Although all of my immediate friends rarely use this livejournal to comment and/or keep up with our day-to-day bullshit, I still like to read past entries and how perceptions can change over time. It's a bit therapeutic, really. Either that or I am really egocentric enough to spend a Saturday afternoon reading and thinking about me, myself, and my demons. Ah well so I have made the decision to use it more often. It's fun to document, rant and rave, and get excited about recent progressions as a human being.

Since the beginning of March, Danny and I started a calorie-counting diet via www.mydailyplate.com. In order to reach my goals, my daily calorie intake started with 1,038 (I know...1 away from a Green Day reference!).

The first two weeks of a consisted vegetarian diet and an everyday visit to the gym (although the first week I had missed three or so days), I had managed to lose 2 lbs. I was elated and motivated to make the third week even harder and have more regimented workout sessions. I was able to run on the treadmill non-stop, which was something I was afraid to do but always wanted to excel in. I started non-stop treadmill from 10 minutes one day to 15 the next, and then today to a great half-an-hour! It was exciting and inspiring that I was at the gym for two and half hours today. That's probably a bit much but since I didn't lose a pound this week, I wanted to push my limits even more.

I think I made the mistake of overeating this week though. Too much protein bars (a reward I always had after a workout) is making me gain/sustain the weight I wanted to lose. I knew Negative Nancy would creep in this post!

Since the start of this new lifestyle, we have been drinking and going out less, saving lots and lots of money by not being frequenters at Kingdom Buffet, and getting closer and closer to our personal goals. I love the fact that we're doing this together. He's a great motivator, a caring leader at heart. I couldn't ask for anything more.

It was a beautiful weekend!

I spent it indoors and watched:
Season 1 of Arrested Development
the first half of Season 10 of Friends
Ocean's 11
half of The Others (Tom went out last night and I got spooked so I turned it off)
Waitress
Wedding Daze
Numb
The Station Agent
Back to the Future 1
Back to the Future 1 (with commentary)
(added at 11pm) Back to the Future III

I managed to sandwich all this in between sleeping and coping with my sinusitis.

Woohoo! Sickness 2008!

Really...was it beautiful outside today?

This bass guitar makes me rock!




Sometimes I wish I can not be me, and stand from this point of view to watch the Ridicules.



And sometimes I wish I didn't drink so much to make silly faces.

Anyone else who has pictures from the Copyrights / TBR set, that would be great so that I can re-live an awesome show!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

In light of the fact I'm turning 27 this Saturday (pop punk!), I bought this for meself:




I should get a Mustang bass like Dee Dee used, but...gotta give credit where credit is due. And blah blah blah.

Thanks, Mike Dirnt, for the present!

Ok. What was I thinking? Taking an online history course for pure enjoyment???

This is the most work I've ever had to do for any class! EVER. The lack of class meetings requires self-inclination of learning.

Hungover.
Sore from yesterday's return to the the gym.
Tired.

In spite of all of this, I will give it a rating of: 10 ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Because it's Saturday and Pots N Pans are playing tonight!

The Ridicules are playing tonight with the Dirty Boxes at Dadas. Come check it out!

Show starts at 11pm.

OH AND IT'S FREE!!!!

[Tony used to say that I take my sweet time when I paint. "But painting takes long time. Painting long time," in the worst degrading Chinese accent imaginable].

Here is a painting I created with Stephanie (missriot) in our painting class about three years ago. It's one of my dear favorites because it reminds me of one of our last semesters together (we had first met each other freshmen year in Art Appreciation); and it also reminds me of my frustrations with painting. I had given up on the day we were presented this still-life, so when I threw my inhibitions out the window, I actually created something I really like:


This next one I finished a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't painted in a while as my paints and brushes were collecting mounds of dust. Since I've had the most time in the world, I finally picked it up again to serve as my outlet from doldrums and anxiety that is the everyday.

I might actually give this piece to my cousin, Jerry. He seemed to take a liking in it. So that's one x-mass present!





comments/critiques/praises/insults are welcome!




...and I know you kids are dying to hear about the Sonics. But I'll save that for another day! I need to upload the pictures! Let's just say it was great. And you should watch the show on Youtube to see what you suckers missed. Once in a lifetime baby!

