This is Halloween

Nightmare Before Christmas is showing in 3D at the Castro Theatre, so Puppy and I caught a showing last night. I don't think I'd seen it in nearly a decade, so it was interesting to compare the movie to what I remembered.

Firstly, the movie did itself a disservice by showing 3D previews of other movies, including Alice in Wonderland, which I'm really excited about. The technology they used to 3D-ify Nightmare didn't compare to the new-fangled effects of movies to come.

Secondly, I don't remember all the singing! I knew there were songs, but there were many more than I remembered.

Thirdly, this man in front of us kept exposing his buttocks whenever he stood up because his sweatpants (Sweatpants! In public!) kept sliding off whenever he sat up. And he seemed to sit up a great deal.

I may not dress up, but I can still judge

Somehow, I was roped into serving as a judge for our office building's Halloween costume contest today. So, at the appointed time, I dutifully excused myself from a very long conference call ("I have another, ahem, meeting.") and made my way down to the building lobby.

I'm not sure why I didn't think of it, but I was only one of two judges who didn't dress up for the event! A Halloween scrooge, if you will.

In any case, there were only a few contestants this year, when apparently there were typically 20 entrants in any given previous year. I'm not sure we could blame the weaker turnout to the economy, but I'm sure it crossed several minds. We had a Rastafarian, Miss Piggy, a disgusting chef with rats all over him, Richard Simmons, Mario, a witch, a Mardi Gras witch, Marty McFly and a boy scout.

After careful deliberation, we gave first prize to the witch, second to grody chef, third to Miss Piggy and an honorable mention to Richard Simmons. Marty McFly was one of my personal favorites, thanks to the accuracy of his costume, but I appreciated all the effort that went into the witch's elaborate makeup. I think most of us included Richard Simmons in the count simply because the fellow showed up in embarrassingly short shorts and a tiny tank top.

Like the undead zombies in "Thriller"

Commuting on the F-Market the other night, our train passed a wall that was plastered with posters announcing Michael Jackson's posthumous movie, This Is It.

One of the passengers turned to two strangers and remarked, "There's a new Michael Jackson movie? What's it about?"

A friendly stranger replied, "It's a movie made from footage of Michael Jackson's concert rehearsals."

The inquisitive passenger then said, "Concert footage from before or after he died?"

Their conversation continued, but I couldn't hear it because I was giggling to myself, imagining movie producers filming MJ's corpse, being propped up and wheeled about to his greatest hits. Come to think of it, maybe no one would notice if that were indeed the case.

Carbo loading

Due to some cancellations, a journey on the F-Market and an unproductive trip to Radio Shack, Puppy and I ended up at $10 all-you-can-eat pizza last night. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I guess I envisioned a pizza buffet, like the ones advertised on Cici's commercials (By the way, what is a Cici's, where is my nearest location and how do they make these meal extravaganzas so cheap???).

Instead, we sat at a booth in a bare restaurant with a few tables filled with approximately six other overweight men and a poor waitress floated to each table, serving slices of pizza as they exited the oven.

In all, I probably had 1.5 smallish pizzas, but it was way more than I expected to eat, especially for a day where the gym didn't quite fit into my schedule.

All the single ladies

If you haven't been watching Cougar Town, let me introduce you to the best 1.5 minutes of television this season:

It's funny because it reminds me of my life!

Circus freak

On our way to the Mika concert on Saturday, Puppy and I got onto the muni with a lady who wore a fake beard. I'm not really sure why she wore it, but she didn't seem to be crazy other than the fact that she had fake facial hair on. I, on the other hand, was a bit puzzled and curious.

We are golden

Puppy and I made our way across the bay to see Mika in concert last night. The venue was intimate and interesting (gold buddha statues with scary glowing eyes) and packed with gays and girls.

The concert began with Mika's bandmates watching television - something about a space journey gone wrong. And Mika walked across the stage in a spacesuit before ripping it off and exposing himself before changing into a stripey-checkerboard suit for the opening song, "Relax."

It was s short, but really energetic and fun concert. Despite having broken himself the night before, Mika managed to dance and jump around in a bejeweled air cast and encouraged the audience to do the same. For "Love Today," he had everyone closing their eyes and jumping up and down, which was pretty neat.

