Scott King: D.C./Greenbelt Archives

Dead Book Shelf

    Last night, after being on campus for almost 14 hours, I settled down to watch “Grey’s Anatomy.” Then all of a sudden there was a LOUD crash and books flew out of my closet.
    I went to investigate and learned that my cheap bookshelf and fallen prey to all my novels and toppled over. It seems the bookshelf isn’t one that is meant to be used for holding books.
    Of course Sarah gave me an “I told you that would break when you bought it two months ago.”
    It took me a good forty minutes today just to pick up all the novels and to stack them. Right now they are just stacked in my closet next to my graphic novels and clothes. I really need a new book shelf, and I guess I’ll have to invest into something that is sturdy enough to handle all the weight.
    Part of my problem is that I have so many books and graphic novels that I need a whole bunch of shelves to hold them all.

Posted by ScottKing at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

No More Witch Girl

   Remember Witch-Girl? Sarah and mine’s third roommate? She’s moving out. LIKE right away and someone new is moving in on Sunday! Get this… the person moving in is KEVIN MEEHAN. That’s right. I will be living with Mayor of Ocean City’s son. [Above: Kevin is the one pushing the wheel chair]
     Sarah and I have known Kevin since high school and he went to college with us. He’s a film guy like me but into all the artsy crap I would never want to watch. He just got a job here in D.C. working as a professional editor.
     It should be interesting having the three of us live together. I can already see problems arising. I’m also mad cause I wanted to get a hot college girl to live with us and Sarah wanted Kevin. And the reason Sarah wanted Kevin is because he doesn’t cook! This means he doesn’t buy groceries which means she has more room in the fridge!

Posted by ScottKing at 12:09 AM | Permalink

Free Theater Night

   There is a nation-wide campaign for free theater tickets. That’s theater as in “plays” not movies, but they’re free so if you near one of the cities doing it you should check out some plays.
   The official website is here. Sarah and I are doing it and I’ll probably see if Samantha or anyone else wants to come. You get two free tickets per emails so we can easily get a lot of tickets.
   Man I feel cultured. Living in D.C. is cool

Posted by ScottKing at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tree Climber

A Hispanic man climbing the tree outside my window. I have no idea why. He was up there for about thirty minutes and it sorta freaked me out.

Posted by ScottKing at 06:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Witch-Girl Update

   I came home from class last night to find out that our third roommate, Kat A.K.A. “Witch-Gil,” had finally come back to our place. After literally three weeks she decided to pick up her evil cat that she left with us. I really don’t get how a pet owner could leave their animal with people she hardly knows for such a long period of time.
     Even crazier is that Witch-Girl told Sarah that she is going to move out. She finally convinced her neo-Christian boyfriend to allow her pagan alters in his apartment. So they are going to be living together and she is going to move out sometime by November 1st. Other than her evil cat, she’s been the best roommate ever. I mean in the six weeks I’ve been here I only met her once. So now it will be weird having a third person really living with Sarah and myself.
    We aren’t even sure where to look for a third roommate. Well I mean there is stuff like Craig’s List and places like that… but we aren’t really sure if we want one. Sarah mentioned the idea of moving to a two bedroom apartment. She also mentioned the idea of splitting November rent and then finding a new roommate in December when it will be easier to find one.
    I have no idea what we’ll end up doing. I’m more or less just going to let Sarah figure it out and then do whatever she tells me.

Posted by ScottKing at 08:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Where were you 5 years ago?

[ABOVE: The Arlington Cemetery with the Pentagon in the background]
     It’s the 5 year anniversary of 9/11 today. Five years ago I was at Towson University visiting Samantha and Sarah. I was actually a sophomore at James Madison University, but was always at Towson visiting the girls.
    Sarah watches the news in the mornings and so as soon as the first plane struck we saw live footage. I’m ashamed to admit, but at the time I thought it was partially funny. It just seemed so moronic that a pilot would fly into such a tall building. In my defense, no one knew it was a terrorist attack yet and no one knew how severe the damage was.
     While the news was on, I was packing up my things, getting ready to return to JMU. That’s when we saw on live TV, the second plane hit the twin towers.
    Before I had time to finish packing, 695, the highway surrounding Baltimore and 495 were shut down. I needed both roads to get back to JMU and was forced to stay in Sarah and Samantha’s dorm.
    We spent the whole day watching the news. We saw the fire at the Pentagon and maps of where a fourth plane had crashed. More than any other day of my life, I felt a bond with other Americans because I knew all across the country they were in their homes doing the same thing.

