| This Exists |
[Feb. 27th, 2007|01:53 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | work | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  shocked | ] |
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| How I Spent a Week of 2006 |
[Dec. 29th, 2006|11:39 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  bored | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Robert Pollard - Kick Me and Cancel | ] |
More as a curiosity than anything else, here is a list of every 2006 release I've thus far seen. What seemed like a shoddy year actually ended up producing some great films, and it might take a little figuring to narrow down my Top 10 (probably next month; there is at least one other movie I need to see). A word about the ratings: they are more a reflection of my own enjoyment than of the quality of the movie as a whole, so take them all with a grain of salt (or sand, as you will). Case in point: Little Miss Sunshine probably won't lie within the Top 15 films of this year, but I had a great time each time I saw it. The exceptions lie at the ends of the spectrum; the movies rated 100 are universally great, and those rated below 30 or so are inexcusable shit.
100 Children of Men
100 The Departed
90 Casino Royale
90 Little Miss Sunshine
90 The Fountain
90 The Proposition
90 Scoop
90 Thank You For Smoking
90 V for Vendetta
80 Babel
80 Banlieue 13
80 Brick
80 Catch a Fire
80 Hard Candy
80 Jackass Number Two
80 Little Children
80 Mission: Impossible 3
80 The Prestige
80 Tom Yum Goong
80 A Scanner Darkly
80 Running Scared
80 The Science of Sleep
80 Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
70 A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
70 Art School Confidential
70 Blood Diamond
70 Borat
70 Crank
70 Deja Vu
70 Factotum
70 Fearless
70 Feast
70 Fuck
70 Hollywoodland
70 Lonesome Jim
70 Lucky Number Slevin
70 The Good German
70 The Hills Have Eyes
70 The Illusionist
70 The Last King of Scotland
70 The Last Kiss
70 Volver
70 My Super Ex-Girlfriend
70 Night Watch
70 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
70 Slither
70 Stranger Than Fiction
70 The Road to Guantanamo
70 Who Killed the Electric Car?
70 Wordplay
70 13 (Tzameti)
70 16 Blocks
60 A Good Year
60 Accepted
60 An Inconvenient Truth
60 ATL
60 Beerfest
60 Blackballed
60 Cars
60 Cocaine Cowboys
60 Flags of Our Fathers
60 Flyboys
60 Inside Man
60 Jesus Camp
60 Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World
60 The Break-Up
60 The Good Shepherd
60 Marie Antoinette
60 Miami Vice
60 Over the Hedge
60 School for Scoundrels
60 Superman Returns
60 Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
50 Dreamgirls
50 Find Me Guilty
50 Haven
50 Hoodwinked
50 Idlewild
50 Invincible
50 The Devil Wears Prada
50 The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
50 A Prairie Home Companion
50 Peaceful Warrior
50 Snakes on a Plane
50 The Sentinel
50 The US vs. John Lennon
50 Trust the Man
50 Underworld: Evolution
40 American Dreamz
40 Clerks II
40 Fast Food Nation
40 Firewall
40 Idiocracy
40 The Black Dahlia
40 The Da Vinci Code
40 The Wicker Man
40 Waist Deep
40 When a Stranger Calls
40 You, Me, and Dupree
30 Click
30 Grandma's Boy
30 Nacho Libre
30 Poseidon
30 Scary Movie 4
30 X-Men: The Last Stand
20 Big Momma's House 2
20 Employee of the Month
20 Material Girls
20 Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj
20 Shadowboxer
20 She's the Man
10 Bloodrayne
10 Date Movie
10 Final Destination 3
10 Phat Girlz
10 Ultraviolet
That's 116, fuckers. |
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| Scratch Another One Off the List |
[Dec. 15th, 2006|09:18 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  pleased | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Incubus - Anna Molly (oh, go fuck yourself) | ] |
Life Goal #53: Solve Rubik's Cube
Status: Completed
Also, due to mind-numbing boredom I've fallen on solving sudoku; my justification is that it isn't trendy anymore. |
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| Playing Catch-up |
[Nov. 20th, 2006|02:01 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Dears - Never Destroy Us | ] |
It finally looks and feels like autumn, and I've been enjoying the reemergence of tea and blankets. Last fall seems so recent, but nearly every part of my life is at such a complete right angle (how can something be at an incomplete right angle?) to last year that it's weird to think only a year has passed; hell, it's weird how disjointed my life was even a month ago, and how now things are all starting to fall into place.
