IT'S HERE! IT'S FLIPPIN' HERE!

WELCOME. WELCOME. WELCOME. I would like to formally welcome you all to the new blog. I've had some fun and grief getting it to look like this. HTML code sucks. Whoever invented the internet clearly did not have an artistic eye (frikkin' math majors). Anyway, expect some major changes. I'll be adding a lost more articles I've written in the past (edited to blog format) and I'll be updating this puppy a lot more. I wanted to use the url name "Meaningless" but it was taken, so I chose to add "magazine" to the end since the end goal is to create one. Here's my trial effort.

A few things about all the...things. The three rotating pictures at the top aren't just for show, they're links to stories and I plan to change them whenever I write something new that's worthy of being hightlighted. Everything should work, from the search engine to the "recent" and "popular" sections. I've created generic links at the top for different topics I've written about. They're labels linked to the old blog (it's all a work in process). I'm open to suggestions and if anything doesn't work, lemme know. And for all you Twitter people, I'm thinking about it--maybe I can link it to this somehow. Welp, enjoy the new dew. I've really missed posting on this thing. I keep having ideas but felt paralyzed since I wanted to update the layout. It was really annoying. In the next few weeks, expect some rants on the superhero films of 2007, why I no longer like Roger Ebert, and how excited I am about this summer and fall. Peace.

P.S. I posted this old picture for a few reasons: a) I needed to test placing an image on the new post, b) it's a great picture that embodies my hopes and dreams (ya know, being a rockstar), and c) when you fling a guitar like that it scrapes your neck, and since a lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into this thing the image of me getting scraped in the neck fits...kind of.

I'm on the staff page!

Check out the address below, I found it funny. There should be a pic, don't know why it's not there.
http://academics.biola.edu/english/faculty/tim-posada

Simpler Times

I remember when all I had to do was wake up, eat, pretend to enjoy work, do homework, play video games, watch a movie, and go back to sleep. Life was simpler in college and grad school. Now, it's not that it's not that simple, there's just not much time to prepare for the constant change. Trying to figure what I'll be doing in the spring has been a confusing endeavor. I thought I had it figured for about three weeks back in October/early November. I was going to teach three classes and assist school newspaper at APU. I had two 400 level classes lined up at APU, Faith and Values in Journalism and Senior Seminar. I was incredibly excited about both of them...they got canned from low enrollment. I suddenly realized adjunct teaching is stressful. I began contacting several colleges from Chapman to Pasadena City, trying to find any classes I could. My one goal, not to have to substitute teach. Nothing came through. I still had The Clause and that was it. Luckily, I was offered to teach another class in the spring at Biola. It's funny how I got hired there a few days before the semester started and now it's my bread maker. So I was set. I was going to spend all of January preparing for the Biola class at the end of the month and for the PhD application deadlines coming up on February 1st. But of course something else came.

So two days ago I was offered another class at APU, Public Affairs Reporting. I decided to take the class and am frantically preparing a syllabus and doing the appropriate reading to prepare for such an endeavor. In August I was able to prepare three weeks worth of lectures before the semester started for three classes. Now, I'm gonna going week by week. I'm not complaining here, because I'm so thankful for the second class. I'm gonna love the preparation and the challenge of entertaining 10 students in a three-hour class. I am, however, laughing at how this all has happened. I've gone from full to empty to partly full. I'm excited about the semester, but I gotta say I'm looking forward to the day when I have my PhD and a full-time job that will insure I get classes every semester. I get too much anxiety to live semester by semester.

Long time, no blog

I know, I know. I haven't been on here for a while. Teaching has been exhausting and my writing has gone into either preparing lectures, grading papers, or writing film reviews. But alas, as my roommates sit next to me watching Jericho, I find that I just might have the energy to do some writing.

