It's Clearly Quite Absurd

Forwarding Over to EvenFlow

2009-10-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, please update your bookmarks to EvenFlowProductions.com. From now on and hopefully forever, all my blogs/articles/videos/pictures, etc. will be hosted on that site. There is a short text explanation on why I moved yet again.. and expect a video in the next day or so.

Thanks for all your support.

Brandon

Relatively Useless Episode 3

2009-09-30T13:58:00.001-07:00

My newly named video blog, Relatively Useless is here! I went over the ten minute time period, so it's split into two segments. Enjoy!

Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?

2009-09-21T19:02:00.000-07:00

I've become a huge fan of the internet show "The Guild." Upon doing some research on the show I ran across a music video they made to promote the show. Check it out, not only is the video cool but the music is good too. Plus Felicia Day is HOTTT!!

RIP : Norman Borlaug

2009-09-13T00:44:00.000-07:00

I really hate blogs that do memorials for every celebrity passing. They seem insincere and at most times, undeserving. However, yesterday we lost someone that won't be on the news for the next month like Michael Jackson. We lost someone who truly made a difference in millions of people's lives and you won't see it on the front of CNN.

Norman Borlaugh passed away at the age of 95. He's called the man who saved a billion lives. I'm not going into why you should think of him, just Google him. He deserves that much.

The Single Greatest Quote on God Ever

2009-09-12T20:01:00.000-07:00

Right now I'm finishing up the fifth season of Babylon 5. It's an incredible show I started a couple years ago and just now am making time to finish. I was watching an episode in called "Meditations on the Abyss" when I heard a quote by the character G'Kar that just simply floored me. When asked the question, "What is truth and what is God?" He replied

"If I take a lamp and shine it toward the wall, a bright spot will appear on the wall. The lamp is our search for truth, for understanding. Too often we assume that the light on the wall is God. But the light is not the goal of the search; it is the result of the search. The more intense the search, the brighter the light on the wall. The brighter the light on the wall, the greater the sense of revelation upon seeing it! Similarly, someone who does not search, who does not bring a lantern with him, sees nothing. What we perceive as God, is the byproduct of our search for God. It may simply be an appreciation of the light, pure and unblemished, not understanding that it comes from us. Sometimes we stand in front of the light and assume that we are the center of the universe. God looks astonishingly like we do! Or we turn to look at our shadow, and assume that all is darkness. If we allow ourselves to get in the way, we defeat the purpose; which is to use the light of our search to illuminate the wall in all its beauty - and in all its flaws. And in so doing better understand the world around us."

The best explanation I've ever heard.

Intro Video for CWR

2009-09-11T22:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight I've completed what will be the intro video for CRW (Classic Wrestling Video Game Review). I'm not exactly thrilled with the highlights I have in the video, but I figure as the reviews start coming out, I can change that up pretty easily. You may notice that the deinterlacing is fixed and the video stays in one aspect ratio, unlike my teaser. This is the quality I expect to have once the reviews start. I hope you enjoy it.

I Wish They'd Turn This Into a Movie

2009-09-09T23:40:00.001-07:00

I'm one of the harshest critics of the Halo franchise. Well, at least the first three games, I absolutely adore Halo Wars. In a couple of weeks a new Halo games comes out called Halo: ODST where you play not as the superhero Spartan, but instead as a special forces type unit in a more close combat style gameplay.

Being a Halo game, I really approached this game with caution, but to be honest, I'm really getting interested in it. It looks like everything I thought Halo should be.

Anyway, the marketing is picking up and Microsoft released this trailer for the game. Basically, it's a live-action trailer and well... it freakin rocks. Man does it rock. Check it out.

Web Series Announcement/Teaser

2009-09-09T20:11:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages... I proudly present "CWR" Classic Wrestling Video Game Reviews.

Note - I must apologize for the ending text being squeezed. It seems whenever I do my encoding in Handbrake it refuses to retain the widescreen aspect ratio. Its something I'm working on figuring out.

You Gotta Know When To Hold Em....

2009-09-07T23:48:00.000-07:00

On my last video blog I spoke about working on a contest entry for "Transmission Awesome." My original plans were grandiose and to be honest, just too much. I really bit off more than I could chew and immediately started scrounging to find a much simpler topic and make it work. Of course, with just a few days before the entry was due, I couldn't hammer out a script that I liked, so I just gave up on doing an entry right now.

Then I moved onto my next video blog that was very unplanned. I started filming it, and realized that it was going to have to be split into two parts due to the YouTube time constraints. And to be honest... the whole concept is pretty damn weak. I did it ad-libbed like my previous blogs and I just don't like how it's turned it out. It's more of a "How to" than anything else and it drags and I mean it really drags.

The project I'm working on in video blog #3 takes about a week or so to complete, so I have to wait for something to mature before I can finish up the second half. I convinced myself to not release this one due to the horrible subject matter, jokes, etc., but then I remembered.... this is just practice. I'm not going to hit them all out of the ballpark and I need to remember that. So I plan on uploading this two parter this coming weekend whenever the project matures. Just be forewarned, it sucks.

But on a brighter note, my freakin outtake has gotten grand reviews! It's funny, because the only thing I ever edited that I was proud of (pre these blogs) was an outtake reel. Maybe thats my niche!

Also, my very first web-series is coming together nicely. My lovely wife Stephanie has officially become my production designer and has hammered out two of my three majors props that I need. The third one had to be purchased and is on its way to me this week! I'm hoping Wednesday to set up a teaser trailer for the series, despite being at least a month or so out from the first episode being complete.

And finally, I mentioned on my Twitter that I'm looking for a name for my video blogs. I got some great suggestions via Facebook and Twitter, but the name I'm sticking with came from a email from GoDaddy.com. GoDaddy was wanting to remind me that my old domain name, RelativelyUseless.com was expiring. I have no desire to renew it, but I am going to take back the name. From now on, my video blogs will be labeled as Relatively Useless... cause lets be honest, they are!!!

Well everyone have a great week this week!

Pogo's "Expialidocious"

2009-08-31T22:40:00.001-07:00

So there is this guy named Pogo who does remixes using various movies and I must say, I absolutely adore this song. It's a remix using Mary Poppins and a man does it work. Take a listen.

Pogo's MySpace Page

Video Blog Episode 2

2009-08-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

Here is this week's video blog. I had alot of information to cover and just knew it was going to run over YouTube's 10 minute limit (and you can tell by how fast I talk) but I still ran over and was almost forced to try and move the v-logs somewhere else. And while this is still something I'm considering, I just cut a HUGE section out of the middle of this v-log that I may upload separately down the road. Anyway, hope you enjoy...

The Greatest Review EVER!

2009-08-28T15:09:00.001-07:00

So I was reading this review of "Halloween 2" today and it begins like this...

