js9781's Xanga

etuor-eR

Sun, 26 Feb 2006 19:56:35 GMT

I will say this only once....

...Sorry for my long absence

Please visit the following from now on, starting NOW:

http://www.jsickles.blogspot.com/

Monday, August 01, 2005

Mon, 01 Aug 2005 00:43:20 GMT

peaceful. relaxing. dull. lifeless. tedious. humdrum.....a bore. these are all things that do not describe my recent weeks of life on earth. currently i have the most remarkable opportunity - nasa discovery commander eileen collins asked me to join her team of six for this space flight. pending the repair of the tears in the foam, i should be returning to gr shortly. ok not really, but that would be a noteworthy experience to blog. just the same, life has been just the opposite of the aforementioned adjectives. ranging from weddings to wedding videos and work to running sound for bob segar tribute bands, ny wedding receptions, more work, any anything else you can think of - i've kept my schedule on the go, but i'm certainly ready for a break. yes i'm ready for a break, even though i just returned from a glorius vacation in virginia beach with my family. i think it is the time off that makes me want more time off. we spend a full week right on the beach. nothing but hot sun, schorching sand, and cool waves for a full week. as it's been said before - even good things must come to an end. this week i've already attended two going away parties. becky's before she departed for florida and megans the day after - before she goes to nyc. i just returned from a trip with justin and krista to attend their new york wedding reception - that was plenty of fun as we had a pig roast, game competitions, plenty of new faces, and not to mention the company of justin and krista! meanwhile i missed a visit from tracy and krystal. next time you guys have to stay in gr longer. and maybe i'll actually be in town! we came back today just in time for me to head to columbus for work for a full week. i'm going to fit 40 hours into 4 days though - then i come back to gr to work on the film 'doggie bag' friday, saturday, and sunday. the week following won't be that much of a picnic either. don't worry - i'm keeping busy. (as if you were worried) many of you may have found that this past week's emails and even im's have not contained capital letters. i dunno why - i just haven't had the desire to use the 'shift' key. (with the exception of the currently used parentheses and exclamations)! there may be a few other exceptions found, but i found some odd enjoyment out of the attempt to use all lower case letters in all texted communication. i haven't much else to say at the moment, but i had to be sure to get my post in before the calendar struck aug 1. i will end this with a picture i've had since may. i wanted to display it a lot earlier, but time didn't allow. this picture goes out to one person - they should know who they are - you should too. took this one just for you momo. had to run back to get it!

see ya in a month - maybe sooner!
js

Thursday, June 23, 2005

Thu, 23 Jun 2005 03:41:26 GMT

In this post I am not going to comment as to my inability to post, my lack of posting, or the fact that I haven't posted in one month and one day. That aside, June has been a rapidly fleeting month with work, weddings, birthdays, bachelors, bachelor parties, friends, and Pistons. Justin and Krista are married - that's just crazy. Work has kept me busy all over the place - that's just crazy! friends have kept me having fun - that's just crazy! And the Pistons won...now that's just crazy! The weather has been beautiful, and my room kept hot. The new living quarters is good, although I still have yet to clean up all of my boxes scattered throughout (refer to the craziness above for explanation) Want to come clean them up for me? What's everyone doing for the fourth of July? Any crazy/fun/wacky plans for the weekend? Anyone planning to light themselves on fire or blow up their tibulas? Just wonderin. That's just around the corner, and soon after that I'm going on family vacation. We will all meet in Virginia July 16 and spend the next 9 weeks there. That will be a nice vacation. Won't have to worry about work or anything. Just me, the sand, the water, my family, some cold drinks, good food, and my dreams. Dreams..yes..it will only be one week this time around, but one day it will be 9 weeks!! I will dub that day 'bliss'.

In 'light' of the fact that I update so INfrequently - I have decided to look into the future and give you some 'light' on upcoming events. Then its not so mundane as reading one days post to cover 30 days of PAST wild adventure. This way you can write me and pester me on posting about one of these topics during their happening. Perhaps then I will return more frequently. It's sad when I have complete strangers writing to me asking me to post.

Here's the light...

