Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in Eric Leonhard's LiveJournal:

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Sunday, July 12th, 2009
11:42 pm	Summer is 50% over (for me anyway) There are only four things that have happened so far... 1) Popple, bigger and temporary Popple surrogate, Teddy Bear slipper, and Sierra went all Russian doll on me: 2) Carly seduced a fire hydrant (it was special): 3) Popple blew up the microwave and then did a victory dance: 4) I looked good in black: (Comment on this)
Thursday, July 9th, 2009
11:37 am	My biggest pet peeve is when customers come into captain kenos and exclaim, "Where's all the customers?!?!?! LOL!!!!" during a time of night when it is expectedly slow. How am I supposed to answer that?... "well Sir, currently 85% of the town's population is at home since it is 10:30pm. Another 7% are just finishing up there day at the fair while statistics are unable to account for the remaining 8%, but its logical to conclude that some of them are at the beach enjoying a bon fire." Another big pet peeve is when people order clam chowder and manage to leave saltine cracker crumbs all over the table for me to clean. Do you know how hard it is to wipe those up? Did you know that January 14th is officially "Captain Kenos Day" in the city of Encinitas, due to my boss funding the Encinitas firefighters and other community projects? I ask alot of questions in my entries because I want to engage the readers... do you feel involved? Iv'e decided to stop taking elaborate special orders, like for the infamous man who likes eating omelets but with all of the ingredients sitting on top of the eggs, not inside. No, that defeats the omelets purpose and without purpose, why bother with life? Why dont you just order eggs with cheese and pepers on them rather than an inside-out omelet so that the cooks stop getting confused? In other news, I have been doing an incredible amount of drinking this summer, both alcohol and coffee. What can I do? Captain Kenos gives me both for free and am now doing karaoke every tuesday at 1st street bar with friends. Self control is for robots. Operation "scam corporate restaurants into giving me free food by writing letters complaining of bad customer service" has been hugely successful and im only just getting started. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, July 2nd, 2009
10:41 am	Psycho analysis using my poop I was going to include a photo of my poop but I figure I would spare everyone the visual; I will be as descriptive as possible. My poop has not been its healthy rounded-off shape that it normally takes. It has been a darker tone of brown, somewhat soggy, and most importantly, pointy. How does this reveal subconscious information? I will tell you my dear friends. The pointed end of the log indicates that my rectum has not been able to "squeeze off" with as much efficiency as usual. The soggyness simply indicates compromised digestive ability. My body appears to be redirecting energy away from my gastrointestinal tract and towards more important systems, such as my vital organs. But the only reason why my body would do this is if it were stressed to the point where activating emergency response systems was warranted (the sympathetic autonomic nervous system). So the question is, why am I stressed? I am having alot of fun in Encinitas, working a fun job at Captain Kenos (and making a killing doing it), meeting new people, and beaching it up. The only neurosis I can trace is that which is caused by missing Humboldt. Now if I'm as good a psychologist that I think I am (which im not), then my poop will return to its normal state when I return to the northcoast in August. Of course, there are other reasons why my poop may be deviant, such as my unhealthy diet with 50% of my meals coming from Captain Kenos... or perhaps we should call it Craptain kenos in this case. As a service, I am offering poop analyses to all of my peers, Gratis. In other news, Jens Lekman has contracted Swine Flu! How terribly sad! Although this will likely result in a new hit song "I met a girl but couldnt kiss her because I had swine flu. In quarantine, I couldnt sing, because the sorrowful walls drowned my voice into whispers". (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, June 28th, 2009
