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.