Portland Fun and Creative Boredom

I went to see Jeff Hoffman a couple weeks ago now. It was an amazing trip.
Simon picked me up around noon and we went back to his house. It was so good to blast Infected Mushroom in a car and be comfortable again. I'm still slightly uncomfortable with all of my friends here. It's probably because I don't have too many guy friends here and everyone is obsessed with whiny emo bands.
Anywho, so at his house we played some Halo 3 and listened to some music. Halo 3 is a very well made, theatrical game. I was impressed, good story and game play. So, we did that all night. In the morning, his mom made us eggs. I love eggs: real, honest-to-goodness eggs.
We took Mac (his little brother) over to his grandmothers. Mac walks now! He's an awesome little kid. When we finished that, his mom drove us up to Exeter to the Amtrak terminal.

We picked up our tickets at this machine in a small convenience store/diner. I love diners, theres something so cultural and human to them.
The train was neat. I'd never been on a train before. I enjoyed looking down the train seeing the cars sway... it looked like a camera/monitor loop.
Simon and I talked when we weren't listening to music. He made a neat point. The cities were built upon the train tracks. Now, we're all told this and understand it, but to visually pass all these towns and noticing how much more developed they are from the towns I've been to that aren't near the tracks. Thinking about stuff like that is cool.

We arrived at the station (yes a proper train station) and headed to find the bus. We did not know where we were going at all, just MECA (MainE College of Art). The bus pulled up in five minutes, and our train ticket stubs let us ride free, VERY APPRECIATED. He told us about the bridge that stands in place of a bridge called the "million dollar bridge" due to it's maintenance costs. He showed us things and places. We thanked him as we left.
Simon and I walked the streets for a few minutes, when he decided to call Jeff. It was one of those times when you call to find out where someone is, only to find them right in front of you. Big awesome man-hugs.

Jeff looked like he was doing really well for himself. We ate and conversed before he took us to his room. We swapped lots of music, played some Soul Caliber, went to the bathroom. We took a lot of silly photobooth pictures on Jeff's Macbook. Theres just something so silly about making pompadours.

Portland has so much beautiful graffiti. In the elevator of his dorm there was a little face that would peek out of the sliding door when it closed inside. There was one building whose entire face was covered with urban art. There were red buildings on a black sky, an explosion, V for Vendetta inspired Guy Fawkes masks and lots of words (which i didnt take the time to try and read). Too bad I don't have better pictures.

Jeff showed us around town. I gave us some groovy walking music with the huge headphones Simon made for me. Jeff missed my music taste I'm sure. We went to art galleries, coffee shops, record stores, even this amazing vintage clothing store.
There were so many neat hats there, but sadly they were all too small for my head. Hoffa picked up this great corduroy jacket that fit him perfectly. I saw a brown leather jacket that looked a million dollars on me, but it was too short. The sleeves were tight. Too bad, I thought it looked amazing, but you don't spend money on something that doesn't fit.
We ate twice during the trip at this place called Portland Pie Co. It was really good pizza, quality pie. We had pepperoni with 3 cheese, sweet barbeque chicked with bacon, and Spicy buffalo chicken (not all at once). I will never forget such food. *chuckle*
I got to wish Emma a happy birthday. She seemed ecstatic.
Heading home, I took us down to catch the 7:10 bus because I knew we'd miss it. Waiting for the 7:30 bus, we got a little worried, and my keen eye spotted a cab with the cab phone number on the side. We were calling for the taxi, just as the bus pulled up. We made it to Exeter safe and sound. Simon's uncle drove us back to Simon's and it was way too late to drive me home so we hit the hay.
In the morning, I went home to see my little sister. My dad offered to drive me back to school, which wasn't a bad idea seeing how tired Simon looked.

We basically just had a guy's weekend, which is something we had far and few between, but something we needed real badly.

***

So lately I've been really tired, in the morning I find it hard to get out of bed. My dreams are like comfy blankets. This is a real annoyance, because I like to get up early and get my day going.
Also, I've been getting that creative bug. I've been writing or feeling like I need to film/write and I haven't. That changes now.
I've decided to cut back on TV shows, Video Games, Music, and a couple other things. I need to think when I'm bored. I have to stop blotting out my thoughts with escapism. Sensory overload. Al these things aren't bad, but too much is too much. Especially my music. Its on when I'm at my computer, its on when I'm walking with my iPod, in class I get songs stuck in my head. Boredom is important. Up until high school, my most creative things were made when I was bored.
I feel very unaccomplished when it comes to making movies. I plan and plan and plan. I get the camera, I write and revise the script, but I hardly ever go and film it.

