Another New Year

I'm going to try and make a new habit for myself. I am going to try to write more often. The goal will not be to pump out the most intellectual or insightful garbage that I have even conjured up. Instead, my goal is to improve myself by simply expressing and processing what is going on inside already. For those of you who follow my blog here is what this means for you. I will be starting a blog that is viewable only by me. I will then take bits and pieces of material that I feel comfortable sharing and paste them in this blog. Those of you who really know me that I'm not the kind to spread gossip or private material around. My hesitancy to publish private material has been a road block for me in blogging because I think that sometimes you won't know how sensitive some things are until long after you have spread them around.

To me trust is too valuable a thing to risk in the name of self-expression. But... at the same time to take care of myself I need to have a place where I can regularly process what is happening in my life, sensitive or otherwise. To this end I am creating a new personal blog for myself and, as I said earlier, pasting content from that blog to this one. I might even dig up some gems of thought from the chatoyant engram mines of mental katzenjammer.

getting under way on a new year

I had a great time over Holidays with family and friends. I was not able to see as many people as I was hoping to see, but... such is life.
For those of you who dont already know, I am going to be uncle coming up. What you may not though is that I am going to have a little niece as well as a little nephew. Let the world be warned! Trouble is on the way... and it is going to be adorable (at first) ;-) By now I think the shock is wearing off on Sherri and Nick and has been replaced by joy and extreme dread--the kind of joy and dread that you get the first time you jumped off the high-dive at the pool. "YAY, I'm finally cool! I jumped off!/OMG I'M FALLING!
HEhehehe.... I really hope they don't stop at two. It would be a shame, since they seem to be good at this. Course I have to be careful of my motivation. It may be nothing more than my desire to be entertained by their struggles that makes me want this not to be end, that or the unrequited desire to have had a younger brother. Either way... it's my own selfishness. Oh well :-) . So I will have a nephew named Brighten and a niece named Ethnie (I dont know if I spelled either correctly).
So as I told Justin earlier today, this year is and will be trying with its new challenges and exciting with its new possibilities. It will be one for the books :D

New seat & new phone. I can't wait to come home!

So I have a new phone now. THANK GOD!!! I finally have the ability stay on top of everything I'm supposed to do... and that little bit more that I always get myself into ;-)
I also have a brand new custom seat on my motorcycle. I'll be uploading either some video or a pic or two. Now I did the design myself, so all you artists or people with opions: its time weigh in (which means I expect something from everyone in my family). :-) Love you all
Now its time for me to jump on that glorious seat (I have been riding a rolled up towel for the last few days=not fun :-( ) and riding off into the sunset to tango into the night.
-Look for the new seat on my post tomorrow

Waves

Why is it that things seem to go in waves? Why is momentum so hugely important in everything? And then there's just the randomness of related events that seem to happen at the same time while also seeming to have nothing to do with each other. What's up with that? For instance, since I arrived in LA (almost a year ago now) I have had little interest in pursuing the fairer sex, and the fairer sex in turn has not coordinated a campaign to pursue me. There have been isolated inquiries and probes but nothing serious enough to reach stage one of the relational networking scale (exchanging phone numbers). This last week however I have been phone numbers by four different girls and I have a casual date for tomorrow (a classical stage two in relational networking). The women have found out that I am in LA.

My personal opinion is that momentum is born where opportunity and posturing meet. Lately I have been trying to posturing myself as a fun and attractive small town boy full of potential. I have been focusing on developing this identity/posturing so that I can easily take advantage of professional opportunities when they arise. I guess this last week I've just been running into more personal opportunities than professional ones.

Why is my picture discolored?

... any ideas about what to type next? Anyone?

Ok, well then in that case, I'll simply have to make like a snow plow and charge through the empty white space of this currently empty post and leave a bread crumb trail of thoughts behind me. God willing, they will help me find my way home, and if not me, possibly you, my reader.

