2003: Sloganless Year

Been looking for a slogan to celebrate the end of 2003...

2003: Not NEARLY as sucky as 2002!

Back from the big holiday jaunt to KY and TN. Blog break was too long. First day back and already had a full day of work. I was the only one there, so I got to run around naked and jam to the KCRW online broadcast (highly recommended to all my midwest friends -- KCRW I mean, not the on-the-job nudity).

2003: Invading other Countries ROCKS!!

Seeing family is always good. But it's the small, remarkable moments that are noteworthy. I played ping-pong with my big sister in her basement. We had not done so since we were both very small. Sadly, it was only in retrospect that I truly appreciated being able to do that...

While the plane landed in Nashville, I did what I always do. Try to see how high you have to be before you can see an actual person on the ground. Next time you're in a plane, give it a try. It's much more difficult than you think. Cars are everywhere. But where are the actual people??

2003: Nope, STILL no Flying Cars

While at my step-mother Bernice's, I made what was probably the best rum and Coke I ever had. I think I have my new drink of choice for 2004.

2003: Year of the Margarita

Speaking of margaritas, I happened upon my pal Jason Acquisto, his wife Sherri, and their baby Anthony while in Owensboro. Yet again, someone witnessed me order a "blended margarita" only to get looks of stymied confusion from a waiter. The same thing happened a few years ago while in Nashville.

"I'd like a blended margarita with salt."

The waiter cocked his head like a dog hearing Bjork. "You mean frozen?"

I surely gave him the same look back as I suddenly envisioned him bringing me a giant salty-lime block of ice in the shape of a bar glass. I'd monitor the melting of my margarita-scicle during dinner, giving it a slurp or two between bites of rice and beans. Maybe I could request they put it in the shape of one of those rocket pops, like the ice cream man sells.

"No, no," I said. "I don't want it frozen. I'd like it blended." I hated to get condescending, but there was no place left to go. "You know, like from a blender."

Add it in with the whole regional soda/coke/pop debate.

To make me look doubly ass-ish, I ended up sending my meal back and ordering something else (an act of restaurant snobbery I've only done twice my life). The waiter was mad at me for the rest of the meal. He returned multiple times and refused to look at me. He offered more beverage to Jason and Sherri.

Hellooo! Sitting here with an empty margarita glass! I don't want another but you could at least ask me!

He walked away. "Geez! He's really mad at you!" said Sherri. It's been several days now and I still feel terrible that he hated me.

Maybe I'm Jewish.

Returned home to find I'd gotten Seabiscuit as a free screener on DVD.

WOOHOOOO!!!

2003: Whew! No Apocalypse!

Gone But Not Forgotten...

>>>>>>>>>>> CLICK HERE <<<<<<<<<<<

Time to pack for a 7am flight tomorrow. One of the things I'm bringing is my Sony VAIO laptop. For my allotted carry-on, I usually carry a shoulder bag with some bottled water, a soda, and a stack of Entertainment Weekly's (I don't even try to keep up with them anymore). But this time, it will be my awesome computer. You can be sure that this laptop will never leave my side the whole trip.

The VAIO comes with software to mix music, something I'd really like to get into more. And I also managed to get a copy of Microsoft Publisher, which I've had a great time playing with the in the last 24 hours. Geez, figuring all this stuff out... I feel like I'm back on the floor in front of my parents' TV figuring out my Atari 800XL! Now if I can just figure out how to load my creation here onto the blog. Succeed or fail, I'll post tonight after midnight since I'll be on the plane all day tomorrow.

If only I'd been born seven years later, I think I'd be a computer genius. I'm having a good time catching up.

A few more random thoughts...

- I've arranged to fly out of Burbank this time... or should I say Bob Hope Airport, as they call it now!

- Many people I know are REALLY SICK with the flu right now. There doesn't seem to be any "I'm fighting it" this year -- either you're down or you're not. I dread getting on the plane and into the recycled air. Maybe I should become one of those people who wear cloth masks on the plane...

- As the year end approaches, I can't help but be reflective about the past year and also anticipate what I'll do with myself in 2004. I guess as a storyteller, I tend to think in beginnings and endings. No plans for New Years Eve yet...

- My work office is right on the route for the big Pasadena Rose Parade and lots of employees bring their families and watch from the building roof or from our windows on the 3rd floor. It takes hours to wade through the chaos and get into position. I'm going to pass.

