A Day In The Life Of A Peanut Butter Cup

Listen Up!
Well, my sick is over, I'm rested up, and ready to fill you in on all the details you missed out on from last week's non existent post!

I made another batch of uploads to DeviantART.com and they got really good responses already. Links are at the bottom of this section, and I've already got a dozen more photos that I'm going to wait to upload.
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The Fall semester for Tech.MCC (Computer Club) seems to be shaping up nicely. I've got to work the numbers for the budget from last semester and receipts out of Gordon, but all seems well so far.
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I know that Ive still not given any words, preview, or anything for either JoJ 3 or my next [Juggling] series video. Trust me, I'm working on them. I just recorded the preliminary stuff for JoJ3's first episode, and some more footage my next juggling video.
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What else, uh, My site, it';s at a bit of a standstill in actual updates that I'm implementing, BUT! I am working on my new bio page, juggling page, and another page I can't remember right now.
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So I've confirmed the 3rd appearance I'm making at Goddard of NB juggling, and now that I actually HAVE a planned out and fully scripted show, I can make things just a little bit better in terms of job returns.
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OH! Also, if you're a non-juggler (chances are you aren't, so just don't pay attention to this), I've produced a DVD with a video teaching you how to juggle and over 30 minutes worth of footage. Only $5 dollars, PLUS I'm putting in a set of 3 juggling balls with it. Just email me and I can mail it to you.

DeviantART stuff

-- Music Release --
Ok, I haven't been doing anywhere near as much music mashing as I really should be doing, so here's a new one that I was hoping to do more work on, but I really don't think will get any better. Fort Minor vs Analog X. I always thought since I started doing some mashing that Analog X would be the perfect artist to use for a background/underlayed track because he always makes really stripped down, not overly complex electronic songs with no lyrics. So I thought about what songs I've heard that I thought needed a big electronic bit that was entirely absent. I immediately thought about Linkin Park, then after trying one or two mixes with LP songs, I remembered how Fort Minor REALLY didn't have anything electronic in any tracks. So I then did this and thought it still felt really stock, so I threw in a couple effects and samples and this is the end result. A bit crude, definitely something that'll be forgotten about soon enough, but good enough that you won't feel like you wasted your time.
Fort Minor vs Analog X - Over Belief

Daily Life:
Not all that much happened last week. I basically stayed home and tried to get sleep because of my cold, and then on Friday was the Panera Bread Meeting, which was awesome. Otherwise, absolutely nothing happened really worth talking about. So I'll just go right past all that and talk about the big giant gig at the Iselin Fair.

So, let me tell the story of how I landed the gig first, because I don't think I talked about that yet. I realized sometime near the end of June that I had not booked ANY gigs for the summer at all. Summer is basically, if you couldn't figure out, prime0-time for jugglers to get paid jobs. So I come up with my new promo video and flier to hand out and put up. I still don't get anything, so then I start looking through craigslist and I happened to stop on the help wanted ad that said it was looking for magicians, performers, and etc for the Iselin Fair. It said right there that it's a charity gig and that you won't be paid for it. I wasn't getting jobs at this point, so I thought at least it'd be great promotion for me. So I jumped in and called them up. Immediately they say yes, and tell me what day I want to perform. Now, since i juggle every day anyways, I say that I'm able to do whenever they want, except for Thursday because I'd be hosting the Tech.MCC Meeting, and that I could perform more than once a day. So they say yes and I wait for the schedule.

While I'm waiting, I had a brain wave. If I'm not getting paid, and I'm going to be hanging around the fairground before and after my performance anyways, why don't I sell something to make the money? I realize I don't have anything to sell, so I start working on a few things for a new DVD that I'd be selling at the fair. I start doing that, and record a few exclusive little routines (nothing other jugglers haven't seen out of me before) and a 3 ball tutorial, design a cover, and before you know it, I have a DVD to sell. The DVD itself isn't really anything spectacular to jugglers, and in fact, half of the 48 minute disk is higher resolution remixes of my old videos from the [Juggling] and "The ___" youtube series'. But the cover is awesome. So I got a bunch of covers printed, bought a bunch of DVD case, and burned the disk to an image file and burn a crapload of DVDs from a spindle I have sitting right next to me that, except for last week, I haven't touched in months. The funny thing was, the DVD cases I bought, I got them while I was waiting for the covers to print, and so I wasn't looking that closely, they turned out to be dual disk cases. SO everyone that bought the DVD when they got back home was probably going, "Where's the other disk?" Cruel (yet unintentional) joke.

