Brett Mason is remembering

Brett Mason's

Lexington KY USA

self-promoting :: remembering :: hoping :: struggling

last modified

Some things I remember

My own death

Trading cards I collected as a kid

People I know who have websites

My biggest accomplishments

3-month trip to France, alone, without an itinerary Lead role in a small educational film for South Carolina Power Lead role in a few community-theater plays Small roles in a few professional ballet performances Bought a house before I turned 30, without help from the government or my parents Won a full-tuition academic scholarship to college; graduated before I turned 20 Still able to solve a Rubik's Cube after all these years Wrote several songs, unpublished at present Memorized most of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata and will soon memorize the rest Big-screen presence as an extra in Glory

Reminder

You can find more recent news about me and the most recent news about me on other pages.

Not-So-Recent News (Early 2003)

05 Jan	set up Tanya's PC and dial-up Internet at her new apartment
04 Jan	happy birthday to Brindi; in celebration, we waltzed at the local Contra dance
04 Jan	persuaded a local Hampton Inn to let me soak in their jacuzzi (which is a major violation of their insurance policy) in order to soothe my troubled back
03 Jan	smacked my back when I slipped on some stairs in City Hall, but didn't do any permanent damage
02 Jan	backed out of the job opportunity I mentioned earlier
01 Jan	had my first flat tire of this millennium
01 Jan	Danielle and Tanya and I salsa-danced into 2003 at Norbe and Rafaela's party

Not-So-Recent News (Late 2002)