After several interviews it seems that within the next few weeks I'll actually be employed, and most probably doing something interesting. I don't know if they'll want me to start right away or wait until January, but in either case it'll be great to be making money again, not to mention have health insurance. This all points to my moving into the city in the next few months (ideally by the end of the year), just as soon as I have an idea of my financial situation. While I've been downtown pretty much every day over the last few weeks, it will be nice to not have to spend an hour in traffic to see people (or movies).
It looks like 2006 is looking to finish strong cinematically, making up for a stale first 3/4 with a string of above average films. Borat is hilarious, even if I was a little underwhelmed by it as a whole. I funniest part of the Borat skits were always the unscripted interviews, and the movie moves aways from them about 1/2 way through and focuses on a scripted plot that almost brings it to a stand-still; it's still funny, but not nearly as hilarious as the interviews, which makes the movie feel a little top-heavy. Still, it's one of the three funniest movies of the year (Jackass and Talladega Nights, since you asked) and worth 8 bucks. Stranger Than Fiction is very enjoyable, though the ending feels like you're being cheated. I should probably like A Good Year a lot less than I did; it's at best a mediocre romance and an even worse comedy, but something about the mood I was in gelled with what I was seeing and I completely fell for the predictably cheesy story. It also reignited my desire to visit a proper (read European) city, with cobblestones and fountains and candle-lit cafes. Babel is great, but I felt like the third storyline (probably my favorite) should have just been cut out completely and expanded into a full feature. Breaking the pattern, Fast Food Nation is an utter piece of shit, no matter what anyone else tells you. Deja Vu is a good action/sci-fi movie. The Fountain is brilliant, though will make 0 dollars and be in theaters only 2 weeks. Lastly, Casino Royale is the best Bond film since Connery, even if it goes a little Return of the King at the end; I'm very much excited about more Bond movies, something I would have thought impossible after Die Another Day.
This weekend saw the coming of geek Armageddon, with the release of both the Playstation 3 and the Wii. I'm not sure how the Wii launch went, but Playstations are $5000 online and there was at least one shooting. Personally, I'm intrigued by the Wii, but really want to try before I buy; I'm still not convinced the motion sensing gimmick won't wear thin by the end of the year. For now I'm more than happy with my 360, as there's a must-play game released pretty much every week. I spent a while with Marvel Ultimate Alliance and had great fun defeating MODOK with a team consisting of Moon Knight, Deadpool, Iron Man, and the Scarlet Spider. I'm currently working my way though Gears of War, which isn't really as groundbreaking as some claim, but is a whole shit-ton of fun. If there's one thing I'll miss when I move out it'll be the HDTV (Dear Santa...).
Finally, from a film:
"I don't want to make any promises I can't keep, but I hope we're together for a long time."
"I don't know what a long time is, but I know exactly what you mean." |
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| Wikipedia Has an Entry for Cleveland Steamer, but not Cincinnati Bowtie |
[Nov. 2nd, 2006|05:47 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | bed | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | content | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The Wrens - This is Not What You Had Planned | ] |
These have gotten quite infrequent; no one's complained thus far...
Life is actually really good right now, though I have yet to hear about that job. The interview went really well, though it was a little strange. I was expecting it to go like the one in California, with a selection of people asking me to solve problems for them to judge my skills. However, since I had worked at this company a few summers ago and my former manager really liked me (not to mention I have another inside man there), I didn't really have anything to prove to them technically, so we mainly just talked about what I wanted to do and went out to lunch. Of course, I have no idea exactly what I want to do, but I did my best to convey that I'm a quick study and up for anything, so hopefully something will materialize. The upside is that they all seemed to like me, but the downside is that I have utterly no clue where I stand as far as getting a job. In either case, I'll be re-hitting the virtual pavement in the coming days, and pray that I have employment by the end of the year; vacation is fun, but at this point it's getting to be ridiculous.
