The weekend recap.

Nothing to really report on Saturday, it was kind of a lazy day. I got a lot programmed for Boys State, but nothing much else. It was a great movie-watching day.

Today (Sun), however, Carrie came back into town as she has a second interview in the morning with a large company. I wish her the best of luck, because after all, I want her to move to St. Louis! But I digress. She came over about 2:30 and we watched a couple of movies until it was time to meet everyone for dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory. In attendance were James+Nick, Jimmy, Dave, Nick T., Carrie and myself. Wes showed up towards the end of dinner when he got done with the event he was attending.

We had an awesome time at dinner, laughed at lot, waited on the slow restaurant to cook our meals, and were amused that our waitress kept returning saying they were out of particular items. Ice cream, fettichini noodles, plates, cups, etc. Very humorous.

I feeling much better today, most of the pain is completely gone.

Anyway, I have to cut this short. I need to be at the AB Tour Center tomorrow morning at 8am for a rehearsal.

New Blog

So I've decided to keep both a public blog and a private blog, for now. Up until now, the posts below are some of what I have written in the past. As I have time, I'll add some more from my other one...edited of course.

Bleh days.

I called in sick to work today. Not because I feel ill, it's just painful to sit down. So basically, I have been laying around my house all day, watching television, movies, and taking naps in between taking care of myself.

I am, however, feeling much better tonight than I was last night. I tried to go to bed about 11:30 last night, but that didn't happen. The pain was just annoying enough to keep me awake. I drifted in and out for a while, waiting for my pain medications to kick in...which finally did around 4:30 am. Hense the reason for calling in sick today.

I feel the Earth move under my feet..

I decided to fly back from Las Vegas on Thursday night instead of wasting an entire friday traveling. I departed around 6:50pm PDT and landed in St. Louis at Midnight local. I sent a text message to Carrie that said, "...back on solid ground." A statement that in the near future proved very erie.

I got home, and wasn't at all sleepy so I decided to watch a couple episodes of Eli Stone. In these episodes, Eli predicted a massive earthquake in San Francisco that would knock down the Golden Gate Bridge. In the show, it happened.

I finally went to bed around 3:30 a.m. but was woken around 4am sometime. I thought my heart was beating so fast and the fast that I just watched Eli Stone, I was imaginging the earthquake. I went back to sleep. At 7a.m. I received a text message from Andy that said, "Everyone ok post clamaitous earth quake?" I responded with, "You mean THAT was REAL?"

I went back to sleep, but was woken by the aftershock at 10:15 a.m. I decided someone or something wanted me out of bed. So I obliged.

Cirque du Soleil

All the bitching I have been doing about having to be here in Vegas are moot. I bought my $165 ticket to see Cirque du Soleil's "KÀ" performance a few months ago, anticipating what this would be like to see in person. I was excited, being a Cirque virgin and all.

My ticket was for the 9:30 p.m. show and it was fucking amazing. It was the best theatrical performance I have ever seen. Better than Les Misérables, Rent, etc. Sure, the story was little hard to follow, and upon reading a synopsis, I missed some parts; but that didn't detract from the actual show. You get the gist of it anyway.

However, I did find myself watching the technical side of things a lot. I mean, come on, the "sand cliff deck" is the world's largest elevator (or so the Discovery Channel told me). It was totally amazing and I can understand why people rave about Cirque du Soleil.

Next time I'm in Vegas, which will be in November of this year, I plan on going to see "O" at the Bellagio. I hear it's fantastic as well. Actually, I hear that about all of their shows.

Awesome

This is fucking funny...scary.

Home Crap Home!

Dad was in town again this past weekend. He arrived with Mom on Friday afternoon as she was attending some meeting at the Chase Park Plaza. We got the ceiling in the bathroom installed, along with the new heater/exhaust fan/light assembly. After we got the joints all mudded and the door rehung, we realized that the door will not open all the way because it will hit the light fixture. Fuck! Damn these low ceilings.

Anyway, we're going to reverse the door to swing from the opposite side into the bathroom and then move the light switch to the opposite wall. A fun feat I'm sure. This is all going down the weekend I get back from Vegas.

On Friday night, Dad and I watched Red Rock West. An interesting movie...quite unique if you ask me. I highly recommend checking it out. It's short and it's only downside is it's starring Nicolas Cage. He's not too horrible...the rest of the cast makes up for it. And until a few moments ago, I didn't realize it was such an old film...1992!!!. I guess he made it before he started doing really crappy movies. He should have stuck with the independent route! HAHA.

