Havoc & Harmony

Phase 1

2009-07-22T00:49:00.000-07:00

So I have begun trying to put together a form for measurements to send off to Chase. I'm using excel and simply set up a box for each measurement I could possibly ever want. I want to make it all pretty and have a logical flow to it, but for now it's just a column full of names. I seem to remember being able to make forms out of excel, but for the life of me I can't remember how. I'm sure it will come.

I realized awhile back that one thing I am sorely missing is a cutting table. I don't have enough room for a real one, but I want to make a platform I can lay on our dining room table.
The ones in most pro shops are great. 4' x 8' with a half inch thick cork core and three layers of sturdy muslin, built on an even sturdier table about 4' high, usually with drawers underneath.
I will have to settle for a top about 3' x 6' and probably wont be able to get cork. Just some plywood, batting, and a couple of layers of less quality fabric for now. Still, it will be nice to have a real work surface again. I think I will head over to Lowe's tomorrow and price out the materials.

New Dress

2009-07-21T00:23:00.000-07:00

I've decided to use this blog to keep track of a project that I am about to take on. My friend Chase McKenna has asked if I would recreate the dress that Audrey Hepburn wore in the movie Sabrina. Specifically, the white, shoulderless dress with black embroidery and a train in back that she wore to the cocktail party.
She contacted me via Facebook on July 17th with the request and we have spent the last couple of days corresponding regarding it, as well as general reminiscing (I haven't seen her in about 6+ years).

For the most part the dress appears to be a simple cocktail dress with pencil skirt to just below the calf. The train is almost a completely separate piece, attached to the back of the waist. It seems to be shaped more like a cape, with a black dust ruffle (probably taffeta). The whole dress is white with either black lace overlay or black embroidery along the bottom and top.

I don't own the movie and have not watched it (except for parts here and there). It's coming on netflix. I need to see how it moves and falls around here before I can try to guess what materials it is made from and how it is really put together. I'm curious if the train is removeable. I think that I will make it so, even if it wasn't in the movie. I like things with versatility.

The other big problem is, of course, making it fit Chase. She lives in L.A. and I live in Las Vegas. There may be a chance to see her breifly in September, but that's about it. I need to get her measurements and ideally would prefer to do it myself, but I think I will just have to send her the list of measurements I need with clear instructions. I used to have a form from college, but have long since lost it. I guess the next step is to make a new one.

Nevada Day, again...

2008-10-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

So I have decided it's important to share Nevada Day with my crew at work, which is fun. Living in Vegas of the 30 of us, only 5 are natives, 21 have been here less than 5 years, and 6 less than 1 year. So I used my pre-shift time to talk a little about the state, which included all the state symbols. I mentioned the bird, the fossil, the tree, the metal, the gems, and of course the State song.
"Can you sing it?"
Well as it turns out, I can. I belted out a vibrato-ey rendition of Home Means Nevada to the assembled room. The other four natives joined in once I hit the chorus. Much fun was had.
"Are there other songs?"
Well sure! There's M....., er, uhhh. Wait I know this. I remember other songs from my childhood, we were practically indoctrinated until high school, but I can only remember bits and pieces, like a dream from last night. I told them maybe tomorrow.
So I went online and searched. I remember the song "My name is just nevada" but I can't remember most of the words. And the web has failed me. Nowhere can I find a single reference to it. It's like they never exsisted.
Now what do I tell the team?

Vroom, vroom!!

2006-04-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

Well I have done that terrible thing that is a sure sign of finally being a full adult. I bougt a new car. Ok technically it's an old SUV, a 2001 RAV4 to be exact, but it cost enough to be a new small car. Also, it's the first vehicle I've ever financed. I was sort of out of options. My 4runner had begu knocking terribly. The mechanics said it was due to the bearings in the main crank had broken and were grinding around inside. Since the engine allready had 170,000 miles, the mechanic sugested buying a refurbished one, but I didn't think that this was the car I really wanted to start sinking big money into. So I did some research, took some drives, and settled on the RAV4. Let's hope it all works out in the end.

We can make it faster, stronger...

2006-03-12T14:02:00.000-08:00

This week has seen a big update to the KA storyline. The "pillars" sequence has been removed. This has been done to help streamline the show a bit, or as they put it "to improve the flow". I'm a little torn about it. I really liked that part of the show. It had my absolute favorite music. Also it was very fun and light. Still, I have to admit it does make the "flow" smoother. Plus they have adjusted the scenes around it in a very nice way. So, I guess it shall be. But I will always remember the pillars fondly.

A new me... sorta... (UPDATE)

2006-03-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

SO I'm down another 5lbs. Hooray. My diet seems to move in spurts. I drop five pounds in a week, then maintain for a month, then drop five. Wierd. We've also changed our character make up at work. The nice folks at MAC cosmetics came in and sat down with the head hanchos and designed a cool scheme for all the characters. Mines prbably one of the most complicated. The first two are about two weeks ago, the last I took tonight. You can see it's starting to drift...

Kicking it up another notch...

2006-02-04T11:08:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a somewhat quiet couple of weeks down here. The gatekeepers have had a fairly large turnover this month, but the new guys are more talented than I could of hoped for. We're really turning into an acting troupe out there. In fact the casino wants to start using us for other projects, such as a singing group, magicians, and jugglers. We are going to change the uniforms again, but this time to somethng a lot more costume-like. And we are now getting professionally designed make up that will give us a real pazazz.
Now that the housing bubble here has significally deflated, Paige and I are planning to go look for a house some time soon. Like Bill I have recently begun waging war on my oversized middle. I have lost about 20 lbs so far, but have a lot to go. I'll keep ya posted.

A little time to breath...

2006-01-03T12:05:00.000-08:00

Well now that the new year is here, KA is taking a couple of weeks off. Unfortunatly, the holidays drained us of cash, and with Paige still working, we can't go anywhere. So I'll take some time to clean and otherwise relax. Holidays were very nice, thank you all for your cards. We saved all of them so as I can send some out next year. Not much to report I guess. Happy new year to all, and to all a good night.

Home means Nevada to .. somebody else?

2005-11-03T01:28:00.000-08:00

I just need to vent a little about Clark Countys apparant total lack of caring regarding Nevada day. Despite searching through the net and the papers, I couldn't find anything besides a museum exhibit. I asked the only two actual native born Vegasites I know about what they did in school for Nevada day and they looked at me blankly. They didn't even know the state song!!! I mean what is going on here? How can the biggest cities in the state act like nothing is happening? It kind of pisses me off.

