Lorange Blog

Guess where this guy was conceived

2009-11-12T17:17:00.000-08:00

Today my Co-worker mentioned in conversation that she used to watch this kid that drove her up the wall back when she was pregnant many years ago. There was nothing wrong with the kid of course but pretty much everything annoyed her during her pregnancy.

Everyday she would watch the kid for her friend as a kind gesture.
Everyday she resented this kid's existence.
She feels bad about it now but when he asked to watch the Power Rangers she often denied him in favor of watching her favorites. Pregnancy was ugly on her.

"Oh do you know the best part?" she asked and answered, "His parents named him Sheraton."

"Like the hotel?"

"Yeah the Sheraton Waikki. They went to Hawaii on their honeymoon."

"Noooo. I call BS on this name!"

"No really! I'm friends with him on Facebook.

And there he was.
Waikiki is spelled differently, but still wow.

swords and tigers and cheese

2009-11-11T06:56:00.000-08:00

i'll leave it at that,
afraid to lose myself to words again.

over-thinking will be the end of me.
(ha. this would make an amusing line on my gravestone)

I'm sick and have strange dreams,
plus too much on my mind to work through. right now.
swords and tigers and cheese, indeed.

October: Best Month Ever - Reason # 4

2009-10-31T23:41:00.000-07:00

Reason # 4 Halloween of course!

I didn't do anything outstanding this year so I'll leave you with a clip from the Today Show filmed on Friday. If you're in hurry you can jump ahead and watch the last two minutes for the best stuff but it's all good.

By the best stuff I mean drunk, groping Ewoks. Oh there's moonwalking too.

vid link

October: The Best Month Ever - Reasons # 7, 6, and 5

2009-10-31T23:21:00.000-07:00

Ok I totally screwed myself over with this countdown of why this October has been the best month ever. Seriously, I should know better than to start a countdown at ten considering how inconsistently I blog these days.

Oh well, for the combined reasons # 7, 6 and 5 and well worth it I might add:

I found the greatest object ever made by mankind

A ceramic bird sitting on a frog sitting on a bunny sitting on a turtle!!

Which compliments my collection: The ceramic 3 Green Monkeys Holding A Basket on Their Heads, my stolen Lawn Gnome "Gnomey", and my Curious George Flashlight.

Otherwise known to B as my collection of mostly monkey related crap that I try to pass off as table centerpieces.

October: The Best Month Ever - Reason # 8

2009-10-29T23:41:00.000-07:00

Reason # 8: Fall in Los Angeles.

Make all the fun you want about LA's lack of seasons. That's ok, most of the residents seem to be happy enough about how it works out here. The changes are mild, the days are nearly the same beautiful day after day. No reason to stress about the weather, dude.

For me I do miss the fog and rainy winters of the Bay Area sometimes but I feel like I traded up with our gusty winds and low 80 degree temperatures (give or take) until December.

And yes we had some crazy winds this week.

Right along the streets of my neighborhood are the pile remains of fallen palm tree fronds after our recent "wind storm". It's hard to tell that six piles lay beyond what you see here in this picture; around the corner on the street lined with those classic 50 foot tall Los Angeles palms their discarded, mangled fronds are piled 7 feet high.

Just a lovely Autumn reminder that I'll be able to wear my thin scarf soon!

I'll take these spiked obstacles over those rustic piles of multi-color leaves of the East Coast any time. Or snow. I fricking hate snow.

October: Best Month Ever - Reason # 9

2009-10-27T10:16:00.000-07:00

Reason # 9 Jury Duty - or a much needed day off work.

lorange

I crave nothing more than have a day off from work.

Weekends are helpful but I'm talking about a day where I can sit and write, listen to whatever tracks download onto the computer in hopes of grabbing that next inspirational wave. I need this time more than I would like to admit, fearful that this might come off as being a loner, antisocial, devaluing the relationships of my life. I see how that might come off.

Have ever blown away the globular head off a dandelion, seeds drifting into a cool valley wind? If I'm not exposed to music or if the words stop coming it feels like I'm chasing down the seeds, seperating along with them.

Along with love, friendship, and family*, these are seeds to my completeness. Sometimes a blank moment of time like jury duty does the trick perfectly.

