A Win/Win Situation

I had two important events for Memorial Day:

1. Memorial Day Ceremony for the City of Lakewood.

AND

2. Memorial Day BBQ at Amy’s House!

Both of these have pros and cons.

For the Ceremony at Lakewood, I would have to wake up early and work on a Holiday. But I would be getting paid, and honestly, its not that difficult a shoot.
For Amy’s BBQ, the pros were that there were no cons. It would be a completely Win/Win situation. BBQ with friends? And I will already be in the area thanks to work? Epic victory!

For the Memorial Day shoot, we had to set up three cameras and some simple audio. Normally, this is easy as pie, except we were shooting outside at a park. A park that we had already had problems with in the past. Electrical problems, to be exact. And we had them yet again. We tried THREE different power sources before we had to plug into an entirely different building that we almost didn’t have enough cable to reach.

But we were victorious, and we shot the ceremony with no problems.

After we were done, I headed to Borders to await word of the BBQ. Figuring that they would be ready somewhere in the later afternoon bordering on evening, I settled down and started reading The Good, The Bad, and The Uncanny by Simon R. Green.



From what I read, his pacing has gotten even quicker than usual. There were entire story lines that were hurried along, and character development that was almost rushed past. But the imagination is still pretty strong, if a little repetitive. He actually introduced a huge threat, and then glossed over it with an even bigger threat. It wasn’t bad, mind you. It was just surprising just how much stuff was packed in the first half of the book. And he picked up a plot point that I had almost thought dead, but now it looks like he was just looking for the proper time to delve into it.

I got a text from Amy… The BBQ was on like Donkey Kong!

(My vegan friends will probably want to skip ahead).

I got to her house and dug into pork ribs. Delicious pork ribs. It had been too long since I had ribs of this magnitude. And the rest of the fixing’s were great. Hawaiian rolls, corn on the cobb, potatoes, and salad. I was full and happy. All this, and I had only had an apple all day, so I was proper starving.

We finished up the day with a Buffy five episode marathon: Consequences, Dopplegangland,
Enemies, Earshot, and Choices.

Topics of Conversation: The Holy Hand Grenade, peach juice, sad stories of dismemberment, hearting, half thy ass, rib drunk, broken backs, graduation parties, etc.

-Nate

Playfully Arrogant

I went to sleep late last night and woke up early today. Not the best of combos for most people, but ESPECIALLY a bad idea considering just how bad I am at waking up as it is.

But I soldiered on.

First on the list was meeting up with Carissa at a park near The Block to hang out and talk about any and all things that were pertinent to life and everything in it. It was quite a nice day, in fact. I don’t spend enough time outdoors. And today was quite nice. After a good talk, I ended up giving her a box of comics that I had always meant to get around to dropping off somewhere. She seemed to really want them, so I was glad that they were getting a good home.

Yeah, sometimes my comics are like pets to me.

After the park, I had to head off and meet up with Sarah at a Del Taco near Huntington Beach. We had made plans to do some bowling, and it had been a long time since I had thrown a heavy ball at a bunch of pins. I was more than happy to play again.

After a light lunch at the Del Taco, we headed out to Linbrook Bowl near where I live. It had been forever since I had bowled, and though I talked a big game, which I think is way funnier than being nice and honest about my lack of skills, I had no way of knowing how well I would do. I did some jokey cheating to throw off Sarah’s game, which mostly consisted of me yelling nonsensical words that had nothing to do with bowling like “Yosemite!” or “Shazam!” when she went up to bowl.

I actually did pretty decent. In fact, I would go so far as to say I did far better than when I used to not be playfully arrogant. I would state that I would knock down most of the pins, and I did. Nearly half the time I would actually succeed in what I was pretending to be good enough to do. It was bizarre. Sarah was annoyed, but seemed to be laughing about it.

Of course, she might be furious and desperately wants to kick my ass, so who knows. The girl is hard to read.

We hung out and talked in the parking lot for a bit before she left for home. I got a call from Justin Claraval, who was on break from the Jesuit school he was attending. He and Victor were going to be at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Fullerton in a few minutes, and he was hoping I could join them. It had been a while since I had seen him, so I was game.

I wasn’t very hungry when I met up with them, so I ordered a soup and salad deal. The salad had a pesto ranch dressing that I will have to duplicate on my own time, because it was really good, but needed a touch more pesto. Justin Quizon joined as a little later. After the restaurant, we headed out to grab a beer at Hero’s, and walk around Downtown Fullerton for a bit. It was a reasonably quiet night, all said and done.

Except someone attempted to egg us.

Now, it wasn’t the best egging that’s ever been done. In fact, they completely missed us. It was a little sad, in hindsight. Justin C., Victor, Justin Q., and myself were walking through a crosswalk when we heard a “SPLAT” and looked down in time to find the remains of an egg splatter across the street. We looked back to see a black truck gunning it down the street after they turned right at the light.

We were all rather calm for a group that had narrowly avoided a vicious egging. I guess what really helped keep us from getting angry was that fact that we avoided it. And we were amused by the fact that the alleged Egg-Hurlers had failed so miserably at hitting four slow moving targets. We speculated the reasons all the way from a last minute change of heart, to someone clumsily eating raw eggs while they were driving with their window open.

Either way, we felt protected, and hung out near the night life of Fullerton a little more before calling it a night.

Topics of Conversation: Drool, caterpillars, the wino at the next tree over, other people’s trash, sex dust, a bizarre episode of Law & Order, morals and cleavage, honking your horn as fanfare, free comics, cars dropping their ass, cheating at bowling, moments of painful clarity, salt & vinegar chips, no socks, kids that are spending an unhealthy amount of time near and on a dumpster, June being a rough month, etc.

-Nate

Guys Over Hours

I hung out with Jamal and Justin to eat some really good pizza and watch a TON of a Japanese Drama named Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers). Nine episodes, to be exact. This was also done with the intent of watching Game 7 of the Lakers vs. Suns game. And with the added intent of hanging out with him when he had to baby-sit his nephew, Michael.

Jamal did not want to have to experience that trauma by himself.

Michael was supposed to get dropped off by Jamal’s sister by 5:00. He didn’t get dropped off till almost 8:00. It seemed as though there was no point to having Jamal watch the kid, and Jamal seemed to be hopeful for this point of logic to stick. But to no avail. Ben joined us a little later.

Michael immediately wanted his mom back as soon as she was gone for more than 10 minutes. Unless we entertained him with discussions of girls and cooties, which we tried, but we got more and more tired, and he got more and more awake. It was an exhausting stalemate.

He didn’t fall asleep until 1:30 am.

Jamal’s sister finally came back to pick him up. We stayed up till 3:30 talking. As to where we found the energy to keep talking, I could never tell you.

Topics of Conversation @ Jamal’s: Anti-Wing Man, Zeroed In, staying mighty, Jaw Jut of Doom, the continued bizarre threat of the “Obits,” Just Too Cool, childhood fears, Coke Zero, Manly Man Points, lost money, Nice can’t beat Destiny, etc.

-Nate

Wait List

I woke up at 9:00 am and found out when I could sign up for my Summer classes.

At 1:00 pm.

That was a good four hours away, which meant I didn’t know when I would be able to meet up with Justin, James, and Nick for lunch. Why? Because I had planned to meet up with them at 1:00 pm. Plans were just made to fail.

I called up Justin to make sure that he was aware of my delay. He seemed okay with it, since he was still awaiting word from James and Nick. So the time rolled around, and I signed up for classes. Everything was impacted, especially the classes I needed. So I got on the Wait-List for Biological Anthropology and Environmental Biology. I only needed one for my Science portion, so I figured I would cover my bases and get on the list for both and see if either opened up.

I met up with Justin and we headed down to Seal Beach to have lunch with James and Nick. We went to a Steak Sandwich place which turned out to be pretty good. It was good to see these guys again, because they had always been really good friends, but I just never seemed to catch them on a regular basis.

