Survey-ies!!!

I started writing this a while ago.

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I was just telling Alex people should post blog quizzes. Lo and behold, they do as soon as I stop reading blogs inexplicably for 10 days.

[my name is]: Brian (and this reminded me of the opening of "Bring it On")
[in the morning i am]: sleeping or in class or eating breakfast
[all i need are/is]: love (i.e. friends and family)
[love is]: mysterious
[i'm afraid of]: spiders, finding out that my friends only like me for my digital cable (a joke, but on the square)
[I dream of]: Happiness without a catch, peace of mind, knowing i am where i want to be in life, and an endless supply of board games

-W H O-
[makes you laugh the most?]: Alex, Scott, Steve Lynch, Gerrit, Atom and Jeanne with much regularity. Many others from time to time.
[makes you smile]: Alex, Atom, Gerrit, Theresa, Scott, oh everyone really.
[do you have a crush on?]: Homestar.
[has a crush on you?]: Homsar.
[easiest to talk to]: Alex, Jeanne, Laurel (Atwell)...I can really talk to anyone :)

-W H O .W A S .T H E .L A S T .P E R S O N-
[you talked to on the phone]: my sister
[hugged]: Al
[you instant messaged]: Jeanne
[you laughed with]: Scott, Katie, and Jeff Hinkelman

-D O .Y O U / / A R E .Y O U-
[could you live without the computer?]: Honestly, it would be difficult. I mean, I could live, but my major, both of my minors, and everything I could do with my life depends on them. Theatre and film I could do without (and indeed they have been done for some time without), but it would always be easier to have.
[what's your favorite food?]: All sorts of things, if cooked right.
[whats your favorite fruit?]: Pomegranite.
[what hurts the most? physical pain or emotional pain?]: Depends on severity. I mean losing a loved one is tough, but so is getting an arm cut off sans any type of anesthesia. I suppose emotional probably lasts longer.
[trust others way too easily?]: Yes.

-N U M B E R-
[of continents i have lived in?]: One, sadly.
[of drugs taken illegally?]: Just old-fashioned Alcohol, kiddies.
[of tight friends?]: Difficult to say. I can think of about 5 people (not related to me) that I would guess would risk their life for mine if they had to.
[of cd's that i own?]: I have no idea. I had 70 in high school, but I haven't bought a ton since then. Probably around 90.
[scars on my body?] : One above my eye from a wooden pirate sword, one on my side from sliding down an icy hill, and that's all I can think of.
[of things in my past that i regret?]: I would like to think I don't regret things. I mean I regret a lot of things in the short term. Like when I walk a little out of my way because I forgot I had to do something that was right where I came from. But in the end, everything just makes us who we are I suppose.

-O.T.H.E.R.T.H.I.N.G.S.-
[i know]: nothing.
[i want]: to be remembered.
[i have]: 2 eyes.
[i wish]: I could do magic.
[i hate]: Not having control over things that impact my life.
[i miss]: being 4 years old.
[i fear]: loneliness.

[i search]: using Google.
[i love]: All the people that make me smile.
[i ache]: sometimes.
[i care]: about little things.
[i always]: talk too much.
[i dance]: far far less than i should.
[i cry]: not nearly as much lately as i have in the past.
[i do not always]: think about others.
[i write]: villanelle (in fact, I don't even know how to spell that so I copied and pasted it from Lunchtime)
[i win]: infrequently.
[i confuse]: myself.
[i listen]: when i'm not talking.
[i can usually be found]: in my apartment, at webster, and to a rapidly decresing extent in uc 318.
[have you ever played a game that required removal of clothing]: nope.
[favorite place to be kissed?]: neck, ear, ass (just kidding about that last one, no one likes to be kissed on the ass...except Gerrit).
[have you ever been caught "doing something"]: I wouldn't know what this meant if I hadn't been writing over Adam's version. Surprisingly no. Though to this day my mom still claims she came home from work one day to find myself and my girlfriend coming downstairs from my room. This is different from Adam's example, and I have no recollection of it, but I suppose that counts.

