The Niece Visit Days 3 & 4: I Think We're Drunks

Okay, I don't care who dies anymore-- I need to finish up on my niece's trip before the story gets too old.

Last Sunday we took Brianne to brunch where she met our posse of friends. We wanted her to experience one of our normal weekends out, but without all the usual insanity, so we took her to The Abbey in West Hollywood. To you out-of-towners that's funny because They Abbey can get insane, but we went early so as to avoid her seeing any unnecessary drunkenness and nudity.
On the way we explained what Stonewall was and why we have gay pride months-- because Steve and I are all about educating people. Then we got to the Abbey and a different education started.

During the meal we were all talking about the previous gay pride and how drunk we got, how hung over we got, how sloppy we were on other nights, etc. Then I mentioned letting her try her first margarita the night before, and all the other drinking that had been going on since she'd arrived.

Steve and I looked at one another, slightly horrified, and said, "Oh my God, we look like a bunch of alcoholics!"

"Cheers!" everyone else at the table shouted (except for our one friend who's in AA) and we continued with our conversation. This was not the impression we'd hoped to make. Fortunately, Brianne hates alcohol and I don't think we corrupted her.

Monday was the big day for Brianne's visit. As you recall, she is going to school to be an animator. She also has some interest in voice acting. So we called some friends and took her around town. The first stop was to the Disney Studios where she got to meet our friend Aliki Theofilopoulos Grafft who works on Phineas and Ferb. This is super cool because A) the show is awesome and Steve and I watch regularly; B) Aliki is a story artisit and writer on the show; and C) Aliki is also a voice actor.

Aliki took us around, explaining the different areas animators work on a show like this-- from character designers to background and props artists. She then showed Brianne how they get a script, beat it out, and actually put the whole thing together. Finally, she played her demo reel for Brianne and gave some advice on taking classes and getting her own demo put together. It was pretty amazing.

During the visit she also got to meet the wonderful Dan Povenmire, who is one of the show's creators and also does the voice of evil Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. All in all, that visit blew her mind and gave her a better idea of what she should be thinking about once she's in her animation program.

After that visit we met up with Steve, had lunch, and then took her on a tour of The Disney Store offices. The idea was that she could see how people who went to school for art and animation have translated their education into other related skills.

While there she got to see some of snowglobes Steve created, like this Snow White snowglobe.

And this really cool Princess snowglobe.
Steve also showed us the really amazing Princess and the Frog bookends, snowglobe and Christmas ornament that he designed. Can't wait to show those off in the blog (as well as all the Christmas ornaments we'll be stocking up on this year).

Brianne left the next day and we were exhausted; how you parents manage that kind of thing all the time is beyond me. But it was fun and gets us prepped for next year when my nephew graduates high school. Hopefully we'll be recovered by then.

Maybe if we cut out the drinking...

Bernadette Bowman's Day with Michael Jackson

I've read and heard a lot of personal accounts regarding Michael Jackson, but here's one that I absolutely loved from one of our dear friends, Bernadette Bowman.

Bernadette and I met through a "Writing a 1-Person Show" workshop at UCLA and have remained friends since. Ironically, she grew up in San Diego not far from me, and I met her sister one random night at Corvette Diner years before I met Bernadette. Bernadette got me into The Groundlings and is truly one of the funniest women I know, but also with a golden glowing heart. We're blessed to know her.

One of Bernadette's early jobs was working as a tour guide at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Here is her story about meeting Michael Jackson.

My Afternoon with Mr. Jackson

It was late February or early March of '85 and I was summoned into the Guide Dispatch office at Universal from my position at the Tour Information Booth in the early afternoon.

"We need you to do a 'special' this afternoon."

(A "special" was a version of the VIP tours we used to do in the Rice-a-Roni trolley but it took place on one car of a Super Tram which seated more than the usual 10 people)

"Okay, sure...who is it?"

"It's Michael Jackson."

I felt my stomach drop. THE Michael Jackson? With my luck, it would have been the annoying British talk radio Michael Jackson....but, not this time. This time it was the real deal, The recent Grammy winner.... the kid my parents wouldn't allow me to go and see in 1972.....the cute little boy my best friend, Mirta, had named her dog after in the fourth grade.

"Um....okay. Sure...what time?" (trying so hard to be cool)

A half hour later I was welcoming Michael J. and his guests onto the abbreviated Super Tram by the employee gate. And what a group it was for a card carrying Product of the Seventies!!!

