Tuesday, December 30, 2003
Trivia
One of my Christmas presents this year was the Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture DVD game. Man, this is the best Trivial Pursuit I've seen in years!
We also got the Scene-It DVD game. It's awesome for move buffs, but can be frustrating for movie novices. The interface and game play are sweet!
We also got the Scene-It DVD game. It's awesome for move buffs, but can be frustrating for movie novices. The interface and game play are sweet!
Idle Hands
Most of the last few weeks I've been sitting in front of one of my many computers doing a number of tasks, but mostly job hunting. Then, when finished with my daily web rounds, I'd 'work' on any number of things - update copyright statements on my web sites, defrag my hard drives, make sure I had the latest OS patches, that kind of meaningless thing. Some of what I was doing was really significant stuff, like making sure my work search log is up to date for Texas Unemployment, if and when they choose to audit my job search activities. Most of what I was doing wasn't really all that productive or important. In fact, my increased idleness and increased intake of Caffeine-Free Dr. Pepper has added a few pounds to my not-so-small frame (like 20 pounds!)
Last week, my wife started her winter break, and she's been home with me during the day and will be until she returns to work in January. While her presence has increased my activity around the house, it wasn't until the last few days that I really got active again. on Saturday, we spent the day cleaning out the garage, and we're able to park both vehicles in the garage again, something that's only happened twice in the two years we've been in the house! Needless to say, we were both really, really tired, but I felt a definite sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. Sunday we cleaned up in the house and made dinner for my step-sister. Then yesterday, Monday, I got out in the garage again and made a few shelves for a storage cabinet so that we could put more of our games and my card collection in it. While I had all the woodworking tools out, I went ahead and made a small holder for our darts (we just put the dart board up and cannot find the old wall-mount dart holder we had in the last house) and mounted it on the wall. Again, at the end of the day, very tired, but a huge sense of accomplishment.
I should mention here that I'm not a skilled woodworker or carpenter by any means. In fact, I went through three designs on the dart holder before I came up with one that would work and not look totally crappy. But through the process, I was exercising a number of body parts that don't usually get exercised, including my brain. I was having to think in ways I haven't thought in a very long time. But even being able to finish a simple, but practical, project was very fulfilling. And, I realized, I wasn't in the kind of mental funk that I'd been in the last few weeks.
While I was trying to get back to sleep at one point this morning, I thought of the phrase "Idle hands are the devil's playthings." At least, that's the way I heard it when I was growing up. I Googled the first part of the phrase this morning and found that there are several common variations of the phrase:
The link above points to the GoEnglish.com Pocket Idiom Site for an explanation of the phrase, which is pretty succinct, but focuses mainly on children. The Google search resulted in a number of pages of opinions about the phrase variations and what, if anything, it means in our society today. Trust me, the whole gamut of opinions is out there. Only a few that I found actually extended the thinking beyond the realm of children, teenagers specifically. Many of the authors discussed the need to keep 'idle hands' busy with tasks so that the same hands are unable to find other, destructive things to do.
I think it's more than busywork that's needed. I think back to high school and college classes where instructors would assign busywork to fill up time in class. I recall any number of times that my mind would wander while performing the busywork, and boy could my mind be mischievous! Well, the same thing has been happening to me recently. I've been going through the same busywork in my job hunt, all the while my mind has had the freedom and room to go off and think on it's own topics. Instead of the mischievous antics of my high school and college days, my mind has wandered into more melancholy topics, and as a result, I've been bogged down in this mire of apathy.
But that wasn't the case this past weekend. Keeping my body physically active and my mind fully engaged on the tasks at hand has had all of my life energy focused on productive, constructive tasks, and kept my mind out of the bog of eternal stench. Now, I was in a funk of a different kind yesterday, which I may or may not discuss in a future entry, but my overall attitude was more positive, more outgoing, and definitely more hopeful. So as I move into the new year and the prospects of getting back to work soon, I'm not too worried about falling back into an idle state. I have several projects to get started that will fully occupy my being and scare off those idle hands.
