Harrison Ford + My 50th post

Well hallo, hallo, HALLO!

I am back baby. New and improved. Better tasting. Less filling. Energy efficient and rain forest friendly! It HAS been a while my dear friends and family. And I apologize for such an extended abscence. But as a wise friend once said....." Real life has to take precendence over the virtual." Only too true, too true.

SOOO! My part time work at the Children's Museum of the Arts turned into a full time position (good), then the full time position (only two weeks old now) turned into more than full time (mmmm). But be not afraid my dear readers, for I am ready for the challenge. It has been too long now for me, not having a regular gig. Now that I have that, along with teaching more animation classes to kids in several schools, and doing some handy-man work on the side....not to mention the side projects that quench my artistic thirst.....well.....I'm very busy.

I have also been spending some time with someone very special. You know my new motto, no names, no gritty details, no blog mess. But it is convenient that she is as busy as myself, so every stolen moment we have is a gift. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, because I am extremely fond of her.

And now, my first little story, in celebration of my return and my 50th post. So, I'm working at the CMA yesterday and who walks in but Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart. I think the kid was hers. They were very discreet and quiet, kind of just checking the place out. Now, on the weekends I'm a "floor manager," so it's pretty much my job to make sure everyone is having a good time, answer questions, etc. I said hello to Mr. Ford. He said hello, and kind of shyly looked at his feet. I thought that was funny. Everyone at the museum pretty much gave them the distance we thought they would want. They are just regular people after all, like you and me. Unfortunately, the kid, I don't think was into the museum. He might have felt that is was for littler kids. He seemed to be about 7 or 8. So.....they left, maybe they were there for about 10 mins. I mulled it over my head, if there was anything that I could have done to get the kid interested, or more engaged. I don't think so, he just wasn't into it. And if the Kid's aren't into it......there's probably nothing you could do to change their mind.

But the kicker for me, was when they were gone, it was only then that I remembered that my jacket is a custom tailored replica, from the same company and pattern, that his original jacket in Raider's of the Lost Ark came from. Might have been funny to wear it standing next to him and see if he noticed....."Hey, how's it going? You like my jacket? HEEEYYAAAAA" That's when I would have pulled out the whip that I keep hidden in the back of the jacket.

Not really. But it was a funny and amusing thought for a short film. Harrison Ford in his everyday life and a whacko fan following him around, trying to get his attention, imitating moves and scenarios from the Indiana Jone's trilogy, but he never seems to notice at all. :)

bzzzzzz

I'm a busy bee these days, I have a smattering of work at the Children's Museum of the Arts. But in the meantime I am teaching myself Flash, Dreamweaver, and Adobe After Effects. This shall lead to some very exciting stuff. Just need some time, so excuse my absences. I'll try to get to you whenever I can.

annnnd....:)

You're an Expert Kisser

You're a kissing pro, but it's all about quality and not quantity You've perfected your kissing technique and can knock anyone's socks off And you're adaptable, giving each partner what they crave When it comes down to it, your kisses are truly unforgettable

What Kind of Kisser Are You?

I am a sweet talker....I guess that's about right

Your Seduction Style: Sweet Talker

Your seduction technique can be summed up with "charm" You know that if you have the chance to talk to someone... Well, you won't be talking for long! ;-) You're great at telling potential lovers what they want to hear. Partially, because you're a great reflective listener and good at complementing. The other part of your formula? Focusing your conversation completely on the other person. Your "sweet talking" ways have taken you far in romance - and in life. You can finess your way through any difficult situation, with a smile on your face. Speeding tickets, job interviews... bring it on! You truly live a *charmed life*

What Kind of Seducer Are You?

weird dream

I awoke several times this morning, realizing I was having a very abnormal dream. I would wake to my alarm, hit the snooze, and proceed to go right back into the dream where I left off. I don't remember my dreams that often anymore, but this one in particular was odd and vivid.

It was the day I was to be married. My bride was a girl I knew from high school Kristy Moreau. She was a petite blonde. I knew her well enough, but never had anything going on with her, so it was odd, that 10 years later, that I am dreaming that we were to be married. The thing was, that on our wedding day, I completely blanked. I am there in my tux, she is looks beautiful, all my friends and family are there.....but the THING is.....I don't remember her. I know who she is, but I tell her that I am confused because I don't remember anything about our relationship, where and when we met, how long we were together, when we moved in together, when I proposed....nothing. I don't remember any of it, not a thing. So we postpone the wedding, on the day of the wedding, and the rest of the dream is mostly conversations with her trying to remember, piece together our relationship, hoping it will spark some memory. I finally awoke, never having remembered anything from our relationship, but feeling extremely bad about it all.

Any Psychiatrists out there? What the heck does this dream mean I wonder.

9/11 Anniversary

Four years ago we lost thousands of lives to terrorists here in NY City. I remember that day, it's a hard one for any of us here to forget. I was supposed to be working at an industrial lighting gig that day, downtown not far from the towers, but had decided the night before that I wasn't going to go in. Around 9 am I got a phone call from my cousin Jane asking if I was ok, because....and she proceeded to tell me what was going on. At the time I was living in Williamsburg and could see the towers from my front stoop. I had a friend stop by, he was on a motorcycle going over the Williamsburg bridge. He was confused at all the papers flying through the air and the gridlocked traffic, so he stopped by to find out what the deal was.

I went into the city that night to see the ordeal first hand. I remember the smell. The smell of burning, but with an air of something worse, and that was only at 14th st where the barracade started. I have a page from a dictionary from the towers. Terrible enough it is the "blood" page. I keep it in a frame to remind me of one of the worst events that has happened here on our shores.

So, today I'm thinking of all those innocents lost. All the brave firefighter's and policemen who lost their lives trying to rescue their countrymen. And how 4 years later, the man responsible has yet to have been caught and there has only been more terror since. Let's all keep those that sacrificed their lives for other's in our thoughts today.

"Only the dead have seen the end of war"
Plato

I left my heart in Ocean City....

So I went back to get it! I scored 4 days and 4 nights at Casa de Vena for the Labor day weekend. It was a glorious few days, the sun was shining, the water was at about 78 degrees, the air was warm during the day and cool at night. Nothing beats sitting on the beach all day doing nothing, occassionally hopping on the boogey board. I have returned with a wonderful carrot / bronze tan. We spent our nights on the boardwalk, where much fun was had.



Here for instance, we are partaking in a staple boardwalk delicacy....the Funnel Cake. I thought it would be like CT's fried dough, but NAY!. This one is covered in chocolate chips. It was messy and delicious and also the last upon a string of fries, lemonade, pizza, and Dippin Dot's ( Ice cream of the future!)

We had the wonderful pleasure of some other house guests, Bob Byrd and his wife Ginger.



Bob and Joe can be seen here, deep in a conversation revolving around either children or booze. Bob is a Children's book author and illustrator. Visit his site at www.robertbyrdart.com and you can see some of his work. I think it's beautifully done. He was just one of the nicest, hippest guys I've ever met. He's part of an exhibition coming to NY which I'm really excited to go see. He saw our animations and was a donor for our short film The Barista, so he's wicked supportive, and in my book, that makes him wicked awesome......wicked I say.

In the morning, like a Bruce Springsteen concert, we would line up outside of Brown's for some of the boardwalks best.....



DONUTS! Lindsay in particular grew attached to this treat, you can see the crazed look in here eyes and the saliva beginning to form at the corner of her mouth. Down girl! DOWN!!



You have to save it and flip it, but I like this shot of the "Music Express" ride. We never went on it, we were to interested in "The Swings." This ride is fun though and I thought, particularly photogenic.

We ended the whole trip with another Boardwalk delicacy....the Caramel corn.....pronounced "Carmel" corn. This is serious business, as it is delivered by tub, hot, and the caramel strings off. I know it can't be good for you, but then again, isn't everything that's NOT good for you the most fun and desireable. What's the deal with that one?



I'm missing Ocean City already.....perhaps again, we will meet....again.

Ocean City

Just so you don't think that I am totally lost, I should have posted this yesterday, before all the sorrow. This weekend I spent two days down in Ocean City at my good friend's family summer casa. I had a blast.



this is the whole crew, feasting on homemade wine, kielbasa's, sausages, brocoli and pasta salad. Grappa, coffee, and canoli's for dessert.



After dinner we headed to the boardwalk. We had frozen custard, we thought about doing one of those old time photo's, but they were closing and being jerks. We rode the ferris wheel, shown here in this cool shot i took from my stomcah. Overall I really was psyched to be there, it was inspiring my visual eye to pop out of my head. Upon previewing most of my shots I was pleased, but of course you can never tell if they are in focus until you dump them from the camera, alas, my little cybershot might be reaching the end of it's life.



