Today I went through my last photo download -- over 240 photos including about 200 of the Orleans trip. (How cool is digital photography?!?!?!) I finally figured out how to change that HIDEOUS music that iPhoto has for its default and slide-showed (sorry, made up word) the whole kaboodle and wow, I got some fun shots. I have been trying to upgrade my web-skills and you can view my latest efforts here, at the Orleans 04 pages.

I have a couple of good quotes. This morning we met Priscilla, Uncle Marvin and Aunt Margaret for breakfast and Bob met them at the farmers' market yesterday while I had my writers' group. (I made a coconut cream pie and hey, I'd like to see Ginger and Maryanne's recipe -- it was a lot of steps and basically heart-attack in a pie pan, but YUMMY.) They got a bunch of seafood at the market and this morning Bob asked Marvin if he ate his oysters raw and Marvin said, "Nope, I don't eat bait."

The other quote is from Freaks and Geeks (please, drop whatever you are doing right now and run out and rent these DVDs, you will LOVE them). Nick wanted the freaks to go see Laser Floyd (as in Pink Floyd) at the Laser Dome and he says, "Come on, Laser Floyd isn't going to be there forever." Wah!

Part I Stupid Procedures
Remember I had this illegal charge on my VISA and I tried to call the company? Well (big surprise) they never called me back and I put off dealing with it and then when we got back from Orleans I saw a 2nd illegal charge. All together the illegal charges are only $67 but I called the Cred Union today and they blocked the cards but said I had to go in to order new ones. Well I need my credit card so I dropped everything and ran to the credit union. First I had to stand there almost 1/2 hour while we went through all these hoops. Their procedure has changed. Now if you want to dispute a charge you have to copiously document everything you did to try to resolve it -- who you called, when, what time, etc. One of the charges said London on it, no phone number. How am I supposed to try to resolve that?

[ASIDE: if credit card fraud is such a big problem shouldn't there be come sort of legal requirement for how credit card charges are recorded for your bill? An internet URL or working phone number? Wouldn't this go a long way in helping to stop fraud? And why legal requirement? Why wouldn't companies voluntarily do more to prevent fraud?]

After I filled out the form, it turned out to be the wrong form and now I have to fill out a different form and my spouse has to fill it out too and it has to be notarized and these ladies know jack about notarization since they said we had to do it at the same time and we had to do it there. Um, I'm a notary in the state of Oregon and my understanding is that a notarization is a legal verification of a signature -- it shouldn't matter who does it when and where as long as the signature is legally verified. But here's the kicker: I have to attach a copy of the police report. Yes, I have to call the police and report $67 in illegal charges on my credit card bill.

So now I have two visits to the credit union by me, plus a visit by my husband, and wrangling the police report -- how much time do I have to invest to get my $67? I'm seriously considering just paying it and screw them. I understand if they made it easy everyone would buy plane tickets to France and then dispute the charges -- but this seems like an excessive pain in the ass for $67.

Part II Payback
This year I went to High Sierra Music Festival which is not my thing -- it's my husband's thing and I was a reasonably good sport about it. But I used my scare vacation time to do something I really didn't want to do and I've gone to tons of shows that I was lukewarm about and listened to tons of cds on car trips that I didn't want to listen to and the reason I'm saying all this is that I don't think my spouse has spent a fraction of the time that I have doing things he didn't want to do to be a good sport for me. He did have to go see Ratt which probably should count double. I read in the paper today that Warrant is going to be in town (Berbati's Pan ... last time I saw them was at the Universal Amphitheater) and this would be the ultimate payback. Except I'm not too enthusiastic because Jani Lane isn't with them - it's Jamie St. James and some people at Metal Sludge said the show was majorly lame. (sorry can't provide more specific link ... can't find it right now.) So perhaps payback will have to wait.

Today's my 8th wedding anniversary. I'd love to write you a sappy story or post a sappy photo ... but I'm running out the door, late already, to a work related conference on the coast.

Good F-ing God.

I just previewed my freshly written post and hit the wrong button and now it's gone. ARGH!

Here's the synopsis: my f-ing Safari is on the fritz but fortunately browser slut so used Camino which promptly ate my post after I bragged about it.

My review of Spiderman: 3 1/2 stars but not 4. Tobey Maguire: yes. Trailers: stupid.

Remodeled bio page but want to do more, hopefully soon.

Incredibly busy next two weeks so not sure how much I'll be here. See you when I see you.

I got involved goofing around with makeover and lost track of the time. Still lots to do. I wanted to update the photos and looked through the 6 zillion I've taken since I got my new camera and hey: none are of me. I guess I could put photos that aren't me up too. Started to re-do the bio but didn't finish yet. I did do some work on the work site. Yes, it's supposed to not be informative. Part of our crack marketing plan. More later. I'm off to SPIDERMAN.

