I am an upside down lounge chair...

Routines
It's funny how strict a routine some people have, especially at work. There are people at work who park in the same spot everyday. So regardless if they're the first or 10th person here, they'll park in the same spot. I find that so odd for some reason. I just park at the first available spot I see when I get in. Sometimes I get lucky cuz someone leaves in the morning after they come in, so I get a close-ass spot. Other times, I'm way in the back. Now, I guess it could kinda be like personalized parking spaces for those people that always park in the same spot all the time, cuz there are times when I come out of the building and I'm just totally walking around aimless because I forgot where I parked. Now if I parked in the same spot all the time, I would know...but I just can't do that. First opening for me, baby. Another example is how some people cannot function w/o a cup of coffee right when they get in. When the coffee pot is empty upon arrival, or it's broken, one would think that the sky is falling. ...Cracks me up man.

What is it with voicemails? Some people totally hate them, it's funny. Some of my friends never leave a voicemail. They'll just call, and when the voicemail greeting comes on, they'll just hang up. Or some others, they'll call, and if I dont' pick up, then they'll text. And then there's mom. This one is the funniest. Every voicemail..."Jay, this is mom. Call me back." Seriously, every one has that or some variation of it. That's how she would leave messages on my answering machine at the apt too. Never said what she needed or whatever on the message...just "...call me back." Hello?!?! The message system is exactly that...leave a MESSAGE...tell me what you need dude, it'll make life easier. Then I wouldn't have to check a voicemail from my mom, saying that I need to call her back. What a dork. Remember back in the day, when we had pagers with voicemails? And our greetings would be like a full on R&B song or something? They'd be like 2 minutes long, and then right at the end of the song, "Leave a message," all suavy and stuff. How hilarious. Sometimes my friends rapped on theirs... man, what dorks we were.

I am another year gone by...

First of all, a great big giant "THANK YOU!" to all those who wished me well and greeted me for my b-day, those early, on-time, and belated. It was all very much appreciated. I hope to see most of you guys on Sat. it's funny that all the way up to 21, one looks forward to getting older..sometimes, maybe 25, if people are really hyped up about being able to rent a car on their own and bringing young'ns with them into D&B's. But after those ages, people dread getting older. Maybe the last looking forward age is retirement? I don't know. But still, I can't believe I'm 27, it just seems so old. Not to rag on anyone that's older than 27, (cough Joe cough), just that I'm almost 30 now....wow. I was talking to Cic last week, and we were talking about how when there's a new president, I'll be 31...omg. okay, I think I can wait til I actually turn that age to actually say it again...eek.

Anyway, onto some big news...
I GOT TIVO as my b-day gift!!!! So thank you beeb and everyone involved on getting me this wonderful wonderful gift. Of course, I would still appreciate each and everyone of you if I had not gotten a gift at all...but, needless to say, I TOTALLY LOVE IT! I stayed up late last night plugging it all in and gettin it ready, so I'm ready to record, pause and replay live TV baby. This is the gift that keeps on giving man. WOOHOO! Man, now I'm not gonna have any excuses to not go out because of this. I can't say, "I need to watch Alias tonight." Gotta think of some other loser excuse now...oh yeah, "I'm old, can't stay out late no more," he he he.

So here's this mini-list of stuff I had wanted to do before I'm thirty. I did it a while back. But I think there's some new ones too.
Before I'm thirty, I want to...
Travel related
Go to Europe X
Go to Hawaii X
Go to New York X
Go to the Philippines X
activity/fitness related
Bungee Jump(to conquer my fear of heights)
Sky Dive (see above)
Run a Marathon
Learn how to swim
Bench Press 300 lbs

*X denotes items that have already been completed

I think there was more, but those are just the ones that stood out. As you can see, I've only accomplished the travel related portion of my "to do before I'm 30" list. Gotta get crackin. 3 years isn't a lot of time.

Once again, thanks everyone for the warm b-day greetings. It really means a lot to me to know there are so many people that care about me.

"I've learned that all a person has in life is family and friends. If you lose those, you have nothing, so friends are to be treasured more than anything else in the world."

I am breath of satisfaction...

Here I am on a Saturday morning, sitting in this Burbank studio....working. Working on a Saturday. What has my life become, he he he. It's not so bad, we won't get out too late, and at least it made me get up early...well early enough, I got up a bit late...didn't hear my alarm. And I still got here in only about 20 min, and ended up only 5 min late. I wish my drive to work could be like this everyday, barely any cars were on the road. Unfortunately, it's saturday, and I'm working...and yes, I'm being rendundant on purpose. So what to do? Blog, of course, ha ha ha...
Mammoth was a blast. It was so much fun. Of course there were a few ordeals we experienced, the van slipping on the uphill climb and getting lost at the end of a snowboarding day and not being able to find our cabin, just to name a few. The pictures will all speak for themselves i think, which I will post later...I think.

The sudden change from that cold weather and beautiful snow in mammoth, to the now, dry and totally sunny days in Cali has really made my allergies act up. So instead of that "ahh, what a nice day" feeling, I get the "damn this stupid weather!" feeling. One of the things I hate most about spring and summer is how badly my allergies react to it. I sneeze like 1/3 of the day, my eyes are totally itchy, my nose, totally runny, and I just do not feel very nice. And as many of my friends know, my sneezes are not of the quiet variety. So it's annoying...I wish I wasn't allergic...I really do.

mini accomplishment for the week
Anyway,earlier this week, Rob and I finished the puzzle that my family had been working on for the last 2 or 3 weeks. What a deep satisfaction it was to finish a 500 + piece puzzle, where like the last 300 or so pieces were all practically the same color. It's some weird puzzle of Santa fishing w/ his reindeer. The boat and the fish take up like 10% of the puzzle, the rest is water. The satisfaction is all but gone now, but hey, for a while, there was some :)

oh wow, early day...I thought we'd be here longer...I'm outta here! Woohoo!

