July 7, 2014

I think my exhaustion is due to not sleeping well. The night before last, and the night before that, it took me forever to fall asleep. Last night I did better but then woke up around two o'clock in the morning and it took me forever to get back to sleep. This morning I woke up tired.

Today at work it was hot as hell. Give or take a few degrees. It was about 98 degrees outside, 87 degrees on the cool side of projection, and in the mid- to upper-90s on the warm side. The kind of stagnant heat where even sitting in front of a weak fan doesn't prevent sweating. It made for along day. When I got up to leave I got really lightheaded and that feeling has persisted throughout the night whenever I stand up. I'm not sure if that is heat related or what.

Stuff happened at work despite the heat. The motor went out for the exhaust fan on one of the projectors and we had to cancel a show. They had someone there to fix is in about an hour. Certainly can't do that for the air conditioner though. Can't have that.

I finished reading The Secret Of Zoom by Lynne Jonell. I got it at the book fair and it is for kids but I don't know if that should be a thing. It is for kids about as much as the original Grimm's Fairy Tales. There is an evil man who has enslaved a bunch of orphans so they can mine a special mineral called zoom. It is highly explosive and at least one orphan died after an explosion. It doesn't make it far enough in the story but we learn that once the orphans have outlived their usefulness they will be put into a garbage truck (which is how they are normally transported) and then they will be smashed, because as they are repeatedly told by the evil man and the guards, nobody loves them. The evil dude has also kept his uncle an the protagonist's mother trapped in a mine for years. It's pretty dark and twisted. Interesting concept though, I'll give it that.

I spent most of my time at work cross stitching. It doesn't really look like it but I made quite a bit of progress, probably more than doubling the number of stitches I did yesterday. I think it looks pretty good so far.

Tonight I pretty much just watched YouTube videos and felt tired. It's about nine o'clock right now and I think I'm going to try and go to bed. Nothing in the world sounds better than sleep right now. A bold but momentarily truthful statement.

July 6, 2014

At the moment, I am exhausted. There is no real reason for me to feel this way. I just want to go to bed, and I have felt that way since about nine o'clock. It will be an early night.

I didn't have a lot going on today. At one point the internet and cable went out for awhile and I took the opportunity to watch Frozen and set up some cloth for my next cross stitch. Despite being sick and tired of the entire world being in love with Frozen and seemingly never getting tired of Let It Go, I liked the movie. It was really funny. Particularly Olaf the snowman and Anna. The thing I don't really get is everyone loving Elsa. She was a catalyst for the story but she really wasn't the lead of the movie, Anna was. And Anna was a much better character. Elsa kind of came across as a bitchy emo kid for the vast majority of the movie. She was actually pretty unlikeable. I get the reasons for her feeling the way she does but good grief. Grow up and get over it already. It was also kind of strange that she ran away and built an ice castle, that seemed kind of random to me. And then making the giant ice monster to get rid of her sister, who she went to all the trouble of isolating herself from in order to protect. So overall, at least in terms of story, it could have been better. But I liked the humor and I'd watch it again.

I started my next cross stitch because I wanted to take a break from that damn metallic string. When setting up the cloth for it I meant to leave a three inch border around it but in my calculations I just added three instead of six, so now I have an inch and a half border. I didn't really plan on putting a mat around it so I think the smaller border should be fine. It is also a little easier to work with. After cutting it out and taping the edges I stitch the first three words because calling it good for the night. It is so much nicer stitching with regular string again. I remain the enormous frustration caused by knots but I didn't have any of those tonight, which I am thankful for. I am using a shorter length of string than I was the last time I cross stitched so maybe that has something to do with it, Less opportunity for the string to get twisted and tangled. I'm excited to see how this pattern looks in the real world. It is about books but has the same basic layout as my cupcake one, so if this one looks good, the cupcake one will. I just hope I measured correctly.

