So this blog has been more than neglected because it started turning into whiny, emo drivel instead of something worth wasting time on. So here is an overall update on life since Friday, May 15, 2009 and a few good stories that need elaboration.
Well sitting here,i cant really think of much that happened between May 15th and June 10thish or so, I'm going to start there. Early to mid-July was spent in the SC area for The CCCCm 2009 which started off with a big bang. The night before Bishop (Barney) and my departure date, we helped the CCC pack up everything ever and load it into a truck. Things put in to the truck include but are not limited to: Fourty Bajillion Ping Pong tables, Sixteen dozen basketball hoops, ninety seven and a half plants, and one gondola (yes, the boat). This was all done working for a man that primarily spent his time sitting and talking on a cell phone while four adult males attempted to pack up an entire office and their random junk into his moving truck. this job went on from about five in the afternoon until about three in the morning while sweating profusely in the 90 degree heat. After that we went to Bishop's abode, showered, drove to Winco, bought food and survival supplies that we barely used, and headed down south to the coast. After arriving at nearly eight in the morning, we unpacked and moved in to the canvas tent situated on a vent from the underworld. We didnt sleep after arriving, that is for sissy girls, we went to work immediately to prepare for the upcoming week with a few friends and our boss. We stocked bathrooms and then attempted to set up an inflatable contraption created by none other than Satan himself. It was a hundred and fifty pounds of vinyl and there we two of them. after assembling enough carpets and tarps to cover the rocky ground and protect the inflatable, we began inflating, and by inflating i mean overloading the circuit. This was all done in the hours of the most sun, making an exhausted person nearly useless. One of us was too much of a sissy to handle it and went to take a nap for a few hours while I (whoops, I mean) the other worked like a man. After solving all electrical problems, and inflating both pieces, we were told to take them down because an RV would be filling the space we were using. That means that after hours of effort and work would be succeeded by hours of effort and work to undo everything we did. It was fun, let me tell you. I laid on a table under a tent to rest my entire body and ended up falling asleep for about 10 minutes while no work was accomplished. That was day 0-1. The rest of CCCCm was spent cleaning bathrooms from about 9pm - 2am, and being the faster half each night, no matter what half we did. It was exhausting but fun, and much better in terms of cleanliness compared to last year. Apparently people we civilized and learned not to be disgusting animals. It was a good time being back with the crew and listening to Flint Fletcher talk while we worked. It was a generally enjoyable experience and Barney even took the big dunk while there. I also made a new friend, a very unlikely pairing between Rally and I, mostly because I hate his kind, but somehow the little Rosy Boa charmed me. I also was part of a few puzzles, something I haven't done much of, but was nice and relaxing. 11 days after arriving and countless hours of lost sleep later, we were packing up and heading home.
The next large event was something that had been occurring before, during, and after CCCCm and that would be the separation of my parental units. After many ups, downs, lefts, and rights,it was decided that I would be moving out of my house and into an apartment with my Faj. It was new and exciting and general change to the south to the north of the same exact street. The place is real nice and i feel much better about this place after CCCCm and the events that transpired and have continued since returning, but its all good. Its nice having a pool right by the place, but the late night pool parties sometimes get a bit rowdy and loud, and having people on the other side of the bedroom wall is something to get used to, but they are minor concerns. Life is different, but different is not all bad.
