Restlessness and Insomnia Induced Rambling

Well, I'm at it again. I've recently found falling asleep one of the most difficult things to do. So here I am, laying in bed, writing, instead of sleeping. My recent acquisition of internet at home now makes it possible to blog, instead of doing nothing but making pictures in the ceiling popcorn as I fight insomnia.

Something I've been thinking about more and more lately is just how excited I am to get married. July 25th seems so far off right now (162 days away, sad day). there is just so much I'm looking forward too. Living with Dani is one of the major things for me right now. It's got so many benefits: financially, we'll be, at least marginally, better off (instead of paying for two different apartments, two sets of groceries, etc...). I'm very much looking forward to being able to come home after a long day of school and/or work and have her waiting for me.

The planning is becoming increasingly stressful and strenuous, but things are coming along. One of the more exciting parts of the whole wedding thing is that I'll be able to go back to Ecuador again. I feel this pull to get out and away from everything lately. Not permanently, but I feel the need to travel. I want to get out of all the "normal", daily stuff surrounding me and just let myself go and immerse myself in a "foreign" place again.

That's pretty much all I've got for now. Since it's almost midnight and I should probably at least try to fight this sleeplessness better.

I'll leave you with this "final thought" (a la Jerry Springer) from a Starbucks cup. I found it interesting and intriguing.

"The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating – in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life."- Anne Morriss

Keep on fighting the good fight ;)

Bored! But Not Totally

I'm sitting at Panera, waiting to start working, and I'm bored. So I clicked through all my links, played all my games, read all my blogs, and found no one to talk to, so I'm writing.

I've had a thought in my head all day, "This is going to be a good semester/This is the kind of stuff I want to be learning"

We started shooting today in 16mm. Just the general "get used to the camera by shooting a 8 second clip each". Everyone had about 8 seconds so we could shoot 1 roll for the class. My prof. is really cool too. He's a younger guy, funny, and he teaches well.

Sitting in Spanish class I had a similar thought. "I'm finally starting to like Spanish class". Which is a good thing. Even still, it feels like no matter what, I'll never have a full or good enough grasp on it, because if I have a teacher who's from Mexico, I'm learning Mexican Spanish; a teacher from Bolivia (currently), Bolivian Spanish. The base language is the same, but so much of it is slang, that no matter what I learn, someone has something to say about the vocabulary or phrases I use. Stupid...

I've got 2 assignments for my 16mm Film class coming up, and they're both exciting. The first: shoot 2 practice rolls, getting used to the camera: it's quirks, settings, and it's abilities. Dani and I will be doing this over the weekend. (It's a partnered project, in an effort to defray the massive cost of film and developing)

The second is all about composition. We have to take a bunch of still photographs (and turn in 15) with composition of shot in mind. I'm excited for this for 2 reasons. 1- Composition is something I feel like I have a lot to learn about an a huge area I would like to improve. 2 - It means I get to use the new digital camera (that is a replacement for the one that was destroyed in the plane crash), which is always fun.

Final Thoughts:
I wish I had a job in the field. Getting to play with all these toys makes me want to do more with them. I wish something would come around and jump at me, instead of me having to wade through all the muck and mire of job searching and the application process. That's always been one thing that keeps me from moving around (job-wise) too much: the whole pre-employment process.

Final, Final Thought:
I also wish that an enormous sum of money would fall (tax free) into my lap. I wish I could just go to school without having to worry about paying rent and bills, as well as juggling time between school and work. But I'm sure that's a common thought. Who wouldn't want a large sum of money to fall from the sky for them?

FINALLY!

Hooray!

I finally got my remote blogging editor ( Ecto ) working, which means it'll be easier for my lazy ass to post more blogs. That is if anyone still reads this thing ;).

So, there's been a ton of shite going on in my life, starting with Dani ending up here with me for Christmas instead of home with her family. (This was due to the crash of Continental Flight 1404, but I want to write up a full thing to give this a more detailed blog later) I've been working A LOT, which has turned out ok, but I've been worrying about getting enough hours now; life's a two-headed coin, isn't it?

School has started up again, and this semester is shaping up to be a doozy. Not so much in terms of academic challenge, but in terms of time consumption and monetary spending. My 16mm film class is going to be EXPENSIVE!

Other than that, things are pretty much business as usual, aside from planning a wedding, or two ;). More on this later as well.

I'm looking forward to blogging more, so keep reading (whoever you are) and I'll try to keep writing.

Welcome To Denver

Home of the Rockies, and police brutality.

Full Story Here



Cliff Notes Version:
Man runs red light on bike. Undercover, plain-clothes officer yells "You ran a red light!" Man knocks hat off undercover, plain-clothes officer's head. Officer and partner proceed to beat biker, and when biker is on his stomach, being handcuffed, officer then slams biker's face onto sidewalk, breaking biker's teeth.

I've always had a feeling that the majority of Colorado police officers are, to put it bluntly, dicks. I've never had a pleasant encounter with a police officer. Its always felt like they a)have nothing better to do; b)have something to prove; c)want to feel like they are "hardcore" or "hard-assed" or like they are dealing with some super serious crime or something like that.

Get off your high horse. I know your job can be dangerous, and I appreciate the fact that you are out there, for the most part, to keep me safe. You are not judge and jury. You don't get to dole out punishment. That's not your job.

Stop being a dick.

then i got bitten by a stingray

i smelled my hand just now, and it smelled like fish, which brought about this random little blurb today:

yesterday i went to the denver aquarium with dani, her dad and brother. dani decided she wanted to feed these stingrays you could touch in a pool at the end. so you get a little dead fish, put it between your knuckles, and let the stingray take it. turns out they've got teeth. and so yesterday, i got bit by a stingray. i've even got a little scab on my knuckle.

how many other people can say they've been bitten by a stingray?