365MMXI

Pokemon White, Day 4

2011-03-18T15:41:00.001-07:00

Something I forgot to mention on Day 3: There was an abundant amount of Pokemon Rangers at Pinwheel Forest cosplaying as Carmen Sandiego. I didn't know Carmen liked giving out berries after Pokemon battles...

Anyway, I get out of the forest through the terminal. On the other end, I was stunned at how huge Skyarrow Bridge is. It feels bigger than all the towns/cities/paths I've traveled so far combined. There's just no way I could have not noticed this bridge from the forest, or from Nuvema for that matter. Skyarrow expands and extends all the way to Castelia City, the dark urban skyline becoming more visible as I exhaustingly walk closer to it. The air around it just feels unwelcoming to me...

When I arrive in Castelia, I feel like I'm already lost in all the tall towers, the docks, and the rushing people everywhere. Down a couple of the streets, there are these men and women in suits and briefcases that just run around. I try not to walk in their path, but they keep coming and avoiding me at the last possible second. After a while, I just kind of give up and make a game out of it, try to see how long I can delay them.

Just out of spite. o _o

Later, I find this break dancer, Mickey, that's just busting moves left and right. I go up to compliment him and instead he challenges me to a Pokemon battle with his Pansage. After my win, he expresses interest in getting a dance crew but can't find people to do it and then he just almost shrugs and continues dancing. Shame he can't find anyone.

I walk further down the city to find an alleyway to try to find my way back to the Pokemon Center and, all of the sudden, this guy in a suit pops out from behind a dumpster and flashes me! ... By flash, I mean he surprised me, then gave me the TM Flash, then went back into his hiding place...

Then, I find Mickey again down the street... Or at least an exact replica of Mickey. He has the same clothes, hair style, skin color, attitude, and even the dance moves as Mickey. I thought maybe he was a relative of Mickey's, so I go up and ask. The replica's name is Edmond and he immediately challenges me to a Pokemon battle with his Panpour. After another win, I tell him about Mickey by the fountain place, but, before I could ask about their relative status, he acts like he never heard of him before and thanks me and leaves for the fountain.

I want to say they're the same person and that they are just trying to trick the newcomer in their city...

I walk to one of the docks and find someone in a trench coat who says they can help evolve the elemental monkey Pokemon with the use of his evolution stones... Honestly, he could've been telling the truth, but I just back away slowly and run for dear life in the other direction. How else am I supposed to react to that? I mean seriously...

After abandoning the thought of being a creep magnet, I walk further down the street to heal my Pokemon. It was only then did I notice that there was some ruckus on the docks in front of the Pokemon Center. A female with thick purple hair comes up to me and asks if I've seen any Team Plasma Grunts anywhere. Then I notice Bianca, following up behind her, all upset. Apparently, the Munna that she caught in the Dreamyard was stolen.

To see Bianca in shambles like that... I felt bad for her, and I worry about her. This incident only confirmed my suspicion that she might not handle this independence from being sheltered for so long...

Burgh enters from around the corner and notices the us. He greets the purple-haired woman, Iris, as a good friend and asks about the situation. Burgh then takes power into his own hands and walks off to the direction of where some Plasma Grunts were last seen.

I would've followed right after, but then I noticed a familiar face further down the docks... Raymond was also a street dancer who looked eerily similar to his dancing counterparts. After I defeat his Pansear, I mention the other two dancers I've met and immediately he thanks me and runs off in the direction of the fountain.

Curious, I decide to follow him to the plaza. I was stunned to find them. Three dancers moving robotically in the same way, mimicking each others moves in a very fluid way. They could have been clones. Mickey notices me gazing at them and thanks me for finding them, so much that he gives me an amulet coin. They turned out to be really nice friends...

Which reminded me that I need to find Burgh.

After retracing my steps back to Iris and Bianca's location, I find Burgh just down the street. I meet up with him and he says that the Grunts took off in the direction of the Gym. We quickly follow the trail and find grunts encircling a building right across the street from the Gym.

Burgh and I confront the pale minions and battle them. Burgh fights of two Grunts at once, while I quickly defeat the remaining Grunt's Sandiles. After our win, the Grunts cower back into the building and we follow them, only to be greeted by the preacher from Accumula. Ghetsis is his name, or at least that is what the Sage, the one from Pinwheel Forest, calls him. That creepy guy preaches more about why Pokemon should not be in the control of humans and Burgh makes his rebuttal. After their back and forth, Ghetsis returns Munna to me and like that, they all disappear.

After their leave, Bianca and Iris come rushing in through the doors to help. Bianca is overjoyed when I return Munna back to her. Bianca promises to not only take better care of her Pokemon, but to become stronger as a trainer and a person so that she can put up a fight. Iris acknowledges Bianca's efforts and decides to whisk her out of the building to go train and do girl stuff, leaving me with Burgh.

Burgh turns to me and pretty much says that he couldn't wait to battle me in the Gym. Then he walks away, leaving me in control of what to do.

So much has happened today, I'm just about ready to call it a day.

Pokemon Roster, Day 4:

Pearl, Dewott, Level 23
Lightning, Blitzle, Level 23
Lily, Petilil, Level 23
Trebuchet, Drilbur, Level 23
Chester, Tranquill, Level 21

Who knows where those evolutionary stones have been... I'm sure the dance crew would be happy to get their hands on those stones...

It Is In The Writing

2011-01-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

Fall Quarter Update

I thought Fall Quarter was fine and exceptional. I met new friends, had amazing adventures, and did well in most of my classes.

However, one of my teachers didn't think of it that way, what with my grade in his class. The Poverty class that I took last quarter--the one where I had to go out of my way to climb cardiac hill just do to homework at that specific computer lab, the one where the teacher belittles our intelligence and competence to understanding the material on a regular basis, the one where I admittedly refused to attend some classes because of these above reasons... that class, decided to drop my GPA last quarter.

So, today I went to go to see an advisor. However, before I went into the college office, I went to the mailbox next door to check for junk mail. Instead, what I found was a christmas card from my friend, Rachel. It was probably the christmas card she originally sent before I told her my other address. The card has a decorated tree on the front with a shiny and textured silver border around it. On the inside of it, she wrote in her pretty cursive handwriting:

Did you know?

R.H. Macy failed 7 times before his store in New York caught on. English novelist John Geasey got 753 refection slips before he published 564 books. Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, but he also hit 714 home runs. Don't worry about failure, worry about the chances you miss when you don't even try.

--Published in the Wall Street Journal--

I thought this seemed really fitting and almost even cosmic. Happening to just pick this letter up from the mailbox that I wasn't even going to check (expecting to have junk mail if anything seeing as I already checked it the day before) and to have those words in the christmas card (instead of just an ordinary "seasons greetings!" message) can only be described as an act of fate, as a beacon of good tidings to come.

I was recommended to ask for Ursula by everyone in Kresge from what it seems, so I sat down with her. She was very nice about everything and not even the slightest bit condescending. I handed her my paperwork and she felt that I knew what I was doing and understood that that class was a fluke. She recognized that I understood how things worked and she told me what to do to get my GPA back up and the best way to do it. She even caught something that I hadn't noticed on my transcript, a general ed requirement that I didn't satisfy yet before transfer because of its recent addition into the portal, and she fixed it so that I didn't have to fulfill that requirement...

Basically, Ursula is amazing. She even has a little pen holder on her desk in the shape of Ursula the sea witch from The Little Mermaid.

So now, with my grief and frustration behind me and with these serendipitous words of wisdom I obtained, I feel more determined to work even harder now!

Here's to better grades this next quarter!

Keep Moving Forward

2010-09-30T20:45:00.000-07:00

So I’m trying to come up with a future plan. For a long time, I’ve been putting it off, waiting for something to come across my view and entice me to pursue it.

That hasn’t happened yet… Until now.

When I declared my major, I had the thought in mind that, even though I might not end up in that field, it was still a worthwhile major because it can be applied in any career path I chose. Logistically, it made sense.

Then I go into my intermediate accounting class one day. Bob Sheperd, the teach, had a firm come into class one day, Novoco, to present what their practice is about. They explained a normal day for workers as well as benefits and perks. It all seemed so glamorous, but the more they talked the more I felt like I was unprepared for everything. This feeling of ill-preparedness grew when Meet the Firms, an event for econ and business related majors to 'meet the firms' on campus in a formal setting, came closer.

Had I gone to that fair, I would’ve made a fool of myself. I didn’t have a prepared resume, cover letter, references, heck I didn’t have any “formal attire” to speak of. I missed out on a great opportunity that would’ve moved me forward in life.

Not again.

I expressed these feelings with Kaylah and I felt stupid for having the plan I had in the first place. The plan I had ensured that I’d graduate on time and have a background of accounting without it applied to my major. So, Kaylah and I tweaked the plan a little.

Original Plan:

Have an Economics major, but take the Accounting classes along with Econ upper division courses to graduate on time (Spring 2011). Having the Accounting background would allow me to take the CPA independently and apply to jobs, blindly, with that on my resume.

New (Smarter) Plan:

Declare a Business Management Economics major, (Economics + Accounting classes I planned to take already + 3 extra classes), and prepare for Meet the Firms during Winter and Spring quarters. The change in majors would mean I’d have to stay an extra quarter, (graduate in Fall 2011). Hopefully, I would get accepted for an internship over summer during the winter MTF and create a name for myself to go to MTF, again, but for a full time job during the busy season upon graduation.

Intense, right? It's odd that I'm now actually yearning toward something that gets me out of this institution I've been in since I could remember. The more I think on it, the more it feels like I'm losing a part of myself but at the same time shooting toward something just as good. Sitting in Bob's class or Alan's TA section helped me realize that I'm ready to move on.

It's about time to do all the things I want to do in my life anyway. No more complacency. Future is now!

Trusting the Tiger

2010-06-02T00:14:00.000-07:00

Blog No. WHATEV: Kayaking

An excerpt of JT’s journey as notated by JT:

…So it came to be that I got on the road late on a Saturday to once again travel this land, the destination: The college of Sai-err... Right, UC Santa Cruz... I didn't make it, not with my sagging eyes; I pulled along a small stream and rested awhile letting the cool air rush past me in the night. As the sun chased the night, hinting at its presence with a small horizonal glow, I once again rose and continued my journey finding the horse I sought... my multi-day adventure was just beginning... but finally, I got to sleep. The story continues now however, and as such I must bid you goodbye oh souls of the net. Until our paths next cross, fair-well and peace be upon your soul!

Guess who the horse is.

JT said he was going to arrive at a late hour, so I stayed up… Little did I know that he would pull over to the side of the road and snooze for a couple of hours and then arrive on campus at six in the morning!

After I gave him directions to the parking garage, I gave him a huge hug and walked him to my apartment, where the both of us plopped down on my bed to sleep. His phone kept going off, so I didn’t sleep the entire time. JT, however, the sleeping beauty that he is, slept through his most annoying alarms. I had to climb over him and fall off the bed to turn off his phone. When I returned to the bed, however, I find that he laid fully onto his back, taking up the bed. Trying to salvage some sleep, I just decided to lay on JT and close my eyes for the following three hours.

At noon, I woke up with JT snoring at my face, so I slowly got out of bed to log online. I talked with Dustin for awhile when I saw the time. I wanted to wake JT up at a reasonable hour, somewhere between a decent night’s rest and enough daylight time before our kayaking class. So, I took a brief shower and made some coffee to stall for some time while JT slept. I woke him up at 1:30 with much difficulty.

We walked around downtown for a few hours. We went into the Ohm Gallery, the lantern store for those not privy. JT took interest at all the spiritual stuff and the wall scrolls with quotes on them. We were in that store for awhile, JT looked for some oriental clothing, and I observed. So, pretty much a normal shopping day with anyone I shop with, which was odd because I didn’t expect it to be that similar when I was with JT.

We also walked into Serpent’s Kiss, the spiritual store with a bunch of stones, scents, and other miscellaneous Wiccan stuff. He had walked in with something in mind, something that was made of amethyst or the like. I just looked at pendants with other people in mind.

I led him to Gigi’s, where I introduced him to the Blondie. There, we decided to eat some lunch. Kaylah walked out and talked with us for a few minutes. The tallest person I know and the second shortest person I know in one sitting. I had brought up Piper’s excursion with alcohol on her birthday, where Piper described the Midori drink to Kaylah. Midori seemed the most appealing to her and asked me to relay the message to JT to bring her some. I told her that the drink was in the trunk of JT’s car and she got excited.

Kaylah was trying to give us directions, but she didn’t exactly know where to find the kayaking place. After a few texts and some Blonde confusion, I found out that the place we were to meet everyone was on the wharf by the boardwalk, which I thought it was all along.

During most of our extended conversation, JT explains that there are different levels of wants. There’s the “passionate” level of want, and the “semi-interested” level of want. Those who want things on a “passionate” kind of level will stop at nothing to get what they desire, despite any obstacles they may face. Those who want on a “semi-interested” level will allow any obstacle as an excuse of getting out of it. These people will find themselves putting up roadblocks for various reasons. In their choice of not going through with their desires, they choose what they think they should be saying as an excuse for not following through.

In the case of Piper, as JT puts it, is that she chose to victimize herself by putting up roadblocks that prevent her from making her desired choice. Although this probably wasn’t intentional, she had tried to put JT’s and my feelings at ease when she complained that she was being held back instead of going with JT on this trip. In the case of Kaylah, if she really wanted to try Midori in the first place, she wouldn’t have easily let us go like that and had us over to hang out instead of deciding to go to bed early. With JT’s logic, I could just as easily take to face that everyone I invited to visit me during the quarter didn’t have a strong enough desire to come over in the first place…

I agree to a point.

While it may be true that if Piper really wanted to go to Santa Cruz with JT, she could’ve just as easily did everything in her power to ignore the complaints. However, coming from a different perspective, Piper would see “being tied down by excuses” as meeting and prioritizing obligations by placing other people’s needs and wants before her own. Kaylah, although she expressed extreme interest to try the Midori, she decided to put herself above everything else that night to try and be healthier. To everyone else, I don’t know. Maybe they don’t intend on visiting me anytime soon, but they could just as easily be prioritizing their needs over their wants and leave me in the dark as a result.

To my conclusion, I’ve decided to stop bugging everyone about coming to visit. They know they have a spot on my bed if they want to sleep over, but I’m not going to push them anymore. If they really wanted to come over, they would’ve done so already…

We choose to do everything or nothing, whether or not we see it… Like my unconscious choice of not telling my mom that I planned to go kayaking with JT off the Santa Cruz Wharf.

It wouldn’t have been a huge deal if I didn’t know how to swim.

Admittedly, JT questioned my logic for going through with it. Basically, I felt that I was safe, so long as I had someone with me who knew his way around the water, (hence, with JT’s sailing experience and swimming capabilities, I was in the safest hands possible). Of course, I had asked my CA, Kim, to see if I needed any swimming or ocean experience, to which she replied, “No, I don’t think so. If it did, I wouldn’t be planning this event because I’m super afraid of the ocean!” So I wasn’t alone.

“So you trust me?” JT said, after explaining my logic. “Well, you know this shows that I am trustworthy.”

I chuckled. His statement came from a previous conversation of ours about trust. “I chose to trust you.” I said.

I don’t make this kind of decision lightly.

After walking and talking on the wharf, JT and I arrived at our checkpoint, where we stashed our stuff and put on our wet suits and life vests. After our quick tutorial about paddling and worse case scenarios, (which didn’t comfort me at all), JT and I walked down to the kayak. I sat down in front, while JT held control of the rudder in the back.

It felt so weird. I didn’t like feeling that I wasn’t on solid ground. I felt my legs and back tense up. However, after paddling for awhile and a few dozen assurances from JT, I started getting the hang of it. In fact, after a few donuts in the water, I felt the nervousness slip away. This was the most spontaneous and excited I felt in a long time! It didn’t even bother me that JT, predictably, steered us numerous times to collide with the other kayaks to test my bravery.

JT’s foot pedals, the ones that steered the kayak, were bothering him. Being the tall person that he is, his feet would fall asleep whenever he concentrated on the foot work. So I got a little nervous when he decided to bring up the rudder, leaving us to steer manually with the paddles for the rest of the time.

There was another two person kayak that kept following us. I recognized them from around Kresge East, but I didn’t know their names. These guys kept asking for a race to the point where they taunted us. Taunted JT.

Taunting JT? Not a good idea.

So we raced a few times. JT kept repeating behind me, “Remember: strong, smooth strokes! Gain that momentum!” They unleashed the tiger. We lost one race, but we won a few more.

In between bravery highs and freaking out moments, we kayaked around a huge bed of kelp and seaweed. One of the kayaking instructors threw a snail at us. The snail landed in the water, which splashed in my face. I grabbed the snail, which had smaller snails riding on the back of it, and handed it to JT. The snail rode with us the rest of the trip.

We also saw a baby otter lying on the mother otter’s stomach and a head of a sea lion poking out of the water. The sea lion was so close, we almost crashed into it. It was those kinds of moments I wished I had invested in a waterproof camera.

Then, we kayaked further out to see where the waves got rougher. The surfers were present in partaking to these waves closer to the rocky shore. We sailed along, one wave after another raising our kayak and splashing back down as it passed. JT kept asking how I was doing the entire time, and I kept assuring him that I was okay. A few more strokes and we rowed to the big rock, where we saw a bunch of lazy, migratory sea lions piling on top of each other. There were brown ones and blonde ones. They were so cute! I was glad that we went out of the way to see them.

On the ride back, we had the option of sailing back depending on how strong the wind was. The instructors had expected the winds to die down, but the winds did just the opposite. I bungeed my paddle to the kayak and pulled out the sail. I pretty much followed everyone else’s lead in reigning in the wind. JT kept instructing from behind, “Brace yourself with the sail! Try and steer the wind in our direction!” With no rudder, JT steered us using brute force against the increasing waves. The entire time we were sailing, I felt like the kayak would tip over at any minute. JT warned me of this from the get go. So, as uncomfortable I was clenching the sail in both my hands, I tried to level myself into a complacent balance as we raced across the waves back to the pier.

When we arrived back at the dock, JT felt that he could rock and tip the kayak back and forth, seeing as he did plenty of that once the wind died down. I felt impressed that I could balance myself that well, especially after JT remarked about how well I was doing. After we helped put all the equipment back, JT and I grabbed a couple of burritos and retired back at my place.

I offered a few DVD’s to watch. He picked out Star Trek just so that he can trash it to pieces while I was watching. I wanted to see how “bad” it was, so I agreed.

Movie Review: Star Trek

It was bad.

I’m by no means a Trekkie, but from what back story I know, even I agreed this movie was bad.

There was no room for character growth and it seemed that the story line was based off of a million different impossibilities at once, (to which JT pointed out every single one). Kirk, after a bar fight, ends up being called to the academy among all the other space cadets. This Kirk is a jerk; a stereotypical, boob-grabbing, hiding-in-my-tightie-whities-under-the-bed type of jerk. Then there was a twist in the story: Spock and Aurora being romantically entangled. I didn’t expect that one. I thought Spock had tried to become an emotionless being like the rest of his people. What about Aurora? I thought she was supposed to be romantically entangled with Kirk later down the line. I got so confused, so I just thought that, whatever the writer’s were doing, they weren’t going to stay with any original story arc. It’s something I can allow if they can do it well.

However, it got to a point in the movie where I said it was enough. After Kirk gets exiled onto a frozen ice planet, running away from big, bigger, biggest monsters, in comes the real Spock. The old Spock from the TV series. After hearing the detail as to why he was there, (something about red matter, black holes, Rimulon being destroyed, and time travel), I saw that the writers had to have created a story feasible enough to include as much of Leonard Nimoy in the movie as possible.

It reminded me of the Transformer movies in so many ways. To my surprise, JT showed me an internet review which revealed that both the Transformer and Star Trek movies were written by the same writers.

The only thing I could see redeeming this movie was the stellar visual effects. They show so much potential! But with no redeemable characters, a nonsense storyline filled with fate and destiny, and nothing memorable to show for the plot and villain, the effects just lessens the blow of an overall horrible movie.

My Final Review: 1 Out of 5 Thumbs Up –> This was NOT my mom’s Star Trek.

In the end of it all, I semi-confronted JT because I felt uncomfortable with making decisions on the trip that he was supposed to have. I wanted to say, “You’re the guest, you make the decisions.”

But, as if he read my mind, he preemptively said, “I made my choices. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t choose to come here, right?” Aww… “I came here for your punk ass, didn’t I?”

I guess only fire can bend metal. But then again, I don’t think I would have it any other way.

The Love Shack

2010-06-02T00:04:00.000-07:00

Lost Blog 4: April Visit

On a recent trip to Sacramento, we celebrated my nephew, Lennox’s, birthday. The venue, of course, was Chuck E Cheese. It seems to be a tradition in the family that started with my sister to have the kid’s birthdays have some big production to involve everyone crawling out of the woodwork.

Audrey’s memories of childhood birthdays were always the block party setup. When my mom lived in an apartment across the street from the park, she would orchestrate some large party that would sometimes involve the entire building, where the kids played in the park and the parents congregated by the BBQ. It seemed like the way to do it. After my mom moved, however, we ended up living in the condo on Florin, a bigger home they moved into for me.

At Lennox’s party, I saw a bunch of my relatives that I haven’t seen since my last family reunion event… Which I think was Audrey’s wedding… Anyway, it still felt weird. I remember having my birthdays at the same kind of place, where I just goofed around and enjoyed myself in the games. Now that I have graduated into adulthood, I walked amongst the crew behind the scenes, (setting tables, watching kids, socializing with adults), in other words, not my usual forte. So much has changed, like the original 3 children, (me, my cousin Ruben, and Audrey), had grown and more children have arrived. Ruben is off serving the country, I’m off at college, and my sister is now the mom. The new generation of adults is formed.

I wouldn’t be this nostalgic at all if I wasn’t reminded of it with every aunt, uncle, family friend, and child kept reminding me of it. They always bring up how small and puny I was, then how much I grew and filled out, and now how I’ve grown and lost weight. I don’t really feel it. I’ve been in school for as long as I can remember, doing the same kind of thing. No big deal to me.

So I tried to stay away from the family as much as I could. The one sure fire way to do this was preoccupy myself with a job I was legendary for: Collecting tickets. My mom ordered the family pack of tokens, a great number of which was given to me to spend wherever the tickets were. I hopped back and forth between machines, playing the game of chance and observing jackpots up until the point I got a few of my own. By the end of the day, I landed 2423 tickets.

After the party, I was supposed to meet up with Dustin somewhere unbeknownst to me. I figured out he was at a Firestone pretty close by, so I said for him to come and pick me up. After some phone calls and confusion, I waved my family goodbye and proceeded to wait for Dustin on the curb. I decided to walk down the road to see where I was in relation to the Sunrise Mall. It turns out that the Firestone where Dustin was at was literally in the same parking lot as the Chuck E Cheese. I got the phone call of his arrival, he was at the Chuck E Cheese. We walked across the parking lot and hugged each other upon our intersection point.

We got into the car and drove to Dustin’s sister’s house. His dad and his brother were there fixing up a truck while the sister lounged on the couch in the garage. Apparently I made the brother jealous because I had my goatee. Looking at the guys, there was the dad with a full beard, Dustin with a stubbly beard, me with my goatee, and the brother, bare. Dustin’s family kind of reminded me of some old neighbors I hung out with during my youth at 3613.

Rex needed something at the Autozone, so Dustin drove the four of us on a quick trip. Dustin and I hung out in the car while Rex and Alex went inside. Dustin and I hung out and talked about random things. We observed a guy with a Jafar goatee messing with his cell phone. We joked about how he might be sexting, an unlimited sexting plan, the usual.

After that trip, Dustin and I went to Folsom and saw Patric’s family. They fed us really good lasagna and salad, Dustin consuming twice as much as I had. Then, Dustin took a shower while I trolled around on their computer. I started Tumbling on Dustin’s account when he walked in with only a towel. I typed up the blog, “Jafar, Up to No Good” where Dustin read parts of it over my shoulder, obliviously unaware it was his account.

We were meeting a few of their friends at the Lollicup in Roseville to watch the talent show. My previous Lollicup experience didn’t turn out to well. It was when Taka took us on the day of a concert and I almost choked on boba in the tea. However, I wanted to go to the talent show because I remembered my friends, the Matutis clan, had performed here as well and I wanted to see their competitors. Last time, I had the strawberry milk tea, which was okay but the boba threw off the taste. This time around, I tried an almond milk tea without boba. It was very good, considering it was just almond and milk.

Dustin, Patric, and I were waiting until Charlene, Valerie, Jennifer, and Rachel arrive. Char and Val are sisters, Jen and Rachel are sisters, but they are all related, (Filipino families, go figure). I met Char and Val on a number of occasions, but Jen and Rachel were new. They all seemed pretty cool. Jen and Rachel seemed as much of a spaz as Char, so it was all good.

Charlene’s performance was pretty good. She sang a few songs on the keyboard while Valerie took a bunch of photos.

There was a girl, Sam, who needed to be egged on by the entire establishment to go and perform. She did an original poetry reading. You could tell she was nervous because she started sputtering her words until they came like a barrage of bullets in your face. I couldn’t get most of the words, unfortunately.

Then there were these three singers, Mona, Jenna, and… (forgetting name)… Francis Bacon. The three of them did some amazing songs and blended harmonies really well. I was impressed by Jenna, leading the group with her singing and piano playing. She also ended up doing piano for another guy… (forgetting name)… Moshark… And they did some renditions of popular songs. Hell, she did “I’m Yours” with him on guitar.

The rest of the night went pretty much like that. We enjoyed each other’s company and helped clean up after the talent show was all done. More of Dustin’s and Patric’s friends arrived near the end of the shindig. We all started goofing around in the parking lot, dancing, cuddling up to Dustin’s bosoms, the usual. Then we all started to leave to our cars, all three of them parked up right next to each other. Somehow, it ended up being crazy to the point where the three cars rolled down their windows and started blasting Kelly Clarkson on the radio. It was fan-frikken-tastic. XD

The three of us then started driving out of Roseville. Patric, in the backseat, started talking about their Jackson Rancheria weekend where Matt needed to go really bad while they were driving to the point where Matt grabbed an empty can of soda and a pillow and just peed in front of everyone. Patric, the lovely sheep that he is, started to do the same thing. He couldn’t get the pillow just right and apparently it had hurt because he was yelling very loudly. He didn’t go through with it, not that I wanted him to in the first place…

Then Love Shack played on the radio while we were at an intersection. Dustin and I sung out the lyrics, but apparently Patric didn’t recognize the song. What he ended up doing was rolling down his window and yelling at a car next to us. He was yelling, “Hey! Love Shack is on the radio! Hey why are you ignoring me!?” Dustin drove past them as fast as he could after that. XD

We decided to pick up Matt, so we drove to his place and knocked on his window. He was hungry so we decided to go to In n Out, (after Patric took a quick trip to the bathroom of course). Matt was always one to complain about his lactose intolerance, but, for some odd reason, he always ends up with the milkshakes. We hung out for an hour, talking about random stuff, force feeding each other’s food, and making Kirby faces on the paper ketchup cups. It got to a late hour where I needed to go home.

