Tony's Treehouse Blog

Grody

I forgot where I heard this word originally, this word "grody". UrbanDictionary.com defines grody as, "Nasty, dirty, disgusting, foul, revolting, yucky." Which pretty much sums up how I've been feeling! For the last 3 months, but especially the last 3 weeks, I've been eating like utter crap. So I think my body is thanking me for my self-inflicted culinary abuse. The next 72 hours are devoted giving my body a break!

End of an Ending

Today the last of Cross Country Crew headed out. Sigh. We took Asaunta home yesterday, and the 4 hour round trip was NOTHING compared to the 42 hour, 4 day cross country. Today Tasha headed back to CA. It sucked.

Sigh.

Later, I told the gang here I was moving back to California. It's something I have to do.

Day 4: For whom the Tolls toll...

...the tolls toll for us! Today Tasha got a firsthand look at how absofuckinglutely ridiculous the toll system can get on the east coast. Driving through Ohio we paid a few tolls. Then just ENTERING Pennsylvania, we paid like 5 bucks more in tolls. Then when we got onto 76E we got a ticket we initially thought said we would have to pay like $24 in tolls at the exit we needed. But we were looking at the Class 2 vehicle prices. Still for Class 1 vehicles we were looking at $18 or something in tolls!!

We ended up driving right through Ohio and straight onto DE rather than stopping and sleeping for the night. We were ready to have the trip over with. And that's exactly what we did! I came home and slept in my bed - and slept hard. I showered in my shower - MY shower whose water flow is pretty much like a friggin' fire hose. It was marvelous. Right now Asaunta, Tasha, and I are sitting in my living room watching The Matrix on MY TV, sitting on MY floor, while drinking from MY glasses. It is so good to be home.

One of the things I found ironic at the last leg of the trip was, we ended up driving my old commute route from the job where I was laid off. No, I'm not upset or whigging out or whatever about being laid off. Everything happens for a reason. The layoff opened up other doors I could not have possibly foreseen. It enabled me to go school in SB, do things I've been dying to do, met new people and amass more awesome memories and experiences. May be the moral of the story is incredible unexpected things can happen if one is open to the possibilities? Which for the anal planner I can be is kind of a mind fuck. haha!

Day 2 - Mr. Cranky Pants Goes Cross Country

"Mr. Cranky Pants" is Tasha's new nickname for me. It stems from my general don't mess with me look I get after I wake up. haha! I will never pretend to be a morning person! I am useless until I have been up for a few hours. Conversation is out. Happy-go-lucky Tony isn't up yet. All you get a basic courtesy, speech, and the usual head nod...haha! So for the first half of the day, she called me Mr. Cranky Pants. Gotta love these terms of endearment!

Ok, all the midwest people we have crossed paths with have been super cool! Hate to sound all stereotypical here, but they really have been really nice! One of my favorite quotes from this trip is Tasha's, "I could be nicer, but..." All of these nice people around Tasha is working her nerves! California has jaded her towards the possibility of goodness in our fellow human kind. So now we're around people who are polite and nice, and she doesn't know what to do...haha!

Fuck Motel 6. Tasha echoes this sentiment. Last night we stayed at Motel 6 in Salt Lake Utah that sucked ass by comparison! That Motel 6 was small, the towels were rags, there was no high speed internet and the non-smoking room WREAKED of smoke! Versus tonight we're at the Days Inn and this room is bigger, beds so much more comfortable, free high speed internet, no smokey smell and the lady at the front desk so much more helpful and responsive! Last night we asked for more towels at the Motel 6 and the fucking security guard took 45 minutes to bring them because he "forgot" where the room was! WTF?!!? Motel 6 can kiss my ass! Not to mention they were more fucking expensive too!!

West Coast to East Coast Road Trip - Day 1

We be in Mormon country!! That was the text message that I sent Suz, and that's the truth! Right now I'm mooching off of another hotel's internet. Too bad - they didn't have any vacancies, so I'll gladly borrow their wireless and pay them 2 hamburbers next Tuesday. Tonight we're staying in the middle of Salt Lake City Utah. I tell you the people here are a little different. The drive was pretty quick and uneventful - thank God! We listened to music and talked crap the whole time! Tasha and I alternated driving. We all alternated paying for gas, snacks and meals. Tasha and I only managed to nearly kill each other 2 or 3 times...haha!

