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Sunday, May 10th, 2009
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11:16 pm - Word up.
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| Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
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10:10 pm - A man destined to drown can never burn
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If you didn't already know, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog episode 1 is now available on X-Box Live. Get on that shit.
I've been reading the book I got from the bargain bin at Borders. It's called The True Meaning Of Smekday and it's a little girl's recounting of the alien invasion of Earth (now Smekland). It's very funny in the tongue-and-cheek way it's written and it's satirical view of land occupation by invading forces. I also love that it's written in a manner that you could actually read it to your kid and they'd probably get a decent laugh out of it as well. It also doesn't hurt that one of the races of aliens are referred to as Gorgs and there are some great mini-comics in the book about said aliens. I need to find a way to scan them without destroying the book.
There's a possibility that school will be shut down for a week due Swine Flu. Apparently there's 1 confirmed case and 2 more possible infections. The school officials are waiting for the test results on the other two before shutting down, but if they do, that means I'll be out of work for a week. Hopefully I can pick up some hours at Portfolio if that happens, but I'm definitely planning on using this time to tear through Craigslist and find something new (and hopefully better). There's only so many times you can hear your friends and co-workers ask why you're still at your current job when "[I] can do so much better. [I] could be making twice as much and running a restaurant by now anywhere else." I think it's time to look into bigger and better.
The only potentially good new to come out of this school shutdown thing is that HR is looking into getting us paid for the "time off," since it'd be a forced closure and not sick or holiday time (which I don't get anyway). It'd be awesome if it happens, but considering the 49er Shops has over 3,000 employees, I'm not counting on it.
Depending on what my paycheck looks like and whether or not I have to take a week off without pay, I still want to buy tickets to the Yankees/Angels game in July. I might just have to reign back the $45 dollar seats in favor of more frugal pricing. I definitely, however, want to go up to Little Tokyo next Saturday. I realize I haven't had ramen since New Year's and I'd like to rectify this grievous error.
current mood:  gloomy
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| Thursday, April 23rd, 2009
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9:59 pm - What about your friends?
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Shitty day that made me appreciate how much I love you guys:
Work was shitty, blah blah, come home and play video games until Steph gets home and we head out to pick up Francis so we can meet up with one of Francis's friend's friends for their birthday dinner at Hennesey's in Seal Beach (free dinner the week of your b-day). I'm along for the ride because I want my freakin' pot pie, although it turns out they only have Shepherd's pie.
We get there kind of late, order a round of drinks and our food and kick back. I don't know anybody, so I'm pretty much just sitting there watching Sportscenter and listening for the off-chance mention of my name which would require my attention. My beer comes. Stephanie and Francis's food comes. A while later the waitress comes to ask if I want another beer. I say I'd like one with my food, she says, "What'd you order?" I tell her, she says, "Oh, I forgot to put it in, I'm so sorry! I'll have them rush it." I'm kind of pissed, but whatever, nothing I can do about it now. Thirty some-aught minutes later, my food's still not out and I just tell her to wrap it up and bring me my check.
While all this is going on, the friend of a friend of a friend and his friends are out having the longest fucking cigarette break ever. I swear it took them 45 minutes to smoke what they said was only one cigarette. Meanwhile the check has come and we're kind of nervous that they might skip out completely. Francis and Steph throw in their money, his friend and his girlfriend throw in theirs and eventually the others come back and start tossing in. When all's said and done...$100 short.
This is exactly why I got my own check. I've had this happen before with mass OB dinners and I wasn't about to risk it again with people I didn't know. It really makes me appreciate you guys all the more. I was reminiscing about my birthday dinner two years back at Greenfields when we actually had to give money back because there was way too much. It really is the little things like that that make me love and appreciate all of you so much more.
current mood:  dorky
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| Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
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12:53 pm - Que lastima pero adios
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Didn't get online yesterday, but guess what? My sister won that Sharpie contest! She wins a trip for two to Los Angeles (a whopping 30 minute drive away), $1000 and a meet & greet with David Beckham. She's taking me with her to meet the big guy.
We've been trying to come up with funny ways to fuck with the meeting. So far the best we've come up with are:
1. Ask him to sign a copy of Monty Python & The Holy Grail
2. Ask him to sign a Chelsea jersey
3. Ask him only questions regarding Posh Spice, while also only referring to her as Posh Spice
4. Ask him if he could get me a meeting with the cute Indian girl from Bend It Like Beckham
5. Pull out an English to English Dictionary and speak with a fake British accent
current mood:  ecstatic
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| Sunday, April 19th, 2009
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9:39 pm - I said hey, what's going on?
