Wednesday morning, James and I were lounging around, enjoying not having to be anywhere when the phone rang. It was our co-worker John Ford. He and his wife were on their way up to Solvang and San Luis Obispo for some post holiday cheer. They had invited us a few days prior but I didn't want to make any commitment on account of my certain lack of health. But we were feeling spontaneous and decided to go for the Solvang part. Why not? I've never been before. So we hopped in the car and headed out for a delightful road trip.
Solvang is about 130 miles north of Los Angeles in the Santa Ynez Valley. It's become quite the little wine country. But the town itself is a little bit of Scandinavia in the middle of Southern California. Most places have windmills on them and Dutch names like Skaarsgaard or Van Hooten. Not long after we arrived, we met up with John and Audrey who regaled us with tales of wine tasting and bottles of wine to prove it. We were ordered to drink up and catch up. We did and we did. And then we were off to the Hitching Post for steaks! The restaurant is featured in the film Sideways as the place of employment of the Virginia Madsen character. For some reason, after an appetizer of a tiny, helpless quail, Audrey decided to ask pretty much everyone in the restaurant what color eyes I have. James insists they are blue. I always thought they are green. Most people assume they are blue, as in blond hair/blue eyes. I seem to remember my optometrist telling me they are blue with gold flecks. Audrey has the most amazing bright blue eyes, so next to hers, mine look darker and more gray or green depending on how you see it. I think everyone else may have been as drunk as I was because I don't remember anyone coming up with an answer. After a lot of time quizzing the general population of Solvang, I still don't know what color my eyes really are. But the next day they were most assuredly red.
That didn't stop us from wine-tasting our way back and forth across the Valley, stopping only to pet the ostriches who wanted to eat my sweater. James and I made one more stop before heading back to LA: The Hitching Post for one more steak. And that is where I left my camera. hopefully they will mail it back since I'm not looking forward to making the 3 hour trek back anytime this week. John and Audrey headed up north and the Madonna Inn.
I can't wait to get my camera/pictures back. And to hear all about the crazy pink rooms at the Madonna.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Ooops she did it again
So, we were coming back from lunch and we saw this girl in the lobby with a tiny little shirt tied up at her chest Daisy Duke style. Her tanned midriff was exposed all the way down to her low-rise jeans. She was talking to a guy in a trucker hat. We giggled as we passed thinking "who's that trashy girl who thinks she's Brittney Spears?" Then we saw a producer and the head of Music approach her and welcome her to Disney. They whisked her away to the recording studio.
And so it was Brittney Spears who thought she was Brittney Spears. Strange.
And so it was Brittney Spears who thought she was Brittney Spears. Strange.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Blood Bath
It was brutal. Really brutal. We each waited for a phone call, all 800 of us. When I got there at 9:30 it had already started. We had heard 20% would be cut, but it seems closer to 40%. Entire departments fell. Still, each person got a call. One by one. By 10:30 they had started on our department. David got a call...he was out. We were discussing when Eric got a call. They told him to go upstairs, which was generally the indication that you were made redundant. They will only tell you that in person. He was gone for a few minites when James came in to tell me he had been cast. He was so relieved. After days of stress, and being sick on top of it, it was all over. I heard Eric come back and pack up his stuff to leave. Yup, he's gone. Artists gathered in the hallway to discuss who is gone and why. Out of about 20 people in our group, they cut 9. A lot more than 20%. People were cut who are brilliant and quite gifted. As the morning passed, I grew more and more concerned. I clomped around the hall trying to burn off nervous energy, but people mistook that for my being happy and assumed I got The Call. Finally, at 12:30, the phone rang.
I have a Bat Phone (a phone with caller id on it) at work, so I can always tell who is bothering me. I saw the name - Tanja Knoblich (which James tells me means garlic in German.) Tanja is a wonderful, sweet person whom I have worked with for years. We worked quite closely together back in the Resources Days and I always counted on her for the best gossip. And on this day, I knew she was fortunate enough to be passing out the good calls. My heart lept and I answered. "Dara, my friend, you've been cast on the next project!"
I was giddier than I expected I would be. We were all allowed to leave for the day and I had a hair appointment. Which was great. Hair stylists are always the best people to vent to. She got an earfull from me.
Today I'm dealing with the survivor's guilt. I feel as if I have a dying Tom Hanks saying to my Private Ryan, "Earn this...."
Earn this.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Monday, December 11, 2006
Last Day of Silence
Tomorrow, everything changes.
Today, we had our annual efx department Holiday Lunch and gift exchange. We went to Mori's teppan grill, which is always fun to watch the Japanese (or Latino) chefs set a bunch of stuff on fire right in front of your very eyes! James is home sick with strep or something like it.
Finally, we started the gift exchange. Each person chooses a gift or you can choose to steal a gift from someone who already has chosen one. I drew third and opted not to take the dart board from Chyuan because I knew that gift would make it's way around the whole department like a bad rumor. So, I chose a new gift. Turned out to be a collection of Horror B-Movie Action Figures. Cool! But then Peter stole it from me in the next turn. Oh well. So I got to draw again. This time it was scotch. Timely. I was going to buy a bottle for tomorrow to share with whoever needed it. But Simon ended up with it. Actually, he probably needs it more than any of us since he had to put his dog to sleep this morning. Poor guy. And so I drew again and got a reindeer that poops jelly beans.
