Are You Freakin Kidding Me?...

I hate to say it... I really shouldn't say it... That's not really going to stop me from saying it...

I think I hate Christians.
Seriously, I fucking hate Christians!
I don't hate much of anything in this world, but this shit just makes me sick now.

Ok, I should clarify. I don't hate the individuals, but much the way that we've gotten it in our heads to hate islamics because they're terrorists, I have the same feeling about the christian organization in this country. Yeah, that's right. I just called the christian organization terrorists. Okay, fine, perhaps at this point that's a bit on the side of hyperbole, but really, I think there's a demonstration in this country that these people are willing to force, and enforce their beliefs on others, even if others don't share those beliefs. Sure they don't use bombs and guns, but in the corporate driven society that is America isn't political clout and media coverage far more effective anyway? And how is it anyone that doesn't agree with them hates America, is communist, or is socialist... You don't even know what socialist fucking means. You're freaking president just gave 700 billion to buy bad debt and somehow I'm the socialist because I believe that people making over 250k a year should pay higher taxes so that the middle class has more room to breath. More than likely you are in the middle or lower class you moron! Bah... I'm not going to bother to say anymore about this. This is no longer a discussion of logic conducted by reasonable men. This is fast becoming an instinctual debate based on gut feelings. Not that he's a prophet or anything, but Bill Maher was the one that pointed out that we just went through 8 years of "by the gut" governing, and really, I'm just tired of it. Go on, fine christian community. Do what you want. I don't even care anymore. I'm moving to Canada or Europe or something damn it. Maybe one of these countries still has some sense left. Have fun letting the big corporations rape you cuz it seems to be going so very well so far. Cheers.

In The Mood For Love...

So we went to LoveFest this weekend. That was an interesting experience. I guess the best way to describe it is one big ridiculous rave. Somewhere in between the chicks with fairie wings, and the naked old guys with rings around their cocks, I think you're supposed to be dancing. I dunno', I may not get it exactly, but it was fun, and I'm pretty sure I would go again. I'm not all that into techno, and the various techno derivative musics, but it was totally worth it for me just to see all the weirdness in action. That said, it wasn't as weird as it could possibly be, but there were a number of costumes in there that were cool. I wish I were into techno a little more so that the dancing would have been more interesting, but it doesn't change enough for me. It seems like you would listen to the same beat for like 10 minutes. I prefer hip hop dj's still because I would rather things change up every few minutes. Also, to all the dj's out there that have parts in their songs with long crescendos into nothing. hear this. Stop it. That is all.

I actually ended up spending the entire weekend in SF, and on the second day we like the polar opposite activity by going to a blue grass festival. Again, not my kind of music, but still a good day. For me it was mostly about lounging back, sipping on Izze, hanging with friends, and watching people go by. I was also tempted by kettle corn (curses to you for introducing me to that one), and discovered that funnel cakes are possibly one of the most delicious forms of evil ever invented.

Finally, the weekend was topped off with a visit to Eos, which is cool because we happened to have a hook up when we went. That place is pretty expensive, but all the dishes were really unique, and interesting. I am now in love with the idea of an apple chutney, I need to find an excuse to make a meal for which I can make that. They also had a steak for which the sauce really reminded me of bazillian food. At first, I wasn't enthused with the idea of eating there, but in the end, I was really happy we did. Everything was super good and the sparks of inspiration are flowing. To any non believers out there of the awesomeness of CA, I hope that you can now see why this place rocks. I mean seriously, how was your weekend? Did you have old guys parading there genitals not more than 20 yards from the entrance to city hall? I think not.

O in Boots

I went out and bought a pair of boots this weekend. I think I approve so far. It probably wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that I then went out and bought a bunch more clothes. Now, that wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that the reason I bought those clothes is because "so I would have more nice stuff to wear during the week at work." That was the official reason at least. Unofficially, most of the stuff I bought I either wouldn't or can't wear at work, so that kind of fell through. The jeans were a good addition though. At least something I purchased was legit. I guess even that wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that I'm supposed to be saving money to pay off some credit card bills from Robert's overly expensive (for me at least) wedding. Between me and my date I think we spent about $2k. Ouch, I know right. At least we looked good.

