Oh yeah

If you haven't seen the "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" & "I'm Fucking Ben Affleck" videos yet, you must. As in now, RIGHT NOW--stop reading this and go to youtube and watch it. It will brighten your day, make you laugh, maybe cry, and maybe even pee your pants a little. You will not regret it, so go watch it!

This Weekend...

Saturday:
Working-Outreach in Manhattan Beach
Anitza's Rock Band Party

Sunday:
American Pride Whale Watch Brunch
Kelsey's birthday party

Must do laundry at some point.
Must get quarters to do said laundry.

Quote-o-the-day

Haji Ali: "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you share tea with a Balti, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die...Doctor Greg, you must take time to share three cups of tea. We may be uneducated. But we are not stupid. We have lived and survived here for a long time."

Greg Mortenson: "That day, Haji Ali taught me the most important lesson I've ever learned in my life...We Americans think you have to accomplish everything quickly. We're the country of thirty-minute power lunches and two-minute football drills...Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects. He taught me that I had more to learn from the people I work with than I could ever hope to teach them."

-Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

Whale Searching

I spent my weekend on boats--Saturday on the Christopher, and Sunday on the Pride. We were supposed to be whale watching, but ended up just whale searching instead. Two days on the water, and I didn't see a single whale. That's the way it goes with these trips sometimes, but I had fun anyway. What we saw on Saturday really made up for the lack of whale sightings--a superpod of about 2,000 Common Dolphins. Now, I've seen large pods of dolphins before, but this one beats all those others. The water swirled and boiled with these guys swimming all around the boat--imagine, thousands of dolphins! It's a pretty amazing sight. They are so beautiful and graceful, swimming and slicing through the water. Right in front of us, one was being very playful and acrobatic, jumping about 10 feet out of the water and spinning before splashing straight back into the sea. So awesome.

Birthday Presents

My roomate got me a crockpot for my birthday, which was so very exciting. I'm a nerd and had been wanting one forever, and I think it will get quite a bit of use. Friends have come over for crockpot dinners the past two weeks, and we're going to make it a little tradition now. There's just something wonderful about throwing a bunch of stuff into a pot, letting it sit for 4 or 6 or 8 hours, and tada! you have a whole meal. Not much effort needed. I love it. After dinner this past week, we played Pictionary. I haven't played it in years, and it was SO MUCH FUN. I had the bouts of laughter where you're laughing so hard that tears are streaming down your face. A nice, wonderful, good laugh. You just need that sometimes. =D

Since my beloved pink cruiser was stolen on my birthday last year, and I had been bike-less for a year, I decided (or, Alicia decided for me, rather) that I was going to buy myself a bike for my birthday. It's nothing like my cruiser (can't afford that right now), but a bike is a bike. We've gone on a couple of rides, and it's so nice to get back into doing that. I have quite a few friends around here who have bikes, and am quite tempted to start up a bike club again. Did I mention that I'm a nerd? =D

Quote-o-the-day

"Now I couldn't bear for him to be hurt, and I couldn't keep from hurting him, either. He thought time and patience would change me, and though I knew he was dead wrong, I also knew that I would let him try. He was my best friend. I would always love him, and it would never, ever be enough."
-New Moon, Stephenie Meyer

Never again.

So I'm told that my birthday outing went well and was fun. I'm told that I drank quite a bit and took a lot of shots. I'm told I even disappeared for a while (guess I went on walks with friends.) Apparantly, I had a pretty good time, although I don't remember any of this. What I do remember is sitting and hanging out with all my friends during the early part of the evening, just having some beers and chatting. Then, I remember puking-on the grass, in the fountain, in my toilet, and all freaking night long. That night was one of the first times that I've blacked out. (It's an eerie feeling that I don't like one bit--knowing that I was talking and interacting with people, but having absolutely no memory of those moments and conversations. I feel like I've lost a little part of my life.) Oh well, people shove free drinks in your hand when it's your birthday, so who's going to say no to that? So that will be my excuse, it was my birthday. But I don't want to be passed out on a toilet ever again. You know, getting a little too old to be totally trashed like that. What happened to being older, more mature, more responsible? It went down the toilet that night. Literally. (Haha. But never again.)

On another note, I just have to say that the Pats-Giants Superbowl game was AWESOME! Well, the last quarter was at least. Actually, the last few minutes. Those exciting moments makes me so glad that I started watching and enjoying football! What a great win!!!

Quote-o-the-day

"Choosing happens in many different ways. Our heart chooses for us, or a tiny whisper inside that is too faint for us to hear." -Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler