Geoffrey's Blog

Blogger or Tumblr??

2010-04-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

I'm conflicted at which to use. I have both. I've been slacking on both. But at this particular junction this one will have my most recent post, obviously. I have more followers on this one (a whopping 10) so I may just stick with it, or I may switch off, I guess I'll just be spontaneous.

I feel the need to return here now because of overwhelming concern for my lack of posts, and by overwhelming I am referring to the one time a month one of my friends asks me where my blog is. So here it is, for those who care to read it.

There are now less than 4 weeks of school left before finals start. 4 weeks of college left. EVER. The only word that comes to mind is WOW. I know it hasn't hit me yet and I don't think it will until I am in LA living on my own, something I am both completely ecstatic and amazingly nervous about, but I guess it's just another growing point in life (who knows, maybe I'll get taller too....ehhhh probably not). Either way graduation is approaching fast and it is an amazing feeling.

I feel like this blog will get more interesting once I'm out of school because I won't be stressed with the needs of class, I guess that'll change for the needs of real work, but those are needs that I can't wait to take on as I am very excited to become a part of the professional world on a full-time basis.

In other news Mannix and I played roller hockey last night which was probably my first time playing in 6 years and I've got the blisters on my feet to prove it. It was fun though and I must bring to attention the fact that out of 3 games, I was the majority victor!! For anyone who knows Mannix and sports they will know he is still distraught about this and is in fact weeping in his room as we speak (not really, he's watching the Master's). Fun times none the less.

I'm waiting to hear about a film internship that will take me until graduation which is exciting, but for now I am still counting on caterings as a source of not-so-constant income, but money either way.

Also for those who were involved I am still working on the FlipCam vids from LA and the Vegas, both great trips and both places I love, and hopefully I'll have them done sometime before graduation but you never know.

That's all for now folks I don't want to keep you from your busy schedules for too long. Shalom.

-Geoffrey

Blink 182 Concert and More!

2009-09-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile, not surprising, but I feel I owe you readers a quick update.

Went to the FOB/Blink 182 concert in Tempe beach park on saturday with Christina, Gary, Berneat, and Lindsey. We left prior to FOB to go get some quick drinks at Cue Club for a few until the bands we wanted to see came on, we were there from about 5-630, and I had 3 long islands, which pretty much did me in for the rest of the evening. We got back in time for some of Slightly Stoopid's performance but I don't remember much. I decided to go in the pit for most of FOB and Blink in my drunken stooper, a fact I wish I hadn't done because my legs, and eye lid scab, are still a faint reminder of that painful day haha. It was definitely worth it though to see Blink, what a show.

I've also entered a contest to win a walk on role in the AMC show "Mad Men" and if you are so obliged feel free to register (it takes 2 minutes and an email address) and vote for me (which you can only do once)!! I would greatly appreciate it. The link is:

http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men-contest-2009/2009/09/ycbmm-09-geoffrey-mccarthy-don.php

Feel free to leave a comment while you're there if you'd like!

I also have just about completed the application for the Director's Guild of America Trainee Program. I am really excited about it but I won't know anything about acceptance until February, so that's probably all I'll say on that for now!

Also it is official, I will have the keys to the condo I'll be living in when I move to LA after college on or around October 9th!! Very exciting and I love the place!! I can't wait for everyone to see it and for us to hang out in LA!!

Also our flag football team the Chugglers won our first game last sunday!! 1-0!!! Hopefully we can keep it up and go all the way this year!!

Other than that I can't report much more, just school school school. Wednesdays normally aren't my favorite, today definitely wasn't any different. I'll be back when I can folks. Here's to hoping it's a bit sunnier tomorrow.

-Geoffrey

A Pretty Sober Weekend

2009-09-13T20:56:00.001-07:00

Not that this happens super often for me, but I only drank one this weekend, and technically it wasn't even the weekend yet because it was Thursday night. We will call it the weekend for the purposes of this blog though because I have no classes on Friday.

Other than that I feel like I was doing work most of the weekend, literally, I'm not using that to mean something that it doesnt.

Between finishing up my first draft for my capstone (which happened about an hour ago) and working the usual catering and science center shift, I was relatively busy. Oh yea and the Bears just lost the season opener, to Green Bay, double dose of OUCHIE on that.

It wasn't all bad though.

Christina and I had our 10 month this weekend, which may not seem like a lot to most people, but to us it is, although I mean that in a good way because it has flown by. To celebrate I decided to expand my cooking knowledge from poptarts and melted (yes melted) cheese sandwiches and took a page from her mom's cookbook, again I mean that one seriously. With that recipe I was able to successfully prep and cook some Chicken Divan, which was still delicious when I had it for leftovers tonight with Brazda and Burry. So props to Mrs. K for giving that one too me.

Today was also a lot of fun because after work Brazda and Burry helped me shoot a short little one shot acting monologue so I could submit it to a contest to have a walk-on role in a season 4 episode of "Mad Men." I'm excited about that for sure sure and I am waiting for a link to my clip on the AMCTV website because YES folks believe it or not you all matter in whether or not I get picked as a finalist. Meaning that once my clip is on the site I would love for you all to watch it and vote for me!! This is because the top 20 ppl with the most votes when the prelim period ends on OCT. 16th get into the final and out of those 20 the creator and exec. producer will pic the winner!! Since you are reading this I'm assuming you support all of my worldly endeavors so when I post the link I would be more than grateful if you went and voted!! Ok enough plugging.

We had fun shooting, Brazda took cinematographer duties (on the FlipCam) and Burry was nice enough to give us his shoulders and half the left side of his face so it would look like I was at least talking to somebody during this...Fun times haha.

Other than that, I wish I was able to go to NY for the VMAs this year but couldn't because it wouldn't have been worth the money it would take to get me there and room there for three days but turns out the show was amazing even without my presence behind the scenes haha.

ALright folks thats all I have for now, gonna go watch "Knowing" with the roomies, even though I've already seen it and wasn't super psyched. But I'm a sober driver to the ladies tonight (by choice yes) so I need something to do to pass the time. Have a good one, talk to you soon.

-Geoffrey

9-9-9

2009-09-09T14:58:00.000-07:00

I totally spaced on the fact that today is a date that many of us will never see again! Unless we make it to 9-9-99, but they'd have to invite some sort of long life syrum for any of us to still make that, but hey you never know. I'll stay optimistic.

I just had to have a blog stating this date because it is a once in a lifetime thing and I want to be able to look back on it, even though this day hasn't been any different than others haha.

I'm already less stressed than the last post, but it still sucks that I have two more classes today (Wednesday is my long day), but either way I have one early tomorrow and then the week is over so I really can't complain. Alright later!

STRESS!!!

2009-09-09T12:51:00.001-07:00

Ok so maybe it isn't completely worthy of an all-caps title, but yes at the moment I am feeling a tad bit stressed. All in all it's about the movie I need to make for my capstone filmmaking class, I have been running ideas through my head for the last few weeks and have even written some stuff but the only problem is I need to make the story something that people will be able to feel. Oh, and I need to get the script done by a week from today!!! All in all, I'm feeling the heat. Not to mention Mannix is crappin on me for not writing in this for awhile, and said he will no longer read it as of now, so yea, we'll see if that holds up once I let him know I got this one down.

In a quick digression I will give Emilio a shout out since he's sitting next to me in capstone right now and I know he'll read this haha.

I'll go back to my film stress purely to say wish me luck over the next 7 days and cross your fingers that I can get my script done, which I will, but it may take some heavy frustration.

In other news, Mario Kart has had some sweet representation in my life over the last few weeks. Call it the game of the month if you want but it definitely has made for some fun and friendly competition. In fact, I have spent some good hours unlocking characters and tracks in the game which has been sweet. Although I must say the game's replay value isn't really the best, I feel like once I play a track twice in a day I'm over it, but lucky for the game there's 32 tracks so I guess that gives me a good amount of play time.

Hmmmm, so much has happened over the last two weeks but I don't like holding you guys onto this blog for too long because even I know that I run out of interesting things to say.

