Tag Archives: legos

Another Week

Going through each week is definitely an up and down experience.  I’m blessed to have the friends I do, as they are happily keeping me engaged and doing stuff.   As you’ll see in these pictures, I do have fun.  And I can at times not think about Larry’s death, and I don’t feel bad about that, as I know it’s good to embrace life however I can.   There are points of each day though that still break my heart and I need a moment.  Like today.  I decided to do another little bit of cleaning.   Last week I worked on streamlining some of Larry’s stuff out of the bathroom cabinets.  I thought that would be the easiest to do, and it probably was, but it was still emotional, as there were still some medicines and things that he had to use during his cancer fight.   There was also stuff from before that, like LONG before that, that Larry should have thrown out years, if not decades ago.   So at least I could laugh at times.  Today though, I tackled the top of the dresser in our bedroom, as it was stacked with the clothes that he could wear at the end.   It hadn’t made any sense to try to organize the while he was alive and needed them, as sometimes it was necessary to grab a quick change of clothes to keep him clean.

The dresser before I finally went through and cleaned it up

Obviously, this was harder than cleaning his bathroom stuff.  I did clean it up, and decided which things really weren’t worth keeping, but I couldn’t get rid of it all yet.  I kept some things for myself, and some things I folded and put away.   Larry’s side was on the right in the dresser, and just opening those drawers up was painful and caused me to cry.  I really don’t know when I’ll be able to move to the phase of getting rid of his stuff.   There’s obviously no need for me to immediately, but I also recognize it has to happen some day.

I then was in the office trying to just straighten some stuff up down here as it’s admittedly a small mess here with a lot of paperwork and things kind of anywhere there is a flat surface.   I looked in his small drawers there and found a small Hallmark bag – apparently he had gone and bought a few cards for me, including a birthday card, a Valentine’s day card, and an anniversary card.   That did the trick, and I had a full-on meltdown.  The cards hadn’t been written in yet.   But it was nice.  Then of course at that moment, work called about some bullshit thing that just was like, thanks for reminding me I hate everything.  I’ll never get rid of some things, and those cards definitely aren’t going anywhere.   Glad I was able to see the Valentine’s day card today – yesterday sucked but it was never a holiday that Larry and I went crazy for, but still, a “holiday’ about loved ones still hurts a lot.

Anyway, I had a full week at work, although I only made it into the office once.   Had a few days where I just couldn’t make it out of bed early, which is not good.   One night I had a full on panic attack about everything going on, so yeah, couldn’t quite get the energy to go in.   But as I was getting to at the beginning of this post, my friends are really my rock and my strength at this point.   I don’t want to take advantage nor become solely dependent on their presence, but some days it’s just good to be with them.  I am on my own again at this point, and I am finding the strength to be okay with it.  I’m sad of course, as I don’t really see me finding anyone else with how I look and my age, but I can still find things to occupy my time and be happy with, especially with friends, and hopefully just find some kind of meaning or purpose until it’s time for me to die.

So here are some pics from the last week or so – there’s been some really fun stuff.   To start, here’s what I was doing last week with friends.  Rekha was celebrating her birthday in WeHo a little belatedly, but it was a blast.   Started at Rocco’s WeHo for a drag brunch, and it was flamazing.  A few hours later, we walked over to the Abbey to enjoy the ambience and fun.   Can’t deny by the end I was a little drunk and got melancholy, but my friends were there to help and support, understanding exactly what was happening.   Just miss Larry a lot.

Rekha’s WeHo Birthday Fun – February 7, 2020:

The next day, I was a bit dehydrated from Saturday’s activities!   Nicki and I had gone to dinner afterwards, so it wasn’t like I had been drinking until the late night, thank god.   But still, a lot of beer (which is what I focused on that day) has consequences.   Anyway, on Sunday, it was the Oscars, and Ken had invited me to his annual party.  It was a lot of fun and I got to see the whole family, of course.  Before then, I had been assembling my Lego Empire State Building (which is massive, btw) and making my world famous chocolate chip cookies for the party, while watching Arrival.   What a movie that is, and it keeps rising in my rankings.  It’s easily in my top 15?   Such an emotional movie, and even more so with how I’m feeling.   What a weird thing to contemplate – would you go through something having the knowledge of how it will go and end?  I know I would, and that’s why I know that the 11 years I had with Larry were magical and worth it all.   I wish the cancer hadn’t been part of his story, but that’s neither here nor there.

