i left for Gardena 2.5 hours late. it was basically stop and go driving from La Jolla to Irvine. I got there helped make and ate thanksgiving dinner with my family. my dad is really absent minded. my brother brought his digicam with him and my dad wanted to take pictures with it, so after the dinner was prepared, we told my dad to come down so we can start dinner, and he just told us he was busy with taking pictures. ummmmm...yeah. same thing happened last thanksgiving. i prepared most of the thanksgiving dinner and my dad just ate seperately in my room watching DVD's on my recliner.....i guess he just doesn't know. you would think he was raised by wolves. not because his foster parents weren't there for him. but because he wanted to be raised by wolves. if it really happened.



friday, i woke up late, had breakfast, and headed out to bestbuy to check out their sales. they didn't really have too much there. only thing i found descent were the moster's inc and beauty and the best DVD's which i already had. it was a madhouse. people were walking out of the store with like 3-4 mintek DVD players like they were giving them away. i checked the price and it wasn't really a good price at all. oh well. you can't bash best buy for holding a successful business even though they must be using some kind of mind control.



after best buy, i went to one of my old hangout spots (coffee cartel). and got some green tea. then i drove through PV for a nice scenic drive on nice mountain roads with a view of the ocean. met up with a friend and went to Sam's club, then to eat a bite at this vegetarian restaurant called the Green temple. then i met up with Tommy, ate at El Rocoto, got some boba, went to Big 5, then went to AMC 20 to watch 007 at Rolling Hills Plaza. the 9:30 showing was sold out so we went to Regal Cinemas for the 9:55 showing. when we got in, the screen was about as big as a big screen TV from where we were sitting so we went to go swap our tickets for the 10:30 showing. the screen was about 4x bigger for that showing. after 007 we went to go sneak in at the ending of Harry Potter, but as we sat down, the security guard escorted us out. we only wanted to watch the extra clip at the end of the credits since we both missed it when we saw harry potter a few weeks back. what a ripoff. i guess we have to wait for the DVD.



saturday, i went to IKEA with my brother and sis, picked out the perfect coffee table, and then found out they ran out. so i'm going to go to ikea here tomorrow to see if they have any in stock here. i also have decided i'm finally gonna replace my bed sheet/duvet/etc. it's very comfortable and nice, but the damn feathers really are a drag on the dark navy bed set. but i really have grown to the flannel material as it is never too hot or cold during any season. probably going to bed bath and beyond tomorrow to look for a set that is a lighter color...maybe even white flannel.



maybe i'll even fix up my magazine rack....go to home depot...get some wood cut, and get some spray paint.

i'm becoming quite the chef. today, i had an urge for a carne asada burrito. but trying to still keep my promise of not eating out during the weekdays (special occasions excluded) i decided i should make carne asada burritos on my own. never having done so, and not having the internet in front of me, i had to rely on my best judgement when i was at the market. what i ended up with was guacamole, fresh salsa, and some cilantro. i could have made my own pico de gallo, but in ralphs they charge you an arm and a leg for tomatoes. so i decided to take the fresh salsa, cut more onions and more cilantro and make a quick version of pico de gallo. i got home and realized i totally forgot the tortillas, but i wasn't willing to go back. the meat part was very simple. i had some choice top sirloin cut carne asada style, and cooked it with a little bit of seasoned salt and black pepper. removed it from the heat, tossed my pico de gallo in. so i just made the carne asada burrito part without the tortilla, and ate it with a slice of bread with a side of guacamole. and it turned out really good. very healthy, simple and quick. i think i'll have it again tomorrow. this time with tortillas.

hmph, nicholas cage is divorcing lisa marie presley. could it be because he frequents he korean night (booking) clubs on a weekly basis cause he has a thing for korean women? it's amusing that every korean girl/guy knows this. the one time i went to this club he was there. we ended up spending hundreds of dollars for a bottle of crown royal and some salted nuts and fruit. waiters will bring girls to the table, and they'll tell you they are 30, talk to you for a little bit, have your crown royal, and say they'll say they'll be right back, and you'll never see them again. its all routine. can't blame them. that's what the waiter tells them to do anyway. this one girl i talked to said the guys have got a little clever, and now trap the girls in by sitting the girls in the middle of the table. pretty dangerous for the girls i think to be surrounded by bunch of drunk strangers and have no way out. be prepared to crawl out of the table cause they'll be hesitant to let you out. that's what she had to do.

as much as i have tried to stay away from caffine, i every issue of men's health talks about the beneficial affects of it. boosts your metabolism and helps you lift longer at the gym. so i'm going to drink coffee on the days that i lift (4 days of the week). mon tues, thurs, fri. this way i won't have a big withdrawl on saturdays. and also, i'd like to do cardio without the caffine so i'd have to plan my cardio on wed, and sundays.

