Where is my mind?

Where have the days gone?

2009-03-24T09:09:00.001-07:00

Wow. I haven't posted anything since September of last year. I mean, I know I don't blog very often but that's a little ridiculous. You'd think I hadn't lost my job.

As many of you know, I did in fact lose my job at the screen printing shop. I use the term lose in a very rough sense. I got fired, if you will. I won't go into the details because they make me angry and I've already dealt with all of that stuff. The point is, I've been unemployed for almost a month.

Now there are two sides to this. On the one hand it really sucks. I've been stressed out for a month. Looking for a job in this "economic environment" is tough. Competition is heavy for the few jobs that get posted. I've been lucky enough to get a few interviews and I'm really hoping one of them pans out, but I'm still looking in case it doesn't.

Now on the other hand, as much as I hate to say it, it's been really nice. It's stressful, but also relaxing in a way. I have time to do things. If I hadn't been unemployed, there's no way I would have been able to complete part of the last interview I had; I was up for 12 hours relearning flash in order to complete a skills assessment test. But in between franticly searching for a job and dealing with my previous employer, I've had time to read, visit my family in Fort Worth and play video games.

But I'd trade all that in to have a job.

Scooter

2008-09-24T20:26:00.001-07:00

So a while back my buddy TJ took some pictures out at his folks house and this one caught my eye. I even jokingly commented that he need to bring it back to life for me.

Fast forward to this weekend and TJ was over at my house hanging out and mentioned that he was going to his parent's house the next day. I asked if he could bring the scooter back so we could see if we could get it running. He agreed and two days later he showed up at my house with a trunk full of scooter pieces. It's a 1985 Honda Spree and it's in rough shape. We've got two of everything except for a carburetor and we're waiting on getting an oil tank off ebay. It also needs an air filter and battery, but those will come later. Our main goal at the moment is to get the damn thing running.

Unfortunately, TJ only has Sundays and Mondays off and he doesn't get off until 9 on workdays so we only have two days a week to work on the engine itself. But rest assured, we will use those days to their fullest. Since I don't know a whole lot about engines and such, I've taken it upon myself to repaint the body pieces. This evening I peeled off ancient decals and sanded down the leg guard and side pieces to get them ready for primer. I just found out, after reading the instructions, that it's best to paint an hour after applying the primer. I didn't foresee this and so tomorrow I have to go out and find paint in addition to another can of primer. We're going with pearl white with chrome accents. Why, you ask? Because we've named the scooter Boss Hogg in honor of Jefferson Davis Hogg from Dukes of Hazard. As the cou d'etat I've created a logo to replace the awful 80s Spree logo:
I can't wait until we finish this thing. It's going to be a blast.

Pixar

2008-09-11T16:21:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in a previous posting, I applied for a job at Pixar. My dream job of sorts. I've waited patiently for a little over a month and checked their careers page everyday to see if my status has changed from applied to anything other than applied.

Well, it still says applied, but yesterday I finally received an email from them. I've posted it here in its entirety:

Dear Casey Woods

Thank you for forwarding your resume and flatwork regarding the Graphic Artist position with Pixar. We had your work & resume reviewed and while everyone was impressed with your work, we are unable to utilize your skill set at this time.

Thanks,
Pixar Recruiting

The whole occurrence went something like this:

00:00 - Received email from Pixar
00:01 - Heart rate jumps from 72 bpm to 6,000,000,000 bpm
00:02 - Opened email
00:03 - Heart rate falls back to 72bpm
00:04 - Read email
00:05 - Heart falls through floor and hits a Chinamen in the head

I didn't know until I got this email that a human could experience so many emotions in five seconds.

After about an hour of thinking it through and eating some comfort food (A Big Mac and fries. Go figure.) I came to terms with the rejection. I never thought I really had much of a chance after sending my application and portfolio and told myself not to get my hopes up. It was done on a whim and shouldn't have been thought of much more than that. In the end, I got too excited and hoped I'd get the job.

In retrospect, it was a good experience. I learned a lot about portfolio creation and I know what I need to do in order to raise my chances of working for Pixar. To look at it in a positive light, at least I got a response. A response that explicitly states they were "impressed" and that they can't utilize my skill set "at this time". Granted, this is probably a automatically generated response, it still means that I passed some sort of initial screening. I'm sure many people send in there resumes and portfolios and never hear a word.

I'm still bummed, but I gave it a shot. Pixar knows who I am now. And this isn't the last they'll see of me.

Vegas

2008-07-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

The time has finally come. Tomorrow I will step on a plane bound for Las Vegas, Nevada. I've never been before but I've heard lots of great things. I probably won't be doing a whole lot of gambling, but I definitely plan on sightseeing. I've already booked a reservation for The Neon Boneyard, a huge lot that contains several defunct casino signs. Oh, and don't worry. There will be picture taking.

This evening I finally broke down and bought a record player. Corley and I were at Target where I bought a new backpack and shoes when we discovered this little beauty. It's pretty nice and it sounds great. I inherited a small collection of records from a friend and have been wanting to buy a record player since receiving them. I hadn't seriously gone through them until tonight when I discovered I had Michael Jackson's Thriller ON VINYL. "Holy damn!" I exclaimed as I held the record in my hands. I proudly presented it to Corley who squealed in delight and insisted we play it next. Listening to it now.

As for the rest of the collection, I have several Bill Cosby, George Carlin, National Lampoon, Steve Martin, and Richard Pryor albums to work my way through. I found a Ramones album and some Bing Crosby christmas albums as well. Clearly a very distinctive collection.

1,000

2008-07-17T19:36:00.001-07:00

Well, more like 1,002. Either way, I finally hit 1,000 photos uploaded on Flickr! It's a milestone! Granted, I have taken about 5,300 photos since I got my camera, but only 1,000 of them are good enough for Flickr.

In other news, Corley left for Port Aransas this evening. You may have heard about it. She's down there with her family for the weekend so it's up to me to entertain myself.

Also, I will be applying for my dream job in the next week. Pixar has an opening for a graphic designer at their studio in Emeryville, CA. I am mostly qualified for the position and while my main goal is to actually get the job, my more realistic goal is to get an interview. If I don't hear anything after a month I'm going to apply again and keep applying until they tell me to stop.

Running on fumes

2008-07-10T19:21:00.000-07:00

For the past two weeks I've been flying solo at my job. The only other artist there got canned for no good reason and that leaves me in charge of all things art. I am now responsible for absolutely everything which includes embroidery, something I know little about. I've slowly been learning the ins and outs of it, but as I learn, the art inbox just keeps growing and growing. I feel like Sisyphus rolling a gigantic stone up a hill only to have it roll back down again. Hopefully it won't last for eternity.

It's been affecting other parts of my life too. When I come home I don't want to do anything else but lay in bed in a fetal position slowly counting the hours until the weekend, my only reprieve. I know I sound like a forlorn emo kid, but honestly, having this incredible amount of responsibility resting on my shoulders drains the life out of me. When I get in my car after work I feel like I've been running a marathon all day.

To be fair, there are plenty of positive things going on in my life. It seems a lot of people like my photography and have been asking me to take pictures for them. My friend Pam is getting married and wants me to take bridal pictures. Corley's friend Lauren is getting married and wants me to take engagement pictures. To top it all off, this weekend I will be doing a semi-professional portrait shoot of a gal who's debuting her first album soon. The pictures are going to be used for the cover and hopefully some promotional materials. In preparation for that I went ahead and purchased a Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 lens for my camera. I haven't been able to post them yet, but this lens takes AMAZING pictures. I love it just as much as my 50mm.

I suppose if I look on the bright side of things, if I can hold on long enough for Aztec to hire a new artist, I'll more than likely receive a raise. If I can make it of course.

Slow

2008-04-22T19:32:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that I've slowed down in my photo taking. I'm sure you have too. In the past, this is usually a sign that I've lost interest in whatever new thing I'm doing and eventually I stop doing it all together, thus another hobby tried and tossed aside. I'm confident that this is not the case.

No, the real reason I've gone from a photo shooting frenzy to a handful every few days is because I haven't gone anywhere new. I'm usually at my house, at work or at school. My weekends are really the only time I have to take photos and lately they've been crammed full of so many things to do that I don't have a whole lot of time to take pictures. I want to. Oh how badly I would love to have a whole day to go places and shoot things. I find myself driving down the road seeing things I could take pictures of, imagining how I'd frame them and wishing I had time to stop and do so.

As time goes on I know I'll be shooting lots of pictures, in addition to obtaining newer and better lenses which will more than likely spur more photo frenzies. I really like taking pictures and I think it's definitely something I'm going to stick with. It still scares me though that I'm not taking as many as I did when I first got my camera.

I suppose it's similar to dating. You find someone that is so incredibly awesome and you fall in love with them. For a good while all you want to do is spend every waking moment with them. But as time goes on, the newness of it wears until finally you wake up next to your best friend. Things might not be as exciting as they were when you first met, but they don't have to be. You know that exciting things will happen, and they do, just not as often. My camera and I have become best friends and I know that as I get better at photography there will be a lot more exciting moments, just not all jumbled together into one big lump of joy.

The Nifty Fifty

2008-04-03T22:30:00.000-07:00

I got a new lens for my camera recently. A 50mm f/1.8 II or the "Nifty Fifty" (also "Fantastic Plastic") as it's called. Supposedly it's one of the best and least expensive lenses you can get for a Canon and so far I agree. I've taken about 350 shots with it so far and a lot of them are really rad. The super low f-stop of 1.8 lets me take extremely cool depth of field shots. It focuses ridiculously fast and when I stop down the lens to anything above 1.8 it's very sharp. I'm not sure I'll be taking this lens off anytime soon. You can check out my latest pictures on my Flickr account if you'd like. I update it almost everyday if I can.

In other news, come this summer, I will be completely best-friendless. My buddy Bruh is heading back home for a while at the end of next week. I have no idea when he'll be back. My other friend Nick will be leaving for graduate school sometime this summer. I've known him for at least 11 or 12 years and though I don't see him that often anymore, it's still a little hard for me. I suppose I'll be alright. I make new friends pretty easily, but it'll very hard to find really great friends like Nick and Bruh.

Speaking of Bruh, his band The Vermicious Canids has two shows this weekend: Friday at The Red Eyed Fly at 10:30pm and Saturday at Independence Brewery at 1:00pm. These two shows could potentially be their last so I highly recommend you check them out live while you can.

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, June Bugs are starting to arrive and dive bomb into things. I've already had three pull a kamikaze run on my head while sitting on my porch. I thought the new porch light I bought was supposed to NOT attract bugs.

Finally I'd like to announce that Corley and I should be having a Rock Band party sometime this month. We'll hopefully set a date soon and I'll post the details everywhere I can. Rock Band parties are tons of fun and if you haven't been to one yet you should definitely come to ours. I guarantee you'll have a blast.

Cameras part deaux

2008-03-27T20:42:00.000-07:00

I've been steadily adding photos to my flickr. I've taken about 400 photos so far, and of those, I've only posted 42. Obviously I'm not a great photographer otherwise that ratio would be a lot better. I'm learning though.

