Blogging Hiatus

Gonna take a break from blogging on here for a while. There's a chance I may not return as I just have too many other things going on now and other interests. I find it pretty boring to just update my life on a web site anyway. Facebook seems to cover that well enough.

Got a lot going on with work and other art/design interests that blogging is hard to shoe-horn in anymore.

Piece.

01.18.2010

I have not blogged since before Christmas break. I believe all my readers have abandoned me except cindy, ann, and apparently hrag. I'm going to be more committed in 2010 though, I swear!

Keeping up a blog can be hard work, but I think it's important. I don't keep a diary or journal or anything semi-lame like that, so I do like to be able to have this medium to post my thoughts or feelings about whatever is relevant. This is especially true for family and friends back home who I'm not in contact with every single day. Sometimes posting is not at a consistent rate because I post my thoughts based on my motivation to speak up about something. Sometimes that something is fairly mundane, other times it's not. But I don't always feel it's necessary to blog every little thing, so it tends to come in waves. Hopefully I can be more creative this year.

There's been a lot on my mind lately. Some of it family related, some of it personal, and some of it work related. 2010 is going to be a lot different. I'm not really sure what to expect. Sometimes I'm really glad I'm out here in Portland away from certain things. It allows me to not get involved and mind my own business. People can do what they want, and I feel like I exhaust too much of my time trying to figure people out or wondering what they want from me.

On the other hand, there are definitely times I want to be in Texas more often. Two times a year is not enough, but I can't afford to get down there any more than that. I miss doing nothing, and visiting with a lot of family/friends that I wish I could see all the time. It's funny how I feel like a lot is changing and evolving without me down there, but every time I go back and visit it seems like not much has changed at all. There is a good chunk of family members on my Mom's side I haven't seen in nearly two years probably. Some of them are married now and have kids. As far as friends go, I haven't seen Sarah since Christmas break of 2007. I can't believe it's been that long. If I didn't have facebook, I wouldn't even remember what she looks like. I'd probably marry her if she didn't have a mustache...

Work is going to be umm...interesting...to say the least. Our environment team is changing a bit soon, could be moving our location in the building to across the hall. Nike Soccer work is so intense right now, some of the deadlines seem a bit daunting. There aren't enough red bulls in that building. It's going to be a lot of me staring down at my monitor with my headphones on in the next few weeks. It seems like every other month at Nemo, something new or different occurs. 2010 is going to be no exception it appears.

Winding down here because I think long blog posts can cause reader fatigue. Ohio State won the Rose Bowl, which was nice to shut up all those cocky, arrogant Oregon fans out here walking around like they've accomplished something at that school. How many national titles do you guys have again? Oregon doesn't understand football....

And the Cowboys are done. I can't follow the Mavs as closely as I'd like anymore, and baseball sucks and so does Mark McGwire.

The end.

Video blog attempt...

not sure I will ever do this again. The upload process takes about 10 times longer than me just typing things. This is what happens when you are bored at about midnight.

Video Blog 12.06.09 from blake gantz on Vimeo.

Worst. Mime. Ever.

My apologies for being just a terrible mime for halloween this year. I will try better next year.

Thanks to KB for the photo. You can view it full-sized here if you choose.

It was a good weekend.

Ohio State wins + Cowboys Win + Jim Tressel bouncing = Awesome.

Buckeyes celebrate Penn State win

11.2.09 - Halloween Column Special from the Snake

Well, guess who hasn't blogged in a while again? This seems to be par for the course.

I feel like I don't show enough personality on here. It's like I just come on here and update everyone on my life. I'm not sure how to change that without writing an opinionated column or something. So I'm going to give that a try. I need a topic though, and in the spirit of Halloween, I will default to that for lack of knowing what else to talk about.

So Halloween it is. You know, I'm not a big fan of this holiday at all. I think I stopped trick or treating around age 12. Getting a costume was too much work, and for some reason trick or treating stressed me out. Felt like it was some silly race to get out there and get all the good candy before it was snatched up. I don't even like chocolate that much either.

The only reason it's fun now is because it's just another excuse to party. You don't want to be the lone tool at the Halloween party who chooses not to dress up. It feels more like an obligation to me than a fun endeavor. Plus, I'm pretty picky about picking out good costumes. Sophomore year of college, David and I went as lego men. Junior year, we went as tetris pieces. My senior year, I grabbed a toddler's cookie monster suit last-minute at walmart, which actually turned out relatively funny as I tried to squeeze into that thing. And then last year, David and I went as Biggie and Tupac. Slightly racist, yes, but funny.

This year, I didn't really feel like I tried too hard, but I went as mime. I figured it'd be pretty funny to get into it and stuff with the silly hand gestures and expressions. Unfortunately, I probably hadn't been at the party more than an hour before another mime walked in. So demoralizing. Everyone was chanting for a mime battle. Instead, we just got together and tried to do some gay mime collaboration thing. I was a pretty pathetic mime I think. By the end of the night, I looked less like a mime and more like a member of Insane Clown Posse.

I feel like anymore though, everyone I know usually goes as something pretty lame and predictable. "Ohh you're a cheerleader...cool...." or "Oh yeah John, cool pirate suit...not expected at all or anything." The worst though is when someone has to explain to you more than once what their costume is. That my friend is the definition of a costume fail. Props to Steve though for going as a very good, and very creepy Edgar Allen Poe.

Plus pumpkin carving. I mean, such a beating carving those things. This year we had a pumpkin carving party of sorts to make it more fun and competitive. But the process of carving a pumpkin is still a kick to the gonads for me. If you aren't soaking your arms in pumpkin pulp, you're accidentally having flimsy pieces breaking off or not cutting straight.

I feel content with this content.

New Apartment: UPDATED

Some updated pics here. A pic of the view from my window is directly below, and I pieced it together with 3 different images. The TV Looks pretty good eh? I'm pretty pumped. Now I just need cable...

PS Thanks Dad for the early BDay/Christmas gift.