Oscars Sunday, February 9, 2020

I enjoyed the Academy Awards – very glad Parasite won.   Sveta and I watched that a few weeks ago and it blew us away.

This past week, work kept me busy and in the evenings, I did usually have somewhere to go, which was nice.

On Monday afternoon, I did go into DTLA for work, but mostly so I could have lunch with Barb.  We went to the Joey’s DTLA which is the same restaurant (but in Woodland Hills at the Warner Center) that Larry & I took Fran and Joel to one of the first times they stayed with us when we had moved in here at the Glen.  Always fun catching up and talking with Barb, and one of those people I’m so glad to have in my life.  You never know when a new addition to your friends is actually going to stick, and she has.

On Tuesday night, I met up with Nicki down at the Century City mall to eat at the Din Tai Fung there.   It’s huge!  We wisely got there early enough and found a seat in their bar area.  But it gets packed, even on a Tuesday night.   That mall is a trip too – so much money there.  And lots of attractive guys?

On Wednesday, Sveta came over and I had a puff too many on the weed and got pretty fucking high for a brief moment.   I braced for a NYE 2014 situation but happily the wave crested and I came back down.   I think if I was expecting and aiming for super-high, it would be fine, but I am really aiming for just chilling out.  So yeah, two puffs is my max in a session.   That gets me to a nice place.

On Thursday, I went to a PwC going-away for a cool associate, Danny.  It was at this Korean BBQ in a mall in Little Tokyo I’d never known about – it was a lot of fun.   We walked over to the Angel City Brewery and played an epically long game of Sorry, which really is a bitch of a game.   Very funny though.  Mel and I won, of course.   And I was out till like 12, on a school night!!!  WTF.   I can’t hang like that too much.  Was way tired on Friday.

And yesterday, on Friday aka Valentine’s Day, Nicki took me out.   It was very sweet, and I appreciated it, as it is a hard day to not be doing something, especially with it being so close to Larry’s death still.  We first went to dinner at El Coyote near her house on Beverly.  It tied together with the second part of the date, as we saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the New Beverly Theater, which is owned and run by Quentin Tarantino.  Kind of a cool thing.   Plus, in the movie Sharon Tate is shown having dinner with her friends at El Coyote (the real one) on that fateful night.  The movie also shows Cliff and Jake having dinner that same night at Casa Vega, which is also a place we’ve now been to.  I’m such a hipster.   It was a blast of a night and that movie does not get old, and if anything, it just gets better for me.   Still can’t get over how insanely violent that 10 minute section is.

Valentine’s Day with Nicki – Feb 14, 2020

Finally, to end this ridiculously long post, I’m sharing this video that makes me ridiculously happy and has motivated me to even buy the Just Dance 2020 game for my Switch, just so I can play this and learn the moves.   In the 2000s, some of you may remember how obsessed I got with Dance Dance Revolution – who knows if it’ll enter that level, but still, watch this video and be amazed at the dancing skill of the group and chuckle at how awesome the “Rasputin” song is!

You’re welcome.

Mother’s Day + more

Today, we went over to Mom’s and had a great dinner with Stacie, which she fixed up.   Drinking of wine commenced along with a couple of games of Jenga and Rack-o, and all was well in the world.   We had a lot of fun, snacking on food and laughing about memories past – it’s also Harv’s birthday, so it was fun to remember the fun (and drinks) we had on his 80th birthday.   Anyway, I think today was a lot of fun, and here are pictures I took:

Sunday, May 13, 2018 – Mother’s Day in Duarte

That’s the main picture-worthy stuff from the past week, to be honest.  It’s been kind of hellacious the last week or two or three at work for me, much like last May.  This is the end of the engagement I’m on and there’s a lot of having to get us across that finish line in ways that both sides agree on.  Cross your fingers that this week is it, okay?

