A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup

Listen Up!
STUPID TRICKS VIDEO!!!! OMG!!! WATCH IT NOW!!!! :: I realized on the 30th, that that was the five year anniversary of my joining DeviantART. My first online community, and my first foray into generating content as opposed to consuming it. Five years is a LONG time, literally 1/4 of my life so far. So I uploaded a little something to commemorate it to my DA. It's basically the birthdate of "Reeses2150", so celebrate! :: Job Hunt. Well, I've got an interview scheduled to become a freelance CAD drafter, I'm going to audition for a juggling job at Six Flags Great Adventure, and I'm on the lookout for other random jobs on Craigslist and the applications I've put out locally. :: OH! And here's something a little bit awesome. The college newspaper is going to be doing an article on me in the next issue. I had a whole photo shoot and everything. So yeah, I'm amped about it. :: I'm not going to make any April Fools jokes. :: All College Night is coming up soon, and everyone at CeC is still not 100% on what's going to happen, but hey, can we blame ourselves?

-- Music Release --
Kind of a filler track this week. I couldn't come up with anything new, especially after "Better, Faster Cars", which I will be tweaking and coming out with a better one soon. So I took a look at the other ideas I'd recorded, and found this one, which was basically done and just needed a little sprucing up. So here's a nice filler track for everyone. I can't remember for the life of me what inspired me to mix Madonna with Lunatic Calm, but hey, it happened. Maybe because both those mp3 files were in my soundtracks folder, idk. I've been listening to Less Than Jake recently, so I'm thinking I may try something with them soon. For now though, I guess you'll just have to listen to this pos.
Lunatic Calm vs Madonna - Leave You To Die


Daily Life:
So instead of going through how hectic my entire week was, I'll concentrate on Thursday, which was my ultimate day of "everything is planned out from dawn to midnight." So I started off the day, by getting up around 11:00, which is early for me if you've read this blog before, to get ready and clean myself up. So I do that and head out to the early registration for the Fall semester. One of the perks of being in the civil engineering program is that we get to register early for classes if we show up on a certain time and date for the thing. Problem was, it was slated for 12:00 onwards, and after 1:00, I wouldn't have the chance to go back at all. So I get there at 12, and there's noone in the room it's supposed to be in. I figure I must be early, and plunk myself down at one of the computers, after 10 minutes of surfing Digg, someone finally comes in and says there's been a room change. Wonderful. So I jump in the line that I had no idea was there to go do this thing.

So I finish with that, at 1:00, and I immediately have to get to IRC building, which is acorss campus, for my interview for the College Newspaper I mentioned up top. I've established quite a reputation at MCC as being the best and only juggler to ever walk the campus. Hey, I'm not complaining, it's getting me noticed. So i am late by only 10 minutes, thankfully, and I go do an interview and get a few pics taken. It went really well, and I figure it should be an interesting article, even if it may be a bit generic. But hey, what can you do...

So now for my break period for today, 2:00-4:00 is time for CeC club. Which this week's meeting was pizza and a movie. We watched Wargames, and unfortunately, because Gordon had to get the pizza himself, we waited on starting the DVD until he got back around 3:00. Normally I wouldn't complain, but I had to leave early at 4:00 in order to get to a job interview in North Jersey. But hey, I got to watch the first hour and have my fill of pizza. So I can't complain.

So after I leave that, I head up to Wayne, NJ for an interview to become an extra for commercials and movies. I got the job, of course they had me sign a $500 contract on the spot, and I bought into it. They basically charged me $500 for a set of headshots and not much else. There was a workshop after my interview that I decided to sit in on, and then everyone that was there went for Chinese food afterwards, so I ended up coming back home at around 11:00 or so (the trip was an hour both ways), and later I found out what they'd actually charged me for. Eh, I got hosed, but that's the industry.

Juggle This:
So I've finally up and released the Stupid Tricks Video. So far, the reaction has been very much the opposite of what I expected. I haven't even promote the damned video and it's already gotten over a hundred views, a dozen comments, and 3 five star ratings. If this type of video turns out to be more successful than my [Juggling] series, I'll slap myself in the face and put that on youtube. It boggles the mind!