And so the day will drift along with most of us sleepy from Sapporo or Saki. And into the night where most of us will drift into some other ether from some other ethereal liquid. And then it will be tomorrow.
Tomorrow, we will find out, each of the 800 of us here at Feature, who will have a job and who will not. It's a crap shoot. Good thing I've got Reindeer poop.
Today, we had our annual efx department Holiday Lunch and gift exchange. We went to Mori's teppan grill, which is always fun to watch the Japanese (or Latino) chefs set a bunch of stuff on fire right in front of your very eyes! James is home sick with strep or something like it.
Finally, we started the gift exchange. Each person chooses a gift or you can choose to steal a gift from someone who already has chosen one. I drew third and opted not to take the dart board from Chyuan because I knew that gift would make it's way around the whole department like a bad rumor. So, I chose a new gift. Turned out to be a collection of Horror B-Movie Action Figures. Cool! But then Peter stole it from me in the next turn. Oh well. So I got to draw again. This time it was scotch. Timely. I was going to buy a bottle for tomorrow to share with whoever needed it. But Simon ended up with it. Actually, he probably needs it more than any of us since he had to put his dog to sleep this morning. Poor guy. And so I drew again and got a reindeer that poops jelly beans.
And so the day will drift along with most of us sleepy from Sapporo or Saki. And into the night where most of us will drift into some other ether from some other ethereal liquid. And then it will be tomorrow.
Tomorrow, we will find out, each of the 800 of us here at Feature, who will have a job and who will not. It's a crap shoot. Good thing I've got Reindeer poop.
Monday, December 04, 2006
TaDa
After all that (see previous post) we still managed to get all spiffy and head out to Ruth's Chris Steak House for a birthday dinner. We had decided to wait until after the race to have the big dinner, when our appetites were sure to be exaggerated. It was painful to walk in high heels, but a steak has never tasted so good.
Half Marathon!
4:30am. Oatmeal. Lots of pink. That's pretty much all I remember from Sunday morning. Until we got to the meet up place downtown. Me and four other Disney folk decided to meet up and shuttle to the race start at Griffith Park. It was COLD! Reeaallly cold! How did I ever survive in Chicago? No one was really awake when we parked the car. That proved to be a problem later.
Upon arrival at the park, there was a crew of Native Americans onstage. The Chief was introducing a series of ancient and customary dances. One represented a Butterfly. The shawl represents Butterfly wings. The flapping of the shawl represents flapping of the butterfly wings. I had hoped there would be something more profound in the dance, but sometimes the dance represents the dance. The Chief talked about the old times and old dances and the way things used to be. "Then everything changed," he said. It's 6:30am, it's freezing cold, I'm about to run a race I'm not prepared for and now I am ladened with White Man Guilt. Superlative.
The lines for the outhouses were long and stinky, though I ran into an old friend, Brooks, there. As I waited in an impossibly long line, a lady with a radio tried to gather everyone for the race start. She urged us to get to the start line, but the 100 or so people in line just looked at her with inquisitive faces and full bladders.
From the line we heard the National Anthem (something I've never heard at a race before) and something that sounded like "Go!" and we could see the crowd slowly moving. James and I checked in our bags and wandered over to the start. Since we are chip timed, it doesn't really matter when you start. Your chip registers exactly when you cross the start and finish. I started to go and James held back. He wanted to wait until The Pack had cleared up a bit so he could run straight through. I started running and looked back to see James alone at the start.
Somewhere in the park, he ran up behind me. Not sure how far in we were, but Mr Blue Sky by ELO was on my running playlist at the time. I found it cute because that was at one time the ringtone I assigned to him.
On the back side of the park, it started. The pain. Twinges at the knee. And the hips. It was far too early for the pain. This was not going to end well. I considered running back to my car at Disney which was only about 4 miles away, but realized my keys were in Tracy's car downtown. Not an option. So I decided to walk. And then run and walk some more. That worked for a few miles. But by mile 9 I couldn't even take advantage of the downhills. It just hurt too much. I was left only able to run when I approached a camera or a crowd of children who were cheering me on to run. Couldn't let the kids down.
As I was running down Silver Lake Blvd, I realized that Russ lives somewhere right in that area. I probably ran right by his place, but I don't really know where it is. And as I ran through the cute neighborhood I felt this strange isolation. I was seeing his new life as a tourist. Watching it from the street and seeing it's cuteness as an objective passerby. I wondered when I passed the Walgreens if that is where he buys drugstore stuff. Is that the Ralphs he goes to? Is that cafe where he gets coffee and bagels? It was nice to see it from the street, to get the overview. I cried. My knees hurt, I should have trained harder, I let myself down and...I was sad.
And then I turned a corner. Downtown beckoned. My friends were there. James was there. And I tried to run as much as I could to get there faster. Drums were playing at mile 12 and 13. A lady on stilts danced (as much as you can in stilts.) And I ran to the finish.
