Daily Update - Happy Birthday Edition

Hello Friends. I've been on break as you might have noticed. Its been great. On friday at work they told us to leave, cause the bosses didn't want to stay. They also told us that there's no need to come into work on Monday or Tuesday for New Year's Eve, or New Years' Day. They figured that half the office would be hung over, and the other half would be blogging about what had just happened the night before all day, so they just told us to 'Keep it Real' somewhere else. That made it easier for me, cause I was planning a big elaborate scheme to get sick right before the USC football game on Tuesday, cause I didn't want to miss it.

As some of you know it was my Birthday on Saturday. There weren't to many people in town to help me celebrate. But thats OK, I'm used to being 'out of town' on my birthday, and those that were there still had a grand ol' time. Last year I was driving a U-Haul truck down to LA from Sacramento. This year I spent it decorating my Gingerbread Castle, watching college football on TV, and just hanging out.

In the evening a few of us had planned to meet up and go to Dinner at Chili's. I was tempted to go up to Pasadena with Renee and EmWin, but 'Something came up' and I just plain-ol' didn't go anywhere. At Chili's I ate a BBQ Ranch Bacon Burger. It was good, and much to large for any one person's stomach, and I could barley fit it into my mouth. Ahhh, it was heaven. I shouldn't have eaten it all, but I did. It was a pride thing I think. I think I'm still full from that meal (which isn't a bad thing, but it is something worth noting). Then Emily, the good friend that she is, did a good thing by telling Julio our waiter that it was My birthday. This means only one thing at any self-respecting restaurant, thats right, Free Desert! Oh, the Molten Chocolate Cake, thou delight of my day! How I love(d) thee, all the way to my stomach.

Thanks for all your love/ support/ tolerance/ understanding/ friendships throughout the years.

I'll try to let you all know when I buy my delicious Costco Birthday Cake (there 'might' be a few of them).

Daily Update- Merry Christmas Edition

Wow, there was so much happening this last week its hard to remember it all. (has a really been a week?) Last friday the bosses took us to lunch and then let us off early. What a great present!

Later that night I went Christmas shopping with Cheryl. We each still had stuff to get for people we knew, so I tagged along with her. We went to the Centry City Mall. Now, I thought that I had been there before, but apparently there's more than just a movie theater and a food court there! I've been there dozens of times, but never did I know that there were more than just the movie theater (and surroundings) there. I was completely awe struck. I'm going to have to go there again to check it out again, at least just to verify that I wasn't just dreaming it all up.

I flew to Salt Lake last Saturday (the 22nd). I got a ride to the airport, and arrived One and a Half hours early, but as the car pulled up, I thought to myself that I should have gotten there earlier. After I gulped in fright, I got my bags and charged for the front of the line. It didn't take as long as I had thought. And after it all, I ran into two girls from the Santa Monica Ward who I knew. We had a delightful visit. Rachel even saved us seats, cause she was the keenest one who got a better placement in line. One thing about Rachel, which I already knew, but would like to share with the world, is that she is a Rock Star. A 'Guitar Hero' Rock Star that is. You know how Hippies and Beat-nicks will tow their guitar around with them in airports and such (ready to play at any coffee shop or book store, or street corner)? Well Rachel Had 2 of her Guitar Hero Guitars with her in her back pack, and they were sticking out for the whole world to see. Now, I've never seen her play, but I've heard great things about her abilities. And in parting after the flight I found out that she went to my High School, and graduated a year after me. Funny.

As I arrived in Salt Lake I quickly realized that my meager LA sweatshirt, and stylish Flip-Flops were no match for the Utah Cold. In the two minutes that I had to wait for my dad to drive up and get me, I luckily found a heat lamp, and searched for the warmest part of it. The difference of Utah Cold vs. CA Cold is like tap water to Ice water. Luckily I am a little familiar with this, so I wore my Arctic Gray Coat that I acquired from my brothers closet last year (thanks Dave). (p.s. don't tell him that I have it.) While driving home I announced to my dad that we will be Dinnering at Crown Burger, and that I have reservations and we must be there in the next 15 minutes. He went along with it, but then started disbelieving me after I told him just to go through the drive-thru. It was so delightful to sink my chompers into a juicy, fresh, succulent burger, the likes of which have no comparison. I'm sure that upon my arrival in Heaven, that is what will be presented to me for my welcoming feast.

