05-03-03 Saturday
Good morning everybody! How are you doing on this lovely weekend morning? Hooray! Saturday is here at last! People, the coffee here in the Noodle compound this morning is fabulous! Yesterday was a lovely sunny day, of which I couldn't take part because of being in school all day. I hoping that today will be nice. I think it will probably be. It's a little overcast right now, but the sun will burn that off in a little while. I should make getting outside and taking the dog for a walk one of my top priorities today.

Well kids I am all caught up with my school work! I had a couple of assignments that were bogging me down a bit this week, but those are finished up. Saying I'm all caught up implies that I was behind, which wasn't true. I was trying to finish these things up ahead of schedule so that I could take it easy this weekend while my grandparents are here. Mission accomplished! Now I won't be fidgeting and thinking of projects that are due while I'm sitting next grandma. The last project I have to put the nail in the coffin of is my Transmission West contest piece. It is so close to being finished that it isn't funny. Maybe I will work on that today. I also have some reading homework, but that's no big deal.

There was a show last night that I wanted to go to but didn't. Cex, and one of those bands I mentioned here the other day, The Postal Service were playing at the Blackbird. I think it probably would have been a good one. I couldn't get a hold of any of my posse to go with me, so I was going to go by myself, but then I got sleepy and filled my belly up with food and fell asleep in front of the TV. That's okay though, I really shouldn't be spending money now anyway, seeing how I don't have any. It might have been sold out because it had good write ups in at least 2 of the papers here. That makes me want to check out that whole Postal Service CD now. I would also like to hear the new Cex album. They gave him quite a nice review also.

Oh yeah, one other music news note. Bonnie Prince Billy will be playing an in store show on Monday! That will be his only stop here. Crazy. That's going to be crowded. I'll be in school at that time on Monday so I'll be missing it. It should be good though, you guys should go.

You know I can't believe that it hasn't been a month yet since I have been in school. It seems like it has been longer than a month. More like 6 months. Not necessarily a bad thing, just a current observation. How does that work though? I started on April 7th, it's not May 7th yet but next week we will be in week 5 of school? There's some sort of crazy counting going on there. Maybe it's because the week count started on the week of April 7th as 1. No, that's not right, I don't know. Enough already though with the counting, math homework is tomorrow.

My current extra curricular studying is now focusing on the Dada movement. I checked out a book from the library that I am trying to read about the artist Marcel Duchamp. He made quite a mark in the Dada and Surrealist movements. He has a lot of graphic design work and commercial illustration that is good. Gosh I love reading about this stuff. I wish I was a faster reader so I could get further in these books before having to return them. I think that a revisiting of the Dada movement in today's climate would be a good thing. The ideas behind their disgust for everything still holds true today and would probably work well. Artists were so much more passionate then. Come on people lets start up a movement! If any of you are interested or know someone who wants to join forces with me let me know. Maybe there is something already heading in that direction then I need to find out about it and join up. There could be some sort of web based uprising that could be kind of cool. Well, I don't know, maybe that wouldn't be cool. Wait I can't worry about it being cool, I just have to do it. I should write up a manifesto.

Whoops. Ranting time is over, I have to take K to work now.

05-04-03 Sunday
Well hello there once again. How are you doing this morning? I am doing pretty good. You know, I may have to stop right here and go make some coffee. Yes I think I'm going to definitely need some caffeine. One second. There we go. Got her started. I will be wide awake in no time. It's rainy outside once again. The only beautifully sun filled day was Friday. That's okay though, it was enough of a taste to wet our appetite for the soon to be summer weather.

K and I stayed up late watching movies last night. We saw "Signs" and the movie "Devil's Playground". They were pretty good. The Devil's Playground is a documentary about Amish kids who turn 16 and are allowed to go experience the World to decide if they wanted to remain with the church or not. I fell asleep during that one, but what I saw of it was good. Signs, that Mel Gibson, M. Night Shyamalan movie was surprisingly better than I thought it would be. I had heard from other people that it stunk, but I thought it was pretty good. It really had a weird feel to it. Some how sort of claustrophobic.

I got a little out of control with the art movement planning yesterday. I sent off emails and made some plans. How does one start an art movement? I think that might be almost too lofty of a goal for me right now. I always get excited with an idea then I type stuff out about it and the idea fades after a page of typing. I think maybe instead of a full blown movement, I will just work on a few styles in my own work or follow along one of the other established movements. I will probably go the digital art route. That needs a movement right? One of the ideas I'm working on now is Abandonism. Hey see, if it takes off then we'll have a record of me talking about it here in the journal on this date. Gosh, me typing about it just right there has made my interest fade in it some more.

Oh my goodness! Tomorrow is the fateful day of Cinco De Mayo! My personal Friday the 13th, day of evil. I think I wrote about it here extensively last year. The curse may be broken. Nothing too bad has happened in the last few years. I need to still be careful tomorrow all the same. Take it easy Noodle walk gingerly.

I have a couple of chores I have to get finished today. I have to write up a to do list for myself. The whole daily planner, to do list has been working pretty well for me. Oh yeah, math homework.

05-05-03 Monday 7:25 AM
Happy Cinco De Mayo to you! Good morning kids. We are down to our last few kernels of coffee here in the Noodle house. It's a sad day. We'll have to go and beg for coffee on the street now. "Please sir, spare some coffee?". It's still wet out there. I need it to dry out for a little while so I can mow the lawn again. I waited too long between times last time and the lawn mower had some trouble in the taller grass. Maybe I should go and get it's blade sharpened. Hold on, let me go see if there is any coffee to even microwave.

We had a nice visit with my grandparents over the weekend. I would like to visit them one of these years down in Roseville, but I don't see much traveling anywhere in our near future. Probably not until school is done. We went and saw my dad perform in a play last night. He did really well. He was actually the highlight of the show. Everyone else did okay, but the whole thing went a little long for my taste.

Well folks, it's Monday. Mondays are so lame. This year Cinco De Mayo is on a Monday to boot. Fateful day. I went back and read last years Cinco De Mayo entry and it was pretty good about explaining the horrors that befall yours truly on this day. This may turn out to be a pretty good week though, we'll see. I have half of a good feeling about it. Or as I would say in my math class that I am going to this morning, "I am 50% sure that this week will turn out alright."

Have any of you seen the new X-Men movie yet? A couple of our friends did and said it wasn't that bad. I didn't really have that strong of a desire to see it. The special effects on that Nightcrawler character look pretty cool. Maybe we'll go see it when it hits the cheap theaters.

Well I better hit the road people. I've got to get ready for my school day now. I think when I get home today I am going to spend the whole day working on my Transmission West piece. I only have 4 more days until my final deadline to mail it in to the contest.

TOP^

05-06-03 Tuesday
Howdy partners! I see some sunshine out there right now. Could that be a sign that good weather is in store for us? I hope it sticks. I need some sunshine on my pale skin and blood shot eyes. Much love goes out to the lovely Ayrica, who stepped up to the plate and gave her coffee to help keep the Noodles going and in turn helped in stoking the fires of the revolution. I can smell the wonderful coffee brewing right now. My mouth is watering now in anticipation. Yes sir!

All of the cats in the neighborhood like to come over to our house and use our yard as their own personal cat box. This morning when I got up I saw 2 of them, the ones I call "Stupid Looking Face" and "Big Fat Messy Fur Ball Stupid Sleeper", were chasing a mouse! No please, no mice near the house please! I hope they got that mouse. If all the cats in town are going to hangout here then they better be doing some work. It was funny, that's the most I have ever seen Big Fat Messy Fur Ball Stupid Sleeper move. The idea of our basement filled will mice makes me want to scream. Not in a stand on a chair with a broom sort of way, but a "Get off my land you filthy bastards!" way. If Pierre wasn't so sickly and didn't act so stoned when he was outside, I would make him get out there and help his feline brothers get those mice.

Okay, where was I? I just lost my train of thought and went off on a day dream there for a few seconds. Lets see... Well, today is going to be a good work day I think. I had a good night of sleep, I'm all loaded up with coffee and I have my weekly and daily plan all mapped out! I'm good to go. The daily isn't mapped out yet, but I will be doing that as soon as I hang up here. Getting things organized and having a to do list is so helpful. You guys should really try it.

I went and tried to check out the free Bonnie Prince Billy concert at the record store on my way to school last night. The place was packed and people were standing out on the street. Dang! I would have liked to have seen that. He didn't start until the same time as my class started so I had to go. I don't understand why he didn't do a whole show at an actual venue? Was he just passing through or what? I need to find our Bonnie Prince Billy CD right now! I think K lost it. She says it's not lost but I don't see it anywhere. Oh wait I can't listen to it anyway. I'm still only listening to Hail to the Thief.

What else has been going on? It seems like there was something I was going to report here, but now it has slipped my mind.

05-09-03 Friday
Good morning my friends. How is everybody doing? I'm doing pretty good. I thought I would check in with you quickly this morning since it has been a couple of days since my last report. It's been rainy off and on the last couple of days and kind of chilly. I think that it needs to hurry up and get warmer.

