Saturday
Help Shelley Pack
Explore Chinatown with KD
Forward Building

Sunday
Rain
Cooking
Arranging
Jess Hooks

For those of you that hadn’t heard it is a recent development… less than a week since the offer. So there has been a frantic pace of apartment hunting with this Clinton Hill duplex the front runner:

I am also tempted by high rise living.. something about a corner apartment on the 40 somethingith floor of a mid-town building…..

So I’m furiously packing and trying to remember what it’s like to have over a foot of snow on the ground.

I’d appreciate any suggestions on where to find good people, music, and food! And when you find yourself on the East coast know that you’ll have a place to stay!

Present Theories:
Jacob is the father trying to raise his child.  A loose parallel of Christian and Jack.
The Island is a prison: Jacob and “friend” are in the prison.  Jacob is a warden whos “powers” can escape the island.

I’ve come up with a list of questions for which I’d like to find answers:

• How is Jin hopping thorough time in Season 4 with the other Island persons but not helicopter crew, which should have been physically closer to the Island?
• What did Daniel do/see while he was time shifted (like Desmond) What about his GF?
• How did Claire get pregnant? Is it Jacobs baby?
• What’s up with the polar bears?
• What is special about Claire’s baby?
• Is the statue the Egyptian God Sobek?
• When did Richard get to the island?
• How did the Other’s get to the island?
• Who is funding the Others?
• Is the dog (Vincent) real or vision? – I’m leaning to a vision, cause the dog died in the crash.
• The Island is a fake. or possibly constructed (by Jacob?) e.g. not an island like Hawaii is an island
• What lies in the shadow if the statue?
• Who is Jacob? and his friend?
• How did Desmond call Penny on Dec 24 at her home, only to have her pick him up a few days later in the middle of the ocean…. but it would depend on how long they were in the life raft.
• Whose side is Daniel on?
• Why were no baby’s able to be born on the Island from the time Alex was born until Claire’s baby was born?
• What is the significance of the rain?
• Where/When is Charlotte?

Some observations about the show:

• Show takes place in relatively real time.
• Two sides – there always seems to be two sides from Jacob and entity, Kate & Juliet, Sawyer & Jack, Dharma Initiative & Others, Ben & John, Ben & Charlie, temple & Statue
• Island on top itself as it hops through time (During season 4 as the Island time shifts it loops back upon itself)
• All “visions” are from Jacob’s “friend”, Jacob prefers to make direct contact with people.
• Interesting that John can only walk on the Island since the fall when he met Jacob.
• Claire’s not remembering the time she was with Ethan is a result of being taken to the temple in the same way that Ben was taken as a child.

Theories

• Claire’s child is Jacob
• The Monster, John (after his death), Vincent (the dog) are all manifestations of Jacob’s friend and are never seen on the screen at the same time.
• The group in the helicopter was not taken along with the island because they had to safely deliver Claire’s baby to Claire’s mom (the only other safe person other than Claire)
• Whispers have some relevance to the rain and the others. – present theory is that the Others can walk between planes of existence, different dimensions if you will.  The rain is a physical manifestation of the cross over.  Also explains why they cannot be tracked.

BTW I think this is a great show and ranks high on my list of Sci-Fi series to watch….

I had also forgotten how long it takes for the sun to cross the horizon once the eastern sky begins to lighten. I was watching for over 45 minutes.

Watching the sunrise energized me for the day. I felt more active and alert and that I checked more thing off my todo list than in previous days.

Next step.. catch a sunrise after an advernturesome night.

Each show has seating for about 850 people and all you need do is call ahead to make reservations. Well not even that. Show up at the door and say you have reservations and you’ll get seated. (This is for the non-dinner show only) I highly recommend getting the champagne with the show. Tickets are 85€ a person 92€ with champagne. No cameras or video equipment area permitted inside and they are firm and polite but not overly invasive in that request.

