Tag Archives: Lost

It’s ok, you can let go…

Posted on by

Two years ago I watched the last episode of LOST, having spent the previous year re-watching, tweeting, blogging and just about inhaling the series on an almost daily basis. I walked to my bed that night, satisfied with the ending. Not just satisfied, but joyful over the way it ended, and brought the story of LOST full circle with the closing of the same eye that opened the 6 years of enthralling television.

The show met me in the time of my life where I had many successes and lots of regrets. The stage of my life that I lived in the summer of 2009 was an uproar of my own making, a plane wreck if we want to speak metaphorically. I was trying to fix myself, I my life had become unmanageable because of an addiction, and at that time I was white knuckling the withdrawals and trying to fix myself. In a way, the reason LOST finale resonated so well with me, is between the end of season 5 and the beginning of season 6 I had reached the end of myself, and started seeking the help of a recovery community. There, in that community of messed up souls, I found a connection with fellow strugglers, that resonated many large themes of LOST. It very well may be that seeing LOST through the lens of that experience I’m reading my own struggle into that work of fiction, and I’ll admit it. Because face it, we all do that.

As a confessing Christian, I also viewed LOST through those glasses, and the themes of forgiveness, loyalty, redemption, sacrifice and community certainly made those facets of the show more vivid to me. The symbols of light and dark, water and fire triggered many things I’ve learned from the scriptures, and helped me to form a tighter understanding of my own faith.

I’ve used LOST scenes to teach some of tenets of recovery, the need to come to grips with our past, what ever happened, what I did, sort through them, then let them go. The reason the finale of LOST resonated with me, is I saw all of the characters I loved pass through that as they remembered the island and the important things that happened to them. Those characters and their shared experience (both the good times and the bad times) are what saved them. Not from the smoke monster and his quest to extinguish the light, but from themselves and their willingness to ignore the light.

When Hurley drank the water Jack offered as a rite, and became like Jack is, I knew the Island is in the best of hands. It will continue to be a place where messed up people like me can find other people to hold on to, to struggle with, and to over come. We all need a place like the island, a place where we can be together.

I can let go of lots of things in my life, I need to let go of a lot more, but the lessons I learned through LOST about love, life, forgiveness and endurance… Those, I’ll hold onto.

I’m gonna celebrate, dammit!

Posted on by

Because 42 pounds lost was my goal, and I did it!image

That said, 42 was my initial goal, I’m not done yet!  And with all I’ve learned about that blasted trend line I’ve gotta keep up the momentum to have that trend weight get under the 300 mark (still will happen this month, so long as I keep drinking water!)

So while I wait for the trend to catch up to the scale, I’m considering my next steps, I have a wacky idea in mind, that should be a fun way to mix it up a bit in the next few months.  So stay tuned.

Meanwhile, a small soliloquy on why 42 pounds was my goal (despite the 43 stated in the above picture, I didn’t want to use a three-digit number starting with a 3 as a goal.).

I turned 42 last December.  I read Douglas Adams’ Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy when I was in college, so I understand the significance of the number 42 being the ulitmate answer to life, the universe and everything. [Aside: the question being what is 6*9 merely a distraction, this universe’s question shall remain a mystery, see here).

In January my favorite television show LOST started it’s final season (something that should be blatantly obvious to my two readers, but I write to a larger audience!), which I progressed through in a state of joy and sadness.  At The End, I realized I needed something other than television (though I still love me some TV!) to be important in my life.  About the same time as LOST’s finale, my lovely and HAWT wife started on Weight Watchers, she asked me gently to do it with her, because trying to plan meals alone on the system was hard.  So I started Weight Watchers, and then after my free period expired, I started using LoseIt! Both of these programs give you a goal weight, which is a stumper.  All I really new back then was I didn’t want to be as heavy as I was, but as far as a discrete number… clueless.  So I fell back on the LOST numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42.  I chose the biggest, because with my initial weigh-in that would put me under 300 pounds.  No I’m looking at all the progress and trying to find a next big number… but I get ahead of myself, stay tuned!