"Comparing Halloween to Halloween II is a little bit like debating the comparative value of two bowel movements. Both are equally worthless, but the first was excruciating while the second just uncomfortable—although it's unclear whether there's an actual difference, or you were simply prepared for the pain after having gone through the experience once already.

That said, Halloween II is in fact better than its predecessor, which means that the series went from abominable to merely unwatchable, and which means that "fans" of the 2007 reboot may indeed enjoy it. But anyone uninitiated with Rob Zombie's brand of grainy hillbilly brutality would be better served by eating a bran muffin and steering clear of this particular horror film, because it's a compliment to call it a piece of crap."

That folks is just simply brilliant writing! To read the rest click here.

ClearlyQuiteAbsurd Video Blog : Episode 1

2009-08-20T21:53:00.001-07:00

Blogging of the Future (Tomorrow!)

2009-08-19T21:25:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow marks a new day in my blogging adventure, tomorrow I introduce video blogging.

I don't want to get into it too much, since I plan on talking at some length (expect this first one to be kinda long), but let's just say video blogging will allow me to hone some skills for some future projects I have in the works.

I have yet to do a good solid test run, and nothing is filmed yet, but as long as I have no snags, sometime tomorrow night I'll hopefully have my first video blog up.

Feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel at HERE!

See ya tomorrow!

Who Knew Mario and Princess Peach Had a Sex Tape?

2009-08-08T23:18:00.001-07:00

"Second Skin" Review (A documentary on MMORPGs)

2009-08-08T00:59:00.003-07:00

Back in the early part of 2008 a trailer emerged on the internet for a new documentary called "Second Skin." "Second Skin" was to take viewers into the strange world of MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games) such as "Everquest II" and "World of Warcraft." It promised to show us the ups and downs of the real life people and how the game affects their life. There was a hint of stories about love, addiction, and even the abuse of gold farming. Unfortunately, what was delivered was nothing more than a poorly edited, confusing, waste of potential, and two hours of your life.

Being a documentary buff and a huge gamer, I was immediately intrigued. I've always been fascinated with both the psychological and sociological attributes that MMORPGers bring to the real world, plus I'm a sucker for internet love stories and stupid addictions. And being that I, myself, have never seriously participated in any MMORPGs myself, this documentary seemed like it would finally help me see this other side. As I mentioned, it failed.

Yesterday, Hulu posted "Second Skin" alongside a simultaneous limited theatrical release. The DVD will be released on August 25th, 2009. But with Hulu streaming it for free, I sat down to give it a watch.

The movie starts off a little cheesy and slow, but it takes time to establish all these unique personalities. There is the group of online friends who work/live together, the couple who are meeting for the first time face to face, the loser who's addicted, and various other characters that come in and out of the picture. But with those main characters, alone, the filmmaker could have put together a well organized and flowing film, but instead of breaking up the film into those three segments, he chose to edit the film in a manner that would jump back and forth between thoughts and ideas, that never really seem to come full circle.

Worst, the film lacks any real direction. It's never really pro-gaming, nor anti-gaming, but each arguments for each side are laid out next to each other in a really confusing fashion.

We have one true villain of the show, an annoying, stereotypical Christian, do-gooder who runs an Online Gamers Anonymous website/half-way house. Her interviews were filmed several months (maybe even years apart) and are edited together in such a piss poor fashion its hard to even watch. She is pretty much dislikable from the start, so when she finally gets around to telling the sad story of her son's suicide, you don't really care. To be honest, I wanted to kill myself if I had to listen to her talk anymore. You almost can't blame the kid.

Alright, that was mean, but that's the feeling the documentary drives you to. It's almost hard to watch, as you see potential for a great story go right down the drain. For example, the film takes a look at a middle-age man from Philly, who loses everything to his game addiction. He eventually takes solace in getting help from the before mentioned Anonymous group and is interviewed. He hates gaming and wants to get back to a regular life. Out of no where, he's back in Philly gaming and fat and bashing the group. Ten minutes later, the camera is back on a skinny version of himself again bashing gaming. There is just no freakin consistency to ANYTHING! Tell one story at a time, stop cutting between the addiction, the gamer with the pregnant wife, and the lovebirds. Show us one story, complete that story and wrap things up at the end.

I was really hoping to sit down and give this movie a solid professional review, but after watching it I'm so sick on my stomach I don't have the patience to do so. "Second Skin" was a great idea that was never fleshed out. I don't even blame the people that were chosen to be followed. Instead, I blame the inexperienced director/editor (the same guy) for taking too long to complete a documentary and for making one with no set theme, goal, message, or idea to convey. Instead, he gave us random scenes of people who game, their quick opinions, a cut to them six months later saying something different, then to someone else, then back to them six months earlier talking about something entirely different. Wasn't that sentence hard to read? Well that's how fuckin hard it is to watch this piece of shit movie.

Brandon gives it : a 1 out of 5.

In other words, even for free on Hulu, it's not worth it.

Couches, Podcasts, Battlefield 1943, and More!

2009-08-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

Today marked the delivery of my snazzy new couch and what a great couch it is! It's HUGE compared to our last couch, extremely comfy and has really made watching movies more tolerable. We broken it in with "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie" tonight and was just amazed at how great it sat. And kudos to Roomstogo. They called yesterday saying they'd be here between 9 am and 1 pm, they arrived at 9:20 AM, was done by 9:25 AM, and at 9:30 AM, I got a call asking how my delivery went and if I had any questions. Freakin awesome customer service! Plus they added their own fabric protection for FREE!

But enough about the couch, I've spent the last week getting back to being me a little more and more. I've been doing a lot of gaming, checking up on my old favorite websites, and just relaxing. It feels great to not always have some type of goal/experiment hanging over my head. And speaking of experiments, we succeeded with cutting back our power consumption last month, our bill was just $88.10 for the month of July!

I've fallen in love with a couple podcasts this past week and I plan on talking about them at some length in the new future, but I've added links to the side of the blog here for anyone to check out if you'd like.

My game of choice for the past week has been Battlefield 1943. It's been the best $15 I've spent in quite a while and I'm spending at least an hour a day with it. I'm just hoping they release some new maps, the three they have now are getting a little old.

So this Saturday, Steph and I will be driving up to Charlotte to attend the 2009 NWA Legends Fanfest. It's a pro wrestling convention that I attended a couple years ago, and I'm excited to be heading back this year. They are featuring some Memphis wrestling icons on Saturday, so it'll be a thrill to meet them. However, I'm hoping to keep my expenses to a minimum, since I've got an emergency fund to refill and some other odds and ends I want to pick up.

I've got some plans to kinda expand the blog into more of a gaming/geek culture type blog. Really focus on the things I like and enjoy. I'll be slowly incorporating these elements in due time, so look out for them.