Another Joyous thing happened as I walked into my old house and noticed that my Mother had prepared almost every single cookie that I had instructed her to from my Christmas Wish List. I almost cried for joy, but I just started stuffing my mouth full of every variety of Christmas cookie. ( Note to all the Chocolate Chip Cookie Contest Committee: The next two contenders to battle Reigning Champ Jeff, are to be My mother, and Brandzilla. Oh, and Tiffany too. They both have glorious bits of heaven inside of each bite of Chocolate Chip Cookie. The type of cookie that wisps your memories away, back to your first birthday, your first steps, and even the first time you got your drivers license. Its cookies like that that make people who they are. And I ate a whole batch of them, and then asked for more. Then threw a tantrum like I was 8 when she wouldn't.

It snowed every day I was there. On the 24th I slept until 11. I went shopping and had to drive home in a blizzard. I had lunch at Gandalfo's that day. (My only mistake that day was NOT getting donuts at Banbury Cross. They're Grrrr-reat!) Most of the free time that I had while there at my house I spent 'Fighting the Battle of My Life' on my brothers computer(or was I fighting the battle of My Brothers life?). Its fancier than mine, so my battles were sophisticated and complex. He also had guitar Hero, so I spent a good amount of time Jamming like a Rock Star. I feel pretty good about my time doing that.

Christmas Day was lovely. I slept in again, till 9:30 this time, and only got up cause in our family our big thing is Christmas Morning Breakfast (its a buffet for a king). I woke up to help with that (although not to willingly). And my sister phoned (who's on a mission), so we spoke with her for a little bit. Then we ate. Oh it was so good. Just imagine a thanksgiving feast except out of breakfast goods, and thats what we had! Then we opened presents. Joe got me a gun rack for my bedroom. It may have been the highlight of the afternoon. Later in the day it got so boring! Brother left with the GF, and then the parents started doing their own thing, so I was left to my own devices. I didn't want to have to Fight the Battle of my life on Christmas day, so instead of me pulling my hair out due to boredom, or me streaking the neighborhood, I went up and hung out with Cheryl's family. They were definitely less boring than it was at my place. They had a grrreat big huge turkey dinner, just like at Thanksgiving time. It felt like I ate myself silly, which was awesome thing I might add (but only for thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays, or when at Chris N Pitts or Chuck A Rama.) I wasn't really hungry from my encounter with breakfast, but there was no way I could let all that good food go to waste. We also played some strategy game. They played twice, although I only played in the second game, which I had the glory of winning I might add. I should have told them that I have been a master Strategist for many years now. Although that info wouldn't have helped them, only making them more nervous perhaps. But it was a lovely time.

Then on Boxing Day (26th) it was a whole other adventure. I was at the Gateway mall for a minute, and there were so many people! mostly Big, and annoying, and their kids had their toys with them, swinging them around like they were made for 'heavy handling'. I wanted to start pushing them into large piles of slushy snow just to show them that I was better. But then their parents would need me to show them that I was better than them too, and i didn't want to make that big of a scene, so I didn't. CS and I went to a movie. It was crowded. It was Cold. I met up with some old college friends for a few minutes, which was nice. Then later we met up with Sara, Jessica, Jeff, Ricky, and Silvia, and my brother for dinner at The Roof. Now that was another great Eating Fest! The best buffet that I've ever had (although I need to test out the Bellagio in Vegas still.) It was an hour and a half of pure delight. I really ate more than I should have, its just that I got full on the real meal stuff before I hit the desert table! I couldn't stand for that, so I made myself eat at least one piece of every cake they had out, half of a creme' brulee, and some eight chocolate covered strawberries, and one mini-eclare just to name a few. It was good. And the lights at Temple Square were nice too (The people at the LA temple should take note.)

