Surprise, Surprise, Surprise

So I got home around 6:15pm after visiting friends and family. I was expecting to find Jen and Chris waiting for me at my place, ready to head out for dinner together. Instead I drove up and noticed my buddy Dallas on the back deck with a deck sander working away. As I pulled up and stopped more friends started walking from around the corner. They all looked tired, disheveled and dirty. Then Chris came from around the corner and said "Surprise".

I knew something was up.. I had this gut feeling that something was going on but I had no idea to what extent. Besides the gut feeling, everyone turned off their "Find Friends" which is an app that allows friends to see where other friends are located. They didn't want me to see that they were all at my place, and that furthered my suspicion that something was up. Come to find out that Dallas with Chris' help created "Operation Shiny". My group of friends have been talking on Facebook for over a week about getting together while I was away and trying to get some of my "house prepping" work done.

If you're a regular reader of my blog you know that I'm getting ready to sell my house... well I've been getting ready the past year. But before I can put it up I wanted to paint the entire outside of the house, re-do the decks, pull all the weeds and various other things to make it look it's best. They all helped with some of those... they worked from Noon to 7pm. They pulled weeds, moved around gravel and filled in spots where the gravel was gone in my driveway and sanded my back and front decks (unfortunately the big sander wasn't able to get everything so it's going to require more hand sanding to get everything). They also replaced one of my damaged screen doors.

The amount of work they all got done was very impressive. I mean the weeding alone was HUGE, but filling in the gravel in my driveway was great and getting 2/3's of my deck sanding done was a huge help.

I couldn't believe that my friends did this for me in the middle of their labor day weekend... how awesome are they. Still got a bit more to go before it's ready to be put up on the market but this definitely helped me in a big way and I will always be very grateful.

So thanks to Dallas and Chris for organizing this event and to Jes, Jen, Aaron, Rupert, Brett and Elie for working so hard today and getting me one step closer to selling my house.

Afterwards we all went out to Chili's for a much needed and deserved dinner.

Meeting Online Friends & Family Picnic

Today Chris and I only visited a few hours in the morning as I had to meet up with an out of town friend and then go to my family labor day picnic. Chris was going to have some one on one time with Jen until I got back home around 5pm.

I left the house around 10am and headed to Disneyland where I was meeting up with an online/forum friend Rick Peete who is from the Chicago area. We meet on the Treks in Sci Fi Podcast forum many years ago. He was at Disneyland running a 5 and 10k marathon this weekend. Being this close to me we had to meet even if it was only for a moment. So I got to Disneyland and Downtown Disney and texted that I was here. After going back and forth for a bit and an half hour of walking around the Disneyland Hotel area I finally found him and it was as if we were long lost friends seeing each other after many years. He was as friendly and nice as I expected him to be. He introduced me to his wife and son. While he was dealing the marathon stuff I chatted with them and talked gaming with his son. I spent about an hour hanging out with them. He's coming back in March for the LA Marathon so we are going to try and hang out for a bit more then.

I said my goodbye to his awesome family and made my way about 30 minutes west to where my Dad's side of the family was having their annual Labor Day Picnic. I got there around 1:30pm and planned to stay until 3ish as I wanted to get home around 5pm. Well I haven't seen some of these family members for a while and we talked and had an awesome time visiting. I pushed back my time to leave to 4pm but then my cousin Renee came over to our table and we caught up with each other. I finally left this event around 4:30pm and headed home. Chris and Jen were waiting for me to go to dinner so I tried to get home as quickly as I could without killing myself. I manage to pull into my driveway around 6:15pm and was not expecting what I saw!!!!

... to be continued (next blog)

Picnic in the Park

For today's activities, Chris and I got up early and had breakfast. We hung out talked the majority of the day. This was my only Kenny and Chris one on one time I was going to get for this trip. We just enjoyed each other's company. We tried to get my router to work with a Minecraft server so we could play together but something happened and we broke it and now it's not even doing my wireless. Chris tried and tired to fix it but alas it was unfixable.

Later in the day Chris planned a "Hang with Chris One Last Time Picnic" at Griffith park. We headed out around 2pm and went to the store to get some items needed for the picnic. We got to Griffith around 4pm and the spot we wanted to use (the old Zoo) was being used by the Shakespeare in the park company so we opted for a spot at the lower level. Chris and I were there for an hour before more people started to show up. He and I played some extreme bocce ball. When Elie and Brett showed up we through around a frisbee for a bit. We got the BBQ going had some hot dogs.

