Monday, March 31, 2003
He wanted me to mention Friday, when he taught an "introduction to improvisation" class. Brian told me he loved speaking, but I had no idea how much or how awesome he is at it. He taught two one-hour sessions and the kids simply adored him. He talked about the basics of improvisation and he had the high schoolers play very entertaining games requiring they use their "creative juices". While several of the kids were outgoing and prepared to make fools of themselves in front of others, I believe there were others who weren't comfortable doing any such thing. Brian was fully prepared to call on those few and force them into the spotlight, where he knew they would feel uncomfortable. Hwoever, after they were shoved into the center of everyone's eye, they soon realized how fun it could be and how not embarrassed they should feel. I kid you not. I was blown away by the entire presentation he gave.
Brian talked about having the "funny gene" and how some people just don't got it.
"When people are born, there's a switch or something," he said as he motioned with his hands the flipping of an imaginary switch. "It gets turned on or off. Just like so. You've either got it or you don't."
I can tell you that not only is Brian's "switch" turned on, but it's a flipping lever that has to be pushed up with both hands! The guy has got the "funny gene" and then some. Brian also explained how improvisation doesn't always have to be funny, either, for those folks who have the funny switched turned off. Basically, his entire instruction was totally encouraging, intoxicating, and I'm sure very contagious. Anyone who has never experienced drama or improvisation before could be around Brian for about ten minutes and want to run out and immediately start performing for anyone willing to watch.
I'm not sure if I should mention much of anything else, let alone this last bit of information. Basically, after I leave for home, Brian and his roommate Jeff are going to participate in a 12 week (at least, that's how long I think it is) program that involves a special diet and work-out routine that will make him and Jeff both "buff" by the end of the course. Honestly, both these kids are very much healthy and well structured already. Neither of them really need to do the program or get "buff" because they both look great already. I'm not just saying that, either. It's the honest truth. However, I'm not going to dissuade them from wanting to do something that'll make them feel better about their health, about their mentality, and about themselves in general.
Brian took his guitar to work tonight. I wonder if he actually decided to break it out and serenade any of the customers. He probably came up with an even better use for it. I can only imagine what. I suppose he'll have to tell you.
Until later. Enjoy this blog composed not of Brian. Oh yes, and allow me to provide this shallow plug for myself.
jeffersonair.
"Vain... So vain."
Friday, March 28, 2003
Jeff, my roommate, told me today that a customer had complained. Don't worry! It was stupid, I swear! Here's what happened. I told him that his waitress "Was the best five star French waitress in all of France." Obviously, so not the case. She's Latin. Anyway.. he told her this (I swear these were his exact words):
"You should tell the host that he really should not tell people you're from France, 'cause we're not having very good relations with them right now."
When.. if ever.. have American's LIKED THE FRENCH?! We renamed our fries for goodness sakes. FRIES! These are little pieces of potatoes fried in FAT and we renamed them because "we weren't having good relations." Sure, we helped them in World War II, but that's because we're America and we rock. I will give the French this though, the Statue of Liberty was a pretty nice thing to give :). She's cute. *pets his statue of liberty*. Anyway. So there was that and I just shook my head and thought,
"Of all things to 'warn' against... it's 'stay away from the French waitress' thing."
I could understand if I had said:
"This is I-wanna-be-servin, you're waitress from Afghanistan." or,
"You're regular waitress, Jessica, won't be in but we have this really amazing terrorist who will be boarding your table and taking it over with a nail file."
Oh no, Brian! Don't pick on people from Afghanistan! Don't stereotype! Sorry folks, but that country just doesn't leave a good taste in your mouth right now. I don't have anything against anybody. I have friends that are black, white, brown, blue, salmon, and that weird color that shows up when you turn your eyes really far left or really far right. I'm down with people from all over. So there's that.
-BRiAN
Thursday, March 27, 2003
We see tanks running along the road.
"Here we see British troops traveling to Basara." She chirps
Children across the street as the tanks cross.
"And we can see here that children are running across the road in front of coalition tanks".
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! For some reason, she thinks because she uses the word "coalition" that this takes away from the fact she just told us we saw those children, when obviously they ARE DOING JUST THAT.
Bottom line, I wanna see stuff blowing up.
-BRiAN
Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Digital Ink has just released a NEW section on it's website! The new section, called "Interactive", will have content that is... well.. interactive! Check it out today! If you have any suggestions or ideas e-mail them to me.