At the apartment, Matt gave me a wonderful back massage. I usually don’t let anyone do anything to my back, but I made an exception because, in my mind, I justified it as something that was long overdue. However, it had gotten so comfortable that I almost fell forward into the street. Then, they showed me this funny video on Patric’s iPhone of how Abraham Lincoln’s murder was justified in the end. I would’ve never guessed that Abe was so gangster to the point of insanity. XP

After an awkward hug, (from the front, behind, and below), I said my farewell… Until Dustin decided to use the bathroom. We snuck into my apartment where it was all dark but dimly lit by night lights. I had to take Dustin by the hand and show him the bathroom. After that, another awkward hug ensued, and then, as they were walking out, Patric dropped his pants and waddled outside to the car… Oh what the neighbors must think… And I was getting to like them, too. XD

The Traveling Monk

2010-06-01T23:59:00.000-07:00

Lost Blog 1: Good

I was walking home from Cowell dining hall the other day, thinking for some reason that I was overdue for something odd to happen. Indeed, as odd as I thought of it, it happened.

Walking through the path of pink trees and the breeze of pink petals, I bumped into a squinty eyed bald man wearing red and orange robes, carrying a large bag over his shoulder and wheeling a large suitcase. He walked up to me and asked if I were a student here.

No, I’m backpacking through Europe and took a wrong turn at the Coliseum. “Why yes, I am.”

“Oh okay, I’m glad I ran into you. I’m a traveling monk on a mission to spread the word of enlightenment.”

The monk handed me a thick orange book with a picture of a chariot on the front. Bhagavad Gita: As It Is as it’s titled. It had a picture of someone resembling Ghandi on the back, which I assume to be the author.

“I sense some imbalance in your life,” the monk declared, “Might I ask what is wrong?”

Nosy bald stranger… “I guess I lack sleep. I am a student after all!” I chuckled dryly.

“Minor troubles sometimes mask even deeper struggles you have not yet recognized.”

“What do you mean?”

He talked a little about how everything around us and everything we do is connected on an abstract level. I listened attentively and began wondering why I had this bitter mood. No one notices it on the surface, but sometimes I carry around a bitter companion, a critic, an unwanted shoulder angel in my head… (I’m not crazy I swear!) But I questioned in my mind whether or not I was a good person to let these thoughts sneak through.

But before I reflected on the subject, the monk surprised me: “You seem like a good person.”

“Really? Even though I seemed bitter and cranky?” I gave a wry smile.

“Goodness isn’t decided on what we say or do, but on what drives us to do them.”

With that, I reached in my left pocket. The only bill I have is a 20. Are you seriously giving that away? “Here.”

“Why thank you! I’m glad I ran into you today.” The monk smiled.

He was probably going to ask for a donation anyway. “Well, it seems you have a long way to go, don’t you?” I chuckled, awkwardly, swatting my hand above my shoulder.

I looked at the book some more and decided to hand it back, but the monk refused, “Keep it. Consider it my thanks.”

And with that, I took his hand and shook it.

“Good luck on your journey.”

Am I that good person?

Epic Lights and Silhouettes

2010-02-22T20:10:00.000-08:00

Blog No. 7c: Winter Dreamscapes Part III

Part 3. Winter Dreamscapes. This one's a doozy. Enjoy.

*Northern Lights and Silhouettes*

I look down at my usual checkerboard sequence, waiting what would happen. I felt a movement from underneath the checkerboard, feeling a sudden gust as the checkerboard flew upward toward my face from my hands.

I fell backward to see darkness in front of me. I was somehow luminescent in this dream because I could see myself perfectly as I sat up.

After waiting another second, a hypnotic, electronically produced sound resonated in front of me in lieu with a pair of illuminating green lightning bolts. The bolts felt like they were being stretched in front of me, as suggested by the sound of an electronic didgeridoo. The bolt stretched until the bolt immediately shrunk and died.

Clap! A silhouette appeared in front of a green light illuminating against a stage screen. The green spot light did not cover the entire screen, but only a section of it. The silhouette was of a bassist, standing behind the screen. From his body structure, I somehow translated this silhouette to be my friend, Eric, from high school, seeing as he sported a faux hawk and had massive arms. Low sounds that matched the hypnotic didgeridoo droned from behind that screen. It was odd because his base had looked like an upright bass, only not with a thick body so that the tall bass can double as an over the shoulder electric bass, which he still played with the upright bow.

Another pair of lightning bolts, purple this time, started stretching in front of the screen. Clap! Like an elastic band, a purple spot light illuminated only part of the screen, revealing a skinnier, taller silhouette with long hair and a rock guitar. He looked like Levi, also from Charter. He added some continuous guitar riffs.

Another pair of lightning bolts, blue, stretched in front of the screen, only it was clear with the light that someone was in front of the screen stretching these bolts. This silhouette was still hard to make out, though. He stretched to his limit and Clap! The bolts snapped back together like a palates belt. A blue light partially illuminated behind the screen and revealed another silhouette on a drum set. This one was of Monty, what with the curly afro. He was rolling dark and intense drum rolls on the floor tom with bass hits like heart beats.

A pair of red lightning bolts, revealing more of the person in front of the screen, stretched in front of me. Clap! A silhouette of a man with a bandana and an electric mandolin was revealed. He resembled Justyn, skinny in structure with a circular face and an emo haircut. He was strumming somber, low chords that matched Levi’s riffs.

Finally, a pair of yellow lightning bolts stretched by the might of a curled up, still blacked out silhouette until both ends collided together into the final Clap! The last person revealed with the yellow light was a female, I characterized as Youbin, playing a hallowed electric violin. She played in a melody in the soprano range that caused tension every alternating note to Levi’s riffs.

The music got louder and faster as the dark figure in front of me slowly stood up, raising his head an revealed a tall, spiky flat top. I recognized this figure, but only in my dreams. As the music reached its epic, climactic ending, the spiky haired silhouette raised his arms up, cupping his palms toward the sky and Clap!

A blackout. The screen and the silhouettes disappeared within that split second, the colorful lights dimmed to black as the stage itself became dimly lit. The eerie electric didgeridoo still plays in the background.

On the left, there was a glistening ice sculpture of a feminine figure. The lightning bolts were held at the base of the sculpture by metallic hemispheres which somehow gave the piece a nice flowing yet non-uniform color that resembled the Northern Lights. Each curve and smooth texture prominently showed intricate colors like a tye-dyed flame engrossed in the ice.

On the right, there was a towering tree, the size of the ice statue. The roots were twisted, the leaves swayed, the vines hung, and the vibrant fruits and flowers sprouted in such a way that made the tree have a look of a male figure. The dim light of the stage provided dark shadows and even green color that accented the outline of facial features, a chest, and arms. The legs looked bent, like he was kneeling, shown through the hollow of the tree.

Words then fade in and out on the screen behind them:

“Fate is unpredictable… Like the flare and form of glacial lights.”

“Or a woman of foreign beauty.”

“Like roots of a geriatric tree, we absorb our power through Hope.”

“Together, we can break from the chains.”

“Together, we can fight the odds.”

“But… Would we want to?”

A meteor circled from above the stage, around my head, and into the statue, where it shattered into pieces. The crash caused sparks of fire that spread to the tree which weakened the roots and fell over. The fire wasn’t a normal colored fire. Because the statue was shattered, the lights were not enclosed into one form, so the lights emitted onto the fire, causing rainbow colors to emit pastel smoke.

The dark and colorful smoke whirled around me until I couldn’t see anything. There were flashes of light here and there. Whispers whirled around me as I tried to find the source. Then I saw the silhouette of two figures run from behind me onto the stage. There was a male figure, the one with the spiky tall hair from before, and a female figure, smaller in stature and had long wavy locks. The male dragged the femme along onto the stage.

Once the smoke dissipated, I saw the silhouettes climbing a circular staircase around a castle turret from behind the screen. There was only a red light emitting from behind the screen, just enough to see the two forms differentiated from the turret.

It was the femme that stopped in the middle of the stairs. Her voice cried out: “It’s no use! I can’t see through this smoke! He’s going to capture us!”

“There’s no quitting now,” responded the male, “We have to keep pushing!”

“Listen. I’m going to expire from this world—”

“No you’re not—!”

“It has been decided. There’s no arguing any longer. You can still run, be safe, and be free to love again!”

“I want you safe with me! We have to keep hope. Together we can break the chains and together we can fight the odds!”

Just then, the red light illuminates a large dragon silhouette emerging onto the turret, wagging his head back in forth. Its eyes and nostrils glow in the shadow of its silhouette. Its wings expand the broad length of the stage. It gave a ferocious war and turned its head to the left.

“You can’t fight Fate, it’s not worth losing your life over!”

“It’s worth losing my life if I get to keep you with me. Now come on we have to move forward!”

The human silhouettes embrace each other as the dragon silhouette raises its head high and breathes a giant ball of flame in my direction. The flames breach through the screen and engulf my view entirely.

THE END

Epic Hail

2010-02-22T20:09:00.000-08:00

Blog No. 7b: Winter Dreamscapes Part II

The second part to my four part Winter Dreamscape series. This dream is in three parts because, as you might be able to tell from the dream, that night was pretty restless...

*Fire Hail*

The beginnings of this dream, like any other, had started out with a checkerboard. A small ball of flame lit up from above and landed into the checkerboard, making it ripple and dissipate into a dark blue.

The phenomenon was intriguing. The sky had a blue to red gradient corresponding with the ocean and the sun. The clouds were thick and black, blanketing the sky in darkness. The air was visible and wavy, rippling from the heat. The ocean was dark and brewing, boiling, steaming… It was too dark for it to be day, but too bright for it to be night.

I examined the ocean on top of the cliff to observe all of these changes. I could feel a sense of sorrow, like the place had felt familiar and I was depressed that I was never going to see it again.

“HURRY INTO THE JEEP!” A voice yelled from nowhere.

At that moment, the clouds open up a giant hole in the sky, revealing a large fire ball about to crash into the ocean. Different colors, like fireworks, swirled around the giant sphere of fire.

I ran and jumped into the passenger seat of the jeep. The jeep skidded and screeched as it drove past the road. A few seconds later, I hear a large BOOM!, as well as a large rush of water. I looked in the rear view mirror and saw that the flaming meteor hit and a giant tidal wave started to rise.

“Oh man, I’m too young to die!” said my Econ TA, Jeremiah, only in this dream he was apparently my brother.

“FLOOR IT OLD MAN!” said the remaining passenger, Lauren Graham, which suddenly made sense about why I was in a jeep. (Gilmore Girls reference)

“Ol’ Bessie is grinding her gears as fast as she can!” said the father figure in this dream, Robin Williams.

(Come to think of it, can you ever see Robin Williams in a thriller?)

The jeep tears up asphalt as the screen transitions, (by a flame wipe, where the screen burns up from left to right to reveal the next scene), to somewhere in the middle of what seemed to be a desert. We were exhausted, we were hot, but we were safe. As for the jeep, the engine started smoking and the tires had melted.

Robin and Lauren were having a little back and forth conversation:

“Well I think she finally did it…”

“Oh not this again.”

“I’ve had her through the coal mines, up the Mississippi, down with the man… Ol’ Bessie’s gone to the big car dealership in the sky!”

“Hey! At least the big flaming torpedo isn’t coming at us anymore!”

“Though the massive monsoon of boiling water almost did.” Jeremiah interrupted.

“Shut up, Toby!”

I walked away from them to find any sign that indicated our location. All I could see was the dead grass and the unavoidable heat ripple. I look up to see the sun to try the boy scout compass trick, but the brooding clouds made that impossible. There were no landmarks within view, so I walked up the road to see if there was any over the hill.

Below there was a city, only not a city. The buildings and roads suggested a bustling city, but the lack of human presence and the mounds of rabble suggested a ghost town. Among the buildings, I recognized a tall, metallic structure that held up something that looked like a UFO with a point on top.

“Hey guys! I think I know where we are!”

Robin, Lauren, and Jeremiah ran up the hill to join me, to take in what had happened to a once lively Seattle.

Fade out.

Fade in.

“How hard is it to find a car?” Jeremiah complained, “There are loads of them we could hot wire and drive!”

“It has to be the right one,” Robin said, “Something that can drive fast at manageable gas mileage.”

“Well hurry because we need to be in New York before sun down!” Jeremiah said anxiously.

I look at Jeremiah and feel this sudden sense of pity and woe.

I flashback to the beginnings of this apocalypse, when Jeremiah and Tao, another TA, had been walking hand in hand along a beach of some sort until they noticed the clouds darkening. The scene changes and they started running through the boiling hot rain toward the docks. They were at the end of the line and the boat only had room for one more person. Jeremiah was prepared to stick behind with Tao, holding his arm in his hands. Tao responded by giving a peck on Jeremiah’s cheek, and then pushing him onto the boat.

“I’ll find another way,” Tao yelled back, “I’ll meet you in New York. Don’t worry!”

“How can we meet your gay lover by sun down if we don’t even know where the sun is?” Lauren had remarked, unaware of Jeremiah’s vulnerable state.

I stomped on Lauren’s foot. Jeremiah didn’t speak up to defend himself.

A pebble at jet force speed fell and hit my shoulder. It fell to the ground, a small light of fire burned out.

“I think it’s starting to hail.”

We all looked up at the clouds as tiny drops of fire fell, and then we ran out of sight.

Somehow, the four of us were sitting in silence inside a giant Escalade in the next instant. Robin kept staring back at me behind the passenger seat, as if he was trying to communicate something to me. I can feel the tension between everyone in the car. I wanted to try anything to break the silence.

“So… Nice weather we’re having today.” Probably not the best choice of words…

“SHUT UP TOBY!” Lauren yelled.

“Don’t yell at David!” Jeremiah defended.

“I’m trying to break the silence, yo,” I said, “It’s becoming unbearable.”

“Unbearable?” Lauren sarcastically remarked, “Oh how can giant flaming balls of doomsday goodness become unbearable?”

“It doesn’t hurt to be optimistic!”

“It doesn’t hurt to be YOUR FACE!”

“How does that even make sense?” Jeremiah interrupted.

“It just does! We are all going to die in the end, you know it, I know it, we all fucking know it!”

“No we don’t! We don’t even know how far this storm expands! If we stay ahead of the storm and ride out the hail, then we have some hope of surviving this catastrophe!”

“It’s pointless to think there might be a light at the end of the tunnel if you can’t see any of the light to begin with!”

“The VonHolsens would have never thought of the situation that way!”

“Oh, well if you like the VonHellsings so much then why don’t you have THEM drive you five thousand miles to meet up with your boyfriend?”

“Would you all just SHUT UP?!” Robin interrupted, “Now we are a family. Family sticks together, right? Well right now we are one member short and our one member is headed to New York as we speak! I don’t know about you, but I could sure use some good news right about now!”

Jeremiah cracked a smile.

Just then, a large boom erupted from behind us. A giant fireball landed in the distance into a bunch of buildings. When the fireball landed, a bunch of little fireballs exploded across a few blocks, creating more wildfire.

Robin pushed hard on the pedal and we sped out of the main crash site. We kept hearing crashing of different kinds around us. The buildings started to fall over onto the other taller buildings like a domino effect.

“Hurry! I can see a helicopter up ahead!” I peered out the window and, sure enough, there was a helicopter gearing up its propellers.

Just then, the car decides to break down.

“Great… So much for gas mileage.” Lauren responded.

We all run out of the car and jetted toward the direction of the helicopter. Robin was getting weak and falling behind.

“Hurry! They’re going to leave without us!” I screamed back. Lauren, Jeremiah, and I paused as Robin fell to the ground. Jeremiah and I ran back to carry him up and then we continued running.

The helicopter blades whirred faster and faster. The helicopter pilot yelled over the speeding blades, “Hurry aboard! We don’t have much time!”

Just then, Robin, took a step back.

“Dude! What are you doing!?” Jeremiah asked.

“You guys go ahead; I have some things to settle here!”

“You’re crazy! Come on! LET’S GO!” Lauren demanded.

“As long as my family is safe, that’s all the assurance I need! Now I’ll meet you in New York as soon as I can find a ride!” Then Robin shut the helicopter door and the helicopter started taking off.

“That crazy oaf!” Lauren yelled.

“We need to turn back!” I yelled at the pilot.

The pilot looked down, we were already up pretty high. The pilot answered, “He’s going to have to find a different ride! If we turn back now, we’ll all be blown to smithereens!”

The three of us looked out of the window, helpless. We couldn’t help but feel that we would never see him again. As cars exploded and buildings seized up in flames, Robin waved goodbye as the helicopter speeds off.

Fade out.

Fade in.

The helicopter lands on top of the roof. The clouds were as brooding as ever. On top of the roof, a sign of hope, was Tao. Jeremiah ran out of the helicopter to meet up with Tao.

“Is that him?” Lauren bent over to whisper in my ear.

“Well it either has to be him or some other really friendly gay Asian dude waiting to make out with people that land on roofs.” I said this as Jeremiah and Tao locked lips and embraced each other tight.

Lauren and I stood there in the foreground observing the two lovers for what seemed like ten minutes. The both of us shifted in patience as this went on. After whistling show tunes, playing rock, paper, scissors, and even some mime, Lauren got restless.

“Okay, we GET IT!” Lauren interrupted the vigorous make out session.

Jeremiah and Tao chuckled as they walked back to where we stood. Jeremiah introduced Tao to the both of us more formally. Tao was noticeably tall compared to the three of us, which I took as a plus because I remembered that Jeremiah liked climbing on Robin’s shoulders when we were kids.

“Glad to meet you,” I said, raising my hand to shake his. He pushed it away and then lifted me up in a giant bear hug. I could hear Jeremiah’s laughter out of my free ear. As soon as he put me down, I fell back into a seated position.

“Don’t you have something to say, mother?” Jeremiah poised.

Lauren paused for a minute, took a step back, and said firmly, “Welcome to the family.” I heard Robin’s voice being echoed from her words. Tao came closer to try and hug her, but Lauren immediately replied, “Don’t even try it!” raising an index finger to Tao’s face.

We walked down the street, talking about nonsense things, avoiding the topic of Robin even though it was still conscious in everyone’s mind.

Just then, the sound of crunching metal came from behind us. We looked back and saw a tower of flame that engulfed the helicopter where it landed and started moving forward. The four of us ran and ran from the tornado of fire. City infrastructure had melted and burned as we passed.

“There!” Tao pointed at the tall building where there was a window washing platform waiting on the ground.

We all got on and Jeremiah and I cranked the platform upward toward the top of the building.

“Wouldn’t it have been easier to use the elevator?” Lauren cried out.

“The fuses are gasoline powered! We would potentially explode once the elevator started!” Tao replied. This somehow made sense.

The platform climbed 23 floors as the four of us looked down in amazement of the spectacle of flame engrossing the street. Smoke started to rise and fill our lungs. Slowly, but surely, we rose above the fire and the smoke to the clearer air.

Suddenly, two of the four ropes snapped, tilting the platform forward. Lauren and I managed to grab onto the ropes as Tao and Jeremiah hung by the edge of the platform. I tried to loosen my grip on the ropes to help Jeremiah and Tao, but the platform threatened to fall into the smoke below.

Lauren screamed out, “How can this situation get any worse?”

“Don’t say that!” I screamed back, “If you say that, something might actually happen!”

“Augh! I don’t think I can hold on much longer!”

Jeremiah and Tao looked into each other’s eyes, Jeremiah’s watering up. I knew what they both were thinking. Tao’s words only confirmed it, “It was a pleasure to finally meet my family… For however short a time it was.”

The two interlocked lips one last time as they let go of the platform together into the smoke below. Lauren and I screamed back to them, unable to reach their hands in time and unable to let go of the ropes keeping the platform from meeting the same demise. I could feel tears coming from my eyes as the heat got more intense from below.

“Let’s climb up.” Lauren finally said.

Using the ropes, we started to snake our way up toward the top of the building ten stories up. My arms got weaker and weaker and I couldn’t help but feel the hope draining my body. I just wanted to let go right then and there.

As I looked up, I saw my reflection on the window that was a few feet away from me. I started to unclasp the rope with my legs, holding onto the rope with my hands at my chest, and then start swinging toward the window. I could hear Lauren’s confusion and sudden outbursts, but a few swings later, I kicked the window and shattered the glass, rolling inside on stable ground.

“Come on! It’s just like a tire swing!” I assured Lauren.

“I don’t think I can make it!” Lauren yelled back.

“You have to try!”

Lauren looked up toward the roof and rationalized the swing in her head. She started to swing, her hands seizing the rope tightly above her head. As she slowly recoils around, she shouts out expletives and complaints.

Suddenly, the rope had tied around Lauren’s wrist to the point where, as soon as she tried swinging into the open window, she screamed out bloody mirror as she felt her wrist joint being dislocated. She retreated back to the rope with her good hand and her legs. I looked around to see if there was anything I could use to pull her in, but there was virtually nothing in that room. She was stuck.

“Look, I’m sorry, Okay?” Lauren started to tear up, “I’m not good at handling Armageddons like the VonWilsonspicklemeyers down the street. Just know that I never meant to hurt you in any way… I just felt that I needed to stay strong somehow, and for some reason that translates to sarcasm in my book—”

“No kidding,” I mumbled.

“CAN IT!” Lauren lost composure for a second. Then she starts to breath heavily, the tears evaporate as soon as they leaked from her eyes, “I just feel powerless… I couldn’t even save the only few people that care about me… The only people I have ever really loved in this world.” I stared into her cute pouty face as tried so hard to reach her, to offer her one of my hugs, but the distance was too far. I couldn’t help but stand there motionless…

The heat and the flames were visible down below now. Like a piece of paper smoldering in the flames, Lauren burned away, piece by beautiful piece as the suns rays finally shine through the clouds behind her, her arm was outstretched trying to hold on. The sunlight shined a bright light that blinded my last sight, searing it into my mind.

THE END

What was extremely strange about this dream was that it felt like it was both a movie and an actual experience. I was waiting, practically begging, for the intense background music that my mind’s orchestra would concoct for the action scenes, but it never happened. It made the experience all the more real and frightening…

… Also, on a side note, I’m not exactly sure whether or not Jeremiah or Tao are actually gay, so I apologize if they somehow find this blog. XD

Fro On Epic Shingled Roof

2010-02-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

Blog No. 7a: Winter Dreamscapes Part I

Four part series of weird dreams/SPORs (Subconscious Personifications of Reality). Enjoy.

*Fro on Checkerboard Shingled Roof*

Fade in.

I brush my foot across an oddly beveled checkerboard, each black and white tile curved and angled upward. I walk up the checkerboard to the top, where the checkerboard is folded slightly at the center, where a long platform was at the crease, extending from end to end of the checkerboard, slightly curved upward at each end. It’s suddenly clear that every tile is actually a roof shingle.

I glance up and see a tall figure in a fencing uniform, raising his epée and widening his stance. I can hear the blood pulsing in my ears.

“Prepare to DIE!”

The fencer charges on his tip toes toward me as I, somehow, push the blade down with my hand and lift myself up to kick the fencer’s mask off. The mask rolls off his head, sliding down and off the roof. This was where I noticed that I couldn’t make out the ground below. We must’ve been on a tall pagoda-ish building.

I look up to see the fencer’s face, only there was no head. In fact, the fencer had completely disrobed, leaving the uniform idle in midair. The blade, clothes, and armor fell and slid off the roof. As I looked down, I saw a shadow darkening below me, which prompted me to quickly look up.

The sun blazed in my eyes as a tall, slender silhouette comes rushing into view. I dash out of the way as the silhouette lands on his right foot. JT was holding a katana behind him, his bare left leg up in the air like a flamingo, (flamingo came into mind because his very short robe was a bright pink).

“Draw your weapon and show me what Jew’s are made of!” JT writhed in fiery anger.

I look down at my waist and noticed I was wearing a belt and a sword holster. I grab the sheath in my left hand and the handle of the sword in my right, hesitating on drawing the weapon as I scanned for options.

My time grew short as JT charged again. I was trying to avoid hitting him, but I didn’t have a choice. It seems however, it didn’t take too much to make him fall as I pull the sword from its sheath and jam the handle into JT’s chest. I examined the sword as I pulled it; the wide-thin blade was a deep bluish-grey with designs of a golden crescent moon and golden Jewish stars. JT rebounds back up hit me, too, with the handle of his blade against my forehead.

“Cheap move… Even for you,” JT muttered as he rubbed his rib cage.

“I haven’t even the slightest idea what we are doing!” I yelled out, awaking from my stupor. I stood up, still feeling dizzy. JT was pointing the tip of his blade in my face. “What if we get hurt? I have no armor! What kind of man are you?”

JT drops his katana on the ground and opens up his pink robe, revealing a naked JT, (of course my reaction in the dream had blocked JT’s privates from my actual view).

“Apparently, that kind…”

JT ties up his robe and picks up his blade, pointing it back to my face. “FIGHT me.”

I raise my blade up to the same position his blade was. “BRING it.”

The battle begins with JT thrusting his katana blade forward. I jump to the right to avoid the attack, almost slipping on the roof shingles. I swing my blade at his feet, to which JT skillfully skipped and cartwheeled. I run up to the stable part of the roof to regain my stance. Then the both of us jumped forward and started swinging our blades in midair. Clanging and sparks of light fly from each blow as the duel got more and more intense.

The intensity of one blow threw us backward at either ends of the roof. We both stand up and, mirroring each other, we run toward the center readying a backhanded swing that clamored on impact. JT and I both stood our ground and kept pushing our blades forward, refusing to let our will power be broken, our stance unhindered.

