damned
fine friends…mmm, Thy!), scenics which are some of my favorite things to
shoot, and me having a good old time. Check it out!Thursday, May
22, 2003
What did I do today? I researched and researched all damned day. Then ran a
bunch of errands and finally ended up at a dinner get together at John and Cami's.
John is turning into quite the gourmet.
I am going to have to eat my words about Annika Sorenstam, at least for now. Today she kicked ass, getting within 2 strokes of the lead all the while hitting a 284 yard drive. She beat her male counterpart she was paired with and managed to miss only one green. Anyone knows what washes crow down? I hope she does well the rest of the weekend and at least makes some money finishing up there, for all this drama she has to endure.
There was a glitch
in the photogallery that caused multiple windows to open, whenever certain links
were clicked. Well I got fed up with that crap and decided to fix it finally.
Peruse the gallery and if you come across any links that behave funky-like email
me. Next to this entry is a mini collage of pics from the gallery. In the gallery
itself are some hot women (I have some damned
fine friends…mmm, Thy!), scenics which are some of my favorite things to
shoot, and me having a good old time. Check it out!
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Wednesday, May
21, 2003
Like most guys I will channel surf and wear the buttons out on my remote control.
However there are a couple of shows, that when they are on do NOT bother me.
Stargate SG-1 is crazy dope. Richard Dean Anderson, made a kick ass MacGyver,
and makes an even more kick ass Colonel O'neil. May be it's the coupling of
Egyptian mythology; however Egyptians DID build the great pyramids. Perhaps
it's the regular display of fire power that appeals to my primal side. Also,
seeing how other civilizations may have evolved is very cool. Those 'What If'
type of situations.
Farscape is another very cool show. The plots are usually different, and don't follow the cookie-cutter science fiction TV shows. Not to mention the work of Henson is pretty damned cool too. Smallville is another show that I HAVE to watch undisturbed! I missed it this week because of my acting class, but you better believe I'll be watching the replay this Sunday. And Chloe is THE hottie on that show. The Lana character doesn't really do it for me. Chloe has brains, is a bit quirky, and more than just cute.
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Tuesday, May
20, 2003
I worked on this long ass PoliSci paper that's due next week Wednesday. Tons
of research is going to be needed to do it well. It's all good because some
of the stuff that's coming up as a result is pretty damned intriguing. Basically
how the government's rationale is quite irrational with respect to environmental
concerns.
After my UCSB class, I went to my old acting class because our teacher is leaving to move back East. Tonight was the last class she would teaching on this coast. Feels like an end of an era really. It was really cool, as we did a bunch of improv, cold reads and people got to do the stuff they were working on. Also met some really cool folks, one of which I hope to be working with for pics and a site.
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Monday, May
19, 2003
My friend Jay went and picked himself up a kick ass digital setup. Oh my ever
loving god. He went and picked up a Canon EOS 10D along with a Canon 28-135IS.
If you don't know what those are, you are missing out BIG time!
Lately Annika Sorenstam has been in the news for being the first woman to play professional golf on the PGA tour. Vijay Singh and Charles Barkley got crap because they said that women don't belong on the tour because they can't be competitive. Tiger Woods chimed in and said that he was ok with women being on the tour.
My question is thus: Can a woman win while competing on the tour with men? Well Annika is going to have to answer that. This may sound incredibly sexist, but bottom line is there is a physical disadvantage to be considered. There is one thing to compete and a complete other to actually win. She will probably make cuts and progress to final rounds, but when a course is come upon where the holes have been lengthened to compensate for the power of Mickelson, Woods, Couples and the rest? What then? Because frankly, it takes more than par to win. Golfers are winning by unheard of record setting margins. Can Annika win I ask?
Charles Barkley makes a good point: you take the best WNBA team, the LA Sparks, and they would get their asses handed to them by 99% of the male NBA teams. This is the nature of the how the competition is executed not because of WHO (women) is doing it. For example: there are female drag racers who compete at win. Their performance is not dependent on their physical prowess, but rather the quality of their cars and their driving skills. Similarly, I think women should enter into NASCAR if then haven't yet be included. May be there will come a day when there will be co-ed professional sports and female athletes would win, but I don't think that day is here.
My whole point is this: it's not enough to compete; you have to be able to win.
