I've still got to get a blog out about my birthday weekend, building the zombie church, and my mother-in-law's house getting flooded in The Philippines...but for now, I give you:
Spank you Ms. Dusty Bibles for hookin' a brotha up with that link.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
As I Stroll the Quiet Streets of New Mombasa...
Hey mom, I've been having a great time on my tour of New Mombasa. The city is completely full of foreigners, but I'm trying my best to blend in and not cause an inter-galactic incident. Here I am trying to get someone's attention by poppin' a cap in his ass:
And this is me using my sniper scope to take wonderful headshots of some of other foreigners in the area:
Of course, sometimes I'm met with a bit of resistance. Some of it hostile and I've suffered an injury or two:
Regardless, I'm still glorious...even in defeat:
Wish you were here!
And this is me using my sniper scope to take wonderful headshots of some of other foreigners in the area:
Of course, sometimes I'm met with a bit of resistance. Some of it hostile and I've suffered an injury or two:
Regardless, I'm still glorious...even in defeat:
Wish you were here!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Everyone Should Watch this Show!
Just watched the premier of Modern Family on ABC. HOLY CRAP it is some funny funny television.
Would Love to Talk...
...but I've got an alien infestation problem to deal with.
Probably won't be blogging for a little while since I'll be playing with my birthday present from the fam. Here's a picture of me on the battlefield.
Here's a couple more bones for you too. The latest Red vs. Blue - ODST episode.
"He moves like a whisper that you only say to the wind at midnight." Hahaha. And here's the extended version of the ODST live action short. Kind of cool how the son uses the same flag given to him at his father's funeral for future fallen ODSTs.
Happy hunting you crazy kids!
Probably won't be blogging for a little while since I'll be playing with my birthday present from the fam. Here's a picture of me on the battlefield.
Here's a couple more bones for you too. The latest Red vs. Blue - ODST episode.
"He moves like a whisper that you only say to the wind at midnight." Hahaha. And here's the extended version of the ODST live action short. Kind of cool how the son uses the same flag given to him at his father's funeral for future fallen ODSTs.
Happy hunting you crazy kids!
Sunday, September 20, 2009
What the What?!
I'm not really the type to brag, but I'm an award winning filmmaker. In 2005, Ken and I entered in our first "insomniac" film festival/project/competition. Basically, you're given a certain amount of time and in that time you have to write, shoot, edit and submit a short film based on certain elements provided at the very start of the competition. Then the starter pulls the pistol, and you're off...and you aren't sleeping much. Hence, why they're called "insomniac" film festivals.
Anyway, in 2005, we competed in the Filmerica 72 Hour Film Challenge. It was our first competition and we won Best in Genre for "Heroes are Made".
So, I really am an award winning filmmaker. ;-) Seriously, that movie was only successful because of the help and dedication of a LOT of friends and family. Hard to believe that was 4 years ago.
Ken and I have competed in other insomniac film fests since then, but we haven't won any awards...until today! That's right, I'm an award winning filmmaker reborn!!! Muahaha[cough cough]haha. Recently, Ken and I entered into the Orlando 48 Hour Film Project. Given the elements (noted on the webpage) and the randomly picked genre of Comedy, we wrote, shot, edited and submitted "Let Sleeping Squirrels Lie" in 48 hours.
I'm happy to report the results have been released and we won Best Use of Character and Best Writing!!!
That was one of the best experiences I've had as a filmmaker and I have to give mad props to our cast (Mike, Lisa and Pat), our crew (Morgan, Lauren and Brenda) and our support staff (my wife, Laarni, Jordan and Jemara). Without all of your contributions, we wouldn't have pulled off such a successful film. I'd especially like to extend a thank you to Ken. Mano, without your support and personal commitment to the overall success of Cloudy Logic Productions, none of this would be possible. Plus, thanks for believing in me.
Anyway, in 2005, we competed in the Filmerica 72 Hour Film Challenge. It was our first competition and we won Best in Genre for "Heroes are Made".
So, I really am an award winning filmmaker. ;-) Seriously, that movie was only successful because of the help and dedication of a LOT of friends and family. Hard to believe that was 4 years ago.
