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.