Interpretation

So I had this dream last night, I must’ve been working for a newspaper, or a magazine, or something. Actually, no; I take that back, I wasn’t working *for* anyone, I was just trying to produce something that might get me a job. I think. Lemme start over.

I was with Chris Cunningham and John Hermanson in this dream, and I was spending a day with them on their CD release tour. My goal was to take some notes, ask them questions, etc, write an article about it, I guess. Things were going just fine, I think we all had breakfast together or something, it was really laid back, casual, I felt like I was making progress on this article.

Well, at a certain point in the morning, I excused myself from their company, saying that I needed to get some of my notes down, and they weren’t really doing anything until a press conference or something like that later on. Next thing it IS later on, and I go into this room where they’re sitting behind a table with a guy (I guess their manager?) and there are a couple other people in the room asking questions, taking notes, more press, I suppose.

Their manager dude asks me, “Now, when is your stuff going to be on the air?” And I was kind of confused. He saw this, and rather annoyed, asked me again, “Your interview with the guys — is it going to be live on the air, or are you taping for later?” And I said, “No, it won’t be ‘on the air’ at all, y’see—” and I was going to explain myself but he says “OK, sorry, you’re gonna have to leave then.” And I’m trying to tell the guy, “No, I don’t work for a radio station, I’m a writer. I’m writing an article.” He says, “Nope, sorry, we’re only talking to legitimate people with real radio stations, you have to leave.” And I’m still trying to clear this up for the guy, “I AM A WRITER.” But he didn’t care and he threw me out.

Later on, I went to the show and tried to talk to the guys again, but the manager just would not let me.

So I dunno what that means, but I was thinking about it earlier and I thought it was weird that DJ’s (something I used to do) were OK, but writers (something I’m trying to do) were bad. Any thoughts?

Oh, and Devin Munson won the movie quote derby yesterday. Way to go, Dev.

Viva Osh Vegas

Got a letter from the Graduate School up at my alma mater on Thursday. It was good news; they’re taking me back to start the Master’s program in English in February. It made me quite happy, and I felt a lot better right after I opened the envelope.

Unfortunately, as I said to Ben Leubner later that evening, developments in the MLB playoffs during the course of 30 short hours spun tonight’s World Series on its head for me: we went from the prospect of an intriguingly watchable Boston-Chicago? title series to an exceedingly less interesting match-up between the Team Which Represents All Things That Are Evil About Professional Baseball, and Some Gaggle of Whoevers From South Florida. Ah, well. We still have football, I suppose.

I actually did some work at the local Target last week, and the job is… just as I remember it to be. Not that I’ve worked at Target, of course, but many moons ago, I worked in retail as a teenager, and in case you were curious, it’s still the same. People have asked me how it’s going there, and “Eh,” is a perfect characterization. The job is neither good nor bad, it just is. I go, I work, I leave, they pay. What else can you ask for, really?

More interesting developments may be coming about in the employment department, anyway. I took my third drug test of the summer yesterday, this time for Charter Communications, the company I interviewed at a couple weeks ago up in Fond du Lac. However, they haven’t *officially* offered me the job yet, I assume that is only contingent on the drug screening. Two weeks from Monday is when the “training” for that job is due to begin, so if I take it (which I should), it looks like Target won’t be getting the two weeks of notice they’d like. The nice thing about retail, though, is that a person in a position like mine is very easy to replace. Basically, all that’s required is someone who’s conscious and has the capacity for language (any language will do).

Of course, one must consider that the job I’d be taking there in Fondy is a full-time, 2nd-shift sort of operation, and there are several classes offered in the UWO Master’s program in the evening, at the time that I, theoretically, would be working. I suppose that the wisest course would be to take the job if and when it’s offered, then proceed from there, in whichever direction comes to be most reasonable. You have any better ideas? I’m open to them.

Wordy won the Movie Quote Derby once again, so here’s hoping you can put up a challenge for him.

Finally, I watched The Matrix Reloaded again today. This was only the 2nd screening for me, and it actually got better this time around. For whatever reason, it didn’t seem as long. It still IS too long, but, y’know, whatever. The rambling and senseless musings of the Oracle and the Architect made more sense as well. Neither of them were quite as deep as they appeared at the theater in Bozeman.

If you want to go to Madison for Halloween, let me know.

Sequel

I was out there on the “Internet” today, payin a little visit to the “cyberspace,” as it were, and maybe it was just the mood I was in or something, but I realized that most websites really suck. Tons. The ones that I’m referring to here are the “personal” variety of sites, obviously there are some professional, commercial sites out there that are pretty sweet. (Although I don’t think lordoftherings.net is one of them, actually; I think the actor’s voice “welcoming” you to the site is really loud and obtrusive.)

But yeah, just about every user site on GeoCities?, or Excite, or whatever blows. If you have one of these sites, don’t take this personally, not meant that way at all, I’m speaking in a broad sense about a lot of sites that I’ve seen. If you’re on GeoCities? and your site has somehow avoided suckification, I am thoroughly impressed. See, the people creating the sites are only half the problem: the other is the limit of space, resources, and flexibility that inherently comes along with those services. If you, or someone you love is being creatively crippled by some crappy webhosting service, tell ’em to shell out the marginal annual cost, register a domain and get on board with a legitimate hosting provider.

If, on the other hand, that person is 12 (as it seems 84% of these people are), just ask them to stop.

I start this new job at Target tomorrow. Just going in for a few hours of “orientation.” Dunno how soon I’ll be scheduled for a real shift. I suppose it’ll be the next day or the day after. Kinda hopin’ for not Saturday, because that’s the day of the Tischer wedding, which I’d like to attend, I think it’ll be fun.

