Blog of Josh Hall

Wee!  So, Trip is all set now.  Leaving pittsburgh may 16th headed for a quick stop in new york then over to rome.  Then, first class to london on wednesday may 23rd.  Back to rome on the 25th, then back to the states on saturday, the 26th.  Work is paying for my room & board while in london and i’ll get to meet everyone there in London.  Good times!  I ended up redeeming my credit card points to help with the flight to london, so that was pretty cool too.  Hopefully the whole trip will go on without problems.  So many of us going, all never having been there, depending on keren, trying to organize events and such.  I’ll admit, i’m a little worried.

Things with Rachel continue to go well.  Hung out with her family at her cousin’s wedding on saturday.  The reception was at the Carnegie museum inside the hall of architecture.  really classy!  lots of statues and columns and stuff around the room.  Acoustics left something to be desired, but still a cool event.  We do a lot of social activities, like with other people, but we don’t do too much just the two of us.  It has it’s a good thing and a bad thing, but i’ve told her that i want to have some date nights too.  Relationship builders for the win!

lots of city news going on.  Pittsburgh was rated most livable city.  In response to Pittsburgh having the 2nd highest population drop (1st was post-Katrina New Orleans)  Mayor Luke Ravenstaul (27 years old) announced the Propel Pittsburgh Commission, a group of 37 people, from ages 20-34, who will meet and talk about what they wantlikedislike in the city.  I threw in my application.  Hopefully I’ll hear something back soon!  I would really like to get more involved in the city, and the Hill District.  In unrelated city news, Pittsburgh eats more ho-hos than any other city.

Roommates are going well. Alex is cool.  I have someone coming in for may 5th-25th, and then from june 1st – august 6th.  Deirdre will probably move in shortly after that and then we’ll see where we can go.  I’ll admit, i’ve had good luck with finding people and such on craigslist.  hopefully i’ll be continued to be blessed there.

no more word on the merger yet.  2 summer classes, starting while i’ll be in london…oh well.  Dallas is coming back from Vegas, and flights were too expensive to go down to see him a second time.  bummer.  new songs recorded and posted.  estate is finally closed!  lots of stuff to do with figuring out how to pay for it now though.  We gotta start cutting the grass too, and the tractor is broken.  Bleh.  I’m a city boy, not a farmer! 

took me long enough.  I kept trying to force myself to record 2 songs, and i couldnt do it and i couldnt find the motivation.  so i realized, "eff it" just record the things that want to be recorded.  I ended up recording "we’re going out" in an hour or two, and it shows, but it’s better than nothing.

http://myspace.com/joshuadavidhall

there’s major construction on the road i take home from work.  When i’m really tired, and i can tell it’s going to be at least 90 minutes to get home based on where traffic is backed up, I’ll pull into walmart parking lot and sleep.  This is what I did today.  Sometimes I sleep laying down across the bench of the truck, sometimes just reclining back in my chair, and today, I slept sitting as if i were driving, but laying over the middle console to my right.

In my dream, there was a lot going on before this moment.  But this moment, is the only thing that is worth talking about.  Really, it has nothing to do with the earlier parts of the dreams, the only thing in connection is the segway from what was going on previously.  That is, me and Sandra Bullock are trying to get away from something or someone.
   
    we’re in a college building of sorts, we were running down a hallway of sorts and back into what seemed to be a lab room with high counters and wood cabinets.  when we get in there, we seem to have evaded what was chasing us for a second, and I look up at the cabinet, and there’s this notebook pinned up against it.  On it, is really large sloppy writing, in what appears to be a child’s hand writing.  It says my name.  There’s something else on there, but I can’t make it out.  It’s familiar.  There was another mutual friend with us, and I look at him and I think it’s his, and I say, "what is this?  why do you have this?"  and i’m getting the sense that he’s kept this a secret from me, as if, this is something really important that I should have known about, or that he should have wanted to tell me about.  Sandra Bullock looks at it now, and she’s remembering a little bit about it now too.  It’s her writing.  We start to remember it was written a few years ago, when we first met back in college.  I ask her how old she is and she says 23, and I say I’m 24, and I said that I took a year off before going to college, and that this must have been from our freshmen year together in college.  And that I start getting hit with this intense memory of a relationship that was so amazing with this girl that was so amazing in my freshmen year.  For some reason, i remember having this great relationship, but no details at all about the girl.  I’m starting to realize it’s Sandra.  She’s having the same intense memories come back.  She fumbles around on the counter for something to write with and she grabs an automatic pencil that’s not writing well, she’s starting to get frantic to write something down, as if she is going to forget what she’s thinking forever if she doesn’t write it down.  I’m starting to get faint and light headed from the overwhelming rush of memories.  I’m trying to stay focused and i find a sharpie on the counter, and i’m urgently trying to help her write it down and make sure she gets it all, and i’m saying over and over "use the sharpie", and she’s leaning over, writing on the notepad on her knees rapidly, trying to get it all down, and i’m slowly losing consciousness.  She starts yelling to me as she writes, "Wait Josh! Wait!, Hold on!" and i start to lean across her back, still mumbling something about making sure she writes it down using the sharpie, all this time the intense memories keep rushing.

Then, I wake up.  But my eyes are still closed and i don’t move at all.  But i notice I’m breathing heavily.  Short deep breaths.  Then, I notice that i’m really crying.  not just sniffling crying, but nostril flaring, deep crying.  I pull myself together quickly.   I slowly sit up right, and my left hand is partially numb.  Which is weird, because the way i was laying, i’m not seeing how circulation was cut off to it.  What the heck was that?

