lost

No not the show, lost in my mind. Been away for a while, trying to figure out some things and have yet to do so. I have come to realize part of my problem is I am "Jack of all trades, master of none." I am good enough to do a lot of jobs, but I get pushed around doing bits and pieces and never focus on one thing. Being a person that people can trust and ask for help also has hindered my progress. I will often go out of my way to help others. Is that bad? I don't know. I enjoy feeling important, but in reality I am insignificant because I can't focus. I am a decent photographer, an okay web designer, I enjoy painting, skecthing and other crafts yet I never have been able to complete much. I have stories in my head and want to produce a few graphic novels but I have yet to get them down on paper. One story is complete in my mind, I just have to get it out of there.

One problem I do notice is time, I don't have much. No I'm not dying, I work two jobs, put 60-70 hrs in a week between the two. If I had one job, I think I would have the time to do the things I would like and devote time to one project at a time. Well why not quit my part time? Becaus I do not make enough to pay the bills, rent and food and the little extra to have a little fun. So I am hoping to get a decent raise this year and give me some more space to clear bills. One day it will come, maybe a change of scenery will change everything, I've been saying it for years, but I think I'm ready now.

I need to go. But where, that is another question. I have nothing tying me down to this place, so I am free to go anywhere, I just have to choose and do it. Its a tough decision, being by myself and moving to an area with no one. I could go north to be with my parents or to the west to be near my brother, or find my own place. So many options, its difficult to decide, I need to sit down and choose 4 or 5 places to look into that suit my needs and desires and just push forward to get there. Which ever city will take me is where I'll go. I just need to do it. I think its time, I am now stating that this will be my last Christmas here.

New Year, new city, new life.

When will it end

Okay, I know gas prices are higher than ever and will continue to rise, but can the news stop stating the obvious. Everyday headlines read "Gas at record high", every freakin' day the same thing. We know the price is high, but do they have to keep reminding us. It would be like someone coming up to you everyday and saying "I'm one day older today" every day. At first you may accept it, then after a day it would get old, after a week it would be annoying.

Now on to my gas rant. Okay, who is to blame for the high gas prices? Bush? No. Oil producing countries? No. Car manufacturers? No. The Iraq War? No. Americans....? Bingo. Why you ask, are Americans to blame for gas prices? Because we have to drive the biggest f-in things on the face of the earth to the grocery store or the mall. We want the big SUV, so on the off chance that we may want to climb a mountain, ford a river, rip tree stumps out of the ground, or survive a missle attack, we can do so. A few people start to buy SUVs, then they catch on and now 1/2 the country wants one, they want bigger ones, they want ones that are different than others, they want to be bigger and better than anyone else. Its the "extreme" factor, we have to out do our neighbor.

So Americans gobble up these behemoth, gas guzzling, too large for a parking space rovers and now they have the gall to complain about gas prices. Its simple, the more we use a limited resource, the more we pay. Gas and oil are not endless supplies. Don't blame car manufacturers either, they are a business, they follow the market trends. The bigger SUVs Americans buy, the bigger the car companies will produce them.

If you can't afford the gas, give up the dream that you may one day take your "Offroad Vehicle" off road, you haven't and you never will.

Buy a Hybrid or something else with good fuel economy, if you can't do that, then car pool, if you won't do that, catch a bus, if you won't do that, ride your bike.

Just stop complaining and take some responsibilty for our economy and gas prices. We have the power to change the world if we just try to.

AAAAArrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!

A county in Virginia was going to sell 1000 of their school system's old Apple iBooks for the hefty price of $50. I came across this and immediately requested the day off from both jobs, rearranged my P/T work schedule and started planning my 900 mile round trip adventure, complete with a late night stop at South of the Border to take a few pics of the neon and the giant Pedros. An iBook G3 500Mhz, with 320MB of RAM, 10 GB hard drive and an Apple Airport wireless card. A little perspective, the wireless card is worth about $70 on its own, so this was a great deal. I was going to book my hotel and start to square away my budget today, but I visited the site today, low and behold they changed it to county residents and taxpayers only. Call me selfish, but damn it I wanted one of those iBooks. I can see why they did that, it helps their community. I know it was the right decision on the part of the county, but having an iBook for $50 would have been sweet and so would have been the adventure. Now I need to unrequest my vacation and fix my crazy P/T schedule.

feeling a little uninspired...how about a remake

Every summer Hollywood always complains about the box office sales, they don't realize they brought it on themselves. Like most big complaints in the world we fail to realize that we are at fault. But I will save my rant on oil and other things for another day, today I am focusing on movies. I used to go to the movies all the time during the summer, this year I have gone only three times. The summer blockbuster has given way to the summer bust. Failed movie after failed movie comes out each week with very few breaking even.

Well have my tastes changed? No. I still enjoy the same types of movies, there is just nothing new or interesting about the summer blockbuster hyped movies. It's the same overhyped actors playing the same roles or the same movie just spit out in a different way. I have found that the fall and winter releases are the far better movies.

There is a formula to Hollywood, Summer is for overbudgeted movies with over the top actors and explosions, the fall and winter is a time when hollywood focuses on movies that have the best shot at an Oscar. The spring is a time for films that Hollywood is not to sure on how they will do, sort of Oscar worthy if they catch on.

