Lucas one-upped by bickering senior citizens and even weirder stuff!

As usual, I have a whole feast for my faithful readers, from over the past coupla weeks! All kinds of things have happened -- including the utter destruction of one of my neighbor's houses -- to the discovery that one of my current roommates can be just as crazy as some of my past crazy roommates!
` But first, Lucas getting one-upped by bickering Senior Citizens: You all should know about the movie starring Lucas called Sex A-peel from my past posts. It has little to do with sex appeal, but more has to do with humorous gratuitous violence due to one very special and magical orange.



Well, at the 48-Hour Film Awards, there were other films we hadn't even seen before -- apparently, the showing I went to was just one of four. And so, it is no surprise that there was another film even better than his... though I will argue that it has less sex a-peel.
` It's called Behind the Scenes of Twisted Love. Of course, it isn't behind the scenes of anything, it's just a comedy mockumentary where senior citizen actors play the parts of filmmakers griping at one another, and they're quite good! I thought it was hilarious!



More about the films, and much more... in my journal entries! Here they are, since last time:

O, hai Violet! I luv mah kitteh!

During my post last weekend (May 22-23), Lucas was off camping with a couple of friends and some of his friends' friends. He jammed out on his guitar and they played Beersbee, a game invented by his friend Dan.
` There was an orgy, but he didn't participate in it, instead going to sleep in his tent, though there was this girl who could not stop talking, ever, who kept asking him for some of his orange juice. "Oh, are you really that tired? Were you really asleep? I'm so sorry! I just wanted to fill my cup again...."

I didn't go on this camping trip, mainly because I was so busy with homework, plus I had the check for the landlady, and I was waiting for the landlord to bring the new dryer... except he never knocked on the door, so I had no idea that he'd just left it in the carport until after Lucas had gotten home Sunday morning.
` By then, Troy had already hung out some towels on a line in the front yard, though with Lucas' help, Troy and I actually managed to pick up the new dryer and set it down in its spot! We couldn't plug the plug in, though Rick solved that by taking the old cord off the old dryer and putting it on the new one!
` Wow -- he really knew something Lucas and I didn't!

May 24, 2010:

After finishing up my volunteer hours with English-learning students, I was driving home when I saw a billowing cloud of smoke on the hillside where my house is, circled by news choppers!

A police officer parked on a corner made me stop and park my car a few blocks from my house because of the fire trucks that would be coming in any minute and blocking the street.

I called Lucas and asked him what was going on: He said one of the houses on our street was on fire!
` Well, at least it wasn't our house -- otherwise I wouldn't be typing this!

I walked on up to find Lucas among a slowly-growing crowd of onlookers. We talked to Ruthie and Chuck Lee, the couple who had been eating lunch at about 1:30 when their smoke alarm went off because of the fire that had somehow started in their garage.

The firefighters got there as soon as possible, when the garage structure itself was still intact -- yet, now it was nearly three in the afternoon and the fire was still blazing!

You know I took lots of photos, as did the photographers and a guy with a news camera.

As time went on, more and more firefighters showed up to contain the fire, but it raged on until about 4:00 when I left. At this time, there was still a small amount of fire being stamped out among the remains of the Lee couple's cars in the rubble of the garage.

I watched for a long time, along with every other rubbernecker in the neighborhood, amid the smoke and the beeping noises which largely came from the firefighters standing still with their hoses trained so long that their Lack of Motion alarms would go off and then they would have to do the 'firefighter boogie' to make it stop.
` As for the house attached to the garage, a corner of it had collapsed, and probably all of their belongings have been ruined.

To think that that might have happened to us all at the Su Chaing house because of the faulty wiring!
` Actually, as you may recall, the neighbor's house that she owned actually did have a small electrical fire, but it was quickly taken care of and nothing was really damaged -- in fact I recall that these neighbors' TV was apparently on the entire time.
` This house for some reason kept burning, and there were many explosions that came from the garage -- perhaps exploding paint cans? Whatever was exploding in there was apparently providing more accelerant, and the firefighters couldn't even go in.

Upon arriving home with pictures, I showed Troy, who had been woken up both by this activity and Rick breaking down his own bedroom door, apparently having accidentally locked it like Drunk-O Steve used to. By the time I made it home, however, Rick was heavily snoring.
` Troy advised me to try to sell the photos to The Herald on my way back to college for my evening class. I didn't think that made much sense, considering that I figured they were on it, but I did send them an email in case they did not catch wind of this, as well as a link to my photos.

I also recall that Lucas told Andrew that the street was clogged with like 15 fire engines, but Andrew apparently didn't believe him and drove off for one minute, then was back. No wonder!

