Another Monday, another list of things to do. I’m still not exactly back on top of my game just yet, but rest assured, I’m working on it. I’m still officially on the M.I.A. side of life, but give me a few more days and I’ll be back and maybe even better than ever.
Just a few updates:
I think I did better last week with my overall monthly quota.
I’m considering talking to someone at the office to write for their new newsletter… but what would I write about? Hmmm…
I’ve grown to be more in love with Tina Fey now that I have 30 Rock season 2 on DVD.
I also have Myrna Loy & William Powell movie collection on DVD with a bunch of movies I’ve never heard of, but are pretty good. (It took almost 2 full weeks for Amazon to deliver this and the above disc set to arrive… new longest wait record for me.)
I now know what I need to get a computer I’m rebuilding to a great condition, or at least something that can really benefit me, maybe the Indoob, or 3S:FX. We’ll call this “Operation: Fixputer.”
There’s a freak snow storm keeping me from leaving the house today. We’ll call this “Snowed in.”
And I’m seriously hating these stupid viruses/malware in my dad’s computer.
I started my second session of Spanish classes and I’ve already forgotten half of the first session.
Oh yeah, and I’m no longer behind in loan payments and stuck in debt which means I can go back to Middlesex this fall and maybe get approved for some credit cards I’ll never use to help build a better credit score! Yay!
In the meantime, I have less than $50 to my name until Friday around 2am, which I plan to be in a movie theater watching Watchmen with my Midnight Premiere Crew. More on that later…
March 2, 2009
m.i.a. continues
February 21, 2009
missing fripods and found links
First of all, allow me to apologize for my absence this past friDay. I didn’t have a song, or video or anything ready to talk about. It’s been quite a week for me, but a good week over all. Well, except for at the office, but I’ll make up for that on Monday. I will work on getting a double iPick for this coming friPod’s edition.
Besides not doing my office work for the week, I was busy planning my road trip to Minnesota. It’s still awkward for to say I’m going there, especially out loud to other people because their response is always “Minnesota? What the stank is in Minnesota?” Actually, quite a lot. But specifically, the Mall of America. But I’ll post more on that when I actually get closer to going.
Tomorrow is the Oscars! Woot woot!
And besides the work I wasn’t doing and the early road trip planning, I came across a few websites. One of which I hinted at last week: Christian Children’s Fund. That’s right, I’m sponsoring a little Bolivian boy! I don’t want to get in trouble with them or for exploiting children or anything like that… so I’ll hold off on his name until him and I start writing each other and I give him a proper nickname. I’m excited about this and can’t wait to befriend him as well as help him and watch him grow. I’ve been blessed and I want to bless someone else. Anyway, I did my research, the CCF has been around for many years and they (and other sources) prove the money is going towards the children’s benefit. Soon I will talk to my dad and see if he’s interested in having our church sponsor another child. I’ll let them pick, but I’ll be more than happy to set it up and write letters as well.
Another interest I’ve taken on is back to my old school computering days. I have a knack for knowing how to get around computer software and some hardware. I’d like to get better at the hardware side. What better way other than to do what I did before: teach myself. It’s mostly free and whenever I get around to some light schooling on it, I will come in with some background knowledge already which will make it easier to learn. So I’m going back to basics now that I have a junked computer to “play” with, and possibly some extra funds to invest in it. If not now, then maybe in a few months. I still need to do my writing ya know. But I enjoy taking apart and rebuilding computers. Like mechanics to cars or something.
Kitten and I discuss our dreams rather frequently. We also discuss less deep things like the contents of poop, but we already discovered a book to enlighten us on such facts. Anyway, since our dreams are another topic of discussion, we wanted to learn more about them and I stumbled across this website that talks about lucid dreaming. There’s more than likely tons of books, articles and websites on this, but you have to start somewhere. This seemed like a good place to start. I haven’t finished reading all of it yet, but it’s something I think is highly interesting. Plus, dreaming is a storyteller’s best inspiration and origin for great tales. And sometimes I really need to know how to escape out of a nightmare. I will continue my studies of dreams by looking into dream interpretations.