In case I don't get to post again, I wish all of you a MERRY CHRISTMAS. If there's no snow where you are, just watch the accumulation here on the page.

Prepped for Christmas

It's been a busy week. I had wanted to go to see "Mystic River" with Jason two nights ago, but he'd had a rough day and wanted to see some violence, so we checked out "The Last Samurai" instead. There were tons of people in the audience because of the "Lord of the Rings" overflow.

It turned out to be a most satisfying film! And that's saying a lot because Tom Cruise, unlike any other actor, really has to jump through hoops to get me past him. I have no idea why, but I feel like I'm watching a promo reel from "Entertainment Tonight" or something.

There goes Tom Cruise riding a horse...
Ah, Tom Cruise must have had months and months of sword training...
Theres Tom Cruise working up tears....

And still, he got by me and I enjoyed his film. I'm sure that one will be riding the LoTR coattails to a great profit. Speaking of LoTR... hoping to see that one in Kentucky. Everyone says it's awesome.

Yesterday was my company Christmas, party at a restaurant in Pasadena. There was much tortilla and even more tequila. The photo below includes editors Joy and Casey. It's been over 24 hours, but is it possible that I'm still full? Uch...

Tomorrow is my final full day here before hitting the plane Sunday morning. There's still a lot I've got to do, including play around with Microsoft Publisher. I've got my most ambitious web creation coming up for Sunday's entry, that is, if I can get it to work.

Do you think of ironing as a chore? Where's your imagination? Take a look here and you'll see that ironing can be a real adrenaline rush. Be sure to go to their Links section where you will find another ten or so Extreme Ironing sites (really!).

Not a party weekend. Nope. Not one. Which is fine by me. My place is a wreck and I need to get organized for the big Xmas trip coming up one week from tomorrow.

Here's my Holiday schedule for this year. It's a general schedule, plus or minus 1 or 2 days. I've gone ahead and included some landmark days from the last couple weeks.

November 2nd: I'm in a store -- any store, even a grocery store -- and see Halloween stuff on clearance sale and Chrismas decorations appearing. I react: "Jeez! It's not even Thanksgiving yet. They just can't wait to get my money!"

November 20th: It's all about anticipation of Thanksgiving. What am I doing this year? What will I bring? There are preparations to make...

November 27th: I bask in the satisfaction of a successful Thanksgiving. Someone mentions doing Christmas shopping tomorrow. I react: "Wow, you're ambitious! That's like one of the worst shopping days of the year. No thank you."

December 7: I am stunned that it is December. It's kind of a vague hypnotic daze. And some denial. I'm not in the Christmas spirit yet, but it's time to start thinking about it.

December 13: There are lots of Christmas plans and activities. I've got a couple of holiday parties to hit. I'll be in the spirit in no time.

December 16: I have made a few calls and gotten ideas from people. It's time to start shopping, but the list is incomplete. I don't like to do things piecemeal. The shopping can wait till I talk to x, y, and z.

December 20: I suddenly realize it's the last weekend before Christmas and less than FIVE SHOPPING DAYS left!! The window for mailing stuff is only open this big and they just sold out of that thing I needed for my nephew.

December 21: Panic sets in. I rush around like a crazy person. I ask myself: How did this happen? Why do I do this every year? Why can't I learn my lesson?

And there you have it... Actually, this is my plan for next year too. It's sort of a time loop. Kind of like the movie "Groundhog Day" except for the Groundhog Day part.

From the Headlines...

Dean Denies 'Eye Roll' at Gore Endorsement

Howard Dean's campaign for the Presidency received a hefty boost on Tuesday from the endorsement of former Vice President Al Gore. Representatives of the Dean campaign deny the endorsement was accepted with any degree of sarcasm, despite some reports that Dean 'rolled his eyes' while thanking Gore.

"On behalf of myself, and everyone in this campaign," said Dean at the Democratic rally in Harlem, "Mr. Gore, we are truly grateful for your leadership and your endorsement." It was at that moment many spectators report that Dean rolled his eyes, as if to indicate some degree of annoyance. Spokesmen for the Dean campaign say any allegations of insincerity are ludicrous.

"Howard Dean has the utmost respect for Mr. Gore," said a representative of the Dean campaign. "We're quite sincere when we say we're so, so, so, soooooooo grateful to have Gore's backing. Really."