31 Dec	after a free inspection of my furnace, the HVAC guy said that if he told the gas company about the tiny cracks in my heat exchanger, they'd shut my gas off and put a lock on the box. Happy new year to me!
30 Dec	bought my first PDA, a Toshiba e310
29 Dec	had a very active day, not only helping the Lexington Contra dance crowd with an important mass-mailing, but also eating sushi with Tanya and then spending time with my cousin Danny and his girlfriend who had another work-related overnight stop here
28 Dec	drove to Louisville to hang out with Valerie -- dinner and ballroom dancing
25 Dec	had planned to drive to Louisville to hang out with Valerie today, but it's a "white Christmas" in Kentucky, with 29-degree temperatures, and the roads looked like they might flip my automobile again
24 Dec	celebrated Christmas Eve with Patty and her family
23 Dec	caroling around my neighborhood with Danielle and Tanya is most amusing when Danielle's hymnal from the Unitarian church keeps feeding us altered lyrics to familiar songs
22 Dec	my cousin Danny came to visit again, so he wins the "Family Member of the Year" award
22 Dec	final performance of Nutcracker
20 Dec	opening night of Nutcracker
19 Dec	today I realized, when yet another job opportunity was sent my way, that my programming career has been chugging along smoothly despite my lack of ambition. Most of my programming jobs have been created just for me. Only twice in my career have I chosen a job from the classifieds (once at KMSF, and once at Information Connection).
17 Dec	this week is packed solid with Nutcracker rehearsals at Singletary Center
16 Dec	Kelly and I drove around Lexington neighborhoods, looking for good Christmas light displays
14 Dec	tonight's ballroom dance included the first Viennese waltz lesson I think I've ever had, courtesy of my former boss Harold Cottrell
11 Dec	Elena taught me how to iron shirts so that I would teach her how to use the Internet
08 Dec	wanna give mad props to The Simpsons, Scrubs, and Andy Richter because they don't use a studio audience or canned laughter! Wish all comedies would do the same.
07 Dec	during a break from helping Tanya move from one apartment to another, I attended the Blue Grass Council of the Blind holiday luncheon
06 Dec	saw Die Another Day with Tanya, then took her to a birthday party that had fiddle players and belly dancers and lots of excitement
05 Dec	first big snowfall of the season
03 Dec	last dance class with Emily this year
30 Nov	my website now attracts people who don't know where to go to search criminal records at the LFUCG jail. Google likes to tell strangers that I mentioned the jail here on Sept 7, 2001. Google is good to me.
29 Nov	according to my logfiles, my website attracts my sister's ex-boyfriends and women all over the world who have the name Heather Anderson
28 Nov	celebrated Thanksgiving at Patty's house
27 Nov	I have two friends named Danielle, one of whom is regularly posting diary entries on the Web. Go visit!
26 Nov	sent out 24 Christmas cards so my Lexington friends would get theirs before Thanksgiving
24 Nov	Elena taught me how to make crêpes so that I would teach her how to use her PC
23 Nov	took Valerie to the Contra dance in Berea
22 Nov	Tanya joined me at the open-band Contra dance
21 Nov	big day at work: everyone in city govt was given a link to a phonebook search page I built. I'd include the link here, but it only works inside the govt network.
19 Nov	at Emily's Tuesday night dance class at UK, we were in a group photo for the UK yearbook
17 Nov	Danielle had a dinner party at her house
16 Nov	danced with Emily and Abby and Lisa at a USABDA dance at UK
12 Nov	saw One Hour Photo with Danielle and her boyfriend
12 Nov	wrote a brand new page: some things I've learned about building websites
11 Nov	you must not wait another second to learn about the hypercool Ghostzilla browser
10 Nov	Tanya and I tried to fly a kite but could not make it work
09 Nov	saw the new movie Femme Fatale, which has a surprising amount of French
08 Nov	took Tanya to see Spirited Away
06 Nov	my first day at a new part-time job (Standard Business Machines)
03 Nov	enjoyed Danielle's housewarming party and took pictures
31 Oct	passed out treats to 60 kids, up 50% from last year's total (40 kids)
27 Oct	the weekly Nutcracker rehearsal keeps me in ballet for the third day in a row
26 Oct	after lunch with Danny and dinner with Tanya, I was Dracula's butler for the last time
25 Oct	was in a morning (school show) and evening performance of Dracula. Tanya and Danielle saw the opening night performance on comp tickets that I earned with KYBallet.com work
25 Oct	ultra-stoked to be refinancing my mortgage at 5.5% interest
22 Oct	skipped dance class to have Thai food with Tanya
20 Oct	in today's Nutcracker rehearsal, my "wife" changed from Anna to Adalhi
18 Oct	attended my first Dracula ballet rehearsal
18 Oct	digital phone service and digital cable got installed in my house today, excellent
16 Oct	attended another French film at UK, this time with Shannon
16 Oct	found a fantastic page of photos on Daypop.com today and am calling attention to it here because it mentions my birthday, June 17
13 Oct	after I helped Patty with her PC, I went to my first 2002 Nutcracker rehearsal
12 Oct	skipped a ballroom dance at EKU to watch a DVD with Danielle
11 Oct	deposited another pint of A+ at the blood bank
10 Oct	found a harsh but funny page on Daypop.com today and almost imploded trying to keep from laughing too hard in that joy-smothering environment I call my workplace
09 Oct	it's hard for me to believe that someone found my website by searching for "Amy Grant naked"; it makes much more sense that I'm attracting a ton of visitors who need to find the lyrics to the theme song from Scrubs
08 Oct	another fun dance class with Emily
06 Oct	Tanya took me to PumpkinFest at Double Stink Hog Farm
05 Oct	I signed up for cable TV in the afternoon; Penny and I went bowling in the evening
04 Oct	skipped work to take Tanya to Cumberland Falls in southern KY, and as an added bonus we saw the Kentucky Fried Chicken museum
03 Oct	helped my friend Larry set up his own website domain
02 Oct	attended another French film at UK, this time with Danielle and Tanya
01 Oct	started attending UK's Tuesday night dance lessons as Emily's lesson partner
30 Sep	was invited by the director of Kentucky Ballet Theatre to also be in their upcoming production of Nutcracker
