Okay, I'm gonna load you up with some BRILLIANT video to check out!
Okay first, I was checking out the posts on the MySpace page for CANDY EYED and I came across this YouTube video (posted by Katy Rose, actually):
"Thank About It Think Think About It"
And my head exploded!
I watched the video enough times to accidentally memorize most of the lyrics, lol! (The verse about the monkeys I intentionally memorized! I laughed SO HARD!!!)
So then I did a search for more Flight Of The Conchords goodness and turned up a documentary about their trip here for SxSW last year! (It has "mature content" but it's really just language. Nothing I would be offended if Tisha (almost 17) saw.)
I also found a concert of theirs! (Well, most of one.)
And then THIS piece of absolute brilliance:
"The Humans Are Dead"
These guys are AMAZING, no?!! They're from New Zealand, and their HBO show is renewed for a second season!
I wonder if the first season is on dvd yet.
One moment...
Okay, I found an EP, but no mention of dvds. :(
The EP doesn't appear to have "Think About It Think Think About It" on it, either. :( But it does have something called "Robots", which might be another name (or the real name) for "The Humans Are Dead". So that would be cool! :)
So that's been my Monday. Watching Flight of the Conchords videos. On YouTube you can watch an entire episode of their show in 3 parts. (The link is just to Part 1, but you should be able to find the links to the other 2 parts, and plenty more video, as well.)
Um... Sunday... Is a blur, lol. I plied myself with alcohol and tried to take advantage of myself. Turns out that, even drunk, I'm not as slutty as I seem.
I drunk-dialed my Gnomey Goddess. :)
Drunk-Dialing doesn't work as well when your girlfriend lives on another continent. "Come on, baby. I really need you right now." "I haven't got the airfare." "You don't need airfare! Just look at you!" "I mean, I can't afford to fly there tonight." "Yeah, but you come over tonight and I'll MAKE SURE you fly!" "Are you drunk?" "No. Are you?" "No, I'm just trying to have dinner with my family." "No you're not, you're drunk." "Okay, I'm hanging up now." "What are you wearin'?" "Good-bye."
;)
When Brian got home we popped in 300, and chatted all throughout it. That's the second time we've failed to watch that movie, lol. (I've seen it, but I think Brian's only seen the first hour or so of it.)
I've got BEHIND THE MASK now, so I'll probably be watching that tonight. Otherwise, I have no idea what I'm doing.
Sleep. I'll definitely be getting plenty of sleep.
Maybe I'll see what's the haps in SL, too.
Yeah, I think I might do that now.
PEACE!!! :)
Monday, August 27, 2007
Sunday, August 26, 2007
KATY ROSE RULES!!! :D
After blowing my mind back in 2004 with BECAUSE I CAN -- songs "I Like", "Watching the Rain", "Catch My Fall", "Glow", "Teaching Myself To Dream" and "Vacation" are just as exciting and fresh to me now as they were when I first listened to them!!! -- Katy Rose has finally released her 2nd album, CANDY EYED!
And it ROCKS!!!
You won't find the album on iTunes or Amazon, though. The only way to get it is to go to the album's MySpace page, where you can hear 4 of the songs and see if it's your thing, then follow the instructions to pre-order it. (Look in the "About CANDY EYED" section of the page.)
I haven't listened to it enough times to know which songs are my absolute favorites, but I SOOOOOO dig on "Pornography", "Monotone," "Sloth", "Happy Crazy", "All Silver Rusts" and "Unprofessional"!!!
I mean, I love the entire album!!! Possibly the best 2nd album EVER!!! But, you know, you listen to an album, fall in love with some songs, but then after you've lived with the album for a while you discover that this one song that didn't do it for you at first is brilliant, and this other song you loved from the beginning isn't your favorite any more.
So, I look forward to getting to know the album VERY intimately, hehe! :)
I'm gonna go have sex with the album as soon as I get off work!
(But I'll be thinking of YOU, My Gnomey-Goddess!!! I promise!)
It's been a cool week. No real hassles, plus I got a new cd!
Ooh! And a couple of NICE texts from my baby, heehee! :D
The only sort of downside to everything going groovy is that I don't have much to blog about, lol.
OOH! I think I finally got BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON in the mail! But I have to wait until the complex office opens to retrieve it. (I'm pretty sure it's that, because I think that's the last thing I ordered.)
That's a bad-ass movie! Like SHAUN OF THE DEAD it manages to be both cleverly HYSTERICAL as well as genuinely tense and scary when it means to be!
BRILLIANT!
You may remember that Kelly & Tommy & Brian & I saw a screening of it at the Drafthouse for Halloween. The writer/director was there, too, for some Q&A action.
VERY COOL!
So it'll be cool to finally own it and watch it over & over.
Maybe there will be footage from the Drafthouse Q&A in the bonus material, too! The American release of HOT FUZZ has Nick Frost, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg at the Drafthouse! (I kid you not!) Also, the documentary THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED has the entire Drafthouse Q&A. So it wouldn't be unheard of. :)
Okay, the last hour of my shift is rapidly approaching, so I should get back to work.
PEACE!!! :D
And it ROCKS!!!
You won't find the album on iTunes or Amazon, though. The only way to get it is to go to the album's MySpace page, where you can hear 4 of the songs and see if it's your thing, then follow the instructions to pre-order it. (Look in the "About CANDY EYED" section of the page.)
I haven't listened to it enough times to know which songs are my absolute favorites, but I SOOOOOO dig on "Pornography", "Monotone," "Sloth", "Happy Crazy", "All Silver Rusts" and "Unprofessional"!!!
I mean, I love the entire album!!! Possibly the best 2nd album EVER!!! But, you know, you listen to an album, fall in love with some songs, but then after you've lived with the album for a while you discover that this one song that didn't do it for you at first is brilliant, and this other song you loved from the beginning isn't your favorite any more.
So, I look forward to getting to know the album VERY intimately, hehe! :)
I'm gonna go have sex with the album as soon as I get off work!
(But I'll be thinking of YOU, My Gnomey-Goddess!!! I promise!)
It's been a cool week. No real hassles, plus I got a new cd!
Ooh! And a couple of NICE texts from my baby, heehee! :D
The only sort of downside to everything going groovy is that I don't have much to blog about, lol.
OOH! I think I finally got BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON in the mail! But I have to wait until the complex office opens to retrieve it. (I'm pretty sure it's that, because I think that's the last thing I ordered.)
That's a bad-ass movie! Like SHAUN OF THE DEAD it manages to be both cleverly HYSTERICAL as well as genuinely tense and scary when it means to be!
BRILLIANT!
You may remember that Kelly & Tommy & Brian & I saw a screening of it at the Drafthouse for Halloween. The writer/director was there, too, for some Q&A action.
VERY COOL!
So it'll be cool to finally own it and watch it over & over.
Maybe there will be footage from the Drafthouse Q&A in the bonus material, too! The American release of HOT FUZZ has Nick Frost, Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg at the Drafthouse! (I kid you not!) Also, the documentary THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED has the entire Drafthouse Q&A. So it wouldn't be unheard of. :)
Okay, the last hour of my shift is rapidly approaching, so I should get back to work.
PEACE!!! :D
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Back To 3-Day Weekends!!!
Okay, I know that I only had a single 2-day weekend, but it affected the week. No seriously, I'm not just spoiled! Your body and mind get into a rhythm and...
Fine. Don't believe me, lol. ;)
As I mentioned previously, I'm a cat who digs celebrating! Even, and especially, the small things in life!
So waking up Sunday evening and having 3 days off to look forward to was GREAT!
Only, I had NO IDEA what I was gonna do with those 3 days. I had a dvd box set coming some time soon, probably Monday. But I couldn't count on that. I had some dvds from Netflix I could watch. Plus there's still more KISSology, Volume 2 that I can watch. I've got TRANSFORMERS: THE GAME, and some TV shows My Genius Friend Dave burned off TV.
So many options. And no one particular things stood out in my mind.
However, as the title of my blog suggests, I believe in Wu Wei -- "action without acting" or, more precisely, "effortless doing". I have found great success just sort of feeling out the Cosmic Flow and letting it take me to strange and interesting places.
This weekend, I think I found the very center of the Flow, and it was a groovy ride! :D
Something I've noticed is that Wu Wei is easier to practice if you have a starting position.
When I woke up Sunday night, I had one: Go see Gan-Gan! :)
Brian had to work Sunday night, so I woke up later than usual, as he tends to wake me up if I sleep too long on Family Night. Still, I woke up in time to catch Gan-Gan before she retired for the night. I enjoyed our conversation. Very cool!
And as I drove home I was SO diggin' on the summer night that my next course of action presented itself with ease: Sonic! I don't know why, but eating and watching movies outdoors just has this ineffable appeal to me! I mean, I could TRY to explain it, but why bother? It's just a weird, special thing for me -- one I don't often get to indulge -- that I'm fine not understanding it, hehe.
The thing is this: I usually simply can't afford to eat out. Not even Sonic, which is hardly expensive. (I mean, McD's, Wendy's and Jack In The Box are cheaper, but Sonic isn't unreasonably priced.)
Then there's also my hermit-ness. Once I'm home, I generally don't want to leave the apartment, lol. Lame? Perhaps. But we like what we like.
HOWEVER...
All these factors fell into my favor Sunday night!
I'm driving home, the sun is just about fully set, the breeze is warm and soft (rather than muggy, as it has been recently). And Sonic was conveniently situated almost between where I was when the idea struck me and my home! AND I had enough money! :)
I've been airing these commercials for a Chipotle Breakfast Burrito that looks SO GOOD! So I parked at Sonic and ordered the Chipotle Breakfast Burrito, Tater-Tots, Mozzerella Sticks, a Diet Coke and an M&M Flurry!
Much more food than I needed (or even wanted, it turns out, lol) but it was tasty!
I'm not a fan of the Chipotle Burrito, though. Too spicy for my taste. Not bad at all, just not my thing.
Omg it was SO NICE, though, being able to enjoy the gorgeous summer night and eat indulgent food and just BE!!!
I have heard it and read it, but more than that I have many times experienced the fact that the key to living well is living in the moment! I receive the most joy and make the fewest mistakes when I'm just living one moment at a time. When you sit with someone you love (it could be romantic, or familial, or just a close friend) in a comfortable silence, unconcerned about when one of you is going to speak next, that is living in the moment. Or when you eat a meal alone, and enjoy every bite -- even if what you're eating turns out not to me something you want to ever eat again -- and you're not worried about what you're going to do after the meal, and you let thoughts and sensations just pass through your mind easily -- no mental "chatter", just easy-flowing random thoughts -- that is living in the moment.
And omg, I was IN that moment!
Okay, so hangin' with Granny: Check. Good food in my belly: Check. (Too much, but that's okay sometimes, hehe.)
I was SO enjoying the night that I was tempted to drive to Wemberly and see if I could catch a flick at their out-door theater, but as blissed-out as I was I knew this was wildly impracticle and not likely to happen.
So next step was go home.
I had laundry to do, and I knew that if I just did it now, at the beginning of my weekend, it would feel good to know -- when it randomly popped into my head over the next few days -- that it was already done. So laundry it is!
I distinctly remember, as I walked to or from the laundry room, how much I wish I had a little tent that fit on my balcony so I could sleep outside tonight! Hell, if I had a lawn bench out there I would have just laid down and taken a nap right then and there, letting my cell phone alarm wake me when it was time to put the clothes in the dryer! It was THAT NICE outside Sunday night!
I don't remember how I occupied myself while my laundry was washing, but before it was done Brian came home. I popped in an episode of DERREN BROWN: MIND CONTROL and we drank and chatted, pausing the show when conversation started back up again.
I grabbed my laundry before the first episode was ended, and after that I popped in a second episode. We got halfway through that before conversation and an intense alcoholic buzz set in, hehe.
Brian hadn't eaten Sunday, and he finished his beer and was bumming beer from me. Then I reminded him that we had the fixin's for Bloody Marries (which he loves)... and that may have been a bit of a mistake, lol. (With the not-having-eaten thing.)
After the first Bloody Marry Brian was already in this place where he was free and chatty and just diggin' on life. I wasn't certain if I was going to fix myself a drink Sunday (I was already blissed-out) but I was enjoying the conversation, and wanted to get to that place where Brian was, so I went ahead and made my current standard: Segram's 7 and Diet Twist-Up (which is the Walmart version of 7-Up). (So I guess it would be a "7&7", if I'm getting that name correct.)
