Crankiness and Coming Attractions (Updated!)

` As if I wasn't cranky enough, Vada just turned off my Uninterrupted Power Supply, and somehow Blogger hadn't been auto-saving every three minutes, so when my computer went off, my nearly-finished post went bye-byes, too!
` In all, this post took over six hours to complete, but there's a really crazy story in here, so don't blink:

` I'm in the middle of my yearly flu right now, and understandably I'm cranky and need lots of rest. But I haven't been getting enough. Sure, on Thursday, I slept fifteen hours off and on all night, but on Friday, things were different. Indeed, Lou Ryan, Nate (Oxigen Films) and crew got together to meet with some rappers about a music video.
` Behold the professional-looking banner and the professional-looking Nate!

theindustryishere He is punk no more - now that he looks like a goon. He brought some crew - that's Jeremy being a jacket blob - and a cool actor - Keshia.

threeonthecouch Also, another crew member, Clueless Joey, who never really seemed to know what was going on.

cluelessjoey You'd never know from this blurry photo, but he's the star of The Ripple Effect - here's the current trailer, the one with the mysteriously Celtic music.


` Captivating, I know! Anyway, we were all hanging around, waiting for the rappers to show up. And waiting. And getting wasted because we're waiting so damn long. It turns out they were surprisingly early this time - only three or so hours late! As I'd already done my part - the storyboards - I just said "Hi" and then crawled into bed.
` ...Fervently wishing that I had a door and maybe a little soundproofing against their deafening rap music.
` I was so frickin' tired. Finally, I slept several hours, and the next thing I wanted to do was finish my art project - that thing on the easel by Joey - but I didn't know where my scissors were.
` So, I did some other things and went to the gym, discovered that my shoes were about to fall apart, then went to the store and bought some new shoes. Unfortunately, they don't fit, one of them won't tie up straight, and I can't walk in them at all!
` But, I don't feel too stupid: B-Dizzle recently got a pay-as-you-go cell phone and a $50 phone card, and I, not even knowing what I was doing, set it up using the number on the phone card. Somehow, though, I managed to not put the phone card into his account.
` The next day, he wondered why he was out of minutes, so he called the place up and found out that the phone card hadn't even been entered. Well, despite the fact that I told him to hang onto the card, he'd thrown it away already.
` Yes, he threw away a fifty-dollar phone card without using it! Then, just the other day his phone went missing, but then his neighbor came to the door with this message: "Hey, I ran over your cell phone in the driveway!"
` So now he has no cell phone anyway!
` Anyway, after I got home from buying my ill-fitting shoes, B-Dizzle came home from work only to find that Lou Ryan had his door key for some reason, and he had to kick in his door so he could let his poor dog out to pee!
` Lou also had my scissors, so I was all worked up about not having scissors and I hadn't even lost them like the bonehead I am!

` At about seven, Lou Ryan and the crew came back from shooting the rap video. Apparently, the rappers were three hours late once again - which was just too bad because that was their entire three hour window for shooting at the first location. (Luckily, B-Dizzle was in that scene too, so they at least gleaned a solo appearance.)
` When they finally did show up, they saw what was going on and realized; "Hey! This isn't some dude with a HandyCam, this is a professional job! Maybe there is a reason we're shelling out all this money!"
` I don't think they'll be late again.
` After about thirteen hours of shooting, Lou and the crew came back. They were very tired. So was I. Hungry, too. About an hour or so later, just when I was losing it and just going to eat whatever we had here, we finally drove to The Olive Garden to have some food. Hallelujah!
` After waiting about an hour to be seated - during which I called people on my cell phone - and finally got some breadsticks and salad, I finally was able to stop being crabby.
` I then went on to eat some crustaceans.
` Also, Clueless Joey was being extra clueless and I said to him, "See, you miss jokes when you're busy being spaced out." He didn't hear me at all and said, "What?"
` Aaaa haaaa haaa haaaaa!
` Damn, I'm tired still. I think it's been all the adult activities I've been cruelly forced to endure lately. Like staying up late doing taxes.