Yesterday I did something I haven't done in a long time which is go to the library. I've been avoiding getting library books because I already have so many books around here that I haven't read. Gifts and books I've asked for and books I bought and they all have bookmarks on page 3 or 5 because at one point I started it and then probably put it in a pile by the bed and then when the pile beside the bed got too high I would "clean it out" and put the books away to read later. But for the past 2 years I've read fewer books than ever and I've vowed to keep working on the pile of books that already live here which isn't getting any smaller.

For some reason, I don't like to have a whole bunch of books going at once -- which sounds like a lie since I have about 5 going right now. But only 2 are fiction. I've even cut back on the magazine reading but writing shitty screenplays and farting around online eats up a lot of what used to be my reading time. Oh, and probably my Angel addiction which is now my Buffy addiction. (Probably more on that in the future as this was my first Buffy disc this week -- season 1 - yay) I got The Real McCoy by Darin Strauss because someone at the writers conference said it was super fantastic and I got Jennifer Government by Max Barry because I heard about it somewhere and it looks like the kind of book I used to enjoy but never seem to read anymore. Only 2 things. I showed great restraint. Meanwhile, I'm still reading The Kelly Gang book by Peter Carry and the short stories by George Saunders. I won't list the stuff in the pile except to say that I'm thinking of bringing Richard Russo to Orleans.

Back to not starting a bunch of books at once. I'm a complete project oriented person. I like things to have a beginning, middle and end and I don't like to start unless I know I'm going to do all the parts and I don't like things to be unfinished. This applies to everything. I don't like video taping a show if I missed the first couple minutes. Why wash only a few dishes in the sink if you're not going to wash all of them, then wipe down the counters and put the butter away? Why do only half the laundry if you can fit the whole basket in the machine as one load? Ideally if I had the time, money and energy, I'd like to raze the entire backyard and start all over -- installing sprinklers for the first step. I'm not suggesting this is a good or bad way to be, only that this is way I am and my husband is not.

I finally found a bathing suit. I haven't bought one in 2 years and finding the one I bought 2 years ago was an ordeal, too. Can't there be 2 piece bathing suits that offer ample coverage of all the parts I'd like covered? Are the choices, skimpy nothing or massive coverage? I gave up the notion that I would choose a color or design that I liked a long time ago. Also price doesn't matter. Just finding something that fits. I've already looked a few times earlier in the summer without success so this was the desperation trip. I would have settled for anything if I had to. Of course this is the PAC NW so bathing suit season is only about 10 weeks so not like they have that much to begin with. I checked the clearance rack at M&F in Vancouver and tried on everything in my size -- my size varies so amazingly depending on what I'm buying and where I shop -- clothing industry: PLEASE STANDARDIZE. Struck out there so headed to Nordstrom's which also had a dismal selection. The nice young lady asked if I needed help and I said, "I want a 2-piece bathing suit that covers my ass crack and supports my breasts." "Yeah," she said and she nodded, agreeing that such a beast would be a nice thing to find. Unfortunately, hardly anyone makes bathing suits with underwires. Earlier this year I was told that hardly anyone was making bathing suits with high waists. She had ONE style with underwires and there was ONE piece in my size and the bottoms had a nice high waist and there was ONE piece in my size. And the color was decent. So hallelujah, I have something to wear to the river and I don't have to worry about buying another bathing suit for awhile.

Later we went to see The Manchurian Candidate which I cannot recommend. The run time is just over two hours and it felt like longer. The acting is good and the story is somewhat compelling. It just went on and on and layer upon layer of intrigue and secret this and undercover that - it didn't hold my interest. I have Love Actually from netflix and way back last year when we saw the trailer Bob moaned and groaned about how dreadful it looked. I'm thinking he should have to sit through it with me for pay back. (Except that his moaning and groaning would detract from my enjoyment.) There was a trailer for Alexander (Oliver Stone) with Colin Farrell as Alexander. I loved The Persian Boy by Mary Renault when I read it a few years ago but how can I look at Farrell in that Bon Jovi hair and not want to laugh? Did NO ONE on the set see that and think maybe his look should be re-thought?

Today I'm going to rearrange the furniture in my room. When I got the computer cart I stuck in the only place it would fit which means now my back is to the door and I don't like that. Not sure how I'm going to do this. Maybe I'll take before and after photos.

