Radio Is For Me

So there's that eternal blistering question of WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO WHEN YOU GROW UP that seemingly never gets answered until all of a sudden you stumble into a job and think 'Hey, why not make a career of this?' That's all well and good. However, it's still possible to learn this and have it put in motion before you even have a job.

Case in point.

Today: I woke up at 7:45 to get ready to go to my job at The Limited. Which I hate, and I have no secret about saying that I don't enjoy it. It might beat Guggisberg as the worst job I've ever had. In fact, I think it does, because I was at Guggisberg for a year, and if I'm at The Limited in October (when I leave Cincy), it'll be strictly because I need the money. I've honestly considered just quitting, dropping my cable and maybe internet, and just slowly pawning my stuff to pay bills and buy groceries. That's how much I don't enjoy this job. Anyways, I got off topic. I woke up at 7:45, and my shift started at 9. Now, today, I got called in just from 9 until 11 to do a little bit of stuff in the back, no big deal, I don't really mind that much. I'd had 3 days off and was starting to feel quite hermit-y. I was there for TWO HOURS and it felt like a freaking eternity. 10-11 dragged balls. Fortunately, 3 of my 4 favorite people that work there WERE there today, but I was in the back, and only 1 of them was back there on a fairly consistent basis so I could feel like I wasn't alone in the world. Needless to say, a 2 hour shift that feels like an eternity is NOT the ideal location for a future. I already knew this, but what would happen later in the day reinforced the everloving crap right out of it.

2:45 - I get to OCB for my on air shift, and I do that til around 4:30, and at that point, I go up to ask Gary if he cares if I stay longer. There's someone listed after me, but I'm pretty sure she graduated or just doesn't show up ever, because I have not seen her all the times I've been there. So yeah, I asked him if I could just stay and be the on air personality until whenever. His response? 'I'm not gonna stop you from doing anything like that. Just make sure you write down all the hours so I can give you credit.' Encouragement for something I WANTED to do? Is........is that possible? Really? You're telling me I'm getting encouraged to do something that I not only want to do, but eventually can get paid for in the real world? Are.......are you.......totally serious here? I mean, really? YES! IT EXISTS!

Radio is what I want to do. I don't care what capacity, but I want to talk over the airwaves to the masses. I don't care if I have 5 listeners or 5 million listeners. I want to inject MY personality into people's radio stations at home, in their cars, on their computers. I want T-Funk (who really is no different than Tyler Stutzman) to be known by however many people. If that makes me hated by some and loved by others, I don't care, because I will still be doing what I enjoy, and that's broadcasting myself out into the world.

By the way, I stayed almost an hour and 45 minutes longer than I was scheduled, and the only reason I left at 6:40ish instead of much later is because I was getting HUNGRY. One more round and my stomach's growling could've made a cameo appearance on the air. Which can't be good.

I know what I want to do in life. Plus, to top it all off, I had celebratory Chipotle (because everything I just wrote I realized the INSTANT I left the studio) and then watched a 3 OT Game 6 in an NBA playoff series so good I scream at my TV, and I'm rooting against BOTH of these teams eventually. It doesn't matter, though, because it's so entertaining and well played.

This day was so rewarding.

Why Do All My Blogs Get Written In the A.M.

Seeing as right now I'm totally whacked out on Demerol, I figured I would write a blog entry to capture the madness. Actually, I'm not whacked out on Demerol, and I don't even know what that does, but I just thought it would be a phenomenal opening line, so I ran with it.

So on that off chance that you haven't noticed, I've been SERIOUSLY forgetting that I have this, mostly because I just don't go to Starbucks or anywhere and write in my notebook anymore, thus having ammunition for my blog. Which is sad, yes, I know, but I'm still pretty good at coming up with this junk off the top of my head as well. Not to mention that I've got an audience of probably a whopping 4 people (only because I know at least 4 people who read this because they TOLD me they do), so I feel like I need to milk these absences for as much as I can get to build anticipation of an additional blog entry somewhere down the road, even if it is me just rambling for 19 paragraphs about how I've been gone for a long time and don't ever update and blah dee blah dee blah.

