Redondo Beach Fun Factory!

Lyndsay and I had to kill some time while the guest house we are currently staying in was getting shown to future tenants. So we ventured on down to the Redondo Pier and went to the Fun Factory.

It’s this arcade down by the beach. They have a tilt-a-whirl in the middle of it. A wall of skee-ball lanes. Zillions of those crappy gambling/aim the token machines. And randomly throughout are some awesome arcade cabinets.

Lyndsay cashed in $10 and we set to work to take over the place. We started off with a little Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker.

We dropped about a buck in the machine before we danced so hard it broke. Right as we finished the second boss. I was player one for the record. Then we moved right along to an old favorite of mine.  The TMNT Arcade game.

A lot of times people would give up after so long. But we had a crap ton of quarters and determination. We played as all four turtles at some point in the game. Each one had technical difficulties of a different kind.
Leonardo’s joystick didn’t respond correctly. He could move Up, Down and Right, but no Left. This meant that if you walked too far to the right side of the screen you were stuck and couldn’t go back. So as Leo, I spent a lot of time either getting punched by off-screen baddies to the right, or hanging out on the left and letting Lyndsay do the dirty work.
Michelangelo's joystick did every direction except Up. I could sometimes go Up on a Diagonal Left, but not always. So as Mikey, I stayed at the bottom half of the screen trying to keep everything under control.
Donatello had the most responsive joystick. Go figure Donny would be the best off technically.
Raphael also had a fairly responsive joystick according to Lyndsay.

Lyndsay started off as Donny, but we learned that the joysticks weren’t the only glitch. Every quarter in the first slot gave both Leo and Mikey two lives, and every quarter in the second slot gave Donatello and Raphael two lives. This worked out so that for every quarter you could play as two turtles. We played for most of the game where I would switch between Leo and Mikey, and Lyndsay would handle Raph and Donny. This became a problem when, due to the old blurred screen, you would lose track of your turtle. Lyndsay would think Donny died when it was Leo and so she would activate Raph. Then when Leo respawned we would have three turtles running about. You really show your skills when you micro-manage an arcade cabinet. By the end of the game we had switched to just using Don and Raph, so that each quarter gave us both a pair of lives. I’m not sure exactly how much we spent, but we had $2.75 left when this screen came up.

Not exactly a history making end to a video game, but it instills one with a sense of pride to know we wasted over $5 in quarters to earn this screen.

To use up the last few quarters we made our way to another old favorite of mine. The Simpsons Arcade. We tried out all four characters on this one too before we ran out of change. Marge was a little sticky on the joystick. Caused me to lose a bunch. Homer worked great, which is good, because that’s my personal favorite and the best character to be in this game. Bart seemed to be a little iffy on the joystick when Lyndsay was playing, and Lisa while fine with the joystick, her jump button didn’t work. That caused a few issues. We got to the 8th level before letting the timer run out but I was pleased to see a screen pop up alerting me that my time as Homer earned me the #1 score on the machine. I entered my initials and took this shot for bragging rights.

All in all, it was a really good night. Some great gaming. If I make it back I might pop a couple quarters into the Episode 1: Racer Arcade, that’s the one with Anakin’s pod that you sit in. Let me see if I can find a picture online of it….

There we go. Fun Factory, you get a C+ in my book. You got really high scores for having the great cabinets, but you lost points for not having any pinball machines. Also the machines you did have had major problems. If you’d hire someone to restore those or just sell me the machine, you could go down in history as the greatest ever.

Until next time true believers,

“The Erik”

What are you doing with your life!?

Well, where do I even begin…
(psst… try the beginning.)
Oh, good idea, me.

So life never ceases to amaze me. Never letting me rest too long, always keeping me on my toes. I wrote on here awhile back about how my life got twisted, turned upside down. And I told you all about how I became a technician near Bel Air. Torrance to be exact.

I haven’t talked much about my adventures in California. Of which there have been many. Not as much as I would have liked, but I wasn’t established here very well. I packed up and moved so quickly that it put me behind on my bills and forced to borrow from friends. Friends should never be treated as banks, and I hate borrowing from them, but desperate times causes us all to bend our own personal rules.

