The oar...

"I can't find it!" Shilah exclaimed.
"Well then look harder," Charlee responded. "I don't think it's here anymore."
"It has to be. This is where we left it!"
The two searched the entire campsite and still were left stranded. They were looking for an oar that Shilah had made. It had taken him weeks to wittle it out of a tree limb they had come across.
"Why did you have to go to bed?" Shilah interrogated.
"Excuse me for being tired. I was lucky to be able to sleep. Last night was the first time I actually slept through the night, Shilah."
"But you knew I was going to go to the river to get our water for breakfast. What if someone or something came in last night and stole it while I was away?"
"Some one?! Did you just say some one?! You know damn well that we are all alone on this fucking island!" Charlee screamed.
There was a long pause as she stood there glaring at him. He finally broke the tension by saying, "Look. I'm sorry. I just...I mean...where could it have gone?"

First date...

So it was one year ago today, November 7, 2014,  when my life changed. It started slightly more than a year ago, and here is what I mean. I had seen a Facebook post about Halloween and thought, that's pretty rad, this girl likes Halloween and horror movies and such. Points. So, back to November 7th. I had asked this beautiful woman if she'd want to go see the brilliantly bad movie, Ouija, and she agreed. We were to meet at the Starbucks near the theatre prior to the movie so we could chat for a few before the confines of a dark and crowded room took over. I offered to buy her a coffee and she politely refused. Weeks later I would come to realize that had I offered to buy her a tea instead, she likely would have accepted, but I digress. After about an hour of chit chat, we head into the cinema. Approximately 34 minutes of trailers and 99 minutes of pure cheesy wonderfulness goes by, and we head to the parking lot. I didn't want the night to end just yet, and neither did she, so we chatted again by her car. Points. After about five minutes of this and that about the movie, I ask if she'd like to continue the date somewhere else. She kindly agreed. I then stood there for about 45 minutes trying to think of something to do. I'm sure I was quite the bumbling idiot, but I think she found it charming. Maybe slightly annoying as well as it was November 7th around 10:00 at night and about 55° outside. Anywho, I finally pulled my head outta the flustered clouds and suggested drinks at Applebee's since it was right next door. 45 minutes of tossing out ideas like trying to find somewhere to take a walk or sit on a bench or many other dumb ideas before my genius brain came up with cocktails inside a warm and nearby restaurant. Dumbass. However, we decide to head inside. I order a whiskey, and surprisingly, so does she. A beautiful lady who loved Halloween, cheesy movies and whiskey. Points. We had a couple drinks over the course of a couple hours and decided that it was time to go our separate ways for the evening. I walked her to her car and desperately wanted to kiss her good night. But I didn't want to rush things or presume anything, so I gave her a nice hug and said good night and that I would most definitely call her very soon to meet up again. I turned and walked away. Idiot. Should've kissed her. She later told me that I should have. No need to worry though, there have been many kisses since then. And the first one came only two nights later anyway. Regardless, it was quite the amazing evening. Even though it was just coffee, a movie and a drink or two, it is a night I shall not ever forget. It was the first date of the rest of my life. It was the first night out that I got to spend with the ever so amazingly beautiful and sweetest, kindest, funniest woman I know. My best friend. My love. My lady. Samantha Moline, happy one year anniversary of our first date. And here's to many, many more wonderful nights of me being a bumbling idiot, and you loving me for it.

