a nice Seventh Day Adventist came to my door this evening and tried to sell me religion and cookbooks. well, he started with cookbooks and moved onto religion. i told him that while i am an atheist i agree with many of the codes of conduct in Christianity, but that whole divinity thing just sticks in my craw. we went onto chat for a while, i continued to agree with him about many moral tenets (we didn't get into the really sticky areas: abortion, death-penalty, and what-not) and after 15 minutes he really had very little to say. it came down to, "So you agree in the Golden Rule, civil good deeds, most of the Decalogue, and spiritual observation/service, but you just don't think Jesus was the son of god?" "That about sums it." "Oh well then. Um, have a good life and God Bless!" "You too, my friend! G'luck in your search!" it was very civil. another Adventist came about 20 minutes later but was much more huffy about the whole "god" thing (methinks he was more angry that i wasn't interested in buying cookbooks). i wonder when the Mormons will stop by

managed to manhandle the fridge from On High to here in the lowlands with minimal issue. had to take the kitchen door and a fridge door from the hinges, but it worked out alright. JP was indispensable and is shaping up to be a really froody kat. he lives 40 miles away, but it's good to know we've met someone who after hanging with us fewer than a handful of times is willing to take his Sunday afternoon off - away from his wife - to help lug a 200lb fridge across gods' green

in the job front, i got back two rejection letters and sent out three more apps in the last two days. the letters have been automated so haven't been able to assess whether it's my res, my cover letter, my experience, or just myself what's been found wanting. am crawling to bookstores around town tomorrow and next to see if i can get some retail gig. paychecks is paychecks

finally, we hooked up with ATT U-verse and have cable and internets now (Dea was going out of her mind watching the same movies time and again). just started (not ten minutes since) the fourth episode of Stargate Universe and, though i've never seen an episode, i and was hooked from just watching the intro sequence. was never really hyped about the original Stargate series, it seemed too cartoony for my tastes, too Star Trek TNG (which was a great show when i was 12, but not so much now), but this seems much closer to BSG (which i, of course, haven't finished watching - FAIL). whether it was Firefly (i like to blame that show for all great, recent innovations in SciFi programming) or another show of a similar ilk, i'm really digging the grainy, steady-cam approach to cinematography; detracts from the staged quality of the show. yes, i know that means i'm basically diggin' on the flick 'cuz it's akin to a soap-opera but hey ¡i like my stories!

in other news, all our crap has arrived from Chicago so we're officially "moved in". what that means is really very little as we don't have a stove or a fridge or more than two bookshelves to rub together. Dea did find a really nice couch/loveseat set we bought for a song (he asked $100, we got it for $50, and they threw in an ottoman). we also have a line on a really nice Kenmore for cheapity-cheap which we're scheduled to pick-up this endweek (only challenge: it's "up the mountain", which is to say it's 6,000 ft above sealevel and can only be accessed by the "Rim of the World" freeway, a serpentine 30% grade two-lane murder-hole with delusions of being a highway. we drove it the other night, with one headlight, and bad directions, and one gallon of gas. it was -- delightful. we managed to get lost several times and ended up running on an unpaved, unleveled dirt road next to a shear drop with banjo music playing in the background. after we found the house - it was picturesque, when i have a bajillion dollars and a private helicopter, it's where i'm living - the lady was very nice and told us the easy way to get home [we only got lost twice on the way back].) so, that's good

Dea has an interview with an internet marketing firm on Friday, so we're all psyched about that. it's a pretty snazzy crew, but she can fill in on those deets. they had a really neat interview process where she had to write a cover letter about how she was "incredible" - it was fairly cool

my search has not been so fruitful: i've been hit up by the usual run of insurance companies and high risk/commission sales opportunities, but they're all bullschtick; my local Kelly rep has sent me one nibble, a single day of warehouse work at a shoe outlet in Redlands. glee. am sending out more reses and have signed up with a couple other staffing agencies. but, we endure and rise again

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGThe Prisoner Redux with Ian McKellen and James CaviezelOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG

