I'm coming home

I haven't posted to this blog in a while. To be honest I started a new one. I however have decided to come back to this blog because I like the way it looks... and it took me a long time to come up with the design. I don't know if I could even change the current one if I had wanted to.

So anyway, here we are the day before Thanksgiving of 2010. I'm babysitting Alyssa, Kaleb & Sophia today... which means I'm on very little sleep and have a full shift of work tonight. I miss sleep... I think the bed even misses me a little bit. I miss you too bed, I miss you too.

Things are going to get just a little bit crowded here very soon. Dereke, Tonya, and the kids have to stay with us for a while. Will it be cramped? Yes. Is it an ideal situation, well not really. But we'll make it work. I love the bro and his woman and kids so we'll make it work.

Well, I guess I really have nothing further to add at this time, so good day.

Doctor Who: Partners In Crime (series 4, episode 1)

Adipose is a revolutionary new pill that allows a persons fat to just "walk away"... literally. The fat is supposed to break away from a person while they sleep and became a cute little glob of lard with legs and hands and charming facial features. They are really quite cute. The only hitch is that the customers don't know how they are losing the fat, they just know that they are. All of this is an evil plot masteminded by a tyranical and seemingly insane company head.

The conspiracy unfolds with a typical villain mistake of revealing the evil plan to a reporter who is tied up, while Donna (a nosey woman with a past in the show) and the current Doctor.

The story is extremely corny with many moments of very thick cheese, and yet it is surprisingly (or not so surprisingly given the nature of the show) interesting from start to finish. I must admit to not seeing very many episodes of the series and so the background story tie-ins don't make a whole lot of sense to me, but the main plot line held up enough for a casual viewer to enjoy the first episode of this season).


Stay tuned to this blog for more reviews of "Doctor Who" and a huge amount of reviews of the original Star Trek series.


NP - Pink Floyd: Take It Back

Top 10 Favorite Albums of 2007

2007 was a great year for music. There were so many albums that I really liked that I found it hard to really devote much time to everything that deserved more spins. The main contributor to that being the new Rush, Dream Theater, & Coheed discs. It seems these 3 received more plays than anything else. There are also some albums that I didn't spend much time with at all (Ozzy, Foo Fighters, Melanie C., just to name a few) that I'm going to do my best to return to in the coming days. Until then though, here are my top 10 favorite albums of 2007:



10: Thought Chamber - Angular Perceptions

This is a prog-metal fans dream. An album filled with scorching guitars, incredible keyboard lines, and the vocals of none other than Enchant lead vocalist Ted Leonard. This is one of the albums that I definitely need to spend a lot more time on because it just smokes.

Top 2: "Sacred Treasure", and "Transmigration of Souls"



09: Pain of Salvation - Scarsick

I'll admit that this one took me a few listens, it's very different from the album that got me into the band 'BE', however it eventually clicked. This is another fine prog album, very moody and dark in places, but full on rock in others. I'm really falling in love with Daniel's voice, and expect to check out their back catalogue this year.

Top 2: "Cribcaged", and "Kingdom of Loss"



08: Poison - Poison'd

Poison are not new to covers, in fact I believe most of their albums have at least one cover, so it comes as no surprise that glam metal kings rewarded their fans with this nice collection of cover tunes. The band pay tribute to acts like Bowie and Petty, just to name a few. With only 8 new covers, some previously released covers were tacked on to the end of the disc.

Top 2: "I Need To Know", and "Just What I Needed"

07: The Flower Kings - The Sum of No Evil

Roine and company are back with another beautiful progressive album. Once again they treat their fans to their jamband like instrumental passages, and beautiful melodies, not to mention the vocals which send shivers down my spine. Another solid release from this great band.

