Your Mom Goes to My Photoshoots

I hadn't seen her in... 5 months since she quit. Was so good to see her. :3 Very long hug. She gives awesome hugs. Such a cool person--man, I miss her.

Luckily, she informed me that she was no longer working at SoHo, a bar on the northeast side of town, but was now back downtown working at the very close Mad Dog's British Pub.

So I'm going to have to start hanging out there.

To TiVo forward, she said she had to go--she was meeting a friend--but I know she's back downtown, making very good money, supposedly, so I know she's not going anywhere.

Night-before-yester-night was a good night.




I'm not exactly a genius for figuring it out because it's an intentional built-in feature, but my phone has the ability to transform into a modem. I hook it up to my computer by the USB cable it came with, change the phone to "Modem" mode, run a little program on da lappy, and boom: interwebs.

And the data rate is well high enough for me to chill in #dAmn, as I have done multiple times.

Though I didn't do it the other day, it's kinda fun to be sitting there some place, chilling on the laptop. Somebody finally gets the nerve to lean over, "You on the internet?"

"Yup."

"This place has Wi-Fi?" they ask incredulously.

"Nope," I smile.

Always makes them blankface me.

I can get internet anywhere I can get a phone signal, so my internet service actually surpasses any currently implemented Wi-Fi range in the city of San Antonio, since we still don't have city-wide Wi-Fi. :3






I was laying here racking my brain for what else I was going to put in my journal, and kicked myself forgetting about: the photoshoot! D:

More specifically, the Coyote Ugly San Antonio audition pics for next year's Official Coyote Ugly calender.

Got a text from one of my managers two weeks ago asking if I'd want to shoot the girls.

I say sure. I ask for details but he's kind of vague. Yes, I should bring my lights, it's going to be a "shoot". Oh, and btw, he says, it's going to be a bikini shoot.

I get there the day of and no one's there...

But they begin to trickle in.

Lindzi went first because she was seeing Phantom of the Opera that night and had to leave soon.

Brandee. Sherene? I don't remember the order--I didn't choose it. Asal and Crystal in there somewhere. Bianca went last for the night, which was awesome because the GM was supposed to be monitoring the photoshoot (and offering ideas throughout the course of it) so that the pictures wouldn't come out all ho-ish. But for Bianca, Shawna (the GM) was in the office putting makeup on so Bianca and I took the initiative and just started shooting without her, just to mess around. I was glad for this because Bianca, who is very shy, had loosened and opened up enormously by the time Shawna actually came out.

Reviewed the pictures in the office with Shawna and Marsha (one of the Asst. Managers.). They liked them, sang my praises, but I wasn't happy with Lindzi's run, so I asked if it would be possible to do a reshoot, simultaneously voting that I was more than able to if she was up for it. Shawna agreed and said she'd give Lindzi a call.

Got the call later that night when I went to the movies with the ol' maternal figure. Lindzi said she was definitely game. I said I'd be there.

I was the next day. Shot. Came out, as you can all see in my gallery, awesome. The girl could be a millionaire with a body like that.

CHASITY hit me up later that night after Lindzi's reshoot and asked if she could squeeze one in before the day of the deadline, and I said I'd be more than glad. As she explained to me when I asked, she hadn't been feeling well by the time the shoot came around, enough so that the last thing she wanted to do was squeeze into a bikini. Which is completely understandable since her being uncomfortable would come across in the pictures.

We shot, again the results are in the gallery.

Those pictures. Bianca makes me grin just thinking about them. She has got to be the most adorable person who has ever lived. I'll post some more as time goes on, as I make headway in editing them. I swear, Bianca could be in the middle of throwing up blood and she'd still take a good picture.

Oh... and the connections start coming in, as well.

The DAY of the shoot, one of the old managers Tony says he's going to be bartending at one of the bars he bartends at and asks if I wanna come by. I say why I regretably can't (since I'd really like to, haven't seen the guy in forever) and he says he actually needs a photographer to do some promo headshots. And would I like to? Hell yeah.

Btw, just to note, I got paid $100 for the Coyote gig. Not bad starting out, right?

