01-01-2003 Wednesday 11:30 AM
**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

Hey everybody! We made it! A new year is here! I hope you all had a wonderful night last night. Ours was pretty good. Man oh man do I have a stinker of a headache this morning. Oh, it is so painful! I need to drink some water and get hydrated. Oh man! I am pretty sleepy also. Maybe I will go back to bed and take a nap.

So here we have it, what do you think? Does it feel like a new year kids? I think it does. How in the World am I ever going to remember to write 2003? Did anything crazy happen on New Years Eve? We took it pretty easy and had a mellow bringing in of the new year. We must be getting old. It was fun. I think today we are going to chill in front of the tube and then later this evening we may go see "8 Mile" at the Bagdad. That might be good.

Alright! I need to get to work on the JPP! I need a job pronto! That will be the first order of business this new year. I'm going to get going on that right now. Oh man, maybe I'll take a nap first.

01-03-03 Friday 8:26 AM
Good morning everyone! Day number 3 of the new year. So far so good? Not too much happening yet. The sun shining through the clouds right now looks very majestic It seems like it was a little bit warmer yesterday. Boy it sure has been raining though.

I pushed ahead with the JPP yesterday. I'm feeling hopeful people. I think that the real action probably won't start until Monday. Quite a few people have been out of the office these last 2 days. That's okay though. The only way to be successful I think is to do something every single day towards the JPP. Today I'm going to go through my notes and battle plans and put a list together of people I need to talk to on Monday.

Ah yes, New Years resolutions. That's one of them I think.
Keep better notes. I keep quite a few already, but I think this year I need to keep even better, more detailed notes. I think that 'keeping better notes' would go with 'get more organized'.
Once again this year I will have 'read more books' as a resolution. Like I said though last week, it should be 'finish more books'. You know, I don't think I finished a single book last year. No wait, I did read and finish 3 of those "Series of Unfortunate Events" books.
I need to 'increase the drama' on this here web page this year. I need to take it up a notch and really go to town. I am quite fearful of becoming stale.
Also with web related work, I would like to 'complete a Double Darren CD' this year. At least 10 songs. This is my last year to try and become a rock star. No, just kidding. I'm sure I would always be open to being a rock star.

One thing I have kind of been thinking about the last 47 hours has been going back to school this year. Wow, what do you think about that one? I'm still not sure what I would go back and study yet but maybe more schooling is in my future. It would probably be art related what ever it was. Am I too old?

I think I had some more resolutions, but they seemed to have slipped my mind at the moment. Oh yeah, another one was 'be more diligent'. I should treat some of these little projects that come in this year with a little more respect I think. No task is too small my friends. The work I have been thinking of as lame is still as important as the really cool big projects that come in.

I'm sure there's more and I'm sure I'll add it as the days progress. January is such a fun month that way. You get all introspective and make valiant plans for the year, then come November you're barely hanging in there, screaming for a new January.

01-07-03 Tuesday
Hey kids, how's it going? I took a couple of days off. With such a strong showing there in December, I felt like I could afford a few days of rest to collect my thoughts. I'm back now and ready to rumble! Anything exciting happen in my absence? We had a pretty good weekend last weekend. We did a few things. Baby-sitted the nephews, had dinner guests over, went to a birthday party. Those kinds of things.

It's pretty sunny out there right now. I just got back from taking the dog out to the rest room. The wind is kind of blustery and awfully cold. We haven't had any rain this week so far.

Oh yeah, I fixed the PC the other day. I got this free virus detection software off of the internet called AVG. That did the trick. When I was finally able to get it running, it found a worm and a virus that had infected 15 files. That stuff is pretty wacky I think. My computer had worms! It seems to be running alright now, although I think I should probably free up some hard drive space before too long.

The Job Procurement Program is going forward as planned. Gosh people, this is getting tough. I made up a poster for the wall where I can see the various leads and resumes I have out. I really love how no one returns phone calls. I'm going to have to fill that puppy up before I get any bites I think. Believe it or not, I think the JPP is actually pointing me to the direction of more schooling. How in the World am I ever going to manage that? People it is getting rough and tumble.

Well, what to do today? I think first I will work on some of the JPP of course like I will be doing every single day. Then I think I'll do some chores. I'll probably take the dog for a walk and hopefully continue on with some reading. Yep, that sounds like a plan.

TOP^

01-08-03 Wednesday
Good morning. It's sunny out there once more this morning. The frost came though. People were scraping their car windows this morning. Not me though. I just watched from the comfort of my warm house. Poor suckers. No wait I'm the poor sucker. At least I'm warm though. You know, little Phillip was being kind of snippy with me this morning. What's that guys deal huh? He was pulling a bit too much on the leash and wouldn't go in after potty time. I think... Oh that's it! He just puked in the front room. He must have had an upset tummy. That's what he gets for eating all that weird stuff he finds on the ground. Poor guy. I should play with him and take him for a walk today.

Not much going on around here today. Except for the occasional pukings. It has been a slow week. I have a meeting with an admissions director at a school I am interested in today. That's cool I guess. I don't know about the whole schooling idea. How in the World is that going to work? It would be kind of fun to go back though. Why not really? I'm not doing anything on the outside. Maybe I'll go get some smarts, ride this lousy economy out, and try again in a couple of years huh? It would be nice to feel creative again. It would be good to meet some new people and make some new contacts. We'll see.

Have any of you been watching the show "24" with Kiefer Sutherland? It's pretty good. We've been tuning in to every episode. You know the drill right? There's a nuclear bomb set to go off somewhere in Las Angeles and Kiefer's character Jack has 24 hours to find and stop it. Each episode is in real time as one of the 24 hours. We're coming up to 5 PM next. Last nights episode was good. They try to throw as many crazy cliff hangers in as the can. Each week you tune in to make sure Jack didn't die in the horrible event they left him in last week.

You know, I think that cable TV was a benefit to me when I had it. Maybe I should get it again. It seems that with more choices I was watching better quality television. Do you think? The commercials were better, I could watch creative music videos, more educational television, and of course the Cartoon Network. Cable TV just seems more hip and artistic than our boring regular Broadcast television Actually it's all crap though right? Maybe cable is just a better quality crap though.

Well I've got to go get some paperwork organized. Oh man, I wish I had a cup of coffee. We've been out for the last couple of days. I really could use a cup. Maybe I'll try to buy some later today.

