Polo shirt collar up.

Are you doing this?


STOP IT!!!

The Right "Stuff"

Probably the most important thing that happened to me on my trip back home was receiving this dessert dish from BJ Eason.

Behold, “BLUEBERRY STUFF”. It has no other name. Warriors have sung songs of its legendary existence. Tribal leader’s told tales of its origins. Fools have died trying to learn its secrets, but wise men have simply learned to enjoy the fact that its there. BJ hit me with this dessert… I don’t know when, and it’s been a favorite ever since. I want to say a thanksgiving sometime, but I can’t be sure. Anyways, as she knew I was coming, she whipped this up for me while I was down on my vacation. Jealous? You should be.

There can’t be enough said about this treasure, so I will stop here and remember how delicious both tupperware containers of the “stuff” were. Mmmmmmmmm……

Getting the band back together!

Has it been that long?

While on vacation this past while, I was able to meet up with a few old friends whom I hadn’t talked to in about 13 years! Wholly crap! I’ve aged 13 years since high school! I didn’t have my camera with me when I met up with my friends so I’ll have to use pictures from way back when instead. I know people get scared when they see old photos of themselves from a long time ago, so to show what a good sport I am, here’s a really bad one of me first.

First off, and maybe the most important because of what she brought me, I was able to meet up with BJ Eason! I don't have a photo of BJ, so I just drew glasses on a photo of Bettyanne because they look alike.

BJ is looking fabulous and having fun with the grand kids, or at least the one I met briefly. She wants to be a video editor and needed some career advice. BJ was awesome. (I know what you're thinking guys, but her initials stand for "Bright and Jovial".) We traded stories and chewed the fat for a while, and she also delivered a special package, but that desserts its own blog post- I mean deserves! In the middle of her visit, BJ’s daughter Bettyanne calls!

It was a holly shit moment! Lol Bettyanne has a little girl who is quickly becoming a singer and dancer, of course, and a son who can catch a football and tap dance across the end zone. As soon as I can afford an HD camera, they're going to need agents. It was great hearing from her again.

Then the next day I met up with my old friends Jessica and Meredith.

Jessica and Meredith were in my inner circle of friends. We met at a restaurant called Oh Charley’s not Oh Henry’s. It was great. It was like the past 13 years hadn’t even happened. We sat down and talked about our lives since high school as though we were sitting in the lunch room at school laughing about this and that. We met at 6:00 and sat there till a little after 10:00. “Sorry Scott!” from table 67. Both of them are doing very well. Meredith bought a house, and Jessica has an adorable baby boy named Wyatt. The goodbye’s were awkward, because I wanted to say, “see to you later.”, but it felt weird to say, since I live so far away. But distance doesn’t really matter thanks to e-mail and the internets. We’ll definitely do it again when I’m back down for Christmas. It was simply too much fun!

Another, very dear, friend contacted me out of the blue about a month ago. Chatting with her, even just through e-mail briefly, reminded me of the kind of person I used to be back then. Mostly how much more confident or certain I was of myself. A cocky teenager for sure, but I was a bit more fearless. As an adult, there’s that word again, I’m much more careful and less sure of myself. Being out on your own I suppose you have to be, but I miss being risky. I know people say that remembering your past is important, and I never have forgotten where I came from, but I did forget who I used to be, and that’s just as important. It’s the way by witch you can measure growth in your character. Am I hitting a midlife crisis at 33? What the fuck! I thought 30 was the new 20? Damn-it! Well, anyways, My film career has a nice glow coming up on the horizon. I think I can afford to take a little artistic risk right about now.

Wedding Bells

I’m back from my nearly 2 week vacation to my old stomping grounds in Summerville, South Carolina. There’s so much to talk about that I have to break it all up into separate posts. First off, I attended my brother’s Wedding! Shot guns were not required and camouflage was optional. Yeehaw! Quite the opposite, though I was still overdressed in a suit and tie.

The ceremony was very nice. They had it at the beach and there was a comfortable breeze coming off the ocean. The bride was beautiful and my brother even looked good. He somehow managed to pull off a beard without the mustache while sporting a super buzz cut up top. Impressive manscaping. He and his wife have a happy little brood.

The oldest, though very young, has developed quite an eye for photographic composition. She's really pretty good.

The youngest, though very young, has already been so spoiled that he has developed the talent for making daddy appear out of nowhere with the magical piercing screech of crying.

The middle child… has a Mohawk.

After the ceremony it was back to the house for lots of burgers and hotdogs! WOOHOO!!! My brother and I don’t talk much, but I am proud of him. He’s built a family for himself, which is what I had figured I would have by this time and I haven’t even been able to complete the first step. I look forward to hearing of his adventures in parenthood.

George Carlin: 1937 - 2008

One of my heroes, George Carlin, died this past Sunday in the hospital. He was admitted for chest pains.

