Cerebral Flotsam And Jetsam - My Mental Maelstrom

15
Jul
2004
15:49

Velvet Revolver

Slash, Duff and Matt Sorum from GnR plus Scott Weiland from STP, add Dave Kushner on guitar (sorry Dave, never heard of you previously) and you get the album “Contraband”. Very rockin’. I’m a fan. I recommend it highly.

14
Jul
2004
7:16

Tim Burton

Johnny Depp. Stop motion animation. Great cast. The Corpse Bride.
Skin on*.
*”skin on” is one of the many catch phrases that have cropped up between my cousin and me (we seem to be catch phrase machines when we’re together). It came from a restaurant menu who served their potatoes “skin on”. We decided that this sounded like an affirmative reaction. Later, due to another restaurant menu, we decided that a good response to “Skin on!” was “Bone in for flavor!”

13
Jul
2004
19:49

Funk part 2

Because life likes to taunt us, I received a call to be a PA on a VH1 show filming for 5 days here. Well, not only would I have to quit my job to do it, but I have a band gig one of those days, so I couldn’t do it no matter what.
Don’t you hate when Opportunity knocks and you have to tell it “Sod off you bloomin’ Opportunity! I’m not home!” and then Opportunity goes next door, and you hear it having tons of fun with your neighbors as they drink and yell, and scream bad songs together (although they erroneously sing “fire all of your guns at horses” during “Born to be Wild”), and then Opportunity is like “Yo dudes! We’re out of queso! Let’s hit the store!” and they all pile into someone’s car with the stereo cranked through the crappy car speakers, and screech off down the road to get more queso, and other party supplies, and you go to sleep grumbling under your covers until you are awakened by Opportunity and your drunk neighbors bellowing more hits from the 80’s as they come back from the store and order a pizza just as the pizza place is about to close (but it’s O.K., they tip the driver very nicely) and you eventually manage to tune out the euphoria and get a few winks because you have to work your crappy job the next morning and as you leave for work you see through the bay window that Opportunity and everyone are crashed out on the couches and floors amidst pizza boxes, queso stained upholstery, Queen albums, and swim suits (from the sojourns in the jacuzzi), but it’s all O.K. because you have your red stapler.

12
Jul
2004
12:03

Funk

Not the good kind. Not as in “We want the funk. Gotta have the funk.” Funk as in, I’m in one. I can’t shake it. Yes this is yet another entry of Heath whines about his dissatisfaction with life in general, so feel free to move on to more enlightening reading.
The usual stuff. Job is miserable. Which generally makes it hard to really enjoy anything even when you’re not at work. I’ve come to the realization that even if I get a better job, I’m just trading one prison for a more comfy and acceptable prison where you can at least enjoy your life outside of prison. However, it would still pretty much prevent me from really pursuing the things I want to be doing. It would still be a step up though.
I kinda feel like maybe my moment has passed. I’m too entrenched in the machine of life to break out and do what I want to do. Time to wrap up the dreams in a shoebox and put them in the closet with old photos and such. Perhaps I’ve dabbled in too many things and mastered none. I just don’t feel like there’s any chance of doing any of the 100 things I want to do barring some random chance at life’s lottery.
As much as I love Austin, I still think that if I really wanted any chance of acting, voice acting, or film crew careers I would have to go to L.A. Take, for example, this excerpt from voice acting 101:

Equally important is that you really should live where the jobs are; in North America, this means Los Angeles, where most of the cartoon voice work is cast and recorded. Some actors such as David Kaye and Stephanie Morganstern are based in Canada, but they are exceptions. No one will hire you if you live in New Jersey or Texas, no matter how talented you are. When a casting call comes, you need to be there, sometimes within the hour.

I feel like I need to get to a destination that’s 5000 miles away with no vehicle, no maps, and no clue.
Ahh, enough whining for now. Trying to corral my personal mental Charybdis and put it into words just ends up as a rambly mess. I just feel bad that my frustration, and moreso my current job prevents me from really enjoying anything anymore. I have a great wife, and want to be able to not be a big bummer around her. I hate that she has to suffer due to my frustration.
Two weeks of great fun and vacation really makes you realize how much you hate your job when you come back.

04
Jul
2004
14:33

Anarchy in the UK!

