Well, just as Amanda and Mike did, Chuck and I went to see Garden State on Wednesday. Though we both agreed that it was a really good movie, I believe I took a lot more away from it than he did. It touched a lot on the subjects of what's really important in life, dealing with loss, and overcoming fears and your past, just some things that really made me think about myself from a different perspective. What do I really want? Is it here? Is this trip sacrificing the wrong things for the wrong reasons? Not to mention how I've dealt with people in my life, especially lately. I think I have a lot of things to rattle around in my head for the next few weeks. I'm not sure if I'll find any answers, but maybe I just keep asking myself the wrong questions...

Well, as of July 26th; I have a half brother named Dylan. I'm not sure exactly what to say about him... I've sat here for a few minutes trying to think of something to write... but I'm just drawing blanks. I am flying back to Michigan in a week to visit until the 18th. But, my brother, Nick, sent me a handful pictures from the day. I thought I should share them...


Above: Nick with Dylan... which I guess is kinda' stating the obvious.


Above: my mom seems to have that; "what do you think you're taking a picture of..." look on her face.










Above: is it just me, or does Nick look like he's been smoking something... not around the baby, Nick.

You know, above I mentioned that I was flying back to Michigan... now, it occurred to me as I was typing; "back to Michigan", that I almost typed; "back home". But I didn't, "back to Michigan" came out instead. And for some reason that split decision has left a strange emotional aftershock I can't shake. I think it stems from last night, Amanda and I went to see Garden State [don't worry, this isn't a spoiler... it's mentioned in the trailer], and there's a scene where Braff is saying...

You know that point in your life when you realize the house you grew up in isn't really your home anymore, that idea of home is gone. Maybe thats all family really is, a group of people that miss the same imaginary place.

A place that no one can really get 'back' to, and for a long period of your life you just stay in a place where you keep your stuff... that it's not 'home'... I guess he does a better job explaining it than I do. But, maybe I feel like I haven't had a home in a long time... I've just been keeping my stuff in different places.

I wonder when the day will come when I wake up and realize I live in a "home" again, but one that I've created.

While I was working last night, around 2am, a guy called and talked to my manager. Right away she was shooting me funny looks, like she couldn't get a word in edgewise with the guy. Then she just said, "Do you need to print something, or report a crime?"

Apparently, the guy had someone managed to get himself (and his car) locked in a parking lot of another branch; a large parking structure with a gated entrance. He said he'd called the police and they wouldn't come cut the lock because it was private property. He figured he could track down the manager's number by calling another store. Unfortunately, we just didn't have the information he needed. The store was nearly out of our district.

At first, I thought it was a prank, but the guy started getting really pissed off that we couldn't do anything for him. Catherine just kept repeating over and over that all she could do was give him a number for corporate. He was running out of cell phone power and was getting pretty irritable. Finally, he just said "Well, can't someone come down here and pick me up!?"

He actually started demanding that someone drive to the store to get him. My boss finally just said "Look, I'm not sending someone down there in the middle of the night to pick you up. Even if that WAS something we did." Finally, she just told the guy "good luck" and that was pretty much the end of it. I'm pretty sure that's when his cell phone died, because he didn't call back.

There's something terribly funny about pissing off a jerk you'll never meet.

  So, for those of you who have been keeping score, I haven't really posted anything for awhile.  I've had a rough couple of weeks.  That hasn't really changed, but I did have the honor to meet some really nice people.  Yesterday, two customers, Joyce and Jerry, came into my department and asked for my assistance.  Two nicer people you couldn't want to meet.  Jerry was a funny guy, a real conversationalist.  After speaking to him some more it turns out that he was the chopper pilot for the opening sequence of the "M*A*S*H*" TV series and he did some aerial shots for the original "Planet of the Apes" movie, both favorites of mine.  He was a cool all around guy.  Joyce was the sweetest lady possible.  She was so charming.  She had just moved out here from Chicago and needed some furniture for her place.  I wish I could have done more for her, but I was able to help her out a little.  They told me about a fish and chips place and a coffee shop where I can meet some good contacts for what I want to get into.  She assured me that good things were going to happen for me.  Even though I'd heard it before, when she said it, it was very reassuring.  I talked to the two of them for about 45 minutes and I could have talked to them for even longer, but I had things to do and so did they, but it was a nice break from a long day.
  Today, Joyce came back in and introduced me to her granddaughter, an aspiring young actress named Kallie Childress.  She was just as nice and pleasant as her grandmother, really shy, but really sweet.  She plays one of the four heroes in the new MGM/United Artist movie Sleepover , so everyone go check it out.  DO IT NOW!!!  I'll personally be going Wednesday to show my support.  They're going to be moving away from the immediate area soon, though, so unfortunately I won't have the pleasure of their company for much longer, but hopefully we'll keep in touch.  People that genuine are hard to come by nowadays.  But if, by chance, I don't talk to them again, I wish them nothing but the best.
  You know, I had something else to write about, but in the middle of writing the first part and watching "Big Fish" my mind has gone blank.  I think maybe I'll just go to bed and finish up tomorrow.  Until then, everybody keep dreaming...

A couple weeks back a guy came in to print some digital photos at our self-service picture maker. He stood there for a while, presumably scanning or loading the pictures, then waved me over to the machine. He told me he was trying to put the pictures on a CD and it hadn't asked him when to insert the blank one.

What actually happened is that he'd requested 8x10 prints. Each one takes about 2 minutes to finish. Unfortunately for him, the pictures [which he said were for a class project] were of a sensitive nature. I only glanced at the screen, but it was nude photographs of someone. The REAL problem was that he had to leave - and it was 18 pictures.

So it was going to take about a half-hour to finish printing all the pictures. To the guy's credit, he slouched against a table and waited for every single one. No doubt to protect the honor of his wife (or girlfriend) or whoever. I let him keep the prints, though I should have taken them. Could have been an elaborate scan, but I doubt it - based on the look he shot me when I told him a half-hour. I've never seen someone perspire so quickly.

I'm getting used to the dirty photo stuff. I'm guessing 60% of the pictures printed on that thing are the one's the local grocery store wouldn't give you back, even if you dared turn them in in the first place. Everyone prints shots of their girls or guys, or porn actresses they met at conventions. It's to be expected.

Less than a week ago, a blonde and a brunette came into the store to print some pictures. In the process of helping them make a CD and some prints, I noticed a few of the shots were nude. The girl selected them as fast as she could, but it was pretty obvious. Her girlfriend (when I say that, I actually mean girlfriend) didn't seem too upset about it. They were both dressed pretty skimpy and didn't seem to mind attention - mostly directed at the blonde's boob job, I'm sure.

