Olde World Authentic Twittering

I’ve been on Twitter for a bit. Its not something I go out of my way to mention, because honestly, haven’t you heard enough from me on the web as is? I mean, you’re reading this blog, so you might be one of the few that can’t get enough of my weird thoughts on life and stuff and all the things in between. You might actually look forward to this little daily exercise of words I’ve thrust upon myself.

God help you. :-D

Anyways, I kind of just realized that I don’t receive any notifications from twitter. Which is mostly the way I want it, but I’ve come to enjoy some of the twitter feeds that I’m signed up to. And I would like to twitter in the authentic capacity. From my phone. So I recently but my number on twitter, and will receive updates from a select number of feeds. If this fills up my inbox too fast, then I will change it if I have to, but for now this is a fun little experiment.

I better not start getting too much spam. Grrr…

With the invention of blogs, twittering, and the myriad of other ways to communicate instantly, I can’t help but wonder if humans were always this gabby. Did we just never have an outlet before? Would we have gotten just as many tweets if it was possible to do so in 1780? Or 1882? Or 1943?

These are random years I’m throwing out, but picture Benjamin Franklin on a cell phone, twittering “Gonna fly a kite with a key on it for lols. OMG its fukin rainy!”

Or Albert Einstein writing a blog about how much he friggin’ hates math? Or a status update about how crazy a Project in Manhattan is getting?

Have we gotten more impractical and talkative in these recent decades, or was it just more quiet because there was no way to express one’s self in decades and centuries past? And now that blogs and tweets DO exist, will our grandchildren and great grandchildren look upon them as if they were etchings in stone? Anyways, my brain wanders…

Patrick wanted to meet up today, but I had so many things going on, that it just didn’t happen. Hopefully I can get a hold of him later and figure out a better day. I ran around to figure out ways to stretch out my finances till Friday, and went to Cypress College to pay for some side fees that my BOGG waiver doesn’t cover.

I had almost forgotten about the remnants of a scholarship I had received way the heck back in High School. I had been slowly picking it apart over the years, but I still had a few hundred dollars in it to use for the parking pass and Health fee. I found myself quietly pumped to get back into school. I knew that the only thing that had held me back before was my mindset, which was negative to say the least.

But this time around…? I’m ready to learn and surpass my own expectations.

I headed to Norwalk. It turned out I was in for a quiet evening this Wednesday, but tomorrow morning I would have to shoot coverage for a string of artist interviews. What they’re for, I do not know. But I’m happy to have some work tomorrow, on top of the work I have Friday night!

Topics of Conversation: The Story, koalas, Mary Elizabeth Winestead, nails, This American Life, audio coverage, hanging out with cats, E3, school money, dogs eating peanut butter, cheap noodles, etc.

-Nate

Done Away With The Gone-Away (World)

This morning would be extra cute. Now, as a burly, red-blooded American male, I should not use the adjective “cute.” But I will today, because I was doing another shoot for SEEACA. We had another round of little animals that needed to find a home. And they were far too cute by a mile.

The big winners were “Nickson,” the little gray kitten, and “Bruno” the St. Bernard/Chow Chow mix puppy. They were mind-blowingly adorable, and I’m pretty sure they knew it. Again, if I had my own place, and wasn’t so selfish that I wasn’t sure I could take care of an animal, then I’d have grabbed the two of ‘em right then and there and made a break for it.

After the SEEACA shoot, Musse, Bill, and myself ate at Shakey’s for lunch. I filled up way too much, as I tend to do. Argh.

After work, I headed home and finished up a book that had been annoying me because I hadn’t finished it before this point. It didn’t make any sense for me to not have already read it all the way through. The book in need of the last-pages reading was The Gone-Away World.

I shall start off by saying this book is very good. Excellent, in fact. Sometimes it gets a bit self-indulgent (There’s a chapter or two that really didn’t need to drag as much as they did). But this book is incredibly well-done. And it goes in tangents. Sometimes HUGE tangents. Most of the tangents are integral to the book. Some are just flavor. And the big twist in the book will make an impact. You might miss it at first, though.

This is the kind of book that its totally okay to just go back a few pages to re-read stuff. It helps to keep you in the story. And the twist makes you look at everything with new eyes. That’s hard to do, but it is pulled off well.

I suppose my biggest problem with the book is that sometimes you really don’t know where you are. The chronology is all over the place, and its your job to know where you’re at. At the same time, the chronology is very fluid for a reason. Just go with the flow, and the pay off will be worth it.

The final scenes and the Epilogue are pretty friggin’ amazing. Endings are hard to get right. This ending was great.

Read The Gone-Away World and be ready for your mind to be exhausted and tested to the limit. But in a good way.

Topics of Conversation @ Norwalk: Best on-ramps, escape, zebra stripes, Oreo laxatives, hitting the record button, burning the swimming pool, routers, air conditioning cancer, etc.

-Nate

Child of The First World

I have found that because the search for music is almost as easy as typing “google.com”, that it doubles the frustration for when that music can’t be found. I have been looking high and low and middle for a song called All The Lights by a band called The Sun. I only have half of an mp3 as proof of its existence. And it has been frustrating.

