Quick Note

No real blog entry today.  This is it.

I'm on the road, my company took my laptop to upgrade - and naturally they are having troubles with it and have not returned it for over 24 hours.  I'm HOPING to get it back today.

But I really am not horribly comfortable writing a blog entry at the hotel's business center.  There are too many of my co-workers around and they don't really need to know I have a blog.  

Ya know?

I'll return.  I promise.

Songs to Aging Children Come

I figured that going to that 30th reunion should buy me at least two posts, right?

I am trying to piece together a good post, but maybe my mind isn't there and might never be.  So this might just be snippets which are tied together by no string, no common thread.

Actually, there could be a string - age.  That's not so shocking when it comes to reunions or funerals.  It's the like taxes or like an Adam Sandler movie - no matter how shitty his films, he will still release another one - it is just inevitable.

While I was at the reunion on-time, most were not, and while drinking and waiting, the few of us were, honest to g-d, were comparing readers.  Not e-readers.  No we were yakking about those drugstore bought glasses we need to see fucking menus and such.  That is how the reunion started.   It took us a a few hours and a few more people to get into things like bad tendons, rotater cuffs and sore backs.  Misery does love company.

More than once the disbelief that 30 years had passed.  It's not shocking or amazing really - just a little odd that I don't feel like I've been gone from high school for three decades and yet it was 10 lifetimes ago, since I separated myself from it while even in high school.   The guys at the reunion were all very nice to me and I wondered, to myself, why we couldn't be this way when we were that age.

Tom H, while we were drinking, asked me something about something and I told him, in a good way, how nasty he had always been to me back then. He honestly looked shocked, not that I said it, but that it didn't seem something he realized.  But at 14-18, how truly self-aware are we?  I would like to think I was, but I was always older than I should have been - and more cynical too.  Yet on the flip side, most men, myself included, are still 14 year old boys when it comes to humour and such.

While Tom didn't apologize (nor was I looking/asking for one, as it was just conversation), he really searched as to if I was really talking about him.  We just don't see ourselves in certain ways.  I get that.  And we had a lot of growing up to do. 

Other talk went to the faculty.  Some of them are still there.  Again on awareness.  Wasn't Mr. Sever 45 years old back then?  50?  Wouldn't that put him at 80 now?   Was it possible he was really 30 and he may as well just have been 50 to kids like us?

Or my concert band director.  Surely he was 55 then?  And STILL there?

I'm not sure if mine was the typical reunion, or reaction to a reunion.  I suppose it makes us all reflect and ask ourselves things.  Being a same sex school, we didn't have those interactions of who dated who - and if Mary Sue showed up who had bopped the entire class.  We were guys - guys who don't talk about anything significant. 

Even here we talked about what we did for a living.  The Lombardi's and I talked about biking.  One of the other guys was a doctor and we talked about hospital stuff.   Maybe that's why Tom H was perplexed - someone had talked about our actual behaviour.  Well - his behaviour. 

Really, it was not a criticism.  Others and I talked about how invisible we felt.  I wasn't looking for therapy.  I didn't get it. 

I'm amazed how many of these guys are sending their kids to the same school - now co-ed.  Maybe it's going with the devil you know.  Maybe they didn't have the same experience I had.   I'm sure they didn't.  Their hero teachers were the ones I despised the most.  I didn't dare say that, as clearly I was not in the minority, I was the minority.

Oddly enough, sometimes I do know when to hold my tongue.

Still no pictures from the event.  So all you get are the ramblings of a very tired Blobby in a Nashville hotel room in the middle of the night.   I'll shut up now.



Song by:  Joni Mitchell

My Music Monday

Having to pick on Eurythmics song, let alone video, is like having to choose between your children.

...at least in theory.

We all know when it comes to kids, there are bad seeds and some just are not deserving of love, equal or not.   I kid...I kid............or am I? 

Anyhoo,  either audio or video of the band varies wildly, but with usually great outcomes.  They rarely stick to a sound or a look and that worked well for them during their years together.

Because of this, it makes it tough to capture a certain aspect of them without ignoring multiple others.  Picking one doesn't make their other less valid.  Like children.

And like children, you probably DO like one more than another, if you just admitted it to yourself.

So I went through early to late Eurythmics recordings.  I was always planning on staying away from the ones like "Sweet Dreams" and "Here Comes the Rain Again".   Both are great, but you know them all too well.   I like the lesser known songs, such as "Right by Your Side" along with its great Caribbean beat and that was almost the pick.

It really came down to two - and they are interrelated.   Actually, there are many more that are - all from what I think is their best disk: Savage.

Most of the videos from Savage (and there is one for every song - some harder to find than others), have a story line of repressed housewife who lets an inner-personality take over.  I almost went with "Beethoven (I Love to Listen to)" mostly just for the incredible vocal layers that are there.

