When Kristy Met Matt: Cheesy Cards

Day 276

I came off a horrible breakup right before I met Kristy. I didn't want to date any girls and I didn't want to meet any girls. I had sworn off girls completely. I became president of my own "Girl's Are Stupid" (G.A.S.)club and was very proud to be Anti-Girl.

Okay, I am just kidding about G.A.S. But I was very vocal about being Anti-Girl. I even went as far as to design my own Anti-Girl t-shirt complete with a bloody, gaping hole drawn on the shirt where my heart would be. I am sure it is still upstairs at my mom's house.

And then I met Kristy and I was intrigued. And then I dated her and then a year later we were engaged.

I was smitten and giddy and I have no problems admitting that. My friend Lared and I after we had a fun date with a girl we liked would always deliver the girl some sort of "Thank You" card a short time later. Of course that was just an excuse to see them again as well as show them that we can be romantic. We would sometimes accompany those with a treat or flowers. And we would always make the cards from scratch.

I write Kristy telling her that I wanted to give her real flowers but thought that these would be best since they would never wilt and die like our love for each other.* Kristy's brother Steven thought that my drawing was so awesome that he wanted one for himself. Maybe one day I will surprise Steven with some flowers in the mail like these. I should do it as a "Thank You" when I stay at his house Thanksgiving night so I can watch the Bengals/Jets game. I am sure he would appreciate it.

*I never said anything that cheesy. I only said they would never wilt or die but that was it.

Lared and I got a single rose and we snuck it in our date's apartment (usually with a roommate's help; we didn't sneak into their apartments on our own like some sicko!) and it was placed on their bed so they would find it after they came home from our date. We both got two cards, one that was something like a "Thank You" card thanking them for being such an awesome date. But to cover our butts we also included a "Deepest Sympathies" card just in case the date didn't go over that well.

 

This letter took me a ton of time to draw. I had more problems drawing Smiley Bone than I did Princess Leia. After I drew Leia I didn't want to give it up. I would re-do the Spider-Man. I got that mask all wrong.

Kristy knew I liked my drawing of Princess Leia so she made a copy of it and sent it to me. 

Nice to know that Kristy is willing to share me with Princess Leia. Good thing I am Mormon with polygamy and all.

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

Day 252

I am in awe of those bloggers that try to cover every one's birthday on their blogs. I thought about doing that since I would have something to blog about the majority of the time but then I thought of the workload and I remembered that I don't remember occasions like these. And I would feel incredibly stupid if I accidentally missed someone. I am horrible at remembering birthdays and stuff like that. So I decided against covering all the birthdays aside from my own family.

But I have made a special case (Get it? Case - case?) for my fellow bloggers. One of the biggest advantages of blogging with my fellow bloggers is that you will not miss their birthday. And really, I have only a few extra blogs to cover and they don't come for awhile. And I would be carrying some extra guilt since they wrote about me on my birthday. (wink, wink)

And today is a special day, it is my cousin and fellow newbie blogger Jeremy's birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

As he mentioned on his blog Jeremy are close. Maybe it was because our birthdays are so close to each other, personally I think it is because we knew each other in Heaven before this life. And we saw what crazy families we would be apart of and we vowed to try to strengthen and keep ourselves sane. (Only kidding folks... out families are not that crazy)

I guess I was the exhibisionist of the family eh?

I love this picture of us with Grandpa. Who would have thought that we would both have the same hairstyle now?

We have a lot of similarities. We both like to write and he is perhaps the biggest influence on my writing. I started this blog because I wanted to have some sort of record of my life. I regret that I never kept a journal like Jeremy has. I am in awe, I mean I am completely jealous of his tenacious ability to write and keep a journal. Jeremy also has a beautiful way with words. And not only can he creatively write, he has the best penmanship! Seriously, I wish I could write cursive the way he does.

Now I just need him to sit down and crank out that great American novel! I know he has it in him. I am looking in your direction this November Jeremy!

I hope you don't mind me sharing this. This was one of the novel ideas he had that he shared with me. Maybe this November you should write a rough draft or add another chapter? ;)

I actually created a character based directly on Jeremy. Remember Jetstream?

