We Raise Our Glass, You Bet Your Ass, To...
La vieeee bohem.
Ok, now I have actually seen the Rent movie (thanks to Encore and Starz being free this week for some reason), and I have to say, from a film standpoint, the movie was "meh" at best, however, from a musical standpoint, it's still fun. They cut the hell out of it, and I hate how some of my favorite trasition songs were turned into dialouge, but most of my favorite songs were left well enough alone. The only thing I really didn't like was the same thing I didn't like about the actual musical, the whiney bohemian life style. You come from money, you "force" your way into an impoverished lifestyle, why should i feel bad for you? Oh you have AIDS? Apparently so does everyone else who lives in the Lower East Side in the 1990s, according to you. To much AIDS and too much whining. But the music is just so much damn goodness.
This also marks my first entry of 2007, hense forurth refered to as just 007, because Bond is awesome, and there won't be another 007 until 3007, at which point Bender can give all his props to James Bond, but this year is my turn. I bet those poor saps in 1007 WISH they had James Bond. Hmm...I wonder what the Aston Martin equivilent would be in 1007? Probably a horse that when you pull on it's ear, a machine gun comes out of it's eyeball. But one thing that I completely forgot about new Years (probably because this is my first time really getting bothered by them) are the Resolutionists. I went to the gym last night, and EVERY SINGLE cardio machine in the entire gym was filled with fat stupid people who said to themselves (probably in a drunken stuppor) "Hey, I am going to join a gym, and no longer be the stupid fat person you once knew, and focus entirely on just being stupid." At which point, they wake up and go "Oh man, I bought a gym membership. I better go, I guess. I think I'll do it after work." Now this coming from me, might make some of you say "Hey Josh, that's not fair, you did that too, and you stuck to it, and now you are so hot all I can ever think about is jumping your bones." To which I reply that I am flattered, but you also have to realize I am a minority, and in the sense of bettering myself physically, I am not a Resolutionist (the entry of the day). These people are just going to make the rest of the week at the gym hell by making me wait to do my routine that I have been developing for an entire year. Go home and watch TV and be stupid you stupid stupid-faces and let me continue to better myself into the adonas I am this close to being.
This also marks my first day in the start of my second year at my current place of employment, something that as of last month would be more of a count down point, rather then a count up point. I am still seeking elsewhere for employment that suits me and my "talents" and of course, the longer I stay "unemployeed" where I would like to be, the more I start to fully doubt my "talents" and the words of encouragement other people tell me to make me think otherwise. I just have to keep faith that it will happen.
I also FINALLY received my itinerary (even though that is spelled correctly, it still feels like it should be different) for my birthright trip. The basics of it, a shit load of hiking and an ass load of "talk/learning" points about stuff I could care less about. I think that is where I will get some actual sleep, because other wise I won't be getting much of it. I leave Sunday afternoon at 1:30, which means I have to get to Newark by 9:30, which means for mass transit, I have to leave my apartment no later then 8:00, but am shooting for 7:30 so as not to feel too rushed. From what I hear security is hella tight on El Al, and they ask all sorts of profiling questions. I was warned by many people, be prepared for some completely out there questions. Should be quite entertaining. Then after the 13 hour flight, we get to Israel and get right into doing stuff that we don't get to see a bed until the end of that night. So if I don't sleep on the plane, I will be up for about 36 or so hours, which will make me either loopy or grumpy. I hope loopy, grumpy doesn't lend itself too well to meeting strangers. I don't want to paste the entire thing up on here (it's a six page adobe file), but if you really want to see where Iam going and what I am doing and when approximately I will be doing them (there is not a single time on this entire "schedule" which doesn't sit too well with me. I like to know at least approximations of how long things are supposed to take), I'll email you the file. It should be hella fun, and I am getting gifts from some of the more Jewish people in the office. One person already left me a dollar bill in an envelope with a note saying "I didn't want to forget to give you this for your trip. Please remind me to explain." So I hope it's a good story, because what the hell I am I going to do with the equivilent of four shekels? Buy gum? Thank you but I already have gum. Only 4 more days.
The only thing I am worried about (besides the possibility of bringing home bedbugs, which could happen, let me be crazy) is meeting new people. It's been a while since I was in a situation where I had little time to meet people and socialize. The last real time I had to do this was my summers at camp, and even there it took me multiple summers to really build a social niche where I would be the one inviting people to be my friend, as apposed to "earning" friendship. Now there is no real NEED for me to meet people in my life, I have a lot of friends, and most of them are good ones; however, in Israel, as it stands right now, I don't know a single person on my trip, and if I hope to have any kind of fun on a human level, I will need to socialize and meet people and engage at least a few of them on a friend-like level. I am sure it won't be a problem, and human instinct will kick in, but what if it doesn't. What if I have become such a self contained person that I can only meet people when already in the company of people I know and/or online where I can perfect my image to a point of falsity? I mean sure I have my journal, which is about as real as I am, but still. I can't talk to these new people through computers only. I doubt I will even get to touch a computer unless I find an internet cafe. I might rent a cell phone though. I need to look into that.
The First Entry of 007:
Resolutionist - A person who makes an arbitrary descition based on lifetime vices/issues that over the course of one year they will make everything all better, when they know very well that it takes more then a year to really fix anything, and they haven't been able to commit to anything for enough time to actually get things done. Yet they still believe that "this year" will be different. Of course they know the real best time to make a life change is not based on a given date and time, but rather right in the moment of desission.
"So I was talking to this Resolutionist who was convinced that once the new year starts, they were going to go to the gym, eat right, quit smoking, learn to ride a horse, and travel to at least 5 new places. I told them to get off their high horse and reminded them that thewy still haven't cleaned their apartment, a task they set out to do 3 months earlier."
