My new wheels rock

I love the Outback. It’s pretty bare bones (with the exception of a CD player and the Cold Weather Package… mmm, heated seat!) but it still rocks! I’m so excited to be driving a standard again (plus it was cheaper!). Did I mention its red? Pictures are coming (it was pouring yesterday… but that’s another story that I need more time to write about)!

In the mean time I have found a totally addictive website. First there was Hot or Not (which my brother appeared on… wearing a shirt that read “Bikini Inspector” USA Glenn, USA), then there was Groovy Bootie, and now there is What is Better. Basically you get two items and have to decide which is better. One of my first pairs was “The A-Team Van” and “J. S. Bach.” Guess which one I voted for. Currently the Top 10 list of the best things on the site is:

1. Einstein

2. Natalie Portman

3. Christina Ricci Wet

4. Alyson Hannigan (<— yea!)

5. Milla Jovovich

6. Alyson Hannigan (<— yea!)

7. Angel

8. Star Wars

9. Kirsten Dunst

10. The Simpsons

There’s no nudity, so the pages are work safe. I do have to question the taste of the people on the site listing Alyson lower than “I’ve-got-a-giant-head” Christina Ricci (I guess I shouldn’t complain since she is on there twice and me-ow! those are WOW pictures of her!…. Hmmm I wonder what she thinks of Outbacks)

I DID IT

I just bought a new car! I’ve been thinking about doing it for quite and while and so I finally made the move! So the well loved Blazer has been replaced by a Subaru Outback Wagon! I’m a proud owner of the offical car of kodak.com and North American Lesbians. Move over girls, Matt’s here. I’ll post some pictures later today!

I found the One Ring while gardening

seriously!

Ok, sorta seriously…

This weekend I decided to tear up a small part of my lawn and plant a garden. When I was a ‘lil tyke we lived next to a woman who had an amazingly kept herb garden. She taught me a little bit here and there about planting and gardening. But at the time there was always too much of a commitment involved to think seriously about gardening. In recent years I’ve considered starting a garden a number of times. But my lifestyle really doesn’t lend itself to taking it up as a hobby. However, desperate times call for desperate measures. The little patch of land I started the project in (and I stress little) was an isolated area of my lawn by the steps to my front door. Said patch was impossible to mow and usually looked terrible. So after a lot of consideration I realized that a small garden with hardy perennials would be far easier to maintain than grass.

So on Sunday I went to the Rochester Public Market’s “Plant Days” event and picked up $20 worth of green goodness and set to tearing up the grass. And in my usual “Never Say Die and Never Think Things Out” approach I started to tear up the lawn… with a trowel. I could have sworn we had a shovel at the house, but that little trowel was the best I could find. Unfazed as usual by my lack of the right tools I went to work tearing up the patch one small bit at a time.

About an hour into the project, as I shoved the trowel into the ground I heard a tink. Immediately realizing that grass doesn’t usually go tink, I cleared away the grass and soil and lo and behold found a simple gold ring that had been buried. Nothing fancy, just a simple band. Not unlike the One Ring (from the Lord of the Rings story for those non-geeks reading this). Having read the books, listened to the audio and seen Fellowship of the Rings a number of times, I realized the awesome power that I could be wielding. So I decided to investigate the band.

I didn’t have a fire near by to pitch it into, so I washed it off and check for inscriptions. And there was one. Unfortunately it wasn’t

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

Or even

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Instead I saw

Lotsa Love – 6-14-94

Big let down! It wasn’t even in Elvish. Still I had hopes that the inscription might be a clever trick to prevent me from knowing the true power of the ring. So I decided to risk slipping it on. And nothing happened. I didn’t turn invisible (I know this because all my neighbors told be that they really could see me when I danced around them saying “I’m invisible, you can’t see me.” They also asked me very nicely to put my pants back on). I didn’t command supreme power. No fiery eye sought me out. On the plus side I didn’t turn into a slimy creature and start whining about “My Precious.”

So does anyone know what you are supposed to do when you find a ring in the middle of your garden? Oh and if I suddenly disappear someone please check the Biker Bar up the street for a group of black cloaked motorcycle riders who might be carring my finger. As for me I’m getting a little hungry so I think I’ll go off in search of fish-ish-ish-es or maybe a muffin.

ummm…. yeah

So we have one vote against the current MP3 was logged in the last post’s comment section. Honestly I didn’t think it was that bad. But then again there is no accounting for taste.