FML is (I think) a fairly new site. Almost like a blog, reminds me of Twitter, with everyone contributing to it. If I tell you that “ML” stands for “My Life,” you can figure out what the “F” is. A friend sent it to me asking me if I thought it was funny. To be honest, it was like a painful laugh. You’re able to separate the entries by groups like love, money, sex, work, etc… and then you can also see how others respond to someone’s entry. Do you agree that they got it bad and you feel their pain? Or did they deserve what happened to them? It’s really self explanatory when you check it out. In a way, it might make a depressed person feel a little bit better knowing that they aren’t the only one having a hard time, or someone might be going through something a bit worse. Another site that maybe helpful in that weird way is WhichIsWorse.com.
Last, is my favorite one and I had to laugh when I caught it on CNN’s website… or was it Time? Doesn’t matter. Another friend sent this to me before I even read about it later. The URL is simple and tells you exactly what you are about to see. ThisIsWhyYoureFat.com. And then, it will show you exactly why you are fat. Not only that, but several ways to cause death. Death by heart attack probably, if you ever eat any of these things that’s shown. This also has a blog format and I think a new picture adds everyday. The first time I went there, I couldn’t go more than 5 pages in one sitting. I actually began to feel sick. And I’m mostly certain that all the pictured items are indeed real. Have they actually been eaten? I can’t say. I hope not. But I know some people have a serious love for bacon and this site is proof of that. I love bacon too, but it has it’s time, place and proper portions.
February 17, 2009
life update 2.16.08
Hello fellow Indoobians. I wanted to turn some of my recent adventures into little short stories, but these events are piling up faster than I have time to sit down and write them. And I didn’t want to neglect or forget to document them. Such things are a bit too much to let Twitter handle on it’s own.
But let’s journey briefly and chronologically, shall we?
February the 12th, I helped my friend, Unique, make cupcakes for the first time in her life. Actually, it was the second. Before I showed up, she burnt her first batch by breaking the first rule of baking that isn’t listed on any recipes but apparently needs to be: don’t leave the house. While they baked, we watched a movie about another kind of baking: Pineapple Express. Unfortunately, I had to given to my severe dislike of watching a bootleg (I don’t care of the quality is top notch, it’s still stealing and illegal). Fortunately, it’s a movie I’ve already seen legally, so I’m not too bothered by it. By the time the movie ended, the cupcakes were done and were a success. I didn’t help with the frosting, she handled that on her own without worry.
February the 13th, the so-called Unlucky Day, was actually a pretty decent and enjoyable day. Kitten and I went to see my best friend, or more appropriately, brother-from-another-mother whom I shall call Mr. Phoenix (for the time being, and with no relation to the actors) and his band Taken From Ashes (formerly known as The Final Approach) perform at a local pub. So local, I didn’t even know it was there despite my driving past it several times in any given month. An hour long set was played with about 9 or 10 songs including an awesome metallic/rockish cover of Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise. This was an event I should’ve brought a camera for, so I could really show how things went down. It was undoubtedly fun, and TFA sounded great. Better than the Toad’s performance.
February the 14th, Kitten and I reclaimed it as Friendship Celebration Day. Sure it’s a corny title for those singles who don’t have anything better to do, but to those who would’ve followed our exploits that day would think we were a couple anyway. We ventured to the mall and found a belated birthday gift for my brother-in-law, went to the movies to catch Push (which I still haven’t written a review for), and later went out for pizza at a quiet pizzeria. Word to the wise for the future, local family-run places might not be as busy during such times compared to the commercial restaurants. Okay, that might not be a fact, but I was right in picking a not-so-busy place to hang out… even if that is our usual weekly not-so-busy hang out spot anyway.
Friendship Celebration Day continued as I ventured to Mr. Phoenix’s new place. He and his girlfriend (who has a sense of humor painfully similar to my own, but I won’t destroy her because of this since she’s on my good side, Mr. Phoenix’s better half and seriously enjoys cheese) treated me with nachos and chili dip as we caught up on life, talked about the performance from the night before, and watched Pan’s Labyrinth. ‘Twas a good time. For his birthday this weekend, he gets a free month of Netflix on me. Enjoy it. Now.
February the 15th, I was asked to fix a friend’s computer. He got excited that I was coming and called his friend to come over so I could fix his too. So I stopped by his house and got one computer running, but not the other. I don’t consider myself a computer expert, but I’ve been known to get by. This loss was discouraging, so I took it to the “Nerd Patrol,” as I usually do when a problem is beyond my capabilities. I don’t normally speak negative things about people, whether I know them or not… and I won’t start now. Let’s just say I don’t like the character who “helped” me very much and I must now be alert of who’s working at the desk the next time I return. Pompous pretentiousness isn’t a very good customer service trait. Actually, it’s not a good trait at all unless you are an evil villain. Hmm… looks like I met some inspiration.
