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Better Days

I hadn't been to the gym in five days.

Bad Joe.  I know.  I know.  I made a commitment to myself; if I miss one day, I have to go the next.  This weekend was just crazy and I never got the chance to go.

I was on a shoot, networked and worked my ass off over the four days, and never had the energy or time to go into the gym.  All in all, it was an excellent weekend.

Excellence has been slim and hard to find since moving to The Great FL.  Work, meeting new people, and being disappointed by some friendships have all played a huge part of my pressure and anger for the last few months.

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Last night I finally got back into the gym.  It was amazing and I felt great.  My squat's up to 120, nearly double where I started.  ...:::Grabs junk and adjusts:::...  That's a great feeling...seeing shit happening.

I was working hard and when I was done I threw on some jeans.  It was a chilly 55 degrees.  I'd left my headphones on and as soon as I hit the cold, Goo Goo Dolls "Better Days" started playing.

In that moment, time stopped.  The cold, dark, and my exhaustion all coalesced into a crystallizing moment of exuberance.  It was one of those truly spiritual moments.  Nirvana, Holy Spirit, whatever you want to call it, I was everything now and everything to be was me.  It was a moment of peace that completely revitalized me and the sort of high that nearly never happens.  I stopped right in the parking lot and just stood with my eyes closed for a few minutes.

Simple things are the best.

Natalie Raps

Spring Break

Untitled

Spring Break

Spring break was pretty awesome this year.

Friday
I stayed in lab almost until the last minute, but Byron and Kevin both needed rides to the airport, so I wasn't going to stay all night.

The teacher, Micha, really liked them and asked me how I made them. He was really impressed.

I took Byron and Kevin both to the airport at 3 a.m.

Saturday
I went to the gym and watched a movie with Laura.

Sunday
Lazy again, but I was really excited, Mike and his family were coming into town on Monday.

Monday
I drove down to Palm Beach to meet up with the Schuckmans. I was late, but they were only at the mall and I was able to meet them for lunch. Chick Fil'A screwed up my order again. Instead of giving me a grilled chicken sandwich with nothing on it, they gave me a grilled chicken
breast w/o a bun. I ate it anyway, but it was a little weird.

We looked around the mall for a bit, and I actually got to set my hands on an Apple Time Capsule. That was awesome.

After the mall we went to the beach. It was cold and windy, but the water was warm and there were some pretty good swells. Mike and I had fun in the swells. Mike's dad was worried about the current, so we didn't go out too far, but just standing in the water, defying the power of the Atlantic as much as I could...felt damn good. We fought the waves for a bit before heading back to the hotel, cold and wet. We warmed up in the hot tub before heading out for dinner.

While in the room, Suzie and I pre-gamed a bit with her box of Sunset Blush. We were super classy.

We met up with the rest of the family for dinner at an awesome italian restaurant in midtown. Had some amazing, AMAZING wine.

After dinner we went to Uncle Dana's. Mike's uncle is a racing instructor. He was driving his 'vet at over twice the speed limit, with me in the passenger seat. It was pretty awesome. We had some more wine at his place (Mike's grandmother commented on my ability to “chug a lug”) and then Suzie, Mike and I went out for a night on the town.

That lead to the first Big Adventure of the trip, Deathcab, but I'll tell that story later.

We went to O'Shea's and there we stayed until 2:30, nearly four hours. We drank, we conquered.

Tuesday
Upon returning to the hotel, Suzie and I made a late night dash for the hot tub. Mike joined us and not too long after, we were unceremoniously asked to leave by the same woman who put us on The Deathcab.

At noon, Mr. and Mrs. Schuckman woke us up and took us to brunch at the loudest, brightest, busiest restaurant they could find; Johnny Rocket's. There were young mothers and very very young and noisy children everywhere, music blaring, and all sorts of smells assaulting
our senses. Suzie looked like she was going to die and Mike just sat back and laughed, having had the least alcohol out of the few of us. We went to Urban Outfitters and then Mike and I headed back to Orlando for the evening.

