DAY 31 - Showgirls Saturday Night.

Please stand by for this post! I am experiencing some technical difficulties. In true Ken McEntire fashion, I have mis placed my camera. I don't think its too far away, I remember picking it up, but I don't remember where I put it back down. So the photo for Saturday has not yet been uploaded... Oh but its a good one!....

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The vault has been unlocked and the missing photo has been recovered...and by vault I'm referring to under my car seat.  I found my camera!  YAY!!  This was the last picture taken on the camera before I "lost" it...maybe it was best.  I wonder if maybe I reveal too much on this blog.

Tonight we got together at Clete and Greg's and had a "Showgirls & Chip's" party.  Don't judge!  Brandy has the collectors edition box set of the movie.  It comes with you're own pasty's, and blind fold.  It's really hilarious.  Now you have to understand this box set is marketed as "the worst movie ever made"  I'm glad the distributors realize what they are dealing with, and have accepted it.  The only way to get through this movie is to watch it with the commentary.  It's done by a guy who has been traveling around to Universities and gives lectures about this movie and why it is the worst movie ever made.  The commentary is HILARIOUS!  He points out during the movie that there is an underlying theme about chips and finger nails...they are always eating chips, talking about chips or doing their fingernails..or talking about doing their fingernails..hence the "chips" part of the party.  We each brought our favorite chips....I brought Parmesean Wheat Thins.  

This movie is so scary and disturbing, it really should be classified as a horror movie, and it is the opposite of anything sexy.  They should show it in high school to discourage kids from even having sex.  I don't understand were AC Slater or Zach Morris were to come help poor Jesse Spano get out of her life of sin in Las Vegas...maybe that's the sequel.  

DAY 30 - I Wonder What Ken is Doing Tonight?

I filmed Camelot up at Bonneville tonight. This was actually the second time around. They did the show last fall and I filmed it but one of the tapes had a glitch and the audio kept getting out of sync. Was making editing a nightmare. They got to do the show again for the Utah Theater Association conference that was held in Ogden this year, so Alane had asked me to film it with just one camera so she had a copy of the performance. But since I was having trouble with last falls tape I just decided to redo the entire thing.

I enjoy filming the shows and putting them together, but it always turns into such a big ta do! Since I only have one camera I have to track down two other cameras for a three camera shoot, then I couldn't find the adapter for one of my tripods so I had to rent two tripods, and one camera. Luckily a friend of mine let me borrow his camera, but I was almost half way to Ogden by the time he called me to let me know where and when I could pick it up. So for a moment I thought I would have to use my tiny little camcorder for the far shots. Quality! I wish I just had thousands to go get myself all outfitted with equipment so I didn't have to rely on renting, or borrowing from anyone. But I can't justify spending all that money for just a few times a year.

I have been filming these shows for the past six years! Crazy, I can't believe it, I was trying to figure out which shows I've done and what years they were, but they are all starting to run together. All I can remember is one giant show about a lovable elephant who meets Adam and Eve, then Adam accuses these ladies of being witches, but they were just confused...then a little Polish boy meets a Puerto Rican girl and they know that tonight won't be just any other night because this doctor in the town has developed a potion and he's gone just plain wacky and terrorizes the streets of London with a capital T that rhymes with P that stands for Pool. His actions make you wonder, is it possible to love someone one who hits you, and hits you hard? then you realize, yes, it is possible to love someone who hits you and hits you hard. Luckily it was all just a movie, one of those talkies, and everyone wakes up safe and think its fun to stay out late, but good mornin' good mornin' to you. Just your standard tale as old as time.

DAY 29 - FAME...I'm gonna live forever

Thursday with the parentals! Tonight was our traditional Thursday night dinner, we ate at the Bountiful favorite, El Matador! Olé! It's real good greasy Mexican food. It seems to have lost something since they tore down the old building to build Costco. The new place is nice, but just doesn't have the same charm of going into the Bountiful industrial park for a "fancy" dinner.

After I got home I did a little workin' out at my apartment. I did my standard Power 90, but had a surprising amount of energy after I was done. I started doing these "hop kicks" that Nancy and I had done a few years back when we did this old school obstacle course in the foothills of Ogden. The course was built in the late 70's or early 80's, so all the little exercises seem a bit antiquaited. We thought these hop kicks were hilarious. They are just how they sound, you hop on one foot and kick the other leg in the air. I like to do them when I play the "Fame" home game. So as I was doing these hop kicks I must have had a little more kick than hop and I compeletly fell. If the man below me wasn't all ready annoyed with the repetitive romping of the hop kick, the giant thud of my body hitting the hardwood floor probably was enough for him to request my eviction. I'm sure it had to have loosened some plaster from his ceiling which fell right in his proidge...I don't know if he was eating poridge, but he seems like the time to skeer up a pot of poridge now and then.

After my work out and hop kick fiasco I had worked up quite a thirst. It was about 10pm and I didn't want a diet coke, so I opted to walk to Smith's for some Crystal Light Green Tea. Since its been colder I haven't walked to the store very often, but I was feeling adventurous, ready to take on the frigid cold. I felt like Admiral Peary as he embarked on his quest for the North Pole. The journey was rough, but I was successful. As I was returning home I was only a block away from my apartment building when a white van with no windows turned the corner, its headlights hit me and I turned around and saw it pull to the side of the road. The lights turned off but no one got out. All of the sudden I was 9 years old walking home from school looking for a Mr. McGruff house to run to. I didn't want to look silly and take off running, with arms flailing about. So I played it cool and did a speed walk. I didn't want to look back to see if anyone was following me, but I had the creepy feeling that there was someone breathing down my neck. I would slow down, then speed up , my heart racing, my fight or flight instincts were kicking in. I was almost home. I got to the steps of my building and glanced back in the general direction of the molester van just in time to see someone pulling a lifeless.........stack of newspapers out of the side cargo door. Thank you News Corp for you dedicated serivce in providing the greater Salt Lake area with news and information in such a timely and creepy manner.

