Countdown begins!

Oh boy oh boy, its that time of year again. It is prezactly 3 months to my birthday, the most sacred, awesome-est of days.

If you’ve known me the past few years, you know I LOVE PRESENTS, but I love DONATIONS more. So this year since the Special Olympics has cancelled the duck race, I’ve decided to support a local organization that is dear, to two dear friends of mine. Waggy Tail Rescue

More information is to come, so stay tuned. Feel free to donate to them at ANY time.

Zombie Christmas

 

I’ve been very busy with so many things, but a few weeks ago we made something fantastic. As part of the 2008 National Film Challenge (filmchallenge.org) a group of friends and I made a movie called “Zombie Christmas.” Approxiamtely 13 people came over on Oct 24th and we got the category- Holiday Film, character- Jamie Walsh, Clerk, prop- flyswatter and line “And what have we learned from this?”

We started brainstorming several ideas and my friend Kelly suggested we try word association, so we did a few times and finally came up with a Zombie Christmas! My friend Brian had all the makeup and loves Zombies so it worked out great. The group chemistry was amazing, we nailed down a plot and how, when and where we were going to shoot the film and started decorating my apartment right away. By 11pm everyone was gone. 

The following day, the lead actor, Brian, who did makeup, and Kelly came over at 9am. We started makeup on Kevin and were out the door a little after 10am to meet Noel and start shooting in Brooklyn. We shot and were back to Queens by 1pm where everyone else was getting makeup’d and ready. We shot the rest of it and were done by 5pm. Then I just chilled the rest of the night after importing the footage to give myself a mental break.

I woke up and started editing around 8am. I finished around 7pm and it was good. I was so happy with how much we did, and how good it looked for only being a 2 day production. Several people watched it that night and loved it too. The following day it was in the mail, on Facebook and YouTube.

A few days later the director of the Sacramento Horror Film Festival saw it and asked it to be part of the SHHF’s Merry Scary Winter Horrorland festival, featuring music, comedy and films. I spoke with him on the phone and agreed to do a Q&A session after they show it so I am going to California!!!!

The results of the film challenge itself will come in late December so keep your fingers crossed!

Watch the film here: 

City Chase

Yesterday was City Chase NYC, and it was a blast. Over 1000 people crammed into Webster Hall, where we got warmed up by a crazy fitness crew from Crunch Fitness. Then in order to get your clue sheet you had to answer/find 9/10 things from this newspaper ad they placed in the Metro the day before, if you didn’t have one or couldn’t get those things you would get your clue sheet 1/2 hour later than everyone else. My friend Ana was my partner. We had the ad and most the things but had to dig around for the rest and we were able to obtain our cluesheet in about 20 minutes.

You only had to complete 10 Chase points and make it back to Webster Hall. There were 30 clues.

So by completing the stuff in the newspaper we got 1 point, then we were off. Our first stop was the Fire Museum, the clue was “Make your way to SOHO’s Spring street near Hudson where you’ll find history, and learnings of NYC’s bravest, a true shrine” and they gave us a question form that you had to find 8 out of 9 things by going through the museum. It was a cool museum, we’ll go back. Point 2.

From there we went to Pier 40 “You might get wet and if its cold you’ll shiver. You’ll partner with your teammate on Pier 40 on our cities West River.” We had to sit in a two person kayak and go around about 10 boats and come back. That was mad fun. Point 3.

After we headed to the Christopher Street Pier for cheerleading! “You’ll be given  some topics and we’ll test your kick, lift and jump. Your energy will be judged at the Christopher Street Pier, so we hope your not in a slump.” They gave you an outfit to wear and a few elements that had to be in a cheer and you had to include a kick, lift and jump. So we practiced for a little bit and came up with a stupid cheer with lots of enthusiasm, and we passed. Some people didn’t pass and had to either try again or come up with something better. Also, we turned in our donation slips for an additional Chase point. Points 4 & 5

From there we went to Fat Cat, “If Felix gets too big you better take him to the vet. Or perhaps give him some exercise like at this bar your going to get.”  Where you had to play ping pong with one person in the back, one in the front and the other person’s arms in the back where the ones who had to hit the ball and get 5 points. If you didn’t win you had to try again. Luckily, we beat these two guys who where there and apparently had been there for a while and where still there (according to the people behind us in line) well after we left. Point 6.