People I have been kicking ass and taking names these last few days. Man! It feels good. I finished work on a couple of projects last night that turn turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself. Yes people, one of those projects was the infamous Transmission West competition piece. Woo Hoo! I think it looks pretty good. I'm a little too close to it at the moment to be objective, it's all up to the judges now. I'm mailing it off today. Can it be Friday already? This week went by fast! A couple of more classes and then it's the weekend for this Noodle.

So here's some interesting news. The lovely Ms. Bee just landed a job in Arizona! What? Yes you heard it here first. Mr. Baptist and Ms. Bee are going to be moving to Arizona! Hooray for her and boo for us. We are already missing them and they aren't eve gone yet. Good for her! A better job in this stinky economy. I wish she was able to find that job here. It is all very exciting. The Noodles are visiting Arizona! I hear it's a little bit more sunny there than here. This is all brand new news so we'll have to let it all sink in and discuss it here further.

I've got to get going. I have to find my mother's address so I can send her a mother's day card. I've also got to get packed up for school so I can hurry up and catch the bus. I'm trying to steer away from the whole waking K up in the morning thing to take me to school. Let's just say she works a bit better in the later morning, early afternoon hours.

05-10-03 Saturday
Say hello to the weekend! Hello weekend. Well people do you have any big plans for the weekend? Not too much lined up here. I think that my first order of business will be to make some coffee. I should have started that before starting here. I think I am going to do a bit of relaxing these next 2 days. Yeah, that will be my plan. I have an assortment of chores to do today but after I burn through those, I'm going to relax. I also should mow the lawn today, but after that I'm going to relax. Oh yes and healthy dose of math homework, after which will be relaxing.

So I got my Transmission West design piece off in the mail. I am so happy that bad boy is done. I figure the thing took around 24 hours to complete. I'm going to have to speed things up huh? No, It was pretty complicated. It's in the hands of the judges now. All we can do is pray. I hope they like it. I've been looking at it for so long now that I hate it. Gosh that project is finished and now I'm going to have to find another contest to enter. That's right, the plan is still to enter as many student design projects as possible while in school. This Transmission West project hasn't scared me away from contests yet.

The new Matrix movie is out pretty soon isn't it? Is it this weekend or next weekend? I think it's next weekend. I am definitely going to see that puppy. It looks like it is going to be pretty exciting. You know, I can't remember the last time I was in a movie theater watching a new movie. It's been so long. I am interested in seeing X-Men now after hearing the geeks at school talk about it so much.

I have continued to look into art movements more this week. After Fed Exing my project away, K and I went over to the downtown Borders bookstore and looked around. You know, I think they have the best graphic design books in town. Maybe even better than Powell's. I'm not sure though maybe I need to investigate Powell's more because it's hard to imagine anyone beating Powell's. Anyway, I checked out some of there selection on different art movements. I'm beginning to think that what I probably will look at starting first is a "school of thought". Perhaps that's how it works. Start up a style, work it into a school of thought, and then into an art movement. Once again though, why would I be interested in all that work? I need to figure out where this sick fascination is coming from. One thing is for sure though, I need to write up a manifesto.

TOP^

05-11-03 Sunday
Good Sunday morning to you kids! I was trying to sleep in this morning, but just couldn't keep my eyes closed. My brain had already begun it's day and that requires quite a bit of effort for me, the thinking part, so I'm up and at 'em. I need to pull it together and get focused. I need to get me some of that microwaved coffee for starters. People, it looks like it might be a nice day today outside. That's good because K and I are planning on getting out there and doing some yard work today. That lawn is totally going to get mowed today!

We went and had a lovely dinner at Lianne and Martin's new house. Looking good kids. They are getting things organized, and painting the walls. It's coming along nicely. Phillip loves the new house. It has a great yard that he just runs crazy in. It's good because he gets totally warn out. He was being a barking pill to me yesterday so he needed to get some of that energy out.

Martin got me a lead on a cafe that might be interested in showing some Noodle art in their establishment. At first I wasn't too interested in some extra work to make me more nuts, but I looked around this morning and saw that I have quite a bit of drawings laying around here in the laboratory. There are a bunch of sketches that I have scanned and used to make my digital work. That stuff might be interesting to mount nicely and frame. Maybe I'll look into that. I think I have quite a few scan drawings squirreled away. I really don't want to sell them but the money sure would help. Maybe I'll beef the price up on them.

I'm listening to "This American Life" right now on the radio. It's one of those gut punching episodes. It's distracting me from my typing. Very sad one. Come on Noodle, focus. Nope it's not working. Man this is a good one.

Well, it's Sunday and I still haven't done my math homework. I keep telling myself that I need to do it earlier in the week, but here we are. I think next week it will be easier to do it earlier because I don't have as much of the other homework. Thank goodness that math class is half over. I think I'm doing alright in it so far. I'm keeping it together.

05-12-03 Monday
Man, 6 hours is not enough sleep for me. I think I need a full 8 to really do me good. I don't know why it was so hard to sleep last night. Maybe it's the fact that there's no room in that silly bed with all of the cats and dogs and chickens that are sleeping in there with us, K couldn't handle all of the snoring and went in the front room. I hope I can stay awake during my math class.

It looks like the rain is back today. We picked the right day to do our yard chores. Yesterday was a nice day. We got the yard in tip top shape. It looks good out there. K got some more stuff planted and I manicured the lawn. I really need to try to mow it sooner, that lawn mower is starting to sound funny. It really strains on the long parts.

Did you all wish your mother and happy mother's day yesterday? I called my ma and was glad to talk to her. I hope I can go over and visit her again soon.

Time to make up the old to do list. Speaking of to do lists, have you checked out the new ipod yet. Oh man, I would love to have one of those. It now has a daily planner in it and to do lists. If I win some money or rob a bank, I'm going to get one. On my list this week at school I'm going to get started on registering for my summer schedule. Yeah I know, spring is only half over. I just do what I'm told. I also have another html test on Thursday.

I almost totally burst into tears yesterday. My new Radiohead album has a crack in it! What am I going to do? I have been listening to it every single day and now it skips. Maybe I listened to it so much it broke. I'm going to try a couple of different players to see if maybe my lame boom box is the problem. If not then I am going to have to wait till June like everybody else to get my Radiohead CD.

My computer is telling me the server is down over on the noodle web. Does that mean you, my cherished friend and reader, can't see this now? No! Damn it! I'm going to be worried sick all day at school now about you not being able to keep updated with the happenings here at the laboratory. If I can't get this up before school, then I'll try when I get home.

05-14-03 Wednesday
HEY EVERYBODY! I'm back. I know you were all worried sick. The ole web site was down for a couple of days. I had thought that something was wrong with my server, but then I did some investigating and found out it was my fault. My domain name had expired! For a brief moment there JackNoodle.com was unregistered and could have been bought up by anyone. Oh goodness! I would have to have opened back up with JackNoodle.org. Everything is straightened away now though. Lets promise to never be separated like that again, okay? I thought I would be a little more freaked out by the web site being down, but I think I did alright. I was a little uncomfortable without my email. I know a couple of you tried to send me email and it got returned. Re-send it! One final note on the downed site, the day my domain expired on: May 5th, 2003. See I told you, Cinco De Mayo! Forever the day of evil towards Noodle.

What has been happening during my brief absence? Not too much around these parts. Yesterday was an absolutely beautiful day outside. The Sun was shining and it was warm out. K, Phillip, and I went on an awesome walk. We all walked over to La Cruda, sat outside and had Mexican food and drinks. We were so hungry! I actually got kind of hot on our walk. That was a strange feeling. Phillip gets heated quick also, so you have to keep an eye on him and make sure he drinks lots of water.

I think we are going to try to go and see The Matrix, "Reloaded" tonight. Yep. Martin found a place that is showing it before Thursday. It looks like it will be pretty entertaining. Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and others were talking about the movie on Charlie Rose last night. They sure were talking it up big. I guess that's what they are suppose to do. They were saying that these movies will forever change the way we view cinema. They also said things like it's as important a trilogy as the Star Wars movies. Do you think so? I don't know, those are awfully strong statement. Most of the interview turned into a love fest for the directors who weren't there, the Wachowski bothers. Is Reloaded getting bad reviews? I'm looking at review now for my spelling check and it doesn't look very favorable to the movie. Hold on, I'll stop reading it now.

For those of you worried about my broken Radiohead CD situation, worry no more. I safely loaded it onto the computer and it still plays in a couple of my players without skipping. I think that this CD will forever change the way we view cinema, and it's as important an album as the Star Wars trilogies. What? No it's really good. It may be a little too early to pick a summer album, but this might be it. K thinks that it isn't fun enough to be a summer album. She thinks it's more of a winter CD. It is pretty dark.

I have to go in and meet with the multimedia department head today and figure out my summer schedule. I should probably sit down here before going to the school and figure out what classes I want to take. I should try to take courses that aren't too difficult for me. It might be hard to focus sitting in a classroom with all of the summer fun going on all around me.

After my meeting, I MUST hit the books. If I'm not careful it's going to be Sunday again and I will be asking myself why I hadn't done my math homework yet. I really must study for my html test tomorrow also. Oh god, that's going to suck if I stay up late watching the Matrix then go in to take a test the next morning. Another thing I have to do today is get a grip on our bill crisis here in the Noodle compound. Things in the financial world here are absolutely out of control. Argh! Okay, deep breaths, it's okay, breath, you'll be fine. Calm down. Remember your blood pressure.