Suddenly, JT bends his head forward and kisses me on the lips. I was taken aback by this act just enough for me to lower my guard and JT to continue his strike. My grip on my sword had loosened and, as a result, the blade flew in the distance toward the sun on the mountainous horizon.

“It’s the art of distraction, my friend!”

Then he readied a horizontal slash. I quickly bend down and, without missing a beat, punch him in the groin. JT cuts the slash off short as he drops his blade and sits down in a fetal position, squealing in pain.

“Distraction. Got it. What’s next?”

After a second, he gets up and says, “I guess a costume change is in order.” His outfit changed from the short pink robe to a blue and white garb with a conical straw hat. He raised a giant pole and swung it around his body to a fighting stance. I look down and my outfit has changed, too, to where I looked like Cid from FFVII, complete with goggles on my head and a pole of my own.

A spar ensues, where we both repeatedly try to trip and poke each other with our very large sticks. It got more interesting as it went on as we both started using our poles at higher speeds and in creative and unconventional ways. The roof, also, started shifting upwards in areas where he or I stood to prevent us from falling and then return to normal.

When my subconscious got bored with that, JT would do an outfit change as soon as he would knock my weapon out of my hands. Then I would get a random weapon to use thrown at me from below the roof shingles. Occasionally, JT gets a new weapon, but only after I was able to use my weapon to make JT lose a round in an embarrassing and hilarious way.

It went like this for awhile. Random weapons kept getting chucked onto the roof, (a tennis racket, a body pillow, a frying pan), as random articles of JT’s endless wardrobe kept sliding off, (a baseball uniform, a scuba suit, a Vegas showgirl outfit). It definitely showed the timeline in the background of the duel as the sun had gone from one end of the roof to the other, sunrise, sunset.

When the sun finally set, the sky filled up with stars and celestial clouds like I’ve never seen before. We both were breathing heavily after a huge day of fighting. I knew I had to end it here and now…

“I know now,” I said as streams of light circulate around my hands behind my back, “without a doubt,” JT raises his version of Cloud’s Buster Sword, “that Kingdom Hearts… is BRIGHT!”

I twirl two keyblades into existence in my hands and pulled them up as JT swung his blade down for the final blow. The impact of these blades caused a flash of bright light…

THE END.

Massive Thighs

2010-02-16T20:33:00.001-08:00

Blog No. 6: A New Lifestyle

I've mentioned before that I was going to visit the Wellness Center at OPERS. Well, this week I did.

I started on a Saturday, feeling awkward as to what I was supposed to do. I walked into the front desk, where Kaylah works, and found a half-asleep Asian man, staring at the computer. I got his attention and offered him my student ID. He swiped it and I was signed in. Now, I didn't know what I had to do, but I realized, as I was walking out of the building to the actual Wellness Center, I had my stuff with me. I'm pretty sure I can't run with stuff in my pockets. So I walked back, said, "Hey I need a locker," to which the half-asleep Asian man handed me a lock with a slip of paper, as well as a towel. I offered him my ID card again, thinking that I needed to check out the lock, but he waved me on. So I walked back toward the lockers and put all of my stuff in, wallet, keys, iPod, and cell phone.

Then I walked across the land, passed the basketball court, the pool, the indoor basketball court, the tennis courts, the racket ball court, the dance rooms, and the dance room shack. The Wellness Center at the end of all this stuff had the exercise equipment, the weights, the treadmills, all of that. I walked in the sliding door and saw a sign that read: Check in with your Student ID at the front desk with an arrow pointing at the desk by the door. I had left my student ID in my wallet…

Wellness CenteràOPERS

I walk up to the locker and realize that the slip of paper that the half-asleep Asian man gave me had the locker combination, the same slip of paper that was now currently sitting on top of the stuff in the locker. CRAP. So I tried remembering the numbers in my head. 12… 22… 18? It had a lot of twos in it that was for sure. Then I realized that if I bent down to look in the little slits of the locker, I could see the last two numbers on the slip of paper. Certainly, it was affective. I opened up my wallet and got my student ID.

OPERSàWellness Center

I walked up to the front desk to hand them my card. The blonde chick said, "Oh, but you already have a towel!"

"Didn't I need to check in with my card?"

"What? No…"

That was productive…

Walking into the gym, I saw a bunch of people at the weight lifting machines. I tried looking at some of the machines, but some of them had these pads and numbers that I had to enter in. I wasn't certain of how it worked. So I just continued walking to the few cycling treadmills at the window. Thing is, I didn't know how exactly to work that machine either… Luckily, someone also just got on the same exact machine right next to me, so I watched her dial it in.

So I pedaled. As to be expected, I got pretty out of breath. I kept cycling though. I just tried thinking about the girl next to me, to see if she noticed that I was watching her, and not try and think about how sore my feet were getting. I outran her, because she stepped off ten minutes later in a sweat. I looked down I saw that I had ran 9ish minutes and I ran a complete mile. I was proud of myself! Why not continue on for some more? So the first day ended up being 2 miles, a record for me, seeing as I never really run even half a mile on a treadmill. XD

My pain assessment though… I was sore all over. My thighs, my calves, my arms, my rear… I had grabbed all of my stuff and gave the lock back to the half-asleep Asian man, who was joined by the peppy brown haired woman, who asked, "What's your last name?"

"Um… But I didn't give him my card." Kaylah had always asked last names when people returned stuff because there was a slot system behind the desk. The brown haired woman nodded slightly, but the half-Asian man perked up and slightly turned himself away from the woman…

Second day I was more prepared. Run to 2 miles… Finish this song… Slow down… Run faster… 4 miles! It was during "Simple and Clean," which drags on for a bit at the end, so it ended up being 4.08 miles. The pain was a little worse that day, seeing as I came in the following day. For some reason my arms had hurt the most, which was weird because I didn't work on them at all…

UPDATE: From this point on, I had tried out and added a few things other than running on the treadmill.

I remembered I liked rowing, for some reason. There were only a couple of rowing machines, but they didn't seem to be taking up a lot of occupation time as first thought. When I first tried it, there was one of the TA's from my Econ for Accounting class. He did recognize me, remarkably, and we got into a small conversation while we were rowing. I thought he was cool because he had an eyebrow ring which, on him, you really couldn't tell it was on until you looked up at him into his eyes. Honestly, I started a conversation with him because I was a little unsure as to how to set the machine up. I just followed his lead… XD

The weight lifting areas are sometimes weird. They are packed on the second floor, but there are hardly any on the first, even though both of these areas take up the same amount of space. You'd think that people would want to exercise in peace and not in front of everyone… Well at least that was how I felt. Again, I did some exercises after watching what other people did. To me, the various weird machines and chairs and benches looked weird, like each one was supposed to serve a purpose. I just really wasn't sure what because it wasn't strikingly clear…

What I end up doing is ignoring the machines altogether and use the hand weights for the various exercises the machines would've done anyway! XD

I'm definitely intent on seeing this through. It feels invigorating afterward. I have this feeling of self confidence and accomplishment that I don't ordinarily get on a day to day basis. I've looked up some articles online to see what I should and shouldn't be doing. I found on one cite that I should consider this, "my new lifestyle," that you should take immediate steps to adjusting your routine to that of something healthier.

So I developed a system. After classes are over and I change into my gym clothes, I'd go to the Wellness Center and start my routine. I'd run 2-4 miles on a treadmill or elliptical, then do some stretches outside on the balcony, then work on my arms in the weightlifting area, go rowing, and then if I'm not too tired I'd run some more. Hopefully I can get my tennis racket so that I can start practicing my tennis swings.

This whole, "new lifestyle" thing is a little bit scary. It feels like I'm redefining who I am to accommodate someone who I want to be. I am definitely starting to live like a college student in that regard. I've started tightening my belt on a few things, like no more coffee shops or fast food restaurants. The result of which is literally that, I'm able to tighten my belt a little more. I've also noticed that I'm more active during the day, and I'm able to grasp concepts of my classes easier. I'm not sure if that last one has a correlation with this or not, but I still thought it was mentionable. Either way, I finally feel I'm actually doing something right for once.

Heh, it's funny that, now that I sweat a lot more often, my clothes are starting to smell like JT… Ah nostalgia… XD

All About Me and PostSecret

2010-01-22T00:36:00.001-08:00

Blog No. 5: Tell All but Tell No One

I picked up a book the other day at Border's. It was called All About Me but it had no story. It had questions and blanks. The description of this text is:

With questions you not only reveal your curiosity to others, you also invite others to express their feelings, wishes, and fears; you show a genuine interest in and respect for their lives. This book is a neutral tool that allows you to comfortably ask and answer questions with friends, partners, family, colleagues, chance acquaintances—or simply with yourself…

This book is dedicated to everyone who has not asked enough questions of others, and to those who have never been asked.

—Philipp Keel

So, I figured it might be useful to help me define some of my indecisions onto pen and paper.

When I got to doing this book, it really felt like an over glorified form of a Myspace bulletin survey. However, when I got past the basic questions, (name, where were you born, what color do you usually wear), I got to the more insightful ones. What would be the first step toward resolving poverty in your opinion? How would you describe God? Death? Those types of questions I left unanswered until I fully thought about the exact answer I would give.

Then I get to these personal ones:

If your father wasn't around, who would you want to be as your father?

Describe your most romantic experience.

Who is a friend you would like to be closer to?

I know the answers to these questions. Thing is, there is something about writing them on paper that makes it more real, more official, more alive. Granted, this was my point all along. I didn't think I had unintended consequences to writing in this book. I mulled it around in my head whether or not I would actually fill in the answer that was in my mind…

So I said, "SCREW IT!" and, immediately, the book became a diary.

My rationality: In the wrong hands, people will know how to screw with my head, but, in the right hands, anyone who was curious enough to read it would know a lot more about me.

This book has some real potential.

…

Then it got me thinking…

I was recently shown a video made by the author of PostSecret of basically random people on the street telling the video camera some of their secrets. Piper had taken a couple of quotes from that video and made it her status on Facebook. I looked on to see the website, which I got kind of confused because I thought each entry was supposed to be comedic. The blog consists of actual handmade postcards from anonymous people, each with a short description of a secret or a feeling they never said out loud. Only after I reread these posts as secrets did I appreciate how inspiring this idea is.

Here are a few that I noticed:

You've been dead and buried for months now. But social networking sites won't stop reminding me that your birthday is on Saturday. I'm sorry. I love you.

I've had two girlfriends I could bring to orgasm by just licking their ears. I've lost contact with both of them.

My best friend committed suicide 13 years ago because his wife cheated on him. My wife of 13 years cheated on me this year. I forgive you both.

So I want to submit a secret.

I'm now basically in the process of trying to come up with a little design for a postcard. I feel that it might be freeing to put a visual of something that's been on my mind into simple words and images. Who knows? Maybe people will find that reading my secret would help them in some way. Maybe some of you out there will want to do this with me…

Either way, I'm curious as to what will result because of this.

Here we go!

The Frozen Popsicle and The Bitch Seat

2010-01-22T00:06:00.001-08:00

Blog No. 4: Jason Visits

My friend Jason from high school came by to visit us here in Santa Cruz. He came all the way from Sacramento on his motorcycle, which freaked Kaylah out a little bit. When he got here, he was as cold as an ice cube and he could barely even move. Kaylah and I had to take off his gloves for him. I'm always amazed of how people can drive long distances in a motorcycle, let alone drive one period. He had to drive two hours straight on a freeway and go up and down a hilly highway to get here.

Jason is a pretty cool guy. In high school, I generally hung out with him when we had music classes. I would put him under the category of "class clown," which only makes sense after you take into account that he emulated Jim Carey for his American Artist Project. Now, he does some programming for the Blackberry which he makes quite a substantial living off of.

He has a thing for red heads… and Hayley Williams. Apparently he would do anything to see and perhaps fondle the lead singer off of Paramore. We must've watched the "Brick by Boring Brick" music video at least a dozen times.

We also watched a lot Mythbusters when I slept over at Kaylah's with him. We pretty much went through the fifth season in that entire week. I already saw most of these episodes already, so it was that much more satisfying when I got Jason to see myths, like Fainting Goats, where Kari Byron, redhead, did something surprising, i.e. strip naked for science, and got to see his reaction.

We all went to see Sherlock Holmes one night. I was running late to go to the movie theater and he ended up buying my ticket for me. In exchange, despite his objections, I bought him a large soda, which I sipped a few drinks off of, and a box of sour patch kids. The girl at the counter seemed familiar, so I asked if I knew her from somewhere. Joline is a student, like me and about 70% of the town, at UCSC. What I hadn't realized was that I saw her just earlier that day, working at the Kresge College mailroom. She helped me finally get my mailbox open. XD;

The movie was great. It does have a lot of fist punching and action stuff, but somehow they kept it real, even though Sherlock Holmes tends to be this perfect-in-every-way character. As Sherlock does his recap of "how they did it" we see actual flashbacks of what he saw, not anything new, which was neat because the movie makes it as if we are totally engrossed in his crazy mind. It also introduces some modern aspects of the story, like it includes the crime scene analysis as one would see on an episode of CSI, as well as a "bromance" kind of relationship between Homes and Watson. It kept the spirit of mystery alive, as well as told the story from a different angle instead of trying to please the die-hards.

Overall, I'd give 4 Out of 5 Thumbs UpàGreat to see if you want to yell out "JUST KISS ALREADY!" like I wanted to do…

Also, Terry would most definitely have a fling with Rachel MacAdams.

Jason had mentioned that he brought a second helmet to see if any of us wanted to ride along with him. Terry sounded interested, but he didn't want the ride. Kaylah denied it the chance on the spot. I, however, was curious as to how riding a motorcycle would feel, so I took him up on his offer. Kaylah joked about being on the "Bitch Seat," but I didn't care. I wanted to ride the motorcycle with him!

The helmet was tight around the neck, so it took a little push to get the helmet to fit on my big head. I could hear Kaylah chuckle in the background, but again I shrugged it off. When I put it on, we found out that part of the visor was missing. The helmet was hanging near the tailpipe during the ride down, so that must've been the culprit.

Anyway, I hopped on, straddling the bike and grasping my arms around Jason's waist. He gave me one bit of instruction, "Whichever way I turn, lean along with me! I know it'll be scary to do, but trust me you'll be fine!"

In my head, I was thinking, well I wasn't worried until you mentioned that! All it made me do was hold on to Jason tighter.

The engine rumbled as he turned the motorcycle on. I curled up my legs into the bike while Jason prepared for launch. Once Kaylah drove Grace out of the parking lot, we followed. Being on the motorcycle felt like being on the water. It felt very free form and, surprisingly, freeing.

"The engine makes my crotch vibrate!"

Jason shrugged. He was probably used to it.

When we came upon our first turn, I tried following his directions, but I could feel myself hesitate. As the bike leaned, I wondered how the heck a motorcycle can keep its balance in the first place. It was very scary because we leaned to the point where I could have easily just pushed my hand against the pavement, which my hand started to do out of reflex. Once I realized it, I jolted in my seat and then leaned into Jason's back. Once the turn was over, we made a stop behind Grace. After that initial moment of fear, I felt like I could just as easily drive a motorcycle if I wanted to. XD

We rode from Kaylah's place to Gigi's, following Grace along the way. I had gotten the hang of leaning in close to Jason as he turned the motorcycle left or right. The ride was wonderful. It felt very natural, yet unsettling. I'm used to the comfortable and safe shell of a car's frame. It's definitely a weird feeling when you don't have the barrier of a car between you and the other cars.

I tried to sit myself up so that I wasn't totally leaning against Jason the entire ride. I could feel half of my face becoming frozen because of the broken visor. Being paranoid as I was, I fumbled through my pockets every once in awhile, like I'd normally do, one hand at a time to make sure I had everything, just in case nothing slipped out. I noticed that Jason was wondering what the heck I was doing as he turned his head behind him. I think from our entire ride, we must've topped at least 50 mph.

The House—(Motorcycle)àGigi's

Once we pulled into the parking lot and parked, I felt a huge rush of energy run through my body. I instantly regretted not raising my hands above my head during the trip like a roller coaster ride.

I definitely need to learn how to ride a motorcycle one of these days. XD

2 ½ x 3 Kaitlyns and Awesome Blogs

2010-01-13T00:34:00.001-08:00

Blog No. 3: Actually Moving Into Kresge and First Day of Classes

Monday morning, we woke up very early to try and move everything in all at once with the first trip. The night before, we packed up almost everything into Kaylah's car. Only my laundry basket of clothes, piano, saxophone, and printer didn't fit, which is surprising because Grace, Kaylah's car, is very very very very small.

The first thing we did was drive to this little red kiosk at the base of campus, in order to purchase a parking permit that will allow Grace to be parked at a very close parking lot. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Apparently the lady at the booth said that the computers cannot bring up the information for undergraduates…

So we drove a little further to the TAPS office. Thing was, there was a line at that building that went out the door. The only close by, available parking was at the entrance, which was full. What we had to do was Kaylah had to stand in that cumbersome line, while I sat in the driver's seat, wait at the stop sign for anyone to pull out of a parking spot so that I can park Grace without getting a ticket. When I parked Grace, about 15 minutes of country music later, I walked to where Kaylah was in line. After we entered in the building, there was a person who said that they would help us because Kaylah has done this before. So we skipped ahead of the line to a door, where Kaylah was being processed on the computer. Thing is, Kaylah had already purchased her Remote parking pass and could not purchase a temporary one. We had to call the TAPS main office, leave a message with Grace's license plate number, and leave a little piece of paper saying "DO NOT CITE" on Kaylah's dashboard.

This part took all of an hour to do, all for a piece of paper. That was very much a time waster… DX

Then we ran to the Kresge housing office to pick up my dorm key and to actually see which room I was in. Joao, the housing director, is a pretty laid back guy. Let's just say that he would be the face of what UCSC's reputation would look like… Kaylah knew him through her job as a community assistant, so they were palling around. Usually, the new residents get a care package, like papers and stuff about the campus as well as the room keys. When I opened my folder up, all I got were the keys, which meant that I had to walk everywhere to get my ID, my mailbox, and any other helpful information. Way to be on the ball. XD

So, after we got the keys, Kaylah and I, as well as the compact car full of stuff, drove to Kresge East. Just as Audrey predicted, I got the third floor. Just as Kaylah predicted, I got the only single available, which happened to be in the apartment where one of Jackson's friends, Nicholas, lived.

When we walked into the apartment, I could feel my jaw just drop. The living room area was really big. Walking into this apartment, you get the living room on the right, which walks into a nice sized kitchen area. You also get the hallway of four rooms and a center sink divider, where the bathrooms split between shower and toilet. My room is the first one accessible from the front door. I walked in and I finally saw it. My room. My home away from home. My new home.

I figure the room ought to be around two and a half by three Kaitlyns big—that's right, I measure by Amazons. Screw you metric system! I'd think you could take Kaylah's old room at Kresge and double it and you'd get the size of my room. You walk in and there's a big sliding door closet to the right and a small desk to the left. The bed would be straight in front of you against the base of the window, right next to the bedside bookshelf. The dresser of three drawers sat at the foot of the bed. I couldn't have asked for a better space!

So we started unpacking. One by one, we carried the random bags up to my room, including the duffel, the more-than-16 lbs bag, the backpack, the basket of blankets, and many "green" bags full of random stuff. When we got to the storage bins, we figured we would try and take them both at the same time. They both weighed a lot. What we did was we took the little cart with the bungee cords and hooked the stacked bins to it. I pulled the cart, Kaylah pushed. We were only able to get up the hill when my hand started to hurt from the top bin scraping it. I decided to carry that up the stairs real quick just so that I wouldn't have that scraping my hand all the way up to the third floor.

Suddenly, I hear a big BOOM ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk –slide- PICHUU! ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk ka-chunk BAM! So I rushed outside to see what the noise was and to see if Kaylah was alright. Kaylah, the blonde that she is, had apparently rolled the large bin up to the second to last step to the second floor when she lost balance and clutched the cart, which in return released the bin from the bungee cords, making it slide down all those stairs and sprawl out its contents on the ground floor. Kaylah, other than nearly peeing her pants, suffered no harm, thankfully.

The rest of the unpacking and setting up went smoothly.

Meeting my roommates didn't take place until later that night. They weren't there when all the commotion was going on in my room. I wondered where they had been and I was nervous as to meeting them. When I walked in that night, they were circled around a table just talking. At first impressions, they were not all that mischievous looking, so I walked up and greeted them all with a handshake.

Tony and Nicholas are the gamers in this apartment. Nick was the one that helped me a little bit with trying to find my classes. Tony also took interest and would normally pop into my room if he felt inclined to ask something.

Alex and I are a lot alike. We're both musicians, trying to find our spot where our puzzle piece fits into in this world, we like the same music, we both talk about the same things. Thing is, he was also talking to me about a friend's party he went to, where he was pretty much drunk that entire night. The list pretty much ends there.

The next day, I also met my CA, Katherine. During a nap, I hear a knock on the door. So I woke up and walked to the living room, where I saw this curly haired chick. She was very peppy and inviting from what I could tell. The CA is basically a person I would turn to if I had any questions or if I had any problems. Katherine was very welcoming and basically gave her introduction. Apparently, Kaylah know Katherine from when Kaylah had the CA job. So, sometime in the coming weeks, I'm going to go and talk to her.

As far as classes go, I'm pretty psyched:

My Econ for Accounting class starts at 8 AM, right about when I really don't want to be awake. However, after the first day, I felt that I could handle it. The teacher, Mallory, is very into her job. She looks and talks very much like a butch lesbian with white hair. Her lectures are fun and are very easy to follow, even though she goes through them very quickly.

Two hours and a breakfast later, my Intermediate Macroeconomics starts. The teacher, I'll call Borscht, is also one of the teachers that loves his job. He has a thick, almost Russian accent and uses the words "awesome" and "blog" a lot. He also repeats himself, not to undermine us, but for clarification. So I giggled when I noticed the accent when he was trying to say "Mankiw's AWEsome Blog" a few times, or when it almost sounds like a parody impression of Arnold Schwarzenegger. XD

The Introduction to American Studies follows twenty minutes later, on the count of it being a big campus and I would have to sprint to class if it weren't. Our teacher, Kim Lau, would… to put it bluntly… be my idea of a PILF, and possibly Dustin's, too. She, too, is passionate about her subject, which is fine, but she also likes to try and open doors for people. She has us watching Michael Moore documentaries and read excerpts of Obama's book, so she'll have a unique take on this course that I can get involved with.

Discussions start this week, which are basically optional/required free tutoring/laboratory hours for each of the classes. All of my classes fall on a MWF pattern with two hour-long discussions on Tuesdays and one in the morning on Thursdays. Within all of this, I am going to work in a gym schedule. Our gym, or "Wellness Center", has the most gorgeous view of the ocean, so when I go on the treadmills I can bask in the ocean breeze.

So yeah… That's how it is so far.

Tumblr: The Small Moments

2010-01-11T18:13:00.000-08:00

Blog No. TUMBLR: I Have a Tumblr

The Small Moments.

Yes.

I have cheated on you Blogger.

To you readers out there, I just would like to let you know that I started another blogging website. You can simply type [rabbiman.tumblr.com] or, you know, click any of the links you see on this blog.

(I'll warn you though, one of them is a fake. I'd go with the typing it in the search bar if I were you.)

Basically, I go to that blog for the small stuff. If there's something that stuck out during the day that needed to be blogged, but seemed to awkward to write it in this form, I go to my Tumblr and post on there. I've already started a few of those. Some photos, some videos, some quotes, some conversations, all that can now be found on there. I've also started posting some links on there whenever I update this blog.

Have fun!

Not Goodbye

2010-01-09T23:03:00.001-08:00

Blog No. 2: Moving to Santa Cruz

It's official. I'm moved into my room.

I've decorated.

Sunday was a very emotional day, overall.

I stayed up until 3 AM, moving my bags and bins downstairs and compressing the amount of stuff I'm taking—granted I could've been done earlier if I wasn't trying to distract myself from my packing and my emotions by watching an NCIS marathon and talking to Taylor online. I've literally divided my room in half, taking only half of my instruments, half of my clothes, half of my books, etc. Here I'm thinking I'll have one or two bins and a few bags to carry along with me. Then I start looking down the list, adding some essentials that I haven't thought of, like hangers and boots. Before I know it, I end up packing two very full bins, a laundry basket of clothes, two "green" bags of bath towels and other miscellaneous stuff, a laundry basket of two blankets, a laundry bag of shoes, my formal wear in a hanger bag, a sleeping bag, my keyboard, Slanket, a trash can, a duffel bag of more miscellaneous stuff, two of mom's last minute bags, some new pillows, and Kaylah's care package from her mom. The van did not have much floor room once I packed everything in it.

As a result of staying up late, I woke up two hours later than I intended. Realizing this, I quickly ran into the shower and got ready, only to discover that only John and the baby were up downstairs, both still in their pajamas.

A few minutes later, Audrey woke up and walked downstairs to take care of the baby. She told me that she hasn't told Lennox that I was moving… That I had to tell him that I would be gone for awhile. I thought on it and tears already started welling up in my eyes. Seeing as I was in front of Audrey, I tried dismissing the tears and distract myself from them, but I knew she noticed them. She could always notice them.

She then walked upstairs, leaving me alone with the baby. I held him in my arms, almost hugging him. I stood with him in front of the bathroom mirror, like I usually do when he fusses, and saw the both of us in that glass. I saw my bloodshot eyes, my forced smile above my quivering chin trying to contain it all in. I leaned against the doorframe, making Lennox lean back a little to see my face. The little bugger stared at me for a second, gave me a super cute smile, and fell back on my chest, resting his arms on my shoulders.

John came downstairs and I handed Lennox off to him. I stood aside to recover from that moment and walked upstairs to tally up anything else that I needed. After Audrey got out of the shower, she, John, and Lennox left for the apartment in their red car. John drove back in the van for me to pack my stuff. Then we drove back to the apartment, where I saw my mom, still content with a brave face on.

My aunt had heard the door open and close to the apartment, taking that as my arrival. She walked into my mom's room where I stood. I bent lower as I embraced her for a few seconds. She gave me a few blueberry muffins that she made that morning, then left to go shopping. With this embrace, I felt only a small urge for tears, not because I would miss her less, but because I felt that we had this unspoken understanding. That embrace basically said, "Not goodbye. We will see each other later." I speak hug. XD

Later, when everything was packed and what not, we all took a trip to Panera, the bread place that Kaylah and I usually go to for our lunches. I got a chicken frontega panini, which was pretty good, (minus the onions). I also ventured next door to the It's A Grind, where I got myself a black cherry mocha. It was pretty tasty. The purpose of Panera was to have a one last time hangout before I left to be together as a family, the five of us enjoying a meal and casually chatting about mundane things. It was nice.

