| Recap of 2008 |
[Jan. 1st, 2009|11:32 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  content | ] |
Recap of 2008: I began my year fully intending to write a recap of 2007. Yeah well, that never happened, and it's probably the first of many things that never quite happened this year.
January ... was primarily spent on Midnight Insanity's 20th Birthday. There was video editing, audio editing, and some rehearsals to go to. The end result was a phenomenal evening with two sold-out back-to-back performances, and a really awesome 20th Birthday Special Performance.
February ... was consumed by the arduous task of moving Rocky Horror off the Queen Mary, and into the fantastic Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro. We love the new digs, but moving theaters always sucks. We must now spend time rebuilding our audience, and keeping our new venue happy.
March ... was probably more of the same. The Warner Grand is an actual theater, on a city street, and we miss the "line" of audience members like we used to have at the Art. This part of our show got lost during the Queen Mary run, so we are busy re-educating the masses. Work has started dragging me into a managerial position, however I'm also still a software developer. So now I have two main responsibilities, and some of it just isn't going well. I've decided to take more meaningful vacations.
April ... a bunch of us headed out to Las Vegas for a few days, and we had a really awesome time. I ended up overdoing it, and got really sick about halfway through. The cough / chest congestion would live with me for about two months before my doctor finally gave me an asthma inhaler to take care of the last bit of whatever this was. Unfortunately, being sick for so long put a lot of things on hold.
May ... visited the cast of "Wild and Untamed Things" for their 10th Birthday. I also made my annual trek to the Pin-a-Go-Go in Dixon, California. It was hot as all hell, but the relaxed atmosphere, not to mention the free home-brew beer, made for a really nice getaway weekend ... which I really needed.
June ... MI did a special fundraiser benefit for our original home, the Balboa Theater in Newport Beach, CA. We did a performance at the South Coast Village Regency Theater, where my mom actually came to see the show. The follow-up benefit was held at the Balboa Pavillion, and was one hell of a party. After all this, I made my monthly getaway to hang out with some pinball friends in Portland, Oregon.
July ... made my first visit to Anime Expo. I'm not really much into Anime, but MI had the weekend off, and I had a really good time seeing all the enthusiasm from the attendees. Later on, I headed to the San Diego Comic-Con with Danielle. We spent Thursday at Comic-Con, went to a couple of parties, and visited with Crazed Imaginations. Unfortunately, I crashed my car, and the Saturn had to be totalled. I'm driving the Explorer now as my primary vehicle. Luckily, my commute to work is only 3 miles.
August ... this months trip was out to San Jose for the 12th Annual California Extreme, classic arcade games show. Visited with lots of pinball friends, and got an unexpected endorsement for my Attack from Mars pinball mod from one of my favorite pinball designers, Steve Ritchie.
September ... shared a birthday party with my roommate and best friend, Katya Nadia Hubiak. This year was my 40th, and the ensuing Schoolgirl Lingerie Night was one of our best shows this year. I did end up missing out on the Atlantic City Rocky Horror Convention, but it was just too much logistically to try and re-arrange everything with friends and family. I hear it was a good con, though ... sorry I had to miss it.
October ... made another trip out to Northern California for a pinball show. This one was the Pacific Pinball Expo, and it is only their 2nd year. They feature the most pinball machines in one location, which I believe was over 400. The hall is lit with multiple strands of clear Christmas lights, thereby negating the glare that usually comes with flourescent fixtures. I met a bunch of nice people, and marvelled at all the neat gadgets and gizmos that were on display. MI / Rocky didn't have a show on Halloween, so I went to work at a friend's Haunted House, which was lots of fun.
November ... Bats Day got moved to November this year, and ironically this summer wasn't even all that hot. November weather was agreeable, but our crowd was smaller than last year. We still had a great time, and I placed 75th on Astro Blasters for the day ... which actually isn't even my personal best. Check out my MySpace for more Astro Blaster pics. The rest of my time was spent shipping lots of pinball kits, since I was holding off until I had enough parts in stock.
December ... decorated my house for the holidays, which as frustrating as it may be, continues to be a tradition. I hate to take them down in January, I like all the lights adding so much cheer to the night. Made a trip to Disneyland, took a big party out to WUMPSKATE, and an even bigger group to see Katya's band, Jail Weddings. Went to five different holiday parties, including my own, and not counting New Years. Even got a chance to visit Sins o' the Flesh at the Nuart. For the last two weeks of the year, I've been on vacation, so I've been visiting with friends, taking many naps, and uploading tons of pics on MySpace.