After lunch, I hung out at Justin’s for a bit before I headed out to watch Lost at Lainey’s place. When I got there, I found out that some good friends of her’s, Kris and Andy, were visiting as well. It was a pretty cool surprise, but I felt a little bad to watching Lost with them, since neither of them had ever even seen more than an episode. Luckily, we turned it off, grabbed pizza, and played a round of Apples to Apples.

Not only that, but we had a movie called The Big Gay Musical playing in the background. Though the opening of the movie was actually very funny, the movie itself turned out to not be very musical. But it was quite Gay. Very, very Gay.

Topics of Conversation: The Inherent racism of the TEA Party, Gentlemen Rickshaws, cousins, broken bones, kitchen staff, Nate Mii, hurtful subconscious, quiet people need to not be quiet, Lainey Approved, etc.

-Nate

A Degree In Anything's-Better-Than-Nothing-ology

I may have not mentioned this, but I never graduated from College.

The reasons are varied and weak. Mostly endless excuses, and kind of thought out reasons of middling conviction.

This error in judgment has been going on for a while now. But I’ve decided I need to change my mind and academic standing. I need a degree. In what, I’m not sure (I guess not much has changed in the directionless aspect of my academia), but I plan to figure it out.

And the first step was going to involve getting a class in the Summer session at Cypress College.

I headed to campus to get the ball rolling properly. Before I could even sign up for classes, I needed to apply for admission to the school, since I was a returning student. After doing that I would have to wait for 24 hours before I could apply for classes. I signed up for FAFSA and the Board of Governor’s Grant to get a fee waiver. After accomplishing all this, I went and waited for a Counselor to see where I stood academically.

Not bad, it turned out.

I had knocked out a lot of General Education classes in my sporadic college attendance. In fact, I only had five or so classes left and I would be done with all my GE. This was quite uplifting. Especially considering I didn’t have a clue about how much I had left to go. My next step would be to decide on a Major and move forward from there. My end goal is now to transfer and graduate with a degree in Anything‘s-Better-Than-Nothing-ology.

After my academic plans were put into motion, I headed out to meet up with Katie, a friend I met at the Anaheim Comic Con, at Comics Unlimited. We talked about comics and discussed our mutual hunger for Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles. Which made us finally go and get said food.

Roscoe’s was delicious, which was no surprise, but it was good to see that all my talking up of the restaurant to Katie didn’t leave her disappointed. We ate and talked and had an all around good time. We made a stop at Barnes & Noble so she could pick my brain about comics, since she had started getting interested in them thanks to Yours Truly.

I got home, updated my facebook, and went to sleep a little earlier than usual.

Topics of Conversation: General Ed, phoenix tattoo, greed, percussion, celebrity look-alikes, scars, Strawberry Festival costumes, thoughtful looks, music people, Ewoks, parent induced paranoia, choosing halves, days of future past, etc.

-Nate

Pigeonetics

I started the morning with a good, long talk with my dad about the next step I needed to get back on track and to have a more solid foundation for my life. Yeah, it wasn’t all fun, but the outcome was good and I felt a little more focused.

Afterwards, I headed to Comics Unlimited to mostly hang out and talk with Lainey and Mark, who were running the store today. It was cool to hang out, if only for an hour before I had to head to work. We shot the breeze and mostly made each other laugh. That’s a pretty awesome relationship to have, and I love that I can go to shop to do that. But I promise that as soon as I become financially stable, I’m buying me some comics.

I got to Norwalk, and we had quite an interesting Planning Commission Meeting ahead of us. What made this one more amusing was the fact that the only item on the agenda to be discussed, and I mean the absolute only item, was THIS kooky little thing:

“An appeal of the denial of an Animal Permit for one-hundred fifty (150) pigeons, one (1) dog, three (3) cats, five (5) turtles, one (1) cockatiel/bird, and one (1) chinchilla.”

Truly, the chinchilla alone makes this funny, if not including the fact that the family owns 150 pigeons. 150. Who needs 150 pigeons? Doesn’t their car get crapped on enough by the wild ones? Well, a man that is dabbling in pigeon genetics would probably need that many pigeons, I guess.

And this fella, in fact, is dabbling in pigeon genetics. “Pigeonetics” if you will.

Yeah, he’s trying to breed different color pigeons. As for why, I’m not sure. Its not like pigeons are known for how much people love them. Many refer to them as “flying rats.” Pigeons got some pretty bad press to work through. But this guy doesn’t care, or doesn’t listen.

In fact, he can’t listen.

Did I mention he has really bad hearing problems? His wife had to join him at the podium to repeat everything the Commission said to him. So the Commission would say something to him, the guy would look at them blankly, and then turn to his wife. She, in turn, would have to quickly summarize what they said in a fairly loud voice so that the guy could hear. And she had to say all this next to a microphone, because they were standing at podium, so we would all have to hear it as well.

It was a very surreal Commission meeting, to say the least.

As for the chinchilla, their might be a home for it yet. Many members of the Commission seemed to be sympathetic to it and the other animal’s plight. Except for the pigeons, because no one likes pigeons, no matter how many colors they come in.

Topics of Conversation: Ever-Lasting Diet Dr. Pepper, a-hole Broham roller skaters, doing “Just Enough,” Douchy McDoucherton, playing favorites, Ren Faire, pigeon ownership, Emo Girl, Horror movie idea!, Nazi Avian Genetics, ZZ Top look-a-like, showers/toilets, inquisitive cat sounds, men can hug, how posters can bring joy, Oceanography, Dinosaurs: The Devil’s Creation, etc.

-Nate

Long Walks on Beach

I woke up and decided to go for a walk. Not just a walk, but a LONG walk. From my home to as far down Beach boulevard as I could go. One of the stipulations was that I only had a few hours to do it in, and that I better not lose track of said time.

I listened to my iPod the entire walk, with a special listen to a recent episode of the RadioLab podcast that was all about tumors. What would normally be a very strange and depressing topic to have on my mind, was actually really interesting thanks to RadioLab.

They talked about three different stories about tumors and cancer. The first was about Ulysses S. Grant’s throat tumor. The second was about Tasmanian Devils. And the last was about Henrietta Lacks, the lady that was the source of the HeLa cells, that are one of the most important genetic discoveries/resources of the past 60 years. Great stories, all. I’d highly recommend that you give it a listen, to that one plus their archive of episodes.

After I got home and cleaned up from the long walk, I went to Norwalk. It was a little busier today, thanks to interviews that were being taped for a video presentation for TAPS, an organization that teaches teenagers about job building and how to have positive activities and interactions in their life. Yeah, I pretty much read that off the pamphlet. But the organization is actually pretty good, and the kids seem to enjoy their time with it.

I got home later than I thought I would, and went to sleep around 1:00 a.m.

Topics of Conversation @ Norwalk: Dummy bum, HeLa cells, sage advice, popcorn eating cat, age gap math, bad times come in Threes, trying to explain Doctor Who, girly like a predator, Memorial Day, etc.

-Nate

Matt Lauer Can Suck It

I taped another Water Board Meeting for Lakewood. It was exciting as it always is. Though they were having problems with a water leak above the council chambers which I thought had a funny symbolism to it.

I talked to my boss, Steve, and a co-worker, Joe, for a bit before heading out to the bank to cash a check. I also made plans to meet up with Carissa for lunch. We ended up grabbing some teriyaki (Again. I’m a fiend for the stuff, man) at a place on Beach called Aloha Teriyaki. It wasn’t a bad joint. I’d probably go there again some time. And the company was fun, which usually makes food better.

I headed to Norwalk after, which was slow, as it always is on Mondays. I stayed a little later to grab some equipment that had been used by the Finances department for a presentation. They went for way longer than had been expected, and I had to load up two portable pull-up screens, two projectors, one laptop, a microphone, various cables, and a big, cumbersome speaker all by myself.

I did it one trip. BOO YAH!

