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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
smee's LiveJournal:
| Wednesday, December 6th, 2000 | |
| 3:36 pm | Quality People.... I recently had the opportunity to meet Joel Rothschild, at his home, for his birthday party and the airing of his interview with Cynthia Garrett and Rebekka Armstrong on the Later show, NBC after Late Night with Conan O’Brian. Cynthia Garrett hosted the Later show which featuring Joel and Rebekka. Joel is one of the longest living AIDS survivors and the author of a book called Signals…you can get the details from the articles included from his web page. www.joelrothschild.com and Rebekka’s webpage at www.rebekkaarmstrong.com. At any rate, here’s the kicker about Cynthia. The show included Rebekka Armstrong and Joel Rothschild. Rebekka is a former Playboy Playmate and after having been diagnosed with AIDS is now active in educating and volunteering and fundraising for charities. As Joel tells the story. They were setting up to do the interview and Cynthia was given a script that focused on the playmate aspects of Rebekka and the sexual aspects of Joel’s life. Essentially they were trying to titilate with the interview instead of making it a legitimate interview that meant something, served a purpose and passed on a message. Cynthia read the script and refused to ask her guests those questions. She refused to make light of the situation. She tore up the script and did the interview on her own, writing new questions and new direction 15 minutes before the show went to tape. She did it off the cuff and she was told by the producers, “fine, you’re on your own with this one, Cynthia.” And they shot the interview. She did the interview, I saw it, it was intriguing, informative, honest, hopeful and touching. It wasn’t scintillating, it was good interviewing and even better knowing the story behind it. Joel, I got to meet at his birthday party. He’s an amazing man with a huge heart. Kind, caring and very much involved in helping others. Of course I plan on reading his book, and I hope you take the time to check out his and Rebekka’s web pages and hopefully read the book as well. Here’s the link to Amazon if you wish to order the book. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1577311507/joelrothschild/104-7070603-9598336 Thank God for people like these. |
| 11:43 am | important stuff... The last few days I've noticed some differences in what seems to be important to me. Call it maturity if you want, I don't care..it's noticeable. In the NY Times today I read an article titled " How to Help Solve the Teacher Shortage" Essentially it pointed out a ridiculous law that made it impossible for a retired public employee to work as a teacher and still collect their retirement benefits. They called it "double dipping". I guess I see this and wonder..what the hell does it matter? No one who lives in this country is unaware of the fact that our education system is failing. Slowly but surely test scores are dropping, there's violence and drugs and other problems. Our teachers are severely under paid, and our perspective on education is horrible! It doesn't seem right that if a person has worked to reap the benefits of retirement and then decides they want to teach that they should have their retirement removed. It seems to me that's essentially saying, sure you can teach but you're going to be punished for it. What the hell. I hope that one day I will be able to teach, and I hope that in my life I'll have an impact on the perspective of people and knowledge and education and the liberty and freedom that it gives us. I am eternally grateful to the people in my life who encouraged me to learn and grow and challenge myself. There are a handful of people who touched my life along the way that inspired me to do what I wanted to do, to follow my heart, and never to let the world stop me. To them I will always be indebted. |
| Monday, November 27th, 2000 | |
| 4:01 pm | Just when you lost faith in human kindness: Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 14:31:38 -0800 (PST) This will warm your heart..... Someone who teaches at a Middle School in Safety Harbor, Florida forwarded the following letter. The letter was sent to the principal's office after the school had sponsored a luncheon for the elderly. This story is a credit to all human kind. Read it and forward it to all those who could use a lift. Dear Safety Harbor Middle School, God blesses you for the beautiful radio I won at your recent senior citizen's luncheon. I am 84 years old and live at the Safety Harbor Assisted Home for the Aged. All of my family has passed away. I am all alone now and it's nice to know that someone is thinking of me. God bless you for your kindness to an old forgotten lady. My roommate is 95 and always had her own radio, but before I received one, she would never let me listen to hers, even when she was napping. The other day her radio fell off the night-stand and broke into a lot of pieces. It was awful and she was in tears. She asked if she could listen to mine and I said, fuck you. Life is good. Sincerely, Edna I've no idea if it's true, but oh my god, how funny.... I can see a relative or two of mine doing this. |