I would feel more justified in making these expenditures if it turned out I went out more often. As it stands I only find myself going out like four or five times a month, so perhaps this venture is a tad over invested. My friends don't really like going out that much, and maybe that's the problem. I'm thinking I might just need to meet a few new people to tip things a little bit more in the opposite direction.

Hmm, so I've finally taken to posting at The Candy Coating. Since my partner in not-quite-a-crime seems to have gotten himself married and fell off the face of the earth. I think this mean TCC might be taking a bit of a different tone. Where my compatriot is thoughtful and reverent, I am a bit more bold and edgy. Not because I'm trying to be bold and edgy, that just happens to be the way I think. You should have seen it coming though, my hairs all spiky now, I'm totally a rebel. Watch out!

Apple is Stupid...

Useless innovations are awesome. Take for instance the ability to purchase music on your iPhone. Because companies can't get over their desire to make more money than they are currently making, you are not able to purchase music via Edge or 3G AT&T networks. This means you can only purchase on wifi. Now for me personally, the only time I'm on wifi is when I'm at home. Last time I checked, I had a few computers in my house, so I'm not sure why I need the ability to purchase music via wifi on my iPhone. Oh I know, I can hear you now, "but Orion, purchasing music over wifi means you don't have to get up from your couch to go to the computer." And I would agree with you if it weren't for one small detail about how the iPhone works. The iPhone does not work in "disk mode." This means that you have to sync the iPhone. This means that your iPhone can only be associated to one computer. Now, as silly as that is, suppose you were managing your music manually on a computer and you import some 400 songs from a different iPod. Now you want to transfer these 400 songs to your iPhone, but you don't feel like hunting them out one at a time, so you hit sync. Now, suppose that this sync erases your whole freakin iPhone song list before transferring. Now consider for a moment that you think this will be okay because your iPhone has been backed up on your laptop, but in reality, the albums you purchased via wifi were not backed up and are now lost. Now consider that this has happened at least twice and you've lost a minimum of $40 worth of music and the same album at least twice. I would imagine that you might draw a similar conclusion that iTunes is stoopid. Why exactly is it necessary for their sync to be so asinine. How hard would it be for it to automatically transfer your purchases to your computer before wiping everything out. Yes it warns me, but still, why is it even an option to blow away the items you've purchased? When is that the desired result? That's just bad engineering. Bah! Oh Apple your products are soooo sexy yet so silly sometimes, it's like the whole company has gone blonde.

Land of the Meh...

I'm in such a bad mood today. Work is boring, and I'm enforcing no workouts this week cuz I'm trying to let my body heal (note, no workouts means only 2 workouts in my world. Close enough). I need to find something to keep my brain occupied before it explodes. Bang!!!

Fail!

Well that didn't work out. At least I got a pic before meeting her. Geez, this is a side of things that I don't like being on. It's really not my personality type to pass judgement on others. Seriously though, I like to think I'm pretty lenient about body types I consider "normal". Somewhere around the developement of the second chin, I start to loose interest. Bah, you win again internet. You win again.

What Voodoo Is This?

What is this strange voodoo you wield? Man, I hope you are as hot in person as you are on the phone. I don't think that's too much to ask for, right? One can only hope.

I'd Rather Live A Life Of Freedom...

Than Life As A Boss...

The other day I was at a gas station getting money, when I noticed a Lexus pull up. I starred at it for a moment, and thought to myself that there's just an inherent difference between the philosophy behind that vehicle, and something I would drive. I mean, dude's car was hooked up. It was definitely looking nice, but just nothing you would ever see me in. That's when I thought to myself "I'd rather live a life of freedom, than life as a boss."

I think that explains a big part of my philosophy on life. I don't like being tied down. It also explains my obsession with driving fast, motorcycles, and sports cars. For me, it's never been about an image, I really do just love the feeling such things provide. I'm sure there's validity to the boss mentality, or any one of the many other ways of approaching life. Am I the only one out there that sometimes questions if I made the right choice in what I choose to stand for? I don't know, but at least I'll look like a bad ass riding a motorcycle.