Anyway, by the time we got halfway through the second MIND CONTROL Brian and I were both plenty buzzed... on our way to "wasted", lol.
Brian felt the need to jam out to Creed, and I felt the need to play some TRANSFORMERS: THE GAME. I smashed me some Decepticons GOOD, baby!!!
And after a while I felt the need to skip the fighting part of TRANSFORMERS and just drive really, really fast, so I switched to FLAT-OUT 2, all the while just carrying on this random conversation with Brian.
He got SLOPPY that night, lol! usually, when he & I are drinking together, I'm the one that will have a bit too much and find myself unable to navigate the tight maze that is our apartment without tipping over into a wall. Not so Sunday night, hehe. I haven't seen Brian wasted like that before, lol.
Btw, I'm not encouraging alcohol abuse, kids. I'm just saying that sometimes, when your in safe surrounding and don't have to drive home, it can be FUCKIN' FUNNY!!! :D
I'm sure that if I could remember enough of our conversation to record it line-by-line, you would be less amused than we were. ;) But we were laughing our asses off! Laughing until my entire torso was SORE! It was kind of a Texas Male Bonding Experience, hehe. Brian's schedule has been kind of weird lately and we haven't been able to chat like we usually do, so I guess we were just enjoying each other's company a bit exessively, lol.
To top this all off, though, Kelly called, and he had been drinking, too. So I passed the phone to Brian and he and Kel caught up a bit, then Kelly and I talked -- silly stuff, at first, then some serious stuff that's going on in Kel's life -- and when I hung up, Brian had finally crashed-out. (This was well into the Wee Hours, like "late afternoon" my time, hehe.)
I was pleased with all this day had provided me, so I went ahead and crashed myself.
Monday, I woke up and immediately checked the mail. I wanted to see if my dvds had arrived.
Learning that Sci-Fi Channel was airing a new Flash Gordon series, I got the ache for the old animated series I watched on Saturday Mornings as a kid. I remembered seeing that it was out, so I ordered it from Amazon.com.
Oh, yeah, when I woke up, Brian was watching Disc One of KISSology, Volume 2. He was watching KISS: ATTACK OF THE PHANTOM, which I've blogged about previously. So when I got back from the mail, FLASH GORDON dvd box set in hand, I popped in the first disc and we switched to some animated Flash!
We were both hella hung-over, and Brian suggested that some "hair of the dog" might help us. I had a beer, Brian had 2, and it actually did normalize us, lol. So we sat there and watched I-don't-know-how-many hours of Filmation's FLASH GORDON series. But it was cool, just vegging there, laughing at the flaws and appreciating what Filmation got right. We only watched the first disc, but I swear that must have been 3 hours!
After the first disc, I swictehd to the pilot for the Sci-Fi Channel FG -- which My Genius Friend Dave had recorded for me, and which he had warned me blew dog. And he was right, of course. If the were going to make a Flash Gordon series on-the-cheap, they should have called ME to write and produce it! Me and my guys would have made sure it WAS Flash Gordon for the exact same amount they spent the crap they're doing. Only PEOPLE WOULD HAVE WATCHED our version!
I can let you in on this now: After watching the 2nd season of 24 I had this PERFECT pitch for a TV series: It's 24 meets Star Wars... FLASH GORDON! Think about it: 24 is a serial, a cliff-hanger seres! Star Wars is George Lucas's version of the Flash Gordon serials of his youth! And cliff-hangers were just TV episodes before TV was invented!
But think about it, even if the budget was low, if the writing and acting was good and tight and tense, like 24, the show would be something to watch! (Actually, think more Classic Trek meets 24. That's more a accurate discription.)
I can share it now, because this current Flash Gordon series is going to ensure that NOBODY uses the character for at least 10 years. Now when you say "Flash Gordon" people will say "The '80s movie or the suck-y show?" So even if I were in L.A. and talking to people, I couldn't make the pitch.
Blah.
Anyway...
So the show was as bad as I was warned, but Brian and I had some fun mocking it, but then I remembered one of my Netflix movies... DEJA VU!!!
From what I had heard about it, I figured this was the way to cleanse our pallets!!! I felt pretty comfortable that this flick would make us both very, very happy!
AND IT DID!!!
We went from B-grade to Z-grade to straight-up A++GRADE entertainment!!!
Have you see the flick?!! If you like Sci-Fi -- REAL Sci-Fi -- you should really watch this movie!!!
We wtched it, loved it, then watched it again with this special commentary: You get to hear Bruckheimer (the producer), Tony Scott (the director) and the screenwriter talking about the movie as you watch it, but then periodically it will switch to a featurette about the production of this one specific cool moment in the film, taking you behind the scenes and giving you a more thorough understanding about teh production of the film!!!
BRILLIANT!!!
By the time that was over, Brian was ready to crash. We had literally spent our entire day in front of the TV together, lol! It was the opposite of Sunday: Mellow, sober, low-key. :)
The ONLY thing that could have made Sunday and Monday more perfect for me would be having Wendy with us both days! Her wackiness when we were all drunk and her mellowness when we were all mellow... That would have been AMAZING!!!
Still, she was with me in my heart.
Even more so after Brian crashed... because I slipped in here (his room; my computer room, if you will) and watched most of ROBIN HOOD, the BBC TV show!!! I had seen, like, the first 4 episodes online, but it's an Action/Adventure show, so online quality just isn't good enough. (Those are the other 4 Netflix dvds I have.)
OMG!!! That show just gets BETTER AND BETTER the more you watch!!! I rewatched the first 4 episodes and remembered why I love the show so much, then I kept going for, like, the next 5 or 6 episodes!!! It was around 8:00 am when I finally decided I had to go to bed, lol.
I'll need to find my place again, but it looks like I have 2 or 3 episodes to go, then I have to wait for the next disc to arrive.
Bloody astounding show, though!!! I almost wish there weren't a second season, though, so I could know that the last disc would bring a conclusion to everything that's going on! Still, I do so look forward to more exploits, hee-hee! :D
In fact, I have reached the end of this blog entry, and now I will fill myself with Sherwood Forest-y goodness!
PEACE!!!
LOVE TO MY GNOMEY-GODDESS!!! x o x o x o <3 <3 <3
Fine. Don't believe me, lol. ;)
As I mentioned previously, I'm a cat who digs celebrating! Even, and especially, the small things in life!
So waking up Sunday evening and having 3 days off to look forward to was GREAT!
Only, I had NO IDEA what I was gonna do with those 3 days. I had a dvd box set coming some time soon, probably Monday. But I couldn't count on that. I had some dvds from Netflix I could watch. Plus there's still more KISSology, Volume 2 that I can watch. I've got TRANSFORMERS: THE GAME, and some TV shows My Genius Friend Dave burned off TV.
So many options. And no one particular things stood out in my mind.
However, as the title of my blog suggests, I believe in Wu Wei -- "action without acting" or, more precisely, "effortless doing". I have found great success just sort of feeling out the Cosmic Flow and letting it take me to strange and interesting places.
This weekend, I think I found the very center of the Flow, and it was a groovy ride! :D
Something I've noticed is that Wu Wei is easier to practice if you have a starting position.
When I woke up Sunday night, I had one: Go see Gan-Gan! :)
Brian had to work Sunday night, so I woke up later than usual, as he tends to wake me up if I sleep too long on Family Night. Still, I woke up in time to catch Gan-Gan before she retired for the night. I enjoyed our conversation. Very cool!
And as I drove home I was SO diggin' on the summer night that my next course of action presented itself with ease: Sonic! I don't know why, but eating and watching movies outdoors just has this ineffable appeal to me! I mean, I could TRY to explain it, but why bother? It's just a weird, special thing for me -- one I don't often get to indulge -- that I'm fine not understanding it, hehe.
The thing is this: I usually simply can't afford to eat out. Not even Sonic, which is hardly expensive. (I mean, McD's, Wendy's and Jack In The Box are cheaper, but Sonic isn't unreasonably priced.)
Then there's also my hermit-ness. Once I'm home, I generally don't want to leave the apartment, lol. Lame? Perhaps. But we like what we like.
HOWEVER...
All these factors fell into my favor Sunday night!
I'm driving home, the sun is just about fully set, the breeze is warm and soft (rather than muggy, as it has been recently). And Sonic was conveniently situated almost between where I was when the idea struck me and my home! AND I had enough money! :)
I've been airing these commercials for a Chipotle Breakfast Burrito that looks SO GOOD! So I parked at Sonic and ordered the Chipotle Breakfast Burrito, Tater-Tots, Mozzerella Sticks, a Diet Coke and an M&M Flurry!
Much more food than I needed (or even wanted, it turns out, lol) but it was tasty!
I'm not a fan of the Chipotle Burrito, though. Too spicy for my taste. Not bad at all, just not my thing.
Omg it was SO NICE, though, being able to enjoy the gorgeous summer night and eat indulgent food and just BE!!!
I have heard it and read it, but more than that I have many times experienced the fact that the key to living well is living in the moment! I receive the most joy and make the fewest mistakes when I'm just living one moment at a time. When you sit with someone you love (it could be romantic, or familial, or just a close friend) in a comfortable silence, unconcerned about when one of you is going to speak next, that is living in the moment. Or when you eat a meal alone, and enjoy every bite -- even if what you're eating turns out not to me something you want to ever eat again -- and you're not worried about what you're going to do after the meal, and you let thoughts and sensations just pass through your mind easily -- no mental "chatter", just easy-flowing random thoughts -- that is living in the moment.
And omg, I was IN that moment!
Okay, so hangin' with Granny: Check. Good food in my belly: Check. (Too much, but that's okay sometimes, hehe.)
I was SO enjoying the night that I was tempted to drive to Wemberly and see if I could catch a flick at their out-door theater, but as blissed-out as I was I knew this was wildly impracticle and not likely to happen.
So next step was go home.
I had laundry to do, and I knew that if I just did it now, at the beginning of my weekend, it would feel good to know -- when it randomly popped into my head over the next few days -- that it was already done. So laundry it is!
I distinctly remember, as I walked to or from the laundry room, how much I wish I had a little tent that fit on my balcony so I could sleep outside tonight! Hell, if I had a lawn bench out there I would have just laid down and taken a nap right then and there, letting my cell phone alarm wake me when it was time to put the clothes in the dryer! It was THAT NICE outside Sunday night!
I don't remember how I occupied myself while my laundry was washing, but before it was done Brian came home. I popped in an episode of DERREN BROWN: MIND CONTROL and we drank and chatted, pausing the show when conversation started back up again.
I grabbed my laundry before the first episode was ended, and after that I popped in a second episode. We got halfway through that before conversation and an intense alcoholic buzz set in, hehe.
Brian hadn't eaten Sunday, and he finished his beer and was bumming beer from me. Then I reminded him that we had the fixin's for Bloody Marries (which he loves)... and that may have been a bit of a mistake, lol. (With the not-having-eaten thing.)
After the first Bloody Marry Brian was already in this place where he was free and chatty and just diggin' on life. I wasn't certain if I was going to fix myself a drink Sunday (I was already blissed-out) but I was enjoying the conversation, and wanted to get to that place where Brian was, so I went ahead and made my current standard: Segram's 7 and Diet Twist-Up (which is the Walmart version of 7-Up). (So I guess it would be a "7&7", if I'm getting that name correct.)
Anyway, by the time we got halfway through the second MIND CONTROL Brian and I were both plenty buzzed... on our way to "wasted", lol.
Brian felt the need to jam out to Creed, and I felt the need to play some TRANSFORMERS: THE GAME. I smashed me some Decepticons GOOD, baby!!!
And after a while I felt the need to skip the fighting part of TRANSFORMERS and just drive really, really fast, so I switched to FLAT-OUT 2, all the while just carrying on this random conversation with Brian.
He got SLOPPY that night, lol! usually, when he & I are drinking together, I'm the one that will have a bit too much and find myself unable to navigate the tight maze that is our apartment without tipping over into a wall. Not so Sunday night, hehe. I haven't seen Brian wasted like that before, lol.
Btw, I'm not encouraging alcohol abuse, kids. I'm just saying that sometimes, when your in safe surrounding and don't have to drive home, it can be FUCKIN' FUNNY!!! :D
I'm sure that if I could remember enough of our conversation to record it line-by-line, you would be less amused than we were. ;) But we were laughing our asses off! Laughing until my entire torso was SORE! It was kind of a Texas Male Bonding Experience, hehe. Brian's schedule has been kind of weird lately and we haven't been able to chat like we usually do, so I guess we were just enjoying each other's company a bit exessively, lol.
