Well, I have to say, had a pretty good weekend this past week.

On Friday night, a friend and I went to a taping of the Dead Authors Podcast at the UCB Theater. We go every-so-often and it's always hysterical. This month one of my favorite comedians / performers, Matt Gourley, portrayed Ian Fleming.  If you're familiar with Matt, you know he's a huge James Bond fan (for more info, please see his podcast "James Bonding with Matt and Matt". His take on Fleming was great! Thoughtfully slow with a definite creepy leer in everything he said. He's a victim! It's the women's fault! Good stuff! I'm just sad that the blue terry cloth onesie he had made (and was so excited about) didn't fit.  As always Paul F. Tompkins brought his A-Game as H.G. Wells.  I don't know how he does it. Everything Paul does is achingly funny.  If you're interested, you can look up the Dead Authors Podcast online.  I recommend all of them, but anything with Chris Tallman, Craig Cackowski, Mark Gagliardi or Matt Gourley will be especially good. Particularly Chris Tallman. The man is a genius!!!!

After that my friend and I met another friend at the 1988 gallery on Melrose to see an exhibit of art inspired by Joss Whedon. Very crowded, hot and steamy! The art was neat. It was difficult to see everything though, it was too crowded and I felt bad lingering when there was such a long line outside.

On Saturday my friends and I met up once again for our monthly appointment with the Work Juice Players at Largo for the Thrilling Adventure Hour. Once again, I was seated behind Len Wein, who I have given up saying hello to, as he never remembers that we've met before. AT LEAST FOUR TIMES!  Anyway, there was a buzz in the air while we waited in line for the seat assignments to be handed out. A big mysterious purple curtain was put up in the courtyard for the table read so we couldn't see or hear it (they'd never done that before, to my knowledge). Exciting! Bonus - I got to meet Hal Lublin's dad Bill, which was cool.  Such a nice, funny man, I can see that Hal got some of his talent from him!

After grabbing dinner we walked back up to the theater and got into our seats. Again, there was a buzz in the air. Now, if I was plugged in to social media like I used to be and still went to cons, I would have probably known why there was a buzz in the air.  Since I'm not and I don't, I was clueless. It was the return of Cactoid Jim and Jefferson Reid, Ace American!!!!!  Yes, after about a two year absence, Nathan Fillion was back with the Work Juice Players for the Thrilling Adventure Hour and it was AWESOME!!!!!  Nothing else can describe was cool it was. This show was jam packed with neat guests, including Colin Hanks and Jason Ritter. It was probably the best Thrilling Adventure Hour I've ever seen. I even broke my rule of not standing in line for photos, so I could get a picture with them. Too bad none of them turned out (not one was good enough to share) and too bad I didn't have anything with me for them to sign (I didn't want to wait in the merch line and I didn't bring one of my show prints from home). We did go stand in line again so I could re-take the pictures, but he line was so long that as it grew late, Nathan walked through it quickly to sign stuff for people so he could leave and not have people left empty-handed, that we just decided to bail (I was the only one who wanted a photo, everyone else was just after signatures). That's okay though, it was still a cool night and I can't wait for next month! They always have great guests and I'm sure next month will be no different. I don't think it's been posted yet, but you can always check out other episodes of the Thrilling Adventure Hour online. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Switching to a different topic altogether, everything is fine at work (just fine, no better). To give you an example of the class divide (my boss is rich and I grew up middle class), he said to me one day "wow, you look really glamorous, like you work at Neiman Marcus or something". Not "shop" at Neiman Marcus", "WORK"at Neiman Marcus. I wasn't sure if I should be offended that he thought that the highest level of glamour I could possibly have would be a retail salesperson at a department store or not (no offense to the many great people who work there). Every so often I find that my bosses can't help themselves, they just make comments that point out that I'm not on the same level money-wise. Ah well, no job is perfect.  It's still better than the last one.

My lunch break is about over, I suppose I should eat something. Btw- typing on mobile devices is awful.

Wow, Labor Day already.  This year seems to be going by especially fast.

I spent a good portion of yesterday with my former uncle.  By that I mean that he's the ex-husband of my mom's sister.  They divorced when I was a small kid, but our family tended to like him more than my aunt, so we always had a good relationship with him.  Not that we saw him a lot, but we did see him more than my aunt.

Anyway, he's 86 years-old now and still as sharp and active as ever.  He even works out every day (I don't work out at all).  I met him down in Marina Del Rey, where he keeps his boat.  Yes, he still sails his boat at 86.  I guess he splits his time between Marina Del Rey and his home out of state. 

It was wonderful seeing him after all these years of, well, not seeing him.  It's been decades.  We spent hours catching-up.  It was neat getting to know him as an adult.  I really hope we keep in touch now that we have reconnected.  I let my parents know that they need to reach out to him and I've got my fingers-crossed that they will.  He may not be blood-related, but he is still family.

