The following story might seem a bit convoluted, but if you follow me to the very end, it will all come together. Kind of like the movie Memento, which is awesome and I highly recommend seeing. On with the show.I went golfing last night with Kristian and Ryan. More on that later.
Just after getting out of the car, I got a phone call from Kerry. She told me that she had just gotten a call from her boss, who relayed to her that he was vacationing with some friends on Madeline Island. Said friends have known Kerry for years, as they are residents of the town she works in and frequent the nature center that she works at.
Making a long story very short, it turns out that they own the building that was the one-time residence of none other than Creepyguy himself. Yep. They’re his landlords. Crazy small world. They also confirmed that he no longer lives there, which is reason in itself to cheer and whoop and celebrate.
So last night’s golfing was fun. The night started well for me, but soon some darkish clouds started inching their way across the sky. By the fourth hole we started to hear some thunder rumbling, but the three of us pressed on, trying to convince ourselves that the thunder was far away and that there was no lightning.
By the end of the fifth hole, the lightning was becoming a bit obvious, and the sky was looking a little grim. The horn blew as we were on the tee box from the sixth hole, which signified that the course was closing. The problem was that that tee box is literally the farthest point on the entire course from the clubhouse and parking lot. So, we three brave golf warriors set out across the wide open course, dodging lightning bolts all the way to the parking lot. OK, all except the part about the lightning bolts.
We hopped into the car and drove off, and not two minutes after we started driving it started POURING. It was an absolute deluge, to the point where other cars had pulled off the road because they couldn’t see the road. It was an adventure, to say the least. That would not have been fun to have been stuck in.
After that I went home and played a little Starcraft with Reuben, who fell asleep. I stayed awake way too long after that, playing poker online (for fake money). I discovered this fun little browser-based site, which unfortunately screws up every once in a while. I blame Safari, Apple’s browser, which has some nice features yet still gets all wonky from time to time.
Showing posts with label creepyguy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label creepyguy. Show all posts
Ootlawed tunes on ootlawed pipes
I’ve been kicking around this idea for at least a year: The idea was to get together a bunch of rowdy guys and make a band that plays Irish music. Well, this idea came up again last week during a conversation with T-Rav, Rhyno, and Lundo. It expanded a bit to include some earthy-type rock music and some sea chanteys and the like. Anyhow, it finally happened last night. The name of this new acoustic superpower is “A Flock of Kobolds”.
We played through a bunch of tunes in Ryan’s basement, and actually ended up with semi-decent recordings of eight songs. The recordings were just into an open microphone, which resulted in some fairly loud cowbell and keyboards and some kinda quite guitars and vocals, but the whole endeavor was fantastically fun. The moments that really made us all go, “Yeah!” were on the choruses of songs where all of us in the room (including Brian, our audience of one) were singing at the same time. Another highlight was the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, where we went around the room with a new singer each verse. Good good good times. However, it turns out that all of us really suck at playing the bagpipes.
It’s a pretty effortless band, too. I don’t doubt for a second that we could play one of the Irish pubs around the city. It’s just a matter of getting all of the little details worked out, after the garishly big detail of preparing the music to the point that an audience, not just the players, would utter the collective, “Yeah!”.
I’m daring to get my hopes up here, but we haven’t seen Creepyguy since Sunday. I think that he actually did move away. I hope that he actually moved away. We’ll just have to see.
The summer is flying by at a horrific pace. I start school again in just two weeks. Yikes. That sucks. However, it’s my last year of school EVER, and that is quite a lot of awesome.
We played through a bunch of tunes in Ryan’s basement, and actually ended up with semi-decent recordings of eight songs. The recordings were just into an open microphone, which resulted in some fairly loud cowbell and keyboards and some kinda quite guitars and vocals, but the whole endeavor was fantastically fun. The moments that really made us all go, “Yeah!” were on the choruses of songs where all of us in the room (including Brian, our audience of one) were singing at the same time. Another highlight was the Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, where we went around the room with a new singer each verse. Good good good times. However, it turns out that all of us really suck at playing the bagpipes.
It’s a pretty effortless band, too. I don’t doubt for a second that we could play one of the Irish pubs around the city. It’s just a matter of getting all of the little details worked out, after the garishly big detail of preparing the music to the point that an audience, not just the players, would utter the collective, “Yeah!”.
