Guess What I did Today

Meetings are the perfect time to share ideas, bicker, interrupt one another and get some ideas down on paper.

Avatar's Next Big Step...

...will inevitably be as a porno. Can you guess the title?

You heard it here first. I'm guess in 2010 we'll be renting VAGATAR from the local seedy adult book store.

Just wait.

The domain exists (sadly I do not own it). It's only a matter of time.

I wonder if James Cameron will direct.

I can see you

Another installment of what I do when I'm taking "notes" in a meeting. This is actually the first one to ever have a recognizable object in it (see: the eye ball [no pun intended {fun with brackets}]).

The End of November's 2 Challenges

It's the last day of November. The beard is gone after No Shave November. Even the goatee. And now we've come to the final blog post of National Blog Posting Month.

I gotta say I'm kind of proud of myself for following through on not one but two challenges this month. I usually shy away from them but decided to see these through to the end (despite how trivial they are).

By the end of No Shave November I actually received a lot more compliments on the beard than I expected. They morphed from "is that a mustache?" in mid November to "I like the beard. It's sexy," by Thanksgiving. But I've decided to let it go since it's not filling in much more. At least now I know what I'll look like when the world ends and shaving is a thing of the past (can you tell I saw The Road this weekend?).

The fate this blog, on the other hand, is still up in the air. I'm not sure what the future holds for it, but don't fret, you four people who read it. It's not going away. It just might be morphing into something new. I have some things to consider in that realm.

In the mean time, thanks for reading this month. Be sure to stay tuned!

The Last Day of Beardom

No Shave November has reached its end. I have to say, I didn't expect my beard to fill out like it did (even if it is...lacking in some areas). I also didn't expect so many people to like it. I've gotten nothing but compliments on it. Not bad for a first attempt at a beard.

Alas, I feel it's time to trim it down. 30 days of a furry face is enough for me. Here's one last look at the full beard in all its glory.


And now here's a peak at what I'm sporting. We'll see how long this lasts.

Bleeding Kansas

KU lost to MU in the Border War 41-39. I saw the lose coming, but didn't expect KU to score anywhere near that many points. Now the question is what will happen to Mangino. I hope he leaves. Too much has been said, presumed, assumed and accussed to be taken back. His image is ruined by this season alone. He'll collect his $6 million and walk if he's smart.

On to basketball season! KU Football is nothing but a prelude to basketball, anyway.

Allen Fieldhouse

I get to go to a KU basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse tonight for the first time in 2 years. They're playing Tennessee Tech and I'm ridiculously pumped. If you've never been, it's by far the best place to watch a college basketball game. The fans. The history the national championship banners. It's almost a religious experience.

Plus, I get to go with my dad. Just the two of us. I think it'll make it a special trip.

Thanksgiving 2009

Oh, 2009. You've been such a wiley one. Trying to sucker punch me a couple times. But I got the best of you...bitch.

I have quite a bit to be thankful for this year. My family. My friends. Having a friggin' job. New friends. Sweet Christ -- capoeira, of course. Chocolate.

2009 started out with a kick in the balls but I feel it's wrapping up about as good as I could hope.

Thanks for reading. And have a happy Thanksgiving.

Lazy Days

Half days at work make me lazy. Which means two things: afternoon naps and almost criminally short blog posts. Five days left in NaBloPoMo.

Texting!

Some new technology may change the way we "type" on touch screen phones like the iPhone or table PCs. I say "type" because if you watch the video you'll see that all you have to do is trace a pattern over the letters in the words you're trying to spell and voila. It interprets what you input, even with misspellings.

Welcome to the wave of the texting future. LOL

Blog Writing

Seven more posts and NaBloPoMo is over. Then I have some decisions to make about the future of this blog. If anything, this has been an interesting exercise in writing. Just goes to demonstrate how difficult it is to come up with content for a blog every day. I can’t even image how big of a challenge National Novel Writing Month is.

Speaking of novels, no new updates on Harvest Island’s fate yet. Hopefully we can get art rolling soon and shortly after that get into a relationship with a publisher. I’m still hoping for a 2010 release, which at this point is still possible. But, with the holidays here and increased workloads of my associates things could stagnate just as easily. But for now all is hopefully.

