3.25.2006

I love, little girls, they make me feel so good...

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=12066163

go there and listen to that song. it's been in my head all week, and now it will be in yours. MOTHA SUCKA.

i'm winning in our families/sub-families ncaa bracket. go ucla! (that's pronounced: uck-laa)

this week was crazy. so crazy in fact that i will reserve capital letters for the extra emphasis needed for all the crazy things.

actually it wasn't that crazy. mainly i worked a freelance gig of being a technical operator/projectionist for liza minnelli's induction into the academy of arts and sciences (same folks who bring you the emmy's). she alone was freakin' nutzoid, but he being interviewed by john stamos was even NUTZOIDIER.

see how that had caps? that's how crazy it was.

setting up for the show was a complete mess...for everyone that wasn't me. i was literally the only technician there that had "his" shit together. not to toot my own horn...

the show itself went fairly smooth.

afterwards i went to hunt down the sonofabitch who owed me my moneys, couldn't find him anywhere. so i wandered backstage, past the "restricted access" doors, looking for him, inadvertantly running into john stamos (you may know him as "uncle jesse" from full house). my quick conversation with him went something like the following:

me: hey john, how's it goin'?
john: do i know you?
me: no, i was working the projector...but i know you.
john: ah. how's that?
me: full house man, full house. 'wink'
john: how old are you?
me: 23.
john: oh man...i feel so old.
me: you did good on clone high.
john: SCUDSWOOOOOORTH!!! <--notice it's in caps?

and that was about it. upon reflection i should have said "dude, you shouldn't have sky dived before the wedding!" alas, i didn't. snippet of conversation with mauricio regarding the above event:
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me: and then i realized i shook the hand of someone who banged mystique.
me: does that make me an x-man?
mo-mo: yeah. di du u bang ur hand afterwards? i woul dhave
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another highlight i should have mentioned before all of that, when my interns (i.e. slaves) went to help me set up (yes, i got paid for doing the gig. no, they didn't.) (no, i'm not a complete asshat. yes, i will give them some money.) we got a little lost trying to find the theater.
i saw a sign labeled "japanese garden" and decided that if we were going to be lost we might as well enjoy the scenery.

turns out the japanese garden was a dirt road to a baseball field.

WHOSE INFIELD I PROCEEDED TO DRIVE THE MOVIOLA VAN AROUND.

it was the best victory lap i've ever........driven.

all week out dvd player was missing at work, so we watched old vhs tapes of mtv music videos (when they used to play them!) from the 80's and 90's. there was a lot of prodigy, they might be giants, and depeche mode. and remember that animated mtv ad where the guy in the business suit grows insect wings and flies away? yeah, i didn't either until i saw it. man...that was total high school "korn: follow the leader" era. or better yet! when pearl jam put out the video animated by mcfarlane (spawn artist).

there was also the "making of" video for radiohead's "no surprises." that poor asshole kept screwing up his lines and almost drowning inside of his water-helmet contraption.
go watch the video, you'll get what i mean.

today i spent a few hours trying to find an xbox360. i didn't though. see, i keep having conversations with matt and pat about playing halo 2. and then i think, "i should just get a used xbox and used copy of halo 2." but then i think, "if i'm going to spend money another console, why not just go all out?"

'tis a hard life i live. full of big decisions.

tonight brenna had her crafty thingy ("last saturday": http://blog.longbeachculture.org/?p=5) a couple blocks from our house in downtown. it was pretty art fag i have to admit. but who doesn't love an art fag?

a film was being shot down the street (for the 3rd straight day, those fuckers keep making me bike around them on my way to work) so there was a brightly lit block coincidentally in front of a coffee shop ("blue nile": http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=19540546) that promotes hispanic graffiti. they were spraypainting awesome pictures onto boards, and silkscreening cool stuff onto stuff. there were also a bunch of people just painting stuff onto the walls inside....where really super super good art was hanging.

i was going to end the update here, but why not throw in the stupid phone bill i got today.

i spent well over an hour calling verizon and spring trying to figure out why there were 2.5 pages worth of long distance calls all OVER the country on our phone bill.
come to find out, someone signed up for a sprint cell phone plan and got $50 off by using a verizon home phone plan...OUR HOME PHONE PLAN.
so basically i spent a lot of time talking to fraud offices and explaining the story to a million people (actually...6 people) which resulted in a full-out war between verizon and sprint.
ultimately verizon inadvertantly clued me in on a few things:
1) it is possible for lines to physically cross, causing people to recieve phone calls intended to go to other phone lines intermittently
2) when you pay your phone bill the first portion of the amount paid goes to "regulated" service, otherwise known as anything that goes through your line that is touch tone. once that portion is paid, the next portion goes towards services such as voice mail or caller id. any amount paid that is left over from those two goes towards "un regulated" service, which would be a 3rd party (in our case the 3rd party was sprint, who apparently automatically covers any long distance calls dialed with "1" unless you pay $2.50 a month to block verizon from doing that).

the solution to my problem was paying only the amount that would end up going to verizon, and not paying the portion that sprint would recieve.

it is these things that seem to seperate my exsistence from everyone else's. i am doomed to the worst of all possible scenarios.

i can't wait to die because with my luck i'll become a blood sucking zombie doomed to walk the earth for my entire after-life. but with my luck i'll have allergic reactions to blood.

