And the mad lib winner is....

First off, here is the latest pic from earlier this afternoon. Goodbye 2010!




And secondly... the winners are...





Your all winners! I read through all of the possible answers as I plugged in all of your answers into my story line and I honestly couldn't pick just one favorite to post. But since you all have been good sports and entertained me I will take a little extra time out of my extremely busy new years eve party being hosted in my room with hot pockets and video games and post them all! So with each entry I will underline the answers you gave me, but I won't number them so try to remember what you put, as hard as that might be.  Here's a refresher

And The Awards are as follows:

Best kind of field to run through : Cake fields by Wendy Pelletier!

Best time of day to be waking up : 7:24 p.m. by Mynx!

Best villain : Man-eating Unicorns by Bruce!

Kinkiest sounding superhero finishing move: Wonder Woman's liking loving upright horse ass smash by Bouncin' Barb!

Best all around party game: Little Big Planet by The Adorkable Ditz (Momo)!

And a special honor for the most randomly entertaining mad lib I read: Bruce's entry with his uncanny ability to seductively give into peer pressure while dreaming about man-eating unicorns being defeated by invisible woman only to be woken up by 22 clones of his wife making noise! Haha!


I really wanted to end the year with something funny so I might be able to start the new year with a smile and something to laugh about. So with that, Happy 2011 to everyone and enjoy the randomosities!

By Mynx:

Today was a very interesting day. I woke up at roughly 7:24p.m. to the sound of 23 Crickets outside my window. So I flung my superman blanket off and rushed to the window to see what was going on. Apparently there was something going on down the street at the local cheese market for new years and everyone in town knew about it but me. Luckily, I was already prepared for the unexpected random party-people situation with my Captain Jack Sparrow costume fresh out of the laundry.I threw it on in a hurry and Rode to the spot. When I got there I was greeted by my best friend Jason who just so happened to be wearing the exact same thing I was! The rest of the guests were all wearing various outfits and playing a huge game of Scrabble . By the time it was finally my turn to jump in and play, everyone else lost interest as the DJ announced it was almost midnight. I softly gave in and joined them all as we stared quickly at the clock. When all the tension was getting to the point of insanity, as the clock was just about to change from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00, a huge ball of light burst open in the sky and out came hundreds of giant man-eating Koalas. Everyone jumped in terror as they realized what was going on. And just as I was about to get devoured, batman showed up and defeated them all with his ultimate power, the Kicking Kissing sideways tiger big toe smash! But one of the monsters got away and chased me through a carrot field and just as it caught up to me and began to close it's fangs around my leg, My eyes opened and I was suddenly in my bed lying down. Was it a dream? I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on in my head to cause such an old dream. And that was when I heard it. the sound of 68 airhorns in a frenzy outside of my window...

By Wendy:

Today was a very interesting day. I woke up at roughly 9a.m. to the sound of 8 drums outside my window. So I flung my Miss Brooke blanket off and rushed to the window to see what was going on. Apparently there was something going on down the street at the local spaghetti market for new years and everyone in town knew about it but me. Luckily, I was already prepared for the unexpected random party-people situation with my Captain Jack Sparrow costume fresh out of the laundry. I threw it on in a hurry and shipped to the spot. When I got there I was greeted by my best friend Doris who just so happened to be wearing the exact same thing I was! The rest of the guests were all wearing various outfits and playing a huge game of Monopoly. By the time it was finally my turn to jump in and play, everyone else lost interest as the DJ announced it was almost midnight. I groggily gave in and joined them all as we stared spritely at the clock. When all the tension was getting to the point of insanity, as the clock was just about to change from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00, a huge ball of light burst open in the sky and out came hundreds of giant man-eating wolverines. Everyone 13(verb)ed in terror as they realized what was going on. And just as I was about to get devoured, Superman showed up and defeated them all with his ultimate power, the sleeping conjuring bending cheetah eye smash! But one of the monsters got away and chased me through a cake field and just as it caught up to me and began to close it's fangs around my leg, My eyes opened and I was suddenly in my bed lying down. Was it a dream? I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on in my head to cause such a sweet dream. And that was when I heard it. the sound of 7 bells in a frenzy outside of my window...

By The Adorkable Ditz (Momo!)

