Could a raunchy movie wrought with sexual innuendo, nipple popping brunettes, and explosive vomitting be a modern day parable about abstinence? For 40 years Steve Correl's character managed to avoid having sex, but after meeting the right woman still manages to keep it in his pants until him and his new girlfriend gets married. The new girlfriend who is also his age who's een divorced once, dated, and who is a grandma. Basically *proving* waiting for the right one is the way to go? Riiiiiight. Is this some kinda right wing christian plot to teach the virtue of saving one's self? hahaha! Anyway, Tasha, Max, Mollie, and their friend Laura went to see it and it was friggin' hilarious!!
Afterwards Tasha and I went to Carrow's downtown because the one in Goleta was turned into damned Denny's!! WTF?! It was a good thing too because Carrow's is a truly SB experience. Bad service, long waits, and characters who roll in from the clubs. Like the 3 blondes in the booth across the aisle from us. One of whom was WASTED as all get out, wearing this black dress she managed to rip all the way up to her hip. She was layed out in the booth, legs all spread, sleeping, snoring, drooling and looking quite classy - not. A different girl sitting behind us commented to 1 of the 3 blondes the girl in the black dress's crotch was showing and the girl got attitude! WTF?! These looked like the kinda girls who would act all sidity and bourgeouise when a guy would try to talk to them, and there they sat drunk out their skulls looking incredibly common.
Tonight was Masaye's birthday party and boy it was fun! Time spent in Santa Barbara couldn't be complete without having a party over at the Helmuth's. Their house is the textbook definition of cozy and chill. The vibe there is perfect for any kind of gathering. There was food, drink, friends telling stories and just a good time to be had by all. Pics from tonight will be posted in the photo gallery soon.
Chad's of Santa Barbara is one of my favorite restaurants anywhere, and Chad himself was gracious enough to send me gift certificate for 2 people because of the horrible service Suz and I experienced when she was here. Tasha and I went this time, and this experience was a stark contrast to when Suz and I went.
Tasha and I enjoyed a leisurely 3 hour dinner on the patio. We people watched and took in every morsel and flavor of the 3 coures meal, including coffee afterwards. We started with the seared tuna - medium rare as it should be. I had 2 of the biggest effin' pork chops I've ever had in LIFE! Tasha's mashed was inundated to her delight with gorgonzola cheese. And of course for dessert we had the Jack Daniel's Chocolate Soufflee'. Goooood gawd!! I think I all told 3 of Chad's HUGE ass watermelon martinis - these things are like 10-12 oz each of pure alcohol!! Ameretto Sours for Tasha of course.
The service was NOT an issue this time. Our appetizers and drinks came very timely and were prepared very well. The entrees came and were also very well done. Megan and Jeremy checked on us often, while not seemingly as if they were hovering. During parts of the evening, we were like, you think they know we are return guests and are pouring it on just for us?? LOL
Seriously, this how a summer evening should be spent in Santa Barbara.
My faith in Chad's has been renewed with a passion!
One of my all time favorite 8-s movies, "Real Genius", has a character by the name of Laslow that TOTALLY reminds me of my new roommate. He is WEIRD. I usually don't talk shit about people deliberately, but you know what in this case it can not be avoided! This guy will come and go without saying a damned word to anyone. Example, if I'm in our room and he walks in, he won't even so much as look my way and just go about his thing and leave. I come to find out that he does the same thing with my other roommates. He'll walk in the apartment, while someone is in the kitchen and not say a damned word! No hi, good afternoon, good morning, s'up dude, how's it hanging - nuthin! Like just now, he came in from outside, made a sandwich poured a soda, and walked by out the door. We're not looking to be best friends here and share deep dark secrets, but some common courtesy would be nice! I'm telling you Laslow is back reincarnated in the form of a 6'4 bald black guy who looks like he could play power forward for the Gauchos. Go figure.
There's been this whirring noise that's been coming from under my hood since my car got into California, coupled with a 'Low Oil Level' message on the dash. I've checked the dipstick about a dozen times and each time it shows oil. This was especially perplexing seeing as how it stayed on after an oil change! I am told that either the oil level sensor has gone bad or one of the morons who changed the oil on my car screwed the sensor up. My car as 2 indicators for oil and the other hasn't come one, coupled with the oil showing up, I'm beginning to think I have a moron-induced problem.
