Weirdness Akimbo

I guess that means it must be fall. Storms blowing in, red-orange leaves leaping to their deaths along the sidewalks, football... oh, and meeting the folks who bought the home you lived in for a decade and a half.

I say this, not because they read the blog, but because it's true: we met the ladies of the house and they're super nice people. I couldn't be happier with the folks who bought the place, and I wish them many happy years there.

Yet, as much as it gave me the warm fuzzies to meet the new owners, it was odd visiting the old place as just that - a visitor. It had been a day that began in conflict with the boy-child, continued in household organization and shopping, and ended with a trip to the smaller of the two storage units. By the time we got home, I was all kinds of done. Fortunately, I had a massage appointment, so that gave me a boost and realignment, and I was able to make dinner while TFMD succeeded in uncovering our dining table. So we were actually able to eat dinner at the dining table for the first time in our new home - what a concept!

Cuddled up and watched Father of the Bride (the Steve Martin remake), then crashed.

Things with the boy aren't much better, and that saps a lot of our energy, but we're doing the best we can and have plenty going on to distract us. The living space is pretty much livable, although there will be some storing of boxes in the attic and basement crawlspaces once the electricians are done with the rewire. Speaking of, I can't wait to have an exterior outlet so we can put up the lights and Halloween decor. This street really gets into it - several of our neighbors have graveyards on their front lawns and one has an infestation of giant spiders. It's all kinds of awesome.

I can't wait to see our block during Christmas...

General Update

Summer is almost over. TFMD and I were watching one of the many HGTV programs we've become addicted to, and caught that great Staples back-to-school commercial. And we chuckled. It's funny 'cause it's true.



I also just moved my car insurance from GEICO. Screw the cavemen and the lizard and the creepy stack of money with the eyeballs. I'm actually saving money by moving to State Farm. And once TFMD and I are married and have the home and car policies together, we'll be saving a ton more.

We've been pretty frugal for the past week, getting ourselves into better habits. After meeting our cake lady yesterday afternoon, we chilled out at a restaurant bar in Ballard and had our first adult beverages in a week. We also had some happy hour nom-noms, which appeared not to agree with me, for by the end of my production meeting with Dan, I was feeling pretty nauseous. Came right home and fell into bed. Some Tums and HGTV later (have I mentioned we're addicted?) I felt a bit better. Really ready for the weekend.

This morning, I watched TFMD's ex's girlfriend's daughter for about half an hour while they sorted out schedules and carpools and doctor's appointments. That's right. My fiancee's ex's girlfriend's daughter. THAT'S how friggin' secure I am. Most of the time was spent dressing Kayleigh's Barbie dolls and harassing the cats with the laser pointer. Raechelle is extremely jealous of my (cat + laser = hilarity ensues) time with the 5yo darling. It was actually funny to see the juxtaposition of the little pixie with her insect book and her wide-eyed glee at Elvis running up a wall to catch a laser, and my almost 12yo tween stumbling up the stairs half asleep with bed head. Ah, they're fun at any age. And challenging. I'm constantly reminded of that.

We have some events on the social calendar this week, but nothing too hard core. Kayleigh's last weekend of The Music Man starts tonight, and The Woman and I are considering a trip to Southcenter to see if she can find any swimsuits for Kauai in November. We figure we need to get 'em now, on clearance, before the fall fashions come in.

What the Heck??

RIP Karl Malden, a great American actor, dead at 97. I saw someone on Facebook remark that we were witnessing the slow-mo Rapture.

On happier topics, the family unit is stable. We're house hunting again. I've been writing and catching up on my office/admin duties. I finished watching season 7 of The Shield. Wow. What a denouement.

And in just about an hour, I'll be leaving to have a drink with other Seattle filmmakers at a networking event at one of my favorite pubs.

The New Normal?

Good lord, I hope not.

Sorry to have dropped off the radar for the past week, but I figured a post was far past due.