"... On 17 March 2005 that court dismissed the applicant's complaint. It held that the crucifix was both the symbol of Italian history and culture, and consequently of Italian identity, and the symbol of the principles of equality, liberty and tolerance, as well as of the State's secularism. By a judgment of 13 February 2006, the Consiglio di Stato dismissed the applicant's appeal, on the ground that the cross had become one of the secular values of the Italian Constitution and represented the values of civil life."
Crucifixes Have No Place In Italy's Public Classrooms: Court

the Italian court has since ruled that Crucifixes can't be displayed in Public Classrooms as they breach the "freedom of thought, conscience and religion" clause in the European Convention of Human Rights. but saying that the Crucifix was a Secular, and not a Sacred object, was just scurvy. it's like the people who say the "One Nation, under God" part of the the US Pledge or "In God We Trust" on US currency are expressing a historical and not a religious intent. i don't get as riled up about Religious issues as i once did (mayhaps i'm slowly finding God - more like, i'm slowly drinking less caffeine), but trying to pass the Crucifix off as a purely historical symbol, that takes balls. ¡Hats off to you, Italian Religious Right!

in other news, signed the Lease for the new living space. will be moving in this week, assuming our stuff will ship from Chicago in a timely fashion and then, off to the races. i've become really fixated with the idea of getting a gig at some college or university (thanks, Dad, for your constant "Higher Education" harangue. trying to make me live up to my potential, ¡feh!). of course, there really aren't any job in Academia which pay a miser's pittance (shocker-be there) or any jobs at all, for that matter -- but, hell, this wouldn't be the first hopeless crusade i've pursued and, Bob willing, it won't be the last

the place called back and we have a date to sign the lease on Monday. ¡booyah! there was a bit of an ordeal trying to get a payment as, understandably so, the Realtor doesn't accept out of state checks. so, i trundled down to Wells Fargo and opened a Checking account thinking i'd get a local bank account and perform a bank to bank transfer - we are in the 21st century, after all, and electronic money is the only money. unfortunately, after two hours with customer service (four different reps) it turns out that National City/PNC has no manner of Electronic Funds transfer outside of Wire-Transfer and since WT demands i be in person at the bank, it's a no go. ran chickenheaded for awhile until Lori remembered the local post office offers Money Order which can be purchased by Checking Card. so, ew tagged an order 10 minutes before the branch closed and we're back online with the signing. thank Bob for small victories

now it's all about the settling in. Dea has been flexing her Google-Fu (¡her Kung Fu is Strong!) finding appliances and furniture for the new place. it's gonna be piece-meal for a time as money will be tight, but both of us are used to compartmentalized and apartment living, so shan't be a problem. now the big task at hand is finding a Jay Oh Bee. i self-promised awhile ago that i would find a paycheck, no matter what, within a few weeks of finding an address. the plan will be to grab a paper-hat until i get a nine to five or something akin which will pay the bills. it's gonna be a transport juggle for a piece, dunno how that will resolve but she and i will figure it out. hell, we've made it 2,000 miles with all our junk on two months of planning and will-power, most else will be chump change

once again into the breach. found another place, trying to shove the application through, we'll see. the lady ran my credit report and exclaimed, "Wow! I've never seen a report this clean!" i don't know if that's a comment on me or on her regular clientele; there was a gal in line afore us who had all sorts of outstanding debts on her report, kept commenting, "I don't remember that... Oh wait, yeah, I do. They were serious about that?" will know tomorrow, the agency still has to call my employer. this whole rigmarole has reified for me the nigh insurmountable walls hidden in the economic substrata. it really is a violently heavy burden to move about the country, and woe betide anyone who doesn't have a job or who has some bad credit. capitalism is great so long as you've got capital. and, really, there is no reward for honesty in the capitalist system. it's been one of the running morals during this entire escapade: obfuscation and misrepresentation is not only rewarded, it's actively encouraged: it seems, not only is Honesty NOT the best policy, but it's instead the most destructive. the more i live the more i'm impressed with the fact that certain principles are followed simply because they bolster a specific personal vision, not that they are practical, helpful, or even useful

in other news, my birthday was fairly chill. went with the Pope and Dea to Red Robin's for lunch and hit up a theater to see "Where the Wild Things Are". i thought the flick was amazing in that it didn't pander to kids, nor was it apologetic for presenting important themes. it really didn't wear kid's gloves, which i appreciated. like all the best Children's books or movies, it treated the subject with respect and didn't try to belittle or spoon feed the material. i dug it. plus, Jonze makes pretty work - his camera decisions were extraordinary. Dea and the Pope didn't like the music, but i quite enjoyed it; 'twas VERY College Folk. i s'pect it brought me back to a groovy time at IWU when the trees on the quad wore their autumn song and i still thought wrapping up in my trench and sleeping on the heat grates in front of the library was a worthwhile evening. the weather out here in Cali has been the right temperature for this time of year, but the scent of Autumn is absent - miss smelling the year's downward slope, the promise of Winter with his shaggy beard and chapping breath. but, on the bright side, it's still warm enough to wear shorts

