a case study in awesomeness

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Current Posts

Apr 30, 2005

our future backyard

For more pictures, check out Tommy's picture page.

i'm a geek

Your Geek Profile:

Academic Geekiness: High

Geekiness in Love: High

General Geekiness: Moderate

Internet Geekiness: Moderate

Movie Geekiness: Moderate

Fashion Geekiness: Low

Gamer Geekiness: Low

Music Geekiness: Low

SciFi Geekiness: None

How Geeky Are You?

new song

I've been looking for some new songs to play Wednesday night at Focus, and I'm pretty sure we'll be doing this one.

Plastic Jesus

Well, I don't care if it rains or freezes,
Long as I have my plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through all trials and tribulations,
We will travel every nation,
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far.

cho: Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car
Through all trials and tribulations,
We will travel every nation,
With my plastic Jesus I'll go far.

I don't care if it rains or freezes
's long as I've got my Plastic Jesus
Glued to the dashboard of my car,
You can buy Him phosphorescent
Glows in the dark, He's Pink and Pleasant,
Take Him with you when you're travelling far.

I don't care if it's dark or scary,
Long as I have magnetic Mary,
Ridin' on the dashboard of my car,
I feel I'm protected amply,
I've got the whole damn Holy Family,
Riding on the dashboard of my car.

You can buy a Sweet Madonna
Dressed in rhinestones sitting on a
Pedestal of abalone shell,
Goin' ninety, I'm not wary
'Cause I've got my Virgin Mary,
Guaranteeing I won't go to Hell.

I don't care if it bumps or jostles
Long as I got the Twelve Apostles
Bolted to the dashboard of my car
Don't I have a pious mess
Such a crowd of holiness
Strung across the dashboard of my car

No, I don't care if it rains or freezes,
Long as I have my plastic Jesus,
Riding on the dashboard of my car,
But I think he'll have to go,
His magnet ruins my radio,
And if we have a wreck he'll leave a scar.

Riding through the thoroughfare, with his nose up in the air
A wreck may be ahead, but he don't mind
Trouble coming, he don't see, he just keeps his eyes on me
And any other thing that lies behind
Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus, riding on the dashboard of my car
Though the sun shines on his back makes him peel, chip, and crack
A little patching keeps him up to par

When pedestrians try to cross I let them know whose boss
I never blow my horn or give them warning
I ride all over town, trying to run them down
And it's seldom that they live to see the morning
Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus Riding on the dashboard of my car
His halo fits just right and I use it as a sight
And they'll scatter or they'll splatter near and far

When I'm in a traffic jam he don't care if I say Damn
I can let all sorts of curses roll
Plastic Jesus doesn't hear, for he has a plastic ear
The man who invented plastic saved my soul
Plastic Jesus, Plastic Jesus riding on the dashboard of my car
Once his robe was snowy white, now it isn't quite so bright
Stained by the smoke of my cigar

God made Christ a Holy Jew
God made Him a Christian too
Paradoxes populate my car
Joseph beams with a feigned elan
From the shaggy dash of my furlined van
Famous cuckold in the master plan;

Naughty Mary, smug and smiling,
Jesus dainty and beguiling
Knee-deep in the piling of my van;
His message clear by night or day
My phosphorescent plastic Gay
Simpering from the dashboard of my van.

When I'm goin' fornicatin'
I got my ceramic Satan
Sinnin' on the dashboard of my Winnebago Motor Home
The women know I'm on the level
Thanks to the wild-eyed stoneware devil
Ridin' on the dashboard of my ...
Sneerin' from the dashboard of my ...
Leering from the dashboard of my van.

If I weave around at night
And the police think I'm tight,
They'll never find my bottle, though they ask;
plastic Jesus shelters me,
For His head comes off, you see--
He's hollow, and I use Him for a flask.

Plastic Jesus, plastic Jesus
Riding on the dashboard of my car:
Ride with me and have a dram,
Of the blood of the Lamb,
Plastic Jesus is a holy bar.

Apr 29, 2005

the utility guy

On my softball team, I don't have a set position. I'll probablly be playing some at pitcher, 1B, SS, and maybe some in the OF. If you don't follow follow sports, such a player is known as a utility man.

