Days gone by / For Auld Lang Syne

So after a year of being hit-or-miss with Blog postings I have finally decided to retire from this expression of myself. It’s both hard and almost too easy to let this go. I had mentioned in the last year about a “change” and maybe it is time for this one. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing, expressing myself, giving reviews & opinions, and letting my raw self be heard over the last 7 years. I am lucky that anyone was actually interested in what I had to say. I LOVE my friends and know they always have my back. It will be weird not having this as an expression of “CHEESE” but I do enough of that on Facebook, Twitter and Flickr so I can fallback on that.

I’ve been told that people love my Movie & TV reviews, Music updates, hearing about Comic-Con and my life in general. Thanks. It is kind of you to find my life that interesting when really it’s not. I live a very charmed life and that I am so lucky you cannot imagine.

I am thankful for Tasia for being there with me the last couple of years, as we start a huge part of our life together. She is definitely the thing that makes my life complete and makes me a better man.

Along with the new addition of Tegan, the rambunctious puppy that brightens my days with every passing moment, there is of course... Mister. My stead fast. My rock. The little abandoned kitten that became the greatest thing that happened to me on Grim Ave.

There are things I will try to live by and grow in. I will continue Being Creative Day-In and Day-Out, be it DESIGN, photography, drawing, gaming or whatever. My love for travel after our Costa Rica trip is insatiable. I MUST travel more. Period. I will still be in the pit or at the front for many great (and not so great) shows. I will still LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Foo Fighters with all my being. Comic-Con will always be part of me and I will try to always be part of it.

I will stay in contact with all my friends. They are part of me no matter the distance or because we haven’t talked in a year. I am there for you, as I know you are there for me.

Like everyday in my life, I feel lucky for my career, friends, family, job, love, car, cat, puppy, creativity, and life. Blog post #520. This is me, signing off, one last time.

Good Night and Good Luck.

The Small Things (for the last time) / 50 Things that make me smile

01. Girlfriend   02. Family   03. Friends  04. Kissing   05. Mister Surly   06. Music & Live Shows   07. Art    08. Sex  09. Puppy
Breath (Tegan!)   10. Making others Smile   11. The way other people smell (in a good way) 12. Honesty  13. Flirting 14. Hugs
15. Accomplishing Goals  16. Great Design   17. A Stiff Drink   18. Great Company  19. Foo Fighters  20. Listening to Rain
21. My Career   22. Christmas   23. Sleep  24. Inside Jokes  25. Compliments   26. Travel 27. Talking   28. Hearing a Tree
Fall in the Woods   29. Being in the Sun  30. Writing  31. Laughing   32. Cuddling   33. A Clean House  34. YOU  35. Having a Plan 36. Morning Texts  37. Football  38. Hot Showers   39. Pajama Time   40. Holding Hands  41. Handwritten Notes  42. A Clean Car   43. Eating great food    44. Photography  45. Movie Quotes   46. Looking into your eyes 47. Waking up from a Nap   48. Knowing someone cares   49. Knowing I am loved by my Family  50. Knowing my Friends are Happy

It’s XMAS Mother Fucker!

 

I cannot believe we are looking at Christmas in a few days. And then New Years. HOLY SHIT!!! This year is over. 
Hell, after Friday the 21^st it might not matter, because of the Myan calendar and all of that stuff. I don’t think anything 
will come from it but between that and the normal holiday Anger, Frustration, Short-Tempers, Rushing Around, and
the occasional "Finger", people are melting down. I have a few issues that are making me a Holiday Grumpus
but nothing that world ending. Hell, my life probably looks good to some people. I have to remember how lucky I
am with everything in my life. There is still homeless, jobless, sick & dying, poor,  or even worse.

I will still enjoy the holidays with the drinking and eating and parties, dinners out and spending time with those
close to me. So I will try to get right with it all over the next 2 weeks and start the year off fresh.

Top 5 Albums / 2012

#1 – Jack White / Blunderbuss
Hands down, the best album of the year – start to finish. It is powerful, soulful and the next step in the growth of Jack White. Add in the rave reviews of his live show with TWO supporting backing bands (one all male, one all female)
and he could be described as the ARTIST of the Year!

#2 – The Hives / Lex Hives

#3 – Django, Django / Django, Django

#4 – Japandroids / Celebration Rock

#5 – The Avett Brothers / The Carpenter

Honorable Mention:
Gary Clark Jr. / Blak & Blu
Grizzly Bear / Shields
Wintersleep / Hello Hum
fun. / Some Nights
Alt J / Ann Awesome Wave
Soundgarden / King Animal

Rivers & Roads

Today is 12.12.12.  I feel almost a little sad today. It's full of change. And hope. And remembering those that are
special and mean something to us.