I scanned some new photos yesterday, so I went ahead and put them up here. Not that they were “new” in the sense that they’re “newly taken” just “newly scanned.” After I’d scanned, I felt compelled to write a caption and the date on the back of all of them. I’ve never felt this compulsion before, so I worried for a second that it may be evidence of a sub-conscious premonition of my impending death. Shortly after that, I realized that being consciously aware of that possibility sort of negated it.

What about this “sequel,” you ask? Well, you should really make sure you saw last week’s video before you proceed.

Take care of? OK, moving on.

Yeah, so I proposed a number of things in that video that I would eat for five dollars. Yesterday evening, Joe put me up to one of these challenges. As promised, I’ve documented it and it’s here for your consumption.

And of course, should you want to see me eat anything else from that list, just paypal the money to tonyshangrila, then wait for the virtual fun!

Who’re the Packers playing this weekend? Kansas City? Right. Yeah, they had a helluva game last Sunday, and that’s why, against this AFC opponent, they will relax, play a really close game and lose down the stretch.
PACK—23
CHIEFS—28

New Movie Quote of the Day. I win the last one (no one guessed).

Season Premiere

I think you’re going to enjoy this.

Last night, Tom Klika comes over, and he, Joe, and I sat in the living room, mostly not watching Road to Perdition, but we also had BLT’s for dinner. Just before we stood around for those sandwiches, Tom says, “I’ll give a dollar to whoever eats a raw slice of bacon.”

Well, now.

There are very few things that I’ll do for a dollar. Things I might do for one lousy dollar include getting up to grab you a beer, changing the channel, taking a leak, getting dressed, I think you see the point. Stuff I’ll eat or drink for a dollar? That list includes things like “pizza,” or “beer,” or “pancakes,” possible even “peanuts,” but again, my point is made. I’m not going to go out of my way for one paltry dollar.

So I say to Klika, “I’ll do it for FIVE dollars.”

He fishes around in his pocket, has a five spot, Joe gave him 2 bucks, and so between the two of them I got my portrait o’ Lincoln. I didn’t think it was that bad. Raw bacon, whatever, it’s not gonna kill me. Of course, you know that things I see and do “get me thinking,” and this was no exception. More accurately, Joe thought of it first, and I decided I would think harder about it today: what else would I eat for five dollars?

Then I was downstairs this morning making coffee, and I realized, “I haven’t made a video since… oh, before you were born,” so I figured this would make as interesting a subject as anything else I’ve ever done. Click the link to download the video of Stuff Jason Will Eat for Five Dollars. If it looks like the audio falls out of sync for a few seconds here or there, that’s not you; I’m just working out the bugs different encoder options…

Now don’t get too excited, you don’t get to see me eat any of these things on the tape. In order to do that, you’ll have to Paypal me five bucks and wait for the video.

Finally, I *did* check, and there was a mention in the blog back on the Ides of April, but one of our regulars, Greg Willis, is getting hitched this weekend. I had no photo back in April, but thanks to the magic of the Internet, Joe Knitt, and Jeffry Willis, there is one today (I’m sure there are better ones, too, but I’m doing what I can here, eh?)
So, congradulacations to the soon-to-be-weds.

More news tomorrow on my *next* job interview up in Fond du Lac. Oh, speaking of which: did I mention that the Half Price Books interview on Wednesday was good, but if they offer the job I won’t take it cuz it pays even less than Target? Just so you’ve got that.

Oh, and one final point to make: this movie quote has been staying the same cuz nobody will send a guess. I’m sure there’s someone out there just dying to “work” on it, so I’m leavin’ it there.

Out of My System

Ah. I feel better.

After my early exit from Montana State last spring, I found myself doubting not only the future, but my decisions in the past, and (if you’ve known me a while) you know that as I came up on the final calendar year of undergraduate education, I was planning to carve out a meager career in commercial radio. Three years (but really only ten months) later, I have received absolute and final validation: commercial radio is not for me.

I resigned from WTMJ this afternoon, anticipating that they’d not want to keep me around much longer anyway. I was entirely correct, and I have to thank Dave Schrubbe for counseling me to “preemptively resign,” a tactic that pared what could have been an uncomfortable 10-12 minute meeting into an amicable 35-second handshake, and also I must thank Joe Mundschau for helping me put the loss of a 12-hour per week job for shit money in perspective.

Anyhoo, onward and upward: I should be getting a call from the fine folks at Target any day to begin “orientation,” and I have an interview this afternoon and Friday at different places as well.

At least now I have one less thing to regret.

Oooh, and I have “wings” to attend on Thursday!

Flight of the Phoenix

Howdy, so we’re back. A little different look, and some blogs from a couple days while the site was on hiatus. Everything *should* work just fine again, but let me know if you gets any issues.

Check this out: Now that this site is being hosted by a local server, some goodies that we couldn’t keep have returned! You’ll have to just scope the thing out, have a good time, etc.

News from me and mine: Thank you if I talked to you about it earlier and you said a prayer for the health of Grandma Bock, whose Sept. 24 heart surgery was NOT an easy go. As of today, she’s still in the ICU at Gunderson Lutheran in LaCrosse?, but feeling tons and tons better. Love you, Grandma.

I finally landed a full-time job, and it’s at one of the most popular places I’ve seen for wedding gift registries.

Hope to have some news in the not-too-distant future about the next step in my continuing education, as well.

In the meantime, have a good day, and at least the Packers can beat somebody. Oh, and one last thing: if you browse with Internet Explorer, sorry for the big gaps, but that’s the only way I can make this site look correct in Netscape.