What have I been up to?  Well, I started really playing guitar again and of course found it necessary to purchase a new gitfiddle.  I sold one of my guitars to a buddy of mine and used that cash to help pay for the new one.  I’d never played an ESP guitar but wow, this girl is awesome…here’s a pic:

She sings!  And of course I just HAD to upgrade my amp, so I got a new Line6 POD X3 Pro!  I’ve been playing some heavier tunes lately and I’m not sure if that will translate into writing heavier songs.  It’s weird…like two sides of a coin…the music I write typically comes out on acoustic guitar and is a little more chilled out, but I also really like to jam…hehe.  Guess we will see what happens.

On the tennis front, the Flower Mound 4.0 team I play on made the playoffs that were played in Arlington over the course of a weekend.  We kicked some major arse on the first day, playing two different teams and winning easily.  The second day was another story and we got crushed.  I think we took 4th out of 16 teams…not bad, but wish we coulda done better.  Here are a couple of pics from the playoffs:

Guess that’s it for now…I will do my best to get some more content up soon.

Our Cap’n graciously chooses not to play today so that everyone on the team can get their chance to compete.  I am playing the #1 doubles line with Steve…he’s a cool cat.  We are waiting for our court assignments and Marc rolls up holding a big ass goose!…our new team mascot.  I grabbed the iPhone to shoot some video but I guess user error prevailed and I missed it.  That was a chilled out goose too…just kinda hung out with us while we waited.  I tried to strike up a conversation with him, but turns out I don’t speak goose and English was not his first language.

Here is our pre-match vlog:

Steve and I won our weird match, 7-5, 4-6, and 10-6 in a third set tie breaker.  We both kinda checked out mentally in the second set as we shoulda won in straights.  We also won as a team sweeping all 5 matches    a good day all in all.  Still not sure why my energy was so funky…maybe it was lack of sleep, lack of proper body fuel, general malaise…I dunno.  Was a total opposite from last weekend when I was charged up for the tourney Saturday and Sunday.  Oh well…below is our post-match vlog…I had to do a little edit cuz in my candid recounting of the match cuz I used a non-pc phrase that is better to be left out…hehe.

Oh…and I promise to do better with my camera work.  I get a little Blair Witchy sometimes.

The first set started and finished in a flash.  Jimmy and I were ON!  As such…we took the first set 6-0.  We were so on, that we decided to go OFF just as quickly and blew the second set 0-6…ouch!  Now we are tied up with a set a piece.  We decided to play another full set instead of the 10 point tie breaker like yesterday.  We re-focused our game, started strong, and finished strong taking the set 6-2…victory!

Kels shot some cool vids and took some sweet pics, so I will cut the post short and post em below 

After we got our bearings, Jimmy and I started to groove a little bit.  The team we played fought hard and were gracious, although there was a ‘moment’ in the first set where one of the guys hit a ball back over the net after the point was over…no problem except he hit it right at me!  Woulda pegged me too if I wasn’t paying attention.  He didn’t really mean to hit it at me and apologized…no harm done.  We rolled to a 6-3, 6-3 victory, reported our scores, and waited for the next team to get to the courts.  A 30 minute rest, a Powerbar for me and a Clif Bar for Jimmy and we were ready to go.

Both of the guys on the second team we played were really cool.  Tommy is a guy on my USTA Team and he was playing with his son Josh.  Josh is in the US Army and is home from Iraq…cool guy.  Thanks to him and all members of the armed forces for putting in the hard miles so we can enjoy the lives we lead at home!     On to the match…the wind magically disappeared…NO IT DIDN’T!  It was in full force and wreaking havoc on mine and Jimmy’s rhythm.  Despite that, we rolled the first set 6-2.  Feeling good about things, we went into the second set hoping to close it out quick and grab an adult beverage to celebrate our win.  Tommy and Josh didn’t think so.  The won the second set in a close tie breaker 7-6.   In this tournament, we aren’t playing a third set, but are playing a 10 point tie breaker for the match…first one to 10 and win by 2.  We started off strong and didn’t let up…we won the tie breaker 10-4!  Game, set, match!

During our earlier match, Jimmy’s wife, Lacy (hope I spelled that right) arrived, camera in hand, ready to grab some cool shots.  Once I get some pics, I’ll post em.  My girl made it out after she sang with her Dirty Rotten Scoundrels cast mates…was cool to hear them cheering for us! 

Tomorrow, we play in the finals at 11:00!  Tonight…I’m chillin.  Had the spousal unit take a rolling pin to my calf muscles…OUCH!!!  They were spazzing like crazy…Kels said it looked like my calves had Mexican jumping beans in em…hehe.  Took some Ibuprofen (one of my best friends), lotsa water, Icy/Hot and recovery sleeves on my calves, iced my elbow, and downed some electrolyte tabs…a good night sleep and I’ll be ready to rock.