P.S. For anyone who lives outside the state (or in Clark county for that matter...) Nevada celebrates it's entrance into the Union, which took place officialy on October 31, 1864. We our one of only three states who celebrate our admission day, the others being Hawaii, and to a lesser extent, West Virginia. It is considered a State holiday, so state angencies and schools take the day off. As of 2001(?), we observe Nevada day on the last friday before the 31st.

Last place never felt so sweet...

2005-10-29T02:45:00.000-07:00

So As I got out of work tonight, Chameleon and I we're walking to the parking lot when we see a few of our fellow Gatekeepers talking with a pretty blond girl. When we get there we say "hi" and chat with them a minute. It becomes obvious fast that no one knows who this girl is, and that she is as drunk as you get without passing out. What could we do? Cham starts asking her questions as we try to get her inside the MGM where it's a little safer. She only remembers that she is staying at the new Marriotts, that she's from Alberta, and that she thinks her boyfriend is cheating on her. Not much help.
Now as we try to walk her, Tiffany (her name), stops about every 20 feet to try and call someone, without success, or to tell us she's fine and we should leave her, or something to that effect. We've also decided that we need to get her back to her hotel, because leaving her at a club won't do her much good. Anyway, to keep this brief, after about an hour of cajoling we finally manage to get her back to her hotel, where she went inside and disapeared in the elevator, and we truged back to the MGM (that took only 5 minutes) weary and sore, but glad that we didn't let this poor, strange girl get raped or run over or what have you. It's not so bad to be the nice guy.

Where have all the good blogs gone...

2005-10-24T13:51:00.000-07:00

I feel really bad about not posting in a long time. I have no excuse, I've just spent all of my spare time lately playing video games. Yes it's true, I'm a Video Game Junkie. After redoing Final Fantasy VII for the umpteenth time (by the way that was 70+ hours of gameplay right there), I began trying to unlock all the special features on Soul Calibur II. Plus I'm spending time at Chameleon's playing Day of Reckoning II for hours on end. I'm not proud of myself, ok well maybe a little as these are tough games, but I promise to better to my blogging duties... right after I finish GTA: San Andreas.

Drifting along with the tumblin' tumbleweeds...

2005-10-08T13:36:00.000-07:00

As you might have infered, life has been kind of slow dowm here in the LV. Haven't had a whole lot going on besides working. We're getting geared up to go see Corteo next month, with the rest of the KA cast and crew. That's easily the most exciting thing going on. sigh...

A trip to the ZU

2005-09-20T12:56:00.000-07:00

Went out last night and finally got to see our sister show, Zumanity. Man do they have some beautiful costumes. Thay don't always cover what you would expect, but they are cool. The show itself is hard to describe though. I mean I liked it, but it was so different from anything else. It's really worth seeing, but you want to be sure and have an open mind. Being secure in your sexuality wouldn't hurt either.

They say it's my birthday!

2005-09-07T12:59:00.000-07:00

First off thank you to everyone who blogged me a happy birthday. It makes me smile. We kicked off Chadfest 2005 last night in what was supposed to be a quiet fashion over a PT's Gold. Didn't stay quiet though. Now for those of you not from Vegas PT's is kind of a chain of pubs/bars/grills kind of places. In addition there is a difference between a regular pub, a PT's place, and a PT's Gold (mostly due to size) Now we told everyone to go the Gold on Decatur St. and that there was a regular one a few blocks north that they needed to pass, but the message was lost and a lot of them went to the first one. They eventually showed, drunk and incredulous that two PT's could be so close. We were so loud that we were entertaining people on the other side of the place.
It was a good time though. Now that I'm getting close to thirty, people are starting to ask if I'm tired of birthdays... Heck no!!!! Admitedly I haven't been paying much attention to the number, but I still like my birthday. It's a great reason to be the center of attention. Plus it means that I've kicked Death's ass for another year, which is nice.
For the rest of today, who knows. I don't have to work tonight, so we may go out to a little English pub Paige and I really like and hang out with a few more friends. (By the way Billy, remind me to take you there when you come down next time, you'd love it, something like 60 beers on tap.)

Oh and a very merry Un-birthday to you!!

Blogspammers?!?!?! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

2005-08-16T01:43:00.000-07:00

I just have to take a minute to say that people who use a blog's comment section to post a bunch of BS advertising are the biggest bunch of %*#&%^&#!$& on the whole planet and I would like to shove a &#($$! and ($*#+- right down their =_=^&*()~ *#$%#$ with a @&%*! bag of )((%* to their %&$*^& ford focus $%#*%+~& and a bucket of *%&!!$#(%* twice!!!
In case you didn't see my previous post was spammed by some jerk. I deleted it, but you can still enjoy my brother's reaction.
Now for the best irony, someone will probably spam this post. Jerk...

Head hurting.. must... blog...

2005-08-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

Paige and I have a really nice souviner from our trip to California last week, four pounds of mucus! For reasonsthat just aren't fair our loverly little vacation has given us both a really nasty cold. One of those, "I'll convert to your religion if you can make the hacking go away" kind of colds. To really make me feel like a wuss, it happened while we were in San Simeon, where the weather was a nippy 65 degrees. So what, I'm in Las vegas for under a year and I can't handle 65 degrees anymore?!?! I'd cry, but I can't take anything wet runnig out of my face for a while.

Fire away!

2005-07-27T02:06:00.000-07:00

I was just looking at the photo I have posted here of myself and thinking back fondly of a time that is probably lost forever. The pic you see of me holding the torch was taken about five years ago. I spent much of that year learning to be a fire juggler. At the time I lived with my roomates Eric and Jason. Bothe of them fire juggled, and I was learning to be a spinner (guy spinning the long stick with flames at each end) and a fire breather (surprising easy, but it takes practice and supervision). We went out a lot for parties and weird events. We were even part of a major haunted house attraction that Halloween, entertaining the crowd as they waited in this huge line. Alas, the state eventually imposed a new law requiring you to get a license to do anything with fire, and I didn't really want to spend the money, so I dropped it. Still, I kind of miss it. They were good times.

Better than ever!

2005-07-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today, as most of you know, is Paige and my one year anniversary. Hooray! Now while I love you all dearly, don't expect to see or talk to me today. Toodles!

Do you know how slow you were going back there?

