Hour 24: Cartoons

I like cartoons. There was this great cartoon show on Cartoon Network called Samurai Jack about this Samurai who was about to defeat the bad guy, but then the bad guy sent the samurai way into the future.  The samurai has to find a way to get back to the past so that he can stop the bad guy before he takes over the world and makes the future crazy treacherous.  The show was cancelled before it was given an ending, but there was this awesome episode where Jack finds out about a man with a portal to the past.  The man is the guardian of the portal and is only allowed to let the chosen one through.  Jack fights the guardian and loses.  The portal glows all funky like and the guardian then understands that Jack is the chosen one, but is not yet ready to go back to the past.  Having this episode in mind, and the backstory and history that was put into this series, I’m really comfortable not having an ending to this series because it really is implied (that said I would never turn down a real conclusion to the series. The villain of the series was voiced by a guy named Mako who died recently so that sucks big time.

Speaking of Mako, have you seen Avatar the Last Airbender? Oh man, what a great show. I like when Aang says “Baby, you’re my forever girl.”

Hour 23: 80’s Movies

Have you seen Uncle Buck? Oh man, that movie is great; I like when he makes that big pancake. Have you seen Back to the Future? Oh man, that movie is great: I like the part where Marty’s Mom thinks his name is Calvin Cline. Have you seen Christmas Vacation? Oh man, that movie is great; I like when the old aunt wraps her cat as a present. Have you seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off? Oh man, that movie is great; I like the part when Cameron says “Call me, Sir…” Have you seen Back to the Future Part II? Oh man, what a great movie; I’d love to have that sport’s almanac and a hover board. Too bad Back to the Future Part III was made in the nineties. Have you seen Ghostbusters? Oh man, that movie was great; I like how you’re not supposed to cross the streams. Have you seen Cloak and Dagger? Oh man, that movie was great; Jack Flack was the coolest. Have you you seen Beaches? I haven’t. Have you seen Honey I Shrunk the Kids? Oh man, what a great movie; I like the part where they find the big oatmeal cream pie. Have you seen Labyrinth? Oh man, what a great movie; I like the part where David Bowie sings that song about voodoo. Have you had Tron? Oh man, I like that movie, but I fell asleep during it. Have you seen Harry and the Hendersons? I haven’t, but I like John Lithgow, and I think there’s a part at the end of the movie where he wears shoes to leave “Harry” tracks to confuse the bad guys. I like 80’s movies better than I thought.

Hour 22: Awkward Moments

I once had an interview with someone I had met briefly before. I was nervous and in interview mode and said “It’s very nice to meet you,” and she said “It’s very nice to see you again, MIke.”

I spilled milk all over my pants at that same interview.

Last week I called one of the church members the name of another church member and it was not thrilled about it.

Hour 21: Pet Peeves

There are two things I really do not like. I hate when a book is held open by placing in the page face face down so that the binding is pointed up. I hate weakening the binding of books like that. Especially comic books. The same thing happens when you pull the cover and the pages over the back cover while you a reading. That for some reason does not bother me as much (unless it’s with a comic).

I also hate chewing gum.  I understand it’s practicality and I will take advantage of it sometimes, but I think it’s super gross. I hate it so much that I am significantly less likely to like someone if they are chewing gum when I meet them. I don’t mind when my friends chew gum though (even though I wish it did not exist). Gum is yucky yucky.

Hour 20: Most Influential Year in Skool

I had several particularly influential years in skool.  In fifth grade my teacher really pushed me to be actually be a student and started to help me become who I am today. In seventh grade I made friends that helped me through high skool, friends who I still several times a year at garden parties and Christmas Eve brunch, and surprise visits. When I was a sophomore I had a teacher who taught me improv comedy which is one of my biggest passions, when I was a junior I became friends with Kyle Cowser (that guy cries a lot). When I was a senior I began developing the leadership opportunities that defined my years at Purdue.

My most influential year in skool was my junior year of college.

Hour 19: My Biggest Fault

My biggest fault is that I wanted to play 24 hour blog day, and it I still have five hours to go and I just want to go to bed.

Hour 18: Super Powers You Wish You Had

I want two. I want to be able to fly and I want to be able to run like the Flash. If I had to choose I would pick flight. I don’t know how I would like to fly though. I really love the idea of being able to fly with giant wings like Angel from the X-Men, but the idea of free flight like Superman or Ms. Marvel would be really great too.  It would be practical to not have wings for things like aerial battles and getting people off the top floors of burning buildings. Giant wings are just cool.

