Ye olde money knife fight

I know, I know, it's been a long time since I've updated last, but since my life is so fucking mundane, I like to group it all up into one lump sum. That way, it seems that my day-to-day might actually be somewhat interesting. Banal minutia, for the most part, I do think.

Anyway, I'll start two weeks ago, Saint Patty's day, which happens to be Ms. Kim's birthday:

I had planned, with her best friend, a small surprise dinner party at a local eatery. We had sent out text-message invites, myspace messages, voicemails and such but could only entice six guests. It's not like she's wildly unpopular, she just has some flaky friends. Prior to the party, Kim tells me that for her birthday, she just wants to go to dinner with some close friends. Having already planned the shindig, I tell her that I don't like her friends, which erupts into a giant shitstorm of giant preportions. Don't ever tell your girlfriend that her friends suck -- not a good way to gain points. I did, however, get my 'almost get a beating from your girlfriend' boy scout badge, which kicks ass.

Anyway, we resolve the issue and we're all set to go. Reservations at 7:15. En route to the food place, I get a text from her best friend telling me to stall for 20 minutes. I try my best, but we're right on schedule (curse my perfect timing!). Luckily, neither of us have any idea where this place is. We drive around for 15 minutes before Kim decides she's going to call for directions. She ends up calling her friend (who is in the restuarant we are trying to find). I thought my battleship (actually, I always liked the cruiser better) was sunk. Luckily, she gives directions and we're golden.

Long, lame story short -- she was surprised. Yee-haw.

Eric's quick review of 300: Sexy enough to almost give a straight man a hard-on, but I felt nothing for the characters.

OH, HOW WAS YOUR WEEK?

Last week was killer. I can't really post the details, but regardless, it was a shitstorm, and I had a big hand in creating it. (Donning my nerd-hat) Essentially, someone wrote some really terrible code that got checked into our repository but somehow never made it into a production build. So, I come along, ready to make a small-scale fix on some totally unrelated code. I make the fixes, test out my functionality and push it as a patch to production. Well, the really terrible code got pushed out as well. I didn't load the gun, but I definitely pulled the trigger. I spent 16 hours at work that night and about 11 the next day. Not much fun at all.

DOSEJAUN himself.


This weekend, however, made up for it a bit. Jeryl, Zac, Kim and I attended the Subtle / TV on the Radio show, which was stellar. I'm not the biggest TVotR fan, but their new album is slick and their live show was pretty rock and roll. Subtle, as usual, tore the fucking place up. I've seen them a bunch and this was by far their most furious, intense show I've seen. Doseone was in fine form and the band didn't miss a beat. I didn't want them to stop. Even without Dax (miss you!), they are growing substantially. I fucking love their live shows.

Saturday was Zac's birthday. I don't really know what else to say, but I thought it should probably be noted.

What should also be noted is that Ms. Kim herself moves up to my neck of the woods (see also: with a roommate less than 3 miles away) this Saturday. She's essentially all moved up, but has a few more days of work. I am duderad excited. This whole long distance thing has been arduous -- actually, in spite the distance, it's has been nothing but joy -- she's an absolutely amazing woman. At this point, I couldn't imagine things without her.

Speaking of Zangief...

I think I've finally got Kim hooked on Trailer Park Boys, my current favourite in terms of television. It's a Canadian show and it kind of escapes definition. Just check it out, however you can.

Eric's wet dream comes true.

I bought two bitchin' monitors through the classifieds at work. I know you will all probably think I'm a huge nerd, but goddamn, they are sweet.

Speaking of nerdery, did you guys see the DOOM II ZONE that appeared on Saturn?

Finally, I sold the old Explorer. I only made a fraction of what I wanted, but I needed to get that thing out the door. As much as I'll miss her, that thing was a piece of shit. She dropped oil, smelled funny, handled like shit and got terrible millage.


Logger::sysDebug( sysdate, 'HRDCR' + 'GNGSTRZ' + upInYoShitStealinUr.toString() + 'PLYSTN3Z,BTCHZ.' );

NEWSFLASHDANCE

eric

Monday 26 March 2007 at 6:18 pm

One comment

The move is done. The unpacking is much closer to done that it was before; now I'm just waiting on a few essential items (counter-space extension, table, etc).

As I feared, my studio is smaller than I remember it being when I first looked at it. Michael (the building super) gave me the keys a few days early, so even though I didn't have anything to actually move in, I stopped by with some pizza and beer and decided to get a feel for my new place. I sat on my (only) windowsill next to my (only) window, listened to my ipod (synced just right for that perfect movie moment) and ate my pizza and drank my beer while watching the people below and the max cruise past. Seriously, it was a perfect movie moment.

