Daedalus Aloft!

www.airshipdaedalus.com went live with the first strip/episode ("stripisode"??) at 12:01AM.  Of course there's only one strip up so far, but we will release a new one every Wednesday and Sunday.  I'm really looking forward to it.

It's also my dad's birthday.  He would have been 67 this year.  He'd just turned 61 when he died.  Time marches on.  I still miss him.

Brian Beardsley came over to meet about the site launch and ECC yesterday.  He brought the table banner, which looks awesome, all six feet of it.

After Brian left and Tyler went with his uncle to their Arrowflight game, I took my girls out to pick up a few household and party prep items.  Raechelle decided to host an Oscar party tonight, and dang it, if she ain't just cute enough to get her way.  She was a manic twister of cleaning frenzy last night, which I actually love about her.

Anyway, didn't sleep much.  Might crash out this morning for a while.  Don't want to be dozing through the Oscars.

P-Town and the Quasi-Mellow Weekend

ROAD TRIP!
One of the things The Mrs. brings to our relationship is a collection of pretty cool people, mostly musicians, from her past.  Add my own cool musician-type people and you've got a great weekend in Portland.  Actually, it was only an overnight, technically speaking.  But what we managed to cram into 24 hours!

I'm still exhausted.

We left early Friday afternoon, which made it possible to make the jaunt in exactly three hours.  The Mrs. surprised me by directing us, not to the Ramada by the airport, but to the Hotel deLuxe, where she'd scored a pretty awesome queen-plus-valet-parking-plus-restaurant-credit deal.  We were upgraded to a king room too.  Good thing too, because although the rooms are nicely appointed, they're teeny.

We cleaned up, changed and headed over to my friend Chris D.'s house for dinner.  Chris used to play keyboards for a Bay Area band called The Rise many years ago, at one point sharing the Epithet recording label with a fledgling dreampop project called And Tears Fell.  Chris and I have been in and out of communication for the last couple decades, but recently got caught up again and it was great to finally meet his wife, Laura, and kids (and introduce them to my new bride).  After some Italian takeout and some more catching up, we headed off to a great dive bar called Cactus Jack's.  SweetJuice started playing at 9PM and didn't stop until the proverbial doors had been blown off the joint.  We finally got out of there at a quarter of 1AM, but not before they'd invited a former bandmate up to play guitar, another friend to play sax, and The Mrs. herself to sing on one of their songs.  Adam had actually asked us both to come up and play one of our songs at the break, but by the time the second set started, I was exhausted.  It did give us impetus to get a few songs ready for public consumption, however.

It was a late night, and we were up by 0830 hours.  Breakfast with my Mozart Air Raid bandmate, Gordon, and his wife, Heather.  We followed that with a brief stop at Gordon's house before heading back home.

We were so sapped by the time we got home that we just changed into sweats and bummed around for the rest of the day.

Sunday came, and with it some guy time online with Ron & Hans, while The Mrs. went for a walk with Stephanie.  I got my walk in when it came time to grab some milk and eggs so that I could make red beans & rice with cornbread for dinner (one of our new faves) while The Mrs. went to get her hair cut.  We chilled out to some more Buffy episodes and were happy to flop into bed at 10PM.

So here we are, looking at another week, but with a semi-restful, semi-active and totally awesome weekend behind us.

That Was Fast

Honestly, where did the weekend go?

I think a combination of factors made the time fly particularly fast. Kayleigh's last weekend of The Music Man run, prepping for an open house (and then the actual open house), prepping for Kayleigh's Oregon trip, loads more wedding stuff accomplished (shopping, cake, etc.), blah blah blah.

I don't think I've mentioned District 9 yet. Kayleigh and I went with Steve & JD for the former's birthday a week ago, and I will freely admit that it was just borderline-too-intense for K. Now, she'd wanted to see it, she totally followed the story and characters, and only hid her eyes a couple times during some pretty intense sequences. Although there were a few parental second thoughts here and there, I was not sorry she got the message of the film, which is totally analogous to how displaced ethnic populations are treated by governments and/or corporations. And afterward, she grinned, proclaiming, "that was the best action movie ever."

Not one for hyperbole, that girl.

There's been some movement on the home sale since the open house. I don't want to jinx anything, but I had a nice, warm "calm" wash over me after I spoke to our agent yesterday. More as it happens.

What She Said

TFMD did a pretty good job summarizing the weekend. It was really good and REALLY productive.

The production meeting on Sunday was to get Ben Andrews on board with both Duo and Ordinary Angels (DVD now on sale for $12.99), to introduce our people and his people (and generally increase the number of our people). We have a Duo shoot this Sunday, making up the one we canceled back in May.

I'm putting together a couple Deep7 products for PDF sale. Should have the Island Nations e-book up by tomorrow. The fans have been bugging me about it for awhile now. Bad game designer. No biscuit.

Weekend Update

Just some bullet points for the new week and new month...

