Forever a student

So I moved to Bellingham WA and transferred into WWU to complete my Bachelors degree. It was an exciting and stressful move, but I am no longer living out of a motel and pretty much have the campus and the town figured out...for now.

January 1st is when I made the move, and the weather was great. I took that as a good sign.Then for the next 4 days it was rainy and windy, which was okay I guess. I was surprised to find that it did not put a damper on my joy of being at a new campus. It is pretty spectacular here. Old buildings, great trees, and it is just the right size I think.

Undoubtedly and to not much of anyone's surprise, the library is my favorite building on campus. It has a great study room in it with old, weathered desks that just scream "many smart people have studied here". But I am sure other, more notorious things have gone on in the library as well. I mean, that's what libraries are all about, right?

This is my view of where I study at on campus. I guess it goes by the name of the "Harry Potter" room.

The town seems reasonable as well, despite what appears to be a rather large number of drifters and vagabonds. There are a number of reasonable eateries and pubs, and most of everything is within walking distance. At least from where I live. Which is about half way between downtown and campus.

I was out on Saturday with some friends we ended up going to a little Irish pub called Uisce. Nothing but pretzels are offered to munch on, so I ate before hand. It was packed with some swanky dressed college aged people and older people were there also. It was rather crowded and my party could only find a small table by the dart boards. Some people, who were playing at said dart boards, asked if they could use our table to rest their beverages upon while they played, to which I agreed only if they agreed that every time they lifted their drink after having set it down they owed us a round of drinks. I was of course joking, and they knew it and we became fast friends. They actually did buy us a round of drinks and invited us to play a round of darts with them. It was very jovial and splendid.

That wasn't even the best part of the night. I ran into two friends of mine that I used to work with at PCC some five years ago, in an Irish pub, in Bellingham WA, on a Saturday night. It was great to see them and catch up. An amazing coincident to say the least and, again, I took it as a sign from the Universe that I as in the right place doing the thing I was supposed to be doing.

A short time later we wandered over to The Copper Hog, of which I had heard of and was keenly interested in. It was great, the kitchen is open late, and best of all they have bone marrow on the menu for only $8. Bone Marrow! The best stuff on the planet! It was just amazing. I mean, the only way it could be better is if the animals the bones came from were grass fed and raised local, and they could have been for all I know.

The rich, buttery marrow was warm, easy to spread on the small bread that came with it, and oh so satisfying after a night of drinking and playing darts. The best bits were two slices of bread the bones were resting on, just catching all the goodness that seeped out of the bones, soaking up all that nutritious good stuff. Man, what a treat.

I have a good class load this quarter, taking 4 classes at 15 credits. They are fairly standard so far, with lots of good reading assigned. My English 202 class, Writing about Literature, is great. We are reading these books:

The Hobbit
The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft
Pontypool
Habibi (a graphic novel)
Threshold
Ready Player One

I did not buy a copy of the Hobbit as the library had a really neat old 1966 edition that I just had to read. I have already read Habibi over break by a shear stroke of luck. It is another graphic novel from Craig Thompson who also penned Blankets. I highly recommend both of these works as they are amazing.

Then, we write about the books we have read. Seriously, it is a fun class. The prof is a little wacky, a self confessed gamer (one of the first things he said to the class was that he was addicted to playing Skyrim) and internet junkie, and very much into teaching about literature.

Okay, I am off to study, but here is a little something has been inspiring, funny, and stuck in my head for you all. Enjoy.

I'm on the path, chopping up bodies, hacking, and slicing, and look at me now.
With loyal friends, joining my party, each step I take I'm fulfilling my vow:
Crush your enemies
See them driven before you
and hear the lamentation of the women

ps. Ready Player One is a very good read, especially if you are all into 80's culture. You know who you are.

Revelations! ( a few days late...)

So I litteraly had to stop in the middle of organizing my cluttered goods (read, my whole living space) to capture these couple if epiphanies I just had.


