Jason's Daily Notes

Yesterday Matt and I finished watching Hitchcock's classic comedic caper North by Northwest.

It's a good movie (as has been almost everything I've been getting off Netflix). There's the iconic scene where Cary Grant is getting chased down by a crop dusting plane. It's interesting to contrast the (often elegant) simplicity of classic movies with all the overly-polished special visual and sound effects employed in the cinema nowadays. All you need is a good story and to tell it well.

Woke up early today, about 10 minutes before my alarm went off (thought it was only 5:45 when it was already 6:45). I was dreaming that I was back at QMUL, but looking at a picture of it without most of its buildings were built.

Computer problems! My laptop definitely has a virus or something. A lot of my programs keep crashing, and I've been trying to sweep the hard drive the entire evening. It doesn't even shut down properly; I have to force it to. This is not good :( ... well, it's about time I got a new laptop anyway. Dare I take the plunge and go for a Mac?


Who knows? I'm kind of used to being PC. But I've heard Macs are great for media buffs like me (and they're definitely less virus-prone).

... then work ... and my excitement dulls out. Trying to find a solution to my laptop's ills while I have good internet to use here.

Lunch: Courtyard Cafe - salad (I needed one; haven't been feeling too nutritous lately).

... distracting myself again (digg)... took a walk around the block to get some fresh air, etc.

Random fact: In Finland, duct tape is called "Jesus tape"

Jay Leno was on Oprah and they were talking about it on the radio this morning. I'm still really sad about Conan's departure, but it's not really Jay's fault. NBC should have kicked Jay out, though.

Going home this weekend!

Songs: Mariah Carey - Honey (dunno why, woke up with it on repeat in my head since I woke up; been making acoustic remixes of it in my head too); Vampire Weekend - Cousins; Ke$ha - Tik Tok; Billy Joel - My Life; The 1-800-GET-SLIM commercial song ("Let your new life begin, call 1-800-GET-SLIM!" - Jack Black blurted it out while being interviewed on the radio a couple days ago and it's been nagging me since).


P.S. I've got some big news, if you read on (i.e. click the title of this post; dunno why the "read more" text isn't appearing)...

- My boss brought me into his office to ask whether youtube was working. He then proceeded to look up several songs from his younger years (most prominently Alphaville's "Forever Young," which has been covered several times lately; also, "Seasons in the Sun")

Work is the same again today (as always). Not very stimulating. Each day tempts me to just go somewhere else. (My perfect job title would involve some combination of the words international, finance, economic, consulting, analyst, associate, and advisor.

Lunch: Greek food from the Thursday farmers' market - $9.00! For a single kebab (two costs $11)! W. T. Efff!

It's getting very close to being official: I've already got my dates, March 4 - 14! I'll be in Costa Rica (and Panama)!

@ work til 6:20

Songs: Phoenix - Lisztomania; Phoenix - Lisztomania; Phoenix - Lisztomania (yeah, it's stuck in my head that much); Terry Jacks - Seasons in the Sun

Watched Pan's Labyrinth last night.

It was better than I expected. A bit of fantasy, but what makes it memorable and easy to relate to is that is firmly grounded in the historical reality of 1944 Spain. The situation of little Ofelia, while uniquely tortuous, is also strikingly familiar to anyone who's had a childhood dream shattered by hard reality. So, Jason approves.

Ran into Alex today - twice. He had an interview today in a nearby building. So the first run-in was purely coincidental... in the mall's bathroom. And after his interview we got lunch.

Cleaning out/organizing my desk today... sorta.

Lunch: Panda Express. Firecracker chicken and potato chicken with half/half.

...more organizing of my desk this afternoon... mostly because there's really not much to do today...

Found round-trip tickets to Costa Rica for $345! Omg - I think I may. Actually. GO!

Also, cheap tickets to Detroit ($140 rt). Possible weekend visit in Apr/May? (Oh, but I really need to go to DC and Chicago...)

...yeah, it's a really slow day today...

- but, just when I'm about to leave, I get a project. At 5:05 PM. WOW.

News: President Obama's giving his first State of the Union Address tonight (i.e. right now), and I'm not watching.