I love this shot, and the three others that I took that were similar. This swing ride has always been my favorite out of all rides. I like how it looks like a giantic mechanical mushroom from Alice in Wonderland...maybe with a bit of an S&M spin with the chains.



Now we're actually on the thing. I believe we had a few sceptics, that did not think it was "adult" enough to get on. everyone changed their mind when they realized this thing went a lot faster, or felt like it did, than when we were all little kiddies. Joe is in the front, then Linds, and the green blob is my pal Ad.



Last day on the beach, I bought a giant shovel, all the kids had them. We worked with Joe, the master sculptor to create a whale, complete with a 3-D tail. It didn't last long, but long enought to draw a small crowd. The beach there was a blast. Adam and i played tennis ball, a game entirely made up by us, where you throw the tennis ball and try to dive to get it. The next day we played "Kadima" the paddle ball game. Yesterday I noticed that my right forearm is about 50% bigger than my left, probably from all the throwing and hitting in the two days, it's all swelled up.

The last night we couldn't help ourselves (well, most of us, Lindsay was a straight up party pooper) we had to hit Atlantic City before we left. Paul had been schooling me over the weekend with the rules and strategy of Craps, so we hit the $10 tables as soon as we could. I started with $40, he started with $200. After the first two rolls, his and mine, we were both up, I believe I was up $60 (up being profit, not including what I started with). But after 30mins of bad rollers I lost all my profit and my $40. So.....having time left before the 12:20am bus back to NY, I grabbed another $40. This one lady was hot, and at the end of the night I was back up. I cashed in my chips for $168, making a profit of $88. Not bad for the first time. Paul, being the more experienced and bigger gambler, walked away with winnings of $375.

So I had a great weekend, followed by a crappy Wednesday. That's life for ya.

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Sorry!

Sorry! Sorry! I'm teaching an animation class all this week, and even though it's like a beautiful paid vacation in comparison to my "real" job, it's taking a lot of my focus (a great thing). I will try to get a meaty blog in here ASAP!

Children are a wonder. Thier minds are so open and vast (and for the most part) refreshingly honest. It is, in fact.......refreshing.

...they aint leavin till 6 in the....6 in the mornin!

Last night I had my first foray into being on the opposite side of the bar then I usually attend...the side where there is less drinking...well....kind of. The host of my travel show is the music consultant of a SoHo club. I had expressed interest into learning how to sling our modern day poison. She passed on my request and thus, I got to train behind the bar last night, and hopefully other nights to come.

The club is really nice and Wednesdays are a slow night in retrospect. They had DJ's playing house music and their was much dancing. I showed up at 9pm, I don't think we saw a person until 11pm. By Midnight the crowd was getting thicker. From 12 to about 12:45am it was a bit busy, and then the pace slowed to like a drizzle until about 3am. By then, there were maybe 6 people left, by 3:15 am they closed entry, and by 3:30 am the place was empty completely. I stayed until about 4:45 am, watching my trusty mentor, Tristan, a very good looking (in that typical Bartender/NY fashion) close out, count money, wash glasses, etc.

I was originally set to "shadow" him, meaning follow and watch, but it became very appearent that for me to actually learn anything, I was going to have to....like...do stuff. So, slowly and surely, I started to make drinks and grab beers. Beers are of course way easy, $6, Corona's get a lime. I made anything else that didn't require much thought, i.e., Gin and Tonic's, Vodka with this, vodka with that. Anything that I didn't know how to make I just asked Tristan to make and then I watched. I got a lot of waters and sodas.

So all in all, once you know the more "complicated" drinks, i.e, cosmopolitan's, silk panties (Vodka, peach snapps, with a splash of Cran), kamikaze shots, margarita's and such, and then you have a feel for how the computer system works, and how much everything cost......well....that's really all there is to it. I quite enjoyed the experience. Being behind the bar, was way better then being in front, that's for sure. In the course of my first night, and not even being anywhere close to an actual bartender, I received three kisses on the cheek, two winks, a request to dance. That's more action than I have had in months.

Tristan explained the scenario. "Women like to feel powerful over the guy behind the bar. I don't know what it is, they just like it. It's not the same way with men and female bartender's." I would have to agree, having done my share of "hitting on" female bartender's. I wonder why that is?

I did learn some very interesting things about bars in general. This might surprise some, this first bit makes me want to open a bar. The establishment makes a profit.....after the first drink they sell. For example. A Vodka Tonic at this establishment cost $8......that's with well liqour mind you. Now, $8 is a bit pricy, even for Manhattan and especially for well liqour. But the BOTTLE of Vodka....the entire bottle cost $6. So that one drink just threw that whole bottle into the 100% profit range after one drink. So it makes sense, points out my mentor, that for the extra dollar, you might as well buy top-shelf liqour.

So after really only 4 hours of actual bartending, but 8 hours of work, including setting up and breaking down.....I was curious, on this slow night, a Wednesday, how much my mentor made. The bar-back, who did nothing but cut limes and lemons and buss glasses was tipped out $75 from the bartender, he tried to give me $50. I told him that wasn't fair, I was here to learn and I really didn't do too much, so he gave me $30, which I accepted and half went into a cab home. All in all he walked away with $290 himself. The bar made about $1,400. A quarter of what it makes on say, a Friday or Saturday, but then of course there are three bartender's and not just one.

So let's throw these numbers into perspective, from my point of view. Let's say you work three slow nights a week, like a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Let's say you average $300 a night......$900 a week...that's like $3,600 a month....which ends up being $43,200 a year.......under the table mind you...so to speak. And that's only 3 days a week.....12 days a month...roughly 40% of the year......Out of 365 days, you work 144.....and have 221 days off!?!?!?!

Am I insane, or is that crazy? No wonder so many people put themselves through college bartending, and no wonder so many people bartend through the summer non-stop and then take extended vacations. And that's just all figuring that your working slow nights. What about the people who bartend on Friday and Saturday and make a considerable amount more than the slow nights?

This is all very interesting. Something I think would be perfect for my interim between the end of this job and possible Peace Corps service. And it's such a good fall back skill. Anywhere you go in the world, you could always find a job bartending if you had the experience.

I love fall-back skills. You can never have enough of em. So I work next Wednesday too, I probably won't stay till close, because I'm doing this animation gig that week, which I'm STOKED about, because it means I won't be working in the office at all. But I hope I can keep this thing going for a while, I mean, I'm not getting paid, so what do they have to lose?? And then maybe I can scoot right in there at a later date, or start bar-backing for pay, or just use them as a reference for another bar.

Doing the bull dance...feeling the flow.

Sharp Curve Ahead...

Yes. Yes it's getting clearer. I am ready for a life change. A typical Friday night turns into a not so typical evening, details to follow.

I went to a movie with some friends tonight. We saw "The Aristocrats," A movie about the lore of a single joke told among the comedian circuit. It was very amusing. OK, normal so far, you with me? We leave the theatre and head to a bar for a few pitchers. What's a few pitcher's between friends? I have a sandwich as well, still normal. This group begins to part and split and head in different directions. For some reason I am not tired, so I decide to join my best bud Greg in his further escepades to meet up with his wife and some other friends at a Karaoke bar. We arrive, stay for aboput an hour. Singing was good, singing was bad, drinks were spilled, laughing was to be had. I didn't take the mic tonight, but joined in on a few, and helped some people keep time. The teleprompter in this place was not top notch. This group breaks up now too. It's 2 something am I think at this point. Not even the hint of drowsiness. On the way out I had a good laugh at a guy doing a very entertaining version of "Patience" by Guns N Roses.

Life changing moment getting closer.

Now I'm in an area of a city that is particularly like, a dead zone to me. It doesn't make sense to take a subway one stop just to wait for another train, so When in the East Village I usually walk to my transfer stop and just wait for one train. It's a warm night, hot, but pleasent, so I'm looking forward to the stroll.

Phase 1 of Life Changing Moment occurs. I feel very lonely. There are cuoples staggering about. I think to myself, "shouldn't these be the best years of my life?" And here I am alone in a New York. I wish I had someone to share this evening with.

I get on the J-train at about 3:20am, take it deep into the ghetto of Brooklyn. I get off, crab a coke through a revolving bullet-proof glass window, and notice a commotion across the street. Normally, or after my neighborhood experiences I bet you would think I would just keep on walking past. But I don't, there are about 40 people gathering in a crowd, something is up. A fight breaks out between two women. The men let it go mostly, it grows in intensity, it moves into the street and stops traffic. 15 minutes go by and it's still escelating. No cops in sight.

Phase 2 of Life Changing Moment occurs. The women takes a bat out of her car and beats the living daylights out of the other women, more jump in, people are rolling in the middle of the street, still no cops. A car next to me, that had been there at LEAST 5 minutes total, throws on some lights and hits a siren. An undercover car...that did NOTHING. They drove close to the quarrel, but still, no law enforcement stepped out of the car until everything was already over and people were breaking up.

