livedoutloud

Book Review: "Medium Raw" by Anthony Bourdain

2012-02-10T11:18:00.000-08:00

I decided to purchase Medium Raw for my new Kindle because I loved Kitchen Confidential. Reading Kitchen Confidential after watching "No Reservations"was really enjoyable - you get to see OG Bourdain. The angry, drug addicted, raw, pre-television Bourdain.

I wanted to read Medium Raw because I thought it would be a continuation of Kitchen Confidential. Obviously it would be a bit different - he's now a household name (mostly), travels the world for 2 television shows, and never has to worry about backed rent or a lack of health insurance. I had high expectations of Medium Raw, although I now realize that was unfair.

Medium Raw is it's own book; mostly a collection of essays, without a running narrative. Some chapters are just ramblings about how all Americans should be learning to cook in high school. Some chapters are dedicated to either people he hates or loves. He even has an entire chapter where he lists "heroes" and "villains" in the restaurant and food industry, with paragraphs on each.

The most outstanding essay/chapter is about his day long shadowing of the man who butchers 700-1000 pounds of fish every day for Le Bernardin, and Bourdain's lunch with him afterwards.

Overall, I found it more difficult to read than Kitchen Confidential, and it didn't have the same page-turning, gotta read the next chapter RIGHT NOW feeling that I like to have while reading. If you're into Bourdain, it's worth a read.

7/10

Instant[gram] Italy

2012-01-27T15:48:00.000-08:00

Despite being back for about 4 months now, I've been wanting to post some photos from Europe. For some reason, however, I can't really bring myself to spiff them up and make them even nicer, so these are just some of my favorite Instagram photos from the trip.

December Sunset

2012-01-02T16:06:00.000-08:00

Roma

2011-11-09T17:41:00.000-08:00

About 4 weeks ago Jeremy and I got back from a month long trip to Europe. There are way too many pictures to go through so I've been negligent in both editing them and posting them. I've managed to get about 10 together, including this one...

Sending out an SMS {Santa Monica Seafood}

2011-09-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

Last night, Jeremy and I ventured to one of our favorite restaurants - Santa Monica Seafood.

It was a special occasion, as we had Jeremy's mom, his aunt, and her boyfriend with us. So we went all out - of course!

Santa Monica Seafood is a place we love, mostly for its fresh seafood, casual atmosphere, and the staff is super friendly and nice (especially Stefani!). Plus they have all kinds of things we love - a great cioppino and a delicious mushroom ravioli with scallops, shrimp and spinach.

Santa Monica Seafood, currently and before it was a restaurant, is a seafood purveyor for many Santa Monica restaurants (and restaurants in Southern California). That basically means they have the best of everything. Don't get oysters anywhere else in Santa Monica!

Our meal started, as per usual at SMS, with wine (a Cabernet) and oysters. We had Fanny Bay, Malpeque, Kumomoto and Kusshi (my favs), and a new one - Carlsbad. For entrees, we had (at the table) the mushroom ravioli (2 of them), a lobster roll, a cioppino, and a swordfish with peaches and veggies.Dessert was over the top with us ordering all 3 - the lemon cheesecake, chocolate molten cake (with extra whipped cream) and cannolis.

Overall, Santa Monica Seafood is a great place to eat if you don't mind splurging a bit on the best of the best seafood and wine.

Ray, Jeremy's aunt Randelle, Jeremy and I

The Great Italian Road Trip

2011-08-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

If it isn't super clear by now, Jeremy and I are going to Europe for a month in 2 weeks. 2 weeks from today!

I'm so excited! I've never been to Europe (went way far west to Asia before going east) and I could not be more excited. I'm heavily suppressing the desire to pack NOW!

We'll be flying into Rome, spending some time there, and then driving around with 2 friends for about 10 days. Fantastic!

Here's the potential itinerary of our Italian road trip (not to be confused with the German road trip we'll be taking after this one):

Cops & iPads - Not Just on TV!

2011-08-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

On my way to work, I saw a cop with an iPad...

So Criminal Minds really does have it right! This past season, the agents were always using iPads to review cases, and I figured that was reaching a little. But real law enforcement is embracing new technology!

Also - how awesome/terrible is this photo?

The Finished Product!

2011-08-29T13:28:00.000-07:00

Not too bad for only $5!

Nunya Damn Business [Cards]

2011-08-28T18:07:00.000-07:00

So I'm designing business cards in Illustrator. Fun!

I bought some printable business cards at Paper Source and I'm going to print my own. I'm not sure how they'll come out, considering they'll be punched out of the paper... and will probably have little perforation leftovers on the edges. But I'm having fun in the mean time!

I am using a lot of elements from my favorite Photoshop materials place - Pugly Pixel (I've used a lot of her stuff in my new blog re-design. She's great!). Her stuff is mostly for web use, so I'm not sure how it will look printed. But I think they look pretty cute on the computer.

I've got 2 different types so far (there are 5 different sheets in the pack - maybe I'll do 5 designs!), and maybe I'll make a cute case to carry them in.

Here's the front of one design:

Just a Preview...

2011-08-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

Of what I'm going to be doing in a little over a month:

We're taking the long way, baby. Just me, Jeremy, and (hopefully) a Fiat 500. The first day of 7 days of road tripping.

The Counter - Re-Encountered

2011-08-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I decided to go to The Counter last night - which was weird, because he's staunchly refused to go there for over a year, and I admit - there are much better, cheaper burger options.

But we were doing laundry at our usual laundromat, and The Counter is in the same 'hood.

If you don't know what The Counter is - it's a fairly overpriced burger place where you create your own burger. You choose the burger size, meat, bun, sauce and toppings. Usually the burgers are a little dry and the toppings leave something to be desired (but they do let you get it on an English muffin, which is awesome).

Jeremy decided on a 4 beer / 4 mini burger pairing. Seemed to be pretty good, but he didn't drink all the beer in the flight. A trip to the Daily Pint during the wash cycle eliminated his need to drink any more.

We both split the dill pickle chips, which Jeremy rightly declared, "Good, but not as good as your dad's." Amen.

My burger was delicious:
1/3 lb beef patty - cooked medium
On an English Muffin *
With pickles
Carrot strings
Lettuce
Green Onions
and Spicy Sour Cream **

I don't know if we'll be back anytime soon (see comment about better and cheaper burger options), but it's good to know that they're more on their game than they used to be.

* I love English Muffins
** And Sour Cream

Renaissance

2011-08-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

This is the renaissance of a few things - mostly of my blog.

I always want to write, I always want to have a presence on the Internet - but I run out of things to say. I love designing a blog, but I sort of suck at design. So we'll see how this renaissance goes.

There's a lot of exciting things happening in my life right now, but it seems that most of them don't start for another 3 weeks. So I'm in a holding pattern. I'm just sitting patiently, waiting for my day to day life to catch up with plans I made a long time ago.

Metamorphosis for the Win!

2011-07-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

First off, let me say how completely jazzed I am about all the support “Metamorphosis” has received. Read more about the movie here.

For the last 30 days now, the producers/crew of Metamorphosis has been running a fund raising campaign through IndieGoGo.com. The goal was $30,000.

Admittedly, when I first saw that number I laughed. I simply thought it too high of a number and that it couldn’t be done. After 2 weeks, the movie had $8000 in donations, which I was surprised at.

Then last week, the producer Jeff Laub (and one of my closest friends) asked me to help out with the fundraising. I instantly was very interested in seeing that $30,000 goal become a reality.

I plugged Metamorphosis and it’s fundraising page for a week on Twitter, Facebook, and I even made a LinkedIn post.

Obviously it wasn’t just me that was helping with the fundraising, but I was absolutely thrilled to watch our donation total go up and up.

