Last weekend in July. Taking 3.

I'm off to Yosemite tomorrow on the annual guys in the woods weekend. I think we're headed towards that area where the guy beheaded a ranger a couple years ago. Hopefully, there's safety in numbers. I'm looking forward to the great outdoors. It's very refeshing to get out and away from people once in a while. A weekend with God's green earth does a lot to refresh the soul and give perspective. We really are quite tiny. Hopefully, we'll see more fish than bear.

Voices

I think one of the great challenges in writing fiction is being able to step into multiple roles at one time. Characters have to have different voices and not sound alike. And at the same time the overall dialogue needs to have rhythm and purpose. Given one set of circumstance each character should react just a little bit differently because each real person would. I'm onto rough sketch of Chapter 3. Still years away from ever getting through this novel.

The other day my six year old nephew stood in front of my car so I couldn't park. After thirty seconds he walked over to the window and asked, "So why didn't you run me over?"

My wife's voice would have been, "Because we didn't want you to get hurt. We love you afterall."

My voice, "It's a new car and I didn't want to get it dirty." I don't know how to answer like a sensitive human being and my wife doesn't know how to answer like a little boy.

Really stubborn birds.

I wasn't enough competition for a nine year old yesterday on the baseball diamond yesterday, so after just one inning we gave up the game and went to see March of the Penguins. Imagine marching 70 miles across an icy desert, huddling together in 50 below weather, not eating for four months and carrying an egg on a roll of fat right above your toes. Next time I hear someone complain about how miserable his/her life is, I'm just going to say, "Oh yeah! Be thankful you're not a penguin."

Force Majeure

Most of the contracts I negotiate contain a terms that says something like, "We will not be liable for any failure to perform as required by this Agreement, if the failure to perform is caused by circumstances reasonably beyond our control, such accidents, civil disorders or commotions, acts of terrorism, acts of God or other such occurrences."

Usually, there's not much negotiation on this point. It's pretty much understood if something really oddball happens, there might be a valid excuse for non-performance. But the other day, someone wanted to negotiate in "acts of any god" to replace "acts of God." I was a little taken back by the polytheism, but to each his own and I accepted the term. If I knew that my couterpart had a sense of humor, I might have responded, "We will not be responsible for any acts of any god, devil, demon, vampire, werewolf or any other supernatural or mythical being." I wonder if he would have faught me on that.

Just 3 quick hitting opinions today.

1. John Roberts appears to be an intelligent honorable man (unlike our President) so he's going to get approved. I happen to disagree with him on many constitutional issues and would vote against him on that basis alone, but the Demosquids (until they grow backbones that's how I'm referring to them) aren't going to see it that way. They'll cave and our children and grandchildren will be paying for it.

2. Why am I continually surprised when Bush denies reality and everyone seems to go along with him? If a Demosquid were in office, Rove would have been gone already. What is Bush going to do when he's indicted? My feelings about this do stem from my political views, but it's more than that. This was the lowest of lowball tactics for going after Wilson

3. Copycat bombs in London? We are making role models and heroes of the wrong people in this world.

Trip Synapses. I'll get to something better later.

I thought that a couple days off would mean that I would get a chance to write a couple things in my blog. It didn't happen because my parents have faulty DSL and I was stuck without any networld access. That probably made the whole vacation thing more relaxing. On the other hand, my fantasy baseball team seems to have done just fine without me.

Lots of things that I wanto to mention, but I think I'll just limit this to a brief recap of my trip. Just in case there comes a day that I'll actually want to re-read any of my entries and see where I was back then. Or maybe my cat will learn to read someday.

Stream of Trip:

Went to Gilroy. Got some new shoes. Drove down Big Sur along the One Highway. Very pretty drive. Said Hi to my friend, Ocean. Went to Hearst Castle. Got to see how the old king of yellow journalism lived. Fascinating place, but I hope I would do something smarter if I had money like that. The Taj was a monument to love. This castle was a party pad gone mad. Dinner in Cambria because we were hungry. Spent the night at the Madonna Inn. Gypsy Rock room. Colored panels on the ceiling, natural rock walls. Bathroom made entirely of rock. Like showering in a cave.

Next day drove to Solvang, ate ablescabbers and dutch chocolates. saw the hitching post and other sights from the movie sideways. after some shopping drove down to home in Anaheim. Cruised until we hit LA country then took 3 hours to drive last sixty miles. brutal.

Dropped Dad off at airport. he's in Taiwan for six weeks to attend my cousin's wedding and hang. have assigned him to try and interview people and play with my camcorder.

Picked up Harry Potter. Go Hufflepuff. Went to Kev & Cyn Part II. Mrs. Jeu went to a lot of effort planning a very large party at a Chinese restaurant. Pretty fun. Don't tell Kevin, but his crazy uncles are funnier than he is.

Sunday relaxed and played math games with Sandra. AND I actually won! Also entertained ourselves with a couple open houses.

Left LA at 6 am to maximize shopping experience back at Giroy. Purchased some books. Had a ramen dinner. finally got home.

7/7

It's only four thirty, but it's been a long hard day of work. I've been out for days and there are a million things I need to get to this week. The work never stops, even if I do for a couple days. But this day really isn't about me. Today is going to be remembered as the day bombs went off in London and innocent people died. I shudder to think that the cycle of hatred is spinning around uncontrollably once again. Let peace overcome some day.

The wedding production.

I am now thinking weddings are a lot like theater productions. In the background there's a lot of chaos. People are scrambling all over the place, making themselves pretty, working on their lines, and looking for all their props. There's a bunch of frantic energy and you just hope everyone remembers how to breathe and that neither the best man nor the groom loses their way.

But at the end of the day, the show goes off without a hitch. The audience has a wonderful time. Act I is a short, sweet ceremony where we witness something life changing and Act II is a happy celebration of Act I. At the end there is loud applause, many congratulations and demands for pictures with the leading stars. The whole show is more work than I thought it could be, but it is all very enjoyable. Watching my sister-in law and my friend tie themselves together was very cool. It was an honor to be a part of their cast and meet others that have played roles in their lives.

I especially enjoyed hanging with the other groomsmen. Through the bachelor party and the wedding, I really did get to know the groom's friends a little better and he couldn't ask for better guys to stand with him. We're getting ready for Act III now. This is the one where we go to war with the awful formal wear chain mentioned in my previous blog.

Just needing to vent.

After Hours Formal Wear is run by a bunch of bozos. Do yourselves a favor and avoid them for any future weddings, proms, or other occassions that require formal wear. I'm participating in a wedding this weekend, and A/H has messed up on the orders for 3 of the 5 groomsmen, requiring some unnecessary last minute scrambling on our part. AND they have the gall to attempt charging extra for their failures to perform.