My First Poll-ish Joke

I wouldn’t touch that blog with a ten-foot pole!

Dog Names, Not People Names

Got this from my Steep and Cheap Daily Dose:

From: “SteepandCheap.com” <dosage>
Date: March 13, 2010 11:18:30 PM PST
Subject: Dog Names, Not People Names

It’s bad when you meet a person walking a dog, and then the next time you see them you know the dog’s name but not their name. It’s not uncommon to see a cute dog in the street and bend down to pet it and then asks its name. It’s fairly rare to follow-up with the owner and ask their name. Dog names are much easier to remember because they’re usually odder or more dynamic than human names, and on the rare day that you meet a dog named Josh, well, then that seems ever weirder so you remember it.

I promise I won’t keep posting these…  I just thought this one was so true!

A HOBBIT HOME!

Most of you know I like eco-friendly, low-impact, sustainable, recyclable practices and the like. I buy organic, local, grass-fed, pastured, raw food and even just got a plot at a local urban garden! So when I came across this home, you can imagine my delight!

The builder is a photographer! I think this photo is beautiful.

Can’t you just imagine sipping hot cocoa by the fire here?

They built it themselves for under $6000 usd!

AND THEY HAVE KIDS!

And they’re not the only ones who arebuilding homes like this!

FREE FUN

Ryan and I have been on a tight budget.  That is not to say that we’re broke.  In fact, our giving is up, we’re making respectable contributions to our IRA and we’re paying down our debt in a responsible fashion.  But because we’re doing all these things, what’s left doesn’t leave much room for shopping sprees or reckless recreation.

So back in June I did a search of some blogs and discovered a few ideas for how to spend my time and not my money!  Here’s a few of my favourites:

Soap!

I have several friends who make soap; but one particular friend (who just moved west – you know who you are) who makes gorgeous-smelling soaps!  Her soap company is Luka Organics.

We had her and her husband over for a little get-together recently and she brought me two bars!  They smell awesome.  The green one is spearmint-eucalyptus and the orange one is honey-almond-oatmeal.  They’re heavenly!

I had purchased a whole bunch of these for myself and for friends just before Christmas.  They were awesome.  I’m looking forward to using these soon.  After all, soap was made to be used and enjoyed!

We’re finishing up some organic oatmeal soap bars that I’d purchased from Whole Foods right now.  After that, honey-almond-oatmeal!  Yum!

NEVER BACK DOWN – Or How To Survive Oral Surgery

I just lost four teeth.  I got into a fight with an oral surgeon.  He knocked me out with a left hook to the…  vein in my right arm.  It took about 45 seconds.  The last question I remember was the anesthesiologist asking me if I’m a cheap date.  ”Oh yeah,” I said, “One glass of wine on an empty stomach and I’m out.”

The next thing I remember is my mouth feeling like a giant cement ball and the nurse trying to help me put my long-sleeved shirt back on over my tank top.  I hadn’t been wearing it to begin with, I thought to myself; but I was too zonked to fight.  She walked me into the main hallway and sat me down on a padded bench.  I remember she put a cushion behind my back.  That was nice.  Then she went to get Ryan.

Ryan says I was really cute when he saw me – totally out of it and trying to type into my cellphone.  I was updating my facebook status.  I guess I’m a little addicted.

So the nurse told Ryan all the important stuff about how I’m supposed to recover from surgery and take care of the giant holes in my gums.  I don’t remember much of it because all I was concerned about was getting a drink of water.  I think I asked by motioning with my hands about three or four times.  She patiently reminded me each time that I had to wait until I got home to get a drink of water but once at home I could drink all I want.  My throat was parched.  I remember the drive home feeling rather painful.

Once at home, my first attempt at drinking failed rather miserably.  I couldn’t swallow.  The gauze, the numbness, the saraha desert in my mouth all made it rather difficult to manipulate my oral cavity.  Bloody water ran down my shirt.  I couldn’t even laugh at myself.  Into the bathroom we went to switch out the gauze and try drinking with a mirror.  For some odd reason that seemed to help.

I tried downing some yogurt.  No go.  Ryan left to get my prescribed painkillers (which I have not yet needed).  When he returned I felt hungry so I asked him to make me some scrambled eggs.  I ate about three bites.  The egg was easy to swallow without chewing; but I wasn’t hungry yet.  Ryan finished what I couldn’t eat.

So in order to pass the time while chilling my swollen cheeks, I pulled up one of the Netflix we’ve got in our Instant queue.  Don’t hate.  I chose, you guessed it, “Never Back Down.”

