Friday, May 30, 2008

Sturman's smoke shop

Yesterday entailed a trip into downtown Boise where I visited my new favorite store, Sturman's Smoke Shop. Mr Sturman is one of my favorite people right now. I am yet to see this jolly old man without a cigar in hand which makes me feel kind of bad for his lungs, but he's pretty darn cool. He is a personality that can easily put a smile on your face, and loves to share any knowledge he has on any number of topics; makes you feel right at home. Usually in stores like these which are usually just full of old men and sell small, very expensive items, I always feel like the owner or worker is annoyed that I am in there and that they have to keep a very close eye on me, and I definitely felt this way at first, just out of habit, but Mr. Sturman quickly made me feel like I belonged. I noticed one of my favorite books behind his counter and asked him how he liked it which led to a great discussion of books and people, and he showed us a very valuable book on pipes with amazing pictures in it. He also holds Bible studies with his friends, in his smoke shop. This is definitely what a store should be, a place for friends to meet, discuss good topics and of course purchase a thing or two.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Shaun King's Dream

Last night I dreamed I was watching a movie that was the absolute saddest story/movie ever. I think I was also once again a character in the movie which is why it was even sadder to me. I remember in my dream crying quite a lot like it was happening to me, but also thinking at the same time this is the saddest fictional story ever. I then woke up realizing that it wasn't already a real movie and thought to myself that it really should be a story for all to see. I then had this discussion with myself: "I should write that down right now, nah I'll do it in the morning, I'll remember. Story like this I surely won't forget."
Of course I now have no idea what the heck my dream was about and can't for the life of me remember. All I seem to be able to remember is an old lady holding a baby in an old room, but even that is rather vague in my mind. It probably wasn't all that great anyways.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Then one day you look and find 5 years have got behind

Well, this summer marks 5 years out of high school. Crazy to think about how fast it has gone by. There is no reunion planned that I know of, but I think it would have been nice to see everyone again. Makes me wonder about what I have to show for the first 5 years of my adult life. Well, I have 5 years of schooling to show; however, no degree, just give me another year or so alright. Despite no degree, I do think I have some life experiences in those 5 years that I would not trade for any degree. I have lived in 4 different locations, each one adding a little twist to the person I have become, and have even had a month of pretty much living in a car as I traveled to far distant lands. I've done a lot, and haven't done a lot more, I've learned a whole bunch, and forgotten a whole bunch too, but have been slowly growing up through it all. I've changed plenty. Things I used to care about don't really bother me at all now, and the opposite is true of other things. For instance, just last week I bought a pair of old navy shoes for $12.99 that are close to the exact same thing as van shoes that go for $40 or so. 8 or so years ago, this action would have have seemed inconceivable to me, but now, I like these shoes even moreso for their having no real brand, and feel that they are even cooler because I got them for under $15. Anyways, I wonder how my life might be different if I just went straight into a 4 year university, lived on campus, and got that degree straight up. Well, I would have likely only lived in 2 different locations, school and home, and I would have completely different friends, and be in a very different situation than I am now. Maybe it would have been better, you never know, but it just as well might have been much worse. Living on a college campus with the same great people for a couple years is no doubt an amazing experience, but I don't think I'd change everything I did for that.
Anyways, I have decided just for my own pleasure, to write out the last five years of my life in a sort of memoir, or summary. I will be writing this more for myself than any of you as it will be just a recap of each of the last five years of my life so that I won't grow old and forget about what life was like at this age. It probably won't be too entertaining, but if you care to get to know me that much, then read on. You can look forward to the next couple of posts being a past year in the life of Shaun. I might get bored though and throw a random one in there just to keep you few readers on your toes. To end this, here is a song that I kind of stole the title to this post from. In case you haven't noticed, pretty much all of my titles are stolen from songs that relate in some way to that post. This one is quite good, so I am going to share where I stole it from. Here it is:

Time

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but its sinking
And racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in the relative way, but youre older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the english way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought Id something more to say

-Pink Floyd

Monday, May 12, 2008

I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours

Last night I once again dreamed I was Batman. I haven't had one of these since I was a kid I think. They are always kind of scary because people are always trying to kill you, but they are also totally awesome. The best thing about this one was that it was a mix between me just watching the new Batman movie that is to come out, and me actually being Batman in the movie. Since I knew it was just a movie, I knew Batman would triumph in the end and that I was pretty much invincible. I was beating people up left and right, 3 at a time, and may have even killed a man (yikes!). But they were all bad guys, although none of them were the usual enemies of Batman which was kind of disappointing, but probably less scary cause I still am frightened at the thought of my dream as a kid when my dad was actually Batman and the joker was trying to kill me to get at him. I also had a sweet jetpack that I could fly around in. I know, Batman doesn't use a jetpack, but my Batman did. It was also odd because it mixed my real life into the mix. Real people in my life were in it, but they of course didn't know I was Batman. And there was even a girl. Anyways, I defeated the bad guys in a very non-traumatic way that was kind of disappointing. They had machine guns, but for some reason never shot me, kind of like real movies I guess. If the movie is anything like my ending, I will be bummed, plus I didn't even get the girl in the end. Maybe I just woke up too early.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Those Were The Days

