Wednesday, November 27, 2002

Thanksgiving 2002 Tour beings tonight with any luck. If all the work at work is done in a timely manner, then we'll drive out of here tonight. Otherwise, it begins bright and early at 4am when we wake up and haul arse to SE Louisiana. First stop, Thanksgiving dinner with my mother's family. Then, Friday, we're booked to visit with the wife's father and his girlfriend. After that, dinner with the mother-in-law and family. Saturday, it's off to Baton Rouge for some costuming (not so much) fun. And hopefully, a visit with a best friend and family.

I really don't know if or when I'll get to post again in the next few days, so I figured I'd post this now.

Things I'm thankful for:

1) The love and support from my entire family.
2) My step-son telling me he loves me.
3) November Sweeps is over.
4) December's vacation means only 13 days of work for the rest of the year.
5) Being an individual.
6) The few friends that keep in touch with me.
7) Staying in the black.
8) Trish's blog and Clayton's tagboard smilies.
9) Anyone who reads this page and comes back, whether or not they leave comments. Thank you.
10) Comfortable hugs.

Have a good holiday. And here's hoping Joey Galloway scores a couple of times on the Redskins to help out my fantasy football team...

Tuesday, November 26, 2002

I love it when I find double meanings in a song�

For the longest time, I thought U2�s(flash or html) �I Still Haven�t Found What I�m Looking For� was about not finding faith in religion. Bono sings he�s done all these things (climbed mountains, scaled city walls), �only to be with you.� I take that to mean that the person in the song has tried to find faith in its various places. But, despite all the hardships that go with climbing the highest mountain to be with God, he hasn�t found him, or his faith hasn�t fulfilled him.

�I have kissed honey lips. Felt the healing in her fingertips. It burned like fire. This burning desire�

I think these lines tell of how important it is to this person to find something to believe in. The loving feeling of faith is sweet and can help heal most wounds. His desire to find faith is strong and it is not an easy journey finding one�s self or something to believe in.

�I have spoke with the tongue of angels. I have held the hand of the devil. It was warm in the night. I was cold as a stone.�

He�s been as close to being a saint as he could, but he�s also been very tempted. It is very easy to give up the search for faith, but not finding that faith leaves him cold and empty.

�I believe in the kingdom come. Then all the colors will bleed into one, bleed into one. Well, yes I�m still running.�

He knows he has until the end of the world to find himself, his faith, and he knows it could take that long to find something to believe in.

�You broke the bonds and you loosened the chain. Carried the cross on my shame, on my shame. You know I believed it.�

A direct reference to the Jesus Christ mythology and how he is or was willing to follow the Christian path. But again, he still hasn�t found faith and isn�t fulfilled by Christianity.

In the end, the person hasn�t completed his journey, but he will continue on until it is complete.

Recently, I was reflecting on this song and on past relationships and came up with an entirely different meaning. The song is a love song. It�s about realizing that a relationship isn�t satisfying and the sorrows and joys that go along with that.

The character did everything he could to be with this other person. And in the beginning, the relationship was all that he hoped it could be. You know how you feel when you give chase after someone and finally it all pays off with that first kiss. Sometimes the hunt for love can be more satisfying than the actual relationship.

For a while, he felt fulfilled �in her fingertips.� The relationship goes through the �everything is wonderful� phase, as he speaks �with the tongue of an angel.� Soon, he begins to feel that maybe this relationship isn�t what he wants. And while holding �the hand of the devil," or rather, while being in any relationship can feel good, not being in the right relationship can leave you unfulfilled and cold inside.

That�s the key. Realizing when a relationship isn�t fulfilling and doing something about it. But what�s harder? Admitting the relationship is screwed or doing what it takes to fix it?

Sunday, November 24, 2002

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist sucked hard. Kung Po Chicken, however, doesn't suck. Kung Pow is just horrible. Ok, actually, I'll give the movie props for the technical side of things. Most of this film has Steve Oedekerk digitally inserted into some martial arts movie. The lines were re-dubbed and re-written and it's supposed to be funny, but it really wasn't. How many times can you laugh at seeing a dog bark and then hearing the bark 3-5 seconds later? According to the movie, at least 3. It really sucked...hard. The worst part is this.

