Raga and Tabla

Blog No. 94: Vox Music

You know I realized something. When I scrolled through Rover II, my iPod, today I only listened to Utada Hikaru, Gackt, Three Graces, and the Yo-Yo Ma song of the Arabian Waltz. All more or less foreign music or music in a foreign language.

Then I went to St. John's church downtown to usher for Vox Music's concert "The East" which was basically a compilation of Persian/Indian/Georgian songs.

Coincidential, or, FATE? XP

Yeah. I was a "volunteer" usher for the Vox Music concert today at that church with Parkarr. Basically, we put papers into programs, passed out programs, and acted as a sign for the bathroom. It was pretty packed. Packed with old people. Old people that smelled like food... That's what Parkarr said at least. XP

Parkarr pretty much complained about his back and wanting cheeseburgers. He was also nodding off during the concert. I wouldn't blame him, at least during some of the singing...

But they had this really good raga (bazillion stringed guitar) player and tabla (toned hand drum) player. I think I met both of them before, I'm not sure. In the program, they said they worked at Sac State at some point, so it may have been one time I went over there to perform with my high school. XP

Everyone in that church applauded for a real long time, so they did an encore. Then after one last song, everyone stood up and applauded. So yeah, they had really good turn out. XP

Then Parkarr drove me to In-n-Out burger, where we commenced the eating of the cheeseburgers. I figured out that Parkarr can't do math. XP

Then he drove me home! :D

Mall Day Redux

(Yeah, I'll be posting pictures of Lennox until he's home. Makes my blog have a cuteness appeal. XP)

Blog No. 93: Mall Day Redux

Today was spent mostly at the hospital. Audrey was loads better. John had to go take a shower. Mom hogged the baby.

I wasn't really needed.

So I pretty much loitered all over the place. Ben, John's twin, arrived at some point, but we were kicked out of the room because Audrey was nursing. We just sat in the waiting area. Much like my conversation with John, Ben and I talked about high school, but we also talked about my college education. I complained about Chemistry, talked about Archery, and gave him an excuse to visit Santa Cruz starting Fall. XP

Once Ben left, I walked to the cafeteria to make the Rabbiman Sandwich, (the turkey sandwich with lettuce, tomato, swiss cheese, and mayo) only not toasted, with a side of fruit. I ate it while listening to KT Tunstall and Anberlin. I was sad because I didn't make my iPod playlist yet, ever since the previous Rover died...

I was texting Kaylah a lot. We basically talked about Lennox, how she has to see him now. We also planned our trip, April 17th to 19th: Piper's and David's Grand Santa Cruz Adventure. I also got her to plan to take us to the beach! You're welcome Piper! XD

I got some weird looks, so I went to the top floor and sat in the chapel. I ended up cranking my KT Tunstall music up and used my earphones as a stereo. It gets real echo-y in there, especially when you try to do some karaoke. :D

I also pulled out my Pokemon Platinum. Here's my status thus far:

Sora Lvl 35
Azula Lvl 34
Dustin Lvl 35

Artemis Lvl 35
Auron Lvl 35
Cesar Lvl 35

Yep. These are my pokemon. XP

Then a grieving family came in the chapel and all of a sudden I feel out of place. So I quickly left back to the room.

Piper called my cell phone while I was at the hospital and said, "WE SHOULD GO TO THE MALL!" So I made my mom drive me to Arden. I picked up an FLCL manga book at Barnes & Noble and sat in the sex section until they arrived. :P

We went to JC Penny to look for Susan Surrandon at work. I was all, "Paging Susan Surrandon, Susan Surrandon please come to the front of the store," but apparently she got off work already...

Then we figured out our Sleep Numbers. Taka was a 25, Piper and Parkarr 30, and me a whomping 45. Apparently I like my beds to be firm. XP

We made our usual stop to Teavana. Their teas are DELICIOUS! My favorite so far is the Roobios Chai tea. Someone dropped a glass lid to a tea pot.