-BRiAN
Sunday, March 23, 2003
"You are so lucky tonight, not only do you have the best table in the restaurant, but we also have a waitress from (insert country here) tonight! She's been assigned to your table so you'll be having a five star dining experience!" I gleefully announce
"Well.. that's nice." They say with a tinge of nervous skepticism.
Atascadero has no sense of culture.. geeze. Anywho, apparently this helped the waitresses get major tips. I don't really care about that though, I wanted them to have a break from the everyday work experience. I really want to help create a positive, fun, working environment. How you may ask? Simple, by staying calm and genuinely kind. Is that so bad?! HUH?! PUNK! Like that.
One last thing. As a host you don't get tipped by the actual guests, the waitresses tip you. Before I go any further, to the best of my knowledge there are no waiters at the restaurant.. thus the ever present "waitresses". Moving on. The waitresses tip you. So I'm not sure how to deal with this. I get tipped as I leave for the night and I'm supposed to announce that I'm leaving and expect the waitresses to flock around and hand me gobs of money. To be honest, I'm not particularly fond of this idea because they work their butts of. Granted, I do too.. but I don't expect to be replayed for the work I do for them. On the other hand, I don't mind it and understand why they do. I mean, the host seats the people in an orderly way as to allow the servers (servers is a much more encompassing word I think) allow the serves to pace their evening while still receiving a good flow of customers. So that makes sense. Overall, this is my attitude is this when I come in.
Now that I think about it.. hosting is just pimpin' it. Sweet.
-BRiAN
Saturday, March 22, 2003
-BRiAN
Thursday, March 20, 2003
I'm a realist. I'm an idealist. I'm also a fundamentalist. Allow me to explain this list of "ists". First of all, realism. Here's what I recently discovered about myself while having a conversation at "In-N-Out". When I comes down to it, I like to call it as it is. For example, if someone is upset with me or there is some kind of tension and I recognize it, I'll take the step and say right out "Hey, what's up with this tension?" I honestly want to know! I mean, if someone is upset with you and you're not talking about it, that's MADDNESS! Seriously, people, stop assuming everything and start asking.
Which brings up the concept of assumption. To be more specific though, to presume. This, right now is the #1 thing that drives me up the wall. There are several types of presumptions. Presuming the worst, Presuming the best, and just plain presuming. I wanna talk about what it means to presume the worst, I'll use myself as an example. I've found lately that people presume the worst of me. For example, a friend of mine had their sweater around the top of their body, but not over their head. You know, like it's around their arms and chest but not their neck and head. She had her hands all pressed up against her neck and was lookin' all cute. So I walked up to her and pressed my hands against my neck like she was. Now, looking back she may have just been messing with me, but she looked at me like I was making fun of her. Before I go any further, this girl is a total sweetheart and wouldn't do anything mean to a soul, she just happened to jog my mind and provide a good example. What I came to realize is that many people simply presume the worst of a situation rather than the best. Instead of frowning, she could have just grinned and presumed I was making a pleasant gesture. Take any example! To presume that the person is making an unpleasant gesture is just a sad way to live!
There are, of course, times when someone really is just trying to be mean. I expect that any normal person would be able to pick up on these instances. I'm talking about times when there is no malice involved, just good 'ol playing around. This concept could even be taken to serious applications. For example, if a friend called and said "Hey, are you going to be home later, because I want to talk with you." Some people would presume the worst. Now, before I go on I know there can be millions of variables here in a friendship. Lets say that this friendship is currently at a non-drama state and as far as you know things are cool. So, what would you do? Would you presume that your friend has a bone to pick with you? Or would you presume that they just want to talk and that's it. You'd be surprised at how many people presume the worst!
Bottom line, I like to say it how it is. If I have a problem with someone, I'll let them know. Not like "Hey, I've got a problem with you so get over here!" But like "Hey, what's up with us? What's goin' on? Do you wanna talk with me about something?" Yeah.. like that :). Don't presume, don't assume, hope for the best. I think if we look at Jesus' life we can see that he generally had a pretty positive outlook on things. More to come later.
-BRiAN
Monday, March 17, 2003
  There are a few things I wish I was doing right now about the war.
#1: Staging Anti-Anti-War protests.
I would love to stage a Anti-anti-war protest simply because it's a minority thing to do. Plus, I think that people are just going with the flow and not really thinking on their own. I know this because I've talked with a few people who simply have no real idea about what is going on. Usually our conversations end with "Yeah, whatever we just shouldn't go after Iraq." Which is in part my fault because I'm not explaining my point of view well enough. One common mis-conception is that we're going after oil. I won't even go into that unless you want me to.
