One of my most eventful, life-changing years ever, oversimplified and condensed into a list!

January:
First day of 2007, I shaved off most of my hair and made a lovely music video about it.

I helped JF save the world by making websites and flash animations about stick figures trying to jump from one symbolic triangle to another

I began my final quarter as a college student.

There was a lovely snow storm (enough snow for pictures, but not so much as the huge storm that we had after the Thanksgiving Break)

My illustrations for “The Hairy Ape” were published in an online Eugene O’Neill magazine.

I used my amazing dance skills to win a bottle of sparkling cider in a dance contest.

I made a new website about clowns.

I increased my amazing photoshop skills.

I went to a party and had so much to drink that I got sick, for the first time ever.

I founded “Short Change,” the organization dedicated to the advancement of People of Below Average Height, after discovering that in order to audition for the role of Wolverine at Universal Studios, you must be 6′2″ even though the character of Wolverine is only supposed to be 5′3″.

February:
I made a bunch of “Raising Hell” Valentines for Valentine’s Day.

I went to the library and got a large pile of my favorite books from when I was a kid, and then I read them.

I began to figure out where I wanted to move post-graduation. Austin, TX rose to the top spot not long after.

I bought an Awesome Recording Studio online and decided to use it to record an Old Time Radio play for my senior project.

I wrote the best book ever, “101 Greatest Poop Jokes.”

I worked the light board and headed the change-over crew for “Trial of God” and “History of the Devil”

March:
I produced the radio play “Darryll Hall’s Thoughts” by Arch Obler for my senior project.

I tried to make the most of my last month in Bellingham, exploring places I had not gotten to, and spending time with people I wish I had spent more time with while I had the chance.

I learned how to tie my shoes.

I graduated from Western Washington University with a BA in Theater, emphasis on acting and writing.

April:
I crafted an elaborate April Fools Day Ruse to trick people into thinking that I was getting married.

I started working with JF again, to further save the world with by contacting alien forces, and selling people used office furniture.

I crammed everything I could into two suitcases, and flew to Austin, TX.

I started to get settled into my first real apartment (not counting campus housing), and getting settled into my new surroundings.

Once I had the internet up and working, I started working full time on JF’s websites. When I wasn’t working, I was exploring Austin.

I made a new website for Blue Chair Entertainment

I attempted to rid my apartment of ants (a battle that continues to this day).

I discovered that in these parts, 99 Cent Day at the Savers is Serious Business, and much strategy is needed if you want to get anything good.

I wrote the fourth episode of Legends of Hogwarts, “Harry Potter and the Copyright Infringement”

I started going to open mic nights at the Velveeta Room Comedy Club downtown.

I began singing with the Austin Chord Rangers Barbershop Chorus.

May:
I met Jon “Uncle Rico” Gries after seeing Napoleon Dynamite at the Alamo Drafthouse Theater.

I saw Dan Bern in concert, and it was great. At the concert, I met Hillary, who would then go on to play Hermione in the cartoon version of “Harry Potter and the Copyright Infringement.”

I went to local Austin coffee place ‘The Spiderhouse,’ and met Lila, who would later go on to be my girlfriend for a while.

I bought an eight pound ham, and while I was unable to eat it all, I did write a lovely poem about it.

My computer was taken down by a virus, and I had to spend around $1100 to get the data recovered. While that was going on, I bought a new computer so that I could continue working while the other computer was in the shop.

I competed in the O. Henry Pun-Off. While the audience liked my puns, apparently the judges did not.

I recorded two song parodies - “I’m Too Elderly for my Shirt” and “I Get a Kick out of Me”

I started officially going out with Lila.

June:
My job situation suddenly seemed much more precarious than I had thought it was, and my stress level rose a great deal.

I made another new website, “The Star Times.”

I finished the cartoon version of Harry Potter and the Copyright Infringement”

I got to see a great deal of Austin and tried all kinds of new things with Lila, but at the end of the month I called it all off because I thought things were far too serious too fast.

July:

I read the entire Harry Potter series as a warm up to “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”

I went to the Austin 4th of July Fireworks show and met Meghan and Sharrone, who would go on to be the people I spend most of my time with nowadays.

