Jason's Daily Notes

Picked up mom from the airport yesterday. I was harassed by a police officer for not moving my car quickly enough. FUCK THEM ALL. Dude didn't even give me a ticket. (In retrospect, I am really really lucky, considering they substantially raised the fees on traffic tickets in California.)
Picked up some Zankou Chicken. Caught up with news from the family and what my mom did during her trip.

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Drove to work. Left 8:10, arrived 9:05. Took Santa Monica Blvd; traffic is misery.
The left side of my face was in the sun the whole commute.
I can't remember if I mailed in the rent at the beginning of the month (!)
Sweden scholarships - do I apply? No, looks like I don't even qualify.
Private investigators.
Telemarketing / fundraiser research.
I'm going to be a godfather (again).
Spaceland tonight for a concert! First, meeting at the 4100 for drinks (and I'll try to get 65-cent burgers at Tommy's!)
It smells in the office. Like dog food (or just burnt popcorn).
Lunch: Leftover Zankou chicken.
Music: James Bond theme; Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me
Hakuna Matata. It means no worries.
"It's getting better all the time"
Time to go - gonna rush to Eagle Rock to get my $0.65 burger!

Woke 7am, at home. It was a chilly morning. Or I just need a better blanket.
Drove 7:50am - took Olympic - arrived 8:45am at work. Argh. How will I deal with this traffic.
Mom arrives tonight.
The shoes I'm wearing today are uncomfortable. My socks are getting rolled down with each step. I guess I shouldn't shop at Payless.
Music: Taio Cruz - Dynamite; The Ready Set; Oasis
Thinking about Iceland.
The weather. Today. So perfect. Warm in the sun, cool in the shade, dry and cloudless.
News: Some airport in Russia got bombed.
Lunch: Leftover spaghetti from last night.
Picking up mom from LAX tonight...

Friday night: Ethiopian food with Ulrike, "Petzi," and Matthias. We then just hung out at the apartment.

Saturday: SIX FLAGS! With Christoph and Sandra.
Louise spent the day on the beach.
Chris arrived at 10. We printed out our tickets at Staples to save money. Picked up Sandra, got Weinerschnitzel (an insult to all German-speakers) and Jack in the Box. Arrived at the theme park ~12:00.
Revolution, Apocalypse (formerly Psychlone?), Jet Stream, Ninja (Hi-ya!), Batman (Riddler's was too long of a wait), Goliath, Swinging Pirate Ship, Scream, and the best for last: X2!
We played many rounds of 20 questions and 2 truths and a lie while waiting. There was the Home Depot guy (who sat next to Sandra on Apocalypse) - Sandra's new friend. The guy next to Sandra on X2 lost his wallet mid-ride. Coins fell everywhere.
Olive Garden afterwards. It was busy (what else is there to do in Santa Clarita on a Saturday night?). I was super exhausted when we got back to the apt. The girls wanted to go out for once. I lay on the futon for about 45 minutes, as Patricia moved her stuff out of the apartment, then left for Liquid Kitty with Louise and Sandra.

Sunday: Finished watching Watchmen. Took the recycling in with Matthias. There was a long line. It was hot, I was sweating after 3 minutes in the sun. And they didn't accept glass. FFFFFFFFFFUUUUUU. I just left the glass there for some homeless guy to redeem.
Went home to organize the house for my mom's arrival tomorrow. Not much food - I made a bacon & egg sandwich and watched Modern Family. Did my laundry. Ended up watching Eat Pray Love. Awww.
Concert tonight - Goast of a Sabre Tooth Tiger (GOASTT), the band of Sean Lennon (John Lennon's son).


Flaming Accordion.

Ordered tofu pad thai last night for me and Patricia.
Hung out in apt with Patricia, Louise, and Matthias.
Party at Ruchi's was fun. Ross was there. Ruchi is leaving to visit India for a wedding. I knew a lot of people at the party - it took a while to say bye. I "planned" to go to Six Flags with Christoph and Sandra.
Mom should still be in Singapore right now with my relatives (their first trip outside the P.I.). Mom returns Monday.

