Weekend Review

Friday the 28th of August 2009
Day off of school like I've mentioned before. Won a free drink from Walkers that I didn't redeem until Sunday afternoon. I finished the second season of The Mighty Boosh on DVD, highly recommend the show to fans of British comedy and just surreal/creative shows in particular. I then witnessed my parents trying to scrape off the glued vinyl flooring in their kitchen and they just didn't have the time and/or patience to do so. So I got addicted to scraping the floor for about 5 hours or so getting around 70% of the kitchen floor scrapped off. Diet Pepsi never tasted so good after doing such tough work for a while. I got some food from Costa Vida and took a pain pill cause of the soreness/pain in my hands. Watched The Soup and then my DVD copy of The Weird Al Show Complete Series (1997) which I watched all weekend.

Saturday the 29th of August 2009
I went for a morning walk which I was aiming to do for a while. Then back home I finished a project that I have been slowly working on for 7 months, and that is syncing the music on my iPod. In January, a hard drive mishap cause me to lose all my music files and the album artwork that goes along with them. Ever since I've been slowly adding music and artwork back on to the computer and now I'm all caught up  . . . .
Meanwhile my brother and a few helpers were destroying a part of the kitchen ceiling and just as it was expected, a crap load of old insulation snowed everywhere. Currently there are about 9 full black garbage bags of insulation just sitting around and huge piles of garbage are on the front lawn as we wait for a big dumpster to arrive. Anyway, later my parents got a shopvac to help clean all the mess. i love that bad boy, it makes me want to vacuum the whole house with its sucking ability. Also, my dad and I got some Chadders in Provo. I just ordered a burger and a drink of course, no fries. It was a little tough to watch my parents eat fries in front of me, not that Chadders fries are anything to write home about anyway but the aroma is powerful. 

Sunday the 30th of August 2009
Woke up with not much time to do anything profound before church. Church was slightly boring (I'm an unofficial librarian) cause I forgot to bring any books to read for the 3rd hour where not many people stop by.
I got some homework (reading) done before going to see my girlfriend. It was so nice to see her again and be held by her  . . . . we went out for a drive ending up at the movie theater to see G Force. There's was nothing really wrong with the movie but I can admit to being a little too tired to get into it. Then went home where I did some organizing with my mom which is something we both like to do. Before typing this blog I got to work on a school assignment that I've been blowing off all weekend so this is my reward for getting some work done.
Other Note
-I love Coke Zero!!!! Got it in a fountain drink from Maverick on friday night and Chadders the next night.

Later blog readers

No Kitchen

Hey, finally have some time now to type
Today ended the first (short) week of school
it's looking to be an alright semester, some things are looking like very familiar to other classes in the past so I know what I'm in for. So glad I don't have to buy any further books and should be all set. Now just the usual as long as I don't slack off too much I'll be just fine. I got my parking permit today yipeee
Another item, my parents kitchen remodeling started today with the removal of all the cabinets, the sink, and the dishwasher that doesn't get used. Now all the stuff that lived in the kitchen is crowding the space in which I hang out mostly. Slight adjustment when it comes to eating stuff but I'm trying not to eat a bunch anyway.
Random notes
- I ate pizza from three different places for dinner; Little Caesars, 5 Buck, and Pizza Hut. Oh how I love pizza night
-CD currently in my car- a mix CD I made for a friend and it was so good I had to make it for myself
-I played Super Mario 3 for the NES on my Retro Duo not too long ago tonight
-watched some more Mighty Boosh Season 2 Episodes today, hilarious! I'm about to watch the best episode- The Legend of Old Gregg
-I have Fridays off of school, I have at least one class the other 4 days of the week

Well that's it for now
Peace out

Last Day of Summer

Hey bloggers,

don't wanna take too long, I wanna get as much sleep as possible so I can be alert in the morning to do my hike up to the Y (in Provo, UT) that I've been doing every Wednesday morning for a month now. Tomorrow is my first day of school to start off this last year of classes that will be required for my Bachelor's. My first class is at 2 p.m. so there's no rush to sleep when it comes to that. But yeah school, I've been going to school for 18 years now total and after this one I think I'd wanna take a break before doing anymore, that is if I can stand anymore. I love school but it does get less fun/interesting as every year passes.

