Analog-Theater 2.0

Before I start into today’s post, Robert has got the forums back online.  However, all the threads were deleted.   Feel free to sign up again and enjoy them.

I was talking to a friend of mine.  He said that I should post one goal a day, but since I’m working on 100 goals, that would take a while.  However, posting 10 or so at a time would make the posts way to long.  So, I have come to the conclusion that there is no hard and fast rule for how many I post.  Some of my goals have several paragraphs around them, others are short. 

2. Learn to play the violin – a lot of people I know play or want to play the guitar.  When I was younger, I wanted to play one, too.  Then I saw a music video, I can’t recall who it was now, but there was a woman who was rocking on a violin.  It was so cool.  I want to do that, too.

I read an interview with the Rock and he talked about how he learned how to play the guitar.  He said that he always carried one around with him and practiced with people that he knew could play.  All I need now is to buy a violin and find people who know how to play.  Actually, I know a few people.

3. Earn my black belt in TKD - I took Tae Kwon Do for about a year when I was living in Key West and I earned my orange belt, which is not very high, before I moved. I have found a few places here that teach it, but I have not made the time to attend, nor have I had the money to spend on it. To achieve this goal, I need to get some extra cash to pay for the classes, and start setting aside the time to attend. Of course, the easy way to do this would be for this website to take off and start earning enough revenue for me to pay for the classes.

Attending a Tae Kwon Do school is a good step to achieving this goal, but there is more that I can do to achieve that goal. I found a book I have on TKD with the different exercises and forms. I’m going to start practicing at home so that I am ready again when I sign up.

4. Become more spiritual – after posting the first chapter on my website, I got a message from my mother abut how I am not a nobody, I’m a precious child of God.  She is right about that, we are all children of God.  God knows us and answers our prayers. He knows that I want to improve my life and achieve these goals and if I have faith and be obedient, I’m sure that he will create opportunities to help me do that. The scriptures say “Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”

At church there is a joke about the primary answer.  If you ask any question to a child in primary, they will say “read the scriptures, go to church, and pray”.  However, all of these things help a person draw closer to God.  I know that I’ve been slacking a little.  I need to make sure that I do each of these every day.

5. Learn to write better – not only learn better spelling and grammar, which I need, but I want to learn to write more meaningful and better organized papers.  In high school and college I dreaded essays, because I couldn’t make the ten word point into a thousand word paper.  I loved creative writing, though.  I have been an aspiring novelist; however the first book I published was a bomb.  I have gone back and looked at it again and I am disappointed with myself for having written that badly.  I have been studying different books about writing in an effort to improve my skills.

I have been working on a new book for a while now.  However, I want to get away from fiction.  I write fiction because it provides me with an escape from my life.  I picture myself in the story and write what I want to happen.  At times I get a little depressed because life isn’t like the stories.  I want to live those adventures, but I’m not.  One of my dreams was to become a travel writer, but every time I plan a trip to write about something comes up.  I have a book on travel writing.  I’m going to study it and find a way to take a trip (somewhere nearby) and write about it.  Maybe Kevan and I can go on a hike somewhere.

6. Develop my own style – Eric should appreciate this one.  He always complains about the fact that I’m a tee shirt and jeans type of guy.  He tried to help me out once, but I wasn’t comfortable with the wardrobe that he picked out for me.  I saw the anime Witchblade and I liked Hiroki Segawa.  He always wore a three piece suit and was immaculately groomed.  I thought that was pretty cool, but it would be very hard for me to pull off.  I’ve also been avoiding buy a new wardrobe because I really want to slim down and I don’t my new clothes to no longer fit in the immediate future.  But, with the goal to slim down and some of the goals later on, I should start paying attention to how I look and the tee shirt and jeans won’t cut it anymore.  I need to find something better.  Maybe I could try to pull off the three piece suit everyday (I’m going to need to buy a couple suits in that case).  Or I could try something a little more casual, like what Spike wears in Cowboy Bebop.  Once I have something put together, I’ll post pictures of it.  If I have more readers by then, I’ll hold a vote.

7. Learn calculus – I hate it when I fail, it’s just so annoying.  Well, I took a college calculus class once and failed miserably.  I just did not understand anything.  I guess it didn’t help that I had skipped precalculus.  So, I want to figure it out so that I can take the class again and know what’s going on.  To figure out calculus, I’m going to start a little easier, with precalculus.