Also, in addition to Vagiant, you really, really, really, really need to listen to the new Raconteurs album. Despite what a lot of "music critics" are saying, Consolers of the Lonely is a wicked-awesome-bad-ass album. In my opinion, Consoler of the Lonely, The Switch and the Spur, Shades of Black and Carolina Drama are the standouts, but I love every song on there. I demand you go purchase it this instant if you haven't. You would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't

This weekend I will be venturing to the horse farm with Corley and, if the weather permits, taking a grip load of pictures. I'm very excited to have a change of scenery in which to photograph. The results should be interesting.

If you must know, the truth about the tale, go and ask the milkman.

Cameras

2008-03-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a quick post.

I got my camera and I love it.

I've set up a flickr account and uploaded some of my best photos so far. You should be able to view them up in the right corner. I'll keep adding more as I take them.

We'll talk more tomorrow.

Goodnight.

Raging Semis

2008-03-19T22:07:00.001-07:00

There is one movie in the entire Disney collection, Pixar movies excluded, that is my absolute, all-time, mega-super favorite. That movie is The Sword in the Stone.

It's an older movie so it has all the kick-ass hand drawn animation and the story is wonderful. I have searched for this movie on DVD ever since I've owned a DVD player. The only time I was ever able to find it was at Disney World, for 30 fucking dollars! And when I went to a Disney store in the mall, the lady working said that she was pretty sure Disney didn't even make the Sword in the Stone. What the fuck?

So tonight while waiting in line at the grocery store, I looked at some magazines and my gaze settled upon Sword in the Stone on DVD. I think I almost died. Needless to say I purchased it, or rather Corley purchased it because as fate would have it, I forgot my wallet. Thank god for Corelys. I don't think she's aware that the only thing she could of topped this purchase with is the purchase of Delorean. That's how special this movie is to me.

I can't wait to watch it.

Great Scott!

2008-03-18T20:02:00.001-07:00

Most of you who know me are quite aware of my Delorean lust. It is awoken from time to time by various occurrences in my life. I can't rightly say what made me think of them in the past 15 minutes, but it caused me to look up videos of the Delorean on YouTube as well as pay a visit to one of my favorite sites: www.delorean.com

Someday I will own one of these magnificent pieces of modern engineering. Someday.

You say bark, I say bite

2008-03-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I was able to bike my way to and from work today. A grand total of four miles. Sure, it pales in comparison to what other people have done, but considering I haven't ridden a bike more than a mile in god knows how long, it's a pretty good accomplishment. I must say I am certainly not looking forward to waking up tomorrow morning. It's going to be painful.

You may have noticed that I got around to changing my masthead up top. I kind of cheated and used the original as a template. I'm a little low on creative juices these days. It's tough when your job requires you to be creative for eight hours a day. I kind of feel mentally drained sometimes and unable to create anything after I get outside of work. I suspect it might be more from lack of motivation.

Going back to the bike thing, riding today made me consider that now might not be a bad time to quit smoking. It's only slowing me down. It's not something you can give up easily unfortunately, but I think it's something I'm going to have to do if I ever want to be able to ride my bike farther than four miles a day.

Madeline

2008-03-12T21:43:00.000-07:00

Today I join a new echelon of Austin society. I am now the proud owner of a red Schwinn Suburban. Her name is Madeline and she's probably the finest piece of steel and rubber I've ever owned.

I've been meaning to get a bike ever since I lived in West Campus. It's a cleaner way of traveling and it's great exercise. Honestly it'll probably be my only form of exercise aside from the walks that Corley and I go on. I look forward to taking her on her first long distance trip tomorrow morning to work. My only wish is that I had gotten one earlier this week so I could have ridden all week during spring break. Now the only times I'll be able to ride it to work are on Wednesdays and Fridays.

In addition to that I also got a hair cut; another thing I've been meaning to do. I've been letting it grow for a long time now. It was past my shoulders and probably about 12 in. long and now it barely touches them. It feels a lot nicer and it's not as hot. I think it looks a lot better too.

As soon as I get around to it I'll post some pictures of my sweet new ride and possibly my haircut which isn't as cool as the bike.

Oh, and since I failed to post it earlier, Corley and I celebrated our two-year anniversary this past February. It's a wonderful thing while at the same time a significant landmark in my life. Until I met Corley I hadn't dated a girl consecutively for more than six months. She's pretty much my best friend of the female persuasion and I think that's the way it should be with a significant other. We can comfortably sit in silence for long periods of time and we never fight. However, we really suck at talking on the phone. Strange.

My birthday also happened to occur last month. I am now 24 years-old which I didn't realize until a week later. I mean, I was fully aware of my birthday and a few friends and I went out to Hole in the Wall to celebrate, but I wasn't aware I had turned a year older until I was sitting in traffic on my way to school a week later. I suppose I was caught up in the celebration of an event rather than fully understanding what the significance of said event was. Again, strange.

And if you still haven't checked out Vagiant, you really should get around to doing that.

As an aside....

2008-03-11T20:05:00.000-07:00

I'm glad I have an s in my last name.

Anxiety

2008-03-11T19:28:00.000-07:00

I think everyone should check out Vagiant. They're an all-chick punk band from Boston that's been featured on Guitar Hero and Rock Band. They'll give you a shot in the arm that you just might need.

What do you do when you find your motivational level gauge tapping E? You post a blog!

Some of you may have noticed that I recently changed my layout and profile picture. In an effort to be more proactive about blogging I decided to do those things. When I feel up to it, I'll probably edit the colors and graphics, I just haven't decided what I should replace the current ones with. However, I do have a plan.

Step one involves investing in a nice digital camera.

With said camera I plan on taking a metric shit ton of pictures which I will post on this, eventually, redesigned blog. Thus I will have created a portal on the web for which to display my mediocre attempts at art.

Of course this also means that I'll have a need to purchase an account with Flickr.

I've already tackled a few other steps towards my goal. I finally bought a new hard drive for my computer. 500 gigabytes of space now rest within my trusty G5 allowing me to store all the pictures I plan on taking. I feel better now that I know I have a much smaller chance of losing all of my artwork I've created as well as the music library I've accumulated.

Eventually, once I actually start taking more pictures and doing more art (I really need to start drawing on my tablet more) I'd like to invest in one of these. I'd really like to get a Cintiq before I buy a camera but my lovely girlfriend insists I get the camera first.

Now you might be asking yourself, "How is Casey going to afford all these new toys?" The answer, my friend, is simple. I got a raise.

Allow me to start at the beginning. I started an internship at a local screen printing shop in July-ish. I loved it and continued working there and eventually started getting paid part time. At this point I started working only one day a week at Kinko's. In a few months they hired me full-time and quit Kinko's completely. Two weeks ago I got a raise to salary. So in about six months I went from unpaid intern to salary. I don't think I've accomplished anything like that in my life.

So to the handful of people that read this blog, just remember: Nobody suspects the Spanish Inquisition!

Christmas Time

2007-12-20T17:57:00.000-08:00

Christmas is here and that means we're closing in on the end of another year. For a lot of us that also means we're moving. That is, if you lease started at the beginning or end of a year; mine did. So I'm packing up my huge pile of stuff and moving somewhere else.

While there are a lot of things I'll miss about my old place: the UT Tower chiming, the cozyness, the close vicinity of various shops, I definitely won't miss the construction and all the frat goings on. Soon I'll be living in a house in a quieter neighborhood that's still relatively close to a lot of cool places and also with a good friend.

Other than moving, a lot else has happened this year. I finally broke free from the bondage they call FedEx Kinko's and have found myself a pretty rad job working in the art department of a screen printing shop. I've learned a lot in the six or so months that I've been there in addition to climbing from intern to full time employee in a matter of six or so weeks. I love the people that work there and the company sponsored parties are killer. Sure, I took a pay cut and I don't have any benefits, but I think if I wait it out a few more months I'll be making close to what I made at Kinko's.

Moving on, if you haven't played Rock Band yet, you're missing out on one of the best video game experiences ever. Sitting down and playing with three of your friends on either Guitar, Bass, Drums or Vocals is a shit ton of fun. I had the chance to do so recently at a party I attended. It was originally a Christmas part but as soon as we fired up the Xbox it became a full blown Rock Band party. I'll have to do it again sometime.

It's also really nice to be playing the aforementioned on a high-definition television, which it so happens I just got for Christmas. How could I have already received my Christmas gifts you ask? Well, my family celebrated early because my Grandparents we're in town. Corley and I ventured north to the land of Burleson for a weekend and had a wonderful time hanging out with my family. I only wish I could have spent more time with them.

Anyway, I'd like to wish everyone a happy holiday and happy new year. I can't be thankful enough for all the friends and family I have that care about me. We've all got another year to tackle, 2008, and it's looking to be a killer year.

Pumpkin Party Reminder!

2007-10-18T22:41:00.001-07:00

Hey friends!

Just a reminder, this Saturday, October 20th, 2007 at 8:30pm at Corley's Apartment (call for directions), Corley and I are having our first ever (possibly annual) Pumpkin Party. You're invited as long as you know me well enough to know how to get a hold of me.

There will be Pumpkin themed food and fun for everyone! The cost of admission is a pumpkin food or drink or a carving pumpkin (yes, we will be having pumpkin carving as well!). Other fall-ish food items are allowed, but we'd prefer something pumpkiny. We are providing cups, plates, napkins, and eating utensils. We also have 3 or 4 sets of carving tools so please bring some if you have them and we also have some carving patterns if you're not feeling particularly creative.

Please call, email, or text message myself or Corley and let us know if you're coming and what you will be bringing. Items already confirmed are:

Pumpkin Ravioli
Pumpkin Soup
Pumpkin Rolls
Pumpkin Muffins
Pumpkin Pie
Candy Apples(?)
Pumpkin Bread(?)

P.S. If you'd like to improve your chances in the carving contest, bring alcohol!

Hope to see you there!

Change

2007-06-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

For those of you wondering, I did indeed get the internship that I interviewed for. I start tomorrow and will be working Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. Unfortunately it's not a paid internship, but according to the big boss that could change. Potentially, I could be hired on as part-time help as time goes on. Once I graduate school, if I'm still there, I can be hired full-time with salary. I hope I meet their expectations.

In other news, unless you've been living under a rock the past year, the brand new Apple iPhone is coming out this Friday. Chances are good that I will be getting my hands on one. Most of you who know me also know that I'm an Apple nerd and will probably be rendered comatose once I do obtain an iPhone. It's a dangerous thing buying first revision hardware, but I'm guided by blind faith in Steve Jobs. I have a backup cell phone, so if it DOES break, at least I won't be phone-less.

Other than that there's nothing new. I still hate my job, but at least I'm headed in the right direction with this internship. I just hope it pans out.

General Irritation

2007-06-06T01:08:00.000-07:00

A lesson in sociology.

Labeling Theory essentially states that an indvidual will take on the traits of a certain stereotype if they are labeled as such. For instance, if a student is told that they're not very bright and won't make it very far, generally the student does poorly in school. The self-fulfilling prophecy is related to this theory.

Now, let us look at a real world example. At work, I am constantly told that I suck at my job or that this person or that person is better than I am. Granted, all of these comments are in jest and for the most part I take them in stride and fire back my own put-downs. However, depending on my state of mind, I take these comments to heart and eventually I start actually sucking at my job. I feel worthless and unappreciated and stop caring about whether this or that job get done. It's very frustrating and the sole reason I have been looking for a new job. I am not worthless. I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like me.

