T.J.'s Rules For Living

Listen carefully. I don't want to repeat myself.

1- Don't take life too seriously. After all, no one gets out of it alive.
2- If you can't count on your family, they suck. If they can't count on you, you suck.
3- Don't worry about money. It makes things easier to deal with when you don't have any. When you do have money, be generous. It makes it easier for other people to help you out when you're broke.
4- Never forget the people who helped you get where you are. You may need a job reference down the road and if you treat them like shit, they'll remember it.
5- There is only so much fun you can have with two Legos.
6- Chocolate makes people happy. Dark chocolate makes me happy.
7- No matter where you sit or who is playing, always bring your glove to the ballpark.
8- Have all the fun you want, just get your work done, too.
9- Just because you are "grown up" doesn't mean you can't watch cartoons or have a nap after your milk and cookies.
10- Remember the first time you heard about Dinosaurs. Don't lose that child-like sense of awe. No matter how much you've seen, you haven't seen everything.
11- If it takes you longer to wait for a bus than to walk to where you need to go, walk.
12- If life starts to overwhelm you, just stop it. If it continues, stop it or I'll bury you alive in a box.
13- Make your own rules, then live by them. Except when they need to be broken.

And now for your viewing pleasure.....

You'll just have to imagine the song in your head.

So I been busy, give me a break.

OK.
I've had fish and chips twice now. Neither time did they have actual English-style chips, which is what I'd really like. I also had a great bowl of clam chowder from a place that sells it half off after 2 p.m. These things are very good to know.

Also, found out that I get reimbursed for my bus pass. Sweet, eh?

Interviewed Static-X.
Saw a group called The Raveonettes.

This will be a short week because I'm headed to Eugene, Ore., for the graduations of my sister and brother-in-law. They are getting Master's degrees so it is kind of a big deal.

Catch you all later.

I've been in Seattle 2 weeks now...

...and I still haven't had fish & chips.
Soon, though. Soon I shall have fish and chips.

Call me...Joker

If you know me, you know I'm a big Batman fan. The next movie, The Dark Knight Returns, is filming as we speak and the biggest news is that Heath Ledger is playing The Joker. Well, I just saw the first pic of him in the make-up and I have to say, I love it. It's much more fucked up than Nicholson's make-up was and I LOVE NICHOLSON and that film. Check out the pic. (Yes, I'm adding hyperlinks now. Just something I've gotten used in my work posts, so expect more of it here.)

Eventually, I'll get around to another update. I had a full weekend, so I'll get to it when I get to it.

Catch you later.

Strangest e-mail ever

So I'm checking my three e-mail accounts this morning and I had the strangest e-mail ever. First, some background.

I have a MySpace page, specifically so I can listen to new music from up and coming bands, but the page has also connected me with a couple of my favorite authors. I've been able to exchange a few e-mails with them and it's awesome. They are on my friends list, of course.

I'm checking the account linked to the MySpace and I have a message that says, "Dean Koontz would like to be added to your friends list."

I thought it worked the other way around. I'm meant to ask famous people if I can be their friend, not the other way around.

Yes, I approved Dean Koontz to be my friend, even though I like Stephen King better.

Day Three

I got to "work from home" today. Did a bunch of stuff and even screwed up a couple things in my first solo blog post. Yes, they are noticeable but they don't hurt anything. I'm learning still. Also paid a visit yesterday to Ye Olde Curiosity Shoppe. Took some pics of Pier 54, too, that I'm trying to load on here but it's being difficult, as you can see by how it totally messed up my text. (Until I fixed it, that is.)





For anyone who misses my voice, check this out: http://www.seattleweekly.com/podcast/short-list/
You have to wait a while to hear me but I'm in there, darn it.

Tomorrow will be spent getting ready for my big weekend assignment. It's gonna be cool. I'm especially looking forward to hearing this accordion quartet called Hell's Bellowes.

Days one and two

I'm going to try and keep up with this but these first two days have worn me out.

Short version is: I rule and my boss thinks so, too. I've learned so much in just two days that the Argonaut Web site is going to rock when I get back.

