A vent about me traveling for Christmas

I think I blog complaining about this every year.  But this year is worse.  Christmas.

I hate Christmas.  I hate everything about Christmas.  I hate that it was winter solstice celebration that was taken over by the Christians.  I hate that it’s a social requirement to give and recieve things that probably aren’t even wanted.  And I hate how it’s somehow a given you “spend it with the family”.

This year it’s worse for a few reasons.

Anyone close to me during this move to Nebraska knows it wasn’t easy on me.  The cost to pull it off was many, many times more than I expected.  The amount my company gave me to cover the expensives certainly didn’t.  My parents know this.  Yet they don’t care and instead insisted that I book a flight so I can spend Christmas in Michigan.  And by “insist”, I put it lightly.  They stayed on the phone until I confirmed that I had done it.

And fuck, the ticket price isn’t even the start of it.  The amount it’ll take to fly with gifts will completely suck ass.  American Airlines doesn’t have free two baggage checks like Southwest does.

And the amount of time i’ll be gone.  I wanted to get up there on the 24th, leave on the 26th.  But now i’m flying to Madison on the 22nd, meeting them, driving with them an additional 5hrs and then doing the reverse on the 27th.  My mom wanted me to come back on the 28th to get home the night before I have to be back at work and on call, at least I talked her out of that.  It really pisses me off how little they care.
It just bugs me when I make it perfectly known that this move was hard on me, and instead of them understanding they make it worse on me.

And this is all the logical, logistical stuff.  Real reasons why I don’t want to go.   There’s plenty of other reasons.  Like… I hate it there.  My cell phone doesn’t even work there.  I’m in all ways disconnected from the real world and it just upsets me.
Every time I feel like i’m ok with my parents they pull something like this to show they don’t care one bit and are only concerened with the image of the family being together at all costs and not about what it really means.

I should update more often. Here’s one.

Hello, friends.

No huge updates going on.  I’ve been trying to get everything in order here, to the best of my ability.  Unpacking boxes, putting things places.  Got my surround sound kicking in my livingroom with my AppleTV attached.  Have my two wireless networks running (802.11g and 802.11n as to not to share frequencies), and little by little going through clothes that are in boxes and putting them away.

I was wondering why it is I had so much clothes still packed away.  And then I realize, with 5 days a week at work… I don’t wear many tshirts anymore like I used to.  In the Chicago office it was completely casual dress.  But here it’s “business casual”, so I bought all new clothes to work here. And in turn, my Super Mario shirts wait patiently to be worn again.

As for my social life here in the big O!, things are well on that front.  I’ve been spending a lot of time with a great girl, Kat.  She’s been an amazing friend to me here and we have a lot of fun.  She is 100% geek, it’s really cool to have someone around that gets all the references in that subculture.

My parents are trying to figure out when and how I plan on getting to the UP for Christmas.  Every option is a bad one.  There’s drive 12 hours, or fly to Madison, WI to meet up with them, and then drive 7 hours, or attempt to fly from Omaha to Negaunee with a handful of transfers; with no promise you’ll actually land in the UP.  Keeping in mind that every one of the “fly” options requires at least one transfer of stuff to another medium, and there will be Christmas gifts involved… that sucks.  So I guess i’ll just drive.  It’s the best of the bad options.  To be honest i’d be perfectly fine hanging out in Omaha for Christmas.  I really like this city and leaving it for the holiday feels like i’m not giving it a fair chance.  I fit in better here anyway, for the most part.

So tonight i’m hanging out with Kat, and at 23:00 I have some stuff to do for work.  And it’s almost the weekend.  Huzzah!  Not that I have plans thus far, but I’m sure I’ll keep busy.

Stay r33t.

I faced one of my greatest fears. And won.

Last night I faced one of the greatest fears I had ever known.  For years I fought an internal battle knowing some day I would have to face my demon face to face.

Last night it happened.  Of course i’m talking about seeing Shiny Toy Guns in concert.

It is written that many years ago, in the prime of what is known as the “Kill Hannah Days” there was a show at the House of Blues.  An act unknown to Gabe performed first.  The configuration of said band had the configuration of something that should have been wonderful.  Instead, the performance came off to be explained, even years later, by Gabe as “the worst performance by a band ever.”

Have you ever seen a crowd laugh at a band?  Like.. actually… laugh?  I did that night.

But that’s the past.  I’ll never forget what I heard on that stage that night, but one must move on.  To live in the past is to ignore the future.  And the future included me here in Omaha, Nebraska, with Shiny Toy Guns.

The show was really great.  The opener, who I don’t even know the name of, was awesome.  I need to find their album.  The second group, “Your Vegas”… eh, not so much.  Too much formulaic ego rock from them for my taste.

But Shiny Toy Guns did a really awesome set.  The light show was a little harsh, but I think it’s because it was a small venue.. and a stage show of that magnitude is made for a larger venue.  So you’re standing right in front of these things flashing right into your head.  They “fixed” the largest issue of the band, the hot singer chick.  She sang less, and when it was her solo vocals.. there was a second vocal track of her.  Very smart.  And I forget how many great songs they have until they played them.  Cool.

And the best part of all was finally seeing a synthesizer on an Omaha stage.  All i’ve seen have been acoustic guitars for the most part.  It’s great to see a mac on stage, a drummer with a click track, and a few nord leads cranking out some noises.  Even a vocoder!  mmmm..

I still like Omaha.  I like it more with vocoders, though.

An Omaha update

So Monday I finally got my stuff delivered.  Any drama with the moving company is officially with the past and I can move forward; and that feels good.

First thing I setup was my surround sound in the livingroom.  I missed having some cranking tunes.  Second was my AppleTV, then connected to the stereo reciever for some 5.1 goodness.

It’s also nice to have my clothes back.  Actually, it’s nice to have *everything* back.  That first night sleeping in my bed again was certainly a treat.  And being able to use my computer not sitting on the floor is certainly nice as well.

I’ve been keeping busy.  Went to a show at The Waiting Room on Tuesday night with Jillian.  Last night Kat and I met up for coffee and talked geek for a a couple hours.  Came  home and worked for a bit after that.

Omaha loves their coffee, and that’s pretty sweet.  I love coffee too.  Just saying.

So Shiny Toy Guns are playing on Sunday.  It’s sold out but I found tickets on craigslist.  $45/ea.  Should I grab a couple?  I’d like to go, but i dunno… hmm.

So yeah.  I feel like I have other things to blog about, but i’m not sure what they are at the moment.  I’ll get back to you.

Omaha meetup.com email I just got

Slightly humorous highlights:
Ron Paul?
Huckabee for president 2008 meetup still active?
Church in the home.