Post X-mas

Viva King Kong! oh wait.. I guess that's a bit ill-fated.

So things have been a bit rough and tumble in the princedom these days. The patriarch's resources coming up a bit short has left me with a much larger burden than expected. But mostly it's all the non-material emotional bullshit that's the heaviest.

I got my ass handed to me at the wrestling tournament but I will be wrestling much more soon and will be apart of the inaugural UTA wrestling team. Now If I could just resist the urge to go and spend ridiculous amounts of money on getting me and my friends drunk, I might actually be able to repeat some prior success.

I've been regulated to dial-up internet service.

My first and last christmas present was a punch in the stomach from my best friend, in the front lawn of my parents house at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning.

I wish I was back in Corpus Christi...why'd I leave? oh that's right, I'm supposed to be trying to forget.

This is all a pretty bit bottom-heavy. I'm happy to be wrestling again. I'm happy to be the same super-cool dude I've always been.

I've got two thing in life, my family and my friends and I dont break either of those for nobody.

After years of waiting...

Well it looks like it's going to happen after all. I'll be wrestling a gain this saturday.

It's kind of hard to believe after 6 years I'll be competing in the ring again. I've got to cut weight though.

It's already starting to put me in a strange but familiar state of mind. I'm not sure if it's because of the match coming up or the strenuous conditions I'm putting my body through. Only taking in about 1200 calories a day and I spend my b-day weekend working out about 3-5 hours a day. I woke up this morning at 5 to go run at the gym.

I wish I could explain the way I feel... but it makes sense. Since friday, I've started to feel more detached then I normally do. Less and less a person who inhabits a place with similar people running around.

I dont have any delusions of grandeur. I've been out of the game a long time and havent had partners my size to workout with. But I am somewhat in shape thanks to the past few months of hard work.

I've never had to cut weight before. But I think I can do it.

It still hasn't sunk in that I'll be wrestling in less than a week.

I'm thankful because I've got a lot of people behind me.

I also might be boxing in the Golden Gloves tournament in February. My dad was 2nd in the state at Golden Gloves, we'll see how I do. In the meantime I've got a lot of work ahead of me.

Black-Eyed Journalism

Two More articles in the Tarrant County College paper:

here:

http://www.tccd.edu/collegian/articles101905/wrestlershead.html

and here:

http://www.tccd.edu/collegian/articles101905/ptkspeaker.html

and it looks like this week I get the back cover page.

I attribute my journalism success to the unconventional interview techniques I employ. It's amazing, the information you'll get out of someone when you show up with your clothes completely soaked in sweat, a black eye, red-swollen knuckles that can barely grip a pen and a big, toothy grin.

You bet your balls it's Neil Diamond

Why is Japanese Pro Wrestling so much cooler than US pro wrestling?

is it possible to be a lover without being a fighter?

I had half convinced myself I had no business being a fighter and yet here I go again. I busted out my old gi (the thick one that makes you sweat alot) and tried out a new fight-school. I went back and forth throughout the day whether to go or not. Then when I got home from work and received some bad news, I knew that the only thing that would do me any good was some good old fashioned ass-whoopin.

That's how you know you love something if when you do it nothing else matters. The walls could be crashing in on you and you wouldn't notice. For 2 hours I get to dance in the rain.

Some rhymes I wrote in my head at work:

I roll a C-R-V I dont tip in a lac
and I dont wear a chain 'cause Kermit's got my back.


That's the idea of it. The flow I had in my head earlier sounded a lot better but I cant remember it well. But I just thought it would be funny to be rappin with my plush Kermit the Frog (with velcro hands) hanging on my neck the way I used to walk around when I was a kid.

Reach out and touch faith.

Thanks to my comrade Kozhev for the War of the Worlds toon link.

I've never been much of a dater. In fact a couple of years ago I proudly claimed "I dont date." With my former theory being that you just go around making friends and one-day poof one of those cool friends turns into your girlfriend. Well that happened..kinda. And now while not all hope is lost with this special friend. It will be awhile before we can be together again, if at all. But the problem is I hold my good friends very close to my heart and once this friend became more than she, enveloped me. I would and did do anything for her. And in the end that meant making sure she got out of town safely. It took a long time to heal from this seperation and I'm still healing. So I've been passive/aggresively dating.