DAY 28 - Wednesday With BO!

So it's Wednesday! Hump Day! This week is going surprisingly fast even with how slow it is at work, and I haven't had a lot going on in the evenings either. But I'm not going to complain. Tonight was the traditional Wednesday at Brandy Oliver's. Sundance is over so she finally has time for me again... A big congratulations to her for breaking her all time record, and seeing 31 movies! Also congratulations to her on her new job!!!! Counselor Brandy! YAY! If I were a student at Granger High School I would make a big banner that read "CONGRADUATIONS" the students really need your help.

We watched an episode of Top Chef, then the Real World, then a bit of the Salt Lake American Idol auditions. I had watched American Idol earlier, but I was working out and doing some other things so I didn't see all of them. I was kind of disappointed, they were kinda blah. I expected more from the home of David Archuletta and Carmen Rassmussen! If I feel like it I will watch the next few weeks, but its about this time I get bored and like to wait til its down to the finalists.

The picture is us at Brandy's house,we are doing some sort of sign language interpretive chair dance.

DAY 27 - SOLID

Today was very, very uneventful. I actually had a few things at work to keep me busy, was a nice change. I got home and just kind of relaxed, then ended up chatting with Jake on Facebook. We had a really good chat and it made me remember all of our good times, so I put in the little video I made for him when he got back from his mission. It was fun to see a bunch of the old pictures and stuff. It was super cheesy, cheesier than I remember it, but it made me laugh. I watched it 3 times. We were such dorks, but they were some of the best times of my life. I'm really grateful to have such a great friend.

Jake and I would do this high-five/hand shake thing and say "solid" every time we'd see each other and when he was on his mission we wrote pretty much every week, and we'd end the letters saying "SOLID". So the video was called...of course, Solid! Just like our friendship...SOLID (cheesy I know, but it's true)

DAY 26 - Fatty, fatty, fatty...in a skinny world!

I gave in to my yearly temptation! I try not to eat hamburgers and fries very often. The past few years I have only had 1 per year. I did eat at Training Table over the holiday's and had a burger then, but technically that was last year. So tonight my Crown Burger counts as my only burger this year. I had been craving it for a while, I mentioned it to Clete and Greg, and Greg was all over it. So we decided to indulge our greasy fatty desires. Clete was bringing the kids home from swimming so we met them there. Parker's eyes were hurting from opening them while he was underwater. Apparently wearing my glasses cured the pain. Who knew they were such miracle glasses.

After dinner I drove home filled with fatty caloric induced guilt and shame, so I got out the weights and did a little work out to try to work off a few of the thousands of calories ingested. Then I met Brandy and her friend Michael at the Rose Wagner Theater for the final Sundance movie of the year! Greg was going to come a long but when he got home from dinner he found out Beency had eaten his Sundance check... So far that dog has eaten a rug, a wooden bench, a library book, gnawed on all the cabinet doors in the kitchen, my jeans, and really enjoys licking feet. I'm sure there is a lot more that I'm not aware of, my point being he eats and chews on everything...but he's real cute.

The movie we saw was really good, it is called "Push." It won "best of fest." I heard it had Monique and Mariah Carey in it and was a little unsure, I didn't know if it was going to be an Indy version of "BAPS" or something. But it turned out to be really, really good. It was a major tear jerker, sort of a continuation of my Lifetime marathon from Saturday. Not going to go into the whole plot, but it was about this young girl who has been abused verbally, physically, and sexually and how she has to over come... Kinda that sort of thing. It just amazes me people can treat other people that way, especially family. It made me grateful for my family and makes me feel kind of guilty for ever complaining about my life. I don't have it bad at all. It also made me want to be a teacher more than ever, I just know that I have to do something in life that will give back and help. I know that's kind of cheesy, but just getting up and going to work everyday to put in my time is so unrewarding. I wanna do something more.

DAY 25 - SUNdance...more like SNOWdance

Wow, what I will do for a movie...it's not so much even the movie, just to get out of the house. Today was the last official day of Sundance. Greg had an extra ticket for "Paper Hearts" it was in Park City. So I braved the snow storm through Parleys Canyon to go see it. I left about an hour before it started, which normally would have given me plenty of time, but with the roads the way they were, it took me about 45 minutes to get up there. Greg had to stash my ticket under a pot of flowers on top of an ATM machine so he could go inside and save me a seat. The movie was really cute, it was done documentary style and I'm so gullible I thought it was all real. I was sad to find out Micheal Cera and the little oriental girl never really dated. But I really liked the movie. Out of the few that I saw it is near the top of my list.


After the movie I went home and cleaned up my cupcake mess from Friday night. During the process I cut my finger open with the super sharp knife my mom got me from QVC for Christmas. They really will cut through anything. It also proves my theory that house work is hazardous to your health.

Later on in the evening I got tired of sitting around the house, so I went to Maverick (and got another free drink from the Maverick guy) then stopped by Clete and Greg's for a little bit where we shared stories of our grandparents deaths. Odd, but a fitting way to end a kinda blah depressing weekend. The week can only get better from here...right?

