October 20th

Hi All,

I hope you all had a great weekend and were able to enjoy the time off from your everyday world (for those of you with jobs, for my unemployed friends hope you made the time pass by quickly). Things here have been starting to roll faster and faster. My apartment is starting to look more like a ghost town, everything getting packed and boxed. Even though I was busy packing, I didn’t spend the whole time in the apartment. I was really torn, though since this is my last weekend in Seattle I wanted to go out with a bang, but at the same time I wanted to keep my money spending down (after Tuesday I’ll be joining the ranks of the unemployed once again). In all truth though I have a feeling that good things await me down in Atlanta, but it’s still scary not knowing where my next paycheck will come from.

It was nice though spending the weekend with my friends, doing my good-byes and “last suppers, or drinks”. It was great to spend time with Davey and Ann, on Friday night. I wanted to wish them the best of luck in their impending addition to their family. It’s actually really wonderful, that they are adopting a baby from Latin America. It’s very admirable that they are doing that, but it’s great also that I was able to help them a bit too. (Angela and I sold them William’s old crib, and stroller. I also helped paint the babies room). Good luck guys, your going to do a great job raising the little tike.

I also got to spend time with David and Cindy throughout the weekend. It’s kind of interesting to think that I won’t be around David for some time. It’s hard to think that a person that I couldn’t stand when I first met him would go on to become my best friend. Yeah David and I have had our differences over the year. But if I really think about it, we both have been there for each other through some really difficult stuff. From having him be an usher at my wedding, to his travels around the world, (I still remember getting the calls at 3am from some corner of South East Asia). After my marriage ended he was the friend who stood by my and was always there to listen, and not worry about what ever I had to say be thrown back at me somehow. One of my greatest honors that I will never forget was to be asked by both him and Cindy to be the best man at their wedding. Thanks for everything my friend. Oh yeah if you want to take a peek at his new web site please feel free to check out David Volk.com

On the movie front I was able to get out and see the new Samuel L. Jackson movie Formula 51. Deciding on the film, in which I hadn’t heard the best of reviews, but I decided to give the film a chance. It turns out that this isn’t really a new film it was released last year in Europe under the name “The 51st State”. Why it didn’t come out here sooner, here in the states I don’t know. It’s interesting to see the influx now of Hong Kong directors over the past few years, just this week along with Formula 51, another movie called The Transporter directed by Cory Vuen, another Hong Kong Alum. Formula 51 is the story of Elmo McElroy a streetwise American master chemist who heads to England to sell his special new formula. A powerful blue concoction guaranteed to be 51 times more powerful then any other drug on the market. The story overall is extremely far fetched but quite enjoyable way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and Samuel L. Jackson plays a BMF (had to throw in a Pulp Fiction reference). So I do recommend this film but don’t pay full price if you don’t have to.

Well it’s getting late and I’m dead tired. So put a fork in me folks, this column is done.

C-ya

Mike

October 17th

Well here I am writing to you once again at 12:30 in the morning. The last two days have been a blur of HTML code and design. Last night and tonight I have been working two jobs, on top of Microsoft, (the usual 8 to 5) I have been coming home and working till around 2 am on getting David’s web site up and running. Yes tonight at 11:35 pm (just when Letterman was starting) www.davidvolk.com went live on the web. Over all I’m pretty happy with it. I have some changes I already want to make to the site, and it will probably be evolving over the next few months, as do all good little websites. I’m just happy to be done it and now can fully focus on the move accross country. It’s so hard to believe that it’s less then a week away. I still have to give Roy and Ivy a call to let them know when I’m showing up, (I don’t want it to be a surprise, guess who’s here).

Somthing very special happend tonight; I actually got to spend seven minutes on the phone having a wonderful conversation with William. It was so cool talking to him. He sounded so grown up, talking about seeing fire trucks, helicopters, and hearing police sirens. It was such a great feeling. I got off the phone smiling ear to ear. I'm looking forward to seeing him and spending a lot of time with him once I get down to Atlanta. I know it’s only been two weeks since I saw him last, but it feels like it’s been ages. It’s also actually gong to be really nice for him to meet the rest of his family. (His Aunts and Uncles, Cousins, and of course his Pop Pop Ira).

