Updates
Seems like I blog less and less often, but when I do, I BLOG.
Holidays
I find I grow less enthusiastic about the holidays every year. The very little effort I made this year seemed to provide no return for me emotionally (putting up the tree, displaying the holiday cards we received). Plus, this year I really noticed how gift-giving has become competitive and stress-inducing for people. One day on NPR I heard an interviewer ask a "woman on the street" how her holidays would be different this year because of the downturn in the economy. Her voice breaking, she described how in the past her family had always made a big deal of Christmas, but this year (sob) they wouldn't be able to. Through her other comments, the real meaning was clear - even though she had a job and her husband had found a new albeit lower paying job after being laid off, they had stretched their credit to the limit and wouldn't be able to buy dozens of presents for each other. Spending a day together and having a meal with a family of loved ones, something many people (including me) would pay any price for, has somehow lost all it's worth to her. What a selfish bitch, and yet she's hardly in the minority.
School
The semester was uneventful but productive. Karen and I had fun in our Shakespeare class and have a short film to show for it. I loved the experience of making it. I accomplished more in two weeks than my so-called company has produced in almost two years, and it really filled me with an almost tangible sense of ability - the ability to get things done, not just talk about them. It made me realize I've been spending way too much time feeling like I need to wait for others to join in. A new friend recently visited the house and we were talking about film making and how we all love to talk about what we're going to do soon. "But," he said, "until you have one of these finished and in your hand," gesturing at my DVD collection, "it's all really just bullshit, isn't it?" Since he just came off Benjamin Button as an animator and is in development to direct his own feature, I tend to think he knows what he's talking about.
Teeth
Teeth are an issue lately. My dentist says no matter how well I care for them, they are jammed in there so tightly that problems are inevitable. Worse, teeth karma is a bitch. I visited my current dentist (Dr. T) once about seven years ago and perceived his equipment to be dated. I wanted an ultra-modern dentist with lasers and a fancy office, so I found just that. She had an office that looked like a Star Trek set, her equipment looked like it was designed by Apple, and her prices were twice Dr. T's. She found something like a dozen problems ranging from fillings to a full blown root canal, recommended the beautiful cosmetic porcelain material, and I bought it all hook, line, and $7,000 sinker. She did all the work in two sessions, never spoke a word to me, and though the pain was extreme I was sure it was the right choice. About four years ago things started breaking. A filling here, a crown there - porcelain just doesn't last apparently. Karen was still going to Dr. T and loved him. Her parents loved him. But seven years ago when they asked her why I hadn't returned, she told them. The truth. Seems like there's a few people in life you really don't want to piss off. The payroll manager. Your waiter. The dentist. So I was a little reluctant to go back to him. But he and his staff have been nothing but wonderful, and he's been slowly replacing the old work when things shatter while I'm eating. This has happened twice in the last month. The first ended in a gold crown on a back molar. Unattractive but good work I'm confident will last for decades. The second will also result in a crown but first a temporary filling is on order to test the health of the nerve (I don't really understand it either but I trust Dr. T completly).
Tank
I decided to get rid of my maroon clown fish because he had gotten so aggressive I couldn't keep the tank clean and I was unreasonably scared of him. I had some but not much concern that the anemone would suffer without him, so we bought a little ocellaris (nemo) clown. They didn't take to each other, though, so we got two more including an adorable inch-long baby. None of them took, and in fact they all slowly got sick and didn't survive. Meanwhile the anemone was getting smaller and smaller and had crawled the the bottom back of the tank. In the end I got a Clarke's clown who was nesting in an anemone at the store and they took to each other right away. The anemone crawled back out after a few days, although weirdly his tentacles have changed shape and have milky white bands. The older / more mature the tank gets the crazier things seem to get in there. I often spot creatures I didn't put in there, and at night literally thousands of little creatures come out. There are principally two kinds: the first a sort of C-shaped striped bug thing about the size of a grain of rice, and the second a teeny tiny red sperm-shaped creature with two big, spherical, relecting eyes on top. They are both varieties of copepods and aparently their abundance is a sign of a healthy tank, but both are so otherworldly as to be unsettling.
Media
Because Ryan hinted he liked it so much, I started watching 30 Rock on Netflix and enjoyed it so much I watched two whole seasons over three nights. I hope to get Karen interested.
One word: Fringe.
We watched a bunch of movies on Christmas day. None of them totally blew me away, although I really enjoyed Wall-E. I was surprised at how bored I was through much of The Dark Knight, and I couldn't really warm up to Kung Fu Panda because even though the work was amazing the fundamental character shapes were unappealing. I did really enjoy the simplicity and charm of Journey to the Center of the Earth, which reminded me of movies I enjoyed as a kid. I watched Tropic Thunder the other night and laughed a lot. Iron Man was really entertaining.
