Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Six Flags: Candy Mountain
My neck hurts now, but only when I extend my neck and look up. Yesterday was a great trip to Six Flags on a near perfect day: cloudy and cool, neither too hot nor too cold, and lines took no more than fifteen minutes to get front seats. We left for our trip around 6 and went to Starbux where all three drinks were made wrong (one with whip when ordered without, and two with some obscenely burnt coffee), but that didn't get us down or ruin the trip. After a massive game of unorganized leap frog with many cars and the beast struggling over the grapevine, and the world's creepiest guy ever (his car had many satan on board stickers, skull decorations, minnie mouse dolls, and some awful women's over-sized sunglasses), we made it to the park before it opened. With the extra time we decided to go to Albertsons and find breakfast. My breakfast consisted of some delicious goat cheese with garlic herb foccacia bread, before being dropped off at the gates to buy tickets.
We started our first circuit by skipping X2 the first time around and instead starting with Tatsu, twice actually. Tatsu is such and epic rollercoaster, the flying position through twists, turns, flips is amazing and feels much longer than most others in a very good way. Oh, the front flip might be the single most exhilarating experience imaginable, its a HUGE flip, one that is the most enjoyable part of the entire park for me. The only downside to the entire ride is waiting to be let off the ride you are stuck in the flying position for a small time and its not the most comfortable. From there we went on to Deja Vu, which is the one ride that scares the hell out of me no matter how many times i ride it. The beginning of just completely vertical hanging until dropping at the speed of light, flipping and spinning faster than you can even keep up with before being pulled up backwards and making the same drop and doing everything in reverse is just killer. We settled ourselves down by riding Terminator the Ride, which is no walk in the park itself. The ride seems much more chill and easy when the first drop doesnt seem to happen, but dont be fooled, just around the corner is a nice sized drop and some speed. Flying through the waiting area is a really cool feature and all the tunnels make for a nice ride. The only complaint was that the speakers in the carts were not so wonderful and not equipped to handle the bass in the into music. With our newly settled brains and bodies, we adventured to Riddler's Revenge, which apart from the uncomfortable seat, is a good ride for flipping in an inventive way to ride. Standing throughout the ride lets you feel a bit more free while you can bed and straighten your legs to make you feel more in control. We stuck with the comic theme by going over to Batman which is an under-appreciated ride, it is very short and over quickly, but is full of thrills, mostly after the slowdown. After the platform to slow your speed slightly you go through two corkscrews and then fly through a much tighter one that is amazingly fast and powerful. Riding this twice in a row is the way to go, with no one in the queue, we were able to repeat it back to back making it the length of most other coasters. We followed the circle around to Scream! where the "M" flipscrew is quite impressive, you go vertical expecting a backflip, but at the peak you make a small turn, and turn again before making the downward finish of the flip, making an "M" shape. Its a fast, thrill packed ride, but must have mind erasing powers, because its hard to remember what happened after you're done. Our next stop was Goliath, and after a small break to let our brains re-center in out skulls, we made the trek to the line. The extremely huge drop is a major attraction to this ride, and it fulfills its guarantee of being more than ridiculously high. After the drop there are some nice turns and drops before you slow and make a very dangerous feeling hanging turn and going through two circles with tremendous G's.
Afterwords we left the park to get some lunch and take a nap in the van (the Albertson's shopping center was very handy as it contained both a Panda Express and Subway to accommodate everyone). We returned to the park and started by going straight to X2. In the realm of epic ideas for roller coasters, This one pushes the limits of what should be allowed before minds explode in its awesomeness. There is nothing more intensely ridiculously amazing than X and its update to become X2. The idea is unfathomable, a great roller coaster if you were stationary the entire time, made even more ludicrously mind bending by having a seat that can rotate 360 degrees foreward and backward. To describe what this is like is nearly impossible, i couldn't even begin to guess what actually happens to you throughout the ride, all i know is that the audio in the beginning of the ride is hilarious (but needs to have the counting before the drop to be changed into "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor"). After that,there are a few things that you can actually comprehend: this is the greatest feeling you have ever felt, the fire was a great blast of heat, and the sadness that it ended. Its also nice that the seat cradles you in a very comfortable position while you wait to get off the ride. This had completed the entire Thrill ride circuit through the park and we made the decision to repeat our favorites. We re-visited Goliath, Deja Vu, (settled down again with Terminator) Tatsu three times in a row, then finished on X2 to finish the night. It was an unbelievable day in the park for a great price (half price coupons made it wonderful).
