I know you've all seen this before in the 'single serving' video, but I was bored, and hey, this time it's night out. How exciting.

Something has happened, the world has tipped on it's side. Did anyone else feel it?

I've come to expect a certain level of "look-at-this-hand" news, and "pass-the-buck" tactics from our government, and if I were a betting man, I wouldn't think once about investing in the odds of our government being brutally honest. So when I read about a pre-taped interview with Bush, admitting, "I don't think you can win it" [the war on terror], I didn't know how to wrap my head around it. What has happened, I thought. How did this get out?

Not only was our government honest, but Bush was honest... brutally honest. Of course this was a fluke, the administration has waisted no time in putting their puppet back in-front of the news camera spouting a new but familiar "unwavering-warrior-like" message. But I think a lesson has been learned here, the gears are spinning in Bush's head.

Sadly enough, this honesty might cost Bush some votes, so I should be happy, right? But something about this actually makes me sad. I guess a part of me wants Bush to lose votes in response to his many lies, not for telling the truth. But I know better, generally speaking, "we can't handle the truth".

I wonder if Bush has been doing some reading? Maybe some researching on the internet about his daddy's [and Reagan's] "War on drugs". Well, I guess that was Nixon's originally, but either way. Then there's the "War on poverty". These "Wars on [fill in with something incredibly general]" are just too open to failure. It's like announcing a "War on bad stuff". Where do you start? Were do you claim victory? How long before the people grow tired of reading about it in the papers? How long before people get tired of paying taxes, and losing lives on a cause that has no immediate solution?

The catch 22: The problem that stemmed from 9/11 was we couldn't fight it. Why? Because in order to fight it, we would have had to go into Saudi Arabia, and look for Osama, but they don't want us dumping our troops in their backyard, so they would have cut off oil imports to our shores, but that would mean we would have to wage a war without oil, and we don't know how to do that yet. Not to mention the Carlyle's dependency on the Saudi's oil, Bush would be emptying his family's bank accounts by swinging back. So what's a billionaire to do?

A lot of democrats are going cut-throat on Bush for his slip, but I think he should be applauded. Don't hold it in, Bush! Let it out, say what you've learned... tell us what you know! It's not too late to start over on the right foot, I still believe this country can re-rail itself. And personally I don't care who [or what side of the political pole] starts the ball rolling [the "ball", representing truth of course].

Had I been there, at that moment when those words, "I don't think you can win it", came out of his mouth, I would have patted him on the back, and asked him "how did it feel to get that off your chest"?

I hate windows. I hope the company pulls it's head out of it's own ass soon and releases a OS that doesn't just randomly shut down programs in mid-thought. I had a big long post, and now it's gone. Grr... I'm going back into the living room, where my precious apple is waiting [crash-free] for me.

2) My parents died very soon after I was born.

Welcome back, everyone. If anyone can get this from the first clue (and you can), I will be more than impressed.

1) I was a forefather to my mother and father.

O.K., good luck...

I have several pictures to post from our trip to Michigan. I'm actually a bit disappointed with most of the pictures I took. I've noticed that there are several people I didn't even get decent pictures of. I'll have to make sure I do better next time.

Well, of course I have many pictures of Mike's new baby brother, Dylan, since meeting him was one of the biggest reasons we chose to visit when we did. He is incredibly beautiful.


I got to hold him and feed him... it was pretty cool.


I think one of the best things about the vacation was getting to spend time with Mike's little sister, Mandy. She's very cool. I've always been a bit intimidated by her. She's extremely smart and athletic and beautiful. And she's great with Dylan. We'd never really talked much before and to be honest, I thought she didn't like me very much. You know, she and Mike are fairly far apart in age and Mike grew up and moved away so when she does get to see him she wants all of his attention and I used to think she would probably prefer that I weren't there.


Visiting Onsted was awesome. It's so peaceful and relaxing there. The first night we took Mandy to see a movie and then laid on a blanket in the front yard watching for shooting stars. It was one of the best nights of my life.


Two days before we left to come back we went to Cedar Pointe (an amusement park in Ohio). This picture was taken in this huge suburban, Nick's friend Travis, drove. It seats, like ten, I think. We had a lot of fun in the car and the whole day there. Mike's friend, Tim (from cross-country, who went on his first bike trip with him) came with us. I know Mike was really happy to spend time with him. I tried to get some cool shots of the roller coasters and lights at night but they didn't turn out so good.

Our second day there, Mike drove me out to Ypsi to drop me off. While we were there we took a drive over to see our old house. My mom and Ray are still trying to sell it so they gave us a key so we could look around. It was strange to be there.

Anyway, on our way back we passed Mark Maynard's studio and noticed that there was some crazy artwork going on, on the outside of the building, so we pulled in to take a closer look.

I think it's pretty cool.

And by the way, if you haven't already, you should go to Mark's website and read about his night out with Chuck last week. It's really funny. I laughed... I almost cried.

Being in Ypsi was not quite as relaxing as being in Onsted. Especially the two days I spent with my friend Crystal and her three year old daughter. We ran around like crazy the whole time. I met her new boyfriend and got to sit in on all of the Ypsi drama that is her life. Drama, drama, drama. It made me thankful I got out of that place.

But I still miss her. She took me to get my hair cut (nine inches! One more and I could have donated it to locks for love, Darn.) and she took me out dancing and got me drunk. Just like old times. It was fun.

My Sister, Emily, left on Sunday, while we were there, to head out to Miami. She's starting grad school there this fall. I got to spend the night with her and help her pack... actually I didn't help much, but I did keep her company while she packed. We stayed up all night talking and slept in the same bed... it was nice. I miss those bonding moments.

Mike came to Ann Arbor on Friday to meet my Dad, step-mom, all the step-sibs, Emily and I for dinner. It was the first time We've all been together in a very long time.

Although it was cool to see everyone it would have been great to get some one-on-one time with my dad. Unfortunately this was the only time I saw him the entire trip.

This is Eva. She is innocent and sweet and amazingly perfect in every way.

Eva is my bestfriend, Jenny's youngest daughter. When I moved she was just beginning to walk and now at 18 mos. She's starting to talk. She's amazing. My day with Jenny was one of the best of the whole trip. We went shopping and it poured rain outside while she helped me pick out cool hippie shirts at Ethnic Creations, then we talked while I watched her make and amazing dinner, and we ended the night with some really strange movie her husband picked out. It was completely relaxing and everything I've been missing and needing so much since I've been here. Just to have a woman that I really connect with and can share anything with and who really understands everything about me is so important; there's just no substitute for that kind of friendship. When she first pulled up in my mother's drive way to pick me up she looked like and Angel. She'd been holding on to a tiny bit of pregnancy weight for a while but when she got out of the car she was so slim and hip in her hippie top and bell-bottom jeans, her hair had gotten really long again and was all wavy and blowing in the wind. I was so happy to see her. And instantly reminded of how gorgeous she is. I wish we could've spent more time together but she was out of town most of the week when I was there. I miss her already. I really wanted to just bring her home with me.

Another great highlight of the trip was going blueberry picking with my mom and grandmother; something we've been doing every August for a few years now. I know my mom was pretty disappointed that she didn't get to spend more time with me. Yes, yet again, another person I didn't get to spend enough time with. I have a feeling no matter how long we visit for, it will never be long enough.

