yet again, i’m behind in the writing thing. . . i would like to say that a week on vacation back home would bring some progress, but i think i’ve noticed that that is definitely not the case.
anyway. . . it was in the high 50’s today in santa fe. people were walking around in shorts (including me. . .but that should be no surprise) and tank tops. i did a few errands, including a car wash during which i locked my keys in my car. . . luckily, the cell was in my pocket, so as i continued to clean my car. . . i got a locksmith to visit me. that should be the end of stupid things for a week right? HA. . . doubt it.
after such a warm week, ----what, ----what was that? global warming. . . what ARE you talking about? i’m betting that ottawa and northern ny will be quite the shock to my system. . . must remember to pack all those layers!
so yeah. . .where was i? oh right, holiday party. . . last thursday. jared was the main proponent, but katy and i were absolutely willing to add in once we were out of work. jared had actually set up a complete buffet. turkey, ham, peas, corn, stuffing etc. . . including the buffet servers to keep everything warm. i added some carnivore smores and faux grilled pineapple. . . and the normal rumballs. it was a slow start. . . but pretty quickly, we had a rip roaring party on our hands. . . . there were a handful of opera people that came and went the entire evening, which meant i actually had people to talk to. . . yippeee. jared’s coworkers from borders showed up in droves and occupied the living-room, which i mostly avoided. i think the most i interacted was by teaching some guy how to make a midori sour.
along with one of our coworkers, randy, from the opera came a gift, actually a couple of gifts. as jared opened one present randy leaned over to me and warned me that i would hate it. being that i’m not exactly a ‘festive’ holiday person, when i saw a penguin revealed, i quickly asked, ‘does it sing?’ and then a second quick shot, ‘does it move?’ the answer to both was yes. it’s a singing, hopping penguin. granted, i own a cereal bowl that is shaped to look like R2D2 and it makes R2D2 noises. . . but come on. . . it’s R2D2! this is a christmas song singing hop hop hoppity-ing holiday penguin. along with my mom’s festive cactus that sings ‘feliz navidad’. . . it’s one more thing that is ‘magically turned off’ when i walk through the room. randy’s second gift takes the prize however. after seeing both of them, and randy knowing how little i like the holidays, i turned to him a jokingly stated that he has managed to bring the two worst presents ever. randy walked in with a mounted deer head. it was festively costumed with a red bow about it’s neck, and red christmas tree ornaments affixed to each of it’s antlers.
i am not a person without humor. . . in fact, i often find humor where others find it inappropriate- as well as in all the ‘right’ places. the dark humor in a dead animal’s head mounted and decorated festively is not totally wasted on me. . . however, taking that dark joke and then affixing it to a structural entity of our house, kills the joke- for me. sometime in the middle of the party, randy and jared procured tools. holes were drilled. . . they took turns stepping back to make sure it was centered. and the head was placed over our fireplace. shortly after. . . people were taking pictures with it as a backdrop. there was supposed to be a ‘roommate’ picture. jared, katy and i were to gather under a gaily attired stuffed dead deer head for a holiday picture. someone grabbed hold of my arm to push me into the shot. i stood firmly and soberly (which wasn’t too easy) stated that i was morally opposed. i think i might have meant, ‘morbidly opposed.’
I HAVE A FUCKING DECORATED DEAD DEER HEAD HANGING ON MY WALL!
it stares at me as i watch tv, while i enter through the front door, as i water my plants. it’s eyes plead with me. ‘look at me,’ it seems to say, ‘i’ve been killed, stuffed, mounted, and now festively decorated. for the love of god, put me out of my misery!’
i wanted to start that first evening. . maybe stick a cigarette in it’s mouth. . . with a quote bubble saying, ‘cancer kills.’ one problem. . . i don’t smoke and won’t buy cigarettes out of spite. perhaps i would draw maori type tattoos on it’s fur. but no, it’s actually a prop from the opera and can’t be permanently tampered with.
but. . . do you think i’m able to leave ‘well enough’ alone. HELL NO!
you’ll have to scroll down for pictures to see what i did. . . .
ps. happy holidays. .. safe travels.
12.23.2005
deerapplique
deerapplique
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
i ask you, the gentle reader, how much 'spike' needs to be added to a holiday party in order for it to be pushed to such extremes. . . that someone decides, 'hey, lets take a sad, festively decorated dead deer head and position it on a structural entity of our home.'
certainly, i was not downing enough holiady spirits.
stonerdeer
stonerdeer
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
my revenge. . . while everyone was gone, i tried to relieve the pain of this poor deer's existance, with some 'medicinal' help. HA!