I did some catering work this past weekend, which was great since I am quickly running out of money, but it was fun because I get to work with friends. Mannix was on the first catering and Polski and Kremmel were with me on the second and time always flies when you work with friends, which everyone knows.

Let me also say that if I DO forget something cool that happened over these past two weeks and if someone reminds me about it, I will make a separate blog about it, but mainly it has been me having stupid worries about homework which I for some reason decided to start stressing about in my last year of college.

We had our first flag football practice for the upcoming season last night and that's always fun. I think we're gonna make the championship this year as long as we don't have to face the horse tranquilizer women team again haha.

My future LA condo is pretty much in my hands (or I guess I should say my moms) and I am REALLY excited about that. I promise pictures once I get official word but I guess at this point, according to the realtor and my mom, it's pretty much a done deal. And since I just brought up my mom I must bring up a story that just happened yesterday that I thought was quite funny...

I usually talk to my mom at least once a day on the phone just to chit chat and banter about life, but yesterday started out a little different. I must prequel this story with the fact that my mom is now in what I will call a relationship, although I don't know if she and the guy would consider it "Facebook Official" yet, but I don't really want to know all the details anyways so I will say that they are "hanging out." Because of this I am no lnger the only guy that talks to my mother on a normal basis. I hope most of you can see where this is going already. Anyways I called my mom yesterday for our usual banter and to wish her a safe trip, but when she answered I noticed a usual chipper in her voice along with some comments about closets and what not, and at first I thought she may just be talking to him while she was on the phone with me, but NOOO, she quickly realized that I was in fact her son and not her guy and we had a hearty awkward laugh and just one more story to tell. Oh well, I'm lighthearted and so is she and that is definitely not the most awkward story that my mother and I have with each other, but it's the only one I'll divulge for now.

Anyways my class that I've been writing this in is over so I'll end this piece now, and hopefully will be back before two weeks from now haha. Stay safe chillins'.

-Geoffrey

Just Because I Slacked So Much...And a Minor Edit Already

2009-08-27T17:39:00.000-07:00

Yea two in less than an hour what do you know!

Anyways Mannix already informed me that he wasn't on stage at Big Bang with the rest of us....Like I said, I was pretty Deezed. That means that it was even more of a mystery than I thought! haha, oh well I'm not getting paid so I can extend the truth, so thanks for calling me out Mannix.

By the way I saw "Inglorious Basterds" and if you haven't seen it then do so because it is one of Tarantino's best in a while! We saw it with a group of about 18 and it was a blast, we even got into a nice awkwardly tense situation in the parking lot after the fact, but I'll keep that story to the people who were there haha.

Tonight I'll probably check out Mannix's team's first softball game, hopefully they don't suck but you never know they do have Mannix...haha

And I started a script today for my capstone film course that I am really excited about. I have no idea how long it will be but I feel that it is definitely an original student film and I am excited about the concept and will keep you all informed as I progress with it!

Keep it real homies.

-Geoffrey

Its Been Such A Long Timeeeeee!!! (and Mannix's Special Day)

2009-08-27T16:51:00.000-07:00

...Think I should have blogged more!!!

Sorry I was going with a little Boston Remix there I had to keep it going. Anyways, sorry it's been so long, I can't use the excuse that I have been busy since most of the people who read this also live with or near me so they would refute that excuse, so I will pin it on laziness. None the less, here I am for another edition of the blog that barely is but hopefully someday will be!!

We last left off at Kon's bday and frankly folks, that has long since passed. Since then we have had Polski's 22nd Birthday!! As well as some fun experiences on Mill and, surprise, we even had a pretty successful house party at our place. For those who don't realize it, house parties are in short supply now that we are all 21 and older so it was nice to revert back to our roots and get the party started.

I specifically remember (but not clearly) that we had a great time at Mill on the night prior to our house party, but have no idea why. We kept it with the usual amount of crowd but it was double fun because Brazda finally came back and brought his older brother along for the ride for his first weekend back in the land of the sun! By the time those two got to Big Bang I was pretty much out of it mentally but I do still remember a bit of it, mainly through pictures.

The part I partially remember the most was one Christina got Mannix, Burry, Brazda, and myself up on stage at the Big Bang!! Of course we were all very excited about this because having four dudes on stage anywhere but a theatrical play, especially a bar, is pretty much the most taboo thing that can happen. But because Christina and her friends are on a first name basis with the bouncers and piano players at the bar we were fortunate enough to get the VIP treatment and had a good 30 second stage dancing session to ourselves before the players finally announced "alright lets get some ladies up here!!" or something along those lines. As the aforementioned pictures show, a crowd quickly gathered and fun was had by all, although I wish I could remember the song we went up there too but oh well, I'm not perfect.

Now as I have told people in person, the stage at Big Bang is pretty much the last thing I remember about that night, almost. What I understand though based on spectator accounts is that following the stage Brazda bought a few shots of Whiskey for us, and he, Kon, and myself, and maybe more people, took them. Bad idea for myself, but when I am drunk, I don't really stop until I can't go anymore (don't worry mom I won't kill myself!). Needless to say the Whiskey was my donwfall, as it usually is, and all I remember after that was getting back to Christina's and sitting with my head around the toilet and she consoled me for my outstanding drunkenness. After the fact I learned that I got a ride home with Kon, Justine, and her mom, and apparently Kon and I were screaming the whole ride home, as well as yelling and singing once we got back to Christina's. All in all, just another successful Friday night. The following night was what I can only refer to as a successful return to the house party genre.

Saturday came, and let me mention this was our last Saturday of summer because we started school this passed Monday. Since we had company we knew we had to do it big, and since we all barely have any money and even less of us have jobs, we decided we would try our luck at a house party. We decided our place on Pebble Beach would be the venue and we pretty much texted as many people in town that we knew as we could to try and make the night a fun last party of summer before we start our senior years (well most of us haha).

I must admit that I thought it would be a bust. But in the end it really came together. We started with some beerpong on our custom made ASU football themed beerpong table in our outside back room which brings me to the second heading of this post about "mannix's special night," and that is due to the fact that our little buddy brought over his new "friend that is a girl" I'll call her. I was worried because he had been in a slump but when I met Tasha I was very happy for him because she had the same spirit for the sport of beerpong that he does, except with less swearing. Frankly I don't think many people could have that. Either way, I approve (if my opinion even has any clout). She was friendly and open which was cool on her part because she walked into a place full of people she had never met and held her own, so bravo Tasha, bra-vo haha.

Ok off that subject and back to the party. More props to Big Brother Brazda for getting the inside of the house partying with a new game that he introduced to us. Much like the game "Javier" that we learned last year, this game, "beer dice," was new to all of us at the party and was an instantaneous hit so props to Jim for that. I also have to give myself and Kon a nice pat on the back for our efforts in Beer Dice because although we sucked terrible in beerpong that night (1-3?), we rocked out at Beer Dice, winning our first four games ever and only losing our 5th to the creator and his brother himself. I blame our drunkenness because by that time is was about 230 in the morning.

I must also squeeze in a side note here about the party, or after it. We finally decided to hit the sack after a good run and after Brazda, Burry, Belmont, and a few other folks decided to go to Riva's, a mexican taco place that is terribly great when hammered. But back to what I was getting at, I decided to hit the sack and was under the impression that Kon was gooing to crash on our couch in the family room. I thought this mainly because it was 4 in the morning, but either way, I went to sleep.

Upon wakening in the morning I discovered that Kon had disappeared. I became slightly worried since I know he is prone to bad hangovers so their was no way he had woken up and left, but was slightly reassured because his fiance Justine hadn't called me worried about him. I let it go for a couple of hours but decided to text him to see what had happened to him and was shocked when he told me.

Turns out he laid down for a good ten minutes and then decided, in his severely drunken stupor, that he didn't want to crash on the couch and instead wanted to go home. Note that his house is a good 2 and a half miles from mine. But either way, he did it, drunk and at 430 in the morning he decided to run home. I couldn't help but laugh when he told me. He said he should just start working out drunk though because he felt no pain after sprinting the whole way home, so if anyone else who reads this tries that out, feel free to let me know the results.