Poor moms... they never get what they deserve.


All in all, visiting Michigan and then coming home to California really made me realize how much California actually feels like home to me now. It's strange since I really haven't been here that long. I guess I just imagined going back to Michigan to be much different. I had visions of bumping into people I hadn't seen in a while and them saying "hey! How are you? I heard you moved to L.A., how is it?" but nothing like that happened at all. I didn't bump into anyone, and nothing from Michigan has really changed, just me... I've changed. None of them will really understand what it's like for me to live here.

Hey, everyone. Just wanted to let you all know I'm alive and well. While my trip has been primarily focused on seeing my hometown, my father and I decided to take a little trip to the windy city today.

So to make Mike incredibly jealous, I'm blogging from the Apple store in Chicago, Illinois. I must say, this is one cool place. I'll post a picture when I get back. They have a huge, all glass staircase that leads to the second story that vibrates when you take a step. There's also a "Genius Bar" where you can go for free tips on fixing your computer, a full sized theatre for software tutorials, and about three hundred computers. Plus a free internet cafe. I'm in Apple heaven.

Should be seeing a lot more of Chicago, so I'll definitely take lots of pictures. In addition to the ones I already have, of course. This new card for my camera is the best purchase I've made in a while. 40+ pictures and going strong.

See you soon, gang.

It's 2 in the morning, Amanda is watching 'Win a date with Ted Hamilton', I'm making mac & cheese with little cut up hotdogs in it, that have made my fingers stink. And I just read this post on Whimsy Chick's blog and loved every word of it... I couldn't agree more, Kerrie.

"Ding... ding... ding... ding". I'm going crazy, something, or someone is ringing a bell, and has been doing so every seven seconds for the last hour. It must be some form of torture. I would shut the windows and crank the a/c, but it's too warm and the a/c never cools more than a five foot area around the floor... I think it's on it's last leg.

[hours later] Good news, the bell stopped. I can think again. Well, it's night time now, I just finished watching a bright pink sunset fade behind the palm trees outside our apartment window. But that's romanticizing my afternoon... honestly, I'm a little frustrated at myself for wasting the day sitting around on my ass. First it was sitting in front of my computer trying to figure out flash. Then it was sitting around at my computer trying to finish the designs for my sample DVD mail-outs. Then I got to watching bush in 30 seconds submissions [while I'm on the subject, here's my favorite. I think the young girl at the end is really good, I don't know why... but she seems like a young aspiring actress, anyways]... all day long I've been looking outside, thinking I should go for a bike ride, or a walk... even better; a run. But here I am, sitting around still, writing a blog. I haven't even taken a shower today... so much for seizing the day.

Before she left for work, Amanda wanted to call in to work, and drive out to the rocks [we always go to...], but I just laughed and called her lazy. Now that the day is gone, I wish I would have taken her up on it. I could have gone myself, but she has the car, and mine is out of order... driving up the 1 in my car is just asking for trouble.

On the upshot though, I did find what I believe is my favorite Monkey Power Trio song, it's called 'Leavin', and they have a free downloadable sample on their website. I had iTunes going in the background while I was working in photoshop, and it just came on and I really liked it from the start, and then I thought... "that sounds like Mark... have I heard this song before"? That's one problem with having a fast internet connection, you download more than you have time to listen to. While we are on the topic, I would like to take a moment to express my love for iTunes... "[in the voice of Ron Burgundy / Anchorman] it's really great". And quite a handful in the bedroom... wait. You know what I mean. Moving on...

Here's a quick iTunes mix I think you should all indulge in [in no particular order]: 'Sink to the bottom with you' by Fountains of Wayne, 'Ode to my family' by The Cranberries, 'Leavin' by Monkey Power Trio, 'Shoo Be Doo' by Glow, 'Talkin Bout a Revolution' by Tracy Chapman, [and what mix would be complete without] 'In your Eyes' by Peter Gabriel, 'Untitled #8' by Sigur Ros, [maybe some] 'California' by Rufus Wainwright, [oh... anyone who doesn't have this next song... get it] 'Colours' by Donovan [it's from the 'Rules of Attraction' soundtrack, one of my favorite movies, the director is one of Tarantino's old writing partners, rumor has it he co-wrote Pulp Fiction and then after a fall out / split up, got no credit in the film. Ouch.], and last but not exactly least; 'Pissing in the wind' by Badly drawn boy. Enjoy.

Well, back to doing nothing for me... hopefully someone, somewhere out there wasted the day better than I, that's all I can take comfort in.

Don't you people read?! Maybe this will answer any questions about today's mystery woman (guessed correctly by Jessica for those of you who haven't checked) :

