Since June 8th I’ve been running around fifteen or more miles a week. During this time I’ve dramatically cut down on my drinking, going from drinking four times a week to just twice in the last two months. Surprisingly, it’s been much, much easier than I thought it would be. I was talking to my friends Christine and Brandy last night and I think I came to a pseudo conclusion as to why I’ve gotten so into running so easily.
It’s a lot like drinking.
At least right now. You see, I haven’t grown to love the long runs where my calves burn and my head and neck feel heavy- I think I will, but it’s gonna take time. What does motivate me, is the euphoric feeling I get when I reach the door to my apartment after a hard run. And in a way, going on a run is like taking a shot.
Before you take a shot, you are aware it won’t be easy. You have a sinking feeling in your stomach that you may not be able to do it, but you know you’ll feel like a pussy if you don’t, so you go for it. The beginning is the worst. Everything starts to sting, and you wonder why you’re even doing it in the first place. Just as you feel like you want to give up though, you hit the middle of the shot, and you realize it’s not so bad, you’re halfway there. You can do this. But then, the end is almost as hard as the beginning, you start to think “God, is this a regulation shot? This is lasting longer than I anticipated.” You want to slow down, you want to stop early, but you’re motivated by having the bottom of the glass in sight, so you give it one final push. You’re done.
The feeling now, even though it’s leaving a terrible taste in your mouth, your stomach hurts and your throat burns. You have that feeling of accomplishment, you’re working towards a goal of getting fucked up. And you’ve just taken a giant step in the right direction. You feel dizzy, a little sick, but you feel good. Proud.
And that’s how I feel after I run. I’m pumped that my will power and determination is going into something that’s not actually hurting my body and driving me to text my entire contact list at 3 AM. I almost just ended this by typing, “I hope I can keep this up.” But that would have been stupid, I know I can.
This new CHTV Video is especially cool to me since Amir and I are the writers behind it. Being part of videos in the past, I already know the insane amount of work that went into this from the production standpoint so I won’t gush over the whole CHTV team- other than to say that they’re insanely good at their jobs.
A cool little Easter Egg about this video: I named the main character Micah after my little brother. Even more insidery Easter Egg: The other characters in the script were named after two of his friends, Austin and Parker, although their names never had to be said out loud.
And not trying to drop any hints, here’s a link to it on Digg.
My sister Sarah took this picture of me at home yesterday in Connecticut. When she first took it she said, “Oh no! You stood up and I cut off the top of your head.” But that’s the exact reason I like this picture so much.
The outtakes I posted below are from this Hardly Working! I really like this one, for all of the obvious reasons. But also for some less obvious ones. Firstly, because I got to do a lot of background acting. One of my favorite things is to make subtle jokes that are rewarding only really when you watch a video for a 3rd or 4th time. I thought it’d be really funny to be super nonchalant as each of my fellow coworkers gets terrorized. Behind the real action, see if you can find me 1.) Looking at my phone. 2) Chugging a bottle of Green Tea and 3.) Stretching my shoulders. There’s also a great shot of Dan crying during Pat and J-Mike’s couch shot.
The other reason I love this video is because it features John Zanussi and Andrew Pile, two programmers who don’t usually get to step in front of the camera. They each did an awesome job. Obviously.
Amir took some footage as we shot our latest Hardly Woring, which should debut today or tomorrow. I’ve always been really terrible at keeping a straight face while we shoot anything. And considering how long it usually takes, this wasn’t too bad.
I like posting Hardly Working behind the scenes stuff because it shows how much fun they are to make. And I think that’s part of the appeal of the HW videos. Aside from hopefully being funny, I think people like them because we’re all clearly having so much making them.
If you couldn’t make it to the CH live show last night there are a bunch of pictures on flickr to tide you over until we can release the videos. It was a really awesome night, this picture is one of my favorites.
This video is hilarious. It was done by some of the guys over at vimeo on the other side of the office- specifically Casey Donahue and Blake Whitman. It reminds me a lot of the kind of absurd humor we usually enjoy putting into a Hardly Working.
I love it because these guys, despite working for a completely different website, are a lot like us at CH. At the end of the day, we’re all a bunch of immature 20 year olds with expensive video cameras. Break out performance by Sean Nelson.
A little context in regards to my post below this one. A bunch of the CH edit staff and I went up to 34th St. where our production team- and more specifically, Sam Reich, were shooting a video. Today is Sam’s birthday so we were all there to surprise him, give him a bunch of flowers, and sing Happy Birthday.
They were shooting in a big office building and it was mostly empty. After the whole birthday thing was over we were all kind of wandering around. Jeff poked his head into a room, and not wanting to miss an opportunity to mess with him, I shoved him inside and slammed the door behind us, making it seem like I brought him in there to beat him mercilessly while no one could come to his rescue. (This chain of thought may have had something to do with seeing The Dark Knight this weekend.)
Either way, after the joke was over, we tried to get out and the door wouldn’t open. We knocked and called out for help. I could hear Amir laughing on the other side of the door when I said we were locked in. He started jiggling the handle. “It’s locked here too!” I knew he was being a dick, but fortunately there was another door, a sliding one with a porthole in it. I walked over and pulled. Nothing. This one was bolted shut. I walked back over to the first door to wait for Amir’s joke to get old.
Then I heard Taco’s voice. His voice sounded more honest, “I think it’s actually locked.” More jiggling of the handle, this time harder. Amir’s voice again, laughing, “Oh my God, it’s really locked?” Harder laughing.
It seemed fitting that the other door had a window on it. It allowed every person we came up there with, and people who were already on the shoot, to come mock us for our stupidity. Even the maintenance guy who had to come let us out fucked with us, saying we had to wait for a welder to come, and that we might run out of oxygen.
All in all we were maybe in there for 15 to 20 minutes. It felt longer. Being honest though, I don’t think I learned any lesson. Given the same opportunity I think I’d still like to make the “I’m going to beat the shit out of you in an empty room and no one can stop me joke.” I think that’s how I know I’m in the right line of work.
Jeff Rosenberg and I are currently locked in this room.
I was in the bathroom yesterday with one of my coworkers, J-Mo. We peed at the urinals side by side, and afterwards J-Mo remarked on the way I wash my hands.
“You’re a rinser too?” He said.
J-Mo, like me, doesn’t feel the need to really scrub your hands down with soap after peeing. We discussed the matter further. My theory is that in the shower I am probably the most thorough when washing my crotch. J-Mo also pointed out that it’s under two layers of clothing all day.
“Your hands are what’s dirty. You should wash your dick after you take a piss.”
While admittedly vulgar, he has a point.