They spent at least an hour at the machine and finally came up to pay for it all. I didn't mind ringing them up, or answering questions for the hour previous. They were gorgeous women, though I had felt a little cheated on time.  But later on that night, while I was cleaning up a bit, I noticed something on the counter. And let me just say...

24 4x6 Prints: $35
10 8x10 Prints: $50
1 CD Burn:: $10
Leaving the burned CD behind: Priceless.

On my 21st birthday, Amanda and I had been dating for almost three months, and as a present she got me Ypsi [the hamster], along with a class cage [that was her sister's old 6 foot long snake cage... but it made Ypsi kinda' crazy, so he was moved to a smaller cage pictured below], some wood-shavings, food, you name it, she bought the whole set up.

I named him, Ypsi, cause that's where we lived at the time: Ypsilanti, MI. He loved sesame seeds, liked to sleep wedged in-between the glass and his running wheel, and always managed to get himself stuck under and behind things when exercising his plastic ball. Today while I was at work, Ypsi died in his sleep, curled up in his smiley face coffee mug.


Above: Ypsi, taking a breather on his exercise wheel, this was taken shortly after I moved in with Amanda, over a year and a half ago.

This morning Amanda noticed the fur around his mouth was yellow, as if he had gotten sick, and his back legs looked like they could barely hold his weight. In hamster years, he must have been in his 80's, he was only a few months away from being two [human] years old, which I think is kinda' rare for a hamster. I'm glad he made it to California, it was nice to have him keeping me company in the car those 2,500 miles...

Amanda and I buried him at the bottom of our apartment stairs, in the garden. He's off somewhere stuffing himself full of sesame seeds and running on his wheel in the sky. Rest in piece, Ypsi. You we're a cool little dude.

I went to my favorite little laundromat today to get my bi-weekly cleaning done. The place always has about 10 women, all chattering away in spanish, while folding laundry and keeping their kids in line. I like to try and pick up on their conversations, based on what I already know. It's pretty futile, since the only sentence I would understand completely would be "Tomorrow, father and mother don't understand spanish. Turn right. Turn left. One, two, three..." It's still fun to try.

I used a couple of the triple-load washers because they work a little faster. I had loaded one completely up and even dumped my detergent in when I found out the coin acceptor wasn't working. I've never been one to kick up any fuss with management, so I simply unloaded it all into another washer, after making sure the next one took my money.

So then I went and sat on these benches at the front of the store, which are actually quite comfortable, to watch the clock for about 20 minutes. That's when a woman in her forties came in with an airport luggage bag on rollers. She put it next to the washer I'd taken my clothes out of, and went to get her quarters. I thought to myself "Well, she's going to figure this one out on her own. I had to."

Just as I'm thinking that, she comes back and starts to load her laundry - piece by piece. She'd put a pair of shorts in the bottom (front-loading washer) and sprinkle some detergent on top. Then she'd lay another pair on top and sprinkle some more detergent. She actually went through about 50 pieces of laundry, sprinkling the top of every single item of clothing.

At first, I wanted to say something, but for some reason (probably that I thought it was funny) I just kept staring. The procedure was ludicrous - not to mention my soap was still loaded in the top. All in all, it took about 15 minutes just to load up her clothes. Then, sure enough, the machine wouldn't take the quarters. I was half amused and half thinking "I'm going to hell for that one."

Finally she called the manager over and he hit it with his fist a couple times to make it work. I was actually relieved, since I decided to be a jerk and not say anything. Then the woman sat on the bench next to the door and let her head fall back against the glass window. Blissfully aware that every piece of clothing had it's own little meticulously deposited portion of soap.

I've also learned that I need new socks. It's never made quite as painfully obvious as when you're washing them in public. I kept wondering how they got to be so damn dirty. It looks like I've been washing the kitchen floor with them. I had to go to plan B and drop them in the bottom of the basket so I could bail without anyone seeing I don't know how to use bleach.

It wasn't the best $30 I've ever spent for an hour by myself, but it wasn't the worst.

I had a nice little chat today with the guy that does Clublife, a blog about being a bouncer in New York. The blog is really good and the guy was very friendly. When I told him I was from Caliblog, he recognized me right away. It's nice to know there are people out there that read your stuff. This guy needs to be a Blog of Note. If you're on the committee, he has my vote.
 
We were swapping stories about the e-mails we've gotten from girls about our blogs. Seems we've both gotten a few, and are both encouraged to keep blogging. There are definitely some attractive girls out there. I haven't always responded - but after talking to a couple, I think I probably should have. Kevin probably gets pics from would-be dancers all the time.
 
I'd love to expand that subject into a longer post, but I've got some stuff to do today. Mostly studying up my California Driver's Handbook. I think my ten days to apply for a license are already up.

I was going to start this post off by apologizing in advance for it's political topic, but I just decided there is no reason I should feel obligated to say, "I'm sorry", for mentioning the truth.

I couldn't help but notice this morning on yahoo!'s home-page; under "In the News", the headline reading: American Death Toll in Iraq Reaches 900. And then I couldn't help but wonder how many American Soldiers have died since the "Mission Accomplished" speech, the answer: 661 Soldiers have been killed since the 1st of May. But even more shocking [saddening, and infuriating] are these numbers;

Wait... actually, before I get into this, I think something needs to be said; I mean this, all of this, in the most educational, eye-opening, truth seeking, humanitarian way possible. I'm taking the time to write this post not because I hate our country, but because "blind faith in bad leadership isn't patriotic". Having said that;

2,752 American civilians killed on 9/11

7,792 Iraqi civilians killed since 'Operation Iraqi Freedom'

Almost 30% of the 7,792 Iraqi civilians we're children under the age of 14, that's in the ballpark of 2,300 kids... almost the total number of American adults killed on 9/11

* numbers based on 2003 statistics

Now, maybe these numbers had such a great impact on me because they were accompanied by pictures... which I have decided were not necessary to express my point. Maybe I find these numbers so mind-blowing because they're on account of a personal vendetta, now proved to have no connection with 9/11 what-so-ever. Maybe I'm upset because I feel there is nothing I, or anyone else can do to stop it... it's not like our government listens to us anyways.

Suddenly this cinnamon oatmeal I micro-waved doesn't sound quite so good... considering it's 86 degrees and my forehead is slowly perspiring.

