I like being here. I do. I've been here for a while. While Blogger does have the advantage of being tied in to my Google account and allows me to also real 40k painting blogs; this has a feel and a history the Grey Area cannot match.

 I'm not sure what I mean by 'feel' but everything is cooler in England, so that might be part of it. My mum does have a yahoo.co.uk address which I once mocked her for, but it wasn't for the .co.uk part, but the fact she went with Yahoo over Gmail.

One day, there will be a way to search Google by inputting a picture/sound. At one point, I want to be able to hum a song into Goggle and have it find the lyrics. I want to able to hold up a picture I have taken on my phone to find more information on the subject of the picture.  I want it to get to the level where I can simply clap out a rhythm and find a song. Shazam has a long way to go.

There's been a thing I've been looking into for the past few days and it's an odd combination I still can't wrap my mind around. It involves Gary Oldman(yes, that Gary Oldman) directing a music video for a Jewish Hip Hop group shot on nothing but Nokia cellphone cameras. Juilet Landau of Buffy fame shot the making of documentary. I stil haven't been able to find the video itself, but I haven't been looking. I'm sure it's on youtube.

I'd like to think Natalie Portman is involved with the project, because who like Jewish Hip Hop more than Natalie Portman? No one, that's who! 

 I got nothing else.

-Cleric 

Let's do one back to back.

 I'm on twitter if anyone is out there and still cares about such things. I'm keeping with the universal internet avatar so it's @greycleric08.

Did you know I almost hit on a girl using my twitter name? You can only get away with that kind of nonsense during the aftermath of a Jonathan Coulton concert. Do you guys even know about him? I've mentioned it at length on the other blog, but he's an internet rockstar and he is awesome. I hope he's at PAX this year. That's the Penny Arcade Expo. Wow, I need to start recapping things here. Ok, lets lay one out for the people who just got here:

I started this blog six year ago because for once in my life a girl liked me and I had similar feelings. I believed a moment like that needed to be chronicled somewhere someone else could see. Years past with the overstated notion of filling this blog with weekly "content" set against the soundtrack of John Mayer music.

Not much happens until my second fall semester of college and i meet another girl over bones. She smells of cherry pez and is adorable. She has a puppy that resembles a seal and likes Jake Gyllenhaal more than is healthy. She writes, paints and is musically inclined with a tattoo of a cleft note on her shoulder.

We bond and I do nothing. It is my way. I lose this adorable green eyed girl as soon as Christmas comes, but during the process I gain a vocation I am very good at and another girl.

A crazy short haired blue eyed girl who I am infatuated with soon after Christmas is over. She is very pretty and hilarious. She has a black/white cat she adores and enjoys film/tv with such passion and excitment. She has the drama/tragedy masks tattoed on her lower back. I once told her how I felt and it didn't work. It's my way, but I gain a friend.

Now, we flashforward to a very similar scenario today, with the green eyed girl and the blue eyed girl while I am still in the same vocation. I am even better at said vocation but every moment I am present, I die a little more. Sure, things have happened inbetween that, but that's all you need to know, as every good story always starts with a girl. I'm no longer sure if that was in the first Spiderman movie, but it's something I've believed in for a while.

I drink far too much coffee, but I enjoy every moment of it. The Grande Quad Long Americano is my drink of choice. I know that's not in the proper order, but I don't work for Starbucks so all you purists can bite me. I enjoy films and I get paid to talk about film to other people. This is my vocation, however, it is not all I do. I once went to England for two weeks and had the best time of my life only because London seems to be gripped in a coffee war and even the tinniest pub has an espresso machine that'll show up anything Starbucks has. You ask for a cup of black coffee and you can an Americano. London, have I ever mentioned I love you? I love you London. Fish & Chips are still on notice. Despite their delicious fish, scrumptious chips and an adorable ampersand, they tear apart my insides once they are done. I am currently in a love and hate relationship with England's national dish. Also, if anyone could hook me up a local supply of Cheddar and Onion crisps, that would be cool too.

I'm not a complicated person, even though I strive to be one. When I grow up I want to be a mercenary although I'm pretty sure I've already grown up. I've actually considered becoming a spy for my country, sad to say Canada doesn't have spies anymore and it's all domestic stuff. I hate math. I love Natalie Portman amongst other celebrities/media personalities. I have a list of four: 

1. Natalie Portman
2. Nicole(Nikki) deBoer
3. Amy Acker
4. Kari Byron
5. Hayley Williams of Paramore.  

It should be noted that I also have a thing for girls who's names have an "I" sound in it. Besides the aforementioned list, The Green  and Red girl both have names with an I sound in it. If you're wondering why the blue eyed girl isn't coloured blue, it's because blue was taken by something else I don't care to mention right now. A certain mancrush on a fictional American Airforce Lt. Col. That's all you get. 