It occured to me the other day that I am a ultility guy in most areas of my life. Take worship team as an example. I fill in as a worship leader/vocalist, guitar player, bass player, harmonica player, occasionally as a keyboard player and a sound guy. I'm a utility guy. This occured to me as I was playing bass the other day . . . because I don't get asked to play bass because I am a good bass player, I get asked because I am available. When I was in choir in high school, I was bumped around between bass and tenor, as the needs were there. My senior year, I sang high tenor in male chorus even though I didn't have the range. I was a utility guy.

In psych class, whenever we would take the personality invintories, I would always score right in the middle of multiple categories. On the Meyers Briggs, I would usually score a bit higher as an introvert, but on the other three categories, Sensing - Intuition, Thinking - Feeling, Judging - Perceiving, I would score about 50/50 on them, so I never got my cool INTJ acronym. On Smalleys personality inventory, I scored evenly on Lion, Golden Retriever, and Otter (very low on Beaver, though). This happens consistenly on most of these things.

I don't have a niche. I'm not the funny guy, I'm not the smart guy, I'm not the talented guy. But I can fill any of these categories if I have to. I'm too liberal to be a conservative, and too conservative to be a liberal, both politically and theologicaly. I don't fit in with any political groups. I don't fit in with any denominations.

As all of this began to click with me, it explained a vague feeling I've had for a while. I can fit in just about anywhere, but I never really quite fit in. I know it sounds weird . . . I think so too. It's hard to explain. But for a long time now, I've been struggeling to find my place. But it seems that every open spot doesn't quite fit my shape. I've versitle enough to somewhat squeeze in, but ultimately it leaves too many cracks.

Its kind of lonely, really. I don't know why. I have no reason to feel lonely.

So, I just keep on wandering.

scorecard

Thursday's Score:

Guff 1, Eric 0

I put up a good fight, but guff ended up throwing a couple of blows I couldn't counter.

A new day is coming.

Apr 28, 2005

clarification

For those who may not remember what the "milk crate endtable guys" are, you can check back into my archives.

Milk Crate End Table Guys

new sidebar

The other day I got a comment telling me how awesome my sidebar is. And, I have to agree, it's true. My sidebar rules. Some awesome links over there. Keep up the good work.

But, I can't get complacent. I need to keep improving. I need room to grow. So, my sidebar now has handy categories for your convienece. Enjoy!!!!

productive day

Today was not a great day in slacking. In fact, I got very little slacking done at all today.

It all started on the bus. On the ride to work, it came to me . . . the first part of our drinking song that my band is going to do. It goes like this . . .

Well I'm feeling so hollow
In my troubles I'll wallow
So pour me a Colt .45

When I wake up tomorrow
I'll feel no more sorrow
Cause I'll drown them in Colt .45

Awesome!!!!

Work was crazy. Today was employee appreciation day. In my previous stints, employee appreciation day was employee appreciation week. And it was alway the worst week for the mailroom. It meant more work. We had extra stuff to deliver throughout the office (and for some reason, they couldn't go with mail, they had to go extra.) We had extra conference rooms to set up. And, if someone didn't get the extra stuff, rather than just calling and asking they would chew us out. Great appreciation week!!!! So, I was relieved to find out that we were only being appreciated for a day. But, it was a busy day. Stuff went wrong. People panicked. We had to hear about it. But, by noon, things were back in control.

Then after lunch, my boss comes into the mailroom and asks me how long I was going to be in school. I told him I wasn't sure (which is true, and that's another story.) He then told me that another firm was looking for someone to run their mailroom and asked if I was interested. Full time with benefits. Anyway, that suprised me, because I was pretty sure I wasn't even on his radar. So, I may be getting a new job.

Then when I got off work, it was time to get ready for FOCUS. I was scheduled to run sound tonight. But yesterday, John tells me he is going out of town and needs me to fill in. Which I'm happy to do, but that's not much time to prepare. So, I am running all around town getting some stuff together for tonight, then I get to the coffeehouse and start helping set up the sound stuff. Luckily, I did a bad enough job mixing the sound that JP decided to run it for me. So, that freed me up to focus on the "guy thing".

Anyway, I thought things went pretty well. I was really glad we did the "guy thing" that we did. We should do more to encourage the women. They (or you, if you are one of them) are awesome.

Anyway, there was one thing I really feel like I messed up tonight. It's haunting me.

So, I just read through this post and it makes no sense. I'm tired. Maybe I'll fix it tomorrow.

Peace out!

Apr 26, 2005

top 5, week of 4-24 to 4-30

Major upset this week.

