The Jack Noodle Journal

It seems like I was just writing in these pages. Maybe I should let some time elapse between entries so that some events different than the ones I just talked about can unfold. Hold on I’ll go get some coffee and come back to check in on you.

Hello, I’m back. I left for a while there. I had some coffee listened to some more of the new tunes. Now I am back. Gosh, someone keeps calling on the phone today. I am totally going answer it next time and find out who the heck it is. Hold on one more second.

Hello, I am back again. I just got done washing some dishes and doing some chores. Maybe I’ll just keep this post open and update it every hour or so for the rest of the day. K is out right now with our friend Ayrica, antique shopping and visiting some uncle or parents or something.

I am listening to my A Perfect Circle CD again. It is so good. People. I am telling you, A perfect Circle, “Thirteenth Step”. I’m a total rocker. Ha ha, not. I was listening to the Marilyn Manson CD earlier and it go me thinking. I’m going to an art school right? Shouldn’t it be a freaky, wacky, wild, free thinking, mind expanding, experience? Sometimes I feel like it’s a business school. There was a teacher and another guy talking about how people should really think before putting wicked skulls and rock and roll themes into their portfolios to show business people. I kind of agreed with that point at the time, but now I’ve let it stew a bit. Are we toning down our self expression just to win clients? Aren’t we art students who should be sticking it to the man? If we want to be a shock rocker and make weird art like Marilyn, shouldn’t we be allowed. If we let the kids draw their skulls and death won’t they come to the realization on their own that they need money for food and tone it down a bit to survive? I had more points to this discussion earlier in the day that have escaped me for the moment.

We just got back from seeing the movie “Big Fish”. It was magnificent. Just what I was hoping it would be and a little bit more. Oh my god though, I was balling like a baby at the end. I went to the bathroom after the movie and I looked down at my jacket and it had water drips all down the front of it from where my tears landed! It was very good and you should all go see it. Tim Burton did a great job directing. You could tell it was a Tim Burton movie but it never got crazy like a Beetle Juice or Edward Sissorhands. Almost though.

Good evening to you all. How’s it going? Today was a great day! I felt energized and happy. Work went okay and to and from was good. K and I went and had an alright dinner at Chopsticks on Hawthorne. Then we went CD shopping and now we are here. That was our mini celebration for having a few extra dollars since today was payday for both of us and K’s student loan checks came through this week. Hooray for the average poor of this week and goodbye to the disgustingly poor of last week.

It has been quite a while since we have got any new CDs. We got our first 2004 CD! Brand spanking new. We got the new Air CD. We’re listening to it now. It is very good. Totally mellow and chill. Don’t listen to it if you are really tired because you’ll pass right out. So yes, Air, “Talkie Walkie”. The other purchases by me include: The Polyphonic Spree “The Beginning Stages of…” and Marilyn Manson’s recent effort “The Golden Age of the Grotesque”. The Manson CD was a used purchase. I got it for listening to loudly in headphones at work. K’s finds were: Bonnie Prince Billy, “Ease Down the Road”, and “Ultimate Dolly Parton” a greatest hits CD. We have lots of good music listening ahead of us this evening.

We’re kind of taking it easy tonight. Not really doing much of anything. I should be a good student and get an early jump on my homework. I have to edit together some video footage this weekend for my Intro to Editing class. Ah, maybe I will wait until Monday.

This Air album is hypnotizing me. I’ve got to go lay down.

This weekend I am going to experiment with not drinking a single drop of alcohol. We’ll see how that works. I think my experiment will be very telling and have some good results. I’ll probably feel much better Sunday evening and Monday morning from my experiment.

Tomorrow we are planning on going to the movie theater to see the Tim Burton movie, “Big Fish”. From what I have seen, I think I will like it quite a bit. Other than that, I don’t think there are any real plans.

Done and done. Just like that kids, another School week heading for the history books. Today was a little tough. I really need to get this Thursday 3 class thing figured out. I must get my work done before the day it’s due. I felt a bit under the gun today to get stuff done and that doesn’t make for very good work. I WILL get my Thursday school work done before Wednesday next week. I know I complain quite a bit in here about being tired but good lord was I tired today! I can barely keep my eyes open now. Any second and it’s curtains for me. I can feel it, folks. I had a horrible time going to sleep last night. I didn’t even do that caffeine thing I was talking about last night. I didn’t get enough homework done last night and that was hanging over my head. K didn’t get home until really late and I think that was keeping me up also. Tonight I will sleep like a baby.