I went to see the new Harry Potter with Lila, as we were friendly again.

I finished the Cosmic Contact site so that everyone on Earth will realize we need to ask the aliens for help in saving the world.

A few hours after finishing the website, I flew to London, England.

August:
I spent three weeks traveling around England, Scotland, and Wales with my Grandpa Jones.

When I got back from the UK, I quit my job as JF’s webguy.

With my new unemployed free time, I took more time to explore Austin, as while I was working for him I didn’t get to do as much of that sort of thing as I wanted.

I decided to call off my “two years here then move to another new city” plan, as I realized that was a really terrible idea.

September:
After meeting a man at a bus stop who told me about his life, I realized that I was Doing It Wrong, and I started to take a long hard look at what I wanted out of life, and how I ought to go about it.

I tried out for Esther’s Follies, and was called back. Over three months later, I’m still trying to actually join the cast.

I sang with the Chord Rangers at their fall show - the first time I’d actually been in a barbershop concert since i first started with the Harmony Kings in high school.

I set up a blue screen in my studio/office and started playing around with special effects.

October:
I used my new video capabilities to start a new series on youtube: “Nathaniel Jones in the 23rd Century”

I continued to enjoy Austin with my copious amounts of free time, and I get to see Aqueduct in concert with Red Before Black, who I have just re-discovered thanks to their having an album on emusic.

I went to the SPEBSQSA SW District Fall 2007 Convention in Corpus Christi (that’s a barbershop convention, in case you didn’t follow all those abbreviations) and had a grand time

I made a Winnie Ther Pooh puppet out of a giant teddy bear to use as my Halloween costume.

I wore my bear to the Do512.com Halloween Party, and to a house party thrown by Ashley, a friend of Meghan and Sharrone.

While waiting on a real job, I tried to strike it rich by posting articles and videos to Associated Content - I ended up making over $30, but unfortunately that’s not nearly enough to make it worth my while to submit things to the site full time, so the job hunt continued.

November:
I finally gave in and started applying at retail stores and restaurants in my area, as my funds were dangerously low. After a few interviews, I was hired at ‘Where “I” Work’ (a large toy store with a prominantly displayed backwards letter in the middle), and I was to begin as soon as I got back from my Thanksgiving trip to Seattle.

I went to see the Upright Citizen’s Brigade when they performed at the Alamo.

I made a barbershop arrangement of the song “Happy Happy Joy Joy”

I spent about two weeks in Federal Way, starting out with my dad’s oridination as a deacon, and staying through Thanksgiving. While there, we all spent some time in Seattle, went to the Pike Place Market and the Space Needle, and I spent an afternoon in Bellingham (not enough time to see those that I was especially wanting to see while in town). Also spent a good deal of time cleaning up my bedroom, dividing my things into piles to either keep or donate to charity.

I turned 24, and for my birthday I went with a group up to see “Showgirls 2.0,” a showing of the movie Showgirls with humorous commentary.

December:
I decorated my apartment for Christmas, and got my first Christmas Tree (first one on my own, I should say).

I sang in a handful of Christmas Concerts with the Austin Chord Rangers.

I spent a weekend afraid that I was going to be evicted from my apartment because I was late with the rent. Turns out, it was all a misunderstanding, and my apartment is safe.

I went to M&S’s lovely Yulikah Party.

I made a new youtube video of very low quality called “Mr. Muggles and Mose”

I worked at Where “I” Work almost every day, and discovered I have amazing credit-card-sign-up skills.

I went to Austin Improv’s open improv night and enjoyed being able to perform again.

I did all of my christmas shopping and shipped everything off.

I enjoyed the Christmas decorations downtown, and went to the Trail of Lights with Heather, who I have just met.

I went to a pre-christmas dinner with those of the Usual Gang that would be away from Austin for Christmas.

After much anticipation, I went to see the movie version of Sweeney Todd.

