Jason's Daily Notes

Hard to wake up. Bus to work - arrived 9:05.

I GOT A RAISE! Holy shit.

- a lot of stuff to do - compiling binders, continuing projects, searching for dockets, recording my hours
- yet somehow I found time to edit Wikipedia

I'm staying late tonight. [really late; 9:30pm.] There are BIG projects looming on the horizon. It's unbelievable what has just happened to the firm. I had to print out all of our former employee's files. Damn. Crazy.

Songs: Kesha - Tik Tok; Beyonce - Single Ladies; Cobra Starship - Good Girls Go Bad

A Quick Summary:

Thursday: hecticly getting the house ready for our visitors. Transported/set up my mom's Christmas gift (a super heavy elliptical trainer). Had to rearrange the furniture, set up the air bed, vacuum, sweep, and everything. It's frustrating - our kitchen hasn't been finished being remodeled yet. Currently we have no kitchen sink and no countertop. There are new cabinets, though.

Friday: Christmas day! Yes! It came so fast this year, but I'm not gonna complain. Went to Church with the family (at the Cathedral). Spent most of the rest of the day inside. Went to a family friend's house for Xmas dinner. We got yogurt which was on sale, 50% off, at the new place in Eagle Rock.

Saturday: Woke up early (relatively - 7am) to go to the mall and catch some after-Christmas sales. The galleria wasn't nearly as crowded as I had anticipated. The Urban Outfitters sale (50% off "All Sale") apparently didn't apply to the items I wanted to purchase :( - so I got nothing. Scru u Urban! I need to cut back on the shopping anyway. Evening, went to Irvine with the family. Kind of a boring Christmas party, more of a family thing. There was karaoke.

Sunday: Church (SBS). Apparently Justin was also at the Americana and met Kate Bosworth at Barnes & Noble. wtf. We ate at The Hat - so much food! Mom and auntie got massages in San Gabriel. I was driven back to my apt, dropped off the chairs for the party. Then, walked around Santa Monica for an hour or two. Dinner at U-Zen Sushi in West LA was very nice.

Song: The Spill Canvas - The Tide ["Heaven's not a place that you go when you die / It's that moment in life when you actually feel alive"]

CS: Said bye to Yoann & Palak today. Fun guys. I need to get my own pair of neon sunglasses and touristy t-shirts.

Work: 8:45

HAPPY FESTIVUS! (For the rest of us)

Lunch: Panda bowl with black pepper chicken

Work today... is like trying to fit a square into a circle.

- need to buy gift for my uncle.

News: Balloon Boy's parents are going to jail :(

5pm. Still at work. Auntie Jo calls, asking about the recipe for a lemon drop.


Songs: Bob Rivers - The Most Fattening Time of the Year [parody, lol]; Richard Cheese - Milkshake; Hilary Duff - Come Clean; Incubus - Oil and Water

CS: Yoann & Palak (from France, but currently students in Chicago)

It took a while to leave for work this morning - didn't arrive until 9:15!

It's cold and windy today!

No one is on gchat :/

Lunch: packed-up breakfast (eggs & potatoes o'brien)

I think I should focus on studying econ/development (which might include law?)

today's work: Searching ppl's addresses for the claims administrator (cont.)

Two-for-one hot chocolate at Ben & Jerry's!!!

@ work til ~ 6:30

Songs: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (wtf?! how did that get in my head?!!!); Rise Against - Savior

- Alone in the apartment tonight. Still not feeling fully energized from the exhausting weekend.
- I've begun making a "00s" playlist. I'm taking the top hits from each year 2000-09 (from Wikipedia) and making them into one messive (12-hour) playlist. I'm going to play it at my New Year's party!
- short week (for Christmas) - thank GOD!
- work: eh. Got on the crowded bus (instead of the empty start-of-the-line bus) this morning.
- lunch: Courtyard cafe salad bar ($4.00!)

Mayon Volcano - about to erupt?

- my Couchsurfers (Yoann and his friend from France via Chicago) are actually coming tonight, not last night as I had anticipated. No worries.

Songs: Lady Gaga - Poker Face; Bloc Party - Song for Clay (Disappear Here) ["East London is a vampire"!!!]; Snow Patrol - Run; Taylor Swift - You Belong with Me

Angela's surprize party on Saturday. Fun times (Scrabble Cheez-Its?!!) but a bit too much drinking. (Leafblower, anyone?) I didn't exactly feel stellar afterwards. (People need to use the word "stellar" more.)

