So Much Larger Than Life

"Oh, I don't think I'm eccentric. I'm just something that came from New England."
- Katharine Hepburn

"Oh, I don't think I'm eccentric. I'm just something that came from Texas."
- Robbi Holman

I'm such a dork. I'm completely content hanging out in my room in San Francisco and I've taken no pictures at all. I suck.

I did see amydmartin, snapebeliever, pyjamapants, QQQ, and anonymous plume and of course, they're awesome. :)

Today I had lunch with bethbethbeth and that was WAY cool.

Had dinner tonight with Karelia and Blue_Paris and of course Mickey and Penny at a Thai restaurant. Good food. Fish ball soup, MY FAVORITE!

On my way to Sasn Francisco. I've heard the temperature there is... in the two digits???? I had to find a sweat shirt. All my winter clothes are in storage.

Man I can't wait to get to China Town.

Ok, the sun can stop now. It's been over 100 for the last twelve days. San Francisco is looking more and more appealing...

I just had the best evening I've had in years. When you consider that forty-eight hours ago I was having drinks with Alan Rickman and Fiona Shaw, that's saying something.

With all the things I "get" to do, people always tell me that I'm "lucky." My response to that is that it's not luck, it's hard work and it makes my life extremely complicated. The things I do are fun and amazing and I wouldnt trade them for anything, but there's a price.

I've had allergy-related bronchitis for the past week. Having traveled extensively over the last 72 hours and seen Half Blood Prince 3 times since Monday, I can tell you that all I wanted to do tonight was go home from work and crawl into bed. But an old friend IMd me and said, come to my office, I'll be here til 6:30pm. So I grabbed a quick shower at the athletic building and headed over, tired out of my mind and groggy on cough medicine. We chatted for two hours. It was uncomplicated and wondrous. It was so beautifully simple. It was better than steak tartare at the Ivy. It was better than shaking Alan Rickman's hand. It was better than being Walter Koenig's body guard. It was better, even, than packing the house and having them howl in laughter at my comic genius.

It was brilliant.

Cough medicine is good.

*spins around in chair*

Hope everyone is having a good weekend.

The boy I like just e-mailed me and asked me if I was going to be in town on Sunday. I said... yes...? He then said nothing. I said, Hey... tease! He said, "I'll be there." ????????

I said, "What does that mean? Should I come get you at the airport?" He said, "Details tomorrow."

???????????????????????????????

ARGH!

WHAT a tease...

It's 8:24pm. It's still 95F. In the past nine days, seven of them have been between 98 and 102. BLAH!

We're visiting my grandfather tomorrow. He's 86. He's a crotchety old man who thinks he should be able to have his house the way he wants it. Unfortunately that way is... filthy. He says he just dont feel like cleaning, and it's his house, so bugger off. My mother disagrees with him. I'm sure tomorrow will be a blast. It's supposed to be 100 again, too. Charging iPod...

Just ran two miles. Apparently I'm the inspiration over in the advancement office. My colleague told one of my friends, "If robbi can run, why can't I?" I'm not sure, I think that may be an insult. Basically, she's saying, "If the fat girl can run, why can't I run??"

Ah... being short and round...

Such is my life.

And how come I never notice missing words and misspelled stuff until I start getting comments back??? *face palm*

I kept hearing this weird sound on my truck like something was dragging. Not, like, on the ground, but just that something wasnt right in a wheel well. My dad had just changed the rear brake spring, so I didnt think it was that, but... yeah. The shoe BROKE. Like, in two. Wow. So... yeah, my truck is on blocks. Won't be fixed til tomorrow.

And now my pitbull has discovered the pillows on my bed. She's a good dog, really. But she views every thing around her as a giant chew toy. Including my arm sometimes. She showed up on our doorstep one day and adopted us. We have a chow, too, and he needed a playmate, apparently. Here's Dot the Pitbull (mix).

Just took the "Which Star Trek Character Are You" quiz. Hilarious. I had no idea that I loved many women.

Your results:
You are Will Riker

Will Riker 85% Jean-Luc Picard 80% Mr. Scott 70% Data 60% Geordi LaForge 55% James T. Kirk (Captain) 45% Leonard McCoy (Bones) 40% Mr. Sulu 40% Worf 40% An Expendable Character (Redshirt) 40% Uhura 35% Chekov 30% Spock 22% Beverly Crusher 20% Deanna Troi 20%

At times you are self-centered but you have many friends. You love many women, but the right woman could get you to settle down.

Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character am I?" quiz...

We had 47 people for the reunion last night. It was hotter than hell and sticky. The kids all seemed to have a blast and I got to see my cousin Eric who I haven't seen in about 5 years. My Aunt Wanda and my Uncle Jim both turned 60 this past week, so we surprised them with a cupcake-birthday cake and sang happy birthday to them. My cousin Rick also came with his little girl Mary, who's 3. I was really glad to see him, as he's been having a rough go of it lately. His wife went off the deep end and left him with the kid, so he's been having to fend for himself. Last year he didn't come, I think he was just overwhelmed. Overall I'd have to say it was a pretty awesome shindig. I didn't get to take too many pictures, everyone was spread out and it got dark. But here's one of some of my family.




Betty-Tina-Jim-Wanda-Heather-Eric holding Aidan, Tina's youngest.

It's time to resurrect my fan club.  I admit I have neglected my followers as of late, and for that, I'm massively sorry.  My ego needs to be stoked, I need to have people fawning all over me.  I expect to have you surrounding me and doing my bidding in San Francisco in 3 weeks, and I also need you to keep the riffraff away.

MINIONS, REPORT!

To check out my fan club, go to
http://fangirlrobbi.livejournal.com

You know that scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where Toula is trying to explain to Ian about her family, and she says, “So, what happens is my dad and uncles, they fight over who gets to eat the lamb brain.  And then my aunt Voula forks the eyeball and chases me around with it, try to get me to eat it, 'cause it's gonna make me smart.  So, you have two cousins, I have 27 first cousins. Just 27 first cousins alone!  And my whole family is big and loud.  And everybody is in each other's lives and business.  All the time! Like, you never just have a minute alone, just to think, 'Cause we're always together, just eating, eating, eating!  The only other people we know are Greeks, 'cause Greeks marry Greeks to breed more Greeks, to be loud breeding Greek eaters.” 

I’ve always understood that statement.  My family is gearing up for our annual Holman family reunion.  We're not Greek, but my father is half-Mexican and comes from a family of eight kids.  I have twenty-three first cousins.  My cousin Tina has five kids.  I don’t even want to think about how many second cousins I have. 

When my grandmother died, the family drifted apart, and no one got together for any holidays.  About ten years went by, and then in 2001 I was discharged from the army.  My parents decided to have a party and invited the whole family and… oddly enough, everyone showed.  It was like they just needed a venue.  We put a bunch of inflatable pools up and the slip n slide, and all the munchkins have a blast.  We don’t get together for anything else throughout the year.  It’s like that’s all we need – we get together for this one thing… and then we go on, satisfied with knowing that we’re all there.  I love them dearly… but I only need to see them once a year.

“My family is big and loud but they're my family. We fight and we laugh and yes, we roast lamb on a spit in the front yard. And where ever I go, whatever I do they will always be there.”

Will post pics tomorrow of the enormous Holman clan. 

Just found a school to continue my improv training.  *way stoked*

There’s this boy I like.  His name is Les and he’s an engineering officer with the Navy.  I have known him since I was eighteen and he was twenty and we went to the same prep school.  He was the first person I thought was absolutely beautiful and he’s just as gorgeous today as he was eighteen years ago.  The problem is that because he’s currently attached to NATO, we’re never on the same continent, much less the same time zone.  When I was in London earlier this month, he was in Germany.  When I was in Dallas, he was in Lillehammer.  When I was in Germany last fall, he was in San Diego.  The last time we saw each other was December of 2007, when we spent forty-one hours together in Washington, D.C.  It was the most amazing forty-one hours of my life.  And it seemed like time helped us out during that forty-one hours, and slowed down for us.  We went to a jazz club and drank great wine and saw the Lincoln Memorial.

Technically he’s stationed in Washington, D.C., right now, but he travels everywhere, obviously.  We were excited when I was going to move to New York City because at least I’d be a short train ride away, assuming he was home for more than six hours.  But now, I’m going to Brighton.  When I told him about the great opportunity I had to help my friends at the bed and breakfast in Brighton, he was bummed but said he understood.  He then told me that he would be doing the London Triathlon on 1 August, so maybe we could hang out then? 

Slight problem, I wasn’t planning on actually getting to England until around the 15^th.  I’ve planned a cross country drive with my friends from New Zealand for almost a year now that starts on the 21^st of July and was supposed to go until the first week of August.  I started trying to figure out how I can not screw my friends but get to London to see Les compete in the triathlon.  We pared down my part of the trip to the 28^th of July, but it was still going to be really tense to try to get everything done and get to London on the 31^st or the 1^st.

Then today, Penny tells me she’s been thinking and talking to her husband Tony, and they’ve come to a decision.  As long as I can get them to Denver by the 25^th, I don’t need to take them to Chicago, that they can make it on their own.  She doesn’t want me to be so stressed out trying to get on a plane within 24 hours of getting back from Chicago.  She wants me to be able to get to London on the 31^st so I can see Les, cuz she knows we never get to see each other and how badly I want to see him.

