Monday, July 30, 2007

You Said It, Sister!

I love Indexed. Pure simplicity in blogging.

This one really hits home. I loved my house, but I'm liking having a deck (two, actually), nowadays!

I paid what to do this myself?

Sunday, July 29, 2007

more and more unpacking

I now consider myself actually moved in. Lots of boxes moved. Several unpacked.

This place has more closet space than I'll ever need, but is sadly lacking in kitchen storage space. Luckily, I'm not much for dry goods, but I have a lot of cooking stuff and not so many places to put it.

The kitchen cabinets are weird. Tiny little cabinet doors, leading to deep cupboards, so you can't really see what in them. Or get to the things you put in there. Is it lame to list out what's in the damn things on some sort of inventory sheet? Seems OCD, but I see no solution to this hidden space issue.

Instead of important things, I focused on trivial things. Hung my candelabra over the table. Lit it up. Had dinner.

Found a great spot for my dart board. There's never a good place, but this place is great! I'll post pics of it when the "build out" is done. I missed my darts. I used to be really, really good (I once destroyed to OC regional champion in a singles match, knocking the ass-wipe out of the Southern California race, then going on to be destroyed myself. It was so worth it, even though I didn't even win the comp for that night.).

Lots of little things bug me. All the counter tops are cheesy. I can fix that pretty easily, but the cabinets in the kitchen are freaking ugly. And cheap laminate, so I can't just change out the doors or remove them. This will be annoying for some time... (edit: I looked more closely, the cabinets aren't anything special, but they are solid wood. I could paint them and add new doors and drawer fronts.)

Bathrooms are so basic it's ridiculous. This will be work. I'm going to build a basin stand from a dresser, I think. I'd love a pedestal, but there's simply no storage nearby. At least the toilets are nice and new.

The sliders have cheap verticals. They look okay from a distance, but I don't like verticals much, even when they are nice ones.

The previous owner loved ceiling fans. I don't. At least they are nice and simple ones. Modern, not country. I removed the one in the dining room.

I don't like brass. All brass has been removed, leaving one brass hanging lamp over the entry. Gotta replace that with an iron one. Anyone have a ladder I can borrow?

Positives...

I love the carpet and the tile, and the loft has a wood floor.

The ceilings are high.

The windows all have nice wooden blinds. Cool enough.

My wireless reaches all the way out to the lakeside, so I can sit out there if I want to.

I can walk to the store, restaurant, cigar shop, Starbucks, and the doughnut shop. I can smell them doughnuts cooking, right now! Damn.

There's a 1.1 mile path around the lake, a playground with chinup potential, and an awesome hill for sprints. There are kayaks and canoes to rent. Dollar an hour. No excuses, huh?

I love the sound of the birds when I wake up. Too bad they're mostly ducks. And geese. The Canadian variety. Why are they here in the summer? This is south for the winter for them. Oh, well. Still cool.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

The Story

I got a couple of emails asking some questions, so I'll post some clarifications, just in case you don't already know the story...

  • Kim and I have been separated for about two years.
  • I've lived with my father, in Torrance, CA for the past two years.
  • I filed for divorce a couple of months back. Just waiting now.
  • Although I wasn't happy about splitting up two years ago, I'm good with it now. She's met someone else. He's nice. They're engaged. I'm happy for them. Really! I'm SO moved on...
  • Kim moved out of the condo that we jointly own. I moved in. I'm back in my hometown of the past 15 years, Rancho Santa Margarita, CA.
  • I've been swamped with work, vacation, moving, work, studying, unpacking, work. Hence the lack of blogging. But, work has settled down. All is good.

So, in a nutshell, that's it. Been busy, busy, busy the past month. But, I'm now a lot closer to work, as RSM is smack dab in the middle of the area that I cover for Xerox. So, this means less driving time and more time to do what needs doing. More home time. More study time. More writing time. More cooking time. More time, in general.

Later!

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Back

I am back. I survived my 10 day kid-fest. It was really hard and I worked out a lot less that I thought I would. Imagine...

Lots of driving. Lots of getting lost. But, here I am.

After being lost, lost, and more lost yesterday, my son said "Look at the bright side. We get to spend more time with you." My little angel, who then preceded to hit his sister and get in a big fight over who's fart that wasn't. It was the pig truck in front of us, morons.

Saturday, July 7, 2007

You Need A Pig To Find Truffles

Note: I found this in my storage unit. From a college write assignment. What was I thinking?


You Need A Pig To Find Truffles

by Roland Denzel
January, 1988

Martin was hungry. And, he hadn't had any luck, either. He looked down at the tin bucket that he had hanging from his belt: No mushrooms. No truffles.

It was seven o'clock on the evening after Easter Sunday. It seemed a lot like summer to Martin, as it was still light out (Martin liked summer for just that reason). Everything was dry and not particularly good for hunting mushrooms. Martin hunted anyway, but as was stated before, he was having no luck.

He was surprised at himself for enjoying this chore so much. He liked it so well that he did it daily. It was, however, according to his Mother, a stiff punishment for being so naughty. No matter what his Mother thought, though, Martin loved it (perhaps because it got him away from his Mother).

It was starting to get dark. The sun had already set, and the only light was the still lighted sky remaining to show the way. Time to get home, chore or no chore. Too bad he had not found even one mushroom to bring home in his bucket.

He walked. He soon stopped in front of the most likely spot that he had seen that day--although still an unlikely spot--and started looking. He got down on hands and knees, almost cow-towing before the hill of not very damp leaves, praying for a mushroom or two. Something to appease his Mother's wrath toward his empty bucket. But, there was nothing.

He stood up. It was getting darker. There was no getting around it, he would have to go home empty handed (was getting beaten for nothing better or worse than getting beaten for having nothing?). He hoped his Mother would let him eat tonight.

