Monday, January 24, 2005
Back to the grind. I picked up some long-term freelance work at nearby MilneFX. I'll be compositing effects mainly on a Disney kids' show called Phil Of The Future. I'll also be doing some storyboarding now and again which is nice. I'm a bit out of practice.
We've been trying to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather before we get cacked by rain again. Yesterday was a lot of fun. Linds and I went to Griffith Park and had a picnic. It was a beautiful day to eat sandwiches and teach Linds how to play casino-style Black Jack. Afterwards, we strolled for a couple of hours at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Yeah, I know...it sounds morbid but on a nice day, that place is just gorgeous and it's not a traditional cemetery with headstones jutting out of the ground every where. It's acres of flat stones so if you squint you can't even tell it's a cemetery....just a very pretty park...with a lot of people planting flowers in random places. We have to go back when my camera's working. There are some cool statues and such and a few celebrity tombs as well (we found Bette Davis and Freddie Prinze and possibly the guy who invented Kegel excercises but that's unconfirmed).
Last weekend, Breehn and I went E.T. movie location hunting again and found some cool shit but, again, my camera's out of commission so I don't have any photos of the trip. We'll do it again though.
Okay...back to stirring the pasta.
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We've been trying to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather before we get cacked by rain again. Yesterday was a lot of fun. Linds and I went to Griffith Park and had a picnic. It was a beautiful day to eat sandwiches and teach Linds how to play casino-style Black Jack. Afterwards, we strolled for a couple of hours at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Yeah, I know...it sounds morbid but on a nice day, that place is just gorgeous and it's not a traditional cemetery with headstones jutting out of the ground every where. It's acres of flat stones so if you squint you can't even tell it's a cemetery....just a very pretty park...with a lot of people planting flowers in random places. We have to go back when my camera's working. There are some cool statues and such and a few celebrity tombs as well (we found Bette Davis and Freddie Prinze and possibly the guy who invented Kegel excercises but that's unconfirmed).
Last weekend, Breehn and I went E.T. movie location hunting again and found some cool shit but, again, my camera's out of commission so I don't have any photos of the trip. We'll do it again though.
Okay...back to stirring the pasta.
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Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Yesterday, Linds and I were killing time before going to pick up her sister from school. I decided to go to Scales N Tails, the little aquarium store up the street from here. The algae was getting a little out of control in the fish tank so I thought I'd see if an algae eater might tackle the problem a bit. Well, they were fresh out. I was looking around for some other alternative when I happened upon the bettas, a.k.a. the siamese fighting fish. They always look so pathetic in those little cups they keep 'em in. So I thought...I wonder if this little guy could hang in my tank? I asked the guy running the place, a very nice biker lookin' fellow, if bettas are good in community tanks. He said, yeah, they'd be fine. They might be a little skittish but they'd be fine. So I had Linds pick one out and we took 'im home.
After the usual waiting period, I netted the little guy and threw him in. We decided to call him GeorgeForeman (one word) as a joke.
I don't think he got it.
I left the apartment for a few hours to talk Dr. Tran with Breehn. When I got back, I looked in the tank. GeorgeForeman was on the gravel sideways with all his fins picked clean, one of the frogs snacking on his gills. The entire fish tank had murdered him. It was like a scene from HBO's OZ.
I've been saying how surprised I was that I hadn't killed a fish yet. I think they heard me and decided to cannibalize the next new fish in the tank (the prison analogy continues).
We had an 8-second funeral for GeorgeForeman. He's the first fish I've had to flush down the toilet in over a decade.
Here's to you, GeorgeForeman. Sorry you were such a pussy, you gentle fighting fish, you.
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After the usual waiting period, I netted the little guy and threw him in. We decided to call him GeorgeForeman (one word) as a joke.
I don't think he got it.
I left the apartment for a few hours to talk Dr. Tran with Breehn. When I got back, I looked in the tank. GeorgeForeman was on the gravel sideways with all his fins picked clean, one of the frogs snacking on his gills. The entire fish tank had murdered him. It was like a scene from HBO's OZ.
I've been saying how surprised I was that I hadn't killed a fish yet. I think they heard me and decided to cannibalize the next new fish in the tank (the prison analogy continues).
We had an 8-second funeral for GeorgeForeman. He's the first fish I've had to flush down the toilet in over a decade.
Here's to you, GeorgeForeman. Sorry you were such a pussy, you gentle fighting fish, you.
(3) comments
Monday, January 10, 2005
I think I would actually enjoy watching the news if it were more like the news elsewhere around the world. The Indian press don't seem to have any trouble reporting on a possible underground UFO base in the Himalayas. Mexico is a hotbed for UFO sightings and they're regularly reported on the evening news. And I won't even bring up Russia. But you gotta love that Himalayas story. It's probably all bullshit, but it's still more fun to read about than whatever the hell Bush is doing today.
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Monday, January 03, 2005
Christmas
Christmas was a great day and weekend for us. We woke up too early. My inner child is on a hair-trigger on Christmas morning so I was up at about 645am and by 7am I was pouncing on Lindsey to wake up, too. We made some hot drinks (coffee for her and apple cider for me) and we began taking turns opening presents. This would be our official first Christmas since we were apart at our respective families last year. And this year, she would be away from hers for the first time since we were going to my sister's for the weekend.
So, off we went.