Féerie was a crazy amazing spectacle of light, sound, and movement. The costumes were amazing! The performers made the show specifically the four ‘interim’ acts – Juggling, Magic, Giant Aquarium, and Contortionist (kinda) team. My favorite was the last act the Contortionist/strength act performed by a couple. Just Wow!

Across the street from the Moulin Rouge is the Blanche Metro station. One of the unique aspects of this station is the air vent that continually streams high volumes of air up in to the Parisian night. It was much fun to watch people climbing up for photographs by friends and strangers.

If you’ve ever seen Baz Luhrmanns film…there area some similarities in the performance but well you really should go and see it for yourself.

I did catch a few of the performers coming out after the show. I was amazed that the exiting and exuberant crowd seemed not see them at all.

It was a great time at the Moulin Rouge and I would definitely go back for another show.

The first day I spent time mucking about in Windows XP and installed a netbook version of Ubuntu Linux on the second HD. I had also downloaded a copy of the version of Linux that Asus prepared.. when I went to install it it overwrote the XP installation. I then discovered two things: 1. I did not like the Asus version of Linux… too simplified 2. I had lost my XP install disc sometime in the last few days… I could use the version that came with the EEE PC 901 but it has lots of extra software I would rather not install in the first place but that some might feel useful, e.g. Star Office, funky software for the camera etc etc.. The bright side was that I located a specific version of Ubuntu for this little computer. EEEBuntu! but more on that bit later.

It has taken a few days to grow accustomed to the closer key placement and only make one two consistent typing mistakes.  My next step is to try sky and a few other more intensive applications.  Contact me as kestrachrn on Skype if you want to help me test.

My advice so far is to Get one!!! Eee PC 901 from Amazon.com

With Shelley away for the weekend in San Francisco the perfect opportunity presented itself.  After a solo precursor of cookies and film Quicksilver.. I gathered up a few things (bike lights, cash, etc) grabbed the bike and set off to meet St. Petersburg, Florida.

Over the next six hours I cavorted over her streets, sometimes pedaling my way, at others walking to seep in her details.   I followed many of the same paths I had on previous encounters but with new and wider eyes.  Coffee Pot Bayou, USF campus, The Pier, Downtown, along Central Avenue, Tropicana

She showed me her beauty – A thunderstorm over the bay, while the full moon occasionally eclipsed by clouds still shown brightly overhead

She showed me her dark side – gunshots, police, cruisers, flashing lights and a striking african american male in subtle drag telling his story (relevant or not) to all in the vicinity 

I felt her caress – the light and gentle rain, the breezes guided by her structures

I heard her voice – the hums and whirrs… the traffic on brick and pavement, the waves lapping at her shores, the sounds of the creatures that dwell within.

I sensed her energy…  watched her as she slept….  as she stirred to wake on the new day

I know her better now. We are on the path to becoming good friends.

A place where a person lives may not explicitly dictate what can be done or how, but it does impose its own quirks on the things you may want to do.

The above image is a cropped version of the only time I stopped to take a photo.  Click on it for the expanded version.

My role on Closing Time was two-fold. Initially I arrived to be an extra for a scene or so.. I did end up on camera in episode 7, but no speaking lines. When not in front of the camera I worked on audio, generally holding mics or working with the audio monitors to verify good sound capture. The sensitivity of the mics would pick up the sound of the city bus passing our front and those of you with an iPhone may have noticed how they tend to broadcast to speakers/electronic equipment in the near vicinity.

I had a good time on set and enjoyed the differences between media and event production. I learned quite abit from the time I spent working with the cast and crew and can’t wait to get the word that season two begins shoot.

