Jason's Daily Notes

SNOWBOARDING! I'm so excited!!!
Everything has conspired against this snowboarding outing, though... I'm getting sick, there's a storm coming through, the hassles of renting a snowboard (and buying the extra clothing I need - it's expensive!).
Rented my stuff from Sport Chalet last night. Rushed through, before they were closing - I hate shopping under time pressure but it seems like the only kind of shopping I end up doing. I couldn't find my snow jacket so I had to buy a new one - found the cheapest one for like $45. Luckily I had the $100 gift card that I had since Christmas to offset a good chunk of the costs.

-
[post-snowboarding]
Everything did end up conspiring against us - Martin was a little late, the weather was horrible, I was sick (hopped up on pain killers/antibiotics/vitamin supplements though). We drove up the mountain in the pouring rain, and as we hit the snowline there was a huge backup of cars putting on tire chains. Chrystal and Lynn asserted that we'd be okay because we had 4-wheel-drive on the truck. We were not. We got turned back and had to descend the mountain again (15 miles) to find tire chains. Then, when we were leaving the Wal-Mart parking lot (to go to another store because Wal-Mart didn't have chains in our tires' size), the car wouldn't start. It needed a jump. This would happen 2 more times during the day. We headed to Autozone (after deciding that Chevron's chains were too expensive at $140+) to get the chains. Then finally we could go back to the mountain. We installed the chains in the pouring snow (does snow pour? In any case, it was coming down hard). The line of cars had cleared out. We had planned to leave at 7am, actually left at 8:30, and we didn't get to our first ski resort (Bear Mountain) until after 2pm. Ugh.

BUT snowboarding is FUN! It just takes a while to get the hang of it. I spent the day just learning how to control myself on the board (i.e. how to stop without crashing!); and I think I got the gist of it.

I am SOOOOO SORE now though. My arms hurt so much, I can't even drive a car properly.

I have a persistent and rough cough. (shouldn't those words be better spelled phonetically - "ruff" and "coff"?). I may be getting sick?
Watched It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia last night. Then picked up Matt from school, around 9:30. I was tired.
There were a ton of dishes that had been just waiting to be washed lying in the sink. I did 'em all this morning.
Lunch: One apple (I've been having one a day :) ), and office snacks. Yay, money saving!
Planning my Panama/CR visit! Also have to figure out snowboard rental for tomorrow - I'm going snowboarding!!!

Songs: Estelle - American Boy; Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

"Being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up"

Last night! Picked up Mike D. @ the Beverly Hilton, where he saw his Hawaiian friend Taimane Gardner performing the ukelele. Drove with him to Covina's Chili's, where we met up with Michelle, Priscilla, and Lawrence with our server Adrian haha. Then we headed to Altadena where we grabbed some Kogi and met MM's coworkers - Amerie (sp?) and Anthony. Finally, we ended the evening at the Verdugo bar, saying our goodbyes to Michelle before she leaves for Vietnam. (BTW, no Tokyo Teas/Long Islands at the Verdugo, wtf?!) Dropped Mike off at his CS hosts in Eagle Rock (near the park/Figueroa/Colorado).

Transportation/planning career? I should contact UCLA professors to talk with them.
No, international relations is better!
Lunch: bacon-wrapped hot dog; strawberries from the farmers market

Still trying to keep in touch with all my friends that I haven't really spoken to in a while - adding them on gchat, orkut, twitter, etc.

Weather: Yucky last night, light rain and foggy.

Snowboarding this Saturday!!! And I'm still super excited about Costa Rica! (and Panama) I still gotta pack...

Songs: The Ataris - In This Diary; The Wombats - Kill the Director

ate soy nugget sandwiches for dinner last night. Left work early b/c of the power shutdown.
Jogged to Bundy this morning - arrived at work 8:55
- a pile of dishes continues to fester in the sink. I don't feel like cleaning, and neither does Matthew. Luckily it doesn't bother us at all.
gchatting! It feels good to reconnect/keep in touch with friends - J.B., L.W., L.F., P.L., L.T.!

work: avoiding it all morning (go distractions!)
Lunch: An apple :)  and a turkey burger from Fuddruckers
Healthy habits - I still feel really good!

It's starting to rain.
I may go snowboarding after all this Saturday! Big Bear.

Thought: In our modern times, fear is almost always irrational. It's a natural response to an always-new environment.
I have so much to keep up with - news, friends, music, photos, reading, traveling, aah!