Little by little more people arrived, we soon had around 15 people and it was getting dark fast. We could no longer play any games so we sat around talking and eating. Luckily for us the Shakespeare people put up some light in the walkway as the play was ending soon so that gave us some light.  The only light we had before were four little candle lights that Kim had (thankfully). The picnic/party came to an end around 10pm as the park closed at 10:30.

Chris was very happy with the turn out. He got to see a bunch of Guildies and friends and that's exactly the reason we put on this picnic... one final hurrah before deployment.

Random Geek Question: Cosplay

Another Random Geek Question that I asked on Twitter and Facebook. This question spawned from a recent episode of Heroes of Cosplay on Syfy. On the show these hard core cosplayers were saying that people shouldn't cosplay whoever they like, that they should take into account their body type as those that don't give cosplayers a bad name or bad image. One of the newer cosplayers objected to this and said she felt anyone should be able to cosplay anything they want as long as they are having fun and the seasoned cosplayers looked appalled by this statement.

So I put this question out there "Should people be able to Cosplay anyone/thing they want? Or should they take into account their body type & gender?"

I got about fifteen or so responses and everyone one of them said that people have the right to cosplay whoever and whatever they wanted to and it didn't matter what there body type was or gender. A few did mentioned that "larger" cosplayers should consider what kind of characters they can play. But the majority said good for those who don't fit the typical body for a certain character and are brave enough to show it off.

For me I think anyone should be able to cosplay/dress up as anyone/thing they feel like. I for one know my body and I'm not comfortable playing tall skinny characters when I'm short and fat. Instead I find characters that I love and feel I can pull off with my body type. That doesn't mean that I agree that someone who is short and fat can't play a tall, slender character, I'm just saying that I can't.

If you're a regular reader of my blog you know I cosplay as a Hobbit. I love Hobbit culture and their values and could see myself happily living a Hobbit life. When I opted for which Hobbit to play I went with a brown wig and had "the ring" so of course folks thought I was Frodo, when the new Hobbit movie came out I was called Bilbo alot and of course you get the rude/very honest people who said I was too fat to be Bilbo or Frodo so I must be Sam even thought Sam is blonde and doesn't care the ring or sting for that long in the adventure. I realize that I am heavier then how Frodo or Bilbo were protraied in the films, but not the books. I have considered finding a blonde wig so I can portray Sam as he is my favorite Hobbit/Hero of the story so next time someone says I am Sam.. I can proudly say you are correct. Let me know what your thoughts are on my recent Geek Question about Cosplaying.

"Get Fit" Week 4

So it's been a month since I got the news from my doctor about being on the verge of diabetes and having to change my diet. I have manage to get as low as 201 but the past few weeks I haven't been as diligent with my workouts since I lost my elliptical machine. Also my eating hasn't been that great and I have gained a few pounds back and was up to 203 on week three. Now at the end of week 4 I haven't gained any weight.. which is great.. but I also haven't lost any weight which isn't so great. I weighted in at 203 again.

My buddy Chris is staying with me from Thursday to Monday for the Labor day weekend and I have several picnics and dinners planned, so week five is not looking so good on the losing weight end. Chris is going to take a look at my elliptical and see if he can fix it, if he can't I really need to come up with a really good short 30 minute cardio workout that I can do and not get bored with.

One month in and I have lost a total of seven pounds which is great so I'm happy about that but I'm still struggling with my eating habits. The reason I'm losing weight is because I'm not eating and that's never a good way to lose weight. I need to find that balance with the way I'm eating and find a new workout regime soon.

Random Geek Question & Picking Up My BFF

Posted another Random Geek Question on Facebook and Twitter. I asked if you are a Trekkie when which is your favorite Star Trek Series. TOS (The Original Series), TNG (The Next Generation), DS9 (Deep Space Nine), VOY (Voyager) or ENT (Enterprise).

I got about thirty responses and the majority of the people said (as expected) TNG was their favorite. Now I'd say about a third (the older fans) said TOS had a special place in their heart as it's the series that introduced them to Trek. I had several say DS9 was their favorite as it was the best written and another few say Voyager as it's the Trek that they grew up with.

For me it's tough as I watched TOS as a kid but it didn't grab me like Star Wars. I didn't really become a Trekkie until TNG and I was in love. So TNG is my favorite but DS9 was amazing and I agree it was the best written Trek but I have a soft spot for Voyager as I loved Captain Janeway. Enterprise was good the first time I watched it. I enjoyed it but didn't think it was anything special but rewatching the series I have really grown to love it. As for the original series, I haven't seen every episode or if I have I can't recall them all like I can with the newer ones. I do plan to one day go back and watch from the beginning all of TOS. That's going to be a blast!!! Tell me your favorite in the comments below.