Thoughts to come
-Things I wanna do before the next 3 years and 1 day pass.
-priorities-future decisions
-and more!!!

"If you're angry, take a deep breath and count to 10. If you're really angrly, make it 100."

I am a corner of my mind...

memories
Today's entry is inspired by an e-mail I got from my friend Francia...

"...it was in interfaith after a noon mass, and you were giving someone your email address. lil-underscore-jay-7-8...anyhow, i was there too, so i asked the significance of the 7-8, like if it was the year you were born. you seemed to get surprised or offended, and defensively said, "yeah! so, what? what year were you born, like '81?" and when i said yes, you were even more surprised because you didn't expect me to say yes. and in that moment, you were unofficially dubbed old. lol. just kidding. (about the unofficial part). :) ...

happy birthday in advance, jay! have fun this month! and think happy thoughts!"

It's so nice to hear about old times, pun NOT intended. It's funny because our memories are not only things we remember, but things our friends help us to remember. So it's more like a collective than an individual thing. Friends help you remember things you have forgotten, or have just slipped by. My friends are awesome, and I always cringe at the thought of how I cannot realistically totally keep in touch as much as I'd like to w/ every single one. Not that there are SO many, but simply for the fact that there is just not enough time in the day, what with all the things a grownup(blech) must do nowadays. It's not like college anymore, where I used to just skip classes and hang out w/ people. Where I didn't really have to wake up so early the next morning, where the days just seemed endless and I could do so much. Now, it's work, and errands, and bills, and all that. All the while, trying to occasionally get together w/ old friends and keep it all in a balance. Not to mention that all of THEM have a life of their own as well, dealing with all of the same things, if not more, than I am. I struggle with it, but I do try. Some people understand, and sometimes, others do not. Well, you can't please everybody, so it's feudal to even try to. But here's to true friendship, may it never grow old and tired, may many good times be shared, may there be lots of laughs and even tears, and may the love continue to bear fruit...

...pretty sappy there huh? Boy, I MUST be gettin old...

Weekend o'fun
Well tonight I'm crashin over at Jovan's place because tomorrow, we leave for MAMMOTH baby! WOOHOO. 4 days of fun in the s.....now, he he he(I think people hate my corny jokes like these...but oh well, UP YERS!, ha ha ha) I'm so excited, I haven't seen snow in a while and I get to see Cic try out her new gear on the slopes. That's right, she'll be a bonafide snow bunny this weekend! Unlike me, I'll be totally covered up. I think when I have all my gear on: boots, pants, thermals, jacket, headliner(i.e. facemask), helmet, gloves, and goggles, not one inch of me will be uncovered. People won't even know who I am! ha ha ha, cool. Wait, not cool, cuz I'll be lookin for a few people I know on the slopes, they'll be wondering, "Who the hell IS that guy calling me?" Can you tell I'm excited? You should see how wide my eyes and my smile are right now as I'm writing this. I only know because I can see my reflection on the inactive monitor sitting in front of me in this conference room. Woohoo! Good times to come. Man, I just realized that this'll be my first snowboarding trip since the unfortunate incident last january when I crushed my bursa sac in my shoulder, which to this day still causes me a bit of discomfort every now and then. Krikey, i've been praying that no more injury may befall me whilst I am up there. But just in case, I am prepared. Got my helmet, and ice packs, and everything...he he he. Complete w/ Advil :). So I hope everyone has a good weekend this weekend, whatever you're all doin...

Happy Trails...

"Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never h ave been seen."
-Robert Bressel

I am the first page of a new calender...

I still can't believe it's 2005...
I'd hate for my first post to have any negativity in it, but that's just not gonna happen today, he he he. I hit a frickin pothole on the 405 south on my way to work this morning. I tried to avoid it, but I couldn't, I would've caused a major accident if I tried to swerve in the pouring rain, because it was while I was switching lanes. I was late for work because of that more than I already was. And to make matters worse, they let me leave work for a few hours to take care of the tire before it got flat, but no deal, it got flat before I could reach my destination. And since I had TWO tires...I couldn't just put the donut on get movin, had to wait to get towed. But I finally got to just tires. And all in all, it cost me about $100 to do all the repairs. Thank goodness i had a tire protection plan, which only cost me $11 for 2 new tires...but the alignment was $70 bucks. So there's $ in the hole that goes to absolutely nothing...all because of the darned rain. I used to love the rain, until today, he he he. So it wasn't the best way to start my workday. But I hear that you can claim the damage to the city, and I get all excited...which gave me some hope, and all was right in the world again. But THEN, my supervisor told me the same thing happened to him and he tried to file a claim. He took a picture of the damage to his car and receipts and all. They wrote him back telling him to get a picture of the pothole. Lo and behold they covered it up already by the time he got there w/ his camera. Here's my dilemna, I already had that stuff changed so I can't take a picture of the damage. However, I DO have the receipts, AND I can still go out and try to get a pic, though i don't know exactly how I'm gonna do that, with the pothole being on the freeway and all. Anyway, so I think I'm okay. Then I call the city attourney's office and find out the investigation will take anywhere from 4-6.......MONTHS! WTF?!?!?! False hope man, the city sucks. So I'm gonna try to get that pic and send in all the pertinent information, and just cross my fingers and pray. What a day....

Oh yeah, I forgot my damn umbrella too...

But hey, things could be worse. I didn't get into an accident, and thank goodness for protection plans and AAA.

"It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching."
-St. Francis of Assisi