Today was a very interesting day. I woke up at roughly 11:11a.m. to the sound of 13 seagulls outside my window. So I flung my sailor moon blanket off and rushed to the window to see what was going on. Apparently there was something going on down the street at the local pizza market for new years and everyone in town knew about it but me. Luckily, I was already prepared for the unexpected random party-people situation with my Kung pow's chosen one costume fresh out of the laundry.I threw it on in a hurry and 7(verb involving movement/transportation) to the spot. When I got there I was greeted by my best friend Methusala who just so happened to be wearing the exact same thing I was! The rest of the guests were all wearing various outfits and playing a huge game of Little big planet for PS3. By the time it was finally my turn to jump in and play, everyone else lost interest as the DJ announced it was almost midnight. I graciously gave in and joined them all as we stared ecstaticly at the clock. When all the tension was getting to the point of insanity, as the clock was just about to change from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00, a huge ball of light burst open in the sky and out came hundreds of giant man-eating tazmanian devils! Everyone squawked in terror as they realized what was going on. And just as I was about to get devoured, Captain Planet showed up and defeated them all with his ultimate power, the whining baking crouching badger spleen smash! But one of the monsters got away and chased me through an udon field and just as it caught up to me and began to close it's fangs around my leg, My eyes opened and I was suddenly in my bed lying down. Was it a dream? I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on in my head to cause such a random dream. And that was when I heard it. the sound of 40,952,784,092 shoes in a frenzy outside of my window...

By Bouncin' Barb:

Today was a very interesting day. I woke up at roughly 3:33a.m. to the sound of 13 washing machines outside my window. So I flung my Davey Crocket blanket off and rushed to the window to see what was going on. Apparently there was something going on down the street at the local liver market for new years and everyone in town knew about it but me. Luckily, I was already prepared for the unexpected random party-people situation with my dirty harry costume fresh out of the laundry.I threw it on in a hurry and hitch-hiked to the spot. When I got there I was greeted by my best friend Albert who just so happened to be wearing the exact same thing I was! The rest of the guests were all wearing various outfits and playing a huge game of dominos. By the time it was finally my turn to jump in and play, everyone else lost interest as the DJ announced it was almost midnight. I quietly gave in and joined them all as we stared extremely at the clock. When all the tension was getting to the point of insanity, as the clock was just about to change from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00, a huge ball of light burst open in the sky and out came hundreds of giant man-eating donkeys. Everyone plowed in terror as they realized what was going on. And just as I was about to get devoured, Wonder Woman showed up and defeated them all with his ultimate power, the Liking loving upright horse ass smash! But one of the monsters got away and chased me through a peanut butter field and just as it caught up to me and began to close it's fangs around my leg, My eyes opened and I was suddenly in my bed lying down. Was it a dream? I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on in my head to cause such a big dream. And that was when I heard it. the sound of 50 blow dryers in a frenzy outside of my window...

By Bruce:

Today was a very interesting day. I woke up at roughly 8:03 to the sound of 803 of my dogs outside my window. So I flung my Alex Karras blanket off and rushed to the window to see what was going on. Apparently there was something going on down the street at the local Cheeseburger market for new years and everyone in town knew about it but me. Luckily, I was already prepared for the unexpected random party-people situation with my John McClane costume fresh out of the laundry.I threw it on in a hurry and drexted to the spot. When I got there I was greeted by my best friend Molly Ringwald who just so happened to be wearing the exact same thing I was! The rest of the guests were all wearing various outfits and playing a huge game of some sort. By the time it was finally my turn to jump in and play, everyone else lost interest as the DJ announced it was almost midnight. I Seductively gave in and joined them all as we stared smoothely at the clock. When all the tension was getting to the point of insanity, as the clock was just about to change from 11:59:59 to 12:00:00, a huge ball of light burst open in the sky and out came hundreds of giant man-eating unicorns. Everyone ran in terror as they realized what was going on. And just as I was about to get devoured, Invisible Girl showed up and defeated them all with his ultimate power, the Hiding eating upside down goat buttocks smash! But one of the monsters got away and chased me through a carrot field and just as it caught up to me and began to close it's fangs around my leg, My eyes opened and I was suddenly in my bed lying down. Was it a dream? I rubbed my eyes and tried to figure out what was going on in my head to cause such a round dream. And that was when I heard it. the sound of 22 of my wives in a frenzy outside of my window...

Hope you all enjoyed and thanks so much for playing and giving me something to do! Happy New Years everyone!