Last Friday was Matt's Howl-oween party, to which I came dressed in my best "beat" outfit: pants and a shirt. I half-heartedly maintained that I was Lucien Carr, but gave up about 3 minutes in. It was great to see people again, especially Becky, Miles, and John David, all of whom have been absent from my life for a while. Saturday was pretty lazy, but culminated in a spontaneous drive to Athens at 1 AM. I have to say that Athens provides limited entertainment to visitors, especially on Sunday mornings before you can purchase boot-fuls of beer.
Last night I finally got the call, and spent this morning traipsing around downtown Atlanta dressed as the titular character in the forthcoming Modugno magnum-opus Rocketman. I was only a stand-in, so my screen-time will be limited, but I think I got the funniest scenes, and it got me an invite to hob knob at the premiere party, so I'm not complaining.
Weirdly, this marks the second week in a row that I have not been to a screening. It's mostly due to the fact that all that has been opening lately are shitty horror movies and wider releases of indie films I saw a month ago. Madeleine and I tried to get into Running with Scissors last Tuesday, but the appearance of Augusten Burroughs himself drew quite a crowd, and we were left out in the cold. The bowling alley also proved less than accommodating, so we ate some pizza and watched Transamerica instead. We also saw Marie Antoinette on Sunday, which I enjoyed, though probably more visually than anything else; while some parts were interesting, it seemed to kind of drag in the middle, and the ending seemed a little...inconclusive. Not to say it isn't worth a watch, but I was sort of expecting something more exciting from something touted as a fresh take on a period piece.
This weekend brings the sure-fire brilliance of Borat, which I'll probably take in tomorrow (despite my connections I haven't been able to make it into any of the dozens of screenings, though it's probably for the best). I'm making up for my absence from screenings with at least 2 next week, though I have to decide between Babel and Stranger than Fiction on Wednesday. I was teased with a chance to see Casino Royale tomorrow morning, but it appears that I'll have to wait the two weeks to see it with the rest of the rabble. If you're looking for something to watch this weekend, let me recommend both The Departed and The Prestige, each well worth the admission price.
On the music front I've been consuming about 2 albums per day, which borders on sick. For the past year I've been power listening to just about anything I could find, so much so that I find I have a hard time remembering what stuff sounds like, and even which stuff I liked and which I didn't (mostly because I listen while doing other things; case in point, I have a The Wrens album playing as I type this, but fuck me if I could accurately describe any of the songs. It is quite good though). There are a few exceptions, the most recent being the superlatively excellent Lupe Fiasco record. Also worth a look is the new 3 disc Tom Waits set, which includes a brilliant cover of "Young at Heart," the new album from The Shins (not out until January, I think), Bonnie "Prince" Billy's latest outing, and a new album from The Lemonheads, which isn't amazing, but definitely has its moments.
Finally: Dear Microsoft, all I want for Christmas is to be able to stream any and all video formats from my PC to my XBOX 360. Yes, I know DivX is the format of choice for illegal file sharing, but nothing would make me happier than being able to stream my copy of Frog-g-g directly to my TV, rather than having to transcode and burn the sucker onto DVD. Thanks. |
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| State of the Patryk |
[Oct. 26th, 2006|04:39 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  anxious | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Motorpsycho - Fury On Earth | ] |
No, I'm not dead.
I have a job interview tomorrow morning that I'm stressing over. It looks to be the same format as the one in California, which means I'll probably have to code on a white board (joy). In preparation I went out and got some fancy clothes last night; I guess if it doesn't pan out at least I'll have something to wear to Rachael's Super Sweet 16. Hopefully I can convince them I'm not totally useless and have a job by mid-November, then move on to finding a place back in town and figuring out how the fuck I'm going to get back on a regular sleep cycle.
Given my luck at cards over the past month, it was about time for my luck at love to change. I've been seeing someone new for a couple of weeks and she's pretty great and seems to be fond of me. So, yay.
Another highlight of the past few weeks was going drinking with Brian, someone I've always felt I'd have a lot in common with, but never actually hung out with outside of a group. He's good people.
Lupe Fiasco finally released his album and it's pretty bitchin' (I'm bringing it back). It's nice to see that there are still people making good hip hop these days.
Also, Firefox 2.0 was released and is worth a download for the in-browser spell check alone.