Well, I'm off to bed. Take care everyone.

Tron Legacy

2009-07-27T23:18:00.001-07:00

Something else.... you MUST CHECK OUT THIS TRAILER! It's so awesome, I won't dare keep it from covering up my whole freakin sidebar!

So I Don't Come Off Like a Whiny Bitch That Doesn't Do Anything...

2009-07-27T22:52:00.000-07:00

My last blog was a late night discussion (mostly with myself) about what had been bothering me. I never knew this would go down as possibly my most emotional and true post I've ever written. Not only did it come straight from the heart, it seemed to push people to send some advice my way, some advice that I was quite grateful for.

My good buddy Jimmy is a preacher. You'd never know if you met him, that's of course, unless you start discussing God with him. And despite his occasional showings of extreme compassion, I never really saw the spiritual helper/therapist inside him come out until the last couple days. He started off by sending me an extremely nice email with some great advice and followed it up with some in person. I'm not talking about that unwelcomed "here's your attention pity advice." I'm talking straight from the heart, truly awesome advice. It's given me even more to think about and I think it's given me a nudge in the right direction. Something I'm extremely thankful for. If Jimmy ever gets a congregation of his own, I know they will be in very capable and caring hands.

I was also able to rant and rave with my friend Erin and Steph. Both offered tidbits of welcomed advice and both allowed me to continue to pull out all this stupid shit. Slowly I'm finding that the person I've become isn't exactly who I want to be. I want to be the immature gamer from a couple years ago. Not this guy who almost talks about games as if he's ashamed he plays them. But that's for another time.

But what I'm hear to talk about is the steps I took after writing my last blog. See... before I even finished it I had started a list on notebook paper. It was affectionately titled "Shit That Stresses Me." This list consists of anything that came to mind quickly that bothers me or causes me to stress in the slightest bit. Things as small as how much I hate my pizza pan (it's got baked on Pam and looks like it was dipped in copper cow shit) to larger things like debt. I quickly scribbled out this list and went to bed to let it all soak in.

The next morning, while working my early morning Sunday shift (number five on my "Shit That Stresses Me" list) I added a couple of additional notes and then began a new sheet with the title "How to Fix."

From here I started listing the easiest things I could fix and what it would take to do it. I was thorough to make sure I covered all my bases. Here is a short example of a few things I put down:

-Couch
-buy a new one $300-$500
-throw out old one
-truck/disassemble
-carry it out to garbage
-Working Sunday mornings
-STOP!
-Dress shirt arms that are too short
-organize & remove
-buy new shirts

See... stupid and simple things, but the steps I would have to take to fix them. And immediately I put things into action.

I came home and told Steph about my revelation and that we needed to go shopping. I came home around $150 lighter, but I had a bad ass video game rocker chair, a new pizza pan, cookie sheet, a copy of "Diary of the Dead" and more assorted crap. Maybe none of it was absolutely needed, but it was all a welcomed addition to my home. Most were small things I deprive myself of for whatever stupid reasons. Except for "Diary of the Dead" that was just one sale, and I'm a sucker for George Romero commentary tracks and zombies.

As the night went on and we came home, I started thinking about my little eeePC that crapped out on me. I miss having a netbook and would really like to buy another. It seems that Acer has a great netbook for under $300! After shopping for a while, I almost convinced myself to run back to Wal-Mart and grab one. Instead, I decided to look at new couches for the twentieth time in two weeks. After struggling to properly surf on my iPod, I got out of bed followed by Steph and headed to the trust Vaio (a netbook would have prevented this unnecessary exercise!). Thirty minutes later, I bought a couch.

Rooms To Go seemed to have the best deals, with reasonable shipping rates/times. As I went back and forth on the couches, Steph mentioned that she loved my buddy Jimmy's couch and we should find out where he got his. I was pretty sure it was at Rooms to Go and as she started to describe it I ran across a picture. A picture of the same freakin couch. It was within budget, and perfect for what we need. After some quick budgeting, a loan from the emergency fund, and the moving around of some money, we paid for our couch and set up a delivery for Wednesday, August 5th. Whoo hoo!

I managed to also tell my boss I was done with Sundays and life has gotten just that much better.

My moral of this blog is, I'm not just bitching, I'm actually working on getting this stuff done. Who knows, maybe after enough time I'll start writing scripts and dreaming big again!

Thanks Jimmy!

2009-07-27T19:05:00.001-07:00

Soundtrack of My Life.......

2009-07-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

I had no intention on going this long without blogging, but for whatever reason I just couldn't pull myself to. It seemed as if the good intentions and feelings I had in rebooting the blog were gone and I sat frustrated and irritated, back to the regular ole Brandon.

For days I've been fighting this funk. I'd substitute thinking about it in exchange for burying my head into video games and random 80's sci-fi movies. I talked myself in circles (all in my head of course) about life and emotions and how to deal with them. What's so wrong with being aggravated/depressed/angry and showing it? Not in that stupid emo, I want attention way, but why in our culture is not acceptable to show real emotions. Everything is sterile and serene. It's just unacceptable to show an aggravation with anything. I'd go from arguing this to saying it's just not worth even experiencing these emotions and then back. Needless to say, its tiresome being in my head.

So as the days went by, I started drudging up old aggravations at work, that did nothing but make me dread going in. I continued this self poisoning of my own happiness, and then I really started to come unraveled a week ago today. It was Steph's birthday, she turned 26. I'm just a few months away from that number myself, and I think (as it has been the last couple years) its starting to get to me. I look at my life and think about how its not suppose to be like this. I don't like my job, my apartment, my car, and even myself at times. I've been allowing these negative thoughts to overcome me, until Steph and I finally started talking about some of them.

We talked about my constant desire to "change" myself. I just am not content being me. I feel guilty enjoying video games, which is why I believe I sell them so often. Also I feel guilty having any type of connection to the internet because that's not what I'm suppose to do. Growing up I got a ton of backlash about spending time in front of a computer or a video game console, and I think those words still haunt me today. I allow what other people said fifteen years ago to affect what I do when I get home from work and more importantly, what I do for enjoyment and stress relief.

So as I slowly started working through some of these childhood issues, I found a desire to try and truly like myself for who I am. Since despite my decent attitude about it all, I feel that I don't truly appreciate who I am. So I've been working on this for a few days, but then all of a sudden the funk came back and the funk came back hard.

So for days I've been dreading work, tossing and turning in bed, and just not feeling all that good at all. And then tonight, as I was lying in bed, listening to my iPod, I started thinking about something I always found fascinating, a life soundtrack.

A few years back on the View Askew Messageboard (Kevin Smith's message board) there was a great thread on what songs would make up the soundtrack of your life. I found this idea to be fascinating, but I personally found it hard to pick songs. I wanted to pick my favorite songs, but for some reason I don't think "One Way Out" by the Allman Brothers followed up by "Godzilla" by Blue Oyster Cult really describe my life. So I've never really attempted to make my "soundtrack" since then.