Make a wish

I wish for...



some real people!


Here we go, another new year is right around the corner (for me at least) So here is where I get to say all the cool cliche things about best wishes for the future and my new years resolution and all that crap right? WRONG!

I'm going to spice it up with something totally awesome... A MAD LIB!!! maybe even a new years themed mad lib? or maybe not.. I have a few written up and can't decide which to use.

For anyone who doesn't know, a mad lib is basically a story with a bunch of blank spaces asking for specific literary devices to help make it interesting. So for this activity I will need something I have not yet recieved.... ACTUAL COMMENTS/ FEEDBACK!!!!!

Yes, I know that little view counter keeps going up, and there is proof that there are readers out there somewhere, but until there is a name and some intelligent words next to it, you are all nothing more than another single increase to that view count number, which makes you all nothing to me. So why not be a little more friendly and get some interaction going ya? Ok so here we go. I'm going to list the things I need you to supply, and you will leave a comment with the answers, listed as follows:

1 specific Time of day
2 Number
3 Something that makes noise
4 childhood hero
5 food
6 movie character
7 verb involving movement/transportation
8 name
9 game (board game, video game, sport, party game etc.)
10 adverb (verb ending in LY)
11 another adverb
12 creature/animal
13 verb
14 superhero
15 verb
16 verb
17 directional position (backward, forward, sitting, standing, crouching, lying, etc)
18 animal
19 body part
20 food
21 adjective
22 number
23 something that makes noise



So lets see what we can come up with ok? I'm really looking forward to it! I'll pick my favorite answer combo and feature it in the story I wrote, and post it in a day or two. Thanks in advance for all you random nobodies who want to become somebodies and put a name and face to some of my readers! This is gonna be fun! =D

Inbred doesn't begin to describe...

So if any of you random nobodies have been following along in any of my older posts, you might remember this girl named courtney who I dated for 8 months only to find she was cheating from the first day, and dumped me for no reason out of the blue and got married to this one armed cancer-ridden 46 year old sex offender the next day... yeah, that one. Well she obviously decided to get so drunk and high, either that or so miserable without being able to pick fights and win anymore since I was the only man in her life who let her speak her mind without beating her, whatever the case, she decided to leave me some offline messages on my yahoo. it went something like this: "-blush- I love you. JKJKJK. HATe. I HATE U. U R WEIRD. N UGLY." Now mind you, this poor girl never went to school, never learned to read or write until she was 16, and was raped by her sister, her brother, AND her dad, and the only guys she ever dated treat her like trash...So when we broke up and i found out all the crap she was doing behind my back, I tried to be nice and forgive her and told her I wish her good luck and sat and talked with her and gave her all her crap back.... then she goes and pulls this crap trying to get a responst... well it worked.



 I let her know exactly what I never wanted to tell her. the truth. I very descriptively told her about how I felt about the way I was treated as well as the fact that her entire life amounts to nothing higher than sex and alcohol and that by the time her freak of nature husband is through with her she'll be so misshapen and deformed from all the drugs he put her on that even her dad brother and sister wouldn't get with her anymore, so she can take her inbred screwed up life and end it before she wakes up to realize what a retarded mess she has made herself. Among a few other choice words I said, I basically let her know that if she wanted to taunt me and get a reaction, then she wasn't going to get a buttered up response. I told her that I forgive her, but I will not tolerate her harassment any further. Can you tell I was pissed off and hurt? I mean come on, I thought I loved her, and she put me through hell, only to throw cheap shots at me while I'm still trying to recover from the life I almost threw away on her. Give me a freakin break!

 So here is the official end. If by some chance anyone related to or in contact with courtney reads this feel free to send her this message:



"Dear courtney koker,
           Good riddance. You could have been a good person but you chose sex and drugs over a life with a man willing to sacrifice for you. If you ever come emailing or texting me again, ill download the necessary programs that i still have access to and make sure your every email and form of contact info is erased and your phone will be shut off since I still have access to the phone I PAID FOR. and if you find yourself in danger when your psychotic husband who raped you when you were 14 turns on you for the THIRD time and you come crawling back for help, i will show you no kindness. you are not welcome in my life no matter what happens. You can move down here and start going to the same church or school as me, I will not acknowledge your existance, even if your name shows up in the obituary i will show no emotion, because as of right now this very second you are dead to me and I rid myself of your memories. Enjoy your life with the choices you have made and don't say i didnt warn you. you are married to someone who tried to kill you.. you fucking idiot. Good bye."

