Career Time

Lately, I've been on this kick. It has been a pretty interesting kick to be on; Although, it is nothing people should be worried about in the slightest. This particular kick consists of me going online looking at apartments in the D.C. Area, looking at school districts in the surrounding area, and checking out new cars. What is this kick for some may ask (and if you have to ask, we haven't spoke for some time)? The kick is that I'm excited to move, and I'm checking out everything I can.

The first part of the kick is that Emmy and I need a place to live. Her current residence, her grandmother's house, won't do for us. The biggest reason might be that Emmy's grandmother doesn't want two of in the same house. She wants to give us some space so we can watch our own television shows. Emmy's grandmother loves Glee, but Emmy and I aren't big fans of it. This way everyone is happy. The area we're looking at is Silver Spring. Check in out on a map to find out the area. it will be awesome to have our own place finally.

The second part of the kick is looking at school districts. This is the job stuff mostly. I hate job hunting, and it is made worse by being the fact the very jobs I'm looking for are career jobs. Slowly, my resume and all my credential material have been gathered and now all that remains is polishing them and sending them. At the same time, I have to be aggressive (not a grr grr aggressive but like a really firm handshake aggressive). I've picked out several school districts in the area and will be applying to those. Among those are Montgomery County, Howard County, Baltimore, Annapolis and DC. It will be a wild ride to see where I end up. This is the scary part.

Last but not least, my mighty Stratus has had a fulfilling life. It has gone many places and seen many things. The one thing that always prevented it from truly being a champion is that would consistently cost me money. The latest in a long line of repairs is the engine. To be more exact, the piston rings are wearing out and letting oil slip into the combustion chamber. Everytime I start up my car and sometimes while idling, a nice blue puff of smoke comes from the tail pipe. I don't doubt my car's abilities to continue with the fluid seeping into its lungs. What I do doubt is my car's chances at passing the emission test.

This brings up the real topic of this blog: a discussion about Post Grad.



I used to always see advertisements for this particular movie staring Alexis Bidel up on the USU campus. It looked interesting to say the least, but I never found myself at the theater to see it. However, I did pressure Emmy to go see it with her friend Maddie who had graduated yet had not got a job. They never did see it. It was too disheartening for her friend so they saw another movie. It was a small amount of time later Emmy and I watched it together.
Now at the time it was funny. However, in hindsight and being forced to face the reality that was depicted so accurately in the movie, we loath it.

Now don't get me wrong, it was a well crafted film with excellent performers like Alexis Bidel and Michael Keaton. The reason we loath it is the simple fact that it is an unpleasant spot to be in life and having it shoved in your face by a movie just makes it worse. I dislike this whole time of finding a career cause if I don't I'll be screwed.

Blerg.

A deep personal confession (be prepared)

I've held this secret in for a long time from the general public.  I've guarded this secret for many many years with only a few people knowing of it. It is time that I announce it to the world on whole. For this, I thought what better place to do it than the internet! With little or no fanfare, the secret shall be unleashed now.

I am a nerd and a geek.

I refused to accept those labels when I was younger. Instead, I want to be called a punk. High school Chris very much imagine post graduation that he'd be wearing leather and studs with spiked hair. 24-year-old Chris now realizes and groans at the thought of high school Chris. To relate a perfect anecdote about this subject I will tell about the first time I brought Emmy to meet my parents in Idaho.

It was a nice spring day, we took my car. Once in Soda Springs, my parents greeted both of us warmly. It was a great visit. However, before we left my stepdad says, "Oh Chris, I found something of yours."

I assumed it was an item of little value. He went to his bedroom and came back with a bracelet, a bracelet that I thought lost to the ages and moving. This particular bracelet had occasionally crossed my mind while I was still in high school for I lost it in 9th grade. Once out of my freshman year of college though, I secretly was glad that it was gone. Or so I thought. This bracelet was a leather studded bracelet for a young punk rock Chris.



The look on Emmy's face was priceless as she saw what Steve revealed. My face, on the other hand, was a mixture of horror and agony as I saw the lost item. My eyes wide Emmy smiled huge as Steve gave my studded bracelet back to me. Taken away as punishment for wearing it at the wrong time and place. My childhood notions of what was cool came back to thrust in my face the harsh realities of how absurd they were. The older Chris shudders as he looks at a year book.