But as I'm listening to songs, I started to think about that idea. What songs would make up my life. I figured I'd have to break my life down into segments in order to find songs that would truly represent where I was in each part of my life. The first two songs that came to mind were "Wonderful" by Everclear and "I'll See You in My Dreams" by Giant. Both relating to not so great moments in my life.

I wanted to follow up two negative songs with two positive songs, but immediately found that I had no positive moments to assign songs to. I had broken down my own life into nothing but negative memories and segments and could not even associate a fun song with my life today. Suddenly something clicked.

My own view of my past and my current situation is what gets me down. I still somehow subconsciously throw a pity-party for myself and allow that to control me. I really look back on twenty-five years of ups and downs as nothing but downs. Maybe I'm still digging myself out of a hole, and more than likely I'll dig myself into another one, but that's life. Life is a bitch and for some reason I just couldn't see that.

I was still looking at the future through rose colored glasses, thinking that as soon as I move from my apartment, pay off my car, get out of debt, move out of North Carolina, find a new job, change my personality, become someone else, stop drinking Diet Pepsi, stop playing video games, quit the internet, start dressing younger, be more engaging, lose some weight things are going to be alright. Life will get back to being simple and life will be grand. But it won't.

I'll fix one thing that isn't broken just to find something else to worry/stress/bitch about. I'll spend time up late at night kicking myself for spending money on something stupid, or not going for a jog that day. I'll find a job I love that will be bought by a huge corporation and then it will suck. No matter what I do in life, something is going to suck and something is not going to be up to my standards. Whether it's myself or my stupid uncomfortable couch, there is going to be something to bitch about. You could say life sucks and then you die, and hell, it's true to a certain degree.

What doesn't suck is what you make of time and things around you that aren't immediate pains in your ass. Some of the most fun I had, was right after I left my father's house and lived with Steph and her roommate Valerie. You know, everything around had gone to hell and I crashed in the corner of a bedroom with a bunch of video games, but life wasn't that bad. We found time to rent random movies and hit up the $1.50 movie theatre. I was working on movie scripts and having meetings at Starbucks regarding locations. No matter what sucked around me, I had a vision for the future and that was to have fun and do what I wanted to do. I think most of that drive died in me when I decided to give up on my flimmaking dreams, and I'm not saying I really want to go back and attempt that, but I think I let myself down and I've never forgiven myself for it. I think in that one decision not to complete a movie I killed every bit of motivation in myself. And I'm still paying for that all these years later.

I can't stop myself from growing older, and I can't all of a sudden legitimized myself for my own well being, but I can make the best of what I got. I can be content and I can make changes to have more fun and work on something that I want to do. How am I going to go about this? Hell if I know, I was writing this trying to figure out what was in my head to begin with. But I'll tell ya what I do know... I'm going to get rid of that fuckin couch as soon as I can and I'm going to stop working these early Sunday morning shifts which cause nothing but misery on my Saturday off.

Until next time...

Half Way and That's All Folks!

2009-07-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the halfway point in our 31 Days of Hell. I still don't know why I went with such a dramatic title, since it hasn't been anything remotely close to hell. But no matter what it has been, it is now over. That's right, I've called it all off and here's why.

The goal of our little experiment consisted really of two parts; how much money/electricity we could save and how that could motivate us to do more things outdoors. I really thought these two would go hand in hand, we wouldn't spend as much money thus forcing us to take solace in the joys of being outdoors. It just didn't work out that way.

Now, before we get to what failed, let's talk about what has worked. We pretty much fell right back into our old routine where we were making progress on saving money earlier this year. We've managed to pretty much refill our emergency fund and got our minds back on reducing our debt. We even have a plan to really make some solid strides at getting out of the red and this was much needed. Now, we were definitely having fun, but not enough fun to justify the raping of our emergency fund and financial peace. So I consider the saving of money a HUGE success and something that should motivate us through the next few months.

As far as saving electricity/water, that too was a success. We've gotten a lot better at turning off lights, and making sure we cut off the water when it isn't needed. We haven't used the dryer a single day this month, and yet we still are in good clean clothes with very little effort to dry the clothes. It also helps that we are now more mindful of what we are wearing and how fast we go through clothes. Talk about a HUGE success and turn around. However.. the lack of using the dish washer did lead to one of our failures.....

Our house became a mess, well at least the kitchen. Pre-July, Steph was cleaning daily and the house was in tip-top shape. After three or four days of doing the dishes two to three times a day, they started to stack up. The next day we'd clean them all up, and then they'd stack up again. This continued even up until yesterday when I finally decided to end the experiment early.

Basically, the dishes became a source of frustration for both Steph and I. Without the assistance of the dishwasher here and there, it just seemed that no matter what, we just couldn't keep up with the mess. We became lazy quickly, and well.. that made it quite messy in the kitchen.

It seems that our experiment led to laziness in quite a few other parts of our lives. My dreams of being outdoors constantly, working out daily, taking long walks with the dog, and really exploring nature were not lived. Instead, I spent most of the time downloading movies/tv shows that I wanted to catch up on and actually stopped exercising altogether. Unfortunately, we don't live within walking distance of enjoying nature, so the thought of wasting gas really kept me from driving to any parks or anything similar. The thoughts of using excess water for washing clothes and myself, really made it hard to justify going out and exercising for twenty minutes.

I ended up finding a dumb excuse similar to those for everything. The lack of spending money was hanging over me at all times, and just made it hard to justify doing anything but staying inside and doing nothing. Not to mention, that July/August is probably the stupidest time to ever try to get outdoors and enjoy things here in North Carolina didn't help the cause.

We gained quite a few good habits and neat ideas that will hopefully carry on for a long time in our lives, but we also failed at motivating ourselves to get outside more. It's funny, we actually spent more time indoors than usual.

I only called the experiment off because I really didn't think there was much to learn in another sixteen days. The saving money part was actually really easy and something that was needed. The saving of electricity and water was something optional, but I think it really worked out well and is something we will definitely be continuing in the future. We maybe failed at doing more and getting our lives sorted out, but that was just one part of the equation. Either way, it was fun and worth the effort. Plus our bank account looks much nicer!

We are considering trying a few other experiments in the next few months, some easier and less life altering than this one. However, these are all still in the pre-planning mode.

So what are we taking from this experiment that really seemed to help?

-We use our dry erase board for tracking purchases. It's hard to blow money when in the middle of your apartment is a huge visual reminder of what you've spent your money on.

-Fans are your best friend. A good fan (and we have several) can keep your a/c off most of the day.