I did end up going with what I think the breakthrough of Annie Lennox's character comes to - letting it all loose in, "I Need a Man".   She might be drunk.  She might just be free.  Hell, she might be a drag queen.  But it works.

It doesn't hurt that it is a great song!  24 years later {oy}, it still is on rotation on my iPods.  Rocking and sing-a-long.  What's better?

Reunion

Oh, the things I do for you people!!!!  I hope you all appreciate the off-putting things I do for you, so I have something to blog about.

Now and again, I find myself doing things I might not necessarily want to do,  like climbing into an oversized novelty shoe things in Vegas casino,  or working.

This time it was the biggie.  The major kahuna.  The ultimate sacrifice....all for you!

I went to my 30th high school reunion.


...........I'm gonna let that sink in for a minute.





I was the guy who swore he'd never go - and until now, never have.  My rationale was, I didn't like these guys enough the first time around - and that I avoided them for - gulp - 30 years.  I certainly wasn't about to pay to see these people.      .....until now.  For you.

For the record, I went to an all boy's school.  It was a good 45 minutes away from our house, so most of the people who attended were nowhere around where I lived.  I wasn't unfriendly, but I can't say I had (m)any friends.  Partly by choice.  Partly by knowing who I was and didn't want them to know.  And partially due to not having access to these guys since I did live so far away and wouldn't have my driver's license until well after these bonds were established and set.

The reunion was going to be a bust from the get-go.  I knew this. I'm not a party-planner, but anyone could have, and should have, seen this coming.

First off, we had 151 people graduate, back in the day.  I know two of our class who have died - probably others, but I only know of two.  But in the email invite, there were only 79 names.  We're down to half the class right there.  I don't know the norm for attendance for this kind of function, but let's say it's 50% - and you know that's high - you're down to 40 folks. 

They planned three events over a week's time.  So since you know everyone won't do all events, all of them have been watered down.  And if you do the golf event, you're stuck with the same three people for five hours.  Horrid!!!!

One of the other events was meeting at a "concert" - a Kiss cover band {really????} - right down by the stage.  Yeah, because that is conducive to........nothing.

If you ever argued against the notion that life wasn't just an extension of high school, I'll give you this nugget which I think sums it up all that well.  Honest to g-d, this was closing remark of the invite!!!:

We’re looking forward to seeing SOME of you. 

I did not change a font, an uppercase or an underline.  Yes, I know this could be taken many ways (ok, two!), but it's high school + 30 years.  Knowing who it came from, I am pretty sure I took it the appropriate way.

I opted to attend not the Kiss-thing or the golf outing, but decided on the dinner, which was last night. Here.

Yes, it's called Hook, Line & Drinkers.  Classy.

Calling it "dinner" would be a stretch.  It was a cash bar and whatever you ordered off the menu which turned out to be sandwiches at best.  

The oddest thing of all:  the event didn't suck.   Of course, there was a bar, so the more I drank, the better it got.

A quick tally probably only had 18 guys show. Some with their wives.  Most by themselves.  I recognized almost no one.  The Lombardi twins looked exactly the same - to each other and from 30 years ago - and so did two others.  Everyone else - not so much.

No one recognized me.  Not one. Again, given I had no close friends at school (or semi close, pseudo close, or quasi close), so my expectations were met with this non-recognition thing.  .....and let's face it, I don't much look like the guy in the title image.

The first guy I ran into, even after hearing my name, had no idea who I was.  That was ok, it was reciprocal.  Never heard of him or remember seeing him.  There was another guy whom after getting a name and such, I still didn't remember, but a number of guys asked me who he was and even after getting his 4-1-1, no one believes he was in our class.

Yeah, there was one blowhard, who has not changed at all - looks or bravado.  Telling stories as big as the sea, that had guys rolling their eyes - and me just calling him out on them (thanks to the help of Red Stripe!).

But the jocks mellowed and were not so clique-y. The guys, like me, who were seemingly invisible those four years, had mostly come into our own and socialized fine.  There were stories of other students and some teachers.  Inevitably, the phones came out so people could show their kids.

And of course, the question of my wife and kids came up.  Asked and answered.  I should have taken my phone out to show them pictures of Sophie.

No one seemingly had trouble with the gay thing.  Two off colour comments made, but not to or about me.  One was one of the Lombardi's asking where is 'fag brother' was.  The other was a question to me if Tom Nagy had slept with our British Lit teacher - who was clearly gay.  Actually, it wasn't a question, but kind of a statement that they asked me to confirm - like I knew  I couldn't imagine Tom sleeping with this guy.  I couldn't imagine any guy sleeping with this teacher.

So, my big plan was to take Becky - not so much as a beard, but as a buffer.  I told her to wear something slutty - and trust me, in this bar, she still would have been looking like she was going to a royal wedding.   Alas, Becky could not come - or more to the point, I wasn't paying for her plane ticket to attend.  Turns out she would have been bored and it wasn't a well organized event enough to show her off anyways.

