Jason's Daily Notes

Watched the IT Crowd last night. Steffen randomly wanted to grab a beer, so we went to O'Haras. It was me, Steffen, Chris, Marie (and her friend Greg from Paris), Ruchi, and Jan. Then to In-N-Out.

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It's my last day at work.

It feels weird. Like the last day of school. I have spent so much time at this office. I can't believe it's actually happening.

Music: Rooney - I Should've Been After You
Lunch: Pizza party at Johnnie's pizzeria. Nice. Talked with my coworkers about travels, the crazy playoff games, and Coby's husband's food allergies.
Star drew me a goodbye picture and haiku. Aww.

The NBA playoffs (1st round) are exciting. The (NHL) Kings blew a 4-0 lead last night to lose against San Jose. The Dodgers got taken over by MLB.

Advice from coworkers: (LG's cousin) Rent a car, swap its tires with your own car's [technically illegal - don't!]; (JL) write off your travel expenses on your taxes as research for your book that you will publish.

Watched Sixteen Candles last night. It was good, much better than I expected.


Ate mac & cheese and peas & carrots.

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Woke up with a really bad stomachache. It felt like my insides were really twisted into knots. Stomach flu? A parasite? Tapeworm? WHAT THE HELL?!

My drive to work was under very pleasant weather - 60 degrees with mixed sun and clouds. A car stopped instead of turning left onto SM Blvd from Westwood. Set me back 5 minutes.

Music: Rooney - Should've Been After You
Lunch: Leftover mac and cheese
Requesting my tickets for the 2012 Olympics in London!

MY FINAL DAYS at GBG.
Aileen M. (my cousin) has moved in to my mom's house. She got a job in Pasadena last week and just couldn't make the drive from Hesperia everyday (it's 4 hours round-trip, costs $200 in gas for the week)!

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Commuted to work from home. Monday morning light - I took Alvarado to Olympic. The marine layer was in, it felt like I was driving to high school again. It also felt like summer. I guess I'm antsy; it's just beginning to hit me that I'll be leaving soon on my summer travels!
Lunch: Leftover vegan food - Jack Daniels barbecue jackfruit sandwich, and potato salad. Sooo yummy. I'm really into vegan food. I can easily get unhealthy food at home, so I should be uber-healthy when eating out, right?
I wrote a guide manual for my shareholders job. It's comprehensive, like 6 pages long.
I am planning an "Amazing Race" around LA for my birthday celebration!

At work late today (6:40pm) - organizing files before I leave. Wow, it's really hitting now!

Friday night
Swiss Chef restaurant. Shared fondue with Felix, Jan, and Chris. Jan has a new niece. Returned to the apartment, played poker, blackjack, and beer hockey.

Saturday
A very lazy day. It was amazing.
Woke up 9am. It was already 80°F and really sunny outside. I had planned to go to mom's but stayed at the apartment to organize music files. I subsisted on chocolate soymilk for the day.
4pm - biked to Santa Monica beach. Soaked up some afternoon sunshine and a cool ocean breeze. It was incredibly pleasant. It was perfect. I had not a care in the world. I returned around 5:30, showered, and, exhausted, I passed out on my bed. Before I knew it, it was already 8:30 and dark outside. My body must've been really exhausted from the bike ride (my bike's tires seemed underinflated, so that might be it).
Made pasta (linguine with peas/carrots) and watched a few episodes of Californication. Then sleep around midnight.


Sunday
Stayed in the apartment for the first part of the day. More music organizing. Went home in the afternoon. Had vegan dinner with my mom and Sage Organic Bistro in Echo Park. It was amazing. I had a Jamaican jerk burger with sauteed onions and mushrooms served on a sprouted wheat bun. My mom had a Jack Daniels barbecue jackfruit sandwich. We also shared some amazing buffalo sauce coated polenta croquettes. This restaurant really is great.
My cousin Aileen arrived. She's moving into my mom's house to help with her commute to/from Pasadena. (Driving last week from Hesperia, she spent $200 on gas, and 4 hours a day on the road. Misery!) Watched The Amazing Race as it went to Austria.

