What Are You Doing Here? And Why Didn't You Bring Me Anything?

I'm really happy about some things. And some things I am really mad/upset about.
But I am really happy about the one thing
Essentially it's a breakthrough
Which led to a rush of creativity
Which makes me happy

Did you know I used to consider myself a morning person? I my current self could see my old morning person self I think he would cry.
In an ideal situation/fantasy I would wake up 2 hours before my first class. And I would exercise (mentally or physically).
Then eat. Then shower and go to class.
In my current situation. I awake. I look at my iPhone for 10 minutes. I stand in the shower for 15 minutes. I sit and wait until 10 minutes before my class starts. Its a dangerous routine. I have one chance to fix it. And that is when DST ends. Or begins.
Which is it?
I have so much reading I want to do. But I feel like I can't. I feel like if I am reading I'm not doing something I should be.
Terrible feeling. Working on it.
Also here is a list of all the movies I want to see in October.
I think I am going to see all of them
I know I won't
I wish I could
I will try

A Serious Man
Whip It
The Invention of Lying
Zombieland
Michael Moore+Capitalism
An Education
Where the Wild Thing Are

Ok I thought it was going to be longer than that. I guess I thought that because the first 5 all come out next week.
Oh WTWTA. You will be an amazing movie.
Look for the soundtrack streaming online. It's there.



and I can easily say I am ADDICTED to this video/song/feeling



And that's what my Mondays are made of

Short and Sweet

I'm 19 and Feelin' Fine. My birthday has finally come and gone. I am finally part of the 19 team. My birthday and birthday week turned out much better than I expected. The federal reserve tour was awesome, FA threw me a surprise birthday party, my b-day islands dinner was excellent, and the saturday hangout was very exciting. 19, You may just be a good number after all. Thank you all for helping me celebrate and giving me great gifts. It goes a long way in my book.

Instead of going into my problems of school work and tests that I have going on the next couple of weeks, I think I will just end this post on a good note. This may just be my shortest post. I am going to try and stay in this good birthday mood for as long as possible. Thank you all again.

Carry on my friends!






This is a spider I found in my backyard today. He's awesome because of his distinguished facial character.

Either Way

First off Happy Birthday John.

Second. It's thursday, and by the state of California law i am required to make a post. What can I say to that.

This is an amazing trend




You may not know this but I was quite the Bambi fan as a child. But then who wasn't. It's just a great movie. With deer. And that Owl. WHOO-HOO!

I want to watch Coen Brothers movies in a marathon like fashion. Like an adventure timeline movie extravaganza.
But I might just end up watching No Country for Old Men.
I was on its IMDb page today and I saw the message board thing at the bottom. One topic was
"Worst Coen Bros. Movie to Date."
That was the title. Their post............"Discuss."
That's a pretty dumbass way to piss me off.
But once the initial anger subsides you realize a Troll is a Troll. And they must troll. Its what they do.
It's kinda crazy how much it happens. And kinda sick.
But if you want you can hear Kevin Smiths explanation of what he's had to deal with as far as internet comments and such go.


√

Now and Then

........
....
..
.
Must keep trying.
Struggling to find the point.
Carries on nonetheless.


Another monday. I realize how tiring mondays feel. Today I finally napped in between classes, well it wasn't a true nap.
it was one of those naps where you dont know whether or not you actually fell asleep.
but when you wake up you realize there was some loss of consciousness. maybe

And that reminds me of that time I was a kid. I was a kid!
No this has a point.
I was a kid and I had a book. And in that book it told me that dreams can be manipulated by surrounding environments while you sleep. So I think, if I sleep on some books will I dream that I am on rocks on a big mountain?
Turns out parents don't like their kids sleeping on books. Probably for the child's sake. And knowing me I probably wouldn't have been able to get comfortable enough to sleep anyways.
There it is. There's that childhood ambition. Bring that back.

Genius

This week feels like it lasted forever. Seriously! Is it over yet?
Now?
oh
well at least Thursday night has regained some of its importance!
TV! You may shake your head at me since I have my whole night planned out for this epic TVfest!
So there's some SNL thing at 8 then Parks and Rec at 830
THEN the OFFICE at 9 and Community at 930. I've already seen the Community pilot but its pretty funny/potential-able
Oh and then Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia is on at 10pm EST so that means 7 here. Bless the phenomenon that is LMU Direct TV service and its EST miracles.
I started a new book.
Well I put The Road on hold until mid-October and my history teacher is telling us to wait to read Grapes of Wrath.
So I started on another Cormac McCarthy book. It's pretty short compared to others and the chapters are short too.
It's some of his earlier stuff, written back in the 70's so you can detect the differences.
Less South/southwest, more Appalachia.
I know how much everyone loved the pictures in last weeks post. So here are some more that I have stumbled upon in my Intronets wandering.




