Amusement with snow on Spring Break

Wednesday 04.14.2010 11:26PM

Life has really been wearing me out lately and thus not so great, but I don't really care to write about that at the moment. All is not terrible, though. I've had some fun experiences that I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write about. And there's pictures! Ooh.

MUSE is one of my favorite bands and I was able to see them in concert for the second time in March. The first time was Spring 2005 and that show floored me – probably tied for one of the best live shows I have seen. I had high expectations for this show since they've only gotten bigger (popularity-wise, not fatty-wise) and I had read a couple things about some “video towers” they would be playing on. They definitely did not disappoint.

On the stage were three towers probably 100 feet tall, with coverings that make them look like skyscrapers. As the show started, there was a video projection on all sides of the towers – people climbing stairs to the top. After a couple minutes of this, the climbers stopped and one-by-one started falling. Finally, the coverings fall off the towers and the band starts with “Uprising”. Each tower was a hydraulic platform on the bottom (that the band played on) and the top of the towers were suspended above them. Video played on all sides of the towers. Check out the video I took of it, along with some photos:

MUSE is awesome live, I definitely recommend seeing them. (I have many more photos on Flickr)

I enjoy skiing, but had not been in about 8 years. Dad and I were discussing it late last year and decided to go. Initially I was going to suggest a place in Indiana/Ohio, but he suggested we go for the “real deal”, so we decided to go to a real mountain and go skiing in Winter Park, Colorado. We did not intend it to work out this way, but the trip landed during Spring Break. We made a four-day weekend out of it, two days of skiing. For being out of shape, two days was just enough. I fell 4 or 5 times, most on the first day and nothing too bad. Once I actually took him down with me; he was just standing there and I didn't slow down enough/lost my balance or something. That gave some entertainment to the people on the ski lift overhead. That was the first day; I was semi-pro by the second day. :) We stuck to the green hills (beginner) and had a blast; some of the runs took 30-40 minutes to the bottom. We were as high as 11,700 feet. I intend to ski more regularly, even if just around Indiana.

I didn't get any pictures on the slopes (I wasn't going to bring my phone and destroy it in a fall), but did get some on the drive into the mountains.

Tagged: life / music / travel / photos
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Mystery trip

Friday 04.10.2009 04:21PM

This past weekend I ventured out on a mystery trip that Myssi and Adam organized. I had no idea where we were going, just that we were to meet at 6pm on Friday and wouldn't be back until late Sunday night. There were seven of us, 5 guys and 2 girls. My initial guess was Chicago, but we soon got on the highway going south. After passing Louisville, I guessed we were going to Nashville.

The ride down was fun. Myssi and Adam play this game that the first person to get within a state “claims” that state. While driving, they both suddenly reach forward on the dashboard right as we crossed into Kentucky (Myssi got it). This happened suddenly and we had no clue in the backseat what was going on until they explained. As we approached the Tennessee border, Adam said he was going to pull over on the shoulder, get out, and run across the border because he was sure he could run faster than Myssi. We mocked them from the backseat, because they're both really competitive about... well, most things. Adam actually did pull over and I surprised both of them by getting out first and running like the wind, claiming Tennessee. They were surprised and we were quite amused.

We arrived at our hotel in Goodlettsville, not far from Nashville. They gave us the itinerary for the weekend, but they named things cleverly so we weren't really sure what we were doing. For example, dinner at “Krustellos” - Krystal, similar to White Castle (but better since they had chili dogs). After dinner we drove a few miles away and there was difficulty finding our next destination. We were supposed to go to a cemetary to tell scary stories, but apparently it didn't turn out to be a cemetary after all. Most of us were tired, so we just went back to the hotel.

Saturday morning we went to the Nashville zoo which was a pretty cool zoo. They have one of the coolest jungle gyms I've seen in a while - big enough for us big kids, too. Afterwards we went to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch (it only seemed appropriate, being in Nashville). Then we went to Centennial Park, which is quite a beautiful park. There's a replica of the Parthenon there with a museum inside. We checked that out, then lazed around outside in the sun. The weather was beautiful, 70s and sunny. That night we went to Opryland which was pretty impressive. It's a combination of convention center, hotel, and lots of restaurants, shops, and gardens - all beneath a huge glass ceiling. We walked around there quite a bit, getting our exercise in.

Sunday we went to the Tennessee State Museum which had a lot of interesting information / exhibits from the Civil War era. Unfortunately, I was rather worn out by that point, so probably did not appreciate it as much as I could have. Finally, before heading home we stopped by Rocketown, a nice little venue / cafe started by Michael W Smith.

Thanks to Myssi and Adam for organizing such a fun trip!

Tagged: life / travel
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Back to la-la land

Tuesday 11.20.2007 11:12PM

It was just a little over 3 years ago that I last visited California. I needed a short fall break and – since I have a new lease on life this year – wanted to visit a few friends I had not seen in a while. Matt moved out there a year ago, and I have not seen Karla or Elizabeth since my last visit. They do not make it out to Indiana very often, for some reason.