First off. The election is over and my man Obama won. For the first time in a while I don't feel hopeless about this country's sad track record. I know he won't be able to do everything he wants to, but we desperately needed somebody new. Symbolically, this country needs to look different than it has been over the last 8 years. Also, I am saddened by the support behind Prop. 8. People can argue anyway they want, homophobia and bad theology is behind this one's support. I held discussions of the prop. in both my Biola and APU freshmen writing classes. It was truly amazing to see how different each group responded. Of course there were naive and prejudicial opinions in both classes (more at one than another though), but it was a night and day difference. It's not really that either campus had different views, just that some people know how to approach disagreements in a respectful manner.

In other news, I'm going potentially insane trying to nail down the classes I've be teaching in the spring. One of them was canceled, so I have to go on the hunt again. I'll find out probably next week if Biola will pick me up again. No matter what, I've truly learned that I love teaching and can't wait to start a PhD program and get that much closer to finding a full-time job. This whole adjunct thing is gonna be the death of me, not knowing what my schedule will look like from semester to semester. On another note, I was thinking about trying to teach at a college in Lithuania this summer. First off, it would be pretty fun to do it and second, it would look great on my CV (curriculum vitae), my academic resume. But with everything up in the air with my future, I have to admit that unexpected doors have been opened. I was expecting to have much more difficulty trying to find classes than I have had. Master's in theology don't normally get chances to teach pop culture, journalism, ethics, or general writing classes. I guess it helps to have a strong network of people that want to support you. (If I was anyone else right now, I'd make some claim about a "God thing" but my cheesiness factor was used up on bad one-liners in my lectures on Monday.)

Anyways, I'm sure I'll have a lot more focus in blogs to come, but for now I'll have to settle with a journal entry. That's it. Peace.

A little bit of an insane week

So last Wednesday was my last day at the newspaper I'd been working for since October 2007. To celebrate, I went to Long Beach to hang out with Casey for a few days-something I've been doing every Wednesday since I got back from New York/Florida. What was supposed to be a two or three trip turned into a week long adventure. This was the vacation I needed. It was relaxing and packed full of stuff and many new faces.

Wednesday night I show up in Long Beach around 9pm. Casey and I chill for a while before going over to one of Casey's friends' houses. From there, a bunch of us take off to the nightlife, where we meet a number of savory, but mostly unsavory, characters. The party makes its way back to Casey's place, where we stay up talking until 5 in the morning, finally noticing the sun rise and deciding to go to sleep. Also, I love playing Halo.

Thursday I woke up at 2 in the afternoon and spent the day at a coffeeshop, preparing my Freshmen Writing syllabus. Around 8, Casey and I met up again and went over to the same friends' house. We'll call it the party house. We show up in the middle of drama. This is reality show stuff. You stole my beer so I'm gonna slap you, then start a rumor that you punched me, and then I'll drunkenly skate my anger away. It was rather ridiculous, but that's life in Long Beach. Anyways, the best part of this evening was meeting Chuck. He seemed like the cliche drunk guy chillin' on the front porch until we got him talking. The dude taught himself Greek to learn what Paul was talking about in the New Testament. I love these kinds of moments.

Friday
I wake up late again and do the coffeeshop gig. Casey and I opt for a chill night. We catch a late showing of Pineapple Express, before Casey's three friends from Arizona, Amber, Kalani, and Natalie, show up at 2 in the morning. So come 2, we head to the beach. We're just walking around when a group of 7 people invite us to join them and have some free Coronas. So random. That night was great.

Saturday Yet another late start. We get up, hit some coffee, and head to Hermosa for the Hermosa Shorts Film Festival. We do this until 10pm. There are a lot of amazing short films and some really bad ones too. I'd actually scene one, titled Monsoon, last year at a small film festival in Colorado. Crazy. Anyways, it's this night that I decide I'll stay until the girls leave on Wednesday. Why not, I don't have a job. We end the evening hanging around at the party house and then throw on Blade and fall asleep.

Sunday
Beach day! So we don't leave for Sunset Beach until 3pm. Very late start, but we still get 2 exhausting hours in on the water. Casey and myself frog hopped each other into the waves. Sounds fun until the big wave knocks you over. "My kidney! My kidney!" So, we keep it chill that night. Amber and I end that evening at the Pike, a really awesome bar in the area, while everyone else knocks out early.