I also especially enjoyed his backup singer who was this lovely Asian lady with a shock of bright pink hair. Her shimmying around was fun and made me covet her job.

Hands touching hands

Another great moment from Glee!

It may be sexual, but it's no longer harassment

Since so many folks are in town for the BSR Conference this week, some former colleagues and I planned a little dinner last night. I headed out with three people with whom I worked for a few years and we enjoyed a bawdy meal at a downtown restaurant (where I enjoyed some bacon-wrapped trout!).

Conversation started out as expected, focusing on our new jobs since leaving the company, our non-workplace lives and the week's meetings. But then, things started sliding downhill once one of my fellow diners couldn't stop talking about the wooden rooster - the cock - that sat perched on a nearby ledge.

After that, it was all over and every comment was a double entendre. Good gossip flowed, discussions of inappropriate e-mails and workplace hook-ups dominated the rest of our dinner. It's a good thing we no longer work with (or for) each other because there might have been some legal issues otherwise!

Goodwill grooves

The other night, I attended a party celebrating a new partnership between Levi's and Goodwill, where instructions on care labels will encourage consumers to recycle clothing once they're done. It's a clever idea and worthy of celebration, but people at the party didn't really seem to care about the cause.

Instead, we drank some free wine and beer, munched on hors d'oeuvres, chatted with old friends and some people took advantage of the 30% discount at the store that night. Some of the folks there had clearly been drinking before the party - particularly a notable figure in the human rights space who stood about two inches from me while he breathed his fiery alcohol breath into my face.

Since BoomKat helped to plan the event, it was great to just hang out with her and catch up. Some Levi's execs tried to encourage me to buy things, but I let them know that I already have too much clothing.

Conferencing

The BSR Annual Conference officially kicked off today and I've been in the Hyatt Regency all day long.

I arrived at 7:30 this morning to meet with someone our PR team requested I connect with, then attended some not-so-interesting sessions throughout the day. The best part of this conference is always connecting with friends and colleagues from other companies, not the panel discussions or the speakers.

I've taken a little break to do some actual work from the office (one of the perils of living in the conference host city), but I will return to the fray later this evening for a reception. Fortunately, BoomKat is supposed to be there, so it will be fun to hang out with her.

I'm already exhausted and it's just begun...

Talking heads

A "news" outlet that covers corporate social responsibility reached out to us, hoping for an "exclusive" on our upcoming Corporate Citizenship Report. Since it's a very company-friendly outfit, my boss and I agreed to be interviewed for their story.

When they arrived to film us, we were all surprised that the videographer had only his backpack, instead of the camera case and lights we're used to. He set us up in a conference room, pulled out a tiny flip camera and started firing questions at us! So, basically it was me and my boss against a white wall, yammering about our work.

I guess in the current media environment, anyone with a little camera or cell phone can be a professional. Hopefully, the little screen is small enough that I don't come across all shifty-eyed like I normally do in videos.

Browndation

I'm being filmed for a little news-type video tomorrow and our PR manager just sent me and my boss this e-mail:

Let me know if you want do a dry run/prep session in advance. I’d recommend you both where solid colors and bring some powder in case there’s any lighting.

Yes, I will bring in some powder. Since I have so much makeup at home!

Afternoon fuel

I've been to a lot of day-long meetings in my professional life, many of them taking place in windowless hotel meeting rooms where you're cooped up with other "professionals," trying to discuss topics of varying importance. Today was one of those days where my counterparts from different companies gathered to discuss some of our common challenges and work through none of them.

Common to almost all of these meetings is the post-lunch snack refresh, where nameless hotel workers come in, switch out the leftover croissants and muffins from the morning and bring in afternoon snack fare with coffee and sodas. Usually, you get some cookies and/or fruit, but today's selection was pretty gourmet! There were fancy caramel apples, a selection of candies and fruits and cake bits with chocolate fondue!

I opted for a caramel apple, which was quite satisfying. It pleased me.