I've had animals I have cared for and they have passed on. It saddens me everyday I think about it. 

 My favourite song ever is The Churchills' "Everybody Gets What They Deserve." The slow "Spin City" one, not the fast "Scrubs" one. My favourite song I'd never admit to liking it Take That's "Back for Good."

That's all I got for now. 

 -Cleric

"I'm the best there is at what I do and what I do is simply awful."

That should become my main quote for everything. It'll go perfectly with my combined preamble for Facebook/Virtueverse about liking Movies, Coffee and Natalie Portman but not necessarily in that order. I have strong feelings about people. It's what I do...and I'm the best there is at what I do...and what I do is simply terrible."

I'll come up with something better as we work this out.

I have to say, tonight wasn't as bad as it could have been. It could have been a Grade A cluster fuck with all the factors going into it: Poor weather, spring break, lack of staffing and a wireless transaction. ie. It was pretty good all things considered. These days that counts as a win as I get so few of those.

Oh, the Tron Legacy trailer was epic, but all I need what the few frames of Olivia Wilde in the "Tron Outfit with short hair on that couch. Seriously. That's pretty much her entire role in the current trailer running, but it's all I needed. It's also my desktop right now. I switched it to the frame after the first picture I had which will freak Jamie out when he looks at it and notices it's just not the same image.

Still, I'm going to love Tron Legacy. I hope they get a Blu ray of the original out before the sequel is released.

Lord of the Rings is due on Blu ray this year, but from what I can tell it's the original versions and not the director’s cuts that once appeared in six disc versions per film. Of course, with a Blu ray you could probably jam six Dvd's worth of info on to at least two blu rays...so we'll see.

I've heard Back to the Future is due out this year too, but in singles and not a set.

Screw that.

Still no word on ORIGINAL CUT Star Wars, Empire and Jedi on blu ray. As a fan, I want the original versions with some restoration but Han Shoots First....he doesn't meet Jabba the Hutt...or that extended "musical number" in Jedi...

Boba Fett should sound like Boba Fett and NOT Jango Fett...and god help me...in Christensen appears as Anakin in the end, I will start killing folk. I want my original Star Wars movies without a single backwards reference to the others ones I care nothing about. It's hard for me, being a Natalie Portman fan...but I take her mid drift in "Attack of the Clones" and forget the rest. She hasn't done many films mind you, and taking three out of "the List" makes that list even smaller, but as a true Star Wars fan...it must be done.

Speaking of that, you've heard that clip of John Hodgman and Patton Oswalt having a geek off on the radio? I knew about the Jabba getting his palace from the B'omarr Monks(The Spider brain jars in the background of Jedi...Yeah, I've read the book...Tales of Jabba's Palace...), but thought it unfair to Hodgman when one of the 'essay" questions dealt with the combination of Dollhouse/Caprica....because Oswalt was all over those and pretty fucking awesome in both. I'm not a real Doctor Who fan, but I still didn't know what Tardis stood for...until I looked it up. My God, both men answered that at the same time...as well as what Boba Fett's ship was called...Slave I? Please, I've known that for years.

I don't drink. Better still, terrible things happens when I drink...therefore I don't drink.

Coffee is a lifestyle not a vice for me...but Coke is my true vice. I kid you not. F

rom Grade 4 up until one stupid date in college I had no had coke. Of course, I don't count that. It was Diet and I was forced to share(which makes no sense because I was paying.....Also date movie was Brokeback Mountain and before you ask...it was with a girl. Seriously. )

My real dip back into "The Stuff" was at the Imperial War museum in England where they sold it in glass bottles and I took a sip of my mother's. I had an Americano, but I have coffee beverages with every meal, snack, social event I can get it....When I got back, I would only drink Coke(not from a fountain), in a glass...with ice...Of course, times got rough and I started taking it straight from the bottle. Sigh. I've still never bought one from work...so I still have that. Not really.

I almost want to talk about the relationship where that "Brokeback Mountain" Date story came from, but it is simply too stupid to recount. The entire thing is an exercise in how terrible my taste in women is. You should see my track record with "women..." I've only dated a fraction of them and spend the rest of my time blindly "lusting" after them. I don't "lust" very well, hence the quotes.

You know, I've carried around "GreyCleric08" as an "Universal Avatar" for years....I was "GreyCleric" before most people had heard the word Avatar! Snap!

