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

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

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

Beyond saving

She kind of looks like one of my coworkers...

Dream.  I am standing in front of the biggest church I have ever seen in my life.  The steps up to the front entrance would be equivalent to more than three flights of stairs.  I am surrounded by hundreds of church-goers and everyone is slowly trickling into the church.  Chad, Andy, and I are still standing at the bottom of the steps when Jon comes walking over and says: 

"Are you going in?"

"Yeah I think so."

"You're going to love it.  There's hella hot girls in there.  Church girls are the hottest."

He starts walking in.  We stand around a little longer and Chad and Andy are trying to convince me to go in and check it out.  I am not a religious man in any sense, but I finally give in and we start walking up the stairs.  As we're walking up the hundreds of steps, an old lady who looked like a real life version of the sorceress from Beauty and the Beast start mumbling something.

As we walked by, she pointed her finger at me and said "Not all souls can be saved..."

Ominous...

We go inside and there is a sign in sheet in the lobby.  I ask Chad to sign me in and he picks up a Crayola marker.  As he uncaps it, he realizes that it is not a marker but a stamp.  I have not seen those things in ages!  We sign in and walk through the doors and see that the hundreds of people outside have withered down to about 20 people.  Where did everyone go?!  Sorcery!!! This is why I do not go to church.  They will make you disappear.

While looking for the picture above, I stumbled across this excellent post from another blogger.

http://jacksfilmblog.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

Definitely the funniest thing I have read today.  Just brilliant.  It is a rather quick read if you have the time.  Enjoy.  Cheers.

-Thundalips

Woman of my dreams

Literally. 

Last night I met Taylor Swift.  She was stunning.  I am not exactly sure what happened but someone I know had won a chance to meet Sweezy.  It was a chance for a private concert in their home and she came to Calvin's house.  Her band was setting up in the kitchen and I was playing chess with Chad in the dining room while Anjuli watched TV.  I realized no one else was going to watch the concert besides the three of us so I went into the kitchen and asked her if she just wanted to perform an acoustic set so it would not take so long setting up.  She thought it was a great idea and she came out and sang a song on her guitar.  It was wonderful.

After a few songs, I asked her if she wanted to play some board games.  She asked what we had and I went through the list of board games I have and mentioned Taboo.  As soon as I mentioned it, her eyes lit up and she said, "I LOVE THAT GAME! I'M SO GOOD AT IT!"  She mentioned that she and Adele were "beastly" and undefeated.  I went around the house to look for my people to play and found Andy sleeping.  I tried to wake him up but he did not want to play.  Oh well.

She said she had to leave so I walked her to her car.  Amazingly, no one recognized her as we walked through a crowd of people.  Then, out of no where, some crazy Asian girl screams, "TAYLOR!"  Waves of hysterical fans start running toward her and I try to hold them back.  I had my back turned to the fans and boxed out as many as I could while Taylor got into her car.  Some 13 year old reaches from behind and grabs my neck.  At this point Taylor is already in the car and drives off.  I turn around and slap the girl across the face and walk away.  Bitch.  Trying to grab me...

Not really an exciting dream but it was the first time I met Taylor.

-Thundalips

It's been a long time

I completely forgot Jet Li was in this music video.

Time to play some ketchup.  Let's start off with a couple of dreams I had.  It's been a while since I had these dreams so I may not be able to recapture all the magic.  These descriptions are the best I can come up with from what I've written in my dream notebook.

Dream 1 goes a little something like this:

I start out in some sort of sex dungeon and I have no clue what's going on or where I really am but somehow I know it's a sex dungeon.  James appears out of no where and helps me escape.  As soon as we get outside we split up and agree to meet back at the Academy of Sciences.  As I get to the Academy of Science, the front door is is closed.  Still being pursued by my captors, I run around the building looking for another entrance.  Surprisingly, there was an Office Depot connected to the museum.  I walk in through the exit instead of the entrance to confuse the people chasing me (like it would actually confused  someone...).  When I make my way down the aisles inside the store, I pass by an aisle with medieval armor and weapons.  I grab some stuff and get ready in case it comes down to fisticuffs.  As I walk further into the store, I can see that the rooms are starting to look more like inside castle walls.  It's like a market with a bunch of stuff going on with hay or straw all over the floor.  In one section I see James getting suited up to joust.  He gets on his horse and goes after the other guy but they're both knocked to the ground.  As he gets up, James takes off his helmet and conjures up some sort of spell and shoots lightning at this guy and kills him.  Rainbow comes running from some corner and hugs him.  At that point, I notice Chadwick and Gary are standing next to me and all I said to them was, "They are going to have some ugly babies..."