..and it appears I'm running the gamut of dating. The "old friend let's go out and feel this dating thing out" date (only worked when I was drunk) - The "I just met you at a bar let's go out" date (not even when I was drunk) - And now coming soon The "hooked-up by a friend blind date" (phone conversation went well, we shall see) She's older than me by 3 years. This is the first older woman I've dated since high school. Well let's be honest only the 4th or 5th woman I've dated period, since high school. But still the last girl I was "with" was 3 years younger than me and that's probably a good reason why we had such a hard time.


Paintball, arrggh!! I love it! Come play with me sometime. It's my landlocked surfing. I like to play here: Outdoor Adventures on Saturday Nights from 7:00p.m. - 3:00a.m.

I got a cameraphone:


I got some great pics of my coworker: "Dirty White-Chocolate Jesus" playing flow-rack frogger 5 stories up in the sky

I'll be posting some pics soon.

War of the Cakes.

So far so good on the training tip.

I saw War of the Worlds this ID4 (hah! get it?). Loved it. Go see it. Repeat: Go See It!! I'm a spielberg fan through and through. From fucking Jaws chomping through shit to the AI aliens, the whole bit. AI in all it's overblown grandeur nailed it as far as I'm concerned. Minority Report is a helluva lot better than you remember. I guarantee.

War of the Worlds is fucking gut-wrenching, nail-biting tension. I've never been so tense in a movie for so long. I was along for the ride and running for my life. All this to say, it needs to be seen in theaters. This is a theater movie if ever there was one. Go see it.


The day before I saw Layer Cake. It was great. Daniel Craig is great and apparently doing well for himself from rumors of the next bond to having a big role in the next spielberg movie. The guy's charming as hell and fun to watch. Personally, I'll take Matthew Vaughn's realistic smart characters over Guy Ritchie's quirky cartoon-like crooks, any day. Not to mention it's nice to be free of Ritchie's stereotypical black characters bugging this shit out of my conscience.

Look out for the apparently random beating in the middle of the movie. It was one of the more intense beatings I've seen in a while that churned my stomach. Fun british-crook movie all the way through the twisty-turvy ending. Oh and also the assassination scene: my gosh, so cool.

both feet off the merry-go-round

Well if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go on an overnight drunk and in 4 and a half months I'm going to set out for the sport that took my knee and destroy it.

I like me.

In an email to a friend:

"I really like books. A good meaty book goes a long way with me. Even short-stories are hard for me to get into. Sun Also Rises is my favorite, hands down. I read it about every-other year and fall in love with it every time. This is why I can understand the attraction of poetry without necessarily feeling it myself: I can't tell you why I like Sun Also Rises. I just do. It's not the most well-written. It's not the most compelling. There's just something about it, you know? That's what I appreciate about poetry it's allusions to and attempts at grasping for something that cant necessarily be put directly into words."

I like googling: friends.

That's my friend Jon....athan lying to a bunch of people he doesnt know.

Man I love the Ninja Turtles...

"The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." - Michelangelo

The Y.

Haunted by dreams of the past. Tortured by realities of the future.

I had a good time catching up with my friend Sarah, saturday night. It'd been a long time. It's nice to know some things never change.

Man I'd sure like to hear that new Kings of Convenience CD. All I have is one of their remix albums. Am I a true fan?

I should be asleep by now. I go to work and sweat. I go to wrestling practice and sweat. I go to sleep and sweat. She's still cold as ice. And I'm so hot...

Rolling Stones' Exile on Main Street never gets old.

My hands are starting to look like the way I imagined they'd look when I got old. Knuckles are scarred. Lines in my palm are deeper and more pronounced. I've got man hands. They used to be soft.

I've fought and won. I've loved and lost.

The following quote is from a Pitchfork Media review of the rerelease of DJ Shadow's Endtroducing:

"And he also knows how it feels to be in that bin, like all of us on the way to our own graves, where we'll be trapped with all the other goners-- hoping someone will see something a little different and special in us, that might pull us out of the pile." -Chris Dahlen, June 10, 2005

I wish I had a wrestling partner my size.

saving lives..