The newest beast has now started, and that would be school. Its now week three of the semester and I have been added to all but one class so far. This is an amazing statistic considering that I am/was crashing 20 units or 6 classes. 5/6 in a school of 30k students and more than half crashing most classes, i can be called lucky. Its even more staggering when 4 of the classes are GE courses that are part of the required courses for anything. I am very much enjoying this semester so far, even though its nearly double the biggest course load i have ever taken. My schedule and feelings on each subject is as follows: (MWF 9-9:50) History 2 - Western Civ. from 1685 - Now. The teacher is able to lecture in a way that does not bore the snot out of me, even though i generally dont find history interesting. He seems to love the subject and had visited many of the places we talk about, with pictures from those experiences. (MWF 10-10:50) Political Science 2 - General Political Science. This is the best professor i have had for polisci thus far, although i have never had one for more than a few weeks every semester. Instead of being very dry and dull, or sweating profusely in clothing too tight for his body, or having a thick Indian accent, he is very good lecturer and makes things more real and interesting. (MW 11-12) Break - Homework period for... (MW 12-1:15) Marketing 12 - Advertising. This may be the easiest and most enjoyable class I have. It makes me want to be done with school and doing my ultimate job even more, and it doesn't hurt that the professor doesn't lecture much and instead spends most of class discussing advertisements and fresh new ideas. (MW 1:15-7am and F 11-7am) Go home and recover for the next day. (TTh 9-10:40) Math 4a - Trigonometry. This is pretty much how it sounds, with a professor that tries to lighten everything up by making really bad jokes and speaking as if he is the class. (TTh 11-12:15) Psych 2 - General Psychology. This is possibly my least favorite class because I had previous experience with the professor, she teaches human sexuality, a class i could only survive a few weeks of before being so repulsed that i had to stop attending. She looks much like the old medicine man in many Native American tribes, and dresses far below her proper age bracket. But Alyx (Robin) in also in the class and has a seat, while i sit in the aisle next to her. Its also the only class i have yet to receive an add slip for. (TTh 12:15-2) Break - Lunch/Studying with both Alyx and Melissa. (TTh 2-3:40) English 1a - Reading and Comprehension. Its probably going to be the reason I wont blog much, every class there is at least one free write and more writing in groups, and thats before any papers have been assigned. It will be nice though because our novel this semester is Fight Club which will be a blast to read. (TTh 3:40-7am) Go Home and recover to start all over again. 20 units doesn't seem quite as daunting as i have made it out to be in previous semesters.
Now for the most recent and juiciest event that has happened is a long story, so go get something to eat and drink, maybe a quick nap after all you've already read and i will wait patiently here until you return. By wait patiently, i actually meant "go eat a delicious Chipotle BBQ Double Cheeseburger and cross-cut fries." Now that we are all satiated, its story time. It starts in the way that many do, I was over at Bishop's house preparing to take off for the Bay Area and his old stomping grounds and being just hungry. We went to a laundromat to dry his family's clothes, and decided to go in search for food. The idea of Indian came up when a vegetarian Indian place was right around the corner, we made our way over there and found that the cooks were on break and we could only get three of the items (meaning it was stuff sitting around vats, just waiting to be slopped into dishes to be served) and we decided against it. We went back towards the laundromat and found the Taj Mahal, another Indian place that is non-vegetarian with a black man that led us inside and actually recommended that we go to the other place for vegetarian food. Long story short, it was delicious. Garlic Naan, Onion Kulcha, and Navratan Korma, and the lentil dish that Bishop ordered (mine was better and had much more depth of flavor). We finished and walked by an Indian spice store when we got a free deep fried something that had a nearly honey-like liquid center, then grabbed the clothes and went back to his house. When we got back, his brothers were watching David Blaine and Criss Angel and talking about how phony and evil they were. We then decided to participate in CA's levitate the viewership through a television, to which i joked and sadly did not levitate. This was my downfall, my disbelief in Criss was a huge mistake, it led to the destruction of my phone. I tried to text after not levitating and my 5 key no longer worked, i could not use JK or L, and those are pretty necessary to spell "will." I closed my phone and tried again, of course it didn't work. I turned it off and turned it back on and all that showed up were the words "You should've believed, Bitch! - Criss Angel." Ok, so it actually was trying to download an update a froze in the middle of it, making my phone effective as as a paper weight or crime deterrent, and nothing else. We leave his house and start on his way with plans to stop in Motown at the mall to find a Verizon store to fix it. We get to the mall and find the first Verizon where there was no Tech Department and was only directions to the Verizon that can actually help with my problem, on the other end of the mall. I am walking fast because Motown in general gives me an uneasy feeling recently, just full of too many memories to be comfortable with, and finally made it to Verizon II. I walk in and show them my issue to which i heard "That's really odd, I've never seen that before." Salesman brings me to the counter to see what can be done, it was out of warranty and i didn't have my own upgrade to use, but i got him to talk to his manager before trying to sell me a brand new phone for some outrageous sum of money, and he came back to tell me that what happened was a "warranty exception." In other words, what happened was so outrageous that they have never seen it before and is therefore not my fault. The problem is that it would cost me $50 to get the replacement. That's at least better than the hundreds a new phone would cost (and was refunded to my account by my step-dad). I take my new phone with zero contacts because the old phone was effectively an expensive brick now and could not have anything transferred from it, and walked to the exit of the mall. About 100 feet from the exit, i ran into the one thing i was afraid of, someone i know because of my ex. Not just someone she kinda knew and i met because of her, but of course it was her best friend. Awesome right? So she sees me and asks why i was there, i told the story and we talked briefly about her lack of iphone, even though she works at AT&T. Bishop, not knowing who the girl was, continued this conversation for FAR longer than i would've liked (about six and a half hours later) we left and continued to the Bay.