So besides realizing I had nothing to sell, I also realized that I basically was going to be performing at least 6 times, and I did not yet make up an act at all. All of my shows before now have been completely improvised. So I spent a little while at home coming up with jokes, facts to tell the audience, and figuring out what tricks go where. Basically, I went from nothing, to having setup a 15 minute, 30 minute, and 5 minute show that I'll be using for the rest of 08 at least.

So all that was done and it was the week before the fair was going to start, and I still hadn't got a call back to when I'd be preforming, so I called them up, and right as I was listening to the dial tone on the other end of the line, I visited the website (which hadn't been updated within the past 2 weeks) and saw my schedule to perform. Right as she picks up I find it, and I say "Oh, well I was about to call you about my stage times and you've already told me." So we talk a little bit about the plans and everything, and so now I know that I'm going to be shown 8 times, and am basically the most performed act of the entire time the fair is running. Every day except Thursday and Friday I'll be preforming at least once, and there's really only 2 people that are being promoted more than me. Yay, pressure.

So I basically get there, and it's right next to the spot where I used to go to boyscout meetings back in the day, and it's only about 10 minutes away from me to get there. So day one, I set everything up on my section of the sales table and make myself a quick poster thing for the prices. I didn't sell a single DVD on day one, however, the first run of my new performance went great. I had only 2 drops the entire routine and the first group of audience volunteers I got was almost perfectly what you want. A person that will try to upstage you but can't, yet also willing to follow what you say. Absolutely perfect for providing comedy and quick witty remarks during the show. So I had one show that day, and things weren't that bad. It wasn't that hot outside, and the only real problem I had was that I had to use a mic stand for the entire audience participation segment, so I'd be leaning into it as I'm trying to juggle 3 balls and make banter. Fun.

Day two, everything improved except the weather. The worst part about where the fair was held, was that right before I'd get to the fairground, there'd be a bank that displays time and temperature. It was 94 degrees the second day. Regardless, I set everything up again, go perform, and drop like MAD. I couldn't go for 5 tricks without dropping, it was absolutely the worst show I ever did in my life that first performance. Luckily it was a short one, only 15 minutes, but it was hell the entire way through, and the volunteer sucked, and everything was just horrible. But as I believe, the Neutral Day Theory kicked in afterwords and the second performance was absolutely the BEST show I'd ever done. I went dropless the entire routine, and the volunteers were decent. I even sold a DVD after the show. This was around 8:30 or so when things were starting to cool down, so I think that may have been the reason. BUT also, I said EVERYTHING was better, and it was, because the DJ that was handling all the music and audio for the stage the entire fair, came up with a microphone headset that I was able to use for the rest of the week, and that thing was so awesome, I'm thinking about buying one.

Now, on the third day, I had the great idea to bring with me my laptop and use it to show clips from my DVD at the sellers table, and I also reduced the price of the DVD there from 5 bucks to three. I actually sold every copy of the 5 that I brought with me. The show wasn't bad, and the night show I had was a good one too, not dropless again, but there were only about 4 drops per 15-20 minute show. It was amazing to me, because the temperature coming in, was a hundred degrees.