10 months I have been out here in Los Angeles. It has flown by so fast. From the first few months trying to get settled, the next few months trying to balance work and play. Then moving down to Torrance with Lyndsay to be closer to my office, and now even more new adventures, but we’ll get to those soon enough.

From the first couple of weeks out here and getting my rental car rammed on the way to work, I realized this was going to be a completely different ball game from mild Kansas. And boy was it. The accident with the rental was drawn out for a few months. A crazy senior from Yemen was the one who ran the light and smashed into the car. A month after the accident he tried to sue me for injuries. Luckily, because the evidence that he ran the light was overwhelming he decided to withdraw his suit.

Kyle and I played car tetris with most of my worldly belongings loaded up his parents’ denali and played “Convoy” across the country. We bought walkie talkies so we could talk to each other even though we were in separate cars. The “10-4 good buddy” jokes only lasted about 5 hours into the trip, but they repeated at hours 13 and 21. We also discovered that our separate FM transmitters for our mp3 players had a range large enough so that we could both listen to the same music. Basically we turned our road trip into raid night on ventrilo. “More DOTS! Many gas stations, left side!”

The car lasted until around February. When I fell prey to Interstate 405. The 405 has been dubbed the absolute worst highway in the whole Unites States for traffic. I was mildly handling the 60-90 minute commute to work from the apartment. In fairness, California residents did warn me that it would be a horrible drive. I was a naive Kansas boy who thought 30 miles meant 30 minutes. Which it does in Kansas. But alas, during the routine stop and go, I go’d went i should have stopped and rear ended the car in front of me. Really did a number on my car. It was drivable, but it was ugly. Then on top of that, to save money back in Kansas, I had set my insurance deductible to a ridiculous $2000. The initial estimate was set at $2600 for the structural damage. The hood was bent in on itself and couldn’t be opened. While I saved up for it, I rode the bus to work to save on gas and to give my poor car a break. The bus ride changed my commute time from 60-90 minutes, to 2 to 2.5 hours. I was not enjoying life very much. With the commute to work taking a round trip total of 5-6 hours out of my day, starting with catchign the bus at 4:30AM and getting home around 7PM, I had enough time to eat and sleep before starting the cycle over.

But I lived with Kyle and all my new friends, Heather and Arazi, TJ, and the illusive Turner. And while they were not roommates proper Laura and James were there all the time. This was my new family. But our schedules did not play nice. Kyle for instance, slept in until noon… 9AM! Sorry Kyle, you were totally up by 9. Some days. When you had something to do. So Kyle’s average sleeping schedule had him still in bed at least 5 hours after I left the apartment. I would estimate his average bedtime was at least midnight, probably closer to 1AM. Out of the 24 hour day, I was away with work for around 15 of them. Leaving me with 9 hours inside of the apartment for leisure activity and sleep. 6 of those hours were during my friends’ prime time, 7PM-1AM. So from those hours as a group we would hang out, play video games like Rock Band or maybe even board games, watch movies, just generally being an awesome little group of friends. We were a community. But by the time I got home, I wanted to go to bed. I rarely did at first. Thinking, “I’ll sleep tomorrow!” and I would partake in the evenings activities, trying to make it through the day on 3-4 hours of sleep.

Eventually the need for sleep won out, I would come home, sometimes trying to sneak into the apartment as to not let anyone notice my presence and go straight to bed. I would remain there asleep until they came looking for me. Wondering why I would not play in all their reindeer games. Weekends would come and I just wanted to lie in bed the entire time.

My work ethic faltered, my social life faltered, and my friends began to feel I was being distant. I began to feel my routine was becoming a rut. Then I actually started feeling the need to become distant. I am pretty sure this caused some ruptures in some of my new friendships, which I hope one day they can be repaired.

But it came down to a choice, Work or Play?

What could I do? What would any of us do? Seriously, what would you choose?

Feel free to leave some comments, I’ll be continuing my tales and catching you all up on my many adventures. Until next time, true believers…

“The Erik” Sanburn
Sleepless Wonder

Project Wolfman: Or I How I Learned to Stop Shaving and Love the Beard

Day 49: Today was my birthday. The beard continues to grow. With each day it looks more and more like an upside down afro.  While browsing the internet I discovered how much I am starting to resemble Kurt Russell from 1982’s “The Thing.”