Zoom Zoom.

Breathe...

One and then the two. Two and then the three. Three and then the four. Then you gotta BREATHE.


So I went running this morning. At the gym, not like out doors. I figured if I'm going to wake up an hour or more before I have to, I might as well actually do something with the time. So today, was a nice little 2 mi. run. Let's see if I can make a habit out of this. I wouldn't mind doing it maybe 2 or 3 times a week. We'll see how it goes.

You Fucking Slay Me...

You're crazy hot.
You're adorably cute.
Your smile is like my currency.
Seriously, I tried to buy things with it
but all I could get was happiness and sunshine.
Your tits are phenomenal.
You drive me totally crazy.
I can barely contain myself.
You turn my world upside down, and my brain into mush.
You pull the ground out from under me, and not just the immediate area,
like earthquakes,
I mean the whole planet.
I was floating for three days until I hit pluto.
Your presence is beautiful.
Your being is art.
Your aura is like sunshine.
I guess what I'm trying to say is,
You fucking slay me.

Killed Me With A Sword...

Mal. Guy killed me, Mal. He killed me with a sword. How weird is that?

Well, more like she killed me. She slayed me. She turned my whol eworld upside down. Even after knowing her for months, she makes me nervous.

I fall apart around her. Loose my cool. She was my favorite addiction. Why do I do this to myself? I dunno'. Guess that's why they call it an addiction.

So I did a weird thing this morning. I called her to leave a vocemail saying goodbye, but I did it half in the poetic way I do things. Like I had to write it down because I didn't trust myself to remember what I wanted to say. Even better, I had to leave a second message, cuz I didn't read the first one right, and I'm sure it totally diluted my words... I couldn't have that. It kind of made my day because it was unusually bold for me. Hell, I think it's unusually bold for anyone. How often do we step outside ourselves and say exactly what we feel to someone with out fear of recourse. Simply put, I was like fuck it. I'm never going to see her again. So bitter sweet end. What better way to end a friendship crush? None I can think. Goodbye to my fav girl in NorCal.

Until the next one comes...

I Think I Got It Now...

Right, new boyfriend in Oakland. I think I got it now. ... Awkward...

Quick Question...

Why do women on dating sites insist on putting up pictures of themselves holding babies? I'm just throwing this out there, but I think you're average guy is going to think less of "Awww, she has a sweet sensetive, caring side," and more of "Oh shit, she has a kid!" Just throwing that out there just in case, you know, you wanted to post a couple pics on your profile. Here if you're ever unsure of what kind of picture to put up on your dating profile, here's a little advice: woman w/ baby = little bit scarey, woman w/ mortorcycle = hotness. Just look at your pic and ask yourself, is this a baby or a motorcycle. I think the best course of action will make itself apparent.

Get it Through Your Head...

She doesn't care about you like that. Why is it that we don't want what we can have and want what what we can't? Meh, at least I aim high.

Ridin Dirty...

Well, maybe not dirty, but ridin' hopefully.

So this weekend was interesting in that I did a couple of things to commit myself to choices that I've made. Decision making is a process sometimes, and just because you say you want to do something doesn't mean you'll actually do it. As you may have guessed, on of these decisions was to finally learn to ride a motorcycle. I signed up for MSF classes, which are hella' backed up, so I have to wait till Sept. to attend, but I spose I'll deal. A friend of mine seems to be mentoring me through the process and has suggested that I start with a Ninja 250. Not as sexy as my gixer, but I have a strict no dying policy. Ah, soooo pretty GSX-R600. You'll be mine one day. We'll see how quick I out grow the ninja.

A Thousand Words...

I finally got the capoeira pictures up. Some were from our last day training in the academy, some were from the last roda, and some were from a roda we had in San Jose. All good stuff. The last roda was very cool because everyone came out. It makes it feel like a family reunion. Looking over the pictures, however, it's becoming more obvious to me that I need a new camera. These were taken with my point and shoot, pocket camera, which is fine for most stuff, but can't do fast action in low light. That said, fast action in low light isn't a good shooting condition for any camera, but I'm sure I can find better. I'll have to do some research in the coming months and see what I want. Really, I wanted to avoid having to carry a big bulky camera around places, but I guess in some instances I'll just have to deal.