Couple of funny moments from today:
1) Driving into Utah we saw some mysterious lights hanging in the air and moving randomly. I said they were atennae lights to warn low flying planes, but no one else agreed. Tasha thought they were from other worlds and urged us not to discuss it any further lest we incur the wrath of the aliens and get anal probed!

2) We were quoting Dave Chappelle left and right! Specifically this one skit where he is some rapping half sheep dude on stage doing what looks like an acid trip inspired air-flute. It was frigging hilarious! That and the Lil Jon skit...YEAH! O-KAY!

Road Trip Eve

Tonight is the night before the road trip back to the East Coast. It is just blowing my mind how fast this summer went. So we're packing and getting stuff straightened out for the drive back. We're thinking it should take about 4 days. That's averaging a little over 700 miles a day and nothing happening - God willing. For anyone reading happy thoughts or prayers or whatever your thing is would be appreciated to get myself, Asaunta and Tasha back east safely and uneventfully.

So while the girls were packing, I overheard the most, um, interesting thing about the way females pack. Tasha went and tossed like 20 pairs of underwear into her suitcase! At which I had to ask WTF is up with that! She says women pack something like 2-3 pairs of underwear per day of travel. DUDE?! Are you freaking kidding me?!?! Come to find out Asaunta is in agreement. The rationale (use this word loosely) is so if a woman changes outfits during the day, she'd have appropriate underwear. Whatever!! God bless the makers of boxers and boxer briefs - they go with everything!

Buh bye...sniff, sniff...

We slept in, but we didn't sleep in damned near enough!! We were up till about 4:30AM watching movies, talking crap, and so Asaunta and Tasha could take Raissa back to the airport. I think I woke up around frigging' 9:30AM for no earthly justifiable reason! The pictures from last night are going to be hilarious and huge in quantity because there were at least 6 cameras going at once, 4 of which were digital. So looking at like 200 photos from the 3 cameras I've seen so far including mine. Eventually I rolled out of bed and was totally running on fumes. I am so not a morning person, nor will I ever perpetrate to being a morning person! Still it was my job to get brunch on. We had french toast, 2 different kinds of quiche, bacon and strawberries. And Tasha fixed mimosa for everyone and it was good. Social overload combined with monster fatigue kicked in and I went to go pass out. Next thing I know, Nicki and Charlotte were leaving.

Charlotte, Ms. High Maintenance was leaving us. No more tantric sex tips. No more bossy commands. No more sage positive dating advice (sarcasm). haha! And her wonder twins were leaving us. Sniff, sniff. I had to give her some grief before she left, so I made a crack about how slavery was ended over 300 years ago when she asked me to help with her bags. She then came back with having paid good money for me last night...haha!! Can't very well argue with that!!

Pajama jammy jam!

Back in the day there was a hip hop duo called Kid-n-Play. Who knows what they're doing today. Anyway, besides being hip hop cross over perfomers, they also created a few movies called House Party. The plot of the movies generally involved a 'pajama jammy jam' house party where they managed to convice a bunch of women to get scantilly clad and come over for the party. Well I managed to do that very thing tonight!! And boy howdy did the girls come out!!

We had Rochelle rocking red satin PJs, dancing her ass off and going toe to toe for buttery nipple shots. Brian, international man of mystery rocking a classic authentic black and white tuxedo. He then went and did a Hughe Heffner costume change, and put on the smoking jacket and cravate - smoothness. Ken, doing a damned good impersonation of a hung Asian slum lord - hmmm, ok, yea that would be an accurate description of his costume...haha! The yang, to Ken's ying, was Nicki sporting huge ass Peggy Bundy curlers, robe, stockings, slippers and the cigarette as the coupe de grace. Raissa was absolute hotness in a lavender chemise, heels, and cleavage for days. The girl has a body from hell. Representing St. Thomas Asaunta, busting out with 2 costume changes with a black and white baby doll and corset.

There was T&A, leg, and all manner of hotness all over the place! And the drinks were flowing that night! Oddly enough though only 1 person got really tipsy...haha! The neighbors early on were giving Tasha a hard time alleging there was a lot of bass. When for damned sure there was more talking than music throughout the night. And she told them about the party and believe she invited them too! WTF!