Monday
So by the way, last week I set up an interview on Monday at Biola to teach a writing class this fall. Since I have no work clothes, the "ladies" (that seemed to be the word of the week, since "ladies" always seem to sound shady) help me find some dress clothes-I needed some anyways. I end up with these nice dark blue pin-striped pants and a light pink shirt. The interview was fine, though the Biola faculty application is 20 pages long with 5 pages of response to their statement of faith. Bull shit! Afterwards, I meet up with the girls at Hunington Beach. We chill, walk around, and stick our feet in the water. We then head back and catch Greek food for dinner. We do yet another night at the Pike and bond some more. Have I mentioned how great these girls were.

Tuesday
Late start. We decide to keep it simple and just head to the Irvine Spectrum. These girls like to shop. But I did find some awesome plaid dress pants from H&M. We do this for a few hours and head back. We decide to finish the night, and week, off at the beach. We take a guitar and some drinks down to the sand and spend the rest of the night singing the first half of whatever cover songs we know.

Wednesday
I wake up nursing a headache and we say our farewells. Threats are made to visit in less than 2 weeks, and hopefully they'll come true. This trip reminded me of how much I love meeting new people since my job and other environments don't really afford me such opportunities. This was truly the funnest week of my summer. I was legen...wait for it...and I hope you're not lack tose intolerant, because the next part is...dary. And now, back to preparing lectures.

Things to do before I die

So I was rather bored during my layover in Phoenix this morning, so I created the ultimate list of my adventures and goals for the future.

Visit the Great Wall of China
Visit Tokyo
Write a book
Create a comic book
Create a film
Create a website/magazine
See Sigur Ros live
Bungee jump
Learn to play piano
Learn to bartend
Learn a second language
Attend the Cannes Film Festival in France
Compete in a Video Game Tournament (either Halo or Gears of War)
Storm out of a job exclaiming, "I quit"
Live in another country
The Bull Run
Octoberfest
Kiss someone on New Year's (I know, how sad)
Participate in a protest rally
Take a piss on the Hollywood sign

10 Things I learned in New York

10. New York is a very humid place (right now, worse than Florida)
9. Hegemony comes from the root word "hegemon," having something to do with imperical rule. :)
8. When your mouth is dry, beer isn't the cure.
7. People from Australia are cool.
6. It is possible to go a few days without meat and still have good meals.
5. "How I Met Your Mother" will always be a great show.
4. This city still gives me anxiety.
3. Even in New York, $80 is too much for a cab.
2. I wish there were more cities that stayed up this late.
1. Opera in the park, who really pays attention.

Good times.

Mmmmm, the Wind

Today sucked. Besides the fact that I spent more than two hours trying to get from Glendora to Beverly Hills (what a shit hole). Besides the fact that I continue to find new ways to get scolded at work (man, I can't wait to quit). And besides the fact that I can never seem eat normally or healthily at work. I spent over 10 hours at work looking outside to see trees moved by the wind that I desperately wanted to be moved by. I love windy days. Here's a list of things better than windy days:
1. sex...probably
2. ...
That's it. Of course, when I got home after nine, the wind was gone and I would've been too tired to bask in it anyways. Sidenote, I'm convinced that journalism can swallow your personality if you're not careful. Cure, socialize, drink, remain slightly apathetic about work, and blog. Back to wind. I love wind. If it's caress did it for me, I'd be a happy man. The sound of it at two in the morning makes me want to sleep forever-and that's saying something since I usually stay awake until four. Though it's 1:47 right now and I'm feeling the bed pull...but not yet. Besides those random moments when you're driving and a gust yanks the into another lain, wind has few negative elements (get it). And for the love, I was stuck inside all day. I don't care about pretty sunny days, a good wave at the beach, or daisies floating in the air. Give me wind, some rain, and snow. It's all wonderful to me. Just don't make we stare at it through a window that can't be opened. That's cruel and major cause for window vandalism.
Sidenote two, my intro to journalism and freshmen writing classes are both full. I currently have 39 students between three classes. The fall's gonna be crazy. Syllabus stuff is still going strong and I'm receiving quite a few books to review.
Sidenote three, if you wanna see me singing a song, rapping, and all around acting very inappropriately, check out Steve's latest blog (he's linked on my panel). I apologize now for the vulgar things I say and excessive use of the word "fuck." I swear, I don't normally talk like that...before noon...when I'm asleep. I'm done.