12.13.2005
"the one that got stuck?"
i had intended on starting this blog with, “well, here it is, december 13 and we still have no snow. . . except for the snow i didn’t get to see while i was away on thanksgiving.”
i can’t really start that way today though. . . i woke up and noticed that there was a couple of fluffy inches on the ground.
whoo hoo
so, first off. . . .got home LATE last night, or late for me, since i’m usually asleep by 11 at the latest during the winter season. . . and we got in from a concert around 12:30. . . asleep around 1am. . . ouch.
what concert you ask. . . the Brian Setzer Orchestra Christmas Spectacular! it was soooooooo SPECTACULAR! he is such an amazing musician, and his band ROCKS. . . especially the trumpet section. . . my favorites. i even enjoyed the christmas music, which really rocked as well. one of the final pieces was a swinging rocked out version of the nutcracker suite. . . i thought i’d never like that music again. . . . ahhhh. . . . brian setzer, another hero to add to the list. dad, i think you would love this show.
so, yes, i overslept my alarm a bit, but i had to make it in for a designer presentation at 8am. so i was out the door by 7:30. there was the snow, and the not so well plowed roads. i hit the useless round-about before the main road which set me fishtailing. the fishtailing got worse. i corrected, and calmly i heard my dad’s voice, ‘keep the front of the car in the front.’ i kept correcting, actually over correcting. about three major fishtails, and there i was in a 360. (before i get further, mom, i’m fine) the road was completely clear, lucky for me, lucky for anyone else. after stopping, i took a deep breath and turned back onto the road to head to work.
then, there was opera drive.
the opera drive that i was able to make it up last year when no one else could. i was within 100 yards of the gate. . . the last rough hill and curve. and my tires slipped. so, i was stuck. (again, mom. . . fine) i called my coworkers and they sent out reinforcements. before that though, there were three other people stuck on the same hill. the situation was complicated. . . people were pulling out shovels and trying to sand the road.
anyway. . . . a half hour later i was in the opera. and we were able to start the designer presentation, a half hour late.
later that day i attempted to make up for it by doing a decent amount of the grilling for lunch. carnivore smores and burgers. mmmmmm. while grilling (in the snow) i stepped onto a piece of slick scenery buried in the snow and fell directly on my ass, in the puddle being made by the melting snow from overhead. . . did i mention i had been slicing cheese with a hatchet and was holding the hatchet as i fell?
today kind of felt like i needed a do over.
again, i was fine, but rather wet and cold. we set up for lunch with the crew and designer. this particular designer, paul brown, is really fantastic. his costume renderings are really gorgeous, and the scenery designs are beautiful and innovative. and on top of it all, he seems to be a really nice guy. when he was here last, i remembered wishing i had the chance to listen to his talk backs and ask him questions, but we were too busy. i figured with the day i had been having so far, there was no chance of me partaking in sparkling conversation.
while grilling, paul brown came over to see if i needed any help, and then asked, ‘aren’t you the one that got stuck?’ yes, i will forever be immortalized in this world renowned designer’s memory as the girl that held up his presentation while getting my car stuck. fantastic. ugh. . .
a group of us continued to chat during lunch, sharing some fun snowy car stories. paul asked where i was originally from, and when he found out that i was from northern ny, he gave me a hard time about not having any excuse for driving poorly in the snowy weather. he had a point. i’m a disappointment to my upbringing. christ!. . . the first time i drove ever was on black ice! arg.
so that was my day. how was yours?
12.11.2005
mmmmm. . . michael wincott
it’s been a week now, since this happened, but we had the christmas party to set up this week, the espanola light parade was last night, la posadas was tonight- but i opted to not go. . . and a brian setzer christmas spectacular concert tomorrow night. . . little busy. . .
ANYWAY. . . last week i went to do some shopping at the borders. i was walking through the cd area and i heard this voice. . . this incredibly recognizable voice. i looked up and saw this guy, in a dark skull cap and a dark sweater with white punk-ish writing all over it. i couldn’t tell for sure, so i listened for his voice again and possibly a glimpse of his face. he looked right up at me- of course i quickly looked away in the hopes that i wouldn’t be seen staring. although he was scruffy, it was completely apparent. it was him, but fuck, i forgot his name! being that i was right next to the dvd area, i walked over to pick up a copy of ‘basquiat,’ knowing that i would recognize his name instantly. and there is was, simple, michael wincott. . . and there HE was, looking through the live concert dvds. there were a number of people shopping with him. i did hear one of them on their phone say that they had just gotten into santa fe, and that they were in the borders, because, what else were they going to do.