The man was a comedic genius. I enjoyed him because his humor made me think. He poked fun at us as a species for being an irrational species. A common message through all his work that I’ve seen or read was to make people aware of our collective human egotism. His topics of choice that speak to this egotism (or our belief that, as a species, we can control anything), range across everything from religion to government to censorship to airports. lol For all his comedy and interviews some people have called him a Nihilist. Any intelligent person would have to disagree. If anything he was a humanist. His continual pointing out of our human flaws is his wake up call for humanity to out grow its juvenile grotesqueries and stupidity. He illustrates everything harmful or stupid we do to each other and to our selves. For all he might tell you of his hopelessness for the human species as a self destructive virus inhabiting the earth for it's brief time in history, deep down he I believe he's hopeful. If he wasn’t why would he preach this same message through out his career? If you have no idea who he is you should read about him on wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carlin. Also search for his stand up acts on You Tube.

Running Man.

I became a man. Not from having sex for the first time. That was a wonderful new years eve many years ago. I’ll never forget that night. The stars, the passion, how much work was involved, and the police officer that pulled up behind us. No, I’m talking about that moment when you look into the mirror and you see your father. It was a little freaky and jarring. You suddenly realize that your metabolism isn’t running at peak efficiency like it used too and you’ve started to develop a layer of healthy padding around the mid section. I looked like William Shatner from his “Wrath of Khan” years.

Yes it appeared that I no longer had the ability to eat “anything” I wanted at any time. This change seemed so sudden. I can’t be entirely sure when it happened, but I am pretty sure that my 4 boxes of girl scout cookies and 2 birthday cakes were involved. Blast ye girl scout demons and your seductive chocolate minty goodness and your red tailed devil mistress of delicious, Betty Crocker!!!

I’m now one of those people you see at the grocery store who have to read the nutritional information on the back of a bag of Oreos. I’m that girl now who orders the salad when all her guy friends order burgers.

I initially became depressed and decided to cheer myself up with a pineapple coconut milkshake from Hagen Das. It worked. I felt much better. I then decided on a course of action that would dramatically change my life for the better. I took up jogging.

I admit it didn’t work out the first time/several times I tried it, but with a little effort and a couple of weeks I am now able to run about 3 city blocks without stopping or passing out. It does get pretty hot outside running especially with the heat wave we just went through, but luckily there’s a Baskin Robbins on my jogging rout where I can cool off with a jamocha shake. Mmmm…
I’ve found that after running I’m more energized for the rest of the day and I seem to fall asleep faster. Not that I ever have a problem with sleeping, but the best part is that I lost 2 pounds after 2 weeks! WOOHOOO!!!

To celebrate, strawberry covered cheese cake!

Happy Birthday #33

Well, it happened again. May 1st. rolled around and I just turned the big "33". My friends Christine and Jeremy shared in the festivities, as Jeremy will be celebrating his 32nd year of ascension on May 8th. On my birthday I met with some fellow filmmakers about some possible film ventures in the future, and went to a screening for a short film I DPed two years ago at the "Be Film" film festival. It was, all in all, a good day and nothing any more remarkable than any other birthdays. Nothing so far compares with 30. I do have it on good authority that 40 is a doozey and that 50 feels like the new 70. Oh, boy! Thank you to everyone who chimed in wishing me a big happy birthday.

This looks to be an exciting year for me. I have a few film projects floating around in my brain. Battlestar Galactica has started it's 4th and final season. I can't wait to find out how it all ends and to see if my theories are correct. And probobly most surprising of all, I got my balls back!
That's right baby!!! Trix has changed it's cereal shape from those stupid fruit shapes, back to little round balls! WOOHOOO!!! I was so turned off by the apparent change in flavor when they went fruity shaped on me, so I stopped eating them, but there they were in the grocery store the other day with balls all over the box. I couldn't resist. They were also on sale for $3.00 a box. I got two boxes and a gallon of whole (real) milk and went straight home. Delicious! 3 bowls later I was trapped on the couch realizing that the only real food I had eaten that entire day was an omelet and 2 slices of toast I made for breakfast earlier that morning. That's right ladies. I can make breakfast.

I finally got a chance to get out to Coney Island before the spring weather hit. I had wanted to capture some images of the amusement park in it's abandoned looking state before it got littered with people, but for some reason there were people all over the place and it was below 30 degrees. What the F! Don't people have homes? Ah well. I did get some images I really liked. I'll be posting them soon on the site. I am excited about the prospect of going to the beach this summer. I only went once last summer, but I'm planning on more trips this year. I just need to start running and burn off all the Trix and birthday cake I've been eating lately. Curse you aging metabolism!!!

For anyone wishing to visit Coney Island to go to the beach, let me say DON'T! There is soooo much trash out there on the beach and in the water, that the water has a slimy texture to it. It's disgusting! Broken glass, old syringes, and used condoms (sorry, no picture). Nasty. When I go to the beech I go to Long Beach or Jones Beach on Long Island. It's cleaner, not as busy during the week, and it's just a 30 minute train ride away.

I will try not to let so much time go by between now and my next post. I've been busy recently and all I can worry about when I get home at night is what's on South Park tonight.