I know what you're thinking. WAIT. First of all, for those of you out of the know, Pootypablo is also known as my brother (the twin) Patrick N. Bannan. He's also known as Beetle (as in Beetle Bailey) and other various names which I will not get into here.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Oh, Pootypablo and the Olympics, Ryan is probably gonna make some lame heartless joke about the Special Olympics." But you're WRONG. They're completely unrelated topics.
1) The PatMan himself is FINALLY here. He has been here for 26 hours and I have already laughed more then I have in the past 5 months of being here. It's GLORIOUS I tell you! So grateful to have the family I do because they rock my socks off, bitches.
2) I just had one of the most amazing conversations of my life with a guy who plays volleyball in the Olympics, is a professional speaker, and has all kinds of other crazy business ventures in the works. Speaking of the Special Olympics, inspiring-ly enough, this man I just talked to draws a lot of his inspiration from his mentally handicapped brother who despite his challenges, was the picture of what is happiness and joy in this world. So many people have so much more than that young man and we don't do what we are capable of to really take advantage of this gift we were given... reminds me of the father who does marathons and iron man competitions with his handicapped son - and still finishes at the top of the pack (you can find something about that on google or you tube - pretty inspiring stuff). The guy I just talked with is Andrew McCombe, and I'm going to plug his website and business now because that half hour conversation did great things to change my perspectives on life, and he gave me some great tools to make my dreams happen. www.activateyourlife.com - check it out. And if you like that, well even if you don't like that, you should also check out www.coachedbypatrick.com - I am a personal growth junkie, and this stuff is powerful, plain and simple. DO IT.
3) Did I mention Patrick is here? The man's hilarious. He's probably thinking about something ridiculously funny right now, and the average person would never know it. Yup.
You have a fantabulous day dear friend.
Radical Ryno
Monday, June 25, 2007
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Inspiration comes in many forms
Of all the crazy things that can inspire us and amuse us in the world, our friends and family far surpass anything else that I've come across which might be considered even mildly entertaining. There are a few people in our lives, well, a load of them in mine, and I'm sure in yours if you take a second to think about the uniqueness of each person you've met, that have so much character to them.
Life for me has become a whole lot more entertaining when I stop and appreciate the kinds of wacky characters that are in my life. Namely, but definately not limited to, the better looking version of me, my brother Patrick, who's going to be here in a few days. This is his latest email reply to me in response to my proposed itinerary I sent to him:
"Boy, you're amazing. This is weird, but I'm a little scared this trip
is going to fly by so fast superman couldn't catch it. I'm shitting my
pants I'm so excited."
Gotta love the characters. My family is full of them, which, if I can say so myself, is pretty derned Radical.
- the Rhinocerous
Life for me has become a whole lot more entertaining when I stop and appreciate the kinds of wacky characters that are in my life. Namely, but definately not limited to, the better looking version of me, my brother Patrick, who's going to be here in a few days. This is his latest email reply to me in response to my proposed itinerary I sent to him:
"Boy, you're amazing. This is weird, but I'm a little scared this trip
is going to fly by so fast superman couldn't catch it. I'm shitting my
pants I'm so excited."
Gotta love the characters. My family is full of them, which, if I can say so myself, is pretty derned Radical.
- the Rhinocerous
Monday, June 18, 2007
Sunflower seeds
I'm amazed at how just a few handfuls of unsalted sunflower seeds can maintain your energy levels throughout the day. What a glorious snack I've stumbled upon! I may have recently become addicted to novels by John Steinbeck. Better than TV (except for House, and movies on TV are exempt as well... as long as they don't have stupid commercials).
....
Ok that's all. Make it a great day.
....
Ok that's all. Make it a great day.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Oh yeah,
That last post was never meant to be about my beard. WHOA what a tangent. It was about how the younger dude was saying hi, and then today on my way to school I passed a grown man and we both WHISPERED "hey", only it was more like "eh", as we passed each other in a 3 foot wide alley with no one else in the vicinity. CAN'T LET ANYONE KNOW YOU'RE BEING FRIENDLY SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! People are interesting. How hard is it to say in a clear and concise way, "Well hello there kind Sir, you have a jolly good day now!" It doesn't seem that hard... seems kinda weird when I put it like that I guess, but whatever...
Walking by saying HIIIIIIII!!!!