My recent acquisition:






I got the white one. You know how much I love them Apples. (So why not get a look-alike right?) I'm waiting out until the new operating system comes out for the iMac--after the bugs are all fixed. For now, I am gonna tweedle dee my little fingers with this pretty machine that my brother oh so graciously helped me out with. (Support, discounts, and the like, not of monetary value. Not yet...anyway). Hehehe.

I customized it with one of the best processors and added memory and video card yadda-yadda..etc..etc that now I can finally run my software that was causing my old machines to crash! All geeks, let's unite and rejoice! (I'm way too geeky and dorky and excited). Too bad my buzz will die when it will take two weeks for its arrival.

Oh and I also bought this:


SWEET!

In other news:
I FINALLY got the other Influents album that I've been waiting for about four years now. I just got around to listening to it. I love bands heavily influenced by the Replacements. If you're not familiar--It's Jason White's 2000-04 band, aka the unknown second guitar player sharing the stage with that band Green Day. Yeah that band. What happened to them? Anyway, wanna hear the Influents? I'll make you a mix!

DOUBLE SHOT OF SWEET!

Let's get excited together!

I attended my nephew-godson's second birthday this past week. I swear with the amount of pictures I took of him, you would've thought he was my son! He is an adorable child, I tell ya. My niece has also grown up too. She turns twelve next month, and since I won't be around for her birthday I took her out shopping at the outdoor mall next to Six Flags in San Antonio. She didn't want clothes. She says she is in her "tomboy phase." The day lingered on and she still didn't pick anything out. We ended up at Best Buy and I bought her a pile of Hannah Montana stuff. We watched the DVDs in my brother's newly furnished theater room. And it's one of those Cribs-esque theater room with aisles of lazy boys, a big projector, and high definition surround sound nonsense. It seems like my brother did well in life. He seems happy and complete. The family is dysfunctional, but I'll just sweep that under the rug. I believe we plan to go back for New Year's holiday. I can't wait to see my nephew and niece again. Funny that I say that. I used to be annoyed by my niece. She demanded more attention back then, and I just wanted to listen to punk rock and not talk to anybody.

(Longest. prose. ever.)

So I was stuck in Houston Airport on the way home for about ten hours or so. I stole the President's Club internet and my mom watched Charlie Chan movies from my laptop. The layover killed my mood for the next few days after that. But here's a picture to put a smile on your face:



( My nephew: Aidan Rhys )

Things brings me back 1996 style:
That was the year that I started my Freshman year at School of the (f)Arts. I remember befriending a lot of people in my grade. I wore anything I wanted without the fear of being ridiculed. Coming from a very closed-minded/uneducated middle school that spent more time picking fights before, during, and after school rather than..you know...learning, this was a treat come true. Because wearing a unique band-shirt of any type of music outside of R&B and/or rap would mean endless mocking and condescending air guitars in the corridors.

I think that's why I always wore a band shirt almost every day in high school. (Funnily enough, I still do.)

From this Goldfinger song the quote, "that looks like a tube of cookie dough" brought me one of my early close friends of that year. His name was Mike Myer. (No. Not Halloween Mike Meyers). He saw that same foul (and stupid) quote decorated on the back of my notebook in Health class on the first day of school (along with many quotes from Green Day, Ramones, and Rancid<---haha yeah I know). We became close friends since then. We talked about Beavis and Butthead and how much we didn't want to be certified for CPR. Mike even gave me a Green Day shirt for Christmas, one that I didn't have after weeks of random investigation.

This song reminds me of that moment in time. He was one of the very first people that I would write off because I didn't want to be social anymore. Sorry, dude. 10th Grade was coming and well those were my I'm-too-shy-now-weiner years.

That looks like a tube of cookie dough?

.....I really need to get out more...

Dave the Spazz just said that the Beach Boys were of the same caliber as Chuck Berry. They were merely influenced, not copying!

Why do you hate the Beach Bums so much?

