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Scrubs

I’ve been watchin’ this show for a couple years now and it’s always really entertaining to me. On tonight’s episode, Michael J. Fox showed up in an interesting role. I think there’s a fine line between acting and temporarily becoming a character or even portraying oneself with a stage name and a slightly different personality; Michael J. did a great job of straddling that line on this episode. It was interesting because he played a doctor suffering from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and I couldn’t ignore the thought that his “character” was venting some of the frustration felt by the player as he battles Parkinson disease.

I guess that was neat because it gave real credibility to his character and I couldn’t help but believe and sympathize with him. But what was even more impressive was that he did such a great job of containing his ailment and working with it in the role. I was specifically looking to see how “afflicted” he seemed on the show and, if I hadn’t known he had Parkinson, I probably never would’ve guessed it. The only hint that I saw was that his character seemed to constantly move–not in a jumpy or jerky way, but he simply seemed to be perpetually moving.

The coolest thing was just seein’ him working again. I watched Family Ties when I was younger and I own the Back to the Future Trilogy on DVD, mostly because he made them so entertaining, whimsical and almost believable. I’m glad to see him back on camera.

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The Horse and His Boy

I started reading a new one and it’s pretty good so far. I really enjoy C.S. Lewis’ storytelling ability; his writing seems equally appealing to children and adults alike. That seems like a difficult thing to do properly.

I think I’m going to try and wrap up all the books I’ve only partially read. There’re probably 5 or 6 of them on my bookshelf and I feel like I need to finish those before I start reading new stuff. I don’t think it’ll take me too long to get through them.

Legacy Church

I went to a local church today and enjoyed it quite a bit. The teaching was good and I felt like the worship was good, too. My only beef was that the people in the church seemed almost bored and not very “into it”. I think I’ll eventually end up going back and hopefully I’ll see that they were just having a somber Sunday or something.

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Gator Basketball: Vandy vs. Florida I predicted that we’d win by 25–10 gained in the first half and the other 15 gained in the second half. After hearing that we’re only leading by 3 after the first half, I realize that we’re a little behind my prediction, but I still think we’ll win by 25. Obviously, that’s going to require quite a run, but I think we can pull it off. I think it’s possible because the Gator’s have been missing a lot of shots that would normally go in. I think if we keep hustling like we’ve been and our shots start falling, we’ll destroy Vandy. I mean, we should anyway, but it’s tough when the shots just won’t fall. Second Half Well, we won, but only by 10. I think we could’ve beaten them by 25 if our shots had fallen and they hadn’t shot over 50%. We obviously still have weaknesses in our post defense and I think today’s game demonstrated that we have problems with our post offense, too. The good thing is that our guys seemed to be playing a lot scrappier–chasing loose balls, creating turnovers and workin’ hard on the boards–and I think that’s something we’ve needed but lacked all season. If we can continue being productive from the 3-point line and shore up our post position, I think we’ll be a real contender in the Tourney in March.

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The book buying begins…

When I was here a couple summers ago, I spent most of my free time at Barnes & Noble, either reading or buying books. Well, I went over there today to buy a copy of The World According to Garp and though I couldn’t find it, I managed to find some other books that needed buying. Here’s what I left with:

J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye
Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man
Wendy Northcutt’s The Darwin Awards
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook, by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht
Stephen Viscusi’s On the Job: How to make it in the real world of work
Gabriele Crepaldi’s The Impressionists
and a copy of Car And Driver magazine

I also went to Target and bought a few things including two lamps for my end-tables. I’m afraid the lamps might be a little small, but I have receipts and time, so I’ll get it right eventually.

It’s a Wonderful Life

I am back to watching classics and I really enjoyed this one. I realized that I’ve never watched the entire thing before, mostly because I would gripe and complain any time it was on. Turns out it’s a really good movie that makes a good point in a clever way. Ironically, all I remembered about the movie was the sequence where Clarence, George’s guardian angel, takes George around town to show him what the world would be like if George had never been born. I didn’t realize that was only the last twenty minutes of the movie. It seems there’s also a pretty good hour and a half of movie before that. Who knew?

