The Jack Noodle Journal

Greetings to you all. How are you doing this fine Monday morning? I’m doing quite well thank you. I’m starting in a little later on the journal today because I was attempting to sleep in once again. Hold on one second. The puppy is sleeping on my lap and crushing my arms. I’ve got to move him so I can type. I need some coffee. Ah yes, there. I put the dog back in the bed and grabbed quite a tasty cup of freshly brewed coffee. Yum. Oh great. Now the cat is on my lap. He’s not as heavy as the dog though and doesn’t get enough attention anyway, so it’s okay.

We went over to the coast on Friday after all and did some camping. It was absolutely gorgeous over there! Friday was the best of the 3 days we were there. It was warm and sunny. I think it got up into the 80’s which is unusual for the Oregon coast. Saturday and Sunday were cooler and overcast. Mr. Baptist and I went crab fishing from his boat Saturday and Sunday morning while K stayed at the camp and played with Phillip. We caught quite a few crab but only 4 of them were keepers. I think we had 12 last year. We ate them last night and they were very good. I had a lot of fun crabbing. We all had a great relaxing weekend.

K was off to school again this morning. Poor little dear had to get up early and head off to classes while Phillip and I slept in. Now she’s had a taste of her own medicine. Getting a feel for what it was like for me this last month getting up early for work and leaving a house full of warm sleeping critters behind. I think that K and I are going to start getting up even earlier and going to swim laps at her schools Olympic sized pool every other morning. That would be fun exercise and a good jolt to get your morning started wouldn’t it? We’ll have to wait and see. Getting up in the morning and exercising requires a level of discipline that we may not have reached yet.

I’ve got to go. I’ve got lots of stuff to do today on my day off. I should make a to do list just for today’s chores. I want to get a lot done today so K doesn’t come home to a pig sty.

Good morning people! I slept in a little bit today because I didn’t go in to work. Do you know why I didn’t go in? Well, because it is now officially the start of my self imposed 4 day weekend! Woo Hoo! I needed a bit of a break before going back to school didn’t I? Looks like I picked the 4 correct days. It is going to be absolutely gorgeous this weekend. They are saying it is going to be sunny and in the 80s to 90s. Maybe we should hit the road and check the beach out. Will you hold on for just one second? I need to make some coffee.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOTHER! I love, love, love you! I hope you are having a special day.

The grades for summer term are in folks. I was a little nervous before getting them and was trying to figure out a way of not showing them to you if they were gut wrenchingly bad. That is actually a good reason to try to really do good. “I know I am going to have to show everybody my grades at the end of the term so I better hit the books.” The embarrassment factor. Here they are:

Argumentative Research: B+
General Sociology: B
History of Material Culture: B+
Environmental Science: B+
History of Modern Japan: B

That’s not bad huh? I thought I was going to get an A and C, but this works out also. 3.2 GPA.. I am a little curious to see what kind of grades my final research paper got and I wouldn’t mind seeing how I did on a few of the final exams. I’m pretty happy with those results. I really pulled some teeth over that summer term, so it’s good to see that everything turned out okay in the end.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. I told myself yesterday that I would once again sing the praises of that new Grandaddy CD. People, I love it! I have been listening to it everyday and it continues to increase in goodness. Grandaddy “Sumday”. It starts off pretty good and then right around song 5 it takes off and takes no prisoners all the way to the end. The songs are stuck in my head. I can’t stop singing them.

Now with my 4 days off I can really get down to business and get some of my break time chores done. I need to keep marking off that to do list. I got a good start on the laboratory cleaning, but I’m not done yet. I am going to have to really be tough with this room. Last weekend the room was spared from a cleaning because K and I kept saying, “It’s really nice outside we should go out and save that indoor room cleaning for a rainy day.” I won’t be tricked by that logic again.

Is it only just Wednesday? Gosh, it feels like a Friday or at least a Thursday. How have you been doing? I’m doing okay. My work week school break is dragging on. Summer is no more my friends! Today is the first day of fall. I hope you’re ready for it! September is winding down also isn’t it? Time is zooming on by. The weather hasn’t been informed that fall is here yet. The last few days have been gorgeous. The perfect temperature, and sunny. I think we are in for nice weather for the rest of the week.