Sometime after I started on controlling my calorie intake. [Aside: that sentence is a laborious way of avoiding the word “diet” – for which I want to avoid because so far I haven’t eliminated any food sources, just how much of the calories I ingest.] I also wanted to increase my calorie outtake.  So I started the Couch to 5K program, which gently guides a couch potato like I was into a somewhat steady runner.  I pegged a date to run a 5k in September, and was committed to getting that done.  I ran my first 5k in 42 (and a bit more) minutes.

See there is that number again.  42. I love the number 42!  The next jean waist size in my cross-hairs? You guessed it 42! (from a 48 mind you…)

So with hitting the 42 pounds gone, I’m gonna celebrate!

Now, where did I put my celery?

Pre-Hash: Everybody Loves Hurley

Posted on by

Woo! It’s Hugo’s day to shine.  He’s had a lot of background scenes this season, playing Jacob’s lackey and has been part of both Jack’s and Richard’s epiphanies, so hopefully we’ll get a lot more motion along these lines in the island timeline.  The purpose of these prehash post, though is to go back and remember earlier times, to help make the sideways differences pop a bit more visibly. So I’m pushing the way back button, and scrolling to season one and hitting The Numbers, perusing Exodus (focusing on pt 3) and then Season Two’s epic Everyone Hates Hurley as well as Dave. 

Hugo “Hurley” Reyes, lives with his mother Carmen, who desperately wants Hugo (she never calls him Hurley – always Hugo) to get a life, more importantly a lady.  Hugo, however, wants to sit at home, channel surf and have a bucket of Mr. Cluck’s Fried Chicken, while hoping that he might have a bit of privacy.  This all changes when the numbers that he learned while at the Santa Rosa Mental Health from a patient named Lenny. 

See Hugo, at some point was the 23rd person to walk on a desk that was built to hold 8 people.  It collapsed, and Hugo was sure that it was because of his excess weight.  Hugo was fat because he’d been using food to comfort himself ever since his father, David, left for Las Vegas 17 years earlier, last thing he gave little Hugo was a Nestle Crunch bad that Carmen forbade.

All that tragedy landed Hugo in the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute, under the care of Dr. Brooks. In Santa Rosa, Hugo’s constant companion was a man named Dave (there are a few other David’s in the LOST-verse, Jack’s sideways son, Libby’s dead husband, as well as Hugo’s absent father).  The only problem is that Dave wasn’t real, consider Dave as more of a balding Harvey, a pooka. Once Hugo, under the guidance of Dr. Brooks, determined that Dave wasn’t real, he made a real breakthrough, was released from the hospital, moved in with his mother, and got a job at Mr Cluck’s Chicken Shack.

It’s after this that we reconnect with Hugo, he’s watching the TV while enjoying a Mr. Cluck’s bucket of chicken when the lottery comes on and reads the number’s that were burned into his brain by Lenny.  Hugo is a bit afraid of the change, and doesn’t tell anyone for a couple of days.  The knowledge of his financial security does change his outlook, as he realizes that he no longer needs to work for that douche Randy, and quits his job.  In a fit of solidarity, Hugo’s friend Johnny also quits the Mr. Cluck’s gig, and they start on a LOST version of Hugo Reyes’ Day Off.  First stop, record shop, where Hugo tries on some new headphones, and tries on asking Starla the shop assistant out on date to a Hold Steady concert.  Next stop is collecting garden gnomes to then arrange on Randy Nation’s lawn spelling out “CLUCK YOU!” They stop to refill the van at a convenience store, but that where the story changes.  The clerk (who’s also dressed up in the Mr. Cluck’s chicken costume in Hurley’s dream in the swan hatch’s storage room) recognizes Hugo as the big lottery winner.

Winning the lottery is where Hugo’s life changes again.  He has a press conference where he introduced his whole family, including his grandfather Tito.  Sad part is that Tito drops dead from a heart attack.  Hugo’s brother’s girlfriend leaves him for another woman.  The priest residing over Tito’s funeral gets struck by lightning. Weird.  Hugo buys his mother a house, and while surprising her with the new purchase some things happen 1) Carmen doesn’t surprises. 2) Carmen twists her ankle. 3) The house catches on fire. 4) Hugo gets arrested on suspicion of being a drug dealer. (Sure — it had nothing to do with the bright yellow Hummer, loud music and red bandana he’d given his mom to blindfold herself.)

