What's your excuse?

"I'm leaving on a Jet plane..."

A few more things to stuff in my suit case, waiting for constructions workers to put a new ceiling in the shower, hopefully some time to relax by the pool, and then to LAX! I have no fear of flying, hey, I used to be a flight attendant for KLM, but I'm always so bored! We have a direct flight, about 11 hours, and I'm worried about my knee. I need to do a lot of stretching, but I rather take a sleeping pill and have the flight over with before I know it. But oh well.

A month in Europe! About 2 1/2 weeks in Amsterdam, 10 days in Greece, and maybe a couple of days in Paris...yes, be jealous:)!

So, so long for now!

Oh my...

There's a press conference going on at the moment with the president, and a foreign Prime Minister. The scary thing is that the president speaks unscripted, and it's embarrassing! These are not exact quotes, but a couple of the presidents remarks:

- We are happy to, uh, have the P.M. here with us, uh, especially after our 60 year war...uh... the war 60 years ago....

- Thanks to the P.M. to allow US Beef. Uh, I'm sure, uh, the Japanese people will love the beef. The P.M. himself had a piece of fine US beef, and he seems to be fine.

- We gave the P.M. a Juke Box, and, uh, what is your favorite song again? Right, uh, he loves Elvis.

Oh man, please let some one always write speeches for him, so he can just read from a piece of paper!

Warm strange LA weather

Yesterday was the weirdest day of June Gloom so far. It was cloudy in the morning, even a couple of rain drops, then in the afternoon, a strong wind came along, drove all clouds away and brought temperatures in way up in the 90s! And very humid. Strange...

Today is hot, and sunny! Unfortunately, I'm waiting inside my apartment for a construction crew to put a new ceiling in my shower. They took the old one out on Monday because of too much mold, and yesterday they should have come by to give me a new ceiling, but of course, no one knew anything.

My last physical therapy is at 12:30pm today! Compared to where I was a month ago, I made lots of progress. I'm still in pain, can not walk to far, but luckily I can ride a bike, which is helpful in Amsterdam. Hopefully, I will be able to strengthen my knee more in Europe so when I get back I can have surgery asap. I was going to wait, but it now seems that not only my ACL is torn, but also my Meniscus (it's the round looking thing on top of the lower bone):

    

Anyway, things will work out. Something completely different: Pride month is almost over. I did not participate in anything, not that I'm not proud of who I am, the whole thing is just not my cup of coffee. But check out these pictures on HereTV of Pride around the country: Pride USA

My bags are packed, maybe one more errand to run, one more time to the gym, have a good bottle of wine with P. tonight, hang by the pool tomorrow morning, and at 5:50pm it's take off to Amsterdam! It's going to be in the 80s till Wednesday, when it will rain a little and we will have a couple of thunderstorm! Not sure if I will keep my blog updated, but you'll never know. Now I'm going to clean the apartment, cause I can't do anything till the construction people show up.

The End

I just finished the First Draft of my short film! My goal was to have it done before I would leave for Europe, which is this Thursday, and I wanna give a copy to my acting coach, who I want in it, and maybe even direct it. I now have Tuesday and Wednesday to start making revisions (which of course I already know a couple), but I finished my first script! Let's toast to many more to come!

Hup Holland Hup...

It's over. The World Cup Soccer is over for The Netherlands. I watched it with P. and about 200 mostly Dutch supporters at this "secret" Nike sponsored event with free drinks and food. It was packed with mad Dutch fans, living the Orange madness, which is the World Cup for us.

So, after 90 minutes of play, Portugal won by 1-0, and The Netherlands is eliminated from the 2006 World Cup Soccer. I was devastated, mostly, because if we would have won, the next game would have been played when we are in Amsterdam. I really wanted P. to experience the Orange Madness in Amsterdam, but it's not meant to be. Luckily he did get a little taste of it yesterday.

I even got him to wear orange! After the game we did the only thing we could do: get extremely wasted at El Coyote.

World Cup Soccer II

Okay, game is over. Now getting ready for Argentina-Mexico! Should be a could one!

World Cup Soccer

Or "Voetbal" in Dutch. I'm been watching so many games, and they've been of pretty good quality! To bad the USA did not perform well, and di not make it to the 2nd round, but I was supporting them. I have many teams I like to watch: Brasil, England, Australia, Sweden, Italy, Argentina, and of course The Netherlands! It's about time we win the World Cup!

