November 2004 Archives

It was Wednesday. I wrote a story about lottery tickets. An hour later E's uncle gave me two. It was a coincidence. I lost the lottery. I still have my story though.

Here is a more direct link.

This week, I started in on wheat again. Gradually. Building up to yesterday's giant Quizno's sandwich on chewy, gluten-y wheat bread.

I said, "Yeah, I was just sick with a virus before and was quick to conclusions."

But today, the sore throat is back. The fever, the muscle pains, the chills and the shivering. And I'm weak. Again.

Lesson learned.

--------

I'm going to compare opera and seafood.

At times in my life, I am offered seafood. Egged on. Coaxed into trying it. My mind made up it's mind on seafood quite a long time ago. That it's mostly disgusting. Fishy. Chewy. Okay, not disgusting, just not for me. But Elise will push some eel sushi on me and how could I be so ignorant as to say no? Never had eel--so you never know. The eel, by the way, wasn't so bad. Just a little bit fishy. Doesn't mean I'll rush out to eat it. Doesn't mean I puked.

Last night I saw my very first opera. Natasha invited E and I. She's working with the Orlando Opera now apparently. Hair and makeup. Soon, costuming. Soon to be paid. I of course think that this is fantastic. She's the only person I know that's gotten off their ass recently. And for opera! Never would have thought.

Never would have thought that I'd enjoy opera either. It's seafood to me. I'll go in with an open mind, because how terrible it would be if I didn't... but I didn't exactly expect to entirely understand or enjoy it.

Soooo... much like seafood... the opera was disgusting. But unlike seafood, I want my opera to be disgusting. I enjoy a good and gross show. I don't enjoy gross things in my mouth.

That's not to say that I was all that shocked when Salome belted "I want to kiss you on the mouth!" to a severed head that she held in her hands for the last twenty minutes of the show. And I wasn't even that shocked when she started making out with it. (It was probably that twenty minutes of warning.) But all of these rich old opera bags around me... they gasped. And that made me smile. I thought THEY were supposed to be the sophisticated ones, with their opera glasses and all. I thought THEY at least saw the sign proclaiming "FOR MATURE AUDIENCES." But I guess women making out with severed heads is just something my generation has been desensitized to.

And so, unlike seafood, the opera didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth. Har-de-har. And actually I enjoyed it. I felt sophisticated. I felt like I was holding opera glasses. Heck, maybe next time I will.

Friday... E and I are LEADING a dog parade. Front of the pack. (literally) A banner between us. We are LEADING a dog parade. How the heck did this come about?

--------

Free Willy is playing to my left and Elise is at work. That first thing was unimportant, yes... but I thought you should get a feel for the atmosphere of the room.

I've been enjoying these days in Florida... of course. Of course I am happy to be here with E and yes I can breathe out knowing that I don't have to say goodbye this time.

I was worried I wouldn't care as much for Florida, knowing that E is moving back to Connecticut with me, but naw... I love it here. Last night, I sat in the Barnes and Noble Cafe to get some writing done. I really need to get some writing done. Britney just got off work there and sat down with me. Last week E and I came in to get coffee, so this was the second time I've seen Britney this trip. Vanessa came in to do some homework, but sat down as well. The two of them made friends and we all talked about life for nearly two hours. Two hours, because Ryan was, of course, late to pick me up. This was the third time I've seen Vanessa in the past week.

Eventually Ryan and Cindy arrived. The second night in a row I've had dinner with them. We left BandN for TGI Friday's where E eventually met us after getting off of work early.

The four of us then bought two bottles of wine and found our way to Adam Bolduc's apartment, where we drank and talked about life with him and Kelly for hours and hours.

Teddy is fat. Really, really fat. He's doubled since the last time I saw him.

The point of all of that though (besides that last bit about Teddy being fat) is that I saw a lot of great people last night and it felt really good.

Earlier this week E and I saw Adam Wekarski three nights in a row. Spent time hobbling around Wal-Mart with him and Matt Lockhart, just like the old days. Joined him and his entire crew for late night Denny's one night, just because. David invited us the night before when we ran into him at the mall.