One of the funniest part of the night was we were watching LOTR: Return of the King. Well, more to the point there was commentarying going on than actual watching. So there was Brian trying to watch the movie, genuinely interested in the dialogue and stuff. And then there was the rest of us acting like we were watching a movie in a black theater...haha! Ok, for those of you reading that don't know, watching a movie in a black theater is an experience unto itself mainly because the audience is a whole lot more interactive than most audiences...haha! People will talk stuff and it's just overall comedy.

Brian was just getting irked by the amount of stuff that was being said because you couldn't hear a damned thing! Charlotte was seething because we were just saying whatever came to our minds...haha! One of the funniest lines from the commentary was talking about hobbitt on hobbitt love with them, "frolicking booty buck naked in the woods" haha! Frod and Sam getting their groove on...haha! I told Brian and Charlotte to consider it a socio-cultural exchange experience! Ha!

Weekend is on!!

Lookout weekend cause, here I come
Because weekends were, made for fun
Repeat (1x)

I work hard, everyday, its all work and no play
With the boss on my back, he don't give me any slack
I sit down, I daydream of how my weekends gonna be
- Debbie Deb's, Look Out Weekend

I've been looking forward to this weekend so much, it's been part of my waking thoughts for weeks!! And it was all starting tonight with meeting Suz at Dave & Buster's. She went and lobbed off 4"-5" of her hair, and the new look is totally hotness! I got some really cool pics from this night I gotta edit. Later on tonight Raissa is flying in and Nicki and her friend Charlotte would be driving in.

Now, a quick digression about Charlotte. She is cool people. Loud. Boisterous. Anti-shy. And one bossy bitch!! We had just met and she was making demands and requests, like she was walking into Burger King having things her way, right away. Oh yea, she was immediately cool people in my book. And she wasn't cool people because she offered to let me touch her breasts because she had them done. Initially I said no, yea, yea man. When I think of touching a woman's breasts it is NOT like walking by a car and taking a look. haha. Yea, I succumbed and they felt real versus the hard obvious ones some women get. These looked and felt real, and not blatantly fake.

Summer session mission accomplished

Today I checked my grades and the academic portion of the summer has been accomplished! I was concerned about the last half because I smelling burn out a mile away. The first half's classes were ball busters, and I went all out to make good grades. The 2nd half's classes seemed easier. This was deceptive because what was really going on was fatigue was starting to set in. Studying for classes, doing homework, job hunting, and trying to stay sane was starting to take its toll. One of the things keeping me sane was the weekend coming up. Also, I was very much looking forward to getting back to my apartment and sleeping in my own bed again. It was way past time for this. Anyway, all I need to do now is fulfill my foreign language requirement and I would have completed my B.A. in Law and Society!! I'm not even thinking seriously about what's next academically, however I'm seriously thinking about professional certifications between finishing my B.A. and starting a grad school program.

Jay & Ari

Man I miss J&A. I've known them for over 10 years, but haven't seen them in over 2 years for being over on the east coast. One of the cool things about visiting them is Jay cooks something up amazing. This time around was homemade Chicago-style deep dish pizza. The guy even made the friggin' crust from scratch! It was good seeing them! And they got a new member to their family, a 10 week old pup named Turbo! Turbo has a penchant for biting, especially feet and socks!

Nothing At All

"Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be."

This is a line from Office Space, one of the best movies of all time and which also characterizes my day today. Today was the first day in 3 months where I had nothing pressing to do. No papers to write, articles to read, or homework that was due. Eventually, I know I'll miss having to do all those things. However, for now, I am relishing not having a damned thing to do. I watched a few episodes of Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica on Sci-Fi. Then managed to catch some West Wings episodes, but of course they were some of the ones I had already had brought with me. Sadly, after awhile I really just wanted to read something.

Oh yea, um, just remembered something quaint...no read that as embarassing...haha! Kimberly drove the other day for the hike. When we got to the trail head, I tried opening her glove compartment to put my stuff in there, and um, yea I snapped off the latch. Talk about smooth - NOT! Her reaction was most surprising: she laughed! She actually laughed. She didn't pitch a fit, demeanor didn't change or anything. Which totally threw me. Still, I offered to replace it. Definitely not one of my smoothest moments. Still that reaction she had may be very telling.