Some parties are happening tomorrow, I guess I'll see people there.
Oh yeah, and Scarlett Johansson is recording an album of Tom Waits covers. |
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| United States of Pajowa |
[Oct. 12th, 2006|01:26 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  moody | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Pinback - June | ] |
The other day I realized that I had forgotten to re-register to vote when I moved out of Dekalb, and now the deadline had passed. Today I realized that I didn't really care.
I've never been fond of politics, or any of the social sciences for that matter. There was always too much gray (grey?) area for my liking; too easy to bend it all to fit either side of an argument. I've always been much better with actual science, where there are formulas that always lead to the right answer, and no amount of bullshitting will convince anyone with any sense that the universe is 6000 years old; hence my engineering degrees and P/F audits of my politics courses. I also have a problem with...
(aside: what is George Lucas doing on The Colbert Report?)
...making uninformed decisions, and since I don't diligently keep up with world events I never feel qualified to argue a position, something I'm piss at anyway.
Not to say that I'm entirely ambivalent, it's just that I've come to realize that no matter who wins they'll perpetrate idiocies of one type or another. The right seems to always be coming up with newer and newer reasons for me to scream "Are you fucking serious?" while falling ever more hand in hand with religious nuts. At the same time, while I prefer the left on most social issues I can't say that I'm wholly for their fiscal policy; I'm quite fond of my money. I guess if I had to put myself with some political cabal it'd have to be the Libertarians, who at least trust me enough to let me take care of myself. The essential problem with the Libertarian state, however, is the fact that you'd pretty much have to murder 1/4 of the population -- the quarter that are, for all intents and purposes, retarded. And it's really the same with any administration that comes to power in 2008; either the assholes will support shitty legislation or there's enough of them to stop anything sensible from passing.
The thing that constantly pisses me off about America is that it has become, basically, a pussy state. Everyone is afraid of stepping on someone else's toes, and so we get legislation that protects the delicate sensibilities of hypersensitive assholes who are full of hate for others, but cry foul at the first sign of someone calling them the morons they clearly are. "Well, we'd better not insult anyone and teach our children that they have the option to believe that science is all lies and the Jews buried fossils." I mean, Jesus FUCK! This stupid PC-ification needs to fucking stop; people need to keep it real and learn to both give and take criticism, especially when it's about something as basic as TEACHING OUR CHILDREN LIES. Of course, god forbid we insult any citizen's beliefs, but lets suspend habeas corpus for those who look different. Are you fucking serious?
So, what's one vote when I'll be bitching in the end anyway? I don't really see a way to salvage the American political system without a complete overhaul. Eliminate the concept of a nanny state that protects the sensibilities of every delicate flower of a moron and let everyone do whatever the fuck they want, as long as they're not hurting anyone else.
So, shifting gears: Google bought YouTube for 1.65 billion dollars. Jesus FUCK!
In other news, I got a phone call during the screening today; calling it back afterward I got Joe's Crab Shack. Not really the most puzzling thing to ever happen to me, but a close contender, since I'm pretty sure I don't know anyone who has ever worked at a Joe's Crab Shack. |
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| Taco Bell Canon |
[Oct. 11th, 2006|05:24 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  hungry | ] |
Nothing ruins your day like getting shorted a taco, though I am excited about the return of my dear old friend, the Cheesy Gordita Crunch. |
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| Bitches Ain't Shit |
[Oct. 11th, 2006|12:14 am] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | bed | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | bipolar | ] |
| [ | music |
| | The American Analog Set - Immaculate Heart, Pt. 2 | ] |
Dr. Dre has the cure for all that ails me. As do Mr. Vodka, Ms. Kahlua, and Father Half & Half.
The last several entries were very retarded angsty 12-year-old; I promise this one is better.
Dear Future, where the fuck are my rocket cars? Internal combustion is so 1920's, and I'm sick of buying new tires. These days it's probably safer to fly through the air strapped to a bomb than drive in Atlanta anyway. I can't seem to go out on the road without some fucker trying to run me off or a flayed tire sitting in the middle of the roadway, waiting for me to drive over it and fuck myself over. Traffic law should be rewritten into a tiered system based on skill. I, the immaculate driver that I am, would be in the top tier, not bound by speed limits and allowed to mount missiles on my Corolla to eliminate any and all assholes who think it's fun to not use their blinkers or drive 35 miles an hour down the highway. If this past Saturday night proved anything it's that even drunk I'm a better driver than 99% of Atlanta.