A poor widow once lived in a little cottage with a garden in front of it, in which grew two rose trees, one bearing white roses and the other red. She had two children, who were just like the two rose trees; one was called Snow-white and the other Rose-red, and they were the sweetest and best children in the world, always diligent and always cheerful; but Snow-white was quieter and more gentle than Rose-red. Rose-red loved to run about the fields and meadows, and to pick flowers and catch butterflies; but Snow-white sat at home with her mother and helped her in the household, or read aloud to her when there was no work to do.
The two children loved each other so dearly that they always walked about hand in hand whenever they went out together, and when Snow- white said, "We will never desert each other," Rose-red answered: "No, not as long as we live"; and the mother added: "Whatever one gets she shall share with the other." They often roamed about in the woods gathering berries and no beast offered to hurt them; on the contrary, they came up to them in the most confiding manner; the little hare would eat a cabbage leaf from their hands, the deer grazed beside them, the stag would bound past them merrily, and the birds remained on the branches and sang to them with all their might.
No evil ever befell them; if they tarried late in the wood and night overtook them, they lay down together on the moss and slept till morning, and their mother knew they were quite safe, and never felt anxious about them. Once, when they had slept all night in the wood and had been wakened by the morning sun, they perceived a beautiful child in a shining white robe sitting close to their resting-place. The figure got up, looked at them kindly, but said nothing, and vanished into the wood. And when they looked round about them they became aware that they had slept quite close to a precipice, over which they would certainly have fallen had they gone on a few steps further in the darkness. And when they told their mother of their adventure, she said what they had seen must have been the angel that guards good children.
Snow-white and Rose-red kept their mother's cottage so beautifully clean and neat that it was a pleasure to go into it. In summer Rose-red looked after the house, and every morning before her mother awoke she placed a bunch of flowers before the bed, from each tree a rose. In winter Snow-white lit the fire and put on the kettle, which was made of brass, but so beautifully polished that it shone like gold. In the evening when the snowflakes fell their mother said: "Snow-white, go and close the shutters," and they drew round the fire, while the mother put on her spectacles and read aloud from a big book and the two girls listened and sat and span. Beside them on the ground lay a little lamb, and behind them perched a little white dove with its head tucked under its wings.
One evening as they sat thus cosily together someone knocked at the door as though he desired admittance. The mother said: "Rose-red, open the door quickly; it must be some traveler seeking shelter." Rose-red hastened to unbar the door, and thought she saw a poor man standing in the darkness outside; but it was no such thing, only a bear, who poked his thick black head through the door. Rose-red screamed aloud and sprang back in terror, the lamb began to bleat, the dove flapped its wings, and Snow-white ran and hid behind her mother's bed. But the bear began to speak, and said: "Don't be afraid: I won't hurt you. I am half frozen, and only wish to warm myself a little."
"My poor bear," said the mother, "lie down by the fire, only take care you don't burn your fur." Then she called out: "Snow-white and Rose-red, come out; the bear will do you no harm; he is a good, honest creature." So they both came out of their hiding-places, and gradually the lamb and dove drew near too, and they all forgot their fear. The bear asked the children to beat the snow a little out of his fur, and they fetched a brush and scrubbed him till he was dry. Then the beast stretched himself in front of the fire, and growled quite happily and comfortably. The children soon grew quite at their ease with him, and led their helpless guest a fearful life. They tugged his fur with their hands, put their small feet on his back, and rolled him about here and there, or took a hazel wand and beat him with it; and if he growled they only laughed. The bear submitted to everything with the best possible good- nature, only when they went too far he cried: "Oh! children, spare my life!
"Snow-white and Rose-red,Don't beat your lover dead."
When it was time to retire for the night, and the others went to bed, the mother said to the bear: "You can lie there on the hearth, in heaven's name; it will be shelter for you from the cold and wet." As soon as day dawned the children led him out, and he trotted over the snow into the wood. From this time on the bear came every evening at the same hour, and lay down by the hearth and let the children play what pranks they liked with him; and they got so accustomed to him that the door was never shut till their black friend had made his appearance.
When spring came, and all outside was green, the bear said one morning to Snow-white: "Now I must go away, and not return again the whole summer." "Where are you going to, dear bear?" asked Snow-white. "I must go to the wood and protect my treasure from the wicked dwarfs. In winter, when the earth is frozen hard, they are obliged to remain underground, for they can't work their way through; but now, when the sun has thawed and warmed the ground, they break through and come up above to spy the land and steal what they can; what once falls into their hands and into their caves is not easily brought back to light." Snow-white was quite sad over their friend's departure, and when she unbarred the door for him, the bear, stepping out, caught a piece of his fur in the door- knocker, and Snow-white thought she caught sight of glittering gold beneath it, but she couldn't be certain of it; and the bear ran hastily away, and soon disappeared behind the trees.
A short time after this the mother sent the children into the wood to collect fagots. They came in their wanderings upon a big tree which lay felled on the ground, and on the trunk among the long grass they noticed something jumping up and down, but what it was they couldn't distinguish. When they approached nearer they perceived a dwarf with a wizened face and a beard a yard long. The end of the beard was jammed into a cleft of the tree, and the little man sprang about like a dog on a chain, and didn't seem to know what he was to do. He glared at the girls with his fiery red eyes, and screamed out: "What are you standing there for? Can't you come and help me?"
"What were you doing, little man?" asked Rose-red. "You stupid, inquisitive goose!" replied the dwarf; "I wanted to split the tree, in order to get little chips of wood for our kitchen fire; those thick logs that serve to make fires for coarse, greedy people like yourselves quite burn up all the little food we need. I had successfully driven in the wedge, and all was going well, but the cursed wood was so slippery that it suddenly sprang out, and the tree closed up so rapidly that I had no time to take my beautiful white beard out, so here I am stuck fast, and I can't get away; and you silly, smooth-faced, milk-and- water girls just stand and laugh! Ugh! what wretches you are!"
The children did all in their power, but they couldn't get the beard out; it was wedged in far too firmly. "I will run and fetch somebody," said Rose-red. "Crazy blockheads!" snapped the dwarf; "what's the good of calling anyone else? You're already two too many for me. Does nothing better occur to you than that?" "Don't be so impatient," said Snow-white, "I'll see you get help," and taking her scissors out of her pocket she cut off the end of his beard. As soon as the dwarf felt himself free he seized a bag full of gold which was hidden among the roots of the tree, lifted it up, and muttered aloud: "Curse these rude wretches, cutting off a piece of my splendid beard!" With these words he swung the bag over his back, and disappeared without as much as looking at the children again.
Shortly after this Snow-white and Rose-red went out to get a dish of fish. As they approached the stream they saw something which looked like an enormous grasshopper springing toward the water as if it were going to jump in. They ran forward and recognized their old friend the dwarf. "Where are you going to?" asked Rose-red; "you're surely not going to jump into the water?"
"I'm not such a fool," screamed the dwarf. "Don't you see that cursed fish is trying to drag me in?" The little man had been sitting on the bank fishing, when unfortunately the wind had entangled his beard in the line; and when immediately afterward a big fish bit, the feeble little creature had no strength to pull it out; the fish had the upper fin, and dragged the dwarf toward him. He clung on with all his might to every rush and blade of grass, but it didn't help him much; he had to follow every movement of the fish, and was in great danger of being drawn into the water. The girls came up just at the right moment, held him firm, and did all they could to disentangle his beard from the line; but in vain, beard and line were in a hopeless muddle. Nothing remained but to produce the scissors and cut the beard, by which a small part of it was sacrificed.
When the dwarf perceived what they were about he yelled to them: "Do you call that manners, you toad- stools! to disfigure a fellow's face? It wasn't enough that you shortened my beard before, but you must now needs cut off the best bit of it. I can't appear like this before my own people. I wish you'd been in Jericho first." Then he fetched a sack of pearls that lay among the rushes, and without saying another word he dragged it away and disappeared behind a stone.
It happened that soon after this the mother sent the two girls to the town to buy needles, thread, laces, and ribbons. Their road led over a heath where huge boulders of rock lay scattered here and there. While trudging along they saw a big bird hovering in the air, circling slowly above them, but always descending lower, till at last it settled on a rock not far from them. Immediately afterward they heard a sharp, piercing cry. They ran forward, and saw with horror that the eagle had pounced on their old friend the dwarf, and was about to carry him off. The tender-hearted children seized hold of the little man, and struggled so long with the bird that at last he let go his prey.
When the dwarf had recovered from the first shock he screamed in his screeching voice: "Couldn't you have treated me more carefully? You have torn my thin little coat all to shreds, useless, awkward hussies that you are!" Then he took a bag of precious stones and vanished under the rocks into his cave. The girls were accustomed to his ingratitude, and went on their way and did their business in town. On their way home, as they were again passing the heath, they surprised the dwarf pouring out his precious stones on an open space, for he had thought no one would pass by at so late an hour. The evening sun shone on the glittering stones, and they glanced and gleamed so beautifully that the children stood still and gazed on them.
"What are you standing there gaping for?" screamed the dwarf, and his ashen-gray face became scarlet with rage. He was about to go off with these angry words when a sudden growl was heard, and a black bear trotted out of the wood. The dwarf jumped up in great fright, but he hadn't time to reach his place of retreat, for the bear was already close to him. Then he cried in terror: "Dear Mr. Bear, spare me! I'll give you all my treasure. Look at those beautiful precious stones lying there. Spare my life! what pleasure would you get from a poor feeble little fellow like me? You won't feel me between your teeth. There, lay hold of these two wicked girls, they will be a tender morsel for you, as fat as young quails; eat them up, for heaven's sake." But the bear, paying no attention to his words, gave the evil little creature one blow with his paw, and he never moved again.
The girls had run away, but the bear called after them: "Snow-white and Rose-red, don't be afraid; wait, and I'll come with you." Then they recognized his voice and stood still, and when the bear was quite close to them his skin suddenly fell off, and a beautiful man stood beside them, all dressed in gold. "I am a king's son," he said, "and have been doomed by that unholy little dwarf, who had stolen my treasure, to roam about the woods as a wild bear till his death should set me free. Now he has got his well-merited punishment."
Snow-white married him, and Rose-red his brother, and they divided the great treasure the dwarf had collected in his cave between them. The old mother lived for many years peacefully with her children; and she carried the two rose trees with her, and they stood in front of her window, and every year they bore the finest red and white roses.
---The Brothers Grimm---

5) My sibling and I lived in the forest with our mother and were adored by all of the creatures in woods...except for one.

