#24 in progress. Had Adrienne’s Pizza for lunch.  Located on Stone Street in downtown Manhattan.  Best pizza I’ve had.

#92 Done. It was a picture perfect 75 degree day in NYC and the park has never been better.

#24 in Progress. Ate Oysters at the Oyster Bar in the bowels of Grand Central Station.

Grand Central Station

Watched the sun rise from the East from our airplane to NYC.

This is a picture of me with my college roommates and best friends, Packy Taylor (left) and Matt Lucey (middle).  It’s not a particularly good picture, but I prefer to post the more awkward ones when talking about my friends.  I believe this was taken in Matt’s room in our apartment senior year.  It’s hard to tell what time it is because Matt is in bed and Pack and I have beers in hand.  Matt was never one to be in bed early, so I’m guessing it’s morning.  I miss college.  Also, notice the calendar on Matt’s wall.  At the time I probably made fun of him for it. “Nice calendar, nerd.”    Turns out the guys in college with calendars on their walls became successful investment bankers.  However I’m now wondering if the calendar was just decoration because the tennis racket definitely was. Anyway, this post is more about my buddy, Packy.  Quick story.  Late one night after closing the Avalanche Super Bar, Packy headed up the street to Real Chili for bowl of the good stuff.  Upon finishing he noticed an industrial sized box of Oyster crackers behind the counter.  Although a man of high morals and character, Packy had a weakness for Oyster crackers and enough liquid courage to do whatever it took (except pay the $3 dollars) to make the box his.   And when the apathetic cook turned his head that’s exactly what he did.  Packy snatched the oversized box of Oyster Crackers, tucked them into his chest and bolted toward the door.  The cook reluctantly gave chase, but once outside, what he saw changed his mind.  Packy was on the sidewalk with a mouth full of blood having tripped flat on his face on the concrete. The cook, satisfied with the karmic justice, returned inside without the box. Despite two broken front teeth and a whole lotta pride, Packy got his Oyster Crackers.  It’s a funny story that he tells much better than I.  Hopefully he’ll tell this story to his sons, Flynn and Cameron, the second of whom he just welcomed into the world last night.  Congrats Packy and Kylie!

#87 Finito. After dinner and a couple of drinks at Spago at Caesar’s Palace, we did a little window shopping at the Forum Shops.  As “luck” would have it, her favorite shoe designer, Giuseppe Zanotti, had a boutique and I, as I already mentioned, had a couple of drinks.  Long story short, Sonia finally owns a dream shoe.  Expensive? Yes. Deserved? Without a doubt.

#24 in progress. Ate at Tao at the Venetian. Impressive design, great people watching spot, so-so food. There were a thousand people outside just waiting to get into the club.

#32 Done. We saw Phantom of the Opera Vegas style. The sets were incredible.  The chandelier alone was a show stopper.  Best of all, I didn’t lose any money for the a hour and a half watching it.

Another pool day today in Vegas.  King James looked on with approval.

#45 Done.  Roulette is the casino’s best friend.  With the worst odds in Vegas, it’s a tax for people who are bad a math.  Although I am bad at math, I chose this goal for the thrill of the long shot.  After checking in, we found the nearest roulette table and dumped too much money for one spin on five numbers.  We played 8 (Brittany’s jersey number), 13 (Brittany’s birthday),  17 (Sonia’s lucky number), 22 (Will Clark’s number) and 24 (Devin’s Birthday). Round and round the marble spun and wouldn’t you know it, Devin’s Birthday hit.  Just like that we quadrupled our money.  The old me would have let it ride until I was down, but we cashed in and hit the pool.

Vegas baby. We Just arrived at our Hotel, The Palazzo (the Venetian’s new one) and will strategize at the pool for a few hours. Numbers 32 and 45 will fall. Beyond that, anything goes. What happens in Vegas will be blogged in Vegas.

June Recap. While June was a month of big accomplishments, only two goals (#8 & #90) were actually completed.  However, celebrating Devin and my brother George’s graduation from high school with the family, as well as seeing Brittany graduate from middle school,  June just may turn out to be the most significant of the year.   And although not on the list, I finally finished my 360 Photo Project. The last picture taken with my new iPhone 3GS that I waited five hours in line for. I am definitely an Apple whore.

What’s done…

#8. LaFashionInsider had its best month to date pushing revenues past 2008’s which means we have officially grown.  Rather than invest the month’s profits back into the company, we’re going to blow them in Vegas, New York, Chicago and somewhere yet to be determined.

#90. Devin and George’s high school graduation brought the family together which meant I had the opportunity to play with all of my nieces and nephews.  Hopefully there will be additional visits in the coming months.

