Ummm.....

Well, I know it's been a while since my last post. I can't say that I've really been too busy, but you know, being married and having a ten month old who has discovered how to crawl faster then the Flash can take up a bit up of your time. :P

There's not really anything new happening on the home front, just sitting in my living room with the family and watching 'Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.' It makes me think of my own movies that I'm currently working on. It's been a while since I have really sat down and focused on them and I really need to. I'm pretty proud of the progress that I've made on one of them so far but I hate that damn writer's block! hehehe. One day I'll get it all figured out. It's all just a work in progress at the moment, but hey, I guess you have to begin somewhere, right?

Lately I've also been feeling very nostalgic. I can't really explain why, but it does have something do with Coheed and Cambria. Whenever I really get to thinking about their music or shows that I've been too, it makes me think of the good times that I've spent with friends attending those concerts or the times that I've met the members from the band. I was watching the Neverender documentary the other day and it made me think back to the time that I saw them at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas last summer. I went with a good group of friends and the day of the show we waited all day, literally, by the pool, watching them practice and get the stage set up for the show that night. We talked to Mic quite a bit that day and that was the fourth or fifth time that I had met him. He remembered us as 'The Cake Guys' (we gave Claudio a birthday cake a few months before when we saw their accoustic show in SLC while they were on tour with Linkin Park). He told us that he enjoyed the cake! lol. Chris talked to us for about an hour and half or so, he was cracking jokes and his girlfriend, Jo, was so impressed by the group of guys that were sitting poolside, all wearing black Coheed shirts in the sweltering Vegas heat, waiting all those hours for their favorite band to perform. We also met Wes, the keyboardist that travels with Coheed on tour, and I have to say he is an incredible guy. He just sat there and hung out with us for about 2 hours. Wes was telling us about how he got started playing with Coheed and how he really enjoys the group and how they brought him in and treated him like family pretty much right from the get go. He invited us to come back to the bus afterwards and said that he'll give us some of his own solo material and he'd see what he could do about us meeting Claudio (he was attending San Diego Comic Con that day, promoting Kill-Audio and Evil Ink). The show was intense, probably the most intense Coheed show that I've ever been too, and so far that's 10 and counting. It actually got so crazy that I had an asthma attack and had to see the on site paramedics and get hooked up to an oxygen tank. I missed most of the show and I really felt bummed out. I love seeing this band play. There is no one else like them, that can play with the passion, the intensity, and the skill that they have. Furthermore, they really do love their fans. I do wish that they were coming to Utah sometime this year. I know that they really aren't doing any headlining tours this year, and I know that they are kind of taking a break, by being openers for other bands or performing at a few major festivals, but damn! I don't have any money to travel to other states at the moment and I just hope that they will find a band that they can tour with who will roll through Utah.

Anyway, I guess I'm done with my rant. Until next time.....

untitled

Well, here it is, two weeks into a new month and my first post for it. Nothing really exciting has happened to me since my last post. I'm another year older and still wishing that I was in the career that I want to be in. I have had some spare time to work on my scripts lately, and hopefully with some more motivation, and a lot of luck, I'll finish them this year, at least that's the plan. After that.... well, I'll just have to deal with it when I get there. I did win a PS3 on the 1st of April at a work raffle. I didn't think it was true, it being April Fool's and all and the fact that I never win anything. In one of my earlier posts I mention how much time I wasted sitting in front of the television, letting time just slip by when I could be doing something more constructive. Well, I've been put back on that boat again. Damn you, Sony!! And damn Rockstar too!! I have a love/hate relationship with GTA4. At least this time around I'm more aware of how I spend my time, but I still feel like I should have just sold the PS3 and done something better with the money. Oh well, I'm too attached to it now. I'll just write it off to me needing a new dvd player. That makes me feel less guilty about owning it. :P

On a different note, my wife and I did find a new apartment to move into. It's actually the same location we lived before, just a different apartment. I'm really looking forward to moving and having space again. We're both really starting to feel suffocated with where we're at. Jairus needs the room too. He's starting to crawl a little more and there really isn't anywhere for him to go with our current location. We start moving out this week and that's pretty much the only thing that I keep thinking about.

NEVERENDER!!