What the hell was that all about? I wondered. Now I start thinking, maybe it's time for me to think about other people other than myself. What can I do to change the world? To help others?

Phase 3 of Life Changing Moment, I enter Peace Corps into a google search and start bookmarking like crazy. I think it's time I leave this country and go do something for someone else...for a while. Maybe build a school, or teach english somewhere, or help an endangered species proliferate. Dig irrigation or plant corn, or help sick children.

Sound crazy? Not to me it doesn't. Not tonight. I'm seriously considering this. Get myself out of the miniscule debt I have compared to others and just leave.....leave for good, to do good. Just the thought lightens my mood.

I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of research and reading tomorrow.

NY Underground shopping

Yesterday I spent the day with my Aunty D and my cousin Hannah. They came into NY for half a day to do one thing and one thing only. Shop. And not just your regular shopping.....but UNDERGROUND SHOPPING.



These two might look all innocent and nice but these two are capable of shopping where no man dare shop before! I knew that they wanted to get certain...shall we say....contraband, only to be found in NY City. I happen to know the general area where these items could be obtained (although I did have to call a female source to confirm). The first item was a bit tricky to find. I had seen them before, I looked for 30 mins up and down Canal St. to locate this rare item. I had no luck. However, the two pictured above, my flesh and blood, have noses for shopping. Straight out of the cab they were able to locate item #1 on their list



Yes. They came to NY to buy baby turtles! This is of course, not legal, for selling or purchasing. One turtle cost $10 but 4 only cost them $25....what a deal !! I am very pleased to say, out of all patrons of the underground turtle racquet, these two have the best intentions. They will bring these cute little buggers back to CT, raise them for a while in a roomy, heated tank, where they will dine on shrimps, and when large enough they will be released into a very cool and clean, coi pond on the farm. Yeah for the turtles!

The second item, found with a little more effort, I'm sure you ladies will recognize.



The coveted Louis Vuitton designer knockoff, the original can be seen here; http://www.vuitton.com/
Now, I will never understand the fascination with these bags. If you ask me, they are very ugly. I just don't see the appeal in the design, but I guess it's a women thing. These things go for hundreds if not THOUSANDS of dollars for the real thing. I have known for a long time that you could get knock-offs in Times Square and Chinatown. Wherever you see a gaggle of woman pushing eachother around waving dollar bills, or huddled close together peering into a dark bag on the ground, you can place your bet that Louis Vuitton bags are what they are after.

But....I had never needed to get one...ya know.....for real, so I was surprised when in Chinatown and we were actually LOOKING for one, that I couldn't find a damn one. How interesting I thought, that they are never around when you need one. That is.....until I heard....the voice. From a little Asian women on the side of the road comes, in a hushed almost imperceptable (not the word I'm thinking of, nor probably a real word at all) tone, "purses, desinger purses."

So I make a B-line toward the voice and I look at her and return in a quiet tone, "Louis Vuitton?" I say with a raised eyebrow. She smiled, "yes, yes, come with me." So we follow this woman half a block to a little shop with purses hanging on the wall. The woman meets another woman at the front of the open store and kind of block it off. The guy at the cash register gives a look. I repeat the password, "Louis Vuitton," he takes one more look out to the side walk, turns around......and.....opens a SECRET DOOR! Secretly, I was ammused. We step into a very hot, enclosed room, into walls covered with the bogus booty. We took our time, chose two of the new models, paid the man $110 cash, and we were done. I went to push our way out of the door and was quickly stopped by our salesperson, "no no no no, wait, wait." I stepped aside as the man walked up to the door and kind of lifted this little flap, scanning the sidewalk for possible cops. All clear. And we were off and on our way with some bags. I just find it so hilarious that this whole process and deceivery exist. Truly, only in New York!



After that we did some sunglass shopping. I bought a pair of green mirrored aviators for $5, still in Chinatown. I'm quite fond of them. Here's me wearing them later in the day in Times Square after I saw the movie, The Island, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Then again I enjoy every movie with Scarlett Johanssen.



And here's just a picture of me at work today, very bored, nothing unusual here!

The Healing Waters of Hopeville Pond: Deux

View Previous post before this one.



This is Jeremy, doing what we call, the "Waterbird." Look at his wings of water! We had a blast in the pond. Some of us got water in our ears, I'm still waiting for mine to come out :( , some of us went underwater and lay on our backs to look at the sun, and some of us got nibbled on by fish.



My second purchase for camping was my new camping vest. I have been lookinf for a vest like this for years. Light enough to be worn in the summer, with as many pockets as I could find. Picked this badboy up at an army navy surplus store, it's a fishing vest. It held my wallet, cell phone ( which remained off for the entire trip) matches, lighter, camera, Deet, Afterbite, my utensils, a gerber, some Ibuprofen. I'm sure there were other things as well. I have flour all over me, and for good reason



This......my friends.....is our dessert Pizza. We made this after Breakfast on the last day. We had been discussing it the night before but never got around to it. Sure, we did smores too, but like I said, we like to up the anty every year in the "kitchen." We also make fluffer nutters with marshmallows and peanut butter on a hot dog bun. But this pizza was loaded. Rolled out with flour, and then sprinkled with sugar. Once one side was done, we took it off and plastered it with Peanut Butter "sauce", sprinkled it with Marshmallow "cheese" and then for good measure threw on some pieces of chocolate, crumbles up "Twist-os" which are like oreo's and then put on some Vanilla Wafer "pepperoni's."

Some of us didn't feel to good after, especially the ones who washed it all down with Grape Soda. But it was delicious nonetheless....delicious and SO bad for us.

All in all, the whole weekend cost each person $50. That was for all day Friday, Saturday, and half of Sunday. Pretty cheap if you ask me. That covered all the food, cost of the campsite, and even all our "Road Soda's, " which is code for Beer, because your not supposed to bring in alcohol.

I had a blast, and am very bummed to be back in the big city. But hey, only 364 days until we do it again!

The Healing Waters of Hopeville Pond

Camping this weekend, as it always is, was awesome. In my book, there are two kinds of camping. The first kind is the isolated, carry everything on your back, If you take it in, take it out, extreme camping. I have done this kind only twice in my life, both times at the Sequia National Forest in CA.

The second kind is the kind my friends and I try to do every year. It's more like family camping. There are campsites, they are numbered and right next to other campsites. You park right on your site, there are showers and bathrooms, and a store is only a few minutes away. I first started going to Hopeville pond with my buddies Greg and Prior, when we were in middle school. As we got older, we decided to keep the tradition alive. We fell off the horse for a few years, but we stuck with it this year.



The Amazonas portable hammock, you can buy at www.byerofmaine.com for $20, is being enjoyed here by Lindsay. In fact, this hammock was a huge success for this year. It has the amazing ability to slip the user into a long and deep coma. You really have to be careful, as I fell asleep for 4 hours on Saturday and missed out on lunch and throwing a tennis ball in the water.

Camping at Hopeville is great. A typical days Itinerary looks like this:

- wake around 9am
- start fire, eat Breakfast
- Convene in the "party tent"
- Swim and fun
- Lunch
- Nap
- Swim
- "Party tent"
- Dinner
- Nightime stroll
- Smores
- Douse fire and sleep around 1 am

But the beauty of the Itinerary is it's interchangeable, you can always swap around an activity for another one, swim when you feel like it, read a book, take another nap. We pride ourselves in the eating part though, that's a big deal. We plan out the menu ahead of time for each meal. This year, we had several tricks up our camping sleeves and a few surprises.



The first surprise was this. These are Venison steaks that we scored from Bernadette's step-dad, Kirt. We swung by their house to grab some firewood, and paid a visit to their locked cooler full of Venison goodies, steaks and sausage mostly. It was really choice meat and was enjoyed by all.



A new activity enjoyed was the Handstand contest. Witness the majesty of Bernadette's form as she blows away Jeremy. We also adapted this contest to a Handstand fight the next day, where two or more people Handstand at the same time and try to knock eachother down with their feet. Last legs standing wins. We also made up a frisbee game where two pairs of people throw frisbee's across from eachother and try to knock the other pairs frisbee out of the air.



For dinner one night we did Pizza. yes, that's right, Pizza over the open flame....ohhhhhh so good! This one is half mushroom and half venison sausage and peppers.



Following the Pizza, Lindsay wowed us with this camping goodie, hollow out an Orange, fill it with Gingerbread, wrap in Aluminum foil and place in hot fire embers for 30 mins, unwrap and enjoy! Only problem with this one was we were stupid enough to mistake Grapefruits for Oranges, so it was a bit more bitter than we wanted, and some of them rose too much and kind of exploded. I'm sure we will refine our technique next time.