*which I'm blessed in spades

**(robo.to badge might not be visible on rss (vid and text is not static and might not relate to this post a week or two after the fact. Can't wait until they have permalinks as the site is still in beta)

October: Best Month Ever - Reason # 3

2009-10-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

Reason # 3 October Birthdays

Not only did I have a birthday making October my best month ever but my dear Becky is having hers today and so far October has been very good to her too (this is called foreshadowing).

There is a lot of things about her that makes me smile and the biggest is her ablity to make me laugh. Not an easy thing to do, let me tell you.

It could be as simple as buying her new favorite giant hat.

And /or wearing this giant thing all summer and then pulling out the perfect pose.

Or pulling the less than perfect pose just to be as goofy. If I didn't know better I would say she was being just goofy when the dance moves pop out in the grocery store, walking down the street, or well anywhere, anytime. That's just normal for her.

She'll even climb through the cat tree to make me laugh.
Yup,she is a keeper in my book.

She is going to kill me for posting that last photo.

Happy Birthday my love!

[Yes this is countdown as to why October is the best month ever for me. Your mileage might vary.]

October: Best Month Ever - Reason # 10

2009-10-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

Reason # 10 - the internet always win

I heard rumblings about this a while ago but this morning I noticed that Mashable posted about this crowd sourced project that was much further along than I realized.

I love you internet.

The Star Wars Uncut official trailer

Star Wars: Uncut Trailer from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

[Yes this is countdown as to why October is the best month ever for me. Your mileage might vary.]

me me me me

2009-10-21T06:10:00.000-07:00

You might be a few months older or you might be 10 years younger than me like B is. I am now 37 today and I get to look back once again to where I've been, where I've gone.

(not on this exact date obviously)

17 years ago I drove to Canada, spent one night, saw a hockey game and drove back
31 years ago I went to Guatemala for the Summer
30 years ago i went on a cross country trip to New York
14 years ago I was once married
7 years when my marriage ended for good
5 years ago my divorce was final (paperwork)
too many years with too many crushes, some that inspired me, some I do regret
2 years ago I met B!!
12 years ago my first child was born
7 years my second child was born

35 years I went to Disneyland for the 1st time and I remember most of it
23 years ago I lost my virginity
20 years ago my father died of cancer
18 years ago I went bungee jumping
12 years ago I moved to LA County from the Bay Area
4 years ago I moved to the City of LA
23 years ago I had Chinese food for the first time
8 years ago I started posting thoughts on the internet (diaryland) somewhat inconsistently
6 years ago I started this blog
5 years ago I started to not delete the posts

Life is short and this list should be longer!

it's just going take some time, that's all

2009-10-17T00:29:00.000-07:00

I hit my limit last week.

I work hard against the pull of the work drain and deal with the email suckage each morning at my place of employment. Each night is another night of little sleep.

damn you thoughts.
damn you unrealistic expectations.
damn.

like glucose film on your teeth no amount of tongue swabbing wipes them clean.
like a mosquito's lingering welt, an unstainable itch that remains even in my dreams each night.

Expectations have been tackling me.

I'm dealing with them one by one - it's just going take some time, that's all.

I understand why that kid would want to take off in a balloon

The Anters - Two

2009-10-07T23:22:00.000-07:00

Band: The Antlers
Song: Two -(I also recommend checking out the song Bear for your ipod)
Why: I've lost time with this album. First disappearance: evening with a laptop, headphones and this album in the background. Second disappearance: my morning drive to work, this CD in the player.

Tonight again, lost in thoughts of you asleep. this album does that for me.