Posted by ScottKing at 02:12 PM | Permalink

Tomb of the Unknown

    Yesterday I showed my local (well its in Wisconsin and I’m in MD so I guess its not really local) comic shop owners, Lisa & Craig of Neptune Comics, around the D.C. area.
    We spent a long time touring Arlington National Cemetery. It was very pretty, but the most eventful part of the day was when we were at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
    All throughout the cemetery there are signs saying “quiet please” “be respectful” and things along those lines. While walking through the cemetery you see tons of other people and everyone has the same expression on their face: sorrow. It reminded me of times I’ve been to the Holocaust Museum.
    When we got to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, there was a very big sign once again asking for quiet. Not one person was talking and the only sound you heard was the click of cameras and the echoing of the soldier’s shoes who guarded the tomb.
    Shortly after arriving the changing of the guard ceremony began. It was announced that the soldier who had been on duty had just served his final day guarding the tomb. He had done a total of 839 shifts doing so.
    In the middle of the ceremony a cell phone rang. It was Lisa’s!
    Awww man. Both her and Craig were so embarrassed. It seems that they had thought about turning off the phone earlier, but they hadn’t gotten any phone calls since arriving in town and weren’t worried about it.
     It turns out the call was from an employee in their store who was having trouble finding comic books for a customer.
    Man it was just so funny seeing the two of them embarrassed.

Posted by ScottKing at 02:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Lisa & Craig

    I get my comics and graphic novels from Neptune Comics, which is in Wisconsin. I live in Maryalnd/DC. I have NEVER been to Wisconsin, though I hear they have nice cheese.
     Well the owners of Neptune Comics, Lisa & Craig, came into town for the Baltimore Comic-Con and Retailers Show, so Samantha and I met up with them today [Above: Samantha and Lisa].
    We were going to do lunch with them at noon, but when the convention was evacuated (see two post above) we decided to do lunch then. Since I wanted to share with them a taste of Ocean City we went to Phillips. Now the one in the Inner Harbor is no where near as good as Phillips Crab House back home at the beach, but it was better than most other seafood places.
     The cool thing about meeting Lisa & Craig is that they are really nice people. On top of that, they are both really funny. I actually had no idea that Craig was as funny as he was. The guy is like me and tells jokes non-stop.
    Other than a slight accent, the only give away that they were from Wisconsin was that they didn’t know how to pick a hard shell crab and Craig was confused about how to get the meat out of a shrimp tail.
    I’m also really excited because tomorrow they are taking the train and coming to D.C. so I can show them around the monuments. I’ll probably take lots of photos with both my digital and professional camera, so expect a photo-dump tomorrow night or Monday.

Posted by ScottKing at 07:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Freemason's Temple

   The party at the “Freemasons Temple” for Brad Meltzer and “The Book of Fate” was awesome. The place was incredible in terms of architecture and design, but that of course makes sense.
     The food was good and they had had wine but since Sarah and I aren’t drinkers we just had some bottled water. She got really excited over fresh figs and humus. I enjoyed some brie cheese and crackers.
     While there we got to see a Nascar car with two stickers on it for “The Book of Fate.” The car’s real-life driver or owner (I forget which) appears in the novel so he put two stickers on the car.

    Since I was considered “Press” I was allowed to walk all over the temple and take photos. I know I will NEVER get that chance again so using my professional camera I took two rolls with 36 pics on each roll. Of course I won’t develop them till next week so here are two digital ones to hold you over.
    The one above is the basic reception area from the party. The pink shirt guy near the bottom left is Brad.
    This second photo is of Sarah standing in this weird alter-thing that’s really hard to describe. Basically the place she is standing in is at the top of a big stairwell. When you stand at the bottom of the stairwell and look up, the alter-thing gives the allusion that there is a small building at the top (you can barely see it, but there is an outline of a building behind Sarah).