Anyway, today I went for a walk near Utah Lake which is like an end of summer tradition. Then I bought a drink at Walkers- didn't win this time -sigh-. Then bought Adventureland on DVD which I just barely finished. Of course I saw it opening day and I enjoyed it enough to buy it.

I finally went and saw 500 Days of Summer which I enjoyed very much. With my experience of falling in love with people, the film was really accurate in how things are and were for me a couple times. I may not have acted like the character of Thomas or got to experience the same things that he does in the film but it really does hit the nail right on the head with guys like me falling for a girl that we fancy. There were some females sitting behind me and I tempted to yell "Yep!" a couple times to make the point clear that that's how things go and blah blah blah

Rest of the day consisted of 20 minutes of recording for the J-Ray album, prescription refill, Gandolfos, and a couple Mighty Boosh season 2 episodes

Well gonna sign off now
Thanks for reading

No Fry Week

Justin Business

Hey People

Didn't do much today, I weighed myself and I have gained a couple pounds since the last weigh in 2 weeks ago. So when I went to Chick-Fil-A for lunch with my mom (Monday lunches with my mom have become a routine thing ever since March 2008) and I just got 2 sandwiches and a drink, No Waffle fries. I want to lose weight and I will do any drastic things that need to be done. So this will be a No Fry Week. Now I know that just staying away from french fries won't solve all my problems but it's heck of a start. 

Anyway, then took a trip over to FYE to look for good priced movies and music whether it be used or new. I should never go to these places without my list of things that I want since I can only think of a couple items every time I go to a place that sells movies and music.  Then went to Walkers (Convienient Store) to redeem my free drink I won through their Freedom Rewards Plan. Then went home and my cousin Andrew called me up and we chatted about nothing. Not much else to report

Movie Business

Shockingly as a movie buff especially with comedies, I have never seen the original version of Airplane (1980) until today. I got it really cheap while at FYE. I laughed several times catching the jokes that I didn't see during the many times the movie is shown on TV. My mom would always make the movie sound so horrible growing up just because of 2 seconds of tits on screen. Nudity ruins movies for her I guess. 

After typing this blog I'm going to catch a 2008 comedy special from comedian Eddie Griffin that I have never seen before called Freedom of Speech. I absolutely love his work especially Undercover Brother and his theatrically released stand up movie Dysfunktional Family. Speaking of him, I would like to re-consider a movie that I have dissed before on this blog and that would be The New Guy where he had a supporting role in. I watched it several months ago with my girlfriend and had some fun espcially reminiscing of how things were when that movie came out which was when I was in high school. 

Music Business

I finally bought an album that always seems to pop up during the last few summers, and that is the self titled release by the band Flyleaf. I first heard them in the summer of 2006 with the single "I'm So Sick". Then in 2007 I would always hear the album when I arrived at work most likely because one of my co-workers kept a copy there. I've borrowed it in the past and now I finally have it. The album has 4 very good songs and the rest flows nicely. They are the other band besides Paramore in the topic of rock bands with female lead singers that have rocked the last 5 years. I don't find the lead singer "hot" as other people I know do. Ehhhh she's alright in a elfish way, like the good looking girl (in the form of a fairy or something) from a fantasy movie.
 

 J-Ray Business
This morning before going out to do all that I've mentioned above, I recorded the last portion of the story that makes up the bulk of my next album Terrable. So now the running time is 3 hours for the project. What's left are a couple collaborations with Andre (The Dirty Mexican), an intermission track based on the title, a Messing with Music edition, and numerous background vocals so the album won't be super boring. I want to have the album completed and released by November.