01-09-03 Thursday
Oh yes! Coffee is finally brewing in the Noodle house! Oh it is going to be so good. This morning we are brewing coffee roasted by our lovely friends at Portland's own, Stumptown Coffee Roasters. The Guatemalan blend I believe. Another bright, crisp, and chilly morning has greeted us here today. How are you all doing? You know, I'm doing pretty good. I feel great, I had a good nights sleep, I'm going to drink some delicious coffee, and today is going to be a wonderful day. Hold on one second, I've got to go take the dog out to go potty.

Gosh, am I a loon or what? That first paragraph sounds like the opening to the peaceful, morning in the forest scenes from Warner Bothers cartoons. I can just see the birds and hear the music. Hold on one more second, it's coffee time! Oh yes quite tasty! Today one of the things I really need to do is take the dog for a long walk. Yesterday we took a pretty short one and I think we're going to have to burn off more energy than that today. Maybe we can go on the old Freedom Walk route. Yeah, see what all of the hipsters are up to. Maybe we'll go down and see what the always handsome Eugene is up to. Yes, we should take our walk early in the day so that we can come back and attend to other matters.

Well kids, my meeting at the school yesterday went quite well. I was there for like two hours. I toured the campus and checked out some of their equipment. It looks good. Man oh man! What am I thinking? I am totally excited. I think I'm going to go for it. This may just be the answer! I'm going to load up on student loans and get more education. I think I'm going to go for a bachelors in multimedia and web design. Oh my, the classes and course work look so fun and exciting. I think that I have gone as far as I'm going to go in today's economic climate, and I think a better education will open more doors for me in the future. So for now I guess, the Noodles will be as poor or poorer than last year, but smarter.

Me being a 30 year old college student will put a new spin on this here website won't it? Now I'll have topics about homework and raiding the sorority house. Maybe I'll have a school work area here on the page where you can look at projects I am working on. It's going to be cool because I will get to dabble more in audio, video editing and animation. Oh I can just feel the dams on my creativity starting to crack. They're trickling people!

01-10-03 Friday
Boy it seems a bit colder these last couple of days. The wind was blowing pretty good yesterday and I could feel a cool breeze blowing through our lame windows all over the house. One of these days we are going to get those puppies fixed. I swear! It's another sunny morning again. I think they are predicting a lot of rain for this weekend.

Hey the weekend is almost here for you people. Do you have any plans for it? We don't have anything too big planned I don't think. Oh yeah the Rock Kats are playing tomorrow night at the Aladdin Theater. No wait, they're called Phil and the Blanks now. That should be pretty fun. Other than that I think it's going to be laying low like usual.

Yesterday I took Phillip on a really long walk down to Eugene's shop. That was pretty fun. I think that wore him out for a little while. That dude has just got so much energy. I'll wrestle around with him and throw the ball after I get done here.

Oh my gosh. Have I talked about how much I hate our bank yet? Oh I hate them so. Our finances are all jumbled up into a big mess now and I totally think it's partly to do with that stupid bank. Sometimes I wish I was more like one of those people that throws a fit to get their way. I think I expressed that I was angry but I'm too mellow to be able to cause a real ruckus. They just won't listen to reason over there. Oh well. I've wasted too much ink on them already.

Today I've got to go sell some CDs, deposit some more checks into the evil bank and head over to my old high school to get my transcripts for college. The old high school. That's not that big of a deal since I really only moved 2 towns over after graduation. I don't have anyone I really care to see over there, just in and out. Well yeah, it's been like 12 years since I've been there. I've got a letter of intent to write and more paperwork to fill out today also. It's kind of nice having a task list again.

TOP^

01-12-03 Sunday
Good Sunday morning people. How are you doing? Doing pretty good here. I caught a cold somewhere. I was pretty groggy and snotty last night. I feel a little bit cleared up this morning. I've got some microwaved coffee now, I'm listening to This American Life on the radio, and I'm heading back to the land of good health.

My goodness! I am such a bad uncle. In the middle of my cold induced stupor, we realized that we forgot to go to my youngest nephew's first birthday party yesterday. Man, we felt so bad! I am SO sorry little Noodle! Please forgive me. I hope that years from now he won't come and call me on the carpet for not going to his 1st birthday.

So what's going on today? I'm not sure. I don't think there is anything going on today. Maybe I should double check though to make sure we don't miss anything. I will do some reading today. I've been doing well with my reading resolution so far this year. Maybe I'll do some drawing today also. I think my cold has subsided enough to do the chores I skipped last night due to my cold excuse. That's about it I guess. Nothing too excited. A new Simpsons is on tonight. That's good.

Isn't it interesting how places and things change when you don't see them for a number of years? This isn't a very original observation I realize, but I experienced it again on Friday when I went back to my high school to get my transcripts. Things looked like they did when I was attending but different. I think maybe the building didn't recognize me as a 30 year old. The thing I found the most interesting about the visit was how only a couple of city blocks were the strange things to me. I have been to the city of Oregon City millions of times since I have graduated, just not to the block that the school is on, or in the building. Everything was very familiar and on my same current time line until I got to that block. I've only lived in this state, and I can only imagine going back home to a different state and being blown away by how much everything has changed.

I passed by a girl there in the hall who was talking on a cell phone. Do they let cell phones in school now? They didn't have those as readily available when I was going to school, and I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have allowed them in school interrupting learning. I wanted to look around more than I did but felt old and thought people would think it was strange if I was walking around looking at stuff.

01-13-03 Monday 9:35 AM
The start of a new business week my friends. Lame Monday here again. It's very dark and damp outside this morning. The temperature doesn't seem to be as cold as it has been. How did your weekend finish up? Ours wrapped up nice and uneventfully, I'm going to need some coffee to get me kick started. Hold on. There, I got the coffee started. Okay where was I? Man, I'm drawing a blank.

Well, I think this will be a good week. I've got a few things going on this week. The main thing happening this week is on Thursday when I turn in my school application. I still have to get some things done for it but I'm pretty much ready. The one thing I do have to finish up today or tomorrow is a paper on why I like multimedia. I will probably wait till tomorrow to finish it, because I don't seem to be writing very well today.

So I was having some wine last night and surfing around on that thing they call the "World Wide Web" when I stumbled upon my friend Moby's web page again. You know Moby right? The electronic pop music sensation? I was skimming through his journal posts and found it quite interesting that several of his posts sounded just like mine. Descriptions of the weather outside, conversations about coffee, and gazing out the window ponderings of life. That's pretty cool that a multi-million album selling rock star and a poor Portland artist can have equal voices and be only a click away from each other. He wrote a lot more about politics in his journal though of course. I looked for his email all over that website so I could send him the desktop wallpaper for January, but it was no where to be found. It did have some contact information for a publicist or something of the sort. Maybe that's the difference between us I guess. I can be contacted at anytime you'd like and he only pretends to be down on the same level with all of us. Do any of you have Moby's email? I want to send him a picture. Oh that's silly. See I get stuck on these weird tangents every once and a while.