Art walk last night was... well, disappointing. No one wanted to come besides Felix. There was a 21+ display by the LA Times in a parking lot on 4th/Spring. Meh. I met Felix, we went into the Edison, where we ran into Parrish. (EVERY SINGLE ART WALK I run into someone I know!) We discussed potentially doing archery this Saturday. The three of us left, shot some vodka at Parrish's car, then went straight for the food. I got falafel, Parrish wanted meat, Felix didn't eat. Felix did run into a guy whose name he didn't remember and whom I had never met (presumably someone from Ruchi's parties?). The cops were out patrolling the sidewalks. Ugh. We ran into Felix's Irvine friends who had come to my party last November. I hardly remembered any of their names. What a small world. There were mothers out with babies in strollers. Art walk has offically not only gone mainstream; it's become... *cringe* TOURISTY.

A homeless person crossed the street as I was driving home in downtown LA. He wobbled for a bit, and then collapsed. Fucking LA, that is one thing I will not miss about this city. The incredibly rampant poverty and disgusting wealth gap.

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Lunch: Panda Express part 2.
Considering hiring a private investigator to track down something important for me.
Jack and Rob are going to Iceland during the same time that I'll be there!
The weather is warm. In the 80's today. It feels summery in a stuffy way. I would like cool, moist air, or hot, dry air. Not this warm mucky mistiness that I feel as I walk around.

Swiss Chef restaurant tonight. Gonna try some racklette finally. And maybe get drinks with ANg afterwards?

Got a veggie burrito from Poquito Mas. The burrito was meh - needed some grilled veggies or rice at least. The woman parked next to me asked for a jump start, but I had no jumper cable to help her out. She was acting very dumb and helpless; I couldn't help thinking, "do all women think guys are that gullible?" After that I saw her ask at least another 3 men for help.

As I was driving back to the apartment, I saw a guy in an old leather pilot helmet with goggles. He was wearing a leather jacket and had his eyes transfixed on the sky. He had one arm on his hip, and with the other arm he pointed directly at the sky. I glanced up and saw the he was pointing either at the moon or at a small plane. He seemed crazy, yet somehow, in that fleeting moment, I completely understood him. And that is another thing that I will miss about LA.

Back at the apartment, I watched some of the Lakers playing the Sacramento Kings (their last game in Sacramento), and the Dodgers game too. Slept around 10.

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Woke up early and took my car to the carwash on Overland and Venice. They really cleaned my car thoroughly. Traffic was insanely bad. Overland was jammed up the entire way. It took me 8 songs (that's approximately 28 minutes) to get to Century City. It should only have been like 10 minutes. [I later found out from Ryan that there was an accident that had shut down the street.]

Today is better than yesterday at work.
National Parks week is next week! I think I should celebrate my liberation from employment with a camping trip!
Meeting at work to divide up my responsibilities - among 3-4 people! Whew - I do a lot of work for this firm! They really rely on me. It's good to know that :)
Lunch: Panda Express. Again no eggplant tofu, so I'm eating chicken :X
Finished Me Talk Pretty One Day.
My departure from my job is really causing some disruption in the work duties. I'm feeling slightly guilty about it.

Art walk tonight.

Stopped by Walgreens after work to get my passport photo taken (for my UK visa). I had to wait 15 minutes, so I walked 2 blocks to the nearby liquor store to buy lottery tickets. I then came back to the apartment and watched Mad Men season 1.


I can sort of get why people like this show, looking back at a time 50 years ago, it's easy to see just how sexist and confidently ignorant everyone was. Makes you think about what we're so confidently wrong about nowadays.

Read some more of David Sedaris' Me Talk Pretty One Day. I'm finally almost done with this book.

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Today is not going well.
Problems:

• Traffic this morning. It took me 4 cycles of the traffic light just to get past the intersection at Beverly Glen. Usually it's only 1-2 cycles.
• A truck blocked the entrance to our parking garage at work. I had to back out and drive around the first floor just to get down to my usual parking space.
• I scheduled my court date online. It's in July.
• Should I take traffic school?
• Work is busy as ever. Calculating shareholder losses for several cases.
• My passport/visa application. Another headache: I left it at the apartment. (After I went through all the trouble of getting my photo taken yesterday!)
• I have to rush home to my mom's tonight - to sell the elliptical.

