How fitting it is that my very last picture of the 365 project is taken at the very last second before the day, nay, the year is completely over. There's alot that could be said about tonight and even more to reflect on (one thing being that this is the second year in a row that I have been more sober than drunk when the clock struck 12...something I haven't done since before college), but there will be more on that later.
A nearby SAIC office happened to have closed down recently (not a good sign, actually), and as such, the excess office supplies/furniture/decor were ransacked and distributed amongst other surrounding SAIC offices like plunder from a pirate's buried treasure (sorry, I just watched the trailer for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean movie). Some got the chairs, others got the staplers. What we got was the office art.
Upon careful observation, my coworkers and I have determined that any prints that are framed and hung in offices fall into two categories:
1) abstract art that consist of neutral or pastel colors and simple shapes that in no way can actually be interpreted as anything 2) landscapes
I suppose the purpose of these works of "art" are to add some much needed color (using the term very loosely here) to an otherwise rather drab and depressing environment of blue cubicle walls and cheap wholesale commercial carpet, while avoiding the risk of possibly offending or stimulating anyone in any way whatsoever.
Every year my family has a White Elephant gift exchange. I came away with a fancy schmancy foot massager type thing (considering my contribution was a Giants snuggie, I think I got a pretty good deal). While the thing still tickles the hell out of me, I'm sure I'll learn to appreciate the awesome power of little rotating balls on my health and well being.
I have relatives staying over my parents' place tonight, and they decided to bring their pet iguana or lizard or dragon or whatever to stay. Let me tell you, these things feel exactly like their rubber toy counterparts.
Just cause we have our Christmas party on the 24th doesn't mean we can't celebrate on the actual day as well.
It's funny, as the years go on, the Christmas gifts you get become more and more practical. I used to get fun things like Legos as a child. This year my sister got a cutting board and I got a Trader Joe's gift card (not that I'm complaining).
For reasons I don't recall and are now irrelevant, my family decided to have its Christmas celebration on December 24th as opposed to on the actual day. We all gathered in Watsonville, a small farming community where my grandma currently lives and where my mom and most of my aunts and uncles grew up.
My Grandma's house is literally in between a ditch and a strawberry field, so this is the closest to having an "over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house we go" experience.
So correct me if I'm reading this incorrectly, but did a former tenant of my apartment run a fake business here? And that you need a permit to run a fake (fictitious) business in San Francisco?
Part of my birthday present to her was to offer my apartment as the site of her NorCal birthday party (she apparently already had a party in SoCal the week before). Surprisingly enough, I think this is the most beer I've had in my apartment (not pictured: the 3 other cases of beer) at one point since I was 20.
Lest we forget.
Seeing all these tweens slowly fill my apartment tonight and somehow convert my small round dining table into something you can play beer pong on reminded me of those days when I was just as much into "raging" (as the kids call it nowadays) as they are now. It also made me appreciate the fact that my sister wasn't around to see me on my 20th birthday party.
Did any of you catch the lunar eclipse tonight? I got the first 10 minutes of it, before the rainclouds/signature San Francisco fog rolled in naturally and ruined this once in a 500 year phenomena for me.
Another long drive down to Southern California, another long drive back home to the Bay Area, another lonely desolate landscape shot somewhere in the middle of nowhere off of highway 5.
In celebration of my friend's birthday, we made a quick semi-impromptu drive down to Southern California. We take birthdays pretty damn seriously in my circle of friends, and we always make an adventure (or a bbq, ya know, whatever) out of the anniversary of the day of our originations.
This year, the birthday girl desired to go to Pharaohs Adventure Park in Redlands. It's basically an Egypt-themed Chuck-E-Cheese, complete with arcade, ball pit, roller coasters, go-karts, and crappy pizza buffet. She had claimed she was supposed to visit this park when she was 9, but was late when the vans at her school took off and was therefore never able to enjoy the park as a child (cue single tear down my cheek). Well it's 16 years later, and this being her 25th birthday, we had to make up for lost time:
My friend was right when we told him we were visiting this park ("what the hell? why are you guys going there? no one goes there"). It probably didn't help that since it was raining, all the roller coasters were closed and the go-karts were deemed unsafe due to the slippery surface on the track. But oh it looked like it would seem so fun to enjoy the crappy pizza buffet and the cheesy faux-pyramid decor in a B-movie kinda way (so bad, it's actually kinda good).