A few days ago, I was sitting in the office on a day shift, talking to Marsha, and the phone rings. She picks it up, talks for a minute, and then hangs up, "When you get a chance, Matt wants you to call him."




ANOTHER former Asst. Manager. I called him up, and he's looking for a temporarily-free photographer. Apparently he's a promoter now and he's looking for a photographer. He would compensate for travel and business-related expenses of anything I'd need, but he said he wouldn't be able to pay me just yet. That right now he just needs to get the name out and then once things start rolling, he can pay. I know this is a situation where, if it goes bust, I won't get compensated, but it has the potential to be so I'ma go for it. It'll be helping him out, and it'll get me experience, so why not? Besides, if the chance goes through where it takes off, I've got yet another hookup. Or at least a stronger one, since the fact that he called me in the first place shows I already have one.

I'm wary, though, because I've come to learn something the hard way over the last 7 or so months: once they find out you have a camera that's more than a simple point-and-shoot, and that you (reasonably) know how to use it, everyone and their dog's mistress will ask you to do a photoshoot.

This is fine, except that the lack of follow through blows my mind. I can only assume that this is because everyone, I think, likes the concept of doing a shoot, but has trouble realizing that thought. I have to wonder how many people haven't made good on that request because they're nervous/scared/insecure and just can't bring themselves to admit it.

I don't know--we'll see.

Brandee has had good follow through with other things, so I think she genuinely wants to do one. Karen [see gallery] does as well, though not until two months from now. Saw her yesterday and all she said was, "Two months." And I'm like, "I know... :3"

So we'll see.




Dave Grohl, former drummer for Nirvana, current frontman of Foo Fighters and overall sexiest manbeast alive, is running for president. For serious.

He has my vote.

Can he count on yours?




I think eyes are amazing. Though not necessarily eyes, but instead the brain function that recognizes eyes.

Humans, it can be argued, recognize eye contact because we grow up labeling them "eyes" in school and then we subconsciously learn through experience that they're a major source of readable body language.

But animals.

For those of you who have pets, such as cats and dogs, you ever find it interesting that they recognize eye contact? They have no perceivable lexiconic means for "labeling" eyes, but they rezognize them apart from the rest of the body. Animals frequently use eyes to display/perceive dominance.

I find it fascinating. Just me, then.




So I was watching TV a week or so ago and some movie came on some channel, I don't remember the name of either, but it had Alexa Vega in it (of Spykids fame). And she was older...

Wasn't a bad movie. Watched it from start to finish. Well, okay. I liked it. Made me smile--it was cute.

But anyways, I thought to myself, "Wow, she's older." So I wiki-ed her. And that led to her myspace... And wow.

For those of you about my age, you probably remember her as the nerdy Spykid... so imgaine how equally surprised I was when I came across this: b2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/01…

And more on her myspace if you have one (since you have to log in to view hers). I don't know where that all came from, but damn!

And yes, she's legal.

Just surprised me. And apparently she can sing, having been in Hairspray and now about to appear in "Repo! The Genetic Opera". We'll have to check that out.




"Among" is a very weird-sounding word.

Think about it.

About its constituent parts. Especially the "ng" sound.

Weird, right?




I realize this is a shorter journal than normal, but this ending makes up for it.

So a couple weeks ago, I went to the movies. I had a day off and wanted to cram a bunch of movies all into one day.

Showed up. First movie was Semi-Pro. I was a bit early but I bought my ticket anyways. Got my soda.

Headed up the elevator (this was at the Alamo Quarry for those who know San Antonio) and got my ticket ripped.

The previous showtime was still playing so I was just going to hang out in front of the door like I do until it let out. But...

As soon as I reached the door area, a guy came out of "Semi Pro".

And as he's about to pass me, he stops.

"Dude!"

I blankface.

"Jeremy!"

Now I know, "Um, I'm not Jeremy. Wrong guy."

The guy kinda hesitates like hes processing something, and then his shoulders kinda collapse a bit, he chuckles a bit, and his body language conveys that of someone who is embarrassed and is going to apologize.

Instead, he hugs me. "Man, it's been so long since I've seen you! You're back!" Apparently he thought I was joking...

And so I went with it, "I'm back."