I’m daring to get my hopes up here, but we haven’t seen Creepyguy since Sunday. I think that he actually did move away. I hope that he actually moved away. We’ll just have to see.
The summer is flying by at a horrific pace. I start school again in just two weeks. Yikes. That sucks. However, it’s my last year of school EVER, and that is quite a lot of awesome.
Thursday thoughts
Holy flying-by week, Batman. Hmm, Batman…that’s a good place to start.
Kerry, Gwen and I went to the lake last weekend. It was awesome. We spent a lot of time with my parents and did a lot of hanging out. I went waterskiing, which is always a blast. Unfortunately for me it involves the use of muscles that I don’t normally use, so I pooped out rather quickly. Still tons of fun.
On Saturday night Kerry and I left the punk with the grandparents and headed to Alexandria to see The Dark Knight. Holy crap what an awesome movie. It was a perfect comic book movie. Eight-and-a-half out of five stars. We’ll call it an even nine for the disappearing pencil trick.
Of course, that led me to want to see more comic book movies that I haven’t seen, so last night Kerry and I watched Spider Man 3. Wow…that movie really sucked. There were some slightly cool parts, but basically it was the same plot as the previous two with a lot more unnecessary crap added. As a whole, it was just a bad movie. Negative six out of five stars.
Rewind a bit. Chronology is not my strong suit this morning. Ryan, Kristian and I went golfing on Tuesday, and we all shot really well compared to a couple years ago. Ryan sunk an astounding birdie put from about 30 feet. Kristian chipped and hit the pin twice. I had three birdie chances (all of which resulted in an unfortunate, choke-under-the-pressure three-putt). We all had fun. Afterward we went out for drinks at Ol’ Mexico. It was a very good night just hanging out with the guys.
Kerry and I have seen Creepyguy in his window a few times this week, but there’s a wonderful turn of events there. See, if he sees us in our yard or whatever, he bolts away from his window faster than you can say “sketchy stalker”. This is a victory for us. See, he’s afraid that we’ll call the cops on him. He’s scared in his own home. Turnabout is fair play. He’s not gone yet, but I’m hoping that this is his last day (as it’s July 31st today) and that we can go back to Defcon 5 after tonight.
My I.P.A. is ready for bottling, so I’ll be trying to motivate myself to get that done tonight.
Kerry, Gwen and I went to the lake last weekend. It was awesome. We spent a lot of time with my parents and did a lot of hanging out. I went waterskiing, which is always a blast. Unfortunately for me it involves the use of muscles that I don’t normally use, so I pooped out rather quickly. Still tons of fun.
On Saturday night Kerry and I left the punk with the grandparents and headed to Alexandria to see The Dark Knight. Holy crap what an awesome movie. It was a perfect comic book movie. Eight-and-a-half out of five stars. We’ll call it an even nine for the disappearing pencil trick.
Of course, that led me to want to see more comic book movies that I haven’t seen, so last night Kerry and I watched Spider Man 3. Wow…that movie really sucked. There were some slightly cool parts, but basically it was the same plot as the previous two with a lot more unnecessary crap added. As a whole, it was just a bad movie. Negative six out of five stars.
Rewind a bit. Chronology is not my strong suit this morning. Ryan, Kristian and I went golfing on Tuesday, and we all shot really well compared to a couple years ago. Ryan sunk an astounding birdie put from about 30 feet. Kristian chipped and hit the pin twice. I had three birdie chances (all of which resulted in an unfortunate, choke-under-the-pressure three-putt). We all had fun. Afterward we went out for drinks at Ol’ Mexico. It was a very good night just hanging out with the guys.
Kerry and I have seen Creepyguy in his window a few times this week, but there’s a wonderful turn of events there. See, if he sees us in our yard or whatever, he bolts away from his window faster than you can say “sketchy stalker”. This is a victory for us. See, he’s afraid that we’ll call the cops on him. He’s scared in his own home. Turnabout is fair play. He’s not gone yet, but I’m hoping that this is his last day (as it’s July 31st today) and that we can go back to Defcon 5 after tonight.
My I.P.A. is ready for bottling, so I’ll be trying to motivate myself to get that done tonight.
But wait, there's more.