We even got 2 write ups in Variety! (Read them here and here)

Everything was coming together in the most exciting way, and last night the fundraising came to an end. (Trust me, you can still donate if you want to).

Our final tally was $25,290. Not too shabby!

Thanks so much to the coworkers, parents, friends, roommates, acquaintances and strangers that helped with this project.

Taco Asylum in Costa Mesa

2011-04-02T16:00:00.000-07:00

Today Jeremy and I went to visit his mom in Irvine, CA. While down in Orange County, we took the opportunity to get a second taste at Taco Asylum. We first ate there a few months ago with one of Jeremy’s coworkers – and it’s so delicious.

The tacos are gourmet and seem to be inspired by any culture/food tradition that is not Mexican. The tacos are so good that it’s probably better for us to have to go to Costa Mesa to eat there – otherwise, we’d probably eat there so often we’d get sick of it.
I think the pictures speak for themselves:

The menu @ Taco Asylum

Mushroom Taco

Duck Taco (w/Camembert and Dijon creme fraiche) my favorite!

Short Rib and Pork Belly Tacos

Jeremy and his mama!

Procsuitto Eggs Benedict

2011-03-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Jeremy and I like to make our own brunch – mostly because we can do it better than any $40 LA brunch out there.

Behold – a variation of our Eggs Benedict. It’s got proscuitto, onions and herbs, Monterey jack cheese, poached eggs, and my hollandaise (usually my only contribution) on french bread. The hollandaise is a secret, but I made one change this time – I used our stick blender instead of my usual method. The result was really thick, really rich hollandaise. Both the thick and the thinner have their place.

Prosciutto Eggs Benedict

Oysters on the Half Shell & Creamy Leek and Potato Soup with Bay Scallops

2011-03-07T13:22:00.000-08:00

Sunday is easily Jeremy and I’s favorite day to cook. We usually have all day, and we take advantage of the time. Often, we make something from our favorite cook book, Stir by Barbara Lynch.

Today, Jeremy surprised me by choosing oysters and a potato soup that I’ve been wanting to try.
Usually, our oyster eating is within the confines of a restaurant, generally Santa Monica Seafood. Not anymore! Jeremy picked up 2 of my favorite oysters – kusshi and kumomoto. Both are small, sort of sweet – and all good. To go with them, I made a cocktail sauce, and he bought the mignonette that Santa Monica Seafood serves.

Using our new oyster knife

Fresh Kumamoto oyster - it's alive!

Next comes the Leek and Potato Soup. We also made the suggested (from the recipe) black olive potato chips to serve with the soup.

Black Olive Potato Chips frying away!

The final product!

All I can say is that it was absolutely delicious (I had seconds), and we’ll definitely be making this again. Now if only there weren’t a mountain of dishes to do…

Some Reasoning Against "Eat, Pray, Love" - Finally

2010-08-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

Every time I say that I didn't like "Eat, Pray, Love" - I wonder why there aren't more people that didn't like it. So many women do love it, and I don't really want to say too many disparaging things about it - because I have friends that liked it... I guess I don't want to hurt their feelings by saying what I think about women who like it... If that makes sense.

But Memorist Rachel Shukert, in an article for The Wall Street Journal, touches on one of the reasons I disliked the book so much -

"At first glance, Elizabeth Gilbert is reflexively, almost compulsively self-deprecating. She criticizes herself for everything — her ever-increasing pant size, the frivolity of her inner monologue during meditation — everything, that is, except the impetus for her journey in the first place: the breakdown of her marriage. On this subject (and this subject alone), she is conspicuously silent. We hear about her grief, and her husband’s anger (at which she feigns incredulity), but if you want to really want to figure out what went down, you have to read between the lines (hint: I don’t think it was just that she didn’t want kids.) To admit that she did something genuinely hurtful, that she was not so much a victim of circumstance as lying in a bed that she herself had made, might have added real depth to her character, and made for a far more interesting book, but it would undoubtedly have made her less sympathetic to her audience. It’s hard to imagine Oprah, who rarely shrinks from moralizing on experiences she’s never had, endorsing such a work. Gilbert exchanged honesty for likability, and now she’s being played by Julia Roberts in a movie. It’s a canny trade-off, but it’s one I wish she hadn’t had to make."

"All Downhill From Here"

2010-07-15T13:37:00.000-07:00

The following is an interesting article on the Tour de France - but mostly about Lance Armstrong. If anyone knows me really well, they know I love every aspect of the Tour de France - and I also take no issue with dissing Lance Armstrong (mostly just because I'm cantankerous like that). I do respect him as an athlete, but he's certainly not my favorite rider.

Most of the things the article has to say are things that I've been saying for 2 years - but the author is a little more unbiased than I am. Check it out!

Blogging is so hard / Hong Kong Food

2010-07-12T22:14:00.000-07:00

I love the idea of blogging, and I always think of things to say on my blog, but I'm just so freaking lazy with writing...

So to start me off - here's a photo from my vacation with my boyfriend to Hong Kong and Indonesia...

Hong Kong was so completely amazing, and I HIGHLY recommend it for anyone who wants to dip their toes into the huge infinite ocean that is Asia. For West Coasters, it's just a mere 15 hour plane ride (it's relatively cheap with regular flights out of LAX). It's like New York, or what I assume London or Paris must be like - just an enormous global city that is pulsing with life and culture and FOOD.

Some of the many things we ate in Hong Kong that we love to tell people about:

Preserved duck egg - it was blue and clear and our waitress shamed me into eating it
Goose - bonier than I would've imagined
Duck - the Pièce de résistance - delicious roasted Chinese duck... to die for
Dim Sum (twice!) - Once at the place Anthony Bourdain went - the Lin Hueng Tea House, and once at City Hall... notice the difference!
Vegetarian lunch at the Po Lin Monastery - tucked away in the mountains next to the giant Buddha
Deep fried chili crabs and mantis prawns at a street restaurant in the Temple Street Night Market (probably the best food we ate in HK)

Well... that blog post went well. Maybe I'll post another photo and expound on that in a few days. Very exciting stuff!

Compositing Not-Excitement

2010-06-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

So, if you've read the post below, you know that I've been working on some compositing for a friend's movie. However, I was about to reach my breaking point. Compositing is effing hard.

So then I said to myself - "Self, what can you do to make this go faster?" And then it came to me, and made me feel like a world class idiot - EDIT THE FOOTAGE. It's HD footage. Zoom in, dummy.

So I checked with my friend, and he had no issues with it. Wow. I was so excited to try my hand at compositing, that I overlooked the best time saving solution, and the best looking solution. Geez.

So now, I'm zooming along with this project. Next up, jazzed up end titles and some color correcting.

Please do not park...

2010-03-25T18:31:00.000-07:00

So last night, coming home from a Pub Quiz victory (our first ever in like 6 months or more), I was parking on my street in Santa Monica. I was parallel parking, as is the norm on my street, and Jeremy got out to help me squeeze into the spot. Across the street from my apartment, is another apartment building that has a fence across what used to be a drive way. The curb dips down, as if it were a driveway, but it is not. As in most places, in Santa Monica it is perfectly legal to park where the curb dips down if it's not a driveway. Am I making myself clear enough?

So a woman opens her window and starts yelling at Jeremy, telling him that we can't park in front of the apartment's "drive way." Remember the above paragraph? So he yells back at her that it's not a drive way, and she says we'll be towed, and he says "Go ahead and tow us."

Needless to say, I got a note on my car this morning:

Keep in mind that this is not the first note I've received. The first one was better and it called me an asshole. Sounds like I live on a street with a bunch of assholes. Albeit, ones that are so ridiculous - they make me laugh.

