Photo Friday
The Capilano Suspended Bridge in Vancouver, B.C.
The Capilano Suspended Bridge in Vancouver, B.C.
This is NOT the Comicon
So I’ve been at the Online Learning Convention and Expo for the past 3 days, and I only have an hour left, so I’m ecstatic. It’s at the Los Angeles Convention Center, and every now and then, I get a feeling like I’m at a comic book convention. Same kind of space, same gaudy curtains surrounding the conference area, just not the people walking around dressed up as comic book heroes. Just a lot of bad ties.
Working at conventions like this is pretty boring for me, since I’m not a sales person, and I don’t really do a great sales demo. Ask me a technical question about the program, and we can talk, but tell me how our program rates against our competitors, and I’d be at a loss for words. However, it seems to be that I’m doing more selling here than anything, since there’s only two of us here, and the person I’m here with is here half the time, or talking to existing customers of ours. I’m a bit frustrated, because there’s SO much other work I can be doing (and need to be doing) and I was expecting to be here just as a technical resource. But nope, I’m working for sales right now, and I haven’t seen my counterpart in the last half hour, so I’ll have to finish my real work at home. Hmph!
Comic conventions are SO much more fun!!!
Mommy Update
Well, my mom is still in the hospital, but she’s stable now and my dad is with her. I cracked a bit today when Dave got home. I’m amazingly homesick, and I wish I could be home to make my family laugh, which is what I do in moments like this. But she’s doing much better, and I’m thankful for that.
Thanks to everyone for your kind words and prayers.
Another (minor, yet without today’s other events it would have been major) disappointing thing I found out today was that I won’t be able to attend the World Cup in Marquette in October. I thought I could manage a free flight out there, but in true Christine style, I waited too long and my return date is unavailable. The next flight I can take home is two days later than I wanted, and I can’t take off work that long. I could pay for a ticket, but it costs too much. I’m really sad about it, because I was really looking forward to going there and meeting up with old friends and watching some good skating. Then again, my mother’s condition puts it all in perspective. But I’m still bummed!
Positive Thoughts
Please keep my mom in your thoughts.
I got a call early this morning, and after searching for my phone, I found out it was from my cousin Mel. I know that she would NEVER call me that early in the morning unless it was for good reason, and my stomach fell. I had a pretty good idea of why.
I checked the message, and all she said was to call her back as soon as I got the message. The tone of her voice was enough for me.
When I called her back she had told me that they had taken my mom to the hospital earlier that morning. My sister was there with her, so I talked to her for a bit. It turns out that my mom had problems breathing and my dad had called the paramedics. She was at the hospital and stabilized, and my sister would call me with updates.
It doesn’t really help me much. I want to BE there, but I can’t. One of the reasons I was so reluctant to move to California was that I couldn’t be there for my family when they needed me, especially in times like this. (For those of you who don’t know, my mom has been battling cancer for a while now) If I wanted to go home, it would take me more than four hours.
All I want to do right now is clap my heels together and say ‘There’s no place like home’ and magically transport myself to my mom, but I can’t. I’m left to worry here, thousands of miles away.
So if you can, keep my mom in your prayers, or send your positive thoughts her way, and to the way of my family in Chicago. That’s what I’ll be doing all day today.
Emmy Recap
Who watched the Emmy’s yesterday?
I thought it was more entertaining than usual. Conan, of course, rocked my world. It was great to see Joe Pantoliano get emotional. I was cleaning the bathroom and missed the John Ritter tribute. It was really sad to watch the tribute to those that had passed away this last year, it’s mind-boggling how many screen legends we had last in the last year. George Perez was hilarious. Wanda, not so much. I wish Everybody Loves Raymond didn’t win so much. I don’t love him. I just like him. Debra Messing looked radiant as she made her speech. I love exuberance like that.
OK. I’m at a trade show taking a break. I hate it here.
Tell me what you think of last night!