I'll be spending my weekend covering the Northwest FolkLife Festival while my boss goes to Sasquatch! Fest. I guess that's fair.

I already turned in my first assignment: a review of Ozzy's new CD, Black Rain. Hopefully, I'll be able to take some of my learning and make my own blog rock harder.

Catch you on the flipside.

Emerald CIty, here I come

Seattle's nickname is the Emerald CIty but I don't think the WIzard lives there. I am, however, on a search for something to make myself a better person: more real world experience.

If you've been following along, you'll know that I am doing an internship with the Seattle Weekly in the Web and music sections. I'll be bringing my learning back to Moscow as next school year's Web and Opinion editor. Cool beans, eh?

Yes, it is an unpaid internship. (Anyone caring to donate to the T.J. Summer in Seattle Survival Fund can e-mail me for details. I'm not kidding.) My current newspaper adviser hates the idea of me not getting paid, but knows that this is one of those experiences that is worth the trouble.

A little bit about the Seattle Weekly: It's one of those alt-weekly papers. For my Vegas co-horts, it's like the City Life or Las Vegas Weekly-- two papers which never took anything I sent them. I wonder if they'd take my work now? Or after the summer, anyway. Best of all (or worst of all, depending on what your leanings are) SW is owned by The Village Voice, the grand daddy of alt-weeklies. Pretty cool, eh? The office is just a couple blocks away fromPioneer Square in downtown Seattle, right where everything is happening. I'm going to have a nice bus commute from Tacoma (thanks to Aunt Billie for agreeing to put me up for a spell) but I'm no stranger to mass transit. ($108.00 for a month pass, though. See comments about the TSiSSF, again.)

So I'll be going to concerts, small clubs mostly. I'm geared up to be the resident Metal HEad, which means coverage of this year's Ozzfest, kickingoff July 12 in Seattle, is mine. The chance to meet Ozzy Osbourne is one of the only htings I can think of cooler than meeting Rob Zombie. (Search back about a year--wow!--for that day.) I will be sporting a Black Sabbath hat for the occassion. I only packed band T-shirts for my stay, too.

Unless you count the couple Red Sox shirts I popped in my bag, too. I will go to at least one Seattle Mariners baseball game while I am there. Won't get to see the Sox, but might catch them when the Reds come to town and see Griffey, just like the old days. Nah, those games will sell out, too. I might get stuck watching the M's and the Pirates. It's Major League Baseball, though, so who cares who is playing as long as I get to go.

I'm going to keep up the blog as much as possible over the summer, too, so check back for news as often as you like. Also check out www.seattleweekly.com to see if my stuff shows up there.

Thanks again to everyone who has supported me on my wild and crazy adventures. I never would have thought to be doing this if Coyote Press in Vegas hadn't come into my life (along with Karen Laing who made it possible for me to do what I wanted) and if the Argonaut here in Moscow hadn't treated me so well. Just goes to show that making plans doesn't always work out the way you want them to.

And, before I go...Hi Julie!

Stranger things have happened

So, I cleaned my room yesterday. I used fewer garbage bags than the last time I cleaned. They were bigger, though. Today I'm doing laundry. I did a very odd thing for me, something I don't recall having ever done before.

I separated clothes before washing. Weird, I know. I didn't divide by color because taht would be pointless. Instead I grouped by type. Socks and underwear and in the dryer right now. Just finished washing are all the T-shirts I plan on wearing over the summer. Next in will be pants, followed by button-up shirt to be worn over the summer, then the rest of my T-shirts. Pants might take two loads, otherwise they will never get dry.

Oh the things I've been doing differently the last few weeks.

I love every hair on your 27 acre body...

So my newspaper duties for next yera will be: Web/Opinion Editor. Yes, that's right, I do in fact rule.
The return of the happiest dictatorship in the world is well under way.
Kick Ass.

And that's when I saw the bear...

Well, this semester is almost over and it's finishing on a high note.
Tonight, i should know which desk will be mine come fall semester. It will be exciting and time consuming, but I'm ready. Bring it on.

I still have a bunch of work to do, both for classes and for the paper, but I'm not too worried. I'm the Alfred E. Nueman of college. "What, me worry?"