Songs: Stars - Your Ex-Lover Is Dead; Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart; The Wombats - Kill the Director; Destiny's Child - Bills, Bills, Bills

Worked late last night. Returned to the apt tired.
Video chat w/ Leslie & Cassy!

Jogging every morning! :) Makes me feel good all day. Today, jogged to Olympic/Butler and back.
Uploaded pics to fb (today my laptop decided to actually work for once).

Work is the same. Continued printing out documents.

I'm getting excited for Costa Rica! Just over 1 week!

Lunch: Leftover Diddy Riese (yes, I only had cookies and milk for lunch!), plus my snacks

Going for a break - walking around the block. Walking along city streets is calming in its own way - you can hear the rhythm of cars passing by, kinda like the rhythm of ocean waves.

...shutting down computers early today, because the building's power is going off too. Therefore, leaving work early for once! 5:10 pm!

- it may rain tonight/tomorrow.

News: the Olympics continue. I'm not really watching.

Songs: Gwen Stefani - Cool; The Doors - People are Strange; 30 Seconds to Mars - Kings and Queens

A big backlog of stuff to do @ work this morning.
... yeah, very busy. Lots of printing out documents, etc.

Lunch: pizza slice from the food court.

Still thinking about possibly going to Tahoe this weekend!

Seriously - FULL day, printing/formatting spreadsheets.

Needing to recover from Vegas

...I need to get a new laptop - a MAC! I'm just holding on to my current laptop situation - I guess I can because I can just use the work computer just fine.

At work late! Til 8pm :/ - I want to skydive (for my birthday?)

Songs: Mariah Carey - We Belong Together; Blink-182 - All the Small Things; 90s commercial - da da da by Trio

VEGAS! A spontaneous trip with the family. But first, Friday night:

Friday night: Went out with Christina, she came over. Felipe had to stay in the apartment :( - we did throw darts at my world map though! Christina and I went to pick up Mike (from CS) in downtown LA, then went to the R Bar in Koreatown (you needed a password to get in!), where we saw Mike's friends who comprise the band Swingset Committee. They're good! Sound like Ratatat/an edgier Death Cab/the vocals of Placebo. I gorged on fries at the bar during the show haha, spoke German with Mike's friend Carrie.
Then we were off to the CS Art Show/Pancakes and Booze! Unfortunately it was too late for Leneve, but it was pretty cool. I met two Spanish girls (Angela and Laura). No ID checking, damn - Felipe could've come! Well, it ended up getting late and I let Mike crash on the floor at my place.

Saturday! Jogged briefly (to Wilshire/Barrington and back). Mom and the relatives picked me up; they came early, so got to meet Felipe and Mike. We said bye and parted ways.

DROVE TO VEGAS straight from the apt. Ate Carl's Jr in Victorville. Arrived close to 3pm. Saw the Wynn/Encore, stopped by the bank to get cash. Then we headed to the Monte Carlo, where we got a room. Then, we were hungry so we went to get our buffet on! At the Mandalay Bay! SO MUCH FOOD. I was feeling sick the rest of the evening from the sheer amount of food. I walked all the way to the Venetian to meet up with Marissa and her friends - I got there JUST in time, right when there were being let into the club. I didn't go in (I felt underdressed). I walked back to the hotel, picking up a big sippy cup along the way (which I really couldn't finish, I was so full). There were sprinkles in the air. I returned to the room relatively early, encountered a brief food coma, then headed out again, wandering to Planet Hollywood and back to New York New York. I succumbed to slots and video roulette haha! I found $10 jammed into one of the machines; it made up for the $10 I had lost so I came out even!

I'm seriously contemplating going to Tahoe this weekend. I mean, when will I have another opportunity like this?!

Sunday: Awoke in the hotel. Got ready. Checked out. Drove to downtown Vegas - no (free) parking. Drove way out to Boulder Station casino. $11 champagne buffet (again with the food overload!) - we just had to join their players club (which was free).

Music: Bloc Party; Ke$ha - Tik Tok; Young Money - BedRock

Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.

