Saturday, September 20, 2008

It's always rainy in Seattle

I got hosed by my Facebook 'status update' the other night. I had a couple tickets to a show (that I am going to in about two hours) and had a date but my date had to cancel on me last minute. So I tried in vain to find a 'date'. Mind you, date to me is a loose term meaning someone to accompany to something. No expectations for my dates. That could be why I'm still single... I'm not aggressive enough with women. But that's not what this blog is about, and I do think I'm aggressive enough, I just usually go in with no expectations, that way I don't have any regrets. But I digress...

So I called all the single women that I knew and they all had previous engagements, so I was dateless... I jokingly asked a co-worker on Friday if he had any female friends that would be cool with going to a show 'blindly' with someone that they just barely met. He surprisingly had a couple people in mind. Unfortunately, one was out of town and the other had 'seen my status update on Facebook' and thus felt like it was too formal of a request, but that she wouldn't mind just hanging out sometime. I felt, and still feel that this is a strange response to someone giving away a ticket to a show, but whatever. I felt a little angry with my Facebook page. I've been 'cock blocked' by roommates, friends, transportation (breaking down), relatives, pets (yes, the damn dog tried to hump my leg while I was trying to mack down with a girl on the couch). But never, ever did I think that I would be cock blocked by a website.

Again, my attempts to find a date for the event, were with no expectations, I simply wanted someone to accompany me so that I didn't look like a total toolbag. Still, I felt a little betrayed by my Facebook status, since my last hope decided she didn't want to meet up because of what my 'Facebook Status' said. Now that I think about it though, I think that is just about the lamest excuse I've ever heard from someone. First, anything that I put on my facebook, much like this blog, should be taken with a grain of salt. If you are so caught up in what something online says about someone else that you don't want to meet them, then you are probably pretty lame.

But that's just my honest opinion. It's probably not the best opinion since I'm still a single guy... you could probably say that I might have issues with women. LOL I say F&*% you.

PS - My Facebook status said, "Jeff has an extra ticket for a cabaret show and needs a date for Saturday... any takers? :)" What exactly is scary about this statement? Too honest? I could have said, "I'm only a half loser because I did have a date, but I apparently wasn't cool enough to be first choice, so now I have a spare ticket" right?

PSS - The rain has officially begun in Seattle, thus my blog title.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

I saw Will Smith in person tonight!

I saw Will Smith live and in person today. He was approximately 25 feet from me. Sadly, all I could do was say barely outloud, "That's Will Smith" to my friend Amanda. We had just gotten out of a sneak preview to see Will's new movie '7 Pounds', so it wasn't entirely shocking that Will was there, but I was in shock to see him. Will is probably my most favorite actor to watch. Not because he's the best, or because he's the funniest, or because he's the most dramatic, but just because he is Will Smith. Anytime you watch him in a movie, you see the character that he plays through and through, I mean when I watched Ali, I really though it was Cassius Clay in the movie. However, at the same time, when you watch a Will Smith movie, you watch Will Smith act. You know it's Will Smith. You enjoy it because it's Will Smith. He's not the hunkiest guy in the world, he doesn't have all the smooth lines, he doesn't make you fall on the floor laughing, but he does make you smile inside throughout the movie. I guess you could say, he makes you have a man crush on him.

Thus, when I saw him tonight, I was so excited I could barely move, much less anything more than a few syllables with only a few decibels to them. It's probably a good thing because I would hate myself if I would have 'gayed out' and started yelling and screaming... "Oh my God it's Will Smith, hey Will, HEEEEY". And then gone running toward him like a good crazed fan would. Not I sat in my chair at the conveniently placed bar just outside the movie theater and watched him walk into the elevator. I turned to my friend Amanda and we both simultaneously said, "That's Will Smith, oh my god".

As I said, I had just gotten out of watching Seven Pounds, starring Will Smith and Rosario Dawson. It was supposedly the very first showing of the movie to anyone. So, I guess it was a pretty special situation. We couldn't take our camera phones or cameras or any type of recording device into the theater. After the movie was over they made us fill out a questionaire that was sort of a movie review. I'm fairly certain that the movie got only fair reviews at best. I personally thought that the movie took to long to tell you what it was going to be about. With a name like Seven Pounds, I thought it might have something to do with giving birth, or with a heart transplant, but it could have been about something else completely. Once you get in about 20 minutes into the movie, you see what the movie is about and then it becomes a pretty predictable movie at that point. I don't want to be a spoiler so I'm trying to be fairly vague. I also thought the ending was a little cheesy. Overall I thought Will did a good job with his character although I thought his character came across as sort of creepy at times. The movie wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't good in my opinion. I think overall it was just sort of weird. I think the biggest problem with the movie was that it tried to be too many things at once. It was a drama, but it also tried to be artsy at times, then it turned to a love story, then drama again, and then it tried to have a deeper all around tie in, that kinda made you feel like, "Oh, yeah, I see all the tie in's though most were pretty easy to figure out, but now I can see what the whole movie was trying to be about."

