DIY LED Disco Kilt: Wearable Costume for Dancing and Going Out
Build a wearable LED disco kilt for dancing, parties, and festivals. Complete guide to materials, LED wiring, sewing, and power management for mobile LED costumes.
Tag: dance
In spite of adversity
They make movies about people fighting for what they believe in. There's usually some battle anthem with an emotional score and actors playing out well defined parts. Maybe someone dies or suffers a personal injury. And you often to get watch it from the comfort of your home and feel inspired to do something...anything. And have that thing be something that brings out a new beginning. But then you sneeze and the feeling goes away. I've sneezed many times, but this time I held my nose and the feeling lingered. I've found that the swing dancers of Dallas are begging for something new. Something outside of the same musical rotation which has been played for the past few years. A challenge. I decided to present to the Dallas Swing Dance Society board a proposition of creating a new dance opportunity. I had hoped to write a piece of paper and then present it to the Board and see what happens. Instead, I got a phone call from one of the leading figures of the dance scene telling me that the Board would not accept my idea, telling me that I associate with people who they do not respect as human beings, that if I "Fuck this up" (i.e. bring a bad reputation to Dallas), then they "won't know me anymore", and that DSDS would not have anything to do with me anymore. Needless to say, I was quite hurt by the attack. To the point that I planned on withdrawing my proposal. However, with the support of other dancers, they helped me get back on track and take the presentation to the board. A proposal which was very well received and had a lot of support. Nothing is finalized, but words cannot express how much of a personal victory this has been for me. In spite of the verbal beating I took, I was able to say, "Fuck it. This is something I believe in. Something the community will directly benefit from. I'm not going to let someone tear me down from it." To those who supported me: Thanks, from me and everyone who will benefit from this in the future.
· 2 min read
Air Guitar Champ
Air Guitar Champ Originally uploaded by Strange Muse Air Guitar Nation. Simply a beautiful movie about the spirit of humanity through the hidden bedroom…
I want to live everywhere.
THAT bridge Originally uploaded by SnoopyKiss Every time I come back from Denver, I rave about how I want to move there. After Germany, it was the same…
Yea Stuttgart! I made it!
After traveling from country to country, mostly staying in the same location for only 1 night, it's amazing how peaceful familiarity can be. It doesn't matter that you sleep on a leaky air-mattress, or that it's with a cousin you haven't seen in about 2 decades, and his wife and his good friend who you've never met before. It's comforting because it's family. While working for his restaurant, I also had no problem pitching in every change I got. Assemble a grill. Make a peanut sauce for 150 people. Setup a room for a banquet. Come up with a Panini menu item (one of my favorites). Why? As I told Cousin Bill, "Because blood works harder than money." Lydia, Bill's wife, wisked me around Stuttgart on my last day and we ran into one of her Louisiana friends. Not a Coonass, mind you, as she lived too far north, but still an interesting person nonetheless. I also found out that one of Lydia's cousins is the lead singer of Pink Martini. And apparently, she is as beautiful as her voice; such that one of her German female friends is quoted as saying, "I think I'm turning Lesb-ish." For dinner, we were served by a Gay Asian waiter, speaking German. Swing Heil, indeed. May 16th, in the Gatwick (London) Airport, realizing that I haven't journaled in a while.
Berlin Bug
As is common with many exchanges, I walked out of it with a smile on my face and sick the day after. I was glad to get out of London, quick trip to Paris and then off to Berlin. Berlin is a beautiful city that has worked very hard to remove the dark scar of Wars long past. And it's done a fantastic job. I hobbled my way to a bike tour around Berlin in the morning only to find out that our guide was sick and hospitalized. Most of us waiting around went our separate ways, but me and this guy from S. Korea walked around and chatted. He used to be in the Korean Military and after some discussion about my favorite Korean movie (Attack the Gas Station), he actually has done PAGOOO!!! It's been validated! This actually does happen! He had to stick his hands behind his back, and then balance himself using only his head and the tips of his toes with his butt in the air, making a perfect upside-down V. Try this at home. I'm sure you'll be amazed at how difficult it really is. Afterwards, we parted as I went back to the hostel, crawled into my top bunk and crashed for about 12 hours. When I crawled down, I woke up the person below me, I apologized and realized, it was the same Korean guy from yesterday. Crazy! We laughed about this and then headed back out to the bike tour area again for another chance. It was lead by a spunky Sweed who told us the story of the Berlin Wall collapse and how (if the story is true. I'll have to Wikipedia it) it was all 100% unintentional. There was a plan to remove travel restrictions between East & West Berlin; however, it was part of a long plan with practically impossible hoops to follow, years worth of paper filing, and an outstanding cost to the process. But during the press conference, the leader of East Berlin only read some part of his news notes and permanently removed travel restrictions. And thus the wall collapsed. Le oops! I'm now heading to Amsterdam where I'm going to spend a night with the other guest I met from LLX. Gotta love the Lindy housing network. Tomorrow, I meet up with my mom who's visiting the Netherlands for the Budding of the Tulips. One interesting note of national profiling I've learned is that our Swedish tour guide would get scowls and rougher service when she'd talk in English with a slight American accent. But when she told them that she was from Sweden, they immediate apologized. It's amazing how much Bush is really hated outside of America. It makes me sad that America has created such disdain. (Many of which have currencies stronger than ours. Sorry guys, but the almighty American dollar isn't worth much out here.) I hope that we can mend this international relationship soon. I also found out that the Germans really don't love David Hasselhoff. It was just that one song. Riiiiiight. April 19th, on a train from Berlin to Amsterdam
London Lindy Exchange
My second International Exchange has been a great adventure. Although, there are some differences which struck me as odd. One I wish I would have learned before coming is that it's common to dance with the same partner for two consecutive dances. This was a bit of an ego deflator as I thought I was so good that all these girls asked me for a 2nd dance, but it's just the way that they roll here. There's a bunch of good dancers here, so it wasn't a problem, but so many times I found myself finishing the dance with one girl, hearing the next song come on and then wanting to find another follow to dance with, but sticking with the same one. Not a complaint, mind you. Just different. The other is that this Exchange is dance event first, and a social event second. I've been to so many exchanges by now that it's quite the opposite for me now. People dance, and if they sit down, they look at everyone else dancing. Noone's grouped together, pouring each other drinks, no cliques hanging out together. Just dancing. Once again, not a complaint. I danced my butt off at this exchange, when I've been drinking at all of the others. There was no arse-slapping either. Well, at least till I noticed it was missing. Few things will catch you off guard like saying, "You know, there's no ass-slapping at this exchange." And then having your Asian dance partner say in her Australian accent, "Yeah! I like that!" Definitely not a complaint. I've also seen more ariels and Zoot Suits today than in the last 3 years of my dancing. I guess just like what's cool in America hit Europe years later, what's lost fashion travels just as slow. Ok, this one's a complaint. :) There were a few snacks for us and one guy said in his perfect English accent. "There's such a wonderful selection! This is quite exciting!". My internal dialogue was, "No. If some girl just took her top off and started running around, THAT would be exciting. This is just fruit and candy." It's amazing what we find amazing. April 15th, 5AM in the same Flat in London
No Beer for Me
If 10 years of Texas hadn't converted me to a beer drinker, then I figured 2 weeks of Ireland and Scotland, would be my last shot. Nope. At least I got into Ciders; so it's not a complete loss. Kathy's not disappointed tho, as she still got someone to drink fruity drinks with. I did refrain from ordering a Smirnoff Ice tho. It was like being in the Garden of Eden! Speaking of running around naked, I didn't walk around in a Kilt and/or tromp around the Highlands of Scotland in the buff. It was freggin' cold. Maybe next time. I'm definitely coming back and bringing my...well, lack of inhibition. Stop. Change. Start. I'm sharing a room with a guy named Lindy and most of my shirts are from Lindy Exchanges. He said that he's never seen his name on that many shirts before. I knew that when I came to Europe, that there would be a language barrier. It's bound to happen. I just figured that it would be between me and the French or the Germans. Not with the Irish or the Scots. As much as I love those people, trying to listen in on their conversations is like performing Calculus with a slide rule. Both leave you wondering, "People actually act like that?!" April 11th, 2007 - Kilarney, Ireland
Those Crazy Frenchies
I arrived in Glasgow (Still in Scotland) after finding a hostel w/ wireless Internet (Yea modern world!). The walk there proved to me that Scotland does have a modern city with a drag, complete with a KFC, women wearing too much makeup and a sidewalk band...Singing the blues. With a Scottish Accent. And a touque. snicker Yeah, it was pretty funny. I'm just now getting a chance to take a breather after going clubbing with my French roommates. As much as they loved dancing to Bee Gees and other Disco hits, I was surprised that when the club played Saturday Night Fever on the screen, they all thought it was Grease. Even if I go to sleep now, they'll wake me up when they finally come back from dancing. That's ok, I'll just curse them out in Pig Latin and that'll freak'em out. -- Snoopykiss est rester vivant
MezzJelly Funk, Soul, Blues and Good Times
Bring on the Funk Originally uploaded by SnoopyKiss. As a white guy, why do I love the Funk so much? Maybe it's because it's got a hard bass. Maybe…
May Pole!
It worked! Originally uploaded by SnoopyKiss. What's May without a Pole Dance? What started out as a joke between Neighbor Dan and I about how we should…
TAGXORED!
tag, tag, tag, tag, tag, and tag Originally uploaded by mjutabor. Matty got me. Four jobs I've had Popeyes (cook, cashier, fluffer) Shrimp Boat helper…
PDX: Not just an airport code.
I wouldn't know what to do either Originally uploaded by SnoopyKiss. I've never seen a city so involved with it's airport code. Not that I know which came…
I binge and purge
Chicken Elmo Originally uploaded by SnoopyKiss. So, I successfully completed my "Stick it to the Man" Tour with a buttload of pictures and some new…
Stick to to the Man Tour: Day 5 & 6 (Chicago -> Toronto -> New York -> Boston)
Chris Sleeping Originally uploaded by SnoopyKiss. Canada. That Maple Leaf place. America's Attic. (You don't go up there very often, but when you do,…
Stick it to the Man Tour: Day 3 & 4
Sears CN Tower Originally uploaded by SnoopyKiss. After a much needed rest and some good work put in, I finally got the full "Stupid Lack of Parking…
PAGOOOOOOOOO!!!
PAGOOOOOOOOO!!! Originally uploaded by SnoopyKiss. Conversation while picking up the Mini between Jeff (sales manager/old swing dance instructor) and I:…
Cheap Thrills
Blurry Blues Originally uploaded by SnoopyKiss. Some day, I'm actually going to go to St. Louis and check out the city instead of Blues dancing till 4AM.…
Single but not Alone
After going through enough 100+ people parties, there comes a time where one realizes that there is a core group of people who are not just your party buddies, but people who you can really depend on. Those are the people I wanted around me for my St. Patrick's B-day. It's those people I wanted singing Happy Birthday in the loudest, off-key, deaf-tone, intentionally unharmonious, way possible. Ones that would give me Pinky, the Love Pig as well as show me the epitome of "ghetto wrapped". Ones who know me and what I want, oh so well. (Thanks for the Mentos and shirt!) As well as ones who are so willing to help me "find something to bang" while making a joyful noise unto the Lord. And then give me a spatula to help with spankings. After much merriment and a very-welcomed day slept in, I was kidnapped by two awesome Denver Follows, and whisked off to Lindyfest in Houston. This consisted of a weekend full of the country's best and intriguing instructors where I took a class called, "Learning to Dance to Soul Music" and even saw my friends compete in the American Lindy Hop Competition Regionals. Pictures forthcoming. --Snoopykiss needed that. In a good way. And a bad way.
1 New Year, 2 Instructors, 8 Peeps, 537 Meters
In the persistent quest to better my dancing ability and fix my Overly Caucasion Syndrome, I attended the Paul and Sharon workshop this weekend. I picked up on all sorts of little tricks, moves and techniques, but if I had to say what concretely stuck in my mind (outside of the video of Laurie dancing) was that I finally know where to put my hand. And I'm sure all the ladies will love that. And of course, no Dallas dance weekend would be complete without the proper cramming of as many people as possible at my place. As a result, I got in a fair amount of hot tubbing, some great company and even leftovers! Amidst the active weekend, I was able to score tickets to my Kung Fu school's Chinese New Year Celebration. Accompanied by the lovely Miss Erica, we now both know of some 10 year olds that could probably take me down. After a (probably better off) cancelled date to go rockclimbing, I picked up the wackiest game in my PS2 collection. Katamari Damacy. The point of the game is to amass crap by rolling on it. The more you roll on, the bigger you get; the bigger you get, the more you can pick up. Don't try picking up that cow too soon, he'll get angry. Make sure to gather enough small children. Then you can move onto a Pachincho Store. Or my personal favorite: A Giant Squid. Well worth the $20. --Snoopykiss needs a nap. But he's going to Vegas, so don't feel too bad.
Lindy Gras...now with Parental Units!