James had a fantastic time of 1:42. Let's just say mine was an hour greater. I did walk most of it, remember. And today, it still hurts. It all hurts.
The gang decided to go out for dim sum, and everyone was kind enough to wait for me. Fortunately the race offered oranges and cookies and other treats to keep everyone's blood sugar happy. So off we went to Chinatown. But no one remembered exactly where the car was. We knew the garage, but which level? And so we walked an extra half-marathon around the garage looking for Tracy's car. I finally had to stop and lean on a pillar, telling everyone else to go one without me. It was like that last scene in Last of the Mohicans. Somewhere between levels 4 and 5, Marlon realized his phone was missing from his bag he had picked up from the bag-drop-off. Now we have a missing car, missing phone and bad knees. Finally, Marlon found the car. We phoned his phone hoping the lost and found people would pick up so we could FIND the lost and found. They did. We did. And finally we were off to dim sum. Between the hot tea and hot bath later, I found a comfortable position for my legs. It involves not moving at all.
Upon arrival at the park, there was a crew of Native Americans onstage. The Chief was introducing a series of ancient and customary dances. One represented a Butterfly. The shawl represents Butterfly wings. The flapping of the shawl represents flapping of the butterfly wings. I had hoped there would be something more profound in the dance, but sometimes the dance represents the dance. The Chief talked about the old times and old dances and the way things used to be. "Then everything changed," he said. It's 6:30am, it's freezing cold, I'm about to run a race I'm not prepared for and now I am ladened with White Man Guilt. Superlative.
The lines for the outhouses were long and stinky, though I ran into an old friend, Brooks, there. As I waited in an impossibly long line, a lady with a radio tried to gather everyone for the race start. She urged us to get to the start line, but the 100 or so people in line just looked at her with inquisitive faces and full bladders.
From the line we heard the National Anthem (something I've never heard at a race before) and something that sounded like "Go!" and we could see the crowd slowly moving. James and I checked in our bags and wandered over to the start. Since we are chip timed, it doesn't really matter when you start. Your chip registers exactly when you cross the start and finish. I started to go and James held back. He wanted to wait until The Pack had cleared up a bit so he could run straight through. I started running and looked back to see James alone at the start.
Somewhere in the park, he ran up behind me. Not sure how far in we were, but Mr Blue Sky by ELO was on my running playlist at the time. I found it cute because that was at one time the ringtone I assigned to him.
On the back side of the park, it started. The pain. Twinges at the knee. And the hips. It was far too early for the pain. This was not going to end well. I considered running back to my car at Disney which was only about 4 miles away, but realized my keys were in Tracy's car downtown. Not an option. So I decided to walk. And then run and walk some more. That worked for a few miles. But by mile 9 I couldn't even take advantage of the downhills. It just hurt too much. I was left only able to run when I approached a camera or a crowd of children who were cheering me on to run. Couldn't let the kids down.
As I was running down Silver Lake Blvd, I realized that Russ lives somewhere right in that area. I probably ran right by his place, but I don't really know where it is. And as I ran through the cute neighborhood I felt this strange isolation. I was seeing his new life as a tourist. Watching it from the street and seeing it's cuteness as an objective passerby. I wondered when I passed the Walgreens if that is where he buys drugstore stuff. Is that the Ralphs he goes to? Is that cafe where he gets coffee and bagels? It was nice to see it from the street, to get the overview. I cried. My knees hurt, I should have trained harder, I let myself down and...I was sad.
And then I turned a corner. Downtown beckoned. My friends were there. James was there. And I tried to run as much as I could to get there faster. Drums were playing at mile 12 and 13. A lady on stilts danced (as much as you can in stilts.) And I ran to the finish.
James had a fantastic time of 1:42. Let's just say mine was an hour greater. I did walk most of it, remember. And today, it still hurts. It all hurts.
The gang decided to go out for dim sum, and everyone was kind enough to wait for me. Fortunately the race offered oranges and cookies and other treats to keep everyone's blood sugar happy. So off we went to Chinatown. But no one remembered exactly where the car was. We knew the garage, but which level? And so we walked an extra half-marathon around the garage looking for Tracy's car. I finally had to stop and lean on a pillar, telling everyone else to go one without me. It was like that last scene in Last of the Mohicans. Somewhere between levels 4 and 5, Marlon realized his phone was missing from his bag he had picked up from the bag-drop-off. Now we have a missing car, missing phone and bad knees. Finally, Marlon found the car. We phoned his phone hoping the lost and found people would pick up so we could FIND the lost and found. They did. We did. And finally we were off to dim sum. Between the hot tea and hot bath later, I found a comfortable position for my legs. It involves not moving at all.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Introducing...
This is James. In previous posts I have mentioned New Boyfriend. And today I thought I would post a grand unveiling seeing as today is James' birthday. Happy Bithday James!!! Welcome to my blog! Everyone, say "hi" to James.....
glow.JPG
Michael had a bunch of glow sticks. Most people wore them around their necks. I chose something else.
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