jonocorp

Out to Verdugo on Friday and it felt like I was part of an Ink Stains comic. I need to find a way to be in his crew.

When I first arrived at the big temple I used to pass driving home from college, I tensed up feeling like I don't belong. But that was my body talking, my mind felt calm. The next thing I knew is that I was giving incense and I made a prayer to nothing. The longer I stayed the more I realized that it was just a place and it set me completely at ease. A few of us got to know some new friends Tim and Steph and ventured outside and sipped tea through giant straws and ate snacks.

After a day at the temple, a trip to downtown was in store where I yet again crashed another birthday party for another person I do not know. Afterwards JAB and I got more gin and tonics. It helped settle what weirdo things were (and still are) going on in my stomach.

Sunday continued my exhaustion. I still wake up in odd morning hours not feeling tired at all.

Speaking of not sleeping, today was one of those days where I wanted to sleep all morning, but my emergency alarm went off and I couldn't believe that I got that far. If only I could've buried my head in my pillow and tighten my grip on my blanket (no comforters here).

I'm hungry. What am I going to eat tomorrow?

It's been a while, but nothing too exciting happening in my part of my world. I've watched tons of movies lately and am running out of ideas to watch next. The last movie I saw was "Shutter Island." I don't care that people in Rotten Tomatoes say it's an okay movie to watch, it was boring and way predictable. Its twist, the ones that the commercials are hyping, is weak and unmemorable. We talked about it for like four seconds and just forgot about it. We talked more about going to the new Sonic for lunch. Do I know my way around Duarte? Yeah, I kinda do.

More vacation talks. Circumnavigating the globe and visiting various countries seems like a weird thing to do but also very exciting. Vegas will be fun, no doubt, too.

I found Roark through Yelp and the 5-star ratings got me to visit a part of South LA I rarely visit. It's a art store that seems to be popular with USC art and architecture students and it shows. Tons of paint and pencils, but very little ink and sketch materials.

I oddly had a lengthy conversation with Michelle yesterday regarding fashion. Isn't that weird and awesome?

I took Michelle to Animal for her birthday and she surprised me with some dynamite news. She got engaged! I'm so excited about it. She deserves it so much and he's a stand up dude. I'd be mad if he wasn't. The way and place he popped the question was perfect if you know her. Good job, man.

We ate tons. Poutine, pigs ears, rabbit, and veal washed down with a nice rose wine. We've known each other since we were little kids and the thought of eating a gourmet meal with wine and beer just floored me on the ride home. We've seen each others ups and downs in our lives and now I'm talking to her about wedding plans and children. Holy crap!

The Pack and I went to shoot pool on Saturday after bowling consecutive perfect games. Don't believe me? Ask Bill. He texted me to ask if I wanted to go bowling and I was going to say "no" but I somehow texted back, "yeah, cool."

I can't believe the weekend is over already. I'm not ready to go back to work. I need to tighten up the lunch budget. I've been good so far, but I need to step it up before I go to sin city. Where are you Rachel Jensen?

There's so many talks of Vegas trips lately. I hardly ever go to Vegas. The only times I went recently was those times I attended CES a few years back and that was for business, kinda, mostly. Now it seems like I'm going more in a month than I have in the last four years. There are some people who go for a brief trip away from it all, and those who go because they're bored, and then there are those who just are gamble-holics. This time it's for celebrations.

The new clothes I bought online came in yesterday and everything looks good and fits. The one item I was worried about sizing fit quite nicely. I wonder how and when I should ease it into my wardrobe.

I've been trying to knock out this cold completely. It's like 88% gone.

I spent Chinese New Years eve cooking most of the big dinner. Someone asked if I was going to have dumplings for New Years and I thought, "damn. That's a good idea" so I made dumplings. I sat down and cranked them out like I did when I was a kid.

On Sunday, I bumped into Grace while walking June. I haven't seen her in a while. Her dog likes to sniff June. Class was canceled so I took the opportunity to have a "Freaks and Geeks" marathon. When the show was on the air, I've only seen one episode and the same episode every time I tuned in. This time I buttoned down and watched them back to back. I have five more episodes left and it's a brilliant show.

I envied those who got Monday off because I was bored out of my skull at work.

It may be official. My throat hurts and it's probably not a 24 hour bug. I got some pho ga tonight hoping it'd be a miracle cure, but it wasn't strong enough.

I just bought me some new clothes online. It was a long time coming. I've been sporting the same shirt and pant combo + Chucks for a while. The t-shirts come and go, and the pants are usually jeans or Dickies so I welcome a nice change. I hope I don't have to do any returning because I hate returning stuff.