| Monday, November 13th, 2000 | |
| 6:59 pm | Something to think about...snippet wise ....they give you something to do, that's the difference between prison, jail and the army... |
| Sunday, November 5th, 2000 | |
| 6:31 pm | Hollywood Portrait...in a block to two... Just follow it... Beautiful night, windows open, slight breeze blows through the apartment. Cars go by outside, of course...it's LA. Somewhere between Hollywood and Sunset Boulevard. Go for a walk. Grab the keys, and a couple dollars. There's a starbucks not too far from here. Elevator down, out the front door and down the sidewalk. Palm trees in the sidewalk, tall and old, I wonder how many people have passed this same palm tree. Down the street a ways, pass a big ole flower bed, I never noticed that all the plants in that bed were actually potted. They're not even in the ground. Plastic $2 pots from Home Depot. I wonder if the people on the bottom floor do that themselves. Yikes! Dog poop on the sidewalk, and someone skidded their way through it at one point or another...hate that. A couple girls pass by, baggy clothing, nothing rich, teenagers. Just people. Turn the corner keep walkin. Honda blocking the sidewalk and a family saying goodbye. Dodge the Honda, headlights on...wouldn't it be typical to be one of a billion actors in this city and get run over by a Honda two blocks from the walk of stars. There's something poignant, sad, typical and bizarre about that. A bunch of folk on the sidewalk. Some goodbye. Oh, they're Russian. Hit the corner. Hey! That Russian restaurant's open. Every time I pass that place with my friend he says he want's to eat there. Wonder if he ever will. Maybe I'll take him there. Cross the street, dodge a car, hear the rustle of a plastic bag and some woman crossing the street. Look across, nope, still that silly hand, where's the little white guy? Long grey hair, dark blue wind pants "Can you help a homeless lady with some change?" A weathered face, somewhere in her 40's, deep lines and a cheap barette holding her hair back. Sorry. She turns away, little orange patches on the legs of her pants, one of those green nylon jackets with the grey cotton lining in it. I had one of those as a kid. What would it be like to be her? She walks on down the street, rearranges the bag in her hand. Maybe she's going to a shelter. I hope so. Ahhh..the little white guy. Cross the street, down a bit. What a nice little hedge, wait! Thats a chinese garden in there. hmmmm.. gonna have to come by and get some cheap chinese and eat there. Funky. Turn the corner into the coffee shop. Starbucks of course. Some guy's yelling at his german shepherd tied to the railing. Ethiopian blend, please. "I"m just making it, you wanna wait?" Nah, grande light blend'll be just fine. Thanks. Sure...oh, and one of these. "I don't have change for a five, all out of ones, just gimme two" huh? okay...hey thanks. Rummage through the paper recycling...semblance on an LA times. Some guy's next to me talking to some woman he doesn't know about these negatives he bought today. History of people. "See that guy? he's the mayor, and that license plate? hollywood one...that belonged to...I bought all of these prints, amazing the portraits of peoples lives you can see, theres a story in every one..." The woman at the table in front of me fidgets, scraggly hair, she's not drinking anything...she looks like she could be a street person grabbing some heat. The guy's dog is in the way of some woman in a red car outside..she honks. The dog looks, doesn't move, owner's back out there yelling at the dog. Some other guy comes along "awww..hey dog." pet pet pet. Owner's yelling at the guy. "dude, don't please. I'm having some control issues with the dog tonight." Funny look, "oh..uh sorry about that." Back inside.. Two guys grabbing for the same mocha. Always trouble. Never get in the way of another man's mocha. Read some of the LA times, funny cartoons, grab the classifieds, might be something interesting in there later the woman in front of me meets some guy. sounds like an internet hookup. ...out of time, head for the door. Down to the street corner. Drunken homeless looking guy crossing the street. Stops in the middle, headphones on his head, some random bullshit about the end of the world and the traffic and the MTA finishes the cross, passes by, passes by again.."not putting up with that bullshit, no way..." yells something at the Burger King sign.. Little white guy..cross the street. A guy in a wheelchair rolls on by, catches my eye, wild eyed guy, scary, maybe he's a vet, that would suck. Grimy, wearing one of those cotton hats like robbers wear, perfect visual of a homeless person. "That asshole's following me, gonna rob me of my cash, man..." How bizarre to think of how close to being on the street the average person is. Pass the strip mall, some guy passing out against the side wall of a building. Round the corner, back home. Thank God I've got one. My roomie's not back yet...Tracy Chapman, Gimme One Reason. Love that song. Rattle of keys at the door, my roommate and best friend. Gimme a hug, "why" because. |
