Land Of Milk And Karma

Realizing A Dream

2008-07-17T08:32:00.000-07:00

Due to a twist in fate (or, as I like to think of it, "dodging the slings and arrows") I now have the artist's studio of my dreams.

I remember back when I was 10 or 11, wanting to essentially create a graphic design for a notebook I was putting together. At that point I had no idea what graphic design was, or that you had to have a special program to make text curve around in a spiral or make colors blend one to the other across your font. I vaguely remember spending several frustrating hours one Saturday poking around MS Word looking for the "curvy text" option. FYI: it doesn't exist.

It was another few years before I heard about Photoshop. Lightbulbs and fireworks. I was overjoyed! Until I found out how much it cost. Basically the same as my school trip to Russia.

So here we are, another decade plus later, and I am - hopefully - close to acquiring the last piece to this new studio.

Then I'm going to have to put my creative will where my money is... and make use of it.

WGA Strike

2007-11-08T08:29:00.001-08:00

We've been picketing outside Universal all week. My dad had a great idea - wearing my Nike shoes to record how many "miles" we end up picketing. We're in 4 hour shifts. Every day.

In supreme irony (or was this planned?) - I got a call from the ABC/Disney Fellowship people on Monday (that would be day 1 of the strike) saying I'd advanced to the semi-final round of the competition. For those of you who don't know this - the fellowship pays $50,000 for a year while you learn TV writing from some awesome professional writers.

But because of the strike, I can't in good conscience continue forward in the fellowship as it would be accepting payment for writing services from a struck company - even though it's an educational program. I feel like every writer is making sacrifices during this strike, this is one of the ones I will be making.

Because I support my Guild and I believe in what we're striking for. If you don't know by now (or want a really great quick explaination) check out this link.

20 Minute Run

2007-09-16T15:35:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I've run (over 3 weeks) and this was a difficult one but I ran the whole thing. It was nice that it was less than 100 degrees outside. But still. Ouch.

"Thank God For Memphis"

2007-08-25T10:48:00.000-07:00

So there's this website called Song Fight where every week they give you a title of a song and you have one week to write that song, record it, and post it. Then people vote for the song they like best.

This week's title is "Thank God For Memphis" and JB (under the band name "Bad Cactus") wrote an amazing entry. When he played it for me the first time I was blown away by the lyrics. And since then I've found myself humming it over and over. Excellent work, JB!

Check it out (and feel free to vote!). You have until Monday, September 3rd.

Awesome.

25 Minute Run

2007-08-22T23:23:00.001-07:00

This run was very very hard. I'm not sure why. But I didn't stop running. Apparently I'm not yet "in shape." :|

25 Minute Run

2007-08-20T20:09:00.001-07:00

Another run. I feel kind of light headed, but I'm glad I got the chance to get out there today. Still trying to do 3 runs a week. Especially now that I'm taking next season of basketball off. Storm is crying - I think the kitties are hungry for their dinner. Off to feed them, then hopefully catch dinner with JB.

20 Minute Run

2007-08-17T20:12:00.000-07:00

Getting back into running before I completely revert to pre-exercise fitness level. I ran pretty slow - as you can see. Just wanted to make sure I finished this one. Trying to do at least 3 runs a week. This is harder to schedule than one might think.

25 Minute Run

2007-07-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Michigan on Monday. Though I took my running shoes I didn't feel the need to USE them. :) It was a great trip, and I had a great time. So green out there! The run today was rough towards the end. My hip has been giving me some trouble and it's aching a little now though it didn't hurt during the run. JB "helped" me by icing it last time. PAIN. I'm afraid to bring it up, but I guess I just did so there's that.

20 Minute Run

2007-07-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

I got off my running schedule last week so I'm repeating last week's schedule and moving everything else down a week. I kind of enjoyed the solitude on this run. I'm not sure I enjoyed the route - it was a different one than I normally run but it was kind of creeping me out because there were lots of little bridges and dense wooded areas and it was approaching sunset and I kept having flashbacks from the book "Lucky" that I read recently that I won't go into detail about here. Suffice it to say, I think I'll either run that one in broad-er daylight or with a running pal. I hit the nano button to give me a report on how I was doing with about 4 minutes to go and it said I was running an eleven minute and thirty second per mile pace. Which kind of depressed me so I ran a lot harder for the last four minutes and brought that up to a ten minute and fifty second per mile pace. Which made me think I could maybe try running a bit faster earlier. But I don't want a reapeat of my first 2.5 mile run where I thought I was going to DIE because I started off too fast.

Basically there is still a lot to learn about this whole running thing. Hm. I do kind of love having this method of tracking my progress, though. Yeah for technology, yet again!

25 Minute Run

2007-07-05T19:32:00.001-07:00

Got to run again today. It was tough. Kind of a slower run than I'd hoped. But no walking. So that's good.

2.5 Mile Run

2007-06-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

I tried not to start out so fast on this one. It was VERY HARD to get through 2.5 miles without stopping, but I ran the whole damn thing. Again, thanks in large part to the Nano - who will know if I cheat. :)

20 Minute Run

2007-06-29T19:47:00.000-07:00

Hey, I'm running. This is due pretty much 100% to JB who - if you haven't been paying attention - is a running madman. (Check out his running blog.) He got me an iPod nano and the Nike plus running thingy for my birthday and... I have to say, it totally works.
Because I'm OCD. And I can input my runs into the computer and track them. Yeah for technology!

"New" Ceilings

2007-03-12T10:23:00.000-07:00

JB and I finished scraping the cottage cheese crap off our last ceiling this past weekend. It's done! And we're skipping the crown molding (or at least holding off on that). Now the ceilings are all nice and mostly-smooth. So much better than they were.

Next house project: closet doors. Enough of the shower-curtain look. Seriously.

56 to 14

2007-01-15T08:11:00.000-08:00

Another basketball game... except this time we won. It was kind of a good feeling. :)

Who's That Knocking?

2007-01-09T12:25:00.000-08:00

When opportunities come, they come not single spies but in battalions. Seriously. Does this happen to you, too? I'll go for years hitting my head against invisible walls, making no (or very little) progress, crying at my desk AT WORK where anyone passing by could see because I'm so frustrated that nothing is happening...

And then suddenly I've got 4 pressing projects that all need to be done NOW. Now instead of being afraid of never amounting to anything or never having the opportunity to prove my stuff, I'm starting to fear that I'm going to blow 4 amazing opportunities all at once because: no time to work on any one of these opportunities for any length of time means the quality of each will suffer means my reputation will suffer means I'll get fewer opportunities in the future because I couldn't perform well on these.

My new goal is to just not worry about it. Do what I can do, trust my own judgment, trust my process, and take one thing at a time. How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time.

Just trying to stop and make sure to breathe.

Another Dumb Quiz... That I Couldn't Resist

2006-12-12T08:58:00.000-08:00

To be fair, I believe I scored this high because I somehow managed to absorb some of JB's tech savvy, and that combined with my encyclopedic knowledge of sci-fi / fantasy gives us...

Dear Zachary: A Letter To A Son About His Father

2006-11-21T11:43:00.000-08:00

Shortly after I moved to LA I got a job working as a waitress. I met a young USC grad (this was before JB and I applied for USC ourselves) who is one of the most talented filmmakers I've met out here. In addition to writing and directing some wonderful short films and a fantastic narrative feature, he's also a gifted documentary filmmaker. About five years ago he started a personal documentary project that was intended for an audience of friends and family members. But shortly after he started the project, a series of events took place that have changed the scope of this project in a way no one could have anticipated.

I know - especially at this time of year - we are bombarded with worthy causes in need of donations. If you have a little extra money for charitable donations, I'd like to offer this project up for your consideration.

I'll let Kurt explain the project:

As many of you well know, for the past four and a half years I have been working on a documentary film about the life and murder of my lifelong friend Dr. Andrew Bagby (1973-2001). Andrew was killed 5 years ago by his ex-girlfriend, who fled the U.S. for the Canadian province of Newfoundland and went on to give birth to his son after Andrew's death. I began making this movie for that little boy, Zachary, as a way for him to get to know his father when he came of age. Because Canada let Andrew's killer walk free on bail while awaiting extradition, she had the opportunity to commit another murder, killing herself and baby Zachary on August 18, 2003. After a lot of soul searching and conversations with Andrew's parents, we ultimately decided that I would transform my film for Zachary into the story of what happened and release it to the general public. It is titled as it was begun, "DEAR ZACHARY: A LETTER TO A SON ABOUT HIS FATHER." The film will become a powerful tool in the Bagby's fight to get the bail laws in Canada changed, so that a tragedy like this will never happen again. Andrew's father David has written an excellent book about this nightmare which is being published in the spring; my goal is to have my film done by May to coincide with its publication, and to make the deadline for the 2007 Toronto Film Festival. We aim to hit the media with a strong one-two punch next year, book and movie working in concert.

In order to meet this goal, we need to raise some money. This film is not for profit, it is fiscally sponsored by the International Documentary Association, a 501-C(3) organization, and all donations to it are tax deductible. All proceeds from the film will go to the Dr. Andrew Bagby Scholarship at Latrobe Area Hospital in Latrobe, PA and the Dr. Andrew Bagby and son Zachary Bursary at Memorial University, Newfoundland. Every contribution helps, no matter how small.

I've cut a 10 minute trailer to give everyone a sense of what the finished feature film will be like. It is now on line at:

www.dearzachary.com

If you are moved by what you see and would like to contribute to the cause, that would be wonderful. Tax deductible donations can be made on line, or checks may be mailed to the International Documentary Association, or donations can also be made to me directly (thereby avoiding the IDA's 5% sponsorship fee). All the information is on the site.

I believe we actually have a shot at making change. On October 4th, the government of Newfoundland released a review and investigation officially finding that Zachary's death was preventable if the departments of Child, Youth and Family Services and Child Protection had done their jobs right and removed Zachary from his dangerous mother's custody; the head of the department resigned, and politicians were squirming and tripping over themselves to endorse the review's recommendations and begin their implementation. The Provincial Minister of Justice took the review's findings to the federal government to begin discussing the topic of bail reform. This investigation and review would not have happened if Andrew's parents hadn't stood up and screamed for change. That was Step One, and it has been successful -- but the issue of bail still has not been addressed. That is Step Two in this endeavor; David Bagby's book and my movie are going to be the juggernaut that keeps this issue in the public eye until it is seen to completion.

Thank you so much for your time and help. Check out the trailer. I hope that you will join me on what has been the most rewarding journey of my life. I sincerely believe we have a shot at making the world a safer, better place.

All the best,

Kurt

Roller Coaster Extremes

2006-11-19T14:35:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy CRAZY week. I had two amazing meetings at the beginning of the week, and have five comics and a novel to read and come back with possible feature takes on.

Thursday I got the news that my job has come to an end. It was great while it lasted! Now I am going to research signing up for unemployment.

