she's getting too close to me. it's time to self-destruct.

via chicago.

Wed, 02 Feb 2005 05:27:27 GMT

Ok. I'm leaving for chicago in 22 days. This lj has become pretty much dead. If you want to read about what's up, then head over to zackgil.com and read about my adventures up to and while I'm in Chi-town.

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 04:58:28 GMT

I want this so bad!!!! I'm so close too! I only need one more person! HELP!! I'll love you forever!

Via Chicago

Mon, 17 Jan 2005 03:03:24 GMT

It's official. I'm going to Chicago for spring-summer quarters. I start my 6 month co-op on Feb. 28th and send Sept. 2nd. I'm working for my brother. Could be interesting. Actually, I'm super excited. Now, I need to find a place to live. Being that I'm going to be working with my brother, we decided that we shouldn't live with each other. Seeing each other 24/7 wouldn't be good. So I'm going to find my own apartment near his. Most likely a studio or something. I'm so relieved that this is pretty much finalized. So much less to worry about. Now I can focus on other stuff instead of sending out applications and shit. Should probably focus more on my class work. Have been slacking a little this quarter. Ah well.

Tis all for now. Haven't been much for writing lately. Been super worn out and trying to sort things out. I'm getting there. Hopefully.

A little over a month left and I'll be gone. Out of this horrid city. But away from everything I know. That could be a very good thing. I've been wondering if I've been staying in a shitty situation just because of the comfort. Well, I'm leaving this comfort for 6 months. When I come back, we'll see if it's really what I want.

Sorry for being so ambiguous. I've just got so much shit on my mind. I'd love to disclose details, but I've learned that these things just get you in trouble. So it's a lot of vague talk about things that probably don't pertain to you. Or do they? You don't know. Ha! Deal.

40gig Photo iPod for under $6

Mon, 10 Jan 2005 19:14:21 GMT

get a 40gig photo ipod. just sign up, do one of the offers (i did trimspa!) and get some friends to do the same. use this site to help figure out the best one for you.

please help me out! i know you want one too!

Tue, 04 Jan 2005 03:55:25 GMT

Ok. New Years: pretty sweet. A good time. Saw old friends, hung out and all that fun stuff. Awesome phone call around midnight as well. That's pretty much it. Just some sweet sweet awesomeness?

I bought myself a DVD player tonight. I got a $25 gift card to best buy from my brother Chris and I spent it on a DVD player. I should probably test it out to make sure it works.

I've also decided that I will be severly disappointed if I don't make my first million dollars by the age of 30 that I will be extremely disappointed and feel that I have wasted my life. Why do I feel this? Well, pretty much because of all these ideas that my friends and I have brewing. Seriously, we come up with such amazing stuff that if we don't follow through with any of it and make something of ourselves, then we would have truly wasted 10 years of our lives. I just want to be comfortable and not have to worry. And a whole bunch extra money wouldn't hurt either. I just want to make sure I'm doing something with my life. That I can refute (sp?) all the claims that I am lazy. (I just like to sleep in late!) So we will see.

Ok. I'm going to go be productive and do something with my night.

there's no place like home.

Fri, 31 Dec 2004 21:38:23 GMT

Ok. I went home (to Gloversville) for the weekend. I figured I had 3 days off from work, before I had to go back to school and I could use some laundry getting done. And being that no one was really back in Rochester, and none of my friends that are in Rochester offered to hang out, I figured I'd have a better chance of doing something normal for New Years in my old home town.

Already, the trip has been worth it. Got most of my laundry done so far, got some amazing Dean's Dogs with friends, and got my mom's new computer up and running for her. So now I'm just waiting around in an empty house (my parents went out for New Years. They NEVER go out), and trying to think of my first favorite band so that I can tell trish about it (she makes me do strange things sometimes). 200 miles away, and I still prefer talking to her more than anyone else here or in Rochester (or anywhere for that matter). I just wish I didn't have horrible luck and always develop a thing for girls that are involved already. This is the second one in like 2 months. I swear, I'm cursed.

Oh. In other good news. I might have a co-op lined up in Chicago. Working under my brother. We will see though. I'm hoping that some other places will get back to me, but I'm super happy that I was pseudo-offered a place at my brother's work. It just seemed like such an awesome place when I went before. If I do go there though, it just means I have to find my own place in Chicago. Which could be cool, but also kind of scary. It's still a little early, but I'm glad I have this security. Makes me so much less anxious (which happens to be something I'm trying to work on).

That's about it for now, I suppose. Hopefully I'll have some sort of story to tell after tonight and maybe even some pictures.