We started our first circuit by skipping X2 the first time around and instead starting with Tatsu, twice actually. Tatsu is such and epic rollercoaster, the flying position through twists, turns, flips is amazing and feels much longer than most others in a very good way. Oh, the front flip might be the single most exhilarating experience imaginable, its a HUGE flip, one that is the most enjoyable part of the entire park for me. The only downside to the entire ride is waiting to be let off the ride you are stuck in the flying position for a small time and its not the most comfortable. From there we went on to Deja Vu, which is the one ride that scares the hell out of me no matter how many times i ride it. The beginning of just completely vertical hanging until dropping at the speed of light, flipping and spinning faster than you can even keep up with before being pulled up backwards and making the same drop and doing everything in reverse is just killer. We settled ourselves down by riding Terminator the Ride, which is no walk in the park itself. The ride seems much more chill and easy when the first drop doesnt seem to happen, but dont be fooled, just around the corner is a nice sized drop and some speed. Flying through the waiting area is a really cool feature and all the tunnels make for a nice ride. The only complaint was that the speakers in the carts were not so wonderful and not equipped to handle the bass in the into music. With our newly settled brains and bodies, we adventured to Riddler's Revenge, which apart from the uncomfortable seat, is a good ride for flipping in an inventive way to ride. Standing throughout the ride lets you feel a bit more free while you can bed and straighten your legs to make you feel more in control. We stuck with the comic theme by going over to Batman which is an under-appreciated ride, it is very short and over quickly, but is full of thrills, mostly after the slowdown. After the platform to slow your speed slightly you go through two corkscrews and then fly through a much tighter one that is amazingly fast and powerful. Riding this twice in a row is the way to go, with no one in the queue, we were able to repeat it back to back making it the length of most other coasters. We followed the circle around to Scream! where the "M" flipscrew is quite impressive, you go vertical expecting a backflip, but at the peak you make a small turn, and turn again before making the downward finish of the flip, making an "M" shape. Its a fast, thrill packed ride, but must have mind erasing powers, because its hard to remember what happened after you're done. Our next stop was Goliath, and after a small break to let our brains re-center in out skulls, we made the trek to the line. The extremely huge drop is a major attraction to this ride, and it fulfills its guarantee of being more than ridiculously high. After the drop there are some nice turns and drops before you slow and make a very dangerous feeling hanging turn and going through two circles with tremendous G's.
Afterwords we left the park to get some lunch and take a nap in the van (the Albertson's shopping center was very handy as it contained both a Panda Express and Subway to accommodate everyone). We returned to the park and started by going straight to X2. In the realm of epic ideas for roller coasters, This one pushes the limits of what should be allowed before minds explode in its awesomeness. There is nothing more intensely ridiculously amazing than X and its update to become X2. The idea is unfathomable, a great roller coaster if you were stationary the entire time, made even more ludicrously mind bending by having a seat that can rotate 360 degrees foreward and backward. To describe what this is like is nearly impossible, i couldn't even begin to guess what actually happens to you throughout the ride, all i know is that the audio in the beginning of the ride is hilarious (but needs to have the counting before the drop to be changed into "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor"). After that,there are a few things that you can actually comprehend: this is the greatest feeling you have ever felt, the fire was a great blast of heat, and the sadness that it ended. Its also nice that the seat cradles you in a very comfortable position while you wait to get off the ride. This had completed the entire Thrill ride circuit through the park and we made the decision to repeat our favorites. We re-visited Goliath, Deja Vu, (settled down again with Terminator) Tatsu three times in a row, then finished on X2 to finish the night. It was an unbelievable day in the park for a great price (half price coupons made it wonderful).
