I am not a huge mustache ( { ) or beard fan, but this site is just too awesome not to share.

Carry on my bearded son.

Oh – Poor neglected blog space!!! My list of excuses for not keeping up on writing…

1. Rehearsing for this show
2. Been spending my free time trying to learn all the lyrics to 36 Chambers from Wu Tang Clan
3. Starbucks addiction has become out of control inducing ADD tendencies and a lack of focus
4. Busy watching Cavs playoff games
5. A growing addiction to Cafe World on Facebook -this is Greg Fusco’s fault!!!
6. Trivia Night at The Happy Dog
7. I saw Passion Pit, Angels & Airwaves, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (again)
8. Been running again with the dog
9. Have you SEEN “United States of Tara” yet??????
10. Bowling (I think I finally know how to AIM the ball in the right direction away from the gutter)
11. Giveaway Nights at Monsters Hockey Games – I now own a Cavs Snuggie, The Ped Egg and some bags of Quicken Loans Arena Colombian Coffee
12. Painting my nails with Urban Outfitters Grey #3 Matte nail polish
13. Hours spent trying to recreate Johnny Mango’s Chicken Fried Rice at Home
14. Saw Othello, Cloud 9, & August: Osage County
15. Work Concerts
16. Time spent contemplating writing but not actually writing
17. Cleaning the cat box
18. Working to master iPhone games including Skeeball, Scrabble and Drug Wars
19. Times spent doing things I can’t write about in a public forum

Let’s just leave it at that – obviously I need to re-prioritize a little…

The list of things I am obsessed with at the moment:

The Features
One of my FAVORITE new bands right now. I literally stumbled across this band on Stumble Upon. Their newest release “Some Kind of Salvation” is now on constant rotation in my playlist. They were just signed by Kings of Leon and 429/Bug Records.

Michael Symon’s Live to Cook
Local chef produces a book full of great and accessible recipes. I might cook through this book this year?

Purex 3 in 1 Laundry Sheets
If you live in an apartment and have to schlep your dirties back and forth these guys are so worth the money

Youth in Revolt
Saw this movie last weekend and I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard in the movie theater. It’s a little bizarre and wacky but I am now on a mission to help everyone in my life further develop his or her inner Francois Dillinger – including myself.

Peet’s Coffee
I restrain myself from becoming a Starbucks junkie but I think Peet’s has me completely hooked with the bold but nutty flavor sans the insane jitters that Starbucks delivers.

Bistro on Lincoln Park in Tremont
One of my new favorite paces. Happy hour is amazing and lasts all night long. $5 plates of gourmet goodies. I went with 3 friends and we ordered all 11-appetizer plates and we walked out stuffed, tipsy and happy. And we only spent around $20 a piece. Go there now – try the truffle mac and cheese and baked polenta.

Missed Connections Blog
I absolutely adore the little illustrations of Missed Connections posts done by Sophie Blackall from Brooklyn. I love the idea of using “content as muse” and Sophie captures the underlying mystery, tenderness and bizarreness of reading the missed connections section on Craigslist.

Sherlock Holmes
She who never goes to the movies has actually been to the theater a lot lately…Robert Downy Jr. with his shirt off. I will stop there.
See it.

People say that what you do New Year’s sets the tone for your entire year. Basically saying that the people you spend your time with will have an ongoing occurrence in your daily life, and that whatever happens in that time period will foretell repeating situations for the coming year.

If that’s’ true – apparently I will be bowling a hundred all year! Considering I have NEVER broken a hundred at bowling ever – I’ll take it. Really, how much more Parma can I get then to be bragging about breaking a 100 point bowling score on the internet? Seriously though, (as serious as a subject as bowling is…) I am oddly superstitious about things like this, so I view the bowling score like a fortune cookie. Confucius say – “Do not think (and drink other peoples beer) and you will do good.”

In full disclosure, I am thinking my improved score was due to the fact I spent my time dancing in between turns rather than slugging back Jeff’s PBR (without him ever noticing) like I did last time I attempted to bowl. Really though, the dude never noticed I drank 5 of his beers whenever he would have his back to me.

So before the bowling excursion a large group of friends all hit up Li Wah for (the now customary) New Years Day dim sum brunch. We ate dumplings and the pork and coconut bread rolls that made Julie declare, “ I want to live inside a pork bun.” Um duh, yes Julie we all do.

Before we sat down to eat we headed to the Asian trinket store across from the restaurant where I picked up a little Buddha statue last year in honor of the day. He was holding up two balls in a “raise the roof” position and really who can say no to a smiling Buddha looking like he is tearing up the temple dance floor.

So, without knowing the meanings behind the little guys I pick out a new little Buddha figurine this year that had a big satchel on his back, a gourd in his hand and a scroll in the other. Really, this was my only choice considering the other statuette was of a happy Buddha covered in 8 or 10 little chubby cupid type babies that only implies he is a fertility deity. No thank you. Kel-fucius say “One little chubby baby more than enough.”

So upon looking up the new Buddha later I discovered that he is the laughing Buddha of happy journeys (as signified by the satchel filled with treasures), good fortune (as signified by his good fortune scroll), and the fountain of youth (signified by the Wu Low gourd he carries). Now this is formation is also quick to explain that the fountain of youth is not inferred to be superficial youth. So hello 2010! Looks like I’m destined to be with child… but it’s ok because, LOOK YA’ALL, I BOWLED A HUNDRED!!!

ok – If you are a reader, (really I have readers??? WTH, but I LOVE YOU!!!) I apologize for not writing in such a long time. I needed a break,  and decided to redesign this space. Not to mention the fact that I landed my dream, decided to direct a musical and lost my past posts on my (not that old) shitty PC.  Yeah insanity…

So here I am somewhat renewed, with lots of cool stuff happening around me. I decided I need an outlet again. Forgive the past few nonsense out of order posts. I was testing out the photo and editing capabilities in WordPress. Cool new stuff is coming very soon. I promise.

