4*((2*ithinkimturningjapanese) + (ireallythinkso))

2003.06.26 14.48

Got the apartment. Now I'm evaluating if I could mentally handle flying to Houston and then driving my car 1342 miles back to Philly so I can resolve my car lease issue. I wouldn't have a car I could drive while I was in Houston, but maybe I can work it out to where I'd rent a car during the 1 weekend or so a month when I'm home. Decisions, decision. It would be way cool if the car had a "Shrink Car 5000%" button.

I am getting stoked about Terminator 3 coming out next week. I am not very stoked about Charlies Angels 2, but I'm gonna see it anyway. In the meantime, I have The Animatrix to watch and Enter The Matrix to play. At some point I'm sure I'll be walking around in a dark alley talking into my Matrix cell phone and mumbling something incoherent about Agents always following me.

wire works

2003.06.25 11.35

OLD CITY: Sunny, Large, Wireworks. High ceilings. Big windows.
Separate kitchen, Security. W/D, C/A, D/W, carpet, elevator, pets OK.
$900/mo. 215-555-0584 

I have an appointment to see a place in The Wire Works building which is right off 3rd and Race. It is slightly more expensive than where I'm staying at now, but living out of my rented car with my dog wasn't going to cut it. The aforementioned plans to buy a 25 foot trailer with space for a car and residential living are now on ice.

babble babble b***h b***h rebel rebel party party

2003.06.24 18.52

Frustration. All I ever wanted. Frustration. Had to get away. Frustration. Meant to be spent alone.

So, the last time I talked to my landlady I had been extended here until June 15th. I asked for an extension and she agreed, saying, ''Oh, you can stay there through June or for as long as you want.'' ''Kick ass,'' I thought. I found out that I was extended for at least 6 more months on around May 30th so these words of hers have been floating in my head everytime I considered my living situation. I saw her in the lobby yesterday and told her about my extension. I got one of those deep inward breaths and the response, "Ohhhhhh..." and then she proceeded to lame assedly tell me that she thought I was leaving at the end of the month and had made plans to put up some kids or family or something in the apartment. I'm like, ''Well, I can probably find a place and be out of there by August 1st.'' She gave me another deep inward breath and went "Ohhhhhh..." again. Like, OH MY GOD! I am perturbed, okay? Geez. If someone says ''stay as long as you want'' then I'm not sure how that gets confused with your ass is out of here in seven days without any notice. Ugh. And to make things even more annoying ... back on June 17th I asked for a flight to Houston to get booked and I never followed up on it and it didn't get done. So, that's it. I'm done making assumptions. Please be considerate if I personally ask you something several times and I'm not drinking heavily. Okay?

Okay, I will now issue my review for ''The Hulk.'' Deep. Real deep. When you hear kids in the theater speak to the screen and verbally approve of the effects, you know you're at a good movie. Jennifer Connally is just as visually impressive as ever. If you have never seen her in one of the lessor known yet excellent John Hughes films of the 80's, go rent ''Career Opportunities'' and let me know what you think. That movie r0x0rs. It doesn't get enough coverage and I rank it right up there with Ferris Bueller as far as my top 20 films of all time. One day I'll post that list. Course not until after I figure out where the heck I'm going to live. Don't even get me started on what I'm going to drive. I am considering buying a truck and one of those 25 foot car trailer and living quarter combos. That way I can tow my house to wherever I want, along with my cool car. That will go nicely with the future Atlas Missile Silo I keep blathering on about.

I haven't heard from the liar. I know there were denials. ''Oh, I didn't really lie to him.'' Sheeya right. And monkeys might fly out of my butt.

So, what else? I have been eating healthier lately. I don't recall if I've mentioned that. Basically I was getting too puffy for my own liking. 178 pounds according to my parent's medical scale (which I trust as the most accurate scale on the planet). After conferring with my sister and some trusted friends, I came up with some changes that have worked very well. I'm now: eating salads with dressing on the side (and just dipping the fork in to lightly douse it), eliminating breads and carbs whenever possible, and snacking on lots of low-fat protein type stuff (beef jerky). The occasional slim-fast Cappucino shake has replaced my big ass dinners. Drinking coffee with skim milk and The Blue Fake Sugar Stuff and eating an apple or orange is what has passed for breakfast for the past 6+ weeks. I have tried to do lots of walking and doing strenuous things whenever possible (no matter how menial or low impact -- everything helps). So far as of a week ago I was down to 167 pounds. That's like a whole cat.

finding beano

2003.06.16 7.07

I'm sure I'm going to get some angry psychotic response because of my previous entry from those involved. Just for their information, I will delete your email or voicemail unread. My phone is also being turned off, so don't even bother.

And now the conclusion of Tales from Hollywood.

That evening we made a half-assed attempt to watch ''The Matrix Reloaded'' but due to a combination of too much sleep and leftover jet lag we were only able to make it to The Burly Brawl. I walked out, but this was the first time I'd ever done that due to being overly sleepy. I fell asleep during the movie ''Congo'' several years ago. I woke up and there was some kind of battle going on. The apes looked so fake, I didn't care that I'd missed anything. Kind of like missing an episode of The Wonder Years near the end when it started to get boring and you realized there was no way the narrator's voice was ever going to match up with the main character. This was supposed to be the guy later in life looking back upon his childhood. Unless he had a vocal chord transplant, I didn't see that happening. Suspension of disbelief notwithstanding.

