To Note About Nothing

I woke up to accomplishment. The accomplishment of being slightly awake.

I paid some bills and cleaned up the house a little. Nothing much of note to note about nothing.

I got to work and found I had time to finally catch up on all the blog entries I was getting behind on. The first three days of the year, and I hadn't written them down at all. And here I was making resolutions, and all I felt was a revolution for de-evolution. Confusion? I'd say so. (Gotta promise to not make my paragraphs so damn weird).

After work, I met up with Cassie, Amy, and Aaron so we could head out to a food truck rally in front of Aaron's work. It had Grill-Em-All, Me So Hungry, and about 6 or 7 other food trucks. After meeting up with Christine and Cory, I tried out a delicious pulled pork grilled cheese sandwich and some duck fat fried fries. Also, I got some of the best shaved ice I've had in years. Not the store bought rock hard shaved ice that you needed a blow torch to even try. The actual, delicately shaved ice that melts in your mouth. So good!

After that, we watched one episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (we're finally in Season 5 and we just watched the Spike episode and holy crap I'm self-inducing a geek out).

It was a good episode. It had a Snake dude and slow heart break. All the good stuff an episode of Buffy needs. I can't wait till.... naw, I'll let you watch it yourself.

Topics of Conversation: Food trucks, early digitizing, my own worst enemy, Thursday, Fable III, duck fat, Whedon's gonna do it again, 3-step check-out, the right kind of shaved ice, etc.

-Nate

BORFF!!

Yep!

First boring entry of 2012! I couldn’t go THREE EFFING DAYS without having nothing to really write about. I should try to come up with something, but I’m too busy trying to catch up with this very journal that I’m already late on.
It’s a burden to be this bad at my own tasks I task myself with.

I paid some bills today. BREH!!

I worked at Norwalk. PLAH!!

Watched some Doctor Who. MEHK!!

So bored I’m ending all my sentences with noises. FURH!!

Topics of Conversation: A beard because the people demanded it, Norm McDonald, schedules be damned, Many Mansions, a car hit my head, new ideas for 2012, etc. KORPH!!

-Nathan SCHULZ!!

Re-Teams-Up

Mom had the day off so she was raring to get errands done. This consisted of recycling (a ton of cans, bottles, and SMELLY ASS milk cartons), Staples (I got some refills for my beloved pens), and Black Angus (we had received a gift card from my uncle and I wanted steak).

I grabbed a sec to read more of Oswalt’s Zombie Spaceship Wasteland (pages 121-138), and stopped off at Best Buy to buy the Black Keys’ latest album El Camino. Sweet googly moogly, this is a great album! Its got this whole 70’s Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and buzzing bass power that just gets your head beeping and bopping all about. I will be listening to this album too damn much.

After we picked up some groceries and brought them home, I left to see Cassie (my girlfriend**). I picked her up from her place, and we went to the Long Beach Town Center. We ate at El Torito, and watched Young Adult, starring Charlize Theron.

This movie re-teams-up director Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody (they made Juno together if you don’t know cuz you’re not obsessive like me). The dialogue is less hyper-realized, but is still sharp and funny. And touched with a great rush of disappointment and fatigue, which brings out performances I wasn’t prepared for. And the best performance goes to Charlize Theron, who I can’t help but feel was ACHING to play a character like Mavis Gary.

Mavis is narcissistic, alcohol addicted, and so woefully cut off from all forms of human contact and emotion that you’d think she needed to study ahead of time to know how to smile.

And did I mention Patton Oswalt is in this movie and is amazing, and funny and so very human that I must again vow to kill and eat him to gain all his super-powers?
Its hard to feel bad for Mavis in this film. And that’s mostly because the character quite honestly wants you to hate her. She wants you to feel as miserable and uncomfortable as she feels around anyone that feels okay with what they got out of life. She hates you if you’re in a good mood and she didn’t allow said good mood to exist. But its hard to hate her, because she is so broken and lonely and human that you can’t help but understand her.

Condone her actions? Oh hell no, she’s a crazy bitch, man!

Topics of Conversation: Art School, refills, Ribeye vs. New York, Pi, proud geek, tip percentage, dates and time, googly eyes, zebra stripes, flans abound, wink like a seizure, if only there were no customers, etc.

-Nathan

**I have a girlfriend? What? How? 2011 has a some stories I will try to post some other time…

Oh No, The Subject of Me

Its been a while since I tried to maintain one of these again. A journal. Or diary. Or too-personal blog about me. What a subject. Me. Nathan Schulz. I’m a comic geek with an expanding waistline and a bad habit of not writing enough. This is bad because I fancy myself a writer. A crafter of words. Try and put them together so that others want to read them.

So the point of trying to keep this blog/journal going is for practice. For my memory. And to see if I can make my mundane life JUST interesting enough for people to follow along. Or at least tell me to try better. Either is fine with me.

