Cute, In Pictures

Some Noah photos, courtesy of Nicole:

Noah taste-tests his very first birthday cake

Would you like a shopping bag?


Don't fear the sheeper

Happy 1st Birthday, Noah!

Before I took off for Florida, I jaunted up to Seattle to see Noah for his first birthday.

I picked up my little rental sedan and drove straight from the airport to Noah's place. Nicole allowed me to try feeding him right away. Generally, he approved. I can't believe how much he's grown. Last time I saw him, he could only drink from a bottle. Now he's eating bananas, applesauce, cereal, and he can pick it up with his hands and put it in his mouth. I was delighted to see that he is still ridiculously adorable.

After that brief visit, it was bedtime for him, and I went to my wacky and inconsistent hotel, which had the hardest bed I can remember sleeping on. Basically a glorified floor. And not that glorified. Yet, it had a kitchen, with a full-size fridge, stove, microwave, etc. I couldn't figure it out.

My four day stay flew by, as Noah, Nicole, her friend Cortnie and I went to the farmers market, the local waterfall and to some strange nature parade, filled with costumed hippies posing as ostriches and multitudinous other creatures.

I discovered Noah's obsession with crackers:

"Ta Da!"

Played rollercoaster with his stroller (I promise he likes it), talked about current events (okay, not really), listened to music, and just generally bonded. What a special, amazing person he is. I love that little guy.

He opened his presents (with minor wrapping ripping assistance). My favorite thing that I got for him was a toy piano, which is a legitimate musical instrument. He really seems to love music, and has always been enthralled with the piano...or maybe I'm projecting. I have no desire to force him to do what I do, but if he enjoys the piano, I'm not gonna cry.

Don'cha just wanna pinch those little cheeks?

The Mediation That Wasn't

It didn't go well. Google Maps fed me bad directions, sending me off in the wrong direction through downtown L.A. in terrible traffic. I allowed plenty of time to get to the courthouse, as this appointment was very important to me (for obvious reasons). However, by the time I noticed I was going the wrong way, and turned around and slogged through traffic all the way back, I was 20 minutes late.

I ran at top speed into the courthouse building and up to the custody center, only to be greeted by a friendly but firm woman who told me that the mediator "was released by the court five minutes ago." I asked if there was any way we could contact her (she couldn't be too far away at that point, could she?). She said that there was no way. No options. That they were booked up till May.

She said our only option was to wait till the day of our court hearing, and come back together (Nicole and I) as a walk-in.

This is forty-five times more stressful.

I was notified later by my attorney that Nicole was indeed present on the phone (from Washington). I feel so bad that I wasted her time.

She has started updating me on Noah's progress, sending me pictures and describing his latest adventures -- which I greatly appreciate. He's able to sit up on his own, and he's walking now!

I leave you with these:

Pretending It's July

It's 2:15am. Other than lunch with my friend Jan, I've spent the entire day working. Yes, I decided to celebrate Valentine's Day this year by flat-out ignoring it.

I've finished upgrading my studio to be fully Mac, and now I'm learning Final Cut and Logic and the other eight or so programs in their respective suites. That's a lot of learning, which equates to a lot of hours staring at a screen.

My parents were sweet and dropped by with a salad, some fruit and a little heart full of chocolates. So I took a five minute break and ate. Treating myself.

But this is probably for the best. I have my custody mediation downtown tomorrow, with Nicole joining us on the phone. It's stressful, and depressing, and absolutely ironic in its scheduling.

So I'll just keep working and try not to think about that.

The Cutest Turtle

Courtesy of Nicole, here are some pictures of Noah on Halloween. He is the most adorable little turtle I've ever seen.

Good Day L.A.

Every now and then, people surprise you. And even more rarely, it's in a good way. I went home and saw Nicole and Noah. First off, Nicole and I had a typically unpleasant interaction, but as the day went on, things got shockingly civil and stayed that way. Now, granted, I'm not in the place I was a month ago, where a positive interaction with her would give me hope that we might be able to stay together. At this point, I understand that the marriage is over, but this visit really gave me hope that we'll be able to co-parent as a divorced couple.