I guess the saddest part is that even at 25, my friend still hasn't had the chance to enjoy the Pharaohs Adventure Park, no matter how hard she tried (we unsuccessfully tried to convince the maintenance guys at the go-kart track to let us drive our car on the track). But someday, we'll find a way to get her there. Someday.
...are surprisingly comfortable as something to sleep on, especially after a long 7 hour drive down south in the wee hours of the night, in the dark, in the rain.
To add to my growing list of pictures of plants this past week, my coworker decided to bring in yet another flower to decorate our otherwise drab looking office.
Me: Ooh, what kind of flower is that?
Him: It's a type of salvia plant.
Me: Isn't that the stuff that Miley Cyrus got high off the other day?
Him: Who?
He then went on to explain that this is salvia wagneriana or something like that. The type of salvia kids get high off of nowadays is salvia divinorum.
Upon closer inspection however, I told him that this actually does look like something you can smoke:
It's a bit dark, but if you look closely, you can see my tiny 3 foot tall fiberglass Xmas tree, complete with plastic ornaments and a rotating rainbow of colors.
To celebrate our boss's departure for vacation last week and subsequently an unsupervised next 3 weeks, we decided to take an extra long lunch at the Chinese buffet down the street.
Money being tight nowadays, I never get to eat that well or even much anymore. The best part about today's celebration however was that it was all paid for. By my coworkers, that is.
Two months ago we had new-hire join our team (read: another minion for me) and my current minions and I made a bet on how long she would last here, given the boring, soul-sucking nature of our job. I had the most faith in her and having stayed past the two month mark, I won the bet. Woo. Hoo.
I've always been a staunch proponent of Team Microsoft when it came to the I'm a PC/I'm a Mac wars, so it pained me to learn that the industry-standard software in the world of video editing could only be run on computers that are made by a company whose mascot is a fruit.I figured if I wanted to make any headway in this industry, it was necessary to invest in this machine (most internships require that you are running a Mac), and make the ungodly switch over. Luckily one of my instructors knew the plight I was in and was able to hook me up with a fairly good deal (and threw in a free copy of Final Cut Pro to boot).
I feel so dirty. Yet hip.
But worry not, my natural repulsion to anything Apple related (with the exception of ipods...they're an evil company but they did the mp3 player right) will prevent me from ever becoming one of those irritating Mac fanboys who swear by the 'flawlessness' of anything Steve Jobs pulls out of his ass.
I introduced the other half to some of my favorite Final Fantasy piano renditions the other night, which in turn spurned a spree of geeking out on video game music on my end.
Definitely reminded me of back in the day when my friend and I would set up speakers at our menial (but definitely rewarding) 9pm-5am security job and just listen to and discuss our favorite Final Fantasy tracks throughout the night. Good times.
Not the first year I missed the decorating of home (home home...where the folks are) for X-mas this year, but this inspired me to put up some holiday decorations of my own that I didn't also use to light my parties back in college (look up the 'lighting' section)
It seemed apt that I would get this gift from my company's white elephant gift exchange. Although this plant is more commonly known as a money tree, the real scientific name of this tree is the Solomon Island epipremnum aureum.
Seems I've been taking pictures of plants alot lately.
Since moving from a cubicle to a new office back in August, I have been able to enjoy the presence of two minions, a view, and no blue cubicle walls. A nice perk is that when we grow tired of staring at transit schedules on an excel sheet all day, all we have to do is walk over to the window and watch for any interesting happenings out there in the "outside world."
Today, a sanitation truck was out there, cleaning out the septic tank of a 15 story apartment building. It was the highlight of my day.