From there we went to the Joshua Tree Bar. “It’s a U2 Album name and also a bar. If you’re on 46th street you’re not to far. You’ll pick up your equipment and have 30 minutes to spare, as people on the street stop and stare.” They gave you a Palm Smartphone and a list of  items you had to take 5 pictures of, and you had 30 minutes to do it.  So we took pictures of 2 non-particiapants kissing my cheek, Ana shaking hands with a postal worker (had to be someone in uniform), me eating something simultaneously with a non-participant, Ana getting a piggyback ride from a non participant, and me with a before and after photo of a non participant switching shirts with me. Point 7. Also, we were given a balloon at the start and you had to fill it and find a second balloon and fill it and have it over your head when you cross the finish line. We got those here. From there we went to Pier 84 for “On Pier 84, as fat as you can go west,this is a balance and coordination test”  You had to find two non-participants to play Twister with! We found a girl and older gentleman and they got such a kick from it, they were also out of towners so they have a great story to bring back home! Point 8.

Then we went to Bike & Roll, “Even wearing a helmet you’ll look sweet on a bicycle built for two. Head to Circle Line for the rest of the clue.”  So we had to ride a tandem bike, quite some ways and turn back around. It was actually REALLY FUN. When we got off I slammed my leg hard on the back handle bars and I have a nasty nasty bruise. Point 9.

Finally we went to Manhattan Plaza HC for some rock climbing. “At Manhattan’s Plaza HC you’ll find a big wall, with safety ropes to prevent a big fall, you’ll feel a great thrill when you reach the top, this challenge is timed out so watch the clock. One more thing you need to know, lineups are likely so plan as you go” One person had to climb up the rock wall and put a tag on the top, then the other person had to climb up and get it down. It was really hard because I am not in that great of shape, and I got almost to the top and was struggling and the guy working there, that I was harness to, said “Thats good enough!” and I heard that and thought “FUCK YOU! thats good enough!” and got this wicked surge of energy and made it to the top really fast and I heard him like “Holy Shit!” at the bottom. Point 10. Then we went back to Webster Hall where we came in 82nd place out of over 500+ teams with a time of 4:39:08. Not too shabby! There was food and drinks and it was a good time. The winning team came in at 3:13, idk how the fudge they did that but good for them!

Ana left and I still hung out with people that I randomly met either there or on the course, then a huge group of us went out drinking. I would totally do it again next year, but make sure I am in better shape!

My Cali Trip

I had never been to LA so the day before my birthday in June, I decided that I was going. I bought a plane ticket, rented a car and was going to leave the rest up to fate (sorta, I know alot of ppl out there). It worked out extremely well. 

My journey started at 3am last Wednesday morning. After two long flights and a mini layover I was in LA at 11am. I got my car and called my friend Brian from highschool, but got no answer (likely sleeping). So I decided to go to the Griffith Observatory.

 It overlooked LA land. It was TREMENDOUS. I’m from NYC where everything is condensed so this was a tad mind boggling to me. The driving to get there was slightly overwhelming too, 6 lanes of traffic!

I knew my friend Bekah (also from NYC approx. 10 blocks from me), was visiting the Observatory at the same time because she had just tweeted it. I ran into her on my way out and we made plans to hang the next day.

From there I went to scope out Downtown and it was a hellhole, and my friend Brian called me like 10 minutes of me being there so I met up with him and our other friend from NY, from highschool who happened to be visiting at the same time. So we all went out to lunch in Hollywood, then went back to his place to grab somethings and chill. Then we went to Santa Monica. Oh Santa Monica was so gorgeous.

…and we had In-N-Out for dinner. Perfect day!

The following day Brian, Sean and Brian’s bro Tom(who I had met for the first time in his underwear when we were teenagers) went out to breakfast at the 101 Cafe and then headed to Hollywood so I could enjoy the walk of fame for all its glory, and all its freak jobs roaming around. I discovered that my hands were smaller than Frank Sinatra’s however my feet were bigger. I also saw a very fat spiderman, and Tom took a million and one pix of me with the Hollywood sign.

