My New Project

Beautiful art and words.

10 Yearz Progress

Where have I been these last few months? Launching my rap career. Blog this. Tweet this. Get in on the ground floor and I'll thank you at the Grammys.

New Beginning

I have started a new blog for another project I am working on. Please go to: Ryan tries to be a Novelist. I would be very grateful for your comments and support.

coming through the ear buds

I've grown weary of new music, largely, and I have been looking backwards more than forward. I am really enjoying The Four Tops. Anyone would recognize a number of their songs, like 'Reach Out I'll Be There' and 'Get Ready.' I've always liked my music thick, and this old Motown stuff has the kind of broad arrangements I'm so easily pleased with. There are instruments beyond guitar, bass and drums, believe it or not. Great music. However, I did run into some 80's Four Tops stuff that was completely wretched in its synthesized god-awfulness.

Some newer music that I'm crazy about right now:

I don't work there anymore

Hey I quit Comcast, and I couldn't be happier about it. Just thinking that I don't have to go back there makes me smile. However, I did get benefits, and I'm stockpiling insulin. Also I broke my tibia longboarding and I've had to get some care for that, so I'm making them pay for the time I put in one way or another.

I'm working at a residential youth center down the street. My commute will go from 45 minutes by car, to 5 minutes by bike. That's awesome, but the money isn't. My personal family unit may double in size next year, so finances are a concern of mine these days. I guess I should stop answering all my job interview questions by flexing my bicep, but I mean, check this out... (wait I guess you can't see that.)

Ho!!!

This is what I'm reading right now. It's incredibly funny, really. But it's just not that good. Read it if you want to have a laugh and don't mind egregious use of the 'f' word. I'll explain to the most innocent of you what the 'f'' word is in a future post:
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It's not really all that Comcastic.

I'm still looking for work, but in the meantime I'm answering the angry phone calls of Comcast subscribers. Then when they think they have hung up but they haven't I listen to them argue with their spouses (standard or common-law). I'd blog more about this, but I have been instructed that blogging about my job there is not prudent.

The corporate world is incredibly lame. If I am going to sneeze between the hours of 5 and 6 I have to fill out a 'Health Accommodation Action Form' or HAAF. The movie 'Office Space' was never funnier or more depressing.

Having diabetes is like having a child. I'm tied down now. I'd happily shag golf balls for minimum wage while looking for a job that doesn't make me want to hang myself if I didn't have to get medical benefits. But my pancreas is about as good at producing insulin as SunnyD is at producing refreshing beverages, so can you tell me Who do you use for your home phone service? Did you know that by bundling you can save $75 on your monthly bill?

If anyone from Comcast is reading don't worry, I filled out the Blog Information Release Allowance Form,' or BIRAF.

WALL*E

Let me say, in all honesty, that I am very excited to see this movie, and I will see it, which creates a certain level of hypocricy in this post.

I just find a little irony that this is a movie about an Earth that has been killed by consumerism, yet WALL*E has had the feces marketed out of it and toy shelves are overflowing with merchandise.

Truth is in 5 years official WALL*E merchandise is going to be filling landfills, such as; backpacks, binders, pens, pencils, pencil cases, pencil sharpeners, pencil boxes, pencil erasers, boxers, briefs, footy-pajamas, mustache wax, personal lubricant and industrial strength wood sealant.

Hold onto your mind: it's about to blow

My last post was fairly depressing, if not true. And I don't have an awful lot to blog about these days, so I would rather something else hung out on the top of this page for a long time.
Something like this:



Duracell Batteries.

I need a job.

If you can help me somehow thanks in advance.

I have created an exercise for anyone who is thinking about earning a degree in English.

1. Create a resume with your English degree listed under 'Education'
2. Create a resume, but skip step'1'
3. Do you see a difference in your two (2) resume's? Employers don't.

I am interested in communications, advertising/marketing, education, social work, writing, second base for the St. Louis Cardinals or anything that would allow me to be creative, work with people in some significant way, or allow me to manage my fantasy baseball team all day.

I need something that has medical benefits to support this expensive insulin habit I have developed.

I'm also interested in positions (even beyond the interests listed above) that will help me pay for more schooling where I will earn a degree that someone gives a damn about.

