Love the "embers".
I make October an honorary ember just 'cause it's
sandwiched between September and November. I mean,
what the hell can it do? But the last four months of
the year almost always seem to house the best of the
year with November being ridiculous with the amount of
life changing events that happen. I figured I'd
do a random type entry as a bunch of things have kinda
happened as we transitioned into the embers this
year... so I made a little video that will be all
sorts of cryptic until I explain it all in the
randoms below.
The
Trumpeteer
First up, a new
tenant - and a new musical instrument. Keith was a
bass player, Sean was an a capella singer (man,
I don't think I ever mentioned him), Connor was a
sound engineer and now we have Jon the trumpet player.
I'm a big fan of colorful characters in life and when
you rent out a guesthouse you certainly find them.
Ironically, his big issue was needing a place to
practice... and honestly - that's an entry all to
itself for later. For now, I get to stop annoying
people on Facebook looking for a new tenant.
:)
Annual German
Girls
And no,
I didn't become deathly ill with alcohol
poisoning while attempting a funny Indiana Jones video
with these two. Amazingly, almost a year to the date
of 2010, couchsurfing.com struck again and Talya
and I hosted two girls from Germany who were
seeing the sites in LA.
Sorry,
there was just no good shot as it was uber-bright.
LOL.
As it has always
been, hosting couchsurfers from the site was very fun.
I love meeting people from other countries and hearing
the different perspectives on things. These girls were
hardcore "Clark Grizzwald" on seeing the sites though.
They left every morning, came back LATE and saw more
of this city in a week than I have in a decade.
One thing I noticed that was very sweet (actually
Talya noticed), they would immediately speak english
with each other if we were within earshot. You don't
realize how considerate that is until you've been in
other countries and had the opposite happen (hell even
here when managing a restaurant in LA, right Jess?).
It seems so minor, but it was appreciated and very
sweet. Most interesting bit about our talks? Their
jaw-dropping shock at our health care system. Trying
to explain it to them was probably the equivalent of
trying to explain how video on the internet works to
Abraham Lincoln. Leave the country and talk to the
locals... we are the third world country in
several respects. It is a racket out here. And
you have rednecks protesting AGAINST "Obamacare"
which barely even gets us on the MAP it's so
weak in comparison. LOL. You just have to giggle at
the Tea Party, man. The fight for exactly what they
say they're against.
Happiness and
Heat
All complete
excuses for why my workout has stalled, but it just
goes to show that die-hard passion for "achieving"
isn't what it used to be. This workout will easily
take twice as long as I thought it would (though
I may be around 165 on the 21st instead of 160
like I said a few entries back). Truth is?
I don't have the drive. I'm still doing it, but
it's really hard when you're really happy. Oh,
and it's a nice 100+ hot streak lately. But that's
bullshit, 'cause heat has never bothered me... the
happy thing however... yeah. Anyway, I'm writing this
for accountability because I lost like 15 pounds
and then just really wanted to eat shit and lay in bed
and watch Roseanne with Talya. :) Back on track now.
Also, the puppies
always love me after I run. It's gross, but funny,
that they try desperately to lick the sweat off me
knowing that I'm 2 seconds from being annoyed and
pushing them away... then they run back up and
continue. That video was after doing a 5k in 26:35
which is only 6 full minutes off my highschool time.
That blows my freaking mind. How the hell did I run
that in 20 minutes as a kid? I usually do it in 30
minutes so I'm glad I was able to even get to the
26's. I still think I must be running like a
full half mile further than I was at 16. That, or
20 goddamn years have passed. (sigh)
Location,
Location, Location!
So we're
juuuuuuuuuust about done with all the wedding
planning, and the shot in the video is from the Brae
Mawr country club. Gorgeous view, very nice place
(extremely affordable to anyone in the LA area who may
be looking). We went to an open house there (still
looking for a DJ) and were able to partake of a
shitload of appetizers and free drinks. Fun. When did
this "cocktail" hour become standard fare at weddings?
I know I haven't really put one on in 11 years but
they sure do nickel and dime you nowadays. Didn't you
use to have the wedding, then go to the reception...
voila? Now you need to serve hors d'oeuvres in
between? Weird. I think you're getting cheese and
crackers at ours, 'cause we're taking pics before the
wedding for light purposes so there's not gonna be a
big "in between" time. Anyway, we're excited.
Very fun. Happy, happy, happy.
Avoiding the
re-edit
I know there are a
shitload of film festivals coming up and I know
I should be spending every second knocking out
this re-edit to take out the copyrighted songs... but
goddamn, I am so freaking done with that
documentary. However once I knock these out, fix a few
things up - I can easily apply to a bunch of
festivals very quickly. Making it into any film
festival will be a great boon to the video blogging
movement and will be some much needed exposure for me
for sure. Because...
Longest dry period
since '02
...I'm officially
"dead" in the scheme of things career wise. Nearly 2
years now with absolutely no bites. I'm entering that
shitty 2002-2006 era where I was just
spinnnnnnning. There is one more. I guarantee and
know in my heart, there is one more lead to follow
before it is all said and done, and I hope it comes
from the film. If not, I'm really not sure where I go
next. Then again? I've never known. LOL. There's no
path for what I do... I just do everything I can
wrap my brain around and produce as much content as
I can. Something always clicks when I expect
it least and while I'm in the midst of it I almost
always think "Wow, I never in a million years
would've thought THIS would've worked..." (over
something else). So I just keep on keepin'
on.
Cryptic
Moonlight
The final part of
the video is indeed a bit cryptic. It's something
Talya and I have been dealing with for the entire
summer which really does take up every day. Has
nothing to do with us, but people close to us that has
been incredibly difficult. It all seems to be coming
to a head and we move onto the next phase of this... a
phase I know all too well. It's not really my place to
write about it, but man has it just surrounded every
moment of our lives. Weird isn't it? As much as
I try to document everything that shapes me...
some things get kinda "generalized" over
during the events, and then dealt with later.
Later may be very soon, so that's good. In the end,
without a doubt, everyone will be better off. That
can't be argued and will be clearer as time goes on.
Just sucks in the midst of it. Man, sounds like every
story in The Journey doesn't it?
Alrighty - Happy
Labor Day weekend, and welcome to the Embers.