today will be a day of playing either "Are you really trying to screw us that much?" or "How much paper do we have to drop to earn your trust?" right now, it seems like the Locating Agency we've engaged is full of the BS and is trying to take our money without offering any service; on the other side, the Realty Agency we've engaged has standards we can't reach as neither of us have recent paystubs. bleh. never had this much difficulty getting a place to live, ¿what gives? but, if we do make it through the darkened woods and Virgil makes good, oh the paradise in which we shall live. alright, into the Pit

back on October 9th as NASA's LCROSS traveled towards the moon at more than 9,000 kilometres per hour, it tweeted the whale from Dougie Adams' increasingly illnamed trilogy:

• # “And what's this thing coming toward me very fast? So big and flat and round - 6:34 AM Oct 9th from web
  
• # it needs a big wide sounding name like 'Ow', 'Ownge', 'Round', 'Ground'!” - 6:34 AM Oct 9th from web
  
• # “That's it! Ground! Ha! I wonder if it'll be friends with me?” - 6:34 AM Oct 9th from web

and the US gov STILL wants to cut their funding. bloody philistines, every one of 'em

thanks Sam

went with JP (a froody kat living up near Anaheim. we met him and Holly through Alliance and are cultivating a friendship) and Dea to play Frisby Golf at a three par (it's a City park with fishing, two 18 hole golf-parks, tennis courts, ¡it's yowza!) just down the road 'tother day. i am continually amazed at how clever people become when faced with time and money. the engineering surrounding some of the discs is quite remarkable, almost to the point of obsession. each disc is constructed with its direct purpose in mind: driving, putting, mid-range, hooking, etc; as well as compensation for the type of the throw, the handiness of the player, and more. being 'twas the first time i ever played, i had horrible short and long game, but i still had an excellent time bounding about the park, absorbing the sunny 70's. i keep meaning to pop out there for and hit the links, but days have been consumed with driving the 30 miles east out to Riverside to check on houses

we saw an positively stellar place today on a trippy street named Sky Meadow. i'm not (NOTNOTNOT) naming the baby yet as all we've done is send in our app and i've already been burned twice getting my hopes up over a wikkid keen place what was snagged out. so, iffen we actually drop paper on this house, i'll further fill the info gap. but not until; there shall be no jinxing on my end

gods, they're still watching Maury Povich in t'other room - ¡ohno yu di'n't!

watching "Angels in America" with Dea and her mom. it's her mom's "best Play ever made into a movie" and so far i'm pretty impressed. both have been googling over it for some time

didn't get the place we looked at Saturday - applied but no call back. ya know things are going sideways when you aren't chosen for giving money to someone ("I've got cash, here! Take it!" , "Erm.... No. Nothing personal"). going to see a couple companies today, mayhaps they'll be willing to take money. really, i don't get Realty in California

¿Meryl Streep as a rabbi? sure, why not

went with Dea and her sister to an NA karaoke night and have realized i really need to A> find some songs i can sing at Karaoke and B> get into some kind of singing group out here in LA (i crow with the worst of 'em, but it's still a lotta fun). and though i really appreciate what NA does for people (though i'm still analyzing the Anon's underlying principles) i just can't wrap my head around sober karaoke - which might say more about me than it does about the singing

more houses today out in Riverside, one of which might really be the one; am bringing my checkbook and a whole buncha hoping

we're playing the touch 'n' go in Fullerton and continue the search for a landing strip. visited three different houses today all in the Riverside area. in all, am pretty snazzed over the places - Riverside looks like a pretty rippin' town, the Mission District in specific. if nothing else, Riverside straddles three major thorough-fares, so worst comes we'll still be an interstate away from something interesting (read: jobs). i'm looking for location, Dea is looking for a groovy interior so between the two of us we should lick the plate clean - or somesuch appropriate aphorism