There were a few pictures taken, none by me (I know, right?).  So when / if those get sent my way, I'll have another post for you.

Now it's time for breakfast and to take a look at my yearbook to see who the hell some of these people were!



Song by:   Pat Metheny

Fat Man and Dancing Girl

I'm still on my ice cream kick.  I blame the summer heat.

Now, it's not the homemade stuff - yet.  We still have to get rid of two pints of store bought in the freezer.

One is some "premium" stuff from an Ohio-based company called Jeni's.  They have stores in the would-be snootier neighborhoods.   ....and all the stores have lines to get in.

Blobby does not wait in lines, let alone for ice cream.

However, they do sell it at some grocery stores, but at - get this - $9.99 a fucking pint (a pint!!!), it's a little pricey. ....and that's an understatement.  

We've tried a few different kinds.  The raspberry chip is ok.  The double chocolate started out ok, but then it just tasted like you were eating frozen Hershey's syrup.  And the chocolate salty caramel was just so-so.  None of it worth a sawbuck.

The other one was something I've never had either.  Believe it or not, I've never ever tried any Ben & Jerry flavours.  Not one.   While Denton already has one chubby hubby, somehow we ended up with it in a cart and into our freezer.  Not like a Jeffery Dahmer-ism, but just in a grocery sense.

Can I break down what is in Chubby Hubby?   ....and no, I do not mean me.

vanilla malt ice cream swirled with fudge and peanut butter, and containing pretzel nuggets covered in fudge and filled with peanut butter.

Yeah in theory it sounds like all the right items, but it doesn't work and I'm only a chubbier hubby for trying it.

Now there is only a pint left in the freezer - Key Lime.  I'm not a fan of the pie, let alone the ice cream, so I'm not touching it.  I'll save calories for a better flavour.....or cookies........or tequila.



Song by:  Suzanne Vega

Since I Started Drinking Again

The title would make one think that it is implied that I somehow had stopped drinking.   Nothing could be farther from the truth.

However, here's a little tip you might need / want to know:  When only having a granola bar and a few Goldfish crackers all day - it is probably not the best idea to down a few very very strong margaritas.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a good drunk (or at least I think I am), but it can pack quite a wallop when you have that much Patron - yes, I went top shelf - without feeling its affects on a pretty much empty stomach.

I left work a little early so I can meet my man-date, Scott, so I could have a few drinks with him.  As it turns out,  you guys know I call him my  "man-date", but I may have neglected to tell him that I bestowed that title upon him.

He found out as I inadvertently read a text, aloud, from Denton:  'did your man-date show up?'.    ooops.

No worries, Scott is secure enough in his masculinity and my homo-ness that he can take it with a grain of salt.  It probably didn't hurt that he had a few vodkas in him at the time as well.   Honestly, there isn't much we hold back from each other - good or bad.

To be fair, I did get a very very overpriced heirloom tomato salad, but by that point, two of the three drinks were already ingested and I was well on my way to being a little tipsy.

So there I was, on Thursday night - drunk-ish.  It kind of sets the tone for the weekend, no?



Song by:  Dwight Yoakam

Committed

I have been a gym slacker the last month.  I know, right?

Between me being gone at least half the month (in business days on business trips), the July 4th holiday, getting drunk with visiting friends in Columbus and then a week of being sick,  I think I made it to the gym - honest to g-d - maybe four times. Maybe.

This is quite a difference of going a minimum of four times per week, some of those being twice a day - or six workouts per week.

It's a slippery slope, because not only was I not going, I began to not care that I wasn't going (did that come out right?).  And then I actually became very ok with not going.

Not going, not getting up at 05:00 to be there by 05:30 was a nice break in routine.  Sleeping in - well, for me - was a treat.    ....and I didn't feel guilty in the least.

But then I started feeling guilty about not feeling guilty.

And last weekend, at a dinner we went to down the street, our friends Marty and Joe asked why they hadn't seen me at the gym.  Even though, in my head, I listed the reasons I did at the beginning of this post, I didn't really find them legit enough to say aloud.   I asked the same of another guest, Keith, why I hadn't seen him for months and months and months.   He just up and quit and was done with it.

I kind of felt vindicated by his reaction and then a little horrified by mine.

So yesterday, I was back at 05:30.  I need to get myself back on track.

Now the crowd at that time is always the same crowd, but it's not a talky bunch.  I see these guys and gals daily but know very few of them and talk to even less.  But I can't tell you how many people did talk to me - well at me:  "where have you been?"   Apparently I was missed.


Mind you, the cute cute cute young doctor was not one of the ones who said that.  But he did do a double take along with his normal nod to me.  He always nods.  It's been a year,  and it's too late now to actually talk and introduce ourselves.  That'd just be weird.

And on the way out,  Andy, my spin instructor, did a double take on his way in.  Apparently in the month I've been "off" he is now a kettle bell instructor too.  ....and an orthodontist.  The man just keeps going deeper and deeper into sadist territory.

