I can't Sleep

This is the first time I haven't had to get up at 3:30am in weeks on a Monday, and of course, I can't sleep. My mind is racing at the moment.

I read back on some of my older blogs, and got a few good laughs out of it. I'm glad I've been putting my thoughts down somewhere for me to trace back. It's good to know where I've come from sometimes.

Does anyone else have nights or even days when they think, "What am I doing?" I keep thinking I should be doing something, accomplishing something, or just being more productive than I have been. I'm sure I'll stroll into work in a few hours and realize what I'm forgetting, but I can't for the life of me at the moment.

I'm rocking out to some Vick's Vapor Rub right now. That stuff is my cure all. Just hope it gets me through tomorrow as I'm still fighting off a cold I picked up sometime Friday.

Hopefully I can string together a good post that is more than a few quick sentences sometime soon.

Almost a year? Really?!?!

So it's hard to believe, but this blog is almost 1 year old. About a year ago I found out I was going to India, and prepping for my trip. It's crazy to think that it's been a year already. I can't believe it. So much has happened in the last year, but I still feel like nothing much has changed.

I've recently been in the giving spirit, so I've been putting together clothes and books I don't read any more to give to charity. I've got a nice sized pile sitting in our basement, so I need to drive that to the Salvation Army sometime before I leave for Tennessee. It's a great feeling, and I'm looking forward to giving more. Plus on a more selfish note, it allows me to get rid of things I haven't used in ages, so maybe someone will find some use for it.

I finally took a step towards getting back into art. I finally restored a painting I've had for over a year now that was destroyed. It might need a few more final tweaks, I'll wait until my critics (my parents) see it until I decide if it's done. There's a wonderful sense of accomplishment on it though. I was actually really down when I looked at it for the first time in months tonight. Time and sunlight really damaged the original I'd completed, and I was starting to feel like I would never be able to fix it. I tried some new techniques tonight on it though, and I think it really helped out.

Once it's ready, I'll post some photos of the painting.

I'm heading home in 3 days, I honestly cannot wait. It's been way too long.

Goodnight for now.

What was I doing?

I'm supposed to be doing something, or something should be done for work, but I can't put my finger on it. I'm going to cut my finger nails and hope it eventually comes to me.

.....And nails are cut. Woo, I'm glad that's over.

So I have BIG news. Amazing Race applications are finally updated. Season 19 Application will be going in within the month. My brother and I are going to team up and hopefully be that 1 in 100,000 (maybe more) team that makes it through. We are going to need an angle though. Neither of us is gay, and we aren't really hicks. I guess we'll have to get by on our good looks and charm.

Broomball playoffs are in full swing right now. After a hard fought 3OT victory, we have the late game this Sunday vs. the Dragons.. Raaaawwrrrr. Ok that was lame. If all goes as planned, we'll have a full roster for the first time since.....actually I'm sure we've never had a full roster. It'll be great to have 3 subs, and a team ready to get rowdy for another game.

Overtime seems to be our gem. This is the second season in a row we've had to push games to 3OT in the playoffs. We always seem to manage a last minute goal. It's actually extremely exciting to be a part of. I've missed being competitive in sports for a while, so this has been a great outlet for me. The little exercise I get from it is good too.

I've been real bad about going to the gym lately. I need to start buckling down and going more again. I've used college football as an excuse for a while now, but I am losing that quickly. If I'm going to set a goal for myself I'll use my brothers wedding. I'll want to look good for that, and it'll take me that long (April) to get in shape, and trade in fat for muscle.

Well, this blog didn't have a purpose, just putting thoughts out there. Until the next one.

Ohh you know....

So since I travel so much I get my choice of several amenities when I check in. Most people choose 500 points to be banked into their account. This week, I threw a curve ball and chose the option saying, "2 Beers and Popcorn." Well turns out room service is pretty freaking fast when they want to be. After getting into my room I chose to use the restroom, and while in the process, room service walked right in asking where they could serve the beer.

Who should feel worse? The poor guy who walked in on me? or me? I'm surprisingly ok with the whole thing, but I can understand where the Room Service Fellow might have felt out of place. In the end I told him to give himself a tip, and sign for him. I kind of think that might be the best news he heard in a while.