-ARE.YOU.A..
[wuss]: would you believe me if I said no?
[druggie]: don't touch the stuff. except alcohol. and that's pretty infrequent.
[gang member]: if you define gang member as someone who always hangs out with the same people, has an emotional attachment to a color we always wear, and kill people who disrespect us, then no.
[daydreamer]: not really.
[alcoholic]: i've never been drunk.
[freak]: yes?
[sarcastic]: sarcasm is not my forte. i prefer obviously poor humor.
[angel]: what?
[friend]: to my friends. and some other people.

[shy]: not at all. unless i'm with a girl i have a crush on. and even then i'm mostly just stupid.
[talkative]: this goes without saying.
[adventurous]: not usually.
[joker]: nope, i'm batman!
[pimp/playa]: yes, but only with one girl at a time. and not even really then.
[sporty]: i play board games.
[intelligent]: Only in the book sense.

-Concerning.The.Friends.(You.Claim.To.Have)-
[impacted you the most spiritually]: No one in particular.
[wish you saw more often]: All of my good friends from home, and many people here. All my freshman year (read: pre-SnS whoreship) friends.
[wish you could meet]: i agree with atom here. this makes no sense.
[best eyes]: i don't notice eyes.
[most sarcastic]: zach "sassy" harris
[wish you knew better]: tyson (sadly, as we were roommates), alex sometimes, scott often manages to surprise me still.
[knows you best]: Alex, Jeanne, Atom (most of the time)
[best outlook on life]: Aaron Tarnow.
[most paranoid]: Me.
[sweetest]: Alex in a really good mood.
[most inside jokes with]: Alex (even though I am not on her list), Scott, Gerrit, and other assorted improv people, Steve (even though ours are from 5 years ago, I'd say we probably still have the most)

-Self-Analysis.You.Probably.Don’t.Want.To.Do-
[your biggest flaw (physical)]: scrawniness
[your best feature (physical)]: nose/cheeks (but only if you ask alex)
[your best feature (personality)]: genuineness or lack thereof (but rarely anything in between)
[your biggest flaw (personality)]: inability to let things go
[most annoying thing you do]: pretty much everything i do.
[biggest mistake you've made thus far]: what like while writing? or in relationships with others? or while cooking? i'll assume the middle one and say trust too much or too little, but rarely the right amount.
[describe your personality in one word]: dynamic (read: bipolar).
[the physical feature for which you are most often complimented]: none.

[person you regret sleeping with]: this is difficult to answer without raising eybrows, so i will say no one.

[you feel most attractive when]: i clean up (shower, shave, put on a nice shirt, etc.)
[profession]: [now] student, part-time video collection overseer [future] no idea.
[height]: 5'11"
[distinguishing marks]: Tiny, barely perceptible scar above one of my eyes.
[allergies]: pollen, ragweed, and similar things.
[lucky number]: 4.
[a smell that makes you smile]: vanilla, particularly in my kitchen.
[a taste that makes you melt]: Chocolate.
[a hobby that occupies your time]: improv
[a city you'd like to visit]: London, anywhere else in Europe, LA.
[a country you'd like to explore]: England, France, Germany, Canada, anywhere interesting.
[a drink you order most often]: Water or Gingerale.
[Mood after finishing this long survey]: I don't know myself very well.

New work schedule, new blog schedule.

Today marks my first day of all afternoon work. You may think this is exciting as I'll get to hang out with people more, but in fact it is the anti-exciting as I get to hang out with people less. Next week I start Acting for the Camera which, while hopefully an awesome class, occurs Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings. It's only 6-9pm which is nice and opens more possibilities than 5-10 did, but still mostly sucky.

In other news, I am excessively overwraught with disappointment in a state of affairs that has transpired. My cousin Dan who has helped me move in and out of dorms and apartments more times than I can remember is finally moving himself again. When he moved to his current apartment, I was home and came over to help but by the time I got there, there were but 2 boxes left and not enough room in the car for me to help move them. This time he did it on Wednesday. I am in a weird transitionary work schedule that I find out usually the day before I work for a week, I came home last weekend, and I am coming home next weekend. Subsequently, a 3rd trip to Cleveland in a week if allowable by my work schedule, seems kind of silly. But I feel awful. Maybe I will just go. I don't know. What do you think?

