Frustration

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

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

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

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

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

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

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'

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!

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

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:

Test

I beg ye!

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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