Happy Birthday to Manny!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July.  It's going to be a quiet one.  Since it's during the week, I'm just going to hang out at home with my cat.

As we get closer to SDCC (next week), I'm finding that I'm having a really hard time with the fact that I'm not going.  Good luck to CBLMW.  I know you're nominated for an award or two.

Not much new to report.  I have to take tomorrow off from work.  I just found out that I hit the maximum vacation accrual back in March, so I haven't been banking any time since.  You'd think I would get a note or something.  Anyway, I'm taking the day so I can accrue a little bit.  Kinda pisses me off that I could have taken three days over the past few months and still be at the same place time-wise.  I didn't realize that the cap for employees over 10 years was six weeks.  Yes, I have six weeks of vacation saved up.  No need to comment on the fact that I never take time off. 

I terminated my Direct TV service as of the 26th.  I finally got fed up with their crappy customer service.  It started from the day I had them install everything at my current apt.  First they put in the wrong kind of dish, then they were going to leave it there and put the HD dish next to it.  I had to argue with them forever to get them to take out the one they put in by mistake.  Then I found out in December that, for a year and a half, I didn't have HD service I was paying for because they never installed the HDMI cable.  Since I've never had HD before I didn't know until there was a notice on my tv screen after an update.  Finally, in May I got an email saying that they just debited a payment and I thought, "that's weird, I just paid it".  So I called three times and finally got a nice lady who went over my account.  She credited my account for the extra HD payments and put in a priority credit notice to the bank for the extra payment they took.  She was so nice!  I waited two weeks and the credit never showed at the bank, so I went online to get the phone number to call.  While I was online, I saw that the account credit had been taken back.  Weird!  So I called, went through the same thing, and finally got another nice lady who put everything back (after being on the phone for an hour and change).  This time I waited two days and checked my account.  They took it all back AGAIN!  Back on the phone.  This time the woman I got was rude and told me that the extra payment wasn't extra because it would have been due anyway and then wouldn't give me a reason as to why they wouldn't credit me the HD service overpayments.  I told her to terminate the service.  She had the gall to try and sell me different packages!  I don't even really watch TV anymore and I'd already told her that.  For over an hour I fought with her.  I told her to send the boxes  for the receivers now because I wasn't going to change my mind.  She still kept trying to sell me packages.  I told her that the only way I would keep the service would be if they returned everything they took.  Not an option apparently.  Then she said "Are you going to leave us for another provider?"  Was she kidding?  Was she going to try and twist this to look like I was leaving because I got a better deal elsewhere?  BAAAAAH!  Weird thing is, while I lived in Koreatown, I had the best service with them.  For 9 years they were aces.  It wasn't til I moved to the Valley that it all went to hell.

Oh well, like I said, I don't watch TV much anyway.  I can always hook up my laptop to my TV (with the HDMI cable that I bought for my Direct TV), and watch TV online.  If I do decide to get cable back down the line, I'll probably go with the provider I have for my internet.  I checked, and for what I paid for my basic Direct TV, I can get my internet and HD cable.

My friend gave me a ticket to go see Keane tomorrow night, so I have that to look forward to.  Should be fun.  Not much else going on.  Apart from picking up my contact lenses Saturday, I don't have any plans. 

I've been doing a lot of painting the past few months.  Nothing spectacular or anything.  I usually end up covering what I've done with white paint and re-using the canvas.  I've also tried to make a few stencils and things like that.  Since the things I paint freehand have to be abstract, I've decided that using stencils can help me paint other things I'd like to hang on my walls.  You know, flowers and stuff.  I had been using plastic page protectors, but my friend Deanne gave me all sorts of stuff to use to make really good stencils for my birthday.  Martha Stewart brand and everything!  I also got some gold leaf I want to try out.  Hey, it fills the time!!!!  I've also uesd printed drawer liners and framed them.  Believe it or not, they actually look kinda nice.  I drew a black silhouette of a cat on one of them.  It's not perfect, but it will do for now (untill I can draw or trace a better one!).  I would like for it to look like Gotham, but the tail came out too fluffy-looking.  The ink kept bleeding, so I had to do something to disguise it.

I need to go to thrift stores and look for more frames.  I don't think there are many near me.  I'll have to look into that.

I need to get cat litter too.  Maybe I'll do that on my days off.  If I can handle the excitement!

