Fire in the disco...fire in the Taco Bell

AHHHH! I have the "Danger! High Voltage" song by Electric Six stuck in my head. I actually first heard about this group through Keithers site. I got the CD yesterday and it's mind-numbling catchy. The video for "Gay Bar" is just plain weird. Think "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" meets the Olivia Newton-John's "Physical." Yikes...

Had a pretty do-nothing weekend. Got a little snippage off my hair and helped Drew move to his new place. Did some shopping as well....Picked up the new Game Boy adapter to play Game Boy games on the Gamecube. It was then that I discovered that even on a bigger screen, I suck at Game Boy games. Grrr...

Watched "Naturally Stoned" last night and there's this weird extra level at which I associate with the show. First, there are people whom I'm friends with or whom I've worked with who pop up on the show. And now there are places that I've been to regularly on the show. Case in point...the Costco featured in last night's episode is one I've been to several times.

And on a separate note...C-sharp...no, but seriously...The whole bit about cottage cheese got me to thinking about cottage cheese...I just don't understand cottage cheese's appeal. I dunno, it never was the most visually appealing dairy product to me. It's like cream cheese and yogurt got together and gave birth to some deformed low-fat product. There's just something about eating something that looks like it's already been pre-digested. * shudder *

Pretty good day at work. A little laid-back since, I've got Thursday and Friday off. Woo-hoo! Got together with Jim for dinner and as always, had a blast. He's such a sweetheart. I have to say that after being in the biz for almost four years, it's cool seeing how this crazy industry is viewed by somebody with fresh eyes. :-)

Happy, happy, joy, joy

What a past several days it's been. I haven't blogged in a while and much of it is due to the fact that in addition to work, I've had guest upon guest upon guest from out of town!

Albie (later joined by Lance) was here until Monday. I gotta say...having him around was so cool. As his visit wound down I told him that even though he and I had not seen each other in over two years, this week it's been like we've hadn't stopped hanging out with each other. It's like we picked up where we left off. We did quite a bit during the remainder of his stay. On Wednesday, we got a chance to see a taping of "Price" together. Loved the look on his face when "Cliff Hangers" ended up being on the pricing games played that day. Friday night, we had another video game challenge with Larry and I think Larry finally met his match in Super Monkey Ball. My friend Josh from high school who lives up in Pasadena also dropped in for dinner. Like Albie, I hadn't seen him in years as well.

Later that night, I went to see "Hulk" with Ted, Larry, Kevin (Ted's friend from college who also was visiting town) and Sarah (Kevin's girlfriend). Albie unfortunately couldn't join us because he was picking Lance up from the airport. While we were waiting to get into "Hulk," we bumped into our old friends Tim and Raines, whom we hadn't seen since our housewarming party two years ago! I also saw Juri, a Harvard TV co-hort of mine. I swear, this past several days has really been a "This is Your Life" episode for our house. Oh, as to "Hulk," count me in the minority, but I liked it. It wasn't the greatest movie in the world, but once I stopped watching it as a typical "comic-book" movie, I enjoyed it. Nick Nolte is a looney-case, but I thought his performance was great. He's craaaaaazy!

Saturday, we all went out to lunch at Mo's. I got to meet Lance for the first time. He's a very cool guy. Then, Albie, Lance, and I broke away to do a little sightseeing on Mulholland and at Griffith Park. Took some pics here and there. After that, I went back home while Albie and Lance went to their hotel room to get ready for the big 80s party that was being thrown at the house for Ted's birthday.

The 80s party ROCKED. At one point we had about 40-something people in the house. There was a really nice vibe and a nice mix of people. And the theme was perfect. It was simple. Everybody could participate without it being high-maintenance. Ted and Larry did a great job prepping the house for the party. We had 80s posters everywhere, Ms. Pac-Man on the wall, a giant Rubik's Cube hanging from the ceiling and Baby Jessica dangling in the living room above a well full of 80s names. We played the "What 80s Personality Am I?" game during the party. It was a takeoff of that scene in "Six Feet Under" this season where the guests had to pin a name to their backs and ask the other guests "yes" or "no" questions to figure out who was pinned to their back. Fun stuff...