10:00 pm	Jenny The introduction Refer to my last entry. I met with her today at the LA fitness gym and of course, she turned out to be some skank bent on getting me to purchase a membership. She offered me a two-week complimentary pass to try it out. I thought this would be a quick in-and-out freebie, but during our conversations we both revelaed that we had ADHD and thought of exercise as a great way to cope with it. Testing her Patience Happy to be conversing with her, i asked her to show me around the gym. As she gave me the full tour, I did everything I could to act embarrassingly hyper and make her job difficult. This was a test to see just how sincere she claimed to be about ADHD. I did things like "testing the aerobics floors" by throwing myself onto them. "Be careful!" she awkwardly commented. She asked me to walk through the mens locker room and meet her out by the pool. I left her there for five minutes before showing, explaining that i got distracted and wandered around for a while. She took me over to show me the sauna and steam rooms. I entered them for about a second before turning around and explaining how uncfortable they were. Like a good saleswoman, she immediately adjusted her attitude to fit mine "you are right! They are super gross!" The Salespitch After returning to her desk, she showed me the different plans that they had. I critcised them as being completely unreasonable; a monthly gym membership shouldnt cost more than $30 and initiation fees of any amount were unjustified. I told her that the promotion of free initations was a ruse and a common "rushed thinking" technique used by salespeople but also complimented her selling ability. She misinterpreted this as me being patronizing, became emotional, and tried to reassure me that she was genuine, "Eric, I like you, you are a cool kid, I am not screwing with you and I only want you to have this if you want it". She calmed down after I told her that I really meant it as a compliment and was not mocking her. During this time, I felt as if we had bonded through off-topic conversations. Outside Friendship?!?!? She told me that even though it was very unproessional, she would like to be friends outside. So we continued wasting time by talking about random crap before I agreed to purhcase a 2-month provisional membership, for the sake of getting her a sale on her record (I liked her at this point and was impressed by her good techniques despite my resistance and mind games). I have one week to cancel this membership if i decide I dont like it. My Ultimatum If she was sincere and really want to be friends, then she will appear at captain kenos to hang out after work as I instructed her (she acted like she was excited). If she keeps to it, then I will keep to my two-month membership. If she fails, then I will know it was a ruse to get me to like her more and purchase the membership. She even said she would like to work out with me at the gym... which could be sincere, but could also be her taking advantage of her good looks and trying to motivate me to get the membership. If she does not turn out to be interested in outside friendship, i will cancel my membership and destroy her in some manner. I will consider it to have been negotating in bad faith with misleading intentions. The Bet We placed a friendly bet that I could get her manager to drop any initation fee for me to join. She insists that she failed to get him to do this after many tries and would find it amusing to watch me also try and fail. I am just perfectly confident and cocky, so I bet her that I could (and I really think I can! I have the skills of social psychology and working knowledge of the sales industry at my disposal, not to mention, I am one hell of a debater!). The loser has to buy smoothies. The negotation takes place tommorrow morning and I cant wait. During our conversations, she mentions that I should go into sales and am an excellent arguer. Hmmm.... Strange emotions Upon driving away from the facility, I became overhwhelmed with unexpected and strange emotions. It seems that the combination of excitement for the negotation, fondness of my supposed new friend, and drain from the aggressive sales pitch had left me with a deleterious feeling. I had to pull over and recline the seat until I felt better. This encounter had taken an interesting turn for the oblivious and unknown. Boy, I hope she really does want to be be friends. She just moved here from Georgia and she seems like a really cool person, but because I have only known her in a professional sense, I cant yet tell what is contrived and what is not. I have to admit, I am confused and unable to read her. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
9:39 pm	Sometimes I feel like "Rorschach" from Watchmen I have absolutely no faith in humanity. Onward in this entry, I will write as if I am speaking directly to "humanity" as an entity. You are nothing but a blind system. Completely predictable and even controllable once the right variables are isolated and manipulated. You make ignorant and lousy decisions based on emotional whims. I look out the windows of the Australian Battered Potato cart and what do I see? Girls from my high school who are pregnant and younger than me. Younger than me = no college degree (the rhymes in those last couple of sentences were completely unintentional). How sad that girls so young can find nothing to provide their lives with meaning so they create a new person to inherit their significance. They dont think logically about these decisions. They do it because it provides them with immediate happiness. But at what expense? Years from now, their kid will be a teenager shooting up heroin at moonlight beach, just like those kids I used to sell pot to back in high school. They will be waitressing to make ends meet, and have no freedom for mobility. They will resent their spawn as I have witnessed so many times before. Most of those broke mothers who never had husbands and struggle to pay their rent once thought that having children was the way to be happy. Likewise, everyone who goes into marriage does so with a sense of invincibility and pure ecstasy. They all think that they have won, and that this is forever. 