Blogger renovates and Dan's blog gets a minor Botox injection

Just realized it'd been a while since I graced ya'll with my liquid eloquence, so here's a nice tall glass...

As you may or may not have noticed, my blog has a slightly different aesthetic tang these days. Blogger decided to make page customization even more dumbass-friendly, so now I can change the entire color scheme or general layout piece-by-piece without needing to know a whit of HTML. I'll probably play around with the look a bit more in the coming weeks/months, just cause I can.

I have a HOTT link up on the right side of my page to my three main video projects from Fall semester. I had another project whose main focus was audio, but I figured it's a waste of time posting it since much of the subtlety would be lost through the crappy quality of YouTube. Anyhow, if you'd like to see what I've slaved away at from October through December, feel free to take a look

So, life is puttering along ever-forward. Starbucks has been alright, although I badly need to get a promotion as my current wage isn't really cutting it. It'd be much nicer to get a decent production job, even if it's just doing PA bitch work for a while 'til I can try to move up. I'm looking around but the market for such work is complete balls. I'm wondering how long I'll give this field before I give up and try to act on one of my get-money-quick schemes (I have 3 worked out already). The specter of student loan re-payment is looming ever closer as my grace period passes on day by day. Sallie Mae might sound like a dainty pleasantly-mannered lady, but she's actually a cold-hearted calculating bitch that wants all of her money back... plus interest.

Sadly there's not a hell of a lot else going on. Been trying to get as many people over as possible to check out my new place. I really love it here so far. All the roommates are turning out to be good people, and I definitely feel at home. It's been interesting living with a career dog-walker/sitter as at any given moment there might be 2, 3, or even 4 dogs running around the house (one of which lives here all the time). I learned rather quickly that I have an allergy to these critters, although it doesn't seem to match the severity of my cat allergy, which is a relief. Still, I don't let them into my bedroom so as to avoid sneezing in my sleep and getting my blanket all soaked. Nobody likes a wet blanket.

I'm learning to like dogs... in a way. I'm also learning many of the reasons why cats make far superior domestic pets, however. Dogs don't know how to chill the shit out and leave me the hell alone. I'd say 60-70% of the time, I'd rather ignore the presence of a dog, yet this is apparently impossible. It seems a dog's very existence is hinged on whether or not you decide to acknowledge it by talking in stupid voices and running your hands all over its body. Plus dogs smell like dogs (hmmm) and drool all over you. Unless someone owns 3 or more cats and doesn't take care to clean the litter box regularly, it's impossible to tell (by scent) whether or not one is in the home of a cat owner. I suppose I'm just venting because of the golden moment I had this weekend when I managed to step in cold, runny dogshit while walking around barefoot in the middle of the night. I suppose I did at least learn never to walk around without slippers and to always turn the hall lights on during late trips to the bathroom. Nothing like experiential learning...

I could go on easily for another 3 paragraphs about why I prefer living with cats over dogs (far longer if I really think things out), but I know it's a waste of time. Cat lovers will agree with everything I say and dog lovers will sneer at my cunning, acute observations.

I was thinking of talking about China's recent missile test and the US's rather hypocritical response, since this extremely important story seemed to cruise under most peoples' radars, but I decided I'm tired of writing in this box so I'm just gonna read and go to bed instead. But speaking of horribly dispiriting political shit, I saw an incredibly done hour-long documentary that is built around Arundhati Roy's ultra eloquent speech Come September. If you have an hour to spare, please do check it out. Not gonna lie, it's a bit depressing in parts, but it's a rather fair assessment of the dismal state of the world as a result of Western-style Globalization. I'm posting about it because it really left a strong impression on me. Besides all that, it's a top-notch illegally made documentary (it's composed entirely of copywritten material sans the holders' permission) and is inspiring for anybody who is interested in the art of documentary film making.

Goodnight!

Uhhhh...

Two double-aught seven

My new years resolution for 2007:
Eat more black pepper. Much more black pepper.

I moved the majority of my shit into my new place in JP. I'm staying at Julie's until she comes back, however, because the location is far superior in relation to work, and I wanna make sure her snake doesn't die while I'm supposed to be taking care of it. I'm extremely excited about my new place as I already feel at home when I walk in there, despite not having spent a single night over so far. It's pretty well equipped for entertaining guests, so assuming I can get people to come out to JP, I want to have company as much as possible. If you are reading this, you are [probably] invited over to my new place.

NYE was much fun. Wes and Dan threw a party over on Columbus and it ended up being a pretty decent success. I got into the spirit(s) of things and had a great time. Steve and Corey came into town to join me so it made things even better. Someone got proposed to at the party, apparently, although she didn't seem exceptionally excited about the whole thing. I love it when shit like that happens. Asking someone to marry you in front of a large group of people is definitely a bad idea, but it sure is entertaining for everyone to watch. While I didn't see the proposal myself, it seems this one was similar to watching someone open a gift and trying her damnedest to look excited upon realizing she's the proud new owner of a set of yorkshire terrier themed drink coasters... but of course this is much worse 'cause you can't re-wrap your fiance up and give him to someone else next year.

Other than that, I've been clocking in plenty of hours at Starbucks, which was going well until around my 9th or 10th consecutive day there. I got pangs of murderous tendency, but I think that's my body just adjusting to working full time in a coffee shop (on Newbury St.). Hopefully I'll be able to supplement my time there with some production related work which I've been hunting for on a daily basis. Gotta try to put that $120k+ education to use somehow.

Got to see Sara a few times whiles she's been home visiting from Israel. Nice to catch up with old friends, especially since it's so easy to lose touch when separated by long distances. That actually reminds me that I need to take advantage of my Judaism and cash in on my free trip to Israel through Birthright. Now that I'm finally outta school I have no good reason not to. I doubt I'd have any sort of great religious revelations while visiting, but who am I to scoff at an all expenses paid journey to the central location of the cause of so much of today's global turmoil? I do love current events, after all. Plus, I've heard the falafel is bitchin' and my faux-Hebrew "Go Fuck Yourself" t-shirt is getting a bit faded.

I can't think of much else to report on, so I'm gonna go climb some fake rocks now.

Best of luck to everyone in the Year of Our Lord, 2007. Don't do anything I wouldn't.