Of course, thanks for everyone who helped organize this wonderous event. It kicked much arse! Unforunately, I had too much fun and my body's making me pay for it now by being sick and stuff. Some of my favorite highlights were: Riding the bull and doing a damn fine job of it, if I don't mind saying. Video forthcoming. Meeting up with my parents and other relatives at Cafe Du Monde and seeing the "No Funk For Tommy Team" and hearing my dad say, "You know, your mom doesn't have to know, but I'm proud of ya." Getting a picture of me and my dad with me wearing my "Qui Est Ton Papa?" Shirt. Priceless. Walking down Burbon Street, and biting on Erica's neck, and then running into my relatives again. Ack! As Stella said, "You turned a deep purple." THE Blues Club Going to The Blues Club with the gang and then getting my relatives and parents to go inside. Then showing off. :) Watching my parents dance. This was pretty much THE highlight of my weekend. I can't say how much that meant to me. It gave me an infinite number of warm fuzzies. The smallest Room / Shower in the world. Being a Marshall for the 2nd Line Parade. w00t! Free Umbrella! The Matrix Posings with Sharon. Where's those pics, G?! Bowling Ball Dancing with Holly. The Last Dance with Jasmine. Oh yeah, PICS ARE UP!
Exchanges...I THINK they're healthy.
Long time...no post. Yeah. I know. This is me being concerned. So, when life seems to hit you all at once, what do you do? Take a weekend vacation to Austin for dancing and then take another weekend vacation to St. Louis for dancing! Sounds like a good idea to me. No? Ok. Well, I went and did it anyway. And then what should I do when I get back? I know! Build a dance floor! But don't forget to take a picture of your floor. Oh yeah, I forgot. I broke my camera trying to take an extreme closeup of my friend Rob projectiling out of a 2 story slide. Bugger. I think his kneecap is healed. --SnoopyKiss is all about turning his logs from mono to dia. Even if you DO have to have a "ue" at the end of them. uuuuueeeee....
So, like, wanna go to Prom?
High school. 4 tortureous years, drenched in loneliness, angst and depression. Something I never wish to repeat. Amidst the teenage awkwardness, there's supposed to be a night of freedom, a time of youthful revelry. This so-called Prom. A lot has happened in 10 years, and I've gained the ability to put the past where it belongs and live life fully. So, when these opprotunities to dredge up the past arise, it becomes a challenge to face my life nose to nose. So, I did it. I went to Prom. But this time, I could dance. --SnoopyKiss wants to give props, where props are due: Thanks Hannah, for starting this, Clint for hosting myself and Heather, and Nate and all others for organizing this great weekend!
Tommy's Marriage Service
It's always great to learn something about yourself. Especially when it deals with your impact on other people. I just had a theory of mine soundly reinforced the other day: "If you want to get married, date me. Chances are, you'll marry the next guy you date." Thankfully, I end all of my relationships on good terms so I'm able to share the joy and encourage them on their way. I don't think of this as a positive or negative, but rather a better after effect than my other friend who had the running joke, "After you date me, you turn gay." We were all worried about how that was going to turn out when she started dating one of my Navy friends. They're married now. With child. So, I'm guessing he enjoyed it. --SnoopyKiss wants a ring...A One Ring. P.S. Oh yeah, the blues party was yet another success. These are starting to become my new favorite types of parties to throw! Right number of people too.
w00 and Yea!
It had been a while since my last Exchange, so when it came time for Tulsa's, I knew that I had to be there. I also brought along Lee and Miss Heather who found themselves . On Size: No, LOLX was not a huge exchange, about 60 people or so. But with last year, I think that people were expecting something different. On Quality: One of the things I loved most about this exchange were the people. So many cool people to talk to, so little sleep had. One of my new finds was a Lounge covers of of NiN, Papa Roach, Disturbed and other "Angry White Boy Music "(tm). On Longevity: Arriving at 11PM on Friday and leaving 4AM on Monday, this gave us the maximum amount of Exchange for the minimal amount of vacation time (Read: 0 days). On Pillow Talk: One of my favorite moments was finally getting a chance to sit down with an old college friend of mine who I "ran into" while in Denver about 6 months ago. It's always intriguing to converse with someone who knew you 8 years ago. That and compare "Halle Stories". :) In Conclusion: For those that made it, I'm overjoyed to have spent a weekend with you. And those that missed, this may sound crude, but I'm glad you had your plans, as it wouldn't have been the same Exchange if y'all crowded the place like a Tommy party. On playing favorites: Without a doubt. But a close second. Speaking of which...
iTunes: From God to Gastly in 1 hour
Since I still hadn't conquered my blues, I thought, "Hey! Maybe if I buy stuff, I'll feel better." I've heard women do that, so I decided to try it out for myself. Here's my progression: Breakup -> Blues Went shopping and found 2 DVD's of Happy Tree Friends and cool new pants and shoe rack that I've been needings for about 2 years -> Happy Got home and listened to Blues -> Blues Put together shoe rack -> Productive Watched Happy Tree Friends DVD -> Amused Found KICK ASS "Break Up Songs" compilation on iTunes, which really hits the spot -> Elated! Problem downloading songs via iTunes, chatted with friends -> Happy Finally downloaded files with iTunes. Some files missing -> Irked Found out iTunes won't let me re-download music I've purchased. (Even when their software failed the original download.) -> PISSED! I would go to sleep, but now I've got two very prevelant reoccuring thoughts in my head, "I HATE iTunes" and "la la LA LA LA". -- SnoopyKiss will have interesting dreams tonight.
Would you like an apple pie with that?
I've got so many great taglines to use in my jorunals, but so little content. This latest one sparked my imagination after a fairly reenactment of this happened at the BK near my work. Few things put me me in the holiday sprit. That's one of them. I've also been proud of myself as I've finally embraced the idea of doing my homework. Growing up in Louisiana, you usually couldn't get me to go outside unless you tossed the computer out the window. And even then, that would be because I was attached to it. So, that I actually bought and USED a weed-wacker, is about as shocking as having Mushmouth replace Dick Clark and getting the countdown right! I'm also excided as I will be getting a minion (read: Co-op) at work. Don't know what else to say. --SnoopyKiss just got professionally insulted, and feels honored. P.S. After-hours blues party = Good, Good, Good, Better.
The Best Exchange Eva!
Another month, another exchange. (Although that ratio is a lot lower this year.) I've made many decisions in my now 28 years of life. Some have brought me great amounts of happiness, such as buying this house. Others...well, there's a reason why I'm called SnoopyKiss. (Also realizing that a Variable Life Insurance Policy is not a worthwile investment for a Gen-X'er was another poor decision.) However, one of them will go down in my mental history books as being the wisest of them all. Staying in Denver those two extra days. It wasn't a quiet exchange. In fact, with all of the hundreds of pictures I took, you'd think that hardly danced a song. But I did. Mmm...Amber blues. The Denver Exchange is a meeting of some of the best Lindyhoppers in the entire country. And not only are they good dancers...but they're HOT! So, why were those two extra days so great? Where else would I have gotten to compete in a cage dance competition, lindybomb the techno club upstairs with some sessy, sessy blues dancing downstairs, and have three women commandeer my camera to make a home video of "Why Tommy should move to Denver." And no, you can't see the video. And yes, it's good to be the King. Oh yeah. I got to pick out fetish wear for hotties. --SnoopyKiss contemplates moving to Denver. But will they still respect me in the morning? P.S. A few more shoutouts: Kat, Jen and Amanda: God bless you and your fine arse slapping! Kathy!!!!: Without you, I probably would have skipped out.
2nd Annual Food and Spirits Party
Yet another weekend proving that I have the coolest friends this side of the universe. About 100+ people stopped by my house this Saturday to check out some amazing dishes. I was so happy to throw this party, that I even bought prizes for the winners! The award winning receipes were: Appetizer: Apple Happiness (Matt Musselman) Entre: Grilled Salmon (Matt Weyandt) Dessert: Sopaipilla Cheesecake (Eric Simpson) Best of Show: Raspberry Brownie (Helen Cantril) I only wish I would have had the frame of mind to get pictures of the winners with their dishes. Instead, I was facinated by Sarah and her Jello-Shot Wedding Cake which boggled my mind in at least 3 different ways. Ahh...now off to Denver this weekend for more partying and a Birthday dance with the countries best follows! Amazingly enough, after 3 weeks of progress, Heather, Lee and I were able to get the walls and white boards in time for the party. With 2 hours to spare! Words can not express their coolness. w00+! SnoopyKiss knows that it's good to be king.
Fat Lindy (Lindy Gras)
I wish I had more to say about Lindy Gras right now, but it's pretty late in the night (or early in the morning) and after postponing this post for so long, the vivid memories of dances and follows are quickly being replaced with Perl code. One speciality of this Exchange was that Heather and Lee got their Exchange cherry's popped. I think they enjoyed themselves. The invitation for the 2nd Annual Food and Spirits party just went out, and I'm amped! I plan on this being a bit more subdued than the last one, but still a good time with great people that know how to cook. Or at least know how to pick out great spirits. --SnoopyKiss hates breakups.
Okie Smakka!
Another weekend, another party. This time, it was a bit more personal focused, than an all out, Crazy Go Nutz time. Some Okies thought that they could actually dance better than us, so by some miracle, they were actually able to follow directions and make it down to Dallas for the 2nd SmackDown. There were some pre-dance activities which involved me showing off my "mad shuffleboard skillz", and Heather (#6; Double-Three; C; Casey; ) schooling everyone in pool. And I don't mean: Winning. I mean: Slack jawwed Okie still has 4 solids on the table as she sinks the 8 and gloats. It was like all out Pool-sodomy. Afterwards, there was a major good time at Party Central (Chez Falgout) involving some damn fine blues dancing and music, an interesting game of "I Never", and a visitation from the local Police at 5AM. --SnoopyKiss thinks it's time to give in and buy a professional steam cleaner.
That's me in the closet.
Too many things have happened since I've last posted for me to describe in any great length, so here's the 5 minute ramblings: Most of the Falgout Family came into town to visit. I even got Charles, my nephew, to come out dancing. I never knew I could have so much fun pimping out my own nephew for dancing. :) Had Thanksgiving dinner with my family...at IHOP...at 9AM before they left for Cut Off. Got stuffed into a closet. snicker After two weeks of no returned calls from Brooke, finally heard from her on Thanksgiving day. We talked about what happened and how I didn't hear from her in such a long while. She promised to call me...a few days later: still haven't heard back from her. I'm STOKED about the Naughty or Nice party coming up on the 20th. It's just less than 2 weeks away and I've already got 40+ people confirmed. There's gonna be prizes, a DJ, a Blues room and a visit from No-Pants Santa! I finally took a non-Lindy Exchange trip! Goddess Kathy found me cheap-ass tickets to Denver which I could not pass up, so packed up some warm clothing and jumped my butt over to Colorado. It's there that I met a whole bunch of Yehoodites I'd talked to before and most amazingly, Jen Hohnstein! Some might have heard my "First Kiss" story (aka, "Tommy, I'm so drunk I can't find your mouth."), well Jen was an instigator of that immortal night. After her Freshman year of Tulane, she dropped off the face of the Earth and I ran across her while dancing in Boulder! I even got to play with myself! I got a new girlfriend. Long brown hair and blue eyes. I know that they care; because, it shows in my call log. His name's Rob. :) Sorry Christine, but I found him first! He knows how to make me do "Man Swivles." (Just kidding mom!) My Strong Bad CD came in...and I'm so glad the Cheat's not dead. What's one to do when you've been living in your house for over 2 years and a package comes for the previous owners that got shipped back due to a Custom's failure?
My Resolve has failed.
On many different levels. One of which was that I didn't even notice that my site's been down for quite some time because my ISP (Comcast) changed my IP w/o me knowing. Therefore, lastcoolnameleft.com didn't resolve. If you don't find this funny, ask a techie. If the techie doesn't find this funny...well, it's probably not. But hug your techie anyway; because I'm sure he would enjoy it. (Hmm...Hug A Techie Day.) The other level is that I promised myself to post whenever events happen. Probably one per event. As of my last entry, there have been enough events to overwhelm a freeze-dried turkey. So, I shall summarize: Austin Lindy Exchange - Dancing, dancing, dancing and more dancing. At some point I slept. Oh yeah! And I had 3 women staying at my house! We even made shirts. Tommy's Bordello. I felt so special. Halloween Party #1 - Unbeknownst to me, I had tickets to go see the Plano Rep's Chicago that night. I went to a costume party where Disco Stu was accompanied by the likes of Angie the Carpenter and Greg the Cholo (sp?). It is here that I met who was awesome enough to sing some Janis Joplin for me outside. Halloween Party #2 - Helen and FWSWS threw a Dance with a live band, costume and even a birthday party for Mistress Helen who was spawned on Halloween, a few years go. My class was also there! Sidenote: I've never been so self-conscious in my life than when sitting in a Greyhound bus station for an hour while wearing my Sugar Daddy PJ's. Afterwards, went to Weyandt's party which was an event and a half. Halloween Party #3 - Rocky Horror. I could go into that some more, but my mom reads this site at times. After a particularly unfortunate Hallowween ending, involving a miscommunication between friends, I feel that karma smiled down upon me (that is if karma would have the properties of a face and muscles to make such a movement). And presented a gift which I have been reveling in ever since. The aforementioned Brooke. (Who a number of my friends are starting to doubt the existance of because due to some reason or another has been unable to join me on none, but one of my social expeditions thus far.) Oh yeah! My new Treo 600 came in and I'm once again, like a giddy school girl playing with my new toy. I only wish I wouldn't have dropped and scratched it on the concrete last night. ("That didn't take long.") Now to prepare for Movie Night. Yarr! --SnoopyKiss now believes in Karma.
