Friends, Aliens & Succubus

Busy day today.. my buddy Aaron texted me and wanted to see if I wanted to do lunch and a movie. He wanted to see the new "Alien" movie Prometheus. I not a huge fan of the Alien series but I do enjoy the movie and this one being a "prequel" and the previews looking pretty good I agreed to join him.

He got to my house around 11am and we headed out to Islands to grab some lunch before the movie at 1:30pm. We were seeing it at a local theater in 3D IMAX (or as I like to call it, Faux MAX) since it's not a true IMAX theater. Anyways we had a great lunch and I got to hang out with a good friend. I've been in a funk the past few days and it was great getting to hang with a friend and talk.

After lunch we made our way to the theater, got our tickets and got in line for a few minutes before they let us in to the theater itself.

Prometheus was a very entertaining movie, it was a OMG that was AWESOME kind of movie but I really enjoyed it. I loved all the nods to the original Alien movie (so much so that I now want to go back and watch the original Alien movie). The story was cool and the effect were pretty awesome. I liked the characters and the acting was strong. There were some inconsistency in the storytelling but it didn't detract me from story on a whole. I still enjoyed Snow White and the Huntsman, that I saw last week, more then Prometheus but I'm glad I saw it in the theater and I think it's a nice addition to the Alien series.

After the movie Arron came back to my place for a half hour before heading into LA. I was going to try and work on some podcasts but that didn't happen and early in the day before Aaron got there I started to watch the eight episode of Lost Girl that I had on my DVR. So for the rest of the night I finished off what I have recorded, so I'm currently all caught with Lost Girl and ready for new episodes. I really love these series.. I already did a blog on Lost Girl but now that I've seen all of season one and the beginning of season two this series continue to impress and entertain me.

Nice Guy 101

So I know this may come as a shocker to some of you but I'm a "Nice Guy". I use to hate being called that but a few years ago I decided to own it. I am a nice guy, I can't change who I am and I shouldn't be ashamed of it. You know the saying Nice Guys finish last, well it's a very true statement but I wouldn't want to be any other way.

I like being a nice guy, I like that people know that they can rely on me. Yes I may not achieve huge success or wealth because I'm unwilling to be cut throat.. and yes I have been taken advantage of from time to time but that just goes along with being a good person. 

Why am I telling you guys about this because I decided to start posting #NiceGuy101 tweets on twitter. They are just little sayings or things that I live by, being a nice guy.

Here's an example... this is the first one that I tweeted;

Send a friend a text and say hi, it only takes a second but can brighten their entire day. #NiceGuy101

I plan on tweeting one or two of these every few days.. I got lots of "nice guy" things to share.

Life is Funny

This post is going to be just some random thoughts going on in my head at this very moment... 

The past few days I've been feeling blah, no job, no money, no partner and after having to ask for financial help (see my last blog) I've haven't been feeling so well. I don't know if my depression is the cause of it but I haven't been physically feeling well either... so much so that I've only worked out two days this week. It kind of a catch 22, I don't feel well so I don't workout, and because I don't work out I get upset with myself which contributes to my depression which in turns makes me sick... it's  vicious cycle.

Not really sure what's going on with me...  just feeling low the past few days. Missing friends, feeling extremely lonely (meaning companionship, not friendship). I have some of the best friends in the world who care for me very much but I don't have that special someone who will share the remainder of my life with. Going through tough times is always easier when you have someone you love by your side. I have no one, I'm completely alone in dealing with my problems.

I was complaining about being lonely to my buddy Sebastian and he asked me "Well are you doing anything about it?" And you know what...  I'm not, I'm not on any dating sites, I don't go out to bars or clubs so I don't know what I expect if I don't put a little effort into it. I am extremely lonely but do not feel motivated to start dating again. It's been over a year since Harry and I broke up and ten months since he left for Austria and though I am lonely I don't know if I'm ready for a relationship. If I'm honest with myself I just need someone to "play around" with.. kind of like a F*ck Buddy. Just someone to have fun with, not commitment, just someone to enjoy ones company with. Unfortunately for me most of my male friends are straight and the ones that aren't are in relationships.

Aw well I hope I can snap out of this funk soon.. I don't like being in it and I have so much stuff to do while I'm not working.. I feel like I've wasted months of free time to get some of my projects done.  Wish me luck!!

Asking for Help

Well the day has come.. I had to ask for financial assistance from my Mom and Step Dad. I've never asked for anything from anyone since I was 15, I've always been self reliant and doing this is just killing me. But after eight months of not working it takes of toll on your savings. If I didn't own this house, it would be a different story, but I don't want to lose my house so I swallowed my pride and made the call.

Being freelance I've always been good at saving up for the lean times and this time was no different.. only problem is, I'm normally out of work for 2 to 3 months which my savings can handle but eight months in a row is just too much time off. 

Don't get wrong I'm very thankful that I have this option I know alot of people out there don't. But it so hard for me to accept help. I'm a 40+ year old man, I should be able to take care of my own debt and the fact that it has come to this is just devastating me.

I use to live paycheck to paycheck in my 20's but was fortunate enough to be debt free by my late 20's and into my 30's. Then I meet Harry and got into a bit a debt again and a few years ago we manage to get out of debt so I'm debt free once again (yay!!). So I've grown accustom to not worrying about money. When I go out with friends I would occasionally buy dinner for everyone or when I go grocery shopping I don't worry what the final bill will be.. well now I need to worry about those things and it's tough because I haven't worried about those things for so long. But today having to ask my mom for money was a wake up call. I now know that I can't be spending money like I did in the past (at least not until I find a job).

It's going to be tough because I'll be making some sacrifices but it's what I need to do to stay on my feet until I find another job.

