Happy 4th of Ju--Ka-BLOOM!

Blog No. 185: 4th of July

Taka and King basically saved my day.

The family, what with being seperated by a freeway, had a divided holiday. My mom and aunt kept it simple at the apartment, while Audrey, John, and Lennox went to Vicky Joe's place. Then I texted Dustin and Patric if they were still coming over to paint, to which Dustin replied that Patric had previously laid plans and wouldn't be able to make it. Then I got a text from JT, whom basically flat out said that there was no Frisbee this weekend. Why do all of my guy friends seem unreliable? XP

In the end, Taka gave me a phone call, saying she was in the area, visiting her friend Jacob from High School and planned to do fireworks over at his house. I told Taka that I was home alone with no plans whatsoever. Then Taka went off her phone, trying to talk King to picking me up to go to Jacob's.

Taka, my hero! <3

Anways, King picked me up. When I arrived, I met Jacob and the immediate household. I had seen Jacob from the Pops Concert and a few times on Taka's bowling videos, but this was really the first time I met him face to face.

The four of us were in his room, watching Jacob talking to Yowty and other high school friends on the computer. We also watched some Mortal Combat parody videos, too. Taka and I text Abril on my new phone.

Once it clearly got dark in the room, it was time to start some fireworks. Taka and King had a small bag while the rest of them had a few big and *cough* illegal *cough* ones. We tried lighting some with those lighting sticks that comes with fireworks sets, only it failed miserably. They had one giant one which someone got in memorandum of his son who died in a car crash, I believe. That one took awhile to be finished, but it did put on a show! Taka loved the Morning Glory, or the 'sparklers' as some might call them. I drew a star of David on the street with my sparkler. XP

After it was all said and done, Taka, King, and I felt like it was too early to call it a night, so we quickly drove to a fireworks stand in front of the Lutheran church near the middle school. We were lucky because they were about to close just as we arrived. After purchasing one of the box sets, I had realized that it was the first time I was able to legally buy fireworks. It would've been a kodak family moment, but ah well... Then we went to the nearby Circle K and got a cigarette lighter and a 2-liter Dr. Pepper for the festivities. XP

At my house, I pulled out my painting bucket to fill with water while Taka and King sorted through the fireworks. The set we got a had a cliched Asian vibe to it, what with the 'Large Friendship' and 'Cherry Blossoms' and whatnot. XP

Taka and King decised a couple of ways in which to set of some fireworks simultanneously using paper attached to fireworks fuses. It took awhile longer, but it was worth it in the end! XP

After setting off some fireworks, Taka, King, and I played some SSBrawl in the computer room.

So I had my fireworks after all! [Insert JT saying, "Ah so it did work out in the end, didn't it?"] XP

My New Phone

Blog No. 184: My New Phone

The New(-ish) Motorola Krave ZN4, AKA "The Spock Phone"

Tuesday, mom and I went to the Natomas Verizon Wireless store to look at some phones. I had complained a little bit that my phone needed to charge more and more because it was dying daily, which never happens to me. I had my original LG Alias for quite some time now and it worked just fine, even considering the increase of phone activity through the transition of graduation from high school and summer. It was always the tradition that we'd swap phones out every year as the plans went to an end at around Christmas time.

Why the wait? Well, partly because the phones worked wonders, partly because I had starting thing practical, what with the mature step of having graduated high school.

We walked in the store, bypassing all the fidgety salesfolk, to physically look at the newer models. The new Chocolate was a real downer, seeing as it just became a Razor. The Blackberries are, as always, too bulky in size and too small in keys, plus we don't use mobile web, even though mom pays for it. There was the new enV with the touch screen, but it still was a flip phone for texting, same with the Voyager. What was the purpose of having a touch screen if you still had a keypad?

Then there was an Alias 2 that was out, which seemed sturdier than the original. Its keys were more legible and had the capability to change from numbers to QWERTY with a push of a button. Its screen seemed larger, even though it was an exact size of the original. It seemed like the right phone for us.

Only, my mom budged me to look for different phones and explore what's there. That's when I came across the Krave. What attracted me was the clear flip pad and second touch screen. It apparently was the phone my uncle, also a Verizon Wireless worker, wanted. It was bulky enough to not need a case and worry about getting it lost, yet it had the operational touch screen which cell phones seemed to be more geared towards. After this, I was torn. Mom gave me a day to research online between the two phones.

So I looked up the common Pro/Con lists for both the Alias 2 and the Krave.