Posted by ScottKing at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Evil Cat

     So Knox, my third-roommate’s cat, has been here for a week and a half and I still don’t like him. However, we don’t seem to be physically fighting each other anymore so I guess that’s good.
     To be honest I sorta feel bad for him. Kat, Knox’s owner, hasn’t been back since dropping him off a week and a half ago so all day everyday Knox cries and looks for her. He’s so lonely and sad. Until I started seeing him act all weird I had no idea that animals could get depressed.
     It also just shocks me that a pet owner could ditch their animal like that! How can a person be so irresponsible? I mean Kat hasn’t called once to check in with Sarah about how Knox was doing or anything. She just assumes Sarah is feeding him and giving him water.
    So its very sad and even though I don’t like Knox, I feel bad for him. It's like the only reason he's evil is because he is hurting on the inside and lashing out at the world. Actually now that I think about it, maybe that's why people like Cobra Commander or Skellator were evil. Maybe deep down they were picked on as kids, never had friends, and were left by their parents so they grew up to be lonely.

Posted by ScottKing at 01:01 PM | Permalink

Ernesto

It has been raining nonstop since last night. Ernesto was supposed to hit us bad like it did in VA but it shifted to the east. Back home in Ocean City got it much worse than we did here in D.C. The storm is supposed to calm down and be gone tomorrow.

Posted by ScottKing at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Scott vs. Witch-Girl-Cat

    Nearly two week later I finally met Sarah and mine’s third roommate, Kat, aka Witch-Girl and I don’t like her.
    It was 10:30 p.m. last night. I was in my pajamas and reading in bed. I hear something tapping on the glass at the back sliding door and I think it’s Bean, Sarah’s cat. Lately a stray cat comes by at night and Bean scratches at him through the back door.
    Well the noise kept persisting and finally it switched to a LOUD banging noise. I go out to the living room and I see Bean staring at the door. I look outside but I don’t see anything. I turn to walk back to my room and I hear another loud bang. I turn again and this time I see a really ugly girl. I realized it was Kat.
   I open the door and say, “Hey sorry. I looked and didn’t see anyone. How come you didn’t just use the front door?” “This is easier,” she says.
    She was standing out there banging for at least five minutes! How the hell is that easier than going around to the front of the building, using your key and coming in the normal way?
    She tells me she is the third roommate that is never here. I say its nice to meet her. She goes into her room and tried to get something out of the closet but it’s pitch black because she doesn’t have a light in her room. A few minutes later she comes out with a dress and tells me she’s going to get rent money and then she’ll be right back.

Continue reading "Scott vs. Witch-Girl-Cat" »

Posted by ScottKing at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Walking Distance

(click to enlarge)
    Since I no longer live in the boonies, I’ve been walking to places as much as possible because I enjoy it.
    OK. I admit it. That was a lie. It’s hot and gross outside. I hate walking places. I only do it because Sarah makes me. I’m not joking. There are only two people in the world who power over me: Samantha & Sarah. But because they love me, they don’t ever use that power… until now! Sarah makes me walk around the lake or walk to and from one of the places I have marked on the map.
    The big red trail is the basic walk I do in the mornings. It goes around this big lake we have behind our neighborhood. Sarah loves to run around it or ride her bike around it. I have no idea how far it is distance wise but Sarah says it takes us 26 minutes to walk around it.
     The purple path is how I get to Safeway when I walk. Sarah and I did that last night so that I could buy some bananas and a few other odds and ends that weren’t heavy to carry. I don’t know the distance for this either but Sarah says it takes 12 to 14 minutes to walk there and the same to walk back.
    The green path is how I walk to the library. I’ve been going there about every other day because I’ve been getting so many non-fiction books and graphic novels.
    The blue path goes to a co-op. It’s basically a grocery store, but with more organic and natural stuff. Then right next to it is an artsy movie theater. Right now, “Little Miss Sunshine” is playing there. I’ll probably walk there this weekend and see it by myself since Sarah is going home and I’ll have nothing to do.

