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 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
First things first. The Sharks were eliminated last week in a devastating fashion. Another year, another disappointment. Here are some of the upsides:
"There's always next year..." -Sharks motto
Most of the core players are locked up beyond the next season
No shame in losing to a superior team
Facing adversity will help the team grow - nothing came easy this season
Downside?
No parade
Longer wait for start of next season
Guch up as restricted free agent
More ammo for critics to call them chokers
Since school has ended, things have been fun again. But fun means bad things for my body. I can already see the extra calories from the alcohol affecting my body. And my brain. I feel slower... But at least I am enjoying myself. Need to start exercising a bit more to balance out the heavy drinking. I think I drank almost everyday in the past two weeks. And I have exercised twice. Not good.
A lot of things have happened, but it's past midnight so I will continue this later. I have missed you blog. See you soon.
After having had my car for over two months, I find out that I have had satellite radio all along. I received a letter today from Sirius and Volkswagen thanking me for my business. Included in the letter was a short brochure and a channel guide. I feel robbed... I have been listening to regular radio like a sucker.
As you probably know, the new year is only a few days away. I have been thinking about my goals for 2011 and some New Year's resolution. The first thing I decided to do for 2011 is to work on being less competitive. I realized I needed to work on this after Anjuli told me I had yelled at her while playing Fat Princess. I still feel guilty even though I do not remember doing it. It would be nice to be able to control my emotions better. I think my competitiveness is not necessarily a crutch but I do think it could be maintained better. I do not want to get mad over a video game...
Second thing I would like to work on is my image. By that I mean working on how I present myself on a regular basis, especially when meeting new people. It generally takes me a while to open up to people for reasons I cannot really explain. Hopefully by the end of the year I will be able to be myself all the time without fear of being stigmatized.
Here are some others in brief:
Get better at chess
More ink (possibly in February)
Finally find a hairstyle that suits me
Drop to less than 12% body fat
Learn how to ice skate
Read more books
Earlier this week my sister asked me a very interesting question that I have been thinking about for a few days. If you were to have any song as your entrance music what would it be? As in, every time you walk into a room it would play for everyone to hear. My sister picked Hey, Soul Sister by Train because she said it would be like saying hi to everyone without actually having said it. Of course, I would pick something more dramatic. It has been very difficult coming up with something that epic. Initially I was thinking Thunderstruck but it just does not have the sound I would expect of myself. Think about it. Anjuli do not pick Like a G6.
Since I told myself I would be sleeping early I will stop here. More on life next time!
Until next time,
The San Jose Sharks have been shut out five times this season in 38 games. Before that, the Sharks had only been shut out five times in 270 games. What does that tell you? The Sharks need better goaltending (Nabby) and better defense. Sad..
Right now I'm packing for my first Halloween in Vegas. I know I have been neglecting this blog but I've been busy. Lots of firsts in this month.
First car: 2010 Golf TDI.
First stick shift
First ink
First Sharks home opener game
First time I blogged in the month of October
First time I will be in Vegas for Halloween
First time I will be themed in costume (twice)
First time in Vegas with my cousins
First time I enjoyed watching a game of baseball (not a bandwagon fan. Just a fan of the mental assassin)
October is turning out to be a good month. Let's keep it that way.
Until next time,
The famous “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign was created in 1959
Definitely my favorite song right now. I wake up every weekday hoping to see this video while I get ready for work. Just absolutely delightful.
I watched the VMAs today. After the show, I had no idea what was on so I changed the channel to the TV guide channel. Usually if it's not already scrolling through my favorite channels, I just check the website. They were already in the 100+ channels which I don't have so I moved on to check the website. National Treasure was on USA! Without looking I picked up the remote and hit channel down. I had completely forgotten that I was on the TV guide channel and when I looked up hoping to see Nicolas Cage, I saw two blondes completely naked touching each other in a bubble bath. Free softcore porn! I felt like Joey and Chandler in Friends. It wasn't like regular TV. This was porn porn. I had no idea what was going on and I changed the channel to double check. That's when I realized when I was watching the public access channel. There's no regulations!
If you read the title hoping to see free porn, sorry to disappoint.
So if you don't already know, my graduate studies have begun. Three weeks have passed and I have no idea what I'm doing. The class is moving so fast and I can't seem to keep up with the workload. The lectures and book are very straightforward and easy to understand, but when it comes to doing assignments, I just can't seem to connect the dots. I feel totally lost and my first assignment, a group project, is not going well at all. My team doesn't trust me and gives me little responsibilities. My ideas and suggestions didn't seem welcome or seriously acknowledged. Whatever. Part of being a good manager is putting up with people's shit. I need to learn to adapt.
