42 Pixs til my 42nd Birthday - Days 36 & 37

Age 36

Age 37

Here I am at Age 36 & 37. Two more years in my 30's. I loved my 30's I had some of the best times then. I wasn't a huge party person in my 20's and I was in the closet for most of them. So my 30's is when I really felt like I was starting to live my life. Picture on the left I'm wearing a t-shirt of one of my favorite podcasts Treks in Scifi. It was one of the first that I listen to and participated in. It made me the podcaster that I am today.. Thanks Rico. The picture on the right is when I was a groomsman for one of my good friends Chris. Chris and I meet while I was working on the Dating Game many years ago and have been good friends since. We don't see each other as often as I would like but he is one of those people that when we do get together we pick up right were we left off, like no time has passed us by. Less then a week until my birthday!!!

Calorie Counter App

My boss talked about this app a few months ago when I started this job and then this past weekend several friends were telling me about this calorie counting app that really helps them stay on track and lose weight. So I thought I'd give it a go. My boss told me it was called "Lose It" so I downloaded it (it was free) and checked it out. It was a really cool app that kept track of everything you ate. When you signed up it would ask you weight, your goal weight, your height, age and how much weight you wanted to lose a week. When all that information is in it gives you the number of calories that you can eat a day and lose the amount of weight you requested.

I was so excited for this new app that I talked my buddy Robert into downloading it. And he really liked it. I then talked to my friends who were talking about it over the weekend and found out that it was actually a different app called My Fitness Pal but it is essentially the same app. Since there is a "friends" function where you can see and motivate your friends so both Robert and I switched to My Fitness Pal.

Will see if I can keep up with it. But honestly it does stop me from snacking. I really want to make sure I stay under my calorie count. I'm currently allowed to eat 1600 calories a day in order to lose 1 pound a week and it will take me 43 weeks to reach my goal of 165. It seems like a slow process but hopefully during that time I learn to each different so I can keep the weight off for good.

Comikaze Con - Day 2

 So I woke up around 7:30am and went to check out my ears as the ace bandage that I had wrapped around them moved a bit. And as I suspected the ears didn't look so hot. I figured it was easier for me to remove them then try and save them so I pulled the ears off. I've dressed as a Hobbit for several years but never put on my ears by myself so this morning was going to be a challenge. But honestly I think I put them on faster then anyone else has. I blended the make up and I think they turned out pretty good. I was done and out the door by 8:30.

Once again I got to the convention center and this time got to park under the convention center. Put on my feet, wig and cloak and walked directly into the convention center. No waiting in line this time as I had my wristband already.. woo hoo.

The main floor was going to open in a few minutes so I put the call out for friends who were around. I did manage to find a few when I got inside the showroom floor and over to the Team Unicorn booth. I met up with my buddy Brett who walked around with me for a while. Then my friend Adam showed up and did the same. It's funny because I was being passed off from friend to friend. As soon as another friend would show up, the one with me would go do or see someone else. I always had a posse with me. 

I did my one and only panel at 1pm Geek Girls Create. On the panel were three friends Cricket Lee, Teal Sherer and Bonnie Burton. Along with Kristen Nedopak and Stephanie Thorpe whom I don't know but admire very much. It was a great panel and afterwards I got to talk with Cricket and Bonnie. I really wanted to talk with Kristen and 

Stephanie but they had to head out to other things. I was hoping to catch them later at a signing. Which I totally missed.

After that I continued to walk around having pictures taken and taking pictures of the other cosplayers. I got interviewed by an online TV show, which was a lot of fun.

I ate, watched some Quidditch (yes they played Quidditch in the convention hall). There was a Zombie Apocalypse maze over on the other side but never did that.

I got to hang out with my good friend America, who has to be the nicest person I know. 

One thing that I noticed from the weekend is that people love Hobbits. Saturday I had someone yell from across the hall.. "I have the urge to kidnap you and take you to Isengard". Then another person who I didn't know.. looked at me and said, "Wow, that was the strangest pick up line I've ever heard". I had a guy say from behind me "I'm going to hug you" and then he did. I'm a little guy and this guy was pretty tall and kind of encompassed me. He said how much he loved my costume and he's the biggest LOTR fan. I had another girl run up to me and then stop inches from me and say... "oh can I hug you" and then proceeded to hug me very tightly. When folks would take picture with me they would be so close to me I could feel their heartbeat. I don't know what it is about Hobbits but they are some well loved characters. 

