Catatonia (Continued)

"If that fails, I'll renew my contact lens prescription, work out like a fiend, dust off my dance skills, and bleach my hair platinum blond. Then I'll seduce that one rich chick that happens to be really fat, and/or batshit insane. It'll be the hardest damn money I ever earn. But I'll be set for the rest of my clueless existence." -- from Devin's "blog"

Another urban nomad kind-of-a-day ... catatonic, yet mind-numbing as always. I had thought about detouring through Ala Moana Center by bus, but I happened to see the Route 24 bus being worked on by the mobile maintenance crew at the Aina Haina Shopping Center bus stop as the Route 1L bus that I was riding passed by. So, I remained on board all the way to town. The only highlight of the day was an extremely long warm shower at the gym.

The new Chinaman apparently had a guy stay over in his room with him last night, apparently another Chinaman. The slippers (read: slippahs) laying on the mat outside his room were way too big for a babe. In addition, I could only hear male voices conversing. Incidentally, I am not certain whether his babe is authorized to reside in Slob Manor (read: rental housing). The landlord's rules do not permit overnight guests. The ho' always leaves very early in the morning and returns in clandestine fashion late at night. Oddly, the ho' is at least 25 years younger than the Chinaman. Whassup wi' dat? Believe me, the Chinaman is no stud, and he evidently has no money since he is living in Slob Manor. Well, now that the landlord has moved back onto the property, the clandestine activity may have been mummified.

By the way, there are now bunches of rotting flowers lying around in buckets of water in the second floor common area of Slob Manor. The Indian guy must have created the bouquet of flowers that I saw him with the other day. The sugar ants seem to really like the flowers, too. A thick trail of sugar ants from the kitchen window downstairs found its way upstairs to the flowers. I used the new Chinaman's bug spray to commit mass ant genocide, since it was lying around conveniently downstairs.

As far as the ol' lavahead is concerned, he's been trying to keep his mind distracted from any disturbing issues. The clowns at Slob Manor are bad enough, but there are obviously more pressing survival and metaphysical issues at hand. I certainly do not profess to have the answers. However, I have been more concerned about whether I should mummify Ubuntu Linux in favor of another "distro" (i.e., distribution). Ain't that something?

Catatonia

"New financial resources will soon become available to you." -- from Panda Express® fortune cookie

I was on my way to Hawai'i Kai in my Nissan® Frontier truck at 7:45am this morning. I was a little early, so I stopped off at Koko Marina. I sat on one of the benches overlooking the parking lot. Like a homeless guy, I watched the world go by while in a catatonic state.

Moms and I made the usual rounds in Hawai'i Kai, with lunch courtesy Panda Express®. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee and vanilla ice cream for dessert. I kept moms company until 1pm. I was fortunate to find shaded parking in Koko Marina. I walked to the library and spent about an hour there. The rest of the day was formulaic urban nomad. As to be expected, there was no hot water at the gym. So, I took a very short cold shower. One week has elapsed since I reported the problem to the staff.

I was quite full from lunch, so I was in a quandary about what to eat for dinner. There just was no way that I could tolerate a Spam® Musubi. So, I ended up at Taco Bell®. I ordered one bean burrito with green sauce, no red sauce, which actually cost less than a detestable Spam® Musubi. And, the green sauce was actually in the burrito this time.

Reluctantly, I drove back to Slob Manor (read: rental housing). I am still parking the truck about two blocks away on the side street. So far, no vandalism has occurred. And, from what I can tell, the sugar ants are long gone. As for the evening, I am looking forward to the same urban nomad kind-of-shit.

Freedom in Dereliction

Another urban nomad kind-of-a-Sunday took a bus detour to Ala Moana Center this morning. I arrived there at 8:40am and immediately headed to Foodland to purchase a cup of coffee. I discovered that all of the coffee canisters were completely dry. So, I approached the Filipino ho' at the deli counter for assistance. Snidely, she asked, "You want something?" This is how anyone who is mistaken to be homeless is treated. I was finally able to procure a cup of coffee. I then sat in the Makai Market for about an hour.