THE ANTLERS - Evolving from Peter Silberman's bedroom recordings to a fully realized band, for Brooklyn-based the Antlers, what started out as a solo lo-fi folk project, progressed quickly into a colossal-sounding chamber pop group. After self-recording a handful of albums in a kamikaze fashion, Silberman set forth to record his opus, Hospice, in July of 2007. Recorded over the course of almost two years, Hospice started out as another solo project before Silberman started incorporating other musicians, including drummer Michael Lerner and multi-instrumentalist Darby Cicci, who eventually ended up as permanent members of the Antlers.
- Jason Lymangrover, All Music Guide

LA show Oct 29th :
Aquarium Drunkard and The Fold present...THE ANTLERS w/ IMBER TIMBRE
@ Bootleg Theater 2220 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles, CA - Doors 8:00 pm -$12/$15

SF show Oct 30th @ The Independent

photo by Drew Reynolds off the Antler's myspace page

little notes # 56

2009-10-07T22:46:00.000-07:00

The other day I saw a car that drove off the curb. 2 men were helping the older lady so I ate my sandwich and listened to NPR.

Another day I thought maybe my friend had started pimping TOGO'S in his free time.

today was a rough day at work
today was a great day to eat a hamburger (comfort food for stressed filled days)

Sara Lov - Fountain

2009-09-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

I'm just getting into Sara Lov these days. This video makes it so easy.

fountain
fountain
we are the same
you with the water
me with the pain
turning it over
again and again

don’t you wish you could throw their pennies back at them?

where did summer go?

2009-09-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

A few months after I landed my current job I decided my first splurge was to be on season passes to Disneyland. Each year I toke my December born kids out to the parks as a combined birthday/Xmas present as I'm a firm believer in life experiences over material gifts.

Memories last forever, not so much whatever toy or gadget that is popular in the elementary/junior high set. Conveniently for me Disneyland now offers a monthly payment plan at 0% interest to SoCal residents so I had to jump on that. Now we visit on random Sundays a few hour here, a few hours there never feeling the need to cram every ride in one day.

While it is safe to say that I'm financially stable now, this wasn't true for most of this decade. Those yearly trips were my way of evening out the playing field from the crazy and expensive gifts my Ex and her friends spoiled the kids with back then. I just couldn't complete with inflatable jumpers, computers, chinchillas and Nintendo DS games - and that was just their birthday gifts for one year.

(the reality is a little more complicated...but yeah, still a tad bitter rightfully or not.)

Now that school has started up, the after school/weekend programs have commenced. First my son plays flag football every weekend and secondly my daughter has joined a crazy running program to train for the LA Marathon (at age 13!?!) early next year. I had this particular weekend free because my Ex was getting remarried (no, not weird for me honestly) and this left an afternoon free for B and myself to act like little kids at the park on some very scary rides like the spinning wheel of death horses.

Note: I'm not a Disney fanatic but I do love the parks and yeah I do nerd out a bit on the Disney-centric blogs from time to time.

Alternate Title: when did my kids grow up and stop calling me?
HA - I'm becoming my mom: guilt, guilt, guilt.

Update: Disney just launched an official blog today (9.28.09)

The New Fidelity has a free CD for you

2009-09-23T00:04:00.000-07:00

From the band's tweet from today:

@thenewfidelity: Download our new CD All Here Now for Free for a limited time only! http://www.newfidelity.com

I made it out again last week for another night of fun at Rob Z's little semi-monthly shindig at El Cid. Maybe you should have gone too because it was a great line up of bands. And if you know Rob Z (and you probably know him way better than I do in fact), then you know how he cherry picks great talent for these events.

The New Fidelity made the night their CD Release show, packing the place with locals and bringing along quite a few Long Beach folks with them. They offer such a great, consistent sets of 60s/70s Brit-Pop inspired songs that get people up and dancing each time I catch them. I like what they bring to shows that I even tried to book them for big corporate party in Vegas a few years ago before my West Coast office was sadly closed down (and I was laid off). I highly recommend The New Fidelity if you're looking for great band for your event. They have a multi-generational appeal; a timeless cool

Also up that night was Chissum Worthington (below)walking a fine line between reality and subtle silliness. The real person behind the Chissum persona, Mike Schnee, is also an old school Prefab Sprout fan like myself - We are so rare.

I especially want to point out another band on the line up, The Commotions. Wow this band has grown a lot in the last year - much tighter with an expanded retro sound similar to New Fidelity that only comes with growth as a band. The singer Marianne is now more confident in her voice it would appear as my friend remarked, 'Wow, she has some lungs'. That, she does.