I am still in my full on 'listen to as much music as you can' tear that I have been basically since I started this sucker, and from even before that. I think the reason for that is two-fold.

1. I'm BURNED OUT on movies. I never watch movies anymore. Hence me attempting to sell off a good chunk of my collection so I can get a better TV. It's going to get to a point here soon where I look over all of my flicks and pull off a Top 50 or Top 100 movies to keep, and all the rest are getting sold. I've gone over this in my head for a while, and even though it is painful because I spent SO MUCH time and money (especially money) building up this collection, the fact is, I just download the movies in HD on my computer, and if I get a nicer TV, I can just hook up an HDMI cable from my lappy, and BOOM, HD movies for nothing. Sure, it's HOLY SHIT ILLEGAL, but at this point, I don't have the money to try to buy a new TV AND Blu-Rays AND a Blu-Ray player. The TV itself is about a $400 investment MINIMUM. I'll take that and an HDMI cable and be set for the day, thanks.

2. I have so much free time to sit around before school, after school, when there's no sports on, when I'm at work in the back (although that's not free time, but I do have my iPod), you know, pretty much all the time, and there is NO better way to pass the time for a guy with no friends that he hangs out with than to listen to a hell of a lot of music, and in large chunks.

Music is a time consumer in ways that movies never could be. I can sit down and listen to music for everything, and just have it go in one ear and out the other. I'm sure you know this, but still, it helps what I'm saying here, so just live with it.

Actually, after reading that last sentence, it seems like I'm trying to prove a point, which I'm not. I'm just blogging. Oh well. Music > Movies, at least at this point in my life. That's HUGE.

I need to gain around 15-20 pounds of muscle, and I have NO idea where to start. One of my friends told me to eat and work out. I have to mull that one over.

So how awesome have the NBA playoffs been? We've got a modern day classic series (Bulls/Celts), my favorite team sweeping in the first round and being a near surefire lock for the finals (Cavs), some sick western conference showdowns (Blazers/Rockets, Hornets/Nuggets when the Hornets decide to show up), and the emergence of a great point guard rivalry (back to Bulls/Celts in Rose/Rondo). Seriously, if Chicago can STAY this good, Rose/Rondo is going to be nationally televised every single time they play next season. Bank on it. I hate both those teams, but with those 2 helming, as a Cavs fan, I'm a TEENY bit frightened. The winner of that series is the ONLY team that I can see having the slightest conceivable shot of beating the Cavs. Nobody else seems like they could. Magic. 76ers. Heat. Hawks. All of them have problems that the Cavs can absolutely exploit. The Bulls and Celtics have problems that the Cavs can exploit, but they can work around that, which is what scares me. I hope they get knocked out in the second round.

Speaking of sports, the NFL Draft. Yeah, I didn't enjoy watching and having Mangini keep trading down and trading down. Hopefully everything works out, but while watching, I was getting pissed. My 'mark out moment' was when I saw they drafted Robiskie. That's freaking AWESOME. He can definitely be a credible #2 threat across from Edwards.

So I'm excited for summer because I've got as many as 10 people who I'm at least 80% sure I'll see!

1. Everett (and our dates, if they accept) for Jon and Kate's wedding = 3
2. Brent, Mike, Will, and Ethan who said they will try to make it down = 7
3. My sister, who I'm sure will come down again because she's awesome = 8
4. Leah & Julie who will probably come visit Vanessa and see me as well = 10

Woohoo! Finally visitors! It is about time. Plus, I'm pretty sure some people should come down for the Indians/Reds game. I know it's the second to last weekend in May, and I know I talked to Lyndon about this, so that's possible as well. Here's to it happening, maybe.

Alright, I've had enough writing. So, until my next blog, I'm going to leave you with the following songs that you must listen to in order to be on my 'Hey, you know, this person is really cool' list. Funk out.

My Bloody Valentine - Sometimes
Slow Club - Christmas TV
Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms vs. Bad Arms
Talking Heads - Big Daddy
Arcade Fire - Rebellion (Lies)
The Grand Archives - Sleepdriving
Bon Iver - Blood Bank
Rogue Wave - Lake Michigan
Jane's Addiction - Ocean Size
The Pixies - Alec Eiffel
The Shins - The Past and Pending

I have no idea if there is flow to that or not. Probably not. It's just stuff you should listen to.