DAY 24 - Rainy Days, Mondays and Lifetime Movies always get me down

So this is what sitting home all day Saturday watching Lifetime movies looks like.... It was a cloudy drizzly Saturday, I didn't have much motivation. I did wake up, that's always a good thing. I worked out, things are going well...ran some errands...not bad. Then it happened. I turned on the TV and started watching a Lifetime movie. I normally only watch Lifetime during the holidays and for Golden Girls reruns, but today I got hooked into the movie. I watched one, then another came on about teen pregnancy, then a story with Jenny Garth from 90210 about a teenage girl getting AIDS, then I took a little break for dinner and a Diet Coke (which was free thanks the the Maverick guy!), and finally a movie with Sigourney Weaver about a gay kid who commits suicide. WOW! It was a happenin' Saturday night. Brandy had called to invite me to another Sundance movie, but it would have required I go wait in the wait list line to get a number, then go back and wait to see if I would even get in. I just didn't have it in me, so I opted for a lazy night on the couch with my stories... I haven't done that for a while, I guess it's OK once in a while, but I'm going to try not to make a habit out of it. I had to watch an episode of 30 Rock and several SNL clips on Hulu before I went to bed to try and bring up serotonin levels. I should have taken a handful of my "Inner Sun" pills.

DAY 23 - Karen Carpenter Had It All

I thought I would give my new cook book a try and make some cupcakes. Kelli gave me the "Cake Bible" for Christmas, I've been wanting to try some of the recipes but just haven't wanted to put forth the effort and time into making a big ole cake. So I decided to try out one in a cupcake version. The cake tasted good, but just like everything else I have made in my oven....I burned them. There is some vortex to the underworld or something in my oven, I don't know why it ruins everything I try to bake. I figured since they were cupcakes they wouldn't need as much time to bake as a cake, so I put them in for 25 minutes, after 9 minutes I checked them, and the edges were burnt, so I took them out. I really don't get it, I put an oven thermometer in to test it, and it said it was only 350 degrees. Maybe it's the diet gods telling me its time to stop...however when I tried to cook a healthy meal last week it didn't turn out either.... I've said it once, I'll say it again, that Karen Carpenter really had it all, she didn't have to worry about this kind of stuff, and had a velvety smooth voice to top it all off... If only I could be Karen!

Day 22 - DARE

Thursday! The weekend is nearing! Tonight I went to dinner with my parents. They usually come down and take me to dinner every Thursday night. It's a nice way to catch up on the week, make sure we are all still alive and kicking. It's also a nice free meal for a poor boy! Later on it was back up to Park City for another Sundance movie. I wasn't sure about this one. It didn't start until 11:30, on a school night!!! I didn't think I'd make it through, thought I'd be falling asleep for sure. But I actually enjoyed the movie. It was called "Dare." Was a teen angst movie with twists and turns, and was unlike your run of the mill teen drama's.

The fun part about seeing Sundance movies is most of them have members from the production crew there and they do a question and answer session after. Tonight a lot of the cast was there, as well as the writer, director and producers. It was interesting to hear some of the background. And we got a picture with the lead girl from the show. I didn't know who she was, but apparently she played Christine in the "Phantom of the Opera" movie. So we got a picture with her. That's the biggest celebrity I've seen. She is gonna be BIG TIME!!! I will always have the memories of the time we shared in a hotel corridor in Park City, Utah.

I didn't get home until 2:15 am. But hey that's what living the Hollywood life is all about, right?

20 years...can't beleive I can remember that long ago.

This is a little addition to my regular daily blog. I saw this on Latoya's blog and thought I'd fill it out....it was much harder than I thought it would be.

20 years ago:

1. I was sitting in Mr. Smedley's 6th grade class at Jenny P. Stewart Elementary.
2. I weighed 200 lbs.
3. I got in trouble for knocking over Amy Wrights desk with my hips, when I was making fun of the way she walked...I had to sit in the hall the rest of the day.

10 years ago (1998):

1. I was working at Franklin Covey in the Customer Service Department as a 3911 rep. I had to answer the tough questions.
2. I sang at a Steve Young fireside in Orange County, CA and went to Disneyland!
3. I thought I was dying of a brain tumor and quit my job.

5 years ago (2003):

1. I was working at Alphagraphics as a Designer.
2. I went to Disneyland.....twice!!!
3. Spent most of my free time hanging out with high school kids at Bonneville High School


3 years ago(2005):

1. I was still working at Alphagraphics....
2. I was back in school at Weber State University
3. I was dressed up as a Confederate Soldier and sang Pop/Rock/Country songs about the Civil War.


1 year ago:

1. I was in my last semester at WSU
2. I spent every Monday and Wednesday drawing naked people.
3. Was the co-host of the hottest local television entertainment show in Davis County!

So far this year:

1. I have been working at a new job for 1 month....and I'm all ready wasting time filling out surveys on the internet.
2. I have taken a picture everyday.
3. I have been to 5 Sundance movies with 3 more to go. (its only January, I haven't done a whole lot)

Yesterday:
1. I worked
2. I ate a lean pocket for lunch
3. I went to dinner with Alane.

Today:
1. I am killing time at work between projects.
2. Trying to figure out how I'm going to stay awake for a movie I'm going to tonight at 11:30 in Park City.
3. Excited tomorrow is Friday!

Tomorrow:

1. IT'S FRIDAY
2. I am going to be falling asleep at my desk.
3. I am going to never stop dreaming and look toward the future...or just sit on my couch and watch House Hunters.

Next year:

1. I will back in school getting a teaching certificate
2. I will go to New York
3. I will go to a third world nation and teach them how to farm and makes clothes....or just sit on my couch and watch House Hunters.

Day 21 - Back to Before

It was just an ordinary day, one like those I count in dozens. Work was fine, I worked on a few projects, and wasted a lot of time chatting on instant messenger with Latoya and Hunter. (Thanks guys, it really helps pass the time)

After work I worked out then met Alane for dinner. It was nice to catch up. Alane and I use to see each other almost every day and if we didn't see each other we would talk on the phone at least. But as things have changed in both our lives we haven't been as close. My life use to revolve around the high school as much as hers, but the last few years, getting busier in school and then moving to Salt Lake, I haven't spent much time up there. I remember thinking years ago that I couldn't imagine my life without Bonneville High School. It was what I lived for. I loved helping out with the shows, and doing all the design work, just being involved in something. I also loved the kids and becoming friends with them. I think its funny that I have been to more high school dances since I graduated from high school than I went to to when I was in high school. But I knew I couldn't live the high school life forever. So I have had to move on. I still enjoy working on the posters and things, and going up to see the shows. But I don't know the kids anymore and I'm not able to be around to see the progress of the shows coming together, I really miss that.

Tonight was the first time Alane and I had seen each other since November, that's crazy! It was so nice just to hang out and chat like old times. Hopefully there will be many many more to come.

Day 20 - Black Man, Black Man....

Today was exciting, I took a trip to Amsterdam! Maybe not quite, but I was feeling like my blog pictures were getting a little boring so I thought I'd spice it up a bit. This is actually the window display at Cahoots next to the Tower Theater. We went to another Sundance movie tonight. We saw "I Love You Phillip Morris." It was OK, it was kind of like a quirky "Catch Me If You Can" but gayer. Was all about this con man living lies and going in and out of prison. It had Jim Carey in it, I think he's best when he sticks to cartoon character roles, I have never been a big fan of his, and this role did'nt change my mind. Ewan McGreggor was in it as well, I like him. It wasn't a premier or anything so we didn't see any big stars.

Also to note today, was the historical Inaguration of President Barack Obama. It was a cool experience, I don't remember another inaguration that had so much attention. It's always a big event I suppose, but I don't remember as many people being interested in it. I know of people who took the day off work to watch all of the festivities on TV. I was able to watch it online at work. I'm happy I could be a part of history in some small way. No matter what your political affliation is I think we all know there needs to be changes. Hopefully the new leadership will help things move in the right direction. I know some people are concerned about the next four years. I have so much hope and am excited to see what can be accomplished with new eyes. I also believe one person cannot fix the country or destroy it. There are enough checks and balances in place that I don't think the country will crumble to pieces. I also beleive that it takes everyone to create change. I'm hoping the next four years will see an improved economy, some sort of advancements towards peace in the Middle East, and Africa. I'm also hopeful there will be changes that will allow more equality in the country, that everyone will be allowed the same basic rights and discrmination will not be allowed to be law.

I'm not really a political person, and I'm probably an idealist, I have that niave notion that everyone should just get along, be happy and have money. Really that's what its all about right?

Day 19 - We're Gonna SCO-O-ORE Toni-ight

Tonight was a good time. Latoya used her social director skills and arranged a little dinner bowling night for us all. It was a lot of fun. We all met at Robintinos in Bountiful and then did a little bowing at the Bountiful bowl. Just like the old days. They've remodeled the bowling alley and its all bright and modern looking, makes me sad. I miss the yellow orange bench chairs and old school computer scoring machines. Now you tell them up front what your name is and they set it all up for you. The majority of the fun of going bowling was trying to figure out how to enter the names in every time, and also coming up with new fake names for each game. Progress is so sad!

However, I was very proud of myself...like most sports (and yes I'm classifying bowling as a sport) I don't excel. In high school, in order to get out of actual physical activity I took "lifetime activities" instead of gym my junior year. This class consisted of miniature golf, badmitton, volleyball, and of course bowling. We got to take a bus to the Bountiful bowl and play a few rounds. The trick was we had to score the old school way, no computers... I may have tallied wrong, but I'm pretty sure I scored a 14 on that bowling trip. So last night I was pretty excited to get a 54 the first game....but the second game I really came alive. 136, I WON! I even beat Matt and Christian!!! I was so proud, may have been the proudest moment of my life.

Day 18 -AG88, great, great, great!

Ahh it's Sunday... the unappealing aroma of Monday is all ready present in the air. But I try to keep it away with Saturday scented pine tree shaped air fresheners.

This morning I went to breakfast at Em's with Clete, Brandy, Kirstin, and Brandy's friends D.J. and Kimberlie that are in town for Sundance. Em's is cool little cafe up on Capitol Hill, it's kinda fun to go to.

After breakfast I once again did my best at procrastinating. I am getting so good at it, I just need to practice it a little harder til I'm a master. I did do a little cleaning around the house, watched some TV, and wasted time on the computer. Then around 3:30 I went and bought the stuff to make Hot Saucy Blondie's for the little dinner party I was going to.

Every month the old gang from Alphagraphics 88 get together for a Sunday night dinner. We each take turns hosting it. This month was Carly's turn. I am usually in charge of dessert. I end up making the same things all the time, so I wanted to find something a little different. I found a recipe that was suppose to be like the Blondie's at Applebee's, I love those things. So I tried it out. They turned our really well, but didn't taste like Applebee's, but they were still really, really good. Tons of brown sugar and butter...I could really just eat that, so it didn't take much to make them taste good.

The dinner party was good. Had good food, caught up on all the West Valley and Bountiful Alphagraphics gossip. Then played a game called "Settlers." I know you'll probably read this Carly, and no offense, but that game is a little dull. We need to punch it up a bit, maybe some strip settlers..woot woot! ;) The photo is our little family group shot, I look like I'm the giant hormonally imbalanced child of Jon and Madison.