Thursday night I went to a new members discussion at the WGA that was alternately exhilarating and depressing.

Friday went to my first WGA screening (saw "Stranger Than Fiction" with my little sister and heard the writer speak - we both highly recommend this film!)

Saturday I finished my (first manager-worthy draft of my) new outline (thanks to DA, LE, AQ and the incredibly gifted and excruciatingly patient JB for reading and offering thoughts - every one of you made it better).

I've been doing a lot of house-cleaning and book-keeping today, I think I'm recovering from the extremely intense nature of the outlining process, and possibly freaking out about money.

Anyhow, compared to last week at this time - things feel very very different all of a sudden. In both good and bad ways.

Fifty Crappy Ideas

2006-10-15T08:48:00.000-07:00

Last week I scored another 2 points in a game. (Did I already mention that I'm also playing basketball this fall?)

I realized I haven't been blogging on this blog for a long time. It's been an intense 6 months.

Right now I'm trying to generate a list of new screenplay ideas. So far this week I've come up with 50 crappy ideas. I'm trying to do 25 ideas a day (I started on Thursday and had to skip Friday). I can generally get through 16 or 17 quickly, but that last handful gets tougher and tougher. The idea here is that if you just focus on generating LOTS of ideas, eventually, sort of in spite of yourself, you'll hit upon a really good idea. I will let you know if that happens. As I said, right now I've got a plethora of crappy ideas.

I've always hated brainstorming. DA is amazing at this. I'm trying to get better. So. How many crappy ideas do I need to generate to get to the center of a good idea? Stay tuned.

Keanu Reeves

2006-10-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

So today I saw Keanu Reeves. I was coming out of a meeting and he was going into the building, it was just the two of us in this pretty corridor between buildings. I looked up and thought to myself, "huh, that guy looks a lot like... !!!"

I just smiled and said "Hey." He smiled and said "Hey." And we passed. Eye contact, people. I've run into a lot of "stars" in LA, but he's sort of my first A-Lister. Is he still an A-Lister?

29 to 28

2006-08-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

We won. We actually won a game. The last game of the season. But we won.

I can safely say this was the best game of basketball I've ever played. And being tall - has it's advantages. There was this moment where I was guarding the basket and a lady charged up to shoot... and I just plucked the ball out of the air before it got a foot out of her hands.

I sat out most of the second half - but I'm glad. We were up one, 27 to 26, with 45 seconds left when THEY SCORED. I thought it was over, and they were going to win by one point. Our team got the ball and they stole it, but then our team stole it back, launched it down the court to one of our gaurds we'd told to stay behind, and she made the basket with 7 seconds on the clock.

It was awesome.

25 to 32

2006-07-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

Better and better... though I got an elbow to the nose in our last game. (oh, in case you were wondering, we still lost.)

And Catholic School Teachers... not the clean mouths you might imagine.

28 to 55

2006-06-26T12:30:00.000-07:00

I feel so proud. We managed to lose by the slimmest margin we've had all season! We're getting better.

Things I've learned:

- "The Key" has something to do with getting close to the basket.

- If you get too close to the basket and stay there, you get into trouble with the refs. Something about "3 seconds" or something.

- Playing basketball in a gym without air-conditioning in the valley in the middle of the day is like working out in an oven. With lots of people watching you sweat.

- It helps to keep your arms in the air pretty much all the time.

- Be careful of keeping your hands in the air - people will try to throw a basketball at you. You will be expected to catch it.

- You can touch the basketball if someone else is trying to shoot it, but you can't punch it out of their hands. FYI.

I've Been Tagged

2006-06-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

Okay, thanks to DA, I've been tagged and must now share 5 embarrassing moments from my childhood (I'm a little late with my answers but here goes). Let's see...

1) We grew up spending a lot of time with some family friends, Amy and Melanie. They got a Video Recorder early in the 1980s, when they were still relatively new and rare, and we LOVED to make little videos. I was one of the tallest of our group so - when we did "weddings" or "proms" I was generally cast as a boy. There was one day, though, that I decided to put my foot down. We were doing a wedding, and Amy was going to be the maid of honor and sing "My Favorite Things" from The Sound Of Music. (Because... totally appropriate for a wedding.) I was supposed to be the Reverend. (For those of you who know her, AQ was the little bride, marrying Melanie, who had consented - under protest - to be the groom). But I was tired of being a boy! So Amy agreed that I could be the maid of honor, provided I still let her sing "My Favorite Things." Fine! Deal! Except... when it came time for the song, with video recorder rolling and all eyes turned to Amy (who - it should be pointed out - could actually sing) I started belting out a squeaky "My Favorite Things" rendition that would have sent Julie Andrews shrieking for the nearest exit. Amy freaked out, and the wedding came to a screeching halt, but I was supremely satisfied. I'm sure that video still exists somewhere, just waiting for the perfect moment to resurface as blackmail...

2) I hated middle school. A LOT. This was just a few years after I had discovered how AWESOME! books could be, and spent most of my conscious time reading. I got to school early and got to hang out with some friends in a classroom (one of my friends had a mom who taught at our school) which was far superior to being cast into the seventh level of hell which was the middle school hallway between classes. They used to play all sorts of games before school while I sat in a corner and read trying to block out the whole experience (I'm telling you, I HATED middle school). They started to get a little peeved that I never played with them, and finally convinced me to try playing games for a week. They were so convinced if I played for a week, I'd never go back to my books. So I put the book down and played all sorts of games with them every day before classes for one week. At the end of the week they asked "See? Wasn't that better than reading?" And I said "No." I mean, sure, it had been fun... but better than BOOKS??? For the rest of the year I would go to the classroom where they were all playing games and read in the corner. Happily.

3) I was addicted to an after school cartoon called "The Seven Cities Of Gold" that no one else in this world seems to remember. Oh, that and "Gem And The Holograms." That's right. Gem, oh, she's truly outrageous. Truly, truly outrageous.

4) Another Amy and Melanie story: We were filming a magic show. Amy was the magician - I was her assistant. I was all dressed up in my seven-year-old bikini and one of the mom's old lingerie robes (this one was see-through orange with a frilly border). We were doing a "magic trick" where we shoved my little sister into the plywood half of a rabbit hutch (she was very small at this point) and she scooted the rabbit into the wire part, thereby "turning" into a rabbit for the camera. With much flourish and ceremony, we helped Little Q into the hutch. That part where I locked her in (for like, 10 seconds, come on!) - yeah, that wasn't in our rehearsal. It is - however - immortalized on tape. Good thing VHS is a dead technology...

5) My mom and AQ and I used to play charades. We would do "characters from movies" charades, and liked to come up with stumpers. I remember one day (I was 8) I got on my back on the floor, put my arms and legs in the air, and belched. Over and over. They were mystified. They asked if this was a character from a movie and I nodded vigorously. I gave them clues to which movie. They were mystified. When I finally told them - "The Pit Of Sarlak!" they were mystified. Pit of...??? You know, from Return Of The Jedi! Did I mention I was a geek from the start?

All right! I'm tagging AQ and JB! Fess up!

20 To 63

2006-06-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

Our second game... better than the first.

I didn't score any points this time, but I did block a few shots and got some rebounds, so I felt like I contributed some things.

I don't play next weekend, but the following weekend we're playing what is supposed to be the meanest team in the whole league. Hm. I'm contemplating wearing two sports bras... I hear these "ladies" are pretty free with their elbows.

Trip To The House Of Pain

2006-06-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

Most of you probably already know we got a kitten. If this is news, check out wamez for the update.

Little Storm and I had a bit of an adventure yesterday. She hurt her paw sometime the night before, and when I went in to feed her she didn't get up and run over to me like she normally does in the mornings. She was trembling really badly, and when she did try to walk, she could only hop forward once or twice before she'd just cry and curl up into a little shaking ball.

JB and I freaked out. My mind - of course - leaps straight to neurological disorder causing paralysis on the right side of her body.

So Storm and I went to the vet yesterday. We were there for 2 to 3 hours. I remember my dad telling me this story about how right after I was born (I had jaundice) the doctor had to take a blood sample to test. He stuck a needle in my ankle to draw the blood. My father said he was overcome with the urge to punch the doctor out when he heard me scream.

I felt a shadow of that at the vet's yesterday. Since we can't just ask her where it hurts, the vet grabbed her hurt arm and pulled on it, stretched it over her head, folded it up every which way, all of which made her cry piteously.

But then he squeezed her paw closed to test her wrist - so hard I saw his fingers shaking - and she SCREAMED.

She's just a baby, and she was twisting in his hands and screaming. It took all my will power not to jab my fingers into his eyes and grab her back from him. I liked the vet, and he'd been really gentle and had scratched her and kissed her, but at that moment I truly believed he had only become a vet because he's a sadist and wanted to torture little helpless animals without getting thrown in prison.

Now, all of that being said, it was a sprained wrist. They gave her a shot to take down the swelling, took some x-rays to confirm nothing was broken, and sent her home with me.

She had cried all the way to the vet's, one nonstop deluge of kitty pleas. But on the way home, she was mostly silent. Thinking, I feel sure, wherever in the world I was taking her next couldn't possibly be as awful as the place we had just left.

19 To 97

2006-06-04T19:00:00.000-07:00

I played in my first basketball game today. Actually, if we're counting, it was my very first ever organized-teams-with-uniforms sporting event.

And we lost 19 to 97. No, I'm not joking, and if you need any confirmation, just ask JB. He was there to watch all the gory details.

HOWEVER. I also made a basket and therefore scored 2 of our 19 points. Me. With the hopped-up-on-adreneline-18-year-old-high-school-basketball-opposing-team all over my ass. YES.

Did I mention that our opponents were an actual high school girls basketball team? As in a "we practice every day for 3 hours and know our teammates strengths and weaknesses intimately" high school basketball team? Or, if you like, a "we can run solid up and down the court for an hour why are you breathing so hard?" basketball team?

It was... I'm just too tired to finish this blog.

19 to 97 people. 19 to 97.

Practice Practice Practice

2006-04-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

One week ago I turned in my 2 weeks notice at my day job. It was a bittersweet moment. In many ways this has been a great job, my boss is the best boss I've ever had, and I work with a lot of wonderful people.

That being said, when I got this new opportunity, I knew I had to take it. While I can't say much due to non-disclosure agreements, I (think I) can say this is the first time I'm getting paid to write.

I will still be a part of the corporate basketball team - unless the new job is so 24-7 that it precludes any other time commitment of any stripe.

Practice so far has been very eye-opening. And exhausting. I got terribly light-headed at my first practice. Second practice was a little better. And now I have a basketball to practice with. Just need the time.

What Do You Mean I Have To Practice?

2006-04-05T17:53:00.000-07:00

So the first basketball practice is this Saturday morning. I have yet to buy my ankle-saving shoes. I need to get on that, cause it's all fun and games until someone brakes an ankle.

