Settling in to Las Cruces; Laundry & Bourbon, Bud Light & Clamato, and prison cheesecake,

MAN, this was a funny post! Unfortunately, Blogger didn't auto-save it, and I lost it as I was trying to publish... I might try and recreate it. I was so pissed off and traumatized, that I refrained from blogging for two months! Silly me! I'm back, and with my new fancy phone I can publish from my cell. I also have a new concept for my other blog, "The Shoehead Report" and I plan on getting started with that one right away!

Happy birthday to the Lovely Mrs. Shoehead

I just wanna give a recognition to my estranged wife's birthday. In happier times, we would go to Don Antonio's in Santa Monica. That was her favorite restaurant, and the staff always treated her very well...
Now She's off to who-knows-where, and I have to go back to Fresno and retrieve Cowgirl. I just want Cowgirl to have a nice safe home, and be reunited with Bocce Ball and Butch-Butch.
Happy birthday, Baba! Be safe...

My California experience 7-28-01 to 9-1-10

I just ended several chapters of my life very recently; the latest being my California residency. I ended up in Las Cruces NM, where I've set up shop temporarily and will be getting involved in New Mexico film production. I'm also going to be doing some community theater as well. It's basically back to my actor roots (and I couldn't be happier!)

Shoehead's Myspace account, June 2004-July 31 2010

The other day, I made the decision to delete a few of my social networking websites, primarily Myspace, and a few other cheesy ones.  It seemed a tough decision not even six months ago, but for some reason, i found myself less and lees connected with it. I tried to contact some of the buddies I'd met over the years and tell them to meet me over in Facebook, my main hangout. And then, I did the deed...
I'd originally joined Myspace to look at some girl's modelling pics I was a bit miffed that I had to "join" this thing to look at pictures, and I looked at her pictures, and that was that. For a few months. I started noticing that there was actually something going on in this "MySpace" thing (back then, the cool thing was capitalizing the "M" and the "S"; that died out around 2006) I started actually meeting (not in person, of course) and interacting with some very cool people. It seemed to have its own scene, and its own parlance, with phrases such as "thanks for the add!", and... um... I forget. I haven't actually interacted on Myspace for so long, I can't seem to recall. Around 2005, I'd developed a Myspace addiction. I'd log in and just hang out... waiting for "new message" alerts, friending a ton of people, and bands, and interesting people--even some of my "real" friends. Sometimes I'd stare at the Myspace screen for hours on end. Yay.
The magic started to fade out around 2006 or early 2007.  As an entrepreneur, I joined several "home business" and "networking" groups, and soon began inundated with less of my "friends" posts, and more spammy ads. and my friend requests started coming from less and less fun, interesting people, and more and more "networkers". Also the bands got crappier and crappier. Sometime in late 2007, a friend of mine sent me an invite to facebook, and I joined that. Again, another slow start, with about 5 friends for the first year I was on it. But soon, more and more of my friends started popping up in FB. I also found a book called Facebook Marketing: Leverage Social Media to Grow Your Business. I saw serious potential in Facebook, and saw they were a lot tighter on spamming then Myspace was. Plus, Facebook just seemed more fun than Myspace. In the meantime, I'd also joined several crazy social networking sites in an attempt to promote my home business, and well as this cool blog!
Recently, with my life going into a tailspin, I found that these things just seemed to complicate my life. I put out some notices to my friends where to find me, and  *BING!* Shoehead's Myspace was gone...
And I don't even miss it!

The latest laugh...

My last phone died around May 1st. Actually, it didn't die per se, but the charging port broke, and no charger would lock in and recharge my phone, ergo, cette phone est morte... So I finally got a fancy new picture/web phone, bringing my neo-Luddite technological level to about 2005 AD. Unfortunately, most of my contact numbers were trapped in my old dead phone, so I had to run around and email everybody for their new number. The other day, I caught up with my friend SimplyStar, and we swapped numbers. I texted her a few times including a pic, and she 's been texting me for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, neither of us received any texts from each other. I finally hit her up on twitter, and asked her number again, and wouldn't you know it, I'd copied it wrong. I then sent her my number, and it seems I'd typed the wrong number for myself as well! We've been texting 2 random people and sending them pics for 2 weeks!
So we did straighten it out, but  I wonder who those people are, and what they thought of our random texts. And I hope the pics we sent each other don't end up in some crazy cyber-weirdo site!