Dream 2.  GO!

I find myself in some sort of maze.  Not realizing where I am I start to explore the area.  Then I see mice running around me, but these mice are the size of cars!  Confused and scared, I run around looking for somewhere to hide.  I then realize that the mice weren't actually the size of cars.  It was actually me who had shrank down to the size of an army man.  I start to feel more at ease and walk outside of the hole we were in.  As I walk outside, a lady, who is normal sized, bends down and tells me she can make me big again if I help her trap the mice and kill them.  Now I'm conflicted.  I know I'm still human but I felt like I had some kind of bond with the mice.  I wanted to be regular sized again so I agree.  She uses some sort of magic and makes me my normal size and I notice I'm actually at my grandma's house.  I never actually help her find the mice, but instead do something worse.  I walk towards the back of the house and my brother Doug tells me to help him bring Tupac (our dog) outside to the yard.  He's clearly upset and I asked why.  He said that our mom told us we couldn't keep the dog anymore and we had to get rid of him.  We brought him outside and put him in a small tub and Doug douses him with bottles of lighter fluid.  Still hoping he wasn't going to do what I thought he was about to do, I take a step back.  Then he pulls a lighter out of his pocket and throws it in the tub and sets our dog on fire.  Tupac sat there in the tub without flinching and just howled as he was on fire.  Instead of burning like any normal animal, Tupac began to melt instead.  One of my uncles who lives next door opened his backyard window and looks at what we're doing and yells "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"  Doug and I panic and run back in the house where my aunt shakes her head at Doug and says, "See.  I told you you couldn't take care of him for more than 6 months..."

Until next time,

The correct name for "pulling-out" is coitus interruptus.  Oh you fancy huh?

-Alex Thunderlips

Let's get musical.

Reading Chad's post about goals made me think a lot about how I've been spending my time lately.  I haven't been able to come up with any new goal that I haven't already failed at multiple times (exercising regularly, cleaning my room, getting my scooter, etc.).  But coming out of the shower just now, I thought of some very compelling lyrics to a song I would like to write.  The only thing is, I don't know how to play a musical instrument.  So, for the next two weeks, I plan to pick up my guitar again and try to write my song.  To make my goal easier and more realistic, I've set the bar at 15 minutes of practice everyday.  Yes, I know.  This will probably end up on my list of failed accomplishments but it's nice to dream. 

I do my best thinking in the shower.  It's the only place I can go and really just forget about everything else.  That, and just sitting in my room singing loudly to throwbacks like this:



This song is somewhere on my "Top 5 Rock Songs of All time" along with:



Have fun rocking out to some of my favorite jams of all time.

Until next time,

A fetus that is four months old will become startled and turn away if a light is flashed on a mother's stomach. 

-Alex Thunderlips

Poetic Justice

On Monday my family and I went to a lunch buffet in Daly City called Kome.  My uncle suggested it because it was a new restaurant.  He had already eaten there a few times and said the food was really good.  Since I'm almost always up for new eats, I went with my mom, uncle, and aunt.  If you know where Todai used to be in Daly City, that's where it's at.

When we get there, we see the line is ridiculously long.  The restaurant opens at 11 and we arrive there at 10:45.  The entire lobby is wall to wall of people trying to get a table.  Meanwhile, my uncle arrives and tells us there's no wait.  So we follow him and the four of us walk all the way to the back of the room and sit down at a table.  Apparently my uncle knows the owner.

I have never seen so many Asians in my entire life.  Chinese people have a tendency to try new Chinese restaurants in bunches.  I thought the line to get a table ridiculous.  Little did I know, the line for food was worse.  The restaurant has the exact layout of what used to be Todai.  There is a separate island for sushi and salad, an island (more like a row) for hot foods, a noodle station, and a dessert section.  Since I had sushi on Sunday night, I opted for hot food.  I lined up all the way in the back of the line which moved as fast as molasses.