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Slept on the (breaking) futon. I need to fix/replace it.
Got to work 9:15.
I'm bringing cursive back.
Planning a big roadtrip in early May (round the Southwest).
I need to watch my budget.
Lunch: leftover pad thai
Music: Bed Intruder Song; The Kooks - She Moves in Her Own Way
I finally submitted my Sweden supporting docs! Whew.
Ethiopian food tonight with Ulrike and my housemates.

I WAS SO BUSY LAST NIGHT.
Worked til 6:30.
Drove to Glassell - 7:45. Alex H had called me to ask me for some urgent last-minute tutoring. I dropped off my stuff. Rushed back to West LA. 8:20. I was locked out of the apartment. Louise didn't leave the key out for me. Patrica had called, she would arrive a little later; but Matthias was to arrive any minute - and I still had to clean out my room! Luckily Louise called me - she had just finished work (for the American Idol premiere) and was walking back. Urgent, I offered to pick her up. When we returned, there was Matthias waiting for us. We entered, I cleaned my room, did the tutoring for Alex, and Patricia arrived. I was not the only exhausted one. So we slept.

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Today: Re-posting ads on craigslist. I now want to be a graphic designer.
Bruno Mars is Filipino. This means I must like him more automatically.
I need more alone time. I'm trying to draw/doodle again.
I'm still feeling a lot of negative energy in general. I guess it's just a negative phase for me right now. I have to push myself to stay positive (but I am staying positive).
My application to NHH is in!!! Done.
Lunch: Leftover soy taco meat with rye bread. Jack, Jack, Jack - why you so stubborn?
The weather is sunny and warm. So perfect.
Music: Bruno Mars; Green Day - Good Riddance 

I got 99 problems...

It's official: I can't find my keys. This is really bugging me. Because I really don't know how they could have just disappeared like that. I gotta make duplicates.

I have to move out of my apartment and back to home.
I have absolutely no motivation for work. Or for anything, really.

Mom should be in Singapore now. :)
Music: Misfits; Social Distortion
Coachella 2011 lineup announced. Maybe this'll be the year I go. Leaning towards Sunday being my favorite day.
Iceland Air - they have the cheapest one-way flights from Boston to London. And I can stop in Iceland for up to a week. DEAL!
Lunch: Soy meat tacos.
I discussed politics (rail and education funding) with Jack. He's so frustrating to talk to; so unwilling to bend to reason or to exhibit any compassion for people. Only minimizing taxes - as if the private sector would take care of everything! Just abolish the government then! UGH [AMERICAN] CONSERVATIVES JUST PISS ME OFF. RANT RANT /RANT.

Considering going to European music festivals this summer. Glastonbury, Isle of Wight, Download Festival, Roskilde; heck, even Wimbledon! But they're all expensive (or sold out already)!

Norway application done - just need to upload a scanned copy of my official transcript. Whew.

Matthias and Patricia arrive tonight. Gotta get ready. Gotta rush home and back!

Ugh! At work late!

Last night, after returning from my NorCal, I only got a few minutes' rest before heading out to Stephanie's. They couldn't turn on the jacuzzi.

Back to work.

I can't find my keys. They were definitely with me at Stephanie's, and they were definitely not with me when I returned from Stephanie's. They're not in my car.

I went to Stephanie's during my lunch break to search myself for the keys. No luck :(. They're gone. What will I do?!

Suddenly my streak of awesome days in 2011 comes to a screeching halt. I feel surrounded by negative energy.

Music: Snow Patrol. 

Lunch: Trimana taco salad. $6.00
...pulling news articles at work.
At work til 5:50.
Gotta get my stuff ready to move out... Matthias arrives tomorrow night!