Anyway, for kicks sometimes I type it into Google...that is as "GreyCleric08" and see what comes up. My God, it brings up message boards I haven't been to in years! It retweets stuff and even has some of my short experiment in the scary iphone game "Four Square..."

It also has my legendary if brief tenure as hotshot in a Halo CE PC Clan inappropriately called SahK which woefully stands for Slap a Hoe Klan....Yep, for a while I was Cleric then I moved into SaHk Grey....because Grey fit better than Cleric. I even came up with their motto! In Latin! I tried to add some class to the CLAN!

WITH A C!

I'm also that guy that wrote the awesome weapons explanation on the fireflyfans.net forum way before I met the best Browncoat ever in Staci. Ever.

I mentioned after coming back from England that a good portion of my files were deleted after a ill planned format while I was gone...and I had spent nights trying to one of those files back...I searched high and low with every single ounce of my internet skills with no result. I log back into an old "GreyCleric08" account on a message board and I'm rolling back in it in about two minutes.

I love the internet. I once subscribed to a theory where every image I've ever seen in my life is somewhere on the internet. That is not true as one image from my "childhood" still eludes me. I'd tell you what it is, but that would be a whole other story I'm not in the mood to get into tonight.

At least 80% of every image I have seen in my life is on the internet. Or maybe I have my facts wrong and can't remember the exact details of that one image. Who knows?

I also want to say that the memory always makes things better than they are and some things you find might end up disappointing you in the end.

That's it? Yeah. That's it. I want to talk about abandonment issues within a chain of command, but that's far too abstract and metaphorical to do any good.

I'm giving "Moon" another go because I can't seem to get time to watch it. I'm sure I'll have time during my four shifts this weekend and five next week. Sigh. I also got “The Usual Suspects” on blu ray, because I haven’t seen it on blu ray yet.

-Cleric

Well blow me down. This actually works now?! All it took for AP at the end of the URL?! My phone and every other computer I was on before was doing that automatically? Psssh, seriously?

I'm not going to bore you with the months of missed blogs but they are at clericsspace.blogspot.com if you want to check it out. As long as I can access this site, 20six is my main blog only because I've been here close to six years. SIX YEARS! All because I went to a John Mayer Concert, on Valentines Day with a couple of silly girls that I don't even care for anymore. One is neutral and one is all out hate. I've left my fair share of awkward relationships during those six years. Most of them are chronicled here in all their awkward glory...Hell yeah.

Nothing has changed by the way since my last entry. I passed stats, I'm not sure if I mentioned that but I did. It was a worry in the last one.

Everything with Staci and Dani are the same. Bre had a kid and I don't see her as often. Work has gone through at least two management changes with another one pending...I've met, hated and had bad staff members leave in the blank space left in this blog. At least one, if not two. We also just lost Brother Mark and Brother Scott. I still see them all the time, but I no longer work with them.

The current standard for "Old Guard" is being around when Jer was in charge. That's me, Brett and Staci. The rest are new. We have a small "New Guard" forming with Ayad, but he's on the cusp of Honorary Old Guard. 

I did manage to come over "Here" during the summer. By "here" i mean England. Two weeks in London in fact. I visited Bath, Windsor, Stonehenge....the basics. I took a stuffed panda with me and now have pictures of said panda at several landmarks. I enjoyed the outcome of your coffee war and was exposed to one of the greatest Americano I had ever tasted. Ever. I was nourished by your lovely restaurants and sandwich shops. Pret-a-Manger fed by body and my soul.I gained a killer French Onion and Cheddar Crisp addiction that I'm slowly overcoming, but that Christmas Gift basket of English junk food didn't help....

 I'm done. Good to be back. I'll still maintain the other blog account because it's attached to the new DND Campaign Blog I'm working on.

Out. 

-Cleric 

Stats. Yep....I hope she has the MC test today...because I need something to bolster my resolve...or, you know...shatter my morale.

Blah blah blah, thought I wouldn't see Staci since she came back from Victoria blah blah..usually really early to work blah blah blah wouldn't see her at the bus loop at 8:30...blah blah, I did....blah blah had a neat 15 minute chat blah blah blah might have lunch with her later blah blah blah. Yes, she turned what could have been considered a "bad morning" into a "good" morning. Yes, I know how cliche that sounds. Sue me, cliches are cliches for a reason: They occur often...

 Also, I am not a sheep...if there is a sign on the door reading "CLASS MOVED FROM ROOM 2160 TO 2165" without stating the class section, I will not go until I get some other kind of confirmation. There is nothing about it on the website... I wonder if everyone else in the class did the same thing or just failed to notice the sign. What? I'm not special, but it's happened before.

add to that, room 2165 has no windows...at least, it doesn't have an external door glass like ALL the other ones. Tactically speaking, that worries me.