I got a hang over on the way home, around 6, and had to lay down for a few minutes when we arrived.

We attempted to go to the hot tub, but it was cold, so we went to Fiddler's Green for a single drink instead. We also went out to drive around and ordered from Broadway Pizzeria while watching Harvey Birdman.

Wednesday
We took Laura to the airport an hour after that.

Mike and I woke up three hours later and made our way back to Palm Beach after a quick trip to the bank. We had lunch and walked around for a bit before I had to drive back and hit the gym, back to the trenches.

All in all, a freakin' awesome spring break.

BSG in 12 Days

Battlestar returns in 12 days.  We'll be online live with this chat room.

Awesome Chemical Explination of Hell

The following is an actual question given on a University of Washington chemistry mid term.

The answer by one student was so "profound" that the professor shared it with colleagues, via the Internet, which is, of course, why we now have the pleasure of enjoying it as well:

Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)?

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law (gas cools when it expands and heats when it is compressed) or some variant.

One student, however, wrote the following:

First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate at which they are leaving. I think that we can safely assume that once a soul gets to Hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for how many souls are entering Hell, let's look at the different religions that exist in the world today.
Most of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, you will go to Hell. Since there is more than one of these religions and since people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all souls go to Hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in Hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change of the volume in Hell because Boyle's Law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in Hell to stay the same, the volume of Hell has to expand proportionately as souls are added.

This gives two possibilities:

1. If Hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter Hell, then the temperature and pressure in Hell will increase until all Hell breaks loose.

2. If Hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in Hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until Hell freezes over.

So which is it? If we accept the postulate given to me by Teresa during my Freshman year that, "It will be a cold day in Hell before I sleep with you," and take into account the fact that I slept with her last night, then number two must be true, and thus I am sure that Hell is exothermic and has already frozen over. The corollary of this theory is that since Hell has frozen over, it follows that it is not accepting any more souls and is therefore, extinct...leaving only Heaven, thereby proving the existence of a divine being which explains why, last night, Teresa kept shouting "Oh my God."

THIS STUDENT RECEIVED AN A+!



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Now playing on iTunes: Kitsune Noir - Deep Blue Sea
via FoxyTunes

Laptops stolen from class...

Two laptops were stolen from class today.

Current Suspect:
Thomas Edison

Dazed and Confused

I'm not really sure what happened.

I was so incredibly excited to get to the gym tonight.  I planned out my routine.  The first time I've done that since I started working out at LA Fitness.  Something wasn't quite right though.  I got through my pulldowns and completely failed at my assisted pullups.  There was suddenly this smell.  My nose was overly offended, but I couldn't identify the smell.  It wasn't sweat or bodily in any means, but something I couldn't pin down.  I was immediately done.  My whole drive and motivation was drained.  It was weird.  I hope it's not a sign that I'm getting burned out.  I've been doing well for the last three weeks and I'd be really upset if this was something that didn't take.  I'm planing on going back tomorrow to see what happens.  I want to do this, and I want to become a person who can do it on their own instead of relying on others for all my motivation.

Oh, and I'm under 225!

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Twilight Zone Production

Just finished our first day of shooting, and I'm pretty pleased with what came out, and I just super excited.

I've got lots on my mind lately: God, relationships, reality and self-identity (it's either deep or I'm a complete nutter.)

I'm finding it harder and harder to put my beliefs into words.  Dunno.

Hope everything is going well for everyone and I wish you all this best this Pre-Lonely-Heart's Valentine's day.

Super Bowl Ads

Here are my favorites from the big game last night.

Review: Atonement

Geez.  It's not very often that I love a romance movie.  Last night I attempted to see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, but instead fell into Atonement, and boy am I glad.

While I've wanted to see this movie, I hadn't really made a commitment to see it in the theater, but two hours after the titles typed across the screen I'm proud to be able to say that I saw it on the big screen.