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So in summary, this year has been very busy, but it appears it's mostly been busy being social ... which isn't the worst thing in the world. How did I get so lazy? I blame Mother Nature. This summer, the weather has really been fantastic. True, we had weekend heat waves once or twice, but for the rest of the time it was just amazingly pleasant. So, I've spent my time going to movies, skating, picnics, bon-fires, parties and poker nights ... plus bigger events I mentioned like Anime Expo, and the San Diego Comic-Con. Several of my friends have Disneyland passes, so we've been making semi-regular trips. Katya's doing well with "Jail Weddings" ... and while I can't make it to all of their shows, I do what I can, and try to bring new faces when I go.
I've done more travelling and attended more events than I can ever remember doing. I've even managed to visit numerous Rocky Casts this year: Wild and Untamed Things, A Dark Refrain, Crazed Imaginations, Barely Legal and Sins o' the Flesh!! Didn't get to see the Bawdy Caste because they were dark when I was up in San Jose, but I did have dinner with Julie Barman. :-)
The pinball business continues to do well, but part of the plan was to shut things down for a few months and go invent something new. Being sick knocked the wind out of that idea, so all I was able to do was continue to run production on existing products. I hired two new people, and things are going well. Orders are still piling up, and the next shipment is in a week or so. I still want to implement some of the ideas that I have, and hope I have better luck with that in 2009.
As for the day job ... it has really been challenging this year. I've done managerial stuff before, and I know I can be an effective leader. It's mainly having to divide my attention between the technical stuff that I like, and the managerial stuff that I'm somewhat less fond of. That said, over the course of 2008, I've gotten to know my team better, and learned how to build a better working relationship with them. A lot of stuff is still a work-in-progress, but I hope things continue to mesh in 2009.
Bill |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 27th, 2008|04:49 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | rocky horror | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | cheerful | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Bangles - Return Post | ] |
It's about 5am on a Sunday morning, so I think it's time to blog. :-)
To quickly catch up: Life has been very busy, and somewhat difficult recently. I went to Vegas, and somehow managed to get sick for several weeks ... something that hasn't completely left my system. Work also continues to be far busier than I'd like to it be. :-(
On the other hand, this weekend has been a lot of fun. A bunch of MI folks went to go see "A Dark Refrain" perform Rocky Horror at the South Coast Village theater in Costa Mesa, on Friday night. I don't do Friday night Rocky that much these days, and it's always nice to see someone else's take on the same material.
Saturday Rocky was Lingerie Night, and I just had a really great time performing with Colleen as my Janet. Overall, it was one of my strongest shows in recent history ... and even after the show, I was tired physically, but not the least bit sleepy ... and still still kinda amped in general.
After several weeks of being sick, it was a really nice change. :-)
Anyway, that's all I had to say right now. I'll be off to bed soon enough... |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 6th, 2008|10:44 am] |
Part 2 of my weekend...
Sunday was spent driving out to Murrieta for the monthly Orange County Pinball meet ... nevermind that Murrieta (near Temecula) is quite far away from Orange County.
We went to Pay Choy's house, who used to live in Chicago (Pinball Capital of the World!), and therefore has a collection of slightly rarer items that you can only pick up when you have connections with pinball designers.
One of the more interesting ones is this "Elvira and the Party Monsters" whitewood:
Larger pics: Elvira Whitewood vs Elvira Production
A whitewood is a very early prototype, where they are basically laying out the shots. They want to know if each shot is in a proper position to be hit by the flippers, that the ball doesn't hang up anywhere, and that the overall "flow" is good.
They also need to make sure all the parts fit on the game, both above and below the playfield. Something that makes it this far usually plays very much like the production model ... minus the artwork.
( Lots more pinball stuff beneath the cut... ) |
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| (no subject) |
[Mar. 5th, 2008|12:45 pm] |
The past several weeks have been some trying times. Work continues to be very busy, and we're still hoping to be done with this project "anytime now". I'll be much happier when this ships...
On top of that, Rocky Horror / Midnight Insanity has been moving theaters, which is a tumultuous event no matter how you look at it. Doubly so when you're the cast webmaster ... and honestly, a lot of this just came at a bad time.
So, I reached a breaking point, quickly offloaded about half my MI duties, and then promptly got sick. I guess it was nature's way of telling me to just stop, for a while.
"Here you go, way too fast ... don't slow down you're gonna craaaaash"
I ended up calling in sick for about half of last week. The added rest helped a lot, but the damage was already done, and it'll likely take a while to properly recover. Also, stuff continued to pile up in my absence.