And so this is Christmas…time to go eat more cookies.

xoxo

You see, I ended up finding the overdue books tucked away with some Christmas decorations last year when I decorated my apartment for the first time in 3 years.  I had been living like a transient since leaving Lakewood in ’05. When I found the books I started to feel all squeamish and guilty, so I tucked them back in the closet to deal with later. A full year later…I love books,  yet my fear of returning books that were 4 years overdue kept me from running back through the sacred doors when I moved back to Lakweood. So I waited,  and waited,  and figured I had lost books as well and then there would be fines,  so I avoided things.

I finally cleaned out my storage closet and decided that Monday would be the day that I make all things right with the world, suck it up and pay the huge fines. So I dug out the books and rang the circulation desk. “Four years overdue” the librarian laughed. “Well, I moved and found them in with the Christmas decorations” I said leaving out the part that it was LAST Christmas. I waited for her to give me the obnoxious amount I owed them. “Well you have four missing magazines but those can be replaced by bringing us four new ones and your fines come to a total of $5″ she said. “That’s it?” I replied. “Yes, we max out at a dollar per item on overdue charges” she answered.

Now to tell you I was overjoyed makes me sound like an even bigger nerd, but now I could once again have my fantasy about getting it on in the library stacks without thinking about the huge fines I owed. Because really,  who doesn’t have some sort of naughty library fantasy… and if you don’t,  well,  you should get a little trashy and imagine one.

I walked in with my $5, the replacement magazines and am now a proud owner of a library card again. I walked around a little and spotted the cute nerd that I had seen at the Spitfire the night before. Really a guy who hangs at the punk bar and the library? Um, yeah that supplies more fuel to the library fantasy.I walked out with an Emma Goldman biography, a cd by The Hold Steady (amongst other selections) and a renewed sensibility to deal with stuff sooner.

I think today should really considered to be the first day of the New Year, because if you spent New year’s Eve with friends like mine,  you kinda need a whole day to recover. In fact, I think there should just be a skip day. A day that really doesn’t exist.  Just an unspoken mysterious recovery day. New Year’s was great, however I learned a great lesson in not mixing red wine with ANYTHING. You can click on the above picture and link to my Flickr photo account to view some of the debauchery.

Nonetheless, I woke up the next day and three Excedrin seemed to take care of things enough to coordinate a Dim Sum New Years Day lunch with 9 friends. Ha – I just realized 9 of us for the first meal in ’09…weird. It was a grand affair and I don’t think I have ever seen so many plates of dumplings, meats, and dough balls in my life. (That’s right I said balls!) Del was waving in plates with the dexterity of an air traffic controller and Chef Marc was mission control in coordinating what to order next. The whole event would have made a great Food Network special.

Afterward we hit up the stores in the Asian market and I ended up buying the Buddah statue pictured above. I hear it is good luck to bring some wew addition into your house on New Year’s Day. I love everytihing about this statue. The joy on Buddah’s face. The manboobs, The belly. The fact he is holding two balls and seems to be saying “Raise the Roof Y’all!” He makes me smile.

To pretend that ’09 is off to a great start would be ridiculous. The economy is in the shitter, people are loosing jobs, and those who have jobs are facing an insane amount of stress. Yet,  I still think 09 is going to be better than last year. I think mostly because there is a coming to terms of what is truly important. Personally it means working harder and smarter than I ever have, wearing sunscreen, recycling and eliminating mental and physical clutter.

In my family we have this saying that when one of the dogs in the family rolls on to their stomach to for a belly rub we call it “the happy dance.”  You can’t help but laugh at a dog who is rolling around on their back with puppy limbs flailing in the air with joy.  More than anything in ’09 I hope for everyone to find their own happy dance. Because now, more than ever, we need to rub some Buddah belly’s and share some joy.

Yesterday was pretty awesome.  Even after a late night on Saturday I was up at 8am so I did laundry, made some soup stock and cleaned my apartment before heading out to a dim sum lunch at Li Wah. We made a stop at the Asian Market and then I came home and worked on my blog redesign some. You can see the real-deal at Dazzlepants.  Pretty spiffy eh? Not bad for an afternoon.

On Friday night I reluctantly agreed to go with friends to see “My Bloody Valentine 3D” last night. Considering I have not liked horror movies since seeing the last one at age 12, I was a little reluctant to go. But the movies was in 3D and I would be with a large group so I thought it was safe.

I agreed to go because I think it is good to step out of your comfort zone on a regular basis. The scenario reminded me of when I was nervous to go to see the movie Cloverfield because I thought it was going to be super suspenseful and I have this irrational fear of Aliens (that’s a whole other blog…). Turns out the the only thing frightening was loosing my margarita buzz 15 minutes into the film and being forced to sit in the front row where our necks were sore for an entire week after from having to look vertical during entire movie.

We were handed 3D glasses and were Id’d 3 times before getting in to the theatre? 3 Times…yeah really?  We finally realized why after seeing the 3D sex/nudity scene that takes place in the middle of the film. So, I sat with my coat pulled over my eyes about 1/3 of the movie while the hardcore slasher parts were happening. I just kept thinking of the Foley artists on a movie screen set squishing cantaloupes to emulate the sounds of oozing guts and such. Needless to say, I made it through the movie and now Greg and I want to start producing 3D porn movies. Ca-ching, ca-ching!

We stopped out for a drink after the film and danced down to bad 80/90s dance music while rocking our souvenir glasses and dining on a delicious Asian Pocky snack.

I may have missed 1/3 of the movie snuggled into my winter-coat but I still give myself a gold star for seeing my first horror movie in 19 years.