I'm sure that most of you have already read a lot of this on the Jabberboard, but I'll save it here for posterity:
Wow. So the story totally did not end. [Tuesday] night was fine. There was not a word spoken, not a wave given...I didn't see the guy at all. Then [Wednesday] he showed up at my house. At my front door. He asked if I had found anything out [about a supposed legal problem that I had previously told him I would not research]. I told him to go see a lawyer. That part was just fine, of course. The weird part was that he said, "Yeah, I saw you guys through my binoculars." I laughed at his joke. Then he said, "No I just like to watch the birds and stuff outside my window."
RED FLAGS!
He then said that he was now staying in the apartment until september.
RED FLAG!
He said that he wanted to be friends, and that if we're having any parties or anything that he wants to come down and hang out.
NO!
So yeah. The conversation ended aaaaaaaaaaand...
Kerry called the cops. Who showed up. And went and talked to him.
The cop called me after talking to him, and told me that his name is J@mes J0seph G@rcia, not the name that he had given us, he is indeed moving but is most assuredly not moving to Plymouth but rather moving to some other apartments about a block away...basically the whole thing is a pack of lies and my initial gut reaction of creep-outitude was spot-on.
The police officer said that she doesn't think he's violent and doesn't think that he'll retaliate -- she thinks that he'll try to apologize (which we also do not want).
So I chatted with my 'rents about it. Dad's opinion was that the action we took was the exact right thing to do. Mom's insight was that for the first two years that my family lived in Benson, there was (unbeknownst to them or the rest of the area) a murderer living across the street who was likable, talkative, and eventually carried away by a S.W.A.T. team. So, there are Creepyguys everywhere.
Last night Kerry was gone for a work-related overnight, so it was just me and the Gwennerpants. Ryan came over and we played magic and swilled homebrew for several hours, and it was awesome. I would have been decidedly less comfortable if I were home alone. I'm not physically afraid of Creepyguy himself. I really don't fear violence. I just don't want to talk to him at all. I know that he's probably hurt by the situation. Whatever. I have a lot of anxiety that I'll have to tell him to get off my property or to stop talking to me or something. He needs to learn that those actions make people uncomfortable. I have a wife and daughter to think about.
Thankfully he hasn't come by. Kerry and I are headed out to the lake this evening, so we won't have to deal with him. What a tool.
Wow. So the story totally did not end. [Tuesday] night was fine. There was not a word spoken, not a wave given...I didn't see the guy at all. Then [Wednesday] he showed up at my house. At my front door. He asked if I had found anything out [about a supposed legal problem that I had previously told him I would not research]. I told him to go see a lawyer. That part was just fine, of course. The weird part was that he said, "Yeah, I saw you guys through my binoculars." I laughed at his joke. Then he said, "No I just like to watch the birds and stuff outside my window."
RED FLAGS!
He then said that he was now staying in the apartment until september.
RED FLAG!
He said that he wanted to be friends, and that if we're having any parties or anything that he wants to come down and hang out.
NO!
So yeah. The conversation ended aaaaaaaaaaand...
Kerry called the cops. Who showed up. And went and talked to him.
The cop called me after talking to him, and told me that his name is J@mes J0seph G@rcia, not the name that he had given us, he is indeed moving but is most assuredly not moving to Plymouth but rather moving to some other apartments about a block away...basically the whole thing is a pack of lies and my initial gut reaction of creep-outitude was spot-on.
The police officer said that she doesn't think he's violent and doesn't think that he'll retaliate -- she thinks that he'll try to apologize (which we also do not want).
So I chatted with my 'rents about it. Dad's opinion was that the action we took was the exact right thing to do. Mom's insight was that for the first two years that my family lived in Benson, there was (unbeknownst to them or the rest of the area) a murderer living across the street who was likable, talkative, and eventually carried away by a S.W.A.T. team. So, there are Creepyguys everywhere.
Last night Kerry was gone for a work-related overnight, so it was just me and the Gwennerpants. Ryan came over and we played magic and swilled homebrew for several hours, and it was awesome. I would have been decidedly less comfortable if I were home alone. I'm not physically afraid of Creepyguy himself. I really don't fear violence. I just don't want to talk to him at all. I know that he's probably hurt by the situation. Whatever. I have a lot of anxiety that I'll have to tell him to get off my property or to stop talking to me or something. He needs to learn that those actions make people uncomfortable. I have a wife and daughter to think about.
Thankfully he hasn't come by. Kerry and I are headed out to the lake this evening, so we won't have to deal with him. What a tool.
