I miss sports...

That is all...

What the hell?! It's July!

Been a while since I blogged.  No specific reason why I have not been posting.  This one will be short as well.

What's new with me?  Nothing much.  Moved into an apartment with Andy and it has been pretty awesome. Living room is almost completely furnished.  But, my room is no where near complete.  Right now all I have is my $4,000 mattress (C'MON!) and a dresser.  Still need a desk and some nightstands.  Then I can move my lamps and desktop and such.  Franklin will be joining us shortly as well.

Andy and I started watching Breaking Bad this weekend, and I must say I am quite disappointed.  Based on the rave reviews of my friends, I had expected more.  Not that the show is bad, but I just don't think it is as good as The Walking Dead, 24, etc.  We're already through a few episodes of season two, and I feel like I should be hooked by now.

Anyways, not much else going on...

-Thundalips

Worst dream evar?

Recently a few of us started playing Magic: The Gathering again.  It has gotten to a point where we are spending a fair amount of money on a regular basis to buy new cards and spending even more time talking about new cards or new decks (and playing the actual game of course).  I have a deck that I have been using for about 15 years now.  I am constantly tweaking it and making it more versatile and competitive, and I consider it my main and "best" deck.  For a amateur player, I would say it is pretty well built and fares quite well in almost all situations. Two times already, another player was so frustrated with my deck that they chose to construct a new deck to deal with mine.  As you can tell by the way I talk about this deck, I am very fond of it.  This is where my nightmare begins.

I walk into a tapioca store with my usual set of friends who play MtG.  We find a table upstairs to set up and we begin to lay out all of our cards and supplies on the table.  As I look through my boxes of cards, I cannot seem to find my deck!  What is this?! Where is it?! I begin to panic and ask Brian if I had left it at his house.  Nope.

I scour through my boxes of cards and nothing...  The box that I usually keep my deck actually contained a deck that I had constructed years ago without the intention of ever playing it because it was so bad.  /sad face. I am inconsolable.

My aunt (Calvin's mom) asks me to walk back downstairs and get her milk tea.  She hands me a $100 bill.  Puzzled, I ask, "How many do you want?"  She replies, "Fifty-two.  One for every week for the next year."  I think to myself, "They're definitely going to go bad before she can finish them..."  Being the good nephew I am, I do not question her and put in her order.  I am denied immediately as they do not have the ingredients for such an order.

Then an acquaintance from high school taps me on the shoulder and asks if I can give her a ride downtown.   WHAT THE HELL!? I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN YEARS AND YOU ASK ME FOR A FAVOR?!  I say no.

End dream sequence.

I feel silly calling this dream a nightmare but it really was.  It is a bit embarrassing to tell but I have no shame (sort of).

-Thundalips

My mother is a boss

Last week my cousin Jennifer came over to discuss seating for her wedding next weekend.  I sat down at the table with my family for dinner, something I never do unless we have company.  After the seating arrangements were settled, we began chatting about random things and eventually got to the topic of pregnancy.  Then, we all started asking my mother about her pregnancies, and that is when I found out how much of a boss my mom is.

It was nearing the end of term for my mother's pregnancy when her water broke.  She was pregnant with my sister and was not sure if it actually broke so she called her doctor.  He advised her to come to the hospital as a precaution.  She told him she had an important dinner to go to and could not go to the hospital.  The doctor then said, "Good.  I have a dinner too.  Come in first thing tomorrow morning."

Early the next morning, my mother went to the hospital.  The doctor said her water did in fact break.  She would be going into labor soon and he advised her to get admitted.  She replied, "I can't stay.  I have to go home and cook breakfast for my family and take my husband to work."  So she drives home and does just that.  She cooks breakfast for us and drove my father to work before returning to the hospital.  She drove herself and parked in the hospital parking lot.

My mother gave birth to my sister five hours later without the help of epidural or other drugs.  The next day, a nurse advised my mom to call someone to pick her up to take her home.  She said she had arranged for a pick-up but instead, took my new-born sister home in her own car.  Her excuse?  "I didn't want to leave my car in the parking lot."

Boss.

-Thundalips

Sleepin' at work. What's new?

