Because there's nothing else

Back at Reverb, once again.

I'm not exactly sure what I've done this week. And yet, it doesn't feel like I've wasted it or anything, so it must have been something.

Tonight is canoli and game night, both of which I'm looking forward to. Definitely think we'll be rocking some Rummikub, Nertz, maybe even spades or pinochle. And even if that never materializes, there will be food, and that always makes for a good party.

I'm pretty excited for the new Norah Jones album on Tuesday. I haven't had any new music in a month, and this is just the thing.

This is hardly even a post, but I've sat here for long enough that it would be a waste not to do it.

Spinning out in circles

I need something to happen. Not sure what, but It'd be nice if it just happened. Something fun. Something new. Anything.

Kurt, Tyler, and I worked for a couple hours last night trying to figure out how to make our anti-piracy public service announcement stand out. I want it to look beautiful, and I know they can do that, but I also want it to have something specific that makes it more. We watched the winners from last year, and they, particularly the winner, had something unique. We need to get this all figured out soon too, because we're shooting one week from tomorrow.

So I have that on my plate. I'm also going to start doing some administrative work for Just Kidding Productions as Kurt is looking to move into an actual office in March. I think this will be freelance, part-time at best, and I'm not really expecting much (if anything) as payment. But it's a beginning anyway, and it will begin in the next couple of weeks.

My classes are all, thus far, easy. I've had very little homework, a bit of reading, and it doesn't look like things will get much worse as the semester moves forward. For this, I am thankful.

And now, I'm off to play ultimate Frisbee on the soccer field. It's right around freezing. If only I were in MN, this would be shorts weather.

Contra Dancing

Last night, I went Contra Dancing. For those that don't know what it is, it's folk dancing in lines and groups, and it involves a lot of spinning. Bascially, if you've seen the new Pride and Prejudice, it's like the dancing scene in the beginning of that (I think), with faster music and more spinning and much more "swinging" (not like swing dancing, but swinging like taking your partner or neighbor and swinging around in circles). It's definitely one of those things that you have to experience in order to understand, but it was much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. I would even say I had a good time with it, especially once I was ok with swinging (My apologies to Jess, Ashley, and every other woman there for my ineptitude, especially early on). I might even go again, which is a scary thought.

One of the funniest things of the night was a dance that I happened to sit out for. Ashely was dancing with a guy named Boots, a man in his 40s who had a massive manly beard and a long bandanna tied around his head. There was one part of the dance called the Gypsy Meltdown, where the partners walk in a tight circle, staring at each other, for four beats before going into a swing. Well Boots, if you hadn't guessed, is a very expressive and playful fellow, and he made some of the greatest faces at Ashley, who stared him down like a pro. I would have paid the $5 entrance fee just to watch those two go at it in their Gypsy Meltdowns.

I think I've either lost my touch or Matt has gotten much better at Tiger Woods. Either way, I lost 8 strokes over 12 holes yesterday, and that is simply unacceptable.

I now have a co-worker at Reverb on Saturdays (whose name, even though she's sitting 4 feet away, escapes me). She's on from 12-7, which means that I get to leave early! Every Saturday!

This afternoon I will be playing racquetball with the Gazebo boys, then going to the Belcourt to see Pan's Labyrinth with my housemates and Bland, then bowling with my community group. A full day if ever there was one (at least by my standards).

I am so glad Dwight came back. You have no idea. Although I thought they could have drug that storyline out a little longer. And Andy needs to go. STAT. He's served his purpose, provided some of the funniest moments of season three, but I would be shocked if he makes it through another three episodes.

AND WHAT THE FRICK DID JIM DO? He was screwed no matter how he answered that question because it took him much too long to respond. I really don't want Karen to leave, she's definitely grown on me, but I am interested to see how this all shakes down. I think they'll keep her around for the rest of the season, and the season finale Jim will have to choose (they can't have Pam choosing between Jim and Roy again, that would be lame). Or, maybe, the season will end with Dwight and Angela eloping.

Now that's good TV.

Wishing You Were Here

Wow, so much nothing to do.

I have now worked 19 hours at Reverb this semester. I have sold 1 CD. We'll see how long this lasts. I have, however, watched the entire third season of Friends and the second season of Arrested Development.