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Sunday, May
18, 2003
Today I became a man. My mechanics, who I normally love because my car runs
incredible after each time they work on and they will do stuff for free, has
been tripping. First they want $65 for an oil and lube. Granted they do a lot
more than just oil and lube. I know because one time I had to stick around and
watched them work. It was a beautiful thing to watch my baby get pampered. However,
the last time they did the oil and lube, the said I needed rear brakes and it
would cost $275. Read that again: $275 for brakes on ONE axle. WTF?! The mechanics
said the costs is higher because the costs of pads have gone up. After talking
to some people, I went and bought 'the book' for my car that breaks down how
to do most anything. Also went and picked up some Raybestos Quietstop pads.
Parts costs me $50. It took me a few hours to knock the rears out. ¾
of that was spent matching up the dark B&W diagrams in the book with the
actual parts on my car. Once I figured out how to do the driver side, the passenger
side took a lot less time. Damn it feels good to: a) work on my car b) saving
myself $225!! Woohaaa!!
I also finished my History paper, and feel pretty good about it. The assignment irked me at first because the Professor didn't want just a book review. He insisted that we use 3 other sources to help analyze the book. I ended up using 5 sources and even though the book was a Pulitzer Prize Winner, it was missing all kinds of stuff relevant to the time. In the end, I'm glad that he insisted we use other sources.
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Saturday, May
17, 2003
Most of the day was spent reading The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman. I've
never really read a 'history' book and I guess it's interesting. Most of my
reading revolves around politics, sci-fi, import tuning and the like.
Oh yea the Lakers aren't in the Finals. In a way I'm glad because they needed to be knocked down a peg or two.
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Friday, May
16, 2003
I can't remember the last time I cried out of happiness. For those who think
only pussy whooped men cry, watch more closely as a guy watches Saving Private
Ryan or when Goose dies in Top Gun. Haha! On the real, I don't cry. Whether
it's happiness or sadness, I can't remember the last time I shed tears. Today
I almost did. I've been tripping off of a class that I need that I couldn't
enroll in this quarter. It was closed about 5 minutes after registration opened
up and had a long ass waiting list. I went and talked to the professor who is
teaching it this quarter to plead my case about wanting to be graduated by end
of the summer. She OFFERED to do self-directed study of the class with me during
the summer. How dope is that??
The good news goes on. I have a new web client and it's going to be a really cool project. I also went to my political science class and that was the midterm I was most worried about, to find out that I got a B! Wooohhaaa!! God really does exist and I am thankful - that isn't sarcasm.
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Thursday, May
14, 2003
This morning I had a phone meeting with the Dean of Letter's & Science because
of an issue I have with an encounter with one of the Associate Deans. The issue
was that guy I met with was a nonchalant, disrespectful, condescending ass.
It didn't hit me until after the meeting the that guy was a total prick and
I wasn't having it. It wasn't enough to talk to a peer advisor or another A.D.
The phone meeting went well as I broke down my points. The Dean asked me to
think back to the meeting and see if there was something I had said or done
to trigger the AD's perceived response. The Dean was shocked by the level of
detail I recalled in an effort to answer his question. I recalled just about
everything the AD said, what he wore (down to his glasses on his head), our
seating positions with respect to each other. I would like to know what if anything
I did to provoke that level of rudeness and I told the Dean this. I'll be following
up on this because I'm paying too much and busting my ass too hard to take any
crap from Free Willy look-a-like. It also felt good to stick up for myself.
This is a battle I have to fight.
I LOVE my hip hop aerobics class. Our teacher is dope because she loves what she does and its infectious. It is for sure the highlight of my day at times. The class is cathartic and wonderful! The boys didn't rip it up like we did last week, but we had fun baby!
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Wednesday, May
14, 2003
Signs, that Mel Gibson 'thriller' about crop circles and their ominous origins
is a piece of smoldering crap. You could totally tell that that M. Night Shyamalan
(the mastermind behind The 6th Sense, hands down the best scary movie of my
time) was behind it. The cinematography and treatment was lifted straight from
The 6th Sense. This isn't to mention Mel Gibson did a paltry job of playing
a widower reverend. Frankly unless Mr. Gibson is blowing something up, chopping
something or reciting some 'lethal' repartee he's better off leaving the real
acting to professionals.
Today was the first time, in a LONG time, that I filled my car up and it came in under $30!! Woohaaa!! And we are supposed to believe that crises in the Middle East have nothing to do with gas prices. Riiiight.
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Sunday, May
11, 2003
Jeezzuus…I haven't updated this thing in almost a week! Well a lot has
been going on. Part of the lapse was that I wasn't here all weekend. So if you're
reading this you noticed that the last several days have been filled in.