Alias 2~

Pros:

• Same design as original. Familiar setup with new practical features.
• Great for texting.

Cons:

• No new extra features, like for pix/flix.
• Not as capable in the applications front.

Krave~

Pros:

• Unique design. Sensitive touch screen with accelerator, ("able to tilt")
• Great for applications.

Cons:

• Going through multiple menu screens for mundane things.
• Texting disadvantages, (not available when closed and blocks the left thumb in QWERTY mode).

After all that, I looked at the Pros/Cons lists for my original Alias and found some surprising complaints, like low battery life and bulky in design, both being the exact OPPOSITE of how I felt about it. So I found that complaints are to be taken with a grain of salt.

On Wednesday, I looked at the Madison Verizon Wireless store and basically compared texting speeds between the Alias and the Krave. Admittedly, the Krave hindered my texting by a bit. However, from what I experienced, it turned out to be something to get used to, after finding a way to maneuver the flip screen in QWERTY mode.

So it was decided. My new phone is the Motorola Krave!

Nothing Much

Blog No. 183: Thursday

Just the theme of the entire day.

Had some coffee.

Played some SSBrawl.

Move some stuff in my room.

Sat down to watch Gilmore Girls while having dinner.

Slept.

Nothing much. XP

Whoopi Goldberg

Blog No. 182: Wednesday

Right where we left off, King, Taka, Abril, and I retired to Taka's house before our class to play the CAT themed monopoly, called Catopoly.

After searching for my ATM Modern Monopoly, (and failing to find it T_T), my sister let me borrow her Catopoly game instead. I had brought in on our Random Day, but we ended up not playing it. Seeing as I left it in King's car, we decided to play it then.

My "Muk" pokemon property for this game was the "Russian Blue" cat property. This time around, I ended up with two monopolies on the first side of the board, and Abril had one after the "Jail" space, (which in this game was "Falling in the Water" X3). I won that game, or at least everyone quitted while I had most of the money. XP

Jardine's class was kinda boring, seeing as our notes was not centered into one area of Rome but instead went over a time line of the Roman Republic up until it transitioned to the Roman Empire.

Big whoop. Whoopi Goldberg. XP

Piper's Grand Pokemon Themed Adventure

Blog No. 181: Random Day

So my mom dropped me off at Piper's house on Tuesday, 6/30, for some hanging out time.

When I got there, Difuentez was playing a computer platforming game called "Civilizations" I believe. It looks basically like my course in Western Civilizations, only grossly Americanized and you can control the course of the timeline, somewhat.

Piper's mom received a phone call from Rachel's dad, basically saying that Rachel's in the hospital due to a kidney infection. It kinda got real for Piper for a second, then we ended up playing a round of SSBrawl to keep our hopes up. XP

Then we decided to see Rachel in the ICU at the Roseville Kaiser. When we arrived, we ended up outside the double doors for a few minutes, waiting for word from anyone. When we didn't get anything, we went back downstairs to the desk where the receptionist pointed us in the direction of where we just were. Then Piper used a phone nearby the doors and talked to someone for awhile, then we pushed a button for the double doors leading to the ICU to open.

Apparently, Rachel went in on the count of a high fever and not eating a lot. Then, once there, they diagnosed her for just a mild fever, until her heart rate had gotten too high. Then something about transferring from a private room, to the emergency room, to the ICU for when the increase heart rate persisted. They also evacuated a floor because it had gotten too hot, which so happened to be her floor. Her recent diagnosis was that she had a kidney infection, awaiting to do a CAT scan. Funny thing was that I kinda realized it was something along those lines because she had been complaining about unexplained back pains over the Facebook IM. I told her that she should go and see a doctor to make sure it wasn't a strained muscle or something, but she refused on the count of having the same problem before then when she finally saw the doctor her pain had subsided.

When we saw her, she was basically as cheery as ever. She complained a little bit about how she was thirsty and how she was basically immobile, what with a trillion tubes sticking out of her. XP

When Taka, Abril, and King arrived, we played a few rounds of SSBrawl. Then we got bored of it.

We moved on to Pokemon Monopoly, where I had a beginning lead. One of the "properties" I had was Muk, and I ended up getting a lot of money off of him. However, as time went on, and after King got the first two properties as a monopoly, people started fading interest.

I basically gave all of my stuff to Piper, joining Taka and Abril on the couch to play some more SSBrawl. King was also playing, only he was playing both Brawl and Monopoly at the same time. In the end, he just gave up his game of Monopoly to batter us some more on SSBrawl. Difuentez disappeared into Piper's room while Piper made some delicious won tons.