8. Go on a date with Roxanne – Once I am more confident about my looks, and if Roxanne is back into the country, I will put myself to the test and try to woo her.  This should make my mom happy.  Roxanne is an amazing woman, she pretty, she’s funny, and she’s intelligent.  In my opinion that’s a perfect combination.  And at the moment, she’s not interested in me.  Being self conscious about my look, I immediately distrust anyone who appears interested in me.  However, when I slim down and dress nice, it will be a different story.  Another obstacle that I will need to overcome to get a date with her is the Atlantic Ocean.  He’s in Scotland right now, though she’ll have to come back to the US eventually.

9. Get a source of income – As I started putting together this list, I realized on thing.  Some of these goals will require money.  Such as buy a violin to learn how to play, buying a new wardrobe, and many of the others further down this list.  Some of them I will be able to get around.  There are places to take people on dates that are cheap or even free and there is a program to teach English in foreign countries (that will help out with some of the goals further down the list).  While being unemployed will give me time to achieve many of these goals, having an income would also help.  In a perfect world, I would have enough traffic on this site to support myself, but at the moment this is not the case which I why I am applying for jobs.  Or, if I do become an international master, I could try to play in chess tournaments for a living.  It has been done, but you have to win a lot of tournaments.

I got a few people eagerly awaiting my next post.  I was still in the process of writing it, so I decided to just post the first part to keep people happy.

At different times I have worked on making a list of goals. The other night after I took a walk to clear my head, I sat down at my computer and found the latest copy of that list. I updated the list a little and decided to go out and achieve these goals, or at least try to achieve them and have spectacular failures.

Now before I share my list with you, I would like to mention a few pieces of advice I have come across. The first was a quote that said “a goal without a plan is nothing more than a dream”. So, each item on my list will also need a plan to achieve. On a similar note, a long time ago I read that the best way to achieve your goals is to figure out what it is that you really want and then visualize that.

Taking both of those ideas into consideration lets look at the first item on my list.

1) Lose 50lbs – I have never been happy with the way I look. I simply want to be slimmer. I would love to have chiseled abs, but I’ll be happy with just losing weight.

First, I need a plan to achieve this. Everyone knows the basics, diet and exercise. Actually, they say that diets are not the way to go, the correct thing is life style changes. Either way, I need to cut the junk foods and fast foods.

As far as exercise goes, they are tons of books and magazines about how to work out and lose your gut. Each one of them says that their way is the best. However, a friend of mine once told me that the best exercise is the one that you will actually do. I have tried a few different routines in the past. I have never stuck with any of them very long, sometimes only a few weeks. They just seemed to take too much time out of my day. Then my same friend I just mentioned gave me the suggestion to split it up. He has a simple routine and does it for a minute or two each hour. That makes it easier to fit into his schedule.

Those two tips can also apply to more than just exercise; you can apply them to anything in your lives, any change you want to make. Find what works for you and take small steps to achieve a bigger goal.

As I was writing this, I decided that I need to start a routine again and try to stick with it. I did some thinking and decided to try my friend’s routine again and make myself stick to it. Ten push ups every hour. I have set up an email reminder so that I won’t forget to do them. On top of that, I am walking around my neighborhood every night, which is about a mile. In some fitness magazine I red that you can lose 10lbs just by walking an extra half mile a day, so this should make me lose 20lbs.

A while back someone had said that Donald Trump had trademarked his catchphrase “You’re fired!”  I wonder if my boss had to pay a fee for using it on me yesterday.           

At first the news that I had to suddenly find a new job shook me up pretty bad.  I would have to job hunting during a depression when virtually no one is hiring and lots of people are looking.  That is not a good time to be unemployed.  That night I took a walk to clear my mind and started thinking that maybe this is for the best.  I have never been happy with myself or where I was in life and I figure that this might be a good time to start over.             

I didn’t hate my job, but it was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  I was just working there because I needed a job to pay the bills.  It was what society expected of me.  Now I want to tell society where to shove it and this will be the story of how I do that and live the life I want to live.            

Most of you probably don’t know me and that’s to be expected as you can see below.  Let me tell you a little about myself.           

When I was about fourteen years old, I went to a church dance.  It was large dance with people from several different cities.  The people in charge decided that everyone should wear name tags.  There was a table at the entrance with blank name tags and markers with which to write our names.  When I got to the table I decided that instead of writing my name I would write “Nobody”.           

Back then I did that to get attention and it worked.  Some of the other kids thought that it was funny, it served as a conversation starter with some of the girls I danced with, and one of the chaperons tried to get me to make a new name tag with my real name.           