Went to Hot Topic and found a cool top hat/hair pin.

Went to the Hello Kitty store, where we found Kat, Taka's cousin. Taka got a Sailor Moon poster and Piper got some star paper thingies... XP

We went to Bath & Body and saw these awesome orange butterfly chandelier things. Piper wanted to buy one, or at least find out if she could get it from her store, but the clerk said that they were prolly already divvyed up. Poor Piper. D:

Ventured to the Lego Store and built impromptu lego cars and raced on the ramp that was there. My car won, naturally. :D

We got hungry, so we did the Panda Feast at Panda Express. Ate rice, mushroom chicken, orange chicken, broccoli beef (YUM!), chow mein, and cream cheese rangoons. I fail at picking up rice with chopsticks. D:

Then we slowly ventured in the direction of Barnes & Noble, but we did not quite make it. By the time we left the food court, the mall was closing up. We had to walk down the escalators, but not before we took Lomo out for a slide between them! :D

When we exited, Piper realized we left behind Lomo's new box, which had some pajamas she bought and Taka's sketchbook with character designs for WAHHH!, our soon-to-be manga. Me and Taka were lame and just stayed on the first level, while Piper and Parkarr ran back up the escalators to the food court. Piper called a bit later and said that it was probably in the Lego Store, so we went to the security station by the exit and asked if someone could open their door. They called the store and they opened the doors for us. Seeing as Piper and Parkarr were already up there, they went in instead of us. The security had a couple of TVs of some surveillance cameras, and they cued up to the front of the store for us to confirm we knew the two crazy people in front of the Lego Store. We saw that when they opened the door, both of them pretty much face planted against the glass. XP

And Parkarr drove me home. END!

Will write a new Blog War Rule tomorrow, after Parkarr and I usher that concert tomorrow. XD

Speaking Time in Italian

Blog No. 92: Parlo il Tempo in Italiano

Comincio alle dieci e venticinque di notte.
--->Blog Start 10:25 PM

Alle nove di mattina, io practico tiro con mi amici.
At 9 AM, I practice archery with my friends.

The friends being Molly, JT, and Diana. King wasn't there, AGAIN.

JT had to make up the 20-yard line tournament, so he pulled his target forward whilst Molly and I had the 30-yard line targets behind it. It was the second day of my arrows being fixed. One of my arrows decided to be different and got a yellow cock feather instead of a white one. XP

Afterwards, JT and I went to the cafeteria to meet up with people before choir. I also had to get BLAH tea this morning while I was a Stabucks. Why? I don't know. But when we met up with her at the table, I was ordering my next Jamba Juice from her, seeing as she's paying me back. XP

Alle dieci e mezzo, Taka ed io andiamo a cantare con il coro.
At 10:30, Taka and I are going to sing with the choir.

But first, Taka wanted to turn in a paper to her teacher at Davies Hall. She called me to go along with her, and during our walk she was all, "No I don't want to go to Choir! AUGH!" Then after she turned in her paper, she was all "OK we need to gogogogogogogogo!!!" LOL XP

Choir wasn't bad at all. People weren't stupid this time! XP

Afterward, we played the Denny's/Telephone/Liz's Game with Link, Rachel, Piper, Tom, KT, Parkarr, and Nimzy. JT came along to cause some mayhem as well.

Alle due di pomeriggio, io gioco con il Nintendo DS mentre Parkarr dorme a la mia schiena.
At 2 PM, I played my DS while Parkarr sleeps on my back.

It's pretty much how it sounds. We went outside because we wanted a nap in the sun on the grass. While Taka was downloading the OST for Wicked on my USB drive, (YAY!), she complained that we were all too far apart on the grass. So, Parkarr got up and said, "I'm going to sleep on David's back."

During his nap, my Kirlia evolved into a Gallade and I taught in Night Slash and Leaf Blade. TOTALLY worth it!

