All-New! All-Adorable! & All-Accidental!

Woke up to vegan waffles made by the parentals. The waffles… were a step in the right direction. Not perfect, as prototypes go, but I suspect my vegan friends would nod sagely in approval… and violently shake their fists at me for not saving some for them. Be calm, my vegan comrades, I shall learn how to make them for you.

Afterwards, I headed over to Justin’s house in Step One of our maniacal scheme to go to LA to watch True Grit. But first we hung out for a bit, in which I was fed imaginary omelettes by Justin’s nephew Kamayo. That kid is ridiculously cute, and has the kind of comedic timing only children have for the first 4 years of their life. Its all-new, all-adorable, and all-accidental.

Once I was sufficiently stuffed on food that didn’t exist, Justin and I headed to LA… in the worst rain storm possible. That shows us for not leaving earlier. We were to pick Will (a LAFS alumni) and meet up with Sean (also a fellow LAFS alumni) at the theater. Our friend Jeptha was supposed to join up with us, but bailed out for monetary reasons, of which I can’t truly fault him, being in the same boat as well. (I was using tickets I was given for Christmas for this outing).

At the mall/theater, we grabbed some linner (lunch/dinner) and then went to Barnes & Noble to hang out till the 8:10 showing. 7:30 eventually showed up to the party, and we headed to the theater.

True Grit… is an awesome movie. I really liked it. It was slow, but that just meant more time with these three really interesting characters: Maddie Rose, Rooster Cogburn, and LeBeuff. Each one was polar opposites of each other, but they just pulled out the most stuff out of each other. Both annoying and impressing not only each other, but themselves. And the wild west has never felt more authentic than with this movie. The Coen Brothers were able to make danger seem almost like a job in of itself for people like Rooster, but also incredible at the same time. Great movie!

After the movie, Justin, Will, Sean, and myself stuck around to just shoot the s**t and catch up. Promises of WRITING SOMETHING were made, and then we were off for home. And magically, all the way back to Will’s place to drop him off, we all improved a strange scene in which it begins with me trying to discuss my debt to a credit card company, and ends up with propositions of male prostitution and insults not meant. Truly a magical, insane, and R-rated skit. Thanks for the memories, guys!

After I got home, I was still awake enough to watch a movie. I checked out what was on my cable’s “On-Demand” and fired up Killshot, a 2008 “thriller” starring Mickey Rourke, Thomas Jane, Diane Lane, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

It was really bad. Especially after watching True Grit. This movie was barely on speaking terms with logic, and was never actually scary or thrilling. Confounding. Yes, confounding. That is Killshot. A confounding movie with confusing characters. Don’t watch it unless its 1:30 in the morning and you have nothing else to do… like I did.

Topics of Conversation: Gooey vegan, a long skit about debt management, blinking, Samurai baby, Judge John Hodgman, not touching chicken, French fry shake, script NANOWRIMO, the magic that is a briefcase full of money, etc.
-Nate

Don't Open Dead Inside

On New Year’s Eve, I didn’t get as smashed as I usually do. “Usually” being the past two to three years. I let myself get pretty drunk for the turn of the year, but that didn’t happen this time around mostly because I didn’t want to get dumb-drunk in front of Jamal’s mom, who was kind enough to let us young no-gudnicks celebrate at her house.

So drunk I was not.

I got home and slept in till noon, which is ridiculous, but never stops feeling great. I have to get myself back into school sleep mode again, cuz the 19th is just two weeks away. G’ah! A curse upon skoolin’!

I went to Barnes & Noble to take part in some of the post-holiday sales they were offering, and since I still had over $40 in my gift card, I was hoping I could get something cool. And something cool I did get. I bought John Hodgman’s book More Information Than You Require… for 6 bucks! It’s a steal, and I will never tell Hodgman. I will just pretend I paid full price, if I ever have a chance to get him to sign it. And if it ever comes up in the 49-seconds conversation we would have. And if he was to suspect me. Which he wouldn’t.