So do I.  I'm back at the gym.  Break's over!



Song by:  Jenny & Johnny

Can't Stop Now

A few weeks ago, while down in Columbus, Morty said something to the effect that he'd be much more comfortable if I just skipped a few days of blogging, so he wouldn't have to be on pins and needles as to when I actually missed a day.

I hear him.  I feel that pain each and every day I have zilch to write about.   Like today.

It seems I write more and more of these things where I say I have nothing to say.  Oh, the irony.

Yeah, I could do my placeholders, but I kind of keep those for travel weeks when I know I won't have time to effectively post anything.   ....and I have like two solid weeks of travel (at least) this month.  Even my placeholders don't cover that amount of time.  What to do? What to do?

Maybe the pressure would be off if I just blogged a few times a week and not daily.  I didn't have a plan to blog every day, it just kind of happened and now I'm only four months and three days from making it three years in a row.

I shouldn't have to stick to that - it is a made up rule to being with and it means nothing and no one can really penalize me if I don't hold to it.  I mean, except that I'd lose you guys in the process.

I don't think I'm stopping a daily thing - I'm just ranting.  I got some stuff coming up that should be fun and a little different.  No spoilers.  Really - I'm not sure there is anything to spoil. 

Well, let's hope tomorrow has something going on, because I can't do two days in a row of this kind of post.



Song by:  Keane

Ice Cream

...and absolutely shitty song, but the title works, so I'm going with it.

One other reason to love our neighborhood:  ice cream socials.

Yes, it sounds like something one would do at camp or at a retirement home, but it was just a neighbor a few doors down wanting to do something nice on a hot weekend day.  Root beer floats.

I've never been a fan of root beer.  Beer Beer, sure.  Just not sassafras.  So while there was no float for me, I did go to socialize with the neighbors.  It was very nice, even if only about 30 or so showed up.  Lots of chatter and a dog.

....and one non-neighborhood couple that kind of skeeved me out.

Don't get me wrong, they were nice and everything, but they came with other neighbors.  They had looked at our house before it became our house.  Mind you, we've lived here for over six years and they said they looked at it about a year before we purchased the home.  The lady knew everything about the house - even to this day.  Room lay-outs, number of rooms, sizes, colours - everything.

She knew more about our house than I think we do.   She told me all about her plans to renovate the place.  I'm not sure why it creeped me out, but it did.

Speaking of ice cream, we are making our own.  Or will attempt to.  We got a decent deal on a home maker and figured we'd try it.  I don't know how it will turn out, but we have some recipes to try out - we'll start simple and go from there.   Naturally, I'll blog it through so you can see what and how we have done.



Song by:  Sarah McLachlan

My Music Monday

Want to see me annoy Denton to no end?

Well.....that list is long on how to do that, but one of the easiest ways is for me to attempt to rap.

Every now and again, I would like to think I surprise a reader or two on my music choices.

Even I would say I have a preference for a certain kind of music, but in reality, if you went through my iTunes liberry, you'd have a harder time picking a style that I stick with.

Granted, you are never going to find thrash or speed metal in there, but I like to think I run the gamut....at least to a degree.

It's not that Linkin Park is that on the cusp of my music selections - and certainly not even the selection I have here, "In the End". I think the bigger surprise is that initially it was not even me who heard it first - Denton did. If you saw his iTunes account, that would make your raise an eyebrow. .....I'm just sayin'.

Anyhoo - I love this song. No, it's not on my top 10, or even probably top 50 songs, but if it comes up in the car iPod and such, I tend to hit the 'repeat' button once or twice to listen to it the whole way through....again.  ....and by listen, I mean rap/sing along.

Yes, there is a rap that runs throughout the song, but it's a clean rap and it is one that annoys Denton that I can actually do! (ok, that might surprise you...me doing it, not him being annoyed.) Overall, I'm not the biggest fan of rap, but when done well, I'm good with it. Also, that it is mixed in with an actual tune does not hurt.

Normal disclaimer anymore: Sorry if you have to sit through a small advertisement before the video starts.

Let's Be Friends

I'm kind of loving my social life these days.   Our social life, I guess.

I am pretty sure I mentioned we have new gays in the 'hood and we've done a number of the things with Tom & Sal.  This last Friday we joined them along with some more established friends for dinner and drinks at a house down the street.

Amongst those folks were some out of town 'mos as well.  I think there were 16 of us in total.  I really got along with one of those guests of honor and they'd be an ok couple to hang with, if they lived in the same city.....or state, but they don't.

It was a little sad sitting with one of the other guys in attendance.  He felt he was forced into a life of marriage and kids and was never able to truly come out to he cared most about while they were alive and actively hid his true self.  At 58 he feels he's too old to date and has given up on being in a relationship.   I am sure it was harder to be out when he was younger - the world isn't like it is now.  And I'm sure it's tougher to be almost 60 and attempting to date.  I'd like to think that I wouldn't have given up, but there's no way of truly knowing that.