Alright, I'm outta here. I've got to go find my slippers. My feet are cold. Maybe I will brave the weather today and take the dog out for a long walk. Yes, that might be nice.

01-14-03 Tuesday
Hey yo, what's up? It's kind of chilly in here. Hold on one second I've got to go put some more pants on and go microwave myself some coffee. Once again we have another wet one outside. So when does Winter end? This really isn't a Winter though is it? There hasn't been any snow or ice yet. That would be kind of nice, to shake things up a bit. This grey stuff gets old in a hurry. I guess it hasn't been grey for that long yet. Wasn't the Sun shining here last week?

So yeah, I was all gung ho about the JPP a week ago and now where does it sit? I made a poster for it and everything. It's on hold for now. Taking the school route was a path I hadn't fully explored when creating the JPP. Perhaps once I get into school I could start up the PTJPP, Part Time Job Procurement Program. It is kind of nice having the JPP on hold. I can relax a little bit now knowing that I'm going the education route instead of the employment route. I actually sat down and played video games for the first time in 8 months. It was fun. Before I was too stressed and worried about what emails or job postings I was missing.

K has decided to transfer to a different school. We're kind of concerned about that currently. There was some testing unpleasantness and just an overall sense of annoyance with the old school. It will work out though, K is a 4.0 student and will have no trouble at the new digs. I hope that we can figure it out soon so that she can get settled and that financial aid can roll back in. God, what a weird existence the two of us lead now days.

I've got to write my paper today. I actually discovered yesterday though that they aren't looking for a paper. They are requesting a 150 word PARAGRAPH. See, it was a test. You've got to get up pretty early to trick the old Noodle. They don't want a long winded paper, they want a well thought out and to the point paragraph. 150 words, that's nothing! I write 150 words just about the weather every day.

After my paragraph I think I may play some more video games and do some more reading. I took the dog for a short walk yesterday but I don't think that was good enough. He's starting to get cabin fever and is really going to need a long hike in the out of doors today.

TOP^

01-16-03 Thursday
Good morning to you. See now, wasn't I just commenting on how grey it was the other day? Out pops the Sun this morning to chase away the grey. It's quite lovely outside once again. You know, you really can't complain about the Winter we are having. I guess you could but then you would sound like an idiot. Hold on one second I've go to go microwave me some coffee.

There, much better. Well I am off to have another meeting at the school. I finished up my applications and am ready to go. I finished my paragraph and think I got that sounding pretty good. Quite exciting. I'm looking forward to getting back to school. You know that is still a ways away. April will be when I start and that's a few months from now. What should I be doing in the mean time? Gosh Noodle, I don't know, how about trying to get out there and make some money! Oh yeah. I do have a few calls in for freelance, part time work. Maybe that will come through in the next month or so. It would be nice to eat and pay the mortgage.

Oh dear goodness people! I played video games most of the day yesterday. It was so fun. I played "Jak and Daxter". That game is quite exciting. I'd be playing it now if I didn't have somewhere to be. I'll play it some more when I get home. I don't think I've talked about that game here in a while. I had stopped playing it because I had gotten to a spot that was impossible for me to get pass. After some beers a few months ago, a friend of mine got me pass the spot and I recently just started playing it again. I'm at a really good spot now that I am eager to continue. I think that is my favorite type of genre for a game. The jump around, collect coins, find the hidden passage, adventure game. This one is cool because you can just wander around and solve things here and there. You don't have to go in a specific order.

01-18-03 Saturday
Man oh man. I slept in a little bit this morning. Getting started a tad later. That's okay though, I slept well. I feel pretty refreshed this morning. It's another sunny one out there! Hey, the weekend kind of snuck up on us, didn't it? Well this whole week was a kind of strange weekend week. I think we are permanently stuck on Saturday here at the Noodle house. What do you folks have planned for weekend fun? We once again, are laying pretty low here. I think we are going to go see Mr. Baptist and Ms. Bee later today.

Oh yeah. The meeting at my school went great on Thursday. I turned in my stuff and got some more things to complete. I got a huge stack of financial aid papers to fill out and sign my life away on. It looks like everything is a go. I'm still in the applying stage, but it seems like that is really only a formality and I'm in. That would be pretty silly and strange if I didn't get accepted there. I kind of just thought I would be accepted automatically. Is that pompous or what? One cool thing I found out on Thursday is that the job placement people help you find part time work right away. You don't have to start school to begin using their services. Gosh you get educated and they find work for you. I was doing this unemployed thing all wrong last year.

My video game faze is continuing people! I'm a video game playing mad man now! I went and rented the one that I had been eyeing for a while, "Ratchet and Clank". Oh my goodness, it is a gorgeous game. It's very similar to the other one I own, Jak and Daxter. They are both adventure games. Ratchet and Clank is more of a sci-fi game. There are robots and space ships everywhere. The weapons that you go around collecting and purchasing are quite zany. The craziest one I've gotten so far is the suck canon. It's sucks your enemies up into the gun and then shoots them out as a missile back at your other enemies. The game is really fun. It's more of a visual game and gadget collecting game than Jak and Daxter. It's not as difficult either. That being said though, I am actually stuck on a section that keeps filling up with water and drowning me. I think I should probably find some scuba gear. I'm trying to finish the game all in one rental so I don't have to go out and buy it. If I had money though, I totally would. I highly recommend Ratchet and Clank. It is very entertaining.

Video game playing is taking up a large portion of my time these last few days. I do need to get back to some reading, drawing and creating one of these days. I want to add more products to the Noodle shop before too long here. Things aren't flying off the shelves there, it's more just for fun. I also need to put some ideas down on paper before I forget them. Well, if past video game fazes are any indication, I probably have about another week until this one passes. They seem to often occur in January don't they? I'll get back to the important work after that.

01-22-03 Wednesday 9:17 AM
Hey! Hey! Long time no see, people! How have you been doing? It's going pretty okay here. Sorry I haven't written in so long. I Had put the computer away and was too lazy to get it out yesterday. Not much has been going on these last few days. We are continuing our hermit lifestyle and have been staying in seclusion. Slow times at the Noodle house. I'll get back on the writing train now, I promise.

We've got rain outside again! The Sun has finally decided to leave us again and the rain is back. It's pretty dark out this morning. I think they said this is the start of a pretty wet rest of the week. K officially declared that winter was over the other day and that spring is here now. She has already put up her Valentines Day decorations. I tried to convince her that we were still due for a month or 2 more of winter, but she wouldn't hear it.

