Being sick is awesome (not)

My body may not reflect a gym-heavy routine but before yesterday I had been on a sixty-one day straight streak going to the gym.  But yesterday I was feeling sick and it was probably something I ate because at some point I was expelling some really awful gas.  Burping.  Farting.  Awful.

And then it came down to plan V which really wasn’t my choice but I don’t know why I resisted it.  There are times when vomiting is the solution.  And I think that was the situation last night.  There was actually two rounds of vomiting half an hour apart.  At the end I think I ran out of contents in my stomach but then I felt a lot better and I almost went to the gym.

But I figured I’d take the day off.  And being sick means I didn’t gain any weight…I lost nearly five pounds.  So I guess it’s okay to take a day off now and then.  Can you imagine how awful it would be to be vomiting at the gym?  Terrible.

Some of my family suggested that I was having a reaction from visiting the Reagan Library.

The Pantages tries to buy my love with chocolate

Once again the Pantages is trying to get me to renew my subscription for their 2013-14 season.  I don’t expect that they know why I have not yet renewed; I haven’t sent them any response nor do I expect that they have encountered my previous post explaining my lack of enthusiasm.  One must admire their persistence in the matter; perhaps others have likewise cooled to their subscriptions after enduring Jekyll & Hyde and facing a new season with shows they’ve previously enjoyed.

At the performance of Catch Me If You Can I noticed cards placed at my seats that read:

RENEW NOW FOR FREE CHOCOLATE! Continue reading “The Pantages tries to buy my love with chocolate”

Ronnie + Nancy (The Reagans)

I really should write a more in depth post about my trip to the Reagan Library but it’s late I’m tired and there’s other posts I haven’t made and I want to do them in order.  But I will say that I learned this about Ronald Reagan that I did not know:  The man loved his wife very much.  The library has some of the most cornball telegrams you have ever read.  That’s sweet…sweeter than jellybeans.

Your weather sucks, but mine is iced coffee

Winter ended a while ago. I wasn’t really paying attention to the when but since I live in Southern California, it really wasn’t a long harsh winter. And now during the day it’s lovely so it’s easy to say that it’s Spring, especially considering the first day of Spring passed a few days ago and I didn’t notice because its so nice outside anyways. Continue reading “Your weather sucks, but mine is iced coffee”

Catch Stephen Anthony — If You Can

Last Sunday I watched Catch Me If You Can at the Pantages. I really should have posted this earlier because the run ends on the 24th.  So probably you won’t be able to catch it.  Which is a shame, because Catch Me If You Can is a fun show.

Continue reading “Catch Stephen Anthony — If You Can”

In which I exchange words with Stephenie Meyer and stand in more line than I’ve ever stood in at the Grove*

The previous record long line I waited for at the Grove was for the iPhone 4.  I believe that was the point in which I decided “no more” and decided that I would have my new iPhones shipped to me instead of picking them up at the store.  That was the day I met Donald Glover and I think Adam Pally but that was before Adam Pally was Max Blum.  And of course if you ask them they wouldn’t remember me because I didn’t introduce myself and also, not someone significant enough to remember.  My words.  😉

Stephenie Meyer is an author, and this past Friday (the 15th of March in the year 2013 common era) she made an appearance at the Barnes & Noble bookstore at the Grove in sunny Southern California.  I had hoped for a little discussion of the book or movie but I realize in hindsight with all of the people there for signing there would be no way that all of us could be held in one space short of an auditorium or the Hollywood Bowl.  Her previous works are rather well known: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn.  These books involve Pacific Northwestern Vampires I believe and were made into successful movies.  I haven’t seen the movies nor have I read any of those books.

She has also written a book called The Host which involves an invasion by extra terrestrial aliens who come and infiltrate human bodies.  There’s a movie coming out in the very near future based on this book and the Barnes & Noble event was in support of the book and movie.  I did not manage to finish the book before attending the event.  Not only was Stephenie Meyer was there but also the films stars’ Max Irons, Jake Abel and Diane Kruger.  Sadly I had hoped that Saoirse Ronan would be there (a previous Facebook post indicated such) but no such luck.  I had even watched Saoirse’s Graham Norton interview to try and learn how to pronounce her name but … that was in vain.

I arrived in the morning shortly after Barnes & Noble opened and found myself in a very long line to buy books to get wristbands to come back later to get in a line that didn’t move for over an hour.  There was a lot of waiting in line today.  Multiple lines.  I should have timed it all; but I can say I didn’t finish before 4:30pm (event was scheduled to start at 2pm).

Now the words I exchanged with Stephenie were very mild and I admit I wrote that headline to strike peoples interest more than the significance of words.  They were a simple “hi” and “thanks” for signing my books.  If wikipedia is correct and Mrs. Meyer is 39 she is very well preserved.  (Perhaps her knowledge of vampires is drawn on personal experience?  She’ll stay eternally young)

I also had one of the books I had signed by the cast because … really I came to see Max and Jake.  They also signed a poster (the actors) and I got a free set of buttons.

I do wish though that I had a companion who waited in line with me.  It’s so hard in these trying modern days to amuse myself only equipped with an iPod nano, an iPad, an iPhone 5 and a Sony Reader.  They run out of batteries eventually … with people, you just add more candy and it seems to fuel them for a bit.