On Friday, I started to feel a little better ... so I went back to work, and later in the evening went to Kim's birthday party ... which had a moon bounce. :-)
I had no intention of staying all night, but I felt it would be nice to get out a bit, as seeing my friends is at least good for my mental health.
The moon bounce was a lot of fun, as was the indoor group playing piano and singing along to various showtunes. :-)
Suffice it to say, I ended up staying longer than I had anticipated, and even though I rested for all of Saturday, I still felt pretty drained when it was time for Rocky.
For a variety of reasons, I decided to push it and tried to do the show anyway...
I started the night out feeling tired, cold, weak and weary. :-(
At the end of the night, I somehow felt ... amped! :-)
How the hell did that happen?!
Cast had arrived early, to help clear some props out of the theater from the previous show. We waited patiently on the sidewalk by the coffee shop, and amused ourselves by randomly singing various songs (mostly Beatles tunes).
After about 30 minutes of waiting, I got cold and hid in the car ... not too long after, the manual labor started. Truthfully, I was in no state to help out, so I stayed in the car. While I waited, I saw the Rocky line starting to form...
It was a good night for the Rocky line (last week it rained!) Becky and Marty made their first appearance at the new theater, and it was really nice to see them. Also, Michael and Phillip made their second appearance. I think we're starting to see an increase with long-time regulars, too. It felt a lot more like the old days...
The performance went well ... it was Courtney's first Janet at the Warner Grand (and second overall), but I think things went smoothly enough. I can't pinpoint anything in particular that was extraordinary in nature.
This was our first show after our 3-week stay got extended to a 3-month stay, and you have to expect that'll brighten everyone's spirits...
Ultimately, it was a very good night, even if it didn't look like it from the outset. :-)
We still went to Shorehouse afterwards, but I didn't stay terribly long. I did need my rest, and I still had an OC Pinball event on Sunday.
More on that, soon... |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 13th, 2008|11:44 am] |
Fortune Cookie says:
I think someone's trying to tell me something. I sure could use a vacation...
Anyone know where might I find an area with desert sands, that also has some sort of vacation resort nearby? :-)
Note to MI folks: "There's only one thing left to do..."
This weekend was pretty busy. I spent Friday evening going to see Phil Shane, with Diego and Heather ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) rockyangel ... cool show, lots of fun, and good company.
I attended a memorial service on Saturday afternoon, followed by Midnight Insanity's Closing Night at the Royal Theater aboard the Queen Mary. The theater was packed wall-to-wall, and we did our best to accommodate everyone. The show itself, was just amazing. :-)
All of this was then subsequently followed by packing up the Royal Theater and moving a bunch of it out to our cars, literally in the middle of the night.
Sunday was then spent finishing up moving out all the props from the Royal Theater, then navigating detours as we trucked it over to the Warner Grand in San Pedro.
Here's a parting shot of us at the Queen Mary:
Tired, but still in good spirits. :-)
Note: That'd be Diego's lap I'm sitting on...
Moving was nearly an all-day event, and I didn't get home till probably 9 or 10pm. All in all, we had a great team, and things still moved smoothly, despite how many hours it ate up.
So far this week, my energy has been a little uneven. I think I'm just a little overwhelmed in general. Work seems to be moving along, and a slightly duller roar than before ... so that's something, at least.
Also, I did go and pick this up last night:
It's one of my long-time favorite shows, and although I have VHS copies, it finally came out on DVD this week.
Sweet... :-) |
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| (no subject) |
[Feb. 7th, 2008|05:21 pm] |
Happy Chinese New Year!!
I am ... at work. :-(
Things around here are still uber-busy. Work continues to be super-busy, only with less people around to help. I guess everyone else took the holiday off. With any luck, things really are starting to slow down, and this intensity won't last more than another week (crosses fingers!)
All in all, the rest of life also remains fairly busy. January seemed like it was gone in the blink of an eye, and here we are already a full week into February. Granted, birthday show was a large part of that, but I'm still wondering where the rest of the time went...
Last weekend I had the pleasure of performing with Courtney thequirkywoman for her first Janet performance. It was, in fact, a night of firsts for many cast members, and a farewell show for Crystal. Show pics are here.