I rode the bus to town and walked directly to the gym. I did not even bother to check my mail at the Post Office. Fortunately, I caught a microsecond glimpse of the hottie gym trainer when I entered the establishment. Baby was looking mighty fine. I performed my usual workout and took a long warm shower.

Afterward, I made my way back to Ala Moana, whereupon I purchased a Yakitori Bento from Foodland. Why do I keep going back to that dump? Then, I rode the bus to Kahala Mall. Naturally, I ate my bento while sitting on a concrete bench in the desolate office area adjacent to the mall. A few people who parked their 4000-pound motorized chairs (read: automobiles) nearby looked at me in disgust. They obviously mistook me for a homeless guy. After enjoying my snack, I ended up at Barnes & Noble®. I did my best to make enjoy my visit, even though I was amongst the most snobbish of the affluent class.

I finally set foot in my squalid room at Slob Manor (read: rental housing) at 4:45pm. The Indian guy was on his way out with a huge bouquet of flowers. Perhaps he has found a babe. Let's hope so. I, on the other hand, only have my Toshiba® Satellite notebook computer. That's better than nothing, eh?

I made a panini on my beloved DeLonghi® "retro" contact grill and panini press. However, I must admit that I have become disillusioned with my panini creations. I happened to espy several huge panini at one of the vendors in the Makai Market, which made my squished little things seem so pathetic in comparison. Why do I choose to live in squalor?

Of course, a squished panini does not reveal the whole story. I am just not cut out for the modern life of a satanic gargoyle. I prefer extreme simplicity. I enjoy solitude. In fact, I am not lonely, as many people would believe. I have no desire for company. That's another reason why I will not be hookin' up with babes. I need to live alone and in peace. All social contact must be minimized to retain sanity. As I am now often mistaken for a homeless guy, I am well on my way to freedom.

Cacophony Redux

Last night, the new Chinaman abruptly departed at 9:30pm. He and his ho' returned around midnight. Fortunately, they had enough sense to not indulge in loud music at that hour.

I departed at 7:30am this morning in my Nissan® Frontier truck. My destination? New City Nissan® in Kalihi. I had an oil change performed on the truck for a whopping $38 and some change. Yes, the price went up quite bit. Well, at least I was able to drink a couple of cups of free, albeit lousy, coffee.

I had planned to make the most of my outing, so I drove directly to Ala Moana Center afterward. I easily found shaded parking. Then, I meandered to Barnes & Noble®. I purchased a real cup of coffee to enjoy. While browsing around the store, I discovered that the hottie bookseller was on duty. Baby was looking mighty fine, by the way.

I finally rode the bus to town at 11am. Then, I followed my usual urban nomad routine. There was free ethnic entertainment (Mahalohalo Kolintang Ensemble and Tekniqlingz Dance Crew) at the library, so I did not get much reading done. And, I was able to take a nice long warm shower after my workout at the gym. I felt much better.

I rode the bus back to Ala Moana Center, eager to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. However, the mall was overflowing with satanic gargoyles by then. I perused a few stores. All of the sales people ignored me, although some came close to pushing me out of the way to assist people who did not look homeless. Everyone except the ol' lavahead was on a shopping spree. I could not believe the number of people who were purchasing huge widescreen LCD tubes. Everywhere I looked, people were toting huge shopping bags filled with stuff. Other people were talking incessantly on their cell phones. Lots of obese people were stuffing their faces with pastries and sodas. Sadly, a few homeless people were sitting around in catatonia.

Quite suddenly, I experienced a sensory overload. I became inundated, so I sat down on one of the wooden benches near the Post Office. I did not get back up for almost an hour. I felt both alienated and disconnected. I wanted to purchase something to eat, but I just couldn't move. I was frozen in indecision. Then, after weighing the cost of ready-made food in relation to my disconnect, I realized that I was better off just leaving the consumer slosh pit.