Okay, I'm over my Darth Vader bad mood spasm from this morning. Phoned health care and apparently they have some new convoluted system that's designed confusing so as to maximally screw over its customers. Why be anonymous: it's Pacificare. My appointment may or may not be covered depending on its code but I have to wait until the bill wends its way to the Portland Clinic and if still screwed up, I can then commence mouth-frothing and so forth. The notion that this appointment *might* still be covered cheered me up. Not like my employer hasn't paid like $30 K in premiums over the past 10+ years when I've averaged less than one appointment per year. They should want me as a customer. That's free money. All they have to do is slit open the envelope and run to the bank.

The unauthorized visa charge looks less promising. I called the company to ask about the charges because it's not unheard of for us to charge something for "X" and then see a credit card charge billed as "Y" and be confused as to what we bought. I had to leave a message which doesn't bode well so if I can't speak to a live person tomorrow, I'm calling the credit union.

Onto the Chronicles of Riddick (very cool website, massive stuff to download, probably skip if don't have speedy connection and/or patience of 8 year old boy). I have wanted to see this movie since I saw the trailer way back whenever they started showing it. It's connected to Pitch Black -- I guess a sequel but I thought I read somewhere it was a prequel. Whatever, not important to this discussion. It's one of those movies that isn't nearly as cool as it should be. But I still liked it. It's one of those epic all over the universe sagas with Vin Diesel who I can't help liking and one of the villians is Karl Urban (Eomer from LOTR).

The better story is about the place where I saw it. I went to the $3 theater at the Portlander Inn which is a truck stop center at the last exit before the interstate bridge on the Oregon side. They have food, mini-mart, bar and live music, a TV area with tables, chairs and a snack bar and stuff like FedEx and lottery. I saw the movie with a room full of truckers. Since I'm the kind of person who watches all the Lord of the Rings and Dune and Star Wars stuff -- I'm used to these strange otherworlds and massive info-dump in the first 5 minutes of the film type movies. The funniest thing was when the movie was over and I overheard a guy saying, "I've seen lots of strange things but I've never seen anything like that before."

I was going to write about seeing Chronicles of Riddick on Saturday but maybe later.

It's like the Universe sat down and made a list of a zillion wildly frustrating problems for me and decided to throw them all at me now. I have this stupid disputed charge on my health insurance and I just noticed an unauthorized charge on our visa bill and the whole thing-that-happened-over the weekend debacle. I don't understand why this is all happening right now.

Things you can do on Sunday when you aren't working your ass off on a terrible screenplay: sleep in, start reading The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey that you got for xmas, and read a story called "Winky" in a collection by George Saunders called Pastoralia. Do the reading before you even get out of bed. Go to the Heathman in Vancouver for breakfast, read 3 back Sunday New York Times plus today's Times and Oregonian. Work in the garden including cleaning up the Dahlias that the storm knocked down. Wash the sheets, vacuum and dust. Start watching a movie called S.W.A.T. with Colin Farrell because you had it mixed up with The Recruit with Colin Farrell. Quit the movie after 15 minutes because it's dreadful and start Army of Darkness because it's Sam Raimi and it's the director's cut but give up after about 30 minutes because you aren't into the camp today. Check the live feeds at the Big Brother house almost every hour. Review the problem with your health insurance (crooks! Possibly more on this story later) and then stop after becoming totally agitated. Start to clean up the pile of pages from the screenplay and consider recycling them all (violently) then reconsidering and putting in a pile in a box in the garage in the off chance that you will feel like looking at it again after the sting wears off. Clean out the refrigerator, cook beets from the garden and enjoy kitchen time as soon as you're done updating your blog.

Catastrophic Failure Part II
Nope, I take it back. I was not being too dramatic yesterday. This whole thing went tragically bad. I basically lit $390 on fire. Actually, lighting it on fire might have been more fun. Good things: got to hang out with lots of cool friends and have fun joking around and they were all supportive and encouraging even in the face of every single person I talked to hating it. By the last guy I was almost laughing and when he pointed out what was wrong with that I said, "Yeah, you aren't the first person to notice that this weekend but I didn't think I should tip my cards before I sat down."

So, what next? I. Don't. Know.

My decision is to not make any decisions until after Labor Day. Until then I'm going to enjoy summer and do fun writing (meaning just fool around and not try to work on a project). After Labor Day I'll sit down and decide whether to work more on this thing or start something new or take a class or talk to Lewis & Clark about law school.

Meanwhile, I'm off to a movie.

Oh, and last night Bob and I watched a SPECTACULAR movie: Barbarian Invasions. It's a foreign film and I won't summarize it because it will sound too depressing and you won't want to see but really, fantastic characters and a very well-wrought emotional story. We loved it.