Sunday was spent hosting the OC Pinball folks on Super Bowl Sunday. It was something like, "We'll need to be someplace that has a big screen ... hey, you have a big screen TV, right?" We had about 40 people show up, and most of them brought food so I was up to my eyeballs in miscellaneous snacks. Between all the people and all the food, I think it's the first time I ever wished my house had a bigger kitchen. :-)
On the pinball front, my roommate Katya joined us for a few of the tournament rounds. I'm told it was even her idea. :-) I don't know how well she did, but we are 50% competitive, and 50% social ... and she did get to meet several new people. As for me, out of the six games I played, I managed first place twice, and second place four times ... though with one of those being a 2-player game. I didn't manage high score of the night for any machine, but I got second-highest-score of the night for two of the games: Monster Bash, and Revenge from Mars. It was a very long night, but still a lot of fun...
This weekend is Midnight Insanity's final show aboard the Queen Mary, before we move to San Pedro. We'll have to do loading after the show, so that's going to be a long night. You know, I think I just found a use for all that leftover food. :-)
Monday, I actually took off from work. I'm going to go see Star Trek: The Tour, possibly followed by going up to WUMPSKATE ... assuming that's even happening (there's no new flyer yet). |
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| (no subject) |
[Jan. 24th, 2008|03:27 pm] |
Today is day 5 of my recovery...
This past weekend was Midnight Insanity's 20th Birthday, a monumentus event in its own right. Congrats to all MI cast members, past and present, for making it this far.
Saturday night, we held a double-feature with back-to-back shows ... one show at 9pm, and one show at Midnight. This was partly to accommodate all the people, and partly to give folks (now with kids, or other obligations) the option of going to Rocky without having to stay up to the wee hours of the morning.
Both shows sold out ... the 9pm was packed, but the Midnight one was unreal. Basically, standing room only. I don't know if we actually had to turn anyone away ... I certainly hope not.
The Birthday Special Performance was a retrospective on the past 20 years of Midnight Insanity, and was a collaborative effort from pretty much all of MI. I played myself, old and grey, telling the story of my "glory days" with Midnight Insanity.
This is me when stuffed animals AREN'T humping my leg! 
For more pics from the 9pm show, click here. Midnight show pics are coming soon...
The collection of skits were all very cute, and the performances went off without a hitch! The audience seemed to enjoy seeing the various events that brought us to where we are today. Mark captured the entire evening on his new HD camera, so hopefully there'll be YouTube versions available sometime soon.
The RHPS performances also seemed to go well. From my own perspective, I had more fun at the second performance, since I didn't have to worry so much about conserving energy, in order to make it through both shows.
We did see a fair number of MI Alumni, as well as some long-time regulars. Not quite as many as I would have liked ... but I did notice that we had alumni representatives from all 20 years of Midnight Insanity's existence. I think that alone was kinda neat.
The cast was on-board from about 7pm through nearly 4am ... at least, that's the time we got to Shorehouse afterwards. Talk about a long stretch!! At this point, the cast seemed completely exhausted, but extremely satisfied.
You may read that any way you like. :-)
Right at this moment, Sunday seems like a blur. Monday I returned to work, and am back to getting my ass beat from 9-5. I'm really hoping that the light at the end of the tunnel is actually getting closer.
Outside of that, I'm doing my best to stay low-key in the evenings. My health was running pretty iffy for most of last week. This week, I feel less sick, but still pretty drained. I wish I could take a day or two off from work, but that just doesn't seem possible right now.
Back to it... |
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| TGIF ... WTF?! |
[Jan. 11th, 2008|12:24 pm] |
I came here to say that the workday sucks, and is unlikely to get better anytime soon. Seriously, if I don't survive the day ... avenge my death.
In the meantime (I'm waiting for a download), I'll post some details about this past weekend...
Last Sunday was the monthly Orange County Pinball meeting. We play six games against random opponents. Of the six games, I ranked first place on three, and second place on the other three. This coincidentally is the exact same distribution I scored last month. This month, for the three games that I ranked first, I also ranked top score of the evening ... a good month, indeed!!
Spiderman "Black" Limited Edition
(Not mine, but a sweet game!!)
Now, all that said, I am still ranked at 7th overall in the league. After playing the games we tallied up our scores and I found that I have now been moved up to ... 6th overall in the league ... and this was because the guy at #5 was out sick. I did miss a meeting last year for an MI event, so that knocked me down some, too.
Still, the guy who was in the #6 position moves to #5 because despite the night I had, he apparently had a better one and still managed to outscore me. Man, it's a tough climb at the upper end of things...