Alle tre meno un quarto, impariamo vocabulario di tempo.
At 2:45, we learned vocab dealing with time.

Which is why I'm blogging so weird right now. XP

Tom hitched a seat with us in Italian so that he can be ahead of his Italian class. He pretty much confused Professoressa Martinelli. She thought that Piper was in the MW class with Tom. XP

Professoressa Martinelli was kind of annoyed today, and I wouldn't blame her. A lot of the people were asking off the wall questions when she was trying to teach us how to say it's frikken 3 o'clock!!! Terry did her usual, whaddyasay questions after Martinelli just talked about it.

After a while, Martinelli just said to the class, "Just remember Rule No. 47: It Ain't English." Taka, Piper, Tom, and I literally laughed out loud. It's sad because I think some of the other students didn't get it the joke... XD

Io arrivo a casa alle sei e quarantuno.
I arrive home at 6:41 PM

Almost a full hour after Italian let out! Which I wouldn't blame my mom for, what with her new grandson and daughter in the hospital. XP

I just practiced Spinning Song on the piano for an hour and I got most of the left hand together with the right hand. I still need to work on the waltzy lilt thing with the left hand and the right hand melody for that part. XP

Sono le undici meno cinque
--->Blog End 10:55 PM

That's enough Italian for one day! XD

Lennox

Blog No. 91: It's Official XD



Lennox Maxwell Garcia-Abaya. 9 lbs, 4 oz, 21".

The moment we've all been waiting for has finally arrived. My sister, Audrey, went in for the appointment for her sessarian and all went well. The baby's head was kind of big, so there was no way it could've been born normally. But he's cute as a button!

...

I wonder where that phrase even came from. "Cute as a button" really doesn't make sense if you think about it. Either way he's cute. XP




That's the father right there.

I was talking with him in the hallway. John and I randomly talked about our time at Rio Tierra, although not at the same time, I think because they saw someone that gave birth that they knew in high school. We remembered the creepy, frog looking history teacher, Ms. Curtis, whom I always thought of as being married to a Professor Snape character. He remembered the super young math teacher, Mr. Phongmany, who I only remembered because he made me like math so much. Apparently he was a "TILF" because all the girls had a crush on him. I remembered the super nice Ms. Jennings, the science teacher, who on my last day before transferring to Charter, asked the class to do a farewell card with a message of good luck for me. She was one of the really nice teachers I'll always remember. I think I still have that paper...

But yeah, I'm getting off subject. XD

It feels so weird. It's one thing to actually talk about it and seeing Audrey actually pregnant, but it's totally a horse of a different color when the baby is physically here. Of the times I picture my sister, I sometimes still imagine the younger, high school Audrey. That Audrey was a very spunky, NSYNC obsessed Audrey. I remember a couple of times when we were younger that she was hanging out with her friends, before the American Idol craze, trying to form an all girl singing group. I also remember the day that I won a poster of NSYNC in elementary school and that, when I knocked on her door to give it to her, she immediately snatched it and shut the door right after a brief scream and a briefer "thank you!" XP

It's hard to see that Audrey now with her own living, breathing child. I can say that she is a little bit less obsessive, but still as dorky, a thousand times more mature, and a zillion times stronger. John was the best thing that ever happened to her. Him and, now, Lennox.

Best wishes Audrey and John! <3

Defying Gravity and Hypnotism

Blog No. 90: Defying Gravity and Hypnotism

--->Blog Start 9:11 PM (zomg!)

New obsession: Wicked.




Dr. Hughes is planning a choir field trip to San Francisco to see the musical, Wicked, so that "we can have a first hand experience of how the song, 'For Good,' is supposed to sound in context." I think he'll just use any excuse to spend time with us. XP

I've only tried reading the actual book a couple of times. I skimmed most of it really. Now I'm kind of considering retrying reading that book again, maybe after the musical. I've first looked on youtube for the choir version of "For Good" and ended up looking up the production recordings of that plus "No One Mourns the Wicked," "Popular," and "Defying Gravity." I even looked at the PBS documentary for the "Defying Gravity" song. They explained its one of the truly emotional songs that ties it all together, right before the Wicked Witch of the West melts.