As an aside, we did a workshop with Silencio of Capoeira Mandinga on Saturday. It was freaking crazy. There was a good sized class for it, and he had us all pretty much feeling like total capoeira noobs. Mandinga has a different style from us, and Silencio in particular uses a ton of bridges and back bends. Every time he started a sequence and I'm thinking "hey, I can do that," he would throw a bridge in just for fun. Soooo.... hard.... but in a good way. Check out a video of the capoeira mandinga guys having a roda. Silencio is the short dark haired guy. Pretty bad ass, no?

Oh, bonus! I learned how to drive stick this weekend. I was helping a friend put a new intake into his speed3. Afterwards I asked him to show me how to drize stick. So, honestly, I stalled the car a few time, mainly when I was on an incline rolling back, but overall, I got the hang of it. *sigh* I want a manual car to drive. Maybe I'll just have to settle for buying a gixer. We'll see how that goes, ne?

Do you see a lion waiting at the bottom of a water-park slide?

Do not use the slide. Advice to live by, literally.

So, two things:

1. Drunk people suck! Seriously. I hang out with a lot of people that drink. Lots. Never have I hung out with the belligerently drunk until this 4th of July. Not my thing really. I don't have "baby sitter for drunk people" on my resume, and I'm not really planning to put it there. I find it weird, the culture surrounding it, where everybody else around acts like there's totally nothing wrong with it. He's drunk, that's just how it is. I don't drink. I don't plan on ever drinking. Now, I can totally understand my dedication to this decision.



2. I've been got. Caifornia has finally converted me. I went out and bought a pair of flip flops. I don't know that I wanted to, but I was tired of looking like an out-of-towner. Hippies in Santa Cruz kept trying to steal my wallet and what not, it was not cool. Now that I have them, I believe that I'm obligated to wear them well into november at anything short of a formal dinner, a first date, or religious event (and honestly the first date rule is probably optional). So, so far I've taken up yoga, tried to be vegetarian (that didn't really go far), and bought flip flops. Quick, someon stop me before I try to climb a rock.

Contact...

I'm walking on the ceiling and looking up at the floor. You turn my whole world upside down, and I'm loving every moment of it...


Hmm, so life is pretty mundane recently. Ever since I got back from VA. By comparison, hanging out at home just isn't as cool. As for minor going ons...


They closed they closed the capoeira academy this Monday. Everyone came out for a really big roda, it was really cool. Capoeira events like this always end up feeling like a family reunion you know. You get to see people that you haven't seen in a while and it's all exciting. I have pictures, and look for them to appear on flickr when I have a chance to sort through them. It's funny how you take like 80 pics and hope that 10 come out good.

Had a less than happy surprise when I found that I had to get work done on my breaks to the tune of $550... That's on top of the airline tickets I'm still paying for. What can I say, it's just money, right?

Speaking of which, friends are flying down to San Diego in Aug. for someone's birthday. Can it be so soon? Another OZoMa weekend? Possibly, Zo might bring her little sister Zoya, making it an OZoZoMa weekend. Now, how cool would it be if I could convince Codi to come, and that would make it a, are you ready for this? CoOZoZoMa weekend? Probably not likely, but how awesome would that be? Very, in case you're one of the slow kids in class.

Also speaking of which, (from the thing before, not from the slow kids), I got my promotion today. Should be hitting my pay check in two weeks. That's a good feeling because, with the promotion, I'm pretty close to making what I would like to be making at this point in time. It's just a hair short, but, you know, that's something to negotiate for next year. This is one of those thing that makes me feel like I'm almost, kinda', sorta'financially stable. I guess it works as long as I don't try to get my own apartment in a nice area :(

Hmm, I guess that's all for now. Check on Sketch and Reload in the near future. I have an update to the painting I was working on and should be posting that soon.

Bastard Tried to Kill Me...