Good times - drove north on Saturday, Jenn driving the first leg - 6:45am. It was too early when we got to Kettleman City - In-N-Out was still closed. So we got Jack in the Box for breakfast. There was lots of dense fog throught the central valley (indeed, the whole weekend had generally foggy/hazy weather). I explained several times how fog forms. My ipod was plugged in - it plugged in as a USB device, and so was controlled by the car's radio panel directly. This made it more difficult to switch between songs, since scrolling took a long time. We arrived in Mountain View before 12:00. With over an hour to kill before my meeting, I gave Jenn and Ray a tour of the Google campus. I showed them where I had my interview, and we took some of the Google bikes and rode around for a little bit. Just as we were leaving, the security guard pulled up. Heh heh. Then to downtown Mountain View. A potty break at the library, then walked briskly to the post office to buy my international stamps, then I made it to the cafe to meet Matt at precisely 1:00. My meeting went well, I think he got to see a more personable side of me. So I'm looking forward to a good rec from him. Whew. Then, met up with Ray J who had just eaten at a nearby Mexican restaurant; we hopped into a chinese bakery where I got a delicious green tea moon cake (and two cold meat pies). We drove onward to Fairfield. Cassy greeted us outside her building (well, the other side). It was chilly and foggy. Ray J napped and Cassy and I watched Despicable Me. I got about 10 minutes of sleep during the movie. It was cute, though. The evening rolled around and we went to check out Fairfield's big nightlife (NOT) - the Fairfield Mall. I bought a calendar (had to wait like 20 minutes for the coworker to return with the receipt tape. Upon asking the cashier what there is to do in Fairfield that evening, I was met with a scoff, a laugh, and a "you're in the wrong town dude." The key duplication store no longer existed. Dinner was a thai restaurant that had its sauces and flavors wrong. Then we drove to Vacaville, to get dessert at Fenton's (of course we had to go on a calorie quest). First, some browsing at the next-door Border's; Jenn didn't find a planner she liked. Stopped by Food Max on the way home (NorCal Food 4 Less?). Back at Cassy's apartment we played Asshole into the night then finally slept.

Sunday: I began my day with a jog around the nearby park - it was foggy/drizzly, the pavement was wet, and the sidewalk covered with duck poop. Not the best jogging conditions, especially considering I had my new, fresh shoes. A woman pulled up to me as I was walking back to the apartment and tried to get me to buy items from her. We got ready and headed out around 9:30 to pick up Rachel in Concord. My stomach was not agreeing with me. Rachel's cat Sebastian was sitting under the toilet. Then to SF. The fog disappeared (thanks to my magic powers) when we emerged from the tunnel. But SF was fogged in. It was later than we had anticipated arriving at Golden Gate Park. Parked just outside and walked to the DeYoung museum. Ada arrived there shortly after us. We had LOBSTER rolls. Like, full on pure lobster sandwiches on butter bread. Thanks to the ChowderMobile food truck. All the day, we took pictures with "Leslie" and "Juan" with us. There was lots of walking and laughs. And sharing of disgusting stories. The usual. Ada left early; she was learning how to ride a bike. We returned to the car, seeing a cool husky, lindy hop dancers, plenty of skaters along the way. We then drove on to Twin Peaks. There were plenty of dogs there too. The view was good but even though the sun was out, it was still hazy. We left and drove to the Mission District. It's sooooo much cooler than I remembered! Lots of cafes and bars. It's really diverse, energetic, and happening! We found Mission Pie and had our pie. Then we drove to Berkeley. Bought some Cal gear at Bancroft Clothing. Met Jason D. Walked around campus a little. Shopped at T-shirt Orgy. Drove to Zachary's. We had to wait 40 minutes for our table, so I got to play a little improv (I need to relive the Whose Line days!). Dinner was good. Then drinks at Barclay's. We played Octopus and Psychiatrist. It was hilarious. (Thanks Manuel for teaching me those games!) I was apparently talkative on the drive back. I think I was just tired, tipsy, and excited to travel.

Monday: We woke up early, for my 10am meeting in SF. Rachel had slept over too. We took two cars, Cassy and Rachel leaving theirs at the El Cerrito BART and joining us into SF. I met with Rob, which went well. He's busy as a consultant now. He was busy so had to leave a little more quickly. I feel good about it though. Camilla had already left SF so the brunch that I had scheduled was cancelled. We weren't hungry anyway so we just left for home. "Not with a bang but a whimper." Said bye to Cassy and Rachel. The drive back was good, we played 20 questions most of the way. In-N-Out was way too crowded for us in Kettleman City, so we held off and got our fix in Valencia instead. Delayed gratification. Good nonetheless.