It seems I have reached that age when I can say, "well back in my day...." Of course I realize how young I really still am, but my how things have changed since my childhood. A few weeks back I was with friends reminiscing about the popular music of our younger days and how great it is compared to todays pop music. I must say I somewhat enjoy that feeling of superiority to the younger generations. Nobody born after 1995 can say they know what life without cell phones, computers, or internet was like and countless other things just like that. My philosophy professor always talks about how it is his dream to become the old man who sits on his front yard in a lawn chair with hose in hand ready to spray any youngin who dares step on his lawn, and then to go for a walk only to stop and stare at the local neighborhood construction site for a good 10 minutes before yelling, "Only took 2 of us to do that job in my day."I can almost picture myself being that man someday. I of course hope to be much more friendly than that, but I'm sure I will think such things.

A couple weeks ago , during a class break, I decided to go get myself a candy bar. I had been craving one for quite some time now and I couldn't even remember when the last time I had one was. So I went down to the little concession stand and noticed there was no price listed for any of them. I pondered what the price might be for a second, and decided to go ahead and get it. Once I saw the price get rung up, I immediately regretted my decision: $1.16 for a candy bar. Being the frugal man I am, I hate spending money on such pointless things as candy even if it is just a dollar, but I especially hate it when it is over a dollar. Now I am not too ignorant to know that this price isn't really out of the ordinary, but I guess I kind of hoped being at a school they would maybe have cheaper prices since everyone there is a poor student. After 5 years of college, I should definitely know better than this. With everything from books to food, the only time you get cheaper prices for anything as a student is when you are off campus. So anyways, even though I wanted to reject the cashier right then and there, in order to avoid any embarrassment or whatnot, I pulled out two $1 dollar bills and reluctantly handed them over for this overpriced reese's peanut butter cup. After leaving I reminisced about my old grade school's vending machines where you could get a candy bar or bag of chips and a soda for exactly $1. Thats right, 50 cents for a soda, or 50 cents for a food item, or $1 for both. It was the best deal ever really. Those were the good old days. The prices were never raised until sometime midway through high school which is when I stopped buying from them. I'm sure my parents can talk of the days when they could get both for a quarter or something like that, but I am just glad I was born in time to experience really being able to get something satisfying with just 1 dollar.

I then proceeded to eat this item, and I didn't even enjoy it. If sugar poisoning was a real disease, it felt like I was injecting it right into my veins by eating this thing. Have peanut butter cups always been that stinking sweet? I have always loved those things, but this one seemed to taste like I might as well have been pouring sugar down my throat. I was sorely disappointed by this high priced item I just bought. Thats all folks.

Monday, May 5, 2008

God Put a Smile Upon Your Face

Today it happened. The not so anonymous lady who I wanted to make smile came in to my place of work. If you don't know the story, then read 7 or so blogs down. When I first saw her, my heart jumped. It was the feeling from back in high school when a girl I had a huge crush on just walked up and I was planning to ask her out. Not really a fearful nervousness like that describes, but more a fun nervousness like, oh boy, here it goes. However, my palms were sweaty, and nervousness was indeed erupting inside me. My mind raced, what am I going to say, or do? Does she possibly know? Neither myself nor her were at the counter just yet so I made my way to it. She had sat at a table for a sec, then stood up, looked my way, and then left. Well, that certainly wasn't what I had in mind; maybe next time I thought.

The next time was 5 minutes later. She must have stepped next door for a few minutes. This was good because now I was no longer caught off guard, but had some time to get my wits about me. Unfortunately other customers were about, so I couldn't give her my full attention at first, but she went ahead and ordered in her usual semi-demanding way. It was now just me and her. Her small order was quickly coming to a conclusion with nothing as much as a smirk even cracking yet. I had to think fast, but what can I possibly say or do that is remotely worth a smile? I settled for the only thing to come to mind. Uhh, "How's the weather out there today?" I asked. Is there any small talk more ordinary or mundane that that? Thats like the standard topic of discussion when you have absolutely nothing to talk about with someone but can't stand the silence. Its so easy because pretty much everyone knows something about the weather and can easily comment on how they like it, but its also so boring. Is that really the best this little brain of mine can do? how lame.

Nevertheless, it worked. This small little expression of saying something that wasn't required in the transaction, but was just said to acknowledge the other person as an actual person, actually was able to bring out a short but sweet smile directed right at me. Almost disappointingly easy. She looked up, smiled brief but big, and said something like, "it's great, we can sure use more days like this." Yippee I thought, my feeble effort actually worked. I made her smile, or maybe just the weather did, but if so, it at least was my bringing up of the weather that brought it out. It was short and maybe not as grand and exciting as hoped for, but it did indeed happen, and she really did look genuinely happy for my existence that split second. Maybe next time I will introduce myself just for the heck of it, or maybe not. I will at least try for a string of consecutive visits with a smile. We'll see how that goes. Thanks for reading.