Ok well that's about all I want to put in this post, sorry for the extensive delay I will try and keep with it, but school is back and thus many freedoms have disappeared, but like I said, I will try! Hope this has been a nice comeback post for those of you reading and I look forward to bringing many more interesting life tidbits to you shortly! In the words of Kremmel "Here's to staying positive and testing negative." Cheerio folks.

-Geoffrey

Kon's Bday and ID4

2009-08-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

First off Happy 22nd Birthday to one of my 8 followers and good friends Konrad!! I'm excited to get drunk with him tonight. Also it should be noted that tonight will be my first night of drinking since I thought I was better last Thursday, until I woke up and had a terrible following day, so wish me luck this evening. We're heading to Scottsdale for the occasion with friends which is not a very frequent visit for as, mainly because with most of our salaries Scottsdale is just too much to handle, but it is fun none the less.

I also must let you all know how much I enjoy the movie Independence Day. I feel like it is one of those movies that I am completely fine watching at least twice a year. Today just happened to be one of those days. I was supposed to work but my boss called me shortly before my shift was supposed to start and politely let me know that I wasn't needed, the nerve!! haha kidding of course. Since I hadn't made any prior arrangements I decided to lounge all day and started by playing Tiger '10, which I suppose I should coincidentally let you all know Mannix relinquished his winning attitude back in from me. AKA we played again and I lost, I clarified that mainly because I feel that if I reread the sentence prior to this one it probably doesn't make sense. I'm a pretty wordy person (duh) and I also don't normally proofread this, and no it's not because I am lazy, well it sort of is I guess, but because this is a blog so screw grammar!

Anyways back to the flick, I gotta say that no matter how many times I hear the President give the "Today, we celebrate our Independence Day" speech it still gives me the chills. It's probably one of the coolest President speeches in any mid '90s action flick and I know Mannix and Burry like it just as much because we all gave each other that "damn I just got the chills look" right after we watched it.

Side note that the movie was slightly ruined for me on more than one occasion during the viewing today thanks to Mannix's amazing flatulence. It's not a normal occurrence, but he decided to munch on tapatillo hot sauce with his quesadilla/PB sandwich lunch and frankly it hit him hard. The fact that our fan was blowing from his direction to mine didn't help the situation, but I loved that he didn't say anything about them and just hoped I didn't notice. Well my friend, I did, haha.

Alright with that I will bid you all a-poo, and yes that was a flatulence pun. Later.

-Geoffrey

The Week with My Parasite, the Tiger Victories, and Joe Pfeiffer the Bum!

2009-08-10T23:25:00.001-07:00

I know I know I'm a slacker, I've been hearing it every day since my last post but like I said I've found myself to be much busier recently than normal, and maybe even a hint lazier.

Either way this week I have had a valid excuse because I have been under the weather for the longest time of my life! A big group of us went out to the river (2 Sundays ago) for Lindsey's 21st (yes we were still celebrating it a week later, that's just how we do) and as always it was an amazing time. Although it was a blast as always I am definitely not in a hurry to go back after the excursion. Why would I not be in a hurry to go back to what pretty much amounts to a 4 hour lazy and extremely drunken river trip you ask? I'll tell you, and it started with the next day, a Monday in fact....

I woke up feeling fresh and not hung over, always a good sign, and even made it to the gym with Mannix. At the gym however a fatigue began to set in, and by the time I made it to Christina's later that evening I felt a number of flu-like symptoms coming on, which is never fun. To fast forward and make this story shorter I will let you all know that throughout the next 5, yes 5 days after that, I had what amounted to flu-like symptoms that never truly developed into a full on sickness. At the opinion of Burry and my own thoughts the conclusion came about that I may have in fact attracted a parasite while on our lovely river adventure, not surprising because who knows what has floated through this river. We also felt that a parasite was a great possibility because although I was feeling these flu-like symtoms for nearly a week, no one around me got sick, and there's no way that I could have had the flu and not passed it on, thus, parasite.

Either way I decided to talk to a nutritionist and was given a load of pills and whatnot to take so I could go forth with a full body cleanse, which some may call a giant week-long natural laxative spree. We're emptying everything here folks from the colon to the gal bladder. I was informed that if I did indeed have a parasite latched to my insides that this body cleanse was sure to rid me of it, and clearly even if I don't have one the body cleanse won't harm me. After all it is probably helping me get rid of most of the damage that liquor has done to me over the past few weeks. Either way, I am finished with day 3 of 7 of the cleanse, and am actually feeling quit better...so thanks for thinking of me. I will keep you all posted on the outcome but am hoping that I am fully recovered at this point, which would have been day 8 of the sickness, and I hope to leave it all in the past.

Story two, my Tiger '10 victories.

I will start this story off by saying that Mannix is the usual victor in most sports games, with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 being his specialty. In fact he was on a 23 game winning streak before tonight. This factoid leads me to the end of this story and that is that tonight, I defeated Mannix at his own game, TWICE!! That's right, I defeated Mannix in Tiger '10 two times in a row (Fact: He had only lost ANY Tiger game twice prior to tonight, so I upped his loses by 100%). Suck on that Mannix!! And I am sure he will spend most of tomorrow off work trying to get his skills back and that will be followed by another bout of he vs. I, and I will keep you posted on the results.

Now that that story has been told, on to the third and final story, the night Christina and I met Joe Pfeiffer the bum from Chicago...

Now clearly I have not told these stories in order, this story in fact happened last Thursday, but I clearly could not forget about it because it was probably one of the most fun nights I have had on Mill since I turned 21.

It started off like many nights on Mill prior, Long Islands at Cue Club. I always enjoy playing wing man for Mannix so I tried that a few times to moderate success. I consider him sitting down with the girls I start him off with for more than 5 minutes a good attempt, and he had a good time with a group of girls for a bit, although of course we don't remember any of their names, but what can you do.

Onwards to Big Bang where for some reason the bouncer decided to let me in and not Louis or Mannix, both of whom were much less drunk than me. I'm gonna go ahead and thank Christina for that luck because I'm guessing if I was not with a girl, as was the situation with these fine gentlemen, I probably wouldn't have been allowed in either, so props to you my lovely GF.

Fast forward to Christina and myself deciding to leave the Bang. We decide to stroll down Mill to check out the sights before we catch a cab home. It was more of a drunk walk than anything else but I think we both still remember because it was at a bus stop near Mill and University that we met a bum who seemed hungry, maybe that was because he told us he was.

We were in a good mood so we decided to bring him along with us to the nearby Jack-In-the-Box, which was probably a block away from his post. By the time we got there we had already made friends with the bum who we had come to know as Joe Pfeiffer, like Michelle the actress, except African American, who was a mild alcoholic but knew he was, and wanted to stop with the bottle. A side note: He was midway thru a 40 when we first started walking him to the restaurant and we made him start his rehab by throwing it out as our terms for buying him a meal. Either way he is a truly gentlemanly 64 year old from Chicago who has made his way out to the AZ warmth on his travels after a bout of bad luck with his family, a truly compelling story that I could never tell like he did.

While outside Jack-In-the-Box I kept Joe company and we told each other stories as Christina walked to the drive thru (inside was closed) and proceeded to buy Joe 2 cheeseburgers and 2 Jalapeno poppers, a hearty meal to anyone and I know Joe was pleased. Christina then tried to also be a wingwoman to Mannix even though we weren't with him, and managed to talk a group of random friends to giving her one of their girls' numbers so we could try and hook the girl and Mannix up (sadly nothing has materialized haha). Anyways Joe and I became pals and then Christina came back with the food and we decided it was time to depart for home and leave Joe to his own ways. As we walked our separate ways from Joe we made sure to yell out for him to keep off the bottle one last time, hopefully he listened, but probably not. We found a cab a called it a night, but I would love to see Joe again because he was a truly interesting guy that seemed to just have some bad luck and I would love to hear more of his story, so if any of you ever happen to wander into Joe Pfeiffer while out and about on Mill Avenue in Tempe, AZ be sure to tell him Geoff says hey and that I'll always been down to chill with him for a meal at Jack-In-the-Box.