We woke up late. Kim was hung over. Tasha was knocked out. Partying till 3:45 A.M. took its toll on the girls haha! We all looked like crap. Kim was the worse. Kim was knocking back shots and god knows how many mixed drinks at the Congo Lounge. This isn't to mention all that she drank at the house party.
After I collected what little had remained of my whits after my brief post party nap, I went to see my mom and little brother. Nate has grown! It's been too long! My mom started him young in school, so he's ahead of the kids age-wise just like I was. And what did I do? I had NO film at all. The whole weekend I had my camera, but didn't use it cause the folks there all had digitals and was going to share and I didn't think to put film in mine. We all went to this really good chinese place in Berkley and caught up. I have to go back sooner! Miss my little bro-ham already.
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Saturday, May
10, 2003
X-men 2 was all that and more than I thought it was going to be!! Tasha and
I saw it at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland and honestly the Grand Lake looks
like crap from the outside. The inside is a total other matter. It is posh and
regal, and looked waaay too damned classy to be just a movie theater. X-men
was pretty much laying the ground work for everyone who isn't familiar with
the comic. The end was the BEST part. That blur under the water, was intentional!!
If you haven't seen X2 yet, look for this. If you have, watch it again, and
look for it! What is this? Why does it matter so much? One word: Phoenix. Yes,
I am a geek.
The Party. Part one was at The Congo Lounge. Pretty cool place, but they wouldn't let us crank the music so it was kind of a downer. The food was pretty damned dope. I have a thing for humus and tahini now. God they are so good. Max and Jen (couple of Tasha's friends) and I talked for quite a bit about movies. Movie geeks unite!! Tasha and I have different tastes in movies, and from their experience with her, they get that too. Haha! Max works at THX, yes, THAT THX. Yes it does make a HUGE difference in watching movies. And Jen works at ILM. Yes, THAT ILM, as in Industrial Light and Magic. I could care less about stars and star power. I've been to enough functions to care less. The magic behind the scenes is much more interesting. Oh, yea, Pat started his own 'magic' again. He had his mack going full tilt boogie. Poor women didn't know what hit them. The man is a secret agent; that is Tasha's assessment and I would have to agree.
Kick ass mention from the party: Jen (There are a lot of Jen's in this group and I know even more! I wonder how popular that name is, hmmm?)…anyway, she made 3 cakes: a rich chocolate decadence cake with barely any flour, a nut torte (looked like a really rich cake to me…hehe!) and a lemon chiffon. She wasn't lying when she said that can bake. My favorites were the 2 chocolate.
Pat's charm continued onto the house party. About half of the people and booze migrated over to Pat's. There we were able to crank the music and things started to get wild. I ended going back into the backroom, which turned into the Champagne Room, and like Chris Rock said, there was no sex...haha! I got some lap time and a massage out of the deal, and I'll just leave it at that. Mwhaha! My head was pounding and I really just wanted to get away.
Pictures are coming!!
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Friday, May
9, 2003
I was driving up to Oakland at 3:30A.M. when Joy's text page came through on
my phone. I'm like who the hell is texting me at this hour. Joy is a friend
from back home, cousin to Asaunta and I'm sure there is a degree of separation
to Kevin Bacon in there some how. Haha! We talked for a bit and some of the
drive flew by.
Got into Oakland around 5:00A.M. and promptly passed out. After I finally woke up, I went to get my hair cut as it was overdue and figured that I would go to the barber I used to go to when I lived in Oakland. I had a seat and the guy is like, I'm not taking any more customers. I was the ONLY person waiting and there was someone he was cutting. I asked him WTF? He said he had "enough" clients and suggested someone down the street. So I go, and find out that he does this 'referral' thing of his regular cause he is some hot shit barber or North Oakland. Whatever. Monkey lover.
Afterwards Tasha and I went shopping for dinner and hauled ass back to her place to fix it. On the menu was a Caribbean styled dinner, per her request. It was my present to her. We had stewed chicken, which is chicken that's been braised in a tomato sauce with different spices. With the chicken was red beans and rice made with coconut milk, and fried baby plantains on the side. The menu up till now is fairly traditional island fare.
Dessert was total impromptu and was literally created in my head in the frozen food aisle, as Tasha and I decided the original idea should be changed. I don't know what to call it, so I'll just describe it: different berries were macerated in orange juice, brandy and brown sugar and reduced till the mixture was a bit syrupy. The berries were removed part way through so they didn't turn to mush. Sliced pound cake (store bought, but more on this later) was placed at the bottom of a bowl, then topped with vanilla ice cream (Breyer's of course), the berry mixture poured on top, and the whole thing was topped with fresh whipped cream that Jen (one of Tasha's friends) made for us on the spot using heavy whipping cream. It all came together well, and we were all doing our best 'pregnant' impersonations.