Been hatching a lot of schemes lately as well. I have some great ideas to change my life forever. I'd like to share them, but I will just let you know as they come. No need to excite you prematurely.
Until next time,
About half of Americans live within 50 miles of their birthplace. C'mon people! It's time to explore the world!
-Alex Thunderlips
P.S. Sharks pre-season starts in less than two weeks. Finally...
Listen to it. Now. It will blow your mind. Turns out the album I downloaded a few weeks ago wasn't the actual album released. About half of the tracks were "fake". Even so, I enjoyed the album very much. After hearing the real version, I'm only more impressed. This is a great album from a very talented artist. Much love for Monae and her awesome afro/pompadour (she calls it "The Monae").
As you may have noticed, I haven't been blogging. Why? Superstition. The Sharks were doing well and I didn't want anything to change. They still lost. My playoff beard is no more and holds a record of 6-5. Next year I'll start it from the get-go. And of course, they'll make it to the playoffs.
Last night I got take out from Americana. I ordered a rib eye steak since they were out of the T-bone and a large pizza cheese steak with fries for lunch today. I brought the sandwich in my usual Tupperware and put it in my usual spot in the refrigerator. Even at 1:30 I wasn't very hungry so I decided to just eat half. I left half of my sandwich and fries in my Tupperware and wrapped it in a plastic bag and put it back in the refrigerator.
When I came back at 5, my Tupperware was missing from the refrigerator. I looked around the area and found it sitting on top of the refrigerator. It was empty. Someone ate my sandwich. Or threw it away. Equally unacceptable. That half sandwich was worth almost $6. That's almost as much as a whole sandwich at most places! I'm going to write a letter to building security about securing my godamn sandwiches. Someone owes me $6 and I'm willing to take them to small claims court. Don't think I won't do it!
My sandwich?! MY SANDWICH?! MY SANDWICH?! I hate work people.
Quick update on everything in my life:
Work has been work. I thought I was going to get fired a few weeks ago since my boss had repeatedly been on me about my effort. She ended up giving me more assignments which, of course, means I can't get fired yet. Good news for me. I need the money. Today I also found out that I have been approved for the use of Microsoft Communicator and Live Meeting. I think with these two programs I'll be able to go on AIM again.
If you haven't heard, the bird is the word. Also, I got into graduate school so hooray for me I guess. Even though I got accepted, I'm not sure this is what I want to do. But, I figure I'll get the degree regardless and see if I can grow into it. Worst case scenario, I graduate (actually not graduating and failing out of the program would be worst case scenario) and work a few years in a manager's position making close to or above $100,000. The degree will pay for itself in a year or two.
Classes meet twice a week and the program was intended for those who are employed full time. This means I'll get to continue to work (if they renew my contract after December) and go to school. But it also means most of my time will be taken up. If they let me go after December, I'm going to take more classes and just enjoy being a student again. Debate club/team, beginning ice hockey classes, and who knows what else. It will be magical. If my contract does get extended, it will be less magical but mo' money.
So, in a nutshell, that's been my life lately. How have you been?
Until next time,
A jiffy is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
While reading the Sunday paper last week, I came across an ad for a local store in San Francisco called Gamescape. This store is said to have one of the most extensive collection of board games available. I'm itching to go check out their store. I <3 board games... It's the nerd in me, which is all of me. To make it even cooler, they team up with this cafe across the street every Wednesday evening to host board game nights. I want to go but I'm not sure if anyone would go with me. I've been asking around and people sound skeptical. Someone go with me! This could be the beginning of finding things to do in San Francisco that does not involve alcohol although it wouldn't be considered nightlife since it runs from 6 to 10. I hope they have pog events.
Friday night I went to the Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium to watch Conan O'Brien in his stand up tour Legally Prohibited From Being Funny On Television Tour. In all honesty, the opening act by Reggie Watts completely put Conan's performance to shame. Don't get me wrong. Conan was good, but Reggie Watts had some gut-busting jokes. A lot of the material that Conan had planned didn't pan out, but he really shined when interacting with the audience and just being himself. Most of the scripted portions were predictable but still funny. Some of the show was meant to be nostalgic with the reintroduction of familiar skits and characters of the Late Night and Tonight show. Overall a good show. 7/10
I'm having doubts about the playoff beard. It's beginning to be a burden. At this point it's very patchy but, at the same time, very long. When I eat, my 'stache is going in my mouth from the sides and into my nose at the top. Not exactly a comfortable situation. Since the Sharks are one break I've been thinking about shaving it and just doing a playoff beard per round and just cycle as the rounds go. Of course there have been objections since it holds a 2-0 record.
Out of material. End.
Until next time,
Frosted Flakes mascot Tony the Tiger has son named Tony Jr., a daughter named Antoinette, and a wife that were used in early advertising commercials.