The Auction Party
At one of my last parties, I realized that I had thrown enough parties designed to get wild and meet lots of cool people. I wanted to do something new. Something with a bigger purpose in mind. Something that would leave people with warm fuzzies. Something...for the children. So, I started spreading the word about people auctioning items off and donating the proceeds to charity. People seemed genuinely interested in the idea and had lots of creative ideas. So, I went for it. I planned the party the weekend after the St. Louis Exchange and I knew that it was going to be awesome. A few setbacks occurred, like getting sick during the exchange which had lasting after-effects that kept my throat in a constant state of dry-coughing hoarseness. Thankfully, with the help of the best man in the world, Lee Gibson, I knew that nothing would get in our way. From the beginning, Lee was the backbone of this operation. From coming up with the name: “Tommebay”, to designing the website, to designing the “I Gave Stuff” and “I Bought Stuff” stickers, to auctioneering, to building the hot-tub steps in the 13th hour, this man's presence reigned supreme over the party. It would take forever to go over all of the magical highlights of the party; however, in brief, some were: Auctioning Matt Peck's pants Mary's demonstration of Blues Dancing with Becky My roommate, Mark, winning the $105 bid for the “Date with Amy” Finding Mark and Amy exploring new items already. (Read the can) Kathy's AMAZING painting of the Shim Sham steps. Matt Peck bidding $250 on that same painting. The “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” Consultation Me freaking out after finding out what cool stuff I missed out on in the “Assorted CD 1” collection and finally getting the “Assorted CD 2” box Rusty buying Sarah's “Soon There Will Be Art” Lee making Waffles at 3:30 AM for all of the late-night snackers. “The Tingler Demonstration” (I have video. Wow.) By the time the 3rd and last set of auctioning was done, (1:30AM) everyone was in high spirits and Lee announced that had raised $1695 for charities. At that point, my heart froze. I knew that we were going to make some money. I knew that we were going to help some people out. I knew it was going to be a good time. If we raised, say, $400, I was going to be happy. But 1.7K?!?! I'm very honored to have been blessed with such cool people (with deep wallets. :) ) to be able to pull this off. There's been mention of doing this again. Definitely. Just let my my house recuperate for a while, ok? --Tommy is feeling the warm fuzzies P.S. I think that this must have earned me some karma points, because I got pulled over for speeding coming back from Movie Night and got off with a warning. :)
STLBX 2003 - Dance till you're blue in the...
Apparently, it was that time of the month for me. I was a bit late; however, that was ok; because I was able to resolve some personal issues since the last time. And once it happened, it was a big relief for me. I was starting to get really worried. The St Louis Blues Exchange proved to be an amazing time. It ended on a bad note for me, (i.e. sick as a dog) but I have never has such high spirits with so low of an immune system. For this exchange, I joined forces with some of the other Dallas-ites (Greg, Helen (Yes, even though she lives in Ft. Worth, she's considered a Dallas-ite.) and Andre) going to STLBX. We rented a car and headed over to the "Un-Cruise" Dance of the evening. We were supposed to be cruising up and down the Mississippi River, but alas the propeller was broken. On a positive note, the bartender provided some extra liquid happiness to make up for it. I got to see the Arch, tho. So, I was quite happy. Little by little, I started seeing people that I recognized from previous exchanges and St. Louis was becoming more and more like home to me. After the cruise, I begged everyone to stop by a White Castle for their tiny burgers which I had never had before. Andre warned me that it was toxic waste. I should have listened. Then, we headed to the late night event at Fusion Dance Studio where Helen slept in the Car and I refused to give up until the DJ was done (~4AM) We traveled to our hosts place where we amazingly enough didn't wake her up because she's an Mech. E. student who was up late working on homework with her beau, Ro. She let us in and I slept like the dead. Rob, the X-local, pointed us to some amazingly tasty BBQ and I even discovered a poster from back home in the window of a Fish market. We also ran into some other Lindyhoppers and tried some imaginative blues dancing with cell-phones (Greg's phone had the best advice which was to keep "Looking for Service" .). We then jumped off to the first Friday Dance, where I realized how naked I feel without my camera. Between dances, I shot back to our hosts place and got there in time to watch the wacky antics of combining mini-tricycle races, dancing and roller-skating all in one package. Back to sleep at 5AM. One guy was even lucky enough to say, Ahhh...I have women at my feet. I woke up bright and early (Read: 11:30 AM) to go to the Blues Dance Workshop which I hope will make a huge difference and look forward to taking back to Dallas. After the class, which was done near a fountain with a beautiful backdrop of the St. Louis Arch, we decided to jump in the fountain and see what happens. Well, we got wet. Lotsa wet. But thankfully, no one ever fell down. One thing that will never cease to amuse me is how 50 people can be dancing in a fountain, but the moment it starts raining, they will run like rabbits for shelter. The rain continued to greet us, and we remained determined to last this through. In the end, we won. One bathroom induced shower later, we were off to The City Museum where, yeah, it was for kids, but HOLY COW, I had too much fun. I think I danced maybe 5 songs, and ran around with my camera and my youthful psyche for hours. There were dozens and dozens of places to crawl through, get stuck and take pictures of. There were airplanes to crawl through. Old, old comic books. Things to pet. 3 story slides. Big Galoot Underwear. Toys. Lots and lots of toys. I can't wait to get back there once their 10 story slide is operational!!! Oh yeah, and some good dancing and a nice massage. Before the late night, a few of us went to Have a Nice Day Cafe where we Lindy-bombed the place. And then off to Late Night where I was starving, but didn't want to stop dancing. Although, some people wished that I would have. Moooree sleeeeppp... By this time, I feel as if I've done enough exercise, that I can properly treat myself so a grease-ball burger from Rally's. One of my favorite burger places back in college which doesn't exist here in Dallas. So, Greg, Rob and I pigged out before starting our dances at the History Museum which contains the famous Spirit of St. Louis. It's also here that I grew a new appreciation for my last name. I could be more funke, but I'm proud to be a Falgout. Because I could be something else. Apparently, St. Louis also has a high Catholic population. So much so that they have their own Catholic Supply store. Apparently, you can actually buy a Savior. Before we started the final late night of the weekend, some of us went to the grocery store for snacky-treats. This lead to more food dancing...and even some food dancing affairs!!! Also some naughty Austin Exchange Paddle pics. Everyone wanted to get involved. And Diva Jeff putting up a great show. The late night also had some structural beams which lead to a few interesting moves. Plus I got to hang out with some cool froods and even some drunk ones. By this time of the night, I was dead. My body, totally exhausted. My immune system, left for Istanbul, leaving me feeling like I just got run over. However, what also really made my day was coming home, and giving my roommate some money and having him come back with exactly the type of milk I like, OJ with extra Vit C and E for immune pump-upping, Aleve and oats for my breakfast. He's the shitz-bomb-diggity. To summarize. STLBX: Good. Mark: Good. Not taking care of immune system: Bad. I give it 4 and a half "Yarrs!" The only thing I was hoping to get out of the exchange that I didn't was to work my balance issue. I guess I'll have to go back next year to get it rights. Sucks to be me. Yeah, I know. :) --Snoopy Kiss is ANXIOUSLY looking forward to the Auction Party.
· 6 min read
Maryland/Wash. DC - It ain't Dallas.
After taking enough trips for dancing/swing related events, I decided to do something completely different: Accept an invitation to go to Baltimore/Wash. DC to see a wedding of someone I had never met before, a friend of an x-girlfriend. And get some dancing in, if I'm so inclined. As you might know the x-gf in reference is Melissa, the only girlfriend who matched the "area code" rule Lee and I created. (My mobile's 214, so close enough.) We parted on good terms and have kept in touch. I had always seen pictures of the beautiful spread out houses of New England and was delighted to see that unlike my neighborhood, you could walk out your front door for more than 10 straight steps and not be on the road. These people had yards! I mean REAL yards. Ones with more than 50 blades of grass. And hills! And REAL houses. Not ones that have some floorplan as 20 other houses in the same 1 mile radius. While doing touristy stuff there, I saw the Baltimore harbor, had a deee-licious crab cake and observed some of the local marine life. Afterwards, a Asian wedding was to be had and if you know anything about Asian weddings, you know that at the end, you won't be hungry for days. I partook of a 12 course meal, that went on for hours. Thankfully, I shed that shyness layer a while back and I was able to socialize with a bunch of people I'd never met before and even walked out with a small gift! I also did some dancing. Well, I tried, but the music was too fast, and definitely not to my style. I only danced with 3 people the entire night. One of which was a woman who used to live in Austin and was in desparate need of some Texas style dancing. (which I was already missing) I hung out with some of peeps afterwards, and although they were cool enough (they started writing funny sayings on the Equal and pink stuff), the guys definitely don't treat outsiders as well as I'm accustomed to. ("Hey Texas. Go get me some more sugar packets.") The next day I got to play around on a carousel and witness Contra dancing. And then ahhh....back home to Dallas where I've been running around like a crazy person with his head chopped off...but still with all of his motor functions. Err...nevermind. In any case, I've been busy and am finally getting a chance to journal this. -- SnoopyKiss likes the dancing in Dallas, because DC's too fast. And the people are cooler too. Those kids and their damn fast music.
· 3 min read
They can't say that on Television
Oh yeah..I forgot some of the quotes that I either overheard or instigated during the exchange: "Let the a$$ slapping begin!" Our waitress at Minnies - "Our food is really great, which is surprising considering the crappy service." "Carbonated yogurt with Seltzer. It tasted like goat." "Wow, it's like Valley girl meets caveman: Dude...ugg...dude!!...ugg.." "So, you're a fish snob?""I prefer to call myself an fish-anadio" "I hope that's blood.", After slopily eating a steak. "You're going to like what I'm wearing tonight. Bring your Extra brain." "What?! You ate her danish and you didn't even know her name?!" "What makes you think I'm wearing underwear." "We need to start the rumor that all Jews are good dancers.""So, when a girl says 'Good Dance.', I should say, 'Thanks, I'm Jewish.'?" "I don't need a push-up bra. I need a push-in." "Which one is Solomon?""He's the one that looks like Harry Potter grown up about 10 years." "Swing dancing is great. There you are listening to great Jazz and grooving with hot women....some of which ride motorcycles." "He just gives women the look and they come dance with him.""A little big of tongue helps too." "Smirnoff Ice? I haven't sold that to a guy before."
A delicate combination of fast music, blues, and all out insanity.
As Seattle has been one of the most talked about Lindy Exchanges out there, I pondered...who am I to pass up such a great opportunity such as this? Apparently, about 200-300 people had that exact same thought. or maybe some deviation of that thought. or maybe it went along the lines of "Wow, there's going to be some kick'arse women/men there!" (Including the infamous Skadoo) or "Hot Damn! I feel the need to dance to some 200+ bpm song while totally experiencing the whole tribal rhythym." or maybe it was just subconcious that anyone who is anyone should be there. It was all of that and a bag of really finely cooked salmon. Hosted by the lovely, talented, and sexy Mrrree and her beau Jeremy, I was able to browse the finer locations of Seattle, from their balcony. Completely, on a whim, on Thursday night, I attended a performance workshop by Zah-Zu-Zay (2002 American Lindy Hop Championship winners) which we later performed that night. I was also "properly introduced" to the Meghan/Mrreee combo of Seattle fame. After some food and going through my 3rd or 4th wind, I was ready to crash. Which, I did. Quiet successfully, I might add. The next morning, another Dallas-ite, Heather Leigh Smith, and I went roaming around downtown Seattle for some dancing with the local band "Dusty 45's". Later on...there was more dancing. And even after that...even more dancing. Next few days...guess what? More dancing. Random blues-ing. There was also some beach side activities and cutting up that happened about every time I heard someone scream out, "Tommy! Come over here...and bring your camera!" Oh yeah...lots of good naughty-ness with the Austin Lindy Exchange paddle. We also got to visit the famous Pike's Fish Market. One of my favorite dances was in the heart of Seattle, where some "Got Milk?" advertisement campaign tried setting up a concert across the street from us, but they only lasted 30 seconds, because they knew that they couldn't compete with the entertainment provided by 200 people from all over the world (Including France and Australia, let alone 6 people from Texas!). That place is also where I think that I got the best picture of the exchange. It's also where Will finally got to invoke his revenge on an old water fight from the Salt Lake City Exchange. Thankfully, Melissa's a good sport.
Outage...BAD! Seattle Exchange...GOOD!! OBEY MY DOG!
As some might have noticed, my site has been down for a while. This seems to happen right after exchanges. Which is, of course, the worst time for it to go down since I'm ready to start posting pics ASAP for all to see. Hopefully, I will have the Seattle Exchange pics up by tonight for your viewing pleasure. In the meantime, if you're looking for the story of the Snoopy Kiss, here ya go. This is Lee's account. I plan to have mine up soon enough. -- Feeling refreshed. Could be the 11 hours of sleep I got today.
VLE 2003 (Hey! It rhymes!)
Some hobbies are expensive. Some cheap. Others, like swing dancing are cheap, but if you really want to go crazy with it, they can get really expensive. But now that I think about it, I'm sure you can say the same thing about every hobby. So, nevermind. My latest expense, justified towards redeveloping the growth of the world economy, was my trip to Vancouver for the Lindy Exchange. As some of my close friends know, one of my deep dark secrets is that I have a Canadian Fetish. I don't know why. I just seem to be drawn to them. I call it "Eh-dar". (Speaking of that, look at what I found!) In any case, while I was there, I had some really amazing dances. All too many to single out. (Mostly because I'm afraid that I'd forget someone. I'm also really bad with names. So, chances are, if I danced with you, told you "Thank You.", I probably enjoyed it.) While I was at it, I finally purchased new clothing! Something I don't believe I've done in about 6 months. (Check out the Gallery for pictures of the city and of the dance.) Unfortunately, there weren't too many quotes at the exchange, but I updated the quote page, with other mindless ramblings. In other news, my Pool of Pudding Pictures have become quite the rave. I'm getting calls from managers really high above me asking for the password to get in. --Just a boy looking for your love.P.S. I love my friends. They're insane. But not insane like this.