The stereotype of starving artist: Let us talk about this subject rationally. I present you to you the formula for being a well compensated artist. (Notice I did not say "successful artist" as "success" is defined on an individual basis.) Novelty X Audience size X Emotional response of Audience divided by the time it takes to reproduce the performance = $. I will define Novelty as the product of Effort X Rehearsal X Talent. The final formula for a well compensated artist is then: (N^2 x Aud x Rspn) /time to reproduce performance = $ where N = E x R x Tal. Effort is to be expressed on a scale of 0 to 10; Rehearsal is expressed in days; and Talent is to be expressed on a scale of 0 to 100. Audience must be expressed in whole numbers, and Response must be expressed on a scale of -100 to 100; and reproduction time must be expressed in days.

Thoughts?

Having trouble not slouching in my chair right now.

Ok, so I know that I've failed to write anything of interest recently... or anything at all for that matter. But, all that is changing at this moment. Ta DA! I'm back on blogger. Last night I spent the whole day from 11 am to 1:30 am at the dance studio. It was a marathon that I don't suggest to anyone unconditioned for it. It was actually a bit much for even me. Since I spent the end of the day all on the balls of my feet for an Argentine Tango milonga (and the soles of dance shoes are little more than suede), when I woke up this morning I found that my feet were still baring a grudge from last night's abuse.

But despite my late night activities, I forced myself to get up and go to a breakfast/bible study that I had been invited to on Sunday mornings at a place called Conrad's in Downtown Pasadena... at 8:00 am! I muscle myself out of bed and once again on to my protesting feet. I get dressed, wash my face, maneuver my motorcycle out of the garage and the cars that have been parked specifically to impede my exit, and ride downtown to meet my friends... who turn out not to be there. Arg... Yeah, so I decide to go to church early--which was nice. I got to sit in the huge (but nearly empty auditorium) and listen to the choir and orchestra run through some of it's music for the service. It was a wonderful moment of relaxation for me. I was listening to high quality live music performed by people who are truly connected to the reason they perform, not just the specifics of the performance itself. I sat there in the middle of the room and let the music and the emotions slip over and through me like slippery spaghetti through chopsticks.

Come to think of it--I must have looked a bit out of place in my heavy leather jacket as the blue-haired crowed all came in and found their mutually agreed upon seats throughout the auditorium. Before long, a nervous-eyed usher shuffled his way over to me and gave me the most awkwardly short church greetings I've had. He simply walked up to where I was sitting, said "hi," shook my hand and then quickly shuffled away never to look my direction again. So that was awkward.

But not as awkward as the look I got from one of the girls that I was dancing with last night! So, I was at the milonga dancing my poor feet into rebellion and I asked this classy looking 25 to play younger to dance. She accepted and we danced one song, after which I thanked her, and was about to walk away when an incredibly offended/confused look overtook over her face. When I asked her if she was alright, she was gracious enough to ask me if I knew that I had just issued her an insult by only dancing one song with her and not an entire tanda. I didn't even know what a tanda was! I apologized and explained that I was just learning Argentine and that I was used to ballroom where it is expected that I change partners every dance. I told her that I would love to continue dancing, but even with her honor restored, her sensibilities remained offended so she refuse my offer. So for all of you out there who wish to avoid a similar situation on the Tango floor, allow me to explain the tanda rule. A tanda is a set of four songs in a row. These may or may not be separated by a cortina. A cortina piece of non-dance music played between the tanda which a time where either dance partner may (without insult) thank their partner and go their separate ways. Though it is permissible for a lead (the man) to thank his partner and move on, but it is interpreted as an insult to the lady's dancing. So, guys: if you ever want to dance with her again, then dance with her till you hear Cold Play or Jack Johnson start playing.

