This Boy Elroy

Wall-E

Brett penned a great post about his reaction to the movie "Wall-E," and I have to say that I was also really affected by this movie emotionally. I don't know if it's the movie plus the affect of a pride celebration hangover, but today I have been really depressed, not to mention drained of energy.

Out there Full of shine and full of sparkle Close your eyes and see it glisten, Barnaby Listen, Barnaby... Put on your Sunday clothes, There's lots of world out there...

Wall-E struck a chord with me mostly because of the irony that a lonesome machine longed for contact with another while existing on a trash infested, abandoned Earth. All the while, humans were floating in space getting fat, and were completely ignorant of their surroundings or one another. I thought the leitmotifs of "Sunday Clothes" and "It Only Takes a Moment" from Hello Dolly! were brilliant choices. Both songs are cheesy, trite, and hackneyed (I know because I performed them my sophomore year in high school), but the simple themes in both are often ones that make us smile and feel connected to one another, whether it be loved ones or strangers. In our world of technology and consumerism these simple pleasures are the most fragile, and when we begin to lose them, we begin to lose ourselves and our care for who and what is around us.

The levels that one can peel off from Wall-E range from ecological to sociological, and I'm glad that the shock of the magnificent desolation in Wall-E has caused Brett to pause and think about his consumption and and his interconnectedness to humanity. I hope that other adults react in this way, and more importantly I hope a generation of children are compelled to feel the same. Wall-E was the little engine that could, and he saved us and our planet in a movie but we all need to be a little like Wall-E if we're going to survive.

So, think about what you consume, and where it goes when you're done with it, and think about the people you love and strangers around you. Because if we don't, we're alone, in a world of junk.

And we'll recall when time runs out That it only took a moment To be loved a whole life long!

...and we're back!

Internet has arrived at our home in San Francisco. We thought the day would never come but it has and we are grateful for it! Eighteen days without internet at home is about all I can take.

This weekend we'll probably go on another urban adventure. I'll be more reliable about posting photos and everything now.

It's good to be back in the virtual world! I'm off to gorge myself on Yelp, Flickr, and FaceBook.

We're Here

We made it in safely and our stuff is arriving tomorrow morning. Hooray! No more air mattress. I have some photos to share but Flickr is not responding, nor is Yahoo.

Brad and I have give a TREMENDOUS thank-you to our friends Tyler, for picking us up for the airport, driving me to the pet store to get provisions for Milo, for the terrific welcome gift bag, and for the toilet paper! And to Moby, for spending his Monday with us, driving us to Target, introducing us to Frank who I hope comes to visit often from Phoenix because he was totally rad, and for the pillows because balling up clothes and calling them a pillow does not make them a pillow - nor does it bode well for a good nights rest! We slept like logs thanks to the pillows Moby!! XOXOXOX

Those sentences lacked all grammatical correctness, oh well...two tears in the bucket - fuck it!

Will post photos as soon as Yahoo and Flickr unfuck themselves.

Apartment Hunt

We're off to San Francisco to find an apartment, wish us luck! We hope to have a new address when we return.

I took this photo in June 2006 when Brad and I were visiting San Francisco. We recently rented the film "The Dark Passage" and I noticed while watching the film that this is the building where Lauren Bacall's character lived. Also, while reading Armistead Maupin's "Babycakes" I learned that this is the house where DeDe and Beauchamp Day live in "Tales of The City." Funny, because when their building is described in "Tales" this is the one that was in my mind, but it's not confirmed until two books later in "Babycakes." At the time I took the photo I just liked the building (I have an affinity for all things art noveau and deco), but I had no idea it was so notable.

Caveat emptor

A couple of days ago it was officially our second year in our home. We really couldn't be happier with the place we bought. One of the lessons we learned in our home buying experience was that what you see is not what you get when it comes to new construction. Initially we had reserved a unit in a new construction condo building. We liked the floorplan, the exterior rendering was nice, and the options for upgrading were extremely attractive. As is the case with many new construction projects there were many delays but there was also a vibe we were getting from the company building and selling the units that didn't sit with us well. The straw that broke the camels back was when we found out that our floorplan had been changed without our consent (we found out through the website) and we decided to pull our money out and get a place that was already built.

Are we glad we did too! The building was JUST recently completed, several similar projects in the neighborhood have lapped it's progress even. I was surfing the listings and couldn't help but notice the difference between the original rendering of the building and the finished project.

Caveat emptor!

The Aftermath

It was another banner Christmas at chez BrAdam (Brad+Adam=BrAdam). We spent the eve with Brad's parents and his sister's family and since his mother is anxious to open gifts the tradition is to open them on Christmas eve after dinner has been consumed. Thanks to Brad's brother-in-law the process is organized such that the youngest to oldest opens one present at a time so that we all get a chance to see who's getting what. Every year I hear stories how unwrapping gifts would last a mere minute or two, wrapping paper knee deep, and gifts potentially lost in the flotsam and jetsam. I like the orderly method.

As usual Brad's parents went overboard with us aptly acquiring almost everything we listed on our Amazon wish lists. Brad and I took a calculated risk that paid off for their gift, we gave them a Nintendo DS. They already have a lot of handheld video card games and whenever we come over one of them is usually on the couch playing them. Also, Brad is certain his mom was a closet gamer. Back in the day when he had a ColecoVision he could tell his mom had played it while she was alone at home while everyone was away at school or work. Like I said it paid off, when they unwrapped the gift they both responded to it with quite a bit of excitement, Brad's dad knew exactly what it was, going so far as to remove it from the box immediately to charge it. Score.