sunday, woke up early and cranky as usual at 8am. made it to church on time. dozed off here and there during service. then stayed for bible study the first time. it was a good experience. i'll definitely try to stay for bible study every week. not sure if i'm going to go join them every week for lunch though. they picked super sergio's for lunch and it was pretty bad.



came home, and napped will about 9, and went to rimac, lifted, and did my caridio.



monday, i came to work, then went to check out the pilates/stretch class at rimac during lunch with chuck. we both really enjoyed it. i'm pretty sure i'm going to take the class. it will help with my abs, lower back, and posture. sounds like a winner in my book. already 1/3 of the work week is done! just 2 more to go. and that includes a very calm wednesday. i think i'm going to go back on thursday morning instead of late wednesday evening. it should be better for traffic and it means i'll spend less time in a house with no internet. they don't even have a phone there (only their cell phone). did i ever mention my parents are pretty cheap? well, i'm going to take my ddr pads, ps2, some dvd's and a TV so that i can spend some time with my bro and sis.



i was looking at imdb for random stuff as usual, and saw a pic of heather graham, and wondered what she has been up to lately. and boy has she been unlucky with her choice with movies. someone get her a new agent quick.

couldn't do the 30 minutes of cardio, so i only lifted on friday, drove home, and showered quickly and headed to andrews place.



i was in a bit of a rush to get there, and while driving i realized how hard it is to actually see who has passengers in the carpool lane, so i just jumped into the lane whenever the traffic got a little thick. everyone is pretty good in staying out of the carpool lane because the fine is so high and everyone is just conditioned to not drive there. so i thought of chances of getting caught were pretty low. there were a lot of cars on the road when i started driving 7:25 and managed to make it to andrew's place by 8:35.



we got to maggianos, and had a wonderful meal. we went to cha for tea afterwards. then we headed back to andrew's place and chilled to about 4am. we all woke up pretty early for some reason, and went to get pho around noon. the pho was okay at best. and was expensive. can you believe they charged $6.50 for pho? and it wasn't that good. and they gave you a little amount of noodles on a large bowl. then we hit tapioca express, but i passed on the boba because this week has been a all out carb fest i decided i should pass. then we went and chilled at andrew's apartment for a bit, and ritchie and sandy were going to go to dvdplanet so i decided to follow them. they did have some good prices on some select stuff. not great prices on some. i bought 3 DVD's.

Lord of the Rings

Swordsman 2

I'm Your Man (interactive DVD movie) for $4. I thought it was a concept, and it was dirt cheap. Never had seen or heard of it.



after the dvd splurge, i drove back home with relative ease. and then decided to take a nap before the gym. i woke up at 9:45, and thought i should leave by 10. then i checked the times on the website, and rimac closes on 10 on saturdays so i decided to pass on rimac. i thought i should take it a little easy this week anyway. i played some GTA VC, and finally got the 100 hidden packages, and after about 4 weeks of playing the game (not every day), i finally got to fly the apache helicopter. not disappointed, but it is everything that i expected it to be. but instead of it having just guns, it has dual rockets as well.



the living room got really cold, so i decided to start the fire in our fireplace for the first time. it is quite a chore to keep the flame going. i had some meat defrosted that i needed to get rid of so i made some beef with broccoli. it turned out pretty good. i overcooked the broccoli a little bit, and used a tad bit too much corn starch. but for my first attempt at it, it was pretty good.

since when i have been alergic to cats?



yesterday, i went to old town with ray for his birthday. we went to go eat at the coyote something. we were walking around wondering where we should eat at and then i remembered about the last time I went there with OG ResNet, that we had eaten at this restaurant diagnoally across from a diamond store. and my guess was "the diamond source". and my did that pay off. i had given this information to ray, and he spotted the diamond source, and this lead to us finding the restaurant we were going to eat at. none of the other restaurants looked busy, but the coyote place was quite busy............the last 3 people that walked past my window just picked a murf....bizzzarre. anyways.....my food okay. the sauce could have been a lot better. then we came back and hung around his apartment for a bit. i helped him troubleshoot some video problems he was geting with his DVD player, and watch little snipits of Spiderman and Godfater III. and i had realized that i started getting a runny nose, and my eyes were starting to itch. then just before i left i was getting a scratchy throat. and for the whole night i was suffereing from the effects of it. this would be typical of someone that was allergic to cats, but really new to me. i must admit i have made quite a 180 degree life/health/nutrition change. i wonder if that has anything to do with it. i'm glad i didn't stay too long because i was just starting to feel the effects of having trouble breathing.