On the pound cake: Jen nearly ripped me a new one because we bought the pound cake - twice! Haha! Jen is apparently rather adept at baking and doesn't take kindly to things being bought, when they can be made better. In my defense, I didn't have this information when we went shopping and the dessert was so last minute there was no time. I thought I was the only one who felt that way about making this from scratch? I will friggin' make cornbread from scratch, dry it, and THEN use it for cornbread stuffing.
After everyone left, Tasha and I got into a little dispute about letting a Mariah Carey song play on the radio. I LOVE Mariah Carey!! Old Mariah, not the new skank look. We entered into a little "aggressive negotiations". I won. Nuff said. Haha!
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Thursday, May
8, 2003
Mid-terms are done! I can breathe! Now I have 2 papers on the horizon.
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Monday, May
5, 2003
Long entry coming…been away from my computer for awhile.
Free computer tip: Be VERY careful when you clean your keyboard. I thought I had exercised all due prudence when I cleaned my keyboard which had gotten way scuzzy (technical term lol). Well my prudence wasn't enough, because about 30% of my keys stopped functioning by the time I was done! Thanks to John I have a new Microsoft Natural Elite keyboard to the replace the one I bungled up!!
Tonight, I watched Game 1 of the LA/San Antonio series over at the Helmuths. The Lakers lost. I'm not unhappy about it, because the Lakers have been playing crappy basketball up till now. Watching the game over there was lots of fun, because Max and I kept talking crap through the whole thing. "Throw it down big man!!", would resound throughout the house randomly. Afterwards we watched Battle of the Sexes and the men won! Woohaaa! The women eff'd themselves by the way they were voting off their teammates. In the end they won the $150,000 prize money ANY the Saturn Ion coupes. Well played boys.
Oh yea, John cooked. I mean he REALLY cooked. This from a man who couldn't tell the difference between cabbage and lettuce. He threw down some chicken in a mushroom, tomatoes and white wine sauce, with pasta and fresh broccoli. He made me proud. Not to mention his family too. Haha!
To summarize this weekend…
I had to get a new cell phone because my past arrangement was not working out. Part of the problem was Sprint PCS sucks ass! Their customer service sucks and their coverage area sucks even harder! I'm back with AT&T and the difference is astounding. The signal strength is consistently better and clearer. This must have been the 3rd time I changed my number in the last 2 or 3 months, and this will be the last time for some time to come.
Saturday, I hung out with Virginie. She came over and I made us a Thai inspired spicy beef soup for dinner. Turns out that her mom is a chef in France. That is funky dope. The evening took a rather interesting turn as we all sat down to eat our respective meals; Pam and Dave made a scallops and pasta dish. Virginie and Pam got started on talking about Trading Spaces, some remodeling show on HGTV. After awhile Dave and I looked at each other and said, we could just go to the bar and hang out, and they wouldn't even miss us. LOL. It was a very cool night overall. It was good to be able to have good conversation and chill for a change.
Finally: I hate
drama. Sometimes I do bring it on myself. It's like watching a train wreck,
you see it coming, and it inevitable. Then there are time when you see other
people who seem to revel in it. They throw regular pity parties and hand out
invites hoping for a packed audience. Admittedly I will pitch fits, bitch and
moan, freak out, and on occasion even pout. However it's a state I would rather
visit than live in. I've come across someone who seems to like living there,
and it's such a turnoff on so many levels!
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Thursday, May
1, 2003
I am horrible at marking time. Time flies when I'm having fun, not having fun,
or whatever. Worse yet, I haven't been updating the journal even though there's
been a lot going on. I've met some new people at school and work, have done
some pretty fun things, and been working my ass off to graduate. Two midterms
down, another in a week. Two papers on the horizon…woohoo! Whatever! I
think I'll create a script to countdown when I'll be done.
If you've come by to see how I'm doing and read about the latest, I'm afraid I have to disappoint. Although I'd been doing a lot, I haven't really kept track of WHAT I've been doing. One of my favorite blog sites is having a glitch! Her damned cat knocked over a vase filled with water, on top of her cable modem.
There
is a new set of pics in the photo gallery from the hike Allison, Jay and I did.
They are some of my best scenic work. Click
here to check them out.
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