i only had two things to look for, and i found them immediately. but. . . i decided to waste some time and bask in the coolness that is michael wincott. . .. (ps, for the uninitiated. . . . michael wincott played the main bad guy in ‘the crow’. . . and another bad guy in ‘strangedays’. . . and he had a great part in ‘basquiat’. . . . he has a really gruff voice, which is probably why he cast as really good bad guys pretty often.)
so there i was, listening to almost any interesting music on the different stations around the store, in the hopes of catching a bit of conversation or something. after about a half hour of this, i realized that one of the other people with him was one of the kids from ‘lords of dogstown’. . . which i haven’t seen yet, but i’d seen the skateboard documentary that it was based on, ‘dogtown and z-boys’. . .
wincott spent a lot of time pouring over the cd’s. at one point his basket was right next to me. . . he had quite the collection stacked. i said nothing. . . tried to not give away that i knew him, when in my mind i wanted to grab a copy of the crow, maybe have him sign it? or just hold it up with a thumbs up from me while dancing across an aisle in front of him. instead. . . i debated over the new franz ferdinand, or the new beck.
long story short. . . i played it cool. what could i say anyway, that wouldn’t be totally lame and pest-like. . . . i walked out with the beck, which will now be always known as ‘the beck cd i bought while shopping next to michael wincott.’ i IMDB-ed it later, turned out he, and a number of other people are in the area shooting a civil war movie.
well. . . that’s it. . . for now. . .
12.03.2005
aeonlook
aeonlook
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
before driving to phoenix, i needed a hair cut, and i was SO sick of the length, that i told her to take it to my jaw. yep, a little shorter than i'm comfortable with, but oh well, it will grow. and well, after the stylist got to it, i kinda felt like i was unintentionally ready for the opening of aeon flux.
thanksgiving
thanksgiving
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
the thanksgiving splay included, carrots, asparagus, chestnut stuffing, cranberry sauce, garlic/ green chile mashed potatoes, rolls, candied yams, mashed sweet potatoes, and, of course, the turkey. obviously, not everything is on the table yet.
trevor&matt
trevor&matt
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
yes, here are matt and trevor, the day after thanksgiving. . . walking around in sunny and warm tempe. . . and yes, it was warm enough out to have some ice cream.
lightparade1
lightparade1
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
the tempe light spectacular thing. it had this great mobile bandstand set up. not bad. . . but i gotta say, espanola's light parade has your number tempe!
lightparade2
lightparade2
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
what you can't see is the audio engineer and some other tech type guy in the back of the train. . . not bad.
11.29.2005
on the short
well, i’m sick, two days out of work so far, and i’ll have to see how tomorrow goes.
very briefly, great thanksgiving -will have pictures and stories . . . a decent drive, and yes, i still need to catch up on the whole trip to florida. . . but i’m too sick right now. . .
and i’m not sure if it’s weighing in, but i got news over the holidays that a woman i worked with at the barter passed away on thanksgiving. she battled breast cancer for a number of years, and i’d gotten word that she wasn’t doing well again.
her name is alice white. she was a performer at the barter, and i worked on a couple of shows with her. i’ve heard from friends that worked with her longer, of her many endearing qualities which only confirmed my feelings for her, knowing her as little as i did.
i have one incredible memory of her, which i always thought gave a well rounded view of her personality. a group of us had gone to the movies, we were seeing ‘sixth sense.’ we passed alice and another actor, quinn, on the way to our seats. there’s a part in the movie where it’s explained that a little girl died through her mother’s poisoning. . . . munchausen by proxy. when the audience gets to see the video tape of the mom poisoning her daughter’s food, i distinctly heard alice react, ‘oh my word,’ ‘poor child,’ ‘ohhh, my.’ all i could think was, typical alice and smile. her empathy, sympathy, and love for all things living was unbridled.
my friend john probably said it best here. . . .
john's blog
and he has a phenomenal picture of her- it really speaks volumes.
alice kept a blog for a little while, during her chemo and such. . . .
alice white
alice white
97847367429_3300
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
i got the news about alice passing the day after thanksgiving. i relayed it to trevor, who had worked with her for a number of years. later while we were cleaning up from thanksgiving left overs, i noticed the bottle of wine that he had opened the day before, for the thanksgiving meal. he hadn't noticed, the name on the bottle.
