What I'll miss / won't miss

5 THINGS I’LL MISS ABOUT MY OLD APARTMENT:

1. All that space.
2. My own private Bathroom
3. The view of the mountains
4. Hearing the water flow from the canal after it rains
5. Being only a block away from a good thai food restaurant

5 THINGS I WON’T MISS ABOUT MY OLD APARTMENT:

1. My next door neighbor’s baby (who screams like she’s being tortured)
2. My downstairs neighbor’s dogs
3. Their being only one washer / dryer in the whole complex.
4. That weird pounding noise I wake up to around 7AM on weekends
5. My downstairs neighbors singing opera (also around 7am on weekends)

Moving - Phase I

I started “Phase I” of Moving this weekend by packing all the “box-able” stuff from my old Apartment and putting it into my new one. And while I was boxing everything, I noticed that I have a ton of useless junk in my place that I keep “JUST IN CASE” I ever need it:

• My assortment of funny hats
• Some old Halloween costumes
• A whole box full of VHS tapes
• Jackets that I never wear cuz I keep wearing this one hoodie all the time
• My old cell phone
• An artificial Christmas Tree
• My old cell-phone charger
• A portable CD Player
• I even still have my old laptop with the broken motherboard…..!

(Sorry, no pictures – pretty sure I boxed up my digital camera when I moved all my stuff, so I didn’t take any while moving)

I can’t believe I’ve accumulated so much crap in the last five years. I didn’t have this much in College. I had to store three, maybe four boxes tops. But now I have all these pots and pans and towels, etc. Dunno how much I’m going to be able to fit into my new place. It’s already fully furnished by my new roommate / the old roommate who left stuff there.

Everything I’ve moved in so far has been able to fit – even the useless junk listed above. (except the Christmas tree – I tossed that) But I haven’t moved any of the big stuff (my bed, desk, etc.) into my room yet and it IS a little smaller than my current one, so….I may have to get rid of some of that junk.

What I’m really hoping to keep is the big blue couch in our living room….but it has nowhere to go! Evan’s not taking it and I’m not gonna have room for it….so I guess it’s going to have to go on Craigslist….!

Anyway, Phase I of Moving is complete and now I look like I’m just squatting in my old apartment. Fortunately, I left some of the (boxable) bare essentials with me: my computer, some clothes & a few of my DVDs.

Plus – all of Evan’s stuff. We’re both planning on moving the majority of our stuff this weekend. (Memorial Day weekend)

SO IF ANYONE’S WILLING TO HELP *ME* MOVE THAT SATURDAY, (**HINT**) (**HINT**) I’D BE MORE THAN HAPPY TO MAKE IT WORTH THEIR WHILE!


This could be you!

Man vs. God (& Satan)

I found these articles online while browsing wikipedia the other day.

Nebraskan Senator orders God to stop all the Natural Disasters

• Initially dismissed since plaintiff could not notify God
• Appealed
• Granted a court date,
• Dismissed as a frivolous lawsuit

Man sues God for failing to save him from Satan

• Dismissed since God did not fall under jurisdiction of the court.

Man sues Satan (& staff) for causing his Downfall

• Dismissed since plaintiff could not afford his legal fees (downfall, remember?)
• Court could not find a way to notify Satan of lawsuit.

My Wallet Comb

This post is for all the people who rag on me for keeping a comb in my wallet.

I know you all think it’s kind of a dorky habit.
I guess it seems kind of vain or even “douchbaggey,”

But you know what? I don’t see anything wrong with keeping one on me at all times. It definitely comes in handy whenever I have a “hair emergency” and need to look slick again at a moment’s notice which, for me, happens a lot.

I can get a horrifically bad case of “bed head” from time to time, especially when I let my hair grow out for a couple of weeks, and a lot of times hair gel just isn’t enough to tame this bad @$$ mane, y’know?

this guy could use a comb

This is actually a habit that I inherited from my dad – it was something he used to do that I noticed when I was little. I never asked him about it because I assumed everybody carried a comb in their wallet. But now that I know they don’t, I’m wondering how he came by it. Since he grew up in the 1950s, I’m guessing it was just a habit he carried with him from his high school days. He once told my brother and me that his friends used to call him “Japanese Elvis” so I suspect he used to be a greaser back in the day.