I drove my Nissan® Frontier truck to the consumerist mecca of East O'ahu, namely Kahala Mall. While not as packed as Ala Moana Center, there were still quite a few people engaged in the same forms of spending and eating gluttony.

I opted to purchase my humble dinner at Taco Bell®. I was actually treated well by the counter person, although she did not get my order straight. Instead of three bean burritos with green sauce (no red sauce), I was given three bean burritos with no sauce. I had already walked to the desolate office building complex when I discovered the error. I sat on a concrete bench, fighting the gale force winds, while I choked down my tasteless burritos in solitude. I also spilled water on the front of my tattered tank top. So, I had to wait for it to dry before going back into the mall.

After realizing that my day had not turned out anything like I imagined, I decided to return to Slob Manor (read: rental housing), albeit reluctantly. All that's left is another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening with a sugar ant invasion in progress.

Stupidity Incorporated LLC

Every morning, sometimes as early as 5am, I am privy to hear the Indian guy's shit-shave-shower routine. The extravaganza begins with the huge mysterious thud that shakes the floor prior to a two-flusher. Then, after slamming the doors of the medicine cabinet over and over again, the Indian takes a shower. He has three empty liquid soap bottles along with one that is almost empty, all of which are sitting precariously in the shower caddy. All of the bulky plastic bottles obviously do not fit in the caddy, so he must juggle all of them in order to use the one that has some liquid soap left. Juggling the plastic bottles entails slamming one or more of them into the wall or dropping them on the bottom of the tub. Oddly, there is a trash can right next to the shower. In a matter of days, there will be five plastic liquid soap bottles in the shower caddy. Are people that stupid? Yes, they are.

I was on my way to Hawai'i Kai in my Nissan® Frontier truck at 8am this morning. Moms and I only made the rounds in Koko Marina, with lunch courtesy Loco Moco. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee and vanilla ice cream for dessert along with an unusual cinnamon roll prepared like a muffin. The rest of the afternoon followed the usual routine. There was still no hot water at the gym. Five days now, and there is no sign that anyone is working on the problem.

Once back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing), I discovered that the new Chinaman and his slut have taken over the entire first floor of the house including the kitchen and the dining area. There are also two fake jade Confucius gargoyles situated on both sides of the front door, no doubt to fend off "evil spirits." I briefly spoke with Alan, the housemate on the first floor. He did not seem too pleased with the state-of-affairs.

The new Chinaman and his slut returned to the dump at about 9pm this evening. I was privy to listen to really crappy music full blast on the Chinaman's mediocre stereo system. This is the age of personal music players, for fuck's sake. Why am I always subjected to idiots who need to listen to music really loud on an out-of-date and distorting stereo system? Too bad that I no longer own the Bose® Acoustic Wave®. Well, needless to say, I have commenced an informal search to find alternative rental housing.

More Trouble Ahead

I neglected to mention that I was in a foul mood yesterday, which almost ruined the entire day. The cold shower at the gym did not help matters. The crux of the matter is my inability to completely emancipate myself from the "system." Mind you, I have come a long way. I am much more removed from the "system" than my peers, but that is not enough. As any fool can see, the "system" is consuming our souls. As I have so little time left on the planet, I can no longer patiently deal with the unacceptable.

Another urban nomad kind-of-a-day found the ol' lavahead relaxing with a cup of coffee at the Makai Market in Ala Moana Center at 10am this morning. I certainly had no pressing engagements. I was definitely not missing out on anything important in town. When I finally arrived at the library, I realized that I had absolutely nothing important to accomplish. I commenced reading the book, "The World Without Us," by Alan Weisman. I am actually waiting for two other books to be returned, one being the new title by Chris Hedges.