Braai times

For the past few weeks, Charlotte York and I have been planning a reunion where we'd create a potjie for a South African braai. Upon realizing that a potjie takes all day to make, and that recipes didn't sound very appetizing, our plan devolved into a general barbeque at her house.

Puppy and I arrived with some wine and a chocolate croissant bread pudding that I made earlier in the day and Charlotte York's boyfriend had prepared some really delicious ribs, collard greens, cole slaw and cornbread. So, basically our South African feast turned into a Southern feast!

It was a really delicious meal and we had a good time hanging out and catching up. Puppy and I were supposed to go to a 40th birthday party afterward, but we were too tired and too unwilling to trek across the city on our full tummies!

Stepping out

My company partnered with the American Diabetes Association to sponsor its inaugural Step Out Walk in San Francisco. And because mine is the department that organizes such community-related events, I had the great pleasure of going early to set up.

There was a lot of rah-rah, and a 7-year-old diabetic got up to tug at our heartstrings, then we walked along the Embarcadero for a while, turned around, returned to Justin Herman Plaza and ate our free lunches. Somehow, I got stuck walking back with our EVP of HR and had to talk to him about all my work and whether or not I was happy to have joined the company and serious stuff like that. Meanwhile, everyone else was just walking along merrily, having fun with their friends, screaming and making noise with plastic clappy things.

But overall, it was a beautiful day and I think we had nearly 600 walkers in total. People seemed to appreciate the event (or at least the chance to leave the office) and I'm sure the American Diabetes Association appreciated the cash-money.

Sweatin' to the oldies

For the past several months, I feel like I've been slipping away from the local nightlife scene and I rarely make it out to the bars, especially on a weekday night. Sadly, this behavior isn't having a positive impact on my ever-expanding waistline, but that's neither here nor there.

Last night, I met Roommate A for a drink at Juanita MORE's Booty Call party and experienced the following:

* I felt so old in a sea of twenty-somethings who danced frenetically and annoyingly in the bar.
* I just wanted to sip my kir royale in the corner, where I wouldn't be bumped into.
* My coat and fancy orange tie (Juanita requested formal attire!) caused me to sweat non-stop.
* It just didn't feel like my scene anymore since I knew very few people out and about.
* I left at the early hour of 11pm.

I should probably just stop fighting it and accept that I am an old panda, but something inside me clings to this life I used to lead.

Tubby tees

Our department is organizing a volunteer event this week and we're giving out t-shirts to employees who are participating to show off solidarity, pride and corporate branding!

Right outside my little cube are boxes of shirts, organized by size and people have been stopping by all day to pick up their shirts. About one in every five or six employees will stop to ask our administrative assistant whether there are larger sizes available. And we have t-shirts from S to XXL!

Our administrative assistant has decided to order some XXXL shirts to accommodate all the requests. And these shirts run really large to begin with! Let's lay off the big macs, folks!

Flu shot

I just returned to my desk from getting a flu shot, downstairs in our company break room. I realize it's a good idea for companies to offer free flu shots to their employees, but I've always found it awkward to sit in a room with co-workers as nurses poke you with needles.

For whatever reason, I didn't get a flu shot for the last few years, so my nurse asked me to "stick around" for 15 minutes afterward in case I exhibited any adverse reactions. Fortunately, I'm not vomiting or anything, but I'm starting to feel a bit warm. Is it psychosomatic? Am I reacting adversely to the vaccination? Do I have swine flu? Am I dying?!

Celeb sighting: Biggest Loser

My company had a "town hall" event today where our CEO discussed the state of the business, tried to reassure all of us that we're innovating and beating our competition and generally tried to "communicate" to his masses of employees. Seated directly in front of me at the packed hotel ballroom was a fellow in a suit, who seemed to be getting much attention from nearby employees. I didn't recognize him as anyone significant, but it was clear that he wasn't an employee and he was causing a buzz.

It turns out, this guy won The Biggest Loser one season and his name is Bill Germanakos (Our CEO called him "Bill G." because I'm sure he wasn't familiar with his "fame."). He was present at our meeting to help employees understand the importance of good fitness and nutrition - in an obvious effort to curb healthcare-related costs.