Let's see....there was Michael (and his people). There was Sean Lennon (the closest I'd ever come to meeting an actual Beatle!!) and his nanny (no Yoko.....oh, no!). Joining Sean and his keeper were (gulp) Barry Gibb's three sons and the lovely Linda, Barry's wife. In all honesty, I was more excited about being in the presence of anyone remotely close to being a Bee Gee.

The group loaded the tram car and Michael and the boys and I were off to the great adventure of the Universal Studios Guided Back Lot Tour.

I really loved being a tour guide. These kind of memories were only accessible in a situation such as this.

Michael could not have been sweeter. He and the boys referred to each other as "Hey, Rubberhead!" Michael did his best to make me "break character" and laugh during my official guide "spiels" and when we reached the corny Collapsing Bridge, I couldn't help but laugh as Michael began making faces at me and his smile was so contagious that only a similar childlike laugh would do at a moment such as this.

I do recall one peculiar thing he did throughout our adventure that afternoon. He had a small jar of vitamin B-12 cream that he kept applying to his nose (this was after nose job #3 or 4, I think..... one of his better ones) every ten minutes or so. Strange...but not really.

When we disembarked the tram to head into the live shows at the Entertainment Center, there were mobs of guests waiting, following, and shouting at Michael...."Congrats on the Grammys, Michael!" "Tell LaToya we love her!" (?!) "Yo, Michael, we love you man!" Michael would then raise his hand to acknowledge the admiration and with a tiny voice say, "I love you, too..."

I escorted Michael's group around the park into the evening as we pretty much did whatever he asked to do. He was lovely, polite, and accommodating when it came to posing for photos with cast members of the live shows....and I'll always remember having to endure the same kind of afternoon with one, Gary Coleman, a year later....who pretty much made it very clear that he was NOT available to be approached or spoken to. WOW....talk about putting things in perspective. (and that little runt borrowed my belt when his pants kept falling down and never returned it.....ugh).

When we reached the place where his group was to be picked up after all of the fun, the tacky woman from our makeshift "Tour Publicity" department demanded that I run and fetch her purse for her, which she had left backstage at one of the live shows....and being the $7 an hour dancing monkey that I was, I did as told. I ran to get the hand bag and back in my 3 inch pumps to say good bye to Michael, the Beatles and Bee Gees Babies like Angie Dickenson in "Police Woman."

But they were gone. They left. I never got to say good bye or to tell him just how great it was to meet him and how Mirta had named her dog after him when we were kids.

I'm not sure I really ever got over not being able to thank Michael Jackson for the joy he brought so many of us....but hopefully, wherever he is (with his B-12 cream and the best version of that nose) he knows now.

Rest In Peace, Mr. Rubberhead.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson

Well, what am I going to say that everyone else on every single news station hasn't already said?

But I do have a question. Seriously, Michael, you couldn't wait a day? You just HAD to die on the same day as Farrah and steal the spotlight?

That girl just can't get a break! You know Ryan O'Neil is going bat shit crazy right now. He's probably gonna be hooking up with Crystal any second now. Remember that when you get to the gates.

R.I.P Farrah Fawcett

I was going to write about Day 3 of the niece visit, but I just can't.

Farrah Fawcett Dies of Cancer at 62!

She's now one of God's angels.

The Niece Visit Day 2 - Circus & Barbecue

Saturday started off easy enough with a circus class. Brianne was nervous about going-- most people are because they think you have to be big and muscly in order to do it. You don't.

I explained this to Brianne, and having seen from experience that I bring her to new and exciting things, she chose to trust me. Good move, because it was a fun, crazy day. Besides, Brianne used to do martial arts so I knew her body would spring back and get into a lot of the moves with ease.

Here she is climbing up the silks, which she loved. Brianne is into anime and cosplay (dressing up like anime characters for conventions) and being in the silks can often look like your some crazy cartoon character doing amazing tricks. She agreed that if her cosplay friends were in town, they would benefit from doing a photo shoot on circus equipment.

Here's Brianne on the trapeze doing her first "mermaid" pose.
The rest of the day was spent preparing for an evening barbecue with various people Steve knows through Disney and school. This was so Brianne could meet professionals in the business who used their art/animation backgrounds to get into various artistic areas. She got to show off her portfolio, get feedback/advice, AND eat yummy carne asada (she only gets Tex Mex in Austin, ya see).

Unfortunately, we didn't take any pics. Lame, I know, but it was a busy party. The last pic we took was this pic of her drinking her first virgin margarita with me and our friend Eric (the photographer from our wedding). And by "virgin margarita," I mean "kind of" virginy. And by "kind of," I mean "not" because the only virgin thing in that drink was that we'd made it low-carb. Low carb but with tequila. As in alcohol.

