Q & A

How do you like New York?
It’s fine. I must say though, New York winters are the most depressing ever. In Minnesota you put up with a lot of shit, but least there were trees and snow to look at. Here you put up with 2 weeks straight of no sun and rain, with nothing to look at but concrete and bums.

How do you plan on making new friends?
I don’t know. Making friends is hard when you’re not forced into a social setting with people. School and work are easy ways to do that, but when you’re without that…it’s a bit more difficult. Hopefully the job I get will provide avenues for friends.

Have you found a trivia venue that equals to the Leaning Tower Of Pizza?
Not even close, yet. There are a few places, but the ones I’ve been to have been run by super nerds (think black jeans, bar glasses, and tazmanian devil polo shirts), so it’s a bit off-putting. We did come up with a good team name, though. “Coed Naked Trivia: Who knew the facts of life could be so hard?”

Have you played the drums since you left?
Yeah, I played with some band a couple of weeks ago. It was ok. I’ve never played on such a shitty drum set, and I really miss mine. When you’re playing on a snare that sounds like a can filled with rocks, and a bass drum that sounds like a bucket, it’s kinda distracting. I mean, I have confidence in my drumming abilities, but having a good set really helps. Further, the band played good music to listen to, but not to drum to (for me, anyway). And the lead singer was a douche bag. But it was interesting.

Any other comments to make as far as music goes?
I miss my fragment of a band I once had. I’m concerned about the future of my music career, because it’s hard to replace a musical soul mate, you know? Damn, that was deep. I also have a surprising lack of creative song writing ability, lately. I’m in a funk, I guess.

Is it true that when one area of your life is bit chaotic, it transfers to others?
Yes. The not having a job or a daily structure thing has made me very disorganized and forgetful. It sucks. It’s like this: What day is it? Doesn’t matter! That’s not the best sign of being organized.

What do you do all day when Maggie is at school?
I’ve been doing lots of independent work on various software projects and a lot of “building my computer skills” shit, that people with no friends like to do. I’ve explored the city a bit (including seeing the famous abandoned City Hall subway station by disobeying the rules and staying on the train past the “last stop”), but mostly I sit around on the ‘puter all day. I’ve started going to the Columbia library during the day to apply for jobs and do work, which is much less depressing than staying in the apartment all day.

Have you interviewed for any jobs yet?
Yeah, 2 in person, 1 phone. Otherwise, it’s been lots of email conversations, and sending resumes out into the abyss.

Have you been looking hard?
Not really. For the first month Mag was on vacation, and the apartment was in shambles, so it was easy to find better things to do — I spent my days hanging with her, being a bum, and putting together furniture. Then she started school, and I got some more motivation to look for work. Now I’m in high-gear.

Seen any movies lately?
Yes. Lots.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – Meh. It was ok.
Walk the Line – Rocked my socks.
King Kong – SUCKED.
Brokeback Mountain – pretty good.
The Family Stone – pretty good.
24 Hours on Craigslist – awesome.
Match Point – intense, dude.
Capote – awesome.
Failure to Launch – surprisingly funny, and not too chick flicky

Still to see:
Good Night and Good Luck
Why We Fight
The Squid And The Whale
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World
The 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada

What’s it like being engaged?
Great. It feels really good to be able to duke it out without questioning the fabric of your relationship. Not that you can’t do that without being engaged, but being public about it, and knowing that they’re right for you just puts you that much more in that mind set.

I feel very young, though. It seems like people in the Midwest get married as early as they can, where people out here wait as long as they can. New York is full of single people and full of people who have been together for 6 years, still living separately without any talk of marriage or engagement. And here I am, having met this girl a little over a year ago…being engaged and living together.

When are you getting married?
Not sure. 2007 sometime. Spring, summer, fall, it’s anyones guess. Planning a wedding sounds fun! NOT!!! It’s going to be difficult, since she’s in school most of the year, including summers. It almost makes us want to wait until 2008 when she’s done…but that’s just a long time. Honestly, we really haven’t talked about it that much. We’re just trying to be as carefree as possible right now.

But to quote one of my favorite comedians, Greg Fitzsimmons…
“Everyone who’s married wants you to join them in their misery, so they always ask ‘When are you getting married? When are you getting married? When are you getting married!?’, so I like to ask them, ‘When are you gonna die? When are you gonna die?’ ”

How would you describe the transition of meeting a girl, to moving in with her?
You go from painfully holding farts in for days to pushing them out in order to make them louder.

What’s the funniest things that’s happened as a result of living together, so far?
Recently, I made it a mission to get Maggie playing Nintendo. See, she missed the crucial point of childhood where the days were filled with Mario Brothers and as a result she has zero ability and zero confidence in anything video game related. It was a rough start, but she’s finally getting the hang of it and actually enjoying it. I never thought a girl craving Nintendo could be so hot. And hilarious.

“I’ve been craving Mario brothers all day”
“I hate it when I lose my fireball pants!”
“FUCKING SHIT FACE. I HATE THIS PART. SHIT! This game just makes me want to punch people!”

Have you left the city since you left?
We went New Haven to visit some of Mag’s friends who go to Yale. Oh damn, they have this EVIL game called Lightning Reaction, that’s this sort of speed reaction game where you have four metal trigger handles you hold on to, then when the music stops and the light turns green you hit the button, and the last person to react gets shocked. Man, it rocked. Noah and Jess wanted us to take it home, and I really wanted to…but was forbidden to do so. I put sex above electrocution, so it was an easy decision.

Any plans for the upcoming weeks?
It’s my birthday on Thursday. That’ll be cool, right? I’m also going to Austin, TX in a couple of weeks to visit my brother. I mean, why not? I’m not doing much right now.

More questions? Let me have ‘em.