a man a part

farewell old friend

2007-03-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

time has come for me to shift my blogging onto our new website: jackandjazz.com/blog

i'm unsure of what i'm going to do with this blog...i still use the links almost every day.

for now, this will be here, telling you where to look for my blog. i hope you are well.

myap

2007-02-16T09:30:00.000-08:00

i'm working a lot.

getting paid by many people--they all think it's a little.

take that purse out, it's not mine, she said.

they forced me to upgrade to the new blogger, i did it.

makin' dvds for my beautiful wife.

delayed

2007-01-16T09:52:00.000-08:00

sorry for the delay of game folks. i'm on a computer all day long usually and i don't always want to spend more time on it when i get home. i've kept pretty busy the past few weeks. working a few different places doing different things. i've come to appreciate my most steady work a little more because i have varied things that i can do. i just worked four days doing exactly the same thing for 120 tapes--pretty boring.

enough about work now. i'm going up to big bear this weekend in search of a hill and a board. jordan and kyle are going too. we are staying with tim. if you know those people then you probably live in la. if you don't, well then you should be visiting more often i say! we started blockbuster online. we've watched two movies so far, Diner and Raising Arizona. They were both pretty good, not great, not horrible. Diner grew on me the more I thought about it and the more special features we watched. Raising Arizona was a little crazy--too crazy maybe. We have Summer of '42 sitting next to the TV and the first season of The Office (england style) on the way. It feels like so long ago when I did netflix the first time. I guess I was a sophmore and junior in college. Taz came and watched apocalypse now redux with me in my dorm room--in north hall! looking back on it that's pretty cool that he came to my dorm room to watch a movie. i can totally understand how that would have been a little awkward for him though.

Herman and Marisa are good. They are being really lazy this morning. I think they might be cold too--they're not used to having 35 degree mornings either?! Man you should have seen them running at the dog park on saturday! they were really going every where. they've begun to fix the drainage problem so hopefully it won't be as muddy in the future.

i hope you're well.

tooth of every month

2007-01-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

Capturing dogs with a camera is hard. They like to move about. They also don't continue in doing the cute thing their doing long enough to go find the camera, make sure it has batteries that are charged, get back into the room where cuteness is happening, and then take the picture. What is their deal, can't they wait for that to happen?

kingman was fun. We got to see a lot of people that we haven't seen in quite some time. Some new people too. I like visiting, but wouldn't want to stay, even if they have dirt cheap rent. rent is downright annoying. every month you have to pay someone to live in their house? c'mon!

I'm going back to work today. It was a long break. I hope this week is full of things to do.

short blog.

2006-12-28T13:19:00.000-08:00

My break for christmas is turning out to be a little longer than expected. I don't mind, except for the fact that I'd like to be making money again. I guess it will even itself out, I'm bound to get busy later. I'm trying to write today, but I'm getting really distracted by facebook. Early on in all this MySpace Facebook stuff I kinda decided without really saying anything that I really didn't want to be a part of it. It was and is nothing personal against those who are into it, I just wasn't going to be one of them. Well. I now have a myspace and a facebook. And I'm happy to have them. It's crazy when you sit down to look at all the people you know across the globe, and another way to keep in touch with them is welcomed in my world.

The dogs are a little stir crazy today. Marisa was whining this morning, so we played a little, which was fun. Herman keeps seeing and smelling the neighbors dog and freaking out. He's a big dog, and I think he could eat Herman in 6 bites, but Herman is always barking at him. Then Marisa joins in, because Herman is barking. It's entertaining in that outside of the situation way. In the situation it's kinda annoying.

We had a fantastic birthday dinner.

Regina Spektor is singing in my speakers. Her friends, Mirah, Iron & Wine, Gorillaz, and Bright Eyes have graced my drums today too.

Hope your days are well.

two years

2006-12-26T08:50:00.000-08:00

i've been blogging for two years. when i realized this fact, i read some of my first posts and all of january. It feels narcissistic to read your own blogs for an hour. I don't mind though, it's entertaining to see where I was two years ago.

I hope you had a merry christmas. While we were at target last week the person who was checking our stuff out said, "Happy Holiday" to us. I really liked that she said it in the singular form. I realize that it may not have been on purpose, but I dug it. It's less pluralistic maybe or just different. Why is New Year's a holiday anyway? I mean, I don't mind having the days near it off, but it's just a new month starting right? Am I jaded?

I'm very fascinated by memory. Reading all those blogs this morning reminded me of things that I haven't thought about in quite some time. Even the way I wrote suggested that I did almost everything alone, even though I can remember some of the things I wrote about, and I remember what we did less that who I was with. It's like reading a novel when you only know about the main character's feelings or thoughts. Not really though. The memories, sometimes are even shaped by the blogs themselves. Which is weird. For example, I vividly remember one of Jon M's comments on my early blogs. I don't really even remember what I wrote, but when I re-read it, I knew exactly what he commented--so a memory about the memory. Now will I remember this, memory about the memory? The layers are getting murky!

Christmas was good. We didn't do anything but watch movies. I guess we did do other things like eat food, walk dogs, and watch movies. Dog Day Afternoon and City of God. City of God was really good. It was quite violent, but it all supported the story. Sometimes it gets in the way, this wasn't one of those times.

Okay this is a major rabbit trail to follow me down, so feel free to skip this paragraph. When I was at Dordt, I occasionally wrote for the Diamond (school newspaper). It wasn't very often, but I felt like it needed to be well respected, so I often talked about what could be done to make it better. In that light, I offered to write movie reviews for the paper. One of my reviews, of which there were few, on Kill Bill vol. 1 stirred up a little raucous with an unnamed (to you on this public forum, not to me) English professor. He wrote the editor and me a letter explaining what he saw wrong with my review. The review basically said, I liked it, you may not. The violence was the main issue. The movie is really violent. At times, it gets kind of crazy. I am pretty jaded to such things, so I didn't mind watching it, and I felt like it was worth seeing, but I published this saying that the violence may be a problem for some viewers. His main issue with the review was that it was too wishywashy, in that basically I said, I liked it, you may not. What kind of review is that? Well, it's not very good, that's for sure. But the larger issue, the fact that I was okay with the violence, and other members of the community may not be was hard for me to deal with--on many levels. Looking back on it, I think the major issue is does the violence support the story? The underlying question also is, do you have an issue with violence? More broadly, maybe, does violence ruin your movie going experience? It may be a queasy thing, or it may just be a love of human life. If the answer to the initial question, in the review is, yes, the violence supports the story and that story is a story worth hearing and watching, then as a reviewer I can support and suggest that others go view that movie. But as a reader, if you have an issue with violence, I want to let it be known that this movie is violent. If you have that issue, then that should be the grain of salt you eat the review with. Don't willy nilly just obey a reviewer. If you know that violence will ruin the experience, then don't got see it. If you know that unnecessary violence hurts the experience, be knowing if the violence in said movie works for the story, or against it.
This is getting muddy. But the biggest problem with Kill Bill vol. 1 is that I don't know if the violence supported the story. It must have, it's a story about contract killers, but how much violence was necessary? Anyway, all this really is to say that City of God, although it is very violent, it is filmed very economically, and the violent supports the story, in a heartbreaking sort of way.

If you were skipping, you can pick it back up here, if you haven't given up on me already. I hope your time off from work is fantastic, I hope your holiday is good, and I hope your days in between are even better. Merry Christmas and a happy month changing day.

dogination

2006-12-20T16:42:00.000-08:00

As I walked Herman and Marisa this morning, I noticed a few things that were out of place. Herman, even though he was outside, was whining, like he needed to go outside. A dog howled in the distance, I decided Herman could feel his pain from afar. In the distance I noticed a woman walking in front of a house wearing green. When I first noticed her she was walking towards me. I wondered if I would have to pull the dogs off to the side so she could cross. I looked at the dogs, and back at her, suddenly, she was walking away from me. How strange, I thought, I have had people cross the street to avoid our tangled mess, but never just up and turn around. Back to the dogs, Herman was still whining. I look back to the woman, and she is walking towards me again. I am completely baffled. She seemed to be walking a short loop on the sidewalk in front of one house, back and forth. I considered she might be waiting for something--a bus, a ride, but I decided she was probably brainwashed and had no idea where she was. Herman, was a part of her brain washing, and therefore was whining because he did not want to be near his human atrocity. On the way to the dog park this afternoon I saw a Asian looking woman wearing a face mask like you would wear to paint a room or if the bird flu had arrived. I wonder if i missed something...

When did dogs take over the world?

monday before christmas

2006-12-18T14:24:00.000-08:00

it doesn't feel like christmas time.

it doen't feel like 2:25 either.

my fingers are cold though.

september is the most forgetted month for me. i never remember where it lies in the scheme of things.

today kindof smells like winter, even though it's sunny and green.

it rained almost all day on saturday, that was kinda nice, a change of pace if you will.

i hope our dogs haven't destoryed the house.

jack.

'retns.

2006-12-12T10:03:00.000-08:00

celebratory times.
'very job seems to have one of them christmas parties.

don't know what to do, when i'm invited to spend time with you.

work is slow, don't want it to go.

santa never existed, but i could watch pictures about his life.

'ts all i gots.

2006-12-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

the maatmans are coming! the maatmans are coming! take cover!

no we're not coming to you, the maatmans refers to my parents, even when people out here refer to jazz and i as "the maatmans" i think of my parents, or think, that sounds weird.

they arrive in, 2.6 hours. i only know we'll be at big bear this weekend. the rest is "up in the air"

i worked a little extra the past week, editing a reel. it was fun. i'm waiting for it to finish rendering right now so that i can go get the 'rents.

two lists

2006-12-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

tangential amenities i expect from a job:

a bathroom
water
friendly interaction
heat
air conditioning

amenities some people get:

coffee
lunch
snacks
candy
friends

of these two lists, I have been lacking one (two at times) from the needed and four from the wanted.

guess which is which.

frappy hanksgiving

2006-11-25T08:46:00.000-08:00

I don't know when it started, but I used to say "Frank you" instead of thank you. I guess it was a thing to see how many people actually listened. Rarely did anyone say anything about it. Jasmine always hears it though.
We had a spectacular thanksgiving. We ate with 30 other people at our pastor/leader's house. It was really fun. The food was wonderful, the people were great, and the outsideness was amazing as well. I'm running out of adjectives here. The long and short is that it was a really good time. What does long and short mean? is it like, To summarize? I guess that's what it means, but I wonder where it comes from. I'll wikipedia it. No luck on the wikipedia. The phrase finder says that it's really old, circa 1550, but no real explanation of it's origin. do you know?

I'm writing a little again. I have about 20 pages on the second draft of my screenplay that i wrote while at the lafsc. It's got a ton more direction this time, which I'm really excited about. Last time i was so focused on finishing it, it was lacking all direction. This time i hope to have some direction and hopefully something profound will come through the words and worlds I create.

Here's a random question, does anyone who reads my blog have any experience with apple script? Specifically I'm trying to use applescript to control Final Cut Pro, and I'm feeling rather inadequate because i've never used Applescript before.

hope your holidays or non-holidays are well.

jack.

bestest

2006-11-20T09:04:00.000-08:00

of the things that make me smile and cry, this is one of the best:

driving home after 12midnight and this song, postal service - such great heights, comes onto the radio. turn it up, way up. at 2:31, there is a guitar solo, it gets me every time.

it gets better, on the single this song is on, there is a repeat of the song, with this, iron & wine - such great heights, yes, it's the same song, covered, it's fantastic as well.

Passive Sustenance

2006-11-15T13:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I read this article about why only suckers have jobs. I then read a lot of comments from people who said that the author was full of himself or something else. The long and short of it is that it piqued my interest in the idea of passive income, i.e. income that generates itself, with some initial work put in, but once it starts it hopefully stops little. I guess the old way of doing that was with real estate. You buy something, rent it out, market shifts (hopefully for the better) and you make money. Some suggest that bank accounts also have passive income--interest. With the invention of the interents (thank you al) there are a lot more ways of creating situations of passive income--mostly with intellectual property and advertising on websites. The idea is similar to real estate, you write a program or an article, people rent it, and you get money for it. Especially with the website, you don't really have to do anything except let the search engines find you--and people click on ads on your website. the guy who wrote the article claims to get $9000 per month because of traffic on his website. that's crazy!

My co-worker, Amy, as she was leaving the edit bay said this, "I read this quote, it's, 'Imagination is worth more than knowledge.' " It seems, imagination is worth much more than knowledge when it comes to working a normal type job, or coming up with an idea that everyone will want.

Here's my thing(s) though. About the whole no-job thing. Even if you're working for yourself, you still have a boss and a timetable. My favorite comment on lifehacker was, "I used to be self-employed, but I quit because my boss was an idiot." All this talk about stopping your normal 9-5 so that you can work for yourself seems a little naive if you ask me. If you start working for yourself you are very likely to work 7a-10p or something ridiculous--just because you can / or because a client needs it, like, right now. And things get crazy, when you don't have a traditional 9-5, things aren't as steady--even if you are loving what you are doing, you may not be getting paid for it.

