Michael Bolton locks + 30 years of angst + A room full of close friends + hair clippers =
The Cutting of the Hair Part 1
The Cutting of the Hair Part 2
The Cutting of the Hair Part 3
Yesterday I joined Daniel and Hillary along with their cousin Jereme to visit Hillary's parents at their new high rise apartment in the Greenway area of Houston. As you can see by this picture they have quite a view! The tower on the right-hand side is in the Galleria area which is where my pad resides. Visiting with her folks was cool as was watching their new big ass plasma screen TV. Man, HDTV has to be seen to be believed. The crisp detail is sharper than a photograph and HUGE on their big ol' screen. I guess it's time for me to start saving because it will be mine. Oh yes, it will be mine.
Today, Jay and his precious little minion Meagan came over to escape noxious fumes that enveloped their apartment. We chilled out, played leg horsey, watched some tv and did some belly burps before Jay and lady mini me had to go hook up with mommy. Since the fumes were so bad they'll probably end up at a relative's pad. I'd let them crash at my pad but I unfortunately lack the living conditions that developing lifeforms require. However, give that kid about 6 years and some d20s and then we'll talk.
That seat at the Toyota Center had no mercy on my ass! Aside from my sore bum I did have good time at the Smackdown NO MERCY pay-per-view event. I was joined by my coworkers Jeff and Mike along with Jeff's two nephews and Mike's son. The six of us had decent seats although closer would have been better. Too bad the 175 bucks ringside would have cost me is even better when it stays in my pocket.
The matches were for the most part entertaining. I was a tad disappointed in the Guerrero VS Batista match, mostly because Batista didn't pull off his bad ass Batista bomb move My favorite match had to be the fatal four way between Orlando Jordon, Chris Benoit, Christian and Houston's Booker T. That much chaos in the ring is a blast to watch. My favorite entrance was hands down Batista with those explosions that rattled my teeth! Fire is pretty :)
Friday night I joined Jeremy and his lovely wife Annie at the Meridian
for some in-your-face Henry Rollins spoken word. The man blew me away
as he ranted and riffed for over two hours. He covered a shitload of
topics but mostly ripped on Bush, shared his USO tour experiences,
talked about his trip to Siberia and ranted about his philosophy on fun
and satisfaction.
I left the place with the feeling that on my current
course in life I will never amount to anything since I enjoying having
fun too much. Don't get me wrong, I didn't feel bad when I left.
Henry just gave my mindset a jarring rattle. According to Henry, If
you're watching TV and playing video games then you're not not living
up to your potential. It wasn't news flash but it was a fact that I often ignored.
I joined my good buddy Sluder and his two boys Joshua and Caleb on a trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science to check out the traveling Lord of the Rings exhibit that was on display. It was like someone took all of the special features of the DVDs and turned them into one giant pop-up book.
The exhibit was broken up into three main sections. The first section contained massive pictures of each of the major Middle Earth realms that were featured in the movies. I was hoping they would have had more town models (since they created so many for the films) but the only one on display was the nightmare version of the shire-turned-factory that Frodo saw. Still, it was pretty cool to see up close the level of detail.
The second section was all about the characters with their costumes, weapons and neat little factoids. They had lil' monitors with interview clips that looked to be taken straight from the dvd extras. The section on Saruman had a 12 foot tall model of his tower where as the cave troll section had a 1:1 scale statue of the big guy complete with (I'm using Josh and Caleb's words) "troll dong" just a danglin' there.
The last section was all about the special effects used to make the films. There were several interactive displays including a neat camera setup on how they made the wagon bench scene at the beginning of Fellowship. Sluder got a picture of his boys sitting in the bench with little Caleb towering over his taller brother. Another interactive display was a sort of scale comparison where you stood under a camera and it told you what Middle Earth creature you would be judging by your size. Caleb was a hobbit, Joshua a dwarf, I was a Uruk-Hai and Sluder could "almost" pass for human (which was a fair assumption).
There were many other displays that I wont get into (such as the Massive engine used for the battle scenes and of course the One Ring Room) not because I didn't dig em but because this post is already way too long. I recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the films and willing to spend $17.50 on a rad museum exhibit.
After a long day of ID10T bombardment at the Goodman salt mines I often find myself driving to my neighborhood liquor joint. Being a fan of the suds I often drive away with a smile on my face and a six pack in the passenger seat.
Of course my homey Sean had a different explanation as to why I always have a grin after shopping at Richard's aka Dick Liquors. What can I say? They know how to treat me right!
My close friends know that I have an unhealthy obsession about the film Trainspotting. Its not so much that I enjoy the life crushing story of Heroin addiction as it is the funny ass Scottish dialogue. Irvine Welsh (he's the guy who wrote the book it's based on) has a wicked way with words and Ewen McGreggor, Johnny Lee Miller and Robert Carlyle deliver the lines with commanding authority.
My homey Sean hipped me to this silly Trainspotting test and of course I ended up being Renton. What can I say? I just need one more hit!