And that's the story of Joe Pfeiffer from Chicago.

Side story again I saw Funny People at midnight of its release date with a group of people, hysterical I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a good laugh, one of Adam Sandler's best in years.

Sorry again for the huge slack on the blog lately folks, I may not write every day but rest assured I think of the blog every day. Thanks for sticking around. Keep on checking because I'll definitely be back, so until next time, keep it real homies.

-Geoffrey

A Week in (Partial) Review, Part 1!

2009-08-03T21:41:00.001-07:00

First off let me apologize for the lack of updates this past week, I feel like I have been busier than normal, and I guess working 4 and a half hour shifts at the AZ Science Center IS much busier than I normally am in the summer, since usually I am sitting at home watching TV all day.

Anyway, if you couldn't tell, I picked up a job (part time of course, less commitment) with Arcadia Farms at the AZ Science Center. I've worked there before and as anyone here in AZ knows I also do catering with the company when they actually have them, which for some reason has not been happening lately. Did people stop hiring caterers because of the economy or something? Who knows, at least I have this now.

I must say it's definitely a fun place to work, the people are nice, and even my boss calls me Guapo (for those of you not fluent en Espanol that means handsome) and lets face it, I am always down to be complimented. I guess that's just one way I am kind of a chick, no offense but hey at least I admit it.

Besides the fact that my head is constantly enlarged there, and nothing sexual is meant by that, it is also nice because A) The pay is nice for the job that it is, B) I never work more than 5 hours a day and usually it is only between 11 and 4, so I am never afraid to go out the night before work and C) I get to work with a number of friends because a chunk of them have worked there or at another Arcadia Farms establishment for awhile. Needless to say, it's not a bad gig for a summer (and probably most of school year) job.

Off the work subject, let me try and reminisce about the week that has just passed. My memory feels like it isn't too great, which kind of sucks considering I am only 21, but I still manage to remember most points after a little concentration, which I have been doing while typing this filler sentence, so thanks for sticking around. OH! Okay it's coming back to me...first things first...

As I mentioned in the last post, Christina, my lovely GF, and a bunch of our other lady friends went to Vegas Monday-Wednesday of last week to celebrate Lindsey finally turning 21, which was nice since she was pretty much the last one. Since I wasn't there, I will just go with what they told me and say they had a great time, I believe this to be true because how can you not have a great time when you are staying in a suite at the Palms on the birthday girl's dad with a bunch of friends, it would be a crime to say you had anything less than a blast. And for the record I still have not made my first post 21 Vegas trip EVEN THOUGH I have been 21 for longer than all of the girls that went!! Ok that's all the venting I needed, plus the guys and myself are trying to get together a couple guys' nights in Vegas ourselves since we have for the most part all not been there yet, so I will keep you all posted on that. Onto news bit number 2...

I am excited to say that last week my mom also put an offer down on a condo for me to live in once I graduate and head out to Los Angeles!! The place is really nice and is literally a mile away from the Staples Center downtown and 10-15 from all the other places anyone would really want to visit in the LA area on any given day, be it Beverly Hills, Hollywood, or the beach. I am super excited about it but nothing is for certain on whether or not we will get it, but again I will keep you guys posted and put up some pics if we end up getting it.

Bit 3 has to do with bit 1 so sorry that I digressed for a moment to my living situation for next year. Anyways, once the ladies got back from Vegas it was time to acquaint little Lindsey for what will be her home turf bars for at last the next year, thats right people, the ones on Mill Ave. It's always nice to head there for someone's birthday because you know they are bound to get wasted and do fun stuff, and as the people who were there that fateful night already know, Lindsey was not an exception.

We started the night off at Cue with the plan on only hitting Big Bang after the fact because as everyone who has turned 21 in our group knows (with a few exceptions), most people don't make it much later than 1230 or so, and thats if you go on your birthday eve mind you. For the record, I lasted 28 Minutes, 26 of which I spent in the bathroom of the bar dry heaving what I drank for the pregame. Since Lindsey was already 21 and we went out around 930, I would have been shocked if she lasted til 12, and she didn't.

Back at Cue, we were all enjoying some Long Islands and Sweet Tea Vodkas. The Long Island is Cue Club's specialty, 3 dollars every night for a Long Island that is sure to hit you hard, and the same went for the Sweet Tea Vodka's which were on special as they are for half the week at 3 dollars as well. The guys were playing pool and continuing to drink as the girls drank at the bar, and then something magical happened....

Everyone who was there knows, again, what I am going to say next, but I feel that the suspense is equal for everyone reading this, but what happened next has been a hope of mine and a few other people for a long time now, and I believe Brazda actually owes Mannix 50 dollars for this occurrence as well, so we'll see how that goes. Anyways what I am speaking of is the coming together of our self titled twosome known as "Mancock." I love that name, and it refers to my aforementioned roommate (haaaaveeee you met) Mannix and Christina's roommate (also the Bday girl) Lindsey. They finally made out, and although she doesn't remember it, we all do, and at the end of the day folks isn't that all that matters?? Yes I know that may have been inconclusive to many of you but frankly within our circle it was a pretty sweet thing to watch, and we have photo and video proof.

After that the night kept winding and we all kept getting drunker and reminisced about the kiss that happened 20 minutes prior in the same evening. Finally it was time to leave because we noticed the bouncer suspiciously eyeing Lindsey, and that got us noticing that she really was looking awfully schnockered (read: Drunk) at this point and we figured if we were even going to have the chance of getting into our local favorite (the Big Bang) we were going to have to get there fast.

With much haste our group reassembled within the bar and we quickly headed down the street to the Big Bang, giving Lindsey the pointers as we walked..."Don't act drunk", "Walk straight", "Stand up", and other things which in retrospect probably weren't too helpful because we were all drunk to. Somehow though to my astonishment, we were all let in. Maybe it was because Lindsey said to the bouncer upon entry "It's my birthdayyyyyy!!!!" and I think also something about being sober but I sure don't remember, either way he let us in.

Long story short (although the story has already exceeded long story short length) we were in Big Bang for roughly 21 minutes before Lindsey needed to leave because she couldn't even stand up straight. Konrad was nice enough to carry her up the stairs to a cab (I say up the stairs because the bar is underground) where I proceeded to help her sit upright and ask her to warn me if she needed to puke, way too many stories have ended with our friends puking in cabs and us hearing the horror surrounding that shenanigan. Needless to say we were highly successful and when she did decide she needed to puke, I was able to lift her out of the cab so the projectile was successfully only spread on the cab door. It still sucked because I gave the driver 23 dollars on a 9 dollar fair, but you win some you lose some right? And she had a good time, before that happened of course.

Ok since this post is already my longest one...I think...I am going to stop there for now and pick it up tomorrow so I can make it a separate post because I commend you already if you have stuck with me for this long, and I am more than happy to continue sharing with you. So keep checking and I will continue on with my week soon!!

-Geoffrey

A Visit From Mom (and She Gets Work Done!)

2009-07-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the absence over the last week, I have been busier than usual because my mom came in to visit on Thursday, and just left this morning. Needless to say the trip was full of many freebies for myself and some lucky friends and my mom was cool enough to buy me plenty of stuff to get started for the school year, as she does every summer.

Thursday night we took it easy but made sure to get a few errands done for random supplies, but Friday was the day that will be remembered by all who took part in her trip out here to lovely Tempe Arizona.

We started Friday morning with 18 holes of golf at Silverado Golf Club in Scottsdale, and brought Mannix along for the fun since he is the genius that was able to find us a sweet deal for our tee time. I don't want to say much about the game because to be frank, I suck, not always, but since I hadn't played in awhile my favorite parts of the game were being able to off road my golf cart while hunting for the many balls I managed to lose. I will however give Mannix credit because he kicked ass, as usual whether it be real golf or Tiger Woods PGA on PS3, someone has to find a way to distract that MoFo. But onwards to later that day...