It would seem like an incredibly random act for me to do this, but I signed up to sponsor a child with the Christian’s Children Fund. It’s something I actually thought about doing for a few years, but was never in a financially stable place to do so. But things are going good and I’ve since taken care or gotten rid of useless bills, so why not spend that money on something worth it? It’s legit, I checked. My passion is still charity for the arts (in schools), and Lord knows America has it’s own major problems. But the Indoob is global-people from around the world stop by. So this is me reaching back out to the world. And maybe someday I can go visit the little guy. More on this later.
I’m planning a road trip that I’m seriously (hopefully) going to take this summer. To where? The Mall of America! There was talk and plans of making plans to go last year with a few friends… but that fell through in a few different ways that’s not necessary to discuss, and needless to say, I never left. But this year, I’m making plans with whom I’d call a “doer” and not just a “talker.” I love my friends, but I need more doer friends than talkers, because I don’t want to keeping talking about it. I need to do it. And I’ll be sure to bring a camera or two to show it.
My dad (who is a doer) suggested I start writing letters to some famous doers asking for “not a hand out, but a hand up.” People like Tyler Perry, who is definitely a success story if I ever heard one, from living in his car to owning several cars (I assume). Perhaps he’d like to lend a helping hand to someone like me. I know I definitely wouldn’t mind working for him at his company. My dad also suggested contacting Will Smith’s people. Both of which have their own successful production companies. My aunt suggested Oprah. Also worth a try, and we share a birthday… that’s gotta get me some points, no? Whether I get in contact with any of them or not, this is my season for progression. And I refuse to lose my dream of doing and being something great.
So yeah… that was my weekend. I also ordered the second season of 30 Rock (shame on me for buying out of order, but it was cheaper and I still love you Tina Fey) and the Myrna Loy and William Powell Collection (more on that later). So please excuse me in a week or so whilst I laugh myself to creative, comedic and witty enlightenment with these awesome stories, actors and writers. But I’ll be sure to pre-post some posts about stuff. Maybe. Somebody hasn’t been sleeping much which affects his work during the day because he’s too busy writing… so something’s gotta give. And yes, I liked that movie.
November 30, 2008
the november picture post (finally)
So first of all, I’d like to say Merry Christmas, it’s officially Christmastime. I’ve also been holding out on posting pictures I’ve taken every so often. I keep wishing to be one of those people that brings his camera everywhere taking pictures of everything and everyone, but sadly my “good” camera has yet to make it on the official “personal effects list” (such as my phone, iSaac the iPod, which coincidentally has a camera, a pen, my MoleSkine, my wallet, my keys, and occasionally the Bag o’ Tricks, which is merely my backpack that goes almost everywhere with me). So my phone has a camera, why don’t I use it? Too frustrating to send picture to the Internet. It can be done but I need a strong connection and a couple minutes while it sends. I get more failed attempts than I would like, so by the 8th time I ask myself what is it really worth?
Anyway, my first picture comes from my office and is actually last years Christmas present from my boss. I’m considering starting a snow globe collection… but I’m not sure yet. So here is my Christmas greeting to you all.
I couldn’t tell you why the snowman looks sad. Maybe he fell of his skis? I can’t say.
The best stuff on Earth. This I sprinkle on a lot of foods from my eggs to veggies and of course, popcorn! What could be better? Adding it to Smartfood Popcorn, as if it didn’t have enough cheese already. It also comes in other interesting flavors. Go to the site for more.
I’m the tech guru/PC doctor in my immediate family, yet my brother-in-law has a lot more knowledge than I, unfortunately he lives in Maryland. In any event, I get called upon by friends and family to see if I can figure out what’s wrong with a computer. Fortunately, this was a successful attempt after about 6 hours of working. My grandmother’s laptop ran disgustingly slow due to some corrupted file. Just because I’m good at problem solving, doesn’t mean you can call me or drop off your computer. I have other things in my life that needs to be tackled. But I could use a good puzzle like this every so often.
One problem is freezer burnt ice cream. I can’t just throw it away, especially when its a full carton of forgotten ice cream. That spells a wet and eventually stinky sticky mess in the garbage. So I sent it to liquid form down the sink and tried to make some art because it took awhile to melt. I certainly didn’t feel bad about this because I hate freezer burnt ice cream.
