The Embodiment Of N.A.F.T.A.

Ok, a seriously crazy end to a fun weekend.

Had a great night at Underground on Friday night, followed by a birthday party for a friend on Saturday.

Then, when I was supposed to hang out with Anthony and possibly some other people from Disneyland, craziness broke loose. While waiting for Anthony to show, I get a call from him saying he was just in a car accident. He sounded a little shook up so I asked if he wanted me to head on over... he said only if I wanted to. So of course I grabbed a few things and jumped in the car. I so was not expecting to see what I saw. As I was looking for parking in the general area, I glanced down the street where Anthony said where he was and I say the back end of this truck stucking up in the air. All I could think of was, "holy shit". Then as I got a better view and saw that it was Anthony's car was the thing holding the truck up I though "HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!" I was quite relieved to see Anthony was fine and not a scratch on him. What a way to spend your birthday, eh?

Hoping mine is a lot less eventful. The main thing I'm looking forward to is seeing my family. This is the first time in about 7 years that's I've been home anywhere near my birthday. And since Anthony is heading up that way for a wedding of sorts this weekend, I know my family will be happy to see him with their own eyes that he's ok.

And now the bad news... the official ruling has come down. My boss from the Kings called me today... he was just let go, which means I've just been let go by association. I feel real bad for him. For me it was just a fun side job, but this was his only job. Now he needs to decide what he's going to do for the rest of his life. It's a good thing his wife has a stable teaching job and they have no kids and pretty much no expenses, but still he sounded really depressed. I think this was the final nail in the coffin for him with hockey... I think he' pretty much done with it. But we're still good friends and we'll find reasons to have the BBQ's and all the bache ball competitions.

But I'm still a little depressed about it. I know good things don't last forever, but I wasn't ready to give this one up yet. The playoffs are winding down to a close and I won't have as much to look forward to next hockey season. Sure watching the games at home are fun, but it's not the same when you've been down in the thick of it... see the players and coaches get pissed, frustrated, happy, strategize, and best of all ask my opinion. After 5 seasons I'm really going to miss it. My boss was nice enough to leave the new coaches my contact info incase they would need my services, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm glad I've got the day off tomorrow... a little time to recoup from some bad news.

Not much to report for this weekend, but I did have an exceptional (yet frustrating) night at Underground. It started off as an ordinary night... lots of good conversation with friends, good drink, good music... you know, the usual. Then I was up on the stage really enjoying a Pulp song when the really cute girl comes up and says "You like Pulp... cool!" And she wanted to dance with me the entire night. Unfortunately, through our conversations I learn that 1) she's leaving for Korea for a year on Wednesday and 2) she's married. WTF!?! The married part is why she's going to Korea... her husband is in the military and is being transfered there for a year. Ok, here comes the rant... I am sick and tired of meeting cute girls who think I'm interesting but are COMPLETELY UNAVAILABLE!!!! It's nice to have the attention, but it's only temporary and after a while you'd like to know that maybe there is the possibility for something more. I never used to be like this... I used to take what I could get and be happy with that, but lately it's really been bugging me. Maybe with all the stuff I'm trying to go and making little headway, I'd like to know that there is going to be some change in my life soon because it's starting to get a little stagnant.

Yesterday, I didn't do much but sleep, watch movies, and play on the computer. No big deal, it was much needed. I need a vacation more, but this will have to do for now until August.

Today I decided to go out and wash my car. I figure it was about time I scrapped all those bug corpses off it since I don't plan to drive up north for a couple of months. Now it's all nice and shiney, but also all the battle scars are visible. When the dirt and gunk are gone, all the dings in the doors, scratches and chips from rocks but it's still my loyal car.

I know I say this every time... but the drive to San Jose is exhausting. Especially through the very hot weather in central California.

I got to my parents' house late Friday night to find everone had gone to bed... a first. So I brought my stuff inside and locked up & turned the lights out behind me. About 5 minutes later there was a rattling sound at the front door. It was my mom trying to get her key in the lock with no lights on... apparently I turned the outside lights off on her and locked her out... oops.