Upcoming Highlights
Virginia July 16
Rogers/Heath Wedding July 15
Erin is coming home July
NY Reception for Justin and Krista July 30
Company Cookout August 6
Filming August 13
Going home September 2 for a weekish

Upcoming Lowlights
Krystal is leaving GR for home
Tracy is leaving GR for home
Megan is leaving GR for NY
Becky is leaving GR for FL
Erin is leaving GR for VA
Emily is leaving GR for TN
Denver is leaving GR for OH

WHERE THE HELL IS EVERYONE GOING - and WHY?

QUESTION OF THE NOW: (fill in the blank(s) - do it!)

If I had a million dollars, I'd ___________________________________.

Creative Answers thus far:
1. Buy you a house
2. Help everyone out
3. Stay in Grand Rapids
4. Buy a million things
5. Buy 200,000 Dominoes Medium 1-topping Pizzas

Quick Review of the Month

My Half birthday party where Liz and Lindsay were convinced it was my birthday. They put candles on this great dessert and I got to blow them out. They were very disappointed to find out it was only my half birthday.

Moving day went well, very fast. Thanks to a great crew who helped get the work done quickly and efficiently!

And of course, lets not forget the wedding. Here's a picture of Justin and Krista. And also a picture of Kristen and myself as we wait to drive off Justin and Krista. Was a good day. Currently they are in Couzumel enjoying the sand, cool drinks, and refreshing water. Grrr..I mean...Congratulations!

That's all for now. I'm tired. I'll be back...

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Sun, 22 May 2005 01:53:10 GMT

Admittedly, and not for the first time, I am ignorant of my very own xanga. I faithfully pore over my subscriptions - emailed to me daily, but seldom do I find the time to enter my own thoughts. Frequently during the earlier hours of the day, I will think to myself - that would be worthy of jotting down, or - this event would make for an entertaining entry. It is times such as that, where I wish I could zip something straight out of my head and upload here - there would be no transposing and deciphering between my synapses, down to my fingers and out to the proper keys. No time dedicated to typing all of those thoughts in a coherent fashion. I wish I could just snapshot my thoughts and then bada boom, bada bang - voila - you have yourself an entry. I could probably make 15 a day easily! Boy would you be tired of reading them then! The problem boils down to this: I can't just stop in the middle of work and share this story, no - I have to try to remember it into the wee hours of the night, among all the other events of the day. By the time I'm home, I want to sit and relax. And by the time I'm relaxed I'm tired. And by then I have no desire to post, nevermind the foggy memories of that once "great story"! Reasoning myself out of typing anything, I put it off until tomorrow. Well, I have successfully gone through these steps for just over a month now. I figure that 30 days later entitles you, and me, to one good post. This is probably about the time that many will trail off. You figure, I've read one paragraph of not too useful information, that's enough for me. That second paragraph down there doesn't look all too inviting. Suite yourself - good bye.

To those still lingering, the people who left after the paragraph above, probably weren't so far off. There really isn't much of value sitting here. Just a few more ramblings from my fingertips. These past weeks have been insanely busy by day, and really busy by night. Weekends are virtualy nonexistent. I view a weekEND as an end to something, but nothing has ended, so its all one smashed together blob of a week. Now you can understand my neglect.

These past two weekends I have filmed for weddings that John Pottenger is the photographer for. It's fun, good practice, and free food! It's enjoyable, but it takes most of the Saturday away. Last week I was able to see Ami and her boy Ryan - here's a fun picture we took downtown GR...

And then I think this one is really cool...Reflections are neat things...(this phtograph is unedited...this is how it was taken)

I'm looking forward to this next weekend - my brother is coming into town on Thursday - He'll be spending the memorial day weekend here. Friday I'll be headed with him and others to Chicago for a night on the town, stay over, day on the town, and then the Blue Man Group on Saturday night, followed by another night on the town. Hopefully some fun pictures from that, maybe I'll share one. You've noticed by now that I like pictures - they really do tell a million words. So now you know why most posts here will contain a picture (if possible). And since I update every 30 days, I'm bound to find a picture in that time that is suiting to something!

Oh, how could I forget about the short film that a few of us made for a 24 hour film festival. We had 24 hours to make a short film and turn it in. Thirty teams competing for the prize - we made third place because of a silly rule. We are finalizing a DVD this week, come watch it sometime - complete with interviews and everything!