I got home and watched Will Ferrell’s Land of the Lost on On-Demand.

Not many of my friends liked it that much, so that steered me away from watching it in theaters. To be honest, I actually liked the movie a lot. Some of Will Ferrell’s schtick gets old at times, but other than that, I was really into the movie. It has that fun, improvised humor feel to it, wrapped in a big budget action-adventure movie. And I really wanted to explore the Land of the Lost in Land of the Lost. So kudos to them on that.

And the Matt Lauer stuff made me laugh. They were great bumpers to the movie. Would I have liked it as much if I paid $10? I’m not sure, but I liked it on Cable.

Topics of Conversation: Repair Insurance, water bottle shower, cocoNOTS or Coconauts, the Fake Grape Emporium, scans, complete support, Swedish Ireland, spam, 27% Hawaiian, Wyoming, weird sweaters, was someone strange BEFORE or AFTER getting rich?, freedom without cars, etc.

-Nate

I Doubt It Was the Coyote

I started off the morning by waking way damn earlier than I wanted to be up. But it was for a good cause. Which was to go hiking with my parents at Oak Canyon.

Oak Canyon is in the direction of Riverside, and is a Nature Conservatory right in the middle of a suburbs. As you could tell by the name, there are a lot of oak trees. Also, there are streams, walnut trees, and hiking trails. And rabbits. Oh, George, the rabbits! From adult to baby, any size rabbit you could possibly want to take a gander at was hopping about.

Its apparently wabbit season in Oak Canyon, and incidentally, its Hawk season as well. The food chain and all. I also heard Quail, and my parents said there were squirrels, ducks, and tree rats. Yeah, tree rats. I didn’t know that’s something I could look forward to. I don’t hate rats. In fact, I wouldn’t be against having a pet rat. it’s the WILD rats I’m not too fond of. They tend to have a just a tad too much to do with plagues.

The hike was good, and the exercise was something I could always use.

Later I made plans with Amy to hang out with her for her birthday. No, I’m not that great and thoughtful. Her birthday had been two days ago. But you see, I was dealing the car stuff, so I wouldn’t have been the best of company then. So I owed her some quality friend time, so by gum, I would make it happen!

We met up at Starbucks and talked for a bit, before heading out to a Pho restaurant that she’s a big fan of. We followed that up with some hanging out at Borders to show her some of the short stories that Jim Butcher had written over the years. She was now officially in the same boat with me on The Dresden Files… waiting a full year between books. Argh.

We went back to her house so she could print me up a copy of a chapter of her short story she was writing, and so I could see the Illustration finals she had drawn. The drawings were awesome, and I will be reading the story tomorrow, so I will be finding out if she’s a Triple Art Threat: An artist, a musician, AND a writer? I’m getting ready to feel intimidated.

Also, Amy’s mom told me about something that had happened that morning that usually belongs in the foreboding opening scenes of horror movies or creepy X-Files episodes:

Amy’s dad found a severed cat head on their lawn. *shudder*

The people from Animal Services said that it was a coyote that did it. But isn’t that always how this stuff starts? “It was a coyote… oops, actually it was the creepy, insane monster dude two doors down.” Amy‘s dad said that the cat head did not look chewed on, so he was skeptical about it being an animal that did it. But at the same time, he didn’t really want it to be a bored psychopath-in-training. So its one of the few times that I find myself hoping that a coyote bit off a cat’s head.

Weird times.

I got home and was greeted by the arrival of a new episode of Doctor Who: Vampires of Venice. This is only new by the fact that the American On-Demand had just gotten it, but it was one episode behind Britain, which had just aired Amy’s Choice. Its not much of a delay, all said and done. And if I really want to, I can grab the next episode with no problem.

Vampires of Venice was pretty good. As with nearly all Doctor Who episodes, there is bound to be some great moments. A character named Rory had an incredible moment confronting the Doctor on something that had always been one of the Doctor’s biggest problems. It was pretty cool that someone actually called him on it, especially considering Rory’s demeanor.

But I’m getting a little concerned with Amy’s character development. She’s coming off as a bit of a crappy person, and its getting harder for me to really like her, with all the things she’s been doing. I’ll have to watch and see, though. Because this season of Doctor Who is still amazing!

Topics of Conversation: Baby rabbits, Aloha Pineapple, drugging kids to get them to sleep, pizzas, The Fantastic Ruckus, my morning self, fonts, fortune cookies that are sometimes right, an expansive vocabulary, etc.

-Nate

Insane Tangents of Beautiful Absurdity

I picked up my car today. It seems to be running. The damned light is gone, so at least I got that much. I feel more better today. Luckily nothing keeps me down for too long. Sometimes I wonder if I’ve ever really been scary depressed, and how well I would deal with it.

Most of the time I shut up and don’t tempt Fate.

As if in sympathy, Carissa was having a rough time in her life right now, so I called her up and we agreed to meet up at the Block and talk about life and all the wackiness and stupidity that usually comes with it. And the good stuff as well. Like insane tangents of beautiful absurdity. I was in great form tonight, if I do say so myself. My mind is usually a little more muddled, but I got her laughing so that kept me going.

The best three were as follows:

The Deep-Fried Twinkie: In which Carissa deals with the dark aftermath of Festival food three years after the fact. Also, there is stressed out microscopic workers, vomit, and the darkest of revenge.

I Could Be David Bowie: In which I am the front man of a rock band of questionable quality playing at the $3 Cinerama Dome. Also, there is singing on one’s back, microphones, and quitting a band member as opposed to firing them.

And probably the best one of the night!:

A New Word For Getting Punched: In which Carissa terrorizes somebody with constant threats of abuse and can only (maybe) be calmed down with French fries. Also, there is ordering a #9, a #1, and another #1, destroying a spleen, and broken teeth.

Topics of Conversation: The Canadian look, Viking Birthdays, magnetic earrings, peachy penguins, bee hives, my inferior cell phone, the difference between knowing and doing, etc.

-Nate

Service Engine Soon

Stress is a car that has the “SERVICE ENGINE SOON” light on.

More stress is taking it in to a mechanic.

Even more stress? Not having the money to fix the major stuff.

The repairs will cost me over $300, but under $1000. I’m not being specific on purpose, but I know how much it will cost exactly. There is still a world of hurt in that little numerical mine field.

Argh.

My parents had a talk with me about getting my act together and not only having money in the future for this kind of stuff, but more of a sense of security. Actually, it was a great talk. I walked away feeling more focused and determined to achieve the stuff I need to achieve.

So, because I always look for metaphors and symbolism in my life, I’m looking a the “Service Engine Soon” as both for my car, and for myself. I’ve been running myself pretty haphazardly as of late (for oh say the past 3 years), and I haven’t really been doing the maintenance I need for my own life. To have confidence in my life and my abilities to take care of myself.

Its not like I’ve done any stupid driving with my existence. No drugs. No alcohol addiction. No smoking. No kids. No unemployment (except for parts of 2007). No troubles with the law. And I don’t think I treat people badly (but then most a-holes don’t know they’re a-holes). I’m at least, by the end of the day and after everything is said and done, a decent person. And that’s not a bad thing to be.

But I have to step it up. I need to have more than a life that I can live with. I need to have a life that I can be more thankful for. Not that I’m not thankful now, but there’s a difference between thankful and THANKFUL. I need to have CHOICES for my career. I can’t just stick myself in the nebulous phantom zone of “working in film.” I need to cement who I will be and how good I am at it.

And I would really, really like to be able to pay my bills without breaking into hives. That would be nice.

And I’d like to throw out a quick thanks to everyone who helped me through the day. It was needed, and MORE than appreciated. Especially to my parents. You two treat me way too good and I owe you the world.

Emo Nate is gone now. Long live Ambitious Nate!

Topics of Conversation: The dreaded light, having a plan, the height difference between Trolls and Goblins, hard life knocks, sorbet, living the dream and how to, etc.