5. New Midi Software
4. The Hustler "Family"
3. My phone ringing in 3 straight classes
2. Peter Gallhager's Eyebrows
1. The Bat Fancy (17 E. Charlton)

I will be updating this list weekly, to keep you, the reader, informed.

If I had started this list earlier, Peter Gallhager's Eybrows would have topped the list for a long time. But, to his misfortune, The Bat Fancy has taken the #1 spot. Things should get interesting.

yeah

My blog is awesome. I'm going to give it some type of award!!!!

Apr 25, 2005

what the???

This morning, as I was doing hand deliveries, my route had me going past the Hustler store downtown. As I walked by, I noticed the following sign . . .

Now Hiring
Join the Hustler Family
Apply Within.

Hustler Family????? Oh the irony of that statement.

Apr 24, 2005

the catcher

I felt young again. I let myself out for a while. It was fun.

Tonight several of us went to Hofbrauhaus (and no, I have NO idea how to spell it. I took French and Greek). It was a lot of fun, more fun than I've had in a while. For some reason I was looser than normal, and it wasn't the beer. For a while my college personality came out. That guy is fun. I was a little rusty tonight. But, it's been too long since I was willing to stand on a bench in a resturaunt and do the chicken dance.

I've been reading "Reviving Ophelia" for one of my classes (paper due tomorrow.) I had to read it for a class 2 years ago, and unfortuately I lost that paper. Actually it's not so unfortuante. When I read it two years ago, I didn't like it that much. I thought that it was of some value, but it's a pop psychology book, which I tend to not like too much. Typically, these books are written by counselors, and they notice trends in their patients, and then make generalizations on everyone based on clinical assessments. Usually, such generalizations don't work.

However, upon my second reading, I have like it much better. Well, actually, like doesn't really describe it. Actually, I hate what I'm reading, because I'm finding it to be more accurate that I originally thought.

The book describes the pressures that girls go through during adolecence. Pipher, the author, points out in the beginning that pre-adolecent girls rarely require counseling. They are very confident and resilliant. Then in adolecence, due to many factors, many of which are societal, they begin to mask themselves and push away thier true selves, instead conforming to what society says they should be. This transition can be very difficult for some, and thy can lose confidence, and still struggle with that well into adulthood.

I guess what was different this time is how much more aware of this that I am now. I see it so often. It makes me so angry to think of what people can do to each other sometimes. It gets to me, because I can relate to it. It was a very different set of societal standards in my case, but the end result was the same. My preadolecent self was beaten down and lost out someone who lacked confidence and became very fearful.

With that said, we saw a documentary in this class a couple of weeks ago about how media and marketers sell to adolecents. Through much research, they have come up with two characters, one to market to boys, the others to girls. For the guys, the character is called "The Mook." The mook is the Adam Corolla, Tom Green, and Johnny Knoxville type. Wild and crazy, no inhibitions, and funny. What is interesting though is that in this case, they are not selling an image, it is the mook himself that does the selling.

For the girls, the character is called "The Midriff." The midriff is the Brittany Spears type. In this case, it is totally the look being sold. The personality is irreleveant . . . it's all about the looks.

This has disturbed me since I saw it. It bothers me so much, the societal pressures that we get from our media and popular culture. Why do we by into this stuff. It's not real. Maybe that is the point.

As I was reading today, I just became frustrated. I wanted to fix everything, and protect everyone. But I can't. It reminded me of "The Catcher In The Rye." It's been a while since I read it, so bear with me. But, I remember as Holden is talking to someone (maybe his counselor, or it may have been one of the characters,) and the ask him what he wants to do with his life. He began talking about a song (or it may have been a book) where these children are playing in a field. The field is on a cliff. He said that he wanted to stand at the bottom of the cliff and catch the children as the fell off (I think it was a rye field, hence the title of the book.)

I never had a clue what that meant. But today I think I got it. So many people are headed for a cliff. The fall is painful, and maybe even fatal. I want to be the catcher in the rye. But there are so many people, its overwhelming. Plus, I'm still injured from my fall. If I try and catch someone, it might injure both of us.

One thing I do know: we need to start rejecting the lies. I've been trying that this week, with mixed results. It's a long road. I need help. If I am saying bad stuff about myself, or making fun of myself, make me stop. I don't care if I'm kidding or not. Don't contradict me. Just tell me to stop. And from now on, I'm not going to let anyone else buy into the lies about themselves either.

We aren't taking that guff anymore!

the bat fancy

This morning I woke up and went on a rampage.

