Can I Have Your Autograph?

I was having a conversation with a friend recently about celebrities and famous people in general and which we think would be asses and which would be nice. Then we discussed our own experiences with meeting the famous. Being that I live in Southern California, my chances of running into the famous is more likely, but I have met some outside of Cali. However, not all my experiences have been positive so, I thought I’d share the good and the total douche bags.

The Good:

Robin Williams: I actually met Robin Williams about 7 years ago. It was during the filming of One Hour Photo which was partially filmed at the building I worked in at that time. For anyone who has seen the movie, towards the end the ‘hotel’ he goes to was my office building. First, he really is as small and hairy as he appears. But, he was a really nice guy. He took his time to give autographs to everyone and to take pictures. He was definitely ‘on’ and cracking jokes. He was talking 1,000 words per minute, but he was a really easy going guy and everybody really liked him. He was also the only of the actors that was willing to take time out to meet us. I’m glad I met him. He’s the kind of guy I would want to chill with.

Mike Ditka: I’m a huge football fan and I travel on a yearly basis to catch a game. A little over a year ago I went to Chicago. While there we made sure to go to Mike Ditka’s restaurant to check out the memorabilia and with a smidgen of hope he might be around. When we got there the host told us he was in earlier and may not be back. We were bummed, but figured the odds he’d be there were low. But right after we placed our order, Mike Ditka walked in! He went to the bar upstairs. I immediately grabbed my friends camera, went upstairs and asked him if I could get a picture with him. He was really nice and said “absolutely”. The bartender offered to take the picture, but the camera’s flash wasn’t on. This was my friend’s camera so I wasn’t sure how it worked. I was there for a few minutes with the bartender trying to figure it out. All the while Ditka was standing there patiently waiting. The third time was the charm and we got the flash to work. I was surprised how nice and patient he was! I’m going back to Chicago this year and I can only hope I run into him again!

The Bad:

Mario Lopez: About 5 years ago me and my friends came across ‘Slater’ at a bar in Hollywood. I’ve always thought this guy was a total douche, but he confirmed it for us that night. First off, we weren’t at some high end bar. This wasn’t a club. It was just a casual hang out bar where any schmo over 21 could get in. After being there for a couple of hours we see Mario Lopez walk in with about 4 other people. Two of the guys appeared to be his bodyguards. They sat at a table that was about in the middle of the place. You can tell he thought he was the sh*t from the moment he walked in. The two bodyguard guys stood next to him at the table. Now, the funny thing is that nobody at the bar cared that he was there. He was not being swarmed or even acknowledged. There was ONE girl, who was drunk mind you, who asked for his autograph. Well, this douche completely ignored her. He acted as if he was the freaking Prez or something! Even with this girl asking for his autograph, no one else cared and a crowd was definitely not forming. Would it have killed him to even say hi to this girl?! After that a few people, me and my friends included, started chanting “Slater” at him. Needless to say, he left shortly after. I still just want to punch him in his face!

Greg Townsend: I know many of you won’t know this name. This guy is an ex-football player (I told you I’m a fan). He played for the Raiders. Last year during football season we were at a sports bar watching the game. Well, this guy showed up. Now, I’m not a Raiders fan at all, but a few of my friends are. So, I thought I’d get a picture with him to show my friends. I went over to him and asked him if I could get a picture with him. He said no, but that I could buy an autographed one for $10! Are you kidding me??? This guy isn’t even a well known player and he was at a rinky dink sports bar and he won’t even take a pic, but try to sell one? NFL Pension not coming through, buddy??? I thought that was pretty lame of him. So, I went back to my table and pretended to be texting, but actually filmed the guy. Then showed my friends he was there and told them what a tool he was!

So, there’s a few experiences I’ve had. I’ve also had mini run ins with some celebs during the time I worked at Disneyland. I sold Nicolas Cage his Splash Mountain photo and I had Gary Busey ask me where to buy a fanny pack. Plus, I’ve seen some folks from a distance. So, if any of you have had any chance to meet anyone famous, I’d like to hear it whether it’s good or bad.

