Well... Now What?

I woke up in Laconia this morning, bleary eyed, getting told we were going out on the boat cause it turned out today was a nice day. After fumbling around for my Nalgene, I drank some water and proceeded to see if I'd gotten any messages. No messages, but a reminder from my Google Calendar, "Blog Anniversary."

Yeah, I didn't realize it'd been that long either. And while this blog has fallen into severe disrepair, it's always nice knowing that should I ever feel the need to post something on the internet longer than 140 characters, I can. And now, watching the Celtics go up against the Heat in game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, having exhausted my extensive supply of webcomics to read, social media to catch up on, and memes to peruse, that I write an anniversary post on the big elephant staring me in the face: I just Graduated.

College was great. I wouldn't say I loved every minute of it because A, I'm not a liar and B, because I didn't. It's impossible to love every minute of college, because college itself is usually the worst part of the college experience. Especially this last semester, I gave myself a solid self five every time I went to class, because it would've been soooo much easier to just stay in bed, or hang at the apartment or listen to music in WMUA's Vinyl Closet or go to the U-Pub or... You get the point.

Yes, I did look this up.

But I did go to class, I did graduate, and I did have the time of my life the last four years. But now I've graduated, and after a brief postponement between staying in Amherst and going on a weekend road trip, I'm home, my money is dwindling, and I need to get a job.

"What job are you looking for Jim?" Well that's the million dollar question isn't it. I'm going to be honest, still have no idea. I've started working a few things out in my head. Nothing that's going to make or break any job offers that come down the line, but I think when it comes down to it, I'll know if a job is or isn't for me.

"So why're you writing a blog and not out there trying to find your dream job?" Well, first of all, it's 9PM. Business hours are over. Second of all, pending approval on my woefully out of date resume, I could start tomorrow! Which is good. Because no work and all play makes Jim a broke boy. 

I guess that's my next step then. Job. Jobbing it up. Becoming a real adult. So maybe I can do that with my blog, talk about stuff Job related... Nahhhhh. Too serious for my liking. I'll keep it loose. I'll post whenever, maybe more often now that I'm really unemployed and without anything to do. But I've said that I'd post more before, so take it with a grain of salt. 

Hugs and Kisses,

Jim

The Bizarre Dreams of Jim Redding

Okay so I just woke up from a dream. It started as I was a little kid going on a walking tour of Amherst as a grade school field trip with my roommate Andy. Then somehow it wasn't Amherst but the road that I get off Route 2 onto to get to Amherst, but it was still the place we were supposed to be. Now in reaity this is just a long stretch of road with some gas stations, a batting cage, a mini golf course, and an ice cream shop on it. Those were all there albeit on a much smaller scale. Also, this outdoor road somehow ended up in some kind of mall food court. But there were only two places in it, and one guy working the two places. It just so happened that my friend Beckett was said guy. Apparently we could only order after getting selected. By this time I was the right age again. Beckett's first pick was my friend Brian who I had apparently been standing next to the entire time. The menu options were only chicken cutlet sandwiches. After Brian ordered I got picked next. But now the menu options were only roast beef sandwiches. I remember I thought about getting two roast beefs, and a small soda, cause I'd just refill it with water in the bubbler after. But I ended up ordering a double roast beef sandwich. With bacon. So as Beckett put this into the machine that produced the roast beef, a siren or something went off and everyone was looking at me wondering why I hadn't taken my tee shot yet. I was now Christopher Chance, the guy from Human Target, and I was on a golf course. I had never played golf before but I knew the basics and being this guy I was just naturally good at everything. So I step up to take my shot, which was now not my tee shot, but my approach shot, and I got it real close to the hole. Then as I turned my back to the hole, and put my club over my shoulder, and the view switched to a camera angle facing me as a mid-close up, where somehow you could see me and also see the ball, in focus, some long distance away, roll and roll and roll into the hole. It was a hole in one I guess. So then as I'm walking to get my ball, I started talking to Winston, Chance's partner on the show, over the radio, the view switched to him, and next thing you know, some random chick starts talking to him, he realizes she's packing heat, he yells and tells me the op is blown over the communicator, and then next thing I know he tackles me into a portal or something, then I think I saw zombies or something. The next thing I saw was my mom opening my door asking me if I had anymore laundry in my room. I told her I put it all by the laundry machine.

That last part actually happened, but the rest of it was just as real. If anybody can tell me what my dream meant, please, enlighten me. But as far as I can figure, sometimes a dream is just a dream.

Adventures in Radioland

Week 3 of classes is in the hole, but more importantly week 3 of Music Salad Sandwich has blessed the airwaves. If you haven't heard Kevin and my latest adventure on the airwaves, I must say I think we're outdoing ourselves. Last year, our brutal taskmaster of a program director came to us mid-semester and basically told us, "Listen guys, I don't want you playing any music that has ever been played on any other station, and I don't want you talking more than three or four times an show." Fearing for our infant show's life we accepted these terms and conditions.