A domestic rampage, that is. For some reason, I woke up at 8:30, despite not going to bed until 3:00. When I got up, I started cleaning my room. That led to cleaning the kitchen, living room, stairs, and all sorts of stuff. Usually, I'm not very domestic, but ocasionally, I get motivated. I'm on a rampage. And well, anytime cleaning the living room involves stacking coke cans into a tower, well, that's just cool.

This afternoon, Ed, Tommy, and I put on our orange vests and went hunting. Apartment hunting. Minus the vests. We took the grand tour of Clifton Hieghts, Corryville, Clifton, University Heights, and Fairview. And we found the perfect place, which Ed has taken to calling "The Bat Fancy." It was so freakin awesome. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was the one. First of all, it is this wonderful shade of pale green. The front has a covered porch, which would be perfect for the Colt part, and the front window is partially stained glass. Then, to the side of the house is a small shed and a really awesome patio, perfect for cookouts and such. Then, as we get to the back of the house, there are three bird feeders, one of which is made to look exactly like the house. Then, there is an actual backyard, with a swingset that we aren't sure if it is part of that yard or the one next door. Also in the back yard is a 3 foot statue of the Virgin Mary. Then, on the other end of the backyard, there are some steps that lead up to another shed, and this one is the exact same color as the house and birdfeeder. All in all, it is the PERFECT bachelor pad.

This evening I went to Newport to meet up with some college friends, Bill, Jen, Mel, and Stephanie. Good times hanging out with the old crowd. It made me not feel so old. Then I went and hung out with my cincy friends and felt old again.

On the agenda for tomorrow: my triumphant return to the Sunday Morning worship team, and then the first softball game of the season.

I'm on a rampage!!!!

Apr 22, 2005

the storm

Thunderstorms are one of my favorite things in the world. So, this morning, I was quite happy. Especially since it was a morning I could sleep in. For some reason, I find it quite relaxing. I had my window slightly open, just laying there taking in the sound of the rain and the roll of the thunder.

But, being on Victor Street, there had to be something to ruin it.

Whenever the thunder boomed loud enough, it set off one of my neighbors car alarms. I hate car alarms, for reasons I mentioned in a blog entry back in September. The thing must have gone off at least 6 times this morning.

So there it was, one of my least favorite things in the world juxtaposed with one of my favorites. I'm sure there is some analogy in there somewhere. I'm not going to look for it though.

Apr 21, 2005

trapped

Why do people think it's okay to park in front of my garage?

less emo, fewer analogies

I've been on a philosophical, psychoanalytical kick over the last few days. And, I've been throwing in a lot of analogies. Sorry about that. The worst part is that I have a bunch more (including an awesome cliff diving analogy.) But, I'll spare you. It's been an intense week though. I'm pretty exhausted.

Anyway, on Tuesday I had a 20 page research paper due. On Friday night, I had no topic picked out. On Saturday morning, I picked out a topic, went to the library for a little while to look up some sources, found none, came home and got onto Ohio Link and found nothing as well. So, I picked a new topic, and found 15 articles. So, I go for a walk to clear my head, and then Stephanie and Mel kidnapped me, and that was the end of writing that day. On Sunday, I read 2 articles, go to church, go to softball practice, and then I'm beat. So, I take a nap, get up, read a few more articles. Then, I start to get worried. I skim a couple of more articles, and begin to realize that I do not have a paper out of these sources. So then I try to strategize. I begin to wonder if there is an old paper on my computer that will work in this class. Then I remember a paper I wrote back in the fall of 2000. I pull it up, and find out that I need to make it longer, but it is going to work.

Anyway, after some research and writing on Monday, along with some playing with fonts and margins, I finish the paper. After class on Tuesday, I have the following conversation with Ed:

Ed: How did the paper go?
Me: It's turned in.
Ed: Good.
Me: Actually it was horrible. I get the satisfaction of having it done, but not the satisfaction of a job well done (it really was a horrible paper. Even the original paper was pretty bad.)
Ed: Oh.
Me: Oh yeah. Anyway, I get to class and turn the paper in. Class starts, and the the professor says, "One of the reasons we assign research papers is so that you will learn something." Then, the takes the first paper off of the stack, reads the name and then asks the student what he learned about the topic. We had to do impromptu presentaions on our research.
Ed: What did he say about yours?
Me: Well, after I was done, he thought about it for a second and said, "Interesting topic. I'm glad you picked it. It sounds like you did a good job with it."
Ed: You realize that your whole life is a lie.
Me: Yeah.