So after that I had 2 days off before coming back on Saturday for my grand exit performance which was to last for a full half hour. I had another brain wave during that time off though, and brought with me sets of 3 mini-juggling-balls that I got for free from my dad (which I talked about last year somewhere), and decided to sell them with the DVD for 5 dollars again. I literally sold every copy of the DVD I had left (a total of 20 DVD's) and made a profit off of them! It only cost me about 15 dollars for the DVD cases and the printing, and I had the DVD's already, and I took in 38 dollars in sales. Awesome. Oh, and my last performance wasn't as spectacular as I'd hoped, but I did bring my boxes and diabolo with me, and was able to go through them relatively well. I has maybe 4 drops through the entire show, one of them in the audience participation segment, but it's all good. Overall, everyone was great with the show, and I even preformed a quick improvised show between the ending of the last planned stage performance and the final drawing of the 50-50 raffle. All good things. I'm definitely going back next year, if only to sell DVDs.

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

Listen Up!
Sorry, I just got a heavy cold yesterday and I was going to write this post today, but I just couldn't muster it up. I'll post what happened at the Iselin Fair and a review of The Dark Knight when I feel up to it.

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

Listen Up!
Wow. Last week's title was perfect. This week SUCKED. Why? I'll explain later on in the Daily Life Section, but first! :: I've finally gone and uploaded that series of box tutorials I promised everyone. So far, I'm inspiring quite a few people to run out and dust off their cigar boxes. AWESOME! :: I've got another batch of DeviantART.com photos almost ready for upload. So expect that by the end of the month at the latest. :: Don't worry about me running out of stuff to post to YouTube in the coming week. I've recorded a magic trick video, a video of me qualifying 7 balls under 8 feet, and two more music mash-ups to post. :: The Iselin fair gig seems to be going GREAT! I'm not selling any DVD's yet, but someone will pick one or two up eventually, and I've already gone through a dozen and a half fliers, and met two jugglers. More on that in next weeks post, where I'll be talking about nothing but my week long performance.


Daily Life:
Thursday the 10th. One of the longest days of my life. Not the worst, not the best, just the longest. So let me give a short little preface. I haven't been to the NYC Juggling club for over a month, in fact, probably more than 2, and I was feeling the need to go all throughout the week before, so I made plans to go that day. I also got scheduled to work early that day with ACME Railings, as usual, just installation help. So I already knew it was going to be a long day.

So 8:00 pops up, and I head out to ACME railings like I'm supposed to in order to pile into the car and go install. I'm never told, nor do I really care, where we're going to be installing. Little did I know, it was actually a job in NYC, so on the way through the Holland Tunnel sitting in the passenger seat I'm thinking "Man, if only I knew I could have brought my stuff and just stayed in the city all day." But I dismissed that thought when we got to the job site and had to do our thing. So we get there, and I realize now exactly what we're working on. We're fixing up the bad section of a new railing, on the rooftop of a building 5 stories tall in the village. Did I ever mention I have a slight fear of heights?

So the first sucky thing of the day happens when I'm told there's no elevator and we have to carry 80 lbs of equipment up to the top up these very high steps. Needless to say, I don't need to do any sit-ups tonight, I've already done my exercise for the day. So we then go to work and it's just one minor problem after another with this stubborn section of railing, which just so happened to be the section that will be blocking people from falling off the front of the roof. Hooray for me. Luckily, my mind was somehow more active this morning, and I was able to come up with simple solutions for all those problems faster than my boss could even notice the problems. Score one for me.

So either way, we get that job done, finish with the railing, and leave for lunch. Of course, we're already in Manhattan, so we go for the nearest pizza place, which just so happened to be the pizza place from Spider Man 2, and while we were in there, a tour group shows up and starts talking about all the wonderful things about NYC water, Brooklyn pizza, and the usual NYC tour stuff. Hey, it's new York, that type of stuff is part of the daily routine. So we finish out pizza and head back to Jersey. We stop off at another job site and put the finishing touches on the last of the interior railings for a new veterinary clinic before I get back to the shop and drive home around 2:00, way ahead of schedule. NOW, the real fun begins.

So now, my plan was just to catch the bus and go to the Carmine St Gym for the juggling club at 6:00, but I figured that since I was already home early enough, and I needed to visit the Dube Store to exchange a few things anyways, that I'd drive into the city and go to Dube and then Carmine St. Thus saving myself at least $30 in cab fare alone because the nearest subway to EITHER place is at least 10 blocks.