Last night after I got home from my travels, I decided he was hungry. My car took me straight to Ralph's, and I decided a Pizza would be the best thing for me. As I got home and was heating it, I got a little involved with The Battle Of My Life, and thus over cooked my Red Baron Pizza. But I was still determined to enjoy its crusty goodness, so I excitedly bit in to my freshly baked pizza. And what to my wondering eyes should behold, but Scalding hot oil, on the roof of my mouth! I tried to relieve this pain by spitting it out, but I think the sticky cheese substance had stuck to the roof of my mouth, so I had to use my tongue to usher this burning food our of my mouth. As my tongue squeegeed the pizza bite out of my mouth the tip of my tongue fell victim to the Sizzling oil, cheese, and Sauce as the bite stuck to my tongue too. I would have used my fingers to rip the violent pizza bite off my scarred flesh, but they were busy fighting evil trolls, and fighting off goblins at the very same time. Oh what a painful dinner/gaming experience. But don't worry, it didn't stall my battle efforts for that long, I whooped the Evil forces of Mordor soundly by the end of the evening.

So catching up with today, I noticed the most peculiar thing. I was just looking over my beautiful blog, and I happened to be scrolling back a few days, then weeks, then months, when I noticed that there was a comment posted by one of my wonderful readers. I clicked to read it, and it was from someone named Haley (Goodrich). An old friend from Salt Lake. How exciting! How on earth would she have found my blog? I must be more well known than I first imagined. (Haley, I would have responded to your post, but I don't know how to find your blog).

This morning I decided to go and say 'Hi' to Stans Donuts. I did so, but also that they raised their prices. I guess that's why the price sign was taken down months ago. Well, thats just another reason to Not visit there anymore. That and Stan's racist, bigoted attitude.

I'm sure there's more exciting stuff that I've either left out, or forgotten, so it will have to wait till I remember it (not that you'll care).

I'm listening to Bruce Springsteen right now.

Lunch was sponsored by Socko's.

Happy New Year everybody.

Daily Update

Today at work my bosses took us all out to Lunch. We celebrated this years Christmas party at a Chinese restaurant. I think it was some sort of experiment; although they called it a buffet, it wasn't. They just brought out a set number of plates, with weird Chinese type food on them. Just to describe what we had, the vegetable plate had three different types of mushrooms and Bok choi. the bosses got the korean kid Jelly fish to be funny. It tasted like cooked pencil eraser. I really think Buffet city is better. I even think Panda Express is better. For me anyway.

Last night I ventured down to target. It was the first time back since the Gypsy incident. Although nervous, I made it in and out with virtually no problem. I did see a girl I recognized from the Santa Monica ward, and my first instinct was to greet her. I was mildly smiling and started to raise my eyebrows in interest to open a line of communication with her, but at the last second I decided I didn't know her well enough to greet her in public; you know, out in the open- outside of church functions. So I canceled the greeting at the last second. But as I was pulling out of the dive, I noticed that she had started to see me, then saw me not follow through, then I realized that she could have recognized me, so I felt foolish, so then I felt it necessary to start running away to avoid any embarrassment. Thats how I avoid embarrassment, by running away.

It was a good day at work today, as busy at it was.

Lunch was sponsored by VIP Harbor Seafood- the Chinese restaurant spoken of earlier.

And as the season required, I listened to Christmas music for most of the day. until I left at 3:30. :)

Merry Christmas everybody!
and if you haven't seen it, my christmas card to you can be found at:
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1202157408

Daily Update

I went running last night. It was like a snake shedding its old skin, and becoming new again. A rebirth if you will of the old 'new jim'. I was up in the Australian Outback. We went there because of the long flat planes that go on forever and ever. I was weary of my walking limb injury last week, so I promised myself that I would run this week for sure. And oh how right I was. I was like a like the most wild and viciously ferocious prairie dog alive. I would jump from one place to the next with no care in the world of what the others would think. I was a good running Field Prairie Dog cause my left ankle was bound up with tape, and extra socs, and I tied my shoe extra tight to prevent movement. As people would pass me, and I let them this time, I would scamper about and nibble on sticks, and scurry about to avoid any enemy. I didn't see the usual enemy's so that was good. They probably are on vacation with the Holidays coming up. When I was trying to walk down the stairs to go running I couldn't move my foot at all. So I just hobbled along like a pirate till the tape relaxed. It must have been night time in Australia cause there were very few lights around like there usually are. I thought it was supposed to be summer time there.

