The Jack Noodle Journal

Happy Halloween! Yeah bah humbug to that.

Good afternoon all. How are you doing? I’m doing pretty good today. Hold on one second though. I have got to go get a toothpick. I’ve got something stuck in my teeth that is causing some discomfort. Ah yes, much better. Gosh I am hungry. So what the heck is going on today? Not much here. I just got back from school about an hour or 2 ago.

Last night was pretty fun. We hung out with the Hawaiians who are in town for job interviews. We went and checked out a new place called Doug Fir. It was pretty cool. It has a weird ski lodge, Twin Peaks feel to it. It was really crowded with a hipster vibe going so be prepared if you visit on a weekend. I guess they are having concerts there in the basement. We didn’t get to see the basement. The design of the place was pretty fancy. I liked it. Lots of wood. After that we went to the Aalto lounge and there I realized that I was going to have to go to school this morning and got the heck out of there.

Are you all excited that the 2004 Presidential Election is almost over with? I am quite excited that we are almost done with all of these lousy campaigns. I am predicting that John Kerry will be the winner on Tuesday or some time there after. I am also predicting that it won’t be as close as everybody is saying. I will probably be wrong on both counts but we’ll see. I really don’t have a clue about and can’t imagine the voting for Bush view. I would love for someone to explain to me why they think Bush would do a better job these next 4 years.

Hey there! What up home slices? Not much around these parts. Gosh today sure did go by fast. I don’t feel like very much happened. I looked up stuff on the internet and then went to a meeting at school at 12. When I got home I sat on the couch with the puppies and read. I have a lot of reading to do. I feel kind of sleepy now. Maybe I should go take a nap.

Will you look at that. October is almost over. What the heck? I was supposed to have a new home page design up wasn’t I? Well, October isn’t over yet. Do you all have Halloween plans this year? We don’t have a single one. I think this year I am going to dress up as a guy that isn’t dressing up. How is that dressing up you ask? Well, I won’t be dressing as myself, I will be dressing as some other guy that isn’t dressing up.

It was rainy and cold again today. It’s getting to be heater and sweater time around these parts.

I did some more investigating into HCI (Human – Computer Interaction) today. Pretty interesting stuff. I think that may be a great direction for me to head towards if this whole looking for a job thing doesn’t pan out. The more educated and versed on the subject now that I can become the better. Here’s a definition for you: HCI is a discipline concerned with the design, evaluation and implementation of interactive computing systems for human use and with the major phenomena surrounding them.

Oh my goodness. Did you see “West Wing” last night? What the hell? So is Leo dead now or what? That was so horrible! How freaking sad. Leo laying in the woods with cell phone ringing, disturbed me all day. I kept thinking about it. They totally sucked me in. I am so going to tune in to the next episode. The President is going to feel so bad for being mean to Leo.

I’m going to read that last paragraph a few years from now and won’t be able to remember for the life of me what I was talking about.

I’m going to read that last sentence a few years from now and think that was so funny. I am in love with myself you know.

Yes, I did pretty good on my computer science class last night I believe. I knew what was going on with each question so nothing was a surprise. My math may have got jumbled on a few of the problems. I was quite happy with how smooth it went actually. Tests are not my strong part you know.

Today I did some work for my computer based training class. That class is okay. Not my favorite. I’m not really excited about the project that we are doing in there so that’s probably why I am not fond of the class. Class was fine today.

Today I figured out a good way to tell if I am enjoying my schooling or not. I was looking at more schooling! I researched some masters programs today. If I wasn’t enjoying school I wouldn’t be looking into more of it and would be happy with just a bachelors. Currently I have my eye on a Masters of Science in Human – Computer Interaction from the University of Michigan. What? Michigan? That’s right Michigan.

I have got quite a bit of reading to do for homework the rest of this week. A couple of my classes this term have really been light on the homework. I am not complaining, believe you me. The only classes that have been having regular homework assignments have been Computer Science and Computer Based Training. Two of the other classes are mostly all reading and I am not sure what is going on with the last class. It’s pretty much an all in the classroom class.

Tell me please, who in the World keeps calling and not leaving a message? The phone has been ringing all freaking morning! Could it be political callers trying to get me to vote for their candidate or cause? If you are trying to call me please leave a message. I am unable to answer my phone due to evil bill collectors who call and threaten me. I promise I will talk to you as soon as I surmise that you don’t want to break my legs.