The fall TV season has started up. Are you guys excited? We watched the season opener of NYPD Blue last night and some other shows. I fell asleep during NYPD Blue actually. Did you guys see that they had a new episode of 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenaged Daughter on last night with the late John Ritter? I only saw a few minutes of it. It was kind of eerie. He had no idea he was going to be dead in 3 more shows. Look at me go. The new fall TV season is barely 3 days old and I am already making myself sick with my TV viewing. When the heck will we see a new Simpsons? That is the real question. Are we going to have to wait until baseball finishes up in November again this year? God I hate baseball.

I am slowly working down my break time to do list. I have 4 things checked off which is good. That’s a start. This working thing is getting in the way of devoting all of my time to my break time to do list. Things are starting to go in the right direction for the Noodle household. We are getting a handle on it. K starts her schooling up again for her fall term next Monday. That should be fun for her. Praise the Lord the financial aid checks are going to be rolling in again!

I tried to get up at 6 this morning, but it just wasn’t happening. It was way to dark outside. I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I’m going to go in and work today. Work on a Monday is a new thing for me. I hope I can pull it off. Was this last weekend too short or what? Good lord was it beautiful out! Saturday and Sunday were both great days sunny and in the 70s. Perfect. K and I did some work out in the yard and got things cleaned up. It looks much better now. I gave the lawn a haircut and trimmed the rose bush that had grown out of control. A tidy yard makes me feel so much more relaxed. I started my laboratory recall last night. That is going to be quite the task.

So far I have been mostly just chilling on my break. Perhaps we will try to go to the beach some time this week. This working a few extra days gets in the way of the breaking period doesn’t it? I’ll try to take Friday off. If it wasn’t for these annoying bills piling up then I totally wouldn’t be working. Let me tell you!

I shall be doing my fun skate into work again this morning. The day will be perfect for skating. Oh my gosh! I heard the rumblings of wheels and the clicks of ollies this last weekend. I looked out the window and a whole gang of hoodlum, rebel, skaters had moved in the apartment across the street. They looked so cool doing their tricks and being tough. I think they had some of their friends from out of town in. The were practising out front and then they all road off doing tricks and heading of to some cool skate session somewhere. Phillip and I watched from the window and K suggested that I go ask the boys if I could play with them.
“You’ve got a hip board too, Jack. I’m sure they would let you ride with them,”
I pouted, “No I’m not cool enough and they would make fun of me because I am so old. Plus I don’t have the right shoes.”
Hmmm. I could buy them beer though if they let me hangout.

Well good morning there to you! You are looking lovely this morning. How is everything going for you? I slept in a bit. Quite nice. I’m catching up on my sleep. It is very gray out this morning. It is rather chilly also. I saw a weather report out of the corner of my eye the other day and I thought that it said it was going to be in the 80s today. I think that is going to be just a wee off. It looks pretty dry out there perhaps I should mow the lawn. Speaking of mowing, I think I’m going to have to shave my beard off. I was going to grow all of my hair all the way through winter and then get a haircut and a shave in the spring. I can’t do it. It’s too scratchy!

I’ve got a story for you guys this morning. We were sitting around minding our own business in the front room a while back and we hear a cat wailing. We thought wow that’s crazy I hope that cat isn’t hurt. We looked out the window, but couldn’t see it. A day or so went by and we hear it again. The cat sounded like it was in heat or something. We couldn’t see the cat and I went to go look for it where I thought the noise was coming from by the neighbor’s house. Couldn’t find it.

Another day goes by and we hear it again! It starts to sound like the cat might be stuck under our house in the basement. I think I described our basement here before. It is a dank, dark, unfinished hole in the ground. We hear the cat again so I head down to the basement and look around. I don’t see anything. All is quiet. I went down on two different occasions, looked and didn’t see any cats.

