Riding in the Rain

(John) I have been trying to decide what other exercise I should do when cross training with the marathon running. My friend Dwight invited me to go for a bike ride on Saturday, the day before Kitty's and my first 5K race. He lent me his old Specialized while he rode one he had just bought on eBay. We went to a park that we have ridden at before and spent the morning riding through a light drizzle. We both had mud on us when we were finished, but we got some great exercise and some great pictures.

BANANAS are Your Friend!

(Kitty) Only a few more days until John and I run our first race with our friend Dwight! John and I are finally getting excited about it. Why only now? Because last Saturday when we were supposed to running a "long" run, we totally broke down, practically before we got started. We did our 5-minute brisk walk to warm up, then started jogging. My muscles began to ache from the very start. About 16 minutes in, I finally broke down into a near-limping walk. How embarrassing!

Then John jogged back to me and I told him I didn't know why, but everything from my hips down hurt and I was just going to walk while he ran ahead. About 5 minutes later, he was toast, too!

When we got home, the first thing we did was go to the store and buy some bananas. I remembered feeling this kind of muscle ache on a lesser scale in the past, and eating bananas always made it go away (potassium, you know). Then I Googled running muscle pain and found out a lot of things can cause it including poor nutrition and dehydration. So we spent the weekend eating a lot of bananas and drinking a lot of water!

Monday, our run went much better. Wednesday, I ran longer than I have so far in all our training (and I think in all my life!) and could've kept going! (Also, a first for me!) We run again on Friday and finish the "Couch to 5K" 9-week program, then our first race is Sunday! We're running in The Brentwood Run 5K, not far from where we live. Our friend Dwight is coming down to run it, too. (He turned us on to the "Couch to 5K" program. This will be his third race.)

We'll let you know how it all goes. And feel free to give us any advice! :)

AMAZING Conference!

(Kitty) I just got back from Austin, Texas (where I wish I'd had more time to look around - beautiful place). My friends Lauraine and Bonnie and I went to a writer's conference by Donald Maass called the High Tension Workshop. It was perhaps the best writer's conference I've ever been to! You know how you go to a conference for either your business or one of your hobbies or interests and there is so much going on you can barely process it all? Not this time. At this conference we studied one thing for four days! By the time we left, we really knew what we were talking about when it came to tension in novels. My brain was so tired I had to take a long nap after I got off the plane! LOL!

In other news, John and I are eagerly pursuing our marathon training. Yesterday morning, and then again this morning, I broke my personal best records for speed over a 2-mile run! Woo-hooo! By the end of May, we'll have completed our "Couch to 5K" training. On Sunday, May 25 (Memorial Day weekend), we will be running our first race! It's a 5K - about 3 miles - and we're feeling very good about it. Only six more months until we run our first half marathon at the Pasadena Marathon! We'll tell you all about it as things progress!

P.S. If you haven't seen the movie Iron Man, you've got to go! It's awesome!!

Kitty has her motorcycle license!

Kitty just called me from outside the DMV and told me she passed her written motorcycle DMV test! She will have her official motorcycle license in a couple of weeks! A few of you knew that Kitty took the motorcycle course a couple of weeks ago and passed with flying colors. She called the DMV earlier this week and made an appointment to take the written test early this morning. She got the maximum allowed number wrong (you only allowed 4 wrong on the test,) but passed! We won't be rushing out to buy her a motorcycle yet, she will be sharing my bike when I don't drive it to work.
Don't worry, pictures of Kitty on my bike will be hitting the web as soon as possible!

Again baby, CONGRATULATIONS!