I purchased a multi-media hard drive and am in the process of ripping all my DVDs to it. It has connections on the back that allow it to be plugged directly into the TV and used like a Tivo. I tested the resolution, flipping back and forth between an actual DVD and the rip, and I can't tell the difference. Plus, the drive acts just like a DVD player with full menus, subtitles, special features, etc. At 1.5TB, I can fit hundreds of DVDs. When I'm done I plan to sell all the DVDs - even if I don't get much for them individually I'll easily pay for the drive. I think, although I'm not sure, that I can even rip blu-ray to it. I'm going to have to experiment. In the future I'll just rent movies at Red Box or Netflix and rip them to the drive. I'm really happy with the decision.
People
Karen took a job at Sur Le Table over the holidays and was asked to stay. She's enjoying it and I'm glad she's having fun but is gone a lot and I miss her. I also worry she's pushing herself too hard.
Anthony and Jeremy have both found partners, which is wonderful because they're such great guys and deserve every happiness, but we rarely see them anymore and I miss them too.
Ryan had a tough break over the holiday with the sudden death of his stepdad and my heart just broke for him. Now he's in the thick of scheduling for the fast-approaching Santa Barbara Film Festival (his regular full-time job).
A Campaign Against Crap
Over the last year or so I have had a growing sense of having too much stuff. Things stuffed in closets that I haven't looked at in months. Clothes I haven't worn in years. Books I haven't read in years. Unopened DVDs. Two sheds packed to bursting and a storage unit stacked so high and deep you can't get in (literally). It's disgusting and it's making me crazy. I'm on a massive de-crapping campaign. Some of my goals:
-If I haven't used it, worn it, read it, watched it, admired it, or eaten off it in the last year, it's going.
-If I've been "planning to sell it on eBay", it will either be sold on eBay or donated within two months (at $100 a month for storage we have LONG since passed the point of making a profit and in fact it's COSTING us).
-If I'm keeping it because "someday we'll have a bigger house and I might want it", it's going.
-If it's "ugly and I don't like it but so-and-so gave it to me", it's going.
General Thoughts
There's a kind of emptiness about life during the baseball off-season, like popcorn without salt.
I probably eat too many garbanzo beans, but they're just so damn tasty.
Facebook is fun. I like seeing the bits and pieces of what people are doing and thinking.
Holidays
I find I grow less enthusiastic about the holidays every year. The very little effort I made this year seemed to provide no return for me emotionally (putting up the tree, displaying the holiday cards we received). Plus, this year I really noticed how gift-giving has become competitive and stress-inducing for people. One day on NPR I heard an interviewer ask a "woman on the street" how her holidays would be different this year because of the downturn in the economy. Her voice breaking, she described how in the past her family had always made a big deal of Christmas, but this year (sob) they wouldn't be able to. Through her other comments, the real meaning was clear - even though she had a job and her husband had found a new albeit lower paying job after being laid off, they had stretched their credit to the limit and wouldn't be able to buy dozens of presents for each other. Spending a day together and having a meal with a family of loved ones, something many people (including me) would pay any price for, has somehow lost all it's worth to her. What a selfish bitch, and yet she's hardly in the minority.
School
The semester was uneventful but productive. Karen and I had fun in our Shakespeare class and have a short film to show for it. I loved the experience of making it. I accomplished more in two weeks than my so-called company has produced in almost two years, and it really filled me with an almost tangible sense of ability - the ability to get things done, not just talk about them. It made me realize I've been spending way too much time feeling like I need to wait for others to join in. A new friend recently visited the house and we were talking about film making and how we all love to talk about what we're going to do soon. "But," he said, "until you have one of these finished and in your hand," gesturing at my DVD collection, "it's all really just bullshit, isn't it?" Since he just came off Benjamin Button as an animator and is in development to direct his own feature, I tend to think he knows what he's talking about.
Teeth
Teeth are an issue lately. My dentist says no matter how well I care for them, they are jammed in there so tightly that problems are inevitable. Worse, teeth karma is a bitch. I visited my current dentist (Dr. T) once about seven years ago and perceived his equipment to be dated. I wanted an ultra-modern dentist with lasers and a fancy office, so I found just that. She had an office that looked like a Star Trek set, her equipment looked like it was designed by Apple, and her prices were twice Dr. T's. She found something like a dozen problems ranging from fillings to a full blown root canal, recommended the beautiful cosmetic porcelain material, and I bought it all hook, line, and $7,000 sinker. She did all the work in two sessions, never spoke a word to me, and though the pain was extreme I was sure it was the right choice. About four years ago things started breaking. A filling here, a crown there - porcelain just doesn't last apparently. Karen was still going to Dr. T and loved him. Her parents loved him. But seven years ago when they asked her why I hadn't returned, she told them. The truth. Seems like there's a few people in life you really don't want to piss off. The payroll manager. Your waiter. The dentist. So I was a little reluctant to go back to him. But he and his staff have been nothing but wonderful, and he's been slowly replacing the old work when things shatter while I'm eating. This has happened twice in the last month. The first ended in a gold crown on a back molar. Unattractive but good work I'm confident will last for decades. The second will also result in a crown but first a temporary filling is on order to test the health of the nerve (I don't really understand it either but I trust Dr. T completly).