Still, overall, there were many laughs and best yet, I could get drunk and walk home - which is just what we did.

Yesterday was our second viewing of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Pt 2.   This time with our friends David & James - whom we just adore.   And since David & James had not seen it - this viewing was in IMAX and 3-D.

The IMAX was seemingly no different, no better, than the other 3-D version we saw last week.  That all said, I liked the movie a lot more this time than the first.  Some of the issues I had with the film still existed, but I really noticed some nuances with other things and really could enjoy it - especially Snape.  He won't get it, but Alan Rickman is deserving of at least an Oscar nomination, if not a win

I do not doubt, I enjoyed the movie somewhat more because of the company, no offense to my nephew.  Denton & I enjoy their company so much and it was fun to discuss the film with them afterwards - for what little time we had before other engagements.

....and the IMAX 3-D glasses are soooooo much cooler than the regular 3-D specs, don't you think??




Song by:  the Lovemakers

Record of the Month - Classic

Another installment of a disk I have enjoyed over the years. I'm trying to keep the Record of the Month posts to be fairly new releases. Classics are going to be ones that are at least 10 years old.


For 2011, I thought I'd focus on debut disks - just to make it more challenging for me. I don't think you'll care one way or the other.

As debut disks go, there are not many stronger, in my opinion (of course), than the Counting Crows and their first release, August and Everything After.  I'm not jumping on a bandwagon or anything, but clearly I'm not alone.  Of the almost 300 reviews on amazon.com, 250+ of those are 5-star ratings.

That's what mine would be too.

Without a bad song on the disk, it has made it hard for any other Crows album to live up to - and while they all have their moments - none of them actually meet the brilliance of August.

11 songs of rock or rock/pop leanings that change moods and direction and all at the right time and place.  The sequencing of these songs is just as important as the songs themselves.

Yes, there is the continual oft-played "Mrs. Jones", but unlike so many other overplayed radio songs, this one has never worn out its welcome for me.  Actually,  it was the only "hit" on the record, though you could make an argument for "Round Here" as well, but I never heard it on commercial radio.

Oddly enough, it was the TV show Homicide playing "Raining in Baltimore" that made me pick up the CD.  The angst and loneliness of the song somewhat haunted me.  It is still a great song.

They all are.  I'd single out the good songs, but then you'd just have a listing all 11 songs.

Unlike most disks, even of this era, this was a well put together album and not a collection of individual/random songs that made up a disk.  Those kind have not string or heart running through them, connecting it all.  August has that.  There is no filler here.

Pushing almost 20 years old, it does not show its age, because it holds up so well.  This could have easily been released then or two weeks ago.

Here With Me

I'm home. I have no post planned. I have nothing poignant or witty to say. So where does that leave me?

Tick Tick Tick....if I want to do a Record of the Month - Classic this month. I had drafts, but I'm much too tired to dive into it.

I think it's time to call my doctor.  It's been almost a full week.  I'm kind of better, kind of not.  Not better enough, that's for sure.   This is bullshit.

I did have a brush with "fame" yesterday while at the Denver International Airport.  I got up from my seat to take a look at the upgrade board (I was on it, but #9 - so I knew it wasn't going to happen) and who took my seat(s)?  Fucking douchebags from Motley Crew.

Or as I titled this pic (or one similar) in my FB page:  Vince Neil and his two walking STDs.

These guys are such stars that they travel with their own sluts, and their manager is such an ass, he wears his tour badge around in the airport and on the flight, because someone is always checking his access, right?

To be fair, I somehow know who Neil and the only other true band member there, Nikki Sixx (sp?)
are, but I'd be hard-pressed to name a song and 99.99% I couldn't hum or sing one.  ....so score one for me!

At first I was happy I wasn't in first class, as they were and who wants that?  But then there was an empty seat next to me and the skanks were relegated to coach and as they walked down the plane I kept saying under my breath:  "please not here, please not here, please not here".   Ruckiry (not Jon's boss), they had seats together, further back, where they could talk about the debt ceiling and debate Steven Hawking's theories on the universe.

My favourite was walking behind the "ladies" up the jetway when we arrived in Cleveburgh.  Both wearing cut off jean shorts so tight that I'm sure they got yeast infections - but that's probably a continual issue for these two anyways.  Anyhoo.........one turns to the other and goes, "oh my g-d, my fly (do girls use the term 'fly' for their zippers too?) was down the entire time."

Yeah honey, because that was your biggest moment of embarrassment....and your one moment of modesty.  


Song by: Dido

Private Idaho

I've been in Idaho the last few days.  I'm not hating it.

I was here two months ago, but for a total of 4 hours, including TSA, taxiing and take-off.  Yeah, it's been all work, but it's not a bad place.  Sure, allegedly the politics are way to the right,

Terrain alone, it's pretty cool.  The mountains, the valley, all of their designated bike lanes.  They tell me the winters are really not that harsh there - at least in the valley.

