PwC certainly does know how to hold ‘all hands’ events! Our Promotion Days are almost always spectacular, with the three I’ve been to so far having been held at either Disneyland or Universal Studios. The All Hands meetings for the local market usually isn’t so crazy, but that’s not to say we’re just meeting in the break room. When I first started, we had a meeting at the freakin’ Jonathan Club in Santa Monica, nestled right on the beach. Anyway, we’re off to Six Flags Magic Mountain today – and I’ll be presenting a small portion of it. I’m unnecessarily and needlessly nervous. I loathe having to speak in front of large groups. I know I’ll be fine, but until it’s done, I’m going to be miserable. I keep trying to make myself take deep breaths….and when I remember to do so, it helps. Wish me luck.
Tag Archives: work
Air!
It’s been a rough month or so for me in terms of work. Basically been nonstop in order to try to stay ahead or keep up (it changes, depending on the day), and for quite a few weekends, I would take Saturday off for my sanity but be working from home on Sunday to keep getting shit done. What have I been doing? Making myself invaluable in the world of COBOL apparently:
Take a gander at that article. That’s been my life, getting to know the client’s COBOL programs and decipher them into readable pseudocode. What’s amusing to me is that I honestly might be learning this skill that keeps me gainfully employed; it’s not sexy by any means, but so much still runs on a COBOL backbone and industry is just not really ready to ignore the ol’ adage of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Anyway, the 3-4 weeks of intensity has managed to finally get lessened due to that hard work. So that’s been great. It’s still busy during the week of course, but I have been able to take a full weekend both this one and the last. Yay!
So, what else has been going on? Let’s go through some of the pictures, shall we?
Twin Peaks
OH MAN. So much excitement with Season 3 coming up in like a month. I have to keep expectations in check, but it’s so exciting to realize we’ll get some answers one way or another so soon.
A few weeks ago, Entertainment Weekly released 3 covers that all had to do with Twin Peaks. If you lined them all together, you could see they all formed one “last supper”-ish picture of major components of the cast. When I realized this was happening, I managed to finally get to Barnes & Noble and snag 2 of the 3 covers, but of course the ‘good’ cover was the one I couldn’t find, which was the one with David Lynch, Cooper, Laura and Audrey. Of course. I held out one piece of hope though – that Larry’s subscription issue would come with that cover, and happily enough, that turned out to be the case. All 3 covers were MINE.
I am so freakin’ excited for this.
Here are some more official photos of the covers in their full glory:
In the midst of all my geekery, I went back to Welcome To Twin Peaks and looked at their video links. One of them was to what has been thus far an amazing analysis series that covers the entirety of the show, and while it leaves a lot of the charming and esoteric details for when watching the show, you can watch this analysis and get a pretty great sense of what has happened in advance of Season 3:
Journey Through Twin Peaks, A 4-Hour Video Essay Exploring The Series, The Film & More
I’d just managed to finish watching through to the recap of winding down from solving the Laura Palmer mystery, and am interested in how it deals with the Windom Earle plot as well as Miss Twin Peaks and the dive into the Black Lodge. And of course, the frustrating then-“series” finale which is no longer the bane of the show’s existence. “How’s Annie?”, indeed.
Fun @ WeHo’s Flaming Saddles
Yeah, so when you make it to one of WeHo’s very festive gay bars, you can rest assured eventually some hot mofo will be dancing around for you to ogle. And sure enough, a weekend ago, Larry & I got to enjoy that pastime. Greta was celebrating her birthday and her girlfriend Stacey invited us out to Flaming Saddles, a WeHo outpost of a place we’d also visited in NYC many years back. Anyway, we had a blast. After a few pitchers of beer, how could you not have fun? Drag queens, gays, hot guys dancing around….yeah, you tell me how you can’t have fun. Well, I can actually tell you the best way to fuck it all up: add shots. Larry & I had been drinking $13 pitchers of beer for a while, but of course when it’s a birthday party, people always think you need to add shots. OOF. Larry wisely and by necessity passed, but I was like SURE. Danger, Will Robinson, Danger! Yeah, I entered the zone of blackout drunk and a 36-hour hangover period. Day drinking is a fun thing, but it’s not a right. And you can easily fuck that up if you’re not careful. Anyway, still a blast, and something I’d love to do again. Just don’t mix.
If you get the chance to visit some place like Flaming Saddles or the Abbey, I highly recommend it. What’s not to love?
