Well, here's a fun one...

Now, before you get all excited - it's not MY nakedness of which I speak, and it's not even complete nakedness, so if that is why you're here you might as well leave now. I don't normally work on weekends, but last night I covered for a guy who was going on vacation. It was the Sunday night before Labor Day, so it was a busy evening, but nothing horrible. I've become rather unaccustomed to closing on a busy night, though, so I was fairly tuckered out by the evening's end. I got into my neighborhood a little after midnight.. and then I pulled into my driveway.

As usual, I opened the garage door and started to pull in, when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. I glanced over to our front yard, and I saw what appeared to be a teenage girl running from our yard and into our neighbor's yard. This isn't something as simple as two adjacent lots of grass - no, our two yards are on different levels, separated by a wall and thick bushes. So, obviously, this girl saw my car pulling in and was running in a panic to avoid being seen. But what was she doing? And, what was she wearing - or, to be more accurate, NOT wearing?

I couldn't tell - but it looked like this fleeing girl was in just her underwear - though it could have been a swimsuit as well, I suppose. Remember... this all happened in the 2-3 seconds it takes me to pull into the garage, so it was very quick. It didn't seem like anything dangerous or seedy - just odd, so I turned off my car, closed the garage door, and went inside. I was really tired, too, so who knows what I might have seen or not seen. I came into my room and turned on my computer. As it started up, I figured I'd go to the bonus room and look outside to see if I saw any more interesting activity. It was pretty coincidental, because as I got there, I heard voices talking - that kind of hushed, giggling talking one does when they're younger and are trying to be quiet but failing. Then I saw two young girls, could be high school could be older, walking on the sidewalk in front of my house - each one with a pile of their own clothes in hand. The strange thing is that they were just casually walking along.. from the opposite direction that the nearly naked girl had run. They kept glancing at my house as they walked by, but I don't think they could see me inside. They walked right past and in front of my neighbor's house, I heard one say, "It was this one," and then they walked up towards it and out of my view. And that was the end of it - but what the heck was going on??

I have a few ideas, but nothing can be known for certain. There were at least two girls, possibly three. It could have been that these two girls were in my yard and ran, or it could have been that they were walking down my street, and the girl who ran was with them. Judging by the pile of clothes they were holding, it could have been a situation of daring someone to do something. The casual way in which the two girls walked in front of my house leads me to believe that it wasn't underwear, but bathing suits - otherwise these girls are serious trouble. I only saw one person fleeing my yard, but there could have been another that ran at the first sight of my car. But what were they doing in my yard? We have a bench, so perhaps there was a dare to sit on it. My dad was in the living room at the back of the house watching TV as if nothing had happened - so they weren't ringing doorbells or anything. Heck, it could really be anything.. they could've even been making out for all I know, but I'm assuming that since today is a school holiday, it was just some high school girls running amok and being silly.

Either that, or they were stalking me because I'm such a stud... but that's a little ridiculous. Of course, when you've got half-naked girls running from your front yard after midnight - anything's possible.
 
- Mark.



Warning: The following blog entry has been labeled FG for being Frightening and possibly very Gross.

My hair is long. I have a beard. I have a bird I like to hold (if you get the Dr. Seuss reference, I'll give you a hug next time I see you). Because more of the surface area of my face is covered by my big beard, my face has become sweatier and greasier than normal, and because my hair is long, I have a lock of collective strands that continually fall onto my face. Put all of this together, and you have a recent propensity for pimples. However, a few days ago I noticed a large one forming on my left cheek. Like with Hitler's slow accumulation of power - I had no idea what to expect until it was too late.

This thing was getting bigger, but it wasn't until I was washing my hands last night that I discovered what had come of it. I had to take a deep close look at the mirror, to double check what I was seeing. It was large, yes - but it had 3 white heads on the one pimple. THREE! I thought I might be able to just pop the problem, to just stop Germany where it was, but I hadn't realized that it was already in cahoots with Italy and Japan. I had the freaking Axis of Pimples on my face!

After carefully examining the situation, I decided to dive right in. Italy gave in pretty quickly, but Germany and Japan put up a fight. After I continued to battle the Axis of Pimples, the German whitehead finally gave way - but what it revealed was even worse. There was only one of the original three left.. but in their stead was a new threat. A larger, much more dangerous opponent. There was another one BEHIND the others.

Russia.

Time has passed, and Japan has receded. Now I'm just waiting. The Russian pimple is lying dormant - quiet and large... the great threat of it's power ever looming. We have entered a cold war - and all I can do is wait and hope for a non-violent outcome.


Wow. Did I just write an entire blog about pimples while referencing World War 2? Maybe my friends are right - I really do need a girlfriend.
 
- Mark.



Last week I was at work, doing nothing very productive as usual, when I saw something that made me LOL all over the place. I stepped into the little entrance area, to read the fine print of a contest display, and as I turned around I noticed something on the magazine rack. This isn't the magazine rack that we stock and sell magazines from; no, this is the rack that an outside source stocks with for-free publications. So, as I'm turning around to head back inside, I catch a glimpse of a new magazine I hadn't noticed before. On the cover is a pleasant image of a woman and a young girl - smiling, happy, loving life! And for a split second I thought, "Aww." Then, my gaze rested on the title of the magazine and I did a literal double take.



Divorce Magazine?? At first I was in hysterics at the abrupt realization that this lovely little picture was for DIVORCE Magazine, but after that wore off (which took longer than you'd probably want to believe) I started to look through it. What's even better, is that it's basically one giant legal advertisement. I was waiting to see that it was funded by "This Guy & That Guy Legal Services," but I didn't find it. Well, not exactly.

