A very blah day

The Cobb's party last night was as fantastic as ever. Most of it was spent outdoors on their patio. The little sprinkling of rain didn't do much to dampen the mood, we just huddled closer inside the gazebo. Lots of great food. Too much to drink. I took a few pics, but was cautious of scaring off S's new boyfriend (this was his first introduction to our crowd, and I'm sure it was a bit intimidating for him), so I let them be. So, while not totally plastered last night, I did have more than I usually do (well, not more than I usually do at the Cobb parties...), so this morning was a bit of a drag to get out of bed. And then to come in and do WORK. Well, to be honest, work wasn't until the afternoon, so I wasn't hungover any more, but still felt blah. But we got the steel cage down and cut into itty bitty bits, and the firemans pole down and put away into the shop. Tomorrow is the walls, and starting on the platforming. But I'm also taking advantage of the highspeed connection before I go home for dinner tonight.

Where is everybody?

I'm feeling very alone this weekend. All my online friends are out of touch this weekend, either they don't have home ISP, or they're on vacation, or they're OUT OF THE COUNTRY (you know who you are!). My blog views are down to half or a quarter in the past two weeks.
I've even decided to open my blog up to a select few old friends. From WAY back. Friends that I'm ashamed to say I've lost touch with on a regular basis. Now that I have all these forums, this, MySpace, and Flickr, I should be able to connect with them more than I do. I've already told G in Cali. I miss you, G. Welcome to my life.
Got a big party tomorrow evening. Season end party for the AE people. Always a good blowout. Bring meat to grill and a dish to pass. I'm making Tapioca from scratch for the first time. Tapioca is from the same plant as Manioc. Mmmmm Manioc.

Unexpected plans

Well, tonight was a bit different than I'd planned, but in a good way.
I got to the theatre to meet with S, and she'd been visited by the director of the theatre up north of us, looking to pad the audience for the closing weekend of his show, I Hate Hamlet. So, with little advance planning, we (S, D, and I) took off the 20 minutes up to see it, after our beers, of course. We got there only a little late, but the only open seats were front and center, ie a major disturbance to get to in the middle of the show. So we stood by the side door until Intermission. Not too long really. The show was ok. Not high quality, it needed a LOT of refining on the technical end. I had some strange compulsions during the show though, that were hard to fight. The main character is an actor who is facing playing Hamlet, who isn't ready to play Hamlet, who is being coached by the ghost of John Barrymore, in acting and in Love. The lead's young girlfriend is describing an amorous feeling she was experiencing, the ghost of the old man putting the moves on her, and as she's describing the feel of someone stroking her hair and running their fingers along her neck, I had to seriously fight the urge to do that to S, sitting next to me. The mischievious part of me might have been able to pull it off, but at the time, during the romantic part of the show, neither my actions or my intentions probably would have been seen as harmlessly mischievious. Sigh. I just miss that kind of casual intimate contact, but I'm sure neither she, nor her new boyfriend, would appreciate my attention. Behave yourself boy, act your age.

I've also been lined up to help in striking the Tommy set next week. Starting Monday until it's done. Eh, it's work.

Some progress

It's been raining off and on for the past week, not to mention, hot and muggy as all hell. But today, necessity required me to clear out the jungle in order to get the last of our vegies in for them to have ANY chance to produce vegies. So the last tomato (that we'd forgotten about), and the two cukes, and the two peppers all got planted. Here is the before and after pics, and the latest debris pile in our yard. The brown one at the back is the Monster rose canes I need to bundle before next weeks pickup.
Been watching more movies. Saw Kill Bill v.2, and was so impressed, that I picked it up at the store last weekend, except that I had to get both volumes, just vol.2 wouldn't be right. I'm not a big Tarentino fan, but I do love a good revenge story, and this was that. I even talked wife into watching #2, it's the most mainstream of the two. Afterwards, she surprised me by wanting to then watch #1 as well. And she's less a Tarantino fan than I am.

Depressed, Bored and Lonely

Just a few minutes before I have to run the second of these benefit shows, time enough for a quick blog. Kinda down in the dumps. Although last night, in the dark, I finished installing the new fan on our AC unit in our house. Pain in the ass, but it's neat to be able to do that by myself. No more HOT HOT HOT sleepless nights. How do you help a friend who's hurting, and you can't do anything to help? Boss let the all media event get cancelled. One week out, and it's cancelled. Granted there was NO advance marketing for it, but still, all the work S has put into it is down the crapper. She's off for family time for a while.
Went shopping today. Picked up a bunch of new movies and CDs to keep us entertained. But I need to find something active to do. Grrr.