Also, right after that adventure, I went to the grocery store to return a few un-needed food items. I quickly jumped into the shortest line and waited my turn. It was a rather long wait for one person to purchase 5 items, I first thought, but then I pushed that idea away, cause I was in Happy person mode, cause grocery stores aren't as accommodating to angry people. So when I got up there, I slowly realized why his line was shortest. He had something wrong in the head, I swear. As his fellow employees walked by and asked him if he needed more bags, he would drop everything to check how many bags he needed. If someone asked if that was a 'take-back' in the corner of his area, he would organized Everything in the area, inspect it, then respond. Shortly thereafter all the other customers went thru their lines yet I remained still. But then some of the other 'sane' employees came over and told him to just do it the easy way. '12 $1 items, credit him $12.' end of story. "Oh no, thats not the way I know how to do it, here let me try" is what I heard about 12 times before I realized that I should find a chair cause it was about to be a long time. I kid you not, but the first item was back on the shelf before he was done crediting the second item. The there was some sort of problem on his machine, so he had to ask one employee to go get it back off the shelf so he could re-scan it, then void it, or something like that. Good grief Charley Brown!

work was busy today. they switched me to another project again, and not the one I wanted to work on.

Lunch was sponsored by Jamba Juice, and co-sponsored by Stan's donuts, with additional assistance from the Vat of popcorn that was still left in our kitchen at work.

I listened to Euro-techno today in order to help me work faster. I don't think it worked.

daily update

I worked a little late last night, and then went right over to Damon and Pythia's, a food place for a get-together in honor of jessica's graduation. Now that she will have so much free time, I wonder if she'll think she needs to take on a second full time job, just to come close to the amount of work that they required in school. I know exactly how she will feel. I went crazy with all the free time that I had. Lost of Play-time. Its great!

On the way out of the place some weird looking elf like dude came up to us and started asking stupid questions. Who are you? are you married? do you read? do you live in area? etc. I even asked him in his line of questioning if he wanted my social security number and credit history from me as well. He looked like his name could have been Ernie Goldstein, and he was possibly related to the family of Keebler Elves who make cookies for a living. So he started prostituting himself by soliciting his own book to us. Then he would ask if we liked being happy, "cause [his] book would help us be happy too". Lots of dumb questions like that. the came the price tag. He wanted 20 smackers for his stupid diary! We refused to pay such outlandish prices for such drivel. From there Elf-boy didn't miss a breath and thus went on to tell us that because we're such good people, and cause he likes me (cause he things I'm a sucker cause I'm listening to him) he'll give us a deal of 5 dollars off, making the price only 15! Sorry Mack, I didn't even pay that for my treasured Harry Potter collection. Then after another minute of him yapping away, Cheryl interups him and says "No, (you lame-o) We're not interested (in your crappy scribblings) We have to Go." ... At that point I wasn't sure if she was sternly talking at my new author 'friend' or at me for allowing us to talk with him that long. I took that as a hint that she was done with me listening and playing with this old elf's emotions. After all, it was raining. And Elfie had strategically tipped his umbrella(in a retarded like manner) so the downpour was shooting right at us too. I think at that point she just wanted to pinch his head off. Now that would have been interesting to see too.

Then a bit later, I started the mass assembly of my Gingerbread Castle. It was fabulous, other than misplacing my frosting recipes and having to call a bunch of girls I knew for it. It was a fragile process, but with spectacular results. And yes, it may have taken just over an hour to make one quart of frosting. But it was done with the up-most care.