To top this all off, though, Kelly called, and he had been drinking, too. So I passed the phone to Brian and he and Kel caught up a bit, then Kelly and I talked -- silly stuff, at first, then some serious stuff that's going on in Kel's life -- and when I hung up, Brian had finally crashed-out. (This was well into the Wee Hours, like "late afternoon" my time, hehe.)
I was pleased with all this day had provided me, so I went ahead and crashed myself.
Monday, I woke up and immediately checked the mail. I wanted to see if my dvds had arrived.
Learning that Sci-Fi Channel was airing a new Flash Gordon series, I got the ache for the old animated series I watched on Saturday Mornings as a kid. I remembered seeing that it was out, so I ordered it from Amazon.com.
Oh, yeah, when I woke up, Brian was watching Disc One of KISSology, Volume 2. He was watching KISS: ATTACK OF THE PHANTOM, which I've blogged about previously. So when I got back from the mail, FLASH GORDON dvd box set in hand, I popped in the first disc and we switched to some animated Flash!
We were both hella hung-over, and Brian suggested that some "hair of the dog" might help us. I had a beer, Brian had 2, and it actually did normalize us, lol. So we sat there and watched I-don't-know-how-many hours of Filmation's FLASH GORDON series. But it was cool, just vegging there, laughing at the flaws and appreciating what Filmation got right. We only watched the first disc, but I swear that must have been 3 hours!
After the first disc, I swictehd to the pilot for the Sci-Fi Channel FG -- which My Genius Friend Dave had recorded for me, and which he had warned me blew dog. And he was right, of course. If the were going to make a Flash Gordon series on-the-cheap, they should have called ME to write and produce it! Me and my guys would have made sure it WAS Flash Gordon for the exact same amount they spent the crap they're doing. Only PEOPLE WOULD HAVE WATCHED our version!
I can let you in on this now: After watching the 2nd season of 24 I had this PERFECT pitch for a TV series: It's 24 meets Star Wars... FLASH GORDON! Think about it: 24 is a serial, a cliff-hanger seres! Star Wars is George Lucas's version of the Flash Gordon serials of his youth! And cliff-hangers were just TV episodes before TV was invented!
But think about it, even if the budget was low, if the writing and acting was good and tight and tense, like 24, the show would be something to watch! (Actually, think more Classic Trek meets 24. That's more a accurate discription.)
I can share it now, because this current Flash Gordon series is going to ensure that NOBODY uses the character for at least 10 years. Now when you say "Flash Gordon" people will say "The '80s movie or the suck-y show?" So even if I were in L.A. and talking to people, I couldn't make the pitch.
Blah.
Anyway...
So the show was as bad as I was warned, but Brian and I had some fun mocking it, but then I remembered one of my Netflix movies... DEJA VU!!!
From what I had heard about it, I figured this was the way to cleanse our pallets!!! I felt pretty comfortable that this flick would make us both very, very happy!
AND IT DID!!!
We went from B-grade to Z-grade to straight-up A++GRADE entertainment!!!
Have you see the flick?!! If you like Sci-Fi -- REAL Sci-Fi -- you should really watch this movie!!!
We wtched it, loved it, then watched it again with this special commentary: You get to hear Bruckheimer (the producer), Tony Scott (the director) and the screenwriter talking about the movie as you watch it, but then periodically it will switch to a featurette about the production of this one specific cool moment in the film, taking you behind the scenes and giving you a more thorough understanding about teh production of the film!!!
BRILLIANT!!!
By the time that was over, Brian was ready to crash. We had literally spent our entire day in front of the TV together, lol! It was the opposite of Sunday: Mellow, sober, low-key. :)
The ONLY thing that could have made Sunday and Monday more perfect for me would be having Wendy with us both days! Her wackiness when we were all drunk and her mellowness when we were all mellow... That would have been AMAZING!!!
Still, she was with me in my heart.
Even more so after Brian crashed... because I slipped in here (his room; my computer room, if you will) and watched most of ROBIN HOOD, the BBC TV show!!! I had seen, like, the first 4 episodes online, but it's an Action/Adventure show, so online quality just isn't good enough. (Those are the other 4 Netflix dvds I have.)
OMG!!! That show just gets BETTER AND BETTER the more you watch!!! I rewatched the first 4 episodes and remembered why I love the show so much, then I kept going for, like, the next 5 or 6 episodes!!! It was around 8:00 am when I finally decided I had to go to bed, lol.
I'll need to find my place again, but it looks like I have 2 or 3 episodes to go, then I have to wait for the next disc to arrive.
Bloody astounding show, though!!! I almost wish there weren't a second season, though, so I could know that the last disc would bring a conclusion to everything that's going on! Still, I do so look forward to more exploits, hee-hee! :D
In fact, I have reached the end of this blog entry, and now I will fill myself with Sherwood Forest-y goodness!
PEACE!!!
LOVE TO MY GNOMEY-GODDESS!!! x o x o x o <3 <3 <3
Saturday, August 18, 2007
CIVIL ALERT!!!
Working at a TV station can be surreal sometimes, lol.
We have these Emergency Announcement Systems (EAS) that spit out tape alerting us when something is up. Usually, lately, it's Flash Flood Watches or Warnings, or Thunderstorm Warnings or other weather-related stuff. Every once in a while we'll get an Amber Alert -- which, if you don't know, is a warning system that happens in Texas when a child is abducted.
But usually, it's weather stuff.
Anyway, My Genius Friend Dave and I are the only ones left on our side of the station, and the EAS boxes start spitting out this tape.
Since it's usually weather, if there's no vocal message along with the tape, we tend to take our time reading the messages. 99 times out of 100 the message is something that doesn't require our immediate attention.
"The National Weather Service has issued a Gentle Breeze Warning for the following counties/areas: Williamson, Travis, etc. etc..."
Tonight's message was a bit alarming, though.
"A civil authority has issued a civil emergency message for the following counties/areas..."
A CIVIL EMERGENCY?!!
Like WHAT? Are zombies loose in the Hill Country?!! Has Jesus returned?!! Is a giant radioactive lizard rampaging Downtown Austin?!!
Luckily, whatever the civil emergency, the trouble didn't last long. It was issued at 11:24 pm until 11:54 pm. So whatever it was (he says giggling) it was over before midnight.
I'm sure it was just a glitch, because instead of saying, like, "The National Weather Service" or "The Travis Country Police Department" or something it said "A Civil Authority". And instead of saying "has issued a Tornado Warning" or "has issued an Amber Alert" it said "has issued a Civil Emergency Message".
But here's the weird part...
Working at the station, we're shut up in this relatively small room. There's a tiny, black-and-white security monitor that looks out at the side door (the one we come in and go out from).
We have NO IDEA what's going on in the outside world for the 10 hours we're at work.
When I got the message, I actually was quite creeped-out for, like, 30 seconds, lol.
To make things even more surreal, I stepped outside to have a smoke and see if there were any signs of weirdness (just to be as certain as possible that this was a glitch) and the night was just as quiet and empty as possible! I could hear sirens off in the distance somewhere, but there were very few cars passing. (Unusual, even for the middle of the night here.)
I little later I ran to jack In The Box to grab some grub, and there were the normal groups of young people wandering the drag.
So no civil emergency that I could observe, lol.
Still... The streets were a lot more empty and still than usual on a Friday night in Austin.
Blah.
Anyway...
It struck me as funny, because if I had any other job and any other shift, I wouldn't have experienced that split-second of surrealism.
And ya know... We all need a bit of surrealism in our lives, I think! :) It reminds us of that feeling we used to get when we were little and our parents told us a rabbit hops out and hides Easter eggs for us once a year, hehe. :D
We have these Emergency Announcement Systems (EAS) that spit out tape alerting us when something is up. Usually, lately, it's Flash Flood Watches or Warnings, or Thunderstorm Warnings or other weather-related stuff. Every once in a while we'll get an Amber Alert -- which, if you don't know, is a warning system that happens in Texas when a child is abducted.
But usually, it's weather stuff.
Anyway, My Genius Friend Dave and I are the only ones left on our side of the station, and the EAS boxes start spitting out this tape.
Since it's usually weather, if there's no vocal message along with the tape, we tend to take our time reading the messages. 99 times out of 100 the message is something that doesn't require our immediate attention.
"The National Weather Service has issued a Gentle Breeze Warning for the following counties/areas: Williamson, Travis, etc. etc..."
Tonight's message was a bit alarming, though.
"A civil authority has issued a civil emergency message for the following counties/areas..."
A CIVIL EMERGENCY?!!
Like WHAT? Are zombies loose in the Hill Country?!! Has Jesus returned?!! Is a giant radioactive lizard rampaging Downtown Austin?!!
Luckily, whatever the civil emergency, the trouble didn't last long. It was issued at 11:24 pm until 11:54 pm. So whatever it was (he says giggling) it was over before midnight.
I'm sure it was just a glitch, because instead of saying, like, "The National Weather Service" or "The Travis Country Police Department" or something it said "A Civil Authority". And instead of saying "has issued a Tornado Warning" or "has issued an Amber Alert" it said "has issued a Civil Emergency Message".
But here's the weird part...
Working at the station, we're shut up in this relatively small room. There's a tiny, black-and-white security monitor that looks out at the side door (the one we come in and go out from).
We have NO IDEA what's going on in the outside world for the 10 hours we're at work.
When I got the message, I actually was quite creeped-out for, like, 30 seconds, lol.
To make things even more surreal, I stepped outside to have a smoke and see if there were any signs of weirdness (just to be as certain as possible that this was a glitch) and the night was just as quiet and empty as possible! I could hear sirens off in the distance somewhere, but there were very few cars passing. (Unusual, even for the middle of the night here.)
I little later I ran to jack In The Box to grab some grub, and there were the normal groups of young people wandering the drag.
So no civil emergency that I could observe, lol.
Still... The streets were a lot more empty and still than usual on a Friday night in Austin.
Blah.
Anyway...
It struck me as funny, because if I had any other job and any other shift, I wouldn't have experienced that split-second of surrealism.
And ya know... We all need a bit of surrealism in our lives, I think! :) It reminds us of that feeling we used to get when we were little and our parents told us a rabbit hops out and hides Easter eggs for us once a year, hehe. :D
Friday, August 17, 2007
It's Good To Help...
Okay, the following story is gonna sound a bit like an email that might get forwarded to you by a religious friend or relative. You know, they kind with little pics of cartoon children praying and flashing crosses and EXTREMELY feminine flying dove GIFs and stuff.
But I'm not trying to convert you to anything, and I'm not trying to sell you anything, and I am SO NOT going to tell you to forward this to 10 people to get a miracle, or curse you with misfortune if you don't!!! (I fuckin' HATE that shit!!! I halfway believe that the reason I'm not rich and famous yet is because I INSIST -- on principle -- on breaking those cursed chains! If the story is good enough to forward, I'll usually go out of my way to copy and paste and take out that evil addendum at the end!)
Anyway, blah...
So I noticed, during one of my smoke breaks at work tonight, that my back driver-side tire looked almost flat. Over the course of a 10-hour shift, it didn't flaten all the way, so I guessed it was merely low. Probably leaking a little.
So after work I drove to the nearest gas station that sells air (what an obscene concept, right) and filled the tire up.
When I was almost through, this little dude comes up to me and tells me he needs help. He's 47 and he's embarrassed and he explains to me that he has the HIV virus and lung cancer and he lives in Georgetown (northeast of where Brian and I live, but still pretty much part of the Austin area) in the country and he just got out of the hospital and he is staying with a friend of his who lives not far away but has gone to work, and his friend works in San Marcus, and it's a long way for him to get home.
Finally, I'm done airing-up my tire and I ask what kind of help he needs.
Well, he needs some money to get gas for his truck. He says something about $8, which at the time I heard as $8 will fill his truck up. And he's talking in this stream of consciousness, words and ideas that just keep going. His voice sounds like it could break into tears, but never does.
I've already made up my mind, though.
I've only got $4 in my wallet (I had $5 but I needed to convert $1 into quarters to pay for the $o.75 air). Across the street is a branch of my bank that has an outdoor ATM. I tell him to meet me over there and I'll help him out.