Rest...please...
They say that God/life will never throw anything at you more than what you can handle. I agree to that; however, in this past week, I think that I’ve thrown about as much as my body could handle. The weekend before, I went to Salt Lake City for a Lindy Exchange. That was a hella lot of fun, even though the cops came in and busted us for holding a dance past 2AM. It was pretty upsetting as Salt Lake City is trying to be seen as a “normal” city, but still doesn’t allow organized dances past 2AM. As an outcry, I’ve created http://freenate.lastcoolnameleft.com where we hope to raise money for the Free Nate Foundation. (Nate being the person who organized the SLC Lindy Exchange, and is going to court, because of it.) As for this few days, here’s a lowdown: Parents came to town and brought my two nephews, Evan and Charles. It was interesting to have the little rug rats running around the house to see what a real family would be like, but I can definitely see that I’m not ready for parenthood. To spend some quality time together before she headed back to Baltimore, Melissa stayed at my place for about a week. The Master shower drain pan started to leak and my preciouuusss (read: House) started to leak and have all sorts of water problems. Earlene Falgout, my grandmother passed away after a lengthy battle with Lung Cancer. She was almost 90. May she rest in peace. Falgout Family Food Festival!!!! W00t! If you missed out on it, make sure not to do that next time. There was more seafood and other food that we didn’t know what to do with it all. Thankfully, I’ve got a big stomach and appetite. And of course, Melissa’s departure from Dallas. I took a sick day today, to let my body recuperate from all of the stress and it’s feeling much better, but my tummy’s rumbly. I think that there’s been a lot of loss for me recently; however, I’m quite proud of how I’m handling myself and not losing focus that life does go on and that these types of things happen. BTW, if you’re a Matrix Fan, I HIGHLY recommend watching Animatrix. “The Final Flight of the Orisis” kick MUCH holy arse. Carry on, -Me.
5 Years already?!
Didn't I move to Dallas just a few weeks ago?Didn't I start working for Nortel the day after that? Didn't I just buy my house?! Then what the heck is this email saying that I'm getting a gift for my 5 years of employment?!!! Hopefully, that doesn't mean that I'm getting old. Because that would probably require me settling down, getting married, having little rugrats, and being "responsible." I've successfully avoided all of that so far, and I plan on continuing to do so. I plan on having a small taste of this whole, "family" thing coming soon as my house will soon have it's "maximum family stability factor" tested when Melissa stays here for a few days before heading back to Maryland, and my mom and dad come to visit and bring my two nephews, Charles and Evan. Yes, I will be good to see all of them; however, I'm not sure how high my "family tolerance" meter goes to. I bet that it'll be pushed to 11. The Utah Swing Exchange is getting more and more on my mind as the time nears. Yea! I used to think that I would get some of my best new pics at Utah, but I'm starting to think that the prize winners can be the expressions I get when I tell them that I'm going to Utah to dance. "You're going to Utah...to dance?! They have music over there?""You mean, you don't know these people and you're going to stay with them?" I should have my pics from my second trip to the Scar. Renaissance Faire up soon. Word to the wise: Don't go when raining. Blah.
Lots o' Stuff
So, I've realized that I haven't posted here in a while, and I think that's because I usually spend a lot of time working on getting all sorts of links in with my stories, which takes a considerable amount of time. However, since I want this to be more of an online journal and less of a online link-fest, I'm now resolving myself to posting more often but less links. Except for really cool ones. As I'm sure most of you know two weekends ago was the Dallas Lindy Exchange. I was one of the team leads and had a freggin' blast. It wasn't until the Saturday night dance that I finally got my groove on, but once I did, I was ready to jet. Lots, and lots of pictures and even three different albums! (Thanks Greg and Jerry!) Every year, Waxahachie (sp?) is blessed with two special events. One of which is the Hallowween Fright show, and the other is Scarborough Faire. This is a grand Renaisance Festival from April 12th to June 1st. I went once and I'm determined to make it to every one from now on. Gene, Becky and I herded on over there at the bright hour of 9AM. (yeah, I know it's not early, but for me, that's harsh on a Sunday) Mine eyes did feast upon many beautiful costumes and I also had a slight revelation: Not all breasts look good squashed together in very tight costumes. I did end up running into a number of people like the security guard for my building at Nortel, an old friend from Landmark of 4 years ago, and Erin Finn and Teel Flemming. (You might remember these two from a Mardi Gras, and Food and Spirits Party from a while back. They're cool peeps. Just trust me.) Now, the pictures are uploaded and I'm ready to crash.Good night everybody! (Good night Tommy!)
Best Quotes (Updated 2/27/04)
My friends say the darndest things. Thankfully, I usually have enough sense to capture them down and the put them on the internet. Now the latest quotes are updated at the top: Only funny if you live in Dallas: "there seem to be a lot of accidents...especially on the freeways that end in 5" When's your birthday? St. Patrick's Day, March 17th. Oh really? Are you Irish? I feel like the life is being sucked out of me from my feet. Your boobs needs manual intervention Is that a Heather in your pocket? Wake up, ass! I'm going to use your hat as the armrest condom Project for this afternoon: I think I'm going to use this nice rare day and stain a bed. Y'know, paint. She runs like a woman. I swear, if that's a Yoga position, then I'm going join Yoga tomorrow! Ah No! The ugly sock of Christ! It was so hot, I felt like Frodo in the 3rd Matrix Movie. What the Hell's eating him? I bet you it's not his girlfriend. You had to put up with a lot while dating xxx. Was it the challenge, or was there anything else? Well, some people climb Mt. Everest. And others date xxx. I've got an empthy thing. If you're sad, I'm sad. If you're crying, I cry too. I'm horny... Mistletoe is always a good idea. Better watch it, or you're gonna get cream sauce all over your hoo-has... Now with more God. So how is it that God creates us both, man and woman, in his image? He's a hermaphrodite? Shallownees is only skin deep. I don't go on dates because I'm po' Our people don't make the difference. Our customers that buy our shit makes the difference. She's a Catherine with a C. Can't you tell? F*ck the cow. I wanna be a boy. I have a full license to operate the cookie. I'm just a lesbian with a built in strap on. Now with more tongue. "You know you're drunk when you can't feel what you're eating anymore." "They go together like Oreos and mayonnaise." "I never realized you were white until I saw you dressed like this." I have a customer on the line who's pissing me off! I'm about to be a faggot on a rampage! Let the a$$ slapping begin! Our food is really great, which is surprizing considering the crappy service. "Carbonated yogart with Seltzer. It tasted like goat." "Wow, it's like Valley girl meets caveman: Dude...ugg...dude!!...ugg.." "So, you're a fish snob?""I prefer to call myself an fish-anadio" "I hope that's blood.", After slopily eating a steak. "You're going to like what I'm wearing tonight. Bring your Extra brain." "What?! You ate her danish and you didn't even know her name?!" "What makes you think I'm wearing underwear." "We need to start the rumor that all Jews are good dancers.""So, when a girl says 'Good Dance.', I should say, 'Thanks, I'm Jewish.'?" "I don't need a push-up bra. I need a push-in." "Which one is Solomon?""He's the one that looks like Harry Potter grown up about 10 years." "Swing dancing is great. There you are listening to great Jazz and grooving with hot women....some of which ride motorcycles." "He just gives women the look and they come dance with him.""A little big of tongue helps too." Smirnoff Ice? I haven't sold that to a guy before. "Well, you know 10% of people are gay.""No No No No No. Only 5-7% are..." "Sounds like someone's in the 8 percentile." Is this corn starch or cocaine? Dude, I'm going to find out. I gotta go. My Depends are riding up on me. On dancing connection: "We've gotta give equal forces...like our friend Issan Newton said." This bar is very secure in it's masculinity. You know it's a good blues dance when you have to adjust your clothing afterwards. Somewhere, there's a trailer park that's empty, and a tornado that's looking for something to do. Whatever you do, you can do it better with more women. You know you're drunk when you don't know whose navel you sucked it out of. You've been a bad girl! Go to Tommy's room! Were you supposed to ravage me, or was I supposed to ravage you? You were supposed to get me drunk. Oh, should I drink you more? Put the jailbait down. Don't make me bitchslap you where it counts. I have a nine inch tongue and I can breathe through my ears. Rod, what are you doing back there?" I often have my head in the clouds...when it's not up my ass." Is he your boy?""Tonight he is." It's called foreplay! You damn men. That's what's wrong with you. You don't take your time. Would it hurt you to heat up the pan before you put the meat in it?" At least I'm a nice whore." Oh, I thought you were a lesbian." On movies: "He seems to only play black people." Vegetables are what food eats." Your hair is so silken. It's like the rope they bound Gollum with." The more you eat...the more you drink...the more you throw up...the more you can eat." Wiskey always makes me butch." The water fountain doesn't work and someone bit me!" I just got sucker punched by a 6 foot 2 blonde amazon. I'm supposed to be embarrased, but I actually like it!" Everything's fine. Better than "Cats". I wanna see it over and over again." Jesus loves everybody. But I'm his favorite." His Lindy hurts me. I got a grey hair last year. That'll never happen again. All I need is a psychologically damaged man with good abs. I look foward to dancing West Coast...when I get old enough. I'm a musician. I play the radio. Any party that lasts 20 hours, is a good party. You know it's a good party when there's an octopus in the sink. I have to remember to shave when I come to Tommy's parties. I forgot about all of the man-handling. This little piggy's hung over, this little piggy's hung over, this little piggy's half in the bag, this little piggy had LOTS and this little piggy went WHHHEEEEEE!!! Testostorne...We're helpless under it's power! Mmmm...Mormons You don't know whose fault it is? It's the fault of the wang. Don't blame the wang. If there's a white girl telling you to shut up, you better SHUT UP! Your mom said, "woot." When Luby's starts closing down, you know the economy's going down. Damn, that was the part of my brain that did long division. That was a double combo of happiness. And what do they think happens to the placentas in the wild?! My new instrument is my voice; because it's, like, so portable.
Food and Spirits Party
Being from Louisiana, food is a major topic of conversation with me and my friends, and I constantly hear, "You know, I make the best " Well, I gave those people a chance to put their food where their mouths are. Or someone else's mouth to their food...anyway, you get the picture. Plus, I made it into a contest with prizes! Also, since a few of us were so inspired by what we saw at Lindy Gras, we knew that we had to re-enact parts of it. Naughty us. And speaking of naughty...my pig had a good time too. Ride the pig! (or Erin. Either way is fine with me.) Back to the food...Some of entries were: EXP appetizers (brought 3 hours after the party started! :) ) Couscous a la Melissa Girl Scout Cookies DA-BOMB Sushi (Some in reference to previous mischief at Chef Tommy) Gourmet Mac and Cheese A most tasty Filet Mignon Taco Salad Mucho Alcoholo! 125 Jello shots! …bunches of other things that I have forgotten, or didn’t eat because I was quite toasty that night. (Many mega super happy thanks to Andre and Angie who brought me liquid happiness: Smirnoff Ice!) One of the more interesting events was when Matt M. bet me $5 that I couldn't eat one of his Sushi rolls without blinking. Scoffing at his offer, I got a big crowd to watch me as I threw the tiny morsel of seaweed in my mouth. For about 5 seconds of chewing, I was fine. Then it hit me. Once everyone was satiated, Teel whipped out: “The Tingler”. Words themselves cannot describe the sensation of being “Tingled.” Next time you’re out dancing at the Sons of Hermann, ask Teel about it. Just make sure that you’re sitting down and don’t get too carried away, else you’ll contort it and then have to pray to the “Tingler Diety” for forgiveness. We then sprawled out the always-faithful party-enhancer Twister. Except Helen had something else in store for us: Jello Shot Twister. If you landed on a spot that had a shot, it was yours. The prize for winning the Twister match? Once again…Tommy’s house. I tried defending my title, and almost succeeded. I got too anxious and knocked everyone down (including myself), so the judges defaulted to me, the defending champion. (Studio 54 Party) However, it was then noted that Helen took the most amount of shots and was on the mat the longest (we didn’t start at the same time), so in the spirit of the Olympics, Helen was the declared the winner. But it’s now been 24 hours and she hasn’t claimed her prize, so I get to keep the house. Woohoo! :) After some more drinking, it later hit me, “I should stop.” So, I did. But the room didn’t. Many many glasses of water later, I was ready to bed, which happened around 4AM. There were still people on my couch chatting, but like I tell people, when you come to my house, you’re family. Which also means, don’t expect me to fix your plate. :) When I woke up, those left over from the party, (Myself, Melissa, Lee, Janice and Brian) were treated by the master cooking skillz of Monsieur Gibson. Complete with homemade waffles topped with strawberries and syrup. For those that missed out…next time bring a pillow. Some of the more interesting quotes overheard: On how to have the most out of life: "The more you eat, the more you can drink...the more you drink, the more you throw up...the more you can eat" Let's not do that again: "Wiskey always makes me butch." Let's do that again: "Whatever you do, you can always do it better with more women." Let's make sure do do that again: "You know you're drunk when you don't know whose navel you sucked it out of." On tough issues: "Hit one little brown kid with a Stretch Armstrong and all of a sudden, YOU'RE the racist." No parking here: "These (lift boobs with hands) are just for show." Bad girl, good girl: ", you're being a bad girl. Go to Tommy's Room!" (I did not say that! I swear!)