My life has still been revolving around Ratchet and Clank these last few days. I am sick with addiction to it. I have been playing the video game constantly. I think I may be nearing the end of it, but I'm not sure. Today is the last day that I can play it before I have to return it to the video store. Maybe I will make one last push to finish it after I hang up here. I am definitely going to rent it again if I don't finish it today. It has been a very fun game. My eyes are totally blood shot from staring at the TV screen so much.

Speaking of TV, why does it suck so much? I don't know why I am always surprised. Maybe it has always sucked and it has taken me this long in life to come to terms with it. 24 wasn't on last night, so that they could show a 2 hour "reality" show. Oh yeah, a new Simpsons wasn't on so that they could show "Something About Mary". Movies on network television once again! I can't believe there are so many reality shows. They totally suck you in if you're not careful. I can't believe there are so many people watching them. They're bad people! I miss the days of good old fiction.

Who cares though really? I shouldn't be rotting my brain with TV and video games anyway. I should be pursuing more academic pastimes. I should be trying to exercise my brain with creating. I should be reading, writing, drawing, painting, filming and computing.

TOP^

01-23-03 Thursday
Good morning all. It looks like we have a bit of a break from the rain fall this morning. The Sun is trying to poke it's head out. We went for a night time dog walk last night and it was amazing out. We were all bundled up and the rain had just stopped so everything was crisp and clean. It was really fun. Phillip loved it.

One of the stops on the walk last night was to take Ratchet and Clank back to the video store. I was so close to finishing it, but didn't. Gosh, I'm really starting to feel withdrawals from not having it. I keep thinking, "Oh yes, I could get a hundred thousand bolts to buy the Ryno gun on the hover board racing level when I play it this morning." I won't be playing it this morning! I think I will wait a while and then rent it again. I can't buy it for sure now though that I'm almost finished. That's good, seeing how I don't have any money anyway. Very fun game. One of you have to play it so we can talk about it and see if you liked it like I did. Oh man! Do you know what? I never found the chicken gun that they always show in the TV commercials for it. Well I'm really going to have to rent it again now.

Ah, no more video games. Now I can take my life back and get to work again. What will I do today? What has been suffering during the video game faze? I need to get back to doing some reading. That will be a good start. There are a couple of emails waiting for me that I have been meaning to respond to. I must get to work on this web site and I definitely need to do something about the transmission. All the songs on there are like oldie, classic rock tunes now that it has been so long since I have updated them.

Later today I am going to go over to my brother's house and visit with them. That should be fun. I have the "Muppets Take Manhattan" DVD I got off a cereal box that I want to see with my nephews. I also have to get the video camera out and make them a copy of the eldest Noodle's Christmas pageant.

01-24-03 Friday
Hey there all. The weekend is almost here! Yeah! Do you have any exciting plans? It's raining now, but man was it a nice day yesterday! It was like a warm spring day. I can't believe this weather. My apologies to you if you are reading this while in the East or South of the country, I guess you guys are getting buried in the snow!

Not much going on here again as usual today. Gosh I'm having trouble staying focused on this journal this morning. Hold on let me get some more coffee. That may help.

K is off starting her first day at a new part time job. Good for her! Thankfully one of us started working! Hey wait a second though, that's not fair! She went out and got the first job she applied for. Why was it taking me so long? This part time gig will help bring in some dough while she is between schools. I need to go out a get something now. Between the two of us we could actually have a full time worker in this house!

Oh boy, was I mad at the cat yesterday! I usually have my coffee (not anymore though) sitting on a stool next to my desk here in the laboratory. Pierre jumped up and knocked the coffee cup off of the stool and all over the carpet. I was really mad because this is the second time this week that he's done the same thing! Coffee is not good for light carpets people! I am definitely keeping an eye on my coffee cup while that jerk is in here from now on. We got quite a bit of it up off the carpet but there are some stains. At first the mess looked like someone got stabbed in here. It kind of stinks in here now like old coffee grounds. We have a couple of carpet stain remover cleaners, but I think we may have to get one of those foamy kinds or get a steam cleaner.

So I have been tuning in to Moby's journal and a couple of other ones for fun the last few days, and they have been logging some good thoughts about the up coming war in Iraq. It's been making me wonder if I should put my two cents in. What could I possibly add to the debate? Should I be including more serious commentary than how my cat has been destroying my carpet? Actually I think what's not being said here in the journal is kind of telling in it's own right isn't it? The distractions and changes of subject that keep one going from day to day.

I just don't know where to begin. I am very overwhelmed with how lame everything in the World is. I'm not sure what to do about it. Yeah the President sucks and war is bad, but I am poor, unemployed, can't afford to buy a beer and that seems to be taking center stage for me personally. Almost everyone I know is out of work or in fear of being out of work, the state I live in is out of money, kids here don't have any money for their schools. Things are bad here at home and the jerks in charge and a large portion of brain dead Americans think we should be messing around in other countries. I'm tired of this crap.

I miss the good old days. Maybe the good times will come back again soon? Let's keep our fingers crossed. Until that day I'll keep writing about Pierre and Phillip.

01-25-03 Saturday
It's balmy out there this morning! I took the dog out earlier just wearing a tee shirt and sweats, and I wasn't even cold. I was almost comfortable. It's great for sure, but isn't this warm weather a little weird? Tell me people, is it from the green house effects? Global warming? Maybe I shouldn't go outside anymore.

So last night I gathered up my pennies and went and had a beer with Eugene and New Friend Joel at the Basement Pub. It was good to get out of the house finally. I think I talked too much though. I got too excited being out in public and all.

So what's going on today? Not much here. I am trying to avoid the temptation to go out and rent Ratchet and Clank again. K is off at day number 2 of her new job. She likes it so far. It seems pretty cool. I'm home alone today with the boys. Phillip has decided to sit on my lap and snore now. He hasn't done that in a while and is a bit bigger than last time. It's putting a strain on my right arm and throwing my typing off.

Today I need to get some chores out of the way. I need to pick up a little bit here in the laboratory. I'm looking for a manual I printed out for one of my music programs and have where it could be narrowed down to 2 spots. Yep, not much going on today. We may go see Mr. Baptist later in the evening, but I'm not sure.

TOP^

01-26-03 Sunday
Hello. How are you doing this fine morning? Things are fair here. It was another warm evening last night. It rained pretty hard, There was this tin can outside on the ground that the water kept pelting and making a loud clang. It was going all night until I finally went outside and picked the can up. I can't believe I let it go that long now that I think about it. It was driving me crazy. I think they said that it's suppose to keep raining throughout the day today.