• Kayleigh went to Silverwood in Idaho for her school band trip. They took all kinds of awards and she had a blasty-blast, except for this one time when her friend dared her to go in the pool in her clothes and she did and she forgot she had her cell phone and her wallet in the pockets and her cell phone and her wallet got ruined and she was very upset. But other than that, it was great.
• Friday was pizza-movie night. Another screening of my new favorite buddy/roadtrip/heist/romantic comedy, Fanboys. Another argument with Tyler at bedtime.
• Saturday we crossed some stuff off our to-do list, and, as Tyler was at his uncle's overnight, TFMD and I went to have a nice dinner out, followed by Crumac at Conor Byrne, followed by Uno and Shut-the-Box at The Mop & Bucket. It was a late night, and we were none too happy to see the sun rise on a day that meant a drive to Bellingham for my family's May Birthdays celebration.
• Had a short stay in Bellingham, got to see my grandparents' new digs at Merrill Gardens (pretty sweet), and headed home, exhausted and numb - literally. After four hours driving, my left arm (the one with the pinched nerve) was all pins and needles.
• Monday brought a bunch of errands and medical appointments. And my LMP was able to isolate the culprit muscles responsible for the nerve issue. Another few sessions and I should be right as rain. Not that we would know, what with our sunny 80+ degree days.
• Sun + lack of time {+/- energy} = [lawn > Mekong Delta]
• Having dinner with two of our favorite peeps tonight. And the kids get to fawn over one of their fave local celebs.

And so I leave you with this...

Three For Three

TFMD beat me to this week's weekend update. Check it.

Friday went pretty much as planned. Took a walk to the produce stand and had a nice little jaunt through the hood. Had Niki and Todd over for pizza and Braveheart. And when put in the context of a cultural event (Niki and I providing a sort of historical Scotsmentary for the film), TFMD actually liked it a lot.

Saturday consisted mostly of taking our cars to their respective dealerships to get their required maintenance. Car Pros gave us a loaner while Ruby was in, so we got some breakfast and poked around at JoAnn. Found some cool black garden stones (but didn't buy any). Also got a wrought iron bird feeder hanger for the back yard. Then we went to PaperZone and I got my graphic design on.

In an effort to earn some money, Tyler mowed the entire back yard on Friday, and the entire front yard on Saturday. Then he rode Raechelle's bike over to his friend Miles' house. And Kayleigh had been invited over to her friend Darian's.

Carpe Diem!

So Raechelle and I headed down to Ama Ama on California Ave for happy hour. The hostess and I geeked out about how the place was a Godfather's Pizza many moons ago. I discovered I don't like Cosmos. But I absolutely loved their salad. We were going to check out the Feedback Lounge, which was opening that night, but it was absolutely packed (and we all know how my fiancee LOVES the crowds), so we headed back home. I let her pick the movie, and to my pleasant surprise, she chose the Australian Macbeth film. And loved it.

Two for two.

Picked up Tyler and the bike from Miles' house. Along with Miles. The boys played videogames until the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday greeted us with zero gumption, despite it being a pretty nice day. Picked up Kayleigh, and took my girls to Barnes & Noble for some coffee. Then we packed up everyone and went to see Monsters Vs. Aliens in 3D. Raechelle had never seen a 3D movie, and she'd suggested the plan when I returned with Kayleigh. It was pricey, even for a matinee, but the movie was entertaining. In the interest of full disclosure, I am (and have always been) a Pixar snob. In my opinion, none of the other CG studios have come close in terms of character and story (although Disney has come close with Meet the Robinsons and Bolt!), but MvA was quite good and I found myself laughing aloud several times.

So, three movies screened, three movies enjoyed by the girl. I think it has everything to do with mood and environment.

Sunday evening found us sitting outdoors at Pegasus, and we wound up the weekend by holing up in the sanctuary and watching some Futurama. Kayleigh was so kind to have shared her virus with me, so now I'm sucking down the green tea and hitting the Vitamin C and echinacea Ricola drops.

I should be good to go by this evening, as we have Steph and Isabella coming over for dinner. Another rollicking, frolicking week ahead. Sweet Jeebus.

Ran the Gauntlet

Seems like the last few days were chock full of people dying and reminders of people dying. Despite it all, I had a pretty phenomenal weekend.

Friday was pizza movie night with MST3K: Hercules Against The Moon Men. And since Tyler was working Norwescon hospitality with his aunt and uncle, it was just Kayleigh hangin' with the grown-ups. Then Kayleigh retreated to a project and TFMD & I put in Tropic Thunder and proceeded to laugh our asses off.

Saturday we actually slept in past 8AM, which, for anyone with kids, is a real achievement. Tyler had arrived home in the wee hours of the morning, and was cruising on about four hours of sleep. By the time Gavin arrived to take the kids to the convention, Raechelle and I were chomping at the bit to get started on our day. We'd kept the calendar clear of social obligations, thus were able to cram a lot into one afternoon. International District, Capitol Hill, Southcenter, Westwood. Many errands run, and much productivity accomplished.

Then TFMD got a bee in her bonnet and decided to cook us a yummy dinner for two. Coconut curry Basmati rice with raisins, and stir-fried greens (red chard and cilantro). And wine.

I headed down to SeaTac to pick up Kayleigh (Tyler would come home around 2AM), and we retired for the night. Only made it through the opening monologue of SNL, and didn't care enough about Zac Efron to try to stay awake.

Sunday morning, Tyler wasn't feeling well, so he stayed home from Norwescon, while Kayleigh went for her second day. There was only a slight twinge of grief, being the fourth anniversary of Sam's death. We headed over to brunch at Etta's with Doug & Ann, and had a great time. We followed it up with coffee, and then Raechelle and I took off to engage in more productivity. A quick trip up to Champion for birthday party supplies (thwarted, due to them being closed on Easter), followed by office organization and [gasp!] recording, which was the original thing that brought us together. We now have seven rough drafts, including three of Raechelle's originals, two of mine (which she's writing lyrics for) and two covers.

THEN, we shot some photos of Raechelle in her cool rocker wig which she's wearing for the rock star birthday party I'm throwing for her this coming Saturday, and I made it into a fake concert shirt and rocker pins for the party. Doug and Ann are going to be tour managers and work the door, and we have JD bringing Rock Band for our big screen. We also have some cool DJ lights and will accent the interior lighting with black light bulbs.

