Guilty pleasures

Let's be honest, we've all got 'em. Those little things in life that just make us go "ahhhhhhhhh". Those refreshing things that we fall blindly loyal to and others just don't seem to understand. It's these little things that we turn to during those times when we've had a genuinely crummy day and we just need something that'll perk us up a bit.

I have many, many of these. A few that I'm willing to admit to are British humour (along with spelling things as if I were British), and basic cable television shows. Oh the joy that these low budget shows bring into my life. I love them despite the often shoddy acting, incongruous writing, and often strange cinematics. I love them all the same. One of these loves that I have developed is Psych, and the reason that I love it is because while it is a basic cable show, it does not have the flaws I listed above. The acting is wonderfully refreshing, the writing is witty, quick, and genuinely drawing, and the cinematography adds onto the unique and quirky feel of the show. This show is truly spot on, and it is easily one of my favorite comedies on television and-- I would venture to say-- one of the best written comedies on television.

Now, to satisfy this strange need to low-budget entertainment, I often must go by word of mouth. I'll check Sundance for independent films to enjoy, and general recommendations for television that I can get a fix from. But recently I stumbled upon one all on my own that I have come to love very quickly. As I was searching through Hulu for some television shows, I got an advertisement detailing a British show about a lame, clumsy, and all around awkward man who becomes a spy. I was instantly intrigued and went to go watch the Pilot episode. Upon doing so, I've fallen madly in love with the show. The acting is truly hilarious, the characters are solid-- my favorite is the super-genius, smart mouthed 9 year old that knows more than his Dad does-- and it contains some truly memorable moments. The best part about it? It's all on Hulu. All 6 episodes of this show are free to watch, any time you want. And while the first season was only six episodes, season two will return come fall, and I can hope that it will return with more than 6 episodes. If you're interested, and have 3 hours to kill, go on and watch the first season here: http://www.hulu.com/spy . I can almost guarantee that you won't regret it.

Now, speaking of returning for season 2, I am counting the days until February 12th. (3 more weeks come Sunday). Why you may ask? It's simple, really. Just a little show called THE WALKING DEAD. Oh my goodness. This show has had me captive since day numero uno. And now, a year later, I can't wait for the return. They did that truly obnoxious thing that cable shows tend to do where they start a season, then halfway through take a 2 month break, just to pick it up again. It's a budget thing, and I get it. But I hate it. I really do. But anyway, I can't wait. This show, while it is great for a nasty zombie killing and gruesome fights, has some spectacular acting during the "human" parts of it. It's an interesting look into humanity in a world of inhumanity, and really makes the audience member question "what if". And the best part is that the characters are all unique. They all respond to this horrific situation in different ways, and I love it. They each have their own unique identities, struggles, personas, hopes, dreams, and emotions. And as the show has progressed, each person's identity has come forth more and more, developing them into unique people and now pulling them in polar directions. The show's done a wonderful job, and I look forward to the 12th, and the subsequent 6 Sundays that follow.

So, if you all need me, I'll be in front of a television, enjoying my obscure shows and laughing at jokes many find stupid.

A stroke of genius amongst waves of stupidity

I feel that an epiphany has been made, one that I probably should have made a long time ago. And I think that maybe I ought to share it with the world. Or at least, with the 6 people that actually read this bloody thing. And anybody who reads to the end gets a gold star. Because this sucker is long.

I've realized that people who say that we choose who we are live in a fantasy world. Life is 90% what we are given and 10% what we do with it. We're all given problems, insecurities, situations, and downfalls that we have to overcome. These things are mostly unavoidable, and these are the things that we strive on a daily basis to hide from everybody. These are those culmination of little quirks that make us, well, us. This unique combination of quirks, attributes, feelings and responses what make us not one in a million, but one in seven billion. These are things that we cannot choose.
So only about 10% of life is choice. We choose how best to handle situations based upon what we know of ourselves. We choose how we think we ought to behave based on things society base as normal (or, as is often the case for me, behave specifically to go against the things society says are normal.) And one thing that I think we definitely choose is how we are happy.
I'm gonna take a big pause here for a second, because I think that this needs to be said: This next section is not directed towards or  meant to offend anybody at all. However, I think that one of the 10% of things we choose is what offends us. So make a conscious choice NOW not to get offended by what is said next. Cool beans? Cool beans.
I look around myself and see a lot of people who are happy. And do you know why? Because they've decided to cast aside the 90% of themselves that they can't control, and choose wisely the 10% that they can. I think that's what life's all about, is finding those things that satisfy that 10% of you, and keep your mind of the 90%. Me, I like to make other people laugh, smile, sigh, shake their heads in disgust, or just roll their eyes and say "yup, that's Tommy for ya." That's where I find my happiness. Unfortunately, this means I find my happiness in other people's happiness, which makes me a sponge of positivity or negativity, depending on what people are putting out.
I'm a strong believer in energies. I think that everybody surrounds themselves with a unique energy depending on their mood, and that there are some people who can walk into a room and just completely change the mood of everybody around them. We all know those people. The people that can walk into a room and just light it up, or the people who can suck all the happiness from a room just by being around. I try to surround myself with the former, seeing as how when even just a few people around me are in a bad mood, I tend to get in a bad mood myself. I'm not really sure why. Just part of my 90%.
Another big part of my 90% is the fact that I've been diagnosed with clinical depression. Around my 12th birthday, I began to wake up and feel miserable with no reason at all. I would get out of bed, drag myself to school, sit alone and ignore everybody, then go home and cry 'til I cried myself to sleep. This had absolutely no purpose and was one of the worst three weeks of my life. Recently, I've seen a relapse in this. While it was not nearly as bad, and only lasted for a few hours at most, I've really been trying to combat it. It's been an uphill struggle, it really has, to try to keep my mood normal enough to where I feel stable enough to even leave my dorm.
But as I reflected on a lot of things tonight, I realized that I've got a heck of a 10% to work with. While every day may be an uphill struggle, I've got 10% of my conscious effort that I can devote to making myself as happy as possible. And you know what? That's plenty for me. Maybe it's because I'm not a math person, and I think that numbers are an ambiguous way to rationalization of things we can't control. Maybe I don't understand how very miniscule that 10% is. Or maybe, just maybe, I have my numbers completely backwards. Maybe 10% of life is what we're given and 90% is what we make of it.
You know what? I like that a whole lot better than the other way around. And that's why I'm not a math person.