I’d also really like to run fast. The Flash is really cool.

Hour 17: Someone/something You Always Wished You Were

This is interesting because this is how I used to live my life up until about my junior year of high school. I would pick a fictional character from television and try to be him. I most often related with Shaggy from Scooby Doo which is appropriate for someone going through an identity crisis.  I know it’s the same old song for me, but it’s 2:30 in the morning and I’m tired, but I’ve always wanted to be Spider-Man.

Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman Spiderman

Funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy funny guy.

Brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains brains.

Nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy nice guy.

I want to be everything I am and I want to be everything I can be.

Hour 16: Mundane Talents or Skills

The Ability to Retell Events Exactly the Way They Happened: Sure this ability can prove useful in events like relaying facts while on trial in court, or writing a summary of an important business meeting, but wow it would suck to have to listen to anecdotes.

Man 1: I caught a fish today.

Man 2: How big was it?

Man 1: It was about a foot long.

Not interesting. This is how that story should be relayed.

Man 1: I caught a fish today.

Man 2: How big was it?

Man 1: It was a Leviathan and it tried to eat a small village, but I slayed it with my fishing rod. I had a really big hook and some good lures.

Pretty darn interesting.

Hour 15: Cleveland

All I know about Cleveland I learned from Bowling for Soup.  They have a song called “Ohio.” It’s about a girl who runs away from Texas to Cleveland with a gentleman she met at the bank name Leland.  The singer addresses that there is nothing wrong with Ohio except for the inclement weather and that it is even home to such treasures as Drew Carey and The Rock ’n Roll Hall of Fame.  He tries to convince her why she should come back to Texas. It is unclear whether or not she comes back, but I like to think that she does.

Post 14: Better Creatures: Dogs vs. Cats

I have to say I’m on the sides for dogs. I like cats, but man I hate the way they’re like, “yea, I’m a cat. I’m adorable and you want to pet me,” but really they want you to pet them, but trick you into thinking you want to pet them.

Dogs are at least honest about it. They’re all like “I’m-a-dog-please-pet-me-please-pet-me-I-really-want-you-to-pet-me-I’m-cute-right-oh-I-want-you-to-think-I’m-adorable-I’ll-love-you-forever-if-you-just-feed-me-and-pet-me-and-throw-some-sticks.”

I like my dog Sadie, and I like my cat Cosmo, and Wendy Eli’s cat was ok and I do like my sisters dog Rocco. Kittens and puppies tie because they are both awesome.

Hour 13: Irrational Fears

I have an irrational fear of botulism. I don’t even know for sure what botulism is! I heard about it last summer for the first time when I was reading comics at Borders I read a story about a guy who was the last surviving male on the planet. He caught a mysterious illness and everyone thought he was dying of the virus that killed off all the men. It was really just botulism and they saved him.

I do know that botulism comes from improperly canned food and Tom says that it is a toxin created by a bacteria that lives in airless environments (like cans!).

Last week I broke my can opener in an attempt to make a tuna sandwich (it was delicious, tuna and pepper jack on toasted pretzel bread) and almost didn’t eat it (because man, botulism, amirite?). I considered storming Snomageddon to buy a new can opener, but hunger kicked in and a three quarters open can of perfectly good tuna so I just sucked it up, bent the lid off, and enjoyed a delicious sandwich and reveled in the fact that I had a grownup snow day.  I did however go out to the grocery store the next day to buy tuna with the pull tabs on it. I also bought grape soda, Swedish fish, and milk. I really enjoy grocery shopping.

Hour 12: Christmas

I suppose that when we were taking topics, Christmas was rather relevant.

I am not the biggest fan of tradition.  Really it makes me feel a bit stifled. I hate being told to do something because it just how things have always been done.  That said I love being invited to share in the traditions that are very important to people.  And I love the traditions we had at Christmas time when I was growing up.

By the time I was in high school we started going to a Christmas tree farm and cutting down a real Christmas tree. This was one of the most exciting things that had ever happened to me (I lived a quiet sheltered childhood); up until this point we had used the same fake Christmas tree.  We did this for the next several years.

One year my brother Billy and my sister Jennie got into a huge fight, and my brother had to walk home. Another year Jennie got her hand shut into the car door. Every year my brothers and sisters threw each other into the snow and put snow down each others coats.  By the time we got the tree home we were all pretty board.

