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.

Well it took about 6 years, but Los Angeles finally had an earthquake that I felt. Six years and one earth quake. I’ve almost been mugged, shot, or stabbed more times than I’ve felt an earthquake out here. I’m not sure what to say about Los Angeles, at times, but all those who warned me about earthquakes were way off, at least for now. I’m well aware that “within 30 years” we’re supposed to have an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 or greater.

Is anyone else a little weary of that statistic? You give me a 30 year window and I can predict one of the world series winners, world cup, and probably two or three super bowl winners. What i am trying to say is that I’m not too convinced that it’s certain, more than it is likely.

Anyways, it has come to my attention that I have not gone on many dates lately. I don’t think this is really a fault of mine, as much as it is I’ve been having so much fun just going out and having a good time. Going out with Dan, Jordan, Brian, Steph, Russ (whenever he gets his ass out of lab) and whoever else I run into is a lot more fun for me.  And it’s more important, as well.

I’ve generally had friends through circumstance- we worked or lived together, but now I’ve got a solid group of friends that I can go out with or talk about anything (I emphasize anything) with. It was one of those things that I always felt I lacked, even though I’ve been popular or funny or whatever the hell you want to call it.

I’m going surfing Saturday- and I’m pretty excited. I’m renting a board and what not from Cal Tech, and I’m going to get my ass kicked, I think. I’m going with a friend who is only here for the summer, but seems to take advantage of it more than most people I know. Regardless of how I do, It’ll be another thing I can cross off my list of things I’ve been meaning to do. And who knows, maybe it’ll be simply amazing and i’ll do it all the time.

Or I’ll suck at it and want to sleep about a million hours afterwards, like Blue Bobby always used to. I guess I’ll find out.

During my trip back to Washington, I’ve had a lot of time to reflect on certain things. It’s been really nice to take a step back and jsut, for lack of a better quote, “drink it in.” There are a few things that I want to talk about, and get off my chest, but that might have to wait for another time.

I visited my grandmother today, Virginia Doyle, at her nursing home. The reason she is at a nursing home is because she has some pretty bad Alzheimer’s disease. It’s really sad to see a person kind of wither away mentally in front of you. But, thankfully, she has som good days and today was one of them. She remembered me and my mother when we came in right away, and that’s a huge surprise to us. While the other residents were stumbling and gating around, much like zombies, my grandma was able to show us her room and introduce to other residents.

We took her to Starbuck’s and a Barnes an Noble, because she likes to walk around and look at the book jackets. While there, we were talking about family, life, and everything in between. I got a chance to speak alone with her as if she was alive during the 40’s. She talked about having married a good husband, Eugene, who was a member of the US Navy during world war 2. She spoke about his ship (the USS Chicago) being sunk off the coast of Australia, and how he got diabetes from the shock of the cold water turning off his insulin production. She then talked about my ancestors who include an Irishman (Finnigan) who fought in the Civil War, my cousins who flew planes, a distant relative who ran a news network for CBS, and an uncle who was a Representative for the state of Illinois.

I never knew my family had so much history. I suppose it’s just a given, as your tree expands so fast after a couple of generations, to have some amazing people in your line. We talked a little bit about my father’s side, of which we are Native American to a small degree. (Mae Flowers, I shit you not, is one of our older ancestors). And then I found out, through the wonder of technicality, that I am Jewish. It was really fascinating to hear my Mother and Grandmother talk. It was something out of an SAT reading comprehension section- All lame and girly.

Aside from that, my trip has been pretty good. I cooked steaks for my family last night, and then made some pizza today- and they ate it all up. Like I said earlier, when my dad goes back for thirds of food, it must be good. and he definitely kept going back for my pizzas. Even though I think they are jsut ok most of the time, other people seem to really enjoy them.

I also got to talk to Mike a lot yesterday, and it’s awesome to be able to pick up wherever we leave off. We discussed me coming back to Seattle to live, and he answered with an emphatic yes, almost reeking of desperation- but i share in the enthusiastic ideal. Maybe in a couple of years after I’ve earned my stripes in the working world. Who knows.

To be honest, I’ve got a lot of great friends in LA, and a few amazing ones (yeah, Steph, it’s you) but I miss “home” at times. It’s interesting, and I generally don’t think about it often. But it’s hard to deny when you’re there.

“An ounce of blood is worth more than a pound of friendship”

Incidentally, I don’t really agree with this quote. It was just short, and family related. I think a more apt quote is “Fate chooses our relatives, we choose our friends”

This past weekend was intense. A lot of work packed into a short amount of time was the theme, and the end result is me having moved into my new apartment. I’m pretty happy with how everything is going, especially the fact that I’ve got my own closet at the new place. It’s a little cramped as of this morning, mostly because I’m still waiting to unpack a few boxes- but I can deal with that for a little while.

I haven’t been able to cook anything for a while, what with the move and all, which is killing me. But all the meals i’ve eaten have been with good company- especially when it’s been with some people I haven’t caught up with in quite some time. Saturday night probably takes the cake, however, what with the grilled ribs I had over at Tommy and Matt’s place.

That night was also fantastic, what with the celebratory party I threw at the bars for everyone who helped me move. That was probably too much fun. In fact, on our way home, Matt and I stopped to eat burritos AND hot dogs. Ultimately, I did not finish both, but  that’s probably because I was laughing too hard at the trail of doritos that led straight to tommy’s room from about 3 blocks away.

In other news, twice saturday I was told that I resemble a cross between Ashton Kutcher (ugh) and Daniel Day-Lewis (say what?!). One time, someone adding “but way sexier.” And that’s just a lie- I’m a lot of things, but one thing I am not, is sexy. I had to actually laugh when the person said it, because it was far too ridiculous. But hey, maybe in those dark, dank bars I am. I won’t lose sleep over finding out.

I digress; my annoyance with Ashton kutcher is that I find him so dull and uninspired. He plays the same role all the time, and in this particular case- that role sucks. I know these people don’t describe me as acting like him, just resembling. That description, however, lives on the periphery of similarity- and I will raze the villages of such accusations with extreme prejudice. The later, Daniel Day-Lewis, just confounds me. I mean, I am pretty sure that I have nothing in common with this man, except for being awesome. Aside from that, and my shameless quoting of his famous milkshake line, there is nothing there. nothing. I suppose I should have asked if it was “there will be blood” Lewis or something else, but either way, I’m not offended, but I’m not buying this either.

“Pig after pig. Cow after cow. Village after village. Army after army. “