Well Sunday is done, and the work week is here. I'm a little bitter cause I have to work tomorrow and its Human Rights Day. I think Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream we all were created equal, and by that he meant, every one equally deserves a day off!!

Day 17 - Spring Breakdown..Wha?! Wha?!

Today was what Saturday's should be, just nice relaxing and lazy... I used my well honed skill of procrastination and didn't really accomplish anything. Went to the Pancake House for breakfast with Clete. Then the day went down hill. Had big plans to work on projects. I cleaned my Fettuccini mess up in the kitchen, went to my parents house to get my hard drive to work on the dreaded Camelot! Then I got back to my apartment and started watching TV and telling myself "at 1:00 I will work out"...1:00 came and went so it became.. "at 2:00 I will work out"...and so on and so forth. Then Clete texted and said we were going to go up to Park City at 6:00...so it got to be 5:00 and I thought, I don't have time to start anything now, I will continue to waste time on the computer and watch TV. Those are goals I am able to accomplish quite well.

So as I said 6:00 we went up to Park City, met Greg for dinner at old school Pizza Hut, the sit down type restaurant. Just like the one I used to go to when I was a kid, and I would lie about how many pages I read for school in order to get a free Personal Pan Pizza! But unfortunately they don't care about how much you read now, we had to pay for ours. After dinner we tried to get into a movie, but the wait list tickets were gone.W e just made a loop around Park City in the little shuttle bus and decided to head back down to Salt Lake and get tickets for "Spring Breakdown" at the tower. The picture is of us in the wait list line with our numbers. We ended up getting into the show. It was really funny, Parker Posey, Amy Pohler, and Rachel Dratch, how can you go wrong. Was nothing that will change the world, but good entertainment, what I'm all about. However the opening short film was a fine piece of cinema. It was an Argentinian short film with yarn people. It was pretty much yarn porn, crocheted characters engaging in relations. I had a hard time with that, made me think of my grandma's afghans getting it on...not a good thought.

Day 16 - Fettuccini Bolognaablah!

It's FRIDAY!!!! The end of a long week... Not a hard week, just long. Work has been very slow, sometimes I think its worse to be completely bored at work rather than extremely busy, at least when your busy the time flies.

Well, I didn't have any big plans for the evening, so I decided I would make myself a nice dinner. During my immense downtime at work I looked up a few recipes. I found one that seemed fairly easy and healthy and sounded pretty good. It was for a Fettuccini Bolognese. I went to Smith's and spent a lot of money getting everything I needed for it. I chopped up my veggies, did everything as directed, made a huge mess in my tiny kitchen... It took me about an hour to make the recipe that said it had a 20 min prep time. When it was complete, it was just, OK, and made my apartment smell real bad. I know you're suppose to use fresh ingredients and it makes everything better, but I feel like some hamburger helper would have been just as good, if not better...Once again proving I am not a cook.

After dinner Clete and I went to a movie, we saw "Defiance" a movie about a group of Jews that hid out in the forest from the Germans during WWII. It was really good, and based on a true story. Ended up being a nice Friday night.

Day 15 - Sundance Fever

Tonight was the beginning of Sundance mania. I've never really been big into the whole Sundance thing, I have never even been until last year and only saw one movie. This year I have tickets for four, and saw two last night, so six all together. This is nothing compared to the 30 that Brandy plans to attend, in order to beat her record of 29 last year.

Last night was the screening for volunteers. Brandy's friends are coming in from out of town to volunteer, but don't get in until Friday. She had their volunteer passes, so I posed as D.J. and she was Kimberly. Greg is a legitmate volunteer so we met him up there. We saw "Prom Night in Mississippi" a documentary about a small town in Mississippi that still had a segragated prom. Morgan Freeman lives in the area and offered to pay for the prom if the school had an integrated prom. I really liked this movie, it is amazing that kind of mentality is still going on over 50 years after the civil rights movement. I hope it reminds people just because we have elected a black president racism is still not dead here. People are still discriminated against, and not just because of their race. We are along way from equality in this country.

The other movie was Lyme Life (I think, something with Lyme in it) It started out as a quirky coming of age movie, but went disturbingly wrong. It was suppose to be a comedy set in Long Island with the back drop of a man living with Lyme disease (hilarious!). It had some Kulkan kids in it, they were great, and Alec Baldwin. But it was disturbing to me. There were a few scenes where the boy is being beat up, like punched really hard over and over, and the audience was laughing like crazy...I didn't get it, it was disturbing.

Anyway, that was my first night at Sundace, there are going to be a few more Sundance nights in the next 10 days, maybe I'll even get a picture with a celebrity! I hear Bowser from Sha Na Na might be in town woo hoo!!

DAY 14 - Welcome to the Real World!

Tonight was Wednesday night at Brandy's. We made some Enchilada's, yum. All I really did was warm up the corn tortilla shells in the microwave, Brandy did all the real hard work, but they turned out spectacular, OLÉ!
We watched trashy Real World, I haven't watched that in years, but saw the season premier last week, and I'm afraid I'm hooked. There are 2 Salt Lake Cityites this season. I'm really happy the little Mormon family that visited on tonights show was cute. The mom was such a little Mormon mom, but was really sweet, they didn't make complete fools out of Utahns. We also got the weekly dose of Top Chef and Whatever Martha. Big TV night!

That was about it for today.

