Christmas!

Wow, its been the busiest week off at home I’ve ever had! For the sake of avoiding annoyingly long stories and odd phrases I use that no one understands, I’ll simply skim some of the high and lowlights in list form.

-After a rather stressful evening of much phone tag and waiting, Andrea’s flight came in only 1.5 hours late instead of 14 hours late. Prayers are indeed answered :)

-I enjoyed 4 days of family Christmas-ness. Although it wasn’t the family I’m used to spending Christmas with, it was quite nice. This is the first time I’ve been away from my family for Christmas, it was rather odd. And to go along with that, this was the first white Christmas I’ve ever experienced.

-I can no longer say that I’ve never played Guitar Halo. I mean Hero. Sadly, and to my dismay, I found it quite entertaining. This may be one video game that I actually would enjoy playing. Alert the papers.

-Having many many visitors over Christmas is uber fun, but also time consuming. It leads to things like a very messy kitchen, and lack of time to clean it up.

-Somehow, 6 days of work is eternally longer than 6 days off from work.

-I got lots of stuff that I haven’t had time to really look at yet. I even got some gifts twice!!

-Dates can be stressful.

-Dates can be very fun.

-I like surprises, giving them and getting them.

-Goats are awesome.

-Sometimes the simplicity of a normal work schedule is the single most element I want added to my life right now.

-However, I do enjoy a job where I can show up, punch in, and sleep for 2 hours before doing anything.

-Next week should be fun again, with New Years and a trip down to Omaha.

That’s a brief overview of Christmas, what I got isn’t so much important as what I did. And who was here, and the time we got to spend together.

_______ of the day: I forget, its that thing, you know…

The working-on-Saturday Ogukuo

I like making lists of random things

Discovering you’ve bought shredded wheat when you meant to buy frosted shredded wheat is horribly disappointing.

Adding some granola and a sliced up banana to shredded wheat significantly improves it.

Blogging about breakfast cereals shows how boring one’s life is.

I enjoy listening to Peasants play their music.

I agree with the second paragraph of Andrew’s blog.

This week looks very long and bleak until the weekend.

I can barely find the floor in my room because I do nothing but work, and I have no time to clean up or organize anything. The same goes for the living room and kitchen, and I feel bad(ly) about it. Hopefully that changes tomorrow when I may actually have some free time at home. I also really wanna make dinner for myself tomorrow, but the boys have a Christmas party, so I’ll prolly skip the food making to attend that.

I hate being under constant deadlines and always having one more thing to do before I can relax. I think 6 days off for Christmas will do me a world of good. Deadlines of having to get presents wrapped is much nicer than deadlines of paperwork and book writing.

I sat down at the piano for the first time in a long time today, this makes me happy.

I hate having short amounts of time off from work during the day because I am never motivated to use them wisely. If I know I only have an hour or so, chances are I won’t wanna tackle a project like cleaning or anything, I’ll spend it relaxing. If I have a whole day off, I’ll be able to actually get something done.

I realize after reading this list of things that it is quite boring, which reflects largely on my life.

______ of the day: Just one day without obligation would be splendid

The unmotivated Ogukuo

I make pictures!!!

I'm a little behind, but I wanted to put up a few pics from Thanksgiving if I can figure out how...

Yes, she was mean. But the haircut looks awesome, and as you will notice in future pictures, both my ears are still intact :).

This would be my sister and her husband, me and Andrea, and my brother and his girlfriend. We kinda took the Van Dyken family Thanksgiving by storm. Marching two by two, of course.

We spent the weekend after Thanksgiving at a cabin up in the mountains. We drove to the lake where we'd camp in the summer time. Its drained down for winter, but still beautiful. Where I took this picture from would be under water during the summer.

Even when she's upset with me for taking her picture, she's still beautiful :D

My brother was nice enough to let us take his awesome motorcycle for some rides. This was a break during one ride around Ripon on the one cloudy day we were there.

So I guess I'm not very good at documenting trips with photographs, I missed pictures of alot of the fun stuff we did. But most of my photographs include Andrea, so thats good. In short, we had Thanksgiving at my grandpa's house with the whole family (ages 8 months to 94 years old). It was somewhat packed, but very fun. Then we spent the rest of the weekend up in the mountains, which was a very good idea, because moutains are beautiful. Took several drives to see pretty things. Andrea and I went wine tasting on Saturday, found some good wine, and even better company. Even bought a ring! A big, rubber one that has flashing lights inside that make it look pretty. And is good for getting people very excited over nothing :).

And now I've worked 8 days straight since returning to Sioux Center, and still have 2 more to go before I have a break. Someday I would like to have a regular job that allows me time to sleep and maybe even have a social life. Someday.

_______ of the day: Life is weird when you center justify your type.

The symetrical (kindof) Ogukuo

So here's a little rant...

About "the system".
So my roommate just got a ticket while driving my car because my plates are expired. The ticket is in his name, etc, but of course, its my fault cause its my car. I totally understand this. Evidently, my plates have been expired since September. So obviously, I deserved the ticket.
My beef is why my plates were expired in the first place. Generally speaking, I'm pretty sure that registration lasts a year right? And I know for a fact that one's birthday is also a default date for setting registration dues (Happy Birthday, you owe us money). Now, I registered the car in May, and my birthday is in March. Why on earth did my plates expire in September? Thats 4 months after I registered my car, and 6 months from my birthday. Silly me, when I received a notice in August to pay my registration, and it said "disregard if you have paid already", I assumed that I had, since I'd paid just a few months earlier. Now I have to pay to register my car (plus fees and charges, cause I'm 3 months late on it), and pay a $90 ticket. Does this make sense to anyone? Don't get me wrong, I don't blame the patrolman at all, he was totally right for giving me the ticket, my plates were expired, after all. But why on earth were my plates expired?? I'm very frustrated and much poorer now because of this. And I have no idea why I'm in this situation to begin with. I have no choice but to pay the ticket, if I brought it to court the judge would take one look at it, see that my plates were indeed expired and make me pay anyway (not to mention whatever other costs would be involved). I hate having to just eat $90 for no reason whatsoever. Paying the registration hurts, but I owe it. I dunno why I owe it this early, but I do.
Living paycheck to paycheck is a lot harder when suddenly a large chunk of your income disappears for reasons unbeknownst to you.
______ of the day: I'm gonna have to cancel my ski trip to Vail, shopping trip to New York, and that 3 week Caribbean cruise now.
The even poorer Ogukuo

Post #100!!!

Wow, 100 posts already, amazing! And how fitting that I spend this momentous occasion alone at the computer after midnight...
So, I hate goodbyes. I don't understand the "good" part of them. I guess the pain they bring really is Bittersweet. Maybe the good part is the fact that its hard because your saying goodbye to someone very special. The goodbye reminds you of how those people truly are special, and that your life just isn't the same without them around. If a goodbye isn't hard, thats when its time to be sad. A goodbye is real, its full of emotion and love and caring and unspeakable communication and hope and somewhere, deep deep down, some sort of peace. Its a peace, a knowledge of a connection, something that is greater than physical togetherness. Its that something that makes people truly close, even when they are far apart from eachother. And despite all this sappy crap about goodbyes, I still hate them :).
______ of the day: Iowa is a hard state to return to
The goodbye'd Ogukuo

And when you finally disappear, we'll just say you were never here

So I've watched a coupla good movies recently, Everything Is Illuminated and A Day Without a Mexican. I liked both of them, for different reasons. The first one I have raved about before, and anyone who has seen it knows why. The second one I had never seen before. Got it on a whim, and it was very entertaining. The one thing that really bugged me about it was they tried to stick Stockton down in Southern California. Well, they were only off by like 500 miles.

I hate feeling like nothing more than an observer. Thats why I loved being involved with sound tech. I felt like I was useful, a contributor. And music, I'm at all those rock shows for a reason, not just because I'm coming to watch. I'm starting to feel like thats fading. Everyone else is busy doing their thing, and I'm just sorta watching. I can show up and observe, or call and ask whats going on, but thats about it. Everyone is busy contributing, and I'm stuck just waiting and watching. I'm not called on for help with anything. I can tag along, but I'm not a big contributor. Sometimes I feel like I'm almost just annoying people whenever I call or show up somewhere, like they are busy with their lives, and I should just stick to observing. I should do my humble 40 hours of work a week, occasionally converse with people, and if something is happening, I can show up and watch, but my involvement isn't really needed.
At least thats the feeling I get sometimes.