In the evening I headed out to the Ontario Airport to pick up my best bud Chris. He was visiting for the labor day weekend. This was going to be the last time I would get to see him until sometime in mid 2014 as he's being deployed to Kuwait. He flew in around 11:30pm. As always it was awesome seeing his smiling face as he came down the escalator. Not a lot of chatting was happening in the car, we were both very tired, but there was this feeling of comfort of being in the same space together and that was pretty amazing. Can't wait to spend the next four days hanging out.

More Webseries Stuff

Seems like the past few days have been all about GE3K'S Company and today as no different. I worked on setting up a date for our cast photo shoot in October. All but one of our main/minor cast members can make it. But the important part is that all three of the main characters can be there and that's great as I need a picture of the main cast to create the logo for the show.

Got to thinking about the photo shoot and realized that we need to pick out wardrobe for the cast. I don't mean indivual clothing that they are going to wear on the show but style and look. I want each character to have his or her own style even if they are very similar since we are all geeks. I spoke with our Wardrobe person Jes and we are planning a lunch date soon so we can discuss each person.

I also realized that once these "cast member" photos are taken the cast can't really change their looks (including myself). Or at least when we go to shoot they actual webseries, they'll need to change back to the look in the pictures. It's all these little things that you have to think about when creating a webseries. So much work but as I have mentioned in previous blogs I'll have a lot of help and we do have at least six months to prep.

I also watched more of Three's Company and coming to realized how funny these show is even thirty years later. Can't wait to get them on DVD.

GE3K'S Company, Three's Company & Big Bang Theory

As I have mentioned in previous blogs we have written six of the ten episodes for season one of GE3K'S Company. Today Chris and I created an outline of episode seven and I worked on writing several scenes. We also created an "in world" calendar to keep track of the days within the story. If all goes as planned season one will take place over a one month period.

I have to say there is a ton of things you have to do when you are just starting a new webseries and you're one of the executive producers. Of course I'm doing this with my bud Chris but there is still alot of prep work you have to think about before you can move forward. We don't want this to be some cheapy average webseries about a group of geeky friends. We want it to stand out, we want it to look as professional was as we can make it.

All of the main actors on the show have been extras for The Guild so we know what a high quality show should look like on screen and behind the scenes. It's going to be a lot of work but in the end it's gonna be totally worth it.

Because our webseries is an homage to Three's Company a TV series I used to watch in the late 70's early 80's and loved. I decided to watch the pilot episode as I haven't seen an episode in over 20 years. I wanted to see if it held up and boy did it. I still laughed out loud, and after watching the pilot I continued and watched all of season one (only six episodes total) and then moved on to season two and watch the first two episodes. I added all the season DVD's to my Amazon wish list. This is a series I must own and I can't wait to see more. 

I posted another Random Geek Question on Facebook and Twitter. I asked The Big Bang Theory - Love it or Offended by it.  I got a wide range of answers from "love it" to "never watch it" to "it's not my cup of tea". No one came out and said they were outright offended by it. A good third of those who answered said they understand why folks are offended by it (mostly of the female kind). Another third or so said they loved the first few seasons but haven't not liked the past few seasons. Which is funny as this series has gone from 11 million viewers during the beginning to last season getting 17 million viewers. So their audience is just growing in leaps and bounds.

I for one love these series, I have since the very first episode and I'm loving it even more now with the addition of the "girls" to the show. I understand the complaints, though I may not agree with them. This show does not represent all types of geeks, but I'm not offended on the way they portray them either. I guess you can't please everyone but all that really matters to me is that I love the show and will continue watching as long as they keep making them.

My Webseries, Firefly and a New Workout

Made my big announcement about GE3K'S Company, the webseries that I'm writing with my buddy Chris. It's been over a year since we came up with the idea and I'm glad we are starting to move forward with the project. We won't be shooting it until early next year but there is quite a bit of prep work that goes into a webseries, if you want to do it right. And everyone involved with GE3K'S Company wants it to be the best we can make it. I'm thinking there will be a good six months pre-production on season 1 before we even consider filming it. Give us a follow on Twitter @GE3KSCompany for the latest information.

In other geeky news it looks like Dark Horse Comic is doing another Firefly comic book. I don't know if it will be a on going series (which would be AWESOME) or if it is a limited run series like they have done in the past. This was found on the Dark horses website:

"Joss Whedon's beloved Firefly series and Serenity film's lifespan may have been short-lived, but managed to produce one of the most dedicated fanbases in the history of modern science fiction. Dark Horse is proud to be able to keep Mal and his crew flying with new comics and products. Look for the hashtag #WheresSerenity over the next few months on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages for exclusive news on the future of the franchise at Dark Horse!"