DAY 13 - American Idol and All Temperature Cheer

Today was one of those days I was worried about when I began this blog. It was an extremely uneventful day. After work I went to my parents house did some laundry and watched the season premier of American Idol. I hate these audition rounds, some are kinda funny, but for the most part it gets kinda old. I usually watch the first few auditions then get back into around the final 16.

I was mad at myself all evening cause I had promised myself I would work out today when I got home from work, but I didn't. So after I got home from my parents house I did a little work out at 10:00 pm while watching Ace of Cakes. I think that's the best way to work out. It provides much more inspiration than some trainer yelling at me. I kept thinking if I worked out real hard all week long I could eat an entire sheet cake this weekend!

DAY 12 - Laughin' through "Leaf"

My friend Clete works a few nights a month at Pioneer Memorial Theater so he gets free tickets for the shows. Tonight we got to go see "Yellow Leaf." It tells the story of how Mary Shelley came up with Frankenstien. There was some good acting in it, but I kind of got confused a little bit. The people behind us were laughing loudly and not very humorous moments, which made Brandy and I laugh. We got a bad case of the church giggles during an ultra dramatic moment when Mary Shelley was doing a big monolouge about her 2 week old baby dying. Not in the best taste, but Brandy snorted and it made me start laughing harder, we had tears running down our faces. We're classy.

Well Monday is done, woo hoo!! I'm lookin' forward to getting the week done and for the weekend to arrive. Sundance is coming up and it's looking like I'm going to get to go to quite a few movies over the weekend and next week, feels good to have something to look forward to.

DAY 11 - Jakenbake!

Today I had a nice end to a pleasant weekend. I spent most of the morning tiding up the apartment, then went to my parents house and made a small dent in my accumulating laundry. Then I went to Ogden for dinner with my good friends Jake and Amanda. It was a lot of fun, just like old times, only completely different. It's crazy how much stays the same, but how much can change. For several years every Sunday evening I would play games with the Tesch's, after Jake and Jason got married and all of our lives started taking us in different directions that tradition ended. Tonight Jake invited me up for dinner and it was a nice surprise to see most of the family there playing games. However, Rich was out on the road starting his new job as a truck driver, and Jared is off on his mission. We met at Jake's grandmas house, which Jake now lives in and has fixed up really nice. And Davis, Jake's baby is now a little man. He's an absolute genius. Only 2 years old and reading, writing and spelling. He was telling me his thoughts on a solution to global warming and working on some plans to solve the nations mortgage crisis...well maybe not quite, but I'm sure he's been thinking about it.

It was a lot of fun to see them again. I was thinking on the way home that this fall it will be 10 years since I met Jake. He was a little high school kid, now he's all grown up and has such a cute little family. I'm so proud of what he has become. We have had a lot of "good times" over the years. I look forward to many more years of Sunday night dinners and games, and hopefully a camping trip will be thrown in here an there.

SOLID!

DAY 10 - Toe Pick

Today I got an early start. I met Brandy, Greg and some of Brandy's friends at Trolley Square to wait in line for some Sundance tickets. The pic is of Brandy and I sitting of the cold hard Trolley Square floor waiting for the line to start moving. I'm lookin' a little flirty, but who wouldn't wanna flirt with Brandy, she's such a little tart. These were free tickets they give out for the screenings of the "Best of Fest" so we don't know what movies they will be, it will be whatever is voted best. We got tickets for 2 of the 3 they will be showing. So Monday Jan. 26th I'm going to be in movies all night long. It will be a good time. The wait wasn't bad at all. I got there about 8:15, and the doors opened at 10. The line moved really fast, so we had tickets in hand by 10:15. After that we went to Park Cafe for some breakfast...Park Cafe is so yummy, its just down home cookin' with greasy potatoes and huge pancakes...all that goodness.

The rest of the day was just standard Saturday errands. I finally gave in and bought some curtains for my apartment. I'm undecided about them, I feel like they are really dark and now I have a heavy dark hole where windows once were. But it does make it feel more cozy, and hopefully it will block out the blinding sun that comes in all day long. The glare on my TV makes it impossible for me to watch my stories, and forces me to be productive. Hopefully that will come to an end.

This evening I went to Gallivan Center and did some ice skating with Clete, Greg, Parker and Preston. We stayed for a long time, it was a lot better than New Years Eve, there were still a lot of people, but it wasn't nearly as crowded. Parker and Preston are really starting to get the hang of it. Preston has developed his own sort of technique where he doesn't life up his feet, just scoots along with stiff legs. But he gets going pretty fast, he has been dubbed "Lord of the Skate." I forgot how much I enjoy skating, I took lessons when I was a kid, thought I would be the next Scott Hamilton, but never happened, I ended up going more the route of Louie Anderson. Never achieved the success of either. Anyway, it has been a lot of fun getting back out on the ice. Someday I'll finally get that triple sow cow perfected. Its all about the Toe Pick.

My other favorite part of today was that the little boys have a new favorite movie. Apparently they have been singing Mama Mia songs all day. I'm so proud... here are a few clips.

DAY 9 - The Adventures of Lady Friend and Cocaine Clay

WOO HOO, I made it a full week. The first full week of the year, and my first full week at the new job. Glad to have it done, and I'm looking forward to the weekend. Tonight I got the weekend started with a little get together with Latoya, Christian and Jess. Latoya and I have been friends for years. She went to high school with Christian and Jess, I had met them way back in the day but only a few times. In the last few months they have all reconnected and we've hung out a few times. It's been a hoot! We were going to play a few games, but ended up just chatting and laughing all night long. I shared some precious stories of "lady friend" and Jess introduced us to "cocaine Clay." It was a good end to the week. We are gonna have to do that more often.