Top 2: "One More Time", and "The Sum of No Reason"

06: Porcupine Tree - Fear of A Blank Planet


If it weren't for new music from my top favorite bands this would be my #1 of 2007. I admit that I really haven't listened to many of the bands albums before this, and that this one got so much play because Alex Lifeson guest stars, but I just love this disc from start to finish. Such a diverse prog-rock album here that it reveals itself more upon each listen.

Top 2: "Fear of a Blank Planet", and "Anesthetize"





05: Dream Theater - Falling Into Infinity Demos

I've always loved the official release of 'Falling Into Infinity', but the demos version completely trumps it. This is how Mike Portnoy saw the album as being, and this is how it should have been. Before all of the label demands, and guest writers, this album was a more proggy affair, and far more pleasing. With this release we also get all of the songs that had to be cut to make the official a 1 disc release.

Top 2: "Raise the Knife", and "The Way It Used To Be"



04: Neal Morse - Sola Scriptura


Neal teams up once again with Randy George and Mike Portnoy to craft yet another excellent epic concept prog rock masterpiece. With only 4 songs to choose from this has to be one of the best concept albums I've heard in sometime. Start to finish I am thoroughly impressed with where the trio has gone this time around.

Top 2: "The Door", and "The Conflict"



03: Coheed & Cambria - No World for Tomorrow


2007 saw the end of the Coheed and Cambria storyline, and they went out in a great fashion. This may not be my favorite Coheed album to date, but it is a great album from start to finish. The band are on fire, and Claudio is sounding excellent the entire duration. The only let down for me was the let down that is "The Fall of House Atlantic", otherwise, solid release!

Top 2: "Feathers", and "The End Complete"



02: Dream Theater - Systematic Chaos

I should stop being surprised everytime DT outdo themselves. I never thought they would one-up 'Octavarium', but 'Systematic Chaos' is an amazing album. There is plenty of pure all out metal on this one, but with the prog sound that this band has perfected. The album is sandwiched with easily my favorite Dream Theater song to date. "Repentenance" is a bit boring to me, but that is the only track I don't absolutely adore.

Top 2: "In the Presence of Enemies", and "Ministry of Lost Souls"
01: Rush - Snakes & Arrows

Where do I begin? This is the album that I have been waiting for from Rush. If I had to compare it to another album I would say it's an amazing mix of 'Presto' and 'Counterparts', two of my favorite Rush albums. The boys have really outdone themselves this time with a collection of 13 songs that rival the best of Rush. There is not a dull moment on the entire disc for me (though 1 song did take some getting used to: "The Larger Bowl"). I loved 'Vapor Trails', but 'Snakes' for me, is easily one of my favorite all time Rush albums, and the album I knew they had in them (and let's not forget: guitar solo's are back!)

Top 2: "Bravest Face", and "Malignant Narcissism"

NP: Neal Morse - The Door

Gearing up for a new Dream Theater album

Hot on the heels of Rush's 'Snakes & Arrows' album, comes the brand new disc from progressive metal gods Dream Theater. So far I have heard "Constant Motion" and "The Dark Eternal Night", and if these songs are any indication, this is going to be a killer album. Below is some general information on the album:



The Special Edition DVD will include:--- the entire album mixed in 5.1 surround sound--- "Chaos in Progress - The Making of Systematic Chaos"(a 90-minute documentary directed by Mike Portnoy)



The CD's track listing for both editions is:

1. In The Presence of Enemies Pt.1 (9:00)

2. Forsaken (5:36)

3. Constant Motion (6:55)

4. The Dark Eternal Night (8:51)

5. Repentance (10:43)

6. Prophets Of War (6:01)

7. The Ministry of Lost Souls (14:57)

8. In The Presence of Enemies Pt.2 (16:38)


All I personally know for sure is that "Repentance" is the continuation of the AA Saga, and that fans should not judge the tone of the album based upon the two officially released tracks. Stay tuned to www.dreamtheater.net , www.mikeportnoy.com & http://www.myspace.com/dreamtheater for more information.