I spent a lot of time looking at the artwork of Alice X. Zhang today. She is the artist who made the three Doctor Who prints I bought awhile back. She has a really unique style and everything she makes looks amazing. I want to buy all of it. It also makes me wish I could draw. I think the coolest thing in the world is being able to draw anything that your imagination can come up with. Drawing or painting or creating super immersive environments in video games are the things I wish more than anything that I could do. I can be artistic in other ways but that stuff is really just mimicry. Being able to sit down and create something completely unique and original at the end of a pen would be deeply rewarding. Every however often I get the drawing itch I immediately become aware of my lack of focus and ability to stick with something. I generally do stuff just long enough to be able to do it decently, and then I move on. I do believe that being able to draw is something you're born with. You can practice and make that talent better, but if it's not there to begin with, I think you're kind of screwed. And if you think otherwise, saying that you sucked but now you're good, you probably had the talent in the first place. I don't think I have that talent. But, I also haven't ever put in the time it would take to get good, even if the talent was in there somewhere. I like the super realistic look and that is definitely something that will never happen. It would be nice to bring drawing into my daily routine, however. Start at the basics and just practice.

We had a belated Independence Day family dinner tonight. I ate way too much food, as I have a tendency to do. I blame my sister because she made the pasta noodle thing and I went back for seconds. My mom's deviled eggs were also good. For dessert we had fruit pizza but it was make-your-own. This was to avoid the fruit pizza getting mushy sitting in the fridge. It worked out pretty well and the final product was delicious.

Tonight I did laundry, cross stitched a little, and watched YouTube videos. Super exciting. I wanted to play a video game but I was already feeling tired and could bring myself to pick a game. I need friends to play games with. I would like to jump on the bandwagon of whatever they're in the mood to play rather than trying to pick a game out myself. Unfortunately, I don't have any gamer friends. If I wanted to, it wouldn't be too hard to find some people online, but I don't really make online friends. Or offline friends. I should work on both.

July 5, 2014

I did stuff today. Nothing world-changing or anything but stuff was done nonetheless.

A good chunk of my day was spent in the basement going through old boxes. The best thing I found that I completely forgot about was a letter my grandpa sent me one year at summer camp. It is hilarious. It goes from being a normal letter about being stuck in traffic, to a letter about a flying car. I definitely got my sense of humor from my grandpa.

I watched three World Cup games today. Brazil beat Colombia and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Both teams were falling all over the place and the referee wasn't handing out any yellow cards so people kept falling all over the place until the cards did come out near the end of the game. So all the falling was annoying, but ignoring that, it was a pretty solid struggle. I kind of wanted Colombia to win because it is fun watching James Rodriguez score goals for Colombia. He is only twenty-two years old and he scored six goals in six games at the World Cup this year. So even though he is out he is still two goals ahead of the next few guys who only have four goals, which means he could still win the Golden Boot. Which would be kind of crazy considering the other guys will have at least one but possibly two extra games on him. At the end of the game he got pretty emotional and started crying and two of the Brazilian players came over to comfort him and got the crowd to cheer for him. That is some really good sportsmanship.

The Argentina v. Belgium game wasn't that great but Argentina came out on top. It may have been one of the games where it really kicked in near the end but I can't remember. I was hoping for an Argentina victory because Belgium beat the United States, so I'm happy.

And then the goddamn Netherlands beat Costa Rica. I don't particularly care for Costa Rica but I hate the Netherlands. I don't know the percentage of time Arjen Robben falls down when he has the ball but it is statistically significant. It is so frustrating to watch because it is an inevitability. He makes no effort whatsoever to stay on his feet. In fact, at the slightest touch he brings both legs up in the air so he literally doesn't have a leg to stand on. Robin van Persie is also a notorious diver but Arjen Robben has taken the cake during this World Cup. The game really wasn't that fun to watch because the Netherlands had the ball the vast majority of the time. Every time Costa Rica got the ball they almost immediately gave it away before they could do anything worthwhile. Despite that, they held off the Netherlands for ninety minutes, plus thirty minutes of extra time, finally losing in the penalty kick shootout. The Netherlands subbed in a new goalkeeper before the shootout and the dude was a giant that guessed the right direction on every kick and blocked two shots. The Costa Rican goalkeeper had been struggling most of the match and ended up guessing the wrong way more often than not. The Netherlands better not win the World Cup. If they do, I'm boycotting the World Cup, for at least four years.