Lindy Gras 2003: This ain’t your average exchange
Now that I have been exposed to the deep, dark underground that is Swing Exchanges, I will admit that I have become addicted. On Feb 14-17th, I danced and partied my arse off in New Orleans for their first exchange, Lindy Gras. I was hesitant to make the 8 hour drive there, since I waited too long to get tickets at a reasonable price, but Greg and I later decided that we’d make the hike together. We finally arrived at our David’s (our host for the weekend) very shag-a-riffic house around 7PM. Equipped with a dry sauna, pool, and a Jacuzzi, I knew that this should would be perfect for crashing after the 1-5AM after hours dance parties. At this point the party was Gene, Dan, Craig, Greg, Helen, David, Jeff, and myself. Needless to say, Helen enjoyed the ratio. But we had a problem. We were hungry. David, once again, had the great hookup because there was NO WAY we were going to find a restaurant with a decent wait time on V-Day…on a Friday night. So, we went to a club with a live band and some home cooked jambalaya for a $7 cover charge. I was in heaven. Let the dancing begin. With full stomachs we headed out to the Registration/V-day dance not too far from my Alma Mater, Tulane. Met some people. Danced some dance. The generous people of New Orleans even put on a “Dating Game” skit for our amusement. But then the real dance fever came out…at the after-hours Pajama dance. I was in my comfortable “Suga’ Daddy” regalia while others donned more fitting nightware. Oh yeah, watch out for the Killer Frogs. Not all were able to hang in till the bitter end, but some tried. The following morning, David took us out to Jaegers on the Lake, for some good eatings. It had been too long since I’ve had boiled crawfish, so I was quite content. Thankfully, we didn’t get into too much trouble since Jeff was harassing our waitress and she swore that we just let him loose out of a Psychiatric Institution. But my food craving were not to be completely satiated until I got my beignets. Man, I miss Café du Monde. Back in college when I had the only car, I would be my friends’ beignet/car pimp. If they needed a ride, they would have to feed me. Café du Monde was the standard payment. Strolling around New Orleans, we felt the urge to visit Coyote Ugly. Who knew that we’d find so much good clean fun? (Complete with the down home hospitality.) Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves quite a bit. Even Helen and Jeff. Thankfully, Jeff didn’t mind us sticking him in the trunk since we didn’t have much room in the van by then. Back to dancing! We arrived just in time to watch them crown the King and Queen of Lindy Gras. Lo and behold, the Queen was Dallas’ own Jamie! But before heading out to the After Hours party for some more 1-5 dancing, Andre, Greg and I decided to be boys and visit Bourbon Street for some sights. Believe it nor not, my favorite was the disproportionately sized truck. Timing was apparently on our side, because right as we got back Andre jumped into a Birthday Jam for him and a few other Lindy Gras’ers. But not everyone knew that it was Andre’s Birthday. J Afterwards, Jeff and Atalanta did a good job of stealing the show. (FOCUS, Jeff!) …sleeeeep… My mom and sister (on left) were in town, so I went to the Olive Garden and had lunch with them. Let’s hear it for free food! J I then drove like a demon to Lindy in the Park. Here’s where I’m going to get all sentimental on ya, so just brace yourselves: Growing up, I was always the social outcast. Everyone poked fun at me, and I didn’t seem to fit in anywhere, except with the other outcasts. Even then, it didn’t always feel right. When I went to college, I didn’t really do much. I stayed inside, played on my computer, rarely partied, and only drank once or twice. Needless to say, I’m making up for it now. So, when I was dancing in Audobon Park, right across from Tulane, it was a truly spiritual experience for me. It was a testament to how far I’ve come. How much I’m enjoying life. How rich of a life, I now have. And how very grateful I am. I’m really happy with how some of the Park pictures turned out. But then again, some of the best pics are done with the cooperation of Mother Nature. Good dancing too, next to a lake. Just had to make sure that I didn’t fall in, or do a swing out and find my partner all dripping wet. (And not in a good way.) This was the "say goodbye" dance for lots of people. Nap time. Then the last dance of the schedule: Rock and Bowl. Take an old fashioned bowling alley, add some very tired, but party hardy swing dancers, and a DJ, and you’ve got Rock and Bowl. (Plus a little celebrity endorsement.) A brief, but fun finale to the scheduled dances… And that’s when the cat’s got let out of the proverbial bag… Bourbon Street. World renowned for it’s drunken fests, parties, good music, great picture ops and dancing. Now add people who know how to get drunk, get their party on, deal only in the best of music, love attention and traveled hundreds of miles to dance…that might give you some small sense of the intensity of the night. I could write an entire journal entry just on Sunday night, but I’ll only give highlights. Some dude asked to see girls boobs. Got punched in nads. Hard. Andre went in search of a Pimp Daddy Hat Heard my favorite Teenage Lipstick Lesbian Russian Band, Tatu, playing at the Cat’s Meow. 6 person Charleston Lindy Bombing every 2 blocks Andre’s Hat gets around Pat O’s Piano Bar Revelries Mary and her dips LindyChef gives HyprChick a B-day dance. LindyChef tries to re-enact his stripper experience and dances for LindyPhil. Jeff strikes a pose Piggy Back Body Rolls Needless to say, this was one of the grandest times of my life. It’s two days later and I’m still trying to catch up on all of my sleep. Some of the more memorable quotes of the weekend were: “What better way to say someone you love than with beer?””Say it with a lager.” (After the lights came on at 5AM and people were screaming and running away) “We’re like roaches!” “Munbah netch kha””You read my thoughts!” “Full contact Lindy Body Shots” Insight: “Demons are spawned from (chocolate) Jeff’s loins.” On a church outside sign: “Stop Drop and Roll doesn’t work in Hell.” “Hey Baby, wanna go out?””Save your breath for your inflatable date.” ”She cancelled.” In reference to Jeff’s loins:”Bring the Devil out.” ”Is that what you call it?” Heard from someone who needed to talk to a fellow Lindy Hopper that was driving away:”Stop the wedding!!!” “There will always be auta’s, shoulda’s and woulda’s” Count the boobs: “If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them both.” Spoken by the lead singer of the Blues band after mentioning that it was his birthday:Murmur from the crowd. “I’m a pussy?! Oh, a pieces.” On kissing: “Have y’all kissed yet?””Not officially.” “Don’t hate the player…hate the game.” “Sometimes, it’s good to be the bitch.” “This weekend raised the bar. But then again, the bar is now at lesbian booty.” Passing by a cop from Venus, TX: “I’ll be damned. There is a guy from Venus.” I wish I had a more profound ending to this story, but all I can come up with now is: Thank you, New Orleans. Now I’ve just gotta get myself ready for my own “Food and Spirits” party this Saturday and practice giving Penalty Shots. Then, another possible trip back to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. Phew. It’s a good and busy life. Gotta love it. And when I got back, my new toy was waiting for my at my doorstep. I'm so happy. You can see all of the pics here, and the best of the pics here.
Lindy Gras a cometh
For those still not aware of my new habit of going to Lindy Exchanges, get used to me mentioning them. I should be hitting quite a few this year. The latest one which I am preparing myself for tonight is Lindy Gras, hosted in one of my old neigborhoods of New Orleans. Most of the dances will be right by alma-mater, Tulane. I’m really looking forward to it. Although the drive (Yes, I’m driving there instead of flying), will be quite an 8 hour hike which I’m not looking forward to. Thankfully, I’ve got Greg to keep me busy. Plus, I just found all of my missing MP3 CD's! Yea! Each CD is about 11 hours of music, so we’ll never run out of music. Yarrr! I’m also planning another trip down to New Orleans in two weekends for the classic celebration of Mardi Gras. This time, George, Lee, Michael and I are planning to make the journey. I’m not sure how that will turn out since George is our more “pure” friend joining us. I wonder how his brain will handle the massive visual breast intake. Will it fry his brain? Or will Pat O’s do it first? Planning a trip to New Orleans always concerns me. Living there for 4 years and hearing about your friends getting mugged, I’m always the cautious one, watching my step. I hope that this will be a safe time for me and my fellow Lindy Hoppers. May God keep us safe. Especially through this time of international tension. I hope that no crazy guy decides to bomb New Orleans while we’re there. Pray for a safe trip for me. Dancing like there’s no tomorrow,Moi. P.S. I also have the pictures from Matt Weyandt's 80's B-day party up. It was a total blast, dude. Complete with Rubix Cube cake and almost working Atari's.
So far, So good
New Years are always interesting times. Finding out that Dick Clark is still alive, people are coming off of the X-mas hussle and bussle, there are more drunks on the road, people are cheerier than X-mas, and of course, the opprotunity to clear off the slate and start new. Interestingly enough, the gathering I was at for NYE didn't turn on the TV until the very last minute of 2002 and ended up counting down the seconds in Spanish, because we didn't have time to change the channel. Afterwards, they had a Spanish Ska band which was interest capturing. I'm proud to say that I don't feel as if I have anything that I need to wipe off, but do have some new directions I'd like to take my life. And although I am typically against resolutions, because I think that they don't amount to nothing. This year, I've taken on some ones that I look forward to rather than feel would be a burden: Attend at least 3 Swing/Lindy Exchanges. (I've already registered for SoFLeX, Dallas will be a given, and Denver looks really cool.) Learn to cook something new once a month. Travel more. (This goes hand in hand with the Exchanges.) So far, the 2003 is going well. I spent Jan 1st taking two movies off of the Movie List, vegging out, waking up to the smell of cooking pancakes, played some disc golf and had some of the best hot dogs on Earth. All that an I've started to develop a taste for NPR, which I listened to. Some of the things I think will happen next year is that I will have owned my house for two years. I will probably be roommateless for the first time in about 3 years. Lee will be graduating and probably move to some far away city. I'll miss the guy. And I plan to install a hardwood dance floor downstairs. That'll be fun. But in the grand scheme of things, who knows what will happen. All I know is that I plan to enjoy it extensively. In the words of Roooth Acosta, "Bring It On!"
Make it stop...make it stop!!!
Going to visit the family is, of course, always a pleasant thing to do. Have home cooking from mom, chat about the future with dad, kid around with Michelle, play with the newphews, etc., etc., etc. However, there is one party of going to Cut Off, which I abolustely despise. My allergies. Plain and simple I'm allergic to my hometown, especially my home. It didn't bother me for the first 24 hours, but soon after I wrote my last blog entry, I would be found roaming the halls doped up on Benedril, Claritin or whatever else I could find with a box of Kleenex in my hand, like a patient with an IV trailling them. It was absolutely miserable. Thankfully, my sister needed a babysitter so mom and I drove up to visit her near Nawlins, and in the 8 hours that I've been away from Cut Off, I have started to ween myself off of the Kleenex and make a visible recovery. I'm walking upright now. Yeah. My main concern is recovering in time to go dancing at the DSDS Holiday dance. I'll be driving directly from the airport there, so if I do make it, I've got a long, fun road a head of me. Let's hope I'm an animal enough to make it. After taking the "Which Muppet Are You?" test, I found out that I'm Gonzo. That'll do.
Merry Christmas
Normally if I don't write anything in a while, it's been because not much has happened; however, it's been quite the opposite as of lately. About a month ago was Kathy and Jerry's wedding. For those that haven't been blessed yet meeting these two crazy kids, they are two amazing swing (especially blues) dancers. They've been dating for eons and finally tied the knot. The wedding was at an old hall that I remembered going to a freaky fashion show years earlier. At this fashion show they had H. R. Giger-esque models going on and even guys suspended in midair by hooks going through their back. All very creepy stuff. Anyway, the wedding was nothing of the such. It was a good time where people came from all over to see the happy couple celebrate their marriage. The festivities and dancing went till about 1-2AM. Good party. (Don't forget to check out the pictures of their red leather couch.) Another good party was Janice's Christmas Tree Decorating Party, where I got to meet Janice's boyfriend, Brian, who is quite an accomplished West Coast Swing Dancer and is an all around cool frod. Lanelle, Andra and Kirk (who I still think looks like Bono of U2) all joined in the decorating. I later used the leftover ribbon to decorate my Medusa Lamp at the house as a makeshift X-mas tree. Good party. Next weekend, one of my favorite bands, the Polyphonic Spree threw their 3rd Annual X-mas party at the Lakewood Theater. Along with the devoted fans wearing choir robes, were some very bizarrely dressed peeps from some girl wearing an original Battlestar Galactica outfit, to someone in an HR Puffnstuff outfit, and of course, the "non-skirt" girl. There was also an alien ventriliquist, Mickey Mouse, and of course, Tim Delauder, the lead singer of the Polyphonic Spree. He da man. To top the show off, was a definition in absurdity: A fashion show/hair cutting extravaganza. Once the PS walked off the stage, they announced that they were giving free haircuts to anyone wanting to come up stage. Since my hair has been getting pretty shaggy, I considered it, until I saw the absurdity occurring on stage. It was more of a "Random shaving" than a hair cut. I was glad to have kept my locks of hair...even though they are getting too long for me. Good party. I currently find myself in Cut Off, LA. For those unaware, Cut Off, is my hometown. To give you some type of perspective, we had 7 towns for our one high school with a graduating class of 263. I'll let you do the math. Anyway, it's about an hour southwest of New Orleans and is surrounded by marshland. Last night was the Falgout Family Christmas party where I got a chance to pick up my accent again and listen to some of the most hilarious stories of my dad and his brothers growing up. Some I plan to post up here, some I dare not. All of which almost had me in tears, laughing. Good party. Today is Chrismas. While wearing my Sugar Daddy PJ's, I "bachelor wrapped" my family's gift by putting their gifts in different compartments of my backpack and telling them which zipper to open. We were all amused. My big present was tools from dad to work on the house with. Yar! I hope that your stocking was filled with your wishes and you're surrounded by those that love you. Merry Christmas,Tommy.
