Like most children of the 80's, I loved playing with LEGO. By mixing and matching bricks, you could physically manifest your imagination.
My first LEGO set was the Blacktron - Renegade.
Blacktron Renegade
By following the instructions, I was able to explore space and move strange and dangerous cargo from distant planets. By moving the wings around, I was able to make the Batwing and fly around Gotham. (Well before anyone else realized that potential.)
This was an immensely rewarding experience that I've carried with me through my professional career.
Naturally, the toys of the child lead us to adulthood. I knew I wanted to spend my life building. Creating. Spawning new ideas. I wanted to physically manifest my ideas into structures that others would see, admire and even work/play/live in. When I learned that you could get a job doing this, I was elated. I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do. My mission in life was set.
One fateful day, when I was sharing my new life mission with my Godmother she informed me: "To be an architect you have to know how to draw." Anyone who's seen me sign a check, write on a whiteboard, or even attempt to draw a square knows artistry genes were not bestowed upon me. I was crushed. My life's mission was aborted and I was unsure what to do with myself.
My first drawing of the Falgout Family (I ran out of time for arms)
To quote my wife: "Those are people? I thought those were windows..."
I drew this
I drew this. Not sure what my obsession with blue people was. That drawing is nightmare fuel for me.
In High School, when Career Day came I didn't care about any session other than the local architect. As torturous as it was, I still wanted to know what it was like. All I remember was "hard work...something something...dedication".
Fast forward to the last 12 months. I made an exciting and brave leap to join Microsoft, and am now a "Cloud Solution Architect". I'm an Architect. I'm a real, bonafide Architect. (I'm literally crying as I write this as I'm so overwhelmed with a sense of accomplishment.) My bricks aren't 8x8x9.6 mm, they're CPU Cores. I no longer have one toychest, I have 36 datacenter regions, spanned across the world.
Thankfully, I'm not planning to give up on those plastic pieces of creativity, as I've currently got a Star Destroyer hanging from the ceiling of my man cave. And even more sets left to complete.
LEGO Star Destroyer hanging from the ceiling.
If I could go back and comfort my younger self during that heartbreaking moment, I'm sure I would have told him: "hard work...something something...dedication".
6 years is a long time to keep anything going. Especially an annual event. True, by the time the next year rolls around, you've forgotten how much work it was, but when you've got something like the Food & Spirits, it becomes with it each time.
I learned some interesting things this time around:
My friends are incredibly diverse. Two of them ran out to get a breaker for the hot tub @ 9:45 and installed it themselves.
My wife is mischievous. When said hot tub failed for the last time, and people got in anyways. She offered a bottle of Jamaican rum to the person who would last the longest. No jets. No heater. It was ~30 degrees outside. Neil won by lasting for 3 hours.
You can't get rid of alcohol by throwing a party. You just accumulate more.
My friends are willing to drive 8+ hours just to come to the party. We had visitors from Kansas City, Tulsa and Austin. Just for this soiree.
Congrats to the winners! This year, we settled ties by having a "Duck Off". (Pick random duck with a number on it. Highest number wins. Pure awesome.)
This is the point where I would say that I can't wait till next year. But I'm hoping to have a new floor by then. That way I'm not embarrassed by statements like, "New Rule: If you make a stain. You have to sign it."
Till next year!
--Snoopykiss
For Kathy's Birthday, we went to see Eddie Izzard. I was concerned since I heard that he wasn't as funny outside of his original attire (read: In a dress), but it was a sold-out show and those can only mean good things, right?
J.F.K.
Charles Darwin
Ducks
Wikipedia
No warm-up comedian. No break. Just laughing till the jam hit the roof. Fantastic.
No big hooplah.
No major fanfare.
Hell, it was about 3 weeks after it happened before I told anyone. Â Most people still don't know.
Katherine Denise Falgout. Â That's going to sound funny. Â (Thomas Milton Carter?)
Lee, if you're reading this, you're the best man. Â If you call me back. Â Otherwise taking applications/bribes.Â
Here's a picture of my car, on Google Maps, behind the old Yahoo Building in Deep Ellum. Wheee!
And for more wackiness: Drunk monkeys!
I also want to thank everyone for your support through the craziness/adversity I was facing. And despite the way it was worded, it wasn't all of DSDS that was attacking me, just one person. One person who thinks that I would be the instrument of Dallas' downfall.
What's funny, is that I almost believed him.
-- Snoopykiss knows that cake is a lie.
As you can imagine, Germans are quite concerned with their image. Their BMW and Mercedes-Benz are beautiful pieces of machinery that are known for their style and precision. Many Germans are also frustrated with one of the typecasts. But it's not what you're thinking.
You can't do a tour without here without touching some piece of Nazi, WWI or WWII past. Strangely enough, there are still some historic locations which has a Swastika-ish mark a door or someplace hidden. But even those are being removed as part of a strong image reconstruction by the gov't and the people.
But no matter how much they work, they will never be able to get rid of the Bavarian stereotype of Leiderhosen, Bratwurst and Beer. It's Munich, the capital of Bavaria, a South-East region, that has given Germany it's festive spirit, world-renouned beer, and funky pants.
And as joyous as the people are, and as beautiful the beer gardens are (which don't seem to be as much of a garden, but more of a huge picnic area to keep the drunks together), and as tasty the food is, if you talk to most Germans, and ask they why they don't wear the funny clothing, they'll roll their eyes and think to themselves, "Good Lord, not again". Or whatever that would be in German.
It was here that Octoberbest was started as part of a wedding ceremony, which took on a life of it's own as an anniversary party, and is now celebrated world-wide. I wonder if I can do the same with my Food and Spirits Party.
I was adventurous and determined enough to try a radler, a Bavarian concoction of beer and either soda or lemonade. But my efforts backfired as I think I offended the entire bar when I turned it down all 3 of the hefty samples that was poured for me. I'm not sure if they threw the rest away (which is a sacrilege) as I sunk my head in shame as one guy behind the bar shouted, "But Bavaria Beer is the best!" Yes, sir. Even I'm confused why this Texan just can't get the taste of beer.
I've been Smirnoff Ice free for over 1 month. I thought that would help.
I also met up with a fellow Louisianian, who was one of the tour guides for Mike's Bike Tour, which I highly recommend if you get the chance.
Even inside Europe, there seems to be different levels of modesty. Currently, I'm sharing a room with an English woman and a guy from Amsterdam, Hank. Needless to say, I was quite surprised to see Hank walking around in nothing but his tidy blackies and no shame. He's a pretty fit guy, so I respect that. I don't think our English host would be caught dead like that. And the night before, I shared a hostel room with 2 middle-aged women from Sweden. One just wore a pair of undies and I got flashed some post-prime boobies. I think it was accidental. I HOPE it was accidental because she also invited me to stay at her place if I went through Sweden.
I also had an interesting conversation with an Australian regarding American and it's Sexual Confusion. Case in point: More often than not, if a couple has been together for a while, they've had sex. It's pretty much a given in this day and age. However, there is still a social stigma on living together.
Also, in America we can show the top, the bottom, the left, the right, then hand-held, the leather-clad, the compressed, and the tasseled boobie, but for the love of all that is holy! DON'T SHOW THE NIPPLE! We can show a man getting cut in half, brains throw across everywhere, blood splattering on other people. BUT DON'T SHOW THE NIPPLE!
April 14th, in a Flat in London
On Easter Sunday, I visited not just 1 church, but 3 of them! She doesn't need to know about the pub afterwards, but I think she'd be more at ease with me participating in that part of the Sunday Catcholic tradition.
After a great trip around Dublin and then seeing the Cliffs of Mohr, I'm resting my weary feet in Killarney. A small town with some great pubs and traditional music.
On my way here, I made friends with some more Americans (one from Tulsa, even) and yet another German. Funny enough, the german guy was the closest I've seen to a leprechaun here yet. Maybe I need to go in search of more rainbows.
Speaking of rainbows...
--Snoopykiss wants to go to Candy Mountain. And to bed.
I arrived in Glasgow (Still in Scotland) after finding a hostel w/ wireless Internet (Yea modern world!).
The walk there proved to me that Scotland does have a modern city with a drag, complete with a KFC, women wearing too much makeup and a sidewalk band...Singing the blues. With a Scottish Accent. And a touque. snicker Yeah, it was pretty funny.
I'm just now getting a chance to take a breather after going clubbing with my French roommates. As much as they loved dancing to Bee Gees and other Disco hits, I was surprised that when the club played Saturday Night Fever on the screen, they all thought it was Grease.
Even if I go to sleep now, they'll wake me up when they finally come back from dancing. That's ok, I'll just curse them out in Pig Latin and that'll freak'em out.
-- Snoopykiss est rester vivant
It worked! Originally uploaded by SnoopyKiss. What's May without a Pole Dance? What started out as a joke between Neighbor Dan and I about how we should…
3rd boobie
Originally uploaded by Malingering.
Definitely not awesome.