In other news, Mark is in the studio this month recording his grand vision of an album. As far as I know he doesn't have a band and while a lot of people know who he is, I have a feeling that not many people are going to buy his album considering a vast majority of Austin has no idea who he is; in addition to the fact that he's played very few venues. Mark is an amazing musician, don't get me wrong. He's very talented and creative. However, without proper motivation and people skills, unfortunately he won't go anywhere. It remains to be seen if he will succeed. And if he does, that's wonderful. If he doesn't, he's going to owe an arm and a leg to his parents.

On a side note, it really hurts to read about what he's doing in the studio and see pictures of the whole undertaking because although I'm pretty much over it, somewhere deep inside I feel like I should be there too. But unfortunately, I'm not a "serious musician."

Oh well

Yet another temporary loss of sanity

2007-05-28T01:35:00.000-07:00

For some reason, I can't seem to get anything done at work. For the past four work nights, things have been so fucked up at work that I have consistently not been able to get jobs done on time for the morning. As much as I'd like to believe it isn't my fault and as much as people even TELL me it's not my fault, I can't help but think that somehow if I would have done something differently, everything would have been done on time. It's extremely frustrating to have my managers come in in the morning and be pissed that jobs aren't finished. I just wish I could figure out what in god's name I'm doing wrong and fix it.

As if that weren't enough, I was unexplainably depressed for most of my weekend and even managed to have a panic attack on Friday that ended up with me walking ten miles in sandals. I have yet to recover and don't really feel like I will for a while. My life feels like it's coming apart at the seems and while I run around trying to re-stitch parts of it back together, other parts come further undone.

On the bright side of things, I finally managed to get my apartment arranged the way that I've wanted it. On the whole, I feel more settled and it has helped me to regain a little bit of groundedness and sanity. Corley helped with that and I am tremendously thankful.

I know I promised at the outset of this blog that I wouldn't write sappy, depressed shit, but it's all stuff that I really need to get out of my head and onto paper or in this case screen. So in other words, I'm sorry. Thankfully, there's only like three people that read this so I'm not offending too many people.

Gunpowder, Gelatin, Dynamite with a laser beam.

The cloudburts thunder in your ear

2007-05-22T01:38:00.000-07:00

How appropriate. I sit down for lunch with my laptop and press play on iTunes and what should come on? Here's that Rainy Day. A version featuring Stan Getz. I'm not sure how many of you have heard of him, but he's a phenomenal saxophone player. It sounds like he's barely blowing into the sax it's so smooth. When I briefly played saxophone, I listened to him a lot completely enthralled with his sound. Definitely a good choice considering how stressful work is this evening.

When she walks it's like a samba

Car Trouble

2007-05-18T09:37:00.001-07:00

It's times like these that I really wish I got into cars growing up instead of graphic design.

If I had, I'd be able to do most, if not all, of the repairs on my car and never have to worry about whether or not the repair shop I'm taking my car to is trustworthy. In addition, I've always wanted to know how to work on cars because I love working on mechanical stuff. I'd be able to buy a rundown hunk of junk 1966 Catalina and get it up and running. Or buy that Delorean I've always wanted and keep it running.

The Q suggested that after I get my degree in Interactive Design that I consider going back to school for automotive repair. I think I might just do that.

Car Trouble

2007-05-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

Sleeplessness

2007-05-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

Every morning I get off work, I feel tired; exhausted even. What I don't understand is that I'll go to bed, and wake up five or six times sporadically and not feel rested once I finally get out of bed. It seems to me that if your body is tired and you don't have to get up, you'll sleep. Apparently that's not the case. I'm sure it has something to do with the sun shining through my window and my circadian rhythms being screwed up. Damn those circadian rhythms and all their circadian rhythm-ness.

Worst of all, I keep having dreams about work. I'll wake up thinking that 100 comb binds are due in 15 minutes and be all freaked out until my brain catches up and realizes I'm half-naked, lying in bed at home.

-=sigh=-

By the way, if anybody has any leads on a weird and/or wacky job or perhaps some sort of design job, please, by all means, let me know.

I'll choose my own shit scene.

Photography

2007-05-04T14:38:00.000-07:00

Well, Apple finally got around to uploading all the photos for their Insomnia Festival. I guess they did it a couple hours ago because their server is so slammed I can't even log in to vote on my own submission. Here's the link: Outside Chance.

If you decide to vote on it you'll have to set up an Apple ID here. However, if you've ever bought an iTunes song or bought something off the online Apple store then you already should have an Apple ID and only need to login to vote. If you can't log in today, the voting last until the 14th so you have some time. I'd really appreciate it if you guys could send me a little love. Even if you only want to rate it one star, that's more than I've got already.

An oldie, but a goodie

2007-04-30T17:23:00.000-07:00

I was searching on google a few weeks back. Words of the day were my name, The Q's name and aNoobia. I always like searching aNoobia because it's a word I created in high school that I pretty much use for everything. Seeing as how it's pretty unique I get very few hits and they're usually all related back to me.

In doing so, I found an old blog that I had totally forgotten about. I thought I had deleted most of my old blogs due to their depressing and retarded content, but I guess I missed one. Anyway, I just got done perusing all of the entries on that particular blog and realized why I deleted all the other ones. It's full of whiny, high school crap and I am ashamed that I ever wrote it. I understand that it's okay that I wrote that stuff because it's how I was back then and I've changed since. Still, it's embarrassing.

Time for class.

But I glow in the dark and I won't sit still.

Boredom

2007-04-30T06:27:00.000-07:00

What a really boring night. I haven't had a night at work where there was nothing to do in a looooooong time. I am now reminded of how much it blows.

I guess it wasn't all bad. My coworker and I decided to make shields, swords, and helmets out of cardboard. It was interesting to see our different styles. I tried to keep mine consistent and I think I accomplished my goal. I'll bring my camera to work tomorrow night and take pictures so you all can see what we did with our time at work.

You all might remember a few months back when I entered the Threadless competition. I didn't win. No worries, I still got a laptop which was my intention by entering. I have since entered another contest: The Apple Insomnia Photo Festival. Basically I was given 24 hours to shoot one photo that I felt best represented the word growth. Unfortunately I cannot post it here due to the rules, however, in a few days it will be posted on Apple's website and I'd like to ask all who read this to please go vote upon it.

I know the prize is a MacBook Pro and yes I know I already have a MacBook, but I don't have a MacBook Pro. Besides, if I were to win, I'd end up giving The Q my old MacBook so she can have a nicer laptop, and she in turn would give the iBook I got her for Christmas to her sister. So it's not like I'd be keeping two laptops. That's just ridiculous.

I'll understand if you don't vote on my picture. I'm sure there are much better photos that have been submitted, but I'd appreciate your support.

Sing news with passion of the pistol

Video game moments

2007-04-24T03:13:00.000-07:00

Today after class, I walked into my apartment and had an Animal Crossing moment. In Animal Crossing, if you haven't played in a while, walking into your house sucks because it's completely infested with roaches.

Now, my apartment is by no means infested, but a roach did scuttle across my floor when I switched the light on. I really had to pee though so I grabbed a nearby cup and slammed it down on top of his ass to keep him incarcerated whilst I relieved myself. Once I finished, I returned to the cup and proceeded to swiftly end his little roachy life. I really hope he didn't have any kids. I'd feel bad if I deprived a roach dad of his roach children....Nah.

Tonight at work has been tolerable. No messes to deal with. Ron the Xerox technician and I exchanged music. My Black Keys for his Grand Funk compilation. A fair trade if I do say so myself. I haven't listened to Grand Funk Railroad since summer break in elementary school with my dad. Certainly brings back memories.

Not much else to report. The next 24 hours will be interesting weather-wise. We're in for a nasty bit of stormage. Maybe even some tornados. Tomorrow night at work will be interesting.

Oh, and if anyone has $20,000 they're willing to part with, there's a sweet 1962 Cadillac for sale. There's another one for $4,500. Not as good condition, but still pretty rad.

I'm getting closer to my home.

Frustration

2007-04-23T03:33:00.000-07:00

No matter how many times I explain something to my fellow key-ops they never learn.

I try to teach them how to run jobs more efficiently to lessen the amount of work that our auxiliary workers have to do and they never do it. In the end it just slows everyone down. It's sad because it doesn't even require that much effort. Ten minutes of extra work for a key-op could potentially equal hours of work saved on aux. The math makes perfect sense to me. I suppose it's a good thing I work a 12 hour shift. At least I can go home knowing that half of the days work will get done more efficiently.

Now, I am certainly not saying I am a better key-op. Most of the people that do the same job as me are way more experienced. I understand it's tough to break habits. But seriously, ten minutes of work to save a few hours? I just don't understand that. Hopefully some day my ideas will stick, until then I just have to shake my head every night I come into work and am bombarded with mass piles of auxiliary.

Hey blenderhead, they're starting to ask questions

Weekends

2007-04-20T18:42:00.000-07:00

I can't begin to describe how wonderful it is to have fridays and saturdays off again. I actually have some sort of a weekend now. I got my grocery shopping done AND I finally washed my dishes. Then entire collection. They've been sitting in my sink for almost a week now and the bowl that had previously held coleslaw had begun to create it's own atmosphere. The next step would have been multi-cellular lifeforms, but I destroyed any possibility of that. Now I know how God felt when he washed the earth of all the sinners with 40 days and nights of rain, only in a much smaller amount of time.

On the menu tonight we have a showing of Hot Fuzz with a large group of my friends. Ten of us will hopefully be laughing until we puke in the next couple of hours. In case you weren't aware, Hot Fuzz is a movie done by the creators of Shaun of the Dead. An extremely funny movie billed as a "Romantic comedy....With zombies." I'll let y'all know how Hot Fuzz is when I get the chance.

In Swamp Chicken news, I posted some new pictures of us on our MySpace: We Are Swamp Chicken! Bruh and I had way too much fun with the iSight camera on my laptop. Check it out though.

Heaven smiles above me.

Continuity

2007-04-19T14:46:00.000-07:00

I came to the realization yesterday that I really don't get out enough or do things to further my knowledge. As soon as I get home from work or school, I stay there. I sit on my couch and play video games or watch TV and I don't play around with Photoshop, Illustrator, or Flash like I use to either.

So in addition to the realization came the solution: Get out more. I live in West Campus for crying out loud. There's a million and two things to do within a five mile radius. I started my new path by venturing over to the local starbucks, sitting outside and smoking cigarettes whilst drinking coffee. It felt really damn good. I even had my laptop with me to mess around with illustrator a little.

Now I'm at Starbucks again; a different one. I know I've already been to the same place twice, but I have to start simple and work my way up. It feels good to be away from my stuffy apartment. It'd probably be a better experience if I cleaned the place up and did the dishes, but that's besides the point....

It'd still be stuffy.

One light, one mind, flashing in the dark.

Head On

2007-04-18T02:45:00.000-07:00

Compared to last night, tonight at work is at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Yet it's still frustrating. God damn perfect binder....