- Mark Twain (?)

or another version -

Dance as if no one were watching,
Sing as if no one were listening,
and live every day as if it were your last

Went out to (small) improv show last night with Brian and Marissa and Felipe. It was fun and cool but definitely not much above amateur improv. Still got some good laughs (Spain: "Hola hola hola hola!" "I frosted my tips" "Bowling ball" - my suggestion taken but not really used! Last group was least successful...) Afterwards, we went for Diddy Riese cookies.
Michelle came over later (11pm - ). It was cool to hang out in my apartment, since Felipe couldn't really go out :/ Marissa's heading to Vegas early tomorrow!

Jogged again this morning. And I feel GREAT all day!

Busy at work.

Lunch: Leftover chicken chaufa from yesterday.

Thought: Your ATTITUDE makes all the difference in everything you do. Why get upset over things you can't control or that don't really matter? :)
I'm having a good week and looking for more.

Songs: Cranberries - Linger; Kesha - Tik Tok; Limp Bizkit - Nookie; Taylor Swift - Love Story; Seether - Careless Whisper

CS: Felipe. Really enjoying it! Brazil seems really cool too! Went to Big Tomy's last night.
Jogged this morning (15 minutes) - feeling good all day!
Matthew getting sick?
Jenn and Michelle didn't end up coming over tonight :/
Looking at jobs in the state department: Should I register for the foreign officer exam?
Weather: Cooler, foggy this morning, sea breeze rolling through
Lunch: Chicken chaufa (farmers market) - there are a couple new food places at the market now.
Work is busy today. Formatting spreadsheets, etc. But I'm still feeling good (from jogging this morning?) - I feel like I'm being given responsibility.
It's nice that it's not dark when I go home from work :)
Comedy show tonight?
Songs: Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life); Taylor Swift - Love Story; Green Day - Nice Guys Finish Last

A good morning! I jogged, cooked a veggie burger for my lunch, and got all green lights on the way to work :)

CS: Felipe, from Brazil. He's really energetic and enthusiastic (well he's still only 19 - but was I ever even like that?)

Work: stuff to do. Bascially trying to figure out why numbers don't add up as they should.

It's still really warm. :)

Lunch: Veggie burger - made it myself this morning.

Busy with spreadsheet analysis...

Looking at opportunities on the "@ cal" website.
Ash Wednesday today -
Songs: Haiducci - Dragostea Din Tei (came on my ipod - love it!); Blink-182 - Adam's Song

Stayed up last night (sorta napped 9:30-11pm, then woke up again), until 2am organizing my itunes

It's Fat Tuesday / Mardi Gras / Pancake Tuesday!
  - I want pancakes.

I have to mail an ipod to new Zealand. Stupid customs forms, ruining the surprise.

I just wanna get outta here...

Felipe should be coming tonight!

... I've started wearing my sunglasses while staring at my computer screen - it's brilliant! My eyes feel much better :)

Lunch: Lomo Arigao food truck (at Olympic/Butler - along with a greek food truck and the Border Grill truck!) - YUM!

New phrase: "Penny-wise, pound-foolish"

It's the 2-year anniversary of my almost death (skiing in Switzerland!)

Walked around CC - it's really warm today (80 degrees)

Songs: Foo Fighters - The Pretender; Foo Fighters - Wheels; Green Day - 21 Guns; Rihanna - Disturbia

Stayed @ home last night - mom drove me to work
- NO TRAFFIC! I got to West LA even faster than I would with no cars on the freeway (because the traffic lights were all synchronized!

Still bummed about having to work today. Luckily nothing to do at work this morning.

It's hot! Feels like summer outside.

Lunch: leftover Indian food

Walked outside today (twice). It was hot, my pants were blazing.

Ever imagine what it's like to have your sense of left and right switched? Like living in a mirror world... Questions of perception and the subjective experience of the mind (oh, philosophy class...)

Songs: Mayday Parade - The Silence; Blink-182 - What's My Age Again?

Friday: Went back home with Matt, after having dinner at an Indian restaurant/take-out place and stopping by Best Buy (I bought a bag of green guitar picks! I still wonder what happened to the one guitar pick I've had...)

Saturday: Jogged/ran a lot this morning, around 10-11am. Went down York to Figueroa, then down to Ave 54, back almost to York, and weaved through residential areas and Toland Way to come back home. It was HOT!!! Damn, it feels like summer!

Went with my mom to drop off her tax forms at the accountant (something I need to get on myself). Drove through south central on the way back. We went to Home Depot and bought a new washing machine for the house. It was a fast decision (for us) but a long time coming - our old washer is older than me.

I forgot my camera in Matt's car - so we stopped by his place to get it back, and the moms just started chatting, you know how it is...