That New House Smell

Last night BBQ got mentioned, and man it was sticking with me!! I wanted some Q in a bad way. And as providence would have it, my visit to Audrey and her son provided the tangy, sweet, hickory smoked solution to my problems! Near her house is this placed called Lucille's BBQ and they are amazing!! She had their beef ribs with sweet potatoes and peanut slaw - all of which is off da chain! And I had the baby back ribs and hot links combo plate with sides of greens and cheesey grits. And their biscuits served with this apple/cinnamon/butter. Dude. Don't count carbs going to this place!! Also, don't go to a place like this and order a salad!!!

Later I got to see her new house. Literally, her new house. The house was custom built to her specifications. And the damn thing is HUGE. Counter space enough for a village sized Thanksgiving feast. A backyard big enough for a big swimming pool, jacuzzi, and deck - to come next year. Ok, I'm not sure if it's the house or appliances that impressed me with this next: the washroom is located on the upper floor to make laundry easier. And while we were up there, the washer and the dryer were both going at the same time, and I did not hear either one. If I muted the tv and listened closely, I could've heard the clothes moving around a little bit, but the operation was deadly quiet.

Driving back to Glendale I was reminded I really do need to let myself chill out for a minute. It's fun to run around and see my old friends, but I should take a break.

Good times keep rolling

Ok, today I moved out of the apartment. It went fast. So fast I didn't have time to lament leaving the joint. Next stop was Goleta Beach to meet up with Mollie and Laura for pictures. They wanted pictures for some going back to college THING. Don't ask me what it was, because I was thoroughly confused by it. They wanted pics in jeans and t-shirts and then matching bikinis. At which point I damned near whigged out because, I wasn't sure how I'd feel about seeing Mollie in a bikini. Hey, man, I AM slowly accepting she is 19 now! Mollie gave me hell for my hesitation, saying I should be happy for taking pictures of 2 19 yr-olds in bikinis. Riiiiiiiiight. Anyway, we did the pics. Oh yea, and I ended up getting SOAKED by cold smelly Pacific Ocean seawater that made my skin itch!! How do people swim in that stuff!! Anyway, some of those pics will make it into the photo gallery. I could go on a whole rant about the things I like and hate about doing portraits, but will limit my comments to 2 things: a) unless you're dealing with professional models or incredibly confident individuals, setup shots suck ass; spontaneous is so much better and b) when Laura wakes up and realizes she is a full fledged hottie, she's gonna be dangerous. The mini-shoot with the girls was fun. They were making up poses as we went along, and I didn't have to do much. Although, I would have KILLED for someone holding a reflector to defeat some of the shadows I was getting. Or may be bounce flash. When I get rich, I want to get a digital SLR setup.

Afterwards I went back to the house to wash my soaked K-Swiss, socks, cargo shorts and shirt - which Laura used to clean her glasses without even so much of 'do you mind?'! Kids, these days...haha! Anyway, John and i walked to Hamburger Habit where I treated myself to a double-charburger, because I probably won't be getting a decent hamburger for a long time after I leave California!!

Then it was off to LA where I'll be spending the next few days visiting with father. I also have a number of other things to work on as well, including my old roommate's web site, more job hunting, plotting a course back to DE, and I guess I should take it easy too before I burn out again!! I helped my father pack up some equipment later in the evening, and met up with one of the guys from the church I used to attend. The boy (last time I saw him he was like 14 or 15) had grown some inches and gotten all diesel! We then went to one of the Mexican food trucks found here all of SoCal and got some really good cheap grub! $1 carne asada tacos! And they were great!!!

My bedtime tonight, was 2AM. Sigh.

All goods things

This summer has been incredible, trying, tiring, and enriching all at once. Tomorrow we have to check out of our apartment, but a lot of residents have already checked out. Including this chica I've noticed from the beginning. Even on the last day, she looks bad as ever, and YOUNG as every. If she is 20 I'd be surprised. Still, one hot momacita! I never did end up of class socially, because I wanted to purposely avoid entanglements. Dating is fun, but dammit it all to hell it takes time, money, energy and changes plans dramatically. Not to talking to her. Missed opp, perhaps? May be, may be not. I think I talked to 2 women outside mention focus. There's no way in hell I could've done so well if I had been chasing women all summer. And unless by some luck of the draw someone crosses my path who is seeking to balance work and play, the work usually suffers in favor of the play part.