Lunch was sponsored by In N Out. I ran into Rick n Silvia there.

I'm listening to Christmas music right now. Its splendid.

Daily Update

I woke up to a lovely European Morning. Drizzling rain, a cold gentle breeze, fallen leaves scattered everywhere, muted colors of every shade of gray, and toast for breakfast. I had done the usual routine by waking up early, ignoring my alarm, then sleeping till 10 after 9. Work is busy, Christmas songs are heard everywhere. It sounds so peculiar.

Last night Cheryl and I went to see the new Will Smith movie. It was kind of scary, and weird, yet somehow interesting. After that I took CS to Jack in the Box for dinner. I only realized after that it probably wasn't a great idea. I already found out that she didn't like Costco hot dogs the hard way, and now Jack in the box. I'm still learning... kind of.

So the craziest thing happened at work. Collins was asking about Steve's computer monitor. I asked him why he would want to switch monitors. Then I suggested that Steve doesn't use the computer that much anyway, but Collins looked at me plainly and said, " he wont' be using it anymore, at all". I was confused for a second, and asked him to clarify. He responded by stating that i don't check my [work] email very often. Even more confused, I checked my email, and found a memo from the bosses announcing that his services are 'no longer needed in helping us out'. Oh well, One less desk mate. No more Irish swearing, or stories of how he 'once wrote a Screenplay'. One thing's for sure, there will be a lot less swearing in the office.

Attention guys: mistletoe is on the move! In the past weekend's activities, both at a birthday party, and a Gingerbread house extravaganza, there were at least 12 mistletoe fungi's seen planted on ceiling fixtures and such. Both of these 'Suggestive' moves were done at Girls apartments. So be careful guys. and Girls, We know what you're up to. You and your devilish tricks!

Another peculiar thing in our office. We opened the third vat of popcorn this morning. And it too has been evaporating like crazy. Not to mention the 'desert type bread basket' that was dropped off for us. Mmmm, I love the holiday gift giving season.

I'm listening to the 'Last Battle' in the Chronicles of Narnia. The first 5-6 chapters were the worst things I've ever read. I actually stopped out of anger. I sat in turmoil for the next 30 minutes before I broke down and jumped into the wikipedia article that explained what was going on. after a quick read, I decided to continue in good faith. It steered a little more to a decent path, but never fully recovered. ... I just finished it and yup, the ending was truly worse than that of the third lord of the rings movie.

Lunch was sponsored by Taco Hell today. I went there cause I couldn't think of where else to go, and nothing else seemed to appease me.

daily update

On Friday night there was a fun little get-together at Fairburn. I was in my room, after work, preparing to fight the battle of my life when I got a call from Ms. Bethany herself. It turns out that she needed someone's help purchasing food items for the little b-day party she was throwing herself. She only gave me 45 minutes to do this, so I slowly hurried out the door to help a few friends out. Now the guest list had like 200 people on it easily, but they only told me to buy for 30. So I improvised and just got what I thought they would need. It may have been a little much, but oh well.

I treated myself to a glorious batch of Pancakes on Saturday morning. Right before I started plotting a computer model, and then physical model of my future Gingerbread house. Ahhh, just like school again. And all for a gingerbread house. Oh, just you wait though, Its going to be spectacular.

In the afternoon Jeff took some of us to see Alvin and the Chipmunks on the Fox Lot. It wasn't bad. It wasn't great, but entertaining. Better than I thought it would be. Then later I had to rush home, get dressed up, and meet some of my old school mates at some fancy restaurant in West Hollywood. Yes, I found out more about gay culture than I ever had wanted to. It wasn't all dudes though, I sat next to a chick I knew. She quickly reminded us how weird she sometimes is.

