Sam's Blog

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=zLElfJ9YCh0&search=narnia

It's Christmas day and I am in Ventura. I think I'm getting used to it. I've been here the past few Christmases. Josh's family is great and I am very thankful for them. This past week has been a flurry of craziness.

My final presentation went great. I think I did pretty well. The guy that I was trying to sell to liked my ideas and thought that I asked for a fair amount of share of his budget. Overall, a great and fabulous time, despite me being SO tired after staying up most of the night and having to work all day that day. I am glad that it is over, but I did enjoy the class. I learned a lot and met a lot of cool people that I can add to my business "contact list," including my professor, who knows EVERYONE in the industry. She's amazing.

I rested up and got ready for our work holiday party the next day. It was a wonderful time. Our team went to the ever-so-trendy Geisha House for dinner. Their food is AMAZING. We had the waitor bring us whatever he recommended. The albacore sashimi, cod, and kobe beef were my favorite. Sake was a plenty and we all had a good time. We had our party at the Cabana Club and it was all decked out with tents and such. I would say that there was about 1,100 people there, which is a rough estimate. I know that there are a lot more employees than that. I danced the night away and fought off overly persistent guys for my boss. She is such a guy magnet and can't help it. It was actually quite funny and amusing, to say the least. It was nice to see my other coworkers outside of work and see how they let loose and hang out. We have such great comraderie as a whole department, despite the different channels that we work for, it's nice.

I've seen a few movies this past week as well- Syriana, King Kong, and Cinderella Man. They were all fantastic, in their own little way. Three different genres and three different stories to tell. I was rather fascinated by the storytelling aspects in each movie. I think Syriana is a bit more complex than what normal moviegoers are used to. Stephen Gaghan is an excellent screenwriter, I have been a big fan for a few years, but he has a tendency to have a lot of different plotlines going on at one time and eventually has them all intertwine in the end. It's not a new way of storytelling, its just not a normal way, which is why people may become a bit confused. Anyhow, I am slowly catching up on the movies that I've missed. I still have a long list that I've actually taken the time out to write down. And hopefully I will watch them all soon.

I went to Ventura last weekend as well to make some yummy candies and cookies at our annual bake day. Josh's mom gathers a whole bunch of us, including Josh's sister and her friends to make some goodies for the holidays. I like going because I always learn how to make something new. This year, it was choclate cabndies with filling. I am a big fan of the peanut butter filled ones. I took some home and brought them to work. They were a big hit in the office.

I was really happy on Monday night because that was when Amy came back home from NY. I hadn't seen her in months and it was so nice to finally hang out again. Her family lives in Orange County, so she made it in for our gift exchange at Andrea's house and we went to see the House of Davids. It was an interesting house full of lights and 17 Davids dressed up in hats and they looked really festive. There's a black Mr. and Mrs. Claus in the front lawn and a huge sign that says FHP = "Feed His People." It was an amazing house and though some people call it an "eyesore," I think it is fabulous.

On Tuesday night, I took M out for her birthday dinner, since I missed her formal dinner on Saturday night and then stopped by Lisa's place to say hello. With the holidays and such, I realized that I hadn't seen a lot of people in a while. It was nice to chat and I caught the season finale of Nip/Tuck there too. I was a bit lost because I hadn't watched it all season, but I was able to make sense of things with Lisa's help. It's such a cutting edge show and crazy too.

I finally feel like a part of the normal digital world because I now have an ipod. I never really cared either which way about NOT having one, but it felt like I was the only one that didn't have one. Strange, but my life was fine without it. I wonder if it will be different now that I have one. I hear that it will be, but I am a bit skeptical, but we will see. It's black and has video and it's beautiful. I haven't had time to put a lot of music on it yet, but I was able to download my current favorite music video from Saturday Night Live about the Chronicles of Narnia called Lazy Sunday. It's a rap parody that Chris Parnell did with Andy Samberg and I seriously have been watching it several times a day. It cracks me up. So yeah, I forgot my ipod cord, so I have been trying to conserve my battery life here in Ventura. But when I get back, I'll be uploading and downloading like crazy! 30 Gigs is a lot of space and I hope to fill up most of it. I don't think I have enough music, but with mine and Josh's music collection, I think we'll be pretty close.