I'm nervous. I'm getting all of these weird high school ish feelings about having to compete with athletic girls and not being able to.

I'm not feeling terrifically stable at the moment.

Hm.

Yes, I'm Tall.

2006-03-22T21:10:00.000-08:00

A kind of weird thing happened to me at work yesterday. I was actually - actively - recruited for the Corporate Basketball Team. And - after protesting that I would likely do more damage than good for whatever team I was let loose on and having all my well-reasoned excuses waived down - I said "sure, I'll sign up."

Brace yourselves for a shock: I was never what you might call an "athletic" child. More what you might call a "bookish" child. I HATED the "team" sports at school because I had glasses and braces and coltishly-awkward skinny long legs and was - yes - generally picked last-ish.

I'm thinking it's PMS. Or... some part of me has recognized that it's possible that the universe has gotten tired of listening to me whine about not having enough physical activity in my life and has presented me with this opportunity that will either 1) give me some physical activity or 2) convince me to cease and desist with the complaining about exercise already.

I asked the lady who recruited me when we start rehearsals. She kind of smiled this half-sweet / half-worried smile and told me "practices" hadn't been scheduled yet.

And did you know you have to have special shoes to play basketball? I mean - not the same sneakers you go running in. A whole different kind of sneaker with a high-top to protect your ankles. I have to worry about my ANKLES.

I signed a waiver promising that if I get hurt I'll admit it's my own damn fault and not sue the company.

Who knows. Maybe I never got into basketball because as a child I was so afraid of rejection that I decided that team sports were stupid and who wanted to get caught up in some pointless exercise where two groups of people expend vast amounts of energy trying to get a ball through a hoop when that time could just as well be spent devouring the entire collection of Sweet Valley High books? SWEET VALLEY HIGH, people. THAT'S how much I hated the idea of playing team sports.

It's going to be an interesting spring.

Popcorn Picnic - Lucas Vs. Whedon

2006-03-20T20:39:00.000-08:00

Okay... I thought this was pretty awesome:

Popcorn Picnic comic about Lucas critiquing "Serenity."

Tee hee hee.

Thank God It's Monday

2006-03-15T15:37:00.000-08:00

Seriously. I'm amazed we survived this weekend.

I have to say here that I am indebted to JW and AW for their amazing skills in navigating flower marts, arranging transportation and prepping and storage of cut flowers, and keeping me from hyperventilating and/or exploding into a panic-cloud.

And to JB for being a saint.

Wedding Recap: Sunday

2006-03-15T15:24:00.000-08:00

SUNDAY

Sunday morning JB cooked us all a lovely breakfast and I got my family prepping green orchids for the bouquets assembly-line style. Thank you, family!!! It would have taken me another 1-2 hours to do everything you guys did that morning - which would have been a disaster as we were just exactly on time as it was. JB was a saint, the whole weekend.

By the time JW and AW arrived, I had made 4 bridesmaid's bouquets and was starting on the bridal bouquet. JW made the two tall vases for the sides of the fountain which was the backdrop for the ceremony.

We really hauled ass and finished all 20 boutonnieres and corsages.

We packed up the flowers into the SUV and JW and AW transported them down. JB and I said goodbye to my family, turned the condo's heater back on, and piled into our car complete with our change-of-clothes for the wedding and some cameras. We blasted through the In N Out drive through and battled SUNDAY AFTERNOON?! traffic on the 101 south. It took longer than I thought it would, and I spent the entire car ride (JB will verify this) panicking.

We got to the wedding site (on top of a building in the open air - it was beautiful but COLD!) and started prepping. I don't even remember in what order this happened:
- delivered the bouquets (one bridal and 4 bridesmaids') to the bridal party.
- made 9 pew bows to decorate the aisle and a beautiful stair case.
- made a vase arrangement for a wall-cubby leading out to the wedding site.
- built a calla lily arrangement on top of a wall fountain which was the ceremony site.
- JW and AW decorated the wedding cake and cake table.
- JB and I changed into our "guest" clothing.
- found 20 people to pin boutonnieres and corsages on.
- battled with the wind to light the wedding candles.

Then they had the wedding ceremony - which was lovely. I'm very happy for my friend, she looked beautiful and very much in love.

Then the guests went back inside while we waited for the caterers to strike the ceremony chairs and set up the reception tables. We had 12 table arrangements and sprinkled rose petals all over everything.

AW and JW stayed until the reception site was up, then loaded up the floral arranging supplies and headed home, exhausted, wet, and tired. I am so grateful to them for all their help.

Then the guests came back out, they had the dances, and people started eating. JB and I ducked inside and got some drinks from the bar (vodka and cranberry, thank you). Then we sat down at our table and toasted with the crowd.

Then it started raining.

JB and I had a moment, almost alone on the top of this building as everyone scurried for the shelter inside, with the wedding flowers and the rain. It was so peaceful and - well, wet, but I felt this huge feeling of relief.

For us, the wedding was over, and I think it turned out beautifully.

I got home (lovely, warmly heated home!) and took a quick hot bath. JW and AW arrived to pick up left-over flower tools and drop off the "extras" - out of which I made one really awesome lily and rose vase arrangement for our kitchen table.

I think I was in bed by 9:30. I was asleep by 9:31.

Wedding Recap: Saturday

2006-03-15T15:11:00.000-08:00

SATURDAY

Did I mentioned that my family was in town for my cousin's fiancee's bridal shower?

Saturday everyone woke up and had some coffee, but none of us felt hungry enough to really eat a big breakfast. Keep this in mind, it will play a not-insignificant part of this day's story.

We were looking at a one to one and a half hour drive up to the bridal shower, and neither MQF nor I had managed to secure a bridal shower gift before the event, so we raced from our condo to the mall, haggled with a variety of sales people over the bridal registry, gave up, spent 20 minutes trying to buy a gift card, and finally got out of the store. We hit the road for the hour and a half drive in Los Angeles traffic and very un-Los Angeles rain.

The bridal shower was nice, though I'm always nervous around large groups of strangers that know each other very well. Lots of college friends, so there was definitely shared history here. But everyone was nice, and the hardest thing about the shower was standing outside in our party clothes for a photo in the 40 degree weather.

I left my sister and step mom at a local mall to hang with the rest of the family who was in town for the shower and then drove back to LA, battling to keep my eyes open.

I had this lovely thought that there would be time for a nap (delirium?) before JW and AW arrived to help me start the flowers. However, I needed to rearrange / prep the room for flower arranging, and just as I finished that, JW and AW arrived! We started made 12 table arrangements and JW started working on the orchid and rose corsages (couldn't do the calla lily boutonnieres until Sunday morning for fear they'd die if we cut them too early). We worked until past midnight, at which point we called it a night (though we hadn't accomplished as much as we'd hoped to) and I crashed into bed. Oh, sometime in there my family returned from the shower and my sister and brother-in-law left to drive back to San Diego, and she forgot her purse.

That night I had one nightmare after another about the wedding. First I was so behind that I was making bridesmaids' bouquets as they were walking down the aisle and I ran out of time and couldn't make the bride's! Then someone had mixed all my emergency-in-case-it's-too-windy-for-the-altar-vases stones up with gravy so I couldn't put them in the vases or they'd make the water greasy. Then I dreamt we had had to park the cars really far away from the ceremony site, and every time I started to make another arrangement I had to run back for something I'd forgotten, and finally I got so lost I couldn't even find my way back to the wedding.

Night two of crappy sleep.

Wedding Recap: Friday

2006-03-13T21:52:00.000-08:00

I decided to break this down into days, so here is...

FRIDAY

People don't seem to understand how hard it is to do flowers for a wedding (look, I didn't realize it myself, and I've "helped" with 3 weddings and was a co-production designer on a short film set at "a wedding" for which we did flower arrangements too).

Keep this in mind: you have to buy the flowers for all the bouquets, boutonnieres, corsages (there were 20 boutonnieres and corsages in this wedding alone), table arrangements, and alter pieces (there was one I had to build on site, that was very frightening...) within a day or so of the event because if you buy them too early, they will die. You can't make boutonnieres or corsages until the night before at the earliest - if you are working with hardy flowers like roses or orchids. Calla lilies... not hardy flowers, so that's day-of prep too. You can't make bouquets until the day of. I am a little neurotic when it comes to preparation, and there is literally very little you can do other than plan what the design is going to look like IF you can find the flowers you need at the flower mart and if you can find enough.

All week I was stressed about what we would be able to find at the flower mart, and how much they would charge us, and if there would be enough of everything we needed, and if we could find the very few ULTRA-SPECIFIC flowers we needed to pull it all off.

At 7:15 AM on Friday, JW and AW arrived to pick me up so we could be there at 8:00 AM when the flower mart opens it's doors to the public (after having already been open for 6 hours - flowers get delivered at 2:00 AM on Friday "morning" but you have to have a wholesaler's licesence to get in before 8:00 AM).

8:00 AM - The flower mart. JW and AW are amazing people. This wedding's design called for more than 100 tall white calla lilies, green orchids, in red calla lilies, green calla lilies, white dendrobs, green dendrobs, red dendrobs, red roses, and white roses. The only "greenery" we had was a tall grass (which became known as "bendy grass") to be used as a design accent. That means we had to FIND 100 calla lilies that were the same white - because flowers come in all sorts of different colors, and "white" calla lilies from one grower might not be the same color as "white" calla lilies from another grower.

As we were heading into the flower mart, I got a call from JB saying my boss was sick - but I couldn't go into work until we were done shopping for the flowers because Friday is the last delivery day for the week adn if we waited until Saturday morning we'd just be picking through the "left overs."

It should be noted that - while they SAY they're open until 12:00 noon - the flower mart vendors pretty much close up shop around 10:00 AM. Which means that we had 2 hours to find and purchase close to 300 flowers.

There was a lot of feverish running around (on my part), but the flowers were all found and purchased. We even had time for a quick coffee and croisant before we loaded the flowers up into AW and JW's SUV and drove them back to Burbank to unwrap and prep them.

JW and AW have a variety of buckets stashed around for this purpose, and some special flower-juice that keeps them happy longer. We cut off all the newspaper and plastic and arranged them in buckets trying to keep them from squishing each other as much as possible.

Then I want to work and AW and JW took the flowers to my condo and left them in the office which - thanks to the fact that #1 it was freezing in LA last weekend and #2 we'd turned off the heat and left the office window open - was almost the same temperature as a flower refridgerator.

Then I went to work.

JB brought me dinner (I'd completely forgotten to pack a dinner before the flower mart). My dad and stepmom arrived at 8:00 PM and I gave them a quick tour of the office, then they followed JB home to our condo where everyone sat around in blankets until bedtime. I came home at 10:30 and crashed.