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Feelin' on Your Blog-What?
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.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Missing Demeter...
I miss the still of the silence...
I remember standing at the window and just staring out at the lights before going to bed. Sometimes i would open the window and feel the cool air while looking out. I don't know why, but it was generally raining or at least cloudy and grey. Whether it was a flat bed, or a really rigid couch, it was the most comfortable place i could imagine. It was a wonderful house, full of great memories, and great people. Scraping up a rotten pumpkin with your grandma while your mom was sick. Failed banana pancakes, chocolate muffins, pizza pockets, and leftover Chinese food. Getting up early, driving to work, setting up stations, pouring cedar oil, fed ex deliveries. cleaning up the wax, dropping at least one of every color, cutting up gross things, making Starbucks runs (lightning fast), and cutting up even more disgusting things. Reading Ironside, listening to political nonsense, hearing new gossip, drawing tattoos, and getting kicked out. Watching Across the Universe, dinners with Dr. Nightmare (still not over the political one), and a perfect ping-pong record. Campfire in Tracy, a mean (albeit funny) prank, sugar cookies, cider, a night walk, shared swings, and being unfit for service. More than enough time in the bathroom getting ready, the whistle of the box opening, picking colors and waiting for straighteners to heat up. Somehow the keys were always lost, even though there were a thousand key chains on it. The purse ripping, the midnight showing, the diseased cushion as a souvenir. Asian lettuce wraps, recording memories, and the failed gangsta pose. Hours of driving, endless train rides, released convicts, a crazy hugging woman, Madera, Merced, Turlock, conversations with Teddy. Tenacious D, Avril, Hammer time, traffic jams, missed trains, dinner with the family. Wendy's, headaches, spare bedroom, Borders, star gazing, playground, following the stream, dance party on the stage, being locked in and bribing the clean up crew, getting lost and driving to the 99. Sushi, edamame, poker, going out drinking (if it werent for a headache). Dove Dark Chocolate and Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Falling asleep to SFK, and I stole your luck. I hold on to these memories, and rememeber all the fun. I had a wonderful time with you, and I'm sorry that it didnt work out in the end. I hope I didnt hurt you, and I hope you can forgive me if I did. Your family was so nice to me, and everyone was wonderful. I really am thankful for everything that happened, because it was exactly what I wanted and needed. I wish we talked, and I wish it wouldnt be a problem, but I understand why it would be. I hope everything works out perfectly for you, and I hope DC is everything you deserve. I want you to know that you deserve the best, and that I was and am not that, and for that I'm sorry.