I was in a meeting today and had no idea what people were talking about.  The topic of the meeting was supposed to be for a project I am on, but I do not understand any of it.  We brought a new person into the project this week - a new hire.  He still didn't have his laptop set up yet so I shared my screen with him at the table.  We were discussing all of the issues another coworker found during his testing on an excel file.

I had no idea what he was rambling about and ended up falling asleep.  But, the thing was that I fell asleep with my hand on the keyboard.  On the left arrow key to be specific.  By the time I woke up, the excel file was on column HV.  Content wise, the document only went up to column G.  It was a very awkward moment when I realized the new guy was just watching me sleep, scrolling through empty cells in the excel file.  If it were any other place, I am sure I would have been laughing out loud at myself.

The funny thing is there were only four of us in the room.  No one said anything.  Oh well.  I guess I will just keep sleeping at work...

-Thundalips

Hey [horrible] Monday

Hello Monday.  How are you?

Oh Anjulie... How can you go from this:



To this...



Sad to see such talent convert to mainstream pressures.  How droll.  How utterly droll...

It has not been a very good couple of weeks.  When I started this post I was not in a very good mood.  But after a lengthy conversation with Anjuli about absolutely nothing, my spirits have been lifted.  I have not laughed this hard from an online conversation in a long time.  It is great to know I still have friends I can count on to cheer me up when need be. 

-Animalpack

Year in review: 2011

This is the obligatory flashback of the previous year and bold predictions of the current year.

2011 was a good year.  All in all I made some terrific friends and had a decent year.  Top highlights include the return of Chadwick Huang (I think that was 2011) and several memorable trips with great company.  There was the infamous pretzel-throwing extravaganza in Reno, Tiesto in Vegas, beach-housin' in Santa Cruz, head-thrashing in EDC, the Seattle adventures, and projectile-vomiting Portland.  I went camping for the second time ever and drove a boat. 

But it was not all peachy.  Some definite lowlights include Anjuli moving away and losing a few friends.  It took some time to adjust to the move, but I am glad she is happy where she is.  As for losing the other friends, it is probably for the best.  Cady said you have to suck all the poison out of your life and I believe it.  Why keep people around who are a cancer to your life and happiness?  Some friendships and relationships are just not worth saving.  Other friendships, like Anjuli, are the ones you wish you had more of...

Looking forward, I am hoping to build on 2011's mild successes.  Although I have already failed to write up my 100 item bucket list in time, I will likely start it this year.  Be on the look out for a new blog for my bucket list. 

Some goals never change but here they are:

1. Finish writing my bucket list and start
2. More ink
3. Vespa
4. Purchase a home and move in
5. Become more independent; be less needy
6. Finish one full cycle of p90x
7. Stay sober for a month

Probably some more but nothing I can think of right now.   I think one of the biggest problems with setting New Year's resolution is not having a specific goal.  I think if I set goals with a definitive endpoint, I will have a higher rate of success.  I guess we will find out in 2013 how I did. 

-Thundalips

Busy little bee

I have been neglecting this blog for a good reason.  I have been busy.  Busy with what you ask?  Looking back, I cannot peg it on one thing since so much has happened.  Here's a recap:

Had a great Movember.  My moustache looked a lot better than I thought it would.  However, I was not able to hit the donation amount I wanted. But, that was only part of the reason for Movember.  Other than raising funds, I definitely hope I raised awareness about men's health (even though some of my own life choices are questionable).

Went back to the pompadour.  So far mostly positive reactions from people.  I think I will stick with this for a while...

I am having difficulty remembering the first three and a half weeks of December other than having a wonderful night out with My and Ya in Oakland.  I introduced Nanette to them and they seemed to get along famously.  They all teased me for not eating the fat from the pork belly and being picky about what I ate.  I did not mind at all because I loved that they were getting along.  We all went to a house party afterwards that was hosted by My and Ya's kickball teammates.  Met a few people and ate some questionable pulled pork tacos.  All in all a good night.

More recently, I spent Christmas weekend in Seattle and Portland.  It was quite the adventure.  The trip to Seattle truly felt like a vacation by myself.  I flew out alone and did  not see Anjuli until later that night.  Even then we only spent a few hours together.  We had a few drinks and called it a night without things getting too out of hand which was perfect for me.