In other news, I arrived back to Pittsburgh last night to find the parking ticket I had signed to request a court date, that is due to the traffic court in now less than 4 days, to be in my mailbox because I forgot to put a stamp on it. I also really need to cash my mom's check to pay Verizon or I will start to incur some late charges and/or lose phone service.

I still don't know what I want to do with my life, but the more I talk about it, the more it saddens me. But I do know that these are likely to really be the best years of my life. I usually don't have to wake up until 11, or at worst 9. I am involved with 4 or 5 shows a year. I can be in and have fleeting creative control over an improv troupe and begin new projects. I get to take classes I like and learn about things I'm interested in. I get to try having a radio show to find that I only enjoy it after it's over. Not only that, but there are people to hang out with most nights of the week.

More to come.

Such and such.

First, a public apology. In my last post, the statement "Even Nina got an awesome IS internship that she doesn't even like..." was not intended to be a degradatory statement against one Ms. Vishwanath but merely meant to point out that the grass seems always to be greener on the other side of the fence. However, I can easily see how that could be interpreted otherwise, so it has been duly changed.

It is fantastic to me how much theory, practice, and understanding can go into a concept as seemingly simple as improvisation. The book I am reading at present says the same thing over and over and over again, a point I knew was being argued from the first few lines, but it is an interesting point and thus I read onwards. For the first time since I've been AD I felt like I was doing good improv at the last workshop, populated by Gerrit, Zach Harris, CourtK, Ken Tew, and, of course, the Snow White of Quebec. I felt like it was me and that teaching and running things was causing me to lose all focus I once had on improv itself. Then I thought maybe this book had something to do with it. It makes a lot of sense, yet the way the author presents improv, it would be unteachable. He doesn't seem to think it's true (and he is director of a troupe), but still.

Not to mention the fact that NPP and TheatreCraft are looming over my head to some extent. While I think I can try my best at both as much as anyone can, I'm just a 20 year old kid who doesn't really know much about theatre. As always, I think my ideology about NPP and my concept for TC are very good, but implementing them is a daunting and tiring task. But to be honest, I don't know how well I do, but I am looking forward to it anyway. I know it sounds contradictory, but I can't wait to have more people than I know what to do with again at workshops. To be able to see people actually start to progress and develop skills (both in NPP and TC). But I am crazy. I also would love to play in an SnS pit some day, Tyson is talking about projection work for LITTLE SHOP that sounds really awesome, I have to struggle with myself day after day not to let myself audition for Little Shop and my class schedule, awesome and exciting the classes are, is most definitively going to be my most challenging.

I should really start studying for my final tomorrow. I am excessively glad to have spent a minimal amount of time over the course of 6 weeks to knock off a stupid requirement.

Life threw me a lemon. Or 10.

So many things suck right now. To name a few:

1. Alex is leaving. In 3 days. After which, I have a week of nothing but work, then I embark on a month of having a class 3 evenings a week. Talk about suck.

2. I always feel like I wasted this summer. I took 2 stupid classes when I could have been learning all sorts of things. Nina got an awesome IS internship that she doesn't even like (granted I wouldn't like a lot of what she doesn't like about it). I really liked working at Progressive, but I've never had the real intern experience (i.e. going to functions, having training, needing to get a project done, being taught things explicitly, etc.) Not only that, but it looks bad when I start applying for work. I virtually took a summer off. Not even working at "web design internship" or coding portlets or volunteering for a film company. What am I doing.

3. I am running out of things to cook. Considering I've been self-sufficient for under 2 months, that doesn't leave room for much interesting cooking for the next, oh, 70 years. Seriously. But I do keep getting something to keep me interested. Last week it was big pesto wraps and this week it's cinnamon bread