This is the second time this entry...haha! My server timed out before I could finish it. Today I prepped my room for moving, by throwing stuff out, gathering linens, and cleaning out any drawers or cabinets of mine containing stuff. After that I sold back some books, and got literally cents on the dollar for what was originally paid. Friggin a. Afterwards, I met up with Kimberly to go for a hike at Cold Springs in Montecito. On the hike, I got more grief from her for not talking about myself...haha! Who woulda thunk it, a guy catching hell for not talking enough about himself?? haha! Which quite frankly is something I do when I'm not thinking. I automatically focus the conversation around the other person with questions, references to them, etc. But when it's turned on me. Man. I'll totally admit that I spaz out on me. Talking about myself seems, so, I don't know...pretentious. Is my life really that interesting to warrant exclusive time in a conversation? LOL.

That it?

The past 12 weeks have been own little personal academic shock and awe campaign. Whether I was getting up at ridiculous hours to go to class or staying up till ridiculous hours studying. And then comes today, the last day of finals. I was too friggin' tired to exhale, celebrate or whatever. So I came home, called some friends, and promptly fell out in bed. Of course there was all kinds of landscaping going on also, so NO sleep was not in the cards for me tonight.

John and Cami invited me to happy hour, art show, and dinner. The first and third things sounded really good, but that middle one I thought I could have passed on. Going to an art showing conjured up images of thinking about the meaning of art and constructing coherent responses to questions like, "so what do you think of this piece?" Sigh. Happy hour was at Chad's, and man it was the protypical Santa Barbara evening unfolding with moderate temperature, dramtically darkening skies, and lots of pretty people...haha!

The art show actually turned out to be pretty cool. I'm reminded of a line from the West Wing, where President Bartlett said he felt he didn't think he could be surprised by music anymore. There were a couple of pieces there that really drew me in and I found myself staring at them for quite awhile. The showing was small and the room pretty intimate in size, so after partaking of the eats and watching the art, I turned to people watching. In gatherings that small things tend to play out readily. Cami was engaging as ever inside, while John was doing his own thing outside. I was out and in, getting bored quite frankly. Then I noticed this woman, I'd come find out whose name is Kimberly. Kimberly literally probably had a full 5 minutes to herself before someone, usually a guy would engage her in conversation. It was amusing to me because she would have this utterly aloof, bored look on her face. Her body language was NOT that of someone engaged...haha! Here's a clue, if the other person doesn't ask you a question to clarify or anything, it's time to move one.

Outside this guy was talking to her and I quite blatantly eavesdropping, albeit surreptitously. The guy was some architect, going on about his wealthy clients and some other stuff. Kimberly couldn't have appeared more disinterested in what he had to say, unless she wore a t-shirt that said "disinterested conversation participant." It was really getting painful to watch, so I decided to intervene. I noticed she had a digital camera similar to Suz's and asked her if I could see it. She gave it to me and I started futsing with it. Then I asked her if I could go over and take a picture of these cacti that were growing by the side of the building and lit really cool by a pair of orangey flood lights. Like a moron, I left my camera in the car! So this served the dual purpose of getting a cool shot and stealing her away from what looked to be an excruciating conversation. I suggested she join us for dinner, lest suffer more painful conversation. She declined, but offered to call me and let me know what they were doing after the show. And later after dinner, on my way back home, I got a voice mail for her saying they were at Wild Cat. Again, more double fortune: I'd get to dance AND see what they did to Wild Cat after the fire that closed it a couple of years back.

As far as Thursday nights go, tonight was pretty damned cool. And to think, I almost didn't go out tonight! Oh yea, Kimberly is 5'10 and change. This metric would be lost on you, if you've never come across the plethora of entries I've written about how awesome a tall woman's height is! Oh yea, one of the highlights of the evening was her dance repotoire, which included The Lawnmower and The Sprinkler...haha! Now that takes guts!