Last week, my wife started her winter break, and she's been home with me during the day and will be until she returns to work in January. While her presence has increased my activity around the house, it wasn't until the last few days that I really got active again. on Saturday, we spent the day cleaning out the garage, and we're able to park both vehicles in the garage again, something that's only happened twice in the two years we've been in the house! Needless to say, we were both really, really tired, but I felt a definite sense of accomplishment at the end of the day. Sunday we cleaned up in the house and made dinner for my step-sister. Then yesterday, Monday, I got out in the garage again and made a few shelves for a storage cabinet so that we could put more of our games and my card collection in it. While I had all the woodworking tools out, I went ahead and made a small holder for our darts (we just put the dart board up and cannot find the old wall-mount dart holder we had in the last house) and mounted it on the wall. Again, at the end of the day, very tired, but a huge sense of accomplishment.
I should mention here that I'm not a skilled woodworker or carpenter by any means. In fact, I went through three designs on the dart holder before I came up with one that would work and not look totally crappy. But through the process, I was exercising a number of body parts that don't usually get exercised, including my brain. I was having to think in ways I haven't thought in a very long time. But even being able to finish a simple, but practical, project was very fulfilling. And, I realized, I wasn't in the kind of mental funk that I'd been in the last few weeks.
While I was trying to get back to sleep at one point this morning, I thought of the phrase "Idle hands are the devil's playthings." At least, that's the way I heard it when I was growing up. I Googled the first part of the phrase this morning and found that there are several common variations of the phrase:
- Idle hands are the devil's tools
- Idle hands are the devil's workshop
- Idle hands are the devil's playthings
- Idle hands beget the devil's work
- Idle hands make the devil's work
- Idle hands are the devil's play pen
The link above points to the GoEnglish.com Pocket Idiom Site for an explanation of the phrase, which is pretty succinct, but focuses mainly on children. The Google search resulted in a number of pages of opinions about the phrase variations and what, if anything, it means in our society today. Trust me, the whole gamut of opinions is out there. Only a few that I found actually extended the thinking beyond the realm of children, teenagers specifically. Many of the authors discussed the need to keep 'idle hands' busy with tasks so that the same hands are unable to find other, destructive things to do.
I think it's more than busywork that's needed. I think back to high school and college classes where instructors would assign busywork to fill up time in class. I recall any number of times that my mind would wander while performing the busywork, and boy could my mind be mischievous! Well, the same thing has been happening to me recently. I've been going through the same busywork in my job hunt, all the while my mind has had the freedom and room to go off and think on it's own topics. Instead of the mischievous antics of my high school and college days, my mind has wandered into more melancholy topics, and as a result, I've been bogged down in this mire of apathy.
But that wasn't the case this past weekend. Keeping my body physically active and my mind fully engaged on the tasks at hand has had all of my life energy focused on productive, constructive tasks, and kept my mind out of the bog of eternal stench. Now, I was in a funk of a different kind yesterday, which I may or may not discuss in a future entry, but my overall attitude was more positive, more outgoing, and definitely more hopeful. So as I move into the new year and the prospects of getting back to work soon, I'm not too worried about falling back into an idle state. I have several projects to get started that will fully occupy my being and scare off those idle hands.
Sunday, December 28, 2003
Creativity
I've never been a huge fan of remakes, whether in music or movies. I'm not some sort of purist, thinking that you cannot improve on the original, although there are plenty of examples of that NOT happening out there (take Gus Van Sant's remake of Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho"). But what I have been noticing in recent years is the increasing number of remakes in Hollywood and the music industry.
Tell me I'm wrong. In 2003 alone, we have been treated to a "Freaky Friday" remake (this remake for the big screen and not TV as in the 1995 version), yet another "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (not counting the Matthew McConaughey vehicle "The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in 1994), not to mention "The Italian Job," "Love Don't Cost a Thing" (taken from 1987's "Can't Buy Me Love"), and how can we forget "The In-Laws?"
In the music world, we find the ska-roots supergroup No Doubt taking a page from Talk Talk's past covering "It's My Life," teen crooner John Mayer does a turn on "Message in a Bottle," Russian dance duo t.A.T.u. deliver their rendition of The Smith's "How Soon Is Now," and Erasure (who is surprisingly still around) generates another take on The Buggle's MTV trivia answer "Video Killed The Radio Star." Even my favorite creative musical troupe Blue Man Group covered Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" on their second studio recording.