It's Super Bowl Sunday today. What do you think about that? Who cares? Super Bowl Sunday is lame. Football is lame. Who's even playing? No, just kidding. I'm sure football is fine. We may head off to a Super Bowl party today, but probably not. I'm sure we won't see the game.

Hey I'm back. I had a big pause there. I stopped writing in mid journal. I can't think of anything to write today. Well, let's see. Hmmm, Nope nothing.

01-28-03 Tuesday
Oh people! I am in dire need of coffee. Hold on. I am going to go make some before I fall over and die. Okay I got the pot started. It's a little bit cooler outside this morning and a little more wet. The Sun poked through some yesterday afternoon. Maybe it will come back later today.

I had started a journal entry yesterday when loud knocks interrupted me and presented my father at the door. I love when people frighten me and the dog by coming over unannounced. It was okay though. We hung out a bit and then went and had breakfast at Denny's. I never got back to the journal entry so I just scrapped it and started over today.

So what's going on today? Not much here. I need to make some phone calls and get some documents in order I guess. I need to get to work on the February desktop for you people in the Desktop of the Month Club. I have got a few ideas floating around for it. I just need to sit down and get going on it. Ah, coffee, hold on. There that's it.

So George W's state of the union address is tonight. Are you tuning in? It's kind of hard not to since it's on every channel. It will be interesting to hear what he's got to say. The state of my union is in need of some help, I know that much. It sure would be nice if the President said something meaningful about getting the economy back on it's feet and putting the focus on getting Americans some jobs. I really don't need to hear anything about Iraq. I'm not holding my breath about tonight's speech. I just liked fantasizing there for a second that I had faith in my government.

On to more uplifting news. I got a few emails about people wondering how my schooling situation was going. Yeah, I guess I haven't mentioned it here in a while. So far so good on the school front kids! I was accepted at the Art Institute of Portland. I was pretty sure I would be but it was still fun getting an acceptance letter in the mail. Right now I am trying to figure out with my financial aid officer how we are going to fund this great adventure. Once all that gets figured out I will be starting in April. I need to get a hold of my job placement guy and get placed somewhere as soon as possible. Everything seems to be moving along, I just wish it was April now and I could start and finally breathe a sigh of relief.

01-29-03 Wednesday
So I think I'm going to start getting up earlier in the morning. I seem to get more done in the morning and kind of waste my afternoons. Maybe I will get even more done if I get up earlier. Oh my gosh, I am totally turning into an old man. My grandparents and other older folk always get up at insane hours don't they? K kind of gets annoyed with the early to rise thing because that means that I'm usually falling asleep at a total grade school hour. She likes to stay up late. I think my school schedule will be mostly classes in the morning.

Well, did you see the President's speech? I was tempted to turn it a couple of times but held on through the whole thing. I tried to really concentrate on what he said, and it was tough staying focused. Boy oh boy. I'm not sure what to say. I'm going to have to check in to a few web sites and see what other people are saying. Quite strange. Did anyone else think that he threw way too much out there so that people wouldn't stay on any topic too long? He talked about all kinds of things that people haven't been discussing for a while. Drug addicts, aids in Africa, clones, hydro electric cars? Those are definitely topics of concern but they sure haven't been out in the forefront of public debate as of late. I told K that he should have thrown the violence in Hollywood in for good measure. It was totally a magic show I thought. Watch my hands wave around up here, look at these topics over here while I move the real topics past you and out the door. I'm not too good with figures but it seemed like he was throwing a lot of money at things. What is one to do? The democrats rebuttal was okay and stay more focused on current topics, but didn't really provide any plans or solutions either.

Oh, the other topic from yesterday was measure 28. It was a special election that we voted on here in Oregon. It didn't pass. It was suppose to raise taxes temporarily to try and help battle the budget crises that Oregon is currently facing. I'm not too keen on paying more taxes but somebody has to pay for our kids education, and police men. I don't really know the whole story of course but I'm sure there is some sort of reorganization that can be done to manage the budget better. I think that's what people who voted no wanted. State government to be more on the ball. Who knows.

Wow, discussing politics is a good way to fill up typing space huh? There's a few things going on today. I have a couple of meetings with people to discuss part time work. I hope those go well. Oh man, January is almost over isn't it? I didn't notice if the month went fast or slow. I think it was somewhere in between. Just a normal speed month.

TOP^

01-30-03 Thursday
The rain has been coming down the last few days. I got soaked waiting for the bus downtown yesterday. Lots of rain. That's good though because that means snow up in the mountains. I think the snow pack is a little low this year, and that always translates into someone moaning and groaning about the water supply in the summer.

I got started on the journal a little later this morning because we were busy taking Mr. Baptist and Ms. Bee to the airport. They're heading out to Las Vegas today. This is the second time this week that we dropped people off there. Earlier it was Lianne and Martin who were flying off to Hawaii to see Seth and Alicia. I wish I was flying somewhere! Always the driver never the flyer.

Have I mentioned yet this week how much I hate our bank? I think we'll be shopping for a new one soon. God they annoy me so much I can barely type. To be fair I'm sure their lameness is partly our fault. If we had loads of money sitting in there we wouldn't be running into these problems.

My meetings went well yesterday. The Job Procurement Program may be taken down from the shelf and dusted off soon here. I've got some good leads on some part time work and have quite the Student Employment Advisor in my corner now. You know it really won't take too much to turn things around here at the Noodle house.

Not too much planned for today that I know of. We'll probably take the boy for a walk later if the rain clears up a little. I'm kind of sleepy today. I don't think I slept very well last night. Maybe I should go take a nap before continuing my day.

01-31-03 Friday
The rain continues my friends. It must have rained all night. I have got to fix that stupid gutter by our bedroom window. It makes it sound like a torrential downpour is happening. Man, I can hear it from in here now. I wonder if something is blocking the gutter? It kind of looks like there's a hole in it. The news said yesterday that we are in the middle of a flood alert. We have to pay attention to the possible dangers of the rising rivers. There isn't any flooding yet but we have to be alert until Sunday evening just in case. I should go down in the basement and make sure it isn't filling with water.

People, brace yourselves for a bit of bad news. There isn't any coffee in the house! Oh no. What am I going to do? I can't believe that I am even able to type. Are any of my sentences making sense? I'm really going to have to find a solution to this coffee crises.

