Thursday, March 31, 2005

Good Day, Sunshine

Imagine, if you will, spending months on end sitting in a small place all by yourself. Your only human contact being with family and any friends willing to brave harsh elements and unfavorable conditions to come and visit. The internet and TV are your main windows to the outside world. It's not terrible at first, but after a few months, you begin to crack. You go stir crazy. This, my friends, is a little something I like to call a Cleveland winter.

Yesterday I, and the rest of northeastern Ohio, got just what was needed: an early taste of summer. A 70 degree day on March 30th, absolutely glorious.

I wheeled myself out into the sun and just let it soak in. I swear, I'm like Superman in that respect, I'm a solar battery. Let the sun shine down on me and it charges me up in a most unbelievable way. I'm almost instantly ready to go and you can't stop me until the wee hours in the morning. Unless it's a 90 degree sunny day, forget that.

So, after a minute, I decided to ride around the yard and test out my new chair to see how it handles driving in the grass. It's a bit bumpy, but nothing I can't handle. I darted up and down the street a bit, then my trusty sidekick and driver (or as I like to call her, Mom) was ready and we headed for the comic book shop.

Curse my weakness for the work of Alex Ross. I spent money I really shouldn't have spent on action figures based on painter Alex Ross' renditions of Superman, Bizarro, and The Flash. A bit expensive, but damn, they're cool looking.

Our next target was...Target. As we wandered past the DVD section, I heard the cries of a toddler who was either really really hungry or having a religious argument with his dear mommy. His screams were so passionate I couldn't quite make out the words, but I'm fairly sure he was yelling either "I want bacon!" or "I'm a Pagan!" Whichever it was, good luck to ya, kid. Now I'm hungry. Pagan bacon...mmm...
Anyway, I found a Wonder Woman figure I've been looking for for months. Score. Yeah, I have nerdish tendencies, shut up.

After a quick and uneventful sweep of Wal Mart, we dined at my personal favorite, Anthony's Family Restaurant. Great food, good prices, and cute waitresses. What's not to love?

About as full as we could get without actually exploding, we made our way home for American Idol, the only reality TV show I'll watch. Well, okay, I'm a sucker for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, a show that actually does good things. Plus it's slightly amusing to predict at which point Mom's going to cry. For the record, it's usually about 1.5 seconds after "Bus driver, move that bus!" Back to Idol. As usual, they eliminated the wrong one in my opinion. Doesn't matter though, I think Bo's going all the way.

What a day, what a day. I top it off by sitting here in the wee hours of the morning typing all about it. I need more days like this. Sadly, they're already predicting more snow this weekend. It won't be long til summer's here, but it sure would be nice if it'd hurry up a bit.

-Jacob

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Saturday, March 19, 2005

A Night At The Movies

Being the good Corrs fan that I am, when I heard the new movie featuring Andrea Corr would be playing at the Cleveland International Film Festival, there was no question about whether or not I'd be attending. I bought the tickets last week, so Mom, Dad, Grandma, and I were all set to see The Boys & Girl From County Clare. We were on our way to Tower City Cinemas, which, appropriately enough, is right across the street from where I first saw The Corrs in concert one magical night last August.

I was pumped, this was going to be my first film festival experience! I tend to have an overactive imagination at times...okay, most of the time. I pictured a big, fancy, classy event. It wasn't a spectacle or anything, but it was cool.

It began with the hunt for the preferred parking for the festival, of course it wasn't where it was supposed to be, but we made due. We found a little valet garage and headed in.
It was funny actually waiting in a line to get into a movie, the only other times I've experienced that was for the Lord of the Rings and the Star Wars movies.

We got into the theater and made it to our seats right away. It was a really nice old theater, but because it was old, the design bugged me a bit. I'm a fan of sitting about halfway down or in the front of theaters, older theaters always seem to only have disabled seating in the back. Sucky, but oh well. We sat there and listened to the movie junkies running around to their friends and comparing the number of movies they had seen that day and giving their "expert" opinions on which ones were and weren't worth seeing. They rambled on and on for a while as I sat and thought to myself "I wonder if the film Zoe and I are working on will be showing here next year?"

Before the film started, there were a few speakers. One was a lady associated with the CIFF and the other two were sponsors. One of the sponsors grew up in Dublin and ran an Irish pub/restaurant in downtown Cleveland. It cracked me up listening to him talk as he kept pronouncing the word "film" as "fil-um." When they finished introducing the film, the exited to the back of the theater and out the door right next to where I was sitting. As the door closed behind them, I heard the one sponsor say to the Irish guy "Since when does 'film' have two syllables?" I busted up as Irish guy laughed. The lights went down and the projector whirred, illuminating the screen.

Ninety minutes, many laughs, and several "what'd they say?"s later (hey, the Irish talk fast), the credits rolled, the lights went up, and the audience applauded. As the crowd filtered out, we voted on our little ballots to say what we thought of the movie. It was funny, fun, highly enjoyable, and I got to see one of my favorite singers on a thirty foot high screen, do you even have to ask how I voted?