-A dryer is a luxury item. By moving our drying rack inside and outside, plus hanging our other clothes in the bathroom, we've managed to go half a month without a dryer. A good squirt of Febreeze kills that outdoors smell and the clothes don't all stick together.

-Most everything we purchase is not a necessity thus only making it more of a burden to our debt.

-There is a TON of free entertainment if you look for it. Everything from internet shows, Hulu, free games, free Apps, and just enjoying what you already own.

-Cutting off the water while lathering up makes showering that much better. There is no better feeling than your entire both being lathered up.

-We need a new couch. When you go from barely watching four hours of TV a week to four hours a day, you realize how shitty your couch really is.

I could go on, but those are the highlights. It was fun, but now I'm ready to get my crap back together. I'm hoping to keep my financial talk to a minimum on this blog, but I've got some huge plans coming up, so I'll be breaking those down in the next few days.

Free Food and a Breaking Point...

2009-07-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

In less than two paychecks my emergency fund is almost replenished. I feel much better about my spending and am not nearly as tempted buy non-essential purchases. However, we've spent some non-essential money.

Before we dig into that, I have to thank my Dad and my good friend Erin. My Dad came down to visit and took Steph and I out to eat, for our first time in a week. It was nice. Then not two days later, my friend Erin bought me lunch (at the Olive Garden!), which was extremely generous and was a nice change of pace.

But let's talk about what we spent and why. I've been teetering with the idea of purchasing Windows 7 for quite some time. I had considered it a no brainer, being that I dislike Vista and really enjoyed the beta for Windows 7. When combined with the $50 pre-order price, it really seemed stupid not to. But I waited till the month began and wanted to stick to my guns. But then the battle began within.

See.... if you were to pre-order Windows 7 before today, it only cost $50 to upgrade. If you wait till the day of release its $120. So its a savings of $70 just to pay now.

However, I battled with the no spend idea, plus the idea of should we really upgrade. So I talked to Steph and it quickly became an easy decision to make. See.. Microsoft is keeping the price low to try and get as many adopters as possible. Windows 7 is to make up for the mistake of Vista and fix everything. They are pushing their full support behind 7 and Vista is going to be so obsolete soon it isn't even funny. And saving $70 for something we'd eventually have to purchase anyway, is just common sense. We decided to go ahead and pay the $50 now and have Windows 7 when it comes out. So that wasn't so hard.

So while this was just a family decision that was reasonable, where my breaking point came was just the idea of having something. One of the hardest things about not spending money, is feeling like you have none. You don't have any money, you can't spend any money and it makes it hard to go to work when you feel as if you are getting nothing out of it.

After drinking one of my two liters of Diet Cherry Pepsi and realizing I only had one to get me through the next week, I became irritated. Not so much at myself, just at the handcuffs I had put on myself. Yes... I have enough self-control to hold back from drinking carbonated beverages, but shouldn't there be a release valve. Shouldn't I have some way to enjoy a Pepsi if I want to. So while driving back from the library I whipped into a Walgreens and got $40 out of the ATM. $20 for me and $20 for Steph. This would be our "allowance." It allows us to do whatever we want, as long as its contained within that $20. That means, soft drinks, video games, fast food, whatever. As soon as I put the twenty on my money clip, this cloud of frustration rose and I felt alive again.

One could argue this defeats the purpose of the experiment, but I disagree. The experiment proved to me that having no money at all for yourself, is depressing and being depressed is not part of the experiment. So I now have $20 in my pocket and I feel good about it.

Steph and I then went over to Little Cesears and got two $5.55 pizzas and an order of crazy bread. It was kinda a treat that was cheap and helps us extend our groceries for a meal or so.

Week One DONE!

2009-07-08T13:26:00.000-07:00

So it's been a full week of our little month long experiment in not spending any non-essential money. And to say the least, it's been a success thus far! Are only expenditures at all were as follow:

$97.40 for groceries
$25.29 for toilet paper, face wash, and candy (Yes, I know candy isn't essential, but well... I needed some Starburst!)

Total Spent: $122.69

That's not bad all considering. Now, like I mentioned, we did buy some candy and I also bought a single twelve pack of Diet Cherry Pepsi just last night. The Pepsi I let slide just due to us not spending the whole $100 grocery budget. Now if I could just ration them to last!

It's funny because nothing has really changed. No great revelations, no disappointing or boring days. Basically it just makes me think twice about spending any money and keeps impulses to a minimum. What would I have bought in the past week if I could? While I can't keep count of everything, these are a few things I know I would have splurged on.

-A pre-order of Windows 7 for $50.00
-Battlefield 1943 for $15.00
-Some other Playstation 3 game to play $20.00-60.00
-At least $5.00 in the App Store
-Lunch/dinner once or twice at least $20.00-40.00
-A donation of $10.00 to my favorite wrestling torrent site
-An additional book on harmonica playing $16.00

And the list goes on and on. These are just things I know I would have bought. Luckily, I didn't and man does it feel good to have not. Right now our emergency fund is half funded and by next Thursday, it should be fully funded. From there, any additional money saved will be applied towards bills or added to the emergency fund.

While budgeting, I came up with a round about number of what we can save this month... and well.. its astonishing. This is one of those lucky months were we get a third paycheck (well Steph does, I don't) and it really pads this number, so don't think we blow this much monthly. But if my calculations are correct and we stick to our budget, we should save around $1,430. Yep... that freakin much!

This week did bring some frustration at least on the conserving of energy/water. I started digging and really found out how cheap most of this stuff is. Yes, over the long haul saving $9.00 on your water bill adds up, but does it off shoot the additional work and effort that goes into saving that? I'm not sure, but here is what we've learned thus far.

-Taking a Navy shower is great. I feel much cleaner, lathering up without the water running and its amazing how much of that good water goes to waste. I actually have gotten to the point where I prefer a quick shower now.

-Surprisingly our water heater was actually set on 120 degrees. Despite what the internet says, not ever freakin water heater is set at 140.

-You can function quite well with just one light bulb in the ceiling fan compared to three. Yeah, it's a bit dimmer, but is actually easier on the eyes. I think we'll keep it this way once this is all over with.

-Trying to use your laptop on just it's battery life for a week is a stupid, stupid idea. I don't think we made it a day.

-You can dry your clothes without a clothes line outside. We utilize our drying rack, our bathroom racks, and doors to do so.

-When you read that your Playstation 3 uses as much energy as a refrigerator in a year, they are referring to if you leave it on for the entire year while it's processing something at full power. More treehugging bullshit.

Basically, saving water (despite not paying for it) is easy and make more sense. It's actually easier to gauge since there is something physical to see, compared to electricity. It also seems that certain items such as the refrigerator and hot water heater, take up a large percentage of our electrical bill and those are two things that cannot really be controlled.