Compositing Excitement

2010-03-09T23:05:00.001-08:00

Alright... well I tried to update more often, and that lasted all of like, 3 days. Work is picking up and I am busy, busy, busy.

In my free time, I've been working on a project of a friend I worked with at The Bonnie Hunt Show. He made a movie and needed some After Effects work done - so he came to the master - er, me.

I'm doing some compositing, color filling, maybe color correction (a tad), and working on the credits. So far so good - but compositing is way harder than I imagined. I suppose I knew that it wasn't an easy task - but the sheer tedium of it is incredible. So many tiny points to move, frame by tiny frame. But I'm actually learning a lot. Also, it's great to have an excuse to use After Effects again - for an actual purpose, besides doing Video Copilot tutorials... see more on that later.

Here are some images of a before and after of what I'm working on... still needs some work, but so far, I like it:

Before:

After:

Rock Me, Amadeus!

2010-02-02T11:46:00.000-08:00

I hate to admit this, but – I watch The Bachelor. Without going into why, or how I enjoy watching this show, I would like to bring to your attention the most hated woman on the show (by me, the others on the show, and hopefully the viewing public) – Vienna. I normally cannot stand the sight of her, but on last night’s episode, her hair was in rare form…

Here’s a picture of Vienna (not a good enough view, however, to do it real justice) with some of her historical counterparts / hair inspiration:

Vienna

Ludwig van Beethoven

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johan Wolfgang von Goethe

Food Coma

2010-02-01T12:05:00.000-08:00

So much for keeping up on my blogging… but I have a good excuse! My parents were here last week. We had an extensive food tour of Los Angeles, and I hope they loved every minute of it… I know I did.

Some delicious restaurants on our list:

- Santa Monica Seafood

- Chung Dam Korean BBQ (unlimited sides!)

- Tacos Por Favor

- Malibu Seafood (fried shrimp!)

- Palmeri (recommended by Katherine!)

Needless to say, between eating and our other activities – it was a great weekend. Now if I could only convince them to move out here!

In other news, Jeremy and I did finally make the food I referenced last week (or was it the week before??)… it was pretty good, but sort of a pain to fry so much calamari. Next time, we should use less. Also, picatta is not good. Or at least not the one we made.

Foodwise, this week, we’re looking at Steak Salad with Potato Leek Soup, Salmon with Roasted Cabbage, and some sort of Cajun-ized Catfish. Yum!

And as a side note, I had to say goodbye to my iMac’s hard drive… it died. And silly me hadn’t backed up in a long, long time. Now I need to buy a Time Machine Dive. Ugh.

Tornatic Activity!

2010-01-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

Oh, and I also saw lightning for the first time in a year and a half last night, and it hailed twice this week! And tornadoes! It's almost like Indiana... The news people are having the best time of their meteorological careers!

Way to be, Jeff!

2010-01-22T16:41:00.000-08:00

Well since Jeff Laub shared my blog on his Google Reader, I suppose I'll have to keep it up. Thanks, Jeff!

So - bad news about the veal and calamari last night. Jeremy and I went to Whole Foods, and imagine our huge disappointment when there was neither veal nor calamari. Isn't Whole Foods, as a definition, supposed to have yuppie items that people don't buy all the time, but aren't totally uncommon? Come on! After deciding we could probably find what we needed at Ralph's (West Coast Kroger)... we drove towards it and decided that we might just be better off at that point to just go to Buca di Beppo and get Veal Parmesan and Fried Calamari. Success!

We watched some of Conan O'Brien last night, and I thought - how sad what's happening. I wish the show didn't air on so late, or I might've watched it more often. But Nielsen can't track my viewing anyway, so big help that would've been. Conan is fantastic - and I promise to be a more loyal viewer if he were to say, go to Fox and air at 11pm.

I can't believe it's finally Friday. For some reason, every morning since Tuesday, I've woken up feeling as if it were Friday. And guess what - it wasn't. Until this morning. Yay! Weekend plans are shaping up, which include many fun things, such as:

- Point Break Live!
- Cleaning my apartment in preparation of my parent's arrival
- Possibly returning shoes I ordered that are an inch too big (oops)
- Going to Thousand Oaks to watch the Colts (I'm sure they'll cheer for someone else) at Jeremy's family's house
- Hopefully eating my weight in sushi / some other delicious food
- Possibly appearing on an internet phenomenon that I can't tell much about, but will when it's over with

It's Friday! Watch Conan's final show!

Feeling a little like Julie...

2010-01-21T16:44:00.001-08:00

...from Julie and Julia - I'm about to blog about food.

Wow - I can't believe it's been since July when I updated this thing last... let's see what's going on... I got a new job with a new company that I love - Post Haste Sound. Jeremy and I got an apartment together in Santa Monica, less than a block from the beach. I'm going to Mexico again next month for my birthday. My parents are coming to visit for 5 days next week - and we're going to eat our way through Los Angeles. And everything's going great - that pretty much sums it up.

With that said, I'd like to try to update this with my usual random musings and happenings.

Jeremy and I have been trying to cook delicious meals, and we've so far been more successful trying to make recipes that we see on TV, rather than me trying to make my mother's delicious recipes (they never taste as good as hers). And in our quest to become great chefs - we have discovered Tyler Florence. He is like the god of delicious, moderately complicated, completely satisfying food. We go home for lunch most days, and "Tyler's Ultimate" is on during our lunch.

We've made a few of Tyler's awesome recipes, and tonight we will attempt to tackle Veal Picatta and Fried Calamari with Basil and Lemon with Arrabbiata Sauce. Awesome, right? I'll have to report back on how it goes.

Nigerian Princesses

2009-07-22T07:38:00.001-07:00

So, all my active and attentive readers know that I am trying to sell my iPod touch (so far with limited success). My most recent questionable buyer wanted me to ship the iPod internationally. The iPod is for sale on Craigslist and Amazon, and this person was looking at the Amazon listing. She sent me an email, asking if it was in working order - that's normal. Then she asked if I could ship it internationally - not normal. Amazon does not allow electronics from Amazon Marketplace to be shipped overseas, so red flag.

I told Jeremy about it, and he doubted immediately, joking that she was a Nigerian princess...

Then today I get an email from "Amazon" saying my order had been purchased. Bear in mind that I have sold 2 books on Amazon, and this was not the usual need to ship notice. I then checked my Amazon seller site, and no purchase was there. Also - she was asking me to ship to Nigeria... better luck next time, princess. This girl will not be fooled.

The brighter side.

2009-07-21T14:34:00.001-07:00

Things are looking up in LA... as I hoped they would. Sometimes you just have to count on others to keep up your morale.

On that note, I have been applying to jobs and I heard back from one - and have an interview. Very exciting!

Also, I am trying to sell my iPod touch, in anticipation of getting an iPhone in a month or two, and I received a very interesting message:

"Ok. This is what I have for trade: 1 ---- JAMMER. (Cell phone signal blocker, 10m distance). 2 ---- PEN DVR. SPY. CAMERA (audio-video), with 4 gb memory, and all accesory. 3 ---- MINI WIRELESS BUG DETECTOR. 4 ---- GREEN LASER POINTER. 5 ---- FREEDOM BLUETOOTH GPS RECEIVER (for use with any bluetooth device) 6 ---- FREEDOM MINI BLUETOOTH KEYBOARD, used, but in perfect working condition. 7 ---- SAMSUNG D807 (used but in perfect working condtion). Let me kknow if you find something interesting. I also have brand new in box DELPHI RECEIVER (((XM))) satellite radio portable. Is in box, never open. And have even brand new HD DVR DIRECT TV, also SPYDER ELECTRA DIGITAL LED (paintball GUN), with 2 tanks CO2."