I need to repost to squeeze in more pics.

Nobody views my profile

I have been doing some research on other peoples profile. it is to be noted that i have only 116 views of my profile. I have noted that there is a big difference in numbers for men then there are for women. Thoughts on that?

How cute is my cousin?!

I know, I know, they are still sideways. I still haven't figured out why. I promise you if you save any of the pics to the desktop, you will see, that they are saved right side up.

But MAN, I can't get ober how great Violet Dove is. Can I get a WITNESS!

I am a man of my word

I am a man of my word, as you can see. Although I did only get two donuts as opposed to three. But watch what happens next. Chocolate cream is my 3rd favorite donut. Boston Cream my 2nd, and Chocolate Frosted, but only from Flanders Bakery in East Lyme is my number one pick. I just don't get this...



This Chocolate Cream donut has no chocolate inside. Now, I just want to know....how can this happen. There is someone in charge of making the donuts, are they not consist, or checking, or do they just don't care? I guess maybe I wouldn't care if I had to make donuts everyday at like 4 am. But then hey, maybe they shouldn't be making donuts if they don't care. This is NOT the first time this has occured, and I'm sure it won't be the last.

Quick update form the Bed-Stuy Bulletin. I came home at about 11:30 pm tonight. There were cop cars slowly rolling down the street, not one but two. Then I'm standing outside my place, talking to my neighbor and the security guard who watches the new building next door, and a cop strolls by with a flashlight. I inquire to my neighbors. Apparently I missed some cops chasing down a drug dealer who just got in a shipment. He ditched his stash, so they were looking for it. Well....ok, not surprised there I guess. I was surprised however to find out that they didn't get him, because the cop was a large man. From the giggling from my neighbor, it must have been a comical sight to witness a spry, young, athletic drug dealer sprint through the street followed by a very large man who, as she put it, "looked like he was barely moving. Like he was runnin in slowmo."

Sigh. Ghetto Fabulous my friends, Ghetto Fabulous

Going camping this weekend with some friends in CT, so i bought a Thermarest and a portable hammock today. Super excited to see these in action. I also went to see the movie "Stealth." it was to my surprise, pretty good. It had one of the best visual explosions I have seen since "Swordfish," and one of the wierdest end lines I have EVER heard in a movie. Now I'm not saying they should have ended the film on this note, per say, but I applaud the Director for sticking to what was obviously a choice on his part.

This line might ruin this film in a sense, that is, if you go to see an action movie and are expecting or hoping to get a love story to boot.

The line was from the female lead to the male lead, "Just tell me you love me you pussy." annnnnnd CUT TO: BLACK.

Hilarious I say, Hilarious!

Also of note, i have added a few new links, most notably to the blog section. Take a gander if you like.

Donuts

I am having an annoying day at work. I have been working at home because my laptop is in the shop. I was up early, 7am, which is wierd, I usually don't get up after only 7 hours of sleep. It's either like 5 or more than 8, it runs the gamut. And low and behold, my e-mails will not be sent due to some kind of server error? What gives!

It is hot in my little office, and I am annoyed, so i shall brave the streets of my ghetto and venture to Dunkin Donuts, where I shall treat myself to 3 donuts of my choosing and a very cold and big ice coffee. I have been very good with cutting down on the sweets and soda and eating more stuff that's good for me, but today my friends, is not going to be one of those days.

WHFF or BUST

This is me outside of the "Captain Kidd" Bar in Woods Hole. This lovely hat, purchased for $20 dollars was lost to me the very next day. It had a short but fulfilling life on my head I'm sure. I wonder where it is now?

Woods Hole was awesome. I had the best of times up there, it is quintesential New England. The Barista was received very well, and I believe it has a chance at the winning. There were a few that could give us a run for our money, so we'll just have to wait and see. A whole bunch of us went up together, we stayed in "Tent City," people came from all over, New hampshire, New York, New Haven. Pretty much any place starting with the word "New."

The icing on the whole trip for me, was our extremely awesome and gracious hosts, Chris Meani and his lady Kristen (apologies if misspelled) They became our local guides, showing us all the nooks and crannies and hot spots of the area. They opend their yard to our tents and their grill to our stomachs. Beer flowed like water. Chris even flyered and promoted The Barista ahead of time, and did a kick ass job if I do say so myself. I saw flyers all over and in all the right places. Those two, very simply, rock my world.



After the film festival party we were all eager to go skinny dipping in the ocean. Unfortunatley, It wasn't meant to be as we were stopped by a very sneaky guard, sitting in the darkness of night, keeping the WH beaches safe. So, we opted instead for a midnight (or more approximatley 2 am) stroll. I was in heaven! it was really foggy, dark, and the roads were all covered in a tree canopy. Who knew walking could be such a blast. I snapped this of the group while lying on the ground for steadiness.



Me at the Beach the last morning. That's Kristen and Chris there behind me. I thought it was funny shot, Kristen's tongue sticking out was of course just pure luck, but it makes this shot what it is. The group we convened with up there belong to my friend Adam. It is a shame we have not met these peeps before, as we all got along like old friends immediately, even if most of us were meeting for the first time. I love it when that happens. We were up very late both nights. At least until 4 in the morning. Much shenanigans occured as illustrated from these photo's below



Rob illustrates here that middle fingers were flying like mosquitoes and one beer at a time just stopped making sense. This guy was a hoot, and he almost died of sal manila. I didn't get to hear the story, but it sounds pretty crazy. I'm glad he pulled through. He was however unlucky enough to NOT get to go skinny dipping and to have to leave at 7 am Sunday morning. Ouch.



And this lady here, what can I say. I mean, she is eating plastic forks! Her name was Gusty, a very cool nick name for I believe Agustus. I could have posted a whole slew of even funnier pictures than this one, but i thought that would not be fair to her. She was however, often, the life of the party and entertainment, so I did want to introduce you.

The whole trip made me think, yet again, of other things i could be doing in my life. I could work on the Liberte, a three mast, 74', sailing vessel that leaves out of Falmouth. Or another sailing ship. I have always wanted to learn to sail. I have sailed a few times before, but to make it a lifestyle would be wicked. Sailing for me is the ultimate freedom. You have the boat, and logistically, if you know what your doing, you can go anywhere.

I'll throw it into my "bank" of ideas for the future. I am seriously thinking about pursuing real estate in New York, become a broker. It sounds like a good job, suited to my personality, with the possible paycheck to match. if I could do that for a year or two, I might be able to squeeze myself out of this city and be financially secure at the same time. That would be nice.

What.....the.....FUUUCCKK!

Pure Bullshit. I am livid. Here I am once again in Tekserve because my computer, only a little more than 3 months old is not working....AGAIN. I have long been an apple advocate. But today, they are the bain of my existence.

Angry Blog to follow.

Bernadette!

I am extremely fortunate to have family and friends who have always been supportive, walked with me through the hardest times of my life, as well as the greatest joys.

I know it is doubly rare that a lot of my friends I have known from nursery school, grade school, most through high school, even more through college, and even now, either live in the same city or keep in touch with on a regular basis.



Staring with the pink shirt moving clockwise: Bern, Mephistopholes, Linds, Jeremy, Dizzle, and Adam

I would like to single out a very special lady. Throw out a lil Shout Out. She checks my blog everyday and often comments.

She just had a Birthday on Saturday and a whole bunch of us went to celebrate with her at her new house in Hamden, CT, an old haunt of mine. I went to Photography school like down the street from where she lives now. She is always giving me shmack for not commenting on her comments, so I thought I’d give her MAD PROPS and right her a whole blog!!

I’m very jealous, she has a whole house and other than the initial cost of down payments and lawyer fee’s, she doesn’t pay that much more than I do in NY, for renting my apartment in “Murderville.”

Bern is one of the most fun ladies I know. She knows how to laugh and laugh right!



Here is a picture of her making the “Best ever face,” all it takes is a shot of Bern’s open mouth at any location for an evening or event or bowl of Jell-O to become………”the Best Jell-O EVER.” In this particular case, it’s “the best fudgy the whale and Cookie puss b-day cakes EVER.”

We had a grand old time, playing wiffle ball and an ultra competitive game of Bocce.



Note here the seriousness of the game as we are measuring whose closer with a stick. Red team kicked ASS.

We went to Ikea the next day, where I purchased a Poang Chair, specifically as a “thinking, relaxing, and reading chair.” It’s no Leather Chaise lounge, but it was affordable.

We also went to see the documentary, “March of the Penguins.” I really liked it. It was slow at times, but the story, narrated by Morgan Freeman was really interesting. I highly recommend that you go see it. I also highly recommend that you see it when your not tired or have been drinking, because while under the influence, the movie has the ability to easily slip you right into a comma if your not careful.