Much to my surprise, I found myself laughing hysterically at Dude, Where's My Car? I thought this would be full of potty-mouthed, juvenile toliet humor, and I only counted one bathroom joke. Yes, it was juvenile, but sometimes, you really need some of that humor. Such as, the "and then" scene at the Chinese Foooooood drive-thru. And most of the potty-mouth was pot talk, after all, this is about (supposed) stoners. It's insane to think of how fucked-up those two guys had to be to not remember anything that happened to them the night before. How could you forget getting a lap-dance from break dancing strippers in wet tee-shirts? I thought this movie was so funny that I wouldn't mind at all if it were some how added to our DVD collection during the holidays. As much as I enjoyed the movie, I don't think this is a good idea...

I think my wife will be happy to hear me say that I'm glad I didn't fall asleep again on Flash Gordon. I have a bad habit of falling asleep on cult-classic sci-fi movies. We've tried watching Buckaroo Banzai 4 times now and I've fallen asleep everytime.

Now, all we have left for the Weekend Movie Marathon is The Dangerous Minds of Alter Boys, Topsy Turvy and about 5 or 6 more loads of laundry (almost halfway done!!).

By the way, my fortune cookie says "Someone special admires you." So, could you just fess up please? :P

Thursday, November 21, 2002

I'm not afraid to admit it... I cannot watch Edward Scissorhands and NOT cry. It's impossible. It doesn't matter at what part I catch it. All it takes is a close-up of Johnny Depp and those haunted, lonely eyes, and the waterworks start pumping. And if Johnny-boy's eyes don't kill me, then it's when Winona Ryder says in the end, "I don't think it would be snowing if he wasn't still up there" or "I want him to remember me how I was then" ... blah blah blah...

This whole crying thing really doesn't help me when I'm at work prepping some movie elements because we're airing Eddie Scissors (plug) Sunday at Noon on Houston's WB39... I actually had to stop working for a little while and go catch my breath while I do something else. That's how it's going to be today. Work with the movie for 5 or 10 minutes; stop and cry... Work for 5 minutes, cry... At least, it's my Friday and could very well end up leaving on time for a change... Always on the positive; never to the negative...

What movies do you in?

Tuesday, November 19, 2002

Biggish news... I recevied a fax today... Ok, I received a copy of a fax today...

The long and short of it is... *drumroll*...

Grounded For Life (flash) will be moving to the WB... The network has secured the rights to air previous episodes shown on Fox and it has ordered 6 additional episodes from the production company.

I don't know when it will start running, but my guess is the show would be on Thursdays to help boost up the comedy line-up of Family Affair, Do Over and Jamie Kennedy Experiment. Plus, Off Centre is outta there after Thanksgiving.

The ratings for Grounded For Life weren't spectacular on Fox, but it held it's own. The same numbers on the WB would be outstanding. I would think it's going to be a mid-season replacement, but that's pure speculation.

Monday, November 18, 2002

I don't quite understand why I like listening to the 80's station here. In the 80s, I was 6 - 16, depending on the year. In the early 80s, I was all about Michael Jackson's Thriller. I was bored one day while visiting my grandmother in Oklahoma. So, I went outside with my walkman and was transported to my own little concert stage. I don't know how long I'd been singing, but my father had to come outside to shut me up.

My first cassette tape was Prince's 1999, as far as I can remember. Santa gave that to me one year. I don't think he knew exactly what he gave me. I didn't realize it either until I found that tape a while later and REALLY listened to "Little Red Corvette."

The point I am trying to make is I don't know why I like the 80s station. They don't play any of the songs I used to listen to in the 80s. I never hear the words "mama say mama saw ma ma coo saw." I never Wang Chunged in the 80s. I was just a kid.