Poor Elphaba.




RIP

Crap. I need the Wicked OST now... XP

Anyways, I was watching the Mentalist, one of the many murder shows on prime time. This episode dealt with a person dragging what he thought was a sack of potatoes, when really it was a murdered female body...

SRSLY.

Basically, he was attending a self help seminar dealing with hypnotism. Apparently, he was just a hypnotized victim in this mess. First they thought that the hypnotist's apprentice hypnotized him. He confessed to it. But then something else happens to make it so that the apprentice was also hypnotized into admitting to the murder. Stuff happens. A cop goes under a trance. It ends up being a jealous lover of the hypnotist, hypnotizing the hypnotized potato guy to frame the hypnotist, as well as the hypnotist's apprentice to admit the act of murder and the cop to almost push the hypnotist off the building...

So how do we really know that what we see and do actually is real?

...

Hypnotists scare me.

--->Blog End 9:32 PM

PS Could someone pass my Chemistry test tomorrow for me please? Tomorrow is going to be a hellish hell.... XP

The Dustin Pin

Blog No. 89: The Dustin Pin

--->Blog Start 8:32 PM

Me with my Dustin Pin. Dustin with his Rabbiman Pin.

It's official. We're weirdos.

...

Weirdos with matching pins! XD

If you're out of the know: Cesar apparently asked Susan Surrandon long ago to make a pin of himself with the one picture with long hair and moustache. Matt ended up wearing it on his shirt to show Cesar off to single women, even when Cesar wasn't there (or something like that). Then we all remarked how cool the pins looked.

Then I said, "I call the Dustin Pin!"

Dustin followed, "I call the Rabbi Pin!"

Fast forward to the present. :D

Both pins/buttons/whatever-they-are are made by Susan Surrandon. Funny thing, she was telling me that her mom saw them this morning. Here was their basic conversation:

"Who are these strapping young fellows and why are they on buttons?"

"Mom, they're David and Dustin. They asked me to make pins of themselves for eachother."

"Wait, what?"

"David wanted a pin of Dustin and Dustin wanted a pin of David."

"So are they lovers or something?"

"No mom! Gross! They just wanted pins of each other because they thought it was awesome to put their faces on pins. They just happen to like each other enough to wear eachother's pins!"

"Huh. That sounds like a Turk and JD thing doesn't it?"

"... That's right mom. It's guy love, between two guys."

A head nod and a round of applause for Susan Surrandon's mom making a Scrubs reference.

...

Another question: Would I be Turk or JD? I don't think Dustin's black enough to be Turk.

XP

--->Blog End 8:51 PM

btw Rabbi Points

Susan Surrandon +5

Dustin +3

Susan Surrandon's Mom +10

What's Love Gotta Do With It?

Blog No. 88: My Views on Love

--->Blog Start Tuesday, March 23 8:45 PM

I decided to do a rant on love. No idea why. Warning, what follows is a major self examination into my inner psyche. Here's a way to get into my heart, theoretically:

I'm not going to ask anyone out. At least not yet.

---It could mean I'm lazy---

The way I see it, I will go out with someone if they ask me first. I have two reasons for this.

I grew up without a father. I still don't know him as a person or why he left, if he left. I don't even know if I want to know. I always wonder what would've happened if he were still in my life. On the one hand, I wouldn't be the same person I am today. But the other hand tells me that I'm deprived in some way I don't understand. I would want a relationship where I know from the get-go that we would both be willing to stay committed, whether or not that relationship pursues to marraige and whether or not that relationship pursues to kids. I don't want anyone getting hurt if worse comes to worse. If they ask me out first, then I would know whether or not they are willing to try it out, and I'll try my hardest to keep the love alive, so to speak. If/when I find someone, they'll always fit within the four corners of the picture frame. If she needs my time, I'll make it.