` Here's some photos I took this morning - and have had to upload more than twice! This is Keshia, who found me the first photo upload site! And look, she even has magical color-changing eyes!

bluesparklieskeshia Well, if Keshia got to show off her now-blue eyes, then Clueless Joey had to show something else off....

cluelesstongue His... er... extra-white tongue! Meanwhile, in the other room, Nate and Jeremy were Jammin'.

nateandjeremyjammin Violet likes jammin' too!

nateontheguitar Not very goon-like today, is he? They all took off about three hours ago, right when I was almost done with this post... and that was when Vada turned my computer off!
` Yes, it's taken from nine thirty in the morning until three thirty in the afternoon to do this thing twice! Belatedly I realized it was too late for me to go to the gym!
` Vada was accordingly punished.

` Update: THE DAY GOES ON!

` Look into the shoes....

closerintomyshoes Get a really good look...

look closer ...Because I sure as hell couldn't walk around in 'em! I had to take them back to the store, then I got a new pair of shoes! And shiny ones, too!

vadaandshoes What do you think, Vada?

yesilikethemtoo Yay! Seal of approval! Well, I took a walk in them, found and chatted with a person I knew from college, but after that by then it was dark and rainy and I needed a bathroom!

` I was feeling lonely so I called Lou Ryan. He told me that they were all being processed by the police because someone over in the park (where they were at the time) had eaten some lead!
` WTF?!?!
` Not terribly long after I'd returned home, more people exploded into the apartment than had left, bearing much tension. I say 'tension' because, well, everyone was nervous. Nate was so freaked out he started vomiting, while Jeremy's lips were just grafted to a cigarette.
` Apparently, while they were shooting film, someone else was shooting bullets, and soon the cops showed up! Then, as the crew was carrying their equipment away, the SWAT team had them surrounded with assault rifles pointed their way! There was a lot of "Put your hands up!" and "Put it down!" and shouting back and forth between them.
` The rapper actually started to talk back to the cops, saying, "I know my rights," and the cop said, "Would you like me to tell you your rights while you're in handcuffs?" He almost even ran away, which would have gotten him gunned down.
` Meanwhile, Lou had to put down his flashlight and call Nate with one hand, to tell him that the cops were there and he was blinding them with his headlights.
` The police finally searched everyone and their vehicles, "just for weapons". That explains why they returned a certain plastic bag to one person's pocket! (Oh my God, no, there's weed involved? Gee, do ya think maybe we're dealing with people in the entertainment industry, here?)
` One of the rappers, Dollar, was asleep in his car at the time. Suddenly, he heard, "Get out of the car!" while all kinds of guns were pointed at him!
` Finally, much to everyone's relief, they finally got to leave without a hitch. After they cooled down at my apartment, everyone else left to go shoot some more footage downstairs in B-Dizzle's aparmtnet. Meanwhile....

eatingyuckysaladalone Ohhh, I'm soooo pathetic with my little icky leftover iceberg lettuce salad from The Olive Garden!
` So, I went downstairs and took photos of B-Dizzle's now-together apartment, filled with people, exotic fish, and bling. Here is his latest fish, in the newly-opened Tank #3! (He wasn't so sure about all the activity going on on his doorstep, so to speak.)
rapshoot06 That's the only photo from that I can show you, unfortunately! And now, sadly, everyone has left, and I'm all alone... with the cat... in front of my computer... and the Lou Ryan snoring safely behind me, not in any parks where there's people being shot.
` So happy!
` Actually, something really funny happened just a little while ago: Lou got a text message that said, "I love you!" or some abbreviated variant. So, Lou called the number and got a guy named Sean or something, and asked, "Did you just text me to tell me that you love me?" And the guy immediately hung up, or else spasmed and accidentally hung up.
` I would pay five bucks to see a photo of Sean at that moment, but hey, I have other photos! See, I'm planning to put up another section on my website called 'The Strangeness of Seattle', and my most recent adventure is going to be part of it. As I mentioned in my post before the last one, it involves cold-blooded mammals....