I remember standing at the window and just staring out at the lights before going to bed. Sometimes i would open the window and feel the cool air while looking out. I don't know why, but it was generally raining or at least cloudy and grey. Whether it was a flat bed, or a really rigid couch, it was the most comfortable place i could imagine. It was a wonderful house, full of great memories, and great people. Scraping up a rotten pumpkin with your grandma while your mom was sick. Failed banana pancakes, chocolate muffins, pizza pockets, and leftover Chinese food. Getting up early, driving to work, setting up stations, pouring cedar oil, fed ex deliveries. cleaning up the wax, dropping at least one of every color, cutting up gross things, making Starbucks runs (lightning fast), and cutting up even more disgusting things. Reading Ironside, listening to political nonsense, hearing new gossip, drawing tattoos, and getting kicked out. Watching Across the Universe, dinners with Dr. Nightmare (still not over the political one), and a perfect ping-pong record. Campfire in Tracy, a mean (albeit funny) prank, sugar cookies, cider, a night walk, shared swings, and being unfit for service. More than enough time in the bathroom getting ready, the whistle of the box opening, picking colors and waiting for straighteners to heat up. Somehow the keys were always lost, even though there were a thousand key chains on it. The purse ripping, the midnight showing, the diseased cushion as a souvenir. Asian lettuce wraps, recording memories, and the failed gangsta pose. Hours of driving, endless train rides, released convicts, a crazy hugging woman, Madera, Merced, Turlock, conversations with Teddy. Tenacious D, Avril, Hammer time, traffic jams, missed trains, dinner with the family. Wendy's, headaches, spare bedroom, Borders, star gazing, playground, following the stream, dance party on the stage, being locked in and bribing the clean up crew, getting lost and driving to the 99. Sushi, edamame, poker, going out drinking (if it werent for a headache). Dove Dark Chocolate and Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Falling asleep to SFK, and I stole your luck. I hold on to these memories, and rememeber all the fun. I had a wonderful time with you, and I'm sorry that it didnt work out in the end. I hope I didnt hurt you, and I hope you can forgive me if I did. Your family was so nice to me, and everyone was wonderful. I really am thankful for everything that happened, because it was exactly what I wanted and needed. I wish we talked, and I wish it wouldnt be a problem, but I understand why it would be. I hope everything works out perfectly for you, and I hope DC is everything you deserve. I want you to know that you deserve the best, and that I was and am not that, and for that I'm sorry.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Leap of Faith
I think this may actually be the most controversial thing I ever say in this blog, but I just watched a movie that opened my eyes to something I've never seen before. I just finished watching Leap of Faith starring Steve Martin from the way back year of 1992. It is the story of a faith healer and his troupe of con-men, showing some of the backstage acts and how they create these "miracles." Now up until tonight, every time I saw Peter Popoff, Benny Hinn, or Don Stewart, my immediate reaction was "Satan." Not only do they resemble how you could conceivably picture Satan, but that they willingly trick and deceive people out of their money and belongings by faking miracles and wonderful sights. No more will I actually see them this way though, the movie really made me see something totally different about it, and in the end, one question remains. Does the end justify the means? These faith healers reach millions of people at a time, every time their infomercials come on, and every time they hold events in every city they visit. By seeing what they believe to be a miracle, millions of people find faith and religion because of it, and may contribute the the numbers of saved individuals. Now, what separates a Faith Healer from a Minister, a Priest, or a Pastor? I think the answer is very slight, in the end, all churches use separate means of deception, and I don't think that there really is one single guiltless church body in existence. In every body, there will be disagreement between each other, the Catholics will be molesters and condemners, the SDAs will be a cult, and the Mormons will be the ones that use their own story in their own book. The questions is: is it wrong to show something untrue to people, when you know that it will inspire faith? Now, I'm not saying that Popoff, Hinn, Stewart, or any other crooked church leaders are good people, because they profit greatly from all of these people that believe in them. But if you were to do this as a non-profit organization, would it be wrong? To put on a show, where you have inspirational music, where you show people the joys of what could happen with faith (because anything is possible with the Lord), and you make no promises of real miracles, but instead make it more like a play/skit/act, would it be right? Would you have to announce that no real miracles will be performed, to make it right? Or does the end (a multitude of new believers) justify the means (a show of "miracles" or the use of fear or claims of the truth)?