This year was chock full of change in my life, including the addition of our dog, Tegan, but a part of me also left,
because a couple of friends moved this year. Todd (Chuckles) and Carmen (Mare) both left SD in hopes of starting
anew with their families. Todd moved to Michigan and Carmen to North Carolina. It does make me realize that I need
to spend time with the right people; the people that mean the most to me. Life is short and fleeting. Moments will
not be taken for granted.

My little world of San Diego is self-contained, where I have the things I need & want, all within arms reach.
I have a new system I will try to live by: Taking full accountability and controlling the things I can in my life. 
Enjoying the things I already have. Creating my own happiness. Setting goals. Helping those around me to 
the best of my ability.

Most of my close friends still live here. My family. My girl. My pets. All things that make me happy and smile
on a daily basis. I will miss my friends terribly but wish them the best in their new lives and endeavors.

Remembering 2012

This year (my 42nd) has been awesome to say the least. A little list of the highlights...

Kick ass NYE, Broken Toe, Palm Springs, 1 Year on Park Villa, The Hives, Costa Rica, Passing of MCA (RIP),
Tasia's 30th, BBQs, Chuckles leaving SD, Summer in SD, Chad turning 40, The Avengers, Comic-Con, Camping,
Del Mar Track, vhype.com, TEGAN!!!, Chixdiggit,  iPhone 5, Book of Mormon, Great Food, Great Birthday, Halloween,
and Tasia’s New Car.

What does December hold? Or 2013? I don’t know but I am excited to find out.  

Skin & Bones

Foo Fighters Re-Dux 2012
My list of Foo Fighters favorite songs is always changing, mostly because I get to go back and listen to old stuff
I hardly listen to. I like to tweak my list a little here and there but I have a bunch that are timeless rock classics so
without further ado -  MY TOP 10 Foo Fighters Songs:

01. Bridge Burning
02. All My Life
03. Breakout
04. Stacked Actors
05. This is a Call
06. Everlong
07. Enough Space
08. Generator
09. Monkeywrench
10. For all the Cows

Gobble Gobble Gobble

This Thanksgiving was the first in a long time that my Mom & Stan cooked dinner and I went. The usual 
was to go to my Step-Brother, Doug’s house, but they were in Missouri with family. So Tasia, Tegan, and 
myself headed over for a small dinner for 6 including my Aunt & Uncle. We had a great meal with great company.

Things I am thankful for:
Family. Girlfriend. Pets. Friends. Job. Art. Music. San Diego. Good Health. And a Great Life.

Shourai iwaku Tsukihi

Being creative has it’s perks, but deep down inside I’m pretty nerdy and geeky. I embrace it and
relish in it. Comic books. Video Games. Movies. Gaming. All the Pop Culture shit. I love it all!!!

One of the things I am proud of is my game, SHOGUNATE.  It celebrated is 3-year anniversary
of my current campaign 23 years of something I created.

I enjoy the creative and storytelling part of it, and the collaborative spirit of gaming. I'm happy to
share these memories with great friends and people I respect and admire. We discussed how long
I thought it would go and I thought about it for a second and said “Until… I’m bored with it or it’s
no longer fun”.

So there you go. Looks like I'll be running until I'm too old to do it anymore.
Here's to many more years of fun, fights and friends.

 

Rollin' like a Gangster

Tasia had started getting emails and info on trading in her Honda Accord for a while. She decided to look into it, 
taking some test drives and chatting with car salesmen. She asked me to go with her and check out one –
a Honda CRV, mid-size SUV / Family car / Dog transport / big crap carrying vehicle. We went, checked it out, 
test drove it… and then she bought it!!! The process is a little much (4 hours of car dealership is a lot!!),
but in the end, Tasia was smiling ear-to-ear.

Totally worth every minute of it.

Dead Man's Party

I just couldn’t get fully into the Halloween spirit this year. I let Tasia down with our “joint” costume idea (Day of 
the Dead – Bride & Groom) but we knew we had a house Halloween party to go to, so I used stuff I had 
for a pirate costume, while Tasia went with Rosie the Rivetter (which looked great!!!). The party was a 
complete drunk-fest but loads of fun. On actually Halloween, we plan on staying home and passing out candy, 
dressing up the critters, and watching scary movies. Good wholesome fun! Check out the pixs HERE.