Friday, I was tired from work. Stéphane returns to the apt and we finish watching Funny People then take the (crowded) 720 bus down Wilshire to meet up with Michelle in Koreatown for Carla's birthday. Karaoke was fun but short (Tokyo Tea!). We soon move to Atwater and the Griffin, then to Glendale somehow, trying to track down Carla & Co. (who went for pho). I end up carving a path of destruction too - windshield wipers, car antennas, and "for rent" signs... none are safe!

CS: Stephané from France

bus. 8:50 :/ ... I really should make an effort to get to work earlier

work:
Morning - finishing my writeup (fixing citations, etc.) on apoptosis
Lunch: Panda bowl (Panda Express) - $5.99 + tax
Afternoon: chat w/ Cassy and Leslie
- new project: work on finding the addresses/phone for 500 people!
- staying late to get a good amount of this project done... and now my eyes hurt.


Songs: Beyoncé - Single Ladies; Lisa Loeb - Stay; Arctic Monkeys - Crying Lightning; Lion King - Hakuna Matata

Slept alone last night... was able to leave the windows open (since no one was surfing the couch)

• bus to work this morning - I felt good; everything was moving along, it was a all-green-lights morning

AAAAAH! I HAVE A RESEARCH PAPER DUE TOMORROW! The irony (just as everyone still in school is finishing finals this week)!

@ work til 7:45pm - ugh.

CS tonight: Stephané (from France).

Songs: Britney Spears - Circus; Haddaway - What Is Love?

I walked back to the apartment yesterday from work. Yes, that's right. Walked. All the way! It took 45 minutes! I had been meaning to try it for some time; especially after that time I jogged from my apt almost as far as Beverly Glen. Since then I've realized that it really isn't that far from the apt to work. And I had no change for bus fare, which was the excuse I needed to hit the pavement.

Julia left this morning (early, ~ 6:30am) to catch the bus to catch her flight.

Had tacos and a burrito last night (no sushi, despite how much I prodded Julia to try some!) - watched the first half of Funny People. It's a pretty good movie, but it's disconcerting how quickly it moves from morbidly depressing to light-hearted/gross-out hilarity.

Still unable to fully focus on work... I updated my facebook... checked my privacy settings, etc.... other web browsing... then did a little more research on what I've been working on (apoptosis and nicotine)... then online shopping... bad...

Looking forward to dinner with Jenn tonight (because it's hard to meet up when neither of us has a car)!

... but I have to finish all my work first! Ugh, why does everything get piled on me late in the day?! [at work til 6:30]

Song: The Killers - Spaceman.

• Woke ~ 7:30 - walked with Julia (CS) to the bus stop.
• Forgot my keys to work
• MASSAGE DAY! That's right - free massages for everyone in the firm. I was one of the first to go; it felt really good; but turns out, I'm really ticklish around my back. Apparently one of the massuses was in Disaster Movie or one of those films.
  
• Now I'm looking into Economic research positions/schools/think tanks. Who knows...
• Jack's still in NY - Lionel is out too - so the amount of imminent/urgent work is less.
• The lights in the office have been replaced - now everything is much brighter! Weird.
• Payday - yay! Well, not so much of a yay - all my income (and most of my savings) is going to pay down my student loans this month so I can maximize the (relatively puny) tax deduction.

Songs: Haddaway - What Is Love? ("baby don't hurt me" - listened to this after seeing a youtube video of a one man band playing this song, lol); Wax - California

It's Monday. And I'm just not that into work. I wanna just stay in my room and play some video game or whatever. I'm still constantly pondering my future, career-wise that is. Law school? Pursuing finance? Real estate? Public service? Urban development/planning? Development economics? Policy research? Other economic analysis? There really isn't one field that consistently gets me excited :/ ... except the thought of constantly traveling. I guess I just gotta put myself out there, network, and dip my feet into each pool to see which one feels best.

Lunch: Leftover Chinese food (Mayflower).

The Internet is down. The entire firm is paralyzed!
... Yeah, it's boring today. No Jack, no Sasha.
- but at least no rain! Still chilly though - high of 60, and the sun setting at 4:30 :(

Couchsurfer: Julia from Germany. She rode on the bus with me today to work.

Music: Lady Gaga - Paparazzi; Arctic Monkeys - Riot Van

• Drove back with Matthew ~10pm. Still hit traffic. Not that I care.
• RAIN Fri-Sat
• Fashion/Art show in Woodland Hills with Adrian & Priscilla. Fun times, free drinks, funky (looking) models.
• Churched it. Was scheduled to read this week but it was cancelled because the SBS students did it instead! Saw Leslie after mass. Crazy.
• Chinese food (Mayflower restaurant in Chinatown) for Henrison's graduation party - caught up with Gail (who just returned from Europe - aaah I wanna go back so much!)
  