I would also want the strong, laugh-in-the-face-of-tradition woman to be all up in my face. If she stands on her two feet and ask me out, then I can tell that if she wants something from me, she'll make it known. I see women trying to do all this random crap, trying to manipulate the situation to get a guy to ask her out. Like in high school, I had someone ask me to ask someone else she liked if he liked her, but without it being so obvious. I ended up tying the conversation with a tarot card trick, to see what kind of reaction he got when I mentioned a future with her specifically. I also heard of other ways, like a girl inviting someone she likes and another couple, selling it as a day out with friends (when really she was trying to set the mood to get him to talk and eventually ask her out). Too complicated for my taste. Simpler Solution: It's the modern era ladies, ask him out.

If she follows this simple solution, she will have the confidence I want in a woman. She would have the confidence that I would envy, and she would be the person I would look up to. Love is a rock, and I would want her to be my rock. Of course relationships are give and take so I'd be her rock, too, granted it might crumble... XP

She would be open to new ideas, too. Like right now, I'm picturing my wedding day. Seeing as I have so many female friends to speak of, I'm thinking I would want a Best Woman, with groomsmen being female, and the bride would have the "Maid of Honor" to be male, as well as her bridesmaids. Weird right? I believe that the person I would end up with would be open to this idea. Open to being different and open to making everyday as different and memorable as the one we spent before it. It's why I love the movie Yes Man so much! Jogging Photography class! XP

My policy on relationships: To be fair, I'm open to whatever comes my way. I'm not religious, but I believe that whatever comes happens for some reason. At least to an extent.

Fate will swing me whichever way the wind blows. I grew up in an accepting environment throughout the years. If it means that it ends up being a hermaphrodite with one eye, a blowfish at the fishtank at Rubio's, or even just a guy asking me out, so long as I know they're serious, then I'd be willing to try. An example: if Dustin ever came out of the closet and asked me out I would be open to dating him...

---Well... Admittedly, I would first laugh in his face, thinking he was pulling an elaborate joke, then avoid him for a couple of days if he pursued this joke a little too far, then feel sympathy for him when he does something huge to proclaim his love, then stare cross-eyed in a mirror for awhile and wonder what I got myself into... But after all that, I'd say yes... I think...

Maybe Dustin's a bad example... I don't have enough single, straight guy friends who I wouldn't be embarassed in using as an example---

However, it doesn't mean that I'm indifferent to who I'm attracted to. I have very minimal experience with relationships, but of what I've been through, I can definitely tell you that if I do ask someone out, I'm asking a woman. XP

I believe in the whole "don't knock it if you try it thing." I would guess this was why so many people in college thought I was gay. [Insert embarassing story here. XP] In high school, it was more of a YOUR-AWESOME!-HUGZ!!! type of atmosphere, and we didn't care if someone was gay or jew or black or alien or supah religious or what have you. No judgments! Then college happened and it turned into the weird stereotypical high school now and made my quirks kind of awkward with people... But I digress.

I'm not really looking for sex. Not in the least bit. It would be a perk, or a moment in my life I do not want to relive. I will bring up, again, that I'm not religious. However, I will most likely follow the unwritten rule I was raised with, "marraige before sex." Either way, not really looking for sex. I may joke about it a lot, but really I share Patric's view of sex, "Kind of awkward. You can't make a starship with just two pieces." XP

So right now, I'm taking it easy. I don't have a need for a relationship, so I'm enjoying the single life. There may be one day when I find her but that doesn't have to be soon. Slow and steady is always good. XD

So yeah. I'm going to leave it at that. It might change after awhile, seeing as life has a way with changing these kind of things. Love isn't one of those things that's supposed to be defined in just a few words. So even though I'll say "Blog End" it's not the end...

--->Blog End 9:59 PM