My coworker used to always rant about his former supervisor who was a bit "rough around the edges." He would drag his feet, he had an annoying laugh, his clothes never matched and he used to carry around a rainbow umbrella.
Thus, when my cousin/roomie brought home a rainbow umbrella one day, I took the first chance I could to make sure my coworker's memory of his former supervisor lived on as I walked around the office dragging my feet loudly, laughing shrilly while holding my giant rainbow umbrella.
Tonight was the company holiday party (or, due to corporate regulations since we cant' have a 'holiday' related 'party,' we had the 'seasonal get-together' tonight).
It was exactly as I had expected, the same boring coworkers, sitting awkwardly around each other in semi-silence with nothing much to talk about but actual work. In fact, it's exactly like it was last year (with the exception that there was no open bar tonight, which made the whole experience even more excruciatingly awkward).
Something I noticed though. I don't mean to sound cocky or anything, but dammit I was the life of the party (and those of you who know me personally, I have a tendency to be boring and dull, so this is really saying alot). I mingled with the clients, I told the stories that which everyone held on to every word (my participation in the parade this past weekend was a hot topic)...In fact, when it was one short hour into the party, the moment I said I had to leave for class early, everyone decided that it was time to go to. Am I the cool trend setter or what? (I realize that they may just have been waiting for an excuse to leave...but hey, lemme have this one).
In either case, I brought the party. I took the party with me. I am alpha male (and really, that is saying alot about my office).
The Roots - How I Got Over The Roots had always been one of my favorite hip hop groups, mainly due to their use of jazzy, live instrumentation in their music. I'm particularly fond of Questlove's percussion work (and if you get the chance, take a listen to his work with the Philadelphia Experiment) and was immensely impressed when I saw them live at the UCLA Jazz-Reggae Fest in 2008 (remind me to put the video up one of these days).
While it's a shame to see that they've been relegated to the late night show circuit as of 2009, I'm glad they're still releasing quality tracks and albums such as the aforementioned.
Somehow I got convinced to volunteer to be a costumed character in the Oakland Holiday Parade today. No, I don't know who I played either. Apparently this beady eyed blonde kid is Eddie of the Fisher Price Little People. He's one of those characters you'd only be aware of if you were a kid under 4 or if you were a young adult who's raising a kid under 4. In either case, I didn't have quite the name or face recognition as the Cat in the Hat or the Curious George costumes got.
The suit had 3 layers, smelled of musk, and was so hot inside, the mask even had a fan built into it. The overall experience was fairly horrendous, but I do what I can to spread joy in the hearts of the children in Oakland.
Plus, being in a parade was on my bucket list anyway.
While the weather outside was frightful, the tree lighting ceremony in downtown Oakland was delightful. And since it showed no chance to wane, let it rain, let it rain, let it rain.
My coworkers may lack interesting personalities, but at the very least, everyone knows how to cook. Plus thanks to them, I have enough food to last me for at least the next 3 days.
Did you know that Lupe Fiasco started his own alternative-ish-electronica-ish-indie-ish-ecelctic-ish band? I didn't either until earlier today. I haven't given the whole album a listen, but if you want to see for yourself, the link to download all the tracks are free here...for now.
"Offices with alot of foreigners always have the best potlucks!" -ST
If you knew me last year, you'd know that I once was employed by a popular consumer electronics retail chain this time of year.
Since I made my resignation via my 3rd no-show shift, I managed to (begrudgingly be forced) to only walk into this store 3 times in the past year. And yet here I was today...
It's Black Friday, and while some of you out there were waiting in line at 3am in the freezing temperatures for Target to open so you can get that crockpot for $14, I got to spend the morning in my warm apartment under a warm blanket on my warm couch while the TV emanated warmth from all the 30 Rock I was watching.
Oh, and I got some shopping done still too. Thank you Amazon.com.
Thanksgiving feasts involve a good amount of preparation on all family fronts. On my front: flan. Thanks to my cousin, I now possess the knowledge of the simplicity of the recipe of flan.