Saturday was much rushing around... had to get ready for my cousin's wedding (the whole reason why I went this time) which was at 1:00pm and about 1.5 hours away from my parents, and we had to get my younger brother's kids to where they were going to stay for the night because it was an adults only event. It was obvious no expense was spared for the wedding. They had the ceremony in the basilca of the San Carlos Borromeo Mission in Carmel. This mission is over 200 years over (235 years to be exact). Then the reception was on my uncle's estate... my aunt married well. The whole set up for the reception was amazing... they set up grass in the field they just cleared for my aunt's new horse training arena and had various ordvore stations and servers set up. Next to this there was a HUGE tent set where the band, dinner tables, and dance floor was set up. LOTS of good food, expensive wines, open bar, AND a surprise fireworks show... I was talking with one of my other cousins and we estimate that this whole wedding must have cost about $150,000. Leave it to my uncle to take things to the extreme.

My younger brother, his wife and myself were the last of the family to leave... I think we headed home around 12:30am... it was a very long fun day. Just as I thought, there were a lot of "being single" comments made... well, more like jokes at my expense... but I'm able to dish it out as well as I take it. You have to be to be in my family... there is nothing more we enjoy than cracking jokes at each other's expense.

Sunday morning there was no send off when I left... my parents had an 8:30am flight to Hawaii that morning and my younger brother's family was off to family stuff with his wife's family in San Francisco so they all had to get an early start... before I even got up. So I dug up some food, packed my stuff and hit the road. Not that I minded... it always takes forever to leave when people are there. You know the whole attempt to convince me to move back to San Jose. Oh well... they can always try the next time.

So here's a shocker...

Steven Segal came out with a CD yesterday. What the hell is the world coming to? AND to top it off, it's his second CD. Who saw this dude's movies and said, "Hmm... I think you would make a great blues performer." The radio was playing samples of the songs from the new CD all morning... again I ask WHO THOUGHT THIS WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA?

Now here's the funny part (as if this whole idea wasn't funny enough)... two of his songs are called "Talk To My Ass" and "Alligator Ass". Apparently the man is all about ass... even animal ass. I'll never be able to look at his face on a DVD cover ('cause I would never watch one of his movies) and think his probably telling some stuntman he's got in some sort of hold in a fight scene to please "talk to his ass"... creepy.

I think it's time the actors stay out of the recording studio and the musicians stay out of the movies.

Yep... Steven Segal, action hero... "Saving the world through song."

And another weekend comes to a close.

The week of frustrations came to a close on Friday with much alcohol to purge it from my memory. My buddy Drew recently got a new car and so he offered to drive to Underground on Friday night. This ALWAYS spells trouble for me. I knew I didn't have to keep myself in check. So when we get there there is this party bus out front and all these young girls are lined up to get in. Ok, right away we're confused because there is never a large group of people waiting to get in at the beginning of the night. The normal crowd is notorious for always showing up late. As it turns out the driver had talked to the owner about this place being a stop on a party bus trip for a group of young girls (all 18 years old I think). Even though they seriously outnumbered the normal crowd, they still kinda stuck out. They liked some of the music, but for the most part they wanted to hear Hip Hop and other music not normally associated with Underground. Drew, Larry and myself kept trying to keep our jokes to a minimum when they kept coming up requesting certain songs that would NEVER be played there... but Larry tried to accomodate them as best he could. After a while they gave up and left for another club. From here the drinking picks up. When people know you are not driving, EVERYONE wants you to drink. There was even a point when I was standing near the bar talking to a friend and there is a tap on my arm. I turn and there is a drink next to me that was put there by my bartender. I didn't even indicate that I wanted another drink, but he made sure I was going to have one anyways. By the end of the night, it was all I could do to stumble in my door and FALL onto my bed.

