The Second Anniversary: By the Numbers

So today is the second anniversary of this website, A RAMBLER'S RAMBLING.

Congratulations to me!

Well, I'm gonna go down the line and share the numbers that are important when it comes to this website and the continuation of this blog. Enjoy!


2 - - - Years of blogging I celebrate today

242 - - - Posts

242 - - - Different Titles (I consider this to be an accomplishment!)

24 - - - Titles that have contained explicit Alliteration

241 - - - Comments (Almost ONE per Post!!! Not bad. How about we get at least two on this one, though, huh?)

51 - - - Grab-Bag posts (Of any variety)

1 - - - Live Blog (for the 2007 Oscars - - )

4 - - - Parts to my Short Story (so far)

4 - - - Movie Preview Posts

1 - - - Spanish Titled Post

0 - - - Regrets about Blogging!


Enough about my blog. How have I changed in two years?


4 - - - Semesters of College I have completed

4 - -- Semesters of College I have remaining

4 - - - Jobs I have held (Johnny Carino's, the Surgery Center, BJ's, the Finish Line)

3 - - - Jobs I have quit (Always on good terms, though)

0 - - - Address Changes (Fingers crossed for "by the end of 2007")

100's - - - Movies I have watched (I can only assume)

2 - - - NBA seasons that have been completed

2 - - - NBA seasons that have left me depressed

4 - - - Suns/Lakers games I have attended

1 - - - Suns victory

Approximately 4000 - - - Dollars I have put towards my car loan

Approximately 5000 - - - Dollars I owe on my car loan

2 - - - Times I have been pulled over by a police officer

0 - - - Tickets I have received

1 - - - Girlfriend I have had; my wonderful Heather (Also an accomplishment)

3.5 - - - Years we have been together

Infinity - - - Times I have mentioned her in my blogs

- - - - - - - - - - - -

So what do these numbers mean? Not much. But it's a lot of fun to recall the last two years of my existence. I have seen lots of things, done many wrongs, made countless mistakes, and accomplished very much. The next two years are going to be more of the same with CSUN beginning next Friday (shh, don't remind me!) and the FL becoming better (because of the whole A.M. thing). Big things are in the future (the rest of this year will have several notable events, I promise) for me and because of this blog, you (yes, YOU!) can be a part of all of it.

And I hope you are.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

I will leave you with what I said two years ago (and also in last year's FIRST Anniversary post) because I find it to be the best way to close.

Thanks for reading as always!

"And so begins the blogging journal of yours truly, Master Justin Gott. Is one's life complete without the emergence of a blog in their life? Do people actually read these so-called "Web Logs"? Is this even gonna work or am I completely over my head in technical mumbo-jumbo? I don't even know, so we're gonna learn together. That's right. All four of you will read this.

Thanks for reading. Thank you. And Goodnight."

Until next time,

The Road to Nowhere: Part IV

For Part I, go here. For Part II, go here. For Part III, go here.

- - - - - - - - - - -

Suzanne was immediately interested in Jack. It hit her like a semi-truck. She was annoyed by his arrogance, but it somehow intrigued her. He was interesting, popular, and cool. And this guy could be hers.

They began chatting and the convo then moved to the dance floor. They each held a Miller Lite bottle (thanks to Jack - the fact that he was twenty-one made her knees a little weak actually) and held on to it tightly, almost as if the bottle they grasped contained their hopes for the remainder of the evening. Neither one was letting go.

The conversation spread across all the possible continents of the world of small talk. They discussed movies (for her, it was the sappy romantic ones like "The Notebook" or smart comedies like "Adaptation"; his favorite movie is "Dude, Where's My Car?"), music (she really went for anything with a good beat; Jack turned out to be a fan of whatever was popular at the time - he was one of those guys who jumped on every pop/rock bandwagon), and books (she always claimed to like all the contemporary brilliant minds over those ancient classic-writers, be it Nick Hornby instead of Shakespeare or taking Chuck Palahniuk over Dickens; Jack's eloquent response: "Fuck books."). She knew that these responses were not exactly what she looked for in a guy. That didn't matter when she caught his glance, and his baby blue eyes convinced her to keep dancing, talking, and most important of all, drinking. So she did.

At a table just ten feet away, Michael and Allison sat there quietly, not talking. Poor Allison had tried to get things going with those classic conversation starters ("So, where are you from?" and "What do you do?" being two examples), but it was to no avail. Michael was too busy putting beer after beer away while constantly staring at the budding romance in the center of the floor. Michael had never felt jealousy like this before. It was eating him up inside like some kind of animal. And he was doing everything he could to drown that animal with assorted adult beverages.

It was nearly ten o'clock, and Michael was about forty-five minutes passed buzzed. He looked away from the dance floor for just a second and noticed that Allison was no longer sitting across from him. He was in a crowded club, but he was completely alone. As he made his way back to the bar to pick up yet another thirst-quencher, he locked eyes with Jack, who was dancing behind a tipsy Suzanne (in that slow-then-quick, sex-with-clothes-on way). Jack winked at his pal and then proceeded to put his non-beer hand on Suzanne's hip.