Lunch: Went back to the apartment (to get my visa documents). Made 2 quick veggie burgers.
... at least my parking space wasn't taken while I was gone.
So much need to be organized at work before I leave. Mostly shareholder stuff.

• I still need to wash my car. Ugh!

3:30pm. FINALLY mailed in my visa application. Hope it gets processed and returned in time for my travels. I only have 4 pages left in my passport! :)

At work late - until 7:00pm. Entering hours for this pay period.

Stephanie's last night LA last night. We (+ Steffen and Gavin) went to Road to Seoul Korean bbq. Morgan joined us there. The food was good; I enjoyed the kalbi more than the bulgogi. We also had octopus and squid, since Gavin's not eating meat for lent. Then we drove to Harvard and Stone. Mine and (her NY friend) Laura were there. Felix, Marie, Ruchi, William (Steph's friend from Pasadena), and Sana (Ruchi's friend) were there too. Sana is from Hungary and soon moving to London. The bar was nice, but Steph's bouncer-crush wasn't there.
Driving back to WLA, the freeway connector roads were closed, at both junctions (10/110, and 10/405)! Frustrating.

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Steph and Gavin slept over. So did Marie.
Steph's now gone, on to SF. (Gavin drove her to the airport) Then Seattle, Chicago, New York.
I feel nasty. I smeel like bbq; I feel like I smoked a pack of ciagarettes. I have a meat hangover.
Changed my CouchSurfing profile back to "yes" - now I'm getting more requests.
Lunch: Andrew N. came to visit me at work! Got Fuddrucker's.
The weather is very pleasant. Springtime in LA. The sun is strong, but the air is cool. The ocean air drifts inland and makes everything feel so comfortable but refreshed.
I'm planning to drive all of Sunset Blvd. Maybe this Saturday. Kevin's karaoke this Saturday too.
I DID IT. I just bought a new digital camera online. Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7.



Selling the elliptical machine - someone's interested, will check it out Friday.
Only in LA: Saw a beach blonde Asian mom with her 4 quadruplet boys, all dressed in the same outfit.
Coincidence: I saw Marie pulling out of the mall parking lot in her BMW convertible. (Later talked to Felix and confirmed that it actually was Marie, she was with her friend from France who had just arrived in LA).
It's hard for me to decline my acceptance to NHH, other universities.

Steph and Tyson slept over.

A lot to think about. Need to get my passport photo taken. Need to get my car washed. Need to decline my offers at the other universities that accepted me.

Lunch: Mrs. Winston's + plantain chips

Tyson's now gone back to SD.
KBBQ tonight - Steph's last night.

(why traffic always sucks)

Friday Night: Camping cancelled. I stayed in Glassell Park. I got myself a veggie burger and a milkshake from Habit. Steph and friends were out in Westwood. I didn't want to drag myself over there. Tyson was back so I texted him to stay at the apartment.

Saturday: Drunk brunch? No, MR couldn't devote the day.
Lunch at Cabrera's in Pasadena instead. Mediocre mexican food.
Then, a fun 5-minute drive with people waving on the sidewalk and the dancing statue of liberty.
Rite Aid ice cream, then strolled through part of Pasadena.
Brian and I drove our cars back to West LA. We hung out for the afternoon; Tyson was there. Steph and Julie soon arrived to make dinner (I threw my key at Julie because I was driving out as they were driving in!). I got ice cream and Marie Callender's apple pie. The guests: Gavin, Juana, Felix, Ruchi, Jan, Christoph, Andrew N.
We played Apples to Apples, then Mao; while some chose to chatroulette.

Sunday: Woke up 10am and cleaned up.
Steph and Julie came over and made crepes. I sucked at making them.
Drove to Malibu - El Matador beach. I went barefoot on the gravely rocks, which really hurt.
Then to Calabasas, met Julie's host family. Back to West LA, then to Steph's host family's dinner. It wasn't very much, just stale pizza. I could really tell that they're miserable to live with. Arguing all the time!

Went to Orange County last night after work with Jenn to visit Cassy. I was exhausted from work, but I energized on my way over there. We (including Ray and Juan) at our favorite Thai restaurant right by Cassy's. My tattoo was laughed at :(

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Slept midnight - 8:15am.