Movie Night (Updated 11/16/03)
On Sunday, May 26, my life changed. I found out that I was not whole and complete because I had missed out on a major part of American culture: Movies. So, to help me become a better person, my friends helped me compile a list of movies that I have yet to see. To undertake this huge task of watching all of these movies, (over 250) I will start planning "Catch Tommy Up on Good Movies" parties at my place. If you wish to join us or have an addition to the list, email me. Movies Now Seen: Requiem for a Dream - Everyone kept telling me how horribly depressive the movie was. I guess some part of my brain decided to flip the switch and force myself to be amused. Yeah, there were some pretty upsetting parts, but I thought the best character was the fridge. Had me rolling around in laughter. Twin Peaks (TV Series) - "Who Killed Laura Palmer?" Saw the pilot. Sorry Matt, but it just didn't catch my attention. Tommy the Musical - "Tommy's Cool, OK?!" That was one of the posters seen in the movie. I think that I finally found my life mantra. Pretty decent movie. Kinda confusing at times, but keep your eyes open for the cameo appearances. Le Dernier Combat (Luc Besson) - Don't see it. I don't even think it was done by Luc Besson. We ended up fast forwarding through the whole thing just to see if there was a surprize ending. Nope. BASEketball - Trey Parker and Matt Stone can get away with just about anything now. I think they were granted Diplomatic immunity in Hollywood, but the news never got out. This movie was wrong in about 200 different ways. All of which had us laughing and me on the floor rolling around. All that and the best site gag ever. Go see it. Don't tell your mom. Cure - Japanese psycho killer movie. Imagine killing your wife or some random stranger and then slice an X into their throat...why? Because you were hypnotised and it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Deliverance - Wow. This was one of the movies I felt that I had to see because it was a classic, but wouldn't be that good (i.e. Soylent Green), but it was surprisingly delightful. Delicatessen - French movie done by the same guy as Amelie. Another dark French comedy. But not nearly as distrubing as Man Bites Dog. Pitch Black - Van Diesel and aliens. What else can I say? I fell asleep halfway through it. Man Bites Dog - This movie had nothing to do with dogs and everything to do about a dark French comedy with a killer who's making a documentary about himself killing people. It got really gross at time. Not for the faint of heart. The Specials - Oh my Lord! Talk about one of those movies, that prove you can't judge a DVD by it's cover. Lee pointed this movie out to me while at Movie Trading Company and we both scoffed at it, thinking it would be really stupid. I then suggested we watch it...because it would be really stupid. And that it was. But in a really funny good humored way. I now own that DVD. Amazon Women on the Moon - By the creators of Kentucky Fried Movie. Sketch Comedy. But not nearly as good as KFM. The Godfather - Wow. Another Classic, which I thought would be lame. Just as intense now as back in the 70's. Now I must see Parts 2 and 3. The Perfect Storm - Once again, George Clooney amazes me. I keep relating him to his GQ, stereotypical macho, handsome guy that doesn't have much acting ability, but I think he did really well in this. Of course, watching it with my dad might have had an influence since he was a fisherman and my dad and I have gone out shrimping and fishing sometimes together. French Connection - As part of the Falgout Family Food Festival, Rusty brought over this movie. My dad and Lee's dad ragged the rest of us that had never seen of it and how great the car chase scenes were. Note to possible future viewers: There are no car chase scenes. The oldies of the group (Mom, Dad, Lee's Dad) enjoyed it. The youngies (myself, Lee, Rachel, Allison, Rusty, Sarah, Valerie, Matt) agreed that it was a very boring movie. City of Lost Children - A French movie. Very bizarre. Had one of the same guys as from Amelie. I'm sure that I would have liked it a lot more if I was in the mood for it, but I wasn't. So, it left a bad taste in my mouth. Not a movie I would watch twice, so it just might stay there for a while. Four Rooms - 95% of the way into this movie, I didn't get it. It's a Quentin Tarantino flick, but you've really gotta strap yourself in for the long ride tho. But I promise, it's worth it. Mulholland Dr. - Uhh....what was that about??? Like most of David Lynch's stuff, it doesn't make much sense, but you can tell that there's a deep involved plot behind it, but that would take too much brain power to figure out. And besides, after seeing, it you feel like your brain is mush, so good luck. It was a very interesting movie, because I like bizarre twisted stuff like that, but it even made my head go pop. Oh yeah, and there was an interesting lesbian scene in there. Most of the guys were cheering when it happened, because Mr. Lynch was messing with you the whole time building up the tension between the two main female characters. Many lewd jokes from the peanut gallery followed. The Legend of Speed - Another "Midnight Asian Movie". Not nearly as good as Attack the Gas Station, but still a quality movie. To state it quickly, it's like a Japanese "Fast and the Furious" Attack the Gas Station - This is part of the "Midnight Asian Movie" festival held by the Asian Film Festival of Dallas. For those that aren't in the know, at the Magnolia theatre, they show a FREE Asian movie at midnight. This is one of the funniest movie I've seen in quite a while. So much so, that I'm purchasing it. Let me know if you'd like for me to have a showing of it as I'd be more than happy to. Seven Samurai - #8 on imdb.com's Top 250 Film list. The Magnificent Seven is based off of this move, but in a more modern tale. I really enjoyed this movie, even though it was very lenghty and the plot advancement took a few hours. It was an over-all really good movie. Another black and white movie. Dr. Strangelove (or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb) - Bizarre. This is the late Stanley Kubrick's last movie before 2001, and was done in black and white. It was quite boring at the beginning (I fell asleep), but picked up in a very twisted way at the end. Thankfully, we had a real Dr. Strangelove buff with us watching and told us about the neat behind the scenes about the movie. As a classic, I recommend it. Das Boot - INTENSE! This is THE ORIGINAL sub movie. U571? Feh! So much of what you see nowadays in movies is nothing more than a copy of this original German movie about a WWII U-boat and the hell (psychological and physical) that it's crew went through to fulfill on it's orders above and beyond what my mind can comprehend. It also covers the mistakes made by the German army at that time and how they weren't too happy with Mr. Hitler at that time. Good movie. Human Traffic - This was recommended by "Rusty" as a movie that's not great, but when you're finished, you've got a huge grin on your face because it's a happy movie. How true he was. Yet another movie that came out as a big surprise to be a good flick. There's no protagonist/antagonist conflict, but it's a movie that when it's done, you're left smiling and feeling good about life. Pi - I remember seeing the poster for this movie right after Se7en (one of my favorite movies.) came out and thought, "Wow...just another rip off." Well, I was wrong. It's not a rip of off that great movie, but a very strange movie by Daren Aronofsky about a mathematical genius who is obsessed with determining a sequence of number that has some vague connection to that infamous number Pi. SLC Punk - Amazingly enough this was a REALLY good movie. I was expecting it to be full of bad acting and other not so great classic movie-isms, but the acting was really good and so was the plot (The trials and tribulations of an angst ridden anarchist growing up in Salt Lake City (SLC)...home of the Mormons.) Go - Previously watched. I think I was one of the few people that enjoyed it. It follows one of my favorite quotes, "Life begins at 3AM." Soylent Green - Not a great movie, but a small portion of my life is complete because I've now seen Charleston Heston yell, "Soylent Green is People!!!" Fight Club - GOOD MOVIE! Makes me want to start my own Fight Club...but I wouldn't tell anyone about it.) Harry Potter - Despite the negative publicity for it being a children's book, this was a really good movie. I highly recommend. The Sweetest Thing - Typical movie of women discovering live, love, men and why they're still single. Engh... Oceans 11 - Really good movie thus proving that Julia Roberts will be eternally beautiful. North by Northwest - Good Alfred Hitchcock movie. Not my type of movie tho. But definitely one of those that I'm glad that I've seen. O Brother, Where Art Thou - Apparently, this movie is based on Homer's "Oddessey". I haven't personally read the Oddessey, but I know that it's mostly based on Mythology. Thankfully, I did have some people who knew it and was able to point out the parallelisms out to be. (I like hanging out with smart people.) Definitely a good movie...I bet the soundtrack is good too. Monster's Inc - Not to be confused with Monster's Ball. This is the animated movie by Pixar. One of the things I love most about Pixar are the short movies that they put at the front of each of their feature movies. This one had me rolling around laughing. All together, it was an amazing movie. Just make sure to watch it all the way through the credits. The Man Who Went Up A Hill And Came Down A Mountain - I learned a bit of English trivia watching this movie. All Hugh Grant movies have a love scene in them. Yup. This one too. A quaint movie with a nice pretty plot and filled with human spirit. And the girl from "Run Lola Run"...a movie I haven't seen yet. 2001: Space Oddsey The Cook the Thief His Wife and Her Lover The Shining Attack of the Killer Tomatoes This is Spinal Tap Raising Arizona Chocolat Clash of the Titans Doom Generation Logans Run The Gods Must be Crazy Movies To See Tron Planes, Trains and Automobiles Old Yeller (Am I going to cry at the end of this?) Taxi Driver Bonnie and Clyde My Big Fat Greek Wedding Rashomon (Japanese Movie) Lord Rama Brazil Subway (Luc Besson) The Big Blue (Luc Besson) Yamakasi (Luc Besson) Groove Tube Supercop Orgasmo Devil's Advocate Krull Phare Du Four The Adventures of Barron Von Munchausen The Barber Being Light When Harry Met Sally Grave of the Fireflies (Anime) Highway 61 Nil By Mouth Kafka Shindler's List In the Name of the Father The Name of the Rose Full Monty Green Mile Young Frankenstein Full Metal Jacket American History X Defending Your Life Fist of Legend Groove Nowhere Fucked U-Turn Pushing Tin Casablanca Eating Raul African Queen Guess Who's Coming to Dinner One Flew Over the Cookoo's Nest Carrie Chinatown 9 1/2 Weeks Body Heat All the Presidents Men Moonstruck The Last Castle Butch Cassidy Behind the Green Door The Sting The Hustler The Great Escape Being There With 6 & an Egg Roll Sex, Lies & Videotape Multplicity The Longest Yard Rush Heaven Can Wait Michael Dog Day Afternoon Scarface Tha American President Notting Hill A Knight's Tale Frankenstein Silent Movie Grand Canyon Fahrenheit 451 Mr. Mom Author Author The Rose The Road to Morocco Platoon The Others Sex and the Single Girl Gidget Regarding Henry Animal Farm Fletch Forever Young Powder The Patriot City of Angels Time Machine (original) Starman Enemy Mine Star Chamber Andromeda Strain Breakfast Club M. Butterfly Sleeper Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex, but Were Afraid to Ask Westside Story Jesus Christ Superstar Godspell Hair Big Wednesday St Elmo Fire Paper Moon Beaches Private Benjamin A League of Their Own Them Dawn of the Living Dead Misery Suspect Fatal Attraction The Jerk Women Behind Bars Last Dance Green Beret Billy Jack 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Fast Times at Ridgemont High Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion The Truth about Cats and Dogs While You Were Sleeping Entrapment Groundhound Day What About Bob? Stake Out Fargo Dangerous Liasons To Sir with Love Zorro the Gay Blade Romancing the Stone Don't Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead Pacific Heights Prince of Tides What Lies Beneath The Deep Ed Pushing Tim Arthur Micky and Maude Benny and Joon Bound Decadent Night in Tokyo Paper Chase Best Little Whorehouse in Texas The End High Anxiety Midnight Cowboys Space Cowboys The Day the Earth Stood Still Pollack Diner My Dinner with Andre American Graffiti Ordinary People (Have I seen already?) Same Time Next Year MASH They Shoot Horses Don't They Out of Africa The Natural Rudy Turning Point Gentlemen Prefer Blondes For the Love of the Game Donny Bosco Bridget Jones' Diary Jason and the Argonauts Fritz the Cat The Boxer Wild Things (I recommended this to myself for the Denise Richards/Neve Cambell apperance.) The Bound Dangerous Choice The Color Purple Blue Lagoon Yellow Submarine Black Rain Wild at Heart Giant Iron Giant Citizen Kane Trading Places The Piano Living Out Loud Copycat One Joint 9 to 5 9 Months Rain Tree County The Committments Twilight Zone Family Disturbance My Life In Pink Wings of Desire Elizabeth Timecode Cube Ghost World Dead Again The Tall Guy Dial M for Murder Midnight Cowboys Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf The Apartment Todo Sobre Mi Madre Killing Zoe Dangerous Liasons Bad Movies to See: Dr. T. & the Women Desperate Living - John Waters
Saturn adventures.
As many of you know, I own a Saturn Sports car, and love it profusely. I've been through a lot with it, and still hold it, like all things I care for, dear to my heart. I took it to get checked out and as soon realized that I hadn't eaten in a long time. After talking to one of the salesmen I asked if there was any place to eat in walking distance he offered to take me for a "test drive" and then we could go pick something up. Highly honored by this request, I still declined. He later came to me and said that they had "copious amounts of Wendy's Chili" in the back. Not turning down FREE food, I went to the back and chilled out with the Saturn folk and saw my future car. Mmm...Sky. Unfortunately, they're only making about 1,500. So, I'll have to be waiting outside the Saturn dealership line like I did for my PS2. My stay at the dealership took a lot longer than I was told, so I wasn't happy about that, but the free lunch allowed me to easily overlook that small setback. Afterwards I went out swing dancing and I learned that pretty much no matter what mood I'm in, dancing will cheer me right up. Someone once told me, "The best way to get over someone is to get under someone else." Since that doesn't jive with my morals and beliefs, I've altered it to say, "is to dance with someone else." It's not nearly as catchy, but fits me quite well. Y'all be good now, ya hear?!