Text - A Short Story

Today I woke up to a notification on my phone. A text from my crush. Last week it started so simple with me saying "hello there" and them saying "how was your day?" Over the next couple days, it slowly turned into something horrifically complicated. The slight intricacies of which the text can be manipulated or misconstrued. The subtleties of the interpretation are far too often left up to my own imagination on what it could or could not mean. It is up to me to decipher one of the greatest mysteries known to man. A text. Earlier today it was just a "hello," but now it's a "hello" with a winky face after it. That means they're being playful. Or sexy. Or mischievous. Maybe they want me to think they are being playful so I respond in a playful manner. "Hey there." That's good. Not too much. Wait, do I need a smiley after that? Let's see, "hey there. colon. parenthesis." Yes, that's the winner. Now we wait. 10, 15, 22, 37 seconds till the reply. "What are you up to?" But it doesn't just say that. It, of course, says, "What capital R capital U up number 2?" Why is it in text shorthand? They never typed like that before. It means something. But what? Ah, got it. "You must be driving dot dot question mark." That must be it. They never type in shorthand. Unless someone else is replying for them. They are driving and their passenger is on text duty. Yes. That explains it. But who is this mystery passenger? Are they trustworthy enough to relay my messages as I am intending them to be read? Ah, the reply, "Yup." I knew it. The driving text reply. Where are they going? I shouldn't ask that. But maybe I can meet them there. I should ask. What if they want to be alone. Or maybe they are already meeting someone there. I shouldn't ask. However, this could be a perfect spur of the moment date type outing. Ask. It couldn't hurt. Ask. "Heading home" they tell me of their own accord. I see. I have my information. They are heading home. Alone? That's the new question. I don't want to blunt. How to convey this concern without actually conveying any concern at all? "Want some company?" Perfect. An affirmative means they are alone. A negative means...I don't know what that means. Granted, the affirmative could mean that they have company right now and they won't when they get home, ie: the mystery passenger. Either way, I have now put the ball in the air as it were. I'll have my answer on whether or not I'll be seeing them shortly. My mind can be at ease. It'll be great. Or highly disappointing. The soft vibration means I have my answer. "Maybe in a bit." Shit. That's completely open ended. That doesn't help at all. Are they just being coy or hard to get or whatever? Maybe? I hate maybe. Maybe they are simply sending the ball back this way. I should ask again. Yeah. That's what they want. They want to feel wanted. "How about I come by in an hour, period." Yes. Not a question. A statement. Text inception. The simplest form. Make a statement. I'm a genius. They have to say yes. Right? I wasn't too blunt. I was fun. Friendly. Flirty. It all works out in my favor. It's been a minute. Three minutes. Five and a half minutes. Calm down. They were driving. No response means they are solo and the mystery passenger doesn't exist. Or they are home and with them. AH. What is happening?! Where's my reply? It finally arrives. "Sure." No punctuation. No emoticon. Sure is just as wishy washy as maybe. It is a bit more towards the positive affirmation of things though. "Ok. See you in an hour." Perfect. Reaffirming that I will be at their place in an hour. "K" comes back quickly. That was fast. Does that mean they are excited? Could mean annoyed. I mean, it was just a capital k and not an ok. Is that telling in some way? Normally it's an ok. Again with the shorthand. Whatever. It's all good either way. I'm gonna be there in 56 minutes. "Food, question mark" flies at me. I wasn't expecting that. Does that mean that they want me to bring food? Or they are asking if I want food. Damn the one word question. How the hell do I reply to this? Ah ha. Two can play this game. "Sure" I'm so smart. This way they'll either ask what I want or ask me to pick something up. I amaze myself sometimes at my ability to think on my feet. "Awesome. Can't wait for dinner. See you soon." The words hit me hard. What the fuck. That doesn't help at all. Time to bite the bullet. "Me either. Should I bring something or do you have it taken care of at your place?" Boom. Straight forward. Now I'll know what the plan is. If they say that they are taking care of it, that means home cooked meal and I'm golden. If I am responsible, they are testing me to see how I handle the pressure of having to prepare dinner. Either way. I'll know. Perfect. The thought bubble is up showing me the lovely reply is on its way. Here comes my salvation. Thirty seconds. Two minutes. Two twenty five. This is a long winded response. All for a simple I got this or you got this response. 6 minutes and still the I'm typing something bubble is there. They must have just hit the space bar by accident so the phone thinks they are typing. They think I'm on the way. They must be in the shower and the phone is glitching. They can't still be typing. Wait. Shit. It's been almost 12 minutes. I still have to get ready. Shower. 10 minutes go by. Pick up my phone to see that indicator of a new message. Peace. Finally an answer as I am heading towards the door. Dammit! It's my mom. "Yes, Mom. I'll be at grandma's on Thursday." Ok. I'm just going over there. We can figure it out once I'm there. Wing it, as they say. I don't care anymore. What the? They are calling me? Like, my phone is ringing. What the fuck does that mean? How am I supposed to respond to this. Shit. That's the second ring. This is a brand new level of shit I can't comprehend right now. Third ring. AH FUCK! "Hello?"