This was planned far in advance and coordinated just the same, and what I am speaking of is my mother's triumphant night out of bar hopping with us on Mill Ave.

Us younguns started out the night at Brittany and Frans by pregaming over there with some friendly games of boxing (a beer drinking card game, thanks to Mannix again for that one) that made all of us start to feel at least a little buzz. Then the 11 of us who were there headed off to Mill to meet with my mom, so we had a perfect dozen, not a bad crowd either if I do say so myself.

We met my mom on a corner of Mill that she was able to walk to from her hotel and quickly moved to our first establishment, which was Zuma Bar.

We all mostly bought our own drinks to start off but when everyone was situated at a booth that we commandeered my mom was lovely enough to by us all a round of shots, yes all 12 of us, isn't she the best! We went college style with them and decided on Soco and Limes and they did not disappoint. Frankly how could they? They were free! I'd drink just about any alcoholic drink if it was given to me for free I'm a college student for crying out loud.

After another drink or so at Zuma we had the brilliant idea of going to Ra Sushi for some Saki Bombs...BAD idea. Again my mom treated the 12 of us to the bombs and we got going on those really quick, although a few of us got a little too excited with the whole table pound to get the sake mixed with the beer because we managed to break a good 5 or so glasses when we pounded the table. I don't know how this happened, I would have though the glasses would be made stronger for this particular Sake purpose, I guess I'll write the manager...not.

The best part of this Sake extravaganza though had to be after half the glasses broke, we all just decided to drink the sake and beer normally, and my mom pulled one out of left field and chugged the sake and beer before any of us college kids could even get ourselves to do it! Needless to say jaws were dropped and my spirits soared, this was my mom after all, who prior to this night I had considered to be a huge lightweight. Kudos to her for shoving that one down my throat.

Sake completed and eyes in wonder we made our way to the final preplanned destination of the evening, where else of course but the Big Bang. Clearly by now if you have read this blog and listened at all, you would know that if you ever were to hit up Mill Ave you should definitely stop in at Big Bang, you will not be disappointed and if you are, you are stupid, simple as that.

Anyways we got there and then the night gets blurry. All I do know is that the girls managed to get my mom on stage and they of course accompanied her. The next morning my mom asked what the stickers all said that people kept sticking to her while she was on the stage because she couldn't read them at the time, I informed her that these stickers mostly said things along the line of "Bang This!", a popular saying at the Big Bang and I will assume you can figure out the relevance. Needless to say I have a good 3 minute video of that escapade, and with her permission I will get it up here at some point.

The girls finished my mom off by getting her to drink some mind erasers, a fact I didn't learn of until the next day, and of course this was enough to get my mom over the edge. Mom got drunk, my mission was accomplished, and the night was great because every one had a blast, how could we not?

Saturday was a day of rest and more shopping which I took full advantage of with my mom, we even took time out to go see "The Ugly Truth," which I was actually quite surprised at because it wasn't that bad, but that's all I'll say about that haha.

Other than that it was just another piece of the awesome cake that this summer has been. Tonight I don't know what's happening yet, but the girls are all going to Vegas tomorrow for Lindsey's 21st Birthday so I will pre-wish them all a spectacular and safe trip! I start some catering work tomorrow-thursday but only 1130-4 every day so I will still keep the party going, at least now I will have some income to go with it. That's all for now folks, and I almost forgot but I wanna give my buddy Marc a shout out, not for anything special other than the fact that he reads this and asked me too, which is enough reason for me! Be safe people I'll be back soon.

-Geoffrey

New Summer TV Obsession and Harry Potter

2009-07-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

So how about "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince"?? I haven't seen it yet (hopefully tomorrow night) but I am not afraid to admit that I read the book, and all of the books in the series for that matter. If that upsets you, I'm not really sorry, and frankly if you are upset you are in a minority I mean look how much fricken money the movie has already made, it clearly is equivalent to the fanbase of "The Dark Knight" which I will openly admit I probably will like more than any HP movie.

Anyways the reason I mentioned that is that I have actually over the last few days decided to watch the 4th and 5th Harry movie with Christina and Lindsey at their place so we can feel fresh when we actually decide to see the new flick. I must say I enjoyed the 5th movie much more than the pick because the book wasn't one of my favorites but oh well. That's enough Harry Potter talk for now, on to the newest obsession...

Every summer, or at least this summer and last summer, I have picked up a new show to obsess over that always makes me get that feeling inside of me that makes me wonder how I ever went through life without watching it before this. Maybe I'm the only one that gets that?? Either way I started LOST freshman year, so that wasn't a summer one, but now it's my favorite show and I can't imagine what it would be like had I never started watching it.

My first summer obsession (from last summer) was Nip/Tuck. What a sweet show, I don't even know how to describe it but it is definitely an entertaining hour every time I get the chance to watch it. Shout out to Louis for actually wanting me to watch it up until I started it and another shout out to Leaders for being the guy who actually got me to start it when Louis couldn't. I'd recommend it to any dude, and even some ladies.

The current summer obsession of my housemates and myself though is the show "How I Met Your Mother." Another great show that reminds me of what could be a love child between the glory days of "Seinfeld" and "Friends." Yea I mean that, because I know every reader has probably loved watching at least one of those shows within their life. Well HIMYM is always fresh and incredibly funny and is always good for a laugh. The characters are all relatable to anyone in a group of friends and the story is genuine, all in all it's another show I'd recommend to anyone with some spare time and a good sense of humor. I have blasted through the first three seasons since I started it last Saturday, and I am only delaying finishing season 3 because season 4 won't be on DVD until September, and I HATE the feeling that I get when I start bingeing on a show and all of a sudden I have run out of new episodes to watch. It's like someone is giving you free money all of the time, then they stop abruptly. Maybe that's a bad analogy but I figured it was one that everyone could relate to equally because who wouldn't love just getting money for free and how pissed would you be if all of a sudden you actually had to work for it again?!?

I digress, one of my other roommates, Mannix, just got back home today from Chicago (his and my true home) and we plan on celebrating tonight by drinking heavily on Mill with some friends, a very happy Tuesday I know! I am in the process of getting some videos up online and I promise I'll have one soon, maybe even a general stupid one just to prove that I am not lying about this sweet Flip Cam. Tonight should be a blast though and I will share the details of it with you guys manana. Hasta.

-Geoffrey

Barney's, Big Bang, and River Time! (Trip 1)

2009-07-19T14:12:00.001-07:00

Barney's Boathouse is an amazing place to start out Thursday night drinking...Why is this do you ask? I will give you one reason, 50 cent beers. Yes true story. Needless to say when myself, Christina, Gary, and Brittney decided to head out on Thursday, we started at Barney's. There are a few videos I took of this night, I am partial to all of them, and will get them here, but besides talking about many different and colorful topics, I was able to get an immediately before and immediately after (unfortunately not an in the moment) shot of one of the more spontaneous moments of the evening, that being Gary randomly puking all over our table. I don't think any of the four of us will ever know why, because he definitely wasn't drunk, but it happened, and hopefully the videos will do it justice.

Continuing later into the evening with a good buzz going we decided to go to the Big Bang, a frequent bar w all enjoy because of the dualing pianos, I believe I've mentioned it in an older post. As most people who have seen me drunk know, I am thoroughly enthused by certain songs when I get drunk, "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "I'm On A Boat" being two of the biggies. As it turns out the pianists decided to play both of these that particular night, leading Christina to momentarily (hopefully) think I was gay, not true. Oh well though I love the karaoke too much to care, and I belted, and there is video of that as well which I'm sure is very amusing. The other great point of the night was the giant crush Brittney had on the piano player, who only after giving her number and many song requests to, unfortunately informed her of the woman he is with. Oh well, sometimes dreams are crushed haha.

After this eventful Thursday I decided to keep it low key with Christina in Friday and we just watched the 4th Harry Potter movie and are currently working on the 5th so we can see the new one in the theatre and feel up to date haha.

