Day 372: Butterfly Knife

     So it's been a couple days since the reintroduction to the project and I'm feeling good. I've had some time to get back into the groove of things. I'm starting to remember what it feels like to roam through the isles of a random Whole Foods -not for any item in particular- but for something strange, something noteworthy. That feeling of looking through the lens of untapped potential is becoming more familiar.
     Take this morning for example. It was raining off and on, so The Roomies and I made our way to one of the largest indoor flea markets I know of (I believe that I went to it once before and walked away with an entry for my project the first time around but I cant remember exactly what for). As you would expect of me in these sort of situations, I was on the hunt to strike gold inside this dusty basement of a building (Whenever there's a garage sale, thrift store, or any other informal transaction, I convince myself that I am the rightful heir to the most valuable finds both beautiful and odd. All I have to do is find it).
     But since the reintroduction of the project, my treasure hunting focus has increased two-fold. I've always just liked going to these sort of places just cause. But know, I'm also depending on these sort of places to yield me my challenge for the day too. So I basically like a bloodhound when I'm up in there. Lifting through piles of mostly garbage, and sniffing through the deepest corners in hopes of finding that something.
     Today however, I stumbled upon my new thing to try within the first minute of hunting. It was in the first glass case I looked through. Displayed in the case was an assortment of knifes, smoking pipes and brass knuckles -bingo. I was almost certain that two out of three of those things (butterfly knife and brass knucks) were illegal in Colorado, and a Google search would confirm it. So it had been decided; I would purchase an illegal weapon from this run down flea market. Then I would teach myself how to use said weapon, and then post an incriminating video of myself on the web for you all to enjoy.

     Here's the video. Admittedly I'm not very good. All of my focus was spent on not slicing open a main artery. It kind of goes against my recent urge to become more high class, but whatever, maybe this tough guy persona is a better way to go.

Day 371: Symphony

     So I'm still on my high class kick. I want to be cultured and wise beyond my years and all that jazz. So today, while I was catching up on another project of mine (to draw something every day. If you'd like to see more of that project click here) I decided that I needed to concentrate while I drew or I'd get distracted like I always do. I listen to a lot of different types of music while I draw, and I'm no stranger to listening to classical. But one thing that I've never done, was listen to an entire symphony. I looked up a video of an hour long symphony and began drawing. It actually did wonders for keeping me from getting distracted. I was only interrupted a couple of times from a text or two and I ended up getting three illustrations done! Here they are for ya!

     I enjoyed the experience more than I thought I would, but I did pick up on some strange occurrences from it. Like, I thought that it was uber weird when there would be a break between movements (I'm gonna assume that they're called movements, but you know what I'm talking about right? The pieces of music that make up the symphony) nobody would clap or whistle. All they would do is cough and clear their throat. It sounded really gross and totally not high class. Plus, if I was about of the symphony, I was be so bummed out if nobody clapped at my high class playing.
     I did think that it was kinda cool to watch the conductor. That was an example of a guy that really gets into his work. He was totally lost in it. And at the end, when he signaled the musicians to cease playing, and the audience sat waiting. There was this moment, he stood perfectly still, eyes clenched closed, where he shed a single tear from what he had just heard. It pretty powerful actually. Here's the video if you'd like to play your air-clarinet with me.

Day 370: Whistle Like A Man

     Ok, it's been a couple of days since the resurrection of this project. I've had some time to get back into the groove and I was feeling good about myself. I say was because I remembered just how frustrating this project can be today. This project can be fun, or painful, embarrassing, downright maddening, and a mix of all of them depending on the day. Today was one of those days. I've been trying to stick with the free challenges as long as I can, but I also want to explore challenges that I will somehow benefit from somehow. With those two pieces of criteria established, it was only a matter of time before I came up with "learning how to whistle like a man" as an idea. If you're not sure what it means to whistle like a man, then I suggest you watch this handy how-to video. 

     Now that you've been briefed on how a pro whistles like a man, watch my attempts. I admit that they are astoundingly terrible, but hear me out. This little snippet of video was the result of over an hour of awful, slobbery, miserable attempts. I locked myself in the corner of my room and told myself I couldn't leave until I made a sound that resembled a whistle. Hate on it if you want, but that was really freaking hard. Oh, and Ryan learned it in like 2 minutes. What a chode.

Day 369: Scotch

     I'm all about getting cultured. Trying things to expand my pallet and my mind in hopes of becoming a more civilized gentleman or whatever. Scotch seemed like one of those things that would help me shoot into the stratosphere of classy stuff to try. I decided that it was my time to distance myself from crappy canned bear and the occasional White Russian, to something more mature. I inlisted the help of the a middle aged lady behind the cash register of a tiny liquor store to help me decide just how to introduce myself to this beverage. She said something along the lines of "Well, ummm" I waited for her to continue. "You get what you pay for with that stuff". Genius. I took her advice into consideration while browsing, but threw it out once I caught a glimpse of the prices. So I settled on the single cheapest bottle of scotch in hopes of appearing more prestigious than I actually am.    
     From there I poured a glass and threw in some stones (rich people talk for ice) and gave it a sip. Terrible. It looked like gasoline, smelled like sharpie, and tasted like whiskey filled mosquito bites. But it's not about flavor, its about class and pedigree!
     Here's the footage, straight from the horse's mouth!