Still no sign of my package [see "multitasking" post] in the mail yet. I don't work until 6 tonight, so hopefully it will show up around 3... or else [punches fist] I'll just wait some more.

I met with Pro Verbs yesterday, to discuss making a music video for their new song, "revolution (do you know)'... actually the song is just called, revolution, but Billy made a good point yesterday when he mentioned that naming a song, revolution, is like naming a song, hey jude. But the, "do you know" is from the chorus, hopefully it's somewhat fitting. I think it's too late to actually change it, some indie radio stations already have copies and are about to give it air time. Anyways, I met with a friend of the band who is also directing the project, so it will be a collaboration. The concept was the main focus yesterday and all the ideas they [Pro Verbs] we're suggesting sounded great visually, and [for the most part] added meaning to the song. Most importantly, the song is actually really good -- I was very pleasantly surprised yesterday when they played it for me for the first time. I would put a clip on here, but I'm not sure they would be happy about that.

[...25 minutes later...]

I just got back from dropping Amanda off at work, and on the way home I was listening to NPR; a woman reporting from Iraq was talking about the recent release of a Filipino hostage due to his nation pulling out it's troops a month early. But what caught my attention is when she [the reporter in Iraq] mentioned the weather there, above I was complaining about the 86 degree temperatures as I sit here in from of my Mac, with two fans blowing on me... but currently the temperature in Iraq is 130 degrees... and the every day Iraqi only has access to electricity for 1/3 of the day.

I've recently been on a Spike Jonze kick, I downloaded every music video I could get my hands on last night, including an old skater short called, Blind Video Days [that has a Martin Scorsese credit... I can't figure out why]. But anyways, I mostly brought this up because a very young Jason Lee makes a few appearances in the video, and having just seen him face to face at Ikea the other week, it was strange to see him act so high-school-skater-normal.

I hate writing when it’s hot like this. My laptop heats up to about 100 degrees and I have to lay my wrists right on the warmest part. Every time I lift my hands up there are wet imprints of my palms. It’s cool if you just turned it on, but leave it running for a day and you get the full effect.
 
I had a filling fall out of my tooth in the back left side of my mouth, on the top. I think it was actually for two teeth, because the gap between them seems wider. It’s driving me insane. Every time I eat anything with meat in it I have to floss right afterwards. I started wrapping floss around a toothpick and carrying it in my pocket to work. Otherwise I can’t go near my Subway.
 

 
It’s starting to get really annoying and my health insurance from work hasn’t kicked in yet, so there’s nothing I can do about it. I haven’t been to the dentist in a while, so I’ve probably got other work in there that needs to be done. I really hate teeth sometimes.
 
This post is for AJ. She’s been bugging me for a couple days now to write something. To be honest, I just didn’t have anything to say for once in my life. It’s just been a slow week. I’d write some of the stories she’s been telling me, but I’m not allowed. I’m just hoping that saying I’m not allowed alludes to the kind of stories I’ve been hearing. I’m probably going to get a beat down, so I’ll shut up now.
 
I’m still waiting for approval for time off from work so I can go visit Michigan in August. I’m definitely looking forward to being home for a little bit. I want to go see my parents and my cousins really bad. I miss the girls. I’m hoping that being there for a couple weeks will calm my nerves a little. Yeah, I get homesick. So what.
 
I’m finally over the flu, but it really gave me a kick in the gut for a few days. I was in terrible condition. I think last Tuesday I slept for about 18 hours, only waking up long enough to drink a couple of Hi-C juice boxes and stagger back to bed. It wasn’t fun, but it felt good to beat my first sickness away from home. I guess California and I are a bit closer now.
 
Here's an impersonation of me, mid-thought - (...)
 
I'm gonna go now.

"...Of all the times that I've been burned, by now you'd think I'd have learned; that it's who you look like, not who you are..."

This is sort of a response to Nick's comment that we need more pictures on our blog and sort of because I was starting to think the blog was getting a bit boring.

So I was gazing around the place I call home a while back and thought I would scan and put up some random things I had lying around. So now you can see what I see.

These are all of the things that I had crammed into the edges of my full-length bedroom mirror.


This first picture is of me. It was taken the summer right before my senior year. My sister took it in our backyard. The hair was a result of my trying to go from the pitch black that my hair was dyed for most of my high school years to it's natural blonde. After several tries at bleaching the black out I was advised to give up and dye it something in the middle and try again after my hair had a month or two to heal. Just so you all don't think I'm incredibly vain... Mike put this one up in the mirror.


Next up is the front and back of a small laminated card of the Virgin Mary that my best friend, Jenny, gave me. She's my favorite catholic. I'm pretty sure this was a birthday gift. Anyway... it makes me think of Jenny and her incredible loving spirit.


My mom gave me this "lucky 2$ bill". I don't remember when exactly, but I've had it for a very long time. It reminds me that my mom wants me to be safe.


The last one is one of the first things I bought when Mike and I got to L.A. While I was waiting for him to finnish an interview for an internship in Santa Monica, I wandered into this really cool bookstore down the block. They had tons of great spiritual books and Buddha's and Tibetan Prayer Flags and all kinds of neat stuff... I fell in love. I bought this sticker for me, one that says "begin within" for Chuck and one that says "Mass media breeds ignorance" for Mike. This sticker reminds me to keep fighting the fight.

The date is set; May 29th. The route is as planned as it will ever be [click here to view]. Considering this, it leaves me around ten months left for pre-production, which hopefully isn't unrealistic.
 
I'm waiting for two fuel chafers to arrive in the mail, I need to mount them onto a board that extends out just below the camera's lens for a test shot. I'm hoping the effect will be the rippling heat waves you see in wide dessert shots, but in this case; constant and up-close. If all goes as planned, it will be used in key scenes for proj: pedal; to constantly reassure the audience that; "yes, don't forget: it's unbearably fucking hot out here in the dessert... when you've been biking for 80 plus miles, when all your bottled water is hot and your throat is dry, when your new box of chewy bars has melted all over your bike bags." I plan on posting the test shots as soon as possible -- but keep in mind; it's snail mail.

I'm getting off topic here; I started this "multi-tasking" entry to announce something completely different. Although, having just expressed my worries of an "unrealistic" deadline, I hope this decision isn't setting myself up for disaster.
 
Regardless; my decision is: I don't want to over load myself with proj: pedal. Meaning that; yes, I have ten months left, but my main worry isn't that I won't plan or prepare enough -- my main worry is that seven months into it, I'll forget what it is I'm trying to say with the film. That, with three months left to go; my focus will have become so narrow, I'll be blind to new and interesting ideas. I think it's good to walk away from something for short periods of time to give your mind a chance to look at things from a fresh angle.
 