Gore's endorsement of Dean sparked a variety of reactions from the other Democratic candidates. When asked to comment, Representative Dick Gephardt issued a written statement from his Missouri campaign headquarters stating: "We're just so heartbroken we couldn't get Gore's support." The statement went on to characterize the snub as "really, just a gosh darn shame."

The number two ranked Democratic candidate, General Wesley Clark, expressed his dismay at the Gore decision in a press conference, saying, "...yeah, we're all broken up about it over here." Then seemingly dizzy, Clark placed his hand to his forehead and swooned, "Oh, how will we ever summon the courage to go on?!"

Clark then immediately appeared fine and continued to discuss his tax policy with the news media.

Presidential hopeful Sen. John Kerry seemed unusually despondent at the news while campaigning in Iowa this morning. "I am deeply, deeply saddened Mr. Gore chose Howard Dean instead of me." Kerry then erupted into two rapid-fire sneezes.

A spokesperson for Kerry later denied the Senator's sneezes masked any expletives, citing Kerry's 'allergies.'

Senator Joe Lieberman, Gore's vice-presidential running mate in 2000, downplayed the brush-off of the Dean endorsement. "Despite his endorsement of Dean, Al Gore and I will always be good friends and colleagues," said Lieberman, who then made a subtle shaking motion with his hand near his abdomen. When queried by reporters about the hand gesture, Lieberman seemed perplexed. "What's wha??" he responded.

Sensitive to any signs of a fracture in the Democratic party, Dean campaign manager, Joe Trippi finally called a news conference to quell rumors of the alleged eye roll. "Any signals of insincerity from Howard Dean were completely imagined," Trippi said somewhat languidly. "But seriously, we are utterly, totally, absolutely completely flattered by the support of Mr. Gore, who as you know, wields just an awesome influence within the Democratic party."

At that, Trippi gagged, grabbed his throat dramatically as if choking, went limp and collapsed on the podium in a heap. Reporters remained several minutes, then assumed the press conference was over.

Weekend of Madness...

With my creative energies completely shut down for the holidays. I’ve become Mr. Party Animal. The kids still like that Spuds MacKenzie, right? Here’s the skinny...

Party #1: Loft somewhere in Downtown LA

It’s Friday night at 10:30 and I’m totally kicked back on the couch watching “Buffy” episodes I borrowed from a girl at work. The roomy, Alex, mentions a party downtown at a place called the “Loft.” This is not a bar apparently, but an apartment in one of those old warehouse buildings. He tells me the whole crew will be there, including Jason and Sydnee, Gary and Michael et al. Later there will be strippers. Impromptu departure for a party at 10:30pm? Why not? I’m already wearing #1 of my two $15 new shirts.

I drive to the party separately from Alex because well... this is LA. Why would we share? But I get there and make two circles around the place. It’s a BAD area of town. Bad in that creepy-abandoned-by-society way. There is no parking that I can see, but literally thirty (I kid you not!) junkies lining the street. I tuck tail and go home.

I call Alex just to let him know I’m not gonna be there (halfway figuring plans changed anyway). He laughs that I should have come on. “Dude, you should have parked at the Greyhound bus station across the street.” Alex proceeds to pass the phone around... Jason, Scott, Gary, Miguel, everyone’s having a blast and giving me hell for not being there. What else could I do?... but get back in the car.

With a strategically planned street crossing, I only get hassled by one junkie. Not bad. Then I’m in. Indeed, the place is one of those super cool, wide-open loft spaces for artists. There was dancing and a LOT of beautiful girls, but all my friends were on the roof, so that’s where I headed.

From the rooftop perch, the lights of the downtown skyline hovered over us, shrouded in a damp mist. To the south, nothing but warehouses, knitted together by a web of railroad tracks. Eerily empty streets. A barren industrial cityscape.

Good friends and frolic... surrounded by this strange, abandoned Los Angeles. This was a surreal night that will be carved in my memory forever. No strippers. Alex either made that up, or they saw the junkies and retreated, like me.

I hit the bed a little after 5am.


Saturday (last night), my friend Kelly and I have several party invites between us, and rather than choose, we opt to hit them all. $15 shirt number two and I’m lookin’ spiffy!