Stuff and random things
I got a new coworker this week, which is both good and bad. Good because I finally get another person to help me to do the work of two people. Bad, because I no longer get to blast obnoxious music at any time of the day. That could still turn out ok, though, because it turns out that she’s got good taste in music. In fact, she was at one of the Clutch shows that I attended (the one at the Quest). She was there to see Fu Manchu, though…oh well. Nobody’s perfect.
There has been no recent sign of Creepyguy. I’m starting to breathe a little bit easier. Soon he will be on his merry way. My wife had a very interesting take on the whole situation. “Honey,” she said, “There are unsavory people everywhere you go,” (ok I’m paraphrasing). “You’re going to be a lawyer, and you’re going to have to talk to lots of them, and you’re not going to want to.” That’s true, I suppose. I wanted to counter with the fact that I’ll be getting paid, but that’s not necessarily true at all. There are probably going to be plenty of people that just need to have a conversation with a lawyer but don’t have any means of payment. I expect that there will be a great many times in my life that I’ll talk with people that I don’t want to talk to, and I won’t be expecting any type of payment for it anyway. Then there is the simple fact that the practice of law is adversarial, so a lot of the people on the opposing side will be people that I just don’t want to talk to. I’m totally rambling now, but the point of this section is that this guy is not a big deal.
I’ve got beer a’brewing, and tomorrow night it shall be bottled. I’m excited about that. I still have a good bit of hefeweizen left, because I kind of held off on drinking it until it can mature a little bit more. Yum. I’m excited for my IPA. Mmm…hoppy.
Well, I’m off to work on my freeze ray.
There has been no recent sign of Creepyguy. I’m starting to breathe a little bit easier. Soon he will be on his merry way. My wife had a very interesting take on the whole situation. “Honey,” she said, “There are unsavory people everywhere you go,” (ok I’m paraphrasing). “You’re going to be a lawyer, and you’re going to have to talk to lots of them, and you’re not going to want to.” That’s true, I suppose. I wanted to counter with the fact that I’ll be getting paid, but that’s not necessarily true at all. There are probably going to be plenty of people that just need to have a conversation with a lawyer but don’t have any means of payment. I expect that there will be a great many times in my life that I’ll talk with people that I don’t want to talk to, and I won’t be expecting any type of payment for it anyway. Then there is the simple fact that the practice of law is adversarial, so a lot of the people on the opposing side will be people that I just don’t want to talk to. I’m totally rambling now, but the point of this section is that this guy is not a big deal.
I’ve got beer a’brewing, and tomorrow night it shall be bottled. I’m excited about that. I still have a good bit of hefeweizen left, because I kind of held off on drinking it until it can mature a little bit more. Yum. I’m excited for my IPA. Mmm…hoppy.
Well, I’m off to work on my freeze ray.
The Legend of Creepyguy
There are some craphole apartments across our alley in the back of our house. A well-place fence has, for the most part, allowed us to completely ignore these apartments and the alley in general. It’s been nice. However, we’ve recently seen this dude that just…stands in his window for the majority of the day.
One day I was taking the trash out. He said something to me, from his second story window in craphole apartment 2-b (or whatever). Even at that distance I could tell that he was drunk, so I did what the next scared citizen would do – totally ignored him. From that point on, he had a name: Creepyguy. Kerry and I have lovingly referred to him that way henceforth.
I didn’t want to live in fear of my alley. That’s just silly. Fearing the general population is a silly way to live. One day I saw Creepyguy out in the alley (drinking some Natty Ice and sitting on a curb, incidentally) as I was driving somewhere, so I waved. He waved back amiably. All was well.
This weekend, my parents came over. It was my Dad’s birthday, and the next day my ‘rents were helping us with a ton of yard work. Well, wouldn’t you know it, there was a ton of mutant weeds out in the alley behind our shed that needed taking care of. Some of them had actually grown higher than the shed. So, I went out back with my father, some shovels, a rake, a saw, and several other implements of weed destruction.
Not five minutes after we started, I heard a voice from the apartment window behind me. @#$%, I thought. “That’s starting to look real nice!” the man said. I said, “Thanks!” and continued working. “I’m Joseph!” he yelled. “I’m Ben, “ I replied. I wanted the conversation to end. It kind of seemed to.