My hair growth is not as noticeable at this juncture due to the rapid facial hair expansion across my jaw. More updates as the beard thickens…

Erik, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more: Part 5

PART V

------------------------------------------

The reception was terrible here at home and the phone had never even rang on my end. I got up and wondered around until I found a sweet spot for signal. Phoned into the message system and retrieved something odd.

It was a response to a resume I had emailed in not 8 hours prior to that. The quick turnaround actually made me figure it was a dead end. I called them back anyway. Got their voicemail and left a message. I didn't figure I would hear from them anytime soon. However, I figured wrong.

I received another return phone call a few hours later. They seemed interested.

They were a relatively new company, but were based out of Los Angeles. I had only sent in the application as a longshot. The lady I was speaking to inquired about my location to see if I was looking to relocate or if I already had. I told her how I was willing to relocate and was still living in Kansas at the time. She asked if I could do a phone interview later that day. I agreed. She set it up for 5:30 Central time. I told her that time worked perfect and ended the call.

The time wasn't exactly "perfect" as I did have a conflict. I was supposed to be preparing to go on the air for my weekly radio talk show that went live at 6:00PM. I informed my co-hosts that I may be late for that evenings show as I had a job interview half an hour before the show.

I was excited for the opportunity and the chance to interview with the company, however my hopes were not very high. I didn't know what to expect, and I wasn't sure I could impress any potential employers anyway.

Around 5:00PM I prepared my things for the interview. Then I drove into town. I didn't want the cell reception to cost me a job, so I drive into the city limits to a K-Mart parking lot. I had my 5 bars of cell reception and I was ready.

The phone rang. Caller ID informs me that the company is calling for the interview. I nervously exhale. I answer the call. I am introduced to the Project Lead and the Senior Engineer. They give me a run down of the position and we discuss my experience and my qualifications. Then they inform me that they would like to ask me a few technical questions. I wasn't really prepared for them to call my abilities into question. It only makes sense to verify that I know what I claim to know, but I had never gone through that in an interview before.

I agreed to the line of questioning. They ran me through scenarios of user error, wrong keystrokes, and system settings. I answered the questions at about 98% efficiency. They expressed that they were impressed with me and would try to get back to me by the end of the week after they gave it some thought. I thanked them for the opportunity and ended the call.

I had a confident feeling after the interview. I had a text message from my mother waiting on me. My family was meeting for dinner at Taco Hut and asked me to drop by and get something to eat after the interview. I drove over to Taco Hut, which was only about a mile from K-Mart. I am parking my car not five minutes after ending my interview. I start to get out of the car and the cell phone rings again. It's the same company calling back again. I sit back down and shut my car door again.

"Hello?" I answered.

The lady who set up my interview called back to ask me how I thought the interview went. I told her I thought it went really well. She agrees and says she heard good things about me from the two guys who interviewed me. There is a slight awkward pause as no one says anything for about 10 seconds. 

She chimes in again, "Well, I wanted to call and let you know that we've decided to offer you the position."

I did not know how to react. She asked me if I needed to think about it.

"Yeah, this is a big move, I should probably think this one over."

Yet as the words exited my mouth I thought to myself that this opportunity was too good to be true and that if I hesitate like I do with so many things in my life, if I over analyze this, I may miss out on something amazing.

"Yes! I accept! I want the job." 

A mere 10 seconds of thought and my future was changed so drastically. I was embarking on an incredible journey. The next week was hectic as I was running around trying to secure all the details of my move. 2 weeks in L.A. and then 2 weeks in Kansas and then I was back in L.A. to start my new life. And what a life it has been...

Erik, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more: Part 4

PART IV

----------------------------

I awake suddenly to dogs barking. Perhaps this nightmare is over. It's past noon. I am still in it. My mother has come home for her lunch hour. I am not hungry. Still so tired. I let the sleep pull me in.

