jrsmith.net

It’s the first post of 2008. Hooray.

What’s happened in the past month or so?

I’ve been sleeping better. A coworker recommended that I try taking melatonin and valerian root, which seems to help. Nightmares haven’t been a huge problem.

I took a ton of time off from work. As a result, I’m way behind and saddled by guilt.

Christmas came and went, and was enjoyable. Mom got a wii. Crystal had to put her cat to sleep because she had leukemia. Harley is leukemia-free and fat, weighing in at 10 pounds, 6 ounces.

New Years came and went. I was content with staying home this year, but it apparently wasn’t up to me. I was dragged out to the Wave. It was an alright time, but I really dislike going there, for reasons we’re all familiar with. The highlight of the evening, for me at least, had to be the way the gay guys swarmed around Floris, much like sharks do when they smell blood in the water. Hilarious.

I haven’t decided whether I should make any resolutions. My track record is less than stellar there. There are a lot of things I should be doing: weening myself off of fast food, exercising, working to get over my social anxiety. Drawing more. Reading more. I’d really like to fall in love again. I need new a couch. Maybe more than one. I need to cook more. I need a new car.

I bought an iPod Touch, mostly to make fun of Crystal, but partly to cheer myself up. It’s a nice little device. CJ bought one when he was overseas, but failed to utilize it to its full potential.

My roommate is moving out, slowly but surely. I’ve given no thought to replacing her. CJ mentioned something about moving in, but I have reservations about that. His family hates me, for whatever reason, so if he moved in, they’d probably be around quite a bit, and I’m not comfortable with that.

I’ve seen some movies:

• Walk Hard - Funny, but not hilarious. Also there was way too much penis.
• Alien vs Predator 2 - Entertainingly bad. I appreciated the fact that they spared no one, though. Pregnant women, kids, babies, all were fair game. And the scene when the ditzy girl got stapled to the wall by that shyuriken-thing was pretty awesome. Other than that, terrible. Here’s an example of the profound dialog you can expect: “People are dying. We need guns.”
• Charlie Wilson’s War - Very good. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I were more well-versed on the Cold War.
• The Bucket List - Fucking depressing. Maybe it’s just depressing for people who are wasting their lives and are aware of it.
• Joshua - Awesome. Disturbing. Makes me continue to never want to have kids.
• The Great Debaters - It wasn’t bad, but I feel like I’ve seen it a billion times before. It’s another of those formulaic “racism is bad and these people have overcome diversity!” stories, which isn’t necessarily bad, just done to death.
• Waitress - I liked it. Nathan Fillion is awesome.
• Mr. Woodcock - Not that funny.
• Death Sentence - Fucking terrible.

I read the book version of No Country For Old Men. It was pretty much exactly like the movie. The style it was written in, though, grated on my nerves. No quotes around dialog, no apostrophes in contractions, and no indication of who’s speaking in long bits of conversation. It shed a little more light on the role of the sheriff in the story, though. I read an entry on Huffington Post the other day that said the movie was a metaphor for America. Alec Baldwin is a douche.

I’m reading The Pleasure Of My Company by Steve Martin right now, sent to me by the lovely Meghan. I identify with the main character to a disturbing degree.

I’ve been somewhat depressed for about a week, but I don’t want to openly talk about it here. Something happened that I’d been looking forward to for a while, but I didn’t live up to my own expectations, and my reaction to the whole thing was confusing and backwards. I don’t regret it at all. I just wish it had gone a little differently, and I’m uncertain about the future, and I know I’m overthinking it.

It’s fucking freezing.

I don’t really have anything else to say. Here’s to 2007; let’s hope 2008 isn’t quite so disappointing.