Les Stroud's "Off the Grid" on YouTube

2009-07-03T01:28:00.000-07:00

So, I stumbled upon Les Stroud's "Off the Grid" on YouTube. This was the show that was kinda the inspiration for us to reevaluate our lives and something we actually strive for in life. Check it out, I think you'll enjoy it.

Hobbies, Sacrafices, and Plans

2009-07-03T01:05:00.001-07:00

Cutting back on activities that don't enrich my life is something I really hope to accomplish during this month. Basically, I'm tired of rock climbing in video games, I want to do it in real life! This month of course is not the month to begin rock climbing, but I figure I want to go ahead and try some other cheaper/free new things.

I love music. I listen to pretty much anything, but my time in Memphis helped me develop an incredible love for the Blues. For years I've mentioned a desire to learn the Blues guitar, but music is just something I don't know if I have the aptitude for. And well... I don't like to do things I can't be great at. So, investing a ton of money into lessons, guitars and stuff like that is just not something I'm interested in doing now, nor has it been something that was really all the pressing in the past. However, the desire to attempt to learn an instrument lies within, and this month I shall attempt to do so.

Before the month began, I ordered a harmonica. They are cheap, still a Blues instrument, and something that doesn't need a ton of accessories. Even better, I found a great "Learn to Play Harmonica for Dummies" book at the library with a CD included. I haven't yet received my Hohner Special 20, but its on the way and I'm excited to get started.

I have low expectations for myself on this project, but hey, maybe I'll shock myself.

Now for something that isn't very enriching, but something I still hope to do is watch a little wrestling. I never make time for it anymore and its something I've enjoyed for many years. I'm hoping each week I can take at least an hour or two of my time to just sit back and watch grown men and women beat the crap out of each other. I'm planning on watching TNA since the WWE is just horrible right now, and one of my favorite wrestlers, Daffney is wrestling in TNA right now. Here's a shot of me and her a few years ago at the NWA Legends FanFest.

Some other things I'm hoping to do some more of is exercising and writing. This blog of course helps with the writing, and the exercising is just something I have to make time for. I feel so much better after a good hard workout, so I'm striving to feel that way a lot more.

I'm also hoping to better communicate with some friends, and I even went as far as to re-open my old Twitter account. I wanted to keep up with a couple celebrity/fan postings, but it's also one more communication tool for me to use.

And then of course we come to the more serious personal development habits I'm hoping to create. First... I want to freakin floss daily. It's sad that a twenty-five year old man doesn't have the self-discipline to floss daily. So from now on, every day, I'm going to floss. I even have it on a checklist on the iPod just to remind myself.

So what do I have to sacrifice for all this? Nothing really. It's just all about not being lazy. Prioritizing life is one of the key things that most adults must do, and sometimes I allow my priorities to get out of line. This month is all about takin the time to really focus and organize my life. And boy is it fun!

As of right now, we don't really have too many plans for the month. There are quite a few museums around town that are free that we may go check out. I'm also hoping for a trip out to a few of the free state parks around. I've got some free Redbox codes to use up whenever we want to check out a new movie, and we have plenty that Steph hasn't seen on the Playstation 3 right now.

Writing it all out, it kinda makes the month look boring, but in a way, I think thats our goal. Our goal is to kick back, save money, and just take each day as it comes. There is no need in trying to squeeze the fun out of every single day, when we might need to take some time to work on some odds and ends. I still need to figure out something to do for Steph's birthday on the 19th, and I'm sure some other stuff will come up. But until then, its the simple life. Some good home cooking, some Johnny Cash playing on the iPod, and the occasional blog writing. Man life can be good sometimes!

Two Days Down..

2009-07-03T01:01:00.000-07:00

Well two days are down and we've got twenty-nine to go. Our thirty-one days of no unnecessary spending and reducing electricity has begun not with a bang, but with a whimper. Life isn't all that different here at the Myers house.

Wednesday was our first day and the first immediate change was the lack of going out for lunch. Usually when Steph and I are both off during the daytime, we go grab a bite to eat somewhere. This past Wednesday, as I stumbled out of bed, the thoughts of Chick-Fila ran through my head. Instead, we ate some Ballpark chili dogs and Oreos. Definitely not the healthiest of meals, but it was cheap and was what we had. From then on, the day was pretty uneventful.

Steph cleaned up around the house, while I napped and read some "Survive" by Les Stroud via Kindle on the iPod Touch. After a delicious meal of barbecue pork chops, macaroni and cheese, and sweet peas, we headed to the library where I walked away with too many books. I'm still in process of reading "Survive" as mentioned, but I've also begun "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau and "The Greatest Salesman in the World Part II" by Og Mandino. So you'd think I have enough going on already, but still I came home with several books. I finally managed to find a copy of the "The Tightwad Gazette" which was a newsletter ran in the early 90's about frugality. While I find some of it as extreme, there are still a lot of good ideas found within. I also snagged a copy of Anthony Flew's "There is a God" which is turning out to be on of the worst books I've ever picked up. Nonetheless, all of these books give me a free source of entertainment during this spend-less month.

Today consisted of much of the same, I just had to curb temptation to grab some food on the way home, since usually on Thursdays, I do so. It wasn't that hard, and Steph had a great pot of chili waiting in the fridge, so everything worked out smooth.

I watched an episode of "30 Days", where Morgan Spurlock and his fiancee, attempt to live on minimum wage for a full thirty days. They fail of course, and the show brings up some great points on how minimum wage is just not enough to actually live on in this country. However, this time around the show had much less of an impact as it did the first several times. I think it's because they didn't really start at the bottom in order to make things work. Going out and renting an apartment (even in the ghetto) with very little money is not the wisest choice. As much as living on the streets or in a shelter must suck, (I have been lucky enough to never have experienced either) its a much more financially feasible way to get on your feet than digging yourself into a $700 hole right off the bat.

I'm not knocking the show in any way, because Morgan set out to show a side of life that many of us do not have to worry about, but I just think things could have been done differently. It beckons me back to a great book I read a while back called, "Scratched Beginnings" by Adam Shepard. Basically this guy decides after college to take $25 and a few essentials, hop on a train and attempt to live out the American dream. He wants to have a furnished apartment, $2,500 in savings, and a car by the end of one year. It's an amazing journey about exactly what can be accomplished with a little luck and a lot of hard work. Adam is a great guy as well, I actually corresponded with him several times after the release of the book and lives right here in Raleigh as well! I think his book is a much more balanced and informative on what can and can't be done in the real world.

Of course, this brings me to what we are doing. Some could call it slumming it, some could call it being freakin responsible, others may think its pointless. The fact is, I haven't ever had it hard. I've never had to worry about turning the lights off, or running out of hot water. I've never dealt with eviction notices or being laid off with no money in the bank. I've been blessed when it comes to that, and while I've never experienced some of life's unfortunate events, I come from a blue collar family that is not wealthy and does not preach about over indulgence, something I feel that I do too much.