There are many things that Jeremy knows about me but no one else does. He was very instrumental while I was serving my LDS mission to New York. He inspired me to keep a daily journal (which I did) of those two years. I have shared with him parts of that journal so he knows stuff that I have never shared with anyone else. He also wrote me regularly while I was in New York. His letters were always so uplifting and full of creativity. What I enjoyed most of his letters was his honesty. Not only did we share what we thought and felt, we also shared writing ideas. On my P-Days (the one day of the week you had off while on the mission) I would write and plot stories and then send them to Jeremy. I would get some valuable feedback but he would also send me his story ideas and I fed off of that energy. Thanks Jeremy! You helped me through many difficult times on my mission.  I believe it was during this time that we coined the phrase "Soul Cousins".

I still have all your old letters from the mission field. I love that you sent me a Star Wars card. We must have asked to be sent to Earth so we could see Star Wars while growing up.

 I have some fond memories of spending time with Jeremy and all the CaseClan. I was lucky that I had a cousin my age (remember, I am still older than you!) that I could hang out with. You have been through so much and I have never heard you complain or utter a word of despair and I admire that. I am so glad that you have taken this blogging challenge. I think I will continue past my time to keep you company during this year-long adventure.

I hope you have a great birthday. And may the Force be with you!

The Big Picture

Day 225

Creating that large image was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be. Using PhotoShop to cut each picture out was a different story. But I am happy with what I got. Some of the images you cannot see all that well so here is the full picture along with a legend.

1. Lime Crush - One of my all-time favorite sodas that they don't make anymore. Sadly the new Mountain Dew Lime is nowhere like this flavor. I would drive back to Canada tomorrow if I knew I could get some.

2. Brett Favre - I have always like the Packers (even though the Jets are my team) but I really liked Favre. I own 3 different Favre jerseys and no matter the flipflops of retirement, he will go down as one of my all-time favorite players. His boyish love of the game is just one of the reasons why I admire Brett. In fact, Logan was almost named Brett (after Favre) and Kristy and I are thinking of travelling and visiting the Football Hall of Fame when Favre gets inducted. If he retires...

3. Edmonton Oilers - Before there was football there was hockey. And Hockey Night in Canada was a staple growing up in Canada. And I was very lucky to be there in Edmonton during the dynasty days. Hockey is the only sport that I can sit down and watch any team play each other and know I will be entertained.

4. Wolverine and the X-Men - I love comic books but I don't have a love of comic book movies, that is until the first X-Men was released and raised the bar. I never thought any actor would be able to portray one of my favorite comic characters but Hugh Jackman nailed the role and it only took a few minutes to convince me. Now when a comic book movie comes out I am not as nervous as I used to be. Most of them have been good with X2 being the best.

5. Ric Flair - WHOOOO! I admit that I love wrestling and I was lucky enough (if you consider that to be lucky) to watch wrestling when it was awesome. Ric Flair is my all-time favorite wrestler, again like with Brett Favre, the Nature Boy just loves to play the game. And no one plays an evil (heel) wrestler like Ric Flair. Nothing gets you more excited when a hated villain finally gets what is coming to him!

6. Nexus - I don't think I have mentioned Nexus here on the blog yet but that is one of my all-time favorite comics. It came out in the 80's and was way before its time. It combined science fiction along with a heavy dose of politics with just a hint of superheroes. The main character Nexus (picture here) is gifted with god-like powers to act as judge, jury and executioner. He dreams of evil people (mass murderers) and is haunted by these dreams until he tracks them down and kills them. If he doesn't eventually the dreams will kill him. Awesome comic series.

7. Cadbury Creme Egg - I wish I had one right now. I love these tasty Easter chocolates. My all-time favorite candy.

8. U2's Zooropa - I love U2 and I am one of the few fans that think Zooropa is their best album. And this is one album that I cannot just listen to one or two songs, I have to listen to the whole album all at once. Johnny Cash's voice on "The Wanderer" is the perfect and fitting end to such a wonderful album. For some strange reason I really like the album cover too. I wish I had a T-shirt of this album cover.

9. Mountain Dew LiveWire - I don't get to drink this very often since it is not available where I live but it gives me a grand excuse to go down to Salt Lake. My old boss used to complain that it was just orange soda mixed with Mountain Dew and I would laugh (in my mind) at him. That is EXACTLY what it is. I don't know why I love it but I do.