On my way to pickup a space heater AFTER winter finally hit us (Yea Winter!), I noticed the "Willow Bend Wellness Center". What really grabbed my eye sockets and had me rubber-neck was that the top business there was "Plastic Surgery"
I'm definitely no Health (It's HEALTH, not Wellness, dammit!) Fanatic, but since when does Plastic Surgery have anything to do with Wellness?
I'm not even going to start with the physical ramifications of nipping and tucking, but that's like...mayonnaise and peanut butter!
-- Snoopykiss just had Chik-Fil-A. Maybe he should get a boob-job to compensate.
Summit Plummet Originally uploaded by bobscrazyblog. Not out of resolutions, but more out of revolutions, I've noticed changes in myself. All seem to be…
Tis the season, yo. It's time where we all get jollified and make conversations with strangers. In the past 24 hours, I've had two that just made my day:
I was out at the Bone and dancing with Ann. (A particularly attractive and wonderfully great follow who I met at ALX this past weekend.) We were having one of "those dances". I thought it was pretty good, but this random person came up afterwards and was ranting and raving about how great it was.
"You guys were AWESOME! I've never seen such dancing like that! You never missed a beat! That was AMAZING! The two of you should get married!"
?!?!
"Well, I've got a certain lady-type who might not agree to that."
"Doesn't matter. Ditch her. I see it! I tell you! Y'all need to get married!"
Nod.
Smile.
Back away slowly.
And then earlier today, I was buying groceries for my "Orphan's Thanksgiving" and was all prepared to go the bachelor route of buying a frozen pre-cooked turkey, I asked this old black lady what she thought of it. Long story short, I went from trying to get confirmation that I was getting a good turkey to getting talked into cooking my own turkey myself. Using a paper bag. Crazy.
--Snoopykiss has just become a fire hazard.
Coming from a guy who has a national reputation for licking people, one can imagine that it would take something fierce to really gross me out.
I also live pretty much an open book life, but there are some times that are sacred to me. Namely, when I'm releaving my bodily needs. I think that those are times that should be done behind closed doors and with no one else observing or even being aware. (I'll admit that I've done my buisness while on the phone before, but it's one of those things that I feel really guilty about and made sure that I was on mute during those un/comforting times. So, that makes it ok.)
Therefore, I was surprised when I walked into the work bathroom to find someone giving directions while operating "hands-free". I then took it upon myself to ensure that his compantion was quite aware of his social faux pas (pis?). No hitting the back wall, I was aiming for the water, baby. I was somehow able to fill the entire bathroom with that famous sound and could tell that I made my urinal-neighbor quite shifty as he obviously was trying to quicken his own process. But these are things you really can't rush. No really.
When he finally left (I forget if he washed afterwards), I felt somewhat guilty, but even more embarassed when I noticed I was laughing all by myself at a urinal. Great story for the next guy.
-- Snoopykiss wants a mini. Cooper that is.
So, this weekend, I felt like disappearing and since I had a friend in Tulsa who was celebrating his B-day, I knew my destiny.
4 hours and one speeding ticket after jetting from work, I found myself getting preped for a ballet with Teh Stella (Officially STELLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!), Chris and Sharon. On the way there, Stella and I were talking about some recent unfortunate events.
Me: "Yeah, I know it sucks. But it's one of those stages of loss. You know, Denial...Anger...Acceptance...Tossing Ferrets...."
I don't think that the world will ever know how funny that really was without going back in time and actually being there in the car. Sucks to be them.
The thing about ferret tossing is that if you can throw away your animal cruelty concerns, this is really a great idea. First off, when you toss them from their hind legs, they make a nice ferris (ferret?) wheel spinny-action in the air. Plus, the resounding "THWAP" that they make when they hit the target is one of the most satisifying feelings one can get from a discounted pet store. The important part is that as much as you may want to help someone out, you cannot perform these actions for another. They must toss their own ferret.
--Snoopykiss wants a pi step program.
My life always seems to play itself out in themes. The current theme seem to be "Recovery." Unfortunately, my week long excursion with the Lovely Miss Aya did not work out as I hoped it would. This coupled with a previous chagrin, has had me seek the Great Geek Wisdom of Ernst Leland Gibson IV, who replied: "Red Warrior Needs Time to Self Badly."
So, after some much needed reflection time, I decided it's time to rally up some old friends and go out dancing. This is as far as I got:
"Vivian?"
pause
"Hello? Is Vivian there?"
"I'm sorry, but you just called the Cingular Wireless Store."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah. We're checking things out here and I noticed that the phone on display started ringing."
"You're kidding me?!" At this point, I can barely contain myself.
"Nope."
"Um. Ok."
We then both have a good laugh and hang up, still laughing.
Even when Life doesn't give you what you want, it has a funny way of giving you what you need.
P.S. NYE Pics are up!
--SnoopyKiss also needs some Snuggle-ual Healing.
It's always great to learn something about yourself. Especially when it deals with your impact on other people. I just had a theory of mine soundly reinforced the other day: "If you want to get married, date me. Chances are, you'll marry the next guy you date."
Thankfully, I end all of my relationships on good terms so I'm able to share the joy and encourage them on their way.
I don't think of this as a positive or negative, but rather a better after effect than my other friend who had the running joke, "After you date me, you turn gay." We were all worried about how that was going to turn out when she started dating one of my Navy friends. They're married now. With child. So, I'm guessing he enjoyed it.
--SnoopyKiss wants a ring...A One Ring.
P.S. Oh yeah, the blues party was yet another success. These are starting to become my new favorite types of parties to throw! Right number of people too.
The weekend that kept getting wackier still lives!
It started with seeing an X and getting insanely jealous. That was later calmed down by attending The Angry Asian's "Stereotypical Party", where you come dressed up as the worst stereotype of your race. I was about to go home and mope until I was told that I couldn't until I went to see "Madame Wong". Boy, that was a good idea.
The next day pushed my limits of stress and ability to deal with physical threats. These two unrelated "tests" involved gunshots from outside at 1:30, and later, an unwelcome visitor who burst into my bedroom in an outrage and had some very unpleasant and tramatic things to say. Thank God I was dressed.
Throughout the numerous ordeals, I was brought back to sanity with the help of my amazing friends who don't mind getting 4:30AM emergency phone calls from me.
Today has been interesting as I'm finally getting a few week's worth of laundry done, got a Thank You card from Barb and (OMG!) Mentos from Australia and New Zealand from about the coolest person on Earth!
And then I got an SMS from Brooke. Now I know why she disappeared for so long. Maybe I should have left a "Tommy was here" in the closet.
--SnoopyKiss can't wait to settle down with some girl that won't eat his Mentos.
The process for getting the absurd speeding ticket (65 on the Tollway) has been stretched out to the point where if these were gym shorts, they would no longer fit. I've failed to see any humor in the situation until I realized how much I loved the Internet, and how it was my friend.
If you're from Texas, you've probably heard the ads for defensivedriving.com. I decided to take a risk and try it. There's the occasional question to make sure you're paying attention.
(Ex: "When you come to a red light, you should:
A.) Stop
B.) Go
C.) Some other silly option.
I ain't lying. And if those questions are too hard for you, you can just hit the refresh button as the questions are random)
In any case, I decided to take a few liberties with my Defensive Driving course and I think that the amusement value more than made up for it. (Note the Smirnoff Ice)
With that said, I think that the timer on my last page is up, and I should return.
--SnoopyKiss is also heartbroken. But don't worry, he's got some glue on backorder.
I've got so many great taglines to use in my jorunals, but so little content. This latest one sparked my imagination after a fairly reenactment of this happened at the BK near my work.
Few things put me me in the holiday sprit. That's one of them.
I've also been proud of myself as I've finally embraced the idea of doing my homework. Growing up in Louisiana, you usually couldn't get me to go outside unless you tossed the computer out the window. And even then, that would be because I was attached to it. So, that I actually bought and USED a weed-wacker, is about as shocking as having Mushmouth replace Dick Clark and getting the countdown right!
I'm also excided as I will be getting a minion (read: Co-op) at work. Don't know what else to say.
--SnoopyKiss just got professionally insulted, and feels honored.
P.S. After-hours blues party = Good, Good, Good, Better.
One of my small pleasures in life is the art of subtle humor. My friend Matt Mussleman is the supreme king of such humor. I, on the other hand, tend to keep it to myself and many times too obscure or bizarre. For example, one of the servers I created at work is named Tatu, also one of the tools I wrote generates logs named TPS reports. I bond instantly to anyone to pick up on it.
I've decided to name my latest server "w00t", my new desktop will be "yarr" and I've already got a "pago". Unfortunately, as I write this, I'm at work fighting with Yarr and w00t. Thus producing a bunch of other four letter word exclamiations, but thankfully, most everyone is either gone or doesn't speak English and is using a vacuum cleaner.
On a side note, the last time I really heard anything from the Aforementioned Brooke was right after she posted a comment on my site. Maybe I'll hear from here again. :)
On many different levels.