4. I kept typing "linging" instead of "lining" in #3.

5. Last night, after forgetting twice to bring a picture to campus I volunteered to scan for a group presentation, I embarked down for the 3rd time at about 10pm. I went to Hunt, scanned, and left, only to find that the 3 parking spaces I left open at my building were now full. I subsequently drove to my secret parking hideaway where I park in such situations to find it nearly full. As it is a small residential street with cars parked on both sides, I pulled as close to the sidewalk as I possibly could. I also pulled up so I wouldn't be in front of the house's walkway because I am soooo nice. Today, I return to said parking cove to find a yellow piece of paper under my windshield wiper. Yes, the 3rd parking violation I have received in the past few months. Only this one was for $55 because it is, and I quote, "illegal to park on sidewalk." Now I should have you note that this particular stretch of sidewalk has a very low curb and my wheel was arguably on the curb a bit, but nowhere near the actual sidewalk part. There was a good...well...however wide a sidewalk is of space for anyone to walk on. The ticket also said it was issued because of a complaint. So apparently old Suzie M. Assface doesn't like people parking outside of her house and decides to call the fuzz as soon as she sees half of my tire on her beloved curb side, telling the officer her electric rascal couldn't possibly maneuver around my little Saturn. In addition, I was cited for parking <20 feet from an intersection with a stop sign. It is true, the front of my car overlapped the area of sidewalk denoted by yellow paint that was touched up at least 70 years ago and is now just an occasional speckle. An overlap of about 6 inches that was obviously intentional considering the exessive visibility of said paint at 11pm. Well, we'll just see what the Pennsylvania Magistrate has to say about it, but I imagine it will be something to the tune of "give me $55."

6. My life has no direction. At least I don't have to deal with change on that front.

7. Jeff reminded me today that I told him I was going on vacation at some point. I still have no idea where to go or what to do. Upon asking my mother a few weeks ago if we were going on vacation, she replied, "I'm going on a few but I don't know what you are doing." Considering I just spent a semester sans employment and now work for $6 an hour, I doubt I am going very far without my mother.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. My OB presentation went surprisingly well this morning and theatrecraft is pushing along smoothly. I still have to do a lot to prepare for a new breed of young starry-eyed freshman looking for guidance as they attempt to forget the stresses of college life for two hours of improvisation, but I still have at least half a summer left.

Bursting with urine.

I finally beat Spybotics. After 1.5 years and one loss of all my game data, I got to the less-than-impressive conclusion and preceded to beat all of the nodes I was unable to overtake previously. I still think the game is awesome, but they should work on the ending.

I am 4 min away from leaving work and thrifting. As the title may indicate, I am also feeling the brunt of sitting in the basement of Hunt without leaving for 5 hours, and drinking a soda halfway through. Maybe I'll head out 3 minutes early.

Nightfall.

I forgot to post at work today, but it was not my fault. In my last hour, I decided to give another crack at the Spybotics node that had destroyed all forward progress I once had in that game. Then I realized I could skip it and the other one wasn't too bad. But upon beating it, Disarray launched the Nightfall virus, and I could no longer access the net. As 9:56 hit and I was about to leave for the night, I logged out of the final node (which I had just gained access to), and this girl told me she could get me back on the net for a few minutes. That's the suck. I really hope I can still access it when I get back.

By the way, if you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should experience Spybotics.

Zach has been at Webster everytime I have this week. I remember a time when that never would have happened. While I do miss the Webster life sometimes, I get some of it, and I really like my apartment. After a horrible crash of thunder on my way over here, I was thinking about what I would do if my apartment burned down. What would a person do? Everything I own is there. And I just bought half of it. I am just getting settled and it would all be gone.

On a more positive note, Lankonia's civil rights are superb.

A day riddled with incident.

To spare you all the long, mostly uninteresting events of today, I will just hit the highlights:

* Who knew Subway breakfasts were cheap and mostly delicious?

* Porter Hall A18C is freeeeeeezing. That's 7 e's of cold.

* Aaron Tarnow is not my apartment's management office.

* From the entrance of the Waterfront, one can drive to Target, find an 11x13 baking dish, wait in line, purchase said dish despite the unending comedy of the cash register girl, and drive back to Loews in just under 10 min.

* No good movies play before 5pm during the week. Those that do play are attended by elderly couples and father-son pairs.

* $4 is too much money for a 3 day old soft pretzel and a cup of hot imitation cheese-like product.

* The Day After Tomorrow, I will regret wasting $5 on the horrible movie I saw two days ago.

* Rain is the bane of my existence (pardon the rhyme).

* In the event you accidentally back into someone's car while rolling uphill, hope he just drives away when you pull over.