NP: Dream Theater - A Sort of Homecoming

The Buzzing Buzzes of the Buzzing Buzzard

First off, I suppose I better update on the condition of my little Squishy (Samantha). It turns out that she had an alergic reaction to the shots she got Friday. They are very routine shots... in fact she had the same exact shots a couple months ago. Anyhow, after recieving another shot, and being switched back to her original formula, she seems to be back to her happy old self.

Saturday after all of this we had a party for the 3 pre-school classes at my kids' school. It went mostly okay, although very very few kids from the 3 classes showed up. I feel bad for my wife who put everything into this party to give the kids a great end of year party, but it seems parents just didn't feel the need to let the kids hang out with their friends one final time. Oh well, I still think Janae is a great person for having tried, and I love her even more for it.

Sunday (that was yesterday according to my clock), my daughter and her soccer team (The Dazzling Soccer Bratz) played their final game of the season. Selena even got a point... for the wrong team, but oh well, she still got a point and I'm counting it (and can you really fault a father for being so proud of his little girl?). It was obvious the girls were having fun, and even though they didn't win, I could not be prouder of my little bucket.

anhow, that's all for the moment...

NP: Neal Morse 'One'

My Baby Girl Samantha

My baby girl, Samantha, got her four month shots yesterday. She cried when they stuck the needle in her tiny leg, as you can imagine, but otherwise seemed fine. She spent the day sleeping, which is normal, at least for our kids. She even slept through the night, which is normal for Samantha... she is a good baby.

Then, this morning, all hell broke loose. She started screaming her little head off, usually signaling "hey people, feed me". My wife got up to feed her and noticed she was burning up. Janae took her temperature and it was hovering around 105ish! She gave Samantha tylenol and a bath and that helped a little, but with a little baby (especially one that had RSV) a trip to the ER was just about mandatory.I'm here alone with the two big kids now, while Janae sits at the hospital, me missing her, and presumably, her missing me.

The last I heard, Samantha had an allergic reaction to the shots, and someone is supposed to be coming to give her little tummy an x-ray.So, if you are the type of person that prays, pray for my baby. All others, positive vibes, good karma, whatever have ya... we could use whatever you can give.

What Have I Been Up To?

I guess you clicked here, so for some strange ass reason you wish to know what I have been up to. The answer is, not very damned much.

My wife and I wanted to take the kids to see the new Pirates movie Saturday, but we came too late so we saw "Wicker Man" instead. Not a bad movie if you disregard the final scene of the movie. I hate that "6 Months Later" crap.

We bought a bed for the baby Saturday, nothing great, but very safe and it looks pretty comfortable. This makes it a little more real to me. My wife and I have been trying to have another baby since Selena was about three months old, and she'll be 4 in March, so we are definitely looking forward to welcome the new addition to our home.

Thursday we find out the sex of the baby. If boy, Alex Lifeson will be it's name. The name comes from the guitarist of Rush, the band that is tied for my favorite band with Dream Theater. If it's a girl, her name will be Samantha Lynn. Samantha after the name of the main charachter in my first novel 'The Stranger Within'. The Lynn is not only Janae's middle name, but my sister-in-law's middle name. So that's cool.

I took a bit of a break on my book for the summer, taking notes and changing only a few things here and there, but will resume work tomorrow morning. I'm really looking forward to it. I've decided to make a charachter that had only a small part, into a more central person in the story line, and this will definitely make things much better. I really believe that I can get this sold.

There are two other books that I have gone back into the last couple of months to keep my writing fresh. A fantasy novel that I'm working on with my friend Heath, and a murder/mystery that my sister-in-law Tonya, and I, started many years ago.

I'm gonna get to work now, I've got to verify some sales and run a few reports for the day shift ops. So until later... later.


NP: Ayreon - Waracle (acoustic 'TFE' special edition version)

I Have Returned

I got tired of this blogger stuff because all of the video's on my page made the loading time annoying (and I am at a T3 connection!). Finally I decided to delete all of the video's and return, because I must admit, some of postings amuse me still, and I want to return to that (I will finally end this sentence now).

