Back After Several Months

Like Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall.

Like Christian Bale in Batman Begins.

You thought Ice Climber was dead.

You thought WhatUpThen had fallen off, or had moved on to bigger and better things.

Well, it sure as hell ain't the latter.

But the inspiration has returned. All that happened was me reading the blogs from Grace and Sarah. They were typical posts, but can you imagine the effect they had on WhatUpThen? Like a Wint-O-Green LifeSaver they created a spark in the dark. Now the drive is strong. The fire is lit again!

It'll probably take some time for me to round back into midseason blogging form, but find your bookmarks (all three of you) and prepare to enter a DREAMWORLD OF MAGIC! I appreciate your patronage.

P.S.: Also check out my MySpace because that fire was lit a coupla weeks ago.

Excursion

I'm gonna have to get used to this "real world" living very soon. The time hasn't come quite yet, but in this limbo between being 100% finished with all of my schoolwork and not yet moved out and working, I haven't fared too well. Each recent morning I've struggled with the decision whether to waste part of the day or to waste the entire day. On Tuesday, I didn't return my library books, I didn't pay my rent, didn't watch Hero on DVD, didn't apply for jobs and I got rejected by a guy who's only 5'7". Yeah, Tuesday was something of a waste.

Let me tell you, though, Sunday was not a waste. I went back to Friday Harbor with Master P and his coworker, Ninja (I smell a sitcom!). The kick is that Prasanth flew us there in a Cessna. Prasanth has been flying for a few years now, but this was the first time I'd taken him up on an invitation. Being in a tiny plane high above Puget Sound isn't exactly soothing, although I could understand how some people could find it relaxing. It is quite beautiful, though, as the photos hopefully convey. It's nice to be exposed to the community of pilots. When there is no control tower (like at the small Friday Harbor airport), the pilots just communicate with one another to establish who is where and decide who will land/take-off first. The only scary part was when Master P was landing that thing. I was hoping for a "sliding a sheet of paper under a door" landing, and it seemed more like a "crack an egg into a blender" type. But he did an excellent job.


The San Juan Islands


5000 feet high in the friendly sky


Mount Rainier way off in the distance


Training for pizza delivery gig

The clock was running on the plane rental so we were in and out of Friday Harbor in a flash, but we annoyed the locals with our rented mopeds and enjoyed a quick tour of the island at 20-25mph. It was a nice time...got to chill out and enjoy two new forms of transportation. Maybe I should catch a freighter to the Bay Area next week.

I know I'm only a year late, but I just saw Sideways on DVD and it has the potential to crack my top 10 movies ever list. What is that list again? I actually wrote it down some time ago...you know, when I had homework to do. Ah, yes, here it is (in no specific order):

Rocky
New Jack City
Lost in Translation
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
The Godfather
Pulp Fiction
Amadeus
Back to the Future
The Breakfast Club
Die Hard

Come on now, you can't possibly argue with those! Well, yeah you can, but to me each one is a drop-everything-and-watch-the-screen kinda film. Okay, what was I talking about before? Oh yeah, Sideways was incredible. Gotta think hard about whether to replace something on the list.

Still working on those podcasts. I've got a few files already, just have to figure out how to host them so that you all can enjoy. Hey, I think I just found something to do tomorrow!

Something to Say

Kevin, one of the roommates whose name I learned only after fours months of living together, left the apartment last week for a month-long trip to China. Kevin didn't even tell me; I learned the information second-hand via Jae. I'll be moved out by the time he returns, but there are no hard feelings. On the contrary, Kevin left bottles of Grey Goose, Jack Daniels and some Brand X tequila on top of the refrigerator. PLUS, when I rummaged through his cabinets in the kitchen I found a half-full case of Budweiser and some granulated sugar for my Cream of Wheat!

It's gotta be clear to readers from that last paragraph that there's absolutely nothing going on here. Now that my master's project is submitted, I have all the time in the world to work on my podcasts, blog, look for work, etc. Naturally, none of that has happened...substituting Hefeweizen for orange juice during breakfast kinda lowers ones drive. Seriously, though, I have just over a week left in Seattle, so I'm going to try my best to cheaply live it up until the flight home.

