Conclusion of Variety

This weekend was really busy. For the past few months Stephanie and I had been discussing moving in together. We finally decided that I would move in the first weekend in December. However, most of my stuff was to remain in my old apartment and I was to continue paying rent there. This created a buffer just in case things didn’t work out.

At the beginning of the month my roommate tells me he is moving out. This creates a problem because next weekend is Gencon and the weekend after that I going to Las Cruces to visit my family for Thanksgiving. This means I had to get everything moved this last weekend.

I rented some storage and moved some book shelves and my dresser to Stephanie’s. I then moved my desk and bookshelves to the storage unit. All the loose stuff I am slowly moving by car.

My roommate decided he didn’t want any of the furniture or appliances so starting today I have to get rid of those. The entire thing is a pain in the ass and would have been much more conveniant if I could have done it next month.

I did find time to fit in a play entitled “Frankenstein 2.0″ which showed at the Sledgehammer Theater in downtown. It was a modern retelling of Frankenstein where Mary Frankenstein creates her monster from seven dead prostitutes after her mother kills herself. The play follows the traditional story in an interesting way.

This could have been a kick ass play and had tons of potential. But instead of trying to tell a coherant story it decided to get over artsy by blasting you with different types of media, from music and sound, to video, special effects and acting that did not mesh well. To make it worse you would go from classical Shakespearean acting and dialogue to a more realistic variety. The character of Mary Shelley could have been completely removed and only served to complicate things even more.

I really wanted to like this play whos individual parts were amazing but when brought together didn’t stay together.

Had a pretty good weekend. It started with a viewing of “The Real Dirt on Farmer John.” It showed at the La Jolla Museum of Contempary art and was the first movie of their fall season so they had free snacks and sold beer afterward. After the movie they had an interview with the producer and then a Q&A. It was a lot of fun but I did discover what I want to call social liberals. This is the equivelant to Lindsay Bluth from “Arrested Development.” So, it was an odd mix of artsy people with funky clothes, died hair and pierced earings and young socialites who were there because it was part of the art “scene.”

“The Real Dirt on Farmer John” was a great movie in itself. It was a documentary that looked like it was made for TV but was shown at a few film festivals. It portrayed that life of an alternative lifestyle farmer who eventually became an organic farmer. It was well filmed and delightful to watch.

On Saturday was sponcered by rpg-sandiego at Fiesta Island which is an island in the middle of Mission Bay across from Sea World. It was drizzly when we arrived but they had a fire going and it was a ton of fun. Stephanie went with me and she also had fun when we weren’t talking about gaming (which was about %90 of the time).

In the evening Stephanie and I went to a play called “Dog Act.” This was a post apocalyptic play that is described as “Mad Max meets Shakespear” which is a good description. It was produced by Moxie Theater, a group the promotes woman in the theater and “Dog Act” was written by Liz Duffy Adams and directed by two women: Sonnenberg and Kraus.

The play itself was amazing. This is the first time I had seem a genre piece in theater (ie scifi, cyberpunk, post-apoc) and it was done well, really well. If it was still playing I would have taken a bunch of friends to it. Here is a synopsis:

“Dog Act” is set in a post-apocalyptic time, when the world has been decimated by wars between “tribes” such as the Panamerican Casino Nation, the Lone Star Revisionists and the Nuevo Aztecs, and each season arrives with the force of a nuclear blast. The war’s scrappy, mostly illiterate survivors subsist on genetically mutated wildlife and their spoken language has devolved into choppy, obscenity-laden doggerel (“good” has become “mooey jiggie” and a well-known expletive is now “Jesse fuggit crisco”). Violent “Mad Max”-style scavengers Coke and Bud, whose dialect is more than liberally peppered with the “F” word, rove the American countryside for victims to rob and rape, but they steer clear of the oddball-filled vaudeville wagon troupes that roam the villages.

One day, “Zetta” and Dog are approached by two other “vaudsters” who ask to join their troupe —- the ironically named Vera Similitude, who offers a “tableau of human tenderness” as her act, and JoJo the Bald Face Liar, who delivers nonsensical folk tales at hyper-speed and ear-splitting volume. JoJo’s on the run from scavengers and Vera plots to enslave Dog (she’s the keeper of his darkest secret) and to kill Zetta.

I had attempted to write an cyberpunk play 4 or 5 years ago which turned out really silly and I gave up on the thought of ever seeing a genre piece on stage. I’m really glad I saw this and have hope that more attempts will be made.

My car got broken into. Friday morning Stephanie and I got up around 4am to get ready for her trip to Florida in which she was going to hang out with her girl friends. She woke me up at 4:40 and I got up, threw on some clothes and we headed out to my car. When I opened up the door I realized the car lamp did not turn on and when I got in there was this a thing in the way. It was at this time I realized someone had been in my car. When I turned on the lamp, someone had broken into my car.

