09-24-07 007
Originally uploaded by The Luck Family

Dear Diary,

Behold, the fruits of my labor. Leah did help with the painting, but I claim credit for everything else (which is essentially the crown molding).

Not a great shot there (I couldn’t really back up far enough the room is so small) so there are some more here.

Please keep in mind all of these were taken at like 1:30am, which is when we actually finished this project (having started 14 hours or so earlier).

If it’s music and it’s on the Disney channel, chances are about 100% that I am going to love it.

Yes, that includes this guy.

Also following that trend is the Jonas Brothers.  Just acquired their self-titled album and am loving it.  I won’t say that its as good as the HSM 2 soundtrack, but I am having to divide my time between them now.  Same with V from Gabriella V. Hudgens.  Yes it undoubtedly is markets and written for teenagers.  I like to think it just confirms how young at heart I am.

On a related note, I don’t think Leah cares for either of those 2 albums though, thus confirming their greatness.

Those not in the know might not have heard about this new game ‘Rock Band‘ coming out in November.  It’s a video game where you have up to 4 people playing/singing along to music and being scored on your performance.

I was sitting there watching Hugo play the air drums the other day and thought to myself (and to Leah) – we need to get this game.  Leah could sing, I could play guitar, and Hugo could play the drums (all intruments included in the deluxe ($200) version of the game).  That would only leave the bass spot still open.

Luckily – Brody should be here by then, and 2 weeks old is more than enough to back me up on Wheezer’s Say it Ain’t So.

So today Hugo’s daycare provider was trying to get a jump on traffic and get out of town early. That being the case, I was picking up the kiddo around 1 and we had some time for a pit-stop prior to going home. Hellloooo Hollywood Video. I had a couple of coupons for free movies expiring at the end of the month (today) so I figured we could pick up a couple of flicks to keep up busy while Leah studied.

We checked out all the new releases and nothing was really looking all that great. I ended up selecting the critically acclaimed Blades of Glory as I had previously fallen asleep watching it one night and I wanted to see the end. Hugo wasn’t to keen on this and put it back on the shelf. I explained to him that we could get TWO movies and he could pick out the other one. He seemed OK with that and off he went to find one.

A whole store of movies, and THIS is what he picks:

Yes, thats Troy Bolton Zac Efron on the cover.

Yes, he picked this out of hundreds of other choices.  Some movies get a whole wall to themselves, this movie had a whole 2 cases amongst a sea of others.

Yes, it was an awesome movie – I don’t know how we missed it when it was in theaters (was it?).

Yes, I’ve created a monster.

Since I’ve bored you all to death with this High School Musical thing already, I’ll make this the last for a bit (at least 3 days).

Tonight Hugo made me a proud papa.  He asked if he could take the Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens issue of People to bed with him; we even made the article one of his bedtime stories. He can totally pick Troy Bolton and Gabriella out of a crowd.  I’ve made him into a monster!

Not only can he identify their pictures, he also knows when their music is on – singing along merrily.  I couldn’t ask for a better son.

P.S. – Big thanks to Nora for providing said issue of People.

I’m a Netflix subscriber. No shame in admitting that certainly. I love to watch movies and Netflix offers good value and convenience. It also has the side effect of causing me to watch movies I might (certainly) not watch otherwise. This is a GOOD THING. About a year ago I had heard about this crazy little Disney movie called High School Musical. I’m not sure how I heard about it, maybe just a bit of overheard buzz or something… who knows. All I know is for whatever reason it got added to my Netflix queue.

This was a GOOD THING. Let me say that again (this time with bold). This was a GOOD THING.

I was watching this little High School Musical thing one evening after Hugo went to bed I think. I don’t really remember the circumstances. I do remember Leah coming home as I was watching it and starting it over for her. Then we sat on the couch and watched the whole thing. I liked it for most of the movie. Then they performed the final two songs and I went from like to head over heels in love with it. It was a GOOD MOVIE. I’m not sure what I was expecting but I knew this was something special. So I think we probably watched it again the next day with Hugo. Then we bought the movie, then the soundtrack, then the board game, and t-shirt. We watched it with the lyrics displayed. Then we knew all the lyrics. Then we learned the dance moves (on our own). Then we watched a version where they taught you the dance moves. I say ‘we’ because I wasn’t the only one caught up in the HSM fever. Oh no – Leah knew the dance as well as I did and even Hugo was learning the words and dancing along.

I think in 20 years I will look back quite fondly on our family bonding time over HSM.

Wow, that was a long intro since I haven’t even started talking about what I meant to when I started talking… Hairspray (the movie based on the musical based on the movie) and High School Musical 2. Both released this summer. Both wonderful movies and soundtracks. Both listened to constantly by the family, both sung along to constantly by the family. They say HSM 2 broke the cable viewer record with 16.something million. I was one of them I am proud to say (recorded then commercials skipped of course). I don’t think Hairspray did anything special, except make me fall in love with it.

Maybe I just have a crush on Zac Efron (he starred in all 3 of these), who knows. He’s certainly crush worthy. Nora is going to marry him one day I hope. We made a HSM convert out of her as well. We’re trying to spread it, like in that movie The Ring. Only instead of killing people we just want to make them happy; show them what they have somehow been missing but didn’t even know.

We’re planning a HSM marathon (1+2). I’ve even gone and cut the commercials from the 2nd that I recorded and digitally remastered it ala George Lucas. I’ll keep you all posted as to when that is. It will be a GOOD THING.

Today Leah’s high school friends threw us a baby shower for the 2nd heir to the Luck throne (tentatively Brody). It’s kosher for the repeats to have showers apparently – Nora’s 30 minutes of internet research, a span of time that in todays electronic age must have wielded a frightening amount of baby information, revealed the kosher-ness as well as the name Baby Sprinkle. I like.

I was looking forward to said sprinklefor a single reason. Toys, or more precisely A Toy, a Racetrack, a HotWheels racetrack, with loop, car launching motorization, 8 cars, and Nostalgia. I get as much, or more, fun out of Hugo’s toys as he does, and with the option of purchasing for Brody, Hugo, OR the home for this shower/sprinkle, I opted for myself Hugo… I knew that Hugo, a fan of both tracks AND race cars, would be please with the gift.

Long story short, he wanted to SLEEP with the track when it was time for bed. I explained it was too large to fit in bed with him and it would be there tomorrow morning for him to play with, so off to sleep he went, sans track. This was of course a lie; it wasn’t going to be there in the morning for him to play with… It would be in MY bed, snuggled up close.