Brianne took one sip, hated it, and handed it back to me. She's a good kid like that.
However, our friend Frank did shoot some video at the party, of me lighting candles for Eric's baby, Otto, to blow out. Unfortunately, if you're not my friend on Facebook you can't see the video. But it's super cute.
What happened Sunday? I think Brianne discovered we were alcoholics. More on that later.

The Niece Visit Day 1 - Disneyland

Friday morning Steve and I shot down to Anaheim where we met my niece, Brianne (center), and her friend Nikki (right) at Disneyland. Being Disney Guncles, we have a Silver Pass which lets the card holder get into both parks free, along with three guests. Already scoring major points with that one.

Before we get into photos of the day, you have to understand that any journey through Disneyland is a game of "Spot Steve's artwork on different products." Sometimes we score a lot of points, but usually it's some small piece of art he did years ago placed on something random like a sippy cup or license plate from. But this trip we lucked out.

The two major places were spotting Steve's Tinkerbell on a mushroom in the World of Disney Store. It was on display in the window.




Then inside the park, in one particular shop, we spotted two of his Tink designs on T-shirts.


Beyond spotting Steve's art, we spent the day going on rides and hanging out.



Here the ladies are on The Jungle Cruise.
Here Steve and I are on the Matterhorn. I have a big nose in this picture.
Here we are before going on It's a Small World to see the new version that incorporates Disney characters into the ride. We love Mary Blair, and she designed the ride, so we went in worried about what the changes would entail. Some things weren't horrible-- like Alice and the White Rabbit, which were based on Blair's designs for Alice in Wonderland-- some other things were kind of lame. Like America. But we didn't want to set the ride on fire, so I guess over all it was pretty good.
Here we are, soaking wet after Splash Mountain.

All in all, much fun, and we were exhausted by the time we got Brianne back to our house. Of course, Saturday was another big day. But more on that later.

Such a Week!

"I just heard. I'm so bummed. Are you okay?"

This is the text I got on Tuesday night. I then saw I had 8 messages on my phone. Fear gripped my chest: I thought sure I'd gotten fired.

I hadn't.

Turns out, my boss got laid off on Tuesday night. This sucks. He and his partner are friends to Steve and I. We kind of knew it would eventually happen but it still sucks. And it gave me a minor heart attack. Going to work Wednesday also sucked because we had to hear the whole "spin" surrounding the layoffs. We've been getting a lot of spin at work lately. The most recent one involved why there was an armed security guard on our floor.

But I can't talk about that. People here are tense.

On the upside, today is my Friday. This is because the niece is in town (well, technically she's in San Diego right now because we put her on a train down south to visit her friends and family). Steve and I are taking her and her friend to Disneyland tomorrow, then she gets to tour Disney studios and meet animators -- which is very exciting for her because she's going to school for animation.

But trust me, even without the family in town, Steve and I need a break. There were layoffs at his work on Tuesday as well.

Wait a minute... The first time we had layoffs was the same day Steve's company had major layoffs. And then the day I became the only person in my department, was the same day Steve became the only person in his department. And now his friend gets laid off on Tuesday and so does mine?

What the hell is going on here?

Gay Pride Sunday 2009

Gay Pride Saturday.

The sun came out... and then it went away. And then it came out again, and for the most part stayed shining through the afternoon. It broke through the clouds around the time we were at our friend BD's house for a pre-Pride brunch. It was after we'd eaten a wonderful spread while cartoons from the Noggin channel played in the background (because some gay dads were there with their little boy for his first gay pride parade).

Needless to say, after the night before I was a bit exhausted, and almost fell asleep on the comfortable sofa.

You see, Steve and I said we'd wait until noon before drinking because we wanted to last throughout the day, but juice and bagels and fittata weren't boosting us up. Fortunately, someone made me a bloody mary, and those veggies just perked me right up. I suddenly jumped off the couch with vim and vigor!

And then Kelly Roland's new single, "When Love Takes Over" came on, and THAT is when the sun came out for good. Neither Steve nor I think that's a coincidence.

Clearly God loves that song as much as we do.

So all of us took a "to go" cup and headed to Santa Monica Boulevard where we ran into Amy, who had also survived the previous night's adventures.

Kurt and Robrert sent a text: they would be late.

No surprise there, either.

The group of us walked the Boulevard for a while, even keeping our shirts on to take a sweet group photo.
Then we hit our first bar and the shirts came off.