I have been enjoying my Psychology of Creativity class these last few weeks. We have been going over some pretty good topics. The whole class is about digging deep into ourselves and learning about where our creativity and desire to be artists comes from. Today we learned about some of the blocks that keep us from being creative. We were told to put a check by the ones that have blocked us before. I had quite a few checks. I didn’t have them all checked though. One that I had a “yeah that’s me” moment to was the art vs. life one. The whole, too much on your plate thing. If you’re at a restaurant with your family, you feel like you should be at home working on projects and if you are at home working on art, then you feel like you should be out with your family. We went over some solutions on how to break these creative blocks, but I just realized that I don’t remember what the solution to the art vs. life one was. I will have to check my notes and get back to you.

Yes, so, some 2004 history bits for the peoples of the future. This week there has been talk from high ranking officials in Iraq that there probably never were any weapons of mass destruction there. There are calls for investigations to begin and people are up in arms because it looks like the Bush administration made up the weapons charge so that they could go have a war in Iraq. There are people surprised by this? I don’t claim to have any answers to anything or any real knowledge of politics or how to run a country myself, but I kind of thought the weapons of mass destruction charge was phony a year ago. Didn’t we all think back then that Bush was making stuff up so his cause would be justified? I don’t know, I’m just an artist struggling with creative blocks.

We have got some rain outside tonight kids. I had to walk in it this evening on my way home. I didn’t mind it too much. It hasn’t been very cold outside this week, so the rain doesn’t sting too much when it hits. I finally saw the police checking tickets on the MAX today. I thought for sure that they never check that route. In all my months of being a MAX rider I had never seen them ask for tickets. I kind of had a little routine worked out, riding without paying. I had a feeling that I should validate my ticket today and I was right, They had a guy at every door as you got out. I made two turns and avoided being asked for a ticket even though I had one. There have been quite a few coppers hanging out at the Beaverton transit mall this week. See, that is the kind of excitement that fills my days.

Inspiration is back once again my friends! I know you were all worried sick. That’s how it goes with me. A couple of days without the muse and then the next thing you know it’s back with a punch in the belly. I should be writing this out for my creativity class self analysis paper. I always think of things when I first wake up. Luckily I have enough groggy sense to write down what I’m thinking before it goes away. We learned in class that the morning creative thought process magic is pretty common. I discovered an idea for a new project that I will probably use for my final project in my Intro to Editing class. I’m going to call it something like “Old Timer” or something along those lines. It’s going to be a 10 minute video documentary thing about a guy who is 30 something and trying to hold on to his glory days by becoming a professional skateboarder. I know, I know, sounds familiar, but I won’t be the main star this time. I think it will be good. I’m in the middle of thinking some things out now, but I should get going on this soon so I’m not rushed at the end of the term.

Strange. Once again my excitement for a piece is coming from a video project. Maybe I should be getting a Media Production degree instead of a Multimedia Web Design degree. After envisioning the Old Timer video, things seemed to come together in my Authoring class this morning also. I’m kind of starting to get excited about that now. I’m back on track!

K is out working tonight for a while. Bringing home the bucks. I have got a butt load of school work this evening. I think the secret for tonight is going to be to leave the television off! That should be my secret every night shouldn’t it? Another magic that I may dabble in is the evening coffee consumption. The caffeine load up. No, I should try to resist that one. It could be dangerous.

Good evening my friends. How goes it? I have been turning in lots of night time posts this month haven’t I? Tonight I’m hoping that writing here to you all, will loosen my brain up for some homework. I have to write another paper, journal thingy for my authoring class. Gosh! A page doesn’t seem like a lot to write, but it’s pretty tough when you can’t think of anything and just want the page to be over with. I really shouldn’t have a problem with it. I mean, I write almost the equivalent of a page in this journal everyday don’t I? I’m not excited about the project I am working on in that class yet. If I was more interested in it I could totally bust out with the commentary. I wish I was more enthusiastic about talking about multimedia projects. It’s just not floating my boat right now. I have to draw up some rough sketches tonight also. Okay, well, what is floating my boat these days? That’s a good question. If I could get a hold of something that really interested me then these projects would be totally easy. I’m interested in napping. Maybe I could do a project on napping?

Oh great. The dog is up on my lap again trying to sleep on me. His head is rested on my arm, making it hard to type. See, I love that. Having a dog to greet you when you walk in the door is such a good thing. I was thinking how lame work was today and how lame riding the bus was. I get home, and all of my annoyances are blown away by a happy puppy glad to see me. Oh yes, and having K to give me a hug was a nice bonus.

I started up the ole to do list again today! I haven’t had a to do list since summer term. Like I said before, I believe that this is going to be a major to do list term. I immediately started to feeling better after having my list down on paper. It helps put things in a manageable order for me. The tasks don’t seem as daunting in list form. Now I just have to start filling in the check boxes. One task at a time my boy.

