So How Was Your Weekend?

Here's a little breakdown of the events involved in my weekend.

Friday Night: I had begun taking some new medication on Thursday, and began to start feeling a little warm Friday. By Friday night I felt like I was a walking furnace. This lead to...

Saturday Morning: I spent my time trying to get a hold of my personal doctors. Failing at that, I finally relented and went the ER.

Saturday Afternoon: Here's a couple things I realized while at the hospital. 1. I am oddly "at home" when I'm in the hospital. I am very comfortable and have zero anxiety when in a hospital. 2. If the person drawing your blood has the word "intern" on his scrubs or badge or name tag, immediately ask for someone else. Otherwise you will end up with this scenario.

Intern: Man, what am I forgetting? Oh the tubes.

Intern: You are going to feel a little prick...Whoops. Man, that's getting everywhere.

You look down and see he didn't cap the needle right and your precious blood is pumping out of the needle like a those crappy serenity fountains.

Four hours later I was finally discharged and told I was having an allergic reaction to the medicine, but it was not a life threatening reaction.

That left me about two hours to do a load of laundry, practice guitar, and drive up to the Hollywood Forever cemetery where they were showing Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Sure I should have probably canceled considering the state I was in, but obligation, obligation, obligation. And a girl was involved.

Trying to find the girl I was meeting there (for the first time) and her friends I realized how completely awful my eyes are at night. I couldn't see the group ten feet in front of me. Ten feet!

Side note: Walking through the graveyard I noticed a trend of the face of the deceased being engraved on the tombstone. But all the pictures are clearly from their deathbed or at least close to it. Wouldn't you want to have the best picture of you during your prime years engraved on your tombstone? But why the faces on the tombstone in first place? Is it for the benefit of strangers passing by? Why do strangers need to know what your loved one looks like? Unless they are or at one point were extremely attractive. I could see that scenario as bragging or trying to get a little bit more sympathy. "Poor guy. His wife was smokin' hot!" Maybe you are afraid family members will forget your name? "Mom's buried here somewhere, if only I could remember her name."

Anyway an enjoyable time at the movie where Paul Rubens himself introduced the movie and made funny with some anecdotes.

It might have been the contact high I was getting from some movie goers around me, but despite feeling like a walking furnace it was an enjoyable evening.

Sunday I picked up Rock Band 2 on the way to church. I felt a little guilty about it. Should I have bought it after church? But it was kind of on the way, and what if they sold out? That fact that I was getting hot flashes during the church service did not assuage my guilt.

Lunch with bobby and Aubrey and Mohr and other people. Enjoyed some the delicious cajun white beans at Wahoos.

Played Rock Band 2 and apparently reopened my vein they took the blood from. It's not a pretty sight.

Watched the ESPN cutaway to Big Z throwing a no hitter against the Astros.

Watched True Blood which is really not that good, but the cliff hanger endings of the episodes always reels me back in.

So that was my weekend: ER, Hollywood Cemetery, Paul Rubens, and Rock Band 2.

So, This Might Only Be of Interest to Jiff's Buddy Steven, But At Least It's Not Idol or Baseball Post

What's up family, and friends, and people who Google image searched Judas Priest album covers? It's time for me to bore you with another post about a band I really like, and most of you don't. It's not the Twilight Singers/Afghan Whigs, but the second band I've written the most about...The Hold Steady. One of the reasons they show up so frequently is that they release albums as often as I date. Which is pretty frequent for an artist. Not so frequent for me.

Since their album Separation Sunday, they have become a first day of release purchase for me. In fact they have become and anticipated release artist. I look forward to it. I mark it in my Blackberry's calendar. 7/15/08 is when their new album hits stores. Today, they put their first single, "Sequestered in Memphis," up on myspace. See it's good for music, not just cyberstalking. I've already played the song six times today. It's The Hold Steady with power chords, and organ, and piano, and horns, and sing-a-long choruses. They even include some hand claps in the breakdown. Yes, Finn is still singing, which means most of you will only be able to get past 24 seconds of the song. Jiff's buddy Steven likes them, so maybe he will stumble upon this post and click on the myspace link and listen to the song and enjoy it.

