forever stalking you

yup, 'nother day, time to catch up with the neglected bloginizing. Actually, I did put forth a rather heated effort last week, though I would say it was a little on the too-heated side, I never finished and decided to let the sleeping does lie. I was in a pretty gnarly mood, so maybe it was for the better (though perhaps i'll just sliiiiide it in later).

Things are alright. It's 7pm on a Monday night and I am sitting at my desk at work, baking some lightmaps. Yep, that's right! Another draggy day in draggy life is behind me, though I am not sure when exactly I will leave my post for the day - I have things I should tend to at home, I suppose, so perhaps not too too late. The shuffle back-and-forth does get a little tiresome though, I have to say. Not enough to make me wanna quit, though.. or move.. sigh.

Anyway, today's excitement -> our office is next to the 55 freeway (by, well.. YARDS, barely) and a little old lady swerved off of it and smack into the planter where the smokers usually chill out at. Fortunately for them, no folks back there at the moment, or they would have been crushed! Anyway the car flipped and she was trapped for awhile, till them paramedics came and freed her. Very weird. I guess she got lucky, sounds like she will be alright. I have seen some things in my day, this is another first for me though.

What else.. hmm, I don't proclaim to have too many heroes, and I don't use such a term lightly, if at all. But I guess radio-talk-show host Adam Carolla would have ot rank up there, for people who I respect and appreciate. He made a small film, which opened this past weekend. My friend and I went to check it out, the man himself came out following the show for some Q and A, which was cool. The whole affair was.. tiny, really (bad for him, I guess, but good for us) so it was intimate and therefore pretty cool. Got to meet him and shake his hand, for whatever that's worth. But yeah I think I listen to that guy in some form or other, every day at work - for a good 5 years or so now, at least!! So that was pretty cool.

Otherwise, life is pretty chill. Work is.. well, work is always taking it out of me, in some form or other, but I am just past my 1-year anniversary at this studio, that's a good thing I'd say (well, good that I am still legitimately employed and all of that).Working pretty hard, as usual! Otherwise, trying (damned hard) to stay out of the partyin' scene. That's a hard thing, honestly - I can tell that my mental state is a lot unhappier for it, but it's a personal choice. It's too damned expensive, and I have spent more than my fair share on that part of my lifestyle. I do think I have been pretty good about it, especially over the past year - but I gotta tighten the belt even further!

It sucks though! But that is life. It is interesting, to measure reality differently when you don't have such regular periods of absolute escapism. Interesting, to be sure.. upsetting in some ways, perhaps. It does feel good to think of the positive side of things though. I am really tired of putting the same amount of money into the bank and deducting the exact same amount to cover my bills, over and over, each freakin' month. It's pretty old. Welcome to everyone else's life, I know. I have been full of hot air for some time now about "this plan" or "that idea" to get things to change. I don't lie to myself, there's a lot I can do (hell, there's a lot I have already done) but as usual, ratcheting up to that next notch definitely means more (urgh) painful of a change, in whatever capacity. I have dabbled here and there - I always have some notions, I wouldn't say the things in my head are truly half-hearted or completely naive either. But as they say, the proof is in the pudding. Man, what a dumb thing to say.

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This is cheesy, but I will occasionally pull up my website now and again, i suppose it's sort of narcissistic, sort of ego-stroking, whatever (well, everyone needs that stuff). I don't think it's any great piece of work, it's flawed and whatever like anything, but it is mine, it's representative of my career, my life in some ways. It's changed over time, between subtle shifts and complete overhauls, also like me. It's cheesy to say these things, and it's just a meaningless website, but it is still symbolic to me, it's a constant like I am. I guess I just look at it, like anything else, with a micture of pride and.. expectation. There's things on there, some I am proud of, some I'd like to forget, to get past.. take them down, replace them altogether. Sigh, even just get rid of the whole damned thing, haha. Well, I need to hold onto it, so that's not likely to happen. But more than anything (and here comes the cheesiest part), it still sort of represents my hopes and dreams, in a way. It's a work-in-progress, a map kind of where I have been, a footprint, whatever you wanna call it. But I look and say "alright, that's all well and good, but where can I go next from this meager stepping stone?"

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I have been all over the place lately. It's hard to measure.. The holidays are actually quite distant for me already, mentally, but new year's wasn't THAT far behind. I went to Boston twice, Vegas once, since last winter. I mean.. I was just IN Boston, exactly one month ago, but it feels like it could easily have been half a year ago, or longer. That's so strange- what does that mean? Am I so settled and plugged into my simle little routine here, that any deviance from the norm (esp. a "normal deviance") just goes into a little pigeonhole like that? It pisses me off. Time should be more novel than that. I find myself saying these things a lot lately, "'ll do something.. sometime." When is that? What does that mean? I guess I am getting impatient, but I don't know what for. My youthful energy to pick up and do whatever is fleeting, even if it's still in me. I am not complaining (out and out) about this, so much as trying to snap out of this person I am becoming, trying to take a warning from it. I live this weird life, in this crazy wild place - there's tons of opportunity around me, for.. anything... I have tasted it before, but I am forgetting how to. And if I squander it, the only person whose fault that will be, is my own. I go home at night, I crank on the heater, nestle up next to it for that primal warm feeling, that "who cares, I got my heat" feeling, the one that burns a little to the point where it gets a little painful (but anything less is too weak!), I look at my bookcase, my couch, my coffee table.. my TV. I feel solid and secure, I have this place, this stability now, it's kind of got sculpted out pretty well the way I like it, and the comfort of it all is what seems to trap me, to keep me from cutting away and releasing back into the chance, the danger, the difference. Maybe I will just flip a coin. Screw it. Go to vegas, take my tax return and put it on red, if I win then put THAT on black, spend half partying and the other half on gettin' a move on. Nice fantasy, right?