Had some new faces pop in to the party. One of which was Jim, whom I met a couple of weeks ago on Planetout. Such a sweet guy and so nice. He came in just as a singalong started breaking out in my room. Our friend Enrique asked me to play a little tune on the piano and that led to Albie and Lance asking me to play a song and then that led to one big medley of Elton John songs, Queen hits, Walking in Memphis, and a showtune here and there. Oh c'mon...don't tell me you're surprised that a show tune broke out during a singalong at my house! ;-)

SUCH a fun night. LOVED it. The next day, we all tried to recover from the merriment. Had a mild hangover but shook it off by lunch time. Chris, Josh, Albie, and I got together and grabbed some lunch at the Universal Citywalk. Went to the new Saddle Ranch grill there. Had some chocolate peanut butter swirl. So tasty...sooo rich...sooo filling...We walked around a bit and then parted our ways.

Monday morning, I stopped by Albie and Lance's hotel room on my way to work to say goodbye to them. Sad to see them go...but, I was fortunate enough to spend a LOT of quality time with them. And I've got a feeling I'll be seeing them sooner than later. This really has been one of the best weeks I've had in a while. That's not to say I haven't been having good weeks, but these past several days have been pretty kick-ass.

And as I said goodbye to those guests, I said hello to a few familiar out-of-towners. My game show buddies, Doug, Eddie, and Marc have been in town this week checking out "The Price is Right." Went out to dinner with them Monday night along with Caleb, David and Nick, one of the interns at "Price." Did a little night of gaming on Tuesday...where another attempt was made at playing "You Don't Say" and where I believe I popped a few more blood vessels in my brain from playing it. And last night, Doug, Eddie, and Marc dropped by my place and we hung out and watched a couple of goodies from my collection. Fun times...despite the fact that Nomi (our cat) was FREAKING OUT. She started hissing at anything that moved. I swear, I've never seen her like that. It was frightening. I agree with Clay...cats are EVIL.

That brings me to tonight...this really has been one of the first nights in a couple of weeks that I've actually just hung out at home on my own. Caught up on "Amazing Race" and watched the new "Ren & Stimpy" which was revolting, but funny. So Ren and Stimpy are gay lovers after all...how apropos with the Supreme Court ruling that came down today. :-)

Ahh...So needless to say, it's been quite a busy past several days and you can now see why I haven't had any time to blog. There will be more blogs to come in the next few days and more pics as well...Keep yer eyes peeled...

OH! I almost forgot...I was alerted by fellow GS fan Chuck Donegan on Tuesday morning, that on the "Wayne Brady Show" that day there was an interview with Alex Trebek and that Wayne had mentioned my Alex Trebek Bushy Hair webpage. Fortunately, the show hadn't aired on the west coast yet, so I flipped on my TV at work and sure enough, it was mentioned! Go figure!

The call of the wild is..."This is Your Life"



Took today and yesterday off...Yesterday, Albie and I went to the La Brea Tar Pits. Here I am trying to defend myself from a plastic bear that accepts museum donations. Gotta mark my territory somehow...

The most amusing thing about the tar pits was the little film we saw about how the fossils ended up collecting in the tar pits. Nothing like cheesy 70s animation showing horses get trapped in tar summarily being eaten by a sabertooth followed by a pack of dire wolves fighting the sabertooth, everybody getting stuck in the tar, and vultures eating the carcasses before getting stuck in the tar themselves and slowly dying afterwords. Ah yes...basically these fossils ended up being in the tar because prehistoric animals were just plain STUPID.

Later that night, we hung out with the roomies and I got a chance to introduce Albie to a few of my other local friends. Before I knew it, I was in the midst of a Friars-Club-worthy-"let's tell all of our embarassing stories about Mandel" roast. We all did a bit of Mario Partying, before we called it a night.

Today was one big episode of "This Is Your Life" for all of us. My high school music teacher from Florida was in town today. He was in between flights overseas and had a 12-hour layover. So, Albie and I got together with him for lunch and then headed to Hollywood and Highland and met up with our other high school friends, Max, Danny, and Jeff. I had seen these guys in ages. It was quite a treat and quite an interesting experience. Lots of catching up all around and lots of reminiscing. "Whatever happened to so-and-so?" was the popular question of the day. The other striking thing that popped up from the conversation over lunch was the number of people I know from school who are getting married! Cripes...time flies...

One thing I find funny is that even though, Max, Danny, Jeff and I live in L.A. and all have been for years, we've hardly seen each other in the past year. It's a testament to how spread out this town is and how often we all get caught up in our own little bubbles. Nevertheless, it was fun, and hopefully, it helped to re-establish some lines of communication between some people...

Back to the office tomorrow...I have to say, even though I've only been away for a couple of days, I have missed it a bit. And speaking of work, I should head to bed...

This week's special guest...