I know, I've been horrible about posting stuff (as always).  People were expecting me to blog something for my birthday last week and I let you down.  Sorry.

So, birthday.  Yeah.  I turned 42 and it came and went with no pageantry.  I went out to lunch with Sam, which was really nice.  Then I went home and did a load of laundry and that was it.  My dad called and sang to my voicemail, which I get a kick out of every year.  I got an email from a sorority sister of mine (shut up, yes I was in a sorority) that I hadn't heard from in a couple of years.  She's working here in downtown, so we're going to try to get together for lunch.

My best friend came out the day after my birthday and we went to dinner at the tavern around the corner from my place and then she took me (as a surprise) to see the musical "Fellowship" (based on "Fellowship of the Ring").  It was playing over at the old Steve Allen Theatre.  It was really funny.  I really needed some laughs and it provided a ton of them.  If you have the chance to see it, please do!  The whole cast is hilarious, even the understudy who played Aragorn was awesome.  As a "celebrity" bonus, Cedric Yarbrough from Reno 911 plays Gandalf and Galadriel.

I have an update on the work front, I interviewed for a new position here at the office.  I probably won't get the new job, but I felt like it would be stupid if I didn't even bother to interview for it.  Talk about weird!  I haven't really interviewed anywhere for 12 years.  I was very rusty and it was really scary.  You guys know about my self confidence issues, it's kinda hard to convince someone that they should hire you when you don't have any confidence in yourself.  It was good to do though.  I really like and respect the people I met with.  The new job would be really hard and more along the lines of what I did before my current position, but for more people.  My hours would probably be different (no more getting up at ungodly hours or taking the train to work in the dark) and the pay would be better.  Anyway, I don't want to jinx it.  Keep your fingers-crossed for me though.

What else is going on?  Not much.  I've been keeping a really low profile as usual.  Been broke, so keeping close to home every day.  I've been working on a few paintings, not really happy with any of them.  I'm going to add some gold leaf to one this weekend.  The gold acrylic paint I've been using doesn't "pop" enough.  I've never used gold leaf before, so it should be an interesting experiment.

What's up for the weekend?  Sam has been kind enough to lend me Bugsy Malone, so I'm probably going to watch that tonight while I'm doing laundry.  I saw it in the movie theatre when I was a kid, I hope it's as good as I remember.  Other than that and working on the paintings, I need to clean the apt and color my roots.  In other words, not a whole heck of a lot is going on at Casa Robin.  I might add grocery shopping to the mix, just to keep it interesting.

Have good weekend you guys.

Okay, last time I blogged, I was in medical appointment and DMV hell.  Results:  I passed my DMV test (yay) and came through all of my other tests with flying colors (bigger YAY!).  It looks like my skin cancer has decided to not come back.  I have five more horrible looking tags (one on my neck, shoulder, left chest area, and one each on my calves).  They're healing better than the last round, so hopefully the scars won't be bad.  I'm running out of skin to test!

I got my new drivers license from the DMV almost exactly two weeks after I took and passed the test.  Where was I day before yesterday?  At a different DMV taking a new photo.  The one I took in Pasadena made me look like a member of the Manson Family.  I was trying not to sneeze and my eyes were all bugged out and it was super-close up.  Everyone at the DMV who saw it laughed at me.  And the thing is, I HAD to show it to them or they weren't going to let me take a new picture.  If I would have asked for a new one, they would have just sent me the same thing in the mail and I would have had to pay $25 for the privilege.  I was NOT going to live with that picture for five years!  I told the gal who took my photo that she could do anything she wanted with my picture, as long as she didn't make me look like THAT (holding up the new license).  She laughed (of course) and said "Why is it so close up?".  She took two, I guess I was looking too "high" in the first one (not sure if she meant high as in up a level or high as in stoned).  I don't care how it turns out, it has to be better than the one they sent me.

