How Easy Is It To Be A Renaissance Man?

Recently, I was called a "Renaissance Man" by somebody at work. During the slower periods, all I can think about these days is the next semester of school. It's so close I can almost taste it! In spite of my excitement, almost all I can seem to talk about in my non-student life is either Doctor Who or what I've done and will do in school. On top of that -- regardless of how inefficiently I actually utilize the time available to me -- I cannot stand to waste a single skill in life. I gather them up through short intro courses, during procrastination hours, in my free summers, etc., and then I try my best to practice and improve in each area. Admittedly, most of my time is spent wishing that I could practice more and so I simply have a lot of half-assed hobbies. But I do like to think that I have the potential to learn anything at all, I am just pressed for time. Yes, I do waste quite a bit of the time I do have in the first place. Basically, I'm just very jealous of Rachel Weisz's character in The Brothers Bloom (Definitely look it up if you haven't yet seen it). Anyway, at some point, I must have reached critical levels of hobby-brandishing, because a woman I work with said (without sarcasm, mind you) "Geez! Is there anything you don't do? You're like a Renaissance Man!" Of course I had a split second of pride after that one. But then it got me thinking about something I often ponder: Is it at all admirable to simply enjoy doing lots of random things? In other words, should one be proud that they enjoy a scattered array of hobbies and activities? I do so fully believe in the pursuit of knowledge for the sake of it, but because I am extremely far from disciplined, I have to operate under the belief that my knowledge will be of use to me someday. Sometimes it's in the sense Patton Oswalt or other modern nerds would, in that after the apocalypse, I'll need to know how to blah blah in order to get blah or survive the blahs. Other times, I feel I can utilize the skill for financial gain. Then still other times, I use the skill to improve different sectors of my brain or thought process, i.e. critical thinking, problem-solving, etc. And still other times, I work with the more abstract concept that my learning will be improving me in some way or another. In short, my pursuits are not noble, nor are they selfless in any way. I don't brag about them, but I do like to talk about what I enjoy. Another question that I feel relates to this, though, is one regarding the ease with which we acquire abilities these days. Leonardo Da Vinci was no doubt an amazing person, but -- in doing what he seemed to enjoy doing -- was he noble or should he be placed on any pedestal other than one of intellectual greatness? Possibly discipline and perseverance since it would have been much more difficult for him to obtain the requisite knowledge to inform his further contemplations. But nowadays, I can watch a video on how to do almost anything. I can read countless articles on the subject and I can look up step-by-step tutorials. Honestly, maybe it's all akin to going to the gym. Improvement and achievement are at the heart of why I like to learn, along with fairly vain and slightly self-centered desires to look good, in a sense. On rare occasions, I will work with the thought that acumen improvement is better for society as a whole. And I do challenge myself quite often under the influence of all the aforementioned learning concepts. I guess, in the end, I just wanted to put this out there away from my mind and if I get a comment on it, that's a bonus.

a nice return to familiarity

So, yesterday was rough. It started fine, but by the time I got to the three hour mark, it was all shit. First, in the movie theater we went to, some obnoxious dirtbag preteens threw popcorn at us like some dumb ghetto assess from a a shitty.early millennium movie in the samecategory of Malibu's Most Wanted or something. Then, I got cut off by an idiot in a giant SUV. After that, my girlfriend's bank.wasn't open in their lobby, and since the drive-thru has such limited hours on Saturday, it was packed. But I was trying to just fucking calm down. Anyway, the day basically went like that -- either shit would happen right on top of other shit, or it would just remind me of things I can't stand.

But luckily today was nice. That's all.

Realizations

I've realized that the goal I had previously set for myself was much too ridiculous an expectation. But I have long recognized the need to export my thoughts into written form -- especially when they become too much to handle all alone.
So, if practice makes perfect, then I might as well give it a try. I'll not completely abandon this blog, but I won't try to commit myself to one whole blog a day, either.
No, my nature is devoid of such extremes. Instead, I will post blogs when I fucking well feel like it.

Thank you.

a blog a day...(part II)

I failed. *sniff*

A Blog A Day...

...keeps the mental latency away. So I've decided to write a blog post every day for some-odd amount of time just to see what happens. Obviously, since no one reads this, I don't have to worry about censoring myself. I'll just write freely and that will -- in some way -- be good. Plus, it'd be nice to keep my mind fresh for a little while longer.
On that note, here's the first post:
I guess that since I rarely use this.blog anymore, I have a lot today. Well, I'be.been.working at.a restaurant for over a year, and I've recently started school full time. I enjoy tennis these.days and fantasize about becoming a combination screenwriter-tennis champion-author-british panel.show guest that pioneers.new green technology with my own hom3that has a windmill and waterwheel.as well as other things I'll come up.with at a later date. Also, I'm typingthis on.my phone and It's a pain in the ass, so you're lucky I fixed.all of the.mistyped words I've.noticed.

Can't Sleep

...sucks... have to get to work early tomorrow and Sunday.
Not much to write, though. Just felt like updating this thing.
And yes, I am aware of the irony of the blog title and the title of this particular post. ...buncha smartass muthaf*$%ers...

BBC's Life On Mars was a fantastic show, but...

...What the fuck happened over here??
I know I'm a little late to be talking about it, but I only just saw the first and last episodes of our own version of it, and I am absolutely flabbergasted. I am nearly speechless. I really just can't believe how fucking ridiculous it all was. If it were condensed into a single episode, it would be akin to a storyline on The Outer Limits. It was so bad!
I won't spoil anything in the original, because it really should be watched more by U.S. Americans (late joke?), but I don't mind spoiling the remake to prove a point:
Sam wakes up in a SPACESHIP and they are LITERALLY going to MARS. What the fuck? Was this all because of an assumption that we Americans are too stupid to get the very unambiguous metaphor that 30 years ago may well have been mars to us? And all of the puns at the end just killed me. I must've been a strange sight to someone watching me while I watched it. At times, my face was all screwed up trying to understand what went through the writers' heads as they came up with this. Other times, I was giggling uncontrollably at how fucking dumb it was. Still, other times had me looking pained to see this wretched remake of something great come to a wretched ending. It probably looked like I was watching a bunny in a tutu hop around while, at random moments, he would be smacked in the face with a nerf bat.
BUT EVEN THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER ENDING!

But definitely check out the original (BBC, not ABC) version of Life On Mars. Top notch, and such. Really a great show. Ashes to Ashes is also a fantastic sequel. I love 'em both. And this isn't just some kind of bias because I watched the original first. I gave the ABC version a chance, but it was just awful. And to see that ending just... God it was so pathetic. You really should check it out. Just the ending, though. Watch the original BBC series, then watch the ending to the American version and you will laugh your fucking ass off!
Of course, there are a million other things I can bitch about with that remake, but I'm going to leave it here.