Working Out

I have recently come to love it. I'm not like a juice head or anything, and I don't plan on it any time soon. I don't even want to get ripped. I've just realized that I like the feeling of waking up sore. I like using my mind to push my body harder and harder, and I like seeing those small improvements I can make every day. For instance, I can now run three miles. Granted it's a ten minute mile... But not bad considering a week ago I could only run 2 miles.
It's things like that. The little subtle improvements that make you feel good. I know I didn't get that much better at running in a week, but I got that much better at mind-over-body'ing myself and pushing myself that way.
On a similar note, I would like to go to California without being COMPLETELY shown up by all the guys around me. I doubt it'll happen, but maybe I'll at least look at little bigger by then. You know, like I didn't just get imported from Ethiopia. That'd be cool.
Best experience with working out definitely came today though. It was hot as balls in the gym, because it's Saturday so everybody's at the gym. But the second we stepped outside, we got hit with a pleasantly cool breeze and ice cold rain. It chilled my sore muscles near-poetically. I love the rain to begin with, but to have it cooling me off was awesome. I love today. Happy weekend, everybody.

And now for a happy post!!

Anybody who knows me knows I love being happy and smiling and laughing. So I'd hate for my last post to be the one that appears at the top of my blog. So I'll make a new one. Maybe something a bit lighter? Methinks that'd be great.

I love the phrase "methinks". It's way underused. Like the word thrice. And "Yes'm". And phallic (that's a personal favorite of mine.) I like trying to find ways to use old and outdated phrases or words like these. One that I was thinking about recently was "screwing the pooch." Why is this phrase even remotely acceptable? I mean no matter how you look at it, it's about bestiality. So why is it that my grandmother who says "Oh my stars" will talk about screwing the pooch? It's just kind of a strange analogy for anything. Next analogy they need to come up with should be about abortions, while we're at it. You know, instead of telling somebody "don't give up" we could tell them "Don't give it the ol' coat hanger just yet". Wow, that's actually pretty good, I may just start using that...

Hi, I'm Tommy, and I sell pest control

I'm not James Franco. I do NOT love jobs. I don't like working, and I especially don't like walking around in the freezing cold 'til I lose the ability to feel my fingers and toes. That is not my idea of a "pleasant experience". In fact, quite the opposite is true. Especially when in the course of that I mostly get to hear the phrase "No thank you" or "I'm not interested" or, the best yet, "now's not a good time." Half the time these are said with such disdain that I feel as though I've literally worsened the person's day knocking on their door. It's a discouraging and genuinely miserable experience. I hate feeling unproductive, and over the course of doing this job that's practically all that I've felt.
And who wants to think about pests when it's 30 degrees out? No bugs are out yet. Not even the bugs want to be outside, so why am I? I feel as though I'm genuinely wasting my time when I'm working. I've sold so little, and I'm just continuing to have doors closed with no success.
I'm sorry that this isn't the happiest post. I wish my second post was a bit happier, funnier, or perhaps wittier. I'll post another one that's a little better, I promise. I feel better having ranted.

First Post!!

For a long time, almost a year, I have been debating getting a blog. As a writer, this should have been an obvious choice for me to do.But a few things held me back
1) Lack of a witty title. I couldn't come up with anything that a neat, funny, or clever for a title. I felt like everything I came up with (including the current title) was quite stupid.
2) Lack of things to write about. I like writing fiction. My life is stupid and boring. This blog will probably comprise mostly of pictures, because I remember things through pictures.
3) Lack of time. As I was beginning college, I was contemplating getting a blog to talk about things that I was experiencing at college. However, I feared my time would be occupied (as it was.)
Now I feel that I should let you know why I decided to get a blog
1) I'm hilarious. Sharing my gift with the world would just be throwing it away. Except I'm not that conceited so I'd never say anything like that.
2) I love writing. I really do. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to write more. I like writing short skits and comedies and such, but I feel doing any writing will benefit me and help me decide if I want to write for my profession.
3) I read several people's blogs over my Winter Break, and loved them. I liked reading about my friends and getting to know them a little deeper through their blogging. Was it a waste of time? Definitely. Did I get to know my friends better? Absolutely? Was it creepy? Only slightly.
So here it is. My blog about blogging, writing, and living. Thus the title. Plus it's written by me, so I feel the term "hyperactive" was all too appropriate.