He didn't, but I could swear he was trying to. He pretty much refused to open the door. Maybe you're not "supposed" to open the door, but most teachers do anyway. I'm talking about yoga again if you didn't catch on. Last night, I decided to go from capoeira straight to yoga. That's like a 3 hour workout there. Good times, right? The idea was to take it kinda easy in the yoga class cuz half the challenge is just staying in the room. Well, had I known this guy was going to try to kill us that night, I would have stayed at capoeira for the roda. Seriously, this guy has no idea that the only thing keeping me in that room was spite for him. Yoga can be powered by loathing apparently. I wasn't even doing yoga by the end. I was so spent I was just sort of laying there, being hot. I paid 11 dollars to be hot for an hour. I can go to VA and be hot for free. Hmm, slightly balding yoga man, you've made an enemy today. Consider yourself warned.

I Ain't Guilty of the Crimes You Accuse Me of...

...but I'm Guilty of Fear. (I still love Dummy)


So O-Zo-Ma weekend went off without a hitch, it was a real blast (I <3 you guys). I should have some pics on flickr up soon for that. Seriously, either you guys need to move to NorCal, or we just need to make Cali smaller. I wonder how hard it is to plane jack a private jet. I have a pretty big back yard.

Just got back from one trip and I'm already about to take off for another. Thur night / fri morning I'll be flying to VA. Somehow I figure that the whole friday the 13th thing will inverse the normal bad karma that flows through airports, and I'll actually get there on time, if not, early. Wouldn't that be awesome. By the time I'm done with all this I'm going to need a vacation from vacations. That said, it's only mid June. I wonder what I'm going to do for the rest of the summer?

Crisis Core is awesome. If you know what that is and have a PSP, play it.

So I'm semitarian now. You know, semi vegetarian. It's a phrase, I'm coining it. Ever since I started yoga, I've been doing this semi vegetarian thing. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not, nor do I plan to ever be fully vegetarian. I mean, how can you pass up the opportunity to eat carnitas tacos in Mexico from a street vendor? Basically, what it comes down to is that I don't want to have to think about it. If there's a good vegetarian option on the menu, or I have a good recipe in mind, I'll go with that, but there's no moral high ground in it for me at the moment (although, in all honesty, there are plenty of really good arguments). There are two observations I would note about being vegetarian. First is that you need to eat more. At least it seems that way to me. I'd already been into this thing of snacking on fruit all day, so it's not that unusual to me, but it seems that with the shift of my meals being from protein to veggie, I have to eat even more frequently to compensate. The second is that being vegetarian isn't "hard" per say. You just have to be willing to give up the variety of your meals. Most places you go seem to only have one or two vegetarian option on their menu. If you're the type of person who can find one or two items you like, and be willing to eat that through most of the week, then you're golden. Being vegetarian is easy. If you like a lot of variety in what you eat (and I actually fall into this category), then it's more of a challenge. I think the saving grace for me is that I cook, so I can come up with meals I like. So far I've done a broccoli in orange sauce a couple of weekends ago, and most recently, I've done vegetarian tacos with chilies and onions, and mango salsa (yum). Yeah, a bit of vegetarian I can do. Vegan I can't do. Vegans are crazy, why do you hate food? Silly vegans.

Still... So... Hot...

Ok, so I'm a couple more days into this bikram thing, and I still have a very love hate thing going with it. Turns out, I just don't do well with heat. I find it hard to breathe. That's not a bad thing mind you, my body will get used to it. I want my body to get used to it, but still it's hard. After the first hour, you;ve made it through all of the standing poses, and the floor stuff is easier. Again, I still have trouble with overheating, but I feel I can push more into this stuff. So complaints aside, I love the way it feels when I do get out though. I feel like totally relaxed, and I think I'm already starting to see the benefits flexibility wise. The other day, in my gymnastics class I discovered that I can do a cleaner headstand back bend, which is a cool looking move. So yeah, I figure I'll stick with it for a little while, even though every time I get into that room I can't wait to get out. As a bonus, according to some websites I burn like 1000 - 1500 calories a class in there, which is insane. There's nothing else I do that can match that. As an added, added bonus, it's low enough impact that I can double it up with other works outs. On wed, I was able tjavascript:void(0)
Publish Posto do yoga back to back with my capoeira class. That means that I've worked out some 7 times in the last 5 days!!! Score!