Where I work

Many of you might wonder what the place looks like where I work. Well, thanks to obsessive fanboys, I can show you! On a sight called marketsaw.blogspot.com, it seems that they had a photographer who found out where we are working on the movie and sneaked onto a public jogging trail with a telephoto lens to take pictures of our building. A bunch of the employees got a good chuckle on the intensity of the article showing, of all things, WHERE WE EAT!! Just to give you a quick overview, we are working at the Howard Hughes Center. Here is where Howard Hughes created the airplane the H-4 Hercules, nicknamed the "Spruce Goose." They are currently building an office park around the core of the original Hughes buildings (we are working in one of them.) Here are some of the pics:
This gives you the best view of our building. It's the medium sized building on the left side of the picture. We think the photographer was in someones yard for this picture.
Here is a picture of a couple of trailers used for mocap people, and the food tent where we get our food for breakfast and lunch. That's the back of our building in the picture.
This last picture is a tarp covering one of our props. The fanboy was SO PSYCHED when he was able to show you the alien plant under the tarp.
Well, I know you guys are interested in the plant, but I'm more interested in showing you MY BIKE that made it into the spy photos! While you might be disappointed about not seeing the plant, at least you can console yourself that you did, in fact, see a bike that is being driven by an employee of James Cameron (Truth be told: I did not want to show anything that might spoil the movie or incur the wrath of Mr. Cameron.)

My Career

Many of you know that I work in the film industry. Many of you know that I tell you that I can be very busy. A co-worker of mine, named Eric, found this on YouTube and felt that it summed a typical work day during crunch time. Watch and enjoy, they did a great job on it.

Weird Things To See In LA

(Kitty) Have I told you this before? One of the weirdest things I've seen in LA, I see a lot of in Santa Monica specifically. That is people pushing baby strollers that are filled with everything except babies. My impression is that all of these people are street people, but that may or may not be true. Whoever these men and women are, they are walking the streets with dirty old baby strollers filled with all kinds of "stuff." Perhaps all their worldly possessions? Perhaps cans and bottles for recycling? I don't know.

But I saw two of them today and it struck me as it always does - as just plain weird.

Back to Work!

(Kitty) John and I have had several friends affected by the Writers Guild of America strike (Hollywood screenwriters, if you haven't been following this), but one couple we've been praying for a lot because they're both screenwriters. Being unemployed is difficult (John and I know about that!), but to both become unemployed at the same time and for the same reason - eek! To show my support, I delivered brownies to the strike line at the beginning of the strike in November. And last week I walked with my friend in front of Fox Studios.

At church on Sunday, she and her husband called me over to tell me the good news - the strike is as good as over! Thank you, God! Now people can get back to paying their car payments on time. Whew!

On a similar note, I am feeling that "back to work" feel more than ever! I decided last week that I'm never going to make a living as a writer if I do "everything else" first every day. So I'm now starting my day with my work - writing - and trying to fit "everything else" into the spaces after that. Now I see why I wasn't writing as fast as I should have been! There is no room for everything I've put into my life! So...I'm working on a plan to decrease the amount of "stuff" I have to do and the amount of time I take to do it. Difficult, but I'm already finding some other people in my life are stepping up and volunteering to take some of the load. Again - thank you, God! Maybe 2008 will turn out to be the kind of writing year I've been waiting for!

There is Hope

I found this art piece titled "There is hope" by a talented young fellow named Reid Southen on www.deviantart.com. He is a 19yo art student who lives in Rochester Hills, Michigan.
As a Christian, it shows to me the hand of God reaching down to those who are in need of his help.
A very strong and wonderful piece of art.

Yes, it rains in California

photo by Michael Buntag

(John) While Kitty has been getting lots of snow and freezing temperatures in Michigan, we have had a whole week of cold and rain here in California. It has rained off and on since about Monday, making impossible to ride my motorcycle and turning our work parking lot into a small wading pool. While I'm glad it is raining, because we did need it, I would really like to see the sun again before I forget what it looks like.

No Cold Like a Michigan Cold

(Kitty) I'm sure it's not true, but it feels true. I caught a cold several days ago and my whole life now revolves around it - carrying tissues everywhere, drinking water constantly, not sleeping well at night, not fully "with it" during the day. People have asked me if I miss LA - that sunny, warmer land where I probably wouldn't have caught a cold. Nope. Not even when it's 15 degrees above zero here.