I hope some ideas pan out so I can do some brainstorming.

I'm starting to get settled into my new office. There's fresh paint and new tile. I'm still not sure what the big fuss is about but my bosses really wanted to make the office nice for me. Unlike my old office, this new one isn't just a pass-through to get to the warehouse. It has actual doors that I can close. How novel. I thought it was fun to rearrange the computers and printers to my liking. It was also fun to set up the computers. My definition of fun probably varies from yours. It's definitely quieter here. We finally have parking spaces near our offices! My car is right in front of my door. Yabba dabba do.

My throat is feeling a bit on the not-so-good side. I hope it doesn't escalate into something worse.

Straight after work on Friday I had to meet with my money guy and talk about my future. Weird. Straight out of that I met up with JAB and his crew for some drinks and a burger. What I like about JAB is that he'll converse with you about almost any topic. His brothers are funny.

This new-found gang of old buddies met up for prime rib and chilling on Saturday. A lot of jokes got thrown around and we had a good laugh at Dead Eye's expense. He's a weird character. He totally notices the difference between Coke and Pepsi and will accept no substitutions. We later jetted off to play some pool and talk trash. I haven't played a lot of pool since college and it definitely showed. Dead Eyes complained a lot.

Spent Super Bowl Sunday at Brian's house and enjoyed a very exclusive party. I gorged myself on baby carrots and lemon grass ribs and Stella. I think I ate my weight in chocolate cake. That was a task to finish, although a little piece would be really good with my coffee right now. My classic iPod had tons of great songs on the way to his house, but on the long trip back home my iPod was choosing a lot of stuff I was not in the mood for.

Puppets are fun.

I'm at my brother's pad right now just chilling and watching "The Hurt Locker."

Friday was a weird night. I'm not going to let that happen again. What started off as a night of some not-so-good short films ended up in party crashing and pizza. You think that should sound awesome, but it was really weird. I heard the pizza was good, but I don't remember it.

The robots played in Little Tokyo yesterday and there were so many familiar faces all around. Hugs and bro hugs all around.

Whoa. I'm feeling bored and restless. I should've hit up Mike to hang out but I was feeling lazy.

The new iPad came out and it's either love it or hate it, and I'm leaning towards the hate it. It's just not anything special... yet. It's just hype. I'd rather take a tablet with Android or another better OS on it for the money.

Beejesus, I wish I knew people who were up in my ungodly hour so it'd give me something to do, but I guess the quiet is good enough.

It's taken me a while to listen to Phoenix's album, "Wolfgang Amedeus" because their most recognizable track plays constantly on Cadillac commercials. If you've seen one, it's probably their song "1901." If you're not already sick of hearing that song on TV, then you'll be in for a treat with their album. I like "Lasso." Not too many songs get me to move my feet like that song does.

I'm re-watching Mondays Chuck because Kristin Kreuk was super cute in it. I need a new Hollywood wife now that my last one is married.

Hamburgers for lunch and dinner is like the worst diet ever.

Lets talk about the weekend. JAB hit me up for drinks on Friday. He said that he needed civilization, but I think I needed it more, so I met him at the local pub. We bumped into Henry and Jen and I got razzed for not being part of the new flannel/grunge resurgence. Haha. Afterwards JAB and I went to get 3am burritos. It's been a while since I got one of those.

I hung out with my brother for lunch on Saturday and then it was off to see Old Mike, my old boss a few jobs ago. I helped him cross out something on his bucket list. We sat out on the patio overlooking the snow-capped mountains sipping on beers and whiskey. He never let a glass or bottle empty for long. I'd be more than proud to scatter his ashes.

Sunday was a little boring. After class I just went home and chilled with the super tv and super computer. Later that night my sister and I split a bottle of wine, talked trash, and ate chips and corn salsa. The jar said "spicy" but it wasn't anything close.

Still at work, and it's moving... very... very... slowly. A nice chat helped move the day along a little.

Last night after class I had my first "real" meal in at least a week. I had lost my appetite and was practically on a one meal diet. The definition of "meal" was questionable. At times it was just a banana or a pot of coffee. It varied. After class I hung out with Tongster at the ramen house and split a few pitchers. We ate and talked life in our own "philosophy for dummies" kind of way.

It's cold and I'm tired, but I also want to rage a little bit, but that would be against my New Years resolution.

I'm getting way better in changing a tire. While walking June this morning I saw a guy struggling with a flat tire. It was so bad that he didn't have the jack set up or anything. I tied up June to a fence, which she probably hated, and ten minutes later - the spare was on and he was ready to go. There goes the clean pants I was wearing. At least it wasn't raining. He probably won't remember me either.