Tonight while writing this journal entry I’m burning a few cd’s for the trip out, the current one I’m working on has an interesting mix:

• Stevie Wonder – Pastime Paradise (the original Gangster's Paradise)
• Van Halen – Best of Both Worlds
• Richard Thompson – I Feel So Good
• Great Big Sea – The Old Black Rum
• The Royal Guardsmen – Snoopy vs. The Red Baron
• James Taylor - Mexico
• The Bee Bees – Lonely Days
• Yes – Love Will Find A Way
• The Wallflowers – I’m Looking Through You
• Squeeze – Pulling Mussels From A Shell
• Sixpence None The Richer – Breath Your Name
• The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robot
• Aimee Mann and Michel Penn – Two of Us (Beatles Cover from the "I am Sam" soundtrack, great cd all Beatles Covers)
• Goo Goo Dolls – Slide
• Phish - Bathtub Gin
• Tori Amos - Past the Mission
• Tom Petty – The Last DJ

Like I have always said I have a very eccletic taste of music most of my mix cd’s are a mix that you can never tell what’s going to be coming next. Before you start getting all holier then now about downloading music, I believe it’s ok to downloaded music as long as it’s for your own personal use, and your not making any money from reselling it. The way I see it, downloading music is basically the same way when you were growing up and taping songs off the radio. A lot of times if I download a song off the net, and I like it I’ll usually buy the CD. (That’s how I discovered Great Big Sea, and the Young Dubliners). Take it for what you will.

Well that’s about it for tonight I hope your all doing well

Peace

Mike

October 15th

You know when you have something that just takes you over, and you have no control over it. Well I got hit with it big time today. My day was going quite “normal”, well as “normal” as my life has been for the past month or two. Then I get a phone call from my dad’s sister Carol, whom I haven’t heard from for a few months. We had a great conversation about what’s been happening in my life. Why the move to Atlanta and when the big day is. (T-minus once week and counting) Then she let me know some really great Faber family news. My Uncle Ed just opened his second store (more of a license arrangement) in Osaka Japan. For those who aren’t too familiar with my uncle Ed, He and his wife Patricia have owned a Jewelry gallery on 5th Avenue in Manhattan for almost the past 27 years now. They both have become experts in the industry (appearing in various articles, books, radio & television), so this is a great move for them. You can see the pictures of the grand opening here or you can visit the Aaron Faber web site here. Congratulations Mr. Edward Faber-sun may the sun always rise on your endeavors.

During the day I always a plethora of things to write for the my column, but by the time 11:30 runs around each night I always come up with a mental waste land of nothing really to say. I guess it shows me to take notes, I do the same thing already with getting ideas to download songs, hear a song on the radio or the Internet I jot it down. On that subject if you want to set up your own personalized online radio station, I would highly recommend Launch.com. Launch is completely self-selecting, so if you like a band or a song you can rate it from 1 to 100 (this sets the frequency of the band/song). I have had an Internet radio station set up there for a few months now; it’s all I listen to during the day @ Microsoft.

Hope everyone is doing well out there, talk to you soon

Peace

Mike

October 14, 2002

Tonight’s just going to be a quick update. I’m really starting to get short timer syndrome at Microsoft. With the move coming up, I’m just really starting to let my mind wander, thinking about the trip out to Atlanta and wondering what I will find when I will get there. I know lately I have been sounding kind of whiny in my updates, I’m sorry if I have. Just a lot on my mind, even more then what I sometimes realize. (Missing William, not knowing what my future is going to bring, etc.)

Here’s something I found quite humorous, Over the past few months few months I have been getting e-mail from people all over the world telling me how much they have loved my writing, and that they really related to my book. I was flabbergasted at first, thinking “WHAT THE HELL, DID I WRITE A BOOK IN MY SLEEP?” After many e-mail's, and after finally doing some research on the net, I have found out that I really am actually a great author, and have sold quite a few books over the past six months. OK not really (a guy can dream can’t he?) Michel Faber (I should collect royalties on my name) wrote a great novel 'The Crimson Petal and the White' (haven’t read it yet, but it looks good, LOL, OK maybe a little too ummm girlie for me, but still he is my namesake). Take a peek at Amazon, and see his book. They also did a write up on him in Time magazine about a month ago.