tonight, after the gym, i will head down with jeff to huntington beach to celebrate Andrew Chen's birthday. we'll be eating at this place called Maggianos. we're all sleeping over there, and coming back after lunch tomorrow. i haven't planned anything yet for the rest of the weekend, but i still need to check out jeff's computer.



partially related to the post that diem made today, i was walking by the pit at rimac yesterday, and this guy's BO was just through the roof. like if you rated someone's BO from 0 to 10, this guy would be a 15 easily. like i just walked by, and i almost fell over. i started coughing...which i normally wouldn't because i don't want to offend anyone, but it just hit my eyes and damn....it was bad.



oh, i bought a new camera today! the canon powershot s230. i got it for $334.55 with 10 48x CDR's in a jewel case (so i can apply the coupon). I love the s230 because of its size. I can basically fit it into my pocket and walk around comfortably. I don't really care about the 2x zoom.



now what should i do with my other camera? It's the Yashica (Kyocera) 2100-DG Samurai. 2.1 megapixels. 4x zoom. compact flash. The Li-ion battery. LCD screen. 16mb CF card. If you would like to take it off my hands, I think I'll be willing to sell it in the $150 range..... and maybe throw in a sony leather carring case. It's a great deal for someone who needs a good quality camera, but doesn't need pocket sized portability that the s230's give you. Here's a review. here are some pictures i took during my drive to julians with my bro and friend eddie. by the way, when this camera first came out exactly 3 years ago, it was originally priced $799. I got it when Kyocera had a new line coming out and was phasing out the Samurai's at half price. I got it for $375-$50 coupon for $325.

is it just me or has the air been super dry for the last week? i've always been glad to be one of the few (it seems) that isn't affected by allergies or what not. but my nose has been dry for the last week and it's been a new experience for me. maybe its something in the air. everyone seems to be getting the cold. i woke up with a headache and decided to call in sick. it got better as the day went by. i have already caught 2 colds a month or two ago. i hope i don't catch this other one going around....i have been forgetting about the echinecia though. i'll take some tonight.



nothing much went on today. i watched quite a few episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. the more i watch, the more i get to know the characters and realize i pretty much hate them...at least this is how the characters were done for the first season. most of the episodes i saw today, i was more frustrated than anything. main character, larry david, is just a f'ing idiot and a selfish jackass. his wife just doesn't know she's an idiot, thinks she's the one doing everything right, and is just as selfish in a disguised form. i have to admit the plot is clever and interesting. the second season is a lot better. they have shifted their personalities so that the characters do more admirable things rather than selfish things, and the episodes improve dramatically. the funniest one by far that i have seen is the last episode of the first season called "The Group". i was busting out laughing after enduring through some season 1 frustrations. if you have never heard of the show, it's a HBO original series show. Larry David is the co-creator of seinfeld, but never was a character on the show. but Curb Your Enthusiasm is the show he stars in and it's very loosely based on his life. the general word of mouth about him were that the episodes that he wrote were a lot more clever and funnier than the one Jerry Seinfeld wrote. Larry David sold Seildfeld off to Fox for $200 million and is now worth $478 million dollars. a lot of people guest star on it. Richard Lewis, Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine), Jason Alexander (George Costanza), and a few others.

oh yeah, there was a meteor shower last night. my brother messages me at 2am and tells me there's a meteor shower going on right now. if i had known before hand, i would have planned something. maybe put on the rollerblades and skate around doyle. its been so long that i probably am very shakey on them, but i do have a lot more core balance so maybe i'll finally be able to learn how to stop for a change without using the brakes. anyway, i walked out of the apartment, stared at the sky for about 2 minutes, saw nothing and went back. and then it was geting noisy outside. so i decided to go outside again, and this time my roommate was out there. i saw 2, and i decided to call it a night because i was getting cold and i had seen some kickass shooting stars a few years back when there was another meteor shower going on. this one meteor was so bright, it lit up the grass on the park that i was lying in.



had my wellness re-evaluation today. i made small improvements across the board with a few exceptions.

i did 33 pushups (28 originally)

measured 10.5% body fat with the calipers (11% originally)

blood pressure down (only diastolic though, systolic still kinda high)

stretch test i got 21 inches (20 originally)



sit up test scored 60, the same as last time. i really think i did more than that. i started off doing at least 1.5 every second, and finished doing about 1 every second. i think i deserve a recount. if i really had done 60, i could have done a lot more....probably around 75.



one thing that i did worse on is the step test. from a 106, i got a 118 instead. but 106 that i got before was because i had changed the dominant feet during the middle of my original test. and also, i was taking ephedra at the time of the original test, so that could have really messed with my heart bpm.