By: Jarrod Weintraub

© July 13, 2015

2:15am...

So, here I am sitting alone in the dark. What better time to write a blog on a blog that no one reads. Just want to give a shout out to those that suffer from insomnia like I do. I don't know how we manage to do it, but we carry on. It's 2:15 in the morning right now and I've been laying in bed in the dark now for a while. I even played my song about insomnia in hopes that I could sing myself to sleep, but that didn't work. I figured I'd write something and see if that settled my brain. So far, it's not working. Haha. Anywho. Most recently in my life, I've made a website for myself. It can be seen at www.jarrodactor.com if you are interested. It is a website for me as an entertainer extraordinaire. Just something that all us actor folk need to promote ourselves if the need should arise. It is still undergoing some changes and updates, but I'm glad it's there and is up and running. Also, I'm still single and looking. I am, I guess, dating people right now. Dating is weird cause there is no real commitment, and that's what I want. Ah well. Life goes on and one day I'll hopefully be married and have kids. A guy can dream...unless you're me and have crazy insomnia and never sleep. And on that note. I'll go back to laying in the dark. Till next time. Have a wonderful tomorrow. 

Hi there...again...

So...it's been like two years since I've written anything on here. I don't know why that is. I have a laptop, iPad, iPhone and crazy, chronic insomnia. So what I'm getting at is, I can literally blog from wherever I am and whatever hour I desire, and yet it's been two years. Maybe writing just isn't my thing. I mean I have been working on two short stories now, and both have seemed to fizzle out. Then I tell myself that I must have adult ADD. I do get bored fairly quickly with things, ie: video games and the like. The only things that seems to keep me fully entertained are movies. Anywho, I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again, but I'm gonna try and be better at maintaining this blog that no one ever reads. Maybe it's time I get a tumblr blog, like everyone else in the world...I guess that's all I have to say for now. So, till next time...have wonderful days.

Thanksgiving 2011...

It has just turned midnight making it Thanksgiving 2011. I thought I'd take this opportunity to make the typical "what I'm thankful for" list. So here goes:

First off, I'm thankful for my wonderful family. Without their continued love and support, I don't know how I would have made it through all these years. I have the best family in the world and I wouldn't trade them in for anything.

I am thankful for my AMAZING job at Sea World. Not only do I get to perform for thousands of people a day, but it has also given me the opportunity to meet and work with some of the best people I've ever met. Every day at work is awesome and I feel blessed that I have been given a wonderful gift.

There's my roommates and their kids (my Godchildren). I wouldn't have a home without them. They are always there for me no matter what.

Of course I am thankful for all my other friends. Even though I don't see all of them on a regular basis, I hope they know that they are a large part of my life and have helped make me who I am today.

As 'bad' as it may sound, I'm thankful for all my material possessions since at the start of this year the majority of my stuff was stolen out of my storage unit. I have been lucky enough to build up my collection of stuff to not be so small.

I am thankful for my kitty, Chase McGuff. He is the best cat ever.

There are so many things to be thankful for this year. I know I have forgotten so many things.

I suppose mostly I am just thankful to be living my life the way that I want and with all the love and support I could ask for from so many wonderful people.

Thanks for reading! Adios for now.

Bad Blogerness...

I must be the worst blogger ever. I go far too long in between posts. I think it is because I never kept a journal while I was growing up. I feel that people who kept a journal or diary are more likely to keep up with their blogs, but maybe that's just a 'random thought' I have...see what I did there. Anywho, I shall try and rectify this going forward...not that anyone reads this anyway. SO, till my next post in the near future, adios and thanks for reading.

Update...long overdue...