....but I can't get past their right wing-ed-ness. Or supposed right-leaning stuff.  I don't go "out" when I'm home, so I certainly don't go "out" when I travel.  ....well.....rarely.  I have to believe that Boise has gay bars....or bar....but I don't know how many homos are around here, let alone out.  They'd probably all be college kids who'd call me 'daddy' and then I'd have to fling myself off of one of those big hills.

I've played this all out in my head - and it's not a pretty ending.

I have other not-pretty endings.  My little stomach thing still plagues me.  Or plaques me. Either/or.  Right now it's not as bad as it was, but I could have said that 24 hours ago.....but then 18 hours ago, I would have told you that 'assisted suicide' seemed like an ok option.   Hey, I'm close to Oregon  - and it's legal there, right?  It's easier than raising Jack Kevorkian from the grave.

As for Denton, who claims he doesn't read my blog, because he lives it, emailed me yesterday to tell me he is the boss of me.   He really isn't.  That would be Sophie. .....and Denton knows that.

On the plus side, remember how I said that I was one good stomach flu away from my goal weight?

In BMI chart terms,  185 is my threshold for being 'overweight'.  This 185 however, included shirt, t-shirt, belt, slacks, shoes, one iPhone taking the picture and one blackberry attached to my hip.  That's like 17 5 pounds right there.

I know I won't keep that weight off - not via this method, but it's nice to know that I can make 180 given the chance.  Where do I go from here to a better state than this?  Where?



Song by:  the B-52s

App of the Month

I was going to say, "I can't take credit for this app....", but that's really true of all apps, isn't it?

I am not a software engineer, but if anyone wants to throw me the next 'Angry Birds' idea, I'll be happy to claim it as my own, cash in and retire.

No, Pac, from Pac's Pad posted this the other day and I axed him (I mean, not the way Lizzie Borden would) if I could steal it and credit him.  He was down with it. Very generous about it, actually.

Songify is my new App of the Month.

Basically, you read (I guess you could sing) into your iPhone after firing up the app and it will take your words and set them to "music".  Yes, that's in quotes.

Sure half the artists on the radio are sounding exactly the way I do, but they have better agents and managers.  I mean, how else do you explain Britney Spears or Key-Dollar Sign-HA!?  It ain't their talent.  They don't have any.

Spears' agent is so good that after her last tour where every review wrote how she overtly lipsynched the entire tour, I haven't heard one item saying she is or isn't singing on the one that passed through town.  I think it's safe to say it's pre-recorded, which of course, makes it all the worse.   I mean - you HAVE the technology and your voice is still reed-thin and out of tune??  Really girls - what is your excuse?

So by all accounts, I should be resting atop of the Billboard Hot 100 in the next month.  It's the only logical conclusion.  Right?

It seems that you have three or four "music" background choices.  There are more, but you have to pay for them.  I think we all know that is not going to happen with me.

So here I am reading/singing/auto-tuning the welcome card left on my bed at the Fairfield Inn.   I know you shiver with anticip.................................................................................(say it!!!!)................ation!

I feel like Angie Jordan (aka the Queen of Jordan) when she said "'My Single is Dropping' is dropping'  So with out further delay, here is my first released song, "A Promise is a Promise"

Fire in Your Belly

There is a line in The Devil Wears Prada, where one assistant says, "I'm just one good stomach flu away from my goal weight".   I can relate.....not that it was the way I wanted to hit that milestone.

I've been a little under the weather for the last few days.  I don't know what is going on and while I assume a doctor might be able to help with the symptoms, it is doubtful they'd know the source.

I won't go into the graphic details, but technically it is not stomach flu.  Not that some of the symptoms are any less pretty.  To go this with continual "problem", it has also affected my sleep.  Big time.

In the past I have mentioned I don't sleep a lot.  I have been so much better these last few months.  Unknown to me, some of my sleeplessness may have been due to job stress.   Don't get me wrong, I'm not getting nearly the amount people recommend, but I'm doing better about sleeping through the night - just not adding to the total hours.  Hey, it's progress. 

Anyways, I have not gotten much sleep over the last two days at all.  When not actually being ill, I'm awake, or in partial sleep, worried about getting ill.  It has not been productive to getting rest or to heal.

And I had a temp, which now seems to be gone. I was only 100, but that's high for me. I normally run at 96, not 98.6.   Enough ibuprofin took care of that and the skin sensitivity I had on some of my extremities.

Of course, I'm forcing (or trying to) fluids, but that holds no appeal.  Neither does food.  Carrots and applesauce was my lunch yesterday, and I didn't even finish it all.

Today I get on plane for the west.  This should be interesting.

Denton told me yesterday, you can't travel if you still feel this way.  He's not the boss of me!!!  I really have no choice. It's a meeting I cannot miss - it's already a difficult client. One that doesn't really care about anyone's hardship other than their own.