Ups and Downs day

Well, it was a busy and "fun-filled" day yesterday. It started with tech for the kids drama school show. 8 or 9 hyperactive 8 or 9 yr olds (ok I don't know what the range was, but they seemed to be that, or younger). After that, I helped S paint the floor for the evening Tech. As the paint was drying we found time to get out to the Gardens. Really nice time, as always, but once again, I was taught that to have expectations is to hear God laugh. I was looking forward to a nice peaceful time alone with S, and ended up taking our Marketing Directors kid with us as well. Grrr. Nice kid, but a damper on personal conversation.
We had to rush thru the last bit of the gardens to get back to work to put the next coat of paint on the floor before rehearsal (which didn't quite get finished to allow drying time). We then had tech for the Benefit show performing tonight. Slides needed to be created (oh by the way... can we use your laptop?), just titles, so no sweat, but still very last minute. It'll be a great show, telling the stories of Rockfords Homeless, as a benefit for one of the shelter/aid agencies here in town. Two sold out houses this weekend. They even hosted a party (free food, AND drinks) that I wasn't too thrilled about, until S said that she wasn't going if I wasn't. Well that all changed when we found out the cast of the show. All actors from TOMMY, and all friends of S. Sure enough, at the party, S was at a little table with the actors, and I was stuck at a table with Boss (probably a good thing after all, since I need to work with him another year). I had a few drinks, had some yuppie pizza, and took off early.

Restless

I'm back at work after a meeting for an upcoming event which is rapidly going to hell. It's an all-media variety hour, where personalities from all the tv stations and radio stations get together and do silly songs and skits on stage as a fund-raiser for the theatre. Well all these tv big shots, the CEOs and Station Managers, who have been blowing off all our communications are now saying that they weren't informed of the show and are threatening to pull their people out of it, after the personalities have committed. So Boss is trying to salve egos and keep our show together, and S is trying to keep the personalities on board. Me I'm trying to find shit do do that gets me out of the house (meaning away from the house, away doing something relaxing but active.), without Wife getting too pissed off that I'm out of the house. Last week some friends went fishing at the state park, I mentioned that I have my old fishing gear (not quite accurate, since my dad kept my old fishing gear and gave me some other even OLDER fishing gear), and that that sounded fun. Maybe they got the hint and I'll get asked along next time.
Tomorrow is an Anderson Garden free day. Looking forward to that a LOT. I'll take lots of pics and post some here, and a bunch at Flickr.
Last night was poker night. Same four people, at the theater. I went out first, but still had a lot of fun.
Well, tomorrow is a busy day, tech for two shows, one in the morning, and one in the evening. Wife won't be happy about that, but it'll be fun.

Now that's a party 2

Talk about pot luck — a Mid Wales man had a lucky escape when a stag night prank saw him skewered through the groin by a cue.

High-spirited Dave Farmer, a 35-year-old father of one from Llandrindod Wells, had jumped up on to a pub pool table and leapt off straight on to a mate’s upright pool cue.

The item of sporting equipment went straight through Dave’s personal equipment but he was so anaesthetised by the eight pints he had drunk, he wanted to continue the game. (my emphasis)

The cue had pierced his scrotum and soft tissue with the tip exiting via his lower stomach and when his friends saw the blood they rushed him to hospital.

Dave’s injury was stitched up and he was kept in Musgrove Park Hospital in Somerset for two nights. A spokesman for the hospital said: “He was very, very lucky not to have done serious damage.”

A milestone

June 8. One year of blogging. Another few white hairs in my (half nekkid) beard (no really, they're blond! Yeah, that's it...).

Did anybody really believe that something special would happen on June 6, 2006? Maybe the same people who thought something special would happen Jan 1, 2000, or 2001, or any other numerical coincidence. Some people have too much time on their hands. Like me. Although I'm getting more projects than I like today. Last night the ceiling fan in the living room vibrated itself out of the ceiling. Two feet of cable pulled down and stopped the fan about 6' up. Wife was wondering what the noise was, what the cats had gotten into now, when I told her to look up from the chair she was sitting in. It seems the electrical box in the ceiling was only held in by a screwdown pressure fitting between two lath strips (gotta love old houses). So today I get to brave the attic and put a 2x4 toggle in between the joists (I'm assuming there are joists...) to attach the box to. I also need to replace the night light over the garage, the old one had finally rotted thru inside. Of course there IS no electrical box there, only wires going thru a hole in the wall (gotta love old houses).

