Paranoia.

I'm constantly worrying in this lab now...

As if by some weird chance some dean or chancellor is going to come in and catch me furthering my education without signing up for another loan.

Cool Blue and L'il Oaty

In an effort to save every penny we've decided to take on imitation cereal brands rather than the real stuff.

So instead of:
We get the more economical:

This delectable bag of toasted cinnamon squares tastes exactly like its counter part, is yards cheaper, and even comes with a resealable top. I feel almost ridiculous for ever having fallen for the real stuff. I mean, its the exact same cereal right? The same experience. The same morning. Right?

Wrong.

Notice Cinnamon Toasters left bottom corner. See it? Yes that's Cool Blue & L'il Oaty. The spokescartoons for Cinnamon Toasters. So I think to myself that I want to read more about this unknown duo (yes I am five) and so I turn the bag to reveal whatever story or gameboard or nuance that Blue and Oaty have to say on the back.

And there's nothing.

No story.
No gameboard.
Not even a stupid "Blue & Oaty love eating healthy" blurb.

And I begin to wonder, surely they didn't just slap some cartoon on the bag and call it a day. So online I go to check out malt-o-meals cold cereal section. No Blue. No Oaty.
I think, perhaps in their frenzy to get out these cheaper cereals they didn't label this one particular cereal. That Blue & Oaty surely must have their story told via the other cereal lines (and because my house is filled with cereal fanatics) I search through the other selections of bagged cereal in the house. Coco Crunch...nothing. Marshmallow Glitters...zip. In fact, Cinnamon Toasters is the only bag in the cereal group that even has these two ridiculous kangaroos. And are they even Kangaroos? I DON'T EVEN KNOW THAT! Because quite frankly they look like a freakish mix of dingos and kangaroos. Dingoroos. Just some hopping, human sized freak with large dog jowls lined up with your face. And with their blue and yellow exterior it becomes frighteningly irresistible to not notice them staring menacingly at you every single morning of your bastardly poor existence. What vicious cereal company could do this to a lower income home? Is this how they expect to keep you? Simply by the maddening hope that one day, ONE DAY they will surely explain who these two Dingoroos are or why they came into existence or why they are SO OBSESSED with cheap economical Cinnamon Toasters.

...........god.

...an argument for name brand cereal.

"The planetarium would like to welcome Polkside Elementary and the Emerson Council!"

Somethings need to come back.
And by things I mean field trips.

Do you ever wonder why it is that dinosaurs, science experiments, hell...even the inner workings of a box factory is reserved ONLY for ten year olds or the people that work with them.

Why close those doors of curiosity?

I want to see busloads of hopeful thirty year olds ecstatic to get out their regular work day because, yes, they're going to learn about the galaxy.

Beards, booze, bopping

All one ever needs for a dance party to get started is for two seemingly unembarrassed people to jump up and shake it like there's no tomorrow.
Last night I started a dance party at a tattoo bar. There is something about pulling a bearded, tattooed, punk rocker out for dance that is really satisfying.

It was fantastic.

Things I could go without hearing anymore this month:

"New York? Do you have a job yet? Cuz the economy is bad."

"New York? Do you have a coat yet? Cuz it's cold up there."

"New York? Do you have a place to live at? Cuz its really expensive."

Now barfing boarding

One way ticket to New York. February 9th at 5:00pm.

I'm sure glad there are barf bags still available in the seat pocket facing in front of you.

getting into position

this seems to be the position i've held for the past year. right up against the screen like it had challenged me to a staring contest and the prize was a life time supply of food that tasted like the way playdoh smells. generally such a position is held on to for several hours for upwards of seven days a week only to be occasionally exchanged for this:


the groaning despair of wondering what i coded wrong or why my colors are looking so jankity once i print them.

in lieu of such things i am grateful for:

hulu
pandora
grateful interruptions from mom
the cuisine at 7eleven

Why the robot?

A lot of people ask me why the robot. If it has some special significance or something. Most of the time I just joke around turn around robotic style and creep them out for a minute before I turn back to the screen and continue photoshopping.

But in reality, the robot signifies more to me then that.

As a socially awkward person I have this tendency to watch the world with foreign eyes, I love the way people embarrass when they take some joke to that too familiar place, the way they try so hard to bring back the Reebok hightop sneaker, or insist on some form of specific flavored Dorito despite the fact that they all taste the same. I love the way people quirk. And so because of this, I find myself watching and waiting for their next moment, finding glee in the statements you can take out of context to mean an entirely different thing or just taken out of context because certain sentences should be repeated just to realize that they were said, and this curiosity... it's infinite. 

That need for more information about people, thats what robots do. Because in the end, they want to figure out the magic; the "why's" on human behavior. I think robots are fascinating, adorable little things. And I can relate to their need to know why, their fascination of the human being. Leo Bruscaglia, a speaker and author in the 1980s, once said that every person in the world hugs different, so why not try them all. And I can only agree. 

This is the beginning.

Continue on if you wish to reach the end.