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You’re 97, huh? Well, you have the right to remain silent…

So, an old lady gets pulled over for speeding or something and then they throw ‘er in the slammer because of an outstanding warrant for her arrest. And of course, people are all huffed up about it because “how can you arrest a 97 year old woman?!” Well, my calloused thinking goes like this: If she’s young and alert enough to drive, she’s young and alert enough to pay fines. The bigger issue, though, is “where do you draw the line?” It’s obvious, but I’ll say it anyway: if 97 is too old, what about 96? 95? 80? 70? 60? And then, whenever you say “well, that’s young enough that they could be arrested…”, then I add one year and we go again. The point is that there’s no objective age (on the books) where people are exempt from paying fines and being arrested on outstanding warrants. In order to allow that woman to make her appointment at the beauty salon, the police would’ve had to make a subjective decision to let her go. That’s not law enforcement, it’s bias, and that’s not their job.

Bottom line: I think it’s pretty crazy that such an old woman was arrested, but that’s just a strange example of a statistical outlier. I don’t think the law–at least in this instance–should be subjective to someone’s age. Also, she’d have never been arrested if she’d paid that fine.

Friends: Jennifer Anniston

I’ve been a fan of the show for a few years now, but I can’t say I’ve ever been really sucked in by the acting. Occasionally, something will catch my eye, but I mostly watch for the comedy and story. Tonight, though, I was really impressed by the scene that Anniston did with Schwimmer near the end of the episode. Her energy was right on from the moment she entered the room, slamming the door behind her. I just thought she nailed the scene: she didn’t go over the top with the emotion, but she seemed really honest about her trepidation and frustration. I suspect a lot of that emotion was real emotion that the cast is experiencing as the final episodes are winding down, and I think it’s fantastic that she did such a great job channeling that emotion into her character in that moment. Kudos to Jennifer.

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Slowly assimilating

Well, work wasn’t too bad today, although I hated bein’ there. I hated it so much I left a couple hours early. I was tired and still sort of in vacation mode, so I figured why not dip out a little early. Anyway, I’ll make up the time later this week when I’m back into the routine.

Learning the acting

I finished Acting in Film and started How to get the part without falling apart. I’ve also learned a monologue from Good Will Hunting–the one where Sean tells Will that he’s onto his game–and done some more work on the scene from Swingers. Hopefully tomorrow’s lesson will pick up right where we left off last lesson. I’m beginning to feel more comfortable with the process and I hope it starts to show on camera.

I decided to try and rig up my camera to shoot some video, so I can practice my scenes on “film”. I wasn’t sure how it’d work, but I think it is working really well. The camera can only record about 7 minutes of video with audio, but that’s enough time to run a scene a couple times and play it back so I can give myself notes.

Moving quickly

I’ve said a few times that I’d like to move to L.A. eventually and continue working part-time. Recently, there have been buzzings around work that they need engineers to move out to L.A. and work. I’m finding out that all this moving may be happening soon… sooner than I’d even hoped for. So, now I’m having to think about whether I can adjust my plan to accommodate for a potentially quick move.

I’m already thinking over the financial and logistical aspects of such a move, and I’ll talk to my acting instructor tomorrow night about how different our “plan” would need to be for me to move out there sooner. I’m thinking I probably won’t be moving out there too soon, but I think it would be foolish to completely ignore the possibility.

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Gainesville trip: Day 7

This should be the shortest and least interesting post of all. Basically, I woke up, went and ate lunch at a local Chicago-style pizza joint called Leonardo’s, watched a little of the NFL Draft, packed up my stuff, drove to Jacksonville, hopped on a plane, drove home, ate dinner and watched a bunch of TV. Nothing exciting, nothing extraordinary, just me trying to assimilate myself back into my new reality.

Tomorrow, I’ll relax, try to rest up and do my best to be mentally prepared to return to work at 8 am on Monday. It’s really nice to be home, sleeping in my own bed and surrounded by my things, but I am already missing Gainesville and thinking of the next time I’ll be able to make a trip home. It was a fantastic week and a well-timed vacation and I can’t wait to do it again.

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Gainesville trip: Day 6

Today was pretty good and I got to see a lot of people. First thing, I went and got lunch with a couple friends (yeah, my sleeping hours have slipped to the 4 am to noon window). Then, we played some Spades until we went to play basketball. Basketball was definitely the low-point of my day as I played very badly and didn’t score any points in two games. My assist to turnover ratio was far less than 1 and I missed plenty of wide open 5-foot shots. It was very frustrating.

Later, we went to Hops for dinner and then went to a friend’s place and hung out for a bit. We played croquet for a while (I won the first game in spite of having never played before and playing horribly), but got blasted the second game. It was a good time. Now, I think we’re about to play some more Spades or something, then I’m off to bed. I have a long day of traveling and packing tomorrow.