Work Goes to the Standard Rooftop in DTLA
The new partner overseeing the national practice that I work in came to visit our humble Los Angeles office and meet us. It was a good day and all of us were in the area so why not have an after-work happy hour atop the Standard Rooftop? It’s just a block away from where we work, the weather was stunning, and the view was great.
See for yourself!
So that brings us to this weekend. I’m obviously skipping a lot, but I’ll have to make up that differential with some more posts, like movies we’ve seen, etc. In the meantime, it’s getting close to bed time and today has been a long one, with our Griffith Park run kicking it off and then a lot of work doing laundry, ironing, watching TV, and well, getting mentally prepared for another week. Le sigh.
Hope all is going well out there for everyone else in this nutso time we live in.
“How Did This Get Made?” and More
Another week goes by and I’m still employed (yay) and the week goes by quick enough for me not to be too dragged down by it all. Yay, again. I’ve been trying to figure out what it is I want to do with my life, and yes, I recognize I am 40 and should have figured that out a while ago. So while I recognize that the career side of things is basically just me finding a niche where I can get stuff done and get paid while doing it, as being a true “professional” in some career has long ago stopped being an option for me, I do think I can figure out hobbies and such that will bring me personal satisfaction.
Writing is certainly up there, and if I can get the discipline to write on a regular basis and also figure out things to write about passionately, that would be a good first step. Musical instruments are also an interesting thought, but man, you need to take lessons and get the time commitment figured out, and that’s freakin’ tough right now. But I have this new guitar and I want to get back to it, so we’ll have to make that work out. Stupid video games are also a bane to my productivity, to be honest. So many good ones out there. Anyway, just some random notes from me to you.
How about some pictures?
Traxx at LA Union Station
Work Wife Barb
Barb and I had a nice after-work catch-up at Traxx earlier this week and it was wonderful. Sometimes, you gotta get a drink at the Art Deco Union Station in your city, amirite?
Larry and I got dinner at a great new restaurant called The Tsujita in the Americana, where the specialty is a weird twist on ramen: the noodles and pork are served cold and separate from the broth, which is really hot and delicious. You then dip the noodles/pork into it….and it’s fucking wonderful. A great addition to the restaurant selection here.
The ceiling is very artistic
Yesterday was the main event for us though, as Larry had been able to secure tickets to an event called “How Did This Get Made?” What it is is 3 hilarious people (Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael (who we feel in love with from her role in Grace & Frankie), and Jason Mantzoukas) + a hilarious guest talking about various terrible movies and all the wondrous ways it is terrible. It’s a podcast you can listen to via iTunes or Earwolf podcast website and you definitely should. The first one I ever listened to was recommended by Larry and it was all about A View to a Kill, yes, the awesome 80s James Bond movie. Both Larry & I grew up on it so we’re blinded to its failings, but man, this really long podcast just does a number on it and it is epically hilarious. Well worth the nearly 2 hours to listen to it if you have time, as they point out so many of the ludicrous plot points and characters. So funny. Anyway, Larry’s been addicted to the show ever since, and finally scored tickets to it for this past weekend! He’s been super excited although I think we all were kind of worried once we learned about the movie that was going to be the topic of our show yesterday: Chopping Mall…..yes, it’s a craptastic 80’s “horror” movie about “teens” trapped in a high-tech mall with 3 malfunctioning murderous robots. Holy shit this thing is bad….but don’t take my word for it, here’s the awful trailer for this awful movie:
I can’t be sure this is the real trailer as the description kind of indicates it’s not? But it captures the sheer cheese of it all. Anyway, Larry & I ventured over to where Nicki lives in LA to watch the movie on Amazon Video with her as she and Austin were going to go with us for this fun. The three of us watched it in wonder as the movie truly is just terrible terrible terrible. And the performances are ridiculous and there’s lots of boobs for no reason and it begs the question, HOW DID THIS GET MADE??? Full circle, people, that’s what just happened. It’s a truly perfect movie for this show (and podcast).
Anyway, having done our research for the night’s entertainment, we then went over to the Largo Theater, which is on La Cienega Blvd just a block north of the Beverly Center, which hilariously is the exterior for the Chopping Mall. So of course, after we got our tickets for the show (not too bad of seats – it’s a random draw and we ended up getting 5th row), the three of us went down to the Beverly Center. Apparently it’s not the interior that was used for the movie as another mall had that distinction, but it was still fun to think about it anyway. There is a main foyer in the Beverly Center that looks a LOT like the movie though. It’s still weird to be back in that neighborhood and see the Beverly Connection across the street and consider I spent 5 years working there at the Bookstar which is now gone….like truly gone. It’s been remodeled into an Old Navy. 🙁
We then met up with Austin at the Largo’s bar once that opened up and we had a few drinks to get into the spirit of things. Anyway…the show was amazing. Larry had been bracing for the possibility of June not being there, but as it was the 8pm show, the likelihood is higher that she was going to be present and happily she was. They of course loved tearing this movie apart as it certainly deserves to be. I’m looking forward to hearing the podcast once they release it, which we think is going to be in a week or so. Highly recommended once it is!