The story was excellent.  Epic, large, and full of emotion the story is a solid two hours within itself, and the director makes no apologies for pacing and doesn't need to.  From the moment of initial betrayal to the final act of atonement, this story is gripping but most importantly personal.  For the three characters involved, it's a lifetime's worth of pain, suffering, and (Tada! The cliche!) atonement.  The story was greatly enhanced by the editing in post and dreams of the characters, usually lacking in an epic love piece.  What the period bring to the film, i.e. snootieness, is made up for in personal involvement.

Kiera is grating, but I come to expect that from her roles.  Her performance is great as well as that of John Malkovich.  And oh yeah, that dress was freakin' amazing.

This film was great, with constant returns to previous story lines from different perspectives, the story was engaging, the acting was superb and the all together product was phenomenal.  It's too bad, but I'm nearly positive that his film will get snubbed at the Oscars.  With an easily identifiable story, Academy Voters won't want to appear dumb, and in my opinion, will probably go with the more critically acclaimed There Will Be Blood.  If you can run out and see this flic while it's still in theatres, I hope you take the opportunity.  You'll really appreciate it, believe me.

New Star Trek to take Place on Battlestar Galactica

Film School Rejects posted a picture of a hallway from J.J. Abrams' Star Trek set.

I took one look at this and immediately thought of one of my favorite TV shows, Battlestar Galactica.

Evidence:

Hmm...What does everyone think?  Is BSG more powerful than I'd previously imagined?

I'm not sure what I think of the upcoming remake (I'm not a Trekkie) but I believe in JJ and A-framed walls.

Westboro Church - Where do these people get off?

Less than 24 hours after the passing of Heath Ledger, and he's already been condemned.

During a cursory glance of the IMDB Dark Knight Board, I found a link to the following picture. Please know, I in no way support the organization and personally despise their views. Be warned, what is said in this following is sick and inhumane.



What are these people thinking? I don't understand where they get off, protesting a funeral.

I just don't know what else to say other than the fact that I'd like to express my disgust, and disapproval.

Heath Ledger is dead

Dang...

The Good Fight

This is a post from one of my favorite authors about dreams and fighting for what you want. It seems to exemplify where I am at this point and where I hope to be.


The good fight
Category: Writing and Poetry

“I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith,“ says Paul in one of his Epistles. And it seems appropriate to remember the theme now that a new year is stretching out before us.

Men can never stop dreaming. Dreams are the food of the soul, just as food is to the body. In our existence we often see our dreams come undone, yet it is necessary to go on dreaming, otherwise our soul dies and Agape does not penetrate it. Agape is universal love, the love which is greater and more important than “liking“ someone. In his famous sermon on dreams, Martin Luther King reminds us of the fact that Jesus asked us to love our enemies, not to like them. This greater love is what drives us to go on fighting in spite of everything, to keep faith and joy, and to fight the Good Fight.

The Good Fight is the one we wage because our heart asks for it. In heroic times, when the apostles went out into the world to preach the Gospel, or in the days of the knights errant, things were easier: there was a lot of territory to travel, and a lot of things to do. Nowadays, however, the world has changed and the Good Fight has been moved from the battle fields to within us.

The Good Fight is the one we wage on behalf of our dreams. When they explode in us with all their might – in our youth – we have a great deal of courage, but we still have not learned to fight. After much effort we eventually learn to fight, and then we no longer have the same courage to fight. This makes us turn against ourselves and we start fighting and becoming our own worst enemy. We say that our dreams were childish, difficult to make come true, or the fruit of our ignorance of the realities of life. We kill our dreams because we are afraid of fighting the Good Fight.

The first symptom that we are killing our dreams is lack of time. The busiest people I have known in my life had time for everything. Those who did nothing were always tired and could hardly cope with the little work they had to do, always complaining that the day was too short. In fact, they were afraid of fighting the Good Fight.