One of which was that I didn't even notice that my site's been down for quite some time because my ISP (Comcast) changed my IP w/o me knowing. Therefore, lastcoolnameleft.com didn't resolve. If you don't find this funny, ask a techie. If the techie doesn't find this funny...well, it's probably not. But hug your techie anyway; because I'm sure he would enjoy it. (Hmm...Hug A Techie Day.)
The other level is that I promised myself to post whenever events happen. Probably one per event. As of my last entry, there have been enough events to overwhelm a freeze-dried turkey. So, I shall summarize:
Austin Lindy Exchange - Dancing, dancing, dancing and more dancing. At some point I slept. Oh yeah! And I had 3 women staying at my house! We even made shirts. Tommy's Bordello. I felt so special.
Halloween Party #1 - Unbeknownst to me, I had tickets to go see the Plano Rep's Chicago that night. I went to a costume party where Disco Stu was accompanied by the likes of Angie the Carpenter and Greg the Cholo (sp?). It is here that I met who was awesome enough to sing some Janis Joplin for me outside.
Halloween Party #2 - Helen and FWSWS threw a Dance with a live band, costume and even a birthday party for Mistress Helen who was spawned on Halloween, a few years go. My class was also there! Sidenote: I've never been so self-conscious in my life than when sitting in a Greyhound bus station for an hour while wearing my Sugar Daddy PJ's. Afterwards, went to Weyandt's party which was an event and a half.
Halloween Party #3 - Rocky Horror. I could go into that some more, but my mom reads this site at times.
After a particularly unfortunate Hallowween ending, involving a miscommunication between friends, I feel that karma smiled down upon me (that is if karma would have the properties of a face and muscles to make such a movement). And presented a gift which I have been reveling in ever since. The aforementioned Brooke. (Who a number of my friends are starting to doubt the existance of because due to some reason or another has been unable to join me on none, but one of my social expeditions thus far.)
Oh yeah! My new Treo 600 came in and I'm once again, like a giddy school girl playing with my new toy. I only wish I wouldn't have dropped and scratched it on the concrete last night. ("That didn't take long.")
Now to prepare for Movie Night. Yarr!
--SnoopyKiss now believes in Karma.
Oh yeah..I forgot some of the quotes that I either overheard or instigated during the exchange:
"Let the a$$ slapping begin!"
Our waitress at Minnies - "Our food is really great, which is surprising considering the crappy service."
"Carbonated yogurt with Seltzer. It tasted like goat."
"Wow, it's like Valley girl meets caveman: Dude...ugg...dude!!...ugg.."
"So, you're a fish snob?""I prefer to call myself an fish-anadio"
"I hope that's blood.", After slopily eating a steak.
"You're going to like what I'm wearing tonight. Bring your Extra brain."
"What?! You ate her danish and you didn't even know her name?!"
"What makes you think I'm wearing underwear."
"We need to start the rumor that all Jews are good dancers.""So, when a girl says 'Good Dance.', I should say, 'Thanks, I'm Jewish.'?"
"I don't need a push-up bra. I need a push-in."
"Which one is Solomon?""He's the one that looks like Harry Potter grown up about 10 years."
"Swing dancing is great. There you are listening to great Jazz and grooving with hot women....some of which ride motorcycles."
"He just gives women the look and they come dance with him.""A little big of tongue helps too."
"Smirnoff Ice? I haven't sold that to a guy before."
Sometimes, there are those days where the World just seems to come at you with no rhyme or reason and you have no idea why. Well, this wasn’t one of those days.
This was one of those days where the World came at me, but it was all because of my own doing. Since this is Tax Free weekend, George and I went out to do some shopping and lunch Friday morning. By the time I finally got into work, it was about 2:30. I had some MAJOR catch-up to play in addition to finding someone to go see Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat with me. Thankfully, Nortel (Greatest place to work, eva.) understands that there are people like me that don’t adhere to a normal sleeping schedule, or even a normal working schedule for that matter, and as long as I’m a good and prosperous worker (which I have confirmed with my bosses), I have certain liberties. Yea me!
After a while of searching for someone to go with, I decided to take George as my “Man-date” (Just two guys going to see a play together. No funny business.), and we both really enjoyed the play. Due to popularity, they’ve extended it for another week. Go see it! (I think Lee’s planning a group watching next week, so talk to him.)
Then, we were onto Part 2 of the evening. An inebriated watching of Strangeheart at The Magnolia. A movie, along the same lines as Rocky Horror, where audience participation is, not just allowed, but encouraged. So is drinking. Which a number of us did. George and I were accompanied by a slew of people I knew would make this a great evening: Lee, Carolyn, Allison, Peck, Audra and Joe. I brought my homemade “Gatorade” (Read: Midori Sour). Matt Peck had some tasty Buttermint Schnapps that he was passing around. By the time, it got to me a 3rd time, I decided to take a huge swig of it, only to find that he replaced it with pure Gin. I nearly spewed it on Carolyn, who was sitting in front of me. (I’ll get you for that Peck.)
Anyway, back to the movie. There are the typical lines that you’re supposed to shout out at opportune times, but I found that our own improvisational lines, belted out mainly by Lee and a few others that were “taken by the spirits”, had the entire theatre in an uproar and were much mo’ betta. Afterwards, a few of us went to Café Brazil for some after movie/drinking food. I was dragging myself around until I finally got my French Toast and I was hit with my 3rd or 4th wind or something.
Going to bed, I knew that my biological clock was going to keep waking me up, telling me that it’s time to go to work, but thankfully, I was able to press the internal Snooze button and get my 8 hours of sleep from 5AM – 1PM. J
--Snoopy Kiss is glad that he’s not a giant. Because then the only movies he would be able to see is at the drive in theatre. And then, I’d probably crush some cars.
WARNING: This post links to some pretty graphic stuff. Don't say I didn't warn you.
A while back, a friend of mine, Matt Musselman told an interesting story about how he was searching through some porn one day and came across one of his X-girlfriends. Pretty shocking, mind you. Well, I got curious enough that I asked him if I could see it "Do a Google on 132991.jpg. She's the one in the middle."
Not too shabby, I realized. So, I started poking around (pun intended) some of the other pics ... and came across 132980.jpg. That's when my jaw dropped.
FLASHBACK
When I went to Tulane and all of the dorm rooms had ethernet connections to them, it was awesome. Except that I didn't have a computer that could make use of that (Stupid Packard Bell)...so, I had to bum off of other people. This one time, I went to a friend's dorm who had the almighty Internet connected to his computer and after bugging him for a while, he gave in and showed me how Internet porn works... (wow, I wonder how many hits I'll get from saying the word "porn". There, I did it again.)
This first post we went to talked about these girls sunbathing nude at their dorm room and these guys that started taking pictures of them and they invited them back to their room to take more pictures of them.
BACK FLASH
You're getting the picture by now, aren't ya? Yup. My Virgin Internet Porn Experience was from Matt's X-girlfriend. We later exchanged notes and determined that it happened not too longer after their breakup. Wow. Thankfully, we're at the stage in our lives where we can laugh at that.
Unfortunately, I can't find the original chat session where it started, but here's a transcript of him and another friend named Matt talking about it.
LOL...it still cracks me up.
Being from Louisiana, food is a major topic of conversation with me and my friends, and I constantly hear, "You know, I make the best " Well, I gave those people a chance to put their food where their mouths are. Or someone else's mouth to their food...anyway, you get the picture. Plus, I made it into a contest with prizes!
Also, since a few of us were so inspired by what we saw at Lindy Gras, we knew that we had to re-enact parts of it. Naughty us. And speaking of naughty...my pig had a good time too. Ride the pig! (or Erin. Either way is fine with me.)
Back to the food...Some of entries were:
EXP appetizers (brought 3 hours after the party started! :) )
Couscous a la Melissa
Girl Scout Cookies
DA-BOMB Sushi (Some in reference to previous mischief at Chef Tommy)
Gourmet Mac and Cheese
A most tasty Filet Mignon
Taco Salad
Mucho Alcoholo!
125 Jello shots!
…bunches of other things that I have forgotten, or didn’t eat because I was quite toasty that night. (Many mega super happy thanks to Andre and Angie who brought me liquid happiness: Smirnoff Ice!)
One of the more interesting events was when Matt M. bet me $5 that I couldn't eat one of his Sushi rolls without blinking. Scoffing at his offer, I got a big crowd to watch me as I threw the tiny morsel of seaweed in my mouth. For about 5 seconds of chewing, I was fine. Then it hit me.
Once everyone was satiated, Teel whipped out: “The Tingler”. Words themselves cannot describe the sensation of being “Tingled.” Next time you’re out dancing at the Sons of Hermann, ask Teel about it. Just make sure that you’re sitting down and don’t get too carried away, else you’ll contort it and then have to pray to the “Tingler Diety” for forgiveness.
We then sprawled out the always-faithful party-enhancer Twister. Except Helen had something else in store for us: Jello Shot Twister. If you landed on a spot that had a shot, it was yours.
The prize for winning the Twister match? Once again…Tommy’s house.
