Thursday, February 28, 2013

It's Like a Break-Up

For some time now, my job has been on the rocks. It's no fault of mine, I've actually been doing quite well, and I learned a lot of difficult tasks in a short period of time. However, for some reason or another, the Doctor I worked for did not like me. I'm thinking that maybe he is sexist, because ALL the other people in the office are women, as well as all of his other assistants. Well, to make a long rant shorter and to get to the point, I basically got fired on Monday. The kicker- it was via TEXT MESSAGE! I was messaging my supervisor on Sunday asking what my work schedule was for the next day, since it had been variable the last couple weeks, and she responded saying the doctor said he doesn't need my assistance any more. Ouch.

Anyways, don't worry about me, I'm not too beat up about it because I thought of leaving for something better for a month or so now, but it's still like a break up. I've spent the last couple days, since I found out, lounging around and doing nothing all day long. I've watched a bunch of movies, played a lot of video games, and just pretended every day was Saturday. I'm looking at it like a post-job grieving period, before I start hunting again and being productive. It's like when you break up with someone, how you are sad or depressed for a little while. But I rediscovered something I learned in the fall: sitting around the apartment all day is fun for a day or two, but then it gets really really boring. I'm already hating it.

I'm gonna set little goals, like going through my Rosetta Stone Espanol and applying to a lot of jobs. Maybe I'll even study for the GRE. Who knows.

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

On Friday, the lovebirds Joey and Morgan came down to SD to visit and spend the day. Morgan had a 4 hour Grad School interview in the morning which gave Joey and I some dude time. We went to the good ol' Oaks North Golf Course to hit some range balls and tried to remember what coach Eric Mild had worked so hard to teach us. We recounted the memories of how we were 'Wild Ones' and mostly dgaffed the whole class. Neither of us had played in awhile so needless to say we were pretty rusty but plenty of good fun was had.

Later we caught up with Morgan, cruised the boardwalk on the beach and got some BJs. The pizza was pretty good too, though Joey ordered a Vegetarian pizza and added chicken to it which seemed kinda counter-intuitive.

Poppin' Tags

Brent, Eshan, Tyler, Kevin and I went rolling to the thrift stores in Woodland yesterday. We spent several hours trying on ridiculous outfits and laughing at some of the items one could purchase (like a sweatshirt with a slogan about cat hair on it, or some gay cowboy boots, that happened to fit me perfectly). Well, after a while we all had our outfits: Eshan bought a huge fur coat that made him look like a pimp, Brent got some army-type jacket, tie and shirt, Tyler got a Hawaiian shirt, Winnie the Pooh tie and grey blazer, Kevin got a grey blazer and a hideous porn star t-shirt and metal chain, and I got some brown corduroy pants and a tight blue blouse. Together, we looked like a splendid group.

We played some drinking games at Eshan's, which included some Mario Kart N64, then rolled downtown via the train tracks. We argued about who could run the fastest in a race, then went into Our House bar. The song "Thrift Shop" came on and we danced like crazy, and spent most of the night wandering around the bar, talking to people and dancing. Around 1AM, Brent, Kevin and I went to the giraffe statue outside of the hotel on G street and each took a turn boosting each other up to ride it. We got photos to prove it, and it was awesome. All around, it was a great day.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Crack Kills

For whatever reason I have my particular ways when the national anthem is sung. First off, gentlemen just take off your hats, it's not that hard. I don't know why this bothers me cause I'm not some super patriot or anything it just does cause 'murica! Anyways, what really bothers me is the actual singing. I know you're probably pretty good at singing since your were chosen to sing in front of thousands and everything but I don't think this is your time to show off. Just sing it.

I'll never make fun of someone for their singing abilities because it takes major cahones to sing in front of people and I'm not much of a singer myself, but at the Aztec game I finally got to see someone get just what they deserve. It started off as many others, building way too slowly with every high note drawn out and vibratoed to the max. There were more ups and downs in her voice than the hills of Tennessee. I always imagined what it would be like for the singer to forget the words but this was pretty good instead. As she was holding one of the notes, she had a huge voice crack! I couldn't help but giggle and notice that she sang the rest of the song with less emphasis on the high notes.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Just Ice Cream With the Guys

I went to ice cream with 3 dudes last night. Sounds fun right? haha. Kevin Nunes, Luke Nio, Dan the Man and I all got some late night dollar scoop at Sugar Daddies. Then we went back to Kev's place and watched some terrible-but-good show called "Shameless." It's one of those shows that is so bad that you can't look away. (I mean 'bad' as far as the characters' situations, the quality is actually quite good and it's funny). For example, this episode featured a side story where the dead-beat, alcoholic father, played by William H. Macy, spent most of the episode trying to dig up the body of his sister, whom he buried in the front yard 14 years ago when she died so he could still collect her social security checks. Only problem: he couldn't remember where he buried her, and some workers were coming the next day to re-do the sewage line (so they would find her body if he doesn't, and he'd be in prison for sure).