This news that Sigur Ros' is bypassing there Dallas stop on their tour like the do most of the time. Reminds me, when I saved my friend Derik's life. Well some might say.. There was this weird thing of people inexplicably passing out at Sigur Ros' concerts. I was hanging with a good size group of friends till it seemed like one by one they all slowly withdrew into their places throughout the crowd. I backed away to get a better view of the band and ran into my friend Derik and his girlfriend Mae. They eventually wandered a little bit ahead of me. I noticed Derik kind of swaying then Mae had this really scared look on her face. So I ran up there and caught Derik just as he was falling out. I carried him to the nearest exit and he regained consciousness. Derik claimed he was unusually sober that day only having had 2 beers much earlier in the afternoon. Then Mae went around telling everybody that I saved his life. That was strange, since I hadn't. Quite frankly I was more interested in finding out the details of Derik's passing out as I had read of this strange phenomena occuring at Sigur Ros' concerts, previously.

Sandbar.

I miss the beach...more than you can imagine. I'm getting dark in my arms from time spent in the sun at work and play. But my torso is pale (somewhat). It's a weak shield for my burdened heart. I left something out there in the dunes and the neverending waves.

I worked out the ending of Tussle a little bit more. Took away the big stunt for a smaller one. Check it out. Lemme know what you think.

My membership at the UTA gym has expired, I'm considering working out at Metroflex. A wrestling buddy of mine works out there who is training to be a body builder. He wondered if I wanted to come and work out with him. My only hesitation is that this is a hardcore bodybuilding gym. There'll be plenty of meatheads and steroids. Ronnie Coleman one of the most successful bodybuilders in history works out there. But I'll probably be the strongest I've ever been if I do. I've yet to decide.

It seems like friday night was the night to get drunk. Many have reported of debauchery on high levels that night. I know I was drunker than I have been a long time.

Nostalgia surges.

...fresh from battle.

Well due to weather and lack of willing participants, I didn't play paintball this weekend. So to still my battlelust I just finished launching a full-on assault on my mom by flinging left-over paintballs at her while she was cooking my dad's lunch. Then I cleaned up the floor so she wouldn't smack me.

If you're a Grand Prairie resident you can check out the GP section of the Dallas Morning News, sunday edition to see an article on my team and a team picture.

Friday night was our end of season pool-party, I was presented with a nice color team-picture signed by all the kids...and a wet crotch from the kids shooting me with water-guns repeatedly in my bathing suit area. I was not however wearing a bathing suit.

Here's a picture of me in the background, about to puke from the excitement:

Is it in yet?

The state tournament was this past weekend and marked the end of the freestyle/greco wrestling season. So my tues & thurs evenings shall be freed up for more working out. And my saturdays for being lazy or something.

Things are looking up for next season. I found 3 more coaches for the program I may or may not head up in the fall. It came by a chance reunion with a guy who wrestled for my school after I graduated. He just happened to be looking to put together a team for mansfield along with two other former Martin wrestlers. So it looks like a possible total of 5-6 Martin Warrior wrestlers will be bringing wrestling to mansfield.

In other news I'll be using my newly reacquired weekend time to step production up on Tussle part 1.

I'm also getting back into my old hobby of paintball. I got together a few Black-Eyed Pea people to go and we had a blast. I would like to soon start a 3 or 5 man team. Anyone interested? please email me.

So my force-powers must have been working overtime yesterday as our attempt at the first showing was sold out. We came to a later showing where I ran into the former wrestler. The new Star Wars movie is great better than episodes 1&2. Not perfect but lovely and intriguing. I must say though Hitchicker's Guide to the Galaxy's planet factory was more awe-inspiring than anything the New Star War's movies had to offer visually.

David's beautiful nostalgic trip must be noted and viewed here.

So I just gotta start figuring out how to fit school in here somewhere and everything will be on the up and up.

I'm really excited about my reentry to the world of wrestling. The coach at South Grand Prarie High School has already said he want's me to work with his new heavyweight. I also might be working out with the UTD club team. Apparently they have some heavyweights. The knee may or may not continue to be an issue so we'll just have to wait and see.

For those readers out there this should mark the beginning of more frequent entries.

rumble

No the blog's not dead... the movie's not dead..I'm just very bust for the next couple of weeks.

Mon Wed and Fri I work 11 hours workout for about one then sleep.

Tues and Thurs work 11 hours then wrestling practice for about 3 hours then sleep.

Most of Saturday is taken up by a tournament. Then a healthy night of drinking for old times sake and a bit of a hibernation on Sunday...

goodnight more later...

Spreading The Faith.

"Sometimes in one's walk one will find oneself unable to keep the faith therefore one has no other choice than to spread it."