It took more than 20 minutes for me to reach the plates.  All the while, I was harassed by a toddler standing behind me with an empty plate he grabbed from another section.  This fat Asian boy had no sense of personal space and kept bumping into my behind.   As you may know, my rather large posterior isn't exactly impossible to avoid, but this kid had every intention of ignoring my personal bubble.  He bumped me at least 20 times while I was waiting in line for food and each time he did I turned around to stare him down.  After about ten times, the kid's father finally tells him not to stand so close.  Finally.  Some relief.  That's what I thought at least.  Next thing you know, the kid lifts his plate, digging into the bottom of my ass.  He literally put my ass on his plate.  At that point I'd had enough.  I waited and baited him.  Slowly the line moved and I stood still hoping he'd get closer.  Then,                      (for dramatic effect)             I totally let one rip in his face.  He was at the perfect height to eat every fecal particle I had to offer.  Victory is sweet.

Enough with the story.  Onward of the review.  The food was actually pretty tasty for a buffet.  I would definitely recommend it even though Yelp users gave it low scores.  Considering lunch buffet is 10.95, it is definitely worth a shot.  My uncle tells me that a few of the chefs were actually from Koi Palace so you know at least some of the food is made by professionals.  The Chinese BBQ and dim sum section is definitely the highlight of the buffet.

As we left the restaurant, we all got a peek of the line.  The line at this point (1PM) stretched past the next two or three store fronts.  My uncle told me that the owner of Kome got many complaints from the neighboring restaurants about its patrons blocking the entrances to their shops.  Most of the reviews you'll see on Yelp complain about the wait but if you have the inside track or don't mind going early this is definitely a place to check out at least once.  [End review]

Last night I had a very strange dream.  Chadwick, Andy, Gary, Anjuli, Kevin, a few other friends and I were sitting in a circle somewhere outside.  For some reason in this dream, Chadwick had a baby (his) in his lap and was bouncing him up and down.  Chad turned to me and asked me if I could hold the baby while he grabbed something from a bag.  I take the baby and hold him so he's facing outward.  With one hand under the baby's bottom and the other across his body, I wait for Chadwick to grab whatever he needed.  I look at the baby's face and I know what's coming next.  Doo doo butter.  I yell at Chad and tell him to take the baby before he defecates on me, but everyone just watches as the baby craps all over my hand.  Everyone there starts laughing at me which upsets me.  I look at Chad and he's laughing so hard he's on the floor.  With the crap in my hand I chuck it at him and hit him square in the chest.  Everyone continues laughing and Chad throws it at someone else.  Next thing I know, everyone is throwing doo doo at everyone and I'm carrying the baby under one arm and diving out of the way while throwing doo doo bombs at people.  [End dream]

Poetic justice...

Until next time,

Keep the doo doo to yourself.

-Alex Thunderlips

POWER METAL!

Craving power metal lately.

Crazy dream last night.  I had to write down everything I could remember before I forgot.

It started with Andy, Gary, Chad and me at a ghetto high school.  We were surrounded by hundreds of black people and the four of us were preparing for a rap battle.  We all had our notebooks out with our scribbled rhymes deciding who would go first.  Then our names were called and we walked toward the stage.  I dropped my notebook and when I looked up the three of them were gone.  Out of nowhere, four white guys (wiggas) jumped me from behind and the smallest guy gave me an atomic wedgie.  At that point I'm not feeling the rap competition so I walk away.  All the black people I walk past are asking me where I was going and how they wanted to see me perform.  Apparently, in my dreams, I'm a very good rapper.

I left the high school and got into a car where I met up with my black girlfriend (why are there so many black people in my dream?).  I told her about the atomic wedgie and decided that I wanted to get even.  We knew where the wiggas were going so we drove to a parking garage where they were going to wait them out.  At that point, we find the perfect vantage point to watch the entrance of the garage.  The plan was to seal them inside and fight them.  Then, my dream girlfriend hands me a box of C4 rigged together as a car bomb.  I said that was too drastic and I just wanted to get even.

We wait for a bit and Andy, Gary, and Chad meet up with us.  As I step out of the car to approach them, the four wiggas turn the corner and are right in front of me.  I immediately throw the small one through the window of the house we're standing next to and the other three guys run.  The small wigga is stunned after I had thrown him through the window.  I grab a wooden chair and smash it over his head.  Out cold.  Awesome.

