To the mountains!

I'm driving to southern Utah tomorrow. There's not much to say about it since most of the drive is through the deserts of So Cal & Nevada. Miles upon miles of barren land full of people who I will never understand because it takes a certain kind of brain to decide upon living in a desert. I guess housing is quite cheap out there, but what's the point if you can't even enjoy the place you live in.

I'll be spending a couple days at a ranch that Katie's entire family owns. It's nestled among the mountains just past Zion National Park. There's a really cool cliff there that overlooks the entire ranch, I might bring a notepad & pen so I could get some quiet time and try to write out a few scenes for my script. Plus it'll be a good excuse for not wanting to socialize with Katie's sister's husband.

Last time we drove there MapQuest sent me through the Park and we lost an hour in our trip after having to manage the extremely windy and switchbacking roads that run all through it. Sad thing is we went through it at night, so we didn't get to see any of its beauty, we only loathed it's difficulty.

This time we're taking a detour through the northern tip of Arizona. Katie used to live on an Indian Reservation there called Moccasin, a really small town with a really cool history which I don't care to get into right now. I remember there being some really awesome flea markets and antique stores where you could find some of the most random and vintage trinkets, toys and kitchy items. I'm for sure bringing some cash just in case I find something that's impossible to pass up.

Wo is me, working for the Brits is so frustrating...

For the past year I've been working for a company that's based out of London, England. I can't say it's been the best experience of my life having to deal with people who have absolutely no idea what to do with their branch here in the US.

For starters, when I first began my career here they just gave us a quick 2 day training then left for their homeland, leaving myself and a few others to fend for ourselves and manage the office without any knowledge about the company or how things were done. Not much has changed in the past year, except that I'm the last man standing, I'm the sole contact for the company on these here American shores, and to top it off the medical benefits are the worst. It's impossible to talk with them about the benefits issue because there's no such thing in England, everybody goes to public clinics and hospitals. Well, I finally rubbed and squeeked enough to get them to budge and up the amount of medical coverage that I can have. Now I have to wait until September though, thanks to their lazy procrastinating selves.

A word to the wise, if you ever have an opportunity to work for an English company just starting here in the US and they offer medical benefits, bare in mind that they have no idea what that means.

I'm so stressed out today that I don't want to do any work, Tuesdays are the most boring of the week anyway, but after all the hub bub that I went through this morning I've decided to just chill and try and relax for the remainder of the day.

A's game tonight! Should be fun, gonna get me some garlic fries, mmmmmmmm

Women's footwear etiquette...

There's going to be an article tomorrow in the Chronicle about how the country's Women's Field Hockey Championship team visited the White House recently, all wearing open toed shoes & sandals. The "hoopla" surrounding it is whether today's youth are receiving proper lessons in etiquette. There are reasons why I can't read the paper too much or watch the nightly news, this is just another addition to my list. Not that I care either way, but I would prefer a little more class from young women when visiting places where they're going to be honored by a world leader, even if it is ol' Dubyah. I would no doubt present myself in a nice, snazzy perhaps olde timey suit, I think just the formality is lost. And formality isn't always a bad thing

Don't get all "emo" on me...

Yesteday's blog was way too serious and slightly depressing. I apologize to all you people who might have read it, sometimes when I write like that I think it does more damage to society than it does good to myself. But I digress...no more depressing blogs.

I'm feeling much better today, it must have been that Italian BMT, man that thing did a number on me. I wasn't able to eat anything until this afternoon, but I just had a fatty Bistro Burger and the bowels are now back and going at full blast!

A week from yesterday I get to embark on a long drive to southern Utah (or Utard) for a family reunion. There's a lot of drama surrounding it this year. Apparently Katie's parents invited her sister's in-laws to the reunion. Now, we weren't too crazy about that in the first place because truthfully, we just don't like them. But they're not my in-laws, so it doesn't matter. What really made things difficult was that the said in-laws also took the liberty to invite some extended family members...nearly 50 more! Holy crap! What are these people thinking?!

The campground on the ranch isn't nearly big enough and there probably isn't going to be enough food to feed everyone! I'm not going to be motivated to meet any of these people since honestly, they just don't matter. It's like 4 or 5 degrees of separation, and two of those degrees I don't even care to be acquainted with. So we're just going to go, have fun, do our own thing with some of the REAL family members that are going to be there and I hope come back refreshed from a vacation in the woods.

All alone with company...