The rest of the day was formulaic urban nomad. I had to deal with myriad rude and self-absorbed morons. Even the gym was not a safe haven. Back at Slob Manor (read: rental housing), I discovered that Jason, the new Chinaman, has moved his babe into the house. For some reason, she is occupying the former Chinaman's room. I mentioned my discovery to Alan, the housemate on the first floor. He didn't seem to be too impressed with her. I told Alan that my days at Slob Manor may be numbered. I had seen the slant-eyed slut the other day. When I gave her a polite salutation, the trollop ignored me. Alan had a similar experience. I suspect that there will be trouble ahead when the ho' takes over the house.

Another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening found me stationed in front of my Toshiba® Satellite notebook computer for another round of endless entertainment. I finally performed the first kernel upgrade for Ubuntu Linux. So far, the computer still functions. I have one more kernel upgrade to perform (still in the queue). I had put off those upgrades for several months out of fear that I would disable my computer. As a seasoned Linux user, I now know better.

Endless Entertainment

I was on my way to Hawai'i Kai in my Nissan® Frontier truck at 8:15am this morning. Moms and I made the usual rounds in Hawai'i Kai with lunch courtesy Zippy's. Later, moms served Foremost® coffee ice cream for dessert. The rest of the day was formulaic urban nomad. No details are necessary.

I should mention that I had to take another cold shower at the gym. I have no idea why the water heater has not been repaired in two days. A printed sign at the entrance to the locker room stated that "the matter would be resolved as soon as possible." What exactly does that mean? How long does it take to call a repair outfit?

Last night, I attempted a variety of fruitless maneuvers to prevent Mplayer from freezing Gnome®. However, all I ended up doing was completely disabling the audio. I did not discover the problem until this evening. I was able to calmly undo everything and enable the audio again. I also installed the latest Opera browser. However, it did not match the "Dust" theme of my desktop, so I uninstalled it. I am reluctantly remaining loyal to Firefox, the browser that crashes all the time. I did find a cure for one annoying problem. I discovered the FlashGot plug-in, which allows an external download manager to override the one in Firefox. Thus, if I am downloading a file and Firefox crashes, the file will continue to download. I am using the Gwget download manager. The computer and Ubuntu Linux ... an endless source of entertainment for the ol' lavahead.

Inconveniences of Old Age

Yesterday, I neglected to mention that I was forced to take a cold shower at the gym. I had noticed that the sinks in the locker room had not hot water, so I reported the matter to the staff. Apparently, no one else bothered. I even saw people in the shower. Unfortunately, the hot water was not restored when I took my shower.

Another urban nomad kind-of-a-day was punctuated by the usual rout of meaninglessness. At the library, I completed reading Freund's book, "Digging Through the Bible." No other comment is necessary. I also lapsed in and out of a coma repeatedly for no apparent reason. Perhaps my rote routine is finally affecting my psyche. Or, maybe my body is becoming addicted to caffeine again.

I completed my usual gym routine before returning to Slob Manor (read: rental housing). Fortunately, I was able to enjoy a warm shower. As usual, I have to look forward to another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening. Woe is me!

The Indian guy has been extremely noisy lately, slamming his door every time he goes in and out of his squalid little room. Then, when he takes a dump, there is a huge thud that shakes the floor just seconds before he flushes the commode. I don't know if his butt gets stuck in the seat, and the seat violently separates from his butt when he stands up. Or, did he drop the "Big One" in the bowl? Perhaps he needs to take his Beachbody® P90X® supplement much more often. I will say that he does his keep his "babe magnet" automobile in pristine condition. That's about the only thing that he takes care of religiously. Yet, for all the money spent on that albatross, where are the babes? A fool and his money are soon parted.

Two days ago, I had posted a query for help on the Ubuntu Support Forums about all media players freezing the Gnome desktop (see "blog" of January 20th). The few replies that I received mentioned audio drivers in passing. So, out of curiosity, I did more searching and came up with an interesting article on the Freshmeat site. The choice of an audio driver and audio parameters may be the cause of the freezing problem. Right now, I am specifically working with Mplayer. I happened to notice that the audio driver was set for Pulse Audio when it should have been set for Alsa. I am also experimenting with more parameters through the configuration file as opposed to the Preferences window. The configuration file is a much more powerful means of "tweaking," but it also wreaked havoc with Gnome® Mplayer (front-end). However, progress is being made.