-Nate

Very Obvious Code

After I had went on my comic run yesterday, Lainey had thrown some code at me as I was leaving the shop.

“Maybe you can get Lost?” said Lainey.

I know, normally that is very obvious code for “Go away, you are dumb and ugly and I don’t like you.” But for once in my life, that was not the case. Notice how I capitalized the “L” in “Lost.” That’s right, gentle readers, as in the addictive (and oft times confusing) TV show! And Lainey was my dealer.

I hung out with her to watch more of Season 2 of Lost. Quite a few episodes actually. I think we ended up on episode nine, and I am liking it a lot, if not quite as much as Season 1. And I got the very strong feeling that if I was watching it an episode at a time every week, I might be a lot angrier. But all in big chunks like this seem to make it very enjoyable. Lainey didn’t seem to be annoyed at my voracious rate of viewing.

I felt bad at times, because it seems wrong to use the poor girl only to watch Lost, but I am a man of low moral standing. Though I tried to pay her back by helping her with her bike, which had a flat. We went to Wal-Mart to buy some stuff for the tire. It was some goop called “Slime” and I wasn’t too sure about its chances. I checked out how much eye exams went for at Wal-Mart, which aren’t too bad a cost. I need to check Costco’s prices next.

After a hiccup concerning a “tool” that comes with the Slime, we got back to Lainey’s place to try and fix the bike. We got the tire filled with the stuff, and pumped air into the tire, as per the directions. As of this writing, it seemed to be working so far. Here’s to hoping!

[UPDATE!] Nope, the Slime failed within moments of actual bike riding.

Quick side note about Hemlock, Lainey’s cat. She has discovered bubbles. And she is crazy adorable. You must see it to experience happiness fully.

Topics of Conversation @ Lainey’s: Curry ketchup, Slime, broken tool, cat burrito, nobody speaks Korean, bubbles, more information than none, Futurama, roller skating, working out car rides on a barter system, impromptu singing, etc.

-Nate

The Fetal Position is a Must

I did my comic run today and I realized that Lainey, Mark, and Nancy are like the Big Three in DC. Mark is Superman, Nancy is Wonder Woman, and Lainey is Batman. There backgrounds are even the same:

Mark is a guy who gets along with just about anyone and inspires them to be the best comic reader they can be, and he’s always there when you need him the most.

Nancy comes from a very independent background and has become a comic shop owner in the “Man’s World” of comic books.

And Lainey dresses up at night as a bat and beats up criminals.

The analogy is just about perfect.

I headed to Norwalk after the shop. It was an uneventful day, except that Karmin and I started cracking up about an insane skit idea that came out of Nowhere. You know, that special Nowhere where the best ideas, or strangest In-Jokes, come from. Allow me to explain the idea.

This skit is one of those “meme” skits that can work in nearly any situation. But the more serious and inspiring the situation, the better. I’ll throw an example at ya:

******************
“The Triatholon”

WALTER, a regular joe, is looking at an ad for an upcoming Triathalon. A look of inspired determination crosses over his face.

Next, Walter is at a store buying some workout clothes. He happily buys the clothes.
Walter is working out at a Gym, he looks determined and happy.

He is then signing up on the day of the Triathalon, he looks ready to take on the world.
Walter is first in line for the Triathalon, as other runners walk up to the line after him.

He looks amped beyond anything before.

WALTER: Let’s do this!

The runner next to Walter turns to Walter and punches him in the gut.

WALTER: HUUUUHH!

Walter collapses and immediately goes into the fetal position. The signal gun goes off and all the runners take off and jump over Walter’s body.

THE END.

****************

Yeah, I know, pretty messed up right? But the “punch line” is the gut punch and the “Huuuuhh!” sound. It sounds like a cross between a dry heave and a gasp. They’re getting the wind knocked out of them. And they always collapse immediately, no matter how big and tough or small and fast they may look. And the fetal position is a must.

It works with a soldier getting pumped up to follow some general into battle, especially when it’s the inspiring speech segment of any war or epic action movie.
The leader does his cool speech thing, and one dude is all “I’m ready to do this! Yeah!” and then he gets gut punched by some other dude. So the enthused guy goes “Huuuuuhh!”, grabs his stomach, collapses, and goes into the fetal position.

There. Lather, rinse, repeat: COMEDY GOLD.

Topics of Conversation: 6 cat limit, possible T-shirts, post-fight strut, Hell Paso, tiny button labels, canoles, an awful experience is only awful to the person that experiences it, eating bad food, getting Lost, Italian rock bands from the 70’s, etc.

-Nate

Do I Have a Word In My Number?

Today was a day devoted to Norwalk. I mostly got ready to go to work, drove to work, and stayed at work for a long time. Not at all sad, just stating that I wasn’t doing anything other than the job thing.

Well, mostly…

I suddenly realized that my cell number could have a word in it. What? What am I talking about? Well here it goes. Its quite simple. Take “1-800-GOT-MILK”, right? (Its an example, stay with me).

1-800-GOT-MILK is actually 1-800-468-6455 because of that whole letter “code” that is on all phones. 2=ABC, 3=DEF, 4=GHI and so on. So I got to thinking… do I have a word in my number?

So I got to doodling.

No, I won’t give away my whole number on the internet. Sorry, I know you all wanted to call me up and talk about your whole day and all the bizarre things said at school by that weird dude in 4th Period History. I need my levels of privacy, too. So I will omit most of my phone number:

9247

There. Let’s get started.

9=WXYZ, 2=ABC, 4=GHI, and 7=PQRS.

XBHQ. What does that even mean? YAHR. Would that make me an agreeable pirate? WBIP. Is that like a radio station? ZCGR. Huh?

Okay, for now I will settle with “ZAGS.” As in “ZAGS” instead of Zigs. Its not that great, but my choices are very limited.

As for the rest of my work day, I discovered that the new work shirts were in! And they looked… exactly like the old work shirts, except with a different logo sewn on. I had been hoping for a new color for the shirt, but I could understand why they didn’t change the color. Easier transition, and we already knew how long these shirts would last. Over three years, at least.

The night also had a City Council Meeting we had to shoot. It went by fairly quickly, and we were soon done for the day.

Topics of Conversation @ Norwalk: Emoticons, Lightning Bolt!, epicness, Big Talk, “Tomorrow I Love You, I Love You Tomorrow,” strawberry addiction, leaving the party early, being a bearded guru, etc.

-Nate

Quick Nate Note!: In the “Topics” segment, I also include texts from throughout the day. So if anyone is thinking I’m having conversations that I didn’t, its because technically I’m having a conversation through text. I’m probably cheating by including those.

Wisdom Comes With Fine Print

I started off the day grabbing some lunch with Carissa at Bob’s Burger. I had a hankering for a Greek burger joint, and luckily Carissa was game. It was a good burger, but the best part was the French fries which are always delicious at places like this. I would swim naked in their French fries. And then I would go to the hospital for second degree burns.

Carissa has been having a hard time as of late, and I mostly listened to her worries. It was nice to be their for her, and felt like a cool guy with wisdom. Unfortunately, my wisdom comes with fine print, which mostly runs the gamut of explaining that I have not solved even 50% of my problems, and that I can be pretty clueless myself. Heed my words at your own risk.

But if you would like some advice from me, then good luck.

The best advice I can give is that I will listen. That’s all anyone really, really needs. Somebody that will shut up for a second. That may not be Old Man in the Mountains wise, but its simple and usually exactly what someone needs the most. People can usually work out there stuff on their own, they just need to hear the situation and possible solution out loud.

Carissa seemed to be in a better place after lunch, so who knows? Maybe I helped.

I headed to Norwalk after lunch and spent most of my time looking over the bulletin pages on the Norwalk TV channel. Some were out of date, while others were in need of some sprucing up. I even had to shrink down a few paragraphs to fit the screen better. As to why they were wrong in the first place, sometimes glitches just start to add up with how long a page sits by itself, and with how many times they play a day.

