The World of Scott Mindeaux

Thunder in SoCal?

Good morning everyone. Well I woke up a little late this morning by what I thought was the garbage truck lowering an empty bin and making a whole lotta noise. Then I took a shower, got out and heard it again, except this time it went on for a bit longer. I went to the window to see what was up and it was thunder! There’s a bit of a downpour happening outside.

Monsoonal moisture form the South is what is fueling our morning rain. There is a cell heading right into Orange County as we speak with several red spots. 

What a nice surprise. Unfortunately it will mean a muggy day after the rain stops. 

Rolling on a Sunday Morning

Good morning eveyrone. I love 90′s club mixes. It was in the 90′s that I started going out to gay clubs in the Washington Metro Area. We had big dance venues like Tracks and Velvet Nation back in the day. But let’s not forget all the bars I haunted in Dupont Circle like Badlands (affectionately called Sadlands, now called as Apex), Cobalt and Chaos all great places to dance.

So this morning I clicked on the music icon in iTunes and decided to do a shuffle. First song up was a 10 minute mix of Beautiful Stranger by Madonna. Look at the bottom of this post for a sample. You can listen while you read!

Oh the memories of that song. Velvet Nation was in the height of its popularity. Huge dance floors in an old warehouse, great lights, lots of cute guys! The main dance room played club mixes all night. There were several smaller dance rooms each featuring music from the 80′s and 70′s. Anyway back to Beautiful Stranger. This mix had all the ingredients for a large venue sound. Lots of bass, right amount of reverb to match the high ceilings. Lots of cute jock boys on boxes dancing looking down on all of us. All the guys with their shirts off were all in front by the stage, while those of us not quite so ripped, seem to gather in the back of the floor where the music was just as loud but didn’t have to deal with the attitude of the jock boys disapproving of what I had to wear or the fact that I wasn’t skinny and hot. I had my friends and that’s all I needed.  

Good friends and good dance music. I know I must have looked like a fool on that dance floor, but I didn’t care. Just park me next to one of those huge speakers on the floor and let me feel the bass pierce my skin and fuel the beat of my soul. But again, why are we back to Beautiful Stranger? This song has some sentimentality for me. It was the 90s. I knew what was going on around me. I knew what was going on in the jock boy section of the dance floor. All that alcohol being served, yet soooo many bottles of water on the dance floor as well. Curious. You and I know why there were so many bottles of water and it wasn’t just because it was hot. 

I tried to be naive as to what was going on, but I knew better. So yes, I tried it and for a short period of time it enhanced the already euphoric feeling I got when being on the dance floor. I remember being on the dance floor and there was a part of the song where it seemed that everyone was moving in unison. I could imagine that if one were looking down (and there were, there were a lot of catwalks) you would see the entire dance floor moving as one to the sound of the music.  Then it hit me. A tingling sensation started in my head and moved down to the rest of my body. I remember the dance lights getting more saturated and things were hazy, but I could still make everything out. 

The music shifted gears and I was lost. I was lost in the beat of the bass, I was the only one on the dance floor as far as I was concerned. My friends and others were all brushing up against me (yes, the dance floor was that crowded all the time) and their touch only brought me higher. I reached out and put my hands on someone from behind and the meaning of Beautiful Stranger was now clear!

Ahem…ok back to the present….those were interesting days. Suffice it to say, I tried it again two more times and never again. I remember I kept one with me in a plastic pouch for a year to remind me not to do it again. It ended up in a toilet 2 years later. 

But oh…what a feeling!

Nations closed in 2006 to make way for the new Ball Park for the Nationals.

Podcast: Download

Three Day Weekend

I took Friday off of work to get some rest and to deal with some personal matters. My parents take off for overseas to attempt try #2 for a kidney transplant for my dad. If you follow my blog, you will remember that my dad flew all the way there a few months back, only to be sent right back for more medical tests, but also to clear up a cardio problem that was detected overseas.

On Sunday they fly out so I want to spend some time with them before they leave. They will be gone for two months so that means I get to drive my parent’s car while my car sits for two months. Maybe during that time, my car can figure out when it wants to die on me. The car basically takes me back and forth to work and that’s about it (3.5 miles one-way). I don’t trust the car to take me anywhere futher than 15 miles.

Very late on Thursday I had an epiphany. I’ve actually had it for quite some time, but I finally decided to make it happen and this weekend was going to be it. I’m creating a second blog. This blog will focus solely on my foodie side. FoodieInDisguise.com will launch on Monday, September 29 and I’m so excited!