In Progress…

#10. Not yet.  But here’s the thing, interpretation is key. If I start an exercise routine on say December 26th and stick with it until New Year’s eve, I will have technically completed the goal.  However, I suspect I’ll begin much sooner than that as “Leon is getting larger”. (Airplane quote in case you’re wondering)

#11. With Devin’s graduation from high school behind him, completion of this goal ain’t too far ahead.

#12. And Brittany too.

#19. Still going strong.

#22. Two down, three to go.

#24. To supplement our regular hot spots, we tried Rivera downtown, the new Boa on Sunset and the Beverly Hills Mastro’s.

#28. Rented Sunset Boulevard and Sullivan’s Travels.  One more and this goal will be complete.

That’s about it. Six months and 24% of the list is complete.  Hopefully that number is closer to 50% when I recap July.

Kids left for Chicago.  Time to knock out 30% of the list in one month.

#28 in progress.  Personally, I think Jon Claude Van Damn has made more socially relevant films than Sullivan’s Travels, but maybe that’s just me. I still don’t think it’s worthy of AFI’s top 100 of all time.

Finished up a fun weekend at the beach.  Brit’s team made it to the championship game, but came up a goal short in PK’s.

More Beach Soccer.

#8 Done. Six months into the year and we have surpassed last year’s “sales”. We can now say we have officially grown our business.

Happy Birthday Dad!  Hope you get everything you asked for.

Netflixed The Wackness. I liked it.  None of you I know would feel the same way.

#28 in progress.  Sunset Boulevard is a great movie.  A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent-film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.  A true Hollywood Horror.

Happy Father’s Day. (pictured: three generations of Kenwoods)

#24 in progress.  Celebrated our 12 year anniversary at the new Boa in Hollywood.  Lots of celebrities.  Fun place to people watch.

Like any Apple addict I dragged the family to the mall at 6am to wait in line for the new iPhone 3GS.  Five hours later we had our crack phones.

#12 in progress.  The not so little girl graduated from middle school.  Time to invest in a shotgun.

The quest for perfect teeth is a bumpy one.  For the third straight week, Brittany’s check up has resulted in unexpected oral surgery.  Despite her toughness, tears followed. Maybe slightly crooked teeth aren’t so bad.

Happy Birthday to my Aunt Ona today.  Here is a picture of Devin posing with her graduation gifts to him.  Cash and condoms.  Gotta love her.  Devin’s grandfather, a very religious man, is staying with us for a few weeks and thought the colorful pleasure pack was a box of gum.

Brit’s team won the Santa Monica Beach Tourney this weekend. Brittany bruised her right foot, so she used her left foot to score a bunch of goals. Always a great way to spend the weekend.

Saw Pixar’s Up today.  Very good.  The four minute montage in the beginning is one of the best I’ve seen.

Beach Soccer

We moved another step closer to #11.  Devin is a grad.  Despite a painfully awkward and boring ceremony, we were proud parents and grateful to have so much family in attendance.  I’ll post a video tomorrow, but thank you to everyone who helped make this night special for us.

I finally got around to seeing the latest James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace.  I know some Bond fans were upset, but I like the direction they’re taking the franchise.

#24 in progress. We took a few clients out to the new downtown restaurant, Rivera.  A latin fused tapas joint with great food and even better drinks.

The inspiration for this blog was a photo diary project I started on June 12th of last year. I vowed to take at least one photo a day for 365 days and post them to my flickr account for a few friends and family to follow.  I’ll write more about it once it’s completed in five days, but until then feel free to take a look.

Saw The Hangover.  Funny.

A beautiful day at the ballpark.

We attended our final High School baseball banquet dinner with Devin.  He was given the Golden Glove award as the team’s best defensive player.  #8 made us proud.

#90 Done.  George’s graduation brought the family together giving me an opportunity to play with all of my nieces and nephews. Best game of the evening was beaning each other with ping pong balls.

My “little” brother graduated.

#22 in progress. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller is a half fiction, half autobiographical account of the author’s life as a struggling writer in Paris.  It was first published in 1934 in Paris, but didn’t hit America until 1961.  Its publication in the states led to an obscenity trial that tested many American laws on pornography. Although it depicts frank and graphic sex, it is by no means erotic.  In fact, the sex is rather depressing.  The “sex scenes” are more about the human condition as all of the woman are either prostitutes or damaged human beings looking for something better than what they have.  And the men are just as F’ed up.  Although this novel is basically plotless, it was a page turner for me because of what the author had to say about himself and his fellow man, none of it dated despite being written in the thirties.  The novel is essentially one long essay on the underbelly of life.