A new sense of purpose...

The last few weeks (months, really) have given me ample time to think about life, and analyze the position I now occupy. I have a new goal, and some new objectives, and I'm putting together a new implementation plane. I've slipped in recent weeks from my workout plan, but I still manage to knock out my 100 push-ups six days a week. I'm recommitting myself to going to my gym, and follow a routine. I'm also working on a home study course to help deal with depression, and I'd like to take the counseling skills I learned at C.C.W.F. and do something to help people with depression.
On another topic, I still haven't seen Avatar yet. Maybe this week...

Happy 4th of July! Thank you, Founding Fathers!

Declaration Of Independence Graphics & The Declaration Of Independence Pictures

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

---

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
   Button Gwinnett
   Lyman Hall
   George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
   William Hooper
   Joseph Hewes
   John Penn
South Carolina:
   Edward Rutledge
   Thomas Heyward, Jr.
   Thomas Lynch, Jr.
   Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
   Robert Morris
   Benjamin Rush
   Benjamin Franklin
   John Morton
   George Clymer
   James Smith
   George Taylor
   James Wilson
   George Ross
Delaware:
   Caesar Rodney
   George Read
   Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
   William Floyd
   Philip Livingston
   Francis Lewis
   Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
   Richard Stockton
   John Witherspoon
   Francis Hopkinson
   John Hart
   Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
   Josiah Bartlett
   William Whipple
Massachusetts:
   Samuel Adams
   John Adams
   Robert Treat Paine
   Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
   Stephen Hopkins
   William Ellery
Connecticut:
   Roger Sherman
   Samuel Huntington
   William Williams
   Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
   Matthew Thornton

I feel like I'm made outta gingerbread! (Uh huh, uh huh!)

Now that my obligatory year-long mourning period for Jacko is over, it's time to get to some serious blogging. To my awesome readers, I offer up an apology for my flaccid blogging for the last year, as I was mourning the gloved one, and dealing with my own peccadilloes and follies. (I just took a shot of Captain Morgan's spiced rum for creativity fuel. I know it's not even noon yet. There's just a little bit of Captain in me now.) Where was I... oh yeah, rum (Takes another nip) NOW... Let's blog!
If you've been following my last few blog posts, my barking dogs, and my babysitting of Cowgirl for the ailing Lovely Mrs Shoehead, and the sneaky treachery of my co-tenants have darkened my standing here at the new Melrose place. While I may or may not get voted off the island, it has become all too apparent that my new digs are probably a mismatch for me, my tattletale co-tenants, and my landlord. I've been planning a major relocation this year anyway--a much needed exile from the Golden State--and now I've decided to hasten the process.Just as I was dealing with all this, a producer friend called me and opened up some opportunities in another city, another state. I think the lesson here is, when a door closes, another door opens!
And it's Monday, too! I love Mondays. To me, it's a new week, a fresh start. In fact, the Muppets actually reflect how I feel today:

Decisions, decisions...