Nice chill work. And necessary too, so I felt useful.

Topics of Conversation: The 3 Burial Revenge Scenario, Greek French fries, awkward stand-up comedy, scorched earth policy, reading chicken scratch, solar oven, “A” and “B,” months in the making, teen folley, etc.

-Nate

Alternate

I went over to Amy's place to watch a metric ton of Buffy eps from Season 3 with her and Aaron. Other than some talking/texting throughout the day, that's really all I did today. I completely devoted it to all that is Buffy.


But in my defense, these are some of the best episodes to watch!:


Revelations
Lover's Walk
The Wish
Amends
Gingerbread
Helpless
The Zeppo
Bad Girls


The Wish alone is my favorite episode, not only because its already amazing on its own, but for the fact that it is the Alternate Reality episode. Almost every show has done a version of this at some point. Because its fun! Its fun to follow the dominoes that have fallen. How if one thing didn't happen, then something else would have happened instead. And so on, and so on.


And in this version, there was one awesome, dark possibility after another. I tell you, I couldn't get enough. I would be perfectly happy if every season had a "What If...?" episode. But that might just be me.

I've spent a lot of time (some might say "too much") wondering about how things would have turned out if one factor was taken out. All the way from world wars to turning left at a light instead of right. Its fun to try and figure out where all the pieces could have ended up. Sometimes, this mental exercise can turn into sad, emo yearning for a different path in life, but I'm at peace with most of my choices I've made.

(Except for the "taking a break from school" choice. Argh. I'm paying for that).

As for the night, it was really cool, and we got WAY caught up with Season 3, all in one night.

Topics of Conversation: Waffles, marathon bliss, cabbage, tip toeing around the spoilers, making plans with chicken and zombies, trying to figure out the half-way point between LA and Anaheim, etc.

-Nate

I Can Be Very Long-Winded

I didn’t have very much going on today, so I headed over to Comics Unlimited to catch up on the run that I hadn’t been able to partake of on Wednesday. As it turned out, Lainey was running the shop all by her lonesome, so she was happy to have company. We were quickly joined by a fellow by the name of Kris and we talked about anything and everything.

Patrick called me later, and we agreed to grab lunch/dinner at Jonny Rocket’s in the Bella Terra. We met up and ate some burgers and talked assistant work and anything else that came to our minds. Victor called a bit later, and we met up at Peet’s Coffee. He was hungry by the time we met up with him, and we decided to eat at Island’s, even though Patrick and I had already eaten earlier. I ended up only buying a soda and kicking back.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Justin caught up with us at Island’s and we decided to shoot the sh*t at the Bella Terra terrace. It was pretty cold, which made the night start to wear down on me at one point. So much so that I started to drift off a little. I figured that was the point that I should call it a night.

Topics of Conversation @ Comics Unlimited & Bella Terra: Doctor Who crush, fear of light, the difference between “brick” and “eating it,” extra money on CraigsList, some kind of saurus, WETA legs, geek embarassment, Ke$ha vs. Michael Jackson, etc.

-Nate

Dear Playstation

No, no, this blog is not going to be an open letter to Playstation. I haven’t played enough games to justify that. Though I do own the Playstation 2 and its been bugging me with its frustrating lack of being able to play most Playstation 1 games.

As you can see by that last sentence, I am very far away from the cutting edge.

Today was the busiest I’ve had in a while. And the most ambitious in an even longer while than that last while I mentioned. To start off, I had agreed to help Colin by shooting his “Dear Playstation” question. I would follow that up with a Podcast with Bobby and Justin, and probably catch up with Patrick later in the day.

Holy crap, that’s a lot of stuff.

So what’s a “Dear Playstation” question? I’m glad you asked. It’s a question that Playstation asked its fans to ask via the magic of the internet.

FOR EXAMPLE:

“Dear Playstation, why is the PS3 painted black? Are you getting all emo and trying to corner the market for kids that cut themselves and identify way too deeply with Dante from Devil May Cry?”

And then Kevin Butler, the “VP of Playstation,” responds with something witty and cleverly edited.

[Here's an example, if you like]

(By the way, the question above would have been my unmodified question if I had known about this thing before Colin informed me of its existence yesterday).

So for Colin’s question, it mostly involved spoilers and the new controller for Playstation. (The new wands were updated controllers that would be the in direct competition with the Wii. They look a little silly, but then, so do the Wii remotes). Colin would threaten to ruin the E3 reveal, and then Butler would “send” me to confiscate all of Colin’s stuff and the new remote and to rough up Colin a bit.

It was fun, and a pretty good idea, but as I usually get when I need to shoot something and not screw it up, I didn’t really have time to enjoy it that much. But laughs were still had, and I hope Colin liked the end product. I'll ask him if he's cool with people seeing the end product.

A simple idea that I knew would only take an hour or so to experiment with and shoot. With this knowledge, I made plans to meet up with Bobby and Justin for the pod cast at 1:00. Unfortunately, I had completely and utterly forgotten to factor in editing time. I wasn’t done with the “Dear Playstation” bit until almost 2:30.

Argh.

I called them and begged for their forgiveness, and luckily they granted it. Colin dropped me off at Bobby’s place and soon we were set up and talking, joking, and generally geeking out at full power in minutes.

The podcast was for Bobby’s blog: “Too Much Lime.” As for the podcast segment, he calls it the “Limejuice Podcast,” and it is quite mighty indeed. We talked for roughly an hour and a half, which is pretty insane all said and done. We must have started a hundred different topics, and ended about half that. We even had a few writing/geek games about what we would do with intellectual properties and the like.

Anyways, the whole podcast was a hoot and a half, and as soon as its up and running, I will post a link. Though a quick disclaimer to the faint of heart: There are a lot of adult language and themes, so please don’t tell my mom.

After that, Gina treated us to some kickass, oven fresh sugar cookies! They were delicious, especially considering I hadn’t eaten all day. Bobby had to head to work, and Justin dropped me off at my place. Justin’s nephew was having some birthday stuff, or possibly wasn’t, or possibly was… yeah, plans were in limbo. So Justin was going to try and meet up with me and Patrick if he could.

I met up with Patrick at Taco Surf. And as it turned out, Justin was able to make it to. I got the three taco special (sweet dancing Zeus, do I like their tacos!), and we chatted about Patrick’s upcoming Thailand trip for the movie he was Art EVERYTHING for. Afterwards, we headed to Justin’s place and kept talking for a few more hours. When my eyes started to close without my consent, I called it a night, dropped off Patrick, and headed home.

I got home and was awake enough to surf the web for a bit. I looked around on my e-mail, did some facebook chatting, and passed out.

Topics of Conversation: The Goo Goo Gaga Tour, sugar cookies, Thailand of Love, Studio names, the unlikely choice, questionable parking, computer crashes, a meatless breakfast burrito, the maturity level of the career minded, my traitorous car, intense enthusiasm, etc.

-Nate

A Good Place for Pontificating

Today got changed a lot. Not sure what it was supposed to be, but it felt different by the end of it.

I mostly wanted to be alone for 80% of it. Who knows why I get all solitude hungry, but the taste gets in my mouth, and I want to disappear for a while. What made today odd, was that I didn’t want to be alone in my room with the lights off, a la emo goth kid. I actually wanted to go somewhere with people around, I just wanted them to be strangers so they wouldn’t actually want to talk to me.

I sent a quick text to a few people to ask where they liked to disappear to, but I added the extra criteria of not home and had access to power. I got a lot of “Starbucks” and “Borders” which was cool, but not what I was hoping for. They weren’t bad suggestions at all, and I knew I was being vague, but I wanted a certain atmosphere.

And that’s when I remembered the Veronese in Fullerton.