(Well, as long as you’re nice about me needing to try better).

Into the breach!

Today I had a late start. Understandable, since yesterday was a late, late night consisting of party favors, 2011 memories, vodka soaked gummi bears, and sparkling wine. To try and balance my brain out, I read some more of Patton Oswalt’s book Zombie Spaceship Wasteland (pages 79-120). This is an excellent book, by the way. Oswalt is not only one of the funniest human beings on the planet, but he’s also a really sharp, heartfelt writer.

I, of course, am very jealous, and will have to kill and eat Patton Oswalt to gain his powers. Like Mega Man does to his enemies.

I decided to visit my dad today in the Orange Hills facility that cares for him. This… is not easy for me. Honestly, though the facility is very nice, it has all the aspects of hell that I’ve ever needed. Trapped in your own body, without anyway to clean yourself or try to better your situation. No freedom. And sometimes…. No hope. It takes an act of will on my part to even go to the place.

As I drove to the facility, I stopped off at a restaurant named Taco Mesa. This place makes delicious food, and I could use a few minutes to gather my nerve to go to the facility. As soon as I got my food, my mom called and said she would be heading to the facility as well. I told her to stop on over for some lunch/dinner at Taco Mesa, which she was more than starving enough to agree to. After we ate all our food, I decided on a whim to buy the flan for dessert.

Wow… just WOW.

The flan was quite literally the best flan I’ve ever had. It was amazing. I will have to go there more often just for dessert!

Mom and I then headed over to the facility and talked to dad. He… was in his usual vegetative state. It is damn exhausting to be here. I want out there. I want DAD out of there. I end up just swallowing my despair and read some more.

Topics of Conversation: Too many worries, tacos, Dragon Age, cheese or no cheese, stationary, Flan!, observations, drunk texting, etc.

-Nathan

Easter Eggs in the Fall

Math happened and then I was sitting idle for a bit before heading to work.

I finished up some character descriptions for "The Shrouded City." I only had two or so descriptions done in time for the first draft, which meant that I needed more. This is mostly due to the fact that I had about five characters showing up. I need to get these descriptions out to my girlfriend Cassie and my friend Zoe who was going to look over the script for me. It would probably help to have some kind of details for the look of the people in the story.

I've been borrowing the Lost Season DVDs from Cassie when I realized that the DVDs probably have hidden Easter Eggs in them! I checked the internet, and found out I was right. I'm going to watch them with her.

Been staying up way too late these past few days. It ain't insomnia. Maybe its arrogance? Insomnagance? Arromnia? You decide!

Topics of Conversation: mutually assured destruction, Drive, don't you worry, Halloween costumes, new bandage, chicken, losing thumbs, gimme some ice, missing a ton, idea machine, noodles made easy, letters made to go, etc.

-Nate

Up and Running

The first thing I did today was drop off episode 10 ("Procrasterbation") of the Order of the Triad podcast at Bobby's! It was super early but it was the only way it was going to work with our hectic schedules. Bobby uploaded it to the limejuice site, though we talked a little about getting a more official website up and running, because the original site was running out of room for the all the episodes. A nice problem really, considering that I wasn't sure we'd even GET into the double digits with the Triad podcast.

Later on, I moved some furniture for my mom. It was not fun. Not that moving furniture has been known to be fun in the past. It just had an extra dose of annoying. Luckily Uncle Jon was helping out today. So it went by all right, though the main piece we wanted to move into the homestead was too big to fit through the front. So that was disheartening.

The good news was that I was able to watch Attack the Block with Cassie, Justin, and Amy! Damn that was a great movie. Seriously in my Top Ten movies of 2011. I will go into detail at some point, but I will quickly say that the writing, acting, and camera work was phenomenal. WATCH THIS MOVIE!

Topics of Conversation: Slams, too much stuff, Red State, plantains, crazy English accents, hover technology, cool jobs, Dresden Files, Jesuit futures, Greek food, darker than black, etc.

-Nate

I Can't Draw (But I Try To Anyway)

The second day of school seems to be the polar opposite, at least in tone, of the first day. I started off the day with Computer Art class (PhotoShop and Illustrator). Since he was just getting everything organized and handing out the syllabus we could leave early. But I stuck around to try and get a handle on using the computer and Wacom tablet (which is insanely cool by the way). Here’s a doodle:

After the art class, I then headed to Visual Journalism. Its basically doing the same type of stuff I did last semester, except that I need to take more pictures and video. Plus, I got a new Press Card on the way! I’m looking forward to it.

After school, I headed to Justin’s place to catch up with him and shoot the breeze about the upcoming super hero movies of 2011. After The Green Hornet (which already came out), there’s Thor, Captain America, Green Lantern, and X-Men: The First Class. It’s a busy year to be a fan boy.

I then grabbed some dinner with Sarah at Del Taco. After which I went to Barnes & Noble to grab some moleskine notepads. I got back home and called it a night.