Speaking of taste, I have to agree with some of the points Heather brought up about Attack of the Clones. Personally, while he may be one of the biggest Bad Asses to grace the screen in a while, Samuel L. Jackson should never be allowed to swing a lightsabre again. Please someone give Star Wars Shaft a blaster. If he was a background character it wouldn’t have been as distracting, but he’s set up a a top Jedi Swordsman (Saberman?) and he just doesn’t move well enough for it. Yeah I know I’m being a picky martial artist… deal. :-)

Also could someone teach Natalie Portman how to fire a gun. Either that or get her a better prop. I’m not sure if it was too heavy for her or to large but man was her use of a blaster cringe worthy. And speaking of Ms. Portman, what is it with Nipples in movies now a days? First Spiderman and now Star Wars. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about the nipples (that really didn’t come out the way I meant it to), but they just don’t have a place in these films. I think they just bring a level of base sexuality that isn’t welcome in these iconic films. Plus the snicking of teenage boys all around me is kinda distracting. And I really don’t like having to consider if I’m going to be sitting at “nipple level” when choosing a seat in the theatre.

But overall I liked Attack of the Clones a lot. The key thing is that you need to expect a Star Wars movie and within that context it works really well.

feast or famine

oy. Some days you can’t find anything to blog about. Other days you have way too much stuff to write about. I’m occupying the second space right now. Unfortunately as a result of all the stuff I have to write about I don’t have much time to blog. It’s a vicious circle. But I did carve some time out today to update the page a bit:

• There’s a new MP3 up and I fixed the link to the old one
• I added more quotes. There are about 20 now and more to follow
• I also updated my links column

Speaking of updated links there is something that I want to mention…

my mom rocks!

she does! First of all she has her own website. Yes, you to can learn about what’s going on in her Gym Classes in Amityville! She built the page all by herself and that’s really cool (well, I mean it’s no blog… but its not bad)! Go ma Bernius!

What’s not so cool is that she decided to try to start a flame war in the comments section of this site. If you check out the comments for the last posting you see this comment she made:

Regarding #5 on your list–I beg to differ with you. You were not age 2 or so at the time of your self inflicted hair cut, because we didn’t trust you with a scissors until age 7 because of your manipulative capabilities.

I object to that. First of all I totally got to use the scissors (albeit the round edge “safety model”). But more importantly if there was a manipulative one at age 7 (or before) it was my brother Glenn. He, before he was five, was able to convince our brother Paul, the middle one in the family, to draw on the walls of the living room. However Glenn, that criminal mastermind, opted not to participate in the activity himself to avoid being caught. That’s way worse than anything I did. I was a complete angel.

And that’s the story I’m sticking to.

this and that

Hmmm this has been a good week. I managed to keep on my running schedule, help organize a joint theatre initiative in Rochester, made some progress at work, got complimented during my martial arts class, and managed to get my mom a gift for Mother’s day. Woo hoo. Of course I’ve totally fallen off contacting friends and I still need to get a birthday present for Jenny. Oh well, I guess I can’t squeeze everything into a week.

This weekend I’ve got lots of stuff going on. On Saturday I’ll be at a martial arts seminar with Francis Fong, one of the best Wing Chun instructors in the US. It’s always great to study with him. Plus we usually get to see a number of old friends from out of town who come in to train. I’m also going to finish evaluating MiniDV cameras. I’ve been wnting to get one for a while and Cindy’s wedding is the perfect excuse. Finally I’ll be cleaning my apartment and catching up on e-mail. I’m also hoping to get out with folks for the first time in a while.

Return of the friday five

1. What shampoo do you use? What ever is on sale at Wegmans. I think it’s Wegman’s brand this week. Once a week I’ll use a good shampoo (usually an Aevida product) to keep my hair in shape.

2. Do you use conditioner? See above. During the winter I’ll occasionally use a tinted conditioner to keep up the red-ish highlights my hair has.

3. When was the last time you got your hair cut? About a month ago. I’ll be going next week for a cut. Right now I’m in a high maintenance hair mode (something my stylist loves). My hair grows rather fast and I’m trying to keep it kinda short.

4. What styling products do you use? A dab of pomade. Not Dapper Dan though. Rather some hemp based stuff I’ve had for years. I didn’t buy it because it was hemp based. Though I do like the idea that my hair is more stoked on a daily basis than I’ve ever been.