It was nice to come home again, despite the brevity of the visit, and the fact that I wasn't actually sleeping there. I ran a lot of errands that I haven't been able to on the road (it's hard not to have a car).

And most importantly and wonderfully, I was able to spend a bit of time with the sweetest, cutest little boy in the world. We had a great time, and I took a lot of pictures:


And now that Nicole and I can actually talk to each other, she's going to be sending me pictures of him while I'm on the road. I love that little Noah. He's amazing. He's rolling over all the time, he's speaking adorable syllables and he's sort of strangely obsessed with technology. Every time I put the camera in front of him, he got this trance-like look on his face and tried to grab it.

Such a cutie:
I also was fortunate enough to see my dear friend Ben: one of my favorite people in the world. We had a great dinner at CPK and went to see "30 Days of Night," as we're both into horror movies. Well, let me save you the trouble. Here's my review: the movie is worse than unscary; it's completely uninteresting. Every component is awful, from the writing (Ben pointed out that every single line is a cliche), to the direction (so silly, but all taken so seriously), to the acting (Josh Hartnett's transformation from human to wooden pole is now complete!). It starts so slowly that we were internally screaming, "Show us the vampires already!!!" Then they showed the vampires. Too much of the vampires. And they all dressed in Banana Republic and spoke in a Russian-ish language, and it was so dumb that we were then internally screaming, "Stop showing us the vampires already!" Also, was there a sale on Crest Whitestrips or something? The teeth in this movie were so white it was actually distracting.

But I digress. Ben and I walked out and got a refund after about 45 minutes, as we would never have made it all the way through without ripping out our eyeballs. So completely boring. And the theater was packed, so it was a little tricky making fun of it...but we did a respectable job.

We went back to the Sportsman's Lodge and continued to make our own fun:

Good times were had.

Okey Dokey Oakland - Hello L.A.!

Good show tonight. Billy Ray came out at the end and we played "Ready, Set, Don't Go," a tune the whole band is really enjoying. Jaime made a good observation that Miley sounds a bit like Stevie Nicks on this one; very strong. The Oprah crew was grabbing footage, so keep an eye out for that, and also Miley mentioned that what they taped tonight might be airing as a music video on the Disney Channel as well.

Now we're on our way home to LA. Everybody in the band is really excited about that, except for me. I made the mistake of calling my wife to let her know that I really would like to see Noah while I'm there, hoping that she'd be happy to let me take him off her hands for a while. But instead she was just mad that I didn't tell her earlier, cause she's working on a paper tomorrow. I don't know why I keep hoping she'll be kind and rational. It's not gonna happen. She's just not there anymore. Every time we talk, it escalates into a horrible and depressing fight...until she hangs up. And I cry. But not anymore.

I'm just gonna live my life and do what I have to do: laundry, unpacking and repacking (you never know exactly what you're gonna need and what you're not), running errands, seeing my beautiful baby boy, and hanging out with my dear friend Ben. Life is good.

The people in the band are so amazing. I've really grown to love them all. Such a good group of people. Kay and Jaime stayed up with me and listened and were just amazing and wise and helpful and sweet. I feel so incredibly blessed to be on this amazing tour at such a terrible time in my life. Despite the fact that any thought of my wife sends me into a depressed stupor, I've been very happy most of the time. God bless Hannah Montana.

The Worst News Ever

I've been avoiding bringing this up in my blog for awhile now, but the dust is starting to settle.

Nicole and I are getting a divorce. Yeah, I'm as shocked as you are. She's tried to explain it to me many times but I don't get it. At all. And I think I don't get it because there's a major piece of logic missing.

I thought we were happy. I thought we were in love. I thought we just had a baby!