One year we did not go to the Christmas tree farm because the miniature evergreen in front of our house decided to not be miniature any more and started growing into our house so my dad cut it down (free tree!).

Other traditions include but are not limited to listening to N’Sync Home for the Holidays and Barenaked for the Holidays, and drinking eggnog from my grandfathers coffee mug.

Hour 11: 12 Rhyming Couplets

 

Blog Blog Blog Blog Blog Blog Blog Blog

I drove to Katie’s through the fog.

 

Settle down you poet man

I will bake you marzipan

 

Lady’s love Frank’s big deck.

My favorite film is Blank Check.

 

Your futon has lots of locker space

Is that where you keep your hidden mace.

 

Your yellow coat is not that big

I enjoy these Newton’s fig.

 

Sophie made my coat a bed.

The roads are slick with caution tread

 

You’re cooler than a fanny pack

I need five more cut me some slack?

 

I like how he raises one eye brow

In German a woman is called Frau.

 

Chase Bank is right across the street.

We seven women are a fleet.

 

Do I spell it gray or grey?

Who’s the lead in the play?

 

Wrote a report on the Korean War?

something something something dance on the floor.

 

One more three minutes

Look! Naughty bits

Hour 10: What is One Place You Have Always Wanted to Visit

The Future. That is really the only place I have always wanted to visit.  When I was little I used to watch the Back to the Future trilogy and I was heart broken because I knew that time travel was not real. I think a lot about what I would say to me if the past me ever just showed up to hang out.  Like in the movie The Kid with Bruce Willis.  Jean Smart has this awesome line where she says that if the little kid version of herself ever showed up she would just say “Sweetheart, everything’s going to turn out just fine.” I don’t think I would say that. I might be a bit nicer to little kid Mike, but man, teenage Mike needs to shape up, and College Mike just needs a little direction.

I imagine a conversation with twelve year old Mike would go something like this:

10 Year Old Mike: Do we grow up to be a teacher or a baker?

Me: Not a baker. I’m working on the teacher one.

10 Year Old Mike: Do we become an actor: We are really bad at acting, but we work on it and get ok. You find something you’ll like better than acting.

10 Year Old Mike: We probably marry Amy Koester, huh?

Me: No, but she’s still a fantastic friend. Also she is a Librarian.

10 Year Old Mike: Beth?

Me: No, she’s dating some guy with long hair and a nice smile. She becomes a bird doctor.

10 Year Old Mike: Do we still hang out with Amy, Melanie, Beth, Sam, and Erica?

Me: Most of them. And start reading comic books. You’re about to miss out on some really great Spider-Man comics.

Hour 9: Utopias

Ok so I’m beginning to go stir crazy.

Utopias are interesting. If I were able to make a utopia right now, I would live in a mansion with all my friends. It would be big enough that we would all have our own space, but we’d get do to sweet hangouts all the time in the library, or the war room, or the movie theater, or the kitchen.  We’d host fancy parties and we’d have a sweet robot butler.

Also winter would go through the month of January with crazy snow storms and cold weather and it’d be super gloomy, but then it would be February and the weather would go up into the forties and fifties. Then in March it would just be spring until Summer which would never get too hot, but totes hot enough to go swimming every day.

I would teach high school or middle school English in a nearby town.  I would also make like a million dollars every paycheck.  And I would fly to work with an ecofriendly jetpack to work.

Hour 8: Theme Songs for Different Moods and Moments

I am not a music guy. I’m really not. I love music. I love that Andrew Preston opened my new improv group’s first show last night by playing guitar and making up a song. I love parties where there are people who are really passionate about music playing instruments and rocking out. I wish I was talented in that way.

At work, when we’re having a bad day we listen to “You Make My Dreams Come True” by Hall and Oates.  My iTunes once played a song I skipped through because I did not want to think about the person I associate it with and then it played the exact same song again (iTunes was picking on me). 

There’s this great song by Patrick Park called “Something Pretty.”  It’s a great song about where I’ve been recently. I’m just now getting everything together and becoming who I want and need to be.  “I’ve known ugliness, now show me something pretty.”

Hour 7: Review Ultimate Comics

Ultimate Spiderman is my favorite comic book. Oh man oh man oh man is it my favorite comic. I started reading this comic around issue ten or issue eleven. Everyone who has ever heard me talk about comics have probably heard all about this. Towards the end of 2000, Brian Michael Bendis wrote Ultimate Spiderman issue one and it was supposed to be a big flop. The idea was that the The Amazing Spider-Man was almost five hundred issues worth of stories so they would retell the story of Spider-Man as if he was bitten by the spider today instead of 1963 in order to get more readers. If history repeated itself this would be a gigantic flop. History did not repeat itself. I read a review for this once that said “Marvel’s biggest mistake was making an alternative universe better than their main universe.