Then the next day Adam, Lockhart, Vanessa, E and I ate Atlanta Bread and saw Finger Eleven. James Black was ecstatic to meet Adam. It was beautiful.

Tuesday Natasha has invited us to an opera that she is doing makeup for. I'm weary of opera, but it will, of course, be great to see her again.

And again, the point is... there are people I know everywhere I turn down here and it makes me miss it here even more.

But that aside, I'm excited about these next couple months. Connecticut and snow and dying of cold. E will be there. I'll be just fine.

We leave for Gainesville on Saturday. We leave Gainesville for Atlanta on Sunday. We leave Atlanta for Connecticut on Monday. And we'll take as long as we want with that. We'll be together. We'll be just fine.

--------

How are you on this fine Wednesday?

I am good.

I wrote a story.

...this is a more specific link.

--------

... --------

It's snowing. --------

A reminder that the new season starts tomorrow! 1:30 pm. This new logo can give you an idea of what to expect. Yes, space travel. Low carb and space travel. That's what I get out of the logo anyway. One must admit that it's very slick though. Very slick indeed. Also, that's really just a screen grab. That's right, that puppy's animated. --------

--------

--------

Two new magazines. A recipe in the Food Network one and a tiny write-up on the show in Low Carb Energy. --------

A story from the St. Petersburg Times... --------

--------

--------

I'll explain later... --------

--------

--------

... --------

--------

... --------

Make-up. --------

The set. --------

On set. --------

Our dressing room. The control room. --------

There is somewhere around thirty people working on this show. All of them work and work and work to make it happen, but in the end it all hinges on the "talent."

The way the show is filmed now, "live to tape," leaves no room for error. Basically, editing is a thing of the past.

Only five chefs on Food Network film this way.

There is some room for error though, though an error causes an entire reset. Start it from the top of the segment. Starting from the top affects all thirty of these people.

This is pressure.

I think filming went well on Wednesday. I was sleepwalking.

I'm hoping things feel smoother today. I'm in every second of today's episode. Every single second of every single segment.

--------

One of life's awkward moments... or a series of them rather... I spent much of my day walking the streets of Manhattan and the sky spent much of it's day raining on me. The temperature outside is somewhere around fifty, maybe less. All day walking in the cold rain. But I convinced myself that it was nice. That it felt good. But then the sun went down and my hands froze over and it wasn't so nice anymore. That nice would be in italics if it weren't so hard to get around on this iBook. So would the nice's of these two explanatory sentences.

Anyway, on the seventh floor of the uber-up-scale hotel The Big F put us up in, I find myself cold, tired, wet, bursting with pee and holding my dinner in a take-out bag as I wait in the hallway because I've perfectly arrived as the maid is turning over the room. She said, "five minutes," and closed the door in my face. I didn't take offense. I am a young male in a hooded sweatshirt and I could be dangerous. Besides, how awkward would that be for me?

Fifteen minutes of standing like an idiot in a tiny hallway later, I found out. She still wasn't finished, but she invited me in. That sounds scandalous. I assure you, it was not... just awkward. But I'm a quick thinker! I put my bags down and grabbed the ice bin. (Which is not a bin at all, but some spherical polished silver object that you'd expect a miniature Jodie Foster to be traversing space in.) So then, things were awkward with this maid, so I would fetch ice. Let it be said, I did not actually need or want any ice.

But first, where's the ice machine?

In a stroke of genius, I ask the maid. She, of course, calls another maid to bring me ice. You see... in this hotel... the ice comes to you.

And so suddenly, this second maid is tapping on the door... delivering my ice that I do not want and I'm wondering... do I tip her? Do I have to tip on ice? Doesn't she know that I didn't even WANT the ice? I shouldn't have to tip on ice that I only pretended to want! She left briskly though, and so I said fuck it and kept my money in my pocket, closed the door and was alone... except for that first maid of course. Which is why I pulled this computer out and started blogging... to look busy. Because the ice was a bust.

More on EVERYTHING later.

--------

--------

... --------

Just in time for my filming tomorrow... a breakout! My face wouldn't have it any other way. --------

Voting in our official Kerry ties. Kelly gave us Kerry ties by the way. By the way, Kelly is awesome. Also, Connecticut is beautiful, can't you see? --------

... --------