Part of my response to this article was a memory about how we were created to work. That we find fulfillment in our purposes (there might be a better word...actions?). I'm not sure if I'm recalling that learning correctly, but it seems that there is a Christian calling to be working people. Whether that be working at bestbuy or at microsoft, you are working, as everyone else is. it seems much more likely that you'll have opportunities to show your faith and even share your faith while you are working.

Where does passive income fit into being a working Christian? I'm not sure. It would seem responsible to be forward thinking and working towards financial independence (especially from college debt). But part of me wants to say live for today, for tomorrow will worry about itself. But what if today includes a passion for writing software that people will be paying you for a long time? what if it's making art that will appreciate over time? what if it's buying art that will appreciate? should appreciation exist in a mindset of a working man?

Conversely, what if you are completely content with your 9-5, should you still be looking for and finding ways to earn that passive income? One website suggested, you may never know when the pink slip my slide onto your desk, so passive income is a must. Whenever I think about things like this I'm reminded of this joke from either junior high or early high school (imagine a mid-puberty boy telling the joke):

So there's this guy, I'm not sure what he does, um, well, how about, he's a steel worker. And he lives in this place where it rains a lot, you know, like, yea, it rains a lot. And this one week it starts raining a lot a lot, and people are freaking out. But this guy, he's a christian, and he always says, "God will provide." And it keeps raining. Soon the rain has totally filled his main floor, so, this steel guy and his wife, they are stuck on the second floor. So this guy in the national guard shows up in a boat, floating to his second story window, and he's like, "Sir, we can get you out, the water is rising" and the steel worker is like "God will provide, thank you, anyways." So it rains more. The water floods the second floor, so this guy has to go onto the roof. This time the Army comes, they are in a helicopter, they drop a ladder and this guy he just tells them, "God will provide." And he doesn't leave. His wife, right there with him on the roof, and the helicopter flies away. And it rains more, and more. Now this guy, and his wife are on the chimney, the last, highest place they could be. A Navy boat comes to them, they plead with him, they plead with his wife, but they stay, saying "God will provide." They both drown. (dramatic pause.) When the arrive in heaven, this guy he's mad, he wants to see God. Finally he gets into the thrown room and he's like, "God, what happened, you said that you'd provide??" And God is like, "Well, I sent the National Guard, the Army, and the Navy."

And of course, there would be uproarious laughter, especially if this is at some cadet (read boy scouts) type event, and the boy telling the joke is one of those kids who just can tell a joke, even if he stammers around his words a little bit.

The punch line of the joke is so scary some times. God will provide, but we need to take him up on it. If we have the opportunity to make some passive income, or, if that we have the desire to make the opportunity, should we do it? Should we take him up on it?

money! it is a crime

2006-11-10T09:33:00.000-08:00

the radio below me is playing this song. i'm reminded of trying to watch the wizard of oz with the dark side of the moon album playing. how painful it was, everytime we'd get to a certain point, i think this song was one of them, joshua would be like, stop, stop, we need to have it earlier, and then we'd start it up again, and it'd be off some more and he'd be like, stop, stop, okay now play, and it'd be on, kinda, but not really. later i found out you can buy dvds with it the album playing already built in. that would be less hassle, but would it be better? i don't know.

sorry for the delay in posts, we were in san diego for a time and i didn't use a computer while i was there--it was kinda nice. (firefox wants me to capitalize san diego, but it doesn't think that kinda is spelled wrong.)

i'm not feeling very inspired to work today. i'm not sure why, i think it may be because i don't have music to cut to for this wedding i'm working on, it makes it more painful somehow, to edit under those conditions. i hope you are doing well.

forgetful

2006-11-02T16:06:00.000-08:00

i just stumbled upon some old things i wrote on the internet, i had forgot i wrote a lot of them. it's weird, how you forget things. the internet is so unforgiving about what you wrote, you can't change it you know? oh well. i doubt anyone really remembers or cares about that now. time is a weird thing, constantly moving. you can't take anything back really. especially if it's on the internet.

small

2006-10-27T10:20:00.000-07:00

our friend was here for four months, now he's gone. goodbye andy.

It's friday. this week has felt long, due to the archiving that i'm doing, which is a lot of prep and then even more waiting. raise your hand if you like waiting.

yesterday i got into reading about unsolved and amazing crime capers. it was rather interesting. i knew nothing of the hitler diaries until yesterday. i also knew nothing of the insurance scandal by frankel. it's interesting stuff. i'm tempted to write, it's like tv, but on paper, but that would be ridiculous.

i'm also reading lord of the flies. the prose in that book is weird. i like the concept, and i like where it's going, but it's strange, really dense i guess. i get lost in it, not the lost in a novel feeling, but lost like, what just happened, how did they get here. has anyone else read it?

i find it really hard to be honest and forthright at my work place. not because i'm deceitful but because everything is so nuanced, that i can't accurately portray how i feel without sounding like an rambling idiot. does that make any sense? i'm honest, the best i can be, but sometimes when i'm asked, why'd you do that, that way? i'm like, well, because i wanted to do it that way. and then it's like, why didn't you do it this way, and i'm like, well, um, i don't know. i just didn't. when i'm thinking,

"well, i thought that since you were being all weird about it and since you don't tell me things, this is the best, in my opinion, for you, but now that you tell me that this is wrong, i feel like a moron for not thinking about it your way, and when i do think about it your way now, i'm like see, that makes more sense, but i didn't think about it that way because i'm not you and i can't read you mind because you aren't always thinking about what i should or should not be doing until after the fact and then i should be like why didn't you say something sooner and you'd be like, well, i didn't think of it until after, but you should have thought about it this way. i'm incompetent, and i'm sorry."

doesn't that sound like a rambling idiot? anyway. it's the small things that matter right? i feel like i'm screwing up the small things. but i'm ignoring all the small things they screwed up, so that i have more self pity than i really need. so i shouldn't ignore those things. i should just accept that it's clear now and hold no grudges.

2006-10-25T09:33:00.000-07:00

i was sick on monday.

two things crossed my mind when contemplating blogging this morning. firstly the non comments. i find it interesting what isn't commented upon and what is. not in a i hate what i write sort of way, but really, just interesting. for a while, maybe even up to last week, i was feeling really good about blogging sheerly because of the comments i was getting. and then i got nothing on the last post and felt a little sad about it. then i felt a sort of relief about how somethings don't need comments. but it was more than relief, it was a burden lifted really. a realization that although this blog is read by others, it's really for me. it's a kind of cathartic thing to put words down, whether they be on paper or on keys. if i'm really to write, i don't mind that others read it, and i don't mind if they have comments on it, but they don't have to. comments don't validate my writing. i know this shifts our relationship from eager acceptance of comments to something else, but i don't mind, do you?

secondly, i forgot i guess. but i did have this dream about having a dream that was interpreted. i wonder if it means something.

edit,

i get sick of people assuming that common sense is common knowledge. there are many different ways to do things, just because my sense doesn't line up with your sense doesn't mean that you're right and i'm wrong.

rumination

2006-10-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

def. rummikub nation. rumination.

besides eating fried chicken, which is a holy mess of an operation, i really like it.

i find it interesting that others have the same interweb on interest about things like handwriting. i guess maybe somethings are a little more universal than you think. like doodling boxes, which is what i always doodle, some say that's very common. i don't like to think of it as common though, that's semi-depressive.

i am working fairly regularly these days, which i'm quite happy about. i even get to edit a little, which may become more of a normal thing. exciting stuff.

today has felt really random, from trying to export a honeymoon to tape to more test exports. i talked with ethan through said web on intertwines. it was good. we need to see eachother again, because without enough ethan a person can go blind, and blind, is never good, especially if you are of the seeing mentality.

went to the city of angels film festival opening thingy last night. it was a showcase of christian filmmakers who are not students. there were only three films, but two of them were quite good. in fact, one of those two was really good in an almost famous sort of awesome way. i really liked it. "wow and flutter" it's called. i guess that's a term for the lp nation. i never heard of it, and then was laughed slightly at because of my young ignorance. eitherway, the film was good. i couldn't even tell you how long it was, somewhere between 10 and 30 minutes i think.

we've been hitting up the settlers of catan like mad men and women as of late. we've taught upwards of 10 people how to play, now they all want to play again. 'tis good. hopefully we don't get sick of it.

community is weird. in a good way. it seems to be easier when you have something to do, or talk about, but there are always those times where you are talking about seemingly nothing but it's really something, and that something is you, and whether or not i really want to get to know you. even if i can't really talk about me very well. i can talk about catan well, because i know it. i must not know me very well.

handwriting

2006-10-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

i've been obsessed, slightly, with handwriting for quite some time. when i label stuff at work, it looks unprofessional to me because it's in my handwriting. when amy does it, it looks the way it supposed to.

sometime during college i switched to doing all capital letters when writing with my hands and a pen. i also switched to using all small letters when typing. that may have started during highschool. one day i was sitting next to brielle, it was either in art history or psychology, and she asked me why and i said so i could read it mostly, and she said, yea, that's why i do it too. i felt like we had a bit of a moment there, a commonality that you don't always get when you take psychology and art history together.

last night as a part of one.org we gathered, called possible representatives, and talked about aids and extreme poverty in africa. it was a good thing to do, although the whole experience made me uncomfortable. at first i really didn't want to call, but i did and left a message. i'm not sure why things like this make me uncomfortable, i think it's the whole politics thing. while an auroa of argument seemed to be brewing we left, in hopes of avoiding the fray.

on the way home i decided this, I care deeply about fair trade, and i want my representative to know that as a part of his or her constituency, that fair trade is something that i care about. what annoys me is when people see a solution to the problem of say, extreme poverty and then vote soley on that issue. i'm not saying that extreme poverty isn't something that you should care about, but what i'm saying is that you shouldn't paint the solution into a box, and that box contains only one candidate. i say vote for smart people that you feel would be able to solve this problem. it may not be the solution that you thought should be implemented, but if they are smart i bet they'll consider all the options--possibly even some that you wouldn't have thought up. the benifit to voting for smart people is that they may also solve problems that you couldn't have even considered when you voted.

my computers about to be hijacked, so i stop writing.

three questions

2006-10-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

you've got 5 minutes and three questions, ready, go.

Given the current state of the union, would you rather eat a fried duck or a fried apple fritter?

without using a calculator, what bitrate should we use in order to get the 1.5 hr hd film onto a dvd as a file?

Who was president during 1963?

Pigeons, numbers, and traffick

2006-10-06T08:30:00.000-07:00

on my way to drop off some films this week, i saw a bunch of pigeons on the side of the road, off the exit ramp. i didn't think anything of it, but then they all flew away at the same time--so i looked more closely and there was a man sitting in the brush, actually it looked like he was sleeping. at first i though, boy, those pigeons were invading his space, good thing he got them to get out of there. but then, he threw some crumbs around him and the pigeons returned. eventually one of them stood on his arm and ate some crumbs out of his hand and then he opened his mouth a little, and the light turned green -- i had to drive away.

our picture/photo of the week is numbers. i'm extremely uninspired. i've been thinking about ways to be creative with it, and i can't come up with anything yet. i'm sure it'll come, but it's frustrating at the moment, like something i should be doing, but am not.

i picked up mark and lana from the airport yesterday. the traffick coming home was especially bad. well, it was bad. being able to drive in the carpool lane was a life saver. you know how the carpool lane ends when you get near downtown on the 110? isn't that the dumbest thing they could have done? i mean, why when you are getting into the heat of it, they take away the one way that you could expidite the travel. silly people. the radio told me it would cost 120 billion dollars to fix the congestion problem in la. if we dedicated 5 billion each year, it would take 25 years. the amazing thing is that's only like 5% of the budget i think.

When i was working security at the d-o-r-d-t college, ryan the champion of the world de haan was working with me for a time, until he vanished into this air. he told me this story once about how after coming home from buying smokes, back home in alberta, all these birds were flying around him and he felt like a vampire because birds can smell death. i always imagined that he was wearing some sort of black cape which tipped the birds off to his vampire tendancies.

Ryan was also always talking about art and photography. he wanted to do a series of this kind of photo, and then he wanted to do this other kind of thing, and then he wanted to make this movie. he had amazing talent for thinking of ideas. for some reason i always felt like i was raining on his parade when i was like, "you know, that's going to be really hard to do, making the person be in color and the brick wall be in black and white." and he'd be like, "you can do, can't you jack? you're good at that stuff?"