Anyway, it looks like the shirt design came out nicely. The fake band name is CHELLE SHOCK, and the back says WORLD TOUR 2009, with a list of cities around the world. Every city is stamped CANCELLED, except for Nestorville (WV) and Seattle.
When I step back and think about all the crazy theme preparations, it seems a bit overboard. But this is the guy who used to host custom-written mystery theme parties known as the Black Pelican Dead Man's Party & Hallowe'en Ball. Five of those suckers - from a 1930s murder mystery on five acres in Sacramento, to a 1960s secret agent fest, to a 1950s B-movie "who's got the brain?" drunken piss-up, to a pre-20th Century literary salon murder, to a pirate treasure hunt. And I haven't really been able to flex those muscles much in recent years, except maybe when helping Darlene with Chinese New Year party prep (on the rare occasions when I do help).

That, and I kinda love my woman a bit.

We grazed on nachos and I played Godspell (my annual Easter movie), but Raechelle had no frame of reference for a) Judeo-Christian history, b) musical theater, or c) 1970s folk-rock. So it was kind of lost on her. From now on, I'm thinking Monty Python's Life of Brian for Easter viewing. Because I'm sure not going to ask TFMD to sit through The Last Temptation of Christ, no matter how good I think the film is. Because I care.

Wedding prep continues. My neighbor John is selling his house, which has been partially remodeled and sitting vacant since his own marriage to a woman with a home closer to his job. He made a rare appearance yesterday, and got all misty when I told him Raechelle and I were getting married. He brought over hand-picked tulips from his yard and thanked Raechelle for being in my life. It was sweet.

Kayleigh came home from Norwescon with a lot of stories and some swag. We retired to the bedroom for Sunday animation, and conked out pretty hard. For a weekend with nothing on the calendar, it turned out to be pretty intensely packed with lots of good stuff, and a big sense of accomplishment.

Friday Ping

So last night, a reporter and the staff photographer (two of the remaining 20 staff of the old Seattle P-I now assigned to the online version) came out to the house to interview TFMD, the kids and myself. It was a bit surreal, reliving everything and basically taking a stranger on the tour of my house and the last five years of my life.

Rae's intent was to follow-up on the original P-I article and let people know how things had changed for the better for my family - a sort of epilogue and "thank you" to the community who propped us up when we were at our lowest. It ended up being that, and so much more.

Thanks for that, baby.

The week has been a mix of fatigue and joy, much work and a little play (like Wednesday evening's sessions of The T-Shirt Game and Apples to Apples with Raechelle & the kids). My grandmother is facing another surgery. And tomorrow kicks off the second Duo short shoot at Emerald City Comicon. Oh, and Sunday, I've been asked to shoot the full-band set of Kirby Krackle at ECC.

Tonight, however, while my fiancee is off having a birthday dinner with (and for) her Best Lady, I am going to go see The Underpants. Gotta support the Twelfth Night homeys.

Another stupidly busy weekend. I gotta knock this crap off.

Weekend Update, And Then Some

It was a big weekend. Probably near overload. Which is probably why my TMJ is acting up and likely didn't help Rae's vertigo any.

Friday evening began with a short happy hour at Cafe Venus/Mars Bar. We rushed home to greet Trish, Dan and Raff, who brought supplies to make pasta primavera (and give Tyler a cooking lesson while he was at it). It turned out to be a late night for Dan & Trish, who have to kennel Gracie when they go out. But the food was really good. Unfortunately, the majority had voted for The Cooler, which, although having a sweet love story at its core, has a bit of "mobby" violence in it, and TFMD was not in the mood for that. I have to say, the violence in The Cooler is milder than that in either Freeway or True Romance, which we watched a couple weeks ago. But if you're not in the mood for it, you're not in the mood for it. It's always disappointing when one of my favorite films doesn't resonate with my woman, but maybe someday I can screen it for her again.

Saturday, we awoke at 6:30AM and got Kayleigh ready for her marching band outing to Tacoma to participate in the Daffodil Festival parade. I got her to school on time and ready to go, then I came home and crept back into bed. At 8:45, I received a tearful call from Kayleigh saying that the bus company had only sent one bus for 120 students, and so the music director had bagged out of the parade altogether, rather than letting some students go and keeping others home (the correct decision, in my opinion). So all our prep work and early rising was for naught, save a very upset girl, who went right back to bed as well.

TFMD then went to her yoga class, and I had a production meeting with Dan about the upcoming Duo short shoot - we're getting some insert shots at ECC next weekend. Midway through the meeting, I got a call from Rae, saying that she didn't feel very good after her yoga experience. I secured the wedding gift for Doug and Ann's reception, and returned home to get ready.

And what a party! My brother-in-law Doug got married to his fiancee Ann on the beach in San Diego during the prior week, and then collected family and friends at the Palace Ballroom in Seattle for a really wonderful reception. We got all gussied up - even Tyler. And TFMD got to wear her swanky new shoes. The menu was totally original and they even had Rock Band going for the kids. I'll add pics when they get here...

It was a good night, despite being called by ADT to let us know that once of our zones had been triggered and the cops had been called. We got home to find the house undisturbed, and that Elvis the cat had likely tripped the interior motion sensor. After I'd combed the house to be sure, everyone was allowed in and we set about the bedtime routine.

And here's where it gets hysterical.

You know, in every relationship, there are firsts. And although Sam & I got caught by some cops down at the Baylands while we were "parked" in my Oldsmobile when I was 17, I've never been caught by some cops while "parked" in my own home.

