-please name the first career that you hoped, as a child, to have:
priest
-please describe a dream that you remember:
I don't
-please name the book that you are currently reading:
L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy
-please describe or name the colour of your bed linens:
purple cotton
-please supply the title of the song of which you are presently thinking:
Blower's Daughter - Damien rice
-please list your present location:
Charleston main library, Charleston, WV
-please list any fears from which you may suffer:
Rejection in all it's forms
-please describe your dream job:
DJ with power, singer
-please name the film which you have viewed the most:
Leaving Las Vegas
-please type one question that you would ask your "higher power," i.e. jesus christ, buddha, allah, etc:
Why?
-please describe a "guilty pleasure" which you would rather not admit:
Playboy
-please name the food item that you would consider "comfort food.":
ice cream
-please supply the title of the last film that you rented from a video rental store:
The Underneath
-please name the celebrity whom people often say you considerably compare to in physical features:
Vic says I resemble Scott Foley
-please describe the one factor in your life that you would consider "the bane of your existence.":
religion
-please describe the last item that you found on the ground and picked up:
probably trash
-please name an author that you would recommend to friends and acquaintances:
Dennis Lehane
-please name the location where you would like to "grow old.":
Glendalough
-please list some helpful advice:
"life is what happens toyou when you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon
-please list a question which you are commonly asked:
"Did you receive my pledge yet?"
-please supply the date of your last hospital visit.
1997
-please repeat the last phrase or sentence which you said out loud:
"Brendan, I'll take 14"
-please name the season you most prefer:
autumn

-Spell Your First Name Backwards: nadnerb
-The Story Behind Your User Name or Email Address: stolen from Kevin Smith's View Askew Productions cos I like their movies so much.
-Are You A Lesbian?: Um, I like girls?!
-How Old?: 25
-Where Do You Live?: Pinch, West Virginia, USA
-Four Words That Sum You Up: strange, quiet, introspective, obsessive

**Describe Your....
-Wallet: brown leather
-Hairbrush: I have a cheap black comb
-Toothbrush: green, crest, soft
-Jewelry Worn Daily: watch
-Pillow Cover: white
-Blanket: blue w/ yellow suns, moons & stars
-Coffee Cup: large and green and it's usually tea actually
-Sunglasses: none
-Favourite Underwear: boxers
-Favourite Shoes: only shoes - tattered sneakers that were once white
-Handbag: no thanks
-Favourite Top: tshirt with 'toast' on it!
-Favourite Pants: loose sweatpants
-Cologne/Perfume: used to wear Joop and Lynx (now marketed in the US as Axe!)
-CD In Stereo Right Now: Charlie Parker cd, Damien Rice md
-Piercings: nope
-What You Are Wearing Now: grey pants, grey t-shirt, checked shirt
-Hair: brown, dishevelled

**Who Or What Was/Is/Are...
-In My Mouth: Food, water, Vic
-In My Head: music, books, Vic
-Wishing: I was there with you
-After This: library, reading, home, Vic, music
-fetishes: I'm a Vic fetishest
- If You Could Murder Anyone, Who And For What Reason?: nope
-People You Wish You Could See Now: My Family
-Is Next To You: Hillbillys checking out gay.com (I'm at the library)
-Favorite Movies: Too many to mention - Leaving Las Vegas and Stealing Beauty top of the list
-Something You're Looking Forward To In The Upcoming Months: Film Festival, trip to OH for Tori and more, Christmas
-The Last Thing You Ate?: chicken salad on sesame seed bagel
-Something That You Are Deadly Afraid Of?: death

**Do You Like/Believe in...
... Candles: yes
... Hot Wax: yes
... Incense: no
... The Taste Of Blood: no
... Soul Mates: kinda
... Love At First Sight: kinda
... In Heaven: something
... In Forgiveness: yes
... In God: something

-What Do You Want Done With Your Body When You Die: not sure yet
-Who Is Your Worst Enemy?: myself
-Any Animal For A Pet: none
-What Is The Latest You've Ever Stayed Up: all night sometimes
-Can You Eat With Chopsticks: no
-What Are Five Cities You Wouldn't Mind Relocating To? Edinburgh, Paris, Palm Coast, Dublin, Tuscany
-What Are Some Of Your Favorite Pig Out Foods?: Phish Food
-What's Something That You Wish People Would Understand?: the futility of war
-What's Something You Wish You Could Understand Better?: life
-Anyone You Miss That You Haven't Seen In A Long Time?: family
-What's One Thing You Want To Make Happen For Tomorrow?: um...

For your amusement, the exact wording of a memo recently distributed at my oh so professional workplace.....

-------------------------------------------------------

From now on, if your receive a call from the pervert simply state:

The police have been called and you are being recorded and I am warning you not to call again!