The rest of this post will be videos I’ve been loving this last week or so; you’re welcome.

Childish Gambino’s “This is America”:

We saw Donald Glover host SNL last week and he performed, as Childish Gambino, this song as well as one that hasn’t been released yet.   The performances were amazing, but the real show was to come in the release of this music video the next day.  It’s fantastic and powerful and intense and requires multiple viewings.

Then I saw this mashup with Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me, Maybe” and now I can’t help but think there was intentional synchronization going on:

I had previously raved about the first few singles that Janelle Monáe had released in advance of her new album, Dirty Computer, being released – well, that album has been released and it’s amazing.   She also released an entire long-form video containing many of the songs within as well as an interesting tale to stitch these videos all together.   If you have 45-50 minutes or so, it’s well worth a watch:

Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer Emotion Picture:

Random videos time now –

First up, this latest season of Survivor, “Ghost Island”, has been okay, but it’s had in its cast one of the hottest men to be cast on this show, ever:  Michael.  Good lord, he’s fine.  So fine.  But alas, he got voted out recently and so now he’s on the jury and having to kill time.   Lately, CBS has been getting cute and indulging the cast to do fun stuff, so with Michael, they filmed a fake cologne commercial in the vein of Calvin Klein….and they’re pretty damn good with the vibe they create because hot damn this mofo can sell me anything.

Lego videos, especially those around Star Wars stuff, are awesome.   Here’s one I previously raved about with regards to the Death Star kit, but this new video is one that isn’t a kit and is made by those folks who collect thousands and thousands of Lego bricks to make any and everything.  This guy made the Star Destroyer wreckage as seen in The Force Awakens when we first meet up with Rey….and wow is all I can say.  It’s incredible!

Finally, there have been these small animated cartoons being released in the Star Wars world that are canon and cover areas of the lore that may not necessitate a movie on their own but it’s cool to see nonetheless.  These videos are called Forces of Destiny and there are more than that I’m showing here – but this one is about Porgs and I love porgs and you must too:

I love it so much.

Alright, that’s enough from me for now.   I hope all is well with you out in the world.

A Fascinating LEGO Death Star Video

Someone put together the official LEGO Death Star construction kit and made a simply fantastic time-lapse video of it – what’s kind of cool is it’s not like a blocky-transition video, everything is very smooth.  Plus, as each room gets completed, a demonstration of what the room does as well as corresponding audio cues from the movies can be heard.  SO. COOL.

Still working on the next pictures post from Europe.  I got distracted this weekend by wanting to get out of the house….and also playing Anno 1404 like it was crack.  That game is a fun combination of city-building and renaissance themes much the same way Tropico 4 was….which means it’s eminently playable and addicting.  We also went out and saw The Girl on the Train and it was absolute garbage.  Okay, “absolute” is too strong a word, but it was such a waste of time and money.  Talk about a bad way of telling a story.  Recommendation:  PASS.   And then of course we had the second presidential debate yesterday evening and jesus, what a shit show.  It’s clear Donald Trump knows how to play to his base but once you get past the 90s-based attacks and listen to his word salad, it is just shocking he became the nominee for the GOP.  I’m still happily voting for Hillary Clinton and I love that he said we’d be getting a 3rd Obama term with her!  I WISH!

Toys in the Attic

My mom called me earlier this week with some mind-blowing news – she had been getting boxes down from the garage area and had noticed one that said, “Transformers + Legos.”  She knew immediately to call me.  I didn’t know what to expect when opening that box, as I really really thought I had long ago lost these toys.  For some reason, I’d been dragging along the giant Metroplex and giant walking T-rex Decepticon city in all my moves, yet I had no recollection of what had happened to all my smaller toys.  Same with my Legos.  I figured that I must have had a moment of “I’m not a baby anymore” and thrown them out.  So yeah, we went over to my mom’s and she was just as excited as I was to open the box…

Rediscovering Lost Treasures of Childhood – Jan 24, 2016

…and sure enough, there they all were.  What seemed like a small box really wasn’t all that small, as every Transformer was in there.  PLUS, my Lego briefcase with all my color-coded Lego baggies.  All KINDS of flashbacks and memories were coming back.  It had been DECADES since I’d seen these toys.  It’s still mind-boggling to me that they are there.  They’re not exactly in mint condition…hell, they’re mostly in passable condition, some actually in poor condition, but they are still around and that blows my mind more than anything.  Larry was having a blast seeing all these and remembering that he had many of the same toys too.