( the trip across the Country was fairly chill )

and now, we're in Fullerton at Dea's 'rents' house. i'm digging it as her mum, sis, mum's manfriend, manfriend's daughter, and little doggy are all swell kats who have welcomed us into their home. it's not really built to accommodate this many people, but most of us live in shifts (school, work, whatnot) so it's not so bad. am looking forward to finding our own place, but mostly 'cuz i don't like living off others' dime; it's a necessity at this point, but a bitter pull nonetheless. we're hoping to hook up with some Alliance buds this endweek and get the a tour of the town. hope, she shines

so, we're setting out only 15 hours late (that's a record for us). we'll see how it goes. First to Des Moines, then Omaha, then Arizona, Vegas, Grand Canyon, and finally the Coast. ¡gotta burn rubber!

adventure: went with Dea and mum to Urban Belly, had seasonal kimchi (which was neither speckled red, spicy, nor contained Korean cabbage, but was still very tasty - had a "clean" chlorophyll taste, reminded me of sucking on ocean stones). it's a good dive, if a bit spensy. Chia, you would dig it

starting to really put rubber a'road in tripping out to Cali. fail to plan, plan to flail, and all that

in other news, i always forget the romance (ideologically and personally) of "Harold and Maude"

adventure: Dea waxed the underneath of my left eyebrow, to "clean it up a little, though you don't really need it"; didn't wax 'tother as i couldn't tell the difference; felt like pulling duct tape of arm hair (i've never ripped a bandaid off). had White Strawberry China Tea (methinks i hafta start putting sugar in my tea, yes that makes me a dirty plebeian but meh)

adventure: biked 20 miles with sis - from Naperville to Wheaton. went to a newage store (friend of hers), saw a rosary next to goddess icon.

have been rewriting cover letters all day constantly reminding myself "¡That is clever! Wait, crap, it's too clever. ¡Stop that!" i should get a tattoo: a triangle with "concision, precision, simplicity" at each vertex and "UrWINNARoneoneone" in the pocket. gotta hold out on being clever for the interview. least then, they reject me to my face and i can punch 'em properly. and now back to it (since, come on, we both know i'm just using you as a clever way to avoid what i don't really wanna do)

volunteered for hermanita at the Big Run Wolf Ranch lasterday. they had me working the till at the snack bar, taking cash, passing out burgers/hot dogs. i haven't manned a food service counter since college and it all came rushing back: why exactly i was so disgusted with people in college. not that these people were nasty or vicious, they were just selfish and discourteous - budging in line, grabbing food, disdaining use of p'ease and t'ank'ous. just the general lack of ball-bearings which help to fluid society. i can't believe how many people totally ignore the obvious line streaming out from the counter and just walk right up and start ordering (what's even more interesting is how few people in line would actually do anything, besides give said budger angry looks - funny that). all this being said, i did enjoy working the counter once again - there's something refreshing about giving hungry people food, thirsty people drink. could also be that 'twas a one time event, were i to repeat this every day methinks 'twould lose its luster. but, was all for the greater benefit of Big Run animal rescue

Dea and i are pointing toward California in the very near future. 'sodd to me, thinking i'll be uprooting from the Midwest in a couple months, but it'll be an adventure and i'm always keen for such. right now, it's a matter of logistics: place to live; way to pay for it. plan is to land somewhere near LA (she's got family there) and cut the trail from there. i've never built my future more than a few months in advance, but there it is. i'll be the first to admit this is somewhat 'seat o'the pants', but ¿what good schemes aren't? i've always wanted to live near the coast, Oceans and i have a torrid affair and it'll be nice to reengage her tempestuous embrace. this is really the first move since college where i have a directive in mind; moving back to Naperville and then Chicago was more for lack of anything better, while this seems somehow more intentional, coordinated. prolly has something to do with it being a tandem action with Dea: *we* talked about the plan and *we* are implementing it. it's nice to be planning for a pair instead of my usual personal tossing. besides, i'll look good with a tan - peeling skin is very "in"

in pursuit of all this, i ask, ¿what the franko is around Fullerton or LA? i already know where the Yogurtlands are (necessity), but the rest... [shrug] also, if any of you froody kats know places looking to hire an English grad or an aspiring actress; or you know of a good rental property in the area (or an "Apartment Finder" place), don't keep it to yourself