update

i no longer have a job, my last day was on thursday.
this thursday i will be moving to denver.
i just opened a bank account there and started a new cell phone plan with verizon.
these seem like monumental steps for me.
there a lot of aspects of being self-sufficient that escape me until they come up.
this is the first year that i'm doing my own taxes, it's weird.
hopefully i can find a job quickly in denver. since my standards are about two notches above prostitute and drug dealer, i think this won't be a problem.
i am stressing out a little.
here is a masters of the universe screenshot for all to enjoy:

Actively Living: Part 1

I'm working as a QA Tester here right now:


This is the first project I'm assigned to:


Despite the Temp Job level pay, it's a pretty cool job as Temp jobs go. More to come.

the ol highway's a callin

so, i am moving to denver in about 3 weeks. my friends at work are really sad, and i'm really going to miss them and blue collar. to the point that i want to prolong leaving, even though brandon keeps getting antsier about me moving out. it sucks because i wish i could take the whole place and just dump it down in denver.

however, my social life while living at home has been totally shitty. i almost never hang out with anyone from work and i have no other friends. so, my weekends are spent with my family, which may be fine for some, but i have grown to dislike it more and more throughout my entire life. living in de soto is like living in some closed in society. i only leave by myself to go to work, the rest of the time i venture out with my family.

going on vacation with my family, and spending a week with my grandparents and extended family, was even worse. don't get me wrong, i love these people, but i can only spend so much time with them. being in a car for 12 hours with my parents and younger brother slowly makes me more aggravated.

it's going to be nice to be very far away from all of that. not that i'm running away from my family, i'm just doing what i want to do, because i can. god, i sound like a bitchy teenager.

You need to meet my roommates

Just had this conversation with one of my roommates,

him "Hey, long time no see!"

me "I know man, how was Christmas?"

"Good! How was it for you?"

"Good man, it was really fun. I actually went to NYC for new years, which was awesome. Did you get do anything fun over the break?"

"I got to play broomball"

for christmas eve, my family decided it would be a good idea to go to this candlelight barn service at this farm at 10pm. we all bundled warmly and i snuck an earbud under all of my clothing so that i could listen to sigur ros.

we arrived at the barn and headed inside. people were sitting on hay bales that were assembled in rows that were just barely wide enough for my size 11 foot to sit perpendicular. on top of the hay bales were wooden boards covered in green astro turf. what was neat about that, was that it was one of the most incredibly uncomfortable places i have ever had to sit. i spent most of the service practicing yoga breathing techniques and slightly altering my posture to keep my back from aching.

when we walked in we chose a plastic, light-up, candle from a box. i wondered if the fact that i had the only one with dead batteries was cosmically ironic. or maybe god was trying to symbolize my lost faith as some sort of message in my hand.

the music was pretty bad, the guitarist/singer was struggling for the most part, and all the back up instruments were off beat or inaudible. the message was from this pastor who was in poor period dress and was pretending to be the inn keeper that provided mary and joseph with the barn. it was very theatre-y and shitty. then they had communion, so everyone was trying to file out of their constrictive seats and stumbling all over. it was awkward, and i opted to not partake.

this has been the coldest winter in kansas that i can remember. then, the day after christmas it hit 65.

oh yes, and at work, our christmas party included:
guitar hero world tour on a PA and projected huge on a wall
beer, 2 spiked punches, and champagne jello parfaits
a very odd white elephant gift exchange, including a hand painted "chimpanzee riding on a segway"
and 8mm projector with old collected movies including home videos, weddings, and porn, courtesy of my boss.

A Bad List of Good Things

I found a scrawled note in my backpack that I remember writing hurriedly one morning after working at Starbucks. The list was a start of things that made me happy in a pretty unhappy time.

Behold, the things that made me happy in those few days.

1. The puppy in Equilibrium
The movie liberally steals ideas from every popular dystopia piece of fiction, but besides its unbelievably kick ass gun fights, the greatest thing about this movie is Christian Bale's character, experiencing emotion for the first time, finding the most adorable puppy in world history. This picture is a perfect reaction of a man who has never experienced emotion looking at a puppy with emotion for the first time.














2. Kind Executives
By some stroke of luck, I was able to meet marketing legend Bob Thacker, (the man responsible for the turnaround of Target from dowdy second rate retailer to favorite multinational company of college kids everywhere). Not only was Mr. Thacker the most friendly, humble person in spite of his accomplishments, he gave me contacts to several presidents of great ad agencies. Now, as a 22 year old from Wyoming, its pretty scary to call people who were responsible for the budweiser frogs, or who directed multi national ad agencies. Knowing this, its been pretty incredible to call these people who are respected by everyone in the field, and see that they are friendly, understanding, and helpful. World, there is hope for executives yet.

3. Jon at Work.
Jon is about 70 something years old, has worked at Starbucks for 9 years, and is nicknamed "legs" because of his love of wearing khaki shorts at work. He often messes up his coworkers names, makes jokes from the 40's, and gets upset when things don't go perfectly. He is super cheerful though, and just his entire existence blows me away.

4. Sprinting when the good part of the song comes on during your run
After a mile or so, my legs are tired. I'm thinking about how awesome sitting or walking sounds, but then the huge breakdown comes with Spencer of Underoath killing his vocal chords, or the huge bust out after the ambient section of a Genghis Tron song comes on, or the verse where Lil Wayne just f'ing loses it comes on, and I am suddenly full of energy, and find myself in a dead sprint, fueled by the music.

Who knew this dude was responsible for so much exercise?






















(I will use any excuse to use this picture. It is maybe the most gangsta picture ever shot)

5. the 4:30-6:45 am shift
This shift is hellish to wake up for, but waking up this early, seeing the city come to life, and then getting off and eating breakfast with an egg nog latte is a flawless experience.

6. Going to bed at 8:30 at night

an ignorant rant about ignorance

why do conservatives believe that by allowing homosexuals to get married, the entire human race will be wiped out? whoever started this ridiculous notion has to be a closet homosexual, who thinks that everyone is on the brink of smoking a man-cigar and providing reach-arounds, or girl-on-girl 69ing. what is the number, like 1 out of every 10 guys is gay? that still leaves 90% of guys who are totally ready to fill girls to the brim with semen. think of all of the illegitimate children and abortions that are being tossed around these days. gay rights do not equal the end of human kind, and none of us would live to see that even come close to happening if it were true. and if it did, good riddance, humans are horrible people. haha

in an unrelated topic; my friend tyler at work said that when he was in high school, his dad suggested to him that he should hang out with the theater girls, because they were "loose." not only did this make me laugh really really hard, but it also got me thinking. is there any dude so desperate to get laid that he would resort to theater chicks? come on, those girls are either gross, or straight up crazy. example, i worked with an incredibly hot, high school theater girl, who probably was as completely easy as she came off, but was also as batshit crazy as anyone could possibly be. if someone was desperate enough to put their dick in that, good luck.

and so concludes another chapter of healthy morals and sage advice for today!