boring meets bizarre

I was stuck in a special advanced software training for the past two days.

On the way home, I hopped on a bus on Hollywood Blvd and noticed a lot of trucks blocking a lane, and then a lot of equipment and thought... they must be getting ready for a pre-oscars event (held there next month)... a couple of seconds later, I hear a slowly building roar of several hundred people shouting and screaming as a big black SUV pulled away...

I could make out lots of people yelling "Jennifer." I'm presuming it's the blonde girl with her back to the bus under all the heavy lamps. She must have just arrived, because blinding flash bulbs are going crazy, the screaming is intensified, and everyone on the bus gravitates to one side grabbing at their cell phones to take pictures. (Me among them, obviously - we are inately a herd when it comes down to it, really, I had no choice. At least I had an actual camera.) The cool thing about the scratchy bus window in the picture, is that unlike the pictures Mark took a while ago of Will Smith and Tom Cruise at same venue, his looked professional and nice, so you would not know that he was actually standing in front of these folks. Sure, they look better, but no one will believe that he took them. - If you missed them, I can't create a direct link but you can scroll down his archive to December 12,2007 to see them.

I can't think of who the blonde bob-haired famous Jennifer might be in my photo. I found an alphabetical list of all the famous Jennifers and narrowed it down to (at some point in time had short blonde hair - since I don't track the current status of these things) possibles and came up with: Aniston, Grey, Jason Leigh. I also looked all over the internet (not my strong suit) trying to figure out what event was going on, and all I learned is that the oscars go on display there tomorrow, and that the California Presidential Debate is in that building tomorrow. Today? Nilch.

But the whole thing was more exciting that the greviously insane lady that kept swatting at invisible bats and yelling racial slurs on the bus yesterday. (Interesting always happens on the LA public transit system. If you want an adventure, ride. It will not disappoint.)

the first sign of a long day

from my sketch book

I did both of these today:

Always my greatest inspiration, The Man.

and a self portrait.

Together, it sort of looks like I'm giving him the sexy eye, and he is either totally grossed out, or trying not to laugh. I can't decide which.

the cat's meow

I might have forgotten to post this. Of course she's blurry. She's a cat with a hat.

putting the stud in study

It occurs to me that you must really love me to be reading about the extremely banal things that I decide to write.

Captains Log: Stardate 1.25.2008 ...
Encountered a gaseous planet. No. That's just the bathroom.

Actually, I attended a technical lecture today on a theoretical technique of statistically predicting future losses, hosted by the published and accomplished actuary who came up with it. So, it's not as interesting as seeing around town the actors who play (that I can think of):

• dad character on 'Alias,'


• the crazy guy from 'Prison Break,' or


• the geeky guy from 'The Office...'

or getting asked if we want to be paid to have a Hallmark commercial filmed in our apartment, or having the building across the street burn down last week and have 6 blocks closed down for the day, or such a storm the last two days that there were tornadoes in Malibu and hail falling at our place... but those things happen too. They just aren't as interesting as Stochastic Regression Models.

We watched "I Am Legend" and "Cloverfield" last weekend... and are back to the theatres for date night tomorrow - probably "There Will Be Blood."

I also started studying this week. The great news is that for the next 17 weeks, you can expect a predictable post every day saying "All I did is study." Every now and then I'll throw in the occasional, "I tried to study, but I just couldn't" to change things up. Living vicariously through me will have to wait until summer break. Good thing I'm not trying to make any money with my blog or anything, as encouraging as I am to my readership.

Mark is still whittling away on the old final draft of his script. It just gets better and better with each draft... and I am excited for him. He has another couple of weeks worth of work to do.

I was told officially today that I got my position at the Corporate Home Office, and am no longer in limbo. (This is great news, I think.) I guess everyone thought that someone else had already told me for sure, so it's been official for a while... I was just the last one to find out.

I guess I had something to say after all. And here I thought all I did was study.

labor dispute resolved

LOS ANGELES -- The brain returned to work two days ago after a long hiatus of several weeks. Labor striking has left a broad swath of functional tasks unmanned from Household Initiatives to Sweeping Professional Credibility, as brain service shut down at major terminals in both the right and left hemispheres over the past few weeks. This nightmare scenario has overlapped peak seasonal operations in the area of critical exams and holiday hustle. Millions of Neurons were disrupted by the conflict.

There has never been a strike of this magnitude in the brain's 31.5-year history, and recent developments in talks between the brain and Mona make likely that additional future striking will be averted, either through a last-minute deal or intervention by Medical Professionals.

The brain walked out largely as a result of wage disparities of oxytocin and seratonin between the right and left hemisphere, tough working conditions and unsuccessful meditation to resolve the conflict.

Siding with the unions, the hypothalamus recommended that wage increases be made retroactive and that labor divisions equitably divide the brain's resources. Mona, which relies on the Brain and its subsidies, is worried about whether it can afford the back pay.

Under the Brain Equality Labor Act, most disputes that get to this point end with a contract with the Emergency Scrapbooking Board. In cases when that doesn't happen, Sleep usually imposes the board's recommendations.

Still, officials for Mona across the country are bracing for the much hoped for increase in productivity as the brain returns to its acclaimed high standard of service.