I quick survey revealed they had taken my stereo and some cds. They had broken the very back passenger window (not the window that rolls down, but the little one in the far back). They also took an 80G external hard drive I had just bought and a set of tools.

Luckily I didn’t have my ipod in the car.

I was pretty upset and layed around when I got home. I called the police and ended filing a report two hours later. I also filed with my insurance who couldn’t do anything because I only have liability.

On Saturday I got the window fixed and now need to get the front panel replaced. I’m debating getting a new stereo. The face to my stereo was hidden and there was no way that the burglars would have known that the face was inside the car. So, even if I had taken the face with me they would have broken in. Maybe I’ll get one of those where the entire stereo pulls out.

This weekend Stephanie and went to see “Curse of the Starving Class” at our favorite theater, The Cygnet. We have seen so many plays there we are thinking about getting season tickets.

The last play we went and saw was called “The Invention of Love” by Tom Stoppard. I decided to make a big deal of it and invited a bunch of friend: Erik, Emily, Jonathan, and Michelle over to Stephanie’s for dinner then we all went and saw the play. Unfortunetly, it was extremely confusing and not very good for a bunch of friends who want a good time.

I should have taken everyone to “Curse of the Starving Class” by Sam Sheppard. This play was fun and enlightening and has to be one of the top I’ve seen in San Diego. It was commentary on American life in a funny if not terrible way. The acting and imagery was spot on as character kept opening, slamming and talking to the refridgerator.

They also cooked bacon and eggs right in the theater. This made Stephanie hungry and she could help but comment on the smell, and should could not help comment on the character, Wesley, who appears naked while walking across the stage.

In other news I won a DVD player at the Vons Supermarket which was having a grand reopening. So, I’m the lucky guy!

On Saturday Erik and I went to the Neil Gaimen signing. We got there half an hour early so we could hear him talk. I knew it would get crowded in the bookstore. By the time it started there were people trying to fit in the doorway.

This was the third signing I had been to and the best. Gaimen certainly knows how to appeal to the fans and even dedicated his latest book, “Anansi Boys” to the fans. When Erik and I went up to talk to him Erik started to discuss his last book “American Gods” and Gaimen actually showed interest in the conversation.

After that Stephanie and I went and saw “Serenity” the movie following Joss Whedon’s short lived scifi TV show, “Firefly.” I absolutely loved the show and the movie was great.

On Sunday, I went and saw Mirrormask, a movie created by Neil Gaimen and Dave Mckean that was a modern retelling of Alice in Wonderland. I thought it was good with an ok story but was visually spectacular and could have enjoyed it without any story.

The only non-geek thing I did this weekend was on Friday Stephanie’s grandparents come down to go on a cruise that was leaving from San Diego so we had dinner with them.

For the past few weeks I have been scheming. Stephanie has a livejournal entitled “Pink Ninja” which she named after I said she looked like a pink ninja while she was wrapped in pink sheets over a year ago.

Joking around I kept saying what would a pink ninja do. This inspired me to make her a t-shirt with the pink ninja theme. I decided to share the final picture of the shirt with her readers on livejournal. The shirt was a success and a few of her lj-friends showed interest in ordering one so I created a cafepress account which can be found at PINK NINJA t-shirts. Once one of her friends ordered a shirt I decided I had to have one and of course we had to have the pic.

Also, this weekend I met Terry Pratchett. I’m not a huge fan but I have read a few of his books so I stuck around to get a copy of his new book, Thud, signed for my friends Erik and Emily who are big fans.

Yesturday I had my first tennis lesson since I was 16. I didn’t have much problem finding the group this time. As I walked up one of the coaches (Costa) he was complaining about a group of students who went to court 14 and then left and that it was their fault. Not sure how he felt when I mentioned I was one of the students on court 14.

I was in a group of six who were with coach Marco and we started working on swings. We worked on reverse hitting where you position yourself opposite of what you would normally do. And then worked run through shots. We also worked on serves, volleys, and overhead (god, I suck at overheads) and also played the classic tennis drill game.

The game consists of two people on one side of the net and everyone else on the opposite end. The coach would feed balls the were from the drills and you would have to hit it and play it out. If the side that was fed that balls wins 2/3 you replace the two on the opposite side of the net. If they loose they go to the back of the line. This is my favorite game and I like it just as much now as I did when I was 16.

I also got a hell of a work out. By the end I was sore, sweaty, and had tore some skin on my right middle finger. It was great. Can’t wait until next week, but I have to buy some tennis shoes.

MARCO: Chris, are you wearing Vans?
ME: yes…

Last Friday was the “Nine Inch Nails” concert. A friend of mine, Nathan, and I met at Fashion Valley Mall which had a trolley station. I grabbed something to eat and we hopped on the trolley. We pulled up to SDSU at 7:10pm. The concert started at 7:30 so we weren’t in a big hurry but still trying to get there in time. We talked to a security guy who was bitter because he had tickets to the show and couldn’t go.