Since I had to work on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas, I was unable to fly home. So, on the Saturday before Christmas, I had a small get-together and white elephant gift exchange, and on Christmas Day I joined M&S for their traditional Jewish Christmas - we went out for Chinese food and to a movie. And after the movie, I had a date with Heather. Definitely not my usual christmas, and I was a bit sad to be away from the family for christmas for the first time ever, but I enjoyed it none-the-less.

As of this moment, I have no plans for New Years Eve, so the ending of this Year in Review will have to be put off until I actually now how the year will end.

Until then, here’s an adeau to 2007, and a warm welcome to 2008!

(quoting George Michael from ‘Arrested Development’)

Fun and sexy time indeed as Christmas fast approaches in Austin, TX.

As we get nearer the day, Where “I” Work is becoming more hectic and insanity, as people are becoming desperate for the Must Have Toys which we sell out of moments after opening the doors. And to make matters more hectic, every few days Where “I” Work puts out a new ad with great Door Buster Deals, and of course we only have a handful of those half off items, so for the rest of the day people are upset, as it’s impossible that we would sell out of an item when there’s still a whole day worth of sale left.

Today there was an interesting fellow that came through my checkout line - a very stereotypical older Texan man and his wife brought up five small dog figures, saying that there was a sign that if you bought the whole set, it would cost $10.99. However, they rang up regular price (which for the five came out to $13. He was very adamant about getting those two dollars off, so I called on radio for a price check, but nobody could find any such sign.

In addition to this, what the fellow was calling a set was actually two of one type of dog, and three of another type. To be clear, there were only two different figures, but he had multiples of each one. This, to me, would not be considered a “set,” so even if there had been a deal on the set, he wouldn’t have been eligible. But he was refusing to budge until he had gotten those five dogs for ten-ninety-nine (say that with a thick Texan accent).

So I called my manager over, and he then called one of the guys that was working in the Imaginarium section over, and for at least ten minutes, there were three of us there at the register, with this guy demanding the discount, saying he would go to the Better Business Bureau and all kinds of things. After the ordeal, he decided he would just pay the full price and then write to the company to complain. So I finished ringing up the dogs, and just before he left, he said “Don’t worry - I’m not mad at you” and winked at me.

That was probably the most entertaining twenty minutes of work I’ve had so far since I’ve worked there. In case it doesn’t seem hilarious as you read the anecdote, you can just imagine that the actual event was far more entertaining in person.

In non-work related news, I had two days off in a row this week, and made good use of them. Tuesday (which was not actually a day off, but I consider after work on Tuesday part of that mid-week weekend) I did a bit of Christmas shopping (I won’t say what I bought, as it would spoil the surprise for those family members that read this), and that night I went to Austin Improv’s open Tuesday night deal (which I had not been to in the past because the Chord Rangers rehearse at the same time). The first two hours were class-like, talking about various ideas and playing improv games to demonstrate those ideas, and that was quite fun, but the best bit was the second half, when it was a mock show, in which we just got up and played improv games. There were some that I knew (freeze tag, 185’s, beastie boys, pan left/pan right, experts, etc) and some new ones (I don’t remember the names of the new ones, but they were good to add to my repertoire of improv games I know).

Wednesday (the first actual day off) was the biggest shopping day, and except for one thing that I had to go back and buy on Thursday, I finished my Christmas shopping. Not only did I get actual presents, I also got a nice pile of White Elephant-style gifts for the Christmas Party I’m throwing tomorrow evening (for those of you in Austin). I won’t list these items, either, but I can assure you they are amongst the best white elephant things I’ve seen.

Wednesday night I went to the Trail of Lights with Heather (another girl from the internet, who I met for the first time that night). The Trail of Lights is a walk-through path through Zilker park, with many christmas lights up on the trees, plus a wide variety of displays sponsored by area businesses. Unfortunately we were there just before they closed down for the night, so there wasn’t any live music, and some of the lights were off (the giant tree was only lit on one side, so I couldn’t get the full effect of standing underneath it and spinning around, as is apparently the custom).

Thursday I picked up the last present, and shipped everything off (apparently I shouldn’t have waited so long to shop/ship - I sent them with UPS’ “Guaranteed Arrival by Christmas” deal, and the shipping cost more than the presents. Oh well. The good news is that my family will have presents from me for Christmas.