______ of the day: Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home.

The Ogukuo

Stuck in the Middle

I have, once again, experienced a social life. If only for a night. It was grand. In the span of one evening I did many different things with many different people, all of whom are awesome. I feel as if these moments are becoming rarer and rarer-er. Part of me hates that these days are slipping away, and part of me is almost glad. I like hearing stories from my dad of Saturdays spent painting the house and running to the hardware store, and Sundays doing the same thing he has done on Sundays for the past 30 years. I look forward to the days when I do things like that. Set schedules, relaxed weekends, getting "back into the swing of things" for my 9 to 5 that will start again on Monday. The funny thing is I really enjoy looking forward to those things, but the thought of those times actually encroaching on my current life is not as enjoyable. I'm stuck between loving where I am now and loving where I envision my life going. I guess I feel like my current life is coming to a close, and my "grown up" life is yet to begin. Its ironic that I take comfort in what I know now, which is the unpredictable; and I'm scared of what I don't know yet, which will be a predictable life. I know the unknown, and don't know the known.
I am listening to The Starting Line, I like them. But not as much as Jimmy Eat World.
______ of the day: Are you alone? - The Starting Line
The middled Ogukuo

All my blog topics suck

I am listening to Jimmy Eat World, I like them lots.
Today is my first full day off from work since last week Thursday. I put in something close to 55 hours this week. Yay overtime, boo lack of social life and sleep. But its cool, I got today and tomorrow off. And then I work like 12 hours on Monday and then have Tuesday and Wednesday off. At least thats the plan, I kinda doubt I'll actually have those days off, cause so far we have one sick guy on staff, one who was sickish, and one who showed signs of getting sick. So I may either by working extra shifts or trading around this week. But, if things go as planned, I'll work like 6 days straight before leaving for California for Thanksgiving. So any days off I have this week better be spent getting ready to go home!!
Hmm, working all the time leads to a lack of blog topics...
_______ of the day: I need some sleep, I can't go on like this.
The lethargic Ogukuo

ummm, work?

Well, I was wrong about working 13 hours on Thursday. Its gonna be closer to 15 or 16. And with only 5 hours of sleep last night. I’m exhausted. And I was also wrong about having a 3 day weekend, I’m working Friday afternoon and evening. All told, I’ll have worked 8 days straight, and clocked well over 50 hours this week. Not the end of the world I guess, just of my social life. I’m not too upset, I’m working cause evidentially the latest form of entertainment amongst our staff is being sick. I’m working all my regular shifts plus an extra tomorrow evening to cover for someone. At least tomorrow I get to sleep past 7:00 am the first time since last Thursday. Next week should be a little more docile, but then I think I work 7 days straight before heading home for Thanksgiving. Hopefully that’ll make the time go by quickly :).
On an unrelated note, OJK has been hit up with some sorta interest in our music by an A&R thingy. As you can tell my use of technical jargon and concise statements, I have no idea what its all about. Except that it means that our sound has something to it. And that it’s a possible break. A break at a bad time, but a break none the less. I echo Andrew’s sentiment, why couldn’t this have happened a year ago? But its cool, none the less.
And now I’m done, its too hard to write when I’m seeing two screens and they are both spinning around (I’m tired).
_______ of the day: A&R thingy
The tired Ogukuo

Of course I've seen you before, but where?

I went to Sioux Falls last night. It was fun. I went with Paul and Jenna. I bought a new touque, some Christmas gifts, a guitar, some weights, and a tall caramel macchiato . The touque is fuzzy and warm and fun to wear. It makes my hair look flat and rather dumb. The Christmas gifts, well, I can’t write about those. We have a family gift exchange thing, and its supposed to be a secret of who I have and what I got them, so the last thing I wanna do is spread it on a highly traveled website like my blog. The guitar is actually Paul’s, but he didn’t bring his checkbook along, so I did the technical purchasing. I felt impulsive buying a guitar, even tho its not mine. It was fun. I have been reimbursed. The weights are intended for doing some light lifting, but will most likely serve a much better service collecting dust and sitting on the floor posing a serious threat to my bare, innocent toes. Stupid weights. The caramel macchiato was lukewarm and somewhat unsatisfying. But the toffee almond tort I got was rather tasty. All in all the trip certainly beat a poke with a sharp stick. Today I’m working a 13 hour day, tomorrow will be 10 hours, and Thursday will be about 13 again. Sigh. But then I have a 3 day weekend, huzzah. Although I think I may try to work an overnight shift Friday night at a different home. A high five for overtime!!
Alas, I have missed the beginning of Scrubs, I must now retire and lounge on the couch for a while.
_______ of the day: Shiny Toy Guns? Hmmmm…
The ‘yeah?? What are you gonna do about it??’ Ogukuo

Everybody likes Saturday mornings, right?

I am at work right now. I wish I wasn’t. I wish I was in bed. I wish I had regular weekends. I wish I worked regular hours. I wish I had the freedom of evenings. But, I like having random Wednesdays off. And four day work weeks. And getting paid to go bowling. Or to the library or grocery store or park. I like working with kids. I like the people I work with. I don’t like the artificial “drama”. I wish time away from work was really time away from work. I wish I had time away from work when I wasn’t too tired to do anything.
We just turned on the heaters at work, now there’s that ‘dust in the heater vent’ smell that people hate for some reason. I love it with a passion. It reminds me of going to the family cabin as a kid, cause we’d always have to turn the heater on for the first time in a long time, so it would smell like that. So every time I smell it now, it brings me back to the cabin. And thinking of the cabin makes me think of Thanksgiving, cause we’re going to a cabin over Thanksgiving in a few weeks. And I am uber stoked about it. Like, uber uber stoked. I can’t wait to go home! Especially now, smelling the cabin smell! Here’s a small list of things I’m looking forward to over Thanksgiving: Seeing Andrea, seeing my family, Aunt Katherine’s sweet potatoes, turkey!!!, seeing mountains, being in the mountains, seeing Andrea, wine tasting, leftover turkey, a fire place, leftover turkey, and seeing Andrea. Not necessarily in that order, of course. Things I’m looking forward to before Thanksgiving: Obsessing about Thanksgiving :). Ok, so I’m trying to keep myself occupied until then, so I don’t have time to dwell on it, but it is indeed immanent.
So how about that sports team we all enjoy?
______ of the day: kafuffle
The pining Ogukuo
p.s. nothing says Saturday morning like John Denver singing Sunshine on my shoulder.

Again...

Evidentally, chimpanzees are carnivorous...
I've come to the conclusion that I want to cut my hair off, it is annoying. This shall happen sometime in the next month.
I found the local NPR station streaming online, office work is much happier now.
I've put in over 3 days worth of work between yesterday and today, I am tired.
I have tomorrow off, I plan to sleep in.
I cut the finger nail too short on one of my left hand fingers and it hurts, I can't play guitar for a while now cause I'm a wimp :(
Mike Rowe is my hero.
I have seen too many Christmas decorations out for the end of October.
My parents left yesterday, I guess life is back to "normal".
I'm very ready for Thanksgiving.
And Christmas.
I wish I were more intellectual, I'm gonna work on that if I get the time. You know, read books and stuff.
______ of the day: "Tambourines and elephants are playing in the band" - 'Lookin out my back door' by CCR
The exhausted Ogukuo

Here's the order of my list in the order its in

So you know how sometimes someone will get a brilliant idea and blogs about it? Well, this isn't one of those, I'm just bored. I think I'm gonna try list form a la Paul.
- I've noticed my blog linked on a few other people's blogs, I guess that means I should write more often.
- I too want a puppy, they are cute. But only a puppy like on toilet paper commercials, not one that gets into mud and poops and all that stuff that requires work.
- I too think I look like Ben Folds, scary.
- It recently dawned on me that I will be residing in 3 of the major dutch settlements, Ripon, Sioux Center, and (in the future) Lynden. I do not know how I feel about this.
- My parents and brother show up tomorrow. I haven't seen them in close to 6 months.
- I haven't had a haircut since last seeing them, hmm.
- Last post featured Straylight Run, today's selection is Paulson, very very neat stuff.
- I also just listened to Pedro The Lion (I know, I'm a decade behind the times). They are interesting.
- I was in a half-constructed house this past weekend and it reminded me how much I enjoy house design and that whole process.
- I'm designing a house, kinda. It has a waterfall in it and a meditation/yoga room. Its very Eastern influenced. Its also almost 6000 sq ft :S. I think I need to scale it down a bit.
- I have not been in the Bean for 5 days, life is turning gray.
- Gray or grey?
- I just ate my last Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate with White Mint Filling chocolate Square from Andrea :(. They were very yummy tho :).
- I have 3 months worth of bank statements, credit card bills, and student loan stuff on my desk.
- I am very thankful for automatic withdrawls for important payments.
- I hope there are competent musicians around Lynden, I will very much miss being in a band when I move out there.
- Today is my last day of work until next Monday, yay!
- This list is too long.
______ of the day: "I'm hiding from things I can't explain" - Ultra-High by Paulson
The listless Ogukuo

Last time that I saw you...