This LBC band really should play more LA shows to show us how much better live than their myspace tracks might lead you to believe.

she's a rockstar blogger in my book

2009-09-19T00:58:00.000-07:00

It's not like I've been all depressed and shit for two weeks straight, moping about eyeglasses and dental insurance. I'm generally happy everyday but come to think of it...

work has been incredibly stressful lately, like I don't want to be there anymore stressful,
and my car's transmission looked liked it was totally screwed,
and the TV I've carted around, since 1996 died in the middle of Ghosthunters,
and the money I've been saving for some wonderful things in the future are now tagged for the car+TV,
and then I ate too many almonds one day. ugh my stomach,
and then it seemed I ran out of words again.

Okay, so yeah I had a lot of things bringing me down, crimping my style, setting the dial on to funk the last couple weeks. The over-sharing has been helpful here as a way to release some thoughts without burdening B who's nothing but patient with my moodiness.

There's also been a few nights of fun mixed in, namely I finally met Ms Sizzle of Sizzle Says as she vacationed down in the Southland for a bit.

Rarely does the opportunity comes along when one of my favorite bloggers invites friends and readers out for a drink so I cracked through my self imposed shell to meet Sizzle in Burbank last week.

(her picture came out better than mine)

After reading her blog for the last two years she was exactly how I'd imagined her (she's a bit of a blogger rockstar in some circles): sweet and funny, and just simply a cool person to talk to. An equal pleasure was meeting and chatting with her friends IRL, with the charming Mellisa being a standout of the night.

If this was a review I would give the night thirty five out five loranges**

** I don't do reviews - this number system is somewhat meaningless depending on the subject - this night might be more like 34 out 5 loranges .

2009-09-17T11:56:00.000-07:00

Oh look, it's Jessica Dobson (aka Deep Sea Diver) playing with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs last night on Conan O'Brien.

video clip no longer on hulu

Wish I could go to the sold out show at the Greek tonight, especially since I live only a few blocks away. oh well.

all I wanted was a hamburger and a hug

2009-09-16T00:24:00.000-07:00

It's probably not normal to leave the dentist crying at this point in my life.

Before I get into why I found myself sitting in my car all teary eyed, you have to understand a couple things:

1) While I'm known for giving good advice, I'm not very good at following any advice.
2) I have regrets for not adapting to changes in my life - that I do not do curve balls well.
3) I have this frustrated/sad look about me at times. I'll deny it but it is the look of utter disappointment / frustration in the current situation/myself and usually related to money issues.
4) Also this post is very long.

When The Ex moved out and filed for separation she also took me off her insurance coverage which coincided with the company I worked for being sold and moved. It was really a crappy time in my life with a commute increasing from 5 minutes to 50 minutes, my worth needed to proved to new owners, and oh yeah while that whole divorce process was happening.

Years went by and I clung to a job as the one single stable aspect of my life even though they could give a shit about me with their broken promises of insurance, raises, and general back-stabbery. It was a bad deal advised by many to leave and if it was you I would have told you to leave too. Honestly I was too scared to change.

Now I understand how stress and depression sort of blinds you to things like drama and manipulation at work, your better judgment about people and drinking until 2:30 every Tuesday night learning to socialize all over again, and important things like taking care of your body and eating right.

So back to the dentist and my sensitive man/child sobbing.(ha.) Here I was dreading the exam despite my regular brushing and flossing as I knew that after 30+ years without a single cavity all that crappy food and sugar that comforted me during the bleak years was going to do some damage. I was paranoid of how much damage.

It was a long, long cleaning as they scraped and poked and cataloged each tooth. The dentist asked more than once when the last exam was and it seemed that new staff kept poking in to peer at my dental version of Stonehenge. Almost as if on display, I imagined a cautionary tale about sugar particle gang beat downs and the preached safety of the Brush 'n Floss buddy system. Mostly I thought that I was in this (feared) bad shape simply because I was too scared to move on to a better job - that I spent so long being so poor for the sake of stability - that I didn't think of my health for as being worth the effort.

They kept asking me if I was alright as they cleaned maybe thinking the distressed look in my eyes was from the cleaning.

I counted being asked over ten times.