Overall, it was still a lot of fun, and I can't really be unhappy with my scores. We still have two months left in this "year", so we'll see if I manage to squeeze into the Top 5. :-)
Anyway, I hope your day is going better than mine ... and yes, someday I plan to do a 2007 retrospective ... just not today. |
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| Hawaii pics and more!! |
[Dec. 11th, 2007|10:37 am] |
Okay, apparently I haven't posted anything here since my birthday, some 10 weeks ago. This was never my plan, but sometimes things don't go to plan. Here's a general update...
The first Saturday in October was spent at Disneyland. We actually went on a Saturday because Midnight Insanity didn't have a show that night. This was my first trip to Disneyland on a Saturday ... in longer than I can remember. Damn, what a busy park! We had to wait in long lines for everything, even food. It was still a lot of fun, but I think I'll stick to Sundays (like Bats Day) in the future.
The rest of October was pretty much the usual. The Queen Mary folks moved us up to the Britannia Room again, so doing Rocky in October had an added layer of complexity. We had some bitchin' crowds, so I suppose it was worthwhile. Despite having had to do three shows in eight days (10/27, 10/31, 11/03), I was still having a good time, and was actually looking forward to all of the performances. October usually comes with some level of burnout, but that didn't seem to happen this time. :-)
The rain on my parade has been ... work. You know, the day job? Yeah, things have been getting more and more intense as we wind down on the current project. At the moment, it looks like it's going to run pretty hot and heavy (and I don't mean that in a good way), right up until the end of December...
Then in the midst of it all, I went on vacation. :-)
According to corporate policy, any vacation earned this year, has to be used this year ... so it wasn't exactly my fault. With time running out, I had to do something ... so in early November, I "did my duty" and took off to spent eight days in Hawaii.
( Click here for Hawaii pictures... )
Hawaii, of course, was wonderful. We returned to "the mainland" just before Thanksgiving, so I took those days off as well. Had a nice two weeks away from the daily grind.
As of the end of November, I'm back at work. Things are going okay ... but there's still a lot that needs to get done. I'm kinda stuck with having an 8am meeting every day, which does NOT mesh with my schedule (!!) ... but we're down to what should be the last ~2 weeks of that.
Rocky Horror continues to do quite well. The shows are running smoothly, and the cast is having a lot of fun performing together. We're even seeing an increase in outside-the-show social activity ... which is always nice. :-)
I did get my holiday lights up, but have not even started on doing Christmas cards. Apparently it's only two weeks till Christmas, and I'm not at all sure if/when I'll get to those. So if you don't get one, now you know why ... sorry.
So that's my update. I'll do my best to post a little more frequently. I dislike having to summarize so much stuff in a single update anyway ... we'll see how successfull I'll be, though.
Wish me luck... :-) |
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| Birthday... |
[Sep. 30th, 2007|10:12 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | birthday | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | amused | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Ramones - Sheena is a Punk Rocker | ] |
Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes!! Last night was Schoolgirl Lingerie Night, which is always a packed house, lots of old friends (and some new ones too!), and was also a very fun show!! Pics will hopefully be posted later in the week...
And now, a word from the folks at Bloom County...
Not my personal sentiment, but I always liked this one. :-) |
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| Farktography Chess Match |
[Sep. 27th, 2007|02:00 pm] |
So there's such a thing as Farktography. Every Wednesday on Fark, there is a themed photography contest. This week's theme was "Everything's a Dollar/Pound/Euro". Basically, go buy something from the dollar store and use it as the centerpiece for your own composition.
I bought a magnetic chess set ... I wish they'd had a more 3D version, but it was all I could find. I then grabbed my Chess Champions: Opus and Yoda, and went out to "Rockystock park" to take the photo. I hadn't expected it to be quite so late in the day, but I think it made for a nice touch.
(Click for bigger)
Currently, I'm in the top 5 in the contest results. It seems to fluctuate between 4 and 5, even though I'm only a couple votes away from the top. That's where you all come in. :-)
Click here to vote for me and/or see the voting results. You'll need a Fark login to vote, though.
Even if you don't (or can't) vote, I hope you enjoy the pic. It was kinda fun to put together.
Next week's theme is "Tourist in Your Own Town". I may actually have to get on my bike and go wandering around for something fitting... |
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| (no subject) |
[Sep. 6th, 2007|04:02 pm] |
Okay, so I survived the 3-day weekend. The intense heat basically kept me from doing much of anything, providing me with some well needed rest.
Mostly, anyway...
On the Saturday of a 3-day weekend, I somehow had both a new bed, and a new laptop, delivered. Go figure. The new bed is bigger than my last one, so I had to go get new sheets. The laptop came with Windows Vista, so I reformatted it for Windows 2000. Yeah, I'm "old school". :-)
I love the new bed. The old one was very old, so it was definitely time to upgrade.