It was at that exact moment that Michael cracked. He wasn't sure what he had expected when he invited Jack to specifically hit on Suzanne. All he knew was that it infuriated him to watch his best friend be treated like that by a complete asshole. The night was going to be defined by whatever Michael did next. He could either continue to the bar, drink his frustrations away, and not care what happened between Suzanne and Jack, or he could step in and politely ask Jack to back off from his best friend.

Michael chose Door Number Three.

The Road to Nowhere: Part III

I had a change of plans today. . . so here you go!

For Part I, go here. . . For Part II, go here

. . . . . .

Three Hours Earlier. . .

Michael's watch beeped twice, signaling that it was eight o'clock. He was in the middle of a line of people that wrapped around all of the stores that surrounded the oddly-located (it was an outdoor Outlet Mall for God's sake!) eighteen-and-over club called Remy's. The club still offered alcohol to patrons of the legal age, which was the only reason that Michael was even present. Standing next to him was his long-time friend Suzanne, fidgeting and biting her fingernails. They were planning on meeting some people there, including his new college buddy Jack (who had just turned twenty-one the day before), and one of Suzanne's co-workers named Allison.

The night was young and innocent, much like the dolled-up Suzanne, who had taken over an hour to prepare to go out this night. Sure, the nineteen-year-old ("Nineteen and two-thirds" she claims) had her fair share of experiences; it was just the comparison with her comrades that made her innocent. Despite what many said, Suzanne could be very pretty. However, even in her made-up state, she was lacking the most important accessory: self-confidence. Just an hour before, she had annoyed the hell out of Michael with countless questions about her appearance.

"I have tried on every shirt I own, goddammit! Which one looked the best?"

"Suzie, you looked fine in all of them. . . except for that pink one. It's just not you, pal."

"Ohh. . . . That was the one I was leaning towards." She began to sob, but just slightly. "Mike, I don't know. . ."

"Alright, well, I'm gonna head downstairs - come down when you're ready. But trust me on this one - don't wear the pink one."

Now the line was moving. They had a good chance of making it into the club that night. As they got closer, they could hear the sound of music blaring. Michael looked down at his friend and prepared to make some joke about it being fine if he went deaf, seeing as he wasn't married. In that split-second, he noticed a hint of pink under Suzanne's jacket. Now normally he wouldn't make a big deal about a little thing like a shirt, but tonight was his friend's chance of ending her loneliness streak. She was in the midst of a substantial sexual dry spell. It was Michael's idea to bring her and a co-worker out on this Friday night to get her some much-needed action. He figured that the combination of a club-setting, a friendly face in Allison, and a nice outfit might make Suzanne more likely to engage in some sort of intimate behavior. He was merely looking out for his recently-depressed friend, (so he told himself) as he began to criticize her wardrobe decision.

"What's with the pink? Do you pay attention to me at all?"

"I knew you were thinking about that - just drop it. We're in public, now."

"Yes we are. And that's why I'm worried. You can't possibly believe that you look that good in a pink tank top and blue jeans. . . this is a club, Suzie! What is wrong with you? How are you going to attract anything that breathes in that outfit?"

"Where do you get o-"

They entered Remy's and Suzanne's rebuke would have to wait. Swarming with young people (and the occasional forty-five year-old man wearing a Members Only jacket), the place was hopping as usual. In the distance, they saw some tables with assorted objects holding places on them. As they walked through the dancing crowds, Michael thought about the worth of some of those placeholders - Coach purses, most notably - and why girls required such expensive wallets. Regardless of their monetary status, the two of them began to migrate towards an empty table about ten feet from the main dance floor.

Coincidentally, as they began to drop their stuff on the table, Jack and Allison both approached. Jack was almost the same height as Michael but wore his hair short at all times (only Michael could pull off the long hair). He had been raised by a single mother who was attentive to a fault. She even went as far as picking out his clothes for him and laying them out on his bed. Beyond that, anything that he wanted, well, he usually got it. This included women. Jack was a "ladies man" just long enough to get what he desired and then he magically turned into a douchebag. He was that stereotypical twenty-something college student - there are actually more of them than one could guess.

And unbeknownst to Michael, Jack had his eye on Suzanne. . .

A Busy, Busy Bee

Hmmmm. . . . .

Anyway, the reason that I have not blogged in a week is because today is my first day off since last Friday. I closed at the FL on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and I opened yesterday.

I worked 36 hours over those five days (great hours!) and my desire to type out some sort of update, story (I know, I know - - Part III is coming soon I swear!), or anything like that has been severely limited.

Sorry.

Now I'm going to hang out with Romique this afternoon and then I'm heading to Pomona tonight with Chels. We are then heading down to their dad's place on Saturday and then it's all the way back home since both Chels and I have to work on Sunday.

Busy weekend, yes?

Yeah, well, it's August now (are you kidding me!) and that means school begins in just three weeks. . . Dammit! Why?!?!?!?!

Well anyway, I just wanted to keep in touch, so to speak. Things are good even though they are busy - I guess that is because I don't know any other way. . .

O yeah - and go see THE SIMPSONS MOVIE. Even if you are not a fan of the series, it is essentially eighty-some minutes straight of laughing. Good times. . .

So have a good weekend all - - -

Until later -