After that lunch, we all headed back to the apartment, where all the real emotion welled up.

Mom and I realized that it was finally getting to be goodbye, so I could feel the both of us trying to fight back our tears. We could barely speak. The both of us just mainly hugged each other, one last time, and just fought the urge to stay that way. After she hugged me, she took my face in her hands and landed a big motherly kiss on my cheek, followed by an even more tearful hug.

My mom grabbed Lennox from John. Then my mom held Lennox's hand up to wave goodbye. When she let go, he was still waving, not much, but just enough.

So much for staying strong through this…

John and Audrey headed to the van, where I followed, trying to hide my bloodshot eyes. The emotion was shrugged off as I tried joking around with John while he was getting ready to drive. In the van, we just basically remained quiet. All you could hear were the sounds of the annoying Tom Tom and mixed music mixes from Disney and emo bands blasting from the van stereo. I thought this was a good time as any to finish writing some of my blogs.

The drive went over pretty well. It only took about two and a half hours, where the last half hour consisted of a very swervy, hilly road. When we arrived off the exit, I started to recognize some of the Santa Cruz landmarks, like the big River Street sign where Gigi's was located. A few streets later, we arrived at the little village complex thing, where I knocked on the familiar door, for the first time as a Santa Cruz resident.

Terry answered the door and welcomed me. I beckoned him over to the van, where I introduced him to Audrey and John before we started moving my stuff into the house. Terry, John, and I moved all of my stuff back into the house, which only took about three trips to do. When you look at the sheer volume of stuff, however, it seems like a lot.

Audrey and John were looking at Kaylah's place for the first time, so they were observing random things I haven't pointed out before, like how there are quite a few pictures of cats on the walls. XD

After a phone call to mom and Lennox, the four of us decided to go on and venture Santa Cruz as a whole. Terry and I showed Audrey and John the view from the hill behind their housing complex. From that height, you could literally see the Santa Cruz Boardwalk "Drop-Zone" ride.

John then drove the four of us through campus by Terry's directions. We basically made a circle around campus to the main buildings, the gist of where I would be hanging out the most. We found our way to the Kresge East apartments, where we all hopped out and looked from outside. These apartments are NOT like the ones Kaylah had lived in. The buildings are of a different architecture. The dorms were taller, green, and had a log cabin feel to them. I wasn't exactly sure how I felt about that, but all I could care about was where I was going to sleep. I really wanted to sneak into my room to see what it looked like, but I still had no idea where I was bunking…

Audrey had commented that she never realized how woodsy the campus was, even though I tell people that the campus is on a hill in the middle of the woods. I shrug. Both Audrey and John liked the campus anyway. All the way around, John and Terry were talking about random video game and comic stuff, just like I predicted they would. XD

Then, John drove us to Kaylah's work at Gigi's. Kaylah came out from the kitchen to say hello. She seemed really overworked, like she usually did. She warned us that she still had about an hour or two left of work. Audrey and John still wanted something to eat, so I gave them the idea of Erik's Café, Piper's and my choice of restaurant.

John did not want to drive anymore, seeing as he had to drive all of those hills and roads all day. I wouldn't blame him, though I wondered whether or not Audrey would be up to the walking because we were really walking out of our way to the restaurant. They seemed fine with it… So, the four of us walked to downtown Santa Cruz. Audrey and John were gazing at all of the random shops down the one street.

When we arrived, I thought it had closed already. Fortunately, when I walked up to the door, it wasn't the case. I got my usual Abbot's Habit sandwich with tomato bisque soup. I remember John got this holiday sandwich that could only be described as Thanksgiving leftovers packed into a sandwich. Audrey liked her sandwich, but was a little disappointed with the chocolate "meltdown" cake as it wasn't gushing chocolate fudge like the picture showed us it would.

Afterwards, Terry got Kaylah something to go and then we walked back to Kaylah's work. This was where I said goodbye to Audrey and John. This goodbye wasn't at all emotional, probably because I was in front of company that haven't seen me in tears yet. Audrey did give me a hug, which I noticed I haven't really ever gotten in my adulthood. John gave me the awkward, "brother-in-law" hug as he called it. XD

All in all, it was a very emotional day. I did feel that Kaylah radiated a lot more excitement that day then I ever did. I kinda figured that was why she asked if I was genuinely excited to be moving in.

I am. I really am. I just feel that if I show some excitement, some sadness might've also escaped.

No More Del Taco

2010-01-05T15:16:00.000-08:00

Blog No. 1: New Year’s Eve

My New Year's Eve was filled with the Burn Notice marathon and more packing. The only entertaining thing I've done was waste time posting some videos on some Facebook profiles, reminding them of their Rabbi Mission. New Year's Eve in the past has never really been eventful for me. The only time I actually celebrated was at Kaylah's New Year's party, which didn't happen in Sacramento this year.

So, Taylor, Susan Surrandon, and I planned to go to Old Sac to watch the fireworks. Taylor texted around 9 PM to warn me of his arrival. From there, Taylor and I ventured downtown, getting stuck in traffic along the way. Taylor really doesn't take traffic well, seeing as he drove intentionally slow after a taxi kept on honking from behind during a red light.

After we parked, we walked through the K street mall and Old Sac. We ventured into the sea of partying people to find Susan Surrandon and Phillip, sitting by the Delta King. Susan Surrandon had alerted me that Dustin, Patric, and their other friend, Patrick, was going to be there but backed out at the last minute. I’ve heard some stories about Patrick and I am indeed looking forward to the day I meet him. In the mean while, we were trying to come up with things to occupy ourselves until midnight…

Taylor decided he wanted some salt water taffy, so we ended up walking to find an open taffy shop. Unfortunately, both of the taffy shops had been closed. I was very disappointed because I was picturing myself having pomegranate taffy, for old time’s sake. Taylor had immediately moved on and dismissed the idea…

Near the railroad museum, there was a band playing, representing the Eagle radio station and all it’s glory. The four of us stayed on the outskirts of the little crowd, enjoying some jazz themed rock, watching the people in the front of the stage dancing their hearts out. Phillip and Susan Surrandon had danced a little bit while I was watching Taylor trying to take a picture of the band to no avail.

Taylor and Phillip decided that we needed to move inside, seeing as the evening was getting colder. I pulled everyone away from the band and walked back in the direction of the Delta King with the intention of finding an open shop. Instead, we got distracted by a group Fire dancers, swiveling their hips and fire sticks to a soundtrack of a very hypnotizing acoustic base.

Ten minutes before midnight, we made a coffee run. I got a Mocha freeze, Taylor some hot drink, and Phillip a lime Italian soda. Then we hit the road, walking the railroad tracks in the direction of the “golden colored” bridge. The crowd had grown bigger as we finally reached our destination. The bridge was raised in preparation of the fireworks show. Strong, green laser pointers danced in jagged shapes on the bridge. It was very chilly outside, according to Taylor. Both Susan Surrandon and I offered our coats to him, to which he firmly denied our acts of kindness… He’s very stubborn.

We found ourselves right outside a parking garage, where we saw people on the metal gates on every floor in couples gazing into the starless sky. This made me feel a little uneasy, feeling all of the romance in the air, how I was left out of it. It was then that I noticed that Phillip and Susan Surrandon had never really left each other’s arms. Then the crowd yelled out to the sky an inaudible countdown and explosions ensued in the sky as the firework show had begun. I looked around and saw a lot of the couples had begun that clichéd ritual of making out as the clock stroke midnight. Taylor and I commented on what each of the explosions had looked like—he apparently saw a plethora of penises in the sky that night. I recognized how some of them had tried to take the shape of hearts in the night sky. I looked up at him, saw he was maneuvering his coffee cup across his lip rings, and I wondered if he had felt this same uneasiness as I did.

A few minutes and many heart thumping explosions later, the four of us slowly walked back to the parking garage. We ended up having to try and link ourselves together because it was very easy to get separated from each other. It was also very easy to bump into the wrong person, hear her curse your ear off as your party continues to walk away. When we got in the parking garage, there had been a long line of cars honking, blasting their stereos, and just doing whatever their drunk passengers were doing at that moment. So, to not get caught up in that mess, we just sat on Phillip’s car, trying to decide our next move for that evening.

After awhile, we ended up going through Taylor's music on his Droid. Taylor’s song list basically consisted of artists like Lily Allen and Alanis Morisette and soundtracks from video games and the Phantom of the Opera. I had noticed that, after I took off my coat to hang on the hood of the car, Taylor had picked up the coat and put it on, tying up the strings of the hood and wearing it like a cloak. During some of the songs, Taylor and Susan Surrandon had decided to show off their jazz dancing prowess, taking up more space as the parking garage suddenly felt more open.

Taylor talked of Denny's, but I told him to consider all of the drunk partying people out and about tonight. We conversed by the parked car for what seemed like forever, talking about our options and about other random things. We got engrossed into our conversation to the point where we realize we were trying to find a location to go to only when drunk people return to their cars.

Taylor mentioned a craving for fish and chips when we were in Old Sac, so Taylor and I decided to walk back to Old Sac to see if any of the shops were open. The walk back was very exhilarating, most of the K Street Mall, the tunnel, and Old Sac was deserted. Taylor took a few pictures along the way, and that’s where I was prompted to take pictures of him taking pictures of the K Street Mall at night. I recreated one picture I took of Piper through the arch at Porter College at Santa Cruz with Taylor inside the tunnel where the walls on both sides were tiled with bright and blocky designs.

When we arrived, we started walking through the main street when a bicycle cop stopped in front of us. He had alerted us that they closed Old Sacramento in a sarcastic tone. We politely said thanks and turned ourselves around back through the tunnel… I wanted to push him off of his bike. XD

When we arrived back at the car, Susan Surrandon, Taylor, and I conversed some more while Phillip drifted back and forth between talking and sleeping. Somehow we got to a point where the three of us surrounded Phillip’s car during the conversation. It was at that point that I heard a couple of guys from behind me. I didn’t acknowledge the chatter, but I looked at Susan Surrandon’s face, which told me that the people were coming closer. Suddenly, one of the guys, clearly very high, proposed casually in my ear, “Do yooouu want some druuuuuuuugs?” Then he pulled out a ziplock bag out of his hemp style jacket, which contained what looked like a green owl pellet. I was scared at this point as I tried to smile and declined his offer, trying to avoid eye contact with him at all costs.

The other guy had got the Del Taco smelling guy away from me, recognizing that the three of us did not want anything to do with them. While the guys high off of green owl pellet were walking away, the three of us sighed in relief. Somehow, that sigh prompted this second guy to pause. He asked, “Wait, I’m getting mixed signals here!” He continued on about something about a club or something. Either way, we stood our ground until the two kites walked away. This, finally, became incentive for us to get in the car where it was safe. XD

After a little more conversation, we ended up just saying goodbye seeing as both Susan Surrandon and Taylor had to work early in the morning. When Taylor drove me back to the house, I realized that it was 3:30 AM. I was not tired. At all. I had thought about asking Taylor if he wanted to go somewhere, but I decided against it, thinking I could utilize some of the time to finish packing. I reached over to him to hug him goodbye, but when we released from that hug I saw his face. He had looked genuinely sad, on the brink of distraught. It was literally like D: kind of distraught. I quickly looked away, but I felt that moment being engraved into my brain. As I got out of the car, I casually waved back and quickly walked up my driveway.

I don’t know what it was, but that night I just looked and looked at that face, which I tried mimicking in the mirror. I didn’t sleep. I only fell asleep after 3 cups of coffee, 2 pages of typing, some Facebook trolling, 2 episodes of Scrubs, 5 infomercials, and half a playlist later…

This feeling is foreshadowing some more heartbreak in the future, isn’t it?

Rabbi Missions

2009-12-16T20:32:00.000-08:00

Blog No. RABBI: Rabbi Missions

There is no question that 365MMIX failed as a daily blog project.

I got to thinking, well what would be easier to do EVERYDAY of a year? which led to a lot of cool and neat ideas.

Then I got to thinking, I want to do ALL of this, but I will not have the luxury time, to say the least which is true.

What I come up with can be fun if I get YOU, the readers of 365MMIX, (mainly the official members of Rabbi), to help me.

So, I declare the start of the Rabbi Missions for a new 365MMX project.

Basics:

No, I'm not asking you to blog, (unless you really want to).
The purpose of the project will be a sure fire way to frequently keep in touch.
A custom project will be assigned to a specific person. This will most likely involve taking photos of some part of the day that you would ordinarily be doing anyway. All photos would be sent to me.
For those with busy schedules, like me, "stockpiling" or waiting until the end of the week to send a weeks worth of photos, is allowed. A desired amount of items would end up being 365.
If there are official Rabbi participants wanting to do this, just let me know! If there are unofficial Rabbi participants, then an emergency Rabbi test will have to take place.
At the end of the year, I will either post them up online or make an album or whatever it may be, depending on the mission.
The mission you are assigned, either/both the mission itself and/or each daily result, would ideally be kept secret from other participants until the year is finished to add that much more excitement.
The general success of your projects will reflect in the amount of Rabbi points.
Also, try to cap it at one photo per day kind of idea. I say this in a case where someone different gets nosy and wants to be apart of the photo in some way, which might end up in a chain of photos resulting from retakes of this nature in a short time period.

I would also like to enact the Lomo Mission, which is basically a picture a day of where Lomo is, wherever he may be, in whoever's care he may be in. I would like this to happen because I realize that I may just get Lomo for a month in January and maybe a few weeks during the summer. With this, I'd also like to encourage more of a group custody agreement, where Piper, KT, and I agree to let someone else take care of Lomo for more interesting places and pictures.

So how about it?

Cupcakes and Chocobos

2009-12-16T20:29:00.000-08:00

Blog No. SHIRT: Cupcakes and Chocobos

Hallelujah for sleep! Definitely needed to sleep in! XD

Unfortunately, I did not go to my Piano final that day. Taylor had apparently heard of this and texted a big, "QUIT FAILING." I replied to him the situation and he instantly forgave me... After a change in subject.

I emailed Heidi while I was texting Taylor. I had caught her before she went to class because she immediately replied back. Heidi's emails were very nice and reassuring, in that I was still on her good side. I had apologized, not just because I wasn't going to be there, but because I wasn't there to say goodbye in person. I hope to see her again soon...

Anyway, after a few hours, Taka, King, Abril, and Alyssa arrive at my house. The baby was sleeping, so we mainly talked in hushed tones. We set up all the shirts, all the foam stencils, and all the paint, along with my paint brushes, all downstairs.

Upstairs, King was in the loft, working on his Wii game... Or rather my Wii game. He decided to try out Chocobo's Dungeon for kicks. So he pretty much stayed in the loft upstairs the entire night.

Taka showed us the work she finished on the high five shirts. Mine was a black T-shirt with a green outline of Taka's hand, along with a face and the words "High Five" in big bold font. It's pretty awesome! I really hope she does pursue this as either a hobby or a side business. XD

Taka had asked for some hot chocolate, so I boiled some water on the stove. While I was mixing in the hot chocolate, Abril and I randomly sang some Family Guy referenced Xmas carols.

The main reason they were over at my place at all was because I needed to do the Coppertone Rabbiman shirt. It is technically Taka's Xmas gift to me, but I wanted to be part of the process to make it. So Taka made the foam paper stencil, and I painted the outline of the drawing. I added a few touches, like a Star of David tattoo on the shoulder and some minor lines here and there.

After awhile of painting, Abril, Alyssa, and I ended up playing catch, using Lomo as the ball. I was up on the second floor balcony while Abril and Alyssa were downstairs, failing to throw Lomo up to me.

After that night, we got all three shirts done, finishing touches and all. XD

+10 Awesome if Equipped with "Awesome Scarf"

2009-12-16T20:27:00.001-08:00

Blog No. AWKWARD: On The Second Day of Finals, My True Love Gave to Me...

My solution to the lack of any Italian homework being done was to come to school the next day pretty early with my sister's laptop. I know I had to do a few pages of the workbook, a few pages of work from the book, and my tema. Not to mention that I had to study for both my Italian and my Statistics final. Figuring all that in, I decided to come in extra early on the bus, and by extra early I mean 7 AM.

When I walked into the cafeteria, I walked in and saw Dustin, sporting his scarf and Santa Hat. He wondered what I was doing here so early, and I the same. It turns out he also had this idea of studying before his finals... Only his finals didn't start at 3 PM, like mine did.

I whipped out my Xmas chocolate, a 2 lbs box of See's candy I had kindly distributed the day prior before I went to the mall. About 6 people took a few from the top layer. Dustin, single handedly, finished about 12 of those chocolate pieces to himself. XD

So there we were, casually chatting with each other, him being on his Black Friday laptop, me doing some homework, waiting for the day to end. After about an hour, Dustin went to his first final. During this time, I realized that I didn't have much to do at all. All of the bookwork and workbook was less than anticipated, resulting in me being finished with most of my work at 9 AM, when Dustin arrived from his easier than expected Nutrition final. He had thought that this final was going to be hard, but it ended up being easy, apparently, even though it had 100 questions on it.

So there we were, again, casually doing work and what not. At some point, I grabbed my Rabbiman sandwich, my last one for a while... Kevin came by, mentioning something about a Saturday play, where he has to shave his head and act in underwear and pink high heels, and he invited us along. Dustin and I replied with a polite but firm NO. Then he left, after he had some of my Xmas chocolate.

Then Justin Vaughn and Phillippe arrived for a few minutes. They both gave us hugs and teased Dustin about being Santa Claus. I was staring at Dustin, feeling sorry for him because of how awkward that felt to him. After they left, we both pretty much agreed of how awkward it was. Dustin told me he felt very uncomfortable around both of them because of that. I told him about the few instances where I just felt like a teddy bear/mascot to them, and how Vaughn would sometimes bite me for some reason. I think, and I'm speaking for the both of us, that we can only take the gayness in doses.

Kevin returned, only with something different about him. He now had a bald head. I thought this was the opportune time to take a picture and send it to a few people. Only Kaitlyn replied with an "OMG OMG OMG!" Whether that was a good or bad OMG is a matter of opinion.

In the midst of studying for my Stats final, Dustin gave me a hug and left for his final final. So there I was, alone in the cafeteria, a rarity I thought would never happen seeing as a lot of people were usually in there. A claim only confirmed when Lyle came by a few minutes later, looking for Carolina. He was supposed to meet up with her at some point, only he had overslept. After some intense Stats studying, Lyle and I ended up talking about dreams for some reason. That kinda led to me showing him some dreams I had on my blog. That kinda led to him showing me some dreams he had on his blog. After reading some of his dreams, I felt like I got a little closer to him, in a less awkward sense. C:
*

Then, Lyle told me it was time for my Stats final, which I really didn't want to go to. Going to that class seemed very redundant and pointless to me. All of the material that was covered can basically be done on a calculator or I could already solve using some simple Algebra. I'm just glad I didn't have to show my work, that it was multiple choice, because I really couldn't put forth the effort of doing much else other than pushing a few buttons and darkening a few squares.

After the Statistics final, I found King, Taka, and Lyle with my Xmas chocolate. I had asked Lyle to wait until I got back, which I guess he made good on, seeing as he was there without Carolina. I kinda felt guilty that I did that because that basically meant that I made him wait by himself... When Lyle decided to leave, I gave him a pretty big hug, which was being distracted by Piper's phone call and Kaylah's texting, to try and make up for it. So, in a half hug, I held onto what I realized later as Lyle's behind while I was listening to Piper. About 10 minutes later, after the phone call finished, I realized where my hand had been and apologized. He said not for me to worry about it, so for that I just gave him a gargantuan hug from that awkward position, face against crotch potential and all. XD

Taka, King, and I then decided to go to Michael's because of our shirt making plans the next day and the big time gap between my two finals. We ended up at JoAnn's, basically Michael with a sex change and a sudden obsession with cloth. I told Taka that I would pay for the supplies, seeing as I was getting a shirt out of all of this. She was very hesitant though, stalling at which paints to buy and whether or not she needed to get some shirts or not. I pretty much just told her get more than you need in case you decide to do more projects, which she will what with having a number of ideas crawling around in her head about a side business. She had already come up with a logo and everything! I figure all of this was a worth while investment. C:

We also ended up at the SuperWalmart down the street from Taka's place to get some contact paper and an Xacto knife. We circled the aisles until we got dizzy and exausted, literally. So we grabbed two people. We ended up with the contact paper, some foam sheets for some repeated stenciling, and a pink Xacto knife. It was a very serendipitous moment indeed.

Before the Italian final, I met up with Professoressa Martinelli to see if she had my letter of reccomendation. She had me read it and I must say I'm happy that I've gotten to know her. It was filled with compliments that are too good for me. After a big hug, she asked about what she should do to the class to make it harder. It's true that the class was a little easy, but her perspective makes sense because she gossiped with me about a few people in the class, mentioned some names of people that shouldn't be in that class. I hadn't realized how much this annoyed her until then. Then we talked more about the previous week, asked about what I did. I pretty much told her what had gone on during the concert and what happened over the weekend while I walked her to class. I'm very glad I have the chance to talk to her in this casual fashion. I hope I can still keep in touch with her! C:

The Italian final wasn't so hard at all. It was pretty much like a test, only this time there wasn't the dictation portion, like there usually is. Instead, we read a little passage and answered questions from it. It was different, but needed because I felt the dictation was only needed for when we needed to know how to spell the words, not when we are just past that stage. Everything else was a breeze. When I turned in the test, we both said our Ci vediamos and bid each other farewell!

Mom picked me up from school, grabbed me a Taco Bell, and I fell right to sleep. XD

The Red Rings

2009-12-16T20:27:00.000-08:00

Blog No. MALL: A Day of "Celebration"

And so begins the first day of finals.

I arrived early to study for the Chemistry final with King and Susan Surrandon. I wasn't so worried about the tests once I looked at the answer keys to the previous four tests this semester. Susan Surrandon was a little worried, however, because of the current grade she was currently sitting on. I'm currently at a low "C" in that class, which basically means if I pretty much get anything above a "D" on the final, I'm set. With that knowledge, I had put my mind at ease. I basically spent my first hour of studying by doing my final lab work and the second hour looking at the answer keys.

The final itself wasn't so hard. Of course we usually say this and end up having a lower grade than expected to show for it because of those darn stupid mistakes. In retrospect, the class is not so hard, but much rather it was because we came into this class with this loathing impression of the course from previous Chemistry classes. The Weissbart was a cool guy to talk to, especially now that we got him to call us Rabbiman and Susan Surrandon. So with this I say "So long!" to the Weissbart.

After the Chemistry final, Taylor decided that we should have a "celebration" for today. I originally planned to catch up on my Italian homework at home, but I suppose not having anymore Chemistry again for the rest of my life is reason enough to put that on hold and celebrate! And so ensues the impromptu celebratory Denny's lunch.

Taylor, Zack, and I met up with King, Susan Surrandon, and Phillip at the Denny's near Scandia. I ordered a french toast slam with hot chocolate. The hot chocolates are always good here, seeing as they usually make them extra chocolaty with extra whipped cream, not to mention unlimited refills and a few cents less than a soft drink. The only times I've ever came here was for after concert times, and whenever I had hot chocolate JT would usually engulf the whipped cream with his monstrous bear trap of a mouth and down all of my chocolate down his throat... So I was glad I actually enjoyed my hot chocolate. XD

After Denny's, Taylor, Phillip, Susan Surrandon and I took a trip to the Roseville Galleria. This was my official second time I've ever been to the Roseville Galleria. Compared with the other malls I've been to, this one is a lot more impressive... It's sad thinking about it really. I now have more of a firm knowledge of a few different malls now. It's weird how I look back and think I avoided the malls when now I seem to go every other day...

We pretty much walked in a circle around the mall, looking randomly at different things. We went to FYE, Gamestop, Hot Topic, Aeropostale (of course), and a few other clothing stores. I looked at a lot of shirts with Taylor, and a lot of posters at FYE, which mainly consisted of boobs, Edward Cullen, and the Jonas Brothers. He needed to look around for some Xmas gifts, so I kinda helped. Although, I couldn't help but try and look for myself in Hot Topic, seeing as everytime I go in there I always look for the checkerboarded stuff. XD

When we stopped by the bathroom, we noticed that there were a bunch of uniquely painted tiles leading up to it. The tiles were made by school kids from around the year 2000. We saw a bunch of cats and stripes and scribbly lines everywhere. Then Taylor spotted a crudely drawn Pikachu, which then sparked the Pokemon hide and seek game. I believe we found 2 pokeballs, 3 Pikachus, and an Oddish. The Oddish seemed a little out of place, but I guess it works. Taylor was so happy that we found it, too.XD

Taylor also needed to find some lip rings. Apparently, while he was being force fed some food, he had accidentally swallowed one of the balls off of one of the lip rings. He assured us that the piece of metal has passed through his system already... Anyway, we looked through a very limited supply of body jewelry at this little station in the middle of the mall. I suggested a pair of ruby red lip rings, seeing as he always seemed to wear red. I had also suggested the blue and silver striped ones, but Susan Surrandon said they were too gay, which I don't see why she said that seeing as the rings were meant for the gay guy... There were weird tye dye ones, ones with balls on the stars, and some that bent in different shapes that you kinda have to think about and wonder where they actually go... Taylor ended up with a plain pair of silver ones and the red ones I suggested for him.

After Taylor had put on one of his lip rings, we ended up going by the JC Penny to look for bed sheet. This reminded me that I still needed to get bed sheets for my bed at Santa Cruz, so I sent a quick text to Kaylah to ask what size bed would I get. She replied, "Twin XL." A Twin XL? So I'm going from a Twin bed to a Twin XL? What a luxury! XD

After everything was said and done, we decided to depart. Taylor took me all the way home after singing to a couple of tunes on the radio. The day trip was fun! Now if only I had time to do the Italian homework... XD

Santa Cruz Part VII: The Santa Cruz Quickie

2009-12-16T20:26:00.000-08:00

Blog No. BLONDE: Winter Orientation

It's about time I returned to Santa Cruz. This time I'm here on official business. Winter Orientation is basically a time where the bigwigs of the University welcome the new transfer students and the one new freshman, as well as encourage the community atmosphere, answer any pending questions before the new quarter, and to enroll in classes.

