Mostly Random with a 50% Chance of Epiphany in the Afternoon

Ahh, it's that time of year....spring cleaning. Oh wait, I'm a bit late on that. Damn. Anyway, summer cleaning, winter cleaning....doesn't matter the season since it all has the same purpose.

Yes, after getting over the panic attack I had Saturday about being off for the whole summer (which in my mind wasn't nine weeks but a stretch of eternity never to end and the dramatic drop-off of socializing with other humans reguarly and without effort scared me some), I decided to get my ass in gear and go another usual purging of accumulated crap. Namely, I'm looking to go through my book shelves in the guest bedroom and figure out which books are keepers ([u]Paradise Lost[/u] ? of course! That looks intelligent and that I'm much more well-read than I let on) and which are throw-backs ([u]Einstein: inventor and creator[/u] hmm, don't need to look [i]that[/i] smart!).

The fun part about cleaning? Finding long lost crap. Wedding cards, photos from my sister's bachelorette party (and no, those will NOT be posted. They're actually quite tame when you compare them to mine...again, NOT posting mine either), cards congratulating L on getting the co-op (with his sister cleverly using white-out on the card because she couldn't find a co-op card and bought a "congratulations on your new condo" card), among other weird crap.

But so far some of the best finds involve all of these first-year teacher books in better condition than I imagined. So much for relying on those. Also found some CDs from high school and college, so listening to those is a fun trip down memory lane in itself. The big surprise really was finding my expensive makeup case I thought I had lost around Christmas time. I had asked my parents to check everything in the house, even between the cushions of the couch. I asked my sister to check her stuff thinking she might've taken it by accident. But no, I'm just an idiot who doesn't check all bags....in fact, I'm the type of idiot who leaves a bag of random crap just hanging out (one with two bars of Cadbury Dark Chocolate, too, no less!) and didn't give a second thought to maybe check that. I mean, it is decorated in wintery Christmas decor. Hmm.

Now if I could just find my Fiona Apple Tidal CD we'd be in business......

yes, folks...I'm back after a too-long absence, and I'm ready to blog. Summer vacation is here - along with the interesting question of what to do with this sudden abundance of free time. Surely, I'll be doing some of my usuals (*coughcough*video-editing*cough*) as well some other projects that need to be done (aka. tiling my bathroom, selling my textbooks online).

So there you go. Stayed tuned for those moments when I begin to ponder the big questions in life as I restart my blog this summer.

it just gets funnier and funnier the more I watch it.

It's this man's fault why I woke up wanting to sing this weirdl infectious song:

Mark this day down. The first time in the four and a half years at my job, today was the day where I went, "Screw it, I'm going home early." My voice is so shot from a premature allergies season and cold combined that nails on the chalkboard sounded better than me. By midday my throat was so strained from trying to project that I was imagining the lining of my voice box to be so red and raw that it was ready to bleed at the next syllable.

It was beyond strange to walk out of the building early with people watching you, but saying nothing as you have your jacket and bags with you. It felt like those anti-climatic moments in high school when you'd cut class thinking someone was gonna spot you only to realize....no one really cares.

So I bought my new Macbook as a latent Christmas/graduation gift for myself. Every respectable tech-savvy person, including the mac nerds on macrumors forums advised me to wait and wait because a new laptop was sure to hit out by mid January when macworld premiered its new stuff. Well, being as stubborn and impatient as I am, I did what I thought was the sensible option: I bought the current Macbook out now since it was updated in November and didn't look back.

I guess since I'm not kicking myself much over this, this isn't a good example of irony. If anything, this Macbook Air scares me to no end. You should not be able to fit a computer into an envelope. Enough said. With that, though, the stupid aerodynamic laptop still has a faster processor than my old iBook.

So, as I wonder why I keep getting sick, and why our environment's change feels Mother Nature is just flipping humanity the bird for trashing her, I also wonder how they can come up with crazy technological advances like this. What exactly is the purpose anyway? Why do we need stuff that looks cool but don't care that maple trees in the NE are budding flowers in January? Hmm...

Went back to work today and have been trying to uncover my desk that's buried under the piles of ungraded assignments. I made some headway today, but still more to go.