When ryan realized that he wouldn't be able to get paid at d-o-r-d-t because of a snafu with his i20 immigration papers, he wrote me a note saying that we should leave right now and go to the border so that he could get his papers. his note went something like this,

oh jack, you need to come with me.
you see, jack, the routine that is, that is you
needs changing
it needs sublime comfort in the open road
it needs a trip a vaction a way
we need to travel to that border up above.

that's the memory paraphrase. i didn't go. i think eric vw did. i was torn. i may have had homework or papers or something to do.

i bet there wouldn't have been traffick though.

i did it again,

2006-10-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

got mad because no one is posting, and realized that i haven't posted for a week. hurumph. my condolences go out to dane. it sucks being far away when someone close to you passes away.

for those of you who are updating, it's been good reading, thankyou. not much has happened since we last talked. my toe nail came off, which was good and bad all at the same time, you see, i had been wanting it to come off because of the pressure it was causing where it is, but now i know, just like eyebrows, when there gone, how helpful those toe nails are. my walking is almost back to normal. i wear shoes most of the time though, sandals would be bad for all people involved.

we had a super relaxazaxing weekend. not much happened. we watched rv, which, was surprisingly funny, stupid, but funny. i don't think robin williams can make a not funny movie. so i'm looking forward to man of the year, even if people are saying it's full of silly simple jokes, i trust that williams man will be funny. we also rented the inside man, which i'm anxious to see, jodie foster, denzel washington, clive owen, spike lee, it's gotta be good.

the parents that weren't mine until march 11 are coming on thursday. it may be one of theirs first time flying (read it's lana's first time flying). i expect good times.

ihopeyouarewell.

just when i start...

2006-09-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

to get angry that no one has posted on their blogs lately, i realize it's been over a week since i posted on my own blog, so i stop, and listen.

camping was fantastic! anyone else who lives on the west coast, we should make this a tradition, camping in the middle of us all. i'm pleased to report that jackie o and herman seemed to get along pretty well. they played occasionally this weekend and it was fun to watch. the unfortunate news i have to report is that we were running low on firewood, so matt and i tried to find some more--we noticed this tree that had fallen over and thought maybe we could procure some wood from it. luckily someone had already tried a to get the end from it, and all we had to do was push the tree into rolling a few times and the end broke off, it was about 3 feet long and about 1.5 feet tall--not small. the same person that had cut it close to the more solid part had also cut it in the middle, so matt and i tried to drop the lumber in creative ways in order to split up this log. unfortunately when we were trying to drop in on three, matt threw it up to drop it, i just dropped it, and i may have let go after matt, causing the log to spin towards me and land smack on my big toe on my right foot. it hurt, not really that much at first, but it started to hurt more and more as the night went on. now it's pretty ugly looking, but it's starting to feel better. it looks like the nail is definately going to come off, and i'll be walking slower for a little while.

other than that, our adventures were pain free and quite exciting. it was soooooo goooood to see the matt and brielle team. i can't wait until we see you again!

i'm still scrounging for work. someday...soon...it'll come.

water

2006-09-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

water. at a get together of the discipleship training sort, we had a water taste test. it was very humorous. alan and rachel had four different types of water, which were supposed to be the best tasting. hawaiian, fiji, and that cylindrical one that they sell at whole foods. anyway, we all had a taste test, with clensing chocolate, which tended to skew we found later. anyway, i liked the one from whole foods that comes in the cylindar (however one might spell that.) jasmine liked fiji. it was fun to do the blind test and then vote and rally each other's votes. justin had to do a retest because he was waivering.

i am drinking some mineral water, which i don't like very much, it has the carbination in it i think, it's weird. tastes bad i say.

anyone want to employ me as their editor? i'm willing to be an assistant first.

jjjjjjack.

crafty thursdays

2006-09-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

this whole week, i've felt like it was the next day, instead of the day it actually is. today, friday, not thursday--i already did thursday yesterday!

it looks like maverick is going to be leaving us by october, maybe sooner. he'll be missed. when he was gone for a day this week with chantelle, it was strange to have only one dog. it was nice, but strange.

jasmine leaves on a trip to the other side of the continent on saturday, so, good thing it's not friday because then i'd only have one day left. she's gone until tuesday. i have no idea what i'm going to do while she's gone, get my tires rotated probably. that's what you do when your wife is gone i think.

this whole health insurance thing is becoming a headache. first i thought this NASE/Mid-west company was good, but now i'm having doubts, and then i thought i wanted a front end loaded plan, but now i'm thinking i don't want that. so it's just confusing and a slight frustration. high deductable? low out of pocket maximum? copay, no pay, glow pay?!

i'm also slightly frustrated that i was asked to do this video, and then when bossman watched it he didn't really like it, and wanted the other editor to make all the changes. it made sense, but it was just so frustrating because i waited almost all day for him to come watch it, and as a result of that i wasn't able to make the changes that he wanted made--because of the time it would have taken. i had that thing ready so much faster than anticipated, i wish i could have done the final edit of it. oh well. i still kind of like my edit.

laundry and dishes.

trees dismembered

2006-09-12T15:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our seven month anniversary. It was splendid.

the soiree went really well. The video that Steve and I spent so much time on went over very well, without any glitches. The rest of the soiree was great too. Met a fellow math-film geek, who has not see pi. We must remedy. But I'm not even sure if my copy of pi is in the state of California. I think it is.

I am working on this promolikevideo that I'm liking the look of, but am very self-conscious of. so when it's done, i might put it up somewhere secret and see what you think of it. i don't think it's something that i should just throw on youtube.

talked with several people one the google chat feature built into gmail yesterday, it was crazy! thank you dane, ross, and stephen, for checking your email. i was reminded of the msn messenger days. oh those days, i don't really miss them, but i remember them quasi-fondly.

i do expect visitors. let us know when you plan on visiting. muhahahah! assume it to be true and it shall be.

fri it up fuzzball.

2006-09-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

ever forget to eat breakfast? i do. i did, today.

ever forget to look at the other computer after you start it doing something that should take half an hour only to notice that it hasn't even started yet? i did, today.

ever eat fried food on a cold windy night? i didn't, today.

ever drive all the way to hollywood, only to realize that you forgot that external hard drive, so you had to drive back to pasadena and back to hollywood? i did, a few days ago.

ever been asked to create and edgy bridal video? i was, yesterday.

ever eat the chicken carbonara at quiznos? i did, yesterday.

ever sit on a bare wall and let your dogs lick and sniff your face? i did, yesterday.

ever sing very well? i didn't.

ever wonder if the air conditioning guys left that red tape just sitting there? i did, today.

ever wonder if the word ever is really a valid word to start a question with? i did, just now.

ever turn on the airconditioning in a garage? i did, today.

ever not blog for a week and feel guilty enough to keep not blogging because it had been so long? i did, today.

ever opt not to sit in the super expensive very comfortable chair, just because it was a little more fun to roll in the other one? i did, today (and often).

two crazy dogs.

2006-08-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

Maverick had one more incident involving bodily functions, but Jasmine took care of it. I'm so blessed! I had a fairly weird day, it involved work and a job interview. I should know tomorrow/monday if I got the job. It's freelance, so it's nothing permanent yet, but it could be. I'll surely post something if I do get it. Until then you'll just have to wait in suspense.

We are in the process of finding health insurance. I don't know if any of you out there have to find your own health insurance, but if you have any pointers, I'm totally clueless about this stuff. Jasmine isn't, thank goodness. She's taking charge and doing a great job. We would love advice though. How do you know who's good? What's a reasonable price for full vision, dental, and health insurance? I'm really tempted to go with this first guy that we met with, but I think it's just the part of me that wants to get it done fast.

The dogs are doing pretty well in general. Maverick is slowly learning the concept of going outside for bodily functions. Herman seems to be a little less mean, but he's still pretty dominant acting even though he's about half Maverick's weight. Maverick is about 80 pounds, we think, and herman is 46. They can rough house with the best of them. It's pretty entertaining actually. They've only have a few times where they really got into it and we had to break them up. I guess that could sound kind of scary, but it really wasn't too scary, just a little bit. (i had nothing to do with that by the way, but i do know most of the people who made it & busbee)

I'm thinking of basing two characters on Herman and Maverick. It's nothing solid yet, but I think it could be a grand idea.

Parking tickets suck.

(As to fire hydrants.)

sleeping dogs.

2006-08-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday we got another dog. I'm not sure what you are thinking, but it might be: what?! It's not permanant. Our friend just moved out here to go to school in Moorpark, about 40 min from Past-The-Dena, and she found a dog on her drive out here. This dog is, part Lab, part Pitbull or Rotweiler (?). We're not sure on the second half. He's big, muscular, and really, nothing like Herman--except for the ailments. Maverick has worms. He also is not house trained.

Last night was C-razy. We had a Picnic/BBQ with friends from church. So we left our dogs in the back room, Maverick in the kennel and herman out, free to do what he wanted. Herman had been pretty good so far with the new dog around. Maverick was doing well too, not making a mess in his kennel. So we left at about six in the pm. The BBQ was great--good conversations, good people, and very good times. we left around 9, because we had got up pretty early attending to our new dog. Arriving home, we noticed a distinct odor when approaching the door. It smelled like poo. Opening the door revealed the worst. Maverick had poo-ed in his kennel and he had walked in it--basically smushing it all over. We were aghast. Okay, I was aghast. So the next two hours or so, we cleaned up a kennel the dark, washed a dog in the dark, and lived in the smell of dog. The worst part (or the best part depending on who you ask) was that our neighbors were throwing a birthday party next door. Now, this was party, balloons, food, and music--no Polka, blarring. Now, had we just been chilling at home, I may have been a little torked, that they were playing this (in my humble opinion) crappy music so loud, so late at night. But since we had the pleasure of washing off the kennel and the dog, it was quite comical. Right over the fence, people are having a grand old time, dancing the night away, and we are washing this dog with flee and tick shampoo, not able to hear each other because the music was so loud. We then chose to leave Maverick outside because he was sopping wet. He barked some, which would have been way too loud for that hour, but it was conviently paired with loud annoying music. Mmm. Polka.

I felt kinda bad, leaving him out there--but he was used to it when he lived with Chantelle. And the added bonus of adding to their party was kind of a guilty pleasure. I mean, c'mon, they blare music all the time--especially early on saturday morning, it felt good to add to the noise just a little. And we didn't leave him out longer than they danced. Eventually, around 11, we took him in, kept him in the laundry room, and let herman continue his lessons on drunken boxing, while Maverick used the Jujitsu that he learned from a lizard in the desert.

Hope you are well, we're keeping the dogs in check. Eventually, they'll learn the ways of things.

(Raise you glass) Until then, here's to cleaning up dog poo late at night.

dog park

2006-08-22T23:31:00.000-07:00

dog park
Originally uploaded by enokwons.

well kids, this is what jack does when he doesn't work all day long. it's called panography. and this is the dog park the we frequent with the one named herman.

2006-08-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

i'm still alive and well.

things are going well. i don't have much to blog about at the moment.

i really enjoy a good pizza.

to assist:

2006-08-16T12:55:00.000-07:00

i've defined assist in this way, (1) to make the life, job, of another easier, simpler. (2) to create an environment in which creativity flows easily. (3) the 'we', when anyone says: 'we'll do that.'

this week i've especially felt number three. i like my work. sometimes, though, it's painstaking. right now i'm capturing tapes, which can only be done in real time. so if there are fourty hours of tapes to capture, it's going to take fourty hours.

it means though, i have a lot of free time, although i'm not at home, and i can only work with what i can find on the internet or bring with me. i've already read one book. well, technically l.3 books, i finished and started another. but now i'm sorta sick of reading for a bit. and the internet has lost its shine for the time being. all in all i'm bored. not that poke yourself with sharp objects bored, but just restless i guess. don't worry though, i'll be fine. i'm quite good at entertaining myself.

even though i'm not in the town of sioux, i will miss dane's prescence there. i guess it's what happens, and i'm really excited that he's going off on such a great adventure. dane, here's to you. rock out. in fact, to all those coming and going, here's to you. amanda, way to be awesome. and the sister, although your time hasn't come yet, it shall, sooner than later.

that's it.

small insights.