Cuz I’m just too charming to be doubted.

After Barnes & Noble, I headed out and caught up with Carissa. We played Halo 3, and actually beat the sucker. Though Carissa ended up doing most of the hard work, as I was killed early and never had a chance to re-spawn to join in on the big boss fights. Argh. I never said I was great at gaming.

We gave each other our Christmas gifts. She gave me a T-shirt of The Walking Dead that said “Don’t Open Dead Inside.” Which made me laugh inside my head, because I thought to myself “Heh. I’m dead inside. Time for some guy-liner to make it official.” I didn’t share that thought with Carissa right then, because that thought could make a very confusing situation out of what I honestly felt was an awesome gift. I left it to the facts: I really dug the shirt! Its pretty cool, and I hope to wear it often and with much pride.

For Carissa, I bought her a copy of Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall. Though she barely had Volume 2 of the Fables TPB’s, the book is mostly prequel stuff that doesn’t give anything away. Also it was drawn real pretty like.

After the Halo-in’, I headed home and realized I really needed to at least start up on my blog again.

I look back on 2010, and realize I only recorded a little over half of it. That is both a personal disappointment, and a personal achievement at the same time. I’ve tried in the past to record my days, and barely made it past a week. But this time, I have nearly seven solid months of the entire year of 2010 written down. That’s not bad. Maybe I can do better for 2011. Or maybe not. We’ll have to wait and see.

So here it is. Read it up, and pass it along!

Topics of Conversation: Miss the parade, resolutions, XL shirts, Sunday in LA, wagging bob, headaches, farms in nowhere, couch crash, sleepy drunk cowboy serenading, red feet, etc.

-Nate

The Annual Starbuxian Xmas Dinner (Vol. 9?)

You know you are in for an interesting start of the day when you spend the first few hours throwing out old magazines. It was boring. It was tedious. It was necessary. I apologize to the trees that watched their fallen brethern be turned into Entertainment Weekly and Rolling Stone.

Anyways, what's much more interesting about tonight is that it will be the next Annual Starbuxian Xmas Dinner. Is it the 9th? The 10th? I really don't know, which will make Victor shake his head to no end, I'm sure.

So I got my pretty clothes on and looked all spiffy. Black slacks, black dress coat, and an argyle sweater. Beard? Trimmed. Hair? Slightly less messy. Glasses? Sparkling. Smile? Even MORE sparkling.

I headed to Cerritos to catch up with Victor and Trick at It's A Grind. Trick was visiting from Japan for the holidays, and I missed the guy. So we talked as Victor did the finishing touches on a gift he was making for Nan, a cool lady and friend of ours. As the time got closer to the Xmas Dinner, I headed to Macaroni Grille at the Cerritos Town Center. Cap'n Josh was at the bar, so I chatted with him for a bit, before the rest of the crew showed up.

ROLL CALL!:

Nathan (me), Cap'n Josh, Victor, Trick, Justin, Quincy, Colin, Wes, Patrick M., Tiffany, Stephanie, Rob, Aria, Nan, Myles, Jaelle, Chirag, Justin C., Cianar, Kristian & Kristian's date, DougX, Ken, and Janey.

... am I forgetting anyone? I hope not.

The food at the Macaroni Grille was... not its best. It was pretty blah. After dinner, we gave out Secret Santa gifts (I got the movie Labrynth from Aria!), after which we headed to the Town Center for our "constitutional," which I'm sure is some old man term for shooting the breeze.

It was a great night, and helped to remind me why I love going to these annual events with friends. Especially the friends I haven't seen in a long time. UNTIL NEXT YEAR!

Topics of Conversation: Platonic boob shots, all of music, free art, fire would be nice, party poppers, the reason to like psychology, why we look nice, a wrong condom, fathers on the outs, Koreans that hate Koreans, couples straight from the 30's, new baby, my favorite is the Sophisticated Bear, etc.