However I choose the name Nobody for a reason, the same reason that I am choosing it again now.  I am not a millionaire, nor an actor, nor a pop star, nor a sports star, nor have I won any prestigious awards.  I am not handsome, though my mother disagrees with me about that.  I have not written any bestselling books (though, hopefully I will put this together into a book and sell it).  I don’t stand out in any way.  I am a nobody.           

More specifically, I am a 28 year old, 5′11″, 260 pound, brown haired, blue eyed, single, Caucasian male.  I am a college drop out.  My chess rating is 584.  I have worked in a variety of jobs including as a dispatcher for a courier service (which was the job I recently lost), a custodian in a hospital, a cashier at a fast food restaurant, a host, a waiter, a bartender, a cook, a dish washer, and a pizza delivery driver.  I like anime, manga, chess, science fiction, fantasy, and video games.  My favorite movie is Equilibrium, my favorite book is Ender’s Shadow, and my favorite food is sushi.  I don’t have a girl friend.  In fact I have very few real friends.  I tried to be a science fiction writer, but my book failed to sell.           

So, I think that pretty much sums me up.  Most of you probably know at least someone like me, a guy who doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, who’s just going through the motions of life. 

I tried to live the life I was expected to live.  I got a normal job.  I bought a car.  I went to college for a while.  I dated some women.  But, there was something missing from that life.  If that was the American dream, then it wasn’t a good enough dream.  A few times I sat down and made up a list of things I wanted to do, places I wanted to go, goals I wanted to achieve.  However, it seemed like I never had a chance to do those things.  Now that I have lost my job and I have no idea where I’m going, I think that it’s time to start working on that list.

I will talk more about my list soon.

Turns out that today is Earth Day.  It’s a good thing that I read the comic Zits every morning or I wouldn’t have noticed.  If you want to read todays strip, it’s here.

As a follow to last week’s post, the makers of the tv series Chuck have been in discussions with NBC about renewing the series. According to E! both sides are interested in continuing the series for a third season.

However, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles is not so lucky. Even though the ratings started out strong in Season 1, they have slipped during the second season. Fox is considering cutting the series for its line up. I wonder if putting it back to back with Dollhouse might have hurt it (which is another show that they are looking to ax).

I have come across a few sites that want to keep the show.
Clamor for Season 3
Vote to save one show and be sure to vote for Terminator

Also, to help show Fox that there is an interest in this show, be sure to buy the DVDs.

And there is this nice poster you can get to prove your fandom. I need to buy myself one.

Back when they announced the cancelation of Tabula Rasa, I had wished that Analog-Theater had some clout that we could influence decisions like that. Of course, I’m sure Robert will disagree with me on both wanting to save TR and Sarah Conner Chronicles. Of course in situations like these clout equals cash (sometime clout also equals supposed talent, but we don’t have much of that either). So, to help give Analog-Theater clout, feel free to drop a dollar in our tip jar.

For a while it looked like Robert and I had switch roles, he was posting almost every days and I only posted every other week.  Now he’s back to his old self, but I’m not back to mine.  We need to change it to where we’re both posting a couple times a week. 

 I’ve been busy with my TV show idea (I’m currently editing the first episode and should have a preview up here soon).  Also, I have started a rewrite from scratch of the Grand Hotel story.  I have also been reading a bunch of books on writing to make this draft better than any previous one.  Once I have a few chapters written, I’ll start posting it.

Now, to the main point of todays post.  I just read this article. There are ten shows on the list that might not get renewed for another season. Four of the shows on that list are ones that I watch: Chuck, Fringe, Dollhouse, and Terminator the Sarah Conner Chronicles. Chuck, Fringe, and Terminator are good shows that deserve another season.

Chuck is a funny show with incredible writers and a good cast. You have the character Chuck and Sarah, his CIA handler who is possing as his girlfriend and just waiting for them to realize that they really have feelings for each other.

Fringe is still in its first season, so we’re still getting to know the main characters and they are still building up the mythos, but you have Agent Olivia Dunham of the FBI who gets assigned to the Fringe Division where she has to investigate some strange, X-Files like cases that all have a scientific cause. The show is based on fringe science and have some real science in them. And it’s fun trying to spot the observer in each episode.

Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles might know that the ax is coming, because they have slimmed down the cast considerable. In the last four episodes they’ve killed off four characters. However, you can’t end the show because Skynet is still out there and there are still some unanswered questions. Like what is Weaver up to? Who is John Henry’s “brother”? Where did the ufo go? And do the three dots really mean anything?

As far as Dollhouse goes, the show is starting to grow on me. The last episode was pretty good and the series might have some potential, but it started out pretty slow and that might have cause the show to lose viewers. However, my prediction about the end of the season/series still holds.