Anyway, I guess I'm glad that Will didn't come closer to me because I might have been tempted to ask for his autograph and would have told him that I saw the sneak preview and he would have asked me what I thought. I would have been torn on whether to appease him and tell him that I thought it was pretty good, or whether to tell him the truth. (laughing to myself at this point) I should think that I would have told him most of what I said above, that while he did a good job with his role, as did all of the actors, the movie just tried to be too much and came off as weird. I would only hope that he would have taken that in stride and told the directors/producers to fix the movie.

So, like most of my life, I came so close yet I was still just a little bit away from something really cool happening to me. By the way, Will Smith isn't as tall as he looks in the movies, I'd say he's only about 6 foot tall, I expected 6'3", 6'4" Like Josh or Steve.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

State Rivalries

I was thinking today... I know, shocker... that it would be fun to start some state rivalries. I think there's actually a lot of merit in this because I think it could actually unify the country and bring back some of that spirit that we used to have. (USA! USA! USA! USA!) I have to admit that as much as I disagree with a lot of our head honchos and a lot of the stupid rules that exist, I still tear up every time I hear the national anthem being played. Maybe it's the athlete in me, but I'm proud to be an American. I definitely rooted for them in every olympic event and took it personally when they didn't win. I mean, I was rooting for our Olympic Speedwalkers for Chissake's! But I digress...

I think Washington should start a rivalry with Texas. Why you ask? Simple. I'm from Texas but I live in Washington, thus I'm an expert on both. Plus it'd be cool to be in the middle of the fight. But seriously, I know that Washington tries to pick a fight with California but it's weak and has something to do with Cheese and Wine. Plus California has a better rivalry with Florida over who can build the most retirement communities. I know that Oklahoma tries to say that there's a rivalry with Texas, but come on... everyone knows that Oklahoma- 'taint Texas. (Pun intended). Oklahoma doesn't have anything but the Sooners, and now the Thunder (Sonics) but come on, how many seasons were the Sonics competitive? 5 out of 40 years?

So, why should Washington pick a fight/rivalry with Texas? Well, OregonE, IdaHOE and Montana (Montana is a funny name as it is) can't handle Washington and Lousyana, ArkanSAW, Oklahoma, or Diet Mexico have no chance against Texas. Sure, Texas has 3 times the amount of people that Washington has, completely different weather patterns (ok Eastern Wa is a lot like Texas so I'm told and it looks a lot like Texas, so there's enough to talk $hit about right there).

Washington has Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, Boeing, and Nordstrom. Texas has Dell, Texaco, Travelocity, Neiman Marcus, and H-E-B (yeah, no one in Washington has a clue about HEB, but it's the largest independent grocery chain, and #8 among national grocery chains even though it's 98% only in Texas). Texas was founded because people wanted to be away from the Union, but didn't want to be a part of the crazy slave drivin' south either. Washington was founded because a bunch of people on the East Coast wanted to be free of all the East Coast BS and wanted to explore the "Great Northwest". Texas was won from the Mexicans, Washington won from the Native Americans. Both states still have a large population of their Native people and both states continue to oppress them. Texas is a vital gateway to Mexico, Washington is a vital gateway to Canada. The Seahawks claim the 12th Man as their own while everyone in their right mind knows that Texas A&M was the first and most prominent with it (hello 12 men on the kick off team?)

So, who would win? Well, if GW were leading the Texans then Washington would have a fighting chance, but in all likelihood Texas would win this match up. Hell, the Texas A&M Aggie Corps of Cadets could probably take down the state of Washington by themselves (they are just crazy enough). But if it became a computer/internet battle, Washington (well, Seattle) would probably kick the crap out of Texas. High school football... no contest - Texas all the way. College Football? UW has seen a lot of success in the 80's and 90's, and Wazzu some decent success in the early 2000's (WSU vs. Texas 2003 Holiday Bowl, anyone? yeah WSU beat that ass). But Texas and Texas A&M have combined for more National Titles than UW and Wazzu, and while their Washington rivalry is cute and all... it doesn't beat the t.u. vs. TAMU rivalry. Although, the Apple Cup has provided some legendary games... then again,I do seem to remember a certain Ricky bowl over Dat Da Da Dat Dat Nguyen and break the all time college rushing yards record. Energy and recycling... big edge to Washington over Texas, but Texas has 'plenty of landfill space', so this should be a push right? Wrong. FAIL, Texas, FAIL.

Ok, I'm tired, all of this Trash talking has worn me out. But one final note Texas flag vs. Washington flag? No competition, the Lone Star takes out the green whatchamacallit by a landslide. Although you do have to admit that Texas wasn't very creative when coming up with a flag... "uhh, let's go with a red and white stripe, but just one of each, since we're just one state, and then we'll have a blue field with one star, cuz again we're just one state and not 13, but that'll be totally different than Old Glory!" Ok, the Texas flag is still more bad ass than greenie.