I thought the X-mas season didn't normally start until after Thanksgiving (which is usually when local lite rock/less talk stations start playing holiday music) but these decorations have been up for weeks.
It's been a while since I've updated my bucket list (the last time I've posted was then...and before that, then). But now, I feel I'm due to continue the list, since I'd been given some time to conjure up some more wildly outrageous/ridiculously doable tasks to do before my frail old body, withered away by the poor diet of microwavable chimichangas and diet coke says "no more."
I just totally thought of that off the top of my head right now.
Anyways, before we continue the list, why don't we take a look at how much I've already accomplished (asterisks and bold means I've done it):
-go in one of those tubes where the money is flying around (like you see in Vegas or in game shows!) -do a pole vault successfully -watch fireworks from a plane/helicopter (I'm sure the view would be awesome) -wrestle in a fat suit -go to the opening ceremony of the Olympics (but who could top China, really) **climb Half Dome (but where the hell would you start climbing??)** -drive cross country in an RV -go to a shooting range, and fire an automatic weapon...at a watermelon -do a favor for someone who can't repay it -see a Cirque Du Soleil show (cause I want my own trippy knocked up-esque experience!) -see the Blue Man Group live (I mean, I've got their cds already) -climb a rock wall (but wouldn't climbing Half Dome be kinda like climbing a rock wall?) -go to a taping of The Daily Show (and grovel at Jon Stewart and exclaim "we're not worthy! we're not worthy!) -finish the ladder game...successfully!(someday, someday.) -go on those bouncy things that people jump on and launch you into the lake -go to the Gilroy Garlic Festival (and try that famed garlic flavored ice cream) -own a player piano **-make my own wine(yes I realize there is already a wine named after me...I still want my own though!)** -learn at least one song on the accordion **-get in trouble enough with the police to be yelled at but not arrested** **-go on price is right** **-go to a county fair** -Participate in a paintball match (I heard you can get some pretty bad bruises) -Finish a Sudoku (yeah I'm lame and haven't figured one completely out yet) -Drive a Toyota Mark X (cause who wouldn't want to drive a car that's named after them?) -Make a sky writer message for someone (or myself. that would be cool too.) -Cook a frozen chimichanga in the dryer (I first heard of someone doing this in the dorms freshman year...) -Stay on one of the hotels on the Dubai World Islands -Conduct my high school band on at least one song -Participate in a flash mob -Visit all the capital cities of the world (big endeavor, but can be done, nonetheless) -Travel far and wide to be able to see aurora borealis at least once -Ride to every end of BART (and just ride back, too) **-Play a part in a cheesy local commercial (or a cheesy infomerical, either will do)** **-Drink a shot of Johnny Walker Blue Label King George V Edition (a $1500 bottle of scotch whiskey, mind you)** -Drive around a racetrack (in my Toyota Mark X, no less)
And so, the list continues: -Own a globe bar -Type a whole letter on a typewriter -Do that human sling shot thing:
-See the inside of a water tower
scientific evidence hints that it may look something like this
-Watch a Giants game from a kayak or a yacht from McCovey Cove:
like so.
-Make my own -opoly (yes, it does exist!) -Learn a song on the organ
-Try lagavulin (a rare single malt whiskey, mind you) -Go whale watching -Fire a sniper rifle -Catch a huge fish
...and throw it back in the water cause if I kept it, it would ruin my marriage
-Be a contestant on a game show (not necessarily The Price Is Right) -Save someone's life. -Pay for the tab on a $300 meal for 2. And not flinch. -Have my bio read at a banquet, dinner, talk show, or some other big name event -See all the ancient wonders of the world (that are still around) -Get caught on the kiss cam -Ride on a parade float (I signed up to be a "balloon navigator" for the Oakland Children's Parade...might actually count as 'close enough') -Walk down a steep hill in San Francisco backwards
got the idea when I saw a lady in heels do it
-Hack an electronic road sign (it's actually easier than you think)
So there you have it people, my bucket list, updated for 2010. My 50 before 50 (but hopefully I live longer than that).