I’d just like to take a moment to discuss the flash feature in my camera. This is the only way I can “freeze” something like water. I’ve taken pictures like this using drips of water and it’s quite fun. But as you can see, the old ice cream is going quickly.
See the difference? No flash, and it looks like regular flowing water. My goal is to take pictures without the flash but achieve the same “freezing” effect. I require a more expensive camera that’s on my celebrity wish list for that to take place.
This looks gross, but it was the last remains of the last carton of forgotten ice cream. It was vanilla, caramel swirl with caramel pieces covered in chocolate. It was okay. Would’ve been better in a small carton.
I had to make cornbread for Thanksgiving dinner. While I don’t have trouble making it, I did have trouble with this pan. Sadly, I had to pull off the muffin tops and cut out the bottom stumps, then I put them back together on another pan hoping no one would notice. And yes, people did, and yes we talked about the Seinfeld episode. And yes that’s cinnamon (and sugar… and nutmeg) sprinkled on top. It’s my signature baking ingredient.
This picture was from my phone and didn’t do my Thanksgiving meal justice. Don’t look for the turkey, I’m not crazy about it and only had a few pieces the day after. The pink juice is a strange but delicious fruit punch. This was an excellent meal and it was funny that the only thing left on people’s plate was my cornbread muffin. Am I hurt? No. I, too, couldn’t finish and we all wanted to take a nap.
This is a tiny tiny taste of what I do when I’m not doing my current job, and what will be my main focus next month. I will explain more later. Obviously it’s a piece of script from a short film titled The Last Meeting, and I have my friend in New York who already asked to direct it moments after reading the first draft. Hopefully, it’s the first of many collaborations with her.
Do I really need to explain this one? This is the first of hopefully more awesome t-shirts I order from the web.
So that’s some pictorials from around the workforce. I’ll do what I can to be more consistent with them, but no promises. I rely more on my words and gift of imagery more than pictures, but pictures can say so much too. And maybe I will write less. And my photography skills will improve once I take pictures of things worth remembering forever.
Lastly, I know there wasn’t a friPod post. Consider that I was on a holiday break. Honestly, there was nothing I was really iPodding that much this week. It was an off week for me at the office. I was feeling rather blah, and my drive to do any work was seriously lacking. Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about. But nevertheless, I do indubitably have an iPick for this upcoming friPod iPick. I actually “discovered” it on my holiday break. And hey! It’s holiday themed! So stay tuned and you’ll figure out what it is. In the meantime, I shall reload my camera with more images that are worth talking about about.
October 17, 2008
fripodding and young’ns with old’ns
Unlike many popular magazines that I tend to read, there are always reviews of the latest and hottest movies or songs/albums/artists that recently hit the shelves. For both my movie reviews and these iPicks for friPodding, I pick whatever I feel is great at the time. The movie reviews are usually written about movies I’ve seen for the first time… and those are on the MySpace blog.
Today’s pick is somewhat random thanks to watching a commercial I grew to love… along with many other people across the nation. Remember that De beer’s commercial with the husband creeping out of bed in the middle of the night to retrieve a diamond necklace for his wife, and then puts it on her while she’s still asleep, but then starts to wake up, so then he quickly acts like he’s asleep but she still catches him anyway and has that look of surprise and glee? I’d embed the YouTube video… but I’m lazy. Plus I just told you what the commercial is…
However, I’m also a liar on occasion. And my teachers always tell me to “don’t tell me, show me.” Anyway, this is Cat Power singing How Do I Tell You. This is a cover of Cat Steven’s song. And as this commercial shows a happy loving event, the song itself is quite sad. No doubt it’s still a beautiful and touching song, but still a little tearful to hear about this guy who wants to tell this girl who is not around how he feels about her. I can’t speak for everyone, but I can relate. I haven’t dried over the song or over anyone, but I sure keeping it on repeat for a couple hours will make me want to sit in a dark corner and write sad poetry in the midst of my tears. Perhaps that’s how this song was written. This is a song I’d love to write/direct a retro music video. I can see a guy walking around remembering the girl he once knew, and possibly showing what may have happened to her. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t have the video end on a happy note. Since, as I said, the lyrics aren’t really cheerful. Unless you end it with a happy memory. Still, it’s depressing because it’s the past and you know the dude is in misery in the present.