Let's keep this going for a little bit. Today is my second guitar lesson with a guy named Steve. Imagine if Jerry Garcia as a surfer and about a hundred pounds lighter, and you've just pictured what my teacher looks like. His "teaching room" is basically a walk in closet in this guitar shop. He sits in this old 70's like chair like a California Buddha, and spouts out his guitar knowledge. He also sprinkles it with a few ramblings, and pauses while he tries to collect a memory from a most likely weed clouded mind. I'm basically saying that I couldn't have a more entertaining guitar teacher. His one comment about me, "You seem practical, so lets go with that."

Um...So, I Guess I Am Now...Ready to Rock?

Look at the growing fat roll on my neck.

Shhh. I'm rocking it gently.

Okay!

Who knew the lines "I have a date" would stir up such a hullabaloo? I'm afraid this is going to turn into the current Suns vs. Spurs (San Antonio not Tottenham) series: so much hype but little payoff.

First, let's begin with how I got there on a Friday night. One of the things my therapist and I have been working on is getting me outside my comfort zone, and to put myself out there. Basically it's Adventures of Independent Bradford (TM Mandy). One of these things that I decided to do was to actually give one of those dating websites a try. Now you early adopter(s) of the blog might remember this post. This was back when I actually put effort into my posts. Look at those six internal links! Six! Anyway, eHarmony found a solution to finding no matches for me in LA. They look for matches outside of LA, way outside of matches. Sifting through the matches from AZ, Canada, Colorado, and so on, I did find a match from the OC. At least it wouldn't require me having to buy a plane ticket. She is very cute. A little bit of a grown up Winnie Cooper thing going on. Works non-profit. etc.

So, I went through the guided communication hoops. You send a first round of multiple choice questions, which is completely worthless. Then you send and answer a round of short answer questions. Then there is e-mailing back and forth, which led to a few phone calls, which led to meeting in person, which led to my first "date" in 3 and a half years. That seems to fit into my lifetime average.

That leads us up to Friday night. It didn't start off perfectly well because I got a little lost going behind the "Orange Curtain." I do know where Medieval Times is now. We met over coffee/tea. She actually looked better in person than in her profile pictures. We talked for about an hour, and then went and had some Korean food at restaurant she always wanted to try. The whole evening was fun with some entertaining conversation. At the end though, I just didn't get a vibe from her that she was all that interested. I will admit I wasn't able to bring my A game. It was really only about a solid B. Perhaps, I was more follicly challenged than she anticipated. Overall, it was still a nice evening, and it was a new adventure.

I am though reminded of that semi-painful movie Elizabethtown. I think we did peak while talking on the phone.

Another What Might Have Been Moment

It was 10 pm on Friday night, and I was putting my cell phone in my man purse. I was on my way to go see The Bank Job at the theater across the street from work. The Bank Job was playing at 10:20 pm. I was all set to go see a solid bank heist movie. Then I wasn't set. I decided to stay home and work on my spec script like all diligent wannabe writers should do. After writing for a few hours and eating a box of Cheez-its, I checked the news. There under the El Segundo section of my Google News was a story. Apparently, at 10:15 pm there was a shoot-out between two police officers and a young man. It left the young man dead and the two officers wounded. Where did this all take place? You guessed it. Cue the X-files theme music.

Two Points From Bragging Rights

Sometimes close has to sort of count right? So the NCAA Final Four has come to an end with Kansas beating Memphis 75 to 68. In my bracket I correctly had Kansas winning only I had them beating UCLA because I thought Memphis' poor free throw shooting would've caught up with them sooner. I did though have the score listed as Kansas winning 76-69...so close-except for the fact that I also didn't have Memphis.