I have a strategy, of course.  I've moved my seats to the back of the plane, closer to a restroom to minimize the risks.  

...and hey, if this continues another few days, I will have reached my goal weight.



Song by:  Liam Finn

My Music Monday

I was a forward thinking gay back in the very early '80s. I liked Bananarama when they performed with Fun Boy Three and way before the beginning of the end with their cover of Shocking Blue's "Venus".  That song and album were even fun, but they saw the commercial aspect and ran towards its light.

But even when FBT was left behind by Bananarama, for the hit parade, and helping out a fledgling music channel, I still liked some of Bananarama's stuff before it got all Stock-Aiken-Waterman produced and sounded just like the Rick Astley shit those producers also put out.

1984 was the year "Cruel Summer" made its debut in the States - a year earlier in the UK.

But oh, how I remember that summer.  I was in NYC that entire summer and it was a scorcher.  This was before most subway cars had a/c in them, so by the time you got to work, you were soaked through.  But everyone was.  Twas the way of the world.

The sweltering that goes on in the video is exactly how I remember that summer....but without the truck driver avec neckerchief and the Boss Hog and Enus-like doufus guys chasing them for closing down their gas station(?).  What's that about?

....and $1.48 for petrol.  Oh, that just made me laugh and laugh and laugh.   ...so did the way the three of them were meant to walk/skip together.  Oh, those crazy 80's music video directors!!!!  I also think it was a physical impossibility for those girls to throw banana peels out and around of a truck cab, and down past 25 feet to hit that police car windshield.  I just do not believe it!!!

Oddly enough, two of those three 'ramas are still around putting out some kind of music.  I stopped listening to them 25 years ago...or at least buying.  I did buy Sibohon Fahey (the one in the white overalls) who went on to do much better things like heroin and her post-Bananarama "group",  Shakespears Sister.  ....not in that order, I think.  She is still making music under that moniker.

Since it has been so hot for everyone in the U.S. who might read this blog, I figured this the perfect time to toss one back to the 80s and something to which everyone can currently relate.

Kiss of Death

I don't think I've ever waited over a week to see one of the Harry Potter films.  But promises were made to see it with certain folks; and then work and personal travel complicated that - so here we are.

We have made seven movies in seven months. We are right on track for my never successful goal of 12 movies in 12 months.

Now that above intro is over - I can talk about the movie - The Deathly Hallows pt 2.  For those planning on seeing the movie (whether you've read the books or not) and don't want my opinion  - stop now.  There will be inadvertent spoilers most likely.  At best, I could tell you what makes the cut and what might not.

First off - there was nothing at all wrong with the cinematography, the music, the costumes, lighting or acting.  I rather enjoyed the music a lot - and said so even two minutes in.

All the actors did an excellent job - the "kids" on up.  Daniel Radcliffe did a great job in his last outing, and as much as Rupert Grint and Emma Watson had to do with last movie, their parts seemed diminished with this one.  That is understandable considering the story arc.

It was great seeing that all the Hogwart students were back this time - if you remember last, there was no school in that movie, however, I liked seeing Neville and Seasmus.  But the adult actors did a great job,  and I'm always a big fan of Alan Rickman's Snape, so I can't complain about his performance.  You never can - he always hits it out of the ballpark. Ditto with Maggie Smith.  Ralph Finnes did an outstanding job.

Don't blink or you'll miss Emma Thompson's 4 seconds and the guy who played Ron's dad. 

The movie was really good, but still lacking.  My opinion of course.

With all the other movies, I heard people complain about what was missing from the books, which is not unusual for any movie adaptation - and usually those gaps didn't affect me or how I thought the movie turned out.  This time, it did.

One part was material that was missing.  With one sentence - one! - they skipped about 70 pages of the book, all having do do with Dumbledore and his relationship with his family and one Gellert Grindelwald. It was big point in the book about the search for the Deathly Hallows and the grasp for their power. ....and that whole implied gay thing.

Neville also mentions the Carrows and needing to watch out for them, and while I saw their names in the credits, I'd almost dare you to pick out which scene they were in.  

There was another part missing for me as well:  the passion.  (and there are spoilers if you have not read the book.)

I wasn't looking for gratuitous violence, but all the talk of this being a big battle movie, I did kind of think you'd see the deaths of Fred, Remus and Tonks.  It was all after the fact and barely a blip. Where was the connection to their deaths after having been with Fred for 10 years and the other two for the last few?  A few seconds of film to show Ron's reaction to his brother's death didn't really tie me to that emotion.  I think it was a missed opportunity to put some heart into it all. The director does it (to a degree) with Harry and his parents and Sirius, but they don't really allow it with others.

And I wanted and needed more of an exciting demise of Bellatrix LeStrange.  Maybe I read the scene with a different sense than was conveyed in the movie.  Her fight scene with Molly Weasley was way underplayed....and done much better on Julie Walter's part than Helena Bonham Carter's.  Actually, it must have taken Bonham Carter longer to get into make-up than she was in all of this film.  (Side note:  I did enjoy Hermione's voice coming out of her as she tried to portray Bellatrix early in the movie, but there was a flaw with that when going to Gringotts - I'll let you see if you catch it.)

