day 611
i haven't really given my years of high school much thought since i graduated. my time was great at St John's and i've managed to stay in touch (more or less) with fellow classmates. other than that, there really isn't much to tell. it's school, plain and simple.
now something interesting has occurred: my cousin had posted a FB post about how great Green Day's DOOKIE is after all these years, since he found it in a used music shop. furthermore, my cousin's kids (different cousin now) was posting on his page the song "Once" by Pearl Jam .
normally this would spark nothing, but these are from albums that were released during my high school tenure. so, i think it's time to talk about the cassette tapes that i owned in high school, and the albums that everyone seemed to have in their collection.
Note: remember kiddies, this was before itunes and digital media. at this time period, you only had the choice of CDs or Cassette Tapes. i had the latter, since i was a cheap bxtch and didn't own a CD player until after graduation. also note that these CD's are not in any release date order, just within the time period of high school.
Metallica: The Black Album -- "Enter Sandman" could be heard from the varsity football team's locker room on game day, or when the classes let out and all the parking permit kids got into their cars and peeled out of the parking lot.
Nirvana: Nevermind -- pretty much went hand in hand with Pearl Jam's TEN album. the real beginning of the grundge movement. Great songs all around on this cassette.
Pearl Jam: TEN -- i actually prefer this over Nevermind. Anthems like "Evenflow" and "Alive" seemed out of place when you really got into the meat of this tape. songs like "black", "garden", "why go" and "jeremy" really were the backbone for a moody and frank collection of songs.
Dr. Dre: The Chronic -- Dre on Death Row records, with the help of some guy named Snoop Doggy Dogg. first real introduction to gangsta rap. I still know the words to "nuthin' but a G thang"
Red hot chili peppers: blood sugar sex majik -- "give it away" and "under the bridge" are the keynotes to this tape. couldn't go anywhere without hearing those songs.
Stone Temple Pilots: Core -- i was listening to this group almost for a month before anyone else knew about them. i had heard "sex type thing" on a small tv station called the video jukebox and i loved what i heard. the whole tape was amazing, and a few of their songs still get rotation from time to time.
ah, memories.
MK
Mental Access to MTKuszek
A Window of Opportunity
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Friday, January 13, 2012
01--13--2012 Trauma Training
day 600
i always thought that training videos about "blood on the highway" were more of an urban legend, something that is whispered to your kids to keep them in line. how naive i was...until last night.
the new job is very aware of things in the plant, and part of that is constant training and awareness power-points. it's a good thing.
now last night, we had a power-point for PPE (Personal Protection Equipment, such as goggles and gloves, etc.) it was presented by the new safety department assistant, so this was her first time presenting to us.
it started out fine, talking about goggles and safety glasses, then this icon came up: a picture of a camera with the word "gross" underneath it and an arrow pointing to the next slide. so, naturally, we saw pictures of eye trauma: Staples in the eyes, metal shards, and even a very serious chemical burn. ewww. my friend Matt from Bax would be sick to his stomach. additionally, there were bad puns along with each set of the sick pics, such as "Keep an eye out for hazards"
this same formula continued for the entire slide show. a type of PPE, followed by trauma pics, and bad puns. not exactly a great way to start your shift. we saw arm lacerations, gashes on the head, mangled and stitched fingers, and the coup de grace, feet trauma. the last pic was epic. a dude had no steel toe boots on when a die slammed down on his foot and they pulled him out from underneath the die. so the pic was something that a zombie would have for a foot. a few missing toes, a bunch of meat stripped to the bone.
needless to say, kinda gross, but it does get you to think. i know the place is dangerous, and i use my PPE religiously there. still, sick pics at 11pm at night aren't the best way to start a 3rd shift.
can't wait to see her next presentation. :P
grossed out
MK
i always thought that training videos about "blood on the highway" were more of an urban legend, something that is whispered to your kids to keep them in line. how naive i was...until last night.
the new job is very aware of things in the plant, and part of that is constant training and awareness power-points. it's a good thing.
now last night, we had a power-point for PPE (Personal Protection Equipment, such as goggles and gloves, etc.) it was presented by the new safety department assistant, so this was her first time presenting to us.