So I drive in and visit the Dube Store on Broadway, things go without a hitch, I find a great parking spot only a few blocks away and I exchange a few of my bad illuminated balls for a new set, plus pick up a few things from the freebie bin. Good times there. I go outside and drive to the Carmine St Gym, and I find a GREAT parking space (or so I thought, more on that in a few minutes) on the same street as the gym, and so I take it and head inside. The club meeting was great as far as meetings go, despite Paris not being there. I showed up early, and the only other person besides me there for a little while was Marcus Monroe. I had an impromptu monkey-see-monkey-do session, where whatever he was trying, I'd try too. I never knew I could do the things I was doing, I managed to get a 66661 with the 1 behind the back on the first try, a new 744 record of 10 rounds, and later in the meeting a 97531 to a 744 for 2 rounds. That and I had a good time passing with my usual friends there, coming up with new interesting 4 person patterns.

So the meeting ends, and everyone's ready to go for food as usual, and so am I. I haven't eaten since those slices of pizza i had now a few blocks away and hours ago. So I go back to where my truck was parked, only to see that it wasn't there. Now here's the setup, the person who was living in the building right in front of where I was parked was using the street as a dumpster, and there were bags of garbage taking up 2 car lengths of the street. I look down at the ground and notice that the space between the garbage bags and the yellow zone behind where I was parked was less than the length of my car. Basically, I unknowingly parked illegally and was towed.

Now I'm up shit creek, but luckily I have a slowly breaking paddle, also known as $40 left in my wallet and a cell phone with enough charge for two calls left on it. So I call the police and get redirected to 311, and am told by the live teller that I'd have to wait until the morning to claim the truck. Great. So I rush to catch a cab, and barely catch the 11:15 bus back to Jersey, in the meantime calling my parents. That was what kicked my ass more than anything, and I hope they realize it, that I could care less about the money and the inconvenience (sure it still sucks and I want to avoid doing it ever again, but it's not that huge of a deal), was that they had a big trip down to the new Myrtle Beach house planned and were leaving tomorrow, and I'm not the registered owner of the car. So almost no matter what, I'd be throwing the worlds largest monkey wrench into their carefully laid out plans.

When I get back, I get the scolding I accepted was coming the entire bus ride home, (I just wish that after the 3rd wave of insults and bashings they'd stop and worry about the monkey wrench), we dial up 311 again and after a bit of research, we find out that the truck can be picked up at 24/7 in the city. SO one last trip up the turnpike and into Manhattan to go and get the run around. Needless to say, it wasn't really as bad as I thought it would be. The truck was in good shape after being towed, midway down the Turnpike my dad starts cracking jokes and that's a great sign, and after the asshole security guard at the place told us that there was noplace to park and threatened to tow us, we found a parking lot where the guy in charge was understanding enough and great enough to let us park there for an hour free of charge (off course we tipped him afterwards). Still sucks having to pay the ticket, but I'm taking mass transit into NYC from now on.

So finally, I'm home again and it's 3:00 AM. I've gone into NYC three times today, and I've been up since 8:00 running around. And I still haven't eaten since the pizza, but I'm too tired to even think about that. I collapse into bed and wonder what the hell's going to happen to me tomorrow.

Next Week's Post:
An entire review off what happened at my big charity gig at the Iselin Fair, which you can still see me performing at if you're reading this before July 19th.

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

Listen Up!
Well, right now I've got one thing on my mind. Juggling. If you didn't pay attention last week, I landed a gig juggling on stage at the Iselin Fair for basically, the entire week next week. From the 14th to the 19th I'll be juggling, and promoting my new show. Guess what also happens on the same week that I'm performing? THE I.J.A.! DAMNIT! I really was meaning to go this year, seeing as how I missed last year and regretted it, haven't been to an IJA yet, am hungry for another convention (the last one was Juggle This), and it's only a 10 hour drive away. I COULD, because I'm not performing on either Thursday OR Friday, drive down Wednesday night, and spend 2 days there, and that's what I'm stressing over right now. I'm not sure whether I want to or not, or what. Suggestions would be nice...