Back to breaking news, so I went to The Bridge today, and I am really glad I did. The was a guest there who spoke about her journey as an artist (she's a published novelist). And from listening to her talk about her process, I realized why writing has been so difficult for me recently. Its because I haven't been keeping up my blog! So for those of you who still follow my blog, expect more posts. Because I am ready to start writing. I need to be writing. So you're going to have more to read. :D Cheers!

I did not go to church Sunday morning. Instead I got tipped heavily and even kissed at the wedding of the daughter of a 70's porn-star.

Long, awkward title,  I know, but it is true! So, Saturday I finally went back to work. My hours at the country club have been way less then I need. It is so bad, in fact that I will need another job to cover my essential expenses. Needless to say I was happy to get to work. The wedding on Saturday was an young shy asian couple's wedding and was very enjoyable. I have noticed that it helps a lot when the bride and groom are nice and attractive people. It makes it easier to be happy for them. Anywho, the wedding was outside and there were some serious hotties there. Immediately after the ceremony I took out the hors d'oeuvres and became accounted with many of the guests. As a result, later on when people got tipsy, I was suddenly their favorite waiter (because I was the only one they could remember). One particular party girl requested that I personally join her and some of her friends in taking a celebratory shot of tequila and another invited me to join her and some of her friends at a club later on this month. In all I made $31 in tips that night.

The downside of this wedding was, however, that tear down took a long time. It was 2 am before I made it out of there. BUT!... not before I met the owner of the company who brought in and designed the lighting and sound equipment. I asked him if he was possibly looking for new people for his crew. He got interested and said, "Oh yeah. We are always looking for good people. To be honest though, right now we are mainly looking for people who can do light design." AHHH! Those were good words to hear, let me tell you! So I gave him a brief synopsis of my qualifications and he gave me his business line. I'll be calling him in a little bit, as a mater of fact.

I finally left the country club and made it home in a hurry, because, lucky me, I had been asked to work an hour earlier than I was originally scheduled. 8 o'clock was now my new call time and I barely made it on time. This was going to be an interesting wedding. The mother of the bride was apparently a porn star in the 70's and the wedding had been scheduled for Sunday morning. Who has a wedding on Sunday morning, folks? The Sunday golf crowd was especially upset and kept shushing people at the wedding ceremony which was just a few feet away. Finally though, the wedding was over and everyone came inside for the reception. Once again, I had passed hors d'oeuvres and coffee around so the wedding attendees all knew who I was and tipped me heavily. I do have to say that this wedding was a little odd too, because the couple must have only invited attractive people. Everyone, ok all the women were either hot or over 60. One of the best things about these people though, was that they tipped really well! I made $18 just dropping off some coffee. I also learned that if the customers think that you are really doing them a huge favor that is an inconvenience to you, they will tip you better. All in all I made $22 that wedding in tips alone. The funny thing was that I did get any tips from my own tables. I tried to give them all the attention I could, but the girls that were sitting in that area all took it as flirting. Not that I'm complaining. Shortly before the event was over I was taking a request for champaign at one of my tables. As I was making conversation, finding out what I could get for them, blah blah blah, one particularly attractive girl gently tugged my head her way and gave me a kiss on my neck. WOOOOHOOO! I played it off cool while I was there, but as soon as I got back to the kitchen I blushed so red I had to get a drink of water. Then two of my coworks burst in the door and told everyone what just happened to me. Apparently they had seen the whole thing from the back of the room. Now "the pimp" has been added to my list of nicknames at work. Oh well, what's a guy to do? What is funny is that one of the guy who saw it happen has been doubting me every time I tell a story around him. He didn't believe me that a girl gave me a shot the previous night, that I got invited to a club, or that I got tipped $18 that morning by people at his tables... until then when he saw me get kissed by a girl he'd be checking out during the whole reception. 

For those of you who are worried: I did got to an evening church service when I got back to Pasadena. But since nothing as unusual happened there, I don't have any stories to tell from church. Sorry. Sometime it will be different. Who knows? Maybe I'll get kissed at church and be bored at work.