Saturday the hangover ensued, which was something I shoud have thought about the night before because I had plans to go into work to reprogram the phone system. After much couch potatoing, I finally got my ass up and off to the office. It took me 2 hours to figure out the original programming of the phone (since I wasn't the one who programmed it and there were no notes on what was done) and change the program to what I wanted it to do. Then it was off to the couch again once I got home.

Today I went to see The DaVinci Code. It was ok. I always am amazed at how much they change movies from the books. I understand the time constraits and whether something can be visually done properly, but my one gripe about the movie is that they seemed to have tweaked a few parts to keep some of the religious nuts from attacking it like the book. It is still the same basic story, but just the way they presented some of the references that the main charaters use in the book seemed to purposely left vague and theoretical when in the book the characters were convinced it was true. It just seemed like the movie was made to me more audience friendly and not as controversial. I would like to refer to that as wussing out. If you're going to make a book into a movie, then MAKE THE BOOK INTO A MOVIE. Please don't try to soften it up because someone might get upset. We all know it's fiction and if someone tries to take it as if someone were stating fact well that's their problem.

The rest of the day will be filled with more potatoing of the couch and maybe some computer games.

Today I was besieged by a black man wielding rubber bands. I had a few bounce off the back of my head as I was trying to do work. Oh yes... I feel a hate crime coming on... the black man will pay.

So no one physically tried to stop me from doing anything (although Anthony had many verbal protests) so I went out Friday night. Underground wasn't very busy at all. I attribute it to most schools have finals coming up this next week. But it was still fun just the same. Although it again somehow became, "here, help me finish this drink" night. Most of it was my friend Annie who donimated most of my attention. She's just one of those girls who absolutely NEEDS attention. I can be annoying at time when you're having conversations with other people, but it can be amusing at times as well. The strange thing is that even though she's loves attention, she'll still drag some girl over to me (that neither she nor I know) to talk too. Why do people think that I want help in this department? I will say she does have good taste in which type of girl (physically) to drag over, but other than looks then tend to not have too much of anything else. Hey, in Hollywood there is a lot of that around. Either way it was just good to be out after being trapped in the apartment for most of the week.

Saturday, my boss for the hockey team had a playoff party. A great afternoon of hanging out, watching hockey, and drinking. I got the full story on how all the firings when down and how things are like at the training center. He said it's getting very depressing right now. People who have been with the team for over 35 years are being cut loose on a moments notice... even people who were told their job was safe. My boss is a little nervous, but he got word from the new GM that his job is safe through the end of his contract (which ends in July) and then he'd have to re-interview with the new head coach (when they get one). One of the rumors of who might take that position is a former player from the team who's an assistant coach for another team right now. We're all hoping this rumor is true because my boss is still good friends with him and that would guarantee his job is safe. After the party broke up, it was still pretty early (by my standards) but I decided to go home anyways. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep on the couch though... I guess I'm still a little run down from being sick.

Today I plan to do nothing but rest... and maybe do some cleaning around here. Oh... I have to remember to call my mom too since I haven't been able to get her Mother's Day gift off to her due to being sick. I'll have to get that in the mail tomorrow.

Yep... stayed home from work today. Still not entirely better, so I decided to go see a doctor to make sure it's only just a bad cold because I was up all night coughing and had issues breathing.

Guess what the doctor found out? Yes, what I have is just a bad cold BUT I also have a mild case of pink eye. What the hell? As soon as I get sick with one thing, all other diseases decide to mount their attack. I think I have a little room for the plague if it's interested.

I should be ok to go back to work tomorrow, but I'll still have to keep using the eye drops for 4 days. I might have to take it easy this weekend... whether I do or not is another story.

I went into work this morning feeling like crap. I didn't want to, but there were a few things I knew I needed to take care of or there would be a huge mess of things to fix. I only stayed until noon and set things up so if my boss does feel the need to do things that are my job that she doesn't understand, she can do so with minimal damage to how I have certain things running.

