Another Monday, another one of those “get back to work after a weekend” kind of days. The most redeeming factor being Movie Night. If you haven’t heard, every Monday I get a projector from work and we watch movies on the wall. It rocks. Today happened to be the biggest turnout. I think there were 8 of us including myself and Squatz. We watched Way of the Gun. It’s action packed, a bit suspenseful and in the words of Liz, “I haven’t cringed that much in a long time.”
Today at work I got Joe a gmail account which he absolutely loves now. It was funny because while he was playing around with it he kept coming out to exclaim about one of the cool features he discovered then he and Squatz and I would get excited while our 2 customers looked at us weirdly. It’s fun being a nerd sometimes. Here’s an even better story. There’s this lady named Deb that supervises sometimes at the ETC and she’s in her 40’s. She’s now under the impression that I’m in desperate need of a significant other. So she’s been talking up this daughter of her best friend, blah blah blah. I haven’t really said much but today she informs me she’s going to get this girl’s email address so I can start “chatting” with her. That’s when I finally had to speak up for myself. I told her she really didn’t have to do that because there’d be a very small chance that I would do anything with it. She then suggests I drive to where she lives and meet her. I told her there’s a very small chance of me doing that as well. She seemed a bit disappointed but I felt like me being silent and leading her on had to quit when she decided she was finally going to do something about it. She’s all worried I’m going to turn into some lonely old man with no friends and nothing to do sitting at home twiddling my thumbs every evening. I guess she cares about me or something. It’s really funny to me how some people just have to be a matchmaker everywhere they go. ¡Sweet Aunt Jemima! I just received email notification that my tortilla press has been shipped. I’ll be making my own tortillas in no time. Well, I should respond to a few emails and do a bit of studying.
Well, this post should get me back on track with one a day. No, I’m not taking any experimental drugs and no, “Day Late” doesn’t mean I’m pregnant or something. Well, my day went pretty well. Did a bit more reading, spent 45 min refreshing my brain of the spanish it used to know and played a round of frizolf. Luckily I didn’t lose my disc. Hopefully I can get my other Centre Morris disc off the top of the communication building sometime. It’s not like they grow on a frisbee tree or anything. Just got done watching Pulp Fiction on the wall via one of those handy projectors from the work place. Palooka and Squatz had never seen it and Mahan came over for the good times. Sometimes I think Tarrentino is a genius and other times I think he’s just weird. However, I’m still looking forward to Kill Bill Vol 2 coming out on DVD. I don’t own Vol 1, but hopefully there’ll be a box set or something when they come out. They usually do that. I was informed today that I have the gift of conversation. That seemed kinda weird to me because I’m usually pretty quiet. I know when I get going though I can ramble on forever. It was meant as a compliment though so that’s the way I took it. I’m not a chit-chat kind of person. That meaningless flapping of the jaws kinda annoys me so I try not to bother people unless I have something worthwhile to say. Tomorrow night is once again movie night…not sure what we’re going to watch. a request was put in for Donnie Brasco. I figure we’ll have to wait and see who shows up and then go from there. Well, I should probably take care of some stuff then get to sleep. Back in the day I used to be able to live on almost no sleep all the time. Now, I realize I aint a spring chicken no more. Hasta mañana.
Well, I was posting in here once a day but it seems my streak has been sullied. I get busy at night and then lo and behold the Chalupa gets tired and goes to bed. Yesterday was an interesting day. For some reason I felt the need to go outside and enjoy the sunshine so I decided to walk to the post office to check my mail instead of driving. It never seemed like it before, but the post office isn’t exactly close. I think I was gone for an hour and a half by the time I got back. Granted, I did see signs for a garage sale and made a detour but that was only like 3 or 4 blocks out of my way. Ended up spending $1 on two books in the “Bourne Identity” series. Yes, apparently there is a series and books do come before movies sometimes. They were hardback and if they end up being not too interesting, I’m not out that much money. Other than that did some reading, played some games and then hung out Toll a bit last night. We introduced Squatz to Fight Club. It was hard to believe he had never seen it before. It’s such a good movie, but not something everybody should watch if you know what I mean. It’s a also one of those movies that you have to watch 3-5 times to actually grasp everything that’s going on. There’s a lot of subtleties that aren’t apparent until you fully understand the plot and all the references they’re making early on in the movie.
Toll also came to church with me today. I guess he’s heard good things about Muncie Alliance and wanted to check it out. He said he might want to come again next week. That’d be cool cause then that definitely makes me get up Sunday morning because there’s somebody to give a ride. I don’t skip church much, but it does happen occasionally. I also enjoy just hanging out with Toll cause we usually have meaningful conversations about something. That doesn’t happen with everybody you’re around.