Fluf Ball

The weeks seem to fly by and our little puppy is growing and getting bigger by the day. It makes me sad 
thinking of the little excited bundle we brought home over Labor Day is growing so fast!! She’s getting to
the point that picking her up isn’t as easy as it once was. She is still adorable as all get out. The training is 
getting better and better. She still gets up super early (which sucks) but has learned to entertain herself
without the constant need for us.

Here are pixs from the last few weeks:

Week 4

Week 5 - 8

Week 9 - 11

Birthday for days

I love my birthday and my birthday month. I tend to overdue it a bit, including days of dinners, drinking, fun
& frivolity, and all around tom foolery!! This year we had so much planned for the month, some of the birthday
celebration just rolled into it, which I am totally fine with. Still had a great birthday. Got to see all the important
people to me. Got a new grill for the backyard. Life is good, even at 42.

 

Rocktober!!!

Like most Octobers in the past, it is filled with bands and concerts galore!!! The shows that are planned are the Head & the Heart at Spreckles theater, the Hives @ HOB, Less Than Jake @ HOB (which I got a photo pass for), and Frightened Rabbit (which we ended up selling our tickets for). So excited for the fall concert season. F@#K YES!!!

Pixs from the LTJ show HERE

BOM

Last year, we heard that the Tony Award® winning play Book of Mormon would be taking their show on the road after 2 year stint on Broadway. They announced a stop in LA and we couldn’t pass it up. So in April, tickets were purchased for myself and Tasia, Shasta & Mike and Mark. We then booked a hotel and we waited.

Finally the weekend was upon us, but obviously things had changed (with the addition of the puppy), so the logistics had changed. Greta had agreed to watch her for 24 hours, allowing us a nice little vacation in LA. We headed up early, did some shopping and sightseeing. Checked in and changed at the hotel in West Hollywood, then headed to Santa Monica for dinner at Tar & Roses with Shasta & Mike and Mark. All I can say is YUUUUUUUUMMMMY!!! We kind of had an idea that this place would be good. Probably because I did some research on top rated restaurants in Los Angeles / Santa Monica and this one had great reviews. We all had great (and different) entrees, but shared a couple of appetizers: Pig Tails and Bone Marrow. Both were very good and we were all excited to try them.

By the time we were done with dinner, we had to rush to get to the Pantages theater (in Hollywood), and sitting down as the room went dark and the curtains rose. Now, I personally, haven’t been to a big musical production like this before. I have to say I was thoroughly impressed and awed, loving every minute of it.The music and singing were awesome!!! Highly recommended to all!!

(*warning – not for kids by any means because it was written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and is extremely dirty and vulgar)

You lookin' at me??!

Pictures of Tegan - Week 3 HERE

Wedding Bells

Tasia’s friend’s Kristen & Ivan got married this last weekend and it was supposed to be out first night away from Tegan but we figured out it wasn’t in the cards. We could not arrange it so someone could come stay at the house and we didn’t feel comfortable having her stay at someone else’s house. Thankfully Chad & Wendy came to the rescue and agreed to stop in, feed the monster, play with her, pee & poop her, and get her back in the crate. All went smashing on their end. We on the other hand got DRUNK and silly in La Jolla, actually taking a cab home  and getting her car the next day. The pictures don’t do the wedding justice but I think we looked pretty damn good!  : )

PIXS HERE

Cute but Dangerous...

Pictures of Tegan - Week 2 HERE

Wild at Heart

We ended up with not only a new puppy but the same week we got Tasia’s parents out to visit from Texas. I really like them and they are a lot of fun. We didn’t have a lot planned except a few dinners and a trip to the Wild Animal Park. I mean San Diego Zoo Safari Park or whatever the fuck it’s called now. We had a great time walking around, except it was so HOT, but we survived. We also did dinner at my parents house one night for burgers & beer. It was a very nice and relaxing evening. Did the tourista thing too by visiting the Hotel Del Coronado for drinks on the deck, sun and sand.

The majority of the time spent was hanging at the house with the puppy, which isn’t a bad thing.Overall a really great time.

PIXS HERE

Great Expectations (or whatever I can get out of the team)

As of Wednesday September 5^th, there was the return of the greatest sport known to man and the glorious return of the NFL. Unfortunately, we start the season with replacement referees which could be a weird / bad thing. They did alright in pre-season but what will happen when the cards are down and the game is moving fast. As far as the Chargers, most of the “experts” aren’t picking them to do much, which is fine by me. I feel that when everyone says they should win the West or go to the Big Game, they flounder and fail. This year, with expectations lower, the team can grow and succeed at their own pace. This is all contingent on how well Philip Rivers does.
 