Songs: Lil' Wayne - Bedrock; The Beatles - Yesterday; Incubus - Love Hurts; Tom Jones - It's Not Unusual

I feel like something's missing today; well several things actually are:
Steve's ipod (I swear I had it around), my ipod charger cable, my watch, clean dishes in our apt.

I'm just not that into work.

Lunch: Courtyard Cafe - turkey sandwich.

It's starting to rain. Or so it says on weather.com - I can't really see outside.

News: Stil more on Haiti's devastation; the election of (R) Scott Brown in Massachussetts last week; Obama's planned "spending freeze" on the federal budget; an Ethiopian airplane crashed taking off from Lebanon; the Lakers got to meet President Obama yesterday (who threw a couple verbal jabs toward Magic Johnson); more rain moving into SoCal, but we're still in a drought.

Songs: Ke$ha - Tik Tok; Coldplay - Clocks; The Hold Steady - Stay Positive; The Killers - Spaceman; Finger Eleven - Paralyzer; The Doors - LA Woman

So I was playing around with Google Maps... again.

And I ended up creating another fantasy/plan for a road trip. This route isn't too extreme (i.e. I don't go all the way to Boston or Canada or the Pacific NW), but I just discovered that Google Maps limits your number of destinations to 25. Well, here it is:


View Larger Map

When something you've relied on suddenly goes missing, it's disconcerting and surreal. That's how I feel today: My ipod cable is gone. I also forgot my watch at home. And I swear Steve's ipod was left in my apt last week, but I can't find it anywhere. Did I take it with me? Leave it in the car? Or even in the bathroom or someplace similarly mindless?

*sigh*

My laptop also got sick. I spent the entire evening last night nursing her back to functionality. It's hard to imagine a day without all of our technology.

*sigh*

I guess you can't control a lot in life. If it's like a roller coaster, then right now I'm definitely on one of the down parts of the ride; or worse yet, I'm stuck in a spiraling helix, where you spin around and can't get up, no matter how hard you try. The worst part is that I'm gonna feel queasy soon after.

Today's "blue Monday"... but I'm feeling good :) - been keeping on top of my responsibilities and enjoying each day.


Watched Whatever Works last night off of my netflix.

Well, I was only half paying attention as I was online at the same time. Nevertheless it's an interesting movie, by Woody Allen, very dialogue-heavy. I'd describe it as a pessimistic mashup of Gilmore Girls and Some Like It Hot. Great if you're in the mood for a quiet evening of locution and irony.

This weekend, too, was interesting. Not necessarily good, but worth pondering over. Went ice skating in Pasadena Friday night; there were tons of kids and teenagers, all rocking to "Party in the USA"... *cringe*. Friday night was also Conan O'Brien's last episode of The Tonight Show... :(. Saturday I ran a couple errands with my mom; Brian came over later, and we headed out to grab some drinks. Markus joined us at the 4100; and after searching for 20 minutes for a safe parking space in West Hollywood, Drew's party never materialised. We instead went to Saddle Ranch on the Sunset Strip - it's actually a fun place, with a mechanical bull! Unfortunately it's also uber-douchy, as Markus approached a girl and an  angry boyfriend confronted him and forced us to leave. That is why I absolutely can't stand LA sometimes (and also why I need to get out of the city at least once a month). Anyway, Sunday was more chill: church, lunch (thai BBQ), watched The Deep End (ok, it's kinda good, even if it's a duplicate Grey's Anatomy).
It's so unlike life in a real law office though. And weirder still, their paralegal (i.e. ME!) is a girl - and a quite promiscuous one at that (but that seems to be the norm with this firm)... :/

Today's lunch: Thai BBQ left over from yesterday

Work's dull as ever today. Called home just to check in (and because I have over 2000 extra minutes on my phone plan).

Planning my trip to Costa Rica too! (I think I'll really try to go to Panama too!) How exciting!

Songs: Rancid - Brad Logan; New Order - Blue Monday [how... does it feel / to treat me like you do]; Paramore - Brick by Boring Brick; REO Speedwagon - Keep on Loving You

The rain was crazy intense last night. HAIL! Lightning! The rain on the window seemed like the window was being sprayed by a firehose! Across the street, the entire block (including B of A) lost power. Lots of wind too.

I cooked spam; it was Drew's first time really having it. We had spam and rice and mini-spamwiches.

CS: Just Drew; Joel never came. Last day, though: Drew's got his new apartment ready to move into today.