My personal favorite for remake heaven in 2003 belongs to Hootie and the Blowfish rerecording "The Goodbye Girl" for TNT's renovation of the Neil Simon production of the same name. Remaking a song for a TV remake of a movie remake of a stage play. What else can you ask for?
How about some originality?
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I've enjoyed some of these remakes this year. I was entertained by "The Italian Job," I've got "It's My Life" (both versions) in my iPod, and I'm wanting to see "Freaky Friday" because of the rave reviews Jamie Lee Curtis is getting for the role. But please! Is this what the cream of the entertainment crop is capable of these days? Are there no new ideas out there?
As further defense of my stance, I also offer the cinemazation of old TV shows as fodder for the moviegoing public. This year, we had another Charlie's Angels rendition at the megaplex, Ang Lee brought us his vision for "Hulk," and Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson help us with another "S.W.A.T." And the trend continues - in production for 2004 releases are "Starsky and Hutch" and the second "Scooby Doo" movie.
When does it stop? Are we as a moviegoing public giving Hollywood execs a "thumbs up" by continually buying tickets for these reheated redos? Or am I just one of the minority wanting some originality from people who are being paid to be creative?
The one flaw in my argument, of course, is that not everything original is good (take "Gigli" for the prototypical example), nor is everything remade bad (the Ataris rendition of Don Henley's "Boys of Summer"). But the more we rehash what's already been done, the fewer the chances of something new really striking a chord with the world.
I'm very annoyed with American media, which has brought us a slate of "reality" television that has frankly insulted my intelligence. I really couldn't care who "wins" on "Survivor", if "The Bachelor" remains one, or just what the hell happens on "Temptation Island." I will tune in to formulaic shows like "While You Were Out" to glean some new decorating/remodeling ideas or "Good Eats" to expand my cooking repertoire. But I long for the TV days of "Twin Peaks" and "Nowhere Man" that made me think instead of just "veg out." I enjoyed the twist in "Identity" though I'm not much for slasher flicks. If I want to reminisce about my high school days, I'll put in "Grosse Point Blank" or a movie that was actually produced during that time period. I'll continue to spend my few moviegoing dollars on "Lord of the Rings" and "The Missing" and not reworks of older films or, God forbid, yet another TV rework.
Unless you're going to make a big screen treatment of "Monk".
Tell me I'm wrong. In 2003 alone, we have been treated to a "Freaky Friday" remake (this remake for the big screen and not TV as in the 1995 version), yet another "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (not counting the Matthew McConaughey vehicle "The Return of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in 1994), not to mention "The Italian Job," "Love Don't Cost a Thing" (taken from 1987's "Can't Buy Me Love"), and how can we forget "The In-Laws?"
In the music world, we find the ska-roots supergroup No Doubt taking a page from Talk Talk's past covering "It's My Life," teen crooner John Mayer does a turn on "Message in a Bottle," Russian dance duo t.A.T.u. deliver their rendition of The Smith's "How Soon Is Now," and Erasure (who is surprisingly still around) generates another take on The Buggle's MTV trivia answer "Video Killed The Radio Star." Even my favorite creative musical troupe Blue Man Group covered Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" on their second studio recording.
My personal favorite for remake heaven in 2003 belongs to Hootie and the Blowfish rerecording "The Goodbye Girl" for TNT's renovation of the Neil Simon production of the same name. Remaking a song for a TV remake of a movie remake of a stage play. What else can you ask for?
How about some originality?
Now, I'll be the first to admit that I've enjoyed some of these remakes this year. I was entertained by "The Italian Job," I've got "It's My Life" (both versions) in my iPod, and I'm wanting to see "Freaky Friday" because of the rave reviews Jamie Lee Curtis is getting for the role. But please! Is this what the cream of the entertainment crop is capable of these days? Are there no new ideas out there?
As further defense of my stance, I also offer the cinemazation of old TV shows as fodder for the moviegoing public. This year, we had another Charlie's Angels rendition at the megaplex, Ang Lee brought us his vision for "Hulk," and Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson help us with another "S.W.A.T." And the trend continues - in production for 2004 releases are "Starsky and Hutch" and the second "Scooby Doo" movie.
When does it stop? Are we as a moviegoing public giving Hollywood execs a "thumbs up" by continually buying tickets for these reheated redos? Or am I just one of the minority wanting some originality from people who are being paid to be creative?