The rest of the drive was rather uneventful until we started towards the place we would be staying. My phone was on low battery and we tried to call his Aunt to get directions to their house, to which she, nor her daughter, nor her husband would answer the phone. His cousin was at work and was bad with directions so she couldn't tell us where to go, and the parents were asleep. We had to go to a 7-11 to use their plug and let my phone charge while waiting for a call from them. 3 packages of ハイーチュウ, (Hi-chew, a Japanese candy like Starbursts, with the most wonderful texture you can imagine) we got a call from his aunt who apologized for falling asleep. We finally got directions and headed over, setup our stuff and his cousin got off work and came home. We spent quite a few hours talking and making fun of Bishop and his poor choices in females before going to bed.
The next morning we all got up and headed to church, out in the park right by their nice little church building. It was a big music program that included the most mind-blowing version of How Great Is Our God, sung by a very talented family and all of the congregation. Oh and it might be helpful to note that Bishop's home church is a Black church. The drummer was a kid that couldn't have been any older than 14, and had more talent than most drummers you have ever seen. A few other groups came up, but none of them impressed me as much as the first. We also brought the hot weather with us, it was a wildly inappropriate 100 degrees there, which is seasonally ridiculous. After haystacks and more sweating, we headed back to the house, and then over to another one of Bishop's family's house. We stayed there for quite a while before looking for some sort of food item, and ended up not getting food, but getting some super secret Jamba Juice. We got a Strawberry Shortcake (not very good) and a Sour Patch Kid (delicious, made with a white gummy, minus mango and something else, sub blueberries and lemonade). We then went to Game stop next door and Bishop had a seriously extended conversation with the most obnoxious female that ever lived. We walked over to the Starbucks that his cousin worked at, and waited for a half hour, then decided to walk around because we still had a while until she got off work. We were walking towards In-N-Out and i pointed to a lamp post and said "Wouldn't it be awesome if there was a cache right under there?" then nearly walked past it before Bishop said "Yeah, might as well check." When i lifted it up, guess what i found? Did you guess a cache? Wouldn't that make a great story? There actually was a cache! It was Epic! we signed the log and i took out a Bicycle brand Die and the next morning, left the only tracking bug we had with us. After talking with Bishop;s cousin and her co-workers, we got kicked out and waited for her, went home, and went to bed.
The next morning we got up, drove his cousin to work, then took off toward Oakland, and after exploring much of Berkeley, Oakland, and its outlying areas, we found our destination, and then headed over to Frisco and JapanTown. We walked up and down the mall area, bought a few things, and had a nice lunch at a small place that has handmade noodles (Papa Bishop had Chicken Katsu, Bishop had Yaki Udon, and I had Zaru Udon). We also grabbed a few more sweets and candy to enjoy later, Melon bread, more Hi-chew, and Almond Crush Pocky. A few more stores later and we headed over to New People, the brand new pop culture museum of sorts and took a look at what they had to offer, the sculptures in red, black, and white were my favorite. Soon after that, we were on our way home after a long and fun weekend.
The last event hasn't actually happened yet, but will be occurring this weekend. I will be heading off to Pismo with my grandma, grandpa, uncle, aunt, and two cousins, where we will be meeting my mom, step-dad, and other assorted family members for a family re-union/four hundred and twenty third wedding anniversary. We will see how that all goes, it should be great, but i haven't seen my aunt, uncle, or cousins in years. This part is for you Bishop, a favor to ask. Would you mind grabbing me after I'm done with class at 11 and driving me home so i can grab my clothes, then over to my grandma's house between 12 and 1ish? (and if possible, over to State to grab those bottles of wine before i head out of town?)
