Lucas is a TV star! (One reason I haven't posted in a while)

He's been at it for quite a while, and now Lucas (a.k.a. Lou Ryan in the music scene) has already filmed the first episode of a new series tentatively called 'Hump City'.

LOOK WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO HIM!!

Yes, that's actually Lucas, and no, they didn't turn him into an alcoholic, it's just pretend! That's what he looks like as his character, J.R., the lead role in Hump City!

So, what does this have to do with me not posting in forever? BECAUSE... I was going to link this post to the trailer for this show weeks ago... except it's not OFFICIALLY up yet... it is, however, STILL ONLINE FOR ALL TO SEE!
` So... here's the trailer I'm not supposed to show you guys! IT'S TOTALLY UNOFFICIAL because it's not on Pinprick films' Vimeo site. (It's on Lucas' Vimeo site.)
` And... to MAKE IT SOMEWHAT OFFICIAL, here's the Pinprick Films Vimeo Site that this trailer is meant to be on! There! It's like the best of both worlds!

But before I move on, I'd like to mention that not only have I managed to get into both English and Spanish this quarter, but I'm doing pretty well in both classes! WHOO!
` That's another reason I haven't posted in a while, EVEN THOUGH I STARTED THIS POST EXACTLY A MONTH AND A DAY AGO... I've been working my ass off to do well in my classes, and it's paying off!
` To be honest, I didn't take much time to decide to do another post here not (though I have posted on my other blogs ), and it's only now that I've made my decision to do so.

And one more thing... MY CATS ARE STILL ABSURDLY CUTE!

Also, might I mention, Vada has won the Best Brain-damaged Cat Award of 2010!

In addition, Violet may have a chance of winning the Best Brain-Damaged Cat Award of 2011 if she keeps drinking the crud from the windowsill!

So, what's been going on all this time I've been away from blogworld? A lot of things! I actually left off, back on March 19, right when Lucas had gotten his first role in Hump City (then called Dry Hump City).
` That's right, it was his first role... David. He only later was promoted to J.R. after the original J.R. had to leave.

So, from the top -- this is me finishing up from March 19:

I knew I'd forgotten to mention something last post -- Lucas got the part of David in Dry Hump City!

Also, this talent agency seemed really interested in him, actually giving him critique, which shows their interest, and said they would call him in three days even if they didn't want him, but they didn't call him at all.

March 23 2010:

What's happened lately? Well, we've had another few potential roommates over besides that one eccentric middle aged guy, Rick, and that Indian guy. Another potential roommate, Jen, came up just today while I was going through some notes.

Just before she came over, Troy had just gotten up (since he works night shift) and was sitting on the loveseat in his robe and lion slippers with Vada (those slippers used to scare her so much!), reading Into the Wild, while Lucas was steam-cleaning.
` It's like, we're all in the living room like one big happy family! So different than the situation with my former roomates....

Speaking of Vada, I was on the couch with Lucas eating crackers and Tabasco sauce, and I let Vada sniff the Tabasco bottle.
` Big mistake!
` She cringed and snorted, then when she realized how much it was burning, she did a backflip through the air and took off running in a disoriented way down the stairs while sneezing.

I was laughing so hard I could do nothing for this poor cat, so Lucas had to chase her down, corner her, then carry her back upstairs where I poured her some cream. She lapped it up like there was no tomorrow. Poor Vada!

Later on, while Lucas and I were at the gym, Troy found an old friend at the mall who said he needed to crash for the night, having been outed from his normal place of residence, although Troy was actually on his way to work and would be gone all night...

So, he brought this guy to the gym where Lucas and I were working out, and Lucas said he wished he could help the guy, but really didn't think it was the best idea.
` Meanwhile, this was actually the first time I had agreed to be ready to leave the gym at a specific time, which was 7:25, and I was! I was so proud of myself for actually keeping track of the time and everything...
` ...And Lucas was not ready to go because he was practically telling this guy that he looked suspicious to his face! It was the most awkward thing I have ever seen.

So, I took off my coat and outer shirt and started doing sit-ups on the incline bench. Because that's what I do in awkward situations.
` By the way, Troy has this new bumper sticker: 'Drive defensively -- pilot a mech!' Yeah, cars are so passe!


March 24, 2010:

At 1:25 today, I spotted a skinny dude meditating in our lawn chair!

Lucas said, "That must be Tige come early to look at the house." It was. He's a guy who's acstetic -- or however you spell that -- who has barely any possessions, which is great because there's not a huge amount of room here.
` He really does seem cool, so we're hoping he moves in.

Now it's 2:43 and our neighbor Sarah is telling Lucas (through the fence lattice) that yesterday she saw Brad and Char drive up to the house!
` She said they were out of view, so she couldn't see what happened, but then they drove away really fast.

Damn! Now they know we haven't been evicted for real! I wonder if they'll come back for revenge?

It's 7:00 pm! Oh no, Violet! I'm late for the library! (Violet says: "What is this ly-brerry you speak of?")