When the won tons were ready, we were bored enough to move on to playing the board game of Pokemon Master. It was basically the video game version of Pokemon put down to cardboard chips. We figured out fast that the game was not as entertaining as we had hoped, seeing as it was too easy to get a pokemon from the Unknown Dungeon or how Pokemon Trading was highly unfair. Instead of waiting for everyone's turns, we ended up speeding up our gameplay to the point of a race. Both Taka and Piper ended up playing the Elite Four Challenge. Piper won...

Then we moved on to more Brawl. XP

That was pretty much how it went down. We had fun and alot of Brawling was done! We'd like to thank the Nintendo Wii and SSBrawl, as well as Pokemon and other fictional video game characters, for letting us friends connect time and time again! XP

The Snake Files

Blog No. 180: Monday

I remembered doing all of the Snake dialogues in SSBrawl.

He can be a real pervert if he really wanted to.

I also remember trying to figure out some characters out, like Donkey Kong's final smash...

I need to start reading more books... XP

DNA and Stella Ruby

Blog No. 179: Sunday

Some random local news on my mind:

Not too long ago, the RT board approved a new light rail system to travel from Downtown Sacramento through Natomas and eventually ending at the Airport, otherwise known as DNA light rail. I say eventually because they expect plans to be finished by 2017. The story showed up again in this month's Natomas Magazine, talking about starting work on it relatively soon. Apparently, they are still trying to work out how to incorporate the light rail into the existing Truxel road.

There were plans about streetcar services in mind in Sacramento to begin with. Now they are thinking of building a more modernized look to their light rails. In the magazine, they've had some light rails that ran along tracks within grass. "We're going to work with neighborhoods and build features that may not exist in Sacramento today," so says Mike Wiley, GM and CEO of Regional Transit.

Problem is, local folk have showed general dislike of this idea, posting signs along Truxel in protest of these plans. I do understand their view a little bit. I would assume it'd lead to more business around Truxel, but light rails also get a bad rep for being almost a mark of urban decay. Would we want more people coming through our neck of the woods? Would our nationwide economic strain make our plans fall through? Would our community benefit in the end, or are we going to be left picking up the pieces?

My mom has pointed out that when she was young, she remembered drawing up maps of the new "light rail" system that was planned to be built all over Sacramento, already to the airport, and said to be finished within a few years. Now, we're still talking about plans to have the light rail to the airport.

You never realize how big Sacramento is until you've circled around it a few times. From what I've seen, it would be really convenient to ride the light rail across town to the south area or West Sac to visit people. But, I guess right now, I wouldn't even mind a simple light rail down one of my most frequented streets, seeing as there really isn't a bus going toward Arco...

We should totally hang out at the airport...

...

In other news...

Back in February, the Mythbusters announced this:

Never let Tory near any babies or infant creatures...

Anyways, I logged on to Twitter and found this:

grantimaharaStella Ruby born 11:35pm 6/28/09, 42 hours of labor, weight: 8lbs 12oz. Both Kari & baby in good health.#babywatch complete!8:46 PM Jun 29th from Tweetie

Kari's a mommy now! Woot!

If she ever so happens to read this blog, I'd like to say, "Congrats! Teach her well in the way of the Mythbuster! XP"

Fin.

Fishie and Frisbee

Blog No. 178: Fishie and Frisbee

Contrary to the title, I had Frisbee first. I thought that since I had a blog titled "Finals and Frisbee" I might as well do something to that affect again for alliteration's sake... It's also kind of assonant too. XP

Anywho...

So I got my weekly text invitation from JT. I got in the shower, then JT calls as I was starting to shave that he was out front. It seems I'm growing a habit of being late in getting ready... I could blame the shower, that it adds at least 5 minutes to try and condition, comb, and tame my unruly hair, but it's getting worse... DX

When I hopped into the car, shoeless, JT, also shoeless, was texting and calling more people for Ultimate Frisbee. As he drove to the freeway, he told me that Piper had called JT back, saying that she was stranded but didn't want him to go out of his way to pick her up... I think... Well it was more like "Oh, [Difuentez] doesn't feel like going, so he's not taking me, which I guess is OK because I have some cleaning to do anyway, plus I would have to take a shower..."