Anyhow, the goings on in my life are as follow:


The Work -
For the most part work is decent, my problem is the rest of the companies horrible communication with me. I work overnight so I rarely see the other members of the IT team. This is bad for the following recent frustrations:

a) I'm going on vacation at the end of this month. To do this I have to train the guy who replaced the guy who trained me. At this point nobody else knows how to do most of my work. Unfortunately the guy I am supposed to train continuously puts it off and it's starting to really annoy the hell out of me.

b) The director of IT tells me nothing, and answers none of my e-mails about important client related issues.

c) The one that has me the most pissed off today is that one of the other IT members erased a folder full of templates that THEY did not use without even considering that maybe I use them. This resulted in an extra TWO HOURS worth of work for me.

and finally...

d) Because the company can't seem to find a sales verifier worth a shit, they asked me to do SOME of these verifications, which soon turned into MOST verifications, and soon thereafter turned into ALL verifications... UGH

Vacation soon though, very soon. The best thing about this job is that I am working for the best bosses I ever have. The owner is incredibly friendly and takes the time to compliment when it is deserved. And the current site manager is the best that we have ever had.


The Home -

Both of my kids are now in school. My little princess, Selena, who is in a half day pre-school, and my little butt-head Robbie, who is in full day pre-school. This is a good thing on most days. I know it helps them, and they are getting smarter everyday. But there are downsides. While I still see a lot of Selena, it's Robbie that I haven't seen as much.

Wednesday morning as I was working on my reports, I realized that all for the first time in his life, I went a whole day without giving Robbie a hug. You wouldn't think it would hurt to realize this, but I'm a bit sensitive and it made me break down.

I guess I'm a bit sensitive because of how terribly I was treated in high school. Teenagers just don't realize how damned cruel they can be. I am a fairly decent guy, but nobody bothered to get to know me. I guess it doesn't matter now though, since I am happy, regardless of what the pricks in high school treated me like.

Also, my sister-in-law had Sophia last Thursday. She is a little cutie with strawberry blonde hair.


And finally, The Pregnancy-

Janae is still getting morning sickness, nearly everyday, at any time of the day ("morning" sickness my ass!). She is starting to show and is so damned beautiful. I don't know how it's possible but she is somehow more beautiful when she is pregnant.

We are very excited to meet the new addition to our family in January, and we actually get to find out the sex of the baby the 22nd of this month, which also happens to be my little boy's 5 birthday!


Alright, that's all for now. Be good kiddies.


NP: Rush - Der Trommler

Goodbye Uncle Mike

My uncle Mike passed away Friday Evening. I wanted to say goodbye, and that I will never forget you Uncle Mike. I love you.

Frank Zappa - Hot Rats

I'm still working on getting the entire FZ collection, and this past weekend I picked up 'Hot Rat's. Thanks to 'Strictly Commercial' and 'Tinseltown Rebellion' I had already heard the incredible "Peaches en Regalia" but the rest of the record completely blows me away!

The disc starts with "Peaches", one of the best FZ instrumentals as far as I'm concerned, and the album does not let up for one moment. Although "Willie the Pimp" features lyrics it's the instrumentation that steals the show. "Son of Mr. Green Genes" follow... nine minutes of pure jazz/rock genious. "Little Umbrellas" is less rock and more jazz, not too mention less time. Clocking in at just over three minutes, this is the shortest track on the album.

The big piece of the album is the nearly 17 minute epic piece "The Gumbo Variations". I can sum this track up in one word, "WOW"! The highpoints of this track are a saxophone solo and a violin solo that just defy logic. This song alone was worth the $12 I shelled out for the disc. I think that if I had heard this earlier I would have all of Zappa's albums by now.