Posted by ScottKing at 03:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Witch Girl Update

    Today marks day 12 that I’ve been in the new place and I have still not meet or seen Kat (“witch-girl”). Sarah says Kat hasn’t come back to our place in over a month now. Sarah was a little worried so she decided to give Kat a call.
    Kat just said she likes being with her boyfriend every night and that she tries to bring him back to our place but he refuses to because of the creepy altars she has in her room. But apparently she’s going home this weekend for a wedding and has to come by here to get a dress. So I guess I’ll get to meet her tonight or tomorrow.
    She may be weird but she’s a pretty good roommate. She’s literally never here so she never takes up room in the fridge, doesn’t leave messes in the living, or anything else that an annoying roommate would do. Sarah and I love it because we feel like we are living by ourselves.
     Bean has pretty much taken over Kat’s room. I think he thinks it’s his room now. He rarely sleeps on the bed though (remember it’s an inflatable air mattress ‘cause she doesn’t have a real bed and a frame Sarah lent her). Normally, Bean likes to sleep underneath it.

Posted by ScottKing at 02:56 PM | Permalink

Scott named winner over library

The forged Pepco bill looked exactly like the real thing. In the photo you can see real and fake one. The only trouble I had was trying to match my font and have it look splotchy like the real bill looks close up. So I used some filters and managed to get it right.

The fake bill worked perfectly at the library. I got there right as they opened and the same supervisor that was there on Thursday was there today. She asked if I had a utility bill or lease and I said I had a bill. She picked it up, looked at both sides, and then compared the address to what was programmed into the computer.

She fixed it and then told me that informed me I’m allowed to check out up to 75 books at a time! Isn’t that a crazy amount? I guess that’s for large families or something.

She also noticed I was returning “Daredevil: Yellow” the graphic novel and here is how the convo went:

Continue reading "Scott named winner over library" »

Posted by ScottKing at 03:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Scott vs. The Library Part III

When we left things two days ago, the local library wouldn’t give me a regular account until I proved to them that I lived in Prince Georges County. They said I needed to bring in a copy of my lease or a utility bill. I never signed a lease cause Sarah did and the utility bill is her name.
So I’ve thought of something else…

I just finished altering the most recent bill from Pepco, our electric company. I scanned it, pulled it into Photoshop, and then changed the four places where Sarah’s name showed up to my name. I printed it on card stock and then used special scissors so the edges would look perforated.

In about an hour I’m heading to the library to see if it works!

Posted by ScottKing at 08:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Ikea

I consider myself a fairly cultured person, but I’ve never seen so much diversity as I did yesterday when I went to Ikea.

I’ve been to Ikea in White Marsh (outside of Baltimore) when I was going to Towson. Having all female friends, I quickly learned that women LOVE to not just shop there, but enjoy just walking around and looking at stuff. So I’ve been to Ikea many times.

Yesterday was completely different. The first difference was that it was completely packed. It reminded me of walking on the boardwalk on the Fourth of July. You couldn’t move. …now don’t get me wrong, I’m not claustrophobic, but being a big guy I’m self conscious and I don’t like bumping into people.

The second crazy thing was that I’ve never seen such an assortment of people before. Let’s talk about race. There were white people, black people, Asians, Hispanics, Middle Easterners, Europeans… I mean you name it and they were at Ikea.

There were also a lot of religions represented, which I guess makes sense since there were so many nationalities. I saw a priest and a nun. I saw a Jewish family. There were several groups of Muslims and even some Hindus.

Wait it gets crazier. I saw families. I saw couples. I saw friends. I saw lesbian couples. I saw gay couples. There were groups of high school kids hanging out and college kids buying stuff for dorm rooms. I mean it was just insane.

I for real have never seen so much diversity in one place. I think Ikea may even be the secret to ultimate peace. If Ikeas were built in all the “hot spots” in the world I bet all fighting and wars would stop. Ikeas would help unify the whole world while still keeping unique cultures!