The biggest shock of the day was that I actually went to Papa Murphey's to get a pizza for dinner. I still can't believe I actually did it. It wasn't my first time eating their pizza, I'm actually a big fan, but it is the first time I have gone to buy the pizza. I'll admit, it was a bit confusing, but the two kids running the register stuck with me and we got through it. I turned the oven on before I left and it was ready to go shortly after I got home. In the confusion I didn't pay much attention to the cheese situation of the pizza and in the future I would got for a lot less, if any at all. They also sprinkled some spices or something on it and I don't think they were necessary either. In the end it was delicious but it did taste a bit too salty. I'll do better next time. And there is a good chance that there will be a next time now that I have gone the first time.

Tonight I watched the World Cup and a bunch of YouTube videos. I also wrote a letter to a friend and read stuff on the internet. Not the most exciting of evenings but I'm okay with it. I kind of wanted to play a video game but I didn't. The vast majority of times I want to play a video game I don't. That would explain why I haven't played most of the video games I own. I would like to change that but I never get around to it. Not with any real conviction anyway.

I learned today that I only have five weeks of summer left. That is a lot but at the same time not really. It feels like June went by in the blink of an eye and it is hard to believe that it is already July. Craziness. There are still so many books I want to read and cross stitch projects I want to start/finish. I'm running out of time. And this school year I will be working two jobs plus starting grad school, so I don't foresee a lot of free time. I need to buckle down.

July 4, 2014

Today I celebrated my independence by sleeping in, watching a World Cup game and several YouTube videos, taking a nap, and then going to work at the theater. Nothing of note happened before I went to work. At least nothing I can remember anyway.

When I was leaving for work I said hello to a kid who goes to the school I work at because he was over at the neighbors house. While at work, it was the same old thing. I read books and cross stitched. The night went by really fast actually. And I got off an hour early because no one came to the eleven o'clock Transformers or the midnight showing of Deliver Us From Evil. Not surprising in the least. I finally finished the outline for my Snitch cross stitch. It was the most technical aspect of the project but also the easiest probably. Filling it all in with the other metallic string won't require too much thought but it will become incredibly tedious. And potentially a pain in the ass. Fun times.

Last year all the neighbors ended up lighting all their fireworks trash on fire in the middle of the cul-de-sac, creating a bonfire. This year they just left the trash all over the cul-de-sac, including our driveway. Nice. When I was growing up we had fun shooting off fireworks and then we cleaned up all the debris, either by the light of car headlights, houselights, or flashlights. That was just part of the experience and something that had to be done before the night was over. I don't think that is a unique thing to do, it actually makes sense, that way you don't have to worry about it in the morning. But I guess it just isn't the style of our neighborhood. That is kind of annoying. I had to drive over it all to get to my driveway, hopefully not hitting anything sharp. It was tempting to actually go out with a broom and take care of it all, leaving a bag of trash in each of the neighbors' driveways. Yes, it was two o'clock in the morning, but I had a nap this afternoon. I didn't end up doing that, however. I just stewed about it for a bit and then wrote about it here. Sadly, I was expecting to come home to a mess and the neighbors did not disappoint.

I want pizza. I haven't had pizza in forever. Or maybe I have and I just don't remember. Either way, it is kind of the same thing. Maybe I'll get some tomorrow. Probably not. But maybe.

I will end this entry with some quotes from Picture This by Joseph Heller:

“The coming of peace does not usually bring an end to the violence of war, and the conclusion of this war did not bring an end to the feelings of hatred and enmity that had spawned it.” (p. 79)

“To know you do not know is to know a great deal.” (p.83)

“Wisdom consists of knowing there is no such thing.” (p. 83)

July 3, 2014

Today at the theater I figured out my problem with Scarlett Johansson. At least I think I did. It is pretty much the same problem I have with Cameron Diaz. Both are billed as leading ladies and sex symbols. I don't see them as either. Johansson is better looking that Diaz but she is still kind of goofy looking. And neither of them are that great at acting, Diaz probably wins in that category but it doesn't really matter. I think both would be better suited as co-stars to the lead in a film, like a quirky best friend. But somehow they got lucky, sold their soul or were just in the right place at the right time, and they became leading ladies. It bugs me. I have known about it with Cameron Diaz for years but I could never quite figure out what it was about Scarlett Johansson until today. It is a bit of a relief.