Saturday was river day.

The fact of the matter is that by the time I actually got to the river, along with Leaders and about 18 more of his buddies from work, I was well on my way to phased out of the real world thanks to the two 30 racks we got for ourselves, and one of his work buddies. Needless to say it was more than enough to get the job done.

To make things way easier we all pitched in for a party bus for the ride to/from the river, making the whole driving situation a much better since nobody wants to go to the river and actually float on a tube for four hours and NOT get wasted in the process, or maybe that's just me? No, it's everyone.

Anyways the party bus was highly successful, we were able to drink heavily while on the way to the river and by the time we started floating we were all well on our way to a drunken stupor.

To add to the fun factor Leader's decided to invest in what most would consider a kiddy pool, we considered it our floatation device for the day. I must say it was sketchy at first, being that I think the normal weight limit that the pool would have would be somewhere around 150 pounds total. I alone took care of that, and then we added 3 more full grown men into the mix to take over the other three corner seats of the pool...yes, we party.

The fact that we also had a blow up dolphin only added to the fun, and it was because of this dolphin that we were able to stay tied to the numerous other floats that our river mates had rented/brought to float on. After the four of us were safely situated in our float it actually turned out alright because the combined weight of us actually seemed to make the pool more floatationally sound, and yes I may have just made a new word in "floatationally." All in all we were immediately quite popular because we brought the pool to the river.

The next 4 hours of floating and drinking is history, and I say that again only because I ended up being too drunk to remember most of it, but fun was had, and pics were taken. PS if anyone knows the location of the disposable waterproof camera that I purchased for the occasion please fill me in, I'd love to post pics of the event.

At the end of the day not only was my camera misplaced but my shirt was as well, and I ended up eating at Chik-fil-a wearing an American flag tie up shirt, which I will hopefully post a pic of because words can not describe the ridiculousness of my outfit. And when it was all said and done I decided to take a nice 15 hour nap and am feeling renewed today, now it is time for some lunch, so I am off.

-Geoffrey

Here I Go Again

2009-07-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

As I write this I am sitting on my couch watching Burry (1 of 3 of my roommates) play UFC Undisputed 09 on our awesome used big screen TV.

Also as I write this I am preparing to embark on a yearly ritual of mine, one that I have been doing every year since I was a sophomore in High School. This ritual I speak of is my yearly attempt at trying to play the guitar.

My mom would know best since she got my first one (electric) back when I was still in high school, and for awhile after that things seemed to be looking up. I played with my best friend Corey for awhile and was even able to learn AC/DC's "Back in Black" (not the full chorus) and even start on Metallica's "Master of Puppets." For some reason though I stopped, and for some reason every year since I have started and stopped annually and without change, mainly blaming the size of my fingers, which I do not consider to be anything special, but in actuality it is probably because the guitar just loves kicking my ass.

I'm the type of person who likes to be able to do things and be at least mediocrely good at them after only a few tries (with the exception of beerpong, which for most of my freshman year in college was quite the source of laughter for my friends). Guitar has always been one that has taken me awhile though, and still does. I figured I'd actually blog about it this time in the hopes that it makes me that much more determined to learn this enigma in front of me that is my guitar, which is acoustic this time by the way, which my mom also bought during what I would call my more "emo" days haha.

Anyways I think I like the acoustic more at this point and even if I didn't it wouldn't matter because it is the only one I have here at my place in Arizona. All in all I'd love to have the added skill of guitar playing under my belt. I'd love to be able to chill somewhere with a beer and just start playing things like any Jack Johnson song or the uncontested summer hit of '08 and maybe even '09 for some, Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours," Which coincidentally I CAN play on Ukelele, so I've got a start. I'm pretty much a fan of all the songs you love to hear when you're hanging with friends, be it drunk or sober, whichever you prefer.

If I can keep the flame going I will keep you all updated on my progress. As of right now Burry is trying to get me to learn "Fishin' In the Dark" so we can play it at the same time, we'll see how it turns out, cross your fingers maybe I'll even get a video of that on here at some point for all of you to have a nice chuckle at.

-Geoffrey

The One Where I Wrecked Myself

2009-07-13T13:07:00.000-07:00

I'd like to assume that most college kids tend to sometimes do stupid things when they are drunk, and I am not an exception. That said, let me tell you a little story.

A few of us decided to drink some sweet tea vodka's (it's like the next great thing around here) and mind erasers (new to me and I was impressed) and go swimming at Christina and Lindsey's pool. I feel like the rest of this story can pretty much get figured out by anyone who has ever combined the two, because more often than not somebody ends up getting hurt, and of course this occurrence is again no exception, in fact it was practically foretold moments before it happened. Let me give you the run down.

I just finished my first vodka drink (therefore I guess this isn't a full DRUNK story, but there was still alcohol involved) and decided to jump in the pool. Right before I got in Lindsey decided to ask me if I would be upset if she decided to throw up on me, obviously I said yes. I also decided to follow it up with something like "You better be able to lift me out of the water after I jump in to wash off the vomit and end up hitting my head because I did it so fast." Now that wasn't the exact statement, but you get the idea.

Luckily no vomit was emitted and I made a safe first entry into the pool. I climbed out and felt the need to do some kind of weird twirl flip into the pool the second time, this would end up being the last time that I got into the pool for the night.

The jump maneuver seemed to go well and I entered the water mid spin. I'm not a fan of chlorine in my eyes, along with whatever else they put in community pools, so I kept my eyes closed as I swam for the edge of the pool. This turned out to be a bad decision. The flip disoriented my sense of direction under the water more than I thought and as I swam for what I thought was the far edge of the pool I was suddenly and abruptly stopped by a MUCH nearer edge of the pool. With my eyes closed and my hands not in front of me for some reason I went full force face first into the wall.

It's funny though it didn't really hurt it was just more of a shock. I came up to the surface and with a laugh quickly exclaimed that I had just mashed my face against the wall and when the girls looked over at me after I said it there faces quickly turned worried and the looks were followed by the exclamation that I had blood pouring out of the top of my nose. Awesome!

Anyways the ice that was keeping our drinks cold turned out to be even more useful in stopping the bleeding and lessening the swelling of my nose impact point as well as the two points on my head that were also damaged in the idiocy. The girls helped a lot I gotta give them credit and Christina even put a band aid on me that could have swallowed my face whole, but it worked for a quick and temporary fix. Of course I also decided to follow it up by chugging a few more mind erasers, it's a college student's morphine and it worked out well.

All in all I still got drunk but now I just have to deal with the nasty looking wounds on my face as they scab and hopefully they disappear in a quick and timely fashion. I'll get a pic up here soon because lord knows there were plenty taken.

Oh well, just another day in the life! New motto "No Bitchassness!" (Thanks Christina, you always keep me on my toes :).) I hope to keep that going forever! Anyways I'm off to another day of wonder and excitement. I shall return.

UPDATED: I posted a self portrait of last nights ridonculousness on the top of the page, and don't fear that white substance on one of the wounds is just neosporin, not scar tissue.

-Geoffrey

Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Ba-a-ack!

2009-07-10T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well this here is my first blog post LA and I have to say I am really happy to be back here in AZ. I love the sun and although the weather makes me feel like my skin is melting off, I know that a pool and/or some nice AC is always a few steps away wherever I'm at.

I got back late last night and went to see the midnight showing of Bruno with a bunch of friends, very funny but definitely not for anyone who takes satire ridiculously seriously...you have to watch it knowing that it is all just a movie and if anything will hopefully have positive effects for the groups that it "exploits."

Today I've spent most of my time just getting situated back in my house out here, only one of my roommates is here right now but that's not a problem as long as someone else is here.

Our mini fridge in our house is stocked with 4 cases of assorted beers which we will begin dipping into tonight for a little pregame action before heading out to the local bars on Mill Ave!! Very excited for tonight as other than the 4th, I haven't really been out and about in awhile and I always have a blasty with the ASU friends.

