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