Posted by Joel
Sat, 25 Nov 2006 11:32:00 GMT
I replaced the tires on my car and got the wheels aligned, mostly thanks to Hunter driving me to and fro. I can't believe I commuted so long with such a shaky car.
I drove down to SLO and spent a little bit of time with Mom and Julia. The next day we went down to LA for Thanksgiving, held at my Aunt Renee's. There were a lot of people there but I wasn't feeling very talkative.
Afterwards Ben, Julia and I went to Jim's temporary place. He made some vegetarian food. I played around on the guitar, drums, and keyboard he had there, not really accomplishing anything worthwhile. I heard Ben's song he's been working on. Paul was there.
Ben and I came back to Ben's new place which I'd never seen before. I met his roommates. The next morning we dropped an amp off at Hollywood Phil's and then met with the family, again, at Philippe's, where once again I found myself somewhat annoyed and withdrawn. I decided I don't like Philippe's.
We walked around some of the historical LA area and then finally went back home. At home I took a few hours to fix the performance problem that had been at the forefront of my mind ever since I discovered a clue to its fix on Wednesday. LuckyO is now much faster.
Ben and his roommates and I, including the charming Gretchen, who is the only person I've met since college who recognized the name Thrasymachus, went out to see some acts play. They were good, but the audience was very quiet and I would have preferred somewhere we could actually talk to each other. A few girls they knew showed up and our small group became a larger one which didn't really match my interests as we went to loud and uncomfortable bars. I talked with some of them anyway.
I'm back here now, and despite recently deciding I don't really like ze frank anymore I watched a bunch of episodes with Ben and rekindled my interest.
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Posted by Joel
Wed, 22 Nov 2006 05:05:00 GMT
A lot has been happening. The move went well. My new lifestyle is infinitely more comfortable, with a washer, dryer, dishwasher, and parking spot. Marc also has a big TV and every gaming console, so I've been playing the new Zelda the last couple days.
This weekend I saw the new James Bond movie with Marc and a friend of his from Google. It was good.
Work had a security scare which really made me sick yesterday. It turned out to be an odd attribute of some software we use for monitoring traffic, and not actually a malicious person. Regardless, it really made me do a lot of thinking.
Today what seemed like a performance breakthrough turned into a frustrating mess as the site would hang after an indeterminate period of time with no trace as to why. I've had to go back to the much slower way until I can figure it out.
Marc has a dog, Ash. Ash and I were instant friends. But tonight he's been bad so he's in his cage and deprived of affection as punishment. Truly, I am ready to be a parent.
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Posted by Joel
Sun, 12 Nov 2006 17:55:06 GMT
Well yay on the outcome of the election and the resignation of Rumsfeld. Unfortunately Tom didn't win his district. It was very close, though, and I'm proud he did what he could and hope he runs again.
I'm moving again. I was supposed to move yesterday but I'm moving today instead. I am a terrible procrastinator.
In fact, writing this post is a form of procrastination. I really need to get up and go get a uhaul.
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Posted by Joel
Tue, 07 Nov 2006 17:21:25 GMT
I voted this morning. A few things changed since my last post. Ryan helped convince me to vote no on the parental notification for abortions. I did end up voting no on Prop 87 as well. Sorry, Bill, your ad with crying asthmatic babies didn't convince me to raise oil prices.
You should really vote, and I encourage you to vote for Democrats in the US House and Senate. I also want to express what an honor it is to be the nephew of Dr. Tom Hayhurst, running to be a Democratic representative for the 3rd district of Indiana. His race should be a close one and could help the Democrats take back the majority. I can't think of a more upstanding person for our government than Tom. Good luck.
We'll see how things turn out.
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Posted by Joel
Wed, 01 Nov 2006 17:12:10 GMT
I like Halloween, really, it's one of my favorites. It's almost better than Christmas because it doesn't make me feel guilty about not buying presents. However it does make me feel guilty for not taking the time to put effort into having a costume.
Honestly I like Thanksgiving a lot. It's a holiday I can get behind. Stay in, eat a lot, and just relax. I really would like to visit Chicago this winter, preferably for Christmas, so I should buy the tickets now. I haven't visited Chicago since I've moved here about a year and a half ago.
A lot of the reason I don't put effort into these things is because I view them as kind of "extra" pleasantries. I can't even really get my life on the level, let alone have time to focus on things which are positives. I always seem to have plenty of negatives which need cleaning up first, so that I can reach some kind of zero point, where my things are clean, and my legal stuff is in order, and my car functions properly. One day I will reach this point maybe, but I am a pretty bad procrastinator.
For Halloween I celebrated by getting to bed fairly early for once and getting a lot of sleep. My life is terminally boring right now and it looks to be that way for probably a while now, but that's ok. I just need to harness that boredom by using it to get myself on the level, and continue to try to cultivate my work, fitness, and hobbies. You don't need to live in the city for those, and internal satisfaction should come as prerequisite to seeking out the external.
When I move, I'm going to look forward to getting up later, staying later at work, and hopefully working out in the mornings before work. And, like, a 20 minute commute. And no parking issues. Plus we'll have lots of video games. I just need to use the extra comfort as a bed for self-cultivation and avoid growing complacent.
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