Then Joseph (a.k.a. Creepyguy) came walking across the alley, wearing a pair of work gloves and holding two cans of Natty Ice. He started helping my Dad and I as we cleared the back alley area. Eventually he yelled up to his friend Mark, who was up in the apartment. Mark came down and helped us as well. They seriously saved us hours, and didn’t ask for anything in return. In fact, they gave us beers.
Joseph is a burned out Vietnam vet. He’s incredibly lonely, and just lives off of a pension and therefore has nothing to do during the day. You could tell that he just wanted someone to talk to.
It didn’t end there, though. Through a series of events and excessive friendliness on our part, Joseph was invited via window conversation to come have a beer with us that evening as we chilled out on the patio. I felt that I owed the guy some hospitality after all of the hard work he had done. When he came over, he was smashed. After about ½ hour, I escorted him back out the alley door with a handshake and a goodnight.
Here’s the problem, and I acknowledge that a lot of the problem is within me: I do not want to talk to this guy. He’s lonely, yes, but he creeps me the funk out. I don’t like him watching my back yard. He makes me uncomfortable on my own property. I don’t know how I could possibly get him to stop that either way, but now he (sort of) knows me.
Thankfully, (hopefully) there’s a happy ending. According to Joseph, he’s moving out at the end of this week. He’s going to move to Plymouth to be closer to his daughter. Either way, he’s lived in the back alley apartment a year as of this August, and therefore his lease will be up. Time to move on. I’ve never actually seen a light on in his apartment – I’m not sure if the electricity has been cut off or what’s going on there.
Still, I’m creeped out and feel bad about it. After all, the salt of the earth have their tale to tell as well.
One day I was taking the trash out. He said something to me, from his second story window in craphole apartment 2-b (or whatever). Even at that distance I could tell that he was drunk, so I did what the next scared citizen would do – totally ignored him. From that point on, he had a name: Creepyguy. Kerry and I have lovingly referred to him that way henceforth.
I didn’t want to live in fear of my alley. That’s just silly. Fearing the general population is a silly way to live. One day I saw Creepyguy out in the alley (drinking some Natty Ice and sitting on a curb, incidentally) as I was driving somewhere, so I waved. He waved back amiably. All was well.
This weekend, my parents came over. It was my Dad’s birthday, and the next day my ‘rents were helping us with a ton of yard work. Well, wouldn’t you know it, there was a ton of mutant weeds out in the alley behind our shed that needed taking care of. Some of them had actually grown higher than the shed. So, I went out back with my father, some shovels, a rake, a saw, and several other implements of weed destruction.
Not five minutes after we started, I heard a voice from the apartment window behind me. @#$%, I thought. “That’s starting to look real nice!” the man said. I said, “Thanks!” and continued working. “I’m Joseph!” he yelled. “I’m Ben, “ I replied. I wanted the conversation to end. It kind of seemed to.
Then Joseph (a.k.a. Creepyguy) came walking across the alley, wearing a pair of work gloves and holding two cans of Natty Ice. He started helping my Dad and I as we cleared the back alley area. Eventually he yelled up to his friend Mark, who was up in the apartment. Mark came down and helped us as well. They seriously saved us hours, and didn’t ask for anything in return. In fact, they gave us beers.
Joseph is a burned out Vietnam vet. He’s incredibly lonely, and just lives off of a pension and therefore has nothing to do during the day. You could tell that he just wanted someone to talk to.
It didn’t end there, though. Through a series of events and excessive friendliness on our part, Joseph was invited via window conversation to come have a beer with us that evening as we chilled out on the patio. I felt that I owed the guy some hospitality after all of the hard work he had done. When he came over, he was smashed. After about ½ hour, I escorted him back out the alley door with a handshake and a goodnight.
Here’s the problem, and I acknowledge that a lot of the problem is within me: I do not want to talk to this guy. He’s lonely, yes, but he creeps me the funk out. I don’t like him watching my back yard. He makes me uncomfortable on my own property. I don’t know how I could possibly get him to stop that either way, but now he (sort of) knows me.
Thankfully, (hopefully) there’s a happy ending. According to Joseph, he’s moving out at the end of this week. He’s going to move to Plymouth to be closer to his daughter. Either way, he’s lived in the back alley apartment a year as of this August, and therefore his lease will be up. Time to move on. I’ve never actually seen a light on in his apartment – I’m not sure if the electricity has been cut off or what’s going on there.
Still, I’m creeped out and feel bad about it. After all, the salt of the earth have their tale to tell as well.
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