Sunday, May 3, 2009
The CCC of the CCC
Barney and I have come up with an idea and a general plan for the newest adventure we will be embarking on. Even though it shouldn't be called the Collage of Collegians in Churches of the Central California Conference, its all I have come up with at the moment, and as you will see very soon, I feel like making abbreviations. We will (as you may have surmised from the title) be creating a collegiate group that has no singular ties to any church, but instead is a collage (or melting pot, depending on what you would prefer to call it) of all the area churches. We also are just the ones beginning and organizing this, we are not the leaders, because we don't want it to be a Leader/follower relationship, but a group of friends that can meet together and study the bible together, and find truth based on what they find instead of what they are told. We are just beginning the planning process and haven't formed anything solid yet, but we will be having a brainstorming session to get as many details as possible down. As reluctant as I feel about this idea, I don't think I can deny the idea anymore. The sign from the Big Guy Upstairs has been given and its has become an undeniable requirement to start this up. After this past church service, Tyrone and I were standing in the parking lot with The Red Baron and her friend 30 Credits, when we noticed a few people we had never seen before and wondered about. 12 seconds later, the guy we had seen and wondered about had approached us and asked, "Do you guys have an older youth group that does anything together?" Clear enough for you? I don't think it gets any clearer to me.
This has also inspired another idea that i will credit to Barney, but has been improved by my own brain. There was a movement in the Nerdfighter circles called BEDA, which stands for Blog Every Day, April. It was started by the author Maureen Johnson and quickly caught fire. In the spirit of this, I have taken the idea Barney gave me which was to wake up every morning and do a solo bible study for a week, and turn it into BSEMM or Bible Study Every Morning, May, starting on the 4th, but if I make it all the way through May, then I may end up HayleyGHoover-ing and making it BSEMEA (Bible Study Every Morning Ever Almost). This idea was spawned by the need of strengthening our own faith before attempting to help strengthen other's faith. So thats the Dizzle for Rizzle, it has been writ and therefore I must accomplish it or have to admit that I failed.
This has also inspired another idea that i will credit to Barney, but has been improved by my own brain. There was a movement in the Nerdfighter circles called BEDA, which stands for Blog Every Day, April. It was started by the author Maureen Johnson and quickly caught fire. In the spirit of this, I have taken the idea Barney gave me which was to wake up every morning and do a solo bible study for a week, and turn it into BSEMM or Bible Study Every Morning, May, starting on the 4th, but if I make it all the way through May, then I may end up HayleyGHoover-ing and making it BSEMEA (Bible Study Every Morning Ever Almost). This idea was spawned by the need of strengthening our own faith before attempting to help strengthen other's faith. So thats the Dizzle for Rizzle, it has been writ and therefore I must accomplish it or have to admit that I failed.
Idear
This commercial really inspired an idea in me, and its amazing that a 30 second commercial and do that to someone (the fact that i cant wait to be the person that creates that inspiration in another is a whole different blog). If you really think about this commercial, it would be great to have this green line for every aspect of our lives. Now, if this line led you in the right way every time, and never led you to making a mistake, it would make a new question appear. If you knew how to never make a mistake and go through life following this line, would you? If you never made mistakes, then all of your ex-mates would be gone, so while you may not have experienced heart-break, you also wouldnt have experienced all the fun, joy, and rush of emotion that came with being attached to them. You also would lose all things that you learned about with or because of them, you would lose the clothes that you found with them, and the places youve seen and visited together. It is possible that you would have found these on your own, but its more likely that you wouldn't. This would also eliminate all of the adventures that you had with your friends that got you into any level of trouble (be it legal or just parental) and all situations that could get you in trouble (that you may have narrowly escaped getting in trouble for). The commercial also shows that you are free to walk away from this line whenever you want, and the line will still show you where you should be, but it doesnt show you what happens if you make a mistake by wandering from the line. It may be as easy as those GPS voices saying "Recalculating," or it may not alter your path at all, and just be the line that from that moment foreward has determined how to get there and there is only one path to it whether you stray and come back or never leave it at all. Its easier to say the second would be most likely, and creates a better scenario to talk about. Now knowing that straying from the path, and the path would continue as if nothing ever happened, would you want that path to lead you? Would it make it easier to keep on the right track, and would you still stray from it, knowing it wasnt the right thing to do? There is only one problem to think about with this path, can you stray so much for so long, that you lose sight of that path, and what if you want to go back to it?
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