11.23.2005
chris,terr,me,travis
chris,terr,me,travis
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
LDI conference, the original reason for my trip to florida. as we were lining up for registration we found terrance with a group of his classmates. chris, terrance, me, and travis.
dinner
dinner
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
a group of us went out to pleasure island for dinner and fun. forrest, me, chris, and his friend from school, kate. after this we toured each of the clubs, caught the comedy show, and were there as they closed up the mannequin club. . . the one with the turntable dance floor.
hulk
hulk
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
chris and i spent sunday at universal studios, and islands of adventure. we splurged on the extra pass to both parks, and the expedited pass. . . the lady told us we wouldn't have enough time to get to all the rides, possibly not even the second park. . . we proved her WRONG! we got on almost every ride, every ride we wanted to get on, and did spiderman 3 times! we were next in line when the hulk got shut down, we left, hit spiderman again, and hulk reopened, so we finally got on it!
erika&erika
erika&erika
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
after something like 7 years, i finally got to meet up with my close friend from highschool, now living in florida. erika, (yep, we had the same name) and i spent the day with her two daughters.
snowleopard
snowleopard
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
the snow leopards stayed hidden until it was time for dinner.
orangutans1
orangutans1
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
what's better than being an orangutan? being an orangutan with a blankee that provides you, as well as onlookers, with much amusement. what problems could there be?
orangutans3
orangutans3
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
problem #2, the guy that took your blankee is REALLY big.
orangutans4
orangutans4
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
i watched this bit for about a half hour. skipping to the end, the little guy got his blankee back.
11.22.2005
w. . . . . t. . . . . . f. . . ?!
this may be one for the books. i think i’ve mentioned my early morning dreams and how they tend to be of a caliber more bizarre then any thing else. my 5am work wake up doesn’t usually give me enough time to dream in such a way, but this morning proved different.
it starts out with me attending a grade school football game. i remember distinctly that the kids seemed to be made top heavy by their large helmets and overbearing shoulder pads. during the game i made small talk with duane schuler, (one of our lighting designers) and his wife. -i think i should apologize for bringing them into my dreams. . . it’s not that it’s dirty, it’s just so weird! there was a very young girl whining next to me about how tired she was. she must’ve been about 3. she kept sticking her head between the bars of the stands and whimpering that she wanted to go to bed. i felt bad that she was dragged to the game by her parents, who seemed to be unconcerned that she was up so late. duane, his wife, and i chatted about the game, and i remember thinking that if i had the chance i’d like to ask him his thoughts about next season, in the hopes that i could gauge whether or not i would miss it if i weren’t to return to the electrics department this summer. (ha, even my subconscious is trying to get a decent reading on the situation)
then there came, what i assumed to be the half-time show. suddenly the stands had split and there was a 90 degree angle between my seat and duane’s. a group of people marched out in front of us. i had passed them earlier in the dream, on my way to my seat. i was wondering why they were all gathered in a group. they didn’t actually have on uniforms or anything, but each of them tried to wear something sheer. . . gossamer like. but like i said, nothing matched. then they all started singing. there was an ill performed jazz hands routine that went along with what they sang. and that guy, from the ‘naked food,’ ‘naked chef’. . . whatever that show was called, the baby faced brit was a part of the group, and i thought i saw people like wolfgang puck as well. so then i figured that the singing group was all made of chefs.
here’s where it gets really funky. i remembered the lyrics to the chorus of the song, ‘your polonaise is outta space.’
now, as i interpret it upon waking. i thought polonaise was a type of sauce, like hollandaise. and by saying it’s ‘outta space,’ meant it was ‘outta sight’ (and you can add a double snap/ and point, because that’s what i do whenever i think of the saying, ‘outta sight.’)
however, upon researching, i discovered that polonaise has nothing to do with a culinary liquid, and the more i think about it, ‘outta space’ mean less and less.
polonaise, if you were wondering, according to http://dictionary.reference.com/ mean. . .
1. A stately, marchlike Polish dance, primarily a promenade by couples.
2. Music for or based on the traditional rhythm of this dance, having triple meter.
3. A woman's dress of the 18th century, having a fitted bodice and draped cutaway skirt, worn over an elaborate underskirt.
uh huh. . . so now what am i supposed to think?