Partisan Blame Game

For the past week and few days I have been subjected to the litany of bullshit on both sides of the aisle in Congress about who screwed the pooch worst in the Federal government's slow response to Katarina and subsequent loss of life. I've heard Democrats lambast FEMA's director for being wholly incompetent and unqualified for this post. I've had to listen to Republicans blame local LA and MS authorities for the massive loss of life which occured from faulty maintenance of levees, ineffectual or nonexistent evacuation procedures and not adequately warning the public at large about they were to face when a category 3 hurricane makes landfall. Not to mention high ranking Republicans making disconcerting comments regarding the poor living in all the states effected.

So, I have a suggestion: put up or shut up. The states and government should engage in that time honored elementary school game of "show me yours, and I'll show you mine". Some where there must exist a document outlining local, state, and federal procedures when this sort of event occurs. It's only natural FEMA, an organization created for the sole purpose of helping Americans through natural disasters would have some sort of plan. Similarily, a state like LA, near no, ON on the coast, with townships like New Orleans below sea level would have contingency plans in some folder in some vault in some official's office ready to have its glass case 'broken in case of emergency'. So boys and girls, ante up. Where are your respective disaster documents? Furthermore, where are the disaster documents for a massive Bay Area/NorCal earthquake? Where are the documents that would aid in the response to massive tornados touching down in tornado alley? Where are the documents in the event of hurricanes ravaging more of the Eastern seaboard? All catastrophes can not be planned for, but the obvious should at least be covered, e.g. is a major population area is near a fault line, howbout some earthquake plans and the like? These documents should be available for pubic review. Because for damned sure if the US military can keep caches of vehicles, food, ammunition and weapons throughout the country - 'Homeland Security' for damn sure should have similar caches to respond to natural disasters.

Driving Soundtrack

On the way back from my friend's tonight a song came on that was on one of my compilation CDs which made me smile. The song was Nina Simone's, Sinnerman. For fear of being accused of 'pirating' and 'distributing' copywritten works, find this song if you can. The song was given rebirth with the movie The Thomas Crowne Affair, starring Pierce Brosnan and a very hot, older, totally MILF Renee Rousseau. Gawd, I know that's gonna get some Google hits for MILF and her in the same page! haha! Anyway, the stereo was cranked drowning out almost all the road noise, and my windshield was like my own little movie screen. The headlight lit up the reflectors on the road, and by staying in the middle lane that POV effect we learn in art class in junior high was amplified. The song has these, movements, where it rises and falls, changes in intensity and tempo, and intermixed with the Nina's voice and the instrumental solos makes it awesome. So as I was driving while these musical themes were being played out in the car. I could hear the music, feel the feedback of the road in the steering wheel, and the visual of the refelcted lights by the dots going by the car on either side was tight! I wasn't even going fast, and the effect was just on point! Click the extended entry to see the lyrics of Sinnerman.

Oh Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
Sinnerman, where you gonna run to?
Where you gonna run to?
All along dem day

Well I run to the rock, "please hide me"
I run to the rock,"please hide me"
I run to the rock, "please hide me, Lord"
All along dem day

But the rock cried out, "I can't hide you"
The rock cried out, "I can't hide you"
The rock cried out, "I ain't gonna hide you guy"
All along dem day

I said, "Rock, what's a matter with you rock?"
"Don't you see I need you, rock?"
Lord, Lord, Lord
All along dem day

So I run to the river, it was bleedin'
I run to the sea, it was bleedin'
I run to the sea, it was bleedin'
All along dem day

So I run to the river, it was boilin'
I run to the sea, it was boilin'
I run to the sea, it was boilin'
Along dem day

So I run to the Lord, "please hide me Lord"
"Don't you see me prayin'?"
"Don't you see me down here prayin'?"