Well, I really don't know why it took me this long to get around to writing about Neverender, seeing as how tomorrow I will have had it for a week, the only thing I can say is that it's been a busy week. Anyway, I just wanted to say that I freaking love my Neverender boxed set. I'm in the book (I'M A CHILD OF THE FENCE!!! YAY FOR ME!!), I have the signed Certificate of Authenticity by Coheed and Cambria, # 2659, I love watching the dvds, and I listen to live cd's every day. Mic, Travis, Chris, and Claudio -- you are the greatest band to have ever graced God's green earth. You guys truly are amazing and I love how you care so much about your fans. I've met you all a few times, my friends and I kind of hung out with Wes, Mic and Chris (Chris's girlfriend took a picture with us) at the Hard Rock show last July in Vegas. Last year we gave Claudio a birthday cake and this year we gave him a Plo Koon mighty mugg (lol, I know, we're dorks), I've traveled to Nevada, California, and Arizona to see you in concert. I know that some may say that's not a big thing, I know that other fans have traveled father than I have, even outside the country, and trust me, if I could go to Puerto Rico, I would. I guess I'm just saying that you guys are always worth traveling to see and I have never been dissapointed. Anyway, aside from sounding completely obesses and stalkerish now, and I really doubt that any of you will ever read this, but I just wanted to say thank you for all that you do for your fans!!

Return of the Muggs

Well, I'm back and I'm starting to feel that this is developing into a blog mainly about Mighty Muggs...... oh well! So, anyway, yesterday we received our shipment of Marvel wave 6 (Cyclops, Phoenix, Logan, and Sabretooth), Anakin Skywalker, Human Torch and the exclusives of Shadow Stormtrooper, Admiral Ackbar, Thanos and Red Skull. When I checked the mail today I was happy to see that we had received Han Solo and Luke Skywalker (Bespin version). Now that we have received most of our orders (still waiting for Dr. Henry Jones to come from the land down under) our collection is nearing completion. We just need to get Yoda and Princess Leia to finish Star Wars, Venom, Thor, Peter Parker and Iron Man (movie version) and the Marvel line is done. Once those are taken care of, it's the pre-orders for waves 8 and 9 for Star Wars and then wave 2 for Transformers. Needless, to say, it's been fun Mugg 'hunting' the local stores and it's pretty cool to see how big our collection has grown in such a short time. Hopefully when we get out of the dungeon that we're living in, which should be soon, I'll be able to get a picture up of our mighty collection..... pun intended :)

On a different note I have been trying to work on my script lately and in doing so I find my mind wandering to a few dark corners here and there and coming up with ideas for something new. I have had a desire the last little while to develop a sci-fi/fantasy idea, something that will really let my imagination go wild, break some boundries that may have been set up. I've been feeling the push to just go crazy with something and I hope that I can get there as I love to be creative and create something new, something that no one else has thought of. It's kind of a nice escape from the grim 'day-to-day' that we live in. I found some inspiration today by browsing through Greg Simkins' paintings gallery. If you want to see more of what I'm talking about visit imscared.com and you'll see some incredible stuff. Greg has long been my favorite artist and one of the things that intrigues me the most about him is how his mind interprets things. His paintings are so full of some of the most outrageous things that a person could possibly imagine. I don't know how else to put it really, you should just look for yourself if you haven't already.

The Muggpire Strikes Back....

So, if you read my last post you will know that Mighty Muggs are pretty much an obsession that my wife and I are currently dealing with. Just an update for those of you who care.... Darth Vader and Boba Fett have now decided to grace us with their presence and have joined our collection.

After about 8 hours of searching and12 stores ranging from Target to Wal-Mart to Kmart to Toys R Us, we finally found them. What a great day! This puts our collection to a grand total of 73 (we ordered Anakin Skywalker, Human Torch, both versions of Captain America, and Marvel Wave 6 --Logan, Sabretooth, Cyclops, and Phoenix-- two days ago).

I also just realized something else... I must either be a huge nerd or I have nothing else to write about, so I chose to write about my ever expanding Mighty Muggs collection.

Well, maybe my next post will actually contain some information worthwhile.

It's a Mugg eat Mugg world out there....

First, let me just say that I know it's been a while, but when you're working two jobs, have a seven month old son, and only one computer which my wife uses for her work, it's a bit hard to post in a more timely manner. We shouldn't have anymore problems with the one computer thing anymore though, I just purchased an Acer Aspire One and so far I'm pretty impressed by the lil guy!

Anyway, moving on to the main point of this post. I know this may seem irrelevant to some of you, but for any of you that collect Mighty Muggs, those little bastards sure can be addicting. It's no joke either. My wife and I have been collecting them for probably close to a month and a half or two months and so far I'm pretty damn proud of our collection. I made a run to five stores today, three of which proved fruitful. We have now added Soundwave, Megatron, and Optimus Prime from Tranformers, Baroness from G.I. Joe, Jango Fett, Stormtrooper, and Mace Windu (we already had one, but the box was pretty battered) from Star Wars. This puts our collection at a grand total of 63!! Like I said, I'm pretty damn proud! Now, if we can just get our hands on the first version of Darth Vader, Yoda, General Grievous, Thor and the ever elusive Venom....

Until next time my friends.