After dinner we went home and stayed up late by a fire watching episodes of Planet Earth on BluRay. It's so addicting, each episode is better than the last. So far my favorite one has been caves, which is a surprise because I wasn't expecting to be so engaged by caves but the locations they went to for Planet Earth are simply exquisite. Watching each episode makes me feel so delightfully insignificant.

Christmas morning we woke up late and opened the gifts that we got for each other. I got a really nice new wallet and a Webkinz. What's a Webkinz you ask? Well we saw these at the mall because we were getting them for my nieces and we thought they were so cute we got one for each of us as well. We are overgrown kids, we know, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Anyway, Webkinz have an activation code included with each one and you go online and adopt it as a pet. You have to make sure your pet stays happy, healthy, and fed (kinda like a Tamagouchi but Webkinz don't die). That's not all there is to it though. In order to get funds to buy what your pet needs you need to go do various activities and I must say I am impressed with the online content of this toy. The activities are super educational and perfect for kids, even for adults too - I like the trivia questions about history. There's even an section on the environment that squarely addresses that global warming is happening and educates you, and your pet, on how to help stop it.

I adopted at polar bear and named him Akiak, the Inuit word for brave.

The rest of the morning was spent playing video games. I was sucked into Tomb Raider Anniversary Edition on the Wii and Brad was engrossed with Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. I've never played Tomb Raider before so I'm really loving it. Parts of it make me think of Homer because you have to make rubbings of carvings and stuff.

Hope you all had a great Christmas too!

I feel dirty.

Dick Cheney is in town to speak at the World Affairs Council chapter of Dallas/Ft. Worth. He's very near, I can feel a disturbance in the force. Brad and I wanted to peruse used CDs at a local shop after dinner and our route was blocked by police blockading the streets of Highland Park, the bubble of wealth and privilege that exists inside of Dallas. According to a comment on the D Magazine blog, FrontBurner, Dick and Lynn went to the Beretta gallery in Highland Park Village but only bought sweaters. So, not only did Dick Cheney contribute to, and mastermind, the worst presidential administration this country has ever seen, he also ruined my evening. Bah!

Tonight before I go to bed I will meditate on 01.20.09 and make a nice ring of salt around my bed to keep the evil away.

Saw the light, and a bit more.

It is not uncommon that I open the window coverings on my bedroom windows to see where some bright light is coming from. Sometimes the neighbor in the back leaves her patio light on and I just glare down at it, wishing I had a bee be gun to extinguish it. Then I lay in bed, room all aglow from her patio light, thinking about how I need to buy thicker panels for the curtain rods. The next night the light is off and all thoughts of curtain shopping are gone. The cycle starts over.

Tonight however the light was not coming from the patio but instead from inside my back neighbors condo. I opened the window coverings, looked down, shrieked, and closed them. No thoughts of bee bee guns. No thoughts of curtains. Just fear that I had been seen looking down.

There she was. On her couch, in nothing but a sweat shirt, legs up, watching her television, and filing her nails. She's a multi-tasker; I respect that. She also has a landing strip. I don't even know my neighbor's name but I could tell you the pattern of her pubic hair. This is America.

Needless to say, I will have a bit more trepidation about tearing the window coverings open to see where the light is coming from. Also, note to self: Make sure curtains in my living room are pulled when I wear nothing but a sweatshirt, watch tv, and file my nails.

Bleh.

The unit next door to ours has three kittens meowing in the window.

The owner has been not been seen or heard from for a couple of years now. The person who was renting the unit, who was allegedly the owners nephew (although I've heard him say it was his mom), has pretty much abandoned the unit. Last time anyone spoke to him he said the owner (his aunt/mom) of the unit moved back to Nigeria. We're pretty sure he was a drug dealer and is using drugs himself seeing as when the homeowners association entered the unit to fix a broken window that had been laying untouched for over a year, they found syringes strewn about the interior of the unit along with many unattended cats and a turtle.

Saturday, when we came home from the gym a neighbor pointed out that there were three cats meowing in the window of the unit next to ours. SPCA and animal control says they can't remove animals from inside a home without a warrant. Aren't warrants passe these days? You don't need a warrant to listen in on phone conversations but you need one to rescue starving and thirsty animals? It's great to be living the culture of life. Brad thinks the moral thing to do is to throw a rock through the window so the cats can get out and SPCA and animal control can then rescue them. Part of me thinks that's correct, I mean if I went missing and my cat were locked inside without food or water I'd want someone to rescue him.

It's been weighing on my mind all weekend, just on the other side of my wall those cats are perishing. I'm mad at the person next door for leaving animals alone and I'm mad that there's nothing I can do about it. This is the world we live in. Hmph.

This weekend I...

Refused to shave or trim my beard.

Went to Target.

Pissed off Zeus and had the sword of Olympus driven into my stomach after which I was sent to the underworld but was resurrected by Gaia to help her and the other Titans overthrow the gods.

Prevented a Leviathon from destroying planet Norion after which I was knocked unconscious for a month. When I awoke was told that I was fitted with a new phason suit and the Aurora unit 242 told me to go to planet Bryyo to destroy another Leviathon.

Made a wholly steamed dinner in my new asian steamer that I got from my friends Dorothee and Jay.

What did you do?