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Gainesville trip: Day 4

I spent most of the morning sleeping and watching TV. Then, I went to lunch with a couple friends at the Chicken Kitchen and went over to see their new place where they will be living this fall. It’s a pretty nice place, but it reminded me that, for some reason, architecture here in Gainesville is really strange. There was one place in the living room where the previous owners had cut a hole in the carpet in the middle of the floor, so they could run a phone wire up to an end table or something. I guess they were pretty certain they’d never move that end table.

Frisbee golf

Then, we went and played a round of frisbee golf at the old course. My best score there when I was playing a few times a week was 3 over par. I shot a 13 yesterday. Most of that was just general rustiness–I hadn’t played in about 9 months or so–and some bad luck–if there was a tree, even if I made a good throw, I found it. Anyway, it was fun and we all had a good time.

Newberry Backyard BBQ

This place has some of the best baby back ribs I’ve ever had and I’d been looking forward to going there since I started planning this vacation. Of course, they didn’t disappoint and I had a great time with about 7 of my friends. I hope I can make a trip out there every time I visit Gainesville.

Kill Bill Vol. 2

Even better than the first. I don’t want to do an all-out review or analysis, but I’ll say that I’m seriously impressed with Trenton ability to mix various genres of film from different eras into a seamless, solid movie. Also, Uma was spectacular and I was very surprised by her performance. I could see that she took direction very well and that she was a great fit for the role. I can’t wait to see the DVD with special features and “making of…” kinda’ stuff.

Funnier ’cause we were tired

As we were all startin’ to go to bed about 4 am, I was walking through the kitchen when the phone started ringing. I looked at the caller ID and saw that it was one of the other guys in the house calling in on his cell phone. I decided not to answer, but my roommate did and this is what he heard at the other end of the line: “Hey. What’re you doin’?” Then, the same guy called about five other people around the city and did the same thing. That delayed our getting to sleep by about an hour because we were just laughing too hard to realize we were tired.

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Gainesville trip: Day 3

Yesterday’s support appointment went well and I’m not officially on three peoples’ MDPs (I think that’s right and I think it’s “Ministry Development Plan”; it’s a TLA–Three Letter Acronym). I’m excited to be giving to Crusade beginning in July and I think it’s awesome that I can help out three staff people.

Basketball… again

I played some more basketball yesterday and I’m really feelin’ it today. I think I ran seven games in two days. That’s not outrageous except I haven’t played that much basketball in that little time since some time last year. I’m pretty sore, but it’s good to be in good enough shape that I can at least run the games. I hope to play at least once more before the week’s out.

Gators Dockside

Last night was all-you-can-eat (AYCE) wings at Dockside, so about six of us went over there to try and break ’em. Between us, we probably ate over 200 wings, but I can’t say that I contributed too much. I think I only had 20 or so because I’m just not used to eating that much grub in one sitting. At least it wasn’t AYCE pasta or pizza or something; I’m pretty sure I’d feel awful today. It was only wings and they were grilled, not breaded or fried, so I’m good to go for some more eatin’ today.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1

Man, what a strange movie. Of course, if I felt any differently after watching a QT creation, I’d have to check my senses. The guy just knows how to create interesting, strange violent stuff. It’s bizarre how he maintains an irony of violence without believable gore. I mean, there’re people gettin’ limbs lopped off and whatnot, but it looks so fake it’s hardly even so disturbing as odd. I’m not talking about being desensitized, I’m talking about recognizing what parts of the film QT wants the view to feel are real.

Anyway, I think we’re going to see Vol. 2 some time this week, so I wanted to make sure I’d seen the first part, first. Now, I’m off to lunch with some friends, so I’ll have to pause for a bit.

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Gainesville trip: Day 1

I’m including the little bit of time that I spent with my buddies last night in this day. Basically, we arrived in G-ville around midnight, went to a friend’s place and watched the end of the Rockets vs. Lakers playoff game, then I went home and went to sleep. For about 30 seconds, it was a little strange being in this house since I lived here for 2.5 years before I moved to Texas 3 months ago. But, from then on it was smooth sailin’. I can even still walk around in the dark without bumping into things. My poker table is gone (well, on loan really), so I’ll have to figure out how to get it back so we can play some poker here this week. I crashed in my roommate’s bed because he wasn’t around, but I’m afraid I won’t have the luxury all week… but I can hope, I guess.

Now, I’m off to church and then lunch. I think we’ll probably play basketball some time today and maybe go see a movie tonight. I think it’s going to be a great day.