I think the beard is working! Sharks won tonight to tie up the series 2-2. It was a great game with a lot of back-and-forth. A good chunk of the game was played in the neutral zone and there were many breakaways and transition plays. Everything to make a fast paced exciting game. The series is coming back to the Bay Area on Thursday. See you there!
Summer is coming soon. Know what that means? Gotta get that summer body ready. Starting tomorrow I'm going to start eating ridiculous amounts of food to begin the summer hibernation period. I'm going to need all the extra calories for intense 14+ hour sessions of COD. I'm cleaning my room to make my nesting more comfortable as I will be in my room for extended periods of time. Next step: collect menus from restaurants that deliver to minimize the amount of movement required.
Decided to do a new sign off. Instead of random blurbs and irrelevant information, I thought I'd start using interesting facts. I use the term "facts" loosely since the information will mostly be what I've read online somewhere.
Until next time,
The average adult produced half a liter of flatulent gas per day resulting, on average, fourteen instances of flatulence.
I've been close to obsessed with this band lately. Listen to it. You won't be sorry. It does start a little slow though. Their sound is just so wonderfully refreshing and different. The combination of instruments is so unusual but somehow manage to produce major eargasms.
Back to basics. I had a dream last night that was definitely brought on by the happenings of hours before I went to bed. I was back at Roe, where I had been that night, and instead of celebrating Aline's birthday, everyone was celebrating mine. Standing in front of me at the bar, I see a woman with beautiful curves. Her blonde hair was soaked for some reason like she had just gotten out of the shower. The DJ stopped the music and she turned around and it was... wait for it... Beyonce! With a mic in her hand, she started singing a very beautiful rendition of Happy Birthday. After the song we left Roe for a late-night bite via limo. The next thing I remember is finishing eating and heading back home in a helicopter. I guess I ride in style in my dreams.
As mentioned above, last night's dream was probably due to the things that happened earlier when I actually went to Roe to celebrate Aline's birthday followed by a late-night meal in Chinatown. I must admit, the beginning of the night was a bit lackluster but by the end of the night, I was glad to be there.
The highlight was definitely sharing a meal (not literally) with seven other people, three of whom were inebriated. Kevin was slurring and acting a fool. When the waitress asked what we would like to drink, he said "Oh! I know what I need right now. Do you have Gatorade? I'll have the red kind." The waitress had no idea what he was talking about and Jimmy was just rolling. After we ordered drinks Jimmy put his face down on his menu and someone made an inappropriate comment that made him choke and spit all over his menu. Gary was also trying his best to speak Cantonese which eventually led to an interesting translation of Rude Boy by Rihanna. Another girl, Diana, was being belligerent and yelling at Kevin for not eating his food. She was complaining about how he had ordered food but was not eating any of it, but when I looked over at her side, there was no plate in front of her. I asked her why she was yelling at Kevin for not eating when she didn't even have a plate in front of her and she just smiled innocently. I can't remember a time when I had that much fun being sober watching drunk people.
I woke up this morning with a moderately sized bruise on my right knee. It may be the stupidest self-inflicted injury of the year (so far. I'm sure there will be more). After watching two hours of Ninja Warrior on G4, I had an itch to Spider Climb my hallway. What does that mean? It means this.
I did not anticipate how slippery the walls in my hallway would be and I fell almost immediately when I jumped up. My knee ran right into the wall. It was ridiculous. Damn you Ninja Warrior.
I've also been working on my playoff beard. It's a work in progress. The Sharks have been playing very well but are at the short end of the series. They stand behind the Avalanche 1-2. I have a feeling the sharks will wear them down soon and victories are inevitable. C'mon Sharks! I'm not growing this beard for nothing!
I guess that'll do for now. You'll just have to live with what I give you.
I really should be finishing up my personal statements but seeing as I haven't updated in a while, I'll just leave a quick blurb.
I've been working the last couple of Sundays which has completely changed my weekend outings. This past weekend specifically, was immensely uneventful. Other than the Sharks game, I did absolutely nothing. I can't remember the last time I didn't go out for at least one day out of the weekend. And by out, I mean out drinking.
Looking back at it, it's surprisingly refreshing to have some of that pressure gone. Every weekend I have high hopes of something fun happening and I'm rarely disappointed. But now that I've had time to digest the nothingness that was the weekend, I realized how much calmer my life had been. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but I think I may begin looking for more non-nightlife things to do around The City. I'm not exactly sure what else there is to do since I hate a lot of things like watching movies in theaters. If anyone knows of any social gatherings that frequently occur please let me know. If I had my scooter, I could attend local scoot-abouts. I'm not sure that's what they're called but that's definitely a cool name for it.
