Socially Awkward

   Guess I missed my Monday post this week, all well. I was kinda busy, you guys understand, right? Life's gotta come first. As soon as I start making money from this, it can become first priority. Until then, we'll have to cope.

   I thought today I'd talk about one of my slightly more severe quirks, and I thought of this because I know of a lot of people that have the same issue. People familiar with me will know that I have fairly severe social anxiety. Sometimes, it makes me look like a bit of an ass, because someone I'm acquainted with will say hi to me when we pass on the street, or in the store, and I'll try to say something, but nothing comes out. It's a little hard to describe, but basically my mind starts to go a mile a minute as I try to figure out how a normal person would respond, and that results in either a really delayed response, or no response. Either way, I end up super embarrassed and walking in the opposite direction very fast.
   Recently-at least since I started working as a cashier-it has gotten slightly better because I'm interacting with a lot more people daily. What's odd, is I don't have a fear of public speaking (ie, to a group or crowd) but the idea of one-on-one conversation terrifies me. Does anyone else have this? I think what it is, is that when I'm presenting something to a crowd, I've got something prepared, or at the very least, I know what I need to mention., and I can work from there. In conversation, I tend to get jumbled and say things completely out of nowhere. And then while the other person responds, I'll be so wrapped up in figuring out what the next thing I'll say is, I completely miss their response. As you might imagine, the situation tends to dissolve from there.

Behold: the portal to hell

   I bring this up because earlier, I finally renounced public restrooms for good. This all came about because, as I do every 9th period, I mustered up the courage to use the school restrooms (actually one in particular, I use it exclusively), and after the bathroom was finally empty, I went to put toilet paper over the seat, only to find it damp.
   That's right. And yes, it was all of the toilet paper. After dry heaving a bit, I washed my hands three times, and then went home to take a shower and wash my hands again. Having had this experience, now coupled with a thousand other horror stories, I have chosen I will only use private bathrooms going forward, using public restrooms only in the most dire situations. As for how well this goes, I'm out of the house often.
   Wish me luck.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Maleficient the Passable

   Whoops, guess I missed Wednesday again. Sorry everybody! My bad! Let's all just move along, nothing to see here.
   Moving on, it has been a pretty slow week in terms on interesting-ness, but it was still fairly busy. Like I said, I had Tuesday off and I went to see Maleficient with some friends. On the docket tonight will be a brief review (spoiler free, I promise). But first, let's get everybody caught up.
   Tuesday was a nice day off, and then Wednesday was fairly relaxed other than a practice Chemistry regents. Honestly, it wasn't too difficult. I really expected to do poorly and I did quite well. I didn't go to my lesson that night because of schedule conflicts, and I finished the office later that night (either then or

Pictured: the UEHS Orchestra 2014-15 year

Thursday night, I honestly can't remember). Either way, wow. Just a fantastic end to a fantastic show. If you read Monday's post, you'll see I was getting pissed off, but I love the direction they ended up taking it in the end. It really was perfect. Thursday night I had the end of the year concert for orchestra. That's always fun, but sad. Each senior picks a song for the group to play, and unfortunately, we had 16 seniors this year. So yeah, long concert. But anyway, it was sad to think of all the people I'll probably never have the opportunity to perform alongside again. Rivenburg cried, of course, and that just made it sadder. It's crazy to think I'll be sitting in the concert master seat next year. Horrifying thought. On the bright side, I got a chance to catch up with an old cellist friend of mine, Michelle, who told me to start an 11th Doctor roleplay blog on Tumblr. So that's a thing now. Anyone who is interested in reading or participating can find it at www.mybowtiebringsallthegirls.tumblr.com. Not much there, at the moment, but it should be getting off the ground in the next couple of days. Today was fairly dull, went to school, went to work, came home, blogged, and went to bed (not yet, but soon. Soon.). With that, I think we'll move on to my Maleficient review.

Truly the face of evil

   So, Maleficient. Have I ever said how horrifying Angelina Jolie is? Her face is a train wreck. Somewhere along the line she just ended up with so much plastic in her face that she no longer appeared alive. As of right now, she looks about 4 months dead, and I honestly just don't see how people find her attractive. But regardless of her nightmarish looks, she honestly did fairly well as Maleficient. Not the best performance I've seen recently, but it certainly could have been worse. The musical score was good, but again, nothing wholly remarkable. The only thing that really leapt out at me was the CGI, which I thought was extremely good, with some exceptions such as a couple parts of the flying scenes where it just looked awful. Honestly, the CGI either looked fabulous, or dreadful, with no in between. The story I found fairly lacking. It felt very dragged out in the beginning, when it discussed Maleficient's childhood (not a spoiler), and then rushed through the rest of the movie to get to the Sleeping Beauty crap. The actress who played Aurora was Ellie Fanning. She's a very cute girl, and she performed very well. I can't say it was the best performance I've ever seen, but it was certainly some of the best in the movie, and I really hope we get to see more of her as she grows up and matures. All in all, I'd give the movie 6.5/10. I wouldn't say not to go see it, but if you have to choose between this and, say Guardians of the Galaxy, pick Guardians. If you do happen to like the idea of this extra character development, this movie may be for you. There isn't a lot, but enough.
   Before I go, I should mention the Geek Council will be available on iTunes soon, I promise. We've hit some logistical problems, but the recordings are still happening. The episodes are being developed, we just need to get it up and running. Promise.

Tacos,
Gladdstone

Just Checking In

   All right, Monday is over. Thank God, hahaha. I've finally reached season 9 of The Office and I'm starting to get really pissed off at the story line and what's happening with the relationships. I won't spoil anything, but suffice it to say that I'm pretty angry. They're screwing up my perfect couple.
   My weekend was pretty quiet. I got some yard work down, I sat around, finished off the ice cream in the freezer, and, oh yeah, I recorded the pilot for a brand new podcast!
   That's right, Geek Council recorded it's first ever episode was recorded on Saturday with my dear friend Nik. We discussed several things, including a fascinating Florida Man story (for those unfamiliar with the meme, Florida is a really messed up place. Let's just leave it at that). It also features a review segment as well as a segment designed by Nik that he will do each time he's on the show. It should be up on her, and the Nerds Under Fire website soon. Keep checking back!
   No school for this guy tomorrow, thanks to the Common Core testing. If one good thing that comes out of it, it's that AP students don't have to take the test. So, yeah! Whoo! Day off! We're going to go see Maleficient in the afternoon. I really love these kinds of stories that take a look at a villain, and really sort of humanize them, for lack of a better word. Can you guess what my favorite musical is?
   Duh, West Side Story.
   Hahaha, just kidding. It's Wicked, obviously. As you know, I just went to see it in NYC last week and the music is still stuck in my head. Not a bad thing, though. That music is the shit.
   So it should be a good day. Not much else to report on.
   I'll see you all Wednesday.

Tacos,
Gladdstone