java_fiend | Blowing the Dust Off...

Well howdy folks! I, like many around the LJ-verse, have been guilty of contributing to the growing silence. Lucky for me,

magsmom, being the awesome person that she is, undertook an operation to reinvigorate our old stomping ground here and threw quite the shindig over in her own LJ. In fact, that madness is *still* going on... so feel free to head over here to get in on the fun and games and make a few new friends!

I have thus been inspired to revive my own journal which has been limping along for some time now. (I can hear some of you moaning and groaning... shut it!) In my defense, I was actually caught up in a project that dominated most of my spare time and didn't leave me much of an opportunity to goof off around here. Well, it's my own fault really... I just didn't manage my time too well. I'd work until late in the evening and not leave a lot of free time to play. Apparently, I didn't get the memo about "all work and no play" and all... But I miss my journal and I miss my friends here. So thanks to

magsmom for putting some life back into the LJ-verse again!

So... here I am! And since I have a bunch of new friends poking around here... and a lot of old friends who may have forgotten who I am since I've not been around very often... I offer up my poor excuse of an intro post. Frankly, I suck at intro posts but I'll try to muddle through. But I'll put it under a cut since I tend to ramble on a bit.

I'm Kevin... lifelong resident of So Cal. Except for the one year I spent living in the state of Washington... a place I'm dying to go back to. I graduated from Cal State Long Beach (Go Beach!) with a degree in History. My emphasis was in US/Constitutional History but I also studied Ancient and Medieval European History as well. My goal was to be a teacher but given the state of education in California right about now, growing wings and flying my happy ass to the moon is a more attainable goal. *le sigh* So... I'm currently seeking an alternative career path. Bank robber is one viable alternative. Contract killer is another. I have applications out.

I'm a complete political wonk. Lots of people find it tedious and boring but I find myself endlessly fascinated. And infuriated. Personally, I'm a lifelong Democrat. Though I have voted for the occasional Republican and often want to slap some of the Democratic leadership upside the head. Though a liberal, I vote for the candidate and not the party... and let's face it, fellow Dems out there, we've had some seriously suck-ass candidates. Though, with the right-wing in this country seemingly getting nuttier than a proverbial fruitcake, I don't see myself crossing party lines again until some sanity has been restored over yonder. The way things are going, I fully expect to have Newt Gingrich's colony on the moon up and running before that happens. Ahem.

I'm a sports junkie... though I am growing increasingly disgusted by the behavior of the individual athletes, I still love my teams. I'm a lifelong and diehard Oakland Raider, Anaheim (yes, Anaheim, the whole LA thing is a stupid marketing gimmick) Angels and Los Angeles Kings fan. And let me just go on record as having said... "OH HELL YES!!! GO KINGS GO!!!!" Sorry. I'm a little excited to see my beloved Kings back in the Stanley Cup finals for just the second time in club history and the first time since dinosaurs walked the earth. To say I'm a long suffering Kings fan would be a bit of an understatement. Before I die, I *need* to see them win the Cup and my Raiders win a Super Bowl... otherwise, I'm just going to refuse to die until it happens, I suppose. I was treated to seeing my Halos win a World Series so one down, two to go.

Some of my all-time favorite movies include Dead Poet's Society, Quills, American Beauty, Crouching Tiger/Hidden Dragon, American History X, the Lord of the Rings series (can't *wait* to see The Hobbit this year)... there's more but I think this post is already getting out of hand. My musical tastes are all over the place... my all-time favorite band is Pink Floyd, hands down. But I also love everything from Smashing Pumpkins to Lacuna Coil to Tori Amos to Sarah McLachlan to Classica... The only things I don't really listen to are country and rap.

I'm a writer and most of my pieces tend to be horror. Which makes sense... I absolutely idolize Stephen King (don't judge) and love horror movies. Though, confession time... the sight of *real* blood freaks me out and isn't something I can deal with really well. I can sure write the hell out of a gory scene but show me a real live bloody wound and I'm likely to run off screaming like a 6-year old girl.

Speaking of writing... something you'll see on my journal are my weekly entries for an LJ-based writing game called

therealljidol... well, weekly until they boot my butt off the island anyway. It's a great game, vibrant and altogether awesome community and a hell of a lot of fun. So if you're a writer, definitely consider signing up for next season... it's something you won't regret because it is a ton of fun. Anyway, I mention it so you can scroll on by if you're not interested. I usually put my pieces under a cut and clearly mark it so you aren't stuck with a screen full of my drivel.

I have been with my girlfriend, the amazingly wonderful

pixie117 for almost two years now. Strangely enough, we actually first met through

therealljidol... she was living in Missouri at the time. Fate intervened, she landed a job out here and the rest is history. She's a great person who has brought so much to my world and I'm lucky to have her in my life.

I am an animal lover and would have all the animals if I could. But due to space (and sanitary) reasons, I have one feline companion. His name is SoCo and he's been with me about 18 years now. He is an awesome little guy and spry as hell for a cat his age. He usually bosses me around, abuses me and manages to get his way about most things. Age hasn't slowed him down much, it's just taught him some very evil tricks.

In this journal, you're going to find a mish-mash, hodge-podge of stuff. Usually whatever happens to be floating through my pea brain when I sit down to write is what's poured out on the "page." I try to keep things light and fun, posting random polls and something you'll get to know called the Purge Bucket... but once in a while, I'll get a wild hair and throw up something more thinky than the usual fare around here. You just never know what you'll get from one day to the next.

Well... that's me in a nutshell. Granted, that is one huge nut but still... I don't really know what else to say since, like I said before, I suck at this kind of thing. But please, feel free to ask me any questions you might have.

I'm looking forward to getting to know all the new faces around here as well as re-connecting with the older ones. I'm really, really, really going to do my best to not be such a lag-ass LJ friend and try to keep up.

Hope everybody is doing well this evening!!!