But the Lord said, "go to the devil"
The Lord said, "go to the devil"
He said, "go to the devil"
All along dem day

So I ran to the devil, he was waitin'
I ran to the devil, he was waitin'
Ran to the devil, he was waitin'
All on that day

I cried -
POWER!!!!!!!
(Power to da Lord)
[8x]

Bring down,
(Power to da lord),
[4x]

POWER!!!
(power to da lord)
[12x]

Oh yeah, Woh yeah, Woh yeah

Well I run to the river, it was boilin'
I run to the sea, it was boilin'
I run to the sea, it was boilin'
All along dem day

So I ran to the Lord
I said, "Lord hide me, please hide me"
"please help me"
Along dem day

He said, "child, where were you
when you oughta been prayin'?"
I said,"Lord, Lord, hear me prayin'"
Lord, Lord, hear me prayin'
Lord, Lord, hear me prayin'"
All along dem day

Sinnerman you oughta be prayin'
Oughta be prayin', Sinnerman
Oughta be prayin',
All on that day

I cried -

POWER!!!!!!!
(Power to da Lord)
[12x]

Go down
(Power to da Lord)
[3x]

POWER!!!!!!!
(Power to da Lord)
[3x]

Power, Power, Lord

Don't you know I need you Lord
Don't you know that I need you
Don't you know that I need you

Power, Lord!

Beer & Bonding

There's this bar on lower State St. called Sharkeez, that I have known about for dancing. However John, has known about this bar for its menu which after sampling today is pretty damned good! Drinks are 2 for 1 from, get this, 3PM to 2AM! John got us a couple of pitchers of Sam Adams, and I got some of what he calls "bar food" haha! And the food was really good, especially their lobster rolls, which seemed like lobster wrapped in a thin won ton skin and fried perfectly. It was cool hanging out and bonding with one of my boys over beer and talking it up. Dammit, I should've discovered Sharkeez sooner for real food!!

Afterwards Cami came by and a couple of their friends and we went to see The Aristocrats. It was lude, shocking, and hilarious attack on one's sensibilities...haha! I wasn't sure how they were going to pull the movie off, based on the premise, but it was pulled off really well. I left those guys to head back to Goleta, and on the way, figured what the hell and see what else was playing out there. Transporter 2 was starting in a little while and I wanted to see it, and let me see this about it: it is a matinee. Don't pay full price to see it. Althought I LOVE the Audi A8 featured in it!

On a completely random note, I had the urge, nay, the NEED to make a late night run to the store. So I drove around looking for a store that was open at MIDNIGHT. Truthfully the only 2 things I needed was soap and face wash for shaving, but I needed to make that run. I ended up getting some other stuff too I needed, but wandered the store for about a good 20 minutes. I wonder what would Freud say? Haha!

Sleeping Beauty

Ok, so I promised my friend I wouldn't mention her name in this entry, but I am going to talk about her shamelessly!! We were talking and some how it comes out that she sleeps at her desk. Yes, full on SLEEP at her desk. And I'm like, don't people see you through the window? Nope, they're tinted to prevent that. So I'm thinking, ok, may be she sleeps with her head on the back of her chair. That way you can at least play it off like you're thinking. Naw, not her. My gurl, will put her head down on her desk and fall out!! What kinda crap is that?!!? Haha! Then she tells me about this email she got with responses a person can give if you're busted sleeping at your desk. One of the responses is, if you're caught sleeping at your desk with your arms folded and head on the desk, you should mutter loudly, "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen" and raise your head. WTF?! haha!

I came across these other responses to getting busted at work too:
1. "Someone must've put decaf in the wrong pot."
2. "This is just a 15-minute power nap like they raved about in
that time-management course you sent me to."
3. "I was working smarter-not harder."
4. "Whew! I musta left the top off the liquid paper."
5. "Oh, I wasn't sleeping! I was meditating on our mission statement
and envisioning a new paradigm!"
6. "This is one of the seven habits of highly effective people!"
7. "I was testing the keyboard for drool-resistance."
8. "It worked well for Reagan, didn't it?"
9. "Boy, that cold medicine I took last night just won't wear off!"
10. "I'm actually doing a "Stress Level Elimination Exercise
Plan" (SLEEP) I learned at the last mandatory seminar you made
me attend."
11. "This is in exchange for the six hours last night when
I dreamed about work!"
12. "I was doing a highly specific Yoga exercise to relieve
work-related stress. Do you discriminate against people who
practice Yoga?"
13. "Darn! Why did you interrupt me? I had almost figured out
a solution to our biggest problem."
14. "They told me at the blood bank this might happen."
15. "Geez, I thought you (the boss) were gone for the day."