So begins the onslaught of guests at our house...First up, Albie, my best friend from high school. He arrived in town yesterday and is staying in L.A. for the next week and half.

Last night, Albie, Drew, and I headed to the Chili's in Westwood to see if I could conquer the "Chicken Crispers Challenge." This has been a long-standing challenge Albie has had with me...ever since grade school. Basically, I've never finished a plate of chicken crispers at Chili's. Albie has time after time challenged me to finish a plate...If I finished it, he'd pay for the meal. Now, these chicken crispers are BIG. Not only are they big, but they're GREASY. So after much taunting from Drew and Albie, I managed to finish off the chicken crispers along with the apples and friends I ordered. FREE DINNER! Woo-hoo!

After dinner, we then met up with Drew's friends, Missy and Ray, and we headed over to the Abbey in West Hollywood. A 'twee bit on the crowded side for my tastes, but it was fun nevertheless...

Today, Drew, Albie, and I headed to Disneyland and California Adventure. Surprsingly, the crowds were not terrible. We started with California Adventure and checked out "Millionaire." Albie and Drew had not seen it before. I was four places away from getting into the first Hot Seat. Grrrr....

Space Mountain was closed and will be until 2005...Double-grrr....However, the Matterhorn was open. That ride freaks me out. I don't know what it is but I never feel entirely safe on that ride. It's so rickety. Not only that, but the tunnels are so narrow that every time we go in or around one, I fear moving even the tiniest bit for fear that my head or arm will be lopped off. And on top of that, the bobsleds have that piggyback seating system which contributed to Albie sandwiching my right arm between his knee and the side of the car when we went around a sharp turn. Owwwwww.....

We also tried out the Pooh ride which was pooh-tastic in the worst way. Not my favorite new ride for sure...And despite a line which got as long as 150 minutes (this probably was the worst one all day), we managed to get onto Splash Mountain. Our little trick...we decided to split up and go as "single riders" and take the single rider line. We managed to get in and out of there in a half hour.

We didn't leave the park until about 9-ish when we encountered some heavy traffic going up north on the 5. We took a little detour and grabbed some dinner while hoping the traffic would die down when we were done. And sure enough it did and we were able to get back to the valley in the midst of 40 minutes or so.

Ahh....quite a fun weekend. Needless to say, I'm very happy Albie's in town. The greatest thing is that he hasn't changed a single bit since the last time I saw him over a couple of years ago. He's already started teaming up with Drew and Ted with the usual barrage of jokes at my expense. I may turn into a quivering mess by the week's end...YAYYY! :-)

And I leave you know with a new pic of me and my patron saint of driving:

Elephant parts

Had meetings up the wazoo today at work. I think "wazoo's" a medical term. Maybe I'll look it up in my Funk 'n Wagnalls...

* cue painted go-go dancer *

Sock it to meeeee? Whoa...had a random Laugh-in moment there. Heh....

Met up with Michael for dinner at the Elephant Bar tonight. He's the guy I met online who has a band out here called Where's Moo. Had an awesome time with him. In the past few days, I've found that he and I have more common interests than I had initially thought. On top of it, he's a really nice guy and very funny. Without a doubt, this is one the better "first meetings" I have had in quite some time. Tonight, I also got a copy of his band's CD from him. Listening to it now as I type this. Good stuff...

It's interesting...As look upon tonight and the recent "first meetings" I've had in the past few weeks...I'd have to say that about 80% (if not more) of the people whom I'm really close with out here have been people I've met through the Internet be it through the game show newsgroup, chat rooms, Planetout, or even visitors to this website. Had an interesting conversation about this with my co-workers during lunch today and even touched upon it briefly with Michael during dinner.

One question that I was asked over lunch and actually that I'm asked quite often...Why do I meet people online instead of going out to clubs and bars? I guess part of it is that contrary to what some people think, I'm really a shy guy. I could never go up to a random person at a bar and introduce myself to them. On top of that, I have a fear of rejection in person both in the giving of it and receiving of it. I guess that with online, there's the veil of impersonality in which the rejection is a bit filtered and dulled to a degree. And another thing is that I find that if you're chatting with somebody online, there's more a focus on the words. Given that, I find that chatting is just a launching point. I always try to move it away from the computer and to the phone if I sense that there's some connection happening. But I unnecessarily wax philosophically....Wax on...wax off....

And finally...my favorite random E-mail of the day...I got an E-mail from somebody said that s/he really liked my website especially my game show section. Then s/he added that s/he and his/her friends were wondering if I was gay. I think by now, one can pretty much figure it out from my site? Riiiiight? Heh....It never ceases to be interesting....