The Olympics are on (?!). Canada beat Slovakia 18-0 in women's hockey. Go Canada! But I can't help but feel bad for Slovakia ... a bit.

Dinner at Indian restaurant in Montrose - the one we've been to before. It's great stuff and cosy/family owned. Enjoyed the vindaloo but was really impressed with their veggie entree.

Sunday: Quick jog in the morning - Eagle Rock to York to Verdugo to Eagle Rock. Mass. Frustrated that I didn't get to go snowboarding. Went back to Home Depot to buy a new shower head for the bathroom. Lunch at Mariscos (Sinaloa?) on San Fernando and Los Feliz (really good fish tacos). Stayed home rest of the day. Facebooked (untagged a large set of photos - it just felt weird to have over 1300 photos of myself, though I'm still well over 900)

Dinner: Lumpia. And some beef later.

THE AMAZING RACE PREMIERED! The Miss South Carolina is there (who gave the stupid answer)! The cowboys thought they used Brazilian money in Chile?! (But damn, they're fast, coming from the last pack to end in 3rd place.) The father/daughter team painted the wrong house?!?!!! Hilarious! I love this show so much, few things get me as pumped up as watching The Amazing Race.

Maybe I should learn to play the bass?

I've been feeling stressed/disappointed/frustrated this weekend. Mainly because of the whole snowboarding thing. I have been WANTING to go snowboarding for months now. And my coworkers talk about it a lot. And I've been making a big deal about it too. Well, this weekend was going to be THE weekend, when FINALLY I'd hit the slopes. Then reality hit.

1) I have work on Monday. This is VERY [sad face]. I just found out a couple days ago; I wouldn't have much of a problem with it except for the fact that I'VE BEEN PLANNING FOR WEEKS TO HAVE A DAY OFF ON FEBRUARY 15! I really NEEDED a day off. I need a day off each month, and now my day off has been stolen from me. I feel somewhat betrayed, too. DAMNIT.

2) I don't even really have time to prepare for snow. I'd have to buy/rent basically everything, from gloves to pants to boots to (possibly) tire chains. This would cost me mucho $$$. DAMNIT.

3) This weekend is PERFECT weather-wise. It rained/snowed last week so there's tons of snow in the mountains, and now it's 70+ degrees everyday and absolutely perfect to do anything. But if I wait until next weekend, the snow will probably all melt because it's supposed to be in the 80s this week. DAMNIT.

4) Coordinating schedules is difficult with other people, with people's school and work schedules and all. DAMNIT.

5) I'm too tired from work to do anything besides rest this weekend anyway and mope around about how I'm not getting to do anything I want. Also, family is stressful to be around. DAMNIT.

6) Did I mention that I have work on Presidents' Day?! DAMNIT!

I'm now sleeping/waking without an alarm clock each morning! :)

Got to work late-ish (9:10). Jack's back. Its sunny and very SoCal outside. I seriously wanna go snowboarding or at least have a beach day!

Watched It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (or at least disc 1 of season 1). A good show - makes me wanna own my own bar (and live in sunny Philadelphia).

HP computers are racist! (Look it up on youtube; this may be the next case we work on)

Lunch: Subway. Spicy Italian - the sweet onion dressing does not go well with it.

Google maps has new features - including rotating the map to be upside down!!! (Just like the famous Aussie "upside down world maps"!)

News: Turns out the olympics start tonight. Meh. They've done a really crappy job of promoting these games. A Luger from Georgia (the country) died today during practice :( ... Bill Clinton had a heart procedure, looks like he'll be okay.

Revelation of the day: I'm both a bull (astrology) and a bear (golden bear) - that makes me perfect to work the stock market (?)

My yelp review has been immortalized on the verdugo bar's website! Yay!

Songs: The Cure - Just Like Heaven; A-ha - Take on Me; Taylor Swift - You Belong with Me; Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died in Your Arms

@ work til 7:30 last night. Drove Matt straight to Kendo practice; ate a frozen burrito and soy nuggets for dinner.

Finally watched The Hangover. Having waited for months, and having been told numerous time that I simply "have to see this movie", I naturally expected it to be groundbreaking and hilarious. Naturally, I wasn't that impressed. It follows in the same vein of humor as The 40 Year Old Virgin or any subsequent Judd Apatow-esque movie. Yes, it was funny, but it was all too expected for me.