I woke up early on Sunday to plan out and make a foam-core model of my gingerbread house. It, like most things lately, took longer than I thought. As well, making the actual gingerbread dough. But in order to start that, I had to run over to Jeff's place to get the rest of the ingredients that I needed. Then mixing all that stuff took until 5 minutes after church started, then I got there 15 minutes late, so in other words, right on time for Elders Quorum :)

After church was over there was a very meager munch n' mingle. I found nothing there for me, so I just went home to start my gingerbread prep. While at home I realized that I didn't have the necessary bake-prep devices, so I had to do it somewhere else. At Greenfield.

The Gingerbread House Party at Greenfield was a Huge success. There were tons of people there. Too many in fact. That could have been part of the reason I left so early. But there were enough activities for all to enjoy. I was literally in the kitchen for 90% of the time working on cutting my Gingerbread shapes. There was hot Cider brewing. There was Eggnog, and a delightful assortment of cookies. There was a full table of people making gram-cracker houses being made. They were quite creative. And in the other room, if that wasn't enough, Emily had purchased a schlew of C-tree ornaments and some glitter/puffy inky stuff, that you would draw on the ornaments with. Now that was truly fascinating. I wish I would have spent more time decorating those bulbs.

Lunch was sponsored by the Corner Bakery

I'm listening to The Chronicles of Narnia- The Silver Chair right now. It was just like the last. They could have made a 10 minute story out of it and covered just as much ground. It was barley entertaining. No new concepts were revealed, and no new excitement was engaged.

daily update

The Battle of my Life continued of last night, the second I got home from work. It went extremely well. I have taken three more territories of Middle-Earth, and defended 5 more. But that adventure quickly ended as Cheryl and I had planned to watch a movie. In some of my daily research on the internet, I found that the latest Harry Potter movie has just been released. So my ambitions lay with finding myself a copy of such a thing. So in going to buy this said entertainment media, my Best Buy coupons had just barley expired, so I decided that venturing down to Costco would be best in my opinion. Although it probably would have been more economical to simply go to Best Buy, I resisted that temptation. While at Costco I offered to buy Cheryl a Costco Hot-Dog for dinner, but she seemed to be pretty disgusted at this idea. Oh well, I'll have to bring Jeff back on Saturday.

Lunch was sponsored by In N Out again. I realize this is only the second or third time that I've gone to a place two days in a row, but by eating Chinese food last night, the spiciness canceled out the burger taste.

I'm listening to the next book in the Narnia Series. They still deal with annoying brats, stupid creatures, and heroic children. Its mildly entertaining... well, the first half anyway. Its ending is like the ending of the third Lord of the rings where it could have ended 4 times, and they should have ended it even sooner. Overall it was disjointed and confusing; I don't think it matches the whole 'theme' of what mr. Lewis was going for. The other books have had strong overtones, but this one didn't really hit it on the head. I hope the movie is better. I really wish I was listening to christmas music instead.

Daily Update

I was determined to get some of my Christmas shopping done last night. I had a plan, I had the determination, and the means to get to the designated retail locations. But first my stomach was speaking to me. And it was using harsh language.

On the way home I stopped by the cleaners to pick up some of my shirts. Fault Line cleaners to be exact. Kami knows which one. So I was picking up one shirt in particular that they had ruined some months before. Not only was it returned to me with more stains on it, it also had puncture marks, and cutting marks in it as well. After the manager looked at it, he was sure that it was "Moths". That is terrible news because this is the first cleaners, the first people in this civilized country of ours to discover Moths that will eat Cotton AND Spandex; its a stretchy shirt you see. When i first looked at it, it looked like they had used it to clean up an oil stain. and then threw it into the gears of some other machine. It was completely ruined! One of my three white shirts was gone! It WAS a nice one, but no longer. I was going to try to argue with their stupidity, but it was so pointless. Not only did they already try to tell me that Moths eat cotton now, they wouldn't even look me in the eyes. There must have been something really fascinating on the floors, ceiling, and walls when I was there. I could smell their fear. I even think one of them crapped his pants. He knew exactly how easy it would be for me to reach across the counter and snap his neck like a chicken. The manager was a little more questionable. He was korean, so he may have known Kung-fu. He stumbled around like any asian man, with his hands clasped behind his back. This guy was so dumb and annoying, I'm sure any of you would want to just choke him, even just running into him on the street. He also looked just like the korean dictator, Kim Jong Il. My dad urged me not to resort to violence, cause you never know how many security cameras creepy foreigners have. What a shady place. After I got home, I looked at it again, and noticed that the damage was much more extensive than I first noticed. The back of this once nice dress shirt was slashed in multiple places. As I sit back in my chair, I must tell myself that I'm the fool for waiting so long to get this situation resolved. Next time, if there ever is one, there will be blood to pay, or money.