Basketball

We played four games today and I didn’t get a single win. All our games were decided by two or less, but it seemed like all my teams just ran outta’ gas right at the end of the game. Regardless, it was fun and I felt really good in all my games. I’m sure we’ll play at least one more time this week, but between ultimate frisbee, frisbee golf, bowling and shootin’ pool, I’m afraid there may not be time for more than one more basketball outting.

Tonight, I’m going to the last CRU leadership meeting of the year (as an honorary leader and old guy). I think it’ll be good to see everyone and it’ll guarantee that I see almost all my friends (that’re still around) while I’m here. I’m looking forward to it.

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Ready to go? Not even close.

Have I started packing? Of course not. Have I got all my ducks in a row? Not a chance. But, in 24 hours, I’ll be in Jacksonville, probably hanging at some friends’ house and beginning to enjoy my first vacation. Tonight, in lieu of packing, I spent most of my time making phone calls and watching TV (The Apprentice season finale was on tonight).

Tomorrow, I get off work about 1:30 and then I need to leave my apartment by 4:00 to leave myself enough time to definitely make my plane. Things are going to be hectic for the next week or so, but I’ll be updating my blog whenever I can. I’ll be taking lots of photos, too.

Apprentice

I really enjoyed the season and I thought the show was done very well and was very clever. That being said, I think the ending was sort of a crock. Here’s what I mean: Kwame basically got gypped because of the team that he chose. I felt he performed better as a manager because he had to deal with a crummy team while fielding all kinds of bizarre issues. Bill, on the other hand, had a smooth-sailin’ time organizing a golf tournament with honest teammates and very few problems. My point is that I think Kwame would’ve been the hands-down favorite if he’d had a better team and if he’d known he had the power to do things like fire people who lied to him repeatedly. I’m happy for Bill and all, but I felt Kwame was the better man for the job. I hope the producers of the show find a way to make the final task a little more fair to both parties. I felt there were just too many variables that were out of the contestants hands that had a big part in helping “The Donald” make his final decision.

I need to get some sleep since I probably won’t be getting much for the next week or so.

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Lesson 2 tomorrow

Well, it’s been a week since my first lesson and, while I learned a lot during the first lesson, I’ve probably learned a lot more since that first lesson. I’m almost through Acting in Film and I’m surprised how varied and useful all of the book’s content seems to be. Cain covers everything from set etiquette to creating characters and he does it in an easy-to-read-and-understand-even-for-the-layman way. Of course, I have to assume this book is written for laymen because I am one and I’m reading it.

Anyway, I’ve learned my lines and done some reading and I’m excited to see what’s in store for me this week. This is a very exciting experience because I’m jumping head-long into something that is totally unknown to me. I have no choice but to learn and learn quickly. Just my kind of thing.

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Robin Williams on Inside the Actors Studio

I’ve always been fascinated by Robin if for no other reason than his brain seems to work at twice the speed of most humans’. All he needs is an inkling of an idea and he will go off on a twenty-minute rant about that and any other subject that happens along. He was no different on Inside the Actors Studio and I believe James Lipton when he said Robin’s interview was a five-hour event capped by a girl being sent to the hospital with a hernia due to “uncontrollable laughter.”

I’ve sometimes heard the term “force of nature” used to describe various actors and pop-culture personalities, but I’m not sure I’ve ever felt totally comfortable with that description for anyone until I saw this interview with Robin Williams. The man truly is a force of nature. Once he gets going, I’m not sure if anything can stop him.

What’s amazing to me is that he’s also capable of an Oscar winning performance in a dramatic role (with, of course, a little comedy sprinkled in) in Good Will Hunting and that he can play such convincingly disturbed and introverted characters as he did in One Hour Photo. This was definitely one of the most entertaining interviews I’ve seen to date on the Actors Studio.

Easter with friends

Friday, I wrote about eating dinner with some friends here in Dallas. Today, I went with them to their church and was invited to an Easter lunch afterward. I had a great time just talking with them and enjoying some company for a change. I have enjoyed living alone, but I also enjoy spending time with friends and engaging in meaningful conversation from time to time. I’m glad they invited me to spend Easter with them and I think it made my day much better than it would have been.

Back to the grind with lots to look forward to

Well, of course tomorrow’s Monday and that means I have to go to work, but this week is packed full of stuff that I anxiously anticipating. Tomorrow, I begin the fifth week of my new workout routine and it’ll be the last week before I’m off in Florida next week. Tuesday, I have my second acting lesson. And Friday, I leave for my vacation out east. The rest of the time, I’ve got several books to read, including The Last Battle–the last book in the Chronicles of Narnia series–and a few other books I’ve been working through. All in all, I think it’ll be a good week.