Alexis blogs

Well, I’ve decided to abandon this blog, at least for a while, and return to my LJ. I like the idea of having a blog blog, but I’ve found I really don’t have the motivation to keep up with it on a regular basis right now. And I’ve realized my priorities: more important than having an online pseudo publication with a growing audience like the “cool people,” I really want to keep in touch with my close friends, who have been scattering since school ended for us. A couple of you are probably rolling your eyes at the screen and saying “DU-UUUH!” right now.

Besides, I’m getting a little uncomfortable with that thing only getting updated when I’m drunk.

I have discovered one of the greatest feelings in the world.

Eating ice cream sandwiches for breakfast.

I don’t have much else to say. Unemployed life is pretty boring. I’ll try to be more interesting in the future.

Hey, I added a little “currently reading” thingy to my blog. Yay for LibraryThing.

Or: The Style of Our Love is Very Charismatic

I had my first taste of Bollywood last night. Monica and I were looking for something new to do (other than our usual routine of going to Target or Meijer and then ending up killing time at a coffee shop or bookstore), so after we went to Target, we decided to go to a small theater she knew of in Novi that showed foreign films.

We inspected the now-playing posters outside the theater. There were several that we assumed were from India or at least that region, a French film, and “Thank You for Smoking.” Monica was in the mood for a comedy, so we selected a film called “Chup Chup Ke” based on the coy expressions of the actors on the poster and the tagline (or translated title?) “Love meets confusion meets love.”

We bought our tickets, and I was pleased to discover that the theater offered coffee and tea in addition to the usual theater fare. So we waited with our popcorn and tea for our theater to empty. While waiting, we admired the rather beefy-looking gentleman, who I think looked kind of like Hugh Jackman, adorning the posters for an action movie called “Krrish“. We decided that we might just come back to see “Krrish.”

I watched the other people milling about the lobby waiting for their shows to start. The crowd was mainly Indian, and very little of the conversation that reached my ears was in English. Then Monica called her parents and left a message in her family’s fluid combination of Macedonian and English, and I felt very monolingual.

We wandered into the theater, took our seats, and chatted over the rather loud pre-preview commercials – some of them in English, some in what I’m guessing was Hindi. They showed a preview for “Krrish.” It began with a closeup of his rippling biceps as he ran and a caption along the lines of: “Like his father, he was special.” Eyeing the flexing muscles, I muttered to Monica, “He’s special, all right.”

Here’s a little synopsis of “Chup Chup Ke”: A young man named Jeetu fakes his own death by leaping into the ocean to escape his massive debts. He is rescued from drowning by two men with their own money problems. When Jeet realizes the men expect a reward for his rescue, he pretends to be deaf and mute and becomes their responsibility. One of the men offers his sidekick and Jeet as collateral for his own debts, and they become servants in the household of a mustached gentleman. The house faces a “Taming of the Shrew”-type situation where the master forbids anyone in his house to marry until his mute daughter, Shruti, has found a husband. Shruti falls in love with the cute and clever Jeet, and Jeet falls in love with the beautiful artist Shruti. Drama and comedy ensue as the truth of Jeet’s background is revealed.

It was a cute story, and it had me rooting for Jeet and Shruti’s happy ending. In true Bollywood style (according to Monica), it had plenty of song-and-dance numbers, which were pretty entertaining but became redundant sometimes. Even Shruti broke character long enough to sing a duet with Jeet, which presumably only occurred in her daydreams. After the movie, Monica wondered aloud if Jeet was truly in love with Shruti, and I replied, “He must have been, or he wouldn’t have taken the time to learn the choreography.”

There were also plenty of awkwardly phrased subtitles, my favorite being the lyric, “The style of our love is very charismatic.” I repeated it to myself silently a few times so I would remember it for this post.

All in all, I’m sure it beats “Click.”

