scott@

I've been busy. But it seems like everybody is these days. Crazy weather in San Francisco including SNOW, yes snow, in my 'hood. I was in London for business last week and managed to have a great time with my buddies Cyrus (OG Londoner) and Jason (new-skool londoner).

Burning Man '05 photos & slideshow here------ Some people have different thoughts than I about the soundtrack on said slideshow. But those people are dumb.

July and August: I went to the Vibrant campout and I went to the stern grove festival with Ethan to see the funk brothers. Then my sister, Stacy, was in town and we got some drinks at Foreign Cinema. Then I joined up with the Opulent Temple camp for Burning Man and helped them build their air-tight DJ booth that shoots flame out of the top. On Sunday I went down to the Embarcadero and snuck into the Golden Gate Swim and Tennis club's beautiful swimming pool, afterwards I took a stroll through a street art show but the stuff was way overpriced, I saw a bluegrass band play, walked through the Embarcadero centers (I love looking at skyscrapers) and saw some cool sights. And when it comes down to it, I can barely contain my excitement for Burning Man. Photos from last year here. Wooohooo!!

"Talk happiness. The World is sad enough without your woe. No path is wholly rough."
-Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Memorial Day photos here

April was about transformation. I spent three entire weekends from sun-up till late at night in intensive workshops. Two of the workshops, Arete and the Authentic Man Program have busted me wide open to all sorts of blind spots in my life. It feels raw-- in a really good way. I'm seeing the world with new eyes and feel much less concerned with the doing of life and more with the being. I don't think I knew how to do that before.

From this place; I want this month, May, to be about connecting with friends and family. My sister's coming down for a visit this weekend, my old friend Chris is swinging by here on his way back from India and I feel a real calling to reach out to all the people I love. And those I don't know yet. Reaching out just seems like a good idea, even thought it feels kinda scary.

I happened upon a rad quote the other day:
"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, vodka in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOOHOO" what a ride!"

Also: my good friend DangerMarc made me the coolest T-shirt logo, ever. It's here.

Dammmmmmm! I turned the big 2-7 last week. I had a white trash get-together on the coattails of the Illbilly Ho'Down. I won best Mullet and best teeth. It was rilly rilly fun. I partied with my friiiinds. I ate a twinkie and the girls couldn't stay away from my rockstar hair. Click on them underlined words in the preceding sentences fer pitchers!
Then I went to Utah for the Sundance Film Festival.
Then I broke my rib on one of the ski slopes while I was trying to pull a bodacious ollie off the half pipe.
I think Utah is a very disturbing place and I would not recommend Salt Lake City as a place to kick it in January. But if you're there for Sundance, I highly recommend crashing parties. I say that like I crashed a party or something...well I did! In fact I crashed the after-party for Matt Dillon and Christina Applegate's new movie, Employee of the Month. I saw Paris Hilton's butt, Nicole Ritchie leading Paris to the bathroom (she apparently couldn't find it on her own) and then I followed them to the Bathroom like a stalker. Tamara was actually in the bathroom with them! Ohmigod! Yeah, so that was fun. We 'screened a film' (that's sundance for watched a movie) called 'The Principles of Lust' I gave it three out of five because it had a bunch of plot points that didn't seem to go anywhere. In a lot of ways I thought it was good, though, so I wish I could've rated it higher. There was lots of nekkidness in it.

To sum up: Birthday good, Utah bad. Sundance good, Paris Hilton's butt? Sweet!

While I was in Tahoe I heard a radio ad for a show that's counting down the best of the 90's and I got to thinking...now that we've made it to 2004...ummm what do we call this decade?? Do you realize it's been four years without a freakin' name? How do the adult contemporary stations do it? "You're listening to the very best of the 80's, 90's and...uhhh, now."

Somebody needs to come up with something pronto! Here's a short list of options:

The Two Thousands (2000's) - Seems obvious when you think about it, and I have seen it used in some places already, but not exactly the most mathematically sound, since technically the years 2000-2999 could all be called the 2000's as well.
The Ohs (0's) - Nice short and simple, has a bit of a street slang quality to it. May take hold better after this decade is over, like "Hey remember back in the Ohs when the only thing we worried about was insane terrorists? Life was a lot simpler back in the Ohs."
The Zeros - Not quite as cool sounding but at least it is accurate. May take hold better in the future as well as in: "Look at that woman in the super low jeans, she is so stuck in the zeros."
The Oughts - This seems to be the popular way that people who lived in the 1900's refer to that decade. "The Spanish American War ended about ought-two" could easily change to "Brittany Spears career ended about ought-four"
The Naughts - That decade was all for naught, before global warming made it really hot. Could be made into The Naughties.
The Oh-Ohs (00's) - This one is my favorite. So let's everybody starting calling it that....mmkay?

I'm in Tahoe. Today was a beautiful day for snowboarding...beautiful fresh powder from the storm we've had for the past several days under a cloudless blue sky. I followed that up with a hot tub and an amazing prime rib at a restaurant down the street from the cabin. Yesterday wasn't quite so epic. Last night, Ivan got a little upset at this guy who's staying here and threw a snowball at him while he was sitting in bed. This caused a bit of a ruckus, including some headlocking, hair-pulling, name calling and general unrest that was disturbing my screening of the Lord of the Rings director's cut. I thought the whole scene was amusing, but not quite as amusing as the television, so I was a bit perturbed. As if that weren't enough, I lost my cell phone on the slopes yesterday. Dunno how I pulled that one off but I just hate the practice of gettting the new phone and then having to get in touch with all the people whom you had programmed into your phone and getting their contact info all over again and programming it again and so on. People don't keep address books anymore, well I don't anway. Might've come in handy...

Oh baby! I just had me a lobster dinner and there's really nothing tastier. Now I'm home wondering whether I should spend the next hour or so undecorating my christmas tree or cleaning up my room. Both sound equally unappealing so I think maybe I'll watch some tube and drink copious amounts of wine. Today was rough, and copious amounts of wine, I'm sure, will help immensely.

I threw a holiday party called I'll be Strung Out for Christmas with my roomie, Jen last thursday. I was amazed by what mind-altering substances were exchanged by Mr White Elephant. Also amazing and inspiring was how drunk people chose to get on a Thursday night and then how they got ridiculously mean to each other in the hopes of stealing gifts from one another. There's a smattering of photos here. They also fought over the better substances with vigor until I had to break it up because the party was getting outta hand. Anyway, now I'm on my way to Seattle for the eggnog and the family and the questions like 'Is Arnold really your governor?' for Christmas. Maybe Santa will be good to me...

thanksgiving in seattle and i was sick as a dog with the flu the entire time. there are two good things about being sick:
1) catching up on movies. i saw 8 movies in 2 days people.
2) being sick reminds you of how great it is to be healthy.

i think that drinking copious amounts of sprite might also qualify as a good thing about being sick, but i'm not sure. anyway, about #2...i was thinking about this a lot. being sick REALLY makes you appreciate being healthy. just like being out of a relationship really makes you appreciate how happy you were when you were in a relationship. yeah. awesome, like those are the times you really want to be appreciating the good old days when you were healthy and in a great relationship.

okay, not so cranky anymore. i'm sitting on the floor at the airport and this super cute girl just sat down next to me. nothing like sitting on the floor alone at the airport to make you appreciate sitting on the floor next to some cute girl.