The con ended at 6pm and I was of course hanging with friends at the Team Unicorn booth. Everyone cheered as they dimmed the lights and I made my way out of the convention center and back to my car.

Got home around 8pm, made some dinner and relaxed the rest of the night.

I had a fantastic weekend, got to spend lots of time with friends, got to hang out with friends I haven't seen in a while. Got to bring a bit of joy to LOTR fans. Though it was a bit crazy at the beginning of the con I only have fond memories of the experience. Can't wait until next year.

And I think I might have to retire my Hobbit feet. I noticed that some cracks are starting to appear on them. But I have to say I'm impressed, these feet were made for San Diego Comic Con 2011 and were used for not only SDCC 2011, but SDCC 2012 and Wondercon 2012 and now Comikaze Con 2012. I think I got some great use out of them.

You can see more pictures from my Comikaze Con weekend HERE

42 Pixs til my 42nd Birthday - Days 34 & 35

Age 34

Age 35

Two more days done.. getting closer to my 42nd Birthday. Age 34 picture was taken at the beach. Harry and I wouldn't go to the beach very often but when we did we went up north a bit to a little known section that was very secluded and rocky. Age 35 picture is of me and our little girl Daisy. We got Daisy to keep Harry company while I was at work. When we broke up Daisy accompanied Harry to Austria. She was truly his little girl but I miss her everyday. This picture was taken up at a lake where my mom has a cabin.

Comikaze Con - Day 1

Got up early today around 7:30, was staying at my buddy Will's place because I needed help with my Hobbit ears. I got up, showered and got dressed then had to wake up Will to help apply my ears. A hour and a half later we were done. I expected it to take about a half hour but it was a bit more difficult and time consuming then I thought. I was hoping to be out the door by 9am and get to con around 10am.. but instead I got out around 9:30am and to the con around 10:30. The drive over from North Hollywood to Los Angeles wasn't that bad. I kept forgetting that I was wearing my Hobbit ears and getting strange looks from other drivers.

As I mentioned I got to the con around 10:30 and drove around the area a few times before finding the correct parking lot. Paid my $15 dollars and parked in the south parking structure of the Los Angeles Convention Center. I got out and went over to my passenger side where I began to put on the finishing touches of my Hobbit cosplay. At Will's place I had put on my pants, suspenders, undershirt, top shirt and socks. So I finished by slipping into my Hobbit feet, which use to take me 30 minutes each but now that they are so worn in it took less then a few minutes for each. I put on my wig and adjusted the curls. And then the final touch was my wool cloak. It was 100 plus degrees outside but it's an important an part of my over all costume.

Once done I headed to the elevator and out of the parking structure. I noticed that there weren't many cosplayers around so I was drawing some attention. I walked about halfway to the entrance when a guy passing in the opposite direction yelled out to the group of us that they are being directed to line up in the back of the convention center. So the majority of us turned around and headed with the group. I started to chat with a few folks as they were admiring my Hobbit feet. Got to the end of the line and waited. For the next hour and a half I waited in the hot sun, I moved maybe 40 feet during that time. I was hot, sweaty and thirsty but I was not leaving this line. In the time I was there it grew and started to double back on itself. During this time it was very frustrating as I wasn't really sure if I was in the right line. I had pre-purchased my ticket online and had the piece a paper but I didn't know if the line I was standing in was for pre-purchase or to purchase tickets. There wasn't a single employee of the con directing people or there to answer questions. So I stood and waited with hundreds of others.

During this long wait I was texting and tweeting with others and finally around 12:30pm I got a text from my friend Anne informing me that they had an extra wristband and that I should come to the front, at the same time my buddy Dallas came walking up looking for me.  I immediately exited the line and headed to the front. OMG we walked and walked and walked pass the line as it zig zagged everywhere. There were hundreds and hundreds of people waiting to get in. We finally made it to the entrance where we met up with Anne and she gave me a wrist band. It was Nicki's wristband but she had gotten an exhibitors badge since she was helping Team Unicorn. It was so nice to get out of the 100 degree weather and into the nice air conditioned convention center.