They say New York is the city that never sleeps.  There’s always somewhere to go and something to do no matter what time of day (or night) it is.  I believe this to be because new york has so many people living in it, and so many people on different work/sleep/life cycles that business and such can justify staying open so late.  Here in pittsburgh, dowtown shops and restaurants are closed by 6pm.  When i was in vegas, that city never sleeps either.  you can go anywhere anytime of night and gamble and drink.  There are a lot of people there too.   So, as a city become more and more populated, it starts adjusting it’s own day life to fit the needs of it’s inhabitants.  Now, think of it on a national scale instead of just with a city.  You have places like wendy’s leaving their drive thru window open until 1am, and some mcdonald’s staying open 24 hours a day, and you have walmart open 24 hours a day.  These are fairly new business schedules.  Is that because the nation is becoming populated enough that it can support the store being open those times?  Maybe that mixed in with business’ wanting to meet a higher demand for alternative lifestyles?  Perhaps more and more people are working different hours instead of the 9-5.  If this trend continues, I’m seeing movie theaters being open 24/7, malls open 24/7, and anything else you can think of.  And as society makes it easier and easier for people to live alternative schedules, perhaps you’ll have people, like myself, being less inclined to be awake during the day, to function as "normal people" do.  Maybe one day, the night crew will be so many, that there truly will be a nation of night crawlers and day walkers.  Completely separate in culture, thinking, social constructs, and skin tone.  What happens to a nation that doesn’t sleep?

So, one of my life long goals is to build a house that i design.  I have a bunch of weird/unique ideas that i’d like to incoporate into the house, so i thought i’d post some of them here when i get them.  Welcome the house category.  One day, i’ll get some sketches down/scanned and show you what i’m thinking about.  A textual description will have to do for now.

I would like it to be 3 stories, but will go for 2 if money is an issue.  It will basically just be a big rectangle, large tan blocks walls, and the entrance will be a large half circle, the height of the house, black window frames ~4 feet high and ~2 feet wide.  The glass is "smart" glass and a switch inside would control the glass panes from being white, black, or transparent.  The entry way has rounded stair cases on either side that meet in the middle.  There is a center courtyard to the house, accessible to every room, possibly a pool in the center.  An arched "catwalk" would connect the left and right 2nd story over the middle of the courtyard.  This is also something i could do without if money is tight.  The 2nd/3rd story would have a hall way on the inner wall and rooms against the outer wall.  I’d like to have as many windows as possible along that hallway.  I want to be able to have easy access to the courtyard from outside the walls of the house, so i’m thinking the garage will have doors that open up to it.

some random items off the top of my head right now, that will be the primary content of future topic posts, are as follows:

LED faucets. – http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/faucets/led-faucet-light-135803.php

fish themed bathroom with fishtank toilet and shower wall – http://www.funfishtank.com/2006/07/fish-tank-toilet/

at least 2 secret passages.

a grass roof.

as i see stuff, get inspired with ideas, or remember things, i’ll post them here.  Hopefully i’ll live to the day i get to build this house.

April fool’s came and went yesterday.  I didn’t do a single joke or prank.  eh, next year.  Rachel and I went to DC to hang out with Serah and Mike.  Had a great time.  We saw Mount Vernon saturday, then spent some time at the Mall for the cherry blossom festival, then just chilled out at their place.  I uploaded a bunch of photos to the gallery, including some of a hidden tunnel/room thing that Rachel and i broke into at mount vernon.

Looks like I will be working from London for may 24th and 25th.  should be a good time.  I’ll probably go over a day or two earlier and sight see.  Still a lot of planning going into the whole Italy trip, but time is flying!  6 weeks!

So here’s a weird story.  Got a laptop last week from work and i took it home wednesday to work from home that night.  Half way home, I stopped at walmart and ended up taking a nap for a bit before going in and head home.  When I start back home, a few minutes away I smell something burning like plastic or rubber.  I forget about it until i get home and i see smoke coming out of my hood.  I pop the hood and the belt is smoking, and it’s dripping.  The belt is so hot it is melting.  Since i can’t do anything with it hot, i leave it cool down.  Later on, I come out and notice that the engine coolant is pretty much gone.  I fill that, and start up the truck again.  It is squealing really badly.  I am thinking it just has to wear away the dried melted parts and the squealing will go away.  Its gets quieter and quieter and finally does stop.  Satisfied, i turn the truck off and get out to shut the hood, but i notice that the belt is broken and that would be why it is no longer making noises.  So now my truck is disabled.  Luckily, I had an appointment already in place for friday to get emissions and state inspection.  Luckily, I don’t need to go to work because i can work from home.   Luckily i stopped halfway home or else i could have been stuck on the side of the road.  So i just got it towed back home on thursday, got a lift home on friday with my stepdad who works in the city, and i’m borrowing my mom’s minivan until the truck is done.  It’s going to cost $700.  They have to replace the entire air conditioning unit/system thing or else the belt will just melt again.  I had just used the air conditioning for the first time on monday, and it didn’t work, so i knew something was wrong.  sucks though, i could REALLY use that money with italy coming up.

Alex is pretty cool.  He’s got an architecture internship downtown.  haven’t had the chance to do anything with him yet, but we’ve got a while.  Still trying to find someone to rent the basement room out too.  Craigslist for the win!

Getting really proud of the city.  here’s a cool article on on the new building projects for the city. www.post-gazette.com/pg/07091/773880-85.stm So much to be excited about!