20 years later

Just got back from a family vacation that started off with my 20 year high school reunion and ended with a mini family reunion in Lake Tahoe. I guess a 20 year reunion can be a weird thing to go to, but since Myspace and Facebook, it only takes a couple of minutes to see what people look like and know what they've been doing for the last 20 years. None the less if was a fun evening out with my wife and seeing friends that I haven't had face to face time with in a long time. I ended up messing up my knee a little doing some break-dancing! Anyway it was a wild, fun time. The next day there was a BBQ for the grads and their families. So all the kids got to run around and have a good time. Thanks to Ali and Erin for putting on a great time.

Sonoma was a quick trip, just a day. Sunday afternoon we left the picnic and made our way to Lake Tahoe. My grandparents had a cabin in Tahoe for many years. After my grandmother died, he decided to sell it. He does things that only make seance to him. He's remarried and moved to the desert. I don't see him very often, he and my mother and he don't speak to each other any longer, and he has great-grand children he has never met. You kind of get the idea of what he's all about. Anyway, Tahoe was kind of bitter sweet. A few weeks ago my dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer, due to smoking which he quit twenty some odd years ago. He has to have his bladder removed tomorrow. The overall outcome is unknown, so the possibility of my fathers death has been a topic of late between my family and I. Some days are very sad, and other days are very optimistic. When you don't know what's going to happen, those are really the only two roads to travel down. My dad is a strong, hard ass guy, who feels like what ever happens, happens. His only sadness comes when thinking what will happen to my mom. He said to me with tears in his eyes, "She's a pain in the ass, but she's my pain in the ass". I try to reassure him that his kids with do the right thing if it comes to that. All of this makes me think of a time when I was much younger and worried about when the time came when my parents would be gone and how sad that would be. I don't feel old, but I am at an age now where the ones I love are becoming older and life is changing.

Having said all that, my father is optimistic about the future. Besides all this cancer stuff, Tahoe was a chance for the family to be together. My mom has rented a cabin in Tahoe for the last five years in order to do what my grandfather had not cared about doing, keeping the family together and creating memories for the children that were not around in the hayday of the family cabin. The kids loved the lake, and memories were made. Job well done Mom! I love you. Dad, good luck tomorrow. I love you!

A Nice Day

It's easy to get wrapped up in your own stuff when you're an artist. "Why didn't I get that part?" "How come I can't sell that script?" "Why do I have an audio problem and have to re-shoot my awesome short film?" The fact is when people are artists, we're setting ourselves up for disappointment. And I say that being the most optimistic guy you know. It's the trade off of having the best feelings in the world when things go your way. See, when people go to their office job, or the job they just "fell" into, they're playing it safe. No risk, no putting themselves out there. So of course, no disappointment. But I digress. It's Summer time! And as the saying goes, "the livings easy".

Hollywood is slow right now and the kids are out of school. For those of you that have kids and a wife/husband and are artist, you know that it is a balancing act. You love your kids and wife and WANT to give them the time they deserve. Not to mention a break from the kids for your wife, because parenting is a full time job. On the flip side you HAVE to put the time into your craft so someday you can look back and know all that time you put in is what made all the difference. And when you are a writer, director, actor, husband and dad that also had two "real" jobs it's hard to find the time to stay sane.

But as I mentioned before it is summer. My kids are now at the age where they're all about having adventures. The trick is to multitask when you have kids to keep everybody happy. My daughter Logan got a bike last Christmas, and for much of January through May it's been in storage. She's too young to take it out by herself, I'm working all the time, and Kelly has her hands full with the boys. What we've been doing is first and foremost is keeping her bike in the car so it's ready to go. I can't tell you what a world of difference that makes. Then right after she wakes up and grabs a little something to eat, we drive down to the bike path on the beach. It's about a two mile round trip route. She rides, I jog. She gets an adventure and I get to exercise. Now that's a win win situation.

Then there are the boys. The problem we have it that there are two. Twins create logistical problems that I won't even go into right now. Lets just say it's hard to take them out if only one parent is available. It can even be dangerous depending on what you're doing. We make it a point of joining up at some point of the day and getting everyone out of the house.

Living in Santa Barbara, the most beautiful place in the world (besides all those other beautiful places in the world) and there are lots of things to do. So yesterday we went down to the docks and let the kids drive "Little Toot". Thanks Little Toot guys!!!

what a difference a day makes.

Oh father's day. A day a dad gets to rest, hang out and not have a care in the world? Sort of. With three kids, there's never really a long stretch of time to where you can really not care what's happening. But I did the best I could. Kelly wanted to go visit her dad in Alisos Viejo(sp?), a nice community 30 min. south of Disney Land. I have to say that I enjoy my in-laws very much. Kelly's dad and brother are great to have conversations with over wine. It helps that out politics (obama) and religion (don't go to church) are the same. Kelly's step mom is a fantastic host, and Kelly's little brother and sister keep the youthfulness a flowing.

So we had a relaxing time. Swam with the kids, drank a lot of beer and wine, ate steak like a king, and passed out around ten. In between, had Micheal's (my brother-in-law) girlfriend save Bracken (my son) from drownding. It wasn't really that bad, but I like drama. We went to the park as I pretended to still be young and chase down punts for Tim(my other brother-in-law), and had a good heart to heart with my sister-in-law about life after the first year of college. The next morning I woke up and got a phone call from my editor who tells me that have a serious audio problem with my film. The short version is that is would be less time just to reshoot. Pick yourself up and dust yourself off. I'm now in pre-production(again).