jonocorp

Damn. I'm getting really bad at this.

I spent my Saturday with a bunch of my best friends. One set of friends and I saw "Inception." In addition to be a good movie, it also looked amazing. I rarely praise special effects, but it was done well and tastefully in the movie. It could've went the way of "The Matrix" in terms of craziness, and I'm glad it didn't.

Shortly after the movie and pho, I picked up some treats to give to my best friend and his wife that's living in the IE. Hot as heck over there. The treats almost melted between the car and front door. Many beers and a nap later, we discussed a lot about life. It seems like 2010 is the year where everyone is being hitched, expecting (or had already), and being plain different.

I hung out with black Mr2 Monday and after class and had a couple of delightful chats.

Lyrics after the jump...

This day just drained the energy away from me. I couldn't wait to get out of work, I couldn't wait to finish June's walks, and I couldn't concentrate in class. At this moment, I'm blanking out on what to write next. I feel like a zombie again.

My neck/shoulder has been really stiff and really ruining my mobility. I somehow hoped to crack my neck or rotate my shoulder in a way where it magikally heals itself, but it hasn't yet. I smell like jow.

The weekend is coming up and I'm excited to hang out with some great folk and having a good time.

Time to reset.

I'll blame the heat for the lack of updates. I'll also blame the past vacation I had that made me a little lazy to write. Regardless, I need to get back into the game.

Mike and I hit up the UCB theater in Hollywood to hopefully catch Craig Robinson talk on Mark Maron's WTF podcast. He didn't show because he was filming Hot Tub Time Machine 4, 5, and 6 apparently. Walking out of the theater I bumped into a recurring character from "The Office." It's weird to see him out of a suit. After the show we went to Blue Palms and grabbed some food and beers. Fries with truffle oil is delicious. My mouth was stinging because of the habanero mustard. UCB's midnight shows are always free so went back and watched a lame improv troupe. Good for them for trying, though.

There was something about the UCB theater that I felt enamored about. The neighborhood was vibrant and the theater was intimate. There isn't any doubt that I'll be back again. I was never a theater geek, but I can change for the UCB.

I tried to hang out for JAB's party, but he was taking forever to show up and I decided to leave. I made it up to him the next day and we hit up the Hollywood Bowl to see my Hollywood ex-wife and The Swell Season (a.k.a. the couple from the movie "Once"). Thanks for the tickets, Steve. It was a bit hard to take at some point because I was listening to both those bands at the same time I was going to some bummer moments in my life. I swear I have no idea how we finished a bottle of Jim Bean. We went to Canters afterwards where I had a pastrami and chopped liver sandwich with a bowl of pickles. Hmm... chopped liver and pickles.

On Monday, Black MR2 and I went to get some food and super shaved ice and chatted for a while. That was some good shaved ice. I prefer the condensed milk over the brown sugar, though. Whatever, still awesome. We felt bad that we closed the place down.

So I got lazy writing because I was on vacation last week. It was my burn off vacation days because my anniversary is coming up and I didn't take a lick of work off. Another reason I didn't write is because I wasn't exactly sure what I should write. Even since Friday till today, so many things seemed to be changing.

Tuesday. Tuesday, I was feeling relieved that I didn't have to work. My sister and I hung out for lunch and went to Langer's Deli where we split the #19 and #88. Damn, that #19, just so good. Best pastrami I've had at this time.

Wednesday. I woke up with a serious craving for a decent breakfast. Thanks to Yelp, I had the most delightful breakfast at Julienne in San Marino. The green omelet had more feta cheese than I would like, but it totally hit the spot. The coffee was good. Even though I finished my breakfast, I sat and read a couple of chapters from the book I kinda ignored but want to finish. One more cup of coffee and I was ready to tackle more errands.

Thursday was just chilling. I chilled and let my body re-cooperate before I got my ass handled in class. It's a learning experience and it's a whole new experience. Must... get... better.

Friday was the day where things changed it up. If I went to the beach like I wanted to, I wouldn't have met black Mr2. The cloudy skies and laziness to erect my bike rack deterred me from going to the beach. I puttered around the computer trying to find a used folding bike that I could purchase from Craigslist cash for cheap. When i couldn't find one, I went to the streets and straight to a bike shop. After perusing through some really choice bikes, I realized that money was an issue and I left bike-less. A few doors down I went to the comic shop and felt overwhelmed by what I've missed since I stopped collecting and reading (I have been reading some recently. More on that below).