| Saturday, November 4th, 2000 | |
| 1:06 am | Late night Disney and discount holiday dreams. I totally lucked out tonight at Disneyland. I decided to go at the last minute and I'm thinking, this is the third time I've tried to catch the fireworks from that perfect spot on main street. It's chilly, it's off season, it should be great. The fireworks start at 9:15. 9:30 rolls around and after two warnings by Disney's official voice of the magic kingdom, we hear something akin to, "Ladies and gentlemen, due to unusually high winds above the magic kingdom, our fireworks display has been cancelled." Of course it has. I show up, I'm there early, I hop on the tram, and the super-happy, semi-intelligible cast member tells us tonight's the premier of Disney's new Holiday Believe fireworks display, I get excited, I get the perfect spot on main street and THIS happens. Completely typical. Hmph...okay. So at least I got to watch the little rodents next to us run around their baby carriage, rub their pungent little green apple suckers all over their round little faces and their mother's body. It was amusing. I also noticed that there are a LOT of gay guys at Disneyland. Wow. Who woulda knew that every day was gay day at Disney? So the good part was I got to ride rides because as soon as they said, no fireworks, the place cleared out like mad. hee hee hee 10 minute wait for Indiana Jones, 5 minute wait for Matterhorn, no wait for the ultra boring Autopia where you can't even ram the person in front of you with any measure of fun, and NO wait for space mountain. Nice eh? Can't complain about that! Love Disneyland. Love it! Oh, and did I mention that it was open until midnight? That's how I got to do all the rides. Too cool. So I hop in my car, drive home and I'm thinkin...whooohooo, the open road home. HAR HAR HAR. Detour off the 5, confusing signs and ANNOYING selfish bastards on the road all around me. I witnessed two people literally having car, tizzy fits, trying to keep other people from getting in the merge lane. The traffic in a city tells you a lot about the temperament of the people who live there. Traffic here is less than pleasant. Oh, but the city looked beautiful at night tonight, all lit up, and the winds blew most of the smog off, so you could see everything lit up. Beautiful. Even the moon looked a lot less like a poorly filtered street light than usual. It was a great night. Oh SHIT! I almost forgot. How many years has it been since you've been through "It's a small world." Well let me tell you, it's totally different right now. The whole ride is a huge it's a small Christmas thing. It's all been strung up for the Holidays. Yes, Nov 5 and Disneyland is nothing but shiny balls and Christmas lights. Which brings me to the tree. Oh my...I just have a hard time believing that Walt would approve of a frosted tree. Disney's entrance never looked so Blue Light Special. Ahhh well...you can always console yourself in the Gibson Girl shop. :) |
| Wednesday, November 1st, 2000 | |
| 11:17 am | Moments you KNOW you don't like... I'm sitting in my chair, I turn my head to look at the TV. I feel a tiny little "snap" in the base of my head. ...pain...but worse....the knowledge that something back there's messed up and at any minute I could reach for a pen, tie my shoe or sneeze and I'd spend the next four days moving like Tom Servo. |
| Monday, October 23rd, 2000 | |
| 12:57 pm | GOD THAT FEELS GOOD... This would be a direct quote of what I said in response to a Pacific Bell Internet survey that the company sent me. "Pacbell continues to prove that it's customer service and technical support is a substandard excuse for an internet service provider. My email and internet access has never been more unreliable since internet access became public. It felt SOOOO GOOD to be able to tell them exactly what I thought. Sometimes you really have to thank God for those automatically generated surveys. Praise Jesus! Suggestions: Hire more staff, treat them better so they can at least have the opportunity to have a decent attitude about their jobs. Change your policy from screwing people over by providing overpriced "services" mass marketed by horribly annoying commercials to at least some cosmetic attempt at providing a quality product to a number of people you can actually provision. Would I recommend PacBell Internet Services to a friend or colleague? That would be akin to recommending a horrible skin disease to a model; recommending the acquisition of stock in a failing company to a single mother of 3 who wants to invest in something safe, or embedding small splinters under a typists fingernails, in short. NO WAY IN HELL." I recently switched ISP's...if you're in the LA area and are looking for an alternative, call Earthlink / Sprint, they actually have a good one and you can ditch the bastards... |