Have you ever tried to write a script? It sucks. I only have to write up to 1 minute, and I think it sounds like crap. Maybe I'll get inspiration soon.

I need to find something to do tomorrow night.

And now, because I'm really bored, I'm going to do something I never thought I would: one of those stupid check the things that apply to you things.

Except I can't find any! Seriously, you'd think enough of those things float around that there'd be one readily accessible. Not true! Maybe I'm just not looking hard enough. Either way, I'm going to get back to all the customers I don't have.

If you're planning on watching the first four episodes of 24, don't read the first paragraph

I missed the first two episodes of the new season of 24 on Sunday, so we watched all four hours of new episodes at Kurt and Tyler's last night. I figured this would be a good year, and I was not disappointed so far. I don't need to go into everything that happened, but I will say this: I figured they would detonate the nuke, that was expected. What I did not see coming and am still in shock over is Jack shooting Curtis! In the freaking neck! Seriously, that was ridiculous.



***NO MORE SPOILERS, IT'S SAFE TO READ***

Today has been pretty good overall. I had three classes, and they eached turned out to be at least mildly entertaining and actually relevant to my future career. Plus, I was at the Corner Court and had one of the most amazing desserts/snacks ever: A bar made of Golden Grahams, Oreos, chocolate, and marshmallows. Plus it was ginormous! Almost made it worth the $2.50 I paid for it.

I need to write a script for a public service announcement about piracy and file sharing, and I need to get it done by Thursday morning. When will this happen? I have no clue.

It is slowly becoming apparent to me just how much I need to figure out in the next several months. Most pressing: a job. Almost as pressing: a house. I think the housing situation may be more complicated and frustrating than employment, mostly because I have to make the decision rather than someone else deciding. Alot of people like to have control and perform their best when they can make the decisions that will effect them. I, on the other hand, would much rather have someone else in charge of my destiny. I mean, I'll make the decisions when they need to be made, but I think I'm better at following the instructions and desires of others. That probably goes along with my whole people-pleaser thing.

Wow, how did I end up there?

Who I Am Hates Who I've Been

Sometimes I think I might be gaining characteristics of people that I don't really appreciate. Hopefully I caught it in time and will make the necessary corrections. I guess we'll find out.

After two days of rain almost coming here but never quite making it far enough east, we now have justification for the cloud cover. It's not necessarily pouring or anything, but I would much rather have something to give a purpose to the darkness. Darkness for darkness' sake is annoying.

I ran my farthest and longest this morning, which felt really good. I'm going to try and sustain at least that distance, and hopefully add somewhere between a quarter and a half mile each week. I'm not exactly sure at what point that will stop and I will be satisfied with the time or distance. Maybe I can do 6 miles a day. That sounds crazy just to write, but I think it might be realistic eventually. By graduation anyway.

I was talking with Doug yesterday about "Children of Men", and he made the observation that he thought the plot was a bit too archetypal and cheesy, with the whole baby being born to save the world, having a hard time getting a room in which to have the child, the unwed mother, all that. I, however, think that there is an extremely big deviation from the prototype: everyone recognizes that this child is the hope of the world for a better future. Anytime anyone realized that the woman was pregnant, the became shocked. Which also brings up another change, in that the people didn't expect it. While there were some that were looking for a way to reverse the mutation or sickness that had made women infertile, no one expected it to correct itself on its own, which made the appearance of the child that much more exciting. Whereas Jesus came to a world looking for a savior and remained unrecognized, this child came to a world that had given up hope on rescue and was immediately acknowledged.

Again, don't miss this movie. It is spectacular.

Another evening at Reverb

So I was bored (crazy, I know), and I started hitting the "Next blog" button at the top of the page to see what some random people were writing about. After a couple of Spanish sites, I came across a blog just started by a college senior in PA named Aubrielyn. Sandwiched between two pretentious quotes was one of the longest blog posts I've ever read, and it was all regarding her lack of a serious boyfriend, how she's OK with that, and how she hates when her friends are there for her when they're single and completely ignore her when they're in relationships (all of which are decent and justifiable observations). The way she presented her ideas, however, makes them sound pretty unhealthy:

I've realized once and for all that where I am at in my life at the present time...I don't WANT to be in a relationship. Not even a little bit. I am a single, very independent person and I always have been. God willing, I always will be. And that used to bother me, but it doesn't anymore because Ive realized that that's just the way that I am. I'm better by myself. I'm best by myself. I know who I am. I'm my best friend. I like who I am for the most part. I'm by myself and I don't mind being by myself, I really don't. and Im not lying. Im dead serious. Something that used to nag at me constantly suddenly feels like a good thing.

Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't sound like the healthiest place in the world. I'm all for self confidence and self respect; a life like this, so completely self-serving, just seems lonely and pathetic. I am personally in a position where I don't need a relationship, but that doesn't mean that I am at my best in that place. There is a difference between being OK that you're not in a relationship and thinking that you are at the peak of your existence as such.

I have no idea what this post is about. I have no right to analyze the thoughts of a person that I know nothing about. Unless that fact that she feels the need to express these thoughts for the world to read gives me some semblance of that right. Who knows.

Beginning of the End

Today begins the last semester of my academic career.

Not that I actually had classes, mind you, but the semester did technically begin today. I spent my day at Gotee, getting reacquainted with how things work down there and discovering how things have changed. There are five people left who worked there a year ago, and one of them is leaving at the end of the month. Crazy. The new people seem real cool though, so the transition should be rather smooth.

I return to Reverb tonight. Oh joy! Oh rapture! I am apparently the inventory manager this semester or something like that, I'm not exactly sure. But that basically means that I get to tell them what they need to order, thus insuring that we don't end up without the big releases.

This Christmas Break was probably as perfect as I could have hoped. The first half was spent in MN, where I worked and hung out with my family. The only thing that could have made that better was more snow. The second half, back in Nashville, consisted of one of the truest stay-home vacation experiences ever. I have no regrets about how much or little I accomplished during the last two weeks. It's been incredibly refreshing.

I just realized that I have not mentioned how Children of Men turned out. Let me just say, you will be happy that you saw this movie, it is incredibly intense, well-made, and emotional. It's just great all around.

I've been watching some Grey's Anatomy this week with Jess, Kendra, and Julie. This is the first extended experience I've had with this show, and I can definitely see why people, particularly girls, can become addicted to it. It's extremely entertaining, and the characters and story-lines are well developed. Watching it though, I can't help but get frustrated with a lot of the characters from a guy's point of view, with complete jerks suddenly becoming charming and whatnot. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I can't get through an episode without getting frustrated with the female mindset.

But that's just me.

Let's start the New Year right

Happy New Year everyone!

Before I get into how much fun the past week has been, I would like to make everyone aware that there is currently a squirrel in our chimney, a squirrel that was, at 9 this morning, running around the living room and throwing itself against closed windows. One of the weirdest wake up calls ever:

Tim: (knocks) Hey Mark?
Me: (waking) Yeah?
Tim: There's a squirrel running around downstairs.
Me: Well OK then.

I can't tell if it's found a way to crawl out yet or not, but I haven't heard it in about 5 minutes, so maybe it's gone.

Anyway, 2007 has started off extremely well. For New Years, Kendra, Jess, and Ben came over to hang out with me and Jon. I made my mom's wild rice soup, which turned out great, and we played Settlers of Catan, pinochle, and spades. I also tried my first drink ever (champagne with a bit of cranberry grape juice), which was quite gross in my opinion. The other guys didn't seem to have a problem though...

New Years Day we slept in until 10ish, then had pancakes and eggs for breakfast, and played euchre. After a little break, Ben and I went over to the girls' place for Chinese, Little Miss Sunshine, and more cards. Pretty much every day since then has been like that.

I have yet to go to bed before 2 in 2007. This is seriously the longest streak of late nights and late mornings I've had possibly ever. But it's been great, and Kendra and I have actually started to win a few games after being skunked for the first several days.

Last night was another classic episode of The Office. Seriously, Dwight taking his jacket off and tying it around his waist is one of the funniest things I've seen in recent memory. No joke.

Ben and I have played racquetball twice this week, and I am not very good at all. But, I'm learning, and some day I'll score double digits on him. Winning a match, at this point, is out of the question. I am mostly just happy at this point to not be getting skunked anymore. Well, almost anymore.

I don't really want to go running right now, but I should. So I'm gonna do that. Then, Children of Men followed by a community group reunion game night. Should be pretty sweet.