Something Drastic

So I did something rather compulsive yesterday...That's right. My hair has reverted to a size unknown to me since seventh grade. The mop on my head was getting rather unmanageable and the person who normally cuts my hair doesn't live close by anymore, thus I'd been debating this for a few days. I was ready to do and Steve pointed out that doing it myself would make it much shorter than I originally planned. But alas, I was impatient and just did it. No scissors, just the buzzers on a 1-inch setting. I don't regret it, but I'm suddenly very aware of my receding hairline. It ain't that bad, but a bit of a reminder of where my head's going in the future. I also have a few gray hairs saying hi to me, but I kinda like 'em. I feel like they give me street cred, or at least add a few years of wisdom to my face. Either way, what's done is done. I'm not gonne keep it this length and it'll probably grow out nicely in a month.

Spring Break: A Wild (Mild) Time

So it's spring break and I'll actually been rather busy. Unfortunately, not busy in the normal sense of spring break. I still had to go to work at my newspaper job, and I also had to finish my presentation for the conference this weekend. Because of this, I've been living off a combination of fast food and sheer nerve. Writing has become my only form of communication (oh, irony) and I can't seem to write what I want. Towards the end of Thursday night, it all did start coming together. I read my speech for the following day aloud to my roommates and it all felt like it was beginning to make sense-I just might convince the PhDs at the conference that I'm worthy of being listened to.

The week wasn't entirely wasted to the academic bubble. Between meals and reworded paragraphs, I actually did some exercise-of course, what I mean by this is playing Rock Band on xBox 360. I'm getting better at the drums and actually finding myself enjoying music once more. Though I really hate songs with an overuse of the bass drum and most the songs on Rock Band do this. As Thursday rolled around, I was in a bit of a panic as I wasn't up to where I wanted to be with my writing, and the house was getting rather dirty. I couldn't seem to focus and continued taking breaks to play ping-pong, rock band, and check if there was anything new about the upcoming G.I. Joe and Hellboy movies. Yet, I did manage to get to a comfortable point with everything-though I wished I had more time as I would've loved to memorize my speech or perhaps create a powerpoint presentation to go along with it. I did try to end the night right with an anime I rented called Vampire Hunter D, but the disc was scratched and mid-80s animation just ain't what it is now. So, I turned it off and ended the night with some of the second book, or season, of Avatar: The Last Airbender. There's something truly brilliant, fun, and funny about that show.

Friday morning came and I was running a little late. I wanted to make it to the session before 11:00am, thus I was forced to grab breakfast at Burger King-French toast sticks just ain't the same anymore. I took off to Loyola, which is off the same exit as LAX. I arrived at the campus in pretty good time, but Campus Safety didn't know where the conference was. I looked around for a while and became rather nervous. I wondered if it was being held off campus and I missed the memo. I tried calling numbers, but no one was picking up. Finally, I gave a call to a roommate to check the conference info...fucking shit, it's next weekend. Now, if I had known that Loyola is a Catholic school, I might have thought it odd to hold a conference on Good Friday. Alas, I didn't know and apparently can't see straight when it comes to checking dates. I'm normally not a flake about such things-in fact, I'm rather obsessive about them. Maybe I'm losing my edge...okay, I never had one. Either way, the conference is next weekend and I'm a little relieved. I now have the extra time to familiarize myself more with my material, and, today, I made a bomb-ass powerpoint presentation.

AHHHHH!

So everything's been happening at once. I've been having a great time overseeing The Clause at APU and rather bummed that I won't be doing it in that fall as I am simply a fill in. But this has opened up several opportunities for me. I am now going to teach a section of Freshmen Writing Seminar and there is potential for a section of Intro to Journalism and Public Comm-and it's all thanks to a newspaper job I took in West Hollywood. If I didn't get that job, I wouldn't have gotten The Clause gig and I wouldn't have gotten my foot in the door at APU. Thus, I have movies to thank for this all as I got the job at the newspaper because I found an ad on JournalismJobs.com and sent them my writing samples.

Besides the potential for fall classes, I was also contacted by one of my old professors who will be on sabbatical next spring in needs someone to teach his classes. I'm not qualified to teach one of them but the other is Christianity and the Creative Process, which I have been drooling over since I graduated from Fuller. Needless to say I would love this class. Oh, and today I received an email about potentially running the APU yearbook next fall. Apparently the art department is dropping and communication studies or alumni might pick it up. Either way, the chair of the comm department recommended me. It seems kind of funny, but it would be a great chance to improve something that the entire student body would see. I'm trying to see how this would all work as an adjunct who can only teach five classes for the entire academic school year. Perhaps the yearbook wouldn't count as a class...problem solved.

So career events have actually begun to pick up. My plan to teach at APU actually turned out to be an idea that paid off. I'm enjoying myself right now and can't wait to see what happens in the future. I hope my performance reviews go well.

WFF!

To my future has been unfolding in unusual ways lately. Here's the nutshell:

So things have been interesting lately. I've decided to stay on at the newspaper in West Hollywood. It's a consistent job and good opportunity. In the next few weeks I'm gonna see if they'll let me run an extensive piece on the Academy Awards-do a review on the past year instead just one film. It should be fun. I also have the opportunity to redesign their website if I learn how to do it, so if anyone knows where I can learn HTML stuff, that'd be great.

Advising The Clause is a truly unique experience. I wonder what my old prof felt like when she first took this job. It's an odd way to begin teaching at college. There's no lectures. All class work comes at the end of the semester. Everything else is more hands on outside the classroom. In some ways I like it because of the fluid structure, in others, it's harder to understand what's expected of me.

I had an interview to teach Freshmen Writing Seminar at APU. The interview lasted like five minutes. I was asked why I wanted to teach the class and a few other questions. I was then told that since I have already gone through the adjunct interviews, things are looking up. He ended by saying that he wished I had an English degree but was willing to look passed it. So things are looking good for me to teach FWS in the fall. I have some other possibilities too, but nothing is certain.

Soon enough I'll be looking for PhD programs again. What the hell am I going to do during the summer!

Life

So I'm sitting here watching The United States of Leland, writing this blog, taking a break from writing an article about a spike in MRSA among gay men, ages 18 to 35, and listening to Steven laugh his hardy laugh in the other room. My mid-weeks are always interesting. I wake up on Tuesday and drive out to West Hollywood. I hate that damn drive, but I do it because I need the money, though I no longer enjoy working for this boring little newspaper that has a bigger ego than a puppy that doesn't know it will soon be castrated. (Steve is laughing again) So after the newspaper, I went home for a few minutes and got ready to head to my second job, faculty advising for The Clause. I felt a wee bit awkward last week, but this week felt a lot better. I'm really gonna enjoy this. I've been answering a shit load of emails for work. After the meeting was over I came home and got into a rather loud argument about if a president should or shouldn't pledge to the flag or not. It was a quite long argument and I got kinda bored halfway through, but I continued until the end. So that's about my average mid-week day. A little tiring but fun.

I'm Back

Pardon the absense since my last post but it's been hard for me to sit down and write since my job requires me to do the same. Life has been crazy lately. I had to cancel my Christmas plans to go see my brother, nephew, and nieces because of the newspaper job. Instead of hanging with my family on Christmas day I went to see Alien vs. Predator: Requiem and decided to sneak into No Country for Old Men and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. That's right, I did nothing on Christmas, but this problem with work won't be continuing for much longer as I will be quiting the paper in the next two weeks. While I'm not a fan of getting yelled at for what I consider petty things, that is not why I'm quitting. I'm quitting because I will be adjunct teaching at APU this spring. I will be the faculty advisor for my old student publication The Clause. I will only doing this class at APU right now, but I've made it through the extensive interview process involved to teach there. From now on, when I apply for a different teaching position on campus I will only have to meet with the person in charge of the specific class I hope to teach rather meet with a dean and someone from the provost as well. I'm finally optimistic about my teaching future, though I have no idea what I'm gonna do for a job during the summer. It's gonna be an interesting semester. Hopefully quitting the newspaper in West Hollywood will help write here more. Until then, peace.