The great thing about Ultimate Comics is that Brian Bendis is not working with the original recognizable versions of Marvel Comics. He can do things like make Mr. Fantastic snap and become the greatest villain these heroes have ever faced. He can make the Thing’s rocky exterior a cocoon preparing him for his real power so he can become a new hero simply called Purple Ben. Spider-Man is a high school student. He didn’t go to college in twenty-some issues. After 150 plus issues, Spider-Man has aged only a year and dated Kitty Pryde from the X-Men (who he broke up and then she got kicked out of Xavier’s school and transferred to his...awkward). The series took a new direction around issue 134 (which was renumbered as issue one) and focused even more on Peter’s relationships. Aunt May takes in the Human Torch and Iceman. Also Peter Parker has a female clone who made out with his best friend.

Hour 6: Friends

Ohmigoodness ohmigoodness ohmigoodness. I have fifteen minutes to write this post.  I have lots of friends. I have a friend named Joe who is sitting in front of me. I have a friend named Mary who is telling me how easy it is to make cookies from scratch and that people are silly for making the premade cookie dough cookies.  My friend John is participating in blog day but he using his type writer and scanning the pictures. My Friend Andrew is in town from Louisville, Kentucky. I am in an improv group with my friends Tim, Matt, and Katie. I have a friend who is really tall named Shauvon and he is fun to give hugs to. I have a friend named Lauren who is a girl and I have a friend named Kelsey and she is also a girl. I have a friend named Tom, but his real name is Athanasios, but some people know him a Crazy Tom.  I have friends from middle school who are Unapologetically Sexy, which is an inside joke that started on the deck in my backyard which surrounds my swimming pool.  My mom thinks it is cool that my dad and I are becoming friends because we get dinner and I ask him about politics. I have friends at work who I play intramural sports with. My friend Ian comes to visit me sometimes and we do the best hangouts. I miss my friend Sam who I used to hangout with a lot, but he moved. I had friends when I was little and we rode the bus together and had adventures. My friend Kyle moved to Boston and I love him so much that I drew a picture of him on a Starbucks Coffee sleeve.  My friend Eli is super stylish and rides a bike and has a cat.  My friend Logan is really out going. I have a friend name Will who is really nice even though he pretends to be mean. My friend Pat said “vom” in place of “vomit” and it was really funny. My friend Gen is one of the best female improv comedians I have ever worked with. I miss my friend Tricia because I don’t know where she moved to. My friends Stephanie and Amanda are two of the greatest women I have ever met. I had some friends who are not my friends anymore and that sucks big time. My mom is my friend; she listens to all my stories. I’m really a very lucky guy.

Hour 5: Alter Egos

In the mid nineties I used to watch Spider-Man the animated series. My mom bought me a bunch of Spider-Man action figures for Christmas one year (I still have some) and I would make up a bunch of stories for the toys to act out.  One day a kid from my neighborhood gave me a Peter Parker action figure because he thought it was stupid. I thought it was the best.

When I watched the show, I enjoyed the high octane super hero action, but what I loved was Peter Parker.  He was this genuinely good guy that people were drawn to.

I wanted to be him.

During college I found myself pulled in more directions than I preferred. I was working a pretty stressful job, taking my most difficult and important courses, a senior member of my improv group, and trying to maintain my relationships. It hit me that I was Peter Parker. Now this is really nothing special, Peter Parker is an everyman and most people should be able to relate to him.

One of the biggest themes of Spider-Man is responsibility. Peter Parker has so much of it, he regularly lets his friends and family, and the ladies down by not being there as often as he should. I didn’t have the excuse of fighting super villains, but I was so busy I was missing out on some parts of life that I should not have been missing out on. So maybe I had the good qualities of Peter Parker, I hope I do, but it was a weird realization that I also exhibited his more negative qualities.

Hour 4: Methods of Destroying Traffic

Have you ever seen the movie “Double Double Toil and Trouble” starring twin sensation Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson? I don’t remember much about it, but I know there is a scene in the movie where the evil wittch uses her magic witch powers to change the traffic light from red to green because even though she is a bad guy she still abides by the traffic laws.