And Thursday night I went out with the usual gang to a burger place that none of us had been to for a pre-christmas dinner, as Mauricio is leaving to go home for Christmas and won’t be back till January. After that I took the bus straight home rather than going over to play Rock Band, as I had to go to work today at 7am.

And I did go to work at 7am today. And I did indeed have an old man demand a discount price on little plastic dogs. And I started cleaning for my Christmas Party (though there will be much to do tomorrow as well), and now I’m going to bed. Long day ahead tomorrow - working eight hours in the busiest portion of the day (12:30-7pm), on a Saturday, on which we are having a Door Buster Sale. Wish me luck, y’all.

Also, I forgot to mention, after months of waiting, I went to see Sweeney Todd tonight. In preparation for it, I dressed up and made myself a photoshop picture of me dressed as Sweeney:

(if it looks similar to the picture of me as Macbeth, that’s because it’s the same exact costume, just with a different hair style).

Definitely worth seeing, although it didn’t quite live up to my expectations.

It’s after 2am, and I just got back from Where “I” Work a little bit ago, and I have to go back at 8am tomorrow, so rather than spend writing a post, here’s “Mr Muggles and Mose,” with the description from the youtube page.

“As the WGA strike drags on, the television studios are becoming desperate - with no new episodes being produced, they’re losing valuable advertising revenue, and this makes the executives sad.

Since they are unwilling to give in to the writers, they are now being forced to create their own programs, write their own dialogue, and then read the lines while moving puppet versions of the actors about.

This experimental pilot for a spin-off series featuring Dwight’s cousin Mose from ‘The Office’ and the Bennett Family dog Mr. Muggles, from ‘Heroes,’ is the result of their desperation.

Please, executives, give in to the writers! Don’t make us endure another of these dreadful episodes!”

Hey look, my Christmas tree is new-and-improved! Even Ed Grimley thinks so!

“Totally decent tree, I must say!”

… wait, what was that third one? It’s called a tease, and you won’t get the details until later in the post! oo, the suspense!

As of tomorrow, I’ve been working at Where “I” Work for two weeks, and what a pair of weeks it has been. The first weekend was totally insane, as I didn’t get any sort of training, other than a quick walk around the store (”here are the dolls, here’s the baby stuff, there’s imaginarium, there’s action, there’s r zone”) before being told to just walk around the floor and help people.

So, people would come up and say “I’m trying to find the this-and-this” and I would take a guess at which sort of area that might be in, and then walk around that area hoping to see this-and-this on the shelf.

And actually, that’s still what I do quite a bit of the time, although I am getting quite familiar with the action / imaginarium sections. Luckily, I’ve been able to work the register most days (which I greatly prefer to walking the floor), and I’ve discovered that apparently I have great credit card selling abilities, and can often sign up more people in a day than those that have worked there for years. In fact, I’m so good at it that I was able to talk the manager into setting up a reward system, so that now I get an extra dollar for everyone I sign up, whereas before nobody got any sort of reward. Oo-rah for me!

Outside of Where “I” Work, I’ve been getting into the christmas spirit, having sung in four christmas concerts with the Austin Chord Rangers (one big concert in a fancy church, one inside the Capital Building (where I had never been before), and two at nursing homes). I’ve also been able to try out two new restaurants - after the capital concert, we all went to the Spaghetti Warehouse (similar to Old Spaghetti Factory), and after the nursing home concerts we all went to Posados Cafe, a big Mexican restaurant covered in neon lights.

That one was quite a good deal - I ordered a bowl of tortilla soup and a sprite, had some chips and salsa before that was brought out, and at the end they gave everyone sopapillas (fried dough with cinnamon sugar, with butter and honey on the side) and I could have had ice cream, too, but I was not that hungry. It was an especially good deal when I looked at the bill and saw that they only thing they charged for was the soup - apparently drinks and chips and desserts are all included. Wadda deal!

But things have not been all christmas-and-delicious - last week I had a Mighty Scare! Rather than dropping my rent check off in the overnight mail slot, I wanted to drop it off in person to invite the office ladies to the Christmas Concert, and kept showing up when the office was closed (even when I tried going during normal office hours).