That’s it for tonight, I promise a longer report tomorrow night.

Peace

Mike

October 13, 2002

Bet you thought I forgot about the journal already, not quite. I actually have decided that I’ll keep the update going during the week, and take the weekends off to relax. If something that I need to bring to your attention comes up I’ll post it, but over all just expect to hear from me Sunday through Thursday. One exception though will be from the 23rd till the 26th or 27th of October when I make the move from Seattle to Atlanta. I’m planning on giving you daily updates of the trip (including pictures from the road). Pack, Pack, Pack that seems like all I have been doing for the past few days. I have been slowly getting the apartment taken apart and shoved into various boxes. It’s kind of strange to think that I’m moving once again. I was talking to David about it the other day; this is going to be my 5th move in the past year and a half. (1) Moving from Woodland Hills to Newport Beach (2) Moving from Newport Beach back to Seattle, (3) Moving from the lower floor apartment to the third floor apartment in Green Lake, (4) Green Lake apartment to Kirkland (5) Now moving from Kirkland to Atlanta. I’ll be the first one to tell you folks; I AM SO TIRED OF MOVING. I TOTALLY DESPISE IT. (OK, I feel better now) Yeah, I do like the adventure of exploring a new area, meeting new people and getting a fresh start to life. I have thinking about it a lot lately; this new fresh start is going to be good for me. It will be a lot different though from when I moved to a new city before. At least this time I already have a base of friends / family in town. Now all I have to do is find a job. LOL. If anyone knows of any kind of job in the Atlanta area. PLEASE let me know (hell, I’m not above begging for Help, my pride got thrown out the window months ago).

Last night I went to the movies with David and Cindy, which is always a nice outing with them. We went to see a movie called Moonlight Mile. It was a film dealing with the sudden death of a young woman and the people she left behind, and how they deal with it. I didn’t know what to take of the movie going into it, but it ended up being a very pleasant and humorous film that actually made you think about your own mortality and what you hold most dear in life. How you should create your own destiny, not let others make it for you. The movie had good performances by Susan Sarandon, and Dustin Hoffman. The only downfall was Jake Gyllenhaal who made me think he was trying to play the role as Toby Maguire the whole time. If you don’t have anything better to watch at the movies, I would recommend it, but if you want to see a better movie dealing with the subject matter, I would recommend the film Ordinary People.

Over this past weekend I was also working on David’s website. I have come up with two page designs for him. I would love to hear which one’s you like more. Let me know, so I can let him know. Here's idea 1 and idea 2

Some sad news from the world of Seattle Baseball, for the past few weeks there has been rumor going around that Lou Piniella was going to be leaving as the coach of the Mariners. Then on Friday several newspapers across the country started reporting that the rumors were true. That he had requested his release from the final year of his contract to be closer to his family. I can understand the family part (hence my move to Atlanta), but the report also goes to say that he was extremely frustrated with the Mariners lack of ability to get the big bat or pitching stud in the middle of the pennant race. Who knows what it is that really drove him to this decision, but Seattle baseball fans owe a lot to this man. He brought a winning attitude to this team that sent them to the playoffs for the first time, (and many times afterwards) and lead them to a record breaking 116 win season. If it was not for Lou Piniella, the Mariners would now be playing in Tampa Bay. Thanks Lou for everything.

In other baseball news today the Anaheim Angels beat the Minnesota Twins for the American League Pennant and made it to the World Series for the first time in team history. It should be interesting to see who they play, right now it’s looking like it will be the San Francisco Giants barring any miracle come back by the St. Louis Cardinals. Either way it should be a good series. (Congrats Andrew, on your team finally making it).

Ok Kids, that’s it for me tonight. Let me know what you think of David’s page.

Peace to all

Mike

October 10, 2002

Greetings all,

The world around us is just getting weirder and weirder. For the past few months The Jewish Federation of Seattle has been berating the community for a fund raising event for themselves featuring Leonard Nimoy. Of course there was no way in heck I would of considered going because the Minimum Gift of $1500 to the 2003 Community Campaign is required. No way in heck would I be going to see Mr. Spock speak for that kind of money. Sorry to all my Star Trek friends. But then today the Federation (Jewish Federation, not the United Federation of Planets) released a news release stating that Mr. Nimoy would be replaced by Al Franken (great comedian and author, but not worth that much money still) because of a scheduling conflict. But then later in the day the Seattle Times came out with the full story of what really happened. The article states That Mr. Nimoy was asked not to attend because of his book "Shekhina" features ethereal black-and-white images of women — some of whom are partially dressed or nude — based on the Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism. To read the full story on this from the Seattle Times Click Here. It's totally illogical; I never thought that people in Seattle would be so close-minded, to art or another point of view. Oy.