I am blogging instead of organizing an outline for an inservice I am conducting tomorrow. I got a killer title for it tho, "How to Properly Deal with Anger". Ok, its a lame title, probably will be a lame talk as well. I feel kinda dumb, cause everything I'm talking about is probably known better by the people I am talking to.
I'm also listening to Straylight Run right now, they are my happy place. I've only got 'The Needles The Space' right now, but I think I'm gonna get their earlier albums next week if I can. I recommend them, if you like good music.
I'm starting to realize alot of things that I don't want to realize. I've done a pretty good job of hiding life from myself so far, but it seems like it is becoming more and more immenant. Part of me says "great! its time to give up all of this and start acting all grown up" and the rest of me is saying "no, we're gonna fight as hard as we can to avoid real work of any sort". Someone wise once quoted someone not-so-wise as saying "life is unraveling and being woven together". Well, I feel like I'm much more on the unraveling end right now. I've decided to make some pretty big changes in my life over the next year or so, but all I can see right now is what I'm leaving behind. I know what lies ahead is awesome and going to be wonderful, but I don't know how its going to be awesome and wonderful. Mostly what scares me is the complete and utter uncertainty of those changes. I've set up some very safe havens for myself both here and back in CA, but my new life is going to be anchored by (relatively) very little. Don't get me wrong, very little things can be the most important things. Especially when they are as important and special as they are in this case. And, to carry the analogy way too far, smaller anchors for change give me the most room to swing on my own and figure out the rest. If you don't understand, thats ok, the point of this post is that I don't understand either. In theory, once I get a few more of the major details figured out, I'll be much more on the woven together end of life. At least thats what I tell myself...
_______ of the day: "I'm gonna lay here alone/close my eyes and wish for home" - This is the End by Straylight Run
The unwoven Ogukuo

Long and boring, worth ignoring

I did not realize its almost been a month since my last post, I apologize. The last two weeks have been increadably busy. I had a work conferance down in Des Moines, which I found quite fun. Mostly cause I've never been on a trip like this, so it was new and interesting to me. I also learned alot about my job, which is very very good, cause I basically have no other training whatsoever besides on the job training. And it was good to be in a "big city" again! Sometimes I really miss tall buildings and not being able to see any shread of natual landscape. Doesn't happen often, but sometimes I miss that. I also had my own hotel room for the first time ever, I think. I jumped on the bed :). I was on that trip for 3 days and then returned to a 4 day weekend. So that means I was away from regular shifts for an entire week. Returning was hard, I was very out of it. But then I worked 7 days straight. Very busy! Between yesterday and Monday I worked 26 hours, with less than 5 hours of sleep inbetween. Thank goodness I have today off, I got 8 hours of sleep last night for the first time since last Tuesday or something. But, its short lived, I work again tomorrow, probably 16 hour shift too :S.
Lesse, in real news (besides me being too busy to make real news), um, oh, observation time!! Hotel breakfast bars can be very interesting places. On the weekend they are always filled with families, old people, and usually random bikers. All these people are casually dressed, socialize in groups, and seem happy. This would probably be, logically, because they are all on vacation. However, during the week (as observed on my last business trip), everyone eating breakfast is wearing a suit or other business wear, eating alone, and usually looking unhappy. Ok, this is a pretty easy observation to make, but I've rarely stayed in a hotel during the week, so I've never seen the business side of it. I just gotta say, if I worked in a hotel, I'd want to work on the weekend when the fun happy people are there. But I never want to work at a hotel.
______ of the week: I enjoy mountains
The Midwest'd Ogukuo

band, broom, and broccoli

Its the post-show blog!! Actually, post-show(S) blog, and I know its late. We played Friday night at the campus center, the boys came!! It was neat. Some break danced, er, broke danced, or, whatever break dance is in the past tense. But it was cool. And we played Saturday night sans Paul. It sucked playing without him, but fun to try something new. It was one of those "we know its probably just gonna go badly, so we're gonna have fun with it no matter what" type shows. And it actually wasn't half bad! I gotta sing, which was fun. I was kinda nervous, but once I got into it, I like to think I did well :). Made me feel important and like I had more credablility on stage.
Lesse, non-band developments as of late... Oh, I decided a few days ago to eat healthy for some reason. Its more or less on a whim. I dunno if I'll stick with it, hopefully. It hasn't been too bad, the food is good, but expensive! Don't get me wrong, I'm not eating "health food", but you know, real food, like fruit, vegtables, stuff that requires an oven, not a microwave. I'm gonna aim to give it a few weeks at least and see if I feel significantly better. If so, well, I may stick with it and see my food bill go up :S. I've also started keeping the house clean. As in picking stuff up and actually doing dishes on a regular basis! That feels good too, I like feeling like I have a space where I'm not embarassed to have people over. Its nice to sit in the living room in the evening and feel like I'm in a real house instead of a dumping grounds with a few couches thrown in. Maybe this cleaning thing will catch on here at the house and we'll have a group effort to keep our house looking nice! Or maybe the healthy eating and clean house things will pass in a week or two and I'll be back to eating whatever I can find in the freezer and pushing stuff out of my way as I wade thru the livingroom.
And now I go because besides shows and food and cleaning house I have no life to write about,
_______: Do you think I should do a mission trip to Guatemala?
The cleaned up, healthy (or at least pretending to be both) Ogukuo

What a week...

I'm sure most people reading this have had a more momentous week than I, but mines been pretty exciting too.
Monday was a grand day of seeing people again and rearranging the living room. Both were fun. I also went to see 'the show'. Made me wish I was sitting in there as a freshman and not knowing how awesome the next 4 years would be. But I'm not, I'm just the odd guy who sometimes hangs around campus and is older than everyone else.
I also brought my car into the shop this week cause it decided it would be fun to randomly die on me and turn on check engine lights and in general be dumb. The guy said it could be up to $600 bucks depending on the problem, so I was plannin on the worst. But, it was just a minor sensor or gizmo or something, and was way cheaper, hurray! That made me uber happy. And then I found out that my insurance was finally gonna pay for the doctors visit I had back in May. They decided that headaches and such were a preexisting condition and didn't want to pony up the money for it. So I had to give them lots of paperwork, etc proving that I was normal. In the mean time, the clinic wanted money from somewhere and decided that I would be a good source since insurance wasn't paying. So they kept sending me bills that were ignored by me cause I didn't want to pay them. And then the insurance company finally roled over and said 'fine, we'll do what we are supposed to'. So now they've only taken me for $750 this year instead of the $900 they wanted! Ha! The little guy wins for once! So between insurance actually workin for me for once, and my car not being as dumb as it coulda been, I still have like $700 dollars that I could have potentially not had. Which is good, cause I don't really have it anyway :).
And then there was the EC block party last night which was fun. We played, the crowd was into it and made lots of loudness, which is awesome. We also got requested an encore, which brings all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings. And tonight I get to go to Lifelight to see a coupla stellar bands.
Um, other news... um, oh, I hate paperwork. There, thats other news. I dunno.
______ of the day: I just rented 2 classic movies and came home to realize we no longer have a TV, my brain hurts.
The 'not braining today' Ogukuo

Where am I, where are you

I just looked at my checking account, I have $25. I just talked to my landlord, he wants us to reduce the amount of people in our house, meaning rent will go up for each of us. My car is being stupid, I need to bring it in next week to have it looked over, more money. They're cracking down on overtime at work, I've been counting on overtime to help pay the bills each month. I've been trying to think of a second job where I can work 10-15 hours a week on a basically completely random schedule. I don't think any job like this exists. Seeing my family over Thanksgiving means spending about $500 between airline tickets, gas, etc.
And money woes are just a minor part of my problems. I'm not where I want to be, or who I want to be with. I'm tired of the midwest. Theres nothing here. No mountains, awesome trees, ocean, beaches, mild weather, nothing. I want to drive to the snow, not live in it. I wanna drive 2 hours and be in the mountains. Or the ocean. Or a world famous port city. Or any place that doesn't look the same as it does outside my window. I want a beautiful landscape, I don't care about the people I'm around.
I want to live by a college campus. I want the simplicity of a small midwest town. I want cheap rent! I want to live by my friends. I don't car about the landscape, I wanna live around people I know.
I don't know what I want. I don't know how to get it. I don't know what to do.
______ of the day: Questions
The exhasperated Ogukuo

None of my busyness

I love my job, and I love the randomness of my work schedule to an extent. I mean, I hate set patterns, it drives me nuts to wake up to the exact same thing every day. But one thing I've noticed is that certain days are no longer special. I think this also has to do with college and life in general. Saturdays and Sundays used to be so special. I would always notice the weather on Saturdays. The rest of the week, sunny or raining didn't matter to me. But Saturdays was when we would do stuff. So it mattered if it was sunny and nice or not. So sunny Saturdays seemed all that much more sunny. And rainy Saturdays were that much more rainy. And Sundays were always very relaxed and I knew I didn't have to worry about doing anything. I could tell you how my day would go as soon as I woke up in the morning: church, relax at home, coffee time at Grandpa's, small lunch of leftovers at home, movie or (insert sports game here) on TV, nap, church, and after church was either visiting with friends or relaxing at home with a movie or board game. I loved Sundays. I know, people will rail on me because its old fashioned, and they hate any notion of being conservative or following tradition. Well, to those people I say find a new hobby, cause you are obviously bored. There were a few things we never did on Sundays, such as shop, eat out, work (unless absolutely necessary), or chores around the house. I've heard many people loudly and proudly claim that its ok to do all these things on Sunday just like any other day of the week. I don't want to get into a shouting match of whether or not its 'sinful' or wrong to do these things on a Sunday, cause people who argue against it love to yell, so it'd be nothing but inviting punishment on myself. But I just ask man for the sabboth, of sabboth for man? Anyone who knows anything knows its sabboth for man. Rest for man (I know, it'll piss off those people even more by saying 'man' instead of human or whatever, but they love being pissed off, so if they are looking for a pathetic reason, I'll take pity on them and throw them a bone). The thing I loved about Sundays was how relaxed they were. I had free time, but I wasn't worried about filling it with shopping or chores or whatever. Sadly, its too easy to run to the grocery store or eat out, or do other things on a Sunday. I don't like doing that. If my life is so busy that I don't have enough time during the rest of the week to get things done, theres something wrong with my life. Perhaps its not a sin to do those things on a Sunday, but if you are so busy the rest of the week that you need to do all those things on a Sunday, I think its a big red flag that there is something wrong with the way you are living your life. But, then again, this is coming from a guy who enjoys living life instead of making myself so busy I can't see straight. Perhaps its a character flaw on my part.
But, alas, I have fallen into soap-boxing myself, so I'll just quit now.
______ of the day: First free Sunday in weeks this weekend, yay!
The lacking rest Ogukuo