Bruised and Confused

I blogged yesterday on my weekend clumsiness and subsequent injury. I actually have a hematoma on the back of my thigh which is a bigger, grosser, version of a bruise. Mine is pretty big, I measured it, it’s about 9″ high and 6″ wide. Right now it’s also a very dark purple, almost black. And I have some swelling. Since it’s right on the back of my left thigh it is very hard to sit and I have to sit to drive to work and while at work. I have to shift my weight to my right which is now causing a kink in my back. And my foot is still hurting a bit. I doubt I fractured anything in my foot as I first thought possible and now it feels more like a sprain (of which I have had many). Needless to say, I’m pretty uncomfortable all day. So, I won’t be doing much blogging this week. With this constant discomfort, my blogging juices aren’t really flowing and I want to avoid sitting as much as possible. I just want to lay down when I get home (on my right side). I’ll still check out other blogs and comment when I can, at least while I’m at work. Hopefully, I’ll be in less pain and discomfort soon.

Rough Weekend

I had a pretty tough weekend. First, it was hot and miserable. So, I spent most of the weekend at my friend’s house since she has a pool. It was nice and relaxing until I slipped in her house on Saturday night. I have the biggest nastiest bruise on the back of my thigh and the top of my foot is also bruised and hurts. I’m really hoping I didn’t fracture any bone in my foot. It sometimes feels a little tingly and with so many little bones in there, who knows. If it still feels the same by tomorrow, I may have to go to the doctor. It’s hard to sit down because of the bruise on my thigh and I have to be sitting at my desk for work today. Plus, it’s going to be hot again today. ugh! So, I’m in pain and uncomfortable which doesn’t put me in the best mood. I’m just going to try to get through this day so I can just go home, turn on the air conditioning and relax!

It’s Take Your Dog To Work Day

Yep, just found that out that it’s take your dog to work day today. I guess it depends what kind of job you have for this to be allowed. I work in an office and it’s a pretty casual setting, but I don’t know if I could have my dog here. She’s pretty calm, but she wants most of my attention on her when I’m around. I don’t mind at home, especially since she was adopted from an abusive home and I think she deserves a little extra attention. However, couldn’t imagine having her at work and still trying to get my work done as well as blogging. I guess she’ll just have to stay home and wait for me…probably on the couch or bed as usual. Which is where I’d prefer to be instead of here, so she’s better off!

Traffic Jammin’

One of the ‘perks’ of living in Los Angeles is the never ending traffic jams. And they’re continuously getting worse. I remember when there would only be traffic at rush hour during the week. Now there’s traffic ALL the time! You never know when you’ll get caught in it. It takes me anywhere from 15-20 minutes to get home from work. Not today! It took me almost an hour. 30 minutes of that time was spent in completely stopped traffic. There was no accident. I didn’t see any police or ambulance. There was no broke down car stopping traffic. With so many cars on the road, if even one car slows down slightly, it can wreak havoc. And with gas prices as bad as they are it doesn’t help sitting there wasting it away. Wish is the weekend already!

Beer…Now Cheaper Than Gas

I could really use a beer right now. Yep, this early in the morning! This week is already feeling eternal. I’ve been super busy at work. Gas prices keep going up. And the Lakers lost the NBA finals last night! Sigh. Why is Friday not here yet?!! Hope everybody else’s Wednesday is good.

I’m Alarmed By All This Noise

Why do people still have car alarms? They are the most useless thing to have. I understand older cars still have alarms, but why do people still activate them?! There seems to be about a half dozen people in my neighborhood who have car alarms that go off all the time. Nobody even acknowledges them anymore. It’s not like if we hear a car alarm we’re suddenly going to rush to see if someones breaking into it? I especially hate the alarms that go off in the middle of the night because some cat jumped on the hood or something. It’s the most obnoxious thing ever! Most of the time the cars that are alarmed are crap. The alarm system is probably worth more than the damn car itself! Does the 1970 Gremlin really need an alarm??? Plus, I’m in southern California so, after even the most moderate earthquake it could be like a freaking alarm orchestra! Just stop it with the car alarms already!!!!