I awake again. Darkness has set in outside. I am still tired. My body heavy and sluggish. Sleep won't come for me, not now. I lay awake staring up into darkness as the occasional passing car causes a small glimpse of light across the ceiling. Time passes, I have no control over the moment.

I finally pull myself up. I pull up my chair to my desk. I double check my resume. Everything checks out. As I begin signing up for and browsing job postings in the local area I still feel gloom lurking. No way for me to see or know where I will be in a year, a month, or even a day. My life is a blank slate again.

All night long I continue to hunt for anything and everything that would accept an online application. I began a carpet bomb of job posting sites. Sending my resume to anyone and everyone that had even a glimmer of a chance of calling me in. I continued sending in applications until the search results only brought back postings I already applied for.

Then I returned to the comfortable and safe surroundings of the couch. Sleep had returned to claim me once again. I let it take me. Hoping that all would be well by morning.

Morning came. 

My brain urged me to get up and seek out a fix for my predicament. I could not move, my appendages so heavy. All I could do was to return to sleep. I stayed there most of the day. It was all I could do. No desire to get up and face the world. I was feeling worthless and acting the part.

That evening I received a text. Molly was coming to town. This brought a sliver of joy to me. More than I had had in the last 36 hours. I went to meet up with her at our usual spot in Hutchinson. The IHOP. I was glad to see her, we had known each other for so long, yet never had gotten as close as we had over the month since Allison's wedding. I knew she could help bring me out of my funk, but at the same time I felt ashamed to have to admit my failure to her or anyone else.

We had a long talk. We always had long talks. I liked how we could just sit and talk for hours about whatever we felt like saying. I explained that my life had been thrown upside down and how I didn't completely know where I was heading. I knew where I figured I would end up though. Wichita seemed like the most logical and obvious destination. We concluded our evening.

I ventured back home and made another pass over the job posting sites. No responses from anywhere had come in. I had a few more days until I would really start to freak out. I wrote off the lack of response due to the Thanksgiving holiday that was upon us. I once again returned to my new favorite vacation spot, sleep.

I awoke again. Sleep was still uneasy and restless, but I still craved more. I rolled over and as I shut my eyes I notice a blinking on my phone. I had a voicemail.

To Be Continued...

Erik, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more: Part 3

PART III

---------------------------------

I arrive at home. Still in shock at what is actually transpiring. I am in no hurry to return to the office. In some form of denial, I think the longer it takes me to go back, the less the events are actually happening. I can't return anytime soon though, I have several gigs of data on my work issued usb drive. I plug it in and begin transferring all my data off of the drive. I find my missing keycard that aided the cause.
I go pour me a stiff drink, Pepsi, on the rocks. I go sit down in front of my computer. Staring blankly at the screen as the data transfers. As each byte of data transfers I realize more and more how much I can not afford to be unemployed. Debt up to my eyeballs and it's only going to get bigger as my meager paycheck comes streaming in after the holidays. I hope that the job interview I had the week before pays off. It would mean moving to Wichita most likely, but that wouldn't be so bad. I could start over, a new life. I've been wanting something new and drastic for awhile, perhaps this is my chance.
I mean Wichita is a great city. I enjoy hanging out there, I have a friends there, one in particular who I would greatly enjoy spending a lot more time with. My actor friend is there as well and we could move in together. It would get me back into a more creative environment. My spirits brighten slightly as I think of possibilities.
I browse the web a bit and find the site for Kansas Unemployment Benefits. I am an unlikely candidate since I was fired and not laid off, but might as well cover my bases. I also go through and update my resume with an end date on my last employer. Send off a couple of applications online and then decide to go and head back to the office.
I drive back in. I come in through the back and my supervisor is in a meeting. I go ahead and begin cleaning up and packing up my belongings. I had such a nice cubicle. I pack up my trinkets and my swag I've obtained over the last year and a half. Picking up my tools and looking over at unfinished projects sitting on my workbench. Whoever gets stuck with those projects is going to have a heck of a time completing them. Not because of any sabotage on my part, but because I have been the only one who reassembled laptops in the last 2 years.
My supervisor exits his office and gestures for me. We march through the building and I take a seat in the board room. The lady with the paperwork comes in and explains the process to me. I sign the documents stating that I won't sue for anything and then head back to my cubicle. I continue the process of packing up what is mine and returning what was theirs. This goes on for another hour or so. I get the last of everything loaded into my car. I inform my supervisor and head for the door. The scheduler stops me.