So I go to my local Napa Auto Parts store here in Goleta and asked for a PCV valve for my car. On closer inspection I noticed oil had leaked from the block and also onto the joint. They quickly got one and as they said it was easy to replace. However the little 90 degree joint that connects the hose to the PCV valve wasn't seating right. I took off the old joint and brought it into the store and the guy behind the counter, looked for a suitable part for about 15 minutes and came out to the car to fit it. When I asked him how much that was, he said HE would pay for it! The dealer would have tried to screw me out of 15 bucks for the same part! Customer service lives!!
I had a midterm today that has left me dazed and confused. Ever have one of those where you were like afterwards, "it couldn't have been that easy...it just couldn't" I lost points in places, but still...I was left feeling rather confused.
Tasha: We need some simple stuff like eggs or quiche or something.
Tony: You've made quiche before?
Tasha: Well theoretcially, it's not that hard.
Tony: Really?
Tasha: Well, it doesn't look hard!
This was part of a phone call I had with Tasha earlier this evening about a brunch we plan on having. Now I love Tasha to death, but I KNEW before I asked she had never made a quiche in her life. And being who she is, she wouldn't back down. In the dictionary, next to the word 'stubborn' there's a picture of her! Haha! And yes, I have made quiche before, although I prefer fritatas. No I'm not Italian!
In our apartment for some reason whenever the heat is turned on, my room becomes an absolute furnace! Dante's 3rd ring of Hell! Friggin' out of frying pan and into the fryer!! So every now and then I have to get up and turn the sucker down because my roommates for some reason like it turned up to max. It's just odd at all that we have to use the heater in Santa Barbara in AUGUST! And when it gets excessively hot, I get very very lethargic thus contributing to my utterly slothful afternoon. That stands to be repeated: using a heater in August in September. WTF.
We have no cable here, so we watch movies when we want to watch tv. This is a good and bad thing. It's good in that it regulates time sitting in front of the TV. When the movie is over, you move your ass. Or you watch another. And since there is only a finite number of movies one can watch, well it's self-regulating. Soooo, my *tv* at the moment is movies and watching old West Wing episodes archived on DVD. As a result I can quote, most West Wing episode names and dialogue from Seasons 1-2 and most of Season 4. I loaned my uncle Season 3 and 5 and haven't seen them in a looooong time! So I've been watching the ones I have over and over again in an effort to dull the monotany. I've reread the books and magazine I brought with me at least 4 times. It doesn't help that I read like it's going out of style. Sigh. And at home I have a 30" high definition Samsung television sitting on a TV stand doing NOTHING right now!
Tonight I went to Starbuck's for coffee and read an article on genetic engineering and cloning. Which out of curiosity I may just have to go see The Island, which revolves around human cloning.
Earlier today I had a funny run in. I was heading to the grocery store, and was totally NOT paying attention and in my peripheral vision I saw this guy about enter the sliding doors the same time as me. We started to do that dance about who should go first, and without looking up I gestured for him to go ahead. But this guy knew my name! Turns out he was my old HR Director!! That was pure comedy!
Go see 4 Brothers. It's worth full price. I won't go into all of the points of the movie because I don't want to spoil the movie so soon after release. All I have to say is good job John WItherspoon!
There was a show on the Food Network called Door Knock Dinners, which featured celebrity chefs going into people's homes with the intent of fixing a gourmet meal with whatever they had on hand. For those of you who reading and think this would be an easy feat, go on ahead into your fridge and cubbards and see what kind of 3 or 4 course meal you could whip up with whatever you had *lying around*. Thought so. Anyway, I liked the show because it forced the chefs to be really creative AND they would sometimes use ingredients most folks would have lying around, but in really different and fun ways.
Tonight I played my own version of Door Knock Dinners over at my friend's house. She wanted carbs and had a serious pasta fix that needed to be satiated. Using what was on hand, which I might add their place was really nicely stocked, I whipped up pasta dish. I haven't really cooked in about 2 months and was going into withdrawals, so this was a good excercise for me. We had grilled chicken breasts, marinated in olive oil, Kristal vodka, salt, pepper and dried herbs. There was an assortment of grilled vegetables as well that went into the pasta. The pasta was some healthy penne variety. Ha! That *healthy* thing got fixed pretty damned quick with the cheese sauce I made from scratch using butter, milk, flour, and 2 different kinds of cheeses.
While I was over there I was able to try some good tequila, by way of a Patron sample. Good grief! Makes me never want to drink Jose Cuervo ever again! Also that vodka was off da hook too. Over dinner we watched on HBO's Entourage. Damn I love that show!! It's very well cast and written, but the storyline is something most people could put themselves into. Who WOULDN'T mind having a celebrity friend willing to pick up the tab on all kinds of toys and vacations, and all you had to was run interference now and then??