Speaking of tactical....no. nothing. I got nothing.  

 See? the prof just showed up...I wonder how many people are in 2165 waiting for something to happen.

 Little things make a story. Like, if you have a ballistic helmet clipped to a messenger battlebag and you're running to cover....it's going to smash you in the knee several times over. Just wear the damn thing...this is no movie, the heroes don't get the luxury of not wearing ballistic protection. Seriously, look at the media...your 'heroes" don't wear helmets....SG1 is a prime example...don't wear a helmet in the SGC because you will make it back....a Helmet on a SGC team member is like a red shirt on an TOS crewman. You know, at work we used to wear red shirts. With the recent rebranding we've switched to black shirts made out of the most sythetical material I have ever seen....ever....we've joked that the new guy should wear the old shirts in order to make it show that, yes...as a new person with this company...you are fully expendable. Yes, I know. technical speaking I am just expendable...but at least I have enough seniority to send newbies "to their deaths...."....and that's a metaphor.

 Or is it? No...it is, but based on recent events it's increasing likely employees might be killed...I should look into it. I know when you work for CSIS, you have a better chance of being killed by a bus than being killed while working for CSIS....what about us? Considering all the crazies, nutbars, drunks, druggies, punks and nerdowells I have to deal with on a daily basis...Add that to the rash of random gang shootings across the province:

More likely to be killed working in a movie store than working for a  GOVERNMENT Domestic INTELLIGENCE AGENCY! If CSIS ever went foriegn though, it would be different...as a foriegn agency you are moving against other countries in more dangerous situations. Ha, imagine a Canadian Agency being trained by their British and Israeli counterparts...Mi6 and Mossad...those guys know their foreign intellegence.

Done? Done. I'm tired of keeping this thing open.

-Cleric  

what would cause one computer not to connect to this site while ALL others can. I say ALL including the Iphone, but blogging on the iphone isn't as easy as I would like. My standard WPM is pretty good, my iphone WPM is terrible.

I could simply blame Telus. Sure, lets do that...because no matter what product you are talking about: Telus sucks.

"We're" not that much better. I say "We" as the company I work for. At least "We" don't outright lie to our customers. Well, I don't. I know some of those customer service line fucktards back East have told customers completely fabricated facts only to have them come to me...Funny, whenever I call the customer service line for my personal business(like why the hell am I getting the automated call saying I've gone over my dataplan?! I'm at 95mb on a 1gb plan!) I get Saints. Any other line(especially the wireless dealer helplines...) I get the most backassward moron who couldn't find his backside with both hands and a map. It's part of life you know. It's sad to say that stupid people outnumber...the less stupid people. There are very few smart people. I don't even consider myself smart. Nope. I just pay attention, which makes me seem smart but I'm not. I promise.

I enjoy a good club sandwich. There is a grilled variant you can get at the local supermarket near where I work and it is fantastic. They smear it in guacamole and some type of garlic butter before they add a real cutlet of chicken with some fairly realistic looking precooked bacon...Also, the place my sibling and I have nicked named "Ass Pizza" does a fairly competent supreme pizza. While I'm not usually a fan of green peppers and mushrooms, the addition of hamburger and extra cheese makes it a winner. The Ham and Pineapple is garbage...most people can choke down the pepperoni....the cheese is just bland, but that what cheese pizza is. Most cheese pizzas are dull, it's the nature of the flavour.

 You know, I started writing a scene involving a character of mine, the neurotic former Marine Major who is now the high paid private security chief for a large(and evil) Communications Technology conglomerate all revolving around him having 2 meals while in the field and setting up his "Base Camp" in a small warehouse using a prefab security cage, illegal medical supplies and enough small arms to start(And finish) a small third-world war. I though it was funny, this maniac offering part of his chicken club to the man he is about to torture only to take it back after he realizes you're not suppose to eat before major surgery as he removes a large knife from his belt.

I forgot, I hate the Starbucks "Rise and Shine" muffin. The first time I had it was before a wireless training event at The Tower...and I asked the Barrista what was in it(this is at 7 in the morning by the way) she cheerfully answered "Rise and Shine goodness." It's like cramming way too many muffin parts together: Carrot, berries, banana, bran, nuts etc....I like carrot muffins. Banana Nut BRAN at Tims used to be the best, but they don't make them anymore. Simply Banana Nut...but ALL of the muffin options haphazardly smashed together into a single muffin? Disgusting.

 Now I don't know if I want to get a sandwich or pizza for lunch.