It was dim as a prison when he arrived home empty-handed. Martin flinched as he caught himself starting to put his pig away for the night: He no longer had his pig. Too bad, the pig had been great company on his truffle hunts--better even, than Martin's dog.

Last night, Easter Sunday, the family truffle hunter had been enjoyed by Martin's family (Martin hadn't eaten).

Martin's Mother had been in a wonderful mood for Easter dinner (she had even been sweet to Martin). He was shocked that his Mother could take the death of his friend so lightly. His father, however, reminded him that he had been warned about getting attached to the livestock.

Martin knew better than to think that his Mother found his pain amusing, but sometimes he found himself crying anyway.

Once again, he didn't eat. And, his Mother only lightly scolded him for finding no mushrooms (then she smiled at him and might have chuckled lightly, too).

He didn't like mushrooms, anyhow.


So, my professor really like this thing. I think she thought it was deep and mysterious.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Today's The Day

Moving back to Rancho Santa Margarita. Condo on the "lake," no furniture, no dishes, two kids for 10 days, and a shitload of fun to be had.

But, the kids don't care what's there and what's not. I'll get my stuff out of storage once they're up with their Mom. Do some decorating. Redo their rooms a bit, so they have something nice to look forward to. A mixture of old and new.

In the meantime, we'll be seeing Transformers and hitting Wild Rivers for some water slides. The beach once, and then off on a whirlwind relatives tour up the coast, until I drop them off at their new house. Should be a nice drive, and the kids are very excited that I'm going to see where they live and check out their rooms. I'm excited, too.

I talked to my Dad (my roomie) about my move (we've talked about it before...) and he was surprised. I don't like that. He just doesn't seem to comprehend things. They don't sink in. And, he's hard of hearing...

I broached the subject of his moving into a "retirement community." He was open to it. Said he'd considered it, even. Good news. Now, I just have to talk to my siblings and get their support for this. He could move to one of four locations. Santa Barbara, Albuquerque, Chicago, or Rancho (where I'm headed). His eyes lit up at Chicago and he couldn't stop singing it's praises. Gotta see how my brother feels about that...

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Casino Royale

I've watched it twice in just a few days. I really liked this movie.

It falls into my favorite category of movies: Guys that aren't perfect, yet have honor and bravery. They aren't always great at the micro level, but they put the macro above themselves. Plus, they have to have passion.

Eva Green is very pretty, if a bit too thin and frail. She's fine, I suppose. I can set aside my disdain for scrawny women long enough to get into the moment of the movie. As Vesper Lynd, she is pretty, after all. And, smart. And, bold. And, sharp witted. It all adds up.

"I can't resist waking you. Every time I do you look at me as if you hadn't seen me in years. Makes me feel reborn."

-- Vesper Lynd

I love that part. That one line. She says it, but it's really him and his passion that drives it.

That's what I want: That feeling. Every man should have a woman who they find themselves looking at like that.

Every woman should be adored. And, feel it. Know it.


Only time will tell if I watch this one as much as Gladiator, Last of the Mohicans, Casablanca, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but so far, I like it. I keep going over parts of it in my head. Great lines. Great moments. Best Bond movie in years.

But, it also seems to be a new category of Bond movies. Like Batman Begins, hopefully this one starts the movie slate clean. I'd like to see the books and stories again. Fresh and more bold, manly, and robust. James Bond started out great, years ago, then took a nose dive into campy adventure that I could easily forget, if we could move on with this new James Bond.

The combination of Daniel Craig and the writing style of this movie, brings us a grittier, bolder James Bond, who's far more flawed, vulnerable, passionate, and powerful than than the ones of the recent past. Thank God.

Of course, with power comes responsibility...

"If the only thing left of you was your smile and your little finger, you'd still be more of a man than anyone I've ever known."


"That's because you know what I can do with my little finger..."


Sunday, July 1, 2007

Grease

I'm watching Grease with my kids right now. I love this movie. I must have seen it at least 30 times. That's more than Star Wars, which is good or bad, depending on who you are.

A few more sexual innuendos that I remembered, now that I'm watching it with kids. They don't seem to get them, though. That's good. They're too busy laughing at the funny names of the the characters (Doody. hehe.). Whew!

Boy, I used to have such a huge crush on Olivia Newton-John.
Guess mine is not the first heart broken,
my eyes are not the first to cry
I'm not the first to know,

there's just no gettin' over you

Hello, I'm just a fool who's willing
to sit around
and wait for you
But baby can't you see, there's nothin' else for me to do
I'm hopelessly devoted to you
What a fuckin' asshole, that Danny Zucko!
Sandy, can't you see
i'm in misery
We made a start
Now we're apart
There's nothin' left for me
Love has flown
All alone I sit
And wonder whyi-yi-yi
Oh why you left me
Oh Sandy
Yeah, Danny. Big mystery. We all wonder whyi - yi -yi.

I remember seeing this at the old Whitwood Theater. You could pay a buck and stay all day. Just keep watching the two movies that were playing. I think it was Grease and Foul Play, over and over. That's a lot of sodas, I'm telling you. Good thing they had "Beauty School Dropout" right there in the middle; a built in intermission...

Lots of good songs in Grease.
I got chills.
They're multiplyin'.
And I'm losin' control.
'Cause the power
you're suplyin',
it's electrifyin'!
Yeah. I got chills, too. But, I think I preferred her before, rather than her after version. That's just me, though. Still, both were good.

Anyhow, I don't think I'd seen Grease in a few years, so it was sorta nostalgic. My daughter liked all the songs, and she seemed to know some of them (we played the tape a lot when she was a baby). I told Allie that I had the album and she wants me to look for it. That's a problem, since I don't have a turntable anymore. Gotta re buy...

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