Yes, I don't have enough on my plate.

So, despite lack of entering anything in this blog for the length of time it takes to make a baby human, I have given birth to a new blog, titled Cale8what? I had a revelation that I should write about the places I've eaten in the Bay Area and try to exhibit them in a blog entry format. Maybe I'll keep up with it, maybe I won't. In either case, I think the information about these places is important to get out there, and I will attempt to post as often as possible. In the mean time, I must go back to working on my homework and attempting to mend from this strange cold thing that comes and goes. Here I go!

Oh my goodness!

Wow. It has been a while since I have written anything here. So here begins the downward spiral of this blog, the infrequent additions, the loss of anyone actually caring about if I write something or not including myself, and soon, the ultimate demise and deconstruction of what once was a pretty cool thing. Ah, well. I will write something for now, in an attempt to keep this thing going.
So Sar and I went to two consecutive Mountain Goats shows and I must say, the first was much better than the second. The first, and all ages show, was the one Sar and I had tickets to weeks ago and we showed up after the opening act had already started, and was pleasantly bemused by John Vanderslice selling t-shirts in the back. John Darnielle was a little sickly looking and complaining of a sore throat, but overall the show was very good including some cool impromptu sing alongs of song I knew and loved.
The second show was 21 and up, and it seemed to me to be discouraged to sing along with the exception of the song "No Children" which was a pretty amazing sing along. The thing about the second show was, John Darnielle spoke to the people waiting in line before the show (Sar and I were waiting since 2:00 PM, and he spoke around 6:30 or so.) and his speech was a poem that seemed to me to be nothing but self aggrandizement.
It was a poem that mentions Jesus and how he gave of his body to the apostles, making me feel as though he were trying to liken himself to Jesus. Also throughout the show he made constant reference to his sore throat and being sick and that he shouldn't sing too loud or else "it would be the end" of his career. I don't blame the guy for not wanting to sing loud while his throat hurt or even while being sick, but either sing or don't sing, stop trying to have a pity party with the audience. I wish I could remember the name of the poem, or at least the poet, but all I can remember is that it was Mary something like Roberts. I checked Amazon for a book I thought it might be but couldn't find anything.
In other news, I have had minor oral surgery and much to my dismay it was expensive. On a brighter note, it was relatively painless, with the only exception being the stupid novacaine shots. I HATE NEEDLES!!!!
Now for the weather. It is bloody hot here, and I would say that even though it is not that hot compared to the Midwest, there is no breeze, and in our very sunny apartment, it is too hot to not have air conditioning. Or a fan. Or a breeze of any kind. I am just too hot and I am starting to think that if I turn off my computer it will be cooler in here. Yes. I think this is what I must do. Also, go to the store and take my time choosing a very cold beer to drink. Yes. The cooler section of Safeway is what I need right now. Good bye for now.

We have much to discuss...

