Money Down the Drain

Received my ticket amount in the mail this week. Once traffic school is calculated in also, the grand total for "crossing the center divider" will be....$205.00! Are you kidding me? I could've used that extra two hundred for so many things! But oh well, what can I do about it now? Good thing I have this grown-up job thing going for me, huh?

The Half Blood Prince

OMG. Finished the book Wednesday evening, and I am so sad. He was one of my favorite characters! Well, better that he died a good person, than stayed alive and turned evil. My friends and I speculated that he might be evil afterall (although how that could possibly be, I don't know, because he was the epitomy of good!), and I'm glad that wasn't the case. He was the person I thought he was, and that's nice to know. On another note, I had always thought that Harry & Hermione would end up together, but Terrin was always routing for Harry & Ginny. Turns out she was right. I didn't care for Ginny before, but I've grown to really like her. Oh, and who the heck is RAB?!

For those of you that have no clue what I'm talking about, just disregard this post. You wouldn't understand unless you were a fan. And I didn't mention the name of the person who died, to not spoil it for those who haven't finished reading yet.

A Year!

A year ago yesterday, I hopped on a plane towards London, and started my 6-week 8-country post-graduation European adventure. I really can't believe it has been a year already! How time flies. I'll never forget the friends and memories I made while there.

Hot Hot Hot!

Well, I was wrong about the expected temperature in Vegas over this past weekend. It wasn't 108F afterall, but an engulfing and miserable 118F. One hundred and eighteen degrees farenheit?! I can hardly believe it myself. So, let me tell you about the fun trip we had...

Friday, I only worked a half day, got off at noon and headed home to meet Justin and grab my stuff. We picked up Adam, and started our road trip towards Vegas--luckily, traffic wasn't bad and we made pretty good time. Feeling the windows, and wondering how hot it was outside as we traveled deeper into the desert, the three of us took a guess at what the Big Thermometer in Baker would read--Adam 101, Me 113, Justin 114. I thought my guess was even stretching it a little, but to our amazement and Justin's delight, it was actually 118. Makes me sweat just thinking about it...So we got to the Monte Carlo Hotel & Casino, met up with Meghan & Liam, and waited for a couple of other early arrivers (everyone else was getting in midnight-ish). We then had some drinks and did a bit of gambling and dancing and hanging out that night, then stuffed about 15 people into two hotel rooms....

Saturday, we spent the first half of the day down at the pool area, working on tans and staying cool by jumping into the lazy river and wave pool. I was not very impressed by their lazy river, by the way, and I guess it's just because I expected much more than what was there, but it was fun nonetheless. After getting enough sun and heat for the day, I cleaned up, and went on a little adventure with Jake. We wanted to head towards Cesar's Forum Shops, to maybe do some shopping. The trip was further and took longer than we thought, and we idiotically trekked accross the front of Belaggio in the blazing heat, rather than walking through the hotel itself. The trip to Cesar's proved pointless, because neither of us were willing to spend the big bucks on shopping in the stores they had there. From there, we headed back towards the end of the Strip to meet up with Juan & Anitza for dinner at Mandalay Bay's buffett. (They were in Vegas for vacation/1 yr wedding anniversary/Juan's Birthday--congrats you two, and Happy Birthday Juan!) After dinner, the whole group was headed towards Studio 54, for a night of dancing to celebrate Meghan's birthday...

Sunday (Happy Birthday Meghan!), was time to pack up and head home. We hit more traffic this time, and it took about 6 hours to get back, but we got in before it got dark, which was nice. The first thing I did was shower, then went and bought the long awaited 6th Harry Potter book.

Vegas, Baby!

Heading out to Sin City this weekend, and I’m so excited! Haven’t been there in exactly 1 year and 10 months, so it’s about time I go again. Occasion: Meghan’s 26th birthday celebration. Location: Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino, with the lazy river I’m very much looking forward to floating on. Attendance: there's about 12 of us going out there, including the Ferris' and my roomates, so it should be a fun weekend. Agenda: go out, dance, drink, and gamble all night, then sleep at the pool and work on my tan all day. Expected average temperature: 108F—ouch, haven’t been in hot weather like that in a long time.
Jake and I were thinking of seeing Blue Man Group, but decided we’ll spend the hundred-dollar-ticket money elsewhere—you know, on more drinks and gambling and stuff--can't wait!