Downtown LA artwalk last night. Traffic was insane. I left with Louise to pick up Sandra in Santa Monica; it seriously took us like half an hour just to get onto the 10 freeway. The artwalk was nice, but more chaotic than I remember, especially trying to keep our group (Fernand, Michelle, Lousie, Sandra, Brian, Josh, Adrian, Priscilla, and I) together. I drove Louise back so she'd get some sleep, then Sandra.

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Today, it's not cold. It's actually very warm (80°F).
Mom and uncle still in the Philippines.
Ryan asked me to donate blood with him. I should.
Lunch: A tamal (leftover).
Music: The Fray - How to Save a Life
...working on grad school apps. Specifically, supporting documents for Sweden.
Busy with these grad school rec forms, prepping so everything is ready for my referees. SO BUSY!
Going out with Julia (who's about to leave for the east coast) and Sandra tonight.

I went back to Glassell Park last night. Traffic was horrible (can I really start commuting again?). I hung out with Fernand and Vincent. Oinkster then home (watching some Modern Family and Conan). The Clippers beat the Heat! Stayed overnight. No one else at home, it felt weird.

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Woke up 7am. Tired, chilly, and alone. It took one hour to drive to work. Yikes.
I like the jeans I'm wearing. I forgot that I had bought them several months ago.
Lunch: 3 tamales for the price of 2! :)
Music: Journey - Lights (but the city by the Thames, not by the Bay!)
Sofia Vergara is from the same town in Colombia as Shakira.

Downtown LA artwalk tonight!!!

Stayed in last night ... for once.

I watched both Inception and Persepolis. Good movies. But I had high expectations for Inception, which naturally dampens the excitement of watching it. It's not that realistic (i.e. LAX immigration), but a good compilation of psychological, sci-fi, architecture, visual, thriller, artistic and tehnology elements. Makes you think about ideas and our relationship to the world itself. Kind of like The Matrix?

Persepolis remiinded me to always be true to myself and to focus on what is important in one's life.


I talked/skyped with mom and uncle.
My dinner was just rye bread with butter, hummus, and cheese.
Louise had her first day at "work" today. She's interning at Fox News, only a walking distance from the apartment.
I dreamt that Jack and I were both fired. But we still had to train and live with the new employees replacing us. Also, I ended up at Phil's house (?)

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The world is rational and understandable. Just not all at once. Embrace the chaos.

Lunch: 6" Turkey sandwich, subway. $4.
My Chase debit card has been put on fraud alert.
I saw Demitri Martin walking through the mall. And I also saw Jenn Ho's doppelgänger.


The internet is spazzing out this afternoon.
Went to Borders.
Going to Glassell tonight. To pick up my diploma.

I (finally) met Louise last night. Nice girl.
I drove her to Bed Bath and Beyond to buy a duvet.
... went to Mine's for dinner (and of course drinks afterwards). There was Juliana (Brazil), Ruchi, and Angela (Spain). Also I met Joe from London. The Canadians (Leanna, Darren, and Catelyn) arrived from the Kings-Maple Leafs game. I drove Angela back.

--

Manuel posted his video of street magic. Awesome! (edit: I managed to rip it off fb and put it onto youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvUtbDXJLto)
Music: Cee-Lo - Fuck You (ASL version); Pink - Raise Your Glass

It's official. I'm going to the Bay Area this weekend!

Lunch: Mrs. Winstons
I was approached by a girl trying to sell me a discounted beauty/hair treatment. I'm flattered that she thought I was a successful office worker, but it's sad that the only time girls approach guys on the street is when they want to sell something. No one's genuinely nice to each other, seems like.
I'm alone this week, uncle and mom are in the Philippines.
I feel motivated now. Life is good. I am doing what I want and doing what I should.
...working on my apps - almost done with Norway's essay. Just need to get the rec letters done and my transcripts organized!

Woke up at 4:30am. Uncle Ben was noisily getting ready. It was cold, and my blanket was thin. I fell back asleep then awoke at 7:15. We were a little late. Rushed to LAX (Uncle's flight was at 11). Traffic wasn't too bad - I left LAX at 8:20 and took Sepulveda to get to work at 8:55.

Louise should have arrived last night and is at the apartment now. I can't find the other key...

I'm now alone (family gone) for the next 2 weeks.

Lunch: Day old sushi (no soy sauce). Tolerable.