Last night I didn't know what else to do after I went to get food. So I wandered around 'Linens N Things' while eating my Panda Express and talking to Jeff on the phone trying to get ideas for gifts. Although I had intentions of getting stuff, I backed out. I'll probably wait until the last minute like usual. After that, I ended up over at Jeff's and we started planning/designing our Gingerbread Houses for this weekend at Greenfield. Or should I say Gingerbread Chateaus. Its' going to be awesome.

I just finished listening to Prince Caspian from Narnia. It was more amusing than the last book. It will be interesting to see how they do the movie.

Lunch was sponsored by In N Out today. It was annoying cause I sat next to a bunch of high school kids who knew a lot of Nothing. They apparently were attempting to act smart at ucla.

daily update

Last night I went home late only to find the Battle of My Life waiting for me on my computer. The battles have been increasingly difficult as of late. I think the enemy is learning my strategies and adapting to match my form of excellence. I'm surprised at that, cause usually goblins aren't that smart. I'm slowly taking over the land of Middle earth. I'm doing this with the tactics of the Elves. Their archers are much stronger than any other average weapons of the enemy.

So after a few minutes of 'unwinding' I met up with Cheryl and she took me to her work party, which took place at the Sony Lot. Wow, my first Hollywood party! It was in some huge circus tent like thing, decorated with yards and yards of fabric, and giant Pom-pom like light fixtures, and weird orange and yellow colors, accented by changing blue and greenish lights. It was a club-like atmosphere, but the food was brought around by servers wandering the floor with plates of Pizza, egg-rolls, fried mac & Cheese, fried chicken, bbq roast beef sandwiches (my favorite), and crab cakes. Then there were the desert tables. they were only average. But the treat I liked most were the cookies on a stick. Mmmm mmmm good. For some of the entertainment they had gambling tables, and carnival games, like 'wack-a-mole' and a sitting version of ski-ball. They gave us a $500 gaming voucher to play with and we spent 15 minutes loosing it all at the roulette table. I think the big angry troll lady rigged the thing cause we were humans (which wasn't a good thing, cause she obviously hates human). After about two hours we decided to leave before the party got too lame, or too intoxicated. Cheryl kept pointing 'famous' people out to me, but I would just smile and nod. I don't know famous people like she does. We also ran into some of her co-workers. One of the dudes we met had only been there 30 minutes and he was ultra-blitzed, worse than a high school kid on prom night. He had no control over his eyes or movement. When I shook his hand I think he was about to fall over, cause I tight grip came right as he was leaning off to the side, and then toward me. He couldn't lift his head or open his eyes enough to look at me, so I don't know if his eyes are human-white, or demon-black. Don't worry Joe, I was as professional as possible. I didn't try to spill my drink on anybody, or to plant food in any of the girls' purses. It would have been easy, but I refrained from waisting such good food. The music was nice until the DJ started doing his 'thing' which pissed my ears off immensely, and then ruined the party, turning it ultra-lame. Thats when we rolled.

My taste for popcorn has been quenched in the last two days, having eaten at least a gallon of it myself from our office tub. I can't really get the taste out of my mouth now. It was good for a bit, but now has come to plague me.

I guess there was a little office drama last night. Peter and Ray had a heated argument about 10pm last night. Ray was giving Peter grief about his(ray's) drawings. Thats absolutely ridiculous. We are here to assist in the drawing process, but we're not here to be clairvoyant about other people's stupidity. Ray has a chick like attitude, so I'm not surprised he was being an idiot to Peter ( I swear he's a little more than half gay). I hope no one from my office reads this. that could be bad.