Then hang up the call.

This is only to be said to the pervert calls that we receive, no one else.

Thank you,

Management

-------------------------------------------------------

By the way, 'the pervert' usually hangs up on me. *sobs* Am I not good enough?!

A excerpt from a recent evaluation at work, exactly as written:

Brendan don't say yeah. You want to yes. this makes you sound more profesional.

Okay then. I shall endeavor to yes in future. Today was especially infuriating. I had not one, but two people call to be removed from our calling and mailing lists, who wouldn't tell me their telephone number, name or address. And when I said I couldn't help them without that information, one said "well, I'll just return this with a nasty note."
This job just makes me so sick of people sometimes. Grown men whining cos they only got one sticker and wanted two. People calling for jobs who can't fucking speak. 99% of job caller begin with "I seen your ad," 90% of job callers ask us to hold while they search for pen and paper. 50% of those pens "ain't writing." Throw the used fucking pens away people! I tell someone the address is 2011-A. They ask how to spell that. I say we're in 'suite 230' and they can't comprehend until I change it to 'room 230.'
I answer the phone with my name and have been called Brandon, Vernon, Virgil, Reverend, Bubba, Brenda or Mam. McCay, McCain, or McCaid. I've decided to become a 90210 hybrid and change my name to Brandon McCay.

I say thank you for calling the fundraising information center, they ask about their account. I say you have a wrong number, this is the fundraising center for South Carolina Fraternal Order of Police, she says "You don't have a number for Speigel?" Our job ad mentions medical and dental benefits, a guy cusses me out one day and says he'll sue for misleading advertising cos he wanted a medical job.

This didn't start off as a rant, it just ended up that way. I apologize. It's good to let some of the frustration out though.

Damn, people be stupid!

We saw Macbeth last night in Charleston. It was... as you might expect a West Virginia production of MacBeth to be. The only good part was Lady MacBeth - the only believable performance in the play. The guy playing MacBeth was pathetic. Vic said he must have studied that the William Shatner school of acting!
Today was good. Sometimes, the simplest days are the best. I actually got to bed at a decent time last night, and woke relatively early for a Sunday. Lots of 'holda', a little time online, and then we watched the Sopranos which got us in a romantic mood :) Later, we had dinner with Vic's family and friends. It was better than I expected. The food was amazing - chicken salad on croissants. And they were nice and not overly Jehovah's Witnessy. Pity about the Judds music though. After dinner I completed some mix cds, kinda watched Charmed and Angel, and next I'll watch the Practice. And then it's off to bed and then Monday.

Yeeks, work was crap yesterday. I started that job in August 2001, expecting pay evals every 3 months. In November I hadn't been there long enough. In February, they just didn't bother doing it. In April, they gave me 10c for Feb, and 15c for April, giving me a total of $7.25 an hour. Since then we've been told evals would be done in September, and would take into account the skipped months. So yesterday, they finally give me my eval, pretty much marking down the middle, good on everything. Except one. Apparently i've submitted too many reschedule and LOA requests. 2 of each since I started. Damn, that made me mad. Especially since the person telling me this works evenings and has barely seen me in months.She then told me that our manager who recently left, had gone $6000 over budget in recommending raises, that corporate had sent new recommendations down, but that she (acting manager I guess) had decided they were unfair and had changed them.

She was working with a guidline of 2% after the 'partners' sent this ridiculous memo about the state of the economy and how "consumers are not as generous as they used to be." I sure haven't noticed a decrease in people calling. She also had the balls to say that the telemarketers were working for us, that we weren't making the company any money. Fucking hell. Lets see how many people would donate if there was no customer service to call when they want to know if their pledge has been received (it's company policy to send reminders within days of the 'due date'), or to ask 'is this legit' or the countless other crap they call us about. Hell, without us, there would be no telemarketers. We schedule the interviews for all offices for fuck's sake. Anyway, I was mad yesterday, and I guess I still am a little!

The result - a 2.5% raise, resulting in 18c an hour for me. And we just learned this week that pay reviews will be annual from now on. So I'll be earning $7.43 until next year. Unless I get the hell out of there.

Anyway, after work was fun. Dinner at Ponderosa, a visit to Taylor Books, and then the terrifying experience of The Ring.

It's been a difficult work week. Apparently, corporate bastards from New Jersey spent hours insulting our manager and calling her names, so she quit. Work had been tolerable for a while - she made some good changes. She stopped the 'test calls' whereby idiots from other offices basically were paid for making prank calls to test us. She gave everyone their own cubicle, when before we were usually in a different one every day, which was inconvenient and unhealthy. She was lenient about us reading during calls, and about food in the office. Basically, it was a much better work atmosphere, and now that's gone. We don't know if someone will be promoted or if the company will send someone from New Jersey to the office. Either way I suspect things will change for the worse. So I'm on the lookout for a new job.