I tried defending my title, and almost succeeded. I got too anxious and knocked everyone down (including myself), so the judges defaulted to me, the defending champion. (Studio 54 Party) However, it was then noted that Helen took the most amount of shots and was on the mat the longest (we didn’t start at the same time), so in the spirit of the Olympics, Helen was the declared the winner. But it’s now been 24 hours and she hasn’t claimed her prize, so I get to keep the house. Woohoo! :)
After some more drinking, it later hit me, “I should stop.” So, I did. But the room didn’t.
Many many glasses of water later, I was ready to bed, which happened around 4AM. There were still people on my couch chatting, but like I tell people, when you come to my house, you’re family. Which also means, don’t expect me to fix your plate. :)
When I woke up, those left over from the party, (Myself, Melissa, Lee, Janice and Brian) were treated by the master cooking skillz of Monsieur Gibson. Complete with homemade waffles topped with strawberries and syrup.
For those that missed out…next time bring a pillow.
Some of the more interesting quotes overheard:
On how to have the most out of life: "The more you eat, the more you can drink...the more you drink, the more you throw up...the more you can eat"
Let's not do that again: "Wiskey always makes me butch."
Let's do that again: "Whatever you do, you can always do it better with more women."
Let's make sure do do that again: "You know you're drunk when you don't know whose navel you sucked it out of."
On tough issues: "Hit one little brown kid with a Stretch Armstrong and all of a sudden, YOU'RE the racist."
No parking here: "These (lift boobs with hands) are just for show."
Bad girl, good girl: ", you're being a bad girl. Go to Tommy's Room!" (I did not say that! I swear!)
The above conversation was an excerpt from a conversation I had with a drunk kid one recent Sunday morning when I told him that I told him I graduated from Tulane. (where he was studying) I then told him that he was a long way from home.
Drunk people amuse me. At least the ones you find at Denny's and IHOP at 1-2 AM. Having had a relative killed by a drunk driver, that is about the extent of my tollerance of them. Oh yeah, and then there was that time where Evil Roommate Steve was so drunk that he got me laughing because he was so loony. At one point he turned to me as he was sprawled out on the couch and said, Hey Tommy. What?
PHART.
In some sort of dumb male way, it was really funny. But not as funny as Whataburgerwhat? Heh Heh.
On a less than humerous note, the growing tension surrounding Iraq and N. Korea. Part of the US is Pro-Peace, and part is Anti-Saddam. I don't know where I stand yet. I think that a peaceful resolution would be to the benefit of the world, but how? And what can I do to help? As I drove by downtown Dallas last night, looking at the skyline, I turned to it and said, "Don't go anywhere...ever." I'd hate for one of the building in Dallas to be destroyed and then replaced by a less than practical solution.
Peace Out! (And I mean it)Tommy.
Normally if I don't write anything in a while, it's been because not much has happened; however, it's been quite the opposite as of lately.
About a month ago was Kathy and Jerry's wedding. For those that haven't been blessed yet meeting these two crazy kids, they are two amazing swing (especially blues) dancers. They've been dating for eons and finally tied the knot. The wedding was at an old hall that I remembered going to a freaky fashion show years earlier. At this fashion show they had H. R. Giger-esque models going on and even guys suspended in midair by hooks going through their back. All very creepy stuff. Anyway, the wedding was nothing of the such. It was a good time where people came from all over to see the happy couple celebrate their marriage. The festivities and dancing went till about 1-2AM. Good party. (Don't forget to check out the pictures of their red leather couch.)
Another good party was Janice's Christmas Tree Decorating Party, where I got to meet Janice's boyfriend, Brian, who is quite an accomplished West Coast Swing Dancer and is an all around cool frod. Lanelle, Andra and Kirk (who I still think looks like Bono of U2) all joined in the decorating. I later used the leftover ribbon to decorate my Medusa Lamp at the house as a makeshift X-mas tree. Good party.
Next weekend, one of my favorite bands, the Polyphonic Spree threw their 3rd Annual X-mas party at the Lakewood Theater. Along with the devoted fans wearing choir robes, were some very bizarrely dressed peeps from some girl wearing an original Battlestar Galactica outfit, to someone in an HR Puffnstuff outfit, and of course, the "non-skirt" girl. There was also an alien ventriliquist, Mickey Mouse, and of course, Tim Delauder, the lead singer of the Polyphonic Spree. He da man. To top the show off, was a definition in absurdity: A fashion show/hair cutting extravaganza. Once the PS walked off the stage, they announced that they were giving free haircuts to anyone wanting to come up stage. Since my hair has been getting pretty shaggy, I considered it, until I saw the absurdity occurring on stage. It was more of a "Random shaving" than a hair cut. I was glad to have kept my locks of hair...even though they are getting too long for me. Good party.
I currently find myself in Cut Off, LA. For those unaware, Cut Off, is my hometown. To give you some type of perspective, we had 7 towns for our one high school with a graduating class of 263. I'll let you do the math. Anyway, it's about an hour southwest of New Orleans and is surrounded by marshland. Last night was the Falgout Family Christmas party where I got a chance to pick up my accent again and listen to some of the most hilarious stories of my dad and his brothers growing up. Some I plan to post up here, some I dare not. All of which almost had me in tears, laughing. Good party.
Today is Chrismas. While wearing my Sugar Daddy PJ's, I "bachelor wrapped" my family's gift by putting their gifts in different compartments of my backpack and telling them which zipper to open. We were all amused. My big present was tools from dad to work on the house with. Yar!
I hope that your stocking was filled with your wishes and you're surrounded by those that love you.
Merry Christmas,Tommy.
As of yesterday, it had been way too long since I had been dancing. And I was itching to change that.
SO! I donned my new chapeau, which I picked up at Hot Topic and headed off to Sons of Hermann Hall. I caught up with a few friends of mine I hadn't seen in some time, and just had a freggin' blast. I also heard the best Pirate Joke ever. It would lose it's interpretation over the Internet, so next time you see me, demand that I tell it to you. YARR!!!
Then as a group of us were walking to our cars, I learned a surprising about of information about a fellow Yehoodi poster in just once brief sentence: "Man, it's been so long, I think my hymen is growing back." When I didn't think it could get much funnier than that, I heard someone say, "What's a hymen?" I told him to go back to High School.
And to top it off, seven minutes after midnight, I got the most bizarre and amusing answering machine message of my life. (Warning ~1Meg big) For those that can't make it out, she's singing about a cat coughing up a furball. Ack!'s included. Let's hear it for bizarre messages!
I'm still snickering over the pirate joke. Heh heh...C'EST TOUT BIEN!!!
On Sunday, May 26, my life changed. I found out that I was not whole and complete because I had missed out on a major part of American culture: Movies. So, to help me become a better person, my friends helped me compile a list of movies that I have yet to see. To undertake this huge task of watching all of these movies, (over 250) I will start planning "Catch Tommy Up on Good Movies" parties at my place. If you wish to join us or have an addition to the list, email me.
Movies Now Seen:
Requiem for a Dream - Everyone kept telling me how horribly depressive the movie was. I guess some part of my brain decided to flip the switch and force myself to be amused. Yeah, there were some pretty upsetting parts, but I thought the best character was the fridge. Had me rolling around in laughter.
Twin Peaks (TV Series) - "Who Killed Laura Palmer?" Saw the pilot. Sorry Matt, but it just didn't catch my attention.
Tommy the Musical - "Tommy's Cool, OK?!" That was one of the posters seen in the movie. I think that I finally found my life mantra. Pretty decent movie. Kinda confusing at times, but keep your eyes open for the cameo appearances.
Le Dernier Combat (Luc Besson) - Don't see it. I don't even think it was done by Luc Besson. We ended up fast forwarding through the whole thing just to see if there was a surprize ending. Nope.
BASEketball - Trey Parker and Matt Stone can get away with just about anything now. I think they were granted Diplomatic immunity in Hollywood, but the news never got out. This movie was wrong in about 200 different ways. All of which had us laughing and me on the floor rolling around. All that and the best site gag ever. Go see it. Don't tell your mom.
Cure - Japanese psycho killer movie. Imagine killing your wife or some random stranger and then slice an X into their throat...why? Because you were hypnotised and it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.
Deliverance - Wow. This was one of the movies I felt that I had to see because it was a classic, but wouldn't be that good (i.e. Soylent Green), but it was surprisingly delightful.
Delicatessen - French movie done by the same guy as Amelie. Another dark French comedy. But not nearly as distrubing as Man Bites Dog.
Pitch Black - Van Diesel and aliens. What else can I say? I fell asleep halfway through it.
Man Bites Dog - This movie had nothing to do with dogs and everything to do about a dark French comedy with a killer who's making a documentary about himself killing people. It got really gross at time. Not for the faint of heart.
The Specials - Oh my Lord! Talk about one of those movies, that prove you can't judge a DVD by it's cover. Lee pointed this movie out to me while at Movie Trading Company and we both scoffed at it, thinking it would be really stupid. I then suggested we watch it...because it would be really stupid. And that it was. But in a really funny good humored way. I now own that DVD.
Amazon Women on the Moon - By the creators of Kentucky Fried Movie. Sketch Comedy. But not nearly as good as KFM.
