(Lack of) Happenings

You may have noticed I haven't posted much lately. This is because there is precious little happening right now in my life worth conveying in print. I'll mention a few things that have been going on, despite their general lack of interestingness.

My job hunt continues, with me trying to decide how far I want to stray from my desired profession of choice out of necessity for making a non-laughable amount of money. Sallie Mae doesn't have a sense of humor (nor a soul for that matter) after all, and that 6-month grace period continues to wind down on me. Various prospects in disparate industries seem to be presenting themselves on a fairly regular basis, but should I stray too far from TV/video or not? hmmm. Taking suggestions...

Went to the Extreme Beerfest a couple weekends back with Benny. We both had an enjoyable time, although I think I preferred the bev selection at the Belgian Beerfest last October. I mean, they've been doing it for a hell of a lot longer than the American breweries represented at the Extreme one, so what do you expect? The average percentage ran somewhere around 7 or 8% this time around, with some reaching as high as 18% (hence the "Extreme" moniker) so we were rather, uhhh.... worse for the wear towards the end of the night and the next morning (for Ben, well into that evening). Still, I love those things and will continue to attend them as they run. The next one is the American Beerfest in June. Tickets are already on sale. Anyone interested?

The dog's been shitting less on the floor (a Good Thing).

I've been cooking a lot lately and I'd say I'm really starting to become rather kitchen-savvy. I think I still have a long way to go, but I've impressed myself on many occasions at this point.

Speaking of good eats; One of my roommates, Joe, is leaving the house come June and the spot will need to be filled. Greg, one of my old NU roomies showed interest in jumping in on the lease, which I think would be great. He's a very agreeable person in general and a (more or less) self-trained gourmet chef in the making who loves to cook for others, which makes him a pretty damn ideal roommate in my eyes. Hoping he'll have the chance to move in, although Liz expressed a desire to have another female in the house, thus leveling out the ratio and providing her with slightly more domestic sanity. I can understand where she's coming from (I know I probably wouldn't want to live with three females), but I think once she meets Greg and experiences his culinary deftness, she might shift her priorities around. I'm not holding my breath, but we shall see.

I'm addicted to yerba mate, the tea like beverage that they drink down in Argentina (and surrounding areas). It's apparently rather good for you (nutrient rich) and provides a much more "red bull" like jolt, thus increasing mental concentration rather than just making you jittery like coffee does. It also is better for your blood pressure and is easier on the kidneys. The Latin food supermarket in my neighborhood sells the stuff for cheap, so I am well supplied as long as I'm in JP. Marliese just picked me up an extra pita y bombilla (gourd and metal straw) en Peru so I can enjoy mate con mis amigos.


And finally... I apparently won a 2-night trip to some Orlando hotel from the radio. It was a promotional thing for some new resorts they just built downtown and the first 50 callers won 2 free nights, tickets to a "show" of some sort, and a couple meals. I never listen to the radio, so I thought this was pretty sweet since my phone was readily available. I called in and they said I won, so they are sending me stuff in the mail. It was aptly pointed out to me by my mother that plane tickets could very well not be covered. The more I think about this point, the more sense it seems to make. I can't recall too well whether or not airfare was ever mentioned at any point, but my shaky memory is telling me it was not. I've yet to receive the details in the mail, so I'll probably know by halfway through the week. I might consider taking the trip even if airfare isn't covered if I can get a deal on a dirt cheap ticket. Those seems to come around pretty often, especially for Orlando.

Well. Time for me to turn off my computer. It's getting too hot in here. I'll keep ya'll posted on developments surrounding all aforementioned aspects of my life.

Stop the Hate

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.

More Transitioning

So college is done. Commencement is in May, but I'll be receiving my degree in January. My final GPA: 3.459. This doesn't mean much, I know, but at least I wasn't slacking too hard the last 4 and a half years. Somehow I managed to earn a B+ in my Argentina class this last semester, although this is probably due in large part to the proofreading efforts of my Spanish-speaking friends. Whatever.

Been floating freely between Boston and Foxboro this last week. Starting today, I'll have a more permanent spot in the city as I'm serpent-sitting for Julie while she's away on break, and am receiving free housing in return. I've never had any sort of business with a snake before (literally speaking), but I think I'm gonna like this one as it's small, harmless and fun to play with.

I signed my lease a couple of days ago, so I'm very definitely moving in to JP on the 1st, and then life can take on some sort of normalcy... maybe.

At the moment, I'm 3 days through an 11 consecutive-day work stint. This sucks hard, but after my next paycheck, I won't be complaining, especially with the time and a half I get on Christmas. Still, I think my head might explode if I have to hear Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby sing about mistletoe for much longer. I get a few days off around New Years at least, I just need something to do for the occasion. I hate the idea of paying for a ticket to get in some bar or restaurant only to have to dish out again to get a few beers. Somebody needs to have a house party.

Ooh, and I know you don't care, but I got an 80 gig iPod for a graduation present. So hot.

The End of Dan's [formal] Education

Ahh. Here's a quick one just in case you aren't sure what's up with my life at the moment.

So here I am at the very end of my college education. I have under a week to go before I am finished forever (unless I one day decide to go to grad school, which is currently not in the cards). I'm occupied, to a ridiculous extent, with finishing 3 major projects: my 22 minute behemoth of a student film, a "professional quality" edit of a climactic fight scene of an episode of Highlander (that stupid 90s show about immortal British people chopping one another's heads off), and a 12 page paper about Argentina in relation to all the crap* I supposedly read about in class (en español). It's a lot of junk heaved on my plate and it's all due on Wednesday morning. Unfortunately, all three of these undertakings involve my staring at a computer screen for a total of 12+ hours a day. My poor eyeballs. I'm working a few shifts at Starbucks between now and then, as well. These will serve as breaks for my oculars. I'm confident everything will come out just sterling, however, so no worries. I am, after all, pretty goddamned incredible.

I've been looking at apartments in Jamaica Plain, which will likely be my place of residence for the next year or so (hopefully not much longer than that). I'll be looking for jobs within my field very shortly, and will hopefully not fall into the quagmire that is the Starbucks Career Ladder. The chances of this happening, regardless of my getting a job in the TV industry, are exceedingly thin, however.

So that's about everything in two short paragraphs.

Any questions?

*Most of it isn't actually crap, and is in fact exceedingly incredible literature, but when I have to write 12 pages about it, it automatically receives the "crap" label.