In non-Transformers news, Larry & I went with Nicki & Brian to Terrino restaurant in West LA to scope it out for a rehearsal dinner site.  Pretty fantastic food and a great vibe.  Should be a winner!

Terrino – Jan 23, 2016

LEGO Landmarks!? Yes, please! (+ American Sniper Thoughts)

While spending $$$ at Americana and the Glendale Galleria, we ended up stumbling upon the fact that LEGO put in this fairly awesome collection of National Landmarks all around the Galleria.  We first saw the U.S. Capitol building when we entered the mall and were blown away by just huge it is.  I didn’t even realize it was made of LEGOs until we got closer as it was just such a giant model.  I picked up the handout for the exhibition which indicated that more models were to be found throughout the mall.  So we went on our LEGO scavenger hunt (not really worth being called a scavenger hunt as they tell you where everything was) while also shopping around to see if one of these lucky stores was going to sell me a suit.  Spoiler Alert:  none of the Galleria stores got lucky; had to go back to Americana for that.

So first up, the U.S. Capitol building:

06-Feb-2015 16:01, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 32
06-Feb-2015 16:01, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.01 sec, ISO 50
06-Feb-2015 16:01, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 40
 
06-Feb-2015 16:02, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.02 sec, ISO 32
06-Feb-2015 16:02, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 32
06-Feb-2015 16:02, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.017 sec, ISO 40
 

Down the hall, past some other assorted LEGO creations such as a cityscape in the midst of a chaotic battle of Avengers and pigs, we then found the Statue of Liberty:

06-Feb-2015 16:07, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 50
06-Feb-2015 16:07, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 80
06-Feb-2015 16:07, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 64
 
06-Feb-2015 16:07, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 80
06-Feb-2015 16:07, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 64
 

Over by the Food Court, we found the U.S. Supreme Court building:

06-Feb-2015 16:18, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 40
06-Feb-2015 16:18, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 50
06-Feb-2015 16:18, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 64
 
06-Feb-2015 16:18, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 80
 

That was kind of neat to see, as I really had no idea the building was so big.  What the hell else is in the Supreme Court?

Next up was the Jefferson Memorial.  It was a bit smaller in scale than the other constructions, but still fun to marvel at as they even built the Jefferson statue within:

06-Feb-2015 16:19, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 40
06-Feb-2015 16:20, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 50
06-Feb-2015 16:20, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 64
 
06-Feb-2015 16:20, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 64
 

Opposite the Jefferson Memorial was a HUGE recreation of the Washington Monument.  It seemed important to build a very large scale version of it to help you appreciate the majesty of its presence in real life.  I also think it was built to be relative in scale to the size of a LEGO mini-fig.  Kind of hard to capture this construction until we got up to the second level:

06-Feb-2015 16:21, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 250
06-Feb-2015 16:21, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 40
06-Feb-2015 16:21, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 125
 
06-Feb-2015 16:21, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 80
06-Feb-2015 16:22, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 50
06-Feb-2015 16:22, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 32
 
06-Feb-2015 16:22, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.025 sec, ISO 40
06-Feb-2015 16:22, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 32
06-Feb-2015 16:23, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 80
 

Over in the Bloomingdales wing, we found another very large-scale construction which was of the White House.  Now here’s where I ended up learning something that is quite embarrassing:  I never knew/realized that the Oval Office was NOT in the actual White House.  It’s in the West Wing.  I swear I NEVER realized this and thought it was directly in the main house.  But nope – Larry pointed out what was “obviously” the West Wing as you could see the Oval of the Oval Office there.  That’s when my mind was blown.  Still kind of shocked I never knew that.