New Happenings

So it's 1:39 in the morning and I've had a little bit to drink. I acknowledge that this could be a very incriminating post, but I'm okay with that. I've had a long day, thus I chose to end it by having two red bulls and vodka, a beer, and a bunch of chips and salsa. Oh yeah, I also watched Saw III with my room ate and friend. It was a long day because I haven't exactly made the smoothest transition into my new job at the newspaper. I'm a perfectionist in my writing, and this flaw/quality caused me to work too slowly today. I was given seven pages to design today, but since I hadn't started them, due to the two articles I had to write, by 2:30pm, I had two pages taken away and only designed five. While this inevitably made my day easier, I was still very embarrassed thus incredibly frustrated. I felt that I could complete the pages, but my boss did not. And it is very hard to work with someone constantly reminding you that you're working too slow. I had an off day, but constantly hearing that I'm not where I should be will not help. I love that those in charge get more so irritated even though they're not the ones doing the work. I know I fucking screwed up, I don't need to be reminded, so fuck off.

Well, I made it through the day just fine. Normally, I would be dwelling over how badly I performed but something else happened. I received an email from the communication studies department at APU asking if I wanted to interview for a job teaching Intro to Journalism. One of my teachers is going abroad next semester and told me she would recommend me to teach some of her classes...apparently she did. I could be teaching a college class in the spring. Further, the email I received had an attachment from the film, television, and theatre department which stated that the dean of that department, who I have been in contact with, is planning to use me for a class in the fall of 2008 for Christianity and the Creative Process. I know that everything is hearsay and not for sure but it all gave me hope in the future and allowed me to think less about present failures and more about future success.

Good-bye Starbucks (thanks for nothing)

I gave my two week notice at Starbucks today. After two years of coffee and tea(rs), I am almost free. I will soon be having my "Fuck Starbucks/Belated Graduation Party." I can't wait to burn my hat, apron, and work shoes and pants. This is all possible because I got a new job. Along with substitute teaching, I will be working part time for Beverly Press, which publishes Park LaBrea News. Check out their website at www.parklabreanewsbeverlypress.com. They gave me a test run in which I wrote them a movie review with a deadline of the next day. I wrote a review on 30 Days of Night (in three hours) and sent it off to them. They published it in the 10/25 (check archive for a PDF of the article). They called me for a second interview, and on Tuesday they offered me the job. It's part time but I'll be doing movie reviews, page layout, copyediting, and whatever else they tell me. Right not I'm working on a review of The Darjeeling Limited. It's good to be done with Starbucks and finally using my journalism degree.

The long day to come

Tonight of all nights I should be in bed, but my hope to one day become a vampire continues to effect my sleeping habits. Alas, my nocturnal yearnings will have to take a backseat to waking up at 6:30 to be at San Dimas High School by 7:15 in order to spend the day subbing for who knows what. I'm not complaining because I do enjoy my newfound career, but right when I thought stability was on the rise I received a call from Beverly Press, a newspaper in Beverly Hills. They want to interview me after I'm done subbing. Thus, I will be hustling from San Dimas to Melrose Drive, while finding a place to change into my interview clothes (which I just finished ironing [I also had to put together an updated version of my writing and designing portfolio]). And after this interview I have to head back to Glendora during rush hour traffic in time for my 6:45 shift at Starbucks (yeah, I'm gonna be late to that one).