The garden work for this week, in addition to the monster rose, is cutting down a tree behind the garage, that is getting out of hand. And our neighbor says the squirrels use it to get onto her roof. Tues. I cut down one of the two forks, next (maybe not today) will be the other fork and then the trunk(~8" diam.). It's probably about 10 yrs old, a mulberry that has been growing unchecked since we moved in.

The last pic is the back of the monster rose. I've already cut out half of it. And a closeup of just how massive and dangerous this beast is.

Update

My camera seems to be fine. For now. I eschewed trying to print, since my computer wouldn't recognize the card, I figured the printer wouldn't either, and if I needed a new card, I was going to SamsClub for one later that day. So I just re-initialized (losing the stuff on it), and it seems to be holding fine, as I said, for now.
I finally went into Bosses office, and asked about summer work. He gave me a list of dates when I'll be needed, and it looks like all the events this summer. I asked for an hourly rate, so he'll think twice about me doing menial piddley things.
I did the Unemployment tango this morning. I love how they tell you you can open a new claim on the internet from home, AFTER you're already in the office. I didn't have a back to work date, and I asked Boss about that today, and he said he didn't know for sure, but it would be late July-Early Aug. Works for me.

Mens Rules for Drinking

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Busy day

Quite an eventfull day. Wife and I went to a Garden Fair at the local arboretum. Lots of vendors selling plants, and other outdoors garden crap. Lots of the same shit in a lot of stalls. I took a lot of pix, but 3/4 of the way thru the day, my camera came up with a disk format error. D'oh oh. It wouldn't recognize the card that's been in there for months. Thankfully, my camera has a built in memory, but I'm not sure if I can recover the pix from that card. I'm going to Walgreens and trying their card reader machine to print files. If not, I'm gonna try re-formatting the card. I hope the card itself isn't trash. I'll post my pix to the flickr site soon.
When we got home, we found our Pirates DVD in the mailbox. Yippeee. Well, it's above average porn, but still porn. Lots of repetetive sex scenes. Amazing disappearing clothes (two people are kissing and rolling around, then, *poof* they're naked). Costumes were above average. Dialog and acting, typical porn: stilted and contrived. Story was kind of convoluted, and also conveniently lifted from other pirate movies. An interesting blend of action and comedy. The effects were way above average. Lots of CG work, most of it not too noticeable. One of the big distractions was the three lead actresses. They all had long blond hair, vapid expressions, and inflated bubble-boobs (really funny to watch them 'jiggle', not like a bowlfull of jelly, but a jello mold glued to their chests). The only interesting distinction was the actress "Janine" who had some really cool tattoos (that really had to hurt getting one there. It looked like Latin.)! Only one set of natural boobs in the whole movie. The most redeeming feature was the bonus disk, the out-takes and behind the scenes stuff. Seeing how these girls (and guys) behave between takes, wandering around naked in the green room. Most came across as normal people, except for Jesse Jane, the 'lead actress'. Either she really is this way, or she couldn't drop her 'personna', but she came across as a sex-starved bimbo.
After the heat of the day had passed, wife and I went into the garden to tackle the monster wild rose that's taking over the back garden. I got about half of it cut back and pulled out. Now I get to figure out what to do with a 5' pile of VERY thorny canes about 6' long. Pixs up soon on flickr.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Another Poker night

Had a poker night last night. I'm wondering how long these are going to go on. Before long S and D are not going to be around anymore, and TD won't be in regular contact. The remaining poker players at work are super competetive, and/or obnoxious. So, like darts after work, this may go along the wayside. But we all brought desserts. Talk about sugar overload. S, who hosted, told people 6, but since TD is always late, he was told 5. At 5:30 he called and said that he'd be at least another 1 1/2 hours. Aaarrrggh. We played SceneIt until he got there. Fun game. DVD/Movie trivia game. On Comedy, I kicked butt. On Romance, S rocked, but none of us were able to finish cleanly. We just kind of ended it after TD got there.
Doing yardwork today. Got the lawn mowed this morning, and now am going out to clean up some of the rose beds. HUGE job. I'll take pictures. Oh and to kill the massive ant colony that's taken over the whole back yard. My yard is spongy from the ant tunnels.
Flowers pretty. They smell nice.