Yet, somehow, "I'll stop the world and melt with you" gets my feet moving and sets my mind a-drift. Somehow, "now I run to you with open arms" and "I'm forever yours...faithfully," has me pining for the roller-rink. I don't get how I'm so in love with all these songs that I never really listened to until the damn decade was over. I mean, did you realize what "dancing with myself" really meant? I didn't until the song played on the way home from work recently and I got to listen to Billy Idol Sweat Sweat Sweat Sweat...

Here's my theory on 80s music. Yeah, ok, alot of it sucked. Alot of it sucked hard. But, why I love it all so much is because artists, musicians, people were playing all kinds of weird stuff, experimenting with all kinds of different sounds. And best of all, it was fun. It wasn't deep. You really didn't have to think about a song to get what they were saying. You just listened because it was fun. And that's lacking in alot of today's music. Sometimes I think the only person having fun with their music today is Eminem. That's probably why I have a shrine to his blondness in the bedroom closet (just kidding mom, really)...

Don't get me wrong. I like my songs to be deep and have meaning. Take a gander at the some of the musicians to your left and you'll see some heavy, thoughtful muthas. But, music is also about having some fun with life. Ah-well-a, you might think I'm crazy, but I really think some of the best music ever came from the 80s...

Sunday, November 17, 2002

So, do you like?

I've been tweeking this all day long. I got a bug up my ass yesterday and started working on the change. And finally, I think I'm ready to call it done... At least for now... There might be some more tweeking here or there to the layout... But for now I'm happy with it. And isn't it neat-o daddy-o that the site reflects the name? Really, it mostly a color change and I moved a few things around...

The "100 Things about me" doesn't work yet... but I'm gonna work on that and try to have it ready in a week... A goal has been set...

Anyway, let me know what you think and if there's any bugs or kinks I'm over looking...

Thursday, November 14, 2002

Last week, I auditioned for The Magic Ring Dang Do at the Company Onstage. At the time, my voice sounded worse than puberty and I was only read twice.

But, I guess I was good enough to land the part of the King. Not that I have any idea if that's a big part (I doubt it) or what the character is like. All I know is that there's something about an friendly, misunderstood ogre, a used-armor salesman, and the plot revolves around saving a princess (my daughter) from a dragon. I don't have a script yet; rehersals start in the next two weeks...

Here's the weird part... The Queen is about 15 years older than I am, in reality not in the play, and my daughter, the Princess is actually a few years older than I am. Looks like I'll have to age myself a good deal.

Of course, most people at the theatre assume I'm in my early-to-mid thirties. It must be the beard and the long hair. In reality, I'm probably not as old as you think I am. But, who cares about my age. Age isn't important...perhaps maturity-level is a better jugde of age (that made sense to me)...

Still, I am looking forward to being on-stage again. There's a few actors and actresses in the show that I've been hoping to work with. Their talent and professionalism astonds me and it's great to be able to work with such folk.

Yet, the attitude at this theatre seems to be "eh, it's only a children's show." I'm sure they think the shows they are putting on for kids are wonderful. But, backstage you can hear the whispers of how awful and embarrassing the shows are. Could you listen to a musical where the leads and supporting actors and actresses can't sing? Stuff like that brings the entire show down.

I'm going to have to try hard to bite my tongue at rehersals. The cast is made up of a "clique" of people who've been there for years and I have to invade that circle. Many hoity-toity people and me...

Hopefully, I and my fellow performers will be able to rise above the mediocricy and put on a quality show for the children...

Tuesday, November 12, 2002

Why? (a.k.a. Whyne)

Why is it my fault a movie open aired wrong when you were supposed to delete the old spots and didn't?
('Cause you're an idiot)

Why is it that I have the complete inability to rip someone who deserves it a new a-hole?
('Cause I'm too nice)

Why do I always bite my tongue instead saying how I feel?
('Cause I don't want to cause anyone pain)

Why do I feel like nothing will be done?
('Cause nothing will be done)

Why does no one respect you?
('Cause you have given them numerous reasons not to)


Hey, thanks for the apology. I appreciate that, even if it was insincere and some suit probably got you to do it... It's hard to be a team player when the coach isn't...