Better Things To Do

What the? Don't cops have better things to do? I just got an f-en ticket. For the stupidest thing. Dude, in just three days, how did Kat, Leslie, and I manage to get ourselves a ticket each? I'm annoyed. And now I know how deflated they felt when they got their open-container citations.

4th Weekend

Hope everyone had a great of 4th of July! Wow, I was able to fully enjoy my 3 days off by sleeping in, relaxing, bbq-ing, and hanging out without work or volunteering or other responsibilities to worry about--it was great!

The weekend started with a Friday night dinner at a really good Vietnamese restaurant with Kat, Leslie, and Leslie’s mom (who was in for the week helping Leslie with her move), and was followed by drinks by the fire at Chimayo in Huntington Beach

I actually got to sleep in (so nice to be able to do so--waking up at 6am is terrible!) Saturday morning, then did some much needed laundry and other little chores around the house. Met up with Micah, Wendy, and a screaming (very pterodactyl-like) Kiernan for lunch, then drove to my parent's house to hang out with the family for a while. Yvonne, my 10-yr-old cousin, had been rapidly catching up to me in height, and has now finally (and sadly!) surpassed me. Really, how did our cousins get all the tall-genes in the family, and Kat and I were left with nothing? After that, I made my way over to Eric's for his annual 4th of July BBQ (although this year, it was scheduled on the 2nd)--drank some beers, ate some carne, and hung out with some friends I hadn't seen in a while, which was nice.

Sunday morning, I was able to sleep in once again (wow, two days in a row!) Really didn't do much of anything, except buy groceries for my BBQ, so it was a low-key and relaxing kind of day. Some friends came over that night, and we drank some more beer, ate chicken and steak and corn on the cob, and were even able to play pool, now that the tv is off the pool table and back on an entertainment center again. You would think I'd be a pool shark by now, but unfortunately, I am not. Even all that geometry and physics has not helped me master the game.

Monday morning--yep, slept in again! Bennet came over, and I threw my bike (btw-can anyone think of a good name for my pink cruiser?) in the back of his truck and we made our way to Kat's place in Huntington. The plan was to ride our bikes from HB down to Leslie's place on 33rd in Newport Beach. We were three among a whole parade of bikers heading towards Newport, and it was an enjoyable approximately-6-mile ride along the beach path. Newport was just ONE HUGE PARTY--it seemed like every single house on every single block was packed with people partying, BBQing and getting wasted. Just insane, but fun. The cops were on the prowl, and the two New York City transplants made the mistake of walking from next door back to Leslie's with a red cup in hand. Open container= $100 ticket each, ouch! After spending the day on the peninsula, Kat and I rode back up to her place (Bennett stayed in Newport and partied the rest of the night), which was a tough against-the-wind ride, and nothing like our cruise down earlier in the day. Had dinner, watched the HB Pier fireworks, went home and climbed into bed, which closed a wonderful 4th Holiday Weekend.

Thoughts on Time

I guess it's been a while, huh? And where have I been, you're wondering? Oh, just busy doing things here and there--it's amazing how much time doing here and there things take up, but when I stop to think about it, I can't even remember or name what those here and there things were. It's a bit scary, I feel like time is slipping through my fingers too quickly, and that I have nothing to show for all these months that have passed by. I'm starting to feel the pressure to "figure out my life" again, and although I know I'm young and that time isn't flying by as fast as I think, the anxiety is still present. There are so many things I want to do, and see, to give and learn, discover and feel, I fear that if I don't do it all RIGHT NOW, I may miss my chance--that time, and my life, will slip through my fingers before I realize it, slip too quickly for me to catch it.
I want to help save the environment, inspire others to care, try new things, travel the world, give my love and fall in love, meet interesting people, overcome my fears, open my heart, raise a family, not worry about money, go on adventures, drink sunsets and breathe in the salty sea air...and so much more. Hope I have the time and opportunity to do it all...


Also, a couple of misc. things I wanted to mention:

Congrats to Leslie for getting the job in Newport Beach and making the big cross-country move from the East Coast. Good luck, you'll love it here, and the weather will warm up soon, I promise!

The organization, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is crazy. Read this article that was recently in the LA Times, to find out just how ridiculous they are:

PETA and AoP

Seriously, why are they wasting their energy attacking an organization that is trying to show the public how to make responsible seafood choices? We are there to educate guests, to teach them how to be environmentally conscious and responsble consumers, and encourage them to care about the choices they make and fisheries they need to protect. I don't get why PETA is taking such an extremist position, and why they don't put their effort in a worthier cause.