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Haven't posted in a while, but with fairly good reason. Not much really going on. I'm slowly but surely getting to the point where I'm not living week to week on my paychecks. Granted I am living week to week, but I actually have a little bit of breathing room in between them where I'm not falling back on my emergency ramen supply. Who knows, maybe there will come a day when I can upgrade to an emergency supply that isn't ramen.
Hung out with Sean, Jason, Tim and Shing last week. I went up to LA to do some focus group stuff for Sean and we went out to dinner after. Good times. I miss hanging out with the Dude Ranch crew.
Went out with Long Beach crew yesterday to celebrate Kevin's b-day. We were supposed to go to the movies, but in typical LBC fashion, we were late. We ended up wandering around the Towne Center, then going to Alex's Bar for 80s Metal Karaoke. It was...interesting. I was there for the booze.
Been working a lot. Usual stuff at Jody's, but I've been taking a lot more shifts at Portfolio. I worked all weekend this week, and it seems like the Sunday morning sandwich person is looking to have me cover most, if not all of her shifts for the coming month or two. I don't plan on taking them (7 to noon Sunday morning is not my idea of reasonable hours), but I'll probably do a couple just to bolster the coffers.
Passover was...passover. Kept kosher; had my kosher dinner; had my anti-kosher dinner. Nothing all that exciting, though I was definitely glad to see all the people who were able to come out for the kosher dinner last Saturday.
I found out that my dad and immediate family are planning on coming out to California in August. This is great, since I know I won't be able to afford to go Back East this year. This is also great, since I don't have to worry about futilely trying to save up to go Back East this year. That means that I can actually put the money I would've saved into the possibility of taking a vacation to Seattle. I'm torn on how I want to do it, though. Should I put a lot away and try to road trip it? Or should I just save a decent amount and fly up? Or maybe I'll look into taking a train? I've never taken a long distance train. Does Amtrak go up that far?
current mood:  indescribable
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| Thursday, April 9th, 2009
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7:38 pm - Hate sits alone on the hood of his car
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I've been completely infatuated with the Avett Brothers for the past couple of weeks, since I got their recent album, Emotionalism. I got their single, "Shame" a long ways back from KCRW Today's Top Tune and I just never got around to finding their album until now. It's pretty amazing and beautiful and funny and everything its title suggests. The first two songs, "Die Die Die" and "Shame" are pretty much completely opposite sides of the spectrum which I found laughably apropos. This is my favorite song from the album, "The Ballad of Love & Hate."
current mood:  peaceful
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| Wednesday, April 1st, 2009
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12:21 am - Tell me when to go
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Two questions of moderate importance:
1. I'm giving my sister my PS2 because her old one belonged to her ex, who's finally moving the fuck out. Should I sell my games, or hold onto them on the off chance that I get a new one?
2. Narcissistic princess or heartless/apathetic prince? Both are set in stone, but I can't for the life of me decide on which one to make the main character. I really like how I can approach either one, but I'm not entirely sure it would work as a "He said/she said" story, so I'd rather pick one.
current mood:  relaxed
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| Monday, March 30th, 2009
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12:43 am - Jack boldly declared, "Let there be house!" and house music was born
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This will be an interesting week, most likely filled with catching up on movies (I still have at least one free movie pass for AMC), playing way too many video games, long walks on the beach and reading. It's Spring Break (WOOOOO!) so we're closed all week long. That, combined with a severe lack of money ($7 in the bank account, woooo!) means I'll be staying home or doing whatever free stuff around Long Beach I can do. I'm covering a shift at Portfolio Monday and I have to go in Friday to defrost everything for next week, but other than that I will most likely be bored out of my mind. Hint hint.
Still haven't heard back from the guy at the Renaissance about the bartending position. Something tells me I probably won't. If he hasn't responded at least to say he got my e-mail by now, it's not likely he will at all. Oh well, it was just a hopeful thing anyway. I didn't really get my hopes up all that much. I think it definitely gave me a good kick in the pants in the right direction though. I think I'm going to start surfing Craigslist again to see if I can find a nighttime bar gig.
current mood: content
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| Wednesday, March 25th, 2009
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10:07 pm - One more round...