Vasquez, Voting & Vampires

Had a good day today. Got up and was sore from working out last night. But that's the norm for me when I start working out again. First thing I did was try and catch up on some blogging. I fall a few days behind so every couple of days I sit down for an hour and wrack my brain to try and remember the past few days events (tweeter & facebook helps). So I did that for an hour, then I prepared packages for my MASH podcast for winners of our latest trivia (they won a MASH 4077 Podcast Tshirt) so I had to get those ready for post, also I got several donations for KOTG so I have to prepare to send these guys some autographed pictures as a thank you for their donations. So everything is ready for post (which I will go to tomorrow).

Since I was sore and knew I wouldn't be doing any upper body workout I decided to go for a hike at Vasquez Rocks to get in my 30 minutes of cardio. But before that I wanted to stop by my voting place and vote (I've voted in every election since I was 18). That took me a few minutes and then I was on my way to Vasquez. It was a beautiful day, warm but breezy. I didn't really have a plan, I just started walking. I've been to Vasquez so many times now that I know alot of the paths and how to get back to parking from pretty much anywhere in the park. It was a great way to get my cardio in and not be stuck in my garage on an elliptical. Gonna try and do this more often.

After Vasquez I went out to El Pollo Loco to grab some lunch (I'm trying to limit myself to eating out to twice a week). And then I came home. I cleaned up the house (I hate having a dirty house) and blogged a bit more.

Around 5pm I headed out to my buddies Robert's place. Since we finished Firefly/Serenity last week we picked a new TV series to watch. It's a rewatch for me but a first time for Robert. This time we choose Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I have loved this series since it first aired in 97 and I wanted to share this great series with Robert.

So we had some dinner and sat down to watch the first three episodes, Welcome to the Hellmouth, The Harvest and Witch. It's so much fun to rewatch this series. It's especially fun to see these characters so young and so different from where they end up at the end of the series. It's going to take us well over a year to finish all seven seasons but it's going to be an awesome ride.

After that I headed home, surfed around a bit.. and went to bed.

Star Trek & Friends

This evening I went over to my buddies Sebastian's place to hang with him and his girlfriend. We got some pizza and sat down to watch a movie. Sebastian suggested that we watch Star Trek 5 The Final Frontier. I had mentioned a week prior that I had never seen this movie. I've seen bits and pieces but never sat down to watch the entire thing. So he popped on a DVD and for the next two hours I got to watch some new Trek (well new to me).

I've heard many people say how this was the worst of the original movies so I went into it with very low expectations and I have to say that it was alright. It's not my favorite original cast movie but I thought it was entertaining. There were some fun scenes and there were some extremely stupid scenes. The writing wasn't the greatest but there was some great acting. I'm glad I finally got to see it.. now all I need to do is watch Star Trek The Motion Picture (which I techncally saw at a drive in as a kid) but I feel asleep and haven't seen it since.

Starting to Work Out... Again

Today I decide to start working out again. The past few years I have started then gotten sick for several weeks/months and stopped and then struggled to start again. That happen to me earlier this year where I worked out for months, lost 18 pounds and was feeling great. Then I got sick, stopped and never went back.

So I've decided to try once again.. let's hope I can stick to it this time.

Every Monday I weight myself, this morning I was 205, I set my June Goal to get below 200 by the end of June. It's going to take working out and eating right to reach that goal. I really don't have a problem working out.. I enjoy it, my biggest issue is the food, eating properly. It's always been my biggest issue and I have still not be able to conquer it. I know things won't change over night but I'm going to have to find a way to eat better or all this working out will be for not.

Today's Workout (easing myself back into it)

30 minutes of cardio on the elliptical

3 sets of 10 on the front leg press (45 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the chest fly for my chest (75 lbs)
3 sets of 10 on the free weight (110 lbs)

Snow White and the Huntsman (my review)

Got to see this movie today.. first here's a quick synopsis; The enchanting Snow White (Kristen Stewart) joins forces with the fierce Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth), who was recruited by the diabolical Queen (Charlize Theron) to kill the fair beauty, and together they fight to rid their kingdom of evil in this bold new take on the fairy-tale classic. Obsessed with being the fairest woman in the land, the Queen learns that Snow White will soon surpass her in beauty, and seeks to achieve immortality by consuming the young girl's heart. But the Huntsman is the only one capable of braving the dark forest to seek out Snow White. Threatened with death should he refuse to follow his order, the Huntsman finds Snow White, and begins training her for the arduous battle ahead.

(Spoiler ahead)

I loved this movie, it was fun, beautifully shot, visually stunning, cool special effects and overall very entertaining. I'm not a Kristen Stewart hater so I thought she did a good job as Snow, Chris Hemsworth is always great in playing the strong hero but my favorite was Charlize Theron as the evil queen. Whenever she was on screen all attention went to her. She was fantastic.

My favorite part of the movie is when they go to Fairyland, it's so beautiful and I loved seeing all the enchanted creatures. I really liked their take on the "fairy". I miss really good fantasy movies, Lord of the Rings was the last one that I adored and I can't wait for The Hobbit. I would have loved to see them do a bit more in this "Fairyland".

I really liked the Dwarfs, each one had it's own personality. My buddy Robert turned to me and said "I thought there were seven dwarfs but I keep counting eight." and of course one of the dwarfs kind of has this thing with Snow and you just totally adore him.. so of course something is going to happen to him, and it does toward the end of that scene. He sacrifices himself and takes an arrow to save Snow. It's the only time I teared up during the movie.. so sad... but now there are only seven dwarfs.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie again. I give Snow White and the Huntsman an A+ for visuals, B+ for story, B+ for acting and an A- overall.

Hanging with the Bros

When I got up around 7:30 the ladies had already left. Robert and Rupert were chatting in the living room. I made some sausage, toast and eggs for breakfast and we sat down to figure out what our plan was for today. We decided to watch a movie, after the guys scoured through my DVD/Bluray collection we decided to watch Adventures in Babysitting. This is one of my favorite movies from the 80's.