Today was a long day.

My hair is starting to get pretty long. If it weren't for the fact I pull and twirl it non-stop, I think I'd grow it out. I know I'm going to make myself go bald though with all the playing I do to it. It's the worst habit in more ways than one. Mostly because it's a pretty girly habit. Maybe I'll have my stylist, yes, I have a stylist, do some trimming so I can get adjusted to the length a little at a time.

Thanksgiving is coming up. It's gotta be my favorite holiday. I'll save all my favorites of it for a little while so I have more to blog about. For now, I'm just trying to get back into the routine of keeping this blog updated.

Things to look forward to with future blogs (also called a teaser): thoughts on movies coming out soon, Thanksgiving, video games, The Lion King.

Good night and good luck everyone.

I've been just aweful with this whole "blogging" thing.

Geez I think the last couple blogs have all started with... "I should really keep this more updated."

So what's new? I'm still in Dallas. I see my last post was in September so I'm trying to think about what I've done since then.

I finished the Urbanathlon (see http://menshealthurbanathlon.com/). It was actually a lot of fun. I finished about 7-8 minutes off the average pace, which I don't think was too bad. I don't think I'd ever run more than 4 miles at a time before that, and it was a 9 mile race. So considering the running joke (no pun intended) was that I'd have to call my roommates for a ride home, I'm pretty happy with the end result.

I also went to Europe for a few days. I really just decided I needed a change of pace back in September and booked a trip with all of the points I've been earning from traveling non-stop. I was in London for 3 days and Madrid for two days. I had an amazing trip, but decided that I enjoy going on trips with other people. I really enjoyed the freedom of being alone, but it's nice to share the experience with others. That being said though, should the opportunity to travel be presented to myself again, I wouldn't hesitate to go solo again. Photos are on facebook.

My hair is starting to get long(er) again. Since it's Movemeber (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movember) I think I might have to just shave my head and grow out my beard. I've reached the official 1/2 way point for my project so it could be a nice way to mark it. I'm starting to look for new projects to get scheduled for this coming May so I don't get extended. I'll not go too much into my job though.

So based on my experience with the Triathlon and the Urbanathlon, I need to keep setting goals for myself to keep motivated. When I signed up for those events, I knew I had to work out to perform well and not get hurt. I've been watching The Buried Life on MTV and decided that a good way to keep myself motivated to keep trying new things would be to write down everything I want to do. So far I've been able to cross 3 things out of 27. I'm still constantly adding to the list though. I wrote a piece about this earlier, but I've started expanding my list. I think the next most feasible items are holding a tarantula (I'm terrified of them) and finishing an eating challenge.

Overall the new challenges I've laid out for myself that I'm most excited for are: 7 Continents and 4 Oceans (although I guess now there are 5), and standing on top of a mountain. I've got the mountains narrowed down to Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua. Go big or go home right? I'm dead serious when I say I want to do this, and anyone that wants to join is more than welcome to.

I feel like this blog has turned into a bit of a carousel going around and around to the same topics. It's either revolving around work, what I want to do with my spare time, or me griping about airports. I'll try to work some new topics into the fabric.

The new Harry Potter movie comes out in 2 weeks. I'm very excited for this. I'm glad that I'm vindicated in the fact that back in High School I stated with confidence that Emma Watson (Hermione) would get hot, and she did. I can say this now because she's 20 (thank you Wikipedia). That's not the reason I'm excited for the movie though. I was, and still am a huge fan of the books. I believe I've seen the last three movies at the midnight showing. I've got to keep the tradition alive and watch this one (and the 2nd part when that comes out) at midnight. I'm sure I'll wind up watching it twice so I can see it in IMAX with my roommates. I think my favorite memory of the movies isn't even from the movies.

The fifth movie (Order of the Phoenix) came out after I'd just moved to Chicago. Boomer and myself had moved to the city, but still hadn't started our jobs so we decided what the hell and went to the midnight showing. When we got there I remember seeing a dad pull up in his car with his daughter who must have been 8 or 9. Now you need to realize most of the people at this showing were either kids in High School, college students, and a couple young 20-somethings like myself so this dad actually stood out a little.