As I walk away, someone suggests going to Henry's house to play Call of Duty.  I agree and we start to drive over there.  When we get there, I look at the TV and it has the most absurd dimensions I've ever seen.  It was ridiculously long horizontally but very short in terms of height.  It was so distorted I had trouble seeing all four players on the screen.  Oh yea, and for some reason Virginia was already at Henry's house when we got there.  [End dream]

Until next time,

Gotta love the blacks...

-Alex Thunderlips

A little bit of everything at once.

Rappers and singers with accents are awesome.  For a long time I didn't understand how an accent could make a woman hot, but in the past few years it's been growing on me.   I guess when I would think of a hot girl it would be more superficial.  Now, I notice more things beyond physical appearances that are very attractive.  Accents is one of them. 

It's been a hectic week or so which means no blogging.  To catch you up on my life, my post will be a significantly long one to try and cover all bases.  It will not be told in chronological order, but in the order that the events come to me as I am typing.  And the story begins with a dream.

Two nights ago, I had another bizarre dream.  In this particular dream, Andy, Chadwick, and I were all sitting down having a nice afternoon meal at some Chinese restaurant.  Out of the blue, some Arab guy, about our age, ran in the restaurant and told us that the Arabian mob was following him.  He asked if he could sit with us because he was scared of the people after him.  So being the good people that we are, we told him he could sit with us.  Then, a whole mess of people came spilling in the doorway looking for this guy.  Sure enough, it was the mob the guy was talking about.  They didn't see him right away so they sat down at a table and began scoping the place out.  All of a sudden one of the guys recognizes the guy at points at our table.  Without even getting up, they all pull out their pistols and uzis and start spraying in our direction.  I duck out of the way but Andy, Chad, and the Arab guy just sit there - backs straight, chin up, without flinching.  Bullets are flying and hitting them in the face and chest but bouncing off.  The three of them just look at the mob and shrug it off.  I ask, "What the hell just happened?"  Then I look over and see Brian in the corner of the restaurant and he says "How did you do that?!"  Andy and Chad explained that they had used an anti-bullet spray on themselves which makes them immune to all gunfire.  Brian looks over at me and I'm still ducking.  He asks me "Did you use it too?"  I give him the eye and reply "If I had used it would I be ducking?!  Of course I didn't use it!"  He stares back at me and says "I don't believe you."  Then he pulls out his own pistol and shoots me in the chest.  What...the...hell...  I look down and I'm bleeding and I can feel the bullet lodged in my lungs.  I start to panic and experience a shortness of breath.  Then I woke up.  I can't believe Brian didn't believe me.  He dream-murdered me.

The evening before that, Andy, Chadwick, Gary and I went to Poleng Lounge for Kate and Annie's birthday.  I pass by it every day on the 5 on my way to work but I never really noticed it.  It was dead and we ended up just sitting down and chatting.  It wasn't that bad except for the part where I got tricked into donating money to hurricane victims.  Now, I'm a victim too.  Had a couple of beers there and then took off to meet one of Andy's friends at Ambassador.  It was my first time there but it seemed like an okay spot.  Not too bad.  Just hung out with the boys for a while and challenged Gary to a chugging contest.  The first one was too close to call but the second round I beat him by about a half of a second.  It was pretty intense.  I knew I had the second round even though Chadwick had his money on Gary.  The official record is 1-1-1 and Gary said every time we go to a pub we should continue the tradition.  Sounds like fun.  Then we went to some pizza place across the street and it was delicious.  Greasy food after alcohol always tastes good.  Gary let me have a few bites of his slice since I didn't want to eat a whole one.  Still watching my weight.  And it's working. 

Been spending most of my time this week applying to two programs for graduate school.  Unfortunately, I think it may have been a complete waste of time.  The deadline is December 1 and I have not received any of the three letters or recommendations that I asked for.  But, I realized yesterday, that this may in fact work out in my favor.  The program I am applying to begins in Fall 2010, but the program also has a second session beginning in Spring.  If I change my application for the Spring semester, it will give me more time to complete my 18 month contract at Wells Fargo.  I guess there's always an upside.  I can't believe I'm becoming a glass-half-full kind of guy.  The program that I really want to be in has an April deadline so there's plenty of time for that one.  Probably will have a sit down meeting with the program director in the next month or so.  She seems really nice.