We had a pretty good time last night. We went and had cheap Mexican food at La Cruda with G and Stu. I was so hungry. Actually I am kind of feeling hungry again right now. Dang it, I didn't eat enough last night! After La Cruda we went to a new place called Nocturnal. It was pretty cool. It's kind of like an arts community center, bar, gallery, show venue place. The building was remodeled nicely. It looked like someone threw a lot of money at it. The bar was in the basement. I think we will be going back there. I think they were showing an art movie that someone made but we missed it.

Well, it's the last day of January people. Are you ready to be embraced by the evil clutches of February? What's going on today you ask? Why, I'm not too sure. I think I am going to send out a few resumes for the JPP, and then I'm going to do some drawing. I should start by going to the store and getting some coffee so that I can function properly.

February 2003

02-01-03 Saturday 9:43 AM
Good morning everyone! How are you all doing? We took on some water yesterday in the basement. I haven't checked it out yet today. Hopefully the water level has gone back down. The basement is unfinished and they actually call it a wet basement, so I guess the flood waters are suppose to do that. The furnace isn't coming on now once again. I hope the rising waters and furnace trouble aren't connected. I should probably go down and check it out soon.

Hey, I just went down and checked it out. The water has receded. The furnace seems to have the same problem that it has been having every year. Clogged trigger filter or something like that. I need to go back and look at last year's journal, I think the furnace trouble was right around the same time wasn't it? Well guess what kids? I'm fixing that piece of junk myself this time!

Yes we did have some flooding around the area yesterday. The heavy rains made the rivers rise. The news had shots of people driving and walking around in the knee deep waters. It wasn't nearly as dramatic as the floods of 96. Woo wee, now that was a flood. The rivers rose to the roof tops and everybody thought that downtown was going to be washed away.

Not much happening today. K is at work again today. She has been working more than she had thought she would be so that's good. I'm going to go in to school for an open house thingy and meet some of the teachers. That should be interesting I guess. I hope I can think of things to talk about and ask them. I'm not too good coming up with things to say to strangers at those sort of things. Maybe I'll think of some questions now before I go. Do you think I should drive over there? I don't really feel like riding the bus. Maybe I should drive. Yeah and then I'll buy some coffee down there and get my parking validated. Yep that's the plan.

I'm going to try to scrape some money together so that I can buy some Interpol tickets today. They're coming back to town on Valentines day so K and I thought that seeing them play would be our Valentine treat. They were excellent last time I saw them. K has been kicking herself ever since for not going. That first Interpol show was sold out and turning people away at the door. This Valentines show they're playing at a bigger venue. I hope tickets aren't already sold out. That would stink.

TOP^

02-02-03 Sunday
Hey there! I found it interesting that during yesterday's journal entry I had a shield of ignorance protecting me. I hadn't heard anything about the space shuttle Columbia blowing up yet at that time. Crazy. Pretty sad for the families. Could anything else happen in today's World? Why does everything have to be nuts all the time? Oh wait, I shouldn't be tempting the fates like that. So once again the news media is beating this story into the ground. I've learned my lesson and turned the TV off when it's behaving like that. Vultures. One last thought though: Didn't a black hawk helicopter crash last week killing it's crew? Why haven't there been any stories on those people and how great Americans they were? Astronauts must be higher on the food chain. I guess the space program does do more for the collective imagination. I still remember when the Challenger shuttle blew up. It seemed more shocking for everyone then because the shuttle program was so new.

I wonder how long I could keep a shield of ignorance up? I would have to avoid all news broadcasts, actually I would have to not watch TV at all. I couldn't look at any newspapers when I walked down the street. I couldn't look at any web sites that had news blurbs. I'd have to tell my friends and family to try as hard as they could to not talk about any current events with me. A shield of ignorance would be very difficult to maintain. It would be bliss though I think. If you could go about your life as you normally do without too much avoidance, only missing out on every form of news media, I think you'd be doing pretty good. That sort of thing is easier to do when you are on vacation. Even easier if you are vacationing in a different country.

I went to my school's open house yesterday. That was pretty alright. I got to see some of the student's work and talk to a few of the instructors. I am very eager to get started. This waiting around thing is driving me crazy. I realized yesterday that I really want to be the top of my class there. I want to do amazing work, get a 4 point average, and crush everyone with the Noodle magic. In a nice way of course. Is that too vain of me? Do I sound like a numbskull when I say that my number one goal is to be the Michael Jordan of the Art Institute?

We waited too long kids! Interpol is sold out. Wow 2 weeks before the show. Yes people, they are that good. They're awesome. If you haven't heard Interpol yet, run out and buy the CD NOW! We'll have to think of something else fun to do now on Valentines.

Not too much going on here today. I think we'll probably take the dog for a walk again. I took him yesterday out on the town and we had loads of fun. Thank God there's finally a new Simpsons on tonight! How long has it been? Sheesh!

02-03-03 Monday
I fixed the furnace yesterday. Yes sir. This guy. It was really easy. I guess seeing somebody come out twice before and do the same thing was lesson enough for me. The heat is on now and warming us nicely. The weather seems to have calmed down out there. The rains and floods have stopped for now. Wasn't ground hogs day a couple of days ago? I wonder what the verdict was?

K and I had a really good day yesterday. We went on a long walk with Phillip down the esplanade, across the Steel Bridge, into downtown and through the Pearl District. It was really cool to watch the high Willamette river and all the trees and debris zoom on by. The river was really brown. We wandered around the Pearl and looked at all of the shops and galleries. It was a nice day for walking and we managed to miss 2 flash rain storms and stayed dry the whole day.

We stopped at the CD store and took turns looking at music while the other one was outside with the dog. I stayed within my self imposed budget and got 2 used CDs. With K's funds she got a couple of cool kitchen items. I got the White Stripes CD, "White Blood Cells" and I got a Fontanelle CD, "Style Drift". Both are really good. I know I'm about a year behind on the White Stripes craze, but I'm older now and it takes me longer to get to things. Oh, there's a new Bonnie Prince Billy CD out that I was meaning to listen to but didn't.

After we were done with downtown, we headed back to SE and went to the Lucky Lab for lunch. They allow dogs in the back covered area, so Phillip could have his fun also. I had an excellent Italian grinder there. When we finally got Phillip home he was exhausted.

In the evening we watch a nice healthy hour of the Simpsons, set the VCR to record our other stories, and went out again to the Moon and Six Pence. There once again we watched Eugene's brother Brian, play in the old time band, Foghorn. Those boys are excellent. The Moon and Six Pence is a really nice English style pub.

To finish off the evening we went to the airport and picked up Mr. Baptist and Ms. Bee. Their trip to Vegas was just dandy.