Anyway, he got his daughter out of the car, and I vividly remember she was still in her pajamas and wearing a coat over everything. She looked exhausted and the dad actually seemed really excited. I never talked to this father and daughter, but I honestly believe he surprised his daughter in the middle of the night, told her to get her coat, and told her she was going to see Harry Potter before her friends. I also have a vision of the mom not knowing anything about this. Now for all I know, this dad actually just relented and finally got his daughter a ticket after she cried and moaned for hours. I like my version of him surprising her though. It just reminds me of the awesome things my parents used to do for me.

One of my favorite memories as a kid is a weekend I spent with my mom. Both my older brother and I had hockey tournaments at the same time when I first started playing goalie (4th grade, so I was 9). So my dad took my older brother to his away tournament for the weekend with my younger brother and I stayed home with my mom. It wound up seriously being one of the best weekends ever. My mom took me to a hockey game at Clarkson and out to a restaurant called Angleo's for dinner on Friday night. Saturday night we went to Pizza Hut for dinner and then saw Far From Home: The Adventures of Yellow Dog. It's crazy how I remember these details, but I really recall that being one of the closest weekends with my mom.

One of my favorite memories with my dad is this one time he took my older brother and me to a Burger King for no reason. I think he just wanted to treat us to something nice. We got french fries and milk shakes and sat down at one of those tables with the booth seats and the regular seats. We just talked and sat huddled together at this tiny table. It's crazy how you remember those little details about some of those seemingly insignificant moments, but I think those are the moments you cherish the most. Those are also the moments I swear I hope I remember to create when I have a family of my own.

It's really amazing how I can remember some of the most insignificant details about my life, but still not be able to recall the names of sites or locations. I've been fortunate enough to see a lot of this world with my family, but it's always been the stories after I remember the most. It's the ones that make me laugh that I like the most. I think from my vacations the two New Years Stories I have are the best.

Anyway, again, here's another promise to keep the blog more updated. Until next time everyone....

I'm sleepy.....

So I'll just start by saying I've got 'Airplanes' by B.o.B (ft. Haley Williams of Paramore) and 'Do you wanna know?' by Alkaline Trio on repeat. I'm not going to lie to you, I'm bouncing my head like I'm the one recording the song right now.

I honestly wish I had more funny stuff to blog about these days. It's not that funny stuff isn't happening. I'm just not comfortable blogging about a lot of my weekend activities (I drink, Oh my!!) and my weekday activities are pretty routine. I also promised myself to not blog too much about flying/hotels and related activities because it's not as glamorous as it sounds. I remember as a child my dad would go on business trips every month or two months. Usually just 1-2 days, but occasionally he'd be gone a few weeks. I remember he was gone for 2 weeks once to go to Japan, and I thought it was the longest time ever. I couldn't believe someone could be gone for long. Of course, in my mind, I'm thinking about family vacations and how we would see shows, museums, and sites, and thinking my dad was doing all that. As I got older he explained to me about how it's not as great as it sounds. I remember saying, "Well you get out of work at 5pm, there's gotta be things to do, sites to see in the area. "

Now that I'm doing this travel thing every week, it's not the glorious experience I thought it would be. Don't get me wrong, I got a very unique experience to see India for 6 weeks through work and that was amazing. But I'm in Texas every week, and unfortunately, just like Chicago, downtown shuts down at 5pm. Geez, I couldn't even go to the Aquarium this week because it closes at 5pm.

To set the record straight, having points for flights and hotels isn't that cool either. If you don't have points, I want you to close your eyes, picture yourself at the airport, and think of the business men who cut you off in line, give you dirty looks for having a bottle of water, and board the plane first while you wait patiently. Now I want you to think of a word to describe those people. Do you have your word? Was it "douchebag?" Well that's how I would describe most of those people. So everybody, when you hear that I'm traveling non-stop, or if you have another friend who's going to start traveling, don't say, "Ohhh man! You are gonna get so many points! That's going to be awesome!" no. don't do that. By doing that you are encouraging your friend (and myself) to become the douches we don't want to be. The worst part is, now that I'm there, I don't want to go back to what I was. I've tasted the forbidden fruit, and there's no going back. I'm forever unclean, and will remain so.

