I feel ill.  I feel sad.  I feel hopeless and depressed.  Just earlier today, life was happy, but now there almost doesn’t seem a point for the future.  All it took was watching “Gasland”

Read the rest of this entry »

I want to write… daily… I want to write to you.  But, as one of the most frequent questions I get is “How do you pay for all your travels?” I have to do the occasional project.

It’s 4:30am on a Saturday, and I’m watching Julie/Julia (more on that later).  I have to pick Craig up at the airport at noon.  My day was awesome!  I jogged in the morning– which I discovered to be way easier for me than jogging in the afternoon, I’m not sure why.  I wore no shirt.  Oh yeah- I learned at the Longevity Conference that when you get sun, you get Vitamin D(3) – but your skin produces it, and it takes 12 hours to absorb into the skin, and the blood stream… so, if you go in the sun, don’t wash off with soap right away.  Use water, soap in the major area (groin and pits), and maybe strategic use of deodorant, otherwise you’re washing away all that vitamin D(3) which brings such calm and happiness.

I worked in the afternoon.  I’m still processing photos from the Longevity Conference.  I shot over 3,000 photos there.  I worked barefoot and shirtless in the back yard.  Bentley loved it.  I got a ton of Vitamin D(3) – and a nice tan! – and I’m also down 5 pounds since last week (despite having had the munchies the other day, and having eaten a giant rice-krispies-treat egg, and massive quantities of this uber-rich chocolate cake with fudge layers in between!  I even had a talk with myself on my way to my friend’s house that I would not eat sugary stuff… *sigh*).

Today was my 2nd day of eating 100% raw.  I’m not trying to do a 30 day raw challenge like last year (though it wouldn’t hurt), I’m just trying to eat more healthy… and it’s working.  I’ve also been taking Magnesium, L-Argenine, Fish Oil (Omega 3′s supposed to help ADHD people, which I suspect I am…. you don’t need a richter scale to know that you’re in the middle of an earthquake, if you know what I mean), and… hmmm.. can’t remember the other one.

I’m making my 1st Coconut Kefir.  I’m almost nervous.  How will it turn out?  Will it taste good? Will it be poisonous?  It was really easy to prep– just chop open 2 coconuts, pour ‘em into a 1 quart pot, heat up to skin temperature, and pour in the starter pack.  Yup, I got a starter pack.. I don’t feel like poisoning anyone by playing with probiotics (the friendly bacteria that live in your digestive tract).

With Craig being in California, I’ve been using the blender on my own.  He is the smoothie king, but now, left to my own devices, I’ve gotten to do the typical Ori thing… experiment!  Yesterday’s smoothie was a total success.  Coconut,Avocado (really thickens things up– I added it last, and saw just how much!), cacco, macca, shilajit, strawberries, ataulfo mangoes, cayanne pepper, cinnamon, a tiny bit of OJ (because the Shilajit or Maca made things a bit bitter).  Before I left to Dallas, I had blended up all sorts of stuff including cucumber, and other stuff, and it was way too bitter, so I poured in a can of Red Bull, and that did the trick.

That brings me back to the movie that’s currently on pause, ’cause the urge to write was too strong… that, and it practically made me cry (ok… it made me cry a little… ’cause I can relate to it. *sigh* way to admit stuff publicly).

I started watching this movie with Kathryn in Dallas… but the internet was crapping out, so we blew it off and slept instead.  As I watch it now (as background material while I process through all these photos), I’m moved by it.

It’s about this girl who has a stressful and unrewarding job… heck, let’s just say it.  She has a shitty job! She’s at the place where people call to complain about medical problems after 9/11, and they’re all getting dicked around by the system, so they take it out on her.  She’s really passionate about cooking though, so she sets up a blog. In her blog, she tries to cook the entire Julia Child cook book in 1 year.