Over the past few days I have been keeping my eyes peeled to the TV and Internet to hear the reports coming out of the Washington, DC with the threat of the sniper. As of today he or she has shot 9 victims in the DC, Virginia and Maryland areas. It’s incredible not knowing where he / she is going to strike next. Even my dad is worried about going in public. I gave him a call on his cell today and he was walking through the parking lot of his work, heading to his car. He was totally paranoid with every car in the parking lot. That is not a way to live at all. Not knowing where or who could be the next victim. It almost seems like I’m watching an episode of Homicide: Life on the Street. I just hope they find the person responsible for this soon.

I’m not really going to comment tonight on congress crumbling and basically throwing out the American constitution and giving Georgy Porgy the full authorization to attack Iraq at will. It scares the living crap out of me thinking how messy this is going to get in the next few months. I just don’t see any kind of simple resolution to this problem. The U.S. is going to start something that is going to explode throughout the whole Middle East, that the we won't be able to control, and the president will go hide in some corner with his tail between his legs. I just pray we aren’t paying $5.00 a gallon for gas by New Years Day, and wondering where all our allies in the Middle East are. I’m sure we will have lots to talk about on this subject over the next few months.

Today’s fun site I think you all will like is called The Mini-Mizer. You can create a Lego person from scratch. Make it look like yourself, your significant other, and your favorite super hero. Have fun. Feel free to send me what you come up with, I would love to see it.

Hope you’re all doing well, and keeping a level head.

Peace

Mike

October 9th

Well here I am at 11:30pm on Wednesday night getting ready to start typing today's journal entry, when the TV announced that on the Tonight Show, they would be featuring, as guests the two guys from the Puppetry of the Penis. For those who don’t know, Puppetry of the Penis is a comedy / variety show featuring two guys just dressed in capes and nothing more. For an hour and a half or so these guys stand on stage and make their penis into quite a few different shapes, and do some tricks. (Sorry not at all sexual). I saw them at the Melbourne comedy festival last year when I went to Australia. If you ever get a chance to see them when they come to town I would highly recommend it. It’s quite fun. You can check out their web site here (This will be today’s fun web site).

So far the response to the daily rants have been very positive, which has made me feel good, sometimes it’s quite tough for me to express exactly what I’m thinking on paper. I’ll let you in on a little secret. Since the creation of Faber’s Place back in 1998 I have been very fortunate to be working with Michelle Kenoyer as my editor. She’s been the "grammatical genius" behind Faber’s Place. I have always loved writing and expressing myself on paper (either in story telling or art), but growing up with a learning disability it’s been a little difficult to do so. Being extremely horrible at spelling and suffering from dyslexia, sometimes expressing myself on paper had always been a difficult. That’s why I was always preferred my artwork to compensate for it over writing. So when Michelle always offered to edit my work I leaped at the offer. I just wanted to just thank her for all her hard work over the past four and a 1/2 years.

Today wasn’t so bad, I just think yesterday was just one of those days, the stars must have been in a certain alignment or a weather front must of come through the state. A few friends e-mailed me today asking me if I’m doing ok. Just to let everyone know, I’m doing fine. I just have some moments, everything with the move is kind of wearing me a little thin. After working all day, I’m still trying to find an apartment that suits me. I just don’t want to live in something cookie cutter or sterile (the artist in me comes out sometime). I’m sure I’ll find something when I get down there, I also don’t want to sign for something site unseen. Job wise I’m still waiting to hear back from anyone that I have sent a resume to. I did get a call from a headhunter down in Atlanta who will start looking for me. So things are turning more positive.

Oh FYI tonight on the Amazing Race the Brother and Sister team of Tramel / Talicia were eliminated tonight, (no big loss even though I thought it would be the twins Derek and Drew would have been eliminated, oh well, one could hope).