However, the trucks did clear out of the way soon, and by 4:15, when I had to drive back to college, not many were left, though I still had to walk all the way to my car.


May 25, 2010:

Well, it turns out that The Herald was on top of the fire story, as I had speculated since I noticed that several news outlets were on top of it.
` Apparently one of my pictures (above) was actually of their own photographer, so I must have seemed like a huge dumbhead if anyone there happened to see that, which I doubt.

Also in the Herald this morning is a brief report of an earthquake in towns south and east of Everett, that registered a 3.4 on the Richter scale, which I wouldn't have mentioned if it weren't for the fact that Rick thought it was such a big deal.
` Lucas and I explained to him that the effects of a 3.4 are similar to a train passing by -- according to the article, it mainly rattled mirrors on peoples' walls and scared their dogs and cats. Rick, however, insisted that it was a 'major earthquake' and advised me to call Everett C.C. and ask if classes had been canceled.
` I checked their website for any such cancellations, just to satisfy him.

Seriously!

Rick also added that later on there was another earthquake nearer to Seattle that must have been connected to the first one, and was confused as to why we didn't feel it up here, then said, "that isn't right" as if something suspicious was going on.

This is an example of what I had meant previously when I mentioned that Rick has the I.Q. of a small soap dish. It's like he's off in his own world and hasn't a clue as to what's going on, much like our former stinky roommate, 'Robusk' Johnny.
` Fortunately, Rick is a nice guy and is very amiable, whereas Robusk Johnny was a horse's ass and labeled normal people as 'snobs' for not accepting his lying, cheating and 'robuskness' (lack of hygiene and manners), and for pronouncing the word 'robusk' as 'robust', because to him, everyone else and their dictionaries were wrong on certain words.

Indeed, Rick would furrow his brow and look confused rather than try to start a fight. So, though we may roll our eyes at him sometimes, it's not a real problem, though I wonder what he must think of us!


June 03 2010:

Yay for June being here!

I've been so busy with school, but I'm done with my English essay so I can breathe a little. On Memorial Weekend, Troy threw a party on Sunday, and three of his friends (and one of his friends' children) were over. (Cute li'l 2-year-old Kira, who Lucas got to do a forward roll, almost!)

What's really odd is that Lucas and the Mother of Cute Li'l Kira got into a debate over how to pronounce Ghirardelli, and Lucas insisted that it starts with a 'J' sound because that's how the people at Ghirardelli Square pronounced it when he went there last year as well as when he was a kid.
` She insisted it was pronounced with a hard-G sound, which I confirmed when I looked it up on my computer and found this on their website (including the 'Gear-ar-delli' parrot poster). I also called Ghirardelli and the phone system also pronounced that way, but I left a message anyway, and the next day someone actually called Lucas back to explain to us dumbasses that the parrot's right!

Then, on Tuesday, BIG NEWS! We went to the awards ceremony for the 48 Hour Film awards, and saw movies from the other groups that had won awards, none of which I'd ever seen, such as a crime scene investigation one (the victim stabs herself while cutting an orange), and this one were little girl spies kill each other (which is hilarious because they're little girls), and even one where magical characters found jobs (although not the Fremont Troll, alas!).
` There were also two other movies from the group that Lucas' movie was in. One of these was Strange Fruit, which won Most Gratuitous Use of Prop Award, and when we were standing in line to buy tickets, the guy who played 'Orange' was behind us, and he recognized Lucas as the guy from Sex A-peel!
` I decided to post that film as well, considering that it is pretty funny and weird, and more typical of most 48-Hour films. I recommend watching it -- just wait 'til you see who Orange 'really' is! (Although you might remember from my last post that mentioned this movie.) Mua ha ha ha!



There was, however, one film that was clearly better than Sex A-peel, and that is Behind the Scenes of Twisted Love (or, Bickering Old People Make A Movie), which I trust you've already viewed at the top of this post. That film did have the best acting, and all in all, it won five awards, including Best Film.
` The filmmakers (who were fairly young) were quite surprised because of their lack of production expenses, but the actors they hooked up with really were something else!

Not to be outdone, though, Sex A-peel won six awards, including Second-Best Film. The guys at Pinprick Studios got a ton of Adobe software, too!

And, now that I've told you the great news, here's the not-so-great news: Rick has gone beyond stupid, and has officially become an asshole.

It was actually last week that I was rolling my eyes over Rick loading the dishwasher so that the sprayer won't go around and not thinking that mattered, and then he put away the dishes that hadn't really been cleaned properly in the dishwasher right as Lucas was about to wash them, and then put more dishes in the dishwasher, once again blocking the sprayer arm.

This is the kind of thing I roll my eyes about a lot.