when i'm fully rested i should be able to do a few more pushups in a minute. i had done a very heavy chest workout the day before and it probably hurt my push up score. i was pretty dead after the 33rd push up.



oh yeah, the thing with body fat. my body fat scale reads low 15%. but the calipers measure mid 10%. if i set my scale to athlete mode i measure low 7%. i really don't know which one is accurate. jonna, wellness trainer, says the body fat calipers are the best, and the scales meausers always high. maybe i should consider myself partial athlete. so i'll account 60% of the athelete's readings, and the 40% of the adult's readings, and add up the two to get a number that is more on the same level as the calipers. if this is true, i really don't need to lose any more body fat before bulking up. what to do, what to do....

it still amazes me how i can manage to collect 4 large loads of laundry in about 9 days. it is true that i go through 4 shirts on a daily basis. the shirt i wear to work. shirt i wear to the gym. after gym shirt (optional when i choose to change out of my gym clothes before a shower), and the shirt i use to sleep in (i rarely wear these more than once). i don't do it with pants though. only because there are only about 3 pants (jeans) i cycle through at any given time, including 2 gym shorts, and 3 shorts i wear around the house. showering 1.5 times a day probably doesn't help the situation. i hate doing laundry. it is such a waste of time. but i do love the feeling of your entire wardrobe being clean and having the option to choose from anything you want to wear.



on a totally different topic, it looks like the atkins diet is making a big noise. i think we are at a very important time and they will soon redefine your daily nutritional needs. it will suggest a lot more protein and mono unsaturated fat, and lot less carbs. but it will not be for everyone. definitely not for athletes. it is my opinion that your daily needs for fat, carbs and protein should differ drastically from person to person depending on their activity throughout the day. maybe this is what lead them to one of the biggest follies ever (current nutritional requirements).



segway went on sale for $4950. back in jan, i did like this idea....of pretty much completely eliminating the need to walk. but now that i know that walking is one of the best exercises to burn stored fat, i think the segway is one of the worst inventions ever made. soon they will need to make the Segway XL. An extra compartment in the front for your gut. and extra support compartments in the back for 2 large hams.



today is the re-evaluation for my wellness class. i hope i have made some noticeable changes.

oh yeah, forgot to mention, i measured 14.8% on the body fat scale (need to lose 2.8% more before i start bulking up again next year). and i tip the scales now below 155 lbs. that means i weigh less now than what i weighed in high school and majority of junior high as well.

during the weekdays of last week, i got a craving for pizza and a burger. since i have been so good, i thought it was about time to let loose a little bit. after the gym on friday, i met up with wendy and her buds and got some inn and out. i got the double double and a order of fries. then we went to tapioca express and got my tapioca milk tea (hot). then we went to go watch harry potter. we had 2 parties already standing in line for us. my friend raymond's group, and wendy's group. to our convienience, they were standing back to back. so we just walked into the line and didn't have to worry about cutting in front of the people behind us because some of us knew them. the movie was good and i'll get back to that later. i got home around 1:30, and tommy hadn't gotten there yet. tommy came home short after. we chilled until about 3.



woke up at 11. troubleshot tommy's computer. i think everything is good now. sold him my old (but kickass) power supply. it was running a little noisy so i sucked the dust off of it, and wd40'd the ball bearing fan. after that, we made it to wolfgang's woodfired pizza at 1pm. i had the bbq chicken pizza. it was great as always. saw a red 360 modena, gray diablo, and a green ferrari (i think it was the stronger, but less agressivly styled 348). then we went to fry's electronics out of boredom. tommy wanted to get a microsoft natural keyboard, and i wanted to get a optical cable for my receiver (i only have one, and i keep switching between my ps2 and my dvd player). so while tommy was shopping for his keyboard, i was showing him the keyboard wendy had, and how cool it looked. then we discussed all the pratical use of it being set up at my set up at home. so i got it. it is the Logitech Cordless Elite Duo. Basically, I have it set up in my coffee table. and I use it to control my computer (in my office/closet) from my bedroom by using the TV out on my video card. the TV out ain't nothing to brag about, but the video card that i have is great for playing videos (with the quality that ATI and Nvidia still can't seem to match) by using the DVDMax feature on my Matrox Millenium G450. and i can basically navigate to my files, double click, and just watch anything from my computer. no need to worry about full screening the thing. the video card will grab only the video stream to my computer, and only output that at full screen on my TV. the resoulution is about double from what the Nvidia cards seem to do.