It’s difficult to find the motivation to blog when your life is at a standstill. Still no job. Still looking. Still kinda bored. Between dinner at Debra’s, Sidetrack with Lauren and Co., and puttering around town with Monica, I’m still having some fun times, but aside from that, much of my time is spent browsing the net, tinkering with resumes and watching “The Simpsons.”

I’m looking for projects. I have worked on a few things since school ended, like a business card design for a veterinary hospital in Waterford, but I miss working. Monica did give me a new project today: she wants some photographs to decorate her apartment. (Lauren, can I borrow your camera sometime?)

I guess this post is just to reaffirm that my blog and I do still exist. And I will write more often. Really. You trust me, right?

Later, perhaps I’ll write about my experience at Canton’s shiny new IKEA. Oooooooooh.

So. Lots of stuff has been happening, and here I am not blogging a word of it. Here’s a quick rundown.

I graduated. Sort of. I still have three credits to take care of, actually, but I still donned the funny hat and Hogwarts-esque robe, walked across the stage, shook some random administrator’s or professor’s hand and got the empty sleeve that will soon be home to my bachelor’s degree. It’s a weird feeling.

I got a new computer! My mom and my aunt went in on it as a graduation gift. It’s an iBook G4, and it is sweet.

I am unemployed. Boy, am I unemployed. It’s weird, because for the past four years I’ve always had a job – a low-paying job, but a job nonetheless – at the Echo or at some retail place. Now? Nope. No work. No money. I’m kind of at loose ends because I’m so used to having a lot going on: work, class, classwork, rinse, repeat. It’s weird not having somewhere to be every day.

I am a Sudoku master. Not really, but I am definitely addicted. There’s something about that nine-by-nine number grid that gets in your system like crack. Numerical crack. When I pick up an Echo to see what the next generation is up to, I get the urge: “Must play Sudoku.” When I pick up the Ann Arbor News to skim the classifieds for job leads, I can’t help but do the Sudoku first. It’s not my fault they put it right there among the job ads! This is what happens when you have a little too much time on your hands.

So that’s pretty much it. The overall theme for my life right now is, “Need job need job need job. Hey, look, Sudoku!” So hey, if you know of a job I’d be good for, particularly a writing/design-related job, please drop me a line. I’d appreciate it.

Right now I’m at a coffee shop working on my resume and cover letter. And this blog post is a procrastination tactic. So I’m gonna go.

Congrats to my fellow graduates, especially those of you who have found jobs. Lucky bastards. (I kid.)

So I was turning onto Forest at about 2:30 a.m., and a little bit of something white caught my eye.

BANG! BOOM! Rattle. BANG! Lurch. BOOM!

The bottom of my car hit something hard, and with all the grace of an overweight elephant with vertigo, Ulysses heaved its way over the thing. (My car’s name is Ulysses. Long story.)

I stopped by the side of the road. I looked in my rear-view mirror trying to see what the hell I just hit, but instead just saw the police car that just happened to be around coming to a stop behind me.

I got out of the car and said to the policeman now examining the road, “What did I just hit?!”

At least, I think that’s what I said. That is, I’m pretty sure I did manage to keep phrases like “the fuck” and “the bloody goddamned hell” out of my question, which were more along the lines of what I was thinking at that point.

“Looks like a block,” he said.

And it was. A concrete block, painted white, at least a foot long on its longest side, was sitting smack dab in the middle of Forest Ave., just waiting for the next unlucky sedan to come clunking along.

We examined Ulysses for damage and didn’t find anything immediate. He asked if I wanted him to fill out an accident report in case I did find some damage, and I said that was probably a good idea. He asked for my license and registration.

It takes a policeman asking for my registration for me to discover just how much junk I have shoved into my glove compartment.

While he filled out the report in his car, I fished a Meijer bag out of my back seat and started filling it with piles of paper from my glove compartment. I think that rush of adrenaline put me in cleaning mode. I threw away Mapquest directions to the homes of very nearly everyone I knew, some people I don’t even see anymore. I found directions in there for routes I’ve had memorized for years.