Very observant, now do something about it

This post is for Kenny, because he just "found" my blog. Welcome Kenny, you are one of 3 readers :)
I'm currently reading (!!) a few books. First is For The Beauty of the Earth by Steven Bouma-Prediger, a prof at Hope college. Its kinda meh, it hasn't offered me any real insight or new ideas. Basically its a manual for Christian living in regards to God's creation. Sadly, it really only offers the basic stuff that anyone who took a few minutes to think would figure out. But, it all fairness, its been a good springboard cause its referenced alot of other authors I'm planning to look into. The second book is A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold. I'm only about 1/3 of the way thru this one, but so far its pretty good. The part I've read is Leopold describing his farm property in Wisconsin throughout the year. It more or less documents his actions taken to relate to and understand the land he dwells in. Its amazing the great observations he has made simply by taking the time to observe. Tree rings on a felled oak tree tell him of floods and fires of years past, bushes lacking berries and tracks in the snow tell him of a birds range during the winter months. Of course, anyone can look at tree rings or bird tracks in the snow, but how often do we actually take the time to think about what they mean? Take the time to look past the simple facts that they offer on the surface? Leopold laments that people no longer take the time to recognize their habitat. And that was in the late 40s! How much worse is it now? I can often go several days without spending any time outside save for short trips from the house to the car to work to the car and back to the house. We've let TV and computers and cell phones become what we do/who we are instead of getting to know the real world. I think Hobbes was right when he observed Calvin zoned in front of the TV and said that 'virtual reality is already here'. The world we know is so contrived.
But, once again, I'll let it rest for a while, I'd love to offer some deep, meaningful solution, but only the trite comes to mind.
______ of the day: Hurray cable doesn't exist in this house!!
The disconnected Ogukuo

Another "I don't know where my life is goin" blog

Title says it all...
I like my job. Actually, I kinda love it. But its hard. I know I can't do it forever, simple logistics. My life has no rhythm right now. I'll spontaneously have 3 day weekends, 8 day work marathons, days off in the middle of the week, shifts that force me to sleep less than 6 hours a night, and on any given day at 2:30 pm I could be either coming off or going into an 8 hour shift. Any given day I have to wake up at either 5:45 am, or I can sleep in til noon if I want. I can’t make evening plans, cause I work half of the evenings of the week. And on top of the fact that the schedule is leaving my life in shambles, I’m feeling the affects of the stress. Lets face it, this isn’t an easy job, it can be very stressful. I’ve had to go to the doctor for random dizzy spells, diagnosed as being caused by work stress. Now I’m starting to get heartburn. The only constant that could be causing it is stress. I generally don’t show stress, I just kinda let it build up inside. Evidentially this causes dizziness and heartburn. Most of my dreams are now about work. And they aren’t just dreams about work, they are dreams about the bad things related to work. I don’t know what to do.
I also don’t know where I want to be or why I want to be there. A year ago I was dead set on living in Sioux Center. And for good reasons: the people, specifically the college people. Same reason I left California: the people, and the problems related with the people. I still hold to those reasons as being very good ones. But I’ve come to an entirely unexpected realization. The area is killing me. I cant stand it, its all the same! I need mountains and oceans and lakes and rivers. I need to be able to drive an hour and be in an area that is completely different than from where I started. I used to think that people would make all the difference to me and landscape didn’t matter. I’m starting to change my mind on that. I’m starting to think that I need the landscape and the people won’t matter as much. I’ve been making it clear to people (mostly just to convince myself) that I won’t be in NW for much more than a year. The question is where to move to. I’ve got a few choices that are near the top of the list. And I think I could be totally happy in any of the areas. But once again, it comes down to logistics. I have loans. I need to have a job to pay those off. While means a few things: I gotta decide what I wanna do when I get where ever I’m goin, and I gotta find a place to do said job.
I’ve also been kicking around the idea of goin to grad school at some point. My current fascination is Environmental Philosophy. This ties back to needing a beautiful landscape. I’ve always had an interest in the outdoors, and despite being a generally ignored issue, I believe that care for our environment should be on the forefront of every Christians mind. Its nothing short of a damnable sin the way most Christians disregard the topic of our stewardship of God’s Creation. Its one of God’s first commands to mankind! I’ve felt almost convicted to follow this idea, and educate myself as much as I can so I can perform my Christian duty to care for God’s earth. How come when the old ladies in church hear of the nice young man going to seminary, they all smile and are of the ‘you are following God’s calling’ mindset, but when they hear of someone going for something involving the environment, they mutter something about liberal ideals and think that Christians should be spending their time on more important issues? Ok, perhaps I exaggerate a little, but how can we as Christians vastly ignore the care of God’s Creation?
Anyway, I digress. Sorry for yet another long, probably boring post.
______ of the day: When’s the last time you heard a sermon on steward ship?
The confused Ogukuo

Here on out...

So alot has happened in the last month, but if you read this, you prolly know all about it, so theres no point in writting about it.
Yesterday I spent some time crusing around a bunch of different blogs and came to a sad realization. While alot of people blog about the great books they are reading, or some philosophical idea they discussed, I write about work and play. Don't get me wrong, I like getting updates on peoples lives, but I dont think mine is all that interesting. So when all I do is write about whats happening in my life, I can see why no one reads my blog. That and the fact that I only update once a month now cause I'm too busy/lazy to do it more often. So I've decided to actually start reading some real books and making myself think a little so my blogs will actually say something. If you wanna read about my day to day life, check my xanga, thats much more of a xanga thing. Of course, I rarely update that one much any more either. I'll try, I promise.
______ of the day: I try to make the same mistake and I swear it makes me happy
The overdue Ogukuo

Uber long weekend

Wow, ok, so I just kinda skipped the month of May for blogging, ok. Lots has happened since then, highlighted by a trip to CA!! So heres a short overview:
Wednesday: Fly in to Sac, get upgraded to first class for free. Best flight ever.
Thursday: Go to lake and get party boat with all the guys for a single guy party. Fun had, cool animals seen, sunburn recieved.
Friday: Run around like mad setting up stuff for the wedding, practice singing, go to rehersal dinner and rehersal.
Saturday: More running around like mad, pictures, uncomfortable shoes, usher, sing, emcee, get yelled at by aunts I never see for not helping set down after my 12 hour marathon day and a dizzy spell.
Sunday: Church in the morning, beach the rest of the day. Bogey boarding, watching non-wetsuited people shiver, big waves, small dogs, lots of fun, removal of sand and salt from every imaginable place. Watch washed up hippies in van next to us smoke weed, sing, and play harmonica poorly.
Monday: Yosemite! Waterfalls, trees, lots of pictures, soreness from walking, and previous days activities.
Tuesday: Winetasting at 3 wineries. Motorcycle ride. 20 wines tried, 3 purchased, many more wanted, lots of neat landscaping, return home, cousin reunion at cousins house. Fun ensued.
Wednesday: Packing, head to Sac airport. Leave airport several hours late, circle Denver, land in Grand Junction to refuel, head back to Denver, find out flight to Omaha has left already, "sleep" on airport floor for 4 hours.
Thursday: Sit in line at help desk starting at 4:30 am to get seat assignment for flight. Get seats, take off at 7:00 am, land in Omaha by 9, leave airport, stop three times, arrive home by 1 pm. Stupidly don't take nap, test drive new car, watch movie, eat food, watch movie, crash in bed at 10.
Thus is my life. I need a vacation from my vacation. Now I'm working 5 days in a row, then off again for 5 days for a road trip to Montana for another wedding. Stupid single people becoming doubles, you're gonna make me go broke!!
______ of the day: Can't think, too many wedding rings being thrown around.
The soon-to-be-weddinged-out Ogukuo

If life were easier...It wouldn't be as entertaining

So, some choices were made for me, and that leaves me with fewer decisions to make on my own. But now I realize that the choices I have left are logistically almost impossible. I can't really say what they are, but basically the choice I'm faced with is making a long term commitment to something, locking myself into a situation that is very difficult to be in. And by difficult, I mean financially so. I'm really stuck, I mean, its a decision that I know I would enjoy, but it would mean scraping by for quite a while. And I simply don't know if I can do that. Don't think me greedy, I'm talking about lifes "simple" expenses such as student loans, rent, utilities, a car payment (not right now, but sooner or later I'm gonna need a real car), insurance, gas, food, and in theory it would be nice to have a little something to put away in savings. Of course, I mean strickly theoretical, cause thats all it is right now.
So this is me stressing a little (read as alot), although you probably really can't tell it just by looking at me, I tend to hide it well. After all, why should I let a stupid thing like money dictate weather I'm fun to be around or not?
So, please pray for me, cause I really honestly have no idea what decision I'm gonna make. And basically its probably going to come down to what decision I can make more than what decision I want to make.
______ of the day: I need to grab life by the curve balls it keeps throwing me
The undecision'd Ogukuo

Decisions+choices= the same thing!