it started out fine, talking about goggles and safety glasses, then this icon came up: a picture of a camera with the word "gross" underneath it and an arrow pointing to the next slide. so, naturally, we saw pictures of eye trauma: Staples in the eyes, metal shards, and even a very serious chemical burn. ewww. my friend Matt from Bax would be sick to his stomach. additionally, there were bad puns along with each set of the sick pics, such as "Keep an eye out for hazards"
this same formula continued for the entire slide show. a type of PPE, followed by trauma pics, and bad puns. not exactly a great way to start your shift. we saw arm lacerations, gashes on the head, mangled and stitched fingers, and the coup de grace, feet trauma. the last pic was epic. a dude had no steel toe boots on when a die slammed down on his foot and they pulled him out from underneath the die. so the pic was something that a zombie would have for a foot. a few missing toes, a bunch of meat stripped to the bone.
needless to say, kinda gross, but it does get you to think. i know the place is dangerous, and i use my PPE religiously there. still, sick pics at 11pm at night aren't the best way to start a 3rd shift.
can't wait to see her next presentation. :P
grossed out
MK
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
01--11--2012 Kindled Inspiration
day 598
this past Christmas, we were given a kindle as a gift for my wife and i to obviously use at our leisure. i don't think my wife has laid a hand on it, since i did the geek thing and learned how to load it up with all sorts of stuff i like. :P
i've been taking it into work and reading it as i take my half hour lunch, and it has become an integral part of my enjoyment. that's amazing to me because all i'm really doing is just reading. i've never really been a fan of reading, but now i'm doing it everyday at a surplus.
i used to bash these things, but i'm actually quite impressed about what these things can do. true, the screen is rudimentary, but it really gets rid of the hassle of losing pages or messing up a book because of a spill or dropped food, or smears. as i told one friend about digital media, "It's materialism without the clutter."
so, what do i currently have on my kindle that i enjoy reading so much? let me share:
1) The Complete Works of HP Lovecraft: i think someone scanned in this book, or painstakingly recreated it. whatever the case may be, this was a rare find. some of the words are off, wrong in places where one word is there but you know what word they mean, but the quality is pretty good. it was free, and i managed to find it somewhere on the internet. i like it when i read something that i hadn't read before and it becomes my favorite. i really liked "The Outsider" and "The Beast in the Cave". taking a break from it for a bit because i'm only on the letter C in an alphabetical catalogue, and i had other things to read too.
2) The King in Yellow, by Robert William Chambers: again a reference to Lovecraft, or rather Lovecraft references this work in his catalog of stories. a strange play that makes people crazy...how surprised i was to find out that this is a real book and not a fictitious piece of work. again, found it for free, and have read a bit of it. problem is that it was written in the late 1800s, so it's a bit clunky in its grammar and structure.
3)Hex Games Products: i've loaded this thing up with a few products from the great writers of Qags. i have downloaded ALL-Stars and All-Stars: Vice Squad from them, and both were read from virtual cover to virtual cover in less that a 48 hour period. i absorbed those books with a great fervor. now i have a small queue lined of of things that i'm going to read from them. right now i'm reading "Leopard Women of Venus, and have never been happier. Then on to Laser Ponies and JINGO
4) Dread: ok, so what do you do when you have 2 copies of an independently published horror game that you really thinks is the coolest thing on the planet? You Buy A Digital Copy, of course! i'm a sick bastard, but i never tire of reading this thing, and i think i'm going to pick up "Microscope" and "Fiasco" as well, even though those have nothing to do with each other, they always end up being found together. future plans i guess, but still down the line.
so that is it for now, though i think some classic novels are going to get downloaded in the near future too. now leave me alone...time to read..lol
peace my readers.
