Nature by Numbers from Jeff DeMeglio . . . → Read More: Video: Nature by Numbers. Wow! Just–wow!]]>

Nature by Numbers from Jeff DeMeglio on Vimeo.

The very sad fact is that I haven’t made any. I know it’s un-American, and it may well set me apart from the rest of the Western world, but I . . . → Read More: Resolutoions? Meh.]]> So, I’m just rambling here, but it seems appropriate for me to say something about my New Year’s Resolutions for 2011.

The very sad fact is that I haven’t made any. I know it’s un-American, and it may well set me apart from the rest of the Western world, but I stopped making New Year’s resolutions when I stopped giving things up for Lent. That was about the time I had an epic multi-part conversation with Jesus in the school chapel after lunch, much to the irritation of Sister Carmelina.

Yes, for about 2 weeks during my Junior year in high school I spent my lunch period, and quite a bit of Sister Carmelina’s morality class, in the school chapel, discussing with Jesus exactly what I was supposed to do with the rest of my life. What, exactly, we decided is between me and Jesus. But, in the end, I changed the channel, shall we say, on the issue of religion.

Oh, but we’re talking about Resolutions. I’ll save the religious talk for an other time.

So, I no longer make New Year’s resolutions. I do, however, delineate a map on my birthday every year. It’s sort of a birthday resolution. My birthday, conveniently, occurs a week before the Gregorian New Year, and the map is a list of things I want to accomplish in the following year.

This year’s map includes–and I’m making this public, so y’all can hold me to it–

• bring my understanding of maths to a second-year college level
• Stop playing at learning a language and actually learn one
• aim my online activities toward earning some money
• choose a subject by the first of March to master, and then expend the resources to become an expert in that subject within 3 years
• other, more personal things involving relationships and reputation.

So, birthday resolutions, rather than New Year’s resolutions. After all, your year starts the day you did. So, what birthday resolutions (or birthday progress maps) have you made for the coming year?

Yeah, sorry for not posting in such a long time, to either Crabby Night Owl or The Varo Edition. . . . → Read More: “We’re not unreasonable. I mean, no one’s gonna eat your eyes.”]]> I express some maudlin sentiments in this post, so if you want happy, maybe you should skip reading it.

Yeah, sorry for not posting in such a long time, to either Crabby Night Owl or The Varo Edition. It’s been an interesting few months.

I promised my sister I wouldn’t get into the details, since she doesn’t want anyone to know how bad things actually were. But picking up the pieces after my mom’s passing has been the most emotionally challenging process of my life.

Personally, I’m fine. At least the cause of her passing has no direct connection back to any decision I personally made, unlike with Margie or Dwayne. My mom was sick, and she died. I’m okay with that. One of my most haunting fears is that my parents would outlive me. Grand parent, parent, child. That’s the natural order, the sequence of passing. Yes, the world is still a savage place, and young ones too often beat their ancestors to the grave. But, barring sickness, accident, or murder, it’s the elder family members who lead the way into what comes after this life.

I didn’t plan on staying in Las Vegas after my mom left us. My next stop was Albuquerque, New Mexico. After I  spent as much time with my mom as I had left to spend, I was going to move to “The Q” to stage the rest of my life.

My mom asked me specifically to take care of her cat. I’ll do that. But she decided not to move to Phoenix with me because my sister didn’t want to move. My mom hated it where she lived, and I wanted her and my sister to move to my apartment complex in Phoenix. She would have loved the the landscaping, the trees and the fountains. But she wouldn’t leave my sister, and my sister didn’t want to leave where she was. (My mom and sister have lived near or with each other my sister’s entire life.) So I came to Vegas, a city I said I’d never live in.

Well, now, I’m living in Las Vegas, jobless because I wasn’t planning on staying, trying to take care of my sister. She has some serious problems that I don’t know how to solve or work around, and that she isn’t seeking help to deal with. So, lots of unaccustomed stress for me, yessirree. Most of what I’m dealing with I promised my sister I wouldn’t talk about, because she doesn’t want the people who know her to know what’s really been going on with her. She’s got her story all planned out, but there’s no way I can keep up with the details of what she’s been telling people. So, I stay mum, more or less.

