Get to know your fellow board members....

[juloxx]

Right there with you on Salma Hayak. YUM!!!

I had a boner of catastrophic proportions the first time I saw Desperado.

Bugs Bunny was always the funniest cartoon character...period. I can watch old Loony Tunes and Merrie Melodies to this day and laugh my ass off. They are timeless.

Good answer. As a little kid I never appreciated Loony Tunes. Looking back, that shit was one of the most creative and coolest things to happen to animation. All of it was fuckin jokes. Gotta show em love

[M Sparks]

So... I am pretty sure we have covered this at some point but what is your favorite all time beer?

Until recently...



But I will be having some more of this soon...



...and may change my mind

I'll buy.

I GUESS I would drink a Heineken if it was free. (?)

Do you have any pets? If so, what are their names, breeds, ages. Did you pick them out, or did they pick you?

My dad with Loki and Godiva. Loki is about 8 years old, Golden Retriever/Akita Mix. Godiva is 9 or 10, and some kind of lab/setter mix, I guess.




Isabella (top), maybe 4 years old, and Piewacket (bottom), no clue



When I worked in TV, I used to shoot the "pet of the week" things for the morning news. Loki was part of a litter of puppies that had just been dropped off at the shelter, and my reporter picked her out to hold on the air. Godiva was in the same shelter, but was full grown, and had been in shelters most of her life after being rescued at the Grand Canyon.

Isabella had a brother named Dante, we adopted both of them from someone we knew who had kittens. Dante disappeared long ago, and Isabella stands in the corner and crys a lot.

Piewacket was found under a porch of an abandoned house, and was pregnant. Someone called us to take a kitten, but the one we liked was already spoken for, so we took the momma instead.

[Errant]

My son has a lab mix named Loki, and a departed friend had a cat name Piewacket

I'll have to look at the photo of your cats from home tonight, they must be on a site that's blocked from work.

[M Sparks]

My son has a lab mix named Loki, and a departed friend had a cat name Piewacket

I'll have to look at the photo of your cats from home tonight, they must be on a site that's blocked from work.

Yeah, it's a facebook pic.

[locachica73]

I never was into super heroes, but I would read SpiderMan and Fantastic Four comics on occasion. Also, even though I was very young, I somehow knew this was a good thing...

She was my favorite, but probably for different reasons. I always had a thing for women who could kick ass and I always wanted a magic lasso that would make it so people couldn't lie to me.

Tell us about your first true love.

[juloxx]

Chili Cheese vs. Garlic vs. Sweet Potato fries. Which do you choose?

[Courtney]

What is the name Pyewacket from, and why do I know so many cats who are called that?

[amyzzz]

I'm glad Courtney asked it.

[TomAz]

Pyewacket may refer to:

Pyewacket (familiar spirit), a familiar spirit, reported by an alleged witch in 1644
Pyewacket, Gillian Holroyd's cat and familiar in the film Bell, Book and Candle
Pyewacket (novel), a 1967 children's novel by Rosemary Weir
Pyewacket (band), a rock band based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, active 1972–1975
Pyewackett (band), an English folk band active in the first half of the 1980s
Pyewacket, a MaxZ86-class sailing yacht commissioned in 2004 by Roy E. Disney; also a Santa Cruz 70 sailed by the Disney family.
Pye Wacket, an experimental missile.

[Courtney]

I always name my animals after MaxZ86-class sailing vessels.

[lickety_spit]

Since no one else knows what we are talking about and this is the Get To Know You thread...

well I am getting to know what you thought of these famously homoerotic LHUSD teachers. ;] i'm selfish.

once, in 3rd grade, mr. clawges stopped teaching whatever he was teaching so we could all watch k.d. lang's "constant craving" video on vh1.

[M Sparks]

Tell us about your first true love.

I had actually thought about Ivy's usual "Tell us about the one that got away" question and was trying to decide between one kinda cute but insignificant story and one kind of bittersweet tale. But my first love is another matter all-together. I will have to revisit this...after nightfall, perhaps. Still thinking about Tom's too...that will take a while.