I'd really like to meet more people...and actually possibly remember them. Alcohol is deteriorating my mind. I feel like I'm getting stupider with every drink. Will I(t) ever stop? I don't know. Turn off the lights and I'll glow. To the extreme I rock a mic like a vandal. Light up a stage and wax a chump like a candle. Dance. Hellz yeah, bitch. See what I mean? I'm also finding more money in my pockets. I didn't even need to go to the ATM for the past two weeks.
To all you fellow bloggers, your comments for your posts will be arriving shortly. I'll get to it :]
Today was my official first day working in San Leandro. While I am about to bitch and moan about the East Bay life, I must first admit for some reason the place feels very home-y. For no reason at all, it was just comfortable to be there.
My schedule hasn't been set in stone per se but I have a general idea of when I need to get things done. The commute wasn't as bad as I thought but still took about an hour and fifteen minutes from door to door. Hopefully it won't ever take longer than that. I was surprised at how little people were on the 31AX at 7:20. The last time I took the 31AX it was shoulder to shoulder, wall to wall full of passengers. Today there were only six people standing in the entire bus.
When I got to work, I did the usual routine of booting up my PC and checking my email in Outlook. Then I tried to log into meebo and yahoo mail. Denied. The new website security the building has is ridiculously strict. Most of the yahoo main articles are blocked due to content deemed inappropriate for the workplace. That includes external email, instant messaging, forums, social networking, and many other filters. This means no yahoo mail, no meebo, no slickdeals, no blogpsot, no Facebook (which I've never used at work), no nothing! I began to complain to my coworkers that all the good stuff on the internet is being blocked and everyone had their own complaints. My cubicle is about half the size of my old one but it's still big enough that I don't feel claustrophobic.
It took me less than an hour and a half to unpack while most people still haven't unpacked half of their belongings. Breakfast was provided by vendors and there were donuts, muffins, and coffee. I almost drank the bottle of half and half since they put it in a carafe without a label. I wanted milk. I had no assignments and nothing to do so I began to read the binder of information provided by the building. I went through all the security protocols and such (which I will be talking more about tomorrow). I eventually got to the most useful page in the binder. Local restaurants! The page listed close to 30 places to get food within five miles. About half was fast food like KFC, Wendy's, Mcdonald's, etc. but the other half was local places. I had nothing to do so I yelped all of the restaurants (not the fast food ones). There actually is a lot of places I would like to try on that list. I have until December.
Then I found out lunch was provided as well. Unfortunately the food was bland and was not worth getting seconds. It was catered Chinese food from some restaurant. Nothing tasted good and it would have been a better idea to order Panda Express over that place next time. I couldn't even TASTE the pandas in this food. Not finger-ling-ling good at all.
Eventually I volunteered to do some work so I spent two and a half hours creating a spreadsheet of all available ATMs. I figured since I was the only one doing actual work today, my manager might not be too upset if I take off early. I finished my spreadsheet at 4:30 and asked for the rest of the day off since I couldn't complete any assignment before leaving at five. I also told her that I took a shorter lunch so I should be able to leave anyways since I already put in my eight hours. She was fine with it and I began packing my things.
The only reason I wanted to leave early was to catch the tail end of the Sharks game. The game started at four which means it would end around 6:30. If I catch the Bart and bus fast enough I could easily catch the end of it. When I get to the platform of the Bart station, the train was just arriving. "Great timing! I'm off to a good start," I thought.
When I get off the Bart it takes me a few seconds to realize where the bus stop was and in a very uncharacteristic move, the bus skips my stop. It was not even close to being a full bus. So I decide to try a new route. I knew the 21 ran somewhere along Fulton at some point and I didn't see a bus for the next three blocks or so. I decided to give it a shot. Never again! The 21 moves so effin' slow it was ridiculous. I could've just taken the 38L which was right behind it.
When I get to 8th Ave or so, I realize I had left my house keys at work. There's no way I'm going all the way back to get them. I have no way of getting into my house now and in a panic I start calling people before thinking it through. I called Andy and Anjuli hoping someone would pick up so I'd have somewhere to go. After I called, I remembered my aunt has a set of my house keys. I tend to panic and act irrationally when things go awry. When I called her she was still on the Bart at Embarcadero. So I decide to kill time by going to the ATM and Gordo's. Time well spent I must say.
By the time I got into my house, the game was over and I was only able to catch the post-game live report. Looks like I missed out on a bunch of stuff because I left work in a rush. Fail.