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Finished Wardrobe

I finished The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe tonight and I’ll be starting The Horse and His Boy tomorrow. I’m not moving through the series as quickly as I’d anticipated, but only because I’ve found other things to occupy my time. I decided I’m headed to Barnes & Noble tomorrow to pick up a copy of The World According to Garp since I began it last semester, but never finished it (the copy I was reading was borrowed). I figure that’ll give me something else to read. I also have a book on poker (The Theory of Poker) to finish up and Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time. I’m sure there are others I’ve partially read, but those are the only ones that come to mind.

Basketball: Vandy vs. Florida

We play Vandy at home tomorrow and I think we’re going to trounce them. I’m predicting we’ll win by 25 points or more. I think we’ll be up by 10 at the half and we’ll get the other 15 in the second half.

Time to sleep.

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Proud new camera owner

My camera arrived today via FedEX. I played with it a bit and got a feel for the basic features, but I’ll have to wait until the weekend to get into the instruction manual and figure out what it can do. For now, I’m glad I have a way to get pictures of “here” sent back home so my family and friends can see where I live. JoshDoody.com should soon be up and running and will be where I eventually put some pictures online…

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Another Friday’s almost here

I guess I’m pretty excited about the weekend, but I can’t stop thinking about what my life could look like twenty years from now. Yes, I have a good job, working for and with good people, making good money, but I’m scared to death that I’ll still be working this same job when I’m forty or fifty or even sixty. I imagine there are people who picture themselves moving up the corporate ladder, making more and more money, managing other people and eventually running things in a big company. I bet some people dream of making it that big, but I don’t want any part of it.

So, I guess the question is What do I want a part of? and I don’t know the answer. Obviously, I’d like to delve further into acting, so I think that’s the thing I want a part of for now. If I start this summer, I’ll have an AA in two years and because Texas is a “right to work” state, I might even be able to get work while I’m still working full-time. For now, my priority is knocking out my student loan debt and I figure that should be taken care of about the same time I finish the AA in acting. I figure if I pay off that debt, get the AA and spend some time trying to get commercials and small roles in indie films while saving up money from my full-time job, I should be able to ensure some financial stability and independence via my savings account.

All I know is that I have a lot of respect for those who’ve chosen to make a career out of engineering or even business in general, but I just can’t picture myself in that sort of setting any time but the near future. But for now, the near future’s all I have and I intend to make it a bright one.

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Long, relaxing evening

Today’s my day off from workin’ out, so it seems like I’ve had an extra long evening. In reality, I had a normal length evening rather than the typical short one I get after workin’ out and running all over Plano to buy stuff. Fortunately, I’m starting to get into a routine and that routine doesn’t include spending copious amounts of money on stuff.

I guess what’s more important than the duration of my evening is how I used the time it afforded me. I’m sorry to report that I wasted every moment doing useless things and staring at the television. However, I did guess the answer to “What was it before it was deep-fried” on Letterman (“it” was a pair of mini binoculars), so that’s gotta’ count for something…

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Quote of the week

“Gettin’ locked up is a part of… well it ain’t a part of life, but you know what I’m sayin’? … Is this your first time? Aw, man, yeah that’s always the scariest ’cause you don’t know what’s goin’ on. Yeah, the next time you go, I gaurantee you it’ll be funny.” – Jacquese consoling Robin after a night in jail on the Real World

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Gratuitous necessities

So, I spent a little money today… but, when I heard about the Atari 10-in-1 system, I had to have it. It’s an Atari joystick that takes four AA batteries and plugs into a component video input in a TV. It has 10 games inside including Centipede, Missile Command, Breakout and Asteroids. The one discouraging thing about it is that the box says, “A blast from your parents’ past!” That means I’m old and I guess I should be a parent with kids old enough to play Atari games.

I also bought Lost in Translation. When I first saw this movie, I was convinced it would get a few Oscar nominations and I’m not surprised to see that it’s up for four awards. I also wasn’t surprised when it won three Golden Globes including best actor. I think Bill Murray has a good shot at nabbing the Oscar for Best Actor as well.

Finally, I bought The Simpsons: The Complete Third Season. This one, I’ve been meaning to buy for a while and just hadn’t gotten around to it. The Simpsons is definitely one of the best sitcoms of all time, animated or otherwise.