See, sometimes when a man and woman love each other very much, they get certain urges. And it's not like we incoporate circus acrobats, live chickens and pineapple upside-down cake into our adult time activities. So, while there were definitely some passionate goings-on, there was certainly nothing illegal happening (at least not illegal in Washington State). So imagine our surprise when we saw, through the half-closed window blinds, a couple of Seattle's finest, waving flashlights around the bedroom window as they poked through our back yard.

Apparently, the cops hadn't come and gone before we arrived home. They were just now getting there, an hour and forty-five minutes after the call went out from ADT. We quickly dressed and met them at the front door, assuring them all was well.

And then we went back to bed, trying desperately to come down off the adrenalin rush of being caught in flagrante delicto by the cops while in our own bedroom. We had to laugh. I mean, it’s a good thing we weren’t doing anything with PVC and/or sheep, because while Seattle cops have probably seen worse, I’m not sure I’d want to have to explain myself in that circumstance. I'm thinking a good term for the event would be porkus interruptus, just for the double-entendre alone.

Sunday morning was brunch at the Space Needle with Doug's folks, Kit, Doug & Ann, TFMD and the kids. Doug's parents don't get to see their grandkids very often, so when they do, it's usually a whirlwind of fun outings and a bit of spoilage (this time, from the Space Needle gift shop). Kayleigh left directly to go biking around Greenlake with Kit, and Rae & I dropped Tyler at home so that we could attend to some wedding registry stuff at Southcenter. By the time we got home, we were exhausted, so we collapsed for a bit. Around 5PM, Rae talked me into making cheese quesadillas for dinner, and we watched The Ice Harvest, which is a fun and somewhat obscure Harold Ramis noir thriller starring John Cusack.

About halfway through the movie, Rae started having tummy troubles, which lasted into the night. We hit the pillows hard.

I'm still a bit worn out this morning, but I'm committed to being productive (and my workstation has been fixed and is waiting to be picked up). And that's good, because the kids are home for Spring Break.

Weekend Update

This past weekend turned out to be a lot more productive and fun than I'd anticipated, despite the food poisoning.

Let me 'splain.

Friday was a school holiday for the kids, so Tyler had Miles over and Kayleigh had her friend Darian for a sleepover. We made french bread pizza and watched Oliver Stone's W. A bit long, but entertaining and just a tad scary throughout. While I know Stone is something of an iconoclast, much of the dialogue is taken straight from published sources and recordings. I mostly wanted to see it for Josh Brolin, who is amazing.

Saturday we actually slept in past 8:AM (woohoo!), then I made pancakes. Then Darian went home and TFMD and I went up to Ballard, to the office of my friend Brittany, who runs Eiffel Printing & Design. Meanwhile Tyler & Kayleigh took the Metro to their uncle's house - by themselves - for their game afternoon/evening.

After a couple hours of weddingish activities at Eiffel, Rae and I opted for lunch at Blue C. I loves me some Japanese food - even sushi (without the stuff that makes me sick), and I thought I was safe grabbing the cucumber rolls. But no. Shortly after we arrived home, I experienced a shellfish/MSG reaction. Either there was some cross-contamination on the cutting boards, or there was MSG in the sesame noodles or chicken teryaki. Either way, I was out of commission for the rest of the night.

My wonderful woman tucked me in bed, then cuddled up and watched my favorite pirate movie, The Black Swan. Then she went and picked up Dan & Trish from the airport. Then she came home and we proceeded to fall into a comatose state.

Sunday morning came, and I was feeling well enough for coffee with my buddy Ron. We hadn't had a coffee chat Sunday for about a month, so it was good to get together. I got back home to find TFMD had been cleaning and doing her finances. I joined in the fun, then we piled into Sportacus and went to Macy's to find Tyler a pair of khakis and a dress shirt to wear next Saturday for Doug & Ann's reception. He actually liked the corduroy Dockers we found on clearance. And he's now wearing a 30" inseam, a mere 2" shorter than mine. Did I mention that at his last doctor visit two weeks ago, he was 5'9"?

We tagged along with the wimminz for a while, until TFMD started stressing that we were being bored. So Tyler and I wandered out into the mall and got our Julius on. Found a sweet iridescent blue snapcase for my phone, and Kayleigh got a top to wear on Saturday. Mission accomplished.

Then it was home, where cleaning and organization continued. I made a pasta dinner, and then back to the organization yet again. I daresay TFMD will be blogging about that aspect in far more detail, but suffice to say we got a lot organized. We watched some Sunday night animation on Fox, and then it was all about the Zs.

We're off into another week, and it looks like it's gonna go pretty fast.

Tuesday and the Gay Salsa Explosion

As I just explained in a very detailed email to TFMD, I crack me up.

Had an awesome weekend with the family. After TFMD awoke on Monday morning, I took her to brunch at Easy Street, and then we did the week's grocery shopping. We moved very slowly, as it was apparent finishing a bottle of port after several drinks at the concert was probably not the best decision. We made a pact to watch each other's back and practice a bit more temperance in the future.

The kids are home all this week for mid-winter break. Despite this, I am getting work done. Finished the audition side for a character in the first Duo short, for which we are casting this week.

I was about to head off to get a shower when a friend pinged me in instant messenger, so I stayed for a short conversation. At one point, however, I got a bit peckish, so I went to grab some chips and salsa. We get this nice, fresh, chunky stuff from the cold case at the QFC. And it lives on the top shelf of the fridge. And when I went to grab it, it slipped out of my fingers, off the shelf and came down on the kitchen floor, splitting the bottom open and spattering salsa everywhere. It looked like a bizarre crime scene. It was on my sweats (from neck to ankle), on the underside of the fridge drawers, on the cabinets across the kitchen. I would love to see a ballistics report on this particular murder.

