The Jack Noodle Journal

Oh man, that sunlight coming through the windows now is so refreshing! The gray of the last several days is killing me I tells you!

I have been listening to the new U2 album, “No Line on the Horizon” quite a bit lately. It’s not out yet, but you can listen to it on their Myspace page. It’s pretty good. I’m going back and forth between really liking it and not. It’s a pretty good soundtrack for how I am feeling now at this day and time in history. I really like the title track. Yeah, the whole album is pretty magnificent. It’s very soulful like their older works. It’s definitely an Eno album. It sounds a lot like the new Byrne and Eno album, “Everything That Happens Will Happen Today“. Hmmm. You know, I might actually be getting tired of everybody having the Eno sound. I know! I can’t believe it. Maybe it’s time for Mr. Reznor to do more producing?

Hey, so what about LOST eh? I won’t give anything away here don’t worry. There’s another new episode tonight I believe. So far I think season 5 has been alright. I was about ready to write the whole thing off until last week’s episode though. It seemed like they were wasting quite a bit of time at the start of the season. I found myself thinking, “Alright already. Get on with it.” I think they could have put all of this season’s pointless island wandering so far into one episode. Last week’s episode was pretty awesome so hopefully everything is going to pick up now.

We saw Oliver Stone’s movie, “W.” the other night. Can’t recommend it. It reminded me of one of those long winded Saturday Night Live presidential skits that never really goes anywhere. You keep trying to figure out which governmental figure the comedian is portraying. I think there is a story here but it needs a more serious portrayal maybe 10 years from now.

Next up is “Iron Man”! I’m pretty excited about that. I haven’t seen it yet. Closer to my taste these days.

I’m currently constructing a mix disc for the lovely Lianne and Martin. I’m listening to the line up right now while typing this. Making good mix discs is hard! This might sound a little pretentious, but all of my selections for their disc are so eclectic that they are hard to puzzle together on one disc. It’s a fun task. I think I might have it lined up alright now. Not sure if anyone will like it though.

I’m thinking about starting jogging. Hey stop laughing! THINKING about jogging is a good place to start right? A bunch of us played basketball over at Laurelhurst Park last weekend and even though we were winded and sore afterwards, it felt good to be active and moving. I’m thinking that jogging would be about the right amount of exercise needed to get rid of some of my funk, rage and overall bitterness. I’m sure I would feel better. Oh yeah and years of sample sale shopping has given me a number of fancy jogging suits to choose from. It would be nice to pick up some new jogging shoes somewhere though.

We are excited here at the Noodle Compound for the arrival and visit of friends Mat and Niki. It will be fun to finally see them this weekend. Yes they were supposed to be here in December, but their flight was cancelled due to the 2008 Arctic Blast. Remember?

Oh yes. Spring can’t get here fast enough in my opinion.

Oh my goodness! I had to kill hundreds of spambots to fight my way into the journal this morning. Why didn’t you tell me my comments cafe was filling up with vermin? My Gmail account has been getting lots of spam lately as well. Bastards!

Not too much to report today. Maybe I’ll keep this post open longer today to see if anything comes to me during my daily travels. Gosh that’s lame. Wasn’t I going to stop wasting valuable journal lines by not writing about how I don’t have anything to write about and there was nothing to report?

I was outside for a couple of minutes this morning and was impressed with how crisp and fresh it seemed out of doors. It wasn’t that chilly and you could kind catch a hint of spring in the air. I know It’s still a little early for spring talk, but my oh my!

I have started reading Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book “Flow” again. I couldn’t remember where I had left off with it so I’m starting over at the beginning. I have been doing some research on creativity and psychology over the last couple of weeks. Reading up on some stuff. I’m very interested in boosting my creativity and being constantly in the zone. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll write up an article with all of my findings once my research is complete.

My “OLD Current Portfolio” link over there to the side is going to be expiring soon. I’m not reregistering it. Another victim of the 2009 Noodle Belt Tighten. I’m done with Zo-Ko for the time being. That stuff on there is almost 4 years old. That was my school portfolio that along with my diploma clutched in hand, was supposed to get me into Pixar, or ILM, or Wieden and Kennedy, or… gosh, what’s another place now? The work on that website is fine, it’s just not representative of anything I’m doing now. I’m not sure how what I’m doing now could be represented in a portfolio website.

I’ll do up a new portfolio one of these years. It will have more current works. It will be more dazzling than anything you have ever seen!

I don’t know. I’m bored with portfolios. I’m bored with idea of me being a web designer or a Flash guy. I’m so rusty now in that arena that I would have to spend 6 months relearning what I had already known once about web design.

I think I would like to be more of an idea guy. A lazy hipster art director is what I’m really desiring.