Day 368: Frisbee Golf

     Call it Frisbee Golf, or disk golf, or frolf or whatever. Its that spot played by frat boys and dudes that go on that dumb The Chive website...Or so I thought. It's actually way more fun than I thought, even with an assortment of crappy, broken frisbees. Rather than bore you with words, I made a video of the fun outting for you to enjoy. Watch Mouse throw it everywhere but the hole (is it even called a hole? It's more like a cage, or metal dreadlocks on a pole). Hit me up, we'll play sometime!

Day 367: Prank Call

     Yeah I know that it's juvenile. And I also know that it was not the over the top kind of experience I would have chosen to do for my return to the project. But you see, I have a really god excuse. See...it was late, and I was already a couple episodes (epi's for short) in on some Netflix. The bed was super comfortable annnnnd yeeeahh. So if it isn't obvious, I should just let you know, it was super hard to find motivation to start this project. Ryan texted me, because he too agreed to try something new everyday. In fact, he's the reason why this thang is even happening...again. We had been talking about trying it for weeks now, and then (in the middle of my Netflix comatose) he texts me. He says that we should officially start the resolution and I (hesitantly and tiredly) agree.
     But here's the obvious problem, the night is getting late (and yes, 8:00 PM is now late by my standards) and my motivation is out on holiday. I didn't want to disappoint Ryan on my first day back, but I also didn't want to get up either. So after tossing some ideas around with Stef, we settle on something that I could do without even getting out of bed, prank call someone. Deciding who to call was the easiest part. Obviously we would prank call Ryan, that way he would know that I did something new, and I could also ask him if I was believable.
     The good news is that he didn't know it was me calling (from Stef's phone). The bad news is, I'm not sure if I was believable still. See, as the phone rang and I waited for him to pick up, I quickly crafted my character, but I probably should have spent some more time on it. I wanted to sound totally different from my normal self, so I tried to imitate the voice of an aggressive, loud mouthed thug named D-Harm. I even had a back story for him. See, D-Harm trying to reach his friend Trey, because Trey was supposed to pick D-Harm up from the bus stop a few hours ago. Then D goes into some inaudible rant about having some girl eyeballing him from across the street.
     Although I was rather proud of my character, Ryan didn't get to fully appreciate my art of prank calling. Apparently he was at a noisy gym when I called and couldn't hear any of D-Harm's threats. Ryan eventually hung up the phone, and D called back and left a lengthy voicemail message (that I'd like to post here if I can get a hold of it) for him.
     I don't think that I was the most believable, but it seemed like Stef thought it was funny, and it was sort of excited waiting as the phone rang. Not sure why I never did this at a more appropriate age...like 7.

Introduction Part Two

Hey! Hello there, remember me? ...It's me, Kyle...The kid that did all those strange thangs back in 2011. Look, I know that introductions can be awkward, and I can only assume that a re-introduction can be as well, so I'll keep it short for you. Back in last few days of 2010, I wasn't very happy with how things were in my life. They weren't terrible, but they certainly the way my imagination and pop culture had led me to believe it would be either. I assumed that I'd be living the adventurous life that they advertise through characters on T.V. I expected to sail exotic seas and travel the globe with nothing more than an Indiana Jones style wardrobe and a killer tan promptly after high school.
     Unfortunately, my high expectations were met with the devastating reality of what its actually like to be a 19 year old dish-washing college dropout. Fortunately for me though, I realized that my dreams of sailing with a tan just a few shades darker than a sweet potato would not happen over night. Rather, I knew that if I made it a daily priority to do something new (have a new experience, learn a new skill, try a challenge or whatever), then I would be inching myself closer and closer to the mindset and eventually, the lifestyle of the kind of Kyle I'd like to be. An adventurous, cultured, well traveled son of a gun. And then I'd work on the tan.
     So, for my New Year's Resolution for 2011, I challenged myself to try something new everyday. Annnnd, if you're a fan of the blog I kept the accounts for that year (I imagine you might be, cause this is the very same blog) you may remember some of the things I did. If you're not familiar, of you'd like to see what I look like without a beard, you can take a stroll down memory lane and read about some of the wildness that went on by scrolling down. My favorite memories are probably the Ghost Pepper Challenge, the time I Juggled Fire, or even I claimed Ownership of Jupiter's Moon IO. Good times man, gooooood timessss.
     To wrap things up, I had a great time doing this project. I met tons of people, explored places and things I never dreamed I'd see, and found out some things about myself that I otherwise would have been ignorant to. The project was so fun, that I (with a bit of convincing from a friend) have decided to reinstate my resolution to "try something new everyday." My friend Ryan (the one who did the convincing) is taking part of it as well. We've already done a couple challenges and I be sure to add them to the blog so ya'll can read about em. So yeah, be on the look out for some weirdness!

We're ready