when we got home, we started watching some curb your entusiasm shows that i had downloaded (i have 17 so far), and nguyen came over with joe. we went to go eat at Seoul BBQ. the food was good (we expected it to be). one thing they do wierd is that when you say you just want water, they give you water bottles, and a cup of ice. we kept wondering if they were gonna charge us something for the water. but they don't. not surprised what they are doing though, considering it is a korean restaurant. i can see how it is more efficient. cleaner. even though it confuses the hell out of customers, they are not afraid to suggest something out of the ordinary.



after we went to go eat, we dropped nguyen and joe off, and met jeff at pacific to see harry potter (yes, this is my second time seeing it). it's good that i have my asian youth. this guy was using his old UCSD id, and since UCSD doesn't use stickers any more, they are testing some new methods on checking its validity. last time, they asked wendy to bring her class registration printout....and we thought that was just a ridiculous suggestion. this time they were asking how old the people were. they didn't ask me, but they asked this other guy and he said "24".....and they really can't do too much. what if you are just old and taking some courses there? i have met some really old grad students. but technically they are still a student. the theaters should give it up. you can't check any more. so when jeff was buying his ticket, i told him to not go to that girl who was trying to enforce the impossible cause they'd think jeff is 45 years old or something especially with the glared view they have in the glass booth.



the movie second time around was enjoyable, even though i started dozing off at the end because i was so tired. we got home around the same time i got home the night before. i went to sleep around 3:15. woke up late to church and picked my friend up, and got there a little late. i couldn't stay for the lunch there because tommy was over (next week i'll stay for that for sure). then picked up tommy and went to go eat at the potato shack. i got the [A] with the top sirloin steak. we came back home and just chilled until about 6:30. and that was the end of all the fun for the weekend. i need a little nap before i hit the gym tonight. hopefully i can make it there by 9 and do 40 min of cardio.



harry potter was good. both tommy and wendy (the 2 biggest hp fans i know) said it was better than the first one. they left some subplots out.

-the whole percy thing. he spent time alone in his room and he was being suspicious. only to find out he had been seeing a girl.

-when harry misses with the floo powder, he is suppossed to see malfoy in the shop he lands in.

-nearly headless nick throws a party, and all his ghost friends were there. one of the dishes were stale fish heads.

-the grounds keeper and the whole thing about him having a "quick spells" book because he was a squib.

-a few things with gilderoy lockheart.

i really didn't like dobby in the books, and he wasn't too different from the movie. i mean, this little troll thinks that harry potter can't fend for himself? he better recognize. he seemed like a jar jar binks to me.

can't believe its already thursday. another week has almost past. next week is the re-fit test for the wellness class. it used to be that i would have seen the 9 week class as an achievement on its own. i'm really glad i've taken this class. i definitely have gained knowledge, and it has given me an opportunity to change up my routine. it is also going to serve as a gateway on taking more classes in the future. this is my 7th year at UCSD, and i'm still in my first rec class. but i am excited to take many more. its a toss up between wellness 2 or pilates for the next quarter.



change in topic but i have been researching dogs. i wish i could get a dog. i could get a cat now because the apartment does allow cats, but too many of my friends are highly alergic to cats. i won't be able to get a dog unless i live in a house. if i were to get a dog, my first choice would be a whippet. a dog that won't mind going jogging 2-3 miles 3 times a week. one reason i thought i should get a pet goes back to the whole self improvement thing that's become the prime focus in my life recently. what i have trouble doing is expressing my affection in a physical way. like i would like to hand out more hugs, give a squeeze of the shoulder, or just give a few back rubs now and then, but it doesn't come natural to me. i do try when i can, but i'm always wondering it is appropriate or if it will make them uncomfortable in any way. first time i held hands with my first girlfriend in high school, i was rather disappointed. it felt more awkward and weird than something good. it was a little eaiser to hold hands and such with a second girlfriend. still i was always wondering "hmmm...should we hug now....i never know.". it could be that my mother wasn't a physically affectionate person. i can't remember a single instance where my mom has hugged me. it's not that i don't remember my childhood either. i think i do have an extroridinary memory trace and can basically remember things in detail decades later. yet i can't remember when my mom ever has shown physical affection. if you have heard that not holding your baby enough leads them to strange behavior, i'm a living example that will add more proof that the theory is correct. so i really want to change so i can show affection in more than just words and not pass this weird trait along to my future offsprings. i need to make an effort. now how do i start? i can't just go around handing out hugs to all my friends when they gotten to know me as someone who rarely does that.