Anyways, I denied to myself the vigilant truth of my youth. Despite my attempts to call myself a punk, I wasn't. Sure I listened to the music but the real rebeliousness of being a punk was lost on me. I was smart, driven and interested in things. At USU, I tried for a year to maintain my punk edge but found it not the right place for me. It wasn't me.

Which brings me completely back to my point. I am a geek and a nerd (honestly some would split hairs here, I'm happy with either title although both titles together really hit me dead on). In high school I hid my nerdy and geeky passions, no one really knew that I played video games or if they did they thought it limited to Halo. And no one especially knew that I would play Yu Gi Oh cards. Oh yes I did. I still have them.



I'm proud of those parts of me that I wasn't denied. Emmy knows and supports my stupid (for me they are stupid) and embarrassing (for me they are embarrassing) interests. A lot of people know me as the biggest Halo fan. I am not on the extreme where I would spend thousands of dollars on a master Chief outfit. I would totally go to Comic Con as an Odst though with Emmy. I own all the Halo games and all the books and all the comics. Halo is a passion as it struck some interest deep down in me.

Emmy and I are planning on having lightsaber fights every night to decide who will cook dinner. These are the FX master replica ones. We will have them proudly mounted on the wall. I own all the movies; honestly I love all the movies but criticize them all equally. I play star wars RPG and love the KOTOR games. I would seriously love being a jedi.




Part of this confession is partially selfish I must admit. A younger Chris would cringe at these admissions but I realize that it is nice to say that I love things and not hide them. I denied so much to myself in an attempt to appear cool. I admit having Emmy makes all this easier. She knows about my nerdiness and geekness, my dorkness, whatever label you want to call it. I love those parts about her and she loves those parts about me.


This isn't to say I would label myself solely as those words. Labels aren't bad. They help us identify I feel but using just one denies parts ourselves. I am still a punk in ways but I am so many other things.

Regardless, I have passions that are nerdy or geeky and I love them. I'd be prepared for many more in the future.

Novel Progress

I'd like to say my blog is full of insight and humor; however, the truth remains it is probably just a collection of my random thoughts, attempts at humor and a diary of my life. However, here I am plugging away at it. Updating things so everyone can see.

My novel progress. I want to make a pun out of it but sadly my mind is failing me at the moment. I'm up to 175 pages with my history chapter or 160 without. I've been giving some thought to my rewrites for some parts and one chapter/part is the history pages. I either need to rework them to be less dry or work them into the novel so you can still get it but not as blah. Also armor descriptions. Balin's armor has never been described in the book, but now I've wrote something for his armor.

My friend Kim is coming to town today so I may get a haircut but I'll just hang out with her later this week and get one then so I don't see like a douche.  All my hang out clothes are washing so I may have to dress up for hanging out. Awkward. I know . But meh.

I miss Emmy but soon I'll fly out there and we'll hang for a week of fun and games. Feb 24!

Post 2 Today. Yahoo!

Not wanting to crowd the last's post subject I saved this for another post. I've been working on my novel more, and now, I have over 150 pages of it (including the history prologue). Since I started I have definitely improved as a writer I think. I used to start cold and sit and make me write. Now I begin with a pre write, a nice warm up to the start the novel.

I just want to share one I wrote that I really enjoyed. Some of the scenes I pre write I may incorporate into the novel others will remain in the separate file that will never be shown to much of the public.

This particular one came from January 5th. Enjoy.

Back against the blacken raining sky, Emmilicious rose, a pool of warm scarlet water. Slowly she picked the gravel out of hand and off her face, giving no attention to the state of her surroundings. Once she finished with the gravel, she sat motionless with her hair lay flattened against her face. Her mind swimming in a daze from just coming too took in the state of the environment slowly.

“Thyro.”

She bolted up and looked around to fully examine the scene. Legionnaires and militia all lay dead around her. How she survived the battle after falling unconscious, she didn't want to dwell on. Her head screamed as though someone had shoved an ice pick into it. She tenderly touched her head to find a large knot and a small amount of blood coming from the wound.

Emmilicious sheathed her sword with a slow and delicate movement to prevent the blade from making any noise that might attract unwanted attention. Once her belongings were firmly secured, the survivor started to move through the bodies searching for the Sentinel in a hope that he might have survived the battle.