Then had nightmares ALL NIGHT LONG about not having bought the right flowers, or enough flowers, and that when I woke up the flowers would have all died...

Not a restful night.

My Big Mouth

2006-02-27T18:08:00.000-08:00

I have a friend who is getting married soon. She has limited time and limited budget, and I heard this and offered to help by doing wedding flowers. First of all, though I have *helped* with 2 weddings and a "wedding" film, I do not exactly know enough to offer to do someone's wedding flowers.

I am really scared. I don't want to mess up her wedding, I don't want to hand over dying and wilted flowers on her special day. Why don't I keep my mouth shut?! I lament all the time that I have no time and yet I offer to help.

She's a very sweet lady, and I wanted to help because she seemed so stressed and sad. I think I can handle most of it, bouquets, boutonnières, corsages, minor arrangements, but there are things that scare me like huge arrangements, how to dress a large space, where to get a runner, etc. ?!?! And I'm afraid of this responsibility because I really don't want to ruin this day for her.

Top it off with the fact that I've got to attend a shower for a different couple the day before. Very stressful. I don't know how I'm going to survive that weekend.

Stain...ing

2006-02-21T18:02:00.000-08:00

This is a longer process than I had initially anticipated. It's not the staining that takes a long time, it's the sealing. Progress has been made, it's just the slow-ish kind of progress.

Anyhoo, pictures may be forthcoming eventually.

Sanded

2006-02-13T13:38:00.000-08:00

JB and I sanded this weekend. We sanded the entire mule chest as follows:

Thoroughly sanded wood with 220 grit sandpaper.
Wiped wood down with a wet rag.
Wood dried feeling "furry."
Wiped steel wool over the wood to catch and rip off tiny wood fibers.
Vacuumed up steel wool shavings.
Thoroughly sanded wood with 220 grit sandpaper.
Wiped wood down with a wet rag.
Wood dried feeling significantly less "furry" - but still furry.
Wiped steel wool over the wood to catch and rip off tiny wood fibers.
Vacuumed up steel wool shavings.
Sanded wood with 320 grit sandpaper.
Sanded wood with 600 grit sandpaper.
Vacuumed up sawdust.
Ran a tack-cloth (very sticky cheese-cloth) over all surfaces to remove any sawdust that didn't get vacuumed up.

It took half of Saturday and most of Sunday to do this, but now the mule chest feels almost like glass.

Next weekend... staining.

Friday (Again)

2006-02-10T13:14:00.000-08:00

I don't know about the rest of you, but this week was truly, truly hard. I got a lot of stuff done, but I am glad that Friday has finally decided to grace us with it's presence. Eeeeeeeee.

Friday

2006-02-03T13:48:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday.

JB's dad brought down the Mule Chest he has spent the last 15 months working on. It's beautiful.

DB (JB'S dad) doesn't believe in staining wood, he thinks the wood should be finished/sealed in such a way that the natural luster of the wood comes out. I can totally see this point of view, and if you've been to our place and seen our Coffee Table, Sofa Table or End Tables you can see examples of this philosophy at work: they are also beautiful. (I especially love how DB finds interesting knots to incorporate in the pieces. It's the "flaws" in a piece of wood that really give it character, and DB's got a great eye for character.) However, JB and I thought we'd like a different look for our bedroom.

So: we are going to finish it. By "finish" I mean we are going to do the final levels of sanding and then we're going to stain it. No pressure. It only took DB a little over a year to construct it. Meticulously crafting each drawer. Hand chiseling the mortis-and-tenon joints. Measuring and adjusting to achieve a perfectly balanced piece of heirloom-quality furniture.

But I'm not worried that we're going to mess anything up by covering the whole thing with a product meant to permanently alter a wooden surface. Is it a little hot in here?

Haiku Of The Desperate Office Girl

2006-01-26T22:07:00.000-08:00

Once again I find
I'm waiting for computers
To grant me freedom.

Freedom from this job
At least for this Thursday night.
Hey! It's my weekend!

Yeah, baby, I've got
One more personal day, yo!
And it starts right now.

(Did you see that "yo"
from the haiku above this?
I'm so embarassed.)

It's a matter of
getting the right number of
syllables, G dawg.

What the F is this?!
I don't think I even know
what I'm saying. Sigh.

Here's another try
at doing this the "right way."
Apologies, gang.

It's at fifty-eight
percent so that means I can
start to wrap it up.

One more Haiku, then?
I'll try to think of something
profound to say... nope.

I have a fat cat.
She's like a fuzzy pumpkin;
beautiful and orange.

Did I mention round?
Well, she's getting more round-ish.
Kitty-diet time.

(My writing group laughs
at my tubby orange kitty.
She just ignores them.)

Seriously, gang!
It's at eighty-eight percent.
How long must I wait?!

There is a nice beer
waiting for me at BJs
once I blow this joint.

I'm so excited
I get to take tomorrow
to do my own thing.

Hey, I guess that means
technically I could get drunk
tonight at the bar.

It'd be such a waste,
if I got a hang-over
on my day to write.

Hey. You. Blogger. Yeah, I'm Talking To You.

2006-01-26T21:59:00.000-08:00

So basically, people don't like to blog after work. I know this, because I read all your blogs, and I check on them over the course of my work day and pretty much by 7:00 PM you're all out of things to say. Which means I have 3 long hours of no new blogs. Of course, I would only EVER check a blog if I were waiting for something at work that was holding up my ability to continue working. Like right now. I'm waiting for some reads to finish building so I can leave. To go to a bar. Because a friend of mine just got one of those "film" jobs we all went to school for. Yeah to him! And I remain here, with my computer and no new blogs. I hope this is making you want to blog more after hours. Don't think that your efforts would go unappreciated. Oh, let me tell you. They'd be appreciated. They'd really be sort of a psychic balm for some of us. Alone at work. Waiting for the reads to finish.

Ahem.

Good night all.

JB Is Cooking Again!

2006-01-09T16:08:00.000-08:00

JB made us some amazing baked penne last night. YUM. He's got some kind of Chicken Delicacy planned for this evening. All this to say: I think he's feeling better.

Tee-Hee!

We went down to San Diego to visit AQF and SPF this past weekend. They have two cats, Isis and Osiris, and they just recently adopted a new kitten, Brooks. She is SO AWESOME. She took a nap with me on Saturday for about an hour, just curled up on my tummy in a little warm ball of fur.

But it was also good to get home to Luna, who is growing more cuddly as she ages even if she still won't take naps on my tummy.

Though, after playing with a 5-month-old kitten all weekend, Luna seems a little massive.

2006

2006-01-03T15:02:00.000-08:00

JB and I have been struggling through these first few days of 2006. We got sick in New Mexico over Christmas. I'm doing a little better and JB is doing a little worse. Hopefully he'll be well soon. We're both sick of being sick. It's additionally depressing to be sick over the holidays.

Bleh.

Updates:
We have a working sink, complete with dish washer hook up and new disposal (which we didn't kill ourselves installing, much to our surprise).

Rah.

Fireplace Magic And The Christmas Tree Slug

2005-12-05T07:36:00.000-08:00

This weekend some friends very kindly brought us lunch, as this is the beginning of Week Three With No Counters And No Kitchen Sink. We got to chat and catch up which was awesome. Eventually we got around to the fireplace which - after the $40 home warranty guy came to look at it and said "nope, I can't fix this" - AW took a look and presto, fixed our fireplace like he's been doing this for the past 20 years. No hesitation. And now we have a working fireplace.

We were feeling so good about this that we decided to go ahead and decorate for Christmas (after doing some drywall work in the kitchen), so on Sunday we went and bought our tree. We got it home and decorated while making our Christmas Music Mix. Just about the time I hung the last ornament on the tree, I noticed The Christmas Tree Slug inching across our floor. I can only assume the little guy came with the tree because I've actually never seen a slug indoors before. I spent my childhood on the high desert and we'd occasionally have millipedes or scorpions climbing up the shower drains, but never slugs.

There was a moment of panic, and then JB took the little guy outside. There was no way I was going to touch it. I can barely stand snails - and they have body armor.

It was a nice weekend to have after a hellish - and I mean HELLISH - week. Happy Holidays!

House Projects

2005-11-29T11:07:00.000-08:00

I'm waiting for this electrician guy to come and fix our fireplace.

We have a gas fireplace, that you "turn on" with a switch, and while we initially thought this was the height of cheese, we enjoyed it the first time we turned on our fire. This was maybe 8 months ago. The second time we turned on our fire we were sitting, enjoying the illusion of warmth, when the whole thing made this sucking sound and died. The switch - thereafter - did nothing. We were still getting things sorted and unboxed and moved into and painted and constructed and we didn't have time to address it, then the summer came and who in their right mind would want FIRE in your house in a CA summer? Then the weather started to cool down again, and there's the whole "stockings" thing and what not. And we have no fire, and our house warranty is about to expire.

So I'm waiting for this electrician guy to come and fix our fireplace. Which just feels weird. I'm actually a little worried that it's not the electrics, that there's something else going on. And our home warranty only pays for the electrician to check the switch. If it's a problem with the actual FIREPLACE they don't cover it. Even though that's what they're coming out to fix.

Then there's the kitchen situation. We took our counters off two weeks ago for the counter top guy to come and measure for the new ones. We were told "two weeks" like that was the magic number so we thought we'd have counter tops... now. I don't want to go into the whole story but it includes such elements as: lost paperwork, Home Depot guy unable to pick up phone to call contractor, confusion about whether a guy even came to measure our kitchen despite the fact that I was here and I talked to him and I said "so what's next?" and he said "oh, you just go to Home Depot to sign off on the estimate and pay," and JB finally getting on the phone every 2 hours until someone from Home Depot picked up the phone and called the contractor and got it all straightened out.

I just got a little chill typing "all straightened out." I hope that didn't jinx us. Because we still have no kitchen counters, no kitchen sink, no access to the dishwasher which drains through the kitchen sink plumbing, no place to prepare food. For the record, I will acknowledge that it is "all straightened out" when I'm staring at the water flowing - leaklessly - through the kitchen faucet.

Phone Conversation with JB:

2005-11-08T21:47:00.000-08:00

"Holy crap, you're not going to believe who's starring on Veronica Mars tomorrow night!"

"Joss Whedon."

"Wh- HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?"

"Joss Whedon?! Like, as in: acting???"

"THAT WAS A GUESS?!"

"Well, yeah."

"HOW DID YOU KNOW THAT?!"

"It's you."

"I am so transparent."

The Kitchen Project: Phase One

2005-11-07T15:45:00.000-08:00

JB and I have arranged for a counter guy to come to our house and measure for new kitchen countertops. For the first time I'm kind of glad our kitchen is on the smallish side. We also bought a sink and a new faucet. AND, looking at our sorry-ass cabinet doors, we decided to possibly buy new cabinet doors and paint them to match our cabinet boxes. I hope to include pictures of befores and afters, especially of our kitchen sink which I HAVE ALWAYS HATED WITH A FIERY PASSION.