At the library:

Jake, who told me about this really cool book about signing and the deaf called Seeing Voices, is eating a cinnamon roll across from me. And me without money! He is now talking about how he loves Erin the roller derby girl.
` To his left, Laura is contributing to my feeling of hunger by eating a chicken salad sandwich.
` Michael's on my right with his laptop open to Facebook, while his wife Alex is knitting a slipper on my left.

Hey, it's Ananda and Wendizzle! She said she sacrificed most of her soul for college finals. I gave her a piece of my soul to compensate.
` Here's Wendy's Eastern European Look!

Wendy's telling us about Howard Zinn and understanding history in the U.S., and how cool he was, and thus how upset she was when he died five days before he was supposed to appear at her school!

She also kind of upset me, though, because she made her mind up about her something she didn't know about and then refused to hear any different.
` What had she made her mind up about? Just a movie she hadn't seen -- Avatar. She said, "I've never seen it, but I hate it because it's Pocahontas, and Pocahontas is a lie, so I don't want to see it."

WTF?

Really, a better description of it is Dances With Wolves In Space, with giant blue humanoid aliens that resemble leopards instead of the Sioux. Observe:

In Dances With Wolves, this man is sent out to an outpost on the Western Frontier and is captured by the Sioux.
` However, there is a white woman among these natives who can translate what he says. He is drawn to their ways and gradually becomes one of them, and eventually, a hunter and a hero among the Sioux.
` Unfortunately, the white people think of him as a traitor and beat him up for this, but he escapes and goes back to the Sioux and his woman. (Though they become fugitives.)

In Avatar, a paraplegic man, in control of an able avatar (alien body) is sent to infiltrate the aliens to help the humans exploit their land, and his avatar winds up being captured by the aliens, called Na'vi.
` This one Na'vi woman who knows English prevents the other aliens from killing his avatar, and he is drawn to their ways. Over a course of months he becomes a hunter, falls in love with her, and is accepted into their tribe.

If you don't want any more spoilers, skip the next double-paragraph:

This is when he tells the Na'vi that the humans are after the minerals under their village, and it is also when the humans realize he's trying to prevent them from destroying the Na'vi's home.
` The humans capture him, leaving his avatar prone to the angry natives, the village is destroyed, people are killed, but of course he escapes, becomes the greatest Na'vi war hero, etc. and goes off to live with his wife as a Na'vi for reals!

While the movie Pocahontas is similar in that there's gold-hungry Europeans after their land, in the end, John Smith and Pocahontas part ways. However, in real life Pocahontas was tricked into going with him and wound up dying of a European disease.
` In neither case does John Smith become a Native American and live with them.

But, since Wendy was so pissed off when she discovered Pocahontas' real fate back in fifth grade, she decided that Avatar was stupid and she hated it.
` I tried to tell her what was wrong with her logic, but she just shook her head and said, "Pocahontas! Pocahontas!"

Whatever.

Vada says: "Just chill, mon!"

March 25, 2010:

It's amazing how today keeps getting more troublesome....

I got up, brushed my teeth, tackled the unkillable mildew that was in our tile shower stall and once again failed to kill it with bleach.
` Then, I brewed some peach iced tea while washing dishes, put ice in it while I was cleaning the counters, sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor, and when I was done, my tea was ready to drink.
` The whole cleaning routine is actually part of how I make iced tea. Yes, I have some quite complex routines since the crazies have gone, and I can do them day after day without fear of being interrupted!

Lucas had just come home from morning errands and was sitting on the couch, tired because I had woken him up trying to scrub the shower last night. I offered him some tea, but he didn't want any, so I set it on the coffee table where his feet were resting.
` Since I no longer have roommates who prevent me from doing what I need to do for most of the 24 hour day, such as chores, homework, relaxation and sleep, I have not only learned to enjoy life, but now have the chance to practice delayed gratification.
` So, before having some tea, I decided to open my mail, which was on the coffee table behind the tea -- but just then, Lucas shoved the coffee table back with his foot and the tea went spilling all over my mail!
` Well, that's another carpet stain, but at least it's not crazy roommate urine. (Edit: More about Piss Bottle John ahead!)

Just as I was done lamenting my stupidity, I found out that Su Chiang, the crazy lady who rented the condemned house to us, is after us again, according to our present landlord, Steve.
` Even worse, he seems to believe the crazy stuff she said about us, that we cheated her and threatened to kill her and were selling drugs and stuff!
` She just told him that because Steve is her insurance agent and she wants money -- it's the same story she tells about all her tenants who were sick of her B.S.!

We're also out of money, Lucas is out of contacts, his glasses are falling apart, and if we can't find some more money soon, he'll be blind! (Except to any objects one centimeter in front of his eyeballs.)
` Then, we got a call from Guitar Center to discover that, although we purchased the music program ProTools for $700, and have paid well over that amount towards that purchase, we still owe more than $700!

Do the math... 700 minus 700 ought to be zero, not 700... but this is Guitar Center Credit Land where none of that matters!
` Yes, that's right... when the period of 'no interest' was over, all the interest that we should have accumulated all that time was tacked onto our total, as if there had never been a period of 'no interest'!
` And what was the interest rate, you ask? Twenty-five percent!

Oh yeah.

In better news, we took a walk to the beach and I found the shell of a mollusk that had been killed by a sea star.