Then I went home and slept for 2 hours. Isn't it weird that sleep is the best thing for you to get better yet initially once you wake up you feel worse than when you when to sleep? I was just run down and a minor pain in the back of my head when I got home, but now that I'm awake, I'm coughing constantly and have a HUGE headache. I know it will go away in an hour or so, but right now it's really annoying. I think this means I will need to stay home tomorrow.

I guess it's a good thing I went in to work this morning and set things up the way I did.

Ok... everyone here who is a complete moron please raise your hand.

*raises own hand high*

I KNEW I was going to crash hard this weekend and yet continued on my merry way.

On Thursday night my Mom mentioned to me that one of my nephews had been fighting something off all last weekend when I was visiting. THE ONE I SPENT MOST OF MY TIME PLAYING WITH. How did I not notice it? I had a slight scratchy throat but really didn't pay it much attention. I was focused on having fun this weekend.

So I managed to get through work on Friday (with a little help from Amidala ) and was feeling a little stuffed up, but again I paid it no mind. Went to Underground where I enjoyed myself in my usual fashion and felt completely exhaustest on my way home. I walking in the door and went straight to bed knowing that I had another busy day the next day.

I wake up on Saturday with a massive headache... no not a hangover... it was a sinus headache on one side of my head... that and an over abundance of mucous in my chest and coming out my nose. Yep, definitely sick. So what do I do? I go out as I planned anyways.

First I went to the bad movie night which was fun as usual. After the first 2 movies and many jokes, we took a break to go get some Thai food... very good. Then we returned to the remaining ones... I only stayed for one because I had the house warming party to get to later. I think the best review one person in the group gave one of the movies was, "Xanadu... Xanadon't!" Yes, I watched Xanadu and I will be poking my eyes out later today in punishment for it. Who the hell thought this was a good idea for a movie? But that IS the whole point of bad movie night.

I then proceeded to the housewarming party where it was in full swing. I of course still having my sinus headache... I managed to hold onto that sucker ALL DAY. It just wouldn't go away at all. I'm sure this was a sign that I should have stayed home and got rest. But I made promises to friends and I always keep my promises. The party was fun, I never realized how many people I actually know from the club... I mean I knew that I knew a lot of people but when they're dispursed throughout the club amongst other people I don't know it doesn't seem like an overwhelming number. But gather them all together in one place... whoa. There were a few that even knew me by name and I know I've seen them before at the club but my memory failed me many times. Either way, I only stayed at the party for a couple of hours... but bear in mind that it was 2:30am at this point. Yeah... definitely time to go home.

Now I'm up this morning feeling like complete crap... coughing up some intersting stuff. I planned not to see the outside of my apartment today, but I need to go to the store to find food and drink since the fridge is empty. But that's it... after that I'm going to be a complete shut in for the rest of the day.

If this continues to get a little worse I might just call in sick to work tomorrow to get a little better.

We'll see.

Well, the boss was back in the office today and of course since she was out earlier this week, she was on some sort of rampage. She managed to totally piss Anthony off... he's thinking about giving the job a little more time and then start looking for a new one.

I could have struck a blow for the entire office against her... she ALWAYS has this vitamine drink she carries around the office with her where she sets it down randomly and forgets where she leaves it. I offered to piss in it for Anthony, but he had to counter with a few ideas of his own that were just as mean... but I can't say she doesn't have it coming.

Spent the rest of the evening with the parents at Disneyland. I met up with them for dinner and then we caught a few rides to pass the rest of the evening. Tomorrow they will be off on their cruise and I won't see them for a month (my next trip home), so I figured I'd get as much time in with them as I could now.

Ok.... Anthony finally held a gun to my head to get started here.. ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it's pretty close enough.

I'm not sure how often I'll update as my life can be pretty boring and stagnant at times. A few things of what you will probably see here are hockey related issues, rants about work, new work opportunities, the rare interesting things that occur to me, and maybe some mindless crap that pops into my head. But hey, it's my journal... I'll do what I want. :P