So now that that's off my chest, I apologize I didn't take the time to spell check and correct myself where needed, I just want to get it over with and put it behind me forever.


And in other news, I am happy to announce that I have 5 toes on my left foot and am totally cool with that. Never again will I make the mistake of falling for someone based on looks and first impressions, because I finally figured out how easily used I am and how hard it is for me to stand up for myself. Poop... I feel like poop. But it's all good, I got a girl who is my best friend before we ever made any kind of other connection, and by no means are we putting lust or any superficial ideal above our friendship. Don't be surprised, I mean sheesh it's been like 2 months since i've been single... I'm allowed to have a new girlfriend by now aren't I? But that brings me to my next awesome announcement.

Today Momo finally got the ok from both parents and myself to officially call me hers. We have been "together" for a few weeks but her parents and a few other people still loidering in her personal life were keeping us from making it official. But today I can finally say I found a girl who actually likes dorky nerdy funny stuff like I do and for the first time in years I have a friend with something in common with me. (Rose and the McDonalds gang, we have some stuff in common too, but personality wise you will all agree when you finally meet her, she is my other half, no joke.)

And on another note, I have one more week and then its back to school for the first time in 5 years!!!! So excited! I'm only able to take one class since I'm working 60+m hours a week, but still... its a chance at a social life and possibly a career building opportunity to get me out of this black-hole that is my job. Ok, I can't think very clearly this week, stress and sleeplessness getting the best of me, so for now I'll just say goodnight before I start making sense and scaring people... Til next time.

~sw23

Christmas...lol

First off, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! Yeah, I know, a little late. Deal with it. =P

So today I was posting a photo



And while writing the description on my flickr I included a "Merry Christmas" and it dawned on me that many of my flickr friends and regular friends who will see that still try to play the "X-mas" game. You know... trying to make such a blatant and visible point of how opposed they are to acknowledging Jesus' place in their lives. So I went ahead and put this little side note for them to better understand how pointless their mockery is:
                     "I do hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. And for those of you who don't celebrate the birth of the Christ, don't feel awkward or offended, since the 25th of December is nothing but an observance derived from "Yule" or winter sulstace, also called the "birth of the sun" which early catholics thought they could more easily convert people by observing a religious holiday on the same day as a non-religious observance."  Most biblical and historical scholars will gladly tell you that Jesus was NOT born in december by any means.

And that's just it. All these people get in such a hissy fit and bad mood when someone says merry Christmas, as if the name of the holiday is going to offend anyone. It's like me getting all pissy when someone says happy St. Patrick's day because I have a problem with everyone named Patrick or something. Seriously. Grow. Up.

And then you get the other side of the pengelum with some of the more radical Christians trying to act like they're offended when someone says happy holidays, or when the Savior of the universe is replaced with commercialism and consumer-based messeges...even if you claim to be "Not of this world" you still live here and you're going to have to live with 'worldly' things taking control of ... the world. Deal with it. The only attitude you can change by arguing about God Vs. Consumerism is your own.

So this is my OPINION, I'm just going to throw it out there before I get blog-raped by all the people who didn't bother reading the historical fact quoted above.

I see the 25th as merely a chance to spend time with loved ones and family, 'cause if someone came to save the world, His birth and life should be celebrated every day, not just once a year. Even those of you who think I'm an idiot for Who I believe in can still agree with that. If someone is THAT important to the universe, they would have Christmas every day, which is actually what we're called to do anyways, though few will follow through. But no matter what your beliefs are, the holiday season is meant to bring family and loved ones together to share love and fellowship with everyone. So no matter what you believe in, understand that the 25th of December is a great opportunity to tell someone that you love them. And for those of you who call yourselves Christians, don't get offended by someone taking 'Christ' out of Christmas and start getting upset. Is God so weak that He would need you to come to His defense????? We are called to correct our brothers and fellow believers, not to scold and mock those who don't even know if they're doing anything wrong. So everyone. EVERYONE please just get along and get over the whole religious debate, if only for one day of the entire year. Those of you who don't believe, please enjoy your holidays, and for those of you who call yourselves Christians, start using all 365 days as they were intended to be used, not just the one day.

So to sum it all up, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying one side or another is right, wrong, or the other. What I am saying is that the most offensive part about Christmas to me is just that; taking sides and trying to put everyone else down for not observing the day in the same way they do.

