"What did you do to your face?" - my sister

"What did you do to yours?" - my response

I live in a world of perpetual change. The only things I can commit to are my sports affiliations (Purdue, Colts, Pacers, and Reds). Yesterday I carved my Christmas beard into a Christmas moustache. A Christmas Fu Man Chu, if you will. My ever rotating hairstyles and facial hair creations are a distinct indicator of my identity crisis. Refering to my life I've often heard from my mother, "You need to pick one thing and stick to it." Easier said than done. I would gladly do this if I could, but you don't choose your personality.

Perhaps it was all the acting I did while growing up. Constantly becoming different characters taught me that I could be whomever I wanted for a short while and then change into someone else. Perhaps it's because I was born in the Year of the Snake on the Chinese horoscope. Perhaps it's because I'm also a Scorpio in that other horoscope. Perhaps, as my parents lament, I wasn't raised with enough discipline. Perhaps, as I lament, I was too sheltered in my childhood. Well, whatever the reason, this is who I am, and I have to deal with it.

I'm going to finish that law school application today and work on getting that one last letter of recommendation. See? I've changed my mind again! Not that I'm excited about law school...I just feel that I need some skills other than these nunchuk skills.

Speaking of Napoleon Dynamite, I know that this is a movie that a subset of people don't like. The most common complaint I have heard about it is that there is no plot. That's just incredibly untrue. The movie's brilliant because the plot and motivations are subtle. The characters are so distinct and colorful that they overshadow the plot on some levels. LaFawnduh is what I like to refer to as the "Yoda" character. She brings wisdom to the story and enables Kip and Napoleon to overcome their insecurities and succeed. Uncle Rico is Napoleon's warning to take chances in life when they avail themselves. Before the climax where he dances in front of the school, Napoleon watches Rico throwing footballs in front of his video recorder becoming frustrated when he hits the camera with one of this throws. Napoleon realizes that he could also end up living in the past if he doesn't seize whatever opportunities that may arise, and he uses this info to save his friend and win the girl. I could write a paper on this film. What I appreciate the most about this movie is that it has lessons that I can apply to my life.

Friday night, Ivan convinced me to go see a comedy show at Morty's. I don't like paying to see comedy since I've witnessed hundreds of them already, but going out to a smoke-filled room sounded like it would be a healthy experience...for my mood. When I got there, Ivan and his friends already had a table. Front row. Middle. And what seat did they leave me? The very first one. Assholes. This is not where you place a comedian. I did my best to enjoy the show and not dissect all the jokes, and I only became part of the show once. After five beers, I needed to pee so bad that I started to fear for the integrity of the walls of my bladder, and the only way I was going to enjoy the rest of the show was if I did something about this, but of course I had to cross over the front of the stage to make it to the restroom which involved me actually "hopping" over the corner. My hopping was sufficiently critiqued by the comedian, Mark Ryan, when I came back, and I took it like a man. I'm just glad that he didn't ask me what I did for a living. I wouldn't know what to tell him. Overall, it was a pretty good time, but I am never sitting front row Joe for a comedy show again.

I spent all day Saturday working on the cartoon. Ivan said he wanted to finish the second scene, and I told him he was smoking. Of course, we didn't finish it, but I did manage to lip sync most of the second scene, my newly discovered talent. The characters really looked like they were saying their lines! This is a tedious process though an essential one. Ivan did the lip syncing on the first scene...so I'll have to go back and redo that. We originally we just going having the mouths bounce around when the characters speak, but after watching one actually talk I gotta have more. More! More I say! Give it!

Yesterday I drew a guitar in Flash for one of my comic strips while watching the Colts game. I was stuck between a rock of frustration and a harder place of frustration for those few hours. The Colts were inept and embarrassing, and my animation skills were much the same. Finally after the Colts were torn to shreds, and I finally created something that a five-year-old would look at and guess "guitar" in the first three attempts, I turned on Madden and trounced the Jaguars 91-0. I don't understand what was going on in that Colts game. I had no trouble stopping the run.