The Jack Noodle Journal

Hello there partners. How’s it going? It is going to be another scorcher here in stumptown. They are anticipating it getting up into the triple digits today. That’s hot! I’m going to have to put some sun tan lotion on my head today. I got a hair cut on Sunday and man is it short! I asked for the 1 this time instead of the 2 and It cuts close. I’m more or less bald now. That’s okay though because it feels great. Nice and cool upstairs, I just can’t let the sun cook my little brain now. You know the end of last week was just perfect weather wise. This week needs to take a lesson from last week.

How have you all been doing? I have been doing pretty good. Busy boy here. I think things are going okay with my classes. I freaked out pretty bad on week 4 and 5 last term didn’t I? Week 4 is coming up so maybe I can freak out more then. It’s really hard to focus during summer time isn’t it? I think I am going to take easier classes next summer. This having to work thing is also putting a damper on my school enjoyment. School, woo hoo! Now work, woo hoo! Ah, who cares? Everything is good I should stop being such a freaking cry baby.

Man oh man, do we have a busy weekend in store for ourselves! K’s 10 year high school reunion is this weekend and we going to check that out. My mom is coming in to town on Saturday and Mr. Baptist and Ms. Bee are getting married on Saturday. Goodness gracious. So much fun in store!

Good morning there kids! How goes it? It goes okay here. Well, it’s another rather cool morning here which will lead to our 3rd lovely day of just right weather. Not too hot and not too cold. Man oh man. It’s the weekend already! Well in another 10 or so hours. This week went by fast! I have just barely scratched the surface of my school work this week. I did some reading last night. That’s a good start. I think I will only be satisfied with my homework if I work on it through out the week. I’m really getting tired of doing it all on Sunday. That’s my goal this weekend. Have all of my homework pretty much wrapped up by Sunday so that I can have a restful day.

Okay people, you need to pray to whatever god you worship today for me. I am going to attempt to ride my skateboard to work today. Yep pretty crazy. I hope people don’t laugh at 30 year old me wobbling down the street.. I’m not going to ride my board all the way to there from here. I’ll ride the bus to Beaverton and just skate there in the vast empty parking lots. Plenty of room to move around out there. It should be fun. It will take some time to get use to my newer board. I’ve only rode it once before. We’ll see how it goes. Maybe this will be a daily routine from now on.

Do you have any plans this weekend? Nope, we don’t either. Lots of homework and that is about it. I have to write a 3 page topic presentation paper this weekend. My research paper is going to be on the negative effects of removing art programs from public school curriculums due to budget cuts. I really need to do some more research on it.

Oh my goodness! Is it Thursday already? This week has just flown by. Gosh, it’s pretty sparse here in the journal. Even though it may seem like I have forgotten you, I haven’t. You are always foremost in my thoughts. Early morning entries are becoming difficult again. Maybe I should try out evening posts. Maybe that would allow me more time for writing? It seems to me that I was puzzling over the whole night versus morning posts just a little while ago. Was that the beginning of last term? Mornings won out then. I write better in the morning I think. Once I get accustomed to this schedule I think the journals will be beefed up a bit. I’m already feeling better about this break neck schedule than I was last week at this time. I’m starting to get use to it.

It is much cooler this morning than it has been in a while. Yesterday only got into the 80s thankfully. I try not to be one of those people who always complains about the weather, but this heat spell has really gotten to me. The other day I was just so tired of being hot and uncomfortable. Everywhere was starting to get stuffy. It was making it hard to do my school work. Oh god, always going back and forth between freezing air conditioned classrooms, to blazing hot, stand in the Sun bus stops? What the hell is that about? I’m surprised I haven’t fainted yet. I like the warm weather, probably better than the cold weather, I really do, but this cooling trend for the rest of the week is a greatly welcomed break. A day of rain would really be nice. I still haven’t mowed the weeds since last I spoke of it here.