I trained in Mixed Martial Arts back in Vancouver before moving to Los Angeles.  I was able to train for a few months after I moved here at Bally Total Fitness in Hollywood but work and projects precluded me from continuing.  I miss training something awful and was willing to subject myself to a sub-par script just to watch the fighting.  It was worth it.

“Never Back Down” is a quintessential fight film.  A new kid moves to a new city.  He’s got father issues.  The cutest girl is with the meanest guy who turns out to be the new kid’s instant nemesis.  He’s got untrained talent and he needs to learn how to control his emotions.  It’s typical, but at least it works.

The dialog was as poor as expected with characters spouting their emotions at unbelievable moments and cliched pep-talks popping up right on queue; but at least it moved at a quick twenty-first century pace and was well-edited.  Good rhythm.  One other low point for the film was the obvious soundtrack and overuse of noticeable songs.

Now on to the high points.  Sean Faris.  He plays the lead kid and looks (and acts) shockingly like Tom Cruise.  It’s not surprising to me at all to take a look at his IMDb profile and see that he’s got six films in production and one more in development.  Watch this kid.  He’ll be playing Tom Cruise’s former self in a few years.  Mission Impossible IV anyone?

His love interest, the beautiful Scarlett Johansson look-alike, Amber Heard is unfortunately directed as a rather shallow one-note pony.  Did I just mix a few metafors?  It’s the painkillers.  Er, or not.  I think Amber’s got a lot more in her, and again, judging by her IMDb profile, plenty of others agree, including Johnny Depp, against who she plays opposite in the upcoming “The Rum Diaries”.  An actor from our film “The Rock ‘n’ Roll Dreams of Duncan Christopher” is also cast in that film – Marshall Bell.  Rock on Marshall!

Back to “Never Back Down” – while the story is simple, the dialog cheddar, and the music obvious, the fights more than make up for it.  This film knows it’s a fight flick and it lives up to its sub-genre gloriously.  There’s a lot of fighting in this film and it’s spaced out well.  We get to see him fight in the first scene of the film.  And it’s kinda believable too.  Also, the director makes interesting use of our new social phenomenon, YouTube and the like, showing us the fight again, from different angle as news of it travels across the inter-web.  Fun.

Once the kid ends up in his new state, things seem hopeful, but he happens upon a little sparring session that he mistakes for a fight, thereby getting himself involved in the rat’s nest of the local passion for mixed martial arts.  The rest of the fights and the training are interspersed throughout the film.  They’re all well-choreographed and shot for fight-lovers.  They’re shot so well in fact that I’d believe that the director, Jeff Wadlow, is a fighter.  Or perhaps it’s his cinematographer, the Swiss Lukas Ettlin, who likes to fight.  Who’s to say?  Regardless, I enjoyed every minute of it – the sparring, the training, the fighting.  Not too much.  Not to little.  Just right.  If you’re a fighter, or you like just mixed martial arts, you’ll enjoy the fighting in this film.  But you won’t see any teeth get knocked out.  They saved that for the match with my oral surgeon today.

I’m happy that I lost my teeth by paying some stranger to knock me out and dig around inside my mouth until they were gone, rather than get in a fight.  I’m really glad that I can watch a film and get the feeling like I did just win a battle and earn the respect of hundreds and the respect of my little brother and I didn’t need to get kicked in the ribs to do it.  I’m rather grateful for my missing teeth that caused me to watch a silly ol’ film and enjoy some champagne grapes (cause they’re the only thing I can swallow right now).

And write.  I’m coherent enough to write.  Or am I?  I haven’t taken the painkillers yet.  I’m still tasting a little blood (perhaps that heightened my “Never Back Down” experience?), but I think my holes are clotting well.  Maybe I’m still experiencing the anesthesia?  Does it make me verbose?  Does it matter?

P.S. Ryan’s a great nurse.  Tell him I said so.

Eagle Rock ‘n’ Roll Farmers Market

Driving down Colorado Blvd one day last week, I’d seen the signs for a new Eagle Rock Farmers Market – hosted by PD Markets.  It’s called the Eagle Rock ‘n’ Roll Farmers Market.  I’d just been to the awesome Hollywood Farmers Market with Amy so I was ready to check this one out.

Ecclesiastes 6:1-9

There is another serious tragedy I have seen in our world. God gives great wealth and honor to some people and gives them everything they could ever want, but then he doesn’t give them the health to enjoy it. They die, and others get it all! This is meaningless-a sickening tragedy.

A man might have a hundred children and live to be very old. But if he finds no satisfaction in life and in the end does not even get a decent burial, I say he would have been better off born dead. I realize that his birth would have been meaningless and ended in darkness. He wouldn’t even have had a name, and he would never have seen the sun or known of its existence. Yet he would have had more peace than he has in growing up to be an unhappy man. He might live a thousand years twice over but not find contentment. And since he must die like everyone else-well, what’s the use?