TOP^

05-16-03 Friday
Oh my gosh! I am so tired this morning! We decided to take Phillip into the pet emergency at 1 in the morning. He's okay people, don't freak out. Phillip had a crazy rash that was turning into huge welts last night, making his body swell up in bumps everywhere. We think he rolled around in something he was allergic to on our wonderful walk the other day or he ate something that was bad for him. God people, pets! Well we took him in, they gave him some medicine, gave him some steroids and the bumps shrank. Now I am tired. I've got school this morning! At least the weekend is almost here huh?

We didn't see the Matrix on Wednesday after all. Decided it wasn't financially prudent at that time. We were right. How was it though, people? K and I will probably try to sneak in without paying or call in a favor from our movie guy. Oh well.

Not much going on. School in about an hour and a half. Must go get ready. I need to shave my beard off. It's really itching me. I hope I don't fall asleep in the middle and accidently slip and slit my throat open. School went pretty well this week. I think my html test yesterday went good. I'm learning quite a bit in that class. Today should be a pretty mellow school day. I just have to stay awake or at least appear to look like I am awake.

People, I really need to get a part time job unfortunately. Have you guys and gals heard of anything? I did quite an extensive search yesterday with my standards totally lowered and I still didn't see anything promising. Maybe I'll go check the student board at the school again today. They don't seem to be updating it though. I'm almost to the point where I will do about anything for some extra dough. Sucks!

05-17-03 Saturday
Good morning! I am doing much better today than I was yesterday morning. I actually got some rest last night! Phillip is doing good once again. His giant welts are all gone now. Crazy. You know, Bostons as a breed are generally allergic to onions. I wonder if Phillip got a hold of some onions while we were eating at La Cruda? If that's the case, then no more onions for that guy. Ah yes, a good morning. I've got a fresh cup of coffee here now and I am ready to take on the day.

Okay, where to begin. Well, it's Saturday. It's the weekend. That's a good thing. I have a couple of assignments to work on this weekend, but nothing too demanding. You all would be quite proud of me. I actually did some math homework on Wednesday instead of Sunday this week. I still have quite a bit more that I could do with it though. I don't have too many chores to do today. That's nice. I do have to get some bills in the mail today though. That's not too nice. I think the first order of business today is to get the print version of the Transmission West project finally finished up. I just have a couple wires left to connect and then Eugene should be able to slap it down on the press and go to town.

Oh yes, I figured out the next competition I am going to enter. I am going to enter the Canon Digital Creators Contest 2003.This one is going to be tough. I think that it is open to everyone, not just students. The grand prize is 20,000 dollars. Wouldn't that be nice. I'll probably enter the illustration category again. I really need to get going on my photography work, animation work, and flash work so I can enter more categories. I have an idea already for my entry I think. Whatever I do end up doing is really going to have to kick ass for me to compete. I really have to up the ante this time. I need to win some of these competitions. The deadline for the Canon contest isn't until September 24th, so that gives me quite a bit of time to do something really great.

I was staring at the walls the other day and my eyes roamed over the titles of the books I have sitting on the bookshelf here in the laboratory. I have quite the collection of interesting design and multimedia books starting to stack up. I must have had lots of money for book buying way back in '96 and '97 because that's the date on most of these books. Boy those were the days. I took a book on graphic design and digital media to school with me yesterday to read between classes. Man, it was so good! The ideas and concepts in the book reminded me why I like all things digital and gave me a new zeal and excitement for this crap again. I went on Amazon to see if they had an updated version of the book and they didn't. I did find a book by Hillman Curtis about process and inspiration that looks pretty amazing. I remember holding it in my hands and thumbing through it the other day but I can't remember where I was. It's cool on Amazon now they have like 8 pages of the books that you can read to get a taste of what it is about.

Oh, got to run. K needs a ride to work now.

05-19-03 Monday 6:46 AM
Oh yes. Monday morning once again. I think the weekend wasn't long enough. Argh. Well I guess Monday will be over before I know it. It looks like today may be a nice day. Yesterday was pretty nice. It was fairly sunny most of the day. The Sun is shining right now. I think that if it stays sunny like this, I will mow the lawn this afternoon between classes. It's not too tall right now, I just want to get it before it gets too tall and thick like last week.

How was your weekend? Ours was good. We went and saw the Matrix Reloaded yesterday afternoon. Yeah. I'm not sure if I liked it or not. It was okay. It was a very hyper movie. We did talk about it quite a bit afterwards which is often good when a movie can get you doing that. We were wondering actually about the state of cinema. One day soon, if it hasn't already happened, they will make a movie that is entirely action sequences and special effects with no story. Yeah my feelings about the Matrix are strange. I may have to go see it again to figure out what I think. I do think that has been way to hyped by everybody and my expectations were pretty high. At one point during the beginning, I thought the movie was kind of boring and then at the end I was thinking it was too much and I was over stimulated. Both ends of the spectrum. The effects were definitely spectacular. They didn't blend them with the story very well though. The story clunked along and then everything stopped, the music started up and there was a 15 minute special effects fight sequence thrown in. Then the story would clunk along some more and then the loud music would start up and a giant battle on a freeway happened for some reason. Yeah, I'll probably go see it again though, so I guess they won.

People, it pains me to no end that the season finale of the Simpsons was last night! The season can't be over already! It just started. The season enders were okay. They haven't done any season cliff hangers on the Simpsons since the "Who shot Mr. Burns" episodes. I wish they would do something like that again. Gosh, now I have to wait all summer and way into the fall before I can see some new episodes.

The season finale of 24 is tomorrow. The final hour of the 24 hours. That was a pretty good show this season. It sure was over the top quite a few times. Other than that I think that's it for our TV viewing season. Now we can get on with our lives and get out in the great outdoors.

Oh yeah, I meant to comment on this last week. I can't believe I am admitting to watching this but did you notice the song that started up when Joey finally decided to go up to Rachell's hotel room and bed her on the Friends season finale? It was Interpol! Ha ha Interpol was on Friends. What does that do to your alterna-cred? It can't be good for it. Wait a second what does that do to your web-cred, talking about Friends in your journal? Oops. Uh yeah, never mind.

TOP^

05-20-03 Tuesday
Good morning all. How did you sleep? I slept alright. I had a massive film festival of dreams last night. None of them were scary which was nice for a change. They were just normal events that were slightly askew One of them was about me going back to work at Musicland and yelling at these kids who were knocking stuff down in the store and starting fights. The other one was about me yelling at some religious fanatics up in a cabin in the woods. Boy, I really told everybody off last night! In one of the final dreams, K kept talking about babies. Uh oh!

I heard the weather report last night and they said that it was suppose to be a nice day today. They're thinking that it may be in the 70's. Wow that's warm! I may have to put some shorts on. My legs are probably so white that they are reflective in the sun. It should be nice for at least a few more days and then the clouds will be rolling in. I wish it would hurry up and get warm. I'm kind of cold right now. Maybe the fresh coffee that has just finished brewing will warm me up.

Yesterday I registered for summer term. Yep. I think I got some interesting picks this time. I am taking: Argumentative Research, General Sociology, Environmental Science, History of Material Culture 1, and a Modern Japan Area Study. Some of those sound pretty tough. Those are like real college courses huh? It's cool because all of my classes are on Monday and Tuesday. That leaves the rest of the week to myself. Actually that schedule would really lend itself to a part time job. Wouldn't that be nice? Those classes are all general study courses. No design classes. I was thinking I would take the summer off from design study and work the entire time on my Canon competition piece. I think it's going to be a good summer.

Well, what's going on today? I'm not sure. I think that I will probably just go with the flow. A notary keeps calling the house so I think we'll have to meet with her today and get some papers signed for the lower interest rate on the house. Pretty boring stuff. I got a really good book at the library that I'm going to try to read all of it before it's due back. I don't remember the last time I finished a book. This book now is called "Pause and Effect" by Mark Stephen Meadows. It's really good. It's about the art of interactive narrative. Yes, I would like to read a healthy portion of that today and maybe do some writing. Perhaps I will work on some homework assignments also.

05-22-03 Thursday
Hey there. Once again a quick, early morning, before school post. How's it going? Uh oh, the dog just got up. Hold on I've got to go take him out for potty time.

There, I'm back. What's happening today? Not too much to report here for today. It seems to me that our whole weekend is going to be jam packed full of events. Lots of stuff is going on for once. Today is last Thursday. The gallery hop over in North Portland is happening tonight. We probably won't go to that once again. We should though because there is some good art over in that direction. I have my html class this morning and that's it for classes today. I have some studying and reading for my Friday classes, but nothing too painful.

Hey! A happy birthday well wish goes out to the lovely Lianne this fine morning! Another one also goes out to the always dapper G for tomorrow!

Yesterday I began the initial steps of the opening planning for my Canon Digital Creators piece. You know what? I should document the whole process from beginning to end. Get every last small detail down on paper. That might be an interesting side project. "Yeah, maybe interesting to you, Noodle." Yesterday I began studying Giclee printing. Have you guys heard about Giclee printing? I hadn't. I guess it's fine art quality, ink jet printing that you can do on archival quality stock. You can do large format sizes. I think I might spend a few extra bucks to get my canon project printed that way. We'll see. A hundred or so bucks on a potential 20 thousand dollar investment isn't that bad is it?