Grad school apps! Sweden is due this Friday.
(... I think I just submitted the applications... no essay required?!)

Friday night: I hosted Romain and Jeremy (from France). Stephanie came over and we hung out for a bit. The guys didn't speak much English but were really cool. And they kept inviting me to join them and go hiking/river rafting in France!

Saturday: Had breakfast with Romain and Jeremey then I left. I had a couple auto-related errands to run. I got my car registration from AAA (they can do most of the DMV stuff for you with no hassle! What a great membership benefit!). I stopped by home (tita Elsie was there) for some food before heading to the Mazda dealership to get my car serviced. Uncle Ben came to pick me up, but didn't bring his phone, so I was already walking around. He ended up picking me up at Best Buy.

I want to get back into filmmaking.

I drove back to WLA in the evening, met Romain and Jeremy for dinner.

Sunday:  Romain and Jeremy left. I returned to Glassell around 12:00. Drove Tita Elsie to LAX. Stayed home. Did some shopping at Marshall's, and we had sushi (way more sushi than we need).

Last night, I returned from work (through some typical West LA traffic... argh) around 6:30.
Manuel, my magic German couchsurfer, arrived at 7:00. He was hungry, and I was hungry, and it was his last night, so he wanted to thank me by taking me out to dinner. Since I was still kind of sick I opted for pho. We ate at Le Saigon just down the street. Afterwards, as if we weren't full enough, we went to Cafe 50s for a brownie sundae. It was decadent. Manuel noticed the magician's cards on the ceiling and we talked to the waitress about it. She was really into Manuel's magic. (Oh that sounds almost dirty...) Then we left, stopped by Vons and back home. I learned that Manuel has some tough situations in his life and is an only child like me. He also met the Arctic Monkeys before they became famous. WHAT?!

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This morning, I dropped off Manuel at the bus stop - he's going to SF with a rideshare. Sigh, now I feel the bittersweetness of saying bye to a new good friend. Such is travel.
Music: Blink-182 - What Went Wrong; The Cure - Friday I'm in Love; Bloc Party - Banquet; Phoenix - Lizstomania.

I'm now leaning towards studying development economics. I should just do what I love. Travel, film, meet people. Yeah, I wanna make movies!

Lola Titay passed away.

Tita Elsie arrived at the airport today.

Lunch: Marty's Hamburger Stand - drove there with Harry, Jack, and Ryan. Paralegal lunch!

Because I had a light fever, I emailed in sick to work (at 5:30 am). I ended up coming in after all - around 12:30. When I woke up, around 10am, I semi-purged my facebook, going back several years. Manuel woke up around 11:30, and he had to secure a ride to SF tomorrow (and he did - with a British-sounding guy leaving from Echo Park).

I brought Manuel with me to work - he's going to the Grove to do some shopping and to maybe do more magic back on the Santa Monica pier (where he was quite successful).

I ran into my old friend from HS, Chris F.! He's doing a PostBac at USC and going to med school, living with Ryan A., who's in law school.

I'm unusually productive at work today. Just getting sutff done with no distractions.

Music: Reel Big Fish - Sell Out; No Doubt - Spiderwebs; Lady Gaga - Alejandro; Taio Cruz - Dynamite

I feel confident. I've been looking people in the eye, and have been getting more attention from the ladies haha!

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." - kind of summarizing my feelings on Manuel leaving. He's totally like me in many ways. Like, if I were born in Germany I would probably come out like he did - smart, studying film/multimedia, and traveling the world.

Lunch: Soup (Gelson's)

Google wants me to come in for another interview!

I'm at work til 6.

After a short day at work (which didn't seem so short because I really had little to do), I headed back to the apartment around 5:30. Traffic was somewhat bad. I had just gotten Inception on my Netflix, so I put it in the DVD player. But my body was so exhausted, that I began dozing off. So I headed to my room and lay down, but after a couple minutes I got a text from Alka telling me that she, Sandra, and Manuel were meeting up in 30 minutes for drinks. I thought that I needed to rest (since I was beginning to feel sick), but I really wanted to go out too. So I headed straight out the door and to Santa Monica.

