Plotkin Shoe, Western boot

Discontinue

2008-07-30T11:17:00.001-04:00

I will no longer be writing on this blog because I have switched sites. You can find my new page at http://jaimecastillo.tumblr.com/

Missing persons 2010

2008-07-29T10:10:00.000-04:00

Gone missing in 2008, this is how we expect the victim, formerly known as Miley Cyrus, to look now. Any information, please call Disney.

Flashback to 12/27/1999

2008-07-27T20:58:00.001-04:00

And now another look at my life a decade ago. This excerpt was taken verbatim from my personal journal dated 12/27/1999

Dear Journal,
Oscar is starting his Junior year at George Washington University. I have been talkin to AJ Kuzy a lot on email, which is a new thing. Also I went rock climbing and hiking en New Hampshire, we reached the summit Mt. Washington.

About girls, I have been told that a few girls like me but I really wouldn't want to date them. There are a couple girls in my grade that I'd like to date, but I am always afraid of saying dumb stuff to someone I really like.

The songs that are the hits are "Blue" and "Livin la Vida Loca."

A lot of people are worried about the New Millennium, they are stocking up on foods because they are afraid of what may happen. I am not really scared, but I am a little about the bombs that may go off.

your writer,
Jaime

Dark Knight?

2008-07-25T19:23:00.005-04:00

Dark Knight was very very very average. Not awesome, not great, not fantastic, just average. I really don't understand where all the hype came from. Oh wait now I do. Heath.

Ira Glass on Storytelling

2008-07-19T20:56:00.002-04:00

Ira Glass of "This American Life," discusses the building blocks of storytelling.

Jake and Amir

2008-07-11T11:47:00.001-04:00

I've been following these guys for a long time and can only say that they're videos are always funny. I'd keep an eye out for them.

Fourth of July from Amir on Vimeo.

2 hour road trip

2008-07-09T02:05:00.004-04:00

Thanks to the repairs being done on the F line this evening, my usual 20 min subway ride back to my apartment took 2 hours. I did see that weird guy from Road Trip though on the train. He is really skinny.

The UCB Experience, 301

2008-06-27T17:00:00.004-04:00

Photo is of the Harold team 1985
6/21/08
Had a practice session with Kevin Hines today before starting 301 tomorrow. I was really trying to play things as real as possible, and it worked for the most part. Each scene I made it a point to start with some sort of object work and with as real dialog as I could. Kevin provided some great notes, "Answer any questions you have about your relationship." In your scene answer "why do I do this," "how come my character said that," "what is the purpose?" It's hard to establish some sort of game if the relationship isn't formed. How can we find the unusual of pattern if we don't even know the specifics?

Kevin would say to us, "that was good, but it took place in an empty blank space. Use your environment."

301 #1 and #2
6/23/08

First 2 classes of 301 in the books and it's complicated and fun at the same time. The beginnings of this class is about learning to form group games and explore the suggestion to its fullest. Gavin said when you get the suggestion, "Put a question mark after it. So if you get "Broom", make it "Broom?" Then after the harold see how close you came to answering that question." Group games are amazing when done right, and doing them in rehearsal is a blast. During these group games it is vital to listen constantly to everything being said, waiting for the unusual. As soon as something is recognized as "the game" we need to make moves that not only solidify to your team that "this is the game we are playing," but also heightening it.

So hard, So fun.

Plastic Surgery Photo Hunt!!

2008-06-17T00:37:00.004-04:00

And now the first installment of Jaime's Before/After Plastic Surgery Photo Hunt. Today's subject: Ali Lohan (14 years old).

Da Happening

2008-06-13T22:57:00.010-04:00

Just got back from M. Nights new movie, "The Happening."

Jon Leguizamo is back in film with this movie

and old.

No Thanks.

2008-06-13T15:51:00.002-04:00

I'm pretty sure they already made this movie with a lawyer, it was called Illegally Blond.

Flashback to 2/24/1998

2008-06-09T20:41:00.001-04:00

Dear Journal,
Lots has happened since the last time that I wrote to you. For christmas I got The Rock and the Lost World movies, A cd player (portable), a Tommy Hilfiger shirt, Flight Simulater '98 and a joystick!

The Winter Olympics in Nagano ended on the 22 of this month. They were held in Nagano Japan, this summer they will be in Sidney, Australia. The next winter games will be in Salt Lake City, USA. Tara Lipinski won her first gold medal n these games in Figure Skating. The USA Women's Hockey Team won the very first gold medal in this new event, while the USA Men's Hockey Team got eliminated then trashed their hotel rooms.