Wednesday was a great day. The day started with a bunch of errands. I went to Costco to return some gifts and buy stuff for the house. Then I went to Best Buy to return some more gifts before returning home. Nothing special yet. I made plans with My to have lunch in Oakland. Since I was going to the Sharks game with Ya, it was easier if I was already in Oakland. So I bussed and Barted to Oakland where My was supposed to pick me up. I waited at the West Oakland station for about 15-20 minutes. During that time I stood at the bus stop while listening to my Ipod. After a few minutes of waiting, I hear someone behind me say, "Excuse me." I turn around and reply, "Yes?." The black lady then says, "I don't mean to be too forward, but I have to say, you have a really nice ass." I couldn't hep but smile. I said thanks and she started talking to me and the conversation went something like this:
Black Lady: Are you waiting for a ride?
Me: Yea. My friend is picking me up. She should be here soon.
Black Lady: Is she your girlfriend?
Me: No, just a really good friend.
Black Lady: Where you guys going?
Me: Meeting up some other friends.
Black Lady: All guys?
Me: No, there's going to be some girls.
Black Lady: Girlfriend?
Me: No I don't have a girlfriend.
Black Lady: Really? Handsome guy like you with a nice figure like that and no girlfriend?
Me: Yep.
Black Lady: You gotta get on that. I'm 37 and I've only complimented four men in my entire life about their ass and you definitely have a nice ass.
Me: Thanks.
And then we exchanged goodbyes and My picked me up. What a great compliment to get from a black person. Black people know great asses and apparently someone likes mine. Anyways, continuing with the great day. My picked me up and wanted to take me to a restaurant called Scend's. When we got there we found parking right in front and we went in and looked around. Nobody there. And by nobody I mean patrons. The owners and workers were standing around and My asked for a table for two. They told us that they were actually closed for cleaning and they were replacing some kitchen stuff. I jokingly said, "But I came all the way from San Francisco!" The lady there told us that the day before an entire family drove up from San Jose when they were closed and she had to turn them away. We chatted a bit more before we left and we wished them a happy new year on the way out. We sat in the car in our parking spot thinking of what we should eat. As we sat there, the owner came out and knocked on the window. My rolled down the window and the owner asked us if we wanted to have some fried chicken. She offered to cook something up for us even though the restaurant was closed. I'm pretty sure she would've made us pay for the food but it was just a really nice gesture. She said she felt so guilty she didn't want us to leave empty handed. I don't care what anyone else says, Oakland folks are nice. I love colored folks.
Somehow we ended up eating pizza and a spot called Lanesplitters. I ended up eating three slices which was about half of a 19" pizza. Yes I am fat and yes it was delicious.
Me and Ya drove down to San Jose and picked up Kevin for the Sharks game. Kevin brought down some beers for us and we drank after we parked. The game was intense. First period was a little boring until the final 5-7 minutes or so. After that the entire game was pretty high-energy. The Washington Capitals are one of the top ranked teams and have the most electrifying player today. Alexander Ovechkin. The Great Eight.
^HD available and recommended.
Two of my favorite goals by Alexander Ovechkin. The game was incredible. In the final minutes, one of my favorite D-men, Douglas Murray, and Alexander Ovechkin really got into it. Ovechkin put three really good hits on Murray in the same shift. It was an intense ongoing battle between the two. I've never seen Murray take so many hits. Murray held his own and fought back and put a few good checks on Ovechkin. That was definitely the match up of the night. And what's even better, our section was selected randomly to receive free Chipotle burritos! The HP Pavillion crew passed out cards to receive a free burrito for everyone in our section. It was a take-one-pass-it-down-honor-system type of deal. We all just took one since we wanted to be fair. To add to that, the Sharks also scored more than four goals which means FREE PIZZA! Not really. It's a free personal one topping with any purchase or $5 off any Large or X-Large pizza. Probably will claim it tomorrow as I only have a few days left to claim it. The only thing that could've made it better would have been the Chipotle Hat Trick. If any player scores three goals, everyone gets a free burrito. Pavelski was one away from having a hat trick. Oh well. Sharks won 5-2 in a highly anticipated match featuring two of NHL's best hockey teams this season. I wish more people were interested in hockey. There's no one to talk to about this stuff.
After the game, Kevin gave me a ride back to San Francisco. It was about 11PM and we were looking for something to do. We made some calls and it turned out that it was Sterling's birthday and people were drinking at Yancy's. Kevin decided not to go so he dropped me off there. It was a good night. Met a stranger and talked to her for a bit while everyone was outside smoking. She invited me over to another bar cause her friends were there but I respectfully declined since everyone was having fun at Yancy's. Had some drinks and hung out with the good folks there. After the bar closed, Gary and I tried to go look for food, but we ended up just going home.
That was Wednesday. Great day right? Thursday was good too. I scheduled lunch with a friend at 1. I completely spaced. I was up at 10 and completely forgot. I sat around watching TV and playing Gameboy the entire morning. By 1 o'clock, I decided to go run. I put on my running shoes and went up to my room to grab my phone. Five missed calls and three texts messages. I totally forgot about lunch with my friend and had to call her back to get some more time to get ready. We ended up at Sai Jai Thai after she said she didn't want BBQ for lunch. After lunch we went to Zephyr's and just talked until they closed.
