Farewell DSL / Rumor Has It...

I finished my last training job yesterday. I'll be back training on a different topic later on in the month, but this leg is done.

I was in Alhambra, CA near L.A. for most of the week, and then Sacramento on Friday.

Upon returning to the airport to fly home I noticed everyone looking out the window. Human nature kicked in and I followed them to see what was up. Right there on the runway was Air Force One...and just 5 days after I had seen it blown out of the air on 24 (season 4 disc 4...oh yeah...SPOILER).

It was far enough away that I couldn't see if the President was there. I know he was flying in to meet with the Governator.

I then flew to Denver, then to Chicago.

On the flight from Denver to Chicago there were a couple things.

1) one of the flight attendants HAD TO BE in witness protection. A stout, older guy...totally looked like he could have been ex-mob and now was a flight attendant. It was bizarre.

2) I saw the movie "Rumor Has It..." with Jennifer Aniston and Kevin Costner. Rumor Has It...that Jennifer Aniston can't act that well. She did ok, but anytime she was supposed to hysterically cry I found myself thinking "I could do better than that if I were playing the female role...I would be more believable." Another thing about this movie. The guy playing her fiancee (no idea what his name is)...this guy has popped up recently and pretty much plays the same roles all the time. I've seen him in two different movies on airplanes...both as the straight man love interest. I don't remember what the first movie was. He was also the straight man love interest in that movie where what's-her-name from Walk the Line is a ghost. I can't believe I can't think of her name...Legally Blonde...that girl. Anyway, I'm sure Eric or Rich will know the name of her, and the guy I'm talking about. So this guy. He seems to be in everything in this role, he's good at the role, but just not that interesting. He was also...uh boy....I'm blanking on names...he was in that movie with Tom Cruise (bad guy) and Jamie Foxx (cab driver). All I can think of is Minority Report...and it's not that. Anyway, the guy I'm talking about is a cop/detective that is trying to catch Tom. That's the only place I've seen him NOT as the love interest.

Man...I think I just found something hereditary that I got from my dad...inability to remember movie names and actor names. And if it IS hereditary, it will only get worse from here. My favorite movie name guess of my dad's: "Stench of a Woman" instead of "Scent of a Woman".

Back in Action

Well...I had a week off. Stayed home and took some headshots, AND had a fun easter celebration!!

That's right...bunnies and bees!

The day after easter I flew to my current location...Alhambra, CA. Things have been low key this time around. One of the bonuses of flying is that someone is always sick...always. I'm feeling it a little, but fighting it off.

My flight was potentially terrible, and then got better. I was standing behind a lady who was about 5'4". As we slowly made our way to our seats on this full flight, she went to an aisle seat in the emergency row...5'4"!!! If you're short and you sit in the emergency row, Karma will get you (PS. my new name is Karma).

I, and my long legs, had a window seat. My last two flight have blessed me with aisle seats (so I can pop my knee...those who know me, know)...but they were next to an old man with a newspaper. TWO FLIGHTS! DIFFERENT OLD MEN! Why do I mention the paper? Because it would drift over onto me, as well as old man elbows. At least I was in the aisle and could easily escape.

As I took my window seat I waited to see if my old man fate would reach me. Nope...a baby! A cute adorable baby..well...1-2 year old. She sat right there in the middle seat as her mom sat in the aisle and her huge, muscular dad put things in the overhead. I'm thinking "GREAT! This is the best! I won't be fighting for the arm rest or leg space with this little kid in the seat!" And then, her huge dad sits in the middle seat. Ugh.

I had been Pepsi-ing up and used the bathroom. When I came back he offered to have me sit in the aisle and everything was good and well. Whew! That was a close one!

I got to see the Chronicles of Narnia finally. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is an animated film that I remember very well from my childhood. I almost started crying when Aslan made his "agreement" just because that little kid part of me remembered what happen and I felt like a little kid again. It wasn't that bad when they finally got back to it. Glad to finally see it.

I've been meaning to get out to IO West while I'm here, but being slightly sick has made me do nothing more than watch TV and go find food. I got 10 hours of sleep last night...which is VERY odd for me considering I woke up at 7:00am.

In other news. I got an interesting message on my MySpace page. It was from someone named simply, Kim. Turns out Kim is the Kim who is the sister of my old friend Aaron. I've been friends with Aaron since at least the 9th grade...maybe 8th...definitely not 7th. Aaron and Blaine were my friends from that era, and the only ones I really hung out with after High School. I ended up working with Blaine at the job I had before moving to Chicago (I was there for 5 years, he's still there) and still hung out with Aaron.

One day, and I don't really remember when, but I feel like it was before 1996...definitely before 1999. He just left. He didn't say anything to Blaine or I. He was just gone. We never heard from him. At my 10 year reuninon I bumped into some guys he hung out with that I also knew (I guess they were kind of friends) and they had seen him time to time, but he was always on the go, and usually burning bridges.

Well, Kim sends a message saying "how's it going" and gives me Aaron's phone number. He's living in Phoenix. I called him and got voicemail. It's weird to have a friend from childhood and later just disappear. So, it's good to know he's still alive.