This is downtown Austin, right at the Drag, but luckily the traffic is abnormally light (even for 6:00 am) so getting to the ATM is surprisingly hassle-free.
I ask what will help.
He says $30 will fill up his truck, but he's diabetic and needs to eat.
I give him $40 and wish him luck.
Now the reason I point out all the details in his story is because if you know a little bit about scam artists, you know that they often throw a lot of details at you. The best lies, of course, tread a very subtle line of details... Enough to create a world in the mind of the Mark, but not so much as to give away the lie. (I know this fact well... I'm a writer.) I also know that a constant barrage of speech bogs the human mind down and makes it more susceptible to what people like Criss Angel and Derren Brown call "suggestion".
So in all honesty, there's about a 50/50 chance I was being conned.
But my mom said something to me not long ago that made me think: If someone asks for help (i.e. money) whether we help or not is on our conscious, and what they do with what we give them is on theirs.
I believe we're all on a journey through this thing we call Life. The choices we make affect us personally, and in some great or small way affect the journey. So when someone asks for help, how we respond affects our journey, and what they do with whatever we give them to help them affects their journey.
So in my mind, helping this cat or not helping him is what's important to the outcome of my personal journey.
As I said, he displayed enough signs that he could very possibly be scamming me. So I could choose to not help him, and feel no guilt whatsoever. (I'm blessed that way.)
However...
I've been in bad situations before. Unbelievable circumstances that I could ever put into a screenplay because no audience on Earth would buy it. In some cases I received help, in some cases I had to sell my glorious and vast collection of dvds for rent money, lol. Or loose a storage shed full of a lifetime of collected memories. (I used to have a play program for CAMELOT signed by Robert Goulet. He played King Arthur in the touring production I saw, but he became famous in the '60s for playing Lancelot on Broadway. For a Theatre-geek -- and King Arthur fan -- like myself, this is HUGE! But it went away when I couldn't pay for my storage anymore last summer.)
The point is that I had about a 50/50 chance this guy was on the level, and needed help. Help that I was willing to give him, and that someone else might not be willing to give him.
Only, that's NOT the point of my story.
Look, if I were an evangelist and I were trying to convert you to something, it would be CELEBRATION. I celebrate frickin' EVERYTHING I can think to! My Gan-gan recovers from a 2-week stay in Intensive Care, I celebrate that. KISS releases a 4-disc dvd box set of footage I've been wanting to watch for 21 years, I celebrate THAT, too. I am able to hold onto THE GREATEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD for a year, I celebrate that! On of my oldest and best friends introduces me to TRANSFORMERS: THE GAME, I celebrate that, too.
So here's my epiphany in this situation: I have been blessed with enough money (at this moment) to buy what I need, buy some of the things that I want AND give a dude who may or may not be in dire straights a little bit of a break.
I'm writing this because sometimes we don't think about WHAT WE HAVE. My dearest eternal Love is going to lose her job sometime in the very near future. I've got a dental bill coming up that may take all I have in the bank. But I celebrate the fact that if this man, who may genuinely have been an innocent victim of God's ineffable whim, had not stumbled across ME this morning he might not have gotten $40 tonight! ("This morning"... whenever.)
The point, for me, is that fact that I was ABLE to help!!!
I'm not always able to.
There have been PLENTY of homeless folks that I've passed, eyes straight ahead, because all I have in my wallet are business cards and lint.
But tonight/this morning I actually had tons of cool entertainment at home AND a few extra bucks in my bank account.
So if you have a few extra dollars at your disposal, CELEBRATE!
I'm not saying go out an find a homeless person to give that money to. It's such an if-y situation to determine who is truly needy and who is just scamming you because they don't want to work a real job! I'm saying that if you have a few extra bucks in your bank account, CELEBRATE THIS!!!
Be joyous and dance and sing and drink because YOU ARE OKAY!!!
Gene Simmons wrote a book about acquiring wealth, and he begins the book by saying that if you have a place to sleep and food to eat, you are surviving. You HAVE SUCCEEDED. YOU ARE A SUCCESS! If you have $5 more than you need to pay this month's bills, you are MORE than successful! You are BLESSED!
I may have given $40 to a con man, OR I may have helped out a cat who was in a strange and scary situation.
Either way, I am blessed enough to BE ABLE to help!
And for that, I am deeply grateful!
Peace and Good Fortune to anyone reading this!!!
:D
But I'm not trying to convert you to anything, and I'm not trying to sell you anything, and I am SO NOT going to tell you to forward this to 10 people to get a miracle, or curse you with misfortune if you don't!!! (I fuckin' HATE that shit!!! I halfway believe that the reason I'm not rich and famous yet is because I INSIST -- on principle -- on breaking those cursed chains! If the story is good enough to forward, I'll usually go out of my way to copy and paste and take out that evil addendum at the end!)
Anyway, blah...
So I noticed, during one of my smoke breaks at work tonight, that my back driver-side tire looked almost flat. Over the course of a 10-hour shift, it didn't flaten all the way, so I guessed it was merely low. Probably leaking a little.
So after work I drove to the nearest gas station that sells air (what an obscene concept, right) and filled the tire up.
When I was almost through, this little dude comes up to me and tells me he needs help. He's 47 and he's embarrassed and he explains to me that he has the HIV virus and lung cancer and he lives in Georgetown (northeast of where Brian and I live, but still pretty much part of the Austin area) in the country and he just got out of the hospital and he is staying with a friend of his who lives not far away but has gone to work, and his friend works in San Marcus, and it's a long way for him to get home.
Finally, I'm done airing-up my tire and I ask what kind of help he needs.
Well, he needs some money to get gas for his truck. He says something about $8, which at the time I heard as $8 will fill his truck up. And he's talking in this stream of consciousness, words and ideas that just keep going. His voice sounds like it could break into tears, but never does.
I've already made up my mind, though.
I've only got $4 in my wallet (I had $5 but I needed to convert $1 into quarters to pay for the $o.75 air). Across the street is a branch of my bank that has an outdoor ATM. I tell him to meet me over there and I'll help him out.
This is downtown Austin, right at the Drag, but luckily the traffic is abnormally light (even for 6:00 am) so getting to the ATM is surprisingly hassle-free.
I ask what will help.
He says $30 will fill up his truck, but he's diabetic and needs to eat.
I give him $40 and wish him luck.
Now the reason I point out all the details in his story is because if you know a little bit about scam artists, you know that they often throw a lot of details at you. The best lies, of course, tread a very subtle line of details... Enough to create a world in the mind of the Mark, but not so much as to give away the lie. (I know this fact well... I'm a writer.) I also know that a constant barrage of speech bogs the human mind down and makes it more susceptible to what people like Criss Angel and Derren Brown call "suggestion".
So in all honesty, there's about a 50/50 chance I was being conned.
But my mom said something to me not long ago that made me think: If someone asks for help (i.e. money) whether we help or not is on our conscious, and what they do with what we give them is on theirs.
I believe we're all on a journey through this thing we call Life. The choices we make affect us personally, and in some great or small way affect the journey. So when someone asks for help, how we respond affects our journey, and what they do with whatever we give them to help them affects their journey.
So in my mind, helping this cat or not helping him is what's important to the outcome of my personal journey.
As I said, he displayed enough signs that he could very possibly be scamming me. So I could choose to not help him, and feel no guilt whatsoever. (I'm blessed that way.)
However...
I've been in bad situations before. Unbelievable circumstances that I could ever put into a screenplay because no audience on Earth would buy it. In some cases I received help, in some cases I had to sell my glorious and vast collection of dvds for rent money, lol. Or loose a storage shed full of a lifetime of collected memories. (I used to have a play program for CAMELOT signed by Robert Goulet. He played King Arthur in the touring production I saw, but he became famous in the '60s for playing Lancelot on Broadway. For a Theatre-geek -- and King Arthur fan -- like myself, this is HUGE! But it went away when I couldn't pay for my storage anymore last summer.)
The point is that I had about a 50/50 chance this guy was on the level, and needed help. Help that I was willing to give him, and that someone else might not be willing to give him.
Only, that's NOT the point of my story.
Look, if I were an evangelist and I were trying to convert you to something, it would be CELEBRATION. I celebrate frickin' EVERYTHING I can think to! My Gan-gan recovers from a 2-week stay in Intensive Care, I celebrate that. KISS releases a 4-disc dvd box set of footage I've been wanting to watch for 21 years, I celebrate THAT, too. I am able to hold onto THE GREATEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD for a year, I celebrate that! On of my oldest and best friends introduces me to TRANSFORMERS: THE GAME, I celebrate that, too.
So here's my epiphany in this situation: I have been blessed with enough money (at this moment) to buy what I need, buy some of the things that I want AND give a dude who may or may not be in dire straights a little bit of a break.
I'm writing this because sometimes we don't think about WHAT WE HAVE. My dearest eternal Love is going to lose her job sometime in the very near future. I've got a dental bill coming up that may take all I have in the bank. But I celebrate the fact that if this man, who may genuinely have been an innocent victim of God's ineffable whim, had not stumbled across ME this morning he might not have gotten $40 tonight! ("This morning"... whenever.)
The point, for me, is that fact that I was ABLE to help!!!
I'm not always able to.
There have been PLENTY of homeless folks that I've passed, eyes straight ahead, because all I have in my wallet are business cards and lint.
But tonight/this morning I actually had tons of cool entertainment at home AND a few extra bucks in my bank account.
So if you have a few extra dollars at your disposal, CELEBRATE!
I'm not saying go out an find a homeless person to give that money to. It's such an if-y situation to determine who is truly needy and who is just scamming you because they don't want to work a real job! I'm saying that if you have a few extra bucks in your bank account, CELEBRATE THIS!!!
Be joyous and dance and sing and drink because YOU ARE OKAY!!!
Gene Simmons wrote a book about acquiring wealth, and he begins the book by saying that if you have a place to sleep and food to eat, you are surviving. You HAVE SUCCEEDED. YOU ARE A SUCCESS! If you have $5 more than you need to pay this month's bills, you are MORE than successful! You are BLESSED!
I may have given $40 to a con man, OR I may have helped out a cat who was in a strange and scary situation.
Either way, I am blessed enough to BE ABLE to help!
And for that, I am deeply grateful!
Peace and Good Fortune to anyone reading this!!!
:D
Thursday, August 16, 2007
KISS: Attack of the Phantom
"What?" you say.
"The movie was KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park', right?
But, apparently, if you lived in Europe and paid money to see the flick, it was called KISS : ATTACK OF THE PHANTOM.
AND...
It was SO MUCH BETTER than we we watched for free on TV!!!
What we saw as kids wathcing b/w Tvs (okay, maybe this is just me, lol) doesn't hold a candle to what European's saw in the theatres! I believe this because I have recently bought and watched KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK, and now own KISS: ATTACK OF THE PHANTOM via KISSOlogy, Volume 2.
First of all... It's SO MUCH PRETTIER!!! Second of all, watching the European theatrical cut, you can imagine how KISS read the script and thought "yeah; we should make this moive." If you've only seen KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK you're left wondering "What the hell did they waste their time doing THAT for?!!" But the European theatrical release feels more like a movie and less like a masterbatory exorcise in specal effects and Pop Culture, lol.
There ACTUALLY IS a story buried in there somehwere, lol.
PLUS...
Did I mention: PRETTY, hehe. :)
So my point?
Go buy "KISSology, Volume 2" IMMEDIATELY!!!
lol
Did I mention that BOTH versionas are mind-bogglingly '70s? Oh, well... They are, lol.
Still... If you're adicticted to all things KISS, the Eurpoean theatrical release is DEFINITELY the version to watch!
:)
"The movie was KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park', right?
But, apparently, if you lived in Europe and paid money to see the flick, it was called KISS : ATTACK OF THE PHANTOM.
AND...
It was SO MUCH BETTER than we we watched for free on TV!!!
What we saw as kids wathcing b/w Tvs (okay, maybe this is just me, lol) doesn't hold a candle to what European's saw in the theatres! I believe this because I have recently bought and watched KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK, and now own KISS: ATTACK OF THE PHANTOM via KISSOlogy, Volume 2.
First of all... It's SO MUCH PRETTIER!!! Second of all, watching the European theatrical cut, you can imagine how KISS read the script and thought "yeah; we should make this moive." If you've only seen KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK you're left wondering "What the hell did they waste their time doing THAT for?!!" But the European theatrical release feels more like a movie and less like a masterbatory exorcise in specal effects and Pop Culture, lol.
