Annoying Pain Bird

Birds do not sing. They shout. Loudly. I have no idea where this image of happy birds melodically communicating to each other, filling the air with inflating musical notes comes from. Most of their chirps are ear-piercing shrieks, and the ones that are somewhat melodic are just annoying. And they insist on doing the vast majority of their chirping when I'm sleeping with the windows open because it's incredibly hot and humid in this part of Japan. Perhaps if they "sang" the same tune, it wouldn't be so bad, but instead I get a dozen different species yelping different notes at different tempos, creating a cacophonous headache that would have the Dave Matthews Band covering their collective ears.

Turn on the A/C you say? Not a bad idea, except if I allow myself to turn it on at night it will be on every night, racking up my electric bill to a point where paying it is more annoying than the birds. I suppose I can just turn it on sometimes, and leave the windows open other times, but it doesn't really work that way, does it? I've made a rule, designating July and August as the only A/C friendly months.

And so I'm left dealing with this absurdity for another couple nights. I guess sometimes tragic and horrible things happen to good people.

Enjoy this likely unrelated quote:

"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense."

--Buddha

Random Acts of Narcissism

After years of whoring myself out over the web via social networking sites, vlogging, podcasting, and more recently Twitter, I'm finally sitting down to write my first legit blog. You see, every other medium has contained within it a denial of the rampant solipsism that rules the internet: MySpace and Facebook are ways for me to stay connected with people I know; my vlog is a way to keep my friends and family updated during my stay in Japan; the Metcalf up the Middle podcast is for Johnny and I to entertain ourselves more than anything else; I use Twitter to get news updates hear what the people of Iran have to say.

Personal blogging is just straight up narcissism. No way around it. Which is why I've always had an aversion to it. Why in the world would anyone care to read the ramblings of self-indulged geek, right? Nonetheless, here you are. And here I am. Here we are. Face to face. Perhaps I should explain.

Not so long ago, Bad Attitude Bob planted the blogging seed in my head--a suggestion I politely rejected based on the aforementioned. Then, very recently, I discovered Narm's blog, White-Collar Redneck. Sheer curiosity of a post title prompted me to take a look. Halfway into commenting about my favorite Saved By The Bell episode--that's when I realized that even a person as sophisticated as myself can enjoy amateurish bullshit. (It is quite entertaining, check it out, especially on Wednesdays.)

I'm not entirely sure the direction this thing will go, but I'm certain it won't be a "dear diary." Maybe a little bit of everything--together we'll laugh, we'll cry, we'll awesome.

So consider this my introduction; I promise future posts will be less boring.

Enjoy this likely unrelated quote:

"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it."

--Mark Twain