Well, I have much to discuss. So I guess by "we" I mean the royal "We", unless I get comments about what it is that I write about, which thanks to my Big Daddy, I often do. So I guess I could also mean "we" in the sense that for those of you who are to leave comments, "we" could discuss these things, but for now, I will write. You write later.
So the first thing is, as I knew it would be, Paul contacted me within a week of having the thoughts about him that prompted my last post. He had no idea that I was writing about him, thinking about him, or putting his name out into the e-world. Funny thing is, he called during my painting class, which is where I have been thinking about Paul most often lately, and the first words on his message was his e-mail address, which is what I wanted from him so I could send him a link to my blog. I've always known Paul and I have this strange connection, but it still surprises me when it happens.
Okay, so the next thing that happened in chronological order was that I was going to go to my first Oakland A's game, and they were going to play against the Mariners, which I think would have been a pretty good game, but the $2 tickets we were supposed to get were already sold out by the time we got there. The "we" this time is my co-workers Megan and Hua. Despite the disappointment of not going to the game I had a really great time hanging out with these two. They are very cool people, and I enjoyed our conversation very much.
I also found out that the scholarship applications that is offered through my work are available, and I have already filled them out and turned them into my supervisors. I need to complete a personal statement with how my MFT art therapy degree will benefit the company, but I don;t think that wil be too difficult. My portfolio came back from being reviewed by the admissions people, and hopefully that is a good sign. I have turned in everything they need, and I am anxiously awaiting their response letter. Everyone think good thoughts for me, please!
The next cool thing that happened is Sar and I checked out the final place for our wedding, and we're pretty sure we are going to go with the one that we liked originally. It's funny, we had only checked out a few places before we saw this one, and the majority of our investigations came afterwards. Ultimately, I think that when it is right, it is just right, and you can feel it. I definately felt it with this place and am very excited that we can start planning some of the finer details of our wedding day.
Another thing that happened which was really cool, was this event Sar and I went to last night. It was at a gallery in Oakland, and they were showing a collection of 1 minute films that expressed the notion of slowness. It is called the Slomo Festival, and there were 85 film makers that made exactly 100, 1 minute films, and despite what you may think, they were not all in slow motion. There was one that I particularly enjoyed that was real time, and it was depicting that moment in playing Scrabble when you are waiting and waiting and waiting for the other person to take their turn, and it just takes forever! It was great. There were many other films I particularly enjoyed such as the "Organs" made by your friend and mine, Wiley Wiggins. It was Wiley himself on a swing in slomo. It was very interesting. There was a real wild one called "Glitter Cowboy" which was some middle school kid in a glitter cowboy hat, apparently screaming in slow motion.
Besides the films, there were so many other great things about this event, such as: it only cost five bucks, and there was unlimited free beer. I'm not sure what kind of beer it was, but it was decent, and I will reiterate FREE. There was also some of the most amazing art I've seen hanging on the walls, apprently done by the artists in residence, many of whom are very talented. One in particular, Ryan Graber was completely amazing. I've never been to a gallery and said "I have to own that." With works ranging from $40 to $65, Sar and I decided that we cannot afford not to. Please view this work at www.ryangraber.com and tell me what you think. It really reminds me of Pauls work, if he were an illustrator rather than a painter. I think we are going to buy the one with the lady and birds all around her. It is quite beautiful and there are birds in it!
I know that is not all that has happened this week, but it is enough for now. I woke up at 3:45 PM today and I have other things I have to do. Yes. Sleep was very good on this rainy Sunday morning. Oh, I wrote two new songs this weekend. Maybe I will try refining my recording of these and putting them up here. Or a myspace thingy. I'm a little reluctant to do the myspace thing, but Sar, Paul, and my friend Gabe do it. I don't know. I'll think about it.

Paul

I had this thought the other day about my good friend Paul, and how much I appreciate knowing him. I was thinking that there are a great many things that I have taken for granted in my friendship with Paul, and one of the greatest things is his constant insistence upon not taking things for granted. Paul will argue for the sake of arguing, but often his most important points about life come from this. "Is that so?" is a common phrase for Japanese people, and Paul adopted it long ago, questioning in this adopted way the true existence of what I had thought was just reality. I have learned that in the action of questioning the reality of things that I take to be true, I learn more about myself and my expectations from life. This has never been more helpful than in having a relationship with the greatest love of my life. The more I know myself and am able to express it to her, the better life is.
Another thing I have recently come to appreciate about Paul is his incredible artistic ability. I had no idea what went into painting the way that Paul has been painting for years. I've painted for while, but I've never really tried painting with much accuracy, it's more about the expression of emotion through broad brush strokes and washes of color than any detail for me. Paul however has taught himself an perfected som eincredible techniques that I am just now becoming aware of.
Thank you Paul for being an inspiration to me.

King Crow

Alright, I am going to do it. A picture will appear- Presto!

Who knows?