speaking of pets, the reason i wanted the get a chihuaua for the longest time is because when my dad owned a pet store, there was this chihuaua that really grew on me instantly. he would want to bite just about everyone else's head off, but it would come sleep next to me on my bed. i knew i couldn't keep him, so he would go back to the pet store on a daily basis, and my dad would bring him home often. i called the pet store to make sure they brought him home again. and my brother told me that it tried to run away, got hit by a car, and died. i was heartbroken. i always wonder if he ran away in search of me. i'm not sure why it was so attached to me but for the week that i had it, i was really proud of it. i feel sorry for all the pets we had for a short time while we were growing up. we had a silky terrier named annie. it was one of the most well bred silky terriers i've seen to this day. to it's own bad luck, it had to live with our family for a few months. it was officially my sister's dog, but she got tired of it, and didn't really take care of it. i always thought the dog should have been washed every few days rather than every week or two. and the dog seeked a lot more attention than she was willing to give it. it would come to my room and i wouldn't pet it because i admit i was bored with it too even though i knew how sad the dog was. and i wasn't going to wash what wasn't my responsibility. but now i feel crummy about it. it was just seeking some affection and attention. now is it all that hard to give? it deserved better. i feel bad just about every dog that we brought home. all so kind and friendly. they were just looking for a nice family. the ones without homes have a really hard life you know.



except the chihuaua, i'm pretty sure they went to a nice home. we only brought home the expensive good looking ones. so that made it more likely for them to be cared for better. we had to give annie away for free because we couldn't officially keep dogs in the apartment we lived in back then. i heard annie is doing quite well. an older couple took her in. and supposedly gets treated better than they treat themselves. i also heard it gets birthday cakes too. wtg annie. scored a nice caring family. its getting what it deserves. kinda like winning the lottery after living in the ghetto for a dog.

so i finally managed to sleep at 5am on sunday, and woke up at 8. got to church just in time. after service they wanted us to stay, but i didn't think it was a great idea because neither of us had too much sleep the night before. so we left, and got brunch at the cottage. made a quick scenic stop at mt soledad, and came back home. i got a 40 minute nap, then met wendy at rimac. worked out, got pho, and had some ice cream and cake at her place. on my way home and stopped by ralphs. then i came back home and played some vice city. today, i woke up around noon. woke up to one of the most beautiful days in weeks...maybe even a month or two. no cloud in the sky. brilliant blue that la jolla is known for. i manged to make it out of the apartment by 2, stopped by costco, then i headed to rimac. got out by 5, and i've been home spreading my complete smallville collection over winmx. i cleared up a lot of space on my computer, and finally copied all the episodes in to my computer. i found out that i had not seen only 3 episodes. 101, 106, and 109. just finished watching 101, 102 (i missed most of this one before) and 106.. very good episodes, even though it was basically the typical freak of the week episodes.



what is it with ralphs cashiers in la jolla? a few of them heavily flirt with customers. the women range in the late 30's to early 50's (i'm guessing). it's pretty amusing but 2/3 of the times, they act like they are infatuated with the customer. many times being me. they'll sometimes introduce me to the bagger as their boy friend. or call me just about every pet name in the book. leaving the bagger (ranging from young college kids to peers of the cashier) absolutely speechless. it's great fun though. i usually just play along. this time one of them referred to me as "young meat". i wonder if that had anything to do with my korean name being young been. but the strange thing is, i didn't even use my ralphs club that day (i usually do), and i paid by cash. hmmm..... at the very least they have found a way to make working at their job a little more enjoyable by making it a fun work environment.



also on the general topic of cashiers at markets, there's also this other cashier at vons named michael. very nice guy. i used to shop there all the time when i lived on regents. i stopped going there and i went back about a year later. and he told me he hasn't seen me at vons for a while. i was blown away that they recognize people that well. they even recognize customers who stop shopping there and come back after a year or two. it's a major market and hundreds, if not thousands of different people shop there daily. it could just be that he's good with faces, and also the fact that it's just part of their job and they're really good at it. but i love the markets in la jolla. the markets that i'm used to at torrance and gardena aren't anything like that. they usually resemble the check out lines at target. either college kids, or mothers at the 2nd jobs getting close to minimum wage and counting the hours. the first thing i noticed when i got to the markets here is that at the checkout line, you put the rubber or plastic divider behind your groceries, not before it. just little things like this make it a joy living in la jolla.

hmmm....what is wei doing with pine sol at 4 in the morning. and what am i doing up this late? i have to wake up in 4 hours, so i can go to church for the first time in years. i dunno who's idea was for the service to be at 9am. i'd prefer it to be around 3pm. maybe it'll be time for brunch by the time we get out. that is good and all, but as i remember correctly, that is not the most appropriate thing to do on a Sunday. last time i woke up that early on sunday was when i went paintballing with andrew. that was about 3 years ago.