Parking was hard to find, but I got a space on 7th and walked to the Britannia Pub. None of them were there yet; Alka and Sandra were still getting on the bus, and Manuel was nowhere to be found (I walked around looking for someone doing magic on the street). My stomach was growling, so I just sat at the back of the pub and ordered food and some tea for myself. The three of them arrived about 15 minutes after I got my food. We talked, I learned that Alka came from Ohio and was reluctant to show us her ID. Manuel had been with James to make the video of him doing magic (for his own personal use). It turned out well, but he regretted taking such a long lunch break. Sandra was mostly silent for the evening, likely because her boss had gotten fired that day. Manuel ordered apple pie with ice cream, giddy with excitement. The server found it cute. Manny also did a couple magic tricks; he's constantly making credit cards disappear and tried to make a quarter go through the table (but made the salt shaker disappear). We couldn't remember #17 from our game the previous night. Only: 1. fragile - 2. Alka - 3. California - 4. Viva Mexico, cabrones! - 5. seven - 6. shut the fuck up - 7. [pound table and clap hands twice] - 8. octopus - 9. squid - 10. Miami - 11. nine - 12. NEIN NEIN NEIN! - 13. Just stop this right now - 14. Oaxaca - 15. gay - 16. supercalifragilisticexpialidocious - 17. ???? - 18. ha HA! - 19. uhhhhh - and 20. Oasis.

We went upstairs and played pool. Sandra and I were teamed up, and we were not good at all. Manuel was the best player of us all, and Alka was moderately decent. We got more drinks, I got more tea, and soon the Beatles cover band began playing. The music was good. We grabbed a table and began to play drinking games - never have I ever, the game where you tell three stories about yourself but one is made-up: (Alka has changed her major 3, not 4, times; Manuel's parents never went to court over his two names; and I've never been kicked out of a bar). We then played a game where I had to figure out the rules, basically by asking them questions. I had a hard time thinking up questions, especially embarassing ones, so I don't think it went too well, but it was fun nonetheless! We were in a mood to keep share embarrassing / sexual stories, but the girls weren't too enthusiastic.

I drove them back, but on the way to the car, we played an improv game (or just Manuel and I did). I had the Beatles stuck in my head. We blasted Lady Gaga's "Alejandro," MGMT's "Kids," and Muse on the way home and while dropping off Alka and Sandra (Manny forgot his magic shirt so we returned to get it; I climbed on top of my car).  Back at the apartment, Manuel introduced me to gelaskins.com (for my Macbook) which I will likely order soon! He then shared the story of his complicated relationship with Arianna, the girl he was supposed to be with this week but who instead betrayed/ignored him. And he seems to have really been hurt by it too; that's part of the territory when you live life so passionately.

Anyway, it's now 6 am and I've been up for the last 3 hours. Can't sleep. I've been in a dream-like state of half-sleep, unable to tell if I was dreaming or not - the thoughts in my head are all about what has happened tonight (Manuel's magic tricks, our drinking games, me trying to figure out magic myself).

Last night was eventful. I finished watching Swingers. I napped. Waited for Manuel to return but he skyped me and decided to just stay in Santa Monica. Brian arrived at 10:00, ate his burger from McDonald's, and we were off to SaMo to meet up with them. We went to the Brittannia Pub. There we met up with Sandra, Christoph, Manuel, and Alka (Sandra's roommate). Manuel had bought new shoes. Chris left early. We played "Octopus" - counting around from 1-20 and each time substituting a new word for one of the numbers. There was karaoke. We left and I drove them to Sandra's apartment to drop off Alka, who looks like Sapphire, a neighbor of mine in London. The remaining four of us went to The Joker, just nearby. Manuel and I played a round of pool. Drove back to the apartment. I had a little wine, Brian left, and I slept around 2:30. Manuel bounced to some Eminem then took Felix's bed.

--
Today:
I'm feeling sort of sick. I went to the court archives in downtown LA to pick up an order of documents for work. On the way back to the apartment I DROVE BY THE GOOGLE MAPS STREET VIEW CAR on the freeway! I stopped by Vons and then returned to the apartment to cook ramen for myself. Work called and needed me because it was a hectic morning. Manuel was still just waking up - he played "Hamburg Song" by Keane, which was technically imperfect but surprisingly deep and soulful. He's doing more street magic today in Venice - and James should be meeting up with him to make a video. Honestly, I really wish I could join them. I feel like I'm wasting my life away at work. I really need to focus on doing what interests me.

