78. Things that are fun:

(In no particular order, but primarily based on empirical, real-life experience from the last few days)

- Rock Band. Have we discussed this yet?

- St. Paddy's Day parties with lots of friends, lots of green, lots of Guinness.

- Mustache March (which I, sadly, have not participated in yet; but seeing as how it's been three days since I last shaved, were I to choose to participate, I'd be well on my way to a full-grown beard in about 11 days--give or take a day--which I could then fashion into a mustache of my choosing for a self-imposed very limited time only.)

- Teaching the kids at Sunday School. Even though it means I have to miss the church service (and, to be perfectly honest, I was pretty cranky about having to miss my time of fellowship and worship this week), it's time well-spent. Kids remind me to be young and silly, especially when I need it.

(To wit: we discovered that the plastic IKEA trash makes a great djembe, and we rocked out a massive drum solo on it...until we inadvertently smashed a hole into it, ending our short-lived careers as drum circle-ists, and dashing whatever hopes we may have had of trying out for STOMP.)

- Wedding receptions. Don't get me started on weddings (they dredge up some serious fears in me, i.e. that I'm never going to see the day come for me), but this particular one I attended was simple and stunningly beautiful--the ceremony, at a little cove of gorgeous Pacific Ocean-front serenity in Malibu. An absolutely inspiring and heart-warming event. The reception involved food and dancing--both of which I enjoy immensely.

- Discovering new joints in LA, and new friends as well. The Griffin and The Bigfoot Lodge both won their ways into my heart this weekend with their charm, their unpretentious nature, and the fun/attractive/interesting clientele they attract. Plus, the Bigfoot serves this one drink with a flaming marshmallow on top--so you know it's gotta be a fun place!

- Starting a new Twitter-fad. Or so I hope. Look for it soon, Twitterinos: I call said fad Vanity License Plate Hunting.

(What? I'm a simple man. A simple, strange, man.)

- This crazy board game I played a few weeks ago with some friends.

- Tickling the polyurethanes. That is, my keyboard. Lots of interesting and fun little ditties have been produced in the last two weeks, most of which will never see the light of day, but still!

- Dreaming up the next big adventure of '09 with Austin: Hawaii. I've never been!

- Dreaming up the next big venture of my life with Jon: a start-up company. I've never done!

- Lots of sleep after what's been an insane week month of work. And an insane amount of fun, as it seems after re-reading this post.

77. In-apartment laundry facilities.

And not just in the apartment complex. I literally mean in my apartment. For free (save for the water, power, and Snuggle costs).

I cannot tell you how wonderful not needing to hoard quarters constantly has been.

Though, to be sure, every one of my living situations since college has been the same way: in-home laundry facilities for the past five-and-a-half years! So really, this is just a continuation of such remarkable good fortune.

I hope the next place I wind up continues this streak of free washer and dryer usage. I hope I hope I hope.

76. iPhone apps are the haps.

I'll get around to writing a big gushy post about the iPhone at some point, seeing as how the little bugger really has been something of a revolutionary device for my everyday life.

But for now, allow me to express my gratitude and appreciation for several of the third-party iPhone applications that have done wonders for me in the past few weeks. I'll list two in particular for which I'm extremely grateful.

I've recently starting twittering up a storm, thanks in part to Sarah's prolific example. That, and thanks to the switch I made from a less-than-bearably-lame iPhone Twitter app to a great (and free!) one called TwitterFon. Now it's one of my most-commonly used apps; 'cause, y'know, I have some weird fascination with the daily minutia of Shaquille O'Neal's life.

Productive? Maybe not. Addicting? Quite.

(The whole Twitter explosion in the past few months has been an interesting thing to witness, I might add. And I'm not quite sure what to make of it, other than to just try and keep up.)

I've also been doing a lot of songwriting in recent weeks, thanks to the various music-related opportunities I've been given lately--namely, my nascent musical partnership with Lauren. The iTalk app has been a fantastic app in this regard, as I can record song ideas I plunk out on the keyboard and then send them to her via e-mail.

And it's a nice way for me to listen to basic song ideas and chord progressions over and over in the car and come up with melody lines and lyrical concepts.

(None of which are really any good, mind you, but still.)

75. Long days of work.

It's a crazy week of work for me.

Sunday was a 12.5 hour day. Yesterday I had to squeeze six hours of tutoring and 1.5 hours of driving into six hours. Wednesday I'll have to squeeze eight hours of tutoring and 1.5 hours of driving into...seven hours.

That's the one downside of SAT tutoring: on the week before the test, you're required to pull off metaphysically-impossible feats of scheduling. Considering high school students only have a small window of time outside of class in which they can meet for two hours, it's a rather tall order.

I told someone yesterday that it's times like these when I equate being an SAT tutor to being in the Mafia: you get the job done, no matter what you have to do, no matter how many deals with the Devil you have to make.

And anyone who sees me this week gets to hear my tired lament about what a physically exhausting and stressful week it is.

But: I'm working. And getting paid rather nicely for it.

And that's a tremendous blessing considering the troubling state of economic affairs we find ourselves in, now knee-deep into 2009.

So I'll probably continue to whine, moan, and complain about the insanity of the week. But I know full-well that it could be worse. A lot worse.

...

In some not-so-thanksgiving-like news, regarding my absence from this blog for the past five days or so: my computer is now officially in a comatose state. So, as I mentioned a few weeks back, I may be taking something of an on-again/off-again hiatus while I secure a reliable source of computing and internet access (the iPhone--for all that I love about it--is admittedly not the world's greatest blogging tool, so I've been reticent to update from it).

That has certainly added to this already-stressful week.

I promise I'll try to keep up with some semi-consistent posting, though.

74. 'Cause they're so much fun to write on:

Dry erase boards.

Seriously. One of my favorite things about my teaching gig.



(What? Can't a guy write about something that's not so knock-your-socks-off, oh-my-gosh-my-life-is-kinda-awesome-sometimes once in a while? Huh? Can't he?!?)

(Also: more photos from the party are popping up over on Facebook.)

[Photographic evidence to back up #73.]

73. A wonderful birthday.

I had 75 people show up to my birthday party on Saturday night.

Seventy-five people. That still kinda blows me away.

The Miracle Fruit, the Rock Band, the great location that I thankfully managed to score just a few days prior (no way could 75 souls have squeezed into my apartment!), and the wonderful cast of amazing characters from various parts of my life here in LA: it was all unbelievably great.

And that's not just my opinion; it seems to be the overwhelming consensus amongst the attendees. That, too, is a source of immeasurable happiness for me--that my friends had a good time, made some connections with one another (silly as it sounds, I love seeing my friends become facebook friends with each other), and enjoyed the strange new experience of "flavor tripping" with me.

I'll post pictures once I receive them from the various folks who took 'em.

What an evening. What a blessed 28-year old I am.