Likewise, my old laptop was bought before Frankie Goes to Hollywood ... so it was pretty much time to upgrade as well.
Monday was meant to be a family BBQ to celebrate my sister's 40th birthday (Julia, not Diana). The BBQ got nixed due to the heat, and we just went out for a nice dinner instead.
After that, I randomly picked up Travis, and then we made an impromptu road-trip up to Silverlake to pick up Katya. Katya had just returned from a 10 (?) day tour with her band, Jail Weddings, and needed to come home for some serious downtime.
This week has been pretty busy already. Long, early-morning work meetings ... and at least one evening spent shipping more pinball orders. I'd have done more, but I'm currently waiting for parts to arrive. I did have a nice dinner with Katya at Phuket Thai.
I've spent the rest of my free time setting up the new laptop, and not very much time *running* things on it. One thing I did find out yesterday ... the Wi-Fi setup in my house sucked horribly on my old laptop, where the new one runs like a champ! Sadly, I've wasted numerous hours trying to make the transmitter stronger, when all this time it was a shitty receiver. Oh well ... on the plus side, I guess I won't have to worry about that anymore. :-)
And on that nerdy note, it's time to post my Weird Al Yankovic pics, taken at the OC Fair more than two months ago...
( Weird Al Yankovic at the OC Fair ) |
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| SNAFU |
[Aug. 30th, 2007|01:52 pm] |
So, life has been an absolute nightmare as of late. Things have been going at a hectic pace since before convention, and I've been hitting a significant level of burnout these past 7-10 days. Stressed, sick and exhausted ... have pretty much been the norm. I'm not exactly a happy camper.
That said ... with any luck, I'm staring at the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, it's not so terribly far away. I figure I still have 6+ hours of pinball (business) stuff to do before the end of next week, though. I'll try and spread it out as best I can ... though I hope to spend at least part of the 3-day weekend doing ... well, 3-day weekend type stuff. :-)
For now, here are my pics from Bats Day...
( Bats Day Pics, etc. ) |
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| California Extreme / Rocky Horror |
[Aug. 14th, 2007|06:03 pm] |
I have actually been meaning to make an entry (or several), but things have been busier than I think I can actually explain. Despite the fact that the PirateCon is over, I'm still booked for every single weekend in August ... and seem to be equally busy during the week. Go figure...
Anyway, the short version of what's been happening is:
I went to see Weird Al
I helped throw a Pirate Convention
I climbed up a tree
I rode some paddle boats
I went to see Cry Baby
I played in the OC Pinball league
I went to California Extreme (pinball show)
I visited friends at the Rocky Horror Show
I went to Chinatown
I went to WUMPSKATE
I'm busy trying to fill orders for UFOPinball
Weird Al pics will be posted later this week...
Likewise, the Pirate Convention pics will also be posted very soon. That's pretty much my task for this evening. These pics include tree climbing, paddle boats, and the subsequent water fight.
I thoroughly enjoyed Cry Baby, but I did not take all that many pics. What I have I will submit to Sins o' the Flesh, to add to their collection.
OC Pinball League was fun (as always) ... I got best score of the night on Tommy. :-)
California Extreme and the Rocky Horror Show (the play) were both this past weekend. It was nice to have a weekend off, and it would have been even nicer if I hadn't gotten the room next to the noisy ice machine rooftop air conditioner unit ... I had to move rooms the next night, but it still upset my overall sleeping schedule.
( More, after the cut... ) |
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| Vegas, Baby!! |
[Jun. 24th, 2007|04:29 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | vegas pinball neon | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | accomplished | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Genesis - In the Glow of the Night | ] |
You know, these things always come out a week late ... but at least I'm posting. :-)
Note: This is a long one, you've been warned...
Last weekend, Colleen, Danielle (pirate_dolly) and I made a fairly impromptu trip out to Vegas. It was a truly awesome weekend, and one of the best times I've had in Vegas. Somewhat ironically, this trip included no booze, no buffets, no gambling (well I lost a quarter, but it wasn't even mine), and no tittie bars. Is there anything else Vegas is known for??
Actually, there is...
This was somewhat intended as a quick getaway to help relieve PirateCon stress ... but we also had a very specific reason for being out there.
A couple of years ago, MI folks were out in Vegas, scouting the area for our then upcoming convention, Cirque Du Rockeil. I recall the day we were out looking at the Cashman Theater, and as we were leaving the lot, I spied a bunch of stuff just over the wall. We drove over for a closer look and what we saw took my breath away.
