Day 56: Old Friends

I haven't always lived over in Santa Monica. I used to live in a truly kick ass apartment in Hollywood. The building I lived in was built in 1929 and has some serious history. I was extremely lucky to have met some of my dearest friends there. At one point there was a group of about 15 neighbors that all congregated on the rooftop patio for BBQ's and drinks.

I hardly get back over there, but tonight Liz and I are going out for drinks with our two favorite people from the building, Tyler and Paul. Tyler and I have some Film and TV projects we are working that we needed to discuss. Tyler is launching a new horror community on the net and he wants me to help him produce to original programing. I, of course, am stoked.

I am really looking forward to hearing about what he has to say, but I am actually mainly excited to be around some good friends. I have been a little down this week and getting around these people is almost guaranteed laughter. I need that right now...

I will keep you posted on what comes of the meeting!

Day 55: Postponed

SOOO...

I work my butt off on the presentation I was supposed to give this week sometime, right?!?! I was a bit inquisitive as to why I had not been informed as to when the meeting was. Much to my disappointment, the President of the company I am presenting to has been called away for upwards of a month. This is bad news!

This means all of that work that was fresh in my mind and ready to be delivered in mind-blowing fashion has now been shelved. I have been asked to hold off for a month! At least! I am afraid that the presentation I crafted is going to get shelved in my consciousness and I am not going to remember the delivery, intent, and cadence when it comes time to retrieve it. God forbid it go shelved next to "College Memories," I think they are still drunk! If that is the case I will probably only remember half of it!

Needless to say, my demeanor hasn't changed much since yesterday. I just hope that I get through the rest of this week unscathed!

Day 52: Lazy

Wow... last night was one for the record books! Liz and I are having a hard time moving from the couch. We want to go to the driving range, but our bodies aren't complying with our minds.

I believe that it is okay to take a break sometimes! It is important not to burn yourself out entirely. If you let yourself recharge a bit then the fight to push forward on your path of determination becomes a bit easier. Sometimes this is made even easier with Domino's pizza! Om nom nom nomm om. Sorry... I know... it is a weak moment. Like I said, I think it is okay as long as you rebound the next day and push twice as hard!

Must... seek... couch!

Day 51: 40 Years

Over the past few months I have been sharing my fears of turning 30 with a friend of mine whos shares the same fears about turning 40. Tonight is his big night! He is leaving his 30's in style at an enormous party being thrown for him at the W hotel in Hollywood. It is interesting to explore why humans put such weight on aging into a new decade of life. There are so many social stigmas placed on age that it becomes very harrowing as we approach a turn into a new decade of life. There are constant questions that arise in your mind as you contemplate your existence and try to compare yourself to an outdated standard that, for some reason, we still attribute to our age. For example, it has been a wide assumption for years that people are supposed to be married with kids before they are thirty. I know two people that fall into this category in my life.

The social climate has changed and thereby so should the stigmas! 40 is no longer old! "Over the hill" is a passe term! Long live "the 30's are the new 20's!" I refuse to comply to social stigmas and I invite you to create your own!

Day 45: V-Day

Cue Wagner's  booming classical overture "Ride of The Valkyries"


Valentine's Day! What a day.  Some people akin it to single's awareness day (SAD for short). Others, mainly female, seem to think that there is a special type of magic tat can happen on this day. They stand firm that for 24 hours there is nothing that can go wrong in this world. I would venture to say that 80% of said group is sorely disappointed by about 2PM. There is yet another faction that tends to disregard the day exists and scorns the thought of it to any who may broach the subject.

I like to think that I am somewhere in the middle of all of this. I am always excited at the prospect of a romantic day and now that Liz and I have been through three of them we both are beginning to realize that the thing that truly matters on this silly day is that you are spending it with the one you love. The monetary gifts don't matter as much as the quality time spent being with each-other.

We kept it easy this year for gifts. We both know where we stand with our money so I asked her not to do anything for me and she did the same for me. I assumed she listened to me... we all know what a dumb-ass I would be had I listened to her. I ended up getting her a really cheesy card that happened to actually have a meaningful script in it and a makeup bag. Hers had broken about a month ago. I was very excited to get her something that she would really use and that she would really appreciate. She, of course didn't listen to me and got me two t-shirts and a kick-ass gym bag from  Puma.

After we traded gifts we headed over to a Sunday brunch space called the Overland Cafe. They happen to have a $4.99 all you can drink champagne special until 2PM. Two bottles later we "Floated" a couple of blocks away to the driving range and spent close to three hours there. It was awesome! We ordered a couple of beers on the range and I finally sold Liz on the whole idea.  She is hooked! She did extremely well and I was very proud of her.

We spoke with an older gentleman for about forty minutes. He was very interesting. He was waiting to go pick up his girlfriend from the mall to take her out to dinner when she got off work. Mind you he is 89 and she was 70! He told us about WWII, designing suits for men, and how beautiful Liz was multiple times. It really was a blast.

I am so thankful to have such a great friend for a partner and I couldn't have asked for a better day. I hope that you all had a great day as well and that your night continues accordingly. Good luck!

Day 44: Mardi Gras

A buddy of mine is having a Mardi Gras party tonight, or I should say his wife is. I got a frantic phone call yesterday explaining that she had been planning it but "forgot" to mention it to him so that he could invite his friends. If I didn't know that his wife was the sweetest person on earth I would have to say that the whole thing stunk as bad as the French Quarter. It seems rather convenient that, save myself and one other,  all of his less civilized single friends didn't make the cut. Ah, the married life!

I am completely jazzed about the whole thing though. She is making muffaletta sandwiches and Hurricanes. She is bringing in Zapps chips, Abita beer, and, most importantly, a king cake ( with plastic babies). For those of you who don't know what a king cake is just imagine a huge cinnamon roll with bright icing on the top. As you're delighting in the delectable danish derivative chance may have it that you gnaw into a plastic baby doll. This is told to bring luck and prosperity in the coming year. That is what Mardi Gras is all about after all, having a party and living it up before Ash Wednesday can come along to make you repent it all away.

This should be a pretty good one though and I look forward to the upcoming festivities. Technically I have a few more days before I have to get serious about Lent ( I will touch base on this Wednesday if you are confused).  Right now... I am going golfing. I just hope that I don't beat these guys so bad that they want to give golf up for forty days! Enjoy your day!

Day 9: Hangovers

Holy bajeebus! This weekend is flying by. It is great having my best friend in town and I am showing him around as best I can. The one thing about getting together with friends I haven't seen in a while is that the beer in my fridge seems to multiply at an exponential rate. So much so that they start overflowing into the local restaurants and, inevitably, the bars situated close to those restaurants. It is strange because I somehow feel it my duty to reclaim said beers from the establishments so as to not inconvenience them. I pay them a fee for any space they may have taken up and then I happily drink them down knowing they are safely in a good home. For the night... all is well.

The other problem with catching a few drinks with friends you haven't seen in years is that you inevitably revert back to thinking you are as young as you were when you last saw one another. This would be fine if you didn't drink accordingly. All I can say is that I am DEFINITELY not 27 any more. Which, when you think about it, is a pretty sad statement in itself. Needless to say my head is killing me!

The things I do know are that:

1. The hangover is probably worth it.
2. Who am I kidding... no it isn't!
3. For me to get skinny I am going to have to let those beer gremlins go home with someone new for a while.

I will touch more on the caloric reasoning for statement three as we get further along.