Sign Your Name

My Korean roommate wants to change his name to something a little more U.S.-sounding to placate everyone when he applies for jobs. Not that Jae-woo isn't common here (Seattle, you know), but I can understand. There aren't too many Jae-woos in U.S. popular culture. Something told me to suggest he change it to the most difficult-to-pronounce, squint-your-eyes-when-you-read-it, "This applicant certainly isn't white!" name he could possibly think of just so that he could spite the corporate U.S., but in the end I was too lazy. Plus, it's more fun to think of names I actually know.

Jae gave me his suggestions. We eliminated Jeremy because it sounded too much like a kid's name. John was cut because it is too nondescript. Kennedy seemed like he would be trying too hard to fit in. Russell was my only contribution and it's still under consideration, as are Lucas and Victor.

On an idiotic note, how cool would it be if some parent named their kid Batman? I know, I know...that's way too dumb. But it seems like famous people can get away with naming their kids Apple and Rumer and Tallulah (what Bruce Willis' other kid's name?) and True. I want ordinary, everyday people to be brave enough to give their kids uncommon, original and even outlandish coined names. Oh wait, I'd forgotten about the Black community! I'm not being disingenuous at all when I thank the parents of the Dwyanes and LaBradfords and JoJuans. You're helping to make this world a more dynamic place.

Variety Pak

Everyone has crazy bus stories but today was something I had never heard before. Evidently, the horn on the bus was broken and so it would sound loudly, intermittently and often. It was hilarious to look at the faces of passing motorists who all probably wondered why the bus was honking at them. You know, that or whether the driver was on that street drug, Ritalin. The best was when the bus had stopped at an intersection and honked the shit out of pedestrians in the crosswalk who all looked puzzled or enraged while the driver could only shrug his shoulders. I tell you, it's the little things that make life enjoyable.

As usual, I have a ton of notes for things I'd like to blog about but with nothing new on the site to show for it. I will say that I finally downloaded Audacity in order to seriously produce some audio. Once I get the hang of it there will be some pretty nice segments to listen to. So, here are my notes in lieu of a real post. After I submit my thesis to my professors, I'm sure no one will be able to pry me away from the computer.

Puma/SOoo Fast - All three of the commercials (I think it's worth it to click through, but that's just me) are brilliant. I've never seen anyone wearing Pumas that didn't look incredibly hip. Really, despite seeing hundreds of shirts, pants, sweatsuits and pairs of shoes...in all colors...for men and women...my eyes still pop out of my head every time I see them.

The Closer - Dude, that's my show. It's not that great. Very annoying when Kyra Sedgwick figures out the mystery but doesn't see fit to explain the crime to her fellow detectives. Of course, they all find out in the end with the rest of the audience. It's entertaining enough, though, and with a little bit of the comic relief that is missing from Law & Order.

Today's comedy - Every Wedding Crashers film review seems to discuss the contemporary oeuvre of Wilson, Ferrell, Stiller and Vaughn. You know the movies: Starsky & Hutch, Dodgeball, Old School, Zoolander, etc. Some have been better than others, but it is kinda nice to bear witness to a series like this. I mean, those movies are the defining comedies of the last few years, right? Ooh, that's not good. Anyway, who are the best comedians of this generation? I should do it Bill Simmons-style. Are there different categories for sketch, standup, TV and film comics? Do any women make the cut? In about 30 seconds of thought this topic warrants, I came up with the four aforementioned guys along with Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock. In the near future, I'll talk to some people and try to create a top 25. Hopefully there are some comedy purists out there who can put me in my place.

Indecipherables - It seems today I've seen a preponderance of men and women who look like members of the opposite sex. So much that I've had to get right next to each one as we pass on the street and look him/her right in the eyes...or chest or hips or what-have-you. It's strange how often this happened today. They've all been different, some looking like men or boys or Gwyneth Paltrow. By my humble estimation, some ugly, some beautiful but all indecipherable until that last moment where I slap myself on the head and exclaim, "Oh!" At this point, the people struggle to decipher my sanity.

Control your dog - Fucking dog owners use a goddamn leash. I'm not getting bitten again. I like dogs, I really do. But if Lassie comes charging like she did last year, it's gonna be her, not me.

Fucking Nancy Grace - I knew I shouldn't have tried watching cable news.

Void Where Inhibited

Read the first three paragraphs in Morford's new column and tell me you're not hooked.

Teachers in high school writing classes across the country should use it as an example of style. And we'll just ignore the run-on sentences.