The one flaw in my argument, of course, is that not everything original is good (take "Gigli" for the prototypical example), nor is everything remade bad (the Ataris rendition of Don Henley's "Boys of Summer"). But the more we rehash what's already been done, the fewer the chances of something new really striking a chord with the world.
I'm very annoyed with American media, which has brought us a slate of "reality" television that has frankly insulted my intelligence. I really couldn't care who "wins" on "Survivor", if "The Bachelor" remains one, or just what the hell happens on "Temptation Island." I will tune in to formulaic shows like "While You Were Out" to glean some new decorating/remodeling ideas or "Good Eats" to expand my cooking repertoire. But I long for the TV days of "Twin Peaks" and "Nowhere Man" that made me think instead of just "veg out." I enjoyed the twist in "Identity" though I'm not much for slasher flicks. If I want to reminisce about my high school days, I'll put in "Grosse Point Blank" or a movie that was actually produced during that time period. I'll continue to spend my few moviegoing dollars on "Lord of the Rings" and "The Missing" and not reworks of older films or, God forbid, yet another TV rework.
Unless you're going to make a big screen treatment of "Monk".
Friday, December 26, 2003
Education
I'm a learning junkie. I'm always fascinated by new "things" : toys, technologies, tunes, trivia, etc. That's probably why it took me 11 years to finish my undergraduate degree. That, and I kept changing majors. Telltale sign of a learning junkie - I couldn't decide what I really wanted to focus on in my college days. In reality, the reason I finished my degree in Computer Science was because that was the degree plan I could finish quickest. I could have stuck it out in Physics, or Electronics Technology, or Music Composition if I had wanted, but I had a real incentive to finish: my wife was graduating, and my younger brother already had his Master's degree under his belt. I suppose if I didn't really have to get into the "real world," I would have stuck around a little longer and added to my 200+ college hours before graduating.
In the 6 years since I finished my degree, I've often thought about getting my Master's degree, but I've always been plagued by the key question: what field of study? I started work on a Master's in Computer Education and Cognitive Systems (a 4.0 average, I might add), but then the big job shuffle started, and it became impractical for me to keep going down that road. I've taken a serious look at a distance education graduate degree in Astronomy from a University in Australia, which would be really cool since I've never studied the southern sky. I've looked at a number of education programs, including several distance education degrees. However, each time I zero in on a program of study, the next big question comes up: what do you do with the degree once you've got it?
When I started college, I had a plan to go straight through and get my Ph.D. in Physics before I turned 30. Needless to say, that plan didn't work out exactly that way. I still would like to have my terminal degree, if for no other reason than to be "Dr. Neale," which I think has a really nice ring to it! To paraphrase a rather famous movie line, "What would you do with a Ph.D. if you had one?" (I'll avoid a number of apparent academia jokes that could easily be inserted here.)
Are my desires truly altruistic ones? Am I truly interested in education for education's sake? The more I ponder these questions, the more I come to think that may indeed be the case. I've always enjoyed the education process (with the exception of exams, homework, quizzes, essays, labwork... hmmmm... maybe this is the real reason I haven't jumped back into grad school...) and love learning new ideas and concepts. I can get sidetracked occasionally, or perhaps frequently, when I delve into some learning challenges. Once, a long time ago, when I was really struggling with memorizing my German vocabulary, I decided to write a quick program for my PC to quiz me on vocabulary (I couldn't afford to skip a few meals of Ramen noodles to buy flash cards or anything else to help me learn words). So I spent several days putting together the system that would be my salvation in passing German III. At the end of the semester, I had a much better understanding of user interface design concepts and database implementations than my Wortschatz. The same thing happened when I started working on this blog. Even though my goal was to exercise my creative writing, I spent far more hours learning CSS style sheets and blog template design than I did my wordsmithing.
Anyway, I struggle again with the question of how to educate myself in the short-term. Given my current employment situation (none), I am considering completing a few certification exams, which would lead me to study my chosen career craft in a focused direction for the next several weeks. I could also use this time to seriously focus on my writing by enrolling in a creative writing course. Once I resume gainful employment, however, I am still tempted to further my graduate studies, but not knowing where I'll be working (or living, for that matter), I'm hesitant to even research options outside of an entirely on-line program.
