Jeez Jon

41 Down, 60 To Go

41. See a movie at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

For the uninitiated, the historic Hollywood Forever Cemetery has a summer movie series.  They project the film on the back of one of a masoleums with a DJ spinning tunes beforehand.  The viewers sit on a huge lawn in front of the masoluem, where you can bring picnic dinner and booze.  The movie we saw over the weekend?  The lovely 60's sci-fi sex classic, Barbarella. 

I've seen Barbarella before, but seeing it in such a unique setting was just too good to pass up.  Three of our friends joined Tom and I for the screening.  While it was crowded, it wasn't the massive throng I was expecting.  While I was bummed I forgot my camera, there are pictures of the event, as Defamer had an operative blog about the event.  I do resent being lumped into the "hipster parade" group, but it was a lot of fun to be there with a bunch of fans, laughing, hooting and hollering. 

My other bone to pick with Defamer is that they claimed that they had the best spread.  Oh, I beg to differ.  Tom had whipped up a themed menu for our picnic delight.  Keeping with the loose (hetero) sex in Barbarella, Tom made cold penis noodles (a combo of spaghetti noodles with actual penis-shaped French pasta in a delicious peanut sauce), four-way bean salad, Blueball martinis (martinis with blueberry juice and dried blueberries), A View To A Dill spread (in honor of bad guy Duran Duran), and of course, a tossed salad.  So, in your face, Defamer.  We out Top Chef-ed you. All and all, a great fun time.

40 Down, 61 To Go

11. Work out 4 days a week for a month.

There were many times during the 1001 that I'd come close to this, then my schedule would wreak havoc and I'd be knocked away from my goal.  But I finally crossed this threshold over the weekend.  And I'm now at the point where I really don't feel right if I'm not working out 4 days a week.  Hopefully with this goal reached I can reach the big one. 

39 Down, 62 To Go

50. Take a week, while working the day job, and not have any caffiene.  No Diet Coke, no coffee, no tea.

Accomplished this on Sunday. I've done this before, so I knew I could do it again without much hassle. Still getting some headaches, but I think I have kicked caffeine out of my system.  Hopefully. 

Worth The Weight

As my deadline approaches for my 101 in 1001, I'm getting a bit more disheartened by my lack of progress on some fronts. The traveling bits will definitely not happen unless my schedule changes (sorry, TJ and Owen), since my work schedule is pretty locked in past my 101 deadline.  But, I will feel accomplished if I manage to get number one done... or at least underway. 

1. Lose 20 pounds and keep them off for two months.

I have come very, very close. I got the trainer and worked out with him for a few months. I then carried on his training on my own and continued to lose the weight.  Between December of 2006 and August of 2007, I lost 18 pounds. It came off very gradually, and I was excited. However, those last two pounds were stubborn, and they never came off. For months, I stayed at the 18 pound loss. Then, in December of 2007, I rolled into Trading Spaces, and my schedule got bad.  (It's better since I've come back.)  Since I was pulling 12 hour days with a horribly long commute, I didn't have the time discipline to continue working out.  So, I didn't.  Couple that with the amount of candy in the office, well, the weight started creeping back on. I then fought against the inertia that had accumulated by my not going to the gym by actually going back to the gym.  But, the damage was already done. I had gained back 10 of the 18 pounds that I had lost. 

I was rather horrified, as you can imagine.  So, I am redoubling my efforts.  By my deadline of September 26, 2008, I want to have lost 20 pounds. That's my goal.  I've been hitting the gym 4 to 5 days a week for the past 3 weeks, and will continue to do so for the rest of year, gosh darn it.  I've loaded up my office with healthy and tasty snacks.  I've been packing my gym bag the night before so I have no excuse not to hit the gym first thing in the morning.  I've cut out caffeine and alcohol from my diet since the holiday weekend, and they will be out of my diet for the next couple months, at least. 

If I do lose the weight and keep it off, I will feel that my 101 list won't be in vain.  Wish me luck.

38 Down, 63 To Go

7.  Book a third national commercial.

I shoot in on Friday.  Hopefully I won't get cut out of this one.  More info on this after the shoot.

37 Down, 64 To Go

As I'm back to 50 hour weeks on Long Running Establishment Basic Cable Makeover Show, I haven't had a lot of time lately for the blog.  So, sorry about that.  In my blur of work, I've also neglected my 101 in 1001.  But, sometimes, I've ended up taking care of some of the goals through complete inertia.  Observe:

27. Go to a wine tasting.

This happened back in November. Our neighbor and friend Susan had a wine tasting party where everyone brought a bottle of wine, and we all blind tasted to figure out which one was the best.  Naturally, the two favorites were either of the cheap variety (around $6/bottle) or moderate ($12/bottle).  The really expensive one tasted like bad ass.   

59. Utilizing the Entertainment.com book Mitch and Shane got us for Christmas, spend a month using those coupons to get some nice deals on meals... and stuff.   

No longer applicable - haven't had the book since 2006. Whoops.

65. Read a biography.

Mitch lent me Dame Judi Dench's biography, which was missing a lot.  For example, she's a Quaker, but at no point does she talk about how her being a Quaker affects the decisions on the roles she chooses.  Fun but frustrating.

79.  Get that rip in my jeans fixed.  You know.  Those jeans.

I ended up throwing the jeans out anyway.  The jeans I get from Target last a long time.  The expensive jeans I get from Macy's?  Big rip and then I throw them out.  Sigh. 

85. Take 3 people I haven't e-mailed in a while, and try to keep up a regular correspondence with them.

I can thank Facebook for this.  Through that, I've been able to reconnect with a lot of people from high school, college and from Chicago.  That, and play Scrabulous to my heart's content.

I have until late September to knock out the rest of this list.  Yoinks!

32 Down, 69 To Go

68. Bake a dessert from scratch.  Bake -- this doesn't mean "Ice Cream Sundae", Jon.  Like cupcakes or something.

For Christmas, Tom got me a fruit tart dish.  For New Year's Eve, I made this:

Pretty, no?  I really enjoy making them. 

 

31 Down, 70 To Go

6.  Book another national commercial.

Shot this Saturday and Sunday.  I can give more details later, but it's a big commercial and due the huge cast, I won't be having a lot of screentime.  But fortunately, they are paying me as if I do.  Who am I to say that they are wrong? As you can imagine, I'm pretty thrilled.  More later.

30 Down, 71 To Go

48. Run two more arcs of my Dead of Night role playing game with my Sunday gaming group.

The last arc wrapped up this past Sunday, Sept. 9th, and the other arc ended July 11, 2006. After a total of 57 gaming sessions, my long table-top RPG of quippy, sexy do-gooders fighting the forces of darkness has come to an end.  It was a very fun, very emotional, and a truly awesome ride.  A big nerd shout-out to all of the players that came and went through late 80's/early 90's Chicago, killing vampires, demons, and big shoulder pads.

29 Down, 72 To Go

30. Spend two weeks at work not going out for lunch and actually bringing lunch, 'cause frankly, that shit adds up.

Sometimes I get so busy, I end up knocking this stuff out without even realizing it.  With the exception of one day, I've been managing to bring my own lunches to work with me for almost the past month, including my last week at the Goofy Basic Cable Documentary Show (which will now probably never see the light of day) and all my weeks at Established Adorable Basic Cable Documentary Show. The veggies definitely help.

87. Attend a film festival.  Either as a patron or as a participant.

Well, I think our attendance in the Gen Con Indy Film Contest counts.  Our distribution company seems to think so.