I got a zero

(I'm going to be that much more impressed with myself when I finally pass.)

exam

The passing candidate numbers for the actuary exam I took were released this morning. My number was not on the list. I was expecting that, so I have already been studying again. I'm sure I'll do better next time. I will post my points as soon as I get them. (It's a scale of 0-10 with 6 required to pass. As long as I get at least a 3, I will be happy.)

A plus

I don't know how to spell the sound effect that goes with this posting, but imagine choirs of angels and ascension to heaven... because that is how I feel.

I tinkered with my Christmas toy, (the not-so-fun part of installing drivers and getting the hardware and software communicating, calibrating settings, testing, etc.) And finally, I made my first "cut" -- this letter "A." I needed an 'a' for this page I just made prior to getting the cutter. (The rest of the word "april" is cut by hand, the time consuming way.)

whoopee

My big Christmas gift arrived today.

I am on page 22 of the user manual, and forgot to eat two meals. I don't think that has ever happened before. (Either thing.)

merry craftsmas

Our cats' favorite holiday is coming to a close. They love climbing the tree and batting the glass ornaments off the branches, unwrapping the presents with their claws, climbing into empty boxes, and chasing scraps of crumpled paper around the house. (Here is a picture of Kazi trying to look innocent.)

I made everything mostly from scratch... even clumpless gravy from the ham drippings! The gravy was surprisingly good with a sweet touch from the honey glaze. I made most preparations in advance so that it all threw together in about 1/2 hour. Everything was as delicious as it was beautiful. A major accomplishment. (I even crafted the centerpiece.) I'm kind of proud of myself here, and not abashed about it at all.

This little John Deer tractor is one of the new ornaments we got to start our emphasis on the tree being a story of our lives. It reminded me of trips to look at tractor stuff with my dad when I was little.


Above: Mark with some of his movie-buff booty... second only to his love affair with books.

Above: Another new ornament that speaks to the special relationship we have with our kitties... how much they mean to us, and how we love and pamper them.

trimmings

Mark and I went to AZ for quick holiday hello. I helped decorate the family tree - I wanted to hear the back story on each ornament... we found an old photo of the tree in the early 1970's and tried so see how many ornaments from the picture were still on the tree.

And one of my favorites - we watched old 8mm family videos - Mark repeatedly falling on his 18-mo-old face trying to run downhill... and skating a half-pipe when he was 11... (a reel we thought was lost.) Pretty amazing.

lost

In a rare moment, I must confess that I am REALLY a big fan of the T.V. show "LOST."

At first, it was a guilty pleasure that I would try to conceal... like my mail order catalog fetish, or my love of soft socks and patterned paper.

But, I have been watching season 3 on DVD - and have noticed something new. This show is not just a pithy soap opera. It has deep and meaningful subtext, philosophical parody and satire. And the characters are far from generic stereotypes.

Check out the wiki if you don't believe me. I particularly enjoyed the list of character references (many names are pulled from famous thinkers during an 18th century battle of ideas: free will/social democracy ergo American Revolution vs. Calvinists pushing for social morality/Socialism & Royal Decree - as well as other fine moments of revolutionary thought.) Very Shakespearan - with the difficulty in pinpointing which group are the savages...

And I never really noticed show much literature is mentioned. (Or that it is always Sawyer reading whatever he can get his hands on.)

Thank you, TV land, for making one good show. If only you could figure out how to reproduce it.

2 years

I took Friday off and we went to Sea World for our anniversary. It was a very nice to have the whole day and just play.

This all white Beluga Whale was one of our favorites. So large and graceful, I could have watched this one swim all day.




I petted the sting rays and touched a starfish and some kind of plant grabbed my finger and suctioned it. I also threw slimy fish at the seal.

We were one of the first people there and had a few minutes alone with Baby Shamu. It was very cool, because it seemed like she was playing with us.

The shark walkway, penguin habitat, and eel cavern were other faves.

Much fun.

nancy

My friend asked me to help her make a scrapbook for a Christmas gift... so the past few days, we have been churning out an elegant little book.

Nancy is a prodigy. Here are a few of her layouts. Keep in mind, this is the first time she has ever done this. I'm jealous of her gift.

Here are a few of the ones I made. I love that Nancy's taste pushes me to streamline my layouts into simple and clean.

More.

elf

Click to see my elf dance.

family tree

I was going to respond to McKay's question in a comment, but I really had meant to say more about our tree. I think I got interrupted and just posted quickly in order to do something else without completing my thought.

As I was saying, we decided that this will be our last "pretty" tree... because we got in a conversation about the trees we had growing up and how each ornament had a story attached to it. As a collective, the tree held the family history. "This one was from that time we went to Yellowstone," or "I made this when I was in the third grade."

... and while my tree is lovely... it doesn't have our story. We decided that from now on, we will collect ornaments on our travels and during our life that mean something... and our tree will be an eclectic collection of our stories... it will be colorful and imaginative. But it won't be a Macy's Tree.

I think it will probably still be just as pretty, just in the sense that we think our life together is beautiful.

As a first ornament toward our story, I want to buy a melting clock to commemorate our trip to see the special Salvadore Dali exhibit at the local museum.