Return of My Friends, Greg and Jen

So years ago, I used to live at this house in Magnolia (map here) with my friends Tim, Greg and Jen. Greg and Jen got married and ran off to L.A. so Greg could work in the "pictures". And sure enough he did... heck he is even on IMDB.com! His latest foray was working as a "Post-Production Coordinator" for the 3-D movie, Barnyard: The Original Party Animals. Well Greg and Jen headed back home this last weekend and invited about 50 of their closest friends and family out for a little soiree at The Chapel Bar and then a viewing of the film. Cute movie... good message for the kiddies, but the boy cows have utters and that's just wrong. Even more confusing... there's a bull in the group of animals at the end. Who knows why...

In other news...

I'm finally selling my poor old Subaru. Got her all cleaned up and running!

I'm heading home to Eugene all next week to visit with my sister and her baby boy while they are in town... oh yeah and see my parents too.

So just a little update. The job search continues, but I hope to have cooler stories coming soon!

I am SO sick of seeing that California post!

Ok, ok... I've been lazy. It's been hard to think of things to blog about, but stories are in the midst of developing. Look for a possible entry on my trip to Florida (with some pics), stories about the upcoming World Cup and how my roomie Phil has come through with technology du jour it seems. Summer's coming folks... although you in the Seattle area might not see it through the rain. Thanks for letting me take a break, and I hope some of you have at least bothered to check on my lack of progress from time to time. Until the next post... drop a comment!

Southern California Adventures, Part 2: Universal Studios

Writing again... I guess the road makes good blog fodder!

Today being Sunday, I decided to stop using the "road" as an excuse to miss church. So I fired up the old laptop here and found a church to my liking, St Paul's Lutheran of North Hollywood. Now, in my mind, there are no two groups so diametrically opposed as Lutherans and Hollywood "types". I'm always in the mood to have my world rocked by contradictions to my perceptions, so I gave it a try. Well, now I know where all the Lutheran women are hiding! In all seriousness though, the church was stunning and the message was great. They aren't really into singing (or anyone who can sing is way up front in the choir) so I was kinda left winging it myself. Really nice folks though...

After church I happened to notice Universal Studios was on the way back to my hotel. Seeing as I had nothing to do all day, I decided to swing on by. Now Universal Studios has a sweet place in my heart because I remember being a kid and visiting So Cal for the first time. Universal was one of our stops. I liked it WAY more than Disneyland, Knotts or the boring drive to San Diego just to see some Koalas (which for some bizzare reason I liked as a kid... little did I know they they are essentially ugly Australian Tree Badgers). Anyway, back in the 80's Universal had everything I loved as a kid. They had Kit from Knight Rider, where you could sit in his seat and talk to him... like Santa only Kit is real! (or at least I thought so when I did it) On the tram tour, you got to see the A-team guys (animatronic I came to find out later) blowing stuff up and shooting guns (of course no one got hit by anything... just like the show). But the COOLEST was driving into the hanger of Battlestar Galatica when Apollo and Starbuck (back when he was a GUY) took out a whole bunch of robotronic Silons! How awesome!

Alas, those days are long gone... but Universal is still for the 8 year old kid inside of me... I know that if that version of me could visit today, he'd have just as much fun and believe every cheesy bit of it. Today they now have a lot of 3D theater shows ala "Captian E0" (video commerical here... a blog entry all of its own) The two best I saw were Terminator 2: 3D and Shrek 4D... fun stuff but a bit on the campy side, especially T2:3D. I remember visiting back in college when it was just on the edge of being outdated... now it's more funny than cool. I went on the Back to the Future ride too. I'm convinced this ride is sponsored by the American Chiropractors Union or something because it's essentially a whiplash machine. I will say that the Mummy ride was quite a treat. Its nothing compared to the big rides at Six Flags, but I was surprised to say the least. The "plot" of the ride was about as flimsy as a wet tissue, but it was very dark and very twisty. Its strange when I'm faced with being hurled in the dark, out of control... I relax... it's the best feeling in the world to me. Everyone is screaming and I'm as sober as a preacher on Sunday. Anyway... I wrapped up my day by going on the campy tram tour. Now you have to understand I know it's going to be bad, but something draws me to it everytime... the cheesy "flash flood" to the animatronic "Jaws" shark. Two things that have been changed however were no more bridge fall apart under the tram and no more "parting of the pond" ala "The Ten Commandments". For those of you who like "Serenity" and the TV show "Firefly" (so basically not Dan and Ada) there was the "mule" vehicle from the show on the tram tour too... the highlight for me. I was still hoping the tour would drive through a Galatica hangar again... maybe another time.