-Nate

December 19th

I did some Christmas shopping, and then had lunch with Carissa. On my way home, I had car problems. DAMN IT. Other than the lunch, not a great day in 2010.

Holy Bat Saturation!

So math was there.

Afterwords, I met up with Aaron and Mike. We had lunch, and then I went with Aaron to Comics Unlimited. Lainey and Mark were at the shop, and it was cool to catch up, though I didn't talk to Mark as much, which I feel bad about.

Batman Inc. (#01) was out, as was Batman: The Return. Actually, come to think of it, the stands have been really Batman heavy as of late. From Batman & Robin, Batgirl, Batman Beyond, Batman, Red Robin, Birds of Prey, Catwoman, Red Hood, Batwoman......

Damn. That's a lot of Bat. Are they trying to keep up with X-Men?

After the shop, I dropped off Aaron, and then headed to work, which was quiet, except that it was going to ramp up in the next few weeks.

Crap. I have to finish Dracula tonight. I might end up just passing out.

Topics of Conversation: Happy to see you, ugly superhero, black box baby, a lot of Avengers, Pac Rats, ocean blue, use of the bathroom, SB, perspective, Girls Generation, Darth Vader tattoo, nom nom its prey, LA molestation, etc.

-Nate

Heapin' Helpin' of Harried Homeworkin'

Seems to me that our teacher in Literature Analysis seemed to be in a foul mood and threw four very intense questions at us to answer over the next day or so. Everybody felt a little annoyed and indignant. Oh well, just one more academic headache to throw on top of this heapin' helpin' of harried homeworkin'.

I was originally going to meet up with Sarah for lunch, but her work got flipped around. I figured some cheap Taco Tuesday tacos shouldn't be enjoyed without some cool people, and Carissa ended up joining me. We even talked about a dream she had. I like to analyze dreams as a little hobby on the side. Try and see any hidden meanings or sneaky tidbits to piece together. Its fun!

After lunch, I went and got some recycling done to the profit of around 11 bucks. Not bad, considering I do a happy jig for 4 bucks.

Went over to Norwalk to shoot the City Council Meeting, which was surprisingly short. Not the usual order of business for Council Meetings, but I suppose brevity, and one simple item of discussion, won out. Score one for the good guys, people.

Ugh. I gonna go to sleep extra fast tonight.

Topics of Conversation: Recall, hilarious bathrooms, Club Sexy Vampire, Resolve Face, boob signing, adventures in dreams, taco time, shrimp tempura, recycling, overnight no-no, a guy named Vlad, miners, weekends too busy, etc.

-Nate

Read 'Em And Weep

(Feeling kinda Noir narration today, so here goes)

Woke up with a pain in my throat, though a hoot and a holler would shout down this morning blues. There wasn't enough water to wash away this bitter taste of Monday out of my mouth. The sun was glancing my way with a sleepy disinterest, and I wondered when exactly the moon abandoned me for somewhere colder.

A wash, a brush, and a throw and I'm heading out with a skip missing from my step. I could feel the weight of equations hanging off my eyelids as the prof said her words. Even the cute girl next to me wasn't enough to bring the numbers to life. And when you're talking about math, life is all by the numbers.

The past few days seemed to pass me by with barely a smile and a nod. The parade of hours spent out and about left me feeling down and out, but you can't fault me for a day well spent. And I spent these days like a broken gambler with a great hand. All in and over my head.

So I wrote down the words of a man who thinks too much of himself, and needs to man up to put more of himself in his words. But I write these blogs like I play killer hands, kids. Read 'em and weep.

I headed over to my job, and wished for a career. But the money wasn't showing up otherwise, so I put my shoulder to grindstone to carve out a living for another week. Living's hard in a stone cold world of hard-headed lifers, and it ain't any easier for this dreamer.

But I dream big enough for all of us.

Topics of Conversation: Transmetropolitan, stress sigh, some equipment, movies about mistakes, later thoughts, Chumbawamba, home buying, business stuff ain't fun, fans of people, cold and the US, etc.

-Nate