Quick update.
Went to Liverpool. Went to “The Beatles Story” museum. Very cool.
Went on a tour of John Lennon’s and Paul McCartneys childhood homes. VERY cool. Quite momentous and moving for me.
Was treated like a total celebrity when I sat in with a Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute band. The fact that I am from Austin seems to carry it’s own inherent set of credentials. A very nice guy named Tony brought me a choice of 3 different guitars, and a very nice amp to use. I sat in on several songs and it went great. The band is “Texas Hurricane”. They were excellent and more than that were all the nicest of people you could ever hope to meet.
Had somewhere around 30 people over to Jess’s parents house for her birthday. We barbecued outside all day and partied into the wee hours. I gave a small acoustic performance in a back room of the house. Invented the “Captain Archer” dance. This is my second dance invention, the first being “Do the Pope Hat”.
Barbecued again today for the 4th of July. There were 3 of us Yanks here so we used it as a good excuse to use up the ton of food left over from the day before. Casey (my cousin) and I did the barbecuing since it was a holiday for us, and we felt we should “host”. We decided the Brits should also celebrate today as “yay! We got rid of the Yanks!” day.
Perhaps I will elaborate on some or all of the above when time permits. Cheerio, pip pip, and all that guv’nor.

26
Jun
2004
9:34

Karmic roller coaster.

So I got on the 4:15 plane to DC. Met up with Casey and Jess. We then went to list ourselves on the 9:30pm flight to London. It looked very full, and both my friend and the agent we spoke with said it didn’t look like we would get on that flight, but we could try. It was the last flight of the day so if we didn’t get on we would stay in a hotel (which she reserved for us at a discounted “distressed traveler” rate) and catch one the next day.
We inquired what happened to our luggage since the agent in Austin told us our bags would go straight through to London with or without us. The agent in DC said that due to new security measures no bag could ever travel without it’s corresponding passenger on board, so our bags would have been pulled off when we didn’t get on the previous London flight. She checked on our bags and they were indeed in DC with us. They usually need 2 hours to get the bags arranged to go on the next flight when they’ve been pulled like ours were, and the next flight was only an hour or so away, but she said they would try to get them on. We asked what would happen if they didn’t get on, and she said that in that case we couldn’t go on the flight due to the no bags without people rule.
We waited around even though we knew we probably wouldn’t get on a flight until the next day. As everyone was loading, they called us up to the counter, and to our surprise, gave us a choice of several seating arrangements. Jess and I sat together on a 2 seat aisle, and Casey just a few seats away. Score! I called as we were in line and canceled our hotel reservation.
The flight was all right. We watched Mystic River, and didn’t really manage to get any sleep unfortunately. We arrived at Me-row (Heathrow) and went to get our bags. Long time. No bags. Empty carousel. No bags. Jess went to check on them. They were in DC. She filled out some paper work, and they said they would send them on and deliver them the next day (which they just did a few minutes ago as I write this.) So the first agent was wrong in that they didn’t go straight through, and the second agent was double wrong in that we did get on the plane without our luggage, and they did send it along anyway even though we were not on that flight.
We had a good time on our first day though I was falling asleep (literally) at several of the pubs/cafes we stopped at, and we finally went to bed after something like 40+ hours of being awake.
More details later. This was intended to be just a quick and non-entertaining update, but it has instead turned into quite a long but still devoid of the effort to make it entertaining update. We’re here, we have bags, and all is right with the world for the moment.

24
Jun
2004
12:57

Very bogus journey

2 seats on the 11:45 flight to DC. I sent Jess and Casey along, and I stayed behind knowing I could call my friend Scott (who is the one that works for the airline) to get advice.
Then I get the text from Jess…
The passes for the second leg of the trip to London are in my bag. They won’t be going anywhere from DC until I get there. All flights looking very full. I now wait at the terminal to see if I can get on the 4:15 flight to DC (It’s currently 1:00). Luckily flights to London on Friday look less pessimistic. I am very, very bummed. And kicking myself for having their passes with me. Luckily there is an intel booth demonstrating their laptops, and thus my internet connection at the moment. Words can not express my lack of morale right now.

23
Jun
2004
23:37

Dodgeball

Go see this movie. Now. Freakin’ hilarious. Incredible cast. Whoever found this script deserves a HUGE bonus.

Archives

Oy! Me tweets!