Just found out: Monday is not a holiday at my firm :( - so I have to work on Presidents' Day. My mood is souring.

Other things weighing on me: I feel like I'm gonna get sick soon; I discovered that I don't qualify for dual citizenship :( ... basically things are not going at all how I expected them to.

I'm part of a potential class action against AT&T?! Whoa, yes!

I got called by a job recruiter (while I was at work). She seemed nice, but I don't want to get into another job in the legal field. It's only a matter of time now before I'm outta here. Probably a couple more months...

Lunch: Thai-Mex BBQ. Barbecued chicken on a bed of fried rice and chow mein.

...my afternoon: consumed by sporcle games, facebooking, google reader stuff, other distractions. Definitely not work. So much for being productive...

Songs: Lynyrd Skynyrd - Sweet Home Alabama; Frank Sinatra - Love & Marriage; Cartel - Say Anything (Else); Anberlin - A Day Late

Got to work earlier today (8:10) to make it to the Westlaw presentation breakfast thingy on time (which was starting at 8:30). But I had a lot of work to do, literally like a day's amount of work, just waiting for me upon my arrival. So I rushed through the photocopying and the document pulling as quickly as I could and charged down the stairs and galloped (aka awkwardly walked/ran in my bus cas attire) down the street to the Century Plaza Hotel.

Made to the Westlaw Breakfast/Presentation. The reason I was in such a rush was that they were giving out free ipod shuffles to the first 100 people there. AND I GOT ONE THANK GOD! It's not for me though :)

Busy at work - copies, pulling docs, spreadsheets, yadda yadda yadda.

"I believe you have my stapler" - I misplaced my stapler in the frenzy of this morning.

Still very busy. Spreadsheeting and article searching continues.

Lunch: Nothing! (I was still full from the breakfast buffet). A bag of Cheez-Its in the afternoon to tide me over (it was the last bag, and I got it by being a stealthy ninja).

Google Buzz. Mass email? Just another news feed? Google reader moved into gmail? Dunno if I like it. Too much technology!

News: "Snowmageddon" has descended upon the east coast; the Hollywood Sign is gonna get covered up to publicize a land purchase thingy nearby?

Songs: Ke$ha - Tik Tok (damn u and ur catchine$$! - lol I used to think she was black); Phoenix - Lisztomania (so catchy in an ipod-commercial way); Mayday Parade - Jamie All Over (so good)

Well-rested today. A good morning! Jack's gone this week, so I'm taking on more work.

I am the spreadsheet guru! Well, just reformatting cells and replacing data, but no one else knows how to do it apparently :)

It's busy today.

Good busy.

Lunch: Beef fried rice (leftover from Gushi) - mmm.

I have a coworker who's name is also Jason. He showed me a picture of his cousin who looks exactly like me! Whoa. Doppelgangers run amok, anyone?

Today went by fast! :)

(Probably) going to Spaceland tonight to check out their Monday night residency.

Songs: Don McLean - American Pie; Black Eyed Peas - I'mma Be; Jeremih - Birthday Sex

You can’t compare yourself with others: if Nature has made you a bat you shouldn’t try to be an ostrich. You consider yourself odd at times, you accuse yourself of taking a road different from most people. You have to unlearn that. Gaze into the fire, into the clouds, and as soon as the inner voices begin to speak, surrender to them, don’t ask first whether it’s permitted or would please your teachers or father, or some god. You will ruin yourself if you do that.

- Herman Hesse (from Demian)

Leigh and Laura are staying over this weekend. And I'm staying in West LA.

Saturday: Jogged/ran to 20th street (Santa Monica) and back. Whew. Feels good to push myself. Jonathan came over (was there when I returned, out of breath, from my jog). We left and watched Avatar! Yes, that's right. For the first time since the summer of 2008 (The Dark Knight), I saw a movie in a theater.

My drought is officially over! The movie was good, as everyone has been saying. I was trying to manage my expectations... maybe a little too much, because I wasn't as disappointed as I thought I would be. The plot is great (though it kept reminding me of many other stories) the effects are outstanding. I have to make an effort to find something unimpressive about this film... mainly, that it's difficult to relate to. Also, that it falls into repeating the same fallacies of action movies, with a couple emerging, fighting all odds, to defeat the "evil" and end up happily ever after. Best movie of all time? Not for me. I'd put it at the same level as a Lord of the Rings film.

