Jason's Daily Notes

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Going home this weekend!

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


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

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

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

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

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

@ work til 6:20

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

Watched Pan's Labyrinth last night.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I'm just not that into work.

Lunch: Courtyard Cafe - turkey sandwich.

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

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

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

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

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


View Larger Map

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

*sigh*

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

*sigh*

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

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


Watched Whatever Works last night off of my netflix.

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

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

Today's lunch: Thai BBQ left over from yesterday

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

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

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

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

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

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

Slow day @ work today.

Lunch: Kimchi fried rice.

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

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

Ice skating in 'dena tonight!

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