Wow - thanks. I can't decide... umm how about cash.

Also - I'm taking a re-crack at my demo reel. 1 minute 30 seconds, here I come.

A special anniversary...

2009-07-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

Happy 9 months, LA! While I am exponentially broke-er, I am exponentially richer in life and love.

Things to consider when moving to LA.

2009-07-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

I am currently now facing looking for a job again. I never anticipated the extreme testing on my patience, mood, and perseverance. Looking for a job in LA is difficult.

I was listening to NPR yesterday on my last commute home (for awhile, most likely), and one of my favorite segments, Martini Shot, came on. Martini Shot is a segment where writer and producer Rob Long gives a "real take on life in Hollywood." Yesterday he discussed Hollywood being built on hope. And that in Hollywood, there exists an even mix of hope and hopelessness.

This is pretty true... When I moved to LA, I got a job at a nationally syndicated talk show - JACKPOT. Well, it turned out to be a big learning experience; a terribly trying time and a fantastic time. But at the end of the season, I loved everyone I worked with (well most people) so much that I really would like to go back. But I'm still waiting to hear about that.

A few weeks after the season ended for hiatus, I got another job as a freelance editor - JACKPOT.

(Let me give a side note about a "few weeks." A "few weeks" here in LA is practically the worst thing that has ever happened to me. It's just a few weeks of sending tens of resumes, hearing virtually nothing back, and sitting around my apartment so that I don't spend any of the precious money that I don't have.)

So anyway, back to the freelance job. This job was actually procured for me by my good friend Jeff Laub. At my new gig, I was actually getting to edit something that "mattered," and by that I mean that I was paid. Everything was going great, for the most part, but then in a single day, everything went bad. I was told that I didn't need to come in for a few weeks, I spilled water on my (already disfunctional) phone, and some other stuff that you don't want to know about happened. Ugh.

So here I am, back at my apartment, doing the "few weeks" thing. This time it could mean a few weeks until I resume editing, a few weeks until I have a different job, or a few weeks until I find out about my old job.

But regardless... be prepared for your "few weeks" if you move here. Borderline crippling depression (melodramatic, I know), some lonliness during the day, and a general lack of motivation and creativity.

Days like this I feel like I should've been an accountant. But then I wouldn't have all the other wonderful parts of my life in LA. So I'll just ride out these next few weeks.

The Ballad of Love and Hate

2009-06-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

I'm getting pretty restless here at my apartment all day... Sure - go on, get out there, do something. Oh wait, I have no money. :)

I think I have a love/hate relationship with Los Angeles, and that is probably not unreasonable. When I moved here, it was difficult finding a job, but I had 4 interviews and got offered 2 jobs. Now there are basically no jobs, or so it seems, but I have had one interview. But no offer.

The issue, though, is where are the jobs? I know it's summer, and I know there is summer hiatus for most shows - flooding the market with able bodied people, and we're in the middle of a recession (whatever with that already).

Good news - hopefully I'll be going home in a month to recharge my batteries and going to Kris Knight's wedding. Should be fun! If only I can afford the ticket there.

But I do get to see these cuties:

My parents!

Rain.

2009-06-03T17:20:00.001-07:00

It's a strange day here in LA... it rained. I guess there were even some thunderstorms... WHAT?!

Everyone seemed to be in awe of it. I left my post at The Coffee Bean, where I was reading World War Z and trying to find a job online, and I walked back to where I had parked. Along the entire 6 or so blocks, people were stepping out of work to check out the rain. One little girl standing underneath an awning with her parents stuck her hand out to feel it. Like she wasn't sure what it felt like.

It's nice to get some rain, and I enjoyed walking in it and didn't mind getting wet. The sun was even partially out, and I was hoping for a rainbow, even though the LA smog probably prevents such things. It was nice to have both, the sun and the rain. It seems that here, lately, all it is is gloomy (June Gloom, so I'm told). And when it hasn't been gloomy, it's just unrelenting sun. So a little cloud cover, a little rain, and some sun made for a nice walk.

Nada Nada Nada

2009-06-02T12:03:00.000-07:00

So I just had the epiphany that I will hopefully be headed home to Indiana for Kris's wedding in a little over a month - WHOA. I can't believe that I'll be home again. I miss my house and my family, and it's always nice to get out of LA for a bit.

I feel like I need a channel for all my energy. It's terrible though because I spend all day looking for jobs, and my energy level never gets going so I'm just tired at night... I would much rather be really busy with work. But hopefully soon!

I'm right now working on photoshopping my photos that Jeremy and I took around Tahoe and the Sierras. Here's one of them:

Job Search

2009-05-27T12:30:00.001-07:00

Job searching is DIFFICULT. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't. And I've only been without a job for a few days, but I feel like I've been looking for weeks.

I don't know what it is about this industry, or all others... it's a pain having to convince an employer that you're worth something. When I was in college, it was so easy. Your name was your reputation - your abilities were known. My name meant something in college, and from what I heard from someone, it still does.

But this is Los Angeles.

The jobs I looked at were on these sites today:
Los Angeles Craigslist - TV/Film/Video/Radio
Los Angeles Craigslist - Crew Gigs
RealityStaff.com
EntertainmentCareers.net
A lot of networks
And a secret one I haven't done yet... but I'm not allowed to say the name of the site.

It's hard knowing you can do so much, but no one here knows it yet.

So if you're an employer, here's a link to my resume. Enjoy!

Some Updates

2009-04-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

The 1st season of the show that I work on is coming to a close... and it seems like everyone is getting a little nutty. The office today was insane with energy, and it seems like everyone might be a bit off their rocker. Should make for a fun day.

Also, there is a certain person in this office who laughs uncontrollably while wearing headphones, and I think she has no idea the magnitude of her laugh - yet she has the audacity to tell my and my cubicle mate to keep it down.... That's right. We share a cubicle. Hmmm

In other news, we're getting a visit on the show today from a certain mulleted, former country singer who rides his daughter's much more famous coattails... YES.

And I will be leaving work early to pick my mother up at the airport. It will be the first we've seen of each other since Christmas... so yay!

Website

2009-04-13T10:56:00.000-07:00

So I'm working on the website design for http://livedoutloud.com. I haven't bought the domain name, but I'm not really worried about it getting snatched up. So far I'm digging my color scheme, but I just have to make sure I don't make it too cutesy...

Shaq Quotes

2009-03-14T22:43:00.000-07:00

Best website ever: http://shaqquotes.com

Some real gems:

“I weigh 330,000 pounds…I’m the NBA’s best NFL player, and I’ve always been the sexiest 7-footer in the NBA – for 12 years running.” (When asked what his weight is.)

“I’ll beat you up right now if you want me to.” (When asked to comment on his strength.)

ESPN: Do you ever see the day where it would be possible for you to sit down, have a talk with Kobe Bryant?

SHAQ: Who?

ESPN: Kobe Bryant.

SHAQ: You know what I am not familiar with that name, I know a lot of names and I have a lot of names in my head, but I am not familiar with that name. Especially if there is nothing to talk about, I’m sorry I can’t recall that name.

“I’m George Bush. I’m the president.”

“My game’s like the Pythagorean Theorem. It ain’t got no answer.”

“I am Superman. And the only thing that can kill Superman is Kryptonite. And Kryptonite doesn’t exist.”

“I’m more like a senior adviser so I don’t like to come in here and try to take over. Just like your basic karate movie where the young guys come to the old guys with beards who have them do weird stuff to get to the other side. That’s who I am, the old guy with a long beard.” (Referring to his new role with the Phoenix Suns.)