The Neon Graveyard!!!
Photo courtesy of Wikipedia
The Neon Graveyard was popularized in a few scenes out of Tim Burton's movie, Mars Attacks! I didn't even know about its existence up until then, and here it was laying before me!!
We had originally planned to include tours as part of the CDR convention package, but weren't able to figure out the details with the folks in charge. Even if we had worked something out, chances are I wouldn't have been able to spare the time during con to take a proper tour.
So, I always did want to go back and see it, and Colleen told me she was very interested in going. Danielle was, too. I consider this to be a fairly unusual thing to want to do in Vegas, so I was glad to have companions who were equally fascinated by the idea.
( More after the cut... ) |
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| New Pinball Machine!! |
[Jun. 11th, 2007|12:28 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | pinball | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | excited | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Tom Jones - I'm Coming Home | ] |
Sorry, I am terribly backed up on things. PirateCon stuff is growing in intensity, but things are starting to shape up nicely. :-)
That aside ... last Friday, I picked up a BRAND NEW pinball machine. I have never owned a brand new game before ... I even got to unbox this one.
(Click to enlarge)
The story behind the game's theme is as follows:
"On the night of July 2nd, 1947 a loud crash was heard near Roswell, New Mexico. Remains of an alien spacecraft were recovered, although this was officially denied by the United States Government. Was this craft the advance scout of an impending alien invasion of the Earth? Or was it simply an accident by a group of joyriders after having one too many at the... BIG BANG BAR ?"
The story behind the game itself is a little weirder. Basically, this pinball machine was created by Capcom back in 1996. A few units were built for test, and some of these were brought to various pinball shows. The game was a quick hit in the pinball community, and we eagerly awaited its release.
Shortly thereafter, Capcom closed its doors. Big Bang Bar was never put into production, and only about 12 games were ever assembled ... the last few being cobbled together based on parts they found laying around at the factory.
The rights to Capcom's pinball division were purchased by Williams/Bally ... who unfortunately also closed their doors in late 1999. The Capcom rights were later sold to a man named Gene Cunnigham.
Gene came up with the idea of re-running Big Bang Bar. He had some of the parts, and presumably most of the plans. This was an unprecedented project, with an awful lot of naysayers going on and on about how it would never get done, and we'd lose all our money with nothing to show for it. I still loved "Big Bang Bar", and the idea that I might actually get to own one was a gamble I was willing to take.
Well, it's just over two years later, and Gene came through. I don't remember what the actual target timeframe was, but it seems two years isn't all that out of the ordinary. All in all, Gene produced 183 new units, limited by the amount of original CPU boards he had available. Pretty much everything else was re-run (playfields, cabinets, plastics, ramps, aliens, etc.)
My game arrived on Friday, and I brought it home with Travis' help. The game is simply gorgeous!! Gene and company did an awesome job putting this together!! I did have to tweak a few items to get it to play properly, but I imagine that's to be expected with a project of this nature. The games (as I understand it) were assembled by pinball hobbyists, not full time pinball factory career workers.
Here are some more pics (click to enlarge):
New Game!
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Backbox
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Upper Playfield
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Middle Playfield
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Lower Playfield
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Entire Playfield
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Darkened Playfield
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Now all I have to do is set a decent high score. Thus far, I've only managed to get up to spot #4. |
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| (no subject) |
[Apr. 23rd, 2007|10:11 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Supertramp - It's Raining Again | ] |
Soooo ... last week sucked, for so many reasons. True, there were bright spots, but on the whole, it was one of the worst weeks of the year.
Let's start with ... my Mother has recently been re-diagnosed with cancer, specifically she has Follicular Lymphoma, Grade 1 ... this is unrelated to her previous cancer, which is apparently a good sign. We're guessing the lymphoma is in either Stage 3 or Stage 4, which probably sounds worse than it is. She'll be starting the necessary therapy sometime soon, and it will last about six months. I'm hoping for the least amount of discomfort, as I know that stuff can be pretty nasty.
Right now, I'm doing my best to stay positive. The prognosis could certainly be a lot worse, and at least the problem can be treated. That said, there is almost always a recurrence, so we're basically guaranteed to have to go through this a number of times. Hopefully it will be enough to keep the lymphoma in check, while still allowing her to live a normal life...
In other news, last week was just ... busy. Early morning meetings, perpetually busy evenings ... sleeping when I can, but mostly just not feeling like it was enough.