It is strange that I don’t speak of World events here too much anymore. Maybe it’s not strange. World events are awfully depressing aren’t they? I have been giving a lot of ink to my own self centered World events and those are a bit more hopeful than the outside World events. Gosh what a mess out there. Iraqi war still going on, Americans now claiming to have killed Saddam’s 2 sons. Bush still a lying, insane, weasel. On the news they were giddy with excitement about blowing the shit out two humans and shooting their 14 year old son. Gosh what if someone came over here and did that to an American family. I don’t know what to think. It all makes me very tired. I sometimes wonder if America is like that runaway mining train cart that they were riding on the tracks in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Currently reading about the history of Japan for school has got me wondering about all of the thoughtful people in history that were too exasperated and without words to write in their journals to give their different thoughts and takes on World history. Maybe reading pages of old journals where nothing is spoken of the leaders or of politics or events of the time is a sign that things were very troubling for the writer and they were escaping to their journals to think happy thoughts.

Happy sunny Sunday morning to you. Oh man, the weekend is almost over. It was so short. It’s been a fun one so far. Last night and the night before we got together with a bunch of the crew and celebrated the return of Seth and Alicia. It has been fun. It is very good to see those kids again. It’s another sunny day out there like I have already mentioned. Our lawn is a big pile of crap now. It needs to be mowed so bad. I have been waiting for it to be a little bit cooler so that I don’t get heat stroke out there. That cooler day hasn’t come yet so all of the weeds are taking over. I guess I may just have to suck it up and put on a hat to protect my delicate scalp from the Sun.

Today we are going up to Washington to K’s cousin Tim’s property for his annual picnic. He’s got a cabin up there that he has been building for many years. We come each year to have a picnic and see what progress he has made over the year. It’s pretty fun. We’ll be out there for a while today.

My homework is going okay this weekend. I’m trying to stay up with my reading. I’ll take my reading up to the picnic with me. I’ve got a lot of reading. I think I will be in a constant battle with things and events that are going to be threatening my quest to stay up with my school work this term. Many distractions. It’s the Summer though, everyone is out having fun. What do I expect?

Alright. Well, I’ve got to get ready to go.

Good morning kids! How are all of you? Me? Oh, I’m doing okay. I’ve had a bit of a sore neck these last two days but other than that everything is roses. It’s Friday! Thank the gods. I am in so much need of this weekend. I can’t even tell you. This is one tired Noodle folks. I’ve had a pretty full week. I know I can do this though people. I’ve just got to stay on top of everything. Boy oh boy it was a nice week weather-wise wasn’t it? Hold on let me get some coffee.

Yes I have had a good week. School went pretty good. I have been to all of my classes now. I’m not sure which class is going to be my favorite yet. Science made a good first impression on Tuesday. I think this term is definitely going to be more challenging than last term. So many papers to write. It should be good though. I am really going to have to be disciplined. I’m not going to be able to play around much this term. Homework, homework, homework. I have already made up a calendar and to do lists will be making an appearance shortly.

Working has been going alright this week also. It is a little strange being back at the Group. It’s very nice and familiar though. The absence of a learning curve is going to be perfect for my heavy school load. It looks like they are going to be able to have work for me for the next 6 months. That’s pretty cool huh? The money will be so good for us. I have been riding the bus and the MAX (our light rail system here in Portland) out to Beaverton every morning and that has been kind of fun. It takes about 35 – 45 minutes to get to the Group’s office. Public transportation has been good for allowing time to get into the initial stages of my school reading. Oh how I hate Beaverton though. What an arm pit. Traffic is horrible out there.

Hey, our good friends Seth and Alicia will be flying in today for some time back in their hometown. They are the Hawaii posse in for about 3 weeks. It will be very good to see them again. It has been way too long. I wish they would wise up, leave that Hawaiian paradise behind and come back home to stay where they belong here in beautiful Oregon.

Hi Dee Ho neighbors! How are you doing? I’m doing pretty dandy. I’m a little bit tired this morning. The animals and I got up a couple of times last night because they needed to go potty and then needed some water. I thought I’d tune in and write a little early morning, before school entry to tell you all how it was going. It’s going okay. You know I was going to wait for school to have some coffee but I think I am going to make some now so I can wake up. One second please.

School yesterday went pretty well. It was good to be back. I was thinking last term that it didn’t seem like that small of a school because there were so many kids everywhere. It seems a little bit smaller already this term because I am beginning to see a lot of faces that I recognize from last term. That’s good. Perhaps I will even start making a friend or two this term. The two classes I had already look like they will be alright. I think I will do well in them as long as I stay up on the reading and do all of my homework. I think I am going to have to really do my reading in each of the classes this term to get good grades. These classes are all about reading and writing. There’s no drawing this term.