| 12:20 pm | The things life teaches you... Life is so cool. Just when you think your life is boring and everything around you sucks you realize something about yourself and it all makes sense. Then it's okay, you can deal with it and move on. As I get older I realize how important my friends are. I've never had a whole ton of them, but just a few that have been special. Good, close friends I'll never stop loving. And family. Family is SO important. My family is much different than myself. I'm the creative, outgoing, risky one of the bunch. And I'm the youngest..so take that into account. I'm the wanderer, the dreamer, the artist, and that doesn't make that much sense to my father, it makes my mother miss me because I'm always off experiencing some other thing in life, and it makes my brother jealous and my sisters envious but supportive. I love them all. I wish I could see them more often and hopefully soon that will be able to happen. (I'm banking on that successful dream here...) Something a friend said recently made me appreciate the person I am though....She's living back in her home town and she's experiencing that feeling you get when you realize that something big really did happen somewhere between high school graduation and returning home. "Since I'm not a practicing fundamentalist Christian, or married with a dog and a rig, I don't really fit in." Maybe it's because she used the phrase, "married with a dog and a rig" or maybe it's because we've known each other since we were like 10 and I see how she's changed, and I've changed and it's one of those realization moments, but it hit me all the same. The way I see it, is that she's experiencing, like me, what it's like to be an artist, a thinker, a dreamer. You're different than your surroundings and you know it, you feel it. It doesn't mean you're above anyone, you're just different. And that's good, as long as you accept it, and live it, and thrive in it. I went to Chicago with my best buddy recently and I had a great time. I love the city, but I was also inspired and reminded to be myself, and to be open to the experience of life, everywhere I go. Since I've been back in LA, I've realized that I let a lot of my creativity and energy get sucked away by the ickiness of the city and the difficulty that goes with just living here. Well kids, sometimes it sucks but ya gotta deal with what you have to deal with. Make waves by being yourself. I can't be afraid to produce some art and quality theatre because the majority of the stuff here sucks...hell what an opportunity. Ahhhh...self exploration and discovery...ain't it grand? Or is it just two huge cups of coffee with a ton of sugar. Hmmmm... I think I'll call it "inspiration". |
| 10:04 am | A subtle hint that tells you your fork is NOT clean... Lip lines left from the last person who used it. |
| Wednesday, October 18th, 2000 | |
| 11:21 am | Is it hope, delusion, ingnorance, denial or downright bs? I'm going through resumes of people who are applying for the position that I'm actually working right now. (There's a lesson to be learned in that statement.) And as I do, I see a whole hell of a lot of things that are just interesting as hell to me. People....that's what's interesting. And their perspectives. We all view this world by our own colored glasses. We all have our own perspectives on life and it's amazing to sit on the receiving end of what people expect out of sending a resume. How can I put this a little better? A person reads an ad in the trades or a job listing. That person may have a job already and be looking for something new, not have a job at all...a newcomer to LA who threw everything in the car and decided that their fate was in the city of angels and they'd make it no matter what...or maybe it's a disilusioned actor who made that trek and now the rent's due...10 days late for the fourth month in a row and there's nothing left to sell. So they give in, they bite the bullet and decide to go for the steady job. Okay..so there's that person, you pick their background but you get the gist, they all have a history, a story. Now they read that ad, they send in a resume with a cover letter. Some of them are good, some are bad, experience from nothing to uber-assistant to mega executive, but they all have a presumption on what this ad means. They're all looking for something...and it shows in what they say, and what they don't say. Here's one, she's already working for a huge studio and she's apparently looking for something else, and her boss doesn't know. tell tale sign: "Please accept the attached resume in strict confidence..." Now I know where she's at and in all actuality this statement makes me wonder how long she's been in LA, does she have any idea how the corporate structure works in this city and just how delusional is this person? She's seeking a "challenging position in a professional environment that offers opportunity for advancement and rewards initiative and achievement." Looking for a position that "rewards initiative and achievement" is like looking for a place where money falls from trees and people eat chocolate and never get fat. The sad truth about the Hollywood structure is that it's all about who you know, not what you know or how well you do it. Sad but true.... |