Apr 19, 2005

i'm on a rampage

Back in the days when I owned a Nintendo 64 (I promise this won't be a video game post), one of my favorite games that I owned was The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time. One of the hardest enemies, at least in my opinion, to defeat was Shadow Link. Shadow Link was someone identical to the character you were playing with, and whenever I moved, he would move. Thus he was difficult to beat. I think eventually I figured out that if you hit him with a sledghammer you could take him out pretty quickly.

As I prepare for my jouney into the infinite abyss, something occured to me today.

In there, I am going to have a battle to fight. I will meet my own worst enemy.

I will be facing myself.

Over the last few days, I have noticed a dichotomy about myself . . . never have I been so at peace with myself and so angry and frustrated with myself at the same time. Then I realized: There are two me's. Two facets to my personality. There is my true self. Well, at least my potential self. This side is really cool. Intellegent, funny, a dreamer, a wild imagination, cares about people. Just a good guy. Then, there is my dark side. The dark side is full of lies. He tells me how worthless I am, how little I can do, and how nobody is really interested in me.

The problem . . . I believe him.

All of my fears, all of my anxieties are wrapped up in these lies. It cripples me. But recently, I've just grown very tired of it. I'm tired of being afraid. I want to be free.

So, here I wander into the abyss, sledgehammer in hand (and this is the second time in a week I've used a sledgehammer as an analogy. I just like hitting things with hammers.) I have to face him. I have to reject the lies. I have to free the good guy inside of me.

Tonight, just thinking about it gave me a sense of freedom I haven't felt in a long time. It was like my dark side was bound up for a while. It was nice. I know I'll slip in and out, but from now on, to quote Strong Bad, "I ain't takin any guff from no one!"

Apr 17, 2005

the infinite abyss

Last night I saw the movie "Garden State." Its not a movie that I would have picked out on my own, but thanks to Mel it ended up in my DVD player. I liked it. It was a little slower and "artsier" than what is usually to my liking, but there were many great lines that appealed to my inner-philosopher.

My favorite part of the film was a scene where 3 of the main characters went to visit some guy who lived in a boat in a quarry. Actually, it wasn't really a quarry. Some developers were building a mall in this spot and found some huge cavern or canyon or something like that. That cave had never been explored, and they didn't know how deep it actually was, where it went, or where it ended. As they were about to leave, the guy from "Scrubs" said to the guy who lived there, "Good luck exploring the infinite abyss." The guy who lived there said, "You too."

After the movie was over, I immediately said, "I want to explore an infinite abyss." It's such a cool line, and I've been thinking about it since we finished the movie. It really fits where I've been over the last few months. I like it because in its literal sense, there are no infinite abysses to be explored. They don't exist. But in the figurative sense, there are countless infinite abysses. And here's the thing . . . in real life, I rarely ever explore them. Usually its fear, often its laziness, but for whatever reason, I don't take that adventure. Its kind of strange really: in many situations I'm fearless, but in others, I'm paralyzed by fear. I guess that's actually kind of normal, its just sometimes I feel like a freak because I'm fearless in areas most others are fearful and fearful in areas that most others are fearless.

The other theme in the movie that really jumped out at me was this idea that feeling pain means being alive and real. This really kind of summed up some things that have been running through my mind of late, particularly in the last few months since I have moved back to Cincinnati. When I lived in Frankfort, I was very isolated. I went to work for 8 hours a day, came home, watched some TV, and went to bed. My weekend wasn't much more eventful. Through it all, I had no real social life to speak of. Through all of that, I kind of went into a neutral state emotionally.

That's been one of the most difficult yet exhilarating things about being back in Cincinnati. Every day I interact with people. Sometimes its really cool. Sometimes its not so much. Sometimes I get invited, and sometimes I get rejected. People help me. People hurt me. And honestly, it took some time getting used to that again. Back in February, I was struggling mentally and emotionally with some things, and it somewhat then occurred to me that this may have been at the root of the issue. I went from rarely facing the possibility of rejection to facing it every day. And rejection is my biggest fear. So, its been up and down.

And that's the cool part. Because now, I'm starting to become alive again. I taught this past Wednesday night at FOCUS, and as I was preparing the lesson, I began to feel something I hadn't felt in a long time: passion. It was amazing. I've hit the heights of joy and the depths of depression this semester, and it's been the most amazing thing.