There ACTUALLY IS a story buried in there somehwere, lol.
PLUS...
Did I mention: PRETTY, hehe. :)
So my point?
Go buy "KISSology, Volume 2" IMMEDIATELY!!!
lol
Did I mention that BOTH versionas are mind-bogglingly '70s? Oh, well... They are, lol.
Still... If you're adicticted to all things KISS, the Eurpoean theatrical release is DEFINITELY the version to watch!
:)
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Interresting Week So Far...
...and it's only Hump-day!
Got to chat with Gnomey a bit Monday. Weird things are happening in her life. (Not weird in a good way, either.) :(
But she's taking them well.
I got THE GREATEST email from her Tuesday, our FIRST ANNIVERSARY TOGETHER!!! :D
I didn't get to hang with her any, but there are a number of reasons that I know of that might have kept her off-line (3 things from our Monday conversation spring readily to mind). I know she wanted to hang with me Monday because she told her best mate that she wouldn't be going to the pub (as they usually do on Tuesdays). So I know nothing is wrong between us, lol. I just hope whatever is keeping her off-line sorts itself out soon.
My Sweety deserves only HAPPY things in her life!!!
GNOMEY, I LOVE YOU BABY!!! :D x o x o x o
Now, despite wishing I could have hung with my baby yesterday, I was not just moping and sad... I wasn't even a little bit bored, lol.
First off, Tommy came by and brought a toy... The X-Box 360 Elite (or "Premium" or something like that)!!! Cool enough right there, but Brian and I don't have a Hi-Def TV so we weren't able to appreciate the graphics to their fullest.
What made Tommy's bringing the X-Box over cool was the fact that he also brought TRANSFORMERS: THE GAME!!!
Have I mentioned that Brian and I really enjoyed the movie? Brian's a huge Transformers fan from way back. And we also enjoy big summer movies. So TRANSFORMERS was A BLAST for us!
The game is EVEN MORE FUN!!! It's all the action AND the virtual sensations of driving at high speed, transforming in mid-air and beating the antifreeze out of some Decepticons!!! (Or Autobots, if you choise the other side.)
After playing for just a few minutes I ran to Walmart to pick up the PS2 version so Brian & I could continue the magnificent madness after Tommy left.
Also...
Brian & I have new phones!!!
Okay, I'm not really a phone-whore... By that I mean that I never felt I was missing out on anything because I didn't have a camera, or because my phone didn't play mp3s. For it me has always been about having a phone THAT WORKS.
Sprint -- love them as I do, been with them since 1998 -- have treated me HORRENDOUSLY in the past when it comes to phones. (Not phone SERVICE, but the actual devices themselves.)
When I first got my big-as-a-shoe-box old-time-y phone I purchased insurance. This insurance covered EVERYTHING. No questions asked. If I placed my phone in the parking lot under my back tire and intentionally drove over it, I could return the husk and get a brand new phone, no questions asked.
I like having my bases covered. I despise hassle and just want to get on with my life when something breaks down. Gimme a new one and let me get back to what I was doing. (I am almost ALWAYS doing SOMETHING.)
That phone lasted me SEVERAL years! (I wanna say 5 years.)
Then it finally died.
I called, and when I told the Sprint person when I had gotten the phone she sounded genuinely surprised that it had lasted me so long. They sent me a replacement... A sexy, MUCH SMALLER phone that could access a text-only (this was about 2005) version of the Internet!!! I could check movie show times and weather forecasts online! As well as checking my email and looking up words on Dictionary.com!
This was a Kyocera 2255.
It treated me good... for about 60 days.
Unfortunately, my no-questions-asked insurance policy had long been replaced with an almost-no-service-provided policy. (You know, the type of loop-holed-riddled stipulations you've COME TO EXPECT from insurance policies of ANY kind.) I could not possibly get a replacement until after 90 days. Then, after 90 days I was informed that the insurance companies myriad loopholes meant that they wouldn't replace my non-functioning phone. Sprint, however, would be happy to provide me with a mail-in rebate on a $300-$500 phone!
Great... So I pay $300-$500 up front, mail in the rebate, and in 3-5 years I'll get $150 back! Swell!
The problem was that I DIDN'T HAVE $300-$500!!! I couldn't muster $100, much less $300-$500! (The problem with passionately following your Dream is that until you achieve it, you tend to have less money than ANYONE you know.)
The Sprint operator -- sympathetic to my dilemma -- told me that I could add a second line to my account for $10 a month, and I got a free phone with that.
Now THAT was thinking!!!
Moreover, Brian had been using a track phone up until then, and he NEVER had any minutes, somehow. (Don't know how that worked because he never talks on the phone, lol.) So I figured I could hook us both up. (And if, say, I locked my keys in my car, I could call my brother to bail me out, hehe!)
I lost the Net on my phone with the Nokias we got, but those were some reliable phones!
The Brian's phone was stolen. :( And Mom got him a replacement for his birthday last year, but the phone was just a mess of buttons that did who-knows-what, and Brian was longing for his simple, reliable Nokia again.
BUT THEN...
Last week, paying my bill online, I happened to notice that I could upgrade my phones! FREE!!!
I know I've drawn this story out quite long enough already, so here's the chase:
Not only does Brian have a nice, simple, phone with the appropriate amount of buttons that do things he wants them to do, but the phone is Net capable and has a camera! AND... He loves the way it looks!!!
We're rockin' Samsung M300s now, and neither of us could be happier!
And what this has to do with yesterday is this: The phones arrived yesterday. And and hour and a half was spent on the phone getting them activated. (The person I was talking too had their entire computer system crash while we were just almost done activating Brian's phone.)
Okay, now Brian having a phone that (a) works and (b) he LIKES is cool enough for the hour-and-a-half to be worth it.
But also...
I HAVE A PHONE FOR MY PRIMARY NUMBER!!! I haven't had one for YEARS!!! Remember that the reason I got myself a second line is because that was the only way I could afford to get a functional phone! (And I don't have a land-line. My cell phone is my ONLY phone!)
I mean... Now I have a superfluous number, as my secondary number is the number everyone I know knows as my number...
But still... It's just nice to have a phone for BOTH my numbers now!!! I felt resentful and cheated for SOOOO LONG because I owned a line that I could never USE because I couldn't afford a frickin' phone and the insurance I PAY FOR EVERY SINGLE MONTH wouldn't provide a replacement!!!
So Life is kind of rosy and cheery and fresh a new right now, hehe. :)
Now... the down-side of yesterday was that I had to work.
I didn't go in until 2 hours later than my normal shift (a Plus), but that meant I got off work 2 hours later than my normal shift (VERY Minus).
When I went home, I crashed instantly! Seriously, I stepped inside the door and PASSED OUT ON MY FACE!
Okay... I actually made it safely to my bed. But you get the point, yeah?
And the mail continues to be good to me: I pre-ordered KISSology, Vol. 2 from Amazon.com, and it comes out tomorrow, and Amazon is REALLY GOOD about getting pre-orders to you ON the day they're released!!! So I'm looking forward to some KISS tomorrow!
Oh, AND... I got the first 4 discs of Series One of the new Brit show ROBIN HOOD from Netflix!!! That's gonna be cool! I've seen 2 or 3 episodes online, and they rocked! So seeing it on dvd's gonna be really cool! (My baby turned my onto the show! She loves it, and that makes it even cooler, hehe!)
There's a bit of a story about the phones arriving, but I've been doing this for a while and I'm thinking I should get back to work.
So hope all is well with you!!! :D
Got to chat with Gnomey a bit Monday. Weird things are happening in her life. (Not weird in a good way, either.) :(
But she's taking them well.
I got THE GREATEST email from her Tuesday, our FIRST ANNIVERSARY TOGETHER!!! :D
I didn't get to hang with her any, but there are a number of reasons that I know of that might have kept her off-line (3 things from our Monday conversation spring readily to mind). I know she wanted to hang with me Monday because she told her best mate that she wouldn't be going to the pub (as they usually do on Tuesdays). So I know nothing is wrong between us, lol. I just hope whatever is keeping her off-line sorts itself out soon.
My Sweety deserves only HAPPY things in her life!!!
GNOMEY, I LOVE YOU BABY!!! :D x o x o x o
Now, despite wishing I could have hung with my baby yesterday, I was not just moping and sad... I wasn't even a little bit bored, lol.
First off, Tommy came by and brought a toy... The X-Box 360 Elite (or "Premium" or something like that)!!! Cool enough right there, but Brian and I don't have a Hi-Def TV so we weren't able to appreciate the graphics to their fullest.
What made Tommy's bringing the X-Box over cool was the fact that he also brought TRANSFORMERS: THE GAME!!!
Have I mentioned that Brian and I really enjoyed the movie? Brian's a huge Transformers fan from way back. And we also enjoy big summer movies. So TRANSFORMERS was A BLAST for us!
The game is EVEN MORE FUN!!! It's all the action AND the virtual sensations of driving at high speed, transforming in mid-air and beating the antifreeze out of some Decepticons!!! (Or Autobots, if you choise the other side.)
After playing for just a few minutes I ran to Walmart to pick up the PS2 version so Brian & I could continue the magnificent madness after Tommy left.
Also...
Brian & I have new phones!!!
Okay, I'm not really a phone-whore... By that I mean that I never felt I was missing out on anything because I didn't have a camera, or because my phone didn't play mp3s. For it me has always been about having a phone THAT WORKS.
Sprint -- love them as I do, been with them since 1998 -- have treated me HORRENDOUSLY in the past when it comes to phones. (Not phone SERVICE, but the actual devices themselves.)
When I first got my big-as-a-shoe-box old-time-y phone I purchased insurance. This insurance covered EVERYTHING. No questions asked. If I placed my phone in the parking lot under my back tire and intentionally drove over it, I could return the husk and get a brand new phone, no questions asked.
I like having my bases covered. I despise hassle and just want to get on with my life when something breaks down. Gimme a new one and let me get back to what I was doing. (I am almost ALWAYS doing SOMETHING.)
That phone lasted me SEVERAL years! (I wanna say 5 years.)
Then it finally died.
I called, and when I told the Sprint person when I had gotten the phone she sounded genuinely surprised that it had lasted me so long. They sent me a replacement... A sexy, MUCH SMALLER phone that could access a text-only (this was about 2005) version of the Internet!!! I could check movie show times and weather forecasts online! As well as checking my email and looking up words on Dictionary.com!
This was a Kyocera 2255.
It treated me good... for about 60 days.
Unfortunately, my no-questions-asked insurance policy had long been replaced with an almost-no-service-provided policy. (You know, the type of loop-holed-riddled stipulations you've COME TO EXPECT from insurance policies of ANY kind.) I could not possibly get a replacement until after 90 days. Then, after 90 days I was informed that the insurance companies myriad loopholes meant that they wouldn't replace my non-functioning phone. Sprint, however, would be happy to provide me with a mail-in rebate on a $300-$500 phone!
Great... So I pay $300-$500 up front, mail in the rebate, and in 3-5 years I'll get $150 back! Swell!
The problem was that I DIDN'T HAVE $300-$500!!! I couldn't muster $100, much less $300-$500! (The problem with passionately following your Dream is that until you achieve it, you tend to have less money than ANYONE you know.)
The Sprint operator -- sympathetic to my dilemma -- told me that I could add a second line to my account for $10 a month, and I got a free phone with that.
Now THAT was thinking!!!
Moreover, Brian had been using a track phone up until then, and he NEVER had any minutes, somehow. (Don't know how that worked because he never talks on the phone, lol.) So I figured I could hook us both up. (And if, say, I locked my keys in my car, I could call my brother to bail me out, hehe!)
I lost the Net on my phone with the Nokias we got, but those were some reliable phones!
The Brian's phone was stolen. :( And Mom got him a replacement for his birthday last year, but the phone was just a mess of buttons that did who-knows-what, and Brian was longing for his simple, reliable Nokia again.
BUT THEN...
Last week, paying my bill online, I happened to notice that I could upgrade my phones! FREE!!!
I know I've drawn this story out quite long enough already, so here's the chase:
Not only does Brian have a nice, simple, phone with the appropriate amount of buttons that do things he wants them to do, but the phone is Net capable and has a camera! AND... He loves the way it looks!!!
We're rockin' Samsung M300s now, and neither of us could be happier!