Ken and I have competed in other insomniac film fests since then, but we haven't won any awards...until today! That's right, I'm an award winning filmmaker reborn!!! Muahaha[cough cough]haha. Recently, Ken and I entered into the Orlando 48 Hour Film Project. Given the elements (noted on the webpage) and the randomly picked genre of Comedy, we wrote, shot, edited and submitted "Let Sleeping Squirrels Lie" in 48 hours.
I'm happy to report the results have been released and we won Best Use of Character and Best Writing!!!
That was one of the best experiences I've had as a filmmaker and I have to give mad props to our cast (Mike, Lisa and Pat), our crew (Morgan, Lauren and Brenda) and our support staff (my wife, Laarni, Jordan and Jemara). Without all of your contributions, we wouldn't have pulled off such a successful film. I'd especially like to extend a thank you to Ken. Mano, without your support and personal commitment to the overall success of Cloudy Logic Productions, none of this would be possible. Plus, thanks for believing in me.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Extreme Parkour!
I never really got into The Office (either the original British version or the American dupe). I'm sure it is a funny show and it has won a bunch of awards, but I never vibed with it. I tried to watch a few episodes and they seemed good for a few laughs, but most of the time I'd shrug my shoulders, purse up my bottom lip, say "eh" and then change the channel.
The new season of it just started and a good friend of mine passed on something very funny that aired on the season premier. PARKOUR!!!
I might have to add this show to my bootleg list and queue it up behind all the other entertainment I need to watch.
The new season of it just started and a good friend of mine passed on something very funny that aired on the season premier. PARKOUR!!!
I might have to add this show to my bootleg list and queue it up behind all the other entertainment I need to watch.
Friday, September 18, 2009
My New IM Avatar Pic...
...is this. Sterling Archer is my new hero and here's why:
"That is my foot in your face. Smell the embarassment."
"That is my foot in your face. Smell the embarassment."
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Finally Got that "Fin" Movie Out the Way
I blogged about our Labor Day weekend trip to the coast and mentioned how Jemara and I shot some footage for a quick short we wanted to do. I didn't get a chance to import the tape until this past weekend and edit it. Once I got it looking, and sounding, the way I wanted, I presented it to Jemara to see if she could come up with some dialog she could narrate on it. After watching it several times, she kept saying, "Dad. I think the movie is fine on it's own. I don't think we need narration." At first, I thought she was trying to avoid completing the task, but after I watched it a few more times, I agreed with her.
Many thanks to Jemara for being such a good sport about making this. While we were shooting, I don't think she got the gist of what I was trying to accomplish, but now she's seen the final product she too has become quite the young director. After she watched it the first time she said, "I really like it dad, but we should have gotten more shots." While we were shooting, I wanted to get more shots, but the promise of ice cream made us cut the filming short. Regardless, it is still pretty good and a lot of fun to do. Thanks Jemara!
Many thanks to Jemara for being such a good sport about making this. While we were shooting, I don't think she got the gist of what I was trying to accomplish, but now she's seen the final product she too has become quite the young director. After she watched it the first time she said, "I really like it dad, but we should have gotten more shots." While we were shooting, I wanted to get more shots, but the promise of ice cream made us cut the filming short. Regardless, it is still pretty good and a lot of fun to do. Thanks Jemara!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The Examined Life is No Picnik
The future of computers is in the clouds. The days taking a CD/DVD and popping it into your computer to install some software has pretty much gone the way of the dinosaur. All software applications will eventually become just a URL you enter on your web browser. Computers will become more lightweight and energy efficient because the need for hard drives will be obsoleted with high-speed/low drag solid state memory. There is no spoon.
Enough of the technobabble. You do more "cloud computing" than you're probably aware of. Just get that e-mail from EBay to your GMail account about something you were bidding on? Using the webcam on Yahoo IM to talk to your family half a world away? Upload your attempt at becoming a filmmaker to YouTube? Welcome to the "cloud" my friends.
A friend of mine got me hooked to a new web-based application used for editing photos. It's called Picnik and it basically makes you look like a Photoshop expert in a matter of minutes. Think I'm kidding? Take a look at some before-and-afters I did in no time at all using this, very addictive, tool (click on thumbnail for larger view).