Chris and I saw A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, which I quite enjoyed despite the presence of a noisy Fat Joe and the fact that the projected image ran off of each side of the screen by a wide margin. I have no idea what the fuck they screwed up, since it wasn't the usual problem with projecting scope film with a flat lens, but it was basically like watching the movie through a window. My last few movie outings have been less than stellar, and not because of the films themselves. At the first screening of The Departed we sat in front of a woman who must have either had the Black Lung or smoked 4 cartons a day since age 5, because she spent the entire movie either laughing and breaking into hack fits, or vice versa. It was at once sad and horrifying. At the second screening of The Departed (the one at which I won two shirts, 30 free song downloads, and, most importantly, 10 free tacos) one of the patrons found it a good idea to vomit right as the opening scene started. Instead of instantly leaving in shame, him and his companion decided to first loudly discuss the situation for several minutes. Once they left, the people in the neighboring seats had to fend off anyone who wanted to sit in the same seats because, well, there was vomit. And apparently it's in fashion to buy a ticket for a movie that's already 20 minutes into the running time and disturb the fuck out of my viewing experience by loudly trying to find a seat.
Speaking of The Departed, it's brilliant. It's a combat boot to the groin of an action movie with substance literally dripping off the screen. It's definitely the best film of the year thus far (which, because of the year so far, isn't really saying all that much, sadly) and it's the first 2006 release to earn the coveted 100 from me on Criticker. Given the shit year, maybe the Academy will be forced to throw Scorsese a statue, though, as Chris pointed out, they probably won't be able to pass up the opportunity to have Clint Eastwood tie himself and take home both #3 and #4. Speaking of the year, it really has been piss poor. Even compared to last year, which has been generally regarded as a shit storm at the cinema, this year is turning into a shit hurricane. There have been some pretty good films in limited release, and I'll dedicate a future entry to highlighting the best of the year so far, which may end up having some really ridiculous things on it (I'm looking at you Jackass 2). The last 2.5 months of the year have some promising things in store however, and I hope that they end up more like The Departed and less like The Black Dahlia.
In the span of about 2 hours this afternoon I received 11 friend requests. As interested as LONA, natalie6, and sassie cassie must be in making their way into my Top 12, I think I'll stick to my rule of not adding anyone I'm not personally acquainted with (or who gets me into free movies).
Shit, liquor should float better. Goodnight. |
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| Set to a Calypso Beat In 6/8 Time. |
[Oct. 8th, 2006|02:02 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| | hungover | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Indian Summer - Angry Son | ] |
Vesper doesn't mean what it ought to.
Jack Nicholson calls AIDS the Death Fuck -- brilliant.
vaporperson - n. Someone you know exists, despite evidence to the contrary and the skepticism of friends.
I would gladly spend the rest of my life driving 80 mph down empty roads at night. I would need a better car though, methinks. And some way to get new music funneled into it.
I wish there was food.
I wish I was British.
I wish my last name was Antonioni.
I wish Lost was on today. |
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| A Misanthrope is a Bugger Who Hates Every Other Bugger |
[Oct. 7th, 2006|07:11 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | floor | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  indifferent | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Guided By Voices - Twilight Campfighter | ] |
A few summers ago (lets call it 5), while I was visiting my family back in the old country, I found a large stack of old blank notebooks in the room I was put up in. They were very plain, with a card-stock cover that was both un-presumptuous and comforting, and I put them aside for myself, toying with the idea of starting a sort of stream of consciousness journal. Suffice it to say, it never got anywhere, but I do remember dreaming more than once that summer about a life as a brilliant but struggling writer/artist in Paris who spends all the time he's not waiting tables scribbling in the self-same notebooks. Naturally, he's admired from afar by a quaintly beautiful but unsure girl who finds one of notebooks he drops, but doesn't have the courage to approach me until later. I don't quite remember how the requisite romance starts or continues, but I'm certain it was quite cinematic and profoundly moving. Also, this may or may not be the actual plot of The Notebook, but I have no way of knowing since I doubt I'll ever watch it (unless there are incentives, I guess).