November Rollercoaster

2005-11-03T15:06:00.000-08:00

Well, after blogging rapturously about the costume, I am here to tell you it was a crash-and-burn at the last second. I spent all my time on the first part (which turned out very well, thank you!) but rushed through the second part, erroneously thinking it wasn't necessary to make a mockup because this isn't a "fitted" garment.

Ahem. If you EVER hear me say I don't need to make a mockup again, please grab the nearest heavy object and beat me around the head a little. Keep in mind that the garment takes 10 yards of material for the surcote and 10 yards of more material for the lining. So that's 20 yards of fabric that I blew through. I hemmed it PERFECTLY (taking another 3 hours to do that nice sewing machine trick, but this time it was really really nice looking at the end). Then I put it on. This is a surcote, meaning it's like a dress with two gaping holes for arms. The front piece of the garment is about 4 inches too narrow, which makes me look about 12 inches too wide. NOT A GOOD FEELING.

JB walked in just after I tried it on and said "Is it supposed to look like that?" with a carefully neutral expression on his face. While I'm sure this was motivated by feelings of love and concern, it ensured that I would NEVER wear the damn thing out of the house. I will, however, attempt to sell it on eBay. The actual garment looks very nice. Just not on me.

In other news, my new class started and so far it's as great as I had hoped (knocking on wood that it will continue thus.)

Happy Thursday, all!

Hemming And... Well Just Hemming

2005-10-27T11:15:00.000-07:00

I am making my Halloween costume - first time I've tried one like this and it's fun but I am under the gun now... first Halloween party is in 2 nights and I have only made half of my costume at this point. I went home last night and hemmed the first part for 2 HOURS. Granted, it's a lot of skirt, and I was doing that handy sewing-machine trick where the machine sews the hem then kicks over to tack it to the skirt every inch or so - it's the first time I've tried that and it looks awesome but -- 2 HOURS!!!

The 2nd part of the costume has a hem just as long, and it doesn't even exist yet. Hopefully I'll get some major progress done tomorrow and then I can sew all day on Saturday.

I love Halloween.

Land Of Queries

2005-10-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

Started the query process today with three easy ones - all recommended by Shriekfest. Still feel kind of woozy, though. I need to get myself organized. I am also thinking about doing the Artist Way again, thanks to DA. :)

Whirlwind

2005-10-24T21:33:00.000-07:00

Vacation is over... and I feel like I could really use a vacation. We:

-took everything out of the kitchen cabinets

-painted kitchen cabinets

-put everything back into the kitchen cabinets

-watched Season 1 of Lost in between coats while waiting for paint to dry (45 min episodes are perfect for this.)

-got sick. Much chicken soup. Got better.

-hike in the beautiful California wilderness somewhere north of here.

-trip to garment district for fabric. Much haggling.

-sewing on ye olde medieval Halloween costume.

-Santa Barbara for wine tasting and an awesome lunch! Bought some wine. Yes, we got a Pinot Noir.

-trip to San Diego to hang with AQF and SPF

-carved some pumpkins with my sister

-got gussied up and spent 1 hour doing my hair into a mass of curls on top of my head. Surprisingly, I didn't then undo the whole thing in a last-minute panic. Much hairspray.

-attended a gallery opening and bought a painting

-went out for an uber-fancy dinner

-made a belt for the costume while JB drove us back to LA

Anyhow, back at work. Still have a lot of stuff to do with regards to screenwriting, organizing, and planning the next steps. Eeep. I have three leads from Shriekfest for production companies looking for horror/thriller scripts. I should probably do something about that. Hmm.

Friday And Giddy Sugar Rush

2005-10-14T13:53:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have all sorts of little things going on. I try not to talk so much about my writing on this blog but most of what's going on now revolves around my writing. I recently won best feature screenplay at Shriekfest. That means now I need to step up and do that other part about being a screenwriter. The whole "sell yourself" part. So I've been stumbling through logline and synopsis rewrites and then threw together a clunky query letter which needs rewriting. All of this needs to be polished and it needs to be great, but I feel like I'm dragging my feet on getting it done because I don't want to think about the NEXT step, which involves researching production companies (and possibly agents and managers) who have dabbled in this genre, contacting them, and asking them if they would be interested in reading this script.

Other than that, I'm looking forward to a week of no day job. JB and I are taking some time off. Among the things we MAY attempt to do this week (singly or together):

-start the kitchen cabinet project

-go up the coast to get out of LA

-finish Baulder's Gate: Dark Alliance II (for those of you with more of a life, this is a video game)

-talk through the outline for another screenplay idea

-hey, why the hell not: finish logline, synopsis, query, resume and bio

-run

-songwriting

-painting (various artsy projects - not cabinets)

-sew (Halloween is uncomfortably close and my pattern has not yet arrived. Grr.)

-lunch with friends we haven't seen in too long

-sleep in

-read

-research the polyurethane dress form method, possibly buy how-to kit and plaster bandages and foam

-play fetch with the cat (no really, she loves this)

-grill

-drink margaritas

Or I could scrap all of the above and just buy a floaty thing and spend all week in the pool before the whether gets too cold.

Serenity: A Review

2005-10-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's not MY review, and I can't post the content here so you have to go to Orson Scott Card's Website to read it, but it's like reading my feelings about the movie. Except for the parts where he talks about Ender's Game 'cause, you know, I didn't write that book.

To this I will add: I am thinking about getting this shirt.

I'm going again. Anyone want to join me?

Giddy

2005-09-28T18:11:00.000-07:00

I just want to remind those of you who might have forgotten that Serenity opens this weekend in a theater near you!

The Curious Incident Of Luna In The Mornings

2005-09-26T21:51:00.000-07:00

I think when I was a kid "making the bed" had something to do with getting my allowance, so I think for the most part I tried to keep it together most days. Then college happened, and who has time to make the bed between classes, studying, lithography studio time, theater rehearsals, and the occasional party? And then I moved in with a guy who in most respects is pretty neat... in some respects is pretty neat, so it sort of got deprioritized.

Enter Luna The Kitty. Luna never liked to curl up on the bed at the apartment. I thought she'd maybe been unconsciously booted off by one of us in our sleep or something. But when we moved into the Condo, I started making the bed, possibly to keep that "new place" feeling going for a while. All of a sudden, Luna is napping on the bed all the time. But only if it's MADE. She refuses to lower herself to sleep on a tangle of sheets. She must have a crisply tucked bed or she will damn well find another place to while away the sleepy afternoon hours.

And because of this - I kid you not - I make the bed every morning now. Not for myself or JB. Not to have a put-together room. For the cat. I make my bed for the cat. So she'll have a place to nap. If you come over to the condo and the bed is made - I didn't do that for you. It's not me trying to "straighten up" for company. I made that bed for the cat.

About my "neat" husband... he generally leaves one or two pieces of clothing at the foot of the bed. Because I can't tell if these are clean or dirty piles of clothes (and because I get snapped at if I consistently take them all and dump them in the clothes hamper) I just fold them up and leave them at the foot of the bed. Then Luna, prepping for the long day of napping ahead of her, will jump up onto the bed, and tease JB's shorts or shirt or pants out a little in order to lay down on them. She will not nap on an unmade bed, but she likes to have a rumpled piece of JB's clothing to park on.

That's our mornings. I get up, have some coffee, do my morning journal, and then make the bed for the cat. That's why it's oh-so-gratifying to see her go for that memento of JB every single day. Like she's saying "Yeah, thanks for making the bed lady, but I wish JB were here. Huh. What's this? This smells just like JB. I'll just close my eyes and pretend those sounds you make tooling around the apartment are JB. 'Cause I can smell him, since I've got my nose smashed up in the crotch of his running shorts. Ah, the sweet and savory aroma of JB. If only he were here."

Quote From The Camping Trip

2005-09-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

"I want to be more intellectual. You read history and symbolic logic. All I do is sit around and eat smores."

Project At Long Last

2005-09-21T14:55:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's been 9 months since we moved into our place.

And 9 months without a major house project (I won't count any of the work we put into the place before moving in.) But the kitchen sink has gotten to me at long last and I think we're going to start our kitchen project very soon. It will be relatively simple, as far as kitchen projects go. We're just painting the cabinets and having the countertop and sink replaced.

But when you go into Home Depot, it's never that simple. Because then you think, "well, if we're going to all this trouble to replace the counter tops, we don't want the cabinets to look awful... should we replace them too?" and the Home Depot team is very helpful in suggesting all sorts of possibilities up to and including a personal in home designer who will come for a mere $100 to look at you place and suggest the perfect configuration of cabinets to best suit your personal needs.

Except that all we want is a new counter top and a new sink. And now I have 8 brochures from 4 different cabinet places. How did that happen?

I'm excited to get started on the pulling down of cabinet doors and the cleaning / priming of shelves.

So We Can All Live Vicariously Through My Sister

2005-09-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been visiting, you should check out my sister's blog - she's documenting her travels through China.

Highlights:
Hagen Daaz Ice Cream Mooncakes
Hamburger complete with Ham. And eggs.
Beautiful Lotus Flowers

Seriously, you should check it out.

Who's With Me?

2005-09-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

Technically I guess I'm supposed to be at a film festival that day, but come on. JB? SPF? Little Q, you are in China so I suspect not... Louie? T$?

On Saturday, September 24th, Universal Studios Hollywood will be hosting a Serenity "Fan Fest" where attendees will be able to meet Joss and members of the cast. In addition, Loni Peristere from Zoic will give a visual effects presentation and you'll get a sneak peak at Serenity and have the chance to view props and set pieces from the film (including the MULE hovercraft!). The event takes place inside the theme park and will feature a Q&A from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m., followed by an autograph session from 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Universal Studios is offering a special $15 off coupon good for this day only. More information can be found here.

Physics and... Chemistry

2005-09-14T15:24:00.000-07:00

There was a time when I thought I was going to be a physicist. This was a firm belief I held up until my first semester in college when I realized that in order to major (and, let's be honest, SUCCEED) in Physics, I would be forced to deal with Chemistry. Which I believed I hated. I believed this - I suspect - in part because of Mr. P, my high school chemistry teacher who hated teenagers, had a predictably short fuse, and liked to bean students with erasers, chalk, white board markers, and other small objects that were near to hand when the occasion warranted. I had never had a teacher who threw things at students before, but we must have had him at the height of his I'll-throw-things-at-my-students-when-I-damn-well-please phase because my semester with him was his last semester at our school. Ah, Mr. P.

Anyhow, I've decided as of this moment forward, I will give Chemistry another shot. I'll pretend Chemistry and I were set up by a mutual friend long ago and it was the blind date from hell. Chemistry and I totally got off on the wrong foot, but we're ready to try it again, because people keep telling us we'd really be good together. There was too much pressure last time. This time we're just going to take it easy, maybe get together a few times in a coffee shop, see if we hit it off.