Posted by ScottKing at 02:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Witch Girl Update

I’ve been here since Sunday and I’ve still not met or seen witch-girl (I found out her real name is Kat, but “witch-girl” is so much more fun to say). It seems Sarah hasn’t seen her either for about two and a half weeks. In that time she came home once and picked up her cat.

If you don’t remember creepy/scary-pagan-witch-girl is my third roommate and dates a Jesus-freak. He refuses to come over to our place because of her altars and stuff. So she more or less moved in with him while her parents pay the rent here. I know for Sarah and I we love it because it’s basically like we live alone.

Being me, I totally went in her room today and took some photos. The photo above is of her main altar. It’s immediately to the right when you enter the room. Make sure you click the picture so you can see the big photo!

Posted by ScottKing at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

All Moved In

I'm completely unpacked and EVERYTHING is clean and put away. I've been going non-stop since 6a.m. this morning after only getting 4 hours of sleep. I'm soooooooo tired. I have a huge list of blog post to write, but I've just not had time yet. So to hold you over till tomarrow here is a "cornana" photo I took.

Posted by ScottKing at 11:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm Here

I'm all moved to D.C. now, but I have about 100 boxes to unpack. I guesse that's what I'll be doing all day today and tomorrow.

Posted by ScottKing at 06:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Liquids on a Plane

liquids.on.plane.081006.jpg To try and capitalize on the terroist plot that was foiled yesterday, 20th Century Fox has announced the sequal to Samuel Jackson's "Snakes on a Plane," which will be titled "Liquids on a Plane." Filming starts this fall with a release for next summer. ...(Yes, its a bad joke. I saw posted on E! Online... Or at least I hope it's a joke).
I'm unhooking my computer and finishing up packing. So the blog will be quiet till Sunday or Monday. Man I'm so excited to be living in D.C.

Posted by ScottKing at 04:47 PM | Permalink

Witch-Girl Update

     This weekend I moved the first batch of stuff to my new apartment. My room is huge and I’m just ready to be there. The above layout to the right is how I think I’ll arrange my room.
    The coolest part of my room is my huge walk-in closet which I'm turning into a library. I'm going to keep all my novels, graphic novels, and movies in there. I'm super excited because I've always wanted a library and now I'll have on.
     While at the new place I didn’t get to meet Sarah’s and mine’s third-roomate: Witch Girl. But being me I had no problem scanning over the contents of her room. The first thing I noticed was an actual metal board sword. The hilt of it was tied with lacey clothes that were braided. I have no idea what the sword is for or why it is just sitting around. I’m going to have to check and see if swords need permits. Maybe I can get her kicked out.
      The next thing I noticed is that the room is covered with candles. I counted 11 different candles! She had them in various colors, but all of which (pun-intended) were dark uber-goth colors.
      The next thing I spotted was a skull in her windowsill. Sarah promises me its plastic. I was too scared to actually go in her room to check. I figured there could be some sort of warding spell and if I entered her room I could get cursed.
      Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, witch-girl has a black cat. I’m not kidding. It’s ugly too. It’s name is Knoxx and it is fluffy, but not pretty/cute fluffy. It looks more like a drowned rat and it leaves clumps of fur everywhere. I woke up twice in the middle of the night to pee and both times Knoxx was in the hall and hissed at me. I hissed back and it ran.
    Then in the bathroom is this creepy looking vampire book. It's folded open and sitting on the toilet. Sarah says the witch-girl likes to take long baths and so she reads when in there. I bet hidden in the novel are secret spells she casts when naked in the bathroom.
    The final odd thing I noticed about the room… is that she doesn’t have a real bed! This cracked me up. When there she sleeps on an air mattress! Sarah and her mom felt bad for her so they gave her a bed frame. I’ve never seen an air mattress on a bed frame before. It looks retarded.
    But I guess the girl isn’t there too often so she doesn’t care about the air mattress. Sarah says she hasn’t actually seen her in two and a half weeks. Part of that is because of schedules that don’t match and the other part is that she spends like six nights a week at her boyfriends house. So who knows when I’ll actually get to met her, but don’t worry, when I do… you all will be the first to know!