Back in the old days, when I was a wee young lad, around the ripe age of middle school, I was a rather gregarious fellow. That is if the definition of gregarious works for the description I'm going for... Let's see... Yep that'll do. I was a gregarious young fellow, belching out HI, and HELLO, and HOWDY, and HOLA, and pretty much whatever the hell else you can think of that mean's "hi". One of my buddy's got me a card that had a billion ways to say hi on it because I was always saying "hi" to anyone and everyone who would, and wouldn't, give me attention. I think he was talking shit, but that's besides the point.
Some little dude gave me one of those friendly shoutouts the other day, only here it's more like "AYE!", or... "EYE!" But I could be wrong because people also say that when they can't understand a damn word that's commin outta your mouth. I think he felt connected with me because we both had facial hair. He had a rat like mustache we commonly see pre-pubescent boys on stereroids with. He had a rat like, 13 year old stereroid mustache that was thicker than the entire conglomerate... wait... dictionary... I find the best way to learn words is by attempting to use them... and risking making a fool of yourself because that is definately not the word I was looking for... unless you consider the colors. I've got some reds, I've got some blondes, I've got some browns, I've got it all baby. Sorry. Back to my story. He had more mustache hair than I did on my entire face.
I was at some German bar the other night and some dude started yelling "CARNEY!! CARRRRNNEEY!" In a really obnoxious, gruff, joking manner to one of his other buddies. He was either making reference to my beard, or he was making reference to my beard. I find that to be HILARIOUS. Mostly because it brings me back to the good old Curwood Days... makes me feel connected to home (tear). But enough about me... I think I'll actually make an attempt at talking about something other than myself next time I write.
Some little dude gave me one of those friendly shoutouts the other day, only here it's more like "AYE!", or... "EYE!" But I could be wrong because people also say that when they can't understand a damn word that's commin outta your mouth. I think he felt connected with me because we both had facial hair. He had a rat like mustache we commonly see pre-pubescent boys on stereroids with. He had a rat like, 13 year old stereroid mustache that was thicker than the entire conglomerate... wait... dictionary... I find the best way to learn words is by attempting to use them... and risking making a fool of yourself because that is definately not the word I was looking for... unless you consider the colors. I've got some reds, I've got some blondes, I've got some browns, I've got it all baby. Sorry. Back to my story. He had more mustache hair than I did on my entire face.
I was at some German bar the other night and some dude started yelling "CARNEY!! CARRRRNNEEY!" In a really obnoxious, gruff, joking manner to one of his other buddies. He was either making reference to my beard, or he was making reference to my beard. I find that to be HILARIOUS. Mostly because it brings me back to the good old Curwood Days... makes me feel connected to home (tear). But enough about me... I think I'll actually make an attempt at talking about something other than myself next time I write.
Random Observation
Do you ever find yourself doing type racing? I do. And the person next to me is doing it right now to - and I'm totally kicking her ass, although I think she get's more points for better accuracy. I'm a backspace whore I suppose. Although on Mac's it would be a delete whore. I like those comercials. They're quite ingenious. A dopey, vaguely similar dude to Bill Gates, and your average joe cool, familiar face on the street guy. There are a number of social psych principles I see there... really in any advertising. But anyways. The type racing. I'm still winning, but you wanna know why I'm winning?
Because I'm a silent typer. AND. I'm not... what is it. Chicken pecking? I don't know the term. I'm not even looking at the key board. She is. Shit son. And the only reason she seems like she's going so fast, and thinking that she's so much BETTER at typing than everyone else in the room is because she's about the most intense typer I've ever seen. Hunched over, staring a hole in the key board, and then jerking her head up and down in a seizure like motion to make sure she got the right key. WHOA look at her head move back and forth, left to right, searching for those keys! I must say it's impressive. But it only sounds fast because I'm pretty sure she's trying to karate chop the key board with her fingers. WHAM BAM POW POP POP! Yup. I'm a silent typer. Graceful. Cool. Calm, content, and connected. I am one with my computer, in this glorious lab of computers filled with studies, myspace, and some - oh holy shit I just got really nervous that she started reading my page. Whoa that was scary. There really could be few worse things on the face of the planet than finding out that someone is talking shit about you on a computer... One worse thing that comes to mind is actually being the one to talk shit. I'm not actually TRYING to judge anyone, more or less just amusing myself... good talk Ryan. Way to validate your anti-social behavior.
Cheers to you.