That’s the plot- I didn’t ruin anything for you.  I’m 1 hour 33 minutes into it.  It’s great seeing someone do what they’re passionate about.  There’s her interactions with her family, and with her husband…. a lot of it hits home.  Talks of “I never finished anything in my life!”  That seems to be something a lot of people feel, me included.  It also talks about the narcissistic nature of blogging!  I never thought of it. This blog, while it covers marketing, while it covers photography, adventure, travel, humor, and whatever else…. it’s about me – no matter what I might tell myself.

Guess I’m a narcissist, eh?  There’s worse things to be.  But, I think every blogger should watch this.

I was originally told that it was so-so, and a chick-flick… but it’s a lot of fun!  Julia Child’s character is so adorable! The story is actually pretty deep, and learning about Julia Child’s life is fascinating.  I can’t even tell you how it ends, because I haven’t gotten that far.

Damn it! I did it again! It’s titled “Just a quick note” and it’s another frigging novel!  I just like writing.  I feel like I’m telling a dear friend what’s on my mind, or the occasional useful information.

Just remind me to tell you in another blog post:  What’s going on with my photography.  What’s up with my art.  Whatever did happen with those fried pies in Oklahoma?  Tony Hsieh’s new book.  The latest movies I’ve seen (Slumdog Millionaire was really great). And… since it’s now 4:55 (now you know how much I can write in how little time) – I’m going to go back to processing photos and watching this movie.

I just didn’t want the site to collect too much dust… and I’m not very good at writing short/meaningless posts to “just write something”.

Oh yeah- I need to post my last 3 episodes of CouchSurfingRadio.

Yup, never enough to do.

I am watching the Oscars with my friend Sheila (who apparently knows everything about Hollywood), and I don’t really know a majority of the actors, or movies they were in.  They showed how in a previous era, Casablanca had won.  I tweeted that I never have seen Casablance.

So, since there’s more than one of us, I”m setting up National Casablanca night!  A night where we all watch Cassablanca on our own computers, phones tvs, ipads– whatever….

Join us, as we watch what is supposed to be a classic  (I presume that means the special effects will suck).

What night (after SXSW) is good for you??

The Couchsurfing Radio Host- Couch Surfing Ori

[podcast]http://www.couchsurfingori.com/couchsurfing-radio/couchsurfing-couchcasts/CouchsurfingRadio-Couchcast-number-10-Hippyband-sxsw-pet-mountain-lions.mp3[/podcast]

All sorts of crazy, but you definitely want to catch the replay!  There’s a ton of awesome SXSW insider info on how to party for free, mingle with the stars, and all sorts of great reasons to go into town… with or without a badge.

My guest, Chase, talks about his pet mountain lion.

I tell jokes.

There’s a lot more– just listen, it’s fun!

[podcast]http://www.couchsurfingori.com/couchsurfing-radio/couchsurfing-couchcasts/CouchsurfingRadio-Couchcast-number-10-Hippyband-sxsw-pet-mountain-lions.mp3[/podcast]

I even include some music in this one– let me know what you think of it.

Craig likes to watch movies and robot chicken.  We have our computers set up in the same room, so I often get to watch much of it.  The greatest movie I’ve seen in a really really long time is Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog.

NPH (Neil Patrick Harris) has really come back strong.  His appearances in Harold & Kumar were funny, but short.  This movie really shows off his skills.  Did you know he can sing? He can sing really well!  In this movie, NPH plays Dr. Horrible, a video-blogging super-villain applicant, who likes a girl, and has to deal with his arch nemesis.  I suppose this movie answers the question “What would happen if someone wanting to be a super villain was a blogger?”  I can’t do it enough justice by describing it.  It’s on Netflicks, Amazon, and Itunes.

NPH is not the only talented singer/actor.  The arch nemesis is non other than Nathan Fillion, whom you may know from Serenity (Firefly), and apparently, he’s in a TV show called Castle.  We just watched Serenity the other day, so had remembered him as the disestablishment guy with an attitude. This movie comes on, and all of sudden there’s Nathan singing like a bird– while saving the day.

We couldn’t stop laughing, clapping, and high fiving each other.  This movie definitely gets 5 couches.