It is so hard to stay awake with a warm puppy sleeping on you. Maybe I should go microwave some coffee. No. Maybe a glass of cold water will help. I’m thirsty.

I was looking through some old scraps of paper that have scribbles and notes on them yesterday, or was it this morning? Anyway, I found some old web sites that I had written down to look at. There was some good stuff that I thought was pretty cool. That’s what will make me break this funk. I need to just immerse myself in this stuff. Just fill my eyes and brain up with all kinds of good work and art that other people are making. That will get me going! I just need to find two or three people or web sites that will get my fire roaring again. I don’t think it would take much. I’m going to continue to go through these old notes, papers and ideas. Maybe I’ll find something. If you at home have anything inspiring, send it over.

Hey there everybody! How is it going? Just freaking dandy here! Alright, I got the missing weekend all under control now. It’s all typed in there. That was a pretty weak showing. I swear I’ll do better on the next trip. It was a fun weekend and I do think that the birthday boy enjoyed himself. That’s what really matters, right? Now we’re back home and well on our way to heading back to the normal week day routine. The fun weekend made for a foggy Sunday, which led to a strange Monday morning. I took a good afternoon nap and I’m back at it now.

The school day was okay. My design for multimedia display class was fine. I had a nice cup of coffee to help me keep my peepers open. I had most of my work done for it, but I still hate that last minute, hurry business, that going out of town all weekend forced on my homework and studies. I hate faking my way through things. It is all serious work time for me on the homework front this week. No playing around.

The professor from my Death and Desire class last term wanted a copy of the Phillip, “Annabel Lee” video, so I made her one today after class. That’s a nice compliment I thought. She wants to show it to the next death and desire class because they are at the Edgar Allen Poe spot in the term now. Woo hoo! I have made it into the annals of classroom material! Future generations are now forced to study my work. Yeah, whatever. I still haven’t posted that video up here for you guys yet, have I? I should get on that. We are going to be studying video compression this week, so I’ll post it up after I learn the secrets to video compression.

We have some Mars rover news to keep updated on. Yes, towards the end of last week they had lost contact with the Mars rover “Spirit” for awhile and were afraid that it my have quit working. Spirit eventually contacted them again the next day. They are more relieved now, but still think that there might be something wrong with it and are continuing to do tests. The new rover, “Opportunity” landed successfully a few days ago and will be exploring the other side of the planet soon. I looked at some of the initial pictures that it has already beamed back to Earth. I should put some of them in my 2004 book to keep as part of the record. I’m telling you people, mark my words! When they find the little green men up there this year, you’ll all be thanking me for these rover updates.

Did you see the Simpsons last night? It was another good one. There were some really funny lines in last night’s episode. I can’t remember them exactly now but know that I did laugh pretty hard. I don’t feel like I have seen many episodes this season. The ones I have seen though, have been instant classics that I am looking forward to studying again as reruns.

On the creative front where am I? Where is my inspiration? I’m not sure tonight. I have been known to examine my creativity and inspirational pursuits here in the journal haven’t I? I will probably be doing even more of that here this term. The professor in my psychology of creativity class is really forcing us to poke and pick at our creativity like a scab. That’s good. The course has been interesting and I have been quite happy to see that I have been on the right path with my manic, self-obsessed, creative yearnings. I don’t feel like I am at 100 percent with the creativity now. I’m trying to get there though. I think I have a number of hang ups now that are keeping me down somewhere near 50 percent. I have to get some non-art related life concerns under control so I can increase some of my energies. I feel like I need to get organized and free up some head space. Perhaps having another left over camping cheese dog will help point me in the right direction tonight.

Oh gosh. I am all cleaned up and have taken a shower. I feel so much better now. I am totally relaxed and feel like I will burst into sleep at any second now. If my typing stops with a thud you’ll know what has happened. My head has smacked down onto the keyboard. I have all of the camping experience washed off of me now.

I have already got a few emails from people who are crying out, “You’ve missed a couple of days! Your entry every single day of 2004 mission is over before the first month has even finished!” Sorry my loves, but that is not true. I took the ole pen and paper with me on my camping trip and made paper posts both days. Sure, they’re not that great of entries, but I am at least still intact. Depending on how tired I am after writing this evening, I will have them posted up in the archives here. Thank you all for keeping me in line. I’ll admit the paper journal entry return is something I am going to have to perfect for those times this year that I am away from the computer. It would be nice to have a bit of a life this year and stay away from the computer for at least one or two days.