Ok I’m ready for bed. Hope your all well. If you have any web sites you want to recommend for the fun site of the day, just drop me a line.

Peace

Mike

OCTOBER 8TH

Surprise! I bet you didn’t think I was going to be doing this two days in a row. Well here I am and this is today’s entry. Today was pretty uneventful. I found myself being on a roller coaster emotionally at work today. Earlier in the day I was feeling pretty good about life, not really stressing out much, but as the day went on my mind tended to wander a little too much and I found my mood falling more and more. When I get into a bad mood I usually just close myself off from the rest of the world, I try not to take it out on other people. It’s not productive and in all truth I hate it when people do that to me. Today, I start panicking and thinking that I’m leaving for Atlanta in two weeks. I don’t have a place yet to live yet, or a new job. But then I start thinking about better things (like being closer to family, and how I have been making some friends already in Georgia). By the time I left work my mood totally pick up. I had gotten free passes to see an independent movie at the Seattle Art Museum. Let me tell you my friends I saw the movie “the Inheritance” by some local Seattle director. The movie was supposed to be a thriller about a young woman who is being forcibly possessed by a ghost of an elderly woman she had taken care of in her later years of life. The overall story was very weak and predictable the only suspense in the whole movie was how long it was till it was over. I do admire anyone who has the balls to make art, but this film just left me very flat. The one high point of the evening was prior to the movie mentioned above was the showing of the short film “White Face” by Brian McDonald. A humorous film about “clowns” being intergrated into society. Take a peek at tonight’s web site link the official White Face website. That's it for tonight, like I said yesterday, some of these entries will be shorter then others.

Hope you’re all doing well

Talk to you soon

Peace

Mike

OCTOBER 7TH

I know, I know, I said last time that I was going to be starting these updates about a month ago, but things happen. There has been so much going on in my life that I didn't even realize a full month had gone by since my last update. (You know the saying time flies when your having fun). Well the major news that I’m going to bring up tonight is that I'm going to be moving once again. Yes, I know your going "Mike, you’re moving again? Didn't you just move a few months back"? Well yes that is true, I moved from Seattle across the lake to Kirkland to a great apartment. I did think the apartment I'm in now was the place that I was going to stay in for a few years. Well a few years ended up turning into only six months, and now I’m packing up the place already. OK I'll cut through all the crap and not drag this out any longer. As of the end of October I'll be moving away from the fair city of Seattle, my home for the past nine years (wow, now that's hard to believe it's been that long), and doing something I said I would never do again, I'm getting read to move back east. No, don't worry I won't be heading back to Maryland, I'm actually moving to the deep south, Atlanta, GA to be exact. Atlanta! Yes Atlanta, home of Coca-Cola, CNN, Hallmark, the Braves (who were eliminated from the playoffs tonight by the San Francisco Giants, Woo Hoo.. I'm staying a Mariners fan). Ok next your probably thinking "Mike, why move? Especially back to the east coast?" The main reason for the move is a certain little guy (who just celebrated his third birthday) who I'm just nuts about, moved down south when his mom got transferred with her job. I looked at myself after I got the news, thought about it for five second and realized I wanted to be a major part of his life growing up. William and I have a great bond, and I never want to loose that.

I'm looking forward to this new chapter in my life, and you will be coming along for the ride. This page is going to become a daily rant page / journal. Sometimes the posts will be real quick, sometimes not. I'll be talking about daily events in my life, some good stuff, some not so nice things that you might go "Mike, THAT'S TO MUCH INFORMATION" I'll also be talking about my views on what's going on in the world around me. Please let me know what you think of these changes to the site. You can contact me here. I hope you like what's to come. Each day I'll also be pointing you to current projects I'm working on and some new web sites I find amusing. Currently I'm working on David's web site. You can see the coming soon page I just created for him at http://www.davidvolk.com. Today's fun site is a parody of the web site I listed below Saving Karyn (who has disappeared into vapor the last few weeks). But she's not forgotten by no means, take a peek at http://www.dontsavekaryn.com/ a great site set up by some guys who didn't think Karyn was really worth saving.

Well that's it for tonight

Peace to all (especially in today's world).

Mike

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