The blog is back.

Yes, it has been a long time. Oh, well. I have much to say. Too much, in fact, to say it all at once. That's part of the problem. Once I had gone a week without blogging there was so much to write that I couldn't make the time to sit down and write it all. At this point I would need a full day. So, my choices are never blog again or to write a pathetically incomplete blog. Which is what I'm attempting to do now. So, you're about to recieve scattered pieces of the last three weeks. Hopefully, I'll be able to write more soon and fill in the pieces. But, some will likely be lost. That, I suppose, is the tragedy of failing to blog. Archiving these moments, thoughts, rants, etc is the central purpose for my blog, so I'm rather disappointed in my lack of bloggage. Too much to say, too little time.

I should start by finishing the tale I began in my previous entry. As you may recall, Krishna and I were working on a gas-turbine go-kart. The project came to a tragic end the night after I last blogged. That Tuesday saw tremendous progress on the kart. The frame was nearly finished, the mounts for the engine were done, and we had started to cut out pieces of the engine itself. I left briefly to retrieve an item from home and when I returned to the blacker courtyard I found a rather singed Krishna amid a group of sympathetic onlookers. The mighty plasma cutter had scattered too many droplets of red-hot steel and Krishna's sweatshirt caught fire leaving him with burns on his hands and face. We packed up, loaded the car and left for the emergency room. It was at Huntington Memorial Hospital that I made the lamentable decision of entering in the parking structure. When I heard a loud metallic grinding sound I remembered that I had an extended go-kart strapped to the car's roof. I've never had to worry about clearance before. The kart was largely demolished and the roof of my car was damaged. While Krishna made his way to the emergency room I untied the wreckage from the roof and removed the upper frame so that the car would pass easily through the exit. To add insult to injury I was out of cash and the parking attendent refused to let me leave. I had to wander around and look for an ATM. When I found one and withdrew $20 I learned that my balance had been only $1 which earned me a hefty overdraft fee. Including the ATM surcharge my account ended up at -$40.50 all for the sake of a fucking $2 parking charge. Waiting at home that night for Krishna to call me from the hospital was one of the most depressing times of the last several months in my life.

Over the next few days we returned all the cool equipment we had rented and packed up our unused parts into storage boxes. For several days my car still smelled like a cross between a machine shop and the Valdez oil spill. Krishna's burns are healing nicely.

Speaking of oil tankers, I had the privilege of driving a '67 Chrysler New Yorker. It belongs to Krishna and normally lives in a storage lot in La Habra. While he was visiting the car came up to Pasadena and I kept it around for a few days after Krishna left. It's a huge old graceful car that needs one of its many fluids refilled about every five minutes. It's fun to drive around in the ultimate pimp-mobile.

What's up with this SARS thing? It's annoying me already. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is the lamest name ever. Between Ebola and SARS I'd take Ebola any day just because the name is so much cooler. First, why bother naming it both severe and acute? Probably they just needed a vowel in the name and didn't want to leave it as ARS. And why is everything a "syndrome" these days? It's not a birth disorder, it's an infection. You don't talk about catching Flu Syndrome. What ever happened to plain old diseases? Worst of all, why do all new diseases have to be given acronyms instead of real names? AIDS and HIV, then SIDS, now SARS? Do doctors lack the creativity to come up with a name for it? Even making up a nonsense word or calling it something like Uberflu or Death Lung would be better than another damn acronym.

Last weekend I was out at the Bigfoot with a couple friends and one of them started talking with a group of girls. The girls announced that they were about to go dancing at a gay club and wanted us to go with them. I figured it was worth a try because I had never been to a gay club before. My compadres were fairly easily convinced as well. After a couple good debates about lesbians and evolutionary psychologists we found ourselves at the Ultra Suede in West Hollywood. The crowd was ok, certainly a different culture. The club itself wasn't that great. The music was mediocre at best and the drinks were overpriced. But, at least I can say I checked it out.

Well, that's it for now. I have much more to write. My next entry will probably happen sooner if people bug me about it. Feel free to prod.