Friday, November 08, 2002

In the words of Pep Streebeck, "Thank God, It's Friday!"

And so my weekend begins. After working Sunday through Thursday nearly 12 hours a day, the weekend is here for me and I'm just going to be a lazy fuck. The couch is my friend; I am its potato. Things came up during the week that would of had me travel home this weekend but they have been resolved, so I don't have to. My folks have been here helping babysit the kid while the wife is out of town. They are going to take the kid with them and my wife will pick him up on the way home. It really sucks that I have been working such long hours. I barely got to see my son off to school and then a couple of nights this week, he was asleep before I got home. But, unfortunately, that's what the Sweeps period is like. A full month of total work absorption with maybe a two day break on the weekend. Last week, I had so much to do, that I ended up going into work on a normal day off. I'm torn between keeping the boy here with me so we can spend some time together and the need to recharge my batteries for next week. He really wants to go with my folks, so I think that's probably the best. He'll have more fun with them. They'll buy him stuff... Next week at work probably be even rougher on my schedule. The bright side of Sweeps-hell is it's only this bad for 3 months out of the year. The rest of the year my boss doesn't really care if we get 8 hours a day as long as the work is done. We take it very easy when it's not sweeps...

I don't really feel like doing anything this weekend, but I know staying in the house will drive me a little stir crazy. Perhaps, I'll rent some movies, or go see one. I have to figure out what's playing. It has to be something kids can't see and my wife wouldn't want to see. I don't know of porn theatres in Houston, though (that was a joke... but I seriously don't know of any porn theatres in Houston). Any suggestions?

Tuesday, November 05, 2002

This year, I almost did it... I almost voted... It took me moving to another state and going to get my new driver's license in order for me to registar in the first place... Then, I actually had the time today to get out to a polling place to make my voice heard... I was this close... So, what stopped me?

Well, first, I lost my voter registration card... Secondly, I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to go to vote. Really, I tried. I tried several times, searching the internet for an answer, but ultimately, my quest has hindered by my lack of search engine terms to look up...

The really sad part is that I'm one of those people who believe that it's really important to vote... And here I am, 10 years of voting eligibility and not a single vote cast...

Anyway, I was talking to a co-worker about not being able to vote... and then he shows me this*... My ass really hurts from kicking it all friggin' day...

* Note the link to "November 5th Polling Locations" on the page. From that link, not only can you search by name or address where your polling place is, but you can print your registration card, too... Also, note that above link takes you to the homepage of the place I work...

Monday, November 04, 2002

Well, I'm gonna just have to kill the kid... I caught the cold that he caught from other sick kids at school... My voice is so cacaphonous right now; it sounds like I'm going through a really bad phase of puberty again.

Actually, I sound alot worse than I really am. My energy is pretty high, even after getting to bed after midnight and waking up just before 6am. I'll get a little tiny bit sweaty from a slight fever, but I swear my temperatue isn't over 98.6 degress F. My body temperature is rarely normal anway. 96 or 97 degrees is quite normal for me (See, I really can be cold-blooded)...

If the sore throats weren't so god-damn awful and painful, I wouldn't mind having a cold as much. The drugs I am taking do a pretty good job to clearing out the nasal passages so I'm not all drippy and runny. And there's hardly any cough. Funny, how since I quit smoking (what, it's been 5 years or so???) that I don't get bronchitis on top of my colds. In fact, I'd say, on average, I had a cold about 3-4 times a year when I smoked. Now, it's about once or twice, and it isn't nearly as bad. Just the sore throats.

I smell of Halls Honey-Lemon Cough Drops. I probably did yesterday when I got in to work after the Texans Game. My supervisor, who normally isn't here on a Sunday, probably thought I was a little tipsy. But, I promise all I had was Sprite and OJs (separately because I have to think together) in the sweet-ass suite we were holed up in thanks to 106.9 The Point. That smell, plus the medicine made me a little bit loopy... yeah, I'll be waiting for an intervention at work soon...

Friday, November 01, 2002