So that was it for a fun Sunday. I've got some things I have to work on today that should keep me busy for most of the day. I should get to them now while I've got a fire going under me for them.

02-05-03 Wednesday
Good morning all. Gosh, it is a little chilly out this morning. I think I'll go put a sweatshirt on. How have you all been doing? It's been a quiet week so far here at the Noodle compound. I am pretty sleepy right now. I don't think I slept very well last night. I don't know if I dare speak it, but I think I actually drank too much coffee yesterday. See, and now I need more coffee to bring me back up to center. Oh that evil bean.

Man, we were TV watching fools last night. We are so bad. We watched 24, Smallville, NYPD Blue and that new show, Kingpin. That's all the TV we watched all day so maybe we aren't totally sick. 4 hours is way below the daily American average isn't it? All of the shows were pretty good. Kingpin won the top spot while Smallville crawled into the stink spot. Tuesday is a good TV night for us.

Not too much going on here today. We've finally got all of our W2s in so I'm going to see if I can start on our taxes today. I can't believe it. I sat on my lame ass all last year and still made more money than people in some countries that work their fingers to the bone. That's disgusting. God bless America! It stinks now because I underestimated my figures for financial aid, and I won't be getting as much funding. I made too much not working. Oh man, what the heck is wrong with me? I'm complaining now about not getting as much free money. Okay I'm going to slowly back up out of this one now.

I am still hunting for that music program manual that I keep mentioning here off and on. Have you guys seen it? I need to locate it, or maybe just forget it and get back to making some Double Darren tunes. Once I'm back in school I've been thinking about putting a flyer up on the bulletin board in the commons area looking for more band members. Maybe I should wait and meet some of my classmates before signing them up to something that would require me to spend more time with them.

TOP^

02-06-03 Thursday
So much for this week. On with the weekend. I know the weeks not over yet, but it still seems to have gone pretty fast. Unfortunately it was one of those weeks where I waited around for people I've contacted about stuff to call. I'm going to stop doing that. I've wasted a lot of time. I need to be more aggressive, get back in touch with them first and keep at them. Screw it. I also need to stop waiting for others and just go forward on my own. You've got to do it for you and yours because no ones gonna do it for you. What? I have no idea where this is going. Actually I do, but my riddles aren't helping you at home out.

I had a horrible dream last night. I dreamt that I was in some sort of interior design class and we were listening to the teacher talk and we were moving some boxes around for some reason. Some things that I can't remember too much about happened, and then the dream sort of switched to a camera view like it was a news broadcast or something. The long shot was of a bunch of people carrying boxes across this log that was acting as a bridge over a river of lava. As we were watching from the bank of the river, the log dislodged and fell into the lava. A man was instantly vaporized as he fell into the hot lava. It was so creepy. He just slipped under the surface and disappeared as he entered without a splash. The people outside of the lava were all freaked out but the people who were burning in it didn't seem too bothered. A lady was trying to pull her friend out and her arms dripped off, then her stomach fell in, chest, neck, head dripped away. Everyone looked like they were covered in spaghetti sauce. Very gruesome. Body parts coming off and floating down in the lava and burning up.

It seems a little silly now and overly dramatic, but boy was I freaked out when I woke up. I'm sure it wouldn't take someone too long to come up with some meaning to that one. Interesting though: I wasn't burning up in the lava. I was watching in horror from safety as others burned up. Hmm? What does that imply?

So is there another weird email virus going around? I just got another email from a friend who I know didn't send it with a virus sounding attachment on it. There was no message just the attachment and the subject title was something like "Cool Flash Here". I hate the idea that someone could be getting email from me that I didn't send. What in the World? I'm going to delete all of the addresses out of my address books and only check email on my MAC. Yeah, that will show them.

Well, today I really need to start the taxes. I know I said I was going to yesterday, but I didn't get to it. Not too much going on besides that today. I think tonight we would like to try to go to First Thursday and check out some of the gallery openings. That's always fun. I need to go get a paper and read about what's out there art wise so that I can plan a travel route.

02-08-03 Saturday 9:23 AM
Good morning Sunshine! How are you all doing this lovely morning? It looks like we have some frost outside. It seems to me that this is only the 2nd window scraping morning that we have had this winter. That is of course if my records are correct. I think I heard the weather man say as I was drifting off to sleep last night, that this is going to be the last cold weekend of the winter. Is that true? Could it be that we are leaving the winter behind us now and moving on? Well that is great news! I've got some fresh coffee brewing right now. Hold on one second while I go get a cup.

Yes! That coffee is exactly what I was needing. It occurred to me this morning, or maybe it was last night, that I am going to need to speed up my typing. I'm going to be taking quite a few coding classes and html stuffs once school starts. I'm sure the instructor isn't going to wait around for me and my hunt and peck style while I look for the tilde key. I think that I am going to start practicing here in the journal and type as fast as I can every morning. I will ask you to please forgive the typos in advance. Actually, that will be good for the journal. I will get more thoughts down before I forget them.

I saw a great DVD the other day. I watched "Spirited Away". It is a beautiful Japanese anime movie. It had a great children's fantasy, fairy tale, wicked witch story. There are some cool creatures and ideas in it. I was totally sucked into the World they created and was glued to the TV from start to finish. It was created by the same people who made "Princess Mononoke". I don't think it's available here in the states yet. I borrowed it from my friend who ordered it from Hong Kong. It might actually still be in movie theaters around town now that I think about it. The version I saw only had English subtitles. I'm really glad I saw it that way. I watched the preview of the US version on the internet and thought the English overdub stunk. I think the original Japanese voices really added to the atmosphere of the story for me. Keep your eyes peeled and watch it when you get a chance.

Taxes are all finished up. Maybe I shouldn't talk about it here since IRS spies are everywhere, but I'm never really sure if I do them right. I pretty much just followed along and did my taxes like I did last year. Nobody gave me any grief last year so I should be okay right? This is the earliest that we have ever had them done. We will be getting a pretty nice refund this year. You know, they can't really tax you if you don't make any money during the year.

Tonight the cute kids of Fantastic Idea Project will be playing their pop rock tunes at Disjecta. It should be an excellent show. You all should attend. The lovely G did the poster art for tonight's event.

02-09-03 Sunday
That furnace! It stopped working again last night. Don't worry though, I went down and fixed it again. It was that crazy clogged trigger filter again. At least I know how to fix it now without paying. I need a longer wire for plunging.

My arms are so sore. I am just not meant for lifting, people. I went smelt fishing with Mr. Baptist yesterday. Lifting that net up and down the river is what did it to my wimpy arms. I had a whole bunch of fun fishing. We caught quite a few smelt. It was slow going at first but it picked up when the sun started setting. We are soaking them in a salt and honey brine right now and then we will smoke them. I'll be eating fish every day for a while now. Things that you catch yourself taste better you know.