Even over the past several weeks, there has been an issue that has been draining me mentally and emotionally. A few days ago, I prayed that it would just go away. It hasn't. And I'm glad. I don't want it to go away. I want to be alive. I want to be real.

Throughout the last few months, I think I have started on this journey. I've learned a lot about who I am, and why I react to things the way I do. I'm looking into my fears. Brent says that I shouldn't define myself by my fears, but that's what I'm doing right now. It's for a bigger purpose though. I want these labels attached to my forehead, so that I will get tired of them and do something about it.

I have to. There are too many infinite abysses out there, waiting to be explored.

weird mood

It occured to me not long ago.

I am so freakin lame. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGHHHH

That's all. I feel better now.

Apr 12, 2005

the emergency

This morning, we had a crisis at work. A catastrophe, really. It was horrible beyond words. It's the kind of thing that you wish you never had to go through, and hope that you never have to go through again. It was really, really bad. It was just terrible.

So, here's what happened. Last night, some people were having a meeting in one of the conference rooms that went past 7:00 pm, when the mailroom closes. So, there was nobody to clean that conference room. So, it had to be done this morning at 7:00 am when the morning crew comes in. Also, it needed to be set up for a meeting that went in there at 8:00 am. So, one of my coworkers too care of it.

However, she failed to do one thing: open up the blinds!!!!

That's right, she left the blinds closed.

Luckily, the meeting had been canceled for some other reason. So, fortunately, no clients had to go into a conference room that had the blinds closed. Can you imagine what might have happened if they had though. We would have looked so unprofessional. We probablly would have lost that client, and with the money we lost, the entire firm would have had to have shut down.

So luckily, we were able to avoid that crisis. Except, dispite not using the conference room, the attorney who scheduled it happened to walk by and notice that the blinds were closed. So, he called and yelled at the director of administration. He yelled at my boss, who then yelled at my shift supervisor. So, we got a "talking too."

Do you know what the worst part is??? I didn't make that story up. It's true. Someone actually got that mad about the blinds being closed. Why?? I don't know. I can't imagine any scenario at all where I would get that upset about that.

But, then it occured to me . . . I'm being too hard on the guy. I mean, he's under a lot of pressure. Imagine if the world revolved around you. That's a lot to deal with. It can't be easy at all. So, I should cut him some slack. He's got a lot on his mind.

Apr 11, 2005

the team

Yesterday, Brent, Tommy, and I were discussing our various "roles" in the apartment. We concluded that I am the brains, Tommy is the beauty, Brent is the brawn, and Ed is the creepy guy in the attic.

So, I'm thinking over this during runs today, and it occured to me . . . based on this setup, we each have a corresponding character on The A-Team. Check it out

Category Victor House Character A-Team Character

Brain Eric Col John "Hannibal" Smith
Beauty Tommy Lt. Templeton "Face" Peck
Brawn Brent Sgt. Bosco "BA" Baracus
Creepy Guy Ed Cpt. H.M "Howling Mad" Murdock

I think this works really well. And, after all, I really am a Colonel!!!!!!

fight cancer

Hey everyone. My friend Melissa is participating in the relay for life for the American Cancer Society. You should totally go to her blog and click on the link for her support page. Do it NOW!!

Apr 10, 2005

hamburger helper????

That was a random joke that nobody that reads this blog will get. But, I couldn't think of a title.

1. Of all the nations in the world, my favorite is procrastiNATION!!!!!

2. I should be writing a paper right now, but I'm not. I'm blogging. The cool part is that I just looked at the sylabus and found that I only have to write 1 1/2 to 2 pages, instead of 3 like I thought. How much have I written so far??? One sentance. It was an awesome one though.

3. For this said paper, I had to watch Jackass: The Movie. Okay, so I didn't have to. But, I chose it because I thought it would fit in with one of the themes in the class. See, we had to pick a movie that is popular with "the teenagers" today and write about why it is popular and what it says about teenagers. Anyway, this was a movie that I thought is hilarious but I know I shouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I did. Anyway, I have to show a clip in class tomorrow. Should be interesting. I kind of wish I had chosen another movie, but it's too late now. Anyway, if I pick the right clip, I could fulfill my dream of being kicked out of the Christian University.

4. I got to throw football today. It was awesome. *sigh*

5. Well, a few weeks ago, "Operation: The Bishop's Micheif" was a sucess. And now, "Operation Toblerone's Suprise" has also been successful. Now, it's on to "Operation: Snowball in Hell" and another operation to be named later. Congratulations to all that were involved. My apartment rules!!!!