So, after spending the next ten minutes cleaning said crime scene, I returned to the office, where my friend was wondering what had happened to me. The conversation proceeded, with me apologizing for the delay and assuring my friend that a salsa explosion, which sounds like it should be FUN, strangely was not. My friend then expressed sympathy over the incident, using the term "gay" in the perjorative (which I neither use nor condone, but am totally guilty of uttering "boss", "rad" and "bitchin'" upon occasion, because developmentally I'm still in 7th grade). I then mused how "Gay Salsa Explosion" sounded like a cultural event in south Florida. Kinda like Carnival, only... not.

Arriba.

'Tis the Season

Well, we did it.

We hosted Thanksgiving dinner for eight, and Friday morning, the tree went up. Not just the tree, but pine garlands, decorative candles, window stickies, and stockings. We stayed away from the malls on Black Friday, only venturing to our local Home Despot for some necessities (like a new garbage can), spending most of our time putting up the tree and decorating it. And of course, within 24 hours, Elvis had plucked down most of the plush ornaments we hang from the lower limbs and corralled them into the center of the tree skirt, which he then used to "tuck them in".

Saturday saw the kids at respective overnights, and Raechelle and I went up to Ballard for a nice quiet dinner, followed by Kyle Stevens at the Kiss Cafe. It's a cute little hole in the wall, serving 100 beers and a few different wines. Kyle put on his usual strong set, while Rae and I sat at the bar next to Kyle's sometimes writing partner and fellow singer-songwriter, TJ Sherrill. It was nice not to have to rush home.

Today was a leisurely day, culminating in Kayleigh, Raechelle and I joining Dan & Trish for Twilight at a quaint old theater in South Seattle. I won't go into what I thought about the movie, as I'm obviously not an 11 to 14yo girl and therefore had a lot of problems with the acting, story pacing, makeup, editing and direction that those in the target market wouldn't have had. We headed home and made dinner, watched some Family Guy, and headed to bed.

Except that I'm too restless and full of energy to sleep. So I decided maybe a weekend recap post was in order - blogging as a soporific.

Yeah, good luck with that.

Weekend Update

For a relatively packed weekend, it felt really nice and relaxing. Friday was a comedy double feature, for which Raff joined us. Some really yummy import beer, pizza, and laughing, which fortunately set the tone for the weekend.

Saturday started out with a trip to Southcenter to find the girl a nice black dress to wear for the wedding that night. Afternoon was a lot of cleaning and organizing, and TBGE actually made a huge dent in Tyler's room. Watched a little college ball, then got all gussied for Nichole & Dan's wedding out in Maple Valley. So yeah, if you're from the big city and not used to driving around the sticks at night, and the directions don't list distances... let's just say there was some extra driving around. The sticks. At night.

Anyway, it was a lovely ceremony full of humor, followed by food and alcohol. What's not to love? And just being there with Raechelle seemed to have an effect on both of us, in the best way. It was a good night. We danced to Jason Mraz - I'm Yours for the couples' dance.

Sunday morning, Ron came by and shot some more pics of us, my favorite of which is proudly sported on TBGE's blog. Then we had some Taco Del Mar and watched the Hawks/Skins game (gah!), and actually slept through the entire third quarter cuddled up on the sofa.

Sunday night consisted of the weekly grocery shopping, checkbook balancing, cleaning and school/work prep. Throughout the entire weekend, there were fits of laughter which left our ribs aching and our cheeks paralyzed. I can't even remember the context, but it wouldn't matter if I did - so much of what we laugh at is "had to be there" stuff anyway. I don't remember laughing so much in a single 48-hour period. It was like all of our 2-hour phone calls from the early part of our courtship rolled into one weekend.

Which brings me to a special fact about today.

[mushy alert]

Six months ago, Raechelle met me at the Harvard Exit theater, walked right up to me, said "green light" and planted a big ol' kiss on my lips. We've been at this relationship thing ever since. And I think we got a lot of the angst and speedbumps out of the way early, because it sure feels a lot more relaxed and fun now - and it just keeps getting better.

So, happy six months, babe. Looking forward to many more.

[/mushy alert]

TGI(F)F

That stands for Thank God It's (Finally) Friday.

It's been a long, busy, exhausting week. So far, I've been able to keep the tickle at the back of my throat at bay, but last night I got really congested around bedtime. It was nice to hole up with the girl and watch Thursday night TV in bed, regardless of my snottiness. I think I kept the disgusting-factor to a minimum. Neither one of us got much sleep, as we had middle-of-the-night kid issues. But we pushed through, and Rae managed to get off to work more or less on time, and I got both kids off to school. Well, to be fair, Tyler got himself on Metro and was out of the house shortly after 7AM.

I got a couple scenes written for the Ordinary Angels pilot, and we had Dan & Trish over for a script meeting last night. The concepts are quickly solidifying, and for the first time in the process, I'm really seeing the finished item. It's not writing-by-committee, but Dan, Trish and Raechelle all toss out ideas and we bat them around. Then I can take them or not. It's a huge help in getting me past all the little blocks that have held me up over the course of writing this thing.

I'm in full-on writing mode today, which will make movie night all the more rewarding. We've got a few things going on this weekend: the wedding, the Hawks/Skins game, and a photo reshoot with Ron. Other than that, just more cleaning and organizing. Thanks to Ryan for the 1x4 solution to my closet rod dilemma. It shall be done.

