Off to Play the Grand Piano

Well, I enjoyed the 4th of July. I suppose I could call it Independence day, but it, like every other holiday has drifted off to encompass a much different meaning. I think, to the average United Statian, the 4th of July means one thing... "BLOW SHIT UP!!!". Which is fun. I did stop to think about the Boston tea party briefly, and actual North American Independence. I think people really have to be driven to do something like that. Take the draft during the Vietnam War for instance; people got out into the streets and really made noise. I think people would be doing that today, but since the military is voluntary, it's not happening as much.

Guy Fawkes also came to mind. I was thinking about that holiday in comparison to the 4th. It's interesting what sorts of things become traditions and celebrations, and who decides these things? I'm going to make up a holiday.

We went a little overboard this year on fireworks. I suppose we should have our fun before all fireworks are outlawed here. But this is what the haul looked like:



We burnt through a bag of the little ones, and I completely overlooked the bag with all the medium-big ones. That was a nice surprise. I need to remember to buy a decent lighter next year.

Since I've been out of work and school I've had time to get a few things done that I needed to do. I put up a couple of shelves in my room. Now, my room is very small for someone my size. There was a time when cleaning my room was like doing one of those slide puzzles where you have to arrange the tiles but you only have one space to slide each tile. Since I cleaned out my closet and put up shelves and threw a bunch of shit away, it has gotten better, but it's still difficult.

I finally got a place to put my vhs stuff and my cd collection (all paid for btw, no burnt stuff)



And then I used the other one to display a bunch of stuff that was on my desk (and a bunch of stuff that had been sitting in boxes) The 2 munnys you see there were painted by Blinky & Sylvie



While we're looking at pics of my room, you'll find I still have work to do, as usual.



I haven't been painting or drawing too much, but here are a couple of recent things I did:




Lastly in this long image-laden clump of a journal, is one more image of the movie I just saw, and you should go see it because it was pretty damn good.

An Intimate look

I get these little bouts of being bummed out sometimes. It usually takes a pretty good amount of bullshit for it to happen though. The most recent and somewhat current one has to do with loneliness. I'm not working right now, and since I don't go to school in the summer, my free time went from rare to constant. I don't have a huge group of friends to hang out with all the time. The friends I do have are almost always doing other things all the time. I don't really know why I'm writing this here now other than it's been on my mind. It gets worse though if you're like me. I stay up late, and my mind wanders. There's more to this than that, but I'm not going into specifics.

I spent way too much money on fireworks. I've been driving around a bit too. I messed up twice. I went straight in a lane I should have turned from (if I'd turned like I was supposed to, I'd have to get on the freeway), and I had a lot of trouble trying to park along the curb when I got back.

Then I spent way too much more money on bed stuff. Since my bed seems to take up like 40% of my room, I do a lot of things on it. Like eating or painting for instance. And I'm not the type that is careful about being really clean (with the painting), so I get a bunch of stains all over my bedclothes. With the heat, and having as much fat as I do, I am leaking a lot of sweat into my bedstuff. So, in the interests of guests, I bought a bunch of new bed clothes that tallied to about $70. Also, I had to fulfill my lust for puzzle books. I love these variety puzzle magazine things with random sorts of word games.

I just saw Black Snake Moan. I enjoyed it. I like the idea of taking care of someone and having someone take care of you.

Event Horizon

Well, I passed my driving test (barely). I wasn't too nervous going into it, but I got a little shaken when I made a couple of early mistakes. I finished up decent enough to pass though. I don't think it'll take me too long to be pretty comfortable with driving, as long as I do it often enough. it's weird finally getting it done, when it's been one of these things hanging over my head for the longest time. Hopefully I'll be getting a car soon.

It has been getting so damn hot. I prefer the winter to the summer... but then, I've never lived in Siberia. Hopefully, I'll drop a few pounds. I wanted to start an exercise routine, but I suck at stuff like that. It's very difficult for me to maintain good habits. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up this blog. I've found that it's extremely useful and interesting to have some kind of record of what was going on one particular day. It's quite remarkable how much a person will forget about their life.

So my family has developed this odd habit of watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune every night. It's weird. I've always enjoyed watching Jeopardy (even though I don't really care for Alex Trebek) but it's strange. It's beginning to feel like living in an old folks home. I have found I'm pretty good at Jeopardy though. But I hate when theres a question that I know was covered in a class I've taken, but I can't remember it. I don't really like wheel of fortune at all, especially because the simpsons is on at the same time. Actually, I guess Wheel of Fortune is like the Bizarro Jeopardy. I actually do like Pat Sajak but I hate everything else. Pat has shat his nice guy image and is a snarky old fuck now. I love his smartass little quips. Also, his toupee is pretty damn terrible. Pat is the shows saving grace. That and seeing people land on Bankrupt.

Have you ever really stepped outside yourself to visualize what kind of person you are? I've always sort of seen myself as the quiet type, even shy. Also, a romantic type of person. A lot of the time, I think I come across that way online too. (In journals or on chat... or text in general). Though I am those things, my self in my daily life is quite different. I'm not a quiet person when I'm comfortable with the people I'm with. I suppose it all differs. I am all those things I said, just not all the time. I think it's important to know exactly who you are and what you want.