I hate to say it people, and probably shouldn't in case my computer hears, but I think that the video card in my laptop is going out. The monitor has been doing some weird things and going out a time or two. It did it twice during this post. GREAT! That's all I need.

05-24-03 Saturday 8:23:03 AM
Good morning sunshine! How are you doing? It's Saturday and I think it's going to be another scorcher here. Yesterday was a bright, Sun filled, warm day. Today should be the same. Hey, would you hold on for one brief moment while I go start a pot of coffee? Thank you, I knew you would. One second. There we go. Now the wonderful smell of fresh coffee is floating through the house. I opened up both of the doors to get a breeze flowing through here. It's already starting to get stuffy. I'm not sure why we didn't have any of the windows open last night.

I had a great Friday people. One for the history books. Why was it so good you ask? It's not really one thing, or a series of dramatic events, I just had a happy day. The Sun was out, school went well, and we went to a fun birthday party at G's house at night. Yep the old girl turned the big three - oh! It was pretty fun. I brought my laptop and Stu and I rocked out in the basement. I had some good drum beats popping out of that puppy. Hold on one more sec, the coffee is finished. Oh yeah.

Perhaps yesterday was a good day because I have been so annoyed on all of the other days this week. I have really been getting tired of a lot of crap lately. Of course relatively speaking life isn't that bad and I should stop whining. I really felt like I was on hold all week. Things will be better when, it won't be so hard when... I'm ready for the when people. Little nuisances have been stacking up and making larger grievances. You know when you just need someone or anyone to cut you some slack and give you a break? Where is all of this going? I don't know, but I feel good today and not annoyed because of a good Friday.

The lawn is in need of some mowing once again. I've let it grow just one day too long. I should probably get out there today and get that dude cut. If not today, then for sure tomorrow. You know what I was noticing this morning? There's not that many dandelions out there right now. Last year at this time wasn't I cursing those evil weeds repeatedly? Who knows, maybe this is an off season for them.

Well, the weekend continues. There is a party at Joel #1's house this evening. That should be fun. You should all attend. Tomorrow evening K is hosting a Martha Stewart party for the ladies. We are going to sit around and sing Martha's praises as we watch her get slammed on that unauthorized biography TV movie, "Martha Inc." Yes we have it recorded. I think there may be some craft making involved also.

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05-26-03 Monday
Ahoy thar mateys! How be ye this fine morn? Doing okay here. Happy Memorial day to you. Hopefully you all have the day off from school and work like we do. How was your weekend? Ours was down right peachy. We were pretty busy each day. I'm glad it's Memorial day because we needed an extra day to recover.

Yes. So what is going on today? Not too much. I think there's some chores to be done and some cleaning up to do but that's it for work. I mowed the lawn yesterday so it looks pretty nice. I'm still a little sleepy right now. The coffee hasn't kicked in yet. Maybe I should go back to bed. I should sit down today and do some serious homework. There is no math and no image manipulation classes to go to today. I am quite happy about that. There's a big math test to take next Monday so I really need to study for that. I'm starting to get nervous and anxious now that the end of the term is getting closer. I have to keep it together for just a little bit longer before I can relax. I'm a little worried that I may be slacking too early. I need to keep up with the intensity that I had at the beginning of the term. This only the start. I have 2 and a half more years of this.

Last night we watched a couple of good movies. We saw "Road to Perdition," staring Tom Hanks and Jude Law, and we saw "Adaptation" with Nicolas Cage and Meryl Streep. I fell asleep during Road to Perdition so I am going to have to watch that one again. What I do remember seeing of it I thought was quite good. Beautifully filmed. Adaptation was great. I love that director Spike Jonze. It was so nice to see Nicolas Cage do a good job in a movie again. I knew he had it in him. The whole process of Nicolas's character racking his brain to get his ideas out onto paper was well done I thought. I've experienced the frustration of trying to squeeze a good idea out on several occasions.

Oh yes, idea squeezing. I found an excellent resource on the web the other day. A web site that has information on all kinds of design competitions. There are plenty of competitions to keep me busy for the rest of the year. Entering competitions really can be a full time job. I wish I had a way of knowing if the direction I'm heading in artistically with these pieces is the right one. I guess that wouldn't be competing though if I knew those answers. I wish I could layout a bunch of my ideas and have someone look them over and say yes, yes, no, yes, no, no. Perhaps after entering competition 5 or 6, I will have more of a grasp on those things and be a seasoned competition veteran. A lot of what I should be doing is keeping my eyes open and looking at everything that is out there right now. The competition I am in now is actually getting judged on June 15th, which is good. I thought it was going to be judged in August. When that puppy is finished I can examine what I did and what they actually ended up picking and compare the two. I will also study the winners work and compare that to the judges bios and see if that will give me any clues to use when analyzing up coming judges.

05-27-03 Tuesday 9:09 AM
They say it is suppose to reach the 80's today. Woo Hoo! It's going to be a beautiful one, people! I am definitely going to have to wear shorts today. I just pulled back the laboratory curtains and let the Sun shine in. I didn't do my homework yesterday, and went to Mr. Baptist's house instead. Now I'm going to try to do some today with the weather like this? Oh man, I don't know.

I've got to hurry up, take a shower and get this day started as soon as possible. I should have started at 6 this morning. I'm going to head over to the school and check out a digital camera and take a bunch of pictures. I know I have my own, but the school's will be better. I don't like my camera. The resolution isn't high enough. I have a good idea forming for the new contest piece, which for now is called, "Steve and Phillip". It involves some digital photos and they must be high quality.

One of my old friends from long ago called out of the blue last night. Travis. I haven't talked to him in a long time. It was good to hear from him. He gave me some updates on how the old crowd is doing. I should really go see some of those old hoodlums. We all live in the same area for crying out loud! How can 8 to 12 years go by without not bumping in to these people? Maybe they see me coming and turn down side streets to escape. I think I may go see Travis at work today. No Noodle, you have homework, remember?

Oh, but it is so nice outside. Maybe I should close the curtains.

05-29-03 Thursday
Scary! I had two Mondays written in for this week. Let me fix that right now. One Monday a week is bad enough! The holiday threw me off. Today also feels like a Monday because it's the first day of school. Argh! Good early morning to you all! Oh yes, I must go get some coffee right now or I will truly die. I am sleepy and my back hurts. Lets see what else can I complain about? Oh yes, it feels like a Monday today. Hold on one second.

Do you think anyone would come to my art showing at a gallery if it was called "One Hundred Photos of Phillip and Pierre"? Wouldn't that be a crazy sight? One hundred 5x7 photos stacked up of a dog and cat. Maybe I should do one giant poster with one hundred shots of them. Oh man, I should go back to bed.

Boy oh boy, It sure has been nice outside this week! Perfect weather. It has been hard staying inside and working on homework. I actually buckled down and did some good work yesterday. I have a sinking feeling that we are going to get another lame test in my html class this morning. Those tests are killing me! I'm not much of a test guy. I'm more of a reports and projects man.

Last night I was in the kitchen again! I made a recipe that my mom use to make when I was a wee lad. Hungarian Goulash. Oh yeah. I followed her recipe perfectly because it tasted just like I remembered it. I think it must be a cousin of the potato salad so I didn't venture too far from the path. This puppy was more of a casserole though. 1 large sliced polish sausage, onions, sliced hard boiled eggs, potatoes, bread crumbs and lots and lots of sour cream. K thought it was an unholy mix of a hotdog, an omelet, and potato salad. Very good. I don't remember it being as much of a gut bomb when I was a kid.

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June 2003

06-02-03 Monday 6:58 AM
Well, long time no write eh? What the heck was up with that? I'm not sure. I'm back now though kids and ready for some writing! Hold on one second though while I go put pants on and get some coffee. Will you look at that. The month of June snuck in while we weren't looking. Where the heck did May go? Oh well. Good riddance to her anyway. I hear that it is going to be a hot one this week. I don't know, it's awfully overcast out there this morning.

How was your weekend? Ours was okay. Thanks so much to Officer Steve and the lovely Michelle for hosting a wonderful barbecue last night. So good to see all of you kids. Gosh, oh yeah, thanks to the handsome Wagners for hosting their lovely barbecue on Saturday. Good time had by all. No wonder I'm not hungry this morning. I was stuffing my face all weekend.

3 more weeks of spring term my friends. Boy oh boy did it go fast. 9 actual in school days. I've got a to do list all mapped out for the remaining days. I think I'm going to be okay. I'm only really concerned with my math class again as usual. I am keeping an eye on my basic web class, making sure that continues on course. I am really going to study for the final in html. I'm going to try to finish as many projects as possible this week so I can focus all of my energies on passing my math final test. Come on Noodle, hold it together buddy.

I'm going to have a little bit longer time off between terms than I had originally thought. I think it's like 3 weeks off. That's pretty cool. I can rest and get my energy up for stressing out over the summer term.

06-04-03 Wednesday
Hey, hey, hey! Look who's back for some more journal, diary, are you there God, it's me Noodle, writing fun. How's it going out there in the real World, people? Things are going alright here at the Noodle compound. It looks like it is going to be another beautiful day outside again. Yesterday was gorgeous. This is the nice summer weather we often hear about but rarely see.

