The format was something of a combination of popular gameshows, including 'Who Wants to be a Millionnaire', 'Jeopardy', and of course the old school favorite, 'Name that Tune.' Set for three rounds, the first was a 20 song series where everyone at the party listened and wrote down their answers for a chance to make it to round 2, where three contestants would battle it out. The hope was that the birthday boy and his friend M* would go head to head, but neither of them recognized enough songs to move on. That was not really a problem as I had built-in a way to involve the audience and keep everyone's interest by providing each contestant two (which later became three) lifelines. Using these, the participant could call on an audience member to help them out.
This second round covered 5 different categories (Female Performers, The 80s, Hard Rock, Country, and 'B' Bop - all groups beginning with the letter 'B') and included 30 song clips, personally handpicked and digitally re-recorded. My goal with this round was to keep things pretty even, be generous where I could, and make sure everyone was having a good time. Different from the first round in which the players could name anything (i.e. performer, name of song, or album), the second round gave bonus points for knowing the song title as well as the performer. When the dust had cleared, two gentlemen contestants were tied for the lead with 1700 points, and the lone female contestant, BG, was a close second with 1600.
For final jeopardy, each player was asked to write down a wager, knowing the category was 'puzzle'. With that complete, I began to play a series of four 30-second song clips, telling contestants that one of the bands was different from the rest. I played clips from the Monkeys, the Eagles, the Doors, and the Beatles. The simple difference was that a door is not an animal. Of the three contestants, only BG correctly wrote down and kept the winning answer (at least one other contestant tried to outthink the puzzle). I congratulated the audience, the three contestants and especially our winner, BG, and thanked K* and A* for holding the party at their house. I was given an ovation from the audience for my first and apparently successful performance as a game show host. Regis and Alex: look out - there's a new kid on the block!
I think one of the things I liked most was that people debated and critiqued the rules, the songs (and their categorization), each other, etc. My housemate later gave me the comment about 98% of it was excellent, and people were finding the 2% to pick apart. I didn't mind at all, and my response was that it showed that people genuinely cared about the game. I feel proud to have been able to foster a supportive environment where everyone was given the ability to do their best, to take guesses (as there were no penalties), and still feel the presence of the competition. Another is that I am happy to have put something together that may very well be a memorable event for years to come.
I am grateful to have the friends I do, and to know such wonderful, positive, and intelligent people. I am personally thankful for my housemate's girlfriend, S*, for giving me the opportunity to create something wonderful. And cheers to my housemate and my friend, who is now one year older.
It is cliche to announce one's weekend as having gone by quickly, but mine whizzed by like a bullet train. Friday was host to a variety of activities, ranging from getting my back done (beach trip next weekend), to meeting with my manager to discuss my career and the opportunity for me to go to England in August, to excitedly loading software and files onto a new laptop (IBM T30) from the office. I'm excited about the prospect of going overseas to Europe for the first time, and don't mind doing it on someone else's dime. On the upside, the trip would likely be for a month, and that would definitely make it easy for me to do some exploration; on the downside, my long distance relationship with A* might temporarily be a bit longer. However, this is exactly the personal growth opportunity I've been looking for.
Regarding the new laptop, it's a beast! Heck, the thing is at least five times faster than my previous machine, has a built in wireless card, modem, and network card, and came with a DVD-player/CD-writer.
On Saturday, I attended a three hour skate clinic with Kim Perkins, the best endurance outdoor female skater in the US, improving my paceline technique and getting some useful pointers, and in the evening, a going-away party for my friend J*, who is returning to NYC having found suitable work.
On Sunday morning I awoke early to make it out to the Western part of Austin to attend a private lesson with Kim, where she inspected my technique, critiqued it, gave me three drills to work on and a lesson in downhill slaloming. After that, I prepared some music as later that afternoon I was to host a 'Name that Tune' style gameshow for my housemate's surprise-26th birthday party. I think he's an awesome guy, so when his girlfriend approached me about hosting the event, I was more than happy to participate.
If you haven't got your health, what have you got?
I am concerned that I might have an illness. For the past week, I've felt extremely tired (even after a reasonable amount of sleep), had a slightly sore throat and glands, and really haven't had much of an appetite. I recognize these symptoms from college, when a few of my friends came down with the same thing over a span of a couple of months: mono.
While I think that it would really suck for me to have this - a sharp decrease in my productivity, and no ability to be athletic for a while I am more concerned that I might have given it to my girlfriend. And I would hate to think that I have made her ill, especially with such a sickness that would affect her in the same way as me.
I plan to see a doctor in the next 48 hours, perhaps even postpone my regularly scheduled trip to Michigan for work, in order to make sure I'm on track for a speedy recovery.
Something is wrong with my head. I feel slower. Not necessarily tired. Just foggy. And its much harder to concentrate than usual. Not sure if this is due to my concern about my relationship with A*, or if I am coming down with something. I have a small case of the sniffles, so I can't be fully certain.
I found out today that the Sheraton I stayed at in Philadelphia overbilled my credit card. That combined with the lack of an upgrade, the lack of the use of the club lounge, and having an item stolen from the room, makes for a very unhappy time. I am going to be reporting my stay to Starwood, and hopefully they can do something to convince me that I should stay at a Sheraton in the future. Glad I waited till after I was done working to call the hotel, as they want me to call back between 9am and 5pm to talk to their accounting department. Bastards. Show me the money! :)
That and I am missing out out some priority club points (Holiday Inn's hotel points program), as they seem to have put someone else's number instead of my own. Marketing department needs two weeks to sort this out. Blah - whatever. Show me the points! :)
On the plus side, I spent some time researching some funds that are classified in the realm of Socially Conscious Investing (or Socially Responsible Investing). Green Century came up big, and their Balanced fund has shot up 35% this year. Looks like it is time to open a new account and help out the environment while I am helping out myself.