Ah yes, anyway, good morning to you. I slept in till 9:45, have had one and a half cups of coffee and am in good spirits. We have rain outside again this morning. I have what I am anticipating as a really tough midterm test this evening in my computer science class. I will need to get to studying for that as soon as possible. I may be dragging me feet on the studying already this morning. I’m finding lots of other things to do besides it.

So yesterday I went a little nutty with my whole 1996, 1997 theory. I read over what I typed up yesterday and thought about it some more. I am starting to think that the multimedia arts weren’t necessarily any better back during those two years. I think that my attitude back then was far superior than it is now. I am not in as much of a hurry to jump into a time machine and move back to those years. I am still very interested in studying my shitty attitude and reversing it to the hopeful, excited attitude and view that I had back then.

Going to my bookshelf and discovering all those great design books from 1996 and 1997 has a pretty obvious explanation. In 1996 and 1997 I was working full time at a job I liked and had lots of disposable cash. Going to the CD cabinet and pulling out all of these cool CDs from those years also falls under this. I was buying more CDs and books then. I had 0 responsibilities, had barely any bills, had an affordable rent and plenty of time to waste.

So my new mission will be to try to some how achieve the good attitude, creativity and inspiration of those years with the environment today. I am not trying to whine about how much easier and better life was back then compared to now. I think that I really have some cool things going on right now. Quite a few things are better now than they were then. See, yes, I need to realize that and capture my spirit from then and apply it to now. I think it is a worth while pursuit.

I am listening to Death Cab for Cutie, “Transatlanticism” right now. Man oh man do I love this CD. I think I never gave Death Cab for Cutie a try before because of all the hipster hype, and I seem to remember sampling and not liking the first album. What was I thinking? Maybe this newer album, an uncaring attitude towards the current hipster tastes and my love of Postal Service has warmed my heart to Death Cab. I think they will be in town in a few weeks. Joseph Little Seth wants to go see them. Maybe I should save my money and go see them with him. I guess K could come to if she wanted.

Okay, I really need to get to studying now. I must do good on that test tonight. I should start telling myself that it will be an easy test and maybe my brain will believe it.

Hi there everybody. How are you doing this afternoon? I am doing splendidly. I just finished watching Perry Mason and was starting to doze off when I thought It would be smart to stay awake and get some work done. I don’t think I have been sleeping very well the last few nights. Snoring dogs and a cat that likes to race around the house in the wee small hours of the morning are what have been disturbing my rest.

I did a lot of reading and contemplating over the weekend. I think I am going to write up an academic paper on my new discoveries. Although, I’m not sure if the academic community is ready for my findings yet. My theories might only be personal revelations and may only be applicable to me. My self analysis began when I began to question what the heck I was doing getting a bachelors degree in multimedia. To be in this spot I surely must have enjoyed multimedia design at some point in history. Looking through some of my graphic design books and magazines, I discovered that the stuff I really liked and was impressed by had been created in or around the years 1996 and 1997. I looked back and compiled some of my earlier journals and found that I was writing about and coming up with some pretty creative multimedia projects during those 2 years. I was excited by multimedia then.

So what happened since then? Is my personal history and events in my life the real hindrance to my current progression or is there something significant about the years 1996 and 1997? Some of the things I am looking at and studying as possible causes for the wind being out of creative sails starting after 1997 are: Unemployment, poor working environments, the 1999 disappointment of Star Wars Episode 1 the Phantom Menace, the Matrix movies, the dotcom bubble bursting, and of course more seriously, the September 11th trouble. Those are just a few and I’m not sure if everyone would agree on some of those being creativity sappers. Maybe it’s just me. I’m going through all my notes and records now and trying to ignite my excitement from those days and apply it to my current work. I should probably get my ideas on this matter thought out better, organized and typed out.

We’ll see. Maybe I am just making excuses for myself. I think getting my spark back will be a good thing no matter which years I get the inspiration from. See, I’m not thinking of it like a retro thing and I’m not trying to be that high school quarterback who never lets his high school years go. I’ll work at expressing these ideas better in the future. You’ll see.

Right now I am listening to the cd by Tool, “Aenima”. Very good stuff my friends. What year is it from? 1996 of course.

It is very rainy out right now. On my way home from my morning class it was nice out and I took a nice stroll through downtown.

I better get going on some of my homework for class tonight. My school books are finally coming in the mail now. I ended up buying them from Amazon for much cheaper than getting them here in town.