As for what I've actually been doing this week in juggling, I haven't been doing all that much, especially because I haven't had the time, as you read in the Daily Life section. HOWEVER, I have been practicing more with my clubs, and have gotten used to the Radical Fish that I got, and am starting to like them. I'll review them later when I finally get to the point of them being better than my Airflites.

I also managed to practice my 4 ball mess, which i have been neglecting like an angry cousin. Tonight though, it just clicked. About damned time if you ask me. Now I can finally get more than 6 catches on command, and I've gotten at least a double qualify on camera. Go me.

Also, I've been practicing higher numbers with my new "numbers balls", and I'm actually getting a LOT better with 6 balls too. I qualified 6 in a standard fountain pattern under my 8 foot roof twice a few days ago. I can only imagine what I'll be able to do when i practice with them at MCC again!

A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup ~ Reeses2150

Listen Up!
Well, let's see what we have to announce today...
I got a new set of juggling clubs, read about that in Juggle This section. :: Still no luck connecting to the internet with SSBB. It'll happen eventually. :: Juggling news, I just flashed EIGHT balls. EIGHT. I'd have never thought I'd ever be able to do that when I first started. Was surprisingly easy actually, and it only took me about 15 minutes to get clean, as opposed to my hour and a half long seven ball qualify session. :: Yeah, not much else to announce, at least not juggling related stuff. SO I'll put the juggling stuff up here, why not. :: I've finally crumbled and got myself another set of clubs besides Airflites. What did I choose? The only other club that has as bad a rep as 'flites. Radical Fish. :: I've figured something out to replace the normal JoJ episodes for weekly updates. COMICS! Interesting idea eh? Read more in the Juggle This section. :: Also, one of my friends from the Computer Enthusiasts Club at Middlesex, unbeknown to me, over the spring break, bought 3 hackeysacks and taught himself to juggle them by watching my videos. Can you say, Awesome?

Oh, and one tiny little side note. With next week's blog post, I will be releasing the highly un-anticipated, slowly worked on, and rightfully under-hyped STUPID TRICKS VIDEO! MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

-- Music Release --
Inspiration for this one, yes. Ok, let me think. AH! Ok, so I was scanning around on youtube and through my favorites list, and watched Daft Bodies again (a youtube video where 2 women (Daft Punk fans), played Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger and has the lyrics written on parts of their bodies word by word and would reveal the words in time with the lyrics. So I watched that again, and then I thought, "Hey, I'm a DP fan, but I haven't heard more than 6 of their tracks!" So I prowled youtube and as I was listening, I got the nagging urge to mix a Daft Punk song with something. So I opened up Virtual DJ and poked around my DP Mp3's, and came back across HBFS. I thre it on the left table and started playing it. I then scanned through my library trying to say the lyrics from the songs I saw over HBFS, and Cars seemed to sound good in my head. Threw it onto the right table and synched it up, and it worked better than it sounded in my head. So I went back and set everything up to record, and an hour or two later, the second best mash-up I've made was an MP3 in my projects folder. Fear Factory vs Daft Punk - Better, Faster Cars

Daily Life:
So this is the third time I've been on a job hunt, and both times before, I've been wanting to use craigslist to try and find something that really fits with what I can do best. Graphics, juggling, or CAD. Or perhaps simply a more interesting job, such as something in film. So far, three days have passed since I finally decided to setup my Firefox bookmarks to have feeds from craigslist for all the jobs I'd love doing in Central Jersey, and I've got 3 potential jobs/gigs that I'm working on. One that I just got a call back on today was looking for movie extras from Universal. I'll be sending in a photo and having an interview on Thursday. I also saw that Six Flags is looking for jugglers and performers again. My dad doesn't like it, but hey, if I EVER want to get a steady gig juggling, the best place is a theme park, especially one that my uncle has been employed at for a decade. Of course, I'm still working on getting a job at Walgreens, because I've got experience in customer service, being a floor person, cashier, and my friend works there. We'll see what happens there.