I banked $150 for the last pay period, which is significantly high for any writer on this paper. This week has the potential to be even more. Tuesdays issue will have an opinion column, an arts story, a book review, and a 30-inch sports story. I will make more from this one issue than I have in some entire pay periods. Yes, yes, I rule.

Jule and I are good. We had a rough couple days, in which I learned to be more sensitive to certain issues and she learned that I often have Zen-like patience. me going to Seattle for the summer while she stays in Moscow will be good and bad, but I think more good. We both need to remember that we can't see each other every minute of everyday. The relationship is still in its early stages; we have plenty of time for other things still.

Spring semester cruised by. I don't know how all of a sudden it is almost May. It is also weird for me to have this plan, again, of going to Seattle for something that will have far-reaching affects beyond just the summer. And knowing I'm coming back here after that, instead of going to Lund for a couple months and not doing anything. Due to certain situations, part of me very much wants to be in Lund for the summer. I know, though, that Mom wouldn't want me to give up on my future now. So I'm going.

I'll do my best to do better at keeping this blog up. I know there are some of you out there I haven't spoken with for a long time and I take complete blame for that. I'm sorry.

OK, now I have to go write some more stuff. I will catch you on the flipside.

The Ups, the Downs, and the Middles

OK, we'll tell a happy story first. I got a new computer and so far it kicks ass. Thanks to funding through organizations I'm associated with, I only have to pay half the total cost. They didn't have any Macs in the program which is a bummer, but this is pretty cool. Plus it is up to dat enough to be cool anywhere.
Another happy story is that i did get the Seattle job. I start on May 21.
The bad news, well, some things yesterday really sucked ass, including the death of Kurt Vonnegut. There is something else, too, but that's my business.
Catch you later.

No joke

If I had posted this on Sunday, no one would have believed me. "Oh, that crazy Teej, trying to pull an April Fool's Day joke on us." Crazy, yes, but this is no joke.
After weeks of spending time with this great girl named Julie, she and I decided to make that leap into "couplehood." Really, I mean it. Do I have to simplify this for you?
Teej has a girlfriend.
The world still turns and hell didn't freeze over. Stranger things have happened.
We are taking things slow, which is best for us both.
It is a frightening thing. The last three days I've woken up thinking, "I will see my girlfriend today." Every time, I get a little freaked out and rightly so. The whole relationship business hasn't been kind to your pal T.J. I don't need to get into any of that. It is a constant gnawing rat inside my head, waiting to burst out the first chance it gets, just to remind me that I will probably do something to wreck this entire deal.
Optimist to end, aren't I?
Between the two of us, we have our share of stories to tell each other. She writes Young Adult-style fantasy fiction and I write what I write.
Last night I let her listen to Meat Loaf. today she will hear Metallica and feel the awesome rock that is The Beasts from the Bay.
And now you are asking yourself, "How the hell did Teej get hooked up with a girl that doesn't listen to Metallica but has an overwhelming fondness for Josh Groban?"
Like I said, stranger things have happened.

In other news, I'm still waiting to hear about an internship in Seattle. I didn't get the New York scholarship I was up for, but that's OK. This Seattle deal will be better in the long run. Also,my prospects for being super important at the Argonaut next year are increasing. There will be a number of vacancies on the editorial staff, including Web/managing Editor and Arts editor. The way things are going, if I don't get one, I'll get the other. It really depends on where the new Editor-in-Chief (who just happens to be my current section editor) wants me.
We shall see what we shall see when we see it.

Big News

Big News coming up. You'll hear about it as soon as I get around to writing about it.

7 DAYS......

Bythis time next week, I will know more about what my summer will be like. I will know whether or not my summer will be spent going to concerts in Seattle or studying with Amy Hempel in New York.
I really wish I knew now.
Until then, I shall immerse myself in...well...horror business. I have some Poe plans for my book.
Cheers.

Oh yeah, go see "300" or, if it is playing somewhere near you, "Pan's Labyrinth."