Topics of Conversation: Blizzard, 17 cents, what rhymes with macaroni, what to blog about, white knight, mouth full of fries, Bella is still so stupid, keeping it vegan, correspondent nerd, choking, etc.

-Nate

Chibi Nate Goes To School

Today was the first day of something I wanted to avoid. To hide from. To try and dodge at all costs. It was the beginning of what would be more work, headaches, and blood and tears for me. There isn’t enough anti-psychotic medication or booze to make it go away.

My 2011 spring semester started today.

One long sigh of disenchantment later, and I’m up at 7:30 am and then out the door for school. My first class was English Literature, which wasn’t too bad. I foresee a lot of reading. Which is fine, except that I’m not sure when I can afford the books. Crap.

Next up was Intermediate Algebra. It’s the only class I’m petitioning for, and this time, just to add a little more adventure, I’m not even on the Wait List. I don’t have much choice though, so I’m going to have to hold out till I get in the class. Here’s to hoping I can bust on through.

After school, I headed to Comics Unlimited for my much-needed comic run. I just wanted to chat with Lainey and Mark, and pick up Buffy the Vampire Slayer (#40) while I was at it. We caught up, heard some great news, heard some bad news, and I got to do something that literally made me more happy than it should have.

I got to write up my recommended reads for the week on the dry-erase board.

This is sad on a lot of levels, but what the hey, I needed a little boost after the past few days. It was fun to just write down some titles and feel like a cool guy for a little bit. Plus, Lainey drew a Chibi Version of me on the board, so I had a nice high to go to work with.

Norwalk was a little slow, but the cable cast went off without much problems except for a DVD player that was starting to act up. I also had to shoot a little basketball class for kids at a nearby park. Unfortunately, it was very dark, so I don’t know how the footage came out. I then headed home and realized that I had more school to do tomorrow. I didn’t get to sleep till 1:00 am. Too bad I can’t fall asleep on command.

Topics of Conversation: “Slow Justice Is No Justice,” talks that need to happen, out waiting the wait list, order of operations, cat-bear, changing minds, mashed potatoes, squat boxing, politeys, Joshua Tree, dark, my silly banter, etc.

-Nate

Solid 60 Minute Block of "Woe Is Me"

I woke up and had some breakfast before heading out to run errands. This consisted of paying a bill and dropping off a paycheck. These pretty much cancel each other out. Annoying.

I then headed to Norwalk, which had a City Council Meeting tonight. It was a fairly standard meeting, except that finances and budgets kept popping up so here's to hoping things don't get scary, job security wise.

Speaking of jobs, I had a very slight chance for a very good job that I learned today just didn't pan out. It sucks. It actually sucks quite a lot. I need a better job, but I don't really have any prospects. I guess that's the same for everybody in America right now, so Boo f**king Hoo for Nate, right? Its hard to get angry and depressed at my life when so many people have it harder than me. But I'm living here, so it gets just as hard to think past my trials and tribulations.

So for an hour, I just wallowed. All by my lonesome. I gave myself one good solid 60 minute block of "woe is me." Sat in my little work nook and stared at a wall and did just about every generic, cliche broody guy action in the book. Mostly the emo staring into space thinking about how unfair the universe is to me. It was disgusting, comforting, and cathartic.

I'm not over it quite yet. This melancholy will be with me for a week or so more. I'm talking about getting over the possibility of a better situation in life. Not Lotto bulls**t, but hard working potential that I could truly earn. Whatever. Nobody really needs to hear anymore about this. Especially when I personally know people going through tougher stuff.

I headed home and sat down and realized that school was starting tomorrow. Crap. I am just not in the mood for school. What a wonderful start.

I'm shutting my whiny ass up.

Topics of Conversation: Stroganov, The Dude From Anaheim, don't ask guy friends, finances, talking to my brain, my monthly sad day, bubble water, Matt Damon, how to throw an antenna ball properly, etc.

-Nate

Zankou Mega Evil!

I hung out with Katie today, which was a blast and half (maybe even a blast and three fourths of a blast). We went to Zankou Chicken for lunch, which she had never been to before. We caught up and talked about her recent trip to Texas and how life was for us. One shared order of half chicken and hummus later, we went to the 2 dollar theater on Brookhurst & Ball and watched a movie I had missed out on: Megamind!


(Yes, I chose the poster that WASN'T in English. Cuz I'm weird like that).

The movie was actually pretty fun. It asks the question what someone like Lex Luthor would do if ever actually defeated Superman. (Well, a Lex Luthor that is less psychotic and egotistical, anyway). The action looks really great, and the story is actually very well written. I'd recommend it.

Except for a particular point...

!!!!!!!!!!SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!