Suddenly, Death Cab's "So this is the new year." popped into my head. I really don't feel any different.

Wed, 29 Dec 2004 16:59:09 GMT

sometimes i wonder what my life would be like without music.

Mon, 27 Dec 2004 05:04:31 GMT

~~i think im quite smitten right now.~~

i'm also quite scared.

Sun, 26 Dec 2004 06:14:40 GMT

I think this might have been the best Christmas I've had in a long time. I know I was pissed off last night, but I think it was mostly just because I had a really long day at work (and no one should ever have to work in retail on Christmas Eve) and was super cranky. It actually turned into a nice night, having watched 2 movies and had a couple of beers and got a great nights rest. It was definitely the great conversation I had with a certain someone before I went to bed though that really turned my spirits around. This girl's starting to get to me. Hopefully I won't find a way to screw it up. But you never know. I'm sure I'll find a way.

Then today I hung out with my family. Probably the highlight of the day though, was playing pinnocle with my grandpa, brother and aunt. My grandpa is really old and Dad says he is on his way out (he's got a lot of health problems), so it was awesome to get a final game in with him. If that is how I'm going to remember him, then that's fine with me. It was a great day all in all. I'm not normally fond of holidays, but I've finally reached that point where I appreciate my family and enjoy seeing them (as long as it's not too often) and sharing these times with them.

Anyways. I was thinking about going home to Gloversville for a couple days around New Years. I have three days off, so I was thinking I might do it. I gotta check with people first though, because I don't want to go back home and find out that everyone is just going to the bars. Fuck that. Plus, if people are coming back to Rochester, then I might just stay here and hang out. You never know.

Sat, 25 Dec 2004 03:42:16 GMT

badder santa. not so much badder. i dont even know what could have been added. except maybe a pair of boobs at the strip club and a couple 'fucks'. other than that, it was pg. not so unrated.

is this the holiday cheer i have to look forward to? cuz i can't wait!!!!

Merry Fucking Christmas

Sat, 25 Dec 2004 00:11:50 GMT

It's xmas eve. I just worked the most insane day of work ever, from 9 til 5:30. It actually wasn't that bad. I've become really good at my job and once I get in a groove, then I'm unstoppable. I've also developed some great customer service skills. All in all, I rule. Other than that, I've become sick of Christmas music. I hope it'll be another 11 months before I hear anymore. I also found out that the thruway is all shitty, cuz there was an accident or something (tracter trailer flipped over I guess) so I'm stuck here in Rochester, instead of going to Buffalo to be with my family. So what am I do on this lovely Christmas Eve? Sitting and watching TV, maybe a movie, while drinking some Sam Adams Boston Lager, which I spent part of my Christmas Bonus on (I was a buck short otherwise). How's that for a lovely Christmas?

Sun, 19 Dec 2004 05:57:17 GMT

It's Christmas time. That means two things to me. 1) Work is insane. and 2) Family.

The first: is insane. And it's only going to get worse. I'm scared. Really. I don't know if I can handle it. People are so demanding. Yah for 40 hour work weeks while you're on vacation!

The second: pretty neat. My Uncle Bill and Aunt Misty came up from Nashville this weekend with their two daughters. It's great to see them. Brett (my brother) also came out last night and will be in the NY/VT area until after Xmas. Pretty great to see him as well. Right now he's out on a date with some girl in Buffalo that my Uncle Bob set him up with.

Alright, I'm exhausted. I have to work tomorrow so I need to get my sleep. I just can't wait til the season is over. Holidays suck.

the Exies are the worst band ever.

Thu, 16 Dec 2004 05:46:45 GMT

I spent 5 or 6 hours today working at a show that we (the store...record archive) was co-sponsoring and had contents for and stuff. It was for the worst band ever. The Exies. If you aren't familiar with them (and I'm sure most people aren't...cuz they SUCK!), I like to think of them as a Muddle of Pudd wanna-be band. They are signed to Virgin Records and are being pushed VERY hard. Funny thing is, not that many people showed up. I'd say less than 50. Even better part is that 17 people went to their show in Buffalo last night. Not only did they, as a band, suck, but they were also pretty big dicks. For a band that sucks so bad, you'd think they'd be a little more humble. Guess not.

