Time rides a bullet train

After tweeting so much lately, writing a blog entry feels like a lot of typing. I'm forgetting how to form a paragraph. Twitter is definitely easier to keep up-to-date when you are short on time -- a situation that applies to this week -- but I'm not ready to give up long form blogging altogether.

This weekend looks packed to the brim. I’m excited to be helping with the previously mentioned music video tonight and most of Sunday. I met with the director and gaffer on Wednesday to go over the shots and help set up. They have a giant, self-lit, fake moon that we hung from a tree. It is going to look so awesome on camera, floating over the heads of the band. I can't wait to see this come together.

Tomorrow, we have multiple BBQs to attend in the afternoon/evening, plus some people are stopping by our place for a drink before we head down to the Solstice parade and festival earlier in the day. I’d still like to get the house cleaned (or at least organized) before then. That will be my job tomorrow morning while R prepares some food for the BBQs. It’s all about teamwork.

The last few weekends have been a little quieter. We've been attending more Newcomer events, most notably a luau and another trip up to wine country. Otherwise, we’ve just been enjoying the start of summer: potting plants (pictured above), going out for coffee or dinner, biking to the beach, hanging out on our porch, etc. Can you believe that R and I moved here one year ago from today?

R had her wisdom teeth removed a few weeks ago. The recovery period was as unpleasant as a person, especially one with his or her own extraction experience, might expect. But she handled it well and followed the doctor’s orders to a T. Plus, she looked really cute with those puffy cheeks. Unfortunately, the camera was off limits during this time :-(

I do hope to take a few photos this weekend. The parade is sure to provide an interesting subject.

200

Hey hey hey. This is my 200th post on Blogger. It all started on May 19th, 2006 when R and I found ourselves in a new town and I was figuring out what to do with my life. It’s funny how things haven't changed all that much. I blogged on a homegrown web site before that and filled up a large number of notebooks with some slightly more personal journaling before that. The bottom line is that I enjoy recording my thoughts. The writing is good practice--it has helped immensely with communicating in my job--and I like being able to look back and see what I was doing on some random weekend years ago. Plus, although it's usually a one-sided conversation, it's an easy way to keep in touch and share photos with people no longer in close proximity to us. If anybody wants to follow along, they can. If not, that's fine too. It's just here and it will continue to be here either way.

This is an exciting time to be contributing to the blogosphere. Whether it's a pompous waste of time or not, the idea of "life casting" has taken off around the world. There are a number of blogs that I follow, a few of which have links posted to the right. I enjoy looking through the window into the personalities and adventures of friends and sometimes strangers. If you don't already blog, I encourage you to start. Use a fake name if you're insecure about privacy or only post about impersonal subjects... Just get your thoughts out there.

I feel a reinvention is an order. Here are some goals I have for my little corner of the web moving forward:

• Design a new layout -- Expect it shortly after we get settled into our new house. My current look is simple and easy to read, but I'm getting tired of it. And being that it is a preset Blogger template, I don't think it reflects my personality. I've got some ideas for a more representative appearance and am planning to implement it soon.

• Don't record everything -- Let's face it, if R and I go to the grocery store, you don't need to read about it. When I list what I did over a weekend, the completist in me wants to list everything I did that weekend, but that can make an entry long and boring. From now on, I'll try to stick to the more interesting things going on and less daily minutiae. We do laundry and groceries every weekend. I'm not going to mention them anymore, unless the wash overflows and ruins our floor or we're held hostage at the grocery store or something.

• Start Twittering -- This is where some of my daily minutiae may end up. I've been going back and forth about whether or not I want to start micro-blogging. I've been giving status updates on Facebook and been surprised by how much fun that can be ("Jeffrey wishes they all could be California avocados" anyone?), but I'm worried my regular blogging will suffer if I join another website dedicated to recording one’s thoughts and happenings, even if they are limited to 140 characters or less. Will I be repeating myself if I write on both? Will the need for this blog be gone? I would hope if I had to choose one, I would choose Jeblog, but keeping up with Twitter would require less of a time commitment... Let's see how it goes. Notice the new link to the right.

• Post more video – Aside from the two editing projects I have on deck (a music video and some Ultimate Frisbee action), I want to make use of this amazing video camera I have and shoot some spontaneous, less perfected videos. I hope to show you more of Santa Barbara, maybe record an occasional cooking piece with R, and do some short experimental work just for the fun of it. Part of what's been holding me back is my lack of high definition editing capabilities. My camera can shoot some sharp, colorful footage but right now most of it is lost when I copy it to my computer. Part of me wants to wait until I upgrade to an HD capable system before attempting to edit something like my music video, but I don't know if I can wait that long. Actually, I know I can't.

That should cover it for now. We're having a busy week moving into the new place, on top of working full time jobs, so hopefully this entry (and continued Twitter posts) tide you over for a little while.

Off topic

How about we talk about something other than my video projects today?

The "Wrong Number Project" is almost complete. Dang it--there I go again. I'm having trouble with this.

What else is there to write about? I can't offer any unique perspectives on politics. If you want to read about that stuff, check out CNN.com. Sports are out of my knowledge base too. I could probably give you some more movie reviews (we recently watched Volver, The Illusionist, A Scanner Darkly, and Sweet Land), but I don't want you to think I'm too obsessed with movies (although I am).

Is it narcissistic to write about one's self on one's blog all the time? Probably. But if this is meant to replace my written journal, then I shouldn't feel guilty about it. It serves a purpose. Part of the reason I write in here is so that I have a record of events in my life and also to chart the progress of my video projects. When I decide to look back on my past, that's the stuff that will be interesting to me. I may have one or two regular readers out there, but I am my own audience more so than anybody else.

January is a month with a history of inspiring creativity in me. I like having the cold as an excuse to stay in and dream up what I will work on next. This year, between editing three projects at once, writing a screenplay, updating a blog, and the always-fun surfing of the web, it's possible I have too many things to do on my computer. I don't want to neglect social events or cut into my time with R, so I am trying to keep it all in moderation. I do enjoy other things too. Maybe I'll try to explore some of those other interests in replace of some of my computer time. That might keep me from getting burned out and also give me something else to write about.

Yeah, maybe I'll hook up the ol' Super Nintendo again : )

One last thing for the night--check out these splendid trailers for the new Lynch film. My anticipation is building for a second viewing.

French trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6CIhk_AMRw&eurl

Italian trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtzSSG8X9e0&eurl

That's what I'm talking about

By the way, this is my 50th post since joining Blogger.com in May. I'd like to thank all of my loyal readers! Here's to you, Matt.