Another neat movie that I really enjoyed – Read the rest of this entry »

The Bok of Eli movie poster

“Book of Eli looks awesome!”  – that’s a random text I got from Craig.  Response “Was it something you found while cleaning your bookshelves? or is it a movie or something?” — for once, I was not near the internet, so I couldn’t look it up, as that is a total “Let me google that for you” question.  Turns out it’s an action movie… one with great action, and something I have to warn you about…. Read the rest of this entry »

Many people have asked me for more “Day in the life” kind of stuff. I was at Kevin & Will’s to hang, and eat fried Deer and southern food. I’ll start with a video (shot on my webcam): Read the rest of this entry »

Movie Poster for Avatar by James Cameron

I wanted to see it opening night. I wanted to be there at the Imax 3d, and to tell you the truth… I thought I’d also eat some shrooms before going. I have not been excited about a movie in years. Not like I was about this one. One thing that made me so excited (other than the obvious- seeing the trailer) was this article about James Cameron, and how long he’s been thinking of this movie. That article not only made me want to see the movie more (and be able to get other people more excited about it), but it also added James Cameron to that extremely small group of heroes I have…. currently it’s just him and Sir Richard Branson. Why? ’cause he knows how to pursue his dreams, and he goes scuba diving above undetonated watermines from World War II.

You know how I said I wanted to see it opening night? Yeah.. well.. that didn’t happen. They were sold out. My parents got to see it on Christmas on Imax 3d… I argued with them for a while that it would be worth the 40 minute drive, and line-waiting to see something so epic on Imax. They thanked me for arguing, and winning. I mention them, ’cause they saw it on Christmas — right after I posted that awesome Chinese Food On Christmas post. But as for me.. I didn’t get to go, ’cause I’m not in Florida. The same friends I invited to go on opening night had made it out another night… and from the time they got their tickets to the time I tried to get mine.. sold out again.

I wasn’t worried! I mean, it’s playing in Imax 3d until February, and I work whenever… so I can really catch the 3pm showing every weekday between now and February, and probably not have anyone interrupt my viewing experience, as I memorize the different scripts. While I had thought of that, I really just wanted to see the movie. Tonight was that glorious night. I’m couchsurfing with Craig & Suzanne, and they leave on a New Year’s snowboarding trip tomorrow morning… leaving me with their St. Bernard & Golden Retriever (who like Craig & Sue eat raw). Craig said “We leave in 30 minutes” – I didn’t bother asking where. I love random trips. In the car, Sue had brought up showtimes, so I instantly knew. We saw it at the Alamo Draft House — which is an Austin tradition. You watch a movie, and they bring you dinner and booze.

The only remaining seats were in the very front. This took away from the movie a little bit, but here is my review, and where I see things going (keep reading, ’cause I tell you how to make your own Pandora-like worlds and creatures). Read the rest of this entry »

dolphins getting slaughtered in japan

Do you like Dolphins? Some say they are more intelligent than we are.  Thousands of them get caught for your entertainment- they sell to theme parks for $150,000 (well up to that) per dolphin, while the other 23,000 get sold off as whale meat… despite being highly highly toxic.

Where do I know this information?  I just saw a most disturbing documentary — a must see most disturbing documentary – called “The Cove”.  It is beautifully done, an adventure, suspenseful, and moving.  The footage is epic, the soundtrack is haunting.  The story they uncover is really disturbing.

The only way to change the world is to take action, get the word out, and do what you can.  With thousands of subscribers and visitors, I’m hoping that this blog post gets people to watch the movie, and become aware… then take what action they can to make a difference.

http://www.takepart.com/thecove is where you can go to find out some things that you can do.  I suppose you can buy the DVD and support the cause.  But I highly recommend you go to your local video store (or web-based video shipping service), and watch this movie ASAP.  Please comment if you’ve seen it, and let me know what you thought of it.

Not the woods we went through

Forgive and Forget. The transition between the two can take seconds, or years… But it ties in with this crazy blind date, spontinaity, and a movie review.