Because I'm a silent typer. AND. I'm not... what is it. Chicken pecking? I don't know the term. I'm not even looking at the key board. She is. Shit son. And the only reason she seems like she's going so fast, and thinking that she's so much BETTER at typing than everyone else in the room is because she's about the most intense typer I've ever seen. Hunched over, staring a hole in the key board, and then jerking her head up and down in a seizure like motion to make sure she got the right key. WHOA look at her head move back and forth, left to right, searching for those keys! I must say it's impressive. But it only sounds fast because I'm pretty sure she's trying to karate chop the key board with her fingers. WHAM BAM POW POP POP! Yup. I'm a silent typer. Graceful. Cool. Calm, content, and connected. I am one with my computer, in this glorious lab of computers filled with studies, myspace, and some - oh holy shit I just got really nervous that she started reading my page. Whoa that was scary. There really could be few worse things on the face of the planet than finding out that someone is talking shit about you on a computer... One worse thing that comes to mind is actually being the one to talk shit. I'm not actually TRYING to judge anyone, more or less just amusing myself... good talk Ryan. Way to validate your anti-social behavior.
Cheers to you.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Wicked Weather
The weather has been pretty wild here the past few days. Incredibly rainy... well further north it's been crazy, it just got really windy and rainy here yesterday. A huge barge got stuck on a sand bar and has basically been pushed up onto some public beach in Newcastle; worries of the waves breaking it apart overnight were all over the news reports last night. Roads have been washed out in flooding, and people are missing from cars being swept down rivers where roads once travelled.
Weather is daunting. But I like it. Not to disregard the people and families who have been aversely affected by such weather, I give them all of my love. There's still some kind of guilty pleasure and fascination I have with inclimate weather. Is inclimate a word? Should I look it up on a dictionary site? Am I being overly lazy right now because I don't feel like doing so?
The sublime power it has. The feeling of smallness it can make one feel. The vastness of the universe it reminds you of. Walking to uni today I was reminded of those scenes - walking to uni Ryan? I thought you were done with classes? OH BUT I AM! However I still have two papers to write and two exams to take... which is why I'm not doing them right now (?).
Walking to uni today, amistd the litter of leaves and branches, unmoving from the howling wind because they're so saturated with rainwater, I saw unbrellas tossed lifelessly in gutters, bushes, trees, in the middle of the sidewalk, and on doorsteps. They were opened, closed, half way mangled, upside down, rightside up, and even entirely destroyed. Like fallen soldiers from the previous night's battle, I envisioned the umbrella's owners trying to do nothing more than get home, only to flip out at the last umbrella inverting gust of wind that spays that innocent individual in the face with a cold blast of air and sheet of water.
I'm finding myself wondering if I made the analogy of fallen soldiers because I watched a war movie last night. I also find myself (I think) not enjoying the war movies quite so much because my cousin is overseas playing bang bang right now (I think), as are family members of so many other people. Interesting point for me to ponder.
The umbrella warriors throw down their umbrella in disgust and desperate frustration at the weakness and lack of courage their thankless umbrella has shown. Reminiscent of those scenes in Forest Gump and Bruce Almighty, as Leutenant Dan sits atop the boat lookout being swalled by the treacherous seas challenging God; and Bruce screams defiantly into the sky, "Smite me you almighty smiter!" Or whatever it was he said... Tossing their spent comrades to the side, the umbrella warriors scream psychotically into the stormy evening air, soaked to the bone, and continue onto their fateful journey home towards warmth and comfort - If they are infact as blessed as you or I to have some place to shelter themselves for the night.
Jazz festival tomorrow. Hot dog, can't wait!
Weather is daunting. But I like it. Not to disregard the people and families who have been aversely affected by such weather, I give them all of my love. There's still some kind of guilty pleasure and fascination I have with inclimate weather. Is inclimate a word? Should I look it up on a dictionary site? Am I being overly lazy right now because I don't feel like doing so?
The sublime power it has. The feeling of smallness it can make one feel. The vastness of the universe it reminds you of. Walking to uni today I was reminded of those scenes - walking to uni Ryan? I thought you were done with classes? OH BUT I AM! However I still have two papers to write and two exams to take... which is why I'm not doing them right now (?).
Walking to uni today, amistd the litter of leaves and branches, unmoving from the howling wind because they're so saturated with rainwater, I saw unbrellas tossed lifelessly in gutters, bushes, trees, in the middle of the sidewalk, and on doorsteps. They were opened, closed, half way mangled, upside down, rightside up, and even entirely destroyed. Like fallen soldiers from the previous night's battle, I envisioned the umbrella's owners trying to do nothing more than get home, only to flip out at the last umbrella inverting gust of wind that spays that innocent individual in the face with a cold blast of air and sheet of water.