I think that is actually all i can possibly hope to write in two sittings, and its nearly time to get ready for bed and lay down with some Kitchen Confidential before falling asleep and waking up for school tomorrow.
Well sitting here,i cant really think of much that happened between May 15th and June 10thish or so, I'm going to start there. Early to mid-July was spent in the SC area for The CCCCm 2009 which started off with a big bang. The night before Bishop (Barney) and my departure date, we helped the CCC pack up everything ever and load it into a truck. Things put in to the truck include but are not limited to: Fourty Bajillion Ping Pong tables, Sixteen dozen basketball hoops, ninety seven and a half plants, and one gondola (yes, the boat). This was all done working for a man that primarily spent his time sitting and talking on a cell phone while four adult males attempted to pack up an entire office and their random junk into his moving truck. this job went on from about five in the afternoon until about three in the morning while sweating profusely in the 90 degree heat. After that we went to Bishop's abode, showered, drove to Winco, bought food and survival supplies that we barely used, and headed down south to the coast. After arriving at nearly eight in the morning, we unpacked and moved in to the canvas tent situated on a vent from the underworld. We didnt sleep after arriving, that is for sissy girls, we went to work immediately to prepare for the upcoming week with a few friends and our boss. We stocked bathrooms and then attempted to set up an inflatable contraption created by none other than Satan himself. It was a hundred and fifty pounds of vinyl and there we two of them. after assembling enough carpets and tarps to cover the rocky ground and protect the inflatable, we began inflating, and by inflating i mean overloading the circuit. This was all done in the hours of the most sun, making an exhausted person nearly useless. One of us was too much of a sissy to handle it and went to take a nap for a few hours while I (whoops, I mean) the other worked like a man. After solving all electrical problems, and inflating both pieces, we were told to take them down because an RV would be filling the space we were using. That means that after hours of effort and work would be succeeded by hours of effort and work to undo everything we did. It was fun, let me tell you. I laid on a table under a tent to rest my entire body and ended up falling asleep for about 10 minutes while no work was accomplished. That was day 0-1. The rest of CCCCm was spent cleaning bathrooms from about 9pm - 2am, and being the faster half each night, no matter what half we did. It was exhausting but fun, and much better in terms of cleanliness compared to last year. Apparently people we civilized and learned not to be disgusting animals. It was a good time being back with the crew and listening to Flint Fletcher talk while we worked. It was a generally enjoyable experience and Barney even took the big dunk while there. I also made a new friend, a very unlikely pairing between Rally and I, mostly because I hate his kind, but somehow the little Rosy Boa charmed me. I also was part of a few puzzles, something I haven't done much of, but was nice and relaxing. 11 days after arriving and countless hours of lost sleep later, we were packing up and heading home.
The next large event was something that had been occurring before, during, and after CCCCm and that would be the separation of my parental units. After many ups, downs, lefts, and rights,it was decided that I would be moving out of my house and into an apartment with my Faj. It was new and exciting and general change to the south to the north of the same exact street. The place is real nice and i feel much better about this place after CCCCm and the events that transpired and have continued since returning, but its all good. Its nice having a pool right by the place, but the late night pool parties sometimes get a bit rowdy and loud, and having people on the other side of the bedroom wall is something to get used to, but they are minor concerns. Life is different, but different is not all bad.