One of the Bad Things About LA

Last night I drove all the way into Hollywood to see the Gutter Twins at the Avalon. The band sounded great. Dulli roared and Lanegan growled. From "God's Children" to "Live With Me" to "St. James Infirmary" the band rolled along not missing a beat. They closed the set with one of my new favorite songs, "Front Street." Dulli commanded the stage like he always does. He said goodnight. So far a wonderful night of rock and roll. Then the house lights came up. That's right...no encore. I was a little bummed and felt a little stupid standing there clapping and cheering for an encore. Then I got over it because I knew why there was no encore. The audience was awful. Even by LA standards it was an awful audience, and I'm not one of those people who thinks encores should be standard. Were there people screaming their heads off, clapping and dancing? There were but they only accounted for about a fifth of the audience. So, yes those us got screwed out of an encore. I consider it like being Kevin Garnett on all those years on an awful Timberwolves team. You can put as much heart and soul into it, but sometimes it's those around you that keep you from making the playoffs. After blasting through Idle Hands and seeing mostly blank stares, I started thinking that we wouldn't get an encore. Maybe it was the rainy night, but I've better crowds on worse nights. Maybe it was the Avalon, but a year ago it was one of the best crowds I've seen at the same venue. So, I don't know what it is, but I am getting a little tired of it. LA crowds on the whole tend to act too cool for school. Maybe I need to start seeing concerts in other states.

15,000 Hits

At 5:35 pm PST, this blog has the magical 15,000 hit mark! Why is it magical? I have no idea, but it feels magical. So to all my family, friends, and people who Googled for the band called The Throwaways, I thank you. I also apologize to the those expecting this site would have tons of information on your favorite band The Throwaways. Lucky number 15,000 came from Calgary, so I assume that must be Faith. Congratulations Faith. Unfortunately, that's all you get. No fabulous prize or anything. I'm sorry person from Burbank who Googled "southern california female myan peace makers." You came in at 15,001. So close.

To Ring in My Return to Work

I offer you my first research question post strike: Is there a wedding veil made out of titanium or some other material that would cause a bullet to ricochet?

My Question: How much longer till our next hiatus?

Well That Didn't Last Long (Update)

Earlier tonight CBS told out show to layoff all the assistants in the writer's department. They are going to try to keep us on as PA's for a few days a week. My thinking is that I'm already ahead of the curve with this extra week so I might just give those hours to those who need it. Which means as of now I am without a job. I'm not that concerned because I have enough to last till January at least. My concern is that this strike is nowhere near ending. The producers and writers aren't even talking now. I understand that the writers deserve a piece of the new media pie, but this pissing match everyone has gotten into is helping nobody.

CBS has changed their minds and given us next week to work as well. So one more glorious week! Also, I was able to get to the last tier in Guitar Hero 3 last night on the hard difficulty. It was one of the proudest moments of this year. Then I attempted Metallica's "One" and failed the song three seconds into the guitar solo. Talk about deflating. But one more week of work!

Strike Update!

Here is what's going down. Monday morning the writers will be on strike. What does that mean to me? Well, it's not that bad because our show still has shooting to do. Everyone is still employed till we are finished shooting which should be around the end of November. They didn't have to this but they are keeping those of us in the writers' dept. around. We will be helping out production where they need us. So, I have a job for month longer than I thought. I assumed that once the writers' went on strike we'd be out as well. But the mayor called and I got a month's stay of economic execution. Actually it 's not even that bad, because I kind of prepared for this to happen. Now I have an extra month to save even more. Still if the writers and producers don't come to some agreement during November, I will be out of job as well as 10,000 other people in this town. If nothing happens in November I suspect it will be a long time till everyone comes together in agreement. With the actors and directors contracts up in June 08, they might wait till then and have at least the actors and writers unified. But really nobody has any idea on when whatever is supposed to happen is supposed to happen. The good news is I got an extra month to work, and this strike will help me and others down the road who are pursuing a career in this crazy business.

I'd also like to welcome back Friday Night Lights. Tonight's episode was fantastic from start to finish. It's the first episode this season that could compare to any of last season's. Just stellar stuff.

An Adventure of Independent Brad (Mandy, Your Residual Check Is In The Mail)

So I stepped out of my comfort zone Saturday. Awhile ago, I signed up through my church with the Reading to Kids program. I figured because it was a once a month thing, and was just reading to kids that it was something I could handle. As the day approached though I began realizing what I'd committed to. That is waking up at 7:45 in the morning on a Saturday to spend three hours with a bunch of complete strangers. Flop sweat. So Saturday came, I crawled out of bed, and drove in a daze to the school near downtown. I walked into the auditorium and gave my name. Now I've been considering tinkering with being called Bradford rather than just Brad. Not a full implementation where I would require it, but it'd be fun to see in a couple years the differential between who calls me what. For example, it seems like everyone older than Anne Marie calls her Anne Marie. Those her age or younger call her Anne. Anyway, I went with Brad on the name tag. I'm clearly still unsure on where to go with this name thing.