Starting reading my spanish verb book I got in the mail last night. I think the plan will be to start creating verb sheets like I had to in high school with all the irregulars completely conjugated with english meanings. Then I guess I can always write a bunch out for normal verbs too. It’s not like you need to look at those sheets much, the repetition just helps to pound it into your brain. Along with that verb book they threw in a book of 1001 most useful words or something like that. I guess I could take like 5 words out of there a day and make sure I know them til I get to the end. I’ll probably know a lot of the words in there already, but there has to be some I don’t know. Well, I think I’ll do a little reading before Squatz and I head out for leisurely round of frizolf.
Well, yesterday was a pretty good day. This was the first pay period with my raise! Woohoo! Work went pretty well too. Did a bit of painting and reorganized some stuff. Found one of my beloved gel ink pens in Steve’s audio room. This is the 3rd time I’ve found one of my pens back there. I guess I need to always keep my pen in my pocket and not leave it on my desk anymore.
Went lifting last night and saw Ed in there. He lived with Nathan and I during the fall. It was kind of a weird situation. I haven’t been on a schedule for a while with lifting cause my shoulders started acting up again towards the end of May. I think they’re getting better though. I did a set of 240 with the venerable Crazy spotting me and it didn’t hurt at all. No popping or grating or anything. I just feel like a wimp now cause I haven’t really benched much in a month so 240 was basically all I could do. It felt good though. I should start doing some pushups at night to try and get myself back up to speed. Tried to do some frizolf with Toll last night but it started raining right as we got to Wheeeeeeeeangatz so we headed back. Only thing is that we had to walk all the way back to Briarwood so we were a bit wet by the time we got back. I picked up a projector after work though so we can watch some movies big-screen style over the weekend.
I got my book of 555 fully conjugated verbs in the mail. Even though i’m a chicano, I still speak the mother-tongue like a gringo. So my goal this summer is to re-teach myself some of the stuff I’ve forgotten like the other half of the verb forms I get mixed up occasionally. Has anybody out there ever had the good fortune to eat a sopapilla? Well, Tara and I were reminiscing about them today and it turns out she has a deep fat fryer and I found a recipe online so we’re gonna try to make them someday. Still waiting on my tortilla press to come in the mail too. I feel the need to do stuff outside today. Didn’t do much of that during the week because of how humid it’s been. It’s not even worth me going to lift cause I’ll hardly be able to breathe. Stupid asthma. Well, my estomago is telling me to feed it. Better obey.
Ever get really tired and just decide to go to bed at like 6:00? Well I do every once in a while…sorta like tonight. Then I wake up between 1 and 2 in the morning, hang out for a bit and then got back to sleep for a couple hours before work in the morning. It’s kinda fun because then I get to feel young and hip again like when I used to never go to bed before 3am.
I got to finish up my “building” of stuff today at work. I really enjoy getting to do that kind of stuff once in a while. Up until this sweet job I’m currently employed at I used to do lots of manual labor kinds of stuff, some of which included construction-esque things.
So I’ve been watching a lot of Futurama lately. Also saw Abhineeta online. Unlike that jerk Jazzy Dave, I got talked back to. Well, Jazzy Dave isn’t really a jerk. He’s a pretty cool guy…and he’s got the flava. If only he didn’t live way down in Texas. I would like to go visit him this summer but don’t really have the money. I’m already heading out to see Joe and Cheryl. I have a layover in Dallas though. It’d be really sweet if I could see him and some of my other friends but it’s not that long of a layover. I might try to give him and my uncle Tim a call from the airport. Haven’t talked to either of them for a while.
Well the latest of my Blue Like Jazz book was a chapter about money. I’ve always thought I’ve been pretty responsible with my money and have probably been a bit over-proud about it at times. Even though I don’t go wasting my money all over the place, the chapter was a good reminded that there are definitely ways I could curb spending and use that money to directly help out others that need it more than me. I was reading Neville’s blog today and he mentioned his DVD accountability partner. There have definitely been times when I’ve needed one of those. You see, Neville and me have this thing where we watch tons of movies. Usually when you watch tons of movies, you tend to buy lots of movies too because you want others to experience these awe-inspiring moments on the silver screen. Sometimes it gets annoying because people start to expect you to buy something just so they can watch it. Those kind of people annoy me. Well, I should stop typing on here and actually talk to Timmy cause he’s actually online right now.