50% of them end in divorce... and the ones who do survive are not necessarily happy. Your decisions made for instant gratification only serve to betray you later because you dont bother to predict the future like I do. Nothing involving other humans can be relied upon no matter how "right" it feels. And even happily married couples who will provide strong family structure treat the act of having a child like buying a piece of furniture; "I want to have kids, it will make me happy". Somehow, a successful marital structure prompts you to create another so that they can put up with all of the bullshit, misery, and evils of the world. Meanwhile, you are only contributing to the over-population of the planet. This is what makes you happy?!?!? Somehow, you dont get the same fulfillment from adopting a child and actually doing an awesome social service than you would by creating an original and adding to the problem. It is entirely illogical and irrational. The people who have the money to get this economy spinning again are the ones who are too conservative to spend it. Yet the rich are statistically proven to be more miserable than the poor. So why do people trade off helping society for being isolated and depressed (although, with money)? Take one hour and make observations of passers-by, and you really will find that one-third of them are overweight. I am disgusted by this... not by the over-weight individual so much, but by our society for establishing an environment where this can be allowed to happen so easily. I am relatively and generally happy, but the more I learn about human behavior, the more cynical I become. My morals are shifting as a result. It would be unwise to make large investments in something as unreliable as humanity, so STOP DOING IT. You have a grim future where all of the impoverished unwed mothers and morose obese millionaires will look up and shout "Save us!"... and I'll whisper "no". Current Mood: pensive Current Music: muse- take a bow (Comment on this)
Saturday, June 20th, 2009
11:56 pm	I watched Nicole run a marathon (because I could!) Iv'e been thinking, what if I did decide to pursue a ph.d, something that I am qualified for? How would such a commitment affect my life? With an 80-hour weekly workload and no time for outside socializing (or sleep for that matter), would I be available to my dearest friends? I had to take several hours on an early saturday morning to be able to support Nicole when she ran her marathon. Do you realize how much social support means to someone who accomplishes something like a 26-mile run? It means everything! The sad truth is, I would not be able to do things like that if I did pursue a ph.d. I would not be able to help my peers move when switching apartments, I wouldnt be able to take hours at a time to counsel my roommate when she has issues, but most importantly, I wouldnt have time to rock climb 3 days a week! But now the lightly drunken truth is that summer has been good, albeit very strange. -I am sick of austrailian battered potatos and plan on quitting soon. -I have discovered my uncanny ability for seducing any woman, but only when I sit on my ass and make absolutely no effort to do so. A dormant Eric is an Eric who has women flocking to him. -I spent some time with an ADHD girl I blindly met on craigslist. It was great to be able to connect with someone who understood where I was coming from, but otherwise, she was annoying as hell. -Just got back from drinking at captain kenos with Carly and Alex. Yay! I drunkenly picked a fight with an ant. I won. Nicole, you've got the spirit. Dont lose that feeling. You see, this reception upon the conclusion of her marathon would not be possible if I were in a doctoral program. So suck it, ph.d, I choose friends over you. Its ironic that they call it a tequila "sun rise" because it makes me just want to go to sleep. bye. Current Music: destroyer (4 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 16th, 2009