I am continuing on with my to do list. Chugging away at it. Chugging? Do I mean chipping? I think I'm pretty close to being on schedule. I have some math things I need to finish up as soon as possible and go turn in today. I'm telling you people, lists are the way to go. They break things up into nice manageable pieces instead of one giant freak out mess. I went and got some math tutoring from the magnificent Lianne last night. It appears that I know more about math than I thought I did but lack confidence and am unsure of my answers. I needed some one to confirm my guesses on some of the problems. Maybe Lianne will come and sit next to me for questions during the final. I'm going to go study with my brother next week.

During a break in school work, we went and saw "Finding Nemo". The new Pixar, computer animated masterpiece. It was SO good. It was just the kind of school work break that the doctor ordered. It was beautifully animated. The fish, the scenery, everything looked spectacular. It made you walk out of the theater going, "The Matrix what?". I think the thing that was so nice about it with all of it's fancy computer, special effect, slick production, it still had a story in there. Hey movie makers! People will still watch a story about a man looking for his son that isn't filled with action sequences and cars blowing up on the freeway. Although Finding Nemo did have quite a few action sequences and there was a big chase scene with a shark. Hmm maybe people do need explosions and action.

I'm going to get back to it kids. My computer monitor is giving me trouble again so I am going to have to get some stuff done before my computer blows up. I think that my work schedule will be thinning out a bit for a few hours this weekend, so I'll rest then.

06-07-03 Saturday
Good morning everybody. It looks like the heat wave is going to continue today. Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far for Portland. The news said that it just scraped the 100 mark. I was in school most of the day so I didn't really feel it, but boy when I got outside, waiting for the bus I could really feel it. I think I may have made myself a little sick by jumping out of the air conditioned school, into the 95 degree sunshine, jumping back into an air conditioned bus and then back out onto the hot street when It got to my stop. Too many rapid climate changes.

In about 15 minutes the Rose Parade is starting downtown. Yep it's Rose Festival time again. I don't understand how everyone can get so excited for the Rose Festival every year. I've been in town for 30 years and I think I may have went to a Rose Festival event once. I've never seen the parade. People were camped out on the sidewalks saving their spaces for watching the parade last night and the night before. Somebody said that 600,000 people are going to be down there now watching the parade. Boy I know where not to go now. I think the majority of people who go to the Rose Festival are people who don't live in Portland. Everyone from the surrounding towns come here. Boy it's going to be a hot parade route this year. I hope you people drink lots of water!

You know, I'm sorry for not updating more in the journal here the last few weeks. There's no excuse. Well, actually one of the excuses is that the computer that holds my web site work monitor went out I think for real now. All the information on the computer was fine, I just couldn't see it. It's sputtering on and off so it's not a total corpse but I think it's getting there. I had to wait for a time when it flickered on and the quickly change the start up settings to start on the monitor that I have sitting next to it. Production has started up again! I am going to have to take this puppy in and get it fixed one of these days. Maybe during my break. I hope it doesn't cost that much to fix. I don't think I'm under the warranty still of course.

Hey! It's the weekend! What do you have planned? I'm pretty much up to date on my to do list. Nothing is really knocking me over with worry. Today I will work on a math project and an essay that I am going to turn in on Monday. The only really big thing next week is a final project due on Thursday for Basic Web Design. Oh yes, and I will really need to study for my math final. I plan on hitting the math books every single day next week. I won't be screwing around with this math crap more than just this term people!

I was jotting down some notes yesterday and I started thinking about my inspiration level. I think I am quite uninspired right now. I feel a bit better today about my inspiration but overall I think it is down. How did that happen? I was really tired yesterday so that may have had something to do with it. I've been tired the last few weeks. Maybe this is just the natural flow of things now that I am going to school again. I get really pumped up and filled with inspiration, ideas and hope at the beginning of the term and then slowly wind up in the pits of despair at the end of the term. Shouldn't school be inspiring me to do great works all the time? Shouldn't my mind being opened and new education being poured into it on a daily basis, be giving me constant orgasms of creativity? Maybe I am giving the school to much responsibility with inspiration provider. Maybe inspiration hunting and collecting is all up to me. Just the fact that I am thinking about my inspiration levels again is a good sign that they will be back in full force at the start of next term.

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06-08-03 Sunday
Good Sunday morning to you kids once more! How are you doing this lovely morning? I'm doing okay. I have to go get some microwaved, leftover coffee to help wake me up. Oh, one note, the parade that took place yesterday is called the Grand Floral Parade. I think I called it the Rose Parade. I guess that K has been to several of them. Her mom use to work at a place that was on the parade route, so they could set their chairs out early. Oh yes sweet, sweet coffee.

We are going to have another beautiful day out there again! Each day has been getting a few degrees cooler. It feels just perfect right now. This week has just been gorgeous. I think I was really in need of the Sun's warming rays. I was feeling awfully grey. This morning I am going to go out and sweep the font sidewalk before it gets too warm out. That dang holly tree has been dropping mountains of leaves down all over everything in the front yard. I've got to clean that stuff up. It looks messy. I'm going to get it all cleaned up and by this evening it will all be back, piled up. Man, I am looking out the window right now and think that It would be a perfect time to sweep up those leaves. I should hurry up here and get out there.

The new Radiohead CD "Hail to the Thief" will be released on Tuesday. Everyone should run out and get it! You will love it! Hopefully I didn't talk it up too much here, so that your expectations are too high. You'll get it and be like, "Well, I guess it's alright, but what the Hell was Noodle talking about? This isn't the best CD ever recorded since the beginning of time." I had a few beers and gave a long seminar about the fine points of the album last night. I saw the video for the song "There, There" yesterday. It was pretty darn good. Thom turns into a tree at the end that kind of looks like the tree that I drew for the Transmission West piece.

Today I have a two page essay to write for math and a poster for my image manipulation class to finish. I'm going write my essay on the topic of math anxiety and investigate what I think I have which is math annoyance. Maybe when I'm done writing it, I will publish it here on the web so you all can read it.

Oh man! We forgot to turn the radio on and listen to This American Life. It's half over right now. Oh that's cool, they are playing one of the live tour shows, one of which was done in Portland.

I listened to quite a few hours of music on the internet yesterday. Gosh there sure is some good stuff out there. What the heck did we listen to before the internet? It has been so long since I have listened to any music on the classic radio. Oh my gosh, the last time I listened to broadcast radio was when I was working at adidas. Not only did I not recognize any of the lame tunes, but about 80 percent of what was on was loud obnoxious advertisements. That internet radio is a great way to discover bands and music you would have never have discovered on the standard radio. The band I am now interested in investigating more is called, "Broken Social Scene". They have a couple of songs that I heard that I really liked.

Well kids, I think I am going to go out and sweep now.

06-10-03 Tuesday
It looks like the heat wave is officially over now! It's cooler and a bit overcast this morning. I bet it will only get into the mid 70s today. That's it. You just witnessed an Oregon summer. 3 days of hot sunshine. Oh my goodness! Since we last spoke, I left it with you thinking I was going to go sweep up some leaves. Boy, if that were only the case. Once I got out there I decided that the holly tree needed to be pruned. I cut down hundreds of branches. It took me most of the day! Now the holly tree is trimmed up 4 or 5 feet higher and more light is able to get into the front. It looks good. I may have to do some touch up here and there though. I need to get out there and mow the lawn. If not today then for sure tomorrow.

I'm bachin' it this week! Home alone with the cat and the dog. K has left for Arizona with Mr. Baptist. They are taking a truck load for the first leg of the move to Arizona. Ms. Bee has already been there for a couple of weeks. I can't believe those two, Mr. Baptist and Ms. Bee, will be living so far away from us! Poor little K is going to be hot on her trip. It's like 150 degrees there right now. Drink lots of water! They will be stopping in Las Vegas, so lets all pray that K hits the jackpot. She'll be back home on Sunday. Until then I will be cold, hungry, tired and lonely.

So what's a handsome, hip, young dude like me going to do in the meantime? Well for starters this morning, I'm going off to take a drug test. Yeah that sounds like a crap load of fun huh? I have to take one because adidas came calling for me to go back to work for a day and my records needed to be updated. Drug tests! How is that any of their business? Oh well, I guess I'll do what it takes to make the money. I'm pretty sure I'll pass it anyway. Still though, what a pain in the ass. Drug tests and paperwork for one day of work.

After that's taken care of I will be snuggling up to the books and computer for more work on my final projects and studying. Yesterday was such a nice day of school. Only one more Monday! The weight is being lifted as one by one each class winds up. I am quite happy because it looks like I am going to pass my math class! Hooray! Oh that is so good for me. All of the other classes are looking good also.

I better go pee in a cup now. Bye bye.

06-11-03 Wednesday
I have been doing quite a bit of napping while K has been away. I don't know why I have been so sleepy! The more I nap though, the more tired I feel. I need to drink some more coffee and drink more water. I need to wake up and get out there and cause some trouble! K called this morning and asked about the garden, I should get out there and water it today. She'll be pissed if she comes home to dead plants. I hear a mower going now also, that's a good idea. It kind of looks like it might rain today. That would solve my watering laziness.