It's Hot!

So I finally did it. I finally tried yoga yesterday, and not just any yoga, like hot yoga. How was it? It was hot! It was like really freakin' hot. Ok, so I don't know the actual surface temperature of Jessica Alba in the nude, but for the sake of the analogy, I'm going to assume it's somewhere between 95 and 105 degrees fahrenheit. Other than that it was pretty neat I guess. I'm going back again today, and, possibly on wed. So far, what I like about it is that it's low impact so I can easily squeeze it into my schedule. It could just be that I'm not doing it right yet, but honestly, I don't think there's a muscle in my body that capoeira hasn't found already that will be suddenly discovered in yoga so I think I'm good. In fact, there are a couple of muscles I wish yoga did touch, but I guess I'm just going to have to work those on my own.

So what inspired this new found yoga interest you ask? Well basically, I saw video of myself playing capoeira (which I swore I would never do), and I could see that I looked so tight and lumbering. I figured I needed something to push my flexibility seriously, and bikram is awesome for that. Add to that Zoha has been about the bikram recently, and that started to push me. Also, add to that Codi is all about the yoga and has been trying to get me to go for like months now, and there you have it, I finally jumped. An aside about that, I'm sposed' to join her for one of these classes after I get back from all these weekend adventures. Hmm, I'm still not sure what I'm trying to get out of this. I guess I have a yoga partner. Do I want that? I should probably figure that out at some point. Anyway.

So there you have it. I do yoga now... I think I do at least. Before you know it I'm going to be going on about new ages and chakras. Then, when it's least expected, during some elaborate dinner, someone will pass a plate of chicken my way, and I will shake my head defiantly, almost disgusted as I say "No thank you. I'm vegan now." 0_o Here's hoping this doesn't go to my head.

Not So Bubbley...

Apparently there's like 400 - 500 calories in a serving of bubble tea :( Wow, that's going to hurt. I just rediscovered bubble tea, I don't think I'm ready to give it up yet. How much more do you want from me good health, you've already claimed cookies, ice cream, Panera Bread i.c. mochas, bagels, and taco bell. Don't take bubble tea from me too. Damn you! ... You don't need to eat lunch every day, do you?

Bubbley...

So, I've been on this big bubble tea thing recently. Seriously, I've had it pretty much every day for the past four or five days, and have found at least four locations that serve it. Bubble tea = happiness in my world view. Your opinions may vary.

I'm pretty sure what I did for memorial day was try to find something to do for memorial day. I went through like 3 or 4 sets of plans today. Apparently other people aren't as well to shrug of work, sleep, and responsibility as I am. What has the world come to when someone would rather clean than go out. Whatever I guess. Still was a good day. Starting off with an excellent morning work out and moving into bubble tea (as mentioned above). From there I watched Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I now remember why I loved that movie so much. I think I used to have this naive belief that other people were actually as collected and together as they appeared to be on the outside. As I've gotten older I've come to see that that's simply not the case in most situations. I like movies that in some way portray their characters as human, especially in the context of interpersonal relationships. I think this flick is great at that because both characters involved are pretty weird. I don't know that I like it enough to be in my top five movies, but certainly it's amongst the top ten or fifteen. I need to find more stuff by who ever was responsible for that film. If you haven't seen it, watch it. That said, I think a taro milk tea with boba is calling for me. It would be rude to keep it waiting.

Grrr...

I am so annoyed right now that both my Sunday plans and my Monday plans fell through. Oh, and the backup plan with Zo fell through too. Sure, come teus. Peter comes in for the rest of the week, but that still doesn't fix the fact that I have two days off with nothing to do :( ... I know. Could be worse, le sigh.

Ghost Office...

It feels so quiet in here. True, it's 800 in the morning, and no one is here that early, but still, it's kind of eerie. That they sent us home monday and teusday helped, but the fact of the matter still is that I didn't really want to come in this morning. That said, you have to get back to work some time, right? Dan, Nate, Andy, Dave, Reggie, and others, you will be missed. I'm sure you guys will find something else, but still.

The Meta Dream...

