June 23, 2005
Delayed reaction
There are new journal entries from this weekend. They're about the stuff Suz and I did. This has been NUTS and time is at a premium. Had to record this weekend, at least for myself.
Going Home
It's been said you can't ever go home. Those romanticized notions in our heads about home and hearth, exists only in our heads. In coming back to California, I've been able to experience some home-like things. Traffic on the 405 for example. Ah good times. haha! Seriously, the air seems better, the people are different and a lot of the stuff I took for granted is coming back to me, only this time associated with a different flavor.
Today is the 3rd day of classes, and one thing is for certain: I need to get more sleep. It's not like my days and nights are spent goofing off. I nap, surf the net, and play some UnReal Tournament 2004 to take the edge off. Otherwise, I am reading. I read during meals, while waiting for appointments, before bed and hell on the toilet too! Good thoughts and inflections come there haha!
I was in class or studying from 8-4 today. After a brief nap I went to Tae Kwon Do at gym at school. Talk about things changing! Some of the guys I started out with are now black belts and all buffer. It was good coming home.
June 19, 2005
Dammit, hate saying good-bye
It was time for me to head up to Santa Barbara and leave San Diego. Dammit. Dammit all to hell! Sigh.
The drive up north was uneventful, thank goodness. I checked into my apartment and went over to watch the Spurs/Pistons game with my friends I haven't seen in dog years!
It all starts tomorrow.
June 18, 2005
Japanese Curry
Up until a few weeks ago, I had NO idea the Japanese did their own curry. Susan fixed that right quick. The highlight today was Suz's Japanese curry. It rocked 20 different kinds of hard. It was different from say Indian or Thai curries in that it that had a sweetness to it. I couldn't get enough of the stuff. I even threatened to have it for breakfast!
Suz and I are developing some traditions, which for a person like me who doesn't have that many traditions is pretty damned cool. One of the traditions is that we have taken to sampling different restaurants' versions of mojitos. Cuba Libre thus far is the gold standard, mainly because they use actual sugar cane juice in theirs. Their mojitos are so smooth it's ridiculous. At the Brazillian restaurant we had mojitos there too. Theirs were fresh, however not quite Cuba Libre's. The other thing we've been doing is having movie marathons that start with Office Space. That movie NEVER gets old! It was a good day to veg.
June 17, 2005
The Mrs., the Bat, and the Grub
On today's episode of the Susan & Tony Show, our stars actually *deviate* from their plan and inadvertently see a double-feature. We went to see Mr. & Mrs. Smith, which I have to admit was pretty good. The same guy who directed that, directed the Bourne Identity and the filming styles are very similar in the 2 movies. If you like 'run and gun' type flicks, as much as I do, you will totally enjoy this one.
Before we saw Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I peeked at The Batman times coming up in the off chance we would be able to catch that too. As fate would have it, we were able to make it, with no wait at all. And I have to say Batman Begins is the BEST Batman in a long ass time! It still doesn't beat out the first one from 1989, but it is a worthy 2nd! The cast was spectacular! Gotta give props to Christian Bale in a kick ass Batman. The background to *how* Batman was born was excellent. The addition of Morgan Freeman's, Lucius Fox character finally answers the question, at least on film, as to "where does he get those wonderful toys?" I'm pretty sure the comics explains where all the gadgets comes from.
Later that night we went to this Brazilian restaurant. Oh my goodness. The place was awesome! They had a salad bar, because that was the ONLY place serving vegetables of any kind in the joint! Waiters would come by to our tables with these spits with handles laden with meats of all kinds! There were baby back ribs, sirloin, chicken, tri-tip, ham and all kinds of other stuff! And as long the 'green light' was on at the table, they just kept bringing stuff.
After that we walked to this club a couple of blocks away. At which point I made a dumbass comment and fucked the whole night up. Sorry Suz.
June 16, 2005
Tapas and games
This weekend I'm down in San Diego visiting my gurl Suz! I haven't been to San Diego, probably since I broke up with my ex way back in the day. So this is really an exciting weekend for me on a couple of different levels. No, wait I was down here after that looking for a place to live and work. Ah, yes, memories of going to my first career fair. It was then the term 'meat market' became clear. Anyway, true to form me and Suz been talking about what we're doing this weekend for sometime...haha!