That’s a nice thing to experience for a change.

Week 3 of Beardage

And so begins the last week of No Shave November. For God's sake, fill out! You bastard!

Flight Club: The Things You Own End Up Owning You

Flight Club was released on a special edition Blue Ray DVD this week honoring it's 10 year anniversary. It got me thinking.

In 1999 I was 16 years old. I was what you might consider a typical high school kid -- worked hard enough to get through school. Kept my head down. I did just enough to not get noticed.

1999 was the year I rebelled. I'd lost two grandparents in one year. I'd lost all faith in God as a result of losing them and seeing the effect of their deaths on my mother and aunts. I made it my mission to defy his existence every day I walked into my Catholic high school. I did everything I could to rebel against an existence I didn't want a part of any longer. I was depressed, apathetic and lost.

And then I saw Fight Club.

I immediately fell in love with the movie. David Fincher instantly became my favorite director. Chuck Palahniuk became my favorite author over night.

The dark cinematography; the nihilistic narrative of Jack, the main character; Tyler Durden's complete lack of acknowledgment for any law, rule or standard of American society all spoke directly to me. The Dust Brothers soundtrack added a deep and at times playful tone to the entire film. It wouldn't be the same movie without it. I was able to put myself in the shoes of the main character, Jack. He was a man confused about his place in life. Everything he was promised as a child never came true. He worked a dead end job he hated. He suffered from insomnia. He had nothing to live for until he found something that tested him. Something that was bigger than him.

Unfortunately his creation, Fight Club, outgrew itself and it quickly self destructed. But without the club, without Tyler Durden's constant test of Jack's limits, Jack would have shrunken to a worthless, cold shell of a man. Instead, and Palahniuk always has a knack for this, Jack becomes a demigod in the eyes of the other members of Fight Club. He finds a woman. More importantly he finds himself and a purpose amidst the chaos that Tyler and the Club created. He had control of his life for the first time. He had what he wanted -- something to live for instead of just existing in a world run by corporations. His rebellion had paid off.

That's not to say my little teenage rebellion was quite as cathartic (or destructive. I blew up no buildings in my youth...that they can prove). But Fight Club showed me I wasn't alone in the way I felt abandoned by what I once believed. I followed religions and adults blindly, believing everything they told me. I reached a time in my life where I was questioning everything and Fight Club made it feel okay to go against the grain of society, to think for myself.

It's 10 years later and Fight Club is still, by far, my favorite film. I'm no longer that quite, scared 16 year-old kid but at times I feel like one. I'm supposed to be an adult. I'm supposed to buckle down. Be responsible and start a family. Well, that ain't gonna happen anytime soon.

Fight Club continues to speak to me. I am Jack. I've yet to find and fulfill my calling. At times I feel like a phantom -- filling a space and nothing more. Just like Jack. But then I'll go to capoeira class and feel more alive than ever before. I get tested. I get hit. I feel worn out, hurt, exhausted and sometimes beaten. It's the most alive I ever am. It's my Fight Club.

I'm approaching my fifth year of training capoeira. It's embedded in me. It's become part of my daily routine and is a lifestyle I enjoy. The experiences, friends, trips and things I've learned are irreplaceable. They've molded me into the man I am today, just like Jack getting tested by Tyler. I've been pushed to the edge and there's no going back.

Now, thanks to those experiences, I can apply what Fight Club preaches and what capoeira has taught me to other parts of my life. I am more assertive, more confident and more willing to question the satus quo. To think for myself and not believe everything I'm told, like in these two classic scenes from Fight Club.



Those words will always ring true with me and every time I watch that movie I get reminded that I can make a difference in my own life. I just need to be willing to stick my chin out, take a risk and be willing to take a hit in the face. Then when it comes I know I can hit right back and leave my mark.

And by God, I'll leave it.

More Art!

It's Friday. Thank God. Here's a special Friday edition of Meeting Artwork. This is brought to you by a mandatory in-house webinar. Oh the joy.

Random Beard Fact

Random beard fact of the day: Women are more prone to respond to a new beard with "when are you going to start shaving again?" accompanied by a curled up lip and stare.

This is quite the contrary to the "nice beard. Let's make out" reaction one might hope for.





Live and learn.