This is where I pass out and start the 2nd week of the last session of the summer tomorrow, err, this morning. Where the hell is this summer going?! Where is 2005 going?!
Tonight was one of the few nights I actually did something for Fiesta. What is Fiesta in Santa Barbara? Pretty much it is excuse for people to drink. Which is why I usually avoided Fiesta activities in the past. However this year was different. And sort of like an inauguration to my first drinking Fiesta, John ran into one of his buddies who helped out with the concessions. 90 seconds later we got bands for free beer. I had no words. It made the outing 10 times cheaper and a whole lot more fun. We ran into some other friends too and it was great night!
::These entries may not be in order::
I've been debating about whether or not I wanted to write about my roommates and the drama that sometimes follows. My 2 housemates are pretty chill. It's my roommate who really works my nerves, as he and his little friend really had an effect on our Saturday night. That's for later, before that the day was really awesome.
Saturday, we got up late with no intent whatsoever of getting up early. My housemate was nice enough to let Suz sleep in his bed, so she didn't have to crash on the couch. Or worse yet, she wouldn't have to crash on my bed and have to deal with my roommates decibel topping snoring! We went straight to Pacific Crepes on Anacapa and Anapamu for brunch. If you haven't been: GO THERE FAST!! Whenever Suz and I hook up, we tend to eat very well...haha!
Afterwards we walked up and down State St. and the weather couldn't have been any better. Then it was off to Wedding Crashers to get off our feet and cool off. That movie is SO FRIGGIN' HILARIOUS!!!! Vince Vaughn no doubt carried most of the comdedic burden and he did it very very well! Suz laughed so hard she cried a few times in the movie...it was THAT funny.
Suz treated me to mojitos and appetizers at the E-Bar to thank me for having her in SB. What the hell?! I tell you that girl's sense of reciprocity is a rare thing these days. Even my housemate thinks so.
So onto my roommate. Grr. Where shall we start.
A) The boy wears red bikini briefs. I wish I had never known that tid bit of info. One morning his alarm went off and in an effort to bury my head under the pillow I rolled over, and there he was in his BRIGHT red bikini briefs. WTF?!? I'm gonna need therapy.
B) He thinks he is cooler than he actually is. He has this bourgeoisie attitude about him like he is soooo fucking cool. Reality check homie: no, you're not. He has this girlfriend, or rather this girl he's sleeping with that he swears isn't his gf. And I'm like dude, be glad you're getting some. One day he had the nerve to mention this girl gave him her number, and his remark was: she's not hot, but she's totally doable. Read that again: she's not hot, but she's totally doable.
C) He and his friend, whom also thinks he is way cooler than he actually is was over this weekend. That lil mofo almost had a prob on his hands because he hadn't mentioned his friend was coming and would be sleeping on the couch. Anyway, Saturday night we were gonna invite my other housemate to watch movies with us, but instead my roommate and his friend show up. There they sat drinking Southern Comfort from Dixie plastic cups, legs crossed, swirling the whiskey around around pretending to be cool. WTF?!?!
D) They setup their little hookah and start to smoke up. Grrr. Gentleman, grow a set and either smoke weed or smoke actual cigarettes. Leave the cool devices to people who are, you know, cool!
Suz leans over to me 15 minutes into the first movie and whispered, "when is Stealth playing again" I told her we could just make it. That girl changed so firggin' fast it wasn't even funny. I grabbed the DVD out of the player, told the guys were leaving, and we were out. On the way out, his friend was like, why what's wrong? I told him it was the smoke, which was partly true. Truth is that is them.
We saw a late showing of Stealth which was really good. Seeing the planes in that movie reminded me how close I came to being an aeronautical engineer. The Navy jets employed a swept forward wing design, which is highly maneuverable at hypersonic speeds, but is otherwise 'twitchy' and highly reactive. Pilots of the first swept-forward wing test jets reported changes in direction were "violent"...hahaha! In the early 80s there wasn't the computer power available to help pilots fly these sort of jets effectively, but may be we'll see some later on.
After the movie we did a mini-road trip up San Marcos Pass, across 246 and down 101 back to Santa Barbara. It basically my call because we needed something to do, and did NOT want to end up having to deal with those 2 fuckers. We got to see a couple of places from Sideways which was kinda coo.