The big thing that pisses me off, well, not pisses me off, more of makes my go "Damnit." is the fact that within the past 3 days there have been a total of about 6 jobs split between photography and CAD that would be PERFECT, and that would probably hire me straight away. The problem is, they're all in Tom's River down by the shore. About an hour and a half to two hours away, and one of the busiest areas in Jersey besides Atlantic City. I don't know, maybe I'll see if I can figure something out where I could get a bus pass and go work down there or something, just thinking about every possibility right now.

Juggle This:
So last week, "The Taxman" made a comic strip parodying JoJ. I then got the idea to make a strip in response to it. He then made another strip, and the idea hit me. Why not team up, both make strips about JoJ, and produce at least one a week as a new part of the whole JoJ thing? Taxman agreed it was a good idea, so I built the web page for it, and we made a few more strips. Now we'll see if we can keep coming up with ideas, but for now, things seem awesome, and people are responding really well to the strips. I guess it's easier to come up with one joke than it is to make a serious half hour podcast...
So the link is as follows. reeses2150.com/joj/

Other than that, I've finally crumbled and got myself another set of clubs besides Airflites. What did I choose? The only other club that has as bad a rep as 'flites. Radical Fish. So far, I've taken a liking to them. My big problems with clubs still bother me though, stuff like cores, taped handles, thinner handles, and the fact that I'll eventually have to repair them at some point. Other than that, I've gotten used to them nicely and having a new set, I'm practicing clubs a LOT more. Thus, I'm doing new tricks, such as overheads. Either way, I'm taking a liking to the fish. Knobs make things a lot better when I'm balancing and stuff, and because they're simply thinner and lighter material than airflites, I'm not getting tired as easily. Still, there are a few things that I can do with absolutely no problem with airflites that I can't do with the fish. A full reverse for example. I'll see what happens. Until later, I'll keep playing around and hopefully I'll fall in love with clubs again.

Also, one of my friends from the Computer Enthusiasts Club at Middlesex, unbeknown to me, over the spring break, bought 3 hackeysacks and taught himself to juggle them by watching my videos. Can you say, Awesome? SO he's only just learned and his hands are still going from front to back instead of side to side, but it's a work in progress. At least he has me here to give him pointers. So he seems serious about this, and that's proven further by the fact that he taught himself, I didn't teach him. Hopefully he'll be good enough that by the summer he'll be doing 6 ball passing between me and him, and maybe doing 4 balls. I know that's stretching it a bit, but hey, hope for the best, expect the worst.

A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup ~ Reeses2150

Listen Up!
So let's get the bad stuff out of the way. I'm out of a job. I got layed off from Spencers thanks to downsizing and other random happenings. So I'm back on the hunt for a job. Right now I'm looking at my local Walgreens because one of my longtime friends works there, and I'm also looking at a newly opening Staples down Route 1. We'll see what happens, but for right now, all I can say is that I've put out applications, but haven't gotten anything back yet. :: So now that the bad news is out of the way, I had a great spring break playing Smash Brothers Brawl. That and going to a juggling convention from the 7th to the 9th that strangely has the same name as one of my blog sections. The main New York City juggling festival of awesome, was exactly that. What could be better? :: OH! I've just put up a new batch of photography to DeviantART. Check them out, it's pretty good. :: Besides that, nothing else has really happened at all. I redesigned and got a new supply of business cards, but that's about it.

And lastly, it's explanation time! I missed last weeks post for a bunch or reasons, so here's a short list:
1. I was at Juggle This all weekend and didn't get back until Monday.
2. I got Smash Brothers Brawl as soon as I got back from Juggle This.
3. It was spring break all week, and I was too busy doing stuff, and nothing.
4. I had a podcast episode to edit.
5. I had homework to be done.
6. I have a job to find.