Anyway, since I have so much time on my hands, I've been watching a lot of MTV. Tonight was "Life of Jenks" and lots of previews for "The Buried Life" The second show makes me wonder about what else I want to do in life. I know I mentioned this a little in my last blog, but I really believe in experiencing as much as I can. So, with a little thought, here is my quick To-Do list.

-Get a tattoo
-Travel alone (doing this in 4 weeks, so it shouldn't really be on the list)
-Sing alone at karaoke (I think alcohol will have to be involved)
-Create something I'm truly proud of*
-Really see something through another person's eyes.
-Get back (or at least close) to my weight freshman year of college

*I actually used to be quite the artist. Back in High School i always took art classes as my electives, and while it might upset my parents, I made a conscious decision my senior year of high school that since I was so busy I had to choose between 2 of 3 AP/Honor classes. I chose AP Art and Pre-Calc over AP Chemistry. I still tried in Chemistry, but the majority of my efforts were devoted to the other classes. I had to work very hard at Pre-Calc because it did not come easy to me, and also create 40 pieces of art to choose from in one year (most people accomplish this in two year, and also choose from other pieces in their portfolio) and then break down my works to describe what was happening in each. I actually remember that in my theme project (multiple painting tied together) I made paintings that depicted my life w/ a joker mask representing me. After the third one, my mom asked, "When will you do something besides those masks?" I was actually sick of doing them too, but I had to create at least 4. I know some of you might think, "how hard is it to draw 40 pictures?" it's hard. I'm actually fortunate I got to see both sides of college work spectrum. Cramming hours for a test to get a good grade, and staying up until 4am drawing alone in a drafty room trying to get the shading right for a piece.

Art was a huge part of my life when I was younger. I used to just sketch for the fun of it, and put my thoughts visually on paper. I never was great at creating my own designs (like cartoons, or fictional pieces) but I could always draw what I could see. When I got to college, I was very seriously considering art as a major before getting discouraged from it (from a guidance counselor no less).

The point is, and I know I'm rambling, that I never really had to try to make much of my art. That sounds bad, but if you've ever met someone who is naturally good at playing sports, or just naturally has a beautiful voice, that's kind of how I was with art. I know it sounds like I'm bragging, but please let me preface that I started at drawing stick figures of my friends and making my parents drop off these drawings at my friends houses. How my parents tolerated me sometimes, I will never know. They say that at 10,000 hours you become a master of something. I wouldn't say I've completed 10,000 hours of art, but I easily have accumulated 5,000 at least. I did so much art in a 3-4 year time span, I think I just burnt myself out. Maybe I lose some secret muse, or maybe I just got tired. There could be any of a multitude of reasons I stopped, but I've not made a complete pieces in years.

Anyway though, I can only really think of one piece that I really put my heart into. That piece is currently in a state of shambles because a combination of sunlight and shotty materials faded the paint. I can think of pieces that I'm proud of. Pieces that make me smile. Pieces that I honestly believe are more talented, detailed, and accomplished than some I've seen created by students in my former classes. But besides one piece that now lays in ruins that I'm trying to repair (I've not looked at it for months to be honest), I can't think of a single work that I'd be willing to trade my hands for because they won't create anything that comes close to it. Or a piece that I'd be willing to go into a fire for to save because it's that important to me. That's what I want to create.

Wait......did you hear that? I'm switching gears. Fantasy football is upon us. I'm tired so I'll blog more about it later. It's safe to say though that I do the following....

-Talk about my team like I'm a real GM. Examples:
- Boy I wish Aaron Rogers has a great game, I can really use his help.
- Can you believe {insert opposing player}?!?! He put up 40pts against me! What an asshole! I can't believe what a dick that person is. Completely ruined my week.
- Can you please {insert my own player}?!?!?! He put up 40 pts to save me! Ohhh man I love him. I drafted him in the 7th round, did I tell you that?

-Incessantly watch games on Sundays. Actually not even the games, I watch the stat-tracker on Yahoo!

-Stress over my lineups to make sure I get the optimal performance from my team(s).

Until we meet again world, I leave you with this,

"Now it's up to me to wait, I need you to reciprocate..."