The best job in the world

Being a parent is an amazing thing! I never would have thought that I would have been prepared for this, but it's a lot easier then what most people say, or maybe it's just because my son is only 6 months old. I love to watch him grow and learn new things each and every day. It's incredible how infants can figure things out and how they can find joy in the simplest things. I love to see and hear him laugh as well, it's contagious. His eyes light up when he smiles and, as a parent, I can't help but smile or laugh myself.

There are times that I have been saddened to see how quickly children grow up. I can remember the trip to the hospital, my wife in labor, and our son coming into the world like it was yesterday. Sometimes I want him to stay small just so that I can see all the discoveries that he makes that I miss out on while I'm at work. Other times I cannot wait for him to get bigger, to start talking, walking, and finding all sorts of new thing to uncover, to see his little mind at work, figuring things out. I can't wait to see him start playing sports or to learn how to play a musical instrument or to try his hand at art. I truly find so much joy being a father, it really is the best job in the world. It make me happy to know that no matter what else I do, I have family and that, to me, brings a real sense of accomplishment to my life.

too little time....

Do you ever feel like there are not enough hours in the day to do everything that you'd like to do? I'm sure that everyone has felt this way at least once, and if you haven't then you have far too much time on your hands. I bring this up because there are times that I wish I didn't have to work (as I'm sure that everyone wishes) so that I could actually do the things that I'd like to do. I don't mean sitting in front of a computer/television and playing some mindless game or watching some lame tv program, but something constructive, something new to learn or a talent to hone.

I know this may sound sad, but I purchased a guitar almost three years ago after I got divorced (my ex would never let me have a guitar) and I have been slowly trying to teach myself since. I struggle because sometimes my mind doesn't always wrap around certain things. I have a lot of respect for those guitarists who are self-taught. This year I finally decided to do something about it, I'm going to start taking lessons. When? I'm not sure, but I know that it's something I'm going to do.

I also need to sit down and find time to work on my script(s). I have so many ideas that are constantly brewing in my mind but I get so stuck when I sit down to write. I get frustrated that my words aren't depicting the idea that I have in my head and so I stop. This is something I also need to work on and that is another reason for this blog, to help me formulate my ideas and thoughts to the point where it will flow easier and make more sense when I do write. I'm sure, over time, this blog will read better with less mistakes and grammatical errors. At least I hope so.

Today, my wife and I visited an art studio as we are planning on taking some art classes together. The woman who will be teaching us is an incredible artist and I've known her for years (she's my friends mother). She was in the middle of teaching a class and it was so neat to walk around and see what her students were working on. We also went to visit with her and to talk about getting started, when classes were, etc. and as I looked around, I became slightly jealous of the talent that was in that room. The art in that studio was amazing! I wanted to have that talent now. There was a group of twelve year olds who could paint and draw better then I ever could! It made me think about what I wasted my time on when I was younger and I felt a little disappointed in myself. Curse that damn Playstation! Sometimes I wish the Matrix were true, because then if I wanted to draw like Leonardo, I could have someone just boot some art program into my brain and viola! I can paint a masterpiece. *sigh* Regardless of all that, I am looking very forward to taking classes and hoping that I may show even a smidgen of talent.

My wife and I also planning on starting our own projects that will hopefully evolve into a small business. I get so eager to do it sometimes that I almost can't contain my excitement. I know that I don't always show it on the outside, but inside I'm almost ready to burst with creativity and the ability to get hands on with something. I wish that we could do it right now, but our current living situation and being short on funds tends to hinder us quite a bit. Now, I know that some may say "Where there's a will, they's a way" and that is true, but only to an extent. Sometimes it's just shy of the "way" part even though there is more then enough "will" part.

I guess, in closing, I wish that I could freeze time and focus on the things that I really wish I could do while I was at work. Or I'd love to have Doc Brown on speed dial, call him up and say, "Hey Doc, can I borrow the DeLorean for a bit? There's a few things that I wished I would have focused a bit more on when I was a kid, like really learning how to play the guitar. Oh yeah, I also wanted to make sure that my mom never sold all my Transformers at the yard sale that one summer too."

who knows?

Well, this is entirely new to me, I'm not quite sure if any of this will be important, but I've been telling myself that I need to try something new, so here it is.

I often wonder what motivates people to start a blog, why would a person want to allow complete strangers to read through said persons thoughts? I still haven't really come up with an answer to that, but I'm sure that if I continue with this I'll find out.

With that said, and as I really have nothing else to write about at this time, here is something that may have little or no impact on anyone's lives, but it is a question that I have pondered from time to time : Who would win in a fight between Yoda and Superman? I know, it seems silly, right? But if you really think about it, you might just find yourself discussing this with your friends, family members, and co-workers. I've even gone so far as to create an image of this epic stand-off (I know that I lack any artistic talent, but I thought I'd include the picture anyway). Enjoy!