I bought me some shit-ass shelves today. Two feet wide, one foot thick, 14-15" in between each shelf. Four total. I'm killing birds left and right with this thing. The bottom two shelves are for clothes, the next one up is for my computer to sit on (I also bought this teeny-tiny blue fold-out chair to go with it for $8) so I at least have the OPTION of not lumping my ass on my bed 24 hours a day as I complete this novel; and the top shelf is for my Buddha candle, the picture I stole of Me and Megan from the boat cruise dance thingy, the picture of my brother and me drunkenly wrestling at my house in West Seattle, my digital clock I've had for nigh on to two decades now, and my Costa Rica figurines. I still have the huge 2' by 2' box I shipped all my clothes in at the foot of my bed. On the inside, I have clothes I don't need; on top I have my school supplies (pens, stapler, scissors, screwdrivers, etc), the two infamous pictures from the Toga Party (Jessica and Julie know what I'm talking about), and the Hard Rock Cafe drum sticks Jake bought me.

So, things are pretty much set up. On a whim, I decided to leave the apartment today (this, of course, is after I was up until 6am writing again, setting my alarm for noon, promptly re-setting the alarm for 2pm, then watching a bunch of segments from the Colbert Report on YouTube) at around 4pm. Just to do some walking around (if you hide in your apartment after a night full of gunplay, the terrorists win). Unable to find a pizza place that would take credit, I had my choice of McDonalds or White Castle. I don't think White Castle is winning me over as much as I'd anticipated, as I saw myself at McDonalds for the third time since I moved over here. However, on the way, I found this Used Furniture store. The old Spaniard tried to sell me some used, ratty-looking old desk for $30. I considered it, because it fit my criteria - almost. Three feet long, one and a half feet thick, proper height; but the damn desk top had an additional shelf that stuck out about halfway over, thereby not leaving me enough room for my laptop to rest without tipping over the edge. As I continued considering, though (because, really, the odds of finding a desk with those dimensions in a timely fashion within walking distance to my apartment just weren't up to snuff), I wondered how hard it would be to remove the top shelf part. Then, I realized: I'm NOT a fucking carpenter! I buy that desk for thirty, then I've gotta go out and buy some kind of saw, or a hammer to completely knock the shit out of that useless shelf. THEN, I've got to put in the work, and what does that net me? A $30 glorified table when I've just paid for the Desk Price!

That's when I ran into this weird Everything Store. It's also run by Mex ... er, Latinos, and they have Do-It-Yourself furniture, dishes, thrift-store type items, clothes, food/snacks. Even though I didn't walk through every aisle, I bet they even sold slaves somewhere in there (just keeping the demo's in front - posing with pitchforks and hoes - with those for sale kept for safe-keeping in the back).

So, the grand total for the shelves and chair was $40 after tax, but like I said, killing birds. I needed shelves for my clothes too, so this does me just fine.

Novel Update: Page 144. I'm just procrastinating, but I pretty much have the rest of the story mapped out. With the different ending I've concocted, I'm sure it'll require some massive retooling, but I'll have to wait and see what word is from those who read the first draft. Really, I'd be shocked if this thing is longer than 200.

OK, I'm gonna try to get to bed at a reasonable hour so I can get out for the Seahawks game tomorrow. Godbless.

This is the only thing I'm gonna be able to write today. I TRIED to get in bed at a reasonable hour last night, but I kept waking up every few minutes between 3 and 7am with new ideas for the end of my novel. I've got the notes written down, now I just gotta put them in the computer. But, not today.

Today, I'm too fucking exhausted. Woke up at 2pm again to go to Manhattan and watch my Seahawks look considerably better than last week in a 21-10 victory. The line looked a little better this week, but it still wasn't opening up the kind of holes it should've for Alexander. ANOTHER field goal was fucking blocked. But, MAN, those linebackers of ours look TOUGH. You know when LeRoy Hill is punking guys left and right on the way to the quarterback, when Julian Peterson is FLYING into Kurt Warner, and Tatupu is just beasting fools everywhere, there's just no stopping us. A couple coverage breakdowns led to some Arizona points, but overall, we looked SOLID. So much for The Edge and all those stud receivers on Arizona. We're alone on top of the NFC West, thanks to the 49ers, and I don't anticipate looking back.

So, you thought Pittsburgh Steelers fans were obnoxious? You thought Dallas Cowboys fans feel they're entitled to every fucking call going their way? You think being around Green Bay Packers fans is going to ruin your day when they're playing your team? Those fools have NOTHING on New York Giants fans!