It apparently rained, but it was clearing out when we got of the movies. Back at the apt, Jonathan left, drove Matt to UCLA to set up for his tournament. L&L and I ended up at Hooters to watch the UFC fight. Switched tables. My first full UFC watching experience. It was pretty good.


Sunday: It was sunny and beautiful. I went for a walk, bought a couple veggies at the farmers market. L&L went to Venice Beach for the day. I stayed in, cleaned the house with the Super Bowl on in the background.

It was a good game. Not that I'm passionate about the NFL, but I'm glad the Saints won. However, Super Bowl commercials were generally lame. No one advertises on TV anymore, apparently.

Songs: Mayday Parade - The Silence; Every Avenue - Where Were You

Ate Tomy's last night after picking up Matt from school at 7pm (damn, there was A LOT of traffic - it took me almost 20 minutes just to get to UCLA; apparently there was a basketball game). The chili fries are huge, and good. Obviously it's no Tommy's, but it's close by and open 24 hours.

Agnieszka and Martin left somewhat unexpectedly last night... I thought they'd stay another night. They have to get their car picked up from the mechanic... and registered with the DMV; then they're gonna try to get to Phoenix :X

Watched Role Models last night. It's a good and funny movie. "whispering eye", heheh.

It's raining. And I don't have an umbrella (well technically I do)...

The gas is fixed in the apartment! Well, sort of. It's turned on, but the guy had to disable the furnace because the connector tube is known to leak :/ ... so still gonna be sleeping chilly tonight.

Traffic is bad. Everyday. Everytime I try to go anywhere. And it stresses me out more than it should.

Lunch: Courtyard Cafe.

I have a pimple emerging just under my lower lip. It's bugging me.

Dan's birthday today at work! Got a piece of devil's food cake.

Facebooking the afternoon away... yipes

CS: Leigh and Laura should be arriving soon. They're flight's already in and I told them to chill at a cafe until I can get home.

Songs: (Paul McCartney and) Wings - Band on the Run; "Love Take Me Down to the Streets"; Ke$ha - Tik Tok [damn u for being so catchy!]

Driving can be very stressful. Even for the 15 minutes each way it takes for me to get to/from work.

No work to do today. I'm googling around. Google maps is awesome. I love seeing cities from above.

LUNCH WITH JENN! Bella Pita in Westwood.
... then Diddy Riese cookies. Yummy.
Parking was annoying - I had to drive all the way to the very top of the parking garage.

I'm worried about Steve's ipod. I think Drew stole it, and he's just evading my attempts to get to it.

The office has to shut down by 5pm today! That means I'm forced to leave by then!

...but guess what! After not having anything to do all day, a bunch of work gets piled on me at 4-4:30pm! (I should have expected it)

News: Toyota's recall problems continue. Looks like it's going to expand to include Priuses.

I just found out that the lead singer of OMC died. :( ... And dare I say "How Bizzarre"?

Songs: Jason DeRulo - Whatcha Say; Young Money - BedRock; Carrie Underwood - Last Name

My laptop is mostly better! Well, I mean, I was able to do a full scan of the hard drive. My google results are still being redirected so it's still infected with something. And I have a feeling that if I try to log on to anything with my laptop, my password's gonna get stolen :X

Agniezska and Martin were out late last night. Not partying or anything, but trying to find a car to buy. Their pursuit of an automobile took them to Long Beach and all the way to San Fernando (which they had no idea how far away it was). It was past midnight and I was already asleep when they returned. They're continuing their search today; I took them with me to work so they could get a head start on their bus route to Norwalk.

For some reason, when I play the guitar for the first time after a several-day break from playing, it sounds really good! Maybe my fingers are less calloused.

Groundhog Day (the movie) was on TV last night. I caught the first hour or so of it before heading to bed.

It's warm-ish outside today. At least I get to enjoy it for a few minutes when I go for a break.

I definitely am having a better day than yesterday. So far...

Lunch: Panda Express. 2-item combo, firecracker chicken and kung pao chicken. I ate the whole thing, which I usually don't do. Maybe because I was eating in the lunch room for once and was talking with people. I just didn't notice how much I was eating. Yet, no real food coma!

My fortune? It's really surprisingly specific: "You will embark on a trip to Asia". (an idea for a promotion? send your fortune in to win a trip to Asia?!)

I found flights to Wichita, Kansas for $40. I'm SERIOUSLY tempted to go for just a weekend.

