your poison spins
Into the life you'd hoped to live
And suddenly you wake up in a shaken panic (now!)
You'd set me up like a lamb to slaughter
Garbo as the farmer's daughter
Unbelieveable; the gospel according to who?
I lay right down

All your sad and lost apostles
Hum my name and flare their nostrils
Choking on the bones you toss to them
I'm not one to sit and spin
'Cause living well's the best revenge
Baby, I am calling you on that

Don't turn your talking points on me
History will set me free
The future is ours and you don't even rate a footnote (now!)
So who's chasing you? Where did you go?
You disappear midsentence in a judgement crisis
I see my in and go for it, you weakened shill

All your sad and lost apostles
Hum my name and flare their nostrils
Choking on the bones you toss to them
I'm not one to sit and spin
'Cause living well's the best revenge
Baby, I am calling you on that

You savor your dying breath
I forgive but I don't forget
You work it out, let's hear that argument again
Camera Three, go, now!

All your sad and lost apostles
Hum my name and flare their nostrils
Choking on the bones you toss to them
I'm not one to sit and spin
'Cause living well's the best revenge
Baby, I am calling you on that
Baby, I am calling you on that
Baby, I am calling you on that...

-- R.E.M.
"Living Well is the Best Revenge"
Accelerate (2008)