Onto the good news..... my grades finally posted from Hofstra and I graduated with my 4.0 AVG. Not that anyone is gonna look at that. I just like the bragging rights. :)

Miss Piggy and Fozzie at their best in this. And Animal....what the hell is he even saying?!

Happy One Week Until Xmas!

Fiiiiiiiiveee Goooooooooolllddd Rinnnngs! Ba-dum bum bum!

Well, in between trying to finish a masters, teach something of value to pre-teens, and still foolishly battling the negativity of insecure people around the world (and about as successful as Don Quixote fighting his windmills), I've gotta have some fun somewhere.

And speaking of negativity, who else can show up that "who gives a f@%$" attitude than Tony Bourdain. His book signing at Union Square, NY was a great surprise. It was basically a conversation between him and Michael Ruhlman, his straightman to his snarkiness, and room for the audience to ask questions. (And yes, nothing beat the finesse of how Bourdain handled someone asking about his "big bone" photo shoot for the coffee table book My Last Supper.)

Larry insisted on making our "Wall of Fame" since he was tired of seeing photos of me with obscurely famous middle-aged men. So, yeah....now we have a photo of me with yet another obscure famous middle-aged man of celebrity status.... plus Larry.

( Oh God, I think I've forgotten how to do cuts on LJ! Pray there's a picture under here )

Just before hitting the post button, the date of my last entry caught my eye. The fact it was November 12th, only a few weeks ago, makes me realize just how long this month really was. I'm very much looking forward to December.

It's getting to that time of the year again for gift shopping. Strangely, I'm not annoyed/dreading it one bit. Who knows. Maybe because I had sort of an aggressive negotiation with some over this subject, I'm more appreciative. I have no idea what items I'll be getting those individuals, but it will surely be creative - without being utterly crappy. I always unnecessarily stress out over getting "the perfect gift" for some people. I admit to feeling self-centered, so maybe that's why. I stress and worry and second-guess myself on "do I really know this person and will he/she like this gift?" I'm guessing 6/10 times, you hit. The other times, not so much. But hey, you try.

For some good and exciting news, I'm just two weeks away from finishing up my masters. Ahh, I can taste the freedom already! It sounds ridiculous but it's true. This last class I'm taking, The Teacher as Researcher, is basically a course that introduces grad students to the option of a doctorate. And, as much as I mock the people in my field for getting doctorates, I see just how much work and research goes into it. So I slightly respect it more, but it's still not for me.

Now for the weirdo part of my current events: Okay, I work with adolescents. Their interests shift as quickly as the wind, they form friends and dissolve alliances just as fast. Jr. high and high school is all about the cliques. I guess I didn't figure out that some people just don't grow out of this phase? Some colleagues I've been spending a free period with are proving that point. It might be just me because I was probably born older than my own time, but I just don't get the big deal about talking about amoral crap, talking behind people's backs as they leave the room, and making plans to get retardedly drunk together.

As for the last part, tomorrow I'm heading out to Port Jeff for the Charles Dickens Festival. It's rumored my new boss might be there - dressed as a Dickens character. I'm going armed with camera. Pity this guy won't be embarrassed by this. Just not his style.

So, yeah.... I got this link in my google news alert this morning, and being all revved up for an appearance by Tony Bourdain at B&N @ Union Square next month.... I have no words:

Anthony Bourdain Has An Enormous Bone

I'm going to have to be very careful about not blurting out anything weird as this image will surely find a way to worm itself right back into my brain as I attempt to go see him for his new book.

Although I do wonder...is that pork or beef?

OK, I'm no artist and I admit it freely. It's sort of sad since my family seems to create artists on both sides. I guess I didn't really inherit those genes. *shrug* Either way, if anything it makes me appreciate interesting stuff when I see it.

I'm also a huge sucker for cartoons.

I love the concept of this cartoon series someone is posting on deviantart.com by the name of BechnoKid. Hmm, maybe the fact one of my favorite comics is Zits might have to do with my liking of this....

http://bechnokid.deviantart.com/art/DV-Gang-comic-book-cover-39924641

http://bechnokid.deviantart.com/art/DV-Gang-Page-12-66438821

Yeah, I know, I know...Aladdin obsession/immersion strikes again on the LJ. But, as intriguing - and slighting frightening - as this person's rant is, I was glad to see some others who love Jafar for his obsessive, world-conquering evil self. Because, quite frankly, there's a lot of Jafar weirdness on the web:

Someone who rants and gets the essence of the sociopathic character

and then this fun re-edit

So I think I had the Aladdin Platinum DVD still sealed and sitting on my shelf since Christmas. It took me last Monday while I was cleaning the house to put it on to watch it for old time's sake and see all of the cool extras.