All of those edits were done with the free registration, although you can pay for access to a lot more fun and advanced edits (annual Premium membership is only $25). You can either upload your pics to their site, or do what I do and browse your web photo galleries (Picasa, Flickr, MySpace, FaceBook, PhotoBucket, etc) and repost your updated works of art back to them. So, go out to Picnik's website and reinvent your photos while having fun doing it! I have to extend props to Vadinne for enlightening a brotha!
Enough of the technobabble. You do more "cloud computing" than you're probably aware of. Just get that e-mail from EBay to your GMail account about something you were bidding on? Using the webcam on Yahoo IM to talk to your family half a world away? Upload your attempt at becoming a filmmaker to YouTube? Welcome to the "cloud" my friends.
A friend of mine got me hooked to a new web-based application used for editing photos. It's called Picnik and it basically makes you look like a Photoshop expert in a matter of minutes. Think I'm kidding? Take a look at some before-and-afters I did in no time at all using this, very addictive, tool (click on thumbnail for larger view).
All of those edits were done with the free registration, although you can pay for access to a lot more fun and advanced edits (annual Premium membership is only $25). You can either upload your pics to their site, or do what I do and browse your web photo galleries (Picasa, Flickr, MySpace, FaceBook, PhotoBucket, etc) and repost your updated works of art back to them. So, go out to Picnik's website and reinvent your photos while having fun doing it! I have to extend props to Vadinne for enlightening a brotha!
Friday, September 11, 2009
Today
There are many documentaries regarding the events of 11 September 2001. To me, his one is the most memorable. It is a very personal story about one photo taken that day. If you have some time, I highly recommend you watch it.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Oprah Thinks It's Cool Too...
A while back I blogged about something cool. Well Oprah's people must have finally read my blog!
Thanks Dr. Angela Irene Sheely-Moore for providing me with that bit of intelligence earlier today!
Thanks Dr. Angela Irene Sheely-Moore for providing me with that bit of intelligence earlier today!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
E Pluribus Unum
One of the many thoughts you entertain when you're 11 years old is what you're going to be when you grow up. For me, the last thing I thought I was going to be was a computer geek and father. I wanted to be a fighter pilot or an astronaut. I especially wanted to be the latter because I figured the closer I got to space, the better chance I would have at meeting E.T. (the movie had come out that year and I admit crying when I saw it, but my parents made everything better by getting me a bag of Reece's Pieces). I knew I could be anything I wanted...except for President of the United States. Sure, I'd say I wanted to be President, but for a minority that wasn't a realistic possibility. At least not back in the early 80's.
My children grow up in a different age. Now, there truly is no limit to their ambitions for the future and all of them are realistic...including becoming President. As a parent, there is a very real emotion with that revelation and I'm very fortunate to be able to experience it on a personal level.
I asked Jemara if she watched President Obama's speech to our nation's schools and she gave me a look of ignorance. She had no clue what I was talking about. Thinking she was only kidding with me, I repeated the question. She answered with the same look of, "What are you talking about old man?" I asked her the question again and again, rewording it each time, with the hope she misunderstood me. Each time, she said, "No." She even reworded her answers. "Nope." "Nuh-uh." "Ne-ga-tive." And with each response, I became even more frustrated.
Jemara's school is part of Florida's Orange County Public School system. I have nothing against public school. Being a military brat, I am a product of a version of it (Department of Defense Dependent Schools - DoDDS) and I turned out okay...mostly. Jordan went to Orange County Public Schools for all of his American education (we were in the UK for kindergarten through 2nd grade), and he is a very smart, very well-mannered young adult. So, I have nothing against a public education system. It isn't perfect, but proper involvement by parents helps to subsidize where the system is lacking.
I do have a problem when a public school, funded by tax and government dollars, decides to not air a televised message from the leader of our nation. Period. My daughter wasn't shown our President's message, so I asked her if she wanted to watch it. She did and she sat through all 15+ minutes of it and really paid attention. One of the things she said was, "Dad, you've told me some of those things." That made me smile. Not just to be compared to the President, but also because I think he succeeded in what he was trying to achieve in the speech. Not only talk to our children as their President, but also as a concerned parent. Kudos, President Obama on a job well done.