Yeah, so I’ve had this blog thing for a week and we haven’t broken up yet. I just saw Jazzy Dave online for the first time in a while but then he didn’t talk back to me…jerk. Right now I’m on radioasoell looking for songs to request. I had forgotten about it since Taylor started blocking me from listening a long time ago. Sometimes it really rocks not being in college anymore. Toll came over to watch Mystic River tonight. Squatz also got back from Wisconsin and brought us tons of cheese. He even brought some curds. I hadn’t had any fresh ones for quite some time. Quite a treat.
While Toll was over we had an interesting political-esque conversation about how we dislike debates because they aren’t really debates and they usually turn into personal attacks. We also talked about how we realize we’re biased in what we think but we at least like to think we try to listen to other people’s sides and try to understand things better. Definitely doesn’t always work, but it’s worth the try.
Well, I’ve maxed out my requests on Radioasoell. Soulman, this is definitely a shout out to you for your mad programming and layout skills. You’re my hero.
I always have these thoughts randomly throughout the day about what I want to post at night. The problem is that my concussioned head always has problems remember what those thoughts were.
Work was kinda nice today because I actually had some stuff to do. This may sound pathetic but I’m used to working for a living and sitting around all day makes Johnny a very dull boy. Went over to Ayres and dug out 30 keyboards from our piles of junk, helped setup some computers over in Swallow and today Gary decided to completely rearrange the back room in the ETC. He’s a really cool boss. He’s one of a few I’ve had that are actually not afraid to do some “work” and participate in anything he asks an employee to do. It’s weird how some people climb the corporate ladder and then all of a sudden they’re too good to do anything. I’m glad Gary is my boss and not one of my co-workers that used to be my boss. I’m gonna stop right there though cause I know I’ll end up saying something I shouldn’t. However, to stay on topic, I have another quote from Blue Like Jazz.
“I asked him how he kept such a good attitude all of the time with so many people abusing his kindness…’Don,’ he said. ‘If we are not willing to wake up in the morning and die to ourselves, perhaps we should ask ourselves whether or not we are really following Jesus.’”
I thought this was a pretty powerful statement. I know that I am in no way a Mother Theresa, but sometimes I feel like I get taken advantage of repeatedly be certain people and this was just a kick in the pants to remind me to shut up when I feel like complaining. A good reminder indeed because I definately felt like complaining today.
I swung by to see how Palooka was doing today. He ended up coming over and watching The Professional with me. Turns out there’s so many movies he’s been wanting to see that I have. I need to get him over for Monday nights, or he just needs to walk over to watch a movie until we’ve gotten him up to speed before the summer is over. On a nerd-like note, I got myself a gmail account today. Justin sent me an invitation and I signed up promptly. If you know about gmail it’s ok…you can be jealous. If you don’t know about gmail, then you should know it’s really cool…and you can be jealous…if you want to. They’ve been going on in the news on how gmail invades your privacy and stuff. I’m not sure exactly how I feel on it, but I can see both sides.
Hopefully work stays a bit busier than it’s been. If not, I should start spending my time re-teaching myself some of the different spanish verb tenses. Get some paper and start conjugating verbs 9 different ways. Well, that’s about all I got for now. To all those people that read this…(1 or 2), feel free to send me some email during the day. It gives me something to do during those slow times.
Well, another day under the belt as they say. Crack, Nathan and Sparks came over to see Mystic River. I’m pretty sure they all like it. It’s dark but really good. Kinda hard to explain without going into the plot. So I’ve been reading this book called Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. Neville gave it to me and it’s a pretty sweet book. On the cover it says, “Nonreligious Thoughts On Christian Spirituality”. That’s probably a better description than I could come up with other than it’s really good. Miller just comes across as being so real. That can be hard to find sometimes. Well last night I’m reading chapter 14 and come across the passage,
“…because we have sensitive egos and so many of us live our lives in front of our televisions, not having to deal with real people who might hurt us or offend us, we float along on our couches like astronauts moving aimlessly through the Milky Way, hardly interacting with other human beings at all.”
It made me think of a conversation Neville and I were having at work a while ago about how we sometimes escape by watching movies. Neville was telling me how one day he realized that he almost cared more about some movies than he did about people. Being a bit of a movie buff, Neville would defend some movies like an old friend to someone who watched it and didn’t like it because there wasn’t any action or the dialog was “boring”. He defended these movies because they have a great message to tell the world and these people weren’t taking the time to figure this out. They were missing out on a great opportunity. I don’t remember exactly what my comments were, but I realized I too was like this at times. It’s a bit scary because I think we were put here on earth to minister to our fellow believers in Christ AND witness/be an example to those who don’t know Jesus as their personal Savior yet. So what would you classify getting in somebody’s face for not taking the time to understand a movie? I felt like God was getting in my face for not taking the time to understand the person He created. So I say all this to let you know I’m not completely in the dark. My five best friends don’t reside in protective plastic cases on my shelf…they’re real people.
