The Purple Tux
With just enough education to perform.Thursday, June 12, 2003
Tomorrow, I am leaving for Newport Beach. I will return to Davis around August 17 or thereabouts, and then go back home to San Francisco. These next couple of months are going to be intense, I feel it. I don't know if I'll have access to the Net down in Newport Beach. Goodbye, and I love you. Keep it real.
What more can I say? Go buy Hail To The Thief.
Tuesday, June 10, 2003
After a nice hearty breakfast at Cindy's Diner, rushed over to Tower Records with the main man Chris Warren to pick up Radiohead's new album Hail To The Thief. It was tight being the first people in the store and getting the album before the workers even finished unpacking it.
Anyway, buy it.
Friday, June 06, 2003
Out of all Transformers, I feel a special bond with Soundwave.
Soundwave, to jog your memory, is the Decepticon (bad guy) who transforms into a cassette recorder. He's blue, with red, yellow, and silver trimming. He has a cool, computer-distorted, voice. If you've watched the old cartoon at all, one of the hallmarks of a cool character is having a cool voice. People remember Grimlock because he was a T-Rex and because he had a strong, caveman-ish voice. Starscream's voice was the same guy who voiced Cobra Commander from the GI Joe cartoon. Omega Supreme had a pretty cool voice, too. On the other hand, no one can remember what Huffer sounded like. Anyway, as a kid, everyone knew instantly that Soundwave was cool because he had by far, the coolest voice. Whenever we played with the toys, whoever controlled Soundwave always did his best to imitate the Transformer's melodic and harmonic robotic voice.
But anyway. I don't think my voice is all that cool. My voice is sufficient, but not transcendent like Soundwave's. What I really love about him, besides his voice and his cassettes, is that I think we have similar personalities. Soundwave is the kind of guy who does everything he's told, but does it efficiently and professionally. That's my aim. I try to do whatever my job is as best I can, or at least that's the goal I aspire to. Soundwave was never a leader, though. For all his cool methodical ways, no one ever really wanted to follow him. Remember Transformers: The Movie? The Astrotrain scene where the Decepticons were fighting over the leadership? Scrapper or Hook, or one of the Constructicons said, "No one would follow an uncharismatic fool such as yourself!" (I hope it's not too obvious how big a nerd I am by the fact that I can actually quote lines from the TF Movie.)
I don't think I am a good leader, either. For some reason or another, I don't feel that I have the boldness or the charisma that makes people look to me for orders. I don't have too much vision, either, so that's another hindrance. People only follow leaders with vision. I mean, I can see if I have my glasses on, but if I take 'em off, I'm nearly blind. Plus, I'm not too good at setting goals and crud. I think I would make a good second-in-command, though. Or a trusty lieutenant.
One reason Soundwave comes off as uncharismatic is because he doesn't talk too much. Starscream's an conniving little jackass, but some Decepticons would still follow him because he's an interesting character. Starscream knows how to use words to his advantage, especially to manipulate others into following him. Okay, maybe that's not a really good hallmark of a leader, but still, there's a reason why Decepticons, though they may hate his personality, would still follow him if he led. Well, maybe. But back to Soundwave. He doesn't say that much, but when he does speak, you know it's something important. Or at least cool. I mean, going back to his voice, anything he says is pretty much awesome. He could sneeze and that would still be cool- and by cool, I mean totally sweet.
I don't really talk too much, either. Well, I do have a tendency to go a little crazy (or spaz out) sometimes, but for the most part, I don't really say that much. I know for sure I don't always say what is on my mind. However, I think I am a pretty good listener- like Soundwave. His hearing is impeccable, and I think my hearing skills are better than the average human. I can't smell worth crap and I don't really care about taste, but I can hear pretty well. But maybe Soundwave wouldn't be a good leader because he doesn't talk too much, doesn't have enough vision. He does what he's told and he does it well. And he's cool. Just like me.
Next week, as soon as finals are over, I am going to Newport Beach for a Campus Crusade For Christ Summer Project. It's going to last until like August 17th. I don't know how I got from talking about Transformers to Jesus, but it's cool. God is everywhere. But yeah, I guess my transitions aren't all that good. I need better essay writing skills. I know Crusade's mission motto is something like, "Turning lost students into Christ-centered laborers," but sometimes it seems like leaders are what's needed. Sometimes, I feel like people expect me to transform into some kind of pumped up leader in terms of helping out the ministry over the next year or two, and that's a quality that's hard for me to imagine myself possessing. Perhaps after the Project, I will have more experience. Maybe I will come back as a Megatron, with a newfound ambition to conquer the universe and rule over it malevolently with an iron fist and a fusion cannon.
Or maybe next year, Soundwave will be put to the ultimate test of his character.