After the movie we headed out to my back porch to just relax in the hot sun. We chatted for about an hour before we realized that we were getting red so we headed back inside.

For lunch we headed out to Chilli's, man I love their boneless buffalo wings. Robert was the good one of the group by having soup and salad while Rupert had this huge burger and I had, of course, boneless buffalo wings with fries.

After lunch we headed back to my place and as I was getting in my jeep I felt this sting on my back. I wasn't sure but I think I sat on a bee and it stung me. Sure enough when I got home and I got out of the jeep there was a bee sitting in my chair. Luckily it only hurt for a short time and I'm very happy that I'm not allergic to them as that would have been bad since I was driving.

Once home we hung out for an hour as we plan to go see Snow White and the Huntsman. Robert really didn't want to see it but was being a nice guy as he knew I really wanted to see this movie.

We got to the movies, found our seats and waited for the movie to start. I loved the movie. I'm going to do a separate blog with my quick review.

After the movie we headed back to my place and Robert packed up his stuff and headed home. Rupert and I hung out for a few more hours watching TV and stuff. Jes, finally got home from the shoot and decided to crash one more night at my place because it was late and she lives six hours from me. Around 11ish Rupert said he's good byes and headed home while Jes and I called it a night and went to bed.

It was another fun and relaxing day with friends.

Games, Lembas Bread & Friends

This weekend plans were so last minute. I considered opening this weekend up to all my friends and having a mini marathon/party but decided against that and thought it might be nice to just have the three/four guests and have a "chill" weekend. I made no plans, well other then food (what we were going to eat). So Jes and I got up early around 8ish and went to Denny's for breakfast. We then stopped by Vons to pick up some supplies for the Lembas Bread that we were making later in the day. While we were out my buddy Robert texted me that he was on his way up.

Jes and I got home and started to play Yatezee on my ipad when Robert arrived around 11am. He joined in for a few games until we switched over to Cards Against Humanity. If you don't know about CAH, it started off as a Kickstarter program and was fully funded and is not a huge hit card game.

Cards Against Humanity is a party game for horrible people. Here's a description from it's website (BTW this game is completely sold out already). Unlike most of the party games you've played before, Cards Against Humanity is as despicable and awkward as you and your friends. The game is simple. Each round, one player asks a question from a Black Card, and everyone else answers with their funniest White Card.

And man most the white cards are just horrible, which makes this game one of the best games I've played in a long time. Jes, Robert and I played for a few hours before Rupert joined us and we moved to the dining table. We then continued to play through the entire deck of cards, stopping only once to have lunch. We played for hours and it was some of the funnest moments the four of us have ever had.

Around 4pm we finally finished the entire deck and it was time to make Lembas Bread. Jes had made this for my Lord of the Rings marathon last year and it was a hit. So when she said she was coming over for the weekend and that we should make some I was all for it.

Robert and Rupert sat in the kitchen and watched as Jes and I prepared the bread. It was a lot of fun baking with Jes. We had the bread dough finished within a few minutes and then I watched Jes cut out the first batch and I did the second. Ten minutes later the bread was cooked and ready to be consumed. I had Mallorn Leaf that Jes had created for the previous bread so we wrapped a few up for friends.

After we cooked, the three of them Rupert, Robert and Jes (who slept & was on her phone) went into the TV room to watch the Kings game, while I went into my office to catch up on my blogging. Occasionally Robert or Jes would come in my office to hang during commercials. I didn't have to watch the game to know how the team was doing.

I also started dinner, we were having Lasagna and garlic bread. By the time dinner was done my fourth guest was done shooting and on her way over to my place. Kimi arrived just as we were finishing dinner and about to play Clue.

We ended the night with a few games a Clue before calling it a night around 11ish. That's fairly early for this group but the ladies had to be up at 5am for a shoot on Sunday.

So it was a fun, relaxing day hanging with friends.. couldn't ask for a better day.

Visiting Family

This morning was a great morning, had my best friend hanging with me, I made some pancakes for breakfast, we watched some TV, talked and finished our visit with playing some Wii (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows pt. 1). He had to get home and I had to go visit family today so we said our goodbyes around 1ish.. it was an FANTASTIC 26 hours.

I went to visit my dad and we went out of lunch. My brother and his family (including my Dad) are in my middle of moving so half of the family is at the old place and half is at the new place. After having lunch we headed over to the new house to see my sister-in-law Lora and my niece and nephew. I really wanted to see my nephew Kenobi as it's his third birthday today (though we are having a big party in three weeks). I hope him a pre-birthday party gift. I played a little baseball with him. What I didn't know is my Dad had plans to play poker. It took me two and a half hours to get down to their place (traffic was horrible) and then I only got to spent about an hour with them before I had to get my Dad back to the old house so he could catch is ride to the poker game.

Though it was cut short I did enjoy my time with my family. It's always nice getting to see them every few weeks.

Drove home and waited for my friend Jes to arrive. She was driving from up north to come visit me for the weekend and to do a shoot for Nerd Machine on Sunday. Another friend Kimi is also doing the shoot but she's doing it on Saturday and Sunday and will be crashing at my place Saturday night. Also my buddy Rupert and Robert didn't have any plans this weekend and asked if they could hang so this weekend had turned into a mini get together of some of the members of the Geek Mob.

Jes arrived around 10ish and we hung out until midnight chatting. Tomorrow should be a fun day.

Lord of the Rings Games

Two new Lord of the Rings games were announced with trailers at E3 today.. The Lego game looks fun as all of the Lego games are a blast.. but the trailer for LOTR: Guardians of Middle Earth looks EPIC!!! it looks like a cross between street fighter and LOTR. I mean the game looks like a lot of fun but I'd rather see more of the cinematic trailers.. they are pretty awesome.

Here's the Lego Trailer...

Here's the Guardians of Middle Earth trailer...