And what this has to do with yesterday is this: The phones arrived yesterday. And and hour and a half was spent on the phone getting them activated. (The person I was talking too had their entire computer system crash while we were just almost done activating Brian's phone.)
Okay, now Brian having a phone that (a) works and (b) he LIKES is cool enough for the hour-and-a-half to be worth it.
But also...
I HAVE A PHONE FOR MY PRIMARY NUMBER!!! I haven't had one for YEARS!!! Remember that the reason I got myself a second line is because that was the only way I could afford to get a functional phone! (And I don't have a land-line. My cell phone is my ONLY phone!)
I mean... Now I have a superfluous number, as my secondary number is the number everyone I know knows as my number...
But still... It's just nice to have a phone for BOTH my numbers now!!! I felt resentful and cheated for SOOOO LONG because I owned a line that I could never USE because I couldn't afford a frickin' phone and the insurance I PAY FOR EVERY SINGLE MONTH wouldn't provide a replacement!!!
So Life is kind of rosy and cheery and fresh a new right now, hehe. :)
Now... the down-side of yesterday was that I had to work.
I didn't go in until 2 hours later than my normal shift (a Plus), but that meant I got off work 2 hours later than my normal shift (VERY Minus).
When I went home, I crashed instantly! Seriously, I stepped inside the door and PASSED OUT ON MY FACE!
Okay... I actually made it safely to my bed. But you get the point, yeah?
And the mail continues to be good to me: I pre-ordered KISSology, Vol. 2 from Amazon.com, and it comes out tomorrow, and Amazon is REALLY GOOD about getting pre-orders to you ON the day they're released!!! So I'm looking forward to some KISS tomorrow!
Oh, AND... I got the first 4 discs of Series One of the new Brit show ROBIN HOOD from Netflix!!! That's gonna be cool! I've seen 2 or 3 episodes online, and they rocked! So seeing it on dvd's gonna be really cool! (My baby turned my onto the show! She loves it, and that makes it even cooler, hehe!)
There's a bit of a story about the phones arriving, but I've been doing this for a while and I'm thinking I should get back to work.
So hope all is well with you!!! :D
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Groovy Sunday
Okay, how perfect is my life...?
I got me some Gnomey Time before work yesterday, then she was waiting for me when I got home this morning! I had me some QUALITY GNOMEY TIME!!! :D
Omg I LOVE that woman!
It's my turn to buy Sunday Dinner, and on my way to Whataburger I stopped off to buy some beer and found BUFFY Issue #5 on sale!!!
So I got me some brand new Joss goodness!!!
And to top it all off I just finished a Ranch House Burger combo while watching an episode of MAVERICK. (A GOOD episode, so far, too!)
It's about 11:30 pm where my baby is, and she hasn't been feeling well lately, so she may already be asleep, bless her. But her being here with me is just about the only thing I can imagine to make this day any better!
Still, she gave me so much loving over the past 24 hours I'm filled to the brim and glowing!
LIFE IS GOOD!!!
OH! And...
Night before last I spent the last 3 hours of my shift doing my job and watching THE SIMPSONS MOVIE online!!!
Fantastic flick! Better than I hoped! I can't wait to see it in the theater, tho'! Watching a movie online just isn't NEARLY the same as the real thing.
Ooh! MAVERICK is getting better! I love that show. And the character. Frickin' CLASSIC character!!! (Particularly the James Garner Maverick. Brett. Though Mel Gibson was a great Bret Maverick, too.)
Okay, I'm gonna finish watching the show then Brian & I are off to visit Gan-Gan.
PEACE!!! :)
I got me some Gnomey Time before work yesterday, then she was waiting for me when I got home this morning! I had me some QUALITY GNOMEY TIME!!! :D
Omg I LOVE that woman!
It's my turn to buy Sunday Dinner, and on my way to Whataburger I stopped off to buy some beer and found BUFFY Issue #5 on sale!!!
So I got me some brand new Joss goodness!!!
And to top it all off I just finished a Ranch House Burger combo while watching an episode of MAVERICK. (A GOOD episode, so far, too!)
It's about 11:30 pm where my baby is, and she hasn't been feeling well lately, so she may already be asleep, bless her. But her being here with me is just about the only thing I can imagine to make this day any better!
Still, she gave me so much loving over the past 24 hours I'm filled to the brim and glowing!
LIFE IS GOOD!!!
OH! And...
Night before last I spent the last 3 hours of my shift doing my job and watching THE SIMPSONS MOVIE online!!!
Fantastic flick! Better than I hoped! I can't wait to see it in the theater, tho'! Watching a movie online just isn't NEARLY the same as the real thing.
Ooh! MAVERICK is getting better! I love that show. And the character. Frickin' CLASSIC character!!! (Particularly the James Garner Maverick. Brett. Though Mel Gibson was a great Bret Maverick, too.)
Okay, I'm gonna finish watching the show then Brian & I are off to visit Gan-Gan.
PEACE!!! :)
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
MAN WHAT A DAY!!! :D
The day started off at a sprint...
I had set my alarm for 9:00 am so I could get up and get ready by the time Traci and her step-brother, Steven, got here.
Brian woke me up, tapping on my door at 9:47 am, my alarm blaring but having failed to wake me, lol.
I hopped in the shower and threw on some clothes. Traci and Steven were chatting with Brian in the living room as I got out of the shower.
Brian didn't get to go. :( He gets migranes sometimes, and this morning he still had one after having one all day yesterday. So he stayed home.
I didn't have time to eat -- and amusement park food is always hella-expensive -- so I swung by Jack In The Box for a Crissant Sandwich and a Big Breakfast Burrito, which I ate as I drove.
The conversation on the way to San Antonio was fun. Steven turns out to be a thoroughly wierd and fun cat! (This is the first time I've ever spent any real time with him, so we were getting to know each other.) And Traci's always fun to hang with.
The first REAL TREAT of the day came when we were about 20 minutes away from Fiesta Texas...
MY BABY CALLED ME!!!
It was SO COOL! My phone rang a little after noon and I'm all "Who on Earth could be calling me at this hour" (because I'm usually well asleep at noon) and a look at the Caller ID and IT'S MY GNOMEY GODDESS!!! She sounded good and in good spirits and was just ringing to make sure I was good and let me know she was getting off from work.
It turns out she hadn't been able to check her emails and she didn't know that I was going to be in San Antonio today, bless her.
But it was SOOOOOOOO GREAT to hear her voice!!!
What an AMAZING start to my day!!!
The only thing better would have been if she could have been with us!
And if Brian had been feeling better and was there, too! How cool would THAT have been!
The first thing we did, before we even got into the park, was to locate a large family in the parking lot and see if they needed a ticket. Traci didn't want a free ticket to go to waste. They actually did need one for their youngest daughter, so that was quick and easy. :)
Inside the park, we went to the closest roller coaster: The Boomerang.
This bad-boy shoots you up a ramp backwards, then drops you forward through 3 loops, then shoots you backwards through those 3 loops and back into the starting position.
BRILLIANT!!!
An EXCELLENT way to reintroduce me to the bliss and terror of roller coasters!!!
I laughed so hard that my stomach was hurting before the ride was through!
I was genuinely surprised to discover that at 36, I just had NO anxiety about these rides! As a teen I didn't have the courage to try every ride at a carnival or amusement park. And I was bolder as a teen than as a kid. But in my 20s I could ride just about anything, but I remember have a bit of anxiety before attempting some of the more outrageous rides.
So it was interesting to discover that I no longer seem to have any reservations. I suspect it's my long absence for amusement parks. It's been so long since my body and mind got to experience such intense and unnatural sensations that it must crave them on some level.
Maybe. I dunno. Doesn't matter, really, lol.
The next ride, I think, was the Superman Krypton Coaster!
(This is not, I'd like to note, the ride on which a patron lost his/her legs recently. That was a different state and a different ride. It was called the Superman something-or-other, but not the same type of ride. It might not have even been a coaster.)
This baby was FAST and WILD!!! Fiesta Texas Online says that "The only floorless coaster in the south west, Superman treats riders to six inversions and a 170 foot drop that barely misses the quarry walls."
That sounds right to me. :)
We rode it twice!
Not consecutively... We rode it, then rode a bunch of other stuff, then came back to ride it again before the day was over.
We also roade the Road Runner Express a couple of times. (It's one of the ones that doesn't do loops, but it's FAST and exciting!)
There's this ridiculously insane ride call the Poltergeist!!! Good lord! It starts off at 0-60 miles an hour in under 3 seconds and just HURLS you through this super-tight maze of loops and twists and turns!!! I think US Air Force fighter pilots ride this thing as part of their training, lol! ;)
We didn't get to go on the newest coaster, Tony Hawk's Big Spin. :( The line was just ridiculously long.
Traci had told me that since her 20s, amusement park lines had dropped considerably. I found this to be true. I remember that every time I had been to Six Flags in Fort Worth we would wait a couple of hours to get on any given ride. Today we could wait as little as 3 minutes to get on some rides.
Tony Hawk's Big Spin would have been easily an hour wait. (The sign said "approximately 45 minutes from this point" but I suspect they fudge the time on those signs so as not to discourage the patrons.)
The Rattler was the only coaster we didn't go on. It's the wooden one that sways from side to side when you ride it, and Traci assured me that something about the way it vibrates you ensures you a headache for the next day and a half. A headache (granted, a rather intense one) was the reason Brian wasn't with us today, so I had no interest in risking it.
It was super hot today, so we HAD TO go on a couple of the water rides! :)
The first one we went on was the Gully Washer. Fiesta Texas Online says this is a 2-minute ride, but fails to mention that on a hot Summer day -- even a weekday -- you're going to wait an hour to get on it.
Which will not stop you from getting in line, because the promise of getting splashed is SO ENTICING at that point!
Plus, it's a fun 2 minutes! You're in this large plastic cylinder with a tube bottom, and you just go sloshing around the rapids, casually bumping into walls and spinning, and every once in a while you go under a waterfall and get cooled off, hehe.
Then more fast rides, then we hit the Power Surge for a proper drenching. This thing just drops you down a shoot, creating an ENORMOUS splash! There is an observation bridge above the point of impact, and spectators waiting to cool themselves off with that splash, lol!
It's really groovy!
After the ride, Steven felt the need to get thoroughly soaked, so he went and stood on the bridge through 2 more rides, lol.
Traci and I were happy with the rather thorough drenching the ride had provided us with, lol.
If you haven't just observed a hu-normous spalsh recently, I recommend it! There's just something really groovy about watching a gigantic amount of displaced water crashing over stuff that's really quite satisfying! :)
Let's see...
We rode the Wagon Wheel, these swing thingies -- that you hang from and it spins you around really high and really fast, so you get to imagine you're Criss Angel levitating... really fast -- and also Scooby Doo Ghostblasters.
The Scooby Doo one is cute... You ride in these cars through this black-lit maze done up like a cartoon haunted mansion, and your car has this gun thingy that you use to shoot targets with.
But the coolest part is that it's a really long wait INDOORS, IN AIR CONDITIONING, lol!!!
The wait was brilliant! I think my core temperature dropped down to almost-normal in there! (Did I mention it was a hot day today?)
We left around 6:00 pm, and the ride back to Austin was around 2 hours long, because of traffic.
It was GREAT day!!!
When got home Brian was in good spirits! His headache had persisted until Tommy stopped by. But during the course of hanging with Tommy the headache abated. He said "It feels like I removed the nail from my brain yesterday," which is an improvement, since the "nail" in his head had actually only been "removed" a few hours before, lol.
ALSO...
Brian informed me that TNMT came out on dvd today!!!
I still hadn't sen it!
So I rushed to Walmart, and discovered that THE SIMPSONS: SEASON 10 is out also!!! So bought them both and Brian and I watched TNMT!
GOOD flick!!! They did a great job with it, and I can't wait to see if there's a sequel! This was more like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I remember from the original comics, back when the series first came out!
After the movie, Brian crashed and I discovered that I was in need of some sleep, too, hehe.
I slept until 4:00 am, then hopped online to see if my baby was going to log on before work. It's now 7:20 am, so she's been working for at least 20 minutes. Maybe more, though, because she might have had to go in early.
I'm hungry, so I think I'm gonna cook a small pizza and watch me some SIMPSONS, heehee!
Hope your day is full of fun!
And Gnomey: I LOVE YOU!!! x o x o x o :D
I had set my alarm for 9:00 am so I could get up and get ready by the time Traci and her step-brother, Steven, got here.