-Me

I started a new schedule at the warehouse I work at. M-F 6:00a.m.-5:00p.m. Being a wrestler has it's advantages as my boss's love for the sport is surpassed only by his size. So I got a cushy schedule but am expected to perform with all the hardwork that is expected of wrestlers. I was also expected to make an appearance at a wrestling tournament last saturday. As of today I can confidently say I have held up my end of the bargain. It started thursday after a rough day at work I showed up at South Grand Prarie High School the "other Warriors" that were in my region but not my Alma Mater (Arlington Martin), with expectation to merely help a few young kids get ready for the tourney. I get informed that they need people to help move mats for the tournaments. Wresling mats are big and heavy. I dont know how heavy but, they generally cost around 10,000 bucks, brand new to give you an idea of what kind of product this is. 4 hours later (mind you after my 11 hour workday), the mats are set up and I cant walk. FF: Next morning still cant walk without causing concern to anyone who sees me. Saturday sit down keep score of little kids throwing each other around (Tons of Fun, no sarcasm) for half the day, load mats another 4 hours.


...details. I run into my old teammate, Matt Harrison also a coach for the kids I'm working with; the Grizzlies. Matt Harrison was our 112 superstar my first and 2nd year of wrestling. I inherited his position as captain and fan favorite of the '98 Martin Warriors. We talked about how much we missed the sport and the fun we had together. The more mats we moved the more we talked about how we should have our own team. After soaking my shirt with sweat our old coach showed up. I pulled him aside and told him how I caught the bug. How my first kids demo going off, was like winning my first tournament all over again. He said he'd be back in the area for good in June and we'd all have a sit down.

So for now I will be spending my tuesday and thursday evenings with the Grizzlies. I will be making my transition from mere acolyte to disciple. The Grizzlies are merely a training ground probably until my mentor is back in town. Then I'll be following his directions but the plans are as of now with my boss to start a Mansfield program in a year or two that will eventually force wrestling into the high schools there.

So for now here are my colors:

Gorillaz strike back!

So here's the new Gorillaz single. Albarn's the mainstay of course. But on the hip-hop tip, Dan and Del are gone for the very timely king of remix Danger Mouse on production and some guy named Trugoy droppin rhymes. Danger Mouse is good sounds better than his Gray album. Trugoy is also good but no Del his flow just dont compare, but I think he fits the character better.

In other hip-hop news just when you thought Kanye West was settled in a dual producer/rapper role he goes out and makes a fucking great video for Common's "The Corner."

Have I ever mentioned how much I love this video:

Video code provided by MusicVideoCodes.com

Drool!

There was a time I was spending a lot (too much) money on shoes. But I still reap the benefits. I'm putting together a little getup and out of my shoe-pile tumbles just the perfect pair. Most recently I rediscovered the last pair of shoes I bought for waiting tables. I bought them cheap at Ross. But then the other day I sported them with the only pair of Levi's I own and was like woah. It doesn't hurt that they're made by Reef who has the best surf gear ass- I mean ad campaign:


I've absolutely fallen in love with these shoes:


I always like to keep a good pair of wrestling shoes around. Asics makes the best. And I got turned on to the Onitsuka line of Asics by Raygun. I always wrestle in the most basic shoe because they always seem the best. The ones with pivot points and the like never work as well for me. I think because so much of wrestling is being out of position. There's a certain way to execute moves but if your wrestling a formidable opponent you have to be able to come from any angle. I must own these shoes soon.

Yeah.

Who is Spike Jonze?

Well it's good to know when Spike Jonze isn't making a really crappy Ludacris Video he's making a really cool Adidas tennis shoe commercial. Well I guess I shouldn't be too cynical those Adidas tennis shoes are pretty cool. I wouldn't mind a pair myself.

Two points to whoever tells me who's the musical artist featured my best guess is Hope Sandoval but I dont know.

If you look to your right ----->

You shall see I've just posted my del.icio.us page. It's nothing special except basically a site where I post all the cool links I come across. It's cool for me because I've lost so many cool boomarks over the years and now I'll have universal place to access them. Cool for you so you can see all the cool shit I come across on my all too much time spent on the net. I first saw this over on Dan's blog. He always knows about all the cool shit first.

The moment you've all been waiting for.

Honey Looks
Originally uploaded by hevyw8.

Honey Rose makes her Internet debut.

Invite a Friend.

If anyone's interested in a Gmail account I've got some invitations available. Quite frankly I love it's ease of use and convienence.

Also I got an invitaion for a free month of Netflix. Normally they only offer like a two-week trial. So if you want the month comment or Gmail me.