I had both an eye appointment and a hair appointment yesterday.  Eye appointment went fine.  I came home with two new sets of contacts to try.  He did all sorts of tests, so I couldn't really see when I left.  Luckily, no traffic on the way home!  I got home well before I'd planned to, so I asked if they could bump my appointment up a few hours.  I got over there and promptly spilled water all over the floor and knocked into the table with all the magazines on it.  I wouldn't let them clean up my mess, so there I was, on my hands and knees mopping up water, apologizing.  It sounded like a lame lie when I told them I couldn't see.  When I showed them my eyes, they said I was lying and was, in reality, high (they were joking).  After we got all that squared away, I went to the chair to consult with my stylist (sounds so posh!).  I probably shouldn't have appointments when it's hot outside.  She had two photos for me of ideas she had for a cut.  I told her "Fine, they look good.  Just make sure I can put my hair back in a ponytail when it gets really hot".  "Are you sure?  This is a lot of length to cut off".  "Go ahead, if I don't like it, it will grow back".  She cut off FIVE, almost SIX inches!!!!!!!!!!!!  It looks fine, but it's weird not to have hair past my shoulders anymore.  I guess I got my money's worth!

Gotham's face cancer flared-up one month early.  I have to take him into the vet tomorrow morning at 9am.  More vet bills!  yay!  Who needs to eat anyway?  I was starting to put on weight and could use a break from all those calories.  Dumb cat didn't even get me a Mother's Day card and I'm always spending money to keep him healthy.  BAH.

Because I'm broke, I'll be spending the weekend at home doing laundry, cleaning and other chores.  I had a gift certificate for Amazon, so I bought Season Two of the Rockford Files and it should be arriving today.  It will be me, Jim Rockford and Gotham all weekend.  If I'm honest, I can't say I'm too thrilled.

Happy 56th Birthday to Midnight Oil Guitarist Jim Mojinie!  I'm listening to the Oils as I type this!  They're a big part of the soundtrack to all my memories.  Many happy returns!

I looked at my calendar and I've got a sick day scheduled for tomorrow.  Four doctors appointments and one DMV appointment.  I'm probably going to get home later than normal, which seems wrong for a day that I'm not going to be in the office.

I got the confirmation yesterday.  My request to return my SDCC 4-day membership pass was accepted and processed.  I no longer have a pass.  I'm not going for the first time in 12 years.  I find this whole thing terribly sad.

Well, I finally sucked it up and sent an email this morning asking Comic-Con how I go about returning my 4-day pass (that I waited in line for what?  8 hours for last year?).  I hope it's not too complicated, I just want to get it done and over with.  I was up a good portion of the night last night, unable to sleep.  That gave me time to think, why was I procrastinating?  Why don't I just return the damn thing and get it over with?  There's no way that I'm ready to face going and I doubt I will be in July either. 

You know, it was 12 years ago when I had my pivotal "coming out" moment.  I was 30 years-old and finally decided to stop hiding the fact that I loved comic books and superheroes from my friends, family and co-workers.  I'd been keeping it a shameful secret for years and years.  One day I got a postcard in the mail (I have no idea how they got my name and address) that advertised that the passes were now on sale.  Something clicked in my head.  "I'm going to go!".  I went to my first Comic-Con in San Diego a couple months later and I loved it.  I absolutely loved it.  Back then I drove back and forth each day, which was nuts.  It was worth it though.  It felt so nice to be with thousands of people just like me.  People who understand that those stories ARE literature.  They ARE an important part of our culture.  They AREN'T just cartoon pictures and dumb stories.  The talented people who were able to make careers in the comic book industry got so much of my respect.  The writers that managed to come up with fresh, interesting, relevant, topical and important story lines month after month were beyond phenominal to me.  I wish I had that talent!  Then there were artists that managed to make everything look amazing.  To be lucky enough to have that as your career of choice?  Wow.  Everyone behind the scenes, well they did more stuff than I could go into here, but they are just as important.  Maybe more so.

Those days in July turned into the only real vacation time I took off from work each year.  I looked forward to it every July.  "Where would I stay?  I hope I can get in to the Sofia again!"  "Should I take the train or drive down?".  I was confident in my hobby, my passion.  I would start to get excited every year around this time.  I can't describe the feeling.  I would gladly debate anyone who thought it was stupid and just something for little boys.

Look at me now, I've packed up everything related to comics and hid them away so I don't have to look at them.  I haven't read a comic book in months and months and months.  I think my comic book shop finally took me off their list of people with pulls after I failed to show up so many times when I was supposed to come in and buy my books and update my list.  If I'm honest, I'm ashamed to admit to it.

Jeez, what happened to that strong woman?