So the officer finished and I went on my way. That block is probably still there. The officer just kicked it to the curb (ha) near the bus stop.

I’m okay, except maybe for a little stiffness. Plus it’s now almost 4:30 in the morning, and I’m still inconveniently wide awake.

So. The question of the night: What the hell was that thing doing there?

As you may know, I started this blog as part of a class assignment. To finish off the assignment, I wrote an essay on my blogging experience.

Read the essay >>

The Lord of the Rings ads on TBS.

“Frodo” is my favorite.

One night last week, after getting out of class in the evening and realizing how hungry I was, I decided that I was thinkin’ Arby’s.

I liked Arby’s a lot. My love affair with the chain sort of ended after they stopped selling jalapeño poppers, but I still occasionally had cravings for their yummy roast beef sandwiches and such. So I went.

This particular location was already kind of seedy. It was kind of a rotten customer service experience from the start. I had to correct the cashier several times while he was taking my order.

Cashier: “Would you like the combo?”
Me: “No, thanks, just the sandwich and the potato bites.”
Cashier: (Pushes a button, looks up.) “Did you order the combo?”

But that was okay. Sometimes you space out and forget customers’ orders. I did it all the time working concessions at a theater. Whatever.

The total was four dollars and some change; I handed him a five. He gave me my receipt. I blinked at him for a moment and then pointed out he hadn’t given me my change. He blinked back at me, pushed a few buttons on the register, then said, “Um, I’ll have to give it to you after these next people order.”

Well, that was annoying. Oh, well. Some places require manager approval to open the register. So I waited, got my sandwich, and saw that the same people were still standing at the register, apparently still deciding on their order.

Well, that was really annoying. So I left without my change. Just a couple coins. Whatever.

On the way home I thought to myself, “Come on, guys. Don’t make me hate Arby’s. I like Arby’s. I don’t want to hate the roast beef sandwich place.”

So I got home, sat down at my desk, unwrapped my sandwich (I got chicken this time - something different), and took a big bite. Mmm, food. Food good. I took another bite.

A shadow of movement caught my eye. Still chewing, sandwich still held at the ready, I looked down at my sandwich wrapper and saw a live beetle.

I’ll repeat that, because this is kind of a long entry and I don’t want you to miss the point.

Ahem. I looked down at my sandwich wrapper and saw a live beetle.

I stopped chewing and, as I watched the beetle skittering about on the silvery paper, slowly pieced together the situation.

Beetle. Sandwich wrapper. Beetle. Sandwich. Me eating sandwich. Beetle.

You probably get the idea.

When I returned to the store, quietly explained the situation to the manager and asked for a refund, she gave it to me immediately. I didn’t have to show her the now-brutally-squished beetle I had left in the crumpled sandwich wrapper out in the car just in case. So the situation was resolved, I guess.

When I made the silent plea not to hate Arby’s, I didn’t think anything could actually happen to make me truly hate the restaurant.

Boy, was I asking for it.

I recently got hooked on Before & After magazine. If you have even the slightest interest in graphic design, I highly suggest you check it out.

Not only does it offer great design ideas, but it also explains the how and why of design in a way that’s very straightforward and accessible to those of us who haven’t had formal training in art, design or color theory. If you’re a novice, it’ll teach you the basics or fill in the gaps in your education. If you’re an expert, it’ll reinforce what you know and give you spiffy ideas. It is omg so good. It makes the communication and usability geek in me go “YAY!”

A six-issue subscription is $36, but you can subscribe to all the same content in a well-adapted PDF form for $18. It is SO worth it. They have a couple free sample articles on the Web site now. (In the article listing, the free ones have a link that says “download.”) Check them out.

April 8 edit: Apparently they just raised the price to $42 for print, $24 for PDF. Whatever. It’s still worth it.