My children grow up in a different age. Now, there truly is no limit to their ambitions for the future and all of them are realistic...including becoming President. As a parent, there is a very real emotion with that revelation and I'm very fortunate to be able to experience it on a personal level.
I asked Jemara if she watched President Obama's speech to our nation's schools and she gave me a look of ignorance. She had no clue what I was talking about. Thinking she was only kidding with me, I repeated the question. She answered with the same look of, "What are you talking about old man?" I asked her the question again and again, rewording it each time, with the hope she misunderstood me. Each time, she said, "No." She even reworded her answers. "Nope." "Nuh-uh." "Ne-ga-tive." And with each response, I became even more frustrated.
Jemara's school is part of Florida's Orange County Public School system. I have nothing against public school. Being a military brat, I am a product of a version of it (Department of Defense Dependent Schools - DoDDS) and I turned out okay...mostly. Jordan went to Orange County Public Schools for all of his American education (we were in the UK for kindergarten through 2nd grade), and he is a very smart, very well-mannered young adult. So, I have nothing against a public education system. It isn't perfect, but proper involvement by parents helps to subsidize where the system is lacking.
I do have a problem when a public school, funded by tax and government dollars, decides to not air a televised message from the leader of our nation. Period. My daughter wasn't shown our President's message, so I asked her if she wanted to watch it. She did and she sat through all 15+ minutes of it and really paid attention. One of the things she said was, "Dad, you've told me some of those things." That made me smile. Not just to be compared to the President, but also because I think he succeeded in what he was trying to achieve in the speech. Not only talk to our children as their President, but also as a concerned parent. Kudos, President Obama on a job well done.
Monday, September 7, 2009
We Are ODST
I'll always be a fan of creativity. It doesn't really matter the form. It just has to be really creative. I'm definitely trying my best to be more creative in my older age. No, it isn't a midlife crisis and I'm not going to grow my hair long and make sculptures out of rice noodles and spit. I just thought of that and in fact it is based on both sides of my heritage. The rice noodles, of course is my Asian side. The spit? I don't know too many black folk who didn't put "ghetto lotion" on ashy elbows and kneecaps. Now I'm just blabbin'.
Okay, back to why I put together this blog. Since I'm a 37 (soon to be 38) year old, heterosexual male, married with two kids (one being a high school graduate and the other an 11 year old girl), I don't get too much time to myself. I usually can only pull it off early in the morning while I take care my daily BM, or while I'm playing golf, or while I'm on the Xbox. My Xbox is a wonderful escape for me and I prefer the First Person Shooter (FPS) genre. Games like Ghost Recon, Rainbow 6, Call of Duty and HALO are wonderfully kind to me and help me to maintain some sense of sanity.
The folks of Bungie are coming out with a new HALO game called HALO3:ODST. The ODST stands for Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. The game releases in a couple of weeks, but the Bungie marketing folks are already putting out nuggets of creative goodness with the hopes of prying lonely boys and a few girls (but only the cool ones) everywhere of their 60 bucks in the purchase of their latest release. Here are a few nuggets worth mentioning.
Those crazy kids at Rooster Teeth have been putting out Red vs. Blue vids for some time now and they're very entertaining to watch. Here are a couple they did in anticipation of ODST...."I LOVE MOVIES...and scrimmages sound delicious."
Hahaha...."I majored in SCREAMING, with a minor in HOOAH!" Great stuff. I'm saving the best for last. This is a live action ODST movie. I'm going to say, from a filmmaker's perspective, this is DAMN good. I must have watched it 30 times, and those who know how often I'll re-watch a movie in a theater know I'm not exaggerating that number. Ken, you click here and watch it in HD/fullscreen via the youtube.com site. Everyone else, enjoy and I hope to catch a few of you at the end of the month on Xbox Live playing ODST. I'll be the guy who just killed you. HOOAH!