Ok, now I have actually seen the Rent movie (thanks to Encore and Starz being free this week for some reason), and I have to say, from a film standpoint, the movie was "meh" at best, however, from a musical standpoint, it's still fun. They cut the hell out of it, and I hate how some of my favorite trasition songs were turned into dialouge, but most of my favorite songs were left well enough alone. The only thing I really didn't like was the same thing I didn't like about the actual musical, the whiney bohemian life style. You come from money, you "force" your way into an impoverished lifestyle, why should i feel bad for you? Oh you have AIDS? Apparently so does everyone else who lives in the Lower East Side in the 1990s, according to you. To much AIDS and too much whining. But the music is just so much damn goodness.
This also marks my first entry of 2007, hense forurth refered to as just 007, because Bond is awesome, and there won't be another 007 until 3007, at which point Bender can give all his props to James Bond, but this year is my turn. I bet those poor saps in 1007 WISH they had James Bond. Hmm...I wonder what the Aston Martin equivilent would be in 1007? Probably a horse that when you pull on it's ear, a machine gun comes out of it's eyeball. But one thing that I completely forgot about new Years (probably because this is my first time really getting bothered by them) are the Resolutionists. I went to the gym last night, and EVERY SINGLE cardio machine in the entire gym was filled with fat stupid people who said to themselves (probably in a drunken stuppor) "Hey, I am going to join a gym, and no longer be the stupid fat person you once knew, and focus entirely on just being stupid." At which point, they wake up and go "Oh man, I bought a gym membership. I better go, I guess. I think I'll do it after work." Now this coming from me, might make some of you say "Hey Josh, that's not fair, you did that too, and you stuck to it, and now you are so hot all I can ever think about is jumping your bones." To which I reply that I am flattered, but you also have to realize I am a minority, and in the sense of bettering myself physically, I am not a Resolutionist (the entry of the day). These people are just going to make the rest of the week at the gym hell by making me wait to do my routine that I have been developing for an entire year. Go home and watch TV and be stupid you stupid stupid-faces and let me continue to better myself into the adonas I am this close to being.
This also marks my first day in the start of my second year at my current place of employment, something that as of last month would be more of a count down point, rather then a count up point. I am still seeking elsewhere for employment that suits me and my "talents" and of course, the longer I stay "unemployeed" where I would like to be, the more I start to fully doubt my "talents" and the words of encouragement other people tell me to make me think otherwise. I just have to keep faith that it will happen.
I also FINALLY received my itinerary (even though that is spelled correctly, it still feels like it should be different) for my birthright trip. The basics of it, a shit load of hiking and an ass load of "talk/learning" points about stuff I could care less about. I think that is where I will get some actual sleep, because other wise I won't be getting much of it. I leave Sunday afternoon at 1:30, which means I have to get to Newark by 9:30, which means for mass transit, I have to leave my apartment no later then 8:00, but am shooting for 7:30 so as not to feel too rushed. From what I hear security is hella tight on El Al, and they ask all sorts of profiling questions. I was warned by many people, be prepared for some completely out there questions. Should be quite entertaining. Then after the 13 hour flight, we get to Israel and get right into doing stuff that we don't get to see a bed until the end of that night. So if I don't sleep on the plane, I will be up for about 36 or so hours, which will make me either loopy or grumpy. I hope loopy, grumpy doesn't lend itself too well to meeting strangers. I don't want to paste the entire thing up on here (it's a six page adobe file), but if you really want to see where Iam going and what I am doing and when approximately I will be doing them (there is not a single time on this entire "schedule" which doesn't sit too well with me. I like to know at least approximations of how long things are supposed to take), I'll email you the file. It should be hella fun, and I am getting gifts from some of the more Jewish people in the office. One person already left me a dollar bill in an envelope with a note saying "I didn't want to forget to give you this for your trip. Please remind me to explain." So I hope it's a good story, because what the hell I am I going to do with the equivilent of four shekels? Buy gum? Thank you but I already have gum. Only 4 more days.
The only thing I am worried about (besides the possibility of bringing home bedbugs, which could happen, let me be crazy) is meeting new people. It's been a while since I was in a situation where I had little time to meet people and socialize. The last real time I had to do this was my summers at camp, and even there it took me multiple summers to really build a social niche where I would be the one inviting people to be my friend, as apposed to "earning" friendship. Now there is no real NEED for me to meet people in my life, I have a lot of friends, and most of them are good ones; however, in Israel, as it stands right now, I don't know a single person on my trip, and if I hope to have any kind of fun on a human level, I will need to socialize and meet people and engage at least a few of them on a friend-like level. I am sure it won't be a problem, and human instinct will kick in, but what if it doesn't. What if I have become such a self contained person that I can only meet people when already in the company of people I know and/or online where I can perfect my image to a point of falsity? I mean sure I have my journal, which is about as real as I am, but still. I can't talk to these new people through computers only. I doubt I will even get to touch a computer unless I find an internet cafe. I might rent a cell phone though. I need to look into that.
The First Entry of 007:
Resolutionist - A person who makes an arbitrary descition based on lifetime vices/issues that over the course of one year they will make everything all better, when they know very well that it takes more then a year to really fix anything, and they haven't been able to commit to anything for enough time to actually get things done. Yet they still believe that "this year" will be different. Of course they know the real best time to make a life change is not based on a given date and time, but rather right in the moment of desission.
"So I was talking to this Resolutionist who was convinced that once the new year starts, they were going to go to the gym, eat right, quit smoking, learn to ride a horse, and travel to at least 5 new places. I told them to get off their high horse and reminded them that thewy still haven't cleaned their apartment, a task they set out to do 3 months earlier."