With no more Lord of the Rings movies or Star Wars films out, and their success looming over Hollywood, Filmakers are flocking to find the next big trilogy or succession of films. Harry Potter is a good series and The Chronicals of Narnia looks promising, but I wonder what is in store for viewers down the road. The new Batman series looks like a safe bet for a good time as long as they stick to what made Batman Begins successful. Most would agree with me though, Hollywood has made too many sequels and remakes. It just needs to stop. The current crop of remakes is attrocious, hopefully Hollywood has seen the dismal results from this summer and stop beating a dead horse.

One more problem with Hollywood is greed. Besides the huge budgets and $20 million per movie rates that sub par actors are getting, the big greed factor comes with DVDs. Hollywood is failing to recognize that the quick movie to DVD turn around is killing theatrical releases. If someone is on the fence about a movie, they just have to wait 3 months and it will be on DVD at the local video rental store. So with a shortened theater to DVD time, Hollywood has taken away the appeal to see a movie twice in the theaters or see that movie you just were not sure about.

With bad movie choices, overpaid and overhyped actors, and a short theater life, Hollywood has shot itself in the foot. Viewers are not more fickle and pirated copies of films are not taking away from box office revenues, its the lackluster effort that Hollywood has had for the past few years that has caused the slump in the box office. Hollywood needs to realize these things and change how they go about their industry.

And stop making films that require $150 million + to break even.

Diet Coke...Diet Coke with Splenda...Coke Zero...

How many different Diet Cokes are there going to be? Honestly, there are three (Diet Coke, Diet Coke with Splenda and Coke Zero) and that's not even counting the Diet Coke with Lime, the Diet Coke with Lemon, the Diet Cherry Coke or the Diet Vanilla Coke. Oh yeah, the Diet Caffiene Free Coke.

I just get so confused standing in front of the cooler I just grab a Diet Pepsi. They should approach soda like designers approach logo design; show the client three options, two that are okay(you can live with) and one that you really like. If you give people too many options they will always go for the one you like the least; in this case I grabbed a competitors product.

Harry Potter

I work part-time at a large book store chain in a "Resort" area and we sometimes deal with obnoxious folks who think they are better than everyone because of who they are or how much they make. This only happens a few times out of the year, but it was very prevalent for HP6 (Harry Potter 6) Friday night. Registration was planned for 9PM but was pushed forward internally to 8PM, it was the stores disgretion as to what time it would start. We had activities for the children to participate, the store was wildly decorated, a lot was put into the whole program to make this very enjoyable for the children, I have to reiterate that this is for children. Starting at 7PM we had adults lining up and complaining that they want to register at 7PM instead of the 8PM that we decided or the 9PM that was on our pamphlets. They did not want to wait, they were yelling at employees and managers, believing that if they yelled loud enough that we would fold and put them on the list first. Too my surprise my managers held their ground (more often than not they give in during other situations), they even spitefully allowed others to to be ahead of the nasty people in line for the book.

One might figure that the kids would be cranky if they stayed up past midnight for the book, but the parents and teens that were the most difficult. They complained, jumped in line and argued with us the entire night. It was hard for them to grasp that we had a fire code and that we could not excede maximum capacity or that we really did not want to stay here into the wee hours of the night just to be evil and make people wait. We had a very good startegy for getting people through the lines as fast as possible while staying within the maximum capacity. We tried to accomodate peoples needs, like trips to the bathroom, but sometimes that was abused. Everytime a person exited or entered the store someone was quick to point it out. Somebody even got enraged when a person entered the store without a bracelet, but they didn't realize that the person was an employee without his nametag who was coming in for a second shift to make sure we had enough cashiers. All in all, it was an enjoyable evening, even though I was line control for most of the night in humid 80 degree weather. I really enjoyed seeing the young kids get excited over the new book and appreciate the decorations and the effort our staff put into making it a memorable night for the kids.

I do have to say something to those who protest the books and think Harry Potter is evil or promotes devil worship - SHUT UP! The books promote the fight between good and evil, right and wrong. So what if they have wizards and witches, it's a make believe story and kids know this. No one is protesting Clifford the Big Red Dog, so why protest this make believe story. It's getting children excited about books, it's getting millions of kids to read. Why can't people see the good in that? Before Harry Potter, when did children line up for anything other than a movie, sporting event, the occasional video game release or Muppets on Ice? Getting kids to read and read large books(the later books in the Harry Potter series) is a great thing; once the last book is out I believe it will be a long time before kids line up for another book release. It seems to me that kids are reading more and a lot of it has to do with the success of books like Harry Potter and A Series of Unfortunate Events, so why try to prevent kids from reading books by protesting and having book burnings. What message does that send to children?

Non-Sweet Tea

I live in the South and Sweet Tea is a staple of most everyone down here. For those of us that are counting carbs, calories or are from the North, many places offer unsweet tea. Someone brought up the point that unsweetened tea is a misnomer. For something to be unsweetened it must be sweetened first, since the prefix un means to "to reverse or undo the result of a specified action." So unsweet tea should be non-sweet tea or just plain old iced tea. These are the things that keep me up at night.