More Change

I'm excited I finally figured out how to add links to this blog template. I've been wanting to personalize this blog more for a while now.

If anyone know about some real editing what I'd really like to do is In my title banner put the image of Robocop where ED-209 shoots at him and it zooms in on Robocop's face and there's a hole in his helmet exposing his eye. I'd have that right underneath my title. That'd be awesome.

"Offic"ial

Confession

Well I've been kind of bull-headed about my most recent trials and tribulations. The truth is I've been pretty bummed about injuring my knee and of course the lingering feelings that are heartbreak. I been trying to just muscle through it. But things have suffered for it that shouldn't have. I've finally gotten back to work on the movie as of today ironically the day that I found out for sure that I will need surgery on my knee. I tore a ligament which I've never done before. So hopefully it will be as easy a recovery as the meniscus tear was.

But in better news I finished the script for the first part of Tussle. I'm very proud of what's come of it. What's coming together in my head is even more exciting.

Fuckin 'ell if the new Sin City trailer doesn't gimme a bigger rush than most any illegal narcotic I've ever consumed.

Change

guess who just went gmail.


I've decide to ally myself even moreso with the giant that is google. I got nothing but love for this company as it hosts my blogs. Google is the place to be.

Hope you dont mind.

thanks Beeow.
...but I dont agree with that in the workplace.

Ketchup

So letsee lots happened other than the man pulling his own card.

About 2 weeks ago I busted up the once healthy right knee diving for a ball on the basketball court. I've yet to get an MRI. I'm pretty sure surgery will be necessary.

I felt really shitty about it. Knock you down depression was looming. But help came from where it should. I got my sore ass to go workout despite the pain a week later just to see if I could. After a little warm up the pain was gone but still no full range of motion. So I'm plugged into my onboard workout maching TV and watching this DOC on George Foreman and I watch him takedown Joe Frazier. I was in awe and invigorated at the same time. They kept showing it over and over and I was just overwhelmed by the sight of it I realized I was going ridiculously fast on the workout machine so I slowed down but keep a nice steady pace. I had to squeeze the handles so hard I was afraid they would break. Boxing's been on the brain because of that and because of my recent reviewing of Michael Mann's Ali.

Which leads to this:


I'm really tempted to buy it but I put the first disc in my Netflix queue to make sure it has staying power. But the more I remember how much my family and I enjoyed watching the more I realize I must have it NOW!

So yeah that's that and a cold kept me from jumping headlong into the oft-too delayed script work. But times-a-comin.

Good-night or Good Morning. Either way it's good.

Damn.

Well Hunter's dead and along with him the many heroes he created. Himself a hero? Well hell, I got my own opinion about that and it's very personal and I wouldn't share it unless asked. I mourn the passing of the man Hunter S. Thompson. Not that his current living status affected me all that much even his most recent writings did little more than educate and entertain. But I always had this crazy idea that some day I'd pick up and go hang around the town and bar he frequented for a week or two and hope that he shows up. I would have gone over to him asked him if I could shake his hand and say "thanks." Then I would have driven my self-satisfied ass home. By hippies, sherriffs, and supreme princes alike HST will be missed.

Distractions.

"I'm so tired of all this magic...I cant wait to get out of the World of Warcraft."

Yes I've been sucked into the online game. It's a good escape when this world doesn't offer up the same work/reward ratio. Either way it's been taking up a bit too much time. So movie watching and ridiculous amount of partying have been put aside and work will resume on the movie.

If you do happen to be a WOWer or prospective join server Draenor and look for BigShroom to join some friends and I.

Don't you love Insane Clown Posse? No..no I dont.

I cant keep up with the Netflix review so I'm just gonna do quick runs whenever I feel like it.

Ali
better the second time around and in a way not as good.

Straw Dogs and Dead Man
It's interesting I've seen these two movies after having written the script for Tussle. But in a awy these two movies are much like the movie I want to make. Dead Man even has the same score that I was looking for. It's very encouraging that while making a similar movie the same music comes to mind. Neil Young's Cortez the Killer is a big inspiration for the overall essence of the film and Dead Man's score is by Neil Young and very much in a similar style.

Meanwhile I failed in my vigil but fate had other ideas.