The NYE night started off really late. I was hooked on my mom's Chinese series and completely lost track of time. By the time the disc was over, it was 10:15. I called around and plans got changed. Andy and Kevin decided to do the Polk street crawl instead of Brenda's house party. I was ready to call it a night and just stay in to play COD: MW2 but I convinced Brian to go. He picked me up and we went to meet everyone on Polk. By the time we got into the first (and only) bar on Polk, it was 11:30. The countdown was disappointing. Nothing special and we didn't stay at the bar too long. We decided to bail and go to a house party. That's where the night really began for me. Met some good people, had a few drinks, had some food, and had a blast. Didn't get to bed until 5AM.
Tonight will be my chance to catch up on some rest.
Super caked on, super shopped, or maybe both but still beautiful. Because I have time, this will be a long read. Make sure you have relieved your bladder and bowels before reading on. Grab your favorite drink and snack and enjoy.
So, as of yesterday, my laptop caught the 700m pandemic going around. The back light is loose or blew out leaving the monitor another desolate screen that once displayed beautiful vibrant images of the young lady pictured above. I've been reading up on forums and this is quite common amongst 700m owners. This happened to my brother almost exactly a week ago and somehow my laptop caught the disease. Since the screws on the bottom panel have been frayed and stripped to being almost unscrewable (<
This weekend I decided to be a hermit and stay in. Not much is going on anyways. That I know of. Plenty of activities that I can do indoors anyways.
This week, I received many packages from various online purchases made on the week of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Got my two portable hard drives from Dell a few days ago, my Tekken 6 Fightstick bundles, and my copy of Fearless: Platinum edition. I spent much of the morning backing up all my files from my laptop and then putting all my music on the new hard drive. Still en route are my other two external hard drives that I plan on returning, four books from Borders, and my clothes from Urban Outfitters. Since receiving the fight sticks, I've been catching up on my SF2HD. Purchase of the game via Xbox Live was made possible by my sister and her 10 friends, Andy, Doug, and Calvin. Thanks! Next game purchase will be Ikaruga, which I'm 400 points away from buying. After playing twice online, I have come to the conclusion that Xbox Live players are much more competitive and unforgiving than their Playstation network counterpart.
To test out the game after I first downloaded it, I played one game online and destroyed my competition. This was at 7:45 AM right before I started doing my business to get ready for work. I shut off the system and went to work. I came back to a message by the person I played saying "Run scrub run". I replied "It was 7:45 AM in San Francisco. I was testing the game before I left for work. Some of us are actually employed." No response back. Then a few days ago I had some time and decided to give it another go online. I played one on one with some random guy and lost 8-10 (ish) before quitting since dinner was ready. Minutes later, I received a voice message from him saying "You know why I played you like an ass hole? Because you were using Zangief. Playing one on one. How cheap can you get. Fuck you suck at this game." First off, SF2HD is a one on one game. How else can you play it? One vs. two? Ridiculous. Secondly, if the developers put certain moves in the game, they want you to use it. It's the same reasoning they add cheats in video games. Games go through rigorous testing to balance characters and certain characters naturally have different functions otherwise every character would be the same. I was practicing my Zangief's crouching jab+jab to 360 with LP (Andy you know what I'm talking about). Basically the combo at 1:48.
Needless to say, I caught him enough times (almost twice a round) to make him angry. Probably got two or three perfects too. So far, that's two for two. Two ass holes in two sessions of SF2HD. If I hadn't flashed my Xbox, I would have definitely reported this guy. I do not want to cause trouble for myself. Oh, the limitations resulting from illegal mods...
At work yesterday, our group held it's annual end-of-the-year party. I spent the first two hours of work zoning out and napping while waiting for the company lunch. The admin came around at 11 and asked me to go with her to pick up the food (our lunch was catered). I said yes hoping to get to know her better since she was the youngest person in our group. She's probably around 28. The next youngest person is probably in their early 40s. It's an old bunch. After we picked up around ten trays of food, I called the team from the car to come help bring the food in. I asked one of my coworkers to bring four or five other people to help unload the food. After handing out all the trays to them, I realized there was nothing left for me to carry. One of my coworkers, H a r s h i t (yes, his name is H a r s h i t and I realize it's one letter away from being Hardshit and I'm spacing out the name to avoid google searches), joked around saying that I called all of them to do all the lifting. During the lunch, our boss, Jimmy, made gave a speech and thanked the admin for organizing the event and ordering the food and then thanked me for "being the muscle." Harshit immediately pointed at me and smiled knowing that I didn't carry any of the trays. I interrupted Jimmy and told him that other people helped. Harshit busted me out saying, "Yea, Alex called all of us to carry all the food!" Jimmy then congratulated me on my upper management skills in pawning off all the work on other people. I guess I am management material after all. This became a running joke throughout the party which I thought was pretty hilarious.