i went to go see 8mile with wendy and her roommates. the movie was good. just about what i expected from the reviews. eminem acts well. and it's like rocky with rap. can't give eminem too much credit. it's pretty easy when you play yourself in a movie. but also, i had never seen a movie with rap battles like that. that was kinda cool. i wasn't planning on seeing the movie, but i changed my mind when i read the reviews. imdb is beginning to become a major strong arm in the movie industry. you can make a shitty movie, and have 10,000 fake reviews, and make a few million bucks. it will be done some day. just tipping the scales would be enough for some additional profits, which could mean millions of dollars.

is it that i have too much to hide, or not much to write. oddly enough, the weather has been not been draining as i normally would find myself when its raining.



one of the most dependable is proving to be one of the very opposite. is it because of the lack of time, or just a change in priorities? or is it a message? wasn't always like this. it is still much of a downer. every time. but i'm just a fool. sometimes i just sit and wait, shutting down almost everything else. i don't wait because i've got nothing better to do. i wait because my priorities are different. (maybe shit like this is my downfall.) i usually set myself up for the obvious disappointment. not always. when its not, its golden. better than gold. like metal made out of diamonds. i dunno why. it just is. at least to me.



will it ever be realized? or will it be too late when it does? that's how these things usually go. then it will be too late. but i could just be my warped state of mind. this is only one side of the story. maybe it is me that hasn't realized the obvious. and it will break me that day. and when it does, it will be ugly. lets not forget the worse things that can happen. that will truly be a dark period. not as dark as the darkest moment in my life. but still awful enough to where i'd rather not try to dwell in the possibility.



i can't seem to change it if i wanted to. believe me. i wish i could. not because it is any less greater than what i've discoverd. but because it is probably the logical thing to do. if the whole truth was only was known, would it make a difference? probably not. but you never know with this one. can't figure out this cipher, wrapped in an enigma, covered in secret sauce.



i can't f this up just like i did with with almost every other opportunity i've had in my life by doing what i know is going to be the end of everything with no turning back (and with no possible posities outcomes.). is it a defense mechanism or am i just a sadist? this time, i'll let the smarter half of me do the right thing. which is absolutely nothing. and thats what makes it the hardest things to do.

damn, i just wasted about 4 hours of my life today. played GTA: VC, and I was having a hard time passing this one mission, so i blew up the car i was supposed to race (spanwed a tank), and made a slow lap around the track. the game didn't like that at all, and it basically crashed the game, so all the missions i had completed today were down the drain. some were some hard ones too. damn. almost makes me not want to play.



on another note, time warner called today saying they were gonna wire us for cable for free for a month, and half price for 6 months. so i reluctantly said yes. only shows i miss are the forensic science shows. other than smallville i don't watch TV. wei and i have been doing quite well without it. now i'm starting to regret the decision. oh well, first month is free, and i'm free to cancel whenever.



last few days have been pretty kick back. my friend from torrance came by, and met them at friday's at 11pm on monday. ate a few bite sized appetizers, met his friend, and possibly found a church to go to. gotta dust my bible. my beliefs are still solid. i just haven't been going for years. its funny cause in torrance, all my friends were christian. i moved to san diego, and no one was. well, going to church just helps me become a better person overall. helps me improve as a person in just about every way possible. it motivates me to improve things i would not take upon myself to improve.



yesterday in my wellness class, the agenda for that day was stretching. we did about 10-15 stretches, and both jonna and kim (trainers) were very impressed with my flexibility. about every stretch i did, they kept saying, "for a guy, you're pretty flexbile. wow, that's amazing." they kept saying that for just about every stretch we did. inflating my ego every time they did that. i think there are 2 key factors on why i'm pretty flexible. one being just being born just a smidge more flexible than my classmates at PE. the other one being how much i spend each day stretching the muscles that need a some stretching, and stretching the muscles i plan on working out (and during workouts). i also recently made my wednesdays "work on flexibility" days.

this was a pretty relaxing weekend. after jury duty, i came home for 2 hours to take a nap. i got home, played DDR MAX for a little bit, even though i was dead tired. then i took a 40 min nap, rushed out the door to meet wendy at rimac. got there at 5:45, lifted, got home at around 7:45. then i didn't do much for the rest of the night. tommy came over at about 2am. we chilled till 3:30. that concluded one of my longest days in a long time.