I usually spend Labor Day cleaning and doing things around my apartment and today is no different.  Too bad it's so hot out.  Because of this darn heat, I don't think I have the enthusiasm about this project that I used to have.  I hate the heat!!!!  Another thing about this apartment is that it's in an old building.  Sometimes, no matter how much I clean, it still looks dirty in some places.  This is really frustrating and disgusting.  I think that when the owners of the building have fixed-up apartments before renting them, that they might not have cleaned before painting.  Painting over dirt is never a good idea.  The bathroom and kitchen are particularly bad.  I just used a bunch of cleaners and the bathroom still looks gross. I don't know how far I should keep going with the cleaning in those two rooms.  I've got other rooms to work on and I haven't even gotten the vacuum out yet.

Well, my break is just about over.  I need to get back to cleaning my pad.

It’s been an interesting time since I last posted.

I had a gal come in that was supposed to help me clear some of my crap out and unblock the negative energy in my apartment.  Now, I must preface any comments by saying she was great.  She knows her stuff and was super-nice.  Was it worth the money?  I’m not so sure.  I did unload a ton of stuff, BUUUUUUUUUT, I could have done that with a really no-nonsense friend.  I was really disappointed that we weren’t able to get to documents and stuff like that.  It’s was 5 hours of “Do you love this?” because, according to the rules, I shouldn’t keep anything I don’t love.  The thing is, I had to put a bunch of stuff on the “do not discuss” list (comics, cd’s, my CBLMW box, record albums, etc.).  It ended-up being okay because we were kept busy with the huge amount of other stuff I have.  Besides, since I have the clown car of apartments, I got rid of so much stuff, yet seem to have even more left than what I started with!

I got rid of about 2 minivans worth of stuff.  The lava lamps and concert shirts were the most difficult to let go of.  The fact that I knew they were going to good homes made it much easier.  I've got great friends who will take care of and cherish everything I let go of, and for that I'm grateful.

The weird thing is, right after I did that first stage of the big clear out, I had the worst luck!!!  The shittiest week in ages.  I mean, REALLY bad.  Work and home both.

Plus, now my apartment is a wreck.  Between pulling shit off shelves, out of cupboards, closets and out of drawers, it’s a mess.  I’ve had a couple of things going on since then, so I haven’t had a really good chance to clean-up or get stuck in and do more.

The next "out of the ordinary thing" was that I reached out and got a hold of my cousin (on my mom’s side).  I hadn’t seen  or spoken with her in 14 years, so, for some reason, I thought we should re-connect.  I don’t have a lot of close family and ever since my parents moved away I’ve felt that acutely.  I have one uncle that I talk to, but that’s about it.

I drove out to her place and from what I saw of it, it was beautiful.  We spent an ENTIRE day catching-up.  Both of us had a lot of questions about the family stuff that we don’t know about.  Unfortunately, her memory is crap, so I ended-up answering more things than I got answers to.

I should probably say that I didn’t really like my cousin growing-up.  We were never close.  She is a couple of years older than me and always gravitated towards my older sister (like all kids).  She was really actually quite the mean girl to me most of the time.  At camp, when we went at the same time,  we were forced to be in the same cabin, which neither of us liked.  She didn’t want her younger, ugly,  nerdy cousin in her cabin and I didn’t want to be with my older, cooler cousin who hated me.  It sucked!  I was put through the ringer.  Her friends hated me as well and they made that abundantly clear.  When we would sail to Catalina, I got ditched and ended-up sunburned, seasick and miserable.  Her dad was the only person who was nice to me.  Kids can be nasty and mean.

She was the pretty one.  Rich, pretty and popular.  I, on the other hand, was not.  Any of that.  To be honest, not much has changed.  She is still pretty and popular.  Rich, I don’t know.  None of my business.

Age has mellowed her personality a little bit, too bad it didn’t touch her looks.  She looks the same!  She was nice for most of the day.  The competitiveness that used to be so inherent in our relationship seems to be diminished.  I think maybe it finally occurred to her that I don’t compete for anything, so it’s no fun being like that with me.  Overall she was nice to be around, although, she did make one comment that hurt my feelings and has stayed with me.  I mentioned it to my dad, not in a tattle tale way, just as an aside and he didn’t seem too pleased.  There was no need for her to have said it to me.  It did not offer anything to the conversation.  It was a “By the way…..”. Disappointing.  I like her though (the grown-up her) and realistically, that was one of the few negatives of an overall nice day.

My cousin has a few kids.  The two I’ve met, I haven’t seen since they were little, so it was great to see them as adults.  Her son has grown-up to be a fantastic, successful, handsome, young man.  One of her daughters was on a trip so I didn’t see her, and, believe it or not, this was the first time I was able to meet her other daughter, who is around 20.  She’s an amazing girl.  My cousin should be proud of all of her kids.