Well, there you have it. That is my rant for the week. And it just so happens that I'm a Christian. Not catholic, not mormon, not any other look-alike, not even a religion. I'm not the best example, but I have a relationship with the One who denounces all religion. Including the one that claims to be named after Him. Blows my mind sometimes how hypocritical I can be, so I'll just take the chance to apologize for those of you who read this post and automatically label me. I think Dogwood said it best in one of their old punk rock songs on stage to thousands of onlooking Christian teens: "If you see a perfect Christian, you know damn well he's not."

Please be safe and have a great New Years! Can't wait to step into a new decade with a fresh start as well as (hopefully) a fat tax refund. Haha!

AND DON'T FORGET THE COOKIES!

'Til next time all you... reader(s)

It's wearing me out, but I'm wearing you down.

So here you have an interesting video to accompany a song from one of my favorite bands, Anberlin. Give it a look-see and see what you think about it.

My first impression after hearing the song was that he was in love with someone who was otherwise impossible and being difficult to work with, but he believes he can crack her shell. Even though he's being worn out, he's eventually getting through to her and breaking down the walls she put up.

Then upon watching the video it seemed to come to life as the girl is like a manakin (however you spell it) and not making any effort while the lead guy has to try to literally force her to love him, and in the process the beads seem to represent his life force, so as to say he's pouring his life out, or in some sense she is seemingly sucking the life out of him with her cold behavior.

Then I found this little article quoting the lead singer's take on it. "Love is a friction, a chemistry, said Anberlin's front man, Stephen Christian. We need to fight it out in a good way, not with threats of leaving, but to, in love, find an understanding." -Chacha

As trippy and unusual as the video is with the lead singer sporting the Johnny Bravo / fonzie look, the song itself is still amazing and I can't stop watching it over and over. So I figured hey, why not just share it? So enjoy it, and check out the rest of their album. Especially the songs Down, To The Wolves, Pray Tell, and We Owe This To Ourselves. Can't get enough of these guys!


Okay, well I just was feeling an overflowing amount of creative juices and after failing to find a good photo idea to create an outlet, I decided to write somewhat of a review or perhaps just share the video that is stuck in my head. =P

'Til next time!
             ~sw23

I'm going to give you something awesome. Hold out your pinky toe and open your nose.

WOOOOOOOOOAH! Has it really been that long? Oh well, my one and only follower sees me on a near-daily basis, so I guess slacking off on this blog isn't the biggest blunder of my month now is it? So what have I been up to? Let's see, well last weekend I finally got to edit a picture on sunday and even wrote a short song-ish poem thing to go with it.



Then later I got together with Momo again and we watched some funny movies; My cousin Vinney, The Whole Nine Yards, and I can't remember the other. It was a blast as usual, and I got to introduce her to my dad and one of our local fav's, Lombardo's Deli. We had a really good meatball sammich. Then for dinner we went to Red Robin and got matching burgers. And after that we went to the parking lot outside of the Coffea Bean by her house and played guitar sitting on my trunk. It was nice. She even got to hear me humm and pretend to sing for like 5 seconds.

Then on monday my buddy Gabe asked me to go shoot after work with him because it was so foggy and eerie. We went right back to the same place Momo and I visited the night before. So I figured Momo was only 40 yards away why not call her and see if she could come hang too. This time we went behind the Coffee Bean where I discovered an entire harbor and a field with this creepy looking tree in the middle of the fog. The way the lights hit the foggy air just made it that much more creepy and I simply had to get a picture.



We took a bunch of other pictures in the night, and eventually we ended up on the bridge going over the harbor as we were surrounded by 5 security patrols. one in a car, 3 on foot and one on bicycle. And we had some random cat making "Mow" noises, but it honestly sounded like a middle aged man mixed with a cat being stepped on. It was hilarious. We took some awesome shots from the bridge, one of which I actually thought looked better crooked. Get what I mean?



 I got to the middle of the bridge and laid down in the middle propped up on my bag. Gabe took pics of me looking like a bum and then the rent-a-cops started closing in, so we headed out.

Then things calmed down a bit as the regular work week ensued. But last night Momo told me that her mom actually insisted that she come hang with me. WOW! So we came back to my place so I could do some wash. OH YEAH!