In the movie, the world believes that Megamind killed Metroman. Even Megamind believes this. But its revealed that Metroman faked his own death so he could stop being a superhero. Eventually, Megamind saves the city Tighten (who Megamind actually created) and the city hails him as a hero. But since everyone believes that Metroman is dead, that means the city is celebrating a murderer. It says a lot about how fickle and forgetful these people are.


!!!!!!!!!!!END OF SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After the movie, Katie headed off for home, and I headed out to finish up some errands. I later met up with Carissa to play some Resident Evil 5 and have dinner. While talking, we realized that April was coming up fast, which meant that the Anaheim Comic Con was nigh. We would have to make plans soon to figure out how many of last year's crew we could assemble. Volunteers unite!

Topics of Conversation: Strep Throat's Revenge, life on a ranch, little adventures, the sadness of hunting doves, non-mysteries, titanium, gattling guns, better run, kickback, the magic that is the Slurpee, etc.

-Nate

Editor's Note

(Editor’s Note: These events are directly related to the January 12th blog “What The F**k Now?”)

(Editor’s Note: There is no Editor).

As I swore to myself on January 12th, Mike, Karmin, and I got our asses in gear and headed to Norwalk to shoot/practice/fail/succeed as we saw fit. We had three ideas, and they were as follows:

1- A poem shot as artsy-fartsy as was necessary.
2- A silly skit starring Mike.
3- A “How To” video of my own devising.

(Editor’s Note: There was actually a fourth idea that wasn‘t written down in time to be remembered).

As the day progressed… we only did one and half of our planned “shot list.” We shot the entire poem, using myriad lights and filters. This took the lion’s share of the work today, and barely left us time to shoot the first half of Mike’s skit. But, all in all, today was a success in my book. And we can get to my “How To” vid at some point, I’m in no rush. I just wanted to shoot something today, and we did.

And not only did we shoot an entire project, we also learned some stuff along the way. Namely, whatever it takes to make something work, whether it be a certain shot or a use of light, then do it.

Afterwards, before she went home, Karmin dropped Mike off near his car. Mike came back to the studio to do some editing, while I remained at Norwalk for a bit longer to catch up on my blogs. I was getting close to being three days behind, and I’ve already been 4 months behind once before.

(Editor’s Note: It might have actually been FIVE months behind).

I then went over to Amy’s place to watch the last three or so episodes of the first season of Angel with Amy and Aaron. It was a pretty good bunch of last episodes for the season, and now we can’t wait to start watching Buffy Season Five and Angel Season Two.

Oh yeah, tomorrow is a Holiday! I completely forgot.

(Editor’s Note: Nathan could not come up with a decent title for this blog entry).

Topics of Conversation: Color bar skat, soggy-salty-greasy, turn off the light, a 25% chance, projects done, headachey, orange juice elixir, no longer sick, tea to coffee, tap dancing, sounds like Ayn Rand, Gatoroid?, etc.

(Editor’s Note: The “Topics of Conversation” are probably Nate’s favorite section of his blogs).

-Nate

(Editor’s Note: We are aware that really is no reason for the “-Nate” at the end of every blog. It’s a waste of time. Sorry).

Our Own Mechanizing

Today was the day I became 20% manlier. Yes, for you see, I (with A LOT of help from my Uncle Jon) did actual work on my car. We did not take my car to a mechanic! NO! We did our own mechanizing! It was pretty awesome.

I drove to my uncle’s place in Tustin and the first thing we did was replace the drive belt. The old one was still good, but since it had come off once before, we decided to play it safe and install a new one. I’m keeping the old one as a spare in case I ever need it.

The next thing, which took the most amount of time, and was the original reason for working on my car, was replacing the brake pads on my car. The squeaking noise of impending brake death had been nagging me for over a month, so as my Christmas present, my Uncle had offered to buy new brake pads and help me install them. I jumped at the chance.

The process itself isn’t very difficult, its just time consuming to do it properly. First you remove the wheel, then you remove the brake pistons, and then you take out the old brake pads. You put in the new pads, and then reverse the entire process. But you have to be careful because this is the mechanism that stops your car. You don’t want to f**k that up.

After the new brake pads, we noticed a small oil leak, and my Uncle tightened down the bolts for the oil and transmission pan. Hopefully that will fix it, but we won’t know for a little bit.

After my car was returned to fighting condition, I met up with Jamal and Justin to watch The Green Hornet.



I was surprised by how much I liked this movie. Though Seth Rogen doesn’t play Green Hornet so much as he plays Seth Rogen as Green Hornet, he still does a pretty good job with the part. Jay Chou as Kato is amazing, and their friendship comes off really genuine and fun. The visuals are awesome throughout the movie, though it really feels like Michel Gondry is holding back a lot, and too much at times. There are a few scenes where he cuts loose, and they are astounding. “Kato Vision” is insanely fun, and the fight scenes look great. And their car, the Black Beauty? It puts every version of the Batmobile to the test.