Back to black Mr2. If I had went to the beach, I would've stayed till late chilling with some seafood and beers. Instead I walked June a teeny bit earlier than I would have normally and saw black Mr2 pass by. I continued to walk June without knowing that the Mr2 would make a U-turn and say "hi." We chatted a little through the weekend and hung out Monday night. It's hard to comment on what's happening because I'm still not caught up on what I should be thinking.

Everyday of vacation I woke up at the same time I usually do when I would go to work but I didn't have to drag myself out of bed. It felt great.

Happy Birthday, rjk. Thanks for being awesome. The burger is going to be amazing, but if it isn't, we'll find something better.

Oh, "Old Man Logan" was a fun read, and the Scott Pilgrim books are so damn fun and amazing. I can't wait till volume 6 and the movie. Damn Envy, yay, Ramona.

What would've been the perfect start to a weekend on Friday, wasn't. My mom yet again left the gate wide open and June ran away. During work I kept getting phone calls from people around the neighborhood saying they saw her and some were trying to get a hold of her. Right before I left work, I get this last phone call saying that they caught her and I said to them many "thank yous" and told them to jam her into the yard and close the gate. And I missed another Friday class.

I finally saw Toy Story 3 on Saturday. It was perfect. I think the best movie I've seen all year. I tried not to cry. I teared up really big but there were no tears down the cheek. On the way back, a guy cut through two lanes to get to the left turn lane and if it wasn't for good brakes, we would've hit him. It was close.

A few hours later and I headed to Michelle's place to get ready for her house party. I volunteered my services and cooked for the party. When I heard that I was doing it at first, I was excited, but as the party drew closer I was getting nervous. It wasn't so much about the food, but if I could pull it off smoothly that was getting me nervous. That same nervousness also excited me when I was doing last minute shopping.

The menu (if I can remember it all) in order of appearance:

Veggie platter (Michelle made)
Cucumber salad
Spiced edemame (Michelle made)
Bruschetta
Roasted seasoned potatoes (Michelle made)
Caramelized onion, pear, and goat cheese pizza
Vegetarian pizza
Couscous
Prosciutto and cheese pizza
The unknown 4th pizza
Chorizo, mushroom, and cheese pizza
A repeat of the onion, pear, and goat cheese pizza (I had to do something about leftovers)
Fresh cut watermelon

People said the onion/pear pizza was their favorite. That was the first pizza I thought about and felt somewhat proud of the idea of adding pear. I had fun cooking again. It really took my mind off things.

On the big J-4th, my brother invited us to his place for a carb-less BBQ. It was carb-less because he didn't feel like buying buns or anything other than meat.

When I got home I watched UFC 116 and saw some really good matches. This one didn't disappoint.

Yay! I'm on vacation. Finally.

I saw the documentary film Food Inc. the other day. It was a good film. A tale of the food industry's conglomerate greed manipulating farmers. money, and government to manipulate the American consumer.

Total senioritis kicking in right now.

Jebus, I'm so exhausted. I sometimes feel like I'm going to collapse but I keep standing and moving. My vacation is coming up and I'm super stoked.

I'm testing out this new dog food for June. It's from the Blue Buffalo brand of pet food. Their claim to fame is that real meat is the first ingredient in their pet foods. They also have real(ish?) vegetables in the food. June seems to like it so far, and she's a pretty picky eater. The first bowl of food I gave her, I mixed in a half portion of the new food with the old food and she was digging in. I've never seen her dig into her food like that before with dog food. I got her a small bag of the duck dog food and it's not terrible. You can kinda taste the duck.

I just acquired the beloved Japanese anime "Akira" and am awaiting to watch this acclaimed film. I remember my oldest brother had the VHS and laserdisc version of the movie and he wouldn't let me watch it because I was "too young." It always peeked my interested because I always wondered what I was missing. Since then I had to psych myself thinking if I was "adult" enough to watch it. Heaven knows I've watched weirder stuff since then.

You know what else he hid from me? Leisure Suit Larry. I'm gonna get an emulator and play that damn game, too. I have a feeling that it'll never be my Monkey Island replacement because MI is perfect. Fricken' perfect.