Somehow in my Youtube search of randomness, I found this:



It doesn't take much to amuse me, either.

This is about right for me:

You Scored an A

It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

For those of you who read the last post I wrote, this is THE Captain Rune singing...well, a clip of it since it was longer (and thanks to Alegeeter from Youtube.com for posting this, or else I wouldn't have any footage of anything of the man's odd humor).

For those of you who didn't read the last post I wrote on Alaska, you're in for a rude surprise when you hear this psychotic Norwegian commanding the PA for a moment of showtunes and weird Swedish Chef-like noises:

Because I took way too many pictures and there are just too many things that happened (I tried keeping a diary for every day of the vacation...I gave up around day 6 of 12 and couldn't take it anymore), I thought maybe a list would better summarize my trip. And, for some of you, I'm sure you'll have no idea what I'm really talking about for a few of them, yet (sorry guys) I don't particularly care to elaborate beyond what I will:

Top Ten Moments on the Alaska Vacation:

10. Vancouver has the nicest bums - true, it's Canada and not part of the US; but since we started here with a day to wander, we learned that when someone comes up to you to pan handle, they do it with a story. It usually started with, "Excuse me, do you live here? I do, and this is embarrassing. I've lived here all my life and I need $3 to take a cab home. Do you have that?" It made me realize how the New York bums at least go for some flair as they enter your subway car to make an announcement at the top of their lungs. The Vancouver bums have got nothing on NY.

9. Denali - The best part? A day as far away from towns and civilization as possible. The worst part? We still took some of the rubes and red necks with us to the lodge and on the four-hour bus tour of the park.

8. Hubbard Glacier - it's big, it's white, and when it calves, the sound of the pieces of ice breaking off to crash into the sea sounds like thunder.

7. Stupid animal mascots - I felt bad for the Royal Caribbean people who had to dress in those hot costumes for the port pictures. I wouldn't have put them on this list otherwise if they hadn't been nearly as fun as we first thought. We have proof! My sister coaxed the guy in the dolphin suit to pretend punch her for the photo (and I won't get into the weird accidental shadowing in Larry's photo that would make him wanted in several states). And the use of these costumes in the eventual hoax the captain and cruise director played on us down the shoreline of Hubbard Glacier. That made it all worth it.

6. Talkeetna - As our tour guide continued to say, "the greatest town on earth!" But she was allowed to say that because she was a local. Cute town, not commercialized at all, and has some of the best places to eat ever. West Rib Pub and Roadhouse, I miss you both!

5. Dog-sledding on Denver Glacier - I was happy to get my Jack London moment. The helicopter ride alone over the mountains and glacier left us speechless (and with lots of video footage!). And each guide we had for this was incredibly personable and information. Besides, you have to love that after you get off the back of the sled you just rode as 9 dogs gleefully pulled you in a large loop on the glacier snow, one of the employees reaches into the pen and pulls out a husky puppy like it's a customary greeting to anyone who's braved trying to drive the sled.

4. Captain Rune Loekling (aka. The Hurdy Gurdy Man) - Never had I seen a cruise captain like this before, and most likely will I never see one like this guy again. Every day his PA announcements on the ship were just one source of entertainment he provided on the ship. From his early morning "wakey-wakey!" to jumping into the arms of the cruise director to show him the real meaning of "Hurdy Gurdy", I don't think a day went by where he didn't give us a good laugh. **Also, heard the rumor that this guy loves to get in on the fun of making a cake in the cooking demo they do on ship. We walked away early so who knows if we missed him notoriously trying to whip cream with a whisk between his knees and the bowl in some spectator's lap. Yes, and this was the guy who was in charge of our safety on the water.

3. Warm days and sunny skies - From what we've heard, this isn't normal for Alaska. Ever. 75 degrees and little to no rain in sight? Thanks, global warming.