| 11:09 am | Chicago and back....Oh my..."Isn't LA fabulous?" After having spent the last several days in Chicago I must say I'm ever so cheerful about being back in LA again. I went on vacation to Chicago. It was awesome. For a huge city, I have to say, I'm always amazed at what a great place it is. It was definitely time for me to escape the smog and flurry of fingers flying in traffic for something a little more refreshing. The crisp air, the sights of the trees changing color at the approach of winter. The smell and sound of the fallen leaves as they crunch under your feet. I took pictures. You'll see them later. I went out, and had a blast. The people were nice, the bars were smoky, that would be the only drawback to Chicago and certainly one of the things I actually do love about LA. There's something to be said for not having to put up with smoking in public places. So I had a great time, and coming back to LA, I realized that the only way to survive for me here is to focus on the few things that I do like about the city and try my damndest to enjoy it. It's so easy to slip into the oblivion that is paying the rent and wasting my money on small things here and there than don't matter and will end up nickel and diming me into an eternity here. New focus: To make the most of the day, and find those cool people that will make this place worth living in...And definitely not to lose sight of why I came here in the first place: To get started. NOT to remain. I'm a creature born for the seasons, the diversity and the interaction that comes with the city. I love people. Something about living in LA has sucked that life right out of me, I've become a lot more negative, and a lot more untrusting of people. That must end. I can't let this city make me harsh, I'm already a crass little shit as it is. That's all for now, get back to work you lazy bum! ;) |
| Tuesday, October 3rd, 2000 | |
| 5:35 pm | A little ingenuity and a lot of hudsp..hudsp..guts. Several months back I started this ingenious idea of upgrading my computer. Now it's not the first time I've ever attempted such things. I bought one complete computer some 7 or 8 years ago and since then I've been upgrading and doing it mostly myself. You learn a lot. One of the biggest things I've learned is that I don't yell and scream and kick and bite and fight about it any more. It's a long and tedious process, there's always something you forget and you're bound to have an endless amount of unknown errors before it comes out right. Components fight, they keel over, a little bit of static or a reversed cable and you have to buy something new. So you learn... that it's best to be rich and pay someone else for the pain and trouble. I'm not rich....so I learn patience. I hate patience. But all the same, I ordered this new motherboard, supposed to be ohhh so cool, it showed up, I put it in, it was defective, I send it back, to an online merchant, mind you. Who is supposed to send it back to the manufacturer and get a replacement. A month goes by, several phone calls, only maybe one returned, and I find out from the manufacturer that it's being replaced by the next motherboard up. Whoohoo! A new board with newer technology that's supposed to just rip. We love it when our computer rips. So they say they'll send it to me. A month goes by because you see, it has to be verified that I sent my board to the on line merchant who then sent it back to the people who made the bugger and then the people who made the bugger will send the merchant my new board, they'll put it back together and send the replacement package to me. I get the package a full 3+ months after I send in my original defective board. Efficiency is evident. Install the new board, it's fast, it's fun, it has it's fair share of complications, and bang, it dies. Restart...whooohooo....dies. Many times of this, it's obvious there's something wrong. Spend a week trying to find the time to call tech support while they're open and not while I'm at work. They're in the same time zone and their hours are 7-6 oh Glory! So I get my instructions, end up leaving work early one Friday, get the board put together, solve all the problems. no luck. send it back, get a replacement board. I got the replacement put it together....whoohoooo....dies. Same story. I've now done everything there is to be done in trouble shooting the board itself in hardware and software, okay now what? The processor. Two weeks of tech support and God knows how many times of putting this baby together and I get a hold of one guy who finally says, hey, your problem sounds like it's likely the