Here's some fun and exciting news I'd like to share with the rest of the class:

One of every three lakes in the United States, and nearly one-quarter of the nation's rivers contain enough pollution that people should limit or avoid eating fish caught there.

Reading this makes me want to take everyone I know to go see 'The Corporation', Amanda and I caught a showing of it while we were in Ann Arbor at the Michigan Theatre. It's a really interesting look at Corporate America - starting with the history of it. Apparently, "back in the day", corporations had very little power and we're kept under close watch in accordance with a strict set of pre-planned and agreed upon goals / business strategies. One of the main points was that as soon as corporations began merging and going global, loop holes galore presented themselves. And the rest... well, I'm sure you read the news.

These days, you can't buy Jello for your kid's birthday party without putting money into Phillip Morris, the world's largest cigarette company. Then again, not many people buy Jello for a b-day party... hmm... in any case, my point is that 90% of the products we see / eat / use everyday are owned by a small handful of corporations.

Did you know that since the Joint Genome Institute (JGI) finished mapping the 30,000 to 35,000 human genes in March of this year, that major corporations have quietly been buying the 'rights' the individual DNA subunits. That's right... it's only a matter of time before AOL Time Warner owns 30% of your biological make-up. Okay, I'm starting to ramble here, and I'm dancing around too many topics to make any real points.

Where was I going with this? Okay, the pollution article, my point in mentioning 'The Corporation' was, a large portion of the film near the end talks about 'business as usual' and it's effect on our world ["yes... yes... call me a tree-hugger, a hippy, an emotional liberal... but when our water is so stunk up with mercury that your pregnant wife can't have fish for diner without your child coming out missing a pinky toe... something is wrong"], Ray Anderson, the CEO of the world’s largest commercial carpet manufacturer, is one of the key speakers in the documentary, I think he says this better than I could, so here's a quote:

“If we’re successful, we’ll spend the rest of our days harvesting yester year’s carpets and other petrochemically derived products, and recycling them into new materials; and converting sunlight into energy; with zero scrap going to the landfill and zero emissions into the ecosystem. And we’ll be doing well … very well … by doing good. That’s the vision.”

But reading his quote and then re-reading the article on our water, I wonder, is there a "point of no return" for the environment... and if so, have we passed it?

[An afterthought: found these few links, had to add them to this post. The first is Docback.org, the second is a mini-trailer "slash", excerpt from 'The Corporation'. Check it out, it's short, very fast paced and equally educational].

I need to vent. There are "too many things... too many things". I have a list in my head of goals -- long term, short term... either or. But I've been stressing myself out because the order of these goals "should" go one way, but I really, really "want" them to go another... I just can't focus on the ones that need to be taken care of first. And it's beginning to be a problem.

To explain: here's a run through of my goals in no particular order: restart 'synergy' [the digital production company I had back in Michigan -- doing things like putting theatre and sports on DVD]... this way I can make a decent living and not live check to check while trying to save for a cross country bike trip. The only problem is legally it has to be set up a completely different way than it was in Michigan because people are a little more strict when it comes to copywrite laws. Then after I'm making a living off of 'synergy', I need to finalize the budget plan for 'proj: pedal' and start figuring out a way to then raise that money. While at the same time finding a trustworthy crew I can hand my notes and scripts over to. I need to be training more. I have a few short films I really, really want to film before the half-way mark of pedal's deadline [which is only May 29th]. I guess that's a fairly short list... but each different thing first requires about a hundred little and not so little things. Not to mention the post-production for proj: pedal, I can't even think about that step without getting misty eyed. I'll just worry about that when the time comes. I don't think [budget wise] I have any other choice.

I guess the bottom line is... money. I'm right back where I started with my first post: "Broke as a joke" [as The girl would say]. But I have to believe that with a lot of hard work, and an equal amount of faith that things will work themselves out.

Preparing for a film feels like preparing to jump over a bottomless crevasse. You do you're best to give yourself a long enough runway, you visualize the jump, picture yourself landing on the other side. Telling yourself; "I know I can... I know I can". But in the end there is only so much you can do: jump. And have faith that God will see you across to the other side.

Or I guess you could build a bridge out of anything you can get your hands on... but I don't know exactly how that translates into my metaphor. I guess in that scenario you would just pray you're not a shitty MacGyver. Either way, I'm trying say that George Michael was right.

4) It's quite possible that I was named after a tree, or was it the other way around? Then again, it could have just been an amazing coincidence...

"This is the only 8/23/04 you'll ever see".

I'll be back on Michigan soil in less than a work shift. My plane leaves in about two hours. Bizarre that I leave in one place, fly for about 4 hours, then arrive 7 hours ahead of myself. I have a feeling I'm going to be jet lagged for about two weeks. As soon as I get back, Billy and I are going to Vegas for a day. If he doesn't come home from work pretty soon, I'm going to have to drive myself to LAX. Not so thrilled about that prospect.

I don't know if I'll be posting or not while I'm gone. I think I'll probably be a little busy - but I'll take lots of pictures for everyone. I got a new card for my camera, so I can store a crapload now.

Take care of the blog while I'm gone. See you guys in a week.

I've been thinking about this whole "give away t-shirts" scenario, and maybe I've got it all wrong. I think instead of giving them away, I should be selling them. Like this unlicensed Crimewave USA t-shirt, which will be available to you for a mere $15.





And so the student has become the teacher! Bwa ha ha!

3) One thing I may not have mentioned about my handsome prince of a husband is that he spent a great deal of his life as, how should I say this...a brother to the animal kingdom.

2) I married a prince. A very popular choice for girls like me.

When Mark Maynard suggested "the gang" keep a blog about our move out west, I wrote about the things on my mind and maybe the noteworthy events of the day. I don't think that formula has ever changed, except in the beginning, moving was always on my mind, so that was fitting to the blog's assumed topic, and the noteworthy actions usually had to do with packing, or preparing, which again, was fitting...

And I guess, sitting here now writing this, I'm starting to remember that right from the beginning there we're those who were out to spotlight the risk of our decision. We were all scared, all of us well aware of the uncertainty, but I always try to remember: who gets anywhere in life dwelling on those emotions?

Anyways: skip to present day, we all stuck our necks out, we all managed to land on our feet. Now the things on my mind have nothing to do with 'moving', and the events of my day are incredibly routine. Anything that has to do with my attempts in the world of film usually never make on this blog because I don't like to write about those things, I hate saying, "I'm trying to do this...", opposed to, "I've done this". I feels too awkward. Actually, even after I've done something, I often don't like to bring it up, for example: the bike trip, in everyday conversations with people I'm not incredibly close with, I never bring it up, I talk like it never happened. It's just too awkward. So... what's left to talk about?