I'm finding myself wondering if I made the analogy of fallen soldiers because I watched a war movie last night. I also find myself (I think) not enjoying the war movies quite so much because my cousin is overseas playing bang bang right now (I think), as are family members of so many other people. Interesting point for me to ponder.
The umbrella warriors throw down their umbrella in disgust and desperate frustration at the weakness and lack of courage their thankless umbrella has shown. Reminiscent of those scenes in Forest Gump and Bruce Almighty, as Leutenant Dan sits atop the boat lookout being swalled by the treacherous seas challenging God; and Bruce screams defiantly into the sky, "Smite me you almighty smiter!" Or whatever it was he said... Tossing their spent comrades to the side, the umbrella warriors scream psychotically into the stormy evening air, soaked to the bone, and continue onto their fateful journey home towards warmth and comfort - If they are infact as blessed as you or I to have some place to shelter themselves for the night.
Jazz festival tomorrow. Hot dog, can't wait!
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Living in the present
So this past weekend - scratch that, this past Saturday I spent somewhere around the vicinity of 100 bucks... mostly on booze and a complete lack of foresight, but boy was it a good day. My roomates and I started off the day heading to a wine / food festival over in Manly, which is funny because of how much the city's name parallels my character traits... BUT, moving on, they had these sweet little wine glass holders that you buttoned around the glass and then wore around your neck so you wouldn't have to hold it. Getting that was the highlight of my day. We ran into some friends, grabbed a bottle of wine from the bottle shop and listened to the band that was playing into the cool fall breeze coming off of the Pacific Ocean. The sun went down, the music died down, the temperature cooled, the wine warmed our bellies, and the hot dancing brazilian women made me think, "Wow, I really like hot dancing brazilian women".
The wine we walked around tasting was like $200 a bottle and up. We were tempted to get a box of goon (that's basically Franzia), but decided to remain tactful and drank our $14 bottle of wine wrapped ever so candidly in a brown paper bag. The music was great. We headed down to the city after that and started walking approximately 500 miles to and fro at various clubs, where I began the senseless spending spree on all that is beery in this world. Have I mentioned how much better the beer is here than back home? It is. I hope my old flame Coors Light doesn't get resentful when I return. We ended the night heading to Pancakes 24/7 (a.k.a. Heaven on Earth) where I wisely decided to go wander aimlessly by myself to the bar we passed along the way instead of waiting in line. It was some spanish bar that I clearly didn't belong at for two reasons: One, everyone was salsa dancing. And two, EVERYONE, in the entire bar, was salsa dancing - it was about 3 in the morning by now.
Nothing one more beer can't take care of (if you're a complete fool). On the bright side some Australian girl started *trying* to dance with me as she grabbed my hand spinning herself around. I wasn't sure if it was my mad dancing skills or her general inability to stand up straight that prompted her to order us two Jack and Cokes... on my tab. What the hell is she thinking. I don't drink that shit. I want a beer. Ohhhhh good, the bartender just opened up an 11 dollar bottle of some German crap. So after the Aussie girl was done complaining about me paying $25 instead of the full $30 for the drinks I never wanted in the first place, ON HER BIRTHDAY NONETHELESS, I moseied over to comfortable place on the wall to enjoy my drinks. Bitch bitch bitch... it wasn't her birthday. It was a good time though, took a few mental notes for my next go at salsa dancing (...right...), and then some dude walked by and bumped my drink right as I was having another sip. That damn Jack and Coke chipped my tooth. It was time for me to head home. That German beer was tastey... I think.
Now, the truth of the matter is that I can't afford any evening out on the town like that, for a number of reasons, namely my health. I haven't drank like that in ages, I've really cut back on the amount of drinking I do here, which has been great, but every so often... ah what the hell, right? Found out my parents are actually going to come here, they got their plane tickets that morning and called me on their way out to visit Pat, who apparently is moving to another place, which I wasn't aware of because I haven't heard from anyone in my family in a wee little while, baring that brief conversation with my parents. That vacation will be SWEET. We're going to do the backpacker thing. My mom has even volunteered to give some hostels a try, and Dad, well, that loveable guy is spending money. Haha, all he was saying is, "Your Mom is so excited, and I... I just can't believe we're going." That amuses me. This is quite possibly going to be the coolest vacation with my parents ever, I wish the whole family could come. Hot damn can't wait. I miss Logan. Katie tells me he has learned the word 'no' which, when I think of an afternoon together with him and Sean... well. That could be the funniest experience on the face of the planet. I can't wait to get home and see those guys.