The last point was the epilogue.  There was a point in the book that described Malfoy at the train station that should have been more poignant.  It wasn't.....at least for me. 

For all the hoo-hah about having to reshoot that epilogue, my first thought was - 'wow, how bad was the first version?"  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't tear inducing or anything.

Overall, it was still one of the better Harry Potter movies.  While I know people thought part 1 was bleaker, it may have ranked up there as one my faves. I like part 1 better than part 2.  But I also really like The Half-Blood Prince and I know many did not.

I am planning on going to see this again, in IMAX & 3D.  Yesterday was just saw it in 3D.  As with all the Harry Potter movies, we normally see them with our friends David & James and then with my nephew and niece. If it worked out with timing, it could have been all of them, but in some ways, I wanted to do it with my nephew, since I have seen all of them with him.  From the time he was 8 until now - right before he goes to college.  The circle has been completed.

So if for nothing else, it was totally worth it.

Still a good movie and maybe another viewing and time will give me a better, or different, perspective. 


Song by:  New Order

Bloodletting

I have some work to do on my technique on shaving my head.  Sometimes, things do not always go as planned.   As you can see.

Of course, the irony is, I was going too fast and being too aggressive, so I could check out of my hotel on-time.  That did not happen.

I did not have a styptic pencil with me and it seems I might have nicked an artery or something.  I bled like this for almost three hours.

I did check out and sat in the lobby, still applying pressure to the wound until the carnage did stop.  Eventually. 

Of course, I think I used every tissue my room in the Marriott had to offer.  I feel bad for the nice housekeeper who had to empty my trash only to see a sea of red paper handkerchiefs.

After that all stopped, I had a few hours to kill before heading to LAX, so I did something I'm not 100% proud of, but thought I'd check out another bloody scene.

I think I have mentioned here once or twice here that in 7th grade (yes, 7th), I read Helter Skelter.  ...and while yes, it's a disturbing book for any aged reader, the ins and outs of law & order were greatly intriguing to me.  Teachers at school took it away from me, and probably rightfully so.

So I took my GPS and rental car and passed by drove to Sharon Tate & Roman Polanski's former residence, where five murders too place back in 1969.  For you to be a little more disturbed, I probably didn't need the GPS.  I knew in general where the street was and it was only 18 minutes from my hotel.

The book had two or three lines on where it was located, and it was fairly descriptive, so it made it that much easier to find.  For me.  I know I'm not like everyone else.

The house itself has been sold, re-sold and re-sold.  Eventually the original house was torn down and a new residence put up in its place.  The houses off Benedict Canyon are huge and gaudy.  Not that you can see the new one from any of the roads.  You couldn't back in 1969 either.

Trent Reznor, from Nine Inch Nails, recorded an album in the old house, obviously before it was demolished and took the front door with him when he left.

The street itself is remarkably dumpy.  It's barely one car wide and with the hills and such, everyone keeps their trash containers at the side of the road.  Everyone thinks Bel Air as being very chic and while the prices may be, it's not all that. Most of the houses do not have gates and are right at the road. I mean right there!

They have changed the actual street address number.  The new tenants have put in a new gate with a lot of signs to stay out - and I get that.  You get freaks who come by that I'm sure are way worse than myself.   Ok, I'm not sure of that, but I tell myself that.

Honestly, I have no idea why I took a picture of the drive.  I could say: to blog, but that's not it.  That book, that story has been with me for so long, I feel like I've been there.  Again, don't get too disturbed at me. 

Total coincidence?  To get to from there to the airport, the GPS had me take surface streets where most of my travel was on Bundy - where Nicole Brown Simpson and her "friend" was murdered.  No worries - I did not look for that house.

I am not a freak.



Song by:  Concrete Blonde

Site of the Month

As movies go, things do not move me all that much.  I don't suspend my disbelief when it comes to schlock like Independence Day or The Transporter.  I watch the latter hoping Jason whathisname will take off his shirt - or have a full suit on.  Either way, I'm happy.

I'm never happy when I have to see Jeff Goldblum "act". 

But when I was young, I did like Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker.  And really, has Anne Bancroft ever done anything bad?  I mean, except for one of her husband's films, which name is escaping me at this moment. 

When you're a kid, you learn about Helen Keller and Louis Braille and how they were pioneers for people with disabilities.   Yeah, then you have to sit through Mary on Little House on the Prairie - which really didn't make you feel that bad for her. 

So I just happened upon a site that some info on Helen Keller and how helpful it probably is to kids who are learning about her and how she dealt with her struggles.

I hope it's something you take with you and pass along to those who are indifferent to the disabled.

Welcome to the site:  The Helen Keller Simulator.