10. The Laughing Cat - You are either a dog person or a cat person. While I don't mind dogs, I do prefer cats. Kristy found this picture of a laughing cat in a magazine and I had to keep it. Whenever I feel down I can always look at this pic and smile. So sorry dog people, I like cats better.

11. Alan Davis and Captain Britain - Captain Britain (pictured here) is one my favorite heroes. So why not Captain America? I like Captain Britain because he is a flawed hero. He doesn't want to be a hero and makes mistakes but ultimately becomes a hero. My favorite comic book artist is Alan Davis (who drew this) and I first saw his artwork drawing this character as well. He drew the good Captain aloof and brooding but powerful. And I just had to learn more about him. I have followed Captain Britain and Alan Davis wherever they go. I also run an Alan Davis message board and I have been extremely lucky that I am in contact with my favorite artist. A comic geek's dream come true.

12. Bottlecaps - My tongue has cankers. Yes, I went out and bought another box and ate them while watching the World Cup. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I love this candy. I love soda and candy. And those orange ones taste like children's aspirin, which I love.

13. Queen - I love this picture (taken from the album The Miracle) and it totally represents what Queen means to me. They are so diverse and creative. Listening to them relaxes me and makes me want to be like them and create. I never tire of them. This may surprise you though, Crazy Little Thing Called Love is one of their songs I like the least. Not sure why, it might be because I have heard it too many times.

14. Banshee - My favorite comic book character. Why? Beats the crap out of me. I think it is because he is not popular and is not seen very much. Something about his gliders on his costume and his powers that make me think he is cool. When I participated in the ScriptFrenzy, I wrote a comic book script that had Banshee in it. One of these days...

15. Princess Leia and Star Wars - My first celebrity crush as a kid. And it wasn't until Empire Strikes Back that I really began to think that she was hot. And then Return of the Jedi came out (I was 9 at the time) and I really began to crush on her. I didn't know it at the time but I am sure her little slave outfit had something to do with it.

16. Mr. Burns and the Simpsons - I quote the Simpsons all the time. Seriously, I do it all the time and I think I do it unconsciously, without even thinking about it. Mr. Burns is my favorite character. I can watch this show anytime and every Halloween, Kristy and I will whip out all the Halloween episodes and watch them. We love the Simpsons around here.

17. NaNoWrMo - I love to write and this novel contest is awesome. If any of you are aspiring writers or want to see what you are capable of, I highly HIGHLY recommend doing this. It is very rewarding and I am looking forward to doing it again this November.

18. Bob and Doug McKenzie - SCTV was a fixture growing up. People still believe that all Canadians are like this and that is not true. Only a few of them are exactly like this. Watching Strange Brew quickly brings about my Canadian accent. I can use the Great White North call and my family would immediately call back and come running.

19. New York Jets and the NFL - I get asked this all the time, why the Jets? My mom and I share a love for the NFL and I followed the Packers and 49ers but it was not until my LDS mission where I started to follow the Jets. I was in Queens and we used to go over to Mike's, a member's house every Sunday after Church. Mike’s dad did not like us at all. He did not want to be disturbed while watching football and this Sunday wasthe Giants/Jets game. Sometimes I would peek in and see the scores but I never stayed and never made any noise. But for some reason Mike’s dad wanted to know where that one missionary was. And he for some reason was talking about me. I walked in and his dad yells out “Are you going to stand there or are you going sit here and watch the game with me?” We were all flabbergasted! I sat down next to him and I was nervous. He looked over and said, “Who are you for? The Giants or the Jets?” I did not know what to say so I looked over at the television and I saw that Ronnie Lott was on the Jets team. (I guess he was traded while I was on my mission.) I replied “I like the Jets!” I picked the right team because he muttered “Damn Giants. I hate them!” He looked over at me and I blurted out "I hate the damn Giants!" He smiled and asked Mike to bring me my dinner plate so I could watch the game with him. I did what no missionary ever did. I ate quietly (I was a little scared) and after the game was over Mike’s dad wanted to take a nap but before he went upstairs he told me he expected me next Sunday to watch the Jets play. I have rarely missed a game since.