First weekend of March my dad came up and helped me move all my stuff. The more stuff I moved in, the smaller my space got. But I've gotten everything situated just how I want it, and I'm actually quite comfortable. Now, understand, when I say it's "small," what I really mean is "itty-bitty." I mean s-m-a-l-l. Think back to the dorms. Everything is right here in a 300 sq ft space. BUT, it's MY 300 sq ft. I actually like it. This move forced me to actually get rid of a lot of unnecessary stuff, something I've been needing to do for a long long time. Cleaned out the desk, cleaned out the closet, cleaned out the shoes.... Literally, spring cleaning.

Finally broke down tonight and got my internet set up. I was going to see how long I could last just going to the tea shop and coffee houses and using their free net, but that got old pretty fast. So, another $30 a month that I'll be paying out. (This move is also teaching me to budget, and eliminate unnecessary spending (says the girl who just got back from Urban Fondue)). Last night I did my first load of laundry. Had to haul it down to the basement (I'm on the fourth and top floor) and remember my detergent, fabric softener, QUARTERS.... like I said, it's like being back in the dorms.

I've met a few people in passing, and so far everyone seems very friendly. It's like being the new kid at a small school; everyone I have encountered so far knows that I am the "new kid" if you will.... They know how long ago I moved in... It's creepy and comforting all at the same time....

So far my cat and I are settling nicely into our new routine. Yes, that's right, I couldn't just quit roommates cold turkey; I had to bring my cat up here from the parents' house to keep me company. It's nice to have him waiting by the door for me when I get home at the end of the day.

For now, I'm going to fold my couch out into my bed (futons are so functional in a small space!), read for a bit, then head to bed. The only downside to this move is that it didn't knock any time off the morning commute.

So so much love.


always.....

settling in

curlingiron

Tuesday 13 March 2007 at 10:45 pm

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HEY GUYS REMEMBER COLLEGE?

I'm offering this photo to the internet as a form of self-mockery since I haven't been keeping track of my life as often as I should be. This is a modern equivalent of Dimmesdale's-magnitude self deprecation. But not really.

Life has been very good. Work has been all-consuming -- the days tend to blend together but are spiced with Ms. Kim on the weekends to keep things interesting? I'm continuing to learn a whole lot about our overly complicated network / setup and am attempting to improve everything I touch.

We've had some crazy issues as of late and things have gotten a bit crazy. Things were breaking on OUR end of the system during Europe's peak sales hours. That's all and well, except that my favourite part of the day, the 1am - 5am super-duper sleep window, falls smack dab in the middle of it. I received so many emergency pages that weekend. The ringtone on the blackberry brings a shiver of fear to me.

Kim came up this past weekend as did a U-Haul of her belongings with her Mother and Crystal. They arrived a few hours before Kim, so I did a shit-ton of heavy lifting and unpacked the U-Haul before the lady showed up. I lift the shit out of anything when a fine-ass girl (Ms. Kim) is on the receiving end -- I'm just that kind of guy. She's simply perfect. She made breakfast for dinner and wouldn't let me help. I killed time watching the 'Sandsculpture Super Championship' and making funny Miis on the Wii. I made on that looked a lot like a red-headed Hitler, but both Kim and I decided it was in poor taste. THE HOLOCAUST ISN'T SOMETHING TO TALKIN' JIVE ABOUT.

With a few minor changes, however, I modified irish hitler to look like this:


Meet Mr. Knapson. He doesn't like minorities. He doesn't like kids either -- he tells them to get two things: a job and off his lawn. He doesn't like sugar. Or salt. Or progress. He doesn't really care for anything and is bothered by everything, all the time. He does frequent forums aimed towards 'failed grandparents,' but even on the internet, he is still an asshole.

Over the past few weekends, Kim and I have watched the Trilogy. Yeah, that's right, the Karate Kid Trilogy (The New Karate Kid [with hilary swank!] doesn't count). It hasn't held up over the years as much as I would have hoped. Ralph Machio is a fucking pimp, however. Macking on Elizabeth Shue, kicking the shit out of the Cobra Kai, he's a lanky badass. He's also got he greatest musical montage in film history -- "You're the Best" by Joe Esposito. EPIC.

On a side note, I'd like to direct people to one of the most strange 'happenings' around here: 'THE CAL LANFEAR DEFAMATION LEAGUE, or something like that. I don't get it, but I love it.

As sledg said, the new Big Biz album is out. HANDS UP.

I'm anxiously awaiting my tax return. I plan to invest half and build a new computer. Papa needs a new pair of everything.

can you guess my username?

On a sidenote, I got the latest hot-shit: Nike+. If you don't know, it's a magical contraption you put in your shoe that links with your iPod and records your run. It then syncs through iTunes to the nikeplus website. From there you can view a graph of your runs over time. You can also set up challenges for a group of people. Some guys from work have it and we're currently duking it out. I'm winning. Thank jebus I work with a bunch of people in their mid 30s who have families and mortgages and loans who have no time to do anything but worry and grow older.