The Veronese was a house near UC Fullerton. It had been converted into a coffee spot by some industrious people, who also wanted it to look spiffy. “Spiffy” being eclectic furniture, yard, and settings. Its actually a very nice, quiet place to hang out at and think, read, write, or pontificate. Pontificating is very popular with the college crowd.

I like the place a lot, and figured that would be the best place to just be at. The prices are on the high side of the spectrum, but I look at it as a donation to maintaining such a nice atmosphere. What can I say? My inner hipster is addicted to the place.

Carissa, a friend I met at the Anaheim Comic Con, joined me later in the evening to chat and check out the place. It was a good night, and I got home feeling tranquil. I think tranquility is underrated.

Topics of Conversation @ The Veronese: Tough on the soul, the Strawberry Festival, the casket store across the street, blackmail, many things I think, health insurance scam, finding the right person to tell off, complicated tangents of varying importance, etc.

-Nate

#G163

I had a shoot in the morning for Lakewood. A sign was being installed on the 605 near the Del Amo exit. The sign said John Stanford Todd Memorial Highway. We were mostly doing some coverage of the Public Works crew that was installing the sign, as well as some time lapse of their work. We covered it from putting the metal sign on the two wooden posts, to digging the hole, and to finally stationing the entire sign in place.

All in all, a very simple shoot. We were done in a few hours and I was heading out to something I wasn’t really looking forward to. It was something that everyone has to deal with at some point in their lives. Something nobody wants to.

I went to the DMV.

Basically, my license was expired on my birthday (yeah, I was pushing my luck), but I could have just sent money in and been done with it. But I really don’t like my picture. I don’t hate it either, for that matter. Its just… a driver’s license picture. Only a small percentage of people like their picture. For the rest of us, we have to find a way to strive on. But I wanted to change it. So I did.

…After waiting for two hours. Argh.

I got in line, got my number, and sat down to wait. My number was #G163. The best part? They JUST called #G091. And they had other imaginary numbers like B121, C053, J008, and H142. Really, it was a long, painful roll call just to make sure we all knew we had been reduced to numbers and codes. The DMV is exhausting and boring. But I don’t need to tell you that.

Finally my number was called in a flurry of letters and digits, and paid for my license and got a new picture. What does it look like, one might ask? I have no idea. And judging by the staggering display of apathy on the picture-taker’s face, I wouldn’t be knowing anything until the two weeks he told me it would take to arrive at my home.

After that exercise of patience, I headed to Norwalk. We had a Planning Commission Meeting we had to shoot, which we knocked out, and I was home before you could say “Planning Commission Meeting.”

Topics of Conversation @ Lakewood & Norwalk: Underwear laws, Discovery, digging for water, bonfire jumping, Staff Infection Steve, making fun of convulsions, the Gay Chicken song, poor choices in pet names, democracy at work, etc.

-Nate

Done Away With The Gone-Away (World)

This morning would be extra cute. Now, as a burly, red-blooded American male, I should not use the adjective “cute.” But I will today, because I was doing another shoot for SEEACA. We had another round of little animals that needed to find a home. And they were far too cute by a mile.

The big winners were “Nickson,” the little gray kitten, and “Bruno” the St. Bernard/Chow Chow mix puppy. They were mind-blowingly adorable, and I’m pretty sure they knew it. Again, if I had my own place, and wasn’t so selfish that I wasn’t sure I could take care of an animal, then I’d have grabbed the two of ‘em right then and there and made a break for it.

After the SEEACA shoot, Musse, Bill, and myself ate at Shakey’s for lunch. I filled up way too much, as I tend to do. Argh.

After work, I headed home and finished up a book that had been annoying me because I hadn’t finished it before this point. It didn’t make any sense for me to not have already read it all the way through. The book in need of the last-pages reading was The Gone-Away World.

I shall start off by saying this book is very good. Excellent, in fact. Sometimes it gets a bit self-indulgent (There’s a chapter or two that really didn’t need to drag as much as they did). But this book is incredibly well-done. And it goes in tangents. Sometimes HUGE tangents. Most of the tangents are integral to the book. Some are just flavor. And the big twist in the book will make an impact. You might miss it at first, though.

This is the kind of book that its totally okay to just go back a few pages to re-read stuff. It helps to keep you in the story. And the twist makes you look at everything with new eyes. That’s hard to do, but it is pulled off well.

I suppose my biggest problem with the book is that sometimes you really don’t know where you are. The chronology is all over the place, and its your job to know where you’re at. At the same time, the chronology is very fluid for a reason. Just go with the flow, and the pay off will be worth it.

The final scenes and the Epilogue are pretty friggin’ amazing. Endings are hard to get right. This ending was great.

Read The Gone-Away World and be ready for your mind to be exhausted and tested to the limit. But in a good way.

Topics of Conversation @ Norwalk: Best on-ramps, escape, zebra stripes, Oreo laxatives, hitting the record button, burning the swimming pool, routers, air conditioning cancer, etc.

-Nate

The Healing Properties of Vast Amounts of Alcohol

Woke up late. Didn’t mean to. But I did it anyway. Argh.

I headed to Comics Unlimited to drop off Lainey’s birthday card and to pick up Batman & Robin. It was a ridiculous Star Wars thumbs card, but I figured Lainey wouldn’t hate it, and maybe, just maybe, would be amused by it. I was in a rush, so I ran in, and pretty much ran out after chatting with Lainey and Mark for a bit. Gabe (a former employee of the shop) was there. Huh. I feel bad, because I rarely run into the fellow. Hopefully I’ll see him around some more.
I headed to Norwalk and did the job thing.

After Norwalk, I headed to Bobby and Gina’s place for a little party they were throwing for Gina’s birthday. (See? May is a busy month). Apparently the theme was an Island theme, but I had not received the memo. Oops. Oh well, I had just gotten out of work, so I figured I wouldn’t have been able to throw together much of a theme.

As the night progressed, tragedy struck. Justin, Bobby, myself, and some other party attendees were on the balcony of the apartment when we heard two loud *POP* sounds from the exit of the apartment parking lot. Somebody had tried to enter the complex from the exit, which the gate was wide open for some reason. And going in the wrong direction led… right into the spike strip. Two of there tires popped and we saw the car have to pull off to the side.

Some of the drunker members of the party started to slow clap and call out “Uh Oh!” I, being sober, held off from any such reactions. Which was a good thing, because the driver of the car turned out to be a friend of Bobby’s, who had come for the party, and got two popped cars instead.

Oi.

We helped him out, and we all agreed that he deserved a beer or twenty. We were soon laughing off the incident with him. Thank god for the healing properties of vast amounts of alcohol.

The night went on for while, until I had to head home for some sleep. I had work in the morning, and would need to be at least 85% awake to operate efficiently.

Topics of Conversation @ Comics Unlimited & the party: Cheesecake, birthdays, early mornings, beard competitions, fresh water dolphins, night elves, waiting till you hear something racist, gentle indoctrination, downhill rafting, the unfortunate name of the a-hole boyfriend, etc.

-Nate

Thanks, Mom!

I woke up at 6:26 in the morning to get my mom some flowers. I would have got some last night, but I didn’t want them to have a chance to start getting droopy. So I got the flowers and could have sworn I made a racket getting in through the door and putting the flowers in a vase. I set the flowers up prominently on the kitchen table and set the card under them. My parents slept on, oblivious to my machinations.

I went back to sleep.

I woke to the happy exclamations of my mom’s discovery of the flowers and card. I smiled, relieved. Thank god I didn’t just dream about picking up the flowers. I’ve had dreams in the past where I literally did everything I would need to do when I wake up. Those dreams piss me off.

I joined my parents for breakfast and we chatted about random stuff. Then my mom had to head to work.

Patrick called me in the afternoon, and we talked about all the preparation he would need to do for the upcoming movie he was going to do all the art and makeup for. It was intimidating, but the prospects were exciting. I offered to help him, if he needed it. He might take me up on the offer.

I headed to Border’s to kill some time and return an old book that I changed my mind on. I mostly spent my time reading up on Batman & Robin and various paperbacks. It was nice and chill.