Instead, like most idiots, I have tendency to buck my raising and have too good of a time sometimes. And while I'm all about enriching my life, and making life grand, I do feel that I blow way too much money on superficial crap that I don't need or really want. It's funny how many things have come up just in the past two days that I'd love to buy and probably would have even impulse bought and have denied myself. What happened to my self control? When did I allow myself to go crazy with my money?

I think what really affected me the most was watching my emergency fund get cut in half, and then cut down even more. I sat there looking at the account, thinking of what an idiot I have been and looking at some recent purchases. Was it really worth it to put my family at risk? If I lost my job today, would that $60 video game be nearly as enjoyable? Of course the answer is no.

So my goal for the rest of the month is to find that happy medium where I can balance the great things in life with a secure future. I want to do all kinds of crazy crap and go on wild adventures, and they are very doable, but I want to have all my bases covered at home first. I really think this thirty-days is going to teach me a few things.

Where Did the Motivation Come From?

2009-06-29T20:58:00.000-07:00

So where's the motivation for all this come from? Well, it all started just a few short weeks ago while watching Les Stroud "Off the Grid." You may know Les Stroud as the star of the hit show, "Survivorman" on the Discovery Channel. I never really watched the show while it was on the air, but the other day in Wal-Mart, I stumbled upon a DVD called "The Best of Survivorman." I was intrigued because I dug "Man vs. Wild" until the whole proof emerged that it was fake. Being that I knew Les was the real deal, I figured I'd give him a shot and man have not regretted it.

I blew through all three seasons of "Survivorman" in a week or so, and then started on the few specials Les had produced. The first one was called, "Snowshoes and Solitude" that documented his wife and his journey living in the woods via primitive survival techniques for a year after they were married. It was really low budget and was almost more of a highlight real of beautiful scenery, but the idea of living out away from everybody was just sensational.

Next I came across "Off the Grid" which was a 90 minute special that aired shortly after "Survivorman" began that documented Les and his family's attempt to go "off the grid." In other words, live a normal life with no dependency on standard electricity or water. It's an awesome little documentary that shows the struggles and the sacrifices that must be made to live such a lifestyle. But at the same time it really shows what a great/cheap life can be led by not having a natural dependency on the utility companies. I found the documentary to be entertaining and educational without the normal hippy overtones that usual are smashed into such living ideals.

I liked the doc so much, I had Steph watch it with me one night. I could see her eyes light up as we sat on the couch and just watched an awesome lifestyle come into fold, not unlike something we'd like to have. It seemed that this would be the perfect time to tell her my idea.

The idea, as described yesterday, is to live an entire month as least dependent on electricity as possible. And even though we don't pay for our water at our apartment, we figure it's worth a shot to cut back on that too. We decided to go ahead and pair this up with some of our budgeting ideas that seemed to go hand in hand with living a more simple, easy life.

Don't get me wrong, living in an apartment in a Raleigh suburb does not compare to a house on 150 acres in the Canadian wilderness. I don't feel comfortable living my windows open when I'm not at home, and there are just times when we must use electricity. Even small things like we have two sound machines we run when we are at work to help drown out the noise from our dog, Starbuck. This helps prevent him from barking and disturbing our neighbors. This is a small price to pay for peace with our neighbors and the peace of mind that he's not going ape-shit while we are at work.

So going into this we aren't expecting to walk away with a $20 electrical bill. Hell, I told Steph I'll be happy if it just stays under $100. It's more of an experiment to see how much actual control, do we as consumers, have over our own power bill without the assistance of solar/wind energy.

I also hope to walk away with a better appreciation for the energy that we use and the price we pay for it. I have a 37 inch HDTV and a PlayStation 3. I enjoy high end electronics and gadgets and they eat up power. What do these items really cost me past the high dollar entry price tag? This is a question that I want to know the answer to.

And yes, it also has the added benefit of being good for the environment. Now, I don't buy into man-made global warming 100 percent. It's hard getting through most of the bullshit that comes with "going green." But using less and buying less usually go hand-in-hand with saving money and I know I sure want to do that. So yes, we have a bit of a "green" slant to this whole ordeal, but hippies we are not. Just regular people seeing what small difference we can make.

As mentioned, saving money really is the main goal of this experiment. We blow way too much money eating out and on novelty items. I've blown way too much on the iPod App store in the past month alone. So its an attempt to keep the same entertaining quality of life while spending less, securing our future, and enjoying some things outside of the house. It's actually sickening to think about how much of my day is spent in front of a TV/iPod/computer screen, when I should be outdoors.

But most importantly, this will experiment is about seeing what type of life changes can be made. It's about breaking bad habits and replacing them with good habits, while reaping the benefits that come in the process. It's about sitting down and planning life out more and trying to enjoy it in the process.

It's about spending more time with wife and my dog and less time with my PlayStation. It's about trying to find a more simple happiness in a complicated world. And in a way, it's a guy who likes to buck authority saying "FU" to Progress Energy and the "cost of living" that we must occur.

I dream of a day living in an RV or a house in the country while my days are consumed with sitting on the porch drinking some sweet tea and kicking back while the iPod plays my favorites. Because that is what life is about and that is what I want to remember in my later years. Not how many achievements I've unlocked in Grand Theft Auto nor how large my collection of Blu-Rays are.

And so my last twenty-four hours of spending money begins... man I can't wait till Wednesday!

31 Days of Hell....

2009-06-28T21:14:00.000-07:00

I'm a Morgan Spurlock fan. You know... the guy from "Super Size Me" or the show "30 Days" on FX? I find him funny, entertaining, and just a joy to watch. I love the concept of adapting another life for thirty days just to see how someone else lives. I think we could all learn so much if we were forced to live like someone else for that amount of time.

Of course, we don't have the money, resources, or general desire to do this for the most part, but I still love the idea of month long experiments. That's why Steph and I are undertaking our first major one starting this upcoming Wednesday, July 1st, 2009.

Essentially we are hoping to accomplish two goals.

1. Spend as little money humanly possible throughout the month.

2. Use as very little electricity possible throughout the month.

See, I've been obsessed with getting my finances under control for quite some time now. I seemed to have finally tamed the beast earlier this year, only to blow it as usual. My emergency fund has been cut in half, and my bills are no more paid off than they were in February. Instead, I've let stupid decisions ruin my safety net and now its time to mend it.

So we are hoping to get by on as little as possible. That means absolutely no eating out for the entire month. That means no buying soft drinks/unnecessary snacks and no video games. Instead, we will concentrate on eating in, enjoying free entertainment from the things we already own and generally trying to conserve where necessary.