Instead, on the opening page it mentions that it is part of "Divorce Marketing Group." That's exactly what we need - a group that helps lawyers market to people in the various emotional states of going through a divorce. I can just imagine the meetings, with pie graphs (or bar graphs, whichever you prefer) telling the best times to strike and what fonts are easiest to read through tear-filled eyes. The first couple of pages are mostly just articles, but after that the pages become heavily peppered with ads for lawyers. You can even visit their website to find MORE legal ads! Yay! There may be some redeeming articles in this free magazine that can benefit someone going through a bad time - but ultimately it just feels sleazy. I suppose this is a pretty good indicator of why lawyer jokes are so prevalent. They may provide a decent service at times, but their approach is often without tact.

As one of my co-workers joked, "What's next? Abortion Monthly?"
 
- Mark.



Tonight I saw Son of Rambow on DVD. When I first heard about the movie, I thought it was a great idea - kids making movies. I know a little something about that so it's something that always makes me smile. When I finally saw the trailer for it, I did not smile. There was nothing in that preview that made me interested in seeing it, but I work at Blockbuster and get free rentals - so it couldn't hurt to take a chance on the DVD when it came out. Whoops.

The movie made me rather sad - I liked it even less than I thought I would. It was on the low end of the spectrum of being ok, but it could have been great. I really thought it could have been really great - and I was a little heartbroken that it wasn't. The story was great, some of the concepts and gags were good... but for me it just fell flat. But the point of this entry isn't to give a review. After the movie, I wasn't in a great mood - but I decided to flip through the Special Features anyways. I found a movie the director made when HE was a kid back in the mid-80's, and it made me smile, especially at the end when he and his friends are cracking up while trying to film the last shot. That was fairly interesting to see, but then I found a REAL treasure.

Apparently there was some sort of internet contest in England related to Son of Rambow (I'm assuming it was to share a movie you made when you were a kid), and the winner is on the DVD. It's a movie a guy made with his cousins when he was 15. When I first watched it, I died laughing and threw my arms up in the air a few times at it's 15 year old "awesomeness."

Click HERE to see "Mission: Improbable" on YouTube.
(sorry, I'm not able to embed it here for some reason)

It really made my night, and if you did anything like this when you were young - I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

- Mark.



"Like, OMG, where has Mark been?"

Well, I tell ya, kids - I've been right here. Right here doing nothing. Well, not exactly nothing - but not much. I finished my summer semester over a month ago, and yet, with all of my new found free time, I haven't really done much for this site. At first I was just tired. I was mentally exhausted from the compact summer session (when you haven't taken a math class in 8+ years, it's tough enough, let alone in a short semester), so I spent the first week relaxing. But, what have I done since then?

I worked on a couple of projects for a little while, but a couple of weeks ago, I had a bad night. I'm going through The Office on DVD (every Thursday night, best night of the week!) for the first time, and that night I watched the season two finale. It was very beautiful, very exciting, very heart-breaking... it was wonderful. But it wasn't love that got me down - it was companionship. While watching the blooper reel on the DVD, I became a little envious of that situation - and rather sad. This group of people were doing what they loved, and having fun in this little community of creativity. When I was younger I had a group of friends that I made movies with. We would get together on weekends, and make inane little shorts - just goofing around, really - but we had fun. Now, however, though I have an absolutely great time with the couple of friends I have (don't think this reflects negatively on you ) I regret that I don't have this large group anymore. I have so many ideas for this site and beyond (movies, comics, animation, etc), but I'm doing it alone, and that just doesn't work. Haha, but now, let's pause for a moment of levity, because I don't want this post to make you feel sorry for me..



Ok, so as I was saying - I'm going at this site pretty much alone. As was mentioned, I have a couple of friends, but overall, it's just me. If I have a random idea for a short movie, I don't have a small group of friends that I can call up and get together with to make it. The same goes with my other small project ideas I have for this site - it's tough because I'm doing it by myself, and that limits what I can do. I slowly lost my motivation to work on things, until I was just sitting here playing Sim City 4 (though, let's not knock it - I LOVE that game) and not much else.

Also, I've realized that my intended field of Computer Science and Information probably isn't what I really want. I tried it, and it's very interesting, but it's not my passion. I'm still pursuing the degree, until or unless I can find what I'd rather do, because even if it wouldn't be a career - it'll at least be a good paying job. So these have been some rough times, looking at life and it's current uncertainties and dissatisfaction. Yea, though, I am not a wreck. These aren't the days of years past, I'm still surviving fine, but it all definitely took it's toll on my motivation levels. Yesterday, though, I had a nice long chat with an old friend, and it was one of those things that God gives us when we need it - something small and simple that reminds us of bigger things. I can never proclaim to know everything, or to be guaranteed where my life is going to go. I can say that I've definitely grown up tenfold over the past few years, but life is always a growing experience. So this is just another step in the journey. I can't end this blog by saying I found the answer or solution to either of these issues, because I didn't, but I'm going through them and learning all the while and getting stronger because of them.

So, hopefully, I can start bringing you more content - but I can't really guarantee it. This site is much more than entertainment, though... it's MarkMushakian.com for a reason - because that's me. It's a personal site, and I hope I can not only continue to be personal with my blogs, but to treat them more as an open diary - and to share these things as they happen instead of disappearing for a month. I hope to see you soon!

- Mark.


Read more entries...