It's like 10 am and I'm waiting for the repair person.  It's fucking hot, humid, and almost unbearable!  I'm old enough to remember the 1970s and before, when nobody had air conditioning in their house. 

When I went to check the cut-off circuit outside the house last night, a small hail of sparks emitted.  So I shut the main breaker circuit and sit here sweating and waiting.  I hate the Summer, ...wish it would give a complete miss and go from Spring to Autumn! 

I am but the simple (relatively) elegance of complexity.  The boy inside never dies!  What's the saying "The boy is the father to the man."?  ...something like that.

As age shows the self, more-and-more of itself, I can see that I am definitely an added amalgam of "individuals".  There are many, but most are a bit foggy.  There are two, though, that are abundantly recognizable.

One thing is sure, the boy, as much as the adult believes it is in control of things, ...the child never goes away.

Here's a good example experienced recently - Russian classes!  Learning another language, whether you love it or not, is an admirable thing, ...for the adult.  School, in general, is one of the best things you can do for your soul.  It is the hardest and most difficult time, at least for me, but it is THE most rewarding.  I still get a real rush when I see my diploma hanging.

Anyhow, last Wednesday, I got to skip class.  The child was overjoyed, ...absolutely enthralled by the freedom of responsibility and, more importantly, getting away with something!

I take my Russian lessons every Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Last Wednesday, both my instructor and I had to cancel class.  I found out early that morning, and the rest of the day I was on cloud nine!  Although the adult governs, the child is alive and active!  The child was very happy last Wednesday!

I love class!  It is so rewarding, and to finally learn my most favorite language, ...it really is a rush.  I also, however, anticipate each class with dread and fear.  Each is a mess of uncertainty, as I always feel so far behind, and at each, I mind myself subdued to a nearly complete lack of control.  There is a definite and defined line between these two "selves".

A waitress came to our table and I immediately noticed her beautiful accent.  I asked where it was from and, lo and behold, she comes from Russia!

I feel so accomplished!  That waitress was well-impressed, too ;)

Sorry for the delay, Bob!  My provider has been acting funky lately.  I've been writing, but nothing went up.

Just as excuse to post, ...we had a really cool fire today, ...right near the office!

Only a few miles from the office, at about 9am, an acetylene storage place went up.  It was easy finding my way this morning, ...just follow the long, vertical plume of smoke as it converged towards the office as I neared ;)

Love the casuals, love the team, love that city,  ..it rained almost every day!  Everything is so suspiciously wonderful ;)

A more detailed bio can be found on the Wiki under Nolan_Bushnell

The Mumbo Jumbo Party on Wednesday night was awesome.  Really nice job, Michele and Kate!

It was at the Seattle Arts Museum, and a really nice setting.  Best party of the week, actually.

They had me dressed up in my Russian garb and serving vodka all night.  Well, I ended up serving mostly myself, but it was a professional duty, and who better to "serve" vodka?

Why does drinking vodka make my pronunciation so much better?  It's the same with tequila and Spanish, too.  I think the alcohol subdues the overriding software package that normally analyses my actions too much.  The language just flowed out off my mouth.

At times, I felt like the Germans in Stalingrad during the Great Patriotic War, ...with the Russians and others coming in waves, trying to get me to fall.  I didn't, though!  Ya Texaski muzhik!  (I'm a Texan dude!)

This is Varvara and me.  I only got to see her at the party.  I wanted to see her and Dimmie the next day, but didn't.  I was sure I needed to apologize after so many vodka battles ;)

This is the latest fixation for me, ...Julia Savicheva (Юлия Савичева)!  Great, great music, and she is a great inspiration to learning more Russian when I get apathetic ;)

I believe what I love the most about the face is a long muzzle and well-established noise.  It really turns me on!  It must be genes or some innate software talking.  It's almost like someone took the face, grabbed the muzzle, and pulled it outwards a bit.  The "cutesy" look (button nose, etc.) doesn't seem to cut it for me.

This was strange!  My house is getting full, I mean really full!  It's a small house.  I like small, mostly for the maintenance, like cleaning and such.  It was built in the early 1960s.

At some point in its history, someone changed the 2-car garage into a living area.  This is very cool.  The "living" area is now my computer room, and I wonder how the original family coped with such a small living room (the house has three bedrooms, so it's not meant for a small family).

Anyhow, I have almost every toy from my childhood (I do love the eBay;), along with a myriad of collectables from being in the game industry, and the typical assortment of just plain 'stuff',  ...AND no garage!  Things are getting cramped!

So, I figured, it's time to move up, ...look for a place with at least double the square footage, and a garage.  As I searched, I realized that I truly love this house and its situation and, especially, the neighborhood.  I don't want to leave!

This house is perfect!  I'm on a cul-de-sac, so the traffic is null.  The neighbors are great (except for the dog in the back, but that's all quiet now;).   I have a large backyard due to the cul-de-sac's irregular shape and, like the cul-de-sac itself, everything is very secluded.  It's just far enough from work to be "away", but still only a short 9-minute commute.  I was in a real quandary about needing to leave what I have.

Then I remembered that the neighbors straight across from me wanted to sell their house a year ago.  So, I asked if they were still interested.  They are, and a solution to everything is at hand!  I'm buying their house next month, if all goes well ;)

That's the new place, in the picture, on the other side of the ambulance.

Having two houses will be cool, too!  One for me, to live in and be as messy (read: "comfortable") as I like, and the other one kept clean and neat for company and such.  All the costs should work out the same between a double-sized house and two separate ones - heating/cooling, other utilities.  The lawn dudes, maybe that's an extra expense, but fuck it ;)

Buying real estate is always, always a good thing, too.

Anyhow, the strange thing related to the story, ...last Friday, I'm over talking to these neighbors after returning for the day from work.  As I walk back to my house, I walk by my next-door neighbor's house.  Instantly I'm thinking how cool THIS would be, ...to have two houses, on the same cul-de-sac and all, right next to each other.

The neighbor is a widower (both sides, btw, I have widowers), which is cool because it means she is home most of the time, ...watching.

The thought streamed through my head without any control, of the even-more-coolness if I could buy that house and just connect the two.  One REALLY big yard and all.  Then came the second thought that she is never leaving, being a widower, until she is dead.  That won't happen for a while, and I'm happy and lucky to get the one I'm getting.

The thoughts are gone as I go into my house and boot-up the `puter for a night of vodka and Age Of Empires.  The window for my computer room looks right out onto the next-door neighbor's front lawn, by the way.

Twenty minutes later, I hear the screaming sound of sirens, and right next door, an ambulance and fire truck pull up!  Although I'll adamently tell you that I do not believe in a god nor any king of supernatural thing, my very next thought was "Shit, I don't want the house THAT much!".

She's okay now, but had fallen down due to a medication maladjustment and was lying on her floor for 24+ hours ;(  Anyone living alone, even someone as young as I think I am, should get one of those alarm systems that you can alert paramedics in these cases.

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