Anyways, this movie was the first Buddy Hero flick, and I would recommend watching it just for that. Jamal and Justin also liked the movie, so I am not alone in liking this flick.

But I feel that the three of us might be alone as a trio in liking this movie. We’ll have to wait and see.

Topics of Conversation: Tonsils, resumes, brake pads, Green Hornet, rape is a big problem there, your fatness - no wait it’s a compliment!, movie of my life, fake German, Tiki Dad, etc.

-Nate

A Nerd Like Yours Truly

I went over to Kristin’s place to play Last Night on Earth, a zombie board game. And no, contrary to what would be the normal belief, I was not the one that purchased said game. It was actually to of the other players that were joining us, her brother Matthew and her cousin Jacob. Our intrepid little gaming party was rounded out by another cousin named Tamar (Jacob‘s sister). After getting to know Jacob and Tamar more, I have come to the conclusion that their family breeds and trains amazing people in a secret mountain compound. Possibly to save the world at some future date.

And so with this team, we set out to survive the zombie invasion.

The game is a mix of Settlers of Catan, Lunch Money, and even Dungeons & Dragons (that is, if you’re a nerd like Yours Truly). Except for the player controlling the zombies, each player gets two random characters to control and each has certain skills and bonuses. As you go throughout the game, you can choose to move, search a room (which gives you Event or Item cards), or fight zombies. Most of the time, you just want to search for cards, cuz nothing else keeps you alive as well.

For my characters, I got “troubled” High School girl “Sally” and “Father Joseph,” the town priest. Sally… well, Sally wasn’t doing much. But Father Joseph really liked to almost get himself killed often. It was annoying. But the game was fun AND we beat the zombies, controlled by Jacob. He needed to be stopped. For the good of the world.

After the game, we sat around and chatted for a bit before Matthew had to go to work and I had to leave to meet up with Aaron and Amy. Jacob, Kristin, and Tamar ran off to do errands of a mysterious nature (possibly more world saving training at the hidden mountain compound).

I got to Amy’s place and we preceded to completely wipe out Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The highlights of the night were the episode “Superstar” and the Cheese Man from the last episode “Restless.” Then Aaron, Amy, and I talked about Harry Dresden for a bit, which is always awesome cuz I don’t have nearly enough people to talk about Dresden with.

(I’m looking at you Sarah. Freaking finish the books already).

The next thing we need to accomplish is to finish Angel Season 1. Hopefully soon!

Topics of Conversation: Thor pajamas, puddy knuckles, Dostoevsky, Adam’s redemption, Death Taco, the ultimate fan fantasy, a spaceship made of guns, think baby, unfair to zombies, what’s with the cheese?, male ego, weapons and weapons, etc.

And a new addition to the blog for 2011! Random Nate Notes about people!:

Kristin: Once worked at a restaurant called “The Spicy Lady.” At least, she TOLD me it was a restaurant…
Matthew: Could play Poker and kick my ass. Note to self, NEVER play Poker with Matthew.
Jacob: Actually owns one of those extendo-baton weapons. And, unlike me, he probably knows what its actually called.
Tamar: So smart that I had to try to impress her with my smarts. But alas, she’s too smart to be impressed with comic book trivia.
Amy: She’s drawing a comic book I wrote! And because she’s drawing it, the comic book literally got 97% better.
Aaron: He used to be nicknamed “Gluttonon.” Those days are gone… or ARE THEY???

-Nate

Doesn't the Zodiac Have Enough Innuendo?

I started off the morning by rapidly running some much needed errands of the bill paying variety. Ugh. The less said, the better. Afterwards, I headed over to my friend Mike’s place.



We watched an episode of The IT Crowd, which I have to say is funny in such a way that pleases me. It’s a British show about three friends who are each weird in their own way, and the odd world they inhabit. Since I’ve only seen one episode, I can’t tell you much more, except that its pretty clever, and has the hallowed Nate Seal of Approval.

We then played Halo: Reach for a few hours. The game is gamer junkie addictive. I’m lucky I was able to tear myself away before being completely sucked into the vortex of pixels. I pulled myself away in time to meet up with Justin before we watched The Dilemma with our friends Ben and Jon.



Ben had been able to score a free screening a week ago, so though I wouldn’t have normally got around to watching it in the theaters, I had a fairly good reason to catch it now. The movie itself is actually good, with some great laughs, and some actual excellent dramatic moments. My personal favorite scene was of Ronnie (Vince Vaughn) by himself on a bus stop (completely by himself). But he delivers one heck of a performance. And Ron Howard (the Director) throws in some inspired visual flair, and handles the funny and the serious really well.

That being said, the movie suddenly goes by the numbers on certain parts. The dilemma of the characters loses a little bit of its punch, and some out and out stupidity throws me for a loop once or twice. But otherwise, this flick is worth its money. Or at least its matinee price.