The next day I was wandering downtown Seattle on my own.  I know I can take care of myself and I honestly do not mind being on my own.  It turned out to be much needed alone time.  I walked from 11 A.M. until about 5 P.M. with a 30 to 45 minute lunch break.  By my calculations, that would have been at least 12 miles of walking.  It felt good to exercise again even if it was just walking.

I visited Pike's Place again and got to see every inch of it.  It was nice not having any schedule or people pulling me in different directions.  I got to see Seattle at my own pace and on my own schedule.  I visited a lot of the local shops and ate Beecher's famous Mac and Cheese.  To be fair, I am not a fan of mac and cheese to begin with so this was actually not mind blowing for me.  Just another mediocre mac and cheese.  I barely ate 1/3 of it before throwing the rest away.  There goes five dollars I will never see again...  Oh well.

Next stop was the shops.  Saw a lot of interesting stuff but nothing worth buying.  I tried to look for something for everyone but that did not really work out.  I ended up buying things from a collectible store for a game of white elephant with our group.  Nothing special but it seemed wrong to leave Pike's Place empty handed.  I had fish and chips after shopping.  Again nothing special.  Perhaps my expectations were too high.

I finished with Pike's Place around 1:30 or so and started wandering downtown.  I went back to the army surplus store and had a blast just looking around.  The things they sell always fascinates me.  I saw knives, helmets, clothing, first aid kits, goggles, and even bayonets.  Pretty cool stuff if you ask me.  They also had MRE for sale which I thought was cool.  Of course I walked away empty handed.

I visited a bunch of stores like Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Macy's, Aldo, and some other local shops.  Nothing worth buying.  I finished up shopping around 5 P.M. and decided to sit in the lobby of a mall just to people watch.  I sat there to rest and ended up people watching for almost an hour.

Anjuli ate at home so I walked down the block from my hotel to a nice little restaurant called Lola.  Had the beef shank with a beer.  Best thing I ate in Seattle.  Including the last trip.

The drive to Portland was fine except for this scary bridge we crossed.  Anjuli had trouble seeing the road so she had to use her high beams every few seconds.  When she did the bridge lit up in a way that cannot be described in words.  Definitely the scariest bridge I have ever come across...

In the interest of saving time, Portland was great.  Highlights included great food and drunken times. Oh yea, I got a 16 year old kid drunk to the point of projectile vomiting.  Yep.  Good times indeed...

-Thundalips

Moustache rides and health awareness

It has been 34 days since I last shaved.  Movember was awesome, but in a few hours, it is coming off.  It was definitely fun while it lasted.  Only five more months until the playoff beard is out.

-Thundalips

The rock and the diamond

Monday afternoon walking to lunch:

Doug: Holy crap look at that spider.  It's all white.  Must be an albinyo spider.

That's not a typo...

Last night:

Dad: You don't have class today?  It's Tuesday.
Me: I have classes on Thursdays now... I told you three times already!
Mama: There's not point of telling him.  It's like talking to a rock...
Me (to my mom): Yea... It's just like talking to you too.  Every time I ask what's for dinner you never give me a straight answer.  I guess there's two rocks in this family.
Mama: I'm not a rock! I AM A DIAMOND!

I need to start a Twitter for the crazy stuff my family says.

-Thundalips

America as I see it

You go Carrie!

-Thundalips

Useless survey

Every once in a while I fill one of these out.  It is useless fun.

FIVE things you wish you could say to FIVE different people right now:

1. I think you are a horrible manager and you should stop calling people out during team meetings.  Rude.
2. I wish you would talk to me more often...
3. Can I have a hug?
4. Drew Remenda, will you ask me 20 questions? 
5. Do you know how hard it is not to fall in love with you?

TEN things about yourself

1. Loud
2. Sore loser/winner
3. I will disappoint you
4. Bacon...
5. Narcissist
6. I have more self control than you would think
7. Sleep deprived
8. Attention whore
9. Constantly changing
10. Never satisfied

SEVEN ways to win your heart:

1. Have the voice of an angel
2. Surprise me with useless things
3. Buy me a beer, two bucks a glass
4. Be open minded
5. Be a lady
6. Have fun doing nothing with me
7. Know every line from FnF, True Lies, Friends, Arrested Development, Rush Hour 1 and 2, etc.