Michigan has weather. Lots of different kinds of weather. It was raining, then snowing, then clear and bright, then overcast and windy, then absolutely freezing cold. All in the space of only a few days. I love it! Even though I'm miserably sick. Eventually I'll get over my cold, and Michigan will still give me different kinds of weather every day. And then I'll go home to LA and be happier with the blue, sunny skies because I had a chance to dance in the snow for a while. And catch snowflakes on my tongue. I've got pictures.

Beautiful Darkness

(Kitty) I was one of the last to go to bed last night, so I crept down the stairs without turning on a light. I haven't walked in such pitch blackness in quite some time. I'm talking can't see your hand in front of your face blackness. I figured that I'd have some moonlight or some other outdoor light to guide me once I turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs. Uh, yeah, not so much.

I forgot how deep and rich the darkness is in the country. It's sooo beautiful! I've lived in the city for so long that I've forgotten what real darkness is. I generally have to sleep with a pillow or a dark-colored t-shirt over my eyes in order to sleep deeply in the city. Here at my sister's farm (for lack of a better word), I'm beginning to sleep with a depth and richness that I haven't had for a long time. If you're not sure what I mean, you probably live somewhere where there are outside lights on all night. All I can say is - boy, I forgot how much I miss the country.

No Fear

(Kitty) Last night (Friday) I had my second riding lesson this week. I'm not sure what happened, but Bonnie must've said something on Wednesday because for the first time ever, I was riding without fear. And what an amazing difference it made! I trotted, and learned to do a posting trot, and I did quite a bit of cantering. I've never cantered for more than a few paces before - I'd always been afraid of falling off. This time was soo different - at one point Bonnie said, "Kitty, bring Max back to a walk." I looked at her and frowned and said, "Aren't I walking?" I was so comfortable with this slow trot Max has that I was sure I must've been walking!

It makes me think about how we live our lives as well. How many things do we want to do, try to do, and stop when we're almost there because we're afraid we'll fall? By the time my one hour lesson was over, I was sweating all the way through my shirt (underneath my down-filled winter coat - it is Michigan in January!). Learning to do something well takes a lot of work! But over the last thirty years, I've chosen not to give up trying to learn to ride. (I don't see my sister very often, so it's taken time!) And now - finally - I am beginning to reap my reward.

I hope you find something in your life that you've once again decided not to give up on. Good luck!

Surprises!

(Kitty) What a great 24 hours! I flew to Michigan yesterday to visit my sister Bonnie and help her with some accounting and web site work for her nonprofit therapeutic riding facility (www.chumtherapy.net). What a surprise to find that all of my family showed up for a late Christmas celebration! Waiting for me at the baggage claim was not only Bonnie, but my other sister Wendy and Jim, and waiting at Bonnie's house was my mom, as well as my brother-in-law Bryan and my nephew Chris. My nephew Bruce called to talk this morning. The whole thing was so cool!

Then today, I got my first horseback riding lesson of the year - and cantered!!! I've never been able to do it before, but my new friend Max, a tri-colored Tobiano Paint gelding, and my awesome teacher Bonnie both helped me get it done! Technically, since I was riding Western, I "loped" not "cantered". See how much I'm learning?!

Gorgeous Weather

(Kitty) I'm not speaking for anyone who is living on the street, or lives in a flash flood or mud slide area, I'm just speaking for Kitty who grew up in Michigan with about 7 seasons and now lives in CA with about 2.

THIS WEATHER IS SO GORGEOUS!!!

It's all dark and gray and cloudy and cold and perfect for hot cocoa and soup! And I LOVE it!! The only weird part is that for some reason the backyard smelled like wet dog when it first started raining and none of us has dogs. Ha, ha! Weird.

