2013 - A Year in Review - Closing the Gap on the Future

So... how did it all start? That is a good question! Let me see if I can remember!

Not a whole lot happened in the early parts of the year. We had a mediocre, but fun, basketball season with a 50% winning percentage. I started getting a little more into disc golf once the cold of the winter started to take a break. School was pretty normal, nothing fancy or unusual, which basically kept things moving forward in life, as expected.

On a sad note, the world lost a most exceptional person, and friend, to cancer in mid-February. It's always tough to lose a friend. Always tougher when that friend is still so young.

R.I.P. - Nicole Divis

I made my first trip to the N.A.B. conference in Las Vegas in April and wow was that fun! It is the premiere event in the United States, that revolves around the film/video industry technical side of things, and it was quite an eye-opening experience! I look forward to going again next year.

The summer came and went pretty quickly. I got to do a little hiking with some friends but would have liked to do more. The Y.S.A. conference was quite a kick since my band Bes got to play at the main Friday night event to an audience of roughly 600-700 people! It was also cool to meet a lot of new people throughout the weekend as well. Work at UPS was pretty easy made possible by the nice weather and early sunrise. Disc golf also benefitted from the great weather and I definitely played more of that this year than last year. Not sure how much I improved but it was cool to bring a few new friends along on a few rounds too.

I took my first(and thankfully my last) online course at school this summer. Flippin' snot-rockets that was an annoying experience! I am sure online classes are great for some people, and for certain classes, but they are pretty much totally not for me! It felt like pure punishment the entire term. Ha.

I also moved back in with my parents this summer in order to make the last few terms at school much easier to deal with. They are kind enough to keep my rent low which makes it so much easier to get the important things done at school and otherwise.

Rolling into the fall, I took on a second job working at the Dairy Bar at the Washington State Fair. It was my first time ever taking a job at the Fair and what a great time it was! I worked a bazillion hours which a bunch of cool people and made a bunch of money in the process! Plus, now I feel like a swirl cone crafting master! Swoooosh!(<-- that's the sound of making an awesome cone, by the way)

I was lucky enough to get some side work doing audio capture on a small video production, which has been great experience. Halloween was fun as usual, along with Movember and Thanksgiving when that rolled around, which led into this year's crazy "peak" season at UPS("Black Friday" on through Christmas.) When I say crazy, I mean like twice as busy as last year's "peak" season... maybe almost literally. I worked about 25 EXTRA hours a week leading up to Christmas... awesome overtime hours but definitely a drain on the soul. Ha.

At the beginning of November my benefits kicked in at work so that was pretty awesome too! I went to see a doctor for the first time in almost 20 years and it turns out I have a pretty clean bill of health. I also got some dental work done and did some physical therapy for a few various lingering back, shoulder and knee issues. And I've hardly had to pay a thing for any of it! Man, I love's me some benefits!

Christmas was very quiet since my parents went to Utah to visit with my sister and her family. I look forward to the new year as one with many big life changes ahead! I am so thankful to everyone who has supported and encouraged me! I am nothing without all of you in my life and I hope y'all have as great a new year as I plan on having!

Soundcheckin'.

It feels like we are slightly more of a band when we have the opportunity to do an actual soundcheck at a place we will be playing the next day. It isn't some sort of paying gig with high repute or anything but it still has that elevated feeling of importance attached to it anyway. It makes me want to practice my instrument more so I can be more worth the effort... to both my band and the audience!

It is the end of a major life chapter... I am no longer a "young" single adult.

Though, to be honest, I probably have not been considered "young" for several years at least. I know that I AM young, as most of a person's age is really just in the head, but technical details can have real effects on one's life nonetheless. In any case, I must move on... I must move forward. It feels like there is something there in the future but to be honest I really don't get a sense of what it might be. I walk where few people in my circle of life have walked before. I am in a VERY small minority in so many ways.

Yankin' the teeth out.

Today was pretty much consumed by my experience at the dentist this morning. I did a few other things outside of that but, due to the intensity of the experience, little else seems to bubble up when I think about the day. The pain level was somewhat high but nothing unbearable. The people performing the operation where ever so excellent. He really had to yank on my head to get the poor little guy(s) out since the one he wanted was fused to one of my wisdom teeth. It was admittedly a scary feeling on those occasions when I could feel the force pulling the strength of my neck the opposite direction.

The greatest pain afterward pretty much only lasted a few hours. Then the pain medication actually seemed to work and, besides making me fairly dizzy, has kept me feeling well enough to enjoy the peace of the evening with my folks.

The exposed life of Walter Mitty.

I walked into this experience with somewhat high expectations. It looked to have a decent level of ambitious storytelling, both visual and otherwise, and had a fairly blank slate at the same time, as far as my foreknowledge of the short story or its early movie rendition. I was basically starting off with a somewhat anxious and positive perspective as a viewer.

This movie does well in every cinematic element I am critical about. I enjoyed the contextual use of typography, in both the opening sequence as well as sprinkled throughout the movie. I really enjoyed the cinematography and locations(makes me wanna visit Iceland and Greenland even more than I already wanted to.) The music was rad - good orchestration that often utilized more rock/folk kinds of music from time to time, which highlighted one of my favorites - Jose Gonzales. The humor/drama was blended nicely and well done on both accounts. The special effects were good enough to never be distracting at all... which is a big accomplishment in itself under my watchful editing inclinations.

In my curiosity about how it rated critically, I did some digging around on a couple major review sites and came to a couple realizations. 1. This movie seemed to be curiously disconnected from the critics as it mostly fell somewhat flat in the general critical review. 2. Reading their specific reactions led me to realize that critics are often quite disconnected from the general publics response to any given movie considering how much better it was received by the non-paid critical review, which was quite a bit more positive. The idea that critics are likely very good at evaluating the artistic and/or technical merits of a film does not necessarily help them understand what will connect with the audience at large. They essentially lack the more human sensibility of how to review a film, broadly speaking. I hope, as I continue to review films in the future, that I do not slide into this category of reviewer myself(assuming I have not done so already.) I write these with the hope that they will mean something to the normal people I associate with more than the possibility of critical conversation among the critically elite.

Anyway, I really like the movie a lot. A solid 8.5 to 9 Benjamin Buttons out of 10.

One more fog day for good measure.

Well, we almost got back to normal today... if the fog didn't roll in and wipe that notion out like Windex on a dirty window. No worries, though... the paycheck will make it all better. Ha.

Inside the merry Christmas.

I really enjoyed letting the cares of my working life take a rest today. Sleeping in and getting to things at a casual pace is really quite the pleasing thing to do in the middle of the week. I have a yearly update due over the next couple or so days but I don't mind putting it off a little... higher quality is more important than just getting it done.