Okay. Here comes the inevitable rant of the entry. After the lunch, the group has a traditional white elephant gift exchange. The rules are, the gift must be a minimum of $25 and cannot be a recycled gift from the years before. THAT'S IT! The rules of the game in this case, was a gift can be stolen up to three times before being locked up. The gift I bought was a large dream dictionary and Snuggie, which I personally think is a decent gift. I drew number 20 of 50 (there were 33 people). First pick by first person, 7" digital photo frame. Obviously from the boss, Jimmy, and guaranteed to be stolen. Here's why. All the other gifts were lame beyond compare. But before I get to the horrible list of gifts, let me first share with you the sequence of events involving myself since this is my blog. Now this is where the game takes a horrible turn. There was nothing I wanted to steal (you'll see why) when it was my turn, so I chose a gift from the pile. I picked one that was relatively large with a nice heft to it. Inside was an inflatable twin mattress (with pump). This was definitely one of the better gifts, but I thought no one would want to steal it. I was wrong. A few turns later H a r s h i t stole it from me and I decided to pick another from the pile. At this point, after watching several picks, I came to the conclusion that anything that was horribly wrapped came from a male gifter and was almost certainly something tech-y. I picked the third to the ugliest one because of the shape of the box. Inside was a very good gift compared to the rest. A clock radio with side speakers and a dock for Ipods.
Something like that but not as nice of a model. Definitely will get stolen. A few turns pass and Serena, another coworker, steals my gift. This was fairly upsetting because we were getting down to the wire on unopened gifts and I did not see anything worth stealing. I took another gamble and picked another poorly wrapped gift. This is what I got stuck with:
What...the...fuck... Seriously? A fucking DTV converter box? A gift that was probably free from a government rebate? At this point the entire room started laughing because they knew I picked gift that was almost certainly unwanted by everyone in the group. This group of people have no fucking respect for the people who actually play the game with decency. Now, for the list of the worst gifts:
A T-shirt. Obviously NOT worth $25
A small twist-chopper thing and a bowl
A pen set
USED billiard balls. Obviously repackaged poorly with loads of tape. The cue ball had scuff marks on it. Who would give this as a gift at white elephant? What percent of people actually own a personal table and can use this?!
Cheap wine that was clearly for the budget-conscious
A teddy bear with candy. There's always seems to be one jackass who does this (no offense to Dillon or David whoever brought that stuffed animal last time)
A fucking step ladder. A STEP LADDER!!! WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE DO THAT!? The best part about this gift was the wrapping. Black garbage back. With a step ladder in it. Of course it was the last gift picked
A tea kettle. A fucking tea kettle. And not just any tea kettle. A tea kettle that clearly was a few years old. The box was faded and scuffed up horribly and looked like someone bought it at Ross. Don't get me wrong. I love Ross. But this clearly was the worst gift and there is no way it could have been worth more than $10. The person who picked this had it stolen from Jimmy. Every year, Jimmy bails out the person with the crappiest gift when it's his turn to pick. That way the person with the crapiest gift (at the time) gets another choice. Jimmy was sixth to draw meaning that the people who picked the crappier gifts could not be bailed out. Like me.
And of course the DTV converter box
Why? Why do people do these things? No respect for the game or their coworkers. Some people at least have the decency to play the game with honor. Highlights of "good" gifts:
7" digital photo frame
8GB flash drive (two people gifted them. One Sandisk and one generic brand which any tech-y can tell you is not $25 but at least people want these)
Safeway giftcard
Clock with Ipod/dock
Set of four great looking tumblers
An emergency road-side kit. Probably one of the most useful gifts. Included jumper cables, gloves, flares, other tools, an orange cone, and other miscellaneous items.
