Long Beach Comic Con

The new Wife and I went to the Long Beach Comic Convention a few weekends ago. Overall, it was a letdown but what was interesting was the row of media celebrities available for autographs. Included in this row were: Josie Davis, most known for Charles in Charge; Tito Santana, former pro wrestler; Dave Ellefson, former bass player for Megadeth; and Deon Richmond, who I recognized from playing the Token Black Guy in Not Another Teen Movie. So in case you were wondering what minor league celebrities do with a free Sunday morning...this is it.

Softball Success?

I've been playing coed softball in Burbank for the last 3 years or so. Typically, our team is not that good. Up 'till now, we have never finished a season with more than 2 wins. This season, we are 7-2 which is nothing short of astonishing. I think our biggest improvement is making less mistakes. Everyone is playing very smart defense - hitting the cutoff throws, and most importantly, not overthrowing the ball trying to do too much. And not to brag too much about my own performance, but I've pitched 13 consecutive scoreless innings...which actually has more to do with our defense than with my pitching. :)

If we win this coming Sunday's game against the Pink Unicorns (the team we despise the most), we make it to the championship game. Or the playoffs. I'm not really sure how the post season is structured since we've never been close before.

Needless to say, it's a very exciting time for our little softball team that could. Our last regular game of the season is this Sunday at 6pm. Email me for the exact location, and then come on out and watch us slay some Unicorns! We're going out for drinks after the game, win or lose!

Movin' On?

So now that we're all newly married and crap, we're starting the process of looking for a home. We're pretty much back on our feet after me getting laid off last year, even though we're both making less than at our previous jobs. After doing some initial searches online, I think we're going to go drive around some areas this weekend and check some areas out. We started watching shows on HGTV like First Time Home Buyers and Property Virgins to see if we can learn anything, too.

One of the quandries we're in is whether or not to stay in Los Angeles. We've talked about it and I would rather be doing awesome somewhere else than doing just okay here in California. For the price range of a condo here, we can get a 3 bedroom house in a St. Louis or Nashville suburb. A house. With 3 bedrooms and a basement. A front yard and a back yard. And no stupid monthly HOA fees, which I'm guessing is a huge frustration for first time homeowners.

Oh, California...why must you frustrate me so?

The other thing to consider is that since I'm half-black/half-Chinese/half-Irish, we would need someplace tolerant of interracial couples. I imagine anyplace near a big city has to have some level of diversity (along with a handful of bigoted morons, of course) but I have no experience living anywhere but the melting pot of California.

Halloween

So, Halloween is on Saturday this year, right? I can't decide which is more bizarre -- work telling me to dress up on Thursday or friends hosting a Halloween party on Friday.

Did I mention Halloween is on a SATURDAY this year?

Wedding Recap-ish

Well, the wedding is finally over with and we are relieved. Everything went well and I'm glad we did things our own way. I think the most frequent comment I heard was people appreciated the personal touch we put on everything - that it was a casual backyard reception instead of in some banquet hall. They liked they could wear shorts and go back for seconds of barbecue chicken instead of being served filet mignon by a waiter. Even though it was a lot of work, I'm really happy with the way everything turned out.

The only downside is I feel like we barely got time to see everyone. Realistically, you'd need about 20 minutes with each table (maybe 5 for some) to sit down, catch up and properly thank everyone for coming. We had a ton of help from family in the planning, set-up and clean up process and for that, we are incredibly grateful.

For one of our giveaways, we made a mix CD since we're both big fans of music. Plus, I think a music CD is a much cooler gift than the typical 2-pack of truffles or whatever that gets eaten in 30 seconds. Here's the tracklist we used:

1. I Want You, I Need You, I Love by Elvis Presley -song we used for our first dance
2. Follow Through by Gavin DeGraw - this was going to be our first dance, but we couldn't find a good enough slow version
3. Hold My Hand by Hootie and the Blowfish
4. Go Home by Barenaked Ladies
5. Don't Stop Believin' by Journey
6. Afternoon Delight by Will Ferrell - from the Anchorman soundtrack, which is one of our favorite movies
7. Fit by Better Than Ezra - BTE is my favorite band, and this song is pretty romantical
8. Feels Like Home by Chantal Kreviazuk
9. What a Wonderful World Over the Rainbow by Israel Kamakawiw'ole
10. A Kiss to Build a Dream On by Louis Armstrong
11. Have a Little Faith in Me by Mandy Moore
12. Across the Universe by Seether
13. Love is Just a Word by Ingram Hill
14. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again) by Sly & The Family Stone
15. I Love L.A. by Randy Newman - ironically, sometimes we just don't
16. Best Days by Graham Colton

Plus two hidden tracks - the first was me on the Kevin & Bean Afro Line (detailed here) and the second a comedy track about how being married is uncool by Greg Behrendt.

I really wanted to include Metallica's "Ride the Lightning", but we just couldn't find a good spot for it amongst the other tracks.

5 Smartest Cities

The other day on the radio, they read this list of the 5 Smartest Cities. The only problem with the list is one of the entries is listed "San Francisco/Oakland/San Jose" which, last time I checked, was actually three cities. What a dumbass list.

That's like asking someone what their favorite food is and their response is "Hamburger/spaghetti/fried chicken." Pick one city, you stupid f'ing list!!!

Tragedy

Sorry, but this will be a weird start back to blogging. Posts will be forthcoming about the wedding but I have to get this out there because something hit me hard on Tuesday morning. My Mom asked me if I went to school with someone, and I said yes, and then she said his obituary was in the paper that morning. This wasn't a close friend of mine by any means, maybe more like an acquaintance, I guess. I knew him and had classes with him going back to 6th grade through high school graduation.

I read his obituary and then found the actual news story online, where he and his wife passed away in a car accident last week. For most of the day, I've been quiet and introspective. This is a guy who was 31 - like me. He was married - like me. And now he won't get to celebrate his 32nd birthday, but I will. He won't get to have kids, but I will. Just like that, his life was tragically lost in a car accident where he wasn't even driving.

I don't think I can make any sense of it at this point, and I don't know if I will. It's a weird mix of having a very heavy heart today, yet also feeling grateful for what I have.

Another guy I went to high school with passed away 2 years ago due to medical complications and that one hit me, too. But not like this. Just a really strange feeling. Sorry my first blog post back had to be a downer.

My thoughts and prayers go out to their families and for Pete's sake, hug your loved ones a little tighter next time you see them.