Best. Birthday. Party. EVER.

Thanks so much to all who helped with setup, lit candles, cut cake, brought cards, contributed alcohol or food, played music, helped clean up, and -- most important -- helped me celebrate my landmark birthday. You're all wonderful, and I'm grateful to have you as friends.

My karaoke birthday party

Check it.

Happy birthday, Red Blue Green!

Friday marked this blog's first anniversary/birthday/year of existence, which I somehow neglected to make mention of or celebrate in any way. I've come a long way from my first post (and an even longer way from my MySpace blog, which I began in December of 2005), and I'd like to start an anniversary tradition: the embedding of a video wherein Thom Yorke performs the beautiful song that gave Red Blue Green its name. Enjoy!



Of course, I could also take a modified version of the survey I used to kick off the MySpace blog nearly three years ago:

TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF - The Survey
Name:	Neal Elliott Schindler
Birthday:	February 9, 1979
Birthplace:	Detroit, Michigan
Current Location:	Seattle, Washington
Eye Color:	Brown
Hair Color:	Brown
Height:	5'9"
Right Handed or Left Handed:	Right
Your Heritage:	German/Jewish
The Shoes You Wore Today:	Black Eccos, as always
Your Weakness:	Pasta/noodles
Your Fears:	Ending up alone; not working up to my potential
Your Perfect Pizza:	Every vegetable imaginable needs to be on there
Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year:	Getting on more solid footing career-wise, creatively, and emotionally
Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger:	BTW
Thoughts First Waking Up:	(yawn)
Your Best Physical Feature:	Eyes, I'm told
Your Bedtime:	11 p.m., ideally
Your Most Missed Memory:	Spain
Pepsi or Coke:	Coke! But only in a glass bottle, with real sugar
MacDonalds or Burger King:	Yuck
Single or Group Dates:	What does "group date" mean these days, anyway?
Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea:	Jeez
Chocolate or Vanilla:	Vanilla
Cappuccino or Coffee:	Decaf soy mocha
Do you Smoke:	No
Do you Swear:	Yes, too much
Do you Sing:	Not as often as I'd like to
Do you Shower Daily:	Yes!
Have you Been in Love:	Oh yes
Do you want to go to College:	Been there, done that; would like to go to grad school, though
Do you want to get Married:	Absolutely
Do you belive in yourself:	Not as much as I'd like to
Do you get Motion Sickness:	Occasionally, when I read on the bus
Do you think you are Attractive:	Not as much as I'd like to; sometimes I do
Are you a Health Freak:	Heavens no
Do you get along with your Parents:	The remaining one, yes
Do you like Thunderstorms:	God, I miss them
Do you play an Instrument:	Guitar! Not too well, though
In the past month have you Drank Alcohol:	No
In the past month have you Smoked:	No
In the past month have you been on Drugs:	No
In the past month have you gone on a Date:	No
In the past month have you gone to a Mall:	No!!!
In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos:	Not a whole box...
In the past month have you eaten Sushi:	No
In the past month have you been on Stage:	Goodness no
In the past month have you been Dumped:	No
In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping:	C'mon
In the past month have you Stolen Anything:	No!
Ever been Drunk:	Of course!
Ever been Beaten up:	Yep
Ever Shoplifted:	Not that I can recall
How do you want to Die:	Peacefully, painlessly; what a strange question
What do you want to be when you Grow Up:	A writer; a filmmaker; someone who continually creates
What country would you most like to Visit:	India or another Asian country
Number of CDs I own:	I have nearly 10,000 iTunes
Number of Piercings:	None
Number of Tattoos:	None
Number of things in my Past I Regret:	(sigh)

Birthday weekend, complete with caucusing

Had a wonderful birthday weekend, from Friday night's dinner at La Fontana in Belltown to today's brunch at El Greco, with an afternoon of caucusing and Mike Daisey's monologue/one-man show How Theater Failed America in the middle. The show wasn't nearly as polished as Daisey's Monopoly!, which I saw a couple weeks back with my friend Elana, but it was still plenty entertaining and thought-provoking, and Daisey's energy as a performer continues to astound me. (Why wasn't it as polished as Monopoly!, you ask? Perhaps because it was only the third performance of the show. By the time it comes back to Seattle, it'll likely be another masterpiece.)

Caucusing was a real education. We went to Mt. Zion Baptist Church at 1 p.m. on my birthday, and Emily and I both registered to vote. Then we went to the church's sanctuary, which is where our precinct was meeting. The Obama and Hillary supporters were tallied, and the delegate count stood at 7-2 in favor of Obama. Then a number of people, including Emily, gave one-minute speeches in support of their candidate of choice. I was impressed with how knowledgeable, impassioned, and articulate they were. Finally, the undecided people got a chance to choose a candidate, and anybody else got an opportunity to switch candidates. A few undecided people joined the Obama camp, but the delegate count didn't change. Then it was time to elect delegates, though that process really just involved volunteering -- there was no need to actually elect anybody. I'm a delegate, which means I'll be going to an April 5 district caucus; Emily's an alternate, which means she'll go if I can't for some reason. By going to Saturday's caucus, I became more involved in a presidential election than I've been since 1992, when I worked on the Clinton campaign with my high school friends. Hopefully I'll use this positive experience as a springboard to become more involved in the Obama campaign; in any case, I'm grateful to actually care this much about presidential politics, and I'm hoping to be able to get more active during the next few months.

My guitar stand arrived in the mail, so I'd better go set it up and either practice or watch Red Road, which is still begging to be seen (and sent back to Netflix HQ). Finally finished watching Lucas this weekend -- I watched the first 30 minutes or so about a year and a half ago -- and I can wholeheartedly recommend it. It's much better than a Corey Haim movie has any right to be, and Winona Ryder, who was all of 15 at the time, is also very good in it. (And so, by God, is Charlie Sheen.) What makes it much, much better than the dumb-looking, deceptively football-themed DVD cover would suggest is the screenplay, which is smart, funny, and very honest about adolescence and high school and love, particularly the unrequited kind. It's really a lovely film, the kind there should be more of.