In school A**a came back to St. Agnes because her friends were calling her bad names, like whore. I can't wait to graduate and go to the dance. I don't know who to ask and I am pretty sure A**a likes me.

I gotta go, write to you later,
Jaime

Flashback to 12/1/1997

2008-06-02T20:12:00.003-04:00

Dear Journal,
I have not written in hear for almost one month. Not much has happened. On Halloween I collected a lot of Candy. I went with James, Brandon, Bucky, Eric and Mike. We had a dance, it was called the Harvest Dance. Thanksgiving was a lot of fun, we went to New York City to see the Christmas Spectacular, Macy's Parade, and shopped at Macy's.

I only want a few things for Christmas this year:
Portable Handheld Color Tv
Flight Simulator '98(for "computer")
Daylight the movie
The Lost World (movie sequel to Jurassic Park)
A portable CD player
Clothes, Possibly Tommy Hilfiger

Well thats all I need to write down.
Talk to you soon,
Jaime

Fin

2008-05-29T20:25:00.002-04:00

Checkmate Mr. Ecko.

Street Fighter!

2008-05-28T23:35:00.003-04:00

If you played Street Fighter as much as I did growing up then you'll love this. Thanks Jthan.

Worth sharing?

2008-05-22T10:59:00.006-04:00

I have two friends in particular who enjoy using all the weird applications Facebook offers: the "happy hour", the "hug me" (which is creepy), "iLike", and my favorite the "compare people" application. This particular application allows all your peers on Facebook to vote for you in a number of different categories such as best catch, most desired, and best dinner companion. Your profile is then continuously updated to display your current rank among your friends as voted by your peers in the specified areas. Below are ranks of my two friends, and I can't help but think if the stats are really worth sharing in their profiles.

#20 best mother (potential)
#40 best companion on a desert island
#42 best shopping companion
#45 most outgoing
#52 most studious
#54 smartest
#56 most reliable
#91 most confident
#114 most enviable
#121 most kiss-able

#15 best catch
#16 best public speaker
#19 most desired
#23 most trustworthy
#28 most adventurous
#33 best dinner companion
#34 person with the best body
#37 most tech-savvy

Bipedalism

2008-05-22T10:30:00.014-04:00

I recently attended a concert on campus featuring Tony Melendez, a world famous musician who has played for the Pope and on a number of major television networks. Tony was born sans arms and plays the guitar with his toes. Accompanied by a full rock band, Tony entertained us by playing such classics as "We Are Family," "RESPECT" and "Hot Hot Hot." Throughout the 2 hour set there were times when we'd be dancing and clapping for 35 minutes straight, reallying making our muscles sore and palms red. Towards the end I was in serious pain, but I kept clapping because I didn't want to complain about my tired arms.

Inappropriate Part II

2008-05-15T12:47:00.005-04:00

I share an office with a man whose job is to sit at the front of the school from 8am-11am, and mark down students as they enter late. After 11am he comes back to our office, sits at his desk and literally does nothing for the rest of the day; and by nothing I mean leans back and sleeps. Each time he walks in and out of our shared office he says, "God Damnit," or "Fucking Kidding Me." I don't understand his anger because he has such a low status/stress job. One day he was swearing and cursing because he thought someone messed with his compter. It wasn't turning on and he was convinced a student broke in and gave it a virus. After a few minutes of his cursing and smashing things around I walked over and turned on his monitor. Problem solved. My office partner and I also share the same first name, which is great.

Over the past several days he has been having problems printing from the printer we share, again swearing and what not. After a few tries it started to print, and when it was finished he gave what he had printed (grade sheets) to the counselor who had requested them. The following is a transcript of that exchange:

Coworker: Jen, here are those grades.
Jen: Oh, thanks I really appreciate it.

Jen walks back down the hall to her office.

Coworker: I'll take a blow job next time.
Me: Inappropriate.

Flashback to 8/26/1997

2008-05-14T09:26:00.003-04:00

I've kept a personal journal since August 26, 1997 and I feel a sufficient amount of time has passed that will allow me to publish the oldest of my most treasured thoughts. Keep checking, I'll be posting them throughout the summer.

8/26/1997
Dear Journal,
Today was the first day of school (8th grade). School this year is very confusing compared to last year. Mrs. K seems pretty nice, and so does Mr. Rey. I sit next to Brandon in every class. Mike Bo**k and Matt and Mark Co* sit at my table. Mark of course has to sit across from me, he doesn't shower and always has mucous coming out of his nose. Summer vacation was fun, I saw a lot of awesome movies.