On the day of the premiere we had plenty of time to kill. We started off initially thinking we were going to the NBC Studio Tour. We saw Warner Bros. VIP Tour on the NeverLost options and decided we'd check that out instead. At first wary of the words VIP (I thought we may not be able to go on the tour since we were just guys off the street), we did enter the studio lot successfully. All it took was a little patience and $35+ each. We got to walk on the lot untethered (!) and checked out the residential facades where Gilmour Girls and a variety of other shows use whenever they need to simulate suburbia. We also got to see the set for ''Friends'' which was still set up the as in the cliffhanger end of season episode where Joey and Rachel make out. Very cool! Central Perk is a lot small than I thought it was. I think I could actually simulate Central Perk almost completely if I put my mind to it. Maybe later. The Drew Carey show set was also visited, as well as this enormous football field sized warehouse filled with costumes from the beginning of time through several hundred years in the future. Freaky! I have some pictures from there that I will post (eventually). We left pleased that we'd seen cool things that we hadn't expected to see.

The time for the premiere came and we were suited up in our Hey We Look Like Celebrities gear. The trick is wearing sunglasses whenever possible. Pretending that you're trying to find P. Diddy also helps. ''Excuse me, have you seen Puff?'' Riiight. The Mann's Chinese Theater is beautiful inside. A nice combition of black and red woodwork adorns every wall and ceiling. Just my style. The after party was behind the El Capitan movie theater and was lots of fun. Wahlberg was great and gave my dad an autograph. He was mobbed just about the entire time he was there, but Eric (Mark's bodyguard) knows me from MW.com and adjusted the mob in our favor briefly.

Next morning we were back on our respective planes returning to Houston and Philly. The film, by the way, was hilarious. Seth Green has a great role as The Napster. I'm not going to give anything away because there are lots of twists and turns in the plot to easily keep up the interest level. If you haven't seen ''The Italian Job'' yet, go now. Right now. Go!

liars

2003.06.15 23.59

Normally my blog is generic and not really directed at any person or persons in particular.

Not today.

It's really difficult keeping up with the few friends in Houston that I still get the chance to see on the rare occasion when I'm in town. It's even more difficult when one of my supposed friends reveals that she is a LIAR and will LIE IN MY FACE pretending to be my friend when in fact the exact opposite is true. Do me a favor, Renee, and don't talk to me again. If you see me, avoid me. In return I will abide by your wishes and will stop being friends with Brandy. Your obsession and jealousy issues with me have destroyed a friendship that had no romantic intentions whatsoever. Does that make you happy? I hope it does. I can't believe how stupid I was to have thought you wanted to be friends with me. It won't happen again.

We now return to our regularly scheduled blog.

days later...

2003.06.14 20.58

Okay, back to our Tales In Hollywood. We hit the Kodak Theater mall which is right across from our hotel and went to a sushi place up on the third or fourth level. I got a Philadelphia roll and a dynamite roll. Only thing was that they put this amazing southwest spiced up cheese type layer on top of all of the sushi pieces and it was F'ING AMAZING! I still stop to think about it every once in a while. The sushi was great. The restaurant itself was very unusual. It seems that you were allowed to cook your own food for some items as each seat had its own mini cooker thing in front of it. I am behind the times as far as these nouveux japanese restaurants are concerned. This couple sitting to the left of us even offered up their extra food. We politely declined. They heaved a sign and went back to gorging. The sushi place also offered this special meat that was $97 a pound. The cow is massaged and never builds up hard muscle and then when they hit a special magic button at the slaughterhouse to convert the animal into a steak, you get this super mega tender steak. Freaky. Inhumane, you say? Hey, we were in LA for crying out loud.

The next day we visited Disneyland. Pirates of the Carribean and Space Mountain were both closed. Major suckage. Space Mountain apparently isn't even reopening until 2005 for the 50 year anniversery. They'd better put in some upgrades, then. We did make the rounds and after only 8 hours we were pretty much done. There is something to be said about the difference between hanging out with your family at Disneyland and comparing that to hanging out with a hot girl (or two) at Disneyland. Major difference. The car's NeverLost system found our way quickly and safely.

The next day we visited Rodeo Drive for several hours. It was Memorial Day and about half the shops were still open for business. We stopped at Jamba Juice and I bought the Peanut Butter something or other. My brain is worthless as far as these details go. I only drank about 6 ounces of the stuff. Too sweet and I've been on a eating healthy kick for the last 6+ weeks. Another story in that. I believe we returned to the hotel around 4 PM and basically crashed and burned until the next morning. There's nothing like sleeping 12 hours except maybe sleeping 13 hours. Okay, more later. Going out to Irma's Restaurant with The Rebecca.

out wretched spot

2003.06.09 19.41

I'm cleaning the Philly apartment. Yes, it is 12:07 AM. I have had a fairly miserble weekend health-wise. For some reason I've always thought that I could fight off diseases just by thinking about it. Feel a cold coming on. I would always fight it off. It didn't occur to me until last week that this ''cold'' I keep fighting off every year was really an allergy. My dad has mad allergies going at him and part of our trip last week to Los Angeles included a detour to Target where we went on a Clariton^tm hunt. At the time I was fine while he was miserable. Now it's my turn. I'm not kidding, though, I really used to think this was some kind of cold that I'd get in the spring that I was always able to fight off. Like, duh! How many years did it take to figure this out? What else have I been wrong about? Saving pull-tabs to fight terminal diseases? Not stepping on lines or else I'd turn into Frankenstein?

To catch up. Two weekends ago I flew my dad and I to Hollywood. Thanks to Priceline.com, my plane arrived 9 hours after my dad's. He found stuff to do in the International terminal, luckily. Once I arrived we hit the rental car counter and were off. The Roosevelt Hotel is where we stayed. Built in 1927, this Hollywood landmark is RIGHT across the street from Mann's Chinese Theater, as well as the Kodak Theater. I'd never been to either, much less the Hollywood Walk of Fame. How convenient. More in the next entry.

what are the odds?

2003.06.02 18.55

GothicMatch.com -- No way? Way.