A funny thing happens wehn there's a lot on my mind, I can see it bubble up in my dreams. I find that I dream more often and more lucidly, and I can tell that I'm thinking about things in my sleep. So what's weird about this is when you start noticing what one might call meta data being used in the dream. That is to say when someone in the dream controls something or gains information from outside the context of the dream. A few examples.

I had a dream where I was with a group of baha'is and we were hanging out and walking somewhere, and I was talking to this girl. In the course of the conversation, I say something to her that was meant to be a joke, but wasn't especially funny. From outside the context of me in the dream I thought "I want her to laugh" and she did. Stranger still, I remmeber that, but that's not even all that weird by comparison to the other two dreams.

About a month or so ago, I had a dream that some friends and I were out adventuring. This was because earlier that night we were actually out adventuring. I kid you not, I have geeky friends. Anyway, in the dream we're out adventuring, but we're doing crazier stuff than we were in the dream. At one point we stop in front of this car and we're trying to decide if we should steal it when this old japanese guy comes out of this sushi resteraunt and starts yelling at us in Japanese. At this point Dan freaks out and is like "he knows, he knows, we gotta' get out of here." So we start walking away. Now, here's where it get's weird. As we're walking away, everything this guy is saying is being subtitled. I am able to read these subtitles, but not me in the dream, like me personally watching the dream. Having read what the guy said, me in the dream was like "yeah, he doesn' know, he's just going on about aliens from mars or something," cuz apparently the old guy was crazy. Maybe I am too, I don't know.

Anyway, third dream was last night. This one was weird because I totally played my dream. We're standing in a neighborhood in the middle of the street, and there's a trebuchet (a medieval engine of war with a sling for hurling missiles, according to dictionary.com, how geeky is that definition?). So, somehow I'm aware that this is a dream, right, so I'm like if I get in the trebuchet and have it fling me I'll be okay. I remember looking around and seeing trees and houses and stuff that I might hit, but I was totally like, this is a dream, I'm sure I won't get hurt. So I climb into this thing and some guy cuts the rope, and I go flipping head over heels, and I'm thinking "oh shit!" cuz it was terrifying but then I got a hold of my self and straightened out. I've never to my knowledge played a dream like that before. In case you're wondering, I ended up landing on the roof of a moving scion (xB) and I jumped from that onto the roof of a van. I smashed the window of the van and jacked it from the people driving. I took the van to a drop of point and got like $500. Yeah, I've been playing a bit too much GTA IV. Still though, if you have never had the chance to fire yourself from a catapult in a dream, do it, totally cool.

Seriously?!?...

Ok, I have to tell you something. Don't be mad at me, I'm an idiot I know. On occasion. Every now and then, I realize that I still really like that girl I was going out with. Yeah, I know right. I swear, I wasn't even trying to fall for her (not that I'm ever trying), and we were going out it didn't even seem like a big deal. For me it was more about winning attention and having someone to hang out with. It just so happened that I noticed when I was talking to her I felt like I could really open up around her, and if you know me, there aren't a whole lot of people I'm like that with. Right after that I was trying kind of hard to find people I would be far less interested in to hang out with, and that kind of worked. I met some cool people. The problem with that is that my attention span has a really short shelf life, and just don't meet people fast enough to keep it happy. I guess I'm okay with that cuz there's so much going on right now it's not like I'm in dire need of newness. I should learn to appreciate what I have, right? Anyway, I'll get over it I know, but it's just another piece of random chaos layered on these strange strange days.

You Are Fired!!!....

But you have to imagine it's being said like the old chinese guy from "The Fifth Element". In my world, everyone would get fired by that guy.

So, not a big deal sort of, but just so no one can say I didn't tell anyone. They just laid off like a third of my company. We went from a team of 50ish to about 30ish yesterday. I survived. Some of the people we got rid of, we needed to get rid of anyway, but still, with a situation like that you end up having to let good people go. People who are your friends and what not. I really feel bad for the people that have known about this for weeks. Blah...