I'll leave you with the coolest little viral video I've seen in some time. Even if you've never played Guitar Hero, you've got to admire the creativity and painstaking prep work this had to take (and how many times did they have to do it to get it perfect?).

BOO 2: Electric Boogaloo

As TBGE mentioned on her blog mere moments ago, Saturday was a lot of prep, a lot of cleaning, a lot of decorating, and a lot of fun! Special mad props go to Darlene for contributing to the bar and for set-up and tear-down. She's amazing (and Caleb gets a mention for the clean-up too).

Tyler was a ninja, but he shucked the costume after an hour or so, making the occasional appearance with Elvis. Kayleigh again donned her Willow costume, and was joined by Trish as Buffy. Dan came with a Bible, glasses and a neatly trimmed mustache, and a nametag that read "Hi-dely-ho, Neighborino!"

There was a nice mix of Raechelle's crowd and mine, and everyone got along splendidly. It was actually a really nice social experiment, and it seemed to work well. Sarah Palin and Joe the Plumber were in attendance, as well as Grouche Marx.

We had cobwebs on the lights and pictures, we had spiders and bats everywhere... black lights, candles, strobes, colored light bulbs, a rock party playlist, ambient creepy sounds playing low on my "antique" radio, and silent horror films going on the projection screen (thanks to my projector getting repaired). Everyone had a great time, and at about 3AM the last of the guests trickled out. Pics are here.

The majority of Sunday was spent cuddled on the sofa, watching football and Buffy episodes, and doing light chores. It really was a nice, low-key day.

So, this week is mostly organization for me - prepping spaces for Rae's stuff, reserving the truck for the move, etc. Oddly enough, after last weekend (and my New Year upon me), I'm not stressing as much. We have an election night gathering at Dan & Trish's on Tuesday, but aside from that, I'm in move-in prep mode.

Weekend Update

Friday night was some Simpsons Halloween hilarity, followed by Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow. Mmmmm. Halloweeny.

So the thing about not planning anything social all weekend means you actually get a lot more done. This weekend, that included cleaning and shoveling out my carport to the extent that Ruby now has a covered place to park.

We did such an admittedly excellent job on the carport that when Kayleigh went to Gavin's for their Star Wars RPG (Tyler had already spent the night there), I took the Little Woman (hey, I can say that - she's teeny) to dinner at Cactus on Alki. And who should be hostessing at the front, but Alyssa - my Ordinary Angels hair & makeup gal (and erstwhile stagehand).

After a yummy dinner, we headed back to the house and spent about an hour and a half practicing some songs for an acoustic set. The songs we worked on were all covers, but we have originals stashed away which will be surfacing at some point. It was good to sit down and work the tunes together. That was the original premise for our first meeting, and we finally did it... five months later (happy five month anniversary, by the way).

Then we retired with a bottle of wine to watch Kinky Boots, a funny little film about a doomed shoe factory and a line of boots for big, burly drag queens. And it has The Operative from Serenity in the transvestite lead.

Much clinging and cuddling this weekend. It was nice. Gavin brought the kids home about 11PM, and K watched the first part of SNL with us, then it was crash time.

Sunday was all about the Halloween shopping (after a birthday coffee chat with Ron). We spent several hours at Southcenter. Fortunately most of what we needed was in a couple of the side malls away from the main shopping center. Whew.

Came home with last-minute costume bits and decorations for Saturday, some pumpkins to carve and some hair color for the girls. Kayleigh went with a strawberry red for her Willow persona, while Raechelle went dark blood red to highlight her brunette tresses. They both look fantastic.

Raechelle cooked up some ravioli and sauce, and Tyler handled the garlic bread (yummy!). We all sat down and had dinner together, followed by a couple Buffy episodes, and bedtime.

It was a good, productive, calm and nurturing weekend, after a week of stress in T-Rae Land. I daresay neither one of us wanted it to be over. I'm keeping a vigilant eye on the calendar to make sure neither one of us overbooks for the next couple weeks. We both need to be good to ourselves and allow plenty of calm alone time in our respective spaces before the move.

We now return you to your week, already in progress.

Can I Get An "AMEN!"

Second good night's sleep in a row. I'm on the upswing. YEAH baby!

Watched The Notebook last night with my daughter. Not a film I'd thought to seek out on original release, much less enjoy as much as I did. Thank you, Netflix. I found the story compelling, even if I did figure out the connection in the first act. Still, despite the heartbreakingly familiar themes and final scene (which was incredibly hard for me to watch), it's a beautifully made and engaging film. Kayleigh absolutely LOVED it.

Received some income from my long-neglected game company, so I'm feeling a bit better about things going into the winter season.

I've got Chris Isaak blaring on the playlist, I've got paychecks in the bank, it's Friday, I have no social plans this weekend (except for Trish & Dan coming over for movies), and the girl is here. Life is good.

Another Weekend

Yes, another weekend has come and gone, and although born in angst, it quickly righted itself and became a closely bonding experience. We're both getting to the point of being able to keep our flight impulse at bay when having an argument - and I think it's mostly due to the fact that it feels like we've been together longer than 5 months. We've both invested so much in a relatively short period of time, it puts us in the perspective of "well, let's not be hasty and dump it all - this is worth sorting out..." After all, one of the necessary skills in any successful relationship is learning how to argue constructively.

To recap, Friday night was It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! and The Prophecy (wherein it was suggested that Eric Stoltz might play me in the Cameron Crowe/Nora Ephron movie of our relationship). Trish and Dan joined us, and for the first time, Shaun made an appearance at the festivities. We made him welcome, and hopefully he'll come hang with us again.