Can't imagine my Dad like this

Honestly, I’m surprised more guys don’t carry combs around in their wallets; it’s practical, like carrying a Swiss-army knife on your key chain, only better because nobody confuses a comb for concealed weapon THAT CAN BE TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU JUST LIKE THAT BY STUPID AIRPORT SECURITY WHO WON’T EVEN GIVE IT BACK EVER.


Anyway…..I think carrying a comb is practical.

And cool.

Cool like the Fonz.

So there.

AAAAAAAYYYYYY!!!!!

Stop talkin' 'bout my G-g-generation..!

Did you know that Generation Y is also referred to as the “Peter Pan Generation”??



It’s true; I was on Wikipedia the other day and the term came up while I was reading.

This generation is also sometimes referred to as the “Boomerang Generation” or “Peter Pan Generation” because of their perceived penchant for delaying some of the rites of passage into adulthood longer than most generations before them.

The article (and this wonderella comic) lists several reasons for this (economic downturn, our desire to not repeat the mistakes of generations before us) and doesn’t really place it in either a negative or positive light, but still….

Ouch.

I dunno about you, but I’m a little insulted that we, as a generation, are being perceived as a bunch of kids trying to stay forever young by putting off our ‘rites of passage’ into adulthood.

My E-ffidavit

A lot of things are happening these days that require me to spend more money than I’m used to. Below is a list of my recent spending habits:

• Taking friends out to dinner for their birthdays ($$)
• Fixing my Car ($$$$)
• Eating out with friends ($$)
• Drinks with friends ($$)
• Taking co-workers / boss out to lunch for their birthdays ($$)
• Donating to charitable causes ($)
• Going to Disneyland with my brother ($$$)
• Seeing people off (and buying them drinks) before they leave town ($$)
• Moving from one apartment to another ($????)

The “$” signs indicate how expensive these things are.

And to make matters worse, I just registered for Camp Hollywood! (What was I thinking?)

But the $119.00 competitor’s rate for the Amateur Jack & Jill contest + parking for 3 days < $185.00 full weekend pass + $200 plus Hotel room.

While I’m not on my way to the poor house just yet, I look at this list (and my bank statement) and can’t help but think “I’ve been too free with my monies lately when I should be saving it for a rainy day."

Last month alone, I took out two friends for their birthday....TWICE.

(2 friends x 2 dinners = 4 dinners total).

So the below is an E-Affidavit (E-ffidavit?) I’ve written up pledging to save money. I know it won’t be legally binding - I haven’t signed it in the presence of any of you, never mind if you’re a notaryt – but hopefully you, the good readers of my blog, will help remind me why I wrote this whenever you see me spending / withdrawing money from an ATM.

Now behold – The E-ffidavit!

THE E-FFIDAVIT OF STOODERT
(for realz)

Monday, May 10th, 2010.
State of California
County of Los Angeles

BEFORE ME (the reader), the undersigned Notary, on this Monday, May 10th, 2010, personally read the weblog post of Stoodert, known to me to be a credible person and of lawful age, who being by me first duty sworn, on his oath, deposes and says he will:

1) Stop spending money on things that are not necessary – necessary being defined as all things related to:
- Travel
- Work
- Repairing / replacement of broken / lost items,
- Payment of current debts, bills, loans, etc.
- meals (to be cooked at home, unless at work)
- swing-dancing (it’s necessary)
2) Conserve money whenever possible on the above listed necessary things by looking for cheap alternatives to otherwise regularly priced expenses.
3) Keep a better record of his spendings.

Subscribed and sworn to (or affirmed) before me on this Monday, May 10th, 2010 by Stoodert, provided to me on the basis of satisfactory evidence to be the person(s) who appeared before me.

(To sign this E-ffidavit, please write “notarized” in the comments section of this blog)


To make your own E-ffidavit

Funny “Legalese” site I found while searching for the above site.

The Internet Storage Closet

Now that the internet has made things like stamps, cable TV, and paper all but obsolete, I just thought I would ask you all out there (all 3 of you?) a few questions:

How many of you still buy CDs?

With the advent of torrenting – and specifically I-tunes – why would you need to? Why would you want to?