2006-08-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

for the past year or so, during things like church, i'll get these great ideas for characters, stories, and general film ideas. like yesterday, we are just starting a series on gideon, and terry was talking about how he sees temptation being broken down into, money-greed, passions-sex, and authority-power. and i thought, hmm, what good character motivations for my rewrite. and then i started thinking about how each of those motivations is finite. you will, reach the end. a point where it is not longer interesting. and then what? that's where i want to get in my writing, then what?

so i used to feel kinda bad about having these insights during church. i felt like i wasn't thinking about the topic on hand. but, the thing is, if i am a writer, then i'm just applying the teaching to my work. is there a better inspiration for your writing than truth?

so the title is plural, but i'm not sure i have another insight. maybe that was two already.

we're doing well. herman got groomed after camping and now he is very soft again. if you don't believe me, you'll just have to come visit. it's worth it. we went up to simi valley yesterday. a friend just moved up there, so we visited, bearing bars and dog treats. we went to the teaching zoo there--she's entering the animal science program with hopes of entering the animal handling program. it was pretty cool. we also got to meet maverick, her new dog. she found him on the side of the road on her trek out here from sioux falls. and he is quite the find. i'm not sure how well he and herman got along, but they seemed to have a good time.

our shelf above my computer fell. all the things on it fell too, coincidently... it was scary, to hear such a crash from the other room in a slightly wakened state. good thing no person or animal was sitting near it when it happened.

welp, good day to you.

yourtube

2006-08-10T21:26:00.000-07:00

here it is, as promised. herman the wonder dog!

camping

2006-08-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

Camping 072
Originally uploaded by enokwons.

pictures!

clause

2006-08-08T10:52:00.000-07:00

mike e, has my favorite about me, it goes something like this: I was born at a very young age and seem to be getting older as the years go by.

i'd like to believe santa claus is really gabe in about 15 years. sipping wine in spain, sitting on his piles of money, dispersing it to the masses. i like that picture. gabe fat.

the united states postal service is horrible. since my name and my dad's name, john/jack are sometime interchangeable, and they start with the first letter, i've been getting his mail in california, and he get's mine sometimes. it's rather annoying. just no common sense, just procedure. that doesn't make for a good system. you need people with brains to say, hey, i bet these are two different people...arg.

my fantabulous wife planned a camping trip for this past weekend. it was a surprise to me. what fun it was. i didn't know about it until we bought the tent in targetto on thursday, and i didn't know where we were going until we were in the car on friday. we went to fairview, ca on the kern river. it was awesome. the weather was pretty warm, but we were so close to the river that we could walk down, freeze ourselve in the river, and be cool again for a while, then when we were warm again, the river called our name. we even got herman to swim! it was great. herman was really good at the campground too. we were both afraid that he'd be barking all the time, but he was pretty active during the days that we were there, so he was quite tired by the end of the day. he really liked our tent too, he loved to jump in and sleep by us--sometime that got kinda hot though!

so we rented some movies when we got home from camping, a good unwind. i must say, there are some really bad movies out there. we watched this one called, "the ape" which was especially bad. it may be my new baramoter for badness. the main actor/director, i like, james franco, he's a good actor. i'm not sure about his directing/writing skills though. i do not reccommend seeing it, unless you want to watch a bad movie.

the other two we got, brothers grimm, and ellie parker, were okay. brothers was better than ellie, but neither really got me excited about making movies, other than to do better than that.

i have some more work, for about a week or so. which is good. things seem to be shaping up for us as far as work goes.

it's weird though, how when i get one person calling me about work, i have like four. hopefully i can balance it out so that they call me in different intervals.

i'll try and get some photos/movies of our camping trip up.

you'll be able to see our three-legged champ in action!

outty.

like candy

2006-08-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

when other people post on their blog, it's like candy. candy that is so good that you want more of it. so you keep eating it. mmm candy.

not working a lot is different. i like it. i also like working, so i guess, i'm happy either way. mostly though, i could just see my jasmine and be happy.

i just can't shake death cab for cutie. they are good. ross, when will the postal service release more music?

we got a dvd printer at work. it prints on dvds. it's pretty cool, really good quality too. i like it a lot. although, when i have to make 20 copies of the same bad artwork, it's not as exciting as the time we first used it, yesterday.

where does one find time to blog? when one is burning 5 dvds.

santa clause doesn't exist. it's physically impossible just ask me when i was in like fourth grade, i knew.

does time travel interest anyone else? it's always interested me. i'm not sure why. but i've always been intrigued by it.

herman makes this boy laugh.

oh rewrites

2006-08-02T09:36:00.000-07:00

int. laundry room -- night

jack sits contently at his computer. his fingers stike the keys with intent. he stops. he looks towards the living room.

int. living room -- continuous

jazz and andy are playing scene it. there is much chaos and confusion. herman tries his best to sneak jazz's piece ahead while andy's not looking--he fails consistently.

ext. jack's head -- continuous

the desert is dark. there are two bodies sleeping on the sand. jack looks at them, looks up to the sky, puts his hand to his scragly beard. suddenly the surroundings change and he is in a luscious townhouse. an older man in a robe sits watching his fireplace. jack slowly walks inbetween the man and his fire--the man looks right through jack. the man picks up a cloth bag and reveals a syringe. the surroundings change again, now jack is in a cheap motel room. two men, in suits sit looking at each other. they are talking, but jack can't hear them. the surroundings change again, he's back in the town house. it's morning, the man seems to have fallen asleep in his chair. something is odd about how he's sitting.

int. laundry room -- continuous

jack gets up from the computer, his eyes are glazed. he walks into the kitchen, pours a glass of water, drinks it all in one gulp. tired, he walks into the bedroom and falls asleep on his bed.

review

2006-07-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

miami vice:

i dug it.

here's the deal. i liked this movie, much like i liked collateral. collateral was pretty simple. hit man enters taxi, driver drives him around, reluctantly to all of his hits, halairity ensues. except for the halairity part, that's it. MV isn't simple. there is sparse dialog, only saying what needs to be said, the audience isn't always totally sure of what is going on. at times i was lost as to what or who was behind what was happening. but i liked it. it felt like an adult movie that didn't water down what was happening so that the audience could understand it.

i don't run drugs, or get in gun fights, but i felt like this movie was pretty realistic. there was only two scene with gunfire, and there were no extra bodies laying around of people that you didn't have some sort of idea who they are. the gun fire & fights felt real--it wasn't glamourized at all.

so it was an enjoyable experience. i don't know what real critics are saying, but i liked it.

success full success

2006-07-28T18:01:00.000-07:00

i just finished the reel project that i've been working on all week. it's great. i like it a lot. for the past couple of hours like 3-5 people were just standing around me while i finished this whole thing up. it was weird. they were talking with each other, mostly about movie type stuff, i liked it, just strange to have them all watch me do my edit thing.

now i'm burning away, all these reels needs to be going out!

this morning, holy craps, i thought it was saturday, and i was like, why is my cell phone alarm going off at 730 am on a saturday, it was really hard to get up i say. really hard. then i found out it was friday, and i understood why it was going off. i didn't like it, but i understood.

i still don't have more work, but the job that was supposed to end, hasn't, so i'm doing okay on the work thing. and, i got a small bonus today for doing a good edit--that was really cool.

i'm considering seeing a movie tonight. i may see lady in the water, or possibly some obscure movie--i'm not even sure what yet. maybe wordplay--a documentary about the new york times crossword puzzle. i guess it was done by this guy that worked where i may work in the future...that's convaluted. is that how you spell that?

we've played settlers with a few different people that live out here. it's pretty fun. i could play more though. i really like settlers. the most lovely person is getting into it too. maybe someday we'll have them all. all, all, all! i don't need to have them all really. i'd like to though. they are so much fun. even people who don't initially like them, are usually sucked in by the random chance of it all, and the impossibility to always have someone that will beat you. it's good times.

extra long blog, because i missed yesterday.

i need to take a water picture, for the photo club. i didn't take last weeks, purple, becuase i was lacking in-spiration. i need something good for this week. i don't want to be slacking off, and i want to be a good photographer.

hope you are well. jjjjack.

two-hundred-one

2006-07-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

this week is going by slowly. i'm not really sure why it is, but it is. i may be done with full-time job the turned part time today. it's up in the air of course, but it will probably be done today. i got to cut their reel in the past two days. it was fun. i liked how it went from this, house music very generic reel to this really interesting brazilian runway type music that really flows with the edit. it was good.

in response to the question and answers that were posed, my thing is this: the internet is fricken huge. google has like billions of websites that it searches, and i'm pretty sure that doesn't include blogs, i'll check....okay, so if i search, "jack maatman blog" then it comes up, but not if i search just jack maatman, so it does include blogs. but you have to be pretty specific in looking for it. i searched for both of my work places and only when i ran all of the words together for the one, did i find my blog, and it was on the second page of results. i'm just saying, you'd really have to be looking for my blog, or this specific company. with relation to my blog. if you were just joe somebody lookin' up my name, you'd find a bunch of stuff about when i got my hair cut and my grandfather, who is on a lot of message type systems in discussion about evolution type things.

i went through part of la yesterday that had all the stoplights out, so there were police directing traffic at every intersection for like 6 blocks--weird.

when i log weddings, i have the priviledge of hearing most of the toasts. it sucks. people really ramble. maybe it's better if you know them... but today especially i was in shock at how long people can talk about nothing, when all they really have to say is, "i love you guys, cheers!" maybe i'm bein' hypocrytical, but i feel like the toasts i've done and the ones we recieved at our wedding were short and sweet.

this is my two-hundred-first post. hippee-kyio-kyhya!

blog infrigement?

2006-07-24T13:34:00.000-07:00

i guess this is late...but i was just thinking about r-e-u-b and his blog troubles, and that reminded me of j-o-e-l and his blog troubles. does anyone else worry about blog troubles with work or otherwise?

i don't really. i guess, i'm not in a very public job--so people don't really care if i blog about work a little. i mean i do on occasion sign things that say i can't talk about specifics, like clients names etc, so i don't.

has anyone else felt pressure about their blog? or just nervous about it?

hi-king

2006-07-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

we went hiking yesterday. it was very good. the goal was to get to this waterfall, which was further than we'd gone before. herman came along, which was entertaining. we made it up this cliff part, and then we were like, let's turn back, we've gone far enough--we'd seen the waterfall from up high now. so we went back, and turned onto a seperate fork, and found this amazing pool of water right before the big waterfall. so kyle and jordan jumped on in and swam. eventually we all joined them--even herman. unfortunately herman doesn't like to swim, although it seems that he can. i helped him into the water, and held him up so he wouldn't have to swim, which was a little more comfortable then just swimming on his own. he left some nice scratches on my are though.

today brought soreness and dishwashing. it has been a very low-key sunday. i'm thankful for these longer slower days. i am working some next week, and i am going to culver city to investigate a job.

things are great this weekend. i hope yours is too.

it seems that the aye's have it!

2006-07-21T09:43:00.000-07:00

welcome welcome. thanks for stopping by. i do hope you stop by the saturation station and partake in brightening of your colors. well, saturation of colors, but who's counting? you are sir? you're counting, well then, i'm at a level 195, and she's at a 175.

we went to long beach last night, late, in order to see thena dare perform at the blue cafe. it was a small crowd. which made the whole experience pleasant. it was a later show-i'm not used to staying up late these days, but i think i could be persuaded to take it up again.

there seems to be a number of shows that we'd like to go to, and i'm pretty excited about all of them. here's the list:

wolfmother

panic at the disco

snow patrol

sufjan stevens

keane

keane is the most expensive, and the tickets go on sale tomorrow. i wonder if i should be hitting refresh at midnight, in order to be first in line...i'm not even sure what time they go on sale.

i thought i'd be done working at the bbbrrrrraaatttzzz on monday of this week, actually i thought it would be saturday, but i ended up working a really long sunday, and then half days all this week until today, where i'm here early and there is nothing for me to do because computers take time to process stuff.

i'm trying to magically make a 6 gb file fit on a 4.4 gb dvd. i hope the alogorithms work in my favor.

i hope you are well. and dane, how about a shot of your face--so we get to see those eyes!

daily update.

(will he keep it up? if he misses a day will the guilt of not keeping it up plague his upkeep? find out tomorrow)

a day later

2006-07-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

yesterday, i was like upset at this edit, because it felt really slow and boring to me. today i come back and watch the beginning, and i really like it. the pacing, the music, even the shots all really seem to fit. time away is a good thing. but not too long, just a day.

that we all waited for.

2006-07-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

i am having vivid dreams. the one today was about a creature who was about the size of furby or some small ghost like creature, that could envelope you and take your form-and your abilities. the thing was he didn't really take them, he just assumed what they were by your size. so if i were wearing a big hat or something he'd assume i was taller than i was--and i could foil him. so we set up all these cardboard/paintings of people that he'd try and take over, but he couldn't because they were just cardboard, and then we had he where we wanted him, confused, and not taking something over. then herman nudged my foot and was like, "i want to go outside boy!"

i awoke today, took herman outside, took a shower, drove to work, worked in unairconditioned hotness, and now i'm breaking for lunch. it's pasta shells and sauce today for lunch. i like pasta. i also like chicken. some wonder how i keep eating the chicken without it ever getting old. i don't know really. i don't know.

i'm editing again today--usually i'm just supporting editing, but not actually editing. i really enjoy editing, but it takes a lot of concentration and time. i think i've got lazy as of late, and just thrown stuff together. i don't really like that it's happened that way, so i'm trying to be very deliberate and specific in this edit. It's frustrating me though, because i'm anxious for it to be done--it's really hot in here.

our guest andy took us out to dinner last night, thanks andy! it was very good. even if they bar only had bud and bud light on tap. silly people. our waitress was great, she said thank you after almost everything you said, "i'll have the tostada" "thank you, what would you like?" "i'll have this burrito" "thank you" i found it humorus. how do you spell that word?

i'm looking for work again, i have a lead of sorts, a friend that i worked with almost 6 months ago may have some need at the place he's at now. so i'm hoping. although my job that was supposed to end almost a week ago is still going--so i'm not complaining yet.

hope you and your hairs or lack there of are good.