So in the meantime, I'll continue as I have been the last two months - taking one day at a time and seeing what I can learn from each day that presents itself to me. I continue to keep my mind open to all possible sources for the most important education of all: life lessons.
In the 6 years since I finished my degree, I've often thought about getting my Master's degree, but I've always been plagued by the key question: what field of study? I started work on a Master's in Computer Education and Cognitive Systems (a 4.0 average, I might add), but then the big job shuffle started, and it became impractical for me to keep going down that road. I've taken a serious look at a distance education graduate degree in Astronomy from a University in Australia, which would be really cool since I've never studied the southern sky. I've looked at a number of education programs, including several distance education degrees. However, each time I zero in on a program of study, the next big question comes up: what do you do with the degree once you've got it?
When I started college, I had a plan to go straight through and get my Ph.D. in Physics before I turned 30. Needless to say, that plan didn't work out exactly that way. I still would like to have my terminal degree, if for no other reason than to be "Dr. Neale," which I think has a really nice ring to it! To paraphrase a rather famous movie line, "What would you do with a Ph.D. if you had one?" (I'll avoid a number of apparent academia jokes that could easily be inserted here.)
Are my desires truly altruistic ones? Am I truly interested in education for education's sake? The more I ponder these questions, the more I come to think that may indeed be the case. I've always enjoyed the education process (with the exception of exams, homework, quizzes, essays, labwork... hmmmm... maybe this is the real reason I haven't jumped back into grad school...) and love learning new ideas and concepts. I can get sidetracked occasionally, or perhaps frequently, when I delve into some learning challenges. Once, a long time ago, when I was really struggling with memorizing my German vocabulary, I decided to write a quick program for my PC to quiz me on vocabulary (I couldn't afford to skip a few meals of Ramen noodles to buy flash cards or anything else to help me learn words). So I spent several days putting together the system that would be my salvation in passing German III. At the end of the semester, I had a much better understanding of user interface design concepts and database implementations than my Wortschatz. The same thing happened when I started working on this blog. Even though my goal was to exercise my creative writing, I spent far more hours learning CSS style sheets and blog template design than I did my wordsmithing.
Anyway, I struggle again with the question of how to educate myself in the short-term. Given my current employment situation (none), I am considering completing a few certification exams, which would lead me to study my chosen career craft in a focused direction for the next several weeks. I could also use this time to seriously focus on my writing by enrolling in a creative writing course. Once I resume gainful employment, however, I am still tempted to further my graduate studies, but not knowing where I'll be working (or living, for that matter), I'm hesitant to even research options outside of an entirely on-line program.
So in the meantime, I'll continue as I have been the last two months - taking one day at a time and seeing what I can learn from each day that presents itself to me. I continue to keep my mind open to all possible sources for the most important education of all: life lessons.
Thursday, December 25, 2003
Language
I've been accused, on occasion, of butchering the English language. As my wife will attest, I've even been known to annihilate what little Spanish and German that I know. But nobody mutilates English like businesses trying to translate their native language into English for manuals, documents, or, even worse, ad slogans.
One of the best places to view the horror of maligned English comes from our friends at www.engrish.com.
All your base are belong to us!
One of the best places to view the horror of maligned English comes from our friends at www.engrish.com.
All your base are belong to us!
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Relationships
Christmas Eve is finally here! Rather than drone on and on about how as I get older time passes more quickly (the time from the end of lunch to the opening of presents, while only a few hours, felt like years when I was 7 years old), I'll pen a few words about how the meaning of Christmas has changed for me in the same time span.
When I was 7:
Now that I'm older than that:
I still find myself taking things for granted, even as I've become older and wiser (those of you in the back row can stop laughing now). That has changed pretty significantly this year for a number of reasons:
But the last few days have been especially influential on me. Today, my wife spent her Christmas Eve morning at the hospital having an ultrasound. (No, she's not pregnant. You can pick yourselves up off the floor now.) A few weeks ago, she noticed a lump under her arm and was enough unsure about it to mention it to her doctor. He referred her for a mammogram, which ultimately turned itself into an ultrasound (much to her relief). Everyone we know that has anything to do with medicine reassured her that it was probably just an inflamed lymph node as the result of an infection, and that's exactly what it turned out to be. But that doesn't mean we didn't consider the other possible outcomes.