Well, I'm done here. Time for some more hot cocoa! :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

(John) Happy 2008 everyone! We spent a quiet evening with friends here in California to celebrate the New Year. Well, quiet except for the horn blowing, and laughing and games of Guitar Hero 3.
While we didn't get pictures of our New Years celebration, Neville Crombie, a friend in Australia, took these pictures of the fireworks that they set off every year off the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
He was there from 3:00pm to 12:30am to get these pictures.

Thanks Neville!

Merry Christmas! Jesus Lives!

(Kitty) Merry Christmas everyone! We're having a wonderful and relaxing day after a really lovely Christmas with our friend Doug and his family. I got the coolest gifts from John! One was somewhat expected - I'm going to the motorcycle safety class where they teach you to ride and you get your motorcycle license! Woo-hooo!! The other was completely out of the blue - two hours at a firing range! Woo-hooo!! We've talked about it occasionally over the years (because I was in the Marines just long enough to get an Expert badge on the range and loved it, and living in the country as a kid I did some target practice and loved that), but we've never gotten around to going to a firing range. I told John we definitely have to go do it together! I can't wait!!

Of course, we had plenty of fun opening gifts with Doug's 2-year-old nephew, and everyone gave all kinds of fun gifts to each other. But the best part was spending time with people we love who love us. We hope you had an equally blessed holiday. God did a wondrous thing when He came down here to fulfill the law that would've condemned us. The best present we could ever have - we have! Living forever with God who will love us forever! Yea!!

Whimsy and Joy

(Kitty) According to the calendar, today is the first day of winter. Someone in the bank said, "They call this the first day of Wind-er." I laughed out loud, though I'd never heard that before. Last night, the wind started and I don't think it's quit yet. I woke up four or five times last night when the wind whistled so loudly under our door that it woke me up!

But on the way to the bank, I saw a sight that filled me with whimsy and joy. In the air a block ahead of me was a flock of a hundred or more birds. But they weren't going anywhere. They swooped together one way, then took a dive together and up in another direction, back and forth and swirling around. The more I tried to figure out what they were doing, the more a crazy fun joy welled up in my chest. And that's when I decided that's what they felt! I think they were all just playing together in the wind!

I was never so glad for a nice long stop light. For whatever reason, I felt more Christmas-y at that moment than I have all week! (Except when I delivered gifts from the church yesterday. That was awesome!) Those birds stopped looking for dinner long enough to participate together in the joy of the moment. It was beautiful watching them dance in the air like that.

I pray that for you in the next week - that you stop in your preparations occasionally to participate with your friends or family or the strangers around you in moments of whimsy and joy. God loved the world so much that He came down in the form of His Son - the JOY of the world! Like glitter that sticks to everything, bits of that joy can be experienced everywhere.

Enjoy! And Merry Christmas from John and me! We love you! :)

Living a Fantasy Life

(Kitty) The other day I decided I was tired of being grumpy about the traffic in LA. I needed some way of not getting angry every 2.3 minutes. So I figured - I'm a writer, I'll just make up stories about these people. So when the black Mercedes to the left cut me off to change lanes, I decided he was a doctor on his way to deliver someone's first child. (It is Christmas, after all. A time we're remembering someone else's first child's birth.)

When the red Miata ran a red light in front of me, narrowly missing all the traffic - like me - accelerating through the green, John said he must be on the run from the mob, trying to get away to live another day.

And when the white pickup next to me kept swerving into my lane, oblivious to the fact I was taking up space there, I knew he must've recently been blessed with 20/20 vision via lasik surgery and was still trying to get used to being able to see everything.

You can call me looney tunes if you want. But my blood pressure is still resting at normal levels, even a mere ten days before Christmas. That's a fantasy I can live with.

Ya Gotta Love This!

(Kitty) John sent this to me this morning. It's John as a character in The Simpsons! Isn't it funny? (And it looks like him, too!) If you want to try it, go to http://simpsonizeme.com/ and upload a photo of yourself. I'll have to try it later. The site says it's too busy right now! :)