Well, I think that's enough for tonight. Thanks for going the distance and reading. I hope you didn't skip to the last paragraph....Have a great month! Just kidding..I'll try to update soon.....I'll really try! REMIND ME!

Gnight...

Saturday, April 16, 2005

Sat, 16 Apr 2005 13:45:20 GMT

Hello, no I have not died, or forgotten completely. These past few weeks have been near insanity between traveling for work and now the musical. I was in Detroit for a full week shortly after my last post, and then straight to Vegas for a week. Vegas was fun, but very busy - we barely had time to sit and rest, but I was able to get out on the strip one night and take a look around. Definitly not where I would want to stay, but fun to visit. It was really fun watching the massive singing fountain in front of the Belagio. I took a picture so that you could try to enjoy it as I did. See if it works...

I was able to experience the MGM Grand with my own room on the 12th floor -but sadly not internet in the room, at least not without paying 12 dollars a day. Although I love being able to chat or email, read the news, or post here - it was not quite worth the money, especially since my time spent there was 1am till 7am most mornings. Although the event gave us an internet cafe outside the grand hall, I didn't have the time to stop and post, only to check emails from work that shouldn't go ignored. Here's where I was....

(my room is somewhere on the right side near the peak of that circular roof, and no I won't be waving - I was taking the picture!)

Last Saturday until this Saturday has then been completely booked with the Jane Eyre the musical. Setup, rehersal, and now shows. Working all day, driving back to GR and then working the musical. Hectic, but enjoyable. I would definitely suggest coming to see Jane Eyre if you can stop for a minute to do so. (**not REALLY a minute, more like 150 minutes**) We have another show tonight, and then next weekend Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I've seen it six times now, tonight will be seventh, and I really enjoy it!

Well time is short, and I've spent my first waking moments writing here before it was ignored any longer. Now more things call, like cleaning up around my desk, eating, showering, doing my laundry, and finding the sheet that I lost from my bed a week ago. You know when your sheets and covers get all messed up on the bed, and then if its completely dark it is hard to find them. Well everytime I get home to go to sleep, someone or everyone is sleeping already, so I don't want to turn on the lights - without turning on the lights, it is quite hard to find those missing sheets. So now, a week later, it is time to go find the MISSING SHEET!

Wish me luck..

Monday, March 28, 2005

Mon, 28 Mar 2005 22:01:48 GMT

Monday it is. I made it back to Michigan safely. The weather today was absolutely beautiful day with temperatures up to 60 degrees for a very brief time. The mere fact that it is now - 6pm and the temp is 54 degrees - that makes it a nice day! I like that the temperature is going up. As much as I like things going up...I am NOT fond of the gas prices. Anyone been to the pump recently? I offered four fingers (I figured I could live with two missing from each hand), but the attendant only pointed to the sign.

Luckily I still have one tenth of my arm.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Sun, 27 Mar 2005 01:37:00 GMT

Currently I'm at home in Connecticut for a surprise Easter visit. Unfortunately I'm leaving tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon after arriving only the evening before last. Short stay - but enjoyable none-the-less!

My trip here included a two hour layover in Philly where I went to Jet Rock Bar and Grille located in concourse B. Seemed like a decent place to sit for two hours as the atmosphere allow for plenty of activity - and I do enjoy watching people. The walls and ceilings were lined with at least 40 televisions, and the area was noisey. Perfect place to sit for two hours. I tried to order a sandwich, but apparently they had been open the entire night before, and their food order for Thursday had not arrived. I'm just glad I wasn't flying yesterday, apparently many delays! Finally I settled on a fajita chicken wrap. Squeezing myself, my backpack, and my suitecase to a wall booth seat was not an easy task, but I made it and began eating - unfortunately the wrap was premade. Tasted kinda bad, I ate only 3/4 of it and chomped down the fries. That's what you get for $9.84 in an airport. I figure if you are going to open a chain - be sure to get in the airport. Seems you can charge an arm and the leg and still get away with it. Just a thought of advice. I'm sure the rent is higher, but cmon - this place had records and guitars signed by anybody and everybody hanging on the walls. If you can afford things like this, you must be doing well! There wasn't a seat in the place for the majority of the time there.