2. The wildlife - be it salmon jumping upstream, a cute baby seal playing with us while we sea kayaked by Mendenhall Glacier, or watching a moose try to cross the Denali road, each interaction was amazing and a fascinating reminder of how Alaskans live so closely to nature in their daily lives.

1. The family factor - probably the one aspect that really made it worth while was that I had family with me on the vacation. So not only did I get to see new sights, experience breath-taking vistas, and learn about other cultures, I had my family with me. I could probably make a top 10 quote from funny family moments alone, but I'll spare them for now. ;-)

Thanks to HBO's desire to relentlessly play movies until you either love them and dissect every bit of it until you're wowed by the construct of the film - or you're so bored of the film and want to write a complaint letter to HBO to stop incessantly playing crap twice a day, three times a week and for the entire month, I've gotten into the Back to the Future movies all over again.

These movies still make me drop everything and watch them - even deadlier when HBO gets the brilliant idea to play all three films for a mini-marathon. These films probably helped me through the insanity of my summer class as I pulled out my hair and tried to write up a report on a kid I worked with for three weeks. And big credit has to be given to the second film in the trilogy.

Granted, the second film is more cerebral in terms of the sci-fi-ness of the whole space-time continuum and the number of paradoxes that propel the conflicts (MartyA can't be seen by MartyB and etc etc), but it makes a great link between the first film and the third film. That, and I do enjoy all of the theories on time travel, ripple effects, and time paradoxes (or is it paradices?) so maybe I am biased in that respect.

Anyway, as this is becoming a totally pointless post (I blame my lack of cohesive thought on a respiratory illness for the second half of July - think I coughed out more than phlegm, could've been a few brain cells in the process), what better way than to end it with a YouTube video.

If anything, you've gotta love the Back to the Future movies for this one actor's portrayal of a timeless comedic villain. And apparently he's into stand-up comedy/folk song:

All of the questions you've wanted to know about playing Biff Tannen:

It's not quite a week of trying to go all-vegetarian but I'll be honest - for me, it just doesn't work. I can't say it was the worst kind of diet I've done, but a number of factors got in the way. The main one seemed to be that I got slammed real hard with some kind of respiratory infection that knocked me on my back for two days with a fever. So that didn't help because I just didn't want to eat anything (hmm, that might be a first for me). Also, when you live with someone who isn't so interested in avoiding meat for a while, it doesn't work too well. I admit, on Tuesday night I had a bite of chicken from Larry's plate. But I really just tossed the veg thing to the curb when Friday night, in lieu of dragging my rib-cage-rattling coughing ass out to Big Daddy's, we stayed in and I broiled some kind of mango curried chicken. This meal was the defining moment for me. I made a final decision here that I'll try to eat more vegetarian dishes in my diet, but I can't scrap the animal flesh. You know you're in trouble when you're eating chicken breast that shrunk down to half its size and charred with mango glaze and wondering, "Does this taste good because it's a good recipe or do I just think it's good because I haven't eaten chicken since last week?" Oh well. It was worth a try.

But on the plus side of this week, getting sick got me to finally finish reading the Christopher Moore book I borrowed from my mom at the start of the summer. I forgot how nice it actually is to just lie in bed for hours just reading a book and not channel surfing or web surfing or - god forbid I don't do this - writing yet another paper for my master class. The book is called The Island of the Sequined Love Nun so that ought to give you an idea what this author is all about. This is the fourth book I've read by this guy and each one is significant strange and weirdly humorous in their own distinctive right. But this one seemed more morbid than his usual (yes, even more morbid than the idea of zombies on Christmas Eve) and that was surprising. Moore has created such a pattern with his prose and his plot structure that you tend to know when you've hit this turning point of what-the-f%@$!-just-happened-to-the-story and you get to the underlying motive. This one has the driving motivational force like the other ones; it's just...creepy and sick.

Nevertheless, I've got to finish working on that paper to write for my class - the same one where I dropped off my paper running a temp of 101 and handed it to my "professor" who is barely a few days older than me. After I tackle that mess, I'm picking up an Anthony Bourdain novel. I've read his memoir stuff and I know his style from his narration of his TV show, so I'm curious to see if he's any good at the fiction writing. I mean, I'm assuming he must be somewhat decent since he got his claim to fame by writing books and not by being a French gourmet chef.... right?