Happy Mother’s Day, mom!

Topics of Conversation: Gifts of mystery, were-cats, hair plugs, Thailand, over 18 hours of labor (my mom’s), etc.

-Nate

27

I am 27-years-old today. I am now officially, and by my own standards, in my late 20’s. There is no going back. There is only going forward. But what does that entail? For this year, I wanted to document my own thoughts and experiences. I had actually forgot to factor in the fact that I would be turning 27 this year.

The first thing I did today was go to Zov’s Bistro in Tustin with my parents. My uncle, Jon, met up with us at the restaurant. It was a great meal, though I got short ribs off the bone, when I had thought I had ordered actual ribs. But the food was still delicious.

As a gift, my parents had gotten a cool drawing my friend, Amy, had done of me as a vampire. It was an amazing looking piece, and the frame made it look more official than it had ever looked laying on my desk. I’m a fan of her art already, so it only got the presentation it deserved.

After I got home, I was hit with the realization that I had planned very little for my birthday. I had let my family have first dibs on any plans, but we were already scattered as is with other stuff. So it was something of a blessing that Justin had called to invite over to his mom/nephew’s birthday shindig. Apparently everybody who is anybody is having their birthday in May. Which makes early September the month for lovers. (Do the math from September to May).

I hung out at Justin’s place, talking and partaking of the Filipino hospitality of a plethora of food. At one point we headed out to Borders to catch up on gift giving for the next day. While at Border’s, Jamal called me to see if Justin and I were up to anything. Justin had to head back home for the post-hospitality clean-up. But I was free and headed to Jamal’s. While at Jamal’s place, we grabbed some Del Taco and watched Up In The Air.

Up In The Air was a really good movie, though that was no surprise with Jason Reitman as the Director. He impressed me with Thank You For Smoking, blew me away with Juno, and he didn’t let me down with this movie in the slightest. George Clooney was incredibly charming in this role, Vera Farmiga was sexy and painfully human, and Anna Kendrick was able to get more out her role than I had originally thought was there.

The part that really stuck with me about this movie, was the question of legacies and relationships. The fear of being alone was in direct conflict with the fear of losing one’s freedom. It really brought to the forefront all the contradictory beliefs we all hold self-evident, but in the end, it comes down to what we really want. And that sometimes, the happiness we derive from the things we do, and the way we act, really can’t stand up to intense scrutiny.

So what path do you choose? Is there really only one way to happiness.

The movie was hitting me in a lot of other ways, thanks to the fact that I got older today. Am I the person I want to be? I think I am, in a lot of aspects. The way I handle myself, and the relationships I have with people are things that I’m honestly proud of. My friends are some of the few things that I think I’ve done a good job on. So thank you, for that.

But career and money wise… I have a hell of a lot of paths I need to blaze to make that work the way I need it to.

Topics of Conversation: The future, words said in an alcohol and meds induced haze, geeked out, psyched out, freaked out, subtle office humor, 270 days of travel, a long night and morning of adventure, etc.

-Nate

More Than One

Second date. What? I was able to start a collection? That’s amazing.

It consisted of Thai food, Iron Man 2, and one of the longer rants I have ever participated in.

Topics of Conversation: The pee dance, nicknames for bastards, bathroom quality, kicking rocks, truly geeking out, the Gay Bro Coverup, etc.

-Nate

Lost Pizza

I headed over to Lainey’s place to hang out and grab some lunch. It had been a while since the last time we had hung out, and I hadn’t seen her cat, Hemlock, in a long time. The cat was getting really big after only 4 months! She was a little more tolerant of me this time around, but only just. And Hemlock seemed nicer, too. Hey! (I’m kidding, Lainey).

Having an opening bit/monologue doesn’t work as well without a live band and an audience track.

We went to Del Taco for lunch and talked about birthdays and how not to plan them. I found myself slightly concerned over the fact that I did not have much of a plan for my upcoming birthday. At the same time, I didn’t feel all that bothered by that possibility when I really thought about it. My Birthdays aren’t something I get all that worked up about.

We headed back over to her place and decided on watching Lost Season 2 for the remainder of the day. I had yet to see any of this season, and she had it on NetFlix, so we blasted through a ton and a half of the episodes. I didn’t really catch the names of the eps, but I could google them.
At one point, Patrick called to invite me to get some pizza. He also called with some awesome information: a movie project that he had been working on some monster designs for was getting greenlit! That meant that he would be getting paid to do designs on an actual movie! This was awesome news indeed, and deserved some pizza and camaraderie. After finishing up another episode with Lainey, I bid her farewell, and headed to Garden Grove.

I met up with Patrick at a Pizza Hut, and we talked about the amazing and annoying possibilities that came with such an opportunity. We also talked about women and all the headaches they can bring, but hey, what’s new there, right? (I hope all my friends whom are women, lovely, forgiving women, don’t get angry at me and kick my ass). After pizza, we were walking to our cars when we heard a racket from across the way.

It was karaoke.

Apparently, the Kelly’s Coffee on Chapman and Brookhurst hosts karaoke 4 to 5 days a week. And we were hearing some pretty crazy takes of Eminem and other 90’s standbys. Patrick and I looked at each other and decided to check it out.

Checking it out quickly turned into singing. Hey, that’s how karaoke works. It sucks you in, and you suddenly find yourself singing “Oliver’s Army” at the top of your lungs. At least I did tonight. Patrick and I sang “Build Me Up Buttercup” and “I Want You Back.” We were pretty sexy at it, too.

Topics of Conversation @ Lainey’s & Pizza Hut: Fake chicken, talking at gun point, the Ripple Fund, avoiding rumors, birthday blues, shaved cat, “I don’t like you” said Lainey, for want of a french fry, watermelon jelly beans, walking a thin line, etc.

-Nate

Cinco!

It was Cinco de Mayo and I didn’t do any drinking in celebration. Sorry about that. I missed the memo. But I’ll get on it next year.

As for the rest of the day, I spent trying to catch up to my usual schedule. This time with a special cameo appearance by a new friend made at the Anaheim Comic Con: Carissa! Cool lady with a Mustang for a car. Its almost a contradiction, if it didn't seem so RIGHT.

We went to Comics Unlimited to do the comic run shuffle, where I picked up Buffy the Vampire Slayer (#35), Secret Six (#21), The Boys (#42), and Brightest Day (#01). All of these were pretty good reads, though Buffy better start explaining itself soon, or I’m going to go a little bat-s**t on it.

After the shop, I ate teriyaki with Carissa, and we caught up on all the little bits and pieces of the week and month that had gone by. I guess one of my favorite things to do is learn more about my friends, and all the other people in my life.

As I progress along with this, I picture each friend as being in their own version of Memento. With less murder of course. Everyone we meet, we meet them after the events of their lives have already taken place. The big stuff that made them who they are. I’m not saying they’re done growing as people, just that entire movies have already gone by before you join in. From now on, you will be making cameo appearances in their movie, and vice versa. But before you encountered them, they had their own life. And I like finding out what it was before I stumbled upon them.

After lunch, I had to head to work at Norwalk. I dropped off Carissa, and launched myself onto the freeway to another day of occupational responsibility. It was a quiet day there as well. I mostly cable casted and ended making plans to catch up with Lainey for lunch tomorrow.

Topics of Conversation @ Comics Unlimited & the teriyaki joint: Taxi service, better driving through comics, natural evil eye, disasters, when one wishes they were surprised, godmothers, the black hole of hunger, etc.

-Nate

An Unofficial Holiday

First of all, May the Fourth be with you!

"May 4th." + "May the Force be with you."

Wacky, right?

I did some job hunting today. It mostly consisted of: Okay job. Okay job. Kinda crappy job. Great job that I don’t have a chance of getting. Okay job. Okay job. Then I pontificate on the positive aspects of being heavily inebriated.