I designed a business card for a friend of mine. It's funny, the man has been trying to get a business card together for almost a year and the whole time I told him I could do it for him but he never listened. He wanted a really fancy card printed on mylar or some other translucent material. He contacted me last week about it and agreed to do it. He told me what he wanted and I threw something together. Lo and behold he liked it and now I've got it all nicely printed out and ready to go. Here's what I did:

He wanted a grip load of stuff on it and at first I thought it was going to be a really busy card. But I used all that education I've been getting at ACC and incorporated all the elements he asked for and some he didn't. I'm pretty happy with the end result. If you like what you see and you or someone you know needs a business card or something else, let me know and I'd be glad to help.

Along the same lines, a girl in my sociology class was recently browsing my myspace pictures and really fancied my "Art Deco" picture I did. So much in fact that she asked me if I'd do it to one of her pictures. Networking is a great thing.

My rehearsals last for hours and hours, with diligence I have been blessed.

Late Night

2007-04-17T04:14:00.000-07:00

A little over half-way done with my first graveyard shift since three months ago. Now that I have food in my belly I think I can make it the last six hours.

Working graveyard I don't have anybody distracting me and I can really bust ass on all the jobs. I'm probably going to burn myself out if I keep going at this pace.

Oh, and in case you need someone to talk to between the hours of 9pm and 9am on Sundays, Mondays, or Tuesdays, I leave my iChat open so feel free to bug me. I'm sure I can offer some keen words of wisdom between running machines and doing auxiliary work.

Yes, I am relieved to know I'm not a golem

Simple

2007-04-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

Some douche bag decided that it'd be funny to destroy some of the plants I've been growing.

The Q bought me three little starter kits of marigolds. They came with seeds, a little pot and a pellet of soil that you added water to and expanded. I grew them in their little pots until they were about three inches tall and then transplanted them into some bigger pots and set them outside to get better sun and hopefully bloom. They were doing pretty well until last night. The Q and I went to Kerbey Lane for dinner and upon our return home, the marigolds were still there in their new homes. Later, I went outside to water them before I went to bed and they were destroyed. Someone had ripped them apart and left little stubs.

Needless to say, I was pretty pissed. Who the hell does that? As I fell asleep I pondered this question. Either some drunken buffoon thought it'd be funny or someone maliciously attacked them in order to enact revenge for something I may have done.

Now I am by no means a bad tenant. The worst thing I do is practice with Bruh on Saturdays. We don't play past nine or ten and we'd happily reschedule if someone were to knock on the door and ask. So I came to the conclusion that whoever did it, did it because they're a douche bag and don't care about other people's property.

Though my flowers are ruined, I am optimistic that they will rebound. I'm also glad that they decided to fuck up my flowers and not The Q's bike, Chloe. It's a nice bike and I'd hate to see it ruined because of something I did.

Other than that, things are cool. I'm starting my new shift tonight: 9pm-9am, Sunday through Tuesday. I'm excited and nervous. I've thought the whole thing through and I'm fairly certain I won't die of exhaustion this time, but I wasn't able to sleep all day today, waking up at about one. This is mostly due to the fact that I worked the remainder of my day shifts yesterday and don't have any time in between to fully acclimate myself to third-shift. Tomorrow should be easier.

Wow. This is the fourth post in a row for me. Stranger things have happened I guess.

For the benefit of Mr. Kite, there will be a show tonight

Crazy

2007-04-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

Working for a big company definitely has its perks. Once you've been with the company for 90 days, you get access to lots of discount programs. One of which I decided to partake in. I can get t-mobile hotspot service for half the cost giving me unlimited access to all the t-mobile hotspots EVERYWHERE. This is definitely a good thing. Whenever I'm at work I can stay connected and not have to worry about getting in trouble for accessing stuff on a company machine. Or I can go to the local starbucks and drink coffee while I'm working on homework or even work on stuff if I'm traveling to Michigan.

In signing up for t-mobile, I finally was forced to figure out my budget and what I can and can't afford as far as bills go. I've got my bills scheduled in iCal on my Mac so I know readily when things are due. This is also a good thing.

I've always had problems with money. As soon as I get some, I immediately want to spend it. I've never saved more than 800 dollars. And when I have, I usually spend it quickly. Take this laptop as an example. After purchasing it, I've realized that I really need to start controlling what I can and can't buy. It's an important skill to have.

I know you guys don't care about that kind of stuff, but I'm on break at lunch and I'm bored. I just thought I'd share.

You never give me your money. You only give me your funny paper

Same ol', same ol'

2007-04-14T11:53:00.000-07:00

I know you're all pretty tired of hearing me go on about laptops. Like when I got my first one; the iBook G3 and now the new Macbook. But I'm still just stupefied at how great having one of these is. Here I am, sitting outside in the absolutely gorgeous weather leeching off of the hotel across the highway from work. You couldn't do anything like this 15 years ago; hell, 10 years ago. Technology is a wonderful thing.

Work has been interesting today. Ben brought in his iPod and his new Apple HiFi I talked him into buying and we've got it plugged into a TV watching Stranger Than Fiction. It's hard to work when you've got a good movie playing. Nonetheless, working I am. The machines are running much better today since the air conditioning has been fixed. For those of you unaware, moisture is a production operator's worst nightmare. When paper gets slightly moist it refuses to be run through a machine and cause major head aches. Today, that is not the problem. Today the problem is the fact that rubber is not invincible.

As stated previously, the weather outside is beautiful. If you don't work today, or you have time to take a break, step outside and enjoy it. We won't see weather like this for much longer. All we have to look forward to is five months of unbearable heat, broken up by maybe a week, at most, of rain. So go play some frisbee golf, go biking, drink a beer, whatever. It's nice.

Wash me clean and I will run until I reach the shore

Hot Diggity Dang!

2007-04-13T19:23:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about laptops, but they always make me feel like writing in my blog. A shit-ton has happened since the last time I updated. I didn't get the job that I applied for. I applied for another job in addittion to that one and also did not get it, but I did at least get an interview. I'm bummed that I didn't get that one because the boss was really cool. Hell, he even called me back like he said he would. How weird is that?

So I spoke of a laptop. As of today, I finally have my hands on a Macbook. It's not a black one, but it's just as fast. It's super neato keeno weeno and I love it. Photobooth is so much fun to play with and having a laptop with wireless internet is nice too. A lot of you probably think I'm nuts for buying one and you're probably right. But what's done is done and it will definitely help me in the future.

Swamp Chicken posted three new songs on Myspace. If you haven't checked us out yet, we're at www.myspace.com/weareswampchicken. We played our first show of sorts a few weeks ago at a friends party. Surprisingly, we were well received. I was very pumped.

Other than that, the only other new thing is that I'm switching back to third-shift at Kinko's. I'll be making more money and I'll have Fridays and Saturdays off again which will be SO nice. I'm very excited.

Outside the world, out there you don't hear the echoes and calls

It's been a long time since I've rock and rolled

2007-03-07T18:29:00.000-08:00

I've had a lot of things that I've been meaning to write about. Hopefully I can remember them all.

First of all, as some of you may know, I'm keeping the music alive and well by starting a band with one of my best buds Bruh. We're called Swamp Chicken and we're all about making music and having fun. It's just drums and a guitar, but that's all you need. A lot of our material is really goofy, but I think people will really enjoy it. I'm having a blast with it and hopefully you will too once we start playing some shows at the end of this month or sometime in April. Check out our myspace at www.myspace.com/weareswampchicken. We posted a song on there. We did it in about 30 minutes and it's really just a result of me trying to learn how to use Garage Band.

Career-wise I could potentially have a new job soon. I applied for a Graphics Designer position at a furniture company. I assume I'd be designing promotional materials as well as internal stuff. I sent in my resume today and now I'm just waiting for a reply. Should things actually work out I will have finally obtained a career in an industry I actually want to work in. Admittedly I am a little worried that I might actually get the job and then be completely overwhelmed. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but it's hard not to when I might get a job making four times as much as what I currently make.

I received, in the mail today, the most kick-assiest of shirts. It can be viewed here. I love Deloreans. I love Back to the Future. I think, as my best friend put it, this shirt sums up my existence.

Last month, Corley and I celebrated our one-year anniversary. With the exception of the cumulative two years I spent with my last girlfirend, this is the longest amount of time I've ever spent dating someone. And the amount of time continues to grow with every passing day. I am at the same time amazed and happy that I've found another human being that I get along with and don't mind seeing every day for a whole year. The most amazing part is that we haven't had a single fight. She is a good woman. An angry woman *wink*, but a good woman.

Finally, if you've never heard shit hot music, you should go see Bruh's band the Vermicious Canids:

2007-02-17T06:56:00.001-08:00

Test

I beg ye!

2007-02-05T18:11:00.000-08:00

I apologize if you're already read this on myspace.

Okay, so there's only one more day left for my threadless submission to be scored. To all those people that have already scored my design, thank you SO much for your support. To those who haven't, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!? Go to:

http://www.threadless.com/submission/108352/If_at_first_you_don_t_succeed

In order to score my design, you will have to register with the site, but it's free! So register and score my design and make sure to check the "I'd buy it!" box.

I'm pretty sure my chances of winning are slim now, but there's still a chance. I'll probably be beaten by this:

http://www.threadless.com/submission/108598/hungry_hungry_hedgehog

Which I think is lame, but whatever. It's all about designing something that people like.

I also get a 300 dollar gift certificate to Threadless to buy some of my shirts and while I can't promise EVERYONE a shirt, I can promise MOST of you that you'll get one if you vote on it. So please, vote on my submission!

Pardon my dust

2007-02-01T16:00:00.000-08:00

As you can see, I changed the colors around on my blog. It's nothing permanent, I just wanted to see if I could edit the style sheet on my blog successfully. I did it in Dreamweaver, but I'm not sure I want to go about it that way. I'll mess with it more tonight.

In other news, I submitted a design to Threadless. I'm sure I've already told you, but I really need everyone's support in order to win this. You can check it out here:

http://www.threadless.com/submission/108352/If_at_first_you_don_t_succeed

Pardon me for being rude

2007-01-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

In Fort Worth at the moment. Had to drop in on the rents to pick up housing supplies. Yes, that's right, I found an apartment. It's right next door to my best buddy Nick. So convenient! For the past two weeks I've been staying at his place and soon I'll be staying about 15 feet next to it. Weird.

Driving up here and hanging out have profound effects on what I tend to think about. Three hours in a car and quiet nights outside of your comfort zone tend to do that. I've noticed that I tend to get very anxious on the eve of leaving Fort Worth. Unfortunately the eve of leaving also happened to be the day of arrival so I've been pretty anxious all damn day.

Like the title says, I apologize. Not necessarily for being rude, but just for babbling. There are things I could blog about, but it would only benefit me and not you, dear reader. However, it is nice to sit and type. I need to do that more.

Which reminds me, I may have said this before, but today I revisited my desire of acquiring a domain name again and setting up a portfolio. I decided that in addition to the portfolio I could set up a space to blog from and display pictures I've taken on my camera. It probably won't amount to anything other than an idea, but one never knows.

every time I look in your eyes, everyday I'm watching you die

The End of an Era

2006-12-27T19:43:00.000-08:00

As the 2006th year of human existence since the invention of the Gregorian calendar is coming to a close, I sit in a room filled with every single possession I own and wonder what I'm going to do.