It's weird cuz they sent everyone home yesterday and told us to take today off. So it's strange that while people were losing their jobs, a bunch of us were hanging out, playing games, and going out to dinner. I guess it makes sense because when the rest of us do get back to work, it will be with relatively high spirits, all be it with a lingering sense that something's missing. Greg was talking about going to the beach today, which I don't completely get. What do you do once you've gotten to the beach? Sit? Get wet? If I go, I'll just consider it a cultural exchange like the time we went to the chili cook off and my friends had me put on sun screen 0_o

Core Dump...

OMG, my brain has been running on overload recently. That probably means I got stuff I need to get out of my head but have just been reluctant to. Ahhhh.... That said, there have been some really cool developments over here recently. On one hand I've been training so much here that I think I'm about to break. Just a little more though, I'm about to hit a couple of events which will give me a chance to take a break anyway. First, Peter comes to visit Cali. next week, and then, two weeks later, I'll be in VA visiting peoples. It's kinda crazy in that I think Mark is now officially bigger than me. I mean, he's always been taller than me, but I think he has a few pounds on me now. Don't worry though, I'll still kick his ass if it comes to it. Someone has to keep that boy in line. Freakin' bear.

So I went and did Baha'i stuff this weekend. That was interesting. At a basic level, it felt good to be involved with the community since I hadn't been in a while. Saturday was our cluster reflection meeting, and Sunday we went door to door teaching in a couple communities in San Jose. Door to door teaching is a very strange animal. I thought I was going to absolutely hate it. Naturally, there's a part of me that hates the idea of taking my ideas and forcing them on others. I mean, it's not forcing really, but still, it triggers that feeling. In practice, it's pretty respectful, we're like "Hey, we're from the baha'i faith, and we're in the neighborhood giving people the opportunity to learn about the baha'i faith." If they say no, they're marked on the list as "not interested" and that is that. It's a lot easier than I expected it to be. People were all generally pretty nice. I think my final opinion on it is that it's not my favorite thing in the world, but I now know I can do it.

The thing that came out of that that I was really interested in was the idea of starting a youth group. It's weird, but we have children's classes galore, and we have pre-youth groups, but we don't have a youth group put together. That's so not gangsta, that's not gangsta at all. I think establishing a firm baha'i identity in those young adult years is critical so that as they get older, they don't stray totally away. I think a certain amount of straying happens anyway, so one has to take precautions. So anyway, just talking with one of the youths, Ryan, I threw out the idea of starting such a group. We'll see if that pans out, I've mainly just offered to be the adult sponsor, I guess it's up to the youth to actually move on it. Even if it's just a few kids to start, that would be cool, but I'm excited by the prospects. We'll see where all this goes.

So, consider this part one in a series of braind dumps. There's been a lot on my mind recently, let's see if I can get it all out before my finder get sore from typing.

J3L2404...

Wow, Netflix has really been doing good by me. I just got two more movies I liked, wanted to make sure to pass them along, those being "Fargo" and "Sex, Lies, and videotape." Fargo was awesome because it was the ind of quirky writing that I love indie films for. Match that with a bunch of Minnesota accents where every third word is "yeah," (it's hilarious when you hear it in full effect) and you have quite the quaint little film there. I also liked that it wasn't full of fluff. I have a short attention span, so even movies I like start to wear on me if they take too much longer than 90 minutes. Good deal right there. I also watch SL&V (abbreviated cuz I'm lazy). I didn't know what to expect out of this film especially since it's an older film ('96 I believe), and I don't necessarily like older films, but I was surprised. It was a really small cast, and a pretty low budget looks like, but it's one of those neat alternate love films that I love. You know, the kind of films that explore love and relationships as more than boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, antics ensue, everyone ends up in love (I hate when everyone end up in love). So yeah, this movie is neat. May not be for everyone, but I thought it was cool. Still though, I think "The Science of Sleep" ranks as my fav Netflix film. something about it reminds me of my actual life, the melding of my dream world and the real world. I sometimes feel like my divider is a little too ambiguous between the two. Anyway, see that one also if you have the chance.

All Growed Up...

Welcome to the new growed up version of my blog. I felt like I had somehow outgrown my myspace blog, and wanted to do something different. So bye, bye old and busted myspace blog, welcome new hotness. I'm still not 100% sure on the title, but I think it suites me well enough.