The Godfather - Wow. Another Classic, which I thought would be lame. Just as intense now as back in the 70's. Now I must see Parts 2 and 3.
The Perfect Storm - Once again, George Clooney amazes me. I keep relating him to his GQ, stereotypical macho, handsome guy that doesn't have much acting ability, but I think he did really well in this. Of course, watching it with my dad might have had an influence since he was a fisherman and my dad and I have gone out shrimping and fishing sometimes together.
French Connection - As part of the Falgout Family Food Festival, Rusty brought over this movie. My dad and Lee's dad ragged the rest of us that had never seen of it and how great the car chase scenes were. Note to possible future viewers: There are no car chase scenes. The oldies of the group (Mom, Dad, Lee's Dad) enjoyed it. The youngies (myself, Lee, Rachel, Allison, Rusty, Sarah, Valerie, Matt) agreed that it was a very boring movie.
City of Lost Children - A French movie. Very bizarre. Had one of the same guys as from Amelie. I'm sure that I would have liked it a lot more if I was in the mood for it, but I wasn't. So, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Not a movie I would watch twice, so it just might stay there for a while.
Four Rooms - 95% of the way into this movie, I didn't get it. It's a Quentin Tarantino flick, but you've really gotta strap yourself in for the long ride tho. But I promise, it's worth it.
Mulholland Dr. - Uhh....what was that about??? Like most of David Lynch's stuff, it doesn't make much sense, but you can tell that there's a deep involved plot behind it, but that would take too much brain power to figure out. And besides, after seeing, it you feel like your brain is mush, so good luck. It was a very interesting movie, because I like bizarre twisted stuff like that, but it even made my head go pop. Oh yeah, and there was an interesting lesbian scene in there. Most of the guys were cheering when it happened, because Mr. Lynch was messing with you the whole time building up the tension between the two main female characters. Many lewd jokes from the peanut gallery followed.
The Legend of Speed - Another "Midnight Asian Movie". Not nearly as good as Attack the Gas Station, but still a quality movie. To state it quickly, it's like a Japanese "Fast and the Furious"
Attack the Gas Station - This is part of the "Midnight Asian Movie" festival held by the Asian Film Festival of Dallas. For those that aren't in the know, at the Magnolia theatre, they show a FREE Asian movie at midnight. This is one of the funniest movie I've seen in quite a while. So much so, that I'm purchasing it. Let me know if you'd like for me to have a showing of it as I'd be more than happy to.
Seven Samurai - #8 on imdb.com's Top 250 Film list. The Magnificent Seven is based off of this move, but in a more modern tale. I really enjoyed this movie, even though it was very lenghty and the plot advancement took a few hours. It was an over-all really good movie. Another black and white movie.
Dr. Strangelove (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb) - Bizarre. This is the late Stanley Kubrick's last movie before 2001, and was done in black and white. It was quite boring at the beginning (I fell asleep), but picked up in a very twisted way at the end. Thankfully, we had a real Dr. Strangelove buff with us watching and told us about the neat behind the scenes about the movie. As a classic, I recommend it.
Das Boot - INTENSE! This is THE ORIGINAL sub movie. U571? Feh! So much of what you see nowadays in movies is nothing more than a copy of this original German movie about a WWII U-boat and the hell (psychological and physical) that it's crew went through to fulfill on it's orders above and beyond what my mind can comprehend. It also covers the mistakes made by the German army at that time and how they weren't too happy with Mr. Hitler at that time. Good movie.
Human Traffic - This was recommended by "Rusty" as a movie that's not great, but when you're finished, you've got a huge grin on your face because it's a happy movie. How true he was. Yet another movie that came out as a big surprise to be a good flick. There's no protagonist/antagonist conflict, but it's a movie that when it's done, you're left smiling and feeling good about life.
Pi - I remember seeing the poster for this movie right after Se7en (one of my favorite movies.) came out and thought, "Wow...just another rip off." Well, I was wrong. It's not a rip of off that great movie, but a very strange movie by Daren Aronofsky about a mathematical genius who is obsessed with determining a sequence of number that has some vague connection to that infamous number Pi.
SLC Punk - Amazingly enough this was a REALLY good movie. I was expecting it to be full of bad acting and other not so great classic movie-isms, but the acting was really good and so was the plot (The trials and tribulations of an angst ridden anarchist growing up in Salt Lake City (SLC)...home of the Mormons.)
Go - Previously watched. I think I was one of the few people that enjoyed it. It follows one of my favorite quotes, "Life begins at 3AM."
Soylent Green - Not a great movie, but a small portion of my life is complete because I've now seen Charleston Heston yell, "Soylent Green is People!!!"
Fight Club - GOOD MOVIE! Makes me want to start my own Fight Club...but I wouldn't tell anyone about it.)
Harry Potter - Despite the negative publicity for it being a children's book, this was a really good movie. I highly recommend.
The Sweetest Thing - Typical movie of women discovering live, love, men and why they're still single. Engh...
Oceans 11 - Really good movie thus proving that Julia Roberts will be eternally beautiful.
North by Northwest - Good Alfred Hitchcock movie. Not my type of movie tho. But definitely one of those that I'm glad that I've seen.
O Brother, Where Art Thou - Apparently, this movie is based on Homer's "Oddessey". I haven't personally read the Oddessey, but I know that it's mostly based on Mythology. Thankfully, I did have some people who knew it and was able to point out the parallelisms out to be. (I like hanging out with smart people.) Definitely a good movie...I bet the soundtrack is good too.
Monster's Inc - Not to be confused with Monster's Ball. This is the animated movie by Pixar. One of the things I love most about Pixar are the short movies that they put at the front of each of their feature movies. This one had me rolling around laughing. All together, it was an amazing movie. Just make sure to watch it all the way through the credits.
The Man Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down A Mountain - I learned a bit of English trivia watching this movie. All Hugh Grant movies have a love scene in them. Yup. This one too. A quaint movie with a nice pretty plot and filled with human spirit. And the girl from "Run Lola Run"...a movie I haven't seen yet.
2001: Space Oddsey
The Cook the Thief His Wife and Her Lover
The Shining
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
This is Spinal Tap
Raising Arizona
Chocolat
Clash of the Titans
Doom Generation
Logans Run
The Gods Must be Crazy
Movies To See
Tron
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Old Yeller (Am I going to cry at the end of this?)
Taxi Driver
Bonnie and Clyde
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Rashomon (Japanese Movie)
Lord Rama
Brazil
Subway (Luc Besson)
The Big Blue (Luc Besson)
Yamakasi (Luc Besson)
Groove Tube
Supercop
Orgasmo
Devil's Advocate
Krull
Phare Du Four
The Adventures of Barron Von Munchausen
The Barber
Being Light
When Harry Met Sally
Grave of the Fireflies (Anime)
Highway 61
Nil By Mouth
Kafka
Shindler's List
In the Name of the Father
The Name of the Rose
Full Monty
Green Mile
Young Frankenstein
Full Metal Jacket
American History X
Defending Your Life
Fist of Legend
Groove
Nowhere
Fucked
U-Turn
Pushing Tin
Casablanca
Eating Raul
African Queen
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest
Carrie
Chinatown
9 1/2 Weeks
Body Heat
All the Presidents Men
Moonstruck
The Last Castle
Butch Cassidy
Behind the Green Door
The Sting
The Hustler
The Great Escape
Being There
With 6 & an Egg Roll
Sex, Lies & Videotape
Multplicity
The Longest Yard
Rush
Heaven Can Wait
Michael
Dog Day Afternoon
Scarface
Tha American President
Notting Hill
A Knight's Tale
Frankenstein
Silent Movie
Grand Canyon
Fahrenheit 451
Mr. Mom
Author Author
The Rose
The Road to Morocco
Platoon
The Others
Sex and the Single Girl
Gidget
Regarding Henry
Animal Farm
Fletch
Forever Young
Powder
The Patriot
City of Angels
Time Machine (original)
Starman
Enemy Mine
Star Chamber
Andromeda Strain
Breakfast Club
M. Butterfly
Sleeper
Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex, but Were Afraid to Ask
Westside Story
Jesus Christ Superstar
Godspell
Hair
Big Wednesday
St Elmo Fire
Paper Moon
Beaches
Private Benjamin
A League of Their Own
Them
Dawn of the Living Dead
Misery
Suspect
Fatal Attraction
The Jerk
Women Behind Bars
Last Dance
Green Beret
Billy Jack
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion
The Truth about Cats and Dogs
While You Were Sleeping
Entrapment
Groundhound Day
What About Bob?
Stake Out
Fargo
Dangerous Liasons
To Sir with Love
Zorro the Gay Blade
Romancing the Stone
Don't Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead
Pacific Heights
Prince of Tides
What Lies Beneath
The Deep
Ed
Pushing Tim
Arthur
Micky and Maude
Benny and Joon
Bound
Decadent Night in Tokyo
Paper Chase
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
The End
High Anxiety
Midnight Cowboys
Space Cowboys
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Pollack
Diner
My Dinner with Andre
American Graffiti
Ordinary People (Have I seen already?)