Tank
I decided to get rid of my maroon clown fish because he had gotten so aggressive I couldn't keep the tank clean and I was unreasonably scared of him. I had some but not much concern that the anemone would suffer without him, so we bought a little ocellaris (nemo) clown. They didn't take to each other, though, so we got two more including an adorable inch-long baby. None of them took, and in fact they all slowly got sick and didn't survive. Meanwhile the anemone was getting smaller and smaller and had crawled the the bottom back of the tank. In the end I got a Clarke's clown who was nesting in an anemone at the store and they took to each other right away. The anemone crawled back out after a few days, although weirdly his tentacles have changed shape and have milky white bands. The older / more mature the tank gets the crazier things seem to get in there. I often spot creatures I didn't put in there, and at night literally thousands of little creatures come out. There are principally two kinds: the first a sort of C-shaped striped bug thing about the size of a grain of rice, and the second a teeny tiny red sperm-shaped creature with two big, spherical, relecting eyes on top. They are both varieties of copepods and aparently their abundance is a sign of a healthy tank, but both are so otherworldly as to be unsettling.
Media
Because Ryan hinted he liked it so much, I started watching 30 Rock on Netflix and enjoyed it so much I watched two whole seasons over three nights. I hope to get Karen interested.
One word: Fringe.
We watched a bunch of movies on Christmas day. None of them totally blew me away, although I really enjoyed Wall-E. I was surprised at how bored I was through much of The Dark Knight, and I couldn't really warm up to Kung Fu Panda because even though the work was amazing the fundamental character shapes were unappealing. I did really enjoy the simplicity and charm of Journey to the Center of the Earth, which reminded me of movies I enjoyed as a kid. I watched Tropic Thunder the other night and laughed a lot. Iron Man was really entertaining.
I purchased a multi-media hard drive and am in the process of ripping all my DVDs to it. It has connections on the back that allow it to be plugged directly into the TV and used like a Tivo. I tested the resolution, flipping back and forth between an actual DVD and the rip, and I can't tell the difference. Plus, the drive acts just like a DVD player with full menus, subtitles, special features, etc. At 1.5TB, I can fit hundreds of DVDs. When I'm done I plan to sell all the DVDs - even if I don't get much for them individually I'll easily pay for the drive. I think, although I'm not sure, that I can even rip blu-ray to it. I'm going to have to experiment. In the future I'll just rent movies at Red Box or Netflix and rip them to the drive. I'm really happy with the decision.
People
Karen took a job at Sur Le Table over the holidays and was asked to stay. She's enjoying it and I'm glad she's having fun but is gone a lot and I miss her. I also worry she's pushing herself too hard.
Anthony and Jeremy have both found partners, which is wonderful because they're such great guys and deserve every happiness, but we rarely see them anymore and I miss them too.
Ryan had a tough break over the holiday with the sudden death of his stepdad and my heart just broke for him. Now he's in the thick of scheduling for the fast-approaching Santa Barbara Film Festival (his regular full-time job).
A Campaign Against Crap
Over the last year or so I have had a growing sense of having too much stuff. Things stuffed in closets that I haven't looked at in months. Clothes I haven't worn in years. Books I haven't read in years. Unopened DVDs. Two sheds packed to bursting and a storage unit stacked so high and deep you can't get in (literally). It's disgusting and it's making me crazy. I'm on a massive de-crapping campaign. Some of my goals:
-If I haven't used it, worn it, read it, watched it, admired it, or eaten off it in the last year, it's going.
-If I've been "planning to sell it on eBay", it will either be sold on eBay or donated within two months (at $100 a month for storage we have LONG since passed the point of making a profit and in fact it's COSTING us).
-If I'm keeping it because "someday we'll have a bigger house and I might want it", it's going.
-If it's "ugly and I don't like it but so-and-so gave it to me", it's going.
General Thoughts
There's a kind of emptiness about life during the baseball off-season, like popcorn without salt.
I probably eat too many garbanzo beans, but they're just so damn tasty.
Facebook is fun. I like seeing the bits and pieces of what people are doing and thinking.