2005-07-23T12:20:00.000-07:00

It occured to me last night that that Las Vegas is a city where everyone obeys the speed limit. Providing of course that those signs are telling us the minimum speed required. Don't forget that a red light doesn't actually take effect for ten seconds. Lanes are for decoration purposes only, esppecially turn lanes. And don't forget that the shoulders of the highway are acceptable lanes, if your an important enough person. And speaking of taxi cabs, it is really important to remember that they are a higher class of citizen and we should always yield to them, as well as people from California.
It is because of these simple rules that we all obey here, that you almost never see someone pulled over. It's just how we as a society thrive.

Who's your haberdasher?

2005-07-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

I admit that working for KA has been an odd job. I'm constantly doing peculiar little things to make it more interesting or run more smoothly. But lately there has been an interesting new twist on the job desription: Hatmaker!!!
Ok, it started out simply enough. Ryan wanted to be a poet type character, if only we could find him one of those floppy hats.
"Oh! That's actually a very simple pattern. If you guys buy some material, I can whip you up one.", said the foolish Gatekeeper who didn't know what he was getting himself into.
Next, a Tarboosh!
"What's a tarboosh?", he asked knowingly.
"It's like a fez, only a little shorter and slightly rounded on top. Except this one should be black."
Now I've finished those two and have seven new orders. Jeesh. The funny part is people are asking where thay can get those neat hats.
"Do they sell them in the gift shop?"
"Umm, no."

I think Paige may be secretly plotting to kill Alton Brown

2005-07-14T15:40:00.000-07:00

So your first question is probably, "Who is Alton Brown?" Fair enough. Mr. Brown is a "celebrity chef" who work on the Food Network. He has his own show Good Eats, as well as providing commentary for Iron Chef: America. So why does Paige secretly hate him?
Well, because she thinks I spend more time with him than I do her. The sad thing is she might be right.
I've recently become addicted to Food Network and Good Eats in particular. I've begun taping episodes that I might go back and review information. This is part of my new interest in actually becomeing a decent cook. I've been buying equipment for the kitchen and even become a bit of a snob over things like pots and knives.
I realized how bad I became today when my new Salt Celler arrived. If you don't know, it's a place to keep salt so you can easily grab a pinch at a time while cooking. Mine is glass and steel with a handel and flip-top lid, just like the one Mr. Brown uses. It should be, I got it from his web site. I gleefully opened the box and, after a quick clean, filled it with "Kosher" salt. It had to be Kosher, anything else and Mr. Brown would slap me until my eyeballs switched color. It was when I stood there, cackling like Gollum after finding his ring, that I thought to myself "maybe I'm going too far too fast." I mean sure, now I can Braise, and Saute, and use my broiler for lots of nifty things, and maybe I can make a Barbeque pit out of terra cotta pots, but at what cost? I only have a few precious hours a week with my wife, and it's not fair to subject her to such aggrivation. On the other hand, maybe a batch of fudge would cheer her up.

Lousy Toyota

2005-07-07T13:53:00.000-07:00

Well, no news yet on the new job, but on the plus side, my car is in the shop. I've been having some issues with it begining to overheat, and I thought it might be the thermostst going out. But I soon realized that more modern vehicles are way over my head, especially after I broke a bolt. So now I have given it over to a shop very close to the apartments. They were nice guys who seemed impressed but how much I did know, and they're certified, so I'm gonna kep my fingers crossed and hope they don't take me for all I've got.

Ummm...yes...well

2005-06-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Just a little comment about how dumb I can be:

I saw on MSNBC.com today a news link about a puppy-napping caught on video and ignored it because I've seen dogs sleeping before.

...wait a minute.

We are (nearly) the champions!!

2005-06-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was a very rough day for one of my friends here. His name happens to be Bill, so to avoid confusion I put him in phone as Chameleon, since that was his character name from back in the day when he worked as a pro wrestler. Anyway after a horrible 24 hours where his car broke down and his step father, who lives in New York, went into the hospital, we decided to just go over to BJ's bar to relax with some of our fellow Gatekeepers and KA alumni for a drink and a game or two of pool.
Now we did not intend to stay long. His girl Liberty needed a ride in the morning to work, and as his car their car was down, I offered to pony up. So what happens when we arrive, Pool tourney!!
OK fine, no big, it would be fun. Now you might think that, since it was a doubles 8-ball tournement, ol' Chameleon and I would have teamed up, but he very smartly decided to join up with Callum, who not only is our beloved production manager (BIG boss) from Manchester, but also the only one there with his own cue.
Jarrod ended up joining me for the tourney, this is the same Jarrod who has only played once or twice in his life and quite possible flunked geometry. So we start up against... Callum and Chameleon! Now I played one of the best games I have ever played, but Bill is no slouch and there is a good reason Callum has his own cue. Callum took the 8-ball in with none left on the table. Too bad. Then another match against Kenny and Leo, ending the same.
Mow at this point I was looking forward to being finished and having a drink, as it was a double elimination tourney and we lost twice, but no, the first match was before the start time so it didn't count. Sigh.
We went in against Karen, one of my supervisors and her friend. I was tired and not playing very well, though Jarrod knocked a couple in, and as Karen went to sink the 8-ball we were 4 balls behind.
Scratch!!!
Ok fine bring on Joey and Erik, two Cirque technicians who look loke they grew up in pool halls. Joey broke and sunk 6 balls before any one else moved. Jarrod put a couple in that game too, but I couldn't sink a ball to save my life. The problem was they kept getting bad lays and couldn't go anymore either, so the game just went on. And then out of nowhere, I ran the table.
Jarrod and I were actually getting upset, we just wanted to sit back and relax. It was after 2am and I wanted to go, but we pressed on. We ended up against Karen and her pal again, as they had only one loss. This time we were very half-assed. But we took them out again after a half an hour. Aarrrggghhhhh!
Now Josh tells us we've made it to the final round. What?!?!?! We've been sucking all night, but here we are facing... Callum and Chameleon.... again. To make it funnier they were undefeated, so we would have to beat them twice to win, whereas we lose once and it's over. Great, then we can go. And man o man did they run that table, it was vicious. 6 balls, 1 minute. Chameleon lined up to drop that ten in and.... knocked the 8 in instead.
Racked again we began the final game, and Jarrod and I began to think "Hey, we might actually win." In fact Jarrod had hit his stride and put in two balls on his first up. I followed up and brought in two more. Of course Callum would have none of this and ran it, preping for a victory... and missed. I had my chance. I put in another, lined up for an easy cut... and missed. So Bill and Jarrod took their turns, neither doing anything, but Callum would have his day and sank that ball.
So I lost, and it was now 3:30 in the morning it was 30 minutes to home and I had to be up in 4 hours.