(dane, you taunt us with, i cut my hair, but i see no pictures...)

working all week long.

2006-07-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

i worked a lot this week/weekend. it's crazy.

the good news, it's a lot of overtime.

i've been doing pretty well. my full time job is winding down, so i'm looking for another one again. which is good, i like the change. it's just hard to not know what that change is going to be.

keep it short he said, okay i said.

ethan and laurel, come visit.

jack.

producers

2006-07-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

ih.

we watched the producers last night. and i fell asleep. it was okay, what i saw, but not worth staying awake for, i guess. we had a really good time bowling with jordan and kyle. although they seemed to dominate the whole winning thing. those winners. afterwards we got some baskin robbins icecream, it's really hard to choose only one flavor i say. i got chocolate truffel, which was good, but a little too chocolate-y, you know? it was a really fun night.

i had to work again yesterday, silly working weekend crap. i guess it's okay, but it's really messes me up. when i woke up this morning i thought it was saturday, but it's sunday. and i really miss spending the whole day with jasmine. when i work so much during the week.

we bought this ink and paper a while back, at office depot, and i left it in my car, and we didn't need it right away, so it was in my car for like a week or two. when we finally needed it, all of the adhesive that was keeping it all sealed had melted, and was kind of sticky. it was kinda crazy that it all melted. california is hot.

i just remembered this dream i had, about paying someone, but they only cashed $100
from the check. weird. we got this letter telling us so, but it was attached, like stapled to the news paper--very strange business practices going on with banks and papers these days. it was like they only wanted $100.

my computer is doing weird things. pressing enter when i don't. weird.

hope you are well.

fire jeff zucker

2006-07-07T14:36:00.000-07:00

http://deadlinepublishing.typepad.com/firejeffzucker/2006/07/nobodys_watchin.html

check out this tv show, it's grand.

it was only two-hundred-twenty-two

2006-07-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

slept in.

didn't mean to.

drove.

made good time.

oats and honey.

made me thirsty.

cookies.

sit in car.

dueling g5s.

still can't always be working.

new mouse.

don't like it.

one week left.

anxious.

yellow shirt.

remember the wedding.

brides and grooms.

say the same thing...?

overexposure.

what will happen next?

the best party styles high has ever seen.

2006-07-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

i'm enjoying the long weekend. i had to work yesterday, which ended the weekend mentality, but then, the weekend makes a comeback for a day, way to go weekend.

i've been working a lot--probably too much lately. b to the ratz is supposed to be done in about 1.5 weeks (next friday) so this is crunch time. some of the pressure is falling on me--to get all the new renders cut into the sequences. i've really only made few dumb mistakes, which seemed to have resolved themselves. dumb mistakes suck you know? just when i was feeling like i had a handle on the system and what we were doing, i cut the makeover music in the music video intro! what a silly boy i am. no wonder it didn't make sense!

twin peaks season one is complete. what a trippy trip trip. so confusing, so many story lines, but good. the crappy thing is season two isn't officially on dvd yet. it's on vhs and their seems to be unofficial copies floating around, but nothing official. the series was out 15 years ago...what's take so long?!

i'm on the final strech on biology. i put it off too long, which means that i'm doing six lessons this weeked. i already have four done, with two more on the slate for today. i don't really get or enjoy cell functions. i get it, kind of, but not extremely well. i get how dna works--but when they ask these specific questions on what kind of post-zygote restriction blah blah blah, i get confused. i think i deal really well with lectures and listening, and reading all this stuff isn't my favorite thing to do. the last three lessons have been on evolution. which i really enjoy. i got to read the church of latter day saints view on evolution/creation of the world. with their pre-existing spirits and what not. it's pretty interesting, it took two sittings to get it all digested. the evolution thing is interesting too. i don't know that i've ever gone this in-depth to understanding evolution. unfortunately they suggested we skip the parts about macroevolution, which i may read later, because i'm interested. i say that now...but will i read it? idunno.

so, grandpa, if you read this blog, i'm interested to understand more fully what you believe the beginning of the world looked like. i think i understand generally that you believe that the days represented in the Bible are not the same 24 hour days that we are familiar with today, but i'm curious on the specifics, like, did evolution then occur during those longer days? and what do you think of the 'brother of jared' thing that the lds seems to put a lot of faith into. well, i bet i could guess on that one...the whole brother of jared thing is really weird.

endtransmission.

nine days.

2006-06-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

in high school, that band was popular. didn't they sing that crying a river flood the whole world song? maybenot.

sorry i haven't posted for a bit. i've been working a lot.

church was good yesterday. we had a teaching, the last in "what we believe" series, it was on the end times. jesus is coming back. the end. well, not the end of everything, but end of teaching. terry did elaborate a little on what he thinks may or maynot happen, but mostly that was it--no dates, no pre-post-a-anything. he said this, "i'm a pan-milleniumist, it'll all pan out in the end."

went to the paseo to see the chalk drawings afterwards. there are some very talented artist that use chalk as their medium. i was impressed by several works.

we've watched almost all of freaks and geeks. ethan, you are right, that show is awesome. i really dig it. it's so sad that there is only one season. i could devour four more, easily.

hope you are well. and as dane says, if not, i hope things look up sooner rather than later.

jjjjack.

junetentwothousandandsix

2006-06-10T13:02:00.000-07:00

when i was younger than i am now, i got in this habit of writingwithoutanyspaces. somewereconfused,otherswereentertained.

jasmine gave me a haircut yesterday, she took two inches off. it looks good.

work is going well.

they have good radio stations in southerncalifornia. kroq, kcrw goodness.

here are some photos that i took yesterday. i'm using the sign for the photoclub's roadside scenes.

jack.

say it.

2006-06-07T07:52:00.000-07:00

i like fall out boy.

i said it.

__________________________________________

blogger won't load, so i'm using text edit to write this post (read wordpad)

work is slow today, so far, i'm guessin' it'll pick up later.

i received a few gift certificates for my birthday and have purchased,
twin peaks, season one and freaks and geeks the complete series (there
was only one season i believe) i haven't seen an episode of either
one, but i've read and heard that they are good, so i'm taking the
plunge...hoping i like them.

even with my new desire to make my blog more snappy, i haven't had the
time/things to blog about. occasionally i think, i'll write about
that in my blog...and then it leaves my brain.

it's silly you know, that i always use blogger to write my
posts...when really all you need is a place that text is input-able.

okay so it's not that silly.

as last week was crazy busy this week is kinda a little busy but not
that busy, just need to be up early and away from the one i love busy.

glitz

2006-06-02T11:12:00.000-07:00

i want to publically thank ross for blogging about such a tangible subject. i've appreciated reading his blogs about death and mourning.

so, move that mouse up to the corner, scroll down to rosstopher, and read his last few blogs, and comments, it's an intriguing discussion.

when you get back, you can read the rest of this blog.

i have little to discuss, report, or subjugate. (is that a word?)

in response to another blog by beth T, i disagree, respectfully. go read that too, if you're interested. (beth and paul)

does anyone else always check the counter on their blog? i'm obssesive about it. i used to compare my to other too, but then i fell behind, and got discouraged. i feel like my blog is lacking life at the moment. i mean i post, a little, probably not enough, and it's just, blahzay. and all my posts are about the fact that i'm working. and lately it's picking up.

so, i guess i'm going to try and post a little more often, and maybe vary it up a little.

i read a lot of blogs about the entertainment industry. tv&movies. so i read that the breakup is supposed to be pretty good, not awesome, but good. i read a lot about xmen 4 possibilities, but now that the marvel guy left, i'm skeptical. i read that superman is supposed to be, okay, and kevin spacey is awesome. i read that most new tv is over for the year, until the networks realize the there are people alive during the summer. which reminds me of this new series coming out, windfall, about a bunch of people who win the lottery. it's intriguing to me, the concept at least.

heard something on the radio today, about a celebrity, whose wedding i logged. weird.

our way to fall, by: yo la tengo

2006-05-26T08:56:00.000-07:00

i'm editing this project with said song in it. the song is insidious. it creeps into my brain and runs around. i don't even know all the words, and it is playing at a very low volume. i just hear riffs of it. everytime i work on that project it just sits in my brain for a day.

this week has been fairly good. i think i got up at 5ish everyday, which, if you ask me, is quite the accomplishment. it does mean that i get groggy at around 10. . .

with the help of my beautiful wife i joined, or rather, got more into myspace yesterday. i was already a member, but never checked/updated my profile. now i am in, and a little hooked. the whole friends/networking thing is quite strange. i'm still not sure of it's purpose. or it's purpose for me. not that it needs on really.

this evening brings the possibility of seeing some improvisational comedy in hollywood. this weekend brings the possibility of purchasing a washer, attending an open house, and taking monday off for holiday purposes. remember last memorial day? i do. i think i might even post pictures when i get home. holy crap that was a year ago. wow. and where are all those people now? british columbia? alberta? winnipeg? michigan? montana? california? minnesota? iowa? that's crazy. let me know where you are.

menu-seum

2006-05-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

if you look to you ~~left~~ right, you'll see what the webmaster has dubbed, web 2.0. in the prehistoric era of webdesign, the few migrant coders looked to the internet for a few tips and or tricks to code. as you mouse over the plus sign, and pop up window appears, similar to an operating system, hence the web 2.0 monniker. much of this website takes longer than it should to load, server sided programming abounds, all in all this upgrade, to 2.0 status, doesn't seem to be much of an upgrade. unfortunately there is no way (that we know of) to examine this 2.0 strategy in it's infancy, all we know is that this, is the end result, well, if you look closely there are quite a bit of links there, it seems, maybe even more than last time. we can never know though, just our memory serves to remind.

http://www.davidbokser.com also implents this web 2.0 status, unabashedly procaiming it from the get go. check if out if you have the time.

the stats for my car last week are as follows:

10h5m
308miles
31mph avg
23.6 mpg

got the oil changed yesterday, hopefully this week'll be better.

oh, yea, my links are updated, if you didn't catch that mumbojumbowave.
10 points if you can give an accurate description of their order.

rollin'

2006-05-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

today is our roll party. it's called a roll party because it's a bunch of parties rolled into one. those parties are, house warming, baby shower for herman (our dog!), and my birthday. so there you have it.

we had brunch with some people from church this morning, which was really nice and relaxed.

my lovely wife bought be a new monitor for my birthday, and i really, really like it.

it's a nineteen inch widescreen lcd. and it's spendid.

that's what's up.

othertimes

2006-05-18T16:35:00.000-07:00

i know that i'm not the only person alive, and wonder why anyone cares to read such non-sense anyway.

either way, all is well in sunny california. nikki's visit was spediforous. we did lots, check out her blog for the highlights, i won't rekindle the details.

in sideways news, i'm still working, albiet, semi-frequent and a little frustrating, it's good times. i get too used to not working, then working feels like work. you know?

someday soon i hope to update my links, add people like horlings and take off people like laremy and becca, or at least put them on the bottom because they never, never, never update. they are as bad a bobby taylor.

jack.

sometimes,

2006-05-10T07:07:00.000-07:00

by accident, i assume that everyone has had the same experiences i have. that's a mistake. they haven't. in fact, most people, don't even think like i do, or even live in the same city as i do.

i read blogs almost all day long. whenever i'm not working/waiting for something to finish, i'm reading a blog. most of the time it's engadget.com, cinematical.com, or more recently, tvsquad.com. but i always check all the friendy-friend blogs first, but they often have a lack of updates.

anoter day done early, well, semi early when you start at 6 am.

nikki arrives this evening.

confict

2006-05-09T19:10:00.000-07:00

i burned my finger, the pinky. it hurts to type a's.

started at one job, left, to go to the other, then left, two+ hours later, to go back. that was today.

so i called my friend jon today. i've tried several times to get a hold of him because i wanted to talk to him about the wedding and whatknot, today, we finally got the chance to talk, but i never talked to him about the wedding. oh well.

jon sparked this idea, along with what rob wrote about writing a villian character. jon was talking about how all good characters have deep internal conflict. well, maybe not all, but many. so he suggested that my villian have internal conflict, like he/she needs to attain the device that george and henry have created because he believes it to be catastrophic for the world, but in his search to get it back, he has to be just as dangerous to the world. or someting along those lines. jon encouraged me to make sure that i don't go totally post modern though, and make sure that by betraying their values they do have to pay a price, someone holds them accountable. i like that. i'm not precisely sure how i'm going use these new found ideas, but i'm excited to be getting somewhere, with some help, in my thinking about it.

congrats to all those who graduated this past weekend. way to beat me to a diploma.

the last day of the week is saturday

2006-05-06T09:45:00.000-07:00

this week included the following activities.

going to see imogen heap and zoe k in concert at the glass house in panoma ca. the show started about two hours later than it was supposed to, but nevertheless, it was fantastic.