Same Time Next Year
MASH
They Shoot Horses Don't They
Out of Africa
The Natural
Rudy
Turning Point
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
For the Love of the Game
Donny Bosco
Bridget Jones' Diary
Jason and the Argonauts
Fritz the Cat
The Boxer
Wild Things (I recommended this to myself for the Denise Richards/Neve Cambell apperance.)
The Bound
Dangerous Choice
The Color Purple
Blue Lagoon
Yellow Submarine
Black Rain
Wild at Heart
Giant
Iron Giant
Citizen Kane
Trading Places
The Piano
Living Out Loud
Copycat
One Joint
9 to 5
9 Months
Rain Tree County
The Committments
Twilight Zone
Family Disturbance
My Life In Pink
Wings of Desire
Elizabeth
Timecode
Cube
Ghost World
Dead Again
The Tall Guy
Dial M for Murder
Midnight Cowboys
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
The Apartment
Todo Sobre Mi Madre
Killing Zoe
Dangerous Liasons
Bad Movies to See:
Dr. T. & the Women
Desperate Living - John Waters
I'll write about the amazing Halloween event later, but I've gotta get the Studio 54 party out on paper (be it electronic, or whatnot) while it's still fresh in my head.
Before the party started, I had a TOTALLY crappy beginning, as I did some poor planning and scheduled the party 2 HOURS after finishing a course at Landmark. Well, the class took a bit longer and then when I rushed to my car, I found out that my car battery had died and wasn't going to easily let me leave the parking lot it was so comfortable at. After some panicy actions, I finally got my car started thanks to my good friend, Cliff.
Pre-party preparation started with myself, Lee Gibson, Lee Blum., Lydia (who left quite early) and Mark blowing baloons and decorating the place. Noticing that Lee B. and Mark didn't have costumed, I figured that I need to remedy this. So, I made Mark take off his shirt and pants and don a Toga I had from a party a while back. A joke was then made about Lee B. not having a costume to which she responded with the immortal words, "What? Do you want me to go home and put on my G-string and Leather chaps?" At that point, I don't really remember much else of what happened. I could have passed out for all I know. But Lee said that she didn't feel like going back to her place in Allen, and opted to just walk around in her Harley jacket and a bra. Quite an acceptable substitute in my book.
Little by little, the guests stared showing up in their beautifully done costumes. Kelly as Miss Havisham, some girl from Great Expectations that got stood up at the altar. Sarah and Rusty as hip 70's looking people. Lee, who went at Santa Clause just to get pretty girls to sit on his lap. Matt in his Jumping Asian Outfit (which apparently was REALLY from Asia). Andre and his lady all dressed up. Laura in a Swingish outfit. Holly in a neat outfit that I can't really classify this late at night (3AM). And Matt Weyant donning his Russian hat, complaining about Capitalist swine and their horrible alcohol. Cliff, Erin and ??? (God I feel horrible for not remembering Erin's friend's name, who was a VERY amazing dancer) And, of course, our very bizarre and eccentric host...Disco Stu.
Some of the highlights of the evening were:
Multi-female dippings
Multi-male dippings
The surprise dippings
Night at the Roxbury re-enactments
Girl on Girl dancing
The really mixed up Conga Line
Stu's Fantasy
The Electric Slide
And of course...the COUCH O LOVE!
The horrible, immense, torturous tickling session which followed the aforementioned "Couch o Love". (Which definitely hurt...but in a very good way. A good and naughty way.)
Then there was the time that Mark tried lighting his shoe on fire so we had to pin him to the ground.
Matt showing off his frilly rump.
And of course, the party foul committed by the host himself...the ceremonial breaking of the wine glass...with his foot.
The last of the hardcore partiers left around 2:45. So, as far as parties go...this was definitely a swinging party. Lots of dancing, lots of really cool people and conversation. Lots of dancing and posing too. And if you didn't go to the party, consider this your warning. Do not miss the next one. (Which was already under discussion. Possibly an "Un-birthday Party") I think everyone enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
Love, Sunshine and Disco,Stu.
P.S. A special thanks go out to those that came to the party, especially those that brought stuff, and even more so the essential cool lights, Disco ball, and liquid pleasure. It was very much appreciated.
P.P.S. If you want to see the whole gallery, click here. Rusty also posted his own pictures, here.
So many events...so little time that it happened in...I'll try to be as brief as possible, but good Gaud!...So much happened.
It started off with a Birthday Party invitation from my friend Suzyn, who was throwing a Toga party with another friend Celena A. Diamond. Determined to not make the drive by myself and to brind my favorite partying and travel companion, I informed Lee
that he was going to be joining me on this trip. Since he had such a crappy
week beforehand, I knew that this would cheer my main man up. The plan was
to leave after Lee left
work and I would pick up the clothes (For the Toga) and other materials (laurel
and grapes for women to feed to us) for our little adventure. I did forget
to get Suzyn a b-day gift, so we stopped by Carl's Corner, TX to
find an appropriate gift. After much searching, I found what I was looking
for..."A Carl's Corner Toothpick Holder.", some beef jerky and a postcard
exaggerating the size of the crickets in Texas. After picking up some alkeyhol
beverages, and more grapes we arrived.
Before walking into the party, Lee and I donned our new attire and "ran on up in there!" to be the new lives of the party. Little did these inhabitants of the Toga Party know that their night was going to change because we were now there. I immediately joined up with a few of my friends, and maaaaadddd partying ensued! They started to dish out birthday wishes and cut some apparently good cake soon after we got there. It was great to see some of my old friends, Cathy, Suzyn, Cecilia (Sorry if I spelled your name wrong there.), and Celena
(the awesome hostess of the evening.) As well as meet some new ones who's
names I don't remember...but faces I shall never forget: (Thankfully to
my trusty digital camera) "Cowboy boots Toga girl", "Scary Neighbor Jimmy", "Girl with Cool Shoes", "Girl not wearing a Toga but kept with tradition by going Commando", "Guy mixing Mardi Gras and Toga Party", "Anthony...Alfred...Author...whatever.", "Holly and Paula."
Here are some other really good misc pictures that I can't afford to pass up: "God Bless photography", "Lee wanted me to destroy this picture...So here I am putting it on the Internet.", "Dude!
I just totally grabbed your ass! I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do that...and
I did a really poor job. If you want me to make it right, you can come back
and I'll do it again.", "Gaudess luv.", "Umm...your toga's too small.", "The picture of the night.", "It's good to be Emperor", "Uhh...umm...I'm sorry...were you just saying something? I got distracted.", "I see Toga People."
After many, many hours, the party died down...That was at about 3-4AM.
Then, little by little, people started to trickle off. And then there were
10...More talk...more chatting...more people leaving. And then there were
At which point, Lee and I started mellowing the party out by telling
our tales of The Polyphonic Spree,
and how we think they are God's Gift to music. (They're going to be in Austin
on Sept 14, so Austinites BE THERE! Lee and I might be making a trip down
there again to experience this.) This, plus a few of our other amusing stories
and Lee's huge lexicon kept the group entertained for quite a while.
Suzyn and "Anthony...Alfred...Aurthor...whatever"'s left...And then there
were 4. More music, more chat...And then it was 7AM. "Uh guys...wanna go
get some breakfast?" So, we then performed a sacred "Prayer of extinguishing
the Tikki Torches and thanking the Party Gauds who bestowed many fortunes
on us these past hours." and dragged our tired butts (At this point, it
was myself, Celena, Lee and Eric) to Kirby's for some omlettes and more entertaining
stories. Since I had to be back in Dallas for 2PM, I figured that we would
roll on outta Austin.
By this time, I was VERY braindead and asked Lee to drive the way back.
I kicked the chair back and took a short nap. I was then woken up by the
sound of my tires screeching. My immediate thought was, "It's going to be
ok, we'll stop in time." Then...WHAM!!! Forward motion throws me into my
seatbelt and I am now looking (very closely, mind you) at the rear end of
a white Chevy. Not good. We pulled off into a bank parking lot and assessed
the damages. Thankfully, NOONE was hurt. The guy in the truck had no visible
damage, except for a bent plug, which they can probably take a wrench to.
My car had a new cleft lip. We
were able to bend my hood down a lot and even though there was some fluid
leakage, the car was drivable. Thankfully, we were able to make it back
to Dallas w/o the car overheating, simutaneously combusting, or just plain
stopping. The trip back was much more somber than the one coming, but towards
the end, we were back to our normal chipper selves...at
least as chipper one can be w/o sleeping for 36 hours, driving for 7 of them,
and partying for 10 of the rest. That and we discussed our new line of shirts
involving our favorite catch quotes, "Qui est ton papa?!", "And...WWHHHEEE!!!!",
, "PIE!", which we might get Celena to design.
Final analysis: Party...GOOOOODD!!! Driving.....BAADDD!!! Still, a
great time was had by all and I'm looking forward to doing it again...just
this time in Dallas. :)
Here's a link to the entire album of pictures I took at the party.
