Psychics and the Beauty Pagent

So this weekend should prove to be interesting. Jade and I are filming an episode of Ennis tomorrow. As it stands now our plan is "Ennis consults with psychics". I'm definitely going to try to find some hardcore Curanderas, if I'm spelling that correctly.. they're like Mexican witches or maybe that's too aggressive a word. Of course I don't mean witch like wart-addled hag or any such thing but these are the ladies to go see to ward off bad juju. They crack an egg over your head for good luck (seriously) and possibly even behead a chicken (I made that up). I'm not really sure as I've never been but I'm excited about it. It should be hilarious and maybe even illuminating.

As for the site issues we've been having because of (evil) Gate.com, Tony's making headway and one by one our issues are being resolved. Hall-lay-lu-yeah! I can't even tell you how much gray hair, wrinkles and assorted maladies I have suffered because of Gate, and I am happy we're almost completely over the dark night (month really) of the server migration.

As for our beloved "News To Me" - the latest is the piece on us is still planned but no air date is set because the Execs evidently have a hard-on for celeb interviews at the moment. Let's face it, who doesn't? We're still putting effort into finding some great judges for the competition which we'll soon be announcing but sadly Brad Pitt and George Clooney have not yet returned my calls...

Saw Zombies yesterday. Random thought. It's strange seeing zombies walk down your street. We were at a bar celebrating a friend's b-day when 3 guys dressed like zombies walked by.. evidently for some film or such. I was a zombie for Halloween several years ago. I went with my crazy friend Hector to all the delicious gay bars in Austin. Of course torrential rain came and my blood (fake of course) ran all over.. I was soaked and discolored but that didn't stop us from dancing the night away until the clothes were dryish.

Oh and Monday should be interesting. Jade got me a gig as a Judge for The Miss Latina World pageant. I asked Jade if I needed any experience/credentials for it and he told me all I need to do is 'judge people'. I told him I had no problem with that. :) The irony is I've been worried about being judged as the judge. I'm not Latina first of all. And I'm not high fashion, I've never had anything to do with a beauty pageant before in my life. I worried more. So I asked my close friend Turtle her advice. And she said, "you're a filmmaker - simple as that, you have an artistic eye." I thought about this. And I realized that I am able to see the beauty in all things, sometimes when the beauty isn't so obvious. I look for a beauty which extends beyond just the physical. I always try to see the truth of someone, their heart, if you will. So I guess that's not so bad. Hopefully I can bring a unique eye to the pageant. If nothing else, at least it's an excuse to get my nails done and put on a pretty dress, something I rarely do. Mari, who gives me a hard time for my cargo pants and t-shirts, will appreciate this! Wish the girls luck!

Hope y'all have a splendiferous weekend!

Haiku is Ku

So I was inspired by Zen Master Alan Watts to write a Haiku on my way to the office one recent morning. Although found out later I got my syllables wrong. Oh, well. I still like it. I guess we'll call it a faux Haiku.

A Reminder

Even trash abandoned
Waves gleefully to passersbys
On furious roads

by Kimberly A. Suta
July 18, 2008

Then Catherine (my awesome Blog4Reel/Vlog4Reel partner) got me this hilarious ZOMBIE HAIKU book for my birthday. I'll share one for your edification, if indeed we can call it that, maybe more for your amusement...

You are so lucky
that I cannot remember
how to use doorknobs.

- Ryan Mecum

Waiting for the Other Shoe to HIT ME IN THE HEAD!

So for all my (one) reader(s) out there... you may recall that last week was one big pile of steaming camel dung. This week, well, I guess it's fair to say that it's better. The sites are still having the same issues, but my birthday was on Tuesday and no one is allowed to have a bad birthday week. It was a fun day. I took the day off to reset myself and find a modicum of joy. We had intended to go to SeaWorld for the day, but it rained. I can't say I was surprised. But we made the best of it and went and saw Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D, which is just awesome. There's something about 3D movies that bring out the kid in me, which really isn't buried that deep to begin with. It's a fun movie and I highly recommend it as a good little summer flick, much better than the 3rd Mummy movie. I imagine Brendan Fraiser had a much better time with this one, based solely on the lead actresses. I did not care for the Rachel Weisz replacement in The Mummy at all. She was lame and lackluster and had absolutely no chemistry with the adorable Brendan. I'm sure Brendan had to conjer up Rachel every time he had to kiss her poor-man's doppleganger.

After the movie we met friends at Dave and Buster's for food and games. Mari, who you may know from ProSpectives, doesn't understand why we like these silly games but I'll play just about anything. I just wish the arcades here were better. Dave n Busters used to be top-notch but they seem to have gotten rid of a lot of their games or they were broken. Still, it was a great evening and I appreciate all my wonderful friends for making it so!