“It’s hard being the NBA’s sex symbol, but somebody has to do it.”

“Pluto is not a planet, but I am.”

Alright.

IMDB

2009-03-10T10:45:00.001-07:00

It's not much, but it's mine:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3353614/

Great Mac and Charlie Moment

2008-10-13T20:55:00.001-07:00

Whatever You Like

2008-10-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

Weird Al has a new parody of one of my current favorite songs - T.I.'s "Whatever You Like."

Here are some of my favorite lyric changes:

T.I.:
Yeah, I want your body, I need your body
Long as you got me you won't need nobody
You want it I got it, go, get it, I buy it
Tell 'em other broke n***as be quiet

Weird Al:
You like Top Ramen, need Top Ramen
Got a cupboard full of 'em, I’ll keep 'em coming
You want it, I got it, go get it, just heat it
Dump the flavor packet on it and eat it
_______________________________

T.I.:
Shawty, you the hottest of the way you drop it
Brain so good
School you went to college
Hundred deposit, vacations hit the tropics
'Cause errbody know it ain't trickin' if ya got it
Ya need to never ever gotta go to yo wallet
Long as I got rubber band banks in my pocket
Five six, adds with rims and a pocket kit
Ya ain't gotta downgrade, you can get what I get

Weird Al:
Hottest shorty I know, if you had some lipo
You could be second-runner-up Miss Ohio
Seven dollar bills rolled
Up inside my plastic billfold
Buy you a bagel even if it isn’t day old
And you never ever gotta wear your sister’s old clothes
As long as I’m still assistant manager at Kinko’s
Cut your hair with scissors and a soup bowl
You ain’t got to pay me, that’s the way that I roll

Treasure Island

2008-09-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

Here's a new one from "Great Illustrated Classics" :

Tale of Two Cities

2008-09-18T18:51:00.000-07:00

So I was cleaning out some of my pre-college belongings today, and I stumbled across these books called "Great Illustrated Classics." In these books, the prose is abridged in favor of showing images describing the action - you know, so kids can understand the story while still reading a "chapter book." As I was browsing some of the books, I realized the images reminded me of SomeEcards and Married to the Sea.

As I was gazing through A Tale of Two Cities, I stumbled upon this little gem:

I literally laughed for hours thinking about this. Do they think kids are stupid? And there are plenty more, so look forward to them.

(Sorry for the poor quality, my Photoshop needs a serial number, and I don't have one!

Goals from Senior Year of High School

2008-09-16T19:22:00.000-07:00

These are from the journal mentioned below. Bolded goals are completed.

GOALS:
1. Get an A in English.
2. Graduate from college.
3. Get into the Honors College at Ball State.

VISIT:
4. Egypt
5. London
6. Italy
7. Israel
8. Alaska
9. China
10. Greece
11. Fiji
12. Australia

13. Become a producer or director.
14. Work on a talk show.
15. Become an amateur photographer. (Sort of - aren't we all?)
16. Get married.
17. Have 3 or 4 kids.
18. Take a train across Europe.
19. Live to be 100.
20. Live in a big house.
21. Have a lifelong friend.
22. Live near the beach.
23. Ask a guy out on a date.
24. Exercise regularly.
25. Never weigh more than 150.
26. Have 2 or 3 dogs.
27. Own a 4-Runner.
28. Go on a cruise.
29. Go on a cross-country road trip.
30. Meet Dave Matthews (REALLY?! Hahahaha)
31. Lead a youth group.
32. Coach a swim team.
33. Appear in a movie.
34. Live in New York.
35. Live in California.
36. See the 7 wonders of the world.
37. Take a yoga class.
38. Take a kick boxing class.
39. Be on a reality TV show.
40. Grow a garden.
41. Go to an Olympic swim meet.
42. Play soccer.
43. Write a book.
44. Learn to cook.
45. Meet the President.
46. Learn to sail.
47. I want a daughter named Grace.
48. Sponsor an AIDS child in Africa. (I donate to the Mocha Club, it's for families in Africa)
49. Have a foreign exchange student.
50. [BLANK]

Some of these goals are outrageous, and some just within reach. I am mostly excited in reading these because of how many I have already reached. Makes me feel pretty good about the last 4 years.

Get Excited Blog Readers

2008-09-16T19:17:00.001-07:00

If you read this blog, as you should, especially now... I have officially unearthed my journal from my psychology class senior year, and I believe I will be sharing some entries here. I'm really excited, and you should be too - this will be fun.

Here's a picture of the front, for reference...

My mother had a tendency to read my journal (what little entries I wrote) - so I locked it down with tape.

I knew I loved this show for a reason:

2008-09-15T19:41:00.000-07:00

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is number 1 in my book for this alone. Now if it were only Shiner beers coming out of that box. Yeah. I noticed.

It's Always Sunny

2008-09-15T14:35:00.000-07:00

This is the funniest thing EVER.

I absolutely love this show.

Emmy's

2008-09-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

So I'm now back from the regional Emmy's in Cleveland and it was a great time...

Unfortunately the show in which I was nominated for did not win, but NewsWatch did, so at least Ball State got one. So that's definitely a plus.

The entire event was a great experience, and hopefully we'll be submitting our documentary Finding Harmony for several Emmy's next year - so we'll be back!

And everyone in the Reel Deal should work twice as hard as we did (or at least a little harder) because everyone should experience the Emmy's firsthand.

Overheard in Plymouth

2008-09-10T12:24:00.001-07:00

During the massively awesome Blueberry Festival fireworks:

Some redneck next to me: "This would be a great time to shoot someone."

Fringe

2008-09-09T18:49:00.000-07:00

So I very much enjoyed Fringe. It can't be denied - J.J. Abrams knows his stuff.

The show has a very sort of "LOST" feel to it, just with all the information thrown at you at once. It's nice to finally have a thinking person's show again. Or at least until LOST comes back.

One thing I can say is that I definitely foresee LOSTish type things like blogs, wikis, and LOLFringes. This show certainly has its share of "hidden" items, really only visible to the careful observer (noted was the hand print before commercial that had 6 fingers).

As of right now, it's hard to go into more detail, and I may watch it again on Sunday just to watch it again for more addict-inducing material. Well played, J.J.

Job Time

2008-09-09T13:03:00.001-07:00

Well, as much as I love living in the smallest bedroom of my house... it may be time to think seriously about moving on. I really need more money, though... and truth be told, I'd rather it be easy money (no selling my body though). So - I need to generate some ideas on that.

I also need to really crack into my reel (some of you have heard that millions of times from me) but my mother is going to Chicago all day tomorrow, and I'll be home alone - so I plan on really laying into it.

Fringe is on tonight, and I'm eager to see what J.J. Abrams has in store for me. I may post thoughts following the premiere at 8 on Fox. I sure hope it's good!

Emmy's are this weekend!!!! Here's to a Reel Deal win...

Text Time

2008-08-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

So most of my friends prefer to send text messages as opposed to traditional phone calls or emails. This is all fine and good, but I recently picked up a texting plan to keep up. Welcome to the 21st Century, Katie.

