The Jack Noodle Journal

Good morning everybody! Boy howdy, sorry about that last entry there. I didn’t make it out of the starting gates. So how have you been doing? I’ve been okay. Luckily my headache went away eventually yesterday. Gosh that was lame. We had a couple of really nice days this last weekend weather wise. Saturday and Sunday were both in the 70s and sunny. It doesn’t seem like we will be as lucky today. It’s grey and the rain has come back.

Today is the last day of March. Yep, April is here tomorrow. I don’t feel one way or the other about it. March didn’t have anything really great to it. Hopefully April will be better. 7 days until school starts. Hey this is my final week of freedom! I go in on Thursday this week for an orientation day, then it all starts up for real next Monday with my math class. Now that the start time is closer I think I’m getting more excited. All that waiting around during March had made me stir crazy.

Oh yes, the portfolio day at the school last Friday was pretty interesting. I am already planning for my own portfolio day in my head. There was a few cool things that I saw, but I think I was hoping to be more impressed. I wonder if anyone got hired as a result of that portfolio day? Good for them though, what a nice way to celebrate completing school. They all looked happy to be done, but scared at the idea of having to go find a job now.

Speaking of jobs, I really have to get something soon. I need to start paying some bills again. All I want now is some crappy part time thing that I can do while in school. Come on people, it doesn’t have to be a great job, I’ll settle for quite a bit now days. You know though, I haven’t really been actively looking at all during March. Maybe that’s why I haven’t been finding anything. I haven’t been looking. It’s pretty crazy how that works.

Woo ha! Oh my goodness! Papa has a headache! It is so bright outside right now. People, It is so beautiful out there. The weather is perfect. We need to get outside as soon as possible. Oh yeah. Hey happy day, This American Life is on this morning. Maybe that means the Simpsons is new tonight. Damn you war! Oh man yes, so headache here did I already say that?

So the weekend has been going pretty good so far. We saw quite a good show last night. You guys did great. Hold on I’ve got to get some coffee.

I heard yesterday that it is suppose to be 71 degrees here tomorrow. Can that be true or did I just imagine it? It’s almost sunny right now so maybe we are on our way to it. Yes! Spring is here people! I did for sure hear them say yesterday that it has rained 26 out of 27 days so far this March here in Portland. See people, that’s why everything is so green here. I hope it is 71 tomorrow. I will totally get out there and get some yard work and dog walking done. Hold on one second, I left my coffee in the microwave.

So boy oh boy, we’ve already started on what looks like will be a busy weekend for the folks here at the Noodle compound. It’s about time we got something going on the weekend! It all started yesterday. I went in and was a member of a focus group that was being surveyed. The company I’m on call for does all kinds of surveys for different products and they call you to be a part of a group when you fit a certain demographic. It was pretty fun. The group met in a room with a big one way mirror and everything. The product we were discussing was beer. Yep. It quickly turned into a Pabst Blue Ribbon love fest. After an hour of questioning we were let go and given 75 dollars cash. I hope they call back for more focus groups. That’s an easy hour of work for 75 bucks. I tried to answer intelligently and seriously so that they could see I was a professional test subject.

Last night we had dinner at the Delta cafe with Martin and Lianne. The food was tasty and filling. For some reason I had quite the craving for Pabst Blue Ribbon. K and I rented a couple more movies. We got “Igby Goes Down” and that surfer girl movie “Blue Crush”. I fell asleep through most of the Igby Goes Down movie. I’m going to watch the Blue Crush movie today and am sure I will be wide awake.

I will be heading over to the school this afternoon to check out the winter graduates portfolio day. People from the business world come and check the work out and then the public is allowed to come and view it. I’m definitely going to check out the multimedia work to see what I will have to crush once I get in. I’ll probably quiz the students and see if they think that have made a wise decision in picking the school now that they have graduated. No, I probably won’t ask that one. I don’t want to know if the answer is negative. I will be interested in hearing how they liked the program though. I wonder if any of the work will be impressive enough to land a job today? The job market is still bad like I think it is isn’t it? Maybe this is still not a good time to be graduating and entering the job market?

