Tuesday, September 27, 2005

My 2 seconds of Modelling fame!

So today was my stab at 2 seconds of fame as a male model! A couple months ago some lady from Wright-Laird Casting spotted us at Matador's in mid-town KC. So she says she is this casting agent, and wants to take a couple of pictures... I guess we were too buzzed to care or remember. So we totally forgot about it.

I was kinda suprised when she actually called yesterday with a last minute print ad gig for me! To cut a long story short, Walmart needed a younger looking dude for their Nintendo DS ad. So no, they were not looking for good looking people, nor UGLY people, just one that looks like a kid!??!! Deflated ego aside, I said why not? They were paying me with Walmart giftcards! I figure I might as well go and experience life as a MODEL!

So, I drove to this studio place downtown @ http://www.rushwade2.com/go.html , its called Rush Wade 2. Lyndon and Lindsey Wade are brothers, they do the photography part. Judy Rush is the digital image specialist... Hence Rush+ Wade (2)... Anyway, that place was a huge converted warehouse, with designer bathrooms, a huge kitchen full of stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, etc. Basically, very very artsy looking/

After sitting around for 2 hrs, they finally called on me to do some SERIOUS modelling! Nope, no lines to rehearse, no nice clothes to wear, no special "LOOK" to practice. Just wear a winter parka, a pair of boots, and sit on a bucket. Oh, I almost forgot. I have to hold a Nintendo DS in my hand, and look like i'm really into it...

For the next hour I was posed and re-posed while they tried to make the scene look perfect. I've got to admit it felt ego-boosting having so much people give you their attention. But after a while I really felt like an off center picture that needed to be adjusted until everything is perfectly aligned... DANG! it is hard to be a model...

Did I get paid? Eh. I so kiasu, of course lah. For my time Walmart gave me $200 in gift cards. My ad will be out in December 05' issues of gamer magazines like Gamepro... They promised to email the final print to me too... so I'll post it when I have it...

Was it fun? Hmm... More weird than fun, but I'll do it again, if they call me up. I can check "modelling" off the "things to do before I die" list. On second thought, maybe I should get some professional headshots of Benji and send them to my agent (Wow, never believed I could say those 2 words ever in my life). Maybe he will have better luck! Heck, maybe we can retire making money off him!

Friday, September 23, 2005

Monday, September 19, 2005

My First 5K & Squirrel Hunting

It was an eventful weekend!
Woke up really early on Sunday to do my first 5K! I kinda promised myself that I would do it when my PET was clear, so I did it! I ran the Leawood Cancer Awareness Run in 25.57. See how I stack up against everyone else here: http://www.mararunning.org/canawarem.html I'm still sore from all the running, but at least I can say I did my 5K!

The next afternoon, I finally caught me my first squirrel! Its a long story, but i'm going to tell it anyway... This oddysey started about 6-8 weeks ago, when we noticed wood chips at the floor of the garage whenever it rained really hard. We found a squirrel nest up near the eave of my roof. No explaination why he decided to make a home there, but he was really mad when I tried to get him out! If you want to make a squirrel growl at you, try poking a stick into his nest... That will do it. So we waited till he left the hole to go shopping/looking for food, and I very cleverly stuffed 2 garbage bags into it, so he couldn't get back in. The next afternoon, he pulled out both bags, and spread them across my lawn! Here's a picture of the damage that he did!

That's how the quest to catch Dennis the squirrel (like Dennis the Menace) began. Pitiful attempts were made at first with a mouse trap and a smaller cage... So I finally shelled out the big bucks and got a larger cage, and used peanut butter and bread for bait. 2 days of setting and resetting the trap, we finally caught Dennis today!

Needless to say, he wasn't very happy when he saw me! I had a few choice words for him myself, but i think we encountered a language translation issue. Here's a picture of him in his temporary home. Don't worry though, Dennis was dropped off about 10 miles away from the house near some trees. Mind you, I found him some nice Pines to climb and and down on. Hopefully he'll enjoy them better than in my siding...

Monday, September 12, 2005

Clean PET & Long Movie

CLEAN PET = Celebration!!!
My PET on 9/6/05 was Clear!! After a few days of nervously waiting, we heard the good news from good old Dr Mundis... We're so happy again, that the stuff we went through last year seems to be a really bad movie.

Speaking of bad movies... We watched "House of Flying Daggers" on Saturday Night. It was by no means a "bad" movie, in retrospect it was an ok "kung fu" style movie that we grew up watching, with nicer colors, costumes, and special effects... What was cheesy about can be summarized into a few points....

1. Really good swordsmen hold their swords in front of them.

2. Really BAD swordsmen hold out the swords behind them. I think this is to prevent self injury when chasing the good swordsmen... They are nice boys and listened to mom when she said "don't run around with scissors/swords!". Same rule applies apparently when surrounding good swordsmen as well, as the picture here shows.


3. Finally for the last 15 minutes of the movie, Andy Lau's character runs around with a dagger stuck in his back.... Now I know its a movie, and the title of the movie has "DAGGER" in it... But riding horseback, a fight to the death in a snowstorm. ALL with a dagger in your back?? Hmm..... Another one of life's mysteries I guess.