-- Music Release --
The Verve vs Rob D - Bittersweet Death
This is an interesting track. To be honest, I really haven't done a single mashup in about 3 weeks, but I'd whipped up enough beforehand that I was able to keep posting old ones for a while. I think it was a good thing, because one thing I realized about generating content, is that if you force it, the quality goes down by leaps and bounds. So I took the past 2 weeks and didn't even think about opening virtual DJ. Then I came back and started thinking as to what I could do, and this popped into my head to do something with The Verve, and I got the idea to mix it with another pure instrumental track, and this mix just kinda happened by itself, I didn't really do that much to force it together or overdo it. Very simply just play the 2 tracks over each other and control the levels as they're playing. It worked better than I thought it would. The Verve vs Rob D - Bittersweet Death

R2150's Reviews for the Intelligent Human:Smash Brothers Brawl. Worth the wait, worth the hype, worth every two dollar bill you will ever encounter. This is the best game I've played since, well, since Super Smash Brothers Melee. The level to which you will be unlocking things in this game is about as close to endless as you want it to be. I've been playing it every spare minute I got over spring break and after six days, I'm only about 40% if that, to collecting everything in the game. That says a lot, because I usually, when I get a new game, take two days to play it constantly and 100% it, but I just can't do that in Brawl. You'll be playing it for at least a few weeks if you want to get EVERYTHING in the game. I gaurentee it, so already it's payed for itself in play time.

Another great thing about it is that you can play it using the Gamecube controller, so all us Nintendo-heads can jump straight in without needing to lose ANY of our skills and abilities fro Melee. Though, that doesn't take into account how rusty you are after not playing it for a while. It's taken me a few days to get back to what I was, and I'm still not as good as I was in Melee, but hey, I haven't played it for more than 2 rounds in over two years. That being said, it still feels like your old ugly girlfriend from early high school just came back home after a five year trip around the world, and she got a makeover and plastic surgery along the way, and is now the equivalent of Pamela Anderson and is more into you than ever.

Now, it's my rule in reviews to have to point out at least one negative thing about everything I like. So if I had to choose something to knock down it would be Nintendo's servers. Good God. After 6 days of trying continuously, I still can't even CONNECT to the Nintendo WFC to play online. Error code 61070 has become expected, and it translates to "Server problems on Nintendo's End". Literally, did they not realize how many people were expecting to pick up Brawl on day one and immediately jump online? I'm about ready to call and complain to Nintendo, which is something I have yet to do in my life is directly complain to a company about a product I've bought. Even the power cable for my Kodak Camera, which for some reason doesn't connect properly to my camera and causes my camera to turn off at random intervals while it's plugged in. I haven't complained about THAT, and I'm ready to complain to Nintendo about WFC. That's how frustrating it is to not be able to play against my friends online, or even get to the WFC menu screen and get my friend code so I could post it online.

So all things aside, the combat system is as awesome as ever, more characters than you can think of all at once, more stages by far than any other fighter you've seen, and more awesomeness than you can possibly handle. GO BUY THIS GAME WHILE YOU STILL CAN.

Juggle This:
Time for an HLGCB for Juggle This!
Highs:
Juggling with Emman, Mike Karas, Laura Ernst, Lindsay Spurka, and Paris.
Having the guy who's couch I was sleeping on call me "famous" when I first
showed up. (He's a JoJ fan)
Winning a game of combat.
Doing surprisingly well in 3 ball Sky Sez.
Finally learning some Devil Stick stuff, even if it's only basic patterns.

Low:
On the last day, as I was about to leave for home, I locked my keys inside
my truck, and had to wait for my parents to drive back home, grab the keys
(they were in NYC at the time), drive to Brooklyn, and then I followed
them back. It's about 45 minutes minimum per trip. o I was going to
leave at 5, I got home at 11:00.
Forgetting to bring my extra 1 gig SD card for an extra half hour of
footage space.
Sleeping space being 20 minutes away.

Goal:
None really, just make sure that I got in some passing and a few games of
combat - Achieved
Not spend too much money on new props I don't need - Accomplished

Crush:
Tough choice. I'd have to say, man. I really don't know this time
around. I really can't think of anyone.

Bane:
I slept on my left hand the wrong way on Saturday night, so I couldn't do
anything with it on Sunday. It still hurts.
Sandals. In hindsight, maybe not the best idea, though they did keep me
from overheating, but I got blisters. I'll find a solution eventually.