Work. Formatted a powerpoint chart so that it'll look nice when put into a Word document.

Word. I need to say that more. Word.

Cassy's a published author! What an accomplishment!

I also found the article that was written about one of my couchsurfers, Stine. Way to inspire solo female travelers!

Ughck! Accidentally drank water and inhaled. Down the wrong pipe. Now I can't stop coughing.

Songs: Weezer - (If You're Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To; Finger Eleven - Paralyzed

Groundhog Day

Things fall apart: The gas is off in the apartment; my laptop is still at death's doorstep; work is less motivating than ever; traffic is always stressful. A lot to worry about!

On the phone with the gas company for 45 minutes! Had to activate service for our apartment, and now I have to pay the bills going back until September. Yet another bill to worry about. (and there goes the rest of my paycheck...)

I'm still leaning towards getting another job, in economics consulting. It's just hard to send out your resume and cover letter when your only internet is at work!

Lunch: Courtyard cafe salad bar ($4.36). At least I'm getting my veggies.

... I just don't want to be here today ...

Also, a pimple is appearing, right on my lip! And it sure is bugging me, making me poke at it which obviously makes it worse.

The weather is near-perfect during the day (yet again). I swear, the quality of the weather is inversely related to my ability to enjoy it.

Songs: Pearl Jam - The Fixer; Mariah Carey - Vision of Love; Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman; Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown - No Air

Interesting idea: Make a comic for your day, one panel for each hour you're awake.
http://www.hourlycomic.com/hourlycomicday.html

Happy new month!

CS: Agnieszka and Martin (from Poland)

online shopping (t-shirts) ... didn't actually buy anything, yet.

found a couple possible career moves that wouldn't require me moving (i.e. in West LA)

Lunch: Leftover chaufa from Lomo Arigato (food truck on Friday)

...almost no work done today...

took a couple walks - to Century Park West in the morning; to Century Park East in the afternoon.

News: Pres. Obama unveiled the 2011 federal budget; the Grammys were last night.

really? no work at all?

Weather: partly cloudy, 63°F (perfect walking weather)

gotta go home.

Songs: MGMT - Kids; Jimmy Eat World - The Middle; O-Zone - Dragostea Din Tei; Sean Kingston - Beautiful Girls; The All-American Rejects - Gives You Hell

Friday night: Grabbed some ramen (at Asahi Ramen) with Matt before we left for home. There were two food trucks positioned just outside on Sawtelle, the Nom Nom Truck and Lomo Arigato. I've never tried Lomo before, so (even though I was hella full of ramen) I stopped by and grabbed an order of their chicken Chauza. It was super delicious (I started eating some back at the apartment, even though I had planned it to be my lunch over the weekend). Drove back home, with very little traffic. Got home around 10, fell asleep soon after.

Saturday: I woke up with a strong craving for citrus (perhaps because I was feeling unhealthy all week), so I walked to the local Fresh & Easy just a block and a half from my house. Er-I mean, my mom's house (it's weird to be saying that). Bought orange juice, and I paid for it all using coins from our jar of spare change - I love being resourceful like that :)

The rest of the day Saturday was spent with my mom and uncle - we went OUTLET SHOPPING!!! Yes, yes - we drove to Cabazon and shopped the day away. So much shopping. I bought three pairs of shoes. Converse was having 2 pairs for $35 - deal!

It got cold real fast there in the desert. The mountains were still covered in snow from last week's storms. We didn't get back until around 9:30-10pm, after stopping for dinner at a barbecue place (which was packed and took us an hour to get seated) in Rancho Cucamonga right across from Ontario Mills (btw, downtown San Bernardino is totally dead and depressing!).

Sunday: I had been volunteered to read at church. Which usually is no big deal - it's actually good to get involved with the community and everyone is so grateful whenever I do the readings. But this week I had to read at 8 AM! Groan - that meant waking up earlier than I do during the week! Well I did the reading, and it felt good to get it done and have the whole day ahead of me!

Made breakfast/brunch. Lots of eggs and potatotes and peppers and yum.

And for the rest of the day, I was cooped in my room with the desktop and my laptop, trying to find a way to resussitate my laptop (which wasn't letting me log on). After 6+ hours of trying many different options, I finally was able to get it up and running (having to burn two re-installation CDs). But the laptop is still infected with viruses and spyware because it's still acting really crazy and not letting me really do anything :(