I figured that out while watching a bit of Chef. I didn't intend to watch any of that movie but we had complaints about the sounds so I was in and out a few times checking on it. Other than briefly seeing Scarlett Johansson, I enjoyed the movie. I like Jon Favreau and I caught a Robert Downey Jr. scene that made me want to watch the rest of the movie. The movie also made me want to make and eat delicious food. I should start doing that.

I also watched a good chunk of Tammy. It is very much a Melissa McCarthy movie, but much like Will Ferrell (and others), she does what she does really well. This is a bonus because if you're a fan of one of her movies, you're a fan of all of her movies. My only problem with her is her weight. Not for aesthetic reasons, though. For health reasons. I like her and I want her to be around for a long time making movies. And I'm not saying that because she's a she, I feel the same way about men. Horatio Sanz is an example. He was hilarious on SNL but I was always worried about his weight. I was a huge fan of Chris Farley, who had drug issues but his weight didn't help. There is also Jonah Hill. He lost a whole bunch of weight, to the point of being a little scary, but now he's back up, not to his original weight but I worry. People can be funny without being overweight and unhealthy. I'll admit to laughing at self-deprecating weight jokes but I would be perfectly fine if that wasn't an option. And now I'll step down from my soapbox.

I watched parts of those movies because today was dragging on so freaking slowly. I read from my books and also worked on my Snitch cross stitch for awhile, completing the outline on one of the wings. Still far from completing it. I would like to finish it up so I can start working on other patterns. Ones that do not involve metallic string.

Tiny randomness. I want to see a movie car chase where the person being chased calls a timeout because they have gotten lost after all of the random turns. I think it would be funny.

I had a very truncated visit with the new volunteer kid tonight. We texted earlier in the day and confirmed a visit but I didn't double-check before leaving, so that was my bad. He didn't get back to me either, so that is his bad. I drove over there and when I spoke with his grandfather, he told me the kid was playing basketball and then had plans to go to a Fourth of July thing. The grandfather eventually managed to get ahold of the kid and I went and picked him up at his old foster house. We agreed to just go get a drink and then I brought him back so he could still go with his friends to the Fourth of July thing. Nothing like spending an hour driving for a ten-minute visit. It was a productive visit, however, because I learned that he is still sleeping on a couch and he has missed a few appointments, including therapy, since he moved in with his grandparents. He thinks the appointments are due to confusion with his case workers, which is a good guess because I believe he recently got a new one because of agency changes in the state. Hopefully that will get sorted out soon.

I had a lot more time than I was expecting tonight so when I got home I watched YouTube videos and then The Recruit. I imagine the last time I saw that movie was during a preview night eleven years ago. I like Colin Farrell and Al Pacino is just fun to watch. I like the movie but I feel like they tried to make it super complicated, like an “I know that you know that I know that you know” kind of thing, and I didn't find it very believable. But it wasn't bad.

July 2, 2014

In my disappointment with the United States game yesterday I forgot to mention my favorite commentator comment from the game: “I'm told, reliably, he has a tattoo of Antwerp Cathedral on his person. That's a new one on me.” I just learned my favorite commentator is Ian Darke. I remember him from the last World Cup but I never got around to finding out who he was. Now that I know, I need to look him up on YouTube. There's got to be someone out there who has made a montage of some of his best random comments.

Today at the theater there was far less work to be done. I filled out the trailer report but that was about it. I spent the rest of my time reading. I didn't make it to the book I started yesterday but I started reading another new one. I feel like I did more with my day but I don't think I did.