In the distance, flames touched and mingled with the sky and rain. The light provided gave her enough to see the faces of the corpses on the battlefield. Each careful step she aimed to avoided the bodies. Many of the people lay face down but she searched for a particular set of armor, ignoring the rest.

A mournful noise broke her out of the trance. She looked up praying that a Skepnan wasn't combing the field looking for survivors. Her arms ached as well as her legs, result of the long fight and injuries she assumed she sustained. In the distance she could make out a limping figure, one arm hung down to his side

The figure stumbled and fell on the ground many times struggling at times to get back up. Again it let out a low mournful noise. Emmilicious crept closer, hand on the hilt of the sword. The figure remained in a shadow, preventing her from telling who or what it was. It combed through the bodies, not caring if it made any sound. 

“I don't need it to be a Skepnan but if it is a person I can't leave them here.” Shifting her body and pivoting she made each move of her foot with thought, avoiding anything that may give her a way. The figure gave a short shriek, its back to Emmilicious.

The sound caught her off guard, and tumbling back, Emmilicious landed on a shield with resounded with a clang. The figure turned quickly and ran towards her, emerging into the light and revealing the hideous nature it possessed. 

January 17, Two days to Emmy's B-day. So of course, it is the perfect time to write a blog. Duh.

As I sit in the cafe, a thought struck me. Well, multiple thoughts have struck me. But this thought pertains more to my blog and less to the other activities in the cafe. Not withstanding the other thoughts, this one was that I need to write a blog.

It is warming up. Thank god. I hate the cold. Who ever decided the cold was a good idea is an idiot. The cold is like a person who is always outside (sometimes inside) that makes you feel uncomfortable and the only way to deal with their annoying behavior is to put more clothes on which sometimes doesn't work. The snow is disappearing which makes me rejoice.

I like summer. The air is warm. The sun reminds me that outside the world exists. The green trees tell me that their is more to life than what is inside my house on a computer screen. More important, summer is usually when I'm with Emmy. Some of my best memories are during the summer; memories of Emmy and I doing wacky things together and just being together.

There is one summer memory that sticks out to me involving Emmy and I. It was warm (summer is warm or hot, either one which I enjoy). Emmy and I went to her parents' house where we decided to make some dinner, this time hamburgers. Before dinner, we sat and talked and watched Tv. The shows I don't remember I just thought how perfect it was to do this with her. It made me imagine what it will be like when we are married. I loved it.

There are some mudane things that become infintely better when I'm doing them with Emmy. Cleaning, washing dishes, cooking all take on a fun atmosphere when we're together and performing these chores. I'd rather just sit with Emmy then go to an amusement park with anyone else. Life just takes a whole new zest and thrill with Emmy. I can't wait to live with her.

Summer has been my favorite season for every. But Emmy made it magical and amazing. She does it to everything. Ok, maybe not winter and enemas. She makes them the better, maybe enjoyable. But those have a lot going against them already. Still. This is me gushing over Emmy.

Pssst. I promised you I would do one.

SUPER AWESOME LIST COMING! ARE YOU PREPARED?




Now with no particular theme, Five items I think were awesome in 2010 (which I suppose is a theme).

1. Emmy Torre
How could this not be my top one? You'd think that you as a reader could figure this out but I understand if you thought my list might be more focused. Regardless, number one is my fiancee and honestly, my better half. Next time you see her tell her (from me of course) that her booty is looking fly.




2.
Mass Effect 2
Good game. I'll be honest when I say the first one didn't blow me away when I first played it. The second one did draw me in more. Combined they made me a fan. The gameplay was crisp and clear like a freshly opened can of 7-up. The changes made were refreshing and help make a genre sometimes stale exciting. Perfect game? Nope. But close enough to make the list.



Halo Reach.
Now I couldn't very well pick one over the other. Anyone who knows me, knows that I adore the Halo universe. Reach isn't my favorite in the series. The plot was great; multiplayer was epic. Where does it fall short? No where honestly, I just didn't fall in love with it like some of the others. I blame Kat --she was mean-- honestly. Perfect game? Nope. Close enough to make the list still.