Soon as I got in I went over to the Team Unicorn booth and said hi to some friends before standing in line for another 45 minutes to get something to eat and drink. Around 2:30 I was finally ready to enjoy the con. I meet up with my buddy Troy who walked around with me on the show room floor. I'd stop here and there to take pictures. After Troy left I walked around with my buddies Dallas, Aaron, Luis and Rupert. One of the highlights for me was when I was at the Team Unicorn booth and Wall-E came rolling up. Yeah it was an actual working Wall-E robot. He was fully mechanical and so AWESOME. Michele Boyd (one of the Unicorns) had a conversation with him. It as so much fun.

While walking around the floor I would run into folks like Kim, Kevin and Doug. Got to see Teal and her husband Ali. Ran into some online friends like Tabs. Was at the con until around 6:30pm. Then headed out with Luis and Dallas. We were meeting up with others for dinner. On our way to the restaurant we picked up Anthony.

For dinner there was Kim, Anne, Nicki, Jen, Rupert, Dallas, Anthony, Luis and of course me. We went to Urbano Pizza Bar and hung out for a few hours. Once that was over we parted ways. Luis drove me back to my car and I headed home. Got home around 11:30pm, wrapped my head with an ace bandage hoping my ears would survive the night.

Though the day started off fun with Will and I attempting to put on my ears, then turned into a hot nightmare as I fought off heat stroke and dehydration it ended on a high note. Had a great time walking around taking pictures and having pictures taken of me. Got to see alot of my friends and ended the night was a fun dinner.  Gotta get up early again tomorrow and do this all over again.. woo hoo.

You can see more pictures from my Comikaze Con weekend HERE

My Friday Night

After a crazy day at work I offered to pick up my bestie Will from LAX (Los Angeles International Airport), he was visiting family out in Florida. Previously during the day I had lunch with my other bestie Robert and he was feeling a bit blue  and since he live on the way to LAX I suggested that I pick him up and we both to greet Will. So I stopped by Roberts place, picked him up and we headed to LAX. It's tough to judge how long it will take to get somewhere in LA because of the unpredicable traffic and I miss judged it and we got to the airport a half hour before Will even landed. We sat in Roberts car chatting and listening to much. Will's plane finally landed and we headed to the terminal to greet him. About fifteen minutes later there was Will's smiling, bearded face.

We loaded him and his stuff up into the car and headed out to dinner. I choose Bossa Nova for dinner. It's not a place I eat at regularly but they have some very yummy food. We spent the next few hours chatting, laughing and having a great time. Told them I should record our conversation for later use as some of the stuff we talk about it so crazy and very geeky.. it's always a good time.

Once dinner was over to dropped off Robert at his place and then headed over to Will's. Since I picked him up from the airport I asked if I could crash at his place because I was going to Comikaze Con tomorrow and needed help with applying my Hobbit ears.  Of course Will said he would help so when we got to his place we unloaded all my cosplay stuff into his bedroom. It was late and I was tired but Will and I rarely get "alone" time, just he and I.. one on one. So we laid there in his bedroom and just chatted until about 1:30am when we finally went to sleep.

Though the day started off rocky with work it ended on a very high note. This weekend.. Stan Lee's Comikaze Con.. can't wait.

42 Pixs til my 42nd Birthday - Days 32 & 33

Age 33

Age 32

Here I am at Age 32, this was the year that I meet Harry, never in a million years did I think I would fall in love with someone 7000 miles away in Austria. This would be the longest relationship that I've had to date, unfortunately things didn't work out and after 8 years and several months we broke up.  Age 33 I tried out the Blonde again. It seems as the years pass by the less I hair I have to dye.

Getting Back Out There

So it's been a year and eight months since Harry and I broke up. I've struggled with the idea of getting back out there and I don't really know why. I'm extremely lonely and in need of some physical companionship but it wasn't enough to motivate me to do anything about it. I don't know if I'm afraid of being hurt again or if I just don't want to deal with the hassle of dating. I have never been one to date. The five guys I have dated in my entire dating career were one date and then boyfriends for six months.. everyone with exception to Harry who lasted eight years. I still have that mentality, I don't look forward to dating but I do know that I'm not going to jump into another relationship right away. I would like to date someone first so this will all be new experience for me to cover.

