Author Archives: Patrick Calder

“What the hell was that?!”

1 Reply | Posted by Patrick Calder on in design, music

I like it when it rains in the early evening. The rain itself is enough to make Sara happy. But if it’s summer out and a quick rain came in the early evening, then when it passes, you get the return of a half-light. It’s no longer day, but there’s a dawning after the storm.
Well… I like that, and the smell of hot asphalt as the first rain hits it.
I’m an easy boy to please. Now if I could just get Rajee to send me that damn hooker.
I really hate work right now. I hate questioning every day, why I am still there when no one else lasted. I hate going through the same shit with the requisite new set of people. I hate having so many ideas and so much experience and so many plans… and knowing every time I bring up the crappiest little idea that will keep us from looking like the completely disorganized baboons we are, it will be trodden upon, spit upon, watered down, and ignored. I hate looking the new guy’s face, listening to his enthusiasm and hope and expectations, and keeping my mouth shut, even though I can write out right now, word for word, what he will be complaining about in 4 months. And what he will be arguing about in 9 months, and why he will be gone in a little over a year. But of course… I’m just a bitter old-timer. It’s not like I know what’s going on.
I’ve been picking at something on my iPod. Off and on, while I listen to music, I’m thinking of a mix tape… or soundtrack. Usually soundtracks, because I can see the people and motions that go along with them. So far, my favorite soundtrack includes, in no particular order:
Meg Lee Chin — Bittersweet and Sour
Sleater-Kinny — The Last Song
Pigface — Kiss King
Bjork — Violently Happy
yeah… that’s all I can remember right now. The Pigface one is special. A song you could never find from a well known group or your favorite band, because you would be listening to them too much, instead of the music. Kiss King is just one of those song’s where I pulled the Pod out of it’s case and said “what the hell is this?!”.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!

Yes, I am a little pissed off. But only a little.

Leave a comment | Posted by Patrick Calder on in rant

Watch out. They just used the term ‘regime’ to refer to the leaders of Syria.
Fucking hell. You know somebody is holding a pro-war rally here tomorrow? How fucked up is that shit?
Just how mentally diseased and thoroughly mind-fucked do you have to be to be pro-war? I don’t personally know any soldiers who are pro-war. Most military people I’ve talked to say that war is the result of a failure. They don’t like having to do the job, but they do it because someone has to.
Some old man was on NPR this afternoon saying that he was very impressed with modern warfare. That unlike when he served, the weapons are much more precise. The body counts are much lower. Compared to 30 years ago? Maybe. Fewer soldiers, better equipped.
But modern warfare really sucks for the audience. Battles used to involve a couple groups of pissed off people throwing shit at each other in the middle of a field or forest. The only civilians killed were the dumb-asses who climbed the hill to watch the battle. But in the last fifty years, war has gotten to be very personal. Battles have moved into our cities and homes. That precision bomb strike to take out the foreign leader ONLY takes out maybe 10 civilians.
In the spirit of the oh so popular reality TV shows, I think we should get to vote a few celebrities into the army. I wanna send DCs police chief. The only time you see this man in the news is when he’s talking tough about taking on Protesters. Especially when they’re teenagers. He keeps his mouth shut during the real national rallies. But if it’s a bunch of high school kids pissed off at the world bank, he becomes dirty harry.
Fucking dickless wonder. Forget the friggin’ kids and do something about the increasing crime rates. About the increasing gang violence. About the police neglect and mistreatment. About the insane burglary rates and car thefts.
Why is it when some kid wants to yell at a businessman and stick a bumper-sticker on his window, I find no shortage of jack-booted, armor-plated, baton and shotgun wielding stormtroopers. But when five guys decided to do a dance on my head in the middle of the street, I waited an hour and a half for two patrol officers who wanted to search my apartment for signs of me abusing my nonexistent wife.

Please keep in mind that this post is more than 6 years old. Who the hell knows what I was thinking back then?! Damn kids... get off my lawn!