Two weeks of cat meowing go by and yesterday K finally has enough and goes down to the basement calling the kitty. Out comes a skinny and scared cat! He had been stuck down there for a week and a half to two weeks. I think he was too scared to come out the two times I went down there. So skinny. He could have starved to death down there! We’re not sure how he got down there. He must have snuck in when we left the door open down there and then got shut in. I’ve named him Simon. I know that is a bad sign on our part to name him. Hopefully he goes home soon. K fed him and gave him some water. Looks like we have a new cat now huh? Welcome to the Noodle family Simon!

I am once again going to try to clean this laboratory. I have got a plan this time though. It is going to be a clear-cut, blanket bombing, forcible cleaning this time. I am going to take absolutely everything out of this room until it is empty, sort everything outside of the room, and then bring things back in a tidy fashion. I’m going to have to be tough this time around. It is going to be so cool in here when everything is clean and organized. My work has been suffering from a messy office.

I tried to get up a little bit earlier this morning so that I could spend more time with the journal. I have to get to work earlier also so I don’t have to stay into the evening. I got up a bit earlier than yesterday. It’s getting harder to wake up in the morning now that it is staying dark longer. It was 6 and it looked like it was 2 in the morning. I think I said it yesterday, fall is coming people. Today it looks like it is more dry than it was yesterday at this time. I had a good ride on the skate board yesterday and am looking forward to todays.

So what’s been going on? Are there any plans for this weekend? It’s coming up you know. I don’t have any plans yet. I may try and go to that Clientele show that’s on my concert list, we’ll see. I do have a list of things I would like to do during this break. First thing on the list is to write the list down. I need to get on the ball and think of something romantic to do for K in support of our anniversary Those school finals got in the way of the proper celebration. I also need to get caught up with my phone calls. Some of you have been waiting quite a while for me to return your phone call. Sorry mom.

The question was presented to me the other day, wondering what happened to my whole entering as many contests as possible kick that I was on 2 and a half months ago. Well that’s a good question my friends. I think I freaked out pretty hard at the beginning of the summer when I got a job again and decided that I wouldn’t be able to spend the proper attention on a contest piece as well as being back on the 24 hours a week at the job and the 15 hours of the difficult school term. The contest “Phillip and Steve” piece was put on hold. Perhaps I should start it up again and get into some contests during my sure to be easy fall term. That’s one of the many cool things about having this journal and the archives, I can go back and remember the ideas that I had earlier in the year that may have escaped me.

Creatively I will be directing my attention to the annual October redesign of this lovely page. I have got to going on that. I have got to take my computer in to get the monitor fixed during this time off. Stinks. It could be between 400 and 900 dollars to get fixed. Is that lame or what? I guess I am going to have to let some other bills slide. I am almost tempted to just keep going like I have been and hold off on fixing it. I quickly change my mind though when looking at the dead blank screen nearly induces vomiting and screaming fits.

OH YES! PEOPLE! THE TERM IS FINALLY OVER!
Oh my goodness I am so happy! Yesterday was so tough! 3 finals. I made it through though. I almost burst into tears of joy after my history of modern Japan final was done. That was a tough term for me. Now for my summer break. Woo hoo! Party! I think for the first order of business, to fill up some of this new found free time, I’ll go to work.

It’s a bit chilly this morning, isn’t it? Fall is here my friends.

Oh, I better go. I need to get to work at a decent hour. I’ll write more tomorrow.

Hello again. It is a very beautiful morning out right now. The sun is shining and it’s a little bit cooler out. Yesterday was gorgeous. It looks like today will follow the same path. September as is once again the case, doesn’t want to give up being summer. None of this matters to me much today because I will be locked inside not allowed to leave until all of my lame school work is done. Gosh, I am so close. I just have to hold on for a couple more days.

Last night after the kids’ yard sale, we went out and had dinner and caught a movie. We went and saw “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”. It was pretty sweet. Let me clarify though, you MUST be in the right mood to fully appreciate this movie. K and I liked it quite a bit and the other people that went with us had varying levels of “It was okay” to “It was a big pile of crap”. K and I are big fans of “EL Mariachi” and “Desperado”, so I think we knew what we were in for. It seems like it would be a serious drama starting out, but it definitely isn’t. I think that’s why people are thinking it’s lame, they are looking for a serious action drama. It’s not a comedy for sure but it is pretty silly. It was nicely filmed I thought and Johnny Depp and Antonio Banderas were quite sexy.