I've worked very hard to leave that regret all behind - for the most part it is - from past decisions or non decision. Somehow I look back and try to not see the depression I was in back then, how I let life, friends, and health go to shit, or try not remember the morning struggle to get up, the one good shirt I wore too often not by choice, the bad self cut hair and more.

Sometimes, like at the dentist office, I remember that it really wasn't all that long ago.

~~~

This all happened a couple Saturdays ago just after my doctor's appointment and since my cholesterol level came back a tad high I can't even eat my go-to comfort food. I did get hugs. Also my teeth are actually fine not including my first two cavities ever, so that's something.

Los Campesinos! @ The El Rey

2009-09-08T23:21:00.000-07:00

Damn I forgot to post this earlier.

~~Last Friday~~ a couple of weeks ago I won tickets to one of may favorite bands Los Campesinos through the generosity of LA metblogs. I had entered the ticket giveaway which asked for a link to my favorite picture of Wales where the band hailed from and the location of the image. A quick google image search led to many boring, non-specific to any part of Wales pictures so I went with the one subject I knew of in Wales in my comment:

The only thing I can think of Wales related is Carol Smillie, the original host of Changing Rooms on BBC America (aka Trading Spaces in the US). She was way cute.

I assume that this is not going to win me any Los Campesinos! tickets.

Later that day the one and only Lucinda sent over a silly email informing me that I merely won because there were only two entries (including mine) and two prizes so that's an automatic win for me!

So I took Corey of course and spent the whole time outside during the opening bands catching up. I should do more often - I miss Corey. [sad face]. A little note if you want to meet the up and coming, headlining band: if they're smokers like half of Los Campesinos! are, they usally smoke out front with the crowd who wouldn't normally recognize them this early in the band's career.

The show was very good and became seriously great with the last few songs when the singer jumped into the crowd and people were dancing/jumping/singing along. The raise in energy was quite noticeable and that's always a great way to end the night.

Check out on of my favorites songs "Death To Los Campesinos!"

vid link

At least she was honest and I like honesty

2009-09-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

I now own my first new pair of glasses in 7 years. Nothing fancy, just some thick frames branded by Converse (a bargain at $60 @ costco btw) that are just a bit trendy in a year 2003 sort of way.

The old pair were whispery metal frames, sleek like thread that spoke to my imagined greater intelligence if not a little snobbishness, these new ones are obnoxious in comparison. Despite the 7 year lapse between examinations my prescription is still so minor these glasses are merely helpful but not necessary for driving an automobile or listening to poetry or making flan for dessert or even writing a blog post. No, because my eyes wear down quickly in this visual affair with all things web I wear them all day and more importantly they make my pumpkin head look, well better.

Yes, on some level I do care about how people view me.

So I started the past work week with the new glasses on, walking straight into the department I share with five other people as if nothing was different. The response was pretty much what I expected:

1) "What up hipster!" said immediately by one co-worker.
2) The standard "Wow, those are different, but I like them."

and my favorite....

3) Long stare, "Oh...That's" short pause, "Interesting." Then followed by another long stare.

She clearly did not like them.

And with this remark it was all downhill from there: self image shattered, lack of hellos left me feeling slighted and invisible. I started looking for the detached connections I must have severed somewhere, because I caused this mistake - whatever it was, I did them wrong. This is how insecure I am sometimes. I hate it, but there it is.**

Really, all I am is just some guy with glasses. no more, no less.

**there's more to this as I was soon to find out...

The xx

2009-09-02T23:15:00.000-07:00

So Corey asked what is the current buzzband and based on other blogs and reviews The xx is definitely on the short list this week.

I've been listening to new album by The xx on my commute for a few days now and while sparse, the songs do make up a solid good first album. This would be a CD for long drawn out trips or relationships; I found myself day dreaming to this as a soundtrack, wanting to grow from this album into a stronger second disc that would better complete me.

3.75 out of 5 loranges. 4 on a good day.**

The xx - Crystalised

The xx - Basic Space

** I don't do proper reviews - this lorange numbering system is somewhat meaningless. Though if I like you/your band I will blog about you all the time.

Documenting the documentaries of the other LA music scene