"How long's it been?"

I personally have no clue how long it's been for this guy and 'Jeremy', "Too long."

"I'll say. What've you been up to, man?"

And so I went with it, "Um, not much, man. Just keepin' busy. You?"

"Oh, I'm just here with the wife. Watchin' 'Semi Pro'."

"Is it good? That's what I'm here to see."

"Yeah, it's good. So, I guess congratulations are in order. Heard you had a kid." Big smile on his part.

(I'm suddenly reminded of a scene in Casanova >_> )

Non-committal smile on my part, and a "Yup". It is at this point I realize I'm on thin ice because this guy might already know the gender of the baby, so, since I DON'T know the gender, I have to be careful not to refer to it. Or how I acquired the baby. "My girl"? "My wife"? What if she's not my wife? What if she's not even my girl? What if this "Jeremy" adopted with his life-partner?

The guy asked me how the baby was and how I was and I said the baby's good. Bluffed something about how I was just here to get some personal time. I said it was good, but it was rough. Apparently this is not the answer a proud parent gives, or maybe this guy saw something I didn't know was there in my face, because he got serious for a minute there, "Everything all right?"

"No, no, I'm good. Just... things. You know. Everything's incredible, but it's always more complicated than you think it's going to be."

He seemed to accept this and moved on. Asked me my number, so I gave him something close to it. Close to it so it would roll off my tongue naturally. Was it potentially wrong to give him a fake number? This guy who was so excited to see Jeremy? Yes... but we all just KNOW that if I'd said I was between phones at the moment, that THAT second my phone would go off. And that would hurt the guy's feelings. Gotta consider all angles.

And then the guy said something that got my attention. He said he saw me on youtube. All these weeks later, all I've been thinking about is that there's some guy running around on youtube looking like me. The guy clarified that the video was of me "versus Ed".

I made some general comments of, "Oh shit, no kidding? I'ma have to check that out. Youtube myself."

Mentioned something about his son still talking about me all the time. Still plays with his Brian Kendrick dolls. I googled and Brian Kendrick is apparently some WWE Wrestler, at least that's the only Brian Kendrick I saw that would have a figurine/doll of him.

So I'm thinking I look like some amatuer wrestler? I googled all sorts of variations of "jeremy" and "versus" and "ed", but nothing of anyone who looked like me. Oh, and CJ, too. The guy called me CJ, so I guess the J is "Jeremy".

And then the guy said he had to go because he really had to go to the bathroom and get back to his wife, but that it was "incredible" seeing me again.

I returned the sentiment.

And then I ducked out of view. The last thing I needed was to be hanging around when the movie let out so the guy's wife could look at me for 3 seconds before exclaiming that I was not Jeremy...

I could be a Jeremy.

But so yeah.

So this happens a lot. Not quite for this long, but I get plenty of people who walk up and go, "Dude! Holy shit!"

And I'm all, "Dude! Who the hell're you!?"

No, I don't say that. It happens so often (srsly) that I just go with it.

Bout a year ago: Guy comes up to me at Firehouse Pub & Grill, where I worked at the time, "Dude! What happened to the other night after we left Mad Dog's?"

Never seen this guy before in my life... but I went with it, knowing Mad Dogs is, as mentioned above, a British pub on the downtown Riverwalk. Went on for a good five minutes about how some of us just branched off from there. Guy totally bought it.

But seriously, I'm good with faces. Excellent.

As mentioned in a previous journal entry, when I walked by a guy named Eddie that I haven't seen since fourth grade, I recognized him immediately. Didn't recognize me at all.

When a guy I graduated with named Roy walked past me on the street one night, I recognized him immediately. He didn't notice me at all.

When I was at one of the movie theatres a few months ago and I saw another guy I graduated with, named Jacob, I recognized him immediately, even though he's put on at least 50 lbs since 2004. He used to be a handsome guy.

The only classes I ever had with these people were elementary-school recess, for Eddie, freshman football, for Roy, and 7th grade English, for Jacob. I spent as much time with these people as they spent with me. So when someone I DON'T know comes up out of nowhere under the gross assumption I'm someone I'm not, trust that I don't know them.

But I could be a Jeremy...