Yesterday I returned from a trip to the North where I visited my kin. It was fun and exciting but it really didn't take the edge off things like I thought it would. I thought I'd finally feel relaxed when school was over, but I didn't and so I hoped going on vacation I would finally find a state of mental repose. It wasn't until I spent time with The Q that I finally felt a little relaxed. However, with the question of where I will find lodging saturating my thoughts I have a constant knot in my stomach.

I was supposed to have a place to live before I left for Michigan. A friend at work asked if I would like to sublet his apartment and after viewing said apartment I agreed. He had only thought about it that far. Now he had to find a place to live himself. I didn't formulate any kind of backup plan due to the trust I placed in him as well as my own stupidity. As it stands now, I will be without a permanent place of residence come December 30th. My current plan is as follows:

- Pack up as many belongings that are not needed.
- Move belongings into a storage unit.
- Couch hop between friends until I can find an apartment.

I've been scanning the usual spots: Craigslist, Austin Chronicle, Statesman, but seeing as how I didn't start my search until 6pm today, I was unable to contact any of the potentials I found. Tomorrow is reserved for finding a storage unit and a place to live if possible.

On the positive side of things, I made a pretty nice haul for Christmas. I got a Black & Decker adjustable wrench (*glee*), a new comforter, various articles of clothing, giftcards, a Back to the Future model, and two really kick ass books. The one I'd like to mention is "The Haggis-On-Whey Animals of the Ocean, in Particular The Giant Squid". This book is absolutely hilarious and a very fast read. The Haggis-On-Whey (HOW) series also includes two previous volumes, "Volume 1: Giraffes? Giraffes!" and "Volume 2: Your Disgusting Head: The Darkest, Most Offensive and Moist Secrets of Your Ears, Mouth and Nose". I haven't had the pleasure of reading either of these, but I can't wait to get my hands on them. *glee*

And father had had such hopes for a son who would take the ropes

Rich people die unhappy

2006-12-01T16:45:00.000-08:00

So many things going on right now.

-Thanksgiving was thanksgiving-ish and awesome.

-I got my Wii. It's even awesomer.

-It's really fuck-tardedly cold right now.

-Corley's christmas present is going to be rad.

-I made a neat hat today at work and plan on making another tomorrow.

Why my girlfriend is awesome

2006-11-21T23:58:00.000-08:00

Because she bought me a mini tinsel Christmas tree with lights and mini ornaments. I was tickled pink to receive it and put it up immediately. Now if I only had a digital camera instead of a stupid camera phone....

What's with these goth kids?

2006-11-15T18:41:00.002-08:00

As Corley mentioned in one of her recent postings, I have indeed been working on a template for her blog. I wouldn't go so far as describing it "gorgeous". In fact, it's very plain and simple. And she's right, I'm not happy with it. To me, knowing how it's coded, it feels very slapped together and I'm worried it wouldn't hold up when viewed on a PC through Internet Explorer or Firefox or any other sort of browser. Then again, I'll never be satisfied with anything I do artistically.

Which brings me to my next topic. All my friends and classmates regularly compliment me on my projects, creations, etc. They tell me I have the talent to do it as a career. If only my friends and classmates were the people hiring me.

The only method I have for conveying my abilities to a potential employer is a resume and a portfolio. The resume could say all kinds of things related to how proficient I am at this or that, but everyone applying for that job probably has a resume saying the same thing. So it comes down to the contents of you portfolio. I haven't done any sort of design work for a company so the only thing I could put in a portfolio are examples of stuff I've done in class; not what they want.

But I'll keep chugging along on my dear, sweet Corley's blog redesign and maybe I'll end up liking the end results.

In other news.... Well, there really isn't much else going on. The Nintendo Wii comes out this Sunday, but that's only interesting if you like video games. I still have no idea where I'm going to live come this January and I'm still stuck at FedEx Stinko's.

Oh, Shit.

I am a writer, a writer of fiction

2006-11-02T21:34:00.000-08:00

I've never been one to acknowledge any sort of talent I may or may not possess. Most people who know me know this about me. I'm sure it annoys some of them but a lot of them tend to ignore it.

Lately, my girlfriend Corley (I can use her real name since she revealed mine. HA!) has expressed much discontent at this character flaw. I don't believe I'll ever think I do anything well, however, I am endeavoring to acknowledge that I do in fact have talents.

I've started this process recently when I confessed to Corley that I have a knack for saying I'm not good at things. So there's one talent, though it's almost an oxymoron. Here on my blog I would like to declare another talent I have: I can get along with virtually anyone, in other words, people tend to like me.

I came to this conclusion after watching the movie, Find Me Guilty. From IMDB.com, "Based on the true story of Jack DiNorscio, a mobster who defended himself in court for what would be the longest mafia trial in U.S. history." In the movie, everybody loves Jack and for some reason I found myself relating to him. Whenever I come to work everyone greets me with "Hey! Casey's here!" as if work has suddenly become ten times better now that I've arrived. In high school everyone knew who I was and while there were some that didn't care for me, most enjoyed my company.

However, all this brings me back to the problem I have. I feel like I'm bragging about myself when I admit these things and I suppose that's why I never like to admit I might actually be talented. It's such a fine line to walk between saying you're good at something and bragging. I don't think I can walk it. Oh well, baby steps.

Anyway, enough of that. After talking with Corley I am know fairly determined to learn CSS. It's always been something I wanted to know and I feel like it could be a stepping stone to other programming languages I've yet to learn. I looked over some primers and beginning tutorials on it and it seems simple enough and I've heard as much. It's easy to use but difficult to master. One of those things. I'd like to direct you to the CSS Zen Garden. It's pretty rad and very inspiring. You can look forward to a new look for both Corley's blog and mine.

Along with learning CSS I'm also working on a t-shirt design as previously mentioned. Nothing on paper yet, save for a few sketches. I'm really drawing a blank on this whole thing. I'm to the point where I feel I should just do it and see what happens instead of spending so much time thinking about it. Sometimes your best works come from five minutes of actual work. I'll let you know when I finally throw something up there.

And at the gate of the embassy, our hands met through the bars

I hate band-aids

2006-10-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

I recently signed up on Threadless and plan on submitting designs soon. I'm letting my subconscious churn away on ideas and hopefully that will bear fruit soon. When I do finally submit something I beseech you to help me out by voting. I can win 1500 dollars if my design is picked as well as a 300 dollar gift certificate to the site which would allow me to buy all my voters a shirt with the design on it. Well, not ALL of them, but definitely the ones that I can hand a shirt to. Stay tuned for that.

Saw The Decemberists on Tuesday at Stubb's. I'm in love with them currently. If you haven't heard them I high suggest you check them out. Catch me online on AIM and I'll lend you some. As for the show, it was really rat. I admit I only recognized two of the songs they played. A lot of the stuff they did play was off the new album which I didn't realize existed. Rest assured, I own the album now and through the goodwill of a fellow fan and friend, I have two of their other albums.

Speaking of December, it is almost upon us and that means my lease here at the Metropolis is almost up as well. I've been searching on Craigslist (So has my bad ass girlfriend) and come up with a lot of great deals. My current and most favorite idea is to move into the same apartments as my good friend Bruh. I met him when I moved in here at the Metropolis and we've become really good friends ever since. It would be great living within walking distance of him again. I hope I can find and afford a place there.

And if anybody knows of a good deal on a drum kit, please let me know. I'm in the market for one since I lost my old one. I've got cymbals, I just need a kit with (hopefully) hardware and a pedal included. I'm not exactly financially able to purchase one right now, but plan on being so in the near future. I'd appreciate any leads.

Go to sleep now, little ugly. Go to sleep now, you little fool

I'm sorry, what's my motivation?

2006-10-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

Finter, fall and winter together, has pretty much arrived. It's been really nice and cold at night, 50-60 degrees and such. It's my favorite time of year. I was actually able to break out my leather jacket on friday. I love my leather jacket. It's the greatest. Almost as great as 3D movies.

If you haven't seen it yet, you should go and check out Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. It's effin' rad. I think what I liked most about it was that it didn't do any of that gimmicky 3D crap where they shove stuff in your face trying to freak you out. Okay, so maybe they did a little bit, but not so much that it felt cheesy. Mostly they did a whole depth-of-field thing. It was really cool. I never enjoyed the movie as a kid, with all the singing, but I certainly appreciate it a lot more now that I'm older.

The best part about seeing the Nightmare Before Christmas is that in return for buying her tickets, Karla has in turn bought us tickets to see The Decemberists on Tuesday. I'm totally, bodaciously excited. We saw them at ACL two years ago and since then I've loved them. Can't wait!

And if you haven't heard about it, The Mark DeAnda band is no more. Mark decided that he needed members that could devote more time to being in a band, i.e. people who don't have a job OR go to school. I think the part that hurt the most was his comment that I'm not a serious musician. While being a true statement, I liked to think that I was serious about being in a band. I made concessions to have Fridays and Saturdays off so I'd make it to gigs. I made promo packs, I designed our website and I always showed up to practice. I didn't practice on my own as much as I should have, but honestly, I never saw a reason to because I had no motivation. Why should I have practiced as much as he practices guitar if we never had a gig? The answer to that is, because I'm not a serious musician. But I was in a band to play shows and have fun, neither of which was happening. It sucks not being in a band anymore and I admit I am angry with Mark on the subject, but I suppose I can't complain considering I never put enough energy into playing my drums.

What it all comes down to is motivation. I can never motivate myself enough to continue doing something. I was all gung-ho about the drums for the first four or five months and then, like clockwork, I lost motivation. I love playing the drums, don't get me wrong, but I can't find a reason to try and get better anymore. Hell, I can't even motivate myself to practice Actionscript. The only reason I'm still good at Photoshop or Illustrator is because I'm using them for the classes I'm taking. That's my motivation. But without classes, I'd probably do nothing more than play video games, work, and sit on my ass. In other words, I'd be a loser.

When I was in a band and we practiced, I saw a future of playing gigs, having fun, and potentially having that be my career. Now that that is gone and I look at where I'm going in school, I don't see any sort of future. I don't feel like I'm good enough to be any sort of designer. So now I just feel like I'm going nowhere. I'll graduate and have a degree and probably still work at Kinko's. Woo hoo.

Pam got a house. I'm supposed to live with her but I really don't want to. The house is in Buda. I work and go to school in North Austin. That just doesn't appeal to me. So to alleviate the problem, I thought I could get a place with Nick but I just don't see that happening either. I don't feel like were as close as we use to be and I'd probably just annoy the hell out of him. Where does that leave me? I don't know. I'm trying not to think about it. But thoughts of moving elsewhere, somewhere other than Austin, sound really appealing. I'd be pulling a T.J. but maybe that's what I need.

I apologize for the tone of this post. I know I said I wouldn't do this anymore. I promise the next one will be more uplifting, inspiring, whatever.

Was he robbed of the asphalt that cushioned his face?

Ask and ye shall receive

2006-10-17T18:49:00.000-07:00

I love cigarettes but they don't love me

2006-10-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

I'm sure a lot of you have done this. There was a particular show, movie or cartoon you watched as a kid that you loved. You have really fond memories of it and haven't seen it in forever. You think, "Hey! I should watch it again!" So you do, and what happens? It's no where near as great as you remember it. I've done this several times since I've grown up. I watched an old video of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon and couldn't believe I ever found that junk even mildly entertaining. The animation was awful and so was the voice acting. Sure, when you're a kid you don't care about that stuff, but still. They put no effort into making that crap.