I got back to Atlanta 1st thing in the morning yesterday (midnight), worked, and went to sleep.  It was a great drive from Florida.  I visited my little brother in Gainesville.  We had some delicious appetizers at the restaurant he works at (Head of security), and I thought- Damn.. so much for my diet- Duck rolls, blackened fish tacos, lamb chops… mmm… I’m drooling just thinking about it.  If you’re in Gainesville, eat at 101.  Anyways… I got home, and noticed that one of the lights was on, and the door wasn’t locked.  I also noticed my living room floor was cleaner than I remember leaving it. Jill must’ve been here! I’m gonna have to speak to my neighbor about this!

Jill is my neighbor’s sister.  She comes to visit him from Savannah, and sometimes uses his key to stay at my place when I’m out of town. In exchange, she cleans up. The only problem is that last time I was out of town, and she stayed here, she broke my faucet somehow, and my neighbor vowed to fix it, and took a month to do so. My faucet was in pieces for a month… alternating between looking like crap, and not working.  It had gotten my neighbor and I sort of pissed off at each other, and so I was surprised to find that she’d been here.  I was also upset that the door was unlocked (I don’t even know for how many days).  I also had made arrangements with someone to clean my place… so, I don’t need Jill to do it. Also, small random items are missing.  I called my neighbor in the morning, and politely told him that his sister is not to stay at my place when I am out of town.  It was semi-awkward.

I was really productive during the day, and (this is the fun and crazy portion of the blog) I had been texting this girl sporatically Read the rest of this entry »

It's Falcon! The balloon boy!

This 6 year old kid, Falcon (I think that’s even more ridiculous– the kid goes flying, and his name is Falcon? Hmmm) climbs in his Dad’s helium baloon that looks like Jiffy Pop.  The baloon takes off.  The whole nation is talking about it.  Everyone’s tweeting and facebooking about it… I even know of a certain stay at home mom that got her drink on ’cause she was so worried about this kid.  I was already making jokes (If “He tried to go visit Michael Jackson one last time!” gets popular, just remember, I made it up! Funny enough– I just looked up the newsline, and there WAS a Michael Jackson single that just debuted online just the other day), and people were giving me grief, “Oh… you gotta at least wait till he lands safely!” People were telling me how they’re praying.  Wow.  What concerned people we have, it’s nice.  It’s also not nice, because they were bamboozled into being concerned.  What a waste of positive emotion.  Oh yeah… I forgot to mention, for those who haven’t heard, turns out that the kid was never in the baloon… he was hiding at home in the attic, in a box or something.  So… let’s take a look at what happened. Read the rest of this entry »

I was getting low on groceries… like… Chicken Pot Pie for breakfast, Ramen Noodle for lunch, and if I wanted to eat my Hummus, I had to use a spoon, as I had no bread.  So… I figured since I was going to go grocery shopping, why not see if Tracy would like to come over for dinner.  When she said yes,  I had to get cookin (yeah… not just a figure of speech).  Check out the menu: Read the rest of this entry »

Hope you had an awesome Halloween.  My story is a little more intricate, funny, and bizarre … just what you’d expect!  So… read on, and enjoy.  You’ll read about: What I’ve done with my hair after nearly 2 years of not cutting it… hippies… parties… and you won’t believe my costume (I can’t believe I’m posting this)! Read the rest of this entry »

While watching many movies lately, I was reminded by one about my past. Skim past the movie reviews to get to it, or read the reviews, and then get to it!
Read the rest of this entry »