And that brings me to my present point. Some lady gave me the best advice today. Ok not some lady, an old highschool teacher of mine who's a freakin superhero. It's funny. You can hear the same old stuff from so many different people, but then one person just says it in some way that's like... "HEY THAT'S A FRICKEN BRILLIANT IDEA!!" It's nothing new, but it just works. It's like, "What the hell, what has MY problem been?" Cheers to her for that, I wasn't even aware that I needed to hear it, but I did. I've been having a great, wild time here, but these last few weeks I've just been feeling stressed about stupid crap. And I say screw you stress! Live in the present, you can keep an eye on the future, but don't worry so much about the money, classes, friendships, girls, and so on kinda crap. I'm in freakin Australia, and classes are done this week... which means my adventures will begin a new again vewy vewy soon. This class stuff has been gettin to me. Time to crank out some papers. Live in the present. Rock a doodle doo.
Radical.
The wine we walked around tasting was like $200 a bottle and up. We were tempted to get a box of goon (that's basically Franzia), but decided to remain tactful and drank our $14 bottle of wine wrapped ever so candidly in a brown paper bag. The music was great. We headed down to the city after that and started walking approximately 500 miles to and fro at various clubs, where I began the senseless spending spree on all that is beery in this world. Have I mentioned how much better the beer is here than back home? It is. I hope my old flame Coors Light doesn't get resentful when I return. We ended the night heading to Pancakes 24/7 (a.k.a. Heaven on Earth) where I wisely decided to go wander aimlessly by myself to the bar we passed along the way instead of waiting in line. It was some spanish bar that I clearly didn't belong at for two reasons: One, everyone was salsa dancing. And two, EVERYONE, in the entire bar, was salsa dancing - it was about 3 in the morning by now.
Nothing one more beer can't take care of (if you're a complete fool). On the bright side some Australian girl started *trying* to dance with me as she grabbed my hand spinning herself around. I wasn't sure if it was my mad dancing skills or her general inability to stand up straight that prompted her to order us two Jack and Cokes... on my tab. What the hell is she thinking. I don't drink that shit. I want a beer. Ohhhhh good, the bartender just opened up an 11 dollar bottle of some German crap. So after the Aussie girl was done complaining about me paying $25 instead of the full $30 for the drinks I never wanted in the first place, ON HER BIRTHDAY NONETHELESS, I moseied over to comfortable place on the wall to enjoy my drinks. Bitch bitch bitch... it wasn't her birthday. It was a good time though, took a few mental notes for my next go at salsa dancing (...right...), and then some dude walked by and bumped my drink right as I was having another sip. That damn Jack and Coke chipped my tooth. It was time for me to head home. That German beer was tastey... I think.
Now, the truth of the matter is that I can't afford any evening out on the town like that, for a number of reasons, namely my health. I haven't drank like that in ages, I've really cut back on the amount of drinking I do here, which has been great, but every so often... ah what the hell, right? Found out my parents are actually going to come here, they got their plane tickets that morning and called me on their way out to visit Pat, who apparently is moving to another place, which I wasn't aware of because I haven't heard from anyone in my family in a wee little while, baring that brief conversation with my parents. That vacation will be SWEET. We're going to do the backpacker thing. My mom has even volunteered to give some hostels a try, and Dad, well, that loveable guy is spending money. Haha, all he was saying is, "Your Mom is so excited, and I... I just can't believe we're going." That amuses me. This is quite possibly going to be the coolest vacation with my parents ever, I wish the whole family could come. Hot damn can't wait. I miss Logan. Katie tells me he has learned the word 'no' which, when I think of an afternoon together with him and Sean... well. That could be the funniest experience on the face of the planet. I can't wait to get home and see those guys.
And that brings me to my present point. Some lady gave me the best advice today. Ok not some lady, an old highschool teacher of mine who's a freakin superhero. It's funny. You can hear the same old stuff from so many different people, but then one person just says it in some way that's like... "HEY THAT'S A FRICKEN BRILLIANT IDEA!!" It's nothing new, but it just works. It's like, "What the hell, what has MY problem been?" Cheers to her for that, I wasn't even aware that I needed to hear it, but I did. I've been having a great, wild time here, but these last few weeks I've just been feeling stressed about stupid crap. And I say screw you stress! Live in the present, you can keep an eye on the future, but don't worry so much about the money, classes, friendships, girls, and so on kinda crap. I'm in freakin Australia, and classes are done this week... which means my adventures will begin a new again vewy vewy soon. This class stuff has been gettin to me. Time to crank out some papers. Live in the present. Rock a doodle doo.
Radical.
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