New Skirt And A Heater

2005-09-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

I got a new skirt this past weekend. This is news because basically I only buy clothes for myself when I get gift cards as... gifts. Anyhow, wearing it at work, in our glassy freezer of a building, is only possible due to the small, portable heater tucked under my desk. But it's kind of nice to wear a skirty-skirt every once in a while and feel like a girly-girl.

SHA-ZAMS!

2005-09-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

I just remembered this from oh, let's say roughly 2 decades ago back in ABQ:

My sister and I used beg to go to this one store every time we got our allowance. We called it SHA-ZAMS! The sign clearly read "Chesam's" CHE-SAMS, but to us, that spelled SHA-ZAMS! They had all the coolest stickers and stuffed animals. I remember saving up 3 or 4 allowances once to buy this stuffed UNICORN. It had this shimmery material for it's horn and long soft white "hair" for it's mane and tail. Anyhow, for years we were wild for SHA-ZAMS! and one day I ask my friend if she'd ever been (I believe we were trading our wildest sticker-hunting stories). She had never heard of SHA-ZAMS! but when I described how you get there she politely asked "Oh, is it anywhere near Chesam's?" At that point, the universe shifted just a tiny bit into alignment and I saw, with horror, that OF COURSE "Chesam's" would be pronounced "Chesam's" and not "SHA-ZAMS!" and with embarrassment (and very likely beet red cheeks) I stammered something about how it was a joke in our family to call it SHA-ZAMS, of course I KNOW it's really pronounced Chesam's...

I am sure there's a story there. Maybe it involved a little girl just learning to read who sounded out a fantastical name from an average shop sign - and maybe her mom and/or dad thought it was cute and never corrected her or her sister, who grew up seeing a sign that read Chesam's, but knowing in their hearts it was SHA-ZAMS! The funny thing: after I realized SHA-ZAMS! was really Chesam's, it lost some of its luster for me. Maybe I was growing out of the sticker/stuffed unicorn phase (and this would have been not a nanosecond too soon), but there was something magical about an average little shop, sitting on an average little street, with a larger than life, no-holds-barred, "this is a place for YOU, little girls who still believe that the place you go car-camping at every summer is the fairy forest because you've seen the evidence of fairy rings left in the morning dew" name.

It's The Little Things

2005-09-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

So I "finished" (I am starting to laugh whenever I even think about that word) the vampire script this morning. It was only a 2 1/2 hour rewrite, focusing on one small section, adding a line or two in two or three places, and tweaking the very last scene. I could be being optimistic, but the end seems to resonate a little more for me now.

After the rewriting, I went to the grocery store, bought some fresh potato bread buns, an avocado, and some half and half and came to work, where JB and I had the turkey burgers he grilled last night with swiss, tomatoes, and avocado slices AND coffee with real cream. Ah, me.

PLUS, tomorrow is Friday.

Seriously. It's a good day.

Changes

2005-09-07T15:21:00.000-07:00

I love the seasonal change from summer to fall. It feels like a new beginning. Yes, I know, I don't get summer vacations anymore, but I always reach the fall feeling ready to get started on something NEW. In that light, I'm getting ready to start a new project. It's not a creative writing project. It is something I've been thinking about trying for a long time now. I've got to polish up 2 scripts, hopefully both will be finished by this weekend, and then I am rededicating myself to doing something new for a while. Planning to let the "writer" rest for a moment, hopefully while my attention is turned elsewhere, more ideas will bubble around in the back of my head.

Over The Weekend

2005-09-06T14:21:00.000-07:00

We were in New Mexico this weekend for a friend's wedding, and their hotel was across from the convention center. While we were there, the convention center was being prepared for some victims of the hurricane. I think they said as many as 5,000 may be temporarily housed in New Mexico. When JB and I donate money to help in times like these, it feels like the smallest possible thing we can do, and yet I don't know how else to help. I am still just stunned and horrified by the destruction, and my heart goes out to everyone touched by this tragedy.

Things That Piss Me Off

2005-08-31T18:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, have you ever been in this position: a person finds out that you're a writer. Learns that your recent script is doing well on festival circuit. Asks to read it. You say sure, send him a copy. He comes back with "coverage" and requests time to "discuss" your script, saying "good start." This in reference to a script you have finished, which you've sent out to contests, which is a finalist in one contest and a semi-finalist (read: top 25) in another contest, and for which you DID NOT ASK FOR FEEDBACK.

It may or may not surprise you to learn that this aforementioned person is also a "writer" in the sense that they've got their first script "almost done" and they really love to talk about writing and were wondering if we have room for one more person in our writing group.

On a side note: just last night I dreamt I got notes back from this person and the major note was that the script didn't have enough puns. If it had more puns, this person assured me, it would be much stronger. Even in my sleep I was seething.

Shaking Off Responsibility Is Like Shaking Off Tar

2005-08-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

So this week I am supposed to be back to my regular responsibilities. It's going to be a slow return to "normal" unfortunately. Lots happened this week, which means my boss has lots to catch up on. But it's sooo nice to have her back!!! Ah me. Oh, and I came in 5 1/2 hours early today to take care of some things that I couldn't finish last week.

I'm My Boss This Week

2005-08-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

My boss is on a (well deserved and too long in coming!) vacation this week. So I'm the boss for 5 harrowing days. One down, 3.9 to go. Yesterday it was a 14.5 hour day. Hee hee hee. That sound is the sound of nervous anxiety laced with coffee (coffee!).

I actually tossed and turned all night last night. And when I dreamed? I dreamed of THIS JOB. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?! And I only had one cup of coffee all day yesterday, so it wasn't the caffine. It's like I just couldn't come down from the day.

Come home soon, Y!

The good news - I finished a script last week, and this week I will be too exhausted and busy and anxious to think about the people who are reading it to offer feedback. Except now I'm thinking about that.

Also - Prilosec is a great ally.

Um... Coffee!

2005-08-09T13:51:00.000-07:00

Coffee makes me feel good.
Coffee is warm and tasty.
Coffee beans smell like holidays.
Luna is the only one who doesn't like the sound of the coffee grinder.
Coffee is portable to be enjoyed at home and office.

So what if it is chemical happiness? I'm not too proud to admit: sometimes I need the coffee to face the J.O.B.

Down Day

2005-08-08T21:04:00.000-07:00

I don't know why, I'm having a bit of a down day. Being at work sometimes makes me feel like clawing my way out of my skin. Work for money. Money for food and shelter. One day after another after another, no more summer vacations ever. Nothing but a long unending road of clocking in, clocking out, paycheck, paying rent, doing laundry, cooking meals, doing dishes. Fighting for two minutes to do something I want to do, to feel like potential still means something. Terrified I'm going to wake up one day, an old woman, tired and used up and filled with regrets for opportunities I never took, lives I never lead.

So that's my day. How are you?

It's Late And I Want To Go Home

2005-08-03T22:34:00.000-07:00

Still at work. Tired. Grumpy. Headache growing in magnitude. Very weary. Impatient. Shoulder blades ache.

I wish it could be
time to go home already.
Damn, it's getting late.

Why did I decide
to do yoga this morning?
Now my body hurts.

How I pass the time:
writing really bad haiku
and watching the clock.

Does haiku have to
be about nature to be
real haiku? Nah, dude.

I'm sure I offend
haiku purists who must see
what I do as wrong.

I can count to five,
then I can count to seven,
and then five again.

What would you do if
you could become anyone
in the universe?

I think I would be
independently wealthy
and write all day long.

I could keep this up
all night if necessary.
Just want to go home.

I am actually
waiting for this thing at work.
When it's done, I'll go.

Why, computer, why?!
I was almost out of here,
then you had to crash!!!

Now Computer makes
aggrivating whirs and beeps.
It's driving me mad.

So it happened twice.
I think I found a bad read.
I got you, sucka!

Okay, time to go.
I will have to spare you from
more "brilliant" haiku.

Five Years

2005-08-01T16:04:00.000-07:00

Five years have gone by so quickly, I can hardly believe it. We were college kids, and then we were moving out to Los Angeles with nothing but some childhood furniture and a pair of used cars, moving into a house that was supposed to be a house of artists but was really a house of fun-deteriorating-into-pain and artistic procrastination. I remember moving into our first apartment, with two windows and one closet and a fire hose in the wall of the living room. We'd lived together for four years, so I didn't think anything would change when we got engaged, and then married. I couldn't have been more wrong. It seems like every year what I feel for you grows deeper, becomes more and more a part of who I am. What I thought I knew about love keeps evolving as we move through new stages of our life together. I am so grateful to have you in my life. I can't wait to see what the next five years brings us.

That Takes Me Back

2005-07-29T13:34:00.000-07:00

Last night I stayed up until 2:00 AM reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" (Thank you, T$) because I was so engrossed I DIDN'T NOTICE what time it was. That hasn't happened to me in a long, long time. It's a nice feeling... knowing I still have more of this book to read and I haven't read it before and I don't know how it's going to end. Ah. I have lots of amazing books on my bookshelves but you can only read a book for the first time once.

A Warm House

2005-07-18T14:59:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who came to our House Warming! JB and I had a great time cooking up a storm (as per usual, Grill Master JB made some excellent and tasty treats). I cooked my "I make this for special occasions only because it takes all freakin' day" Chicken Tortilla Soup, and a Green Chili and Cheese puff pastry. Ah, New Mexico, how I miss you...

Enter Acid Reflux Disease. There are three simple rules I am aware of to avoid angering the Monster Who Lives In My Stomach:

1) Don't eat spicy food.
2) Don't eat a lot of food at any one time.
3) Don't lay down for at least 3 hours after eating.

Last night I broke all of them. JB grilled us up some Pollo Asado (sp?) and I made us two side dishes liberally laced with Sadie's New Mexican Salsa* that was so tasty I had 2 helpings of everything except the chicken - and I would have had more of that if we hadn't run out of chicken to grill.

I woke up at 5:17 (after going to bed around 1:00 AM - did I mention that "Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince" arrived about 15 minutes after our first House Warming Guest?). I am a fairly sound sleeper, so by the time I was awake there was already a 4-alarm fire going on in my stomach. I'm amazed I have an esophagus left, actually. I was in pain for 2 hours, exhausted pain, trying to sleep sitting up, resisting the temptation to OD on Pepcid AC, railing on myself for not having started another 14 day treatment of Prilosec before the House Warming (and the Sadie's New Mexican Salsa* I knew we'd be eating!), and generally hating life. Finally I gave up being "good", went into the kitchen and poured a packet of Splenda into a teaspoon and then filled up the spoon with Peppermint Extract. The Monster was instantly knocked out (along with most of my ability to taste/smell for a moment) and I went back to bed.