Moral of the story: I gotta buy a cue.

Begin Phase II

2005-06-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

I've met with Jack, who is head of wardrobe for Zumanity. It was an informal meeting, but Jack is of such a personality that it felt very formal. He spoke for quite a long time about me, the job, the future, etc. I feel confident that I was able to impress him. He's going to set up a second, formal, meeting in a couple of weeks.

Bittersweet week

2005-06-05T14:38:00.000-07:00

In what has been one of the most trying weeks I've had since becoming a Gatekeeper, A light has finally emerged at the end of the tunnel. On Tuesday we met with a union rep to go over benifits, pension, and why we should join. It turned into a referendum on every little problem anyone has had, being fueled by a lot of what I can only describe as lying. Since then tensions of been very high.
But it may not be my problem for much longer.
I've put in for a job over in the wardrobe dept. of Zumanity, which is the cirque show just across the street. I've spoken briefly with their head of wardrobe and have an interview set up for later on this week. I feel very optomistic about getting it. The pay is about the same as here, about half a dollar better, but it's in the company and might be the door I need to advance up the ladder. I'll post after the interview to tell you how it went.

Quest for the perfect Hot Dog

2005-05-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

On thursday night New York, New York held a Nathan's Hot Dog Eating contest. The contest was open to all MGM Mirage employees. The catch was it had to be a team of 5. Now I don't know if anyone reading this has ever enjoyed the delicious Nathan's hot dog, but if so you know what I'm talking about. So I was incredible excited to join the contest. Not to win, I just wanted free dogs. My friend Bill was with me when we found out about this, and being from New York, was even more excited than I was. Now at this point we hit a big, stupid wall. You would think that in 28 gatekeepers, finding three more would not be so difficult. But every excuse in the world to get out of eating free hot dogs spewed forth. It was a gyser of lunacy.
"I can't I have to go to Star Wars" (6 hours earlier)
"I'm sorry I don't think I can eat that much"
"But my favorite show is on that night"
"I'm a vegitarian"
Honestly, all I wanted were some freakin' free franks. So having been thawarted I went on a search to find a great place here in town. Most serve decent one, but I have yet to find a great one. I actually find myself missing the old Crazy Cone back in the Mucc. They had an awesome foot long dog with all kinds of stuff, plus the best fries ever. Well the search goes on.

Gotta blog something

2005-05-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

So I get an e-mail from my brother Billy asking why I've haven't updated in a while. It's a fair question. The truth is... just a little lazy. But we all knew that. I'm bummed out a bit now because I'm not going to be able to go up to Washington for my nephew and niece's graduation. Plane ticket's alone are over $500. Good grief!
Also the hunt to buy a home here is becoming somewhat discouraging. What Paige and I are approved for would get us a four bedroom two-story house with a couple acres of land in Winnemucca. Here it doesn't quite cover a two bedroom condo. Funny thing is in August, My credit rating will get a boost, giving us a better loan, but by then housing costs will have gone up. What really twaeks me is the knowledge that before long long this market is going to crash and burn. It's because all of these out of state investors are buying up property as fast as they can. They're not even renting it out, because they know if they can just sit on it, in a couple of years they might get a 200 or even 300% return. So there's a lot of unused housing, making them build more to meet the demand of those living here. At some point a few investors will start selling off everything, the prices will drop a little, everyone else will panic and try to dump their property while the prices are still highish, and the whole thing goes to hell. Not that I'm paranoid.

Longest week ever...

2005-04-04T14:03:00.000-07:00

Finally have time today to catch my breath and do a little computer time. I've been all over the place for the last ten days. My "vacation" began two wednesdays ago as KA has gone dark for a few weeks to do some upgrades on the staging. However I still went in that wednesday for a lovely class on CPR. I felt bad for the instructor sinse the gatekeepers were just as rowdy as ever, but at least there were only eight of us. Thursday it was of to Bakersfield to spend the weekend with Forrest and his son, Ethan. We hung around, played pool, and took a trip up to San Simeon to visit Hearst castle. Always fun. We decided to come back later to do Disneyland, so we could have his wife Teri come too. Then the real fun began.
I got home sunday night and went to bed early. I had to report to the set at 6:45am. That's right, Chad went to be in his first movie. Now don't get too excited, I went to do extra work on a new picture called "Lucky You." It's going to star Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall, and Eric Bana. And I got to do one background cross in Binion's Casino during a poker tournament. And I'll be lucky if it makes it to screen. But it was a neat experiance, and I got paid for a week (thought not very well). Oddly, I worked almost all day on monday and spent Tuesday through Thursday in a holding room. And we are takling 14-15 hour days. Waiting to go do something, ANYTHING.
By friday I was done. They wanted me for one more day, but I asked to be let go. I just wanted a full nights sleep. Not for me though. Friday afternoon we hauled to Bakersfield again. Got up around 6:30 and eventually headed for the happiest place on Earth. One twist, we had a toddler. That made for an interesting day, as we had to approach it very differently. First, we had to split up rides, so one couple was with the baby. No big deal untill we learned the fast passes were down. That killed us. Only a few big rides, but we got too explore a lot, plus we went to California Adventure for the first time. Kinda cool. Despite a very, very long day, Ethan was very good and it was fun watching him expierance the park for the first time. We stayed until midnight. Sunday we slept in and drove home that afternoon. And now having a couple of full nights in a row, I'm feeling much better.

Large and in charge.

2005-03-17T16:57:00.000-08:00

Whoa. I didn't realize it has been so long since my last post. Sorry folks. Quick update on what's up. The lead positions at work have finally been approved. The catch? Only two leads instead of four. So Raymond and I get the jobs, while Jen and Katie become oncall leads, meaning if one or both of us are away, they step in. And to add some cherries to that sundae, I was also presented with an MVP award by the managers. A very nice honor indeed.
Speaking of sundaes, they're off my diet now. My fellow gatekeeper Bill, who did a few years as a pro-wrestler on the east coast, is now starting to train again and offered to teach me some weight training stuff if I joined the gym with him and helped to keep him motivated. So now he and I go to the gym after work and do about an hour and a half of Cardio training with some weights. It's pretty cool. We even signed up Paige and she goes to do laps in the pool. Just to let you know, I'm not looking to become a wrestler, just to get in to better shape.
That's about it for now. There's more I want to blog about, but I'll do it in seperate posts, otherwise there's too much.