After the meeting, there was a line of employees, waiting to get his autographed photo and eagerly listening to his story of "inspiring" weight loss. I think if I were on a show where I was sequestered for several weeks, focusing on eating less and working out more, I too could lose a billion pounds. Ooh! I sound bitter...

Birthday barf

Yesterday was Roommate J's birthday, but he insisted that we celebrate on Saturday night by drinking tons, dressing like the '80s and acting foolish at a bar.

In my advancing age, I'm starting to feel the after-effects of alcohol in a strong and dissatisfying way, but I threw caution to the wind and slurped down a few cocktails before heading over to the Roommates' home. Puppy and I brought Kara's Cupcakes and watched Kristin Chenoweth videos on their computer while Lezzies N&P helped them get their faces on.

By the time we were ready to head to the bar, Puppy was dunzo and cabbed it home. The rest of us, however, endured the curious stares of Haight hipsters as we walked the several blocks' journey. Acid wash denim and neon colors, it seems, are atypical garb for Saturday night shenanigans in this part of the city.

Once at the bar, we fell into the groove with Dyson and his roommate, Gar Gar and his lovah and a crowd of other familiar faces. I caught up with Shoulder Pads, who was already silly drunk from a day of drinking. As we talked, he started drooling on the floor by the bar and I took this as my cue to end the conversation. Well, I'm glad I did because soon after, one of the barbacks was cleaning up vomit and bleaching down the vicinity.

For the rest of the night, the fragrant aroma of Clorox wafted through the club, but no one seemed very perturbed by it and continued merry-making until well past my bedtime.

I think Roommate J had a good birthday. Well, I hope he had a good birthday because I certainly paid for it yesterday. A day where I sat on the couch, ate platefuls of lasagna and guzzled gallons of water.

Cleaning party

Puppy and I cleaned my entire place, top-to-bottom yesterday! He even cleaned the cats, who weren't too happy to spend the day all wet.

This post may be the least interesting one in the entire blogosphere.

With a little help from my friends

A few weeks ago, I got tricked into using some sort of facebook app to discover statistics about my friends. According to this very scientific assessment, I discovered the following about my facebook friends:

Most common name: David (17 friends)
Most common zodiac sign: Cancer (81 friends)
Music: Madonna (26 friends)
TV show: Project Runway (42 friends)
Movie: Fight Club (18 friends)
Book: Harry Potter (11 friends)
Activity: Traveling (27 friends)
Geographic distribution: 18 countries, 26 states
Gender breakdown: 30% female / 70% male
Relationship status: 56% single / 44% taken
Political breakdown: 95% democrats / 5% republicans

I think the most surprising "fact" is that Fight Club comes up as the most commonly listed favorite movie.

No day but today

Last night, Puppy treated me to a viewing of Rent, featuring the Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp in the roles they originated on Broadway and reprised in the recent movie. I'd only seen Rent live once, probably nearly 10 years ago in DC, but I'm intimately familiar with the music from hearing it throughout my college dorm experience and from the movie, which I really enjoyed (I think I may have been one of a dozen who enjoyed it!).

It was interesting to see this show so soon after seeing Wicked again, and it reminded me what an excellent, engaging show can be like. Rent is really a far superior show, with well-written lyrics and very hummable music.

It really is a much better show to see live and made me realize that the movie doesn't even come close to capturing the energy and urgency of the live production. And the audience was very excited for the show. There were tons of kids who clapped along to the music and cheered loudly (and annoyingly) and there were many audience members of an older generation who probably experienced firsthand the sense of loss, love and life depicted in the show. I'm sure Puppy wasn't the only one in the audience who'd seen the show more than five times!

The two leads, unfortunately, haven't really held up as well. As Roger, Adam Pascal seemed totally robotic. Like he was going through the motions and a bit resentful that he's doing the same show he was known for nearly 15 years ago. Anthony Rapp's Mark was much more alive and his voice seems to have held up better, but the glaring bald spot on the back of his head belied his age. Basically, you have two men pushing 40, straining to act like they're in their early 20s.

Nevertheless, it was a very good show and now I have songs from it in my head!

"I love Godard!"

I caught up on Monday's Gossip Girl episode - the one where all celebrity these cameos happen, like Tyra Banks, Tory Burch and Hilary Duff!