Pic a Day in May (All)

If you've been following me you know I took a picture every day in May. I have a lot of fun with these. Some came to my easily and some took some effort to come up with. I tried to do more then just take a picture of me. I hope you enjoyed the pictures and I'm sure I'll be doing this again since I had so much fun with this. Here's all 31 of them.

Magic Mountain with Josh

My bestie Josh texted me yesterday and said that he was free on Thursday and part of Friday and if I wanted to hang out. Of course I jumped at the opportunity to hang out with him as I adore him and we see each other not very often. Magic Mountain popped into my head and I mentioned that I had a discounted ticket and he could get in for $25 bucks but it expires at the end of May (which is today). I then found another coupon for a free entry on a weekend but again it ended today... so the plan was set. He would come over and we'd do Magic Mountain.

He had planned to get here around 10am since the park opened at 10:30am but was running a big late so he didn't get here until a bit after 11am which meant we got to the park around Noon. The park was open until 8pm and we planned on staying the entire time. It's been a few years since he had been so Six Flags so there were several new roller coasters that he had never ridden, so I was excited.. I love going to theme parks with newbies.

We we got to the park we ran into our buddy Doug who works there.. that was fun.

Our first ride was Tatsu, it's one of my favorites and Josh had never been on it. The light wasn't bad and they had misters, oh BTW did I mention it was boiling outside. Anyways like I said they had misters but we were standing under tarts and it kept the sun off but kind of baked us. The mist had it very humid and we were sweating. A guy in front of us actually got a bloody nose. We stood in line for about 20 minutes before riding. Josh loved it. This ride as one of the coolest and scariest back loop ever.. so much fun.

After that we were hungry and went to get some lunch. I had chicken strips while Josh had a chicken sandwich. And with my discount instead of pay a cray amount of money for this food it was only slightly crazy.

After lunch we went to get in line for X2, a friend of Josh's said he really needed to do this one and that it was her favorite so he was looking forward to it. I have to say this is the shortest line for X that I have ever been in. We were in line for about half a hour before riding.. and again Josh loved it. X is probably my favorite ride at Six Flags.

Next up is Viper, this use to be one of the best roller coaster but now it's just old and very shaky. Still fun for what it is but the newer coasters are so much smoother.

Went over the hill and noticed that they got rid of Deja Vu and Cyclone and released it was a Falling Skies themed roller coaster called Apocalypse. So Josh and I road it for the first time. It's a wooden roller coaster so it very shaky but it fast and fun.

We did Gold Rush next which is one of the parks first roller coaster and is always fun for a nice simple ride.

We skipped The Riddler, as Josh is not a fan of the stand up coasters. So instead we headed to Green Lantern ride. This is a vertical roller coaster. I first rode this a few months back when Chris and I went and it's a fun ride. Towards the end of the ride as the car was pulling into the station our car continued to roll for another three times.. they actually had to manual stop the car... crazy ride.

Then we rode Batman The Ride, this has always been a favorite of mine. Next we Scream before we took a break and ate again. 

We did the classic Colossus before heading over to one of the smoothest and fast coaster Goliath. We got all the way up to the front when the ride broke down for about 15 minutes.

After Goliath we did another classic park ride Revolution (had the first loop), before ending out night with another ride on Tatsu. When we got off Tatsu we had seven minutes before the part closed so we ran up the stairs to Ninja and managed to get on the last car to run for the night.

Our fun fill day is over.. we had a fantastic time. We rode all but one of the major roller coasters. It was hot but manageable. We had loads of fun.. beside being at a theme park I got to spend the entire day with my best friend.. couldn't ask for anything more.

We got home around 9pm and Josh wasn't sure if he was going to stay or head home but after a sun draining day he opted to stay the night. So I made some dinner and we watched some TV before calling it a night and going to bed.

Pic A Day In May 30 & 31

So I only had two days left for my picture a day in May event. I was talking to my buddy Sebastian about trying to come up with an idea for Day 30.. he suggested that I take my reflection in a spoon or something.. I liked the idea but instead of a spoon I decided to do it in my bathroom mirror but I opened the medicine cabinet and viola there were multiple Kenny's.

For my final picture I knew I was going to go with a bow tie and a wave goodbye. So I found my bow tie from my prom (yes I still have my cumber bun and bow tie). I liked the shirtless look and I even did a foe hawk that you can't see in the picture. And that became my final picture for May.

KOTG is Back!!

Download from itunes bit.ly/KotGCast or Listen and Direct Download bit.ly/2CrYxk

After a four months hiatus I have decided to revive my Knights of the Guild podcast. I got a little burnt out on this podcast after doing season five companioncasts. I lost a host and changed the format hoping this would peak my interest in this show but it didn't. I started up other podcasts and found what I as missing in KOTG so it just sat there. I still have quite a few interviews saved up from Season Five as well as a companioncast for The Guild's newest video "I'm the One That's Cool"

I thought about just letting it go, maybe do one more podcast with Jenni and inform everyone that this would be the last. But being away from it for so long has really made me miss it. I'm still a huge diehard Guild fan, always will be. I've gathered quite a following because of The Guild and have meet some of my best friends because of it..  so I couldn't let it go. I'm slowly picking the reigns back up. I worked all day on Episode 40. It's not following any format from a previous show. Because the webseries The Guild is in limbo between Season Five and a possible Season Six there isn't much going on so each show will be different or very similar to the previous one, depending on what I have to share with you guys. There will be lots of interviews (previously recorded) as well as new ones (I hope).

Like I said I spent the day working on Episode 40 which is all about Kristin our Costume Designer / Wardrobe. She had so much information to share that I had to cut the interview into two. So part two of Kristin's interview will be in episode 41.

I'm not going to set a date for when new episodes will be released. I'm hoping to get at least two a month out. And again I can change my mind tomorrow about the format and release schedule. I'm trying to have a much less structured format for this show.. will see how it goes... let me know what you think.