Hey there, hey there. Today was a pretty good day. We tried to take the dogs for a walk and almost drowned. The rain just beat the heck out of us! We got soaked and had to head back home. It was so funny. It just poured. We only got about half a block away from the house. Phillip loved it but Abby hated it and just quit walking. I had to carry her part of the way. When we finally got back to the house and all dried off it stopped raining of course.

Later in the day K and I went to the library. It was very fun. I love going to the library. I don’t know why we don’t go every week. We got some good books. I got some books on graphic design and multimedia. One book I got was absolutely amazing. I’m sure I’ll be speaking more about it here in the next few days. I was hoping to read it all in one sitting this evening but I got too sleepy.

K worked on homework most of the day. I did some studying but on my own subjects and not school work. I’ll have to do homework tomorrow.

Good morning kids. Hey how are you doing? I’m feeling pretty good. My word maker broke down earlier this week and I couldn’t come up with anything to say for the journal. It’s fixed now so I am sure the words will spring forth.

We have a rainy, gray morning out there right now. It is very damp. I think that this may be it for the sunshine this year. It doesn’t bother me too much today because I’m not planning on going outside. No school and no work for this guy to journey off to. My feet are a little bit cold though. Hold on I must go put some socks on.

I had an assortment of weird dreams last night. In one of those dreams that new U2 song was playing and now that I am awake it’s stuck in my head. You know the new song “Vertigo” right? There’s that catchy iPod commercial for it playing now. I think that’s where the tune popped into my head from. I like that song. I may be on board for the new U2 album this time. I wasn’t for the last one.

One of my other dreams that I remember was that K wasn’t going to be able to vote in this election coming up because she had parking tickets and warrant out for her arrest. We were so upset that Bush was going to win thanks to K’s poor parking habits.

Yeah, what about this impending election? Gosh, alright already. Nobody cares anymore guys, lets just vote now and get the whole thing over with. The news and the media in general has been so lame over the last few days. There’s nothing to report so they keep saying the same things over and over. Yep, close election, close election, Bush is ahead in the polls, close election, close election, Kerry is ahead in the polls, close election, close election, margin of error, blah, blah. Yet one more reason to stop watching TV.

I’m feeling better this morning than I have in the last few days. I think that I may actually get some work done. I’m pretty much where I need to be with homework, I have some reading left to do. I think I may have mentioned it earlier but school is a breeze when there is no work interfering. I do need to get going on my creative non-school work. I have to get the fire stoked up so that I can get some amazing work out.

I have a new theory that I have been working on. I have been concerned with my lack of inspiration and lack of interest in multimedia and web design over the last few months. I have really been trying to find any bit of it that can help me get excited about my major. I have discovered that I have been looking in the wrong year! I am really interested in multimedia from the year 1996! I was going through some old books in my bookshelf and was blown away by how cool these projects from 1996 were. Everyone was more excited then about the infinite possibilities of multimedia and the web. Digital artists weren’t as depressed and jaded about the World as they are in 2004. I think that this also goes along with my abandonism theories that I have tinkering around with. It’s time for me to abandon 2004 and head back in time to the year 1996.

Yes here we are. October 20th, do I wish to

Today was a lame day. You’ve all had a lame day before right? Nothing worked out in my favor today. Nothing bad happened to me, and I didn’t get hurt or sick, I just wasn’t much of a winner. Everywhere I went today was either closed or opening a few hours from the time I was there. I had to go buy school books and the book store didn’t have them. I studied the wrong questions for my quiz in class tonight. I had to drive in and out of downtown twice this morning waiting for them to release my financial aid check. The bank gave me a hard time. I had to wait a long time for the bus. K and her school friends had a sleep over and didn’t invite me.

The only thing that worked out for me today was the 2 pepper bacon Tillamook cheese burgers that I had tonight from Burgerville to help me get over my lame day. Very tasty!

I had written a spur of the moment essay in email form that I sent to my friend Eric about the woes of being poor when one isn’t really poor. Maybe I should publish it for you here. In it I come to the realization that I’m really not poor compared globally to billions of other people who are far worse off than I. That being said though, I am still quite frustrated with my level of poverty. It is so aggravating sitting around the house and worrying about money. I really wish I could be spending my time concentrating on something else!

Alright. I’ll stop being a cry baby. School will be done soon and K and I will be instant millionaires once we get our diplomas right?

Tomorrow I won’t be so annoyed I’m sure.