As part of my work on my movie I'll be working out with Aaron, I'm not so concerned with my look for the first part but I want to get gradually leaner in the second and third parts. I dont plan on any big slim-down, I want to keep the intimidating size. But I want the change to be noticeable in parts 2 and 3. Of course this is for overall health and appearance as well. I gained back all the weight and plus some that I had lost spending my summer on the beach and coaching wrestling. This is primarily due to all the excessive drinking I did dealing with things. I think coupled with my somewhat tamer lifestyle and small change in diet. Also having Aaron as a workout partner will help. He's also a certified personal trainer. We'll be trading knowledge, he'll help me in workingout and I will be teaching him what little knowledge I have of boxing and wrestling/jiu-jitsu.

My Dream Woman:

Mysterious, Sexy and Trustworthy

Ha-ha Funny.

I've been enjoying Peter Jackson's Video diary on his King Kong Prod. Blog. Most of them are fairly informative but this on in particular is hilarious.

Oh shit! Robocop lookout!

it's
RoboShark!!!

How industrious of you.

The warehouse I work at is located in the same building so we gotta wear ear plugs at all times. So all dialog sounds like some strange public television production dubbing.

I recently restarted my netflix subscription service so I'm gonna try to do some quickie reviews of the discs as they come in. So to catch up

Stray Dog *****
Akira Kurosawa crime noir is almost as cool as Kurosawa Samurai movies. The movie moves greatly from quirky comic routines to very gritty stirring scenes. Mifune's over-excitable angst is welcome as always. Kimura who happens to be my favorite of Kurosawa's regular stable plays the somewhat jaded veteran flawlessly. At the end you feel nearly as exhausted as the pro- and antogonist. No surprise, highly recommended.

Control Room ***
Yet another documentary to get you really pissed-off about the people running this country. It's about Al-Jazeera the Arab Sattelite News Channel. If you really want to feel disturbed and frustrated like none other I recommend checking this one out next to Outfoxed.

Garden State *****
I could go on about this one ..damn. This one hold a special place in my heart for reasons I wont go into. I waited a long time to see it. It didn't show in Corpus, where I was at when it came out. I had wanted to see it so bad as soon as I saw the trailer. Zach Braff was great in his many-roles, but at the same time it's pretty much exactly the movie a guy from his demographic (kinda like mine) would be expected to make. I didn't particularly like the way the Shins were introduced so blatantly. And yes "New Slang" very well may change your life but you shouldn't have to be told. Beautiful, moving and fun. What more can you ask for.

Black Hawk Down **
I like to keep an action flick in my queue for my parents to watch every now and then. I hadn't seen it and I had a tiniest shred of hope for Ridley Scott. Ultimately the performances outshined the content and direction. Although for the life of my I can't understand why they went with so many british actors with such thick accents. The film seems torn between trying to be a gritty portrayal of real events and a rock video. This one couldn't keep my attention.

Mr. Show, Season 1 ***
Like the first season of many great comedies this first season show merely mediocrity with tiny elements of brilliance shining through occasionally. The special features show the Mr. Show before it was on TV and shows the stars truly in their element. I look forward to the coming seasons. BTW if you do check this out dont bother with the commentaries. They're pretty much uninformative except for the explanation of the reason of why the shoot Mr. Show the way they do which is pretty damn brilliant. They shoot in front of a live audience in a restaraunt/bar so they can do away with the bullshit you have to go through shooting in a studio. They said they wanted the whole process to be fun.

So I'm anxiously awaiting Renoir's "The Rules of the Game" and the new anime DVD "Dead Leaves"

Dirty Keys

My script for the 1st part of Tussle is almost done but a small-bout of depression and hard work as delayed it a couple of days. It shall be finished hopefully today or tomorrow.

I've got dirty fingernails. The first couple of days of my first industrial job have been interesting and tiring. I've learned a couple of things. Apparently, training in industrial jobs means "Shit work." I figured driving a forklift would'nt be all that physically taxing and from the looks of everyone zooming around on their forklifts it isn't but I've spent the past two 10-hour shifts breaking down punched skids and rebuilding skids. Yesterday Eddie and I, built 30 skids of 30 cases of product each of which weighed about 45 lbs each. I've probably consumed about 50,000 mgs of Naproxen Sodium in the past 48 hours, which reminds me... Also I've learned that this is the one job where you're actually discouraged to work too hard. We were almost done with all of the skids before lunch so we were told to slow our pace down about 3 times till we were moving about .5 mph. So far if I can walk away with only one hour of sweeping, it's a good day. Sweeping is the dreaded fall back task if a supervisor sees you and they dont have anything for you to do you'll be told to pick up a broom and start sweeping. They tell you just to start sweeping because the warehouse is fucking huge and there is always shit all over the place so it's like kicking sand on a forest fire.