Today was such a strange day. Now, I'm not notoriously moody, but I am entitled to be in a bad mood now and then, right? It didn't help much when I had problems with a crashed $2000 Mac computer after a power outage yesterday, that's all fine now, but it definitely put a huge damper on my day today. There were only a few people in work today, and everyone was out by 3pm, I got even more bored and by 3:30 I was on my way home. A sudden feeling of loneliness enveloped me, that and a sick feeling in my stomach from a Subway sandwich I had today (I'm never getting the Thursday special again). I'm going to watch a funny movie, eat some chicken soup then possibly work on my script some more. I wish "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" were already on DVD so I could watch it in the comfort of my own home, you know it's a good movie if after a few days of not seeing it you actually begin to miss it. Maybe these feelings are just cravings for more Wonka.

Sonically whisked off to a brave new world...

So there I was, taking advantage of my work's internet bandwidth and downloading music from a cheap Russian mp3 site when I fell upon the works of Philip Glass.

He's scored films such as Kundun, The Hours, The Fog of War and perhaps his greatest accomplishment the "Qatsi" trilogy. I downloaded the soundtracks for the first two films mentioned and the first installment in the trilogy "Koyaanisqatsi". I was curious as to whether or not the music was as effective without the wonderful visuals of that film, but as I began to listen to it at work I found myself taken away at the beat of a racing pulse by the intensity of this man's music which is a symphonic and electronic mix that works perfectly.

If you haven't seen the films he's scored, or heard any of his soundtracks for that matter, have a listen and enjoy. It's like electronica for smart people, which sounds more pompous than it really is.

Where it's at...

There's nothing like a Beck concert to show you how freakin' boring Billy Corgan can be. As mentioned in my previous message, Billy Corgan was good, but not great. The show was quite boring and on par with hanging out at a bar. But man, Beck is a freakin' party! People dancin' everywhere, on stage, underneath me, on top of me, all around me and the music was condusive to this behavior. I can't say that Bill Graham Civic Auditorium is a great venue, it's floor area is just way too big and the stage is way too low, which is a common problem with most venues around here. So it was hard to find a good place to stand, but we managed to get pretty close to the stage and enjoyed every minute of the show. Oh, and not to mention Le Tigre was opening for him. Man they were awesome, their musicianship is quite questionable since most of the time they're just hitting play on their computer and occasionally strumming a few power cords. But their performance was great and I love the tunes. All 'round great show, I'd go two nights in a row if it were possible.

You're more than a punching bag with lipstick...

That's a lyric from one of the bands that opened for Billy Corgan tonight. His set was pretty good, I just miss the days of Smashing Pumpkins hard rock/metal, plus the performance was just too electronic, drumset and all. But despite the technology used the music still had a quality level of integrity so I was able to enjoy his entire performance. He gave a little speech at the end where he vowed that he would never sell out and that perhaps the Pumpkins will come back to SF in a year or two and play Golden Gate Park. I'm looking forward to that. What bugged me at the show were all these people up front and close to the stage who seemingly were "marks" for the guy. You know, the kinds of fans who would worship him even if he crapped in his own hand and stuffed it down their throats. There were guys next to me who were hugging themselves and swaying to the music lovingly as if they were imagining having Billy all to themselves. Every hand motion that Billy made (raising his hand, putting his hands out, etc..) seemed to spark some excitement and cheer from the people. It was just sickening to see what sheeps these people were to the man, he had them eating out of the palm in his hand, luckily it didn't have any crap. What I think happened was that the Smashing Pumpkins fans of the rock/metal version of Corgan didn't show up, it was mainly the ballad/electronica raver fans, and it was just lame. Halfway through his set, Katie and I decided to move to the back where the air was cooler and you could actually hear the music better.

Saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was awesome, an orgy of Tim Burton visuals and some excellent performances. The music was great, classic Danny Elfman, and Johnny Depp was adequately creepy as the haunted Willy Wonka. I highly recommend it, it's just as good as the first film in my opinion.

Something old, something new, something cancerous in Lance grew...

Lance Armstrong sent me a letter today asking if I'd like to donate money to his charity. You'd think that asking such a worthwhile favor wouldn't take more than a couple paragraphs, but before I knew it I was reading a whole second page. I don't know if the point was to try and play on my guilty conscience to just to cover all the bases and try various keys to everybody's money giving heart. It made me think of my grandpa Higginbotham, a dairy farmer from Escalon, CA who all his life was diagnosed with cancer in his neck. He had it removed on various occasions and it didn't spread at all until he was nearly in his 80's when it took over his entire body and resulted in a very slow and sad demise. I don't want to die that way, I tell people that if when I'm old I'm not able to regulate my bowel movements or wipe myself for that matter I'd rather just end it there. Of course I'm not going to kill myself Hunter S. Thompson style, but if I'm not going to serve society by rocking anymore I'd rather just call it 'a life'. Lately I've been craving new music while also wanting to satisfy my vintage self simultaneously. So I got a BB King compilation and an album from a new Swedish rock group called "Shoud Out Louds". They have an interesting sound, I can't quite point out any one influence they might have, they have a few different sounds in just one album which is something I enjoy. It keeps an album from being boring and droning.