They assigned me to the second graders which I thought was a perfect fit. Also, the book selection was Fog and Toad are Friends. Frog and Toad are Friends! I could've recited this book. Being a new guy, I was paired up with veteran. My original partner never showed, so I was partnered up with what was basically Neil at the age of 65. I realize I just referenced a person that only Ben I would know, but it fits. Wait! Jennie knows Neil. Actually, the only slight negative I had was my partner. He was a nice enough guy. It's just he was a little scatter brained, a little tightly wound, and he took the best stories. He stuck me with the worst story in the book! For those familiar with Frog and Toad, it is the story where Frog is not feeling well and Toad tries to come up with a story. (SPOILER ALERT!) It basically ends with Frog reciting as a story what Toad did to try to remember a story. So the last half is just you reading again what happened in the first half.

After reading it was time for crafts where they had to make frogs. Yeah, I know. It's not the most creative but my partner wasn't really up for discussing alternatives. Luckily, the kids were creative enough on their own to go outside the box. One girl just decided to screw the whole frog thing. She wanted to make a manta ray. My personal favorite Manuel made his frog with it's own head, a hole for a stomach, and a cape. All the kids were great. Sure their attention span was around 10 minutes tops, but their second graders. They were also very well behaved and respectful. They also clearly loved that this opportunity was made available to them.

The real moving moment though was meeting their parents. I spent two hours reading and helping them cut construction paper, and the kids were adamant about me meeting their parents like I was some their new best friend. And the parents were so thankful. They made such a point to thank us. I admit I got a little emotional having parents pulling me aside, shaking my hand, and thanking me.

That ended the day. It's such a nice contrast outside of the normal LA world I wade through. So my independent adventure was a rousing success, and I've already signed up for next month.

Life Lesson #729

No matter how much you might be craving them, do not eat hot wings after midnight. I think my stomach just hatched a Gremlin.

Just a Little Heads Up

Since nearly everyone who reads this blog sees organized sports as an example of the hell this world is going to, I'd thought I should make you aware of what will be happening the next month and hopefully the month after that, and if really really lucky a couple weeks into November. You see, with a month left in the regular season, the Cubs are currently 2 ahead in their division. That means I will most likely be slightly agitated and tightly wound till the season is over or it's clear that the Cubs have no chance of winning. So what should you as caring friends and family members do? Don't ever ask or talk about the Cubs unless I happen to bring them up in conversation. Now you could probably get away with saying "Nice win today!" if you perhaps saw the Cubs did in fact win that day, but that's about it. Do not do what my co-worker Dom did today in asking why the Cubs are falling apart. Then go into a rant on how the billy goat curse is coming back. I was almost arrested for attempted murder with an HP deskjet. Mind you this is the same guy who made a joke about the Cubs blowing it during Game 6 of the 2003 NLCS. I still hold it against him. I also suggest checking to see if a Cubs game is on before you call, or decide to simply drop by if you live in town. It could save you some time. Bob gets a clearance on this because being a baseball fan he understands. He fully comprehends what and what not to say. As stated this will last till the end of the season, Sept. 30th. Now if they make it to the playoffs clearly this will last till they are eliminated. I apologize for the inconvenience. If you want someone to blame you can blame Dad, aka Ike, aka Mr. Iten, aka Hey, you. Thank you for your time.

ROCK!

So Saturday I went and hung with Anne Marie, because I can easily do that now. We can now hang out any time we want. Any time! We went and had lunch. We saw Stardust, which was...um...cute. This really is only slightly related to the topic of this post. I state this for other family members who are looking to further their education as an example of some of the fun that could be had if you went to one of the universities in the LA area *cough Mandy cough* . Or even for those looking to enroll to a University only about six hours away *cough Ben I. cough* it would be great to have you on the same coast and available for a nice long weekend visit. I'm just saying.