Halfway back to the van, we all suddenly realized we had to pee. Thus began the quest for the open bathroom! The four of us searched through three floors, bladders ready to burst, before a security guard told us they were all locked. It makes no sense that the Tower City mall closes all of their bathrooms at 9 PM, especially when there's a film festival going on. Plus the food court right next to the theaters was closed at 9, that seems insane. When you come out of a movie, you're hungry, they would've raked in the dough!
Anyway, we ended up running into a bathroom in a restaurant at the Ritz Carlton, which is connected to the mall. One word: swanky. I'm easily impressed when a bathroom has actual cloth towels and motion sensor toilets I guess. Too much information? Too bad, my blog. ;)

Great movie, great fun, great night. One way or another, I WILL be at next year's Cleveland International Film Festival. See ya there?

-Jacob

Friday, March 18, 2005

Rollin' On

For those site visitors who may not know, I'm disabled and in a wheelchair, hence the title of my blog. I've had this last chair for a whopping twelve years. They don't even make this kind of chair anymore. Vintage, baby. I've bonded with the chair, we've gone a lot of places together and done a lot of things, but the fact is she's getting old. As much as I hate to retire her, it's time to bring in some new wheels.

Back in October we set things in motion to get me a new ride. We met with the folks at the wheelchair place, discussed what I needed, chose a chair model, and most importantly, chose the color. Midnight blue, ooh yeah. They put the case into the system and said they'd call us in four to six months.

A few weeks ago we got the call. A mix of excitement and dread came over me. I tried to let the excitement win out, but it wasn't that easy. Past experiences gave dread the edge. When getting past wheelchairs, my family and I have spent literally all day there as I was fitted and the chairs were customized. I wasn't in the mood for that again.

Three weeks ago I went for the first fitting. It was eight hours of doing our best to get this chair customized to my body. Seven of those eight hours were spent trying to get the back support right. After those seven hours they finally actually listened to me and tried the arrangement I suggested. What a surprise, it worked. At the end of the day there was a lot left to do, so we had to schedule a second fitting.

Monday we went back for part two. It was a short day, only seven hours. It was actually a fairly smooth day, we got the seat, supports, and controls set up as best we could and they let me leave with the new chair. It was the only true test for the chair, to see how I could function in my daily life with it. After we left, Mom and I decided to take it for a test drive at Target. Let me tell you, this thing moves like a bat out of hell and turns on a dime. Day one was a success. The following days were not quite as smooth.

The next day it felt like someone had messed with everything in the chair, though that wasn't the case. Everything about it was uncomfortable and I couldn't even sit in it.

Wednesday I decided to suck it up and head out in the chair again to give it another try. This is when it dawned on me that nobody must actually test these designs very thoroughly. The chair is designed to help take bumps easier. The front wheels are mounted on little arms that raise em when they hit a bump so that the big center wheels can take the brunt of it. Brilliant idea! The only problem? The motor is mounted so low on the chair the entire thing scraped across the bump! Talk about canceling out a great idea. The rest of the day went well as I went to the Cleveland International Film Festival, you can read more about that in my next blog.

Yesterday I did my best to compile a list of what all needs to be fixed. After fifteen hours of work, it's frustrating to have so many things still need to be fixed, but the fact is I should be more comfortable in the new chair, not in more pain. We've got to get it right. For the thousands of dollars chairs like this cost, there's no reason for this much discomfort and struggle. Mentally I'm not ready to go back for more work, but I've got to do what I've got to do. Wish me luck, gang.

And now, though it's a day late, here's a little cartoon by yours truly. Enjoy!

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

-Jacob

Thursday, March 10, 2005

A Blog For Adrienne

Tonight Adrienne told me, and I quote, "you need some more blogs." Who am I to argue? So here we go!

I'll begin with a little update on things. As of last weekend, the rough draft of my screenplay is finished! Right now, Zoe's looking it over and she'll be letting me know what areas I need to work on. I'll keep you posted as things progress!

It's been one hell of a week here in JacobLand! It's Spring Break around here, so everyone who's more motivated than yours truly and going to college has the week off. That means tons of catching up with old friends and getting to know new ones.

On Saturday night I was lucky enough to have the company of Corey and Adrienne. We chilled out, watched Garden State, and ate mint chocolate chip ice cream, courtesy of Corey. Let me tell you, that's an accurate name, it was in fact minty, chocolate chippy, icy, AND creamy. Delicious. Great movie, yummy snack, and the company wasn't too shabby either.

Sunday I met the cutest poodle on Earth and had a mini game night with Corey and Mikey. *sings* Madden '05 and Mario Party, TimeSplitters 2 and Soul Calibur also, playing those games until my fingers sting, these are a few of my favorite thiiiiiiiings.

Monday- Slow day. Corey left for Oregon, I worked on a cartoon for Adrienne.

Tuesday, Adrienne made a return visit! We basically just sat and talked from 8 PM to 1:30 AM and had such a great time. We watched American Idol and the judges contradicted everything I said. Jerks. Plus tonight my girl was voted off! Amanda got robbed. Anyway, after Adrienne went home, she came online and we chatted til 5 AM. She's definitely cool, plus she has some strange kind of superhuman tolerance for my rambling.

And the fun doesn't end there, folks! I'm hoping to fill out the rest of the week with more company, special guests may include such fan favorites as Bridget, Maria, and maybe a super special third visit from Adrienne!*
*card subject to change

I can tell all my readers are wetting themselves with excitement. Well, go clean yourselves up. that's all I've got for now. More soon...if you behave.

-Jacob