Hopefully some funny stuff will happen tonight as always seems to happen to at least some one in our group of friends every time we go out, I'll probably bring the flip cam and see if anything comes of it, fingers crossed!

Other than that I am just enjoying being back, and will continue to post as often as I can!

-Geoffrey

I Got My Lunch Packed Up and My Boots Tied Tight!

2009-07-08T19:28:00.000-07:00

Both of those aren't really true, although the next line would be semi-true. I am heading back to school as in back to Tempe, AZ Where ASU is!! I am very excited for tomorrow, not only will I finally be back in the land of sun but before that I will be checking out some condos in Downtown LA as possible (hopeful) living places next year!! Cross your fingers that I find something on this trek out with the realtor because last viewings were a miss.

Anyways that means that very soon the stories will be getting intense, in a most likely hysterical way, and I can't wait to share them with everyone who reads this! For now that is all though. I leave you excited and optimistic about tomorrow, lets hope I can get some fricken shut-eye tonight because tomorrow won't come soon enough! Updates coming...

-Geoffrey

Couch Tater or Journeys in the Land of Television

2009-07-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

So I don't have much new news to talk about today, but still thought I'd at least do a mini-update, and hey I'm a pretty talkative person so this may just turn into a full on post!

Talked to the realtor today about going around and checking out places for next year and it looks like I'm going to go explore a bunch of places in Downtown LA on Thursday morning so I'm psyched about that! Hopefully some video will come of it that I'll post on here, as long as I can figure out how to do it. More on that later.

Since I spent 90% of today inside watching TV, 3-4 hours of which consisted of the Michael Jackson Memorial on CNN and also MTV because I had to rep my part time employer!! I must say I was more impressed by the ceremony than I thought I'd be, there were some moving speakers and the performances were also really good.

I was also able to catch up on all the Deadliest Catch that I have missed. I must say I love that show, even though it really is more or less the same people doing the same thing over and over. It must be the many characters on those boats because those guys never get old to watch because they are always poking fun at each other, I recommend it if you enjoy any other Discovery Channel show.

Last bit of news is that I may be getting back to Tempe, AZ as early as Thursday night!! Which could not come sooner as I am quite ready to get back to a social life. If not Thursday night though it's looking like it will be early friday so whatever way it goes I'll be back by the weekend and I can not wait! Tomorrow I'm planning on going on a few hour hike with my cousin Jesse as long as he and I are able to wake up and head out by 9, so banking on the fact that we are successful hopefully I will have a more eventful post tomorrow. See you then.

-Geoffrey

The Flip Cam Cometh!!

2009-07-06T18:55:00.001-07:00

So I normally wait until closer to midnight to post new blogs, but considering today has been back to normal solitude I have decided to update earlier as the most exciting thing of my day has more than likely already taken place. Although if something extraordinary comes up I will definitely update again tonight. Anyways onto the news...

I got a Flip Cam today!! For those of you who don't know its pretty much a video camera the size of a small cell phone that you can literally take an hour or two of video on (depending on the size you choose to buy) and immediately upload it to your computer, youtube, facebook, etc. Pretty much the coolest thing since an Ipod in my opinion. For more info on it check out www.theflip.com it really is a sweet piece of technology, I will post some videos on here to show what it looks like when I have some. I'm keeping it short today but will be back with the latest next time!

-Geoffrey

Fourth of July Weekend Festivities (with Girlfriend), or, The Sun Burn Chronicles

2009-07-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

Let me first apologize for my absence over the past few days, I was happily busy with my visiting girlfriend (read: blog title) and lets face it, if more than three people are reading this as of now I'm surprised and the three that DO read it were probably just as busy with me this weekend, as it should be over the 4th of July weekend. All in all thanks for coming back, whoever you may be.

After relaxing and going to some of the local haunts for the first day and a half of my girlfriend's visit and showing her what my life has been like while not working out here, (feeding 2 horses, 2 dogs, and 3 cats, and cleaning up the poop left by all of the above) we decided to meet up with our friends who also happened to be staying near my aunt's place for the weekend. Better yet they were staying right at Manhattan Beach, so logically we decided to join them, and thus begins the epic roasting of 2009. After deciding what alcoholic beverage we were going to drink (Sweet Tea flavored Vodka + Tea, quite delicious) and also figuring out how to hide it from beach patrol, which lucky enough for us was by just putting it in a cooler since it looked like tea and also smelled like it, unless you snorted it. (and no I didn't try that, but I did try the waft and smell and liquor was not detected)

We then met up with our friends and some family and began the drinking festivities. I have decided to cliffnotes the next two days' events as I figure it will easier keep your attention if you've made it this far (golf clap to those who have) and also because I am starting to feel the minor arthritis percolating in my fingers, and at the ripe old age of 21 it is not a force I want to fight with, so here it goes:

July 4th

12:52 Arrive at beach

1:00 Arrive at lounging site with drinks and towels in hand, after amazingly being able to find a parking spot near the beach. (to anyone who has ever been to Manhattan Beach on a weekend, let alone 4th of July weekend, you know what I mean)

1:00 and 30sec. First drink underway

1:01-6:00 Various excursions into the ocean to those who dared, drinks continually flowing on a consistent basis, and many conversions that I can not remember but hope come back to me soon so I can share them. I also broke the seal WAY too early and had to take many extra trips to the ocean as a consequence of this. Sun was also taken in heavily by all, as proven by the now nearly immobile joints of some of our beach party because of too much sun exposure...reason 927 why mom knows best, even though we don't always listen, we do always hear.

7:30 Massive dinner and semi-return to sobriety, this must be reversed

9:00 Fireworks

9:15 The group heads to a local bar

9:16 First round ordered...andddd we're back

10:00 Jammin to the rockin guitar players at the bar who seem to be playing every great guitar hit that you'd want to hear when you're hammered, and playing quarters to occupy ourselves at our table.

12 midnight and fully inebriated we decide to retire, a successful 4th of July.

To add to the fun we decided to return to the beach today (the 5th) to complete the ever present cycle of sunburn, needless to say we succeeded, and I will now be aiming for the shade for the next week so as not to have my skin melt off.

All in all a great holiday weekend, back to the yard and books for me tomorrow, for now thats it...and the fact that I can't remember a damn thing from when I was drunk other than the music and games just makes me want a Flipcam that much more so I can have video the next morning to spread the tale, hopefully this dream will be a reality by the end of summer. Night folks.

-Geoffrey

Public Enemy Number One...and the Little Spider That Could

2009-07-01T20:10:00.000-07:00

Well if you couldn't tell from the title, (and the fact that I said I was going to see it in my last post) I went and saw "Public Enemies" last night at midnight.

Let me have a digressing paragraph really quick for a quick and unrelated side story. One that I must share because it affected my psyche to a terrible extent last night. As a quick background I will tell you this...I HATE SPIDERS!!!...and I mean that, we're talking how much Indiana Jones hates snakes, how much everyone in LA hates LA traffic type of hate here. More or less it is because they just creep me out in general in every way, I don't even like interacting with them in any way, and that includes killing them, unless there are at least two means of separation between myself and the victim, ie. I am wearing latex gloves and killing them with a shoe. Anyways, as I was walking out of my aunt's house to head to the movie last night, let's say around 11:35, I went to the back door, which I use very frequently during the daytime hours to go in and out onto the patio, and noticed a MASSIVE (we're talking about a half dollar coin sized) spider decided to spread his web and plant his fortress at literally my height right outside of the back door. Needless to say I didn't even try opening it and I even tried to take a cell phone pic but that just didn't give the thing justice. I was disgusted and very impressed by the fact that this spider was able to make such an astounding web in such a human oriented place in such a short period of time, I mean there was not even a start of it the last time I used the door prior to that which must have been around 7pm. Either way I let it be because it was too big for me to even want to try and kill, lord knows what would have happened if I tried to get my spider killing hands into his web, I'm sure that it had a backup plan for that. I am happy to report however that this morning, when I went to check on the site, the spider AND web had completely vanished, I have NO idea how but it was gone as quickly as it had come, and for my sake I hope that it has gone VERY far away because rest assured if I found that spider roaming the deck webless, the showdown would be quick and for him (or her) it would be fatal. (My sock and shoe combo counts as my two degrees of killer separation). Anyways I had to share that, now back to more important (maybe) things...