No Dice (or cards for that matter)

2005-02-26T02:26:00.000-08:00

Well no word on if Paige got the job. Desiree was going to call during the first show, but total bedlam ensued. Firstly, security decided to run a routine fire protocal check, but a wire got crossed somewhere and ended up bringing down these fire walls in the lobby. Fortunatly, everyone was in the show and couldn't see it, but the first show was spent dealing with that. Then there were some special arangements for some VIPs in the second, so by the time all of our brushfires were put out, it was near 11:30 and much to late to be calling.
Then I tried afterwards to get some info, but we ended up at Theatro and it was much too loud to get anything, so I settled for hanging out watching the dancers. Hopefully tommorow.

Oh, by the way, It turns out I was right about the RAM, or would have been normally, mine is just one of the five odd processers that doesn't follow the rules. Jerk.

Who's a nerd?

2005-02-24T12:46:00.000-08:00

So last night I decided it was time to upgrade the RAM on my computer. I've got too many programs running silently to leave it any more. I got my manual, checked and double checked which type of RAM my system uses, then headed to Best Buy. They had exactly what I was looking for. At home I popped my little card into the motherboard and fired it up. 1280MB of Ram, muahaha!!!

.........system failure.

"What!!!!"

.........not enough memory to run this progam........failed to read to drive.........critical failure in.......

There goes my complementary bow tie and pocket protector. Now I have to trudge back to the store with my manuel and the RAM card to see what I did wrong. ~whimper~

Rough week

2005-02-20T15:48:00.000-08:00

Good Lord!!! My feet have been killing me. Paige found this foot soaker for $15 so I'm hoping that helps, but man.... Otherwise it's been fairly quiet. Unless you're a KA castmember. Lots of 'em out with injuries right now. I really feel for them, it's a rough show and some people really don't give them the credit they deserve. We had a pair of drucken sots last week tell us we should be ashamed to be associated with this show and that Cirque had really gone down. Whatever!! Some people thought Picasso was a hack and that Shakespeare had no talent, too. On the upside, the vast majority walk out happy, even if they don't get it. And those that do are usually ecstatic.
Recap of last week, we must be hitting tourist season again, because it's sold out every night. We had Tom Cruise stop in, whom I found to be very friendly and down to earth. Also Kiss lead singer Paul Stanley, who went the extra mile to greet fans and take pictures. We were impressed with his easy going nature. I'd be glad to have both of these guys back.
No word yet on if Paige will be hired. She made it past the drug test faze and are waiting for the interview. Since she was home all week we got to spend a lot of time together. It rocked.

May I borrow that soapbox?

2005-02-07T01:47:00.000-08:00

I realize that UNR's theatre program may not be very prestigious. It's facilities were not the "top of the line" and they only had a pittence of classes on acting. Compared to Juliard or NYU, it's kind of a laughable degree. But UNR had one thing down very well, what I think may be the most important tools that could be passed on to a future generation of theatre folk... the art of the theatre.
By this I mean the understanding of what theatre is truely all about. It is about creating an experience for the audience that they will remember, in some way, for the rest of their lives.. With luck, that means an experience that gives them knowledge, or insight, or humor, or something.
The one thing I truly got from UNR was that, regardless of the level at which you were working, that must be the goal or else you just have a vanity troupe. And also, that goal must be universal for every member of that company, from the producers to the performers, back stage to front of house. Everyone must be on the same page and working toward the common, overall goal. Anyone just killing time is in fact killing the art.
Long story short, we must respect and support each other in theatre. We are a family. We live and die as a team. So imagine the biterness in me now as I write this, because you know I wouldn't mention it unless someone in my "family" betrayed me.
It was a little thing really. A bit of confusion about when we needed to meet in the lobby to perform our opening march. About half of us though that we we to delay it about ten minutes. We were wrong. Here's where the betrayal part comes in. Half of the crew was in place and as we all have radios, it would have been a simple matter to call the rest of us down. Instead a conscious decision was made to not do that, but instead to procede with only half of the gatekeepers and present a rather crappy, half-assed opening. The response when asked why we weren't called? "It's not MY responsibility."
Of course!!! How silly of me. It is certainly not OUR job to try and make the audience's expierence as nice as possible. Nor is it OUR job to try and look out for each other and help when given the chance. I suppose it is OUR job to take any opportunity to make ourselves look good at the expense of others.
The only good to report at the end of this is that the bosses look toward the true goal. They want what I want. What true theatre folk want. They recognize the deeper problem and work to eliminate it. It gives me hope.

Thanks Paige, here's your box back.

That party was off the hook!!!!!!!!!

2005-02-04T14:43:00.000-08:00

Ugh. I am finally awake now after last nights opening gala. I'll begin at the red carpet. Instead of the standard long run of carpet, like you see at Oscar night. It was more of a wall to wall style out in front of the lobby. They had a short catwalk with a vert attractive display behind it, with curtains and KA or MGM signs. We had pressed our uniforms and were waiting for the guests. When the time came, we did our march, opened the doors and....

Nothing.

We waited for twenty minutes for people to start rolling in. I guess everyone wanted to be fashionably late. So the crowd arrives about ten minutes before the show is supposed to start. And Chaos ensues... We get the whole crowd in at last twenty ninutes late, when the show begins. And guess what, we did it again the second time. Wheeee!

I was a little disappointed by the celeb turn-out. They had made it sound like a big hollywood gala. Still there were a few, and they were nice. Especially Robin Leech. He was all kinds of fun.

Afterwards I got all gussied up with a tuxedo I rented. I met Paige over at Diego, who was gorgeous looking in the new dress she bought. When we entered the party it was like falling down the rabbit hole. The center had a giant multi-level stage with Fire jugglers and dancers. One side had a huge stage where a live band was rocking out. The perimeter had bars and food stalls (Though most of the food was gone by that time) with seating above them. (We couldn't go up though because the fire marshall came in and put an end to it). I never sat once through the entire party. Above that there was a series of screens that circled the whole thing, giving it a very Europian Discotheque feel. It was loud and it was wild.

We had a pretty good time. We left around 4am and came home. Exhausted.

Nearly there

2005-02-03T01:46:00.000-08:00

Well, tommorow is the big day. Our gala opening.