Damn you Morgan Freeman…why do you have to be so soothing?!

My "hood"

I’m probably going to get a phone call from my Dad about that whole drunk at 16 thing. Ahhhhh…what is he gonna do, ground me? He will probably find the same humor in it that I do after so many years anyway. But while we are telling secrets of old, I wanted to spill another one. It has to do with a conversation I had last night with my neighbor, about our neighborhood.

First I should tell you where I live; my friends call it “Murderville,” although it’s more commonly referred to as Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. But not just anywhere, it’s on the outer edge, closer to Bushwick really.

In short, my roommate and I are probably two of the ten white people in the neighborhood. And no I’m not exaggerating; I’m probably being generous. We moved in last November. The apartment is beautiful and cheap for the space and we were the first people to move into the building. But when you liver in NY in a nice apartment, you either pay through the ass, or live in the ghetto. Our case is the latter.

I would like to say that I have had no problems living in the hood. And for the MOST part, it would be true. I speak to people on the street all the time, I’m very friendly. I never ignore people when they are yelling at me, even if I don’t know that they are yelling at me. I make friends; help out the neighbors with stuff if they need it.

You’re waiting for the but.

BUT! I think it was February, I got mugged. I only lost $80 and a bit of pride, and a bit of skin on my arm. I’m fine. I was very upset after it happened, and that it happened in “MY neighborhood”, as I kept yelling frantically in the back seat of the police cruiser, while trying to identify the culprits at 5:30am in the dark and every guy was wearing the same diamond patterned, black Northface winter jacket and blue jeans.

But I digress.

So the conversation that I had with my neighbor brought it all flooding back. We were outside on the “stoop” which is common fare in the hood, and she points to a street light at the intersection, “you see that red light up there, it’s a camera, we livin in a RED zone.” Red Zone? I reply. She proceeds to tell me that the house down the street (now this I had a hunch about) is a haven for drug dealing. So the cops have it on surveillance. No surprises in the conversation yet. So I tell her, “well did you know that someone was shot in that building 4 months before we moved in here?” No. No she didn’t, but she also didn’t seem to care. So then I tell her about getting mugged, when it happened, the circumstances of being held at knife point by two guys, one at my back and one in front with a bandanna. I ALSO tell her that I was contacted a month or so after, by a detective that said they opened the case back up because it had happened too often in the same place by men fitting the same description. I told her they were young, probably 14-16, same age as her son.

And do you KNOW what she said!!

I don’t think you would even be able to guess…..

She says, “ahhhhhh, they were just kids…..having FUN.”

I’m not shitting you. I was secretly devastated inside that she would think so, but I made a small joke in regards to how I hope they had fun with my money or something rather, she chuckled, I became maybe a bit noticeably disturbed, so I excused myself.

So. It is amazing to me to have been witness to this extreme difference of opinion, and it was an eye opener to the diversity, although a bit grotesque in this case, of man, in general. We ARE, to some extent, products of our society, our culture, our upbringing, and our surroundings.

So that was it. Wanted to talk about it. Before I finish this blog. I am going to leave you with my “mugging pointers.” Cause at the very least, I learned a lot of what not to do, but more importantly, what I SHOULD have done.

1. Avoid getting mugged in the first place: don’t travel alone in unlit areas, between the hours of 2 – 6am, especially on the weekends…..spend the $ on a cab for door-to-door home delivery of your loved ones.

2. Give them what they want; whatever they ask you for, it is NOT worth your life or injury.

Those are the basics, but I think some of these next ones are learned only through experience. I hope you never have to use them, but I still hope you take note.

3. Look your assailant in THE EYES, stay calm.

4. Look for an IDENTIFYING FEATURE: a tattoo, what kind of shoes, clothes he/she is wearing. Something that you will remember and recognize.

5. If you give them what they want, they will most likely leave you unharmed…..but watch which DIRECTION they go.

6. CALL 911 immediately, as fast as you can, make note of the CROSS STREETS where it happened.

7. HAUL ASS TO A WELL-LIT, POPULATED AREA.

I didn’t do 1, 3, 4, or 5. I was unable to tell the police which way they fled, and was certainly unable to recall what they looked like, whether for that half hour we circled the neighborhood, or for when they called me in to look at photographs much later, I just didn’t have the foresight to think of those things. I keep telling myself that if I had, we might even have found them that night.

Washington Diggity C

I am writing this blog on the train ride back from our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. I was up at 5am and on Amtrak this morning for a Top Secret mission, secure Vietnamese visas for the crewmembers of our show at ALL COSTS. I was instructed to use force…if necessary.

I have been to D.C. before, a few times in fact. The first time I was a sophomore in high school. I was in concert choir since 8th grade and our school had been invited to sing at some anniversary celebration for Lincoln or something rather. I remember just a few things from that trip.

One: It was during the two-week period that I “dated” THE hottest girl in school, while she was on the fritz with her jock boyfriend, John Dennis. Who if I’m not mistaken became a model of some type. Good for him, I wonder if he’s still an asshole?

Two: I got really drunk. I wasn’t even 16 I don’t think. We had smuggled Long Island Ice teas in Lipton Ice tea bottles ( It wasn’t MY idea, that’s for sure). I remember drinking until 5 in the am and then having to be at our ACTUAL nation’s Capital building for a tour before we left to go back to CT. I believe in fact that a good friend Matt Bishop actually had to put me in the shower and dress me…and support me up for a good part of the morning. I remember as a joke, someone put an air freshener can in my coat. Yeah….really funny joke when your hung-over / still drunk in the Capital building. Someone probably told me one day, I’d look back at that and laugh. What do you know, they were right.

The other time I went it had something to do with an online date. The results were not pleasing, and not of worthy mention here in these pages.

So anyway, I remember liking D.C., in general. It’s beautiful in the spring with all the cherry blossoms. However, many years later, I was much less impressed. First of all, it was hotter than NY I’m sure, very sticky. Their Union Station was nice, much prettier than Grand Central. But from the train station to the Embassy was nothing of those monuments, it was just a city, like NY…..with a few noticeable differences. Less people, but more suits. Everything was REALLY clean, that was a pleasant change, but there seemed also to be nothing for me to do while killing time. Of interesting note, there was a sign in the cab that said, “No Tips. Thank you.” I asked the cabbie about this, “Hey, No tips huh?” he replied, “I don’t know.” To which I continued, “that sign says ‘no tips’ is that common here in D.C?” to which he replied, “I don’t know.” We drove the rest of the way to the embassy in complete silence, no radio. In NY there are cabbies that you couldn’t tip enough for them to stop talking. I thought it was weird. It was also weird that the cab fee’s are in Zones, so it doesn’t matter how long it takes, you just pay a set fee depending on which zone you go to.

The women, although rarely spotted, were generally cute. They had kind of a “sophisticated” cute. I don’t know if it’s just the air over there, but everything FEELS like politics. Even the ladies.

So I get to the Embassy, and of COURSE, I need to fill out some forms that they never told me about, and I needed a single passport for every crew member, and the money order was the wrong amount and they don’t accept cash…and oh yeah, you can pick them up tomorrow!

Not to my liking. So I had to stomp and huff and puff and breathe fire out my nose for five minutes so they realized that I was serious when I said all of this was not possible, and I had been told this by this person etc., it’s all pre-arranged etc., here’s the approval code, the secret handshake, the special smoke signal and a box of cookies. They eventually submitted to my charm and or my composed, firm but nonetheless hissy fit.

So I’m on the train sitting next to a nice fellow, who was reading his Spanish newspaper, but then he fell asleep and his sleeves are really large and they are encroaching on my space. I keep hitting his sleeves with my elbow when typing.

I must end the madness of the sleeve rubbing!

P.S. Do you like my new links? Courtesy of some friends of mine who did the work and copied and pasted it to me. Check out Lisa’s blog, I happen to be linked on her site as a “possible future crush”……..SWEET!

The Far East is a pain

Scheduling a crew of 7 people with over 350lbs of equipment, with the airfare, hotels and meals all for free in Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand has proved to be...a big pain in my ass. Actually Singapore hasn't been that bad, the tourism board is extremely supportive. It's Vietnam that's the trouble. First of all, they have the gaul to be 12 hours ahead, which means if I want to talk to someone, my day starts at 9pm and ends (if I'm lucky) at 1am. I was in the office until 2am last night and didn't get into bed until 4am.

Also, Vietnamese is not the easiest language barrier to cross. The act of getting a simple e-mail address proves challenging. Multiply that challenge by 100 if the connection is bad. I wish I was going, but alas, The Barista has finally gotten into a film festival, The Woods Hole Film Festival, so I will be in Cape Cod for like 8 days. I am excited to attend my first film festival and even more excited for a quiet New England vacation. Small town, right on the beach. Sounds familiar. Oh wait, that's right, I grew up in a town like that.