We got there at around 1030, 11am. My niece Isabella (3 years old, going on 4) had already rampaged through the presents her parents gave her. My other niece Lexi, about 1, is a completely different personality than Bella. She's calm and relaxed where Bella can be hyper. But both kids are a dream. My sister and brother-in-law lucked out with such great kids. Anyway, Bella her Uncle Rick and has now been calling Lindsey "Aunt Lindsey" which is adorable. We came bearing gifts so she tore through those with speed, surprise, smiles, and gratitude. We spent the whole weekend there and came home Sunday evening tired and ready to do absolutely nothing.
Which we did.
The rest of the week, Lindsey was off and I wasn't taking any work so we spent it relaxing, doing some chores and errands, and again, generally doing nothing. It was great. We had planned on getting out of town, somewhere close but far enough not to remind us of L.A. but we never got to. We got soaked in by the weather which decided to appear that week so we were mostly wet a lot when we went outside.
On Thursday, the clouds parted in time for a planned trip the zoo. We took Lindsey's sister and cousin with us and had planned to meet my sister's family there but they got stuck in horrible L.A. traffic and decided against going. (They live in Orange County, which is an hour away in regular traffic and nearly 3 hours when it's packed. I don't blame 'em.) We first had lunch, stopped at a park to run around, then headed to the zoo. We walked and gawked and stayed until the skies got gloomy again.
Somewhere during the week, we managed a couple of movies.
Darkness: I have a weakness for seeing horror movies, even if they might turn out to be completely bad. Darkness was completely bad. It's a huge misstep of a movie, with bad dialogue and terrible direction serving a decent story. It's too bad. How'd it end? I don't know. We walked out.
Oceans 12: I enjoyed this movie although the first entry was a load better. One thing though: Don Cheadle really stepped up his Cockney accent as it was nearly perfect in this movie. His Oceans 11 accent left a bit to be desired.
New Year's Eve
We had several stops to make before making it back home. Since I don't drink anymore, I feel like I'm a bit of a drag at parties where there is drinking so I always feel slightly uncomfortable when I'm there. So we sort of planned to head home early and have the clock turn midnight and the world turn to a new year all my ourselves. So we stopped at Kir and Michele's for their annual get-together, said hi and talked to some friends. Then we headed over to Michael and Danni's beautiful new house, said hi and talked to some friends, and made our way home. I felt like a heel not staying longer at either place, but man....it's been a long year. I needed it to end with a whimper, not a bang. So we got home, crawled into our pajamas and our new electric blanket, watched the ball drop, smooched, and let the evening take over.
Today starts a new week...a new year...and the inevitable first day of the rest of our lives.
Happy new year, world.
(1) comments
Christmas was a great day and weekend for us. We woke up too early. My inner child is on a hair-trigger on Christmas morning so I was up at about 645am and by 7am I was pouncing on Lindsey to wake up, too. We made some hot drinks (coffee for her and apple cider for me) and we began taking turns opening presents. This would be our official first Christmas since we were apart at our respective families last year. And this year, she would be away from hers for the first time since we were going to my sister's for the weekend.
So, off we went.
We got there at around 1030, 11am. My niece Isabella (3 years old, going on 4) had already rampaged through the presents her parents gave her. My other niece Lexi, about 1, is a completely different personality than Bella. She's calm and relaxed where Bella can be hyper. But both kids are a dream. My sister and brother-in-law lucked out with such great kids. Anyway, Bella her Uncle Rick and has now been calling Lindsey "Aunt Lindsey" which is adorable. We came bearing gifts so she tore through those with speed, surprise, smiles, and gratitude. We spent the whole weekend there and came home Sunday evening tired and ready to do absolutely nothing.
Which we did.
The rest of the week, Lindsey was off and I wasn't taking any work so we spent it relaxing, doing some chores and errands, and again, generally doing nothing. It was great. We had planned on getting out of town, somewhere close but far enough not to remind us of L.A. but we never got to. We got soaked in by the weather which decided to appear that week so we were mostly wet a lot when we went outside.
On Thursday, the clouds parted in time for a planned trip the zoo. We took Lindsey's sister and cousin with us and had planned to meet my sister's family there but they got stuck in horrible L.A. traffic and decided against going. (They live in Orange County, which is an hour away in regular traffic and nearly 3 hours when it's packed. I don't blame 'em.) We first had lunch, stopped at a park to run around, then headed to the zoo. We walked and gawked and stayed until the skies got gloomy again.
Somewhere during the week, we managed a couple of movies.
Darkness: I have a weakness for seeing horror movies, even if they might turn out to be completely bad. Darkness was completely bad. It's a huge misstep of a movie, with bad dialogue and terrible direction serving a decent story. It's too bad. How'd it end? I don't know. We walked out.
Oceans 12: I enjoyed this movie although the first entry was a load better. One thing though: Don Cheadle really stepped up his Cockney accent as it was nearly perfect in this movie. His Oceans 11 accent left a bit to be desired.
New Year's Eve
We had several stops to make before making it back home. Since I don't drink anymore, I feel like I'm a bit of a drag at parties where there is drinking so I always feel slightly uncomfortable when I'm there. So we sort of planned to head home early and have the clock turn midnight and the world turn to a new year all my ourselves. So we stopped at Kir and Michele's for their annual get-together, said hi and talked to some friends. Then we headed over to Michael and Danni's beautiful new house, said hi and talked to some friends, and made our way home. I felt like a heel not staying longer at either place, but man....it's been a long year. I needed it to end with a whimper, not a bang. So we got home, crawled into our pajamas and our new electric blanket, watched the ball drop, smooched, and let the evening take over.
Today starts a new week...a new year...and the inevitable first day of the rest of our lives.
Happy new year, world.
(1) comments