Posted by ScottKing at 07:35 PM | Permalink

Leavvvvvvvvvvvvvving on a Jet Plane...

I've been busy packing, moving, and unpacking. Right now I'm guessing I'm about 65 percent moved and 90 percent packed. All I have left to pack is my computer, desk, TV, and VCRS. I'm making the final move in a week and I'm excited!

Posted by ScottKing at 07:42 PM | Permalink

Child Labor

    Our cable and internet was out for most of the day. Since I was done working for the week I figured I might as well start packing up my stuff. Colby and Aubrie were here and for some reason they were excited to help. So I let them.
     In about four hours we packed up all my novels, comics, graphic novels, clothes, and everything that was under my bed. We also cleared out about 3/4ths of what was in my storage bin and packed up my car.
    Of course all of this was in 105 degrees heat! I'm not joking. That's really how hot it was. It even felt worse in my storage bin and because of the humidity.
     The absolute worse of it was that I’ve not bin in my storage unit since November. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW there were 8 dead mice that we found. I think there were more but I was so grossed out that we just threw out a lot of my stuff. They must have been in there for months because there was no smell and the bodies were shriveled up. It just bugged me knowing there were dirty mice and dead ones in my stuff.
     Aubrie freaked out about a spider. There was a spider web and egg sacks on it. We accidentally ripped open an egg sack and all these baby spiders started crawling out. I mean there were hundreds. The babies then spilled out, swarmed their mother, and killed her! It was just so bad ass watching her getting eaten alive by her own children.
     By the end of everything we did, Brie threw up 5 times. I personally think it was because she was eating a crapload of cookie dough before we started doing all of the work.
     Even more exciting is that Colby and I are going to DC tomorrow to take everything we packed into my van, which means I only need to make ONE more trip up there and I’ll be completely moved! So by next weekend I’ll be gone. (bellow: me hot and sweaty when we finally ended things for the night)

Posted by ScottKing at 07:06 PM | Permalink

Job in DC?

    Does anyone know anyone with connections in D.C.? I need a job.
In about two and a half weeks I’ll be unemployed and needing a source of income. I’ve searched all over the internet and through newspapers and I’m having a hard time finding something.
   A big problem for me is that a lot of the more serious or professional jobs want someone who can work an 8 to 5/40 hour a week job, but because of school I can’t do that.
   My goal would to be able to get a part time job at a newspaper but only one or two are looking for staff writers and they are looking for a full time employee.
     I really do not want a retail job or to go back into the food industry. When I quit Bahama Breeze over a year ago I made a promise to myself that I would never ever work in a restaurant again. That’s how much I hate waiting tables. So I really really want to stick with that promise.
     So if anyone knows anyone and has any type of connection, please let me know.

Posted by ScottKing at 11:11 AM | Permalink

Scott King

The Official Site of Scott King, Scott King's Blog, "Scott King" ,Scott King's Home Page

October 06, 2006

Dead Book Shelf

October 04, 2006

No More Witch Girl

October 01, 2006

Free Theater Night

September 24, 2006

Tree Climber

September 15, 2006

Witch-Girl Update

September 11, 2006

Where were you 5 years ago?

Tomb of the Unknown

September 09, 2006

Lisa & Craig

September 08, 2006

Freemason's Temple

September 04, 2006

Evil Cat

September 01, 2006

Ernesto

August 26, 2006

Scott vs. Witch-Girl-Cat

August 24, 2006

Walking Distance

Witch Girl Update

August 19, 2006

Scott named winner over library

Scott vs. The Library Part III

August 16, 2006

Ikea

August 15, 2006

Witch Girl Update

August 14, 2006

All Moved In

I'm Here

August 11, 2006

Liquids on a Plane

August 06, 2006

Witch-Girl Update

August 05, 2006

Leavvvvvvvvvvvvvving on a Jet Plane...

August 03, 2006

Child Labor

July 28, 2006

Job in DC?

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