It was a really long and exhausting day.  I made sure I left with contact information for her dad.  I adored him growing-up.  I get the feeling that they don’t talk much, but that doesn’t involve me and I’m not getting in the middle.  I gave her the same advice I give everyone with parent problems: “Our parents did the best they could with the tools they had”.  None of them purposefully fucked anybody up.  That’s just a bonus.

I was able to get in touch with him via email and we will hopefully get together the next time he’s in town.

The next person on the list is her brother.  I think it’s been close to 30 years since I saw him last.  Neither of us were sure if he’d gone to our grandfathers funeral or not (that was almost 20 years ago).  I’m not holding my breath for that to happen though.  She seems very disinterested in the two of us meeting-up and I need her help to get his contact information.

I hope another 14 years doesn’t have to pass before I get together with her again.  We may not ever be the best of friends, but we are family.  With us, that’s a very select group. 

I think I have a quiet weekend ahead of me.  Maybe I will be able to take a little bit of time out and clean my apartment and actually go grocery shopping.......my fridge is empty.  Why am I so fat??!!!??

First off, let me say that I got dates mixed-up in my last post. Since I've enacted a total media blackout, I didn't know that the convention is next week, not this week. Doesn't really change much though. There are other contributing factors to this mood / emotional state.

This week saw, what would have been, my sister's 48th birthday. I wasn't close to her by any means, but I call my parents every year on that date. We don't talk about her or anything, I just make sure to call and touch base. It does, however, make you think about things and wonder how much different our family would have been had there been a positive relationship between her and the family.

There are others issues at play this time of year as well, but it's too much to go into now.

I was asked about the vague SDCC mention in my last post. Okay, the reasons I'm not able to go:

1) I'm not really in a head space where I can go and see people I used to know or sit in on panels. I used to love nothing more than reading comics and going to Comic Con every year. I allowed that to change. My fault completely and I'm still hopeful that things will go back to how they used to be, it will just take time (yes I know it's already been a long fucking time, but I never said I was on a normal schedule, right?).

2) I can't fucking go because a few years ago, as a result of something I'm not going to go into here, I returned the ticket I'd stood in line for over 8 hours to purchase. Now, you don't have a chance of getting tickets unless you attended the previous year, so, as I missed a year, I'm not able to get a pass unless someone gives/sells me one. It's a messed-up system.

So that's it. I'm allowed to be emotional once a year, right?  I will try not to think about San Diego (and I hope my friends won't mention it) but if I do, I will be sending good thoughts to SDCC and wishing everyone a good time.  If anyone reading this is going, have a wonderful time! If you're up for any awards, I hope you beat your competition to a pulp (get it? Pulp? No? It's a publishing joke...ah forget it).

Sorry for the cussing.

For the past three years these next few July days have been hard for me.

Everything starts Wednesday (today) and ends Sunday. I wish I was able to go, like I did for so, so many years, but I can't. :-(

I'm trying to keep my mind off it and I'm avoiding all possible news stories, but there's always some well-meaning friend who forgets that I can no longer go and they ask me my plans.  I don't want to be a jerk, so I just say "I don't go anymore, I wish I could, but I can't". I try to keep it short, succinct and friendly, it's hard though.

I went to see comedian Jeff Richards perform at Flappers in Burbank last night.  You'd probably remember him as "Drunk Girl" from Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live, but I liked him best as Jarrod's creepy jock roommate.  Anyway, my friend and I didn't go in with super-high expectations, but we ended up having a really good time.  All of the people we saw were funny!  It was cool that the club has an area set-up on your way out where you can meet the performers from your show.  Of course Jeff Richards was especially nice to my friend (everyone is ALWAYS especially nice to her!  Even when it's me forking over the $20 for their merch..... some things absolutely never change, LOL).

My friend and I made a pact that we were really going to try to go to more comedy shows.  We used to go fairly often and saw some cool acts (and no really horrible and awful acts that we walked out of, actually, there was only one...... I'm looking at you Joe Rogan.  I can take dirty.  I can take rude.  I can even take unfunny.  But when you hit the trifecta of all three, I'm out.).  We really did see some amazing gigs.  A Damon Wayans surprise act, a REALLY young Carlos Alazaraqui, Charles Fleischer, Kevin Meanie, Greg Proops, the list goes on and on and on. 

It's time to get back to comedy!  The shows are cheap and you can usually get away with diet cokes for your two drink minimum.

Something to think about.

I think I'm finally settling in to my job.  I'm still training and learning, but I'm starting to get comfortable.  We still have the big quarterly project coming-up, but at least I'n not as on edge as I was....

I'm going to EC tomorrow after work (after driving home in traffic and walking to catch a crowded bus, not to be confused with a Crowded House) with my cocktail partners in crime, Sam and her husband David. I can't wait to have a nice flaming margarita and relax. :-)

Maybe Sam will remember to bring my mail this time....bah, probably not, LOL!