Ok new side story 'Cause I don't feel like going back and finding out where this fits in the week, so deal with it. On sunday while Momo was over I tried to do some laundry and found that the washer was broken. I haven't washed my work pants in a whole week and I really needed to wash some socks because I had none clean. But since I didn't have time to go to the laundromat with my schedule, I just went ahead and bought some socks at K-Mart. 10 pair for 5 bucks, not bad! Finally I ask my landlord what's up. He says he is looking for a new one but can't find any good deals on craigslist in Camarillo. I turn around, walk to my computer and type in "washer" on craigslist, and the very top, first listing available, posted less than an hour ago, is a washer, in Camarillo, for 50 dollars...Epic win.

So anyways, he got it and we watched Shawshank Redemption while I washed my work clothes and such. Yay.

Today was alright. The first 4 hours of my day went by pretty fast. We had a company luncheon with a professional taquiador or however you spell it. Basically he makes tacos for a living. And they had hundreds of little cheesecake bites, so naturally I had to take 14. Mmmmmmmmm.  And the next 6 hours of my shift was meh. It was raining all day, and still is right now. Thanks to my website upkeep and enrolling in school I just so happen to be in debt and can't afford a rain coat or an umbrella, and my boss informed me that he couldn't get one today so I had to try to do the paperwork in the rain without getting it wet...Yeah, right. Long story short I had a pocket full of wadded up wet papers to scan. I also had to think like mcguyver and wrap an empty coffee filter bag around my scanning gun and tape it up so it didn't get wet. Then I snuck over to St. Francis (my old job) and steal their staple gun so I could ensure that the wet barcode tags would stop getting blown off by the wind and rain. Man, if I wasn't the only person who witnessed my creativite and quick thinking I swear I would have been tested for halucinagins and then promoted to some awesome position where my brain could better be put to use. But alas, no dice. But my Uncle did bring me this nifty rain suit, and he just so happened to get my favorite color, green! I looked like the forest-green...lime flavored kool-aid guy. But the self-proclaimed "Mexican spokesman" in the office got the other guys to start calling me avocado man. Then I remembered I had a $10 WalMart gift card, so I took my half hour break and got a matching green umbrella. They all had a good laugh when I got back. =P

So that's my week in a not so nutshell. Oh and I found a buried treasure in my unfinished photos folder that I totally forgot to post back when I actually shot this a year or so ago. So here you go. Booya!



And now I will return to my not-so-ordinary life, listening to Pandora radio and chatting on yahoo while racking up my killstreak on black ops. An hour ago I went 23/1 in a TDM, yes, I'm a beast. But what can I say, representing the world's finest requires a good deal of ownage. Don't believe me? Here's my 3rd highest K/D ratio from Modern Warfare 2.



Yeah, yeah. Video games. Nerds. Whatever you want to say, I'm fine with that. That clan tag is there for a reason, and if you want to put the conrtoller down and feel what it really is like when I'm hunting you, we can have that arranged. No I'm not gointg to kill anyone, I'm referring to paintball. DUH! You wan't to kill people, go enlist. Otherwise you're all mine mwahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaapickle.

Ok, back to socializing with Moomoo. Weeeeeeeee!

IT FINALLY CAME!!!

My day off that is!

So yesterday after a wonderfully short 4 hour work day I called one of my co-workers / photo buddies, Gabe, and asked if he wanted to go shoot while I still had some daylight. He suggested we hit up the Ventura pier. We took turns with the tripod, because he's a bum and doesn't believe in getting his own. I took shots mostly while the light was still up, while he took some pretty amazing night shots from on top of the pier.

Long exposures + water = <3    :)




Then today totally took the cake.