We got turned around and showed up a little late and missed most of the first act. I’m not sure who it was. I bought a shirt and then we went back in for “Queens of the Stone Age.” I didn’t care for their music but the lead singer was funny. Nathan thought he was drunk because they got better the longer they played.

NIN finally came on and the show was awsome. The best concert I had ever been to was a NIN show back in 1995. This one looked like it was going to top it. I say “looked” because about an hour into it they shut everything down and you could hear Trent say there was a medical emergency with the drummer, Jerome.

We waited awhile and then the lights came up and they announced the concert was cancelled. They did say we could hold onto our ticket stubs and they would be back November 20th so I get to see them again

In other news I was walking back from the gym Sunday morning. I had done some grocery shopping and got a smoothie. I walked up to the corner of Ingraham and Garnet which is a wierd intersection. I have been heckled twice there.

As I walked I prepared to cross the street. Two women had just finished crossing and the walk signal had just switched to blinking red hand. There was a small SUV at he corner that looked like it was going to turn right but wasn’t using a signal. I step out in front and start to walk across.

About half way across I hear someone yelling at me. I turn around and see a guy yelling at me. His bald and a little heavy. He is turning red with anger as he is screaming about how you can’t walk on red, only white. My first reaction is to flip him off but he is still going berserk.

Well, he hit a button in me and I yell out “Fuck you! You want a piece of me!?” and started walking toward him like I was going to fight him. At the moment he jerked the car forward like he was going to go but stopped. I stopped. He checked for traffic and then zipped off.

After 13 years (since I was 16) I have decided to start up tennis. I have thinking about it for awhile but could never afford lessons and didn’t feel confident enough to find players. So, I would play with friends occasionally (had a good run of tennis with Joe).

A week and a half ago I went to the Barnes Tennis Center and signed up for two months of lessons. I was incredibly anxious and really wanted to get out there. Yesturday I headed down to the tennis center with my raquet, and dressed ready to play. I got there a little before 6pm and saw a sign that had the classes listed on it and I saw mine “Intermediate Adult 14.” I assumed the 14 meant “court 14″ but I asked the guy at the desk just to confirm.

I headed out to court 14 and waited around for awhile. No one showed up so I went back in and found out the class didn’t start until 6:30pm. Woops. So, I walked around and stretched, watch to kids practice and then headed back down to court 14 where there was a woman. She was also in the class so we talked. A bit before 6:30 she ran back into the building to go to the bathroom. During that time an older man walked out also looking for the class. The woman came back and three of us chit chatted for a bit. Around 6:35 our instructor had not shown up so the woman went in and asked what was going on. She was told that Marco was a little late and should be out soon. So, we waited another 5 minutes. The old man had some tennis balls and we all hit until 7pm.

By 7 we were fed up and headed back in. We talked to the guy and suddenly it looked like he had an idea. He run outside, and then runs back in saying Marco was here. He was on court 13 with 5 or 6 other guys. I’m thinking, WTF, how could that happen? All three of us walked up to the front desk and asked the guy where the lessons were. And then it occured to me that we were all the newbies. All the guys out playing were in the glass before and knew who Marco was and I’m assuming the court 13 is the court he normally practices on.

We all rescheduled so technically I start next week. At least I’ll have a slight idea of what is going on and I got to hit some balls.

I have lived in San Diego for almost two and half years and in that time I have never made it up to LA. The closest I’ve gotten was Anaheim for Disneyland and Gencon Socal. Due to a bunch of wierdness at work I ended up having to go to LA.

At work a bunch of people are taking time off and as a result people are scarce. About once a week my boss has to drive up to LA to take care of design work. He always takes someone with him so he can use the HOV lanes. I have never gone one one of these trips but this time I was the only one who didn’t absolutely need to be at the office. So, I was drafted.

We left at 6:30 yesturday morning, stopped by the office and then got Starbucks and gas. I ended having to drive as my boss talked on the phone and worked on a computer. The problem was that I was driving a Suburban which was huge and made me a little nervous driving it.

We made it to downtown LA around 9:30 and stopped by our fixture supplier. We picked up a few french mannequins and a lot of shelve brackets. My boss then drove into Simi Valley to the Reagan Library which we arrived around 11. We helped unload a truck of tables and fixture units and started to lay out the gift center. The problem was that a painter was slowing down the process. So, we had to do a lot of waiting. We were suppose to get out of there around 2:30, we didn’t leave until 4:30.

We stopped at “Jack in the Box” on the way home and I realized it had been almost a year and half since I went to a fast food restaurant. I got a small hamburger and a small shake. Both were pretty gross.

My boss drove half way and then I brought us back. We got in at 8pm and I was exhausted. So, my first trip to LA was pretty boring but interesting as we drove through a lot of downtown LA and the surrounding area (taking shortcuts to avoid traffic). And, I got to hang out at a conservative memorial, lucky me.