Hello!

 

Know what it’s like when you keep meaning to do something, and kind of forget? And by “forget”, I mean “just don’t do it”? Yeah, that’s been what’s going on. Well, that and…

 

It has been HOT AS HELL the last couple of days.

 

This wouldn’t be a bad thing, but I sleep during the day. Really, the sun should’ve taken shit like that into account when it said “Hey, I’ll make the thermometer read ‘HOLY FUCK’ in Grays Harbor!”, because that’s inconvenient as all hell. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like waking up sweaty and gross because of how warm it’s been.

 

 

So, to update you guys on the last few weeks…

 

My friend’s wedding went well! There were a lot of people in the wedding party, including my friend’s daughter as the flower girl, and another friend’s kid as ring-bearer. It was good to see so many of my friends again – I’ve been friends with the groom and all of the groomsmen since junior high!

 

 

Beyond that, I’ve just been working a lot, and writing as much as possible. I’m almost halfway done with the first issue of my comic book pitch, and am prepping for NaNoWriMo again! I’m also brainstorming an interesting project with James Riot, one of the RRTV contributors!

 

Also, there’s been a couple videos for that, so go check them out! One’s from Emily, and the other is from me. Here’s the links:

 

Em’s video: Canadian Stereotypes!

 

Mine: SPACE IS AWESOME!

Random Ramblings TV!

THE FIRST RRTV VIDEO IS UP!

The editing work was quick, so it's not much of a video this first time around, but I was a little pressed for time (and much later than planned!). But, now that it's up, you can expect more! Nate and Em are both tweeting me about videos that they are wanting to film RIGHT NOW, and I've got sooooo many ideas.

It'll probably be a few weeks before I have a video up with lots of editing work on there, but I think I might try a "Riverside Vlog" soon. Maybe even tomorrow, since I have the day off because one of my long-time friends is getting married.

Anyway, my battery is dying, so we'll see if I can get any more ideas rolling around after I get home, plug in, and cool down. :)

I HAVE INTERNET AGAIN! ... sort of.

"Reunited, and it feels so goooood!"

Sure, it means that I have to set up my laptop in the kitchen, plug it in behind the microwave, and deal with the occasional drop-offs that come with only having one bar of signal, but I HAVE HOME WIFI AGAIN! ... sort of.

After picking up a connection and being amazed that I was online, I started walking around with my laptop, checking for where the signal could be coming from. Turns out that one of my neighbors has unsecured wifi (and is okay with me leeching it every so often), and the signal drops off the least in this corner of the kitchen. Look forward to more frequent blogging, because I am BACK... until my neighbor objects, or until I get internet of my own and then am MORE BACK!

In other news, Random Ramblings TV is coming soon! I've got introductory clips from some of the people contributing, and I'm editing them together, to be up (on a different site) on Friday. There will be vlogs, and videos, and hopefully some fun times to be had. For more on that, you can ask me on Twitter (@justinbarlow), or check out the fledgling RRTV account (@Ramblings_TV). The intro video goes up on Friday (the 19th)!

Now, I'm going to go listen to Textures and finish doing some necessary shit around the house.

Under the microscope

I came to an odd realization this morning: I think too much.

I don't mean that I think about meaningful things, or even useless things, and I'm not trying to make myself sound smarter than I am. What I am trying to do is come to terms with this 'flaw'.

One thing that I love about some of the blogs I read, sites I visit, and friends I keep, is how in-the-moment they seem. Maybe they're neurotic about it on the inside, but what comes across to me is that they don't overthink everything like I do. To me, it feels like they LIVE. They REACT. They don't try and think too much, eliminate any "what if" situations, or concern themselves so much with the end of something. It feels like they just let themselves be a part of the experience, not concerned with the end.

Somewhere, I forgot how to do that. I forgot how to get wrapped up in the whirlwind of things going on. If someone jokingly proposes an on-the-spot game, I wonder about the technicalities that could cause me to win or lose. If someone tells me "Oh, I saw _____ today", I ask why they told me or what the point of the story is.

It seems like there are only a few situations left that I DON'T overthink everything: when I'm angry, when I'm buried in work, and when I'm being creative (writing or cooking). Even then, if something draws me out of what I'm doing (like my neurotic obsessive-compulsive attitude about time-checking), I go right back to the 'what if' and all the other overthinking.

Any ideas on how to fix this? I can't be cooking or writing constantly, and I'd rather not be angry or buried in work all the time.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

AUGH! and other frustrated noises; another update!

AAAAAUUUUUUUUUGH!

Google Apps has become kind of a pain in the ass to deal with, now that they've updated it. Google+ won't let me back in with this account -- so I made a new one -- and above all, it was trying to tell me that my email address (justin@justin-barlow.com was being used by me as a person and me as an organization. Which apparently does not fly with Dark Lord Google.

So I do its bidding and try and basically merge the data from the "personal account" and the "organizational account", but that's not good enough. Now, logging in to Blogger with my email address said that I had no blogs, because they were under the "personal account", and justin@justin-barlow.com was now the "organizational account". Long and frustrated story made short (ish), I created another email address and through tricks of cleverness and awesome-y goodness, I got my Blogger info and settings moved over to the right account.

Aside from the frustration of trying to figure that out, it's just another night. Usin' the interwebs to catch up on things and pretty much keep myself awake so I can sleep before work tonight. There are some good things on the horizon, though!

After two and a half years without home internet access, I might have internet again soon! Since I'm getting full time on a regular basis again, I'm going to start paying off the (very) past-due $200 that I owe Comcast. That, and a $100 deposit, and I can have the internet/tv/phone combo hooked up. Only one I care about from those three is  the internet, but with mom there and unable to live without TV, that's a necessity. And hey, a land-line might make it so she'll ease up on the cell phone minutes.

Then there's also my ongoing attempts to go to New York City Comic Con this October. It's not a sure thing yet, but I'm making the effort to see how much it'll cost and how much I'll have to save. The cool thing is that I've gotten one offer to stay with a friend while I'm there, so that's out of the way without having to spend money for it! Of course, I'll cook for them like I did for Matt when I was on my trip in April. Have to show my gratitude in some way!

So, anyone want to donate to either the "Get Justin to NYCC" or "Get Justin Internet" funds? :P

Bonfire pictures! And, an update

I promised pictures of the bonfire, and here they are! Sure, it took me ten days to get them up. But only six or seven of those days (okay, maybe eight) were my fault. You should know this: I work a lot. I think I’ve mentioned that. So, here’s the pic-spam!

 

Chrissy

 

Me, kicking ass at Ladder Golf

 

Nar (Adam’s dad) taking a picture to make him jealous

 

 

Lorali says that there are still more pictures to come, so I might be adding them as she sends them to me. Or maybe I’ll start using my Flickr account, and I can just link there from here. Hmm.

 

Anyway, the last week and a half hasn’t been too extraordinary. I had my busiest night (250+ customers) on Friday at work, and then had a couple of days off, which was pretty nice. I ordered a copy of Mistborn: The Well of Ascension, which should be arriving very soon. I’ve been going through Mistborn withdrawals, since the first book was so good.

 

And in super-exciting-for-me news, which some of you might know from me mentioning it on Twitter and Facebook, I’ve started scripting the first issue of my comic book pitch. That’s going to probably consume a lot of my non-work time, but I’m also going to try to have a little bit of a life, since I’m starting to not be CONSTANTLY BROKE. Which, you know, is pretty nice.