Back to topic. I've been in ROCK mood the last few weeks, and I blame this on Guitar Hero. This has lead to making room on my Nano for more AC/DC, Stones, Priest, Motorhead, etc. I've also been looking for more obscure "classic rock" bands. Much like when I stumbled across the band UFO awhile back. This leads up to this weekend when Anne and I went to Amoeba. After much searching after mind blanking on their name, I picked up a Hellacopters album "Grande Rock. They aren't really that obscure, but the other album I picked up is. The group is called Starz. Yes, that is a "Z" at the end. Anyway, I picked up their anthology as a sampler. Man it feeds that classic rock need I currently have. With such songs as "Cherry Baby," "Boys in Action," "Rock Six Times," and "Detroit Girls" it's amazing that their only semi-hit was Cherry Baby. I would also like to point out that they deserve a little credit for praising Detroit Girls as the greatest girls in the world, because I would've never placed the greatest girls as living in Detroit. California girls? That's not surprising. Southern Girls? That's easy. Detroit? Who knew? Thanks you Starz.



I'm also including Hellacopters "The Devil Stole the Beat from the Lord" because it's a great title and a great song.



One more thing, why don't the Guitar Hero games include more obscure classic rock bands like Starz, and UFO? I appreciate that they give a bunch of current unknown bands a shot in the unlockables. But, why not throw in a few of these older groups so they can be rediscovered?

Life Lesson #419

Never have your teeth cleaned by woman going through a bitter divorce.

Ramblings (Partial Days of the Week Edition)

Sunday Robert and I played a little Guitar Hero. After playing the rhythm guitar part of Free Bird on the hard difficulty session I wonder if I'm strengthening my wrists and fingers or am I destroying them. In five years am I going to have to replace my hands with prosthetics?

Saturday I went to see Anne's new place in Silverlake. It's a great little place. It also was so nice driving only a half hour to see my sister.

Also, while eating at Mallie's (?) with Anne and Ben we saw Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords fame. Unfortunately, Ben and Anne have not had the pleasure of seeing the show. Luckily, the lady sitting next to us had, and was extremely enthusiastic about seeing him. So it seems the ladies love Bret, and the guys like Jermaine.



Thursday was my last physical therapy session. Sigh. I've been trying to work a monthly massage now into my budget. But I still don't think it'd be the same without the therapist. Apparently, if I hurt something else I can go back. Hmm.

Monday some coworkers and I went to go see the Simpson's movie after work. Rather than give some long review about the movie, let me talk about something else: the overlaugher. Sitting right behind me was the overlaugher. I despise the overlaugher. In fact the overlaugher is in the upper echelon of people I despise. Are they scared to appear as if they don't get every joke? Do they want to make sure that everyone knows what the funny parts are? Why do they have to be the loudest person in the theater? I will hate a movie just out of spite because of the overlaugher. I hate you overlaugher. I hate you.

This Saturday marks the beginning of my second season as a Tottenham Hotspur supporter. I actually think Spurs have a chance to break into the top four this season. High hopes.

I wish I was as creative in real as I am in my dreams. Also, is everyone's dreams as excellently edited and have as great frame composition as mine? Technically, my dreams are top notch.

Ramblings (Just Post Something Please! Edition)

I've been daydream shopping again. The daydream part involves me having any musical talent at all. The shopping though has been rather realistic. I've found myself wanting a miniKORG. See, that's reasonable. It's fairly cheap and small enough to fit into my apartment. I'd also need a drum machine but I need to research that a little more. Part of me thinks that I might be able to somehow piece together a simple synth-dance-pop track after maybe five years. Why am I the only one in the family that didn't get the musical gene?

The Cubs are en fuego. Unfortunately, so are the Brewers.

This Sunday there will be another Bad Movie Night. I think there needs to be a more clever official name to this event other than Bad Movie Night.

I only have three more visits to the physical therapists office. I'm really down about this. I can't wait till I'm wealthy enough to hire a full time masseuse. My back aches just thinking about the lack of massages.

Is it only a month till Anne Marie moves out here?

For the first time in almost four years I wrote actual pages for a script.

I've found this lack of psoriasis is affecting my spending. Not having to wear a hat everyday has to not only needing to get my hair cut, rather than cut it myself, but products like face lotion with sunscreen. Things that were unneccessary before. I also have gotten over the phantom hat pains. For the first month or so I would constantly reach to remove or adjust a hat that wasn't there.