Wow, this is unfamiliar territory...been a while.
So, yeah, I'm on days now at Niessink. Its been an interesting few weeks, but I like it. The hardest part is the hours, in at work at 6:30 am, and out at 10:30 pm. Long break inbetween those shifts, but I still haven't had a solid 8 hours of sleep in several weeks.
So, you know what sucks? Decisions. And I don't mean weather to wear black or white socks, I mean real decisions. Seems like I'm bad at making them. Even the no brainers have presented quite the challenge. And, its looking like I may have to be making an even bigger decision here in the next few days. A decision that would basically affect where I go every day. I'm not exactly sure of my options yet, but I'll hopefully know soon. And when I do know, the hard decision follows. And I really don't know which direction to go with this one. It never ceases to amaze me how complicated life can be.
So, in other news, um, well, I haven't had time to create any news, cause all I've had time for recently is work and sleep. Perhaps thats good, keeps me out of trouble. Oh, I got one! Band stuff! We totally released the new CD! And its taking quite well it seems. We had a show this past weekend which has been rated as one of our best by several people, and we have another on this Friday night, you all (2.7 of you who read this) should come! Cause then you could totally get the CD if you don't have it already. Or enjoy the songs live if you do have it.
Ok, random transmission ended, I now need to get ready for work.
______ of the day: I look at all the lovely people
The decision'd Ogukuo

End of an era

Gentle Readers,
This will be my last blog from the overnight shift. This is my last scheduled night, I start days on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to it, but I also am kinda scared. I found out I’m the primary care-taker of one of the boys, so that means I’m in charge of taking him shopping, coming up with his skill plans and his general care. So in other words, when he’s being a problem, I’m the one they call to deal with it. Yay. And scary. I’m not quite sure how to handle all of that. I hope they break me into this slowly. I’m guessin the first few weeks are gonna be the hardest with learning the rules and how each boy needs to be handled. But, I don’t gotta choice, its gonna happen, so I may as well make the most of it and learn as quickly as possible. Once I get used to it, it will be a lot nicer when I have days off and I can actually do stuff instead of being awake all night doing nothing cause everyone else is asleep. But being in at work at 6:30 am is somewhat less than appealing, I must say. That may end up being quite the challenge. Hopefully I’ll be able to sleep in the late morning when I’m not at work and everyone else is either in class or working.
______ of the day: Hold your nose because here comes the cold water.
The diving in Ogukuo

Lost without direction

Ever notice when you want something and you go for it, and then realize its seems like it’ll be easy to get, so you loose interest in it? But then you find out you can’t have it and suddenly it looks appealing again? I dunno, strikes me as weird, and annoying.
I don’t know what to do with my life. I mean, I really have no clue, I don’t have any idea where I want to be in even 3 years. I’ve pretty much decided I don’t want to live in NW Iowa for the long term, but that’s about all I know. That, and I know I have way too many financial obligations to throw off all cares and be a hobo for a year, or travel Europe, or join the peace corps, or whatever. I don’t know where I want to live, I have nice ideas and a few choices, but no real leanings towards any place in particular, and it really all depends on a job. I mean, I can’t move somewhere without having a job lined up, I simply need the money to meet my expenses. But how do I get a job somewhere without being there? That’s another thing, I don’t know what I wanna do for a job. I have a design degree, but I don’t really see myself doing graphic design or something like that, its just not a strong talent. I have a strong interest in music, but I know I could never make it as a pro at it (barring the whole OJK thing, I’m thinking in non-fantasy terms here). Working with kids is fun, but working with disabled kids like I do now isn’t what I want to do forever, if nothing else, the hours suck. And the money isn’t exactly great, and it can be quite stressful. Any sorta youth minister thing wouldn’t work, I simply don’t have the spiritual calling for that. Teaching? Yeah, I don’t think I really have that in me either. So I really have no idea what sorta career I want to aim for, no idea whatsoever. And what about marriage? Am I meant to be single? Well, if I know the answer is yes, it makes things a lot easier, but I don’t think I am. So what then? Do I stick around here where I know lots of girls til I find one? Do I move somewhere else and just figure I’ll find a girl wherever I move? Do I find a girl here and move somewhere else with her? Again, I don’t know. So basically what it comes down to is the three biggest parts of my life (my career, where I’m gonna live, and if/who I’m gonna marry) are all big question marks. I have no idea whatsoever where I’m going with any of them, not a single lead at all. I love where I am right now, and I’m having fun, but I know its not gonna last forever, and I don’t wanna be one of those guys who just drifts thru life without direction and without really having any solid connections with anyone/thing.
I dunno, I just don’t know.
______ of the day: I’ve gotta figure this out, but don’t know where to start
The lost Ogukuo

we kick pants...LIKE A FOX!!

So I just got a hot-off-the-press listen to the new OJK cd. Of course, thats a privilaged listen, only 4 other people have heard it :). And I must say, I like it. Its nice actually hearing what our new songs sound like from an outside perspective. Oh yeah, and its a good cd!!
So a few thoughts on it...
I'm uber excited to have had the chance to do this, how many people can lay claim to their own recording?
My bass parts sound stupid by themselves (I heard enough of them in the studio to last me a while), but kick ass when put together with the rest of the band. At least in my opinion, biased as it may be.
I look forward to producing an album cover and other pieces to make the project complete.
I really look forward to the cd release party, whenever that will be.
It was awesome working in the studio (our engineer helped in the kicking of pants), but I'm ready for a break, its been a long week for me. Hurray for BBQ, party, and general nothingness tomorrow!
Ok, time for a ______ of the day, my posting name, and the end of this post.
______ of the day: Parades bring out so many emotions in me: joy, excitement, looking...
The recorded Ogukuo

Recording and such

So Day 1 of recording is over. And we pretty much nailed it. Drums are basically done, bass is done minus 1 song (and whatever little gaps are noticed later). Guitars seem to be pretty solid, just some filling in the gaps as well, and re-recording solo stuff to really nail it. Oh yeah, and vocals of course. But those are easy (I say that having no idea whatsoever if they are easy or not, cause I'm not a vocalist, and have never recorded vocals before). But all in all, it seems to be goin really well, and Mike the engineer seems to be really fricken good at what he does.
And now we get today off and head back up there tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it. Sometime next week I'll head back into the mac lab and come up with some sorta cover art, I've got some cool ideas, its just a matter of getting them out to see them.
An interesting thing is happening with this whole "spring break" thing happening. It seems those who are still around here over break will be the people who will be around here for the summer, and its kinda cool. I like the group of people who are here, and it seems that everyone is into camping and other fun stuff, so this summer should kick a. Granted, I'll miss the people who leave, but what can you do about that? Any way you look at it, this summer should involve lots of fun stuff like camping and trips to faraway distant lands such as Sioux Falls, but it should also involve fun stuff around home, like BBQs, pool parties, lots of movie nights, general hanging out, golf, and anything else thats cheap and fun to do.
I am hungry, time for breakfast.
______ of the day: I like Who's Next, its awesome
The recording, hungry, tired Ogukuo

Of friendships and those who comprise them

Its sad how old friendships change. I've realized that over the past few days. I don't like how friendships that in the past were so important and strong just kinda fade away or change. Its amazing how we can go from seeing eachother on a daily basis to going over a year without barely communicating at all. Old friends go, new friends come, sometimes their paths cross, and thats always a juggling act. I understand that and accept it, but only because I have to, knowing its gonna happen no matter what. So what do you do? How can you build strong meaningful relationships with people who you may only know for a few years? Its unrealistic to think you'll stay in touch with everyone you are friends with, it just can't happen. Its also unrealistic to be shut off from meeting people because you know that sooner or later you'll part ways. But whats the middle ground? And how do you mix old friendships with new ones? I've ran in groups that could certainly be called quite different from eachother. So what happens when a friend from one group meets a friend from another group thru me? I mean, I'm the same person obviously, but the general feel of the groups are quite different. How will those two people, both friends of mine, get along with eachother? Is it my place to worry about that? Should I care about that? Or should I just be who I am, make friends with those around me and make the most of it?
I dunno, all I know is I love the friends I have, and the friends I had, and I'm gonna try my hardest to stay in touch with them. Sometimes I wish life were easier. Sometimes.
______ of the day: Answers, please
The friendly Ogukuo

And I won't back down...