New Lady in my life and 8 Mile
In the past 10+ days, I've had quite a few things open up for me. One of which was the meeting and dating of Miss Melanie Rusk. Raised in Midland, Texas, Melanie (who also dons the name Trillian Prefect), and I met a few times earlier Swing Dancing at the Red Jacket, Sons of Hermann and Bass Club. On the Wed. before Halloween, I invited her to come dacing with me a few of my very wacky friends at Kempi's Night club. We had a good time and I was hoping to see her again at my Studio 54 Party. Alas, Miss Melanie was sick. Not to be deterred, I told her, "That's ok. If you can't make it I'll just come over and cook you some gumbo." One Studio 54 Party and a bowl of gumbo later, Melanie and I were watching Amelie (an amazingly good French movie) together on her couch. After much conversation, I realized how glad I was that I had the opprotunity to meet and cook for her. She really struck my fancy. After seeing the pictures of her at the Halloween party, my parents now call her, "My Lady in Red." One of the things which has really been a pleasant surprise for me upon meeting her was how much we actually talk about what's bugging us. Typically, if I met someone I liked and something happened and it bugged me or if I had a concern about something, I would just stuff it down and not bring it up. And I would do the same thing over and over again with little things, until I got the point where we were dating for a while and then I would just have a total release session that would not be pretty. Well, Melanie's great because she will work with me on the things that bug me. And as I'm learnings. Lot of little things bug me, but I typically don't even notice it. Another cool thing is that she's a devout Christian. And even though I've questioned my faith these past few years, I've always knew that I wanted to be with a Christian. Don't ask me why...it's just a Tommy thing. Anyway, she's been a good influence on me and we even went to Church yesterday to watch my Lee sing in the choir. It's all good. On a completely separate note, Matt and I went to go see 8 Mile this night. It starts the controveral rapper, Eminem and is about a young man's frustration and angst and how he uses rap as a release. I had heard that this was a good movie, and although, I didn't know what it would be like, I was once again, pleasantly surprised. It was a really good movie, but I wouldn't recommend it to my parents, because of the generation gap thingy. Quality flick. It also had me see how blessed I really am. God...you my #1 ..err...Dude! Of to bed. I've got some cool Perl programming to make happen for my boss!
Will you be my HO tonight?
First off, the title is the beginning of a very interesting story that goes against everything mom brought me up learning. It started off with me going swing dancing at the Sammon Center for the Arts where there was going to be a costume contest. Some of the people there looked really good while some looked really evil. (The front of her T-shirt says, "Evil" in blood read.) Of course, I got decked out as Disco Stu and rocked the casba. My friend Andre then approached me about heading out to the Lizard Lounge for some good happy time at a "Pimp and Ho Costume Contest" Never turning down an opprotunity to shake my groove thang, I happily joined him and his girlfriend. But I was lacking one essential piece of the puzzle. A Ho. So, I turned to this really charming girl I just met and blurted out, "Will you be my Ho tonight?" After not being able to get in touch with her friends who she was supposed to hang out with for an after party, she grabbed my arm and I took off...complete with my wench ... err...ho at my side. The Pimp and Ho Contest was more than a specticle worthy of wating in the outside drizzling cold for. Some of the people were totally self-expressed in their Pimp-Daddyness. There was even a female pimp, that was quite the Mack Mamma. But they were all infinitles compared to the Mack Daddy of the Pimp Daddies. He won first prize. And then came the Ho's: If you can pay close attention to these next few pictures, you will see that just about every male fantasy was present on stage. Heck, there was even two girls that flashed. You like Zebra's? They had them. Transvestites? Yup. Them too. Overall it was a great time. My legs are definitely in pain from the football, earlier today, the hours of swing dancing, club dancing and standing around. Thankfully, I had little enough sense to say, "Hey, Maybe I should take a break." and went out dancing instead. The rest of the night was spent discussing Europe, Programming HTML, dancing and francais parlant avec Miss Scarlet. (My Ho for the night.) Life is grand, n'est pas? Click here if you want to see the whole album.
Hanger Dance and Fox and Co. Party
My evening consisted to two totally awesome parties on completely different ends of the spectrum. I started at the Fox and Co Investment party, where I was given free Margarita's and food. What else can I say? I was in Heaven. The theme was Cowboys, so a bunch of people got dressed up in their typical outfits. And I also learned something...I love women in cowboy outfits. But it ended on an even higher note as I left that party to go to a once in a year event hosted by the Flying Vintage Museum, called the Hanger Dance. This was a truly magnificant site to behold. People decked out in their vintage outfits, a live Big Band a B-17 behind them, and pinup girls on the walls. I had missed it the past 3 years I knew about it in Dallas, but I will be sure to never miss it again. Oh yeah...and women in sailor uniforms drive me wild too. Check out the gallery for pictures to both. Hanger Dance Gallery and Fox and Co. Party Gallery
The Snoopy Kiss
Ever had one of those days where everything went your way? Where you were on top of the world? It seemed like for 24 hours, your guardian angel was the cream of the crop? And then it his 12:01, the next day, and his/her shift was over? On Friday, I had a truly extraordinary day. I got figured out A LOT regarding perl, Makefile and installing libraries on my UNIX system at work, without having root access. Go me. :) Then, I got a call from a girl who asked me out! Woah! Don't get much better, than that, right? Well, I then went to play disc golf with my best friend Lee and then I sank an 85 foot putt! (Quite an amazing feat, I will say.) After celebrating at one of our favorite restaurants, Chipotle, we went to CD Warehouse and I bought music from a band I've been wanting for a long time. Oingo Boingo. And on the way home, a really great girl who I think is the total bomb, called and wanted to hang out. I did the Snoopy Dance of Joy as soon as I got off of the phone with her. When she came over we chatted, and watched "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back". Kevin Smith is one hell of a director, and we both enjoyed the movie. A woman who can hang with Jay and Silent Bob says a lot to me. Anyway, the universe was at my every command. Muhahahaha! And as far as I can figure, at 12:01, all of that changed. What happened is that I licked her. Now before your mind goes south with that, I want you to know that it was just on the cheek. It is what I call a Snoopy Kiss. Remember how Snoopy would lick Lucy and then she would go around screaming, "Dog Germs! I've been touched by Dog Lips!" Well, she didn't run around like Lucy did, but at that point, the evening was over. Nor have I heard back from her. Lesson learned. So, boys and girls, what's the moral of the story? For the Love of God, don't Snoopy Kiss someone until you've reached "that point" in the relationship. Even then...wait a few months. Commit that to memory. Here's Lee's account of the event:
Mary's Married.
You can find my picture album for this, here. The prize winning photograph. Yesterday, along with about 70 other people, I witnessed the marriage of someone very near and dear to me and someone who I believe will cherish and love her for the rest of his life. Congratulations Mary and Richard Ameredo. (sp?) I used to think that only women thought about things like this, but I then started thinking about my own marriage. Who would it be? How would the wedding be? Who would be my best man? Would Pastor Bill do the sermon? Where would it be? If I plan to get married, then I better find a church here to call home, else I'll be looking pretty out of place having the marriage in my house, because I'm not a member of any other church. In any case, I realized that I was thinking too much and by that time the wedding was over and Sonny came out from behind us playing bagpipes, indicating that the ceremony was over and that we were supposed to get to downtown for the reception. The reception was one of the most fun I have had in a very long time. It started off with an open bar. (And it ended with taking a bottle of champagne and going to Zeitman central (where I find myself now) and talking all about Europe and my adventures there.) There were a lot of Landmark people there and of course, we were all VERY self-expressed and later owned the dance floor. I found myself very tipsy at the beginning from two bottles of wine and no food in the last 6-8 hours. I was enjoying myself very much, but very cautious every time I walked near the beautiful cakes, afraid that I would become the token clumsy fool that tripped into them after paying more attention to a beautiful woman walking by me than my own feet walking in front of me. Even in my "more than tipsy, less than drunk" state, I was able to avoid disaster and certain embarassment. I will admit that I look forward to my wedding. I look forward to meeing the person that I will intently look at with both eyes in front of an audience of about a hundred people and say, "I do." and then know that for the rest of my life, this woman will light me up, turn me on, make me do the "Dance of Joy" for as long as we both shall live. Yes, I know that like any relationship, my marriage will go through hard times. It will go through REALLY hard times. Hell, it'll go through times where I will wish that I had that device in Men in Black where I would forget the about everything; however, I KNOW that I have the tools to make the relationship work. And if I can find someone with tools of her own, I think we'll be set for life. Marriage...How 'bout them apples. NOTE: I finally wrote down my My Theory of It. Please read and comment.
Speeding on the Autobahn
More pictures! Innsbruck and Salzburg, Struttgart and the Porche Museum, and Venice I recommend reading the story first, tho. Normally, I would give a long spiel about how much travelling I did this weekend; however, I'll try to keep it short…just like my attention span This past Thursday was All Saints Day, which the French have off. So, Ankur, Nilaksh and I decided to take Friday off and go to Rome and explore Italy. We started the trip around 9AM, Thursday morning. We never got to Rome. Using our Internet provided driving directions, we started and found out that our trip takes us through Switzerland. Slight problem. Ankur and Nilaksh are from India and need a Visa to get in. After getting turned away by the border guards, we tried finding the Swiss Embassy, but to no avail since everything was closed due to the holiday. Frustrated that we could no longer use our directions we started plotting a new course…Venice. We realized that to do this, we would have to go north of the Swiss, through Germany and Austria. And that's what we did. Up unto this point I had not driven yet; because the car was a standard, which I don't know how to drive. I decided to stop letting that hold me back and took the wheel in Germany…on the Autobahn. I had a quick lesson and started driving…fast. Reaching speeds of 170km/h, I was quite happy. That was until I passed a cop car and they pulled me over. "Guten tag…. … … Sprecken se deutch?" …some dialoge… He almost sounds like a Japanese guy scolding me. "You were going 100. 20! The speed limit is … 80!" "Really?!" (Plays the dumb American role.) He then goes back to his car and comes back. "Normally…100 marks! But I let you go. Drive carefully!" Completely amazed that after only driving on the Autobahn for 30 minutes, I was stopped for speeding, I decided that my driving mojo is no good here and I handed over the car to someone else. We arrived in Italy around midnight, and Venice around 1:30AM. We got lost and finally found a hotel on the outskirts of Venice. The next morning we got up and took the train into Venice. We couldn't find any place to buy tickets, so we just hopped aboard without paying. Venice is beautiful. A bit smelly tho. We visited San Marco square. I even made some new friends. We then took a gondola ride around Venice and saw some beautiful scenery. It's amazing how everything is surrounded by water. Once we had our fill of Venice, we jumped in the car and headed to Innsbruck, Austria home of the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics. Unfortunately, there was no snow around, so we looked around the quaint Austrian town and saw some statues and monuments and paid tribute to someone great who has allowed this amazing exploration into the world happen. (Thanks Cecil!) We then moved moving onto my FAVORITE part of the weekend: The Swarovski Museum! Swarovski is the leading crystal manufacturer in the world. Their museum entrance was a giant head with water coming out of the mouth. The entire place was sparkling and full of crystals. They also had a dome of mirrors where I had too much fun with my camera. Outside they also have a labyrinth of hedges and a blue crystal in the middle. I was like a little kid playing again. The scenery from there was also amazing. We then gathered up our souvenirs and decided to visit Salzburg. Home of Amadeus Wolfgang Mozart, a castle, and people play on a VERY large chess board. We got there late, so we rushed up to the castle and almost collapsed when reaching the ticket booth only to find out that they only took cash and we had no marks or shillings. Thankfully the US Dollar is the most accepted currency in the world and we were able to get through. (Thanks Ankur!) We toured the castle and found an interesting story about the Salzburg people and why they're called "Bull Painters." Exhausted, we drove to Struttgart, Germany where one can find the Mercedes-Benz and Porche museum and where we found the MOTHER of a hotel. This place had 2 casinos, a concert hall, a dance club, a movie theatre, an Irish pub, about 10 restaurants and 5 bars. Amazingly enough we pooled our resources we were able to manage a double room in a business suite (The brought in a separate bed for me.) and our view was amazing. Being inventive, I decided to make my bed on top of the conference table where I had a nice view of the Mercedes-Benz museum. We got up and drove to the Porsche museum, saw a few cars (Some fancier than others, and some speedier than others) and then headed back to Paris. When we finally made it back to Versailles we had traveled about 3300km (~2000 miles) and through 5 countries. What a trip. So, I tried to make this a small entry; however, as you can tell, so much happened that it's almost impossible to keep it brief. Who knows what next weekend will be like!
Couscous
One thing I realized I left out from yesterday's log was that on Wednesday, I went to a Couscous restaurant. Couscous is considered an original French food that's almost like rice and soup, but with a French twist. Not knowing what that French twist really was, I decided to have dinner the only way that I know that the French have dinner...with wine. Those that know me well, know that I VERY rarely drink wine. Only on special occasions. And I had already been in France for about 2 1/2 weeks, and I had not ordered wine yet. This was going to be my first time. Guess what. Apparently, I had walked into the ONLY restaurant in all of France that doesn't server wine. Very confused, confounded and amazed, I ordered a coke and enjoyed my couscous. I finally did get my "wine fix" last night right before I went out "swing dancing". That in itself isn't a great idea, because if you know anything about partner dancing, you know that you want to be completely sober. Luckily, I was able to pull off some moves at the "Slow Club" and not tick off any of the French there. Reality check: I went swing dancing in Paris! Whoo hoo! Every now and then, I have to do reality checks with myself, because I forget where I'm at and how awesome this really is. It's real easy to take it for granted. Adieu.