So I have to ride the bus out to Oregon City this morning and get the black car from Mr. Baptist's house. I was having success driving the red car around to my drug test and other chores yesterday, Going back to the car after my 4th destination, which happened to be the record store, the car wouldn't start. I guess that means it's the alternator? Now I have to ride the bus out to O.C., get the black car, drive to the red car and jump it, let the battery charge and then try to drive it back home. Then I have to get Phillip and go for a walk back to the black car and get it. It sounds like one of those how do you take so and so over the river in a boat riddles.

You know, I think Phillip needs another brother or sister that isn't a drugged up cat. That boy can't entertain himself for very long. He gets bored quick with whatever chew or toy he's playing with and comes and pesters me. That's all I've been doing these last 2 days, napping and keeping the dog entertained.

Yes, the record store. I rewarded my hard work this term with some CD purchases. I got of course, Radiohead, "Hail to the Thief", I got the Postal Service, "Give up", and last but not least, Broken Social Scene, "You Forget It In People". All of the CDs are quite enjoyable. They all have the Noodle seal of approval. I listened to that Radiohead again twice yesterday, I love it.

You know, I have felt ahead of my game for the last few days. I think now I need to put the nail in the coffin of some of these to do list items and just be done with them. Being ahead of the game is nice and all, but being finished with the game is even better. Plus I have a feeling that some of these little inconveniences, like riding the bus to Oregon City, may continue to pop into the equation, which could in fact make me behind the game. It's a fine line to walk here in the Noodle house. I don't think napping is helping the game either.

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06-12-03 Thursday
Oh dear lord, what a week! Hey my relay race, my game of leap frog with the cars went off okay after a few false starts. I probably looked pretty funny driving 2 cars at once. No, I got the black car to the red one, charged the red one up for a while, and then tried to race it home. The first time I guess I didn't charge it long enough, because I only made it 6 blocks before it died again. I walked back to the black car drove it to the red car and charged it longer the second time. Eventually, both cars were sitting back in front of the house. That bus ride out to Oregon City wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

I've got to get going. My Thursday is really loaded up. I have lots to do today. None of my items to do are that demanding by themselves but for some reason everything is happening today. School, work at adidas, studying math with my brother, watering the yard and a bunch of little things thrown in for measure. One thing that was on the to do list but somehow slid under the radar was a 5 page essay that is due tomorrow. Oh yeah, one note, I don't have a fax machine! Two separate, annoying, entities want faxes from me today.

06-14-03 Saturday
Good morning everybody. How are you doing? I'm doing pretty good. The school week is over and now just 1 more left for this term. I am all caught up on my assignments and all that is left is studying for my final exams. I felt really good after school when I got home on Friday. It has been a long week for me. Nothing was really that difficult there just seemed to be a lot of running around towards the end there.

K will be back tomorrow. I've got to go pick her up at the airport in the afternoon. I can't wait. This is the longest we've been apart in the last 2 and a half years. I realized this time just how insane I am without her around keeping me grounded. I've thought of some weird ideas and have done some strange things in her absence. I use to be okay on my own. When did this dependence on K for my sanity come about?

An example of one of the crazy things I did was on Thursday night. You know I had that 5 page essay and another assignment that was due on Friday, right? Well, instead of staying up late on Thursday, I decided I would experiment and go to bed early on Thursday, then get up at 4 in the morning on Friday and work. I think the jury is still out on how that went. Getting up at 4 was fine, but then going to school at 8 was a little awkward. I was pretty tired around 9:30.

Last night I drank some beer and watched Pink Floyd's the Wall. I also watched the Donnie Darko DVD with the director's audio commentary on. The director's explanation of the movie was pretty interesting. I don't agree with some of what he was saying though. I liked my theory of the movie a bit better than his. Is it possible that a movie has a second meaning and explanation than the writer / director meant? I should do my own audio commentary to that movie. Maybe I should email the director my theories. I was thinking that I needed a protégé that I could mentor and share movies like The Wall with. Force them to think that these movies are as great as I do.

I was also pondering the other day how young 19 is. When the heck did this happen? Remember when kids that were 19 were the old, cool kids in the neighborhood? How did I get so far away from 19 so quick? People that are 19 now were born after Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back were in the theaters! Wait, were they even born in time to see Return of the Jedi in the theater?

So yes, K's arrival back will be a good thing.

I have a lot of cleaning up to do. I'm going to get everything in tip top shape before she gets back. There are quite a few messes around the house that haven't gotten my attention this week. I absolutely need to get out and clean that yard up. The grass is out of control! The rose bush outside of this window is doing some crazy things. It's all exploded and falling over now. It needs some trimming back. I've also got to sweep up again under that holly tree.

06-16-03 Monday 7:28 AM
Hey there! ALERT! ALERT! The Noodles are out of coffee! I repeat, the Noodles are out of coffee! That's okay. I'll get some on the way to school today. It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day again. Yesterday was gorgeous as I'm sure today will be. I never did get out to the lawn yesterday. It looks really bad. It looks like the lawn of someone who has abandoned their house. Boy there sure are a lot of crazy looking weeds in that lawn now.

K is home now folks and so is my sanity. She had a marvelous time in Arizona and had some good stories. They have demanded that I go next time. There may be a Christmas visit in the works. We'll see. We are really going to miss them way over there.

That weekend sure went fast. I think I need at least one more day of it. Lame ole Monday back at it again. Today is the last day of math! Woo hoo! I made it all of the way to the end! You know math really wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I'm a little troubled that I wrote such a downer, math anxiety essay now. Oh well, I'll just tell teacher I don't feel the same way now as I did in the paper. I feel like I actually learned something this time. The big final is today. I think I will do alright. Image manipulation is over tonight also. Everything is wrapping up!

I think when this week is over I need to sit down here in the journal and analyze how the term went. What went well this term, what didn't go so well. I need to study my performance so that I can do better next term. I guess that doesn't have to be in the journal. Next term is going to be a tougher term because of the level of difficulty of the classes and the level of distractions that will be there to tempt me. I am really going to have to read a lot more than I did this term also.

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06-17-03 Tuesday
Good morning folks. Yes it's Tuesday. Not much going on around here today. Is there anything going down with you cats? The Sun is out once again getting ready to give us yet another beautiful day. Gosh, yesterday was just awesome. I went out and finally mowed that lawn. It looks much better now. I was worried for a little bit that I may have damaged the lawn by letting it grow out of control like that, but it looks like it is going to recover, I think I'm going to move the mower up a bit now so that the lawn doesn't get as close of a trim during these summer days. The lawn will turn to dust if I keep cutting it so close. I also decided yesterday that our yard needs more rocks. Yep. Maybe the passion for rocks will get as fevered again as the Great Rock Garden Fiasco of 2002. I think that some of these weeds in the yard need to be covered with rock.

So my Monday final exams went really well. Done and done. The big boy that I am really going to have to study for is my html exam on Thursday. That puppy is going to be tough. After that though it is all smooth sailing out of this term. I can start preparing for summer term. Actually what I will be doing is preparing for all of the free time I am going to have for the next 3 weeks.

Yeah, what am I going to do with my time off? I think I'm just going to chill. It would be fun to pack everybody up and go take a camping trip. Maybe a visit to the beach? I think I may catch up on my movie renting and also rent some video games. I have been meaning to check out that "Enter the Matrix" video game but until now didn't have the time to waste on it. There are couple of things that I wanted to read and investigate while on break. I want to read a book about or do some research on Paul Rand, the godfather of American graphic design and I also want to get the book, "MTIV: Process, Inspiration and Practice for the New Media Designer" by Hillman Curtis. I think I talked about it here before, right? Anyway that looks like an awesome book. I am also going to definitely start working on the new "Steve and Phillip" contest piece. I'm getting pretty excited about that. I've got quite a few ideas for it rolling around in my skull.

06-21-03 Saturday
Well, will you look at who finally decided to come and write a journal entry? People, people, please accept my most humble apologies. I really should have written at least once during these last 4 days to tell you how the week was going. I missed talking to you lovely folks. It's Saturday now and I've got some fresh coffee brewing. It was a tad bit rainy yesterday. It's a tad bit sunny this morning. It's been a tad bit chilly these last few days. I think it's suppose to get rainy by this afternoon. Hold on one second the aroma of the freshly brewed coffee is calling to me. Oh yes! Tasty!

HEY! Spring term is all finished up kids! Woo hoo! I think it ended absolutely magnificently. I was pretty stressed out over a couple of tests due to my poor test taking skills, but I reviewed and studied hard before each test and they all went well. I think I did really good on all of my finals actually. This term will be an excellent first showing for me at the Art Institute. I'm pretty sure I've got myself a decent grade point average now. We'll see next week. Oh man, I am so happy that math is over with. The class and instructor were fine and all, it's just that forcing myself to care about something I despise and constantly worrying about passing was really getting to me. Hey once again a big shout out to my brother and the lovely Lianne for their math assistance.

Now it's rest and relaxation time for this Noodle. School doesn't start again until July 14th. 3 weeks. Gosh, yeah, now what do I do without any homework? That's a silly question. Don't worry about it Noodle. Your homework will be back before you know it. I think one thing I am going to get started on today, right after I hang up here, is demolish and rebuild this here laboratory. It is an absolute pig sty in here. I have got to clean this mess up. I really need to get organized. This is the worst room in the house. Yes. That's a good project for today. I also need to start on some drawings for my Steve and Phillip piece. Maybe I will do that second today.