Anyways, the night wasn't a total bust. The show was put on my The Zone (local radio station) and a bunch of their employees were there. 2 of which were what I like to refer to as the Zone Beer Maids. They are the station equivalent to Hooters girls. Busty, good looking girls who love to flirt and talk to guys. Hell. They even flirted with me! What is their job? Well, besides to look pretty and represent the station, they go around and talk with people and get them to sign up for stuff. Because my co-worker and I were so bored, and get so much pleasure out of mocking people without them knowing it, we decided to use one of the girls for advertising our store. No one was coming to talk to us besides them, so why not use their social graces to our advantage? So a Record Archive sticker was placed on one of the girls' ass (we actually didn't even do it. One of the guys that worked at the Zone did). It was eventually concentual, after she had found out what had happened and then she agreed to have a picture taken of the free advertisement. I'll post the pictures soon. All in all, the night sucked, but I was glad that my co-worker was there to keep me sane. We had a blast making fun of drunk people to their faces and them having no idea.

Oh yeah. Did I mention the Exies suck? We only sold one of their cds. Ha. Poor James (rep from Virgin...good guy), he has no idea that his bands suck.

I'm just annoyed that we helped out with promoting such crappy music. I hate having to lie to people and tell them "Yeah. They rock." when infact, they are the worst thing since Creed.

Forgive me if I seem like a total elitist record store snob. I've been trying not to be. This event just sent me over the edge. I just can't believe such horrible music is being listened to! We really need censorship of some sort.

date my mom

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 06:38:47 GMT

So I'm watching MTV's Date My Mom. A good concent, but falls way short. It's amazing because they usually pick 1 hott girl and 2 not so hott. My Dad always said to look at the mother and that's what you're going to get. The reason I even watch it is because I hope the guy picks one of the ugly girls (and, they usually pick the most outrageous moms to put on this show). I was watching this one episode and there were actually 2 hott girls and one gross one. Lucky guy, picked the nasty one! It was amazing! Poor guy. He said, "I'm not mad. My penis is mad, but I'm not mad." Ha! Sucker!

Ok. Back to work. I've got about 60+ screenshots and I have to organize them into a storyboard for a commercial/trailer type thing.

awesome.

Wed, 15 Dec 2004 04:21:51 GMT

I love that I am more likely to do my friends' homework, than my own. I should be doing my storyboard for my digital video class, but instead I was helping out my friend Josh with his flash assignment. What is wrong with me? Why do I do that?

In other news, lucky me gets to work at the Exies show at Alexander St. Pub tomorrow (wednesday) night. I will be selling stuff, I guess. I'm not really a fan (actually, I don't care for them at all), but will be there regardless, so if anyone wants to come visit and keep me company, it would be much appreciated. It's free entry with a canned good. Can't beat that.

Ok. Now I have to go take lots and lots of screenshots of Scrubs and put together a storyboard. Wish me luck. Hopefully I'll get some sleep tonight.

100 Women, aka Girl Fever

Tue, 14 Dec 2004 03:51:27 GMT

I just watched this movie, 100 Women. But I guess it's also known as Girl Fever. It's the last (supposadly) of this teen romance trilogy by a guy named Michael Davis, who also did "100 Girls" and "Eight Days A Week" (trilogy order listed in reverse). While these aren't the most refined movies, they are amazing for what they are. Very cheesy at times, but that just adds to the sense of teenage awkwardness and silliness. Over all, Davis' philosophical romantic messages are, in my opinion, dead on. Sure, some parts are a little far fetched, but aren't movies to begin with? The main character is always the sensitive nice guy (that every girl says she wants, but never realizes it til the end), who has the asshole sex-crazed best friend, who actually comes around in the end by finding the girl that's suitable for him. Not the best movie ever, but definitely one that I loved, just because it's such a good story and I'm a sucker for that crap. What can I say, not only do I like a lot of crappy music (I'm a pop whore...sorry), but I also like cheesy teen romance movies as well. So sue me.

"Do you know that phrase, 'behind every great man, there's a great woman'? I'm sort of afraid that I'll never be a great man because I can't get my great woman."

Sun, 12 Dec 2004 05:54:04 GMT

today was the longest day of work ever. it didn't just feel like it, but it actually was the longest day of work ever. 11 1/2 hours. 12:30-12. i'd love to go into details about it right now, because it was really horrifying, but i had a beer while i was working, so now im a little pissed off (you'd think i'd learn and just stop. but it's so hard when i love beer so much). i'll try to discuss it more later. all i'll say about the night was that i was hoping that ending the 8 hours of store work with a bourlesque show would be great. boy was i wrong. nothing about watching fat ladies dancing around is pleasing in the least. and so much for the party afterwords. my friends all bailed. bastards. i think i need new ones. any takers? im accepting applications. cute females get priority.

people suck.