Jesus fucking Christ. At least if I'm there next year I know I can get away with bringing crap gifts like a DTV converter box. My god... Work people are ridiculous. If I had written this yesterday, you can bet that I would have used more profanities but I have cooled down a bit since then. Worst white elephant in the history of white elephants. While the gifts obviously sucked, it was pretty funny to see people making fun of everyone else for their poor gifts. Overall, it was a fun experience even though I walked away with one of the worst gifts of all time. People were even joking that the reason why someone gifted it was because they lost their rebate form and such. I was a little sad that everyone didn't really like the gift that I brought either. My manager actually picked my gift and tried desperately to give it away. My gift ended up being stolen once and traded at the end of the game so at least a few people liked it. There was actually another gifter who bought a Snuggie and combined it with a pair of Slipper Genies
To clean your floors while you walk around the house. At the end of the game, I told Serena that my friend just got a pool table recently and that if she didn't want the billiard balls that she picked then I would be happy to take them. She said that she didn't want to just give it away and didn't want to trade me for my DTV converter which is completely understandable. But then another coworker said, "Just give it to Alex. You have no reason to keep it." She replied, "Oh, it's ok. I'll just throw it around or something." Bitch. Huge bitch. Let me tell you some of the things she's done. My coworker Gary set up a slide show presentation of his trip to Europe with his girlfriend. One of the pictures showed them in front of a very expensive store. I forget if it was Gucci, Prada, or something like that but when that picture came up Serena blurted out "Oh that store is expensive. You guys probably didn't buy anything from there cause you can't afford it huh?" Everything she says is me, me, me. "Oh look at what I've done. I'm better than you at everything. Everything I do is great and everything you do is wrong. I'm right. And everything that's yours is cheap stuff." Clearly not true. Before I moved my mattress back from San Jose, I was telling her that I had some back problems because of my mattress. Her immediate response was "Oh you probably have a cheap mattress. I have a very expensive mattress and it's very good." Bitch I've been using the same mattress since I grew out of a crib. What a fucking bitch. And another time she was walking around holding a CD and asked me "Can I use your T-shirt to wipe off the gunk on the CD?" Uhh... No. "Why are you being so stingy? Just let me wipe it with your shirt." Ok. One. My mama bought me this shirt and it was one of my favorite shirts and I'm not letting some bitch use it to wipe shit off a CD. Two. Just because it's a T-shirt doesn't mean it's cheap. It was an expensive T-shirt. Three. You have a fucking shirt. Use yours. "But my shirt is expensive and it's not made of cotton." Shut up. I dress the way I dress because it's comfortable and I don't have to try and impress you fuckbags at work who mean less than nothing to me. Want to fire me for the way I dress? Fine with me. What a fucking bitch. Learn some manners. How are you married? -End rant.
This week I moved my Xbox up to my room which finally allowed me to plug my USB somewhere and catch up on my shows. I am up to date with HIMYM, BBT, Community, 30 Rock, and finally got a chance to watch the episode of SNL where Taylor Swift was hosting. Next up is Modern Family, FlashForward, White Collar. I have all of Heroes for this season but will probably delete them before I watch it. I quit Heroes. Community is one of the funniest new shows on television. It will definitely be renewed for at least another season and hopefully longer. On the other end of the spectrum, Monk aired it's final episode of the series last night. I'm about six or seven episodes behind and have not yet downloaded any episodes. From what I've been hearing, the ending is going to be awesome. I will definitely miss this show. Upcoming shows to look forward to include 24 and Chuck.
Sharks played the Calgary Flames at the Tank tonight but couldn't come out with a win. The Flames' goalie was phenomenal and made save after save. McLaren had another fight but took a beating. I like the way this kid plays. Sticks up for his team mates and does not take crap from anyone. I think in the last three games, he was in a fight in each game. But rather than bore you with statistics that you don't care about, I would like to share an interesting tidbit I heard while watching the last game. There is a contest of sorts to come up with the best nickname for the first line of the Sharks. Currently, San Jose's top line is Patrick Marleau, or Patty, Joe Thornton, or Jumbo, and Danny Heatley, or Heater. The first name that the announcer's said was "Team Canada". A nickname they said was too generic and overused. Second nickname was "The Great White" (because they're Sharks duh). This was kind of interesting. But the third was definitely the best. Someone suggested their line be called "The Burger" line. A Jumbo, Heated Patty. Genius. Next game will be at home against the L.A. Kings. A game that I have tickets to. Should be a great game considering they are not only division rivals, but it's also a battle of California.
Big thanks to Gary who gave me his remaining Magic cards. Haven't had the chance to go through everything but it's a good amount of cards. From what I have gone through, I didn't see anything of value to my main deck. Still very nice of him to give me his cards. Wiltron get ready.
What a fucking slow start to the "holiday" weekend. Got in trouble at work for losing some cards (which I found out 20 minutes ago that I had taken home on accident) and left work early frustrated and upset. Boss set a deadline for my project and I might not be able to finish my work. Going back into work Friday morning on my regular schedule to try and complete my task. Got a free lunch at Buca. I still don't see why people like that place. I wouldn't eat there again if it was free. Maggiano's is still my go-to place for Italian. Came home to watch the Sharks game which I thought was going to be a really exciting game. Lost 7-2 and let Chicago score three consecutive short handed goals and another four straight until Danny Boyle answered back with a goal with about five minutes left in the third. What a fucking joke. And it was a home game. The first loss in regulation of the season. Hopefully something will change my mood because today was not a good day at all.