Slow day @ work today.

Lunch: Kimchi fried rice.

My "new friend" Josh is sponsoring a youth run for Haiti tomorrow morning in Santa Monica...

Drew & Joel having a party at their new apartment this weekend.

Ice skating in 'dena tonight!

Songs: The Killers - Spaceman; Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA; The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight; Every Avenue - Where Were You? [ringtone baby!]

Whoa. It's been a years since Obama's inauguration.

The "most depressing day of the year" is coming up - Monday.

Lunch: (more) leftover fried rice

Conan O'Brien is officially finishing the Tonight Show tomorrow :(

4pm. Went for a chilly/brisk walk around the office courtyard. It was hella windy. Called home to check in with my uncle. Still figuring stuff out. :/

5:30 out from work!

Songs: Britney Spears - Womanizer; Jay-Z & Alicia Keys - Empire State of Mind; The Beatles - All My Life; Stevie Wonder - For Once in My Life; Carrie Underwood - So Small; NSYNC - (God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You

Power napped last night when I returned from work. Was just too tired from staring at screens. Felt better after 15 minutes of shut-eye!

Went to Ramenya with Steve and Matt last night. Got a good parking space (although I couldn't see the car parked behind me for all the mist). We discussed good penmanship, the US's ugliest presidents (Lincoln all the way), my having boobs for convenience, lefthanded chopsticks, "I'm over metaphors like a cow's over the moon."

The rain is relentless today. I'm staying dry indoors.

Paid the past-due bill for the Daily News. Grrr.

Lunch: Leftover fried rice (my own recipie: "bomb as" fried rice from Monday).

Mailed out the electricity bill payment. Bills, bills, bills!

Drew and Joel are coming over today (left the key out for them); they're probably already there. Hmm, didn't tell Matt or Steve.

Litigation and law is tough. And it's the kind of tough that I'm just not that into. Econ/consulting/policy stuff sounds more appealing.

There was an armed robbery yesterday at Tiffany & Co in the mall; apparently the getaway car was parked in our building's garage!

Songs: Kelly Clarkson - My Life Would Suck Without You; Sheryl Crow - Everyday Is a Winding Road; Taylor Swift - You Belong with Me; Lenka - The Show; Holiday Parade; Mercy Mercedes; Artist vs. Poet; The Summer Set (!); My Favorite Highway [thanks last.fm!]

It's cold and cloudy again. There's gonna be another round of rain this afternoon.

CS: Steve (back after a couple months, coming full circle with his US visit) - chose the rainiest week in LA's recent history though.

Tried to use the mall bathrooms at 9:50am. They were closed; I walked to the other bathrooms near the Ben & Jerry's and they were open.

Lowered the brightness on my computer screens at work - so much better! The brightness had been set at 100% - no wonder my eyes were always aching after work.

Lunch: Leftover Porto's (meat pie, spinach feta pie)

Slow day.

A bit of sporcle and digg.

It's raining. It's flooding. I'm staying inside.



Songs: Randy Newman - Short People; Britney Spears - 3

Watched The Seventh Seal last night and this morning (i.e. in two parts). It's among Ingmar Bergman's signature films.

The film is known for its iconic image of a knight (Antonius Block) playing chess with death. It's easy to see why this movie is a classic; over 50 years later, it still delves into our fears about life and death.

Today:

• Well-rested with a good night's sleep. Mango green tea for breakfast; drive to work and took a different parking space
• Feeling better than I did yesterday - excited for Cassy and Leslie's arrival tonight!
• More binder making at work today, but I've delegated the work around, so... :)
• Looking up possible plans for the weekend (gotta do something beachy - kayaking?), also looking at lounges/bars for Michelle's bday celebration (Edison?)
• Payday - YAY!

Songs: The Cure - Love Song; Kings of Leon - Use Somebody; the theme song from Hey Dude

This weekend was crazy, in the best possible way! Busy and adventure-packed, which is exactly how I love it! Let me lay down an overview of what happened, with pictures!!!

Friday Night: Picked up Cassy and Leslie from LAX, tried to get Kogi (fail); got ready at my apt, met up with Alex, headed out to the Crocker Club in downtown. Hung out for a while, got our own "reserved" room/table (thanks to a helpful server), then the party arrived.