The album closes out with "It Must Be A Camel". A very traditional jazz piece with some incredible piano and drum work, and a perfect closer for the disc. I can easily see this being on my top 5 favorite Zappa albums list in the future.


NP: Frank Zappa - The Gumbo Variations

Top 5, Pt. 3

Today I want to mention five songs that I think are worse than any others songs in existence. For a couple I don't know the name of the "artist" who force fed this crap down our throats and I really don't think the songs deserve the time it would take for me to figure out who penned the garbage.

Black Eyed Peas - My Humps... Without a doubt the #1 worst song EVER
"artist" unknown - I'm In Love With a Stripper
James Blunt - You're Beautiful
anything at all by emenim... yeah, this is cheating, but I really dislike his "music"
"artist" unknown - Laffy Taffy

Don't try and argue with me... I'm right and you know it!


NP: Spock's Beard - Goodbye to Yesterday

Web Designer For Hire

I'm interested in building and maintaining a website. Although I have had no college training, I did teach myself how to program a website and I would love to try making one professionally. Contact me if you are interested.

What I Listened to At Work Last Week

Sunday Jun 4 - Sunday Jun 11

Erik Norlander to Release DVD

from MelodicRock.com:

Press Release / Los Angeles, CA - Master keyboardist and prolific composer Erik Norlander is proud to announce the release of his first DVD documenting his landmark concert in St. Petersburg, Russia. Erik Norlander and Friends - Live in St. Petersburg contains 90 minutes of concert material from this spectacular event plus the 45-minute documentary, The Road to Russia, which tells the story of Erik's three month tour across the USA and Europe leading up to the final concert in St. Petersburg. The documentary contains interviews with Erik and all of the contributing musicians along with additional concert performances from American and European shows. "Erik Norlander and Friends - Live in St. Petersburg" also contains a bonus audio CD with the best tracks from the concert along with two studio tracks including a soaring cover of From Russia With Love featuring the iconic vocals of Norlander's wife, Lana Lane.

Live in St. Petersburg features the vocals of Lana Lane along with the now familiar voice of Kelly Keeling who appeared previously on Norlander's Music Machine (2003) and Stars Rain Down (2004) CDs. Keeling also plays bass in the concert ably switching between fretless and fretted basses throughout the show. Joining Norlander, Lana and Keeling on stage are the Dutch musicians Peer Verschuren on guitar and Ernst Van Ee on drums who have been touring together with Norlander and Lane for several years from Europe to Japan. Verschuren and Van Ee have been previously featured on Norlander's "Stars Rain Down" album and also appear on the recent Lana Lane titles, Lady Macbeth and 10th Anniversary Concert (both 2005). Like Kelly Keeling, Peer Verschuren was also a prominent contributor to Norlander's 2003 rock opera, "Music Machine", so it is no surprise that many tracks from this masterwork have found their way into the St. Petersburg concert. The stomping rocker "Beware the Vampires", the anthemic ballad "Fallen", the sprawling space jam "Sky Full of Stars" and the unforgettably melodic "One of the Machines" are standout pieces on the DVD.

Live in St. Petersburg also showcases Norlander's uncanny ability for re-interpreting cover songs by his favorite artists. Norlander's version of the Procol Harum classic, A Salty Dog moved audiences around the world with the soulful voice of Kelly Keeling delivering the lyrics with power and substance. "A Salty Dog" was brought into the set to follow Norlander's Rocket Scientists standard, "Mariner", which Keeling also takes to new heights with his soaring vocals and fluid fretless bass. Another classic cover featured on the DVD is Norlander's arrangement of In the Court of the Crimson King sung with grace and style by Lana Lane as she has done in concert since her Queen of the Ocean tour in 1999. In addition to the bow to original prog rockers King Crimson, Norlander also puts in nods to Vivaldi and Grieg as part of the piece. For this DVD, "In the Court of the Crimson King" is taken from the Cal Prog 2004 festival in Whittier, California where Norlander and friends helped to launch the inaugural version of this now established event in the progressive rock community. The final cover song on the DVD is a new studio recording of the James Bond theme, "From Russia With Love", sung by Lana Lane and used as the soundtrack to a video montage of the group's visit to Russia.