nakedmolerat ...Lou and me being assaulted by a giant praying mantis (no exaggeration, right?)....

killermantis ...surrounded by toxic insects...

monarchbutterfly ...And then later taking the cats to the park! The same park that whoever that was had gotten shot up in this evening!! Coincidence? Conspiracy? You be the judge!!!
` Though it was cold and cloudy, they got to see the river. And were not impressed.

vadafleesfromwater Violet also got to do battle with a tiny little ferocious Scottie Dog that likes to kiss cats!

puppyjustwantsakiss Also, for some time, I've been meaning to tell a little story about parking passes and why not to buy them. Since I need to shed the rest of my crankiness before bed, I thought this would be the perfect time.

` I call this The Ultimate Monumentally Stupid Purchase of the Quarter!

` I didn't know this before, but a parking pass is a little plastic tag that allows you to be half an hour late for class because you drove into the parking lot, thinking there might be an open spot, then you get stuck there because everyone else in there just stops, waiting for someone to come out to their car and open up a new space.
` But I got one anyway. Why, pray tell, would I be so stupid? Well, I walked through the administration building on the first day of school because I was cold and wanted to take shelter on my way to another building.
` Somehow, I got myself ensnared in a conversation with this guy, who was in line to get a parking pass. He chided me for not getting one myself, because how could I live with myself every day, parking my car and walking four blocks to class? If I had a parking pass, I would be able to park right next to my building, right?
` I had never seen the parking lot with empty spaces, except for at eight o'clock the first day of school when hardly anyone showed up for class. Well, even though I had warning sirens going off, I figured that maybe for my eight o'clock class there might be a bunch of spaces open like there was on the first day.
` Still, I could not find any rational reason to buy one. ...But the guy was so nice and seemed like he knew what he was doing. Also, I'd been waiting in line for twenty minutes. Might as well go along with it, right?
` Against all of my judgment and logical reasoning, I bought the damn $20 parking pass.
` The next day, I rationalized it the best I could, telling myself that I was just paranoid, thinking that there would be no parking spaces - even though my past experience had taught me otherwise.
` As you may have guessed, the lot was utterly packed and yes, I was a half hour late. I was really angry and wanted to take the pass back. But then, I was there that day at ten, not eight, so maybe there would still be some spaces earlier the next day.
` Nope. It was the same thing, but luckily I got back out of the parking lot in a timely manner, drove back up the street and then walked all the way back to the parking lot and into the building, which took, oh, only an extra fifteen minutes longer than just parking on the street in the first place.
` I'd already been told by everyone at the school that I couldn't take back my parking pass. Well, just to make sure, the next week I went in and asked someone who actually sold parking passes. She said, "Well, we can't take them back this week - Friday was the last day to return them."

` D'oh!!!

` I knew I should have gone back when I had wanted to! I was just too angry about it!
` Since then, I've been trying to park closer to the school, with mixed results. Just last Wednesday I got my first $25 parking ticket of the quarter because I apparently wound up in a parking zone despite the fact that I didn't see any signs at all until I was leaving already. The sign was an entire block away, and obscured in my view from where I'd parked.
` I didn't know they could put signs that far away!
` I paid the ticket off before going to the gym, and the lady said that she sees college students in there every single week! She told me that my college actually double sells their parking passes, so half the people can't even use them!
` Isn't that illegal?
` There's just no way I could use mine. Oh, except this one lady told me I could drive all the way to this other parking lot that's not even on campus if I wanted to park in an actual lot.
` Sure, instead of parking on the street and then walking four blocks to class - downhill, no less! - I could instead go out of my way and keep driving until I get to this really busy road, park there, then wait at the light to cross the really busy street and then walk up a really steep hill for four blocks to class - which would take an additional ten minutes.
` If that's the best I can do, then no thanks; if I'm going to use my parking pass, I want it to actually be easier and faster to get to class than if I don't use it!

` So anyway, that's my Ultimate Monumentally Stupid Purchase of the Quarter! Chickens and noodles! Sleep time now!