But I don't think "vegging out" will do the trick, I'm going to work on short films -- projects that might play at small independent festivals and help build a [very, very mini] following for proj: pedal. But even if it doesn't accomplish that, it will allow me to get behind the camera and stay goal oriented at the same time. Not to mention, proj: pedal still needs a crew, and random short projects would / will be a great way to branch out.
 
So that's it. That's my announcement. Exciting, eh? Proj: pedal should have it's own website up and running soon, give it another month.

Today we [Chuck, Billy, and myself] went to the Beverly Center to watch "What the fuck do we know", a movie exploring the connections between science [namely quantum physics] and basically everything else [mostly religion]. It was definitely an eye opening experience -- a "mind over matter" kind of thing... except "matter" isn't held in the traditional sense... neither is the "mind" really... hmm... let's see if I can do better than this;
 
First the film goes into the perception of reality, certain experiments have shown than when a person is shown an object, say a lamp, specific areas of the brain "light up", but when that person closes their eyes and is asked to think about the lamp, the exact same areas react. Which suggest that the mind doesn't "know" the difference, which suggest that we don't really have a way of "knowning" what is real... which is where quantum physics comes into play;
 
For example, in 93' an experiment was conducted in Washington DC with over a thousand people from 40 different countries gathering to meditate. Due to 48 different similar studies carried out before they estimated that during the meditation the crime would drop 25%, the police department even came forward to down-talk the event, saying that nothing short of two feet of snow would cause crime to drop 25% during that summer weekend. But just as they expected, the meditation had an un-denialable effect [25%] on crime. What does this have to do with quantum physics? Energy, space and time, and the mystery that one "energy" is at any given time, in two or more places at once, but when it is "looked" at, it moves to one area, or the sister / daughter cells disappear... but to where? No one knows exactly.
 
Actually, I'm gonna stop there, because if I try to go into all the different subjects of the film, this post would be one long boring run on sentence... if it isn't already.
 
I found out two things about Mark Maynard yesterday, one) he has a tattoo! And two) he now has a little baby girl. Drop by and congratulate him [on his baby, not his tattoo].

On a side note; getting epidemicly obese now has a sleek new look [thanks, Jen], so that's exciting.
 
Amanda just pointed out that caliblog has slowly, but surely slipped down the 'blogs of note' list to last place, it's been fun while it's lasted. We all knew this day would come. "Sigh".
 
For those of you who haven't yet noticed, there is a new "featured movie", but this one is especially exciting because it's from our friend, Pete, in Germany. Here's a short exert from his synopsis on the short film:

"The Mirror's Side is actually a really overblown version of an idea for a music video I came up with in High School. I was sitting at my computer table at age 17 thinking "wouldn't it make a great music video if a person got sucked through a mirror and went walking around in a backwards world?" The original idea was to be a silent feature, and the story line was not much more than that. Man finds t-shirt, man sucked through mirror, man wanders around aimlessly, bum says "your shirt backwards," man reenters reality..."

You can download the synopsis in it's entirety here. It's a three part movie, if you click on the "The Mirror's Side" link to the left, you should see a drop down of the separate links.
 
Which reminds me, recently I've been doing a lot of changes to the site, and I know that these changes don't take well on all browsers. For example, I've made the movie archives a drop down list, where you can right click on the link [for those with slow connections], and this works great on Explorer for the PC, works great on MSN browser, and for Safari on the Mac. But on the Mac while using Explorer; our site looks funked up... big time. So, I did a print screen of the site to post on here, if your caliblog doesn't look like this, than your browser sucks.

I just wanted to put in a quick post to let everyone know I'm still alive... mostly.

Mike and Amanda got sick last week and the flu has hit me pretty hard for the last couple days. I tried to go to work and that was a disaster. Fortunately, I have a couple days off now to get back on my feet.

Ok, well walking around and typing is making me feel exhausted, so it might be a couple more days before a real post. If you all hang tight, I promise it will be a good one.

Thanks for all the e-mails. They made me feel a little better. Sorry I couldn't respond at the time.

OK, so it was more than a couple of days since I left off on this post. I've been...busy. I noticed going back to my original post that I've lost about 20 comments from the comment box, which is really weird. They just disappeared! We'll have to look into that. Anyway...

So, from some of the e-mails that I've gotten and a few comments I received, it seems I may have given some people the wrong idea about my feelings on the subject of marriage. While it's true I am very apprehensive about entering the arena of holy matrimony, it doesn't mean that I don't want it. When I was younger I couldn't wait to get married. I was a hopeless, helpless romantic. In fact, my first serious relationship I didn't even think about it. It was just something that would eventually happen and I was fine with that. Obviously, that didn't happen, but I would probably still be married today if it had and been completely happy. That's a different story. Since then there have been some pretty horrible experiences and an extremely tragic event that have help relieve me of my penchant for marriage. But as far as me being "trigger-shy", let's just say that I've felt the right feeling before and I have no problem holding out for it again. You know, when I first started this post it was leading into some very personal revelations about me. I had actually written quite a large post that I wasn't even close to finishing about three days ago and after some consideration, I deleted it. I think I was sharing a little too much.

They call marriage an institution because you have to be crazy to have yourself admitted to it, right? O.K., maybe not. Everyone (with a few exceptions) wants to have a reciprocated loving relationship. Those who claim they don't are probably just screaming 'sour grapes' because they don't see it as a possibility. Anyone who really knows me, knows that I'm still a romantic at heart. I cry at sappy movies (heck, I cry at movies that aren't all that sappy) and I believe in small gestures to show a person that they're special. I'm just more uncomfortable with being that way anymore because it opens up an area of vulnerability. I don't know if it's more of a trust issue or a fear of loss. Why set yourself up to be hurt? The more you give them of yourself, the more of you they take with them when they go. I reached a point in my life where I would rather feel nothing than feel the pain and I think that I've hurt some really great people because of it.

You know what? This isn't going to be much of the post it was supposed to be if I'm not going to get into my personal history, which apparently I'm fighting every step of the way, since I'm constantly deleting whole paragraphs. So, I'm just going to leave it at this: I believe marriage is one of the most precious things two people can share with each other. It's a beautiful, beautiful vow of undying love and commitment. It makes me feel so good to see a happy couple that's obviously been together for years and it makes me long to have that same thing, but I if I have to wait, I'll wait. For those of you who are married, I wish you nothing but love and happiness. For those of you who aren't, yet, just make sure that you know that this is what you want for the rest of your life. There should be no Returns and Exchange Department for marriage...