As with Norlander's previous DVD effort, the Lana Lane 10th Anniversary Concert, the Live in St. Petersburg DVD is expertly mixed in Dolby Stereo and also in DTS 5.1 Surround to capture all the subtle nuances of the concert experience. The bonus audio CD is packed with 78 minutes of music, the best performances from the St. Petersburg concert plus the studio tracks of "From Russia With Love" and a new version of "Fanfare for Absent Friends" which first appeared on Norlander's 2004 electronic effort, "Seas of Orion". Both tracks feature Ernst Van Ee on drums and Don Schiff on NS/Stick and were recorded especially for this release.

For fans of Erik Norlander, Lana Lane, Rocket Scientists and progressive music in general, Erik Norlander and Friends - Live in St. Petersburg is a must - see concert DVD event. Don't miss it!

Live in St. Petersburg contains the concert performances of: Fanfare for Absent Friends Part One . Neurosaur . Dreamcurrents . Mariner . A Salty Dog . Sky Full of Stars . Alexandria . Guardian Angel . Oblivion Days . Peer's Guitar Solo . Beware the Vampires . Secrets of Astrology . Fallen . One of the Machines . Fanfare for Absent Friends Part Two.

St. Petersburg concert running time [91:30], The Road to Russia documentary running time [51:30], Total DVD running time 2 hours, 23 minutes.
Bonus audio CD running time [77:30].
Released July 26. WebLink: www.eriknorlander.com

Kottonmouth Kings - Koast II Koast

Dream Theater - Score (Coming Aug. 29th)

From MP.com (visit link for a 1 minute sample):

Dream Theater's latest live CD and DVD "SCORE" is currently scheduled for release on Aug 29th 2006 on Rhino Records.
(date may vary slightly in different countries)



























The 3-CD and 2-DVD sets will be available seperately.
Both versions will contain the entire "20th Anniversary World Tour" grand finale recorded live at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 1st 2006.
(nearly 3 hours of music - over 90 minutes of which was performed with a full orchestra)

The DVD will also contain a 1 hour Documentary tracking the entire career of the band from the very beginnings at the Berklee College Of Music in 1985 all the way to the Radio City Music Hall grand finale.
Including rare never before seen footage and interviews with current and previous members of the band.

Also included on the DVD are several live Bonus Tracks from through the years taken from the Portnoy Archives.



from Rob:

In case you've been living under a truck,

In the Name of God outro (intro tape)

1. The Root of All Evil
2. I Walk Beside You
3. Another Won
4. Afterlife
5. Under a Glass Moon
6. Innocence Faded
7. Raise the Knife
8. The Spirit Carries On

~~~intermission~~~

9. Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence:

10. I Overture
11. II About to Crash
12. III War Inside My Head
13. IV The Test That Stumped Them All
14. V Goodnight Kiss
15. VI Solitary Shell
16. VII About to Crash (reprise)
17. VIII Losing Time/Grand Finale
18. Vacant
19. The Answer Lies Within
20. Sacrificed Sons
21. Octavarium

~~~encore~~~

22. Metropolis pt 1

Vocals: James LaBrie
Guitar: John Petrucci
Keyboards: Jordan Rudess
Bass: John Myung
Drums: Mike Portnoy

Yes my friends, this is gonna ROCK!!!!

Real Quick

Just a couple of very quick things that are on my mind right now:

01 - I really have to pee...
02 - Really, Really Bad...

... thanks for tuning in.


NP: Spock's Beard - She Is Everything

"Weird Al" vs. that Blunt Guy

"Weird Al" is back. I'm not sure if this is slated to be on the next album, but he tears apart probably the worst song to ever disgrace the planet.