But anyway, I've got a sort of "hall-of-fame" stored in my phone, and here are some greatest hits (formatting and spelling in tact):

"I'm at the wherehouse and your roomate does not like me." -Danilo Santos

"Have a frackin tight b day katie day!" - Brent Kinney (best birthday message ever)

"Whap! I'm drunk." - Jeff Laub

"In dual yourself, silly." - Kris Knight (this is what happens when you don't check your ITaP

"So... bob just called me walking out of prison...so he had a good night" - Kris Knight

"Sarah says grandma is an old coot!" - Amanda Day

"Wall-e made of cry... and she said yes!" - Kris Knight

"Ok, fine, forget i ever talked to you." - Kurt Sutton

"I didn't want to disappoint you." - Jeff Laub

"I'm flying out of you." - Jeff Laub

" "only you" wasn't a terrible movie." - Kyle Peters

"I just saw the blonde version of you. I'm going to ask her to dye her hair and marry me" - Joe Huber

"Indeed. I am the loreal poster boy after all." - Kyle Peters

"Bob Roll is the lanterne rouge of the announcers and the only yellow jersey he will wear is on his teeth. Sarah gets the credit for that." - My sister, Amanda referring to the worst Tour De France commentator. Most will not find this humorous. But that's why it's last.

Okay...

2008-08-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

So it's not that bad. But I still didn't ask for her to cut this much. And she asked if I was 24 when I told her I just graduated college, and she asked if I had any kids. Not just one kid, but plural kids. Great.

Tex Mix 2

2008-08-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

So I just made another mix - more throw backs.

Mix 3
Swimming Pool - The Submarines
Campus - Vampire Weekend
Live High - Jason Mraz
What You Got - Colby O'Donis
Should've Said No - Taylor Swift
Change The World - Eric Clapton
Closing Time - Semisonic
Diamonds on the Inside - Ben Harper
Let's Give Them Something to Talk About - Bonnie Rait
Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk - Rufus Wainwright
I Never - Rilo Kiley
Faded - Soul Decision
Late Morning Lullaby - Brandi Carlile
You Gotta Be - Desree
Chocolate - Snow Patrol
Downfall - Matt Costa
Learn to Fly - Foo Fighters
Kiss and Tell - Michael Tolcher
Piano Man - Billy Joel
(Nice to Meet You) Anyway - Gavin Degraw

Tex Mix

2008-08-13T10:15:00.001-07:00

Alright, so I just made some mix cds, and although some of the songs are lame radio songs that I'm not sick of - this is what I'll be listening to in the car for the next few days:

Mix 1
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Say It Ain't So - Weezer
Warning Sign - Coldplay
There's Nothin - Sean Kingston
Brighter Discontent - The Submarines
Bust it Baby (Part 2) - Ne-Yo
Shake It - Metro Station
American Boy - Estelle ft. Kanye West
Say (All I Need) - OneRepublic
If it Kills Me - Jason Mraz
Body on Me - Nelly ft. Akon and Ashanti
Sexy Can I - Ray J
A-Punk - Vampire Weekend
In the Sun - Howie Day
Spiralling - Keane
Swallowed in the Sea - Coldplay
Absolutely (Story of a Girl) - 9 Days
Love in This Club, Parts 1 and 2 - Usher

Mix 2
Apologize - OneRepublic
Forever - Chris Brown
Beautiful Mess - Jason Mraz
Lilacs - Matt Costa
California - Metro Station
Lovers in Japan-Reign of Love - Coldplay
Permanent Monday - Jordin Sparks
Buzzin' - Shwayze
Homecoming - Kanye West ft. Chris Martin
Mercy - Duffy
Sittin' at a Bar - Rehab
7 Things - Miley Cyrus
Yes - Coldplay
Australia - The Shins
All At Once - Jack Johnson
Forgive Me - Leona Lewis
In Love With a Girl - Gavin Degraw
Lemme Get That - Rihanna

And also... GIRL TALK! Night Ripper, on a cd, in my car. Hours of awesomeness. Or one hour.

This may go without saying, but:

2008-08-10T15:48:00.000-07:00

DO NOT SEE THIS MOVIE.

It was truly terrible. I will admit that I've read all 4 books in the series. I will also admit that I didn't hate the first movie at first. I didn't even hate it when my roommates and I watched it sophomore year and ripped it to shreds. But that may have been because Nick Roth interrupted the movie by literally passing out from drunkenness on our futon. The one I was laying on. So we drew on him with markers and switched his shoes. But I digress...

From the beginning, this movie was laughable at best. My mom constantly throughout the movie would throw up an "L" sign with her fingers - which she said indicated "Lame." Something that could've been said about the whole movie.

Now I know - this should be expected right? No one really expected this movie to be great. But even Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 64%, rather than the 12% that awaited The Mummy 3. This movie could've been better in so many ways. The acting - for 4 actresses who are well known - SUCKED. I know that's not very descriptive, or even a good word to use in general, but if the shoe fits... The pregnancy scare could've been done without, the awkward acting by the Asian "Brian" was just horrendous. It was sometimes difficult to tell if he had some sort of British accent, and he just made me feel uncomfortable.

Oh, and Blythe Danner was in this movie. Playing the backward Southern grandma that Bridget had never known. Her role was way to small to be important, however, and I don't think she really nailed down the part. Not your best move, Blythe.

And let's just throw out that NONE of the characters developed much past a name - if even that. RANDOM EXTRAS ABOUND.

In Repair

2008-08-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

I think when I first got home; I was very contemplative all of a sudden about my life. Now that I’ve been here for a few days, I feel kind of numb. At first I felt that I had been ripped away from the things that had surrounded me for so long, and now I just feel a little lost. I’m not really upset anymore about leaving school and work, but I’m not really happy here; I don’t live here anymore. It’s been nice to be around my family and a few of my friends, but I’m just ready to get out and do something.

I also have discovered another thing about myself. I need to stop being so emotional and wishy-washy. I need to stop allowing my imagination to get the best of me. I think I also need to stop listening to Coldplay. I didn’t think I would like it, so I started listening to some and I loved it. Now, I used to think that Death Cab was the music you should listen to if you wanted to feel like your heart was ripped from your chest and stomped on (I don’t know who would want to feel that way)– but Coldplay is a close second. But I think it’s depressing me. Maybe I should just stick with Girl Talk and Jason Mraz.

I go to Austin this week, and I’m going to stick my toes in the ocean that will be my life. I have to look for an apartment, maybe find a job, and explore Austin on my own (and with Jeff). I’m also going to try and grow up a bit this week. I’ve been feeling like some hormonal teenager for most of the summer, giving pieces of me away left and right (emotional pieces that is) – but now I’m going to lock it down.

I’m going to rip the tinge of moodiness from this blog. And I think what’s missing from my life at home is FUN.
I feel better already.

Some Song Lyrics

2008-08-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

I often find myself being pulled in by a certain song, and I can often tie some sort of meaning to it, which connects with my own life. If there's a piece of paper or notebook handy, I usually write them down. So after some searching, here's some that I found in the pages of my documentary notebook, and also the Book of Katie (aka my pseudo-journal):

"And I could write a song a hundred miles long. Well that's where I belong and you belong with me." - Coldplay, Swallowed in the Sea

"I realized that you were an island and I passed you by." - Coldplay, Warning Sign

"I like being submerged in your contradictions." - Jason Mraz, Beautiful Mess

"I've been trying for days, to think of a way to find the words to make sense of how we behave." - Jordin Sparks, See My Side

"Steal my heart and hold my tongue, I feel my time, my time has come. Let me in, unlock the door. I've never felt this way before." - Coldplay, 'Til Kingdom Come

"It's like taking a guess when the only answer is yes." - Jason Mraz, Beautiful Mess

"I could tell that you could tell that I was taking my time." - Metro Station, Shake It

"I thought you were right, so I was up all night thinking about you." - Matt Costa, Lilacs

"All I really want to do is to love you, a kind much closer than friends use, but I still can't say it after all we've been through." - Jason Mraz, If It Kills Me

"All you see is where else you could be when you're home." - Death Cab, Your Heart is an Empty Room

"I'm willing and able, so I throw my cards on your table." - Bob Marley, Is This Love

"I would give you my wings, if they would help you at all." - Jason Myles Goss, Twilight Serenade

Obviously I'm loving me some Coldplay and Jason Mraz right now. Woot. Listen to their new CDs, yo.