SEVEN things that cross your mind a lot:

1. Random violent thoughts e.g. "I wonder how many people I can throw off the Golden Gate Bridge before anyone stops me?"
2. "WHY ME?!"
3. Where did I leave it last...
4. What's for lunch/dinner?
5. Did I flush?
6. Is anyone looking?
7. I could totally pull that off...

FOUR things you do before you fall asleep:

1. Floss and brush my teeth
2. Shower
3. Set alarms at appropriate times
4. Warp myself up in my blanket, cross right leg over my left, and put my hands across my chest like a vampire

FOUR things you see right now:

1. Clorox disinfecting wipes (shut up...)
2. Kleenex
3. Lamp/alarm clock
4. Sharks tickets!

THREE songs that you listen to often (at the moment):

1. Track 4 on the CD from Andy
2. Skrillex - Scary Monsters
3. Avicii - Fade into Darkness (Vocal Club Mix)

TWO things you want to do before you die:

1. Finish my bucket list (it will reach 100 items soon)
2. See above

What are the U.S. states that you have visited?   Nevada, Oregon, New York, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, others?
What countries outside of the United States that you have visited?   None
If you were to form a band, what would you name it?   Mustard Beats
If you were to create a professional sports team, what would you name it?   Stepdads - cause we beat you and you hate us.
What was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon as a child?   Power Rangers count?  If not then probably Batman Beyond or X-Men.
What was your personal favorite doll / action figure as a child?   Any and all of my Spawn action figures
What was the first or earliest movie that you can remember seeing?   Batman
What was the first music album/tape/cd that you ever bought?   N*Sync
What is the one musicial instrument you would like to learn to play?   Piano.  Can not beat the classics...
If you could pick any song as your "theme music" what would it be?   Lost Prophets - Last Train Home
What is the first video game that you ever played?   Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt
What is your all time favorite newspaper comic strip?   Charlie Brown?
Who is your all time favorite comic book character?   Spider-Man
What is the dream car that you wish to own once in your life?   Conquest Knight XV with optional smokescreen
What famous person was your boyhood / girlhood crush?   Tiffani Thiessen.  She still got it.
What is the one band you absolutely love that you wish more people knew?   The Hush Sound
Name one poster or picture that adored your bedroom growing up.   None
What is the one thing guaranteed to make you laugh?   Speed Cooking 2.  Made me laugh so hard the first time I missed more than 20 seconds because my eyes were closed shut from laughing.
What is your all time favorite television commercial?   Trucktober or any of the Jang and Associates commercial
If you could have lived in any era of history, when would it have been?   Any era where I could be dressed in full knight's armor.
What is the one song that ALWAYS can get you out on the dance floor?   Any after a few drinks
Who is your all time favorite sports figure?   Rocky Balboa
Where is the one place you would like to visit once in your life?   Rio de Janeiro for Carnival
In your mind, who is the all time greatest stand up comedian?   Two way tie of Mitch Hedberg and Bill Burr
Do you like horror movies and if yes, what is your favorite?   The genre makes no sense to me
If you were to be reincarnated as an animal, what would you want to be?   Bald eagle.  America.  Fuck yeah
What is your all time favorite music video?   You Belong With Me
What is your all time favorite television series?   Arrested Development
What was the first or earliest Halloween costume you remember wearing?   Dinosaur.  Went twinsies with Doug
What has been your favorite Halloween costume to date?   Greenman
What is the best book that you have ever read?   Detectives in Togas!
What is the one thing that scares you the most?   Silence
What is your favorite beverage of any kind?   Soy milk
What is the one song that "moves your soul to new heights"?   Star Spangled Banner
What is your favorite color?   Red or purple
Who is your all time favorite U.S. president?   Chester A. Arthur
What is your dream job?   Defense with Douglas Murray with San Jose Sharks
If you could date any celebrity for one month, who would it be?   Carrie Underwood (Sweezy would be wifey)
If you could have any superpower, what would it be?   Mind control
What would be the name of your biography if your life story was told?   Louder Than Loud: The Chronicles of an Angry, Misunderstood Chinaman Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson with Special Guests Gordon Ramsay, Gilbert Godfrey, and Tyra Banks

-Thundalists

Lots of scary monsters...