This is a woman who has been working on my downfall for awhile. office politics can turn some into bitter human beings, and she had been turned long ago. She offered me condolences and words of empathy. I took nothing from the hollow words. I was becoming quite bitter over the whole incident.

I get into my car once more and I drive away. My car full of debris and a collection of paperwork and guides. I drive home once again. I feel empty, exhausted. Not sure where to go. What I will do? I am falling. I collapse onto my couch. Sleep engulfs me. Restless, uneasy sleep.

To Be Continued...

Erik, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more: Part 1

What a crazy adventure that I have been set upon. An epic journey across miles of vast deserts to find a fabled city. And upon finding this city I will be rewarded with riches the likes of which I have never seen. The question is, am I prepared?

The week started as any week over the last year has started. But upon this fateful Monday morning a thick an ominous fog loomed over the city of Hutchinson. As I performed my morning rituals, slapped myself awake and stepped out to face the world, I realized this was no average fog. I had not seen a fog so thick in ages. My little orange car pulled out onto the road and chugged along as I noticed the warning light telling me I was out of gas illuminate on the dashboard. I sighed. I have a bad habit of pushing my car to the limit on gas mileage… which usually ends in me pushing my car.
This morning however the light was freshly lit, meaning I had up to 30 miles to go before I would be walking. So I ignored the warning and pressed on through the treacherous fog. Visibility was low. I could see maybe ten feet in front of me. Traffic was crawling and thus I was too. I watched the seconds ticking by as my twelve minute drive turned into fifteen, and then into twenty. 7:45, the Monday morning meeting had begun, without me in attendance.
I was always warned that if you were going to be late, don’t be late to the Monday meeting. The CEO of the company sits at the front of the room and can see everyone and watches as the employees file in. He glances at the clock noting as each person enters with coffee or soda in hand. This particular morning I can only imagine a list of names and a bolded “?” scribbled next to mine.
Where am I? I am clutching the steering wheel tighter and gnashing my teeth at the people who are arriving to their places of work ten minutes in advance. They slow their speeds and drive leisurely, to stall the inevitable Monday morning. I am now five minutes late to a meeting and I do not share their leisure. I am frantic. I am now stressed before I even start my day and I arrive 7 minutes late to my Monday. I park my car and hurriedly jump from the vehicle and run to the door. Hands flying, dumping out pockets, searching for the keycard that magically unlocks the door. I feel a cold breeze send shivers throughout my body. An empty feeling swells in my stomach. I forgot my keycard. Access Denied.
I press the button which rings the phone system like a doorbell. However, I know that it is futile as every single employee is sitting in a board room where the phone doesn’t ring. I wait, cold and alone, knowing that I have to find a way in. Thirty more seconds go by. I can’t sit outside the whole time. I walk around the building and beginning tapping on windows as I go by, hoping someone will hear me outside and come rescue me.
My supervisor opens the door and lets me in the building. I enter the room, collect the papers sitting by the door and find a seat. All eyes in the room watching me as I avoid their stares. The meeting continues as normal. Nothing out of the ordinary, business continues as though nothing has happened. The meeting ends and all the employees shuffle off to their respective corners of the building. I sit myself down to catch up on emails from over the weekend.
”Erik can I see you in my office?” My supervisor asks, but it isn’t a question. I can’t politely decline this and carry on. I breathe a heavy breath and push the rolling office chair away from my desk. I steadily make my way into the office, feeling that my morning is going to get much worse.

To Be Continued…

Download Complete: DominikAbelMarichePerez(1).nphw

My sister gave birth to a bouncing baby boy this morning at about 10:30AM CST. 5lbs 6oz and 18.5 inches long. Dominik Abel Mariche Perez.