It's real late now and I have to get up early tomorrow morning to go wait in line for Sundance tickets. I really don't understand what's going on, all I know is I have tickets for a few of the movies all ready, but I guess they give away free passes for stuff, I don't really know, I just do what I'm told.

Until tomorrow.

DAY 8 - BRING IT!

One week into this crazy wacky year...and I finally started my resolution. However I don't really consider it a resolution, it's more just getting back on track. I was so good about working out 3-6 times a week for about a year and a half. Then last summer I moved into my new apartment and got a little side tracked. So today I did it, I put in my Power 90 and started my 90 days to a leaner trimer me. Although I did Power 90 for almost 2 years and still didn't look like the guy on the cover. I think I should get my money back.
I was surprised that it was much easier than I thought it would be. I was pretty nervous that I wouldn't be able to get through it. I did really well, except for the crunches at the end. I used to be able to do all 200, but I started off doing the 20 reps of each, but it was kicking my butt, so I had to drop it down to the 10. I'm happy I finished and I have to make sure I keep it up.

Unfortunately after the work out I went down hill. It drained me, I made a healthy dinner, but it was disgusting. I realize I'm no cook. I can bake, but cooking a piece of chicken without it turning into a burnt rubbery mess is not my forte. After my dinner dibachle I have sat around chatting on facebook and watching TV, a completely wasted evening. But tomorrow is Friday! YAY!! Made it through another week.

DAY 7 - Top Chef...something's fishy.

Most every Wednesday night for the past several months has been Bravo reality show TV night at Brandy's. Last summer it was "Project Runway" and when that ended it was "Top Design" and now "Top Chef." I'm really liking the crazy black lady with the google eyes, she's a little crazy. But as far as a winner goes I'm rooting for Arianne, she's kinda down home cooking lady, she's pretty down to Earth and she's won a lot of challenges, so she must be good. Maybe someday they will make taste-o-vision and we'll all be able to join in the judging. All though they always do fish dishes, and I don't want to taste, or smell that.

Other than a lazy night of TV watching the day was pretty uneventful. I really need to get my butt in gear and start working out. I'm really good at excuses, tonight I didn't want to work out cause it was dark outside and since I have no curtains all the passer by's could see me. I can rationalize anything.

Work has been really slow, I spent most of the day playing around in Illustrator, and surfin' the web. I learned from my co-worker that the word "Wasatch" comes from a Piute word meaning "frozen penis." His daughter goes to Wasatch Jr. High and he was wondering what the word meant, so he looked it up. I'd be interested to see what their mascot is.

DAY 6 - Zanzibar the Jazz Bar

Tonight I had a great time watching my super talented friend Jeff do a little sing song at the Zanzibar Jazz Bar. This is a picture of me, Jeff and Nick Siler.

I'll write a little more later, but if you notice its 2:00 am, but I wanted to be consistent and post my daily pic!

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Here's a little post script now that I am rested (as rested as I can be with only 5 hours of sleep).

I have decided to try to do more things during the week. I find myself living for the weekends and wishing the days away. So instead of dreading each day, I am going to try to find things to do in the evenings to give me something to look forward to. I happened to notice some of my facebook friends attending this event at Zanzibar, and when I looked at the performers I saw my friend Jeff was going to be singing. So I called him up and invited myself. I hadn't seen him in a long time and have missed seeing him perform. He did an awesome job, he was definitely the best one there. He's gonna be big time someday.
After the show he wanted to see my apartment, so he came over and we ended up chatting til 2am. It was fun to catch up a. I've known Jeff for over 10 years, met him when he was just a kid. Now he's all grown up. We've been through a lot together, he's someone who I can always see being part of my life no matter how far apart we are, or how much time passes between each time we chat. It's nice to have friends like that.

Other than that, the day was status quo. Went to work didn't have much to do, left a little early, went to my parents house to have my dad help me install the new battery I had been carrying around with me, and then to celebrate the successful installation dad treated us to the fine dining experience that is Chuck-A-Rama. Who says I don't know how to have a good time.

DAY 5 - Assault and Battery

Today was the first day of my first full week at my new job. It started off real, real good. I went to start my car and the battery was dead. I think I may be a touch psychic, all night long I kept thinking my car was going to be dead in the morning, and it was. Maybe that whole Secret thing does work after all. But sending out charged battery vibes into the universe wasn't enough to get the car going. I had to get my friend Hunter to come over and give me a jump. But we weren't able to get it working, neither of us are big car people. Some random fellow from my apartment building came over and hooked up the cables a different way and had us try it one more time, and it started up. Then he got back in his car, and yelled out the window "pour some coke over the terminals" and he was off. He may have been one of the three Nephites. And it confirmed what I always believed, Diet Coke does solve everything.

The picture is of me very discouraged with the dead battery situation. After work I went to Sears but they only had some $190 battery, then I went to Costco and found one for much cheaper, however they don't install them. So now I have a good battery riding around in the car with me. I'm hoping that just having the good battery near the bad one, the bad battery will work harder, knowing that it can be replaced at any moment.

Now I'm back into my lazy ways. I was going to start working out tonight, but I didn't get done with the battery stuff til 8:30, and I was real hungry. So I'm just lounging around on the couch watching HGTV in my fuzzy blanket, looking out at the freshly fallen snow. Ahhhhh! And the best part is...only 4 more days til Friday.

P.S. Happy Birthday Kelli!!!

DAY 4 - Sunday...that's my fun day?