29 Sep	busy day, visiting friends
27 Sep	played piano (and did some spontaneous gymnastics) at the Contra dance, which was the very first Contra dance for my new friends Danielle and Tanya
26 Sep	Patty woke me up at 8 a.m. to get tech support, grrrr
25 Sep	introduced Penny to the tense movie Training Day
24 Sep	signed papers to lock a mortgage refinance at 5.5% interest
23 Sep	helped Penny with her car, then watched Un Coeur en Hiver at her house
23 Sep	felt really incompetent when I discovered my HTML coding at Makerracing.com had been defaced by a Russian hacker group, dang
21 Sep	making new friends is comforting when your old friends disappear
20 Sep	was personally invited by the director of Kentucky Ballet Theatre (who is also my neighbor) to be a butler in their upcoming production of Dracula
18 Sep	Happened to find a French film series at UK that was showing Vénus Beauté Institut for free. Can you believe it? My two favorite things, combined: (1) seeing French actresses, and (2) getting something for nothing.
17 Sep	Take a look at this complete list of searches that people have used to get to my site.
16 Sep	I can't tell you how stoked I am that my new boss does not call me at home every morning the way my old boss did.
14 Sep	After going (alone) to a cookout/birthday-party-for-Rochelle, I took Penny to her first ballroom dance. At our table, we were joined by Emily and Danielle and Tanya, and we all had a blast. Danielle called it "deliriously fantastic." Watching two Russian professional competition dancers perform was a major plus.
14 Sep	Realized today (after finally sticking a hit-counter on it yesterday) that my lyrics listing grabs the most traffic on my site, by far! I had no idea how many netizens were visiting my site by searching Google for these song lyrics. Looking at my logfile today, I can see that other people's lyrics are all I really have to offer the world wide web. I may just take down these news reports and focus on lyrics.
13 Sep	Celebrated Rochelle's birthday a day late
11 Sep	Happy birthday to Kristi
10 Sep	Finally concluded my search for rare MP3's by acquiring the Howard Jones song that was eternally posted as a wish on my CD list. Don't go looking for it on there anymore because I took it off. It is now one of the many songs on my MP3 list.
08 Sep	Watched a DVD (Goonies) at the casa de Chris Arth
07 Sep	Valerie and I went to an open casting call for a Tobey Maguire movie (Seabiscuit) which will be shooting a scene here in November. The casting director, Bill Dance, sorted people by how many of them he wanted to fit into one Polaroid headshot. I was a "single," meaning I was the only subject in the Polaroid they took. Woo-hoo! For comparison, I'll tell you that Valerie saw people get tripled up and quadrupled up for their instant headshots.
06 Sep	Attended a school picnic with Penny and her daughters Wandered around the Roots and Heritage Festival with Valerie
05 Sep	Happy birthday to both Patty and Heather
03 Sep	My nifty new referrer logs show me when someone does a search for "the car is totalled and upside down what does insurance do" or "Ohio Renaissance Fair" and finds my website! Ah, life is beautiful.
01 Sep	If you've ever watched TV with me, you know that I mute most, if not all, of the commercials. Well, at work we watch CNN all day, and no one mutes the commercials. As a result, I find new songs to download. That Kellogg's Special K song with the words "hello my love" is "Strawberry Letter 23." The Levi's ad about the French dictionary has the song "Playground Love." I now have copies of both songs. You could, too.
30 Aug	Attended the LFUCG employee picnic Rochelle and I saw About a Boy and played tennis
28 Aug	built my actress sister a website. Want one?
23 Aug	Valerie and I went to a Contra dance event in Indiana for the weekend
20 Aug	declined an invitation to be on the board of directors at BGCB
19 Aug	played a fatherly role, transporting Penny's daughter to and from school
18 Aug	took Valerie to a dance-group postcard-stamping brunch
17 Aug	took Penny to see a movie that exposes me completely (About A Boy)
15 Aug	got a 2nd URL redirect (bugle.3LX.com); 1st one is bugle.ipfox.com
13 Aug	took my DVD player to Penny's house to watch Showtime
11 Aug	did computer tech support at Norbe's house and then again at Patty's house
10 Aug	Penny took me to her friend's wedding where I danced with the bride
06 Aug	went to the park with Penny and her daughters
05 Aug	after our dinner at Jalapeno's, Kelly taught me the card game "Egyptian Ratscrew"
03 Aug	Valerie and I gave blood and went Contra dancing
02 Aug	took Valerie to a cookout and an outdoor concert and a Latino nightclub
29 Jul	Mom and Rachel went to NC. I went to a movie (Austin Powers).
28 Jul	took Mom and Rachel to Louisville to dance to the music of Fuego Latino
27 Jul	took Mom and Rachel to a cookout, then took Rachel to her first Contra dance
26 Jul	went bowling with Rachel, then showed her at Keeneland how gamblers pick horses
25 Jul	my mother and my niece Rachel are staying with me until the 29th
20 Jul	took Valerie to a city-government surplus auction and to a movie (Road to Perdition)
19 Jul	took Valerie to a swing dance offered by my former boss's dance studio
17 Jul	according to a typo on my driver's license, today is my birthday
14 Jul	outdoor adventure with Rochelle and 6 other friends (see photo)
13 Jul	after discussing website design with local ballet VIPs, I went to a party/luau with Catherine
12 Jul	dinner and games at Gatti-Town with Penny and her daughters
11 Jul	dinner with Dance Trance planning committee
10 Jul	did tech support for Patty and website programming for Makerracing.com
08 Jul	settled into my new city-government cubicle; phone 425-2258
07 Jul	had lunch with Penny at Jalapeno's, then walked her baby daughter around the mall
06 Jul	attended a local Contra dance because Meaghan from Missouri wanted me to go
06 Jul	had dinner with Rochelle at a cookout
04 Jul	celebrated the holiday with my friend Chris and his family (see photos)
03 Jul	started giving piano lessons to Penny's 6-year-old daughter
01 Jul	my unpredictable boss says it's a conflict of interest for him to give me any more work
(See all other old news...)

Brian Regan

On July 20, 2001, I met the comedian Brian Regan because my good friend Heather Anderson took me to Columbus to see him perform. Thanks, Heather!

We learned that he was raised in Miami, like I was.