All this misfortune has Hugo thinking the numbers are cursed.  His financial advisor, Ken, doesn’t think so, after all, Hugo is now the owner of a box company in Tustin.  His sneaker company in Canada was over-insured, so even though the fire destroyed his operation (and killed 8 people) he still netted a windfall of more cash.  Surely, Hugo isn’t cursed (cue man falling past Ken’s window.)

Hugo buy’s Mr. Clucks in an attempt to change his luck, only to have a meteorite destroy the franchise and kill Tricia Tanaka.  Hugo’s ready to get rid of the numbers’ curse.  His father, David, returning to his life is the last straw.  Hugo heads to Austrailia to purge the numbers from his life, he needs to visit Sam Toomey, Lenny’s partner and find out what’s up.  Well, Sam’s dead, but Hugo gets to visit with Martha, Sam’s one-legged widow.  Sam killed himself because he thought the numbers were cursed.  Martha saw things differently, and thought, despite her loosing her leg in a freak accident after Sam used the money to win a count the beans in the jar contest, that Sam was the luckiest man alive.

The last part of Hugo pre-crash, is the series of unfortunate events that almost had him missing the Oceanic flight and missing his mother’s birthday party.  First his alarm doesn’t go off, because the socket shorted out (with a black smoke scorched wall).  He has to take the stairs because the elevator is stuffed.  His car engine coughs, stutters and dies and he has to walk to the terminal.  He has to buy a second seat to get on the plane. Is late but can’t cut through the excessively long security line.  He pays an old dude to steal use his electric cart, and arrives at the gate to have the airway door close in his face.  Luckily, Hugo uses his charm to convince the gate agent to open the gate and let him on the plane.

Lucky Hurley.

See Hurley thinks he’s unlucky, but really, he is one of the luckiest people in the world.  Hurley is also one of the worst liars, he simply sucks at it.  Hugo also thought it was unlucky, unfortunate, that he has an uncanny super power of being able to talk to the dead.  That is until he was touched by Jacob in a cab, and told that talking to the dead is an incredible gift.  It certainly has come in handy in Season 6, as Hurley has been a translator to the spiritual guides that helped Jack come to grips with his past, and Richard to entrust the true love of his long dead wife.

What do you think will happen tonight? Are you psyched? Leave us your thoughts in the comments.

Cheers.

Hail of bullet points from rewatching:

  • Hugo’s grandpa Tito, worked for 52 years.
  • Hugo’s Mom doesn’t like surprises.
  • 8 people died in the in fire in his Canadian shoe factory. 
  • Hurley is spry.
  • Lenny loves playing Connect 4 while chanting the numbers.
  • Lenny’s comments after Hurley told him he played the numbers: You used those numbers play the lottery?  You shouldn’t have done that, you’ve opened the box! Shouldn’t have used the numbers, it doesn’t stop. You have to get away from those numbers! It doesn’t stop.
  • When they come upon a rickety bridge on the way to Rousseau’s to find batteries for the Raft. Jack: Never mentioned anything about a bridge.  Sayid: I’ve never saw this before.  Lucky Hurley made it across, little Charlie didn’t. 
  • Hugo is often used as a greek chorus speaking for the audience, and to the audience, cluing us into the narrative of the story.  Except when the show features Hurley’s story, he’s much less in that role, and it switches often to Sawyer, Miles or Charlie.
  • Hugo brought hope to the castaways when he found the old Dharma van, and with the help of Sawyer, Jin and Charlie got it running again.  Key line while convincing Charlie to join him: Look, I don’t know about you, but things have really sucked for me lately and I could use a victory. So let’s get one, dude. Let’s get this car started. Let’s look death in the face and say, "whatever, man." Let’s make our own luck. What do you say?