3. Inception

Movie that I actually looked forward to buying. Last time that happened, it was 2003 and it was the Lizzie McGuire Movie. I'm not kidding. I owned that shit. Not shit like poo but shit like damn that is good stuff. Anyways back to Inception; Interesting plot, characters you can relate to and a nice dose of action and suspense. All the actors were perfectly picked and made the story even better. For those interested in my take on the ending, I don't care if it falls or not, he's happy and ultimately that is what matters.



4. Star Wars Fatal Alliance
Huh? Well I'm mixing the list up which means there needs to be a book. I read it twice so I'm going to say by that it was my favorite. Honestly, didn't do as much reading as I'd like to have done but 2011 is a new year. Back to the topic on hand, Star Wars: Fatal Alliance. I like Star Wars. This book focuses on the Old Republic which is more interesting than anything that happens post Episode VI. New characters and an interesting plot. Still, we're talking about a Star Wars book here so don't expect high brow stuff in the pages, but expect a good fun read if you like Star Wars.



5. Year's Playlist (Songs I listened to a lot, not necessary created in 2010)

1. Bombay Bicycle Club "Always Like This"
2. Muse "Neutron Star Collision"
3. Clash at the Demonhead "Black Sheep"
4. B.O.B "Airplanes"
5. Justin Bieber "Baby"
6. Rocky Volato "Suicide Medicine"
7. Mumm Ra "These Things Move in Threes"
8. Josh Rouse "Dressed up like Nebraska"
9. Josh Ritter "Snow is Gone (Live)"
10. Jaguar Love "Highways of Gold"
11. Frank Turner "Reasons not to be an Idiot"
12. Murder City Devils "Johnny Thunder"
13. Florence + the Machines "Dogs Days are Over"
14. Eisley "Ten Cent Blues"
15. Augustana "Boston"
16. Blood Red Shoes "Getting Boring by the Sea"
17. Jets to Brazil "Crown of the Valley"
18. Jimmy Eats World "Coffee and Cigarettes"
19. Los Campesinos "Death to Los Campesinos"
20. Metric "Eclipse (All Yours)"
21. Mumford and Sons "Little Lion Man"
22. Regina Spektor "Us"
23. Bill Medly and Jennifer Warnes "I Had the Time of My Life"
24. Lionel Richie "Hello" 
25. Dolly Parton "Jolene" 

That is my list. Expecting different? Tough luck. This is what you get. You can if you really want check each on of the items out and even make the playlist yourself. Is it a bit eccentric? Yeah but so are my tastes. 

May the Force be with you.

New Post. New Year.

Here's a new post for all my adoring fans.

It is a new year and while some would take this chance to tell you of their personal resolutions, I will not. I don't make resolutions. I know if I do I won't accomplish them. So why create an atmosphere for failure?

Again, others would make a list of their top 5 things. Well I may do that, but not in this post. You can count on that in a future post. Or can you?

Regardless of the previous paragraphs, I will expound to you my past accomplishments or things of note. Saw Emmy. FUCKING EPIC! I love her and was so happy that I was able to just hold her hand. We spent the Christmas break together having fun. She had to go back to the East but she will get her contract renewed without a doubt. We bought some Nerf Guns and ran around and shot each other. She got some head shots on me. It was epic.



Along with Nerf guns I finally graduated and finished my student teaching. Now life is just the daunting reality of work and bills and grown up things. I'm registering to do substitute teaching; however it requires a lot of letters and such. But I'm gathering them all together to get it done. It is a relief and a horrible reality to finally graduate. Post Grad is a terrible movie about the reality that follows post college.



I've been working on my novel. For those who have read all my blogs, you are aware of two chapters. Those more intimately involved are aware of the full length of my book. I bought a magazine to help me become a better writer. So far, it just reminded me to do some prewriting. I felt like a dumb ass since I'm a teacher who doesn't practice it. Onto nine chapters with a lot of the story thought out in my mind. I will be happy if it gets published but I'll be just happy to actually finish it. Though,

Despite all the hard work I've put in other areas, I've played some games. Finished Dragon Age again. Played through Reach with Emmy. Now I'm starting my play through of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 to get to the game I want for the final installment of the series. All this means is my decisions need to be the ones I want. Mass Effect on insanity is a tough.

To round things up, I'll be hopefully moving soon to be with Emmy and get a teaching job and finish my novel. I guess my dream is to have a successful novel but I'll be happy like I said with it just being finished.