Strings make everything beautiful... These girls have four more videos of Skrillex mash-ups.  Too bad they are Cal students... NO BEARS!

Wish I had time for a longer post... I have a lot to get off of my chest.  For now these mini posts will suffice.  I hope you have been enjoying the videos I have been posting.

-Thundalips

Limp

I went to the doctor's office yesterday for two reason:  I wanted to see if I could get diagnosed with ADHD so I could get some pills and to ask about getting vaccinated for HPV.  I came home and told my mama I went and the conversation went something like this:

Me: So I went to the doctor's today.
Mama: Why?  What do you have?
Me: Doctor-patient confidentiality!
Mama: Can't get an erection?

Ridiculous!  The things my mama says... She threatened me and said she would call and ask the doctor why I went.  If I told her I went to ask about being vaccinated for HPV she would think I am sleeping around.  Knowing her she would probably think it would be with guys too...

-Thundalips

Underwear goes inside the pants

As real as it gets.  Really interesting take on our society.

-Thundalips

French fries

La la la.  What fun looking dance moves...

-Thundalips! DANCE!

Another nightmare

I have had this recurring nightmare for some time now...

I am looking in the mirror and I notice the bottom row of my teeth are really crooked.  After having braces for so many years, I am shocked to see how crooked my teeth have become.

As I look in the mirror, I start to lick the back of my teeth to feel how crooked they are.  Moving from the back teeth to the front, I can feel that one of my front teeth is quite loose.  The pressure from my crooked teeth were impacting one another causing serious problems.

I stick my fingers in my mouth and wiggle to tooth a bit and it just falls right out.  I start to panic and check my teeth again.  More teeth are loose and they start falling out one by one.  I end up pulling most of my teeth before waking up.

This dream is actually very common.  A simple Google search will say that these dreams are often linked to appearances and how others perceive you.  Teeth are also a symbol for power.  But you can read more of that on your own...

-Thundalips

Lucid Dreams with your host: Stevey Harvey

I wake up and see Kevin walking out of the room.  Still groggy, I do not bother to ask where he is off to.  I sit up in bed and look over to the other bed and see a person sleeping.  I look around my room and everything is where it should be.  It feels like every other weekday except that Chad is in my brother's bed.  My mouth starts to feel gummy and I lick the front of my teeth.  What?!  Braces?!  Again?!  I must be dreaming!  At the point Chad is sitting up in my brother's bed as well.  I look at him and our conversation went something like this:

Alex: Dude... I think I'm dreaming
Chad: Why do you think that?
Alex: I have braces...
Chad: Holy shit.  I think you are dreaming.  You haven't had braces in years!
Alex: I know!  I better wake up soon.

Then the dream ended.  I wake up in my room and look around as I did in my dream.  Like before, it felt like any other weekday.  It was still relatively dark out and my room was just as messy as I remembered leaving it.  Enter: Steve Harvey. 

Alex: Steve Harvey?!  What are you doing here?!
Steve: You're dreaming again!
Alex: Again?!
Steve: Here's what you do if you want to figure out if you're dreaming. Next time look at the fan over there (points to a fan), and if you can watch it... Uhh... Move... Like when it turns (makes hand motion of a fan turning)...
Alex: Oscillating?
Steve: Yeah!  Oscillate.  If you see it oscillate, just stare at it and if you can watch it for more than a minute then you're not dreaming!

Then I really woke up and my mom yelled at me to get ready.  That really happened...

-Thundalips

Que?

Love this song... It is a damn shame what those people did to him...  The girl in the video is not all that pretty but I love every outfit she is wearing.

So much for sleeping early...

-Thundasleepy...

Shut up

Mind your own business.  If I want your advice, I will ask for it.  So shut up and keep it to yourself.  You do not know me, and you are definitely not entitled to tell me how to live my life.  You can live your own crappy life and leave everyone else out of it.

-Thundalips