Tonight we are going to see a rock show at Nocturnal. I like that Nocturnal place. I’ve only been there once but keep looking for excuses to go back. When ever I get off my lazy butt and create some artwork, I would like to show there. Tonight we’ll be checking out some experimental music acts. Point Line Plain is a friend of a friend’s band and the other act I’ve been meaning to see is The Planet The. It should be a fun evening.

Tomorrow night is the rock show at the Mississippi Pizza pub. It will be a good show for us because all of the bands playing are Noodle friends and family. Fantastic Idea Project, Transmission, and Phil and the Blanks. It should be fun and exciting. Plus the pizza there is great.

So that is the schedule. I think there is room to stuff a few more activities in. Sunday is pretty open so far. Fantastic Idea Project is playing at the Black Bird, but we’ll have to see what our energy level is like then and how much of the focus group money we have left.

Well good morning to you fine peoples! I hope everyone is doing fine. Hold on one second. I’ve got a fresh pot of coffee that is calling my name. Oh man, it smells so good. Nothing beats the smell of fresh coffee in the morning. Well, actually I can think of a couple of things that top it in the morning. No, the smell of fresh coffee in the morning is the best. Looks like the rain has stopped for right now. It will start up in a few minutes I am sure. It is very dark, grey and cloudy out there at this moment. Even though it’s wet out right now, I can still feel it in the wind that camping season is about to begin.

Okay, Wednesday is here, hump day, Freedom Walk day, best day of the week. So what’s going on today? Nothing that I can think of right off the top of my head. Oh duh, yes. It’s my dad’s birthday today. Happy birthday old man! What is that? 53? My dad surprised me by asking me to clarify something I had written here in the journal the other day so I know he can see this. I’ll have to give you a call later today and see what you are up to.

So besides it being my dad’s birthday, nothing else is going on. I finished up the poster for the rock show on Saturday. It looks pretty good. I think it’s growing on me. I’ll have to see it on a telephone pole to see what I think. If you guys want to check it out, send me an email and I’ll email it to you.

We rented the movie “The Ring” last night. Oh my goodness! It was quite the gem. Last night we had everything set right to see a scary movie. The lights were off, it was after midnight, we were totally focused on the movie, and were a little scared and freaked out before even starting the movie. Yes people, get those same settings in your house and rent the Ring. It was way creepy. I was uneasy the whole time. There were a few jump out and BOO you moments, but for the most part it was quietly sinister. It had a lot of haunting images. You know the story right? You watch a video and then die after seeing it. It was a remake of a Japanese movie. That would be interesting to see one day. Anyway, K and I give the Ring 2 thumbs up.

Yes, back at it on a rainy Tuesday morning. It doesn’t feel like a Tuesday yet. More like a Sunday. The rain stopped for a little while yesterday and I was able to do a few things outside. I moved our big pile of yard debris from one corner of the yard to the other. Our neighbor is trying to rent the top unit in his house and commented on us taking our yard debris to the dump. Funny thing about it was that some of his yard debris was in the pile. To be fair though, our pile was across the line on his side. We won’t be stacking anything there from now on. I still would like to get out there and do some edging this week.

We had another lovely evening at my grandparent’s house last night. They fed us a spaghetti dinner that hit the spot. We had a good long discussion with my mom that was quite entertaining. I think we got pretty close to solving all of the World’s problems. I’m going to leave here in a little bit and go take her to the airport. I was glad that she came out for her visit. Next time we will have to fly out and see her. That would be fun. Someday when there’s more money I guess.

Still not much is going on around here. I took the dog for a long walk yesterday while it was still sunny. That is always good to do. Maybe if the rain stops today then we will be able to go again. I need to get to work on a poster for the big rock show this weekend at the Mississippi Pizza Pub. Phil and the Blanks, Transmission and Fantastic Idea Project. An all-star line up! I have totally been procrastinating doing the poster for some reason. I’ll have to do it today so that they can have something to put up to advertise the show. I have an idea, I just need to sit down and draw it out.

We watched Donnie Darko again the other evening. Man oh man is that a good movie! People, if you haven’t seen this, run out immediately and rent it. We bought it cheap on DVD so we can watch it over and over again. That movie goes along well with my current fascination with surrealism. It kind of leaves you feeling hopeless but happy at the end. That’s strange.