This wouldn’t bother me as much if they weren’t going off in what seems like every hour!!!

Why I Otter…

I decided to post about one of my favorite childhood treats…Otter Pops!

I loved these damn things as a kid! They were the greatest treat my mom could possibly give us. There was always a box of Otter pops in our freezer! And summers were never complete without Otter Pops! The best thing about them were the crazy names they had. Let’s examine!

Alexander the Grape! They decided to use the name of a Greek king for this one. I love the toga and what I guess is supposed to be the strappy sandals, but what looks more like an unfortunate toilet paper incident. The beauty of this is that as a kid I had no idea who Alexander the Great was so, to me this was just some clever name and fancy costuming! Pure genius!

Now, we move on to Little Orphan Orange. Now, with this one they decided to not even try to rhyme to the original name of Little Orphan Annie, but went ahead with just using the ‘O’ to make this work. Again, as a kid, I had no idea what an orphan was and hadn’t even seen Annie yet. But this orange otter was like the little sister in the bunch to me because she just seemed like the young kid hanging around.

On to one of my faves: Louie-Bloo Rasberry! Not only was blue my favorite flavor, but I loved this guy. He looked like some suave french gigolo. I didn’t understand the romanticised idea of the ‘french lover’ back then, but this guy so reminded me of Pepe Le Pew that he just rocked!

Now, we come to our little south of the border friend Poncho Punch. The guy is just such a pimp; the boots, the poncho, the hat. I can just hear the Speedy Gonzalez scream of “Arriba, Arriba” in my head! The best part of his ensemble is that his boots have spurs! I wonder if those spurs that jingle-jangle-jingle?! There’s nothing else that can be said about this guy because he’s just all around cool!

Strawberry Short Kook! I always wondered why she was a kook. I mean she clearly has the crazy eyes, but I was expecting a straitjacket or something. I mean what the hell other than her polka dot skirt makes her a ‘kook’?? I mean did she play pranks on the other otters?? Was she willing to take on any double dog dare??? I need to know why she was considered the kook???? Mystery of life I guess.

Finally we come to the father figure of the pops, Sir Isaac Lime. He’s a scientific genius! So much so, that he isn’t required to wear clothing like the other less significant otters. He’s the Papa Smurf of the otters. He comes around with words of wisdom to solve all problems. There’s nothing Sir Isaac can’t do!

I was at the store and came across some generic frozen pops and it reminded me of these so, I decided to do a quick post. Damn, now I’m craving a pop!

Dew Me Baby One More Time

So, I finally bought the new Mountain Dew flavors. I gave the pink one (I forgot what it’s called) to my mom because she wanted to try it. But, she’s saving it for tomorrow so, I couldn’t steal a sip. I ended up with Voltage and Revolution. I’ve only tried Revolution so far. It’s okay. I don’t hate it but, I don’t love it. It’s okay for a quick drink. I’m probably not the best person for this review because I don’t drink a lot of soda and when I do I prefer diet soda. I won’t try Voltage until at least tomorrow. I’ll leave a quick snippet of what I thought about it on another future post. Just wanted to share that I at least tried one and am not out of the loop anymore!

Edit: Here’s a pic of Voltage, which is the only unopened dew I have. See, I really did find them!

Do You Feel Lucky…Punk?

Yes, it’s Friday the 13th. I’m too lazy to go into researching about the day and why it’s considered unlucky and detailing all that information in blog form. I’m sure someone else somewhere will do it…maybe. So, just wishing everyone a Happy Friday the 13th!