6. Daylight Savings Time has been officially removed from the banned list. Tofu has been added.

7. It's about 90 degrees in my room right now. We just kicked on the AC. The first AC of the year is one of my favorite days.

8. Rohs Street Cafe reopened last night. I went for about 15 minutes, and then left because some people were heading downtown. Still, it's good to know its back. Its good, because I have the baristas trained on good southern style sweet tea.

9. I don't want to go to work tomorrow. But, I need to remain thankful that I get to go to work.

10. I had only intended to have 5 on this post. But, I made it to ten. This blog is so awesome. You should tell your friends about it.

personal log

This entry isn't going to make any sense, but ultimately I write this stuff for me, and a year from now when I'm going through the archives, I need to remember this, so . . .

Tonight I had a realization. It was something that I suspected, and I always thought that once I came to realize this, it would hurt really badly. However, it's really not so bad.

Of course, I may never know for sure. At the rate I'm going I never will.

But, I think I'm right.

Apr 8, 2005

birthday part 2

Okay, so now, click here!!

Apr 5, 2005

unitarian hymns

When I get bored in class, I get really wierd stuff in my head, and often I write them down in my notes. Today in my denominations class, we were discussing Unitarians. And, again, I got a weird idea in my head, wondering what the song service would look like in a unitarian church . . .

Holy Holy Holy.

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee
Holy, Holy, Holy, merciful and mighty
God in one person, blessed unity.

Like I said, I'm wierd.

birthday retraction

First of all, thank you Juliet for making me look like a moron.

Apparently, it's not Melissa's birthday. Here's the deal . . . a few weeks ago, I sent an email to Juliet asking about someone's birthday. She replied back not only with that, but 3 other birthday's as well. So, I thought, useful information, sweet. Well, it turns out that one of the 3 is my birthday, and it was wrong. No big deal, since I already knew that one.

Well, now I know that 50% of that email was inaccurate. I do know at least one was correct, though.

So thank you Juliet. Sorry Mel. I am an idiot!!!!!!!

But, at least I'm a fun idiot.

Happy birthday to Melissa Briski.

A fool and a wandering minstrel (though not as foolish as me.)

May you have an awesome day, and may your next year be the rockingest yet!

Apr 4, 2005

the championship

So, I'm trying to decide if I should take the high road with my friends who are Illinois fans. I mean, it really sucks when something like this happens. But then, I look in my comments, and I see some Illinois fans who made some cracks against Kentucky, and I wonder if maybe some retaliation should be in order. Hmmmmm, what to do, what to do?????

today's sudan article

Check out this interview with someone who witness much of the genocide in Darfur.

addendum

On the previous post, I mentioned that never have I felt so old and young at the same time. Well, the "old" part is in full force this morning. I can barely move I am so sore.

Apr 3, 2005

unretired

If anyone has ever discussed movies with me before, you know that I count "The Sandlot" as among the top movies of all time (in fact, just talking about it has convinced me to put it in the VCR). I think that the reason that I like it so much is that it was pretty much written right out of my childhood (minus the swimming pool scene, easily the funniest scene in a movie EVER). Starting at around age 8 or so, all the guys on my street played some type of sport on pretty much a daily basis. In the fall, it was football, in the winter, it was basketball, and in the spring and summer it was baseball. I don't know what made us stick with the official seasons like that, but we did it.

Unlike the kids in the sandlot, we did keep score. However, like them, we had our own team for our street, and a lot of time was spent having team practice. We each had our own positions: I was a 1B, Keith Wolfe at 2B, Eddie Brown at SS, Brandon McQueen at 3B, Shannon McQueen at C, and my brother Justin at P. We didn't have enough for a full team, so we didn't have an outfield. But, it was so much fun.

I never did play a lot of organized sports; I did play t-ball, and then in middle school I played 2 years of intramural basketball.

But then, at age 12, we started going to a church that participated in a softball league. In that league, they had a boy's division for ages 11-15, a women's division for 11+, and a men's league for ages 16+. So, that first summer, I joined the team. We lived across the street from the ballfield, so every summer after that was spent watching and playing. When I turned 16, I moved up to the men's team and became an assistant coach on the boy's team. My playing time went down, but everything was cool. The next year I became the head coach of the boy's team. I kept all of this up for a few more seasons.