* Sadie's New Mexican Salsa... such a wonderful flavor. When I go back to New Mexico, even knowing my sleep will be interrupted by Acid Reflux, I can't resist consuming a stuffed sopapilla and papas fritas smothered in Sadie's Green Chili Sauce. Also, trivia, the first dinner date JB took me on (we're not counting Home Coming) was to Sadie's. Love.

Firecrackers Vs. Fireworks

2005-07-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

JB and I were starting to believe that all firecrackers were illegal in California. We were looking to buy some sparklers (and by "we" I mean "me" - JB was very patient and allowed me to drag him all over the greater southern California area on Saturday) and finally we found some in Pasadena in a little booth on the side of the road. I remember, as a kid, buying sparklers in the grocery store. They were everywhere. You could be a hermit and have no access to media of any kind and go into the grocery store and know it was the Forth of July because of the sparklers on display.

Anyhoo, we got our sparklers, along with some firecrackers. As soon as we bought the firecrackers I started to worry. Where are we going to light them? What if they start a fire? Can we light them in our patio? HELL NO - not with the propane tank sitting right there ready to blow a crater in the concrete. And the parking lot - which was JB's calm suggestion - seemed to me like a terrifying alternative. What if we disturbed the condo-folks? Or marked the pavement? Or set the building on fire?! What if the police came and arrested us!? I mean, if it's THIS HARD to buy fireworks, they must be illegal, right?

The big day arrived. We got the firecrackers and a long-handled lighter. I contemplated bringing the fire extinguisher which we bought when we brought the grill into our lives. Decided against it. We tamely lit our little 2-foot fountains in the parking lot armed with water bottles prepared to drench any out of control sparks while our neighbors launched aerial fireworks hundreds of feet into the air over our heads. Yeah, I'm thinking we were probably low on the police priority list.

In other news, I am impressed by the large quantities of what must be truly expensive fireworks that our neighbors can afford to blow up in the sky over our condo.

A Couple Of Wednesday Thoughts And Some Haiku

2005-06-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

Mostly... "I'm sleepy." And also, "It's really warm in my office." Then, "I get a 3 day weekend!" and "Thank goodness we'll have sparklers on Monday." (Ahem.)

The fan in my door
competes with six computers
that radiate heat.

I'd like to swim now
but they make no corporate pools
that I'm aware of.

A Couple Of Tuesday Thoughts

2005-06-28T17:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know who wrote this, but it's awesome:

"Take our slot, take our cast
Run them all mixed-up, half-assed
I don't care, there's DVD
You can't take my show from me... "

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn." -Joss

The Midnight Italian Second Dinner Party

2005-06-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

JB and I have been watching Sopranos. I have to admit, we were 2 discs in and I was still "Eh? What's the big deal?!" but now I am possibly a little hooked. Anyhoo, last night JB and I were watching - actually the last episode of Season 1 - and got this intense desire for some really good homemade Italian food. A "no talking back to" desire. A "stop the episode and get a recipe off the web for tomato sauce we can make with ingredients we currently have in our fridge/pantry" desire. This may or may not have had anything to do with the 1/2 bottle of red wine we drank. However, the upshot is that we ended up cooking and then eating basically a second dinner that we didn't need because we weren't hungry we were just dying for a taste of some Italian food. It was actually very satisfying. Now I have to spend the weekend running.

Weekends and Happiness

2005-06-10T19:24:00.000-07:00

I think we might actually get to play volleyball this weekend! I miss volleyball, we haven't had the chance to play in so very long... before USC JB and I used to go to the beach every weekend from May through September and play with friends. There is something so freeing about being able to play out in the sun every week.

Did I mention I'm allergic to the sun? I've been allergic to the sun since I was a kid (T$ - can your fella explain this?) but we didn't know what caused it until I started playing volleyball. Why? Because it only used to happen when I would hang out on the beach which - as a kid - means getting WET or if I played all day in the grass. So we thought maybe I was allergic to something in the water, or to grass.

The "allergy" has a very specific course of action. I'd reach whatever critical mass of sun exposure my skin needed to go to DEFCON 5. Then I'd ITCH NON-STOP FOR THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS. This is annoying for the first 6 hours or so, but when you cannot SLEEP because you are itching for three days and three nights, it becomes more of a serious problem. I went to the emergency room twice as a kid because we couldn't figure it out and I'd freak out and scratchy my legs bloody (Oh, did I mention that it was only my legs that itched?) I was on useless pills for a while and had some useless creams. There was only one cream I ever encountered that worked. It was called Rhuli cream and they no longer make it, possibly because it turned your skin pasty pink-white. I was already pasty pink-white and therefore did not care, but even if I had been a lovely olive-skinned child, I would have welcomed the blessed pastiness of the Rhuli cream because it killed the pain. You weren't supposed to used this magical concoction more than 2 or 3 times a day. Yeah, I'd blast through a tube at a time. They make a mostly-useless Rhuli gel now.

But I have gotten smarter. When I went to the beach (with great trepidation, I might add) when JB and I first moved out here I thought "Well, I won't get wet, and there's no grass, so I should be okay." Hah. BUT, during the resulting three days and three nights of tortured sleeplessness, I had some time to think, and I figured out that the common denominator in all these various situations was... the sun.

Then, the following weekend (or maybe it was a few weeks later, letting enough time pass to let the gouges on my legs heal up a bit) I went back to the beach with the highest SPF sun block on the market and liberally applied it several times over our 4 hour stint on the beach.

And behold, I am free at long last of the itchies.

Serenity Anticipation Fest

2005-05-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

For those of you who might be interested... the trailer is here:
Serenity: The Official Movie Website

My Kung Fu Sista Kicks Ass - Part 2

2005-05-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

JB and I spent the weekend in San Diego at a Kung Fu competition where my Kick Ass Sista... well, kicked some ass.

JB described her as "this really sweet girl" who transformed out there into a wailin' machine-o-punches-and-kicks.

We got to see her do Techniques, Forms, and Sparring. Okay. I was impressed by the techniques.

Then I was blown away by the forms (it's like this 5-minute long dance of awesomeness with a couple of invisible partners who are getting the hootenanny beat out of them). Some guy at the edge of the mat totally recoiled when she charged his way (even though she was maybe 8 feet away from him) THAT'S how intimidating my sweet little sister was.

THEN we got to see her do something called the "double-dagger form" which included (this might come as a shock, brace yourselves) two daggers. Right. Who is this creature and how am I related to her again? And can I learn this, please?

But all of that was my sister alone on the mat. What really REALLY got me was watching her spar. She fought a woman who looked to be about a foot taller than her, but my sister was a bulldog, totally uninhibited and wailing on this other lady like she's been doing this her whole life. Okay, we "fought" as kids, but it was NOTHING like this. (I'm so glad we're past the "rough-housing" phase of our sister-ness.)

All in all it was amazing and inspiring. I can't wait to see her do this again next year.

Episode III

2005-05-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

After being burned by Episode I, by which I mean JB and I got tickets for the 2:00 AM show on opening night at Mann's Chinese Theatre (or is it back to Gromann's now?), JB and I will be attending the much more reasonable showtime of 8:00 tonight for Episode III. I know it's not opening night, not really, since it screened starting at mid-night last night. Right? Also, we had the hook-up and did not actually have to battle for tickets ourselves.

The only thing I wish: I wish I hadn't heard any good reviews. Because I want to expect the same quality of movie as Episode I and Episode II and then be blown away if it's even a LITTLE BIT better. But now I have this tiny little buried hope that I keep trying to dig out and expose to the withering sunlight of reason that this movie is going to rival the first trilogy.

I just don't know if I can handle that kind of disappointment again.

Sweet Kitty

2005-05-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

Luna was very sweet this morning. She came and sat on my legs as I wrote, then curled up next to me and fell deeply asleep. She's so pretty. Sometimes she looks like a lion with her big paws ready to kill something, and sometimes she looks like a little piece of fluff all curled up in a ball.

Dinner Break

2005-05-16T20:46:00.000-07:00

I waited so long for daylight savings to come so I would have a few hours of sunlight after work. Now it's daylight savings, and I work the night shift. But I guess I get lots of morning sunlight, so it all evens out in the wash.

Which isn't to say I don't see any daylight during the day, but when it's "on the clock" daylight it somehow doesn't count.

I used to have this job where I had everything in the office so organized (and I should point out here that when I was hired I was replacing TWO PEOPLE) that I would work from 9:00 AM to about 11:00 AM or - on a really busy day - noon. Then I would write at my desk for the rest of the day. I wrote my first 4 screenplays this way. Then I went to USC, studied for 3 years, graduated, and now I have another day job that pays slightly more but offers no during-the-day time to write.

I'm on my "lunch" break, only it's 9:00 PM so it really feels like dinner.

Pressure

2005-05-11T13:46:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have those moments where you think, "this (object, experience, etc...) will make my life so much (easier, more fulfilling, ect...) I must get it."

I'm having that feeling about a Pressure Cooker. I'm not sure why. What would I cook with a pressure cooker that I can't cook now? Wild rice - but really fast? James' Puerco Pibil? I don't know, can you cook up oatmeal (not the instant stuff, but the stuff that's supposed to be really good for you) in a pressure cooker? And what happens if your pressure cooker malfunctions? Can you die if it explodes in your face? Do I want to risk that?

Hm.

I Yogaed-Up My Spine

2005-05-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

I have a new shift at work. I go in at 1:00 PM and work until (unless someone lights the building on fire and I have to go find the extinguisher...(that's a metaphorical "fire", dad, and yes a security guy walks me to my car after my shift)) 10:00 PM. Can I just say: THIS IS THE GREATEST SHIFT EVER. Why-o-why does it have to end?

I have mornings and even noon-ings to write. I get to get up, do some yoga***, have some breakfast, make some New Mexico Pinon Coffee, and break out the laptop. Then it's anywhere from 2-4 hours of writing before going in to the D.A.Y. J.O.B. (which I am so much more thankful for now that it doesn't feel like it's burning through my most precious and creative-oriented time of day.)

Amazing how much my outlook has changed in 4 short days.

---

*** So, Yoga. Seriously, people, I am only doing the very first little stretchy sun-salutations thingy and I feel like someone's stuck rusty nails into my lower spine. I have been in pain for 4 days. I keep thinking that this is just the working-the-kinks-out phase, and soon I will be limber like I was when I was actually doing the whole 2 hour ordeal a couple of times a week. And yet the pain continues, unabated. YOGA. Yoga is supposed to make you feel BETTER. I move around like an octogenarian. I can barely put my socks on in the mornings. Luna throws herself on the carpet with her I'm-too-cute-to-not-pet-aren't-I? face and as I try to bend over to scratch her, the GROAN of pain that escapes me scares her away. Then I have to try to STRAIGHTEN UP again.

Did I mention how happy I am about this new shift at work?