LOST – A story of addiction recovery?

Posted on by

Last night Jeff “Doc” Jensen published his long teased theory of LOST as a reflection of a recovery program in his article: ‘LOST’: A Shot at Redemption. It is a wonderful article, and the theme of redemption and recovery resonates with me partly because of where/when this build up to its ultimate season occurred and how it has affected me personally.

Before you read any further, this is not a humorous look at “LOST addiction.” My hope is to start a very real discussion of real life addiction, and how recovery programs have made a difference, not only in my life, but in a great many others too.

Continue reading →

LOST Fans … exciting things are brewing.

Posted on by

and I don’t mean a pot of coffee (well that’s not the ONLY thing, because, well… coffee! yum!)

I might be announcing something in the next few days, that will most likely leach any additional hits from this site…

that’s all I can say for now, stay tuned.

don’t forget #LOST #WFTB tonight 9pm for #S5E12 Dead is Dead

Lost Petition – Bleg

Posted on by

What’s next for the petition?  After a week’s worth of internet flurry with mentions from here to there across many sites, I need to find something to DO with this petition.  My goal is to get to 5000 signatures then get the Petition printed out in a neat format and sent to a friend in Hawaii that will take it to the LOST On the Beach premiere.

PetitionOnline provides a printing service at the low rate of one red cent per signature. Which is nice to know, but my pocketbook currently lacks red cents (or blue cents, or green cents, or …) that isn’t already allocated to the needs of a 6 member family.

So I’ve plopped a PayPal Donate button over in the sidebar ————————>

If you feel led to donate, I’ll make sure all proceeds go towards the printing costs for the petition and shipping to Hawaii in time for the gala opening.  If I can’t get that level of support, I’ll keep the petition open for another LOST event down the road when my pocketbook is more able to handle the heavy lifting.

If through your generous donations, the giving exceeds the need, my plan is to send the remaining funds as a donation to my church’s youth group mission fund, to support summer camps and the like later this year.

Thanks for all your support and enthusiasm for this petition.

Not necessarily Tom Sawyer’s Island…

Posted on by

There he goes again, blogging about the *sing-song* LOST Disney Attraction Petition. 🙂

Well when you get a reference from OC Weekly, Yahoo! Buzz, Perez Hilton and the Orange County Register, taking a cue from The Other McCain, you milk it for all it’s worth.  This blogging business is a rough and tumble world, and the only thing you can really do to generate traffic is to.. well, blog. 

So this is in response to Disney-O-Rama’s post: Should Tom Sawyer Island Be Turned Into LOST Island

Apparently a group of hardcore fans of the ABC show “Lost” have started a petition to persuade Disney to create a “Lost” island at Disneyland. The “Lost” attraction would replace “Tom Sawyer Island”, which is seen as being outdated, even with its newly created tie-in to “Pirates of the Caribbean” film series.

While I consider myself to be a hardcore fan of “Lost” as well, this is a bad idea in so many ways.

First, thanks for your support and linking to the petition, next time, try reading it, I’ll help you out, the short preamble says:

LOST is one of the best television series to ever be broadcast on television. Disney should give this awesome show it’s[sic] due and create a LOST Island attraction at one of it’s Disney theme parks. Just think of the locations that can be immortalized in a Disney location.

While it does say Island, it is not specific to Tom Sawyer Island.  It’s more a reference to the location that LOST is centered on “LOST Island”.  The petition isn’t trying to define where in the Magic Kingdom it should be placed, but that the idea be considered by the powers that be to include some LOST themed something.  Heck, most LOST fans would probably be thrilled at a Dharma snack bar, selling Dharma branded concessions.  Executive Producer Carlton Cuse thinks an E-Ticket ride is a better idea.

You may think turning Tom Sawyer Island into LOST island is a bad idea, and many agree with you, but that doesn’t discount the concept of a LOST attraction. I admit that my first impression was centered around using Tom Sawyer Island, and Damon Lindelof tweeted about putting a Polar Bear on the island, so I don’t think it’s a terrible idea.