I don't know you, why are you waving to me?

After work today I decided to venture over to Virgin Megastore to see if I could pick up the Aquabats new album and possibly pick up another random band's CD. Everytime I go there I decide to walk the Market St. route because it's virtually and geographically the fastest way there, however, socially it's the slowest way imagineable. Out in front of Virgin there is always a pack of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) kids trying to earn money for college. They say they're trying to help the dying pandas, but I know what their real motivation is. What bugs me is that they're almost always kids who are about my age, they're smiling, and some of the girls are cute even. So I feel like a real jerk if I ignore them.

Today it was a chubby acne faced girl who chose me to be her next victim. As I attempted to non-chalantally walk by acting as if I was watching the pidgeons overhead, she waved a huge overhead wave with her hand and said "Hello there!" to which I responded with an equally unnecessary wave saying "Good bye!". Well, it didn't stop her, this girl turned out to be a saddler as she saddled up next to me and walked the whole length of the sidewalk telling me about what cause she was working for and how it was helping her (the latter detail was the least convincing part to get my dinero). I kindly told her I really didn't have time, which was a complete lie, but come on, what person just decides to give money to a pimply faced kid on Market St?

After shedding myself of this two-faced do-gooder, I reached my planned destination only to be appauled by their prices as I usually am at Virgin. So I walked one more block to Rasputin's (or Raspy's as I like to call it) where I was hoping to find a better deal. Although their setup is kinda trashy, rundown and hokey, I always find my experiences at Raspy's to be good ones. They got a fitting selection and I enjoy the occasional banter with the over-sinical and sometimes pompous staff. Sure, they act like they know more about music than anybody else because they work at an "independent" record shop, but let's face it, how many of them can strum a power chord?

I got my CD's and rode the bus home. Sitting next to me on the bus was a guy maybe just a couple years older than me. He was dressed in an all black suit wearing black Docs and sporting a hairstyle not unlike Trent Reznor's current do. Only this kid was balding and had about an inch of blonde outgrowth. The NIN song that came to mind was "The Persistence of Loss"

What would I do...

So today I was looking at my badass Superman watch and was reminded of Lex Luthor's awesome underground lair in the first Superman movie. And I made a decision, if I ever become rich enough, I'm going to do the same. Move to New York, buy one of their old run down and no longer used subway stations and fix it up classy like to live in it.

Yeah, that would be awesome.

I think I subconsciously want to kill my cat...

...only now it doesn't seem so subconscious.

I had a dream last night that I was holding a 44 Magnum to the head of a cat that looked a lot like my cat Arwen. I didn't pull the trigger, but when I woke up I had what seemed to be a strange smerk on my face.

Do I want to kill my cat? Probably not, but I did blow an entire weekend looking after it while at the same time laying down 5 Benjamins to have a meesly little wart removed. It had me pissed beyond expression. But it's over now, the cat has been chastised by the vet, and I'm over it now.

I guess it's a good thing I don't own a gun

Sensory overload to come...

3 shows and a movie within a 5 day period, there's no doubt that I'll have fun, I just hope my body is prepared for the sensory overload that will be inflicted upon it.

Demetri Martin (hilarious comedian) is tomorrow night
"Charlie & The Chocolate Factory" the movie Saturday afternoon
Billy Corgan at the Fillmore Saturday night
Beck on Monday night

I'm so excited for all these that I can't even express it clear enough. I'm just overwhelmed.

There's a guy from my work's London office who's here all week, he's a cool guy, he's just hanging out and interviewing potential freelance writers for the company. He was so hopped up on caffeine yesterday that he couldn't stop shaking, I don't know if that's the best way to get over a bad case of jetlag, but I guess it worked because he's fine today.

Reconnecting...

My work has disconnected me slightly from the part of my life that I enjoy the most, and that's the goofy, non-self conscious, not afraid to embarrass myself side. My script, although the story is awesome and something different in my opinion, still lacks that Jon Bowerbank spirit that I've been trying to access during this whole writing process. It doesn't mean that I'm going to quit my job or anything, NOOOO, far from it. I still got bills to pay damnit. But this just means that I'm going to try and just work harder AT work to make the time go by faster and hone my concentration in on some of the lighter or free spirited parts that make me who I am. So, although the story is based in the revolutionary war, you can expect it to have a Coen Bros./Terry Gilliam absurdness to it. And now that I'm rewriting it and constantly putting these ideas in to lighten things up, my excitement for finishing the script has only grown more than before.

Early to bed...

...late to rise in my case.