Regardless, it’s an awesome song. And there are times I like something soothing to just mellow out to. Like most people, I prefer a full version of Cat Power’s cover… but alas, she has yet to record it and from what I hear, doesn’t have plans to. So I made myself enjoy the original Cat Steven’s version (I listened to it over and over). Ironically enough, iSaac has Cat Power and Cat Stevens back to back (alphabetically of course) with Powers singing a cover of “Sea of Love” and Stevens singing “How Do I Tell You.” There is a lady out there (on YouTube) who recorded a cover of Cat Power’s cover of Cat Stevens… it sounds nice, but I don’t want to buy it right now.
In other news, I’d just like to say that the youth is taking over. (The youth are taking over? The youth is taking over… It’s a single group of people… making it singular… or plural… since it’s more than one… youths…) The younger generation is taking over. My friend was helping her mom write a resume. I was teaching my grandmother how to send email. My sister sets up my dad’s cell phone. These are things some would assume adults to teach the kids. (Technically, my friend, my sis and myself aren’t children… but in the elders eyes, ya know.)
I thought about this as I was assisting my mother in teaching my grandmother how to get around the Internet. She couldn’t figure out why or how people could spend all day on it. I recently set her up with her own email address so she can get in contact with her sisters, and even her daughters (one is in PA, the other VA). It was an interesting experience teaching her something that seems to come naturally to me. Not that I’ve been emailing since I came from the womb, but to have such vast knowledge of how what has become commonplace to society, and to teach others who aren’t that familiar, it’s kind of an incredible feeling. This woman who makes some of the best food, gave me some of my first acting lessons, and showed me what love for family is all about, and here I am able to give back and teach her something.
Her, my mom and I had some laughs. She was using my dad’s laptop and had to use the touch pad. Both my grandmother and mom don’t like it that much. I’m liking it more than having a mouse… well, until I get Photoshop or something. But it’s little things like clicking on the buttons or getting your cursor to where you need it to be. And I’m not teasing her or anything, it’s just that its new and it takes some getting used to.
So the younger generation is taking over and leading the way for both the older and the even youngerer generations to come. And yes, I’m hinting and linking to something bigger like politics. Let the younger guy come in with some new and fresh ideas. C’mon, you know you wanna.
Speaking of that, hopefully I’ll be registered in time. It occurred to me a couple weeks ago that I was still registered to vote in New York, when I was schooling at Purchase at the time. Since I don’t have plans of going back, nor did I want to take an hour to drive there, vote, and drive back… I figured to just register like a normal person. For some silly reason, I was under the impression I was already registered. I don’t know why. But hopefully I’m good to go. So then I do my civic duty, then I’ll sit in front of CNN for the rest of the night. I know I probably wouldn’t have to, but they have the best political news team. CNN and Comedy Central. Oh yes, I need my Daily and Colbert. However, I have a tough time choosing between Colbert and Leno. I need my nightly news mockings.
Moreover, never have I been so sick of hearing a simple name in the span of 24 hours. You know it… Joe the Plumber. My sweet Lord in Heaven. EVERYONE talked about it. Everyone. And some of the jokes were pretty funny, so I didn’t really mind it all that much at first. Yes, he’s now the most famous plumber in America. At least there’s a face to this guy other than Joe Six-pack who I’m still trying to figure out if he has six pack abs or six pack of beer. I’m thinking the latter. The average guy doesn’t have a six pack. …It’s actually a wish the average guy has a six pack. The average girl probably wishes that too. Anyway, I knew I was in trouble when I heard the joke that Joe the Plumber has had more interviews in one day than Palin has had since she was chosen. I heard that four times. Then the truths about Joe started coming out. He’s not licensed. He wouldn’t really be affected by such and such and blah blah… I’m losing interest talking about it now. Plus I’m feeding into what I don’t like. I’m already considering erasing what I typed. Self-loathing? Now I’m depressed. Thanks a lot Cat Stevens! I’m going to go sit in a dark corner now.
Actually, it’s lunch time so I’m going to go find nutrients. Later, I’m going to go to work. Office work. I know, I know… I have Fridays off. But I’ve been behind in my numbers the last couple weeks and I have a reputation (ahem). So I’ll sign on for a minute and finish up some unfinished business. I just got promoted! I can’t suddenly look like a slacker. Unless I finished all my work early, then and only then can I waste time playing sudoku or window shopping on Amazon.