For those who care, I sent out my resume and writing samples to the Beverly Press for a job opening doing movie and restaurant reviews. I explained that restaurants are not my background but can quickly become competant. I had given up on a call since I sent it out like a month ago (and the ad on journalismjobs.com has even expired), but they called back. They said they were looking for a writer and someone to help with layout on Wednesday. I explained that I am a strong writer (and they obviously liked something since they called) and that I have a background in layout using the program InDesign. They use Quark (as most places do, though I'm not a fan), but the guy said that he thought I could get used to it pretty easily. Well, they want to meet me and here we are. It's a part time deal, which works great with subbing and trying to prepare PhD stuff. Plus, he said it could evovle into something more perminant. Here's to, hopefully, putting my degree into practice...it's about fucking time!

My firt day in the world of substitute teaching

So it seemed like a normal day, but something was different. I went to bed pretty late but instead of playing my pre-sleep Halo session, I chose to go to bed around 2:30. This turned out to be in my favour as I received a call at 6:30 to sub for an elementary school in San Dimas. For today and tomorrow I'm a rolling sub covering grades 1-5. Grades 1-3 were quite a journey today. I began the day teaching big number subtraction to third graders. They were a pretty good class but I was actually stumped some of the stuff certain students had. Next, I went to a second grade class. The difference was huge. The first teacher gave me a print out with what students to keep an eye out for and exactly what to do at what time. The second teacher simply handed me a book told me to read it to the students and let them work on stuff. This was a hellraiser class. Kicking, screaming, blah, blah, blah. I took lunch and came back to finish the day with first grade. The kids drew vegetables and then we went out to recces. There's nothing like kids with energy. After that things got a little interesting. One student didn't make it to the bathroom in time and another threw up grass and leaves.

It was an interesting experience and I'm looking forward to doing it again. I had one student who didn't speak any English, another kid who was voluntarily mute, and several other students that didn't like listening to English. By the end of the day, students in each class started calling me Mr. P. It's funny what people do when they can't pronounce a person's name. I find it rather endearing. The rest of the day would have been a haze if it weren't for the fact that I had to go to work at the land of coffee and broken dreams.

Trying to live

Life has been rather unique these past view weeks. For my loyal audience of three, you know that I've graduated and am hoping to move beyond the borders of the land of coffee and broken dreams. To coincide these unique events, I'm churchless and one of my closest friends Casey has moved back to Arizona for a little while. Needless, to say life is going to be different. To compensate for the lack of educational motivation I've been tracking down websites that will publish me (expect a few more film reviews on some other sites in the next view days and weeks). I have a new motivation and sense of urgency in my desire to write (today I even began mapping my eventual book The Gospel According to Horror Movies). I'm rediscovering my love for music (I saw As Cities Burn play the other night, and their new album continues to move me). I've even begun to branch out of my usual daily gang to meet some new faces, though I'm still not ready to return to church yet. Crossroads are weird thing. I hate them yet can't avoid them. I know we're supposed to like change, but I can't remember the last change that I've actually been okay with. Everything's always forced. For the love it would be nice to have some stability. Either way, life is good...so's TV.

A Good Day

Today was a pretty damn good day. I did, however, have to go to work, but I won't let that spoil anything. I got my summer grades today, and the final scores for my grad career are A, A, A, and A-, brining my GPA to 3.63. I also have had some articles published online at the websites Getyourtournament.com and rednow.com. Me and Casey are over half-way through season six of 24 and just finished book two of Avatar: The Last Airbender. Life is pretty good. All I need is a real job and a real girlfriend. Until then, Buffy the Vampire Slayer here I come.

Either than that stuff, life is interesting. I've been trying to read Culture Jam but it's just no an interesting book. The concepts are fine but the practical application isn't there and the pessimism is a major hindrance to motivation. On top of that, I can't find the book. I'm hoping to start reading Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy and finish reading Teaching to Transgress. I've begun mapping out my musical (my emo love story musial). I'm writing some other articles for rednow.com and trying to get some others published on other websites. The diet is gonna start any day now, and hopefully subbing will go through soon so I can quit Starbucks (and hopefully find my soul again). Life is good.