I realized that my life is a mess, and I had not realized how much it was until today. I mean, I could say it is a lull or whatever, but no, not for this long of a duration. It has moved from a lull, period, habit and I guess now you would call it a lifestyle. All the while I am persueing a higher education in hopes of attaining better income so I can attain a different socio economic placement, and I realize my old self defeating habits are just as hard at work as ever. Cluttered mess, disorganized to the point of insanity, procrastinating like I am training for the Olympics, plus a few others, which I am glad to report, do not involve abusive relationships with chemicals either legal or illegal.


The good news is that I saw this mess that is my so called life, and my mild ADHD and OCD that likes to clean and organize, should be able to take care of this. Or at least I know that I need to throw a ton of shit out and keep a simple and clean place, because let's be honest, those few note books that I have that supposedly have great ideas for some comic books just are not ever going to see the light of day.


I have been not taking any responsibility for my life. I have become sloppy and lazy, and even a little slow in the brain (okay, lots lazy). I have become methodical and that is very much not how I want to approach my life.

I have given my word to things and not followed through. For this, I am sorry. Both for not keeping my word and for giving up on myself as someone who keeps their word. That is without a doubt the worst of it all.

So to this end, I shall endeavor to make the needed adjustments as quickly as possible.

But, how did this happen anyway? What causes this life of mine to become so fubared from time to time?

What happened to us?

Pizza, it's the circle of life.

Have you ever noticed how invasive pizza is in your life? I mean, it is everywhere. Even in Congress, who *ahem* ought to be attending to other important matters and not designating what is a vegetable or not. I understand that I, like many other people on the interwebs, am loosely interpreting the ruling, but yeah, that happens.

This strange, odd and round food has had a recently discovered personal impact on my life. You see, I recently became employed (I know, right? It has been awhile) to work as a Culinary Assistant at Columbia Winery in Woodinville, WA.


There, they just serve a few select choices of noshes that involve, mostly, flat bread pizzas. At this new found place of employment of mine, I was having a conversation with a coworker . We were chatting about how we both know some really smart and put together young people and were reflecting when we were their age (oh...my...god...did that just happen?) and what we were doing with ourselves when we were their age.

I realized that back then I was playing drums in a punk rock band in Sioux City, IA and working at Pizza Hut, making pizzas. What am I doing today? Making flat bread pizzas. WTF? Full circle.

I mean, I get that they are not the same thing. Not even remotely. One is a chain of crap pizza boxes, and the other is a fire powered stone oven flat bread making award winning winery. More like "classy" where the hut was "k"lassy...with a k. Polar opposites of the spectrum, but, they both involve round pieces of dough with toppings on them.

I suddenly realized that, just maybe, this was my calling in life. To be a pizza guy, open and  operate a great local beer and pizza place. I mean, it could have been a sign from the universe and really, who am I to deny universal fate?

While I think that it would be fun to do something like that, I also think that maybe not right now would be the best to through myself into it. I want to complete my degree (however haphazardness that may be to my sanity) and that is going to take at least two more years. Perhaps then, if I have the right job, I can start doing some planning and tinkering on the side. It is not like I haven't had this idea before. I mean, to be honest, I have tried the whole "chase your dreams and do what inspires you" thing, and mostly shit don't work out the way you think it ought to. So, in lieu of chasing dreams I am keeping my head down, grinding out this degree, and will try to find a slot to fill in society.

But, in the mean time, I am straight not doing well this quarter at CCC. Ugh, I have had no motivation and have had some serious internal struggle going on. It may or may not affect my next phase of learning, currently scheduled to take place at WWU. I know I mentioned taking some other programs more local, but the truth of the matter is that WWU is all set and ready to go, whole UWB and UW would require more work than I am currently willing to put forth. Things change though, or is it the more they change the more they stay the same?

Whatever...

Christmas in Redmond

Summer Time, Autumn time...

Ola everyone.