JT and I didn't understand it either. So he told me to try asking. I asked the same basic questions JT did, got a similar reply, but somehow persuaded her to accept JT's offer for a ride. JT was baffled, apparently. I guess I'm more persuasive than I thought...? XP

Anyways, after we picked Piper up, we all went to Bannister Park, where we met up with a few people. Adam, Marshall, and Jeff, (or, "The Tall White Guy", "The Ice Cream Man" [Don't ask.], and "Shirtless Guy"), seem to be the regulars. We got a few extra people after like fifteen minutes into the game. It was technically the first game I was captain, which no one wanted to be for some reason. It didn't matter, all that happens is the first guy chooses JT, the second guy Jeff, then choose it off from there relative to frisbee ability. It's a concept in playing sports that I'm not too fond of, what with usually being the guy chosen last and whatnot. One of many reasons I remained at an all arts school. XP

Halfway through the game, Taka called my cell phone. I basically gave her some directions to get to our location. Then Piper was complaining about the heat and wondered if King was able to take her home, but it was kinda cutting it close, so we decided for her to go along with us.

Within minutes, the match of Frisbee was over. It was funny because I only sat down for literally 5-ish minutes. Under the shade, everyone, which now included Zach, Bryn, and a more pudgier version of "Shirtless Guy", conversed about the weather and Monopoly, for some reason. Then, within a few more minutes, Taka and King arrived. JT gave me the big giant grizzly bear hug, with sweat and smell and all, as Piper and I walked toward the car.

We had stopped at a gas station, where we filled up King's tank and I got some cash for tickets for Fishie's dance recital. Between the gas station and the elementary school, Piper decided that she wanted to go home and asked to be dropped off. It kinda made the trip to the gas station worthless, seeing as I mainly got cash for her ticket, but I could tell she was about to pass out from lack of sleep. Piper was not in her head that day! XP

So the three of us arrived at Cirby Elementary School, where we quickly met up with Fishie so that she could give us our tickets.

The dancing company Fishie belonged to is called "Anti-Gravity." It's basically a dancing school from beginning to advanced. She worked on her routines and solo for awhile, up until she injured her right leg. She was more or less crippled for a month or two after, what with the bandages, crutches, and walker and whatnot... But, somehow, she recovered to the point where she was capable of pulling off her routine. Being her friend, I should've gone to a couple of her recitals in the past. I also had promised to go to at least the one in the summer, seeing as it was possibly the last chance I got to see her perform before I transferred to UCSC. So I was looking forward to this for awhile, especially now after her recovery. XP

The routines were divided into a few sections: The soloists, the "beginners", and the veterans, so to speak. Some of the routines had little kids in them, possibly being their first recital. Then it ranged from there all the way to the adults, like Fishie, doing more complicated dance moves and solos.

The main group of dancers danced a song called "Headlock" by Imogen Heap, which reminded me of Piper because she's partly Imogen Heap freak in a good way. XP

Alina, Fishie's sister, was really good at her ballet solo. Taka was whispering to me that her dress was inspired by Belle's dress from Beauty and the Beast, which it kinda did but with more gold and purple... Anyway, point being, she was awesome! You could tell she's dedicated to ballet. XP

Fishie's solo was pulled off without a misstep. I guess she danced the Modern style, what with the ballet type movements to a more updated song. She had so much emotion on her face, which was a good thing because she was dancing to what I would call "Aztec sacrificing ritual" music. The singer sings with great emotion and soul, but when fitted with the rhythm it becomes intensifying or unresolute. Seeing as the song is moody and aggressive, Fishie had to dance in the same fashion. All I can say is that I was amazed that she spun on her bum leg for like five times in a row and still kept her composure. Taka and I pretty much cheered like proud parents, signaling a couple of turned faces in our direction. XP

You guys did a really great job!

We met up with Fishie and her family afterward to hug and congratulate her. Her father took a picture of the four of us, then I took one of just her on my cell:

I could tell she was tired and sweaty. XP

Taka, King, and I then left to grab some dinner, seeing as none of us truly ate during that day. XP

We wound up at our usual spot, Sizzler. Taka and I introduced King to the endless salad bar. According to Taka, he hadn't eaten anything for almost two days. It was why Taka asked me to get a soda for him during the recital. He ended up eating a taco and some clam chowder before his steak.