The hardest part is deciding which is better.

On a personal note; I shaved my desperate facial hairs today. Better luck next time guys.

Professionalism with a Twist of Cool

I'm watching Seinfeld right now. It's a really good episode. Jerry just caused Kramer a Pod. Oh Kramer. Ok commercial.

So yeah as you may have heard or have realized I have been pretty busy and Blog absent. Between school, hw, and the Finance Association, I have had much spare time. The 5:30am wake-ups have been compounding rough, but the FA social events have been very rewarding. They are surprisingly a lot of fun. As you may have seen the explosion of Facebook pics I posted online we played volleyball at the Alumni BBQ last Sunday. I love volleyball. I got a few good spikes in on sunday. So awesome. I wish I would have been more into it in high school and been on the volleyball team or something. Maybe I will join a community volleyball league someday.

My accounting teacher today sighed during lecture and said "But I Digress." I wasn't paying attention playing on my ipod so I don't know why he said it, but it made me laugh. Reminds me of James' old blog.

I'm loving my new laptop. 17'' of glory. I've been dying to play some games on it but haven't had the chance the past couple weeks. When I first got it I played FEAR on high and it was awesome. Can't wait till we get Left 4 Dead and Lan. That will be sweet.

I'm still rocking out hard with my Offspring playlist. They're effect on me still hasn't wore off yet. They are pretty much my second favorite band of all time, with Foreigner still at #1 of course. Foreigner defined my High School years and Offspring is defining my college years so far.

Yesterday I presented at the Finance Association kick-off meeting and gave a speech about what the marketing department does in the club. It was pretty fun. We got pizza too so that was a bonus. We had a turnout of about 55 people so that was pretty average for a kick-off metting so i'd say my advertising skills didn't make FA go under too much haha. I dressed up all nice with a shirt and tie and dockers but I had my brown vans on and classic "john" belt with sunglasses and it created this awesome twist of professionalism and coolness. I thought it was badass.

Ok I've been talking a lot. I pretty much gave you all the lowdown on things going on right now in the life of John so I think i've done my job. My birthday is coming soon too. I'm looking forward to that.


Volleyball!


......In case you missed this one on Facebook. Yeah.....don't ask me what I'm doing cause I don't know.

That's Something

AH-HA!
For the last hour or so I had a feeling like I was forgetting something. I even said in my head, "I feel like I am forgetting something.....but there can't possibly be anything....its just a Monday night."
But what do we have here! A post!

I'm sort of sensing that this blog gets about 1 and 1/4 views a day, so for my sake I'll keep it short.

I came home last weekend but you probably didn't see me. I was very sneaky! And busy.
But I did go visit my 2nd Home aka Regal. And guess what! I saw a movie.
I saw Extract and I enjoyed it. It was a simple comedy. And I think thats what they were going for.
On a tragic Mike Judge related note; I watched the Series Finale of King of the Hill last night.
It wasn't a special or anything like that. Just a couple episodes they still had to air. I think at the end of the last one they did change it so all the cast of characters came over for a barbeque. It was simple. And it was nice.
It's funny, I had started to wonder a while back when the show was going to end and noticed that it had started to feel tired. But then as soon as I found out it was being canceled I got all angry about that. Then it got un-canceled, then it got re-canceled.
In the end all I have to say is good luck to Fox and their animation shows. Too much Seth McFarlane is not a good thing. And Simpsons aside, that's all you've really got.

Well it's week 3 of school. When things start to get real. The quizzes have started coming. I smell an essay not too far away!

I think that's All I am going to get in word wise. Lets supplement the rest of this post with outlandish photographs.

September 10th. 2009

Crikey. College is weird. I think I knew going into college that I wasn't going to be much of a college person and two years later this hunch is becoming more and more realized. I just don't make a very good pseudo-adult.