Here I am again, trying to learn more about the blogging lifestyle, trying to add a little picture to todays post, and it just doesn't seem to want to work for me. My computer is seemingly falling apart at the seams though, so I won't be too shocked if it doesn't work. In other news, I am losing my voice which makes it all the more interesting to try expressing myself without verbal communication. It occurs to me that I haven't lived with Sar and lost my voice before. It's difficult, I think, because I realize that there are so many things that I say or noises I make to communicate my love and affection, that I just can't do now. Besides the more recent love songs I've been playing for her, there have always been laughs, chuckles, hums and singing that go into our everyday lives that are reduced to chirps, gurgles, and the occasional toady grunt. And that's when it's going good! My voice hurt so bad last night I tried not talking, and all I could do was made up southern accent sign language for what I wanted to say. That met with mixed results, but overwhelmingly frustrated communications for your truly. What is Cale trying to say?
Who knows?

It's alright, It's okay, there's something to live for, Jesus told me so!

So if you don't know the quote, you have not seen American Movie often enough. Okay, so I am trying to get the hang of this blogging thing, and if it were not for my wonderful fiancee I would have no picture for you to look at. Speaking of that beautiful love of my life, I have added a link to her blog which is far more interesting than mine, I guarantee it. I have also added a link to her website which is really cool if you have not checked it our recently, she is always updating it. Finally, I just have to give a shout out to Sar for being so cool and being the best partner I could ever hope for!!
So, I was thinking about this, and looking at blogs I know about (also, you should note the link to Erin's blog whom I was just trying to leave a comment on that got me into all of this!) and I think that it will be difficult for me to post messages so often, but I am going to try and leave long tiraeds every so often. I'm sure that my viewing audience will appreciate this. Yeah, right.
Whatever, I just kind of dig the idea that I could post pics and messages for whomever to check out whenever they want. Like, Erin probably doesn't know I have dreads again, and will be surprised to see that pick of me in Austin. She might check that out and say "Whoa! What's that crazy Cale doing nowadays?!?!" Or my dad might feel like this a cool way to read about what's going on for me, and be happy to see those pics and be like "Hey, this is way better than trying to setup some kind fo video conferencing thing!" But besides those reasons, there are things I want to talk about and people who I neglect to call that NEED TO BE INFORMED!!!
Another example, I told very few people that Sarah and I are engaged, and this may be the way they find out (Oh yeah, Erin, Sarah and I are engaged!) and I don't mean to be such a punk by not calling you and telling you personally, but I got a little overwhelemed with those announcement type thingies. "Congradulations! You must be so excited!" "Yeah, we're both really excited, it's really cool." "So when is it going to be? Where will you have it?" "You know, we don't really know yet, probably next summer, and it's definately going to be in California." Then there is the akward pause when the other person is waiting to find out if they are going to be invited to it, or for some that awkward question "So let me know when it is, so I can be sure to get the time off." when really, all we want is a very small wedding, with only people that know us and love us.
I don't know, people, I just want to be with the woman I love for the rest of my life, and this whole wedding thing has always been a mystery to me. I've been to too many weddings of people I know and love and looked around and saw that I didn't know anyone else there. That doesn't seem right to me. I think that the idea of a wedding SHOULD include your community and the people that you care about and love, but the fact is, a lot of the people that would expect to be invited to my wedding have no idea who I am, nor do they care to know much about me. "I don't think I like people period, you guys are okay, I'm just trying to be honest about being a misanthrope." [Dazed and Confused] My point is, I'm sorry if I didn't call you, but if you are reading this, than most likely you klnow me well enough to know that I meant to, but I just didn't. I still love you.
I really need to change my tone here, I think I started to get cranky. I hadn't eaten much today, so I'm going to do that now. I'll write some more later.

Here I am. Rock you like a hurricane.

All I wanted to do was leave a comment on my friend Erins' blog and not have to be anonymous. Now I have a blog to be responsible for, and I don't have anything to write right now. Maybe I'll write something later...