Thursday?

2005-04-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Is it just me, or did this week go by super-fast? I have so many things to do in the next 24 hours. I went to sleep at 1:00 AM last night and the cat still tried to get me up this morning at 6:00 AM. At one point she just stood on my head. That was a new one for me. I was so tired I didn't care. James finally booted her out of the room and closed the door so she couldn't return. Then we got up with all of 5 glorious minutes to dress and brush our teeth and stuff like that before we had to rush off to work. Not my favorite way to spend the morning, but what can you do? And is every one in the world in a bad mood today? Maybe I'm just projecting.

AHHHHRGH!!!

2005-04-27T13:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I just learned there's going to be preview screenings of Serenity on May 5 all across the country and as far as I can tell, they all sold out in the first 24 hours since the announcement.

I am only slightly mollified by the fact that there was no screening announced for LA.

But mostly I just want to see this movie.

You can go here to see the trailer (and I recommend doing so. You know, if you like Sci-Fi):

Serenity: The Official Movie Website

Giddy With Anticipation

2005-04-26T09:44:00.000-07:00

Sorry, this is another Serenity entry... Just. Can't. Wait.

WonderCon Clip 128k.mov

They all seem so chummy!

Grill Master

2005-04-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

I'm in the middle of this crazy-writing-week, trying to get a draft done by Saturday, and JB has been taking care of the cooking. We generally share this duty, or at least take turns, but I am very grateful to JB for taking care of it while I spend literally every moment that is not working or sleeping with my lap top and a pile of notes.

Let me just say, it took him 2 whole days, but he has mastered The Grill. He made us some chicken on Day 1 that was... well, you remember that scene from "Three Amigos" where they're eating fire-crisped bats for their dinner?

On day 2, however, not to be daunted, not to crawl away defeated, JB made MORE chicken on The Grill. This chicken, people, wow. Perfect. Flavorful. Juicy. And no carbon-scoring, either.

Yeah, it brings a tear to my eye. I even took a break from writing to eat it at the table like a civilized person. Thank you, JB! You rock!

What's New In The Land Of Luna

2005-04-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

Luna has learned a few new things in the past couple of weeks.

As you may or may not know, Luna likes to eat. She likes to have her breakfast anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour before I like to get out of bed. She has always walked on us in the morning to try to get us up. She used to try crunching on the plants we had in the bedroom, but now those plants live on the patio, so Luna has expanded her bag o' tricks.

For the past week or so, Luna has started kneading and then gnawing on my hair. You know how cats knead something before lying down? Imagine this, but with claws, at 6:00 in the morning, and the kneading continues until 1) Luna gets bored and starts chewing on my hair or 2) I get crazy and put a pillow over my head.

Once again, James is spared this torment. Instead, Luna decides to cuddle with him at night in front of the TV when we're all awake and she's not in the mood to shred anything with her claws.

Luna has also recently discovered that if she runs out the front door and into the heavily fortified and largely inescapable patio, James and I might let her explore for a few minutes. We let her hang out there with us for about ten minutes yesterday. This made her SO HAPPY. She got to sniff things to her heart's content. I don't know about the rest of your cats, but when Luna sniffs something, she moves her whole head up and down with each breath - she looks like a stuffed-up octogenarian.

The upshot of this whole "letting Luna explore the patio" deal is that now, when we're on the patio and she's inside, she gets EXTREMELY PISSED OFF, howls with frustration, and - when we come inside to try to comfort her, shrugs us off, seething with anger. Apparently we are no longer allowed to sit in the patio without her. The patio is just another part of Luna's domain, to which she will not be denied.

I think we've created a monster.

Happy Thursday

2005-04-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

I just couldn't catch up to myself this week. I feel about 4 days behind. Too much to do, too much I wanted to get done, and ye olde day job sucking out 45 good hours of my "awake time."

What I really want to do right now is just get in a car and go driving. Drive out of LA, maybe up the coast, maybe to Oregon, see the red woods, just chill, eat at little diners... basically "run away" but that gets a whole lot more complicated past the age of 18. Not that I'm advocating running away. Or anything.

I'm Sorry. I Thought You Were Some Kind Of Computer Program.

2005-04-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Enigma America,

You invited me to "Submit your blog to blogtemps.com and get your opinion seen or discuss issues in our blogosphere forum. http://www.blogtemps.com".

And I callously replied "I do not believe you truly care, enigma america. I think you are playing with my affections. I will not fall for your vanity-stroking ways. Blog crawl along, enigma america. My issues are not for discussing."

I honestly believed you were a web-crawling program sent out to drop obscure invitations on a wide variety of blogs.

I had no idea you were a person. I think part of my confusion came from my investigation of www.blogtemps.com which was - and still is - a page that reads ""BlogTemps.Com is currently experiencing a server failure due to unknown reasons. Please check back later. Thank you, BlogTemps Staff". Part of my confusion came from clicking on your name, enigma america, and finding a list of 3 blogs, the first two of which had no entries. I apologize for not checking the 3rd blog. At that point, I just felt duped. A little like the kid who looks down when her "fun" uncle says "shoe's untied!" and then when she looks down he bops her in the nose.

Hence the sarcastic refusal of your invitation.

Imagine my surprise and chagrin when I received your last comment "I don't give a damn. You bloggers are a little testy, huh?"

Either, I realized with a jolt, enigma america is an actual flesh-and-blood person who I have inadvertently offended, or a REALLY sophisticated web-crawling, invitation-dropping program. In either event, I feel an apology is in order.

I'm sorry. Human being or sophisticated program, I want this blog to be a warm and friendly place, a place where all sorts of people - sorry! - where all sorts of entities are welcome to come and post comments.

If it makes you feel better, I seriously fretted about this all morning. All I can say is: oops.

Have a nice day.

Puppies

2005-04-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

Let's say a person was required to watch 4 hours of a not-terribly-well-received sci-fi show. And that show had a SUPER CUTE little puppy on it. Is it possible that the stress of watching lots of extremely mediocre TV would somehow condition the test subject to bond with the puppy in the absence of any emotionally compelling characters? And that the sudden raging desire to have a little puppy (yes, and then a dog, I'm a believer that when you adopt a pet it becomes part of your family for-ev-er) will fade with time?

If not, Luna is going to be very, very unhappy with me.

Noonsies

2005-04-05T13:44:00.000-07:00

I just went into the kitchen and there were, like, 10 of my co-workers sitting around the TV watching baseball.

Apparently I am totally out of the loop, because it's the first day or something of the Boston something's training or possibly season? Wait, I just heard all this. It's the something day. It has a title. "SOMETHING DAY". "Day One"? I think they were from Boston. Is that right? "B" something. Does this have anything to do with the Red Socks? (Just kidding, I know it's Red Sox. Or is it Red Soxx? Redd Sox? Redd Soxx?) Not "Training Day" - that was a movie with Denzel Washington. "Opening Day" sounds closer. Is that right? And there was a team name and I think it had a "B" in it. The "B---s". The "B---s". Nope. It's not coming.

Does anyone know what's going on?

The Green Thumb Experiment

2005-04-04T15:50:00.000-07:00

It's been a whole week without rain (knock on wood) so I'm trying out this whole "container garden" thing.

Possibly because I've been working out on the patio more often, Luna has gotten very good at streaking out the front door and into our little patio area. While I'm glad she's not taking off down the street, I do kind of wish she wouldn't make a mad dash for freedom every time we open the front door.

We have a little "kitty halter/leash" for Luna to wear. Cats don't belong on leashes. They don't understand leashes. They resent leashes. And yet it's the only way Luna gets to go outside so she TOLERATES the leash.

While "gardening" yesterday (with Luna sulking resentfully at the end of her kitty leash on the patio), I met one of the neighborhood kids. A very nice boy, maybe 11 years old, who decided yesterday was the day to tell me his life story. I didn't want to be rude, so I stopped gardening to listen politely to what I thought would be a 30 second "hi, I'm a neighbor, your cat is pretty, goodbye I have to go play video games" conversation. I misjudged the boy. Intermingled with his life story, he had a lot of questions about cats:

Boy: "Why do cats like to chase birds?"
Me: "Probably 'cause they're small and twitchy and they move fast. And they have feathers. Cats seem to go wild for feathers."
Boy: "Does Luna like to eat birds?"
Me: "I'm sure she'd love to chase and catch and toy with birds. She'd probably eat them, yeah." (Didn't want to say she'd most likely "play" with them until they were limp and bloody and then promptly lose interest, leaving the bird to die of it's internal injuries hopeless and alone.)
Boy: "Why do you think dogs like to chase cats?"
Me: "Cats like to run away from dogs? Dogs like to chase things that run away from them?" (Maybe because cats have that whole curiosity problem. You know, always asking questions...)

Then I got to hear about all the pets that live in our 37 unit complex, including dogs and cats that USED to live here but then moved away with their owners. After 10 or 15 minutes of smiling and nodding while potting soil crusted on my hands, the boy left. Luna had had enough of the leash by this point and so I took advantage of the sudden silence and took her back inside. And a good thing too, because 30 seconds later the boy was back with his two cockatiels sitting on his shoulder.

Luna may have been on a leash, but I'm betting if she'd still been on that patio, we'd have found out the answer to the age-old question: "How long would it take a small orange cat to Houdini it out of a kitty halter, jump onto the shoulders of an 11 year old boy, and incapacitate / mortally wound two cockatiels?"

Afterthought

2005-03-29T10:05:00.000-08:00

Right, what I forgot to mention - when talking about how good I was going to be by not having coffee with cream and sugar today - was that I started off the day eating the last creme brule and a couple of home made chocolates. Oops.

Turns Out, Yes They Will

2005-03-29T09:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I hit "publish" and the tickets were dropped right onto my desk.

But supposing I HADN'T posted about the tickets... would they still have arrived?

Green Tea and an Exciting Story

2005-03-29T09:29:00.000-08:00

I'm trying something new today - instead of starting off the day with a coffee with cream and sugar, I'm trying a green tea. We'll see how this goes.

Here's an exciting story: Once upon a time there was a boy and a girl who were going to take a train trip down to San Diego to see their sister and brother-in-law, go to a U2 concert, and then drive to Vegas for a much needed break from the day job. One day they bought tickets via the web for the train since there's no kiosk where one could actually purchase tickets in person. The web promised them they'd have their tickets in time to get on the train, and warned them that their reservation number was not enough. A day passed. Another day passed. Another day passed. Another day passed. Suddenly it was the day before the train was supposed to take the boy and the girl to San Diego. The boy and the girl were very anxious by this time, because the train tickets, which the web had faithfully promised would reach them, had not yet arrived. "I can't believe there's no $%#&! kiosk where you can just go to pick up the $%#!& tickets!" said the boy. "This is #$@%!" said the girl. Will the boy and the girl ever get their tickets for the train? Only the web knows.