Brian woke me up, tapping on my door at 9:47 am, my alarm blaring but having failed to wake me, lol.
I hopped in the shower and threw on some clothes. Traci and Steven were chatting with Brian in the living room as I got out of the shower.
Brian didn't get to go. :( He gets migranes sometimes, and this morning he still had one after having one all day yesterday. So he stayed home.
I didn't have time to eat -- and amusement park food is always hella-expensive -- so I swung by Jack In The Box for a Crissant Sandwich and a Big Breakfast Burrito, which I ate as I drove.
The conversation on the way to San Antonio was fun. Steven turns out to be a thoroughly wierd and fun cat! (This is the first time I've ever spent any real time with him, so we were getting to know each other.) And Traci's always fun to hang with.
The first REAL TREAT of the day came when we were about 20 minutes away from Fiesta Texas...
MY BABY CALLED ME!!!
It was SO COOL! My phone rang a little after noon and I'm all "Who on Earth could be calling me at this hour" (because I'm usually well asleep at noon) and a look at the Caller ID and IT'S MY GNOMEY GODDESS!!! She sounded good and in good spirits and was just ringing to make sure I was good and let me know she was getting off from work.
It turns out she hadn't been able to check her emails and she didn't know that I was going to be in San Antonio today, bless her.
But it was SOOOOOOOO GREAT to hear her voice!!!
What an AMAZING start to my day!!!
The only thing better would have been if she could have been with us!
And if Brian had been feeling better and was there, too! How cool would THAT have been!
The first thing we did, before we even got into the park, was to locate a large family in the parking lot and see if they needed a ticket. Traci didn't want a free ticket to go to waste. They actually did need one for their youngest daughter, so that was quick and easy. :)
Inside the park, we went to the closest roller coaster: The Boomerang.
This bad-boy shoots you up a ramp backwards, then drops you forward through 3 loops, then shoots you backwards through those 3 loops and back into the starting position.
BRILLIANT!!!
An EXCELLENT way to reintroduce me to the bliss and terror of roller coasters!!!
I laughed so hard that my stomach was hurting before the ride was through!
I was genuinely surprised to discover that at 36, I just had NO anxiety about these rides! As a teen I didn't have the courage to try every ride at a carnival or amusement park. And I was bolder as a teen than as a kid. But in my 20s I could ride just about anything, but I remember have a bit of anxiety before attempting some of the more outrageous rides.
So it was interesting to discover that I no longer seem to have any reservations. I suspect it's my long absence for amusement parks. It's been so long since my body and mind got to experience such intense and unnatural sensations that it must crave them on some level.
Maybe. I dunno. Doesn't matter, really, lol.
The next ride, I think, was the Superman Krypton Coaster!
(This is not, I'd like to note, the ride on which a patron lost his/her legs recently. That was a different state and a different ride. It was called the Superman something-or-other, but not the same type of ride. It might not have even been a coaster.)
This baby was FAST and WILD!!! Fiesta Texas Online says that "The only floorless coaster in the south west, Superman treats riders to six inversions and a 170 foot drop that barely misses the quarry walls."
That sounds right to me. :)
We rode it twice!
Not consecutively... We rode it, then rode a bunch of other stuff, then came back to ride it again before the day was over.
We also roade the Road Runner Express a couple of times. (It's one of the ones that doesn't do loops, but it's FAST and exciting!)
There's this ridiculously insane ride call the Poltergeist!!! Good lord! It starts off at 0-60 miles an hour in under 3 seconds and just HURLS you through this super-tight maze of loops and twists and turns!!! I think US Air Force fighter pilots ride this thing as part of their training, lol! ;)
We didn't get to go on the newest coaster, Tony Hawk's Big Spin. :( The line was just ridiculously long.
Traci had told me that since her 20s, amusement park lines had dropped considerably. I found this to be true. I remember that every time I had been to Six Flags in Fort Worth we would wait a couple of hours to get on any given ride. Today we could wait as little as 3 minutes to get on some rides.
Tony Hawk's Big Spin would have been easily an hour wait. (The sign said "approximately 45 minutes from this point" but I suspect they fudge the time on those signs so as not to discourage the patrons.)
The Rattler was the only coaster we didn't go on. It's the wooden one that sways from side to side when you ride it, and Traci assured me that something about the way it vibrates you ensures you a headache for the next day and a half. A headache (granted, a rather intense one) was the reason Brian wasn't with us today, so I had no interest in risking it.
It was super hot today, so we HAD TO go on a couple of the water rides! :)
The first one we went on was the Gully Washer. Fiesta Texas Online says this is a 2-minute ride, but fails to mention that on a hot Summer day -- even a weekday -- you're going to wait an hour to get on it.
Which will not stop you from getting in line, because the promise of getting splashed is SO ENTICING at that point!
Plus, it's a fun 2 minutes! You're in this large plastic cylinder with a tube bottom, and you just go sloshing around the rapids, casually bumping into walls and spinning, and every once in a while you go under a waterfall and get cooled off, hehe.
Then more fast rides, then we hit the Power Surge for a proper drenching. This thing just drops you down a shoot, creating an ENORMOUS splash! There is an observation bridge above the point of impact, and spectators waiting to cool themselves off with that splash, lol!
It's really groovy!
After the ride, Steven felt the need to get thoroughly soaked, so he went and stood on the bridge through 2 more rides, lol.
Traci and I were happy with the rather thorough drenching the ride had provided us with, lol.
If you haven't just observed a hu-normous spalsh recently, I recommend it! There's just something really groovy about watching a gigantic amount of displaced water crashing over stuff that's really quite satisfying! :)
Let's see...
We rode the Wagon Wheel, these swing thingies -- that you hang from and it spins you around really high and really fast, so you get to imagine you're Criss Angel levitating... really fast -- and also Scooby Doo Ghostblasters.
The Scooby Doo one is cute... You ride in these cars through this black-lit maze done up like a cartoon haunted mansion, and your car has this gun thingy that you use to shoot targets with.
But the coolest part is that it's a really long wait INDOORS, IN AIR CONDITIONING, lol!!!
The wait was brilliant! I think my core temperature dropped down to almost-normal in there! (Did I mention it was a hot day today?)
We left around 6:00 pm, and the ride back to Austin was around 2 hours long, because of traffic.
It was GREAT day!!!
When got home Brian was in good spirits! His headache had persisted until Tommy stopped by. But during the course of hanging with Tommy the headache abated. He said "It feels like I removed the nail from my brain yesterday," which is an improvement, since the "nail" in his head had actually only been "removed" a few hours before, lol.
ALSO...
Brian informed me that TNMT came out on dvd today!!!
I still hadn't sen it!
So I rushed to Walmart, and discovered that THE SIMPSONS: SEASON 10 is out also!!! So bought them both and Brian and I watched TNMT!
GOOD flick!!! They did a great job with it, and I can't wait to see if there's a sequel! This was more like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles I remember from the original comics, back when the series first came out!
After the movie, Brian crashed and I discovered that I was in need of some sleep, too, hehe.
I slept until 4:00 am, then hopped online to see if my baby was going to log on before work. It's now 7:20 am, so she's been working for at least 20 minutes. Maybe more, though, because she might have had to go in early.
I'm hungry, so I think I'm gonna cook a small pizza and watch me some SIMPSONS, heehee!
Hope your day is full of fun!
And Gnomey: I LOVE YOU!!! x o x o x o :D
Monday, August 06, 2007
HOT FUZZ RULES!!!
It's been playing ever since I got it from the mail Sunday morning, lol!
Seriously, it's one of those dvds that after it sits on the menu for a cycle or two it automatically plays itself, and so it has been running continuously!
And the really funny thing is that Brian and I keep watching it! I mean, when we got back from seeing Gan-Gan last night Brian watched it as I blogged, then I joined him in watching it, then I popped in the Extras disc and we watched that until I had to go to sleep. But when I woke up this morning Brian was dead asleep with the movie playing again.
I had to go to the dentist early (my crown has come off and they needed to re-cement it, plus I was long overdue for a cleaning and so they took care of that while I was there) and when I got back Brian was awake and laughing at the flick!
That's kind of the crazy thing about this non-stop-Hot-Fuzz... IT CONTINUES TO MAKE US LAUGH! HARD!!!
Those guys put SO MUCH into that flick! Just layers and layers of cleverness!
Andrew Wright and Simon Pegg RULE!!!
Can't wait to see their next movie!
Also, I'd like to get a hold of some of their scripts, because I want to learn to write like they do!
I was about to say that it would be cool to see what an American version of their style of comedy would be like, then I remembered that SCRUBS is basically that. (In a hospital, though, of course.)
Big day tomorrow...
It's now 1:46 pm, and when I said "when I woke up this morning" I was literally talking about this morning. 8:00 am. I've flipped my sleep schedule this weekend for 2 reasons. The first was the need to see the dentist.
The second is that my friend Traci scored some passes to Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, and she invited Brian and me to go with her!
I can't remember how many years it's been since I've been to an amusement park!!! I love park rides, and I just haven't had the opportunity to go in well over 15 years!
So I'm looking forward to that!
Ooh! That's something else I can't wait to do with My Wendy Lady!!! Amusement Park!!!
Speaking of whom, I'm sitting vigil until 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm, hoping I'll bump into her online! I won't be online tomorrow -- not until she's well asleep -- so I'm hoping she'll log on today.
Wish me luck!
AND WATCH HOT FUZZ, hehe!
:D
Seriously, it's one of those dvds that after it sits on the menu for a cycle or two it automatically plays itself, and so it has been running continuously!
And the really funny thing is that Brian and I keep watching it! I mean, when we got back from seeing Gan-Gan last night Brian watched it as I blogged, then I joined him in watching it, then I popped in the Extras disc and we watched that until I had to go to sleep. But when I woke up this morning Brian was dead asleep with the movie playing again.
I had to go to the dentist early (my crown has come off and they needed to re-cement it, plus I was long overdue for a cleaning and so they took care of that while I was there) and when I got back Brian was awake and laughing at the flick!
That's kind of the crazy thing about this non-stop-Hot-Fuzz... IT CONTINUES TO MAKE US LAUGH! HARD!!!
Those guys put SO MUCH into that flick! Just layers and layers of cleverness!
Andrew Wright and Simon Pegg RULE!!!
Can't wait to see their next movie!
Also, I'd like to get a hold of some of their scripts, because I want to learn to write like they do!
I was about to say that it would be cool to see what an American version of their style of comedy would be like, then I remembered that SCRUBS is basically that. (In a hospital, though, of course.)
Big day tomorrow...
It's now 1:46 pm, and when I said "when I woke up this morning" I was literally talking about this morning. 8:00 am. I've flipped my sleep schedule this weekend for 2 reasons. The first was the need to see the dentist.
The second is that my friend Traci scored some passes to Fiesta Texas in San Antonio, and she invited Brian and me to go with her!
I can't remember how many years it's been since I've been to an amusement park!!! I love park rides, and I just haven't had the opportunity to go in well over 15 years!
So I'm looking forward to that!
Ooh! That's something else I can't wait to do with My Wendy Lady!!! Amusement Park!!!
Speaking of whom, I'm sitting vigil until 5:00 pm or 6:00 pm, hoping I'll bump into her online! I won't be online tomorrow -- not until she's well asleep -- so I'm hoping she'll log on today.
Wish me luck!
AND WATCH HOT FUZZ, hehe!
:D
Sunday, August 05, 2007
My Dinner With Gan-Gan
Actually... There was no dinner...
I was going for a literary allusion...
Kind of...
But not a very apt one, really...
Brian and I went to visit our Gan-Gan (Mom's mom) in a "rehabilitation home" thingy tonight.
See Gan-Gan got sick 3 weeks ago and was taken into the hospital, where she stayed in an Intensive Care Unit for 2 of those weeks. Somehow her body was producing too much ammonia. (Which is bad. I mean, our bodies produce ammonia as a bi-product of digestion, but usually our liver turns it into urea and we... um... it comes out in our tinkles.)
And I'll be honest, I was a bit scared about what the visit might be like. When we saw Gan-Gan in the hospital, she wasn't Gan-Gan. Gan-Gan has a very distinct personality: Strong opinions which she keeps to herself in knowing silences when her opinion is not actively sought, quick to laugh at the absurdities everyday situations that most people don't even notices (though you wouldn't even spot the laugh if you didn't recognize the absurdity of the situation yourself), and always loving and supportive (unless she discovers that you've started smoking again after having successfully quit for 4 months).
