Alki Makes It All Better

So, yesterday was, as the kids say nowadays, "the suxxorz". It seemed like every possible stresser in my life chose yesterday to crap all over me, after eating Indian food, Slim Jims and Wild Turkey.

Yeah, that bad.

I'm not gonna go into all of it here. Hell, I'm not gonna go into most of it here. Tyler/school issues. Work issues (serious writer's block). Health issues. Relationship issues. Money issues. Suffice to say, it was poopy, and I felt as if I'd been dragged under a truck down a gravel road. On fire.

Hey, what's with the overblown metaphors?

I should give big props to my daughter Kayleigh for finding me on the front porch and giving me a heck of a shoulder massage. Thanks honey. That was a bright spot in the day. As was hearing "you're the awesomest dad ever" at tuck-in time.

I also should mention Dan - you really helped by letting me vent, buddy. Thanks.

After said poopy day, which culminated in my actually cooking a nutritious dinner of multi-grain pasta and salad, negating same by slamming back a couple beers, and finally wrestling both of my lovely offspring into bed, I was ready to slip into my own bedtime coma and rest up for a better day.

Which started with me waking up at 5AM (WTF??). Undaunted, I headed upstairs to be proactive. I did some email, some research, took my supplements, did my isometrics, sent out a query to Rae's mom about Hurricane Ike, and then got the kids up and out. Another skirmish with Tyler, but no fatalities (although he is grounded this weekend). Dropped the kids at school and headed down to Alki with some kickass tea. You heard me. I used the words kickass and tea in the same sentence. Because I'm 6'4" and a deuce and a half, so I can effectively punch you in the face while drinking said kickass tea.

But Alki is not about punching people in the face. It's about calm. It's about recharging. As I sat on the cement steps, watching the tide come in, some movement caught my eye. Not twenty feet away from me, an osprey flapped its way inland with a whole fish clutched in its talons. The screenplay would have gone something like this:

OSPREY
Score!

FISH
[wriggle wriggle]
Shit.

It put my problems in perspective. I don't have to worry about where my next meal is going to come from. Nor do I have to worry about a big friggin' osprey hauling me away for breakfast. Nor do I have to worry about a hurricane blowing through my neighborhood. Perspective, man.

It's coming up on the end of a rough week. Being down at Alki the past two mornings has helped my outlook immensely. I'm fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of the country. I'm fortunate to have good friends, a supportive family, loving children (even at their worst, they are pretty damn cool), and a wonderful partner. That knowledge and perspective helps me to be able to weather a lot of crap.

Lunch with Raechelle today, and the weekend kicks off tomorrow with zombie movies! Huzzah!

The Birds, and Better Know Your Todd

As most of you know, I love summer nights at Alki, if only because I obnoxiously point it out every thirty seconds. So when Kayleigh asked if we could go get some dinner at Pegasus and then feed the birds, I said, "hells yeah!"

Here's the trick: go during the week, when it's not crowded. On weekends, you can be assured of a complete absence of parking spots within four or five blocks of your destination.

So we had daddy/daughter time at Pegasus and then took our leftover garlic bread out to the waterfront and started tossing pieces on the concrete. Within seconds, we had an Alfred Hitchcock scene in our hands. A horde of pigeons (yes, I know a group of pigeons isn't technically a "horde", but they kind of resembled invading Mongols, so I stick by my terminology), and a gang of tough seagulls moved in, getting quite animated over the scraps of bread. Just the sort of thing Raechelle loves only slightly more than having schools of fish nibble the dead skin off her feet at a fancy spa.

Hung out with Tyler a bit and watched some TV, then folded laundry (on my recently cleaned downstairs countertop). Got a call from Dave Alpern, whom I've known for almost a decade and have never met. He's in town with family and we'll be getting together Wednesday night for dinner and Erin McNamee at the Swell. Raechelle will be staying out here anyway, and she happens to like Erin, so it's a party.

And speaking of the girl, I've been made aware that some of her folk aren't all that sure of what I do for a living. So I thought I could cover the basics real quick like:

1) I run Deep7, LLC, a publishing company that I founded with Samantha and Ron in 1999. We have over 30 published titles to our credit, including the official Red Dwarf roleplaying game.

2) I do freelance graphic design. Keep in mind I haven't updated the portfolio site since the week before Samantha died. Sometimes I do CD packaging for bands, or posters for plays.

3) I'm transitioning into full time film direction (having several screenplays and a number of short films like this one to my credit, as well as a feature and television series being pitched or in development).

I've been making money in art since I was 14 and published my first 'zine. I've been paid for both acting and voiceover work. My first full-length film (directed as a junior in high school) was featured on a PBS young directors series back in 1986. I spent a decade in the videogame industry as a concept artist and art director before getting my soul back. My work has appeared in titles from Microsoft, Sierra and Boss Game Studios. I wrote, directed and voiced animated shorts for multimedia innovators Hyperbole Studios. I once wrote full time for a year and a half, selling some short stories to various genre magazines and getting a novel optioned by Warner Books. I authored a comic strip that ran in newspapers and later on the web. I co-owned a geek boutique at the West Seattle Junction. I recorded 3 albums for an indie record label in the SF Bay Area and a bunch more on my own label. Chances are, if it has to do with the commercial aspect of art, I've done it at some point.

I think that about covers it.

YEAH!