Today I have 3 more classes and then the first school week is over. Then the work week starts. This morning I have History of Material Culture 1, then Environmental Science, and finally this evening, Area Study: Modern Japan. What a long freaking day! Boy, we’ll see how it goes I guess. You can do it Noodle! You can do it! After tonight I have to wake up in the morning and head out to the Group. What a long week. Oh well, I’ll get in the swing of things before you know it. It will be a breeze!

I started the painful process of buying my text books yesterday. Some of the books look they are going to be interesting this term, it’s just too bad they are so freaking expensive! That’s the second time I said freaking in this post. I did myself a tremendous service by buying the book I have been wanting for a month, “MTIV Process, Inspiration, and Practice for the New Media Designer by Hilman Curtis. It is SO good. It really is the perfect book to read for me now as a student of multimedia. It is reinforcing a lot of thoughts that I had already had and helping to articulate other views that were a bit fuzzy for me.

Oh geeze, I’ve got to freaking go. I have to transfer my books to a different bag because I decided yesterday that the bag I was using looked like a purse. I’m going to steal K’s backpack.

Good morning my fine people. How are you doing? It got cloudy and a bit windy towards the end of the day yesterday. I had to put a long sleeve shirt on. It looks like it is going to be a cooler day out there. That’s fine with me. I have really been enjoying these warmer days but like I said before, our plants need some rain. Hopefully it will rain today. There is a growth of weeds and grass that I haven’t been able to reach with the lawn mower that is really driving me crazy. I’m going to have to cut that down manually. It really is a job for a weed wacker but I don’t have one of those.

We went over to our friend Tracy’s house last night and had a lovely dinner and some drinks. Nice work Tracy! It was a nice time. It seemed like it had been forever since we last saw that gal. It has been a while since we have seen a lot of the crew. Where has everybody been? What’s been going on? Are we all getting too old to hang out now? Do we all think we’re too busy? Who knows. K and I have been pretty much in hiding so we have a lot to do with our not seeing people.

I saw in the paper that Oregon now has a 17 year high unemployment rate of 8.5%. That’s quite a few jobless folks out there. There are also probably thousands of people out there like me who are technically unemployed but are no longer claiming it. Gosh this sucks.

Oh, hold on one second. This American Life is on right now. Let me turn on the radio. My coffee is done. One more second. My goodness. Could it be? This coffee tastes kind of bad. I don’t believe it. I rarely write about bad coffee here in the journal. Let me keep at. Maybe it will get better. It’s hard to write here while listening to the show on the radio.

I worked on some logos for my multimedia company yesterday. I think I came up with some nice ones. I’m trying to come up with a logo that’s totally solid and instantly recognizable as a brand. The name, brand and label are going to be important to my company. Name recognition. It’s going to be as popular as the golden arches. Alright maybe not that popular. I’m trying to picture the logo on shirts and shoes. I love making logos. I love type also. Do any of you need a logo? Let me know.

Today is my last day of summer break. I should try to do something fun today huh? I don’t know what that would be. Tomorrow bright and early I’ll be sitting in my Argumentation and Research class and then my General Sociology class later in the day. Boy, I’m going to have a lot of homework.

Greetings all, Happy Saturday morning to you. The Sun is out in all of it’s magnificent glory again today. Phillip and I just got back from dropping K off at work and we both sat out in the sunny backyard for a while before going in. How has your weekend been going so far? Ours is going pretty fine. Not too much happening around these parts.

This is my last weekend before Summer term starts up again on Monday. Yep. My summer vacation is over. That’s okay I was getting antsy anyway. I filled my schedule up pretty quick there. School on Monday and Tuesday, then working at the Group Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I hope the school portion of my week isn’t too difficult. I am really going to have to manage my time well this term. It’s going to be good having some money flowing back into the Noodle house for sure.

We went to a biker bar with Mr. Baptist On Thursday night. That was pretty fun. I don’t remember what the name of the place was though. It was out in Mulino. They were having a raffle to win a pool of money and K won the pot. 125 bucks. Pretty sweet. I was thinking we might have needed an escort to get out of there after taking their money, but we made it out okay. The barbecue ribs there were quite tasty.