I’m kind of in zombie mode, right now: only half-here, and in search of brains. I just spent 3 days in a bid to escape. In three days, I managed to watch, via hulu.com, the entire season of FlashForward, and season 1 of both Sliders and Dead Like Me. Lots of “what-if’s” and “what-might-have-been’s” in those shows, which got me thinking.

It’s like back when I was mixing music tapes, unscripted and live. You could tell exactly where my mind was at the time by listening to those tapes. If Boston’s “More than a Feeling” popped up on the tape amid a sea of Alan Parsons Project, Genesis, and Toto, then I was definitely thinking about my first love, Mary Ann, at the time. That happened more than once. Dio, Devo, and R.E.M.? The Yucca Valley Days. Those tapes were a clear window into my soul at the moment I was recording them.

The same may be true with my recent hulu binge. My playlist seems to be telling me something. It could be that Hulu’s offerings are still a little sparse to my taste, and that’s all I found that was interesting. Or, it could be something else, entirely.

Whatever.

Back to the purpose of this post: I know I’ve been away, and there’s really no excuse. Sorry about that. The reason, though, is that aspects of my personal life are rather overwhelming at the moment, and I’ve promised I wouldn’t tell anyone my sister knows about the details. If you’re reading this and you happen to know her, go with whatever she says. Let her spin whatever reality helps her cope, and give her your support.

And I, having convinced you to come along with me wherever my Crabby Night Owl blog takes us, do hereby promise to give you something at least once a week, or so, regardless of whatever else is going on in my life. Ah, but since CNO is a personal blog, maybe I’ll take you along with me.

Links
re: Your Brains. The Jonathan Coulton song that inspired this post’s title.
Jonathan Coulton. The above-mentioned musician’s website.
The machinama video by Spiffworld of the above-mentioned song.
Spiffworld‘s YouTube channel.

FlashForward: The Complete Series
Dead Like Me: The Complete Collection
Sliders – The First and Second Seasons

Image Credit: zombie face by embepe. From Stock.xchng.

Yes, it seems that, every now and then, the internet service on this side of town gets transported back to 1994. Remember 1994, . . . → Read More: My Interwebs is Broken]]> Good news! Time travel is possible!

Yes, it seems that, every now and then, the internet service on this side of town gets transported back to 1994. Remember 1994, when nearly everyone was on a dial-up connection, and AOL still had a purpose?

It’s like that right now. Not AOL having a purpose, but the hyper-slow internet speed. Been that way all night. I was tweaking Crabby Night Owl for most of the night, doing in 5 hours what should only have taken about two.

I know, I know, starving children in China don’t even have the internet, so I should stop whining.

But I got used to high-speed internet when I was living in other cities. I want my high-speed connection! I need my high-speed connection. I’m not addicted to the internet, or anything. It’s just… Well, what else is there to do? Life without the internet is like a fruity tropical drink without a little paper umbrella. No, that’s not quite right, but do you see where I’m coming from? Yes? No?

If your internet connection became unusable, what would you do instead of being on the web?

For the rest of you:  Hi, I’m Rick Nagle, and . . . → Read More: Blog: Interrupted]]> It’s great to be back!  Maybe no one remembers Crabby Night Owl from  a few years ago, but that’s okay.   If you do, didja miss me?

For the rest of you:  Hi, I’m Rick Nagle, and this is my blog.  This is a personal blog, devoid of any specificity, except for my personal thoughts, opinions, and life narratives.

Soon, I will have the unenviable task of blogging about my life without making anyone else look bad.  In some cases, this will be very, very hard.

For now, dear reader, welcome.  If you’ve come upon this website by accident, then I humbly direct you to my other site, The Varo Edition.  It’s a site trending toward the metaphysical.  I’m compelled to reconcile the dogmas of religion with those of science, and The Varo Edition is my arena for doing it.  In a future post on that site, I’ll discus dogma and why it’s an impediment, and what intelligent beings should do about it.