One of the reasons I made reading these classic novels a goal of mine was to hopefully learn how to become a better writer.  Tropic of Cancer is considered a masterpiece because of Henry’s raw honesty.  He showed you everything, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Reading this I realized that I tend to censor myself too much, too afraid to be naked and judged.  Looking back on my life, I’m not all that surprised.  I was a shy kid who went to nine different schools before even attending high school.  I learned to adapt by sitting in the back of the room and flying under the radar.  As long as I didn’t expose myself I wouldn’t be judged. I started to write in high school, but my English teacher was more concerned with spelling and grammar than content.  I read a lot as teen, but mostly nonfiction books about baseball.  Instead of growing up on Fitzgerald, Hemingway and Henry, I read George F. Will, Roger Angell, and the editors of The Sporting News.  The writing was top notch, but it was also straightforward and safe. My first screenwriting teacher was a nun at Marquette.  No way was I going to expose myself to a nun.  My screenwriting teacher at AFI, a man who made his mark writing Pocahontas II and a few episodes of Touched by an Angel, focused on his 100 rules of screenwriting.  #4: Never more than three lines of action at a time. #23: First Act can be no longer than twenty pages. #71: Your characters can never respond “whatever”. I actually practice that last rule, but my point is is that I was groomed to be more of a journalist than story teller.  My influences and mentors never encouraged me to explore emotional truth, but that is what true story telling is all about.  It’s not the graphic depiction of sex in The Tropic of Cancer that is jarring, it’s the emotional truth behind it.  Where Henry used sex to expose and magnify the heart of his characters, Jack London often used nature, and Hemingway once used a big fish.  The bottom line is that the act doesn’t compare to the reason.  Of course, nearly every writer knows this, but spend enough time in the Disney system of screenwriting as I have and you will begin to homogenize your writing in hopes of appealing to everyone to increase your odds of a sale.  When everything boils down to a ten second pitch or twenty word log line, character is the first thing to go. The suits want to hear about the plot and the action set pieces that they can sell in a trailer or put on the poster, so you chuck the most important elements of story telling out the window and focus on the car chase. Now, that’s obviously a recipe for disaster because from the hundred of action scripts that the studio has to choose from, they’re going to pick the one with the most emotional truth whether they know it or not.  None of this is particularly revelatory, but this novel did remind me that I’ve been focusing too much on the “what” and not enough on the “who and why” which is what makes a story truly great.

#8 in progress. Our first month as an employer was a good one.  Although expenses climbed considerably, we feel the addition of our employee will allow us to focus more on growth.  Revenues are up 373% from May of 2008 and maybe a fraction of a percent from last month.  We picked up our first international client, a six store operation from Mexico which forced us to take a crash course in exporting.  The lessons should help us tap into the Canadian market and perhaps beyond.

#25 continues to play hard to get. In fact, I’m going the wrong way.  But some how, despite accompanying me to all of my meals, Sonia reached her goal of 105 lbs.  I’m going to have to get hard core.

May Recap. We came very close to accomplishing goal #21, but in the end the landlord/owner didn’t inspire confidence.  We’re loving our decision to rescind the offer. In fact, just yesterday we had an awkward run in with the owner after she told us two weeks prior that she was leaving for Thailand. Anyway, the search continues.  While May was a productive month in regards to some of the larger goals, we/I only managed to knock two goals (#53 & 57) completely off of the list.  However, I feel lucky to have survived both the Swine Flu and an Ambien fueled car ride.

What’s done…

#53. Left-coasters suffer from something called June gloom.  Every year, usually in June, a Coastal Eddy blankets us with a month’s worth of fog for twenty hours a day.  Not yet June, we’ve already had to endure too many foggy days.  Fortunately the gloom doesn’t touch the desert which made the cocktails enjoyed during our weekend in Palm Springs that much more enjoyable.

#57. A life time of coffee and soda, not to mention some chewing tobacco use and abuse in college gave my teeth a not so perfect yellow tint. But after eight to ten weeks of Crest White Strips I’m happy to report that my teeth are closer to white than yellow. Getting better every day.

As for the ones we put a dent in…

#8. Haven’t calculated all of the numbers yet, but revenues continued to grow.  Overhead too.  First month with a new employee.

#19. Yep.

#21. Staying put is stress free.  Nice to take it slow.

#24. Tried for the first time, Mortons, Casa Bianca, The Counter and French 45. We also enjoyed our regular favorites.  In fact, not sure if we ate at home once this entire month. Tis the life.

#25. See #24

#81. Got the tickets.

That’s it. Off to June.

$910.  Not bad for five hours.  Even better, we got rid of a lot of junk we didn’t want.

Threw my back out just in time for the garage sale.