After the train and bus trip, Kaylah and Beth picked me up for a quick trip to the Capitola Mall. There, we pretty much walked around shopping for Xmas presents. Now I would explain in detail where we actually went, but I think that will give away some of the surprise.

After the mall, we swung by a KFC/A&W to get root beer floats for our Toys R' Us journey. We went to Toys R' Us to try and get some possible gifts for our younger siblings. Kaylah got a soccer goal for her little brother. However, walking through the aisles, we found some of our old toy things. Kaylah found all the plastic food and plastic kitchenware. I found some musical instruments, like a small xylophone and small guitar. Look at us. The three of us are full grown adults... playing in Toys R' Us at midnight. XD

When we got to their home, we pretty much spent most of the time pulling up SNL videos. Kaylah, Beth, and Terry are pretty obsessed with a few of those, like "Mother Lover" and "Like a Boss" which took me off guard the first time they showed me those videos. The reason they pulled them up was because our friend, Paul, had not seen them yet.

The next morning, Kaylah drove me along the path of helium filled balloons, past the wonderful scenery, to Cowell college, where I signed in and grabbed some food. I had been to this dining hall before, back when Kaylah was a freshman on campus. Since then, they have remodeled the dining hall to the point where it looks like a shiny bistro. The atmosphere was very cool, and the food was simply delicious. The food is definitely a step up from the ARC cafeteria food. XD

I was kind of nervous of the orientation because it usually meant that I had to meet new people. I'm not really the kind of person to meet new people. It was funny though, because I sat near some cute asian girls. I was given an assignment by Dustin to find some asian girls for him when he came down. The girls I sat with were very shy, too, and I pretty much just smiled the entire time. They talked amongst themselves more though, in their own language, which made if feel so much more awkward because they would look back at me a few times... So, let the stalking of cute asian girls begin! XD

I sat through a few informative and funny speeches. Then afterward, all the transfer students seperate into the different fields of study, and then again for specific majors. Basically I walked up with the Social Sciences group, then branched off into the smaller Econ major oriented group. There, we went to a classroom where a few of the main teachers gave us a broad overview of the 3 main majors, Economics, Business Management Economics, and Global Economics, as well as discussed what opportunities are available to us and what we still need to do to start our core classes.

After I asked more about the Global Economics program, I walked into a Humanities lecture hall, which was rather huge and very comfortable. There, two advisers gave us the skinny of what other resources are available on campus and what not. I jotted down some notes and wrote down a few numbers for future reference.

At this point, we had a few options as to which seminar we could go to. What I did was I basically walked back to the dining hall, had lunch, then walked around to the various booths representing the different offices and clubs on campus and took a few papers and free stuff along the way. After, I started walking to the Stevenson computer lab to look and see if I could consult with people while I registered for some classes. Unfortunately, the line was atrociously long. So, I walked back to the dining hall, where it was pretty much empty now. I sat down at one of the tables and whipped out my sister's laptop, where I logged on to the UCSC portal and searched for classes. By the stroke of 2 pm, or our collective enrollment appointments, I had signed up for all three of my classes.

Being all proud of myself, I took a leisurely walk around campus and ended up at the bookstore. There, I walked in to try to find something for my mom for Xmas. I ended up getting her and I a shirt. After I walked out of the store, I walked next door to take a picture for my ID card, which I will get the day I move in on campus... They are putting a LOT of things on one day...

After, I was reminded that I should look at the Apple computers on sale on the second floor. Kaylah let me know about this sale, a regular Mac laptop and an All-in-One printer for $800, and I thought it would be a good time to look into it. When I got there, there was no one behind the counter, so I just played with the display computer for a few minutes. It basically reminded me of Kaylah's computer now. It was simple to use. However, I wanted my mom in on this decision so I decided to wait. So, after I bought some more stuff, (socks for Taka, boxers for Dustin), I walked across to the little restaurant.

I called up Piper, telling her about the offer. I remembered she hated Macs, so I wanted to get her POV on this deal. I also texted Abril, seeing as she was a Mac lover, to get her POV as well. After calling Terry and asking when they were returning home, I went back into the bookstore, having remembered that I should get a onesie for Lennox and a pullover for Piper. The register lady was laughing at me, asking if I was a new transfer student. She was pretty cool. XD

Bookstore---(Bus)---> Home

Dan welcomed me in. I hadn't seen him the last couple of times I visited, even though he, too, lived at that apartment with them. Last time he saw me was back when they were first paying for the apartment, when Piper came to visit. He was still as proper and artistic as ever. He called my new haircut "almost Tim Burton like, but in a good way." I looked at a few of his cartoons, which were pretty good. Corey had arrived, too, from out of town, and she was still as random as ever. XD

Just a few minutes after I got home, Terry and Beth arrived, too. We also decided to meet Kaylah at her work and go to dinner from there. By "meeting her at work" I mean walking from their house to just outside of downtown Santa Cruz at night. At least it worked up an apetite.

Did I mention Red Robin? We drove to Red Robin from Gigi's Restaurant. There isn't a Red Robin in Santa Cruz. The closest one was in San Jose. So... we basically drove for an hour for burgers... Kaylah ordered a tower of onion rings, and for Beth a basket of mozerella sticks for our appetizers. The appetizers alone were very delicious. I ordered a "banzai burger" which was basically a teriyaki slathered meat with pineapple, lettuce, tomato, and mayo. It was AWESOME. The trip was definitely worth it!

Now, Beth had "excused" herself to go to the bathroom. Little did we know, she actually told the Red Robin staff that it was "Kaylah's Birthday" which it was kind of true seeing as it was the first day of her new cake line at Gigi's. So, basically the waiters and waitresses gathered around our table and sang happy birthday to Kaylah, giving her a free sundae. Hooray for free ice cream! XD

After Red Robin, we decided to go and see some Xmas light displays. There was a park that gets closed down during this time of year for this kind of thing, where cars are able to drive through the various displays at night. That's where we basically were for about an hour. All of the lights were really neat and inventive. There was a pirate ship that had a Xmas light cannon shooting off every few seconds. There was a section dedicated to festive dinosaurs as well, for some reason.

After the drive home, we immediately fell asleep, after a six minute black out of course... Then Kaylah drove me to the bus stop at 6 AM, where I took an early bus back to Sacramento.

Yes, though this trip was a quickie, it was a fun trip nonetheless. XD

**********************************************************

Surprise Blog: F12 Holiday Concert

The Santa Cruz Quickie transitioned really well with the F12 concert, seeing as I came back early just for that.

F12 is the band that Taka, King, and Yowty plays in for their church. Last time, Parkarr and I went to their concert and sat in for a sermon, where they talked about one of my favorite passages in the bible.

This time around, F12 had their Xmas rally at the same place, where Parkarr, again, gave me a ride to.

I had left Lomo with Taka before I left, just so that I wouldn't worry about him while I went to Orientation.

Lomo happened to be with a row of Mienh people in front. A couple of them turned around to get my attention and handed Lomo off to me. Some how they knew who I was. I only recognized one of the girls from a video Taka showed me of her French Mienh friends... At least I think that was her... XD;

Parkarr and I pretty much stood the entire time they were up there. I had Lomo on my shoulders and helped him move around to the beat. After their set, there was another sermon. The lady pretty much compared Xmas gifts to the gift of worship, where she had her husband give her an empty Xmas box to prove the point that if you just left the gift unopened on a shelf, the gift given might as well not be there at all. Summarizing, she's basically telling us to utilize God's gift to us.

Following that, F12 played a few more, holiday themed songs. They all had Xmas hats on, which reminded me that I need to find my old Xmas hat somewhere...

After, Parkarr and I helped them break down the stage and set it back up for the following day. I finally met Chiam, or "Fake David" as I choose to call him. For some reason, everyone calls him David. He was pretty cool. The thing I most remembered about him was that he told me that, whenever I saw Taka, I need to pinch her cheeks, which was where he demonstrated how hard I should do so. XD

Most of us had hit the McDonald's up the road, like last time. I paid for Parkarr's food, seeing as he was broke and had not eaten for 2 days. I just got my usual chicken nugget meal with a hot fudge sundae as dipping sauce. Lomo got stuck with nothing, again. And yeah... Taka, Parkarr, and I just pretty much got caught up in our conversation. It was good that I arrive back in Sacramento earlier than usual, for these small moments with newer friends that are about to run out...

A good note to end on. C:

Band and Choir Concerts

2009-12-10T08:50:00.000-08:00

Blog BOOM: The Band and Choir Concerts

Monday and Tuesday, 12/7 & 12/8, were very long days.

Monday night was the band concert. I had to be there the entire day because of my Chemistry class in the morning and the Piano class in the afternoon. Thing was, that morning I had forgotten my concert attire for the concert... So Taka quickly took me home to change right after Piano--

During Chemistry, it finally sunk in with Susan Surrandon that I was leaving on January 4th for Santa Cruz, permanently. There were a few dozen hugs here and there. She promises to keep in contact, thanks to the modern technology we have. She also promised to BLOG more often, starting when I leave. She was so sad though that "Susan Surrandon" won't be tagged in my blogs for awhile... That'll just be more work on my part. XD

During Piano, King and I had to do a duet on the upright. Heidi had noticed the one or two flubs on my end but she still passed us. After class, I was just fooling around on the computer, playing notes I remembered from the Romantic piece I did, the Tchaikovsky waltz, when Heidi had interrupted asking what piece it was. When I told her it was my Romantic piece, she told me that I should replay it on Final... Like I didn't already have enough to do...

--After we went on our trips home to change, Taka, King, and I went back to ARC to meet up with some Band folk. Kaitlyn ended up having to save Sarah

After the concert, Taka, King, Abril, Jacob, and I ended up going to Denny's, like last concert. Denny's this night wasn't as packed, not like after the Choir concerts. There were only a few people in Band, like Dictator Roze and Sergeant Pepper, Kevin, who was the percussionist in Choir and stole my timpani parts, and a few other people.

That table was crowded though. I ended up at the end of the table with minimal leg room. Then Lyle and Kevina arrived and sat at a nearby table, so I took that as incentive to move to that table for more legroom. I easily forget how conversations with gay guys usually end up. I tried changing subjects from transsexual teenage daughters to Scooby-Doo with no success, but I ended up being Kevina's father, with Lyle as the mom... XD

Tuesday was Choir concert day, which also ended up being an extremely long day.

The day started out suckish because of how lousy we started rehearsing for the Choir concert. I knew that I did not look at the older music to remember the words. I kinda believed that seeing as I started to sing a part of Battle of Jericho early, it got the loud tenor next to me to sing it, which snowballed to the point where it confused the majority of the Choir. Then I had to study for a Statistics test I had to do. I want to say I did pretty good on it, but as far as the tests went, that one seemed the hardest. At least Justin Pratt's doughnuts made it the feeling a little better. XD

After I dressed into my tuxedo in the ARC bathroom, I walked over to the theater once more for a second rehearsal. This rehearsal was basically for Ellen DeGeneres's practice on the two pieces she plays french horn on. This rehearsal went a little better, but it was still far from expectations.

After rehearsal, most of the Choir sat in the reserved seats in the back of the theater. JLyn arrived in tears just a few minutes later, freaking out about how Dr. Hughes was going to fail her for completely skipping rehearsal. Honestly, if someone is affected by being late that much, I think a decent human being would let it slide. Still, I thought it was a very over the top reaction. Sensitivity is fine, but only in doses.

There turned out to be limited seats, so half of the Choir had to sit in the aisles to give up their seats for the paying customers.

Most of the concert seemed okay. I know the all mens piece could've been loads better. The only time I ever spent on that piece was during the two rehearsals before the concert. Sorry, but listening for the women only piece, I could say the same thing only because there was no energy, no energy for a hyped up Xmas song... I was worried most about the Io V'amo piece, because that one was my favorite. I think this was why Dr. Hughes assigned me to be part of the octet for that piece. I remember Justin Vaughn commented on the octet after the concert, but only saying that it was cute because I was singing it...

The collective pieces, Alleluia, In Remembrance, and Betelehemu, sounded pretty good. Pratt stood next to me for the Alleluia piece, which helped because I was able to base my notes off of him instead of the loud tenor on my other side.

In Remembrance was really good. I think the only reason it was any good, sorry to say, was because of Dr. Hughes's introduction. He dedicated the performance of this song to Bert, a tenor that was part of the Choir who passed away recently due to cancer. During his introduction, I could solemnly tell that he was going to cry, only because he said the words, "I'm going to make this brief." It never turns out brief if you start with that. I looked over at Heidi, who was trying to stare at her music because she also knew of the tears welling up in Dr. Hughes's eyes. As he turned to us, trying to continue his introduction, I could hear just about a hundred sniffles all around me. What I did was I smiled and kept composure, just to try and catch Dr. Hughes's attention so that he could focus a little more. I believe the piece went extremely well because of the organic emotion that was now released because of the teary intro.

Betelehemu was just a breeze, even more for me because I faked singing it while I was playing the tambourine. I messed up on one of the beginning rolls and ended up doing alternating triplets and rolls to make up for that mistake.

So, overall, the concert went pretty smoothly, according to the many audience members I saw while I was looking for JT. While he was searching for his lost keys and music, I managed to change into my street clothes. JT drove me, Jordan the Mormon, Connie from Frisbee, and Shae. Jordan ended up shifting gears for JT while he drove with his foot from the back seat. I only encouraged it because I took off his shoe.

Pratt had sat with Taka, Abril, and King, so I sat next to him. He ended up talking about how cute one of the guys, "Dug", from Choir was. Kevin, the percussionist from the night before, also sat near us. Pratt had commented that he was freaked out by Kevin, apparently Kevin was actively flirting with him. He asked if Kevin realized what his orientation was, but just as he said that Kevin yelled out to Pratt, "Hey why don't you come over here big boy!" That answers that question...

Since the Choir had increased in size, the amount of people there increased as well. Kaity, our friend from Italian and recent member of the Choir, was there, hugs and all. Literally. All she was that night was a source of many hugs. Well, I'm not annoyed that she gives out hugs, on the contrary I'm glad because that means everyone else will expect less hugs from me, which apparently has grown to be my reputation as of late. What kinda annoyed me was the number of hugs she gave me. 32. Not even joking. That night had totaled up to 32. The most I noticed she gave anyone else was like 2 or 3. JT's hugs ended up being like 6 or 7 that night at Denny's. It just got me puzzled. It's this and other reasons that make me want to boycott hugs for awhile... XD

And yeah. Afterward, JT took me home. It was overall a pretty good couple of nights. C:

The Everything Pizza, Jim the Biker, and The Legend of Zelda Final Battle

2009-12-02T21:40:00.000-08:00

Blog No. 7: This Week in Summary

Wednesday, 12/2, after Piano, Taylor decided to do something. I didn't know what it was, but I was being kidnapped anyway.

Taylor, Abril, and I ended up going to the nearby Little Caesar's where Taylor's sister was working. I should have predicted it because Taylor had mentioned over Messenger that he had calculated the most expensive pizza one could get there and that he wanted to get one. He beckoned her over to take our order, but he ended up going through the employee door with a set of his own keys.

I know he works at the Little Caesar's franchise, but it got me thinking what other keys he might have... It got me thinking about other places he might have keys to.

What Taylor Might Have Keys To List:

The wardrobe door to Narnia.
A Volkswagon Scirocco
A secret stash of Morgan Freeman memorabilia.
The moon.
The Coldplay song, "Doors."
The Batmobile.
The Castle Church in Wittenburg. (The 95 Theses)
Kingdom Hearts.

Anyways, twelve minutes later, Taylor's sister comes out with this square pizza completely covered with toppings. Deep dish, extra sauce, extra cheese, extra pepperoni, ham, pineapple, beef, jalapeño, bell pepper, olive, onion, and mushroom pizza, or, for those who don't like long names, the Everything Pizza. He had taken so many pictures with his phone of this pizza and the process you almost have to wonder if he is a little bit too obsessive with pizza... But of course, it's pizza's job to be awesome.

A while later, we walked to this secluded area [details withheld] where we decided to eat the pizza...

... Where Taylor proceeded to take more pictures of this divine creation. XD

Both Taylor and Abril had two pieces and I was struggling with the one. It was so good though. Every taste of the Everything Pizza had a different taste to it. It's like how he says, "If you taste something you don't like, there's plenty of other toppings to make up for it!"

On Thursday, 12/3, I noticed that I have had been with Taka for the greater portion of that day.

I had called her up in the morning after sleeping in to pick me up, then we went to McDonald's for breakfast, hung out in the cafeteria, had Choir, and headed back to the cafeteria where we stayed for a few hours. Even though she went to her English class and I skipped my Stats class, she left behind her laptop where I used it to experiment with Tumblr. Then, after her class, we get a call from a random Choir person, saying that she had Taka's phone. Taka dragged me along with her to retrieve it, partly because the person called my phone, partly because she was afraid that it was the alto in Choir that made the alto section look bad. I wouldn't blame her. When we rode down that street to her place, we could feel an odd tension as a few dozen people looked at us. That was one ghetto street... Then Taka and I picked up Yowty at her place, to return back to ARC to drop me off and pick King up.

When I got back on campus, I didn't know what to do. I ended up going to the music rooms where I practiced for my final in Piano. I also tried texting Mama Compton to see where she was. Apparently she was running late, so she couldn't see me before class. What I ended up doing was walking to Davies Hall, hide from the asian lady asking for donations while ordering a coffee at the kiosk, and sat down to wait outside Mama Compton's classroom to wait for her hug. While I was waiting, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to go to Italian all of next week, seeing as Tuesday there was the Choir concert at 7:30 and then the trip to Santa Cruz for the Winter Orientation for Friday. This wouldn't be a problem if I didn't have to do an Italian presentation on something Italian on Thursday. I told Mama Compton this and she was all, "I had the same thing happen when I was in sign language class. I ended up going to that class in my choir dress and leaving early!" Which might be my case if I have to do the presentation on Tuesday instead of Thursday... Not in a dress, but a tuxedo. XD

After Italian, I walked over to the new gym in the freezing cold to wait for Dustin to get out of class. I asked him to take me home because my mom wasn't able to make it out there. Dustin was kind enough to say yes. C:

In the car, he had put on an Owl City CD, which I told him I just got. He told me a couple of the songs I should listen to, or rather which ones were his favorites. Owl City seems to be a nice and mellow song to drive home to after a long day of school. He had also offered to take me to his place instead of going home, which I would've if only I didn't have to babysit or practice my duet the next day...

So, Dustin and I ventured to a Starbucks, where I tried a seasonal caramel flavored drink and Dustin ordered the large, extra caramel, caramel frappucino.

He likes his frosting. XD

We just pretty much hung out there for an hour. He and I rummaged through our wallets and looked at their contents. I showed him some baby pictures of Lennox and he showed me some of his family photos. He talked more about his addiction to chap stick and his fitness class. I talked about Santa Cruz and some family stuff. I also mentioned how I usually saw someone at the Starbucks, so he would ask every once in awhile if I found one yet. He pointed over to a biker outside and asked if I knew him, obviously not. Then we joked about what his name would be. Dustin called him Jim. I was trying to think up a hypothetical fake conversation I would have with the biker to make him believe he knew me. And yeah... Dustin and I just pretty much sat there talking and hanging out. It was nice. XD

Today, Friday 12/4, I woke up early to go to ARC with King to practice our duet. Jacob had come along too, I suppose to just hang out because that's all he did. We took over a practice room where we both worked on our parts separately for about an hour. Then we tried pulling both parts together, but I found that I couldn't really do much with my left hand. I definitely need to practice more of that. XD

Then, King, Jacob, and I went to a Sutter Medical building where King got his blood drawn. Jacob and I did a random Xmas word search puzzle that was on the counter. I found most of the words first and I was trying to be sneaky and not tell him where they were, but whenever I found a word Jacob would immediately find it a few seconds later. DX

We went to Burger King to get some food and we saw that Dr. Hughes was waiting in his truck in front of the restaurant. We tried to persuade him to come to the band concert on Monday, but he had to stick with his plans with the Master Singers. Dr. Hughes commented on how much he missed King, which took me to weird images in my brain for some reason. XD

After we picked up some Burger King, the three of us went to Gamestop, where Jacob bought Darkside Chronicles. While he was paying, I found a random Wii game called "A Boy And His Blob." The title caught me off guard, but when I looked at the book it seemed like a pretty interesting game. King and Jacob just laughed at the title. Afterward, we headed over to Jacobs, where we ate our food and played some Brawl. On one of the battles, where Jacob was Link, King was Gannonndorf, and I was Zelda, I had attacked the smash ball and shot an arrow right into Gannondorf's eye. The attack had a perfect angle of the hit for the dramatic affect that really looked like a good ending to a Legend of Zelda game, especially on the course Jacob made into the shape of a triforce. XD

At 3, King took me over to the apartment where I had to babysit my nephew with my mom, seeing as she still can't lift her arm as much right now. Mom was showing me a concert on PBS with this A Capella group called Straight No Chaser. The singers were actually pretty good. They were 12 guys just singing with their voices different variations of Xmas and popular songs. They did a song where they combined Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours" with Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", which explains why I felt that Mraz's song sounded familiar. My favorite was their rendition of "12 Days of Xmas" which is pretty slapstick:

And that pretty much ends my day. The rest is basically catching up on facebook and blogger, editing my tumblr, and figuring out my financial situation for UCSC. This week has been pretty random, so who knows what tomorrow will bring? C:

Ponytail to Matt Bomer

2009-11-26T08:47:00.000-08:00

Blog 6: Ponytail to Matt Bomer

Let's talk hair.

While I was in Santa Cruz, Kaylah and I decided to get our hair "whacked." It feels like almost two years since I ever cut my hair. I told her how I wanted to cut my hair for awhile now and that I've been trying to find a new hair style I would be comfortable living with. She kinda egged me on, more like pressured me into getting one... And to be honest I was seriously contemplating on getting a haircut while I was in Santa Cruz anyway.

So as my act of spontaneity for the year, I got a hair cut.

Now I got a number of mixed reactions.

Kaylah loved it. She remarked it as, "Oh my god! It's the 7th grade again!" Truth is, my hair was shorter in the 7th grade. XD

Mom shrieked like a teenage girl who just touched the Jonas Brothers. Before I even got in the car, she had to give my head a squeeze.

When I saw Taka and Abril the next morning, I could see and feel the awe on their faces. Seeing as Abril was in the backseat, I couldn't see her face until I turned to peer over my shoulder as she ran her hand through my hair and I saw her mouth open.

Susan Surrandon gave her death glare. She thought that Patric was going to kill me and that I could, "no longer be Rabbiman." I talked with Patric later and he actually weighed the differences and voted that short hair was better on me anyway! But basically, I freaked her out a little bit. She kept staring at it through Chemistry. An hour into the experiment, she finally accepted it. Whether or not it was a reluctant acceptance is a different story, but in the end she told me she liked it.

Susan Surrandon had also sent Dustin and Phillip a picture of my haircut and she got the reply, "Who is that and where did the real Rabbiman go?" XD

I wasn't sure what Piper was going to say. I did send her a picture message because I had talked to her on the train and let it slip that I had gotten a haircut. When I saw her, she took a quiet minute to absorb it in. She ruffled my hair a little bit, though, and decided that I looked good. [Insert giant sigh of relief here]. I mean of all the people to get good approval from, she's high up on the list. C:

The rest of the week was pretty much filled with that. The funniest moment was when I first walked into Choir. I walked in with Taka and immediately I heard like a wall of gasp. It felt like eyes were on my every move, which was kind of weird because some of those gasps and awwestruck faces were from people I didn't know... I denied noticing it though. Some people I actually knew, like Danny and BLAH, walked up and commented on how my hair looked. Dawn's reaction was pretty funny, that kind of awkward, taken off guard kind of look. XD

When I was over at the apartment another day, my mom commented that my hair kinda looked like the guy off of the show, White Collar.

I wish I could pull off the Fedora!

Anyway, the point of this blog is to say how funny it was to get so many different reactions, all of which being positive. It felt like I needed the drastic change. XD

The Spinning Wheel of Death

2009-11-21T22:26:00.000-08:00

Blog 5: Seriously Lagging

I find that I procrastinate way too much recently.

I genuinely suffer from it in every aspect of my life. I haven't been drawing in my sketchbook, I haven't been blogging as much as these dedicated bloggers even though I sparked the whole thing, and now I've been seriously lagging on my studies. The results of this is both good and bad.

For Chemistry, I periodically turn in my lab reports late. This is not news. I do the work, just a little later than expected. The simple reason is that I'm not motivated in this class. The Weissbart is somewhat aware of this and I got a mixed response from him. Seeing as Susan Surrandon and I are both lumped together in that class, we'd periodically be late on assignments together. However, I don't think that The Weissbart doesn't really mind. We still show up to class every now and then and we always show up for lab. I guess he just tolerates us as we are, which is a good thing because most of the time it feels like we're the peanut gallery in the class.

This feeling of laziness after Chemistry usually spools over to my Piano class. I was worried of coming back to Piano earlier last week, seeing as I missed a week and a half of it. Heidi is not the stern type, but she is the kind of person you would hate to disappoint, not in the sense that she has a back handed scheme brewing in the works but more like the relative that went into so much trouble preparing a dinner that you never bothered showing up for.

For Statistics, I haven't been going. I guess I missed a few quizzes. Thing is, Truong is an easy grader and the grades are based on the tests, which are multiple choice. Plus, learning math is one of my strong points. So really, for not going to class all the time, I'm really ahead in the class seeing as I find myself trying to explain to the other students around me what Truong is trying to teach. I'm technically at a "C" right now without even trying...

Concert Band is still Concert Band to me; Just a class to play off some emotions, make sure I know my music, and to hang around other awesome musicians. Because I'm still not enrolled in that class, I have the freedom of going or not going to class as I please. I still do, only out of respect for Ellen DeGeneres. There's nothing really to procrastinate on.