But now it's a new year, and a new show, with a new program director. We're making the rules this year. As well as having our intern Mariah on the phones Kevin and I really have a lot more of our creative juices flowing at midnight, instead of 2 AM.

Point in case, on our way to the Station last night, we drove by the Rotary by Totman that we see every day. This time I stop to ask Kevin what he thinks is going in the middle of it. Before we even park the car down the road, we've got it. UMass's greatest alumni, back to back buddy cop style. That's right, Bill Cosby and Dr. J. Can you imagine, driving down the longest street through campus, only to find the literal gold at the end of the rainbow? That's right, not only is it an amazing statue, it is also an amazing gold statue. It would make everyone on campus's day. Imagine the nice warm spring sun gleaming upon the golden statue as snow slowly seeps off, revealing the heroes of UMass under the tundra. There would be absolutely nothing better.

Now we know, this idea has not only made your day, but your lives. We get it. This is everyone's dream come true. We don't need a lot of recognition, names on a plaque perhaps. But what we do need, is everybody's signature. If you're interested in this beautiful, priceless statue adorning our unworthy campus, write on the Music Salad Sandwich wall, through either the link up there, the link at the bottom of the page, or http://www.facebook.com/pages/Music-Salad-Sandwich/141646119211523 for all of you who are reading through Facebook and let us know you're interested. Tell your friends, get them in on this. Who knows, maybe we can actually get this dream realized!

Jim's State of The Union

So tonight was the first real night in the apartment. Everyone's settled in. We all woke up and ran some errands. Hung around all day, grilled dogs and burgers while we played a little catch on the front lawn. Then to top it all off we rented Repo Men off OnDemand and had a little movie night. The guys all went to bed, but I'm a bit of a night owl so I'm up and watching the last half of Criminal Intent before SVU comes on in a few minutes.

Being here with the guys, hangin out, talking, broin' out (yes, separate from hangin' out) and even just sitting watching TV makes me realize that this; right here; this apartment, this year, this college, this life, that I am living, is the prime of my days. I arguably couldn't be happier with the situation. I mean, sure, there are things I want to change, like I'm sure I'll dislike a class or two, I'll wish I had a better situation with some girl, and I'll wish I had a bigger budget to buy more video games, but on the whole, I am very pleased with my situation in life as a whole. I mean as far as the good life is concerned, I'm livin' it.

I guess I'm going to keep this one short. But the brevity is not for lack of emphasis. Trust me, the emphasis is there, and there's a whole bunch of it. We're keeping this one short, due to the fact that I think you guys might get a little annoyed with me rubbing it in your faces that right now, my life is incredible.

Procrastinating!

So as I sit here, "packing" and "getting ready to go back to school tomorrow," I'm doing what I do best, procrastinating, and what I do moderately well, blogging (in my opinion.) I can't help but be nostalgic on this summer, which in my books will be known as the summer of SVU.

Sure, the beginning of the summer held trips to Los Angeles, Amherst, and the movies, as well as heart-breaking losses, cherished covers, and theories about Zombies, as well as books galore. I read about 8 or 9 books, plus about 9 or 10 graphic novels. And then, on June 3rd, I was bored, and found that 10 seasons of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit were on Netflix. OOOOHHHH BABY. It took me approximately 74 days, to finish SVU but man, was it worth it. I'd always liked the series, and watching all of the seasons really made me like it that much more. I got to see plot lines beginnings and ends, the characters grow and mature, and the series progress ten years over this summer which has been really cool. Now I miss it. But new episodes start up this fall! :D

I was able to watch this much TV in this much time because of my work schedule. Don't get me wrong, work was all well and good, but every Friday and Sunday for the last half of the summer, I had to get up and go to work, which was definitely a damper when Friday and Saturday nights were the only nights of the week when the guys could hangout. So when they were working Monday through Friday, and not wanting to hang out cause of their early mornings during the week, I had a bunch of time to sit around and hang out with my good friends Elliot, Olivia, John and Fin.

But that's not to say that I wasn't active. I went and gym'd it up for a majority of the summer. Monday through Thursday for reasons already explained. That was a good thing! Right? And work was fun from time to time. Two of my co-workers, Daria and Zack as well as myself decided to make Lacrosse Pennies for the Garden Center. The first ones we ordered were too big, and the second ones aren't done yet but no worries. Next summer.

Next summer will be bigger, badder, and a lot more fun. I'll be 21, friends will be off interning in various places I can visit, and they'll be 21 too! That's not to say I want school to fly by though. With a schedule first semester as sick as this, and roomates like Jake, Andy and my bro-host Kevin (Late Night Window returns Tuesday mornings at Midnight this fall!) this is going to be a fun year. SO PREPARE YOURSELF FOR MORE NERDVENTURES COMING YOUR WAY! UNTIL NEXT TIME!

VIVE LE TROIS DE FIN DE LA SEMAINE!