Southern California Adventures

Well after a week in Bakersfield, lugging boxes of furniture, monitors and computers, I'm down in LA (more precisely Hollywood). Here is what has happened so far:

My first night in So Cal I stayed at a Motel 6. Now, I'm the most normal guy in the world and things like "room decorations" and "bed accessories" don't usually pop up on my radar... but this did. I think it caused a few cones in both my eyes to explode.

I saw orange trees for the first time... too bad I'm not fond of pulp.

Another first for me... getting beat up by a 3 year old. I was working on this little demon's classroom computer, when he walks up and speaks something I guess were "words". Now, kids do this all the time... come up and try to "talk shop" with me. It's cute, they are usually funny, and we all have a good time. So when this kid just reaches out and tries to grab the mouse from me, I tell him no. What does he do? Screams and starts hitting me. Whoop-de-do... he's three, so I can easily troubleshoot the computer. Since I don't really react to his "onslaught" he digs his little nails into my arm and scratches me... and then proceeds to throttle my head. You know what his teacher did then? Did she yell at him? Did she scold him? Did she remove him from the area? Nah, she thought it was funny. I just finished up and left... So in about 20 years I'll be looking out for a mass murder to spread mayhem in Southern California.

Last night (Friday, March 4th) I went to see Gabrel Ingelasis in Fresno with my co-worker and her family. I had seen him on Comedy Central and thought he was pretty good. I wasn't expecting though to be one of handful of white boys in the crowd! I was towering above 90% of everyone... I had to hunker way down in my seat so all the rows behind me could see. It was really cool and entertaining, but never in my life would I have guessed I would attend a Latino comedy show in Fresno, CA... never.

So I packed up my stuff and drove down to Los Angeles and found an affordable place in Hollywood. Now I've heard it's not the nicest place to stay, but my per diem stinks, so beggers can't be choosers. I did have just enough time to check out the area around my hotel and take some pictures of Paramount Studios. However my favorite picture was this. Ok... so when do you admit you have a drinking problem if you get your liquor delivered?!

More pictures (and hopefully stories) to come.... stay tuned!

Ayric vs. The Artists

Well after a boring month or two, I decided to get off my keister and get out of the house. (that and I ran out of TV shows to download) So, one Sunday, at church, my friend KC invites me to the “grand opening” of the new… how can I explain this in fewer than 1000 words… artist loft cultural complex… that he recently started managing. Sounds cool… he mentions a computer training lab (which immediately sold me) and a theater. He does mention that there are going to be lots of people there… but I think I glossed over this detail in my mind.

So tonight (Friday night) was the night. I left my shallow, yuppie, condo-dwelling, home in the ever-so fake-n-bake Eastside neighborhood of Kirkland to West Seattle. For those of you not familiar with Seattle and the Eastside… there is fairly clear delineation of culture. Seattle (aka the “Westside” of Lake Washington) is made of liberal elitists or the "I want to pay more taxes because I am weathy and not a minority so I feel bad" crowd. More on these folks later. Bellevue and the “Eastside” of Lake Washington is your typical moderate to conservative elitists, or the "I inherited my wealth and company but I am sure if people work hard enough they can be rich too" crowd. And here I am, more of a libertarian, minus the pro-drug stance with a dash of Constitutionalist. So back to the Libs.