I'd like to recommend a free computer program called Simplify Media. You know how you can listen to other peoples iTunes that are on the same network that you are like school or work. Well simplify media allows you to do this and not have to be on the same network. So I can listen to Mandy's iTunes, or I can listen to the music I have on my home computer while at work. The only problem right now is that you can't listen to protected files like the ones you buy from iTunes. They apparently are efforting a way around that. Did I mention it's free?

Finally, I am Flunky the Clown.

So Perhaps It's Not That Bad

Much like the Kubler-Ross model on grieving, I'd like to offer the Iten model for physical therapy. To help with remembering them they all begin with the letter "A."

Awkwardness: I've already covered this first stage here.

Acceptance: This is clearly when you come to terms with the fact that a stranger is touching you and that they sometimes have to touch you in inappropriate areas (i.e. buttocks). You also come to accept that these strangers will have to observe you while putting you through exercises and sometimes these exercises will put you in uncomfortable situations. The key to reaching the acceptance step is that you actually start feeling better. The joints don't hurt as much. You start being able to move around a little easier.

Addiction: I've found myself reaching this step last week. The highlights of my week now are that hour and a half every Tuesday and Thursday. That's right I look forward to having someone touch me. I think it's more than me being completely infatuated with my physical therapist. It's also more than not having my back lock up after I brush my teeth or wash my face. I think it is also the fact that I believe it is enhancing my socializing skills. Try carrying on a conversation with someone while your butt is flapping in the breeze let alone a stranger massaging it. It's like training camp when they fire blanks over the recruits while they scurry under the barb wire. If I can carry on a thirty minute conversation under those circumstances, I can do it anywhere. The point is that for all the reasons stated above I'm dreading the point where the doctor says I'm finished with physical therapy.

Doctor! Doctor!

For the past couple months I've been in and out of doctors' and dentist offices taking advantage of finally getting health insurance. That's what it's there for right? Everything has been checking out fine, but I knew my back was going to eventually be a problem. Years after my back surgery in high school, my Mom happened to mention that I was supposed to go in for a second surgery to correct my back some more. That second surgery never ended up happening because she thought I wouldn't be able to handle another surgery. Now, fast forward nearly twenty years to the present. I thought I could get by and not think about it, but decided to see an orthopod just to make sure nothing was wrong with the rods. Sure enough, he wanted me to see a spinal specialist. That is what I did today. I went to apparently the top spinal specialist on the west coast. It should be noted that every doctor finds my condition fascinating. Every X-ray results with two or three extra doctors brought in to "ooh" and "aah." Also, the doctors and nurses and office help out here are really concerned about decency. Back in Ohio and such it was always here's a paper gown now go parade around. Out here they offer a second gown to put on backwards, and are always concerned about me being embarrassed. The problem is I've spent years in Ohio hospitals parading around in blue paper and my underwear. The number of strangers that have seen me in hospitals in my underwear has to be nearing a thousand. I've gone past the point of feeling the need for decency in a hospital or doctor's office. This has led to me keep saying I'm fine I don't need a third hospital gown, but them forcing it upon me despite my pleas. I did ask if I could wear my hat to the x-ray room though. Anyway, I have flatback which is what the previous second surgery was supposed to correct, and I still have some curvature at the base of my spine. With the advancements in medicine in the past twenty years they can make my spine as straight as an arrow. They will basically make my spine look like the Terminator's. So, do I do it? I probably should eventually, even though it would mean at least six weeks till I could return to work, and all that misery at an age when I'm on the decline. There's also the benefit that it will force me to quit smoking. But can I afford basically two months off work? Nope. Will my insurance even cover most of it? Considering back then the surgery cost around $18,000, and my yearly max is $10,000, I'm guessing it might cover a third of it. I've determined I need to sell a script, which will put me in the guild, which will give me better health insurance. I also think I need a girlfriend to care of me those two months I'll be holed up in my hospital. That or a really attractive home nurse. The home nurse could be also attracted to bed ridden men. So it seems I'm at least a year off. At least I get to have it nagging around now in the back of my mind for a couple years.