Mingling and drinking continued; then Juan and Jenn arrived as well. "Berkeley! Stand up!," beckoned Summer. Around midnight we were off to Hollywood, hitting up Happy Ending on Sunset. Drinks by the pail! Beer pong table (with a weird guy asking what I was taking a picture of - ughcha)! However, it was only "team Berkeley" who went here; the other part of our group--"team Michelle's bday"--diverted to Kevin's friends' apt "party" because the celebrating girl had begun to chuck up. No worries though; other than creating a couple awkward bathroom situations, she's all good.

Saturday: A jam-packed day. But we slept in (rightfully so) until around 11:30, then Jenn and Cassy and Leslie and Alex came over to make some delicious (and really filling) brunch!

The bathroom was locked when I woke up this morning (and no one was inside! - someone must've closed the door behind them while the lock was on)... I really had to pee too. FML

I had to unscrew the doorknob itself in order to open the door.

Felling "ugh"/not good today for several reasons. Also feeling unsatisfied, guilty, and concerned, for no particular reason. I scratched a neighboring car in the parking garage today :X. I hope they don't notice. Now I'm gonna have to change my regular parking space...

News: The Conan/Leno late night drama continues! I got to watch Conan last night; the whole show was joking about his potentially imminent departure; Haiti is totally devastated by the recent earthquake :(

Lunch: Cheez-Its and a banana. NOTHING ELSE.

I don't feel good. It's probably because of my lack of nutrition today.

Got my tax forms for 2009. Looks like I can start filing my tax returns.

You know what, I simply was just not prepared for today, :/

It's Cassy's birthday!

Songs: Silversun Pickups - Panic Switch; Daniel Powter - Bad Day; Lady Gaga - Bad Romance; Beck - Always

Life as a Weekend
Last night (Tuesday) I went out for Ethiopian food with Petri & Leena; it was fantastic and they loved it (so did I)! Then, looking for a place to go and people to meet up with, we ended up going to Westwood Brewing Company (in, er, Westwood), where we met Joel and Drew (who I was gonna host but couldn't)
Westwood Brewing Co. was something of a surprise:
- I never go to that "side" of Westwood (if you could call it that), so it's surprising to find such a nice bar there!
- Tuesday night is quiz night! I may return on another Tuesday to win some prizes!
- ALL DRINKS, from beer to Long Islands, cost $4.50. Now that is a good deal.
- There was a club upstairs! And it was packed! Every shallow-hearted (and anorexic!) girl in Westwood seemed to be out, and the guys weren't far behind, ready to pounce with the signature "washing machine"!

I drove Drew and Joel back to their dingy hotel in Hollywood.

Wednesday - and no work! After 9 long days, I really needed this day. I slept in, drove Matt to class around 11, returned and made breakfast/brunch with Petri. We finally headed out, around 1:30, to Manhattan Beach. It had just "rained" (i.e. sprinkled) in the morning, but the sky was clear, the air fresh and crisp, and the wind blowing. The surf was also way up - the waves were ferociously pounding the pier and battering the beach; they were probably 10-15 feet high at times.

Yes, it was pretty chilly at the beach, but it was pleasant in the Sun. Lounged around for about an hour, checking out beach houses. There were a few people jogging along the beach and I think I saw the starting line of a 5K or 10K (people were jogging off in groups at regular intervals). We walked back to the car, Petri grabbed a coffee from Coffee Bean, and headed back up the coast to the apartment.

It was around 5pm, and we quickly got ready to get to Korean BBQ. Setting out around 5:45pm, of course we hit traffic, even though we were cruising down Olympic. We stuffed our face at Hae Jang Chon. I had to love tap both cars in order to get into/out of my parking space.

The food was amazing, but took a while. It was already 8pm when we left for the free concert/ice skating in downtown LA, which I had been trying to get people to come out to all day! Matthew was already food comatose, so he just dropped us off. We missed the first band, but caught the second, who I think was Le Switch (but it could have been The World Record). Kim was already there. It was great to skate around to live music, but the band finished about 30 minutes before the skating did :/

Made our way afterwards to the Broadway Bar, but not after an unpleasant run-in with a local homeless guy. Here's a tip, kids: Don't ever be nice to anyone ever! Even if it's just giving a homeless guy a couple coins, because he will then chase you down the street and assault your female friends because he wants a dollar not coins!!! Luckily, Kim and I reverted to the (slightly more adult version of the) Dora the Explorer defense: NO RAPIST NO!!! And he shirked away.

