hey people. what's up?
i took a nice two hour lunch break today. i went over to alan's place, played with their cute doggie rylie, and headed over to valley fair to shop for a money clip for alan's soon-to-be father in law. we ate at the food court (i've been there three times now in the past few weeks, and i'm getting sick of it), and i had a quesadilla at rubio's. it's always good to see alan.
man. i was on hold for a full 30 minutes getting my new credit card verified and activated. 30 minutes! my credit line is now $55,000. it's a far cry from when i got my first credit card, and my limit was a paltry $800. i wonder if i can buy a car with my credit card. too bad i don't get miles or points with this card.
i had lunch at milpitas (chez mayflower) with benboy yesterday. i treated him since his birthday is coming up in just over a week. i like treating people. i treated alex to his 5 tequila shots when i was in LA, and i also treated dave & carolyn to dim sum as well. it was funny, because we didn't eat much; the three of us had all of four dishes, and our bill was a grand total of $12. !!
yes, i know that cal men's basketball hadn't won at maples in well over a decade. that's what made the loss all the more stinging. but damn, ayinde ubaka was just too strong at the end; he made some monster shots in the late second half to seal the deal, and if we had made our free throws, it would have been a different story. sigh. we're still young, and hopefully in one or two years, we'll be a real contender in the pac-10.
so geoff's paintball bachelor party is coming up this saturday. i am still waffling about going, because i've been paintballing before, and it fucking hurts to be shot. i got hit on the hand before, and it swelled up into a huge welt. i don't want that to happen again. but if i don't go, i might not have anybody to hang out with that day, so there's the rub. hm. what to do, what to do...
happy birthday to my cousin shirley!
man, it is cold and windy out there. i just came back from a cigarette break, and i had to put on my hood to keep my head from freezing. i sort of miss LA weather.
there are a lot of january birthdays among my friends. i hope that there are a lot of celebrations this month. lots of opportunities to drink and be merry. a few years ago, we celebrated (with the bowling gang) a triple celebration at hukilau (this hawaiian restaurant in san jose japantown). i remember buying tequila shots for everyone who wanted one. even though it cost a lot (like $70 or so), that was a lot of fun.
ok, that was a quick entry. time to see if people want to eat. bye!
so my time in LA was pretty nice. quaint, i suppose. i stayed at my uncle's house in cerritos, and my mom, dad, and brother were there, complete with my cousins and stuff. i ate chinese food (though i did manage to lose 5 pounds, go figure), took naps, watched sports, etc.
i did manage to meet up with some college friends that live in LA. one night, alex and ellen drove up to cerritos, and we hit a mexican restaurants and drank. alex did five (!!) tequila shots. i had two shots with him, and got back on the whiskey bandwagon (remember when i puked a few weeks ago and swore off whiskey?) with a glass of black label.
a few days later, i had dim sum with dave, carolyn, and their cute 6-month old baby dylan. what a happy baby with huge cheeks. it was good seeing them, too. when my mom came out and saw them, she immediately asked to hold the baby. i guess she misses babies, since my brother and i are all grown up.
aside from seeing family and friends, the best part of my stay in LA was my smoking breaks with my dad. i guess he has no problem with me smoking, so we would take these walks where we would both smoke cigarettes. it was sort of a cool way to do father and son bonding.
there were some uncomfortable times, though. you probably know that my mother and brother are very devout christians. from 4:30 to 9:30 at night, they both went to this big church in anaheim for this church convention. and my mom brought along this old lady who was also attending this convention. there was this one time where i was sitting in the living room, and the lady came down, sat next to me, and told me that i should utter the words "oh lord jesus" with her. i shook my head and tried to not make eye contact with her. talk about uncomfortable. ugh.
anyways, i flew back to the bay area on january 2nd. i got to the airport about two hours earlier, but i got to the gate about ten minutes before boarding. yes, the airport was fucking ridiculous. the line to check in baggage stretched all the way outside the airport for a good 70 or so yards. man. i was really worried that i would miss my flight, but in the end, it all worked out. *phew*
when i got back, i unpacked and just chilled. i met up with nelson, mikeC, and geoff at st. john's for dinner that night. and wednesday, i just watched espn all day long, took a nap, and then joined yuji at maples to watched the stanford basketball game live. it was the first time i saw us lose, so that was a big bummer, and of all the teams, we had to lose to cal. shit. it was a close game, too, so i was kind of heartbroken after that. sigh.
and that was my winter break. except for yesterday, i didn't have my thumb up my ass as much as i had thought, so i guess it was pretty decent. and having a two-day workweek isn't too shabby, either. i guess reality will set in next week.