Hey there, hey there. How goes it? I think today they are saying that the rain is going to stop for most of the day. That will be good. Now we can get out there and try to get some yard work done. I got a pretty good start out there on Thursday, but then got rained out the next couple of days.

The weekend has been going pretty well so far. Not too much to report. We had a nice evening at my grandparents house last night visiting with my mom. Very nice to see that lovely lady. We are heading over to my brother’s house later to have dinner. That should be tasty.

I watched a few more episodes of Twin Peaks again yesterday. Gosh, that show is excellent. I have seen it all the way through before and now it looks like because of my wartime boredom, I may be heading through the whole thing again. I was concentrating on the symbolism and repeating themes that Lynch has going through that show. Quite interesting. The nonsense makes sense if you look at the whole thing with surrealist goggles on. Everything about Twin Peaks revolves around the dream world.

Our favorite radio show, This American Life wasn’t on this morning thanks to the war coverage. Dang it! Our whole schedule is thrown off. Listen to me. How silly is that? I should be counting my blessing that I am not over in the desert right now fighting. I should be thankful that our troops our fighting for me and fighting to keep my favorite radio stations on the air. GEEZE… Oh my goodness, I am going to flip out if a new episode of the Simpsons is preempted tonight.

Good morning to you, lovely peoples! Well, there was barely any rain yesterday, but it’s back this morning. Luckily I was able to get out and mow the lawn yesterday. It looks very nice out there. I need to do some work on all of the edges. They are a little overgrown. The next order of business after the edges will be to trim back the ivy and cut back the branches on the holly tree.

So hey, yeah the war has started. This is my first entry after shots were fired on Wednesday. Man oh man. Sad times, people. Yesterday we went ahead and tried on our wartime Shield of Ignorance here at the Noodle house. It worked out pretty good. We avoided all but 45 minutes of the 24 hour war coverage. I think that is how we will probably continue to do it. 45 minutes to an hour is enough to keep up to date of the goings on without making you obsessed. We had a nice day away from the television and news. We got out and did some yard work, cleaned the house, went grocery shopping, wrung our hands over being poor, and did some good reading of books that we got at the library.

I came up with a way that I can contribute to the war effort here at home. I got my patriotic red, white and blue out of the closet and put that shirt together there to the left of us. I think it is quite handsome. It’s good because it immediately shows what kind of American you are. I thought of it after seeing hundreds of war protestors blocking the streets here in Portland last night. It sure would have been helpful for me watching if a few of them had tee shirts on explaining what their situation was. There is a huge amount of unemployed people out there that wish their government would spend at least an hour a day talking about the economy and the unemployment rate instead of always fighting a war with someone.

Wait a second. If I am always talking about war here, is that going to effect you at home that are trying to maintain your own Shield of Ignorance? I’ll tone it down. I wouldn’t want you to have to stop coming here,

I think we will be having a pretty nice weekend around these parts. My mother is coming to town for a visit. Ya hoo! It will be so nice to see her. We’ve got dinner engagements up at my grandparents house and then another get together at my brother’s house the next day. Our schedule is getting pretty filled up. That’s a nice change of events.

Good rainy morning to all of you. How is everybody? I am doing pretty good. Things have been kind of slow around the Noodle house these last 2 days. Not much going on. We have kind of been hiding out. Screening phone calls, staying inside, doing some house cleaning. We’re hunkering down and getting ready for the war. It’s been rainy most of the week. I’m looking out the window now and think we need a couple of dry days so I can go out and mow the lawn.

K and I picked a couple of things to watch once we get sick of the war coverage. We will watch the “Six Feet Under” season one DVDs and I think I want to try to rent that British show from the 60s “The Prisoner” that I have a strange curiosity about. I think that would probably be entertaining. Maybe we will have to make an event of it. Have people over and watch the series together. The thing about watching a television series in that fashion is that everyone gets excited to see the next episode and can’t wait for the others. Someone won’t make it one night and say, “No, you guys continue on without me”. Then the whole thing unravels. Maybe if you did one tape per sitting.