Chili Cheese vs. Garlic vs. Sweet Potato fries. Which do you choose?

Depends on the situation. Chili Cheese fries are good drunk food, or with a hot dog. I generally won't order garlic...most places overdo it...but I love to steal them off people's plates. But Sweet Potato is my go-to...if it's available, I get it. And it's healthier too. Bonus.

Joe's Farm Grill is a place right around the block from me...it's been on that Diners & Dives show on Food Network. They serve Sweet Potato Fries with a pineapple salsa dipping thing...awesome.

What is the name Pyewacket from, and why do I know so many cats who are called that?

Pyewacket may refer to:

Pyewacket, Gillian Holroyd's cat and familiar in the film Bell, Book and Candle

Yup...it's pretty common.

[M Sparks]

once, in 3rd grade, mr. clawges stopped teaching whatever he was teaching so we could all watch k.d. lang's "constant craving" video on vh1.

I have a memory of him playing "Flamethrower" by J Giles Band for us. It was funny how many people contacted me about his death. I hadn't thought of him since I was a kid, but obviously he made an impression on everyone, good or bad. I talked to one of Mr Silvey's daughters who is close to my age...she said he had gone to visit Bob the day before he died, and he seemed to be doing great, and then he just faded away. I had another friend who is now a music teacher and she was very upset she couldn't get to his memorial.

[MissingPerson]

What's the cruelest thing you've ever done?

[justinaqui]

Hello. I'm not on the board nearly as often as I used to be, so I want to ask two questions in the same shot:
1. Would you please post your favorite image? It can be of anything.

2. Do you have a favorite way to enjoy music? A certain place, or pair of headphones, or cocktail, or guest that makes a new album more enjoyable?

[M Sparks]

1. Would you please post your favorite image? It can be of anything.

Well, so far, all the "favorite" or "best" questions have been answered with multiple answers. I've never been able to name a "favorite" anything. Humans have so many different moods and needs and psychological states, no single thing can satisfy us better than others. So favorite image is even trickier. Our lives are full of images whether our eyes are open or they are in our heads. I'm sure my favorite image was some fleeting moment in my life that was never captured.

But, I did try to think of paintings/artwork I love. I was always really into Escher, so I thought I would post one. But I found this.



So, that's my favorite image. Right now. Ask again in 5 minutes.

2. Do you have a favorite way to enjoy music? A certain place, or pair of headphones, or cocktail, or guest that makes a new album more enjoyable?

Sadly, I don't listen to music as intently as I did in my youth. I love to experience live music, but recorded music is usually listened to in the car, or on crappy headphones while at the gym.

I do remember laying in the dark about 5 years ago with my wife with a few candles burning, listening to the (at the time) new Cure album for the first time- the self titled one. I now think it's not very good, but it seemed really intense. I can picture some other moments like that, laying in a dark place with someone special, listening to an album beginning to end. So I guess that's my answer, even though I haven't done it in ages.

Tell us about your first true love.

OK, I wrote this late last night. It was very therapeutic, but I didn't post it. But I'm clear headed now, and I am well aware I come off as a fool in most of it, so here goes. It's looooong...

I met Amanda my sophomore year in college. She was a freshman. I don't even know how I met her, she just suddenly was in my life and latched onto me. She confounded me right away. I had never much luck with women. They seemed to fall into two camps...women who I was infatuated with but who only wanted to be friends, and women who were in love with me and I had no interest in. But Amanda was the biggest flirt I had ever met, and she wanted to be friends. To a 19 year old, this is a dangerous combination. I could see that she teased all the guys, not just me. But then she would come over and curl up on the couch with me and watch old movies. We bonded really quick. But I never knew how to make a move.
*
I lived in an apartment-style dorm, as I mentioned. There was a bedroom with three of us- I slept in a loft- and a living room. We had a sofa-bed in the living room. One Friday, she got drunk at our place and asked to stay the night on the sofa bed. Then she asked me to stay with her. I gladly shared the bed, but she was so drunk, it certainly wasn't the time to take advantage. I was really falling for her and didn't want to blow it. The next morning, she just...stayed. All day. She stayed Saturday night. Maybe Sunday. She just kind of started living there for a bit. All the time, I've never even kissed her. Then, she started having me come over to her dorm while she studied. (I was a Comm major, not much to study.) I would fall asleep in her single bed, and would wake up with her next to me.
*
What the fuck? Right? I mean, I had very little experience, but I was pretty sure this wasn't normal. But I was totally falling in love with her. We were connecting on every level except sexually. Finally, sick of not being able to tell her how I felt, I wrote her a long letter. I don't really remember what it said, but I told her I was in love with her at the end. We were having a low key party in our room, none of us were really drinking. I gave her the letter and asked her to read it. She climbed up in my loft and read it, and then came back down. She didn't say anything, just pulled me onto my roommates bed, and we started kissing. The lights were off, but people kept coming in and out to use the bathroom, so we moved back up into the loft, which was slightly more private. We were still just making out, but somehow, she wound up totally naked under the blankets. By now, everyone had left. One of my roommates came in, turned on the lights, and went into the bathroom. I don't know if he was trying to spoil the mood or just oblivious. Amanda pulled back the blankets to show me her body. All of my previous sexual experiences involved fumbling in dark cars or by the flickering light of a TV. This was the first time I had seen a naked woman, head to toe, in the light, inches away. And lying in my bed. She was not perfect by societal norms, still carrying some baby fat, but was pretty stunning nonetheless. Finally, the lights went out, my roommate went to bed, and we began again. The narrowness and height of the bed, and closeness to the ceiling made it difficult to get too wild, but it was a pretty intense night. We did not, however, "go all the way". I figured there was time enough for that, hopefully at a time where we weren't surrounded by sleeping roommates in a twin bed 5 feet off the ground.

The next day…everything went back to the way it was. Maybe not immediately, but by the end of the weekend. I was back in the friend-only zone. I figured she just wasn't excited by our encounter (though she was a good "faker" if this was the case), and would have accepted it had she told me. But instead, we continued down the path of becoming more and more emotionally intimate, while all the while, she moved from flirting with everyone, to dating everyone. I was a 19 year old cuckold.

During this time, she fell somewhat ill. It turned out to be something very treatable, but scary when you are that young. I would drive her to her parents house in Phoenix, and take a nap in her bed while her mom took her to the doctor. She would come back and curl up with me and cry. I think I was the only person at school who knew she was sick. Another time, we went to Tucson for the day where she grew up, and she took me to all the places that were important to her. At one point, on Valentines Day, we actually went on a "date"…something we had never really done…and it ended with a kiss that I still measure all other kisses against. We were so close, but other than that night, she was always clear that we were just friends.

I had come to accept that, and began to look for other women. BUT…because we were so close, everyone assumed we were a couple. I really started to resent her, but couldn’t make the "break up". One of her patented moves was to go out, get really drunk, do who knows what (or who knows who), and then ask me to come home with her. She had another male friend who kind of looked at her as a little sister and tried to protect her. One night, he knocked on my door. "Amanda needs you. She's wasted." I told him to just drop her off at home. "I already tried. She won't stop saying your name, I can't get her out of the car unless you come with." So I grabbed my stuff and left. I remember she was dressed really slutty, and when we got back to her room, she started undressing. She was wearing sheer lingerie. I was half turned on and half sickened. I hated that she would dress this way for some random guy, but not someone she loved. (And yes, she did tell me she loved me all the time.) As soon as she passed out, I went out in the hall and knocked on her neighbors door. The girls next door were really cool, and I was developing a crush on one of them. We sat out in the hall and talked, and I tried to explain why this woman I slept with 3 or 4 nights a week was not my girlfriend.