2009-09-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

People were chatting last week on the local music blogs about a cool documentary on the bands, clubs and people of the Silver Lake / Echo Park area called East of Sunset. Before moving to Southern California in the late 90s, I like many only knew of the glory days of the Sunset Strip; East of Sunset hopes to change that perception that still exists even within our own city limits. Here's the trailer:

Very cool stuff and great for the bands included in this movie but this area has been a hotbed of activity for a long time so I wanted to highlight a couple documentaries of the lesser known slices of the same music scene:

Live at the Smell Documentary (LA Weekly article) For over 10 year this downtown club has been serving the underground and the up and coming of LA music.

"Live At The Smell" Trailer from Adam Cornelius on Vimeo

And of course something close to my heart, the Kiss or Kill club of great people and bands that ran from 2002-2007 at Mr T's Bowl, Safari Sams,EL Cid, and the primary venues The Garage, Zen Sushi, and The Echo (the highpoint for the club @ 2005). This preview is about 8 minutes but well worth watching as it covers the both the birth and implosion of the club.

the weekend was smoky (duh)

2009-08-31T07:24:00.000-07:00

As we all know by now the air quality blows and as the Station Fires burn nearby my weekend was all about watching movies with the air conditioning on 24/7.

This was early Saturday taken from the Glendale Galleria parking garage @ 5 miles from my place. It looked quite ominous on this morning and the cloud of smoke only grew bigger from this point on. Thankfully without the winds the fire went straight up which made the air quality only moderately bad vs. scary bad.

Besides movies we also wasted time indoors making our own pizza dough. This one isn't mine as I actually like pizza that doesn't give me a complex before eating it.

We had imagined desserts on Planet Sprinkle.

Come Sunday afternoon we had left the apartment only once for Target - cabin fever was starting to spread so we went to the only place that can cure all ills:

It was only for a few hours but yeah, it did help a lot with our sanity.

yeah, so Sonia

2009-08-26T22:35:00.000-07:00

I wasn't expecting Sonia's latest blog post to conclude in the way it did despite her first ominous sentence:

Yeah, so, I found a lump.

I'm so terribly optimistic to a fault that it didn't occur to me that her lump would be anything but as a run of the mill cyst. She's so cool and funny, so sweet and beautiful, but I have to be honest here: Sonia is sadly a bit boring when to comes to major illnesses. In fact I can't recall her being even bother by the common flu...Hell, she's so boring her white cell reaction can lull even Malaria into dormancy.

You see, Sonia is someone who makes not being serious in serious situations an art form as her post demonstrates with this snippet of conversation with her doctor about the ultrasound:

Two weeks later at the ultrasound, I asked the tech for a print out of my lump: “I don’t have any kids. It sure would be nice if I could have a print out of my lump to show people.” The tech politely laughed … She never did give me a print out.

Unfortunately her post did not end as I expected and I my distant well wishes and thoughts of support go out to her. (I'm frustrated that this is all I can do).

Please jump over to The Sonia Show if you have the time as she has been given as optimistic of a diagnosis as one could hope for due to the type of cancer and catching it so early.

This girl is funny and a great person, so please go over and say hi to my friend Sonia.

green vision

2009-08-25T23:47:00.000-07:00

I drove a brand new 2010 Prius last night - the first time I ever drove a real hybrid. My previous experience with an alternative-powered "green" vehicle was pedaling this baby around:

As for the Prius, the ride was sweet but have to say it's hella weird when the motor turns off at intersections (so quiet!). Sadly this wasn't my car to keep.

...Well not so sad as my GF bought it, I just won't be able to drive it much. Am I envious? No, she was raised by savers to be a saver and this is her reward for doing so and besides her old jetta was costing more in repairs than it was worth.

Fortunately I have my car which I have to thank my family for their help obtaining it...It wasn't all that long ago when I lived a negative lifestyle with daily meals that alternated between spaghetti and ground beef bought at the value size price. My hard work at my old shitty job paid off when I landed my current gig and now I enjoy little things like vegetables, clothes, health insurance and the ability to buy a new pair of glasses since 2002.

So I went with funky Converse brand frames from Costco ($60!). Not the exact style or color (yellow interior) but close.

It's a change but what isn't these days?