Ever
have one of those moments where people present you with the perfect setup
for the perfect joke and you deliver the perfect punchline flawlessly which
causes everyone to erupt with laughter for the next few minutes in an instance
that will be remembered for the rest of your life and the same for everyone
else there? Well, I did that today. That was many hours ago and I'm still
feeling very proud of myself for that.
The short version of this story is that there is a group of us Geeks/CyberLuvas
get together on Friday night for some good Role Playing Games. This time
we opted not to play any games and go to Shake and Steak, a 24-hour hamburger
joint. We had most of the usual crowd and one newbie. Well, this newbie
apparently didn't know his place, because in the middle of all of us talking
about the great movies that are out now and how awesome Spiderman was, he
blurted, "That movie totally....SUCKED! It was horrible!" And then proceeded
to tell us all the minute details that he saw flaws in. At first, we were
open minded because some of the CGI was sketchy, but overall, it was a great
movie. But he wouldn't let up. We then sensed an issue more fundamental
than this newbie's disdain for the movie...so we probed. "What did Stan
Lee (creator of Spiderman) do to you?" "What happened to you when you were
a kid?" "Did Stan Lee take your lollipop when you were young?" "Did he
abuse you as a kid?"
At which point, I command the presense of the entire table by putting
my hand out towards him as if I'm holding something and ask, "Show me on
the doll where he touched you!!!!"
Silence.
That's pretty much where I went blank, folks. All I remember from then
to minutes later was the entire table roaring with laughter and waving our
arms around hystarically. We were probably making fools out of ourselves,
and earning us a place on the "Not allowed back in" list, but we didn't care.
Life was too good. And for the rest of the night, if someone got too wilded
up, I'd put them in their place by asking the same question. It was a grand
occasion that will stick in all of our memories for the rest of our lives.
If you don't get it...don't worry. It was probably one of those moments where you would have to have been there.
My friend Lee who was there also has another account of the story.
And I made a Southpark version of my alter ego Disco Stu. You can make your own character.
So,
it's been a while since I've played a prank on anyone, and tonight was the
night to make up for the lost time. Matt Mussleman (No really, that's his
real name, and not one fabricated for this story.) saw a whole octopus at
an asian market a while back and knew that mischevious things could come
from this, but hadn't determined anything yet. Then, he thought of a great
joke...put this in someone's toilet,
and wait..and wait..and wait...till you hear the girlish shreak of some unsuspecting
victim. He decided that this victim shall be my roommate Ann. (Note: Matt
did not just purchase an octopus, but also 2 squids...one for use elsewhere
and another for "backup". When he unwrapped the octopus, he found out that
it was already sliced, so we opted to use one of the ickier squids.)
Now originally, this was supposed to happen at my house w/o me knowing
any of it, so that I would be in just as much shock as Miss Dubose. However,
so that the plan could be perfectly executed, Matt clued me in so that he
could determine when Ann was going to be home.
The social plan for tonight was to have a gaming party at my house with
a Dreamcast, PS2, and Gamecube on my nice new 36" TV. This was a hit with
everyone, including Sarah who didn't participate, but enjoyed watching a
bunch of guys screaming at each other as we mauled one another at Quake 3,
SSX and Chu Chu Rocket. The participants were Lee, Rusty, Sarah, Matt Mussleman, Matt Turner
and myself. Rusty and Mr. Turner were kept out of the squid loop so that
we could have some other bystanding victims. So we waited...and waited...and
waited for Ann to finish her shift at Cozymel's.
The time for Ann to come home came and the "Squid waiters" waited patiently
for Ann to do her duty. We were disheartened that instead of using the bathroom
like any normal person should, she made haste to grab her things so that
she could go stay with her boyfriend for the night. We all gathered downstairs
and the made every suggestion we could to have Ann go back into her bathroom
and check the toilet. But alas...she said her goodbyes and closed the door
behind her.
Frustrated and thwarted, I fell on the floor screaming..."Anything!!!
Just go!!!" The aforementioned door then opened and Ann poked her head in,
curious as to why I was now yelling. At this point, we couldn't hold it
in anymore and we then dragged her to her bathroom...She was disgusted...amused, but very disgusted.
After she left, we were still recovering from busting a gut laughing about the whole ordeal.
I don't have a really smashing opening for this entry, so I'll just say this. I had an AMAZING time for my birth-weekend. It started out with a pub crawl down in Deep Ellum.
Lee and I got the the pub crawl late; however, we were able to follow the horde of people walking around Deep Ellum wearing the same T-shirt with the words, "Pub Crawl" on them, figuring that this is where we wanted to be. On the walk to our first pub, we met up with two ladies that were quite intoxicated and when they found out Lee's name, one of the girls got really upset because her X-fiance was named Lee and then started to get upset at Lee for stealing her motorcycle and breaking her heart. (All playfully so.) So, the crawl was off to a good start.
We got to the first club and met some very beautiful and interesting people. The Coors Light girls were there; however, they had enough makeup on that made me hope that Clairol wasn't flammable. I found out that they were passing out "Hello" nametags and got someone to give me on. (Some of them were "Ivana Pearl Necklace" and "Kanigo Downonya" A bit disappointed with, "Never had an Orgasm" I realized that this could turn into a benefit since it was my birthday. (Just kidding mom! :) ) Some of the women were interesting to talk to, and some of the women were a bit too tipsy. At some point, we decided to blindfold Lee and have him pin the tail on the Enron Executative. One thing that was great was that some people, despite the cold weather, dressed up in semi-traditional Irish garb and others decided that they were too sexy for it. But all in all, the boys had a grand ol' time. The slogan for the night was, "10 Bars, 250 People, Many Blondes, No Waiting"
When Lee and I ended the pub crawl, we realized that I no longer had my camera and had no idea where it could be. I was a bit bummed, but not discouraged. After talking to "The Librarian Girl", (The one touching her boob.) and some searching, we found that They Might Be Giants were playing right next to us the entire time. Almost worth missing the pub crawl, but not quite.
We got back to home safely, after using Whataburger to dilute the blood in our alcohol stream and kept chanting out ourselves, "Good Pub Crawl." At that point, around 2-3AM, I went to sleep in my own bed.
Around 9AM, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep, so I joined my friend Angie Champion for an adventure down to the St. Patrick's Day Parade. (Since I didn't have my camera, I don't have any other pictures. Sorry.) We had a good time looking at the variety of floats, including the "Heterosexual Men In Favor of Moustaches." "Beware of the Mullets" and "Drunks Against Madd Mothers." And low and behold the same Coors Light girls from last night. We ended it with a friend of Angie's buying me lunch and sharing decorating ideas.
I got in time to start cleaning the place up for the real party. Slowly, but surely, people started to wonder into my house and realize that this is the place to be for a good time. There were about 30 people there and after people started to leave, I broke out the Twister mat and the Twister contest began. Little did I know that as I was stepped out of the room that the grand prize was my house. I came back into the room to find out that Frank Fu was now the proud owner of 769 Panorama. I demanded a grudge match.
Things started to look dim for our past landlord, but then Mr. Fu made a critical mistake. With one foot on blue and one foot on yellow, I had to move my hand to blue and he tried to prevent me from doing so by pushing his body as high as it could to, which left his underside open, where I quickly got a hand on the situation and was able to use my leverage to push him up, over and off the board. Huzzah! The house was mine again!
Disco Stu also made an appearance and got the house and a lot of bootie shaking.
I started to get tired and found a friend of a friend (Cathy) sitting on the couch and plopped my head in her lap. Our mutual friend (Suzyn) then mumbled something about getting tired and then plopped herself between me and the back of the couch. Needless to say, I was in 7th Heaven. Cathy then proceeded to give me the best face massage I had ever gotten my entire life. Slowly people started to leave the party; however, I was too intoxicated, not by the alcohol, but by the position that I was in. Around two PM, the last of the people left and I was still enjoying myself with my head in Cathy's lap and Suzyn cuddled by my side. Before my blessed friend Lee left, he did one of the coolest things. He took my other couch and set it right next to the couch I was currently lying on so make a big bed...to which Cathy was able to lie down beside me. God Bless You Lee!!! This is the point where I should have gone to sleep, but couldn't so, because I was too happy.
Cathy and I stayed up early talking and enjoying each other's company and did sleep for a little while before they had to leave to go back to Austin. (They drove all the way over, just for the party.)
The next day, I attempted, poorly, to clean up and just walked around in a daze, saying to myself, "Good Party." I later saw Resident Evil, which was a good movie, especially since I hugely lowered my expectations, because it was a movie based on a video game.
I found out that people are STILL talking about the party and how much fun they had. I also feel so blessed that I as able to have such a great party and have such great friends join me at it.
To quote my best friend Lee..."It's allllll good."
If you haven't read yesterday's jounral entry, please do so now, because otherwise, you might be lost...
I sure am glad that I went to the Thanksgiving banquet at the church.
They were having a huge American festival. Complete with turkey, mashed
potato(e?)s, gravy...the whole kit and kaboodle. Since I came in late and
most every seat was taken except for the volunteers, I volunteered to stay
and help clean up afterwards. Something I was more than happy to do so that
I could enjoy the atmosphere as long as possible.