We got a few words from Guy Carone, who is one of the big wigs of all Cirque. He was very supportive of everything we were doing, he just wanted to emphasize how important tommorow is and that we should "keep it cool." In other words, not to go over the top or do anything that might freak out the big bosses. Which is understandable as they have been working toward this for a long time and don't want any hitches.
On the bummer side, the news from the top says no cameras at the party. I'll just have to do my best to remember. I'll tell you all about it.

Positive reinforcements

2005-01-31T01:22:00.000-08:00

For two days in a row I have been lucky enough to hear some really nice things about my work from co-workers and managers. On Saturday, Kenny called me just to say thank you for the effort I was putting into making props and hats for people. It made me feel very good. Then on Sunday night, Karen pulled me into her office to ask me if I wouldn't mind changing from house left ramp to house right. She explained that all of the Cirque creative staff hang around house right and she wanted to put me there so they could see someone with real energy and presense in that position. She also hoped it would spur those around me to go a little farther with their chacter work. I'm fairly elated. My only bummer was that George had stayed up all night to finish some props and I felt like a slacker. But in my defense I was very sick. I almost didn't go, but I am sure glad I stuck it through.
In another bonus Yorg, who plays the evil counsilor and had over 30 years of acting and miming experience, has offered to work with us a bit tommorow. I'm very excited to do this.

Trying to keep alive

2005-01-30T02:16:00.000-08:00

Well I'm sitting here as sick as can be trying to think of somrthing interesting. I'm not ready for bed yet, since my medication isn't quite there and I don't want to wake up Paige with my sniffling.
I realize it's been awhile since I blogged, so I thought I would do a general update.
At KA, we have finally begun to do some real character work. The managers are allowing us to add small wardrobe pieces or props to help round out our characters. So far I've been asked to make two hats, a sash, a big timepiece, design make-up, and staffs, as well as lead improv games and warm-ups. Hope I'm not too busy!!! The gala opening is this Thursday night. It's supposed to be a media blitz, filled with celebrities and VIPs. Everything mentioned above has to be ready by then. Wheee!!
We got to meet the new production manager a little while ago. His name is Callum, I hope, and judging from his accent I'm guessing from Liverpool, England. He's a very nice guy and seems relly at ease. Most of the people I've talked to seem to have a lot of respect for him, maybe I'll get to chat with him more.
So on to more recent matters. Tonight was remarkably slow, due mostly to Cher having her show. Incedentally she came to ours last night. I only caught a quick glempse, but she looked very nice, allthough smaller than I had guessed.
Ray has developed a new opening sequence for us when we begin. If you haven't seen the show, before we open the lobby doors we do a small, choreographed sequence that can viewed through the glass wall by the guests waiting outside. It is supposed to set the mood by having a changing of the guard kind of feeling, but has never been to great. Now it's fairly elaborate, but I'm still not too sure if it's projecting the right kind of feeling. I guess we'll see.

Snow way!!!

2005-01-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Well, I'll be dipped. Snow in Las Vegas. There must be 600 accidents allready. I'm going to have to leave for work MUCH earlier than normal as there is no conceivable way this town is ready for snow.

Ringing in the new year with a pitchfork...

2005-01-03T13:09:00.000-08:00

Oh man am I beat. Having to work on the holidays sucks, as we all know, but having crap go down and then discussing it for two hours is not helping. Without getting to far into it, there was an incident with a guest and another Gatekeeper that was not all smiles and puppies. Mistakes were made and reperations given to the offended guests, but the drama refuses to die. So help me, if it's still going on tonight, I will mirthfully squirt tabasco sause into people's eyes. And to top it all off, I have to submit a bunch of stuff today regarding my character, as well as do some makeup. Guess I'd better get on it.

She's okay!

2004-12-28T13:13:00.000-08:00

We got good news last night, our coworker, Sherida, is going to be okay. She's home and resting, though they have her on some heavy painkiller. It was the only good news we had last night. Everything else kind of sucked. Since it's the holidays, people want to bring their kids to show, but it's a no children under 5 policy. Guess how well they take that.

No news yet...

2004-12-27T11:28:00.000-08:00

Last night one of my co-workers collapsed. She said her legs and arms had gone numb.
We called an ambulance. She stopped speaking. They whisked her out. We've heard nothing.

Venting time.

2004-12-21T13:02:00.000-08:00

I want to be clear that I really don't care about meeting celebrities. Sure it's kind of interesting to see them when they come through, but if I don't, it's no big deal. There are, however, a few exceptions to that rule. Last night was one. Brian May. I know most of you probably don't know who that is, so I will clarify, Brian May is the lead guitarist of my favorite band, Queen. He came to see the first show last night. Came right through the lobby like anyone else. Didn't even call ahead or demand VIP seats.
I didn't have the slightest clue he was there.
After he had left, Skip was sitting by me at our meal break and casually leaned forward saying "Did you know we did have a VIP tonight. He was in Queen. Ryan May or something like that."
I'm guess my reaction was not what he expected. I'm sure he had anticipated the normally calm and cool Chad to reply, "Really? That's very interesting. No, I did not see him."
Instead he got Maniac Chad
"What!?!?!? And you didn't call me?!?!?! You dirty son of a... I should rip your mustache off!!!! Damnit!!! Off all the no account rotten... penguin eating... if I had a tank I'd..."
Allright not that bad. But I was a little angry and disappointed. Not that I would have asked for an autograph or any obnoxious crap like that. I just would have liked to have said hello.

Shot down...

2004-12-15T13:03:00.000-08:00

Oh man did I have a rough night last night. We had gotten to work and preped evereything for the first show on what is my last night of the week. (The show is dark on Wed. and Thur.) Everything was going fine until about 15 minutes into the show. They had just finished the act and the last actress was off stage, but the musicians had begun looping and improvising. That continued while nothing else happened for a minute or so. Then the house lights came up.
"Ladies and gentlemen, due to an unexpecteted technical malfunction, we will be taking a short pause. Please remain in your seats. Thank you."
Hmmm. Not a good thing. I know from talking to the performers and technicians that Cirque plans into every show a number of contingincies for when things go wrong. But there's nothing they can do when the hydrolic system fails. So a few minutes later they announced a ten minute intermission. And after twenty minutes it was inevitable.
The show was canceled.
Now we all knew that cancelations are part of the game, especially in a production this technical, but since it was our first, we were in the position of having to put what before was just theoretical procedures into place. We told everyone to get a refund voucher in the lobby and they can either get a full refund or reschedule for another show. We wern't sure if the second show would happen, but we had our fingures crossed. Then we went out to the box office to help control the lines and give info to people. One lady almost bit my head off because I couldn't tell her if the next show was cancelled or not. Most people were very understanding though. It proved my faith in people's good nature.
Eventually everyone got settled and the second show went on without a hitch, save starting about ten minutes later than usual. But by the end of the night I was so mentally and physically exsausted, I wanted to just sleep in the theatre.