About this gun law situation.  Apparently it is legal to carry a gun as long as it's holstered, unloaded, and not concealed.  If I had known that earlier, I would have carried a gun everywhere.  I'm preferable to the p228.  Nice and compact.  It really only takes one bullet to kill someone if you know what you're doing, so I don't need a giant magnum or anything silly like that.  A simple p228 will do the job.  If I don't kill them with the first shot, I'll at least have immobilized the person.  Time to exercise my rights granted to me by the second amendment. 

Something has been bothering me for the last half year or so.  Ever since Chadwick's brother started playing Magic (the Gathering of course), I got sucked back into it.  I really don't mind except for the fact that I have no one to play with other than him.  Also, it sucks that sometimes it's all I think about.  I know this makes me sound like a loser but I don't care.  Sometimes all I do is think about how much better I could make my deck if I had certain cards.  I've actually gone out of my way to ask people I know who used to play to see if they had these cards.  It's just annoying knowing that my deck has not met its full potential.  But it's also satisfying to know that it beats Wilton's decks more than 50% of the time.  And it's even more satisfying knowing that he gets angry when he loses.  I love winning... I doesn't matter if I win against a four year old or a 90 year old.  Winning is winning.  FnF reference.  I need some howling mines.  When I get really desperate to play, I'll just walk down to the comic store.  There's always nerds there.  I have to buff up my deck first though so I don't get embarrassed.  I sometimes think about how awesome it would be to walk into the comic book store as an unknown and challenge everyone there.  They'd have no idea what my deck is capable of.  Yes. I am a loser.

Last night I finally got a chance to listen to the Howard Stern rant about religion and Kirk Cameron's ridiculous arguments for public schools to not just include intelligent design, but make it the main topic of science classes.  I don't like to use profanity in my blog but what a fucking tool.  Howard Stern made a lot of great points about religion and argued that evolution is the only thing that should be taught in public schools.  Agree 100%.  Kirk Cameron is such a douche.  These are the people that are so completely ignorant they just make me want to punch their babies.  Listen to this if you have time.  Part 1 of 2, totaling about 18 minutes. 



Black Friday is coming up.  I'm scheduled to work but if there are deals that I have to line up for then I might have to call it a half day.  I worked a half day on Thursday and my boss let me count it as a full day.  That's four hours of work for free.  I hope she'll let me keep the eight hours on record if I take a half day on Friday too.  This year, I'm looking for a new TV for my room.  Looking for at least a 46", 1080p, 120Hz LCD.  Brand isn't so important but I definitely would prefer a Samsung, Sony, Sharp, or maybe a Vizio.  Other than the TV, there's not much to line up for.  Also on my list for "wants" but not necessarily something I'd skip work for is a flash drive, a microsd card, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia DVD seasons 3-4 + A Very Sunny Christmas, Monk (the seasons I don't have but I'm not sure which ones they are), Fearless Platinum edition, some board games, a new laptop, and maybe some other stuff, but those are the things I can name off the top of my head.  This is, of course, assuming there are amazing deals.  I have a price in mind for all of those items.  We'll see how it is when I get all the ads. I'd also like my own PS3.  There's no point of buying a blu-ray player when you can buy a PS3.  I figure when I move out I'll want my own anyways so if it's cheap, I'll probably end up buying one.  I know I will eventually.

That's all for now.  I'm also trying to think of a more creative sign off.  There needs to be more pizazz to my closing signature.  Time to experiment.

Until next time,

Stay classy San Francisco

-Alex Thunderlips

Good morning. Time to come alive.

Finally got my package after placing my order on 10/16.  The stuff got shipped 10/28 but due to some shipping issues with UPS I didn't get it until last night.  I don't understand how UPS works at all.  They leave a notice saying there was no suite or apartment number listed in the shipping address so they don't know where to deliver it to.  Uhhh...You left the notice at the right place.  So why wouldn't you just drop it off there?  Anyways, got my package from Triumvir.  As hoped, I received a free flannel due to processing and shipping errors (refer to previous post).  Lucky me!  Got my jacket, a free flannel, and a beanie, which I'm giving to Andy.  For some reason, I just do not look right with a hat or cap of any kind.  Tried beanies, caps, and military style caps.  You name it, I've tried it.  Nothing works.  With the exception of the hard hat apparently. 

Someone at work said something to me yesterday which confuses me more than UPS.  Why do people say "It's opposite day" to cover up a mistake?  It doesn't make sense.  If it was in fact opposite day, you would be saying "It's not opposite day."  And when you say that the other person will think that it's not opposite day at all.  So you still look like a douche.  Unless it's planned or known ahead of time, it's impossible to tell people it's opposite day.  It's a paradox.