The Past catching up to me

Usually when some one says that thier past is catchingup with them, it is a bad thing. Not so much for me.
First, a bit of backstory for those who may not know.
I used to act. A lot. High school plays and a summer of "film acting" once held a major place in my life and my heart. I haven't been in a play since 2001.
Over the weekend, I was working on an articel for the paper about a group of students working on their film project for the semester. Just for fun, they talked me into auditioning.
Just for fun, they chose me for a role in the picture.
Here's the problem: If I had known I was getting a part, or if I had gone to meet them with the intention of auditioning, I couldn't write the article. Total conflict of interest. I won't be able to write about this project from an unbiased, reporter-like point of view anymore. the straight reporting thing is out the window.
I can still write about it, though. Columnist style.

In other news....
Found out today that outside readers like to link to other people's work. Specifically, an opinion blogger from Spokane. He likes a couple of our other columnists more than me, but he linked to my bit about getting out of jury duty.
Kick ass, right?
So I snooped around (actually, I Googled myself) and found that another group linked to my article about the Burns Night Supper I went to. You know, the night I ate haggis. They liked the article, even though they don't know who I am.
I think I'm going to e-mail them and ask if I can get a free ticket next year.

Check it out:
http://mysite.verizon.net/borderhighlanders/BurnsNight2007/ui-arg-burns-2007.htm
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/nhb/archive.asp?postID=13291
(you have to scroll down a ways to see that I'm on that page, but I'm there, dammit.)

Bonus points: super combo

I love Invader Zim. I also love Rob Zombie. Wanna see something supercrzycool?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqH2IPiyv-g

Man, I love YouTube.

Please submit 15-25 pages of your best work...

So, My writing professor in Las Vegas nominated me for this super kick-ass summer writing program scholarshipin New York State. he warned me ahead of time to watch for an e-mail from Skidmore College. (I really want this scholarship so I won't make any jokes about their name.)
I recieved that e-mail today.
Everythingis cool. I just have to fill out this application, write a letter about what I have done and what I want to do, send them $40 for the appliaction fee, (which sucks, 'cause i don't exactly have an extra forty bucks just lying around), and 15-25 pages of my best work.
WHAT????????????

Yes, I have more than 25 pages of writing that I think is good. That isn't the problem. Do I send them a couple short stories (I can hear Leslie Shipp in my ear saying, "Send them 'Seeds and All.") Or do I send off 25 pages of the novel in progress which many of you currently have available?
I have to have this sent out by March 9, by the way.
I should have been thinking of what to send before now.
No matter. I will send my best work (suggestions welcome...fiction only) and I will get this scholarship.
Yes, I rule that much.

Mid Term So Soon?

Somehow, midterms have snuck up on me without my knowing it. And I'm think, What the hell? It is barely March and I'm halfway through this semester? The calendar doesn't lie.
Here is how this breaks down:
I have one test next week, on Thursday. It is in my FIlm Theory and Criticism class. Today, I got back the results of the first test in the class. I thought I had bommbed it. I was sick and missed the review day, which was also the day everyone else was handed a copy of the questions and told we could use a one-page "cheat sheet." I scored an 83 out of 100. Not too shabby for not knowing the questions. The funny part is how I earned those points. The test was short essay-style. We had to answer 4 out of 6 questions with each essay being worth 25 points. My break-down went like this: 24, 10, 24, 25. So I must not have paid attention to the day we talked about that second question.
Moving on. I have a 9-page paper due for my 16th century poetry and prose class next Thursday, also. NOt as bad as it sounds. It is writing about 3 of 6 questions, 3 pages each and at least one secondary source for each question. I can handle that.
For my fiction writing class, I turned in a short story last week and the rest of the class will be spent workshopping. Cake.
For my News Editing and Production class, we'll have a much larger midterm project that will be assigned on Tuesday. i sort of know what to expect but not entirely.
Naturally, I will be spending the weekend workingon the paper and studying for the film test. Then I can give the rest of the week over to the News project.
Sure does sound like I have things planned out, doesn't it?
Good thing there isn't a NASCAR race this Sunday or I'd be screwed.
And after this "midterm" week is over, it is Spring Break.
Already? Geez.