On the subject of bright spots, we have some new cast members auditioning and they're showing immense promise. I love seeing new talent, and watching the excitement in their eyes ... can't wait to see them on stage. One of them (Eddie) starts as a new Rocky on Saturday. :-)
The weekend was still busy, but in a good way. Had a good show, helped Poncho move, and then spent Sunday evening watching Frankenstein (the 1931 version) with a group of Rocky folks.
This week should hopefully be a little lighter. There's still some early morning meetings to deal with, but at least they're not all-day meetings.
I'm also looking forward to returning to the Fox Theater in Fullerton, this Friday. Last year's visit is mentioned here. If you'd like to go, this year's details are posted here. |
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| Stardust Memories |
[Mar. 13th, 2007|04:29 pm] |
I had a strange desire to re-watch Casino [1] over the weekend.
I found out today that the Stardust Casino (which closed on November 1, 2006), had been demolished at ~2am this morning.
[1] If you haven't seen the movie, it's the story of when the mob ruled Las Vegas, and specifically ran the Stardust Casino (called the "Tangiers" in the movie).
Here are some pics from the 'net...
Farewell sign...
( More pics ) |
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| Virtual Monday |
[Mar. 6th, 2007|02:04 pm] |
After a VERY busy weekend, I woke up Monday morning at 8:30am. I thought about it, then called into work requesting a vacation day. Then I went back to sleep and woke up again around 2pm. :-)
I spent the majority of the afternoon on the couch, then started surveying pinball repairs. Most of the machines held up well over the course of the pinball party ... but at least one pop bumper (coil) melted and will need to be replaced. I also spent some time on the phone with Katya, then a couple hours talking to my sister, Diana.
In other words, I had one of the nicest Mondays in a long time. :-)
Today, I am back at work, and there's a ton of stuff piled up. In the meantime, there's also some pressing UFO Pinball business matters, and this evening there are some Midnight Insanity website updates that need to happen.
Anyway, before I get back to work, I figured I'd look forward to NEXT Monday, which will be the next WUMPSKATE (March 12th). At the time of this writing, the WUMPSKATE website has not been updated, so I don't know what theme it will be. I did hear a rumor that there wouldn't be any more themes ... though that feels like a mistake. At any rate, I have not seen an official announcement.
I did have a lot of fun at the last WUMPSKATE, even though everyone who was originally going to go with me ultimately had to cancel (mostly due to illness and injury). I even sent a note to the Rocket Scientist (to be) down in San Diego, but I guess it was too far a drive. Instead, I got a note from the Carny (yes, she works a booth in the Travelling Fair ... and yes, this really amuses me) who happened to be home that weekend, so I took her along instead.
Me and Trisha (the Carny girl)
Greg (former MI security) and Rosetta
Yes, even Jesus joined us!!
The remaining pics from the night are posted here.
Anyway, like I said, the next WUMPSKATE is on Monday, March 12th. Several people are already clamoring to go, so we should have a pretty big group this time around. Wanna join us? Let me know... |
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| March Pinball League Night |
[Mar. 5th, 2007|12:03 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | pinball | ] |
| [ | mood |
| | satisfied | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Pinball Theme Music | ] |
I'm beat. I just spent the past several hours ... playing pinball. OC Pinball League Night was at my house this month, and it was just a very long day of fun. Great people, lots of food, and a few games here or there.
How did I do? Better than average, I think. We played six games.
I took second place on Buccaneer (older Pirate themed pin) ... then I took first place on Party Zone.
Next, I had the most awesome game on Revenge from Mars (new fangled game with a video monitor) and took first place in my group, and had the top score of the night. I ended with about 512M. The nearest score to me for the evening was just below 200M. :-)
Unfortunately, that sapped a lot of energy from the rest of the night. I came in dead last on the next game, Attack from Mars. Game #4 is always "in order", so being fourth in the league meant I had to face #3, #2 and #1. My final score was a paltry ~750M. I'd like to not feel so bad as the next guy higher was only 1.2B or so ... but the guy who won came in at 14B+! It *was* the best score of the evening for that game, though ... and great fun watching him do it.
The last two games were High Speed and Elvira and the Party Monsters. I took second (of three players) on High Speed, but came in last (of three players) on Elvira. Just couldn't charm the lady today... :-(
So I've been on my feet and playing host for most of the day ... but it was totally worth it, and feels like a good kind of tired. The kitchen has been cleaned and there's a ton of extra food in the fridge. There's also some pie in there. Mmmmmm, pie. :-)
PS: Here's a pic of me from a last month's league night.
It's also my latest MySpace pic, which needs some comments (hint, hint). |
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