With that being said, I just bought the Ghostbusters collection. They're two of my all time favorite movies. Now those wonderful pieces of cinema have withstood the test of time. In fact, I like them more than I did as a kid. There's a whole mess of jokes I understand now as a semi-adult that I never caught onto as a kid. Anyway, the Ghostbusters 2 DVD has two episodes of "The Real Ghostbusters" or in other words, the cartoon based off of the movie. Pam and I watched the movie and after she went to bed I thought maybe I'd check 'em out. I was cautious after the fiasco with TMNT. So the opening mosaic opens up and memories start flooding back. Hell yeah! The mother fucking Ghostbusters! I first notice that while the actual drawing is pretty good the animation is about as bad as TMNT, i.e. It's kind of choppy. As it goes on I realize that Venkman, Bill Murray's character, is voiced by the same guy that did Garfield. After only five minutes I just couldn't stomach anymore. Once again my childhood memories have been tainted. I think from now on I'll stay away from any cartoons I watched as a kid save for Tom & Jerry. Maybe I'm a simpleton, but I just can't get enough of a mouse beating the hell out of a cat with a large wooden mallet.

Lucky Strike indeed

2006-10-02T20:41:00.000-07:00

Smoking my last cigarette here. It's a sacred moment for many smokers. Knowing that you're completely out of cancer sticks and unable or unwilling to go get more. As for me, I'm lying in bed about to go to sleep and I have no desire to get dressed and drive to Walgreens. Better make this one last.

My first day on first shift was awesome. I haven't worked during the day in almost a year and a half. It was definitely strange being at work with nine other people but fun none the less. I look forward to a full work week this Friday.

And to remind you one final time, we have a show tomorrow at 9pm at the Poodle Dog Lounge. I'll make sure to make another bulletin on Myspace so you don't forget. Nick won't be able to join us so we've got a stand in bass player lined up for him. Hopefully he'll show. I don't mind White Stripin' it, but there's something lost without a bass player: the bass line.

Night time isn't my favorite time of day. My mind wanders down paths it shouldn't and I feel stupid feelings. I guess it won't be a big deal anymore since I'll be sleeping at night, but there are still these moments on the cusp of falling into my dreams that silly thoughts linger and tease me. But I won't go into any of that nonsense. I promised at the get go of this blog that I wouldn't fill it with depressing material and I'm generally a man of my word. No, those special comments will be saved for a different outlet I'm afraid.

Hope to see you all at the show.

My heart is yours to fill or burst

When will fall get here?

2006-10-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow marks my return to the day-shift. I know I mentioned this in the previous post, but you must understand, I'm really excited about it. I think my perception of work is probably going to change with this change in schedule. We'll see how it turns out in a few weeks. And yes, I probably should be getting to bed instead of typing this.

My five day weekend was pretty uneventful. Friday I bought dinner for everyone for Nick's birthday that was last Tuesday. Oddly enough, I didn't have as much fun that night as I probably should have. The entire time my thoughts were focused else where and I really didn't feel like being around anyone. I can't even begin to understand why.

Saturday was spent with The Q running various errands. We stopped off at her grandparents in the evening and had a nice little chat with them. The Q seems to be happy that I'm not uncomfortable at their house for apparently past boyfriends have been. I don't know, other than the overwhelming amount of religiousness, I really like her grandparents. They're very nice and generous and her grandpa is hilarious. Reminds me of my grandpa. We were fed diet soda and chips and salsa. I was starving but I did my best at restraining myself from gobbling everything down.

And as for today, I woke up and watched Ghostbusters while eating breakfast. The rest of the day was spent playing Okami on the PS2. At some point I headed downstairs for a few rounds of Guitar Hero and promptly had my ass handed to me by Ray and Sam. I think I just need to practice more. Mark and Pam returned from their trips to Dallas and San Antonio respectively. It seems like whenever Mark gets back from some where he's more of an ass than normal. So for the most part I just avoided him.

I think I'll probably be posting more often because of this laptop. It's nice to sit in bed and type out my thoughts. Helps me unwind my brain so that I can sleep easier.

So to whoever reads this, I hope your ready to read more about my boring life more frequently. Cheers.

I turn my camera on

It's wafer thin!

2006-10-01T01:26:00.000-07:00

Hmm. Lots of stuff has been going on. I had previously written two posts in addition to the content of this one but have now decided to hash it all together in one big MEGA post.

I am officially becoming a day-walker again on Monday. No more will I be manning the machines of the CPC in a trance-like state at 3 in the morning. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from seven in the morning until 5 in the afternoon I'll be annoying the living shit out of the majority of the CPC staff with my singing and yelling. I'm really excited about my new schedule. I'll be able to have a normal sleep schedule and handle a full load of school much easier.

Also, I ordered an old 500mhz G3 iBook from Other World Computing for 200 bucks. It's great so far. Though, I must admit having a laptop is really rad. I'm able to lay in bed, smoke a cigarette and surf the intertron with a steady source of heat warming my crotch. If only I had an airport card so I didn't have to have this damn cable anchoring me to only my room.

I've also made some modifications, embarking upon the perilous journey of installing a 40gb hard drive was a success. There were complications, but overall I was successful.

I began by removing virtually ever bit of casing from the main section. I have to have taken out at least 40 some odd screws. Luckily I was prepared and printed out a little screw guide so I knew where everything went when I pieced it back together. Once I had the case off, it was a simple matter of unplugging the old hard drive and plugging in the new one. What I thought was going to be the hard part, actually turned out to be pretty simple. I even was able to replace two screws that should have been installed but had gone missing.

The hard part was actually getting the hard drive to work. I inserted my install disc and held down the c key, like ya do, and was greeted with a satisfying apple symbol. It locked up on a blue screen with a little spinning icon. I turned it off and on and did this several times as each time I did it I ran into a kernel panic. Those suck just so you know. Finally, after about 4 or 5 times I got to the install screen and ran the disk utility. From there I was able to format the hard drive so a mac can read it properly. Then it told me that I couldn't install OS X on the hard drive because I couldn't boot from it. WTF!? I almost gave up and dismantled the computer. On a whim, however, I restarted it. Another kernel panic. Fuck. Off, then on again. Install screen. Holy Hell! I can install OS X! So now here I am typing this on my laptop that's running OS X 10.3.9. It's not 10.4 but it's better than 10.2.

My next step is to get an Airport card. Fortunately, this will be much easier to install.

Last but not least, I'd like to let everyone know that our band has a show on Tuesday, October 2nd. It's from 9pm to 1am at the Poodle Dog Lounge. I think it's going to be fun but I'm not sure how lucrative it'll be seeing as how it is a Tuesday night.

If you've made it this far in my post, congratulations. I have nothing to reward you with but an Eric Blase-ish "Thanks for reading".

I don't care if it's right. If you want clean fun go fly a kite.

Guru? Nahhhh

2006-09-07T23:30:00.000-07:00

Finally. I own a real, legit copy of Adobe Creative Suite 2. It came in via UPS and is fully installed on my Mac. He was more than happy to accept the new addition. I'm still not familiar with all the new tools and features but rest assured I will play around with my new toys a lot in the coming days.

The one new addition to the Adobe series of software is Bridge. It's essentially a program built to streamline your workflow between Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, etc. I'd really love to utilize Bridge to it's full extent, however, the measly 512mb of RAM currently installed on my computer has a seizure if I open more than one CS2 program at a time. No worries though. I'm hoping that my next paycheck will enable me to purchase two brand spanking new 1gb sticks of RAM. If you do the math, that's two and a half gigs of RAM. I'd like to think that such an amount of RAM would be sufficient to run Bridge, Illustrator and Photoshop at the same time as iTunes, iChat, Safari and all my Dashboard widgets. I guess we'll find out.

My peers at school, specifically in my Graphic Design class, seem to think I'm some sort of "Illustrator Guru". I came to this realization after having several of them commented positively on the work I'm doing for my current project. I appreciate their compliments and humbly accept them. However, I believe my skill in Illustrator is intermediate at best. It's definitely become one of my favorite programs over the past year. Here's some stuff I did in class while the teacher was showing everyone else how to use Illustrator:

It's strange how I draw in Illustrator. I start with a basic shape and then add and subtract bits and pieces until I see something. Once I've seen some sort of figure or design in the mess, I refine it until I'm happy with the results. I'm pretty proud of the alien. I thought he was neat. I also did this little bat dude, but I didn't save it.

Other than that, life is busy as hell. School and work, work and school. I've dedicated Fridays to relaxing and Saturdays and Wednesdays to Homework. So far it seems to be working out. It's funny how when you actually take the medication you're prescribed, life becomes easier and the paths to your goals more clear. I used to hate taking my medications, but I'm beginning to see a huge benefit in taking them. They're not so bad after all.

I've got a rabbit, it likes to hop

Stagnation

2006-08-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

There is certainly a plethora of blogs that currently exist on the intertron. Some of them are updated every couple hours. Some have only a single entry talking of how they are going to keep this blog up to date. It is those people that never write in their blog again.

As for me, well, I have the time to write, but I never do it until I've explored every last possible thing I can do with the free time I have. I think I've grown out of the part of my life where I felt I needed to express my thoughts and feelings through such an accessible medium . I believe I did it in the past to satiate some desire for attention. Just like a crack addict will give anyone a blow-job for a few more grams of Colombian Bam-bam.

I don't know why I bother keeping one of these. My only answer is that if I really feel like I have to use a computer to collect my thoughts on, instead of pen and paper, why not post it on the internet for all to see and criticize?

Anyway, I'm in a funk. I'm taking all but three of my previous medications. Working on getting back on the fourth after my doctor and I believed that I could do without it. But four is much better than seven.

Also, school starts next week so I'm stressed out over that. It would be much more exciting and enjoyable if, like robots, I didn't require sleep or brain altering drugs. Between a crazy work schedule and school, I think my body might implode.

No worries though. By September 11th I should be able to work Saturday, Sunday, Monday 8pm - 8am instead of Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Tuesdays will still be long, but at least at the end of it all, I can come home and cease consciousness. At least until the following Saturday.

And for anyone interested, as far as the band goes, I've finally come to the decision that nothing is ever going to happen. I've known this for a while, but didn't want to accept it. It just seems we're hit with set-back after set-back to the point where I don't even understand why I pour any energy into the endeavor. Should something actually come to fruitation, you can bet that I'll change my mind.

Bored and Extremely Dangerous

Me - Medicine = Tumultous

2006-07-19T07:49:00.000-07:00

So yeah, being without medication is all fun and games for a while, until said fun and games are replaced with shit and shittiness. Not saying that I'm at the point. On the contrary, I'm still riding a manic wave. Work is fun and short-lived. I don't get tired until I get home and I have shit tons of ideas. But I know where it all leads and soon (tomorrow) I'll be medicated once more.

Speaking of work, I have regained my three-day, 12-hour schedule! Sunday, Monday, Tuesday: 8pm-8am. I'm gearing up for school and since the three-day thing worked much better than the four-day schedule, I got it back. I've wanted it ever since Kedex Finko's decided to switch me. However, everytime I asked, I was denied. Understandable considering we only had 2 key ops to cover the whole week (3 days for one person + 3 days for the other does not equal 7) But since there's one day a week that the other key op and I share AND because I'm starting school I was approved. I also learned that the document creation position I didn't get might be available again in December at which time I could apply....the CORRECT way and potentially have a new position. ACIN'!