Check out this amazing shot from Susan Grossman who caught the image at about 1:45AM last night from Alki:

More info at West Seattle Blog...

I'm a Sick, Sick Man (or, Father's Day on NyQuil)

This damn cold just will not let go. Grrrr.

Friday night consisted of a screening of Control for Dan, Trish, Raff, Raechelle and me. Kayleigh not only sat through the whole picture, but got most of the references and already knew some of the music (as she is an '80s alternative prodigy). Tyler came up at one point, passed out on the floor and then returned to his lair to sleep some more.

Raechelle spent the night Friday, and Saturday was supposed to be spent sorting through the fire salvage boxes in my bedroom. However, because I was still sick and coughing like an asthmatic seal, my lovely nurse decided Saturday would be spent relaxing and making me get better. We cuddled on the sofa in our PJs and watched a bunch of movies (Galaxy Quest, Sky High, Rob Roy and the Pixar shorts collection), punctuated by naps, coughing fits, Thai food for lunch and a couple hands of Apples to Apples.

Tyler went over to a friend's house for a sleepover, so I took Kayleigh and Raechelle down to Pegasus on Alki. Only we found after having parked that I'd left my wallet on the dining table at home (which repeated an event a few weeks ago when Raechelle was going to take me to lunch and forgot her wallet at home). So Raechelle sprung for dinner at Pegasus in exchange for me covering Father's Day lunch. She ended up with the better deal there.

Because dinner was so late on Saturday, we came home and got back into PJs. Kayleigh played on the computer while Raechelle and I started watching Sweeny Todd. We took a break when my coughing got bad enough for her to worry about my sleep (and hers), so she made another "drug run" for some NyQuil. Took a dose, continued watching Sweeny Todd for about twenty minutes, then our eyes started getting VERRRRY heavy. Put Kayleigh to bed and crashed immediately. Slept like a totally inanimate object until 3AM, took another dose, slept until 8AM.
Awoke feeling well-rested, if not cured.

Raechelle took the opportunity to give me a Father's Day prezzie - a French press for loose-leaf tea and coffee. Yaaay! I grabbed a shower while she looked up movie times for The Incredible Hulk, and then she showered while I walked down to Starbucks to get "mah woman" a latte. I was still feeling iffy, so I crashed on the sofa for a little bit while Raechelle tidied my kitchen. I awoke to hear her puttering, and I almost said something, but then I remembered two very important facts:

1. I am so used to being in command and control that it is difficult for me to accept help. Especially when it comes to running my household. And I need to relax, because help will only make it easier on me.
2. This is where Raechelle shines. She loves to do for her loved ones, and I need to let her do for me. It's a freely given gift, and I need to accept it with grace.

Found Raechelle outside throwing the ball for Wiley, and we sat on the stairs and chatted. It never ceases to eat my mind that we're so in sync and on the same page and whatever metaphor you want to put here.

My cough subsided to an inconsistent one-off here and there, so I decided to try a small expedition to Target for a few things to see how I held up. The kids walked with us to Westwood, where we picked up a few clothing items and a counter top wine rack for my kitchen.
Now feeling adventurous, I said I felt up to lunch and the movie. We went downtown to Pacific Place and had lunch at Mexico Cantina, then caught The Incredible Hulk at the AMC there. A full day, for sure. Once back at the homestead, Raechelle got packed up and we took some time to talk and plan for the week. We're going to try to arrange one overnight per weekend if possible. It's good exposure for the kids and for Raechelle - and strangest of all, nobody's sick of anybody yet.

So now Tyler has gone to sleep and Kayleigh is playing in the backyard in the late Seattle sunlight, and I've had my reheated Thai food and a beer. I'm composing this post with Wiley asleep at my feet, and I realize how much I miss Raechelle after all of an hour and a half absence. And from where I'm sitting, I think that's a really good sign.

Yeah, it's a bit sappy, but it's Father's Day, and if I wanna be sappy, I'm darn well gonna be sappy. So there.

Pants and a Headache, Two Bits

Raechelle and I took a big step in our relationship last night...

She went pants shopping with me.

Picked up a nice pair of black casual slacks to go with the shirt in question, then headed over to Macy's and found a black on black paisley tie for use with the suit. Then we went to Alki and chatted over tea until Starbuck's closed, which gave us a nice opportunity to go out to the Alki waterfront and watch the sunset (such as it was). In the middle of that, my cell phone rang - my former housemate Erica (star of my TV comedy from the mid-'90s, Flotsam), saying she'd just finished watching OA and raving about it. It felt good to hear that.

It felt better to say, "Can I talk to you later? I'm out with the girlfriend." Say it with me: "Awwwwww."

Came home to more email with script notes and cast shuffling from Gigi. Dan and I were pretty pissed, but said we weren't going to say anything heated. Today has been a gut wrenching telephone tree between Gigi, Brian Meredith, Dan and myself. I can't say I'm feeling particularly optimistic about the project at this point. Unless some serious concessions are made and we miraculously are able to book our crew on two weeks notice, I dunno...

I need to not think about this for awhile. It's ultimately a free gig, and not worth getting an ulcer over. And we have other projects on the burner. Profitable projects. That's where my energy should be. I just hope, no matter what happens, we are able to salvage the working relationships Dan and I have worked so hard to cultivate, respectively.

Gotta love show biz.