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Got my good with my bad today. Made it in to work to find out that my cook was being taken away from me for the day, again. At least I was able to keep her for long enough to get most of the opening work done, but then she was off to the kitchen at the Nugget until a half-hour before we closed. Luckily we were somewhat slow in the morning, so I had some time to get things done before we got any rush. And did we ever get a fucking rush. We easily broke our highest mark of the semester by a good $50. Not bad, but I was sweaty and exhausted when I finally got to take a break.
After work, I went to Portfolio for iced tea and crossword puzzles. When I got there, my sister handed me a card with an e-mail address on the back and told me to drop the guy a line. Turns out he works at the Renaissance hotel downtown (in LB, not LA) and is looking for bartenders. Happy to oblige, I just sent him a copy of my resume and am not-so-patiently awaiting a reply. Here's hoping, since it'll be a great supplement to what I'm doing now and might even be a decent enough fallback on the chance that when Jody's closes I won't have any position with the 49er Shops Dining Services.
current mood:  optimistic
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| Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
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9:52 pm - Nothing brings me down
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Had a very weird conversation with my cook today. It was really slow after we opened, so we were just sitting around listening to music and chatting aimlessly, when she asked me if I'd ever had my heart broken. Kind of an odd question, but yeah, I have, so I answered as such. We started talking about each of our various follies in love, her husband cheated on her and left her, my girlfriend pretty much fled the country and married someone she couldn't have known for more than a few months.
What really stuck with me, though, was the fact that she said it had been 13 years since what happened to her and she was only just now really getting over it. I thought about it on my end. It's been 7 years since what happened to me and while I thought I was over it, maybe I'm not. Maybe the reason I haven't been in a steady relationship since then is because I'm not really over it. I still have that whisper in the back of my head telling me not to trust girls because they'll eventually start the whole horrible process over again and it'll take another 7 years to pick up the pieces.
I'd like to think that isn't the case, but now that the seeds of doubt are sewn, it's kind of hard to deny them.
current mood:  contemplative
current music: The Avett Brothers - "The Ballad of Love and Hate"
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| Thursday, March 19th, 2009
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7:36 pm - That's why I say, "Hey man, nice shot!"
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I'm so unbelievably tired. I took two days off work this week because I was starting to feel sick and I just couldn't bring myself to get out of bed for the brunt of the morning on Monday. Going back to work on Wednesday, I felt even more tired and today I was practically falling asleep on my feet. I'm pretty sure it's all mental, but I feel so completely off right now.
I came really close to blowing a gasket today when one of the sandwich people that uses our kitchen dumped half a case of plastic forks on the floor. She said she was trying to put them in a smaller container. This sounds like she's trying to be helpful, but she had no place touching the forks. This isn't the first time she's done something like this, too. She's "put away" my produce by putting it in other restaurants' fridges. She's completely lost invoices. Suffice to say, she's costing me a lot of money. I'm about ready to talk to the head of Dining Services about having her fired and letting me in on the hiring process so I can finally get somebody in there that I can work with. It's starting to get pretty ridiculous.
On a less whiny note, The weekend was good. Friday I went to Sasha and Ange's new place for Sasha's b-day. Really awesome house, deceptively large with an amazing interior. Got to see a lot of good people. Saturday was Mel's b-day at the BROadway bar in LA. Awesome bar, shitty clientele and the bartenders were sketchy at best, but I had a great time with the people I was with. Got to talk some with Annie and Darshawn (how do you spell his name!?). Got to see Will for a little bit and meet his new roommate who seems pretty cool. Finally got to meet Jen, my drunk dialing buddy who always manages to call me whenever her and Melody are plastered. She's smoking hot, but alas, not into the fellas.
Oh yeah, and I finally bought Street Fighter 4 last night. Started playing to unlock characters and man, do I suck. I'm not sure if it's because of the controller or if I'm just not used to the style of play, but the computer is whooping my ass in arcade mode. I also haven't quite got the hang of this Focus attack thing. It's fun, though. Love playing and I'm sure I'll have more fun playing against other people, just as soon as I manage to finish the unlocking process.
current mood:  exhausted
current music: Pelican - "March to the Sea"
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| Thursday, March 12th, 2009
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10:44 pm - Went to a party last Saturday night, didn't get laid, got in a fight...