Sadly,the bump on the lower palm of my right hand has not subsided. The swollen area is right above the carpal bone that is aligned along the smallest finger (or right below the small finger's metacarpal bone). All I can do for now is insure that I do not aggravate the area any further. Oh, the inconveniences of old age.

Monotony Ad Infinitum

I was on my way to Hawai'i Kai in my Nissan® Frontier truck at 7:15am this morning. I found shaded parking in Koko Marina. Then, I rode the bus to Kahala Mall. As expected, I spent all of my time at Barnes & Noble®. I perused a few magazines in the café as I sipped on a cup of coffee. Then, I perused the books in the rest of the store. I rode the bus back to Hawai'i Kai at 11:45am.

The rest of the itinerary was mundane. I stopped by the library, then ate my granola lunch in the Koko Marina parking lot, walked to the gym, performed my usual workout, shopped at Foodland, and returned to Slob Manor (read: rental housing). Obviously, I have another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening to look forward to. Sheesh!

Discoverer's Day is a strange holiday in the islands. The holiday is not recognized by the local governments, but all the banks and some businesses were closed. Moms was not certain whether my bro and sister-in-law were going to have the day off, so I postponed my visit to be safe.

The value of the dollar is dropping, and the price of gold is rising. Heck, I can't keep up with that crap. The stock market is also surging. As usual, I am heavily invested in the loss leader, the dollar. So, I am losing money as we speak. Frankly, I just don't care anymore. I want out of the "system."

The sugar ants are back in force in my squalid room. I am squishing hundreds of their tiny heads as they invade the cheap Slob Manor desk. I had the same problem a few days ago, as you may recall. They keep coming back, even though there is not food lying around. I continue to sweep up hundreds of sugar ant carcasses off the floor with my humble dustpan and brush. I have no idea why there are so many sugar ants in my squalid room. Perhaps the recent rain has driven them indoors.

Sheer Monotony (Continued)

Lots of rain fell last night and early this morning. Thus, I commenced another urban nomad kind-of-a-Sunday in a much cooler environment. However, the weather cleared up even before I walked to the bus stop. The heat and humidity were both bearable, however, because of the resumption of regular trade winds. As for the urban nomad kind-of-a-Sunday, I followed the exact same routine as last week. A notable exception was that I was able to catch a microsecond glimpse of the hottie gym trainer when I entered the gym. I also opted out of purchasing a bento for dinner when I was at Foodland in Ala Moana Center.

I am sure that, to the casual onlooker, I look like just another homeless guy when I am sitting in the catacombs of Kukui Plaza with my cup of Seattle's Best® coffee from Safeway®. Frankly, I could care less. Only a true urban nomad (like myself) can truly appreciate such an experience. I am so detached and so disconnected from "mainstream" society that there are few people who could understand where I am coming from.

Likewise, the ol' lavahead walking around Barnes & Noble® in Kahala Mall with gym bag in hand is a sure sign to the affluent scumbags who frequent the place that he is simply trespassing in the wrong 'hood.

All that's left, of course, is another urban nomad kind-of-an-evening in my squalid room at Slob Manor (read: rental housing). I will be using my car wash sock as padding for my right arm while I am piddling around all night on my Toshiba® Satellite notebook computer. I will place it at the edge of the cheap Slob Manor table to cushion any part of my right arm that it comes into contact with. Let's hope that the callous or cyst goes away soon.

I should also comment that Firefox is one of the crappiest browsers that I have ever used. With each update, the damned thing becomes more bloated and much slower. In fact, each successive update has seen more and more crashes and freezing. It also uses a tremendous amount of processor power. Yeah, it's just that shitty!