Children show self-defense FTW!

So yeah, the bar was empty, except for us. We got one drink and high-tailed it out of there. They were filming something on the streets nearby, so there was an eerie green light along 7th, and what looked like a Formula-1 racetrack was set up. Kim was nice enough to drive us back to the apt, and it was soon nighty-night.

Songs: Rise Against; Naked Eyes - Always Something There to Remind Me

Been learning some Finnish from my guests while I've been here. (Ok, mostly just "Perkele" and "Kippis")... I am incapable of saying "Hyvää ruokahalua" ("bon appetit"), though.

I now know how to say "Cheers" in:

• English (duh)
• German (Prost!)
• Dutch (Prosit!)
  
• French (Sante!)
• Italian (Salute!)
• Spanish (Salud!)
• Polish (Na zdrowie!)
• Czech (Na zdravi)
• Danish (Skål!)
• Swedish (Skål!)
• Norwegian (Skål!)
• Finnish (Kippis!)
  

CS: Ben & Brian (for one night only; from Florida, school in Massachusetts, on a cross-country road trip) - they left at 6am to drive up the coast to SF; Petri & Leena are still here for a couple more days.

We went to Tommy's (the original) last night.

Took Ohio today to drive to work (9:10am).

Thought he'd be out today, but Jack showed up for a little bit.

9th day straight of work. It now feels beyond surreal (whatever that is). Definitely not productive

Lunch: Leftover Chinese (continued from yesterday...)

Printer issues, gah! An over 1000-page backlog.

Songs: Sublime - Santeria; Jimmy Eat World - The Middle; Phoenix - 1901; Don McLean - American Pie

Day 8 of straight work. This is the most ever.

Driving in LA traffic, even for my short 15-minute commute, often makes me lose faith in humanity.

CS: Petri & Leena's second night over; Ben and his friend (Brian) are driving through LA for just one night tonight on their cross-country road trip!

Lots of last minute changes to be done for this 2nd amended complaint.

I am the Excel spreadsheet master. People go to me to make the spreadsheets look good. I like being the go-to guy for something!

Lunch: Leftover fried rice


Uploading new document production... takes so long, waiting just to transfer files off the disc, and to do the global replace.

... @ work til 6.

Songs: Every Avenue - Where Were You?

I had to work this weekend :(

[Sunday] I drove Markus to his new apartment in East Hollywood/Thai Town (it's right by Western and Hollywood). It was nice having Markus over this week, although I feel bummed that I didn't really get to go out because I've been so overloaded with work.

CS: Petri and Leena tonight (from Finland); there's a chance that Ben and his friend (from Florida) may be crashing tomorrow night too, so stay tuned.

So, after work (which I finished earlier, at 6), I returned to the apt to meet Petri and Leena, who are really cool. They're on a round-the-world trip from Finland to Iceland to New York to LA/Vegas to Samoa to Tonga to New Zealand to Australia to Thailand/Laos/Cambodia/Vietnam to Hong Kong to London and back to Finland! Amazing, right?! Anyway, Matt joined in and we all went out in Santa Monica. I had to drive around a bit, but found a parking space on 6th. We went to Hooters (which is always fun):


I had an awkward conversation with the bathroom attendant, Jimmy. I was just leaving when he handed me my towel and was all like "how was your weekend?"; I said, "fine, although I had to work..." then he started telling me how I'm in the right position, and he knows because he's a process server. During this whole conversation I was edging toward the doorway trying to get out of the bathroom (and another guy was peeing at the urinal next to us). I fist-bumped Jimmy and was on my way. I would have given him a tip but it was just so awkward, tipping would have made it even more so.

After Hooters, the four of us walked onto the Pier, where we saw a guy catch a crab (womp womp). I was enjoying my evening, especially because yesterday evening technically counts as my entire weekend! We drove back, and stopped for tacos at the local taco truck. Petri and Leena were impressed by how good it was (prior to this, their idea of tacos was Jack in the Box!).