Yesterday, between classes I went and looked at books across the street at Powell's bookstore. What a fun and relaxing time that was. All of my class work was done by then and all of my finals had been taken. My only reason for being at Powell's was to kill some time before my last class of the day. That's a good time to be there. When you're totally relaxed with nowhere to be. I wanted to get a book to read during my break. All of the books that I really wanted were in the 30 to 40 dollar range and I had to limit myself to the 5 dollar range. That was all of the money I had in the World to spend on books. Besides that 5 bucks, I had $1.25 for bus fare home and $1.65 for a cup of coffee at Peet's. I was beginning to think I wouldn't find a book when I stumble on a $4.95 sale book. I got "Essays on Typography" by Eric Gill. Yes that Eric Gill. Eric Gill as in the font "Gill Sans Serif". It is a fascinating book. It was originally written in 1930. I think that even those of you who aren't interested in type would find it to be a good book. Yeah, maybe not. Anyway, I bought it and took it to Peet's with me to read as I sipped on my coffee. Great afternoon.

K and I have seen some movies since I have last written. We rented "Catch Me If You Can" and "Frida". You know Catch Me if You can, right? The Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Leonardo DeCaprio movie? It was pretty good. It was very entertaining. Better than I thought it would be. I don't know why I thought I didn't like Tom Hanks. I totally like Tom Hanks. I think I may have liked Minority Report better for some reason. The movie Frida was excellent. Very good. It was about the painter Frida Kahlo and her husband the painter Diego Rivera. Selma Hayek was really good as Frida. The director, Julie Taymor is awesome. I can't wait for her next movie. Her movie "Titus" is a must see. K and I also watch our "Seven" DVD last night. That movie is SO good. So freaking dark and sad at the end.

06-23-03 Monday
Good morning all. It's looking pretty grey out there this morning. I was thinking about going out and pulling some weeds today, but not now if I'm going to need an umbrella to do it. It has been pretty chilly the last couple of days. Last night I was thinking about turning the heat on, but quickly came to my senses. I'm sure things will warm up again before I know it. Here we are again at another lame Monday. This Monday is a bit better because it is the start of my summer vacation. How was your weekend? Ours was pretty nice. It could have been longer of course.

We did something really fun yesterday. We went to the Clackamas AKC dog show. We went to go check out the Boston terriers. They were so cute. We took Phillip and told him to look at how good dogs behaved. Some of the other dogs seemed a little jealous of Phillip and his no rules lifestyle. Phillip was much larger than the Bostons that were showing. Phillip is 27 pounds and they were all under 18. The dog show was quite interesting and we had a fun time. My favorite dogs besides the Bostons were the St. Bernards and the Borzoi were crazy elegant. I thought the Doberman Pinschers looked really cool. I would have liked to have seen the judging on the Boxers, but we missed it. K liked the French Bulldogs. Next time I'm going to take some business cards and get some design work from those people. Dog people have all kinds of need for nice design, good dog illustrations, and web services.

I've got to take K off to her first day of summer school now. Everyone wish her luck. Ha ha she starts up again when I'm off. We didn't plan that very well for family vacations did we?

TOP^

06-24-03 Tuesday
Hello. It doesn't feel as chilly as it did yesterday, but it's still pretty grey out there this morning. Hold on one second, I have got to go microwave some coffee to help get me woken up. How's everybody doing today? I'm doing pretty good so far this morning. If the Sun came out just a little bit more I bet I would be in the mood to do something more summer like. I took Phillip for a long walk yesterday and that was pretty fun. Speaking of, hold on one more second while I take the boy out for his morning potty.

I rented and have been playing the "Enter the Matrix" video game. It's pretty cool. I read a review of it before and the review said that it was more like a movie than a game, and I think that's a fair statement. The game elements are just in the way till you can watch the movie bits. They filmed all of the movie footage at the same time as they filmed the movie. It's interesting because the game is totally the story that was going on in the background of the Matrix Reloaded movie. It makes me want to see the movie again to see how well everything lines up. I'm assuming that everything is seamless. It reminds of that idea that was going on in the Back to the Future sequels, where as each film progressed the movie goer would sneak with Michael J. Fox behind a set or a scene that was going on in the previous movie. I'm not sure yet if that's what's going on with the video game, but I sure do love crap like that. One of these days I'm going to write a series of movies that all connect like that. Oooh, maybe a TV show. Hmm yeah. I'm going to get started on the script for that right after I am done playing the video game.

So yeah, I have been chilling with the video game and just hanging out. I have been doing some good thinking, scheming and plotting. I have been enjoying reading that Essays On Typography book I got. Yesterday applied to a couple of part time jobs. Baby, we are so out of money here it isn't even funny. We are broke, broke, broke. Hence the looking for jobs bit. I need to get a hold of some freelance gigs. That would be cool.

Have you guys seen the marvelous job that Eugene has done with the printing of the Transmission West CD cover yet? It looks totally cool. It turned out really well. I haven't talked to the members of the band yet, but I hope they like it. I'm sure they will. Yes, I am already thinking ahead to my design using that same packaging for my graduation portfolio DVD

06-25-03 Wednesday
Oh my gosh! Yes it's true. 3 journal entries in a row. Wow. Looks like I am back on track now huh? Another thing that is back on track this morning is the weather. Looks like summer is here again today. I hope it sticks around until Saturday. K's birthday is on Saturday and I am going to try to throw her a barbecue birthday party. Yee haw! You can almost hear the meat juices sizzling on the grill. Yes I hope it all goes well because that chick deserves the best. I have got to get off my ass and start preparing for it right now though.

My friends, the moment of truth has arrived. I checked the school web site this morning and Mr. Noodle's grades for the Spring 2003 term are in! Yes sir. Drum roll please... I got 4 As and a B+! Tah dah! Woo Hoo! 3.9 GPA. I am quite pleased. See, you all didn't know I was that much of a scholar, did you? The B+ was in my basic html class. Most surprising and wonderful of all was that I got an A in math! The class I was most worried about. I am very happy. I can't rest on my laurels now though. I've brought this game to the table and I am going to have to maintain this level of excellence for the remaining 2 years. It may be tough, but I'm going to keep working hard and do it people!

The puppy is sleeping on my lap now and his heavy head resting on my arm is making it hard to type. Oh, there he goes after the cat. Just a power nap. Well, I guess I'll get back to playing my Matrix video game some more today. I think I'll also do some cleaning, some K party inviting and planning, and I will probably spend a good chunk of time looking for some part time work. Hey, if you guys have heard of anyone looking to hire a 3.9 GPA college student for part time work, let me know.

06-26-03 Thursday 9:30 AM
Good morning caped crusaders! How are you all doing this lovely day? I am doing pretty good. It looks like Saturday will be sunny and in the upper 80s. That's according to our local channel 2, ABC news affiliate. That's some good news for our beautiful K's birthday bash. Hopefully the weather reports are true. They said that today is suppose to get up into the 90s. Yeah! Summer! Summer! Summer!

Last evening I played several hours of the Enter the Matrix video game. It's pretty fun. I'm getting quite far into it. I'm playing on the easy option instead of normal or difficult, so that it goes faster. I don't want to have to spend a lot of time fighting goons that shoot better than me and punch harder. I just want to blow right through them so that I can see the movie bits and observe the structure and interactive story elements.

Oh my gosh, my next video game purchase is going to be the new Tomb Raider game. Did I say purchase? I meant rental. Lame movies aside, those games are really fun. The first Tomb Raider is probably my favorite game of all time. The new one really looks fancy and slick. The graphics on these games are getting so smooth. There were a few moments on this Matrix game where it took a couple of seconds to tell if I was watching movie footage are 3d game footage. Yeah, so what is the deal with the new Tomb Raider movie? Why is it that I am only seeing commercials about it now? You'd think that they would have been filling up all of the airwaves with it's commercials. I haven't actually seen a movie trailer yet, just a Jeep commercial.

Hold on one second. I have got to get some freshly brewed coffee and take the dog out to go potty. So today is going to be another mellow one for yours truly. I'll play some video games for a while, do some reading, maybe some writing, and I'll think about drawing. I do have a butt load of chores to do today, so my fun time may be cut to a minimum in all actuality. Dang. I probably should be pulling some weeds outside also. Well, it's going to be too hot for that today. I really, absolutely, need to clean out this damn computer room! God, I keep talking about it! I just need to suck it up and do it. I think maybe the solution might be to take everything out of it and then go through everything and then put the stuff back into it. A total overhaul.

TOP^

06-27-03 Friday
Boy oh boy, June is just slipping away isn't it? What the heck are we going to do when July gets here? I don't have any big plans for July. Just school again. I do really need to do something fun on my time off. We will probably be going camping around the 4th. That will be fun. Yesterday was perfect weather-wise. More of the same today. We went shopping yesterday for party supplies and it looks like everything is a go! I think that tonight I will be making my famous potato salad and a birthday cake.