One thing I take comfort in is the Office Space exchange where the main guy asks his neighbor "Does anyone ever say 'looks like somebody's got a case of the mondays' at your job?" and his neighbor responds puzzled "No, I believe somebody'd get their ass kicked for saying something like that."

The forklifts are kind of fun though it's kind of like driving a big mech on wheels around. Ooh I also learned how to pry upon wooden crates with a forklift. Apparently the talk of the town last night was that someone rammed a fork into a rack bending the 1/2 inch of solid steel into a ninety degree angle.

What's what

So I had orientation for my first job yesterday. Drove and operated a forklift for the first time, that was scarier than I thought it would be. I start training sunday night.

I've decided to cut things off with my sometime long-distance love interest. Well in all fairness I guess she's the one that cut things off. She wont return my phone calls. She's done this before but that was back when she was battling her drug-problems. I'd wait a couple of weeks and then call her again and she'd be happy as hell to talk to me. I dont know what's caused it this time. And I dare not think on it too much. It's a hard fought battle everyday not to try and call but I need to do this...I need to start thinking of a future without her. If she calls me which is doubtful, I'll probably be right back where I started. This will be hard but I've taken measures to help soften the blow.

Two songs come to mind: Damien Rice's "Volcano" and The Shins "Gone for Good"

The script for Tussle is coming along nicely. I've given myself till the 10th to finish the first draft which will then be sent out to some peers.

I also sent in a response to a local casting call, the film sounds fun so we'll see.

Details are coming together rather quickly for the NY spring break trip.

Adventure 2

I'm still pretty excited by the idea of my next adventure. I called my Man in the Big City today and started arrangements to not only get some recon from him but to plan our first scouting mission. Which will be relatively soon, Spring break to be more precise. He said room and board will be supplied. Excellent. I hope I can keep the excitement level up enough so that I'll be good about prepping for the adventure over such a long period. I'm not very good at that. So I'll have to make sure that there's plenty of adventurin in the pre-adventure, scout mission as well as scouting.

There are somethings I know I wont be able to prepare for until I get an eye on what I'm gonna be up against. I think the cold will be more of a factor than I'd like to admit. I've never experienced being all that cold for more than a week or two at a time. I'm excited about walking and subwaying all over the place. One thing I'll have to do is meet up with some surfers so they can get me out to the beach at least once or twice while I'm up there. There's gotta be some decent spots within a couple of hours of driving up there.

I'm excited to meet New Yorkers...come to think of it I've never really known any born 'n raised NYers very well, if at all. I'm also excited for them to meet me. I think I'm more of a Texan/Cowboy than I'd like to admit.

I really need to go to sleep like 3 hours ago. But I got my self all worked up again. I got orientation for my forklifting job tomorrow earlier than anything I've had to get up for in as long as I care to remember. I'm gonna have a real job again.

So I'll do the same thing I did last time: Write.

Adventure

I've got to make a decision but I've made it before. And neither option has had permanence.

But the possibility of an adventure looms on the horizon with an odd companion. But somehow it makes sense. The kind of sense that leaving for Corpus Christi with a weeks notice made. Strangely enough I find myself in the same situation that I was then. But that decision was one of the better decisions I've made in the past couple of years. This adventure in question is a long way off a year.5, to be somewhat precise.

Would'nt that be great if I could spend the rest of my life just going off on these little adventures living in different places for just long enough to become fond of the place. But adventurin' no way to have a family, so they say. And sometime in my life I do want a family. I'd like it to be soon enough that my father is alive to be a grandfather. Thats something he's wanted for a long time and I've felt bad that he's had to wait as long as he has. But I wont rush things along just for his sake. It will be awhile before I'm ready for all that. I still got too much dreamin to do.

Anybody know the best way to the Big City?

New Year 2004

I cant sleep. That is to say, I could sleep and did sleep but something gathered in my throat and made me wake up coughing. And the nightmares that make me want to sleep my awake life away take hold. Keeping me oddly enough awake.

I might pull an all-nighter. More than likely I'll pass out by 6:00 and wake up very tired for work in the morning. Looking even worse for wear than I did today.

I spent the better part of 2005 recovering from the end of 2004.