Oh, so now that I've ranted on that, let's get to the two sentence updates for this week. :: I'm going in tomorrow to see when I'll be working next at Acme Machine shop and Railing co. See if I can't make some more money to pay for things. The past week was great though, having absolutely no work to do, it was nice. :: I just got asked by Sondre to make a flier for his DVD of the EJC. I think it looks great, and you'll see it soon. :: I've begun uploading the series of tutorials I promised on YouTube. The first one is already up, and I should have the next ones be up in a few days. :: I updated my websites front and home page. Now I just have to update everything else, especially my juggling page, since now viewers from the Iselin Fair will be visiting. :: HEY-OH!

Daily Life:
Nothing has really happened last week that's worth noting, besides the BBQ I went to on the 4th of July. Which was great, and yeah. So let me get a rant off my chest that I've been meaning to for a while. Despite it being mostly bickering, complaining, whining, and moaning. Mowing The Lawn.

I HATE MOWING THE LAWN. To organize my thoughts, I think I'll list the reasons before explaining myself.
1. I hate the summertime heat.
2. I hate doing unnecessary work.
3. I don't need to prove that I am in control of plants.
4. I hate lawn mowers.

The only real reason that anyone I know mows the lawn is to make it look nice. Well yay, getting astro turf on your yard does exactly the same function, and you don't have to maintain it every week. They'd make the excuse that it doesn't look as nice, well, the problem I see is that I have the notion that ease of maintenance comes before appearance, and it seems as though everyone else is exactly opposite, to the extreme. They don't care if it needs to be watered, cut, patched, dug up, or whatever else it takes to keep it "looking nice", just so long as it does.

Basically,the one thing in life that pisses me off more than anything else, and there are VERY few things that will piss me off, is when people do stupid, unnecessary work. Why not just go move the furniture around for no apparent reason, or better yet, go stand on a treadmill that isn't running. Same result at the end. Nobody ever even notices a lawn, especially the people walking past. The only reason a lawn should be mowed is when it becomes a hindrance to walk across, or makes the house look abandoned. And I don't mean the "Oh, I wonder if anyone lives there, or whether that person's just really lazy" kind of abandoned, I mean the "Why won't someone tear down that house already?" abandoned look.

Juggle This:
I haven't done that much this week other than practice. Everything I've been doing to past 6 or 7 days has been preparing for the Iselin gig, and working on my tutorial videos. So I guess maybe I should talk about them.

The tutorial videos, I recorded 4 of them at once, and I'll be trying to record more as we go. Editing them and uploading them one by one. The problem I've been having is that I've gone too far into my "performer" mode and trying to convince the audience that the trick is difficult, instead of actually making a tutorial like I'm supposed to. I got that sorted out though for the most part, and the ones I recorded are good enough for now.

The Iselin Fair gig. Now, I've got 7 performance times, including one show that's at 10:PM on Wednesday that I'm hoping to make a PG13 performance. Basically most of the other shows will be the same, that one I have an entire half hour to do whatever I want. The shows are usually going to be a half hour, and I'm going to have to try and squeeze them down even more because I'd like to pass a hat around and sell DVD's at the end.

Oh, maybe I should mention, I'm making a quick DVD to sell to people at the fair and whenever I go perform. Also to whoever I bring up onstage, they'll get a DVD. Jugglers: Don't bother, it's mostly going to be remixes of my old videos plus a few tutorials on how to juggle 3 balls. I am making a nice cover for it though.

What I REALLY want to do when this is over and I can think about other things, is have me and Danny V go somewhere where there's a nice backdrop of either a blank wall or something good, and have a full-on juggling photo-shoot. Because the impromptu photo shoot before the Diggnation a month ago worked so well and I'm STILL using those images for new projects. So yeah, that's what I want later.

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