But the woman in that ICU when Brian and Mom and I visited wasn't Gan-Gan. You could see Gan-Gan peaking out from the eyes. But the rest was just an old woman's body, sort of lifeless.
But for 2 1/2 years now, Sunday Night has transformed into Family Night, and so Brian and I WERE going to start spending Sunday Nights with Gan-Gan in this home in which the hospital placed her. (Mom hasn't found a place for her in Louisianna, yet, and we're not rich folk, so this hospital-recommended rehabilitation home thingy is the best any of us can do for now. (Btw, pray for Mom or me to win the lottery soon, lol.)
Brian and I were both SO PLEASED and encouraged, however, to see our Gan-Gan tonight!!! She's in a wheelchair for now, but that's acceptable, as long as she's in there.
And you may think I'm being poetic or melodramatic when I talk about seeing her in the ICU and her "peaking out through the eyes" of this body that wasn't hers (unless, God forbid, you've experienced this yourself; if possible, may you never see a loved one in that condition), but that's not just imagery. She told me this evening that she feels as though she woke up one morning in a different house with everyone telling her it's 3 weeks later. It's very much like she wasn't entirely in her body, like maybe in-and-out of the whole time.
Anyway... Not trying to go off on a spiritual tangent here, but I found that fascinating, and I can't wait to resume our conversation next Sunday!!!
It was really, really a nice experience and I am SO looking forward to future Sundays!
OOH!
Okay, on a much more superficial (by comparison) note: HOT FUZZ CAME IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY!!! I ordered the British version because there isn't an American version that's a 2-Disc set... Which means not as many Extras. So since I have a few non-regional players I decided it would be a better investment to buy the version with AS ANY Extras as possible!
HOT FUZZ RULES!!!
If I haven't stated that before, I'd very much like to go on record now: HOT FUZZ RULES!!!
On the Extras disc (UK Version) there's a "Plot Holes" section where one of the actors narrates an animatic filling in any plot holes one might have discovered after watching the flick and thinking about it, lol!
Frakkin' GENIUS!!!
Although, I have been considering buying an American copy for my friends who don't have non-region players... You know, as a loaner...
Wow, I haven't slept in almost 11 hours. I grabbed a couple hours of sleep after work... But I fell asleep listening to THE LONG, DARK TEA-TIME OF THE SOUL and, at one point, got so wrapted-up in the story that I had to listen to the novel to its ending (a novel I've listened to at least a doxen times before, lol) and I ended up staying awake all day, surfing SecondLife and hoping my baby came online to greet me before Brian & I went to visit Gan-Gan.
So I think I'm gonna go fall alseep watching HOT FUZZ with my li'l bro now.
PEACE!!!
:D
I was going for a literary allusion...
Kind of...
But not a very apt one, really...
Brian and I went to visit our Gan-Gan (Mom's mom) in a "rehabilitation home" thingy tonight.
See Gan-Gan got sick 3 weeks ago and was taken into the hospital, where she stayed in an Intensive Care Unit for 2 of those weeks. Somehow her body was producing too much ammonia. (Which is bad. I mean, our bodies produce ammonia as a bi-product of digestion, but usually our liver turns it into urea and we... um... it comes out in our tinkles.)
And I'll be honest, I was a bit scared about what the visit might be like. When we saw Gan-Gan in the hospital, she wasn't Gan-Gan. Gan-Gan has a very distinct personality: Strong opinions which she keeps to herself in knowing silences when her opinion is not actively sought, quick to laugh at the absurdities everyday situations that most people don't even notices (though you wouldn't even spot the laugh if you didn't recognize the absurdity of the situation yourself), and always loving and supportive (unless she discovers that you've started smoking again after having successfully quit for 4 months).
But the woman in that ICU when Brian and Mom and I visited wasn't Gan-Gan. You could see Gan-Gan peaking out from the eyes. But the rest was just an old woman's body, sort of lifeless.
But for 2 1/2 years now, Sunday Night has transformed into Family Night, and so Brian and I WERE going to start spending Sunday Nights with Gan-Gan in this home in which the hospital placed her. (Mom hasn't found a place for her in Louisianna, yet, and we're not rich folk, so this hospital-recommended rehabilitation home thingy is the best any of us can do for now. (Btw, pray for Mom or me to win the lottery soon, lol.)
Brian and I were both SO PLEASED and encouraged, however, to see our Gan-Gan tonight!!! She's in a wheelchair for now, but that's acceptable, as long as she's in there.
And you may think I'm being poetic or melodramatic when I talk about seeing her in the ICU and her "peaking out through the eyes" of this body that wasn't hers (unless, God forbid, you've experienced this yourself; if possible, may you never see a loved one in that condition), but that's not just imagery. She told me this evening that she feels as though she woke up one morning in a different house with everyone telling her it's 3 weeks later. It's very much like she wasn't entirely in her body, like maybe in-and-out of the whole time.
Anyway... Not trying to go off on a spiritual tangent here, but I found that fascinating, and I can't wait to resume our conversation next Sunday!!!
It was really, really a nice experience and I am SO looking forward to future Sundays!
OOH!
Okay, on a much more superficial (by comparison) note: HOT FUZZ CAME IN THE MAIL YESTERDAY!!! I ordered the British version because there isn't an American version that's a 2-Disc set... Which means not as many Extras. So since I have a few non-regional players I decided it would be a better investment to buy the version with AS ANY Extras as possible!
HOT FUZZ RULES!!!
If I haven't stated that before, I'd very much like to go on record now: HOT FUZZ RULES!!!
On the Extras disc (UK Version) there's a "Plot Holes" section where one of the actors narrates an animatic filling in any plot holes one might have discovered after watching the flick and thinking about it, lol!
Frakkin' GENIUS!!!
Although, I have been considering buying an American copy for my friends who don't have non-region players... You know, as a loaner...
Wow, I haven't slept in almost 11 hours. I grabbed a couple hours of sleep after work... But I fell asleep listening to THE LONG, DARK TEA-TIME OF THE SOUL and, at one point, got so wrapted-up in the story that I had to listen to the novel to its ending (a novel I've listened to at least a doxen times before, lol) and I ended up staying awake all day, surfing SecondLife and hoping my baby came online to greet me before Brian & I went to visit Gan-Gan.
So I think I'm gonna go fall alseep watching HOT FUZZ with my li'l bro now.
PEACE!!!
:D
Friday, August 03, 2007
God Bless SecondLife!!!
Okay, there are some big reasons I would be hailing SL...
Namely: It's how I met THE LOVE OF MY LIFE, hehe!!!
It also got me 3 1/2 minutes of local-news airtime. That's cool.
But there are little reasons I dig it, too.
I had me a blighter of a day today!
However...
Before I went to work last night, Brian built a pool on some of our new land -- this GORGEOUS pool -- then he pulled out his fishing rod and began fishing in it.
Which is hysterical enough, because the pole is designed to pull things out of the water! Different types of virtual fish, old tires, empty beer cans... Just asorted funny things.
And him doing this reminded me that I had spent quite a few $Ls buying a fishing rod for myself. So I pulled my pole out and enjoyed a bit of fishing with my brother before I went to work!
Not a bad way to start off any day.
So after my annoyingly incessant day, the only way I could think of to unwind this morning ("tonight" for me, as I haven't gone to bed just yet) was to do some fishing in SL.
Being a Texan, my precise thought was to drink a six-pack and fish, hehe.
And OMG this has been so amazingly relaxing!
I mean, they're virtual fish, so it's not like I'm ripping actual, living creatures out of their natural habitat for my own recreation.
Plus, whoever designed this fishing rod has QUITE the sense of humor! So far I have caught 5 types of fish -- including a frighteningly huge gold fish and a "big eyed fish" which I suspect only (usually) lives in very specific types of water -- as well as an old tire, a garbage can, a Coke can, a chest filled with gold dubloons, an anchor and an old boot, lol!
In addition to, or instead of, some of these items, Brian has caught a "rockin' bass" (it plays music) and an empty beer can.
But what made this almost poetic for me was the fact that I got to end my day virtually fishing with my actual brother as the virtual sun set!
NOW...
If I could just track down where these fishing rod are sold so I can get my baby one and fish with her... THAT would be PERFECTION!!!
Okay, Brian's gone to work now, and the 6-pack (they were "tall boys") are starting to make me drowsy... Time to fall asleep while Douglas Adams reads to me from his book THE LONG, DARK TEA-TIME OF THE SOUL, hehe.
Life can be groovy.
Cheers!
:D
Namely: It's how I met THE LOVE OF MY LIFE, hehe!!!
It also got me 3 1/2 minutes of local-news airtime. That's cool.
But there are little reasons I dig it, too.
I had me a blighter of a day today!
However...
Before I went to work last night, Brian built a pool on some of our new land -- this GORGEOUS pool -- then he pulled out his fishing rod and began fishing in it.
Which is hysterical enough, because the pole is designed to pull things out of the water! Different types of virtual fish, old tires, empty beer cans... Just asorted funny things.
And him doing this reminded me that I had spent quite a few $Ls buying a fishing rod for myself. So I pulled my pole out and enjoyed a bit of fishing with my brother before I went to work!
Not a bad way to start off any day.
So after my annoyingly incessant day, the only way I could think of to unwind this morning ("tonight" for me, as I haven't gone to bed just yet) was to do some fishing in SL.
Being a Texan, my precise thought was to drink a six-pack and fish, hehe.
And OMG this has been so amazingly relaxing!
I mean, they're virtual fish, so it's not like I'm ripping actual, living creatures out of their natural habitat for my own recreation.
Plus, whoever designed this fishing rod has QUITE the sense of humor! So far I have caught 5 types of fish -- including a frighteningly huge gold fish and a "big eyed fish" which I suspect only (usually) lives in very specific types of water -- as well as an old tire, a garbage can, a Coke can, a chest filled with gold dubloons, an anchor and an old boot, lol!
In addition to, or instead of, some of these items, Brian has caught a "rockin' bass" (it plays music) and an empty beer can.
But what made this almost poetic for me was the fact that I got to end my day virtually fishing with my actual brother as the virtual sun set!
NOW...
If I could just track down where these fishing rod are sold so I can get my baby one and fish with her... THAT would be PERFECTION!!!
Okay, Brian's gone to work now, and the 6-pack (they were "tall boys") are starting to make me drowsy... Time to fall asleep while Douglas Adams reads to me from his book THE LONG, DARK TEA-TIME OF THE SOUL, hehe.
Life can be groovy.
Cheers!
:D
Thursday, August 02, 2007
Tricks of the Mind...
My Genius Friend Dave has done it again... He's discovered a new show on the Sci-Fi Channel called MIND CONTROL featuring British mentalist, Derren Brown.
Curse him!
Moreover... Derren Brown RULES!!!
Luckily, before Brown had his new Sci-Fi Channel show he had several series ("seasons" in US-speak) of a show in the UK called TRICKS OF THE MIND! And I found most of the 1st, 2nd and 4th series online!!!
Which works out kind of nicely for me, since I don't know how many more times I can (should) watch the first 2 seasons of MINDFREAK, lol.
There's a definite theme, if you will, emerging in my life at the moment. It has to do with bold showmanship and being five steps ahead of "the other guy"... Wonder if the Universe is trying to tell me something...
Another aspect to this "theme" is not limiting oneself to a single discipline or craft, and trying to blend all one's passions and talents to make a sort of uber-talent.
Interesting...
25 minutes left in my shift at work (coming to the end of my "Monday") so I should probably try to look busy. :)
Curse him!
Moreover... Derren Brown RULES!!!
Luckily, before Brown had his new Sci-Fi Channel show he had several series ("seasons" in US-speak) of a show in the UK called TRICKS OF THE MIND! And I found most of the 1st, 2nd and 4th series online!!!
Which works out kind of nicely for me, since I don't know how many more times I can (should) watch the first 2 seasons of MINDFREAK, lol.
There's a definite theme, if you will, emerging in my life at the moment. It has to do with bold showmanship and being five steps ahead of "the other guy"... Wonder if the Universe is trying to tell me something...
Another aspect to this "theme" is not limiting oneself to a single discipline or craft, and trying to blend all one's passions and talents to make a sort of uber-talent.
Interesting...
25 minutes left in my shift at work (coming to the end of my "Monday") so I should probably try to look busy. :)
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