On a further sidenote, it's fucking hard to come up with a good run-time mixtape. It's all about precision pacing. I do have a moneyshot track, for me, anyway -- Huddle Formation (RJD2 MIX) by The Go! Team. It's not all that hot, but it always jazzes me up.

I just got back from a fun evening. Corey, my parter in crime for the mixtapecollective, and I have been having regular Wii sessions as of late. I must say, once you master Tennis, one-on-one matches get more intense than heated mortal kombat battles back in the day. His fiance definitely thinks we're nerds, flailing around with our 'nerd wand' wiimotes. I don't even care. This fine evening, however, was justly earned, as my earlier day has sucked:

In the time it took me to write this post, I have since gotten word back from the IRS that my birthdate supplied (my correct birthday) doesn't match what's on my social security card. I have to get it changed before I can continue with my eFile taxes. What the shit? How did I not know about this earlier?


Anyway, I wake up, go to work for a few hours, go to the dentist for fun times with Dr. Drill (also known as Dr. Syringe) and Ms. Vacuum-tube. They hummed songs playing on the radio in unison. The highlight of the event was the 'We Are Family' apex. Definitely the tune of the day. Anyway, directly after, all numb-faced, I head down to the Social Security Administration building. That place, oh man, almost too much for me to handle without a stiff drink.

As I walk through the doors, I see a sign that says 'Please take a ticket from the machine on the left'. I walk in and the computer is directly to my left. I don't even look at the rest of the room, I just punch my name into the computer. With that, I take my print-out and turn around to find a seat. It was just like a scene out of a movie -- my head cocked back with surprise -- there wasn't an empty seat in the house. Totally, completely, chock full of people. I turn around and look at the ticket ticker and there's 30 people in front of me. fuck.

I wait for just over an hour. I didn't have a book, my ipod, my phone -- nothing. I had my social security card, a pen, a form and my birth certificate. There were no magazines. And if there were, I probably shouldn't have been touching them. It's was a sad, smelly waiting room comprised of the following ratio: 1/3 poor old people, 1/3 teenage mothers and 1/3 immigrants. Imagine inhabiting an environment, with this ratio, where every single soul wishes to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

I finally make it to a window to see someone to help me. It takes all of four minutes to complete the transaction. I was extra nice to the guy, he looked like he needed some niceness in his life.

I hereby pledge to make enough money to not require a dime of Social Security fundage (this is *assuming* that it'll be around in five decades). I never want to go back.

But yeah, life is wonderful. I love you all. Remember that.

THE BEST AROUND.

eric

Thursday 08 March 2007 at 7:13 pm

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.....Yesterday, while walking back to school from the Liquor Deli, I ran into a friend named Caroline on the street. She ran up to give me a hug, and as she did - SMACK - a car accident in front of Amoeba Records. We surveyed the scene as a small crowd of people walked past us. We look over at them and it was Mandy Moore and her entourage of scruffy indie rock dudes. All of this happened within the same 30 seconds.

HAW LEE WOOD!

The new Big Business album came out today. BUY IT.




I went back to Portland Feb. 25th- the 28th. It was nice to be back, but fuck man, LA has made me a big pussy about the weather (it was 80 degrees today by the way). Eric took me out to dinner for my birthday. It was nice to catch up in person. That night we went to the boiler room to sing some karaoke. There was no karaoke there however. We accidently got sucked into the most uncomfortable situation I have ever witnessed - Open Mic Amatuer Stand-Up Comic night. We were the only ones there that weren't comics. HORRIBLE.
We booked it out of there straight to my favorite place of all time, Union Jacks. Jeryl, Katester, My Bro Preston, Garrett, Simone, and a few others pounded booze and watched naked boobies all night long. Then they surprised me with a lap dance. YAYYYY! Good Birthday. Now Im 24. Didn't I start writing on this site when I was like 19 or 20?. Time flies.

After I went back to LA, I immediately drove down to San Diego to visit my old russian friend Pappy aka Pavel. I haven't seen him in a long while, so it was nice to catch up.

I drove back from San Diego and left to go to Joshua Tree.



Joshua Tree is a desert town outside of Palm Springs. A girl in my class has a house out there, so about 7 of us film school kids went out there for the weekend. We drank whiskey and beer, listened to lots of DEAD MEADOW, and played mini golf. Thats right, we made our own Mini-golf course in the desert.






It was an amazing time. I recommend it.

Back to work. Only three weeks of Pre-Production left.

Surreal Tales of Passion and Coincidence

ian

Tuesday 06 March 2007 at 8:33 pm

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