It's now the round of 16, so if you loose a game, your out. I like to watch Germany too (watching right now against Sweden, but it's 2-0 at the moment for the Germans:(), just hoping they loose. Tomorrow it's The Netherlands against Portugal: a tough one, but I hope we win, cause for the next game we would be IN Amsterdam! Thursday we're leaving for a MONTH in Europe! Oh, btw, my knee is doing lots better. The people at Cedar Sinai are awesome! In two weeks I made so much progress, and I hope to get still a little better before Thursday, and I have two more sessions to get me there. Thanks for the emails form some checking in on my progress and wishing me well!

More pics of Sierra adapting in Arkansas

She seems to be doing very well on her 6 week vacation on the farm in The Ozarks!

Now, I'm getting ready to watch The Netherlands-Argentinia with about 100 Dutch supporters!

Sierra has arrived in Arkansas!

So glad she made it okay through her flight! She's going to have a great time!

Sierra

P. and I will be leaving for Europe on June 29th for a month, so for a long time we've thinking on what to do with Sierra. It's not really appropiate to ask friends to take care of your dog for a month, so we had to look at other options. Having her at a boarding place here in LA would have cost about $60 a day, which would be way to expensive, so we decided to take her with us to Europe, and leave her with my parents when we would be partying in Amsterdam and chillin' in Greece. But it's a real hasstle to have a dog travel internationally, and just the thought of having her in a plane for 11 hours down with the luggage is not ideal. P. parents were also worried and offered to have her stay with them on their Arkansas 40 acre farm where they have two other dogs. It would be a shorter flight, and doggie heaven for Sierra to spend time on a beautiful farm in the Ozarks with the "grandparents".

Now, this past Thursday, P. let me know that planning wise it would be best for his parents to have Sierra shipped over on Monday the 19th already. That was a shocker for me, cause it meant only 4 more days with my baby. We had to make all the arrangments, like obtaining a health certificate from the vet, meeting kennel requirements, and making the reservation with Delta Cargo. Delta Cargo has a special Pet First program, which CTo reccommended (AACargo once lost her dog, and sent him to the wrong airport!). It's $290 one way! So, last night was the night. We left for the Delta Cargo facility around 9pm, to be there at least 2 hours in advance. When we go to the shipping hangar, I had to fill out lots of paper work, while P. was able to wait outside with Sierra to give her some loving. Monday all day I made sure I spent each minute of the day cuddling and loving Sierra, taking her to the dogpark, giving her lots of cookies, you know, spoiling her before her first airplane flight. The paper work was all correct and she would leave at 12:20am to fly to Atlanta to connect to Arkansas. All the stickers were put on her kennel, and then it was time to put her in there and say our goodbyes. She was surprisingly calm, just very confused about what was going on. So there we had to leave her, in her kennel in a huge hangar, on a pallet to be picked up and shipped away. I was very proud I kept my calm, and didn't cry in front of her, but as soon as we left the Delta Cargo parking area, I had a tough moment, and yes, I'm not afraid to admit it, I cried. She's my baby! I know she will have a great time on the farm, but it was just the whole flight thing which made me so sad. But P.'s parents called me and she arrived safely and they were on the way to the farm! Now I can take off for Europe knowing Sierra is well taken care of and probably won't even wanna come back to the city!

La Traviata

Not really been in a blogging mood lately. Especially because the weather was so nice over the weekend. We had a busy social weekend, so didn't want spend time behind the computer.

For Friday night P. got us tickets to go see La Traviata by the LA Opera downtown. He got me these tickets as a surprise a couple of months ago, cause I was having a difficult time dealing with my family problems. We left early to drive over to the Hollywood and Highland parking, and from there take the Metro to downtown LA. Let me tell you: the subway is awesome! In 15 minutes you are from Hollywood in Downtown at 6pm on a Friday. Driving it would take you at least an hour and about $15 to park somewhere. I wish they had more lines to have LA connected better. When we got there we got some sandwiches, and of course a bottle of wine to dine outside. P. went to stand in line at the Will Call, when I left to pick up another bottle of wine. When I got back, I just got a glimpse of someone who bumped into P. a little earlier: Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy:

picture courtesy of Pink is the New Blog

After the performance, we saw them outside chatting with some gay dude, at least that's what I thought, until P. pointed out to me that was Lawrence Fishburne, wearing jeans, white t-shirt, and a leather vest...yeah.hat's what I thought. Nice attire to see a Opera! Enough celebrity talk.

La Traviata was amazing! The lead actress was so good, and it was just so beautiful to watch this Opera here in LA. To make productions like these still exciting and different after 150 years of performances all over the world, they decided to set this version in the 1920s. The sets were pretty minimal which we did not like that much, and the story does not seem to fit as much in the 20th century as it does in the 19th. But still the music and the performance were so strong, it didn't really matter. Great night!