I filled out the "free" profile over at Match.com but after seeing all the "matches" they selected for me I wasn't too impressed as none of them mentioned that they were geeks. And for me one of my biggest and most important quality that I'm looking for in a partner is being a big geek.

So today I actually signed up and paid for 2 months service for Geek 2 Geek online dating service. I checked this place out a few months back and I like this service because they are nothing but geeks. Of course there are various degrees of geekiness but it's a good place to start. So will see what happens. I'm sure I'll be keeping everyone updated via my blog... wish me luck.

Buffy Rewatch Continues

My Buffy re watch continues as I watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer with my buddy Robert who is seeing it for the first time. Work was crazy so I got to his place a bit later then I would have liked and then we talked for about an hour so I expected to watch one maybe two episode but we actually got to watch three episodes. Started the night with Season 2 "What's My Line pt. 2". Then moved on to "Ted" which guest starred John Ritter in a very different role for him, which I very much enjoyed. And the final episode of the night was "Bad Eggs", which was the most fun to watch with Robert as his hates spiders and the creators used were these spider/scorpions type of creatures and it was freaking out Robert and making me laugh.

The other cool thing about our Buffy nights have been me crashing at Roberts. He lives about 15 minutes from my job and I love that I get one day that I don't have to fight the traffic in my daily 2 hour commute.

42 Pixs til my 42nd Birthday - Days 30 & 31

Age 30

Age 31

Finally hit my 30's,  Since coming out only a few years ago I was still learning who I was. 20's were some confusing years so I was really looking forward to my 30's. At Age 31 I did something that I never thought I would be able to do. I rode my bike from San Fransisco to Los Angeles in 7 days. I did the California AIDS Ride in 2001. You can read about my adventures HERE. It's an experience of a lifetime.

Alien Nation: The Newcomers Podcast Ep 9

Download from itunes http://bit.ly/itunesAlienNation or Listen/Direct Download http://Aliennationpodcast.com

Show Notes

Brothers Kenny and Michael Mittleider review and discuss a short lived but very socially aware TV series from the late 80's early 90's ALIEN NATION. Each podcast we will review a single episode in sequential order starting with the Pilot. Will give you our thoughts on the episode as well as some fun behind the scenes information.

Today we cover Season 1, Episode 9 - Three To Tango
Directed by Stan Lathan

Written by Andrew Schneider & Diane Frolov
Original air date November 13, 1989

Plot Summary: Since George and Susan have agreed to have another child, they ask precinct janitor Albert Einstein to serve as their "Binnaum". It turns out that it takes two Tencontonese males to impregnate a female: the first make, in this case George, provides the seed, while the Binnaum become the catalyst which allows the conception to occur. Sikes, naturally, has a variety of salacious reactions to the concept, but George chooses to ignore him.

It's soon becomes known that Albert was part of the Binnaum religious sect on the ship, but abandoned it to live as a regular Tenctonese. That order's leader looks upon his serving as catalyst while outside the order as sacrilege, and, as such, he sets about making sure that Albert does not perform this function, even if it means killing him, as this leader has done with the others of his kind before.

Sikes and Cathy move a bit closer to true union, as Sikes questions George about Newcomer erogenous zones and the things that arouse them.

Hope you enjoy it,
Kenny

42 Pixs til my 42nd Birthday - Days 28 & 29

Next up are Ages 28 & 29. The end of 27 and beginning of 28 was a huge milestone in my life. I came out of the closest just weeks before my 28th birthday, which you can read all about HERE My life would forever be changed. I spent the next few years learning a whole new me. Though I felt great and had a huge burden lifted off my shoulders it was one of the most scariest times of my life. By the age of 29 I was in a great place. I was dating, out to most of my friends and living the life I was born to live... couldn't have been happier.