She first told me she wanted a divorce in July, and since then things have gotten worse and worse. This is actually the whole reason I took the Hannah gig: to get out of town. We're still living in the same house and it's miserable. Neither of us is able to be happy in a situation like this, so off I go.

Juno

From time to time, I am fortunate enough to be part of a test audience for an unfinished feature film. I've seen some pretty amazing movies, like "About Schmidt" and "Stranger Than Fiction," and some clunkers, like "Darkness Falls" and "Slither." But if I get to see a movie for free, a year before it comes out, I don't care if it's good or not.

Last night, Samantha Murphy and I went to see an upcoming film called Juno. It stars the ridiculously talented Ellen Page (who caught everyone's attention with her shocking performance in "Hard Candy" last year). She's even better in this, as a high school junior with an unexpected pregnancy. It also stars the hysterical Jason Bateman and Michael Cera (both of Arrested Development), Jennifer Garner, Allison Janney and Rainn Wilson (who's oddly in just one scene). It was directed by Jason Reitman, who also made "Thank You For Smoking," which was one of my favorites last year.

There's no release date set, but it's being released by Fox Searchlight, and you MUST go see it. It's a miracle of a movie. It's like a hug. I enjoyed every single second of it. The tone was special. It reminded me a bit of "Little Miss Sunshine," the combination of edgy dark humor and sweetness, but it was a true original, from the first frame. I can't wait for this film's release, cause I wanna see it again! Keep your eyes open.

Also, next month marks the release of "Superbad." Nic and I saw it back in March and it's hilarious. The trailers make it look mildly amusing but I promise you it's a riot from start to finish. It (just like Juno) features the impossibly funny Michael Cera. It's even better than "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle." Go see it.

Thus ends the movie raving and excess linkage.

Fun With Photo Booth

I have to admit I'm impressed. My new Mac does everything it said it would, and it hasn't slowed down or so much as hiccupped even once.

Last night, Nicole and I had some fun with the Photo Booth application. Here are some samples.










Trust me, there are a lot more. I thought I'd spare you.

The End of the Tour

I woke up yesterday morning at the La Quinta Inn, after a night of returning emails, barely refreshed and zombie-like at 7am. I didn't have time to shower, but at least I got my luggage back from the airline, so I had a change of clothes.

Three people from our makeshift family had already left the hotel for the airport; they were headed out on the 7:30 flight. Crazy people.

Jessica and I decided on the 9:30 flight, because who wants to wake up at 5?

We took the shuttle to the Sacramento airport, driven by a delightful woman, who was very excited about her upcoming Independence Day Barbecue, and listed for us all the food she planned on making.

Then she shifted gears, showed us a photo of her 16-year-old daughter, and told us all about how "high-maintenance" she was. "She wants to buy hi-tops, that new phone that's out, everything. She wants everything. And she got herself a job, so she can just go ahead and buy herself everything with her own money!"

Anyway, it was a colorful ride.

We arrived, got our boarding passes and went to Chili's for breakfast. Yeah, it didn't sound good to me either. But they had a plain old bacon and eggs breakfast, which was nice, because it felt like I hadn't eaten in days.

We sat down to eat, and Jessica told me all about her life as a counselor. I really respect the field of psychology/psychiatry/sociology. It's a subject I've always been interested in. I suppose that's one of the reasons I write songs, cause I just like observing people. She told about the techniques she uses with her patients/clients/whatever you call them. I told her a little about my new album, and the concepts behind it.

Between there and the flight, we both knew a lot about each other. It's really amazing how quickly you can get to know somebody in certain situations. Nicole calls them "summer camp relationships."

We got seats together on the plane, and we talked about music, etc, I played her some of my music on my iPod. It was fun, and it made the time pass very quickly. Flights typically go by pretty slowly for me, unless I'm travelling with Nic.

I told her I'd write a song about her for the new album. She told me she'd email me. I hope she does.