Appointment today to get my biometrics taken at the "Applicaton Support Center" on Pico. It wasn't too crowded but still took an hour out of my day.

Lunch: Leftover Thai food. Filling - yum!

Looks like camping this weekend is cancelled.
No, wait! Camping is back on! Gotta get ready.
No... it's cancelled. ARRRRGHT! So agrivating! I'm kind of pissed off now.

What a night last night. Napped, picked up Stephanie, stopped b Fatburger; Ty and Dean finally came, around 10pm. Ruche came over around midnight. Lots of drinking (Tecate) and usual conversation. Ruchi and I.
Slept 3:30 - woke up 8:30. I drove Ruchi and Steph back.

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New case: American Superconductor. Phones are ringing off the hook.
Lunch with Peter today. Houston's seared tuna burger. Nice. (He's going to Colombia, Buenos Aires, and Brazil.
My coworkers were in the office all night preparing a filing due today.
Music: B.o.B - Magic; Lupe Fiasco - The Show Goes On; 30 Seconds to Mars - From Yesterday; The Bigger Lights
The phone is ringing nonstop today. I'm constantly just answering the phone. This is ridiculous.

People's upbringings have such a big impact on who they become. It's good to have friends who keep you balanced.

Was gonna hang with Steph tonight but Tyson didn't contact me. Watched Seven Pounds. A heavy but good film.
I couldn't get iMovie to work. My vids - mpg files - won't load. Argh. :(

I feel particularly undeserving today. Not exactly sure why, just feeling randomly humble. As if I'm not as nice as people might think I am.

Music: Carolina Liar
"bleib geschmeidig" - a new German phrase for me to use.
Ty and Dean are going to Santa Monica tonight. Finally gonna see 'em.
Lunch: Mrs. Winston's salad bar. $6.06
Peter offered to take me to lunch tomorrow.
My brain is too exhausted from dealing with all the clutter on/around my desk.
I LEAVE MY JOB IN 2 WEEKS!

Am I just delaying my life (with all these travel plans and grad school plans)? Am I running away from my problems, as they say many travelers are?

I need to think of better conversation topics.


Lunch: The Stand veggie burger. Meh, not that good.
Music: Florence and the Machine - Dog Days Are Over; Phoenix - Lizstomania; Cold War Kids - Royal Blue; Bloc Party - Banquet

Clutter. Need to get rid of all these distractions!

I had the wrong number for Tyson. But got in touch with them, looks like he and Dean will be coming over!
SO MANY CERTS. IT'S AN AVALANCHE OF WORK.

Music: Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, The Roots, Taylor Hicks - Friday

I'm so so so busy.

monday april 4 2011

I am so stressed and buried with work. It's like I'm in a boat filling up with water, and I am just so tired of bailing out buckets of water.

There is LITERALLY a pile of about 100 certs on my desk waiting to be entered into the system. And about 25 new certs come in every day. I only have time to enter about 10 into the system each day.

I just can't do this. Ugh.

Friday night: Party at Ruchi's. Finally met Marc (from Liechtenstein). I had my shirt off. Ruchi left to watch the Cricket World Cup (India beat Sri Lanka). "Flauschig" vs "geschmeidig." Jan, Carina, Chris, and I spent about 2 hours (at 4am) looking for the car. Gave up, walked home. Didn't return until 6am. Esther had gone home with Marc.

Saturday: The drunk brunch was cancelled. We made pumpkin pancakes for brunch; Felix drove us to the pillow fight downtown. It was AWESOME. Loved it! Another fun event.
Walked around - saw Eliana and Iris, and then Parrish. Continued to walk, had some pizzas from 7-11, then met Bernard and Carl, two fascinating people with whom we talked for like 1 hour.
Returned the rental car to LAX, then rested, and then Esther and I went to Kevin's party at the W in Hollywood. It was a great party with great friends. Didn't go to Julia's - she didn't get back to me until too late.

Sunday: Farmers market in West LA. Stayed in the apt. Then went to eh Grove and had Ethiopian food (Awash). Picked up Ruchi before going there (I was "so confused" after waking up from my nap - Marc had been there and lost his iPhone). Morgan met us at the restaurant, then we hung out back at the apartment for a little bit. Stephanie came over. No Ty and Dean.

