dl

Things I've been doing instead of blogging:

2005-11-20T21:53:00.000-08:00

1. Working. A lot. You may remember a lawsuit a while back where an EA employee sued for overtime pay for all the extra hours he put in. EA took a lot of heat for that one. After my short time in this industry, I can tell you for certain that this is not a condition that is exclusive to EA. This is just the way it is. It's not that I'm asked to work overtime directly... it's just that I'm given a certain amount to do by a deadline and the only way to accomplish it is to work a lot of hours. On the plus side, I usually get free dinners when I work late. Unfortunately they seem to rotate from ordering between 4 different places. I tend to work late 5 nights a week. You do the math. Don't get me wrong - I love my job and I'm certainly not complaining, but it's quite the full-time commitment.

2. Going to the beach. I've been taking advantage of my location and getting to the beach. I've gotten in a full day in each of the last 2 weekends, and it's been well worth it. This morning Jay woke me up from a sound sleep with a phone call, and 20 minutes later I was down on the sand drinking coffee and eating breakfast. It certainly helped that it was at least 85 degrees today. It was also one of the clearest days I've seen yet, and from the beach at Venice we could easily see 20+ miles into the hills of Malibu. Yet another reminder of how lucky I feel to be living in paradise.

3. Writing. Music, that is. Lately I've been dedicating a decent amount of my free time towards composing, and I think I'm on the verge of some great music. Just this afternoon on my way home from the beach a groove popped into my head. I came home and sat down at the computer and a new song just sort of flowed out of me. In about 4 hours I had the makings of a pretty decent song. My style lately has tended towards down-tempo, dreamy melodic stuff with a dark edge - something along the lines of where one of my last completed tracks, "Springin", was headed. (If you're curious, you can hear that one on my website at www.doctorop.com.) I've also been playing around a lot with my MIDI bass, which let's me play and control all of my synths from my electric bass. It's certainly inspired a lot of new ideas.

4. Playing darts. Or rather, trying not to suck so much at darts. I don't know what it is about hurling sharp metal objects in a crowded room that goes so well with drinking, but it certainly has been keeping me entertained. I've played more darts in the last 10 days than I have in the previous 10 years. I'm still not quite at the point where I can hit what I'm aiming for, but I'm starting to hold my own. It helps that they have darts at my favorite local dive bar, the Townhouse. It also helps that my friends tend to be pretty equally crappy at darts as well. On a side note, the dart board at the Townhouse is positioned in such a way that you need to stand directly in front of the door to the women's room in order to throw. I can tell you from personal experience that this can lead to some pretty interesting moments.

An open letter to the people in my office building.

2005-11-02T23:38:00.000-08:00

Dear people in my office building,

Learn to ride a fucking elevator! Seriously, you people astound me.

When I was a little kid, my mom taught me a valuable elevator-riding lesson. It went a little something like this: "Now Danny... Stand back from the door and let the nice people off before you get on." It's a simple concept really - or so I thought. I guess everyone else in my building was an orphan or else had horrible parents that never taught them the finer points of living in civilized society with the rest of us.

When I ride the elevator down to the first floor, I mean business. Typically I make the trip twice a day - lunchtime and quitting time - so needless to say I'm eager to get where I'm going. As the elevator reaches its destination I tend to move towards the door to make my escape as quick as possible. I'm pretty sure most people do this. Face facts: no one enjoys riding on an elevator, and we all want out.

When the door opens, you wouldn't believe how often I find myself facing a wall of people that have positioned themselves directly between me and the rest of the world. This sucks and forces me to mutter an ackward "excuse me" as I try and squeeze by someone who should really be apologizing to me. Would it kill you to take a step back?

Even more ridiculous - you wouldn't believe how many times this "human wall" has taken it upon themsleves to push me aside as they press into the elevator, leaving me squashed into the corner by all the buttons. It is at this point that I typically take it upon myself to push all the buttons before glaring at them and leaving. Seriously, what could be so fricking important that you feel the need to stampede your way in? The elevator will not leave any faster, and you've just earned yourself a few extra seconds inside. Congrats. Why don't you use them to think about what an ass you are.

So please, people, do us all a favor and stand back.
That is all.

-dl

ps: I just re-read this letter, and I can imagine how some might think that it's a little harsh. While you're at it, imagine how many times this must've happened for me to write about it.

...this blog entry has the worst title ever. sorry.

2005-10-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

you know it's a bad sign when you've barely had your blog a week, and yet you're already obsessed with posting. well... not "obsessed", per se. let's just say that i woke up this morning thinking that i should post. and went to bed the night before thinking the same thing. hopefully this will clear my head.

i have been taking more pictures with my sweet new digital camera. a few random shots for your viewing pleasure:

this is toshi. he taught me that cats don't suck. who knew? seriously, though, i grew up with a dog and never had any interest in having one. but toshi is the complete opposite of any other cat i have met. he's really outgoing - he greets me when i get home from work and he crawls into my lap when i watch tv. and, yes, he's cute and cuddly too. i've learned to love again. :-)

thanks little buddy!

this is my new office. its nowhere as cute as toshi, and i can assure you that it is nowhere near as cuddly. but, since i've been spending a whole lot of time there lately, i figured i'd give you a glimpse. welcome to my world.

random side note: you know how sometimes there's some band that all of your friends have been telling you about forever - you've read about them, you like all the artists they're compared to, you keep meaning to hear them... and yet, you haven't. well for a long time i've been meaning to check out "boards of canada" and this week i finally did. i was totally blown away. it's definitely more on the "weirdo electronica" side but, man, i'm really into them. very smooth and ambient with cool, procesed beats and lush harmonies. i'm glad i finally gave them a shot.
so i guess what i'm trying to say is: if there is a band like that in your life, do yourself a favor and check them out. because i can pretty much guarantee they'll kick ass.

and one last thing.
for those of you that have been paying attention - hey, don't laugh. it's possible. - you may have noticed that i tend to end my entries with their titles. i'm not really sure why. it's kind of silly, actually. and it's the reason why this blog entry has the worst title ever. sorry.