Thu, 09 Dec 2004 21:56:47 GMT

so the other night, this guy came into the store around 8pm or so and needed to use the phone. i guess he had a flat tire or something. so hes on the phone forever and we are trying to close up. he asks if either of us have a jack, so that he can put the donut on his car. me, being the kind hearted person i am, said that i probably did in my car. so i said that while we are closing up the store, he can change his tire and whatnot. so i find mine in my car and let him use it and start closing the store for the night. so after about 20 minutes, i come out and check on him. still having problems, but he said its probably only be about 5 more minutes. so i go back in and finish closing up. we are all done and i back to where the guy was and hes gone. im like, "wtf mate?!" so im a little pissed and start to get in my car. then the guy drives around from the back of the store. he rolls down his window and says, "were you getting worried?" worried? no. i flat out thought you had left. but i'm like, "nah. i figured you just went somewhere quick and you'd be back." so he thanks me and gives this little speal about how there arent any nice people in the world anymore and that he really appreciates it and blah blah blah. now, this guy had been creeping me out all night. call it me being paranoid or whatever, but i was very hesitant to help this guy out. why? i dont know. he just seemed kinda sketchy. i wouldnt have been surprised if he just up and left. this is when it starts to get good. as im putting my jack back in my truck and getting ready to leave, he starts saying to me that i have a really nice car and all this shit. i tell him that its really a piece of shit that breaks down all the time, but no one ever believes me. he didn't either and starts going into it that its a lot better than his junky car that he got from a junk yard (still had the tracking number spraypainted on the hook) and that I wouldn't know anything about that! that i probably haven't had to deal with that type of stuff in my life. all of a sudden it turned into this total class thing. like he was this super poor, hard working guy that just got pitty helped by some rich trust fund kid who has everything handed to him. i seriously wanted to tell the guy off, but figured that he felt bad enough and i just wanted to get home.

moral of the story kids: you try to help people out, and they'll still try make you feel bad.

the french are fucking crazy.

Tue, 07 Dec 2004 05:26:28 GMT

I just watched this movie called Baise-moi. It's this french adult movie (I guess). I got it from work because it had won all these awards and was one of the "Top 10 European Films of 2000". Let me just read to you some of the reviews from the back of the case:

"Serious and original. A charismatic performance!" - Awesome! Sounds good. What's next?

"Subversive, Exhilarating!" - Ooh. Could be interesting.

"Graphic, Hardcore, the most ungussied expression of female sexual rage ever thrown up on screen!" - hmm. That could go either way for me.

"Thelma and Louise with actual penetration!" - SCORE! Keeper.

Then the little write up begins "Featuring two veterans of the French adult film indutry,..." Now, I don't remember if I actually read that or not. I'm sure I did, but it didn't really sink in. I just remember thinking "OOH! A sweet foreign film that won awards. Could be sexy!" Not so much, but there is an upside. While the warning on the cover does say, "This film contains prolonged sex scenes of an extremely explicit nature and scenes of graphic violence, which some viewers may find shocking and disturbing." I can't help thinking that the one star, Karen Lancaume (aka, Karen Bach, as many other names) (the main girl) is really, really cute! Just my luck, she's a french porn star. Cutest face ever, not so keen on the voice, but man.

This movie reminded me a lot of Irreversible. Another french movie that also contains some crazy sex (mostly rape) scenes. I'm beginning to think that the french are really fucked up and have serious sexual problems, though I'm sure you could say the same for a lot of americans. Anyways, I think the reason it won so many awards was mostly because of the shock value. The acting was actually pretty damn good for porn stars, but the store was a little lacking and the direction wasn't that great. Cinematography wasn't that great either. Pretty crappy actually. There was also a lot of unnecessary stuff.

Ah well. Entertaining none the less.

seriously, a kid in a candy store.

Mon, 06 Dec 2004 20:47:08 GMT

So I got another toy for myself today. Well, it's partly a toy and partly school supplies. But I need it for my Digital Video class I have (and to store all the videos and music I have). I'm going to probably dump my 80gig harddrive onto that and either sell the 80gig or just hold on to it and start building a new server computer or something. That would get expensive though. So if anyone wants a super dependable 80gig internal harddrive with about 40gigs of music on it (I'll keep the music on it for you if you wish...and maybe even the porn, if you ask me nice), then let me know. I'm thinking that $40 would be reasonable for the going price of internals. So you'd get all the media for free. Consider it an added bonus.