All in the family.

2004-12-06T11:27:00.000-08:00

I was thinking last night how this will be my first Christmas away from my brother Bill. At some point I've spent a Christmas without other members of my immeadiate family, Mom, Dad, Troy, my nephews and niece, but Bill and I have always managed to stay together, if only for an hour or two. Until now. It's actually a bit odd that we have done so well when you think about. Bill is ten years older than I am and for my of my life he and I have lived in different homes. We can sometimes go months without talking, but we always managed to arrange ourselves to be together at Christmas. It's going to be hard without him, but unfortunatly I'm in no position to go back to Winnemucca or Reno this year. Hopefully next year...

Miserable Sick..

2004-12-01T21:04:00.000-08:00

My first day off in over a week and I have a cold. Of course!! Paige has been sick for awhile now, so I suppose it was inevitable. But what's up?!? Fortunatly on Friday I will get to move back inside the theatre and, hopefully, interact with the patrons in a more theatrical way. So far I've been stuck on the exit door which limits me to "The restroom is right there." and "Please use this ticket to re-enter when you are ready." We've had a fair number of gripes regarding the fact that since we were hired as actors we should be doing some acting. I guess it got through though. My supervisor Desiree that we are still gearing towards a more entertainment and character driven position, but we have to start with the basics of customer service. It does make some sense.
I got to meet very briefly with Guy last night. He is the owner of Cirque and he expressed a very positive feeling towards what we are trying to do, so that was something.

Not too shabby.

2004-11-26T11:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I have completed my first Thanksgiving as a Married man, as well as my first away from the rest of my family. Paige and I had our own little dinner yesterday at 1pm, because I had to work last night. I made a turkey for the fist time as well. It actually turned out pretty well, just a little overdone. I really enjoy cooking. We also had some mashed potatos, gravy, and stuffing. I didn't want to overdo anything since it was just the two of us.
I am really enjoying domestic life. I mean I still have those aspirations for stardom, but there is a lot to be said for making a home and sharing it with that certain someone. I feel confident that I can do both, after all, I'm cocky.
In truth though, part of me worries about becoming to attached to things, like furniture or cars. I sometimes see a friend who has a great home, or a huge TV, and I get a bit jealous. I can't worry about things like that though, they are just... dressing for more important things.

I've seen the light, now shut it off!!

2004-11-24T11:47:00.000-08:00

I've had a hard time adjusting to this crazy work schedule. It has been days and nights with random days off and uncertain hours. A routine is expected to emerge, however, starting next week. But for now I am wicked tired. I find this job to be a bit perplexing. If I haven't metioned it, I am a Gatekeeper over at the MGM Grand. It is the marraige between an actor and an usher, but I think it's the usher who wears the pants. At first it seemed like a great chance to do some character work, but in the rush to do everything the acting is getting a bit marginalized. Still, it's more interesting than just being a regular old usher. But I admit I am a bit dissapointed. On the plus side there are some very coolpeople to meet. My fellow GK's are all quite friendly and personable. I am especially fond of Kenneth and Alex, two brothers who have this free and easygoing attitude that I can really relate. Also there's Bill, who's mischivous side is very endearing. I care very much for all of them, each for their own unique ways.
I also got to meet Bai Ge last night. He is a martial artist in the show, comeing from China. Bai was very friendly and extremely enthusiastic. In some ways he reminds me a lot of Koji. I hope to meet more of the cast soon. Alex was brave enough to just go and sit with them, perhaps I should to.

Return of the Gnik!!!

2004-10-30T10:29:00.000-07:00

Allright, I have computer with access again. Here the quick update on the last 6 weeks. Paige and I are now living in Las Vegas. After a few weeks of unemployement, I now have a job at MGM Grand, working as a gatekeeper for Cirque du Soleil's new show KA. Moneys a little tight right now, but we should be ok soon. I started yesterday, and I am really excited about this job. It's a strange cross between actor and usher, and I can't give you a better explination than that just yet. The others are a blast though. We met for the first time as a group yesterday, and a bigger bunch of yahoos you'll never meet. I think the director is a little nervous about us getting out of hand and stealing the show. We'll be good though, I hope.

The oncoming train...

2004-09-13T16:00:00.000-07:00

I realized something today that I think is very important: I don't know what I'm doing. Probably for the first time i'm looking into the future and I don't really have a major goal. I'm certain this must happen to us all from time to time, but as it's my first, I thought I should comment. What may seem curious is that I'm not really nervous or scared by that fact; mostly I'm just intrigued by the novelty of it. Forgive me if I sound cocky, it's really more... resignation to reality. Not much I can do, except to hide here and spend the rest of my days shuffling papers and taking calls. I don't think so. I have to go make things happen... so here I go. Wish me luck.

Ah!! 27 years of ..... Me!

2004-09-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

Today is my 27th birthday. For the first time in quite a long time, there will be no major celebration of the fact. And I think that's kinda cool. Ever since my first birthday (or my 0th for that matter!!) I've celebrated the 7th of September with a large number of family and friends. In recent years we had even named it, like some kind of festival; Chadfest!!! Those parties doubled as a chance to celebrate my birthday and as the first party of the new school year/ Theatre season for the theatre dept. I liked that, since I got got to be very important, but the whole thing wasn't actually focused on me. It was a great chance to meet the new kids who just joined, and after a short summer hiatus, to reconnect with my friends. But now I've graduated and moved on, so Chadfest is gone. (Theoretically, I mean I suppose they might still do it without me. Now that would be funny.) And I'm cool with that. I'm looking forward to a quiet evening alone with my wife. But one day... I think Chadfest will return.

Am I old yet?