Yes, this blog is still living, thank you for asking. I hope everyone has been doing well. I have been busy in spite it being summer. I have taking a few classes and have just a few more to take in the Fall before I am complete with this stage of my schooling career.

Since I am a student, it will come as no surprise to you that my funds for both eating well and or out is rather non existent. Same goes for my music seeing these days. I hope to attend the KEXP BBQ this year, it is free but I am sure there is some sort of cap on bodies allowed in for fire code or some such nonsense. I did go, and there was hardly anyone there, which was odd. It was a great day weather wise, and the beer was cold and in the shade.

I have been working on working my school work, trying to become employed (although I have had some luck dog and house sitting, it doesn't really replace a steady income. Also, I have started working with a friend of mine who owns this company. Every Thursday I can be found at the Bellevue Farmers market selling raw food and soaking up some fresh Vitamin D), and doing other random things like attending friends weddings, seeing friends from out of town, and trying to read some books that are outside my current realm of study (currently re-reading Voltaire and anew some Nietzsche).

I sometimes lament the passing of time, as it seems to pass by ever so quicker these days. Guess my mother was right about that one.

And then the Fall happened! Just like that. Well hello there. Yes, I have not updated much this year in general, but really, it was for the best. Lots of things going on, and the blog was very easily going to become a bitch fest of gripes and what not. Not really good for either of us. So, there is that.

Good news is, I am going to blog again. For real.

No look, I am doing to right now. See, told you so.

I did get to see an amazing St. Vincent show at the newly refurbished Neptune theater in Seattle. It was amazing. Such a talented group and they make great music. The drummer was wearing really cool head phones as well, I was inspired and jealous all at the same time.

Out of habit, I went and checked out the merch booth. Of course, they had some shirts that were okay but way over priced, and a few vinyls. I was leaning towards purchasing the first record on vinyl, but once I learned that the most recent album was on limited edition white vinyl, there was really no choice to make. I mean, look at it.

                           Nice day for a, white vinyl. (And no, I have no idea who Chris Jacob is)

Lot's is going on, school is almost over. That is a good thing, right? I mean, I am excited, but I will only have my Associates. I am looking at either finishing up at Western Washington at Huxley, or staying local at University of Washington, Bothell and eventually transferring to the Seattle campus and getting my degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

The Yours Truly book, 10th edition was created, and since it's publishing I am proud to say there have only been two errors found in it. I think they were both the printers fault, but I would need to check the proof copy to be certain. And they are small errors at that, and one isn't even visible! It is kind of hard letting go of the club this quarter. Breaking in a new club president, giving up command of the ship, having faith it is all going to work out and be great, man, that is a really hard thing to do. But, Louie C K knows all about life being hard. Not sure Wilfred would agree though.

I was in my good, if not best, friends wedding this Summer. It was a perfect day to be outside in West Seattle. I really was flattered and touched to have been part of their day. Thank you guys so much for that.

Okay, I hope to be updating this often, as I have some ideas about stuff and things I want to share. You know, stuff. And yes, the mid-terms are hard, thanks for asking.

                                  Tyler Durden, I make and I sell soap. The yardstick of civilization.

To write, or not to write

Hey everyone,

Right now I should be frantically working on my finals projects, studying for tests, working on my resume to look for a summer job, any number of highly important things other than write a blog entry.

So why am I avoiding my school work? I mean, I should be worried about my grades (I am), but something just keeps nagging me about writing, you know, just to write.

It is a nice break to not have to explain what project management maturity models are, or how a anaerobic digester work and what the challenges are of having one at 17,000 ft (temperature mostly). It is nice just to type, words, just other words instead of trying to frame a business idea and model of retrofitting ocean oil rigs to generate renewable electricity and distill water for needy countries in the same voice while hitting all the key points required by the professor and the possible attendees at the assessment fair we will be presenting at on Tuesday.