Well, Juggle This! was awesome. SO awesome in fact, that I had to do an episode of JoJ covering it. That was one of the big things that I planned to do while I was there, was simply to produce an episode of JoJ like I did for Cornell, only better. I did that, and it's simple on paper and I'm making it sound simple right now, but it was anything but. First thing to happen was that I completely forgot to bring with me my 1 gig memory card for my camera (that equals an extra half hour of footage space), and thinking that I HAD brought it and that I LOST it for the entire convention. SO I had only an hours worth of footage space, minus picture space, for the entire three days. That was fun on the last day squeezing and editing footage ON the camera to make room for more.

Besides that though, I had something so awesome happen I couldn't believe it until after I left. A guy, that I met randomly while I was working at Spencer's Gifts, who happened to be a juggler and above average devil sticker, who happened to actually CONTACT me from one of the business cards I gave him, came to the festival on day two and hung out all day, AND taught me to do devil sticks. I returned the favor by getting him hooked on some Cigar Boxes. But just that entire sequence of vents was so awesome I still have a hard time believing it happened. I've been wanting to learn Devil Sticks since before I learned Diabolo, then all of the sudden, at work one day, I happen across a good devil sticker. He then actually contacts me, which has never happened with ANY random juggler I've ever met in real life that I didn't already know. Then he suddenly decides to show up to a festival that I said I was attending on my blog. He recognizes me at the convention, and later on between the Public show and Renegade show, he teaches me to do Devil Sticks. It's perfect. I'll definitely be keeping in contact with him later.

So what else happened, OH! Something that I found really awesome was how Adam, the guy who was letting me sleep on his couch, when I first arrived, saw me walking up the driveway to his house, greeted me, then immediately afterward said "Wow, I can't believe I'm meeting someone famous." That blew my mind. I'm not famous (yet), and to have someone think so highly of me simply for doing a podcast, I find that awesome, and it's reason enough to keep doing something. OH! While we're on the subject of podcasting, day one of the convention, Laura Ernst shows up. YAY! Less than an hour after I say hi to her, she asks me if it's ok to make fun of me for the Renegade show. This peaks my interest, and I definitely want to hear what she's come up with. So I say "Of Course, I mean I ENDORSED a guy who made an entire podcast PARODYING the one I made." (Which is something I want everyone to know right now. I have NO SHAME. If you EVER want to parody me or make fun of me, be my guest, I got enough of it in high school that I've developed a sort of appreciation for a good insult.) So of course, I'm sitting there the ENTIRE Renegade show waiting for her to go up, and it was part of a skit of "what guy jugglers say to girl jugglers, and what they actually mean", and it stole the skit. It was awesome.

As for the last big story that happened, on the last day of the convention, I still hadn't realized that I didn't lose my 1 gig card, and remembered that everyone went to a Diner (including myself) on Friday, and that I may have left it there. I realized this IN the truck, AS I was about to start it up and leave. I had the brain wave, immediately forgot about the keys being in the ignition, jumped out, locked the door, went inside and asked for directions to the diner. I locked the only set of keys within an hours driving distance, inside the truck, at the last possible second before I was going to leave, over something that turned out to be completely wrong. I've never felt like such an idiot in my life. What made it worse was that my parents, the only people with a spare set of keys, were in NYC (so they were essentially right next door), without the keys. SO, I waited until the were finished there, they drove BACK to NJ, grabbed the keys, drove BACK to Brooklyn, and then we drove BACK to NJ AGAIN. It was a most interesting way to end a convention.

A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup ~ Reeses2150

Listen Up!
Ok, before I even get STARTED with my rantings for this week, I have to plug my latest video for the [Juggling] series. Cold Physics. Go watch it if you haven't already. :: So. Juggle This is coming up this weekend. Next weeks post will be a report from the convention, and then after that an episode of JoJ for it. We'll see what happens. :: I've been scheduled for work 3 days this week before Juggle This. It's great and horrifying, because there's a quiz coming up in one of my classes and I have to find time for homework, plus gather sleep for Juggle This, nurse a warped knee, and work at the same time. It'll be great when my paycheck comes in 2 weeks from now, but hell is right now. :: My parents, wow, I haven't said anything about them here in a while. That must mean they were not even annoying me for the past months since the big talk that I never mentioned where my sister broke down and I was the only person there to mediate and negotiate everything. All of the sudden though, they are absolutely freaking out about me doing homework, and studying for my classes. Have I not been doing that? Have I not been doing alright in class? Granted yes, this semester sucks, but I can muddle through without them adding 2 metric tonnes of pressure onto my already Atlas-like daily load. Thing that confuses me the most, and the last thing I'll say about them today is that they're supposedly great at psychology, yet they don't seem to have a grasp on the notion that the more you force something (especially if the subject already doesn't like doing whatever it is) the less the subject wants to do that action. All I'm saying.