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I love little girls they make me feel so good
I love little girls they make me feel so bad
When they're around they make me feel
Like I'm the only guy in town
I love little girls they make me feel so good

They don't care if I'm a one way mirror
They're not frightened by my cold exterior

They don't ask me questions
They don't want to scold me
They don't look for answers
They just want to hold me
Isn't this fun
Isn't this what life's all about
Isn't this a dream come true
Isn't this a nightmare too

(Repeat first verse)

They don't care about my inclinations
They're not frightened by my revelations

Uh oh take a second take
Uh oh it's a mistake
Uh oh I'm in trouble
Uh oh the little girl was just too little
Too little, too little, too little
Isn't this what life's all about
Isn't this a dream come true
Isn't this a nightmare too . . .

And I don't care what people say
And I don't care what people think
And I don't care how we look walking down the street

(Repeat Chorus)

(Repeat first verse)
"Little Girls" -Oingo Boingo

3.20.2006

Go see Nightwatch

it's an awesome 'possum movie. Seriously. It's fucking great. (but not as good as Natalie Portman rapping, NOTHING is that good, http://www.devilducky.com/media/42822/)

So Eli and his lady friend visited last week, that was super cool. Although, there wasn't nearly enough video game related activity involved.

So now they're gone, and I super miss him. Sure, that's brokeback, whatever. I've been around the damn kid for like...20 years, so it's weird not seeing him often.

By see I mean play video games with.

So I spent all of Saturday playing "The Movies." It's a game...and it's a lot like The Sims, but you control a studio. You start in the year 1920 and work your way from there. Researching movie techonology, directing movies, editing them, etc. It's fucking sweet.
I played it just short of 24 hours straight. It involved no food or drinks, sans a "Monster" energy drink that I found at work. That thing was fucking nasty...and kept me awake until 6 a.m.

After four hours of sleep Brenna and I went to Universal Studios for the afternoon.

That's when the mind-fuck began.

It's strange enough going to an amusement park low on food or sleep, but ESPECIALLY when that park is a studio...and you just spent 20 hours playing a studio simulation game.

I tried so hard to drag and drop where the palm trees where, and to demolish the sets I didn't like...it didn't work.

Today I spent a good portion of my time at work shooting a video for a web commercial. Good times. Good times.
I've also started to bond with my fellow employees. There was always this weird awkwardness of going into the education center portion of the building (mainly to piss and get hot chocolate) so I've tried to get to know the people over there better.

Now getting hot chocolate isn't just a journey, it's an adventure.

Meh...I'm tapped out on ideas.

Oh shit! I've got tons of pics that Eli and Sarah took while they were here....so instead of me trying to think of the past 3 weeks of my life, how's about I just show you random-ass pictures. Woooooooo!!!

(Sorry, I know I'm majorly slacking on the updates here, but if I did keep on top of them it'd probably be a lot of "Whoa is me, I miss my friends at home, I hardly talk to them, they probably forgot about me" shit. And seriously, who wants to here that crap?)

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Look, it's ELI!


....the real Eli...and his big..."gun"


Brett, this one's for you


Roscoe's!!!


Crazy windchime lady's house (next to our house)


Yeah...I was kinda surprised to see snow too...it made me so happy, and so sad :( I miss it


My snowman.


Brenna's idea of heaven (sans me stabbing her with forks)


Eli and I getting ready to chase a shitload of birds

3.04.2006

Danielle

Look Danielle! You got your own post!

OP

So a shit load has happened since my last update, none of which has been recorded on here. I totally revamped where I work, now it's SUPER sweet. I'll take pics sometime.

More importantly OP came to visit us...randomly...with no warning! So I've taken the liberty of copying his exact journal entry for you to read (which is somewhat ironic considering OP is probably the only person that reads this). Replace all the words "I" and "me" with "OP" and you should be all set!

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TUESDAY (night)
I'm in Long Beach! I still can't believe how beautiful this place is. Now i understand why there are so many songs about this area. Brenna and Derek (alphabetical, people) live 2 blocks from the fucking pacific ocean! fuck! Brenna, Derek, Sha and I went to In'n'out burger. Then we all went to our respective areas of sleep and slept.

WENDNESDAY
When Brenna got home from work we rode our bikes around looking for a replacement cellphone car-charger for me (no dice). So I have no phone but thats fine. Friends are indispensable.
Then we rode our bikes to a coffee place that looked EXACTLY like SPOT in buffalo on the inside. It was spot on! (sorry, i couldn't help it). Then we went back and i don't remember what we did. something awesome, no doubt. I think this is when Brenna, Derek and I went to a mexican restaurant. Yay mexicans! I thought i didn't like mexican food but thats just cause there aren't any actual mexicans around here.
then sleep.