2004-09-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

I'm amazed at my father's seemingly eternal youthfulness. He turned 61 on Sunday and still seems like he's in his 30's (except for the fact he goes to bed at 7:30). I hope I still look that good at 60. I judge alot by my grandparents, all of whom looked like death had warmed over by that age. Granted they had lived hard lives, and smoked like it was the key to heaven. But then so did my dad, and my mom to for that matter. She still has the look of a younger girl to her. Both have fortunatly quit the smoking and are trying to take better care of themselves. Still, I can't help but wonder what I will turn out like at that age. Bald to be sure, I only have a few good years left of hair, but hopefully still youthful. I should point out that I turn 27 in six days. In a lot of ways I feal kinda old allready. My knees creek, by back cracks, my eyesight is going downhill. But I still feel alot like I did when I was a kid. I still am amazed when I see something new and exciting. I still love puppies and sunny days at the park. And I still would rather watch cartoons than C.S.I. Maybe old age is just exagerated. As long as we still have something to look ahead to, how old can you be?

A new turn...

2004-08-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

There has been an interesting bump in the road to Las Vegas. I have been offered a short term position with the UNR Theatre dept. They wan't me to teach a make-up class and some costuming. I admit that I would like to that, but I don't think it's going to happen. Firstly, it would only be for the semester, and then, only the Make-up class would be all semester. There's someone else coming in a month that would take over the costuming. Plus I won't get to do any designing, which I really would want. He didn't mention any pay either, So it probably wouldn't cover my bills. I'm torn by my affection and loyalty to them, but I can't put my life on hold, even for a couple of months. Also, I doubt that I'd be very good as a make-up teacher. I only took one class myself, and that was taught by someone who wasn't all that qualified herself. If only they had given me more time.

Slow life.

2004-08-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

Nothing important is happening here. It has been quite laid back. Everyday life consists of getting up, going to work, coming home. I make dinner for us most nights. I know how to cook pretty well, but don't know many recipes. My new Mother-in-law and one of our friends have both given me cookbooks, full of new and interesting recipes. It's quite a bit of fun, actually. I am learning alot of recipes with rice and noodles. Rice rocks.
Were about six weeks from the move. I am a little nervous about going in cold. We need to start looking for an apartment soon. I'm just so unsure of whats happening.

Together at last!!

2004-07-28T10:27:00.000-07:00

Weddings are an exsasperating ordeal, filled with stress, and likely to send someone into a nervous breakdown. It was worth it. This morning I got up, readied myself to go to work, and before I left I tiptoed back into the bedroom to look at her. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Ever!! Just seeing her lying there, breathing softly, dreaming silently... I knew I would love her forever. People have been telling me for days that I'm a lucky man. They have no idea. I would have given a year of my life just to stay and hold her this morning. But alas, real life called. Real life is pissing me off.

It's incredibly hot out here today.

2004-07-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

Creeping closer and closer. My wedding is now just four days away, and the pressure is accelerating. I now have all the measurements for the party, save one, which should be here by morning. (If I didn't mention it I'm making everyone's clothes.) The weather has been pleasent, though very hot. It's forecast to be 99 degrees Farenheit on Sunday. But there's always some wind, and plenty of shade so all should be well. Today my coworkers threw a small party in honor of the upcomming event. It made me feel very loved. I work for a Hospice. If your not familiar with what that is, it's a medical team who focus on giving care to people in the final stages of a terminal illness. It's not for people looking for a cure, but for people who have accepted that nothing more can be done to cure them, and instead want to focus on having the best "quality of life" for their remaining days. It's a very wholistic approach, both scientific and spiritually, where we seek not just to ease their pain and symptoms, but to support their emotional and spiritual health as well. We also seek to give support to their loved ones. Ours is even more unique as it's owned by someone who trully cares for others, and sees our being with them not as a job, but a treasured gift from them to us. She's a remarkable woman, as is the whole crew. I've been very glad to know them all. I work as a receptionist and medical records keeper, as well as about thirty other jobs. In most places I might hardly be noticed by them, but not in this kind of enviroment. Truly if all the leaders of the Earth had the chance to see some of the love in this place... well.
I do tend to stick out here, however, being one of only three men in an office of 40+. Naturally the idea of a wedding has them all very excited. They went in together and got gifts and cards, and food for us. It sure made me smile. I will miss them very much after moving, but I will certainly keep in touch.

Welcome to the 21st!!!

2004-07-20T11:31:00.000-07:00

As you no doubt have noticed, I have added my voice to the untold millions "blogging" on the net. While I plan to use this primarily as a place to keep track of the things going on in personal life, I will try to add info regarding life in general here in Nevada.
The current event unfolding in my life now is a wedding! Yeah, because she really is my best friend I hope to build a life with. Boo, because weddings are a major pain in the... Now, as irony has, I have a good deal of experience in planning events like this. I studied theatre in college, and there I helped to bring around a number of productions as either a designer, Stage Manager, or an actor, and frequently a combination of those. The main difference is resources. In theatre we had a good sized budget and many, many people to help. Here it's me, her, and her Mom. With a few others who are each doing a specific thing, such as flowers, the cake, etc. Still I am amazed at the challenge that having a wedding presents. The one that's killing me is the difficulty to get an officiant. Nevada is, of course, well known for it's ease in allowing a couple to marry, but if you want to be the one to marry them, it's an incredibly involved process. You need to present papers proving that you're an ordained minister, plus letters of good standing, and fill out forms, then get a background check with fingerprints. It's crazy. I bring this up because a friend of our who we wanted to perform the ceremony, will not be able to now as we've only just learned this. Too late, of course.
Also to save money and for a personal touch, I opted to make the dress and the wedding parties tops. This would have been a better idea if I weren't such a procrastinator. Oh well, I'll finish, I'll just not sleep much. At least the dress is finished, at it looks beautiful. But I can't quite fathom why we, as a culture, put so much emphasis on the details of this ceremony. It's certainly an important day, and well worth celebrating. But I'm perplexed by the need to make it such a large production. It's one thing if you're a wealthy heiress and have nothing better to do for six months, but we bothe work, went to school, and don't have all that much money, yet we're trying to make it look like we are spending a fortune. And it's not just, it's me too. I feel obliged to make a grand show of the whole thing for the sake of our families. Especially those people we never see coming in from the other side of the country. I feel this odd presure to prove to them that I'm going to be a good husband for her. And I don't usually feel pressure to prove myself to anyone, much less a gaggle of east coasters I'll more than likly never see again.
Actually, that's not really true either. It's for her that I'm doing all this. Because it means something to her. I guess that's a fair reason. I just hope that if I ever have any daughters, I can help them to find beauty in simpleness.