In the midst of this was when Rick offered to fix my clutch, and really seemed to know what he was talking about -- at least for a while. Since Lucas' clutch doesn't work at all because his slave cylinder needs to be replaced, Lucas proposed that Rick first fix his first so that I could drive his truck if need be, because that would be cheaper first off.
` However, Rick asking whether or not the slave cylinder is hydraulic and other clues have led Lucas to be more suspicious of Rick's competence.
` Also, Rick was talking on the phone to his girlfriend and offered to drive all the way back to Colorado to visit and fix her car for cheaper than she could get it fixed, but she insisted, "no!"

However, I don't think that Lucas will give Rick the chance because Rick is starting to act like a horse's ass. Really.
` Today, instead of giving Lucas the rent to give to Landlord Steve, Rick told Lucas that he had already looked up who our landlord is and given him his rent check, without even telling Lucas!
` Later on, after Lucas had given Landlord Steve's wife, landlady Roberta, everyone else's rent check, Steve called and informed Lucas that Rick had knocked on his door, and introduced himself, claiming that he's an executive of a company, and though Rick actually didn't give him the check, he proposed doing so and advised Steve to keep it a secret from Lucas.
` If Lucas is the one who pays Steve all our rents, how the hell does he expect to not give Lucas his share of the rent and keep it a secret from him? Is there any logic here?
` Besides, who does he think he is? He only just met Steve! Meanwhile, back in December, Lucas was already able to trust Steve enough to pretend to evict everyone in this house in order to help us get rid of three of our roommates. Lucas is practically friends with Steve, and yet Rick, practically a stranger, expects Steve to keep a secret from Lucas for him?

So, not only is Rick being such an incredibly stupid jackass that I can't believe it, but he also lied about giving the landlord his rent check. And if he does give rent to Steve today, Steve said that he will tell him to give the check to Lucas next month.
` Why would he do such a thing? I'm afraid it's partly my fault, and partly my stupidity.

You see, I let him know that we were trying to make $1,800 to make up for the debt caused by the asshole roommates we used to have, who cost us about even more money than that by refusing to pay rent, bills, and running up the utilities by constantly doing laundry and vacuuming every day, etc.
` I now see why Rick thought it was so important for me to tell him this; he doesn't trust Lucas -- though strangely, he does seem to trust FOX News. Hmmm....

I could also note that our relationship with Steve and Roberta is the reason that we still are living here, despite our having been behind on rent since the asshole roommate fiascos, which was long before Rick moved in.
` Despite the fact that we, amazingly, managed to take out a loan just after our money crisis and make up rent, Rick apparently didn't believe this, which must have been why he had told me the day after that he was moving out soon. And then didn't.

Like, WTF? Why would he not believe that? I don't know! But that explains why, when I told him that Lucas was paying the landlords regular rent, Rick said, "I thought he already did that two days ago."
` I said, "Well, no, two days ago, he paid the amount he was behind, and this time, he's paying normal rent." And Rick's response? "That isn't right." Like something suspicious was going on! What's so suspicious about that?

Really. But, at the time I shrugged that off because he said, "That isn't right" about so many things that most reasonable people would not have a problem with, so I wasn't sure if he meant that with all seriousness or not.

Apparently I've been giving him too much credit.

And then, he insisted that our reason for being behind on rent was not due to any asshole roommates, who Lucas and I actually told him about when Rick moved in, but Rick doesn't seem to recall that.
` Well, if you need evidence, just check out the crazy events I recorded in December, January and February on this blog -- they're quite surreal, but they actually did happen, and there are also many reader comments on those posts timestamped back at those times!
` I know all my bloggy friends have heard the tales back when they happened as well!

Later today, Rick called Lucas and chewed him out over the phone, accusing him of not only still being behind on rent, but that the reason why being that Lucas has spent Rick's rent checks on beer.
` Beer!
` Why? Because Lucas drinks beer, but Rick can't because he used to be an alcoholic. But, just because Lucas does drink beer doesn't meant that he's an alcoholic.
` Basically, the phone conversation was really one-way, amounting to Rick making these baseless accusations and Lucas starting to assure him that we're not behind on rent, and then having to say over and over, 'will you just let me talk? Can I finish, please?' because Rick would just go off on another insane tangent before Lucas could even complete a sentence.

I seriously cannot believe this. This guy is seriously off in his own world!

Perhaps Rick's bad judgment and general stupidity partly has to do with his former alcoholism? I don't know. But in general, he just seems to say whatever he feels like, reasonable or not, and thinks that everyone else does the same, so he's on equal grounds for argumentation.
` Just like Stinky Johnny. But now he's being belligerent!