This is an ineffective method of changing traffic both in real life and in the movie.  In the movie the witch is lazy (a common trait for villains) and only changes her traffic light and not the traffic light of oncoming traffic (rookie mistake) which causes a car to almost crash into her car (maybe it did crash, I don’t remember I saw the movie almost twenty years ago). In real life that might clear traffic up in one area, but it would just make traffic worse in another area.  Plus if everyone was using magic witch powers to change traffic lights then traffic lights would pretty much just act as stop signs.

Solution: Have you ever read/seen the crucible?

Hour 3: Childhood Memory

I’m only supposed to write about one childhood memory.  It’s weird that when I had to write about the funniest moments of my entire life I couldn’t think of any, but now I have to write only one childhood memory and it’s so hard to just pick one.

I remember going on adventures with my brother and my neighbors. Our parents used to call us the Bus Stop Boys.  We would go into the forest in the my backyard and build forts and fight bad guys from the video games we played and the cartoons we watched.  One time I remember the “big kids” picked a fight with us and tried to take our fort (which I’m pretty sure was their fort to begin with). I’m not sure what happened, but I told them they couldn’t have it, they said some swears, chased me around the forest, and then we called it a day. I got in trouble when I went home for repeating what the big kids said to me because I did not realize they were swears. Injustice.

I also used to wear a towel as a cape and fight bad guys. Would that still count as a childhood memory if I did that Thursday at work?

Hour 2: Funniest Moments

I don’t think I am a particularly funny person.  I’m not quick enough.  But I surround myself around funny people.  I used to be a little insecure around two of my best friends at Purdue because I felt like all I did around them was laugh at their cleverness.  I felt sort of like I was hogging laughs and not contributing to the jokes. They are both two of the most sincerely nice people I have ever met and they are both very intelligent which is very clear through their humor.

The same goes for my brother. During my freshman year of college my parents picked me up from Purdue to go watch my brother’s baseball game at Wabash College.  Afterwards we went to a Pizza Hut and I could barely eat because he was making me laugh so much. I have no idea what we were laughing about, but it was a great moment.  We don’t get along very well which sucks but even when I’m angry at him he still makes me laugh.

Self Evaluation: I’m not the funniest guy, but I laugh all the time. I have the funniest friends.

Hour 1: Best of 2010

My Last Days at Purdue: 2010 marked the beginning of my last semester at Purdue.  It was a rough start and I made a lot of mistakes, but man was it the best.  I took my first honors course and my first graduate course this semester which was a great challenge to keep me focused.  I remember spring coming out of nowhere and playing a lot of four square.  Also Kyle Cowser came to visit from Boston. Also I hung out with my neighbors all the time.  Also Clinton sucks big time.

Living at Party Central: Party Central is the Crazy Monkey legacy apartment. Six of my friends have lived in this apartment at one point or another since 2007 and I am honored to have claimed residency there.  I spent two months there with my friend John and my friend Eli’s cat Wendy.  I would wake up at four in the afternoon, make dinner (usually eggs, rice, vegetables, and sometimes Ramen), sometimes I would go to Borders and read comic books which is probably the reason they are going out of business, then I would go to my night access clerk job around 10:30pm and I’d spend the night eating snacks and playing on the internet.  Some days the Franklins would come to visit, or would have me over for barbecues and card games. Also Clinton sucks big time.

My First Grownup Job: My boss at First Street Towers helped me get a job at St. Joseph’s College working in housing and residence life.  It’s a great first job and I’m very lucky to have it. I have a sweet apartment on campus with a big bookshelf, and a teapot, and a coffee table, and a reclining chair, and networking bamboo, and curtains, and a bathroom, and a coat tree, and a PlayStation 2, and a bunch of snacks.  The job has killed my Monday through Thursday social life, but I am starting to become a part of the Rensselaer community. The even know me by name at the grocery store (I go there a lot). Also Clinton sucks big time.

24 Hour Blog Day

About two months ago some friends and I decided to have a 24 Hour Blog Day, much like Scott McCloud’s 24 Hour Comic Book Day. We each wrote two different topics and put them in a wooden box. With the exception of our own contributions the topics will by a surprise. At the top of each hour for twenty-four hours we will draw a new topic. Each post must be a minimum of one five sentence paragraph and must be posted at the end of the hour that it is drawn.

Check out the participants:

• Tim
• Kathy
• Joe
• Matt
• Johnr
• Andrew
• Lauren
• Elijah
• Amanda
• Tom
• Katie