Of Blasting and Stupidity

As promised...your's truly, destroying the evil Zorg.

Something that has been bugging me lately is the general stupidity of the population. In specific...ignorance...I think.

Here's what I'm talking about. I'm in at least two airports twice a week when I'm on these gigs. If the airport has a moving walkway, there is a voice saying "Caution, you are about to get on a moving walkway" at the beginning and "Caution, the moving walkway is ending" at the end.

Are we that dumb? C'mon people. Use your brains. You see a part of the floor is moving. If you pay attention, then you'll do just fine. But there are the idiots out there (case in point, grandmother on AFV who is standing backwards on the walkway and smiling at the camera, and then the walkway ends and she falls over) who don't. And quite possibly, these same idiot take it to court to be rewarded for their stupidity. I can only imagine that is the case or the airports and other businesses with other warnings would go to all the trouble to put obvious warnings on things.

If you can't tell that a toy that has small parts could be a choking hazzard for your one year old, you don't deserve to be a parent. You failed...failer.

This kind of ties into my trainings I've been doing. One of the first things they do is fill out a little form with some info for a fun activity. This week, hardly anyone brought a pen. I ask "do you have a pen?" and the reply is "nobody told me I would need a pen." Time to make some assumptions, America. I'm going to go somewhere to learn...I might need to write something.

So, there. Stupidity. Stupidity and indecisiveness drive me crazy. I may do some stupid things sometimes, but I'm decisive and informed when I do it.

The Happiest Place on Earth!

I'm still in Tustin, and 7-10 miles away from Disneyland. DL is open until 11pm...I get done with training at 4:30.

Today I braved traffic and went to Disneyland. A lot of changes since I went in 97-98...like California Adventures where a parking lot used to be. It took me a while to find the actual parking lot. Once I did the rest was easy. I'm all by myself here in Tustin and I was all by myself in Disneyland. I got there around 5:00 or so.

First place I went was Indian Jones!!! This ride is my favorite, and it still is. I was sending pics to Joey, Tara, Rich and Deanna as I went. This ride is even better when the wait is 15 minutes. This is the perfect time of year to go to Disneyland.

From there I was going to try a ride I hadn't been on before, but I saw Star Tours and the sign said the wait was 5 minutes. On either side of me was a parent with a small child. The dad to the left of me was trying to tell his kid:

Dad: "now, this is going to have a movie screen that will show a movie. It will seem like we're going into space, but we aren't really. The room will move too..."

The kid was fine the whole time, but the dad kept checking in through the whole thing.

From there I went to Astro Rangers? The Buzz Lightyear ride with lazer tag. This was fun. You get scores and a picture. I'll put the pic up here if I remember.

Next was space mountain. High speed roller coaster in the dark, fantastic. I was laughing hard by the end of it. So fun! WITH HARDLY ANY LINES!

Then it was time to ride the Matterhorn...for Prouty! I called Prouty and had him on the phone for the ride, so that was kind of fun and ridiculous.

Then I hit Small World. Creepy as ever. This is where it dawned on me that this place isn't as fun by yourself.

There was some parade. A typical one.

I ate a $9 crappy burger and went to Thunder Mt. Railroad...another great. From there it was back to Indy Jones and Buzz. The fireworks display was cancelled, and I was ready to leave.

It was fun...but I wish you were there.

Tustin Cologne, Tustin Fits

I'm in Tustin, CA this week...a.k.a. Santa Ana. It's weird being here after living in Chicago. I can drive for 10 miles in any direction here and go through at least three cities. Chicago is huge, these places are small.

While in the O'Hare Airport on Monday I saw...DITKA! He was on one of those carts that take people to their gates. I was heading to get food and didn't realize it fully until the cart had gone by, otherwise I would have hopped on and snapped a photo.

I'm very close to Disneyland here. I hope I make it out there sometime. The traffic is TERRIBLE when I get done doing training. It will probably take an hour to make the 10 mile drive. Add to that it was raining today. But I think I'll still go. They are open until 11:00pm, so I'll get in 5 hours. Figure I'll hit the new things that I haven't been on since I was there last (97-98ish).

SPEAKING OF CREEPY!...Kenny Rogers is on American Idol right now as the guest "star" who goes over songs with each singer. He...is...BOTOX'd! He and Barry Manilow are cree-py looking.

Hi-ho the derry-o. Spring is finally here.

Tomorrow morning I will be dressing up as a bumble bee. If you know me, you know I've also been: Willy Wonka, Prince Charming, a farmer, and a reindeer. Tomorrow...a bumble bee. I'll be hanging out with a Pixie and the Easter Bunny.

How else do I know Spring is here? ANTS!

I hate ants! HATE!

If you ever want me to destroy another human, cover them in ants. Ants trigger something in me that instantly says "destroy". Thank you, RAID. Although your "Kills on Contact" spray is lacking a little as I watch ants walk around after they're sprayed.

Also Deanna has killed 4 spiders this week. The bugs they are a-thawing.