Signs You Have Lost Your Damn Mind

You work a fourteen-and-a-half hour day and as you blearily walk to you car, you think, "Man, that could have been a LOT worse."

Weekend Wrap-Up

I hopped the redeye to Cape Cod Friday night, and watched some Jons get married on Saturday. It was wonderful in so many ways.

The place Joel found us (thanks, Joel!) was fantastic, right on the water looking out into Nantucket Sound. It was a really gorgeous place to stay, it was incredibly fun to hang out with everyone, and it was such a nice break from the L.A. madness.

The wedding itself was beautiful, touching, and even hilarious. The dancing after the wedding was definitely hilarious, and I feel I made a nice drunken contribution to said hilarity.

In all seriousness, though, I hope to hell I find someone that makes me half as happy as the Jons obviously make each other. If I do, I'll consider myself incredibly lucky.

Although I lacked my camera, about 20 other people brought theirs, so there's no lack of documentation of the beauty of the weekend, both literal and metaphorical.

It was also my birthday on Sunday, and I'm pleased to note that for the first birthday since I turned 24, I managed to remain ambulatory for the entire day. It's those little victories that matter.

Speaking of little victories, I took no small amount of joy out of the fact that the Lakers choked both Friday AND Sunday against the Celtics.

I was slightly disappointed I couldn't find a "Lakers Suck!" shirt to wear around L.A. all week, but I suppose that given the general agressiveness and assholishness of Lakers fans, not finding said shirt reduces my chances of getting beat up and/or shot.

All in all, I had a really great weekend, and spent my day off today recovering from the whole thing in order to go into a truly delightful next three weeks of six-day weeks and a full shooting schedule.

Posting will be light for a bit, save the occasional complaint about how ridiculously goddamn tired I am.

Tri'ed and Failed

Did another gym triathlon this morning, and instead of being able to at least make the same time, if not make up time, I actually did ten minutes worse, coming in at exactly 2 hours.

I think almost all of that increase can be blamed on using a different type of elliptical machine. I'm debating seeing if my ankle can handle going on the treadmill, since I suspect that will be significantly faster than either elliptical.

Or at least it will be until my ankle shatters into a million pieces. After that, it might be a bit slower.

Things I Did Not Need To See

...at 5:30 this morning as I dragged my sorry ass to the gym: A freakishly gigantic spider dangling from my porch light RIGHT AT EYE LEVEL.

I considered stomping on it when it rapidly descended to the ground, but the damn thing was so big, I feared I would only make it angry.

I'm just praying that leaving it alone will cause it to never actually try to get in my house. I was too tired to scream externally, just to give a brief "Euugh!", but in my head, and if I ever see that in my house, I was giving a full-throated horror movie scream.

Tail of the Tape

Hours worked this week: 76.6, for a six-day week.

Miles driven for work this week: 841. And I didn't even drive anywhere Sunday.

Days I still managed to drag myself to the gym: 4, exactly as planned. I now know I can do this and am not allowed to make "But I had to work sooooo much" excuses.

Brain and Sanity: Gone! Hee hee!

Try, Athlete

Lap-swimming 750 meters: 16 minutes.

Recumbent-biking 20 kilometers: 51 minutes.

Ellipticaling 5 kilometers: 35 minutes.

Completing a sprint triathlon (aka half an Olympic triathlon) at the gym: Priceless. Well, except the price I will pay in pain later today and tomorrow. That should be fun.

Now I have to see if I can actually bring those times down to something moderately respectable.

Health Update

Good News: I was able to drag myself to the gym today and did 35 minutes on the elliptical, which felt great.

Bad News: Then I came home and passed out for four hours, which felt much better.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll only pass out for 2-3 hours after working out...

Noted

It is a hell of a lot harder to drag yourself out of bed to go to the gym at 5:45 AM when it's pitch black outside than when it's at least a little bit light out.

At least if it's a little light out, you get the sense that maybe, somewhere, other people are awake. That illusion disappears in the pitch black.

Not Dead

Just damn busy. Work's been a bit nuts, and working out 5 days a week is just about killing me.

On the upside, I did get a free ticket to the Dave Matthews Band concert on Tuesday at the Hollywood Bowl through work. The show was awesome (guest apperances by some spectacular banjo player whose name I never caught, John Mayer playing way better than I'd previously given him credit for, and Ziggy and Steven Marley) and as we have a connection to Dave, the seats were great.

A couple other bits of miscellany I've been meaning to post but haven't got around to it:

- My gym recently rearranged their equipment, and now all the recumbent bikes (the ones where you sit down and your feet are out in front of you rather than below you like a regular bike), which are the ones I use because they're easier on Mister Cranky Ankle, are out in front of the room where the spin class takes place.

There's one bike nobody ever rides unless every other bike is full, because it's the one directly outside the spin class, so you spend your entire ride having to listen to the really obnoxious instructor try to motivate people by being so annoying that they're imagining each pedal push to be a stomp on her face.