I had to pull the artwork, come up with a color scheme, customize a WordPress theme and populate it with something. Much like you need starter for sourdough bread, I will export all the food related blog entries in this blog and use them to seed my new blog.

Much of Saturday has been tweaking posts to fit the format of the new blog. Over time, the existing food related blog entries on this blog will have permainks to the new site. I also spent a goo d chunk of time gathering all my digital photos that are food related and consolidate them in one place. I’m not sure i I will use a service like flicker or create a gallery in the blog. Anyone have any ideas?

Tonight I had dinner at my parents with all the kids. What a rowdy munch! They wanted chinese food for dinner, so chinese it was. Ummm…no, I didn’t cook. We got take out from my parents favorite place, Jade Palace off Irvine Blvd. We got our old standbys: Walnut Shrimp, Mongolian Beef (more like Mongolian Onions with some beef), Fish Filet in a Black Bean sauce and Beef with Broccoli. There were a ton of leftovers, so I brought some home.

My Brother-In-Law’s 20 year HIgh School reunion ws tonight as well. Beth and Charles left for the Queen Mary while we took care of the kids – both sets. My other sister Lyn and her husband John needed some quiet time to themselves, so my parents got the kids tonite.

I’m home now, but tired. My parents house was hot as my dad doesn’t believe in air conditioning. I was sweating like a pig at their place. There was easily a 20 degree difference between the outside and the inside of the house.

When I got home I noticed something. The apartment complex just completed the slurrying of the new asphalt that was laid down two months ago. When I pulled into my spot, I saw some discooration in the blacktop. Seems my radiator is or was leaking. We were told by the managmeent that any car that is leaking anything will be towed and won’t be allowed back in the complex. Give me a break. It’s asphalt for god’s sake. If you set an expectation that you won’t ruin your new slurry job, you have another thing coming. You might as well have laid down white tile everywhere and told everyone that any dirt on the floor will result in your car being towed.  Ugh.

Well it’s late and I’m heading to bed. G’night everyone.

I’m Sorry…But all I heard was Blah Blah Blah

Well we are 1 hour and 42 minutes into the First Presidential Debates.

After the first 20 minutes I started to fall asleep. I’m sorry, but I’m really trying to learn more about our candidates. I walked into the Debate hoping to walk away with some inkling of who I was going to vote for. Yes, I have had an Obama link on my page for the last few weeks, but after tonite, I’m not sure I want to vote for either of them.

I just hear blah, blah, blah and I was expecting more. I’m disappointed. But maybe I should be more disappointed in myself for not being able to keep my attention on the matters at hand. 

The Vice Presidential Debates will be next week. How will Biden and Palin make me feel?

Heroes 3.1 and 3.2 on Hold

Well, my review will have to wait until Sunday when NBC will repeat the Season Premiere of Heroes. My TiVo recorded LOST instead of Heroes yesterday because I forgot to raise Heroes on the priority list on my Season Pass Manager.

If you lived near me, you heard this loud yell at around 8:25 when I turned on the TiVo and found that it was recording LOST. So unless I buy a copy of the episode on iTunes there will be no review…

But I will say ONE THING, i feel that the excitement and mystery from Season 1 is back. I say, forget that Season 2 even existed….

Welcome to the Family Clay

Well after years of Kathy Griffin calling you Gay Aiken, you have finally come out. It’s not like anyone you knew or anyone who saw you perform didn’t know you were gay already – so why all the secrecy? But to each his own. You probably had a good reason in your head as to why you chose not to come out earlier. 

First of all, congratulations to you and your baby. I’m glad that you chose this time in your life to finally come out and be true to yourself and to your son, Parker. I’m sure that Parker will appreciate a household where honestly and being true to yourself is paramount.

I understand that coming out probably wasn’t the easiest decision for you. I’m sure somewhere in your being you were afraid to come out for fear that it will affect your career and life. But I hope you realize that by joining J.R. Knight, Luke McFarlane, Elton John, John Cameron Mitchell, Sir Ian McKellan, Ted Allen, Half the Cast of Top Design, most of the male cast members of Project Runway, Jim J. Bullock, Amanda Bearse, Melissa Etheridge, Jodie Foster, Queen Latifah and countless others that you are standing with your brothers and sisters!