I'm back at the ESPN Zone today and found a little corner of the bar area to the left, where there are about five or six heavy (and I mean HEAVY) Giants fans, and about five or six Philadelphia Eagles fans. Now, if you don't know, the Giants overcame a 17 point deficit to take the game in overtime by 6. When you're not a New York fan and you're at the ESPN Zone, the fucking LAST thing you want is extra New York football time! But, the Eagles blew it, and I've gotta tell you, there was one guy who (was drunk) and could NOT shut up! Like, take a Steelers fan, then FEED that Steelers fan to a Bears fan, and THEN beat that Bears fan over the head with a shovel until his IQ drops as low as it can go while still allowing the person to walk and drink mass quantities of beer, and that's this guy. Take this gem: After an Eagle player fumbled late in the fourth quarter and a Giants player recovered, one of the Eagles fans said, "Aren't they gonna challenge it?" To which, the fat, lumbering Giants fan said, "Naw, you can't! It's a fumble!" Apparently, when your team recovers a fumble - and your team happens to be the Giants - fumbles are no longer challengable plays. Gotcha, thanks guy.

I was never so happy to see a Giants game end in my life, but that just meant I was in time for the New York Jets game to start. Now, for as rowdy and jovial and stupid the Giants fans are, the Jets fans are sad, small, and pathetic. They've been beaten down for so long, life just has no meaning. I was standing in the same area and, after the Giants fans left, I was next to this old, skinny, short man rooting for the Jets. You'll never see a person in a lowlier state than when he's at the very end of a bar and his J-E-T-S are losing by 17 to New England. Even when the Jets started to make a comeback and the old man started getting into it (as opposed to slapping his fist down on the bar against a stack of newspapers he'd brought, cursing the coach's name), you could tell he didn't REALLY believe they'd go all the way and overtake their opponent. Not like the Giants fans, who don't care WHAT the score is, there's a fucking CHANCE!

By the way, it's true what they say, nothing pleases a New Yorker more than to see the New York team he DOESN'T root for lose. I'm of the opinion that a Giants fan would rather the Jets lose miserably than his own team win majestically, and vice-a-versa.

On a related note: I want you to think of your favorite NFL Football team. For many of you, it's probably the Seahawks, but for some of you fringe readers, it's the 49ers, Cowboys, Steelers, or Packers. Now, I want you to think of your favorite NFL Football team's main arch rival (or, just the team you happen to hate the most). And I don't want to hear your stupid-ass "It's the team we're playing this week" bullshit. For me, I have a number of despised teams. In the 90s, I didn't hate a team more hardcore than Dallas; and for a while there the Rams really cheesed me off; but over the long haul, I'm still in that AFC West mindset, so it's really a toss-up between the Broncos and the Raiders. If I had to pick one, I'd have to say that I still get the warm fuzzies when I see the Oakland Raiders lose.

Anyway, back to my point. Think of that Most Hated NFL Rival, and imagine if - at your place of employment - you had to wear a T-shirt with your hated-rival's logo or else you can't work there. Would you do it? I bring this up because all the bartenders at the ESPN Zone are forced to wear New York Mets T-shirt Jerseys, even though most, if not all of them are Yankees fans (I know those are baseball teams, but I don't consider the Mariners to have much of a rivalry with ANY fucking team; plus baseball sucks). The bartender who told us about it said that the NY Mets and ESPN have a paid agreement for the next 5 years and as a part of that agreement, ESPN Zone workers have to "root" for the Mets. That's a bummer, man.

You know what's NOT a bummer? The Seattle Seahawks were ON the Jumbo TV today! Well, the one on the left. BUT, while the Giants game was on the other Jumbo TV in overtime, the first quarter of the Jets game was on one of the little TVs. Take THAT! Fucking Jets!

Actually, no, next week it's going to be Fucking Giants, as they come into Seattle for a HUGE NFC Showdown. Suffice it to say, I'm NOT going back to the ESPN Zone. I'll be going to this other bar with that dude I met last week and we'll be a very lonely Seahawks Cheering Section. I'm thinking about breaking out the Joey Galloway jersey, but I'm worried that the shade of blue with the white numbers and lettering will confuse the moronic Giants fans into thinking I'm one of them. Today I wore my UW T-shirt and met someone who almost went to UW for track, but opted out because it rains all the time. Still, the random Seahawks fans knew who my alliance was for today.