It looks like I'm going to have to do something legitimate today because I won't be playing video games. I beat the Matrix game yesterday. It wasn't too hard. I wasn't expecting the finishing point when it came. It was a pretty fun game. All of the movie sections and additions to the Matrix story line were pretty cool. I totally want to see the movie again and watch the Ghost and Niobe characters more closely. It was cool at the end, they had a preview of the final movie "Revolutions". I think it might have been the same trailer as the one that showed if you waited through all of the credits at the end of Reloaded. I think I would have been mad at myself if I bought that game. It was really more like an interactive movie than a game. It was good though because it got my mind going on some ideas for my own projects and experiments.

Oh hey, guess who is going to be a computer lab monitor next term? Yep, that's right, this guy. That should be an alright gig. I mean I'm going to be at the school anyway, I might as well get paid for some of it, right? It's not very much money, but every little bit helps. 15 hours a week. That's right folks it's serious business when you come to a Noodle computer lab. No messing around. I'll probably be able to get some reading done with that job.

I remember moaning and groaning about my lack of inspiration a few weeks back. I think that my levels are back up to good working order. I have had a lot of ideas and am starting to scheme again. I'm thinking about contest pieces, Noodle web page redesigns, comic books, animations, interactive projects, story lines, new companies. People, it is all starting to boil. Boil? Is that right? Things are starting to bubble underneath the surface? Better? How about the Noodle volcano is about to blow it's top, spewing forth molten lava of creativity.

July 2003

07-01-03 Tuesday
What the heck? Is it July already? Boy oh boy, where have I been? I'll tell you where Mr. No-Write has been, here, doing nothing. I have been nestled in the belly of lethargy. I have been so sleepy. I am a mess. I wish it would rain. I'm looking out my window now and everything is turning brown. Gosh, June went by kind of fast didn't it?. I probably only have like 5 posts for the whole month. More this month though, I'm sure. Maybe this fresh coffee I just brewed will lift my spirits.

K's birthday party was a smashing success. I think everyone had a good time. I was running around here and there so it didn't seem like I talked to any one person for all that long. K had fun and that's what is important. Quite a few people showed up. It was good to see all ya all. That's it for Noodle parties this summer. We're back to business here at the Noodle compound. God, actually I am still cleaning up from the party. Our garbage can was stuffed full so we had to wait until it was emptied today before I could put more stuff in it. No, come on people, it was bagged.

One of the gifts that K received on Saturday was a signed copy of our friend Craig Thompson's new book "Blankets". I stole it away from K and read the whole thing on Sunday. It took the whole day to read because it's a 600 page comic book. Graphic novel. It is so freaking good. Oh my gosh, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since I have put it down. It's the story of Craig growing up in Wisconsin, meeting his first love, going through the trials and tribulations that kids go through and a large dose of his struggle with religion. Absolutely haunting. I teared up a couple of times not because what I was reading was overly sad, but because it has been so long, if ever, that I have read someone being so honest and heartfelt. People, go out, buy Blankets as soon as it's available and read it! I can not recommend it enough. Beautifully drawn, beautifully written. Good job Craig!

Kids, it is cleaning time for yours truly. That's about it for me today. I may go take some beer bottles back and rent the new Tomb Raider game as a reward for myself if I finish cleaning today. I will think about doing some writing and drawing today also.

07-05-03 Saturday
Good morning to you! How's it going? Doing fine here. I have been on an internet vacation the last few days and have been trying to stay away from the computer. Why? I don't know. It's harder to do than you think. I kind of ran out of things to say a few days back, I'm here now and think I've got some stuff with 3 days of material built up.

How was your 4th of July? Ours was pretty great. We didn't see any fireworks though. We were out camping in the woods on Mt. Hood. We were there Thursday and came back home Friday night because K and Martin had to work on Saturday morning. We had a very lovely time. It was so good to go up and sit in the trees and get my focus back. Yesterday we drove 11 miles down a treacherous, steep, rocky, mountain road to an absolutely amazing spot that I had never been to, Badger Lake. A gorgeous body of water nestled deep in a mountain valley with trees all around. It was so quiet there. It must be that I am getting older, but the forest has been a spiritual and thought provoking place these last few years. I could have used one more day of it to get fully rejuvenated. I did a little bit of writing and a lot of thinking,

It is a bit grey outside this morning and cooler. The mountain had perfect weather. The right temperature. Not too hot and not too cold. During the night you had to bundle up some because it was cooler but the day was hot enough to actually go wading in the water. Oh my gosh, that reminds me. You should have totally seen Phillip swimming. It was awesome! He's a good little dog paddler.

Camping is quite the fun activity. Sitting around the campfire, making smores, sleeping in a tent. I am really tired today from staying up so late on Thursday and then getting up at first light on Friday morning. That's the way it works though camping, you loose track of what time it is if you're not wearing a watch. We need to stay longer than a day and half next time we go. I'm pretty sure there will be at least one more camping trip coming up in the next few weeks.

TOP^

07-06-03 Sunday
Hey there! It appears to be overcast and cloudy out there right now, but as we learned from yesterday, that doesn't mean a sunny day isn't already in the works. Yesterday burned off the morning clouds successfully and gave us a really nice day. I think the news said it was suppose to be 80 degrees today. I should get out there and see if I can do anything in the yard. I also have a large number of chores inside that I could do.

Oh yes. While I was away on my internet vacation last week, I received news on the Adobe Design competition and the Transmission West piece. It reads:

Dear Adobe Design Achievement Awards participant,

Thank you very much for your submission to the 2003 Adobe Design Achievement Awards. We received your entry and presented your work to the judging panel, who were impressed by the high quality of the submissions. We regret that your entry was not selected as a winner, but encourage you to enter next year's competition. We wish you success with your future efforts.

That's a nice form letter. It's okay folks. I knew that I was going to have to keep entering contests and that this was only the first of many. The next competition is the Canon Digital Creators competition. You know, I really haven't done anything on that one yet. I was going to get a good start on it during this time off. Oh well. It's not due until September, so I've got a little time left. I really want to do something good for it. I'm not sure if I am interested in the Steve and Phillip idea anymore. I need something good. Something really good. I'll think about it some more.

I have been think about starting up my media company again. I kind of want it to be an all in one company, a studio, happening, rock and roll, high tech and hip sort of thing. With all the things I could be doing to plan it out, I am still stuck on a name. It was 62nd & Radish at first, the other recent name was Red Rat Revolt, and the new one is a name that I have had since grade school. I'm kind of like that rock band that can't agree on a name. Dude, it's about the music first and the name will come later. I want to set up a new web site, get some business cards printed and get some good freelance clients starting out. That sounds like a lot of work.

I tried to rent the new Tomb Raider video game last night but they were all checked out. I think playing a video game will be a good way to finish off my last week of vacation. Maybe I'll check and see if it's back in today. I am ready for school to start. My time off was good and all but I think that the term "Idle hands are the Devil's playground" is very true to these last few weeks. Sitting around and worrying is no good for me. I need to be in school and distracted with studying.

Ah yes, see, just like I said, the clouds are now burning off. Here comes the Sun doo doo doo. Here comes the sun.

07-07-03 Monday
Oh my. I thought yesterday was Monday for some reason. I woke up in a panic this morning because I thought that I forgot to put the garbage out. I was just outside with the dog and we both agree that it is a bit cooler today than it was yesterday. The Sun may come out and burn the clouds off like yesterday and the day before, but I still think we'll only get into the mid 70s.

Believe it or not, I actually have some work matters to deal with today. I have some bill matters to deal with also. I would really rather talk to the first group of people than the second. You know, I'm really tired of talking to anyone who isn't on my friends of the Noodles list. You my lovely reader of course are on the list, but people who call on a Sunday asking for money are not on the Noodle friend list. They're on the other list.

I rented "Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, The Angel of Darkness" last night. So far so good. Lara looks good on the Playstation 2. I was really getting frustrated for a while with how the controls work for her movement, but I am beginning to get use to them now. Most of the problem I was having was making her jump correctly, or in the right direction, or move an object the right way. The previous controls for the Tomb Raider games were much better. Another problem I am having is seeing through all the dark and stormy nights that are on the first couple of levels. Walking into a black room where you have to guess where the door is, isn't very fun. The Matrix game was like that at times. Come on game makers! Lighten those puppies up. What are you hiding? Saves money on having to render backgrounds I guess. What I can see though is nicely rendered. There is no "easy" setting like the Matrix had, so this one is going to take a lot longer to finish. I might have to rent it twice.

I worked on some logos yesterday for my new company direction. They look pretty good. I think I'll work a bunch of stuff out right now and then pop it all into place when school is over or maybe sooner. With the way things are in the current economy it might not be a bad time to try my own thing for a while, right? Not that I haven't been trying my own thing for the last 2 years, but maybe go a more official route this next time. Gosh, It would be really helpful to take some classes on starting up your own studio. I should make sure that something like that is in my current curriculum and if it isn't I should talk to the department head now so they can incorporate it in before I am out. Yes, the nuts and bolts from the ground up would be so freaking helpful. If not I'm sure I could take a cheaper small business course at the community college. Hmm... I'm going to look into that some more today.

Hey congrats to the wonderful G who's first Portland gallery showing was a smashing success! She's showing in the Bird Show at Motel downtown. Boy, that was a funny sentence. I haven't been down there yet because I am a la