-Just a quick addendum: For those of you who know me and think I'm too detached from the idea to let it happen to myself, the truth is there IS someone specific out there right now that, after I've done everything I came out here to do, I believe could very possibly be my "till death do us part." Stranger things have happened...

It's so weird that I forgot to post about this, last Wednesday Chuck and I went to watch a special screening of a couple of episodes of "Father of the Pride", a new Dreamworks animated series, starring John Goodman. You may have seen a preview of it on T.V. for the fall line-up. It was really funny, and not all cutesy funny, but edgy funny, as well. I would say that one of the best lines was...whoops! I almost forgot. I'm not supposed to divulge anything about it. Well, it involves a dentist and an insufficient dose of Nitrous Oxide. It was so bad that some people reacted to the joke after the fact. IT WAS FUNNY. The show is about a family of rare white lions, who work in Siegfried and Roy's show (don't worry, the white tigers are there, too -ironically enough, as the antagonists). It may sound like a strange premise, but even S&R are hilarious characters. They have a perfect mix of naivety and attitude to satire the over-the-top showmen. Try a couple of episodes out this fall. It may be an acquired taste for some, but I think it will give at least a couple of good seasons before NBC pulls the plug.

Chuck pointed out a web site to me today, apparently he received an email asking him to sign a petition against the renewal of legalizing assault weapons. But the person behind the petition is Tom Mauser, a father of a 15 year old boy who was murdered 5 years ago during the Columbine shootings. I recognized the name from "Bowling for Columbine", his father is interviewed in the movie -- say what you will about Moore, but that film raises some amazingly interesting questions about gun related violence in America, questions that people like Daniel's father need answers to.

For instance, one of the mind-blowing questions compares the number of gun related deaths in America versus a handful of other countries, here's a clipping from an overview on Join Together Online;

In 1996... 30 people were killed with handguns in Great Britain, 106 in Canada and 211 in Germany. In the U.S., 9,390 died this way. In Japan,15.

If you have a moment... actually, even if you don't have a moment, visit Tom's site and sign a petition that will save someone's child's life.

I just realized the last two post we're -- a) both by me, and b) not personal what-so-ever. So, I thought I should write something on a more "every day life" level. To begin: I'm sick as hell. And I can't get through an entire sentence without having to stop to wipe my nose, I'm beginning to suspect something is awry -- there must be some kind of "tube" connecting to my body that is pumping an uncanny amount of snot into my nasal passages... I can't find the tube... yet. But I know it's there -- it's just too unbelievable to think that my body alone is responsible for this.

Okay [if you're still reading], now that I have grossed all of you out. We can move on.

I have a folder for proj: Pedal, I even went so far as to use color-coded folders [for scripting / story-boards / funding / budgeting / planning...]. I guess that makes it official: I'm a huge dork. But, in my defense; it helps a lot, and for any of you out there working on your own multi-tasking projects, I highly recommend it, it's a great way to stay organized, focused, and to keep track of your goals or necessary steps.

Actually... I think I'm gonna' stop there [I know... I know... that was a tease, but] I need to jump in the shower, take a handful of cough drops, and grab something to eat.

Found a very interesting article this morning, that poses an even more interesting question: are we an empire in denial?

"The United States is an empire in every sense but one, and that one sense is that it doesn't recognise itself as such."

It's a short article, apparently part of a six part series that aired on the BBC.

"Superstitions, perhaps. Baloney, perhaps not". But probably.

Retrospect. I have a kink in my neck -- the kind that strong-arms you into keeping your chin perfectly level. I never get neck cramps... but today...

It's only been three hours since I was sitting in this same spot, at my computer desk, importing my Mom's wedding footage for Final Cut Pro, Amanda behind me, slipping on her shoes as she waits for me to take her to work. I can see myself running into the bedroom quickly to grab my wallet from off the bedside cabinet. I go to grab the keys from the wall rack, but they're not there -- so I decide not to lock the door behind me.

My sandals are in the car, so I hurry down the stairs barefoot. Pulling out of our apartment's driveway has always been risky, for one it's just an alley way running between two road-hugging buildings, but the real problem is the line of cars parked bumper to bumper on either side of the street. I rely on my ears more so than my eyes when inching out into the road.

Magnolia is usually heavy with traffic around six, and half the lights on the way to work seemed perfectly timed to keep you waiting at every block. I can see myself rolling down the window as Amanda holds up her work socks. There I am stopped next to the car wash... everyone starts to pull forward... then stops quickly, I get a strange feeling and look in my rearview mirror but it's okay, the car behind me is at a stop. A second goes by, and Amanda starts to say something --

It almost seemed as if it never "happened", but that it just "just happened", like everything skipped forward a second and I had to fill in the blanks. I heard a loud hollow thump -- but there was too much time in-between the sound and the jolt. My foots still on the brake... Amanda is holding her head. We've been rear ended... we don't have insurance... cars in the right lane speed back up with traffic as we sit there. Shit.

Apparently the red sports car saw everyone start to speed up... but didn't see them slow to a stop again... and he smashed hard into the car behind us, and then that car gave us a hard shove. We pulled over behind the car wash, and looked at the damage... but we had none [most importantly... we had no insurance... yes I know, I know... We're working on getting that switched over]. The poor bastard who got sandwiched looked out his window and said to me, "you got lucky,,,". I said, "ya know... I'm late for work... and...". He couldn't have cared less about my staying there, he waved for me to take off and started to meet the driver in the red car.

It's strange to think that if I would have not bothered grabbing my wallet, my neck might not be so damned kinked. Or maybe if I hadn't grabbed my wallet, we would have been the car in the middle, that would have been a really bad day [and a much worse neck cramp].

All of you visiting this site should take a moment and click on the "cephus.de / newsletter" button at the upper right corner of the screen, read through the older pamphlets [and if you can, listen to the song, "Two of us" by Aimee Mann & Michael Penn... no particular reason... it's just a good remake], and of course put your name on the mailing list for future issues.

"Who is cephus?", many of you might be asking. Cephus is Peter, our very inspiring friend, Peter, who currently lives in Germany with his beautiful wife, Marleen. I wasn't aware until recently that Pete writes a Political Pamphlet, and has quite the following of readers. Here's a quote from his most recent issue, titled: patriotism.