taking herman to the beach again. this time we let him off the leash like everone else at the beach. it was fun, and he didn't run away.

laughing at herman. i like this dog, especially because he's funny. he'll play fetch up until the point that he has to give it back to you (jasmine and i haven't had a dog between us that actually fetched and gave it back) and this morning he ran into our room, and would come out with his soft ball and just look at me like, youre not taking this away, and just growl, while i'm on the couch, not even moving. then he set it down, but kept his eyes on me to make sure i wouldn't take it. next thing i know he's running to me to sit by me on the couch, totally forgeting the whole ball thing.

watching prison break on television. we don't watch any other shows really. i mean, besides jeopardy. i like it, even though it's taking a long time to break that prison, i still find it enjoyable.

watching donnie darko. we watched this movie last night. i like it. i bought it last week some time. this was jasmine's first time.

working. i worked a fair number of hours this week. it's still not 1.5 jobs, it's more like 1.1 jobs.

i've been thinking a lot about how to write a good villian/bad guy. i do not want it to be a cliche, but almost everything i think of is, the mafia, or the russians, or some other stereotypical bad people that are in every other movie. and then i think about making one of the "good" people turn bad, but i can't come up with a believable way for that transition to happen. so, to sumise, i haven't been writing, but i have been thinking about it, really.

haunting

2006-04-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

so when i park in a certain part of hollywood/la my seat moves while i'm away. i have electronic seats, so they do and can move on their own. and i guess it's a feature, to have the seat move for different remotes entries for the car, but i only have the one key, and i'm not short. the seat always raises while i'm away. i'm imagining a short person (read midget) borrowing my car while i'm away. but only when i'm near wilshire or van ness.

i've been working super early in the morning. which is hard. it's especially hard when there are thing going on in the evening that i want to do, but can't because i have to rise at 5am.

i've started using my slr camera again. i hope that my pictures turn out good.

last night herman barked almost every two hours. which sucked, when it was like four in the morning, and i was desperate for just one more hour of precious sleep.

i'm making frozen lasagna for supper. very easy.

blog day

2006-04-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

over half my list updated today. it must be international blog day.

i started writing a little again. my brain got all a churnin after a few people posted some comments about ordinary/normal relationships between situation and character. it's inspired me to think more about my character as someone who doesn't want what he gets, but has to deal with it in order to get back to normal. sounds more like a plot than what i had before--some kid gets cool powers and pulls pranks on people. where's the story there?

so my new story starts more in the middle of things. they are already researching heisenberg, and trying to get funding for their further research. that makes explaining how they met and how things started a moot point--they are already--although i'll come up with something to explain it,,,i don't have to show it.

i worked on my biology again yesterday. it was weird, doing school work. i'm glad i didn't go to a teach yourself everthing college.

i've been working sporadically. i don't mind it, as long as it becomes more normal eventually.

clever and original

2006-04-07T14:23:00.000-07:00

i remember when scott said that his band was going to be named, "clever and original", just so that they could come on stage and say, "we're clever and original." i wish my blog headlines were clever and original. maybe someday.

since we last spoke, much has happened. i'm on task to work two jobs. well, three, kindof. you see, i've been working at this rehearsals.com place, for about three months, but it's always been a night here, and day here, and another night here. not really solid, steady work. so, i was looking into getting other work. putting the feelers out there. so this job happened upon me, it's at fiftyfootfilms and it's a friend of a friend from church, who reccomended me to him. and we've talked a few times, he's had my name for a long time. well, i called him up and was like, i'm free, got any work? and he was like....leave a message after the beep. so after some fono tag, we gathered at the same place and worked there for a few days. it was a great time. his editor was away, so i worked during the days, doing assistant work. then, xlt calls me back, and they are like, we're doing a sequel, and we want you back. so now i'm working there, full time, and i may be working part time at fiftyfoot, starting next week.

i'm quite excited about all of this. it's good to be working. good to be excercising my brain.

question that i thought of today, would you rather see a movie, or hear a story about, extraordinary people in normal situations? or normal people in extraordinary situations?

there are two more combinations, normal people in normal situations, and extraordinary people in extraordinary situations. the latter is probably what normal people in extraordinary situations often becomes...

my gut reaction is i like extraordinary people in normal situations. but then i think about normal people dealing with crazy situations, i'm quite appealed to that as well. which are you drawn to?

i was just thinking about my movies that i've made, and then, the screenplay that i wrote, and they fall into a lot of, normal people in normal situations. although the screenplay is more a normal person who becomes extraordinary and wants to be normal--thrown into normal situations. but i think it'd be better if he had to be in extraordinary situations, if didn't want to be extraordinary. does that make any sense?

i have the vincent gallo cd that my good friend matthew gave me when i visited him once, and whenever i hear the first song i think, i know that song, where i have heard that song before. once i was in the car and was almost freaking out about, and jasmine was like, i don't know! and then i realized,

it was in my first lafsc movie. how pathetic is that. and weird. to be driven crazy by your own music tastes.

herman is well. i came home early from work today, which was a pleasant surprise for him i think.

the new addition

2006-03-31T08:17:00.000-08:00

here he is:

his name, herman.

his nicknames: hermanator, hermie, and dog.

2006-03-25T10:31:00.000-08:00

so i did have to miss one day of work this week. alas.

i haven't written any screenplay-anything since the end of two semesters ago.

today is the first day that i want to do something all day long, well maybe not all day long, but something.

i have the possibility and very likelihood of working full time for another few months.

the weather is wonderful; 70s the past two days.

we watched tres coloires: blanc yesterday. we both liked it.

we've also been catching up on prison breaks, via the inter-net.

theendoftheblog.

sick days

2006-03-22T10:32:00.000-08:00

i have one of those sore throats that makes me want to lie down all day long.

but i'm not really working this week, yet, so i'm not missing any work. i am missing spending healthy time with my beautiful wife though, which, is worse than missing work.

go away bacteria, go away.

basking

2006-03-06T21:36:00.000-08:00

my first ever shower: without my love. i had a wedding shower this evening, without jasmine. which was, really fun, but i do miss her. she was showered too!

i'm quite excited for the wedding. things are all falling into place. i got all the music ready today.

not much else to report for the sioux center. things are going well.

jack.

where?

2006-03-03T11:12:00.000-08:00

i'm in iowa? what?

i arrived in the omaha airport yesterday evening. i was treated to a fabulous supper with the family. we then drove home. i wasn't tired at all--even though we got up at 5/5:30 am.

it's been good. i've already seen a lot of my good friends. 'cept for ross, he went to bed. hopefully tonight i'll see everyone else. going to the p-lay tonight. that's exciting.

good days.

why i still haven't seen freaky friday.

2006-02-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

while i was working at the cinema 5, we showed the movie, freaky friday. all the teenyboppers and the little children with their mothers came and loved it. i never watched it, although, i do remember hearing that it wasn't half bad.

yesterday i attended church in redlands california. it reminded me of theatre tour, you know, that one i went on after my sophomore year. i don't think we were in redlands, but this church almost identical to one of the ones we were in on a sunday during tour, i think it was in washington state.

when i was working for myself, reparing computers around the greater sioux center area, i worked for some, howdoyousay, crazy people. one lady, who shall remain nameless, and i'm quite sure she doesn't read this because i have talked to her since, was just plain crazy. wanting me to leap mountains and make everything better. i mean, that is what i was in the business of doing, but she wanted her internet to just be faster, and there was nothing i could really do about it.

12 days from this day, i will be married, but i won't have a marriage.

when i was in grade school, dan and i wanted to start a lawn mowing business. his mom even made us business cards. we didn't really mow that many lawns, mine, his, and my grandparents. basically where we could walk to with the mower.

lastnight i made the placecards for people so they know where to sit at the wedding. i dig em. the fall in line with the other things we have made on paper for this wedding.

i really haven't had that many jobs. and most of them were working for my self, or really for someone else for a very short period of time.

i love jasmine.

2006-02-24T10:52:00.000-08:00

we've been in la almost three and a half months. it went by so quickly. i'm quite excited to make a return to that land of iowa. to see those whom i haven't had that chance to see in quite some time. enough with that. that shall come oh so soon.

i'm still working little bits. it's like 1/4 time at both places. i'm hoping it'll pick up for a few days next week. it's work. i'm thinking, after a conversation with a director who worked at cbs for 20+ years, that i should try to do some storys without script, and with a lot of footage. so that i can hone my storytelling skills, without scripts. you see, almost all the work i've done has been with a script or something to follow, and i'd like to work at editing without anything to follow--i make up what to follow. i think that'll help my storytelling abilities as well.

i keep having scenes/ideas pop into my head that i think should be in a screenplay somewhere. but i don't write them down, or do anything about it. that's not good.

we arranged all the seating at the wedding reception last night. it was a good time. i'm very happy with how it turned out.

'ts all

it's all about

2006-02-20T15:32:00.000-08:00

it's about what you miss, but don't even know what your missing.

Northwest Iowa knows how to eat. Family dinners, pizza parties, bonfires, friends, family, and potlucks. I like potlucks. I especially like potlucks at church. Covenant, did this great thing where we'd have a service, then a meal, and then another service. It was quite nice. Depending on the letter your last name began with, you'd bring, sandwiches, sides, or dessert. As you can imagine, a person was always well fed. Another thing that my dad and mom did was to have soup potlucks with our small groups at church. that was also very tasty. You get to have all these different kinds of soup and bread--liquid abounds!

Yesterday, our church had a potluck, our first. The men were to bring drinks, and the women sides, and if you happen to be married, well then you brought both. The main eating was meat. It was a Barbeque. So, we had chicken for our meat, surprise i know, and Jasmine found this great recipe for a mexican vegetable concoction. So, she bought all the goods, and i whipped it all up in our wok. it was Quite Tasty. we head on over to the potluck. Our church skips church all together when we potluck it up, straight to the BBQ.

It was great. good people, people that we've come to know and love over the past three months. They are so helpful in all ways. We've come to them with job difficulties more than once, and each time they are so willing to help. They hooked Jazz up with some great possibilities. Good people, good times. It didn't even feel that weird to not go to church, because it's all about the people.

i hope your sunday was as blessed as ours.

sherrard

2006-02-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

the days are going by so quickly?!! i can't believe it's february 18 already. surely someone has a time-slower that they can lend me. don't get me wrong, i'm super excited to get married, i just want it to be a wonderful day, with very little stress and things working out very smoothly. one thing that i've been putting off, is getting two projectors, mostly because i don't know where to rent them from, but i need to get on that. among several other details...

so last night we got notorized. that's right. we are in the process of applying for a marriage liscense outside of the state of iowa, which means we had to get it notorized. really, though, it felt like we just hung out with our friends ted and thena for the evening, and this nice woman just sat with us for about an hour. once that was all done we came back to our new apartment and watched waiting for guffman. many will be shocked that i haven't seen it before. okay, not many. it was great. christopher guest is a funny funny man. he does such a good job of writing characters who are extremely lifelike, almost to the point that it makes you a little uncomfortable. fred willard is always on that line with me. a lot of it is how he always is acting, but it's so close to real life, just a little extreme that it's almost painful to watch at times. the scene that i'm thinking of mostly is the dinner at the chinese restaraunt. hard. to. watch. but extremely funny. we laughed much.

ted and thena think i should just go by sherrard. that's it. nothing else. i can't say i'm against the idea, but i think i keep the other parts around for company. just in case sherrard gets bored.

i'm working a little too much again. it's such a hard balace for me. and now, with two jobs for another week, i'm having to balance it all out even more.

i hope this saturday finds you well. i'm working for part of it. yipee!

nights again!

2006-02-17T11:49:00.000-08:00

i'm working nights again.

wait, what? i'm working again? yep that's right mom, i'm working at that place we talked about on the phone that starts with r, and ends with .com. i think they are going to make me sign a non-disclosure agreement, so i may want to use my words carefully.

i'm also working a few hours during the day at XLT. i think maybe i'm done after today! such a long goodbye.

but, i'm not working tonight, or saturday night. we are going to some theatre on saturday night, for which i'm mildly excited about, i like theatre!

i hope you and yours are well. i'm trying this whole, blog thing again. maybe i'll keep it up!

i don't know if you read this dane, but good times talking with you last night.

end.

freelance

2006-02-16T16:27:00.000-08:00

so, i'm a freelance editor/assistant editor. i like it. it's nice to work on different projects. i'm now working at an internet venue type place, and it's really cool--mostly because of the hot technology that i get to use--50 inches of plasma tv. mmmmm.

there is rumor of the full time work in my future, but i know not of its seriousness.

i'm becoming a keyboard shortcut extrodinaire. i mean, i'm not ryan, but i am getting quite quick on the final cut pro-gram. i really have the desire to edit something more of my own though. i want to make something that is mine, and not some companies. i mean, i like it, but i'm just following someone's script, and i want to make more choices. choices. memememe.

i talked with dane for a bit this eve/afternoon what good chap. he should blog more. i like old dane blogging. and old dane applying for higher education. i can't wait to see so many old friends whence forth my return arrives on that town of centerly siouxs.

i like you. and i'm glad you read my blog. please, feel free to comment, it is, after all, a free forum of ideas and constructs made my beings with choice.

that being said, i'm done.

internet?