Work? How exciting. Everyday errands? Maybe if something out of the ordinary happens. Well, what about things that weight on my mind: politics, environment, the "crafted" news...? Most of these topics bring nothing but harsh commenting. I guess in the beginning when Mark suggested the blog, I always imagined it would someday take a shape similar to his. Seems he can say anything he thinks, feels, does, wants, whatever, and no one says anything that brings the site down. Never. At the same time, I can't write about taking a shit on the clock without a hail storm of criticism.

So I sit here, logged into blogger, staring at the screen wondering if it's too controversial to mention an article on Ocean Dead Zones and how...

"Humankind is engaged in a gigantic global experiment as a result of the inefficient and often excessive use of fertilisers, the discharge of untreated sewage, and the ever-rising emissions from vehicles and factories. Unless urgent action is taken to tackle the sources of the problem, it is likely to escalate rapidly."

There was a time when I would have never thought mentioning this would push anyone's buttons, but over time I've found myself backing out of more and more post to avoid unintentionally starting anything.

Of course this strange form of oppression has slowly but surely faded my interest and excitement in the blog... which I don't like. I feel like I'm being pressured out of my own club. Which I guess brings me to this question:

"Do I write what the masses want to hear to keep the seats filled? Or do I write what I am thinking regardless"?

And when I put it like that... I have to go with the "fuck 'em" answer. Not because I want to start a verbal riot... What I do want is to have the kind of audience that doesn't comment unless it's a) funny, b) related to the topic, or c) something that doesn't make them sound like they want to punch me in the face. Is that too much to ask for? I don't know... I hate the idea of censoring people, but it gets so out of hand, and then it just makes me want to not write, and then that makes me want to write about anything because, dammit, I should be able to... and now I'm back where I started...

"Mark, if you're reading this, how do you do it"?

Unlike the ones that came before me in this silly contest, I happen to be a literary fictional character of the female persuasion.

Stop the presses! We have a winner. Surprisingly enough, Booger Dog guessed it in the second round. Good job. To tell the truth, after I put out that second clue, I was a little worried that it would click with someone, but I thought, "If it does, they definitely deserve it." The answer is, of course, Sesame Street's self-proclaimed "Worlds Cutest Monster", the humble and lovable Grover. In between his jobs as a salesman and a waiter, he uses his powers for the good of...well, whoever will take it. Don't forget, his birthday is October 14th, so get those cards ready. Anyway, on to the next round. Maybe I'm still being too easy on you guys...

Good things do come to those who wait. This is making me want to have another t-shirt competition.



Lookin' good, Dave.

2) Although I never have anything but the best of intentions, there will always be people who think of me as a monster.

1) You may refer to me by my real name or my superhero alter ego, but don't go spreading it around. I'm not sure I want the whole world knowing my secret...

Okay, maybe that one was easier than I thought. The answer was Calvin, which I thought would be a little more obscure than, say, Charlie Brown, which NOBODY guessed. So, Jessica wins this round (maybe she just got lucky). I'll be back for round 3 tomorrow morning. Y'all come back, you hear...

Ok, apparently Brian's buddies over at his website think I made him sound like a psychotic stalker in my last post. I wasn't trying to make him sound like a nut job, but it's not like I wrote his entries for him. He did use the word "obsession" in the title for God's sake. Not to mention the comment about my underwear in the post about him. (Hmm?)

Anyway, I thought maybe he'd like to know that there was a point in time when I was referred to as a "stalker" several times by a fellow blogger. At the time, I was just trying to score an interview with Mark Maynard of Crimewave USA, and I freaked him out a little bit. I think I came on a little too strong in my e-mail. He wrote this about it:

"I’m about 90% sure that, if I go to meet him, I’m going to get my skull kicked in. I must have written a nasty letter to him years ago or something. How could this guy be serious? Did you see the part where he said that he thought that I was an “untouchable celebrity.” You just know that this guy is laughing his ass off somewhere making this shit up, trying to coax me out of my little shell by stroking my ego. The sad thing is, it’s fucking working. I’m going to walk into my deathtrap whistling, without a care in the world."

That's right. My hero, Mark Maynard, wrote that I was a psychotic killer. It took him a while, but he finally let his guard down and met up with me. And just for the record, I'm writing an article right now for the next issue of his magazine. We're meeting up when I go back to Michigan and I get to hang out with him and his wife and meet his new baby for the first time. His invitation to me.

So you see, Brian - if you wait long enough - they don't suspect a thing.

I am a boy...

Thought I'd say hi to everyone before I waste my entire day driving around. I'm finishing up all my car insurance and driver's license crap today. I already passed the test at the DMV, so I guess that makes me the first official Californian of the four of us. The picture they took looks really funny with my shaggy hair, so I'll post that when they mail it to me. I'm debating posting pictures and asking you guys if I should get a cut. Can Chuck pull off long hair? (Well, not literally.)

I was thinking today at work that someday I'd like to have a daughter and name her Hiroko. I'm just getting tired of all the Mikes, Amandas, Billys, and Chucks in the world. English names altogether, I suppose. Hmm... - wait a second...

The name means "generous". I just want to call her Hiro for short. I hope everyone will pronounce it properly. Like Hee-roh-koh.

I get pretty random at work when I'm bored.

I was persuaded into seeing “Predator vs. Alien” today, or is the other way around? Either way, I laughed, I cried, I left the theatre wanting my eight bucks back. To put into perspective how bad the ‘show-down’ was [I suspected from the get go it was Hollywood horse crap, so… coming from me, the above doesn’t mean much, but…], some of my family members [not immediate family members] have been counting down the days to it’s release, and they hated it as well. So, for people who are generally satisfied with a film if it has at least one slow motion car explosion; walking away from “AVP” feeling gypped; that’s a low blow for Anderson.

The more and more “main-stream” films I see, the less worried I am about my decision to never go too “big-budget-main-stream” in “the industry”, especially after attending the DGA event, and hearing some successful directors voice their increasing frustrations with production companies [in the last ten years]. It sounds to me like perfectly creative and capable directors are strong armed by production houses into “trimming the fat” from their films and therefore [despite serious efforts to avoid it…] creating yet another cookie cutter movie.

I was wondering what the next big “Versus” movie will be, lets see, there’s: Batman vs. Superman [I think it’s still in the works anyways], Alien vs. Predator, Freddy vs. Jason, Ecks vs. Server [but that one barely counts], Godzilla vs. Disco Lando… the list goes on and on. With vintage tv shows / cartoons being a recent target [Scooby-Doo, Starsky and Hutch, The Dukes of Hazzard, Fat Albert], I wonder if Hollywood will ever be so bold as to explore the possibilities of: “Garfield vs. Charlie Brown”, or “The Dukes of Hazzard vs. The Knight Rider”. You laugh now, but Hollywood gets less and less creative with every movie they manufacture. It’s only a question of time and who has the rights.

I googled us one day and this guy's website came up. I couldn't help but smile. I never thought "celebrity" status would be like this.

"My obsession has gone far beyond wondering what it would be like to hang out with them (although, they did email me an invite to hang out once I'm in L.A., and I have been wanting to take them up on that in the form of an Ultimate Frisbee game, "My Peeps Vs. Theirs").