A Fun Day

Today was a jammed packed with fun kind of day. My friend Sebastian and his girlfriend Amanda came over last night to have a "get out of the city and relax day". So I got up around 8ish and made some breakfast for everyone. We hung out and chatted for a few hours before sitting down to watch Beauty and Beast on Bluray. I've had this movie ever since it came out on bluray but never watched it. It was pretty great and I loved the extra song/scene (Human Again).

After that Sebastian and I headed out to my garage to check out my toy collection, specifically my Star Trek toys as he is a HUGE Star Trek fan. We spent the next hour or so reliving his childhood because he actually played with these Star Trek toys that I had just purchased and kept in their packaging. It was fun showing him things that he knew about but never saw in person or played with over 15 years ago. We got through about 2/3'ds of my toys before we got hungry. We did agree that we were going to get together in the next few weeks and really catalogue and organize all my toys (something I've been wanting to do for years) So that should be fun to really see what I own and how much it's all worth.

For lunch we decided to go to Applebees in Palmdale and since it was such a beautiful day I decided to take my top off of my Jeep (something I haven't done in a while). And Sebastian is thinking of getting a Jeep (yeah I tried to talk him out of it ) So I let him drive up and back. He loved it and it just reinforced his idea of getting one for himself. Had a nice lunch before coming home and trying to watch Wall E since both Sebastian and Amanda had never seen it. We only got about 20 minutes in before the heat and food started to take hold and both became sleepy. So we opted to go to a walk to wake up.

It was a nice quick walk (Sebastian has a bad knee that started to act up), when we got back it was around 6pm and they started to pack up and load up their car. Their relaxing day with me had come to an end. It was loads of fun, I love hosting friends who want to just come up to my place and relax. We both benefit from it. They get away from the city and I get some company.. it's a win win :)

After they left it dawned on me that I had plans with Robert to watch Serenity, it's our final viewing of our Firefly/Serenity marathon. I was suppose to be there at 7:30 but got off a bit later at 6:30 so I arrived around 7:45, which isn't that bad.. figured I'd be there by 8.

We ordered pizza and wings and began Serenity. It so much fun watching this movie with a newbie. He gasped, laughed and was piss off with Joss in all the right places. It was a great way to end our Firefly/Serenity marathon. Next up for Robert and I .. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Seven seasons of Awesome.. with 144 episodes and we watch 3 a week it will take us 48 weeks to watch them all... so that's 11 months.. it's gonna be fun.

Pic a Day in May #28 & #29

Well this is slowly coming to an end. I've had a blast taking pictures of my every day in May. Here are the latest two. One on the left is for May 28th and the one on the right is for May 29th. The 28th as a last minute one. It was towards the end of the day and I had no idea what I was going to do for the picture, I was thinking back if I had done anything with Harry Potter and noticed that I didn't. So I grabbed my Quaffle and took off my shirt to share how much I love Harry Potter.

For the 29th I had lots of different choices. Friends Sebastian and Amanda were here I could have taken one with them, I was also going to my buddies Roberts to watch Serenity and could have taken one there, but as I was driving through my little town with my jeep top down and it was so beautiful outside I decided to take one of just me in my jeep crusing along. I took several to try and get a better background but since  I was late and I didn't have time to stop and compose the picture you get what you get.

An Outsider on the Inside

I've always been an outsider and never really part of any group. Not to say I don't get along with everyone. In high school I could mingle with the jocks or the tough crowd or nerds but I wasn't part of any of their cliques. As I got older I would become part of a group but only be on the fringe of that group so if I wasn't around they wouldn't think of me when they did things together.

It's how it's been for my entire life. Well that all changed a year ago when I meet a group of people volunteering to be extras for The Guild season five. Within the 150 extras a small group of us, about 6 or so really hit it off. One of those people was Chris, whom I now consider one of my best friends. When the filming was over and we all parted ways, several of these friends live pretty far away and in order to see them I created this movie marathon day. I would have these folks who came from a long distance, stay a weekend and we would watch a certain group of movies. It started with Indiana Jones and grew from there. I didn't intend for these to be a regular thing or for them to even be an entire weekend. But since folks came from so far away it didn't make sense to have them drive down for one day (some of their commutes was up to 6 hours) so instead those few, who came long distances, would just crash at my place and leave in the morning. Well that lead to everyone staying over and instead of leaving in the morning we planned events like watching more movies and hiking on Sundays and thus the current movie marathon weekend was born.

 

Why am I telling you this story.. because I went from being an outsider to all the groups that I associated with to being the center of this group (The Geek Mob), the person in charge, the one that, if without, this group would not exist. It's a strange feeling not only being inside the inner circle but to actually be the "leader" of the inner circle. I've never had this and it's harder then it looks from an "outsiders" view. Our small group of friends grew as the movie marathons continued. I would invite other friends who were not part of the guild of extras as well as other guild extras that I really didn't know but seemed nice. Soon our group of 6 or so, grew to over 35.

There were now layers to this group. You have the inner circle, those are friends who became some of the most important people in my life. Then you have the layer just outside the inner circle, I like to call it the outer inner circle, these are close friends who's friendship I cherish. And finally the outer circle (which is normally where I am), these are those friends who you enjoy hanging out with but don't see outside these events.

It's strange because after being an outsider for so long I now understand these layers and why they exist. No one likes to be on the outside looking in. No one likes to not feel like they are part of the group. But it's impossible to have everyone in the inner circle. Sometimes it's personalities, those who I consider inside my inner circle have very similar personalities to me, we like the same things, we have the same temperament and just click. It's tough because I know what it's like on the outside and wouldn't wish that feeling on anyone.

But there are levels to friendships, you have best friends, close friends, friends and acquaintances. Those are similar to the circles of our group. Not everyone can be my best friend.