2006-02-15T10:55:00.000-08:00

who's got the internet? raise your hand. right now. you? do you have it? i thought so.

doing without the internet for 2.5 weeks at my new apartment was, sadly, horrible. well, it didn't make me reeth in pain or want to break things, but so many times i was like, oh, i'll just map that, or i'll email that person or i'll blah blah blah....and i couldn't. it was frustrating. but, now, now i have it. it turns out it was really easy to fix. i didn't do it, the guy from charter did. so now we have the internet.

similarly linked, our valentines day was fabulous.

seperatedly loose, i worked for free yesterday, in hope to get a regular job there.

i got a weird text message from jon r. i didn't get it...

i hope you and yours are well, i and mine, are.

so....

2006-02-11T14:32:00.000-08:00

i might have a full time job coming my way. what?

i know it might be true. as true as anything looks these days.

maybe after the wedding....

still looking for more work...

done livin' it up.

2006-02-07T12:12:00.000-08:00

bratz is done. well, the projects not quite done, but it is in its final stages. which is cool. it's nice to see a finished piece. it sounds like i may have work with them again when they do the bratz two or other projects. so i'm on the prowl for work again. i have some feelers out to some friends to see if they may have work for me. i'm not to worried about it. i'm finishing up some sioux center work from before i left, so that'll keep me relatively busy for the rest of the week, i guess.

mom visited. she got here on friday night and left this morning. it was a quick trip, but a very productive one. we painted our bedroom, living room, and bathroom. we (mostly mom) cleaned a lot. which was much appreciated.

i'm waiting on charter to set up my cable so my internet will work.

things go well.

do you? do you?

2006-01-28T01:15:00.000-08:00

Friday January 27 brought several different moments of laughter, smiles, and blinks. I'm almost done with my work at XLT. My buddy jordan, when i explained to him the situation, said, "it sounds like senioritous, everyone wants to leave, but they don't want to leave all the people." That's exactly how it is. I want to be done with this project, but i don't want to leave this steady work for too long. don't fret, i shall be okay.

I played poker tonight with some friends from church, which brought up some interesting thoughts--most specifically about gambling. It's weird. I have never really been against gambling, as long as you don't do it in excess. Dad always was like, well, it's like paying for a form of entertainment, whether it's a few dollars for an hour, or if it's making a few bucks. But i can't stop thinking about the fact that the money i won, (i won this evening) was someone elses when we all started. it was really fun, i enjoyed myself, and no one was bitter. it was a very fair game, and everyone was very much in control of what they were doing. The thing that scares me most though, is how much i enjoyed it. I mean, you always like winning right? but it's such a mind game, and skill game, and a everything game. I've played poker before without money, and it's just not the same. you don't have anything at stake. your pulse doesn't race when you are bluffing or when you are very unsure of you oppenants hand. i'm not against it right now. but i would be in excess.

i've been thinking about baptism too. to switch gears all together. i remember some people on dordt talk discussing infant vs. adult or believers baptism. their arguemtns were so very uninformed. very, dordt and still in college. i understand what the reformed church believes about baptism and i understand what my current church believes about it too, and i can't say that i disagree with either. our pastor even challenged me at one point, saying something like, "I'd like to hear why you think that [infant baptism]." i felt unprepared and small. that's the thing about believing that the bible is infallible, everyone has their own version of the infallibility. you read it this way, i read it that way. i realize that i'm not really like explaining either position, but it's something that has been on my mind as of late.

i should sleep.

g'night.

still

2006-01-25T18:49:00.000-08:00

alive.

and well.

going to quiznos tonight.

mmm. quiznos.

yum.

2006-01-21T16:21:00.000-08:00

hi. i haven't blogged for quite some time, as alan so adeptly pointed out. What's been going on you ask? Well, let me fill you in on what I find to be some interesting details. First, my job working on things for nine year old girls may be coming to completion. The project is aiming to be done about now, give or take a week. So, I'm on the hunt for new work. But I'm not looking super hard yet, because I have a few other things going on, like, getting ready for a wedding, making some dvds for some work that i did before i moved, and moving into a new apartment.

What's that you ask? New apartment? Well, we are also on the hunt for a new apartment. It's part of the deal, getting married, you know who your roommate will be, forever. It's great. We are looking in Pasadena California. We haven't got one yet, but we are applying to live in one that we looked at this week that we both would be quite happy with. It's a one bedroom, with great features. It's kind of old, so it has some built in things that you wouldn't expect in a new apartment, like shelves in the kitchen. It's got character, and I went back and forth
on whether i liked it, but ended up liking it, so we are persuing it for a living quarters. I'm excited to move. It's not that i don't like my current living situation, but I'm more excited to do things how we want to do them, and not make do with other people preferences. DooooWAP!

On sadder notes, Jasmine's car was totaled last weekend. So this week has been rather hecktic. In one whole week, we were able to lose a car, get a rental, and get the money for the old car. So today we are going to look for another car for her. I am hoping that we can find something that she'll be happy with. I say that because she spent so much time looking for her accord, that to find one in a few weeks or days, would be quite a feat. We are currently looking at the scion tC (the car).

Beyond losing her car Jasmine also lost some blood, inside and out. If that doesn't make sense, what i'm trying to say is she got some cuts and bruises. For the most part she is okay, it could have been much worse than it was. We hope to get her to a doctor though because of headaches that just won't go away.

We are also getting ready for the wedding. invitations are slowly going out. Well, it's not that slow. We mailed most of them in the past week. It was a good time finding and making and mailing. We are making lists and making check marks. It's good. I hope that it's a good time.

My work, like I said, is soon to be finished, so i'm working shorter days. Which i like. I have more time to spend with my newest roommate, Jeremy. Yes, the Jeremy that is linked on my blog. He's from portland and is a vegetarian. i never would have guessed it. It's a great time. The second day he was here, Jasmine, Jeremy, and I went to see The Squid and The Whale. I liked it. It is an interesting movie. I think jasmine said it best when she said, "I could have seen that by just spending a week with semi-normal american family." i paraphrased a bit, but that is the case, the movie is just that, normal. maybe not the normal we'd all like to see, but nevertheless, still normal. good writing. Noah Baumbach, good work.

I apologize to those that read this on a regular basis. I haven't kept up with my blogging for quite some time. it's weird too, because i do read other people's blogs fairly regularly, but i just can't find the time to write on my own.

I was watching Mythbusters today. I like that show. It's good.

well. I hope you feel full of jack (and jazz) information.

'til next time

well.

2006-01-13T14:06:00.000-08:00

arizona.

oregon.

california.

i'm listenind to sufjan stevens, the 50 states song. i really like it. i really like sufjan, his music is great. i wonder what people will think 5 years from now. will they even remember such a person? i hope so.

i worked my first half day is weeks. it was great. i feel like i didn't even really work at all today.

to matt and brielle , i wish you the best. i hope your marriage is awesome. come visit.

to those starting up school again, welcome yourselves back for me. i hope your times are great and your semesters good.

as for me, i'm working quite a bit. it's good work though. last week was a little hecktic, like, working far too many hours for old jack. but this week has been great. working a little extra here and there, but for the most part doing normal eight hour days.

i don't know what next week will bring. it might be all half days, which means i should work on wedding things and classes in biology. it's good though.

we got almost all of our invitations out. it's a great feeling.

all things go. all things go. drove to chicago. all things know.

sufjan is infiltrating my writing!

i'm quite happy and doing well.

i hope you are well.

long

2005-12-28T22:59:00.000-08:00

it's been five days since i posted.

i worked from 9 am to 10 pm today.

my hair is starting to do the northwest iowa flip.

tomorrow we drive to kingman for a wedding.

next week we drive to eugene for the shindig of the new year.

72 days seperate us from marital agreements.

my hair is a different color.

we watched this movie, me and you and everyone we know. it's a weird one. i kinda liked it, in that, mmm, that's odd sort of way.

i love jasmine for ever and ever and ever.

days, nights, evenings, mornings

2005-12-23T00:18:00.000-08:00

mmmmm. work.

i'm working. i'm working a lot. this week, i've put in, count 'em, 37 hours. and i'm going in at nine in the am tomorrow, and don't expect to get out until seven. it's weird though, i don't mind working a whole lot if there is work to be done--especially editing work. i like it. and i got to put in some of the final fully rendered uncompressed footage today, and let me tell you, it rocked. i really really, like it. it's weird to say, but it looks fantastic. so that's really reall cool.

unfortunatly that's all i've been doing lately. i see jasmine after i'm done working, but it's so much less than we used to when we were both unemployed. i'm not complaining, i want a middle ground.

christmas is around the corner. it's mom's bday today/yesterday. i'm happy for her being one year older. we had a nice chat today at my lunch break.

back to christmas. i'm happy it's christmas. there is a lot of packages and envelops coming our way--which is exciting. i'm excited to open gifts, and to have those afar open my gifts to them. i hope they like them, even if they have to wait ever so impatiently.

i guess that's all i have. i've been a selfish blogger lately, reading lots and typing less.

not your typical sunday

2005-12-19T00:07:00.000-08:00

i might make a movie. i just thought about it. something short and sweet. using simple effects, but powerful. more to come.

church was good. i enjoyed it. we had to leave early because were planning on seeing king kong with my roomie tim. but he got help up in a meeting. so we watched, RENT. i really liked it. seriously. it was really good. i really didn't know anything about it, which i think helped. i knew that it was mostly about homosexuals, newyork, and that it was a musical. that's about it. i bet the live broadway show is amazing. i'd reccomend seeing it, you may have to travel for it, or wait for the rentalness. i guess it's been out for a while. very powerful. it remined me of reading angels in america, which i haven't seen, live or on film either. i'd like too.

i realized i blogged already today, but i was feelin' like writing, so here i am again. writing. i want to be like ross. that's pretty much all.

by the way, does anyone have a duplication machine? we need to make a copy of ross. the trick is, it only needs to be for ~~one~~ three days, and he needs to be able to remember and act like he should in both places.

i've been working on walking through walls, so, i haven't tackled the whole duplication idea yet.

speaking of which. i haven't been working on anything screenplay oriented. how sad.

we ate at in and out burger today. i like that place. they make good food. even if there is really only three menu options.

someone at work got really mad today. he threw something and it broke. i was kinda scared. don't worry, it wasn't aimed at anyone, it was just a frustration type thing. like, i can't believe this is happening. anyone who's dealt with computers has felt that urge. i know i have.

i hope the christmas season is treating you well.

2005-12-18T12:09:00.000-08:00

i'm working this day. i didn't work yesterday. i will be able to attend church though, at 4:30.

Yesterday we ate dinner/supper whatever you might call it, with some friends from church. it was a good time. conversation ranged from the big lebowski to unemployment to movies we like, and movies we'd like to write. it was a very pleasant evening.

there is slight hope that i'll be able to start working days maybe next week some time. my employers have purchased a mac-mini to do some offline cutting. i'm excited about that.

at the moment i'm contemplating lunch. i'm hungry, and i know that church will and always seems to go a little long which will accentuate my hunger. so i should probably eat something here, but i'm not sure what to eat, and if i go where to go and grab something. you'd think i could find something.

i have most of my christmas shopping done. a few more items to find and then i'm done.

even though i'm working during the day today, no one else is here. a common theme it seems. i'm having some issues with quicktime compression right now. it just doesn't compress the file like it should and gives me this error... "-50".

i'm excited for christmas...

the fifteenth!

