The Sandpit

The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.

Tiltshift photograph still continues to blow my fucking mind. I have yet to have a real grasp on how it's done, but it's amazing.

I've been stressing quite a bit lately, which is ironic because for a written part of my spanish class I wrote that I don't get stressed easily. I should have said my stress seems to pile on when I'm at my weakest, like a cold followed by a aches and pains as germs kick me while I'm down.

I was asked the other day by my counselor...my COUNSELOR if I really wanted to go into Literary Journalism because I'm struggling in one of the classes. That question rattled me. I braced myself for so long waiting to hear that question from my mom, but since my mom was okay with it, I let my guard down and it hit me anyway. So thanks for that vote of confidence UCI. Raise my fees. Reject me from becoming a CA. Hire people who question student's choice of major. Keep it coming. Really, I don't mind.

It's really cool to finally, after hearing questions from your parents and yourself!, think you have a future in something and let it come crashing down.

Perhaps it's because I'm getting down to the wire with having to declare.
Perhaps I should reconsider what I'm majoring in.
Perhaps I shouldn't let one person's questioning bring me down.

I'll go with the third choice.



If all else fails, I will be declaring myself as a Film and Media major for now and then switch into LJ or just stay in Film and Media and minor in English or something else.

Either way, a couple days ago I was literally sick to my stomach due to stress. I've never felt that way before and I don't want to feel that way again.



wildwombat

Today I was informed of something that should have hurt me.
That should have disappointed me.
That should have crushed me.
That should have left a bitter taste in my mouth.
That should have left me reeling for months.

But I feel fine.

I might be back to square one, but I've never seen anything other than square one so why does it matter? I'm not afraid of what's beyond square one. I just haven't found the right person who I want to go with me.



wildwombat

Question: Does Rainn Wilson know a photo of him is being used on a shady Facebook advertisement?

Question: What does this auto insurance cover for "less than a cup of coffee per day" if a cup of coffee costs about 4 dollars? Could I create a competing insurance company that costs less than a big gulp per day?



wildwombat

Winter Olympics

This is probably one of the best pictures that has come out of these current Olympics.
The composition is amazing. The action is exciting. The colors are so bright.

I am inspired by pictures like this.



wildwombat

Avatar Dances in Fern Gully's Dune

Just know that I have seen Avatar and I loved everything about it except for the story.






wildwombat

19 Hour Day

I woke up at 4AM this morning before the sun rose. I was sitting on the curb waiting to be picked up 30 minutes later. But where would a college kid be heading at 4:30 in the morning? College kids usually experience 4:30AM because they've stayed up through the night to see it. A college kid would never voluntarily wake up at 4AM. What is there see or do at 4AM? See the city of Irvine lights twinkle brighter than the stars? Try to count the number of cars on the road with one hand?

Not exactly.

I saw a dedicated group of college students with a passion for rowing. A team that burned more calories and sweat before the sun rose than most people burn in a day. A team lead by an Olympic gold medalist coach passing on his experience onto the next generation.







There is a certain amount of beauty in watching the sunrise while cruising through Backbay/Newport. Is it weird I'm actually looking forward to doing it again later this week?



wildwombat

This is Big

Soupers, if you have been following this blog since its creation then you know a little more about me than most people.
You know my strengths.
You know my weaknesses.
You know what makes me happy.
You know what makes me sad.
You know my sense of humor.
You know what grinds my gears.
And yet...you still continue to read.

And to that I thank you. I know I have the support of everyone who reads this and that is something I wish I could return, but it's hard to top how much support you all have given me.

Soupers, today is an exceptional day in this life of this Wild Wombat.

There are far too many entries about my mental struggles with telling my mom about what my major is. Far too much energy spent fretting.

But today, February 12, 2009, this wombat told his mom what he plans to major in.

Literary Journalism Major. Film & Media Minor.

There was no hesitation. No lecture about career choice. No subject change.

Simply: "It's not that the career is dying. It's more of if you can market yourself and network, which I know you can do."

So what does this mean now, Soupers? It means I can actually declare the major now, without fretting.

Does it mean the end of this blog? Not a chance because I know there are going to be more times along the way where I will need the support I get from you, Soupers. And I wouldn't trade that for anything...maybe an iPad...NO! Not even an iPad!

You, Soupers, are a life line for me. I love hearing people tell me "I read you blog the other day." or "I just want you to know that I spent the entire 3 hour lecture reading you blog instead of paying attention." or "Why haven't you updated your blog yet?!"



[a very accomplished and humbled] wildwombat

A Now A Bit of History...Of Everything

Really sweet animation. Completely hand drawn on a flip book. I can't begin to estimate how long it took to make and how many pieces of paper went into making it.

But I like how the Caveman shows he got an idea with a light bulb...then invented fire.



wildwombat

Reconnect

Today I spoke with two friends from high school I never had the proper chance to have a solid conversation with. Silence is golden...sometimes.

Talking with these people is fresh for some reason. That's not to say that my current friends aren't worth talking to, but it's interesting to find out what they're doing now.

Right now I think we're stuck in this purgatory of life.

Readying ourselves to be full fledged adults, but not growing up too fast.

Old enough to know, but too young to care.




wildwombat

Valentine's Day and Skanks!

This actually has very little to do with Valentine's Day and Skanks...kind of...
Sometimes I think Facebook can be really passive aggressive and sarcastic towards their faithful users. Like when this nice ad showed up not 24 hours after the Chargers [foolishly] lost to the Jets in the playoffs.

