Saturday, July 18, 2009

Half the year

Well - it's been a long while since updating here. I've been keeping info up on Face-book mostly, so those of you who don't follow me there, sorry for the gap, I'll try to at least be more frequent here. Just a run-down of significant events since my last real post, in March :
* For my birthday, went out to Pt Reyes, stayed at a neat bed-n-breakfast, the Blackthorne Inn; went on a whale-watching trip (didn't see any whales and I got horribly seasick); capped the weekend off with a big dinner at Jayakarta, an Indonesian restaurant in Berkeley.
* 'Star Trek' came out in May - the first VFX film I've worked on since King Kong! It was a mostly-fun project, and I think the movie turned out awesome-ly! If you saw it, and stayed for the credits, thanks! If not - maybe it's still playing near you??
* My band Colossal Inertia played a gig at Flux 53, a new venue in Oakland, in June.
* The martial-arts parody short I did a couple years back played at the Herofest 09 film fest in Oakland. We were the only comedy in the lineup, and my short won the award for most views on youTube! Thanks again!
* visited my sister in San Diego, over Memorial Day weekend (while Bonnie & Nicole were off on their 2-week trip through the US Southern States!). Checked out the Wild Animal Park (close to where they live now), and Balboa Park with all its museums.
* More thorough mid-year musical update, but bands I've checked out recently : Secret Chiefs 3; Mark Growden; Decemberists; Tell-Tale Heartbreakers; Bright Brown; David Byrne plays Byrne/Eno; Dirty Projectors
* The biggest news this year was with Annie, Bonnie's mom. One Sunday morning in June, she had a brain aneurysm, and was rushed to the hospital. Very serious - fortunately they got her in quickly & she received great care. She was in intensive care for a few weeks and had several surgeries; then was in a physical therapy unit for another week. Bonnie flew down there 4 weekends in a row. Annie came home 4th of July, I went down to OC that weekend. It was great to see her up & around, her rebound's been nothing short of remarkable, and very encouraging that she'll keep fighting through, & make a full recovery.
* Had the 1-year anniversary of our ceremony. We couldn't get in to the hostel for a room (booked up, we were too late!), but we spent a lovely weekend at Cavallo Point resort at Ft. Baker. Kinda extravagant, but only for 1 night, and you get your money's worth, with access to the spa/pool. We also walked through our site from a year ago, and strolled along downtown Sausalito.
* Work's been rolling along. Had a few weeknds off, but from here out it's quite a marathon, less than 2 months till the deadline... Got to check out the Disney "Christmas Carol" promotional train, it was pretty fun. It's done on the west coast, but still quite a few cities upcoming, including St. Paul this weekend, and soon in Chicago, Texas, Detroit, N. Carolina!

That's about all for now. A lot of celebrity deaths in the last couple months... RIP Walter Cronkite...