Instead of going to see Terminator3, which apparently bombed this weekend, grossing a weak 44 million, I decided to save my time and energy and talk with A*. It was good to catch her online, as I am doubtful I could have spoken eloquently on the phone. Typing in an instant messenger window allows one some much needed time between thoughts, and it makes it easier to focus - something I've been having a problem doing all day. She surprised me not once, not twice, but three times, by apologizing for this weekend, further confirming and expressing how much she loves me, and telling me she thinks I am incredible. I echoed my sentiments for her and for the relationship, and apologized for my own behavior this weekend.
We promised each other to be on the lookout for situations in the future that could lead to each of us being unhappy stemming from either her little to no tolerance in redundancy, and my becoming redundant when I get sleepy. I personally feel that identifying these potential sore spots is very helpful to curbing negative discussions in the future.
For the record, this is why she and I each think each other 'incredible':
Her: "because you are a special person. You are crazy intelligent and ambitious and extremely loving"
Me: "for a woman (or any person, so as to avoid the male-female discussion), to make it as far as you have, both in intelligence in physical achievement, and to have developed a positive attitude that will allow you to continue such behavior into the future.. and to be as strong as you are, and dedicated, it's truly beautiful. Oh, and that you're one sexy lady. :)"
I think that's a good enough thought to end on for tonight. Hotel bed, here I come.
This weekend in Denver was something less than perfect.
The bright notes from it included a trip to a water park, aptly named 'Water World'; a round of mini-golf in which yours truly took an early lead, sunk a hole-in-one, but still got spanked by 10 strokes; a pair of movies 'Bridge Jones' Diary', and 'Lilo and Stitch'; and two lovely dinners - the first at a generally Thai restaurant (Big Bowl) and the second at an Italian restaurant, whose name I have but forgotten. Further on the plus side, I did manage to snag an upgrade on the return flight DEN-DTW, as my lovely platinum status on Continental goes a long way with Northwest. This certainly gave me some space to put down 300+ pages of Harry Potter.
My activities with A* this weekend were in general fun and lively, but for some reason I found a way to break down twice during my visit. In each situation, I questioned A*'s feelings for me and the strength of our relationship. Fuck. This shows me to be insecure about our relationship. I am left wondering if this is due to the level of feedback I get from her, or just because I am unconsciously sabotaging the relationship. If it is the latter, then I am going to need to put a quick end to it.
I am genuinely wondering if I am her type and if that matters - she indicated that I was not when I put her on the spot about it, saying I was just 'different', and that she considers it a good thing that I am not her usual type, as she has not had success with that type. I am also slightly bothered that I cannot quickly answer what value she is getting from the relationship. I feel like I should be able to answer this without blinking.
If my relationship with A* is going to continue then I am going to need to do the following things:
1) Fully accept her nature (levels of affection, expression)
2) Be more confident and not regress into child-Brian
3) not question her or put her on the defensive about issues we've already talked about.
Just had a conversation with A*. Apparently she is less than pleased that I brought up the same topic again. The problem I addressed - and one that finds itself recurring - is her lack of affection or attention towards me. I feel as though I am very affectionate with her, and that I try to be expressive. Her nature is less affectionate and expressive, and thinks that I am more affectionate than she is used to. Moreover, she seems to be willing to lay the relationship on the line about this. That's a scary, albeit strong, concept.
At a minimum, in the future, I need to be sure not to address her lesser levels of expression and affection, as they put her on the defensive. And just so I am certain, she has told me that if she has a problem with me, she'll let me know.
I just finished counting the number of states I have visited, landed in, or driven through, and I am up to 26/50. I feel proud of having been to more than 50% of the US, but I'm certainly not content, and can't wait until I am able to explore more. Plus, there's all of Europe to think about.
A company called Canada Dry makes club soda. Strangely, it is bottled in Plano, Texas. I can't think of a more liberal country contrasting with a more conservative city. Relatedly, is club soda healthy? Some top ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Sodium Citrate, Potassium Sulfate, Disodium Phosphate.
I very much enjoyed my recent trip to Philadelphia. The city seems something like New York, except there's more space, and people seem in general friendlier. Perhaps it was because the weekend in which I visited there was no rain, despite the past few having seen downpours.
The reason I was in Philadelphia was for the 2003 Skate Jam. This, in addition to the Philadelphia Inline Cup (a set of 5k and 20k races), and the chance to see friends from all over the country, served as a good enough reason to take a weekend away from Austin. It felt good to connect with my fellow skaters, and I offer a shout out to: Vicki, Walter, and Carloyn from Detroit, Mark from Atlanta, Blake and Elizabeth from North Carolina, Wendy from Pittsburgh, Mag and Claudia from DC, Lynn and a lot of other skaters whose names I forget from NYC, Laurel, Alan and Freddie from the Boston area, Kimmi from Philly, the full group of Rochester skaters (Orlando, John, Alice, Michelle, Greg, Joel, and others) and Carl and Joe from somewhere, USA.
Downsides to the event:
1) Laurel spending a night with Alice, Greg, and myself, and her purse being taken from the room and her reaction following the incident.
2) Not so much Alice conversation time.
3) Greg's present unhappiness, causing him to be a bit more critical these days.
Overall, I already miss it. I wish every day could be like this past weekend was. I'll take the step forward and admit that I am a community skate junkie.