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!)

It's Magic!

"You playin' Cards again, Zac?"
- Grandpa

This post has been a long time coming, mostly because I've been spending all of my free time actually playing the game of Magic: The Gathering (or at least buying/interacting with the cards). As it stands, I have spent about 6-man-hours of work on this entry this past week or so, and about 20-man-hours of work on sorting and decking my cards. (If that says anything.) The rest after the jump.

Family Ties - Emotion Picture Show.

I don't know if this is weird for anybody else, but I have a very strong connection to just about every member of my immediate family. I have a Mom, a Dad, a Brother and a Sister, all of whom are still living in Iowa, while I stay here in my Grandpa's Basement (which is as of this writing, in the room down the hall on the main floor). I am not as close to my grandfather, mostly because he has been a lot more accepting of the grumpy-old-farmer role in the past 10 years or so than that of a grandpa, but he's still a member of my family and I care about his well being, even if helping him can sometimes be a hindrance (though that problem has well subsided these past few months). The point being that My Family is a very big part of my life, and for some reason today had me wanting to be participating in that more than in a very long time. Just at this moment, I think it might have something to do with the year anniversary of me being "moved out." And now I'm homesick out the wazoo.

12 months, 1 year ago today, I unofficially moved from a big house on a forgotten corner of Keokuk, Iowa, and while I've had many opportunities to go back and forth between my homes on vacations, I always knew that at the end of the day, I was supposed to be out on my own (more or less). But sometimes, especially today, I become inexplicably homesick, remembering all the things we used to do together, thinking of all the times when we worked together to make the family work, as dysfunctional or out-there as some may have called us, we stuck together, and we were proud of it.

Every Sunday night, after a morning of church, a nice, quiet lunch, and possibly a nap or two in between, we watched a family movie. Usually it was between Mom and Dad on who's choice it was, but almost always we had to come to a consensus of what to watch before we sat down to watch it (occasionally adding another 45 minutes to the running time as a result). It would be anything from an episode of Doctor Who, to a musical from the 60's, to some cheezy sci-fi movie my dad found online, to the Phantom of the Opera movie, to to just a good old fashioned family-centric movie from something like Pixar, or Miyazaki, or whatever. Whatever it was, it was either a movie we had already seen, or we had known that we would enjoy the experience. My brother usually baked some brownies to perfection, along with the occasional popcorn or pudding, and I don't think ever once have we watched a movie without throwing off a few good riffs at the movies expense, even if we loved the movie beyond measure. It was a very communal experience, almost telepathic in terms of knowing who would make a good joke next, and knowing throughout the course of the movie when to laugh, when to gasp, when to sing along, and when to get teary eyed. Video games were what I did when I wanted to either be alone or be with my siblings. Movies were what I did when I wanted to be with my family.

Now, movies are a luxury to me. The last movie I saw in theaters was The Hobbit, and I never got a chance to see it the second time that I wanted to on the big screen. Movies on dvd are now what I watch when I want to fall asleep with a familiar tone filling my ears, or occasionally when I genuinely feel like I need to feel a certain experience at any given moment, like Wizard of Speed and Time for a desire to get back into making movies, or Batman Begins because I want to see batman. The only problem is that these aren't special moment's anymore, and I whole-heartedly blame Satellite TV. If there was one thing that I would choose not to ever have in a house that I live in, it's 24-hour television. Not only because lots of the stuff on there is as stupid as bag of hammers that got dropped on an idiot, but because it saps all of my desire to watch any of the stuff I'm NOT paying a monthly fee for. Now, if I was to loose satellite, I would be sad about a couple of things, NCIS being one (I never would have though I would have liked that show until I decided to spend a few hours with my grandpa watching a marathon), the HUB being two, and the occasional run of classic Twilight Zone and other pre-2000's cerebral-sci-fi short films as a tie for third. EVERYTHING else about what I currently have access to sucks the life out of me wanting to watch all of the amazing things I already have a hard copy of. The biggest problem is that it's Right There, and the fact that it's so much a part of my grandpa's daily routine, that the only way I'll escape it is if I move out, and the only way I'll move out is if I can get a job that can support both an apartment and going to school.

But sadly, I digress. (losing steam can do that to a writer only doing one draft) The main idea here is that going to the movies used to be an event for me, because it almost always involved at least one other member of my family coming along, and a part of that shared experience made the whole better. Now, this weekend I am going to go see a double feature of Jurassic Park, one of the iconic movies of my childhood, and Iron Man 3, the first wave in the most recent set of movies designed to split both children and childless adults from their money in equal measure. All by myself. With only my thoughts and my internet connection to console me after it's all said and done, and if I'm lucky I can spout all of my thoughts at my family over the phone, which is fascinating if they've seen the movie, but possibly grating if they haven't.

Being a Fan from your Grandpa's Basement means having to appreciate the stuff that you love on your own terms, but still... Sometimes you remember when you were surrounded by likeminded people who you could talk with for hours about how fun something was that you experienced together, and regret the times when you felt like that wasn't enough. At the close of writing this, I decided to do something I don't think I've ever done before: Offer a chance for anybody in my local peer group to accompany me to the movie. I don't know if anybody'll be able to show, but making the effort is what makes the difference. In closing I want to tell my Family who may be reading this that I love them very much, and that I want them to know that I miss them probably as much as they miss me. I thank them for all they do, and I don't know if I could live without them. :)