There was a guy in high school who I got him hooked on the few things I was super passionate about in HS, "The hitchhiker's guide to the universe" books and the Lucas Arts adventure game series which included the Monkey Island series, Day of the Tentacle, Sam and Max, Maniac Mansion, and Full Throttle games. He used to call me for tips on how to pass a certain puzzle in those games.

Jab and I went to a party on Friday and I totally crashed early. My four hour sleep nights couldn't handle the rebellion. The pre-party was sick.

Happy birthday to my sister on Saturday. For her present I bought her dinner at F.O. and she totally liked the burger despite the traffic and the seating situation.

Happy father's day. We took our dad to dim sum on Sunday and I'm glad he had an insider give us a table early or we'd be standing forever outside of 888. It was nice to go to dim sum again. We haven't gone in a long time. I miss going, watching the carts move, and having the chicken feet. Hmm... feet.

Work stinks. Good thing I have a vacation soon.

Although today was a pretty heavy physical day at work, I'm not feeling it now like I did a few hours ago. I darn well know that I didn't recover just yet.

You would think that I'd be getting sick of my minimalist meals but it seems to be a little interesting. I did want some chili fries for lunch, though. Maybe I should take one day out of the week to food-splurge.

I didn't do much this weekend. Hung out with the fellas, saw the new A-Team movie, and went to class. The movie was okay up until the end where you're watching the most insanely dumb final fight scene. It was nothing but a pipe bomb of "WTF, did they really think that's believable?"

On Sunday I ditched an invite to a car show down in Murrieta. I would've totally have gone if it wasn't so darn far. I couldn't make it due to time, but I'll try to make it next time.

C'mon payday. Get here sooner.

Hi, just checking in. I haven't much to say mostly because there's nothing really to talk about.

I've been trying to eat kinda minimalist lately just to see what my limits are. I don't think I'm going to go all David Blaine with it all, but we'll see. Does he still do magic anymore? I'm getting close to perfecting the hard-boiled egg. That's exciting to me. Eggciting.

I'm tired. I need to take my vacation soon. Hopefully, that'll recharge my batteries. I have this sneaking feeling that while relaxing, I'll be prone to buy some fun stuff.

There's a bunch of things happening this weekend, but nothing really "wow!" Who knows... maybe it'll "wow!" me when it happens.

Another fun short weekend. A movie and a trip to IE was the highlights. I was/am extremely tired but I choose to chug forward. Man, I could go for some more burgers. I was surrounded by my best friends. Thanks for that, guys.

I'm tightening the belt a little more just to see how I can tighten even more. Yeah, yeah. I don't really tighten that much, but I probably should.

Summer is here and I'm looking forward to sweating off more poundage.

I feel like I'm trying to climb out of a hole that gets deeper and deeper. No, I'm not talking money this time.

Something deep inside me was telling me that something amazingly good should happen today, but alas, it didn't. Well, I'm here, aren't I? That's something to celebrate. Who knows what could've happened to me. I still can't shake it. It felt like something just mind-blowing should've happened and things should've fell into place.

Do things fall into place or do we have to make things happen? I've gotten in my own close calls, so luck does exist.

I'm not the one you hate, okay, so just shut up.

The weekend should've been a total chill session but I busted my hump for a bbq my brother was supposed to set up on Memorial Day. I'll touch on that later. Class on Friday was closed for the holiday, so I missed yet another week.

Saturday felt like the weekend that should've been. I chilled with Bill and saw a movie and ate pho. Afterwards I finally got my car washed. I couldn't catch up with Shaun because he wasn't working that day. He was studying. I'm still surprised how well they cleaned the interior. So much dog fur.

I had lunch with my brother on Sunday and we checked out some folding bikes. One was super nice but cost as much as my last car. That particular bike was like the Rolls Royce of folding bikes compared to the other ones we saw. It set the standard pretty high. We later went to the market after my hopes of picking up a folding bike was dashed. I spent the rest of the Sunday and Monday morning prepping food and cleaning the grill. The theme for this bbq apparently was "kabobs... or food on sticks." That was a ton of work. At least I attempted to make a cake on the grill. New things, new challenges, eh?

I had a dream last night despite the short time I was actually asleep. I was sitting and you looked at me and asked, "are you mad at me?"

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