Then the aforementioned tiff occurred, and enough of a peace was forged that nobody went to sleep angry... however:

I awoke at 2AM, drifted in and out of consciousness, and was clobbered by an intense migraine at 3:30 in the bloody AM. Came upstairs to medicate and try to let Raechelle get some sleep without me groaning and muttering expletives. Finally achieved a state of relative equilibrium and trundled downstairs to get back in my own bed about an hour before we had to get up and take Ruby to the dealership for some basic maintenance.

I was not in good shape Saturday.

Things from the previous night were already on the mend, however, so I didn't have to shoulder the worry of an angry girlfriend on top of a killer migraine, no sleep and an empty stomach. We dropped Ruby at the dealership and got a loaner. I was not aware that Hyundai made anything that ginormous. I think it's their equivalent of the Kia Sorento. Anyway, we got brunch at Shari's, and I felt much better. We walked to JoAnn fabrics and got some Halloween stuff. A quick trip to Home Depot for a flat-nosed shovel, an additional clothes rod for the master closet, and an outdoor push broom, and then back to the dealership to rescue Ruby.

We had a quick spot o' tea with Don, Marcia and Ben, Raechelle's ex-family-in-sin. Ben is homeschooled/unschooled, and is an amazing kid of Tyler's age. We picked their brains on the homeschooling/unschooling thing, and a huge new world opened up for me as a parent. We borrowed some books on the subject and are doing some research. Nevertheless, by this point in the afternoon, I was hitting a wall and needed to crash out for awhile. We came home, I turned on some random college football game and promptly fell asleep for an hour and a half.

Other than a trip to SCT for a very funny and well-done production of Night of the Living Dead, it was a quiet night. We stayed in, had leftovers and a little wine, and watched a whole disc of Buffy. With the kids. There may have been popcorn involved as well. It was madness. Then we went to bed, caught the first half hour of SNL, and crashed until after 9AM. Buh?? How is this possible, TD? you may ask. And yeah - I know, right? But it's true!

Sunday consisted of cleaning, then an expedition to Red Light on Broadway and the giant Goodwill on Dearborn. Which is where we happened to find a 4-drawer metal filing cabinet for the office (which usually retail for $200+) for $15. And here is where I must tell a little story...

I never find anything to wear at Goodwill, because I'm 6'4" tall and shuffle around on a pair of size 13 feet. So when we walked into the joint and were greeted with a couple racks of leather jackets, my browsing was completely in the realm of, "Gee, what to they have for everyone in the world but ME?". So imagine my surprise when I found this:

A 19th century style black suede "frock coat". Size: XL. Great condition. Easily $300 new. My price: $30. Gotta love Goodwill. The coat, combined with the black ruffle shirt, purple vest and black boots from Red Light (along with some snug trousers and a couple long canine tooth appliances), will give me a nice Byronic vampire persona for Halloween. Very vampire-pimp (or "vimp") if you will. And Raechelle got herself a doozy of a red & black cancan dress that can do double-duty as a pirate wench ensemble when needed - but for Halloween, she's my #1 vampire-ho. Love it! Tyler has said he's going to be a ninja. I don't know if that means he's going to do a black costume, or just disappear all night. And Kayleigh is going as the character Willow from Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

Anyway, once we were back, I muscled in the file cabinet by myself, which was stupid and which Raechelle lectured me about. Fortunately I didn't pull, pop, strain or otherwise burst anything. Then Doug and Ann came over for the Hawks game, and we ate pizza and cried in our Thomas Kemper root beer as the Buccs played circles around the clueless Seahawks. I blame the new training facility. The players have descibed it as "spa-like". I think it's made 'em soft. That and an ungodly number of injuries this season.

We headed off to bed to fold laundry and get kids tucked in, and had a good night's sleep for Monday. It's a new week, and it's jam-packed with social obligations. And that is why we had to un-schedule some stuff for this upcoming weekend. We need to seriously prep the house for Rae's move in, which is coming up in three weeks. And the weekend after this one is our Celtic New Year party (wherein we wear our vamp regalia). So every spare moment is going to be Rae packing her apartment and me making room here.

And although I'm just a tad scared of the whole move-in thing, I've been getting plenty of positive reinforcement from the Universe, and I say bring it.

Weekend Plus!

So let's see...

Friday night Kayleigh took off to spend the night at a friend's house, and Dan & Trish joined Raechelle, Tyler and me for Iron Man. Once again, it was French bread pizza. Tyler doesn't like it, but two loaves split in half give four adults a nice amount of custom pizza real estate.

Had some nice mushy time, then Saturday was upon us. We slobbed around in our pajamas, ate cold cereal and watched cartoons with Tyler, then it was time for Raechelle to take off for some girl time with her friend Jamie, Tyler went over to Gavin's, and I had the house to myself for the first time in I-don't-know-how-long. Real ME time (which I have been craving quite a bit lately, as it helps one maintain perspective when one is normally steeped in children and a relationship). Worked on music. Nurtured my soul for a few hours.

Picked up Kayleigh at her friend's house, and drove her to Gavin's for their Star Wars RPG. Came home to find Raechelle back, and we hit the road... to Olive Garden! Yeah, don't hate us because we're a jet-set, rock-star couple. I actually had a gift card, so dinner was free. Then we hit Cost Plus for some Halloween decor for our upcoming par-tay (and replenished the wine rack - we loves us the Cost Plus!). Picked up a couple bottles of this stuff. Pretty good.

Headed home for more mushy time (watching Clerks in our jammies). And once the kids returned from Gavin's, it was bedtime.