How fitting it is that my very last picture of the 365 project is taken at the very last second before the day, nay, the year is completely over. There's alot that could be said about tonight and even more to reflect on (one thing being that this is the second year in a row that I have been more sober than drunk when the clock struck 12...something I haven't done since before college), but there will be more on that later.
Just spotted and installed today: more unoffensive landscape art to add contrast to the bare white walls and sea of blue cubicles.
A nearby SAIC office happened to have closed down recently (not a good sign, actually), and as such, the excess office supplies/furniture/decor were ransacked and distributed amongst other surrounding SAIC offices like plunder from a pirate's buried treasure (sorry, I just watched the trailer for the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean movie). Some got the chairs, others got the staplers. What we got was the office art.
My sister made a realization that despite it being her birthday, we never had a cake or candles to celebrate. So here we are.
Every year my family has a White Elephant gift exchange. I came away with a fancy schmancy foot massager type thing (considering my contribution was a Giants snuggie, I think I got a pretty good deal). While the thing still tickles the hell out of me, I'm sure I'll learn to appreciate the awesome power of little rotating balls on my health and well being.
I have relatives staying over my parents' place tonight, and they decided to bring their pet iguana or lizard or dragon or whatever to stay. Let me tell you, these things feel exactly like their rubber toy counterparts.
Just cause we have our Christmas party on the 24th doesn't mean we can't celebrate on the actual day as well. 
For reasons I don't recall and are now irrelevant, my family decided to have its Christmas celebration on December 24th as opposed to on the actual day. We all gathered in Watsonville, a small farming community where my grandma currently lives and where my mom and most of my aunts and uncles grew up. 
So correct me if I'm reading this incorrectly, but did a former tenant of my apartment run a fake business here? And that you need a permit to run a fake (fictitious) business in San Francisco?
I love the holiday season. There's never a shortage of free food in the break room at work, no matter what job I'm working.
Happy 20th birthday to my sister!
Did any of you catch the lunar eclipse tonight? I got the first 10 minutes of it, before the rainclouds/signature San Francisco fog rolled in naturally and ruined this once in a 500 year phenomena for me.
To celebrate our boss's departure for vacation last week and subsequently an unsupervised next 3 weeks, we decided to take an extra long lunch at the Chinese buffet down the street.
I've always been a staunch proponent of Team Microsoft when it came to the I'm a PC/I'm a Mac wars, so it pained me to learn that the industry-standard software in the world of video editing could only be run on computers that are made by a company whose mascot is a fruit.
I figured if I wanted to make any headway in this industry, it was necessary to invest in this machine (most internships require that you are running a Mac), and make the ungodly switch over. Luckily one of my instructors knew the plight I was in and was able to hook me up with a fairly good deal (and threw in a free copy of Final Cut Pro to boot).
Not the first year I missed the decorating of home (home home...where the folks are) for X-mas this year, but this inspired me to put up some holiday decorations of my own that I didn't also use to light my parties back in college (look up the 'lighting' section)
Since moving from a cubicle to a new office back in August, I have been able to enjoy the presence of two minions, a view, and no blue cubicle walls. A nice perk is that when we grow tired of staring at transit schedules on an excel sheet all day, all we have to do is walk over to the window and watch for any interesting happenings out there in the "outside world."
Another day, another day on campus, another observation of the holiday decorations that have been up for the past month.
My coworker used to always rant about his former supervisor who was a bit "rough around the edges." He would drag his feet, he had an annoying laugh, his clothes never matched and he used to carry around a rainbow umbrella.
No, I don't know who I played either. Apparently this beady eyed blonde kid is Eddie of the Fisher Price Little People. He's one of those characters you'd only be aware of if you were a kid under 4 or if you were a young adult who's raising a kid under 4. In either case, I didn't have quite the name or face recognition as the Cat in the Hat or the Curious George costumes got.
Plus thanks to them, I have enough food to last me for at least the next 3 days.
