Tappin the blogs away

A disclaimer to my title: in actuality, I've been doing little to no (emphasis on the latter) tapping, and am not afflicted by the ever troublesome "blogs". But apart form a misleading header, life is fantastic here in Houston, Texas. I'm on week two of P90X, and I think I'm negating some of it's effects by visiting my mother's stash of left over halloween candy once a day, but my muscles are sure letting me know that it's doing something. Since my parents still subscribe to dial up internet (...I was just listening to see if any of you gasped), I do most of my online ventures from the coffee shop in Barnes and Noble. The sign says free wifi but it really means "free wifi with the purchase of one of our fine products". If you just whip open that laptop at any of their tables without first getting yourself a cup of coffee, you get a look, indescribable through emoticons. Trust me, I tried them all =(. Anyway, here I can explore at my leisure and with a billion different sites right at the tips of my fingers, containing the information of the world for me to absorb, I visit facebook, twitter, and blogspot...sometimes gmail...mostly facebook. And from here I try to update you on my life. Since I last left you I've seen Sherlock Holmes, The Book of Eli, and Avatar, all great in their own rights and genres. Also I went bowling, though I can't recall most of that outing. Now the rest of the week contains a lot of A Prayer for Owen Meany, P90, and any seasons of TV shows my parents may have laying around the house. A few pictures to leave you with. Carolyn sent me a BEAUTIFUL Christmas present of personalized pillow cases. When one thinks of my interests, one's thoughts can't help but stray to ducks and robots. She knows me so well.

After receiving such a thoughtful gift, Ryan and I decided we needed to model with the pillow cases on top of my new polka dot flannel sheets. That shoot went a little something like this.

So now when someone walks into my room they may be concerned that such a young toddler should be sleeping on a queen bed unassisted. Fear not, stranger in my room, tis merely my childhood interests that never died. God bless the young at heart...and bed.

Now for a more serious note. Last night a good friend of mine and her family suffered a terrible loss. Their house caught fire in the middle of the night and burned to the ground, taking with it all of their possessions. Her mother, father, and grandmother got out in time and were unharmed, but they've lost everything. This is a devastating time for them all, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. I'll let you know what I can as the situation progresses and if there are any opportunities to help. Certainly this is a tragedy when it happens to anybody, but it's duly hard when it happens to such a loving and wonderful family as the Steadmans, who have taken many of us in under their roof and done so much for us in the past.

Here we are, as in olden days

I find myself back to my old haunts in Houston. Mainly the Barnes and Noble(s)/Starbucks with its free WiFi and cheap coffee. But it feels so wonderful to be back home with old friends like Hayley, and a car. You forget how wonderful the freedom to hop in an automobile that isn't being driven by a strange man who is pretending not to know where you want to go, and drive wherever you want to be is. So far since I've been home I've gotten some much needed reading done, spent a day on the town with Aaron Umsted and Hayley McElhinney, submerged myself deep in the trenches of P90X (I have to admit, I give up a little early on the yoga. One can only hold twisted chair stance for so long), and helped the madre out with some household chores. It's a much needed break from my previous lifestyle. And I found out today that my health is acceptable to the Disney company, so I'm officially completely hired and cleared for the boat. It's one month from today that I get shipped off to Canada. Now I try to distract myself with some new hobbies and bide my time in Houston until February 13th. Tomorrow night I head downtown to see Aaron in his traveling show and hopefully by the end of the week I'll have another best picture nominee under my belt. Love to all, talk to you soon.

Paul

A Farewell To Friends

I've been SOoooo good about waking up recently. I mean, the old Paul would have been ever so groggy at about eleven a.m., stumbling about the kitchen to make himself a mediocre bowl of porridge. But not anymore! I don't exactly know what the reasons behind my early risings are, but I'm going to go ahead and give the credit to my knew Brookstone sleep machine, purchased for me by my beautiful Ryan Wood. This thing just gets me, you know? It soothes me to sleep and keeps me there comfortably for just about eight hours. God bless you, sleep machine. Coincidently, it's also given me weird, self aware dreams. The other night I was ruining someone's wedding and dream me felt really bad about it until actual me appeared in some omnipresent form and informed dream me that it was all a figment of my imagination in which dream me was playing a part and that whatever actions dream me took, there would be no repercussions in the real world. With that knowledge, dream me continued the wedding crashing plot sans remorse. What a beautiful world it would be if guilt wasn't a factor. Anywho, I got up early thanks to my new sound machine, put off the inevitable packing with some much needed text twist and pandora radio and then met Hartleigh and Melissa for some DELICIOUS hot cocoa at Lily's Chocolate shop. Wowza it was good, made with real melted chocolate and topped with marshmallows and peanuts. Heaven. Then it was back home, some packing of sorts, and then meeting Jillian, Karly, and Daniel at Blockheads for one too many margaritas and nachos. Such a fantastic night, complete with an uneventful trip over to Splash bar where Jillian and I had to share toilet paper. What a team. On my ride home tonight I had eyes made at me by a man who finally introduced himself as Angel from Puerto Rico. He gave me his number and asked me my name. upon learning my name, he gave a me a complete biblical history of my namesake and told me "Though he had visions, Paul was never visited by and angel...till now". Me being the heathen I am, I can't actually prove the validity of this comment, but Kudos Angel from Puerto Rico for such a clever pick up line on the spot. Needless to say I switched trains quickly and made my way back to where I now lay comfortably. Goodnight to all, we'll talk again soon I know it.

East of Eden, and like slightly west of Jackson Heights

These are the last few moments I'll be spending in my first New York apartment. I say "my first" but I think I'm actually going to save that phrase for an apartment I can truly call mine. One where I can be in charge of my own feng shui and be paying my bills like a grown up and respectable human being (the respectable part may be a bit of a stretch, but I'm going to go ahead and give myself the grown up). In three days time I'll be on a plane to Houston, TX. There I will save my money and get my things in order. I'll get to spend some fantastic time with Hayley and Chaney and Melanie and other Houston friends who may be in town whilst I wait for the next big adventure of my life, the sea adventure. I travel to Canada on the thirteenth of February and then to Florida in March before shipping out on the seas. I'm super excited for a relaxing and lovely month ahead of me and I know, though I'll probably find myself bored in bed more often than not, I'll look back on those days while I'm tossing from side to side on the ocean and doing three shows a day and missing the easier times. So I plan on really soaking in the inevitable laziness. I'll miss all of you in New York but September is really not that far away and will be here before we know it. I'll also be in Norman for about a week at the end of January so I look forward to seeing anyone who may be in town there.

What else, what else? Ryan came to visit NY and we had such a wonderful time just spending time together in the city. Sorry this was kind of a pointless blog with a bit of rambling on in it. Tomorrow, coffee with Meliss and Hartleigh and then some businessy things in the city to get me all moved out. Much love and I'll talk to you soon.

Paul