Harsh Facebook...just harsh...

Then this one showed up. While I was playing Bejeweled instead of studying.


First of all telling me not to be lazy. That goes against everything facebook supports! LAZINESS! I, and every other user, go on Facebook to avoid working on my essay, studying for my midterm and going to the gym. I don't need you to lecture me.

Second, what is that creature supposed to be? It's not a dog. It's too chunky to be a monkey. (haha chunky monkey) It's not a bear either. Looks like the rejected pre-production art for the gremlins.

Third, are you assuming that just because my relationship status says single, you assume I'm not doing anything on Valentine's Day and thus will have time to play Zoo World? Well, you're right about being single and not having anything to do on Valentine's day, but that's not the point. How dare you assume that. I happen to have a very intimate date planned with Call of Duty...did I just admit that?

Lastly, you just said Don't Be Lazy followed by Have some fun this Valentine's Day, and play Zoo World! Pretty sure you just contradicted yourself there, Facebook. Don't by lazy! But stay inside all day and play a computer game!! YEAH!!!

Sometimes facebook doesn't need illiterate, ignorant, or misinformed users to fail. Sometimes it just fails on its own...

Bonus:

Hell yeah brah, my car looks just like that and gets all the ladies brah. Plus with my $30.11 auto insurance rate I can push out part of the dent that beezy left while leaning on my hood! But if I get into an actual accident while racing my sweet ride, I'm screwed! YEAH BRAHHHH!!!!



wildwombat

PS where are all the groups complaining about the new facebook layout?

MAWFIA WARRZZ

Mafia Wars was probably one of the first things that Facebook tried to get me into when I joined. I don't have any experience playing online role playing games so I just steered clear of it. I think Mafia Wars is like the original Farmville-esque game for Facebook. [Side note: I heard quite some time ago that there are more people playing Farmville than people on Twitter. I wonder if that's still true.] Every so often, before I blocked it, I got useless notifications of people asking me to "join their families" or whatever. Damn you people, getting me all excited that someone finally commented on my profile picture only to see that you just want me to join your mafia! FFFUUUUUUUUUU!

Anyway I've never played the game, so I don't quite know what the big deal is, but the fact that they're constantly advertising makes me believe that they're going strong.

Right up until I saw this nice advertisement.



What the hell is this? I understand some people do actually travel on elephants, which is pretty cool by the way, but they aren't decorated like that! That elephant is from like the BC era!

AKA THIS!!:



Mafia members don't travel on elephants! This is ridiculous. Mafia members ride in limos. How much attention would they draw to themselves if they were stomping around on an elephant? How subtle would that be for a drive by?

"Alright, Jimmy said the boss of the rival mafia would be exiting the nightclub right now, let's take him out!"
(STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP, Elephant trumpet, gunfire, STOMP STOMP STOMP away)
"The boss is dead! Noooo! If only we could figure out which mafia uses elephants as their main mode of transportation rather than cars like a normal mafia gang! It's going to be so hard to find the people who did this because elephants blend in so well when they're around a ton of other cars!"

Maybe they're just running out of ideas.





wildwombat

SWAT

I'm definitely inspired to join the police force/SWAT team after seeing this ad on facebook.

Starting salary of $70 per year! Holy Make It Rain, Batman! Let's sign up! Because 70 dollars per year would be about $1.35 per week, which is definitely what people can live on for a week! That's not significantly below minimum wage at all. I mean I'll be putting my life on the line sometimes, dealing with violent drunks, strung out druggies, robbers, and what not, so I guess my life is only worth $1.35. It's a little more than I expected.

And why is the age in quotes? "19" so can I lie about my age?
"So you're looking to become a cop eh? How old are you?"
"I'm '19'" (does air quotes)


0:52-1:38 is what I'm talking about [regardless the entire clip is hilarious so watch the whole thing anyway]

Finally I love that badass SWAT dude that's pointing at me to join like Uncle Sam. Really though, if I saw that in real life, it will most likely be because they're screaming at me to put the gun down and release the hostages, not "HEY YOU! JOIN THE POLICE FORCE!!!"

But the badass aura of that dude is completely ruined by the huge red writing next to him. What is that? Why does it look like a 5 year old wrote it in crayon? Maybe that 5 year old came in and was like "I'm '19' and you should hire me for my awesome graphic design skillz."


Soupers, prepare yourselves for more of these. As of lately, Facebook ads have been getting more and more hilarious. I'm thinking of changing a couple settings to see what other ads come up.


wildwombat

My ego and career hopes took a pretty big hit today. Mostly in the form of a terrible grade which didn't really create a good impression on my professor. I don't want to be "that guy" who makes a big deal about one bad grade, but when that bad grade is in a class that you want to major in, it's pretty significant. I found myself again questioning if this is really what I want to do.
Then I remembered every time I was rejected and disappointed by something I couldn't control.
I have more control over this than I think.

"Didn't do so hot huh? It's okay."
"It's okay, we all make mistakes."
Just some stuff my friends said that made today seem less dismal. Thanks.




[A more determined] wildwombat

I've been playing up CG so much so I figured you might as well see what they're all about.



wildwombat

Congraduations are in order

A very special congratulations to Common Ground on their 2nd place at VIBE XV!
I bet the Bren Center was rocked when you guys took the stage.


wildwombat

Do we internalize our feelings to save the feelings of others or to save our own feelings?

My approach to this has always been the same.

It changes now.





wildwombat