Amy immediately starting adopting our friends as her new BFFs (she knows most of our people and they love her, but Amy knows you can never have too many gays in your life). Here she is with Dave who helped her sneak her mimosa out of a bar.As a random note, Dave is quite connected and had exclusive photos of Lady Gaga from a David Lachapelle photo shoot which will most likely be seen later this year. All I've got to say is she looks stunning with sparklers-- and you heard it here first.

We ran into random people at Trunks, which is a bar we really only go to one day a year-- Gay Pride. But we have such a great time there. The drinks are strong, cheap, and all our friends can get in to party.

In this photo is Mike, Kurt and Robert (from last night, who Amy had adopted as her two gay dads), Steve, Andy, and Larry from my office (he's also Mike's partner). Amy and I, of course, are showing it off up front.


Here we are with Robert who survived the night.
Below is my old roommate, Mark Markline.
More friends from work: Jessica, Katie, Ashleigh and me. Hi, cutest photo that we should totally put up on the office wall.
Here are Tyson, me and Steve (who wanted to wink at the camera), and Luis who I also work with. He and Tyson are a couple. Luis works in HR. I'm shirtless and drunk. Nice.
Here we are with our Jonathan for our yearly photo. We usually try for a sober pic and then a drunk one. Guess we missed the first part this year.

And finally we ran into Sagiv, who is one of my aerial trainers.

After that we were pretty exhausted so we went home, ate a pizza, kicked some kids off our roof because they thought it would be fun to climb on the roofs of the local houses (WHAT?), and then went to bed.

Let me tell you, that pizza saved our lives, but I'm still exhausted. So it's off to bed.

Tomorrow my niece is flying in from Austin, Texas, for her high school graduation gift from the guncles. Going to be a fun week!

More to come...

Saturday of Gray Pride 2009

We hit trapeze Saturday morning because we needed to get a good workout in (with some bruises -- whatever, don't judge us) before the big pride weekend.

And as we left the house... it was raining. I'm not kidding. Not overcast. Like rain dropping down out of the sky, you'd be pissed if you'd washed your car because it was now ruined kind of rain.

Whatever. Class was good, and Steve did many things for the first time, including a back straddle. This is that move where your legs and bum hold you up on the bar. Yes, kind of my signature move. Steve's stepping it up. I better learn something new with that hotness up there (or we could do something in tandem-- who can say?)

Anyway, after trapeze we shot home, showered and changed and hit a Gray Pride party.

The party hosted by Steve's brother, Jeffrey. Here he is with brother-in-law John.

Here's Steve with our friend Jack.
Just some boys, busting out the tank tops and shorts even though it's cloudy and miserable.
After that, we shot home, changed, and then went to Casita del Campo for dinner and then downstairs at the Cavern Club Theater for Chico's Angels! We were joined by dear friends Kurt and Robert, and the fabulous Amy Witry!

I swear to God I haven't laughed so hard in a long, long time. The show was hysterical, but the company really made the evening even better.

Kurt (with the magnet on his head and being butt humped by Amy) and Robert (holding up a drunk me) had dinner with us first. Then Amy showed up and she said, "I'm hereeee!" (in a sort of Jo Anne Worley fashion) sat next to me, swung her purse out and spilled an entire drink on Robert. Nice entrance. But we still had a fantastic time with everyone.
Here I am with Chita Parol (the girls have to infiltrate The Love Boat in this episode to protect Charo. It was incredible.)
Here Steve and I are with Frieda Laye.
Here Robert and Kurt are with Kay Sedia, who has to impersonate Charo. Ay Mija!
Here Amy is with Spuds MacKenzie. Random.

Um, let me explain this picture. Kurt kept buying drinks, Amy kept taking photos, and she told me to take my shirt off. So I did.

What's most shocking, actually... is that I woke up without a hangover this morning. AND???

THE SUN IS OUT! I think Jesus heard our phone message and did something about the weather. More tomorrow!

Happy Gray Pride

Steve and I have given up on the weather. Clearly it's not going to be the sunny sensational Sunday we'd hoped for on Gay Pride. (How many "s"s were in that sentence?)

So with all the ugly, cloudy skies we're now calling the weekend "Gray Pride."

I will say, however, that 72 and partially cloudy is better than what we had expected earlier in the week, so I guess that's something to be happy about.

But my one big question: if the weather is cloudy and crappy, will we be graced by our yearly friend?













I think we'll all be a little sad if there's no reunion special, won't we?

Either way, I'll have my camera on hand for all the insanity and post it here throughout the weekend or Monday... whichever comes first.