What about books? Or DVDs? If the I-Pad and Kindle weren’t so expensive, would you download them instead?

I personally still buy CDs, but it’s usually only because I can’t find songs elsewhere for free. I tried searching for music that I like online, but I’ve learned that the internet is all about what’s popular and modern.

And my love of oldies jazz & neo-swing isn’t exactly either of those, so I usually have to hit the record stores (CD shops?) in hopes of finding a Tom Dorsey CD containing that one song I’ve been searching for.

Sometimes I end up paying around $20.00 for that one song…..and that sucks.

But Fred recently linked me to this article about Sony’s discontinuation of Floppy A: Drives and it got me thinking about how all this “information” that we used to “keep” in physical objects can now be uploaded, downloaded, transferred and stored as intangible “data” in this “other dimension” we call the Internet. It’s become a sort of artificial version of limbo…..or Hammer space closet where we store all our valuables out of convenience.

But are we losing something when we store it this way?

Back in College (before the invention of Facebook & MySpace was still the “IT’ thing) I had a friend, Lucas, who thought this – he used to constantly go to Amoeba music and buy CDs of albums that he’d already downloaded earlier for free.

I asked him once why he did that and he said that there’s just something about owning the album ‘legit’ that made him want to pay for it; some sort of comfort he took in knowing he had ‘the original’ (the label) in addition to the ‘bootleg copy.’

I thought this sounded odd at first until I realized this is the same reason I buy books and DVDs. There IS a certain kind of “legitimacy" to it.

I'm not sure why (maybe it's the prestige that comes with seeing the brand label) but given that I have the money, I would prefer to buy something outright rather than some other way.

Except for porn. Why would you ever go and buy / rent porn when you can download it at home? (Seriously)

The Art of Listening

Lately I’ve been noticing that people don’t take the time to listen to what others have to say – particularly if it’s about a subject they feel knowledgeable about. In place of listening, they will either dispense advice or criticism, turning them into the center of attention.

I’ve noticed this mostly because I’ve been feeling “out of sorts” as of late – the whole moving situation has been bugging me a lot – and whenever I’ve tried to tell someone about it, they’ve either told me where I should look, suggested someone I should move in with, or said that I shouldn’t worry about it so much because it’s not a big deal.

It usually ends with me listening to them as they dispense all this great advice.


Don’t get me wrong – the advice is always helpful / true / appreciated, but a lot of times, all people really need is to feel like they’ve been heard. It’s actually one of the reasons why I have this blog – I feel like people listen (or read) what I have to say here more than they do in life.

And of course I’m guilty of this too (I don’t need to hear the end of that question; I already know the answer!) but I try to be good about listening to what people try to tell me. It seems like the simplest thing in the world, but it can be pretty difficult at times (especially when you think know better). But once you learn how to do it, people will respect you for it.

......or they’ll talk your ear off because they know you’ll listen when no one else will. You gotta be careful about that.

There’s a movie I like that exemplifies this called “Mumford;” it’s a great film (with an all-star cast) about a successful small-town Psychiatrist, Dr. Mumford played by Loren Dean, and why so many people come to him with their problems.


….okay, there’s more to the film than that. But I really liked the “listening” aspect of the film.

Anyway, I’ve said what I needed to say about this and I feel a lot better now even though I’m not sure if anyone will actually read this. But I hope you did – thanks for reading! (listening? )

"And so it goes....!"

So I’m not sure how many of you remember me talking about a screenplay I wrote that a friend of mine was going to direct, but I thought I’d let you know that little project is over.

Without going into too much detail, I got an email from Rosa that suggested it just wasn’t going to happen.

Needless to say, I’m disappointed. Even though I knew from the start that it probably wouldn’t happen, I actually got it into my head that this might turn into an actual film. And that made writing it a lot of fun. But with everything Rosa’s dealing with right now, it wasn’t too high of a priority on her list so…..that’s that. .

Ah well, that’s the way it goes I guess. I tucked the latest (last?) draft of the script into one of the bottom drawers of my desk on the off-chance that I’ll ever need it again. I doubt I will, but I don’t really want to throw it away. I have a feeling that, at the very least, I’ll want to read it again the next time I open that drawer.

Anyway - onwards & upwards.