Crawling

I dunno what it is, but traffic this week has SUCKED...big-time. Twice this week, it's taken me over an hour to get from my place to my offices. Usually, I can get there in 45 minutes, sometimes even less...but this week, it hasn't been happening.

As hump-day closes, I must say that this week has been quite packed. Things at the office have been crazy busy. Monday night I was hopping about...had dinner with a friend, then joined up with Drew, Mikel, and Christopher at the Abbey for a little goodbye get-together for a friend of ours, and then spent the remainder of the evening trying to figure out how to make the mouse pointer on my laptop reappear. I don't know what exactly happened, but fortunately my friend Matthew was able to come over and get it back to a working state.

Just saw something on the news about Monkey Pox. Apparently, it's a disease being spread by prarie dogs. I dunno...Monkey Pox sounds like a bad Japanese snack...either that or the lost Pokemon....

Why is Michael Jackson still in the news??...Even *I'M* getting pretty tired of it...

Did some CD shopping...Actually I only picked up one...the new Radiohead album, "Hail to the Thief." Good stuff...I'd say it's a slightly easier listen than their two recent albums, "Kid A" and "Amnesiac." Whilst CD shopping, I noticed that the store was out of Clay Aiken singles but that there were several Ruben Studdard singles left. Hmmmm....

Speaking of Radiohead, over the past couple of days, I've been having some really cool phone conversations with a fellow Radiohead fan I met on the 'net. He even has a band of his own. Here's the website. It's definitely worth checking out.

Just a few days away from the arrival of my high school friend, Albie. I'm getting quite excited. I haven't seen him in years. By way, one of the sweetest guys I know. There is not a single bad bone in his body Fortunately, he'll be in town for several days, so I'll get to give him the grand tour of LA-LA-land.

I have to say that there's one big plus to having guests stay at my place (besides the fact that it's nice to have some extra company around the house). That plus is that it gets my lazy ass up and about to clean up around the house and my room. I can see my floor and walk around my bedroom again!!! God bless my non-working donkey...see how I did that? Non-working donkey...lazy ass...see? Ahhh....and that my friends is the sign that it's time for me to get ready for bed... :-D

Oh yeah...I have a blog

Whooops...I got a little lazy here with blogging. Lots to talk about...

First of all, as I mentioned before, I got a pic with Trenyce from the second season of "American Idol". Here it is...



This weekend has been great. Got the car serviced and did some cleaning up around the house in anticipation of my friend Albie's arrival next weekend. Hung out with Drew on Saturday night. We went to the new Chili's in Westwood. Mmmmm....Chicken crispers...Before we left, we think we saw Josh from Amazing Race 4 walking into the restaurant. After dinner, we went back to Drew's place to play a little Outburst and People: The Board Game with his roomies. The People game is a neat one, but a bit on the derivative. It's celebrity meets Pictionary, Charades, Pyramid, and Password.

Today was quite a treat. More cleaning around the house, and in the morning, I got a chance to meet Reichen from Amazing Race 4. A co-worker of mine knows him and she invited me to this function at his place. He's quite a nice guy. I got a chance to talk with him briefly about the big ol' Race. Definitely a neat way to spend the morning. And yes, he is as good-looking in person as he is on TV. :-)

So needless to say, this has been quite an "amazing weekend." Har, har, har...

Oh, just got done watching the Tonys. I really, really, really want to see "Hairspray" now. The number the cast did during the awards was amazing. "Movin' Out" looks intriguing, one reason being I'm a big Billy Joel fan. According to an ad I saw in a Playbill, "Hairspray" is going to be in L.A. next year...but for a little over a week...which means...it's going to be HELL getting tix for the show. Grrrr...

And that segueways into my seeing "The Producers" at the Pantages. What a fun show. Martin Short was HI-larious. I loved the original movie and this topped it. Who would've thunk that you could do a musical number with a chorus line of old women using walkers? :-) This was also the first time I'd been in the Pantages. It's a GREAT theater.

This weekend, I also met somebody new through Friendster. He's a really nice and is a game show fan, which is always a plus. Anyhoo, Friendster is a new website where you can meet people. The hook is...the people whom you can meet are connected to you via friends and their friends. It's like a real-life version of "Six Degrees of..." The best part is that it's free! I'm not sure if it's just free while it's in its "beta" stage, but it's definitely something worth checking out if you're looking to meet new people.