Catching up

Hey gang,

Haven't blogged in close to a week. I always feel like I'm describing chronic constipation when I write a sentence like that.

Anyway, here are some quick hits on things I've been doing lately, stuff I've been thinking about, etc.

I finally got a job. I'm going to be teaching for the Huntington Learning Center. I'll be helping students of all ages work on reading comprehension and math skills, and sooner or later I'll also be doing some SAT tutoring for them. The pay isn't great, but it seems like a pretty relaxed place to work, I think I'll enjoy it (I'm particularly passionate about helping kids learn to be better readers) and hey, even though they're not paying me a lot, every little bit helps. I needed me some income. My first day of training was yesterday (Thursday) and I go in for training again tomorrow morning and Sunday morning/afternoon.

Classes are going all right. I have a shitload of work to do and I'm pretty stressed out, but I think I can handle it. But until things calm down a bit (assuming they do slow down eventually, which is no guarantee), posts will probably continue to be infrequent.

Sarah Palin terrifies me. This has nothing to do with her gender and everything to do with her insane policies and beliefs. I can't believe she's actually getting a positive response from a lot of people. In fact, I'm pretty sure a lot more people would be frightened of her if she didn't sound exactly like a character from Fargo.

Speaking of Coen brothers movies, I saw Burn After Reading tonight. It's fantastic, I'd say one of the Coens' best. I should probably qualify that statement by disclosing that I haven't seen No Country For Old Men yet. I know, I'm a failure at life. I've been meaning to ever since it came out (in fact, I made more than one attempt to see it while it was in theaters, but I could never successfully recruit people to go with me), and I will probably rent or download it soon. Arrrrrrrrrrrrr, piracy. But yeah, regarding Burn After Reading, hilarious. What I love about the Coen brothers' comedies is that they mix really broad, over the top humor with some incredibly subtle, dry stuff-- and both styles work well and play off each other. In Burn After Reading, there's some really obvious-- some would say low-brow-- humor, including a few amazing sight gags (the film features probably the funniest prop I have ever seen in a movie. I will say no more). But there was also some brilliant, subtle dialogue that I think was going over the heads of a lot of people in the audience. The film ends with a conversation between two CIA officials, one of whom is played by the always entertaining J.K. Simmons (Juno's father in Juno, B.R. in Thank You For Smoking), that is one of the most well-written, understated, dry, and laugh-out-loud funny scenes in recent memory. It made me laugh until I was in pain. Just a pitch-perfect way to end the movie. And the whole cast is great-- George Clooney, John Malkovich, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, Simmons, and Tilda Swinton (whom I don't even like, usually) are all wonderful. See it. See it now. And this better get nominated for some Oscars, goddamnit. My best bet would be a supporting actor nod for Malkovich, and in a just world the Coens would score a nom for the screenplay. But considering it's a comedy, and a very snarky one at that, they might get snubbed.

I've decided to grow my hair out. Not dirty hippie long, but I think I'm gonna go for a shaggy, mop top kind of look. It occurred to me the other day that I actually have kind of cool hair, and I've probably been damaging it by wearing hats almost all the time. So I'm trying to wean myself off my hat habit. And in my first couple days of hatlessness, I think I've already noticed more attention from women. So there you have it, guys. Chicks dig your hair. Or at least my hair. Yes, I said "hatlessness" a couple sentences ago, and no, I'm not sure it's a real word. Wanna fight about it?

Even though I'm busy as hell, I'm still trying to write creatively in the limited free time I have, and I'm still planning on launching this online creative writing project I've mentioned a couple times in the past few weeks. There has been tangible progress made on this thing behind the scenes, but I don't have a timetable for when it might go live. Hopefully soon. I don't want to keep teasing you, but I figured I would just mention that I am still working on this thing and haven't given up on it.

Okay, I think that's all for now. I'll try to come back tomorrow to write something about this week's NFL games. Now I'm gonna start reading my 75th anniversary issue of Esquire, then get some sleep, and hopefully have a good day at work tomorrow. Peace out, gang. I'll be back soon.

-Nick