Speaking of which, I have recently thought a lot about good ol East Lyme, CT. I've thought about going back there for a bit, kind of a break from big city life. Just a thought though, not sure how feasible it would be to do such a thing.

I've also given more serious thought to going to school in San Francisco for Visual FX. I've also thought about running a Bed and Breakfast in the Carribbean, or even moving to Bermuda or Mexico for a possible job opportunity in the New Year.

The jist of all this is.....I'm looking for a change of scenery. Been in New York too long. Anyone else feel like they need to do something new with their life at 27? Let's discuss.

I'm BAAACCK in the saddle again!

I'm getting back on the blogging horse, and I'm gonna try to ride her every day. Maybe it won't always be at a full gallop, but a Trot or Canter is better than nothin.

"Minimum Waaaaaaagggggeee HEYAH!

Some Pics of Iceland and Belize

Now that Blogger has a new Image uploader, I am able to post photo's from the mac laptop. It's wicked easy, I'm glad they did it JUST for me. So nice of them.



Sweating my ass off in Belize. We are on an island about 1/3 of an acre, an hour from the shore of Placencia. For only $300 US a night, you too can stay on this island and do nothing but eat, drink, sleep, snorkel, drink some more then take a nap.



I am making a funny pose at the Blue Lagoon, a spa created from the excess heat generated from my ass...I mean the geothermal plant behind me.



Cinematographer Jeff Fisher and Sound Man Extraordinaire Mike Ryan, on the top of Vatanjokul Glacier in Iceland



This guy was great. Just off a main road in Dangriga, Belize. He has been weaving that Ottoman for over a year. He was probably the happiest guy I have ever seen. Very proud, friendly, and kind enough to bless us all.

Been a while

I am alive and still here. I have been busy trying to pull myself together with all my endeavors, trying to hammer down some more concrete direction in my life. I have taken up painting, and I have started a regular excersize routine to shed some unwanted flab in the belly. I Dance Dance Revolution everyday, or try to anyway. I do work up a sweat and it's easy to stick to cause it's in my living room. I'm eating less sweets and more good for you stuff. Sushi everyday for lunch has been nice.

I went to Belize and Guatemala a while back. It was wonderful there. I took some horseriding lessons upon my return. I bought a hammock in Guatemala. Hammocks are the bomb. The Barista has been accepted into the Woods Hole Film festival. That's good, so I look forward to taking a little time out in Cape Cod at the end of the month for that. Go up there and meet some people, network, build sandcastles.

I went to a traditional Indian wedding over the July 4th weekend, in Chicago, Illinois. It was a beautiful ceremony, sincere and abound with symbolic rituals. So much better than the Catholic snoozefest.

How's everyone else doing?

Iceland is COOL

First things first, it's not actually THAT cold here right now. Today was quite warm, and I walked around in a t-shirt, only time I had to put on my fleece was when I hit a big shadey area.

Second, you have to excuse anything in this e-mail that is mispelled or doesn't make any sense. There is a very good reason for this. Contrary to the time of the post you see, which is NY time, it's actually 10:30pm (22:30) right now. And in the past 4 days, I have gotten the cumulative sleep of about 14 and a half hours.

I am dog tired. I was alone for most of the day today. While the other 5 members of the crew visited the large Gulfoss Falls and the Strokkur Geyser and a Lobster restaurant, I was boarding a single prop plane with just me and the pilot this morning at 10am. I wore the headset and everything. He steared the plane with PEDALS! The width of the plane was the width of my shoulders and his, so like, 6-7 feet. We did gain an extra bit of room when I was hanging out the window with the camera, which was for about 1 hour and 15mins of the 1 hour 40min flight. It was only supposed to be an hour, but I conned the pilot, Johanis, to squeeze some extra out of it. He was a really nice guy. He even let me tell him what to do, so if I wanted more in a shot, or to get something again, I could just ask him to bank left, or to do a circle. Go lower, go higher, that kind of thing. Iceland is a beautiful place, that's for sure. I would say to see the country like that, in a small plane is a must if you visit. It was well worth the 25,000 Kronurs. That's about $388 USD.

So that was probably the most awesome thing I have done in my life, to date. The rest of the day I just drove around Reykjavik, to get a feel for the city. It's a holiday today and tomorrow, so all the shops were closed, only restaurants, bars, and ice cream places were open. And EVERYONE was having Ice Cream (wierd!)

After driving around and filming another 30 mins of B-roll footage of stuff, I headed back to our hotel to get some dinner. The Nordica Hotel, where we are staying is really posh. I finegeled the hotel to include Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner on them for all of us, as well as single rooms for everyone. The dinner is Pre-fix for us because of that, so I just walk in, sit down, and they put food in front of me. Yesterday I was so tired, I had no appetite, so the meal went to waste. TODAY however, I was famished. I had some kind of salad with cheese on it (their salads are really salty) and then the entree.....cod....over mashed potatoes.......with.........MUSHROOMS!!! Most of you know, that I don't do the shroomies. They are a fungus and grow in poop, and have a weird texture and smell. But today my friends, today, I ate them. They were just regular "button" mushrooms, says the waiter, whatever THAT means. I think it was the cream and mushroom sauce that made them so good. I only ate them out of politeness, but instantly realized I wasn't hating it when they were all gone.

Then I had desert, a chocolate mouse with fresh blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, and Iceland raspberries (which were tart and looked like cherries the size of peas, but a few on a branch.)

I had three cups of coffee in the space of about 10mins.

Then I fell asleep. Right there at the table, sitting up, with my pen in my right hand, my left forearm over my trusty journal, and my left hand still grasping the coffee cup.....for about 30 mins!!! I was a bit embarrased when I came to and the waiter's were looking at me from across the room. Not making fun of me or anything, I think they were just amazed I fell asleep like that.

Ok......so the quick blog turned into my whole entire day, but that's ok. I can't wait to come back and post some photo's up. And tomorrow id our trip to Hofn, to go snowmobiling on glaciers and look at Icebergs in a lagoon. Should get some nice shots there.

It's 23:54 (11:54pm) and it's still light out, and then the sun wil be rising in about 3 hours, so......I guess I should get some sleep....or something......I'm not sure. But it sounds reasonable.

Out to Reykjavik.....back at 1pm

Sorry my blog dropped of the face of the earth. I certainly have missed it. And now, your just going to get a tease of a blog. I have been really, really, really, busy. Amazingly busy. After months and months of unemployment, I am making up for it by working in probably the most challenging and difficult job I have had to date. Suuuuuurrreee, you could say I have a great job, if all you hear is that I'm an Associate Producer for a television series about TRAVEL. Suuuuurrrreee, you could so I am so lucky becuase I happen to be going to Iceland for 5 days (leaving tomorrow night.)

But MAN! It's like nothing I have done before. I certainly won't get into the rambling details of the job now, I'm already overdue to be in bed as it is.

But I did want to take the quick opportunity to say thanks to all of you still clicking your bookmark, to see if I'm still here. I am. Thanks to all of you who wished me a Happy Birthday, which was last Friday. I had a great 27th birthday, which I'd love to highlight at a later date.

But for now, I have to get packin for Iceland, and get to the office real early so I can sit at my desk and continue to print things and put things in binders and answer e-mails and phone calls and try to convince myself.....that I'm actually qualified to be doing this job, and that I'm actually ready to go.

Here goes Nothin!! Talk to you when I get back.

Eye in the Sky

Anonymous (probably my Dad) has requested another Blog. I have been MAD busy at work this week, so haven't had the time to write one. I'm 6th in line at customer service at Tekserve to get my laptop fixed. It's going crazy and it's brand new. So I'm writing this blog in the store on one of their floor models.

Yesterday on the train home, I saw a very unusual sunset. I didn't have my trusty Cybershot on me to capture the view, but I shall attempt to explain it verbally, which will do it no justice. There was an EYE in the SKY. The clouded sky had decided to let loose a terrible storm, after waiting all day, undecided on whether or not it wanted to. But it did, and it was a 20 min doozy. Our office is close to the Empire State Building, and one lightining bolt probably hit the damn thing. Our whole entire office building shook, I could feel it through the floor. It sounded like 1,000 dump trucks filled with mercury were dropped from the moon, and landed just outside the window. Scarred the bejesus out of us. But on the train, going over the Williamsburg Bridge, The grey sky slit open, in the shape of an eye. In the center of the slit, just like a pupil, sat the setting, golden sun. It really looked just like a giant orange eyeball in the sky. But what was interesting about it ( other than it looked like a big eyeball) was that it was LOOKING at me. The rays of the sun were projected forward, directly out, as if this giant sentient being in the clouds had laser vision. Like Cyclops. It was incredibly cool.