They have escalated to the type of voyeristic addiction that is usually reserved for television shows and trashy magazines. And really this makes sense, because that's what they've designed themselves to be (not "trashy"...I'm not saying that at all...just the t.v. show part...I'm not calling the Caliblog trashy..I don't know why I'm so worried about offending them. They are lovely people and I wish them nothing but the best, so I'm not going to apologize anymore...(I hope.)"

He did seem a bit apologetic, didn't he? You'd think he'd go back and delete it, but apparently the momentum was too great. Actually, his first entry about us was more like this.

"They've had ten thousand hits to their site since it started in January. And as I saw all this, I knew that there was only on course of action to take. They live in L.A., I'm moving to L.A. I had to see if I could MEET them. They're completely normal people, right? No different from you or me. So normal, in fact, that they have a blog. And they have jobs. And they pay rent. And I needed them to be my friends.

(It should be noted, that if any of those lovely people are reading this, I'm not giving you a hard time, I'm making a joke at my expense. It's an essay about the power of celebrity...not about anything bad about you. I absolutely think you're lovely people. Call me. ...I just did it again).

Am I now obsessed with the members of Caliblog because they display a happy, positive, almost surreal view of what life in L.A. can be when you have good friends by your side? Or is it just because if I have lunch with them someday at an In-n-Out, it might show up on their blog? And then people will be intrigued by me. And they will, in turn, read MY blog."

Well, Brian, I know we didn't hang out at the burger place, but I can still tell everyone to drop by your site. Don't let fame go to your head.

OK, let's get this cleared up. I would have given the question to Sam, since I hadn't specified the name thing previously. That would be fair...if there was only one cat in Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland. Unfortunately, there are two cats named in the book, The Cheshire Cat and Dinah. If she had specified after I said that, then that would be different, but she didn't. Initially, I felt that 'Hijinks' was taking two guesses and it shouldn't count, but I was told I was being too nitpicky and that because it was immediately following his first comment it was more of a continuing statement and not two guesses. Meaning that The White Rabbit wouldn't have counted as his guess if it had been the correct answer. Finally, I heard some concern over the character's appearances. The Chesire Cat has appeared in many different movie interpretations of Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, including Disney's version, Alice In Wonderland, which almost becomes a totally different story altogether because it's a combination of the original story and Through The Looking Glass mixed how ever Disney saw fit. In literature, he has appeared in at least three different stories: Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, The Cheshire Cat's Surprise, and The Oz-Wonderland Wars. But, to be fair I'm going to leave it up to you out there. Should it go to Sam, should it go to Hijinks, or should I void that round and have a new question altogether? What do you think?

3) I have appeared in both literature and film multiple times.

2) I am magical

1) I am a talking animal.

Well, we haven't had a contest in a while, so I figure now's as good a time as any to start a new one. This one will be a little different than the last. This isn't one of the original contests I had planned out, but I think it will be fun. It was a last minute decision switch. Basically, I have ten fictional characters from different types of media (T.V., movies, literature, etc...), some harder to guess than others, but each day I will give a new clue in first person describing them. As it progresses, the clues will become easier and easier until someone gets it right. The quicker it's answered, the higher the points (1pt.-10pts.). Whoever has the most points at the end of all 10 rounds wins...well, I'm not going to tell you what you win, but I think it's cool. Don't worry, if you don't like this contest we have another one ready at the end of this one. If you DO like this contest, we have a kind of similar one ready following the next contest. What a better way to end the summer than by giving away a bunch of stuff to our fabulous readers. Woo-hoo!!! Anyway, the first clue will follow shortly after this post...or maybe it won't. Who knows, knowing me?

Amanda is curled up behind me in bed, wrapped in my sister's bright pink Fubu comforter [yes... a Fubu comforter... I think it's quite humorous], I'm clicking through songs on Chuck's iPod, right now listening to 'This is the day' by The The.

"...This is the day, when things fall into place..."

We [Amanda, Mandy and myself] just got back from the theater, we went to catch the late showing of 'The Village'. Afterwards we laid on the grass in front of my Mom's house and watched the sky for shooting stars.


Above: Here's mandy at my mom's place, rocking Dylan to sleep.

Mandy said she had never seen a shooting star before, and after only laying there for five minutes the three of us saw the biggest / longest shooting star [Amanda and I had ever seen]. The moon must be new, because none of us could find it in the sky, and considering it was one in the morning, it should have been in plain site.

"...in his pocket there's a portrait of the queen..."

Then we got to talking about aliens, and if any of us thought there was life outside of Earth. It reminded me of the quote from 'Contact' when Jodie Foster says,

"...if it is just us... seems like an awful waste of space".

I guess I've always agreed with that. Hell, it seems incredibly unlikely to look up at that sky and think that not a single one of those stars has a massive piece of rock floating around it that has livable weather conditions on it. Even if only for a bunch of insects.

"...my old friend, I've come to talk with you again, because a vision..."

Anyways, the flight this morning / last night went well, no delays, no turbulence. My only beef with the flight was I couldn't get comfortable the whole four hour flight, which meant; no sleep. So I'm a little jet lagged at the moment.





Well, I'm nodding off at the keyboard here, so I think it's best if I pull over and rest my eyes for a bit.

I have to leave in two hours for LAX, and I still need to pack, so I don't have the time I wanted to write a nice long post about this [nice long] video. So, to sum it up in short: This short video covers our [Amanda and I] drive out west. Enjoy and wish us a safe flight.

By this time tomorrow I'll be resting my head on Mike's shoulder on a plane headed to Michigan.

Before we go, I'd like to introduce everyone to the kitten that we rescued (since Mike finally got the video clip finished, which I decided to post rather than a picture since he's apparently not very photogenic). His name is Emilio and he was abandoned at Ikea when he was only a few weeks old.

Mike and a few of his co-workers had noticed a kitten hiding in his department for several weeks, but they were unable to catch him. The first night Mike saw the kitten, he told me about it and said that he'd tried to catch him to bring him home for me (I think Mike knew how much I'd missed having a fuzzy friend to take care of since my dog died). After several late-night chases and a few cans of tuna we finally got him.

Ikea offered to help us pay to have him checked out at the vet and they gave us some cool stuff from Ikea's pet department. The vet said that he was fine, just a little under weight and very frightened. We picked up all of the necessary stuff and brought him to his new home. He hid a lot for the first week or so, but now he's very happy.

He's extremely energetic and loves to run around and play like any other 3 month old kitten would. He's so sweet and affectionate. He loves to lay by our heads, in our laps, give kisses, and he just purrs and purrs. It's cute how much he loves Mike and I now, after only such a short time. He's not a dog... but he's really starting to grow on me.

The three most important words in any good relationship are "I...don't... know."

The other day I received an email from a reader in Germany who stumbled across a list titled, "you know you're in California when...". Sadly enough, much of the list didn't apply to me, which just reminded me how little I still know about my new surroundings. But I thought I would list the few that did bring a smile to my face.

A really great parking space can totally move you to tears.

A low speed police pursuit will interrupt ANY TV broadcast.

Unlike back home, the guy at 8:30 am at Starbucks wearing the baseball cap and sunglasses who looks like Bruce Willis IS Bruce Willis.