I woke up today, after my 1st “full night’s sleep” in a long long time.   I guess I really needed it.  My running time had improved by 6.5 minutes, which is huge.  Jeffery leaves movies looping for Charlie, his dog.  When I got back from running, I noticed that one of my all time favorite movies was on, Gattaca — the ultimate triumph of the human soul movie… as far as I’m concerned.  I watched parts of it, as it looped and we chatted about life.  When we went to Six Flags’ Magic Mountain, I got a wonderful deal…. $60 (the price of a 1 day admission) gave me a 1 year pass… that I can use at all Six Flags park across the country!  That means I’m going to have many more rollercoaster days this year! That deal is on until April, I think… I’d recommend it for any rollercoaster fans.  We had a blast… going on all the different coasters… being flung forward, backwards, upside-down, and from all different heights.  My favorite part was towards the end… the park closes at 6pm, and at 5:50 we got off the tallest drop rollercoaster I’ve ever been on, Goliath.  We headed towards Colossus, which was supposed to really whip us around, and beat us up… like an old wooden rollercoaster.  As we approached it, a security guard told us that the ride is closed, and the park is closed.  I decided to be stubborn, and go anyways… sure enough, they had a group of people in line.  Enough to fill up all the cars once, and then once more.  We got to go after all!  If we had listened to that man, and delayed even one minute, we would not have gotten to hit our final ride.  I think I enjoyed it doubly…. once for the brutal shaking that I received, and once for the smug satisfaction that I got for being rewarded the ride because I chose to disregard authority.  Because of some of the conversation we had today, I requested to see Chaplin from Jeffery’s collection.  Chaplin is the movie made from Charlie Chaplin(whom Jeffery’s adorable dog is named after)’s autobiography.  What a beautiful film!  Charlie Chaplin was brilliant, and Robert Downey Junior was amazing as Charlie.  The movie, left me a little sad… despite the happy ending, and humorous majority.  I think I was sad because of how he was kicked out of the USA. I didn’t like that people used the whole communist thing against him, even though he wasn’t a communist.  I guess it was a different era, eh? 

Maybe I was saddened by the Charlie thing, because I was a bit confused about my own situation.  I’m trying to raise funds to continue my trip.  Things are going well, but I’m too scattered.  I’m not sure if I have ADD, or if I am just trying to achieve too many things at once!  I’m couch surfing, blogging, editing photos, trying to assemble my portfolio, make Photoshop training DVD’s, set up a few websites– some for myself and my projects, some for clients, do some Photoshop work, learn, jog, promote.  Even keeping up with emails seems difficult at times.  Maybe I need some Adderall?  Before I try to get things done by popping some pill to stay focused, I’d like to just try to practice a few new skills without it… skills like time management.  I bought a watch the other day.  I like how it looks, and I like being able to tell the time without pulling out my cell phone.  I’ve tried making lists, and things like that before… it’s often against my personality.  I like to be spontaneous. 

Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Assistance?

I’ve spoken to Jessica (Couch 6) since I’ve left her no clothes party a few times, and she’s gotten promoted within the speed speed skating industry.. she now co-coordinates the races. Yay couch 6! She also hasn’t heard from the Other photographer that was at the event. Too bad, ’cause he had some pics of everyone (including me). I know how you people feel when I, or anyone else takes your photo, and you just have to wait and wait and wait. Trust me folks, I’m working on catching up through these 27,000 photos from 2007. After Jessica’s party, I did get to hang out with Couch 5 for a bit as well, and I saw Couch 4 on my way to Tampa for a few minutes. I still haven’t spoken to Victoria, who flaked out on going to the party, and therefore did not become the next couch. She did try to call me a few days later, but I was in the middle of something, and she didn’t leave a message. Being flaky is a good way to burn bridges with me.

The drives have all been beautiful… It is the time of year when the trees change colors, and if you haven’t seen it in person, I highly recommend an October drive across Maryland / Virginia. A sea of green, with foaming waves of red and orange of all shades. It is breathtaking… This is not something I have too many photos of, as I was driving. I have gotten quite adept at taking photos while driving out of either window and the sunroof.

In Georgia, I was supposed to go Kayaking with Couch 24. I couch surfed with his new lady, Alyx (Couch 57), who is an optimistic ball of affection! Even her cat, Zeppelin is a lover. Here’s a few shots of Alyx, her cat, and her window-fairy. Read the rest of this entry »