All people spend their lives scratching for food, but they never seem to have enough. Considering this, do wise people really have any advantage over fools? Do poor people gain anything by being wise and knowing how to act in front of others?

Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don’t have. Just dreaming about nice things is meaningless; it is like chasing the wind.

From the New Living Translation.

MAY 27

Here’s a little update about life at Club Fritch.

WRITING

I’ve been writing!  And I just completed the first draft on a screenplay that I’ve been writing for a producer in San Diego.  Woot!  I’m gonna get notes tonight and then I’ll start revisions.  It feels good to complete the first draft of another screenplay.  It feels like having climbed to the top of one end of a mountain range.  Woohoo!  I’m at the top!  But now I know that I have a whole mountain range (of revisions) to travel to get to the end -a script that’s ready for production.

But this process so far has been a real joy.  Why?  Other than the fact that I’ve really jived with this producer and he gives good notes, I’ve enjoyed it because it’s been an organized process.  We started with a story idea and fleshed it out into the 8-point story structure.  Then I fleshed that out into a 30-beat outline.  Then he had notes.  Then I fleshed it out into a step outline (about 67 “scenes”).  Then he had notes.  And a few others had notes.

And we talked about those notes.  Then I took that outline and wrote the script!

It was just a healthy rewarding writing process!  And in case I haven’t mentioned it before, I love the re-writing process.  So I’m even looking forward to that.  Yay!

…DUNCAN CHRISTOPHER

Club Fritch has a third member these days.  Justin Monroe has been our half-time resident.  He shows up in the morning with cappuccinos (yum!) and stays all day.  I make them (Ryan and Justin) lunch and I make them dinner (most days).  I have to make it for myself so I might as well make it for them too, eh?

The film is coming together.  They’re very close to a director’s cut.  Exciting!  Then the rest of the producers will weigh in and we’ll start the refining process.  But it’s looking good!

VACATION!

Ryan and I are leaving on Saturday morning for a whole week at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida with Ryan’s family!!  We are so excited!  It’s my first time there since I was seven years old!  Ryan was there last in 1999 I think.  It’s going to a fun, relaxing time.  We’ve got a park-hopper pass and we’ve paid for our meals up front and all that jazz.  I’m even thinking about not bringing my laptop for the sake of relaxation.  But I’ll have my iPhone.  So I can still blog and facebook and email.  I’m not that free from technology.

THE FUTURE?

When Ryan and I get back from Florida, he’ll have more work to do on the film.  And I’ll have more writing waiting for me as well as some headshots to take (of other people).  At some point soon I’ll get my own headshots taken.  But that’s future-stuff.

After that, we don’t know!  More editing for Ryan?  More writing for me?  More producing for both of us!?  Exciting times!

TEA TAG

All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, and desire.

- Aristotle

I’M BACK!!

I am now returning to the blog-o-sphere!  And since I’ve been gone there’ve been so many changes!

Wardeh has a new logo.  Very slick and eco-friendly.  She’s got a great blog over there about God’s natural, organic, whole foods, that are grown locally and in season.  I highly recommend.

Jack has started the paper trail.  It’s a fun game that happens on his sidebar.  Read about it here.

Rory finished his lenten writing project.  If you haven’t checked out his 40 days of honest blogging, you must.  Go there now and read one.  Then read the next one tomorrow.  Then keep reading.   Then read them again.

And finally…

Barb got engaged!

AQI

I’ve been consternated lately about AQI – the air quality index.

Basically, I’ve been watching the AQI for southern California on this website and I try to stay inside on days when it’s in the higher end of the “moderate” range.  Rainy days tend to be better air quality days, but we don’t have a ton of those.

While in Ontario two weeks ago, I was curious what the air quality difference between Los Angeles and Ontario is, so I looked up an Ontario AQI index.  I found that while it seems to use the same numbers, the interpretation of those numbers in Ontario is a little different.

Here’s the Southern California scale:

And here’s the Ontario AQI:

If they’re using the same International AQI scale, then something is very wrong.  Ontario says 50+ is poor.  Southern California thinks it’s moderate!

According to Health Canada, 4,200 Canadian deaths were associated with long-term exposure to poor-quality air between 1998 and 2000.  That’s too many!  More interesting tid bits about Canada’s AQI can be found here.

…

Does anybody know whether the USA and Canada are using the same AQI scale?