In band news, it seems as though my best buddy in the whole wide universe, Nick, might be our new bassist. His harmonizing ability needs a little work, though the other day he was doing very well, and he needs to brush up on bass and then hell, we might actually start playing shows. Weird.

In my gadget fetish news, I got a new phone. A Motorola PEBL. I think it's much cooler than a RAZR strictly because the flip part opens mechanically. The only qualm I have with it is that it turns itself off randomly. Don't know why. Not really a big deal. It feels really good in your hand. It's got weight to it and it's very smooth. Like a pebble! I mean, Like a PEBL!

Holy shit, it's Dr. Tran!

Happiness is a red gun Bang, bang, shoot, shoot

2006-06-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

Hmmm. It's been a while since I've done this. Mostly because it's been a while since I haven't been busy at work. So let's see....

Saturday was Strawberry King's (The Q's best friend) birthday. The Q and I joined her and a slew of her friends for drinking at The Sidebar. Nice place. They had Bootlegger there so I couldn't really complain. I was supposed to be the designated driver, but my love of Bootlegger led me to down about 5 or 6 pints of the stuff and I was three sheets to the wind. Needless to say, The Q drove us to Starseeds.

Yesterday was spent showing my love for The Q by shaving my arms and legs and letting her begin casting parts of my body. We started with the hands and feet. The rest of the week will be spent casting arms, legs, torso and head. Luckily I won't have to shave my eyebrows.

I actually kind of found it amusing shaving my legs and such. I haven't seen my legs hairless since puberty. It sure is itchy. I salute all the woman out there who shave their legs and other areas for their respective men. I've got to finish up my legs when I get home this morning. I'm looking forward to it.

In work news, I applied for a new position that opened up. If I get it I'll be working 9am-4pm Monday through Friday doing document creation. Meaning I'll be doing production design for all our commercial customers. I really hope I get it. It'd be nice to work during the day again. It'd allow me to go to school and still have time for the band. Which brings me to my next subject:

The band looked like it was going to finally take off a few weeks ago when we obtained a new bassist. He could nail all the harmonies and was pretty fast at learning the bass lines. Unfortunately he stopped showing up to practice and didn't really return our calls. I've kind of resigned myself to believing that our band is destined to never have a bass player. I don't know what Mark's thinking. Today he asked me if I felt let down by him. I didn't know what to tell him. He's brought me places I'd never thought I'd be and given me confidence to do things I didn't think I could do. I've stuck with him for the past year and almost a half without ever really seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and I suppose I'll keep doing it. I like playing music. I just don't know what we need to do to get things moving in the direction we want them to. I've always relied on Mark to figure that out.

Anyway, on Thursday I'm leaving to go to Michigan again. This time I'll be gone for a week. The Q is tré sad about this. I apologize to her. It's going to be fun. I'll be up there during the 4th of July and seeing as how they don't have burn bans, I'll be able to blow stuff up! I love fireworks. Plus I get to spend more time with my half-sisters and that's what I'm looking forward to the most. I'll be returning on the 8th should anyone wish to know.

Oh yeah, and The Q's birthday was earlier this month. June 18th, 1984. A glorious day in history. I got her Sofia Mini's, a tiny cake, and a Nintendo DS Lite which so far she seems to love. I got myself one as well and we enjoy crossing animals.

I'll post some of the pictures the Q took of me shaving myself in the tub and getting casted soon.

Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo?

2006-05-29T02:27:00.000-07:00

What is this Rock and Roll Hoochie Koo that Rick Derringer speaks of? I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps I should ask Sloopy....

It's not surprising that I haven't update this thing in a while. Life has been kind of slow lately so it's not like I haven't had time to write anything. I'm just lazy and would rather read what other people have written instead of writing anything myself. Also, it's been a while since I've been at work with nothing to do and that's generally the time that I feel like writing something.

Since dating The Q, I've realized that I really like to know things. I find myself asking her all kinds of questions and getting in discussions/arguments about various subjects. The discussions/arguments I'm sure she likes, but when I ask her about things there's absolutely no way she could possibly know anything about, I think it might get on her nerves a little. But hey, who else am I going to ask?

I do the same thing with Kade and Melinda at work. Kade more so because he knows things or at least knows OF things. He's a great person to bounce ideas off of too.

I've also found that I like to tinker with things; Mostly at work, when I have the time. Like today for instance, I disassembled a spinner(a simple device that spins coils into books that have been coil punched). It was making an awful racket so I took it upon myself to relieve it of its symptoms. Naturally, not being educated in its anatomy, the "simple" spinner was actually much more complicated inside. But I managed to bumble my way through it and lubricated the squeaky bits. Voila: silent spinner! I did the same thing to a jogger(another "simple" contraption that shakes paper around until it's evenly jogged together).

It is things like what I described above and my rapidly increasing knowledge of the printers(software and hardware) that make me feel like I deserve a little recognition. I get things done more efficiently and the machines have a lot less down time because instead of waiting hours for a technician, printers and auxiliary machines can be jury rigged to finish off their respective jobs. However, it seems that to be a valuable employee and earn recognition here at Kinko's, one must work as many hours as possible: stay late or come in when there's help needed . I guess it doesn't matter how well I do my job, only how many hours I work. Not to sound egotistical or big-headed, but I do my job well and, more often than not, go above and beyond what's expected of me. I just don't stay late. Is that a crime? Does it make me a bad employee? Looks like it.

Did I mention that I hate moisture spots?

Well I do. But that's not the point. The point of this whole entry is to describe my fantastic idea for a novel. It came to me while working but I really have no idea why I thought about it. Anyway, the story would involve a Vampire who works a third-shift job. The reason I thought it'd be funny is because whenever you see a vampire in a movie they're usually pretty well off. So I thought, what if there was this regular joe-schmoe who recently became a vampire, but was too nice to live such a life, and instead finds a third-shift job at a blood bank as a security guard or something. I haven't quite figured out what kind of job he would have. Maybe it's funny only to me, but I think a story about a blue collar vampire just trying to get by would be hilarious. Or not.

Lordy momma, light my fuse

I feel summer creeping in....

2006-05-17T10:39:00.000-07:00

Damn. I haven't worked that long in forever. Well, scratch that. I haven't stayed at work past seven o'clock in forever. Regardless, I feel good about it. I've felt like I'm seen as a slacker at work because I never stay late and I never come in to work for other people. But when I'm there, I bust my butt; no one ever sees it though. It must stem from my inability to give myself praise or credit, but I don't think I'll ever be good enough for anybody or at anything. Which leads me to my next paragraph....

The Q is, and this doesn't do her justice, the most fantastic, wonderful, classy, beautiful girl I have ever had the honor of dating. She does so much for me; things I would never expect a significant other, especially so early in a relationship, to do. And yet, I never feel like I return the sentiment. Sure, I go out to the horse farm and help clean stalls, feed, clean, etc. But I love doing it, and it just seems like what anyone else in my position would do so it never feels like I'm going above and beyond like I believe she deserves. Perhaps I feel this way because we spend a lot of time together sleeping. When I'm at work with all the time in the world to thing, my mind plays scenarios of ending the relationship because she's frustrated with me. It's funny that I'm writing this blog like she's not reading it; quite the contrary.

Forgive me. I don't mean to write about you like you don't exist, darlin'. I'm very tired and that makes it tough to put my thoughts together the way I'd like them to be.

Down to my last cigarette with no where to go...

This is Dick Stockton, signing off....

2006-05-08T22:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Bruh left for Mississippi today. He's going back home for a couple months, but he'll be back. I'm going to miss the man. He's brought me to tears from laughing so hard many a time.

Interestingly enough, I was listening to Blue Monday on NPR and found out that today is Robert Johnson's birthday. Coincidence? Maybe.

This past Saturday we had a going-away party for him. It had rained the previous night so everyone spent part of the day vacuuming out all the water. Later, it rained again only this time instead of a shop-vac, everyone gathered together a shit ton of buckets and formed a line; kind of like an old-fashioned fire brigade. We made a dent in the lake that was once our courtyard and decided it was time to tap the keg and fire up the music.

Our band played first, sans bass player as is usual. However, Chris, our new bass player, did show up halfway through the set and joined us on Texas Flood. I felt it was appropriate. We didn't do half bad for only having practiced twice together. I messed up a few times and missed a pause we'd just written the previous day into one of our songs.

It was tons of fun, but I crashed early. I had spent most of the day coding my final project slash our band's webpage. Speaking of which, come this Thursday, The Devil's Hotrod will finally have a freaking website. I know I've mentioned getting it done in the past but this time it's really going to be finished. I promise. So on Thursday, mosey on over to www.thedevilmusic.com sometime in the afternoon and ye shall see the fruits of mine labor.

I miss The Q

Hats off to you, Mr. Ron Baird

2006-05-02T03:35:00.000-07:00

The trip to Michigan was successful. Fun times were had by all. And though I was sad to leave, it felt really good to come home.

The Q got to meet my parents on the day of our arrival and then we had breakfast the next morning. Everything went well on that front. Looks like everybody thinks she's swell just as I do. -=grin=-

I must say, that vacation was needed. I felt fully rested upon returning to work on Sunday.

However,

What I'd really like to type about is the fact that I never know what the hell to write. I read all these other blogs that are so witty and entertaining and I think, "Man, I wish I could write something like this; something that everyone wants to read." But I don't think my life is interesting enough to appeal to a wider audience. -=sigh=-

And all those blogs are always so swish looking and the author is so cool and hip and has funny stories. Sometimes I wonder if they make the stories up or if maybe they live on an alternate plane of existence; the contents of which are funny and witty to us.

And they're always called something weird, but cool. Like: The alabaster Quagmire, Alcoholic Dogfisherman or my personal favorite Musings of an Estranged Cheeto. I'm not sure anyone knows what they mean and if you ask why they're cool, you'll never get it.

Alas, I may never be a wicked awesome blogger, but at least I can stare longingly at pastel colored, geometrically, asymmetrically designed blogs; sigh; drink my coffee; smoke my cigarette, and sleep peacefully. Knowing that there are 20-something hipsters out there clickety-clacking on they're pure white, Mac keyboards doing what they do best: blogging.

Parting is such sweet sorrow....

2006-04-22T21:35:00.000-07:00

So here I am in Michigan. My home away from home. The trip up was exciting. I'm such a little kid when I get onboard an airplane. Only bad part of the whole trip was my PSP freaking out in Minneapolis. It works fine now.

Today I got to see my entire family, most of whom I haven't seen in five or six years. They've all changed so much! My two half-sisters/cousins are older and so much more fun to be around. I'm spending the night at their house tonight so I get to see them a torture them a little more.

It's really crazy standing outside at night. I can see four times as many stars as I can in Texas and it's so incredibly quiet...and cold. But I love cold weather. It's much better than the 100 degree weather we have in Texas. I must say, I'm having a hard time suppressing the urge to move up here. When I'm here I feel exactly like I do out at the horse farm: clear headed and centered. But leaving my friends and The Q behind is just not something I'm willing to do. I care about the Q more than I have for any other girlfriend. She's truly marvelous and really the only reason I can't drop everything I have in Texas and move up here.