processor, not the board. So check the processor. The morons didn't put the processor together correctly. Wrong equipment, so it heats up too much and shuts down. If I'm lucky the little brain's not fried and it'll work if I just get the right fan unit on the thing. Okay, so get the parts and that's what I get to try tonight. oh...but along the way, that shady on line company tried to rip me out of double charging me for my memory. God I love these people. I decided after figuring out what they were doing to send them a little email. Assume legal position, remember all the retentive language I possibly can and drag up years of credit history and reading contracts at all those temp jobs over the last year. So I write an email and let em have it. Either theyre gonna refund me my money or I'll turn their bastard butts into Better Business Bureaus and legal authorities all over the country. Fraud baby. Only it sounded more like, "failure to comply with the aforesaid demands of reasonable recompense will be considered acceptance of such fraudulent charges and will result in the registration of multiple complaints..." with people who will kick your ASS! So I got a letter back, they'll pay me off if I don't tell on them to the manufacturer and every other public and legal bureau who could nail em. Oh...I'll wait till they give me the money back and then...OOOPS! I don't know how all those legal people got hold of such information. Just the very thought that these bastards have more than likely done this to God knows how many people out there makes me furious. Crooked people deserve to be caught, and I'll be damned if some sleazy little computer geek in the middle of nowhere is going to take me for a ride, much less anyone else across the country if I can help it. United Micro, kids...don't go there. Spell it with me. Crooked as a snake. I just pray I can run this one over with my tires. Argh. So let's all bow our heads and pray they get what's coming to them, I get my money back and that darn computer of mine actually works tonight. Amen. |
| Tuesday, September 26th, 2000 | |
| 10:18 am | Things that conjure images in your head.... "I had no idea pantyhose were so versatile." |
| Monday, September 25th, 2000 | |
| 10:40 pm | A Snippet from Mom... I can't take all this stress. This has been the year of the deaths. Everybody, including the animals is dying. Kolton has been having tantrums, when he dosen't get his way, he cries, and gaggs, coughs, and then throws up!! Lisa is about to go crazy!! Remember when Lisa was a baby and she would have a tantrum and cry and hold her breath and turn blue ?? I thought she was gonna die. at least she didn't throw up first! Today he wanted a wooden spoon Lisa bought to smack Kaleb with when he doesn't mind, well Kolton wanted to play with it, he smaked Lisa with it, then she took it away, he cried and started his tantrum, fell on the floor, banged his head on the floor,crying, then coughed, then gagged, then threw up. What is a mother to doo?? I tink I am going crazy too. Artn't you glad you are not here?? get me another beer.. I am sure glad your dad is gone hunting... Love ya.. mom... |
| Friday, September 22nd, 2000 | |
| 4:00 pm | State of affairs.... What's the scoop here? Well it's mostly the same as usual. A few things have happened that are nice. I ended up taking that job from the friend at the studio and I'm here "indefinitely." What does that mean? In reality, it means I'm gonna go through the motions of being an assistant for the next few weeks until they get the real person in here. Then I'll stick around a week or so longer and switch to another position. God I love diversity. One thing's for damn sure, unless the office is busy as hell and I can stay busy doing interesting things..it's not for me. I wasn't cut out to be an assistant. I'm too witty, too crazy and I get iritable when it's between 2 and 4 and I need a nap, or a walk or a piece of candy. :) Ohhh...yeah, the one thing that I've learned in this job is that it's sooo easy to fall into the trap of continuous munching. The snacks are only a little bit away, and if you really want more you can stop at the commisary. There's coffee, and doughnuts, and candies, and treats, oatmeal for breakfast, sandwiches and Panda Express for lunch, late afternoon there's cookies...it's easy to get fat. I have to watch the snacks cuz I know if I don't I'll be watching my ass baloon and THAT's not good. On the ass-balooning front, it seems my diet is going moderately well, every day I get more and more determined to get more healthy and do more things. I get a little more motivation to drag my butt out of bed at 7am to do some cardio. (though I'm not quite there yet.) Monday is the day all that rot begins. Cardio, abs and legs get added in. The goal? See my abs, make em bigger, lose the ass and figure out where the hell I lost those speed skater's legs. Argh! Speaking of legs, the Olympics are just too much fun, wouldn't you say? What the hell is up with the American