saturday, woke up. went to JV's with tommy. got the surf and turf burrito. the volume of the burrito is not as big as a football, but definitely bigger than the nerf football. i didn't eat much of the tortilla, but tommy ate the whole time. we decided to walk around jv's but realized the USD area has absolutely nothing to offer unless you got on campus. then we took his computer to the resnet office, and troubleshot the problem. his battery had blown up, and his motherboard was the cause of the problem. i removed the wire for his WOL and that seemed to do the trick. so we went to radio shack to get a replacement battery, then to UTC. got some boba at boba bliss. it was pretty good. nothing spectacular, but i would go back. then we came back home. tommy ordered some dvds, while i played some GTA: VC and DDR MAX. nguyen and chris came over, and we just chilled till about 8:30, and then went to pampas for some 12oz angus prime tenderloins. the meat must have been extra fresh that night since they served it more rare than usual. that was all good with me and tommy. nguyen seemed like he was about to faint eating the almost raw piece (cooked med rare) of filet. then we came back home, i played more GTA: VC as tommy ordered more DVDs.



sunday, woke up to a beautiful day. we decided to get some brunch at potato shack at encinitas (known for man hole sized pancakes). food was great as usual. the american fries could have been better. usually they sautee it with onions and bell peppers. but it seemed like they just served us some sauteed potatoes. and they didn't even brown the potatoes properly. it looks like further we drove north, more of the sun had disappeared. so basically we were a little disappointed when we got to potato shack. we should have stuck around la jolla, or went more south like coronado. after that, we went back home, i palyed more GTA: VC, and tommy ordered some more DVDs. tommy went back to torrance, and i headed out to the gym around 8. i got back around 9:30, played some more GTA: VC.



even though i've been good about only eating out from friday evening to sunday lunch, i think i'm still over doing it. i think i'll set some more strict rules.

only one boba a weekend max.

up to one nice restaurant max per weekend (doesn't include cheap eats like pho or JVs)

sunday brunch permitted on only perfect weather.

so i didn't break the rules this weekend, but i did do everything possible.

Public restroom humor for the day.

What's worse than someone who leaves without washing their hands?

Someone who skips washing their hands but still uses the paper towels.



Today was my time going to do some jury duty. There was bunch of stuff going on all over, but i chose to stay home thinking I should sleep early. Boy was I wrong.....I finally went to sleep at 2:30 and planned to wake up at 6:00. I finally did get up at 6:20, did my usual routine, left at the planned 7:15 on the dot. i got there just on time, and had to go from the meters to the parking structures. It costed me $16 btw. Next time I'll just do the meters. at $1 an hour, it would have costed me $7, and the breaks are plentiful. i went in there thinking how this is such a royal waste of my time. and i was thinking of stuff i could say to get out of it. a bunch of half truths. i also envisioned me sitting there not getting called for days. i had prepared a full days worth of small meals, few magazines, my wellness course reading, and GTA: VC strategy guide.



long story short, I was excused. Basically, first group of the names they called included my name. I was in a courtroom by 9:30. And out of those 36 people, they chose 24 potential jurors. I was part of the 24. we finally got around letting people go (out of the interest of the lawyers) at around 2:15. I sat in juror #10 spot for a few minutes until I was excused.



This old lady said something to the affect “it should be guilty until proven innocent”, and she was excused about 5 minutes in when we got there that morning. about 5 people looked like they were trying to pull something. They weren’t excused. One of them looked rather foolish doing it.



by the way, you no longer are paid $5 your first day. But from the second day, the daily pay is $15.



On the way home, I ran over this metal object which scraped the lower parts of my doors really bad probably causing upwards of 100s of dollars in damages.



Even though it was an expensive day for me, I have to say it has been somewhat as an eye opening experience. It would have been a short case (at the latest Wednesday and I don’t think I would have any problems severing other than the $16 of daily parking fees.) I have more respect in our legal system. Basically of all the things I thought of that I could say, the orientation, and the judges opening remarks just dissolved any issues I thought I would having serving as a juror. I chose not to speak at all, other than when I had to share my information. in the courtroom, i was the youngest one there by far. a good number of jurors had grandchildren in their 20s. the second youngest ones in there were the attorneys who were probably in their late 20's or early 30s.



one weird thing is that i think one of the jurors was previously charged with a sexual assault with a minor. he has a teaching degree, was in the profession for many years, and now he works for YMCA.........kinda raises an eye brow, don't you think?



we had a 2 hour lunch break. in that time, I went to EB to buy DDR MAX for the PS2. I've played some of it. And it definitely is worth the buy. They have the steps where you have to hold it there, and it adds a whold different level of difficulty that I want to master. I also stopped at GNC just to snoop around. I ended up getting the gold card, and getting a big ass bottle of NITRO-TECH (protein shake). I like my Glutapro, but I think it's time to mix it up. I've learned that mixing it up in general (not just working out, but applies to everything like what you eat, what you do, trying new things, where you go, etc) is just a big part of one's overall "wellness".