Incite Full

This morning my roommate said “I’m so glad Gangl is back” and I have to agree with this.

The past few days have been a lot of fun, and it’s something that i really needed. I went through some rough times recently, as evidenced by my recent posts. Maybe i was a bit dramatic about it all, but some talks with a few friends of mine made a huge difference.

I asked a friend of mine what makes her happy. Her response was fairly honest, and it was spiritual in nature, but the way i asked the question made the conversation more itneresting and more revealing to me. I asked her what made her happy in a solitary way, that friends and family were a given, but what did she do that made her happy on her own. After she responded, i was telling her how i wasn’t very happy lately, and that i wasn’t sure what that meant for me or for anyone around me. I felt as if I was getting hapiness from my group of friends, but i wasn’t bringing anything to the table.

She was quick to point out that I’ve been myself lately, and that our friends have really enjoyed it. But most importantly she mentioned that she’s thankful for our friends and her family, and that it’s not a “given” as i so callously put it. This is about the time that I was struck by how awesome my friends are. It’s like those stories in which a group of people go looking for treasure, and the real treasure they found were the memories they were creating. Cliche shit like that, that’s about how obvious my revelation was, but you need it from time to time.

Quick note, I think those Nutrisystem meal programs which are advertised on ESPN now use the pot roast line as a joke. Mike Golic can’t possibly be that excited about pot roast. In fact, I think it’s the most forgettable meal in the history of meals.. what the hell?

Along the commercial lines, the Wendy’s spicy chicken sandwich commercial showing a man throughout his life enjoying the sandwich goes about one decade too far. There was absolutely no reason to make him bald at the end there, i’m not sure if he’s normally bald, or if they did that specifically for the age effect, but it’s ridiculous.

And I cannot get enough of Rise Against right now. Obviously the title is there, referencing Audience of One, but I think they have about 6-7 songs on my favorite list, a list which i can listen to everysong on it and not be tired of it. Ok, maybe there is one by Audioslave that i’m getting tired of, but it’s still good.

I had this idea, a long time ago, to take a picture of myself everyday over the course of a year. Well someone beat me to the punch, and did it by about 6 years. The guy, Noah Kalina, made a video over the course of 6 years with his picture. Interesting to see his change over that time.

Finding this video was rather backwards to me. I was trying to find out what the name of the piano songs played in the NBA commercials. The “Where _ Happens” commercials. The music is so simple, building, and elegant in my opinion. Not overy complicated, and maybe even a little repetitive, but i really liked it. I thought it was Phillip Glass, but it turned out to be a woman named Carly Comando who I found on myspace.

Check out the song (and video if you’d like). As i really enjoy the song.

A side not, this is my 98th post, I think, and I’m looking forward to my Hundredth.

Is it illegal to walk around with a Chain saw? While  walking the .8 miles from the car to the beach, I came up with the idea that I wanted to stalk around town with a chainsaw. Not an awesome chainsaw, but an old school, leatherface type of deal. I see all these hip and cool black and decker things out there now, with safety in mind. I don’t want safe. I want a fucking bloody mess on my hands here. And when I trim the hedges, I’ll wear a hockey mask.

The beach was a lot of fun today. There was some sort of event going on on the south side of the pier with thousands of people playing volleyball. The players were all dressed up in funny costumes, and some were actually quite good at at the sport. One guy, although on a shitty team, used a kick for his serve, and it was probably the most awesome thing i’ve seen on the beach. Aside from the couple that might as well have been having sex out there.

I really enjoy volleyball. I’m not nearly as good as i was in high school, but I still bring my game when it counts. Being hungover on the mini-net was not as much fun at first. But then we played against an other group of people and I stepped it up a bit. This meant not nearly as many errors and a few blocks. I love a good block, you feel like a man. it’s the equivalent of taking a virginity or something.

I also movie marathoned it, which is probably the only type of marathon I will ever do. I watched Real Genius on TV, and then watched The Machinist and Stop-loss.  The machinist reminded me a lot of Fight Club. A lot. But kind of blew it with me because it was puzzling to the point where there was just no way to understand the ending. An when you finally do, you feel better and worse at the same time.

Stop-loss was the same way. I liked the movie- not a favorite or anything- but definitely something to think about. Aside from that, it mae me think of Ryan Gosling. I know he’s not in it, but the last movie I saw with him in it was Half Nelson, which I really liked. I wonder what the hell he’s up to now. I’m kind of excited.

I might have written about this, but I want to reiterate how much Michael Phelps is one of my heroes.
The quote I’m about to speak of will be this post’s quote, but it just made me realize that some people are exceptional, and they think differently than most. Think of playing a sport, or painting or whatever. Odds are you’ve thought “I wish I was as good as Jordan” or “I want to be the next Monet.” Not Michael Phelps, and waht he said made me think. Fuck- I want to be  him. And then I immediately kicked myself for saying those words. Here is waht he said, in reference to a reporter asking him “What do you think about being the next Mark Spitz?”

“I want to be the first Michael Phelps and not the second Mark Spitz”