You can find the Season 1 trailer, pilot, and first episode online at http://closingtime.tv v

Twice on Monday the St. Petersburg police stopped past due to an anonymous complaint about music volume.  Both times the officers felt there was no problem with the sound level.  You can hardly hear the music if you stand on the front porch and this is with the side windows open.  Due to the rain that started early in the morning my day was preempted with a 3 hour nap after which I took my bike over to the shop for its 30-day checkup.   Monday night saw the first ever Margaritas and Movies! at Chez Kitteh.  banANNA! was the only soul to brave the rain.  We watched “It’s All Gone Pete Tong” and sampled margaritas made from three different tequilas 

The anonymous caller had police check in with me again on Tuesday, while I appreciate their concern I would like to let them (you) know that I prefer warm cookies vs. a uniformed officer checking on my perfectly fine sound levels. (Music quality is something else… it may only be coincidence that the police arrived when Tiesto or Oakenfold was playing.  The rain closed the Gulfport Tuesday Market and kept me inside so to combat the boredom I began to develop a healthy case of cabin fever. 

Hump day had me getting up and slughing off to Gibbs High School to be a “Guest Teacher” for Anatomy and Physiology.   While heading out for donuts on my lunch break some moron decided to commit armed robbery of the near to school Subway shop.  When I returend to campus I was stopped by two security guards who asked what I was doing… (mind you I had a bag of donuts in my left hand, a large red bull in my right, a backpack on, and was wearing one of my lovely orange shirts.  I don;t care who robbed the subway I can see no way I fit any profile)  I explained about the donut quest showed my ID and teaching card and got a 50 foot escort ride to the front door.   One exciting thing while I was off Gibbs campus was this incredible little blue bug…I just loved its coloration.   
 

Getting home from Gibbs I found that the most awesome cat toys ever arrived in the mail.  A little R/C Mini Cooper and an R/C Helicopter from ThinkGeek.com heheheh and the cats love them!!!   Sara (No H) was flying in Wednesday evening to christen Chez Kitteh’s guest room.  While heading over to the airport I happened to drive through a flock of bubbles drifting down 5th Ave N (near 16th St) in St. Petersburg. Surreal.  Her flight was delayed for an hour as it circled Tampa waiting for the Thunderstorms to pass.  Once she was on the ground we picked Shelley up from work and headed over to Sloppy Joes on Treasure Island beach for a round of Welcome to Florida Margaritas!  SandOvations had build this large detailed sand clock for the Bilmar hotel (where Sloppy Joes is located) and I was amazed at how well the detail had held up under at least three days of rain.

Thursday was not nearly as fun as other days in the week, exciting when the power went out? Kinda.  It at least broke up the boredom.   I did manage to escape the house for a short bike ride up Coffee Pot Bayou and saw the cutest ducks swimming along in the water.  Walking along the low tide line I also discovered a few coconuts and a piece of driftwood that should make good planters for some lemon bonsai trees I started last year.  I experimented a little with some settings on the Canon DSLR exposure, aperture and the like.

The potential for severe weather postponed Friday’s space shuttle landing.  Good thing too as Shelley and Sara had enjoyed a late night of dinner, dancing, and general catching up.  While they slept in I went of on an early morning bike ride where I found Mark creating sand sculptures at the Pier for an Ikea promotion.  I hope to trade some labor for instruction.  Waffle House on Treasure Island was lunch with a stroll on the beach looking at storm clouds to the north.  We heard that there was a tornado in the Largo area about that time. Supposedly Florida has a higher density of tornadoes per land area than any other state.   After Waffle House Shelley and Sara went over the bridge for some shopping while I stayed at Chez Kitteh to do some clean up.  Developing a necessity for a caffeine beverage to headed to Rollin Oats (think Trader Joes but independent) with a stop at the bike shop to get some air in a tire and have the rear wheel re-aligned.  It had slipped so it was rubbing on the frame.   I’m a little concerned about the abrasion damage. Wait and see.    The sun came out, Shelley and Sara came home and then we are off to dinner.  With the closing of this post the weekend officially begins!!!

Wahoo!

Photog fun

Chez Kitteh Guest room V1.0