It's barely sprinkling rain outside, so you leave for work an hour early to avoid all the weather-related accidents.

You realize the only Republicans you know are your aunt and uncle in Michigan.

The day I took my drug test for work, I spent about an hour in the waiting room watching "breaking news" on a car driving 5mph down the road, as five cop cars followed very slowly. Every few major intersections the car would stop, the cops would run out and then, with perfect comedic timing, the car would slowly pull away again, and again, and again...

Amanda's friend, Sarah, who lived over in Santa Monica [which I'm extremely jealous of...] works at Starbucks, and saw Bruce Willis, so I had to include that one. Actually now that I think of it, I don't think she saw Bruce Willis while working... that might have been Ray Liotta [who was looking extremely cracked out she said... which is sad, cause he kicks ass, but anyways].

The way people drive in the rain here blows my mind, and the street's drainage systems are non-existent, in Michigan it could, and often would, rain for days on end during a big storm, and nothing. You could still drive around from place to place, just be sure to carry an umbrella. But here, it can't 'mist' for ten minutes without every major intersection under six inches of water. It's a very strange site to see.

These three pages were scanned out of my bike trip [that I took in 2001] journal, and they probably won't have the same effect on you that they have on me, but reading them makes me laugh, brings back a lot of powerful emotions [that I can't wait to experience again].



I thought the following journal entry would best be introduced by Susie L. herself, this excerpt is taken from our guest-book [March 16th 2004];

First of all, allow me to explain just what the heck I have to do with any of this, if anything at all. A couple years back, I was trapped in the small farm town vacuum..living with my best friend, Tina and some bad roommates in a state that's not my home. It was a rainy, thundery afternoon, and Tina and I needed to get out, so we grabbed our guitars, and headed to the park pavilion. (If you've never played with thunder and rain as percussion, you should definitely try it) And who should show up but two soggy bike riders, seeking shelter in the same park.'Twas Mike and the other guy, who's name I'm not sure I remember. They were real cool people, even as their sleeping bags were wet, and they were running low on subway stamp cards and not even halfway through the trip. Mike had the first verse of Leavin on a Jet Plane stuck in his head, and didn't know the rest, so Tina and I sang it for them.
Aha! and that's my connection!

The above page had an envelope taped to the top of it with the below letter inside it, sadly enough I don't even remember writing it. But anyways, for me it's so great to read this [almost four year old] letter, and then to read Susie's guest-book signature, and to think about how unique those moments are when a handful of random people's paths cross in some strange no name town, on an overcast afternoon. I don't know why exactly, but I will always remember this day -- it was right out of a movie.

I know we're no longer featured prominently on Blogger's dashboard, but we must still have a few readers left. With that in mind - go somewhere else. More specifically....

Miss Communication. A blog from a girl that recently moved to Hollywood to be a writer. Since she's right in our back yard, and seems to be writing about the same stuff we were, so I thought I'd give everyone a heads up.

You all seemed to eat up our adventure out here, so why not hers. Remember to leave lots of comments so she feels welcome. I don't do this for my health, you know. I wanted to send her an e-mail, but she doesn't have it on her profile. I can think of no better way to get her attention. That is - if she reads our blog.

I was looking at Mike's last post just below this one. I was thinking about how he trumped my post right after I published it. Then I was thinking about how funny it would be if someone took lots of goofy pictures of an everyday, mundane activity.

The way I see it, it's ok to post 200 pictures of yourself if you're at the beach or visiting the Hollywood sign, but no one takes the camera to the supermarket, or the gas station, or to the shower. (Well, maybe some people take a camera to the shower.)

Rest assured, I'll be going somewhere today with mine, and I'll post all the pictures and trump Mike's picturey post right back. Ha! I just need some suggestions of which activity.

I'm pretty sure Amanda intended to post these pictures eventually, but taking into consideration that she just posted a few days ago... you probably wouldn't see these for at least another month [ha ha... burn]. Most of these were taken during [Amanda's step sister,] Amber's visit.


Above: Amber had to leave around 10 at night, but we decided to drive an hour north-west to watch the sun set from our [Amanda and I's] favorite rocks. Unfortunately, the skyline was so cloudy and gray, it turned to be kinda' anti-climatic, and as you can tell, cold.


Above: I cut a goof real of the cat running around the bedroom, but I've yet to save it as a web video, so this picture will have to do for now.




Above: It wasn't nearly as dark as it looks here, but without the flash the picture was too grainy to make anything out...


Above: Here we are on way to the beach... I think at the moment we were slowed to a crawl on the 101 during 6 o'clock traffic.


Above: I'm scared of these rocks... but that's a different story for a differnt post.




Above: Ontop of the fact that the sunset was non-exsistant, the waves that afternoon sucked just as bad, they barely splashed higher than halfway up the rocks. Grr. Any other day, I wouldn't be able to stand there without being drenched head to toe.

I just saw something on public access that terrified me. This woman, old enough to be someone's grandmother, apparently has her own show. She dances around in a bra, sometimes holding a guitar. I've had it on for 15 minutes and she's done nothing but sway back and forth to three songs in a row. I'm really starting to wonder if this is a weekly show.



Apparently, it's called "The Francine Dancer", and at the end she took off her dress too. I'll spare you the picture.

They had a phone number during the credits, if anyone wants to call. 323-966-9979. After that they had a show with marionettes called "Super Adventure Team". It looked a lot like "Thunderbirds".

I need to watch more public access.

Yesterday Chuck and I went to see the new directorial release of Donnie Darko at the ArcLight, before the film started Chuck mentioned that him and the guy from clublife we're considering a "group blog", consisting of all the top blogs.

My guess is they we're both just half serious, but I started thinking about the idea more and more, and I think they are onto something.

But, instead of making the top bloggers write on two separate pages [which I don't think would last very long...], I had the idea of "one stop blogging", to explain:

In Blogger's setup you can automatically email your post to an account [it's supposed to be intended for fan-mail, but...]. And recently they added a new feature where you can write your post via email, and email it into your blog [I don't get this feature, since anywhere you can log onto your email account, you can just as easily log onto your blogger account]. But anyways, how do these two things tie into my idea...

First I would make a new Blogger account [example: group_blogging.blogspot.com], then I would use the "mail-to" option to have the site automatically publish any emails sent to "group_blogging.test@blogger.com". Step two would be; all the top bloggers would go in their settings, and enter the above email address in their "mail-post-to" options. And that's it.

Everyone would simply write in their blog just like normal, and their post would bounce off the email account into the "group_blogging" site. What good would this do? People could go to one place to read their top five favorite blogs, and while they we're there, stumble onto five other bloggers that they start to enjoy.

Billy and Amanda weren't crazy about the idea, but I'm looking for outside opinions.

We had a pretty quiet night at work. Around 3AM a nice young girl named Laura stopped in. She works at one of our branches in Ohio, but was visiting her sister for a few days and wanted to make a few things. She printed a couple posters for her sister and wanted to place an order for a large oversized color poster for her parents' 27th anniversary.

Normally we don't do them while you wait, but since she was a fellow employee, my boss decided just to go ahead and print it. We didn't have any other jobs to work on anyway. It turned into a fiasco pretty quickly though, since the file wouldn't send to the printer for some reason. 3 hours and 4 computers later, we finally had a decent print. During which time, we all gave our stories about the worst customers. Suprisingly enough, people in Ohio are apparently just as crazy as Californians.