So I guess all we can do is wait to hear more information.. I'm super excited for this.

I started a new workout.. I felt that my Star Wars Galactic Dance Off workout wasn't really getting my heart pumping so I found a 5 minute extreme workout and OMG, I'm dying after just a few minutes. It's 5 things for one minute each. They first do a minute of jumping rope, then a minute of what they call ice skating, then a minute of mountain climbing, then a minute of high steps and finally they save the worst for last.. one minute of burpies. There is only a five second break between each event. It kills me but I feel like I really get my heart pumping and I can see myself doing these three or four times a day.

Webseries Announcement

The Cast

I would like to officially announce the title the webseries that Chris and I have been working on for over a year. :: Drum roll please :: .... GE3K'S Company

Here's the synopsis: GE3K'S Company is a webseries that follows the adventures of a middle-aged gay man and his two younger female roommates: one is starting over, one is living the dream, and one has barely begun. Watch as they try to navigate through the ups and downs of their geeky lives with the help of their quirky yet lovable friends. 

How did this all come about?? 

San Diego Comic Con 2012, Chris, Jes, Olivia and I were driving down to San Diego to enjoy the festivities. Jes and Olivia were talking about moving down to the L.A. area and I was planning to sell my house so we got to talking about becoming roommates. And I mentioned.. oh that would be funny, it's like Three's Company except the male roommate really is gay. Then Chris mentioned that we should set up cameras inside our new house and video tapes everything.. kind of like a big brother show. None of us were keen on being filmed all the time but it did spark an idea in my head. I mentioned that Jes, Olivia and I should do a kind of spoof on Three's Company and called it's Geek's Company. It would pretty much just be us doing what we do. None of us are actors so it was going to be more real life then acting. Everyone loved the idea so Chris and I took it even further. On the way back from con we came up with some story ideas, other characters/friends to include, everything just flowed. 

At one point either Chris or I decided to invert the second E in Geek's to a 3 so when you see the title GE3K'S Company you can also see our homage to Three's Company.

We wrote the first episode within an hour, and episodes two and three within a day. As I mentioned the story just flowed, Chris and I were on the same page with everything. I'd start a sentence and he'd finish it.. it was pretty amazing.

Of course as time has gone on we've tweaked the characters more and more so they aren't exactly like ourselves. Come to find out that our lives are boring so we had to amp them up a bit. But each character has elements of the person playing them.

We are currently in pre-prodution. We have six of the ten planned episode written. We are currently not scheduled to shot anytime soon. Chris' deployment to Kuwait for six month has delayed us a bit but during this time we will finish writing the remaining four episodes and schedule everything so when he gets back we can officially go into production. We may be moving slowly.. but at least we are moving forward.

A few months before we start shooting we will be doing a Kickstarter/Indiegogo campaign and try and get some start up money. We got some very fun "rewards" for donors. Can't wait to get that started.

Follow us at @GE3KSCompany on twitter for the latest up to date news.

Hanging with Friends & Another Random Geek Question

So several friends crash at my place after our day of rehearsal yesterday. So Robert, Cait, Aaron, Brett and Josh got up around 9am. Brett left for home immediately, while I made some biscuits and gravy for the rest of them for breakfast. While we ate breakfast we watched Galaxy Quest. I can watch that movie everyday and never get bored of it. It's a modern day classic!!

After Galaxy Quest we played a few hours of Flux. And then went back to watch a movie. Robert suggested Back to the Future and asked which is my favorite. It's either one or three, not a big fan of two. So I went with three as I love the love story between Emmett and Clara. So we watched Back to the Future III which ended around 4pm and the party was over. Robert and Cait left, then Aaron and finally my buddy Josh.

It was a fun weekend, besides the awesome rehearsals I got to spend some time with some amazing friends. In the evening I was playing some Minecraft with my buddy Chris, it's been so long that I had to learn how to walk and move all over again.. also my friend Kim crashed at my place since she is shooting something up past Gorman and I live an hour and half closer to the location then she does. We got to visit for a few minutes before she crashed.

I posted another "Random Geek Question" on Twitter and Facebook - Star Wars... is it Sci fi or Fantasy? From the 20 or so responses I got, everyone agrees it's a bit of both and it was split down the middle with folks thinking it was more Sci fi then Fantasy and vice versa more Fantasy then Sci fi. To me Star Wars is more Sci fi then Fantasy.. I mean it set in space with lazer guns, space ships, aliens and light sabers but it does have the fantasy element with The Force. I even had one friend say it was Historical since it's set a long time ago in the galaxy far far away.