Many historians are perplexed that Spartacus and his very diminutive army were able to advance so close to Rome in their military struggle. Other historians, however, believe that the Roman parliament at the time deliberately allowed Spartacus’ army to advance unchecked in order to amplify the perceived danger in the minds of the citizens of Rome, at which time they passed legislation strengthening the army and weakening individual rights.

It's very insightful, and the fact that it's written by an American living outside of the country [someone who is better able to look at things from an outside perspective], I believe gives it an edge.

Plus I had no idea that the "Patriot act" "...denies Environmental Protection Agencies the liberty of releasing "worst case scenario" information to the public about chemical plants".

Why that is in there is beyond me... but apparently it protects me from terrorist. I know that in just skimming over the last few newsletters I leaned a lot of information that I'm embarrassed I didn't know already. I would like to hear him write about America's bloated military budget.

On a side note: I'm trying to get ahold of Steve Burns, I have his site's general email address, but making a personal call, or writing a letter, tends to have more of an impact. So, if anyone out there in cyberspace happens to know Steve personally [and trust that I'm not a psycho], I would be in your debt for putting us in touch. In case you are that someone, who knows someone, who knows someone who talks to Steve, and you are curious as to my reasons for speaking with him: I can tell you it has to do with "proj: pedal". Thank you.

Lucas has done it again [proved himself to be a dumb-ass]. First there was Episode I, which seemed more like an advertisement for George's new line of toys than a serious film.

Than there was two, titled; "Attack of the Clones", if you didn't know better you might mistake it by title for a b-movie.

Yet, somehow, he has managed to top himself. Episode III will be titled: Star Wars - Episode III - The Return of Darth Vader. Has he forgotten that he's been working on a "prequel" to a film with Darth Vader in it. Is he even trying anymore?

Quite some time ago, I wanted to make a short film about a group of extremist movie buffs who plot to kill a "Lucas-like" director [complete with a countless following of geeky obsessed fans] before he finishes the last of his six films, but I never got around to it... I regret that very much... I think that would have made a great dark comedy. I don't know where I am heading with this side-thought, but yeah... it's my bedtime.

Nick sent me a folder with a hundred pictures from Kenya -- apparently someone else has a good two hundred more coming soon. But, I've picked out a few random pic's to share. In no particular order:


Above: I dunno where in Kenya this was taken... well, actually I don't really know where any of these pictures were taken exactly, but anyways, the think pink line stretching across the shore is a "million" flamingoes.


Above: I don't know why, but Nick decided to chase a sheep in circles. Actually, I would have done the same had I been there...


Above: Nick and I agree; this is without a doubt the scariest Duracell bunny we've ever seen.


Above: I'm starting to realize I should have had Nick write little blurbs about these pictures, because I'm not sure about anything in these pictures, I think this is the school where they were working.


Above: London from 30,000 feet.


Above: Nick and Peggy. I still don't know much about this Peggy... Nick's holding out on me.


Above: finally, a story to tell; the group was waiting in the bus when suddenly this monkey jumped through the window and ran around until it stole someone's bread, then it just left. I wish my brother had taken a camcorder for that one...


Above: Here's nick trying to look like he's about to run off a cliff... not very convincing if you ask me. But that is one hell of a view.


Above: The man in front is Ben, their tour guide, and to the right is "a girl" [at first I thought this was Peggy, but after looking again, I'm not so sure...] with Nick, and I'm not sure who the guy in yellow is.


Above: No this was not staged. Travis was holding up that roof frame when his pants just fell down around his ankles, and as he was standing there, unable to bend down and pick them back up, my brother snapped a picture of him [which i guess he wasn't very happy about], and I'm guess if he wasn't happy about it being taken, he won't like it being put all over the internet. So, shhh, try to keep this one on the down-low.


Above: I picked this one just because I think zebras are cool. Yup. That's all.

Hmm... hopefully these pictures speak for themselves, because I certainly didn't have much to say. Just as a reminder if any of you have questions, comments, or concerns for Nick regarding his Kenya trip, you can post them in the forum.

This footage is from my last visit to Michigan, for Nick's graduation. I meant to edit this right when I got back , but I think I looked at it and realized... it's fairly boring stuff. But, here it is anyways, the flight home from MI to CA. Enjoy.

There were supposed to be three people at work last night, but one called off. I was planning on doing some computer training in the back, so I dressed casual for the night. When I got there, my boss told me to go ahead with the training and she'd handle the store for the night. I spent the better part of 6 hours in the back office, running through a bunch of incredibly boring tutorials. By 6AM, I'd had about enough of it. I walked out to the front and grabbed the restroom key.

As I was walking to go to the bathroom, a customer gave me a strange look. I thought maybe she was going to flag me down to ask a question, so I just didn't look back. I knew my boss was close-by, so she could take care of any problems. When I came back out, my boss looked at me and said "Someone walked out with a computer! A whole f**king computer!" All I could think was "How?"

Sure enough. One of the bays had a monitor and no CPU. Someone had cut every single one of the cables. Even a few that simply unplug. There are security cameras all over the store, so we walked to the office to check it out. After playing with the recording unit for a few minutes, I got back to when it happened.

At 5AM a couple walks in, gets change at the register and sits down at two computer bays, right next to each other. The guy spends a half hour casually cutting all the cable with a very small pair of cable cutters. These were pretty thick cables, but there weren't any other customers.

We checked the other cameras and my boss was vacuuming the store. There's a beautiful shot of me from above with my feet up on the desk, staring at my computer, just as they're making away with one.

Just two minutes before the guy has all the cables free, a girl walks in and sits down 3 feet from where the lady and her boyfriend are sitting. She looks over at them twice while the guy is still fiddling with everything. They stand up, pick up the CPU, match eyes with the girl, and walk out as fast as they can.

Then the girl sat and waited... and waited... and waited. It turned out to be fifteen minutes. She worked on her computer the whole time.

10 minutes after they stole it was when she gave me the look. I know because I checked on the cameras - but she didn't even stand up when they left to check a license plate or even tell an employee. She just sat there and finished her work.

Right before she left it was practically like "Oh yeah, someone stole a computer." but more like "You shouldn't work here by yourself (to my boss) Someone just stole a computer." [sigh] "Thanks a lot."

The computer is worth about 50 bucks. They suck. Without the monitor, I doubt they'll get anything for it. Plus the store has all kinds of security crap on it, so it's going to be impossible to use at home.