I don’t have too much to do today. I think I will do some chores and go to the bank before it closes. I would like to do some reading and writing, but we’ll see. Napping kind of sounds good also. Maybe I’ll look over my school schedule and start getting prepared mentally for it. I turned in the Tomb Raider game yesterday and I’m jonesing a bit for it. I was right at a good spot! I need to rent it again. I probably won’t rent it until I see how my school days went. Maybe I’ll get it Wednesday night again.

Howdy kids! How be ye? Me is fine. It almost got to 90 degrees here yesterday and they are saying it’s going to do the same today. We have had a pretty Sun filled summer this year haven’t we? I’ve got the sprinkler on right now. We have one patch of green in our yard left. Quite a few weeds spread about. I think we have come to the conclusion that we are going to have to do a bit more designing to the yard. A fence is going to have to go in, we’re going to have to bring more rocks in, add some larger plants. Take out some of the lawn and make a walkway. Lots of work. We won’t be doing that during this Great Depression ‘03, but someday.

Not much going on again today. We will be going out to see Mr. Baptist and get some barbecue later. I won’t be going into work today I don’t think, but perhaps I will be tomorrow. Things are pretty wrapped up chore wise. I will do some vacuuming. Oh yes, the bills, I have to get that organized today. Do people really come out and break your fingers when you stop paying them or is that only in the movies? I guess I’m going to find out. If you legal changed your name to something else could you get out of credit trouble that way? Yeah, I didn’t think so. My new name would be Clyde Rumpleton.

Last night we went and saw “The Pirates of the Caribbean”. It was pretty good for a while. There was some cool swashbuckling at the beginning and then everything turned to crap at the end of course. It was your average summer blockbuster for sure. Johnny Depp was fun to watch as usual. It was a fun movie. It would be a good rental or cheep theater night. It would be good as a matinee showing to escape the summer heat. That reminds me, I saw “The Hulk” last week and didn’t write about it here. Did I forget? Maybe. Easy to do with that one.

Well, I’m getting pretty far along in the Tomb Raider game. Am I a geek or what? It’s a lot more fun now that I am use to the controls. I think it’s due back at the video store tomorrow. I will have to rent it again so I can finish it. You know, that is the only way to play video games. I don’t know why anyone would pay 50 dollars for a video game when you could just rent it. You don’t usually play the game again after you beat it do you? I don’t. It’s good Tomb Raider is due back tomorrow. It’s really taking up a lot of my time.

Oh geeze. At first this morning I couldn’t fall back to sleep once I woke up at around 4:30. Now, that I did fall asleep again, I can barely wake up. It’s almost the afternoon and I am sleeping people! Time to get up and take on the World! Well at least get up and take on the Tomb Raider game. Another beautiful sunny day out once more. I sure wish it would rain though and water our brown yard. Just one day of heavy rain and then it can go back to being beautiful.

I went and had some meetings with the Group yesterday about working freelance. A little bit of wheeling and dealing going on but not too much. I thought I was going to do some actual work but it wasn’t ready yet. Once things get started, I think we are looking at 24 hours a week for the Noodle man. That would just be perfect for me with a school schedule! I think I’m going to have to drop the computer lab monitor job though because I won’t be able to do both this term. That’s okay, the Group is paying me 3 times as much. Pretty exciting. I’m a little nervous about there being as much work coming as they think, and if there we be enough for a steady 24 hours a week. I guess we’ll just go term to term now and see how it goes? I was thinking I was going in today also but no call yet.

After my meetings, G, K and I went downtown and checked out G’s piece. There were some nice pieces in that bird show. We went and checked out a couple of other art shows. Is it just me or all of the artists from Portland beginning to meld into one person? It seems like everybody is doing the same thing. Come on people lets stir it up a bit. Maybe I should branch out and go to different locations in Portland. Maybe the places I’m going to all have the same taste and like the same Portland artists. Yeah look at me though, it sure is easy to complain when I’m not in any of the Portland galleries. If I were ever to do something for a show, I would try my best to make it look different than what is currently out there. Not that I would do any better, I would just do different.

Well if I don’t go in to the Group today then I have some stuff I could do around here for sure. I have a few chores like folding the laundry that I could do. I could definitely do a little cleaning and organizing. I still haven’t done anything about our bill situation yet. I could write a few rubber checks for those today I guess. I could do some reading and mental preparation for school starting next Monday. Yep. You’re right. Once I hang up here, I’m not doing any of that stuff. I’m going straight to the video game.