#2: Shipping off to Kuwait and get ready to fight
Some might say, "No!" Others might say, "Go for it Brian! We don't want to read your rants anyway!" Regardless, I'd love to ship out and get ready to defend the freedom of my country. Also, I wanna shoot those huge tank killing missile things.
So, however you feel about the "possible" war with Iraq, I encourage you to tune into your news tonight at 5:00 pm to listen to our President address the nation. Because one way or another the way things are going we'll be at war by the end of the week.
-BRiAN
Sunday, March 16, 2003
So Jeff hid the digital camera. This allows me to start the "Things I'm Learning About Jeff" list. Number one, Jeff hides something if he doesn't want you to use it. No "Hey, don't use this." He just hides it. Don't get me wrong, this doesn't bother me I think it's awesome. He's not really a confrontational kind of guy and neither am I, so it's all good. Last night Jeff, Chris and I went over to Chris's house for some BBQ and work! We're working on the Central Coast Business Works website. Things are really coming along (however slowly).
I'll be honest, I'm really starting to realize how much weight is on my shoulders. Last night I was driving home from Chris's house with Jeff and we had a little converstaion:
"I never realized this, but I have so much hanging over my head" I said.
"Yeah." Jeff replied.
"I mean, I have my rent, car payment, broken car, four jobs! I'm only 21! This isn't right" I said.
"Yeah." Jeff relplied.
What would I do without the guy. As I went to sleep, I had this overwhelming panicky feeling. I don't know if this happens to you, but last night I was laying in bed and I realized my face was totally tense. The eyebrows were scrunched together, my nose was wrinkled up, my cheeks were tight. My whole face just hurt. So I relaxed and a few minutes later the same thing happened. About that time I threw my hands up in the air and just began to pray. I almost wept I was so frustrated and overwhelmed. At one point God just shut me up and I lay there. He really did just shut me up, I was praying and then I just stopped and shut my eyes and began to breathe. I felt my body relax and the arms of God holding me. I was so afraid, but that's because I haven't been resting in his arms for so long. Everything isn't perfect or anything but it's awesome to place your head on the chest of God and rest in His arms.
-BRiAN
Friday, March 14, 2003
Friendship says "I'll call you"
Love picks up the phone
Friendship says "I'll be there"
Love shows up
Friendship helps you get out of the car
Love shuts the door
Friendship smiles at you when you pass on the street
Love stops and asks how you are
Friendship rejoyces with you
Love worships with you
There is no greater love than this
That a man lays down his life for his friends.
Thursday, March 13, 2003
Jeff gets dressed up in his "homey g" outfit
Starts ranting about how we wants to kill the cat, searches about and finnally grabs her. I was hoping he was going to throw her across the room but he didn't.
He got all cute about it instead. Jerk.
I stumbled the other day an outright sinned. I gave into temptaion and I feel awful about it for a few reasons. First of all, God has been so good to me. He's provided a job (which I wasn't sure I was going to get). He's provided food, clothing a place to live, an awesome roommate, and amazing friends. Over the past few days I've been getting back into the swing of things in my relationship with Him. I've been reading my Bible, and getting down on my knees regularly. It's been awesome spending time with God again. Then I stumble. I give right in and I know I'm doing it. The amazing and awesomething about God is that he doesn't take me down right then and there (and he could because he's worthy to). Instead, he shows me mercy, grace, compassion and love. He takes me into his arms, wipes the yuck off and says he knows I'm sorry. Oh to be released from this mortal body! I want to be free from sin so badly! I can't stand giving into temptaion over and over. I can't sleep, I can't pray, I feel so seperated from God during those times. But thanks be to God who sets me free! His love endures forever and his faithfulness is everlasting! I can be from my sin through the power of Jesus Christ! Be encouraged if you are reading this, we serve a God who loves us as we are, but doesn't want us to stay that way. I stumbled the other day and my God still loves me.
-BRiAN
Wednesday, March 12, 2003
One thing I forgot about jogging was the shin problem. For the first few minutes I really thought I would have to stop because my right shin hurt SO bad every other step. I did eventually warm up and stop hurting. Beth was awesome, I'm so proud of that girl. She actually went around two times. Which was a good thing because there was this girl that was running around the lake too and she was pretty cute so I got to see her running around twice. Luckly for us, the killer geese of death aren't around the lake anymore too. My friend Justin and I used to go running alot and actually developed a kind of fear of geese because they are fearless relatively BIG creatures of the lake. The geese don't have a usual sound either, they have a truly angry and malice noise that comes out of them.