I Was Just Frontin’, hahh, hahh…
I know the song has been out for a while now, but Pharrell William’s jam, ‘Frontin’ has really grown on me. It could also have to do with me seeing the video on MTV. I’ve been watching a lot of that lately, usually having it as background noise as I work from home. But Pharrell is a little cutie, (the abs don’t hurt, either) and the song is really catchy, and even though the radio stations here are starting to kill the song, I haven’t been annoyed with it. And for some reason, I really love the part in the song where he just exhales, and it’s just a quick two ‘Hahh, hahh….Hahh hahh…’ It’s hot. Really hot. Makes me move my shoulders in my little jigga dance.
Tomorrow, I’m working back in downtown LA again, this time at the Convention Center for a tradeshow. Come visit me. I will be amazingly bored, since I’m not a salesperson so I think I could be a waste of space. Actually though, I think my job tomorrow will be scanning badges and bringing in leads to watch demos. Blah!
Satan’s Rainbow Connection
So on Friday me and Dave met up with a group of people in Marina del Rey to watch Underworld. I was a bit worried we’d be late for the movie, but we made it just in time, and fortunately, they saved some seats for us. The movie was good, but not great (as I mentioned before). Afterwards, there were mixed reviews for the movie. Most people, like me, expected more, and I had agreed that the vamps could have been a lot more badass than they were portrayed in the movie. A couple people had admitted to almost falling asleep at times. But all in all, it was good movie. I only knew a few people who were there, but the new people I was introduced to were really nice and friendly.
Later on, Sam had invited me and Dave to go sing karaoke with them. I had told Sam that Dave doesn’t do karaoke, and that I’ve never sung in public before, other than that one time for my bachelorette party. But I thought it would be fun to watch, so we headed out there for a bit.
It was definitely a good time, and it was fun to watch everyone sing. We had a couple good singers among us. There was a really kick ass version ‘Bring Me to Life’ by Evanescence done, giving me that ‘There’s no way I’m singing after THAT’ feeling. I knew that I couldn’t get away without singing. I pored over the song list for a song that I could sing without sounding like Cameron Diaz in ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’. I know, it’s all for fun, but something about singing in public gets me really nervous. It’s weird, because I used to act, and I had no problems with acting on stage, but get me singing up there and I break into a sweat and feel like crawling into a hole. It helped a bit that I had a drink in me, so I was pretty loose. We had also had the group singing “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley, and it was a lot of fun, as well as “Do-Re-Mi”. The Von Trapps had nothin’ on us.
So finally, my song came up, and I did the only song I could think of, “I Will Survive”, because I had already made a fool of myself singing it in front of a bar full of drunken people, it couldn’t hurt to sing it in front of a small room semi-full of slightly buzzed people. So I got the mike in my sweaty clammy hands, and started shakily singing my song amid the hoots and hollering of encouragement. I’d like to say that midway through the song, I was hit with inspiration and got totally comfortable and wowed them with my vocal stylings, but no. I got through the song, gave back the mike, and hid in Dave’s armpit. But they clapped, and I think they were entertained, which is the main thing, right?
Later on, “Respect” by Aretha Franklin came on, and no one had claimed the song, so we all just sang it, but then Sam handed me the mike to finish it off. We had actually done a routine to this song with I was acting with Motu Tsunami, so I already knew the lyrics, and I had already broken them in with my last song, so I just sang. It wasn’t as bad as the first time. Yet the clammy hands remained.
I also had the joy of watching a duet of the “Rainbow Connection” done by what can only be described as the voices of Kermit and Satan. My life is now complete after hearing that. Too bad we didn’t tape it, it would be a Billboard hit!
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Yesterday, we went over to Corona del Mar for Dave’s cousin Cathy’s birthday. It was pretty overcast until about 3pm, we were worried that we wouldn’t be getting any sun. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be able to work on my ongoing California project, “Gonna Turn My White Legs Tan”.