Otherwise, this week has been fairly uneventful. Sunday I cleaned the living room which gets cluttered a lot. Watched Charmed, Angel and The Practice, all of which was pretty forgetable. Monday, worked till 1, saw Barbershop which was pretty good. Went to bed early. Tuesday and Wednesday - work, online, TV and Vic. Packages started arriving yesterday. Getting non-junk&bills in the mail makes me feel good. One of the cds was a sampler of jazz music - Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, all that good stuff - which contributed to some 'love oh' time with Vic. The cd included Cheek to Cheek by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong which I remember us listening to around the time we got married. It had been on a tape sent by an online friend. Anyway, I need more jazz in my life :)

Enjoying my day off today, as usual I'm in front of the computer for hours, but also doing laundry, and I intend to watch The Underneath soon. And I'm making mix cds for people at work - Guns & Roses, a cd of sweet soul music, and a love mix for Nicole's boyfriend (which has made it necessary for me to download lots of songs I wouldn't normally listen to). And that's my week so far. Hoping to see The Ring this weekend, and maybe also The Rules of Attraction.

Ooh, I finally updated my amazon wishlist. I don't actually expect people to buy me stuff, but it's nice to keep track of what I want. And 'wishlisting' is cheaper than buying! Plus Vic can stop bitching about not knowing what I want on special occasions :)

Yesterday was ... okay. Went to the Book Festival, which was disappointing. I did find 2 Irish books I'd been wanting though - Ressurection Man by Eoin McNamee, and Songdogs by Colum McCann. After that more work with the crazy people calling. It was just a 4 hour shift though so it wasn't so bad. After work we ate at Bob Evans. The food was good - I must admit that it's one of my favorite places to eat. Anyhoo, that was followed by a trip to Books-a-Million, where I saw lots of books I wanted, but we restricted ourselves to one each. Lost by Gregory Maguire for Vic, and Collected Stories by Clare Boylan for me. Then we came home, watched the disappointing SNL and went to bed. Nothing major planned for today - probably videos, grocery shopping, reading and McDonalds!

Work was bad today. There were 8 of us answering phones, and 4 supervisors doing nothing. Grrr! And people are angry at the weekend. I had so many bitchy calls. Anyway, after work was good. Outback would have been nice but there was an hour wait (it's always packed) so we went to a Mexican restaurant instead. The food was good, and a lot cheaper than Outback. Then we went to Taylor Books and Ellen's Ice Cream place. I like Capital Street. Finally, we went to see Red Dragon. I wasn't as impressed as most people seem to be. Anthony Hopkins was OTT, like he was deliberately hamming it up. I like Ed Norton, but he didn't have the darkness of the Will Graham character. Harvey Keitel was Harvey Keitel. The other actors were pretty good - Emily Watson and Ralph Fiennes especially. It was fun to see Boston Public's Anthony Heald reprise his role from Silence of the Lambs.
Having read the book twice, and seen Manhunter earlier this year, I was unsurprised by anything that happened in the movie. I felt that vague disappointment I always feel when watching a movie adapted from a book. It's like Cliffs Notes or an abridged audiobook. They get the main details in there, but so much depth of plot and character is missing.
Despite all that criticism, it was an enjoyable couple of hours, and if you haven't read the book, you'll love the movie.

Gonna write a little about Mountain Stage. It's a live show recorded in West Virginia (usually in Charleston) which is then broadcast on many public radio affiliates, and even overseas on Voice of America and Ireland's Anna Livia FM. The show has attracted some big names including: ani difranco, paula cole, los lobos, indigo girls, REM, kd lang, jill soubule, joan baez, sarah mclachlan, laura nero, barenaked ladies, cowboy junkies, jill soubule, holly cole, counting crows, violent femmes, and ben harper. Most of them played before they became such big names, but Mountain Stage still attracts some great acts. I've been lucky enough to see Odetta, Natalie Merchant, Joan Osborne, and Norah Jones in concert there in the past year. And also to discover some great new music. I first heard Amy Corriea, Dayna Kurtz, Kami Lyle and more at Mountain Stage. They've even had quite a few Irish acts. My first Mountain Stage experience featured performances by Altan and Luka Bloom, and more recently The Saw Doctors got a standing ovation. It was kinda weird hearing music from my teenage years in that setting. But a nice weird. Mountain Stage is one of the few reasons I like living in West Virginia. Anyway, check out the website, see if it's on any of your local radio stations. The show is usually well worth listening to.

THIS is so freaking funny. Go ahead, make your day!