- got dropped off by Matt
- HOLIDAY PARTY last night... was really nice!
- it's still rainy/showery

Tumblr. Set up an account/blog. I'm getting way too committed to too many websites to keep them reasonably updated.

Lunch: Lunchables (turkey/cheddar)! Oh yeah, you're jealous ;)

Songs: Snow Patrol - How to Be Dead; The Cure - Friday I'm in Love; The Limousines - Very Busy People; John Cage - 4'33"

Woke up than snoozed (what else is new). What sucked: I was dreaming that my alarm clock was actually 4 hours ahead, so that it was actually 3am instead of 7am and so I should keep sleeping. Needless to say I slept in.

Couchsurfers: Trish, Jess, and Dai - from Australia. Nice girls. I picked them up from the Westwood FlyAway bus stop last night.

Work: Jack's not here. So that means I'm taking over more work in his absence. However, the work load wasn't as bad as it could be.

No breakfast this morning; even though I was hungry I didn't eat lunch until 1:30

Lunch: Jambalaya from the Creole Chef (Thursday farmers market) - $7.00. It was good - I would love to try more creole/cajun food.
- I was interrupted while enjoying my lunch at my desk to join a meeting with our Westlaw sales rep (Randy). Meh.

Holiday Party Tonight!!! Yes, I'm excited!

Songs: Lady Gaga - Bad Romance; Wax - California

- Last night: Watched TAR (online) while eating a microwaved TV dinner
- Brian and Erica! NOOOO! Why?!!
- Started reading through the Vitamin Water case before going to bed. Lulled me to sleep quite quickly.
- ALARM @ 6:45 ... snooze til 7:45. Uploaded a few pics to Picasa.
- got to work ~ 8:50. Jack was already here (it's his last day before he leaves for New York)
- still busy - updating client list; searching for a judicial opinion; uploading a new document production

Lunch w/ Jenn today at her apt! Feast from the East!


Songs: Jay-Z & Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind; Lady Gaga - Bad Romance

Woke up 6:45. Had tea for breakfast. Only.
- the heater was on last night! Finally! Lighting the pilot light was a surprizingly involved process. There was a lot of dust though - whew! It set off several of the smoke detectors (which I had to subsequently disconnect).
- Matthew drove me to work - we got here early, because he needed to use our office printers to print out review notes for one of his finals.
- It's really cold today! I can see snow-covered Mt. Wilson through the window (it's just a small peek at the peak, between two office towers - but it's enough to beckon me)!

Lunch: One Tamal (no "e" at the end in the singular form of "tamales") - I shared that little grammatical fact with Coby, Louis, and Jason (the doc reviewer, whom I just met). Thanks Jenn!

Busy busy today! Pulling docs/searching dockets all morning, getting consumed by making a binder in the afternoon. And there are printer issues too! UGH. Had to outsource some of my work to Matt + Rachel.
- it's all good busy though. I feel appreciated for all the work I do :)

I finally called Time Warner Cable to exchange our broken cable box. Just have to drop it off at their office/location.

Song: Seether - Careless Whisper ("I'm never gonna dance again... guilty feet have got no rhythm!" - the only metal song I've really liked)

A series of storms are going to plow into California this week, dropping a potentially dangerous deluge upon this year's burn areas. The first storm is rolling into central and southern California now:

slept in today until 8:15 - aaah
CSers: Stine; Anastasiya + Alena (Russia [Vladivostok] and Belarus)
get together for Jenn tonight
Lunch: leftover Thanksgiving food (still?!)

MLIA stopped updating on my Google reader :/

Songs: Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

Woke up cold + late (I put the heater outside for my couchsurfers - Stine; Anastasiya and Alena)
work - 8:45
drove down Ohio Ave for a faster commute!

- Imagining my day as if it's being narrated as in a movie
- makes things def more interesting/dramatic

Lunch: Thursday = farmers market; Thai-Mex BBQ

My moustache (from Movember) is fully grown in

Need to cancel our DVR

• Stine still staying at my place
• Quick breakfast (cereal) - I slept through my radio alarm (which goes off for 1 hour)!
• I've been seeing police pulling lots of people over lately! In groups of 3 cops at a time too!

Lunch: w/ Jenn - New India Cafe lunch buffet

Songs: Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling

Couchsurfer Stine (from Denmark) is with me this week

I feel healthy today, but not fully "good"... kinda guilty/regretful

I have new glasses! Thick framed!
- and a moustache. I'm so indie :P !

- still researching nicotine and apoptosis...
- driving home tonight to pick up Matt's phone charger and my photos/photobooks

Songs: Sara Barielles - Love Song