That's where the electricity comes in. July is always our highest bill of the year. The North Carolina humidity kicks in and the A/C gets turned on longer. Next thing you know we are facing over $100 bill for our little 600 square foot apartment. So just as an experiment we want to see how much control we really have over this. So we've been reducing the amount of light bulbs, turning on power savers on the laptop/PS3, turning off the energy suckers during the day, and using fans to our best ability. We are going to attempt Navy showers, and hang even more clothes out to dry. We are going to attempt to use as little as possible in hopes that our bill will remain under the $100 mark. It's a hefty task, but a fun experiment nonetheless.

There is more to do, and some motivators, but that's for another time. Until then.... take it easy.

Since the Last Time on Life On My Terms...

2009-06-28T20:41:00.001-07:00

So I kinda just dumped LOMT quickly back in May. To be honest, I really didn't miss it much. There was a couple of events that I wanted to write about, but I just stuck them in a journal and figured what the heck. Now for the benefit of my viewing audience, I will share my life since May in the smallest nutshell possible.

Early in May I took my week's vacation from work. I spent it dabbling here and dabbling there, and the trip was highlighted with a trip to Grandfather Mountain. Basically, its a bad-ass mountain that has an awesome suspension bridge that is exactly one mile high. Steph (That's my wife!) and I made the four hour trip to Grandfather Mountain early one morning where we climbed to the top and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery. Below are some pictures from that little journey.

We spent the rest of the day just bumming through the National Forest, hoping not to run out of gas, and just having a good time.

I also caught a couple Durham Bulls baseball games that week and one Carolina Mudcats game. That Mudcats game was delayed due to a pretty nasty storm that actually tore the field tarp. It was awesome watching the workers go flying and even cooler to see Muddy the Mudcat (the mascot) in full getup, running out in the middle of a downpour attempting to help secure the tarp.

As the weeks went by, my gadget obsession began to kick in and I started to really drool over the iPod touches. I've had a rocky relationship with Apple and their products in the past, and it really hurt me to be interested in a high dollar iPod but I just couldn't help it. There is just so many cool features/apps! So I finally gave in and bought an iPod Touch which has been fantastic ever since! Quickly the iPod began to replace my Nintendo DS as the gaming system of choice and then my eeePC for my quick internet surfing. What a great purchase it was.

Around this time I decided to finally go ahead and buy some j.k. livin products that I so desired. j.k. living (Just Keep Livin) is Matthew McConaughey's foundation/brand/lifestyle that is exactly as it says. Just keep livin. I've slowly absorbed it as my own life motto and proudly wear my j.k. living silicon bracelet daily and my comfy shirt whenever I get a chance.

It was around this time that I looked up Mishka, a reggae artist that is on j.k. livin records. I recognized some of his songs from the movie "Surfer, Dude," and really enjoyed them. So after downloading his cds, I figured I'd see if he'd ever come in concert nearby. It just so happened that he was going to be in Wilmington that upcoming Sunday. Figuring it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity I made plans quickly to attend the show.

Things really worked out well when my buddy Luc agreed to come along and used his awesome beachfront condo hookup for us as well. I sat on the seventh floor overlooking the ocean in a condo twice as big as my apartment. The temperature was perfect and the beach was amazing. I actually slept on the porch that night in a chair, just because it's the closest I'll probably ever be to sleeping on the beach. Here was my view:

Anyway, we hit up the concert at The Soapbox, which is an awesome bar/laundry mat. Yes, the bar tender does sell dry sheets and soap! I've never really been to a bar/club so it was different and alot more laid back then I figured. We had to stomach though one pretty horrible opener, but once Mishka came out it was magic. He put on a great show, and his band was just great. I took this one crappy picture.

The next day, after sleeping on the porch, Luc and I headed out the beach where we pretty much just bobbed around in the water for a couple hours. We talked about needing to things like this more and how I was proud that only a month earlier I had been standing on top of a mountain, and now I was sleeping out by the beach. Finally, despite all the tall talking on LOMT, it seemed as if I was really getting things done. I was really living life the way it's suppose to be. To some these things may be trivial, but to me they are what life is about.

That's the highlights for the most part. I blew through the awesome Ghostbusters Video Game I was anxiously awaiting for the past couple years and it didn't disappoint. Now, I'm focusing all my energy towards my big experiment for the month of July!

Yeah This Blog is Named After a Deep Purple Song...

2009-06-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

What can I say? I'm a sucker for their ballads.

Anyway, welcome to It's Clearly Quite Absurd, a blog about well.. life.

For whatever reason, life interests me and I figure if you're going to write about something, it might as be about yourself, cause what's more cool than telling the whole world what you're doing? Obviously nothing, based on the popularity of Twitter lately.

But allow me to introduce myself, my name is Brandon. I'm twenty-five, living North Carolina, and manage a movie theatre. I play way too many video games, have a strange obsession with gadgets, and desire to be just like Matthew McConaughey; minus running with my shirt off. I spend too much time thinking sometimes and love to come up with strange and stupid things to do.

Basically, after spending too much of my life taking it too serious, I'm ready to have fun. I'm ready to test myself in all aspects of my life to truly discover what I like and who I am. In the mean time, I'm hoping to do every stupid thing I ever wanted to do from playing paintball to taking a trip in a hot air balloon.

For the past couple years I've bounced around on a couple of blogs, most recently LifeOnMyTerms.net. LifeOnMyTerms.net (or LOMT as it will be known from now on) was my attempt to create a productivity blog in the spirit of Zen Habits or The Simple Dollar. Quite frankly, I failed. I morphed the blog into a journal that was nothing more than a collection of various thoughts, ideas, and experiments, most of which I never even pursued. I became obsessed with making sure the blog was updated, instead of actually having fun with it. Slowly, it began to feel like a job and I decided to take a break. While I missed the interaction and ability to share my experiences and thoughts, I didn't miss the responsibility that seemed to overhang with every pending update. So I've scraped that blog and moved onto this one. A fresh start, with fresh ideas, and a fresh writer.

This time around the updates come when the updates come. The blog will be something in addition to my life, not actually my life. And while I hope I update at least once a week, if I don't, oh well. I'll update whenever I'm up to it. The goal is for this blog to be the least amount of work possible and sacrifices will be made. As you can see, I've stuck with a very generic Blogger template, with no custom graphics. I honestly could care less about the appearance because it's the content that really matters. I will also go ahead and admit that I don't enjoy proof-reading nor do I plan out my blogs. They are just whatever comes to me, however uneven that may be. I make no apologies for it, because that is how I like to write.

I hope this blog will serve to entertain and also be a constant reminder of the cool things in life. I'll be recapping the past little bit since my last update on LOMT and then will explain my next challenge for the month of July. So sit back, pop open a Diet Wild Cherry Pepsi and read about my life... It's Clearly Quite Absurd.