Norwalk was pretty busy thanks to it being City Council day. These are the nights that I get to work with Karmin, Mike, Bill, and Musse. Which is cool when it’s a full studio of busy bodies with talent. They help to get the day moving along at a bearable pace.

After work, I headed to Amy’s place to watch Buffy Season 3. We watched Beauty and the Beasts, Homecoming, and Band Candy. Season 2 was the season with possibly the best arch, but Season 3 had the best consistency of excellent episodes. Just about every episode was sharp, action-packed, and funny, with probably the clearest vision of what was going to be achieved at the end of the season.

I got home and felt a need to watch a movie. And out of the depths of my backlog of DVDs that I owned, but have yet to watch, I chose Criminal, starring John C. Reilly, Maggie Gyllenhal, and Diego Luna.




Criminal wasn’t too bad. It’s a con artist flick, with some pretty good twists. John C. Reilly was pretty good as the senior Con Artist. He played it like a scorpion. And you know that you can‘t be surprised when a scorpion does exactly what they normally do. They sting, even if they don’t really want to. Its in their nature, as it was in his nature to lie and manipulate.

Maggie Gyllenhal did a great job playing his sister. You could see the strain of the good sister of a really morally bankrupt man. She played her part as a woman who was really past anger. She was tired. So tired of all the ways her own blood let her down.

Diego Luna was a little weak, especially when in comparison of these two veterans. He didn’t seem to have many more modes other than uncomfortable and uncomfortably smiling.

The main twist was decent, if executed in a muddled fashion. Check out this movie if you don’t have REALLY GOOD con artist movies.

Topics of Conversation @ Norwalk & Amy’s: Sarah Palin, rent, caffeinated tea, blank DVD’s, 7 Wonders of the World and the things that have nothing to do with them, non-surprises, hobos & Gogos, etc.

-Nate

Oh Henry!

Worked at Norwalk. It was Monday.

Um… RANT TIME!

I have a favorite candy bar. Its not one I indulge in often. Its not just because I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. Its not just because I don’t really need to have any candy. And its not just because I have no luck finding it at stores.

No, wait, its EXACTLY because I can’t find it in stores.

This candy bar is the Oh Henry.

And this sucker is hard to find. And when I do find it, its expired, and almost by years at that. What kind of candy company only makes 50 candy bars a year, and then stops? Its maddening! I’ve gone to liquor stores with no names other than “Liquor Store,” and I’ve gone to candy stores of epic proportions. Both have failed me equally.

Except for a Mobil Mart in Lakewood.

Truly unexpected, but it made me happier than it should have.

So what is the Oh Henry, you might ask? Its not much different from a Snickers: Milk Chocolate. Caramel. Peanuts. Nuget. But there’s just that much more peanut flavor in it that gives it a hearty flavor. And for some reason, the candy bar is divided into two separate pieces, which doesn’t sound as annoying as you’d think. Its easier to save it for later.

So… does anybody have a candy or something that they can’t find?

Topics of Conversation @ Norwalk: Germs, masubi, The Heavy, album covers of infamy, etc.

-Nate

Is Giddy An Adjective I Can Use?

The morning started out busy, and after shaking off the effects of the late night I had, I was soon conscious enough to operate heavy machinery. I picked up Jamal and Justin and headed to USC to do a read-through of “Chron-Illogical” with an actor friend of ours named Jason, who would meet up with us there. The drive up was great times. We caught up with each other, and Jamal told a great story about a recent visit to a Lazer Tag place. Let’s just say it had all the drama, intrigue, and betrayal that the best of mob movies could only hope to achieve.

We parked at a Denny’s across the street from the University, and after grabbing some caffeine at a nearby Starbucks, we headed to the school. We had just grabbed a classroom before Jason met up with us. We passed out the scripts and got down to the business of pretending to be fictional people. It was a cold read, with both Jamal and Jason having only looked over the script once before.

I was fairly giddy after the first read. Is giddy an adjective I can use? You know, being a guy and all. Well, whatever, I was giddy, dammit!

Jamal was doing a really good job, though I had already been fairly certain of that. But I was very happy to see Jason’s take on the material. I had yet to ever see him in action for this particular part. And I could tell it would be strong come the day of actual taping.

Afterwards, Jason took off, and Jamal, Justin, and I headed back to the OC to get some lunch. We ate at Cortina’s, and I had the Pesto Chicken Pasta, which was crazy good. Later, we dropped Justin back at his place, from which he would be heading back to LA for a screening of a movie for the Asian Film Fest. I would have come along, but when I leave LA, I can’t bring myself to want to go back.

Instead, I joined Jamal, and later Ben, in catching up with Doctor Who, Series Five. This consisted of the episodes The Time of Angels and Flesh and Stone. I loved the first episode, and I enjoyed the last two episodes following that, but these episodes were beyond excellent. They were action packed, with amazing acting, and got scary as all hell at times. Not only was the bad ass factor of the whole show raised by a factor of eleven (ho ho get it?), but a new villain for the Doctor has been cemented as being, in my humble opinion, as legendary in a level equal to that of the Daleks and The Master. The Weeping Angels are probably my favorite villains not only re-introduced, but in regards to the whole of Doctor Who.

Topics of Conversation: Drinking the Koolaid, “I Am the Kook,” pipe dreams, the second time around, big tea, toothpicks and making out, getting a thigh, Do You Want a F**king Adventure?!, etc.

-Nate

Free Comic Book Day

Today was a day well in the making. It was Free Comic Book Day. And I had been looking forward to this almost as much as a geek could without getting a nosebleed. Yes, perhaps a bit… feverishly. I had even made a Facebook event page that had beat Nancy to the punch.

The plan was that I would treat this as a whole day event. Not only were Justin, Victor, and Patrick coming in for FCBD, but I had some new friends that I had made at the Anaheim Comic Con coming in: Jon, Carissa, Jimmy, Shawn, and Katie. I wanted to hang out with everybody. Throw in wanting to be able to talk to Mark, Nancy, Lainey, and Denise, and my dance card wasn’t just full, but I was starting to write in the margins.

On top of this Katie and Jon brought some peeps of their own.

ROLL CALL!: Juandel, George, Jamie, Anny, and Eddie!

FCBD had some signings from the Sullen Grey creative team, and since one of the artists had drawn a special issue of Shrek for Free Comic Book Day, they had a cool signing going on. The turn out for the shop was very impressive, and I was happy to see the store was very busy every time I either looked up from getting a caricature of me getting drawn or when I was talking nonsense with my friends.

Hunger eventually overtook us, and my crew wanted some pho. So I, Patrick, Victor, Carissa, Katie, Jon, Eddie, George, Anny, Jaime, and Juandel journeyed to nearby Little Saigon. We ate at a place called Pho 79, and the food wasn’t too bad. I liked the fried rice I ordered. After eating, we headed back to the shop to reconvene and let those that needed to take off do so.

The next plan turned into karaoke. Patrick suggested Ding Dong Dang up on Garden Grove boulevard. Carissa had to take off, but everyone else was game. We got a little lost getting there, but eventually found ourselves at the karaoke joint.

We all sang for over 3 hours. Pretty friggin’ crazy. I sang Buttercup, and even felt I owned it a little. Jon and his posse took off half-way through the karaoke list, and we finished the night at Denny’s. Jamie was really in a mood for ice cream… until we got there. Then she revealed she didn’t really care for ice cream.

I would like to clarify that Jamie asked for ice cream over 5 times.

ANYWAYS, Denny’s was pretty good, and we ended the night on some good laughs.

Topics of Conversation @ Free Comic Book Day: Pho, cupcakes, curfews, Power Girl’s creepy eyes, Ding Dong Dang, pimping out my friends, herding cats, pictures of ridiculous cuteness, ice cream, eating Shrek’s face, Victor’s magic trick concerning kryptonite, Lois Lane: Centaur, the “fake High School” experiment, etc.

-Nate