Thanks to those who signed my guestbook. And those who haven't, go now go!
It was an interesting day. I was awakened by Vic telling me I had a phone call from Fiona, who's someone I got to know when I was working at Atlantic 252 in Ireland. She would call in every night and bug me. We've been keeping in ocassional contact by mail, and last time she wrote she said she was pregnant. Fiona is 19, and recently movied from Ireland to London where she's working and going to college. She told me today that she'd terminated the pregnancy. It was a sad call. She said she'd done it because of what people think, more for others than for herself... ah the benefits of an Irish Catholic education.
Work today was fairly busy. I didn't get to read much of my current book - The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy. Nichole, the afformentioned Jared-feeler was having a bad day too. She'd had a fight with her boyfriend and none of her friends were answering their phones. So she invited the McCabes to hang out at her house. It was interesting. She's a talker so there weren't too many uncomfortable silences. And I was a little dopey after partaking of a certain illegal substance. The evening was pretty much a blur. I ate (chinese, donuts & ice cream), watched TV (Felicity), and listened to some good music.

Today wasn't so good. Too many calls, too few people at work, and the people I had to talk to were too stupid. And then it was raining and we were going to see Red Dragon, but were afraid we couldn't afford it and weren't really in the mood, so we came home and watched the Sopranos and Vic dyed her hair and everything's okay now. South Park and Crank Yankers should further improve my mood (though Vic doesn't quite appreciate the hilarity of the latter). Anyhoo, nuff of that, time to be distracted.

Most of my time online today was spent working on my distractions blog. It seems that I'll be using that one more than this one, which kinda makes a statement about my life, huh? During the week, it's usually the same old thing. Work, reading, TV, the ocassional movie. The best parts of the day are when I'm spending quality time with Vic, and I'm sometimes reluctant to write about that. Both because I want to keep it to myself, and because I remember what it was like to not be part of a happy couple. And now I'm going to contradict myself and write a little about the Vic and Brendan phenomenon!
We look at life the same way. We have similar tastes in music, books, etc., but are different enough to keep it interesting. We're both slobs (sorry honey!) We make each other laugh. Vic makes me feel good about myself, something that was very rare till I met her. And of course, she's beautiful. Okay, that fills my sappiness quota for the month.
Anyway, I was writing about how little I have to write about. Weekends should be more eventful though. This week, we're going to see Joan Osborne and others at a Mountain Stage concert. The following week is the WV Book Festival. And then..... well, we'll work on it. Ooh, Red Dragon opens this weekend!

30 Seconds to Mars played here in WV last week, and a co-worker is gloating cos she got to feel Jarod Leto's abs. Sheesh, just a few years ago I was sitting in my small Oirish home watching My So-Called Life. And now this!

Took me a while to get around to it, but I hope to start posting more regularly. I haven't written about me in so long - bet you've missed it! Things have been pretty good. It took a little while to adjust to life without the radio job, but i feel better. It's so much simpler with one job. One paycheck, less travel, less money spent on food and travel, less egomaniacs to deal with! And I increased my hours at the call center so there hasn't been a noticable decrease in income.
I spend more time reading these days, and a lot less time online. I'm going to work on a seperate blog for books, movies, music and other distractions. But mainly books. I'd like to keep track of what I've been reading, and also to share some recommendations with you fine people.
So I guess I'll dive in and write about my recent Florida vacation. We stayed with Vic's aunt in Palm Coast, near Daytona. The drives up and down were fairly uneventful - Vic's mom drove, I read and listened to music. The time - over 12 hours - passed faster than I expected.
Anyhoo, the aunt's house was impressive. They had it built to their specifications just last year, so it was clean and new. They had so much stuff. Like ornaments and collectibles and all sorts of expensive things. I had to be vewy vewy careful! It made me miss the comparitive mess of our home (which btw, is still cleaner than most). And they had a screened in pool, which was a blissful place to be. Vic and I had such fun in there :) I also enjoyed the ocean more than I expected. Heck, Vic makes everything more enjoyable. She's just so cute and fun all the time. Okey, enough sappiness. We went to St Augustine, and Daytona. We didn't do much really. Just the ocean and pool and used bookstores were heaven for me. And being with Vic more, and not working of course. One of the few drawbacks to the vacation was the influence of religion. No matter what I watched on TV, it would be revealed as being 'dirty' unless of course it was a documentary. It was so stupid. Vic's mom wouldn't watch CSI, but she'd watch a real-life forensic show, which imo, was more gory. The radio tuning too was tough. Even Sarah McLachlan didn't escape scrutiny - there was a dirty word in 'Building a Mystery.' When she switched from a country song cos Garth Brooks was singing about 'that summer' I gave up and put on headphones.
Enough about that. Food! We ate at Outback, and a great Spanish cafe, at Shark House (I ate Shark!), at Outback, at a Hacienda, and we even got candy at a Russell Stover outlet. And the books. More about those on the books page. Which I'm going to work on now!