I’d like to get paid to post photos and items into Facebook all day. Get paid to write in my blog. Get paid to write iTunes reviews. Get paid to sit around and think about making art.

It would be awesome to get paid for sitting around and thinking of things to get paid for.

My current gig is pretty good. I should shut the hell up and keep knocking on wood.

I have been feeling pretty good the last few days. I think I managed to shake off the funk and pull myself up from the doldrums.

While I was harshing your buzz here last Thursday, friend Alicia (might as well be sister) was writing the same exact post on her blog. Her solution to fight the funk was to (jokingly) sit around and wait. Alicia and I surely had been talking about the dark clouds before our blog posts and are pretty much on the same page about this stuff sucking.

This got me thinking though. Yeah, what the hell are we doing anyway? We need to stop being crybabies and go for it!

What’s stopping you from drawing? What’s keeping you from writing a blog post? What’s stopping you from snapping a photograph? Why not make a 30 second web video every day for a week? Try a new recipe. Bake a cake. Why not start writing a novel? Do a little dance. Who’s telling you that you can’t paint a painting? Make some crafty Valentine’s cards. Film a movie with your digital camera. Write a poem. Record some music.

Why not? It costs close to nothing to do.
There are so many tools and avenues now available for us to explore and experiment with.

I’m done feeling blue, grumpy and angry. I’m going to make a new effort to be positive and happy.

I get such a joy off of feeling creative. Thinking about artsy things. Finding inspiration in other’s works. I think I might have forgotten that over the last few months. I’m starting to feel like I’m turning the ship around though this week. I really want to go for it. Start making stuff just to make stuff.

It doesn’t matter if the finished product is good or bad (or finished). Who cares if it is cool or lame? It’s the journey not the destination.

What’s the alternative really? Do you still want to sit around listening to the news, getting fat, depressed, old, crying, watching American Idol and feeling sorry for yourself?

“Oh we’re all doomed! How could you possibly be thinking about being crafty and artsy?”

Shut up and get out of the way!

Yeah it’s kind of sad. I’m feeling mournful this morning.

As part of our attempt at a budget we decided that we no longer needed to pay for a telephone land line when we both mostly just used our cellphones. Looking for ways to cut costs you know. We hadn’t been answering that phone at all for the last few months and were just letting the answering machine get it. It was time for it to go.

503-235-9222 is no longer with us. It has been silenced. Passed on. No more.

I have had that phone number since I left the nest. What was that? 16 years ago? I was thinking about it the other day and I need to go look up some of the dates associated with my personal history. I’m having trouble remembering exact dates and ages.

I had that number for the 3 different places I have lived off of Belmont and for the couple of years I lived in Sellwood.

I’m sure many of you had called that number over the years and appreciated it’s ease of memorization. Now you’ll only be able to reach us by cell. Or email us. Or Skype us. Or Twitter us. Or Facebook us.

Yeah, what a pooper of a week. I don’t know.

We had a pretty awesome time over on the coast for a mini vacation last week. Maybe I will try to keep that memory fresh in my head. There’s pictures.

Now this week dumps it’s load.

There’s something in the air isn’t there? Maybe it’s all the bad news about the global financial crisis on the TV, radios and internet. Perhaps keeping up with the minute by minute updates of my Facebook chums is painting this picture? The best bet may be to hit the off switch on everything and read a book.

We are still doing well at the Noodle compound, but I think the economic downturn has arrived in Portland. It has begun to hit the friends and family network. There has been words of job loss, cut backs and penny pinching coming from some of you. A couple of you fine fellows have been having a rough go of it even without money woes. I heard of a couple of funky goings down this week. I don’t mean to be too cryptic (as that has gotten me in trouble in the past) but just know that the Noodles feel your pain.

Maybe it’s the doldrums of the winter seeping into the cracks.

I was feeling kind of blue, grumpy, annoyed and melancholy on Monday but I’m feeling better now. Multiple days of sunshine has given me a good fix. G and I had a pleasant stroll down Hawthorne during the day Tuesday.

The other night at 1:42 AM while working on my home workings, I really felt like some music in my headphones would cheer me up and break the funk. Music has always been good like that you know. What to listen to though? I thought about it briefly for a time. Maybe some hip hop? Maybe something up beat and light hearted with a good tempo? Then I got it: the Cure’s album, “Faith“.

I know. Crazy right? I went the opposite direction and picked a totally dark, dreary (in a beautiful way), black, depressing album. The gamble paid off though! Oh man, that album is SO good. After hearing songs like “Funeral Party” and lines like “you leave me breathing like the drowning man“, I totally felt better about the week and was cheered up. Maybe I diluted my melancholy with a heavier dose of even more melancholy and all the depression canceled itself out?

“Faith” is a pretty magnificent album. You should try it on to lift your spirits. Be careful though it could be hazardous to your health.