Lovely.

2005-10-23T11:23:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend my parents came into town. Partially because it was my birthday, partially because they wanted to check out my new life here in LA, but mostly because they somehow got themselves a free cruise that left from Long Beach. How convenient. Timing, as they say, is everything.

So they arrived back in Los Angeles Friday afternoon, and I met up with them after work. I was coming off a long week of crunching to meet a deadline. They were coming off a long week of floating in the sun and eating. Apparently they've decided that they "like cruising". Don't we all? Tropical paradise + all inclusive food & drink + relaxation. You know, I think I could learn to like cruising too... if i had to.

Apparently the weekend before their trip, the boat had been used for some kind of floating rave. When it came time for them to get on the boat, my parents and the other passengers were forced to wait on the dock for hours as a bunch of FBI and DEA agents scoured the ship. Turns out that at some point during the rave, 2 people OD'd and died on board.

Lovely.

Anyway... we had a great time driving around and checking out different parts of the city. We went to the Getty museum, which is something I've been meaning to do since I moved out here. The museum is up on the top of a mountain... you have to park your car at the bottom and then ride a tram up. It's kind of like Disney world without the "Imagineering". Once you're at the top though - great views, and lots of great artwork. The architecture of the buildings and the design of the grounds is really impressive. Of everything we saw, the highlight was an exhibition of photos by Julius Shulman, a legendary architectural photographer. Most of his photos are of the modern, open style houses that were really stylish in the 40's and 50's. I've actually been fascinated by this style for a while - the sleek lines, open air design and unique shapes are really appealing. Check it out. There was one amazing picture of an old gas station from the 30's that looked like a giant bird about to take off. I searched all over the internet for a copy but couldn't find it. Damn you, Google Image Search.

And speaking of photos, my parents also gave me a digital camera as a birthday present. I haven't had a camera of my own since I was about 8 years old, so I couldn't wait to take some pictures. Too bad I still take pictures like an 8 year old. Here's one of the first shots I took. I call it "Self-Portrait of a Newbie":

Lovely.

Don Johnson doesn't live here...

2005-10-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

So I come home from work the other day, and in my mailbox is a manilla envelope from Warner Brothers Pictures. It's got our address on it, but it's addressed to "Don Johnson". Strange...

As far as I know, Don Johnson was on Miami Vice in the 80's. Since then, I can't really think of a single thing he's done. (Note: I am not IMDB, so if you find this information offensive due to its factual inaccuracy... well then you need a life.)

The envelope is clasped shut but not sealed, so I take it upon myself to open it up. Federal offense? Possibly... certainly less than ethical but, hey, they put the envelope in my mailbox.

Inside is a brand new script for "Two and a Half Men", with the current day cited as "Final Draft Date" on the title page. If you are not familiar with the show, its a sitcom about Charlie Sheen and some other dude raising a kid. I think. I've never seen the show, but that is what I have put together from the endless commercials I have been forced to watch (someday TIVO, someday...)

Did I read it? Well, I tried to. My roommate and I got through about 5 pages before declaring it "worst script of all time". If this script proves anything, it's that ANYONE can write for network tv.

So now I have in my possession a copy of a script that will some day disgrace the airwaves, and I have no idea what to do with it. For some reason I can't bring myself to throw it away. It sits on the kitchen table, and has proven itself to function much better as a placemat than it ever did as a script.

Also... although Warner Brothers believes that Don Johnson lives in my apartment, I have checked all the closets and I am fairly confident that he does not.

Just a heads up, WB. Keep those placemats coming...

and there was blog. and it was good.

2005-10-19T01:26:00.000-07:00

so now I have a blog.

first came friendster. friendster was innocent enough. friendster didn't ask for much.

and it was good.

then there was myspace. myspace is to friendster as dvd is to vhs.
one by one they fell.
ooooh, look at the pretty colors. aaaah, hear the pretty music. awwww, read the self-affirming comments.

then there was blogger. think. write. share. amen.

through it all i resisted, content with my pathetic friendster. i felt "superior" knowing that my life did not revolve around my computer.

and it was good.

(along the way there was facebook, and probably a hundred other copycat sites. since i know little of them, i will say this: they suck.)

but just last week i joined myspace. and now here i am writing my first blog entry. why the reversal?

it seems there is a growing community of people in this new public arena. they are not all socially-inept retards. they are people i know well. people i respect. people with thoughts to share, stories to tell and, yes, comments to leave. and i want in damnit!

also, i find myself in front of a computer more often these days than ever before. for those of you that know me well, i can assure you that i didn't think it was possible either. this has given me ample time to peruse various blogs and profiles. and if you can do it, then i can give it a try.

plus, i'm getting a digital camera for my birthday. i am not much of a photographer. you have been warned.

so i've been thinking about all that and tonight i made my choice.

and there was blog. and it was good.