Saturday we hosted a dinner party for a couple of friends of ours, and P. prepared a great meal, started cooking at 2pm! Sunday night we hosted another dinner party, but this time we did it the ghetto way, and ordered food from Julio's, a Mexican fast food restaurant on Sunset. Sat outside by the pool, having a great night with friends we hadn't seen since their wedding last year August! Good times!

Getting better!

Yesterday I started physical therapy to get my right knee back to normal range of motion, before they can operate, and ruin that range of motion again. No, really, I just wanna have my range of motion back before I leave for Europe for a month, two weeks from today. We were able to schedule 6 appointments before my departure, and I will work hard with the exercises to gain my full capacity of movement back. This morning was my second session, and I already got promoted to the stationary bike! I peddle slowly, and it's a little uncomfortable, but a huge accomplishment and move in the right direction. My therapist told me to practice in the pool, so after finishing watching England-Trinidad & Tobago, I'll be heading over to P.'s pool! I gotta tell you, these people at the rehabilitation center at the Mark Goodson building from Cedar Sinai Medical Group are awesome! The receptionist is tha bomb (her name is Dutch, and she's just great!), and my therapist is very cool. We just talk about soccer the entire time, and the entire atmosphere is just so awesome, it makes the sad and painful experience a lot more pleasant.

Yesterday i made a huge decision. It was very emotional for me, but I had to drop out of my acting class for the last 3 sessions before the summer break. With all that's going on with my injury, my mental state, and my family's struggle back in Holland, puts me in a place where I can not give it my 100% on the Spoon River poem I was working on, and I'd rather do it some other time, then to do it half ass now. I'm at peace with my decision, but it was difficult to call my teacher and talk to him about my reasons. Gotta set priorities, and after last Wednesdays class, I sank in such a deep depression, I should not put myself through that at this moment. I will now be able to focus all my range of motion, time and mental state on my knee recovery.

Prioritize!

Great Photographer!

On Saturday my friend Mercury came over with his camera, so we could do some shoots around my apartment. We had such a good time, and I'm really happy with the results. He has a great eye for detail and composition. Check out his pictures!

Saturday night I went to celebrate Timm's birthday. Unexpectedly, I became the center of attention with my cane, also know as the "pimp stick". If it wasn't for the pain in my knee and the upcoming surgery, I would be very pleased to show of my cane more often. It was a great party with many friends (I arrived with Mercury, Vanguard, and CTo), and was so good to see some old friends I hadn't seen in a while. Had a little hang over though on Sunday...

Sunday night there was a little intimate BBQ at Gisele's house on the Venice canals to wish Gisele (Dutchess) a good and safe trip to Europe for two months.

photo courtesy of Vanguard

She left on Monday morning, and luckily I will see her in a month on the island of Paros, Greece, were P. and I will visit her and her family. CTo will be there too, to enjoy the Greek life!

You are invited to check out some of the pictures we took on Saturday. There are more to come. Go to my Flickr set.

Okay, time for a little home work out.

YOU MUST WATCH THIS!

This blows your mind! Like Towleroad mentions: it's soooooo worth the 5 minutes out of your day. Thanks Towleroad!

The Devil speaks on Fox.

12 pictures on the 12th of June

Okay, the most boring day to watch pictures of ever! Go to Chad for others. Check it out:

Settling myself on the couch with everything I need so I don't need to get up

Spoke with my parents online

Watched Italy-Ghana (2-0)

The World Cup Soccer schedule print out

Even though I spend almost all day on the couch, I was very productive: scheduled physical theraphy, applied for a job, and much more. That's my right knee, getting stronger by the day

Sierra bored all day, making my bed hers

Lunch

SO happy with my new and easy hair cut!

Drove Sierra to Hart Dog Park

Trees on my street

Short work out in my "home gym"

Shower at the end of the day, a little TV watching (The Closer, and Saved), and to bed.

I do not have the bonus pic this month, cause I was probably not up yet at that time. Like I said, very productive, and good day for me, but not very interesting sharing.

Who needs a place to live?

My friend/fellow actor Tracy needs a room mate! I've been to her place, and it's a great townhouse in the Grove area. Check out the pics here.

I have a lot to post about, including the 12 on the 12th, so check back later!

Should affect me, but it does

I know, I'm a huge dork, but I have confessed to that many times. Here's the thing: I don't care much about seeing a celebrity, or about their personal life. I'm just so in aww of how the world is obsessed about seeing pictures of some star walking out a Starbucks or Coffee Bean. Having said that, I still look at the pictures just like everyone else.