"Back off, or I'll take a chunk out of leg!"
I have a feeling geese would be really nasty drivers. Overall, a wonderful jogging experience. Now, I'm going to go back to bed and have nighmares of laughing foul.
-BRiAN
-BRiAN
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
So today Chris, Jeff and I did our first "CCBW" job. CCBW stands for Central Coast Business Works, that's our company :). We're installing the network and phone system at a shop that installs "headers" for "cars" and "trucks". First of all, I thought that when we went over there today we were just going to meet with the owner, Dan, to talk about the job. So I dressed in dress type dress (I was out of skirts). I'm wearing my black pants, striped shirt and the cool shoes I bought myself. I'm going to keep 'em dirty so I can take a picture of how nasty they looked. We ended up running cable all up in the ceiling and everything. There was DUST and RUST and NASTINESS everywhere, I was completely filthy in .25 seconds. Outrage, total outrage. Then I got over it. So, tomorrow we're going to wrap things up and wait for them to finish the construction part of their office so we can finish the job. So, reviewing, got the Players job, did my first CCBW job, job job job! Yay! Income once again. What a day!
-BRiAN
I go running tomorrow.. gah.
Monday, March 10, 2003
Overall, a pretty usual day. I find my days to be falling into a pattern once again. Rise and goto the office (if I make it), stay a few hours then back home. Not to say that I'm not working, it's just that I get what needs to be done then take off. What's really bothering me is that I'm depriving myself of sleep and expecting to keep promises the next morning. I really let Beth down I think. I told her we could go running this morning (6:45 am!) around the lake. She's leaving for the Air Force, so running is a great thing for her to be doing. This may sound strange, but I miss running. I told myself that I stopped running because it got to cold. I became to lazy is what really happened. So I find someone who actually wants to go running and I don't make it 'cause I'm a bum. Mark my words though, I will... will go on Wednesday. Imagine me sliding out of my car half awake, only to go stretch (ugh). Then start off on a solid jog, not panzy soild, really solid. About 3/4 of the way through I'll be sweating like a small animal giving a large birth and heaving like some other similie. Then I'll round the final turn and collapse on my car, only to be attacked by the killer geese that are all around that cursed lake. This is my future. -BRiAN
Here's to smelly feet
-BRiAN
Here's the proof, it's 3:30 am.
Sunday, March 09, 2003
But first the backstory.. I know this girl through a friend of mine (Josh) her name is Carly. So I'm reading through her blog and for some reason she's posted a picture of herself with her phone# on a piece of paper. So I call it. And here it goes:
*ring*
"Hello?"
"Hi, is this Carly?"
"Yeah"
"You put your number on the internet?"
"I did?"
"Yeah"
*pause* "Who is this?" *click*
I hope she doesn't hate me.
Jeff had some friends over last night. We got all crazy and played "nickle poker". I'm pretty sure I came out on top, but I'm not sure. It's funny when you get in that party atmosphere, you don't have to even drink to feel "drunk". I think there's a group drunk thing that goes on. Not very descriptive, but if you've been there you know what I mean. I love having people over but here's the hard part, couples come over. Luckly Jeff's friends that are couples don't really get all lovey.. but when I have my friends over they can't do anything BUT be all happy together (the couples I mean). I don't want to sound pathetic or bitter but seeing them together so happy drives me nuts (aka " I feel 'lonley' "). I thought that after being single for about three years I was doin' ok, but sometimes is just hits you, know what I mean?
I put in my application to Players at the beginning of the week and I'm going to go back on Tuesday to chek up on it. Current financial situation: Broke! Woo! I'm not going to let that get me down (I try not to let anything get me down) God's in control and I'm at peace. I'm blessed to have parents that are willing to help me :). Cool things happening with my sister, she's really coming around to God. It's encouraging to see her so happy again. She's not "alien possesed", as my mom used to say, anymore.
Our iterm Pastor at the church left today. Next Sunday will be the first sunday with our new pastor. I had to opprotunity to show him some houses and he's a great guy. Which remindes me of a funny story. We were looking at a condo with Pastor Kasey and we went upstairs. I wasn't sure if he smelled it, but I walked through what must have been the remnatns of a big 'ol cloud of weed smoke. I mean, these people had some STANKY ganja! Well, we got back in the car and Pastor Kasey was like "Did you smell that weed?!" I almost peed myself I laughed so hard. I'm pretty sure he used to get pretty lit (he had a "Say Yes To Pot" shirt on). I think I'm gonna keep my eye on him.
-BRiAN