Up until this point, our relationship was pretty warped, but loving. But some time after this, she asked me to come over for the usual late night study. When I got there, her neighbors were in the hall, and the one I liked smiled big at me. We were chatting, when Amanda went in her room, and came back with some kind of sexy nightie on a hanger. "Check out what I just bought. Marc's going to get a treat tonight!" And then she pulled me inside. I was more mad than excited. WAS I going to get a "treat"? She did put it on, and I guess she technically did it "for me", but the rest of the evening was business as usual. I was seething, knowing she just did that to sabotage my chances with the neighbor. I don't know why I didn't leave…I guess a horny college guy never walks away from a girl in lingerie just in case. But the next day, she came to my place and we had a huge fight. I threw her out and she stood out in the courtyard yelling. She started screaming "Someday I'm going to marry you Marc Sparks! You'll see! I'm going to marry you!"

I finally got it. She was an 18 year old girl, out on her own for the first time, ready to go wild. I mean, I think she was still 17 the day I met her. And…she falls in love right out of the gate. She wanted time to explore. She didn't want to blow it with me while we were young. She wanted to keep me close until she was ready to be serious. I should have felt the same way, but I guess I fell too hard to care. I was OK with all that. BUT, I was not OK with having her try to prevent me from seeing other women. I tried to keep her more distant the rest of the school year, and that summer, I only went to visit her once. (I took summer school classes and she went back to Phoenix.) At the same time, there was a girl named Nina who I had been having a similarly frustrating relationship with since High School. She was also a year younger, but had worked full time the year after HS to save money for college. She told me she wanted to come to my school at least partially to be with me. I was excited. I liked Nina a lot, but- and this is kind of sick- I was hoping she would help me break the cycle I was in with Amanda. I had a longer history with Nina, if not nearly as deep. I knew that if we began to see each other again, Amanda wouldn't be able to sabotage it as easily.

When school started, Nina had my room and phone number, but she hadn't been assigned a room yet. I spent the week before school started waiting for a call or a knock. But when it finally came, it was Amanda. It turned out Nina got an offer from her dad to pay for her schooling if she moved back east with him. She never told me this, I found out later from a friend of hers, and I never saw her again.

Soon, Amanda and I were back in our old patterns, but somehow, I found a girlfriend anyway, named Stacey. I didn't really love her, but we fell into a healthy sexual relationship, and I pushed Amanda out of my life. I would have been happy to be friends, but I didn't feel she could behave. How do you tell your girlfriend that you best friend needs you to come sleep with her?

I stayed with Stacey for 11 months…during that time, I moved out of the dorms and into a studio apartment. We broke up, and I finished up my last semester in college pretty much alone. After Graduation, I was working in a record store, and Amanda showed up one day. She acted like the past 14 or 15 months hadn't happened. It felt good to talk to her, it felt right. We were both 2 years older. Maybe she had grown up and finished her wild time. I had never really had mine, but at least I had been in a good sexual relationship. She asked if she could come over and we could make dinner. We had a great time all evening, everything felt good, whether it was going to turn back into friendship or something more. As it got later and later, she asked if she could stay the night. I was hesitant, but I had been really lonely, and sharing a bed sounded great. She cuddled up with me and it felt right holding her. And then she whispered "Why did you leave me? You hurt me so much"

I couldn't stand it. She still couldn't see how any of this was her fault. She just wanted to keep me off to the side away from everyone so she could take what she needed until she was ready to take it all. The next morning, I dropped her off at her dorm, and I never saw her again.

About a year ago, I found her on Facebook, totally accidentally. I was just surfing through graduates from my school. It took me a while, but I finally sent her a friend request and asked if she wanted to catch up. She said yes, and sent me some of the basics, but we never really talked. I posted some old pictures and tagged her in them…she commented and didn't remove the tags, and we kind of joked around. Then, I moved down to Phoenix. I really live pretty close to her, and I've wondered/worried what would happen if we ran into each other. Maybe she feels the same way, because she has stopped interacting with me on FB. I really would like to have a serious talk with her, but I don't know what good could come of it.

I just went to her page. Someone else has posted a few pictures from college. I looked at one of them for a long time. Love sucks, sometimes.