Yesterday I had an interesting spur of the moment debate with Chadwick via AIM.  He asked me why was English important and we went on for about 45 minutes debating both sides.  I lost track of time and ended up missing my usual lunch time by a half an hour.  I took the side of English not being important.  It was pretty interesting to hear what he had to say.  And then we started talking about RASSLIN'!  It would be a pretty fun match up.  I'm the perfect weight for him to practice on but I'm a lot taller than his cousin.  We'll see.

Today, on my day off, I'm getting back to basics.  Tutoring.  Helping out my younger cousin in chemistry.  Should be fun.  I just hope she's not a super slow learner.  I really do miss school.  I tried putting those lectures in my ipod but they wouldn't play.  So I listened to music again all day yesterday.  Tomorrow I'm taking another day off.  Spending the day in San Jose and watching the Sharks game at night. 

-Alex Thunderlips

Replay the weekend.

Had a fun filled weekend.  Haven't had a weekend like this in a while.  I can't say every moment was great, but collectively, it was a lot better than the past few weekends.  On Friday, celebrated Chris', Brenda's, and Nigel's birthdays at Supperclub.  Then on Saturday, had dinner at Velvet Cantina and went bar hopping afterward in the mission district as a send off for Jenn who's moving to Chicago.  Bunch of people came out and it was pretty nice.  Went to a house party right afterward for a little bit which was pretty fun.  As we were leaving the last bar in the Mission some random white guy said something like "You guys are like locusts", referring to our large group of Asian people.  I think we were in his way or something.  That was kind of a downer.  But right after this other random white guy walked up to us and started talking about how crazy he was and how we'd never known a real crazy person like him.  He was pretty funny. 

Best moments of the weekend:

• Watching people try to work the stripper pole at Supperclub
• Lifting Chadwick while chanting his name
• Seeing people I haven't seen in a while
• Beating Chadwick in basketball
• Getting my diploma in the mail
  

Worst moments of the weekend:

• Getting blocked twice by Chadwick
  

New show to start watching.  Lopez Tonight.  The commercials promoting the show have been running for at least a month.  Until last Friday, I just thought they were moving the George Lopez show to TBS.  It's actually going to be a late night talk show with George Lopez as the host.  Should be pretty funny.  His guests for tomorrow night are Eva Longoria, Ellen, and Kobe Bryant. 

Big ups to Nabby for his 49th career shutout.  Going to a game on Thursday with Cindy and her boyfriend.  They're playing the Dallas Stars.  The last time I saw them play the Stars, we lost 4-1.  Hopefully things will be different.  Tried to get the Sharks family pack this weekend.  Fail.  Sold out within 15 minutes and I couldn't even get to the page.  So much for that...

-Alex Thunderlips

No job. No car. No money.

^^Lily Allen wrote that song about her younger brother thinking he would be flattered.  He was not.  After he heard the song he took her laptop and threw it out the window.  Official video is worth watching if you have time.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRX57zprNdw

Lots of money issues in past weeks.  Mom took $3,360 out of my bank account (I wrote her a check; she didn't steal it).  Bought some clothes from Triumvir.  Flannel and jacket.  I didn't get charged for the flannel even though it was checked out and part of my basket.  Hopefully I get that for free!  It gets shipped on Friday.  Last week I went to a store called Next at SFSC.  When it first opened a few years ago, I bought two pairs of jeans at retail totaling more than $500.  I felt guilty and returned one pair the next day.  But the store policy states returns are only acceptable within 7 days (which it was of course) for store credit only.  That was fine.  But the store had no gift cards.  My credit was written on a receipt.  After years of neglecting my credit I decided to see if I could transfer it to a gift card to make it more official.  The manager there got confused and we talked for about half an hour trying to come up with a solution.  She said she'd ask around to see what she could do and asked me to come in sometime this week.  I went this afternoon and she told me there was nothing she could do so I'm out $182.  She did however offer me discounts on any future purchase.  I just have to look for her.  I'm assuming it's her employee discount which I also assume is at least 40% since most of these high end stores offer fat discounts to employees so they can flaunt their clothing.  On a lighter note, when I went into the store a very cute looking black girl complimented me on my jeans.  She thought there were Levi's and we chatted it up for a bit until the manager was available.  It's nice to get compliments from strangers.