So it has been entirely too long since my last post. So much has happened over the past few months, so here we go.
I have been doing theatre pretty constantly this year, for which I am very grateful. I love performing so much. I did a show with the playwrights project, which was a really great experience. I am on summer break from school right now which allowed me to audition for Sea World; Something I've wanted to do for quite some time. I went to the audition and got the part of Biff in the Sea Lion and Otter show. I've been doing the show all summer so far and I absolutely LOVE it there. I get to perform for thousands of people a day and make them laugh. I get to do all sorts of goofy dances and skits. I am having so much there. My "contract" with them is technically up in September, at the end of summer, unless I get cast/kept on to do the Halloween show there as well.
The only downfall of all this is not having any free time as I am still working at ProFlowers for the time being. Working two jobs is quite exhausting. I only get a day off once in a blue moon, or if I specifically work it out for one, but usually, if I am not working one job, I have to work the other, so I have been far too busy for my liking. The only plus is every two weeks when both paychecks show up in my bank account.
Also, since my last post, I have moved out of my Dad's house in Alpine and moved into a large house with two of my best friends in the world, Patrick and Jessica. I have a very large room that is basically a studio apartment without a kitchen. I have been there for a month now and it is working out great. My commute to both jobs has been significantly cut by about half the time, which saves not only time, but gas as well.
Thanks to my two paychecks every other week, I have been able to get my finances in check. I am paying off my bills before they are due and was even able to buy a new HDTV and playstation. I am fixing up my car and getting accessories I want/need for my bike. So, to sum up and make a long post short, I am living the good life right now. I get to perform on an almost daily basis with fantastic people at a great place and I am living in a nice house with people I love. I do miss my Dad and Cynthia, but I think my situation right now is pretty great. I think that about sums it up for now. Till my next post (which hopefully doesn't take 6 months to write), thanks for reading!

Crash...

Yesterday I had quite the afternoon. I was leaving my house to go to my brother's house. I was gonna drive my car, but when I looked outside, it was too gorgeous to not ride Miss Sally. So I get ready by putting on my leathers and gloves and boots, etc. I am heading down the road, enjoying the beautiful day and I get close to the 8 on ramp. While making my right hand turn, my back tire hits an oil slick, or some reflective paint, or some sand or SOMETHING that causes my bike to slip. Now, this could have put me down right away, but I remembered my saftey course info and straightened the bike up and proceeded to hit to the brakes. Since I was in a right turn when Sally slipped, I was headed straight towards the opposite lane. I had about .5 seconds to react and I realized that I wasn't going to be able to stop in time. I had two options at this point, continue braking and hit one of the cars sitting in the opposite lane that were waiting at the stop sign (not fun), or I could crank the bars and take a dive (also not fun). I decided upon the latter. So I pull hard right on the bars and shift my weight to the right side and drop the bike. We slid on the ground and the bike ended up pinning me to the ground. We slid to a stop about 3 feet away from the cars. One of the guys in one of the cars got out and instantly helped me get the bike off me and helped me wheel it to the side of the road. I had done everything that I was trained to do and I was able to get up and dust myself off and walk away. The bike needed a little bit of TLC, but my dad and I were able to tweak most of the parts back into place and she is still ridable. I was able to "crash" correctly which means that I am able to keep riding. They say there are two types of riders: Those that have crashed, and those that will crash. I hopefully have experienced my one crash to meet those expectations. In short, I crashed, but it was with purpose (good purpose) and thanks to training, proper gear and safety classes, I walked away with a bruised leg and scraped elbow and a dinged up bike. What could have been terrible, wasn't that bad. Still scary, but all is well.

Food...

I don't know why I haven't begun doing so already, but I am now planning on taking photos of most of my food stuffs that I make. I already started to do so on facebook, but I will try and blog about it too.The first entry is what I made and plated in my culinary class on 2/7/11. This is a braised herb pork tenderloin with sweet braised red cabbage, maple glazed carrots and finished with a red wine dijon sauce.

I shall post more as I make them, not just from class, but from my own personal kitchen adventures as well. Hope you enjoy. And if ya want the recipe, I'm working on getting them all written up and posted with the photos, but that will come in time.