But anyway, it's nice to visit. Tomorrow I'm going skeet shooting with my dad and uncle. I love to shoot skeet; very fun it is.

I shall return on Tuesday(The Q is coming over to meet my parents that day. Excitement!). Until then, I'm enjoying Michigan as much as possible.

Bored and Extremely Dangerous

2006-04-19T02:18:00.000-07:00

I was bored at work:

So I drew a picture in Photoshop:

Nothing special. I did it in 15 minutes or so. Just messing around with brushes and the burn tool. I like how the grass came out.

I suppose those perfect binds I did are done drying and can be cut now. And I should probably box all those tape binds that just finished running. But what I really want to do is lay down on the floor and pass out. An hour of sleep in a 24-hour period will do that to you. Trust me. -=wink wink=-

I love the smell of Materialism in the morning....

2006-04-18T02:55:00.000-07:00

Three cheers for new stuff!

Huzzah! I got a new car!

Huzzah! I got my PSP back!

Huzzah! Um. That's all I've got.

So the pile of bolts and metal I called a truck has finally released me from it's icy grip and allowed me to obtain my rightful birthday gift: a 1996 Honda Civic. Yeah, I know, everyone has one of those. And I say to you, "No, not everyone. But most do, yeah." However, I happen to be the only person to own one named Scuttle.

I was apprehensive at first. I didn't like the fact that it was an automatic or that it was white or that it was in fact a vehicle owned by so many that you can't throw a stone without hitting one. All of those predispositions changed after I drove it home from San Antonio. I love my new car. It's clean, it's economical, it doesn't look like an ogre sat on it, and best of all, the starter works! The only things left to do to it are get a new stereo and get the transmission fluid flushed. Not bad considering it was essentially at the bottom of a lake for 24 hours.

But before all that hubbaballoo, I regained possession of a Sony PSP. Something I've been longing to do since I got rid of my first one in order to buy an Xbox 360. I got it just in time too. I'm leaving this Friday to go to Michigan and I wanted to have it by then so I'd have something to do on the plane. Also, I didn't want my Mom all disappointed finding out I had sold it. It's been hard pulling off the charade of owning a PSP. All is well though. I've been getting my Lumines fix and hopefully when I return from the north I'll be able to buy Me & My Katamari so that The Q and I can have fun with the Prince's last adventure.

Easter was cool. I had the day off of work. Businesses closed = No work for the CPC which also ='s me not having to work. (Can you do that? Add an apostrophe s to an equals sign? I suppose I could have wrote equals, huh?) I was invited to The Q's grandparent's house to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus H. Christ. Food was eaten, eggs were discovered, and egg-shells were walked upon without being broken. I enjoyed her family. But Friday with her Dad at the Hippy Hour was more enjoyable. I rode in a Corvair and got smashed with some cool older people. Much more relaxed.

Oh, and remember, 4 out of 5 Dentists surveyed would recommend Trident to their patients who chew gum.

SH 20 Multipurpose Cleaner Woes....

2006-04-11T03:45:00.000-07:00

Perhaps it was the Polyacrylic Acid. Maybe it was the Nonlonic Surfacant. It might have even been the Dipropylene Glycol Methyl Ether. Whatever it was, the stuff in SH 20 Multipurpose Cleaner doesn't agree with the paint on my truck. In fact, it's a genocidal maniac. It wishes the destruction of the beautiful blue paint on my little Mazda.

In other words, it's five in the morning and I have nothing to do at work, again. So I decided to make a for sale sign for my truck, remove all my wonderful stickers, and then I even had the idea to semi-wash my truck. I don't know why, but I didn't feel like waiting until I got off to go to a proper car-wash. So to shorten this already lengthy story, I used an industrial strength cleanser to wash my truck. The moment I sprayed some on, applied a paper towel and saw blue on said towel, I knew something was amiss. Luckily, no visible damage was done. I'm sure on some sub-atomic level, paint atoms were raped by SH 20 atoms. Or something.

That'll teach me to wash my truck at five in the morning on the clock.

A Driveway Moment

2006-04-07T10:02:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, Jackie, my truck, decided to bite the dust. But only for a moment. The battery died and needed replacement. Luckily, the Q was up to the task of picking me up and taking me to the nearest Wal-"We-have-everything-including-dead-babies"-Mart to get a new one.

Upon installation of the new battery I discovered that something else was also amiss. The starter. It's been giving me hell the past month and today it decided that since the battery went on strike, so would it. Considering I had just used the girlfriend lifeline, I only had one option left: the best friend lifeline. Nick picked me up to get and even buy me a new starter. It was only on our return to the current resting place of Jackie that we observed our lack of proper tools. Fuck.

We decided to push-start the truck but before doing so I gave the ignition one last try and voila! The truck started! Odd. So I drove it home, walked to O'Reilley's and bought some tools. I then positioned myself beneath the belly of the beast and had a look at the problem. It took every ounce of energy I had to remove two of the three mounting bolts on the starter. The final bolt is held in position by an ancient Native American curse and I was thusly unable to remove it. The other part of the curse is what I woke up with the next morning. Pain and lots of it.

Currently my truck is sitting out in the parking lot with one bolt securely holding the starter in place. Surprisingly, that's all it requires as I was able to drive my truck to and from work last night. The plan is to replace the two bolts I managed to get off and then sell the damn thing as fast as I can. I'm done with trying to be a mechanic. The lucky receipient of Jackie will receive not only the truck, but a brand new starter, Chilton guide, and a full tank of gas! Wow!

Anyway, I got to listen to the cool new program on NPR this morning: Core Stories or something like that. Basically, every friday an interview with an older american is broadcast. They have really interesting stories about their past. Good stuff. Definitely "Driveway Moment" material.

I don't want the world to sing, I just want it to pose for me

Rad Parties and Such

2006-04-03T04:08:00.000-07:00

Saturday the record for "Most People I've Seen in the Building 10 Courtyard" was smashed. The Vermicious Canids, a band from Mississippi that moved to Austin, celebrated their two-year anniversary of living in The Live Music Capital of the World by rocking people's socks off. They set up their gear outside their apartment downstairs, kegs were purchased, and music was played.

In addition to the Canids, our band, The Devil's Hotrod, played as well. We had to play sans bass player, but we received a lot of compliments on our playing so I suppose we did something right. I think our rendition of the Ghostbusters theme song went over quite well.

Around 12 o'clock the live music stopped and the recorded music began, albeit at a lower volume so as not to alert the Austin Police Department to our awesome shindig. By then I was inebriated enough to shed my pants for something a little more...revealing. My friend Tracy has been knitting me a thong for about a month or so and Saturday was it's coronation. Yes, that's right. I donned a thong in front of 50-75 people, 95% of which I had never met. Nick and I died laughing as is usual in situations where I do something completely ridiculous. I believe my ass was slapped on several occasions. But hey, I made six bucks out of it.

Presently I'm sitting on my ass. At work. Something I've been doing for over two hours. Somebody has to stay here in order to let the next shift in and apparently I was nominated for the job. -=sigh=- Sometimes being the ranking officer really sucks. Though, I'm sure it was worse for captains of ships seeing as how they had to go down with the boat. That really doesn't improve my mood any

In horse-ish news, Saturday morning was interesting. And Sunday morning The Q and I had planned on riding, but I hadn't planned on being hungover. I was really looking forward to said riding, but as I couldn't even put sheets on my bed without falling over, I don't see how I would have ever been able to situate myself upon Faux Pas and not end up cracking my skull open. Alas, more waiting.

When your girlfriend comes over to sleep next to you for 45 minutes, that means something.

Too good to be true....

2006-03-29T00:03:00.000-08:00

I'll admit it. I use to be afraid of horses. I had never been around them up until a few weeks ago. Since then I've conquered my fear and haven't looked back. I have my girlfriend to thank for this.

Horses are my new favorite animal. They're like a mix between a cat, a dog, and a car. They have lots of personality like a dog and they have the independence of a cat, only you can use them for transportation like a car. Sitting on top of my girlfriend's horse felt like riding on the top of a car. It's quite exhilarating and unique in that it gives you a different perspective on your surroundings.

Another thing I enjoy about horses and being around them is the immense feeling of serenity I feel when I'm out at the horse farm. I feel like I'm a million miles away from all my troubles and worries. I feel grounded. It's the only time I actually enjoy labor; sweeping the floor, grooming, and doing a terrible job of stall cleaning. I appreciate my girlfriend so much more for sharing these things with me.

She also introduced me to NPR. I've always heard people talk about it, so it wasn't anything new. But I've never listened to it until she talked about how she use to listen to it all the time. I found myself sitting in the car 15 minutes after I had shut the engine off. I didn't want to get out! They were talking about all the new immigration laws and middle east stuff. Things I never dreamed I'd be interested in. But there I was.

Though I am a little perturbed. NPR is running some sort of pledge drive right now so a lot of the programming is interrupted with people asking me to pledge 40, 80, or 100 dollars. Like I have that kind of money! I mean, I like the programming and I'd like to support it, but I'm a poor college kid. Oh well.

You're narcoleptic?
Yeah.
Wow, that's cool!
I guess so.

Late Nights, Early Mornings, and No Contractions at the Copy Corral

2006-03-26T20:22:00.000-08:00

Apologies, dear reader, this blog may contain boring posts about work....

I am still trying to get use to this idea of writing consistently. My mind cannot seem to wrap around it. Or maybe I just lack motivation... Yes, it's definitely motivation. My goal is to limit postings to one topic a piece. So there may be postings spread throughout the day.

I work for the KedExFinko's* CPC. I am but a cog in an evil corporate thing-a-ma-jig. While my work is mindless and mostly repetitive, my one claim to fame is that trees tremble in fear whenever I am in there presence. Why? Because the machines that I am enslaved to have an incredible lust for paper. They in fact demand it and should I not satiate their thirst, I must incur the wrath of their blinking yellow lights!

Paper, as you all know, comes from trees, hence the tree's abhorrence. "But trees," I say to them, "Do not fear me so!I am bound by the laws of my masters and I must acquiesce to their demands, else I will be terminated most un-honorably." But the trees, they just sit there, speechless and do things tree-ish. -=big sigh=-

Most nights are spent running around from machine to machine fixing jams or loading paper. The number of machines I do this to can range from one to five. In addition, should it be really busy, I will be running all five machines and performing tasks like: folding, binding, stuffing, collating, boxing, etc. It is these nights I tend to like least of all. However, tonight is at the other end of the spectrum. One machine to run and a little smidgen of auxiliary to do which means: I get to slack off. Which is what I am doing now and I need to stop doing it. I can feel the unrest of the machines in my veins. They beckon to me; call to me.

What is a cog to do?

*name changed to keep company anonymous.

Procrastination or: Why I hate my truck so much....

2006-03-22T01:32:00.000-08:00

There comes a time in my life when I develop a strange itch. An itch that can only be scratched by creating a new blog while taking the old, deprecated one out back and shooting it. So here I am, popping the top off a shiny new blog.

I'd also like to point out that this is the first time in my history of blogging that my title/subject does not start with the word: about. It was hard to do, but I did it, and the only place left to go is forward.