Anyway, don't care much about celebrity hook ups or break ups, except for a couple. Of course I was upset to see a beautiful couple like Jennifer and Brad break up (btw, I'm on the Jennifer bandwagon), but this year I've been really sad about Hillary Swank and Chad Lowe filling for divorce. I thought there was finally a Hollywood couple that was down to earth, not much about their personal life in the tabloids, I just thought they were so perfect together.

Now today, another sad break up. I was so happy to see Alanis and Ryan together, and wouldn't believe the rumor until I got the confirmation on TRENT's blog, so it must be true. It's still not confirmed by their reps, so there's hope.

At least reading all this gossip takes me out of my head about all my own dramas, which even gives me nightmares now. Maybe I'll blog about it, but I think I'm keeping it to myself.

HEROES

This trailer for the new show looks amazing! Thanks Chad for posting the link on your blog!

Long recovery

I didn't really expected it, but it makes sense. Two years ago I damaged my ACL pretty bad (the MRI even saw a complete tear, which needs surgery). My hero orthopedic surgeon didn't wanna operate on me, because he felt I was doing to well, and by physically examining me, he could not say for a 100% that it was a complete tear. He told me to start playing sports again, and within no time, I was back at full speed playing tennis, racket ball, running and hiking, which I've been doing for the last 2 years.

This afternoon my hero orthopedic surgeon did not tell me something I wanted to hear. He is almost certain that this time the ACL is completely torn. Because the injury is relatively new (2 weeks tonight), he could do a good exam on my knee because I was to stiff and to tense in my knee, but he's prepared me for the worse. I'm starting physical therapy soon to get me back at "normal strenght", cause he can't operate when a knee is still swollen from the injury. You can live without an ACL, but only if you live life going straight ahead. I'm planning to be still very active in my life, so the operation will be my only option. So hopefully, with physical therapy I gain my normal functions and strength back to at least enjoy a good month in Europe, and then when I get back at the end of July, I will most likely have the surgery soon, and a approximate total recovery (back at playing sports or hiking) of 9 months.

Now I have to slowly prepare myself mentally that I'm going to be pretty much out for the rest of the year, with no money, hardly any savings and no job. I know this post is all self-pitty, but hey, I think I'm aloud to feel sorry for myself for a little bit, and I have to let it out.

This is the worst scenario I could get from my doctor today, one that I did not even think about at all, but yet it's written for me.

Up and down

I had a really good weekend, both socially and physically. Friday night had a great surprise night organized by P. We went to the Hollywood Bowl to see a live recording of the NPR radio show "A Prairie Home Companion", with special guests Virginia Madsen, Shelby Lynn, John C. Really, and...Meryl Streep! Of course they were there to promote the movie coming up, loosely based on the radio show. It was just magnificent to see Meryl on stage sing, and act. We got to the Bowl early, to beat the crowd to make it easier for me with my crutches. P. also bought lots of food and wine...lots of wine  and we found a nice picnic spot at the Bowl, next to the stage where just as we arrived, Meryl was rehearsing on stage in front of an empty Bowl. I only heard her, but P. was able to see her too. Great night! Friday I was also the day I surprised Peter with my new look:

Saturday night CTo and her Mom, P. and myself, and Vanguard among many others celebrated together with Gisele her new beautiful "palace" on the Venice canals. I drank a little too much and had to suffer for it on Sunday.

Sunday night we saw X-Man: Last Stand, and the movie didn't do much for me.

Now, yesterday I was moving around pretty well, but this morning the pain was pretty intense again. I'm seeing the orthopedist this afternoon, so hopefully I'll find out something more about my knee. I'll post about it soon...if i feel like it...

Quick update

Quick, cause there's not much to mention. I'm still on the couch with my leg elevated, waiting for my appointment with the doctor on Monday. I have liquid on the joint...? Oh, well, I'll see what needs to be done on Monday.

Over the last weekend I sat by the pool for 3 days, doing nothing, but socializing, drinking and taking painkillers. I'm now off the strong painkillers, and yesterday I drove for the first time. It was going well for two days, but the nights are tough. I'm getting restless lying in the same position every night, with my leg on 2 pillows. In my sleep I make sudden movements which cause pain, and I'm not able to fall back a sleep again.

On the program today: doing some blog reading, trying to keep Sierra happy (see is very restless today), maybe starting writing my script for a short movie I've been wanting to make, and that's about it. The most exciting thing of the day: The 76 National Spelling Bee Live from Washington on ESPN!