The dinner was good and the people were friendly. I had no problem making
myself at home with second servings of dark meat and mashed potatoes. I
make a few more friends including one Indonesian girl who experienced Thanksgiving
for the very first time. I later found out how hard she had to work to persuade
her father to allow her to come to Europe to study since women over there
VERY rarely move away from home at such an early age. (I'm beginning to
see how interesting other cultures are and how differently they work than
Americans. We are quite free.) One of the other girls, German, who I had
met before, was quite "open" and had no problem putting her fingers on my
plate to remove some of the strings from the cooked turkey as I was eating.
My thoughts went from shock to amusement as I repeated my mantra which has
kept me sane these past weeks: "That's just how they do things." This journey
in Europe has been very interesting as I continue to see life and other people's
reality as just that...another person's reality. For her, it's ok to put
fingers in another person's plate. Funny, eh?
I got home and packed up for this weekend, still not sure of where I will go, but backing warm.
To finish off about last weekend, the next day I got ready to go paragliding
again and luckily, we took a different route so I was able to see some different,
beautiful scenery, including a city that's in the Guiness book of World Records for being the longest city in the world (7km). Nervous, I walked behind a house, made some yellow snow and then syched myself up for flying in nothing but a parachute. (Tandem, of course). Giglo strapped oursevles to the parachute, told me to run off a cliff and then...
We were off!!! I'm flying! I'm really flying!!! Everything below me looked so small. The view of the lakes was mystical...A few minutes into the flight, I hear the question, "You like tricks?" "Sure!" "WE GO LEFT!!!!"
Little did I know that "tricks" meant barrelling down towards the earth
while listening to the altimeter beep off the number of meters we had left
before we hit the ground. I truly had the experience of being in a plane,
which was spinning on an axis right before a crash. I was so horrified and
excitied that I couldn't move. However, I knew that I was in the hands of
a professional and was really enjoying myself. When we stopped circling
around, my heart and breath caught up with me and I felt the adrenaline rush
finally hit my head. Whoo!!! And to imagine I'm thinking of going back
for skydiving or canyon jumping! :) Then, all to shortly, we landed.
We both thanked each other for the experience and he dropped me back off
at Balmers. I then rested for a while and read some of Anne Frank's Diary
and talked to some of the people that just came back from skydiving and canyon
jumping. One of the guys had a smile on hit face that you could scrape off.
"That was the wildest thing I've ever done!", he exclaimed.
After the rush wore off, I went touring around town and
had a LOT of fun at this restaurant called Bebbie's. Where the waiters sing
along with the radio and are extremely cheerful and friendly. They also
ring cow bells for children. Oh, one thing about Europe which amazes me
is how they allow their pets to come into the restaurants with them. It's just commonplace.
Finally, my journey was over and it was time for me to head back to Paris.
I vowed, tho to come back and spend another weekend in Switzerland, most
likely in Interlaken, because I am amazed by it's pure beauty and naturality. Oh yeah, and the chocolate's good too. :)
Yes!!!! My pictures are finally uploaded! (Chamonix, Paris, Italy)
This past weekend, I ventured out to the French Alps at Chamonix, France. It was an immensely beautiful sight.
In fact, I even said, "Some people say that there's no God, or don't believe
in any type of higher power. However, I look at this and say to myself, there's no way anything this beautiful cannot have been created by God."
Chamonix is a valley town, filled with valley people who know how to enjoy life. They are very relaxed and
friendly people that wear all types of sporty clothes. From what we could
tell, they make most of their money off of tourism and skiing. (We visited
during the off season, so there was very little activity.)
Highlights:
Chamonix also had a concrete luge which was a lot of fun, once I learned how to operate my board. And when I finally did learn how to operate it,
I ended up going too fast and falling off, scraping myself and my leather
trenchcoat. After rolling around for a while, I gathered myself up, got
back on and continued luging away.
While Ankur, Nilaksh and I were
walking around at night trying to find out way back to the hotel, a car pulled
over and a guy and girl dressed in preppy uniforms came out and asked for
our ID's. I looked at their shirt and it said, "Gendarderie". I figured
they were with the law since noone else would stop us, but I wasn't quite
sure. So, I asked...Dressed in his turtleneck sweater he said, "No, I just
wanted to play Tennis." It took us a few seconds to realize that it was
a joke. After telling them that we were looking for our hotel and that we
were on touring while working here in America we asked where our hotel was
he told us that we had to actually climb over Mont Blanc to
get to the hotel. This guy was funny! We finally finished up everything
and after talking to them we thought it was great that we had light and easy
French cops to harass us.
For a very long time, I have been looking for a way to truly express how
much I hate mornings. I have an extremely hard time waking up and getting
ready. Well, on the way back from a night club in Chamonix, I found what
I've been looking for. It's a shirt with Calvin of Calvin and Hobbs yawning
and "Je hais le matin" (I hate mornings) on top. Perfect!
For those of you that just want the answer to this question without having to read the whole story, here it is: GET LOST!
Now here's the story:
Wednesday was not a good day for me. I had some Italian food and went "swing dancing"
the night before. When I got home, my stomach was not feeling good so I
went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I couldn't go more than
5 feet away from the toilet before having to go back towards it. I then
called into work and said that I wouldn't be coming in. I then crawled back
into bed hoping for the pain to go away.
At 2PM I was awakened by room service who wanted to come in and clean
the room. Since I was in a dazed mood I said sure and thought that walking
outside might do me some good since my stomach stopped aching.
Figuring it would be a waste to spend a day in Paris and not exploring,
even though I was sick, I decided to go to the Louvre. When I got there,
it was closed because the workers were on strike. Of all the dumb luck.
Since I was feeling weakened by my more unforunate events, I decided to
go back to the hotel in hopes that the french maids were done with my room.
Not knowing where I was, I took random turns knowing that you're always 5
minutes away from a metro station in Paris. My first turn lead me to a very
interesting Metro station. (picture coming soon) I walked towards it and
thought it was very cool. Behind that station was a historical monument.
Once again, very cool. At this point, my curiosity was starting to overpower
my weakness. Behind that was a lavish garden with kids playing soccer and
perfectly aligned trees. I kept going straight towards what looked like
another shopping district and ended up pretty much a dead end. And at the
dead end was a statue that's probably older than dirt.
So, the moral of the story is: When you're in Europe, the best thing
to do is: GET LOST! Why? Because you'll always find something interesting.
And even if it's a dead end, there'll be a 500 year old statue of a naked
woman there. You can't lose.
I was also approached by a pimp last night. It's the 2nd time in a week. What gives?
Cheers, love and humanity. Tommy.
Hemang
and I bought tickets for this weekend to go to the small villas in Italy.
I can't wait! This is what I've been looking forward to...not the big cities,
monuments and museums, but the beautiful scenery. I'm so jealous of me.
:)
One mistake I made so far was to leave my Visor
(read: My life) in the restaurant tonight. When I got home (did I say HOME?!)
I realized this and walked back to the restaurant. I couldn't figure out
how to tell the doormen I forgot something, so I used a line I remembered
from Better Off Dead - "Je
suis tres stupid." and made the motion of leaving something and walking
away. The got a good laugh and directions to the bartender. I did the same
for her after the waiter from my original table told her that I forgot my
Visor. She laughed. I guess self-depracating humor is universal. :)
I'm beginning to learn the RER and metro system. Thankfully, I'm a quick
learner. I'm also grateful for Hemang who's been a great help to me getting
around and his ideas for travel inspire me. Soon, I will be adventuring
a la Falgout.
I saw the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triumph for the first time last night
while eating dunner at a really expensive restaurant in the Chanz de Lizze
(sp?). They had people salsa dancing in the bottom of the restaurant, and
if I knew the dance any better, I would have grabbed someone and started
dancing. However, when I go swing dancing (I found a swing club) I will
live it up.
Every
now and then a dream pops into the mind. Usually, the dream is killed off
through cynicism and resignation..."You can't do that." "You don't really
want THAT, do you?" "Get real." And sometimes, through the sheer power
of determination and the power of committment, the dream wiggles and squirms
it's way out of those thoughs and into the world.
Two dreams of mine which I gave up on a while ago are now coming true.
Own a house I am in love with.
All expenses paid travel.
Funny, now that I look at that, I think to myself...a year ago, I didn't
think those were possible...ESPECIALLY at the same time.
On May 29, 2001, I closed on my house. It is a beautiful, split level
house which overlooks a park, has a beautilful garden, 4 bedrooms, 2 living
rooms, and a beautiful kitchen.
On October 6, 2001, I am leaving for France to work there for 2 1/2 months.
I have no idea what to expect when I get there. Rude French? Not knowing
the language as well as I would like? Another flight disaster?
However, I will not be deterred by any of these thoughts. I am about
to embark on a journey into a foreign country. And with it, I plan to embark
on a journey into my soul. Who am I? What do I want to do with my life?
What's next for me?
In the words of my best friends, Lee: "It's all good, baby!"