I've given a lot of thought lately to what I would do if Anna wasn't around. Fortunately, this particular lump isn't going to take her from me, but who knows what may happen? Again, I've been taking a lot of things for granted, and having Anna with me was one of those. Have I told her how much she means to me lately? Have I done anything lately to make her feel special? Probably not as much as I could have. She is the most important aspect of my life, and I don't know that I let her know as often or as much as I should.
I'm not a real believer in New Year's Resolutions, or resolutions in general. My last affirmed resolution was "Date free in '93" and I was engaged before the year was half over. However, I'm planning on being more attentive to the relationships I have developed and been able to maintain over the years. I sincerely want to be the best husband, brother, son, and friend I can be to the special people in my life. So I will strive to pay even more attention to others than I've been paying to myself. Its time to become selfless instead of selfish.
When I was 7:
- all Christmas was about was who got the best present
- my cousins were annoying creatures who just got on my nerves
- my brother was an annoying creature who just got on my nerves, but I had to live with him
- I had a favorite set of grandparents
- I never dreamed that Christmas wouldn't be exactly the same from year to year
Now that I'm older than that:
- I don't get presents that are as "cool," but that doesn't matter
- I haven't seen my cousins in years and sometimes wish I could
- I'm looking forward to spending some time with my brother
- I won't see any of my grandparents again, and the ones who weren't my favorite are the ones that had the most impact on my life
- I long for the simpler times of my childhood but still enjoy spending time with my newly extended family
I still find myself taking things for granted, even as I've become older and wiser (those of you in the back row can stop laughing now). That has changed pretty significantly this year for a number of reasons:
- being unemployed for the first time in my adult life
- spending Thanksgiving with my parents for the first time in years
- communicating with old friends and family by e-mail and IM and actually maintaining contact
But the last few days have been especially influential on me. Today, my wife spent her Christmas Eve morning at the hospital having an ultrasound. (No, she's not pregnant. You can pick yourselves up off the floor now.) A few weeks ago, she noticed a lump under her arm and was enough unsure about it to mention it to her doctor. He referred her for a mammogram, which ultimately turned itself into an ultrasound (much to her relief). Everyone we know that has anything to do with medicine reassured her that it was probably just an inflamed lymph node as the result of an infection, and that's exactly what it turned out to be. But that doesn't mean we didn't consider the other possible outcomes.
I've given a lot of thought lately to what I would do if Anna wasn't around. Fortunately, this particular lump isn't going to take her from me, but who knows what may happen? Again, I've been taking a lot of things for granted, and having Anna with me was one of those. Have I told her how much she means to me lately? Have I done anything lately to make her feel special? Probably not as much as I could have. She is the most important aspect of my life, and I don't know that I let her know as often or as much as I should.
I'm not a real believer in New Year's Resolutions, or resolutions in general. My last affirmed resolution was "Date free in '93" and I was engaged before the year was half over. However, I'm planning on being more attentive to the relationships I have developed and been able to maintain over the years. I sincerely want to be the best husband, brother, son, and friend I can be to the special people in my life. So I will strive to pay even more attention to others than I've been paying to myself. Its time to become selfless instead of selfish.
Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Musical Changes
Who knew that naked muppets would cause a change in my musical direction.
NAKED MUPPETS??
That's right, naked muppets. As I was crawling the web for references to the letter "Q" to use in random links in this blog, I ran across Avenue Q, the web site for the Broadway musical of the same name. I didn't really search the site in great detail, but a notice on the main page warns of "full puppet nudity." Granted, they also have a disclaimer that their show has not been sanctioned by the Jim Henson company or Sesame Street, but there's no mistaking what the "puppets" were designed to emulate.
So why should I care? Well, I've been working on a few musical numbers over the last three years under the working name of "Ave. Q" based on a number of factors: the Q in my name, the fact that the Green Chili CD was recorded in a studio on Ave. Q in Lubbock, and I just like the way it sounded. Obviously, I can't use that name any more, or the company producing the musical will come after me, or there will just be mass confusion by people trying to find either organizations music. With Green Chili Burp and the Aftertaste, it's pretty hard to get confused with someone else.
So now I get to come up with another musical name to use for future projects, including the tunes I'm wrapping up in the studio right now. I'll use another post to work out 'band names' in more detail.
NAKED MUPPETS??