So work was a bit slow again as usual. Emailed a few people and sat around. I bought a tortilla press online though. I’m pretty stoked. When it gets here I’ll make a batch. Store bought tortillas can’t hold a candle to homemade ones. If you’ve experienced the good stuff you should know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s like eating fresh cheese curds vs. those hard, cruddy, make-you-want-to-gag things they sell in some grocery stores for an outrageous price. On a second note, I prayed for my dad last week. I really don’t know the last time I did that. Let’s just say it’s definately been years. He’s done a lot to hurt me and people I care dearly about…and he’s still doing stuff. I know other people go through much worse things than I’ve ever experienced, but it’s not like it makes it easier. I really feel like I’ve done just about all I can to reconcile with him. I told him last year I’m not opposed to a relationship as long as he can follow some basic guidelines…one of them being acting like an adult and being responsible. Let’s just say he hasn’t done that yet. I really wish I had a dad sometimes. Well, I do have one, it’s just that he’s never done anything to play the part. He might as well be just some other guy I know like the guy at the gas station, or somebody at a restaurant I hit up regularly. I do know, however, that God has used these situations to make me grow immensely, make me a better person, and allow me to relate to people I would have never thought possible. God truly can turn anything into something good. Well, this is probably enough for tonight. I should read some more of that book.
Well, today was sorta like yesterday. Went over to Nathan’s and did some laundry. We watched Spy Game while the laundry was going. I’m watching the extended trailer for Garden State right now. I’m having the same feeling as Perry when after watching it for the first time yesterday he said this movie is already one of his favorites and he hasn’t even seen it yet. I’m getting pretty stoked about this movie. The last time I was looking forward like this to a movie was when Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind came out. Luckily that movie performed and hopefully this one will too. I hardly ever have expectations about movies before I go see them. I try to do that so I can watch it unbiased. If you don’t know me very well then you probably didn’t know that I’m into movies. I think they’re one of the ways God speaks to me. Some people think watching movies or TV is just a waste of time but the silverscreen is one of the places where I am morally challenged and learn more about myself through the fictitious lives of others. I wouldn’t say I live in a fantasy world. It’s just that I come away from good movies feeling like I’ve learned a lesson. I’d have to say my friend Neville can attest to that. He’s the only person in the world that I absolutely trust when it comes to an opinion on a movie. We both have decent sized movie collections but the content is very different. We have some of the same movies, but that overlaps maybe a third.
In fact, this summer every Monday night is movie night. I’m trying to educate the world by getting some of my friends together to watch some good stuff. We’re doing Mystic River tomorrow. It’s a really sad movie on multiple levels. You have good relationships, messed up relationships, bad relationships and some that just get all weird. It’s not a “happy ending” type. It’s very much like a Greek tragedy. It was directed by Clint Eastwood. Some say this is his best movie since Unforgiven. I haven’t seen all his movies so I don’t know if I can make a blanket statement like that. However, this one is pretty good.
Well Squats is gone for a few days. He’s bringing some booyeahlicious cheese back for us. Hey, tip #2 about me - my favorite food is cheese. After that it’s pretty much mexican food since I grew up with the stuff. It’s weird sometimes when I think about my affinity for mexican/hispanic things. I think I figured it out a while ago. Basically the only side of my family that’s been cool to me is my mom’s side. My mom’s dad is Mexican and I grew up hanging around him all the time. He’d always tell me things like, “eres de la raza, un chicano” or he’d always be on us to work hard and do our best so people would call us a lazy mexican. It’s kinda funny to think of because nobody would ever guess I’m mexican/spanish since I’m white. My grandpa’s family immigrated from Mexico, but they’re Spanish so they look European. I know he had a hard time growing up being a minority and all. He’s definitely a man of conviction who always striving to do what God wants him to do. He’s the closest thing to a father I’ve had and I wish I could be like him someday. I definitely do a lot of things unlike him now, but I’m working on it.
Well, this is definitely my longest post as of yet. Like the title says, I ramble…
Not much going on today. Last night some of us went down to Indy to go see Shrek 2 and hang out with some people. It was a lot of fun. Got some ice cream afterwards and just hang out. I’ve been pretty much sitting around today. Watched all the extra stuff for Mystic River. It’s a very sad, yet very good movie. We’re gonna fire it up on Monday for our weekly movie night. Squats took off today for a trip home. He’s going to acquire some cheese for us when he comes back. Haven’t had fresh curds forever. Looking forward to it. Probably watch another movie tonight, read or just take a walk around town. It’s so peaceful around here in the summer. Kinda nice sometimes. Well, I think it’s about time I found something to eat…
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