Reel Intro

2008-08-05T20:52:00.001-07:00

Okay, so Premiere is lame (you all knew that - but I don't have Final Cut) - and it didn't keep my aspect ratio, but I didn't really enforce that. And this is pretty rough - I just whipped this up to see what it would look like... and the music may not be what I'm using... Also some stuff can be moved around to be better placed and/or better timed. Basically this is the basic thing I was thinking of in my head, more or less.

I would appreciate some suggestions if you got 'em. That means you Broken Image. Just rip it up and I'll do something else tomorrow. Haha

Enjoy the product of my evening/night.

Storm City 2008

2008-08-05T14:09:00.000-07:00

[This is long]

So yesterday was pretty eventful, and everything was accompanied by a thunderstorm. I know that Muncie has some storms - but Northern Indiana is crazy! Every time I go home there seems to be some dramatic natural disaster. Or big time storm.

So in the morning, my mom storms (pun intended) into my room, interrupts a pretty good dream and tells me I have to get all my stuff out of the trailer they brought to move me out, because it's going to rain. So I run downstairs, half asleep, get a lot of stuff out and move it into the garage - where it has to be sorted and then sent to a storage unit to await my move. Then I eat some breakfast, and we start sorting through the last 4 years of my life, and a wicked storm rages. But it was sort of a nice storm - no wind really, so the garage door stayed open, and really loud thunder. Fun.

So then we eat some lunch and it starts storming again. This time I go outside and a lot of my stuff is getting wet because the rain is blowing in. So we close the garage door and continue to work. Then we go to the trailer to get some more stuff, and the wind blew rain inside and some of my boxes are soaked. Awesome. Needless to say, this all got worked out, and things we repacked and it was all fine.

So later last night I decided to catch up on Entourage (not realizing I had already seen all the on-demand ones, but I was watching them anyway) - and the EAS comes on the TV and says there's a Tornado Warning. I'm like - "I don't hear anything or see anything" so I wasn't worried. I continued Entourage and it came on AGAIN. This time there was a Tornado Warning for my county. Great. Then I start to hear thunder, and I go upstairs to turn off my computer - the iMac is untested in power surges/outtages. The radar is looking pretty sketchy at this point, and my mom decides to go to the basement.

My sisters and I stayed upstairs and laughed at her overreaction. Then the storm got crazy. I decided to "keep her company" in the basement, aka it was freaking me out too. Our power was flashing and the thunder was intense. While in the basement, my mom and I watched the local weather man, and he was LOVING it. This is what Rick Mecklenberg dreams of. The EAS cut in again, and suggested to cover your face with your hands for protection. Then my mom jokes, "Yeah - good thing when this beam fell on me, I was covering my face with my hands. Totally protected." And we continue to joke about taking shelter and beams falling on heads when our power cuts out completely and I go "Okay" and cover my head with a blanket. When the lights come back on immediately after - my mother laughs hysterically at me.

Eventually the storm more or less passes from our area and the weatherman is visibly disapointed that there weren't any actual tornadoes. Wow.

After we were out of danger - my sisters and I sat by our front door and watch the scary lightning outside - which include serveral close bolts of lightning, and some thunder set off a car alarm in our neighborhood. Overall, it was scary, fun, and awesome. But I officially survived.

Quote of the night:
One sister [requested she not be named]: Was that our power that just went out?
(After making fun of her)
Other sister: I'll be honest. I couldn't tell either.

Blogs, Blogs

2008-08-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

So I was reading some friends' blogs, and as friends usually do - they make me want to make this better. So, hmm... I'll try to think of something.

I need a good Top 10 something or other list, pertaining to creepiness or awkwardness.

There's not enough going on here.

2008-08-03T21:42:00.001-07:00

So since the beginning of the summer, well June more precisely - I've been writing things down in a sort of journal... but I sort of write them in a way that I would picture them in a book or something - none of this "Dear Diary" crap.

I had always sort of realized that I kept too much locked up - my imagination running around wildly with no outlet other than my own annoyance at myself for coming up with such things. So I started writing it all down, and then it's out. And even though none of it is really good writing, it's on paper for me to read later - and it's out of my head.

So I just unloaded onto the ruled pages and it feels pretty good. Only thing is that there's some stuff I don't want out quite yet - but alas, there it is. In ink to be revisited later.

And then for some reason, I thought an excerpt would be good - but mostly it's all too embarrassing. But this one is from June-ish...
"When life becomes mundane and you're bored - your mind is susceptible to images from the past. They're called up when you cease thinking about important things: long days at work, road trips, right before sleep. You just can't help it, and you find yourself thinking about what could've been."

I'm bored too much, I think.

Some heavy quotes...

2008-08-03T17:03:00.000-07:00

So on my family trip to Indianapolis today, we saw some pretty hefty quotes pertaining to religion and, well - giving blood.

1. "If Satan is not worried - you're not where you belong." -- I have no idea what this means. My parents and sister and I tried to talk it out to gain some meaning, but that was pretty useless.

2. "Don't get caught dead without Jesus." This is just -- wow. Subtle.

3. "If you give blood, you'll have someone's undying gratitude." I think that's an ill-placed pun.

So this is home...

2008-08-02T20:02:00.001-07:00

Well I moved back home today for a month - and then I'm off to the real world and Austin.

Today was odd. I never really got to experience the feeling of graduating because we went to work on the documentary the day after. So today it all sort of washed over me that the people I saw every single day weren't going to be around anymore. The apartment I lived in for two years wouldn't be mine anymore. Ball State wouldn't be my entire world anymore. It's very weird.

Goodbyes are weird too. I said goodbye to my coworkers today, and for the first time in 12 weeks (or longer than that) I won't see them on Monday. Two of my closest friends, who were there for me through everything, made fun of me, laughed at my misadventures, and in general knew me better than I knew me - they're now phone calls, emails and Tweets away. It was horribly sad.

But I've got all these things going for me. I'm coming off the best summer of my life - ups and downs, and so many fantastic times. I've made more good friends this summer than I have in 4 years, it feels like. I've made life friends. I've dreamed of what I could do, and I've realized that I actually have the skills to make those dreams come true. I made a kickass documentary that is going to be copied 3000 (?!?!?!?!) times and sent to all 4th grade classrooms in the STATE. And it's going to air on PBS.

So the future holds a lot from where I'm standing, and I'm ready to dive in. This summer began with a joke of starting a production company in Austin, and now it's evolved to a serious possibility -- if Kris doesn't go to San Fran and if Kyle will work with us and be contracted out to do cooler things, and if Jeff decides he loves Austin and can't live without it. But I really hope Broken Image, LLC/Misfit Toy/Midnight Picnic/Bikes, Bikes, OMG Bikes Productions/Films/Pictures works out because I can't think of anything better than spending every day with those guys doing what we love.

I hope this summer is just a taste of what my life is going to be like...

Enough reflection for one night...

Well, well...

2008-08-02T18:51:00.000-07:00

Who thought this was a good idea?