As I got to the end of college, I began to become less satisfied with church softball. People were becoming too competetive, and it became less and less fun. Then, in the summer of 1999, the men's team coach got into a dispute with a couple of players and quit on the spot. At the next game, we had no coach, and somehow coaching duties ended up with me for the rest of the season. Throughout the remaining weeks the tension kept mounting, and the former coach rejoined the team. During our last game, there was a bit of an incident, and I officially retired from my softball career at the old age of 23.

Somewhere in there, my glove gave out. so, for the last 6 years, I haven't had a glove. It's kind of sad really. I really loved playing.

Well, on Thursday, things began to change. At around 10:00 pm, I took a little road trip to Meijer, and wandered over to the sporting goods department, and walked away with a Rawlings Renegade Series (it makes me feel edgy having the word "renegade" on my ball glove).

And then today, I officially became unretired. This afternoon, I laced up my cleats, slid on the renegade, and went to softball practice. I'm playing on a co-ed team with some of the other people I work with in the mailroom. It was so awesome being back out there. It was such a beautiful day to be outside, getting some excercise, and reliving my youth a little bit. I can't think of a time that I've ever felt so old and so young at the same time. After practice, I was so sore.

The amazing part is how much I didn't suck. I fielded pretty well, and was swinging the bat really well too. Not too bad for having not played in six years.

So now, I've got the Renegade, a sunburned forehead, and all is right in the world again. The season starts in 3 weeks. I'm like a kid before Christmas. If anyone ever catches me trying to retire again, just smack me.

Apr 2, 2005

apartment news

Two major things . . .

First of all, the wind is causing my floor to shake. I'm not real sure what to think about that.

Secondly, after 90 days of living here, we finally own a mop. However, after round one, I don't know if it's strong enough for the junk on our floor. Maybe I should have gotten a 5.00 one instead of a 3.00

Off to round 2.

Apr 1, 2005

my life's purpose

Yesterday I had two conversations that really helped define purpose in my life. The second one was with Brent. Brent, who is now back in school, has been reading a novel for one of his classes. He was talking about reading, and the fact that he doesn't like to speedread. The conversation went something like this:

TheBrent: Have you read that one book, Farenheit . . . .
Eric: 451?
TheBrent: Yeah, that's it.
Eric: Yeah I read it.
TheBrent: You know the part where it talks about remembering everything you read?
Eric: Yes.
TheBrent: Ever since I read that, I read things really carefully, you know, in case that ever happens.
Eric: Interesting . . . it's good of you to do your part. . . . you know what, if that does ever happen, I want to be the guy in charge of remembering Farenheit 451.
TheBrent: Why?
Eric: Because, just think of the irony of that.

So, that has become one of my life purposes, to memorize Farehneit 451 in case all books ever get banned and I have to join an underground group to preserve all literature.

The other conversation happened later in the day, and it didn't really give me a life purpose as much as giving a name to what I already am. Melissa, Justin Sanford, and myself were hanging out during the afternoon. We were at the Christian University, drinking coffeeshop drinks and looking for stuff to break. Justin was carrying his guitar singing about hippies (I'm sorry I called you a hippie, Mel). Anyway, Mel said that Justin was like a minstrel. I sid that we should start calling him Sir Robin. Mel said that we should call him Festus, from Twelfth Night, who was a Fool and a Wandering Minstrel.

A Fool and a Wandering Minstrel. At that moment, Mel and I both had an epiphany. Everything was clear . . . a fool and a wandering minstrel. I'm totally putting that on my resume.

The way I see it, I already am one, I just didn't have a name for it at that point. So, I used words like geek and lazy. But, I am definately a fool, as posted earlier. I like to wander a lot. And, if by minstral you mean it's most basic definition, a musician, then at least to some extent I would qualify.

So now that I have a name for my identity, well, I don't know what's going to happen. But, its going to rule.

the line in the sand

It's on!!!

Someone (named Jenny, Courtney, and Brent) put up a bunch of pictures of gnomes in my apartment.

This means war!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the first of april

I should have come up with a cool April Fool's prank for today. But, I didn't. Well, a few of us actually did, but it doesn't seem to have panned out. I guess now we won't have a movie with Morgan Freeman saying "Not on my watch!" Oscar worthy.

Anyway, I got to thinking, and it occured to me: I act like a fool every day. So, I figure today maybe I can just act all serious and normal all day, sort of a "bizzaro" april fools day.

sweet

It passed.

(read me)