I haven’t been doing too much creatively in the last week or so. I’m not sure what the deal is. I’ve been on hold. I haven’t really been that bothered by my laziness either. School is almost starting also. Maybe I am waiting for that. Waiting these two months after deciding to go back has perhaps made the event anticlimactic. I really need to get a part time job also. We need to start getting some money back in this place. Perhaps the overall uncertainty about every single element in existence has caused me to shut down and become sluggish. Some day soon it will all turn around for us won’t it?

I think to help fight the doldrums today, I will take the boy for a long walk. That’s what will do us both good. We need some fresh air! It is Wednesday, and that is perhaps is a signal that I should revisit my old long lost friend. The Freedom Walk. I need to get out there and say hello to my people. Go out and spread some Noodle love. That’s what the brothers and sisters need right now, a warm smile and a pat on the back.

My goodness, can it be? Am I writing two journal posts in a row? Will wonders never cease? How is everybody? I feel pretty good this morning. Our St. Patrick activities yesterday were nice and very mellow. We didn’t get too out of hand this year.

So last night, or I guess it would be early morning, I went to take the dog out to go to the bathroom. The steps were wet and the dog did a little bit of a pull and I slipped and fell down the stairs. Man! I split my knuckles open pretty good on my right hand. No people, it wasn’t an alcohol induced stumble. You know terrorists are pretty scary, but I’m almost more afraid of everyday household dangers. One false move and you could be dead. Accidently mowing you leg off or slipping and cracking your head open in the shower, that stuff is scary! I need to take it easy. I’m getting to be an older man now and I don’t want to break a hip.

Well I already read the news web sites to see if war broke out while I was sleeping. Nothing yet. Remember when I spoke of the Shield of Ignorance a few months ago? Waking up in the morning and typing up a journal entry before reading or hearing any news. What a nice little time of innocence before starting the day. Maybe I should continue to try to achieve a Shield of Ignorance each morning and only read the news and get updated after I write here. Then we can all look back and say, “Gee, look at what a pleasant and happy day Noodle was having on the 18th before he had heard that the war had started and 12 thousand people had been gassed.”

Gosh, war. What strange times we live in. I have a feeling I am really going to be annoyed with the media coverage of Gulf War 2. I already am annoyed. Our television programs are already starting to be preempted by news coverage and the war hasn’t started yet. We had tried to tape the show we like on ABC called “Miracles” and what was on the tape instead was coverage on how they were going to cover the war once it started. These news people are totally jumping at the bit to get this thing going. It’s really bizarre and sick. They even said stuff like “With this war you will see the action in real time”. This isn’t a movie people, sheesh! I have a feeling that K and I will be renting a lot of videos soon.

I’ve got to go put some band aids on my knuckles and get some coffee in me now.

Good morning my fine fellows. Merry St. Patrick’s day to you. I hope you are all wearing green today, I don’t want to have to pinch you. Do you all have plans to celebrate the day with green beer? I sure am tired this morning. Maybe I should go back to bed. Hold on I need to check and see if there is any coffee I can microwave.

We had an insane weekend. Some of it was the good kind of insane while other parts of the weekend were the bad kind of insane. On Saturday night we went and baby sat my nephews. That was very fun. On the way there though my red car died. I walked to my brother’s house which wasn’t too far away. We figured that the car need a new battery so we went and got a new battery and put it in. It started up after that. After the baby sitting gig we went out to our friends house in Clackamas where they were having a shin dig. That lasted till about 6 in the morning. We went home and slept most of the day on Sunday. Sunday evening we went and saw the wonderful Martin rock it at the Black Bird. He played in three different bands and did an awesome job.

So yes, now it’s St. Patty’s day. I’m going to try and not do too much of anything today I think. I really need to do some resting. I think we will be going to the Falls View after K gets off of work, with Mr. Baptist. That’s it though. I’m not Irish anyway so I shouldn’t feel any obligation to Patty should I?

So is the War with Iraq starting today? How lame. They have dragged this thing out for so long now it’s hard to know what to think anymore. Did anyone really believe with all the build up of troops over there that Bush would bring the boys back home without fighting? Lame.