After the movie, Ben, Jon, Justin, and myself hung around to talk a little more. In this span of time, my friend Katie made a surprise appearance. She had returned from a family trip to Texas, and she, along with a friend, were going to watch The Green Hornet at midnight. We caught up a little, and promised to meet up at some point.

After this, Ben and Jon headed off for their respective homes, and I dropped off Justin at his place. I came home, fired up the internet… to find that a 13th Zodiac symbol had been added? Say friggity WHAT? Here’s an example of something NOT earning the hallowed Nate Seal of Approval.

And why did they decide this after all this time? What is it with this stuff? First they strip Pluto’s title as a planet away from it (8 planets in our Solar System? NEVER. Its always going to be NINE planets to me, fools!) Then they call Obama a Nazi Socialist. NOW there’s some kind of Opiphian or Opedophelia or whatever sign?

And because of that I get bumped to being an ARIES.

Nothing against Aries’. I love you all, you’re good people. But I enjoyed being a Taurus. It was cool, and I was cool with it. I will remain a Taurus. So suck it, random Astrologists! Oh yeah! And the new symbol is supposed to be a man holding a snake. How much innuendo do we need in the Zodiac? I thought there was enough as is.

On better news, Ricky Gervais killed on his appearance on Conan tonight. The dude is funny, and I’m looking forward to his upcoming project. Apparently he sat down with three comedians and just had a four hour conversation with them. But what’s really interesting is who he talked with: Louis C.K.! Chris Rock! And Jerry Seinfeld!

I’m so down for whatever this becomes. Till next entry!

Topics of Conversation: Its like staring into the sun, fire at a water park, the rubber floor, Star Wars specials in general, words to live by, pretzel, if I was rich, possible thievery, its Lubbock, funny fan fiction, Dale Jr. High, shady goings at cities, snow by the train full, etc.

-Nate

What The F**k Now?

Woke up and, before I even knew it, I booked nearly my entire weekend. How the hell? It feels like I got to figure out my schedule for the entire month! Maybe I need to cut back on this jet-setting, go-go-go life of mine.

I went to Comics Unlimited for my comic run, at which I bought the latest issue of Secret Six. Mark and Lainey were working today, and we chatted a bit before I had to head to work. At Norwalk, I did the usual, though we had a Planning Commission Meeting. It didn’t go for very long, so were done within an hour.

What took more than an hour was deciding that I wasn’t doing enough.

I sat down and started talking to Mike and Karmin. We talked about a lot of stuff, but the topic that seemed to keep coming back up could be summed up in a very simple theme: “What the f**k now?”

What do I mean? Well, last year (2010), the theme was kind of around the lines of “It’s about f**king time!” The time being that we make some realizations and try to act upon them. The actions being that we try to fix whatever the situation is, or to at least set into motion some form of fixing. Mostly, the theme was about finally being aware.

This time around, I can’t help but feel that “What the f**k now?” is about truly doing something about this new found, and hard-earned, knowledge. I realized last year that I needed to work towards changing my situation in life. So this year I’m going to really endeavor to finish school. I realize last year that I have a lack of actual hard proof of anything written or completed. This year I will write at least three things.

I’m aware that this is basically a New Year’s Resolution, though I like to think of it as a New Year’s Revolution. (Yes, you actually read that right. Yes, I actually wrote that. Yes, I’m aware of how stupid I sound).

Another thing that I want to change is the lack of content I have. Content, that is, of the video variety. Mike also realized that he needed more practice lighting. And Karmin realized that she wanted to make more ideas come to life. So together, we made a vow to work this coming Sunday on shooting whatever comes to mind to shoot. No matter the idea, no matter the silliness, we wanted to complete something of note. Of note to ourselves, if nothing else.

Well this entry turned into a very “FOR FRODO” rally cry for creativity and accomplishment. Here’s to hoping I don’t let myself down.

Topics of Conversation: Sneaky minx, Elvis country, Nerf Herder, a Hypothesis concerning Johnny Cash, Geek LVL UP, catty towards the dead, armchair psychiatrist, 40 minute wait, shame of a nation, a thorough e-mail, tamale, weird horror, stolen pistachios, “SHOW-VA-NIZIM,” people I’d rather not know exist, etc.

-Nate

Grandparent Terminology

So today is 1-11-11. My friend Lainey pointed out it won’t be as cool as November 11 (11-11-11), but I think its still pretty big. As to its particular significance other than being a bunch of ones, well I honestly haven’t thought that far, so hey a BUNCH OF ONES!

I woke up at a better hour, but only in comparison to the horrendous amount of time I’ve been sleeping in for the past few weeks. But I’m working on it, people, I’m working on it. Don’t give up on me yet.