I got stuck on that bike TWICE this week. I am literally going to stuff a sock in her mouth if I get stuck on it again.


- I don't think I've ever gotten as strong reactions to wearing my Cubs hat as I did at Oktoberfest down in Torrance last weekend. Apparently a lot of heavy beer-drinkers are Brewers fans! Who'd have thought?


- Another reason posting has been lacking is that I've only managed to delete one season pass so far of the stuff that's premiered. There's a remarkable number of decent shows (Chuck being the primary standout) and only one real stinker (Big Shots).

There's a few more shows I'll probably shitcan after the second or third episode if they don't improve, including a few that I've watched for several seasons but that have recently taken some unbelievably dumb plot twists.


- So the writers are going to authorize a strike and their contract expires at the end of the month. The working theory is that this is just saber-rattling, and that they won't walk until the actors' and directors' contracts are up in May, since working together they can shut down the whole industry.

The problem is, by authorizing a strike right now, they basically leave the threat of a walkout, which would shut down production shortly thereafter, hanging over Hollywood for seven months. Guys, I'm begging you. Please wait until May. My strike fund is not ready yet.

Noted

I think I'm the only person who's glad the Fourth of July falls on a Wednesday this year. I could use the rest.

WHAT?!

My voice is totally gone right now, but notwithstanding that, I can't even tell you how happy I am.

Party: Done, and seemed to be enjoyed. Gift: Done, and seemed to be enjoyed. Filming....uh, not so done, but hopefully done by the end of the week.

But party and gift, done! Woo Hoo!

*passes out*

It Begins Again

My boss's episode shoots one night tomorrow night (yes, Saturday. Don't get me started.), then starts shooting for real on thursday, so I'm going to be back in the black hole of 16 hour days for a while.

I should have a more concrete update on the Foot Fiasco of '07 sometime late next week, which I will share with you since I'm sure you're all dying to know.

Otherwise, just assume I'm working until I pass out, because that's likely what I'm doing.

Thank You, Jeebus

I am very, very, very glad that Good Friday is a union holiday. I'm so fucking tired I don't think I would have made it through tomorrow without descending into narcolepsy.

Cue Handel's Messiah

Woo hoo!

Holiday crew gifts are out. Holiday party is over (and people seemed to have a good time). My Week O'Hell is OVER.

Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to go sleep for a long, long, long time.

Not Dead Yet

Yes, I am still alive. Down the rabbit hole a bit, but still alive. Here's a brief recap of a few things going on:

- Thanksgiving with mom went well, then Cleo stopped by for a few days. I need a neon "vacancy" sign.

- I joined 24 Hour Fitness. I'm trying to work out 4-5 days a week, 45 minutes a day. Doing this means getting up at 6am every. damn. day. during the week. Because of this, I'm a little tired.

- Work has been insane. This past week was less insane than the previous week, but still nice and batshit crazy.

- UCLA beating USC and thus knocking Florida into the title game has set up a battle royale over college football between two of my good friends. It is going to be hilarious.

- Did I mention that I'm a little tired?

- I got a fortune cookie with my Chinese food tonight that told me, "An admirer is concealing his affection from you." I found this rather weird.

- This week is going to be completely nuts because Saturday is the holiday party, which I've spent the last couple months pulling together. And I'm singing with the band that's playing...and I haven't sung in front of 300 people in about 3 years.

- My head hurts. Then again, so does every muscle in my body. So I suppose that evens out.

More than likely no blogging this week again. Once I have some shred of sanity back, it will return. Until then, I'm afraid you're just going to have to entertain yourselves.

Man

I am tired.

How you doin'?

On Your Mark, Get Set, Week!

Posting will be light this week due to the following whiny excuses reasons:

1. I have to go to the dentist at 7am tomorrow and get a cavity filled.

2. I have to do about a week and a half's worth of work in three days. Oh, and do so while pulling double-duty on Wednesday.

3. My mom is coming to town.

4. Because of #3, I spent half the weekend cleaning and will spend most of tomorrow doing so as well.

5. I agreed to bake a pie (and signed mom up to bake one, too) for the potluck Thanksgiving we're going to. This is my first attempt at baking a pie. While I'm generally good at baking things, I sense that this is going to be hilarious.

6. Did I mention that my mom is coming to town?

7. I'm finally rejoining a health club Saturday, so I have to go exercise. No, seriously.

Wheeeeeeeeee! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

How Tired Am I?

So tired that when I was at the hardware store tonight waiting for the credit card swiper to bring up the signature page, I started randomly singing the "doo doo doo dee doo dee doo doo do" part of The Hustle...out loud.

The clerk noticed, and called me on it. I told him it was either that, or The Girl From Ipanema. I think he thought I was insane.

If he did, he would not have been wrong.