Dis Me

https://youtu.be/FmvHY-h8bSo

Change of Place. Change of Pace. Change of Space

Been meaning to dust this off for a while...

It's been 3 years since I first moved into my Grandpa's basement, 2 years since I last posted, and 1 year since I left my Grandfather all together and came back to my family in Iowa. In the time I've been away from the blogosphere, my Grandpa sold the deer farm, moved into town, and started slowly chiseling his way through the antiques he refused to sell at auction. As for me, There wasn't so much of basement as there was a crawlspace, so I was able to use the computer from the comfort of the living room. After he got himself a cozy, in a one floor home in our small town's city limits, I felt that my purpose there was more or less fulfilled. When the only daily chore was doing tech support on his computer, I decided that I would use my new found freedom and move back in with my parents. :P Exactly 2 years after I left my home to help him, to boot. My mom says that *those* to years were my Mission, 2 prescribed years away from home for the purpose of maturing and becoming (though I would respectfully disagree). I miraculously was able to keep my Security job, transferring through the same company to the Roquette factory in hometown Keokuk.

As for my Family, my younger sister has just finished her Sophomore Year of high school. My younger brother got back from his mission in August of last year (over a year early, due to health reasons that I wont go into, but gosh darn it, he went) and has since started working at the same job as me. My mom and dad have stayed more or less the same. Some amount of tension shortly after I came back, but it got better. Dad still works at the automotive factory in town, but my Mom has *also* started working at Security, guarding the factory that my dad works. Funny how that works.

Anywho, It's been literally a year since I've even been in my Grandpa's basement, and in my time I've learned to cope at least somewhat with speaking to people online about the fannish things I'm into, plus the ever patient ear of my various family members. I recently wanted to take up blogging again, but I realized that the needs this blog fulfills are not the same ones that I have now. I also realized part of who I became in the 3 years I spent "growing up." I'm a guy who doesn't want to have to prove anything to anyone but myself. I'm a guy who is happy with getting by, doing the stuff I enjoy for myself. I like things, and have thoughts about things, and want to share those thoughts, but I don't have a drastically unique perspective. There's a hundred other guys in the same position as me who spout their ideas in a similar fashion. I don't want to be the "lone voice of reason" or claim any authority on anything. I just want to say whats on my mind because I enjoy talking about stuff I like. Because I'm just this Guy, you know? So, without further ado, I'd like to announce the forum on which I will be making all my posts from now on: www.readerofbarcode.blogspot.com
With my shiny new blog "I'm Just This Guy, You know?"

It will be much the same format; random thoughts of the day, long winded dissections of movies, games and shows that I have recently consumed and have become obsessed with, stuff that requires more visual demonstration than Facebook or Tumblr has the capacity for. (Plus I can do it from my phone). I'll keep this old blog around as an archive, but unless I end up moving back in with my grandpa, (which is highly unlikely, but still) I will have no reason to use that blog with that name. I really want to have something to look forward to in my irregular work days, so the opportunity to just vent about stuff on my mind is going to be an invaluable resource.

Thanks to all 10 of you who read my blog back in the day, and invite whoever's left to continue doing so.
See you on the other side.

Random Thought of the Day #2

Whenever I play Fallout 3, I can't help but think of an image of a Nuclear Explosion, and then pulling back to see two guys in Raider Armor sitting on beach chairs, clinking together their bottles of Nuka-Cola as soothing jazz plays in the background. And I can't help but think that it's not an original image, that it's so iconic that SOMEBODY had to have put that in the marketing somewhere, and yet I look and it's nowhere to be found. Huh...

Random Thought of the Day #1

The song "I Stand Alone" from the movie Quest for Camelot is a very Disney-like "I Want" song about wanting to be left on your own and not have to deal with anybody else. It's a "Do Not Want" Song.

It's still a really cool song, though

Quest for Camelot is a really weird movie, but a fun one that's been a family movie staple with my Mom for a long time. Wouldn't mind seeing it again one of these days.

I Have Returned. (for now)

Hey internet, sorry I haven't posted anything in at least one forever. Getting a job in conjunction with me breaking my junky old laptop with an already busted keyboard has made making time to write in this space more than difficult. Especially considering how lazy I am in general.

Anywho, I've been doing a lot. Pacific Rim was freaking awesome, wished I saw it more than once. The Theros MTG Expansion is pretty sweet, probably talk about it more when I get a Fat Pack. My Uncle had a heart attack, but he's doing fine now, and I'm getting to see him more often, which is nice. And there's loads of stuff more to talk about when I finally get into a position when I can update this space on a whim. Hopefully to happen in the upcoming week or so when I finally get Mah Ohne SmartFone! I have a pretty good Idea of what I want to get, but I'm still Ironing out the details. And that will be shortly followed up with a brand spanking new laptop that hopefully has a smaller capacity to overheat and fry itself like my last one did. But I suppose it all depends on how much money I have left over by Black Friday, due to exuberant amounts of spending on other projects that will be discussed as I continue to update, which hopefully will be getting close to regular now that I have a fun idea that will put things on this blog more regularly than movie reviews or video game/tv show thoughts/impressions.

All 10 of you who have waited patiently for me to put something here, I thank you. I'll be posting later today, and potentially every day after, with my Random Thought of the Day. My job, and the odd chores my Grandfather has me do around the place, leave my mind free to wander, and some of the stuff I think about is just so out there, even I'm surprised by it. I'll be putting up one a day, just with some crazy idea, funny realization, or just plain weird thought that popped into my head that's interesting enough to share.

Hope you enjoy!