The second symptom of the death of our dreams are our certainties. Because we do not want to see life as a great adventure to be lived, we begin to feel that we are wise, fair and correct in what little we ask of our existence. We look beyond the walls of our day-to-day life and hear the noise of spears clashing, feel the smell of sweat and gun-powder, see the great defeats and the faces of warriors thirsty for victory. But we never perceive the joy, the immense joy in the heart of those who are fighting, because for them it does not matter who wins or loses, what matters only is to fight the Good Fight.

Finally, the third symptom of the death of our dreams is peace. Life becomes a Sunday afternoon, not asking too much of us and not asking more than what we want to give. So we feel that we are “mature“, leave aside the “fantasies of childhood“ and guarantee our personal and professional success. We are surprised when someone our age says they still want this or that out of life. But deep in our heart we know that what has happened is that we gave up fighting for our dreams, fighting the Good Fight.

When we give up our dreams and find peace, we enjoy a period of tranquility. But our dead dreams begin to rot inside us and infest the whole atmosphere we live in. We start acting cruel towards those around us, and eventually begin to direct this cruelty towards ourselves. Sickness and psychoses appear. What we wanted to avoid in fighting – disappointment and defeat – becomes the only legacy of our cowardice. And one fine day the dead and rotten dreams make the air difficult to breathe and then we want to die, we want death to free us from our certainties, from our worries, and from that terrible Sunday-afternoon peace.

So, to avoid all that, let's face life with the reverence of mystery and the joy of adventure.

Visit www.paulocoelhoblog.com (videos, messages, interviews, discuss, photos)
The myspace blog will be updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday



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Now playing on iTunes: Yellowcard - Shadows And Regrets
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"Eve just wanted to know shit"

Well, it's been a great winter break. I'm at Schuckman's tonight. I've been doing a lot of traveling, and phew, it takes a lot out of a guy. We're watching Hedwig, and I realize how much I've missed just hanging out without thinking about projects or what comes next.

This new year's eve was most excellent...and decidedly Legendary.

I had the yearly family drink-a-thon the other day, just getting lubed up for the night's excursions. The final talley was seven parties. We started at 10ish with pink champagne,
and by midnight, I was five sheets to the wind. I had an extraordinary midnight kiss from Jodi, Thanks btw. As Brady and I enjoyed some Scotch and a Cigar on the porch, we talked about hopes and such until we were assaulted by the rest of our party, ready to move on to Molly's, the local bar. We found out they had Absinthe and it was game over for Joe.

We went to a few more places, Suzie's and Dave Morgan's, after which I retired to Brady's...but Hark!

Around four thirty I remembered a bottle of wine I'd left in the snow at 11 that evening. We found it, still corked in the snow where I left it. Six hours later makes it LEGENDARY!


I'm still looking forward to getting back to FL though. I'm ready to get the mother-effin' ball rollin'. Ya hear?

Christmas is around the corner

Don't know what it is about the holidays. I become indifferent.

Last night I went to see my favorite Christmas movie on the big screen. The AMC at Universal Walk shows old movies at midnight, so we went and it was AMAZING!

It was so great to see the film version. All the pocks and scratches on the film were amazing, and the pre-digital transfer was great. Also, stereo, yes. It was amazing and only made me more excited to get into film full time.

Dios Mio

It's happened again.

I saw the line. THAT line. The line the distinguishes between the rest of society and...well, me. I saw it and without second thought, proceeded to violate it an nearly make a mockery of it in front of said "rest of society."

I was in the Full Sail Media Center (a pathetic excuse for a library, unless you need obscure film books...hence my presence) and I saw a DVD that made me nearly giddy.

It wasn't a movie. It was in fact "Creative Screenwriting's Wordplay: Secrest of the Storytelling Trade." That's right folks. I nearly freaked over a 10 hour long seminar with 10 lecturers about storytelling.

I have a problem. I swear there's gotta be some psychoactive drug to help me deal.

Anyway, I checked that out and the book "Eats, Shoots & Leaves."