It's about this guy who is in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and can't seem to catch a break.

On Saturday, I sat the parents down to watch Little Miss Sunshine. I forgot how slow of a film it is at the beginning but mom ended up really liking it. Dad kept falling asleep and then went to be right before the hospital scene...the funniest part of the movie!

Short post, but nothing much to report.

Life is a highway.

I have been watching Six Feet Under for a while now. It started out watching reruns on Bravo, but I grew tired of them editing out the profanity, and other juicy scenes, for cable. I stopped, but recently I picked up where I left off, in Season 3, thanks to NetFlix. Tonight, I finished the series. This was the best ending to a series I have ever seen. I used to hold The West Wing to a very high standard for its finale, but it pales in comparison to Six Feet Under. The symmetry of the corpus of the show was, and is, amazing. The creator, Alan Ball, brilliantly provided it with wonderful bookends and wrapped up all the loose ends in a neat, original fashion. If you don't understand why I titled this post "Life is a highway" then you really need to invest the time into Six Feet Under. After you watch the entire series, you will understand. Especially the end.

I have become accustomed to films and televisions shows forcing you to think about something in a totally new way, but this show forces you into the realm of what is uncomfortable...but it does not make a big deal about it. It's just there for you to absorb, ponder. It forces you to confront your own mortality, a usually uncomfortable topic. For me, television will never be the same, as thus far, I have never seen a film, tv show, or documentary that bears a comparison.

I do not plan on going into detail as those who are reading this blog might not have watched the entire program. But the ending sequence reminded me one more time, but in a different way, that myself and everyone I know, will someday, eventually, pass on. This isn't my first experience with this topic, nor will it be the last, but I'm left with the feeling that I want to live a life that I'll honestly look back on fondly, when I'm old and gray.

Stop Loss

James and Nick F. came over tonight after work for our weekly get-together. We went to Bread Company then to AMC Theaters to see Stop Loss. The film isn't the best thing out there in the world, but it really makes you wonder what in the fuck are we doing in Iraq? Sure the topic of stop-loss is over dramatized, but you know there are countless men and women in the armed services who sign up for a branch of the military...and end up forced into a back door draft. My only hope is for this film to do better than I think it will at the box office. It's an important film, one that needs to be seen, especially this election year. It pretty much solidified my vote for Barak Obama in the presidential election as he's the only candidate out there who wants to leave Iraq.

My belief is the Iraqis must want democracy and freedom for them to have it. If we stay there as a police force and wait for their government to get off their ass, and the violence to subside, we will be there forever.

The day after yesterday...Yeah, it's still beeping.

Yeah, it's still beeping.

More to come in this posting... ah, screw it, I'll write something now.

Last night I stayed up way to late watching episodes of Six Feet Under. I'm almost done with the entire series. I believe I only have one disk left. Overall, the show has been quiet good. I must admit, however, I got a little bored through middle of the series, but this last season has made up for it.

Work today has been semi productive. I had an edit session most of the morning and now I'm just counting down the minutes until I can go home.

Well, I should get back to work. More later, I'm sure.

Welcome to April 1, the day of fools

Today is April Fool's Day. In honor of the day, I decided to play another prank on my boss. I planted the "Annoy-a-tron" that was given to me for my birthday (thanks Nick F.) near my boss' desk. It's been going off all day long. He finally said something, "Do you hear that sound? I can't figure out where it's coming from..." Awesome.

FROM THINKGEEK.COM : The ThinkGeek Annoy-a-tron would be useless against an army of Snowbots, but it's very effective at disturbing that guy in the sales department or your "friend" down the hall. With its thin design and embedded magnet for easy hiding, the Annoy-a-tron can be placed in a variety of locations. Select one of the three sound choices (2 kHz, 12 kHz, or alternating) and push the switch to the on position. Place it in a proper hiding spot and let the "fun" begin.

The Annoy-a-tron generates a short (but very annoying, hence the name) beep every few minutes. Your unsuspecting target will have a hard time 'timing' the location of the sound because the beeps will vary in intervals ranging from 2 to 8 minutes. The 2kHz sound is generically annoying enough, but if you really really want to aggravate somebody, select the 12 kHz sound. Trust us. The higher frequency and slight 'electronic noise' built into that soundbyte will make a full-grown Admin wonder where his packets are.