Jason's Daily Notes

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 :(