I never thought in a million years that I would be the starting point of a group, but it's happened and I couldn't ask for a better group of friends.

SuperHeroes and Shawarma

Today I drove out to Van Nuys to hang out with a bunch of Guildies. Brian organized a viewing of Avengers and then out to lunch/dinner for some Shawarma.

This was my second viewing of Avengers and I was really wanting to see this again since I saw it opening weekend. About 15 people showed up, I knew about half of them. We said in the two center rows and chatted a bit before the previews started.

As you know from my previous blog about Avengers I love this movie. It's the perfect "superhero" type movie and it was just and great the second time around.

Picture a Day in May #27

After the movie the majority of us when down into Sherman Oaks to Pita City to grab some lunch/dinner. Now if you've seen Avengers then you should know what Shawarma is.. and if you live in the North America and stayed until the very end of Avengers you actually got to see some Shawarma. Now for those who don't know what it is.. it's a meat (chicken, beef or lamb) with spices and cooked a certain way. It's severed in a wrap or in a pita.

Not everyone got a Shawarma but since we just got done seeing Avengers and the whole point of going to Pita City was to get a Shawarma I got a chicken one and it was pretty good.

Several folks who didn't go to the movie joined us for dinner. After dinner we walked over to Cold Stone and some got ice cream as the rest of us just stood outside and talked for a few hours. The party started to break up around 9pm and we said our goodbyes and made our way home.

It was so much fun seeing Avengers and then eating Shawarma with a bunch of guildies.. I'm so happy that I went.

Star Trek Marathon

Today I went over to my buddies Sebastian's place. We were going to do a Star Trek Marathon, we had about seven hours before his girlfriend was going to home. We discussed what we wanted to watch and found out that our favorites (other then everyone's favorites) are very different. We started with TNG (that's both our favorite series) and we went to the middle seasons and choose Qpid to watch. It seemed like a fun episode to start with. After that was Deep Space Nine's Doctor Bashir, I Presume. I've only seen this episode once or twice and really didn't remember much of it.. so that was cool.

At this point we decided that we were going to watch an episode of each series.. so we moved onto Voyager and choose Before and After, which is a Kes episode. Sebastian isn't a huge Kes fan but I am so he gave this one to me. Next was The Original Series and I asked about the one that was shot at Vasquez Rocks since I go there all the time. The episode is called Arena and I've seen bits and pieces but never watched the entire show so that was cool. Also on Netflix they had the enhanced version so the graphics were so much better.

After TOS the final series we watched was Enterprise and we went to First Flight. Again I've seen every episode of Enterprise but not as many times as TNG, DS9 or Voyager so I remembered some stuff but the majority of this episode felt new to me.. which is awesome!!!

Picture a Day in May #26

We only manage to watch one of each series, so 5 episodes in total because between episodes or even during episodes and we would pause Sebastian and I would get into some pretty deep discussions. Some Star Trek based since Sebastian know a ton of cool behind the scenes information about Star Trek and others were just about life, relationships and getting older... I enjoy our conversations very much.

Sebastian's girlfriend got home around 9pm and the three of us headed out to Gordan Biersch for some dinner. We hung out at the restaurant and chatted for the next three hours before calling it a night and I headed home.

Had a great day with a "new" but old friend. (he's one of those people that you meet in life and it's like you've known each other forever.. love that).

Up & Down Kind of Day

So the productivity of yesterday ran over into today. Did a bit of yard work (but I have so much more), continued to clean up the house but the big thing is I started working on a new Knights of the Guild podcast. I haven't released a new episode of KOTG since Feb 1st so it's been a few months but today I actually recorded some audio and started editing it. So I was doing great.

I was told that I would be getting a call from the job I interviewed with last week. So I was kind of on pins and needles all day just waiting for that call to see if I got this much needed job. Finally around 5pm I got the call and it wasn't good news.

She said they loved me and that it was a tough decision but they decided to go with someone else. It hard hearing things like that because if they loved you so much then why didn't they choose you. I was very nice and thanked them for their time and said if anything else comes up to keep me in mind. She said to stay in contact with her as she would like to work with me one day so it ended well just not the way I was hoping.

This kind of depressed me for a while. I was really hoping to get this job. Post super jobs are so far and few between and the two that I have interviewed over the past eight months have gone so well and it seems that they love me but... I just wish I knew what that but was.

Oh well I gotta pick myself up and continue to look for work. I know the perfect job is out there for me.. I just have to find it.

Another thing that happen today is Charles and I picked the name of our new geeky podcast. I was just sitting around and it just hit me.. We are doing a round table (meaning a group of people sitting around discussing a single topic) Why not just call our new podcast The Geek Roundtable. Charles liked it and it was not taken so I purchased the URL, got an gmail account, podbean account as well as a twitter name @Geek_Roundtable. So all we need to do is record our first episode and get his podcast off the ground.

To end my night I had dinner with one of my best friends Will. I'm so happy I was having dinner with him since I got the bad news about the job I knew Will would cheer me up and cheer me up he did. We first started with him recording a promo that Charles and I wrote for the new podcast. We then went out to dinner and had a great time. We ended back at his place and just sat around and talked for a bit. We played some video games but we pretty much just enjoyed ones company which is just what I needed.

So other then the bad news about the job, today was a really good day... too bad it couldn't have been a perfect day.

A Very Geeky Day

Today is a very special day in the Geek/Nerd world. It's the 35th Anniversary of the release of Star Wars which in turn created Geek Pride Day and it's International Towel Day,

35 years ago today I went and saw a movie that would forever change my life. I credit Star Wars (and no I'm not calling it A New Hope, because when I saw it 35 years ago it was called just Star Wars) anyways I credit Star Wars for making me the Sci Fi / Fantasy lover I am today and that series will always hold a very special place in my heart. I loved it when I was a seven year old boy pretending to have a light saber (actually a plastic bat), to a 42 year old man getting a tattoo of R2D2 (favorite character) on my right calf. It will always be part of my life and I am forever thankful to George Lucas for what his gave human kind on that day.