It's good to be back here, it really is. The other one just doesn't have the four year history of my nonsensical rantings like this one does. It really makes a guy feel like people might be taking his "writin' stuf" on the internet seriously.

Half an hour or so to kill before I have to back to Philo. I hate the class and I hate everyone in it, so I don't care about the test.

Considering I almost died Friday night from too much caffeine, I'm spending this week detoxing with green tea. Yes, it is my new quiet shame...and it's not as fun as 40k, but it keeps me awake and alert for the stupid things I must be awake and alert during. Like work last night. One of the most brutal standard shifts I've ever done. Something like 4-2 in the morning doing the switch over. Most stores had the man power to do an overnight thing, but all we have are newbies and not enough people to open the store the next day...unless I closed. Which would have sucked.

So that's coffee off my list of things I enjoy. I'm pretty sure with the US Election tonight, House will be a repeat. Knock that off. I haven't had the heart to talk to Dani lately either.

And Staci, is Staci in all her wonderful complicatedness. Though, we hung out Thursday night in a miserable cold attempt to get things for her nonwork halloween costume....

You know we weren't allowed to dress up this year? Everyone I tell that to is shocked. Starbucks did, as did everyother place in the mall we're in. even the fucking dentist. We all have our own theories about why. Either way, Boooo. Still, Staci was Abby dressed in one of our uniforms...she did a great job. She always does.

Why do I get Fish and Chips? I love them, but they rip apart my stomach something fierce after...and I have to be here for at least another 50 minutes.

CoX? I've been messing around with new characters like the SECOND Trenchcoat Terror as Edward Novak's half Japanese/Half french Parkour son...Radium Eyes is the escaped Crey Robot powered by CoT magic...and Stella Spectre is the rogue longbow with Sai's looking for Violet Roe who took her eye.  I just like Stella Spectre is one of the best names I've come up with hands down. Though, I did start off on a lownote with "blizzard blaster.." (sigh)

 Done? Done...I guess....Sure.

-Cleric 

I'm at clericsspace.blogspot.com since I still can't access this site from home. I'm killing those two hours between Crim and the hell that is first year Philo.

My prof has to be a hardline Pro-Lifer to even own a movie of the magnitude he showed last week. It was meant to be pro life propaganda, but it made me want to have kids even less. It felt like a shooting gallery filled with impressionable 18 year olds...and me...

Also, that guy ahead of me that chews his pens drive me nuts. I watched him naw through three in a 3 hour course. Also, he didn't get my joke about "Postal natal abortions..."

I've said before, work sucks...last night wasn't so bad and it truly was Scott's "Awesome Close" with Brett and myself on that night. The Sarge is back Wednesday from his two week vacation. I say 'vacation' which people imply he went somewhere, he just didn't have to come to work.  I have two more shifts this week...another close with Brett on Wenesday and the Sunday CSR open...but like always, I'm on call Saturday.

I've seen pictures of Staci's NCIS Abby costume. While she doesn't have the wig yet, the rest of it is spot on...the lab coat I got her wasn't that big...the small one wouldn't have fit her at all.

I still haven't decided what I'm going to be for halloween. Since I have a presentation in class that Friday I'm not dressing up for class...and I'll need a "worksafe" costume...I'll probably do House with Chucks this year....but he doesn't wear black ones...I can fudge that. I got better insoles for them and I'm happy.

I'll call my contact person wenesday morning in order to get an interview for the next week...which will give me 2 weeks to work on the project itself. Journal one is due on Friday. That'll be taken care of thursday night. I need to 'discuss' my feeling on Criminal justice...and I can talk about my feelings.

I figured out I left my card holder at work last night after I got changed....but I left home early for class incase it wasn't at work...then I'd have to run home and tear the house apart...since it has all four of the most important cards I own...Credit, Debit, ID and Care Card....I always probably could jam in one more...oddly enough it would be the scene card for the movie theatre...like I need a card when I rent movies. (sigh)

It's like setting off a bomb when Staci has breakfast in the morning. The sudden influx of proper nutrition sets her system off and she goes a little hyper...so I got her a breakfast sandwich from Starbucks before I left...like I would be there to deal with the results. Ha. She's fun when she's hyper...hell, she's fun all the time. 

It's tuesday...meaning I have an excuse to talk to Dani about whatever House is doing tonight. yay.

Should I get lunch? I'll probably wait until the short side before class to get a sandwich. I didn't die after I had the last one, so the meat should be ok now. there was a little scare earlier that the cafe used meat from Maple Leaf....I guess not.

Done? Done. I have nothing interesting to say.