Traveling was interesting. This was my first time flying since the pacemaker was put in and I became gRegorus Prime (presuming you call the device “the Matrix of Leadership”). I had heard a couple things about this. A card I was given had instructions to go through the metal detector as normal and if the device sets it off, screeners should not run the wand over it. Previously in the hospital I had been told I would just have the hand pat down. I had my device/information cards out, but they did not even look at them when I told them I had a pacemaker (nor did they look surprised?), they just directed me past the metal detector for the pat down. Thankfully, it was not humiliating and only took a bit longer than the line. To those wondering: they do same-gender pat downs, so no – no ladies feeling me up.

I arrived midday Friday, got my car, enjoyed some LA traffic, and finally made it to Matt's work. The weather was great; sunny, but cool enough for hoodies (glad I brought one). Matt works at Reality Check, making animations for sports networks, such as the game/player statistics you'll see on TV. He showed me some of it and it is pretty rad. If you are watching the Colts game Thursday on the NFL network (DirectTV), you will see the new animations he is responsible for launching. He is a pretty creative guy as evidenced by his Zombie Ninjas series.

Matt and I hung out, ate some good food at Doughboys and Swingers in Hollywood, caught up on life, and played video games (Super Mario Galaxy is fun). Had some good conversations, including some ideas of what it takes to move out there. More about that later. I did not bring my camera because 1) it's slow 2) it's a bit too big to put in pockets, so thus is not very convenient. Matt took plenty of pictures though, so those should be online at some point.

Sunday was quite fun. Awkward at times, but Karla was there, so that's to be expected. :] Matt and I went to her church service, which I enjoyed (and was not awkward). It is a young, casual church that meets on the Crystal Cathedral campus (huuuuge church that you have probably seen on TV), but not in the Crystal Cathedral itself, as Karla kept assuring me. The message was good and I liked the way they did communion; they had a 10 minute selah for everyone to be silent and go to one of the various stations around the room. There was a bit of liturgy to it, somewhere between Catholicism and Protestantism, which I found interesting.

Afterwards we went to lunch with a group from church, including the pastor (who is younger than me, criminy! [or “oh my”, Karla]). At this point, I should mention that Matt is a vegan. The pastor and some others joined us at lunch a bit later. Apparently there was some talk of how tasty the fajitas were and some jokingly-macho talk; one person said that every guy likes to eat meat, to which someone else responded, “There's a fair amount of guys who don't eat meat.” Karla apparently saw where this was going and tried to stop them, but it was too late because the pastor said, “Yeah, gay guys.” It's not often you get to see a pastor stick his foot in his mouth quite like that. Matt was not offended and we all had a good laugh. It might sound offensive to read, but it was in jest and he apologized profusely; nobody write them off because of this anecdote, because it is a good church with good people. :] On the plus side, before that the pastor had told him he looked like Thom Yorke, and apparently someone else at church had asked earlier, “is that Thom Yorke?” Matt is a rockstar and he doesn't even know it.

We went to a nearby mall where Elizabeth was meeting us, with the intention of bowling or maybe watching a movie. She seemed pretty quiet, but now that I think about it, she had just come from a shindig with her junior high girls at church, so maybe she was enjoying the rest. There was not much rest from the weirdness, though. We had impromptu photo sessions in the middle of the mall, group shots of us using various technological devices (I was twittering, of course), and stuff. Again, I had no camera, but they will be put online soon enough, I am sure. We saw Across the Universe which everyone enjoyed, played video games (including a knock-off DDR where the pads are diagonal. Matt and I bombed; I blamed the diagonal pads.), ate dinner, then went our separate ways.

Back to what I mentioned before: Matt and I talked some about my interest in moving out there. Anyone who knows me a bit knows that I rather love California and have wanted to move out there at some point in life, to try it for a while, if nothing else. Being in school was one consideration, previously. Being away from my parents was another. This year my health threw me for a big loop, so such a move seems a bit scarier (again, being far from my parents). He asked me what it would take for me to move out there, and we discussed some of the costs and considerations. Depending where I am at financially, I think it is feasible within 2 years, and I should be able to keep my current job – a big plus. Even if I did not keep my job for some reason, there is plenty of good-paying programming work there. That would raise the consideration of getting new health care and what it will/will not cover (or, the astronomical premium I would have). Those are pretty big concerns, honestly. That is just an if, though, and I really think I am going to go for it.

While talking to my friend Jenn last night, she said “just do it” and suggested I shoot for doing it within a year. I just might take that challenge. Stay tuned.

My trip in a nutshell:

jenn: share one highlight?
me: ...ladies

(watch Demetri Martin)

Currently Songs of Innocence and Experience - Hope and Science

Tagged: life / travel / california
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My heart beats for California, Vol III

Monday 11.01.2004 01:22AM

Read Vol I and Vol II if you haven't already.