Geek Pride Day is an initiative to promote geek culture, celebrated on May 25th. The date was chosen as to commemorate the release of the first Star Wars film on May 25th 1977, but shares the same date as two other similar fan "holidays": Towel Day, for fans of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy by Douglas Adams, and the Glorious 25 May for fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

I don't mind celebrating Geek Pride but honestly I celebrate Geek Pride everyday of my life.

Towel Day is an annual celebration on the 25th of May, as a tribute to the late author Douglas Adams (1952-2001), who wrote the very famous series The Hitchhikers Guild to the Galaxy. On that day, fans around the universe proudly carry a towel in his honour.

And in honor of Star Wars 35th Anniversary and it being Geek Pride Day my picture for today was one that was take a few months back when I was at Disneyland with Jen, Chris and Robert. So below is my Picture a Day in May #25

A Very Productive Day

Pic a Day in May #24

I've been out of work now for eight months and I have my productive and non-productive days. Today was very productive. Woke up early and for the get go I was full on energy and very motivated to get things done. I finally cleaned up from this past weekends movie marathon. Did laundry, dishes, took out four large bags or trash. Got my place looking good again. I love having a clean house.

I also purchased some hair dye (Just for Men) because my beard was so dark now that it made the gray in my hair really stand out so  decided to dye everything. I like it but it's not something I will be keeping up with. I don't mind my gray I just did this for a change.

I spend the majority of the day editing the next MASH 4077 Podcast. The past few episodes I have been editing the day before or the day of it's release. I have several that are just waiting to be edited but I haven't been feeling motivated until it's the last minute. So today I actually finished the podcast well before it's release date on June 1st. I hope to get a few more done in the coming week.

I did watch a little TV here and there for breaks but for the most part I stayed very productive all day long and it was great. Wish I had more of those kinds of days.

Selling Harry's Truck

This has been a long time coming to I finally sold Harry's truck. This has been an on going ordeal since Harry left last August. But today I took the truck to Car Max to see what they would offer me for it. I dropped it off around 12:30pm and since I was in Burbank my buddy Sebastian lives out there so I wanted to see if he wanted to go to lunch. I also asked him is I did sell the truck would he be back to give me a ride back home since I would be vehicle less. Of course he said yes to both things. So we went to lunch at Islands and had a great time. One thing I love about Sebastian is our deep conversation. We've known each other for years (online) but this is only our second meet up but it's like we've known each other for years and are very open and honest.

After lunch we headed back to Car Max and they told me what the truck would appraise for. Now a Kelly Blue Book valued the truck at $18,000 - $21,000 if we traded it in or sold it to a dealer and $22,000 to $25.000 if we sold it privately.

Harry tried to sell it privately for months before he left and only a few people were interested and one offer (low ball) so it never sold and I just don't have the time to deal or really wanted to deal with a private owner. Also the tags are due ($500) at the end of May. So I was really hoping to sell it today.

They offered us $20,000 for it, Harry told me before going into this if they offer us $20,000 or more then take it. So I accepted the offer and sold the truck to them. I was relieved and happy that the truck was finally sold and Harry would get some of his money back. We purchased the truck from $40,000 three years ago but we did manage to get half of the money back. I'm happy with the offer as it's within the amount that Kelly Blue Book said we could get for it. It was tough letting the truck go as it's part of Harry and we had some fun adventures in that truck.

They cut me a check and I left Car Max with my buddy Sebastian. Got back to my place around 4ish and Sebastian and I just hung out for the next five hours chatting... good times.

While Sebastian was here I took my Picture a Day in May #23 photo

Dying My Beard

The past few years I've noticed that my beard is getting more and more gray. Now I'm not one to complain about my gray hair.. believe me I'm just happy to have hair to turn gray. But I was at the store recently and I saw the "Just for Men" beard and mustache dye and thought.. why not. So I dyed my beard and mustache. Now this Just for Men brand claims that it only targets the gray hair... I found out last year when I used it on my hair that it's not true. The dye colors all your hair. But knowing this fact and seeing it is two different things. I haven't had a dark brown beard in 15 years so seeing me with this nice dark brown beard is so weird.

I also noticed now that my beard is dyed my gray in my hair really looks out of place so I think I'll be dying that in the next few days to match my beard. I won't be keeping up on it. I pretty much did it to see what it would look like. I do like it but I don't mind the gray as well. What do you guys think?? I also made this my Picture a Day in May #22

Interviewing Kristin

Today I finally got to sit down and interview Kristin. I've been trying to get her for an interview for Knights of the Guild podcast for over a year. Kristin is the costume designer/Wardrobe for The Guild and season five was heavy on costumes. We worked with each other again on My Gimpy Life so we finally set a date to actually sit down and talk. It was a great time. Talked for about a half hour about My Gimpy Life then moved on to The Guild's "I'm The One That's Cool" music video and talked for another half hour before finally, after a year, we talked for a few hours about The Guild season five. Lots of great behind the scenes information about wardrobe, costumes and so much more. I can't wait to edited some podcasts together and get there out to my listeners. So stayed tune for some new Knights of the Guild podcast as well as launching the new My Gimpy Life CompanionCasts.

Firefly Re-Watch Ending

Today I headed over to my besties Robert's place to finish watching the final three episodes of Firefly. But before I even got there I had a run in with a cop. I was driving down Aqua Dulce Canyon Road and was almost to the freeway when I passed a cop going the opposite direction but I noticed that he turned his lights on and turned around... I knew I was screwed. I pulled over and he approaches my passenger side window and asked me if I was in a hurry. Long story short I got out of the ticket by being nice and accepting the fact that I was speeding. I apologized a few times and by the end he said that this one was on him.. just be more aware of my speed.. I thanked him and headed on my way to Roberts.