Podcast, Lunch, Lube, Lens & Who

Busy day today. Started off with my brother arriving at 10:30 to record a few episodes of our Alien Nation podcast. The next episode was due out tomorrow and we hadn't even recorded yet. We spent the next three or so hours watching episode 9 and episode 10 and recording our podcast.

Afterwards we headed out to lunch at El Pollo Loco (my brother went next door to McDonalds). Had a nice lunch before he headed back home and I went over to Jiffy Lube to get my oil changed finally.  I normally get it changed every 5000 miles but I went a bit longer this time but didn't realize I went that long (13,000). So I'm glad I got that done finally.

After that I headed to Lenscrafters to get an eye exam and pick out some new glasses. Two hours later and $400 less in my back account I had my new glasses.. well I don't actually have them yet. Last year I got transitional lenses which meant there are three different lenses in one. I hated them and asked to not get them this time. Instead I went with bifocals which of course have to be made else were and my glasses wouldn't be ready in an hour as planned. So they should be ready in a week to a week and a half.

Got home and watched the latest Doctor Who S7 Ep2, Dinosaurs in Space. Lot's of a fun, not as dramatic as last weeks episode but loads of fun.

After Who I went back to my Alien Nation Podcast as I mentioned earlier this episode is due to be released tomorrow so I had to edited the entire thing. So for the next six hours I edited away and finally finished it around midnight.

It was an extremely productive day and I got a lot of things done that I've been wanting to do for a while now.

Reconnecting With My Padawan

Well it's been over a year since I have talked about my Padawan Troy. During San Diego Comic Con 2011 we had a falling out. I don't really know what I did or said but for some reason he unfriended me on Facebook and stopped following me on twitter. That was the year that everything was stolen from my jeep including his laptop, autographed pictures and other comic con stuff. I reached out to him several times over the year but never got a response.

Anyways I've always enjoyed his company, I think he's a very sweet guy and we had a cool friendship and I'm not one to let something like that just go without a fight. So last week I messaged him on Facebook, though we are not friends, I could still send him messages. He responded within minutes and we started to communicate again. We decided to get together this coming weekend for lunch... and today is the day.

He arrived around 2ish and it wasn't awkward at all. It was like no time had passed. I gave him a hug hello and we immediately headed out. I was hungry so we headed to Chili's. We caught up on each other lives. Not a whole lot was happening for him. We ate and chatted for about 2 hours. Afterwards we headed back to my place to hang out. He didn't have any plans and though I could have done yard work I was happy to be hanging with my padawan again. He is doing a Buffy watch as well but was at the end of S3. I am doing a Buffy rewatch with my bestie Robert but we are in the early part of season 2. So I figured I can watch some Buffy with Troy since it will be months before Robert and I get to S3/S4. So that's what we did. We watched the last three episodes of S3 and the first four episodes of S4. We hung out until about 11pm when we finally said our goodbyes.

It was a good visit... you could tell he didn't want to talk about why he was mad at me. I would have like to know as I've never lost a friend like that. But I was happy to have him back in my life and to be honest it doesn't really matter.. all that matters is that we are friends again and I'm extremely happy about that. Looking forward to seeing where our friendship goes next.

42 Pixs til my 42nd Birthday - Days 26 & 27

Age 26

Age 27

The pictures continue... this time it's age 26 & 27. The Age 26 picture is one of my favorites of me back then. My buddy Jared is behind me grabbing my sides making me laugh. The Age 27 picture I dyed my hair blonde. I did that here and there and it always turned out pretty cool. Would love to do that again... if I had the hair :)

Tickets and Titles

Another busy day here at work, but I won't bore you with details. Two things happened and if your a Star Trek fan you'll be either excited or confused about on of them. Star Trek 2 (Abrams reboot) has gotten an official title Star Trek Into Darkness. This title is odd because there is no colon as in previous Star Trek titles; Star Trek: First Contact or Star Trek: Nemesis. So Star Trek fans are split some like the title and some hate the title. I'm not a big fan of the title but then again I understand that they are trying to get away from the "older" Trek universe as this is a new Trek. I do find the title interesting as in what the story will be. We still have nine months before it hits theaters and I'm sure will get more info as it get's closer.