06-Feb-2015 16:24, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 50
06-Feb-2015 16:24, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 50
06-Feb-2015 16:24, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 40
 
06-Feb-2015 16:24, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 50
06-Feb-2015 16:24, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 50
06-Feb-2015 16:26, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.007 sec, ISO 32
 
06-Feb-2015 16:26, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.008 sec, ISO 50
 

Right near the entrance to Bloomie’s (where I did NOT buy a suit, thank you very much) is where the Liberty Bell is located.  It didn’t get nearly as much love in terms of gawking as the other structures, but it was still a fun construction to marvel over.  I’m in awe of the artistry it takes to build something so intricate and impressive-looking.

06-Feb-2015 16:28, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 64
06-Feb-2015 16:28, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 64
06-Feb-2015 16:29, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 100
 
06-Feb-2015 16:29, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 64
 

Finally, at least for us, we then marched all the way back over to the Target wing area to see the last LEGO sculpture for us, the Lincoln Memorial.  That’s another very impressive structure to see but it was kind of hidden underneath the escalator, which gave me a sad.  It should have been out in the open like the Capitol building, but I guess the skin care kiosk mafia nixed that idea quick.  🙂

06-Feb-2015 16:56, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.059 sec, ISO 250
06-Feb-2015 16:56, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 250
06-Feb-2015 16:56, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 200
 
06-Feb-2015 16:56, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.042 sec, ISO 250
06-Feb-2015 16:57, Apple iPhone 6, 2.2, 4.15mm, 0.033 sec, ISO 250
 

It was a nice surprise to see these scattered throughout the mall.  As you may have seen from my image post yesterday, I did end up buying a suit, but it was back at Nordstrom’s in Americana.  I was taken care of very nicely by Adel in the Men’s Store there and even though it wasn’t exactly cheap, I got a great suit that fits great.  Now I have a nice dark suit to replace my first suit purchased way back in the day when I started interviewing for jobs upon deciding to get out of the Air Force.  That one did great for a long while, but I don’t really like it at all anymore.  It’s very bulky and wide, and while I’m not exactly svelte, that old suit does nothing for me while this new Hugo Boss suit does a LOT for me.

American-Sniper-2014Finally, today Larry & I went over to the Vista to see a movie for what feels like the first time in a while. Caught American Sniper as while there’s a whole lot of chatter about the subject matter, it is obviously striking a chord in a lot of people as it’s doing very well at the box office.  Plus, it’s gotten a lot of Academy Award attention too and a lot of people we know have seen it and loved it.

Well, I think we both walked away from the movie surprised as it was a very good movie.  It’s made in a way that you can potentially take different things away from it and that’s probably a mark of a good movie, and I’m glad Clint Eastwood bounced back from the godawful Jersey Boys.  Personally, I found this to be nothing like a jingoistic rah-rah war movie or propoganda.  It was clear this story was being told from Chris Kyle’s perspective, warts and all.  We see that he becomes quite a broken man from his experiences in Iraq as he deals a LOT of death through the course of his duties as America’s deadliest sniper but there’s of course a toll.  There’s a toll on his psyche as well as the explicit toll of seeing his comrades getting hurt or killed.  You understand where Kyle is coming from when he feels anger and sympathize with his struggles coming home as he’s shell-shocked at what he’s doing and gone through.  It’s a tragic story in the end as we know how this all ends up, and it is terribly ironic and sad that he dies not on the battlefield (after surviving FOUR tours of duty in Iraq) but at the hands of a disturbed veteran who Kyle is trying to help.

american-sniper_612x380_1I started to write some more about trying to reconcile what was told in this movie versus what is known, in hindsight, about our efforts in Iraq and about the real person Chris Kyle, but I don’t know if that really matters.  I think American Sniper shows how awful a warzone can be and you can take away from it what you want.  Me?  I’m fucking glad as hell I never went to the desert during my time in the Air Force.  I had friends who did and some of their stories scare the shit out of me.  I’m glad Larry & I saw this though.  On a purely superficial (and gay) level, there was some serious beefcake in this movie too.  Just sayin’.  And that’s how I will leave this review, on a totally superfluous note!