So this is now the third time I have attempted to write Vol III (oh the irony). I had most of it written when I posted Vol II, actually. I left it sitting in the text editor to finish later, and then there was a power outage. Doh. “Learn from Jesus, gRegor. Jesus saves.” Then yesterday I was at “work” in Glendale mall typing it up for the second time, and there was another power outage. So here goes take three. I'll be saving it every minute. :-]

On Sunday the plan was for me to meet Karla and her roommate Molly at their place and go to church with them. Ryan wrote out directions for me, but neglected to put which way I should turn off the highway. So I guessed. I was wrong. Unfortunately I had not left with much time to spare for such extratripular excursions, so by the time I got turned around and arrived, I was about 25 minutes late. I got there just in time, they were about to leave. Like, getting-in-the-car about to leave. We made it to church on time, though, thanks to Karla's jedi powers. The drive there was beautiful, going up winding roads into the mountains and then coming down out of them to a lovely view of the ocean. It's things like this that make me really love California.

So church was really good. The sermon was on unity and reconcilliation (II Cor 5:16 - 19) and it was cool because it tied in somewhat with some things God had been showing me just that weekend, actually. Perhaps I'll go more into that at a later point. Honestly it was nice to just be hearing something from God, because I've been rather spiritually dry lately. This has been changing, thankfully.

After church we went out to lunch at this Mexican place, which was good. Karla and Molly provided lunchtime entertainment with massive quantities of Napoleon Dynamite quotes and other fun things like Molly's uncanny impression of falling down a hill. Karla actually said at one point that I am Napoleon Dynamite, which is a rather cool compliment, though I doubt I'm half as cool as he is.

The plan for the evening was to meet at gwyn's place and head to Huntington Beach for a bonfire. Brian, Rachel, Karla, Patrick, and Elizabeth came. Elizabeth was one that I only knew through xanga, so it was nice to finally meet her. Karla's parents were nice enough to provide us with firewood, so we stopped by there to pick it up, and got to see the infamous carcass room. Dead lions and tigers and bears (oh my). We had fun making S'mores and telling jokes around the campfire. I think it was the perfect ending for my last night there. Brian brought a digital camera, so there were some pictures taken that night. I think Patrick or Elizabeth also got a group shot, but I haven't received a copy of that one yet.

back (hard to see): patrick, gwyn, karla
front: elizbeth, rachel, yours truly

gwyn and karla; never met before this weekend, but hit it off grandishly

gwyn threw a chocolate bar wrapper in the fire, so she was thrown down and kicked for hurting the ozone

karla, rachel, and yours truly (mid-raspberry at something karla said)

brian, rachel, and yours truly

And the morning and the evening was the Sunday.

Then I flew back home on Monday. Nothing to really tell about Monday, so that wraps up my California adventures. I really love California, and have since my junior year in high school when my family took a week long vacation out there, driving up the Pacific Coast Highway. The landscape is so beautiful and diverse, the weather is awesome, and there's just so many people and different cultures to experience. I've had a desire to someday live out there ever since that trip, and this weekend trip confirmed that desire is still strong. Currently it's somewhere on my “five year plan” after graduating and doing a cross-walk.

Anyway, thanks to my friends out in California for making time in your schedules to hang out, drive long distances, and let me sleep on your couch. You guys are a blessing. Feel free to stop by Indianapolis sometime. :-]

my God has rescued me
   taken my rags and made me clean
 opened my eyes
so I could see
my God has rescued me

Currently Faith and Devotions of a Satellite Heart

Tagged: life / travel / california
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My heart beats for California, Vol II

Friday 10.29.2004 05:37AM

Read Vol I if you haven't already. Then Vol III finishes it off.

Editor's Note: It's been brought to my attention by Brian that they're “not entirely in the dark” about culture; they were familiar with Homestar Runner, just hadn't had time to visit it this year due to how busy they've been.

Most of the morning and early afternoon on Saturday I spent with gee win over at her pad (er, flat?), playing dice, listening to music, and trying to get her laptop to display DVD video on the TV properly so we could watch the Five Iron Frenzy DVD, but no such luck. We got it to display on the TV, but the size was way too big, and we tried everything but it just wouldn't cooperate, so we gave up on that. I went by Downtown Disney, where Heidi works, to have lunch with her, but she wasn't able to take her break for at least another hour due to coworkers already on break. Jerks. So I only got to spend a few minutes with her, which is better than nothing.

At about 4 gwyn and I headed to the Getty Museum to meet up with Ryan and Karla. The Getty is pretty cool, it's a free museum up on top of a mountain, which has quite a nice view of the whole LA area. Ryan and Karla didn't know gwyn, but hit it off pretty well right away. Karla made a good... Karla first impression. Heh, we won't talk about that. There was some very nice art there, as well as some rather weird art. Gwyn fell up the stairs, which was pretty impressive and humorous. Karla warned us about getting our noses too close to the paintings; she almost got kicked out one time for sniffing the paintings.. or something like that. :-] Unfortunately we missed most of the sunset, but did get to see a bit of it while up there. I think it was a beautiful view at night, too, with all the city and traffic lights for miles. We topped off the night eating at this bakery/deli place which was pretty good, and talked for hours about all sorts of stuff like Teen Mania, Reese Roper, movies, and how your mom went to college.

And the evening and morning was the Saturday.

we were so young
 and brilliantly naive
  to the joy
 and the pain
   and the days
   that we would see

Currently Fires of Life

Tagged: life / travel / california
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