MK
this past Christmas, we were given a kindle as a gift for my wife and i to obviously use at our leisure. i don't think my wife has laid a hand on it, since i did the geek thing and learned how to load it up with all sorts of stuff i like. :P
i've been taking it into work and reading it as i take my half hour lunch, and it has become an integral part of my enjoyment. that's amazing to me because all i'm really doing is just reading. i've never really been a fan of reading, but now i'm doing it everyday at a surplus.
i used to bash these things, but i'm actually quite impressed about what these things can do. true, the screen is rudimentary, but it really gets rid of the hassle of losing pages or messing up a book because of a spill or dropped food, or smears. as i told one friend about digital media, "It's materialism without the clutter."
so, what do i currently have on my kindle that i enjoy reading so much? let me share:
1) The Complete Works of HP Lovecraft: i think someone scanned in this book, or painstakingly recreated it. whatever the case may be, this was a rare find. some of the words are off, wrong in places where one word is there but you know what word they mean, but the quality is pretty good. it was free, and i managed to find it somewhere on the internet. i like it when i read something that i hadn't read before and it becomes my favorite. i really liked "The Outsider" and "The Beast in the Cave". taking a break from it for a bit because i'm only on the letter C in an alphabetical catalogue, and i had other things to read too.
2) The King in Yellow, by Robert William Chambers: again a reference to Lovecraft, or rather Lovecraft references this work in his catalog of stories. a strange play that makes people crazy...how surprised i was to find out that this is a real book and not a fictitious piece of work. again, found it for free, and have read a bit of it. problem is that it was written in the late 1800s, so it's a bit clunky in its grammar and structure.
3)Hex Games Products: i've loaded this thing up with a few products from the great writers of Qags. i have downloaded ALL-Stars and All-Stars: Vice Squad from them, and both were read from virtual cover to virtual cover in less that a 48 hour period. i absorbed those books with a great fervor. now i have a small queue lined of of things that i'm going to read from them. right now i'm reading "Leopard Women of Venus, and have never been happier. Then on to Laser Ponies and JINGO
4) Dread: ok, so what do you do when you have 2 copies of an independently published horror game that you really thinks is the coolest thing on the planet? You Buy A Digital Copy, of course! i'm a sick bastard, but i never tire of reading this thing, and i think i'm going to pick up "Microscope" and "Fiasco" as well, even though those have nothing to do with each other, they always end up being found together. future plans i guess, but still down the line.
so that is it for now, though i think some classic novels are going to get downloaded in the near future too. now leave me alone...time to read..lol
peace my readers.
MK
Monday, January 9, 2012
01--09--2012 Conventional Motion
day 596
my personal growth continues at a steady pace. however, there are some aspects of my life i'm not willing to give up.
as some of you know, i often travel to various game conventions throughout the area, and volunteer to run events. it's kind of my way of giving back. again i cannot stress the luck i've had with meeting fantastic people because of these conventions.
anyway, i'm staring down the barrel of convention season again, and of course the first one up is the hometown college convention, BASHcon. now, due to possible overtime and lack of vacation days, i really don't have that much room for leeway or error when it comes to going to these places this year, so i'm a little hesitant to really apply myself to anything extracurricular.
additionally, i been receiving email from other associates and partners in crime about GENCON, the biggest and baddest in the states, trying to get me back to run another installment of Qags-in-a-bag, my signature event (man, that sounds strange to say). so now, i have that in the back of my head, and now i'm thinking "day trip"...i must be completely insane to even think about driving there and back in the same day. but there is no rest for the wicked.
one thing that i've noticed is that my creativity is not as strong as it once was, only because of this new job and i have so many other things to think about before plot lines and story arcs, but at least i'm still blogging. today i did pull out the old bag, dusted it off, and began to think of things to toss into the idea chasm.
and so it begins...again...
MK
my personal growth continues at a steady pace. however, there are some aspects of my life i'm not willing to give up.
as some of you know, i often travel to various game conventions throughout the area, and volunteer to run events. it's kind of my way of giving back. again i cannot stress the luck i've had with meeting fantastic people because of these conventions.
anyway, i'm staring down the barrel of convention season again, and of course the first one up is the hometown college convention, BASHcon. now, due to possible overtime and lack of vacation days, i really don't have that much room for leeway or error when it comes to going to these places this year, so i'm a little hesitant to really apply myself to anything extracurricular.
additionally, i been receiving email from other associates and partners in crime about GENCON, the biggest and baddest in the states, trying to get me back to run another installment of Qags-in-a-bag, my signature event (man, that sounds strange to say). so now, i have that in the back of my head, and now i'm thinking "day trip"...i must be completely insane to even think about driving there and back in the same day. but there is no rest for the wicked.
one thing that i've noticed is that my creativity is not as strong as it once was, only because of this new job and i have so many other things to think about before plot lines and story arcs, but at least i'm still blogging. today i did pull out the old bag, dusted it off, and began to think of things to toss into the idea chasm.
and so it begins...again...