2005-12-15T15:28:00.000-08:00

hi.

how are you?

i am well.

having daytime off is weird. i feel like i should do stuff, so i do. today i bought christmas gifts for the entire maatman family. and almost all of it was from amazon.com. which was crazy. there is a lot of stuff on there.

in other news, my job is going well. i feel like i'm getting into the swing of things. i'm able to do stuff that is helpful to other people and isn't boring either.

i talked to iowastudentloan for an hour today. i can't say it sucked, but it wasn't pleasant either. i feel like i've been dealing with money all day long. who and how much and what for and how long.

packages have started to arrive here from far off places. iowa....north carolina...bed bath and beyond...amazon....it's nice to recieve such things. i'm excited to open them all.

my ear kinda hurts from being on the phone today.

i'm out.

tuesday media event

2005-12-13T13:04:00.000-08:00

well, i don't have that much media to talk about. i saw narnia last thursday eve/friday morning. despite my roomies criticisms of the movie, i really liked it. I have not read the books. i know gasp. what kind of christian am i? well, i'm the kind that always wanted to, but never did read the narnia books. i know, i know everyone did. and then again in high school, and then in college for kicks, but i didn't. so i was fascinated by the story. i thought it was fantastic. i could see some parts coming like, aslan sacrificing himself, but i didn't know he'd be back so soon. i was truely intrigued and interested by the film. so many people are comparing it to lord of the rings. my roomies hail it as the one of the best series/films ever and they praise peter jackson for his epic abilities. it's so much different than lotr though. it's not an epic 12 hour story. it's one story. it actually ends after one movie. i really like that. lotr is great, but it never ends. it keeps going and going and going and going. it's my constant battle against long movies. unless i never have to look at my watch, it's usually too long. what a bold statement. this from a guy who claims dogville as one of his favorites which is how long jack? well....umm....it's like, 2.5-3 hours of pure torture.

anywho. i like it. both, i guess, dogville, narnia, mmmgoood. and i didn't think disney killed it. and i think the next ones could be even better. but i don't know the stories. because....i haven't read the books.

family guy volume three. that's the other thing i watched recently. it may have just been the episodes that i watched, but, man, they are really mean to meg in the third volume. i was honestly taken aback. i guess that's family guy's thing though. nothing is sacred. mostly i just didn't see it coming. but it's funny. stewie rocks. as do brian and chris.

in other news, they are redoing our street, which means we can't park there, which is really, really not cool. everybody has a car. everybody parks on the street. when i get back at 12am-3am it's hard enough to find a spot, now i can't even park on our street along with everyone else!

well. that's about it. jasmine and i have the day off tomorrow together. that'll be fun.

jack.

::::jbo::::

2005-12-12T09:50:00.000-08:00

well. it has happened. and in the same week. jasmine and i both have jobs. i'm an assistant editor and she is a volunteer manager and special event coordinator.

we are very glad to have work.

i'm still working nights this week. which i'm okay with, but it means i wont see jasmine much at all thie week. that middle time between jobs ending/starting to eat may be the only time.

unfortunately we had to miss church last night due to a volunteer appreciation event at jasmine's work. it was nice to meet all of her co-workers, but we missed church.

i'm not sure what to do with my self today. i have all day to do stuff, and i kinda feel motivated. i think i have a list somewheres.

i hope all those who have exams and whatknot are bearing the load. i miss the iowa friendships.

i think i might drive to dane/joshua/amanda/nates place if i was in sioux center right now. see if they are up and doing stuff. maybe watch some dvd with them.

i hope you are well.

2005-12-10T08:39:00.000-08:00

sylvia.

arnola.

bermuda.

sad man angry.

frech fries.

sanitarium.

saint augustine.

walter.

a mad adam.

sincere.

sandie.

align.

two fallen men ride horses.

stop.

late nites.

2005-12-08T01:09:00.000-08:00

well, i'm still working. that's right kids, it'a, 1:07 am and i'm still on the clock. i really can't complain. right now i'm waiting for things to export, burn and copy, so i'm sitting, blogging and whatknot.

my job is good. i've signed on for 3 weeks, but i'm guessing it's going to be a lot longer. just my guess for now, that may change.

today was weird. i didn't get out of bed until noon, didn't shower until 5ish. but it felt okay, because i was starting work at 7pm. i have another interview tomorrow, at ten am! holy craps. that's early. tomorrow will be long, especially with that 12:01 showing of Narnia. mmmm. i'm excited for that too. i'm a little worried too, that it might ruin the books. (which i haven't read, *gasp* i know it's crazy, but it just never happened.)

jasmine is supposed to find out tomorrow if she has work. i'm excited for her. i'm not seeing her as much these days--working all hours of the night.

so i've had a headache for about three days now, any solutions? i've self diagnoised these things: i'm drinking far less caffiene and soda than ever before (minus the two pepsi's i had at work today). with that also, i think i'm taking in less sugar than before, although i'm less positive about that one. and lastly, i did have it once where my neck was sore due to messing up my neck--out of alignment or something.

the good news is it doesn't keep me awake, and isn't super strong hurt, but a mild in and out.

i looked a little online for some help, no dice.

well time is crunching and i'm not sure if i'm going to get it all done before two.

arg.

tuesday the tee-light

2005-12-07T01:38:00.000-08:00

today was my first day working at extra large technologies. i never looked to see if they have a website. i might do that now. they do. how nice. you'll never guess what i'm working on. before i left someone asked me, i can't remember who, i wish i could, "so, if you are offered a job working for some reality tv show, you'll take it?" and i answered "probably. i know a guy working for elimidate, that would be the worst i think." well, it's not reality tv. i'm thankful for that. but it is an interactive dvd of the popular BRATZ dolls. that's right kids. i'm working on turning bratz into another dvd your nine year old will truely appreciate. it's actually kindof a cool concept. it's an intereactive dvd. so the kids pick which character they want to watch, and then which story they want to do. it's something they can watch over and over again--seeing different things each time. it's pretty cool. i mean, i can't say that i'm excited to be making films about BRATZ, but it is cool to work with 3d animation--where if you want a new angle, you just ask the director for it, and the next day you have it. i got to cut a segment today--a first pass type thing. it was pretty cool. mostly i'm going to be getting things ready for the DVD authoring house. adding loops at the end of segments and things like that--making things ready to be interactive.

all in all today was a really good day. i went to another interview (two down, two to go.) i don't really need the work with this company--they do music videos mostly, but it was nice to go there meet the people, and see what they do.

i meet at arclight cinemas on thursday, i'm hoping for a part time job there, the pay isn't great, but it would be extra work, so the pay isn't as important, and i get to see free movies again. i like free movies.

in other news, we're designing the wedding invitations. that has become my day job...so to say...while work nights for a while.

it felt really good to work again--espcially on final cut. mmm. i like editing.

jack is finished writing now.

how they come in bunches.

2005-12-05T23:29:00.000-08:00

well.

i know the tension is rising. the answer to the quiz is:

1. Harry Potter aka (i don't even know his real name! i'm proud)

2. STAIND

3. George Clooney

4. Reese Witherspoon

that's all for the quiz.

in other news, i have a job!

it starts tomorrow. it will be a few days this week and then start normal type hours next week.

i'm really excited for it. you see, i thought i'd spend about a year or two doing grunt type labor. assistant editing/shipping/vault/i don't know what. but last week, my old boss ryan from tandemarts gives me a call, and is like, i think i have a job for you. i went to the interview today and bam, a job. and it's freelance type work. this one will last until probably the middle to end of december. and then they might need me again in january. so, i'm now thinking that i might try and work at a movie theatre--i have an interview on thursday--to do my constant sort of income and then edit like this--gig to gig so to say, gaining experience and contacts.

so i'm excited. it's great to have something that isn't just a possibility or a maybe, but a for sure, i'm going to work tomorrow night. that's the other thing. for, now, it'll be at night. which i'm okay with. it means i get to sleep in. even if i still get the same amount of sleep, it feels like i'm sleeping in.

so yea. things are looking up! jasmine has another (different) interview tomorrow and then another (third round) on wednesday. we both might have jobs by the end of the week!

so. i will be editing. how grand!

thend.

he said that?

2005-12-04T02:42:00.000-08:00

these are different celebrity's answers to what they are watching/what they thing the best thing to happen in 2005. can you guess who said these quotes?

1. "The best album of the year so far is Arcade Fire's Funeral. The title makes it sound like it's all doom and gloom, but it's actually not. The reason it's called Funeral is because seven members of the band's family died when they were making it. But it's just the most beautiful, sometimes sad and sometimes really uplifting album I've heard recently. Absolutely brilliant."

2. "There is no TV show that means that much to me. But my wife gets sucked into all the reality shows - all of 'em - and forces me to watch. A record that meant something to me this year? Probably Elliot Smith's X0 - I listened to that a lot. For DVD it was Dave Chapelle's Show, for sure. It's a staple. All the episodes are funny. He just pushes the line all the time. I like that."

3. "Capote. It wasn't a straight biopic; it takes a very specific moment in someone's life and talks about that, which is an interesting way of doing things. For music I liked Peter Cincotti - an amazing CD. I listen to a lot of old jazz, and this guy sounds like the real deal. My favorite show is Jon Stewart. He still kills me. It's just so good and he's so smart. "

4. "My favorite movie of the year is probably Constant Gardener. I really like Rachel Weisz; she's such a talented actress and I thought her character was a really strong woman."

( i'll post some clues soon )

clues:

1. & 3. Are currently in the movie theatres. #1 Has been the highest grossing for three weeks i believe. #3 is known as a jokester. He also used to be a doctor on TV.

#2 is a rock 'n roll star (he spilled grape juice on the carpet).

#4. was on E! all day the other day. She's legal.

sunburnt

2005-12-02T10:36:00.000-08:00

have you ever been sunburned? i think almost everyone has. This summer, i had the worst sunburn of my life.

It was an august day. jasmine and i were meeting some friends, derek and cayla to go boating. this was an event that happened many times last summer, but since the birth of their sun, mason, the boating events had fallen on the wayside. This was to be the one boating event this season. I was kinda excited. The boating memories i have are with the plaiser family(s) and i was much younger. i recalled tubing and skiing and general boating type things. today, i was to boat with out any of my parents, i know this seems trivial, but it was a big deal in my head. what i mean is that i always associated boating with jerry and my dad. so, to go, without them seemed strange. but we got there just fine and got going without any problems. the day wasn't really that eventful. i tubed, derek and cayla skiied and jasmine tubed as well. i was thinking about sun block, but kinda forgot about it half way through the day. as jasmine noticed she was turning a little redder she decided to put on some sun block--i followed suit. later we jumped in the water and floated around for a while. it was a very good day. when we got back to small town minnesota to finish off the day, i noticed that jasmine was a little red, and she noticed i was too. it was expected really. we drove home. it got worse. it started to hurt. i applied some lotion. the green stuff, you know, aloe. i couldn't sleep. at least not very well. the next day it went away for a while. it returned, it started to itch, i applied more aloe. aloe, aloe, aloe. and itch cream stuff that my parents had. one night i could not sleep at all. it was horrible. it just itched and itched. more and more. i find it hard to recall a time when i felt more powerless. especially about things about me. i can't control lots of things, but thinks in my body, and around me, i can. or at least i choose not too. there was no choosing here. i was to itch all night long until i couldn't keep my eyes open. that was the worst. i did so much not itching it was crazy!

and then it slowly went away. there was nothing i could do really. nothing i did really, but wait. wait. wait.

i guess this is how i feel about jobs. there are so many possibilities, cures for the itch, but when it comes down to it, i have to wait. i do apply the lotion as often as i can, reply to job ads and make connections, but then i wait. and wait.

it feels like i've turned a corner. like that horrible night is over. i've decided to apply for jobs at places like circuit city and best buy and arclight cinemas. i have an interview at arclight already. i also have an interview with a post production house. i may have two jobs! who knows.

things are well here. jasmine is all moved in. she has more interviews coming her way as well. we've found a church. we have the beginnings of friends out here. things are going good.

signing off.

jack.

Numerous things

2005-11-28T13:06:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is over. We trekked to san marcos, an hour and a half south, for thanksgiving. the family was har's. if you don't know who har is, it's one of jasmine's roomies from college who now lives in arizona. anywho, it was good. the food was fantastic. the family a little crazy...but it's a family--who's family isn't a little crazy!

we watched a plethora of movies. i shall try and recall them for you.

matrix revolutions -- decent. my second favorite of the trilogy.

the end of big fish -- i really enjoy that movie.

harry potter and the goblet of fire -- it's another harry potter. the longest book i believe. i haven't read the books, but this one felt really fragmented to me. not enough of one story.

luther -- i've seen this before as well, but forgot most of it. i enjoyed it. it did feel like it just ended though. no real resolution--except for the text at the end.

hostage -- i really liked this movie. i may have a soft spot for bruce willis, but i really enjoyed this movie. it was complicated and a little confusing--which i like. very well done.

bomb the system -- a movie about a graffiti crew. i really enjoyed this one as well. a street movie. very well done and very well edited.

1/2 of waking ned devine -- we got tired. it was pretty good. very british/irish/etc.

and of course, family guy -- a staple at this apartment. mmmmmmfamily guy.

i'm quite sure i forgot something, but yea.

jasmine is at an interview right now. mmmmmmmintereview.

i'm supposed to hear today if i get the driver job.

i have a few other leads, one that i'm really excited about, but know nothing yet.

i'm thinking in one line sentances with two enters following.

i guess that's all.

2005-11-23T12:24:00.000-08:00

happy thanksgiving all!

not bad

2005-11-22T13:06:00.000-08:00

i had an interview today. it went good. it is with this company that rents out tons of equipment. from the computers you use to cast something to the edit bays to edit with at the end. i interviewed to be a driver for the post side of things. meaning that i'd deliver edit bays. i'm not sure how i feel about it. i mean, i need work, pretty badly, but at the same time, i don't know that i want to be a driver. it would be boring i think. it would also pay the bills.

i don't even know if they'll offer it to me. by next week i should.

we are spending thanksgiving in san diego. i've never been to san diego. i will tomorrow though.

thend