What's the cruelest thing you've ever done?

Aside from saying terrible things to strangers online, I can't think of anything truly cruel I've ever done, at least not on purpose. I suspect the answer is somewhere in the untold details of the story above.

[Errant]

Thanx for sharing that. You do not come off like a fool

[locachica73]

Thanks Marc, I enjoyed reading that. You do not sound like a fool, you sound like a very nice gentleman, something this world needs more of.

OK something a little less intense. What is your comfort food of choice when you are not feeling well?

[amyzzz]

sad story bittersweet.

[TomAz]

that's some intense shit sparky.

[M Sparks]

OK something a little less intense. What is your comfort food of choice when you are not feeling well?

Ugh, yes please, I think I need less introspection for a while. Homemade Mac & Cheese (baked, of course), or French Onion Soup with a Grilled Cheese sandwich.

I like cheese. Unfortunately for my midsection.

[Errant]

That was sweet, Jeffrey. But you're not the Board Member of the Week. You might want to read the beginning of the thread before commenting (this goes for all threads).

[guedita]

Oh dear, Jeffrey. You've made a complete ass of yourself.

[guedita]

MARC: What is the best place you've ever traveled to? What is the most "dangerous" thing you've ever done?

[TomAz]

I take it Jeffrey deleted whatever he posted?

[Cheddar's Cousin]

Ugh, yes please, I think I need less introspection for a while. Homemade Mac & Cheese (baked, of course), or French Onion Soup with a Grilled Cheese sandwich.

I like cheese. Unfortunately for my midsection.

I like you too.

[imsorryforpictures]

I take it Jeffrey deleted whatever he posted?

Yeah I'm sorry missed reading that u had to be the person of the week, so I posted in a more free thread thanks !!

[M Sparks]

Oh dear, Jeffrey. You've made a complete ass of yourself.

That actually cheered me up quite a bit. Poor guy.

MARC: What is the best place you've ever traveled to? What is the most "dangerous" thing you've ever done?

I am not well travelled as far as the world goes...I've never been overseas at all unless you count taking a Ferry to Victoria BC.. I've been over a lot of the country though, and I've never felt more at home than in the Pacific Northwest. Particularly Portland, but Oregon in general, and along the west and north coast of Washington State. I loved everything about it, though I am told I would change my tune during January rains. Our intention in 2008 was to move to Portland, but it became an increasingly nonviable option, and we wound up in Gilbert, AZ. (I do like it here though.)

I am not a "thrill seeker" except for roller coaster and things like that. But when I worked in TV news, I was sent into forest fires quite often. I had to carry a set of Nomex clothes in my car...the yellow shirts and green pants forest service firefighters wear. I had a hard hat and had to carry a fire shelter, which it a metal blanket you hide under if you get overtaken. Most of the time, we didn't go into REAL fires too far, we often just went to shoot the fighters doing the backburn. I covered the Rodeo/Chedesky fire (largest fire in US history, I think), but didn't really get that close. But once, I drove into the forest alone to shoot some new fire we didn't have much info on.Eventually, I got to a forest service truck, and was stopped. The guy told me he was just back there to mark the safe line until the crews arrived. I got out and shot what I could, which wasn't much. Then the wind shifted, and the sky turned black. Large pieces of ash were raining down, and visibility was dropping. The forest service guy got on his radio, sounding a little nervous. I hopped in my car and hauled ass.

I also covered SWAT standoffs and things like that where I could have been shot, but the fire was the only thing that made me nervous.

[M Sparks]

HI MARC!!! Which celeb would you most like to bang and why?

I wanna change my answer after seeing The Runaways last night...

Joan Jett, circa 1976-80, after I have a sex change, while listening to Crimson & Clover (a demo, since she hadn't recorded it yet.)

[locachica73]

I wanna change my answer after seeing The Runaways last night...

Joan Jett, circa 1976-80, after I have a sex change, while listening to Crimson & Clover (a demo, since she hadn't recorded it yet.)

i think you could rock some gold eyeshadow!!!!