I can live for free in Portland and Seattle (which is important to me right now), but really I just need to find work anywhere.

Being back in the States is alright. Looking for work sucks.

So, who do I sleep with?

Read/Watch The Onion

Congress Debates Merits Of New Catchphrase

Vietnam Farewell Tour

Parting gifts for the monkeys and bears of Dam Sen Park





Ha Long Bay was beautiful and spooky.








Ben Tre was a peaceful, quiet place. I stayed in the middle of the jungle.

I'll explain later...

This is what I look like right now. Photoshop makes this picture less frightening to you initially, but I assure you from deep within the bowels of my hideous smile, this is genuine.

Grabby McGrew and the Power Gangers

There is this girl in one of my classes that hangs off me like a koala on a eucalyptus tree or a neck tie on a diabetic Oregonian in Saigon. She is one of those 9 year-old girls that usually acts like a cat. When she stands up form her desk I hear the music from 'Jaws' and desperately try to escape, but usually she catches me anyway. When I walk by her desk I try to make a really wide arc, but it hardly ever stops her--Grabby McGrew has mad grabbing skills.
I like my students. I just don't like being a coat rack where my students are coats.
One good thing about Grabby McGrew is her classmate's backpack:


There is no power in gangs. I am sick of having to fight that false and dangerous sentiment among my dear Vietnamese students. Gangs are bad.

Air Bud: Sepak Bow-Wow!

I don't know what you're favorite Air Bud movie is, there are like 8 to choose from. I guess my second favorite would be 'Air Bud Spikes Back'--the volleyball one. I say second favorite, because my primary favorite is the one I am presently writing the script for, 'Air Bud: Sepak Bow-Wow!' It's based on the obscure SE Asian sport of Sepak Takraw.
Actually I just wanted to play around with GIMP. It's basically free Photoshop. I realize my skills need development, but I just wanted to give it a quick try, and I was very happy with it. It's available on PC and Mac. I've been using a bit of open source Software lately, including the Thunderbird email client and Open Office for word processing. I think it's a good idea to support the creators of this software.

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Go Cardinals! No to Morons!

Anyone that knows anything about me knows that I love the St. Louis Cardinals at unhealthy levels. What you should also know is the level at which I enjoy this picture, which is high to quite high. I've never been prouder to be a Cardinals fan:

Phone Pics

Here's a couple photos from my phone.Me and the boys. This is one of my first graders notebooks. I've always said that nothing goes together like Bob Marley soloing, a snowman in a mortar board, a surfboard and a sinking school bus. Haven't you heard me say that 100 times?

Diabetes Pros

There are a few positives about having diabetes. Firstly, my pancreas is more special than your pancreas. But it is not special in its abilities, but rather 'special' in its inabilities.

Anyone that has ridden in a car with me in the past two or three years is perfectly aware that until recently I have needed to pee every seven minutes (okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, let's say six and-a-half). It turns out my insatiable thirst was directly related to diabetes, and perhaps pre-diabetes (but I'm not sure if type 1 diabetics go through pre-diabetes). Since I started insulin my thirst has subsided as has my contemplation of getting my own personal catheter. The long bus rides I had recently in Cambodia were incredibly more tolerable than the ones I had in Laos the same time last year, when I was seriously considering peeing in my water bottle. Also last summer in Portland one time I ended up peeing on the side of building--like a drunk or homeless guy or like a drunk homeless guy--in perfect daylight and was happy not to get cited by a police officer.

Since I started insulin I have gained 5 kg. I have always been very skinny, and I have always hated being very skinny, and I have always blamed being very skinny for my inability to attract girls. The very skinniness is also related to my diabetes, so now I can gain some wait and some confidence, but on the downside I will have to face the real reasons girls don't like me--like my caustic bitterness, immaturity and the way I'm always asking them to make me a sandwich or why they are not presently making me a sandwich.

Also there is a certain level of vindication that comes with my diagnosis. I have been a bit sickly the last few years, and when I haven't been able to wake up in the morning, or I have had to call in sick to work or miss class, I have always thought that I was just a wimp, but it turns out that I was actually a wimp with undiagnosed diabetes. I seem to be sleeping less/requiring less sleep already.

Also, if someone really irritates me now, i can say this:
'I'll dia-beat your ass!'
(patent pending)