Got to Roberts about 7:30pm but unlike previous Firefly viewings we had someone joining up.. my other bestie Will, he works just down the street and was going to join us for the final few episodes. Will was running late so we gave him a call and asked what he wanted for dinner.. we were doing Italian. We ordered dinner and Robert and I just laid on his bed and chatted. Will arrived around 8pm and we started the third to final episodes "The Messenger", really enjoyed this episode. It contains the final shot ever done on set, the cast just got word that the series was cancelled right before they filmed this final scene. Food arrived during this episode so we enjoyed a nice Italian dinner.

Next up was "Heart of Gold" this episode never aired on Fox but really progresses the Mal and Inaria storyline. And the final episode of the series and a real fan favorite "Objects in Space". I have to admit it's not one of my favorites, I mean I love it, but it's not one of the ones I would put in first to re watch.

Picture a Day in May #21

The night couldn't been any better.. I was watching one of my most favorite series in the world, with two of my bestest friends..  life is good.

Next week we finish everything up with the Firefly movie Serenity.

BTW... I had planned to take a picture of the three of us for my Picture a Day in May but totally forgot until I was driving home at 11:30pm... I figured I still have a half hour left so for the next fifteen minutes I tried to get a decent picture from my car and finally just picked on and posted it.

The Renaissance Pleasure Faire

I've been wanting to go to the Renaissance Faire for many years, even bought tickets last year but for one reason or another I wasn't able to go. So this year I made it a priority to go. I've been busy every weekend since it started. When I planned this Movie marathon weekend I didn't intend for one of the days to be used for Ren Fes but when I found out that the Faire ended on Sunday May 20th (today) I had to make it part of the weekend. Luckily for me a bunch of the gang that were coming this weekend wanted to go to the Ren Fes as well.

We got up early around 8am and Kevin and Doug made us breakfast burritos. I wanted to leave the house around 9am but knew we would leave a bit later with so many people. Robert was still not feeling well so he opted out of going to the Faire with us. That left Kevin, Doug, Will, Adam, Jes, Rupert, Aaron, Josh and Myself. We figured out who was going to drive with who as some folks were not coming back to my place after the Faire. Once we decided on that we caravaned down to Irwindale.

When we got there parking was a bit crazy as some of the group got separated from others. It took a bit but we finally got everyone back together. Josh was the only one dressing up. We entered the Faire and the first booth we went to was costume rentals as Aaron planned to rent a costume. Next thing I knew almost everybody, Aaron, Rupert, Jes, Will and Adam were renting costumes. So that left Kevin, Doug and I without. Costumes cost $50 to $60 dollars to rent and I couldn't afford one. Of course I had my Hobbit costumes and debated about wearing it here but several friends say "oh no there are no Hobbits during Renaissance times" and like an idiot I went along with that statement and didn't dress up. Part of me was cool with the idea of not dressing up because only a few of my friends were dressing up.. but when the majority of them dressed up I was kicking myself for not dressing up. This pretty much bummed me out for the rest of the day. It took about a hour for everyone to pick out their outfits and change and I just sat there beating myself up because I did not dress up. :(

But I was at the faire for the first time and it was pretty awesome so I tried to keep my spirits up. Joining us at the faire were Anthony, Jennifer and Ashphord. We also ran into an old friend of mine Jarrett, as well as fellow guildie Jessica. I tried out Archery, which was alot of fun though I wasn't good at it and then a group of us did knife throwing. Again none of my knives stuck but I did hit the target 6 out of 8 times.

I tried mead for the first time. They had two kinds, honey and raspberry, raspberry was my favorite and man does it have a kick, kind of like red wine.We grabbed some food from the food court area.. they had a ton of things to choose from and all of it looked really good.

Though I was bummed about not dressing up I had a pretty great time. Our group didn't stay together much but occasionally would get back together and hang out.

Will came across these crowns and actually purchased one of them and wore it the rest of the today, he looked pretty awesome.

We ended the day by watching Jousting, it was a pretty good show and very realistic with blood squirting everywhere. The only downside to the day beside me not dressing was the heat.. it was to dang hot and it just drained the energy out of you.

Picture a Day in May #20

One of my favorite moments of the day was interacting with the orange fairy. I saw her first thing this morning and took a few pictures but didn't interact with her. She looked beautiful and was so immersed in this character. The way she moved and interacted with people was just amazing. I saw her earlier and then again mid day but never got to interact with her so as we were leaving I saw her again and was determined to get my picture with her. Now she doesn't pose for pictures. When you go up to her she puts out her hands and kind of takes yours and there's this energy... it's hard to put into words but it was just an amazing experience and a great way to end my trip to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire.

So this weekend didn't go as planned, and if you read the last three blogs you would think I didn't have fun at all.. but honestly I did. There were lots of moments that I totally loved, I got to spend some quality time with my bestie Josh, Will kept me entertained at Ren Faire with his very charming and outgoing personality. It was great having Adam part of our group and getting to chat with him on our drive up to Ren Faire. And of course to end the weekend with the Orange Fairy, I couldn't ask for anything better. So overall it was a successful movie marathon/ren faire weekend.

This will be my last movie marathon for a while, I've decided to take a break from these large group weekend parities. I still plan on getting together with friends for weekend events just not as many people, which I'm sure some friends will feel left out when they are not invited, but I just can't manage these large parties and from this past weekend experience I think it's best if I stop...for now.

As a side note while at the faire we got to experience a solar eclipse. It was pretty awesome and some folks had some eclipse viewers so you could actually look at the sun. It started at 5pm and lasted until we were heading home around 6:30. It was kind of ominousness as we left as it wasn't quite light or dark.. just a dimming haze everywhere. Glad I got to experience it with friends and while at the faire.. made the day a little extra special.

You can see more pictures HERE