MAN it's nice outside!

This past week has bestowed upon all of us here in NYC, a slew of fucking amazing weather. Yesterday it was 86 degrees out. I woke early, as I'm oft to do now that I work from 9 to 5, stepped outside, turned immediatley around and back into the apartment, disrobed my leather coat AND my bag that I carry with me always, in favor of a more carefree feeling.

It totally worked.

Walking around on a nice day with nothing on you but your keys and your cell phone in your pocket is liberating....especially for me, who always is carrying some sort of bag in stow. In the middle of the day, it was so hot in the office, that I just simply HAD to go get a large chocolate milkshake around the corner. It lasted all of 5 minutes.

Now that I have insisted on coming in at 9 and leaving at 5 (to avoid the evening F train rush) I was on the train when the sun was just setting. I stood with my forehead against the window, looking out over the East river while crossing it on the J train and feeling pretty good. I like to stand at the door, which causes no clutter at this hour, so that when the door opens, I get hit in the face with the warm air rushing in from the outside.

Against the door, one door down from me was a young woman. The sun was getting lower in the sky, turning more golden as the minutes passed, and the light was falling upon her face in a very pleasing manner. But even more pleasing was the shadow outlining my favorite body part of the female. The clavicle. YES, the clavicle. There is nothing more sexy to me than those two thin bones stretching from the sternum to the shoulders. That little dip it makes just below the throat. I glanced around the subway to see if anyone else's clavicle was as favorable or close. But she had the best clavicle of them all. It was almost as sexy as this one HERE.

So who's with me on this clavicle thing, anyone? I'm also quite fond of ankles.

...except by donkey

That's Sue 


First, I'd like to thank all my friends that rallied to my side to make me feel better and provide me with outside opinions on the matter discussed in my recent blog.

But I feel, due to my feelings of the moment some of my text might have been misconstrued. And I do want to be fair. That lovely creature in the photo above is my previous girlfriend Sue. Some of you might know her. Now it's true she has found someone else as of late, and that they are visiting the area. And it is true that I offered my humble abode to their use. However, apparent in my little sister's comment, I see that I might have given the impression that this was requested. It was not. Now, this does not change how I felt at the moment of writing that blog. I know now, after further exploration of said feelings, that it is best that I do not meet this new guy, and I won't be doing so. I have no desire for it. And after a further discussion with my relationship guru, who I shall refer to as "Dirty D!", he seems to think that the comments in the previous blog at question, were more geared towards the "But why...would you offer this, you have no obligation to her...."

But don't I? I actually believe that I do have that obligation. I shared my life with Sue for almost three years. I care for her still, and would never wish her ill will. She was always kind and caring, and in the end, it was the best thing for both of us to seperate. I had become too focused on my own goals, and cared nothing for hers. She was homesick, and still in the process of solidifying her own life wishes. Our own aspirations seemed to be the divide between us which grew until it was no longer crossable....except for many days by donkey.

And I know at the end of it all...it was I who was the ASS, most of the time.

So I think, as long as I am not here, and I don't have to see this guy, I will let the offer stand. Because we shared this house once....and many other things which I won't forget. If I can help her out and give her a place to stay while she's here, I'd like to think it's the right thing to do.

She is, after all, a great gal.

Monday

I don't like Monday's.

After 6 weeks of working at a job that has provided me with only promises of payment, a lot of work, and the expense of a new computer, I'm finally beginning to get annoyed. I like this job, I do. Because the oppotunity to travel to places I would have no other way of seeing for quite some time is TOO great to pass up.

I thought about baggin it today though. I really did. I thought to myself, just quit today and go sit in the park. I could get a job that meant nothing except money and be happier. But I didn't, Instead I went into work earlier, so I could leave earlier. I have come to far in this to just quit. The contract is signed, the invoice for payment is out there (somewhere) so It shouldn't be that much longer. One more month of hard, excrutiatingly complex work, and I should be on the cusp of leaving the country on and off for the next 5 months, going to places like Iceland, Belize, Africa, and Thailand.

So yeah.....I'm sticking it out. Even if I just get to go to a few of them, it's worth it. When would I have the opportunity other than this to go to all those places? Not for a long time, if ever.

But I still don't like Monday's

I am a mean person

So it has been almost 4 months since I broke up with my girlfriend of almost 3 years. In this time period our calls were few and far between, understandibly so, because we were both figuring things out. It came to my attention recently (via evil-mail) that she has since found another person to spend her time with. I believed I was ready for this conversation, to discuss our relationships with other people.

Well....I was dead wrong. I got off the phone and felt just plain bad. Now I will do something I am not prone to do often, and that is to be mean and make fun of him on purpose. First things first. His name is Ranald Ives Cummings. Normally, I might pity the fool, but in this scenario, I laugh at his ridiculous name. He is the lead singer of a band called the Walnut Street Gang. And you know what...they suck. I've never liked punk, and I like this a lot less than I like most punk. Which is a lot. Maybe the fact that he's a lead singer of a band just pisses me off, because I always thought I could be a lead singer of a band, but I'm not. For some reason I have a strong desire to quickly pursue this goal and then blow his pants off at some Battle of the Bands.

Where is all this animosity coming from? I don't know, but it's there. I've never even met the guy. But just knowing that he's with the woman that was the other half of ME for close to three years makes me feel gross. I didn't compare her to any of the "romantic exploits" as they can only be desribed, that I have had since we seperated, but I couldn't help feel that she was secretly pointing out, the various ways of how he is better than me. And I just don't like how that makes me feel.

And to top it all off, he's an actor or something too. He wants to move to NY or something ( to make it big as an actor? Good luck with that one! ), and they will be here for a few days next month. And she wants to see me, and I'm sure he's part of that package. Well, I'm not even sure I'm going to be in the country then, so I offered my place to them (read HER) to stay at. Honestly, I hope I'm not here, so I don't have to look at his face and pretend to be nice. Because even though he has done me no ill will, and is probably a perfectly normal person, I have a feeling I will punch him in the face.

Alright, alright! I won't punch him in the face, but just thinking about it makes me feel a little better.

Hey...thanks Blog. Your the best!

I want some OFFSPRING too!

Violet Dove + Mom 


I'm pretty sure having a child is going to be the highlight of my life. I have always wanted children, actually, I have always wanted children pretty badly. You know what would be ideal? If my future wife had a job she was really commited too, that paid some good cash and I got to stay home with the kids. I want to be Mr. Mom. 220, 221, whatever it TAKES!

I am extremely jealous of my cousin Jane. That's her up top there, with my new favorite family member, Violet Dove Scott-Lavezoli. How's THAT for a name!! I got to spend a full day with her this weekend, and it was awesome! I got to feed her, burp her, put her to sleep ( which apparently is a dificult thing to do cold ) keep her entertained.....we even had a false alarm poopy diaper!!

She was like, the best puzzle in the world. I mean, your child can't communicate except to cry, fuss, laugh, blow spit bubbles.....belch. That's their language. But there are different sounds to it, nuances. This elongated whine....that means she's hungry. Getting fussy and making, uh, uh, sounds, rubbing here eyes in your shoulder......you guessed it....she's tired. Time for a nap. After the nap she's hungry, then she gets a bit fussy.....that's where the burpin comes in. If she isn't tired, or hungry, she probably needs to be changed......or you make funny faces at her until she laughs and drools to great joy. I preferred the latter.

My friend Shannon has a 6 month old, Pascal, (probably closer to 7 now) and we both got Web Cams, so I can see him....and HE can see ME too. Now that's DAMN cool. He's in Florida, and I can make funny faces, and the kid will actually laugh. Who out there is saying technology is bad? I'll argue that one. What a great way for friends and family to keep in touch. OHHHHHHH! that reminds me. I've been wanting to post this website on HAND ACTING. The video section had me rolling with laughter, it's really amazing what they can do. It's hard tho, I tried some of it. Not as easy as it looks, it would take some training fo SHO!

I am also, REALLY going to put more effort into the blogging. I got some good advice yesterday from a pro blogger. Just keep on it....if you don't keep on it, people wont come back often or at all. He's in the works for a BOOK deal.....that's a shout out to all of you out there who say blogs are ridiculous!! This guy is gonna make money on it! Granted, that's what he does...he's a writer. But let's not discourage ourselves. I've read his blog (not as religously as I could have) It's hilarious. I can't wait for the book.

I'm feeling the blog start to rant a bit. As BOOB JINGLE has commented, I type as fast as my brain thinks. I think what he was talking about, was I sometimes think very fast, I get caught away in a thought....I digress very easily and to great speed.