They are:
Out to Sea
Scream
Air Force One
Men in Black
George of the Jungle
The Cable Guy
and My Fellow Americans

Talk to you later, you writer, owner, and buyer of this book

This American Life

2008-05-08T22:57:00.013-04:00

I don't mean to plug two videos in one week, but anyone who has been walking about Manhattan lately has seen posters of Mr. Ira Glass painting the subways and billboards (ooo a dangling participle). "This American Life" has been an amazing NPR radio program for over 15 years, and has just recently been made into a television series on Showtime. I came across this vignette from season two, give it a shot...I loved this story. Oh, and for those of you who don't know, Ira is the host.

Bronx World Travelers

2008-05-06T21:55:00.003-04:00

Latest episode of the Bronx World Travelors, created by Ben Schwartz of Rejectedjokes.com. Features great comedians from the UCB theatre.

Inappropriate

2008-05-02T14:47:00.004-04:00

There is an individual at my work who has a benign inoperable tumor. Every few months he misses a day of work in order to see a specialist to monitor its status. This past Wednesday that individual had such a visit, and returned to work today. A few of us were wondering what the latest news was on his medical condition because he hadn't yet disclosed how his visit went (which he usually does). The following is a transcript of how the conversation went when he decided to tell us:

Coworker walks into office after lunch
"Can you believe the size of this paper clip, its huge."

Other coworker while sitting as his desk
"Speaking of size, my tumor is bigger."

Me
"Inappropriate."

Cougars

2008-05-01T09:08:00.007-04:00

I am currently an intern in the School Counseling Department of a High School. Never in my life have I been more approached by Married/Divorced women, "Cougars," and today I'm going to share but a few of the situations that have made me uncomfortable.

1. About 2 weeks ago I started wearing polo shirts to my internship rather than a shirt and tie due to the warm spring weather we've been receiving. At about lunch time on this particular day I was enjoying my Turkey Sandwich and Goldfish crackers when I heard one of the counselors and the secretary talking quietly, then laugh. Upon hearing the laugh I looked and walked over to see what was apparently funny, to which the counselor said, "Look good Jaime, but I'd watch out, there's a lot of Cougers in this office."

2. My office is in the back of the department next to the bathrooms, which is great cause it's quieter and I can be left alone. The interesting part is I get to know everyone's bowel schedule, and can predict with fairly good accuracy who, what time, and how long specific faculty members will be. There is one teacher who is engaged to the bartender of a bar I frequent, so I've gotten to know her well, and from time to time she will leave bags in my office on days she coaches. Last week I was walking down the hall with my supervisor and the teacher stopped me and said, "I left my clothes in a pile on the floor of your office." My supervisors face went red, and mouth dropped open. I responded, "No, her bags... for coaching...never mind," and we just kept walking and didn't mention it again.

3. Earlier this week our school was awarded a dress down day. Since starting this past January I hadn't experienced a dress down here so I wanted to confirm how "down" dress down was. I walked to the secretary in my department and asked, "Am I allowed to wear jeans and a t-shirt? Or is that too "down?"" She responded, "No that should be fine, but make sure you wear a thong, it'll feel better." I did double-take then began to slowly walk back to my desk. As my supervisor was walking in moments later, the secretary calls over to my supervisor, "Jaime said he's going to wear a thong tomorrow for dress down!" My supervisor looked at me, turned red, and her mouth dropped open.

Sneezing Study

2008-04-25T12:11:00.000-04:00

I was sitting in class last week and a young lady (Subject A) sneezed, after waiting a few moments I leaned over and whispered "God Bless You." I was surprised that nobody else said anything after the sneeze. At first I thought nothing of it, then about ten minutes later another student (Subject B) across the room sneezed, yielding a louder more dignified "God Bless You" from the majority of the class. Upon this observation I began to hypothesize as to why Subject B tallied more responses than Subject A. I came to two conclusions:

1. Because nobody had sneezed in the class yet, when Subject A let one go, one theory is that the class wasn't ready for it; therefor unsure of how to respond. Furthermore, when Subject B sneezed minutes later, the class had already been primed by Student A, thereby able to respond quickly and forcefully because they had just been minimally conditioned.

2. Theory two states that Student B received more sneezing responses because she was more attractive than Student A. In this theory, when two individuals are in a room and sneeze, the individual who is better looking will elicit more "God Bless Yous."

The study continues.