The only class I'm not procrastinating with any work on is Italian. I always liked this class because it's where I feel I'm actually learning. Thing is, I'm also starting to lag a little more in learning the vocabulary in that class. I would sometimes space on a word that we had already learned and whenever Martinelli asks me a question in class, I would find myself stalling and just space out on what I was going to respond. I think what it is about this class is that, because I signed up for Choir, my days at school are longer and I simply end up exausted by the end of the day, which is when I'm attending Italian. What I've done to try and counteract this is go to Professoressa Martinelli's office hour before class and I would just try and talk to her. She so far asked how I was doing in Choir, how my "girlfriend" in Santa Cruz was doing, and whether or not I was attending Italian 411 next semester. She also showed me some Italian operas that are opening in San Francisco and what their storylines were. She's fun to talk to... Or at least try to talk to. XD

The only class I haven't really missed yet was Choir, and I haven't done much rehearsing for that class. Apparently, Dr. Hughes thinks I prepare for his class because I got an email Saturday morning, saying that I, along with a few other people in Choir, showed that I came prepared for class with notes learned and offered us to sing a soloist section part of the song. The sad thing was that I hadn't looked at any of the new music at all and never bothered to touch my music that entire week. So apparently I rule at sight reading... I guess that's going to have to change now. XD

And yeah... Assuming I wouldn't procrastinate on this blog, I'll keep you updated on other things as they pop up.

Some Face Time and Binary Code

2009-11-13T14:44:00.000-08:00

Blog Start: 01011000 01000100

So yeah. Thursday, 11/13, was a pretty good day.

After choir, Piper was complaining to one of the Jennifers from Chamber Singers, Mama Compton, about how she didn't get invited to come along to JT's one night when everyone was there.

Mama Compton is one of those hey I'm cool with everyone and like to be hyper all the time, but I need my personal space kind of people, which was very odd to me. I hear stories of these misadventures with Mama Compton and how random she can be, but whenever I saw her around some people she didn't know she closes up. It took me all of 2 weeks to try and get a hug out of her. XD

As to Piper's complaining, apparently some of JT's friends, along with Mama Compton and one of the gay Justins, decided to hang out. They ended up going to Molly's to watch Up,which Piper hasn't even seen yet.

Okay, just as a side note: Piper has been hanging out with JT and different variations of Chamber folk/JT's 'friends' at least 3 times a week. We both had hung out with JT for like 2 weeks straight during the summer and we both have grown attached to this style of life. Now, Piper gets the chance to hang out with him more than I do, which gets kind of annoying and sad when you hear about something going on that you were not a part of every night during a phone call, the phone call which usually happens to occupy time until another hang out session is going on.

Piper realized this and decided to orchestrate some hang out time that night and including me. So she calls JT to ask if the four of us can hang out tonight after his Chalice rehearsal.

First, Piper, Taka, and I took a trip to Piper's house to get her laptop and cell phone charger. Then, I went to Statistics where there had been a quiz planned, but it turned out that the teacher decided to postpone the quiz until next week. Notes were clear enough to understand, but the review was a little hard to get a grip on so I'm going to need to study some of that this weekend...

After class, I went back to the cafeteria to wait with Piper. The both of us ended up watching some of Howl's Moving Castle in the secluded cafeteria hallway that echoes toilet flushes from the adjacent bathrooms. The movie seems really good so far I can't wait until we finish it! I did some research online and found out that, not only was I right that the voice of Calcifer was Billy Crystal, but also that Christian Bale, the guy who plays the new Batman, is the voice of Howl. XD

At 7, Mama Compton got out of class. I, begrudgingly, called JT to tell him we were on our way. We walked through the stadium parking and continued off on the road behind the school where it was completely dark for most of the walk. Piper had out my handy dandy flashlight/glowstick/ravestick/rape whistle to lead the way. We talked about random stuff like yoga class as choir sectionals, played the ABC game using random cool words, and even took pictures of a cute little raccoon.

When we got to the edge of JT's street, Piper told us to hush down so that we can all be stealthy ninjas. I commented that we needed our own theme music, and that was when Mama Compton started to go "Wa wa wa wa wa wa waaaa!" in hushed tones. We sneaked into the back yard, in the dirty ditch, and quietly walked through the living room and into JT's room, not distracting the few people singing around an upright piano.

So there we were in JT's room, swish swashing on the water bed and listening to choral music. I sat on the computer, checking JT's then Mama Compton's facebook. On Mama Compton's facebook, I had to play Scrabble for her with a couple of her other friends. She apparently rules at that game. XD

We all went up on the water bed, where Mama Compton and I started making waves and Piper ended up being swooshed back and forth between us. It was an amusing hour in the dark. Mama Compton and I ended up cuddling on Piper when JT walked in and turned on his light. XD

The four of us laid on the water bed for a while, just talking and mulling over what we wanted to do. Piper has been mentioning that JT had made some milkshakes so I definitely wanted to try one of those this time. Mama Compton also mentioned Soul Calibur on the walk over.

So that's what we did. The four of us just pretty much sat on the couch, playing Soul Calibur and drank JT's milkshake. I had made a character on JT's XBox, based off of the nun chuck guy, and we spent the greater part of the night trying to work my character up to a higher level. I'm usually a button masher when it comes to these games. During the night, I started to use some more defensive moves, as well as tried to learn some super cool ones. However, it took me like a half hour trying to do this one move where my character basically windmills his weapon around a few times and comes in to do a vertical attack and sky rocketing the opponent. I kept on going back and forth between getting it almost there and not being able to start the combo at all. XD

JT's character, Fro, had so fit with his personality. Both of them fence, both of them like showing off, and both of them bite other people on the neck. It got kind of annoying when JT kept on poking me to death, but I'm pretty sure he was annoyed with my constant kicking attacks. XD

It was time we had gone home, so, after I failed at descending on the 5th floor, JT drove each of us home. JT had a blister, so I shifted gears for him as he drove me home. We almost got lost. I recognized that, when Mama Compton got dropped off, I recognized some of the streets that connected Natomas to Rio Linda, so I suggested we follow those. We finally ended up by Kaylah's dad's house when I figured out how to get home.

~~~

Updates:

It feels like I'm getting a handle on things in my life, some friendships, some classes, and it has started to become routine. However, it also feels like there's something looming on the horizon. Right now, my biggest worry is our financial situation. No we are not going bankrupt or anything. What it is, basically, is that we need some cash flow at some point to feel more secure and it doesn't help that my move to UCSC is coming pretty quick.

All that aside, it feels I've gotten closer to some of my friends. Ever since I've gotten back from Santa Cruz, I've certainly noticed the increase in texts and phone calls from Kaylah from every once in awhile to once everyday. XD

I'm also glad I've had Taka and Abril the past few weeks, what with the support and insight as to some situations I've been having. They've given me some advice and provided me some good distraction. Right now, I'm having a conversation with Taka in binary code.

It's real easy to do by hand.

01010011 01100101 01100101 00111111

It's like a mathematical formula. You read right to left in each set of 8 numbers. Then, where ever there's a one, you take the corresponding placement number and add them together to get a total.

Take: 01010011

Placement numbers: (126)(64)(32)(16)(8)(4)(2)(1)

Add: 64+16+2+1=83

You take that sum and open up Microsoft Word or any word processor available. Click "Alt+(Your Number)" and the corresponding character will show up.

Result: S

This is how you translate binary.

This was how I translated binary in Taka's note on facebook. Then... I realized about after 25 characters that I didn't know for sure that Taka knew all the fancy number codes to this trick, so I looked up a website that translated text into binary and vice versa. XD

Blog End.

Swimming in Open Waters

2009-11-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

Blog Redux: My Views On Love Pt. 2

Refer to Previous: My Views On Love

What is this feeling?

So sudden and new?

I felt the moment

I laid eyes on you...

[That's from the song, "Loathing", but believe me it's not about loathing here.]

I've been having these strange dreams lately, dreams of a rather intriguing nature. I'm trying to describe it here, but the words in my head doesn't fit for how... unsettling?... exhilarating?... how strange it feels.

... I've had this dream for 2 weeks straight, so I think I can write it down as concise as I can.

Basically, I'm having dreams about someone who I'll call Hedwig, (origins of that name is basically the creepy owl snow globe staring at me, plus she is my favorite character from Harry Potter, even if she's an owl!). I stare off at my checkerboard, (always a sign of a vivid dream to come), then a hand comes across it and pulls a chess piece from out of my POV into the center of the board.

A voice calls out, "Checkmate."

I look up to find the hand's host, Hedwig, smiling in my direction. Her head is haloed by a glistening sunlight from the conveniently placed sunset. I could feel a familiar tension in my chest I have yet recognized.

"So what do we do now?" I felt the words climbing out of my throat.

I remembered Hedwig's voice oh to well. "Well, how do dates normally pan out for you?"

I can feel an increasing tension in my chest and something stretch across my face. I look to the side as I felt my face heat up. I could see grass and trees all around us. Apparently we were at a park in New York because I could also see some sky scrapers. A breeze picked up and my eyes followed the leaves as they were swirling around in dizzying circles, losing my head in the trance.

"What do you think of the wine?"

When I looked back at Hedwig, everything changed from a breezy day at the park to a rosy and cozy deep red restaurant. Hedwig and I were in our paisley red booth, staring into each others eyes. I can sense that we were both in a conversation, but it was muffled as I only heard strumming of a mandolin and a harp.

It felt like I recognized the place. Maybe that was where the conversation was at that moment. I beckoned over to the crystal chandelier at the center of the restaurant. That's where Kaylah walked in in a chef's outfit. As soon as I saw her, I immediately recognized the place. It was what my mind identified as to what Kaylah's dream restaurant looked like.

Kaylah bowed slightly at us, then I waved her off. She didn't need to bow like a servant, I thought. That's when I noticed that I waved her off with my left hand because my right hand was in Hedwig's hands. I immediately joined my hands together in hers as she fiddled with them sensually and looked up at Kaylah to see her half smile and slight nod.

Hedwig and I got up, and a few steps later I was on a stoop to where Hedwig had supposedly lived. This is where the cliched part kicks in... Hedwig fiddled with her keys. I looked at her as the lamp glowed on her face. I come in a few inches. She comes in the rest of the way. Kiss. [The next part is censored]. I 'wake up' right next to her on her large, four post bed. I smiled, she smiled. The morning glow on her face somehow thralled up the tension in my chest, which I recognized as my heart racing, the kind of heart racing I felt before... when there was love in the picture.

"French Toast?" Hedwig had said.

I just simply nodded, and watched her get out of bed to put on a blue robe. I somehow had a white one next to the bed beside me. So I put that on and followed her downstairs.

Hedwig was standing in front of the stove as I embraced her from behind, lips near her ear. Hedwig returned the sentiment as she turned around and kissed me back on the lips. We ended up at the bar side table, both of us sitting across from each other. I stared intently into Hedwig's eyes and tried to sum up the words that has been in the back of my throat. I could feel my heart race faster and faster as I said them:

"So where does this leave us?"

That's where the dream stops. I can feel my heart race right now...

...

So where does that leave us?

Obviously, I'm harboring some feelings. Thing is, of all the people it could be, I never thought it would be Hedwig. No matter how hard I try to imagine it, I'm not seeing a clear picture as to what I want, what I would like to see, and whether or not it can work with Hedwig.

Maybe the point of the dream wasn't about Hedwig. Maybe my mind manifested Hedwig's face as an example of what I want, of what I need. Maybe it means that I need some sort of human to human contact, something I bond I can share with one and only one person. Just a relationship. Just to get myself out there and not be... alone.

But why Hedwig? And how did Kaylah fit into this dream? ... Maybe it's some sort of subconscious confirmation... Maybe my mind is telling me to go for Hedwig, using Kaylah as a way of saying that the people important to me will approve? Maybe, what with all the theatrical lighting in this dream, that the universe approves? Nah... I'm getting ahead of myself.

Don't get me wrong, I like Hedwig. She's an awesome person! But... I'm not sure if I'm ready to put myself out there, to feel vulnerable, and I'm not sure if Hedwig is the person I want to be vulnerable to... There's really nothing else, other than my fear, that's keeping me from asking Hedwig out... Maybe I'm also afraid of how people will react to... But I'm mostly afraid of how Hedwig will react...

So what should I do?

I could do nothing. I can interpret it as feelings for Hedwig, but lie in wait, observe for awhile and see if I get any hints from her. Maybe find an opportune moment until I know for sure that she shows some interest too... It sounded okay in my head, but it sounded even more ridiculous as I typed it...

Well, I can see that the dream wasn't necessarily pointed in the direction of Hedwig... But it did point in a direction. I have been feeling as if there's a void somewhere in my life and maybe I do need to put myself out there... But something tells me that I should do something soon.

...

So I woke up today, considering these possibilities, and decided to blog them to you. Maybe you have a suggestion? I'll probably spend another week or two sorting things out...

It feels like I should take the plunge... But... I can't swim.

So What's Been Going On?

2009-10-20T17:39:00.001-07:00

Blog No. 1: So What's Been Going On?

So what has been going on during the hiatus? Well...

Santa Cruz Part V: The Blonde Strikes Back

Surprise, surprise. I went to Santa Cruz to visit Kaylah once again.

This time around, it felt like it was more independent. Since I last saw Kaylah in Santa Cruz, she was still in a single room in a dorm with about 8 other dormmates. Now, she lives in an apartment adjacent to UCSC with Terry, Beth, and Dan. She took Grace, her car which I so expertly named, with her so that she could drive us around instead of taking the buses. Hallelujah! We could go anywhere we want at any time! We went to a doughnut shop at midnight just because we could! XD

Kaylah, unfortunately, got a little under the weather. I was worried so I didn't push her to do too much. I believe she wanted to go to the beach at one point, but I knew that wouldn't happen. A lot of the time we just relaxed and slept on her bed. I didn't mind. I would never mind it at all so long as I spent my time with her! C:

It was the first time I went to visit Kaylah at her work at her new sous chef job at Gigi's! Both times I went to the restaurant, she served me these AMAZING ribs. I never really had ribs before, hence the few times I chewed on some cartilage... But still, she makes it with this super sauce that just turned the meat into a 5 star cuisine! Bellisimo! XD

Other than the new, we did a lot of the old. Lunch at Erik's, Coffee at Lulu's, souvenir shopping, ragging on Kaylah off and on. The usual! C:

Bonfires and Ninja.

The last few weeks of summer consisted of bonfires at JT's. There's something about fire that just soothes the soul... Up until it is 3 in the morning in the cold with no jacket. XD

Ninja... is a turn-based game in which the goal is to eliminate everyone around you by striking their hand with yours in fluid movements... It's easy to explain in demonstration. JT always ends up putting me in awkward positions, like putting his foot on my back as I was bent over. XD

There was a time of Epic Win that I'll never forget. After a few rounds of JT trying to get me out, I figure it was time to get on the offensive. I saw my only opening when I was behind him, when his hands were relaxed and his legs were open. So I scooped in between his legs and landed my hand on his crotch region where his hands were. He had moved out of the way in time, only to try and strike at my hand and miss. Then I bent my arm back to his crotch, again, only this time I finally eliminated him! XD

Rindy.

She is a friend from high school that tragically died in a car accident during the start of the semester.

Am I still grieving? Probably. I'm not fully over her loss, nor am I yet comfortable with talking about it too much. I think I have a process when I actually grieve.

I tend to withdraw myself. I couldn't go to Rindy's funeral service or Rindyfest at all because I felt like I couldn't deal with other people in a setting where we were grieving for the same person. I only went to one funeral in my life, for a distant baby cousin that had died drowning in a pool, but I didn't feel any real emotion until I was surrounded by people crying all around me.

It wasn't until the day after the accident that I actually felt like crying. What I ended up doing was I tried to distract myself on the internet. A part of my grieving process usually involves soft serve ice cream. It was usually what my mom gave me because the McDonald's by my house had a 24-hour drive thru. Taka was online and asked what was up. I told her that I was down and wanted some soft serve ice cream. I will always be grateful to her because she had sneaked out of her house to drive to my house with some McD's sundaes. She spent at least an hour with me as I looked through some of the old Youtube videos of her audition pieces. She did see some tears, but she comforted me. C:

Meeting New People/Seeing Old People.

With the new semester, I come across new people.

I finally met Susan Surrandon's "Boyfriend." After hearing about him for a semester from Susan Surrandon, I thought of what he was going to look like. Somehow, whenever I think of the name "Taylor," I always think of Taylor Lautner, (Jacob Black from the Twilight movie), turning into a wolf... Well, Susan Surrandon's Taylor is most definitely NOT a wolf. C:

I'm also continuing my Italian studies here at ARC. Professoressa Martinelli, my Italian teacher from last semester, teaches my class. It pretty much feels like last semester but more open. She either feels more loose around us, reminiscing about Italy or sharing music with us, or she feels tired of us, which only happens around test time. She's a really cool teacher and person to talk to. Her only fault in my opinion is that she always tries to get me to speak in Italian. She sometimes asks about Kaylah, only because I mention her on my temas. XD

The Italian class pretty much divides somewhat evenly into a seating arrangement. We have the old people near the door, the Sierra college people in the middle, and continuing ARC people by the window. Kaity, my Italian partner from last semester, sits next to me in this class now, the girls with the black hair sit in front of us, and Terri, the girl who always spaces out and asks stupid questions sits off to the side of us. I get the feeling that the four of them think of us as some sort of superhero club or something. It feels like I need some decoder ring or something with these folk. They always talk about meeting out of class but plans always fall through because I was unable to go to help them see if they were on the right track. Am I some sort of leader or something? XD

In my Statistics class, it always feels like a golf game, only less interesting. Always quiet, always staring intently on the one thing that's moving... There's this girl, Jenna, who does a lot of sports at AR apparently. I only talked to her that one time, "Can I see your calculator for a moment?" And it somehow turns into a weird friendship... She calls me her "Stats Buddy"... I'm not sure how I feel about that. I'm trying not to think about it too much because she helps me with whatever I missed for class. However, it always feels like only Jenna and I that talk during class so I sometimes feel twenty or so eyes look in our direction, eavesdropping...

That's it for now. Until next time!

I Haven't Forgotten About You

2009-10-14T19:33:00.000-07:00

Blog No. ???: I Haven't Forgotten About You

To the readers: I haven't forgotten about you.

A cycle of events, time still passing, and general laziness has hindered me in things blog wise. I apologize for taking this unannounced hiatus for so long and giving no clue as to when and if I would return.

The truth of the matter is, I came at a crossroads where I had to choose between having a life and writing about one everyday and, when it came down to it, I'm more of both an adventurer and a responsible human being than I thought.

Then I get a text from Kaylah. She has been sick for quite awhile and remembered I had a blog, so she decided to catch up on my writing escapades when I was actively blogging. She basically scrolled down the side and saw that she was labeled a good number of times. So she read through all 35 blogs that mention her, (as well as the 5 blogs that mention her boobs), and texted me back, "I haven't laughed so hard in a long time."

With that, I tear through the countless blogs I've written, some meaningful, some funny, some pointless, and realized that I wrote the blogs for a few good reasons: to remember the random times I've had on my journey and to never forget those little moments I have with good friends.

So where does that leave us, Blogosphere?

Well, there is no way in hell I will be able to blog everyday what with the amount of responsibilities I have now. So the 365MMIX thing is over with as a project, sadly. However, it doesn't mean there can't be a 365MMX in the works...

I can, however, start blogging thematically instead of daily. Basically, I would be writing to you about some connected events in the span of a week as opposed to every event as it takes place, so expect a blog at least twice a week.

I also want to start making video blogs when I can. When I get a webcam, I will be able to update you through a more visual account to make up for the lack of a daily blog. As soon as I start these up, I should be expecting them to be uploaded to my Youtube account, which I'll give at a later date.

I might start out fresh, get a new page on the blogs to separate them, but I might be too lazy to do that...

So yeah. Expect a blog later on this week. All I can say now is I'm glad to be back! XD

The Key to Immortality

2009-07-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 203: Kinda Backwards

Wednesday was my last required quiz and an optional class at that. All King and I really had to do was walk in, take the quiz, and walk out. This allowed the possibility of an all out awesome-fest, for a lack of a better word. :P

So King picked me up after he picked up Jacob and we went back to the asian's house. We pretty much sat around, watching an episode of Bones and Whose Line is it Anyway? and looking at their camp photos. The camp photos were mainly of people, the majority of whom were asian, from Alaska to California. XD

The King and I had our quiz. It took us all of 10-ish minutes to finish. King took his notes for the next class, while I packed my stuff, and we left! Taka and Jacob barely had any time to do much else.

Then we were wondering what to do from there. We could've gone to my place and played more Brawl, but I think we were getting tired of that game. In the end, we ended up going to our motto, "When in doubt, default to Sizzler!" XD

So that's what we did. I pretty much get what Taka gets, which this time was a 6 oz steak with mashed potatoes and a Dr. Pepper, along with our endless salad bar. I remember back in my childhood that I usually confused the word "endless" witht the word "bottomless" and questioned how the "endless" salad bar worked. Are the plates acually bottomless or does the salad magically regenerate on its own? XP

During our entree, Piper called me from camping, wondering why I didn't call. I usually called during my break during the Western Civilizations class, but this time we didn't fully attend. I was surprised that she was expecting a call, partly because it seemed I was distracting her recently. I told her where I was and she told me where she was. I told her to call Kaylah for when she and Difuentez are at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. However, she didn't want to call her, but instead she wanted me to call because she didn't feel like she wasn't in the loop enough, I guess. I did influence her to call Kaylah after I said, "Well imagine all of the embarassing, prepubescent David stories she could tell! I can't control the conversation in any way, seeing as I"m not there, so you could ask Kaylah anything about me!" Piper was immediately set on calling Kaylah. She amuses me so. XP

After our food, we just started piling stuff into an empty cup until it just overflowed into a concoction no one in their right minds would drink. We were joking around, saying that we might've stumbled onto the potion for immortality. XD

Then, after roaming around Natomas, we stopped at the Barnes and Noble. We played yet another rendition of the Barnes and Noble Game, which we taught Jacob who suggested we mainly used whatever was closest to the manga section. XD

Ragnarok Online Still Hates Me

2009-07-22T22:44:00.001-07:00

Blog No. 202: Ragnarok Online Still Hates Me

Tuesday, my free day between two school days of quizzes. So I wake up early and try and log on to Ragnarok Online so that I could level up a ton before Piper and Difuentez got back from camping. However, when I tried to log on, I get an error message back, "Failed to connect to server!"

Great... The world is out to get me.

So I looked online. Apparently, an answer was that I had a faulty connection. So I unplugged and replugged everything involving internet cables, and I even tried to diagnose the problem through McAfee to try and see if they banned Ragnarok for security issues. After all of that work, what do I get?

"Failed to connect to server!"

So I thought maybe, just maybe, they have way too many people online for me to sign in, so I shall try back in an hour! When I returned at 9, I still got that error message. I returned at 10, 11, noon, 1, 1:30, 3, 5, 5:45, 6:15, 7, 7:30, 9, 10:30, 11:15, and midnight, during which time I occupied myself with guitar strumming, Brawlin, chores, cheese quesadillas, and Gilmore Girl episodes. Each time I'd logged on, I still got the same error message.

"Failed to connect to server!" as if mocking me for this constant persistence.

I told Piper of the hoops and hurdles I went through, voicing very clearly that RO is an internet demon. Piper replied, "Well they close down the game to do maitenance for a few hours."

Why thank you for telling me! I feel so in the loop! You know, out of all the FAQ articles I've torn through, there was no mention of shutting down due to maitenance. >_<

To which I verbally replied, "They do maitenance from 8 AM to midnight?"

Silence...

At least I'm not crazy! XD

Then I texted JT my dilemma, to which he replies, also, "Silly boy, they do maitenance on Tuesdays!"

"The entire day? I've tried logging on every hour on the hour I've been up today!"

"Hmmm... Maybe Ragnarok does hate you!"

So much for that ounce of hope. DX

My Civic Duties

2009-07-22T22:31:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 201: "Jury Duty"

I woke up to a cute little baby knocking at my door! XP

Audrey knocked on the door while holding little Lennox to say that they're going to IHOP with my mom, grandfather, and some relatives from Maine. Johnny is my grandfather's son, which is how my mom and sister say it. I don't really get family trees... I was also supposed to be on stand by for Jury Duty, so I also had to pack a nice buttoned shirt and some pants in my over-the-shoulder bag.

Anyways, John, Audrey, Lennox, and I met up with mom, my grandfather, Johnny, and Terri, (Johnny's wife), at IHOP. It was the first time I met Johnny and Terri, I mean I've heard about them through my grandfather but that was about it. They were pretty cool though. They did a lot of things just by whim. Apparently, on Sunday, they had went to Yosemite National Park and did some hiking. They also talked about how they were going to go to Niagra Falls once they leave here. Johnny, too, had been part of the marines, which is why they seemed traveled and what not.

After our conversations at IHOP and a stuffed french toast plate with strawberries, all of us, minus John, Audrey, and the baby, went to Target to get some stuff. Johnny and Terri needed luggage for their souvenirs and junk, while mom and I needed around the house things, like laundry baskets and fans. Once we sat down at the Starbucks inside Target, I made a call to the Superior Court of California to see if my group number was called in. After going through the pushing of buttons, the automated system told me, "Groups [numbers I can't remember] have finished their civic duty. No call backs are necessary. Your jury duty has been fulfilled."

Cool! Didn't have to wait in line! XP

Mom took me home, seeing as my option was either to wait with her at the nail shop and get a ride to school or ask King to come over for a bit and ride with him to class. I feel as though I made the right choice. XP

So Taka, King, and I made our usual phone charade:

I call King, ask what they were doing, to which I get an unsure answer and hang up.
Taka calls me, asks what am I doing, to which I replied "I'm up for anything."
Taka passes the phone to King without any notice, which leaves me to ask, again, to come over, to which I get a more definite "we'll be there in fifteen minutes."

I love how we have a system now. XP

So Taka and King came over and we played Brawl for the greater part of the day. Then, King drove Taka home, then drove us to school for a quiz! XP

FAP

2009-07-20T23:09:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 200: Freakin Awesome Podcast

Get your minds out of the gutter!... Would you guys get that reference?...

... Well, acronym the title, (FAP), then think about what noise masturbation makes...

Yeah... Well that describes the somewhat vulgarity of the "Freakin Awesome Podcast"... What this podcast is about is the original 365MMIX crew, John and his friends and relatives on Peksquared.com, basically giving their views on new movies, music, trailers, news, and graphic novels. It's usually 3-5 people sitting around our dining room table talking into an audio recorder. In my opinion, the first one is basically an experimental one, so you'll hear loads of giggling and edited cuts.

John asked me to be part of their 6th podcast mainly because I both read and saw Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, whereas the other podcasters have not.

So there we were, John, Sear, John's twin, Anthony, and I surrounding the microphone. To be honest, I've never been quite this nervous around my grandmother's old breakfast nook since the olden holiday parties. It explains why you never really hear my voice other than me being prompted to speak. But the guys were pretty cool. I think the nerves were really just the first time podcast jitters. They really do give an informative look on some movies and what not. They not only look at the mainstream, but at the independent scene as well. You'll also hear some publicity about goings on in Sacramento, which is pretty cool. XP

So yeah... I'll give you some information about that as soon as I figure it out! XD

EDIT: It should be available, FREE, on iTunes. Go to Podcasts in the Power Search option on the right hand side. Type in "Freakin Awesome Podcast" in the title. There you'll find the 6 or 7 podcasts already up. Of course, John's art design for the podcast really illustrates the point I was trying to make in the beginning...

On number 6, it even has my name on it! WOOT! I'm on iTunes! XP

I would be more excited, but I listened to my voice and I thought, THAT is not what I thought my voice sounded like... Does my voice in real life sound pixie-ish to you? 0 _0

Draw With Me

2009-07-20T23:08:00.002-07:00

Blog No. 199: Saturday, 7/18

Another bored day on the computer, so I went onto DeviantArt and found this:

Totally sad yet totally creepy at the same time... XP

Ink to Paper

2009-07-20T23:08:00.001-07:00

Blog No. 198: Friday, 6/17

Note the title. Today was the day I started writing in my checkerboard journal. What you may ask? I haven't the foggiest clue... Well I do, but it involves a jumbled mess in my brain that I'd need to sort out on paper and to even begin explaining it at this stage of the game would be a doomed effort. So I'm just going to leave that part of the blog as a cliff hanger...

Indeed.

I also went on Ragnarok Online to finish leveling up in the training camp. I learned how to equip stuff and whatnot, as well as get some bows and maces, which I couldn't equip.

After I reached level 10, I was warped to this town. I called Piper and told me the directions of where to meet up with her and JT in that world. So I followed her directions to Prontera. From there, we went to a specific spot on the map where we met up with Chaz and JT's character. The reason I say JT's "character" is because he REALLY gets into the whole "role-playing" of the game. This "character" was a high priest, and he acted as such.

He started giving us directions on how to become a ninja, then I stopped him and told him that I wanted to be a tae-kwon fighter instead. To that, he said, "Oh, interesting choice my dear boy. That's usually a hard character to start out with!" In my head I was thinking, well I'm still not sure what I'm doing, let alone why I am doing this in the first place. But I figured I just go along with it.

So Piper escorted me to my destination across 8 screens of forest, dessert, and forest. From there, I talked to this computer character that told me to level up once more in order to become a taekwon fighter. So Piper and I walked just outside of the town, where after a few minutes of squabbling, I died. I was basically transported back to the save point in the southern region of Prontera, back at the start... So frustrating... Then I just trained for about an hour and a half until I leveled up once more, that was when Piper escorted me back to that village, where I became a taekwon fighter.

Then, Piper had me follow her back to where we first encountered the dessert. There we met up with JT's other character who was a merchant. He gave me a few hundred bird beaks which he had me give this computer character, who exchanged these bills for levels. This character seemed a lot more sarcastic than his previous character...

After I leveled up and gave back the remaining bird beaks, JT's character got up and said his goodbye. We both replied, "Have fun!" a quirk Piper got from me.

JT's other character waved us off and muttered, "I remember when I was that young...," as he walked off screen...

JT seems very dedicated to his role-playing. XP

Ragnarok Online Hates Me

2009-07-19T23:20:00.001-07:00

Blog No. 197: Thursday, 6/16

JT and Piper are trying to get me into this platforming game called Ragnarok Online. For those not familiar with it, here's a basic synopsis of it in the form of a picture:

Anyways, I said, "Sure, sounds like fun!" only after I had them beg and plead for me to play. XP

So, when I got home Wednesday night, I thought I should start the downloading the programs and stuff. I went through the steps one by one; downloading the game, downloading the Valkyrie server (the free one), and open all the Ragnarok programs to patch.

That's when I hit my first problem.

I double clicked on the little Valkyrie icon to patch its stuff, but then, as it started up, an error message popped up saying "Failed to patch [Random combination of numbers and letters]."

I tried looking online to see what was the problem and the Ragnarok FAQ basically said that it was a problem in the download, that the program didn't download everything correctly. So I uninstalled then reinstalled Valkyrie. Then I opened it up once more for it to patch, then the same error message arised...

So I called it a night and figured I call Piper in the morning.

When I called Piper, she was all, "Dude, the Valkyrie icon doesn't need to patch!" -->Even though she, JT, and Ragnarok Online had said, "Open up EVERYTHING and let it patch before gameplay." But she was right! The game started up and everything went alright...

Until the game didn't want to log me in with my password... Frustrations...

I didn't understand it. It's the same password I used for my Meebo and KoL accounts! I must have typed in my password over fifty dozen times, in every variation of the password I could think of multiple times. I typed in my login and password to the online Kafra Shop over the internet and that worked! Then I tried looking at my account online and tried to change my password. Thing was, it required my old password to change it to a new one and, although I logged on to see my account with that same password, the password changer still did not recognize it. So I could log on to change my account, but I couldn't log on to change my password or to actually play the game...

After some more frustrated yelling at inanimate objects, I clicked on the link for forgotten passwords, which I only found after filtering through the FAQ, and it sent me an email. As it turns out, the password I typed in would have worked if I forgot to type in the last character of it. The password I thought I typed in only differed by not having that last character...

So frustrating...

After a few deep calming breaths, I started doing the training camp thing in the beginning of the game. After awhile, I kinda got bored. The only way to level up was to attack cute little creatures by clicking on the monster... again and again...

And again...

So I logged off and decided to look at the RO website once more to look for what class I wanted to be. Right now, I'm just a novice, but after novice I get to choose from a few different jobs, like mage, acolyte, swordsman, theif, monk, and archer. After a bit of searching, I thought that the ninja job was pretty cool.

Then I headed to bed. XP

Checker Knights

2009-07-17T14:54:00.002-07:00

Blog No. 196: Wednesday, 7/15

I went wandering across Youtube and found this:

Completely AWESOME!

It's the music "Checker Knights" as heard on the Halberd stage on SSBrawl.

I think I played this video about 50 times before I logged off. It really got me inspired to continue with Piano, which I was having some doubts as to actually continuing. Unfortunately, he doesn't have sheet music for it, nor does he plan to make any! DX

Just the same! I'm going to practice some music now! XP

Tap Dancing Wizards

2009-07-17T14:54:00.001-07:00

Blog No. 195: Taka's and Abril's Grand Tap Dance Final Adventure, and, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Yep. A mouthful.

Taka and Abril asked a while back for me to come see their tap final and to record it on video. I was with them during their process of figuring out their moves in the cafeteria, (well it was half preparation, half trying to look up the ending theme of Captain Planet, XD). Originally, they were editing a sound bite of Mortal Kombat, which was as techno and cliched as you'd think it would be. Then, sometime between that practice and their final, Taka elluded to me that they changed it from Mortal Kombat to that House Disney song she found. I was hoping it was the Captain Planet song... The Power is YOURS! XP

So on Final day, I had arrived early-ish to hang out with Taka for a little bit. She was giving me the gist of their routine. Granted it's not broadway, it still looks pretty good. XD

We met up with Abril a while later, only we didn't know whether or not it was her because her blackness was well hidden in the shadows. XP

They lead me to the little dance studio next to the gym. It was pretty big, prolly bigger than the ones at my high school but not as nice. It had mirrors and a pretty loud sound system. The teacher was pretty cool.

Apparently, some alumni from Charter attends that class also. When I saw Shoua and Saman walk in, I was surprised! I noticed that Shoua recognized me, what with seeing me the most recently with the facial hair and the ponytail. However, I saw Saman do like a short double take, like she was confused as to who I was. Have I really changed that much? :/

It was really funny watching everybody. The instructor was teaching them a routine thing that I guess taught them some basic skills and was able to be accompany an old time jazz song. From looking at everyone tapping, it didn't look that hard. It was a matter of keeping time in your head and translating that into phsical movement in the legs. The instructor then pulled out some canes for them to dance with! It was hilarious! XP

Then Taka and Abril, after a decent hallway practice, performed their routine. I set up my video camera on my 30 dollar tripod and filmed it, just like the good ol' days in filmmaking... *sigh* Nostalgia...

It was pretty funny. Together, they were doing fun stuff, like chasing each other and sweeping arm movements. They utilized each other very well. Well I thought it was just fine and so did the teacher, (after I took a sneak peak of their grading sheets! XP), but Taka and Abril wanted to do it again, only in a more open setting in front of friends! You HEAR THAT? Yet another excuse to get together over the summer people! XP

Taka had to immediately leave right after for her camping trip, so Abril and I kicked it at the cafeteria for a bit. I bought her lunch as well as an Icee from the slushie machine for myself, (which we apparently have now... XP). The strawberry slush drink didn't really taste like strawberry. It tasted more milky... DX

Afterward, mom picked me up and took me home. I basically went of Facebook/play with my Wii until that night.