Libs LOVE the kind of event I am about to describe to you. It makes them so giddy and smug that it borderlines on President Clinton interviewing new interns. So what we have is a bunch of kids and washed out art teachers living in a gorgeous old school building. All the classrooms have been converted into studio spaces with kitchens and bathrooms. Actually… if I thought I could be neat enough and not turn into a human gerbil, I would consider living in such a space (if the rent was cheap) But, according to our local government, not even the birdseed I make is low enough for housing assistance. The theater is amazing, the old school gym/cafeteria retrofitted with seating and state-of-the-art stage. KC and Becca’s apartment is the coolest I saw all night, because it’s arty but accessible. The main problem with the evening is that there are so many people there that you can’t really stand and look at the art, the building, or anything cool. If you try to take pictures, you just get the back of some guy’s head OR the "artist" will accuse you of trying to duplicate their "art" digitally. You think that if someone wanted to take a photograph to remember something that struck them as interesting it would be a complement. I guess my short hair, clean shaven; freshly bathed appearance belied my true nature as an evil capitalist

I’ll admit… in every viewing of “art” I see some pieces that I consider really talented and compelling. Unfortunately, it’s like 1 in every 10,000 pieces. Usually, I think of how much money they blow on pot instead of nice materials and tools for their medium. I’m also thinking how they would scream bloody murder and possibly assault me if knew my voting record and faith in God. Truly, the art scene to me is like being a cat at Westminister. This community wouldn’t respect my opinions. That’s why I’m writing this now. Because I respect their right to make whatever piece of junk they want, and some self-righteous phony to buy it… it is the American way.

I wouldn’t hinder or dissuade them in anyway… it’s not my place, even if the piece offends my sensibilities, like overtly political or religious pieces. I will not participate in censorship or thought policing. However, would they respect me if they knew my feelings? Perhaps a small minority. Where I am from and where I grew up, if you like the free-market and complete freedom of expression, speech and religion, you are hated, persecuted, and alienated. I do not live in America; I live in the Soviet Union of the West Coast.

I find it sad that those who espouse freedom and find the world’s current condition of wars, death and mayhem appalling, stil won’t accept those with different views. They won’t do a single thing except spout out talking points and make signs with sophomoric profanity at a duly elected leader of our country. All these people do is make sure that no one around them can challenge their faith in their politic, in their righteous assumptions. I’ll be the first to admit, I hardly know or understand anything, but I’m willing to listen to reason.

I’m not really in a funny mood tonight. I felt repressed and alone… so I turn to here to express my feelings. I challenge you, dear reader; make sure that you never trample on someone’s right to disagree with you. Their speech is protected, your sensibilities are not.

Why I haven't posted in a while... Pictures from the Road

Well I thought I would provide some evidence as to why I haven't had a chance to post in a while. Click on the picture for more

My trip to Whistler in Canada.	My trip to Southern Oregon and the Coast.
My trip to the Olympic Peninsula and Northwest Washington Coast.	My trip to Oregon State University.

Enjoy!

Ada and Dan: Behind the Engagement

Some of you may or may not know that my best friend, Ada, was asked this Christmas to marry her boyfriend, Dan. I'm very very happy for both of them, and I know that they will have a great life together (as long as Ada learns to clean up after herself finally!)

But what I'd like to share with everyone is how the smallest choices and, in my opinion, nudges from God, have amazing outcomes that we, as silly finite creatures, can't comprehend.

How two people found love because I went looking for a couch.

A year ago, my buddy Phil and I got a condo in Kirkland. And being the two nomadic bachelors we are, we had practically no furniture. We like having people over, but with few places to sit, we knew it wasn't going to work. So the great couch search began!

He put the word out at his church, whereas I went to Craigslist. If you aren't familiar with Craigslist, think of it as the free classified section of the Internet. It's a mixed bag and no frills, but the place to go if you need something quick and cheap or to get rid of something fast.

So look for couches, but nothing really grabs me. I also notice that there is a personals section. Well as a single guy, I'm always looking at such things. Again, I don't find anything that really grabs me, but one profile (while not my "type") was very wittily written. For some reason, I think that Ada would get a kick out of it too, so I send her the link. What does Ada do? She emails the gal! And they hit it off! And she has a friend... who is Dan. One thing leads to another, and now they are engaged!

So if you have single friends out there... fire up your browser and start looking for furniture, because you never know what you'll find instead!