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Okay, so maybe no party, but I went to Hennessey's in Seal Beach tonight with Melody. We were going to eat, then go to Best Buy for their super duper anime sale, but we ended up getting there too late and they were closed. Oh well, tomorrow, maybe?
Anywho, got drunk off 3 beers, which is a bit off for me. My only explanation was that I hadn't actually eaten much today, aside from a hot dog. I'm ashamed, I have no real excuse.
I did, however, manage to close my head in the trunk of her car. Well, not fully closed, but I whacked myself good. We went to the grocery store so I could pick up some paper towels and while putting the bags in the trunk, I pushed down this little cover doohickey. Well, it turns out the cover is attached to the trunk door and BLAMMO! Whacked myself.
current mood:  ditzy
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| Tuesday, March 10th, 2009
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9:34 pm - Are you fucking kidding me?
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Update on work status: Today they forgot to tell my cook that she was supposed to come over at 1:30 instead of 2, so that I could take my required break. Oops!
My other computer is toast. I spent the past hour just trying to get the damn thing to get to the Windows log-in screen. It keeps stalling on the start-up saying "No ID Drive detected" or something of the sort, then asking me for a boot disk, which I don't have. I need to find a copy of XP so I can just wipe that thing already. I'm this close to just saying "Fuck it" and buying Vista, even though I really don't want it. I think I'm going to have to start pinching pennies and get myself a new computer. With all the trouble I've been having with PCs, I think my next one is definitely going to be a Mac. I'll probably end up going for the Mac Mini since it's cheaper and seems to have everything I need. I'm so over technology. I'm going to learn morse code and start sending telegraphs via the Pony Express.
At least this weekend is looking to be awesome. Friday is drinking with Sasha and Ange. Saturday is drinking with Melody. Sunday is drinking at home by myself wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and writing bad poetry in my soon-to-be tear-stained journal. Maybe I'll listen to some Crustation to get in the mood. I'd say emo, but the closest I have to that is The Format, and I don't really consider them emo.
current mood:  lethargic
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| Monday, March 9th, 2009
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9:34 pm - Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you...you're cool...
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..and fuck you I'm out.
I missed the bus today. This doesn't mean too much, since I always take the earlier bus so I can show up with enough time to relax before clocking in. Today, however, I wound up getting a text while en route saying that the cook at the Nugget was going to be out today and they decided that my cook was going to fill his spot.
Let me give you a little background: Remember last year about how I was complaining so much about being understaffed with only 3 people? Now it's just 2. Me and my cook. And now they're taking her away, not just for the day, but for an entire week. She's in the Nugget until 2. We close at 2. WHAT FUCKING BULLSHIT FUCKING STUPID FUCKTARD FUCK SHIT IS THIS SHIT THAT YOU'RE FUCKING TRYING TO PULL!? And they're wondering why I'm not making money hand over fist? It's because I'm running this place on chewing gum and duct tape and now they're tying my hands behind my back and handing me a dulled knife.
I'm almost glad that there's the chance they'll be closing next semester. It gives me a kick in the ass to get my shit together, go back to school and get the fuck out of Dodge. I'm so sick and tired of this bullshit and if it wasn't for the fact that they're now paying me too much for me to leave (though not nearly what I'm worth), I'd have left months ago.
The worst part is, I was hoping to take a day off sometime this week to rest up after the horrendous last three weeks of no days off. Now, there's no way in hell I can do that without seriously fucking everything up. Granted I really want to call in just as a little "Fuck you," but I know that they only people I'd really be hurting are the innocent bystanders/student cooks and cashiers that they'd throw to the wolves in order to fill my place.
Today was a fucking nightmare as it was. I opened by myself, which would have been fine if the sandwich people I share my kitchen with would stop throwing out my invoices and "helping" by putting all my deliveries in the wrong places. Then they send me over a cashier to work the lunch rush who's never worked my store, which means I have to train her on the fly. Meanwhile we have a group of guys who come every day and order the simplest things in the most complicated manner. All you have to say is a hot dog combo with chili cheese fries and a coke. Can they do that? No, they have to order a coke. Then once you've entered that, they want chili cheese fries. Then, once you've entered that, they ask for the dog. So you have to delete the previous order to enter the combo. Then they want to make sure the dogs have cheese on them. So now you have to delete everything again to add cheese to the dog. Then invariably one of them wants to change his drink to a Sprite instead of a Coke and OH MY GOD I WANT TO STRANGLE THEM ALL.