I've been thinking the last few days about this Zen Master, Alan Watts. He is truly amazing. I had been listening to one of his books on tape - The art of controlled accidents, I think it was called. In it he talks about a Zen Monk who while training a Zen student, he'll sneak up on them, at any time, and hit them, startle them, essentially push them to the point where they realize there is no point to anticipating the Master, or preparing for the onslaught since it can come at any time from anywhere. Kind of like life and all its myriad disasters (i.e. gate.com). So what's the point of getting worked up and frazzled and caught up in negative expectations? Whatever's going to happen is going to happen and there is no preparation, there's just floating along the flow and hoping the universe throws you a raft when the rapids get too crazy.

Double Eclipse

You may be wondering, like me, how life can so quickly spiral out of control. One minute you're sailing along oblivious, enjoying life, or at least trying to and the next you crash into a wall. Me? I didn't crash, exactly but my websites did. And then our washer and dryer broke. And then my car broke. And then my sites were up. then down. then up. then down. Until I became dizzy with the disarray. Sometimes these things are easier to handle than others. But when you're not feeling emotionally and physically at your best, crashing into these walls leaves you wondering what's the point of getting up. I must admit I've had my little fantasies this week of running away to Mexico, of leaving it all behind. Working day and night for over a year on something that can just disappear at whim, at someone else's whim, be it the universe's, my sucky web host company's(GATE.COM), it doesn't matter. It's a whim that isn't mine and I don't like it. It's not fair. I know, I know.. every time I say that I hear a voice that rings audibly, "LIFE IS NOT FAIR." But it should be. In my world, the world I envision, life is fair.. people that put the best out there get the best back - people with good intentions, who are loving and kind and try try try to do things right don't have to suffer failing websites! And their dogs live forever, without cloning too. But this is not the world we live in, I'm afraid, at least not for now. In the midst of this, I was supposed to water my friend's plants while she's away on vacation. I remembered late and then when I went to her house I couldn't find the key she left out for me. I imagined the plants, wilting miserably, calling out to me, even begging for that cool liquid relief that I could not give them. I felt horrible. I called her to find out where the stupid key was and she didn't answer. But she called me back today. I tell her it's been a shitty week and then she explains the two eclipses - the solar eclipse and the lunar eclipse that we are experiencing this month is the cause of all the disaster. Two Eclipses creating so much chaos. I'm relieved, I guess, a little. But the sites are still having issues. I'm on my millionth call hold right now with the evil GATE, on hold for hours and hours and hours because their tech support sucks. I will make it my life's mission to make sure y'all know just how much. And so I'm writing to explain to you how precarious life can be, how easily influenced, if not by ourselves, by the winking of a sun and moon. And so here we are... I hope yours is going better than mine...

Holding Patterns & First Friday Festivities

For those of you Blog4Reel/Vlog4Reel enthusiasts, you may have noticed that the sites are experiencing 'difficulties' - as they say, when they don't want to say what's really going one.. one big massive cluster**ck! The sites were supposed to have been transitioned onto new servers last tues. by our host, Gate.com. The transition was supposed to have taken 10 hours. Almost 200 hours later, they're still messed up. I imagine this kind of disruption isn't good for any website but when you're a fledgling company slowly building it's way up, it's even more detrimental. Or is it? I refuse to expect that. The good news is that the CNN News To Me piece is in the works but has not been scheduled. So we have time. And we will be back up before then, I promise. I've been talking to my tech guru and we're seriously considering moving to a new company by the end of the week if things have not been resolved. So we'll see what happens. All I can really do right now is
B-R-E-A-T-H-E!

In more exciting news, Jade Esteban Estrada and I taped an Ennis P. Vlog of Friday Friday - San Antonio's Arts District's big Art/Food/Fun Walk every first friday. We had such a blast! I met so many cool people - people with bright red Mohawks, big dazzling light sabers, yummy gorditas, rose-smelling palm fronds. All out to have a good time, which is how SA does it.. we're all about the partying here. It's been a while since I've gone to one. I've been in the neighborhood so long that eventually you get tired of it, bored. But it was really cool to be able to experience it again, from a fresh perspective, a gay lactose-intolerant, vegetarian cowboy perspective! The real feather in our cap was an interview with one of San Antonio's most famous Hollywood actors, Jesse Borrego (who was in Fame). He was fun and upbeat and so generous to give us some of his time. He happened to be doing a fundraiser that night for CineStudios (a new non-profit he's starting to help give kids an opportunity to get involved with film), so it was a very serendipitous experience for us. (The pic shown here is from Season 3 of "24")

One of my favorite interviews of the night was with this little boy who's an "Indigo Child" - children who are born super aware and very gifted. He can see auras and spirit animals, energies and such. He was sweet enough to tell me that my spirit animals are a Hawk and a Deer and my bf has a lizard! Good to know there's something out there helping me along! I could definitely use it. Maybe I can send my Hawk out to put some pressure on Gate. Hmmm...