How about a little life update, hmm? Its been a while…
So I am officially a daytime fulltimer now, although I don’t actually switch shifts til the beginning of April. I filled out all the right paperwork, and even had an interview for the position, kinda odd. Probably the only interview I’ll do at 5:30 am barefoot with the news on the TV in the background. Oh, and I forgot a tie as well :S. I’m looking forward to days, but I’m also feeling a little overwhelmed by the whole thing already, its gonna mean a lot more responsibility and it’s gonna be tough. But, fun and worth it, and they boys need the help.
I leave for Omaha on Friday afternoon for a 48 hour blitz of nonstop partying. Ok, so not really, but I will be in Omaha for the weekend. Its sorta a birthday thing (mines on Friday), but also a ‘just to get away’ thing, and a ‘visit a long lost friend’ thing. I’m sure good times will follow. And next week I make 3 trips to Sioux Falls to work on a recording with the rest of OJK. Its gonna be awesome fun. Hopefully sometime in April we’ll have the fruits of our labor packaged and ready for distribution. The line starts here to get one.
Speaking of Sioux Falls, I’ve been there 2 twice in the past few weeks to look at cars, and I’ve pretty much decided on what I want (Mazda3) now its just a matter of finding the right one for me. I’ve also been talking to banks and everyone else with money about getting a loan, and trying to find the best deal. So now, its more or less a matter of waiting for the right car to come into the lot and doing all the paperwork to make it mine. With any luck I’ll be driving a new car within the next month or so.
So all in all, life is fun and good. They say the key to happiness is money, cars, and women. All it takes for me is a car, music, and friends. And I gotta admit, multiple cars, disposable cash, or any woman don’t really seem to be anywhere on my radar screen, so I guess I’ll have to be happy being happy where I am.
______ of the day: Happy is as happy does
The busy future’d Ogukuo

This blog is short and goes down hill quickly

So I'm in the mindset of blogging, but got nothin to say really. I'm in the 'its Monday, theres too much snow on the ground, the sky is cloudy, and I had a poopy practice' mood. Stupid fingers not doin what I tell them to do. Hopefully they straighten themselves out by Friday night. I just heard someone say (in a post dinner conversation) that no person is irreplaceable. Thats an interesting thought. Its not to say that no person would be missed, but in some shape or form, anyone could be replaced. I'm guessin finding another person to fit that space would be difficult, but not impossible. Kinda a depressing thought. To make it personal for me (since I'm selfish like that) if/when I leave the greater Sioux Center area and move on with my life, the people who I know here are gonna move on with theirs. I'd like to think that my absence would be noticed, but after my roommates at the time fill my vacancy in the house, a little time will pass and I'll just be one of those people who is vaguely remembered.
Ok, I'm just gonna stop, all I'm doin is making myself depressed for no reason.
______ of the day: If it ended tomorrow, would you remember me all the same?
The Ogukuo

Why can't I lead a normal life??

Well, for Tuesday being so bad this week, the rest of the week has been quite interesting to say the least. Wednesday started by me not being able to test for my class D drivers license (my only goal for that day, sigh). Stupidly, if you test drive for you class D and slide even a little, your license is suspended. They don't just deny you the class D, they actually suspend your regular license as well. And since the roads were already slick then I figured I wouldn't risk it. And then my boss called me and said to bring an extra set of clothes into work that evening. Hmmm, I don't like where this is goin... so I figured I wouldn't need them, but I brought the extra clothes that night, and its a good thing I did. I ended up getting blizzard'd in and didn't get out of their til the middle of this afternoon, putting me at over 40 hours there (I was only clocked in for about 30 hours, we rotated times off to rest and relax away from the boys). A long time anyway you look at it, but woulda been alot worse without a change of clothes. We had 5 staff members there, no one could really get out, and no other workers could get in either. So, we had 5 staffers, and 7 boys cooped up in the house, it was fun and frustrating and nerve racking and a learning experiance and actually a blast, minus the general inconvience of the whole thing. I enjoyed it, and I know the funness will be remembered, but so will the stress and whatnot. And I actually got to take a shower in a real shower with no toilet in it for the first time in I don't know how long! Oh, and do front flips into a snow bank, that was fun too. Shouldn't have waited til after my nice warm shower to do it tho.
______ of the day: All work and all play means you're working with kids
The finally off from work Ogukuo

Good-Bye Ruby Tuesday (and good ridance)

Have you ever had a good Tuesday? I don't mean a not bad Tuesday, I mean a good one. Tuesdays always seem to be the low point of the week. Mondays suck, but everyone expects it, and at least theres a bit of freshness to them. Tuesdays just seem to have no motivation or anything to them, they are the day that just kinda slinks on by without much being accomplished or noticed. But once they are past, then the week is half over and the thought of the upcoming weekend is enough to make the rest of the week bearable. At least in my view of things, thats how the week seems to work. Any way you look at it, I'm glad the Tuesday for this week is over. Although, this coming weekend is my weekend to work, so my break doesn't really come til Monday, but a weekend still seems weekendy even if you're working for some reason. Plus, we are playing at a fairly big show Friday night, so that is something to look forward to. (insert concert plug here) 5 band line up, Benedict Affair headlining with their brand new cd available for purchase and enjoyment. First band at 8:30, doors at 8, $5 for the show, or $10 for the show and the new CD.
Ok, the whole sleeping thing hasn't exactly been resolved for me, so I'm tired even tho its about 7 hours before my bed time, so I'm gonna go take a nap.
_____ of the day: A Tuesday is a terrible way to waste 1/7 of the week
The Tuesday'd Ogukuo

News Flash...

My body hates me!! And I can't say I blame it. I've pretty much been messed up sleepwise since the TX a week ago. Earlier this week I was gettin out of bed around 7 pm, not good. Cause then I wouldn't be tired the next morning at 7 am when I was tryin to go to sleep. So yesterday I took a sleeping pill, went to bed and slept from 9 to 3 pm. Then I woke up and I've been in an odd state of wake/drowsy since then. I'm hoping that goin to bed at a regular time (for me at least) and starving myself of sleep will help me get to sleep at a decent hour today.
In other news, after several months of research and comparing and looking I bought Andrew's Boss distortion pedal off of him on a whim. It was more or less a matter of him offering, I said sure, and that was that. I like it, it sounds better than the Big Muff I tried earlier, but that may have to do with a complete lack of knowledge of distortion pedals on my part. Either way, it adds some neat sound to my general bass output. Next in line is a pedal tuner so I have something to fuss with between songs. I'm still trying to decide between an uber cheap one that will be kinda tricky to work with, or a decent one that will be nice but cost a bit more. Oh decisions.
Besides that, life has been pretty vanilla. Oh, I'm looking for a new car. Any suggestions? Right now I'm in love with the Mazda3, its small, fuel efficient, semi-cheap, and kinda zippy, a good combo in my opinion. Hopefully I can find one to test drive soon, I really would like to know what they drive like before I'm totally sold on buying one.
Ok, short post, I'm off to fold laundry (I also bake, play piano, and like long walks on the beach, any takers??)
________ of the day: just kidding
The still-tired Ogukuo

Weekend in review

Friday night: 5 straight hours of M*A*S*H, does it get any better than that?? And, I didn’t go into work til 12:30 instead of 10:30 cause I had stayed an extra 2 hours that morning. I was happy.
Saturday: Me not so happy. I got home from work at 7ish, and tried to go straight to sleep cause I needed to be at the Beej at 12:30 for TX stuff, figured 4 hours would be better than no sleep at all. Well, I figured around 10:30 am after laying in bed for over 3 hours that I just wasn’t gonna fall asleep, so I gave up and got up. TX stuff all afternoon, well, actually we were onstage for about 5 minutes, but were there all afternoon. The show itself went well, we done good. I think a lot of new people know who we are now, so hopefully they will start coming to some shows and hear the rest of our stuff. The TX as a whole was a vast improvement over last year. A lot of good acts, it seems that there are a lot more talented people in this years freshman class than last years.
Sunday: I feel asleep like a rock at 3 am, and woke up at 7, fully awake but still tired. Don’t you hate that feeling? You can’t sleep but you’re really tired. And I didn’t fall asleep again til 10:30. Then I slept straight thru til 4 pm. This overnight shift is gonna kill me. I may switch to days just to have a real sleeping schedule again.
So now I got Monday night off, then work the rest of the week til Saturday night. Don’t know of any excitement this weekend. Actually, I’d kinda like to fast-forward life to the first week of March. Starting then we (hopefully) got a show on the 9th, I getta (hopefully) go to Omaha the next weekend, and we’re (hopefully) recording our first LP the weekend after that. March is looking pretty cool weekend-wise. If all the hopefullies happen, that is.
Ok, time to go see whats on the History Channel.
_______ of the day: I saw water dripping off a roof today! w00t!
The thawing out Ogukuo

Equality Ride

Any of you heard of that? It’s a program where homosexuals (Christians, from the appearance of their website) go on a nation wide tour of Christian colleges speaking about homosexuality and its relation to religion/church/relationships with God. They are coming to Dordt March 8 and 9, I’m quite interested to hear what they have to say. I think its fair to say (not to mention obvious) that they will take the stance that homosexuality is not a sin and that those who have that sexual orientation deserve the same rights as the general population. And I’m guessing presenting such an idea at Christian colleges will probably get met with a lot of resistance, most of it wrapped in a rather unfriendly package. I’ve been reading a little bit of what people have to say on DordtTalk and the Facebook group for the event, and the general premise of it is that people are not in agreement with the messege that Soulforce (the organization behind the whole thing) is putting forth. Some of the arguments are well thought out, some are nothing more than inflammatory remarks that don’t promote healthy conversation.
If you have the time, I’d recommend looking into whats being said by both sides. I dunno the whole schedule of events, but stuff is happening March 8 and 9, and there seems to be ongoing discussions on both DordtTalk and the Facebook group for the event. Click here to see a bit of what Soulforce has to say, they have a few good articles online, the ones I read where about homosexuality in the Bible and how Dr. James Dobson views homosexuality (look under the resources tab). I’m not saying I agree or disagree with what they say or how they say it, just that knowing what they stand for is helpful in being in the discussion.
_______ of the day: Huh, I got nothing
The Ogukuo