Last night's bruhaha only got worse when the landlord found out I was baby-sitting Cowgirl for my wife while she's in the hospital. I have a 2 dog max, and I understand that. I'm just too good-natured, and was trying to help my wife out, and since the landlord's out of town and took her dogs, I didn't think a couple days would be a big issue. I discussed it with the landlord's son, who is de facto house manager while the boss is on hiatus, but after the other tenants ratted me out, and Cowgirl's temporary presence was discovered, I'm on thin ice again!
I really don't enjoy being in Fresno (nothing against the raisin capitol, but it's just not me) my marriage is just about flatlined, I can't get any kind of work here, I have almost no friends here; it begs the question: WHY AM I HERE???
My family and close friends beckon me in Richmond VA, my brother's living the Life of Riley in the sun in San Diego, I have solid film connections with offers in three major cities--nice cities, too--WHAT AM I DOING IN FRESNO????
This current housing arrangement was temporary to begin with, and while the landlord's son assures me that I'm not on the chopping block, damage has been done. The circle of trust has been breached. Now, landlord doesn't trust me, and I don't trust the other tenants. I'm not comfortable in my domicile. When my dogs bark (they are dogs, of course) I get all tensed up. I don't think a situation like this can sustain itself very long. It's a shame, cuz the place is pretty nice! But my issues with the present situation are far larger than the apartment. What am I doing stuck in neutral like this? I'm not living, I'm breathing. YOU MUST HELP ME, OBI-WAN. YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE!!!

Trouble in Melrose Place ALREADY...???

OK, So I'm renting the east wing of the new place. The Landlord stays in the main house in the center. Right now she's on vacation for a month. The people that live in the west wing had a problem with my dog barking (they have 2 dogs too) and instead of coming over and talking to me, they called the landlord while she's on vacation, and she just called me now to harsh me out. 

WHO DOES THAT??? I'm a nice guy, I live here, and yet they wanna get me in trouble with the landlord?

Landlord suggested I go over there and apologize/grovel... Wha...??? Not after this, freakin' rats!

Any thoughts/feedback on that friends?

First night in the new digs...

This is my first night staying at my new place. It's pretty cool, and the people here are nice, but it just seems very strange to me to not be in my own home, with the Lovely Mrs. Shoehead (or at least her stuff) in casa...

Firebaugh chapter, 3 days left...

I've been packing and moving my stuff to the new place in Fresno, and closing out the last bit of my Firebaugh experience. The Lovely Mrs. Shoehead & I had a yard sale this part Saturday, and we're planning a final "everything-must-go" clearance sale. Wow...

Wrapping things up...

Closing out Firebaugh house is still a very bittersweet process for me. The Lovely Mrs. Shoehead has been here all week to help pack up our house, our things, our memories...
I've also been working at my new digs, doing some yardwork for my new landlord, Sgt. Becca USMC. So far so good, and she seems pretty cool. (She's read my blog, how can she not be cool!) All I can say is... swimming pool, and internet! YAY!!!
To paraphrase Billy Joel: "Say goodbye to Firebaugh, say goodbye my baaaaaaaaaby!"

It often surprises me who actually reads my blog...

My phone rang the other day with my landlord's caller ID on it. I picked it up, and he said,"This is the Nefarious Uncle Nemo!" I about fell on the floor laughing. Obviously that's not his real name, and for the sake of a good story, plus to keep his privacy I made up a name which I thought sounded like a cool comic-book bad guy name. It was hysterical! I told the Lovely Mrs. Shoehead (who I know does read my blog) about it, and she was amazed; she didn't even think he had internet!
It just goes to show you...

That's gonna be one expensive croissant!

Yesterday, I got lazy and decided to drive to the donut shop (5 blocks). I loaded up my 3 dogs into the Shooey-mobile, and off I went. Upon returning, I got pulled over right in front of my house--much to the chagrin of my neighbors. I knew the Shooey-mobile had a myriad of violations (the Lovely Mrs Shoehead's plates on it being one of them) but by the grace and favor of God (or luck, for my non-believing friends) the cop didn't impound my car! I got off with a "fix-it"! As I glanced over at my car, I could swear the dogs were in the car laughing at me!
So this morning I did go and register the car properly. *sigh* You can't fight the system. Well, you can, but you won't win!

My Twitter style is BFF!