After that, we played Civil War, the beverage game, and I straight up KILLED it! I'm talking laser beam, making almost every cup kinda night. I won 6 games in a row (with rotating teammates) before I finally was ganged up on and defeated.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Buckhorny

For Valentine's day, Krista and I went to a place in Winters called the Buckhorn Grill. Now, I don't know about you, but I was super surprised that there are nice places in Winters. As a matter of fact, the entire 'downtown Winters' area is very old western and puts off a cool vibe.

The great thing about the Buckhorn Grill is that it's a steakhouse, but there is only one drawback: it is expensive! I'm talking $30 for a steak dinner expensive. But, since it was Valentine's day, I didn't mind spending a little extra cashola for the occasion.  Their menu had a couple interesting items on it, most notably: ELK! That's right, you could order an elk steak for dinner. I was tempted, but then I got all self-righteous and didn't want to perpetuate the killing of elk. Go me.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

Fun in the Sun

It's only February but the weather this entire week has been perfect! I went to the beach with Mercy and Hannah (Mercy's sister) who were in town with their family. The only complaint I had is that the water was freezing. I know, we San Diegans are spoiled and it's a shame we can't have 70 degree water all year long. We (and about 8 other of Hannah's friends) played a few games of beach volleyball, something that none of us were particularly good at but we still had a good time. Later Mercy's family treated us all to dinner and brownies with ice cream. It was a good end to a good day.

I finally got my bike all fixed up again and working pretty well. The brakes tightened, chain greased, and seat and handlebars adjusted. I hate to get poetic but there's always something so calming or euphoric about biking at high speed with no particular destination. That is until you have to ride back, facing the wind this time and you begin to realize how out of shape you are.


Monday, February 11, 2013

Literal Drive-Thru

I was at the drive-thru of McDonald's today when the most miraculous, and literal thing happened. I ordered, and rolled to the first window. I payed, and as I rolled forward to the second window, the McDonald's worker stuck his arm out the window, holding my bag of food. No joke, I never stopped the car as I grabbed my food from his hand and drove away to enjoy it. It was magical.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Perfect Timing

I went out to the bars with some friends last night after a delicious potluck at Eshan's place. We hit a few different places and ended up at the bar "Our House" (which is a terrible name for a bar, but that's for another post).
Anyways, it got to be 1:00am and I was tired so I decided to walk home. I live only a few blocks away,  so it shoulda been no trouble at all. The one obstacle to cross was the train tracks and when I approached, I noticed a train was stopped on the tracks and the railroad alarm was ringing. After a couple minutes it started moving again, but was going so slow I feel like a snail could have beaten it in a race. After a couple minutes more, the train STOPPED AGAIN! This time it was stopped for 6 minutes or so, maybe more. All the while I, and a bunch of other bikers and cars, waited to cross. I seriously contemplated hopping over the train but decided not to.

So I waited. Once the train finally began screeching along, it went on forever! Seriously, there had to be a hundred cars or so because it was chugging along for at least ten minutes. After forever of waiting in the cold, the gates finally opened and floods of people and vehicles were able to cross the tracks. It was almost 1:30 am at this point. Good thing I left the bar early... not!

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Kurt and Kyle and Broken Streaks

I had a dream last night that I was hanging out with Kurt Cobain, and I was playing guitar and he was singing along with me. Then, we decided to go to In-N-Out to meet up with the rest of my family. Naturally, it was just a short walk down the hill from the strange wooden room we were in. As we strolled through the parking lot about to enter, I saw my friends Ian and Alex getting out of Ian's yellow truck. I'm not sure if I was about to say hi or not, but then I woke up. I was so bummed, partially because I've really been craving In-N-Out lately, but mostly, I was hanging out with Kurt Cobain! I think I was just about to ask him why he killed himself, or if he regretted it, which would have been interesting to hear the answer, even in a dream.

Anyways, it made it worth it that when Krista's alarm woke me up at 8am, it woke up Tyler, who needs to be at work at 8am. FINALLY a night of partying and minimal sleep caught up with him and he overslept. (He woke up saying "Everything I own died last night" in reference to his phone and laptop haha). He didn't get in trouble or anything, but it was kind of amazing he had never overslept before, considering how crazy our Thursdays usually are. The streak was broken.

Later at night Brent and I played Nazi Zombies, and made it to level 30, even though he exchanged the Zeus Cannon for some crappy gun (on accident) in level 20 or something. Smooth move, sailor.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Come On, Man! You're Holding Up Traffic

Krista and I went on a semi-late night excursion to get some dolla dolla scoop yall at Baskin Robbins ($1 scoop night, well, technically it's $1.50 scoop night if you want a regular scoop instead of a kids scoop). Anyways, we are driving through the maze of stop signs in downtown Davis when we arrive at the final intersection standing between us and ice cream. Suddenly, it all goes wrong.
I'm going to try to describe this so it makes sense.