Anyway – pictures!
Saturday, Mar 11, 2017: How Did This Get Made @ The Largo
In our Uber on the way to Nicki’s
Gotta love that picture on the main shelf
Wine, Larry & Nicki – the best
At Nicki’s!
Camera+ has a Clarity mode that really makes an entire pic pop
Her place is so LA, and so her
She has awesome taste
Waiting in the ticket line at the Largo
Outside the Largo
The Beverly Center is getting a big remodel
This is the open area that looks a lot like Chopping Mall
Larry & Nicki
I look maniacal, Larry looks scared
Killbotz!!!
There was a Snoopy fashion exhibit for some reason
Nicki assures us the coast is clear
My old stomping grounds
Heading into the Largo for the show
Larry at the Largo
Us
Our fearless and funny hosts – Jason, June, and Paul
Walking by the Beverly Center
Nicki & Austin at dinner
It was just a great night and a fun way to spend most of a Saturday. Of course, Daylight Savings Time coming around this morning to steal some of our precious sleep time is the worst. Anyway, we eventually got our act together, watched last night’s SNL (the Ivanka Trump “Complicit” ad was amazing), and then headed out to Target to restock the house supplies and then watch Logan.
Logan (2017) (saw this on Mar 12 @ the Pacific Theaters in Glendale)
Well, the reviews are in and it’s been getting across-the-board raves, and rightfully so. It’s getting praised for very good things, such as a stripped down story, wonderful performances, and a more serious take on what usually isn’t. And oh yeah, it’s R-rated and it takes full advantage of that, as Logan is fucking violent as hell. I mean, it’s REALLY violent. But I have to say that while I did enjoy the ride, the movie feels too long and I think it needed to have an explanation for some things to help place you in the world. I get it, you do get enough hints as to what’s happened in the time between the last X-Men movies and 2029, which is when this is set. But I kind of still wanted to know more – what actually happened that Professor X and Logan keep referring to? Obviously it resulted in the deaths of pretty much all the mutants, but what was it? Maybe it doesn’t matter, but the ambiguity for ambiguity’s sake kind of turned me off. And this movie is bleak, full stop. There’s very good reasons for that but just know this is not the movie that ends with everyone hugging it out at the end. Nope.
Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart are of course fantastic, as is the young actress who played Laura / X23. It’s interesting to think where the “modern” X-Men movies plan to go from here…do they tell the story I’m bitching about missing? Or are they only going to do the “First Class” X-Men? OR just reboot the whole damn thing? Logan is certainly a better movie than the recent Apocalypse though, and for sophistication, it stands pretty much above most of the other recent X-Men movies too. I guess I’m struggling with liking it but not loving it? And wanting to have SOME exposition to fill in some of the blanks.
Movies Seen in 2017:
Fantastic / Rave-worthy:
- Hidden Figures (2016)
- Jackie (2016)
- John Wick: Chapter 2
- Moonlight (2016)
- Get Out
Very Good:
Okay / Wait to See at Home:
Only if You’re Going to “How Did This Get Made?”
- Chopping Mall (1986)
I Bought a Couch Desk
Because work is neverending fun lately, I bought a rolling desk that I can use while sitting on the couch so I can get away from the computer office area and enjoy TV with Larry a little bit. But seriously, enough of this already. Although, it is a pretty well-made thing and does the job well.
Tuesday Musings: Twin Peaks, Back to Work, Bright Lights
Back to work after all those wonderful days off…it’s only fair, but man, it was brutal. I do love that PwC shuts the hell down for that week. I learned today that Sony does the same thing. I would love to shout out why didn’t NBC do that, but I know full well that the TV game doesn’t ever really stop. Summer being a dead zone full of reruns went away what feels like decades ago!
Other Stuff:
I would LOVE if the new Twin Peaks revival premieres on my wedding date.
Also, this documentary that was made just this past year and premieres this weekend on HBO about the life of Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds? Looks AMAZING. And I imagine my eyes will be filled with tears for the majority of it.
It’s still hard to believe the situation around their deaths.