So where is this pessimism coming from? Well, I started tutoring yesterday. I don't feel comfortable jumping to the conclusion that I'm a bad tutor, but I can say I am a very new (unqualified? maybe) tutor. I got all nervous and my voice was cracking, and I just had no idea what was going on. I tutor tomorrow too..BUT THIS TIME IT'S A SUBJECT I ACTUALLY KIND OF KNOW. So, it should be better. Really. It's okay guys.

I've been having quite a decent output of shit lately. Wow that did not sound like what I thought it would. Uh. I've been producing things. That's more..wow. Yeah okay. So first up, I did a short story for creative writing.

http://courageousturnip.deviantart.com/art/way-of-the-coast-of-texas-136603544

We had to focus on a certain setting that made a character uneasy. So, that's mine.

Next, visual arts!






Yeah. So that's my output.

I just started reading the 7th harry potter again. It's the only one that I don't really remember so it's nice to revisit.

Things I regret not bringing to my grandpa's house:

Stapler.
Tape.
Shoes other than converse.
Extra computer ink.

Also it would be nice to have more socks, but that isn't really necessary.

http://w928.wrzuta.pl/sr/f/67h5E53Wc6O/mumford_sons_-_dustbowl_dance.mp3

Triviality

Me again.
I'll keep it short and hit you with the hardFACTS
The Road(movie) got pushed back to November 25th, So I know what I'll be doing over my Thanksgiving break.
I know I am going to really like this movie so I doesn't matter if I need to wait just a bit more, as long as I get to see it!

I wrote my poem. I have a bad feeling that I am going to have to re-write it due to lack of imagery. I felt I did good for a first time/no real skill for this sort of writing. Oh and it didn't rhyme. So i guess that makes it easier.

In my Human Geography/Ecology class the teacher was talking about Globalization. When the subject of cars came up he asked who drove/had an American car.
I raise my hand.
And I alone.
I was honestly a little shocked by that. I expected a few more people. I think he did too.
Reminds me of Gran Torino when the family visits Clint Eastwood and they drive off and he says "I told him to buy American!"

On my post last Thursday I said I was almost halfway in my book. Well I finished it on Monday, I think. Monday or Tuesday.
Great stuff. I have officially concluded the Border Trilogy. Now I am re-reading The Road and after that I'm not sure what I'll do. I can keep reading McCarthy or maybe jump to someone else. All the possibilities! Aren't you excited!~

ok well that's it for me for today.


But what would a post be without a video

Fill in the Blog

Looks like it's a back-to-back/double feature/POWERPLAY.
Well it's labor day. So I tried to do as little labor as possible. Does that mean I'm still in bed? Unchanged from the night before?
No, no it does not. You could say I "took it easy" today. I "didn't strain myself." I "kept my list of activities short."
(Directors Note: When reading the lines in "Quotations" please be very overdramatic)

I bought the Kings of Leon album on iTunes. Amazing stuff.
Shall we?
1.

2.


They sure did put on one great show at Weenie Roast 2009. And they had the best set time.

I just got finished reading poems for my Language of Poetry class. Who knew it could be so fun.
I have to write like 3 poems for that class. EEEEK! I think I've written like two poems in my entire life.
I almost just wrote a poem just now, for you. But you get no poem!

I re-watched Pan's Labyrinth this weekend. It might be my favorite foreign film ever. And some of the Spanish I can understand without subtitles.
Uh-oh, we just stumbled upon a pet peeve(as much as I hate to you that term).
But it relates to people and subtitled movies. If you are of reasonable age, lets say 13+, and you can't/don't watch a movie because it has subtitles, We have a problem. I seriously felt angry when I had to give a customer a refund because they came to see Letters From Iwo Jima and didn't want to "read" a movie. But then there is some part of me that isn't too mad about it. Maybe it's a system to weed out those less deserving of such fine cinematic treasures.
But if you consider yourself deserving and have not seen Pan's Labyrinth.....GO see it. You will be very captivated.

Ok. I feel like two blogs in a row(even though three days apart) might give people a Michael OvERLOAD

Yes?

Visualization and Representation

Now we're talking! Back in business and baby that's how I like it!
Unnecessarily necessary blog energy just kicked in.
So I'm back. You're back. We are all back. But before we get into all that is new in the life let's give summer a nice little wrap up.
Goodbye Regal, goodbye house, goodbye sleeping in, goodbye wasting time, goodbye HangoutCity.
In case anyone had forgotten or not know.....I WON AT MONOPOLY. It was either the best worst idea, of something to do at 11pm, or the worst best idea. But I still won. And I think it was all thanks to Paul Revere aka the guy riding the horse AKA the greatest token in Boardgame history. This may be the only thing that gets commented on but oh well. I still won.
Summer is gone though. So lets move ahead. Im in a new building this year. The room is bigger, the halls are calmer, the view is very cool, and its a definite upgrade......
Photographic evidence to support my claims!