Woke up like any other first sunday of the month, got ready and left to go work the projection at the church. But between first and second services I had the pleasure / honor to pick up Momo and bring her with. I felt bad because I had to make her sit alone as I still had to run the tech, but she seemed to have a good time during service despite having a hard time sitting all alone (IM SORRY!). Then things just started getting awkward in a good and bad way. For the first time since I started going to Calvary Chapel Camarillo, I was invited to go to lunch with other people. We went to a restauraunt that I used to work at back in high school, Burger Barn! MMMMMMM chilly burger! And oddly enough, dispite Morgan's claim to being shy and bad around strangers, she somehow fit right in! She didn't necessarily walk up and introduce herself to anyone, but plenty of people walked up and introduced themselves to her! The ONLY thing that made the whole lunch thing awkward is when I found a seat at our big table with the group, my first Ex-girlfriend, Jill, just so happened to take the seat RIGHT NEXT TO MINE while I was in line... so I had to ask Momo to switch seats with me so she could be between us. (Trust me, it was necessary. Jill is the very reason I never get invited to church events anymore, and the reason I have gone for 6 years without a single friend. To this day she still makes my life awkward and uncomfortable at the very sight of her and her hateful eyes. As if the rumors she spread weren't ridiculous enough, she has to sit there, SEVEN YEARS since the last time she's ever even seen me, and give me dirty looks in front of everyone including our pastor.) But the drama-queen aside, Momo made incredible progress as it seemed everyone on our side of the table, except Jill, was throwing bombardments of questions at Morgan in a genuine interest. Every couple minutes I threw a joke into the mix when Mo said something funny, just to remind them I was still at the table, but either way it became apparent to me why I was finally asked to spend time with people... Because I had a genuinely interesting person at my side. Thanks Mo!

Then after lunch Momo and I headed to the Ventura cross, with a few random detours to the wrong streets and back to the freeway 3 times. We got to the top of the hill, amazed at how beautiful the sky was and how perfect it was for pictures, only to find 30+ cars lining the entire hillside as there was a wedding going on. UGH! But no worries, we went down a little ways towards the bottom, found some parking, then walked back up to the small park/benches area just below all the crowds at the top and continued our picture picnic :)

And now I have the pleasure of sharing the first two shots from today's epic adventures
I finally got to use my new lens! I had it for over a week now and never even had a chance to take it out of the box and shoot. <3 day's off!



And then after the photos we snuck back to my house and tried out my newly added netflix I got on my PS3. We watched 'About A Boy' and 'The Count of Monte Cristo' while talking about how much fun we had today.

All in all, this weekend was a total success. Even though I gotta get up in 5 hours to start another work week at the job I never thought I would hate as much as I do now, I'm not gonna let it get me down because I can truly say that this weekend brought me enough happiness to last the rest of the week at least, haha. Doesn't mean I'm going to enjoy my work or not have anything to complain about, but it definately means that instead of complaining about it, I'll simply think about the happier things that keep my mind off of the unhappy things. Thanks again for the awesome time, Gabe (no homo) and Morgan
Hope everyone else (whoever you are... you internet stalkers, you) is having a great holiday season!

~SW23.

Where has my heart gone? An uneven trade for the real world...?

Well, It's not much of a surprise to me, but I may as well just admitt it for those of you, whoever you are, who don't know. I'm a bit of a flake. Not like I had a specific daily word count quota or anything, but I do tend to not manage my updating priorites very well. But better late than never right? So what's been goin on lately? Oh boy, too much.

So I'll just throw it all out there randomly for the sake of not pretending to be any more organized than I really have been. Last week was decent. Went to work, did my thing, went home and eventually got over being sick. Saturday I went to Momo's house and spent the day with her family playing Farkle and Apples to Apples, then we watched a movie called House of D. The movie was good, very touching story and all, but hit a little too close to home at some points and I had to turn my head from Momo before she noticed my eyes watering. (Yes I get sucked into good stories, but stuff that is still fresh in my memory can only be pushed so far down before the right movie or song baits it back to the surface again) But then we went to see the new installment of the Harry Potter series. It was pretty good, though I'm not sure how 2 hours passed without me even realizing. Then we went to her house for an ALMOST midnight snack with pumkin pie and plenty of cool wHip then made my way to my car, only to run back and knock on her door to make her come out and see the HUGE moon.

Sunday was very nice indeed. Momo came over and we watched some more movies and spent more time getting to know eachother talking and quoting more random movies. That is, of course, until I fell asleep. I didn't sleep much the night before, so I kind of ruined the "go out and play" plans as she decided to forego waking me up to instead sit and stare at the adorable wonder which was my sleeping face. Yeah...women. Since I was so out of it, I can't 100% recall the events of the evening after Momo went home, all I know is I went to bed early because Monday was a day I would not soon look back on with fondness.