My Result: B.F.F. on quiz: Learn Which Type of Twitter User You Are You are everyone's best friend! Everyone loves you because you are always ready to help: you Retweet at the drop of a hat. You are the life of the Twitter party! How the hell do you do that? Quiz School Take this quiz & get your result

Learn Which Type of Twitter User You Are » funny quizzes

Countdown to blast-off...

I'm trying to leave the nefarious Uncle Nemo's house by the 15th. It's getting close. I still don't have a place to go yet, but alot of people have been very kind and offering me temporary places to stay. If I didn't have my dogs, it would be so much easier. I'd walk the Earth, like Cain from "Kung Fu". But I love my dogs, so I must figure something out. Jehovah-Jirah (God is my provider)

Kent State 1970

I wanted to show recognition to the 40 anniversary of the Kent State incident. I had several ideas of where I wanted to go with my commentary—the relation to current events, the principles of government force against an unarmed populace, the climate of societal division on the American landscape, the consequences of rioting on a college campus—I thought about every angle I could examine this. Instead, I decided to just mark the tragic occasion without commentary.

I love my country. I pray for, and worry about America every day. We as a people, as a nation, have seen difficult and tearful times. Undoubtedly, we will see more. But we are also a resilient people, and we survive Kent States, and 9/11s, and whatever else tests our nation’s resolve. God bless and protect this great nation, and let not those four Kent State students be forgotten.

Allison Krause (April 23, 1951-May 4, 1970)


Jeffrey Glenn Miller (March 28, 1950-May 4, 1970)


Sandy Scheuer (August 11, 1949-May 4 1970)


William Knox Scroeder (July 20, 1950-May 4, 1970)

Packing up Camp Shoehead

Since I got notice that the Nefarious Uncle Nemo sold the house, and I have a limited time to vacate, I’ve begun the process of cleaning, throwing out, and packing up the clothes, books, papers, and belongings that make up a part of who I am. It’s been particularly painful for me, since I’m constantly reminded of my early days with the Lovely Mrs. Shoehead; finding pictures and other mementos from our happier times. Add that to the stress of moving, as well as not really having any place to go, and it has been quite an experience these last couple of weeks.
I really do love my wife. It makes me sad that we have such massive incompatibilities that neither of us would be happy together. Moving out of this house is definitely the closing of a huge chapter in my life. At the onset of moving to Firebaugh, we were (or at least I was) planning to buy the house from Uncle Nemo, and live a nice, quiet small-town existence with Mrs. Shoehead and sundry pets. I would concentrate on my writing, finish and produce my screenplays, and a few times a year travel to L.A. or other locations to work on film projects. But it was not to be so. The fates had a different plan for the Family Shoehead.
I’m leaving behind the graves of two beloved cats, Starva and Vanilla Bean (“Beansie”). I never even got around to construct the little heart-shaped grave markers I planned to place over them. Maybe it’s just as well—they sleep peacefully under two little piles of rocks.
Though this process is very painful, I also see a bright side to it as well. I liken it to childbirth—intense pain, followed by a joy; a new beginning. A new life.
Firebaugh—while a quaint little town that I really did try to adapt to—was never really a comfortable fit for me. It lacked certain amenities, and conveniences that I prefer to have in my life. My only comfort was taken in this house—Casa Shoehead. It at first provided me with a secure refuge, but over time it slowly became a prison for me. When I worked at C.C.W.F., I literally left one prison, and came home to another. Now it’s been just about a year since the Lovely Mrs. Shoehead left me; sometime in mid-May 2009. The 5-bedroom house filled with reminders of her and us fill me with such a loneliness that even my three precious dogs and two sweet little cats can’t quite ameliorate. Packing up Camp Shoehead and leaving Firebaugh and Uncle Nemo’s is going to be a good move for me, however painful the actual move turns out to be.
As the chapter ends, a new one unfolds…

And... OUT HE GOES!!!

I just got the word yeasterday from my landlord, the nefarious Uncle Nemo, that the house is going to be sold and I have to leave, like in 30 days. I have no idea where on earth I'm gonna go. Pray for me, readers! :-O