So I learned the origins of "Mjaw". Abril/Taka had texted "Mjaw" on a couple of occasions, but I didn't understand why until then. Taka says that, while she was texting on Abril's phone using T9, she tried to type in the full word "Okay", but the cell phone ended up spelling "Mjaw". Totally weird. XP

Oh, and when you try to say it, it has to be pronounced Mmm-jaw, not Ehm-jaw. Don't know why, but it's what Taka says. XP

Then they took me home! XP

Mjaw! XD

The Hangover and A Brownie Batter Blizzard

Blog No. 177: Walking Day

Yep. I went walking today, 6/26.

Every so often, I get cooped up inside my house to the point where I just walk out the front door. Now that it's summer, I get to do these more often as I have nothing really to do to fill up my time, and by that I mean I ran out of things to do so much so that I'm procrastinating on the stuff I usually do when I procrastinate... If that makes sense... It took me like three tries to write that sentence... XP

Anyway, I went to Mel's, my usual lunch spot, where my usual waitresses already prepared my usual meal. I like simple monotomy. The usual stuff means everythings in order. But I find that I don't like it when I can't control that monotomy... 'Tis weird. XP

Then, after a coffee run, I went to the movies, where I saw The Hangover.

...

Movie Review: The Hangover

*Doug is an engaged man on his way to Las Vegas with three of his friends, Phil, Stu, and Alan, to have a bachelor party... Little they know they are chosen amongst our species to save mankind!... Or not.

Basically, while on the roof of Caesar's Palace, they toasted the up and coming nuptials. Then the movie crossfades into the villa they were staying at in the morning, where towers of empty beer bottles, a tiger, a chicken, and a baby appear out of the blue. As they get their heads back together, they realize they lost the groom.

It's Dude, Where's My Car? meets [Insert wedding themed movie here].

I can't really make any sense of the storyline, much less explain its craziness. All I can say is that the brother-in-law is a boob. The movie really cycles around that. You'll have to watch the movie to see the wacky sidequests they go on. There's really no spoilers to give away, other than they found Doug, they had a lot of weird mini adventures, and they all live happily ever after in a somewhat normal way... Which is what you'd expect...

It's fairly comedic. It really has a lot of the similar comedy styles of Dude, Where's My Car or Harold and Kumar blah bleh bleu. If your into those sort of movies, you'll definitely like this movie.

... That's all there really is to reap from this movie...

So... 2 Out of 5 Thumbs Up--> Amusing, excluding all traces of vomit. (Felt like I had to hold my hand up to my face in fear of surprise vomiting, of which there were only 3 instances. DX)

I'm not paid enough to do this...

... I guess I can do the extra thing here...

*Singled Out: Justin Bartha as Doug Billings

I like this guy, partly because he was also Riley in the National Treasure movies, partly because he's the only sane person there. Compared to Phil, the party animal/school teacher(?), Stu, the relationship masochist, and Weird Al, (Not the actual "Weird Al", but just as crazy), Doug's a saint. However, you can still tell he belonged, especially when they go over recorded footage and you see Doug humping the tiger. Unfortunately, the whole movie based around finding him, which meant that he wasn't in the movie as much as the other three. It makes sense though, seeing as the rational human being was taken out of the equation. It's sad, but it makes for decent comedy.

They finally found him locked on the rooftop, beet red from 1 and a half days of sun... Which kinda makes you wonder how he went to the bathroom and such...

Respect the fall guy. Where would you be without him? Congrats Doug, you've been singled out. XP

Fin.

...

After the movies, I went to the nearby Dairy Queen, where I finally got one of those "Brownie Batter Blizzards". Ever since the commercial aired, I've been dying to try one of those blizzards.

You see, I like my ice cream a certain way. It's simple really. One word: Blended. It's kinda why I like milkshakes, or Frosties, or soft serve ice cream. I never really like those scooped ice cream cones. Whenever I wind up at Baskin Robbins, I'd end up getting a milkshake. The ice cream has to be a certain consistency, I guess a phase between solid and liquid suffices for me. I don't want to have to struggle to scoop, but I also don't want to slurp it up as well. The flavor of ice cream has to be simple, too. I don't really like anything to exotic or fruity, but anything chocolate or vanilla is always good. As for toppings, I usually get something small. At Big Spoon, I'd get just the chocolate vanilla swirl with brownie bits, cherries, and maybe hot fudge on top. If the don't have brownie bits at other places, I'd get those crushed chocolate cookie crumbs on top.

If you follow that guide, you've earned a place in my heart. XP

And yeah...

So I had a small one of those as I walked home. The rest of the day was spent honing my SSBrawl skills, or lack thereof... XP