gymnasts? Come now, is it really necessary to give the events away? Yikes. I think the guys have been playing just a bit too much. Lord only knows doing what. The other major source of entertainment for me would have to be the computer. Yes, My Computer. And I don't mean the stupid default file that Microsoft thinks you want to put all your crap in. I mean the whole damn thing. At the moment, mine's in about 5 pieces. I've installed the new, long-awaited massive motherboard, and every complication known to man has occurred. Even so far as the software CD that teaches the damn thing how to run being defective. Defective? Try somewhere near intrisically electronically dysfunctional. I got the board running, it starts up, Windows is reinstalled and poof..shuts off. Start again, think it's gonna work and poof it shuts off.. ooop, guess what? Now ya gotta reinstall windows because while it was poofing itself it poof'd the hard drive and nuked a few vxd files. (If you don't know what those are, don't fret, just know that if you get a vxd error on one of those pretty blue Windows error screens, your screwed. Call someone who has a large supply of Valerian root and some moderately extensive knowledge in how to tease Windows into working again.) Ooooh...I love Microsoft.... So what else..oh, yeah, I found out that the company I bought the board from ripped me off on the memory that I purchased, but Intel is actually going to pay for me to have it all put together the right way from a real technician. Now...if I can just find one. That's the story on those fronts...Social update under separate cover...:) |
| 3:50 pm | Moments to remember... Not long ago I was driving home from the gym. Typical day, frustrated with traffic, boring job at a studio, didn't do much of anything and the people were ridiculously stupid. Ignorance and stupidity seem to run rampant in some positions...anyway... I drive home, pull into the driveway, about to enter the garage, notice this nice, old lady standing there, I think "awww..look at her. She's cute." Her little crocheted sweater, her little pink shirt, white comfy tennies and a bright little skirt. Her hair was all coifed with those big, what was it, 50's style untouched curls? The gate opens, I'm about to drive down in. The next thing ya know, grandma slips off her panties and throws em in a bush. Now isn't that sweet... |
| Wednesday, August 30th, 2000 | |
| 12:28 pm | What would YOU do if you needed money BAAAAADDDD.... Ever wonder that? I do. Especially right now. I signed up with this new temp agency. Let's just say they suck and leave it at that. :) So not having much work makes you come up with all kinds of creative ideas for how you can get cash. Me? I sell stuff on E-bay. Pretty much anything I have that's extra and anything else I can get my hands on. So I have that to help in the mean time, but let me tell you honey, ya gotta have a good supply of stuff to make the money you need to get by on. So I'm looking for some suppliers of "stuff". Which brings me to the latest LA scam I fell into. Oh yeah, we all do it eventually. Well I decided to chance this option of getting Wal Mart returns to sell. You get your basic box of items filled with all kinds of stuff that gets returned to Wal Mart. Well I decided to risk it, off the cuff, and paid the money from an ad on-line. Something in the back of my head said "check it out" but we all know that the little voice needs to be kicked in the teeth every once in a while, well I decided this was one of those times. So I paid the money. Now that little voice with the messed up teeth has a smarmy little smart ass grin on his face, cuz he was right. I later checked the guy out and found out it was a scam. DAMN! $65 bucks down the drain. Yikes. Love that. But what does it tell ya? It happens. Now don't get all wierd and think that everything on line is that way, it's not. No different than walking down, say, Hollywood Boulevard and buying something from one of the freaky little electronics stores on the street. Some are legit, some are hot items and I don't mean they're on sale, baby. So I got a call from my OTHER temp agency. The one that I love. They placed me in an office where I've been before, the people are cool and an opportunity comes up. As always. Just when you think life's horrible and there's no way out... Well one of the execs I worked with and who is extremely cool came into the office, said hello and asked how things were going.. "GREAT! Finances suck right now, but life is rather enjoyable really." So what does she say? "I'm going to talk to (you don't get to know) and see if I can do something to help you." Awwww...don't you love friends? I do. LOVE THEM! Now everything comes at a price, so here's the price...can I make this work, justify the "actor" side of me, pay off my bills, make the money to do the actor thing and not lose my creativity? I sure as hell hope so. We'll see what happens.... |
| Monday, August 28th, 2000 | |