I got some Christmas money from my grandma, whom I call “Nana.” Is this the case with most people? No, not the Christmas money, which is awesome, but having different titles for our grandparents? On my dad’s side, I called my grandparents “Oma” and “Opa.” On my mom’s side, I called my grandparents “Granddad” and “Nana.” I never called them “Grandma” or “Grandpa,” so for a while, when was really little, I honestly didn’t know what other kids were talking about when they mentioned “Grandma” and “Grandpa.”

“Are you talking about your Oma and Opa?” I asked my friend Adrian, one time on the playground. After he had mentioned, yet again, these shadowy “Grandpa” people giving him a bike for Christmas.
“What?” replied Adrian.
“Or Nana?” I continued.
“Who?” he said back.
“Your GRANDDAD?” I said, frustrated.
“Oh, my Grandma and Grandpa? Yeah. What do you call them?” he asked, perplexed.

That’s when I knew that I had been given different code names by which to refer to my grandparents. All the building blocks for individuality and miscommunication rolled up into one. Good times were had in Elementary.

So anyways, my Nana gave me some money for Christmas, which was great because I was super broke (much worse than regular broke). After going to the bank, I headed to Lainey’s to hang out and talk. I paid the toll in Del Taco fries and we caught up on her getting a Roller Derby concussion. She once asked me if I’d like to join the Roller Derby as like a referee or even join the men’s league, but since I don’t have medical insurance (Go Team America!), I would probably die from rink rash or something Roller Derby related. We mostly chatted till I had to head to work.

Before I went to work, I stopped off at Fresh and Easy to grab some supplies for work. This mostly consisted of water, chips, sorbet, and a few instant noodle bowls. Norwalk was fairly chill, and I mostly organized some of the archive of videos and tried to write.

After work, I hung out with Carissa and played Resident Evil 5, which I had only glanced at nearly a year before. The game is pretty good, and quite addictive. But the aiming system sucks, almost as bad as Grand Theft Auto back in the day. But the choice of guns is pretty awesome, and the team work needed just to stay alive helps keep you hopping. I look forward to playing it again!

Topics of Conversation: Black is slimming, side car cat, abstain, squishy steps, 201111111, precious moments eyes, swimming, Steroid Chris, might as well get a monkey, concussions for fun, a sad moment of no sleep, GOWLD!, etc.

-Nate

My Boring Ass Blog

I had a late start today, but still made it to work on time. Norwalk was quiet, which I mostly spent organizing the schedule of cable casts. And that's all I have to say about the subject of work.

After work, I dropped off My Boring Ass Life (by Kevin Smith) at Justin's place. I borrowed it from him nearly six months ago, and barely finished it today. But the read is an amazing blend interesting, boring, and funny moments in his life. It actually helped to inspire me to catch up with my own blog, which might take as long as it takes to write the regularly scheduled blog. Oi!

We watched two episodes of Louie, a half-hour show written and directed by the comedian Louie C.K. And I have to say... the show is really good. Sometimes it has a full episode story line, and other times its a few vignettes sewn together. But its really good because it goes from funny, to truthful, and then serious, and right back to funny. I'm really impressed.

Topics of Conversation: Dentists, dubbing, silly weapons, salsa dancing looks hard, real life funny, 230 gigs for a steal, mashed potato casserole, etc.

-Nate

Procrastination By Osmosis

I keep burning CD’s for people, and I keep leaving them at home! Its frustrating. I hate that head rush after seeing a person and the memory of exactly what I meant to bring them hits me. I’d prefer feeling like cool dude with CD ready to go and looking slick. But what I DO get to be is the flustered guy who’s all “Wait, I have cool stuff for you but not with me so I should just forget about it till I see you next which is exactly what I will do and then I will do this entire soliloquy all over again cuz I forgot to bring it again!”

Yeah, so right, what I did today…

Nuthin’.
Nada.
Not a thing.
Nothing at all.
Zilch.
No productivity at all.

I just didn’t want to accomplish anything today. Which is only a little, barely, okay because it was intentional, as opposed to my usual sexy go-getter daredevil self that just suddenly looks around and realizes I procrastinated by osmosis. I’m just a little fern of a man, in a basement of distracted reverie, yearning for the sun.

Wow, I’m using way more than my usual quota of imagery. Must be because I’m writing this at 2:16 am on the 10th of January (not the 9th as the date posted will lead you to believe) wondering what I should really settle down and achieve. Hey, maybe I just achieved it by sitting down and writing something.

I love to sleep, but I seem to rarely do it voluntarily.

Topics of Conversation: Carnies, a book nearly done being read, fake hot dog, Victorville, horses, penguin pajamas, non-harlots, band reunions *and friends, etc.

-Nate

Hipster Ground Zero

Started off this little adventure of a Saturday by heading over to Jamal’s place to watch Mystery Team. I got the DVD for Christmas from Justin, and have been wanting to watch the movie again for a while.