Things with the teenager have been tense. We prepared for a major meltdown with the coming of Memorial Day weekend, as we have learned that holidays and anniversaries can be huge triggers with Tyler. We actually scored what I feel to be a minor victory in that we had a really nice weekend with much family bonding, and the outburst on Monday night was handled without police intervention.

One of the problems in having my stoic tendencies is that often stress becomes internalized and manifests in all sorts of uncomfortable ways. So it should be no surprise that I developed a pinched nerve in my shoulder, which resulted in burning pain, numbness and tingling down my entire left arm. It's not heart-related. Don't worry. But it's no fun either.

So this week has been split between Tyler's psych/counseling appointments and a host of physical therapy appointments for me. A trip to the doctor, three trips to the chiro, and two trips to the LMP for massage. I'm hitting this with everything I can, eastern and western. Ibuprofen, cyclobenzaprine, hydration and B-complex vitamins, Biofreeze, ice packs, chiropractic and massage (including craniosacral and reflexology). I might even go in for an acupuncture session (seeing as how I've had some good results with it in the past). I am very happy to have insurance, but the co-pays are nickel-and-diming me dry this month.

Anyway, numb fingers aside (and I can tell you that not being able to feel half your fingers makes typing a blog post quite an adventure), it seems to be getting gradually better and my overall mood has improved. I hope that by this time next week, I'll be back up to normal functioning.

As TFMD mentioned in her post, she got herself a nasty computer infection, which an old friend and IT guru has been working on. He is due back this morning to (hopefully) finish and get Rae Rae back online. Last night's production meeting was, for lack of a better term, productive. We're revising the Duo budget and made some more progress on the OA series.

And speaking of independent cinema, I have two recommendations:

Fanboys appears at first to be another point-and-laugh at socially-retarded fans engaging in goofy shenanigans, but surprised me quite a bit in its character depth and subtext. It's a really sweet story, well-written and acted, with some fun cameos and a charming (if somewhat hidden) love story. And the film was made by Kevin Spacey's production company, Trigger Street.

And speaking of Kevin Spacey (and space in general), Moon was just featured at SIFF, and has been getting rave reviews. It's a British production starring Sam Rockwell as the lone technician in an automated mining facility on the moon, supplying Helium-3 to Earth for clean energy. His three-year contract is just two weeks from being up when he begins to go a bit space-crazy. Kevin Spacey is the voice of the computer (and second lead character). Looks like a character fest for Rockwell, who I find is always surprising folks with his unflinching embrace of challenging roles. Should be getting general release this year.

Anyway, this weekend should hopefully be a little less stressful, with Kayleigh away at a school band trip and Tyler starting a new RPG campaign at Gavin's. Tyler has his sleep study tonight. Sunday is our May Birthdays celebration in Bellingham, and it'll be nice to hang out with the fam.

That's all I've got for now. Anon.

Bugs & Such

This week has been one giant battle against the throat bug that has been stalking the countryside like a giant stalking thing. The kids and I are finally on the other side of it, but TFMD was wondering if she wasn't coming down with it now.

Fight it, honey! Fight it!

Speaking of Braveheart (if you're confused, you didn't hit the link above, did you?), that's on the roster for tonight. Complete with commentary from Rae's resident Scot (yours truly) and her actually Scottish co-worker, who is coming over with her hubby for pizza and beer and sweaty kilted Highlanders.

This weekend we have overdue car maintenance and a game night in Ballard, but we're still recovering from the overstimulation of Rae's 34th birthday rockstar party, so some downtime to clean and organize and catch up on some movies will be good.

Not much else to report, except that my knee has recovered pretty well. Raechelle and had a nice walk around the Roxhill Park loop yesterday, and then came home and made soft tacos and margaritas. It was a nice summery (wishful thinking) meal. And we retired to the sanctuary to watch The Office and 30 Rock.

Still having hardware issues with the new computer. But I've been able to get a bunch of graphic work done for the next Duo short. Which is nice.

And that's all I got. Peace out for now.