I'm going to go get a cookie.

A moment

Have you ever had one of those moments? A moment where you thought to yourself, “right now…right now, this…..is good?”

I have been wanting to feel that for a while now. I thought to myself, maybe, I have felt this and I missed it. What if I didn’t try to keep it going long enough? What if I can’t get it back again?

After a certain amount of time though, you stop looking for it. And when your not trying, and you don’t care anymore, it sneaks right up on you and smacks you in the face. Hey…remember ME! I’m not gone, I’m right here, and have been the whole time you FOOL!

While it’s happening, you feel it in your body. It runs through you like electricity. You can’t think straight. Your mind is racing a mile a minute. But when it’s over, and it’s gone, all you want is more. I want to feel THAT again! I want to feel it ALL THE TIME!

I think it takes a moment like that for you to put yourself into perspective, to realize who you are, and what’s important to you. And man….it feels pretty good. It feels great.

You ever feel like that?

Your comments have inspired me to comment

It's funny, after my roomate read my last blog, he laughed at the dichotomy of the paragraph on Achilles and then furniture. Bob Jingle (aka Brantley, aka Boob Jingle) also seemed bewildered of my comparison, but of film and furniture.

Allow me to elaborate, if I may ( and I will.) There are many forms of artistic expression in our culture, and have been since the beginning of man. Cave drawings for example, still exist today. Isn't that amazing, that even before man developed a spoken language, he was already communicating and leaving his mark. However simple they may be, Neanderthal man still had something to say. Cave paintings are like, on page one, of my art history book. That's where this art thing all started. It's about communication and expression, self understanding and understanding others.

Now, let us skip way ahead. The Greeks made a lot of beautiful pottery, we've all seen it in a photo or museum. But pottery, while a beautiful and lovely art, isn't a medium that lasts very long through the ages. Neither is papyrus. I only recall seeing a few scrolls, and I believe, and I'm totally guessing, that the circumstances of their survival was always out of the ordinary. Like they were hidden in a pot that was sealed in a tomb, that was buried under the earth, protected from the bad for art but good for human's element, oxygen.

Anything glass is tough to preserve over the years, unless it's well looked after, and behind more glass, or on the inside of a building such as the Met. And as in my example, Theatre has no stay power at all. Sure we can film a live piece and throw it on a DVD and bury THAT in the ground, but it's not the same thing. Dance is totally lost, just like theatre.

Film actually isn't probably one either...yet....but I know Martin Scorsese and his team is working on it. Restoring old prints and preserving the ones we have. I don't believe I'm making any stretch when I say that the preservation of film will always be moving forward and extending the life of this wonderful medium. I'm sure one day we'll have computers the size of marbles that contain all the info of the human race, like a big Encyclopedia, that we just hold in our hands and enjoy.

And furniture is a great medium as well. For some reason I can't link stuff when I type these out on my mac laptop, but I'll try to hop on here when I get home and link some examples of all this stuff. I love furniture, as an art form and as an heirloom. Someone made that 13th century writing desk. They made it with their hands, with hand tools. They probably labored for months on that piece, and when they were done, it was probably either sold to the wealthy, or presented as a gift to a family member. And over the centuries, like one of my favorite movies of all time, The Red Violin, that desk had adventures. And that desk is siiting in front of me.....and I'm looking at it...and thinking of all this stuff and sayin to myself, "yeah....now isn't that cool? I want to make something that will last like that!"

Which was the point of the whole thing. I want to make something that will last. Something that other people in the far distant future will get to see and appreciate. Anything is possible. I made a pretty nice bureau once, took me 8 days. I'm pretty sure it won't last, I didn't use glue in case I ever had to dissasemble it for moving.

I think I'll do a chair next.

MAN....now THAT'S a blog!

So sorry. Haven't written a new blog in a while, because GUESS WHAT....I have a job now. I have been hired as the Associate producer for a television show about travel. The show is called Destination, and you can see snipits of the pilot on the production comapnies website. I am learning very quickly that the film world is very similar to the TV world, with one exception....getting paid is more difficult. I can't get paid until the company gets paid, the company can't get paid until the network signs the contract, and contracts....take FOREVER.

I don't mind (little white lie) because at least I get up at a normal time now and come into work and do stuff. It has done wonders for my self esteem. The money is decent, it will be a lot of work, but I like being the second in command, and what I like even more than that is traveling for free. Also, there's a photographer who shares our office. He is really cool, shoots celebrities, Len's website is here....take a gander, he totally rocks.

But what I really want to talk about is film. I realized some things about myself. Or rather, re-realized in more clarity than before, why I want to do what it is I want to do.

I watched The Grudge this weekend. And man oh MAN was it scary. Now, I personally am not prone to being afraid. Last time I remember seeing a movie that frightened me it was The Blair Witch Project. I sat through that entire movie with my knuckles turning white, slowly sinking into my chair for safety. It was the kind of tense fear that never released itself. That is until my best friend Greg decided, upon exiting the back door of the theatre into a dark wooded walkway, to scream at me from behind. I released then , if I recall correctly, with a scream of terror and violent shove in his direction. I still was in those woods on the screen, even after I had left the movie. But back to The Grudge, I won't tell you anything about the movie itself, i would actually love to hear how some of you perceived it. But I will tell you what happened while I was watching it. The hair on my arms stood on end for at LEAST half the movie. I had goose bumps. I was praying that somewhere, at some point it would let up and give me a break, but it never came. There were several points when I jumped in terror, and cringed from a sound. I had to watch 45mins of real television (the end of Apollo 13) just to be ok enough to get to my dark room and hop into bed.

Before that I watched Troy. Of course, a total different movie experience. We all know the story of Helena of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships. We know the story of Troy's mighty Prince Hector, the evil Agemmemnon, and the mightiest warrior of his time, Achilles. the movie itself was decent, some good action sequences, some great performances. I was more interested in the actor that played hector than I was of Brad Pitt. But what drove Achilles to do what he did struck a cord with me. He wanted to be remembered. He wanted to leave his mark in history. This is why he fought so well, he fought for glory.

The next day I watched a 35min documentary called Cosmic Voyage, narrated by Morgan Freeman. It was released in 1996 in Imax theatres. It was about the scope of the Universe. It visually explored our Universe from the smallest level of quarks, that make up protons and electrons, to the atoms, to DNA, to us and everything on our planet......out into space....past our solar system, past our galaxy, past our closest neighboring stars....all the way to the edge of the visible galaxy.....15 BILLION light years away. And the universe is expanding still. It was very interesting.

It was interesting and of course, humbling. I thought to myself, CHRIST ALMIGHTY, what's the point of it all?? We are nothing in the grand scheme of things. Does anything we do mean anything at all? How could it...we are sooooo fucking small!!

But I snapped out of it. Because we ARE here, and we have to treat every moment like it's our last. We have to live life to the fullest and do everything we can do to accomplish what it is that each one of us wants to do in our lifetime. Whatever that may be. You have to try your damndest, you have to give it your all, and you can never give up....NEVER. I think if you do that....no matter what the outcome, you have succeeded. I want to write and direct films, because I want to share my worlds, my imagination with people. Maybe make there hair on their arms stand up. Or their mouths drop in awe, a slight gasp of wonder escaping their lips. I want to effect people and make them think about there lives and think about the things they've done...the things they have yet to do. I want to crack open that heavy wooden lid that some people have keeping there imagination, creativity, and suspension of disbelief from exploding out into the faces of those they love. I want them to forget about how small we all are, forget about their problems. Then, when the movies over I hope they share their thoughts with those around them.

It's true, like Achilles, I believe I also seek to "carve my name in the stone," I seek to somehow secure my place in history. If I were to choose, as an artist. Film and furniture are two arts that I enjoy, because unlike theatre for example, they are made to last......I've seen some desks from the 13th century that look mint condition. That is truly amazing.

But In the end.....I think i'll just be happy if I give it everything I've got. After all, I believe the only thing that CAN stop you from your dreams..... is yourself.

So many blogs....so little time

Haven't gotten around to writing as many of these as I wanted to. Sorry. But I'll smack you with a few I've been saving up in the ol noggin real soon. But this lil one pretty much sums up what I'm feelin right now.

It's 1:05 am and I'm lying in bed. I'm exhausted, but my eyes won't close. This has been happening more and more these days. Tired with no sleep. I just lie in my empty room and stare at the dark. And I feel empty. I'm missing something aren't I? Isn't this what it feels like? Maybe I'm going about things the wrong way. Maybe I've sacrificed the wrong things in life.......maybe I haven't sacrificed enough? Maybe I should have done things differently. But what about the things now? Is this what I should do? I just don't know anymore. I'm tired of a quiet, dark, empty room at night, that only poses questions....when what I'm looking for are answers.