It reminded me of all the shady stuff that happens at the store. The guy that watches porn on his laptop, three feet from the entrance. The syringes and foil they found in the bathroom. The homeless crowd that settles in each night. The tweakers that come in after snorting for a couple hours. The spread-eagle posters we print for local porn conventions...

A guy using a computer while talking on a cell, a few days ago, was discussing the quality of his strippers with a client. The client was dissatisfied with the quality of the girls, though the guy tried to argue they were, in fact "good girls". Apparently his A-listers were out of town for 4th of July parties. Who knew?

I've decided it's certain now. I am, without a doubt, knee-deep in the City of Los Angeles...

and things are completely normal.

This just took number one on my list of top ten most hated quotes. Okay, I don't have such a list, but if I did... this would take number one.

"Be a thinking progressive, not an emotional liberal".

Do you think that it's everyone's destiny to get married or are there some people that were never meant to? My friend, Keith, got married over the weekend, and don't get me wrong, if he's truly happy with the decision, then I'm ecstatic for him (except for the fact that he did it spur of the moment after I left and I couldn't be in it). I just know before I left Michigan there were many things in our everyday dialogue that led me to believe otherwise. Now that I'm gone and he's had to stay home and pay attention to her instead of hanging out with me maybe something has clicked inside of him to sway him towards marriage. I'm just worried that he isn't so much embracing marriage, as he is just conceding to it. That's the part that concerns me. I won't get into that too much, that's his choice and I respect it. Let's just leave it at that.

Marriage is no longer the solemn vows and lifelong commitment that it used to be. So many end in divorce that it's become more like choosing a prom date than a life partner. I think the main problem is that most couples are never truly in love. Oh, I believe that they think they're in love, but I'm not sure that most people translate their emotions correctly. I'm sure that love is part of it, but you can truly love someone and not be in love with them. I think what most people perceive as love is not truly love, but a set emotion (or mix of emotions) that they have conditioned their mind to translate into to love. Interest, lust, trust, kinship, compatibility, all these things, especially combined, can give a feeling of euphoria that is akin to what love is expected to be. 'Love at first sight' is a perfect example of a misconcieved version of love (don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are people who have experienced 'love at first sight' and were lucky enough to find the right one, but only by chance). You see someone, and before you even talk to them, these strong feelings rush through your body, feelings so pure and powerful that you 'just know'. I hate to tell you, but that 'oh, so pure feeling of love' is actually just another form of lust. It's based solely on what you see. People say that love if fleeting. I don't agree with that. I believe love is eternal. Lust, with a combination of other drawing qualities is, however, fleeting, even if it takes ten years to wear off.

Relationships today don't usually get the chance to elevate to a level of true love. I believe that a relationship can continue to grow until sex is brought into the picture, if haven't grown enough emotionally together, then those feelings transfer into a whole other set of feelings and the relationship plateaus. These new feelings are labeled as 'love', but don't have a lot of potential growth, if anything, they become harder to maintain. Feeling the effects of a stagnant relationship, people believe that the only way to move a relationship to the level they seek is the easy way: get married. That's the next logical step in a relationship, right? Not necessarily... Maybe it's not growing anymore because there's nothing left to contribute to that growth. Maybe that's the point where some people need to come to terms with the fact that 'cold feet' may actually be harsh realization setting in. I had a friend who, days before the wedding, said that he knew he wasn't in love with his bride anymore, but he still loved her enough to marry her. He loved her enough to have a ceremony, but that wasn't enough to last a lifetime, which is what marriage used to be about. I don't want that to happen to me.

I've always said the same thing that the majority of people have said, "I'm only getting married once". Well, I mean it. Until I'm 100% sure that I'm with the person I will be with until I die, it's not going to happen. If I never get married because of that, then so be it. I know that no one knows what the future holds and that there are no guarantees, but as long as I believe it's right, that's good enough for me. Both of my parents have been married multiple times, not to mention close friends who were divorced before they even hit there mid-twenties. Maybe I'm more than a little trigger shy, but I want forever, not for now.

I have more to write, but I have to go to work. We'll finish this discussion in a day or so. Until then...

Around 12:30 I asked Mike if he still wanted to go running cause if not I was getting pretty tired and going to go to bed. He said no, he didn't feel good. I went and layed down in bed. About a half hour later he stood if front of me with running clothes on and said I'm going running, should I wait for you. I said that I had wanted to go earlier but now I was planning on going to bed. He left without saying anything and I felt like a major piece of crap for not going with him.

When he came back I was in bed. He came in the room, turned on the light, sat down, and opened the lap top. I rolled over and asked if he would use the computer in the living room so that I could go to sleep. -no response....

I got up, shut off the light, and lay back down. I tried to ignore the clicking of the key board and the big blue light that filled up the room. I'm a pretty light sleeper and wasn't that tired but I really wanted to try and get to sleep then because we've been staying up until 3 or 4 every night and I'm really trying to brake that. I also had lots of unpleasant thoughts circling around my head and I just wanted to escape them all and get some sleep. It wasn't working.

I rolled over and asked Mike again... And again....Still no response. He had been pretty bummed most of the night and I'd tried my best to be there for him, talk to him and be encouraging, and loving and stuff but nothing I said seemed to help. It really hurt my feelings that now he was completely ignoring me and totally disregarding my feelings. I got up went to the bathroom, then came back and asked one more time.... Still no response.... Like he didn't even hear me.

I got up and went to lay down in Billy's bed (he and chuck were in the living room watching TV). While I lay there I started to seriously consider going home to Michigan for the first time. I thought about how easy it would be to pack up my car again with all of my stuff and just drive back. Live with my mom and finnish the photography program at Washtenaw Community College. I mean what am I really doing here anyway? I don't have any idea of what I want to do with my life (I know I tell people that I do, but that's mostly to get them off my back, I know that sounds so bad) my roomates and I bicker all the time, all I do is work, I miss my family and friends, I miss my little house and my garden and my dog, and being surrounded by people who love me. And I'm with this guy who has no plans on ever marrying me (he told me so) and I just keep falling more and more in love everyday.... Why am I torturing myself?

I was watching a couple Simpsons commentaries this morning while everyone was sleeping. I have to stay up all night (even on my days off) or my whole schedule gets out of whack. I got bored with my snack foods so I started mixing them up a bit. I was eating handfuls of M&M's with handfuls of pretzels, and I gotta say - it was pretty good. I prefer a 3:1 ratio of M&M's:pretzels.

It's going to be a sad day when my metabolism finally slows to a trot.

