Hollywood here I come

So tomorrow I head down to Detroit for the filming of 'Semi-Pro'. I shaved my beard and this is my 70's facial hair look that I'm going with.

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White Trash of Fenton

My family is white trash. It was okay when we just had a summer cottage. But now that we live on Lake Fenton permanently, we have to make some changes. My dad bought 2 seadoos this week (my consumerism has effected him, he's thinking about buying a pontoon too), so the number of trailers in our front yard has grown to 3. There wouldn't be room for a pontoon trailer.

And that stand up jet ski doesn't have an engine in it.

It's official

It's official. I am an extra in Will Ferrell's new movie "Semi-pro" that is being filmed in Flint and Detroit. I'm not sure if it was my dad's car that I will be standing next to....

or the suit Mike gave me back in college....

But they wanted me. I'm excited, maybe I'll meet Will Ferrell, or even get to be in the background of a scene.

Itch phase

I've entered into the itching phase of beard growing. It's rough, but I get the old Dale Wolfgram beard stroke going and I feel better.

It's coming in pretty good, but if I don't hear back from the casting director in the next week, it's coming off.

The Evolution

My car has come a long way since I bought it last year. Here is a picture of what it started like. I loved the lines on the RX-8, but I always knew that I want to put a body kit on it.

Unfortunately my car was in a bit of an accident. Although it gave me a reason to make the changes to the car that I wanted to.

Below you can see the new Mazdaspeed front end compared to the original. It sits a little lower to the ground and has larger openings giving it a little more aggressive look.

Although with the new front, the middle of the car looked a little off. So I decided I needed to put side skirts on to give a more uniform look. They basically make the car look a lot lower to the ground without having to change the suspension with different shocks and springs or coil overs.

Well I got the side skirts in on Friday. So Saturday I woke, a little hungover, but ready to install them. Online I was reading that they aren't very hard to put on, but to take your time and spend 2 hours per side. Well I had a hell of a time taking off the existing side aero flares that were part of the appearance package. Before I knew it I had been working on them for 6+ hours. And the clips weren't holding them on correctly. There was a gap. My dad went out this morning, bought some different clips and we tried again. I think we got it pretty good this time.

I think I'm satisfied now. Maybe some chrome wheels in the future, but for now I love how she turned out.

2 Days

"You see that mustache coming in Rat? You could almost press it out." - Damone from Fast Times at Ridgemont High

I don't understand what he means by you could almost press it out. Is it some 80's lingo I'm not aware of?

Anyways, I'm amazed that in only 2 days how much thicker my beard has come in.

'Semi-Pro'

If you haven't heard yet, Will Ferrell has a movie coming out called 'Semi-pro'. Its about a semi-professional basketball team out of Flint set in the 1970's. They've finished filming most of the movie in Cali. and Denver, but are on their way to Michigan to film some outside scenes.

Well they are looking for 500 extras for the remaining parts of the movie, so Sunday I sent in a head shot. Hopefully I hear back from them.

I also included a picture of what I could look like. (Halloween '05) The mustache probably took me a month to grow out.

They start filming at the end of April - early May. I've never had to grow facial hair this quickly. I'm expending a lot of energy and it is quite exhausting, but I think I could have bigger side burns and a mustache in time. Here's my progress so far. 4 days growth.

"I like your beard at that length, it makes you look rugged and kinda dangerous." Thanks mom.

Money, A whole lot of spending money

"I got my mind set on you

But its gonna take money
A whole lotta spending money
Its gonna take plenty of money
To do it right child"

George Harrison was probably talking about a relationship in this song, but I thought about it while reflecting on how much I've spent over the last month and a half.

Gene Sr. has taught me to be pretty frugal with my money. And especially with living at home I don't have to spend a lot. But when it rains it pours. Starting with my trip to Ann Arbor for St. Patrick's Day, I dropped a couple hundred on bar tabs. Then a car payment. Then I bought a wii for $450 (I know this doesn't count it's for entertainment). Then my dad told me it's my month to pay car insurance, that's another $725. I needed new tires on my car for $850, and it's about time for the next car payment.

I'm just lucky that insurance covered the $3000-4000 on my car. I'm buying side skirts for it to match the new front bumper. But hopefully I can avoid any more major purchases for a little while.

Snow in April makes me want to cry

So after a week of 60-70 degree weather, Michigan goes back into the cold for a few.

Two weeks ago the ice started to melt off the lake, and our cove was fairly ice free. Saturday morning was really nice as well and the ice melted further. My dad thought, hey we should put the dock in now so we can enjoy the most out of the summer. Well Sunday the weather started to change. By mid-afternoon the wind was blowing hard and all the remaining ice on the lake was moving toward our dock. My family went out and used 2x4's and shovels to break up the ice before it crumpled our dock into a ball. For an hour and a half we fought the ice, and in the end we succeeded with minimal damage to the dock.

Last weekend my dad decided to put the boat in the water to get it out of the driveway. We went for our first joy ride around the lake. It was nice. But then this cold wave came and we had to winterize the boat on the boat hoist. Don't want the engine block to crack.

The snow on the boat is kinda disappointing. But the summer will be here before I know it. Fun, sun, drinking, wake boarding. I can't wait.