Second thing is I purchased my weekend tickets for Stan Lee's Comikaze Con. I didn't go last year as I thought it was an anime convention and me not being into anime I didn't bother but I found out it's just a smaller San Diego Comic Con here in Los Angeles so I'm going to give a got this year. I plan on cosplaying in my Hobbit outfit all weekend... so that should be fun.

My Gimpy Dinner & Podcast

Tonight after work I headed over to Teal and Ali's place for dinner. We were also going to record a "wrap up" podcast for her webseries My Gimpy Life.

Got to Teals and chatted with the two of them as dinner was running late. We were talking politics as Ali was watching the DNC (Democratic National Convention). I normally don't like to talk politics because it can be a touchy subject to some but Ali, Teal and I pretty much had the same thoughts on the race so it wasn't so bad.

We soon found out that the food place hadn't even sent out our order so we decided to start the podcast and see how far we could get before dinner arrived. We got about 30 minutes into the podcast when dinner finally arrived.We ate and then finished up the podcast with some Q&A.

It was a good "wrap up" podcast.. I should have it edited and out in the next few weeks. Not sure what will become of My Gimpy Life podcast but for now we are planning short monthly installments.. will see how that goes.

Got home around 11pm and crashed

42 Pixs til my 42nd Birthday - Days 24 & 25

Here I am at Age 24 & 25, it's so crazy to look back at these pictures and realize I was a cute guy. At this time in my life I didn't feel cute. I was confused about my sexuality, wasn't attracting anyone and was very lonely. 25 was finishing up collage and within the next year be moving to Hollywood and starting my career in the Entertainment industry.

To Many Friends???

Is it possible to have to many friends? I never thought I would ever ask myself that question since I've haven't had many friends in the past but if you read my blog you know that the past year and a half I have built a significant amount of friendships. And me being me I love to keep in contact with them, keep up on their lives and see them from time to time. This wasn't a problem when I didn't have many friends, but now that I have a lot more I'm finding it much harder to keep up on every one's lives. And this makes me feel guilty for not being the "friend" I would like to be. So I ask the question; do I have to many friends?

Of course as I have mentioned in past blogs I have layers of friendships. My close/best friends I tend to talk to more often and see more often. Then the second tier and so on. But there are close friends that I don't talk to for months and when I do I find out all this stuff has gone on that I didn't know. I try and read up on folks Facebook and twitter but I only have enough time in the day for so much. I'm not a big talker on the phone but I do love to text so I try and keep in contact that way. But even with all that I feel like I don't talk to 2/3'ds of my friends on a regular bases and I don't like that.

So what is the solution? Stop making friends? Pick and choose which ones I keep up with? I don't know. I do know that in the past I'd say about 75% of the friendships I did have I would give 90% and they would return 10% in regards to keeping in touch, hanging out and such. But I will not be doing that anymore. If a friendship is worth having then both parties need to give 100% each to that friendship. I mean I know there are times when one or the other will be super busy but a friendship is made up of two people.

I love writing this blog as it really lets me write out my thoughts and when looking at them I ask myself am I just over thinking this.. a friendship shouldn't be work.. it should just happen and be enjoyed. I don't know.. I don't know if there really is a solution. All I can do is try my best at keeping up with those that are closest to me.

Weekly Bro-Date

Love my weekly Bro-dates with my buddy Robert. Each week we get together grab some dinner (pizza, taco bell or italtian) and watch a TV series he has not seen and that I am rewatching and totally love. We started with Firefly and now have moved on to Buffy The Vampire Slayer. We are currently on Season 2 and tonight was watched episodes "Lie to Me", "The Dark Age" and "What's My Line Pt.1".

I loved Buffy when I first saw it and as the season progresses it just gets better and better. Robert seems to be liking it, which is cool. It's fun watching something that I love and being able to see it through someone else's eyes. It's going to take us 11 months to go through all seven seasons but it's going to be a fun ride.

Afterwards I crashed at Robert's place since he lives so close to my job and it's saves me the stress of my hellish commute the next morning. But besides that I really enjoy just lie there in a dark room chatting about life. Robert and I have always been able to really talk about anything. So I love getting some uninterrupted one on one time.

Prefect ending to a perfect Bro-Date.