The newest beast has now started, and that would be school. Its now week three of the semester and I have been added to all but one class so far. This is an amazing statistic considering that I am/was crashing 20 units or 6 classes. 5/6 in a school of 30k students and more than half crashing most classes, i can be called lucky. Its even more staggering when 4 of the classes are GE courses that are part of the required courses for anything. I am very much enjoying this semester so far, even though its nearly double the biggest course load i have ever taken. My schedule and feelings on each subject is as follows: (MWF 9-9:50) History 2 - Western Civ. from 1685 - Now. The teacher is able to lecture in a way that does not bore the snot out of me, even though i generally dont find history interesting. He seems to love the subject and had visited many of the places we talk about, with pictures from those experiences. (MWF 10-10:50) Political Science 2 - General Political Science. This is the best professor i have had for polisci thus far, although i have never had one for more than a few weeks every semester. Instead of being very dry and dull, or sweating profusely in clothing too tight for his body, or having a thick Indian accent, he is very good lecturer and makes things more real and interesting. (MW 11-12) Break - Homework period for... (MW 12-1:15) Marketing 12 - Advertising. This may be the easiest and most enjoyable class I have. It makes me want to be done with school and doing my ultimate job even more, and it doesn't hurt that the professor doesn't lecture much and instead spends most of class discussing advertisements and fresh new ideas. (MW 1:15-7am and F 11-7am) Go home and recover for the next day. (TTh 9-10:40) Math 4a - Trigonometry. This is pretty much how it sounds, with a professor that tries to lighten everything up by making really bad jokes and speaking as if he is the class. (TTh 11-12:15) Psych 2 - General Psychology. This is possibly my least favorite class because I had previous experience with the professor, she teaches human sexuality, a class i could only survive a few weeks of before being so repulsed that i had to stop attending. She looks much like the old medicine man in many Native American tribes, and dresses far below her proper age bracket. But Alyx (Robin) in also in the class and has a seat, while i sit in the aisle next to her. Its also the only class i have yet to receive an add slip for. (TTh 12:15-2) Break - Lunch/Studying with both Alyx and Melissa. (TTh 2-3:40) English 1a - Reading and Comprehension. Its probably going to be the reason I wont blog much, every class there is at least one free write and more writing in groups, and thats before any papers have been assigned. It will be nice though because our novel this semester is Fight Club which will be a blast to read. (TTh 3:40-7am) Go Home and recover to start all over again. 20 units doesn't seem quite as daunting as i have made it out to be in previous semesters.
Now for the most recent and juiciest event that has happened is a long story, so go get something to eat and drink, maybe a quick nap after all you've already read and i will wait patiently here until you return. By wait patiently, i actually meant "go eat a delicious Chipotle BBQ Double Cheeseburger and cross-cut fries." Now that we are all satiated, its story time. It starts in the way that many do, I was over at Bishop's house preparing to take off for the Bay Area and his old stomping grounds and being just hungry. We went to a laundromat to dry his family's clothes, and decided to go in search for food. The idea of Indian came up when a vegetarian Indian place was right around the corner, we made our way over there and found that the cooks were on break and we could only get three of the items (meaning it was stuff sitting around vats, just waiting to be slopped into dishes to be served) and we decided against it. We went back towards the laundromat and found the Taj Mahal, another Indian place that is non-vegetarian with a black man that led us inside and actually recommended that we go to the other place for vegetarian food. Long story short, it was delicious. Garlic Naan, Onion Kulcha, and Navratan Korma, and the lentil dish that Bishop ordered (mine was better and had much more depth of flavor). We finished and walked by an Indian spice store when we got a free deep fried something that had a nearly honey-like liquid center, then grabbed the clothes and went back to his house. When we got back, his brothers were watching David Blaine and Criss Angel and talking about how phony and evil they were. We then decided to participate in CA's levitate the viewership through a television, to which i joked and sadly did not levitate. This was my downfall, my disbelief in Criss was a huge mistake, it led to the destruction of my phone. I tried to text after not levitating and my 5 key no longer worked, i could not use JK or L, and those are pretty necessary to spell "will." I closed my phone and tried again, of course it didn't work. I turned it off and turned it back on and all that showed up were the words "You should've believed, Bitch! - Criss Angel." Ok, so it actually was trying to download an update a froze in the middle of it, making my phone effective as as a paper weight or crime deterrent, and nothing else. We leave his house and start on his way with plans to stop in Motown at the mall to find a Verizon store to fix it. We get to the mall and find the first Verizon where there was no Tech Department and was only directions to the Verizon that can actually help with my problem, on the other end of the mall. I am walking fast because Motown in general gives me an uneasy feeling recently, just full of too many memories to be comfortable with, and finally made it to Verizon II. I walk in and show them my issue to which i heard "That's really odd, I've never seen that before." Salesman brings me to the counter to see what can be done, it was out of warranty and i didn't have my own upgrade to use, but i got him to talk to his manager before trying to sell me a brand new phone for some outrageous sum of money, and he came back to tell me that what happened was a "warranty exception." In other words, what happened was so outrageous that they have never seen it before and is therefore not my fault. The problem is that it would cost me $50 to get the replacement. That's at least better than the hundreds a new phone would cost (and was refunded to my account by my step-dad). I take my new phone with zero contacts because the old phone was effectively an expensive brick now and could not have anything transferred from it, and walked to the exit of the mall. About 100 feet from the exit, i ran into the one thing i was afraid of, someone i know because of my ex. Not just someone she kinda knew and i met because of her, but of course it was her best friend. Awesome right? So she sees me and asks why i was there, i told the story and we talked briefly about her lack of iphone, even though she works at AT&T. Bishop, not knowing who the girl was, continued this conversation for FAR longer than i would've liked (about six and a half hours later) we left and continued to the Bay.