But the sun finally came out, and the day turned out warm. We played a couple good games of volleyball, and I’m pretty rusty with the game, but we had so much fun, and we all had some good laughs it didn’t matter that we were all playing crappy. Afterwards we hit the water and Dave got to try out his new wetsuit. He caught a couple good waves, and I got some good pics. We also had a bonfire going and toasted marshmallows, which I haven’t done in a LONG time. All in all, it was a great time. I don’t think I can ever get sick of the beach. And I have a feeling that Dave would be OK if he just lived there. Which we were thinking of, checking out all of the beachfront property, which was SWEET. Can you imagine, waking up, going outside, and having the Pacific Ocean right there? So after we make our first couple million (yeah right), we’ll be right out there. Don’t worry, I’m not holding my breath.
Underworld Review
Well, I went with a gang to go see ‘Underworld’ yesterday, and there were some good points, and there were some bad points. First of all, let me say that I have been hearing about this movie for a while now, even before the commercials and ads. And I’ve been excited about it. And I love vampires. So in a way, I was setting myself up for disappointment, much like the ‘X-Men’ movie.
All in all, the movie was entertaining. It had some good fight scenes, and a good plot. And great special effects. The transformations of the lycans into their werewolf form was great. Much better than Michael Landon’s teenage werewolf. But the vampires, well, their transformations consisted of their eyes turning ice blue and an elongation of their already long fangs.
There were times when the movie was moving slow, where I was thinking to myself, ‘How long IS this movie?’ The characterization was so-so, with an emphasis on Kate Beckinsale’s character, Selene. There is some on Scott Speedman’s character, Michael, but that was about it. I was hoping there would be more hand to hand combat, and more ‘Oh damn!’ parts where the movie throws a move or a surprise that makes your jaw drop. But it didn’t happen. The lycans, to me, were dominant in the movie and could have kicked the vampire’s asses.
But I’m not saying I didn’t like the movie. I liked it a lot. I just didn’t LOVE it. It was good to watch, and the money that I didn’t spend on it wasn’t wasted. The vampires were very pretty to look at, and I have to admit, Kate in leather is damn hot. If you like women in leather, see this movie. I need to get me an outfit like that. The story was good, though I didn’t care much about most of the characters, I would still suggest that people watch it. It’s still one of the best movies showing out there right now. The effects and the cinematography are awesome.
Oh, and there was a preview for Michael Crichton’s ‘Timeline’ before the movie. I’m so excited about it. It’s one of my favorite books. I hope they don’t kill it. But I have a feeling that they will.
Dave’s Review: I would tell people to watch the movie. It was entertaining. Kate Beckinsale’s HOT. But I liked ‘SWAT’ better.
Later: Christine does Karaoke…
The Prodigal DB Comes Home
OK, so their response wasn’t in the 24 hour period that they had stated in their email, but my provider, webmasters.com was able to find a backup of my database and put it back on my site! I had to make a couple changes since the structure isn’t the same, but it looks like everything is working like a charm. I’m so happy! Yay! Welcome back, blog!
And thanks to all the wellwishers who emailed and IM’ed their condolences. It was a tough time, but your support helped a lot.
Anyway, things got much better yesterday, even before I got my database back. I was no longer working at my downtown LA client, and I had some time to recuperate at home. I was still talking to LA on the phone and through email, but it was good to take a step back and slow down a little, and also to get some stuff done at home.
Also, I got my wedding pictures from our professional photographer back, and i LOVE them! None of us brought our cameras with us into Wrigley when we took pictures for the photographer (all too drunk to remember), so these were the only pics, and you can tell from them that we were having a BLAST! It was great to go over the pictures and relive the great times that we had during the wedding.
All’s right with the world again.
And tonight….I watch UNDERWORLD! Whoo hoo!
So here’s some of the pics. We had an awesome photographer, Liz, from EIB Photography. She and her assistant stayed with us the whole time, even through all the little catastrophies we had (the limo driver lost her). We love our pics! I left her stickers on the pics because, well, they’re proofs.
In the dugout
Dave and the girls
Me and the boys
In front of the field
A silly group pic
With the Wrigley sign behind us
Photo Friday
Magic Mountain, CA
August 2002
In my adventures to California, I found evidence that, yes indeed, Bigfoot DOES like riding rollercoasters. However, he was a tad over the height requirement so he left.