Okay, back to why I put together this blog. Since I'm a 37 (soon to be 38) year old, heterosexual male, married with two kids (one being a high school graduate and the other an 11 year old girl), I don't get too much time to myself. I usually can only pull it off early in the morning while I take care my daily BM, or while I'm playing golf, or while I'm on the Xbox. My Xbox is a wonderful escape for me and I prefer the First Person Shooter (FPS) genre. Games like Ghost Recon, Rainbow 6, Call of Duty and HALO are wonderfully kind to me and help me to maintain some sense of sanity.
The folks of Bungie are coming out with a new HALO game called HALO3:ODST. The ODST stands for Orbital Drop Shock Trooper. The game releases in a couple of weeks, but the Bungie marketing folks are already putting out nuggets of creative goodness with the hopes of prying lonely boys and a few girls (but only the cool ones) everywhere of their 60 bucks in the purchase of their latest release. Here are a few nuggets worth mentioning.
Those crazy kids at Rooster Teeth have been putting out Red vs. Blue vids for some time now and they're very entertaining to watch. Here are a couple they did in anticipation of ODST...."I LOVE MOVIES...and scrimmages sound delicious."
Hahaha...."I majored in SCREAMING, with a minor in HOOAH!" Great stuff. I'm saving the best for last. This is a live action ODST movie. I'm going to say, from a filmmaker's perspective, this is DAMN good. I must have watched it 30 times, and those who know how often I'll re-watch a movie in a theater know I'm not exaggerating that number. Ken, you click here and watch it in HD/fullscreen via the youtube.com site. Everyone else, enjoy and I hope to catch a few of you at the end of the month on Xbox Live playing ODST. I'll be the guy who just killed you. HOOAH!
Sun Make Skin Go Owie
Commercials advertising televisions with super-duper HD, 1080pee-pee, Skywalker Sound with a sprinkle of Japanese pixie dust are funny to me. They show you these spectacular images of rainbow colored fish or rainbow colored fairies flying with rainbow colored streams of glitter trailing them or a bunch of marbles...rainbow colored, to demonstrate how great the picture should look on the TV they are trying to advertise. All it does for me is remind me how great the picture on my old TV looks. I mean come on, they're showing you a "simulated" vibrantly colored picture for their TV on YOUR TV.
Anyway, I'm out at Treasure Island for the Labor Day weekend with the fam. We've been coming out this way every year, several times a year, since we moved here to Florida some 10 years ago. We normally stay down the street at Madeira Beach but wifey found a good deal on a hotel here at Treasure. It is a nice place within walking distance of the beach called Treasure Bay Hotel and Marina.
Would I recommend it? Well, if you'd have asked me Saturday the answer would have been hell no. Our room smelled like zombie ass. Seriously. Imagine finding a dead body, that's been decomposing for a couple weeks. Got the visual? Now imagine the body farting. Can you imagine that smell? That is what our room smelled like. It smelled so bad when Jemara (11-year old daughter) said, "It smells like...sh*t." Yes, she said the actual curse word and it was the only the second time I've heard her say a bad word. The first one was "damn", but that doesn't count because she was questioning me about the word and kids can usually get away with it because of it's innocent cousin "dam". Anyway, when Jemara said it, she immediately covered her mouth in a futile attempt to catch the sound of the word in mid-air and return it back to her lips. We were all pretty shocked and I would normally immediately make her put a bar of soap in her mouth, but I figured she was out of her, normally, right mind due to the odor of the place. Kind of like how nerve gas makes you all twitchy and vomity and eye bleedy before you die, the zombie ass gas gave Jemara a slight bout of Tourettes. Even Jordan, my son and a past consumer of various bars of soap, excused his sister's brief lapse in verbal judgement and went back to breathing through his t-shirt.
The other strike against this establishment was being woken up at 1:30 in the morning by the Pinellas County Police Department as they were looking for two suspects in a theft that occurred nearby. Being woken up in the middle of the night by the police is never something one could get used to, but I didn't even fit the description of the suspects. Seriously. In fact, no one in the family fit the description. The suspects? Well, they were two white females in their young 20's driving a white Nissan Altima. They even had the name of one of the women. They were seen going into the hotel and entering one of the rooms on our side of the hotel. Apparently, someone was harboring the two fugitives (probably not knowing they were fugitives). I told the cop, with crust in my eyes and the smell of zombie ass behind me, "No white women here. The only women in this room are my wife and daughter."