I haven’t been to Disneyland in 15 years (give or take 9 months), so I’m not up to date on the layout of the park or changes that have been made.  My memories of going to Disneyland in my youth (30+ years ago) have very fond memories of exploring Tom Sawyer Island, hiking along the trails, going into caves, checking out the neat forts, pretending we had guns, and the sailing ship circling the island.  As a “hard core” LOST fan, all of those elements that I remember of the attraction of Tom Sawyer Island, are repeated concepts in the mystery of LOST island, and recurring themes in the plots of the show. 

Do kids need to know all the deep mysteries of LOST to have fun on an LOST themed island.  Just as kids don’t have to wade through or even be familiar with Mark Twain’s character to enjoy the current rendition of the Island.  My two boys (7 and 10) would LOVE it, maybe their friends down the street might be clueless about the theme, but they’d probably love the imaginary games they could play exploring the island.

Adults would come to the attraction, but that’s one of the things that Disney does extremely well, is create experiences where generations can share their enjoyment.  Examples: Every Pixar film made.  When Disney gets off it’s game and starts shooting solely at a younger generation, well I have two words for you: Miley Cyrus. (that’s a joke, Hoss).

I’m glad you do agree with the concept of the petition (I’ve shown it’s not TSI specific) and agree with the points you make here:

Don’t get me wrong – I think the idea of a “Lost” style attraction where fans can physically experience what they have watched for 5 plus seasons now is a great idea. I just don’t believe that Tom Sawyer Island should be sacrificed in the process.

If the Disney powers-that-be take this petition seriously, maybe more suitable locations would be “Disney’s Animal Kingdom” in Orlando or possibly the new Disney resort that is being developed in Kapolei, Hawaii.

The Hawaiian location would be a supreme location for such an attraction, so I do hope you’ve signed the petition.

Thanks for taking the time to form a well thought out response to a self-admittedly kinda silly idea.  Your post is proof that the silly ideas (like a theme park in Anaheim of all places) can generate some real ideas, and some awesome fun.

The LOST Petition makes the Around Disney blog.

Posted on by

I was very surprised to see an email from a reporter for The Orange County Register asking if she could contact me for an interview.  I remember as a teenager, going to High School at Los Amigos High (Fighting Lobos) in Fountain Valley seeing the paper on the dining room table at breakfast.  This was twenty plus years ago, so the memory is hazy.  (Yes kids, back then they printed the news on actual paper.)

So a couple of days ago I had a really nice conversation with Sarah Tully, who writes for the Register’s Around Disney blog, which has news and information about all things Magic Kingdom (aka Resort Area of Anaheim where Walt Disney’s Disneyland is located, perhaps you’ve heard of it?)

The interview resulted in this article (click on through to give some linkage):

Tom Sawyer’s Island cabin could become Jacob’s cabin. A smoke monster could waft around Disneyland guests. Dharmaville barracks could go up in Frontierland.

If fans of the “Lost” T.V. show have their way, all would be part of a show-themed attraction at a Disney park. Preferably, Tom Sawyer’s Island would become “Lost” Island at Disneyland.

Fans are circulating an online petition to ask Disney to put an attraction based on the science-fiction show in one of its parks. See the petition HERE.

The organizer, former Orange County resident Jon Stueve, aims to collect 5,000 signatures by today so that a fellow “Lost” fan can deliver it to officials at the “Lost” premiere in Oahu, Hawaii. As of mid-Thursday, more than 3,000 people had joined the petition.

While I’m disappointed that Suzi Brown, a Disneyland Resort spokesman commented that Walt Disney Imagineering officials aren’t, “contemplating the concept.”  I’m not really surprised.  Imagineers are men of science, after all, and they’ll need some convincing from some of us men (and women) of faith.  So I’m taking a ‘whatever, dude!’ attitude, and just gonna enjoy the idea as it dances through the my ever decreasing grey matter.

Thanks again, Sarah for the article and taking the time to contact me, and listen to this hair brained idea.  It is the highest praise of a ‘hard core’ LOST fan to say to you – You All Everybody!