Today Is a Mixed Bag

So today has some serious ups and downs going for it. I'll bullet point them.

• Up: Last night at school, we got our FREAKING SWEET 8GB iPod Nanos. I have already jacked mine up with about 4.5 gb of music, and around 70 pictures. The other 3 gigs are going to be school projects. Probably. Either way, this thing is awesome.
• Down: I am getting sick AGAIN. It cost me a lot of sleep last night, and I called off work today and got complained at by my boss. I don't know what has caused this much in the way of sudden and oft-happening sinus infections, but I had never had one in my LIFE until last September, and since then I've had 4, 3 in the past 3 months. I have no idea what is causing this.
• Up: A guy who came into talk last week at OCB left us his contact information, so I sent him an e-mail back a couple days ago, and just now he sent me a response asking if tomorrow or next week I could come in for an internship interview! So unofficially, I have an internship set up at one of the radio stations down here. Excellent!
• Down: Being sick, I also had to call into OCB and tell them I couldn't come in to do my shift. As much as I'd like to, the fact is I can't go in there and do that when I also called off work. I would much rather tough it out and do my shift then actually go to work, but I do seriously feel like crap and I just don't wanna do anything other than drink juice, take Tylenol and, for some reason, blog.
• Up: I have plenty of food and drink in here so I don't need to leave my apartment for something. Score.
• Down: I just realized that I'm hungry, so I'm done with this entry.
  

The Talking Heads Are Taking Over My Life

That is not a metaphor for voices in my head finally telling me things I should be doing. I still have THAT common sense factor working in my favor, and I hope to keep that sucker wrangled until the day I die, with only the very rare happening that it escapes me and only one or two people are around to call me on it. No, when I say the Talking Heads are taking over my life, I am referencing the band circa the late 70's into the early 80's. That list I made a few weeks ago of the best albums I've recently discovered? Well, there's a few new additions, and one of them is Talking Heads - Remain in Light. Just a superior album. Superior to what? I don't honestly care. It just rocks the house. It rocks the apartment. It rocks the condo in Florida. It even rocks the little shanty. It's just GREAT.

I still don't have an internship, but I'm working on it, I promise. It's never cool when the place you've called has a nice bait and switch type attitude to it, and you keep getting voicemails and alternate phone numbers. Screw that noise.

Also great? Soundgarden's Superunknown. Yeah, everyone knew that already, including me, but you know what? It's not like it's suddenly irrelevant. It still owns face. However, what IS new to me in awesomeness off this CD is the title track. I was always obsessed with Black Hole Sun, and never really realized how great the rest of it is, especially Superunknown. Just 5 minutes of awesome rocky grungeness. Nirvana, while the most popular in grunge, can't touch Soundgarden as far as I'm concerned. Hell, thinking back on it, when I compare the Big 4 (Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains), Nirvana is at the bottom of that list, and not just because they had the fewest amount of albums. They just weren't as great. Their lyrics were tops, but EVERYTHING else they did was done better by the other 3 bands listed there.

Cincinnati's 'charm' is starting to wear thin on me. Maybe it's because I'm starting to realize just how truly lonely I am down here, or maybe it's that I feel like I'm in a city version of the town I grew up in, or maybe I'm just not finding the right places to make new friends. Irregardless, to break out the old cliche, the honeymoon is over. Time to get down to brass tacks. Whatever else sounds cheesy enough to follow.

I've started running/walking/moving around outside in an attempt to get back into a healthy state. It's absolutely PITIFUL how truly out of shape I am. I can't make it half a mile without getting winded. That's so awful I mildly hate myself. However, I am working on changing that. I want to be able to run a good 2 miles at least without anything happening. That's my current goal, and that will probably take me about 6 years. Plus, this cold isn't helping at all, either. I was in a groove, I'd ran for the past 2 or 3 days, and then it's suddenly 40 degrees and raining/sleeting. I'm NOT running in that. So now my running momentum will be gone by the time it warms up again, and I'll be like 'meh'.

Alright, blog update done. Sleepy time is imminent.