So today was a very lazy day for me. It started off fine and went down hill. I had brunch this morning at Niche with my friend Hunter, then had a bunch of stuff I wanted to get done. I finished packing up Christmas decorations. Then worked on editing Camelot, which is not going well. I seem to always have technical issues. I just don't have the equipment I need to make it easy and flawless. Someday, possibly.

Anyway, my day became increasingly lazy. I laid in bed and watched Mamma Mia, I am completely in awe of Peirce Brosnon's amazing talent... He really made me feel like he needed help when he painfully grunts "SOS" I'm not sure if that was the intent of the director, or the ABBA people, but he did seem to be in some discomfort.

I also gave into my Peanut Butter Bar temptation, and decided to make a batch of the tasty delights. I proceeded to eat my fair share to top of the self indulgence of the past two weeks. It is now time to hit they gym, or at least try to find a way to do m Power 90 in my apartment so I don't crash through to the floor into the apartment below during the jumping jack section. The "professor", as I call him, (thee man who lives below me that has a little beard and always seems to be wearing woolens whenever I see him). He has all ready banged on his ceiling when I was trying to work out a few months ago, so I use that as my excuse not to do it.

Now the day is coming to a close. The photo is of me walking back from the Maverick in the 9 degree weather with my last D&C 44 of the weekend. That's Diet Coke 44 oz for you laid folk. As well as the eating habits changing, I am also going to get back to my Diet Coke only on the weekends. Or maybe one during the week, I gotta have something to look forward too.

Well I am off to bed, to prepare for the first full week of work at my new job. It feels almost like my first day again, since most of the company has been on vacation since I started, I'm sure I'll get to meet a lot of new people, and hopefully I will have some stuff to do.

Catch ya later!

DAY 3 - The First Saturday of the Last Year of the First Decade of the Entire Twenty-First Century

The first Saturday of the last year of the first decade of the entire twenty first century... So we celebrated. My good friend Brandy O has been in California with her family for the holidays, I hadn't seen her FOREVER! So she invited us over for a little game night tonight. We played a little word game thing that felt similar to an SAT test, then some Hit or Miss (a game approved by the people at MENSA) and finally some music catch phrase and Ultimate Yahtzee! It was a night of intillectual stimulation and entertainment. However, I do not excel at the music catch phrase...which may be a shock to most, since I pretty much always have a song in my heart. But I realized I didn't really listen to music for much of the 90's and I guess the 2000's for that matter. But if it were Musical Theater catch phrase I could whoop some "A!"

DAY 2 - I Cry The Day That I Take The Tree Down

So the Holiday's are officially over. I have un decorated the Christmas tree and started packing everything away until next year. It's amazing how quick the magic and beauty of Christmas decorations turn into clutter. I love getting the tree up as quick as I can in the season, and enjoy every minute of it. But after New Years it is almost painful to look at it each day. It has served its time well and is ready to be packed away until Christmas comes again next year, where ever I may be.

DAY 1 - Doin Fine in 2009!

So one of my New Years resolutions is to take more pictures. I have boxes full of pictures that span about a 3 year period when I was a regular paparazzi. But I have been lax in my picture taking duties over the past several years. So I have decided to start a "picture a day" blog. I am hoping to add a picture each day for 2009. I haven't decided if all pictures will be of me, I feel that's a little "Oprah Magazine" cover conceited, but it will also be interesting to see how I age over the course of the year. How much hair I loose, watch myself get fatter and then hopefully skinnier, see me sad and hopefully happy...so pretty much just like Oprah. We'll see how much dedication I have.

I have been a little nervous to start a Blog, all the pressure of being witty and clever. So I am not guaranteeing anything. My posts could very well be dry and pointless, but at least it will prove I made it another day in this wacky world!

My first picture of 2009 was taken moments after the ball dropped, with my good friend Dick Clark. So many New Years Eves have been spent counting down the seconds to the ball dropping with Dick. This year was no different, I waited in anticipation as Dick counted down to midnight, at least I believe he was counting down, it may have been some sort of Hebrew prayer it was hard to say. But good for him for trying. Earlier in the night we headed downtown for some First Night festivities. We watched a laser show that looked as if it was created with 1986 Atari 2500, then went to the Galivan Center for a little ice skating. It was crowded, and I hadn't been on skates in 10 years. But I was amazed that I picked it right up and was doing triple luxes in no time. It was a pretty good night, I was glad I got to spend it with a some of my best friends Clete and Greg and my little buds Parker and Preston.

I am looking forward to 2009, 2008 was a big year for me. I would call it a good year over all, however it was full of big changes and left me feeling like I was free falling through life, trying to find something to grab a hold of. I still feel a little dazed and confused, but I'm learning to manage the feelings of hopelessness and despair and trying to focus the energy elsewhere, I should try taking up a hobby, like needlepoint, but I should probably look for something else that doesn't require sharp objects, any suggestions? I accomplished some major goals this year. The first half of the year I graduated with my bachelors degree after eight years of school, I lost those last 5 lbs (have gained them back over the holidays, I'm sure), and I moved into my own place. The last half of the year I spent working and worrying.

As 2009 begins I find myself with great friends, a great family, living in a cool little apartment downtown and a decent job that pays my bills (barely). I really do have an all right life, and I'm going to try to be thankful for what I have this year and not focus on the things I want and don't have yet. I haven't made any definite resolutions, I just am going to try to make it day by day (oh sweet lord, these things we pray). I could always go to the gym more, I need to be better with my money, all those standard things. But this year I just want to "be" and hopefully make some progress while I'm at it.

Check in often, I hope to have more pictures of my meanderings through life. Everyone can witness me trying to sketch out my tiny little existence.... Hope to see you back soon.

Have a super happy and safe New Years!!