I fell asleep at 9:30 yesterday, and still managed to get up around 8:00am, just as groggy as I would have felt had I only slept 5 hours. What a waste of a night, all the more reason to keep staying up late at night. I dunno, perhaps I needed the sleep and just don't want to admit it. Or maybe it was just a way to sleep through the boredom and make it go by faster. Either way, I feel the same.

My cat got a wart removed from her nose today, so I gotta stay home all weekend to make sure she doesn't pick at it. Sounds like fun doesn't it? ("Take my cat, please!")

Well, maybe I'll find a good selection of flicks at the library or rent something to help pass the time. Or I'll just write, which I should do anyway. I took a week off trying to get over some blockage.

What's really going on in the Sunset?

"visiongain Inc." (the company I work for and manage on the US homefront) was treated to a free Wednesday at the SF Zoo today. It was cool, fun and everything that a zoo could be. I was only moderately pissed when I found out that the monkey cages were being renovated. Why? Were the monkeys so bored with their decor that they needed a renovation in the middle of the summer? Plus there weren't any elephants, since one died and the other was so lonely that she was shipped down to SoCal. The trip home was interesting as is usual when riding the MUNI trains. An old lady who was standing in front of me was mumbling little rants and ravings to herself, I could barely hear most of it, but then all of a sudden she said in a normal speaking volume "SODOMIZING FREAK! WHERE'S YOUR AMERICAN FLAG!?"

The local news is selling GM vehicles?

Channel 5 news today took 5 minutes out of my life, out of the lives of the loyal news watching audience and out of all the other stories in the world to be told just to make sure I knew that GM was giving an "Employee Discount" to all customers on their cars for the summer. I guess this is the last time I watch this channel, from now on I'm just sticking to good ol' independent non-sequiter NPR. My Final Cut Studio bundle pack arrived today, FINALLY I can re-edit all my short films and get some watchable copies of my films made. The DVD's will be out in a few months, let me know if you'd like a copy, otherwise I'll be trying to submit them to some local venues (ie Red Devil Lounge, StudentFilm.com, etc...) to get a little exposure and perhaps get away from the career I seem to be stuck in for the time being. I got home today and immedately felt all my energy suddenly being sucked from my body, as if my work hadn't already taken all of it already. I don't know what's got me so bored, maybe I should turn the TV off during Prime Time hours and read more. No more digital or analog media between the hours of 6pm to 10:30pm, just me and a bunch of thinly sliced trees with print on them to sooth my mood.

Physically sickened from unexpected causes...

4th of July, a day to celebrate, a day to remember, a day to light and/or watch fireworks, a day to spend with family, a day to get out and see the city, a day to enjoy enjoy our American freedom...yet for some reason on this day of all days I never felt so imprisoned. A couple years ago I wrote a thesis about consumerism in America, how it's a disease on our society and is perhaps at its worst during our Patriotic holidays (ie Independence Day, Memorial Day, etc...) Katie needed some new jeans, and although I warned her repeatedly for the past few months about her deteriorating fibers that were holding her (recently trashed) jeans together, she still refused to give in and get a new pair. Well, today she found a huge hole and therefore I was thrown into a state of purchasing seemingly non-emergency goods on a day that should have had more meaning than just a day to get a great deal on a pair of Levi's. As we walked around the Levi's store on Post St., I noticed that the majority of customers there were not American at all, but were mostly European. Ahhh, Levi Strauss, making jean deprived Europeans envious since the 1840's. But my state of high anxiety and near physical sickness came later in the day after watching War of the Worlds (excellent pic btw). We couldn't decide on what to have for lunch, so we just decided to run over to Whole Foods to find something supposedly healthy and light to make ourselves. I could not believe how many people were rushing around this narrow aisled health food store trying to get their holiday grub. I don't have a history of claustrophobia, but suddenly after grabbing a 4 pack of Virgil's Root Beer (which we would find very unsatisfying) I found myself sweating and breathing short breaths of anxiety. I worded to Katie "I think it's time for me to leave." So we bought our food, left the store and I vowed to never come back to Whole Foods under these nationally desperate situations ever again. With all the anxiety and hypocrisy behind me, I felt it necessary to just stay home the rest of the night and to try to find my comfort zone again. The fireworks weren't starting until 9:30, so we watched Monk with a new level of identification with his character, until it was time. We went upstairs to the roof, which has a terrific view of Aquatic Park, and after seeing the Marin County Fair fireworks go off the Fisherman's Wharf ones started up and it was a great spectacle to behold. Lasting well over 10 minutes, I could look around and see other people shouting and cheering from their rooftops enjoying their spirit of freedom and perhaps thankfulness for all those who have sacrificed and those who continue to sacrifice themselves so we don't have to. My lesson is learned, my behavior to be realized in future years has been more directed towards what's healthier for me and I have a better sense of things that are more important. I just need to know what's next