* Instead of drinking Chai Tea with those you love, sit in the basement of Hunt for 5 hours and post to your blog. That will make it all better.

Politics.

My brief stint of being the proprietor of my own nation state has made me think, "My civil rights are excellent, economy developing, and political freedoms are good, this isn't so hard! Maybe I should be a politician." Because I know there is nothing more to it than voting on one issue per day and occasionally responding to telgrams. But who knows, perhaps I could get people to vote for me based on the garuntee that I will base every decision on intuition. Then again, I just told Alex I want to be a middle aged college professor who wears corduroy jackets with leather patches on the elbows and jeans to class everyday. Teaching and inspiring like Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, only without all the homoerotic undertones.

My second consecutive business experiment was cancelled today, so I have successfully swindled the system. I signed up for 2 experiments, both of which resulted in my receiving credit for doing absolutely nothing. The worst part is, I don't even need the extra credit, but these all sounded way more fun than the crappy psych ones. But I have found a ray of hope in that I can still sign up for the "for pay" ones all summer. Doubtless I will make more than sitting in Hunt for an hour, and I get to actually benefit someone's doctoral paper or something.

In other news, I am going to work out again today. Second time this summer. Before you know it, I'll be able to carry alex around for more than 45 seconds!

Everyone has their problems.

I think I have an inability to own umbrellas. I have scant memories of umbrella possession from high school, but no one knows where any of them are. I received an umbrella for Chanukah last year (although I was with my mother when she purchased it) and it was amazing. Tiny, automatic up and down, and flat. Then I left it in PH 100 and went back to find someone else was living the life of rain redirection luxury. So I bought a crappy, yet overpriced, CMU umbrella from the bookstore in a panic in the next torrential downpoor. They had two that were small enough to fit in the self-determined umbrella pocket of my bookbag. One was leopard print, the other zebra stripes. I chose what I thought to be the lesser of two evils for a man most think to be homosexual before it starts raining and bought the zebra stripes. It was flimsy and sharp, but I couldn't bring myself to buy a new one after investing $20+ already. Then today it was drizzling so I pulled out the umbrella on the way to class. I couldn't bring myself to put it sopping wet into my bag when I got to class, so I set it on the floor presumably. I left and realized I didn't have it 20 min later after checking my email and walking to the end other end of Baker Hall. I went back to retrieve it because it was now pouring only to find it was not anywhere in the room. While I am now priveleged to have an excuse to replace it, I am also very wet.

I was walking back into my apartment the other day when I saw the old woman who lives across the hall from me talking, at a distance, to a similarly old woman in a wheelchair who was waiting for the elevator. I apparently entered in just before the end of their conversation because all I heard was the wheelchaired lady say, "Everyone has their problems" just before wheeling herself into the elevator. I don't know why, but it intrigued me as I opened the many locks required to gain entry to my room. I don't really know what else to say about it, but I thought it was interesting.

In other news, I have 4 and a half hours of work left and I think I may just beat Spybotics before I go. But I also have some homework to do, so we'll see how that goes.

And so it begins.

As I embark on a new era of blogging, one in which I know what a blog is before I make one, and one in which I post at least as often as I work, I have created a new blog and started it with the longest sentence ever. Although it will indeed be sad to leave behind the halogenmistress of days gone by, I can now post audio blogs. Which is the coolest thing ever.

My apartment building has a parking garage that people can pay to park in. It also has a free lot outside of my building that consists of a circle of spots. The garage is apparently closed for a while, and subsequently it is oft difficult to be one of the mere 20 or 30 people that are privileged to park in the free lot. It has actually begun to surprise me how much people (myself included) want these spots. We've all taken to tricking people and speeding around the little circle to get an open spot. I don't even drive my car much during the day to avoid trying to park it again. It's insane.

I was supposed to have a meeting today. I'm in a group for a summer class though, which presents some problems. a of all, we have no time to do anything. the projects are assigned a week before they are due. b of all, none of us care too much about the class and are all sufficiently lazy. so we didn't meet. which means i could have spent my time helping alex with her car, or at least being productive here, but oh well.

well, i really shouldn't take any more time with this. i have things to put away and sort and further crappity crap crap to do (no, that was not a plog joke).