"I Haz A Job!" Or "Sorry for the lack of updates, Here's an exlpaination!"

Hey guys, sorry that I have almost half-abandoned my only just newly redesigned blog. But I have an excuse! The long and short of it is, I am now employed. Not only employed, but employed from midnight to 7am, tuesday-friday, and for a good long while. This Basement Fan is now a Barcode Reader, and I'm not-hating every minute of it.

For further explanation, I am now part of a security firm called Securitas, one of the biggest guys in the private security business, claiming to be the descendants of the Pinkerton Agency, and if you see a van or truck with a flashing light on the top of it at Walmart or something, there's a good chance it's a schmuck not too dissimilar from me. The people I'm responsible for making sure their stuff doesn't blow up is currently Del Monte Pet Food Products, who make everything from Meow Mix to t-bone shaped doggie treats. I have a real badge, a uniform, and a baseball cap that's also a hard hat (or, the coolest mundane utility I've ever owned.)

Like I said, my job somewhat consists of making sure their stuff doesn't blow up, either through inattentiveness or active malice, but it's mostly just making sure that people clean up their messes, making sure that everyone can get out in an emergency, and at all other times make sure nobody can get in who's not supposed to. At our particular site, they do this by having us scan barcodes next to important places and checkpoints throughout the plant. A lot of barcodes. We go around the inside and outside on patrols, and every door, docking station, fire extinguisher, silo and room has a barcode to scan, and we average at around 5-9 miles/day worth of walking just around the plant. Many of my previous user names, everything from old-youtube to Steam, was some variation on Barcode Reader. I didn't think anything of it at the time I created it, it just sounded cool. But now it seems disturbingly apt, and makes me glad I haven't officially changed any of my usernames to Basement Fan, as was my want after creating this blog.

But the hardest part of my job isn't the walking. It's the sitting and the waiting in between that really makes you go "ughhhhhh." I bought a couple of notepads, one to write story/personal ideas on and one, as it later turned out, was the perfect ratio to create mockup's of Magic Cards, so I spend some of my time not glancing over the front desk creating magic card concepts based on silly ideas. Currently, I have developed Strong Bad/Homestar Runner themed cards, and it's a more than amusing way to pass the time between patrols. The only problem is that I can only put a few minutes into these hilarious notions before I hit a block and start to zone out. And that's a problem. Fortunately, I have co-workers who are not unpleasant to talk to, so that helps things go by just as well. Other distractions include reading a book and checking CNN.com, which is the only website other than the weather channel that we are allowed access to on the desk computer. And Dell.com, for some reason.

Something that's very interesting about my position is that I get to see just about every part of the plant; making, shaping, drying, packaging and storing. Being able to observe the factory process while not being a part of the process is fascinating to me. I now feel like I have a much better understanding of the American Industrial Complex, not to mention the fact that every day I feel like I'm in a Modern Marvels documentary. There was a webcomic that came out a while back, called Questionable Content, which is actually just a slice-of-life type of thing, and one of the people in it was talking about how surprising it was that he got a job that he didn't hate. It wasn't his dream job or anything, it was just a job that he could happily go into work everyday for. This is exactly how I feel about this job. It's not great, and at the moment the hours kind of suck, especially for the outgoing socialite that I am (harhar) and I do honestly miss going out and doing things when I felt like it. Going to the movies, going to the hobby shop, hanging out with my Uncle Ben, all now take at least a weeks worth of preparation in order to have even the slightest chance of becoming a reality. Especially when I still have yet to efficiently iron out my sleep schedule to a point where I know exactly when I'm going to be asleep and when I'm going to be awake. But I can handle it. I do not dread going into work every day, and the best part is that they are very accepting if you want to change your shift. One of my co-workers had only been there a month before me, and she requested a transfer to a second shift supervisor position on the other side of the plant, and she got it. Not to mention I can request to be put at a different place, like a walmart or a dillons or something.

And the best part of it all is that, after a few months of buying necessities and car repairs and other big purchases, plus a bit of throwing stuff into savings, I'll be able to sufficiently live on my own in either a cheap apartment or even a small mobile home. What I save on gas would pay for utilities and such, and I'll still have enough to pay rent, buy food and even put a little away into savings. If everything goes as planned, and if I can finally get 40 hours/week, I'll be officially self sufficient. I'll still be able to check up on my grandpa regularly, make sure he hasn't had a stroke or anything, but being closer to either town makes trips to either town, and all the fun things to do inside of them, not only more doable, but more appealing. That's a few months away yet, but I'll be looking forward to it all the same. At that point, I won't be a fan from a basement anymore (probably), but I still want to keep this blog going as long as I keep having cool, fun ideas that MUST be shared. :p Thanks for still reading, if you have been, and I intend to start making the most of my free time now that it's actually valuable.

Talk to you later, everybody!

Look Who's Got a New Paint Job!

I have been a lot more hesitant than I like about putting out new postings this past month, partially due to being busier than usual, but also due to me waiting for a piece of artwork that I can proudly display as not only being descriptive of the blog, but also as descriptive as possible of "me." And so, without further ado, I present a wonderful new banner for the Basement Fan blog, created by Tominalley, who's artistic prowess has been an absolute joy to watch as it grows and matures alongside the artist.

With the jolt of sheer creativity generated by my first impressions of this image, I intend on posting quite a bit more often. I have had a lot of new Ideas that reminded me why I started the blog in the first place; the storage bin for all the crazy and/or insightful things that go on inside my head. And now all that's left... is the doing.....

(If you want to see more of Tominalley's art, check her out on her Deviant Art Page. As you can see, she does Commissions!)