5. What’s your worst hair-related experience? Hmmm, probably the haircut I gave myself at the age of 2 or so. My mother often tortures me with those pictures. Oh and the one time I got blond highlights put in. BIG MISTAKE. I don’t think I’ve heard the end of that one from my family yet. Hmmm, all things considered my family probably hasn’t been too good for my self esteem.

too many balls

how’s that for an eye grabbing title? But rest assured gentle reader I’m not referring to any abnormal physical conditions. Rather, I’ve allowed myself to get too busy. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to set down anythings at the moment. It’s like I’m juggling and more balls keep getting added. If that wasn’t bad enough, the ones in the air are getting bigger and heavier. On the plus side I’m feeling more productive than I have been in quite a while. Unfortunately it also means that I’ve been having real problems keeping in touch with people. As of late when I’ve been getting home I’ve either been to tired to call or write or it’s just too late (which I guess is another way of saying I’m too tired).

pounding the pavement

I’ve started to run in the morning. Not every morning, but at least three times a week (usually Monday, Wednesday, and Friday). This started after the Shootfighting test. I think I sorta surprised myself that night. I didn’t realize how high my endurance levels have become. Actually, the other catalyst for these runs was an act of stupidity. Two Fridays ago I locked my keys in the car. It was about 9.00pm and I had to meet people at 9.30pm. I had stopped to get a pizza at Cobbs Hill Pizza on Park Ave. In the middle of a cell phone call I got distracted and left my keys sitting on the passenger seat. Of course I didn’t realize any of this until I got back to the car. It was at that same moment I realized I only had a house key in my wallet (I used to carry both a house and a car key). To add further insult to injury, I had also locked my palm pilot and my cell phone in the car. Oy. So I ran home. Literally. It wasn’t more than a mile and half there and back (if that much). But I suddenly discovered, about half way through the run, that I was kinda enjoying it. Which is weird because I normally hate running. With a passion. Strangely though these two things event have combined to keep me running! Well that and I’d really like to drop five pounds (or more preferably convert it to muscle). I’ve also found that a morning run gets me focused far more than caffeine and with half the jitters (so now I’m back to my normal somewhat shaky self, as opposed to when the play was on and I was one step away from being able to vibrate through solid objects).

shakin’ up things in Rah Cha Cha

last night we pulled off a small coup here in the city. When I say we, I mean Don and myself (and in the greater sense The Exact Theatre Co). In conjunction with the Arts and Cultural Council for Greater Rochester, we gathered all the major theatre players here in town for a group meeting. This included Geva, our Equity theatre.

At the end it was agreed that we (everyone at the meeting) would work to form a collaborative organization to promote the theatre arts in Rochester NY! How much does that rock???!!! Plus we made a ton of great contacts!

Also a number of people at the meeting knew who we were. That was kinda weird. Including having the Artistic Director of Geva comment on our decision to stage the Balcony. Needless to say, it’s also kinda scary and now I know that we need to stage a killer production of it. Now that we have a “name” we need to live up to it.

doodles and thoughts

I made this sketch of Tony in an all morning meeting. Some people have incorrectly assumed that the “nachos and beans” reference was some thinly valed comment about flatulence. It wasn’t. I just thought the phrase “fine nachos and beans” sounded funny. Ahhh comedy.

This has been an intense week. First the all day Washington trip. While I was in DC, the summer play was being cast. So I kept calling back to find out how call backs were going. I’m really excited and scared at the same time. Genet is a tough playwright and I hope we’re all up to the task. I’ll have a better idea Monday night when we have our first read through.

Then on Wednesday night I had the shootfighting test. Three hours! You hear me??!! THREE HOURS!!!!! It was grueling! The first hour was just warm ups! 15 minutes of jumping rope, 10 minutes of jogging, 25 over under drill (which in my mind were designed by Satan himself), 200 jumping jacks, and it just goes on. For the next two or so hour we threw over 1000 punches and at least 750 kicks. Then came the sparring. After that the collapsing. But everyone supported each other and we all passed. I’m still hurting from the test, but its a wonderful feeling to know that you have pushed yourself to your limits and beyond while successfully achieving your goal.

Then last night I found out that a good friend unexpectedly lost his job. And that’s thrown me for a big loop. I’ve known lots of people who have been “downsized” over the last few years, but this was totally unexpected. I can’t help thinking about what I would do if that happened. I know I would find something, but it’s still a scary thought. But I think Aaron will turn lemons into lemonade. He’s mentioned recently that he needed a good kick in the pants to do something new and I think this will be it for him. I’ll see him tomorrow so I’ll have the chance to talk more about it then.