Trapped in the suburbs I've been pining for the simpler summers of my youth. My grandparent's house is on a major thoroughfare right before the "Now Leaving Krakow" sign, but the road which runs along the other side of the property was, and I think still is, dirt and gravel, and our neighbors owned chickens and rabbits and I remember walking to get fresh milk when I was 5. No air conditioning, and while the summers could get quite hot there seemed to always be a breeze blowing through all of the open windows. And the sky was blue and white, and the air tasted great, and there were stars at night.
The summer after I graduated high school we took a trip to Paris for a few weeks. For the most part we just did the usual tourist thing of visiting churches and museums and whatever else was in the guide book, but I've been secretly itching to go back by myself. I feel like it's a city that had a whole other side of personal experience to offer me that I didn't take advantage of. I want to walk all over the city at night, stop into quaint restaurants that don't close, sit on the bank of the river for a whole day, eat a fucking fresh croissant with Nutella. Or maybe Rome, which had a lot of the same charm but less river and more looting.
Am I the only person who frames themselves with a camera and adds a mental soundtrack during self-perceived important or poignant moments in their life?
Everything was easy in the Old West and the 40's. You didn't have to worry about the law; you saw something that needed fixing and you rounded up your buddies and got it done. And the girls were pretty.
The last couple of weeks have been schizophrenic. I've been oscillating between mirth, crushing disappointment, and restlessness on a daily, and some days hourly, basis. I've been getting sicker and sicker of playing the cliched brilliant (if I say so myself) and directionless college graduate; seriously, I'm about one torrid romance away from being played by Zach Braff in a movie (I guess at least I'm safe there...). As a step in the right direction, I dropped the pretense of "looking for a job in CA" and have decided that I should just stick it out in Atlanta for a while. At this point moving cross-country was only acting as a delay mechanism for facing up to responsibilities. Also, I'm pretty sure that if I moved there I'd just end up a terrified shut-in. And I'd miss people, especially some that I grow to love more and more each Monday night (though three of them are leaving next year). So, phase 2 of Operation Job Hunt starts now, and I should be back to living in-town in the next couple of months. Atlanta ain't so bad, even if you can't walk down by the river at 1 am looking up at stars. Not moving also gives me the monetary means to visit Ilani sometime (if she'll have me), which should be killer.
If you find yourself with an extra 8 dollars and 2.5 hours to kill, go see The Departed. |
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| If This Blog Post Gets 100,000 Reads, I'll Actually Talk to a Girl |
[Sep. 25th, 2006|03:27 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  awake | ] |
| [ | music |
| | John Frusciante - Murderers | ] |
The internet is a weird place inhabited by some weird people. I can't say that I keep my finger on the pulse of the throbbing tangle of tubes, but I like to think that I'm generally well informed about the goings-on; I'm not really a big contributor to any of the communities, but I know what Digg is, I subscribe to Rocketboom, and I knew about lonelygirl15 before she was on the evening news.
( Read more... ) |
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| It Would Be Spiteful to Put Jellyfish in a Trifle |
[Sep. 13th, 2006|01:14 am] |
| [ | mood |
| | Berserker | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Isles - Post Nobles | ] |
Hello internet! How I've missed you. After 2 weeks of stealing less than reliable wireless from our neighbors, we finally have our own pipe to the series of tubes that I've become dependent on. Honestly, I was starting to get the shakes.
So it's been over a month since I've written anything of worth, and my life is both majorly shifted and largely the same. I'm temporarily taking up residence in Duluth with my dad, living rent-free in a plush 3rd story bedroom with a private bathroom and more closet space than my entire last apartment. At the same time, I'm still jobless, prospect-less, and for the most part without a definite plan for myself. Sometime in the next several days I will start phase two of my California job hunt, and if this one proves similarly fruitless, I'll toss in the towel and just find something to occupy myself here for a little while. The key there will be that I would need to stop myself from becoming too comfortable -- I've come to the conclusion that I definitely need a large-scale change in my life, one most easily achieved by a long-distance change of scenery. I'm still living in crippling fear of such a change (especially given the hardships endured by one of my fellow college grads in her move to Scotland), but I'm also sick of everything coming easily and not really trying when it doesn't; if I throw myself into the Sarlacc pit, I'll have to learn to be covered in armor that doesn't melt in the acid (in a manner of speaking...). So, even if I end up staying here I'm going to keep my eyes open for other opportunities in other venues. In this respect my cluelessness as to what I want to do with myself will actually be helpful; on the one hand I don't know what I want to do, but on the other I can bounce around between different things until I figure it out.