I gotta give Suz props for tonight, she really came through and found some ways for us to save money on today's festivities. First we went to this tapas joint place and using an entertainment card, wrangled a 2 for 1 entree! We made sure one of the entrees were a sampler so we could try different stuff. My favorite would have to be the filet migon topped with blue cheese and this au jus, which was so good any description I attempt would NOT do it justice. A couple of stand outs for sure was also the olives, red and black, marinated in whatever.
Afterwards we went over to Dave and Buster's, and again we got a hook up with a little internet research before hand. We got another 2 for 1 deal, if I did my math right, when we charged our cards up. We wailed on the shooting games because well, frankly we have violent homicidal tendencies and we had some shit to work out! haha! We played Time Shifters, which for a video requires a whole lot of effort! Suz is also hooked on those games that push coins over a ledge. Talk about marketing! The same damned game was pitched/displayed/presented/whatever like 10 different ways. The damned game is a total tease too. Watching people play was reminiscent of watching folks planted at slot machines in vegas, plying the machines with quarters in vain attempts at pay offs!
June 15, 2005
Adventures with Naughty Dottie
I went to visit my good friend Dottie, a.k.a. Naughty Dottie. This girl just ooooozes sex. She doesn't even have to try haha! Her condo is incredible. I am challenged when it comes to decorating or interior design or anything of the sort. When it comes to electronic toys, I'm straight. Making people comfortable and making my place look good, I am totally challenged! Dottie painted, decorated, ripped out crappy carpeting and put down wood flooring. Most of this she did herself.
She took me to a really excellent Thai restaurant. The first sign this place would be good was that it was PACKED on a Wednesday night. We started out with this incredible, fresh, and light seafood soup. I had pad thay and Dottie had chicken done with red curry. Went back to her place for drinks and catching up. Haven't seen that girl in a hot minute.
On the way to see her, I ended up sitting in traffic part of the way on I5. I was actually smiling that I was in traffic. Then the traffic let up, and I was able to haul ass and make up time. CA freeways are usually really well maintained and getting up speed is really easy. Also really easy to get a ticket if you're not paying attention. Something I pray to avoid while here! I haven't opened my car up like this in awhile. And I didn't have to deal with any damned tolls!!! Something else cool about CA!
June 14, 2005
Going back to Cali
Today was my first day back in Cali. Damn I miss this place. Looked around and there were East Indians, Mexicans, Asians, African-Americans, and hell...some white folks too! I haven't seen that kinda diversity a lot in DE. Audrey took me to this BBQ joint and I've got to say that that was the best BBQ I've had in a long time! The odd part was that this BBQ was located in the middle of San Bernadino. WTF?! Their rub recipe and sauce recipe was on point! They also had hints of apple, from the wood they used for smoke and some apple SOMEthing in the sauce. I had baby back ribs and hot links, both were smoked to perfection. I wasn't wanting for more sauce or anything, except may be for more napkins!!
Afterwards we went to see Kicking and Screaming, which was a worthy matinee. It's more geared toward a younger audience, but there were some adult stuff there they dropped. To make up for the movie, there was this couple who were making out before the movie started and we couldn't miss them as they were on the top row. About half way through the movie, they got up and headed towards the other exit. After awhile, I could see some hands on the floor...and it quickly became evident what they were doing! haha! That girl was riding the HELL out of that boy!
From the lyricist himself, LL Cool J:
I'm going back to Cali, rising, surprising
Advising realizing, she's sizing me up
Her bikini - small; heels - tall
She said, she liked, the ocean
She showed me a beach, gave me a peach
and pulled out the suntan lotion
Now I thought that was fast, but this girl was faster
She's lookin for a real good time
I said, "Close your eyes, I got a surprise,"
and I ran away with the bottle of wine
June 2, 2005
Ya better call Tyrone!
Tonight I'm studying from my French review book in anticipation of passing my foreign language requirement this summer. When people from other countries say English is a compartively easy to learn, they weren't frickin' lying. The amount of tenses, spelling variations, and whatever of JUST the verbs in French is a pain in the ass. I'm alright conversationally in French, but my grammar sucks. Mi
While I'm doing some excercises, I happened across this Bravo special starring The Dan Band. At first I wasn't attention, because I just needed some background noise. These 3 white guys, one wearing a mechanics shirt and his 2 back up singers, are killing! The backup singers are all stoic in their suits, and remind me of the Robert Palmer girls. Totally killing me! They did some:
Christina, Britney, Erika Badu, Mary J., En Vogue, Alanis and some other stuff I could not recognize.
On the real, they were really good.