11:12 pm	Australian Battered Potato adventures. I am making minimum wage working at australian battered potatoes... again. i work with high school kids who dont respect my seniority and challenge me in every possible way. On the bright side, I truly respect my boss even though she is somewhat peculiar. Australians are persnickety and have high standards for etiquette. I once witnessed my boss refuse to serve a lady because she thought that she was "quite rude". The lady did seem like a total bitch but still, most businesses bow down before anyone who is willing to buy their product. She once scolded me for telling a hilarious joke: ME: How are women like hurricanes? BOSS: they arnt... what are you talking abou... ME: -when they first arrive, they are wet and wild, but when they leave, they take your house and your car! BOSS: (not even slightly amused) you shouldnt joke about that. Hurricane's have ruined a lot of lives. That's rude. So I spend 9 hours a day on my feet, dashing potato slices through a bin of flour. This seems to be my permanent job since im the only one with the energy to keep up with the supply. Obviously, its monotonous, but its kind of nice to be able to space off all day while doing the work. Otherwise I spend my time gazing outside of the cart at dankies that walk by. I also notice a lot of fat people. America, why are you so fat? Previously, i would flirt with my fellow employees, once slicing a potato into a heart-shape to give to the hostess. However, my cohort has not returned along with me, and I am stuck with underage brats. I have a follow up interview with Target in Orange County on thursday which i am feeling rather confident about. In the mean time, I shouldnt complain about my job. Im lucky to even have one right now. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
5:55 am	Kind of interesting Lets say I am passionate about teaching psychology to college students, which i actually am! Because I am not interested in research so much, I would choose a career teaching at community colleges as opposed to universities. Here is what being able to teach at a community college would require: -A master's degree emphasizing research in psychology. Since I am sick of research, i dont particularly care to earn the degree. It would only be a means to an end. This degree is particularly designed as a stepping stone for those who want to enter Ph.D programs. -An additional year in school after earning my MA to complete the college teaching prep program -Moving to and working in a hardly desirable location for years to come (ie. in the middle of no where, pennsylvania). This is to gain experience so i can later be hired at a desirable highly competitive location. -successfully competing against many Ph.D's who werent able to land jobs at universites so are retreating to the community college system (difficult). -Working another fulltime job to support myself for years to come since un-tenured adjunct instructors make an average of $10,000 without any benefits. Thats if they have job security, which most dont. -If after several years of working under these conditions, I am still interested in teaching as a career, I just might have a shot at receiving fulltime pay (which is high) with benefits. What needs to be factored in here is that statistically, most people wont stick to their first job and will want to move on to something different. Considering everything, I WONT be pursuing this career. The odds dont add up and frankly, i think I would rather earn minimum wage in a cool place like Portland than have to go through this mess. This is appalling. There ought to be a MA program for "teaching psychology" that places a more direct route on landing such a career. (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
5:29 pm	leaving humboldt for the entire summer Packing up reminds me of just how much junk I have. I feel so tied down. Fortunately, getting rid of excess furniture and crap in Arcata is as easy as leaving it out on the sidewalk with a "free" sign next to it. I have an interview at Target in Encinitas on monday for the management internship, which means I have to go out and buy "business professional" attire, whatever that is. There is a 90% chance I will be doing one more semester at HSU. It will be fun. I will not be taking anymore advanced psychology, statistics, or psychometrics. I will take classes like outdoor adventure skills and athletic swimming. The federal government might just be dumb enough to pay for it too... it seems that one benefit of my parents divorcing is my eligibility to receive grants. Isnt that ironic? Being poor means I get free money! 12 hour drive to encinitas on saturday. woot. (Comment on this)
Friday, May 22nd, 2009