Monday was hell. Not going to sugar coat it. The last three days have been hell actually. I got moved to a new facility and no longer have my old job. My manager is also taking over management for another company and told me I would get a small pay raise, health benefits and PLENTY of hours. The only thing he didn't mention was that the work is near-impossible for someone with a short mental capasity like me. Oh that and the "plenty" of hours actually means a schedule that will suck the life out of me. Not to complain about having too many hours during a recession, but lets be honest here, I'll be working from 9a.m. to 7 or 9p.m. from Monday through Saturday, year round. Sounds great for a hard working man right? Well guess what, I work at the church on Sundays and that means I dont get a single day off... all year. Yeah, yeah, boo-hoo no more social life no more hopes of spending time with friends let alone finding someone who might marry me. And that's just it. If I was married with a house and family to provide for, this job would be perfect because I know when I get home from work I have my beloved wife and kids to keep me company and share in their happiness and such. But I'm not married, I don't have anyone but myself to provide for, and I am trying to put myself through school so I might be able to rise above 10 bucks an hour. That's a pretty nice wage, but here in southern California, 10 bucks and hour for 60 hours a week won't even get you an apartment, and I know I'm not going to rent rooms in a stranger's house for the rest of my life. I need to get to school, but my boss said very specifically: No days off. if you're too sick, he want's a doctor's note releasing me from work. There is no other reciever to cover me if I take classes.

So basically, I just got stuck in a position that I can't keep up with. With the recent amount of stress I've been under, I reached a near breaking point today and asked one of the other managers what my options are if I could go back to my old position and find someone more suited for this one. I am perfectly fine with 30-40 hour work weeks with weekends off and a little more flexibility, even if there are no health benefits or awesome paychecks. I'd sooner get fired from my new position for all the mistakes I'm making anyways. And the best part is...It's not hard work at all. It's not like I don't understand it all, It's just too much at once and my brain literally can't process all of the things I have to do without getting nervous and making stupid mistakes. And if you know anything about shipping business, once you make a mistake in recieving, that mistake continues to go through the system all the way until we ship the wrong product, get billed for it and rejected, then my boss has to call the corperate and explain to HIS boss that he hired a reciever who is making tiny mistakes here and there that are costing the business thousands...And guess what; My boss called me into his office today to tell me just that! He said I'm only 3 days into the new position and I'm already getting worse with every day. He sees that I'm visibly nervous, and wants to know if I will show improvement. I wanted to say no please let me back to my old job, but another manager at the company was the one who referred me to that position (I didn't know that until today) and if I bail on this job, then that manager who stuck his neck out for me gets in trouble too. So I'm at a loss here. not sure what to do. If I keep this job, I will have to sacrifice social life, me-time, friends and family, school, and probably the biggest slam in the face, photography. That's right. If I'm stuck at work from the time I wake up 'til long after the sun is gone, every day of the year, I'll have to give up any hopes of booking clients or going out just to shoot pictures like this one:



I for one do not believe in the 'american dream'. I'd much rather work my butt off to piece together my rent, then spend all my free time chasing my two passions: photography and people. Without my artistic expression and the people close to me whom I share it with, my life would amount to nothing more than a weekly paycheck and reciepts for all the food I wasted it on, as I would do nothing more than work and eat and sleep simply to sustain my lifeforce while my soul deteriorates...That is NOT what I plan to let happen.


But wait! There may be hope! Although I'm not 100% sure on the details, I went ahead and enrolled for spring 2011 classes in the evenings anyways! If I lose my job, then I'm fine because I'm ready for change and if this is the way to bring it about then bring it on! But hopefully I can sit and talk with the boss and explain that I'm young and trying to put myself through school, so I signed up for classes that start at 6p.m. two days a week, so for those two days i can come in 9-5 and go to classes, then take saturdays for projects / field trips as required by the class. That way maybe, JUST MAYBE I'll be able to even out my schedule to include some free time and life-progression as I go to school. But this is all just hopeful thinking for now. I'm hoping I can take the classes I want, and hoping the boss doesn't let me go when he finds out I'm taking control of my schedule. and I'm also hoping that if I can balance school and work and continue my position, perhaps those health benefits and pay raise might help me put some money in the bank while I get my teeth fixed and finally start wearing glasses after more than 13 years without them. So since I know only one person who reads this blog; Momo, whoever else is out there, along with Momo, if you are people of prayer, I would appreciate all the help I can get. Both for my situation at hand, as well as my anxiety problems as I have come to realize my fuse is much shorter than I imagined and lately every little thing has caused intolerable amounts of pain even though I know everything's not all that bad. I think I need a break from life.