Sunday morning came, and with it my coffee time with Ron. Came home to find Raechelle reorganizing the office. Can't stop the woman, that's for sure! We brought Kayleigh's bathroom radio outside to listen to the pitiful Seahawks game while we plowed through the rest of the boxes in the carport. I now have a load of Goodwill/Northwest Center stuff, and enough of a dump run to warrant renting a U-Haul pickup truck this week.

We came inside and collapsed on the sofa, dozing through the last of the Hawks' loss to Green Bay (at home, no less! WTF??), and awoke to the last of the Cardinals/Cowboys game. Made Raechelle giggle 'til it hurt. Then it was dinner and Buffy episodes until bedtime.

Monday morning. Time to get back into another week. And, as if on cue, Tyler had an excuse as to why he couldn't go to school. Fortunately, I had a scheduled meeting with his mental health counselor at school - a meeting Tyler himself had requested. So we went to the meeting, and I sat and watched for two hours while three women on the school staff had the exact same discussion I have with him every day. And now they're getting it. We'll know more when we have the sleep study in another month or so, and when he has his full psych evaluation at Navos.

Grabbed some lunch, got my new car tabs, and headed for home. Got there just before Kayleigh brought her friend home after school, and it was impossible to sequester either side from provoking the other. I finally sent them outside in the back yard and collapsed on my bed for a 20-minute cat nap.

After Kayleigh's friend was picked up, I took her with me to get some dinner at the deli. The characters were out in force tonight at the QFC. It was an entertaining bit of people-watching while the slowest deli clerk ever made three sandwiches very haphazardly over the course of 25 minutes. Got some salad and mac & cheese, and popped open my last Scuttlebutt amber. The sandwiches were all but inedible.

We have a busy week scheduled on this end. I hope I'm up to it.

P.S. Can I just say how much it amuses me to hear divorced people with joint custody say they "know what it's like to be a single parent"? Sorry... haven't had to bitch about the DGIs for a long time. That one just stuck with me this weekend.

So I Lied.

Warning: This post contains liberal amounts of mushiness, angst and photos. Not for the weak of stomach.

(Our view from the Master Suite at the Ann Starrett)

Yeah, I promised Raechelle and myself I would ignore the online world and ice my back, and in my own defense, I did just spend twenty minutes on the ice pack and can't currently feel my shoulder blades. But I feel like I can probably make with some bloggity before the pain returns.

Port Townsend Weekend '08 was a blast. Our first getaway sans children, and it was wonderful. We holed up in a beautiful room full of antique furniture and commanding views of the surrounding hamlet, and we were only about three or four blocks from the main strip.

(My lovely traveling companion)

(The bed that proved my undoing - my BACK, you pervs!)

(Raechelle on the "fainting couch")

(The bed canopy ceiling - we agreed the rose was a bit... "sphinctery")

We had great weather for a sleepy getaway: some sun, some bluster, a bit of rain. We ate, we drank, we window-shopped. I made it out with just one extra T-shirt, while Raechelle ended up with three (count 'em) THREE hats.

(Showing off the hat some big Scotsman bought her)

(Some big Scotsman trying to be all sexy on no sleep - this can't end well)

(And yet, she's adorable. Where is the justice??)

We even saw a kinetics parade, where locals showed off their crazy human-powered conveyances. It was a very lovely couple of days, spent with a very lovely woman. Lots of hilarity, and lots of mushy too. We had a great drive back to the Bainbridge ferry and were home in the mid-afternoon (after learning that the Seahawks had been slaughtered by the NY Giants - mother pus-bucket!).

Unfortunately, the physical toll of no sleep in a Victorian-era bed that was at least two inches too short and a chronic ear infection that returned in the cold Port Townsend weather combined with the mental stress of coming home to find the interior temp at 75F and two stove burners going unattended (among other lesser issues), making my spine into a crackling labyrinth of pain. To top off this amazing agony sundae, I slammed my left knee into the corner of the coffee table just in time for that pain to join the fresh migraine (and the knee is all kinds of colorful today!). Despite this, I still made a trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond for some drawer organizers as Raechelle kinda went on an organizing binge. She made a dent in the wine from the previous night, and I had a couple beers (it had been that kind of afternoon). She cooked a really yummy dinner, and we settled down to watch a bit of the Pittsburgh/Jacksonville game and some Sunday night Fox animation while Raechelle caught up on some of her blog reading and helped Kayleigh a bit with her homework (I know! Crazy, I tell ya!).

Then it was an episode of Buffy (1st season), and bedtime. Well, bedtime for everyone but me. I'd had such a great weekend, but all of the frustration of physical pain and finding stove burners going full blast when I walked into my home (when I'm already paranoid about fire) meant that I was wound way too tight to get to sleep. Raechelle was pooped and was in no condition to chat, so I couldn't even "download" all the crap spinning around in my head like marbles in a glass jar.

Needless to say, not a good night for the Toddster.

I awoke to conflict with Tyler (gee, who saw that coming??), saw Raechelle off to work with a latte and lunch, and dropped Kayleigh at school. Immediately made an appointment for Tyler back with his old counselor at Highline (now that the kids are covered again, I'm hitting the overdue maintenance, and that includes mental & emotional upkeep). Next up, both kids to the dentist!

That should just about bring y'all up to date on my part of the weekend. Raechelle says she will post tonight after work, since her new gig doesn't allow her a lot of leisure web time. She has some pics on her camera too, including one of me on the "fainting couch", for contrast.

And I just received the replacement bulb for my video projector, so it looks like I have a project this afternoon.