Most of the Internets know that La Duff inhabits a very special place in my heart, despite never having been a fan of Lizzie McGuire or any of her movies, really. Now that I mention it, I'm not sure why I like her, but I do for some reason.

Anyway, I really, really liked Hilary as the superstar movie lady who's trying to live a "normal" college experience on the episode. She brings on the cute, doesn't come across as trying too hard and makes me wish she would join the cast as a regular character. I just wish the producers hadn't made her wear that stupid hat. But I understand why they did in the end.

My morning walk

On Saturday, after I woke up, worked out and ate breakfast, I had an unspecified amount of time to kill before I met up with TurboBoob and her new baby. She was doing a yoga class and her timing was dependent upon what time the baby would wake up for her nap.

So, I decided I'd be very anti-Los Angeles and do the unthinkable: walk! My hotel was in Westwood and TurboBoob lives in West Hollywood, so I figured it would take me about an hour to mosey along.

On my way, I made a few stops: a Starbucks in Beverly Hills where three very tall, very skinny women waited in line after me. Clearly, they were models because they each had their hair pulled back in a tight bun and each had ferocious makeup on ... at 11:00am!

I also made a pit-stop in a very fancy Pavilions grocery store, where I had the great fortune of finding a public restroom.

But I didn't quite expect to walk through Beverly Gardens Park, a long strip of greenery that runs alongside Santa Monica Boulevard. It was really pleasant and I think I passed all of six people during the nearly two-mile stretch. And interestingly, the fountain where Cher realizes she loves her step-brother Josh in Clueless is situated within the park.

The google maps pedometer tells me that I walked 5.3851 miles from my hotel to the point where I got pinkberry with TurboBoob. And over seven miles when you count my return trip to meet up with Roommates A&J, Mahogany Sparkle and Lucy Ricardo at the bar.

I like to think this was a healthy, if unorthodox, way to get around LA, but I'm sure it was all completely undone with that ginormous margarita I sucked down. The one that was probably made of four cups of Fanta and ten shots of tequila.

Overshare

So, Heidi Montag just tweeted, "i love my puppies so much!" Does anyone else assume she's talking about her plastic surgery?

Celeb sighting: plus eight

Sadly, my only celebrity sighting of the weekend was Jon Gosselin, who was at a milkshake shop debuting a concoction named after him. I walked by the shop, which had paparazzi surrounding it and people clamoring to get a look inside.

As I walked by, I managed to see him, looking pretty dazed and insecure, holding up a milkshake shaker. Apparently, some British lady was screaming at him earlier, "Fame whore! Go back to your children!"

Border patrol

So, i'm at a coffee shop in West Hollywood, waiting to order a refreshing iced vanilla latte when the patron in front of me - a large homeless man dragging two huge garbage bags filled with stuff - starts asking the Latino barista to sample all the different kinds of coffee. And when the barista refuses to give him more than one sample, Mr. Homeless starts threatening to call border patrol on him! It's all I can do to keep from bursting into laughter.

You must reduce

Today I traveled to LA with Roommates A & J and met Lil' Sis Panda!!!!, her boyfriend, Mahogany Sparkle, his boyfriend and Lucy Ricardo. We came to see a play that Mahogany Sparkle's very talented boyfriend wrote.

The basic premise of the play, Ruby, Tragically Rotund, was about an overweight Filipina whose skinny little mother takes her tuition money to pay for a younger sister's beauty pageant expenses. With that seemingly lightweight premise, the play managed to be pretty gripping and emotional. More than one audience member ended up in tears.

But throughout the performance, there were several moments that took me out of the play. For example, Roommate J and I had a laughing spell when we caught the eye of an older lady whose look of constant concern induced giggles.

And a few drunk audience members thought it would be really cute to interact with the castmembers and comment loudly or laugh inappropriately.

But overall, I'm so glad we made the trip to see this excellent show!

'Til now, I always got by on my own

I think I had a big, dumb grin on my face throughout the entirety of last night's episode of Glee! Kristin Chenoweth! Singing Heart! It was almost too much to handle.
I think Cheyenne Jackson would make a great guest star...