Speaking of Candy, the nice people at Dylan’s Candy Bar sampled us some gummy teeth and gave us a 10% coupon.  Granted the last time I wandered in the prices were amusingly pricy but … I don’t really need to eat large amounts of candy.  Candy is a treat to be enjoyed sparingly.  Or at least that’s what I think.

I do fear that I was surrounded by girls half my age.  Nobody seemed to think it unusual that I was there and I appreciate that in Hollywood even I seem to be acceptably normal.  Anything else I can mention?  Oh…I was slightly proud of the fact that I was civil to Mrs. Meyers as I cannot say that I enjoyed the very long wait (not her fault) nor have I enjoyed the book (probably her fault).  I will say I respect her.  I don’t have a body of work to speak of and even if I did, who is to say that my writing wouldn’t be poor, rife with characters that people find annoying and awful.

Oh I can’t write a review of The Host.  I think I’m now over half way finished and color me shocked:  I want to finish.  So even given all the indications I’ve provided that I object, I still intend to finish the book (at least before I see the movie).

So many books to read, so little time.  This post may be long and not sense making which is symptomatic of me being very tired.  I didn’t sleep a lot the previous night because I was so excited about seeing Mrs. Meyers (and Max and Jake).

If for some reason Stephenie Meyer reads this and I hope you know better than to read blog posts regarding yourself, thank you for coming.  It’s very nice of you to make time to come out and see the hundreds if not thousands of fans.

Happy Pi Day Everybody!

Well I know I wouldn’t have remembered it but those nice people at O’Reilly Media sent me a reminder email and also offering to sell me math and science ebooks.  Today is Pi day, celebrated approximately on March 14th.  Oooo maybe we could celebrate it at March 14th at 1:59 am….

Anyways I think I’ll celebrate by watching Back to the Future on the big screen!

And by eating pie, naturally.

The world looks strange through new glasses

Confession:  I had been using the same pair of glasses for over five years.

Of all the equipment I use it seems the one I use the most I paid the least amount of attention to.  I’ve been wearing glasses for several years and I’m ok with that.  I grew up knowing I would wear glasses because I figured that since both of my parents had glasses it was expected and natural that I would inherit their myopia.

At the same time I may be afraid of going blind.  Neither parent is blind — at least they have not informed me in conversation — so it may just be a personal fear of mine.  And every time I go to the optometrist my prescription gets stronger and stronger and I figure it’s only a matter of time before the inevitable.  Note:  I found out today that it’s not necessarily true as my maternal grandfather’s eyes actually got better.

Anyhow I ordered a pair of glasses from Warby Parker and today they were delivered.  I believe I ordered last Monday so it took a week for them to arrive.  Not too long, but not amazingly quick.  (Newegg spoiled me by getting me equipment next day with no additional charge).  I like the frames but I’m adjusting to the lenses.  Looking straight ahead is fine but if I look through the sides, it’s not clear and I don’t exactly know why that is.  I’ll be moving my head around more I suppose.

Driving was an odd experience.  Being able to see the texture of asphalt is something I haven’t noticed from behind the wheel in … who knows how long.  Tonight I could see individual blades of grass as if somebody applied a drop shadow to make each blade stand out.  So odd.

The world has so much more detail and texture.  Sadly that seems to be dirt, scratches, cracks and pores.  I really want to go to Disneyland to see what that actually looks like.  I would have seen a movie today but I didn’t see any listings for something I would go see.  I guess I could try Oz in 3D … I think the 3D effect on my Nintendo 3DS has been improved with these glasses too.

YABC the Young Adult Book Council

I am a member of a book club.  The Young Adult Book Council or YABC meets monthly and we’ve been meeting for over five years.  I think that’s pretty impressive.  I will admit that I haven’t been the best member … back in 2008 I didn’t read five of the selections.  In 2009 I didn’t finish two of the books and in 2011 I missed one of those as well.  I’m getting better but then again I also think the book selections are getting better.

One of the five books I didn’t read in 2008 was Breaking Dawn.  I haven’t read any of the twilight books and I didn’t want to read them out of order and I didn’t want to read all of them.  There’s always that one chance that I might actually enjoy them and then I would just feel awful about having been so harsh on my prejudgements.  This is one of those circumstances where I have a comfortable ignorance about Twilight and so forth.  However next week I just might get the opportunity to meet Stephanie Meyer and I’m going to try and read The Host before then.  Fingers crossed I don’t regret that plan.

On my iPad I keep a document in Pages containing the previous book selections in month and who picked it.  I have not always been especially proud of my selections.  At one point I selected Ned Vizinni’s Be More Chill and I finished it early realized that it was awful so I went to a challenged classic I had never read: The Giver.

Next weekend we’re doing a book swap.  I’ve been trying to find appropriate titles to use for the book swap.  It’s kind of hard because most of the books in my library I haven’t read so I don’t know if I want to get rid of them.  Also, I figured I should stay in an age appropriate realm.  You know, teenagers nervous about sex, not sex hounds dripping with fluids.  (And so forth)  Through the various boxes of books I have I did come across some of the old selections from those early years in the group and I don’t know if I should get rid of them…some of them I think I should read first 🙂

Young Adult Book Council (on the web)