Nic met me at the baggage claim, and it felt like I was travelling for months, like I'd adventured all the way across the world. It should've only been a 2-hour flight, but I guess when you're making a connection in Sacramento, all bets are off.

It was so great to see her. It had been a whole month and her face looked different (I'm not sure if it actually was different though). I had to reconfigure her features in my mind, and though she's a radiant beauty in my memories, seeing her for real was a shock. She is the most gorgeous creature there ever was. While I remembered that in concept, it knocked me back to see it.

I hugged her, and that part of me that was missing was suddenly complete again. Everything felt right. We laughed and laughed about whatever it is we were talking about, and the world felt soft and lovely again.

What a long month it was, and how glad I am that it's over.

Big Sappy Countdown

I miss my cutie. Only 23 days till I see her!

This Is Just Sad

Last week, I had a lot of work to do for a client I was producing, and poor Nicole had to take care of Noah pretty much day and night for a few days. Noah is a heavy little baby, so eventually she threw her back out. She had to lay in bed until she recovered. So then, I had to take care of Noah and Nicole pretty much day and night for a few days. So eventually, I threw my back out as well.

Here we were: two invalids and a baby.

We were already planning a trip up to Washington state in July, where Nic's Mom, Debi, was going to help us get Noah on a schedule. So we made the unfortunate decision to send Nic and Noah up early. They left last Wednesday. I have a lot of work this month, so I can't join them until July.

Which means, I'm at home all alone, missing my sweeties. I talk to Nic multiple times a day, where I get updates on all the cute new things Noah's doing ("he's smiling more now, and on purpose!"), but it's not the same as being there. Hopefully this will be a fast month.

Two Down...

During the day, I've been working out in my office, and Nicole has been taking care of Noah. This involves lots of picking up and putting down our heavy little infant. Last Thursday, Nicole's back just gave out. She was in a lot of pain, and needed straight bedrest for several days.

So I took over all the shifts. Of course, around Monday my back was hurting a lot too. I haven't thrown out my back completely like my wife, but I'm pretty close. Now we're both tired, in pain, and stressed out.

Then our friend, Laura, volunteered to come over and help. She's an angel. We are very concerned for her back, but she's a Pilates instructor, so she's good at tightening her core.

Yesterday, she did laundry, dishes, bottle sterilization, and she helped us both do back-strengthening exercises. She even told us the complicated story of where hydrogenated oil comes from.

She knows everything, but in that good way. I'm not sure what we would have done without her.

A Flaw In Zombie Logic

I love zombies. I just think they're hilarious. I'm a sucker for a good (or bad, for that matter) zombie movie. On Halloween three years ago, I forced Nicole to do a zombie double-feature: 28 Days Later and the newer Dawn of the Dead (with Sarah Polley).

This was a bad idea.

She's never been a fan of scary movies, but I thought it would be fun to try again. I had a good time. She kind of had a good time-ish. But since then, three years ago, she wakes up in the night seeing scary zombie images. She envisions parts of those movies that I don't even remember.

So lately, in the night, when she wakes up to feed Noah, she starts thinking about zombies. She pointed out something very interesting to me last night, that I had never thought of.

Say I'm a zombie. That means I'm infected. I want to eat people/brains. Say I find somebody who's not infected...perhaps you. So I bite you. Now wouldn't I just keep eating you till you're gone? (My friends would help! I don't have a huge appetite). So then, wouldn't this prevent you from becoming a zombie, thus preventing any new zombies from ever coming to "life?" Wouldn't there just be tons and tons of mostly eaten almost-zombie carcasses?

But in any zombie movie you see, I would just bite you once or twice, enough for you to be infected, and then scurry (or slog) on my way. Why? I was hungry for brains! Would you show up starving to the salad bar at Sizzler and grab one bite of bacon -- just to make your point? (Well maybe, but the bacon at Sizzler is terrible.)

Win/Win

Nicole loves to feed Noah, and Noah loves to eat.