Sunday morning I went straight to the front desk, chest swollen, ready to pound my fist on the reception desk and demand customer retribution. What happened was, I went to the front desk and no one was there. I peeked around the corner and there was a nice older lady in the office. Call me crazy, but how can you yell at old people? You can't. So, I talked to the lady and mentioned my complaint about the early morning cops and the foul smell (you don't say "zombie ass" to old people...you just don't). She said she wasn't the manager, but she'll tell him about it and get us a new room. We ran into her again about half an hour later and she said several other people complained about the cops because they went down most of the rooms on our side of the building looking for the thieving white women. She also moved us to a odorless room with a decent view of the inter-coastal. So it isn't too bad a place to stay...as long as you don't get room 106.
In other vacation (non-hotel) related news, we all got a fair amount of sun while chillin' on the beach for a couple days. Okay, more than a fair amount. Everyone is sunburned and I think wifey got it the worst. Her fair Asian skin just wasn't made to take too much direct sunlight. We also ate at our favorite restaurant Conch and it was kind of humbling since it'll probably be the last time, in a long time, we'll eat there together as a family because Jordan is on his way out the door to live his own life in the Air Force (I'll blog about this later). Jemara and I also shot some footage to put together another "Jemara's Not So Typical Adventure". I'll be sure to post it as soon as I've finished editing it.
Okay, time for us to get packed up, checked out and head back to Orlando. Hope your Labor Day weekend was as adventurous and fun as ours!
Anyway, I'm out at Treasure Island for the Labor Day weekend with the fam. We've been coming out this way every year, several times a year, since we moved here to Florida some 10 years ago. We normally stay down the street at Madeira Beach but wifey found a good deal on a hotel here at Treasure. It is a nice place within walking distance of the beach called Treasure Bay Hotel and Marina.
Would I recommend it? Well, if you'd have asked me Saturday the answer would have been hell no. Our room smelled like zombie ass. Seriously. Imagine finding a dead body, that's been decomposing for a couple weeks. Got the visual? Now imagine the body farting. Can you imagine that smell? That is what our room smelled like. It smelled so bad when Jemara (11-year old daughter) said, "It smells like...sh*t." Yes, she said the actual curse word and it was the only the second time I've heard her say a bad word. The first one was "damn", but that doesn't count because she was questioning me about the word and kids can usually get away with it because of it's innocent cousin "dam". Anyway, when Jemara said it, she immediately covered her mouth in a futile attempt to catch the sound of the word in mid-air and return it back to her lips. We were all pretty shocked and I would normally immediately make her put a bar of soap in her mouth, but I figured she was out of her, normally, right mind due to the odor of the place. Kind of like how nerve gas makes you all twitchy and vomity and eye bleedy before you die, the zombie ass gas gave Jemara a slight bout of Tourettes. Even Jordan, my son and a past consumer of various bars of soap, excused his sister's brief lapse in verbal judgement and went back to breathing through his t-shirt.
The other strike against this establishment was being woken up at 1:30 in the morning by the Pinellas County Police Department as they were looking for two suspects in a theft that occurred nearby. Being woken up in the middle of the night by the police is never something one could get used to, but I didn't even fit the description of the suspects. Seriously. In fact, no one in the family fit the description. The suspects? Well, they were two white females in their young 20's driving a white Nissan Altima. They even had the name of one of the women. They were seen going into the hotel and entering one of the rooms on our side of the hotel. Apparently, someone was harboring the two fugitives (probably not knowing they were fugitives). I told the cop, with crust in my eyes and the smell of zombie ass behind me, "No white women here. The only women in this room are my wife and daughter."
Sunday morning I went straight to the front desk, chest swollen, ready to pound my fist on the reception desk and demand customer retribution. What happened was, I went to the front desk and no one was there. I peeked around the corner and there was a nice older lady in the office. Call me crazy, but how can you yell at old people? You can't. So, I talked to the lady and mentioned my complaint about the early morning cops and the foul smell (you don't say "zombie ass" to old people...you just don't). She said she wasn't the manager, but she'll tell him about it and get us a new room. We ran into her again about half an hour later and she said several other people complained about the cops because they went down most of the rooms on our side of the building looking for the thieving white women. She also moved us to a odorless room with a decent view of the inter-coastal. So it isn't too bad a place to stay...as long as you don't get room 106.