I've seen clouds from both sides now

The show, it was good. For the most part. Looks like we're almost set up to record an LP over spring break, I'm stoked.
I'm back at work after a 3 day weekend, and I'm glad. I like the time off, but it messes with my sleeping pattern so much. The first night I went to bed around 2 am and slept til 4:30 the next afternoon. And by slept, I mean I was in bed, I probably only slept half the time. Same thing Saturday night. I forced myself up Monday afternoon at 1:30, and then took a 2 hour nap later. Ahh the bliss of being back to sleeping from 8 am til 4 pm like normal.
So lately I've really been into Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell. Only song by her I know, from Love Actually. I dunno why, but its just the song I feel like listening to now. That and Nocturne 2 by Chopin. I've decided to stop trying to play pop music on piano and focus on classical, for a few reasons. A) pop music almost never stands alone on piano, its always played with guitar and drums, etc, making it hard to practice alone, and 2) its really hard to find free sheet music for pop songs online. However, finding .pdf files of classical pieces is really easy. Nocturne 2 is my latest endevour, it'll prolly last a week or so and then I'll realize its way too hard for me and I'll give up. Its such a beautiful piece, but kinda hard to play.
Things to look forward to this week: TX rehersal on Thursday evening, and TX on Saturday. That was stupid, I shouldn't have written that, oh well. Ok, I'm done
_____ of the day: "celibrate your countries freedom by blowing up a small part of it"
The somewhat random Ogukuo

Oh, one of those blogs

I seem to be in a pattern of posting right before goin on my biweekly 3 day weekend. So, instead of dissapointing the 2.7 people who read my blog, I'm gonna keep tradition and blog, since I have a 3 day weekend coming up :).
Whats interesting is my entire 3 day weekend is going to revolve around about 20 minutes of music that are to take place Saturday evening. Yup, another OJK show. We are opening for AY (I'm too lazy to type out their name, but not too lazy to type out this whole paranthesis'd explanation). On an entirely related note, we made it in to TX. Yay, go team. Assuming the exponential drop in attendance of the TX doesn't continue, we should be playing for a good size crowd, with lights and monitors and other fancy trinkets that are neat.
Besides those two tidbits of musical funness, theres not really much to write about. Except perhaps that my landlord thinks we use too much soap when we do laundry, causing water to back up when the washing machine drains. I personally think it has more to do with an entire washing machine drums worth of water being forced into the system in about a minutes worth of time, but silly me, what do I know? I only delivered and set up washer/dryer sets for a few years of my highschool existance. Can anyone really justify the reasoning that soapy water would back up a system when water from the sink or toilet or shower wouldn't? Certainly doesn't make sense to me, but like I said, what do I know?
Ok, enough sarcasm and witty satire for now, too much sugar will give you cavities, you know.
_______ of the day: to quote a "beauty" from 'Beauty and the Geek' last night: "You can take a beauty out to the ranch, but you can't take the bikini out of the beauty" Huh??
The 'only 3 more hours' Ogukuo

I hate blogger, but love irony

First off, I'd like to offer a hearty "FUCK YOU!" to blogger and google for forcing me to switch to the new blogger. Yes, forcing, I no longer could sign in and blog, it automatically switched me to a page where I had to switch formats. I don't care if it offers more shiny beads and trinkets, I dont give a damn!! Sigh, this is what 'progress' brings us I guess. So now everyone stand in line next to me, raise your right arm to a 45 degree angle and yell "See Kyle" over and over (say See Kyle, it sounds strikingly like a certain German phrase). The Nazis had pieces of flare they made the Jews wear.
So, despite the fact that I now hate blogger, I actually have something quite amusing to post. I think its amusing at least, but I like irony. This morning on my way home from work an ad came on the oldies radio station for some call-in contest to win $1000 for Valetine's Day. It was called 'Cash for Couples' or something really cheesy like that. I was thinking to myself that if I called in and somehow won, they probably wouldn't give me the money because I'm single. Then I started stewing about the whole idea of Valentine's Day in general, and how someone renamed it Singles Awareness Day (SAD), and how everyone expects you to at least have a date on February 14. Well, I work that night anyway, thank goodness. But anyway, back to the radio, once they were done with their little schpeel about the contest, they went back to playing music, and the first song they played was Rhymin' Paul Simon's "50 ways to leave your lover." I smiled inside, oh the thought of someone at the radio station actually having a sarcastic sense of humor at the unholy hour of 6:45 am was just pure awesomeness.
So I thought I would share that bit of sarcastic irony with all of you, since I doubt anyone else was up at that hour, especially on a Saturday morning. And now, after 4 pm, its time for me to get showered, dressed, and start my day :).
______ of the day: If you don't find that at least a bit funny, I feel sorry for you
The pissed off/laughing Ogukuo

Looking for a change?

Anyone wanna move to Fluelen, Switzerland with me? I toured there a few years ago and out of all the places I visited in Europe (which was alot, although not alot of time at each place) Fluelen was my favorite. Its on the Southern tip of Lake Lucerne, about an hour from the city of Lucerne. It is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. Also one of the cleanest, drinking fountains pumped water right out of the lake, in fact its perfectly safe to drink right out of the lake, and the water has a sweet taste to it. I wish I could move there. If only I spoke French, German, Italian or Rumantsch, the four official languages of Switzerland. German is predominant in the Canton (county/state) of Uri where Fluelen is located. But, learning German wouldn't be that hard, would it? Maybe I should start doing that now. So, anyone interested in learning German and moving to Switzerland with me?
_____ of the day: mountains!!!!
The day-dreaming Ogukuo

I hate it when I write up a tiddy little article and forget a title...

So I think my little blog temper tantrum on Sunday was indeed caused by lack of sleep/wacked out sleeping sch. Now that I'm back to being up all night and sleeping all day I feel better. Of course, the question remains of what to do every other weekend when I have off. I think most of the issue stemmed from goin to bed as late as I could (somewheres around 3 am usually) and then having no reason to really get up the next day, thus causing me to stay in bed or just in pajamas around the house til about 3 pm. Kinda made me sluggish the rest of the day when I was awake. But, now I don't have to worry about it for another week and a half, so I won't. Right now preoccupying my mind is a test I need to take next week to make me certified to administer drugs to the boys at the home. I'm told its not hard, but if I screw up I have to take the class (3 hour classes on 4 different nights) over again, and I don't wanna waste the time. Plus, if I pass, I getta put my signature and initials on doctory looking forms, making me feel all medical and doctor like. Between my love for M*A*S*H, my newfound love of Scrubs, and my horrible handwriting, I'm pretty sure I was meant to be a doctor. Alas, another hidden talent that shall remain hidden.
Well, I could rant on pointlessly, but I've gotta commetment to another blog that I should fulfill, so I think I'll call it quits and write a little story or something on my xanga site.
______ of the day: zoigdorf
The easy days night Ogukuo

Sorrow and Salvation

You ever get in one of those moods where everything and everyone around you annoy the crap out of you? I'm in that mood right now for some reason. All I wanna do is listen to music (right now its Ethan Koerner playing on my iTunes) and ignore everything else around me. I think it may be because my sleep pattern is so screwed up since I'm on my 3 day weekend. As much as I like having the evenings off, staying up all night by myself sucks, and going to bed early doesn't work. I tried taking a sleeping pill to get to sleep early, theoretically allowing me to get up early the next day and actually be productive. Didn't work, ended up laying in bed (sometimes sleeping, sometimes not) for about 11 hours anyway. And then I was tired all day. So tonight I'm just gonna go to bed when I feel like it, get up when I wake up and make the most of it. And I know that tomorrow night at work is gonna really suck. Oh well, thats my life I guess.
______ of the day: "Somewhere someone is loving you"-Somewhere
The annoyed Ogukuo

For all you artsy types...

There's a gallery opening Saturday night! In the Humble Bean. If you've happened to wander in there over the past few weeks you've probably noticed some new pieces adorning the walls, those would be my photography works. I'm holding the official opening Saturday evening, starting around 7. I'll be speaking a bit about the works at 7:30. I'm also bribing people with homemade carmel fudge brownies and M&M cookies and trail mix (not homemade). The last batch of brownies was taken out of the oven 2 minutes ago, literally. So if you are interested in photography, or just like baked goods come to the Bean Saturday evening.
Ok, done with the commercial, time for a blog. Everyone is either gone for good, gone for a while, or gone to ACTF. It's fricken boring around here!!! Last night I was so bored I had a sugar packet eating contest with some random guy in the grille. Ok, just kidding, I actually worked in the darkroom a bit and (surpise!) hung out in the Bean. In a moment of optimism I bought a roll of canvas at the bookstore. I tell myself I'm gonna use it to paint on. I hope it actually sees that use instead of sitting in my basement nicely folded up holding the carpet down. I have a 3 day weekend starting in a few hours. Tomorrow night will most likely end up being wasted (the time, not me) b/c no one is really around. Saturday night will be spent doing the art opening thing and attending the Peasants concert, which will hopefully lead to some sort of social gathering back at the townhouse. I'm hoping to find someone who has cable on Sunday night because the History channel is doing a special on Fort Knox then. Yeah, I lead such an exciting life. I accidentally called a friend of mine tonight who I haven't talked to since summer, and before that for years. In my phone contacts list she is SaraH, and I was trying to call my sister, Sarah. Stupid capital letters. But it was fun talking to her, kinda like opening a time capsule talking to someone you haven't for a long time. That last sentance was poorly written, but I don't feel like changing it, you know what I mean. I'm really really tired. The past few nights (er, days) I haven't gotten more than 6 good hours of sleep each. I was gonna take a nap tonight at work, but I ended up baking 2.5 dozen cookies and two pans of brownies, it took a long time. And now its too late, not worth trying to sleep. But, 7 am is but a few hours away, and then I shall find several hours of blissful unconscieness. I'm debating about dreading my hair, what do you think?
_______ of the day: Oh goodness, what are we gonna do with you?
The baked Ogukuo