From there we headed back to the Curley Brother’s place (check out what they do at CurleySound.com, amazing) and Tom and I went to meet up with Bekah in Santa Monica. It was great! I bought a pink cowgirl hat, and we played Whack-a-Mole, and frisbee on the beach. I also discovered that Coffee Bean is WAY BETTER than Starbucks.

After sending Bekah to the airport in a cab, Tom and I met up with Brian, Sean, and Chad (their neighbor) at the HAHA Comedy Club in North Hollywood. Most the comedians were funny, and there was one annoying heckler but it was good.

The next day I met up with Michael Sean Becker and took a tour of the Disney Studios Lot where he works. It was pretty neat to see how it was designed as well as everyone rode a bike to get around the lot! I got an ewhore doll and rubik’s cube there so I was happy.

After that I head back to Brian’s and watched as him and Sean rocked out on the drums and guitar. They are amazing musicians.

I later met up with my friends Vu, Lan and Bonny and went for a night trip to Disney Land. It was wicked bad ass even though it took 1 hour and 40+ minutes to get to Lan’s place from Brian’s place which was only like 30ish miles away.

…and then we went to In-N-Out and they told me about the secret menu! I wish I had known sooner because it was AWESOME. Animal Style EVERYTHING!

The next day I visited the Queen Mary alone. I don’t like going to museumy type things with other people so that I can go at my own pace which is either extremely slow, if I am interested, or extremely fast if I am not. I took the Ghosts& Legends tour and some other tour and it was wicked neat. The Ghost & Legends was hokey but fun with flashy lights, spooky sounds, smoke and even a part where the bowels of the ship start leaking. I love hokey touristy crap. The other tour we went through the most haunted parts of the ship and the tour guide explained what had been claimed to happen where. That was cool.

At the swimming pool, reported to be the most haunted on the ship where you can hear splashing, wet footsteps and children.

 After I spent almost 4 hours there I headed to Hollywood Blvd to hang out, watched a movie and then met up with friends Rudy, Casey, Zadi and Steve for dinner. It was great. The waiter tried to take my meal away before I was done (there was just a pickle on the plate) and I yelled “MY PICKLE!” in the restaurant.

After dinner, and my brain being fried I headed back to Brian & Tom’s for some beers and sleeptime. Brian had to work the following day but Tom made killer omlets for breakfast and that concluded the world’s best vacation evar.

OMG NUTS

OMG NUTS

City Chase

My friend Ana and I are doing this Sept. 13 in NYC we are totally stoked

I sorta deserved it

Today I sprained my ankle going up the subway stairs.

I got on the train and was holding onto one of the medal posts, and this dude who was leaning on the bar (hate when people do that), turned his head and sneezed on my hand. It was really really really gross.

After I exited the train I wanted NOTHING MORE than to wash my hands so I was rushing past people, cutting them up and hurrying up the stairs. I wanted to maintain my fast stride to get to work ASAP to wash my hands. Well, I was certainly rude in the way I busted past people and I got what I deserved, I tripped on the stairs and twisted my ankle good. It still hurts several hours later. Karma is a bitch.

this made me laugh

I REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE PRESENTS…

I REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE PRESENTS…

…and if you’ve known me for at least a day you know this, and you know that my birthday is 8 days away, and you know that I LOOOOOVEEEE BIRTHDAYS!!!!

What does Sandra want this year?

Ducks.

Every year you fine people always get me some really rad gifts but this year, please put that money towards ducks for the Special Olympics. We’ve already reached the 100 goal marker but lets keep it going!

http://www.duckrace.com/newyorkcity/ACTIONTEAM

check out and join the Facebook group if you haven’t already
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?/group.php?gid=13068778147

SPECIAL DUCKS

WE ARE UP TO 58 DUCKS!!!!!! THAT IS $290 RAISED!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE! MORE THAN 1/2 WAY TO OUR GOAL OF 100!

I usually post a link to my Amazon wishlist around a month before my birthday and get some rad gifts from everyone. The past couple years I’ve been asking you to donate to the Special Olympics instead as my birthday gift.

http://www. duckrace. com/newyorkcity/ACTIONTEAM