In other vacation (non-hotel) related news, we all got a fair amount of sun while chillin' on the beach for a couple days. Okay, more than a fair amount. Everyone is sunburned and I think wifey got it the worst. Her fair Asian skin just wasn't made to take too much direct sunlight. We also ate at our favorite restaurant Conch and it was kind of humbling since it'll probably be the last time, in a long time, we'll eat there together as a family because Jordan is on his way out the door to live his own life in the Air Force (I'll blog about this later). Jemara and I also shot some footage to put together another "Jemara's Not So Typical Adventure". I'll be sure to post it as soon as I've finished editing it.
Okay, time for us to get packed up, checked out and head back to Orlando. Hope your Labor Day weekend was as adventurous and fun as ours!
Friday, September 4, 2009
Fight or Flight
The story goes a little something like this...
I get up from my, very comfortable, office chair to go take a look. Initial recon proved fruitless in determining the location of this supposed frog and thus added to the frustration I had to endure from raising my big butt off soft, supple leather. "Jemara, I don't see a frog."
While looking at me, she points to the plantation shutters behind her and says, "Right there on the window."
I squint my eyes in an attempt to improve my night vision, which has been greatly hampered by the onset of old age. "I don't see anything on the shutters."
Jemara then looks at the shutters to see, alas, there is no frog. At this point panic immediately begins to ensue because it is one thing to be afraid of a frog you can see, but when it disappears then that's just terrifying to an 11 year old girl. She spent the rest of her evening upstairs, in my office, under the comfort and security of her father downloading bootleg media. She eventually goes to bed with no further frog sightings, but I'm sure she slept with one eye open.
The morning starts with all the regular fanfare. Jemara getting ready for school. I'm going through my morning e-mail/blog/news traffic. (I know this might seem like I'm digressing, but it actually contributes to the story.) Jemara got a new phone (LG Vu) and it has a microSD slot, so I ordered her a 4GB card (I'm amazed you can buy 4GB of memory, smaller than a dime, for only $6!) The microSD card comes with a regular SD adapter, which makes it easier to transfer files directly to and from your computer.
This morning, Jemara asked me to put some music on her phone. I remember the SD adapter is downstairs on the kitchen island, so I head down to get it with Jemara following closely behind. I walk into the kitchen, see the adapter and make a beeline for it (I've still got to get ready for work). Without skipping a step, I pick up the adapter and continue out the opposite side of the kitchen. Before I even reach the exit, Jemara screams as loud as she can several times...
Okay, let me take a moment to build my defense before continuing this story. Aside from the mid-wife, I was the first one to see Jemara when she came into this world. Since that moment, she's been everything to me. I've been a very attentive and loving father. Taught her almost everything she knows from tying her shoes, riding her bike, swimming, etc. For those of you that know me also know Jemara is the most important thing in my life and I care for her very deeply. Having said that, upon hearing Jemara's screams, what did this devoted and caring father do?
Run.
I ran away from the screams as fast as I could. Listen, all I heard was screaming so my natural hood instinct kicked in and I ran to a safe distance so I can properly evaluate the situation from afar. That is why horror movies are bullcrap. Normally when people hear screams, the ones who aren't screaming break camp and run. Call me chicken. I don't care. I call it survival. Anyway, once I got to within the safe confines of the living room, I turned around to ascertain the situation. "Jemara, what is it?!"
Jemara was already halfway up the stairs. "It's a frog! I told you!"
"Where?"
"On the island in the kitchen!"
I slowly step back into the kitchen and sure enough the frog was right on the corner of the island. I must have completely overlooked it when grabbing the SD adapter.
Mom must have been awakened by Jemara's screams and my rapid footsteps fleeing the kitchen. She comes out of the bedroom, sees what's going on and says, "Okay, you need to get that thing out of here. Now." She hands me an empty box and I proceed to try to trap it. He jumps like 5 feet from the island and lands in one of our cases of bottled water.