I quickly became aqquainted with Kurt, Jeff, Alicia, Heather, and Ali who were sitting next to me. They were quite entertaining and we had our fun and laughs as they too had to wait two hours for their flight. Luck for them, they were headed to West Palm for a nice vacation - myself to another cold state. We had our fun and laughs, and more quickly than expected 8:00 rolled around. Wanna hear something crazy - two hours, some food, and a few drinks later - their tab came to just over $200! OUTRAGEOUS! They hadn't even boarded the plane yet. That's gonna be one expensive vacation. See what I mean about opening a restaurant in the airport?

My plane was boarding at 8:05, so I made my way out of Jet's and proceeded to B30 - the place my plane was leaving from. Go figure - the gate had switched. In a quick panic that it would be clear across the very large airport I ran for the monitors. Scanning the large bank of monitors I finally found Hartford. ok...location..flight...time....gate.....B31. Well that was lucky, it was the gate next to the one it was leaving from. Right, that would be too easy. B31 was tucked in an odd spot. After finding the gate it turned out that we had downsized planes and EVERYONE needed to go to the front counter and be reseated. To make a very long story short, it took near an hour, several duplicate seat bookings once on the plane, and one very angry guy (not myself). We finally made it to Hartford.

I've been home since Thursday night at 10pm. I'm very tired now and tomrorow is Easter. Happy Easter everyone - wish me better luck when I board the plane tomorrow afternoon. Again I'll have the two hour layover in Philly - I wonder what good will come of this one!!!

Good Night.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Wed, 23 Mar 2005 21:29:56 GMT

Monday I come home to find Justin and Krista in the apartment - not very unusual. I also find myself quickly stripping my clothes because the thermometer was reading somewhere above its display capabilities - I think high 70's - needless to say, I'm a comfortable cool climate creature.

*FLASHBACK* The day earlier I had attempted to test the wittyness of Justin and Krista by placing a lit candle slightly below the furnace regulator. This would in turn keep the furnance at a mild pace, perhaps allowing the rooms to remain cooler (a normal 70 degrees). Justin quickly realized my little trick and gave me a strange look - I'm still not sure what it meant. Krista took the candle and placed it far on the other side of the room as if it still might have some power to keep the rooms cool. At least while I was warm, it would smell good. *END OF FLASHBACK*

Upon arriving home I went to the back room (our office) to check my email and IM's to see what nice things people had said to me that day. Very shortly after my sitting down at my desk both Justin and Krista got up to do homework somewhere else. Slightly odd - perhaps I smelled or something. Justin went to the living room to do homework in my big comfy chair, and Krista went to do homework on Justin's bed. Not even five minutes later I went to ask Justin a question and found him doing homework. Apparently in his dreams:

Thinking I would go talk to Krista I entered into the bedroom and found this:

With that I had only one conclusion - Man I wish I had homework to do!

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Thu, 17 Mar 2005 12:42:32 GMT

ok...so I really suck at updating my "xangat," and it's not as if I have the time to do it right now. I thought I had better put some words on here, else one of you may come after me with some sort of weapon. This week is flying by, keeping busy is good. I'm across the state today for a film seminar followed by a film festival showcasing all sorts of neat ideas. I'll let you know how that goes. I'm upset beacuse I'm going to miss my roommate Justin's piano recital this evening (due to late planning and announcement of his date and time) - but he held a private showing last night. At least I was able to still hear it!! I enter this weekend excited about an upcoming short film project that I'll be working on and the TK^2 project that is in planning stage - can't wait to go full throttle with that. And that depleats my time and words for this morning - Outside looks like a beautiful day - I'm about to go enter it. Have a great one!

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Sun, 06 Mar 2005 23:07:06 GMT

Seems to me its been a long time coming that I write something here. Although I have nothing fascinating to say, I will attempt to write more frequently, never neglecting my "xangat" longer than a week. The best I have to share with you right now is my new found residency. As of now I am officialy a Michigan resident, however the pop will always be soda.

Here is my proof:

Let me tell you, this was not an easy thing to come by. Ask me about the story sometime. It's too long to type out here. Stupid SOS.

I like the caption on the bottom left. "See back for medical information, anatomical gift". I have chosen not to make myself an anatomical gift. Are you an anatomical gift?

Seems Blackmon got a new license too...