They had a bunch of new people working at Chipotle tonight and I kind of got screwed on the size of my burrito, even though I asked for extra rice and beans twice. Oh well. After dinner I showed some videos and then spent the rest of my night watching other YouTube videos. Thrilling. There aren't any World Cup games until Friday and hopefully I can maybe get caught up on my Watch Later list. Probably not.

And now I have nothing else to write about. Today happened very quickly, while seeming to drag on, and there wasn't much going on. I imagine tomorrow will be similar.

July 1, 2014

This morning I woke up earlier than usual and went to my banks to move some money around so I could buy a laptop today. I am perfectly happy with my desktop but I am pretty sure I'll need a laptop for grad school. I'll be able to take it to my weekend classes and work on school work at the theater on the weekends I work. It will also come in handy for stuff I work on at school during the year, like spreadsheets and the slideshow, if I do that again.

Today at work I read books, including a new book I started because why not. I probably spent an equal amount of time ingesting movies and trailers and then building and transferring movies. Fun stuff. The tech was there fixing stuff and I talked with him for awhile. He has been there several times and he is much more personable than the other one. He was mainly there to fix the dead Doremi screen for one of the theaters and to fix the dead automation on another theater. I mentioned the fact that on one of the theaters we have to shift the picture back and forth between 2D and 3D movies and wanted to know if something could be done. Usually we just have to turn the zoom part of the lens because 2D and 3D movies are different sizes. But on this theater neither seemed to be centered so there was no winning, and we frequently have it double-booked with 2D and 3D movies. It became quite annoying having to shift the lens back and forth, when you remembered, and hope it didn't look too bad. He went in and tweaked some stuff that re-centered both types of movies, so now we should be back to just adjusted the zoom to get the right size. That will be nice.

After dinner I watched today's World Cup games. The United States played second and normally I would have fast-forwarded through the first game but Argentina was playing and I wanted to watch Lionel Messi play. He had a fairly uneventful game, as did pretty much everyone else, but it was thanks to him and his propensity to get surrounded by and distract players from the other team, when he got the attention of three or four guys before passing the ball to a wide-open teammate who scored a goal. It took them until the extra thirty-minute period but I'm glad it didn't make it to the penalty shootout because I wasn't feeling very confident with the Argentinian goalkeeper.

The United States game was disappointing and the World Cup has now lost some of its excitement. The United States relied on their defense most of the game, especially their goalkeeper, who ended up having the most saves in World Cup history (since they started keeping track of that stuff over fifty years ago). They managed to keep the score tied at zero but shortly after the thirty-minute extra time started Belgium scored, and before the break they had scored again. The United States managed to score in the second fifteen minutes, and were very forceful in their attack for the rest of the game, getting close to scoring on numerous occasions, but they just weren't able to do it. That really sucks. And now I feel about Belgium like I do about Ghana. And Italy and Spain and Portugal and the Netherlands. But those last ones are just because they spend so much of the game trying to draw fouls and yellow cards. It's a different kind of dislike but Belgium is now on the list. Argentina better beat them in the quarterfinals.

While I was watching the Argentina game I did the last little bit of research on my laptop, making a few changes to my build, and then bought it. I went with CyberPower again, the same place I got my desktop because I liked all of the customization. There is more with desktops but with the laptop I was able to pick the CPU, RAM, hard drives, and a few other things. It is going to be a pretty badass little laptop, better than any laptop I would have gotten somewhere else, and a lot cheaper at the same time. I'm excited about it. I know there are horror stories out there about CyberPower computers but my previous experience was a good one. My graphics card was a lemon when I got it but it was really easy getting another one sent to me to swap it out. So I am confident with the build quality, and if something is wrong, that I can get it resolved quickly.

Randomness. I recently rediscovered the rapper K.Flay. I like her voice.

And now I'm going to go to bed. It is much too late for me to be awake. Although it could be quite a bit later so I can't really complain. Which is a strange sentiment considering immediately prior to that I just said it was “too late for me to be awake.” But maybe it's just late enough for me to start typing ridiculous things.