I made tons of Lego films. I am proud of what I could do back then, but it's a little painful to watch now, as with all childhood film clips.
I worked on things with Nick Pascoal. I am extremely proud of what I made with him. Such creativity, comedic improvisation, and vision. This man is a visionary genious that brings out the creative best in me.
I did one scene of Theta, and didn't have the script with me... so it's not so much mysterious as confusing.
I filmed a scene of Rose Colored Blue, but I haven't edited it yet, and I'm not sure how it will compare to what was in my head.
I did lots of silly things with Noah. those I am proud of.
I've made and edited countless school projects, I am very proud of that work.
Now is the time I need to go out and find my film. Something I can do now, with everyday events, and believable characters.

I need to relax. I need to stop being so melodramatic. I need to allow myself to be bored. Boredom is more valuable than I ever anticipated.

Rollerblades and Electric Cars

My "Things that Go Boom" class is often thought provoking. A statistics class that specialises on systems that grow and potentially collapse. We talk often of the world population's cunsumption rates. They are just small enough to be ignorable to those who wish ignorance, yet big enough to be unsustainable in the future.

How? Fossil Fuels.

So that made me suggest a movie that was suggested to me once by Andreas, "Who Killed the Electric Car". I hadn't seen it though, so this was a blind reccomendation posed as if I had. On that note, I decided to pull up tv-links online, and finally found it on Google Video instead.

It's not downloaded on my computer, so 'it's as if it were on TV' is how I see it. I never watch TV much, rots the brain so Wonka told me.

This movie is angering, saddening, inspiring, informative, and really neat to boot. It goes through the Zero Emission Bill in California, GM's EV1 electric car and the political beaurocracy and terrible opposition to moving away from costly cumbustion engine technology.

Simon and I are both planning on building an electric car in the future. We decided this ages ago, but I am even more resolute after veiwing this documentary. All we need is a lightweight car, and about $2500 to do the conversion job. Obviously I wont do this now. I'll have to have a car to drive and my own garage to work on this in.

I'm going to work towards living the way I envision everyone living. I intend to have a solar powered house, an electric powered car, and a Linux powered Computer network/ Entertainment system.

***

After getting all riled up about this and having nothing to do I could feel my back killing me. It was time yet again to get out. My friends were in class or out and about already, so it was me time. I grabbed my bag and walked out the door.

A couple of days ago I took my friend Danielle to the sports shop to get a new pair of rollerblades. She has small feet, so hers were cheap, say $60. While I was there I got a pair of padded palm gloves and a nice black helmet. They rather become me I think. In any case I'm not so afraid to crack my skull nor do my hands hurt as badly when I do fall.

So I slung my big headphones around my neck and turned up the Jet Set Radio soundtracks. Surprisingly, the bag carrying my shoes didn't get in my way as much as anticipated.

Orange:
I rode Through many parking lots by the side of the school and generally got my blades adjusted. It was just those first few minutes where you really get into the skate and tighten it accordingly.

I stopped at the Radioshack to see what they had. Really nice hard drive camcorder. The manager was telling a story about Russian car makers who copied this Italian car down to the last bolt. One of the guys there was nice enough to create a make-shift cup out of paper and tape so I could have a glass of water. People do nice things if you only ask.

Green:
I went back the way I came so that the sun was at my back and eventually found myself near the highway. The signs announced the way over to west street, so I figured I'd stay in the breakdown lane until i could get back to the city. At times I'd have to cut corners through the grass to avoid losing safe room to roll.

Purple:
Getting back into town I found my way over to the Blockbuster where my friend Kim works, but shortly got myself re-lost. I jumped fences and crossed through lots of nooks and crannies. I ended up near the obama headquarters and the Hilary hutt too. This was getting a bit long, but I had no real rush to be anywhere.

Blue:
I found a bike trail that I was sure would lead me back to campus. It was real nice; newly paved it seemed. Sure enough it dumped right out by Butler Ct, which leads straight to Carle Hall. Home sweet home. Home away from home, but when you're thirsty that's just good enough.