I realized this morning that all the shows I watch are cartoons. Simpsons, Futurama, Family Guy, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, South Park, Samurai Jack... basically the entire Adult Swim line-up on the Cartoon Network. The only live show I still catch regularly is Dave Chappelle.

This got me thinking about a TV show I loved that got cancelled. I didn't watch it as much when it was on the air, but isn't that the way it always goes. The show was called Clone High. It had a brief run on MTV (a source of several failed cartoons). I think it might still air in Canada.

The show was all about teenage clones of famous celebrities, all going to the same High School with an evil principal. The primary stars were Abe Lincoln, JFK, Cleopatra, and Ghandi. There were also non-celebrity personas, like Mr. Butler-tron, a butler robot, and Principal Scudworth, his evil boss. The rest of the students were all celebs and historical figures.

The writers of the show were hillarious, and the voice talents were excellent. It's a gem if you get a chance to watch any of the 12 episodes that actually aired. Abandoned Pools provided the soundtrack and they actually had a couple (real) celebrities on the show. I pray they release the DVD someday or, better yet, bring back the show. I doubt it though.

So write your congressional and mayoral reps and we'll find out how to get it back on the air. Together... we can make a difference

I have a confession: I'm no inspiration to anyone.

People from every corner of the globe have left comments in our post, in our guestbook, in our forum, about how inspiring we are, and that we are so brave to have taken such a big risk [in moving here to follow our dreams]. But I don't feel it. When I read those things I feel like I am being deceiving. I feel like a liar. Someone who is trying to hide behind this one big 'risk' they took over three months ago.

I feel down tonight, or this morning, or what ever the hell time it is. Dazed and confused [just not as drug influenced]. And honestly, I don't even want to talk about this, I don't know why I'm sitting here writing any of this. Maybe I've just been working too many fucking hours at my soul-sucking job. That "soul-sucking" part was a little over-dramatic, wasn't it? Well, regardless:

Lately I've just been standing around at work for eight hours at a time, staring off into whatever... and thinking about the move out here. How it felt like so much momentum had been built up in the move, I felt like I could do anything, and then "bam!", I hit this soft cushion of routine, and I didn't even feel at it at first. But it's been creeping up on me; I've gone off track, I've slowed down and lost momentum.

I'm no inspiration to anyone: I work a boring job, I sleep too long, stay up too late, stress myself out too much on things that I know will come in time, I eat too much shitty food, I've been wearing the same pair of socks to work for the last three days... I'm normal, I'm boring, I'm confused. I'm too impatient to prove myself... I spend too much time staring at this damn computer screen, I spend too much time planning... Ugh...

Well, I feel better already. I might actually sleep decent tonight. The moral of this post is; "you are capable of more than you will ever admit to yourself", that's something I learned in cross country, and something I need to remind myself of more often.

I need inspiration, from you, do something you've always wanted to do and tell me about it. Go on a bike trip across the country, paint a picture, anything... I'm too tired to think of any more examples.

I'm glad we had this talk.

I edited my last post, sneaking in a handful of new video clips -- and I don't think anyone noticed. So, since I love to eat our bandwidth each month; I'm going to re-quote my own post...

"Each frame had to be cleaned in PhotoShop, and there are about 29.9 frames for every second of film. Chuck did most of the detailing..."

[Note on the above exerpt: Chuck argued that he did "all" of the detailing...]

"...since we only had one rolling chair, and one pair of shoes [I was wearing sandals], we had to shoot our walking up and sitting down separately, which was tricky since we needed to look at eachother..."

"But in the end, it all worked out and lined up in Final Cut"

And that's that. Adios bandwidth.

That's right, folks. Cute mormon girls agree, Caliblog is great! Take a visit on over to Jenna's site and leave her a comment. She's a nice girl. Spread the love around.

Last night they shot off a firework that sounded like a cannon. It set off three car alarms. I wanted to go to the beach tonight to see some fireworks, since I got the day off, but it turns out they might not do anything on the 4th. Apparently this has been going on in Michigan for years, I just never noticed.

Mike relinked one of our old weekly movies that hasn't been on the server since way before we were a blog of note. I thought it might be appropriate to re-present it to everyone that hasn't seen it.

For those that would like, it was the final project in my film course at Washtenaw Community College. It's called y ahora muero. The file is kinda big, so you might want to right-click and save this one. It's about 10 Mbs.. MBs.... mBs...... you know what I mean.

Anyway... it stars a guy named Juan Freitez, a friend of mine who came to America from Venezuela. He was in the film class with me. He took three months of English, then left for Michigan with enough money for college tuition and the first month's rent on an apartment. He didn't even have a job, and could barely fill out apps. This guy is my personal hero.

I think it fits rather well, today be the 4th of July. Immigration and the U.S. and all that.

See if you can spot my cameo in the vid.

Enjoy the holiday, if you can. See ya gang.

If there were a picture of Amanda and I sitting here in the bedroom; something about it would be disturbing in a "21st century'ish cut off from the real world" kind of way: We are sitting less than three feet away from eachother, Amanda a chair in the corner, and I'm streched out on the futton, each of us have a wi-fi laptop in front of us and are off in our own little worlds.

Okay, this the third time starting over... each time I get a page in front of me, I read it and think; "wow... could this be any less interesting?". I must not be in the groove tonight. Which is frustrating because I have things I really want to get on here and they're just not coming out right. Let's try this again:

Rolling Chair Pro.'s new logo. It's been months since Chuck and I shot the original footage for our new logo, but after a solid week of cleaning the frames, it was put on hold until a few days ago. See, we didn't have a blue screen, or matte, when we were shooting in the gym at Eastern Michigan. All we had was some white sheets, and a half a roll of paper. Our plan was too over expose the lens enough to bleed out the whites. Grr... what is wrong with me tonight... the temptation to erase this paragraph is killing me. No! I won't give in. Even if it sucks. Each frame had to be cleaned in PhotoShop, and there are about 29.9 frames for every second of film. Chuck did most of the detailing, the files [digital filmstrips] were each about a Gig in size [click here for a mini example / 504 KBs], for only six or seconds of film.

Now, since we only had one rolling chair, and one pair of shoes [I was wearing sandals], we had to shoot our walking up and sitting down separately, which was tricky since we needed to look at eachother. But in the end, it all worked out and lined up in Final Cut. Drum roll. I give you: rc.pro's [new] logo.

Hmm, what else did I want to mention. I met with Eric Simonson today, and we now have a black cat running around our bedroom. But... my stomach is freaking out on me, so those will have to wait.

Is it evil of me to wish death upon the t.v.?