11.20.2005
to shower or not to shower:
that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageously greasy hair,
Or to take deodorant to my arms. . . .
or something like that. yeah. . . i just got back from a week and a half in florida yesterday afternoon. i’ve got a ton to write about. . LDI, a day at universal and islands of adventure, half a day at the big cat reserve, half a day at MOSI, half a day at the lowry park zoo. . . time spent with friends and family. . . some friends from a long time ago, some just from this summer, and one that blew me off. . .
ray, by the way, i have your mom on the phone, she says, “ YOU SUCK!”
really. . . . you. really. suck.
other than that, there was a lot of walking, and a lot of visiting. . . and it was totally fun. . . but today, i just wanted to lounge. and i did.
i had intended to shower, and maybe even go out to get an oil change, alas, it was not so. i watched some tv that my roommates taped in my absence. . . watched a movie, cooked, did a ton of laundry, and a little online work, but not much. and now it’s nearly time for bed.
i’ll have to import and upload the pictures and write the story some other time, but soon, because i’m taking off wednesday after work, up to phoenix for thanksgiving. whew. . .
till later. . .
11.09.2005
hypothetically. . . .
we’ve all been there. the bathroom at work. (well, maybe i haven’t been to yours and you haven’t been to mine. . . or, maybe you have!. . . anyway) it’s not the most comfortable set up, usually. unless you happen to be one of those ‘important people’ who gets their own can as part of their office. usually one takes great care, thought, and deliberation in choosing which toilet to use, especially when one needs to take a crap.
perhaps there’s the one toilet that’s a little to small and close to coworkers, and one doesn’t want to be heard, suspected of, timed, smelled, and then blamed for the results of one’s trip to the bathroom. or perhaps one needs to time it correctly in order to miss the rush of coworkers in order to enjoy and relish in the alone time that most like to have in the bathroom.
i could relate my personal feelings that there is a conspiracy against me, personally, having the comfort, time, and peace that i prefer when ‘going a #2’ at my own work. how coworkers appear from nowhere to interrupt, and how i have to be wary of the costume shop schedule- nearly 60 women work there, and they all take their break at the same time (heaven help you if you need to pee or anything at that point). . . or how suspiciously when i need to go, that bathroom -no matter which one i choose at any time- needs to be cleaned, and i’m infringed upon by maintenance workers and their wheeled cart of disinfectant and cleaners. then, there’ the female one room/stall that’s right next to the male one room/stall. they share an air duct. i just find it impossible to perform when i can hear one of my coworkers, usually my boss, with the runs right next to me.
anyway, let’s say, hypothetically. that you are in the stall. everything is going smoothly, but you know you’ll be there for about 7 minutes, and you’ve taken out your phone to do some quality text messaging. you do so because your phone hides in your pocket and carrying a magazine or newspaper would be WAY to obvious. . . plus, you no longer have any good games on your phone since you’ve switched service. again, there you are, text messaging. someone else enters the bathroom and occupies a stall. there’s that immediate flurry in your mind . . . you wonder how long they will be staying. if they are going to be there for a long time as well, then it would be slightly creepy for you to never make a sound, so perhaps you should finish up. . . or blow your nose, tap your feet. . . something. if their stay is going to be really short, then you can just sit there, and make your presence known. . . or not. hypothetically, you were about to go for the nose blowing, but then you heard the other person pull from the toilet paper roll, dress themselves and flush. you are in the clear, so you sit quietly for them to leave. they wash their hands, you can hear the door open, and then something unexpected happens. they turn off the light. and instead of yelping out, you sit there, first in complete shock, then secondly in complete amusement, and thirdly. . . very slowly. . . you realize you are somewhat fucked. the screen of your phone is glowing, and since you figure-for the moment- there’s not much else you can do, you deliver the message and close the phone. then you REALLY realize exactly how pitch black dark it is. . . and there you are, a lighting technician without their flashlight. you theorize that you can finish the job by the light of your phone screen. but it requires more dexterity, and hands then you actually have, and the screen goes dim every minute or so. . . it’s too much of a pain.
here’s the question. do you attempt to finish out blind? figuring you were pretty much done anyway, and you’ll be able to turn on the light by the light of your phone in order to wash up. OR. . . do you quickly make your way penguin style (pants around ankles) out of the stall, again by the light of your phone, and make a mad dash to the light switch (in the great hopes that no one else casually strolls in and flips the light switch to be greeted by the sight of you with your pants around your ankles phone held at the ready in front of you like a weapon). . . and then head back to finish up? just hypothetically wondering. . . .
11.01.2005
halloween decoration
halloween decoration
Originally uploaded by ekissam.
katy and i went to visit michael and leilani and their kids at a halloween open house. i helped michael gather up some lighting equipment for the extravaganza he had planned. as you can see, OBVIOUSLY (hehe) there are pieces from turandot cut up like flames and lit appropriately.
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