Party #2: Joanne’s house in Glendale hills

I worked with Joanne on a show called “Empty Next” back in 1992. Back then, Joanne and her husband Mike had just started their lives together, bought this house and were trying to start a family. Before the family part could happen, Mike died in a car accident while going to work one morning. I had not seen Joanne since hearing this news. Joanne served lasagna, salad, and apple martinis. In the two hours we were there, I think Mike’s name was mentioned probably eight times. I was pleased to see that Joanne has a nice network of friends to support her moving on.

Met a girl named Meredith who coaches actors. Meredith took issue with my calling myself a "struggling writer." She had a point in a think-therefore-I-am way, but I called b.s. Still, she was smart. And a talker.


Party #3: Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood

Kelly’s other invite was from a place called New Wave Entertainment, which was having a HUGE Christmas party. Wow! Looks like somebody needed a big December tax write off! Tons of gorgeous people, free booze, free catered food, dancing and gambling for raffle tix. We both wished we’d not stuffed ourselves so full at Joanne’s. It would have been an ideal place to close out the evening. But we knew no one, and the night wasn’t over.


Party #4: Stephanie’s House in the Hollywood Hills

Alex’s ex-roomy is Stephanie, who works in freelance production for West Wing. I had missed her birthday party several months ago, so I wanted to hit this one pretty bad and check out the house. We’d clearly missed the bulk of this one since it was already 1am-ish, but it looked like a good crowd, including Michael F, and Alton. Decorum had degenerated with several of us standing over the ham, tearing at it with our fingers rather than be weighed down by the formality of plates and forks. Heh.

One beer later things were slowing down. We were ready to move on, but I was introduced to a single friend of Stephanie’s who was on her way out the door. Hm... I think we got a good enough look at each other. To be continued...?


Party #5: Jason’s House for Poker

Every time I’m up for a hearty man’s game of poker, something gets in the way. Poker becomes blackjack... poker table is filled... I have other plans, etc. By 2am, these guys had been at it for a long time and some of them looked it. Jason, on the other hand, was sober, a devastated casualty from Friday (see party #1). I sat with $15 and suddenly the game becomes Blackjack (Doh!). I got up to $35, then it became poker again. I survived one hand, but the second had too many raises. I cashed out with $7.

Hit the bed around 4:45am. All things done, it was an $8 weekend. Not bad for Budget Boy. And now it’s Sunday. Totally overcast and the perfect day to lie around. Hey, I’ve still got 18 episodes of “Buffy” to catch! And more plans for this week...

Rock on...

I just came back from seeing Kill Bill with my pal Jason, where I consumed a giant movie size Coke that's got me bouncing around. I think it's made my teeth hurt... is that good? Combined with the coke I drank at work to stay awake, I'm on caffeine overload. The movie was quite an accomplishment of filmaking, but not really my thing. Uma Thurman is fun to watch, even if she was black-eyed and bloody for most of the movie. At least the movie was free since it's on the Writer's Guild free pass list.

My friend Mike Q is soon wrapping up his stay in Glendale, so we're trying to squeeze in what time we can. On Monday, we went to see the third Matrix movie. Was that unsatisfying or what? I think the guys sold out at the last minute and decided that their original trilogy wasn't going to make them enough millions, so they changed their ending which was NOT a resolution. Wasn't Neo supposed to be this messiah who would lead them all to freedom? And what was that he did exactly?

Anyway, last night Quinn and I went to Marshalls to see if I could find a nice $15 shirt. Now that I'm working at an office, it's probably not cool to wear the same thing twice in a week. Then Mike, who's furnishing his condo in St. Louis, wanted to go inside Ikea, which he'd never done before. The place was closing in ten minutes and my friend went nuts! He was running around the showrooms, flinging open cabinets, mouth agape at the price tags. "Oh my God! I'm paying $7000 for my stainless steel cabinets, when I could have these for $3000." "I have to rethink EVERYTHING!"

I enjoy seeing Los Angeles through the eyes of other people. It helps me to keep things in perspective with how good/bad I've got it here.

We've made plans for me to drop Quinn off next week so he can measure this and that, take notes, write down prices, etc. I can do some Christmas shopping or maybe even relax at home while he plays This Old House.

It is definitely the holidays... I've got three parties to hit on Saturday. Zero shopping done.

Oh well... rock on.

My thanks to Christine at Blogger for personally getting under the hood and rummaging around. Apparently some cat hair got matted in with the html code and the page was getting stuck.

All oiled and smooth now... zipedee-dooo!