~~~

Audrey, John, and I dropped off Lennox at grandma's and went straight to Regal, where we saw the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

When we got there, my friends Achona and Brandi, or Chocho and Brando McVeal as I usually call them, walked up and surprised me. I basically hung out with them while John and Audrey got our seats. Chocho had a few sheets of paper that was basically the entertainment for the night. There was a scavenger hunt where we had to find all the people in costume as HP characters with distinguishing pins. They left out Arthur Weasley on that list, yet we found like 3 of those. Then there were obscure, random characters I hardly remember. We totally blanked on who Madam Malkin was! XP

Then Chocho and Brando took me to get sorted by the sorting hat, the long and common tradition amongst Potter fans. Apparently, the both of them had gotten Hufflepuff when they really wanted Slytherin. I usually get Hufflepuff as well, but this time around, I got Slytherin. Chocho was so mad at that hat! XP

Then a giant Death Eater appeared!

We also ran into 2/3 of the Matutis Clan, Angel and Ella. Ella's the one in my graduating class, Christine is a year older and Angel a year younger. They pretty much looked and acted the same. I asked how Christine was and they said that she stayed behind with the baby. XP

Ok I kept you waiting long enough!

~~~

Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Warning, if you have yet to read the book, GO see the movie while you still can! The movie strays so far from the series that it might as well just be a stand alone movie. It's impossible to compare the book to the movie, so don't even worry about it!

Lord Voldemort is alive, out in the open, and he is pissed! He comes up with a complicated plan that is seen earlier in the movie that involves Draco Malfoy. We also know that Snape gets involved by Draco's mother, Narcissus, with the unbreakable vow.

Meanwhile, Harry works closely with Dumbledore to try and get an understanding of Voldemort's motives. This involved Harry trying to manipulate Horace Slughorn, the new potions master, to relinquish a revealing memory in his and Voldemort's past. This time between Harry and Dumbledore is the transition to Harry's final mission in the seventh book. He learns of the Horcruxes, each holding a piece of Voldemort's soul. It shows what lengths Harry will have to go to in order to defeat Voldemort in the final book...

Oh! And Dumbledore dies. XP

Each of the important characters in the book has face time in the movie. It focused some of the attention on the hidden emotions of Draco or Snape. They may have had some extra time in the book as well, but the movie seemed to emphasize this a little more. It showed how Draco's emotions reeled back and forth between total hatred and immense fear.

It emphasized on the love and the danger in this movie. Some scenes were added for a visual and dramatic effect that evil is on the horizon, like the pedestrian bridge scene in the beginning. Most of the movie is in complete darkness. The only spackle of any color is that of the Weasley joke shop run by the Weasley twins. It also emphasized a lot of the love triangles that went on, like Harry's jealousy over Ginny, Hermione's jealousy over Ron, and a lot of back and forth with a few of the extras. That Lavender Brown is one creepy chick.

3 Out of 5 Thumbs Up--> Great to see if you're a Harry Potter virgin!

*Singled Out: Evanna Lynch as Luna Lovegood

The picture really says it all doesn't it?

Luna Lovegood provided a lot of the comedic humor for the story because of her weird and out of the ordinary personality. They pulled off the scene of where they introduced Luna in her Gryffindor lion head very well! In the scene where Harry has to find a date to Slughorn's party, Harry shows an immediate and almost sarcastic response, "I know the perfect person!" Cut to Harry walking down the hall with Luna, who prattles on about how she wears shoes to bed because she sometimes sleepwalks. XD

She certainly is not afraid to be herself! Luna, you've been singled out. XP

I'm tired of this blog now. TIME TO POST IT! XP

Kaylah's Closet

2009-07-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 194: As The Monday Turns...

King left last Friday to go on his camping trip with his youth group/church thing. It means that all this week, he would be absent from class, (lucky...). XP

It also means that I'm left behind most of the time. King was the one who gave me rides home and rides before class to various places, like their home, the tennis court, Burger King, etc... Not only was he a means of transportation, but also a means of entertainment...

So when my mom dropped me off at the usual 3 PM, I had nothing to do except sit in the shade by the tennis courts...

...

So I decided to call up some folk. I called JT, but he didn't answer, I figure because of work. He did text back, which our conversation consisted of 2 parts confusion and 2 parts Ragnarok. No idea why...

I called Piper, and we talked for a bit. She was basically telling me about her time the night before when her and Tom went over to JT's for an RO session. Kinda makes you wonder if RO is an online game then why do you do it in the same room as other people... It's kinda like calling your number with someone else's cell phone, then continuing to have an actual conversation with both phones at both ears... It's pretty insane, really. XP

Then I called Taka to see what she was up to. I heard music in the background, which meant that her and Abril were practicing their tap routine for their final performance tomorrow. So I let them practice and hung up.

Finally, I called Kaylah. Kaylah is the basic southern white girl. I made fun of the 'southern', I made fun of the 'white', but I never thought I'd get the chance to make fun of the 'girl'. Kaylah was basically complaining about her 3 bags of shoes, how she couldn't find the shoes she was plannig to wear that day for her chef job, (pardon *cough* chef MANAGER job *cough*), interview. She also doesn't have any of the furniture set up in her room yet! She justified having these shoes with, "well, I need a certain shoe for each outfit!" which begged the question of, "well, how many outfits do you have?" and that, my friends, was where she was speechless. XP

She only broke the silence to reply, "well, it's not that I have too many clothes, it's that I don't have enough room! I swear, when I retire to a two story house, I'm dedicating a full room as the closet!" She can be such a girl sometimes. XP

I was telling her that I, too, have realized how much clothes I have, only I admitted I have to give away some of these clothes. I also complained back to her about having too many shoes as well, (only I had 3 pairs, not 3 bags). I made her fussy by that remark. :P

"That's not even counting the boots!" XD;

An hour and a half later, I was feeling the sun light burning my face, so I retired inside Davies Hall. There, I sat in the hallway in front of a classroom adjacent to my own. When the teacher arrived, I used the door handle to prop myself up, only I was surprised to find out that it was unlocked... Something to remember for later... XP

Jardine gave us our quiz. He talked about Christianity. I was spacing out, thinking of images of Monty Python, the cheshire cat, and chest wax...

Then my mom came by and took me home!

... The Monty Python--> Cheshire Cat--> Chest wax tangency made sense in my head... XP

A Weak Back? When Did You Hurt It?

2009-07-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 193: A Week Back! *Buh-DUM-tss*

A while back, (pardon the puns), I proposed a deal with Dustin and Patric to help me paint my room. We talked about it through Facebook that, in exchange for their manual labor, I would treat them to lunch.

In the morning before they arrived, I was frantically trying to clean and clear my room out some more. I was trying to do stuff in between my spackling last night, only my sister had complained about the noise coming out of my room. Next time, I should try and not spackle with a butter knife... XP

I carried out my clothes, my shelves, and my desk stuff out of the room. It's sometimes hard to realize how much stuff you have until you pull it out of your room... Then I vacuumed the hell out of the carpet, which took about an hour and a half to do to prevent a sudden overload or a vacuum implosion.

Then the guys arrived and we started going at it! XP

We really had no experience painting before. I only painted canvases and paper, and the one time I painted, (during my volunteer work at the PTK job on Fort Natomas), I only painted one plank of wood until someone pulled me away to lift something heavy... Like a hand saw... XP

So we just started to work. We pulled the big things I couldn't lug out to the center and covered it with plastic. Patric opened up the can of paint and we started painting with our rollers. Dustin had played some "painting" music for the mood. If you heard his usual playlist, you'd know it be full of J-Rock/Mainstream music. A few songs were Spice Girls, a few were GREEEN, yada yada. I swear, the song "There She Goes", (the Sixpence None The Richer version, not The La's), kept popping up again and again...

There she goes... There she GOES again! XP

Anyways, after the majority of the wall was painted, the can of paint was almost empty. So, we decided to take our break and move on to lunch at In n' Out. The both of them had something called 'Animal Fries', which was what Terry had gotten on our last Kaylah Day. I had tried theirs too, and remarked the same thing about how it looked, only I cleaned it up. The animal fries had the cheese, onions, and secret sauce that did not combine to a very eye pleasing color. I described it as, "it looks too pink to be considered food," and spared them the "something that bleeded, amongst other things, in your pants" reference I had made with Kaylah and Terry. XD

As we headed to the car, some lady in her car asked us to help her with her business class. Basically, she had us try some samples of cologne, like those annoying Macy's attendants at the mall. We left after the third spray around...

Then we went to Home Depot for the paint.

We were joking around a bit. Somewhere in Dustin's thought process, he made the plan of chest bumping the wall with his blue painted chest to leave its imprint behind. In my mind I was thinking he wouldn't go through with it. Then he showed me his hairless chest. Apparently he shaved for the occasion...?

So I agreed, at first, to see if he'd actually do it. All he told me was, "pick out the blue you want, Rabbiman, and I'll do it!" So I picked a darkish blue I could see against the green wall. I asked the guy for the smallest can of that color, which he made and gave to me along with another gallon of green. I looked at Dustin and he didn't protest about it.

So there we were, back at the house, continuing to paint the room green. When we finished, Dustin took his shirt off and started taking pictures with his phone while Patric was getting the blue paint ready. First, Patric drew a weird face on Dustin's chest so that I could take a few pictures to send. Then Patric and I dipped our hands into the blue paint and started smothering the stubly man chest...

My wall, feeling up Dustin's boobies... XD

Now if I only I had female friends that would let me do this... XP

Then Patric, with his already blue hands, added his hand print and other things on the wall. While doing this, Dustin hugged Patric from behind, making a blue blob on the back of Patric's white shirt. XD

I, too, made my mark. XP

After cleaning our hands and Dustin's chest, we played some Brawl on my wii in the computer room. I found out a few things during that Brawl session, like Dustin has a lot of time on his hands, or that I can pwn Dustin's Olimar with my Olimar, or that Wario is able to EAT his own motorcycle... Odd. XP

All in all, it was a pretty good day!

Now I have to put all my stuff back into my room.............................. DX

Caught a Few, Threw a Few

2009-07-12T23:41:00.001-07:00

Blog No. 192: Frisbee Day

The basic highlight of this day was another round of Ultimate Frisbee (UF)... Yes I decided to use an acronym... XP

The gameplay wasn't really remarkable this time around. We had the usuals plus a few people. I find it somewhat awkward to meet new people, being the awkward person that I am, I don't usually give off a nice first impression. However, I noticed that I didn't care after a certain point because I end up introducing myself with a handshake to the newcomers, then pile driving them into the ground a few seconds later... I also noticed I did run a lot more than I had when I started this thing. Although I ran a lot, I didn't do much to affect the tide of the game.

During game play, my foot immersed into a gigantic mud puddle, much like what happened on one of my Oolong Days, but it wasn't deep enough for a pool of water.

Bryn brought her dog this time. He kept barking and calling for her, and he almost ended up on the field a few times. I thought it had wanted to catch a frisbee, but all he wanted was to run around and play with his owner.

By the end of the game, it started to sprinkle a little bit, which was odd because today was supremely warmer than any other day of UF... The acronym is fun saying aloud... XP

Anyways, after the game, JT drove me to home depot for a spackle run. Along the way, he invited me to come over with him to hang out while he played that Ragnorok Online game. He was trying to entice me to get into that game, which seemed really annoying and mundane when I saw Taka and Fishie play it a couple of times... So I said I'd think about it. XD

So he dropped me off at home, and I spackled my room for a bit, preparing for the painting day tomorrow! :P

It's A Small World, Munchkin!

2009-07-11T03:31:00.001-07:00

Blog No. 191: Late Night Games

Yet another round of late night games... Hence the title... XP

Piper, Difuentez, and JT all came over to the house Friday night, 7/10, for some overnight fun. I called my mom to order us some Domino's pizzas. I ordered 1 pepperoni and 1 with a little of everything. Piper, Difuentez, and I had a few pieces of pepperoni and I was able to save a few w/ everything for Audrey. However, within the hour that JT arrived, he ate what was left of each pizza. XP

Anyways... JT brought over a new game called Small World. It's pretty interesting actually, very medieval magical dictator world if you ask me. It's basically 9 turns of conquering a land through randomized races, trying to get the most coinage by the end of the game. My 'Wealthy Amazons' were good for the coinage boost, but declined very quickly. Dumb Piper had to get those 'Flying Sorcerers'...In the end, I got a decent 93 coins, where JT and Difuentez tied in first with 98. The 'Diplomatic Elves' were pretty good for awhile, if I only had them at the start... XP

Then we moved on to our oh-so-fun game of Munchkin. JT brought over the 'Munchkin Bites' version, which you would guess parodies all the vampires and horror movies. Piper was prepared with her 'lucky die', only she never got the card of 'Lose Your Lucky Die' this game, which basically was changing a roll with the added affect of literally losing your lucky die. XP

She was however, pretty close to winning... We were all level 9 and all we needed to do was defeat a monster in order to win that last level, which Piper happened to pull...

To prevent Piper from winning, I unfortunately had to trade my mom... Well I had a card that said "Sell Your Mother" which had no special effects other than having the value of 500 Gold, and Difuentez had a scroll card that would prevent Piper from battling her monster to gain a level and beat the game. So, Difuentez and I "negotiated" a trade of his scroll for my mom! (This game get's really funny once you get into it.) XP

Then, on JT's turn, Piper pulled out a "Monster Mash" which made his battle impossible to win, what with using his defense cards to prevent Piper from winning prior to me exchanging my mom...

In the end, I won after a fight against level 1 Footprints. It was stellar!

Poor Difuentez has yet defeated the three of us yet. XD

New Project (?)

2009-07-11T03:30:00.001-07:00

Blog No. 190: Thursday

After a week of trying to catch up while still progressing forward, I figure it might be high time to start a new project. An art project to be a little more specific.

Not much can be said of this project.

All I can ellude to is that it high lights something I feel that was important during the time, like a famous and well known screen shot from a movie.

We shall see if you can figure it out... XP

The Final Episode

2009-07-08T23:56:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 189: A Landmark Moment

Today, Wednesday 7/8, is certainly a landmark moment. After nearly three years of DVR recordings, ABC Family commercials, PB&J Toast Fridays, and it has all come down to the end. The final episode of The Gilmore Girls.

Through and through, the day has finally come to where I can say, "Hey, I've seen the entire series of the Gilmore Girls from Rory in the Chilton years to Rory as international reporter and through each of Lorelai's witty remarks, clever hijinks, and rambling rants!"

Series Review: The Gilmore Girls

The mother and daughter duo, Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, live their days in a small town of Stars Hollow, living it up and enjoying every minute they have together. This series explores the trials and obstacles that stress their friendship in a world that does not make sense on the surface.

Backstory: Lorelai, at 16, got knocked up by her high school best friend, Christopher. She had a difficult childhood in which she was being degraded by trying to be herself. Emily and Richard Gilmore, the parents, had tried and to raise Lorelai to be the suitable and priveledged member of society in which they had grew up in. When they caught wind of Lorelai's news, indirectly, they had freaked out and tried to set up a future best suiting for her, without her consideration. Lorelai, in retaliation, ran away from the Gilmore home to raise her child the way she wished she was raised. She had ended up in Stars Hollow, where the owner of the Independence Inn took her in and gave her a job to stabilize herself as she raised Rory.

Fast forward to when the series starts: Lorelai works as the manager of said Inn, while Rory works her way through high school.

Rory was basically raised to be what she wanted to be. From the get go, she found her life long ambition into going to Harvard, (which evidentally was Lorelai's dream), to be a journalist. She shows that she is highly intellectual and somewhat shy around people, yet you could tell she somehow had fitted into the crazy world. Throughout the series, she finds love in only a few relationships that teach her how to adapt and balance her goals and personal life.

Meanwhile, it is definitely clear that the main stream of Lorelai's thoughts and actions revolve around Rory. Rory's why she succumbed herself to establish a relationship between her, Rory, and her parents. Compared to Lorelai and Rory, Lorelai and Emily belonged on different planets. The series clearly shows how strong and professional she is, (having going through motherhood at 16), as well as how friendly and kind she is to the people of Stars Hollow. She, too, goes through only a few relationships that, although more mature and sophisticated, also falls into the obstacles of prioritization.

The general feel of the episodes can be considered as 'cliched with a spin on it'. You've seen it all before: parental issues, relationship troubles, and cliff hangers. However, it can also be argued that it ranges far from the same redundancy in the way how the dynamics work. Each episode is written fairly well and every moment and visual angle had a meaning. The references Lorelai and Rory make seem to be another language than our own, but as the camera pans away from them you see that they're no different then the people around them. We see their stories unfold through the eyes of the close townsfolk to the point where these two are 'foreign diplomats', (from the outside looking in, but in the sense that they still really belonged). The Gilmore Girls can also be a breath of fresh air from all the indecent shows out there, like Gossip Girl or any of the meaningless reality shows. Even the background music is both original and meaningful. Thought provoking, entertaining, and whimsical!

To the last episode where, I admit, it could've gone better. Thing is, it was a pretty awesome series finale. However, it also seemed really out of place, abrupt even. It ended things very seamlessly, everything was resolved and it really shows how much of an affect the Gilmore girls had on the town and vice versa. It was abrupt because, in the episode before, it left open a few details, like how Lorelai and Luke seemed to drift away from each other completely then out of the blue they kiss in the finale, or how Rory just broke up with Logan at her graduation then randomly got picked for a job following the Obama presidential campaign the next episode. It was an effective finale, but it could've been greater after a few more transitional episodes the series was good at, granted the series had to end period.

Overall, The Gilmore Girls puts the mother and daughter dynamic on a pedastal so that we, as avid watchers, see how close to perfection and unity we are in this irrational world. You can only see how the world works if you rise above it.

4.5 Out of 5 Thumbs Up-->Definitely see if you can catch up! XP

*Singled Out- Lauren Graham as Lorelai Gilmore

Who saw this coming? XD

It's the true characters that make the stories worth while.

What makes her unique are her many mannerisms and ideals and actions. She's a girl at heart, with obsessions of coffee, classic movies, and snow. She shows rationality in the all but irrational world of love. She could be considered as a 'loose' interpretation of a parent. At times she might seem lenient, (like during the aftermath of a fight at a house party which lead to house destruction due to the tension of the love triangle between Dean, Jess, and Rory, all Lorelai had to respond to that was singing Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings"). At other times she might seem harsh, (like when Rory dropped out of Yale for a semester, Lorelai basically told her she cannot come back home until she goes back). But overall, she is justified and praised in the fact that she knows it will all work out in the end, (yes JT, I said it. XP)

Truly a unique and remarkable person. She has great strength and amazing dedication to what's important.

Raise you cup of coffee high and bask in your glory because you have been singled out. XD

~~~

I want coffee now... XP

The Laugh Machine

2009-07-08T23:55:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 188: OR, A Paradox of Giggles

Tuesday was a mellow day.