Mon, 06 Dec 2004 01:19:07 GMT

funny thing. as for now. im watching repli-kate (a cheezy national lampoon movie). hopefully childish humor will cheer me up.

random thoughts expressed between commericials

Fri, 03 Dec 2004 01:47:36 GMT

due to the lack of drama in my life, the lack of promising females at my school, and my seemingly disasterous antisocial tendencies, i have become addicted to primetime dramas. to name a few: lost, desperate housewives, the o.c., life as we know it, etc. it sucks. i need a life. help.

new toys!

Fri, 03 Dec 2004 00:44:36 GMT

I got my new video card today. It rules. Thought I really havent used it yet. I might have to move my tv into my room. Then I'd have three screens to look at. That might be a little much. But still. That's just the huge nerd in me talking. Ignore. I just need some sweet projects to work on. Any ideas, send them my way. Anything that would be good to put in my portfolio will get first priority. So suggest away.

In other news. I cooked dinner tonight. I had venison. So good. Made stir fry. MMMM. Bambi was delicious. I might have to do it more often. It just sucks that I have to clean the dishes and stuff. I need a dish washer.

Also. I'm starting to layout my top 10 albums list of 2004. Here's a list of ones I'm thinking of:

Matt Pond PA - Emblems
Number One Fan - Compromises
Hope of the State - The Lost Riots
K-OS - Joyful Rebellion
Good Life - Album of the Year
Rilo Kiley - More Adventurous
Head Automatica - Decadence
Cake - Pressure Chief
Garden State Soundtrack
Le Tigre - This Island (Scary enough, I like it)
Mates of State - All Day EP
MC Lars - Laptop EP
Cartel - Random EP
Anadivine - Zoo
Q and Not U - Power
Say Anything - Is A Real Boy
I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody's Business - s/t
!!! - Louden Up Now
Killers - Hot Fuss
Kanye West - The College Dropout
The Used - In Love & Death
Straylight Run - s/t
Name Taken - Hold On

just to name a few. If you know of any I'm forgetting, then suggest them and I'll let you know if I forgot them or if I just left them off cuz I didn't think they were worth mentioning.

day 2

Tue, 30 Nov 2004 20:30:02 GMT

Ok. I just finished my classes for the day. Well, my class. And instead of being there for the 5 scheduled hours, I was there for 1 hour. Oh yeah. It's a film class. It's studying American Film during the studio era (1890-1965). So pumped. Only downside, is that we have to do a group presentation. I hate presentations. I swear to god I have social anxiety of some sort. Just hate people I suppose. The upside is that I was given Stanley Kubrich for my director to present about. CAKE! I was hoping for either Kubrich or Hitchcock. This means I'm one of that last people to have to do it, so I have a shitload of time to watch LOTS and LOTS of Kubrich movies (which I've seen a bunch already) and then sit and talk about them. Shouldn't be too bad.

I'm beginning to think that this quarter could be good to me. I'm excited. I've got my portfolio pretty much done, so I've gotta write up a cover letter and send out an application tonight. And so it begins.

day 1 of winter quarter

Tue, 30 Nov 2004 05:37:41 GMT

Well, it was day 1 of my winter quarter. Had 2 out of 3 classes. I had Digital Video for WWW at 10am, which should be a lot of fun. It might be tough though. I'm the only non-New Media kid in the class. I just wanted to learn how to do sweet video, but it might be more than that. I'm going to have to actually come up with creative shit for the projects. I might need some input from people. I'm not good with the creative stuff. I'm a total technical kid. But I do love to try. So it could be fun. We have critiques and stuff, which I'm not used to, but look forward to having. I need to get used to that. I was thinking about convincing my parents to get me a DVD Camcorder for Xmas or something, but they are like $800+ for anything good. I have to talk to my teacher about what I would need before I try to convince the parentals. I'm excited about it though.

Then my next class was HCI 2: Interface Design. Stupid required classes. It's an annoying group project class that I have to take to graduate. No fun at all. Luckily, I know a few kids in the class, so that will help me get through it. Might make the project a little easier. We will see though.

Tomorrow I have my film class. Can't wait.

I'm also really digging the whole having classes from 10am - 2pm thing. I don't like the getting up early thing, but it's nice to be done by 2. I have so much time to do work afterwords. I got a bunch of my resume stuff done. Went and talked with Prof. Bogaard (who is the man) about my portfolio and resume and he helped me out a lot. So hopefully tomorrow I'll get my cover letter done for this sweet internship in London, UK and send it out. The sooner the better. I gotta get me an internship.

Oh, and they have already sent out my new video card. It's a good thing I didn't check the box for express shipping for $2.99 extra. That would have been a waste. They must really be bored if they processed my order and shipped it within a few hours of me ordering it. I love it. Now I just need it to cross the country and get to me. Ah. I love getting electronics in the mail.