Thanks for reading

3 1/2 Years Later (What's been goin on)

Hey Bloggers, did ya miss me? pfffff naaaah
OK, just want to point out that watching the movie Julie and Julia made me want to get back into my blogging besides my social networking blurbs on MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook which I will still update with more personal posts. This is going to be the more fun blog posts from now on.

To re-introduce myself my name is Justin Shields, I am currently 23 years old and I am a big music and movie buff as I hope to show on future posts. Besides being immersed in those two things, one of my favorite things to do in my spare time is recording real events (or the stories of real events) and comedy tracks which I've done for over 13 years and that's where the J-Ray portion of this blog comes in. To get a better explanation of J-Ray, go over to J-Ray's MySpace (link on the side) or even go to the very first posts of this blog.

Cell Phone Pic of Me 

April 2009

Soooo it's been several years since I've really touched this blog and it has been the most interesting years of my adult life especially the last 2 years. Well, I could just say to check the links to my other sites on the side to get a taste of what's been going on in my life and what I've been doing all this time. Here's a listed summary of what my life has been like since February 2006.
-I feel I got out of the social coma I used to be in. I did this by just being myself again by going out and enjoying the world. I made new friends or getting to know past people a lot more, got back in touch with my high school buddies, made a habit of going on long walks which helped me lose some weight, etc. I will admit that I am still shy at times.
-I've been working a little bit. A few months of Custodial work in the spring of 2006 and then concessions jobs for the Orem Owlz Minor League Baseball team where I've been Ice Cream Guy for the last three summers including the current one.
-I've been continually going to school except during the summer. I recieved my Associates of Science Degree in Communications in April 2007 and currently on track to get a Bachelor's of Science in Sociology next spring.
- As for Movies- Hard Candy, Into the Wild, The Dark Knight, Superbad, Lars and the Real Girl, and Brick have been some of my favorite flicks.
-And Music- Panic! At The Disco, Monty Are I, Chromeo, Justice, Mindless Self Indulgence, Paramore, and MSTRKRFT have been notable artists coming to my attention in the last few years. I've also had major music crushes on The Used and Coheed and Cambria by getting all their albums and listening to them over and over and even making mix CDs of their work.
- One of the major topics that comes to mind is becoming more interested in the opposite sex in recent years. I've had some major crushes on women that I couldn't have which gave me two week splats of pure happiness with a couple of them leading to months of lonliness. In December of 2008 I had an offical girlfriend for the first time but the relationship only lasted around 10 days. Then on January 13, 2009 I met the current love of my life who was a friend of the girl I had just broken up with. Seven months later my girlfriend Anna and I are still together and things are going well.

CURRENTLY- I am about to attend my last year of school at Utah Valley University in 3 days. Til then I have time off work to get some more summer fun in while I can.

On the J-Ray side of things, if you don't really care just skip this part:
-I've been putting tracks and videos on Youtube since December 2007 with the help of my cousin Andrew AKA Andre (The Dirty Mexican), including my Walking Diary Series and Car Videos made for my friend Steve.
-I made 6 albums called Balogner (2006), King Size Tube Nuts (2006), Hand Me Down Skits (2006), Don't Bother (2007), Call It What You Want (2008), and Quest For The Unused (2008). The latter two were made but a hard drive mishap in January 2009 caused me to lose the audio files. Some of the tracks from these two still live on YouTube.
-Projects I was planning to do never got done which is normal haha including re-issues of my first six albums
uncut and in stereo.
CURRENTLY- I am recording my long awaited 17th Album titled Terrable which is concept album all about my experience with my first girlfriend.

So there's your recap or wrap up or whatever. Starting tomorrow I will let my blogging juices start flowing again along with my other many juices.

I'm gonna go watch my DVD copy of I Love You, Man, it's my favorite comedy of the year so far.
Later