| 12:31 pm | Just get what you want and get it over with... So I've been looking to trade off my car for a long time now. Months. I have a '96 Subaru Outback. I love it. It's roomy, sporty, different from the average car out here in LA. It's nice. BUT it's a "shift-it-yourself" model, and we all know how traffic is out here. Nasty! So I've decided to get rid of it and get something new. The good news is that it's worth quite a bit so I can trade it in for something in a '99 version and not have to pay much of anything. Maybe a grand. Not bad. Since this is LA and you may not know the car, this is what I have: http://Reports.IntelliChoice.com/Reports/Used/96/540/9654005/photo.gif So I think through it and decide that yes I do want a new car, it's a good time to sell mine because it's resale value is pretty high and I should come out on top. I want an automatic, something reliable that I can still throw stuff in and will be fun for road trips in. GREAT! Look around. What do I find? Passat's, Jettas, Ford Contour, Nissan Maxima. Not bad... Enter ATTITUDE. hee hee hee Here's where I realize intelligence be damned I want something more fun and God forbid, SEXY. What's left? Jetta and Cougar...but oh WAIT! What about the new Ford Kona Focus. NIIIIIICEEEE. Test the Jetta, nice, fun, frisky, very European. Better? Yes. Newer? No. Okay, so I look at the Ford Kona Focus ZX3, love it. Don't know what it is? Please! Catch up! http://www.focus247.com/images/kona_photo2.jpg Fun, frisky, still VERY European and amazingly interesting for a Ford. Wow! There's tons of room in these babies, the limited edition comes in a color called "Dirt." How can you not love this? Comes with a bike that they'll tell you isn't extra but they're lying. :) All the same, a great little car with all the extras $16,000 list price. So we know we can get it for less. I went for it. Dealt on it, went to pick up the car and sign the paperwork. Woah, wait, hold it, stop! "Where do you get those numbers from?" I said. INSERT: I'm not that great with numbers, so I try to pay close attention and make em write it all out. RESULT: They're trying to screw me over. ACTION: Go back to the first guy I dealt with. Synopsis: "Woah, Henry, these numbers aren't right, I'm not giving you my car for that much less, and no I'm not paying you $19,000 for a car that should be dealt down to $15,000 to begin with. And what happened to the extra $2,000 you're supposed to be giving me on my subaru?" Henry: "That's what they call 'profit'." "That's what I call 'Bullshit'. Not acceptable." *smile* Regroup, start looking again. Where was I? Ford Contour, Mercury Cougar. Jetta was out. Okay, Ford Contour. Test em. Nice car, fun, spritely. Must have the V6 with all the candy because baby we can get em for almost a straight trade across for the Subaru. Nice! EEEK! The back seat doesn't fold down in the Contour. THAT SUCKS! What if I want to go skiing? Or buy some big ole thing from IKEA? Ugh. Contemplate. Can I live with this? Oooh look, you can get a rack for the top that looks pretty cool. Okay, I can deal with it. Drive home. What the HELL am I thinking! Mercury Mystique=Ford Contour with candy. Duh. Look at the Mystique, love it more. Leather interior, cool trim, power everything, same good engine, much more plush, back seats fold down. I'm sold. Turn around. See Black, 2000 Mercury cougar. DAMN! I LOVE THESE CARS! UGH! Why was I not getting the Cougar in the first place? Possible slight price difference in getting a used one. I can deal with that. Oh yeah, not quite enough room. Wait. Notice the back seats fold all the way down to accommodate all your crap and IKEA things! Okay, so it's not real responsible and the only people who are going to ride in the back for any long period of time are either very very tiny or you secretly hate them. At this point, if you're thinking of the old style cougars CATCH UP!!!! DAYUM! Educate yourself: View the new Cougar. http://www.mercuryvehicles.com/coug/ Hmmm...sexy, sleek, different, fun. A great image car and they're sooo damn fun to drive. hee hee hee. Now for some reason at this point I realize I've been giving in to some kind of left-over Catholic guilt that says I can't have a fun/nice car for the sake of having a really fun car. Why? I have NO idea. So I say "bite my ass" to the stupid little voice that keeps telling me I can't have it and I call the family friend to see about getting one. So there I am. I'm waiting for the phone call to tell me what the price is on the Cougar and if I can do it, I'm going to because DAMMIT I want one! So along the way I've learned that life is WAY too short to snub yourself into thinking you shouldn't have such things. Who cares? What REAL reason do you have for not treating yourself well? For everything you choose, you lose something. Everything has a price. You might as well be happy with what you've got. Moral: Have fun, Look good, feel GREAT! To be continued..... |
| Friday, August 25th, 2000 | |
| 11:47 am | Quote "It's always someone name Princess or Cookie who fucks everything up." |