June 04 2010:

Troy is awesome -- he drove me to school, as I'm not driving my car due to clutch difficulties, and Lucas picked me up. Lucas was late, though, because he kept forgetting one more item, and another, and another, on his way out the door, and I didn't have my cell phone.
` By the time I got frustrated and called him on someone's cell phone in the Japanese building, Lucas answered only to tell me that he was waiting right outside the door! D'oh!

I brought him a bacon Rice Crispie treat that Kimba made, which he said is pretty good, though not very bacony.

At least Rick paid Landlord Steve today -- Lucas knows this because he saw Rick come back from Steve's house, pouting and stomping his feet like a little child and go into his room.
` Seriously. I guess Steve must have told him what he said he would, which was; "I'll take the check this time, but from now on, you pay Lucas, not me."

And now Rick's all mopey!

Luckily, I'm not intimidated by Rick. He may be a dipshit, but I'm not afraid of him. In fact, most of the Crazy Roommates that I've ever had were not really hostile towards me, except for Char, because she was hostile in general, sometimes Brad, and at the end there, Stinky Johnny, who called me a liar for observing him doing something to mess with Lucas when he didn't realize I was in the next room.
` Even Nat and Steve Drunk-O thought I was relatively sweet and innocent and were apologetic towards me when they were leaving (and Nat gave me some of his Atlases), though not towards Lucas.

As far as Rick goes, I could care less about him. That's the benefit of having roommates that don't hang out with us like we're best buds, which is why we have this arrangement. I think that Rick has good intentions, but he's just an idiot. A paranoid idiot, maybe even.

Well, we'll see what develops. I'm onna do some Spanish homework now.


Tuesday, June 8, 2010:

The last of my finals ended yesterday at 6:45 p.m. and I am free at last! All I want is to have a day off, full of rest and relaxation. Perhaps I'll limp my car over to the library and see what's going on?
` Perhaps I'll see Brokeback Jake, as he's finally up and at 'em, albeit encased in an enormous back brace. I just tried calling him, actually, but my phone isn't getting reception at the moment.

And of course, no entry is complete without mention of Rick's stupidity. He's not doing anything else annoying, thank goodness, but he did complain that there's some smell from Andrew's room that's getting into his own room and even into his clothing.
` Of course, this is probably because Rick cannot tell how much his own room stinks, and in fact, Troy and Andrew both have commented on how disgusting it smells. It's not as bad as what Stinky Johnny's room used to smell like, but it is definitely worse than Andrew's when he leaves dirty dishes in his room.
` Yes indeed, not only is Rick unaware of his stupidity, but he is also unaware of his own stinkiness. Kind of like Johnny, actually, just not apparently a total low-life like Johnny.

It's a semi-sunny day today. I got a couple photos of Lucas, who has shaved his face again a couple days ago, with Violet in the garden that used to be the Overgrown Secret Cat Hangout.

I hear all manner of birds chirping, and occasionally, dogs barking and cats meowing. Also, I hear plenty of airplanes -- this weekend Lucas and I heard and saw many WWII aircraft, and I thought how cool it was that they're still around! I wanna ride in one!
` Only thing is, they are amazingly loud! Well, if there's one consolation about the threat of being bombed in WWII, there was no way you could NOT know they were coming, unless maybe they were really high up....
` I also hear Andrew snoring in the room below me. I can tell it's him by the occasional werewolf-like grumbling sounds.

Wow! There's just nothing to do but for me to construct my own schedule -- and listen to the birds and the dogs and the Andrew! Oh wait, he's talking to someone on the phone now. His voice is almost as deep as Barry White's, so it carries readily through the floor.

Anyway, I'm off to copy notes and organize things. Wheeee!

Also, I just uploaded my June photos, as of today.


June 11, 2010:

Still screwing off! Enjoying my freedom rather than blogging as I had been planning.

And Lucas? Well, they're re-shooting some of the first episode of Hump City because a) they're replacing the character 'Bob' (the normal guy) and b) they're going to start filming at our house!

That's right, Hump City will now be at our house!

Why? Because, the people at the house they had been shooting at were becoming intolerable, like playing their guitar in the middle of a take and stuff. So now Hump City is at my very own house! Whooo!
` Also, Lucas went down to read lines with potential new Bobs, and the Hump City people were amazed at how unfat and unslovenly he looks, especially without a beard!
` One of the Bobs really was rather good, but he didn't look the part. I hope they find a Bob soon! Then they can get their asses up here!

But, as for screwing off, yesterday Lucas and I walked to the second Diamond Knot place, the pizza one, on Lincoln, and we had a thin crust. They are ridiculously good and inexpensive! Who could ask for anything more?

But, now I have some more work to do.

Though first, I'm in the middle of cooking spaghetti. Gots to go!