20. Annyong and Arrested Development - The best show ever. Seriously, go google and find the episode Pier Pressure and tell me you didn't laugh. If you watched it and didn't laugh you have no soul. How can a TV show be so wrong be so right?

21. The Little Mermaid - I already confessed that I love the movie The Little Mermaid. As I left my LDS mission in New York, this cute little girl Tina, gave me her favorite puzzle of the Little Mermaid. She was so sad that I was leaving and she wanted me to have it. We used to put it together when I would visit her family.

22. Chris Hansen and Dateline - I love Dateline and Chris Hansen is awesome. One of my guilty pleasures was watching him when he did those To Catch a Predator news stories. He asked the perfect questions and said the funniest things. If I was a journalist, I would want to be Chris Hansen.

23. The Platypus Clan - My awesome family. Without them I wouldn't be what I am today. My life would be so boring without them. They are the center of my life.

Star Wars Kids

Day 201

When I lived in Canada my family and I were all alone. We didn't have any extended family around us. In fact we didn't have any other family members in the whole country.

So we would take extended vacations down in Utah that would last a couple of weeks. We would try to squeeze in as much family as we could during our small space of time and one of my favorite thing to do was to visit my Case cousins in Orem.

I have a lot of fond memories of their house in Orem. It has the coolest balcony (that was huge!) and they had a nice backyard. When we got older we could walk down to the 7-11 to get slurpees and buy comics.

One day we were down visiting we were putting together a Star Wars puzzle (based on the poster below) and of course Jeremy, Josh and I were beside ourselves. I mean this is Star Wars we are talking about!

And my poor sister had to bear the brunt of our obvious Star Wars love. Jennifer also loved Star Wars but she was older and therefore more mature about it. You can tell from the following picture that she was slightly annoyed. I love the look of my sister in this picture.

All I remember about this is that we were all searching for Princess Leia's gun. And we would pick each piece up and tell Jennifer what it was and then put it down randomly. I think the gun was only just one or two pieces.

I am pretty sure that Jeremy, Josh and I eventually got bored and ran outside to play Star Wars much to my sister's relief. She was a good sport though and was not averse to playing Star Wars herself.

Desert Island: Movies

Day 149

Both Kristy and Jaimee have listed their Desert Movie collections and I decided to take the challenge. So if I was stuck on a desert island which 5 movies would I take with me? Remember, for those that want to take the challenge, these movies are the only ones you have and will have to watch them over and over and over again.

I don't want any short movies and I don't want any scary films since I am on a desert island. So no Lord of the Flies or anything like that. No zombie films either.

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Obviously I would want the whole saga but that would be six movies and I would want some other stuff so I would choose the best Star Wars movie EVER. And personally, I think Princess Leia was at her hottest in this film. Especially the way her hair was done up in Cloud City.





ARMY OF DARKNESS
I had no idea that this was related to the Evil Dead movies but after seeing the trailers I wanted to see it bad. I missed it in the theaters since no one I knew wanted to see this. So I rented it years later and wondered "What the crap am I watching?" to myself. Was this comedy? Horror? Action? It was Bruce Campbell. Oh how I wish I was Bruce Campbell. I even reenacted his Boomstick tirade for an acting class I took.



X2: X-MEN UNITED
Like I have mentioned before, the first X-Men blew me away and I couldn't wait until this came out. This was probably the only sequel that topped my expectations. I don't think my eyes could get any bigger watching one of my favorite characters, Nightcrawler, teleporting all through the White House but that was just the start. This movie scratched everything this fanboy had an itch for. Sadly, the rest of the X-franchise since then has not been near this good. But this is my favorite comic book film EVER.

FLASH GORDON
I love the costumes and the sets, so vibrant and colorful. Max von Sydow as Emperor Ming and Brian Blessed as Prince Vultan stole the show, everyone looked like they were having the time of their life making this movie. And who can forget the soundtrack by Queen? And if I am on a desert island at least I would have some Queen! FLASH! AHHHHHHH AHHHHHHH! SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE!



MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL
I already watch this movie over and over again so being on a desert island would not make a difference. More than likely, I see myself doing my own performance with the movie running in the background. I am on a desert island so I would have to keep myself busy.





So what would you take?