Get Lost!
For those of you that just want the answer to this question without having to read the whole story, here it is: GET LOST! Now here's the story: Wednesday was not a good day for me. I had some Italian food and went "swing dancing" the night before. When I got home, my stomach was not feeling good so I went to sleep. When I woke up the next morning, I couldn't go more than 5 feet away from the toilet before having to go back towards it. I then called into work and said that I wouldn't be coming in. I then crawled back into bed hoping for the pain to go away. At 2PM I was awakened by room service who wanted to come in and clean the room. Since I was in a dazed mood I said sure and thought that walking outside might do me some good since my stomach stopped aching. Figuring it would be a waste to spend a day in Paris and not exploring, even though I was sick, I decided to go to the Louvre. When I got there, it was closed because the workers were on strike. Of all the dumb luck. Since I was feeling weakened by my more unforunate events, I decided to go back to the hotel in hopes that the french maids were done with my room. Not knowing where I was, I took random turns knowing that you're always 5 minutes away from a metro station in Paris. My first turn lead me to a very interesting Metro station. (picture coming soon) I walked towards it and thought it was very cool. Behind that station was a historical monument. Once again, very cool. At this point, my curiosity was starting to overpower my weakness. Behind that was a lavish garden with kids playing soccer and perfectly aligned trees. I kept going straight towards what looked like another shopping district and ended up pretty much a dead end. And at the dead end was a statue that's probably older than dirt. So, the moral of the story is: When you're in Europe, the best thing to do is: GET LOST! Why? Because you'll always find something interesting. And even if it's a dead end, there'll be a 500 year old statue of a naked woman there. You can't lose. I was also approached by a pimp last night. It's the 2nd time in a week. What gives? Cheers, love and humanity. Tommy.
The strangest thing
It has taken me a while to get over the homesickness, frustration over how to handle life and all of it's issues; however, I think that I'm over the big hump. Thanks a lot Mary, for the wonderful coaching. Saturday was the first day for me to go out and fully explore Paris in all of it's beauty. And, as luck would have it, it rained. However, I was not going to let that bring me down. I donned my coat and umbrella and strided on our of the Hotel Mecure and to the Arc de Triumph via the Metro. Standing in front of it, gives the impression that the entire city of Paris was built to accompany the Arc. Outside of the huge circle, where the Arc lives, is a driving area where the streets which are perfectly symmetrical, aligned and beam from the middle like a perfectly cut pizza. I did not go up, because I knew that I would rather wait until I could see it on a sunny day. Strolling down the Champs d'Ellises, I bought a French shirt, and some CD's (One from my favorite French rapper, MC Solaar. Yes, I have picked up even the music here.) I then trotted over to the Eiffel Tower, where I decided again to wait until it was a clear day to visit the top of. I then walked around aimlessly, trying to get lost and find some more beautiful sights until I grew tired and headed home. Here is where the loss of being alone really hit me. I walked into my hotel room, delighted that I had seen all of these amazing sites, but sad that I had noone to share it with. I had also been contemplating the relationship with Terri quite a bit during my walk and I realized what I really wanted. I wanted Terri walking with me, arm in arm, as we toured the Eiffel Tower. I wanted to kiss the woman I'm tell everyone about in the "Jewel of Europe". I wanted to spend time in one of the world's most romantic city with "My bandcamp girl". However, I had hurt her earlier in the relationship, and the wounds were still fresh, so there was nothing I could do. After getting on the phones and talking to my mom and Mary (Thanks girls!), I was reinvigorated and decided to do something I had never done before. Go to a caberet! Moulin Rouge already had their last show, so I opted for the one in the brochure, Crazy Horse. What threw me for a loop was the number of Asian couples and women that were there. George told me that he went to Moulin Rouge with his family, so I figured it wasn't too raunchy. The experience was somewhat erotic, but I actually enjoyed the magician the most. Overall, if you're looking for an interesting experience, check one out, but it's not meant as a "peep show" or anything of the such. Since I took the last show, the Metro was closed so I had to either walk home or take a taxi. "It's Paris! Go walk!", I told myself. So, I popped in a CD in my player, and trotted down the Parisian roads at 2AM. That's when it hit me: I'm in Paris. I've got friends and family supporting me here. The hotel and food is paid for! I'm listening to Daft Punk, a great dance band. Life is good. At that point, life looked different. Rather than trying to rush home because it was 2AM and I was in a foreign city at night, I took my good ol' time. First, I walked to the Eiffel Tower and saw it at night. (The lights were off.) Then I moseyed on home, not caring if I was going the right way sometimes, and many times I wasn't. Along the way, I walked by a homeless person sleeping in the doorstop of a restaurant. Being that I was feeling like I was on top of the world, I figured that my heart couldn't go by ignoring that. And the more I walked away from him, the louder the thoughts in my head got. So, I turned around and gave him the change in my pocket. I then walked back home some more and realized that for as good as life has been treating me, about $2 was not enough of a gift to "pay it forward". So, after trying to push those thoughts for a few minutes that I should just keep on walking, I turned around again and gave him everything I had. This life has been too generous for me to not give SOMETHING back everywhere I go. I then walked away with a clear conscience, knowing that he would use that money more preciously than I. I arrived near home around 3AM and since I was hungry, I stopped by the Hippopatamus, a jive open till 5AM. I definitely wasn't prepared for what was inside. Inside the Hippo, you can tell it's a busy place. And at 3AM, the line was long. I waited around, trying to keep myself busy and trying not to pay too much attention to the punk kids that were occassionally yelling at each other. However, I couldn't tell if they were doing so jokingly or not. (They're speaking in French.) It wasn't until an older lady who was behind me told one of them something and then he went up to her right in her face and I swear he was cursing her out. The 6' black bouncer didn't pay much mind to them until they started duking it out. At first it was fairly contained until one of them kicked the other into some of the other tables and shattered the light fixture. They kept going at it to the point where they threw treys and glasses at each other. One even tried breaking a glass bottle to hit another with. Me and the old lady ran to the back of the restaurant, hiding, but still watching with a curious eye. Well, the bouncer threw them out and the police came. The manager told us that were waiting in line to leave because it was closed. Still hungry, but not wanting to completely leave the action, I went across the street to a windowed area. Inside, they were playing "Bohemian Rhaposody". Amused that they were playing American music, I started mouthing the words, "Scatamoosh! Scatamoosh! Will you do the Van Damn Go!" I looked around and saw a guy mouthing the words too. We smiled and I thought it was funny and then sat down. I then turned around and he made a motion for me to come sit down by him. I figured, "What the heck." I walked over to him and asked, "Tu parle englais?" shakes his hand "A little" So, I sat down and had a really interesting conversation with him. Apparently, he has been all over the world, Pakistan, US, London, etc and is a teacher. (A very social one too.) He spoke to me in the English he knew and I spoke to him in the French I knew. The only thing that bothered me was that the cautious part of my brain was working overtime. "When will he stiff me with the bill?" "What if he puts something in my drink?" "How do I know that he's not a psycho-killer?" However, I kept giving up those thoughts so that I could enjoy myself in this new position I found myself in. After a while, said he was leaving and got up and paid his share of the bill. I said goodbye and thought to myself, "Wow. That was definitely interesting." So, there you have it folks. Life for me is never boring. Nor will I allow it to be. It's too precious. It's too short. Live it up.
I forgot my Palm
Hemang and I bought tickets for this weekend to go to the small villas in Italy. I can't wait! This is what I've been looking forward to...not the big cities, monuments and museums, but the beautiful scenery. I'm so jealous of me. :) One mistake I made so far was to leave my Visor (read: My life) in the restaurant tonight. When I got home (did I say HOME?!) I realized this and walked back to the restaurant. I couldn't figure out how to tell the doormen I forgot something, so I used a line I remembered from Better Off Dead - "Je suis tres stupid." and made the motion of leaving something and walking away. The got a good laugh and directions to the bartender. I did the same for her after the waiter from my original table told her that I forgot my Visor. She laughed. I guess self-depracating humor is universal. :) I'm beginning to learn the RER and metro system. Thankfully, I'm a quick learner. I'm also grateful for Hemang who's been a great help to me getting around and his ideas for travel inspire me. Soon, I will be adventuring a la Falgout. I saw the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triumph for the first time last night while eating dunner at a really expensive restaurant in the Chanz de Lizze (sp?). They had people salsa dancing in the bottom of the restaurant, and if I knew the dance any better, I would have grabbed someone and started dancing. However, when I go swing dancing (I found a swing club) I will live it up.
Long time, no writey.
Hi everyone. I know it's been a long time since I've written; however, I am planning to make updates to this journal regularly. The main reason I write today is to release a lot of frustration I have going on right now and to get it all out of my head an onto "virtual" paper. It has been one of those weeks, where SO many things have happened, that on Thursday a co-worker called me back and I told him I didn't need to talk to him anymore because that was a long time ago, and he reminded me that the message was on Tuesday. Here's a lowdown of my week: Wheee!!! Sunday - I completed the 5th weekend of my Landmark Wisdom course and saw that I was not being honest with myself or with my girlfriend, Terri. I talked to her with the intent on cleaning that up and seeing where we could go from there. However, the said conversation ended up with us breaking up. Many tears later, I was back on the road to Dallas, doing the best I could not to indulge in the "If only I had..." conversation. Monday - For the past 3 weeks, I have been in an intensive fight with my computer to get it upgraded. So far, I have gone through 3 different AMD processors, 3 different "compatable" motherboards, 2 cases, and 3 hardware providers. This was all because Fry's (read: Satan) refused to take back my returns, because a fan which I purchased from them, fried (appropriate, eh?) my CPU. I even talked to the store manager, who wouldn't budge. I then tried my luck again and amazingly enough, they took back EVERYTHING, including the fried CPU. I walked out of there feeling like a completely serviced customer. Tuesday - I woke up that morning to see something I've only seen about 3 times in my life: Snow. I was so amazed, I went out and took pictures of my house and some of the surrounding areas. I then went to Landmark center where I was going to be a major part of an introduction going on that night and I was lit up; however, out of the 8 people, noone registered. I was sad; however, I got to see why I participate at Landmark...because in an instant, your view of life, the universe and everything can shift, which opens up new ways of viewing and interpreting the circumstances which present themselves. (i.e. I have been beating myself up for the breakup with Terri, because I know how wonderful of a person she is. Amazing, beautiful, caring, genuine. How could I not want to be with someone like that? And I saw that the relationship wasn't "IT" and was just the next step I take towards finding "IT." (More on my theory of "IT" later.)) Wednesday - Usually the day that I go swing dancing at Sons of Hermann Hall; however, that didn't happen, because when I went to Microcenter to return two of the processors I purchased from them, I found out that they would not take them back. I was ready to start tossing fists. It was one of those moments were everything I had been supressing came up and I had to stop myself a few times and tell the person I was talking to that it's been a rough week to keep from busting into tears and going postal on them. I called my roommate and ranted and raved all the way back home to keep from driving my car into the store. Thankfully, it began to look up after my amazing, omnipotent friend Lee got my computer up and running. Yeah babye! Bad news: My computer typcially crashes when downloading from the internet and my cable modem's out. ETA: next Tuesday. Grrrr... Thursday - This was the least eventful of the days. So far, my "upgrade" has cost me ~$1500. And on top of that, I'm thinking about getting a laptop for convenience. This would also further my goal to being a writer. (Inspiration strikes me at the least convenient of places.) That added to a wireless Ethernet router, and a new Linux box, would make me mighty! Mighty Tommy! Mighty Tommy!...who still has a lot of work to do on relationships. :) Friday - I started off today by getting very overwhelmed by everything which happened this week. I then found my peace and sanity in two things: An online journal written by "Pfunk", an aspiring comic book writer, that is involved in one of my favorite online comics, Pffft. I have never met this person, nor have I even talked to her; however, Thank you, nameless soul. Your writing has granted me ease, and got me back in touch with my journalistic soul. A conversation with a friend of mine, Steve Racz, who's generosity simply amazes me. Steve was one of the people laid off by the many rounds of Nortel cuts. After being laid off, he joined a cross-country bike ride while also maintaining a group designed to support ex-Nortel employees to find jobs called HireTopTalent. Today, Steve and I were talking about relationships, life and the usual. After sharing with him where I was with life, Terri, and the universe, he said something very profound, "Be yourself. And those that need to be in your life will be attracted to you. And those that don't need to be in your life will be repelled by you." It makes so much sense and gives me so much freedom. And it doesn't even necessarily apply to romantic relationships...but everything. If only computers were that simple. :) What I've realized about all this is that I'm starting to get a bigger sense of what I'm up to in my life. I'm looking to do something big. Something biggger than what I can do by myself. I want to impact this world...this place we all live and dwell on. And I want my future partner to be a part of this. And I want this future partner to be someone I grow and develop with. I am easily distracted and am looking for someone to bring me back to my goals and desires. It might be a while till I find that person. Hell, it may never happen. And that's ok...because I know that God and the Universe are on my side. Thanks for everything, people. You make this world worth living. P.S. The interesting thing about the two people who contributed to me on Friday are both Canadian. Thus giving me more evidence that Canuks are some of the coolest people around.