RIDDLE ME AIRBORNE

While on my flight out of Toronto last week, I was seated in the middle of a bunch of highschoolers flying to Mexico to facilitate a soccer camp.  When the realization hit me that I’d be sharing my flight to Chicago with them, I lowered my head and hid under my hat playing a game on my iPhone in defiant irony.

Towards the end of the flight, I began to realize that I wasn’t sitting between flighty silliness but in the middle of intelligent young hipsters.  Then they started telling each other riddles.  I didn’t hear the first few, but the last one I heard.  I tried my darndest to figure it out and joined in the revelry when we all figured it out.

Here it is:

I am made of cardboard or string;

Where I go you are the boss.

I live inside a different world;

And help keep you from getting lost.

Post your answers in the comments!

The girl that asked this one said that she’d wrote it herself.   Kudos!

FEAR MEANS YOU’RE CLOSE TO TRUTH

Verrry interesting post several days ago over at SAMBA.  I’m really loving their blog.  It’s a group of nine brilliant people who are participating in an A-lternative MBA program to learn everything they can from S-eth Godin about business.  Thus SAMBA.

Anyway, their post about refining goals really hit home.

IF YOU COULD NOT FAIL

SAMBA asks, “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?”

I ask the question, “If you never had to work again, what would you do?”

Not sure which is better.

SETH GODIN IS A MEANINGFUL SPECIFIC

I’d like to be a meaningful specific too.  Except that I’ve always been kind of a Gill of all Trades.  And I’ve taken that identity very seriously.

In this recent video shot at TED (I think), Seth Godin (I read his blog daily) is interviewed about his statement that “everybody needs a tribe” – which is not exactly what he said, but they interviewed him about it nonetheless.  He’s basically pontificating in the delightful Seth Godin way about the 1000 true fans rule.

The interviewer goes on to ask him why he’s not on Twitter.  And since I’m not on twitter (and have recently been feeling like perhaps I should be, but then decided to let that wave pass), I was interested to hear Seth’s reasons.  Go to about 9:00 minutes in to hear what Seth has to say about Twitter from his lips.  But here’s my take…

Basically, he says that he’s becoming the best at being who he is: really good at writing/blogging about marketing.  And he emails.  He prefers personal private meaningful conversation as opposed to thousands of anonymous people yelling at him (aka Twitter).  At one point he says that if he tried to bake, and do photography, and all these things, he’d become a “wandering generality instead of meaningful specific“.

This hit home.  I’ve been struggling with wanting to be a writer, producer, director, actor, voice actor, photographer, graphic designer and whatever else struck my fancy.  And consequently I’ve been concerned with becoming a wandering generality.  So, I’ve narrowed it down.

I’ve cut photography.

It’ll still be a hobby, but I’m not going to try and be a photographer.  I’m not going to try and earn money at it.

What then is my meaningful specific?  I’m a storyteller. That’s why I loved photography.  I loved telling a story though the pictures.  And I do love beautiful pictures!  But I’m a storyteller.  As a writer, as a director, as a performer, I’m a storyteller.  So while, it may seem like I’m still a wandering generality because I’m not narrowing my focus between writing and acting or producing and directing, I’ve convinced myself that I’m a meaningful specific, because I’m a storyteller and I use whatever path or medium I’m inspired to use to tell stories.  And that’s okay.

I’m a storyteller.  And I take that identity very seriously.

THEATRE

I am at the theatre. Ryan is sitting beside me reading the program. This is my birthday present! Ryan has just commented on the prolific nature of the man who is about to entertain us. I just witnessed a staff member flaunt her status by bringing her coffee into the theatre. The usher followed her and said that she wasn’t supposed to and she flashed her staff laniard saying, “I won’t spill it or leave it behind!”

I’m excited. I love the theatre. And this is an exceptional little space filled with about 300 seats. Procenium. It is filling slowly. The anticipation mounting.

Woot!

Cities… Not so good…

Fascinating article. Interesting juxtaposition about how cities are the birth of so much intellectual development alongside so much that’s bad for the mind.

TEST POST

My phone all but died a week ago and so Ryan and I took the plunge and finally bought iPhone’s! I’ve been downloading apps each night and just ran across the WordPress app. I’d forgotten that it existed.

I’m pretty excited about being able to blog any time, anywhere.

The photo is of the lamp that’s on right now next to my sleeping husband’s head.

MISSING MY HUSBAND

I’ve been in Tulsa now for two and a half weeks.  I went home for the weekend last week.  Late Friday night to early Monday.  And it’s been nearly a week since I’ve seen Ryan.  I really miss him.  Just him.  The Ryan-ness of him.  That which makes him him.  And him.

He’ll be here Tuesday night.  I’m almost counting the minutes.  That’s all.