I need to get drunk. I need to get really, fucking plastered drunk.
current mood:  bitchy
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| Friday, March 6th, 2009
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9:06 pm - Words are very unnecessary
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Sometimes I managed to forget that I'm a music nerd. Then I log onto Blip and start tossing out songs. Then I hit on a theme for the night. I usually just go until I can't think of any more songs to fit the theme then I stop or switch to something else. I don't often get beyond 4 or 5 songs, because the selection on Blip isn't all that great. Tonight has been an exception.
Still going, but so far I have:
Squirrel Nut Zippers - "Put a lid on it"
Deep Purple - "Hush"
Bjork - "It's oh so quiet"
Depeche Mode - "Enjoy the silence"
The Ting Tings - "Shut up and let me go"
Stan Getz - "Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)"
Simon & Garfunkel - "The Sound of Silence"
Oh, went to Two Umbrellas, across the street, for dinner tonight. They recently started opening for dinner with a BBQ special for $6. You can either get BBQ pork ribs or 1/2 chicken, cheese toast, baked beans and cole slaw. I got the ribs tonight, which were nothing short of damn good.
current mood:  full
current music: Simon & Garfunkel - "The Sound of Silence"
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| Wednesday, March 4th, 2009
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7:59 pm - Sing me a sad song, cause that's what I want to hear
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I got a concert update the other day that Au Revoir Simone is going to playing a show in June at the El Rey and I really want to go. The tickets aren't on sale yet and the show isn't even showing up on the El Rey events calender, but it's on Ticketmaster and they're only $15 each.
This has brought up bad thoughts. I haven't been to a concert since MUCC and now I'm jonesing for some live music. I was bumming around on Ticketmaster and saw that Squirrel Nut Zippers will be at the El Rey in April for $25.
Also, Fischerspooner will be at the House of Blues Anaheim on May 21st for $17.50. I definitely want to catch that.
current mood: ecstatic
current music: Au Revoir Simone - "Lark"
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| Sunday, March 1st, 2009
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11:56 pm - She's driving me out of my mind
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I sewed for the first time in a long time yesterday. I made a wisdom tooth felt doll to go along with the ones that the rest of the Saturday Craft Night gang did last week. He has a monocle and a mustache; quite fetching.
This should be the last week of work without a day off. I'm definitely starting to feel it, as are the others around me. I think "irritable" is the nicest description I've been given in the past couple of days and that was by my boss at Jody's. It's not even a physical thing for me, either. It's purely mental exhaustion right now. I'm burning out and my mind is going into default which, for me, is to be an asshole.
Nothing else really exciting outside of finally getting a new bank account. I haven't had one in over 5 years since Wells Fargo fucked me. Now I'm with Citibank and hopefully this one will stick.
I biked home from work on Saturday. I've been using Stephanie's bike, which is a one speed beach cruiser, which means that even the smallest of inclines is a workout. Since school is a fairly decent-sized hill away, what I hope to be able to do is bike to the bus stop, take the bus to school, then bike home. It's still a good 4+ miles one way, which isn't bad at all for a day's workout. I just need to get a bike lock.
current mood:  grumpy
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| Friday, February 27th, 2009
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12:01 am - So wait...
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| Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
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9:19 pm - Invasion, so succexy
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Customer: What time do you guys close?
Me: 2.
Customer: PM?
Me: ...sure, why not?
Seriously, how do these kids make it to college? Isn't there some kind of screening process?
current mood:  enthralled
current music: Metric - "Succexy"
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Friday, February 20th, 2009
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4:24 pm - We will not hesitate to spanky the unruly
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It's not wrong that I just finished reading a whole meme post about a friend's preferences as to sex and sex-related acts and the only thing I could think of afterward was that her misuse of the phrase "on accident" instead of "by accident." My grandmother (who agrees with my usage), called me an old fuddy-duddy.
My cook, today, pointed out that she has trouble understanding me sometimes because when I'm not mumbling, I'm usually using words or phrases that predate her learning English. I guess I really am an old man. I need a cane, a cardigan, some pleated slacks and an overstuffed chair to sit in and commiserate on the way things are in this day and age.
current mood: relaxed
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