I just got back from yet another trip to Seattle. We did a lot of relaxing because both me and Jerry are in a tiring/stressful part of our lives. We hiked the Franklin Falls and also visited Vancouver, B.C. (which I don't have pictures of...even the brothel, Cecil Lounge & Hotel, that we stayed at). Apparently Canada has never seen fireworks before, and whenever the town hosts a lightshow, every single hotel is booked a week in advance. We decided a lack of place to sleep will not deter our trip to Vancouver, so we said, fuck it. And yes, we stayed here: Cecil Lounge & Hotel

This webpage does not even cover what our bathroom-for-a-hotel room looked like. When Jerry sends me the pictures from his camera, I will fully go more into details of the Vancouver trip.

I also luckily caught a show of his solo show and his band, the Little Penguins, in one night at the Rendezvous cafe. I met two people from the bored, Chris and Allison. It was nice for them to come out and to meet. I really need to jump-start this networking/making friends business even more. (Note: This is also pictureless)

In the midst of my trip my camera decided to say, "I will no longer work properly." Which proved to say that I am not the best care-taker of small electronics. This digital camera is the third on the list (next to my iPod and cell phone) that has seen better days in the last month or so.

Needless to say its death was a casualty from a battle gone wrong during our hike to Franklin Falls, I decided to hop some rocks on the river. Feeling a bit adventurous after being told of a hidden cave, I soaked up enough courage to do this task. I was doing great for a person with no sense of balance or grace. I hopped at least 100 yards of the river (big rocks, small rocks, etc). Until I reached my fatal destiny...I lost my balance off of one rock, and landed on an algae-covered sediment; losing my balance and falling face first in the river/rocks. Not only did I have some cool looking bruises the day after, but I was also left camera-less. (Let's ignore the fact that everything I was carrying during my fall got drenched except for a pack of cigarettes...why can't I win this unrelated battle...I do not know).

( Other than that, These pictures will just tell its own stories. )

:::Disclaimer:::
Here are tons of pictures that will require high speed internet.

Last week was a good week.

( Pictures from 4th of July in D.C. / The Ridicules show in Brooklyn / Insubordination Fest )

Although it is 2 in the morning and we pretty much traveled all night, I figured I should post in regards of the pop punk fest while it's still fresh in my memory.

This picture below sums up how I felt...

Mixed emotions of anxiety rolled up with anger and excitement.
Yeah that's Dr. Frank, the lyrical genius; and me, lacking any sort of photogenic ability.

I pretty much got to see all the bands that I wanted to see since the Mr. T Experience, being THE BAND that fueled my enthusiasm for the fest played last (yes. not Ben Weasel). I was glad to hang out for a few minutes with Bobby, (and pardon the drop names here)...who kindly introduced me to B-Face which finally confirmed my question if he ever started playing with the Real Kids. [which he did for about 4 years, so he says].

I don't know what it is about me befriending bass players of MTX. I'm sure if I was around for the punk rock here in America in the late 80's/early 90's, I'd befriend their old bass player too. Though maybe Bobby and Joel just have the common denominator of an all-around, decent and down-to-earth human being up on their sleeves. Perhaps that's a prerequisite to join the band!


MTX

So yeah, the main highlights of the Fest for me:
the MTX set (of course I wish they would've played longer), me and Bobby talking about our musical tastes, our current bands and jobs; meeting B-face shortly, Wimpy singing with the Leftovers? (I forgot), oh and oh yeah Ben Weasel was fun too. Sweaty...but fuuuuun. I missed the set he sang with the Steinways (even after the fact that Steph told me to stay and wait).

There were more things that were beyond good:
such as Egghead (I only saw em in Brooklyn though), The Beatnik Termites (though it was a little boring), The Unlovables & Hallie saying to "finally see the Ridicules"...wtf ??? <---I've never used internet abbreviations before and this definitely calls for it.
The Methadones singing the Yum Yums cover,
The Parasites playing Ronnie is a Psycho...this can be an all-nighter of a list folks.

And that's just the last half of my vacation. I haven't talked about 4th of July in D.C. yet! And how we saw the Modernism exhibition by accident at the Corcoran Museum which could result into some creative artworks (and some, maybe different) to come. Let's just say I saw some Herbert Bayer prints along with other Bauhaus members' works.

But it's getting effin late. That'll be for the next post...and even more boring :)
p.s. WORK IS GOING TO BE THE DEATH OF ME TOMORROW. So, I'm not looking forward to that...

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