Also, there was this kayaker dude who launched right next to where we were sitting on the beach....

He was completely gone from sight in only a few minutes!

8:27 pm.:

The same woman cop who's been over here a million times was here again looking for some guy. So, how many times have the cops come over does that make this? Eight? I'm not sure, and I'm too lazy to check.


March 26, 2010:

Lucas' old friend Michelle came over -- she was actually the woman in Joe McPherson's construction company commercial! I didn't even know that!

She was amazed with Lucas' ability to sing since ten years ago, and when she listened to his live recording she thought there were two guitars! Nope -- just ol' Lou Ryan!
` I must add that Violet had an amusing time with Michelle's puppy in the backyard, which I photographed of course.

Anyway, I made her a new headshot (using the above-above photo) and Lucas helped her make a new résumé before they went off to the audition!

Also, during this time Rick called back and said he still wants to move in, he only hadn't called back before because he'd had the flu and have to drop life for a while.

When Lucas came back from the audition, he was so stoked! He described how he came into the audition for Zack, star of The Boob, and showed how he could change his physique so dramatically, thanks to his huge abdominal muscles.
` He also demonstrated his creepy, bulging eyes, which are perfect for staring at boobs -- they said that for sure they would call him back, so I'm hoping this happens.

And, of course, there's all this gossip. There was this New Age couple there who were being SO WEIRD it was funny.
` The guy's name was like 'Raj-mahaj' or something, and I guess he was bragging about himself in general, but his mannerisms made it so much funnier! His girlfriend was talking about his proficiency in musical instruments, 'he's so talented, he plays everything!'
` Then they were talking about how it's hard for them to live with each other because 'we're both psychic'... man, I remember when I thought I was psychic!
` It's like... shut up and stop making yourself look like arrogant freaks in front of the director!

So, Lucas and Michelle were kinda chuckling about them, but it turns out there's something far juicier than that:
` Michelle used to be roomies with PISS BOTTLE JOHN! That's right -- the guy who used to be our roommate who turned out to be smoking meth and pissing in bottles, and who dumped them all over the house before the landlord came over one day.

YES. And she began putting the dots together when Lucas told her about MethLogic. For example, he always locked his door, even when he was only taking a shower, and was very nice to her, except that he occasionally ate leftovers she had brought home from a restaurant.
` In other words, he was making sure she never found out about the meth, and only behaving out of line a little bit when he was coming off of meth and was ravenously hungry.

Also, he accumulated all this junk, including the Honda Prelude -- BEFORE it was covered in mold! I always thought he had found it that way!
` And for years, he never did anything with it, so when we were being forced out of the Su Chiang house for living in a condemned house, thanks to Su Chiang, we were amused to see someone else just drive off in it when Piss Bottle John could have had a working car the entire time instead of taking the bus!

Indeed, it is such a meth-head thing to do, collect all kinds of junk, and yet, when he left her residence, his room was clean. Why? To hide the evidence of being a meth-head!

Michelle was also surprised to hear that John actually had sex with Tracheotomy Woman, and even more surprised that she said (or mouthed, anyway) that he was an ass-rapist!

But enough about Old Roommate (for both of us) Gossip -- Lucas noticed that there was this really cool show on at the gym, which I should have been as well, though I kept the TV in front of me off as usual.
` It was this Jamie Oliver guy from Britain and he was trying to convince the staff of this elementary school to feed the students food that isn't junk, and to give them utensils to eat it with.
` The principle laughed and said, "What would you use a knife and fork for?"
` Jamie looked heartbroken, and he said, "I think I'm going to cry!"
` Like the people at that school actually thought that only upper class people used utensils! And the principal said, "Surely the kids in Britain don't use a knife and fork!"

REALLY! OMG L, WTF, D? (Hey, I found the preview for it on YouTube.)


March 27, 2010:

No sooner do I start my morning routine, cleaning the kitchen, making peach iced tea, etc, but Lucas comes upstairs, yelling, "Oh my god! Obama got his exact same health care plan from the Republicans, who have been proposing it for 25 years and used it to oppose Bill Clinton's health plan! They've been against their own idea! What a bunch of hypocrites!"

Now he's on the phone with my mom, trying to get through to her Extremist Conservative boyfriend, Tom.

Update: He sent him an email, but Tom never read it. He just doesn't want to see anything that he doesn't agree with!


March 28, 2010:

Lucas is telling me all about the nutty people at rehearsal for Dry Hump City (including the crazy New Age girl) and how well they all fit the parts! He even arrived in character with 7 days' beard growth!

Oh yeah, also, with his beard, he's been quite the Lumberjack at his friend Nate's house! No, seriously... and this is just SOME of the firewood he's brought back!

Whoa! I'm going to stop with the photos now before I break someone's computer! I have a lot more to go, but I'll end this post here, then continue with April's craziness pretty soon... and perhaps the Hump City trailer will be up OFFICIALLY by then!

For now, I do have March's photos, as well as April's (so far) up on Flickr for all to see!

Here's one more photo for the post: Violet chasing a spring robin in the plum tree!

Hasta luego! (O pronto, espero!)