After the movie, Jon, Ben, and Kevin joined us. We all drove down to Anaheim to grab some food and go to something called “Community Art Show” off of Brookhurst Street. Before that, we grabbed some food at a place called Cortina’s. Amazing food as usual, and loud conversations from all of us to boot. I ordered my favorite: the pesto pasta. This food, and the company, made sure that I was very happy for the rest of the evening.

At the Art Show, which was Hipster Ground Zero that night, we met up with Katy, and two friends from Jamal and the guys days in their ska band Caffeinated Super-Heroes, Dez and Robert. They were in a band called Stalking Roxy, which played with the Super-Heroes a lot back in the day. These two are really cool, and it was great to catch up with them, what with the little talk I had with them in the past.

The Art Show itself wasn’t too bad. Some pieces worked for me more than others, but hey its art, so that’s to be expected. I suppose my favorite piece was a black framed drawing of a punk girl, followed closely by an archway made of wood pallets. Though I had a kick pretending to explain the meaning of a piece to Katy and Kevin.

It consisted of a mannequin torso, with a cow skull for a head, and metal frame in front of it that seemed to look suspiciously a lot like it was targeting below the waist of the torso, which had a display of little flowers and a burnt-out candle. If you can follow my faux logic/critique, then you would be amused by the pretend distracted voice I used to explain it. (BLOGGING: Theater of the Mind!)

After the Art Show, Dez and Robert headed back home, while Jamal, Jon, Katy, Kevin, Ben, and myself headed to a bar… which was an event in of itself.

STRIKE ONE!: Some place nearby called “Bottom’s Up.” The place was so packed, we ended up just leaving. But before that, we ran into someone that had changed a heck of a lot, and not in a good way. (*picture me shaking my head slowly and sadly*)

STRIKE TWO!: Then we went to Linbrook Bowling, but though the karaoke that was going on was intriguing, the place was packed even MORE to the gills. We left slightly dejected.

Nope, we didn’t strike out three times. We went to this little shot glass of a hole in the wall called “Cups.” It was a small place, but much more reasonably patronized. We settled in quickly.

Justin joined us at Cups, and we went on to have a few drinks and a lot of laughs. Katy and I played a game of Foosball with Jamal and Jon, who won fair and square… no, on second thought, I’m sure they cheated. It makes more sense to me, and I’m not being defensive SHUT UP.

Eventually we called it a night and headed home. I dropped off Justin, after chatting for a bit, and then went home and slept the sleep of a guy that should have already been asleep an hour earlier.

Topics of Conversation: Arf arf, what is a One?, Paramount, one week limit, sparkling apple cider, Foosball, a long wait for two songs, the Ben Quotient, man up, lovin’ the 80’s, long shots for the future, thin skin, OC pics, how to be remembered, bars, I am a beacon, etc.

-Nate

Upon the Bounty of Gift Cards

I woke up much later than I had intended….

Is that becoming my thing? I just wake up later and later? Not much reason for it. I have school coming back into full swing in barely over a week. Get back into the game, Nate!

MOVING ON

I watched the movie 12 Monkeys again for the second time. It had been a long time since I’d seen it (1999?) and I had only seen a little over half of the movie then. So this was the first time I had seen it all the way through. The movie is pretty good. I’ve always been a fan of Terry Gilliam, and he has a heck of a visual style. And the story is nice and mind-f**ky, just as time travel movies should be.

I got a text from Lainey saying she had a Xmas gift for me, so after the movie, and after quenching my gas tank’s thirst upon the bounty of gift cards, I headed to the shop. There I was greeted with a busy Mark, a happy Mon, and, amusingly, a punch-drunk Lainey. Punch-drunk on sleepiness, that is. I highly recommend conversations with a sleep-deprived Lainey. Its very eye-opening.

As for the gift, it was a framed picture of Hemlock, the kitten I helped Lainey get roughly a year ago. Sweet googly moogly, how time just keeps blasting ahead…

Carissa came by the shop, and I headed out to grab some dinner with her (Lainey was busy for the night, so we couldn‘t talk her into coming along). Thanks again to gift cards, the choice for the restaurant was Chili’s. I had a cheeseburger, and she had some cajun pasta. We caught up, chatting about her new job, the New Year’s, Texas, and fixing iPods. It was a nice night.

I headed home, and caught up on two days of blogs. I watched some scattered bits of TV programming, but honestly can’t tell you what was on. It been nice to write this blog again. I really did miss it. Its just so tricky to find time to focus my brain and put the days into words. And as of this entry, I am now a week into 2011. Let’s see what’s in store for this year…

Topics of Conversation: Then we can bake forever, thermals, one craft fair, killing Ewoks, Lainey is SUPER drunk, “That’s all I got, bro, I got a heart condition!” smoke is a bad sign, threats and firings, no Jesus hands, flapping cadet, Knott’s Berry Farm: Tokyo Drift, the bitter cold of the low 60’s, the uniform, decrepit buildings, penny head’s up, etc.

-Nate