Visit "Weird Al" at his homepage for the download link. Pure comical genious!


NP: Frank Zappa - The Central Scrutinizer

Excellent Site for Prog Fans

Click Here


NP: Spock's Beard - The Light

Free Writing, Pt. 1

For a fun little project I am going to write for ten minutes straight, and publish what I write. None of this is meant to be taken seriously, I'm just very bored:



The dog was very hungry. He could not remember the last time he had eaten, and even if he tried to he would only be more hungry. Best not to think of unpleasent things like that. Then again, everything has been unpleasent since he lost his job at the shoe factory. Although he could not remember when he was told, the owner insisted there was a rule that stated eating the shoes was not allowed... apparantly the dog was the asshole.

The sun was beating down on his ungroomed yellow coat, and the heat was almost as bad as the pangs of hunger. Now that he thought about, maybe the dog was not hungry. And now that I think of it, maybe the dog is not a dog, but a goldfish...

The goldfish was sick of swimming in his tiny bowl of tepid, misty water. Oh how he longed for the days of his youth when he would swim carefree in the giant tank at the tiny pet store. Sure there were immense moments of annoyance when small children would bang on the side of the tank, but once he went deaf there were no worries in the world. No worries that is until the giant kangaroo bought him and placed him in this bowl nearly three years ago to the day.

The kangaroo wasn't such a bad guy, at least not to the fish. He may have a habit of never cleaning the fishbowl water, and sure the bong water was occasionally spilled into the already murky depths of the depthless bowl, but overall it wasn't too bad having a kangaroo for an owner. As the goldfish's daddy had always said, "gargle dee gurgle dee gooper". Truer words had never been said by anyone. The goldfish had a very wise dad.

A talking mailbox was the death of the dad of the goldfish. Goldfish Sr. had been out mowing the lawn when the mailbox slinked up beside him and told him his pants were on fire. When Goldfish Sr. jumped into the small swimming pool to douse the flames it was in such a panic that he had forgotten that he could not swim. His pants were not on fire, in fact he was not even wearing pants... in fact, fish can swim, so maybe his father was still alive. In fact, maybe his father was not a dead fish, but a live blade of grass...

The beautiful blade of grass was blowing in the cool afternoon breeze, feeling the wind through out it's decadent body. The blade of grass flashed a smile at a pretty female lobster that had just passed by him in the lot, but of course the lobster took no notice. In fact no pretty girls had paid the blade of grass any heed since it's horribly debilitating accident.

It was just three months ago when the blade of grass had been out for an evening stroll when he fell into a sewer drain. Trapped inside with a broken leg for nearly a week, the blade of grass spent it's days cursing Lassie. Sure the dog could help Timmy for the umpteenth millionth trip down the well, but there would be no help for the blade of grass. Also during that time the blade of grass would ponder, "What if I am not a blade of grass," it asked itself time and time again. "What if I am nothing more than a sneeze..."

The sneeze was having a bad day. Just moments ago it had been living the high life inside the mouth of the bowling bowl, but in one single life changing moment the sneeze was living on the wind. Not that the wind was so bad to the sneeze, hell the wind told the greatest stories of popcorn and spray cans, but the sneeze was just not happy with the way it's life had been going the last fifty or so seconds.

The sneeze tried to enter the mouth of a passing were-pig in a heroic act of a nice sneeze, but when the street sweeper drove by the life of the sneeze was seriously questioned by the street sweeper...

"I wonder why that sneeze even bothers to live," the street sweeper says out loud. The street sweeper was talking to itself a lot more often these days. Not questions really, but whole conversations in which he would converse with himself about himself. The thought of a slipping sense of sanity had occured to the street sweeper, but then do inanimate objects really have thoughts? Especially an inanimate object such as a large sweet streeping vehicle?!?! No, the answer of course is "no", because that would just be silly.