Well folks, I am officially an uncle. Uncle Erik. The idea is still a bit beyond me. I can’t fully believe that my little sister is a full-blown mother. I still remember her with a ridiculous bowl cut and waiters thinking she was a boy when she was like 6 or 7. I remember her as a teenager with a mouth full of metal and going into high school. Now she’s moved on to a new phase in her life. She’s a mommy. She’s officially all grown up. Here’s to you little sister, may motherhood bring you joys and happiness you have never known.

Nothing Endures But Change

Change.

Changes, they are inevitable. Yet we as humans tend to never expect change. We get into these routines, we plan, we dwell. We form these grooves in our life and we never want to leave these safe zones. The universe is vast and ever-changing, yet sometimes in life all we want to do is fight change.

“It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between that we fear . . . . It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold on to.”

--Marilyn Ferguson

We are all growing whether physically, mentally, or spiritually. I have always been a strong believer in the theory that everything is a learning experience. Each and every event that transpires in our life has important information encoded into it. I have had a lot of things happen in my life, a good portion of those can be perceived as negative events. As much as negative events weigh us down as we try to progress on to other stages in our lives, we must fight that weight. Life is a series of steps, with each step we have taken there is a piece of vital knowledge to carry with us. However, when that step provides a life lesson where one must learn through struggle, we all too often carry the burden of all the extra emotional baggage onto our next phase. If we don’t take the time to shed some of our extra weight and relieve ourselves of all the extra negativity we carry within ourselves, we will become bogged down and not be able to progress and transcend through life.

“So Mr. Smarty-pants, how exactly does one shed this 'negative baggage' then, huh?” You may be asking this very question. Sadly, I cannot answer this for you. I can only show you the door. Mainly because everyone will be different, every situation unique unto itself, thus I cannot give you a cookie cutter solution to sadness. How does one deal with sadness, deal with change? How do you deal?

“No sir, how do YOU deal!?” How do I deal? How does, “The Erik” deal? Does “The Erik” have sadness? I am often known to all as the fun-loving goofy comedian that goes through life with an ear to ear grin and a joke for every situation.

“Heard a joke once: Man goes to doctor. Says he's depressed. Says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain. Doctor says "Treatment is simple. The Great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him. That should pick you up." Man bursts into tears. Says "But, doctor...I am Pagliacci." Good joke. Everybody laugh. Roll on snare drum. Curtains."

--Rorschach, from “Watchmen”

I also have been a firm believer in the theory that the essence of comedy is simply a parody of tragedy. The ability to mock and laugh at the downtrodden and less fortunate. As grim as that sounds, think back to the last comedian you watched, or think about the next one you do watch. Their jokes will tell stories of break-ups, death, violence, and yet no matter how truly horrible the events in the story we will laugh. I am not saying that I wouldn’t laugh or we shouldn't laugh, merely that comedy is a result of tragedy. My life is a series of tragedies within the greatest comedy of all-time, life. If you have ever heard my story of my senior prom night, you will have laughed. It is a hilarious tale of an unfortunate young boy who on the night of his prom falls in a pile of cow poo. While the idea is silly and the full version is quite humorous, it is really a horrible event. Growing up, I didn’t have the perfect family life, but who does. If you have ever heard any story about when I was growing up, you most likely have laughed. However, the underlying story elements are quite serious. Substance Abuse and Domestic Violence are no laughing matter... yet somehow we make them out to be. A man gets on a stage and tells you his darkest secrets and how horrible life has been to him and you mock him and laugh at him. Yet, the instigator, the one spouting the most gut-wrenching vile insults is the man himself. We call him the comedian.

“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die.”

--Mel Brooks

So yes, I tend to deal with life by mocking it. When yet another tragedy strikes me, I create a joke. A casual quip that sums up my struggle and will make others smile. Listen to a comedian, and you will generally hear a very sad clown crying out to the world.

Change. We all are changing. Changing into something different, we grow, we evolve, and we create. We all deal with change in many ways, some better than others, some simply choose not to deal with change and those are the most tragic. To all who managed to take the time to fully read this through, I pose a simple question. “How do you deal?”

Whether you respond publicly or even take a moment to ponder it to yourselves, it is a question worth thinking about.

Keep looking to the skies, true believers!

-- "The Erik" Sanburn