Catatrophic Failure
Okay, that's a little dramatic. But today's trip to the writers conference was not optimal and it's kind of ironic since I wasn't even planning on going and sort of talked myself into it at the last minute (before the prices went up.) I should have known I was in trouble when I put on my nice slacks this morning and they had some bizarre crap on them ... I think it came from the iron. That'll teach me to iron (something I only do once or twice a year). I also ironed my hair which was a hopeless gesture since it rained like nobody's business for half the day and I went from my straight look to my curly look in mere moments. But back to the slacks -- I'm not a clothes horse to begin with. I only have about 3 decent outfits and here it was the last minute and I had to make a switch.

From there I drove to the conference and the organizers moved to a new location this year and I don't think I'm alone when I tell you this is a miserable mistake. At 8am there was no parking. Nothing. This doesn't have to be a problem but you'd think they'd have someone in the parking lot to direct you to an overflow lot or something but no. I went through various scenarios like parking in the airport longterm but then I'd have to hike a couple miles back in the pouring rain with no raincoat or umbrella (these are two things that are *always* in my car ... why not today?). Then I thought to pay regular airport parking prices and take the Max to the hotel but no Max stop anywhere near the hotel. I finally parked awkwardly and illegally like others were doing.

Then no one could find my name tag. Another line. I did see my friends like Marc, Mark, Myra, Susan and Bill -- so I had people to chat with. I'm pitching a horror movie and my first guy didn't like it and asked what else I had and I pitched Little Friday and he asked to see that. (Ironic note: last year most of the people I pitched to didn't like Little Friday and when I told them about the new one -- which was only a scrap of an idea at the time -- wanted to see that.) My 2nd pitch was a spectacular tank and the third one went well. I came straight home and began to guzzle refreshing adult beverages.

I logged on to see what's been happening with Big Brother and now I'm going to eat and watch a Freaks & Geeks. I get to go back tomorrow.

Laugh at me all you want but I'm telling you, Big Brother 5 is the most entertaining thing on TV this summer. I tried to watch Amazing Race b/c everyone seems to like it and Brian worked on it but, honestly, watching people run around in a hurry trying to catch planes and find their way around foreign lands was TOO stressful for me. I have enough anxiety in my life, I don't need to voluntarily add any more. Meanwhile, BB5 is a bunch of people stuck in one place -- perfect for my inner-introvert. (Is my introvert even "inner" isn't it just me?) So everyone has been in the BB house for 5 weeks and the twist is they've had this set of twins playing and swapping out every couple days and if they made it to tonight without anyone discovering they were twins, then both twins would get to play in the house. So it was the big reveal and it was the best thing I've seen all summer. If you've been watching the show, you know about these jerky guys -- like the worst egocentric, too much testosterone, too full of themselves guys on the planet and they've been in control and full of themselves, and tonight one got voted out and then they lost the head of household competition. I was screaming my head off. Then their faces when the twin thing was revealed. I LOVE THIS SHOW!

Then Bob and I watched another Freaks and Geeks which is such a great show and never should have been cancelled. Every single episode contains a moment that is so painful you squirm in your seat and want to leave the room. Tonight Nick has Lindsay over and he punched in an 8-track of Styx "Lady" b/c the song said things he couldn't say himself. It was CLASSIC.

Meanwhile, Willamette Writers Conference starts tomorrow and I need to be there bright and early. I'm attending FRI and SAT and this year I'm doing 6 meetings for my latest project. Think good thoughts for me.

Check out the Run Hit Wonder photos.

We had a fantastic time. The band we wanted to see most was General Public (this is Dave's website and the intro thing is great -- check it out) and that was the first band on the route and we ended up parking there until they stopped playing. Fantastic show -- they sounded great, Dave looks great and was totally into it, and they played all the classics including English Beat. We heard: Tenderness, I Confess, Save it for Later, Mirror in the Bathroom, Tears of a Clown ... it was SO good. But by the time that was over and we continued through the course we ended up missing Flock of Seagulls and the beginning of Devo's set. Tone Loc, Tommy Tutone and Dramarama were on the 10K so we didn't see them at all. Devo rocked too -- I think I saw them back in the day. I can't remember but I don't remember them being so kick ass.

So here's the Tommy Tutone story and I might have already told it once. Tommy Tutone played at Grad Night when I graduated from high school -- that's when Disneyland is open all night for graduates. We went to see him and for whatever reason the officials wanted us to stay in our seats. If we stood up to dance they ran over and made us sit down. This guy in our class, Carl, kept dancing and he got thrown in the Disneyland jail with all the ruffians busted with drugs and some guy who tried to stab someone. And he's still getting mileage out of this story. At the reunion I heard him say: "I got thrown in the Disneyland jail --- for dancing."

This day has turned out to be a wash. I didn't sleep well last night and we got up early and then we did this walk/dancing thing and my ankle is unhappy and I'm ready for bed right now. I think I'll drink a beer and try to stay awake until 9pm.