THURSDAY
Brenna had to work in the afternoon so early on we went to Salvation Army so she could buy clothes for that night, which was an 80's night thing at a hotel dealy. I found 3 awesome t-shirts. I can't believe they were at the salvation army! Aftewords Brenna had to find a post office so we drove down this really busy road, and she went down a side street to turn around but there were no streets to turn left onto! we couldn't figre it out, then finally the road ended at a T and we went left and boom! water. that happened to be Belmont Shore, hence the super-fantastic-expensive houses and boats and stuff. So she found the post office and then we ate at a place called The Crepery. Awesome crepes! everything i ate in Long Beach had the best sauce i'd ever tasted. i dont get it....
Then we went back and Brenna went to work. Ho hum. Derek gets home from work and...i think we went to Von's (grocery store, of which i already had a card from my last California trip but i forgot to bring this time). So we get back and it's time for 80's night! Sasha, Sasha's roommate(Peter?), Derek, Brenna and I all went via bus. I think everyone had a great time, Derek's and my eyes were glued to this girl who was wearing a skirt so short that i believe it only existed in 2 dimensions...nice. After we took a cab to Sasha's apartment we all hung out for a bit and then piled into her bed. yep, all 4 of us(her roommate went to sleep in his room). Brenna and Derek sammich. then sha got cold from lack of blanket, went to the couch, so we left...back to casa del brenna y derek for some more couch sleep.

FRIDAY
Brenna and Derek both took friday off to go camping. Of all the dumb fucking luck i'm by far the dumbest! =D They did this because they wanted to go camping friday night in carlsbad, and thats exactly what we did. it was FUCKING AWSESOME. we camped right near the ocean. I forgot to try some of Brennas fake italian sausage =/ ah well. The guy in the plot next to us brought some beer over randomly, and he was really nice. when i saw him walking towards us i just assumed he'd be long-winded and boring, but he wasn't at all. So now we all have to go to northern california sometime and see the gigantic Redwoods. You can drive through a few of them and he said those weren't even the big ones! shweet! Then we all went into the tent to sleep.

SATURDAY
We woke up...i don't remember what time, took down the tent and set off for San Diego! San Diego Zoo, w00t w00t. actually, correction: San Diego Zoo- w0w, w0w. thats what this bird said to us. so the guy next to us started going 'wow, wow' and everytime the birds head would move, like he was saying 'whats that you say?'. then i said 'wow wow' and it said it back! every time it would respond to me! it wants me! (can you blame it?). there was too much awesomeness at the zoo for this entry, so another time.
After the zoo (thanks for the ticket, Brenna!!!!) we went into San Diego because Derek wanted to take us to a restaurant called 'The Strip Club'... there were no strippers. Derek and I both ordered the Filet Mignon. Tout Bien Ou Rien! [French: Everything (Done) Well Or Nothing Attempted; ie: All or nothing]. So they bring you your drinks, then they bring the sides you've ordered and bring your RAW meat. And you cook your own meat on a grill near the tables! guess how much we cooked it? barely! i like my food still mooing, and so does derek, as it turns out. (if i spend $19 on a single piece of meat i'm not going to cook all of the flavour out of it!). Then we went back to casa del brenna y derek, watched a Stephen Lynch DVD (holy crap that guy is super talented and hilarious!), then sleep.

SUNDAY
I planned on leaving friday but that didn't fly for Brenna and Derek. So then I was going to leave Sunday, but that didn't fly either. We went to eat at...drum roll...
Rosco's Chicken And Waffles!
They put the waffle and the chicken on the same plate! and it's good!
Later that night Derek went to bed after we watched the beginning of some movie i can't remember the name of. Brenna decided to be a little more hardcore and stayed up with me since i was leaving the next 'morning'. We rode our bikes down to the beach. have i mentioned the ocean? "Remember when we saw the ocean? like every day?" -Brenna
We locked our bikes up and walked along near the water and saw these hilarious little birds. they'd chase the waves out, then the waves would chase them back in. Their tiny legs looked like a little circular blur. then we hung out on a closed lifeguard tower for a little bit, except it turned out that it wasn't a litle bit. i don't know how, but somehow when we got back to her apartment it was 3:30am and she had to work super early! sorry Brenna!

MONDAY
Brenna wakes me up early and asks me something, then hugs me goodye. Derek wakes me up a little later and does the same, but i stay awake this time and realize what Brenna was asking me: she made my a brown-bag lunch for my trip home! it wasn't really a lunch though, more like 87 meals in one bag. seriously, there was a ton of food in it. It was so sweet I had to take a picture of it, but i havent gotten them developed yet...
After taking a few pictures of their house and the palm tree in front of it, then unsuccessfully looking for Roscos to take another picture, i set off for the worst place on earth: my hometown. This finally happened around 4PM PST. I only made it as far as SW Utah before i had to stop at a motel. this was only like 9 hours later. wtf!?