As a result, I was late on paying. But, I figured that there was no huge rush - I would have to pay a late fee, and that would be that. However, upon arriving home from work last Friday, I discovered a letter telling me that since I was late in payment, my contract had been terminated.

According to the letter, I had to vacate the premises by midnight on the following Monday, and if I didn’t I would be forced out at my expense, and that “this notice to vacate is unconditional.”

This letter promptly destroyed my otherwise lovely day (I was pleased with myself on my way home from work, as I had sold five credit cards that day), and I fell into a panic, frantically calling every phone number I could find trying to reach the company, e-mailing every address I could find, and searching the internet for any other way of contacting them (I found one person that listed the property company as their employer on facebook, so I wrote to her as well asking for advice). Since it was the weekend, the office was closed, and nobody returned my calls or e-mails, except for the one on facebook, who told me that I would probably be able to stay in the apartment until my court date, which would give me a bit more time.

So that weekend I went through in my head trying to figure out how I could survive this, and getting upset with the people in the office (just a couple days before, I had passed one of the women in the office as she was leaving for the day and she had just smiled and waved, rather than stopping to say “just to warn you, you’ll be evicted if you don’t pay up by friday”). Other than facebook, nobody from the company contacted me until Monday.

So on Monday after work I took my rent payment and the $65 dollar late fee to the office, and Nikki was very apologetic, and said that it had all been a misunderstanding, that I wasn’t being evicted, and all of the scary things in the letter oughtn’t have been there (that’s the letter I should have gotten if I had continued to not pay or something? I’m still not clear on that), and so my credit is fine, and there’s no blemish on my renters history or anything, and except for the late fee (which she had tried to have removed, but was unable to do so), nothing bad came of it. But, it did pretty much ruin my weekend, and stressed me out to a Grand Degree. But on the plus side,  I now have an exciting story to tell.

Actually, I say that it ruined my weekend, but it did have several very nice redeeming qualities - in addition to the capital concert and pasta feast, that Saturday was also Meghan and Sharrone’s Yulika Party, and that was a grand time; holiday-themed party games (”pin the robe on Jesus”), lots of fun people, and much merriment to be had. Apparently there was also some Big Excitement, as at some point there was a big fight that left Sharrone pretty badly bruised, but I completely missed that, and didn’t find out about it till the morning (I slept on the couch, as nobody was anywhere close to sober enough to drive anywhere). The next morning we all played Guitar Hero III for many hours, had big breakfast burritos, and went to see The Golden Compass (I enjoyed the movie, although perhaps not quite enough to make me want to go pick up the book series to find out what happens next). That Sunday was also nice, because it was the first day off I had had in a while.

I’ve been nagging the manager in charge of scheduling to find out what the schedule will be the week of Christmas, but she hasn’t told me yet. The people that are only going to be working for the season are finished on the 23rd, but as I’m trying to be kept on post-christmas, I won’t know what’s going on until they tell me. Updates will hopefully be here shortly.

In the meantime, I’m enjoying sitting in front of my christmas tree enjoying Christmas treats (today I got some chex mix and chocolate-covered chex mix in with my Christmas present from Scott - the first present under my christmas tree, though I may wrap up some of the things I’ve bought myself lately (Ed Grimley, and a planetarium / 3d space projector set that turned out far less impressive than the picture on the box led me to believe). I’m also well stocked on hot apple cider and hot cocoa mix, eggnog, and other tasties. Hoping your christmas season is as delicious as mine is, I’ll leave you with these words:

Would you like to apply for a Where “I” Work rewards card to get 15% off of your purchase today? Great!

I may be a blockhead, but I did get a nice tree.

I put a string of lights on it, but discovered after taking them out of the box that the string of lights is the same length as the tree, so for now they’re just in a zig-zag pattern on the front.

I posted almost an hour ago, and am now posting again - a few minutes BEFORE I posted that last one! Great scott! This is heavy!

Now I’m going to bed so that I don’t accidentally run into myself from the earlier time.