I want to write about how well the 10th anniversary of the school creative arts magazine, Yours Truly, was. The band, a string trio, was amazing, but then again I am a sucker for classy music. The food was just as amazing; sausage stuffed mushrooms, spring rolls, chicken skewers, fresh baked desserts. It was probably the best food that campus has ever seen.
One attendee even admitted that when she was at the event she felt like she wasn't even on that campus anymore, but a much more better campus (okay, I embellished that last part, but I think that is what she meant to imply).

I want to write about how I want to write, anything and everything. I want to write about learning how to play guitar, record music, play piano. I want to write catchy pop rock tunes, because they are fun. Trying to be important, unique and creative is hard and well, let's be honest, it has all been done before. So, make a pop album and have fun. The sophomore flop is going to happen anyway, then you can get all crazy with playing saws and using copious amounts of ambient soft noise.

I want to write about my ideas for a movie, for the Incredible Hulk (I think it still sucks as they have, like, a rainbow Hulk team now or something like that). Not that my idea is better or more refined, but I think it would be more fun.

So there you go, me avoiding work, and not editing or checking this entry before I post it to the webernets.

Oh well, life is like that sometimes. If you're lucky, sometimes you get to enjoy the process.

Rest easy internet.
Joshua

Is this good? My Drunk Kitchen.

Snacks

These were some vanilla cupcakes I made, that I topped with vanilla frosting and habanero sugar sprinkles, they turned out amazing. 

It was a nice alternative to the old standard of spicy chocolate, in fact, the vanilla and spice worked very well together.

I bought some nettle infused raw honey at the Fremont Market recently, and man it is great! My jar is almost empty. At first I was just spreading it on buttered bread, which was great. But then I just started eating by the spoonful. Then, I added a few raw almonds to it. I think I may have found the perfect snack.

The exact honey is from Brookfield Farms, their web site is waking-wild.com. At the Fremont market, Ian (At least that is what I think his name was...) was there who is the head bee keeper at the farm. A very nice gentleman who makes a great product.

Give it a try, you just might like it.

Old photos

Hey everyone,

So I have been super crazy busy with school and projects I have been working on for school, but I have not forgotten about you or this crazy blog of mine.

Instead of talking about the great concerts I have been to (Yuni in Taxco, Telekinesis, Mal De Mer, The Lonely Forest, The Joy Formidable which was by far one of the best shows I have ever seen, not as good as seeing The Forgetters play at The Vera Project but still damn good) and all the mediocre poor college student meals I have been indulging in (rice and beans make you nice and lean...or at least they ought to), or other peoples parties I have been to and baked killer vanilla habanero cupcakes for, I am going to share some old photos with you.

I have had this roll of film for a very long time, say 5-7 years. Perhaps even longer. I just picked up the developed photos from the store and have yet to view them. I thought, how neat would it be to share my reactions and a few of the allowable photos from my past?

To be honest, I really have no idea what is on these. I have not owned a 35mm camera for ages, these could literally be of anything.

Okay, here goes. I am breaking the seal....

Wow, what a weird collection of odd photos.

The first one is of a cat. I have no idea who this cat is! It is almost as if someone stole my camera to take a photo of a cat as a prank on me. Weird...

Then there are some random ones of friends and I, but because I respect peoples privacy, I am not going to post them. Nothing out of the ordinary, just people.

But then, suddenly, more oddness.

If anyone has an clue about this one, that would be cool. I am pretty sure it is in Seattle, right? Just not sure why I took a photo of it....

A somewhat inappropriate one, I think this was in the Bothell house I lived in. Not in our yard, but seen on a walk one fine winter night.

And then just more random pictures of friends and I.

I was really expecting some epic surprise, I don't know why, but I was. Perhaps delusions of grandeur about how cool I or my past is I guess.

Stay tuned, true believers! As the summer rapidly approaches, so will my free time as I will no longer be working or taking 15 credits! At that time I will attempt to absolve my woes and fretting via this blog. Please note, that does not mean I am going to bitch and whine about stuff, just so you know.


Joshua