Some big things have happened:

2008-07-28T11:04:00.001-07:00

Carlos Sastre won the Tour de France because Cadel Evans sucks...

and

I joined Twitter. I actually joined it a few weeks ago, hoping no one would find out. But alas -

@keday

10 Things To Do In Line Before "The Dark Knight"

2008-07-19T09:30:00.000-07:00

10 Things To Do In Line Before "The Dark Knight"
1. Drink 2 gallons of coffee, and then jump around as the caffeine surges through your body.
2. Have a lame attempt at irony by wearing a non-Batman super hero shirt.
3. Take the elevator from the second floor entrance of the IMAX theater to the first floor of the theater, rather than 1 flight of stairs.
4. Have your 15 minutes of fame by cheesing it up as the Joker... and have girls take pictures with you.
5. Be the awkward "older" people at the movie.
6. Wait in line for 3 hours, only to sit behind someone who arrived 30 minutes before the movie.
7. Say "When I lived in London..." over and over, before every story.
8. Wear 3 shirts and act like a certain douche bag we all know. This includes popping the second shirt's collar over the child's Batman t-shirt over it.
9. Be almost as excited for the trailers as you are for the movie.
10. Make this list.

10 Ways to be Awkward/Creepy When Asking Someone on a Date

2008-07-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

10 Ways to be Awkward/Creepy When Asking Someone on a Date:
1. Instant message, Facebook message, text message, etc.
2. Just telling someone you'll be picking them up later, for dinner, and a movie.
3. The morning after, when you're leaving money on the dresser ("So... I know I paid for it once, but...")
4. Asking someone out the day after they just ended a multiple year relationship.
5. "So you're like a C-cup, right? Let's date."
6. Just randomly calling someone you haven't talked to in over a year, or going to their place of residence, where you don't live and just asking them.
7. When the other person is with their significant other - or you are.
8. In the home pregnancy test aisle.
9. From the phone in your mom's basement.
10. Showing up when someone just got out of the shower, and just saying, "Oh, hey, you want to go out some time?"

10 Ways to Be Awkward/Creepy on Facebook

2008-07-14T06:25:00.001-07:00

10 Ways to Be Awkward/Creepy on Facebook:
1. Sending someone from your past messages on Facebook, and when they never respond... you send another one later.
2. Commenting about someone's profile, and then sending them a message on Facebook chat seconds later that says the same thing.
3. Adding someone to Facebook who you don't really know to "catch a peek..."
4. Reading someone's name off their luggage tag on vacation and adding them to Facebook.
5. Continually updating your Facebook relationship status, but it still says "single."
6. Continually posting profile pictures of yourself with someone who has a significant other.
7. Getting too personal/trying to get revenge on someone through Facebook status.
8. Adding someone as a friend based solely on the fact that you're from the same hometown/high school.
9. Posting a picture of yourself either passed out or in a questionable state of dress.
10. When you have seven or so Facebook applications to determine whether you're hot or not.

20 Ways to be Awkward/Creepy at a Party

2008-07-09T15:45:00.000-07:00

In honor of the Luau Party (which promises to be "Hawaiian as f*ck")... I have come up with a list of things to possibly avoid at this party, and all others.

And as a disclaimer, some readers may notice some things that they might be guilty of, and I am guilty of some. I love all my friends, and would not immortalize them in this way if I did not. You know who you are. So here they are (in no particular order):

20 Ways to Be Awkward/Creepy at a Party:
1. Going to a party you weren't invited to - where you know no one - especially if you're in costume.
2. "Exercising" drunk in a kitchen, using the counter.
3. Trying to tell a "hilarious" joke, and spilling a drink all over someone.
4. Telling everyone about the time when you really wanted to get with someone... while they're there.
5. Using the line, "It's not cheating if there's denim in between..."
6. Introducing yourself to someone over and over, using the same "Hi, I'm ____"
7. Mentioning to someone that the two of you only talk when drunk, promising to resolve that, and then being awkward at work the following Monday.
8. Telling a girl you're going to send her a Facebook message, and then you're taking her to Olive Garden.
9. Talking thisclose to perfect strangers.
10. Dancing with a wall.
11. Telling someone that they're a "sex symbol" of anything.
12. Leaning in to whisper something to someone and softly kissing them on the neck.
13. Stealing a drink from someone - especially someone you don't really know.
14. Daring a girl to kiss a friend and then shaking her hand afterward.
15. Showing up in just a sleeping bag.
16. Telling someone that you've got it "locked up" with another person.
17. Breaking a frozen lawn chair against a tree.
18. Walking home and scaring someone in the street.
19. (For the day after) Calling someone and asking them to explain their inappropriate drunk dial... the following evening.
20. (For the day after) Bringing up drunken conversations about inappropriate things, while sober.

Share with friends, and feel free to add more.

This is fantastic:

2008-07-09T06:51:00.001-07:00

Dedication...

2008-07-09T06:23:00.001-07:00

This woman was just married, and made her way to the Tour after her wedding... that's what I'm talking about.

Huh?

2008-07-08T13:21:00.003-07:00

I know Muncie weather is weird - but I've never seen weather like this before:

Thunder in the vicinity? Really.

TOUR DE FRANCE!

2008-07-03T10:21:00.001-07:00

Le Tour starts in 2 days... aka Saturday. I am really excited, except for the fact that it is sort of sneaking up on me... This is my all time favorite sporting event and it lasts for 3 entire weeks, which is fantastic. The only downside is that the other 49 weeks of the year no one pays any mind to cycling... but that's okay. Tour, baby!

Go to my Tour site to see my picks (and my sisters') for this years winners/top contenders.

But here's a hint at who's going to win:

CADEL EVANS!

Just another day...

2008-07-01T14:09:00.001-07:00

Except today's Tuesday --- so mini-burgers and making this:

made today awesome.

WALL-E

2008-06-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

So WALL-E was more than I hoped for. It made me laugh, it almost made me cry, and I wasn't completely turned off by the obvious message to the collective human race.

I was extremely moved by robot love and the skill of Pixar.

EVE's my type of girl...

Wanted

2008-06-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

So I saw Wanted last night and it was freaking amazing. This movie was seriously the 2nd best movie I've seen in a long, long time --- second of course to my beloved Iron Man. I loved it so much that I think I'm seeing it again tonight... followed by WALL-E tomorrow, most likely. Everyone I work around is seeing these this weekend, so I have to be sure to keep up...

There were two impressive things about Wanted. The cinematography and James McAvoy. The cinematography of this film made my mind want to burst into a million pieces and made me want to be a better aspiring filmmaker. I couldn't even believe what I was seeing most of the time. I just leaned forward in my seat, propped my head on my hands and gazed in awe and wonderment. Some parts of this movie were cheesy, but overall it was so kick ass, I can't even describe.

James McAvoy is fantastic in this... He was good in Atonement, but he really came into his own on this... his character is relateable, funny, and it's great to see him transform from a nobody who hates his job to an ass kicking assassin... By the end of the movie, there's a scene where he has his shirt off, and you can really see how hard he had to work for this film... and the awkwardness between his character and Angelina Jolie's Fox was great... probably reflects real life, she's a presence.

Perhaps the most astounding thing about James McAvoy's performance is the loss of his incredibly thick Scottish accent... See here for an example.

Wanted was fast paced, incredibly intense and altogether amazing. YEAH!

Censorship

2008-06-27T08:33:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I know this is a well-visited topic, I'm sure. But here's the thing that pisses me off... first of all I understand that little kids listening to the radio don't need to hear certain words - but come on...

So I'm listening to my Pandora Maroon 5 radio station and the song "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" by Nine Days comes on... now for the younger folk, you may not remember this song - but it's awesome. My issue comes when I start rocking out at my computer in the lab, lip syncing quietly and I get to the line (what I believe): "just to put up with this/every day and all day" - and I am mouthing these exact words, but the ACTUAL lyrics are "just to put up with this shit/day after day"

Ummm... these are way better lyrics. I've listened to this song for a long time, and I was CONVINCED the words were different. Usually I am aware of censors in songs, and usually don't listen to censored songs if I can help it - but I was in complete shock.

So much so that I decided to do a real quick rant.