The weather isn't as cold.
Music: My Chemical Romance - I'm Not Okay (I Promise); Carolina Liar - Show Me What I'm Looking For; Eminem - Lose Yourself
Lunch: Ramen (with Kale! I'm so healthy)
I'm learning (or trying to learn) the basics of magic. How to palm objects, for example.
I made a budget with www.mint.com - very useful! Especially if you have more than one bank account.  You can set budgets, etc.

Yeah... I think I'm getting sick. Ugh.

I feel surreal. I feel like a grown-up, whatever that means.
The world seems different - things even smell different.

Last night I napped for an hour or so, then watched HIMYM (a good but somber episode) and began to watch Swingers. Manuel arrived back at the apartment, having earned $39 doing street magic in Venice beach. How cool is that? I wish I was the type of person to perform on the street - it takes a certain type of personality. And some skill that I can use to perform with. Unfortunately reciting economic and geography facts doesn't play too well on the street.

I spent the evening with my new friend Mary (J Roa's friend). We went to Liquid Kitty. Good times. She ended up sleeping over.

--

Today: jogged. Mary left at 6am then returned around 7:30 to say bye to me in person. She's off to Berkeley now. I went to work at 9:25am. Hella late, but I didn't care.
It's cold still, especially in the mornings. I've got a sweater on, inside the office.

I want to make a video/short film - maybe a tourist guide to Eagle Rock / Glassell Park.

Lunch: Butter chicken (frozen food)

Hmm. Without Facebook at work, the day goes by much more slowly.
I wanna get a tattoo. And go surfing.

Yesterday I drove my mom to the airport.
Had beer and pizza at home, then back to West LA.
It's raining! Pouring!
Felix was packing his stuff to go.
Manuel arrived. He's quite talented - speaks Spanish, does magic, and makes movies! I'm jealous.
Felix left at 3am for LAX for his flight to DC (via Houston).
Lunch: Leftover pad see ew.
It's really chilly outside. My arm is frigid, and I'm wearing a jacket and I'm inside the office!

Thursday: A day off! Felt so good.
Spent the day getting ready for the party - organizing my room and buying supplies and such from Smart & Final, Whole Foods, etc.
Last night (Wednesday) I went out with Ruch and her friends. We celebrated Sunam's birthday with a broken hookah in Westwood and music and dancing at Santa Monica's Circle Bar.

Felix met up with his friend (Marco) who lived with him in Berlin but is originally from Pasadena. I was too busy getting ready to join.

Friday: PARTY TIME.
I got two platters of Thai food and three large pizzas. Enough food? I hoped so. (It turned out to be just right - the formula for what would be a great party!)
Jonathan arrived first again, 3:00. I thought people would have come by then. Whatever. Felix returned with Mine and Chris from Universal 30 seconds after 3:00, so they just missed the Jäger. Ruben and Patrick came. More drinks. MR and MM (who left early). Steffen. Stephanie and Julie and Julia and Nina. We played two games of king's cup. Manuel from Couchsurfing arrived. And the BIRTHDAY BOY James, with his friend Mark from Kentucky. Willem and his Dutch friends. Kevin and Crystal came too! And Christina wish Shisha. And Joan and Mary! And Brian came from work! By this time I was very happy drunk. I was dancing everywhere and trying to mingle with everyone (from later reports I heard that I did a very good job of this). It was such a diverse group of friends (more than usual), but it turned out amazingly. Despite the fact that I threw coke all over the wall, and that two of James' "friends" wouldn't leave at the end of the night, and there was the random "neighbor" who didn't want us to turn the music down, but wanted to share some weed. Haha! I didn't end up feeling sick or drunk at all, but I was happy and energetic the whole night. I credit the Thai food! :)

I've got a lot going on this new year, a lot of resolutions. And I celebrated the new year with what people have been telling me was the best party I've thrown so far.

I'm going to try to reduce my distractions at work this year, so the posting frequency on this blog may decrease significantly.