DO YOU WANT TO PLAY A GAME?

Uhm....

YES. I WANT TO PLAY GLOBAL THERMONUCLEAR WAR.

OKEE DOKEE PROFESSOR FAULKIN

GOOD W.O.P.R. NICE COMPUTER.

Sher invited me to the 25th Anniversary showing of War Games!! Man, that was a lot of fun!! I haven't watched that movie since... well... a few decades. In fact, it was *almost* like watching it for the first time. Here are the highlights of this fun group night:

- I haven't been back to Century City Mall in a few years. I like the improvements! Especially the addition of Zara, my favorite store from Spain!! (I think I hit every Zara store there was. Love the style and the materials.) Sorry, I digress.

- Met Sher and she introduced me to Jo Malone fragrances and home products! I loved the lightly sweet scent of White Ginger and Mint enough to take some home with me.

- Nice to see Rockapella posse: Linda, Cindy and Glenn!

- The new food court rocks. Dinner was more than I expected - we went to Lawrys Carvery. It was like a little taste of the real thing. More than great considering it's mall food. I have very happy with my 6 oz. Prime Rib with horshradish mashed potatoes and asparagus with lemon and basil aioli. Yum-mo!



- Star Spotting!! Cindy spotted George "Mr. Sulu" Takei at the food court. The group restrained me (well, "highly discouraged") from stalking the actor and his long-time partner, Brad Altman. As a closet Trekkie, that's what I'm "programmed" to do (War Games pun intended). Much to my chagrin, a few fans were able to take photos and wave to him. Me? I pouted and wished that I did hug-rush him! ;)

- We laughed and chuckled at all the little 80's references in the film: 8 inch floppy disks, that clicking noise old keyboards loved to make, leg warmers, Galaga, rotary phones, NORAD tourists, etc...

- Matthew and Ally were so cute back then! I truly apprecited the never-before seen interviews.

- Am not really sold on the sequel. From what I saw, I'll pass. Some movies need to know when to just... say no. Think Indy #4.

BASICALLY, THE MOVIE WAS AND IS STILL AWESOME!!

Side note: It was fun to remember all those memories. In fact, I was reminded on an incident I had as a high school summer intern in Northrop Grumman back in the late 80s. I was part of their corporate information systems. One afternoon, I was bored and just started to "browse" the many, many folders that were out on the system (back then I knew enough DOS, TSO or JCL to get me into real trouble).

My mother told me that two people from corporate systems security went to her cube and brought them into their manager's office. They asked her what she was doing "snooping around the system." She was alarmed, but didn't have a clue to what the men were talking about. They showed her the commands that were being entered and monitored. She peered in close and started to get angry... she pointed and said, "that's not my login, that's my daughter's!!"

Long story short, I had my mother and three other adults immediately found me and brought me in. They berated me in a small ofice for an hour on how curiosity killed the cat. What I didn't know was, back then, that the company had a code named "Black Hole" - which was basically the B2 Stealth Bomber project and I had started to get down into some of the files that belonged to it. Big Ooops. Most were CAD files and there were no interesting Word Perfect documents anyway... LOL. Serves them right for not securing system folders.

See?? Teenagers do like to play games....

Jenny goes Bollywood!

At the suggestion of my good friend Mariah, I joined her and signed up for a Bollywood dance class last Sunday. For two hours, we were taught Bollywood and Rajasthan styles of dance by Queen Harish – the dancing, whirling desert drag queen. He was fabulous and we loved his style! It was so much fun!! I got a real workout. Above is a photo of our class. So, I thought you guys might appreciate my attempt to “broaden” my dance experience!

Star Spotting: Larry and Danielynn Birkhead

Myles and I had lunch and a movie at the new Americana at Brand. While waiting for my car at valet (I will not blog that nightmare here). Larry and Danielynn were next in line. Danielynn looked very pretty in her dress and longer blond hair. Myles and I both agreed that the very casualy dressed Larry looked surprisely handsome in real life. Those tabloid photos do not do him justice. He carefully and lovingly buckled the toddler in her carseat and drove a way in his bran3 new silver Jeep.

Successful Go-Live in the bay area!

I just finished a 10-month implementation in the bay area and starting to enjoy the summer! It was a great success and I'll miss the client. Below are photos of my team. Looking forward to the next assignment!