I told Laura I would visit her store when I fly home in a few weeks. I don't know if I'll actually be able to, but it's a nice thought. It was pleasant to have extra company for a few very dead hours.

After I left this morning, I decided it was finally time to go down to the DMV and get my driver's license. So I left work around 6:30, drove home to pick up my checkbook and change into some jeans, then drove to the Office in Burbank. I found it by accident a few weeks ago, while looking for a car wash. The other thing I haven't done since I got here.

The first time I saw it, there was a line out the door and around the corner. My strategy became an early attack. If the office opens at 8AM, I could definitely get there by 7 and beat the rush. Wishful thinking. I got there at 7 on the dot and there was already a line with 10 people.

It didn't seem that bad though. I've been to the Michigan DMV and sat for 3 hours before, just waiting to talk to someone. How long could 10 people possibly take? I'd printed the driver's manual at work, and sat against the wall to study for the test. All the rules seemed pretty much the same as Michigan - sans painted curbs. We don't have those. The rest seemed standard.

Finally, about 15 minutes to open, a guy with a pulley cart came outside and started asking people why they were there. He handed out forms from person to person, until another employee joined up. Finally, a woman asked me what I needed.

"How can we help you today?" she asked.
"Hi. I need to get my license," I said, smiling as much as possible.
Without even a grin - "First time in California?"
"Yes. First time."

She stared at me for a second with her mouth open and asked if I had a passport or a birth certificate. I'd read nowhere on the website or in the manual that either was necessary, so I asked if my old driver's license was ok, and reached for my wallet. She just looked away for a second, mouth still hanging open, completely devoid of any brightness and repeated "Birth certificate or passport."

I suddenly realized the end of my long night was the beginning of her longer day. She also didn't seem to want to spend much more time discussing the subject, so she handed me a form and turned to the next person. The top read: "Driver License OR Identification Card Application."

I saw a passport application recently, and I remember it being less detailed than the 8 sections of text in front of my eyes. I suddenly felt like I was applying for citizenship to a foreign country. I guess it was silly to assume all I would need was an out of state license. Maybe they have problems here with immigration.

Getting a birth certificate will be fun, considering documents mailed to my address don't make it half the time. I have a feeling the landlord might have a deal worked out with the postman. I hate not being on the lease here. I have a worse feeling that a photocopy of my birth certificate won't suffice... sigh

Defeated - against what seemed like ideal planning, I walked back to my car and drove past the entire line of people waiting - feeling slightly humiliated. I'd stood at the corner for an hour, so I'm sure a couple of them felt my dissapointment. I'm sure more than one person was there for the second time. Like the guy with a folding golf chair and cappucino or the teen with a CD player and science homework.

I have a feeling my next visit will be anything but speedy.

I had a great day today! This must've been the first Sunday I've had off since I started working at Ikea.

My day started at about 12:15pm. Mike walked into the bedroom, laid on top of me, kissed me and asked "what are you doing?" I crawled out of bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower. When I got out, Chuck handed me the phone. It was my sister, Emily. We talked for over an hour. I kissed Mike as he went out the door to work. Then I did all of the dishes, cleaned the kitchen, and took out the garbage. I wrote a few long-overdue e-mails and took a break to eat a tofu-dog out on the balcony. I never go out on the balcony anymore... it was nice. It was beautiful outside today.

With both Mike and Billy at work and Chuck asleep in his room (he finally bought a mattress last week; no more sleeping on the couch) I had the whole place to myself. Wow was it nice. I spent most of the rest of the day thoroughly cleaning and organizing our bedroom; something that really needed to be done. I'm sure to most of you that sounds really boring, but trust me, it was great. Sometimes the simplest things really do make the best days.

As I was cleaning I came across a list of blog ideas that I had written a long time ago. I had been lying in bed trying to sleep late one night and had an idea I just had to write down. Much like Chuck's crazy habit of writing very random things on small pieces of paper I have a ridiculous habit of making lists... for everything! I must have thrown away 10 lists today, all with half of the items scratched off. Grocery lists, blog idea lists, errand lists, lists of people I need to call or e-mail, to-do lists, a list of the topics I wanted to mention in my post about Mike (which I realize never got written). It's funny, there are so many things I've planned on writing blogs about. I know you're all thinking, "yeah right", but that's why I never post. I'm so anal that I won't post unless I know that I have a couple hours to write. And that rarely happens.

Anyway... I came across this list.

I'll have to explain. My whole life I've never been the type to have a lot of friends. I'm more of a one best-friend type. So one night I was lying in bed thinking of all of my best friends from high school and I really wanted to mention them. I'm sure that night I'd thought of a whole lot more to say about them, but this was all my list had:

Lisa: I know you're in there somewhere.


Bethany: M.I.A. Vanished without a trace.


Ursa: Post card with no return address.


Jaimie: This one was my fault.


Today is also the 2nd anniversary of the first time Mike and I kissed. While going through our bedroom I also found some interesting Mike stuff.

These are from the card Mike made for me last valentines day.

This is us driving to L.A.


I think this one is cute, it's his idea of what our bike trip documentary will be like.

I opened the box he gave me my first birthday gift in and the inside cover said this:

Amanda is such an overwhelmingly beautiful person - inside and out. Her desire and drive to hold true to her dreams and to grow as a person who will better live her live in a way that she will smile on when looking back is inspiring and admirable. A quality and state-of-mind that I hope rubs off on the people she encounters. A quality that I hope she never loses sight of in a world where so many are shallow and content. A quality I hope she knows I am above all and truly attracted to.

It made me cry all over again. Okay... that's all you get. It's almost 5am. Mike wants me in bed... see, now that's why I only do this once a month. It just takes too damn long. You people are greedy.

Goodnight. :)

I'm not sure where to start this post; I've tried a few different "openings", but keep deleting them.

I was lucky enough to be invited by Jill Ackles to the Director's Guild of America [DGA] second annual "Digital Day" convention. Check in was at 9 in the morning, and the event lasted until 9 that night.

Which created two problems: [one] I was scheduled to work at 2 to close, and since the catalog just dropped, everyone was working and no one was getting the day off... and [two] my car didn't quite make the drive out west, so Amanda and I are left with one car... and Amanda was working from 1 to close, which meant I might not have a ride home.

Long story short, I didn't care about either, I called in sick to work, and was willing to stand around for a few hours afterwards until someone could swing by and pick me up, thank God for Borders. But anyways, the event was something I will never forget. Some of the key speakers included: David Fincher, Stacy Peralta, George Hickenlooper, Lionel C. Martin, Mark Pellington, Allen Daviau, Robert Primes, and Nancy Schreiber.

The day went by so fast I really didn't get an opportunity to think about what was going on around me, and what I was taking from it. Even a day later, sitting here now, I'm still trying to put my finger on it. I do know the simple fact that Jill thought to invite me in the first place was very, very flattering. I'm incredibly thankful for the experience, it was good to be reminded that if you want something done, especially in this industry, you've got to be willing to do it yourself [people have implied that before... but it was nice to hear it from directors like Fincher, and Peralta].

I have a lot more I would like to write about, but I have to get ready for work now, so it will have to wait till later. Till that day.