2:11 pm	The return of my childhood friend! Popple was my best friend as a kinder. Over time, his painted cheeks started to fade, his tail became tattered (probably from me chewing on it), and his hairline began to recede... but I didnt care. He was my best friend. He was my ONLY friend who could fit into my pocket and wrap himself in a sac for the nighttime. 15 years after his mysterious disappearance, Popple has returned into my life. I found him on ebay for a whopping $40- a small price to pay for your best friend. Technically, his name is Putter, and the species is "popple"... but as a kid I simply called him Popple and so thats how it shall remain. Apparently there was also an 80's cartoon about Popples but I have never seen it. Popple is small enough to fit into my pocket. I am going to take him on a bike ride in Trinidad today. I am so ecstatic to have my long lost childhood friend return. I feel like a new woman! Sleeping-bag mode is both ideal for naps and aerial attacks. I love Popple! (Comment on this)
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
11:13 pm	Post-graduation thoughts/ modest mouse This is supposed to be a milestone for me. Why does it feel like a tragic ending to the most significant period of my life? What lays ahead is terrible job prospects (like i know what i want to do anyway!) and the separating from many of my good friends. Today the career counselor reiterated just how fucked we are. Maybe I should follow my brother's lead and hide out in ecuador until this whole thing blows over. It would be a good opportunity to practice my spanish. Perhaps after months of job searching doesnt pay off, then I will go AWOL. I watched the Star Trek movie the other day and thought of how exciting it must be to work on a federation ship. Why dont any of those jobs actually exist? Fortunately, I may get to stave off the real world for a while by doing another semester at HSU. I may even be receiving a grant to pay for it. Anyway... I cant stand Modest Mouse's current music. From the song "missed the boat", check out this vapidness: Everyone's unhappy Everyone's ashamed Well we all just got caught looking At somebody else's page Well nothing ever went Quite exactly as we planned Our ideas held no water But we used them like a dam Stringing together any set of vaguely related concepts to form a rhyme is pretentious. Im positive that there is no real meaning behind this song. See, I can do it too: You set your love off sailing, but there were leeches in that lake, all the little gems in life, are through those we never appreciate. there must be some cryptic meaning behind my set of lyrics, right? Surely such beautiful poetry is allegorical for my experiences with love?!?!? Or maybe I was just randomly rhyming paired cliches?!?!?!? Now try saying "randomly rhyming paired cliches" ten times fast. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
12:44 am	Sometimes I graduate college Im still not leaving though! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 10th, 2009
4:43 am	ADHD culture I know I'm not supposed to define myself by ADHD, but why not? Maybe part of the problem is having this condition effect most dimensions of my life but refusing to let it become my framework. Would I perhaps be more successful by assuming ADHD to be my defining trait and then going from there? Would it be easier to work my interests around ADHD rather than work ADHD around my interests? Further analysis suggests this may be so. If affinity for children can guide one's career direction into teaching, or if joy from working with numbers can usher one into the field of business or statistics, then why shouldnt ADHD be treated the same? This issue has become more prevalent as I need to start thinking about future directions in my life. I think I am going to start a society for ADHD people. Other disordered populations such as the autistic tend to have them and it could be very useful for people like me. Who better to form such a society than myself, an academically successful ADHD'er who has lots of experience running organizations all while retaining his symptoms into adulthood? As long as I'm an ADHD'er, I mine as well be the king of ADHD'ers! In other news: -After nearly 23 years, insomnia still sucks. -Trying to be creative and not have a monotonous eating routine is difficult without use of the cafeteria.. Tonight I had a hotdog wrapped in nori. (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 7th, 2009
5:25 am	The unpleasant experience that is "stimulus overload" Every wonder what it would be like to experience intense anxiety from your mind trying to take in and process more information than it can handle at any one time? I DONT. In retrospect, the opening line of this first entry sounds lame. Why dont i just delete it? I dont know. Anyway, last night I had the worst episode of dawson's creek- i mean, stimulus overload- that I am able to recall. It is a relatively common experience for ADHD and Autistic individuals alike... and im sure it is also an occasional occurrence for neuro-typicals. At my weekly potluck, i had just made up a huge batch of aebleskiver and then proceeded to serve them in the living room. I felt anxious for an unknown reason, which is peculiar since making aebleskiver is a very relaxing activity. The anxiety grew as a waded through the crowded room, trying to distribute my balls (the aebleskiver!). Sooner or later, I was unable to remain in the room which led to my notice that I must have been being distracted by every single stimulus at one time: "There's a person- no, wait!