MK
Sunday, January 8, 2012
01--08-2012 The End of the World...And I Feel Fine
day 595
So this is the year that everything ends, right?
so the mayan calender ends abruptly a few days before Christmas, and instantly we're all supposed to thing that there's nothing after. some doomsayer proclaimed "Oh Shit! We're all going to die" and we, as intelligent people are supposed to believe that?
come on, we're more intelligent that that.
first off, even if the mayans were "the most advanced civilization ever" (and that's granting all sorts of leeway) let's take a look a some factors that everyone seems to be ignoring.
1) The Mayans existed between 2000BC and 900AD. this year marks that they will have been gone for 1112 years. do you think they had that much insight. do you think they might've see their own end first?
2) the mayans were human, and as such had human faults. did anyone think for a moment perhaps it was a mistake? they ran out of room? perhaps the stone carver developed carpal tunnel? maybe he woke up one day with a severe case of "FXCK IT" and decided to do something else. maybe he was a visionary, and thought to himself that maybe, after a couple thousand years, that someone would come up with a better way to keep track of a frickin' calender.( Hell, we have them in our computers, phones, and just about every electrical device we own.)
3) i'm pretty sure the mayans had no clue that Nostradamus was coming down the pipe about 600 years later, so if we don't believe the mayans, why should we believe nostradamus's predictions on the Mayans' calender.
4) religious fanatics and other religious groups are going to make money by inciting fear and harvesting in the lost souls who are trying to cover their ass and get into the pearly gates. (keep an eye on the news and see if people are retuning to church, and if those numbers are going up steadily month after month.) these organizations will point out that the savior is coming back and the end of days will begin. Really? If the Mayans were right, you really think they were holding the door open for Christ to walk back in?
i'm not afraid about the end of the world, this year or any year. live each day as if it was your last. bring joy to those you love. make each moment count. if you count the days to the end, you will have a bunch of joyless days that have passed you by.
Carpe Diem, Peeps
MK
So this is the year that everything ends, right?
so the mayan calender ends abruptly a few days before Christmas, and instantly we're all supposed to thing that there's nothing after. some doomsayer proclaimed "Oh Shit! We're all going to die" and we, as intelligent people are supposed to believe that?
come on, we're more intelligent that that.
first off, even if the mayans were "the most advanced civilization ever" (and that's granting all sorts of leeway) let's take a look a some factors that everyone seems to be ignoring.
1) The Mayans existed between 2000BC and 900AD. this year marks that they will have been gone for 1112 years. do you think they had that much insight. do you think they might've see their own end first?
2) the mayans were human, and as such had human faults. did anyone think for a moment perhaps it was a mistake? they ran out of room? perhaps the stone carver developed carpal tunnel? maybe he woke up one day with a severe case of "FXCK IT" and decided to do something else. maybe he was a visionary, and thought to himself that maybe, after a couple thousand years, that someone would come up with a better way to keep track of a frickin' calender.( Hell, we have them in our computers, phones, and just about every electrical device we own.)
3) i'm pretty sure the mayans had no clue that Nostradamus was coming down the pipe about 600 years later, so if we don't believe the mayans, why should we believe nostradamus's predictions on the Mayans' calender.
4) religious fanatics and other religious groups are going to make money by inciting fear and harvesting in the lost souls who are trying to cover their ass and get into the pearly gates. (keep an eye on the news and see if people are retuning to church, and if those numbers are going up steadily month after month.) these organizations will point out that the savior is coming back and the end of days will begin. Really? If the Mayans were right, you really think they were holding the door open for Christ to walk back in?
i'm not afraid about the end of the world, this year or any year. live each day as if it was your last. bring joy to those you love. make each moment count. if you count the days to the end, you will have a bunch of joyless days that have passed you by.
Carpe Diem, Peeps
MK
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