We wanted to make a left onto E street, and arrived at the stop sign with a car to the left of us as well as a truck facing us. It was the car to our left's turn to go, but they could not, since an Asian man in a poofy green jacket was crossing the street. Conveniently, he also blocked the way for my car, so, naturally, the big truck facing me went first. Then the car to my left made his turn. Finally it was my turn to turn.
 It was just then I noticed the Asian man in the poofy green jacket waiting on the corner of the crosswalk, as if he wanted to cross the street in front of me. Right when I started to go, he began walking in front of my car; and we did the awkward little "Are you going? No I'm going. No, wait, you go" thing and I let him go in front of me, across the crosswalk and away from the general direction of Baskin Robbins (that is important later).

After that silly little ordeal I turned, went into the parking lot, and parked in front of Baskin Robbins. It literally took me one minute after my encounter with the Asian man in the poofy green jacket to get inside the store.
Krista and I ordered our ice cream; I got Gold Medal Ribbon, of course. At the cash register I turned to see who was about to enter the store, and guess who it was: ASIAN MAN IN THE POOFY GREEN JACKET! How did he know we were going there?!? He was traveling the opposite way of Baskin Robbins and yet, there he was. Maybe he needed to stop by the bank first to get some cash for dollar scoop night? Maybe. Personally, I think he used some secret mind power to read our minds and follow us to get ice cream. What. A. Weirdo.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Snowbizzlin'

So I went snowboarding for the first time yesterday. Tyler, Kevin, Sami, Mercy and I piled into a Jetta and cruised up to Sierra in Tahoe for the day. First off, we did a remarkable job of packing the Jetta, which did not have a rack. We were able to COMFORTABLY fit 5 people, 4 snowboards, 4 pairs of boots, one pair of skis, 2 poles, and assorted backpacks and smaller travel gear into a normal sized Jetta, without threatening our lives. Let's just say that Keith would be proud of us.

We made it up there pretty easily; we left a little after 6am and first stopped at a McDonald's, which forgot Tyler's hash browns. He was bitter about it for a while. Well we got up there and got our gear together (I had to rent snowboard boots) and then we hit the slopes. We rode the bunny slope once before my friends took me to a run with a sign saying "This Is NOT a Beginner Run." I protested, saying I was not ready, but they insisted I go. So, I tried my best to keep up.

According to all of them, I did an amazing job throughout the day considering it was my first time snowboarding. I was able to make it down the challenging runs in a reasonable amount of time, and they didn't have to wait for me too long. But I did fall pretty hard a number of times, and I didn't really carve down the mountain like you are supposed to. Instead, I weaved my way down, staying heel side most of the time. Occasionally when it wasn't so steep I would try to carve and go toe side, but most of the time I would fall, hard. I kept hitting the right side of my body and it was lucky I was wearing a helmet.

During one run I rode down the slope on my stomach with my legs in the air; that might've been the most fun part of the day because I knew I couldn't get hurt falling. Don't get me wrong, I did have fun, but since I already know how to ski (and I am pretty good at it) it was frustrating to be so slow on a snowboard. By the end of the day I was carving pretty well and getting the hang of it, but I was still terrified of falling again because it hurt worse and worse each time. I did pull my hip flexor pretty badly, and today I am so sore everywhere that I can hardly move. But it was a good time.

Afterwards we went into South Lake Tahoe, saw a beautiful sunset, ate at a sushi place (I didn't order), got a happy ending, and had a lot of delirious fun on the car ride back. Oh and we almost hit a coyote on the road. I nommed some In N Out then passed out watching Hitch. Exhausting day, but lots of fun.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Drivers Suck

It baffles me how bad some drivers are. Well I know there are plenty of bad drivers out there but maybe it shocks me how oblivious some people are. Yesterday as I was leaving my house and approaching the 4-way stop sign, I noticed a lady just stopped in the middle of the intersection exactly half-way across. Dead stopped. She was looking down at her phone intently and didn't notice the growing line of four other people waiting behind her. She didn't have any hazard lights on and wasn't trying to wave the others to go around her like she was stuck or in trouble; she just sat there. Fortunately I was going the other direction so I just made a right turn around her. As I passed the drivers in the line forming behind her, I saw plenty of more angry and baffled faces. I'm just glad I didn't have to wait any longer than I had to.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Get Excited

I should post about something involving words and some intricate story, but I won't. Rather, I would like to announce to the world that, firstly, I'M GOING TO SEE JERRY SEINFELD IN REDDING IN MARCH WITH BRENT!!! and, secondly, I have created a YouTube account where I will be posting funny videos from our past. Enjoy the first one here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLgcps8nveg&feature=youtu.be