- there's another person over there!- and that girl is wearing a funny hat!- and music is playing!- and everyone is talking at once!- and look at all this food!" Even after laying low in Table's room and trying to explain the concept of "stimulus overload" to her, I still felt agitated being able to hear all of the clamor from the adjacent living room. So what did I do? Did I turn tail to hide in my car like a coward?!? Actually... Yes, that is exactly what I did. My car offered an environment with no stimulation whatsoever- no noise, no lights, no smells- just darkness. I ended up driving home when it was clear that my anxiety would not abate upon re-entering Table's house. The potlucks are always fun but last night was ruined because of my stupid brain. 85% of my stimuli overload episodes happen in crowded restaurants as they tend to frequently emulate the conditions necessary to induce one, containing with crowds, constant background (yet overbearing) chatter, TV's, music, waitresses passing by, etc. My distractable mind tries to attend to everything at once; my head/eyes sometimes darting back and forth from one stimulus to another. The experience is similar to a bad episode of claustrophobia. I think that I over used the em dash in this entry. (Comment on this)
Monday, May 4th, 2009
6:57 pm	I created my first wikipedia article today! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry_rock oh boy! they are already trying to delete it due to the official reason of "non-notable rock". What does that even mean!?!?!? Well this is my first wikipedia article and I am going to fight to keep it up! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
3:46 pm	Candy Sushi! Thanks for the idea Carly! Impressed everyone at the potluck (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 27th, 2009
11:00 am	Portland! What a rad city! I am going to move there as soon as the time is right. Nicknamed "the city that works", Portland has quite a few perks: -you can get anywhere on bicycle, or a combination of bicycle plus the free (to an extent) public transit! -Living there is cheap! Especially when you factor in the savings from not having to pay for transportation -You legally can walk around in the nude -City plus surrounding forest and great outdoors makes for the best of both worlds -its one of the fastest growing restaurant scenes, with over 200 foods carts (like the del mar fair!) and the food tends to be inexpensive! Bad things about Portland: -nightlife isnt so hot, but i think with a bit of creativity, it wont be a problem -its known for its beer and stripclubs. Hence, alot of the culture revolves around getting hammered. Im not interested. -the weather can be a bit severe, but manageable i suppose. ( Read more... ) (5 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, April 20th, 2009
6:49 pm	my last 420 holiday in humboldt Normally 420 wouldnt even be something worth writing about, but i continue to be awe-struck with what places like humboldt, santa cruise, and boulder can do with the "holiday". ( Pics: where there's smoke, there's fire ) (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, April 6th, 2009
7:42 pm	Omg does anyone else remember this? I wanted one of these so badly when I was 5 years old: (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Sunday, April 5th, 2009
11:42 am	television House: Season 5 has been the shakiest yet, focusing way too much on extraneous relational issues of the hospital staff and not the patients conditions. However, there have been some real winning episodes. One such episode is when the hospital is taken over by a gunman who desperately demands treatment for his unknown condition. The season appears to be picking up momentum once again but I cant help but notice how often House has debates about God with his religious patients. Oftentimes, the staring patient has some sort of profound character that is pivoted around an episode's main theme, but the religious one has been done now numerous times and ought to be dropped at this point. Heroes: What a great show. I think season 1 was the most enthralling but the ever-changing premise seems to be maintaining itself. Sylar is so evil! The Office: Still awesome! Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles: I am truly impressed with how this show is turning out. Season 1 was OK but nothing to rave about and didnt have nearly enough drama in it. Actually, I didnt even think a second season would air, but when it did, things only started to look up. Episodes continue to introduce seemingly irrelevant elements or characters, only to have them interweave beautifully later on. Check this scene out, so much drama! (Derek learns of Jesse's betrayal and does something about it): (Comment on this)