Songs: Will Smith / Forever the Sickest Kids - "Men in Black"; Snoop Dogg - Gin & Juice; Fatboy Slim - Praise You ["we've come a long long way together, through the hard times and the good"]; Don McLean - American Pie (been learning this on the guitar lately)

Yesterday was Saturday. Which should be good, in theory. But I had to work. Which sucks, in theory. It turned out to be not as bad as I had feared.

I slept in, after a night out with Markus and his former housemates at Barney's Beanery in West Hollywood. And by "slept in" I mean that I slept until 9:30.

Anyway, Markus had a showing at a gallery to try to get his work displayed. (Btw, you should all check out his work: markuslovkvist.com). So he was gone by 10:30, and Matthew and I got some brunch at Dolores, the restaurant right on our block. Matt had been itching to go there since I told him that they have a "pancake sandwich". Well, of course we ordered said sandwich:

And it was amazing. Matt ruined it, though, by dousing it with syrup. I would have stuck to the all-savory route myself and doused it with hot sauce. Oh well.

Work. For 6 hours. It wasn't as soul-crushing as it could have been, because we were all there with a purpose. So I was focused on getting stuff done instead of counting down the hours.

Returned to the apt around 7pm, and I was soon off to meet Matt's friends and go ice skating! I met them at their apt in Westwood then we drove to the rink on 5th and Arizona in Santa Monica:


It was fun, although the ice rink in Santa Monica was quite crowded and full of people either skating way too slow as a group or skating really fast and weaving in between everyone else. It was one big obstacle course, essentially. Afterwards, my car (me, Matt, Katherine, Greg, and Benji) headed to Yogurtland on Sawtelle. Then back home. Then sleep, because I had work the next morning too. :/

I love checking the weather (yes, I am a weather geek), but I especially love it this time of year. It has been absolutely perfect the past week or so. Seriously, sunny and warm in the 70s every day. And unlike days in the spring/summer/fall in the 70s, the air is clean too - no fog/smog/smoke! And what makes it even more perfect is that the rest of the country is in a total deep freeze:


There's also record cold and snow holding Europe in its grip. Another wave of snowfall is expected over the UK and Ireland again this weekend. Crazy; it only snowed once when I was in London - and that was in April!

In any case, this is why I've been itching to go to the beach all week!

Status: Jason is productive and well-rested this Saturday
Mood: Surprisingly upbeat
To Do: GET WORK DONE, then go back to the apt, then go ice skating!
Current Music: Mayday Parade - "Jamie All Over"
Current News: The Burj Khalifa (formerly Burj Dubai) opened this week - it's the tallest building in the world. Needless to say, I WANNA GO.
Latest Meal: Breakfast burrito from Dolores (Matthew got the pancake sandwich, which looked so amazing!)
Weather: Some high wispy clouds but a perfect day, 73°

I ended up going to Barney's Beanery last night with Markus. It was cool, met some of his housemates from his prior house (Jeff from Wisconsin, Hide from Tokyo, Adrian and his brother Arturo from Mexico City, and Paul). The Beanery is a cool place, very un-WeHo, even though it's in the middle of WeHo. Good times.

I have work to do but I kinda just wanna stay in and continue to update the blog!

Got back from work last night feeling overworked and horrible. I shrugged off and immediately plopped down immediately on my bed.

I fell asleep.

It was only 7:15pm.

I woke up, groggy, in darkness. I rolled over and squinted to make out the time on my clock radio... 12:59. Grunt. I went to the bathroom, and now I was fully awake. Markus was still up, so I chatted with him for a bit and microwaved myself a corn dog. I tried to go back to sleep but I felt really well-rested--which is not what you wanna feel at 2am! I checked my email and ended up browsing for jobs and playing online games. Around 5 I was finally sleepy again and returned to bed... and my 7am alarm was unpleasant as usual. And so it goes again, another day.

The morning routine: Tea, banana, shower, driving, frustrating traffic, work. Okay, it's a little calmer at work today compared to the immensely busy past couple days. But there's still a backlog of things to do; continued my address/phone lookup project; received a new document production to check through before uploading it.

Lunch: Thursday Farmers Market! Thai/Mex BBQ ftw!
I got the chow mein/rice/chicken combo; of all the stalls at the market, I think Thai/Mex is the most consistently good.

Hawaiian bbq is just not worth braving that insane line:

Jack and Rob have each moved into new offices. My office has been feeling quite surreal lately.