Yesterday, I had an epiphany.  I need to start wearing jeans that fit, or I need to lose weight.  When I got home yesterday and took off my jeans, I realized my jeans were so tight at the hips that I actually got a bruise.  It's kind of embarrassing.  But, I can't help it if tight jeans look so good.  I guess that pair is no good anymore...  Damn you calories!!!  Exercise, I will see you soon.  Chadwick let me know when you're ready to play some basketball.

Taylor Swift is coming to San Jose!  Mark your calendars for April 11, 2009.  I hope she gives me a birthday shout out.

Sharks vs. Tampa Bay Lightning tomorrow.  I predict a 3-2 or 3-1 victory.

-Alex Thunderlips

Xxzxcuzx Me

^^The first verse is one of the sickest verses ever written in the history of rap.  Slide show is stupid but there's no music video for it.  Crystal castles is the shit.  Demonoid is still down so most of the music I'll be posting is old stuff since I have nothing new to share. 

Big day tomorrow.  Lunch with My and Ya and Sai Jai Thai.  I know it has a funny name but it... is... delicious.  Hands down, best fried rice I've ever eaten in my entire life.  Haven't been there for 2 or 3 years but I remember it being super delicious.  Then dinner with V at a restaurant of my choice.  Where to go?  Golden arch?  Nah...too classy for her.  Probably slum it up at BK.

For the past week or so, every time Halloween is mentioned I have to remind myself that it's still 12 days away.  I think because we all dressed up for Chad's birthday it feels like Halloween has already passed. 

Sharks beat the Rangers and end their 7 game win streak.  Sharks scored most goals in a game of the season ending it at 7-3 after trailing 0-2.  Eight days left until NBA season begins.  I need an HD TV in my room.  Been looking for one at least 46".  That should be big enough.

-Alex Thunderlips

Dragula's simple song.

Very interesting day.  Obama is in town and the building where I work was closed off (5th st.).  No one could come in and no one could go out.  Had to wait about 15 min before I could leave the building.  My aunt who normally drives me home couldn't get her car out of the garage because they were blocking traffic so I took the bus home.

During work, about half of my coworkers went out to the lobby or the 5th floor to try and see if they could spot Obama.  One of my coworkers, Gary, came back and said he saw him but could have been joking.  Manny came in a few minutes after and mentioned something about Obama and Gary shouted out "Did you see him?! OBAMA!".  Manny made the most ridiculous sad face and said "...nobama...".  Definitely the funniest thing I heard today.  I wish I could have seen him.  Would've been something cool to say I've done... 

Spent some time yesterday finding a way to get my hands on a radio so I could listen to the Sharks game today.  Asked around and Chadwick had a radio he was willing to let me borrow.  My mom also had one but it was not digital.  It's embarrassing enough to be using a walkman, but using one with a dial makes me look way behind the times.  Unfortunately, Chadman dropped it off at Andy's and I couldn't pick it up until this morning.  Woke up Andy at 8:20 to pick it up.  Turns out that it was pointless since the lab didn't have reception.  Couldn't pick up a damn thing.  Then I spent the first 30-45 minutes at work trying to find a work around to listen to the game.  Lucky for me, there is a way and it goes as follows: Log off default lab account on lab computer, log back into the computer using personal account, remote desktop to personal workstation PC, stream live radio off the site.  I guess I'll be doing this until our office moves.  The game was so exciting and had so much energy.  Listened to the first two periods and the third in the lobby while waiting for the cops to let us out of the building.  By the way, Sharks lost.

Talking to Anjuli makes me want to watch 24 again.  Do I have the time?  Not this week... Maybe after Monday.

-Alex Thunderlips

Hello Seattle. Hello weekend.

Been a slow week.   Should pick up tomorrow.  Birthday party and dinner planned.  So unusual for me to have plans...

Still have no idea what pirate ware I'll be covered in.  Hopefully I can figure something out by noon.  So much errands to take care of. <<

-Alex Thunderlips...aboard about above across after against along amid among anti around as at before behind below beneath beside besides between beyond but by concerning considering despite down during except excepting excluding following for from in inside into like minus near of off on onto opposite outside over past per plus regarding round save since than through to toward towards under underneath unlike until up upon versu via with within without.