That's right, naked muppets. As I was crawling the web for references to the letter "Q" to use in random links in this blog, I ran across Avenue Q, the web site for the Broadway musical of the same name. I didn't really search the site in great detail, but a notice on the main page warns of "full puppet nudity." Granted, they also have a disclaimer that their show has not been sanctioned by the Jim Henson company or Sesame Street, but there's no mistaking what the "puppets" were designed to emulate.
So why should I care? Well, I've been working on a few musical numbers over the last three years under the working name of "Ave. Q" based on a number of factors: the Q in my name, the fact that the Green Chili CD was recorded in a studio on Ave. Q in Lubbock, and I just like the way it sounded. Obviously, I can't use that name any more, or the company producing the musical will come after me, or there will just be mass confusion by people trying to find either organizations music. With Green Chili Burp and the Aftertaste, it's pretty hard to get confused with someone else.
So now I get to come up with another musical name to use for future projects, including the tunes I'm wrapping up in the studio right now. I'll use another post to work out 'band names' in more detail.
Introduction
OK, to further overextend myself creatively, it's time to set up an new Blog. Obviously, it's been a while since I updated my Job Hunter's Diary, because I frankly got tired of the daily "looked on the job boards, sent some e-mails, got no response" entries. Plus, I'm sure it was going to cut down on the readership quickly, too. But that's really a story for that blog, not this one.
I decided to get another outlet for my writing (fiction, prose, ramblings, whatever) other than just Word docs on my Mac. Plus, I run across all sorts of weird, random information in my daily activities, some in e-mail, some while surfing the web, and I needed a place to store them all for my future reference or to share with others who may or may not be interested in the unusual or just purely random.
Take, for example, these examples:
That, and I just may post some practice writing exercises. I've got plenty of time on my hands right now, and I've been really wanting to sharpen my writing skills, and, well, it's just not all that exciting to sit down in front of Word to write. Maybe I'm a little ADD (probably more than a little) and perhaps I'm just a bit obsessive compulsive (like my favorite defective detective), but having other gizmos surrounding the screen is more enticing to me than just the Word interface.
In addition, some of my activities around the house have uncovered some interesting tidbits, like my college notebooks from my first two years at UNT, back when it was North Texas State University. I actually started (several times) a journal in one of my notebooks, and I was amazed to see how much of the emotions and memories of those days came back to me by just reading a few handwritten pages. I've done some journaling several times in my life, but never consistently, outside of therapy. So if I make it really easy to journal on a regular basis, maybe I can actually keep up with it.
So, here goes nothing. I'll conclude this first post to the new blog, get it posted and make sure all the techno-wizardry is working correctly. Then I'm off to help my wife bake cookies, get to the bank, and take care of other mundane daily life issues.
Entire contents of this site © 2003-2008 Eriq Oliver Neale/Simultaneous Pancakes Media unless otherwise noted. I hate that I have to point that out...I decided to get another outlet for my writing (fiction, prose, ramblings, whatever) other than just Word docs on my Mac. Plus, I run across all sorts of weird, random information in my daily activities, some in e-mail, some while surfing the web, and I needed a place to store them all for my future reference or to share with others who may or may not be interested in the unusual or just purely random.
Take, for example, these examples:
That, and I just may post some practice writing exercises. I've got plenty of time on my hands right now, and I've been really wanting to sharpen my writing skills, and, well, it's just not all that exciting to sit down in front of Word to write. Maybe I'm a little ADD (probably more than a little) and perhaps I'm just a bit obsessive compulsive (like my favorite defective detective), but having other gizmos surrounding the screen is more enticing to me than just the Word interface.
In addition, some of my activities around the house have uncovered some interesting tidbits, like my college notebooks from my first two years at UNT, back when it was North Texas State University. I actually started (several times) a journal in one of my notebooks, and I was amazed to see how much of the emotions and memories of those days came back to me by just reading a few handwritten pages. I've done some journaling several times in my life, but never consistently, outside of therapy. So if I make it really easy to journal on a regular basis, maybe I can actually keep up with it.
So, here goes nothing. I'll conclude this first post to the new blog, get it posted and make sure all the techno-wizardry is working correctly. Then I'm off to help my wife bake cookies, get to the bank, and take care of other mundane daily life issues.