It feels like I've been living outside of the city for much longer than 2 weeks. I've also come to realize just how isolated I am all the way up here; the city is at least a 30 minute drive on highways with no traffic, and trying to get anywhere between 3 and 7 is hell (which throws a kink in my screening ventures). By comparison, I can probably drive from here to Athens in no more than an hour. Needless to say, I've only been back in town to see people a few times on weekends (and last night to play poker at Linzy and Jon's, whom I hadn't seen since his accident). At times it can get pretty lonely, but most of the time I've been enjoying the "me time," at least for now. I'm also hoping to hang out some with the esteemed Chansky, and maybe look up some other people from my past that have found their way back to the Atlanta area.
I want to get back into doing these, hopefully not in the day by day style of the old ones. I have at least a couple more for the next few days, one about internet goings on, one about music, one about movies, and a response to an old blog post that I failed to comment on. |
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| Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves |
[Aug. 30th, 2006|10:11 am] |
| [ | mood |
| |  sleepy | ] |
Last night I dreamt I went back to Centennial and incited a riot by yelling "School is for pussies" in the halls. Afterward, the good natured, but bumbling, sheriff's deputy questioned me and searched my car, finding the clothes I wore while doing it in my trunk. He didn't make anything of it then, but I knew that those clothes would be my undoing when he saw the surveillance footage.
I'm returning the keys to our old place today and am all moved into my dad's place. Because some idiot forgot to install a grounding rod here, I'm on the sporadic (read, stealing from neighbors) internet plan until this weekend. |
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| Time is Tissue |
[Aug. 21st, 2006|04:52 pm] |
| [ | Current Location |
| | floor | ] |
| [ | mood |
| |  weird | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Regina Spektor - On the Radio | ] |
So I haven't posted in here in like 2 weeks, and I'll have a summary of that time up someday (not in day by day format -- not enough has happened in the past 20 to justify wasting that much internet space). The most important thing is that all of my furniture (aside from my mattress) is in Duluth at my dad's house, and I'm still packing up all the random shit I've accumulated over the past several years. Today I've reached a sort of impasse. I am, admittedly, sort of a pack rat; I personally think it's a very mild form of OCD, revealing itself though list-making and the constant convincing of myself not to throw anything away because I might need it someday. It's all mostly harmless, but it has resulted in me sitting on the floor of my furniture-less room surrounded by piles of, well, shit.
My current dilemma comes in the form of notebooks upon notebooks filled with all of the notes and papers from my 4 years of college, which I preserved in case that I would someday need to reference some obscure topic I learned in 2nd year circuits. This is, of course, pretty much ridiculous; anything and everything that is contained in those notes is available in triplicate online. In fact, during most of grad school I stopped doing any readings, and would simply use google for any and all research I'd need to do to solve a problem; I've gotten ridiculously good at parsing search results and judging their pertinence to my problem, a skill that has helped me infinitely more that knowing the patterns of electron and hole flow in semiconductors. I came to the same sort of conclusion when packing up my, admittedly meager, selection of "reference books," finally settling on keeping only the dictionary (and even that is already built into google, so why bother?). While it is comforting and empowering to know that such a huge repository of knowledge is readily accessible from any given Starbucks, it's mortifying how utterly helpless I'd be if the nefarious plot of Live Free or Die Hard ever came to fruition.
I've been reluctant to actually go through all of these notebooks, fearing that it would renew my disinclination to part with them, but I suppose I should check to make sure that there isn't anything genuinely useful in there. In a way it puts a weird light on what I've gained through higher education; until today it was 20+ notebooks of knowledge, but after today it's 2 sheets of paper and whatever is still jumping synapses in my head. |
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