And now, on to things that matter not.

-- Music Release --
I fussed with these two songs for the past 2 weeks, and only just got them to match up the way I wanted them to. I had the revelation a few weeks ago that I hadn't released anything even remotely Acapella or Motown at all. That may be attributed to the small amount of both that I have in my music collection. But I found the Soup Dragons - I'm Free, and an old Stakka Bo track, Here We Go. I didn't think of combining them at first, until I realized after listening to them back to back, then right on top of each other, that they are practically the SAME DAMN SONG. They are exactly the same length, exactly the same bpm, and they have a similar sound, and as such, I got the great idea to try swapping between them mid-track, so I made a few test recordings, and after finally getting the beats to line up, it sounded great. The hard thing about these Acapella tracks is that you can easily follow the beat, but it's damn near impossible to PINPOINT it to within a few wavelengths. So I got them to synch up, then tried switching them in different ways, until I found this one match that seemed to work best. Here's the end result.
Soup Dragons vs Stakka Bo - Go Free

Daily Life:
Yup. I tweaked my knee somehow, I have no idea when or how, but 2 days ago or so it started acting up, and now I can't walk further than a quarter mile before starting to feel like it's getting stabbed fro the side. Good times.

Bum knee aside though, Smash Brother Brawl is about to come out, and I can't wait for it. I've had it pre-ordered since September, and I'm eager to see what it'll be like. Especially with something other than the GC controller (which I'll probably still use primarily). I know I'm going to be rusty as hell, because I haven't even touched SSBM since around January, and that was a few quick rounds, and then the last time before that was summer, so I know I'm screwed. Eh, I'll see.

OH! I hosted the photoshop themed meeting at Computer Enthusiasts club last week. It was a strange meeting, because I know exactly what I'm doign in Photoshop, and noone else in the meeting knows photoshop anywhere near as well. So I basically also had no direction as to how to teach, so I was basically just asking for what people wanted to learn, so I showed them what they wanted. Now everyone at CeC knows how to transplant heads onto other people's bodies. Yay.

Other than that, uh, yeah. Nothing really noteworthy happened, at least nothing I can remember in my current sleep deprived state.

Juggle This:
Not practicing anywhere near as much as I should be right now, but I'll get plenty of time at Juggle This. As for what I've actually been working on in the time I HAVE gotten, well. A few days ago I was practicing my different pulldowns with rings, and I realized that I only have two ways of going from 4 rings to 3 besides dropping. A regular catch then pull down, or a pancake down to a foot catch. So I was wondering whether I could combine the 2 and do a pancake pull down while switching to a 3 ring juggle. Took a while to hammer out, but I can get it pretty consistently now.

I've been working on a few 3 ball improv things, and just improving my general 3 ball improv so that when the seasons come in and I start getting calls for performances I'll be ready for it. Um, what else. AH! I've also been working on my 5 ball stuff, more specifically not trying anything new really,m just improving on what I've already done. I've managed to make 66661 an on command move for myself now, and I can consistently get 2 rounds at least of 744 every attempt. Not bad I'd say.

But other news, well, I just reviewed Peden Tricks Sweden in the first episode of season two for JoJ. Just in case you're living in a hole somewhere, and it seems the rule I made for myself that in any long review I make I MUST point out positives AND negatives, has caused some people to not like the episode so much. Wes was cool with it, after I explained myself. But my view still stands. If I'm buying a Wes Peden video, I don't want to see a minute and a half worth of someone else doing solo stuff, even if it is great stuff. So that was that, and hopefully season two will get a much better response than season one, but we'll see what happens. Oh, and I also happened to upgrade the JoJ website, so now you can leave comments easier and I can make announcements right into a box on the left side of the page. Much cleaner.
JoJ Online

A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup ~ Reeses2150