I just realized something rather odd. I wanna be single. For the time being, at least.
I was thinking thru the girls who I kinda like (all guys do that, girls do too, I'm sure) and was wondering what I would do if someone suddenly showed interest in me. Then I realized I kinda don't want that. I dunno why, I mean, I still am intersted in girls (some more than others obviously), but I realized that right now I just don't want a girlfriend. Its weird, I don't know what brought about this change, but to be honest, I'm quite thankful! I still know I want a girlfriend, but not right now. I'm rather blown away by the feeling, not used to it. Who knows, maybe its just something that will pass in a few hours, or days, or maybe it'll stick around for a while. Either way, it probably doesn't make any difference the outlook for me dating any time soon.
Well, just thought I would throw that out there for no particular reason other than I guess it would count as news.
That, and we have a new roommate who is official moved in now. Hes been in for 4 days or so, and I think I've seen him twice. Oh the crazy busy lives we lead.
______ of the day: I'm in pain from taking a spill on my bike
The limping (ok, not that bad) Ogukuo

I'm poor, no really

Its the long week, 7 nights of work in a row. And a few training classes and an inservice on infectious disease control. I learned 3 things about the flu, first that influenza is derived from the Italian word for 'influence of the stars', secend that I can catch the flu by being around others who have the flu, and third, getting a solid 8 hours of sleep will help my immune system fight off the flu. So wait, I woke up after only 5 hours of sleep to learn the root of a word, that I should avoid sick people, and that not sleeping enough increases my chance of getting sick. Hmmmmmm
I also briefly went over my incoming cash trickle and my outgoing cash dam rupture. Seems to be that by my calculations, I'm poor (financially, at least). All I can say is that health insurance is the worst idea ever, and somebody who is not me is making a whole ton of money off that idea. And, student loans are worse than a space vacuum at sucking the life out of someone. I need to come up with a great idea, like the pet rock. The guy who invented that, he made a million dollars! Either that or I need to start taking pennies from the tray (not the jar, thats for the crippled children).
I just watched a History Channel special on vampires, it was the stupidest thing I've ever seen. I'm looking forward to next weeks Modern Marvels on balls. Should be bouncing.
______ of the day: neat
The rolling Ogukuo

Short, unorganized, and boring

So yesterday when I called home (a Sunday tradition), my mom asked me if I had gone to church that morning. I, of course, said no, because I hadn't, and will probably never go to a morning service again while I have my current job. This didn't bode well with my mom, who believes I should still find a way to go to church in the morning. Well, the question of weather or not I'll be going to church in the mornings anytime soon is pretty much answered (no, duh), but it does bring up a valid question that is pretty obviously answered already too. Is it wrong for me to miss church because of my job, and my sleeping habits because of my job? Or should I just find a way to make it every Sunday morning? Despite that fact that it means either staying up about 4 hours later than normal, or start my normal sleep pattern only to get up 2 hours later? Obviously, either of these would mean that I basically would be sleeping in church, thus negating any reason for going in the first place. But, would I still earn my Heaven points for being there? Ok, I'm being sarcastic, obviously I don't think I stand in fear of being condemned for missing morning services. I won't get into a discussion about working on Sunday either, I already did that blog, mid December, I believe.
So now I leave you slightly confused, annoyed with my spelling and gross misuse of punctuation, and onto reading the next blog on your list. Have a good day!
_______ of the day: common floor spaces between lying dogs must be dangerous
The "7 day forcast for me=work" Ogukuo

Catchy witty title

Yay for good stuff and things. So yesterday afternoon I went to the bean and started laying out my photography show with Matt. After seeing what I had and where it would be displayed I have some more work to do in the darkroom over the weekend, but I should be finished and have everything up on Monday. Just in time for school to start again. Debating about an art opening, if I'm gonna have one, and what it'll be like. Dunno yet, we'll see if it happens.
So I have about 2 more hours of work, and then I'm done til Monday night, I can't wait. It'll be the first decent break I've had since coming back to SC right before New Years. 3 whole days off in a row. And next weekend I'll be taking Saturday night off cause we got a show in OC. You (yes, you) should come to it. And speaking of you, whoever you are, you should come back to Sioux Center. Soon. If Dordt is officially in your past, come back and visit! If Dordt is in your present, come back!! Ok, thats my pathetic cry for the post, I'm done.
And now, I go back and watch more Boy Meets World on the Disney Channel. I'm in love with Tapanga. At least I was when I watched the show on TGIF. Anyone else remember those good old days?
_______ of the day: Yay Friday
The 309 Ogukuo

Generic Post

Know whats semi-depressing? Hanging out with married couples. Ok, its fun. they are good friends and I love hanging out with them, but its depressing because alot of the people who are around and my age are married. Hurray for playing 3rd (or 5th) wheel!! (for those of you keeping score, chalk this one up as another 'I'm single' blog)
So my former roommate and I formulated a list of girls who I should persue. Unfortunately for me, said roomie is engaged, and therefore somewhat unknowledgeable of the current availability of the females in the area. He suggested several girls who are dating, and even a few married ones. Sigh. Once we cut out the attached girls, and those who I know would kill me in any sort of relationship, we came up with three. But really only two, cause one I barely know, and therefore wouldn’t go for. And the two remaining are awesome girls, and would probably not be interested in me. And, of course, the thought of me actually asking either of them is utterly unthinkable, as I am a coward. Perhaps I should work on that. That way I could actually ask a girl and get shot down instead of just wondering forever. I honestly don’t know which is worse. I know which is easier tho.
And thats enough on that. For tonight at least.
______ of the day: 7 work days in a row, I'm tired.
The "working" Ogukuo

Odds and ends

Nothing major to blog about.....
Heard a country cover of Hinder's Lips of an Angel, and a little piece of me died inside. Now, granted, that song was never the greatest song ever written, but it was pretty good. That is, until it got played on the radio every 2 hours for 6 months straight. And then country-ized. So, it basically went from a decent listenable song to not even worth stopping on the radio dial for.
I just looked thru a photo album for one of the boys who lives here, James. He totally rocks. Always a smile on his face. Hes one of those guys who makes you feel better about life just by being around him. And he loves to sing, its fun to listen to him too.
Its the weekend. For most people at least, my first real day off is gonna be next Friday. I have Monday off, but I'm driving down to Omaha and back then. Its not a bad thing, and I don't mind it, just a lack of free time.
Another week and people start showing up again, right? Something like that? Looking forward to it, but its also gonna be sad, because alot of close friends aren't coming back :(.
I made a batch of M&M cookies tonight, they are pretty good. I also made chicken enchiladas to cook tomorrow night for dinner. With some ambition (often lacking) and flipping thru the cook book, hopefully this will happen more often. Actually, thats my next activity for tonight, looking thru the cook book for something else that looks tasty and easy to make. With any luck I may be self-sufficent yet. Well, in the food making realm, anyway. All I need now is my own clean, large, dishwasher-equiped, pantry equiped, stainless steel kitchen. Tomorrow I work on folding clothes...
I have a slight headache. Its been coming and going for the past week or so. Perhaps a sinus thing, seems to be a common theme for the past few winters.
My soul goal for tomorrow is to replace a hose on my car and hopefully revive it to running status. Doesn't sound hard, but you have to consider my a) lack of daylight in which to operate, as I don't get up til 3 pm, and my eyes aren't open til 4 at best, and b) my extreme ineptitude with anything resembling auto mechanics. If you happen to see my trapped under the hood of a car at any point, please render all assitance possible.
Well, I think this post is odd enough to end.
______ of the day: seeing daylight again at some point would be nice.
The nocturnal Ogukuo

Happy 2007!!

Its here! Oh wait, its no different.... oh well, its a good excuse to have a party. Fun times for new years. More people that expected=awesomeness.
So heres a list of random resolutions I'm gonna make up as I go along...
1. excersize. Ok, not so random, cause I got the time at work to do it, and the reason, just lacking the ambition, working on that one.
2. find a girl. hmmm, yeah, been on the resolution list for several years now. Still hasn't happened. Perhaps it should be one of those 'I'm gonna do it if it so happens to be right' things instead of a 'I want the girl by years end' thing.
3. Adopt a pet ferrit
4. Find out the reason someone invented the buttom up fly, the stupidest idea ever.
5. Invest in a business no one has heard of now, but by years end is the biggest success ever.
6. Build my own guitar.
7. Read the LOTR trilogy and the Chronicles series.
8. Buy new socks and t-shirts.
9. Figure out how exactly Iowa Student Loans operates, as it is a great mystery.
10. Solve a Rubik's Cube in under 2 minutes.
11. Memorize my license plate number.
12. Never ever buy Barefoot champagne again.
13. Take down Decembers work sch and put up Januarys.
14. Not get bitten by a rabid dog.
15. Not get bitten by any kind of mouse.
16. Be involved in situations that lead to very amusing stories later.
17. Enjoying those moments as they happen.
18. Come and go as I please.
19. Invent something neat.
20. Shorten and liven up my blogs.
21. Go to bed now because I'm tired for some reason.
______ of the day: Does a new start mean things have to change?
The mostly unchanged Ogukuo