JULIE KNUDSON

Better than I expected

Mon, 17 Jul 2006 15:33:25 GMT

We went to see Dave Attell (sp?) on Friday night. Honestly, I wasn't much looking forward to it. I've seen snippets of Dave's show - Insomnia something-or-other - on Comedy Central, and I was underwhelmed, to say the least. But I agreed to go to the stand-up show at a little casino nearby, and Dave was much better than I expected. His stand-up is quite a bit funnier than the show (which isn't hard to do), and I'm glad we went.

The casino, on the other hand, sucked to high heaven. Not only was it miniscule in size (approximately the size of a Vegas casino's restroom), but the cigarette smell could have knocked a buzzard off a shit wagon. I know the non-Vegas casinos aren't quite as committed to the odor-free idea, but this one was extra bad. It would have all been tolerable if we'd been able to get something to eat. The dipshit bartender spent every spare second spinning the glasses around like that putz Tom Cruise in Cocktail, rather than fixing drinks and taking food orders. After 20 minutes in line, I had only observed 5 people (1 couple and a group of 3 college dorks from Canada) that had actually received their drinks. No food was ever delivered to the bar for pick-up, so I don't even know if that's where the food was actually ordered or not. A completely rinky-dink outfit - the other tribal casinos should kick its ass just so folks know they aren't all like that.

Pawprints in my life

Thu, 18 May 2006 06:44:15 GMT

Goodnight, Mischief.

I love you.

April 5, 1991 - May 13, 2006

... Grieve not,
nor speak of me with tears,
but laugh and talk of me
as if I were beside you...
I loved you so -
'twas Heaven here with you.

- Isla Paschal Richardson

Someday those words will make me feel better. Right now they just make me cry.

I miss you, sweetie.

Waitin' on summer

Thu, 13 Apr 2006 07:08:52 GMT

Hey, check out the 4/13 edition of Hellnotes! My interview with John Saul will be in there, along with my review of his latest novel, Perfect Nightmare. Sweeeeet!

I'm on the prowl for books by debut authors. Any suggestions? I love readin' new stuff.

Every year around this time, I start to ask myself why we don't live somewhere with reliably good weather. And then we take our annual trip to Vegas, and I start to ask myself if a career as an alcholic gambler would really be so bad. But this year we're not going to Vegas until late October, so I'll need to get my dry-heat-and-screwdriver fix somewhere else. Don't get me wrong, it'll be fuckin' hot for our trip (and I'll be tatered for most of it), but I can't wait until October. Maybe I can ask the folks at Olive Garden to let me enjoy my cocktails in the pastry oven. You know, just this once...

Olivia has her own page, but I couldn't resist putting a photo of her in here today. Honestly, can anything be cuter than this?

It's worth pointing out that my mother doesn't read my LJ page. But she does read Olivia's. I swear, if we could just send the dog to Mom's in a taxi, they'd both be delighted.

Working on some stuff, nothing much to mention about it at this point, though. I'm going back to using the voice recorder in the car. I got a lot done when I was doing that, and I was able to spend less time in front of the computer. I hope Bill Gates didn't hear that.

Must. Get. New. Tattoo...

Fri, 17 Mar 2006 05:32:29 GMT

Yep, the hankerin' for some new ink has me in its grips. And the only way out is to pick a tat and a location, and give my buddy Bandana Mike a call. Brian laughs when I tell him that someday I'll be covered. I think he's secretly hoping I'm kidding. Nope!

I swear, I'm trying not to watch American Idol. Normally I resist TV as much as possible, and really only watch the History Channel with any regularity. But damn if this season of Idol hasn't been a good one. The woman that was voted off last night - Melissa? - what a joke. She couldn't remember the words to the fucking song?! Unacceptable. I was surprised to see Ace and Lisa in the bottom 3, though.

My reading has slacked off so much this past week that I need to get caught up, big time. I'm off several days next week, and I plan to spend a good chunk of time reading. Hmm, anyone see a connection between my American Idol-to-reading ratio? Yeah, yeah, I see it, too...

It's been ages since we've seen a new movie. We watched Wallace & Grommit's Curse of the Were-Rabbit a couple weeks ago. I didn't like it as much as Close Shave, which is my favorite. Their stuff kind of grows on you, though, so we'll probably watch it a few more times here and there. We're going to see the new Ice Age when it comes out at the end of March. One of our rare theater visits.

And to anyone wondering when Olivia's LJ will be updated, your wait is almost over. I have some pics to upload tonight, so you'll get your Livvy fix soon enough. Now stop bugging me!

Rain, cake and riding the cotton camel

Thu, 09 Mar 2006 07:35:31 GMT

I hope to report some good news on the writing front in a few days! I can't say anything yet, details being finalized and all that crap. But sooooon... It's not a book deal or anything super spectacular like that, but it's good nonetheless. I'm excited about it.

*Brief pause as I rub my hands together with fiendish glee.*

So today I got into a detailed and highly amusing message board discussion about menstruation, which only further serves to prove that I have no life. And that my expectations for birthday cake filling are apparently quite different than most folks. Make your own connection between the two, it won't be any weirder than what was posted during the discussion. It was rollicking good fun, though, and brightened up an otherwise dreary day with some unexpected laughs.

I think someone should begin work on an ark. Oh, sure, we're used to rain around these parts, but today the heavens have really opened, and it was a solid downpour pretty much all day. That's unusual - normally it drizzles all day, or sometimes even rains all day (Seattleites are well-versed in the nuances of precipitation phraseology.) But a long downpour like this? Very uncommon. It was snowing on the way home, making for an extra fun commute.

Brian is desperately hoping the weather clears and the sun comes out by Saturday morning. His new motorcycle is licensed and insured and ready to go, and... it's pouring rain. He's bummed. He's despondent. He's downright pissed. And then he goes back to being bummed. Poor guy.