I parked the car all the way in, Felix blocked me in yesterday. So couldn't get my car out; I rode my bike to work today. It's squeaky and needs some oil.

It's hot still.

I'm working, non-stop. The flood of shareholders certs continues. Answering phone calls, receiving certifications, and trying URGENTLY to calculate the biggest losers for our LP deadline on Tuesday.

This is insane. I'm being stretched thin.

Lunch: Pad Thai leftovers from Wednesday.

Gotta rush home, get the car, meet mom at Universal (or wherever)

End of the month. Chris's birthday. Baseball opening day!
Had a "viewing party" for ANTM last night. It was not that embarrassing.
Picked up Thai food with FG and MR; Brian, Vincent, and Chris then showed up and we hung out. Michelle had to leave, Chris picked up his mom but we met up again and went to the Verdugo - TWICE. Second time with the other Michelle joining us. Then Denny's. Didn't finish til 3am.

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Woke up 7:30 and ugh. Drove through really bad traffic to get to work. It took 1.5 hours on the freeway.
Meeting with a web developer today for our firm's new website. I requested a refund for my UK visa application (I'm going to re-apply as a "prospective student").
Lunch: Office snacks only.
It's hot today. Like 90F.
Starting to make a SoCal bucket list.
Worrying about my traffic tickets. Bleh.
QWOP-ing. How have I not discovered this before?! LOL

At the apartment last night. Watched Jeopardy, ate veggie burger, and slept early (9:30). Woke up. Felix was in the shower as I need to use the toilet. So I just drove to work. 8:30

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HELLA busy at work. 2 new cases (NIVS and Wilshire Bancorp) to add to our burgeoning shareholder workload. The emails and calls are non-stop all day.
We're going to re-do the firm's website.
Lunch: Fries from Fuddruckers. Mayo, cheese, ketchup. Yum.
Music: Muse - Feelin' Good
I'm on ANTM tonight! Viewing party at my mom's house.
Chris's birthday tomorrow.
Downtown LA with Felix and Patricia tomorrow (hopefully)
Felix's party Friday.
Julia's party Saturday.
Kevin's party Saturday.
PILLOW FIGHT Saturday!
Waiting for Tyson and Dean to return!

I was treated out to dinner (late) last night at Pizzeria Mozza. Thanks to Mine and Leanna. I felt kind of weird; they were insistent on a nice night out, with valet parking and all. Mine had rented a car too. That kind of stuff is just not my thing. Didn't get back until midnight. Since dinner was late, I munched on half a bag of doritos beforehand. I was tired.

I have my bedroom in the apartment again! (Matthias moved out over the weekend). Felix had his first day of the quarter (he's gonna have a lot of work). Esther was there.

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Work has me as swamped as ever - with shareholder emails and emails. This Chinese comp;any's stock has been halted so everyone is calling in, not knowing what's going on (and I can't really provide answers so I often just sit there for several minutes listening to shareholders venting their anger).

Lunch: Leftover slice of pizza.
Cancelled my UK visa appointment. Now I'll re-apply as a prospective student instead.
Called KP dependent eligibility to straighten things out. Was on hold for nearly 30 minutes.
I have unusual shoulder pain. Maybe from my healing tattoo? or just sleeping bad.
Considering buying a surfboard.
Music: Rupert Holmes - Escape (the Pina Colada Song); Bed Intruder Song
...looking for a new digital camera...
I'm gonna get paid extra this month. Yay.

Drove to work from Glassell. Took the freeway. 7:50am - 8:50am. La Brea to Pico.

"Schadenfreude" shuffled up on my ipod at the exact moment I drove by a car broke down on the side of the freeway. Good timing!

The shareholders calling this morning are so rude. It's getting me down. Also, I'm still worrying about my traffic tickets.

I think I might be a tiny bit autistic. Just enough to make me extra smart.

Lunch: Leftover tofu and rice.

Music: Mumford and Sons - The Cave; Franz Ferdinand - Take Me Out; The Kooks - Seaside; Cold War Kids - Royal Blue (they're going to be at Coachella - damnit!)