It was a very nice weekend. We all had a great time. It was relaxing for a few moments and I was able forget about all of the responsibilities waiting at home for me for a few moments. I have a paper to write and a few sketches to do for class in the morning. I am so sleepy now though! Maybe I will get up early in the morning and do my homework before class. I am glad I only have one class tomorrow.

Well, we made it to the campground finally last night. The Marcy family was there to greet us when we arrived.

Camping is turning out to be a good idea after all. My concerns were unfounded. We are at a campground a few minutes outside of Bend, Oregon. We are at the foot of Mt. Bachelor. There is snow on the ground here, but we are keeping warm in the yurt. I am writing this now laying on one of the comfortable beds in the yurt. Phillip is here with me now and he is rustling around on the bed. Everyone else is outside sitting close to the campfire. I’m not sure if having the comfort of a yurt should be considered camping.

We just recently got back from snow shoeing up on the mountain. It was quite fun. It was really stormy and snowing pretty hard so we had to go to a few spots until everyone agreed on a fairly comfortable spot. Phillip was playing around in the snow as we snow shoed until we noticed that his poor paws were bleeding. No, they weren’t gushing. I think that they were chapped and the snow cracked the flesh on his paws. He is doing fine now.

I believe that Martin is having a pretty good birthday party so far. Everyone got fairly loaded last night. We did some drinking and tied one on pretty good.

It is nice being out in the woods. I hope I can get my homework done sometime this weekend. I only have a couple of things due on Monday. I will probably go out and sit by the fire shortly. I am getting kind of sleepy now. I think we stayed up fairly late last night. I’m kind of hungry now also.

I always think it is fun to not have any news or TV when you are out camping in the wilderness. The whole World is passing us by and we haven’t a clue. Getting out in nature I have really noticed in the last few years, gives me a boost of creative energy for when I get back to the real World. I don’t feel that creative or inspired this trip though. Perhaps I would have felt more creative today if I hadn’t drank so much last night.

Phillip is falling asleep on me. Having a sleeping puppy on me is making me sleepy. I should probably get up now.

Hello there. Sorry about that last entry there. I went out with Martin and the handsome Eric last night and got distracted away from the journal writing. We went out and had a few drinks.

I left work a little early today because we are heading out to celebrate Martin’s 30th birthday. Martin is very old now.

Right now I am jam packed into Lianne’s car. I can barely move my hands to write this. So you may be reading this now thinking that I missed a day in the journal, but no! I wrote it all down on paper today (Friday), and I will write in here tomorrow, then translate this all to the web when I get home on Sunday.

Yes, we are going camping this weekend. Sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner. I’m a little worried about getting rained on and cold. We are staying in a yurt so at least we won’t drown in a tent over night. We’ll see. I am mildly suspicious and worried that this may be a crazy weekend weather wise for camping. The light is starting to running out so I may have to continue this when I get to the yurt.

It’s going to be fun I am sure. I can’t write too much about where we are going because it’s a surprise for Martin and he doesn’t know yet. I think he can read what I am writing from where he is sitting, so I have to watch out.

Gosh, it is really cramped in this car. We have a lot of stuff packed in here for the weekend. At least we won’t go hungry. We are waiting now in a drive-thru for our coffee milkshakes to be made.

This feels good writing in the paper journal again. It has been a while.

Good evening my sweets! How is everybody tonight? I am doing just fine. I have just finished up the school week. Woo Hoo! Folks, I am pretty tired. I have come to the conclusion that I must do more school oriented work earlier in the week and not wait until Wednesday to finish things up. This 3 classes in one day thing needs definite careful maneuvering. I hammered out two classes successfully today while one was left to flounder a bit. I think that’s the way it worked last time I had a 3 class day. I go to them all of course, but one seems to get less focus. I must be only good for a maximum of 2 classes a day. The secret to a solid 3 is all in the planning and in the finishing of work way ahead of time. I’ll do better next week.

So yes, as you have heard once again, I was quite sleepy this evening in class. I started noticing some ailments that I’m am coming down with due to exhaustion. This first discomfort I am noticing is dried out eyeballs. My eyes are so dry, sore, and bloodshot. I was also noticing that I couldn’t spell any words at all when I got deep into my note writing. The words just wouldn’t come together for me. I had a mild panic attack because I was wondering if there was a mental disorder that I was coming down with where a person can no longer write or recognize language written on paper. The final thing that was distracting me in class was my belly. When did I get this spare tire? I have a flabby beer belly now! Me, the guy who use to be paper thin and mothers and grandmothers would complain that I looked sickly.

And yes.. yes… train of thought lost.