Hey tomorrow is K and my 3 year wedding anniversary! Hooray! It has been 3 years of absolute magic and bliss. We haven’t really made any plans yet. I have a few things in mind that I want to get her for gifts. It stinks that school will be in the way of fun times tomorrow. We will have to go do something special next weekend. Maybe we’ll go back to the beach again.

One thing we already have planned and excused as an anniversary item, is going to the Grandaddy concert next month. I got the tickets for that yesterday. We like Grandaddy. Have you heard Grandaddy? If not then you should. I have been listening to their newest CD “Sumday” quite a bit lately and it keeps getting better with each listen.

There is a mountain of concerts coming to town in the next few months. How is one suppose to afford all of those tickets? We already have our tickets for Grandaddy at the Aladdin theater on October 18th. If I were to plan out a concert schedule it would probably be something like this:

The Clientele and Destroyer, September 19th.
Mogwai, September 27th.
Interpol, September 28th.
Goldfrap, October 2nd.
Enon, October 6th.
Quasi, October 11th.
Grandaddy, October 18.
Guided by Voices, October 20th
Spiritualized, November 7th.
The White Stripes, some time soon

The list goes on. I think I left a few out. Mark your calendars and get out to see some shows. It should be a good fall concert season. I’m sure I won’t make it to all of them but we’ll hit a few. I really want to see Mogwai, so that will probably be the next ticket purchase.

Good morning my favorite peoples! How is everything for you? It’s going pretty well for me this morning I guess. You know, yesterday turned into a pretty nice sunny day and it looks like today will be sunny also. It was in the 70s yesterday which is the perfect temperature. K is telling me to hurry up, so you’ll have to bear with my hurried pace. We have to get over to Lianne and Martin’s this morning because K and them are having and garage sale this morning. You should all go over there and check it out.

Johnny Cash is gone. It was so strange, but I was totally sad. I think I must have been a little emotionally fragile yesterday to begin with because the man in black’s passing hit me hard. I only have a couple of his cds and didn’t really consider myself much of a fan, so I don’t know what my deal was. I think maybe I was projecting some other issues on it. I listened to the radio all day and they played song after song of his. It was cool. His music has been in the background often unnoticed at bars and events throughout the last several years and it kind of got me thinking about the past, friends and family, fighting for the oppressed, old age, death. Anyway, rest in peace fine sir.

Today I have to go into school and study slides for my History of material culture final exam on Tuesday morning. I think it’s going to be a tough one, but I’ll do okay if I study and review. I have to finish my research paper Today or tomorrow and make some Japanese art projects for my Modern Japan class. Almost done people! I am very excited.

We have got another damp one out there again this morning, folks. It’s good, the grass is starting to get green again. I am going to have to mow it pretty soon here. I really let that lawn go crazy and out of control this year. Maybe I’ll mow it on Saturday.

Oh geeze, I’ve got to go. I think I need to get up earlier tomorrow so that I can get to work at an earlier hour, so that I can leave at an earlier hour in the evening. I was in a hurry this morning but I did want to write down a few thoughts on the 2nd anniversary of the attacks on 9-11-01.

I don’t have too many thoughts on it this year. I can only imagine what people that lost a love one there must be feeling like. The urgency of the event is starting to fade for me as each year passes but the people that lost loved ones will never forget. They’re ruined now. It’s kind of like some people who never get pass the Vietnam War. Their personal tragedies will be a scar with them forever.

I myself, am back to bitching about work and drinking microwaved coffee. I remember back then I was so upset with myself about being so angry and up in arms about how lame working for the Group was. Complaining up about work before I knew that the planes were smashing into the buildings. 3 years later? I am back working at the Group and am up in arms about how lame they are.

Anyway, the point of all of this is that I am attempting to get out of my own self and reflect on others and their loss this morning. Not just American loss either. There are quite a few people throughout the World that are suffering.

Oh man, I’ve got to go!