From there I wrapped the whole case of water in a trash bag and carried it outside where he was released back to nature, via our front yard.
Last night, Jemara is downstairs and turns on the TV. She calls to me, upstairs in my office, and says, "Hey Dad. Is that a frog?" Mind you, the only illumination she had was from the glow of the television. In fact, I thought she was referring to possibly a TV show with a frog. I didn't respond immediately, until I noticed a sense of urgency in her voice when she said, "Dad, there's a frog in the house!"
I get up from my, very comfortable, office chair to go take a look. Initial recon proved fruitless in determining the location of this supposed frog and thus added to the frustration I had to endure from raising my big butt off soft, supple leather. "Jemara, I don't see a frog."
While looking at me, she points to the plantation shutters behind her and says, "Right there on the window."
I squint my eyes in an attempt to improve my night vision, which has been greatly hampered by the onset of old age. "I don't see anything on the shutters."
Jemara then looks at the shutters to see, alas, there is no frog. At this point panic immediately begins to ensue because it is one thing to be afraid of a frog you can see, but when it disappears then that's just terrifying to an 11 year old girl. She spent the rest of her evening upstairs, in my office, under the comfort and security of her father downloading bootleg media. She eventually goes to bed with no further frog sightings, but I'm sure she slept with one eye open.
The morning starts with all the regular fanfare. Jemara getting ready for school. I'm going through my morning e-mail/blog/news traffic. (I know this might seem like I'm digressing, but it actually contributes to the story.) Jemara got a new phone (LG Vu) and it has a microSD slot, so I ordered her a 4GB card (I'm amazed you can buy 4GB of memory, smaller than a dime, for only $6!) The microSD card comes with a regular SD adapter, which makes it easier to transfer files directly to and from your computer.
This morning, Jemara asked me to put some music on her phone. I remember the SD adapter is downstairs on the kitchen island, so I head down to get it with Jemara following closely behind. I walk into the kitchen, see the adapter and make a beeline for it (I've still got to get ready for work). Without skipping a step, I pick up the adapter and continue out the opposite side of the kitchen. Before I even reach the exit, Jemara screams as loud as she can several times...
Okay, let me take a moment to build my defense before continuing this story. Aside from the mid-wife, I was the first one to see Jemara when she came into this world. Since that moment, she's been everything to me. I've been a very attentive and loving father. Taught her almost everything she knows from tying her shoes, riding her bike, swimming, etc. For those of you that know me also know Jemara is the most important thing in my life and I care for her very deeply. Having said that, upon hearing Jemara's screams, what did this devoted and caring father do?
Run.
I ran away from the screams as fast as I could. Listen, all I heard was screaming so my natural hood instinct kicked in and I ran to a safe distance so I can properly evaluate the situation from afar. That is why horror movies are bullcrap. Normally when people hear screams, the ones who aren't screaming break camp and run. Call me chicken. I don't care. I call it survival. Anyway, once I got to within the safe confines of the living room, I turned around to ascertain the situation. "Jemara, what is it?!"
Jemara was already halfway up the stairs. "It's a frog! I told you!"
"Where?"
"On the island in the kitchen!"
I slowly step back into the kitchen and sure enough the frog was right on the corner of the island. I must have completely overlooked it when grabbing the SD adapter.
 |
| From blogpics |
Mom must have been awakened by Jemara's screams and my rapid footsteps fleeing the kitchen. She comes out of the bedroom, sees what's going on and says, "Okay, you need to get that thing out of here. Now." She hands me an empty box and I proceed to try to trap it. He jumps like 5 feet from the island and lands in one of our cases of bottled water.
 |
| From blogpics |
From there I wrapped the whole case of water in a trash bag and carried it outside where he was released back to nature, via our front yard.
 |
| From blogpics |
 |
| From blogpics |
Once our overnight guest was sent on his/her (they're asexual I think) way, the world continued along it's normal path. Thanks to our amphibian friend for providing us with some Friday morning excitement and showing Jemara exactly where she falls in my zombie plan.
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