The Fantastic Idea Project show last night was great. You guys did a good job. I like that Disjecta place. The other bands that played were pretty cool also. There was some low tech electronics experimenting that made me want to get in front of an audience one of these days with the Double Darren project. That would be fun. I need to get more than 2 songs done though. I was looking through some stacks of papers the other day and found a list of band names that we had been working on. One of them was really good and I think it should be used for something in the future.

I think I'm going to head over to my friend Officer Steve's house today. There are some video games that need playing.

TOP^

02-11-03 Tuesday
Hello, hello there. I hope this morning sees you well. The sun is shining bright today. I know that this may be a little bit early, but I was walking to my car last night and I got that whiff, that smell of summer. You know how the air always felt and tasted during summer? I swear I caught some of it. Maybe it was spring that I tasted. Maybe it was just someone's dryer vent. What ever it was it was good and I'm excited and anxious for the real smells, tastes, and feelings of spring and summer.

Speaking of smells and tastes, I have been a fish smoking fool these last few days. We're actually still smoking the first batch, so I guess I haven't been too crazy with the smoking. We've got an electric smoker going on the back porch. The smell of smoked smelt is slowly trickling through the house. No, no, that's a good thing. It makes me hungry though. I will probably take out the first batch when I get done here. I hope that we don't give ourselves food poisoning or botulism. That wouldn't be good. They've been smoking for 24 hours so we should be okay right?

I have free seminars at the school every day this week. They're little 2 hour overviews of different topics. Last night we took a basic tour of the digital video editing program, Avid Express. It was pretty cool. I enjoy video editing. I have to be careful now with my student discount on computer software. I can see myself getting into lots of expensive programs. Luckily having to pay for the schooling will keep me from buying too much of anything. During tonight's seminar we will be looking at various multimedia program demos. This is a good way for me to slowly slide back into the school routine.

We are going to take the dog for a long walk this morning. That dude needs some exercise!

02-12-03 Wednesday
We've got more Sun this morning. It's so nice around these parts. I feel sorry for you people that are still stuck in winter. Yesterday was just gorgeous. We went on a long walk at the University of Portland with the dog. That was pretty fun. When we got home we did some chores and I mowed the lawn. Yep that's right. I mowed the lawn already this early in the year. Is that strange? No, what am I talking about? People have been cutting the grass for a couple of weeks now. Our lawn looks great. I remember being fixated on the condition of the lawn last year, and this year won't be any different. When it gets weed filed and dried out later, I need to remember how beautiful it looks now. Green and full of life. Oh man, almost nothing beats the smell of freshly cut grass. Well I guess the smell of freshly baked bread does.

So I had a semi-bad dream last night, or maybe it was this morning. It wasn't a scary dream though. A friend of mine was sad and worried about the state of the World and the state of everything. I felt so bad for the person and was surprised that this person felt this way. In the dream I started getting worried and anxiety filled. When I woke up I realized it wasn't dream and I've been a ball of nerves like that for a year or so now. Then I came in here to write the journal and I read the internet news sites about imminent terrorist attacks and war. I make the rounds on other journals and blogs to find that they are writing about being freaked out and worried. Now I am writing about being stressed out about current events, and how uneasy I am about the future. It's like a big freaking snow ball getting bigger as it rolls down the hill. I'm so tired of worrying about everything. I've got to get myself out of this funk. I will try to focus on the positive things like mowing the lawn.

Yeah. See, now I lost my train of thought. Okay positive, positive. Hold on one second. I've got to get some more coffee and think about this one for a bit. Oh here's one, a band that we really like is coming to town on Sunday. Notwist is playing at the Blackbird I hear. I'm going to have to double check my information, but that's cool. Maybe that will help make up for missing Interpol on Valentines day. You know, that Blackbird place gets some pretty good acts in.

I have been doing some research on the CD ROM called "Gadget: Past as Future". It was created in 1994 by a man in Japan named Haruhiko Shono. I remember holding the game in my hands back then thinking I should get it but never did. A few years later I found a book on it that was real cheap because the cover was ripped. The images in the book were great. I was really into the whole "steam punk" thing back then, which I would group this into. Really fancy 3D computer rendered illustrations that were top notch at the time. The game really wasn't much of a game as it was a interactive story or novel that you traveled through. It was critically acclaimed and I think it still holds mustard today. I found a few places on the internet that still have the CD ROM for sale. I should get it.

The reason I've been looking into it is because I would like to do something like that one of these days. Well since I haven't actually looked at it, I would like to do something that I am imagining it to be like. I'm trying to think of different ideas and projects that I could work on once I'm back in school. I'm working on putting together a list of things that I like style wise so that I can have a direction to explore once I get in. Gosh, is that weird? No, I don't think so. Man! April is just so far away. I need to start schooling now. A "These are a few of my favorite things" list probably isn't such a bad idea. I could make the list and then explore what it is that I like about those things. Then whittle it down even further until I have the whole thing mapped out.

02-15-03 Saturday
Hello everybody! How are you all doing? Things are going pretty well here. It's raining outside this morning. The lawn is getting some moisture so that is good. Hopefully it will stay green longer this year. I haven't tuned in to the journal for a couple of days. Sorry about that. I haven't forgotten about you though, I swear. A few things happened while I was away.

On Thursday I was called in to do some freelance at a pretty cool company. Color corrections is mostly what I worked on. Finally someone called me instead of me sleeping on their doorstep! I was so pleased. It was nice to be doing the work I was put on this Earth to do once again. I am on the call list now there which is cool. I was hoping to go in again on Friday, but they had it covered. I would love to get more work from them in the future. That would work so well with my impending school schedule.

Yes School. Thursday night I finished up my week of free seminars there. The talks and demos were pretty cool. It definitely wetted my appetite for more sitting in classroom activities. Wednesday's discussion on the importance of a broad liberal arts education to go with your design education was particularly interesting to me. I totally agree with casting a wide net when it comes to interests and knowledge. It helps your work I think. That was kind of what I was exploring in the last journal entry. They mentioned some writers and books I would like to look into. It's too bad I have that "can't finish a book I start" thing hanging over my head still.

Thursday's talk was pretty good also, but it left a strange taste in my mouth. Maybe it was because I was tired from actually working 8 hours that day. They had a panel of people talking who were currently in the biz. It gave me the feeling of a have and have nots. Being in the audience I kind of felt talked down to. Maybe I