How did I get so lucky to have such a remarkable friend?  This is her vacation and I feel like I’m bailing on her.  But then she steps it up and offers to even make the trip from SF to Denver alone if it will help me out.  It won’t but I appreciate her even more for making the offer.  She’s amazing.  And I’m humbled and honored that she’s my friend.  And I’ll have to pay her back by coming to New Zealand next spring and crashing at her place and eating all her food.  :P

Despite the accusations of some, I do have other interests outside of Alan Rickman.  One of them happens to be Krav Maga.  If you don’t know what Krav Maga is, let me enlighten you.  Krav Maga, which litereally translates to “contact combat,” is a hand-to-hand combat system developed in Israel.  It’s extremely aggressive and emphasizes threat neutralization and simultaneous defensive and offensive maneuvers.  The underlying principle of it is, “Him or me.”  Basically it’s however and whatever to hurt the other person and get away.  It’s not for the faint of heart.

 

I knew about Krav Maga, because the US Marine Corps has its own martial arts program called Marine Corps Martial Arts, and they borrow heavily from Krav.  I didn’t meet anyone who actually practiced it, though, until I met some friends at Portus 2008.  Blue_Paris is my friend’s daughter, and we got to talking, and she said she was really into it in Memphis.  Way cool. 

 

Then, around December, I was really looking for a new place to train martial arts, and Dani, my good and dear friend in Austin says, “What about what Blue_Paris does?  Krav Maga?”  And I thought, yeah, good idea.  So I looked it up, and there was a place around the corner that’s a Krav Maga Worldwide school.

 

I absolutely love it.  There’s nothing more exhilarating than true hand-to-hand combat.  One day I came into work with a bruise across my jaw because one of the guys was trying to choke me from behind and missed.  I know I’m a bit of a boy to think that’s cool, but it’s really empowering to throw him off.  Mike says he can’t wait until someone tries to mug me in New York, thinking I’m easy prey.  I’d found a boxing gym in New York that I was going to go to, but now I’m going to go to Brighton instead, so I have to find somewhere to do it there.

 

Brighton, for those of you needing a lesson in English geography, is not London.  I am not moving to London.  Brighton is 50 minutes south of London by train.  It’s on the south coast.  There’s a pebble beach, and there’s a pier.  There’s a pier because there’s water, because, as I said, it’s on the coast.  It’s a cross between Austin and San Francisco in terms of culture, and has about 55,000 people in Brighton, which is part of Brighton and Hove.

 

I’m really looking forward to spending time in Brighton.  I’m going to be able to write and work on my comedy stuff, although I think I’ll have to spend a lot of time observing in the comedy clubs because of the language and cultural barriers.

 

Have I mentioned that I can’t wait to get to Brighton?  It’s gonna be tight, ya’ll.

Still moving. My parents just left from taking a load to the storage unit. I love my parents. I do. But I may jump off a bridge soon.

Show went fine last night. Still took 6 hours out of my moving time. Whatever, I guess I'll like the pay when I get my cut.

Do you ever have a day where you just look around you and go MAN, these French fries are perfect.

 

I took my first tap dancing lesson in 23 years this morning.  It was a private lesson with a choreographer here in Dallas.  I took eight years of tap (and ballet and jazz) as a child but when I got into my teens, I couldn’t see really making a living with tap dancing.  I’m not saying people don’t, I’m just saying that as an arrogant thirteen year old science fiction geek, I didn’t really see the point in pursuing it.  It just seemed so… unstable, in terms of things to study.  I recently became fascinated by it while watching people like James Cagney and Gene Kelly in films.  When I would think of tap dancing as a child, I thought of Fred Astaire, and he always seemed breakable.  Now that I’m a lumbering oaf, I’m not much for breakable things, but watching Gene Kelly and James Cagney is mesmerizing.  And neither of those men was breakable.

 

When I wrote the Alan Rickman Fan’s Lament, I toyed with the idea of putting a dance step or two  into the instrumental part of the song, but I didn’t have time to work it out, since I was still editing the lyrics the afternoon before the show.  Today, working with the choreographer, it was amazing.  I picked up where I left off, and I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed tap dancing.  I was never particularly fond of ballet or jazz, but I did love tap dancing.  To some degree I wish I’d pursued it through high school, but then I think I might not have appreciated it then the way I do now. 

 

And really, is there anything funnier than a fat chick who can tap dance?

 

I swung by McDonalds on my way back to the office.  Guess what?  The fries were perfect.