I woke up to get a coffee from downstairs. While I was down there, I visited with my baby nephew and my sister, doing the whole I'm part of this family too! kind of thing.

So I sat on the floor right next to where he was on the ottoman in front of his mommy. I swear, everytime he looked up at me he cracked an open mouth smile. :P

Not only that, but after talking to him for a bit, I somehow found a way to make him laugh! It was the very first time I heard him laugh, which made me laugh. When he saw me laughing, he started laughing, again, which started to make me laugh some more! It was a paradox of giggles, a laugh machine if you will. XD

And he laughed and laughed and laughed. I forget sometimes the level of cuteness of baby laughter really is. It was technically his first time laughing out loud other than while he was sleeping, which kinda makes me wonder whether or not the laughing was a good thing. XD

When John came home, Audrey tried to restart the laugh machine so that John could take a picture for his blog. Unfortunately, all Lennox could do was somewhat smile. That was when Audrey called me downstairs to try and make him laugh. As I walked down the steps, Lennox made the widest grin he could! Unfortunately, that was as far as he'd gone!

Lennox is a giggle paradox tease! XP

Taka, King, and Abril Vs The CPU

2009-07-07T22:46:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 187: Yet Another Brawl Day

Yeah. In an attempt to catch up on my blogs, I tried blogging while King, Taka, and Abril sat on the floor next to me, playing my game of SSBrawl. How did it end up? Well, this is Monday's blog, and I'm posting it today, THURSDAY.

I'm almost there though! XP

Threadless Window Shopping

2009-07-07T22:45:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 186: Shirts

I'd like new shirts. I need new shirts.

Taka had eluded, (or rather I made the suggestion), that she was going to turn Coppertone Rabbiman into a t-shirt, which would be extremely awesome!

But in the mean time... I was looking through the website [threadless.com] where John got all of his geeky/marvel/zombie shirts. I was looking though it and started making a list of shirt designs I wanted. Of those I filtered my favorites. Here's what I came up with:

Solar Power.

Solitary Dream. [or rather, looking up?]

Sabertooth Tiger.

Rainforests.

Mob Musicians.

And yeah...

Simple, elegant, to the point, and something I can relate to. XP

Happy 4th of Ju--Ka-BLOOM!

2009-07-04T20:00:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-04T19:59:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-02T22:58:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-02T22:58:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-01T10:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-06-28T16:47:00.000-07:00

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

Transformers 2

2009-06-26T00:18:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 176: Transformers: The Revenge of The Fallen

There's a lot of blockbuster sequels coming out now... I guess this year is the Revenge of the Blockbusters so to speak...

So, my mom and I decided to go see the new Transformers movie. Why she wanted to see it, I have no idea. Personally, I'm kind of fed up with these sequels. It's hard to tell whether they're telling the full story or they're milking the franchise...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Movie Review: Transformers II

I won't guarantee no spoilers. As if I ever did.

The storyline goes like this: Sam Whitwickey is college bound and continuing his normal life as if he had not nearly died from an onslaught of Decepticons all too recently. Then, when going through his stuff, he found a sliver of the destroyed All Spark cube thing, which, when he touches it, transfers alien information which burns into his brain and eventually gives him the crazies.

On top of that, it becomes apparent that the Decepticons are not all defeated. Apparently, one of the first Decepticons, calling himself "The Fallen," (yep, it's just one guy), is calling all the shots, sending out minions to steal back the All Spark shard and the frozen body of Megatron. What The Fallen really needs is the key to help finding energy for their race, which so happens to be imprinted on Sam's mind.

First off, I found that there are way too many conveniences. Like how Sam ends up finding a sliver of the All Spark in some dirty laundry, or how "The Fallen" is only able to be stopped by any one of the ancestors, or desdendants, who call themselves "Prime." Long story short, Optimus Prime DIES. (Oops. Spoiler. XP)

I should also mention, and this is entirely subjective, but a lot of the comedy went further down the gutter and down the storm drain, poisoning our river/ocean wildlife. With some of the added characters and weird moments, you get some more jokes that, like the first movie, you might want the kiddies to wait until they grow up a little more. I just remembered that the giant robot tearing away at the pyramid apparently had some male gonads hanging out.

Nudity Alert: You get to see that weird Sector 7 guy's derriere in bikini form. It gets right in the camera for extreme emphasis.

Seeing as it's the cliched blockbuster action movie, it has the stereotypical blockbuster action movie qualities, (the explosions, the stunts, the hot ladies), which, if you desire this kind of thing, might not be so bad. We all should have some intensive action in our lives once in awhile, right?

OK, now some Pros...

For a movie about a war of a mechanical transforming alien race, you'd expect some special effects, obviously. Special effects, in my opinion, should just be just that, a "special" effect, as in added as icing on the cake. However, when the movie requires the CGI effects in order for the story to be told, you might as well pull out all the stops, which this movie does very well.

For what plotline the movie had, it did satisfy its intent, telling the story. There were some romantic, cutesie moments, especially in the beginning between Sam and Makayla. There was also a crossroads kind of moment, where Sam had to decide between continuing to try and live a normal life or accept his destiny and save the world, again. There was also a keep-the-faith moment where Sam still held on to the matrix that powers that machine, even when it disintegrated into powder.

Let's see... a little romance, a sprinkle of crossroads, a dash of keep-the-faith... all just on top of the big helping of action and CGI effects. XP

We love the characters, the new and the old. Sam, Makayla, Sgt. Lennox, the Sector 7 guy, and all the Autobots return in this movie, along with adding Leo*, the slapstick Autobot twins, and some new Decepticons. Starscream stands out as Megatron's right hand in this movie. Sadly, they removed the cute computer analyst from the first film, which was kind of a drag for me...

Also, in the end, when "The Fallen" falls, after all the nutty puns of defeat, Megatron and Starscream escapes, making it very likely of a third movie... Joy.

My Rating: 3-ish Out of 5 Thumbs Up --> See it to believe it, but leave little Abagail at home for now.

Fin...

Technically the movie review is over, but I think I want to start something along with these reviews... Just to make it a little more interesting. Here's a go at it:

*Singled Out: Ramon Rodriguez as the horny and cowardly Leo Spitz.

Leo is the new roommate in Sam's dorm, granting him some access to Sam's life, (like the secret robot alien race that plots to take over the world). He's the stereotypical computer nerd who tries too hard when it comes to the opposite sex. When Sam starts freaking out, Leo is there trying to calm him down, which turns out to be his biggest regret in his life.

In this movie, he's generally the whiniest person there. However, when it seriously comes down to it, he's you, (that's right readers, I'm pointing at YOU). Face the facts, man. He's pretty much how we would react in this situation, no matter how many sci-fi/special effects movies we've seen, no matter how much duct tape and shotgun bullets we've stocked up. Sure Leo puts on the tough guy bravado, but when something surreal happens he releases the whiny inner child. There's no way to prepare for the apocalypse, so why hide your fear?

When it's real, you'll accidentally taze your balls, too. Congrats Leo, you've been singled out. XD

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know, Micheal Jackson probably died while we were watching the Transformers movie... I wonder if that means something... Alas, the Blockbuster movies claimed their first life:

RIP Michael Jackson.

May you orgasm in your pants on the cloudy and blindingly lit stage in the sky. XP

...

Figured I should do something in memorandum for America's most famous white pop star...

I also saw a preview of this in the theater:

Totally cannot wait! XP

That is all.

Time To Brawl

2009-06-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 175: Time To Brawl

Taka called me up today, desperate to try and find something to do for today, 5/24. I suggested the standbys: Tennis? Frisbee? Watch Whose Line?

Well, Taka wanted to play Super Smash Bros. Brawl and asked if I had it. Well, I had it in my possession, but it is technically John's game and he recently let his nephew borrow it. So I got to thinking, "Hmm. I would say it's about time that I should have my own copy of this game!" Of course, when I thought of this, I said it aloud, (hence the quotes format, not the italicized format). XP

Once I said that, it was pretty much decided without me.

In thirty minutes, King and Taka arrived to pick me up to take me to the Gamestop near my house. We went looking in the store, found a few zombie shooting games Taka wanted, but could not find any used SSBrawl games.

So we headed over to the nearby Fry's Electronics store, where my mom used to work for most of my childhood. Back then, it was Incredible Universe, where there was a kids area, it had a lot more technology, and it didn't have the weird murals on the wall... I remembered being there when I was little, visiting my mom at work, and I would just end up playing some of the video games available in the center of the store. My mom had worked overtime a lot so some of those trips ended when my aunt picked me up... Anyways, Taka and King saw some other asian people they knew who worked there. XP

Then we wheeled around to Wendy's, where we each got burgers and fries. Then we decided to eat them at the house.

Around this time, my sister and Lennox came home from visiting my mom at the apartment. Taka and King got to see the baby in all his cuteness, as well as meet my immediate family. XP

We ate around my grandma's dining nook in the back of the living room. We talked about how different fast food chains had different tastes to their burgers. Wendy's burgers had square shaped burgers and some salty hamburger buns compared to other restaurants. Taka still preferred Burger King over anything. XP

Then the three of us headed upstairs, where we played SSBrawl for about 3 hours on the big TV in the loft. Taka had also fooled around with our computer's stylus and pad on Photoshop. Most of the time was spent kicking eachother's butt on SSBrawl. I think King won most of the rounds, but I got the most kills in. It's usually how it ends up. XP

King and I dropped Taka off at her place, went to school, learned about Greek thought, (which was basically a review session, again, from what I learned from high school), then King took me home.

SSBrawl is only fun when you have others to play it with you! XD

Another Rendition of YouTube Updates

2009-06-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 174: Some Videos

I really have no material for 6/23, so I figured it's time to show you some YouTube Videos I've been watching:

Taka shown me this video and I thought the piano playing was cool. It's an excerpt of the movie Secret, which was made by one of Taka's favorite directors.

Robots are taking over the world man...

Of course I added a KT Tunstall song in here! It would be a crime if I didn't! XP

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OK there you go. Yet "Another Rendition of YouTube Updates" just like the title said! XP

Day Dreaming Day Dreams

2009-06-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 173: Day Dreaming Day Dreams

Can't read my poker face... You prolly could, but still.

Point being, I have a lot on my mind. Thing is, I can't put it to words. I don't think anyone can, partly because it's quite literally a symphony, but still... It's serious.

The first thing I remember paying attention to all day was the conversation with my mom while she was driving me to school. It wasn't a lively conversation at all, really. It was a simple back and forth, then I whipped my head back when it all became clear that I was zoning out for most of the morning. I honestly could not remember how I got up this morning. Did I get coffee?

Not only that, but I had realized that I was listening to this symphony of random music, a variety of pieces of music composed in my head from reading fiction stories while I was zoned out. (Every time I get immersed into the book, I try to involve my other senses into the story as well, which, for me, involves adding background music. Basically, I'm creating a soundtrack for the movie version of the book in a day dream. XD). I could see myself on the conducting podium, standing before the orchestra, where the strings sat in front of the woodwinds who sat in front of the choir standing on steps, with some percussion on either side with squareish sound buffers posted in front of some of the instruments.

I remembered hearing how Bella's Lullaby had sounded in my head before the actual Bella's Lullaby was even created, or how the music swelled when Edward left Bella behind in the woods. I can hear the music when I read the clash between Bellatrix Lestrange and Molly Weasley in the final book, or when I read how all the school kids on that island killed poor Simon in that campfire... When Pudge finally realizes that Alaska would never be coming back... When Nick could see that Daisy would never return the amount of devotion Gatsby had given her... When Pi finally landed ashore, but was not able to say goodbye to the tiger as he disappears into the jungle, becoming only a memory...

Not only that music, but also the original music created in my mind during some dreams, like the Mallet Trio dream (in the Summer Dreamscapes blog), or when I have those falling dreams where I'd fall for no reason, only to fall through the point of impact when I had reached the Earth...

All of it I remembered in that split second when I realized was even in a day dream.

Can you day dream in a day dream?

Totally weird... XP

Uncle's Day

2009-06-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 172: Father's Day

Not one of my most celebrated holidays.

I had texted mom when I arrived home early this morning from JT's, and she had replied that they were planning on a "brunch" kind of thing. This usually meant an attempt at a family table kinda thing with waffles, pie filling, and my strawberry preserves.

It went a little different.

John and Audrey went out to the Firehouse Restaurant in Old Sacramento, then went to see UP, again, for Father's Day. They had made reservations a week or two in advanced, so no surpise there.

My mom, Lennox, and I just hung out at the apartment. My mom and aunt complained a little bit about how John and Audrey should've brought Lennox along, but I just tuned them out really.

The "brunch" food did not end up being the waffles, pie filling, and strawberry preserves I was hoping for when I woke up early this morning. Instead, it was bisuits and meaty gravy, mexican scrambled eggs w/ tortillas, and cinnamon bread. All I really nibbled on was the cinnamon bread and eggs, after about an hour of staring at the odd orange/brown color the eggs had.

Then, my aunt had the table set up for the bunch of us to sit around the table, only all of us had to eat our food at different shifts, mainly because of the babysitting. If they really wanted to try a family thing, they should really start thinking of inviting more of the family, like Jabyne and Nicole, or my other grandfather and his immediate family. Holidays were more celebrated when my grandmother was planning them, before she passed away. I had looked forward to those events back in the day because of the added fanfare... Back when I felt that there was something to look forward to in these get togethers.

Meh. It was only Father's Day.

When I looked after Lennox, I held him a lot. A lot more than usual. I think that was sort of planned because my mom conveniently walked out of the room as soon as Audrey and John left while I was carrying the baby. I didn't complain though. I just held him while I updated my Myspace/Facebook, then walked him around, talking to him about what I did last night, how he's going to have to work those leg muscles when he grows up if he ever plans to go play sports in school. It was around the conversation where I was talking about my "sports" in high school, (which in my case was practicing for percussion ensemble and fruit snack ball, which was basically me throwing cherry fruit snacks into Kaylah's cleavage... For that I can see myself as being MVP! XP), that Lennox fell asleep in my arms. So I set him on the bed and turned on Mythbusters. When I leaned my head back, I felt my eyes lulling to sleep, crying out for solace in my mind. So I figured I'd sleep next to the baby.

Two episodes of Mythbusters later, I was holding him again, feeding him his milk and what not. My mom was on the phone with her friend from her old work at Fry's Electronics, so I had to entertain the baby, again. So I showed Lennox his reflection in the vanity mirror, as well as the bathroom mirror, and I showed him where to get solid food in the apartment. Then I sat him down on the bed again, where I started rambling about baby's cliched firsts, like his first swimming lessons, his first bike, his first time playing catch with his dad...

Then I just backtracked and started pedaling his legs and complained that I still really didn't know how to swim or ride a bike. That's when Audrey and John arrived. It was a real bonding day with the baby. All the time I he had listened intently or giggled as I made funny faces.

They should totally have an Uncle's Day. XP

MVP

2009-06-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 171: MVP

First of all, JT needs to practice texting and planning.

Here's the story. He had agreed to pick me up for Ultimate Frisbee the night before. Then, he tried to plan the game a little later than usual, for 4:45 instead of 3, that way he could get home from bartending school, get lunch, and have around 40 minutes to pick me up. Thing is, when he sent out the text, the time had said "4:15". He only realized it when someone told him he had 7 minutes instead of 37. So he called me up and said that he would drop off the frisbees and stuff and try to go and pick me up. However, the players, already waiting probably since 3, wanted him to stay. Luckily for me, Piper and Difuentez were there to and decided to bail me out.

If only the 4 wasn't so close to the 1... XP

Evidently, I have a new nickname amongst our Ultimate Frisbee crowd: MVP.

Which is ironic because I'm not all that good.

There was a moment where one guy, whose name I forgot (but was jerkish because he had called my name as I was trying to pass the frisbee and I almost threw it to him... thinking it was Brandon...), who had asked why I was "MVP". Then, during the next play, our team had reached the goal line and I was blocked by two people. I was the closest to the thrower, so what I did was I spiraled around the first guy and shook up my actual guard, confusing them long enough for me to be open and barely catch the disc with my hand and knee, securing the point.

JT, who was on my team, yelled out, "Now that's why we call him MVP!"

It was dumb luck really... XD

Piper had played a few rounds. She was on the opposing team the first game, then we were both on the same team the second time around. When I was her guard, I felt like I had an advantage, partly because Piper was new to the game, partly because I figured out a system that didn't take away too much of my energy like the previous games. Back in the day, when I was one of the children in the streets playing basketball, I was basically the free thrower and the fake out player. Something about being "light on my feet" as one of Ruben's old friends had said... Which is true because I was shrimpy. XP

Jordan, one of the Choir folk, was also there. She was suitably another Piper on the field, so Piper and Jordan had switched out every once in awhile. We were all saying, you know later after the two games, that we did not notice how... full her water balloons were, if you catch my drift. She was talking to me before the game through Facebook and she was basically complaining about that. I guess that sort of thing does have it's disadvantages... And you know that's true when JT, the boob-man himself, notices. XP

After the games, we just sat in the grass, cooling off in the shade while JT and Shirtless Jeff played one-on-one Ultimate Frisbee. They were actually pretty good at it, only we kinda messed Jeff up by laughing too much. That and the only way he could get the frisbee from the "Jolly Green Giant" was to tackle him to the ground. Piper had taken quite a few pictures of them going at it. XP

BLAH and Jason had texted me, asking if I wanted to go clubbing with them. Personally, I didn't know what that would entail. All I would be doing was dancing, and I dance really awkwardly... I find that it tends to get sad to dance by yourself without at least 6 different people you felt comfortable enough with to dance around you. But I texted back, "Only if JT does it, he's my ride," being the indecisive person that I am.

JT, after Piper asked what we all should do, decided that we should just play Munchkin at his place. So, Difuentez, Piper, JT, Marshall, Bryn, and I ended up playing Munchkin in the gazebo in the backyard. It turned out to be a better suited plan then going clubbing, keeping it simple amongst relatively close personality types. XP

That one round of Epic Munchkin lasted 5 hours. No joke. So it got dark, cold, and windy real fast. It was a good thing that JT had set up a lighting system in the gazebo. JT and I really didn't plan for the cold, so JT ended up "molesting" Bryn, (which means that, with permission, he reached up Bryn's sweatshirt to keep his arms cold), and I ended up using Piper as a space heater, if space heaters were like bear hugs. Difuentez kinda stared at Piper for a bit, I could sense he was watching my hands more closely... All I can say is that I'm not as grabby as JT. XP

I ended up being a super super super bard-cleric with a self-cleaning, extra loud repeating crossbow crossbow crossbow... It gets really funny after awhile. Piper ended up winning the game, for once. :P

So I had fun. JT and Bryn drove me home at around 1:30 in the morning. His departing words, which I remembered for the blog title, were "It's an official name now, MVP!"

I'm not sure whether or not I should be flattered... Meh. It'll just end up being like my popular nickname now, Rabbiman: I'll get bothered by it for a day or two, then decide to let them have their fun and, hopefully, come to enjoy it once I find out that I really had nothing to be bothered about. XP

Obama and Firepit

2009-06-19T17:52:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 170: Obama and Firepit

"When I asked about elections in 2008, he basically said that he had not made any decisions for either, but I did see a twinkle in his eye."

---Rory Gilmore, predicting the 2008 presidency. XP

That was my reference to Obama. I had watched one of the new reruns of Gilmore Girls, the episode itself aired in 2006. Just as I said, Rory Gilmore predicted Obama's presidency. XP

Anyways, JT sent out a mass text, inviting everyone to his firepit shindig thing, as mentioned in the previous blog. I texted him back to see if he could pick me up. Unfortunately, he had to stay there, mainly because he was hosting.

So I called/texted Piper to see if she wanted to go and could maybe tag a ride with her and Difuentez. However, that apparently ensued some drama. Apparently, Piper had kept Difuentez up the night before, doing who knows what. Then, Piper, I guess, promised Difuentez that he'd get some sleep tonight. As she said that, JT's text was sent.

If that wasn't enough, Piper called me up to try and get me to talk to Difuentez. Normally, you'd think he'd be okay about giving rides. This time, however, he would have to drive from his house in the hills somewhere, all the way to the city, then back toward ARC, then do everything in reverse when it ended. I could imagine the inconvenience for him. However, he was trying to talk himself to doing it, saying that because if he didn't drive Piper and himself, then he would be making me miss out on something I wanted to do... In the end, Piper had texted his reply, No.

Just as that text came, a text from Dictator Roze came to my phone. I thought I might as well explore different avenues of drivers, so to speak, so I can be less dependent on Difuentez driving me everywhere. I ended up convincing Dictator Roze to go and take me with her. XP

At around 11, she arrived at my house. Apparently, she was awake since early that morning, doing stuff like rearranging her high school's old band room and house sitting. I could tell after she had passed the stoplight on Whitney Avenue to get to JT's place. XD

She also mocked the "speed table" that Piper and I have mocked the first time we went to his house after the Anberlin concert. Not a "speed bump" but a "speed table". Exactly. XP

Anyway, Dictator Roze and I walked around the house, in the complete darkness, through the thick brush of dried grass to get to the firepit in the center of the yard. There were unlit tiki torches along our path to the firepit, unlit because "the wind kept blowing them out" as JT says. It was rather windy. If you weren't careful, the wind could blow in your direction, blowing cinders of flame in your direction and searing your eyeballs. XP

BLAH and Jason were there, surprisingly. We ended up talking briefly, before they made their trip to a gas station for marshmallows. Dictator Roze and I pretty much took their spots when they left. XP

It was pretty mellow. We just basically sat back on the couch, staring at the fire, talking about stuff. JT walked around to everyone and hopped over the fire a couple of times. He either sat next to me or behind us, where he had pet my hair... A little creepy, but all the same very relaxing... Dictator Roze had her jacket covering her body and half her face most of the time. I showed her my sketch of her and Taka and she basically thought it was funny. Not the haha it looks so weird funny but the haha of all the pictures you could've chosen, you chose this oh-so-flattering pose of me kind of funny. XP

When BLAH and Jason came back with marshmallows, all of us basically toasted marshmallows for awhile. I tried to throw one at BLAH's cleavage, which she ended up just inserting it in there anyway, which also ended up being eaten by JT. XD

I mentioned that I wanted to make the fire have different colors. It kinda changed when burning marshmallows, but I actually wanted to try and make the entire firepit all of one odd color, like green or purple. I looked it up and it basically takes a day or so, using some herbicide and some dissolving agents to make the actual chemicals, then the logs had to be soaked in it for a day for it to actually work... Someday! XP

We actually ended up leaving around 1:30 AM. My excuse for leaving early: "I forget that, although JT and others are 'peers', they are still older than me." Dictator Roze and I basically left before the alcohol and hookah.

...

My sister's response: "Hasn't that been the case since, like, second grade?" What with skipping the first grade and graduating high school at the age of sixteen...

...

Well, I was surprised that they actually still had those weird tall vases like the caterpillar had in Alice in Wonderland cartoon for smoking. Dictator Roze laughed at my reaction. Those vase-like objects served as a "catalyst for departure," as she puts it.

So, Dictator Roze and I basically talked about dreams as she drove me home. She talked about a couple of times she was talking in her sleep. I could only remember waking up saying or mouthing the words, "Get your hands off my cheesecake!", which Dictator Roze asked if I was saying that to Taka in the dream. :P

Dreams are weird. XD

No Way Ray

2009-06-19T17:51:00.000-07:00

Blog No. 169: No Way Ray

For the past 2 weeks, Piper, JT, and I have been trying to go to Ray's Streetside Performances. Ray Zhou is a super awesome guitarist we mutually know through Choir. He goes to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music now, but he's here for the summer, still performing. Well, Piper and I have been trying to coordinate a ride to Folsom to see it.

The first time we went, we arrived alright, but, once Piper called Michelle, we figured out it was canceled for that day. We ended up playing Munchkin at my house.

The second time, JT didn't answer his phone the majority of the day, while I was with Taka and King and Difuentez at Piper's empty house. By the time he arrived, it was already late. We ended up playing Munchkin at Piper's house.

This time, I tried texting JT. This is what I get:

"Well I'm planning a firepit thing that night."

"You mean a campfire, s'mores, and ghost stories?"

"Firepit, s'mores if you want them... and I suppose you could tell ghost stories..."

"Well what else is there? Book burning? Native American dance rituals? Witchcraft?"

"A social place to be on a cool summer night with a nice elemental fire, good company, and whatever that personally holds for you?"

"Okay I guess that's cool... Well have fun with that!"

"I will?"

"Is there any question that you won't?"

"Huh, I always enjoy myself. I don't know about fun."

Doesn't enjoyment imply that there's some fun involved? Who knows...

But yeah... Working with someone as spontanneous as JT tends to lead nowhere, really...

...

~~~~~~~~~~~~

...

I find the Bing.com commercial very amusing. XP

I have dreams that panned out like this commercial. I would very much like to meet the advertising team behind this...

So yeah...

No Ray...

So much for enriching our minds with comprehensive guitar strumming... XP