Yet again my eyes hurt. I'm stepping out for a walk outside (5:25pm).

Songs: The Wombats - School Uniforms; David Bowie & Queen - Under Pressure; Mayday Parade - Jamie All Over

Just updated the blog with a cool new look; thanks to www.deluxetemplates.net!

Above West LA

Now working on updating [this] blog, since yesterday [been back-posting items].

Slept in again... My bed has been extra comfortable lately!

Drove to work. Driving, even for 15 minutes, is stressful, especially when it's along super-packed and crazy-driver infested Santa Monica Blvd.

Work is so busy again! Things just keep getting piled on me! . . . I'M GONNA HAVE TO WORK THIS WEEKEND. Major suckage.

Lunch: Celeste pizza!


So much work. Work work work. It's gonna be like this the rest of the week :(
... continuing my project searching for peoples' addresses. So tedious.

I'm gonna need a drink tonight.

Song: Journey - Lights ["When the lights... go down... in the city"]

Weather: Mid-70s and sunny. In early January! This is why we live in LA! Absolutely glorious. (I still can't say "absolutely" normally anymore - I say "ebsolutely" I have the New Zealand "eccent" stuck in my hed. It's messively ennoying sometimes!)

Stayed up late last night uploading pics. I had to (or chose to) drop off/pick up Matthew from his Kendo practice on campus last night. I didn't get to bed until 1:20am. Markus is still staying over; I guess he can stay over the entire week.

7:35am. So hard to wake up, especially with a sleep deficit and with the heater so warm and cozy. I forced myself up, forced down some oatmeal, a banana, and some tea, and after a quick shower, I'm driving to work (for the first time this year, no bus for me!). And I'm back to being stuck in traffic. Ugh, there's inconvenience either way!

I sometimes wish I could be in someone else's mind - you know, just to see what their subjective experiences are like and to really know their motives and thought processes. Do other people think the same way I do? I don't think we'll ever know. Oh philosophy. It's interesting how what was once novel and exciting becomes routine and mundane and often despised. Not that I despise my job, but I'm thinking about how the novelty has worn off. And hosting couchsurfers too... I think I should focus more on building long-lasting friendships/relationships. Maybe I'm just "afraid of commitment"? Maybe I'm just not that into you?!

Call me communist, but I think people should wear name tags more often. It can eliminate a lot of confusion.

Lunch: Leftover Ono BBQ, with tortillas (because there's no rice):


I am so busy today. It's ALMOST overwhelming. Almost. I'm just trying to maintain my casual, laid-back-ness. But productivity beckons! This afternoon, I mailed back Cloyce & Jessica's phone charger, which they left at my apt and which was buried under a pile of my clothes; I also picked up Matthew's pre-ordered video game at Game Stop. Now, back to work. I have to make a binder - pulling each press release, extracting important pages, making everything chronological, printing them out and making labels for the binders themselves. Argh!

Yeah, I should be in finance/econ, not law :/. Work isn't that bad, though; it's just not that exciting.

Random thought: Odd numbers always seemed to me to be more "male"; even numbers, female. (Trying not to get graphic here) Maybe because men have 1 "thingy" while women have a pair of "thingys"?

I've been getting static shocks a lot lately around the office. Must be the dry, warm weather.

MAN it's been so busy lately! I simply cannot even get a day's worth of work done in a day - there aren't enough hours! If that makes sense...

Still at work - 7:30pm. Finished the binder and now posting this blog post. Peace OUT!

Song: The Kooks - She Moves in Her Own Way

Back to work. I moved my bed against the wall, so now I can't really hear my alarm because it's by my feet. Markus, my former couchsurfer, now friend, is staying over this week (for how long I don't know yet, he's going to look for a new place by the end of the month). Eri (the couchsurfer from Japan) didn't show up. So much for that.

Off to work. Took the bus this morning, even though Matt's back with the car. Got on the crowded 704 and had to share a seat - yuck. Also, people were standing in my way when I was trying to cross the street. It's always the little things like that that get to you!

It's just one of those days where I have to persevere andforce my way through.

Work - soooo busy! Searching for clients (from our former attorney), pulling dockets, pulling financial records for healthcare facilities, and compiling a spreadsheet. Matthew's here already to pick me up (7pm)... and I'm far from done