OooooOOoo


My station of work!


My closet...


The VIEW!


Ok. As for my classes, I satisfied with them. Which I suppose at this level is the best you are going to get. By this level I mean GE classes and random major-required classes (a la Language of Poetry.) And British Literature 1. We've only had two sessions. And its been about about the Beowulf. I might be shot for saying this or frowned upon by the Literary Gods/snobs, but I have to say I am all about the Contemporary. I had the same problem with Dickens. Of course I recognize the impacts and groundwork laid by these classics(except that you could argue that I do not because I do not enjoy reading them/take on a full and loving comprehension) but I think I can safely blame my enjoyment of movies and the fast(er) pace of books from this century.
But it doesn't change the fact that I have 1000 lines of Beowulf to still read.
As for my personal reading, I am almost halfway through Cities of the Plain. Another McCarthy classic! I need to finish it soon so I took can start/finish the Road before the cinematic adaptation premieres. Speaking of that, the first reviews are in! The movie has already been shown at the Venice film festival and has a few more film festival appearances coming up. This is where the buzz picks up again. Good or bad. But so far its been good. One thing that is a challenge for the film is that the book left a lot of things for the reader to imagine. The whole Visualizing Thought process. But the whole purpose of the film to to provide that image.
In the end I know I'm going to like the movie. And most likely the movie will enhance my opinion about the book.
Well it's good to see September kicking us into gear and getting the blog's blood pumping.
Welcome back and welcome forward!

Here we go again (but worse this time)

Hooray for blogging again. So yeah i'm tired so i'm going to keep this blog a short one. It's been a while blogging for me.

This semester is my busiest semester yet. Between getting my class schedule all mangled and being a board member on the finance association, I am knee deep in crap. I go to school monday through friday now. All 5:30am wake ups. That extra day on friday is really the icing on the cake. These first couple weeks has been very busy with the Finance Association too. It is our membership drive these first 3 weeks so I have to run the table 7 hours a week spread out over 3 days a week. Plus all the finance meetings every couple days it has been very time consuming. Last thursday I got home at 8pm. The earliest I have gotten home this week is 4pm. Needless to say school is taking a lot out of me. I went to bed at 8:30pm on tuesday that's how tired I was.

On a lighter note, I do like most of my classes. Accounting and ISDS are totally awesome. Political Science not so much. But 4 out of 5 ain't bad. However this is going to be a major reading semester again. But do not worry, I am on page 213 of the road, and I am sure I will find time to finish it before the movie comes out.

Ok it is time for dinner so I am cutting this short. Till next time.

Johnny

September 1st, 2009

Well, the wheels of the blog are beginning to turn again, after a somewhat unexpectedly long intermission. But college has started, and it seems appropriate to pick up where we last left off.

College is a clusterfuck. I absolutely abhor being a commuter, especially with all of the city driving around Orange. There are some really scary off/on ramps that cause me to have an adrenaline rush everytime. Because there's always traffic.

Interesting note: my school is not a morning school. My classes began on Monday and Tuesday at 9:30 and 8:30 respectively, and if I get there are 8:30 there are hundreds, of parking spots open. But at 11:00 that number goes down to a much lower number. Today that number was 4. That's low. Mighty low.

My classes are alright. I have this one teacher for 6 hours on Monday who's pretty chill. He kind of reminds me of a fatter, older, more Jewish Jacob Gibson.

I'm living at my Grandpa's house in case you haven't heard. So far, it's been mutually understandingly awkward. I couldn't have asked for anything better I suppose. You see, my grandpa and I haven't really talked. Ever. I've seen him plenty, it's just neither one of us really understands one another very well.

Tonight is my first night off. And no homework. Score.
I can't wait until I finally start tutoring people. I have so much freaking open time. I need to plug up the time holes! NEED!! I'm taking a creative writing class with one of my high school friend's dad. It's kind of trippy because he recognized me and I was really hoping/expecting/banking on him not. Now it's just awkward, but I already bought the book, so I guess I'm sticking with it.