The world through
a native Californian's eyes. How fun is that? Can you
imagine never seeing a firefly before? Or catching
one? Or throwing it on the ground and smearing it
across the driveway and seeing how long it
glows?
Heh.
1) Firefly
Surreality
Talya had only
ever seen fireflies on the Pirates of the Carribean
ride at Disneyland. <shakes head> So imagine her
gasps as wisps of light flashed in the distance.
I mean, if you think about it - it really is
pretty amazing. What an unbelieveable quirk of nature.
How many stages of evolution produced that? They're a
form of Beetle, but wow... through her eyes - it was
pretty damned magical. I instantly grabbed one,
slammed it on the ground and smeared it which got the
gasp I was looking for.... then a few nights later we
had to catch 'em.
2) Did this ever
work?
So we caught like
10 of 'em... put them in a jar, and they just...
hardly ever glowed. I expected a goddamn strobe
light while we tried to sleep, but nothin'. Maybe one
light up every 10 minutes. Maybe when they're stressed
they just say fuck it and stop communicating?
<shrugs> You know, if you're gonna kill 'em
anyway - 10 glowing streaks on the ground is a lot
more fun. :-) Oh, got some video of the
capture:
Ha, Ernie and Ben
Folds. That's worth a random...
3) Continuing saga
of Gay Ernie
Some things you
listen to again after a dozen years and you just shake
your head at how ridiculously random they are. Thus is
the case with Ernie's duet with Ben Folds from my
CD101 days. Check out the
mp3 in the entry for the
song.
I would love
for Ben to hear that someday. I added it to the
video because it's a really sweet song, and watching
us catch fireflies was sweet... it seemed an
appropriate song - and then you listen to the lyrics.
Ha. I contend that these videos are the ones you
watch again and again in the future because they're
nice little slices of life. Anyway, I may
actually complete the Ben Folds/Ernie video to see if
I can't get some traction with it. It's pretty
fun.
4) Introducing
Numba 2!
Talya and
I went to Jess & Jeff's and had a
wonderful time. It's funny, every girl post Jess has
never had a problem meeting her. They instantly feel
at ease and because of The Journey, say they already
know her. And honestly, they do. I've spoken volumes
about how integral my relationship with Jess was and
as everyone will see in the movie, it is the seminal
decision of the first decade. We had dinner, played
with the Gerber baby... oh yeah:
5) Zoe is the
freaking Gerber baby
Ya know how you
always tell someone their baby is cute even if the kid
is hideous (oh christ I'm so having an ugly baby after
this sentence)?. This is not one of those
times...
Wow. I mean, come
on already. That's unfair to the other babies.
ANYWAY...
...played "Apples
to Apples" (fun card game) and just laughed and
talked. It's so important for me that Talya feels the
energy between everyone, but the sad part is? She
actually wants to be friends with them and they live a
country away. Speaking of really
connecting...
6) Lovely
Your Heart
Several years ago
I met someone who I instantly connected with
and have remained good friends ever since. Whereas an
ex-wife obviously holds weight, an ex... (wow what
exactly WERE we?), not an exclusive "item", doesn't
hold the same weight. I'm obviously not going to
introduce Talya to every woman I've ever been with no
matter how special they were at the time. However,
I knew "Lovely" was special and that they would
get along. And they really, really did. Talya said as
we walked to a car after lunch "aww, I wish we could
be friends - maybe she can visit in LA?". It melts my
heart for her to be so understanding, and actually
take the time to see why certain people are so special
to me long after any romantic connection. And
ever-proving our connection? She sees the same thing
in them that I do. There's zero insecurity in our
relationship and I guess this shouldn't surprise me,
but the trip is just going so perfectly. Everyone of
my friends are genuinely excited to meet Talya and get
to know her. It's been wonderful...
7) It's
SO GREEN.
What I proclaimed
20 years ago on a trip to Ireland, Talya feels just
flying to the midwest. And since it has rained every
single day we've been here (and about a month straight
before), it is indeed GREEN. And she cannot get over
the space. The sizes of the backyards, the amount of
land - even around a freaking Wendy's... it's funny,
all things I probably said the first time
I came back to Ohio after being in LA for a
bit. It's just jarring and honestly? A little bit
of a bummer. We live in the desert. We just do. If
your lawn is green out here? You're a big phat PHONY.
'Cause the daily watering is so cost prohibitive (and
actually illegal) that you might as well be prepping a
movie set indoors. Grass doesn't grow where it doesn't
rain. And boy does it rain out here. Which should be a
good thing for the movie except...
8) Weather,
really? Again?
Seriously like 40
days straight of rain and apparently on Sunday it's
gonna be gorgeous. That coupled with Comfest (and
outdoor music and food festival), it seems the weather
Gods are gonna bite me again. Last year, an hour
before the show started a snowstorm hit and there was
a straight up WHITE OUT. Perfect. Heh. But honestly?
I'm so happy for the people of Columbus to
finally have a sunny day. Though Talya and
I are LOVING the rainy weather? People in
Columbus look like they're about ready to punch you in
the face if you mention it. You can always buy the
DVD. :-)
9) DVD hell
again.
When I made
the first Trinitrons DVD in 2002 I went through an
unbelieveable ordeal as authoring DVDs was in its
infancy. Who knew that I would go through the same
thing 10 years later? Though this time I believe it's
a faulty laptop. Either way - it has taken me,
I shit you not, over a week of constant attempts
at burning and encoding this movie to finally get one
disc that I can now make copies of. Unbelieveable.
I HATE PHYSICAL MEDIA. Hate it. No
longer use it personally as I stream things off
harddrives to my TV - even have all of my DVDs on a
media server and am selling the physical discs.
They're an absolute waste of time and space and
goddamnit... will be around for another 10 years
without a doubt. Simply so I have to continue to
fight with them. May just buy a blu-ray burner for
this movie as well. It needs to be seen in HD because
it was edited with the big screen in mind. So many
little things are missed on DVD...
10)
THURMAN BURGER
And
finally, Talya and I are now marked in
Columbus food Lore. Hard to introduce
someone to Columbus without a stop at the
Thurman Cafe which is now so freaking busy
and famous it's almost not worth
it.
And
then you have a hamburger (that you have
to split, you just do) and you go "oh
yeah, that's why." The prices are
incredible considering the size of the
food and the atmosphere is perfect. Oh,
and there's $1 bills everywhere with
signatures on them. And now, for as long
as it stands, we will be
there.
Alright,
tomorrow... uhm.. should I say it? Is
there anyway I have this up and formatted
by the time I do this tomorrow? No.
So I'll just make it the final
random...
11) The
Proposal
It happens
tomorrow morning, with the song, in the woods. Was
able to upload the song to my site and get her phone
to play it and access it without actually having to
put the mp3 on her phone. Hell. Yes. She has
absolutely no idea and I cannot wait to share it
with you all.