Here are a couple of vlogs from the day…enjoy my goofiness 

Anyway, they’ve come out with a new program called EZmix.  It allows the user to dial up quick presets that are specifically EQ’d for the part you are using it for, be it guitar, bass, drums, vocals…seems really sweet.  One of the things that is cool about new music tech is that you no longer need big studios to make a great sounding CD…you can do it right at home.

This post was in no way a commercial for Toontrack, however if they see it that way and want to send me some free software…I certainly wouldn’t argue 

Now, I like checking out art from other cultures.  It’s interesting to see what other folks find interesting.  With that in mind, I’ll offer my thoughts on this film.  It was…ok.  It was like a little bit of love story mixed in with a ghost story sprinkled with some adultery.  It was a snapshot of a couple of days of three folks lives.  As a piece of art, it was cool…nice shot composition, lighting, etc…but as a story…I dunno…it didn’t go anywhere.  It was just some events that we watched.  Weird. 

I’m glad I watched it…you know…being open to new things and all, but it wasn’t great.  It made me wonder how a movie like that would do in Ireland, where it was produced.  Like if that kind of movie would do well compared to here in the US.

Next up is a Chinese flick called The Warlords.  We’ll see how this one goes.

Anywho, we ordered up some deep fried green beans…NOM!  Actually, I think everything on the menu either is or can be deep fried and may or may not be slathered in cream gravy.  That being the case, all three of us ordered the chicken fried chicken.  Brian was ‘lucky’ and they brought him chicken fried steak instead of what he ordered.  Derrick and I received our chicken fried chicken as ordered but Derrick opted out of the smoked corn on the cob, which was awesome, and doubled up on what they call fries…in reality they were closer to skillet potatoes.  As we chowed on our dinner, we found time to make fun of our surroundings, the people, and ourselves of course.  For some reason, Brian had an extra flap of fried something attached to his steak which he happily chomped…he did however develop the ‘meat sweats’….HA!…a condition neither Derrick nor I had ever heard of.  With his double order, Derrick consumed about 12 cups of potatoes.  As for me, I tried to ignore the bits of pig parts in my gravy…no small task since I don’t dig on swine!

With VERY full bellies, the Three Nerd-sketeers had some time to kill, so we decided to crash a Bar Mitzvah at Gameworks which was already in full force.  I know I’ve never seen so many yamakas in my life!  We walked around checking out the old school arcade games and tried not to think of germ infested layer of funk that undoubtedly covered all the controls, plastic guitars, plastic guns, dance pads, and air hockey paddles…ugh…disgusting!  As for the video games…it’s crazy to see how far they have come.

The time came for us to mosey on over to the theater and assume our place in line for the movie…and yes…there was a line!  There were also A LOT more kids that I prefer to have around.  We passed the time people watching and making fun of all the nerds who were all hopped up on red bull and acting goofy.  Now, we three obviously have nerd tendencies or else we wouldn’t be there…BUT…we hid it well as we were clearly the coolest cats there. 

The time arrived for the all powerful ushers to command the masses to move into the theater to find our seats.  Derrick used his 4.5 speed to fly into the theater and grab our spots.  Brian blocked any nerds that got in the way.  I took my time, looking cool, and made my way in…just kiddin    I moved as fast as my creaky knees would allow…hehe.  We get seated, 3D glasses in hand, ready to be wowed.

They fire up the coming attractions, and this is where things start to get a little testy.  The ‘movie projector technician’ is having difficulty getting the 3D part of the flick going.  In the 3D films that I have seen, many of the previews are in 3D, giving the techs time to fine tune the technology to ensure that the audience is set to go once the film starts…this didn’t happen.  As bright neon pinks and greens flash across the screen and assault our eyeballs, I get the feeling that this is what a bad LSD trip is like.  Everyone is groaning and complaining…”ow…it hurts!”  And it did!  Really uncomfy to see.  The movie starts and the 3D is definitely NOT in effect.  The mass of tired, red bull and hot pocket hyped nerds (present company excluded cuz we are too cool to freak out) start expressing their displeasure.  Things were being thrown, boos rained down, and folks either started leaving or went to report this issue to theater management.  The first ten minutes of film were a psychedelic blur as they tried to get things fixed…it didn’t happen.  Eventually, they let the 3D side go and just played the movie in ‘normal’ mode.  A few people clung to the dream that they were watching in 3D by keeping their glasses on…the majority knew better.

About two hours later, the lights come up and we start piling out of the theater, listening to the complaints and pissy attitudes was pretty great at 2:00am.  They did rectify the situation by giving everyone who stayed two movie passes, but someone SHOULD have came into the theater and told the crowd what was up and what they planned to do.  Once they survived the initial onslaught of attitude, folks would’ve calmed down and acted accordingly…or so I hope.

So…an interesting evening/morning to say the least.  My review of the movie…a big ol MEH!  1.5 out of 5 stars!  I might have given it a 2 out of 5 if the 3D worked.  I AM pretty hard to please when it comes to movies though.  The best part?  The company…a solid 5 out of 5 stars !!!