Of course, I do find that all my problems are the petty, small crap that only a child of the First World would even register as any kind of annoyance. I never worry where my next meal is coming from. I never worry if I can find shelter. I never worry that I’m going to get shot at for just walking the streets… Okay, no I do worry about that sometimes, but you know what I mean.

So since I don’t have those worries, I have the worries of a decidedly small scale of obstacles. Getting my tire fixed. Getting an extra shift of work. Talking to that cool girl. Finishing a book I started. Being late for a movie. Updating my blog.

And trying to find this f**king song that doesn’t seem to exist at f**king all!

Again, small potatoes, but it’s a really good potato.

**RANDOM THOUGHT**
I once heard that the worst thing that ever happened to society as a whole was the creation of the Lotto. At first, I thought that this was unfair. Who’s against hope? And I guess that’s what I thought that the Lotto was. Hope. At least, at first.

But as I mulled it over in my head, it made more and more sense. Lotto isn’t hope. It’s an excuse. An excuse to not try that hard in the things that are guaranteed to work. Hard work, for one. And a decent sense of reality, for another. Why work that hard, when you’re just waiting for the Lotto to sweep your problems away?

What the person was saying about the Lotto was that before it existed, there was no easy way out. And not in the way that your life was screwed no matter what. It was more in the way that the DISTRACTION of the Lotto wasn’t there, so a more grounded sense of reality was instilled into people early on. No other choice existed, so it was just life as they knew it.

Basically, you could achieve anything you wanted because the American Dream was, in its own sense, the lottery of their age. You could strike it rich through hard work, not just through a $2 quick pick you bought with a Snapple Sweet Tea at 7-Eleven.

That being said, I bought a $2 quick pick with my Snapple Sweet Tea at 7-Eleven. Here’s to hoping!

-Nate

Friends Make The World Go Round

February 4, 2010:

Its 9:something in the morning, and I got a text from Lainey to get my lazy ass out of bed. Though the text was more informative, rather than threatening. Apparently, Lainey doesn't need to sleep, needing only kittens and sarcasm in place of food and rest. I cleverly hid the fact that I was only technically conscious by sending this genius text back to her:

"M up now. Whn u want meet?"

Wow.

Honestly, that was one of the worst texts I've ever sent. And I've drunk-texted, folks. To people that had done nothing to deserve that freak show. Perhaps I shouldn't pull the curtain back from all my diabolical secrets, but drunk-texting is fun because its the only time I don't give a damn about grammar and punctuation. Proper sentence structure can suck it. Though I'm only a English class rebel when the whiskey flows freely.

Moving on.

Lainey had a mission today. She wanted to get Hemlock a little frame painted for him. It was at this place called "Color Me Mine" in Long Beach. Interesting store just nestled between the Shore House and a coffee shop, I think. The kind of store that looks like some one's retirement business. Like they retired from being a high-powered who's-it, and can finally focus on their life's passion: Painting pottery. I'm not mocking the store in the least. Its actually very tidy and inviting.

Lainey's scheme involved putting a dab of paint on Hemlock's paw. Yeah, paint on a hyper-active, nervous kitten. Easy. It became apparent why my presence was needed. I was the muscle. Lainey was the brains. And the kitten was very indignant. We finished up and headed back to her house to watch Spaced, eat Del Taco, talk, and pet Hemlock. I eventually got rolling, leaving Lainey to painting, and Hemi to napping.

For the next few hours I made plans with Mike, Colin, and The Anime Club Alumni to have dinner at Colin's home. It wasn't going down till around 7:00, so I headed home and I would like to say I was productive, but mostly I slept. I woke up already late for the party by 15 minutes or so and headed over to Colin's. It worked out either way. The food hadn't been procured nor cooked yet. I ended up getting some drinks and, for hell-if-I-know reasons, bought Twinkies and Sno-balls. I'm under the impression that Zombieland inspired me to do so. That's good, Nathan, blame the movie.

We made CostCo steak and salad. I also made a contribution of meh garlic bread from Food 4 Less. The garlic bread... well, it tasted like it was from Food 4 Less. Take that as you wish. But what is important is that I do not underscore the sheer deliciousness of rest of the food. The steak was marinated with a delicious sauce, and cooked perfectly. The meal was so good that Mike broke into giggles after saying "I'm so happy" at least four times. One more bite and one more Fresca, and I wasn't very far behind him.

I mean, really, what's better than good food and good friends? Not much.

Topics of Conversation @ Colin's: Renting costs at the Block, never looking up when you hear birds, Blue Barry Flash, prepping cast iron skillets, Kevin Smith, Swap Meets, when "the Look" is actually a signal for beer, dead men's bed frames, false Victor Cambas, visible heart beats, murder for matresses, nuts, etc.

We ended the night with a viewing of Wet Hot American Summer. This movie is pretty funny, but can get really random at times. I've already seen this movie twice before, but I didn't mind checking it out again. If you want a movie that is quirky and has a sketch comedy energy to it, then pop this little DVD in and get ready to watch Bradley Cooper like you've never seen him before, a talking can of vegetables, and a man hump a refrigerator. Its THAT kind of movie.

We called it a night, and I'm already chomping at the bit for another night like this.

-Nate