The rest of the drive was rather uneventful until we started towards the place we would be staying. My phone was on low battery and we tried to call his Aunt to get directions to their house, to which she, nor her daughter, nor her husband would answer the phone. His cousin was at work and was bad with directions so she couldn't tell us where to go, and the parents were asleep. We had to go to a 7-11 to use their plug and let my phone charge while waiting for a call from them. 3 packages of ハイーチュウ, (Hi-chew, a Japanese candy like Starbursts, with the most wonderful texture you can imagine) we got a call from his aunt who apologized for falling asleep. We finally got directions and headed over, setup our stuff and his cousin got off work and came home. We spent quite a few hours talking and making fun of Bishop and his poor choices in females before going to bed.
The next morning we all got up and headed to church, out in the park right by their nice little church building. It was a big music program that included the most mind-blowing version of How Great Is Our God, sung by a very talented family and all of the congregation. Oh and it might be helpful to note that Bishop's home church is a Black church. The drummer was a kid that couldn't have been any older than 14, and had more talent than most drummers you have ever seen. A few other groups came up, but none of them impressed me as much as the first. We also brought the hot weather with us, it was a wildly inappropriate 100 degrees there, which is seasonally ridiculous. After haystacks and more sweating, we headed back to the house, and then over to another one of Bishop's family's house. We stayed there for quite a while before looking for some sort of food item, and ended up not getting food, but getting some super secret Jamba Juice. We got a Strawberry Shortcake (not very good) and a Sour Patch Kid (delicious, made with a white gummy, minus mango and something else, sub blueberries and lemonade). We then went to Game stop next door and Bishop had a seriously extended conversation with the most obnoxious female that ever lived. We walked over to the Starbucks that his cousin worked at, and waited for a half hour, then decided to walk around because we still had a while until she got off work. We were walking towards In-N-Out and i pointed to a lamp post and said "Wouldn't it be awesome if there was a cache right under there?" then nearly walked past it before Bishop said "Yeah, might as well check." When i lifted it up, guess what i found? Did you guess a cache? Wouldn't that make a great story? There actually was a cache! It was Epic! we signed the log and i took out a Bicycle brand Die and the next morning, left the only tracking bug we had with us. After talking with Bishop;s cousin and her co-workers, we got kicked out and waited for her, went home, and went to bed.
The next morning we got up, drove his cousin to work, then took off toward Oakland, and after exploring much of Berkeley, Oakland, and its outlying areas, we found our destination, and then headed over to Frisco and JapanTown. We walked up and down the mall area, bought a few things, and had a nice lunch at a small place that has handmade noodles (Papa Bishop had Chicken Katsu, Bishop had Yaki Udon, and I had Zaru Udon). We also grabbed a few more sweets and candy to enjoy later, Melon bread, more Hi-chew, and Almond Crush Pocky. A few more stores later and we headed over to New People, the brand new pop culture museum of sorts and took a look at what they had to offer, the sculptures in red, black, and white were my favorite. Soon after that, we were on our way home after a long and fun weekend.
The last event hasn't actually happened yet, but will be occurring this weekend. I will be heading off to Pismo with my grandma, grandpa, uncle, aunt, and two cousins, where we will be meeting my mom, step-dad, and other assorted family members for a family re-union/four hundred and twenty third wedding anniversary. We will see how that all goes, it should be great, but i haven't seen my aunt, uncle, or cousins in years. This part is for you Bishop, a favor to ask. Would you mind grabbing me after I'm done with class at 11 and driving me home so i can grab my clothes, then over to my grandma's house between 12 and 1ish? (and if possible, over to State to grab those bottles of wine before i head out of town?)
I think that is actually all i can possibly hope to write in two sittings, and its nearly time to get ready for bed and lay down with some Kitchen Confidential before falling asleep and waking up for school tomorrow.
