Teenage Humility & Humidity

As far as Fridays go, today was hectic. But in a very good way.

First off, I woke up early for a video shoot for Lakewood. It was at a High School that had a Assembly to retire a jersey for a former football player for the school. His name was Alterraun Verner, and he had made it to the NFL since his days at the school, playing for the Tennessee Titans. What was more interesting was that Verner not only had been a star athlete, but he had a 4.17 GPA. Great googly moogly! And he liked Math, which just made him seem from outer space to me, but good for him!

Now, I don’t watch much sports, so I wouldn’t be able to tell you much more about all that stuff, but what I can tell you about is that I used to ditch a lot of high school Assemblies when I was a lad. And being in one again just reminded me of why I chose to avoid them back in the day. And I was being PAID to attend this Assembly!

It’s the strange mix of fake enthusiasm, real apathy, showboating, rampant false senses of entitlement by the athletes, assorted boredom by the students in the bleachers, tired authority, and heat. Yes, HEAT. I had forgotten how damn hot it could get in a gym when you stuff it to the brim with insecure, oversexed, surly, and hormone drenched teenagers. This is a recipe for an juvenile furnace fueled by school “spirit.” Needless to say, I stepped out as much as I could.

Argh! And it was humid, too!

Anyways, after the shoot, I headed to Comics Unlimited yet again to pick up at least two more issues of list of comics for this week. Talked with Mark for a bit, before I met up with Justin. We had a meeting to talk to Paul, our friend Mona’s boyfriend, about shooting a commercial for his therapy practice. This was to be the first time Justin and I would put our heads together to make an actual, serious commercial. Perhaps it’s the start of a new aspect of our career goals?

The meeting went well, and Justin and I left to meet up with Jamal, Jon, Katy, Ben, and Kevin to go to a bar in Long Beach called Alex’s Bar. (NATE NOTE!: Alex’s Bar is the same bar used to shoot the Fangtasia scenes in True Blood! Wow!). The extra bonus of the night was that Alex’s Bar would be hipster central due to the funk night that it was throwing there. Whatever about the hipsters, the important fact was that funk music was going to be played, alcoholic beverages were to be drinked, and grooving was to be shook.

Also, Katy won a trophy for dancing! She friggin’ earned it, too, cuz she danced for about an hour straight.

The night was an amazing amount of fun, topped off with Denny’s food and a sense of funk infused euphoria. Damn good times.

Topics of Conversation: High School, different kinds of cars, Pabst, steady jobs, guuurlllzzz!, Apple Valley, human powered heat, little brothers, New York, trophies, Italian speed metal bands, sub-letting, the arch-villain returns, spirit, jabbering on, permits be damned, butt wash, etc.

-Nate