As far as 'Public Enemies" goes I must say I was really impressed, and that isn't an objectified statement I really was. There are so many ways that a gangster movie can be butchered, but Michael Mann succeeded in telling a story about one of the most famous mobsters of the early 20th century and the cast did a great job of bringing these characters to life. Had I not read the script I think I would've needed to see it twice just to get most of the characters' names down (I still may have to see it again) but I knew for the most part what was going on and especially enjoyed the scenes that I was present for the filming of, it was cool seeing how it was made on the set and then how it turned out in the film, since obviously the scenes weren't filmed in order.

I also enjoyed seeing it because it got me out of the house and up late, which I haven't done much off while out here yet, don't really know why but it probably has something if not everything to do with the fact that 99% of my friends are not in this state so I don't have many people to chill with...oh well all that will change when I am back in Arizona in a week and a half!! And even tomorrow it'll be different until the 5th of July because my girlfriend (Christina incase you weren't aware of who she is) is coming in to visit for the 4th!! No idea what we are going to do but I am just ecstatic to see her since I haven't in over a month!

Nothing too nuts went down today other than the fact that I finished "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" which kept me invigorated and enthused until the very end. Again I can't believe it took me that long to read it but I am happy that I finally got to it.

After I finished I went back to the bookstore (which I seem to be frequenting as much as Mrs. Fields here, although I'm sure the book store is much healthier) and went around again browsing the selection and decided to go with the title I put down yesterday in place of IHTSBIH, Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five." I'm excited to read this as it is my first Vonnegut book and I have heard nothing but good things from friends telling me to start reading his books (originally my first choice was of course "Cat's Cradle" but the store was out so that made my decision quite easy) so I am excited to start that, although it probably won't be until the 6th, which is alright by me.

Now I sit here watching the "Pitchmen" marathon which just finished airing the season finale with a special Billy Mays tribute at the end, truly sad that he passed he seemed like a great guy and Youtube has definitely given my friends and myself some great laughs involving dubbed versions of his commercials, he will definitely not be forgotten.

Tomorrow is gonna be a busy one and I can't wait to get out of the house and finally do some stuff as its been awhile! I'll do my best to write as the weekend goes by but there's no telling what'll happen so for now I bid you adieu...

-Geoffrey

Solo Shenanigans in My Aunt's Backyard, and an Unhealthy Addiction

2009-06-30T21:23:00.000-07:00

Now for those of you who may have taken that in a sexual connotation, (maybe that was only me as I wrote it?) I'm sorry to say that it is of no relation to that, unless you count the topics of the current book I'm reading. Otherwise I am just referring to my solitude as I relax on a lawn chair and catch up on some summer reading in my aunt's backyard in the suburbs of LA.

I finished Kerouac's "Dharma Bums" before noon today and decided to make a trip to the local Barnes and Noble to see what I felt like reading next. I only like having one book at a time to read because I have found that when I have more than one I start anticipating my next read too much to concentrate on my current one, so I only buy one book at a time nowadays. Call it ADD or OCD or whatever I don't care it's just how I feel about it...

There's something about bookstores that I find really calming, don't know why because I don't feel the same about libraries or anything, but I have learned over the years that I could very easily spend what some would consider far too long in a book store and be completely okay with it. I just enjoy perusing the selection and seeing what looks good on the day. Today I was heading out with a book fully prepared to buy it but my periph was caught by a side shelf where I saw "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell", the Tucker Max college aged romp that virtually everyone within the 18-24 demographic has read, and either despised or cherished after.

I decided to go for it and put my first choice back and picked up IHTSBIH instead, and I couldn't be happier for the moment.

Now for those who may have read it and despised the author, I can easily agree with you, but lets just remember its a book and if it really bugs you that much you don't have to read it....moreover it is what I, as a college aged male, would consider a fairly truthful look at the way most guys my age are, in one way or another.

It's misogynistic for sure, but the honesty of it (and the absolutely hysterical follies that occur to the author on a solo basis) makes it hysterical and funny at the same time.

I found myself laughing out loud sitting alone in my aunt's backyard when I read a story regarding a poop that went terribly wrong, maybe I just enjoyed it because I am an avid pooper myself, but I would say it was hysterical either way.

All in all IHTSBIH put a light and some much needed laughter into my often lonesome time off while hanging around my aunt's house, thank God she has a great backyard or I'd really be pissed.

I've gone 150 pgs into that today and I will probably finish it tomorrow, it's one of those that I can't wait to pick up again so I am much more obliged to read it quicker.

As of right this moment though besides writing this I am looking VERY forward to going to see Public Enemies tonight at midnight. Like I said before I worked on it for about 20 days last summer and have read the script and when you actually work on a film at least in my opinion it makes it much more interesting to watch, as you can think to yourself about how great (or difficult) it was to film certain scenes on the days you were there. So I'll be back with my thoughts on that!!

Just a side note someone needs to shoot me an intervention to stop eating Mrs. Fields' cookies. I realized today that I have an unhealthy addiction to them because not only do I take "advantage" of the buy 3 get 1 free deal, (all Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies everytime) but today as I walked to the shop the seller quickly turned me away by saying that the cookies I required wouldn't be ready for another 10 minutes or so.

How in the HELL do you become a noticeable regular at a shop that employs mostly part time high school/college kids that seem to rotate employment from week to week!?!?

I don't know, but that was DEFINITELY a wake up call, I need to slow down on the cookies...for my wallet's sake and for my body's sake. I can't imagine that eating 4 of those cookies multiple times a week is helping my life expectancy.

Alright that's enough for now, I shall return...

-Geoffrey

Readin' and Livin'

2009-06-29T20:53:00.000-07:00

The only reason I enjoy off time is because I am free to read whenever I want, which is something I love doing although I never seem to take enough time out for it while I am in school. (hopefully I'll change that this year).

I've been reading "The Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac.

I really love Kerouac's writing because it really opens the eyes and mind to America as a whole. He writes a lot about the beat movement era which I am fond of just because of the exploration that people just like myself did, hoping on freight trains and hitchhiking across America. A dream of mine that I know will never come true, unless it is in a film. So I welcome the books because they offer a great escape to a truly interesting era.

I'm almost finished with it (will be by tomorrow afternoon) and haven't decided what to pick up next yet, although I am certainly swirling so authors around inside.

On a different note I'm super excited for the midnight showing of "Public Enemies" tomorrow that I am going to check out. Incase you weren't aware I have a special affinity for it because I was a production assistant on it last summer while I was home in Chicago, a truly great experience with an amazing crew of people. I've also read the script and of course Michael Mann continues his genius streak, so I'll get back with my thoughts on that after I see it!

I also talked to a realtor today because my mom and I want to start looking around some areas of LA for where I am going to live next year after college!!! Both exciting and scary at the same time as I'm sure the end of college will be a very bittersweet experience for me. I've had many great things happen in my college years and many firsts and I will certainly be sad to not be able to see my friends whenever I want. But we'll get to that when the time comes because I don't want to think of it about it right now!

Well that's all I have for now, until next time...

-Geoffrey

First Blog

2009-06-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

Blog site number 2.

Hope its not poopier than the first.

I'm gonna keep it to a variety of different things this time not just movie stuff, although I'm sure that will be a good portion.

Cross your fingers that I keep this going! (No seriously, you should, now-ish or this thing is done for)

So guess what I saw opening night:

If you guessed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, you're right, and not one bit stupid!

I'll be honest and say yea, I liked it. I don't know if that's because of my fondness for the first film, or just because I like giant robot duals and Megan Fox.

Either way I'd recommend it to anyone who loves themselves a good popcorn flick, and hey, considering it's just shy (and may still) of The Dark Knight's opening 5 day record I guess it wont matter if you listen to me or not, but everyone else is seeing it so you should too!

-Geoffrey