Last years debacle of 20 plus interceptions, DOES NOT win championships. He looked good in the pre-season, gaining some much needed confidence and comfort behind the line. His success will hinge on not rushing his passes. If he does that, Ryan Matthews does not fumble the ball, the receiving corp (that looks great on paper and the pres-season) does their job, Special Teams continues to CRUSH it, and the Defense plays well, my prediction is a 10 – 6 or 9 – 7 season.

Get out there and win, BOLTS!!!

Parents, Owners & Wardens

I felt this was fitting as my 500th Blog Posting to be about a MAJOR change in mine and our household's lives.

World. Meet Tegan.

Tegan came home with us on Labor Day 2012 and since then it has been a non-stop, knock down – drag out, 
exciting, sleepless, stressful, joyful, roller coaster ride. She is really awesome and super cute. She is REALLY 
SMART and will probably outwit both of us at some point. I will be doing updates on her periodically, as well as 
pictures. 

Here is the WEEK ONE here.

Legends of the Fall (and later)

I started looking at list of Fall / Winter movies here for the end of the year and into 2013, and I got really excited!!! It looks
to be flush with greatness this Holiday season (and that’s not even counting all the AWESOMENESS coming out on DVD!!).
 
Looper - Bruce Wills and Joseph Gordon Levitt in a futuristic movie about hitmen
Snowman's Land - Foreign movie about professional killers
This is 40 - the Kind-of sequell to KNOCKED UP
Butter 
Frankenweenie - Tim Burton stop-motion at it's finest
The Identity Thief
Wreck It Ralph - Disney awesomeness!!!
Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino Western, with Jamie Foxx, Christopher Waltz, & Leo DiCaprio
The Hobbit - Can. Not. WAIT!!!

Superman (2013) 
Dispicable Me (2013) 
Monsters University (2013)
Anchorman 2 (2013)

Falling down in front of the TV

One of the many, many, MANY things I love about the Fall is the start of the new Television
-->season and this one should be an interesting one. Not a lot of new ones that I am dying to
see but definitely some cool concepts. 

Already Premiered in August
"Copper" (BBC America) - NEW

Saturday, September 1st
Doctor Who: Season 7 (BBC)

Tuesday, September 11^th
Parenthood: Season 4 (NBC)
Sons of Anarchy: Season 5 (FX)

Sunday, September 16th
Boardwalk Empire: Season 3 (HBO)

Monday, September 17^th
Revolution (NBC) - NEW

Thursday, September 20^th
Parks and Recreation: Season 5 (NBC)
Up All Night: Season 2 (NBC)

Monday, September 24^th
How I Met Your Mother: Season 8 (CBS)
Mike & Molly: Season 3 (CBS)
Castle: Season 5 (ABC)

Tuesday, September 25th
Ben and Kate (FOX) - NEW
The Mindy Project (FOX) - NEW
Vegas (CBS) - NEW

Wednesday, September 26^th
Modern Family: Season 4 (ABC)

Thursday, September 27^th
The Big Bang Theory: Season 6 (CBS)
Last Resort (ABC) - NEW

Saturday, September 29^th
Star Wars The Clone Wars: Season 5 (Cartoon Network)

Sunday, September 30th
American Dad: Season 8 (FOX)
Bob's Burgers: Season 3 (FOX)
Family Guy: Season 11 (FOX)
The Simpsons: Season 24 (FOX)

Once Upon a Time: Season 2 (ABC)

Dexter: Season 7 (Showtime)
Homeland: Season 2 (Showtime)

Wednesday, October 3^rd
Supernatural: Season 8 (The CW)

Thursday, October 4^th
30 Rock: Season 7 (NBC)

Wednesday, October 10th
Nashville (ABC) - NEW

Sunday, October 14^th
The Walking Dead: Season 3 (AMC)

Friday, October 19^th
Community: Season 4 (NBC)

October TBD
Transporter (Cinemax) - NEW

March 31st 2013
Game of Thrones: Season 3 (HBO)


Early 2013 TBD
Justified: Season 4 (FX)
1600 Penn (NBC) - NEW
The Carrie Diaries (The CW) - NEW
Hannibal (NBC) - NEW
Infamous (NBC) - NEW