Lunch was sponsored by Marvin's Diner. It was Average. The Fries were cold when they gave them to me. And rubbery.

I listened to Prince Caspian today. It was more interesting; childish, yet interesting.

Daily Update

Another 'Ah' of delight came to me last night, right after things got settled with the Gift delivering ceremony. I had to work a little late, but I had to bring the addresses to the Church building so that the people could properly deliver them. My first error was to Forget to bring the printed email with me. It seemed to complicated to return to my office where someone Might be there. So I continued on my way home to print out stuff there. Luckily Mikey had his computer And Printer on, and he let me use them for a few seconds, to repeat the Address printing process. So then we rush away to the church building, already being 5 minutes late. (Or should I say 'Only' 5 minutes late.) We took care of business, and quickly the gym was full of people hurrying to wrap presents. In this bustle, I tried to identify who needed what address. proving unsuccessful, I again noticed that my list was left at home, so I quickly decided to run home, yet again, and fetch it. Oh Bother. When they were all done, and when people were dispersing, I had the chance to give Danny his Christmas present from Jeff and I. I wanted to do it in a more public manner like AT church, but I forgot last Sunday cause of my talk. So we gave it to him then. It was a super large origami set with book, and plenty of papers. Its perfect for the boring sacrament meetings. You see, Danny has found pleasure in tearing the programs into 164 uniform pieces. He's done that for months and months now. So now, he can create things other than small confetti sized pieces of program! And yes, now I plan to join him during sacrament meeting.

Also last night I took a few minutes to fight the battle of my life. I'm still trying to conquer Middle Earth again. Its a different fight, but this time I'm fighting on the side of good. with every sitting battle, I push the enemy further back into Mordor. They are no match for me superior strategic fighting skill that I've displayed in the last few weeks. I'll delay finding a new game until Christmas time.

Then even a little later, Jeff and I were kind of on our way to a birthday party for Maggie. It was already kind of late, but we went to In N Out instead of where they were going. We would have been really late anyway (10pm), cause Jeff thought it was a completely different place than where everyone else was. He kept pointing out that he was Sure that it was a different place than where Emily said it was. Turns out Maggie and Emily were correct, They actually knew where they were going for Maggie's party. We didn't want to wait the 30 minutes before 'Happy Hour' started. I was being selfish and didn't want to stay out super late. At In N Out it took those little retards way to long to make our food. Its a curse of mine as of late I guess.

Some vendor of ours sent us three huge buckets of popcorn yesterday. The UPS guy brought them just as we were all leaving so I had to wait till today to dive into the first bucket. It was wonderful to eat. All the kernels were the full fluffy kind, generously doused in either caramel or MSG-Cheese powder, then the regular salty butter crap. Thats the one that is always last to go.

I'm listening to 'A horse and his Boy' from the Chronicles of Narnia. Its pretty boring. I wonder if they'll make a movie out of this book. They'll have to change it quite a bit to make it interesting.

Lunch was sponsored by Jamba juice.

Daily Update

Friday night led us to our final installment of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, with the Return of the King. It started off sketchy, cause I had arranged everything except for the Extended version of our movie. Allana didn't have it after all, Josh took his back to his home, my apartment only had the first two, and I couldn't get a hold of anyone. I was on my way to best buy to purchase a copy for us when Chris called. Video Editor to the rescue! We didn't want to resort to Only the regular version; we wanted the full 4 hours. It turned into a good four hours of gay jokes. First Chris and I were the only ones being funny, but then every one else joined in in a glorious manner. It was great comedy fun.

Saturday morning brought us the delight of the annoyingly timed Flag football game against the usc ward. I remembered why I left that ward as I saw all those 'pretty boy' preppy retards come onto our field, as if they were doing us a favor. I guess they didn't think then needed Flags in our Flag-Football match. They had no observation of any rules, or organization, or uniforms, or manners and sportsmanship. So in sum, it was still a bad idea to play that game, just like almost everyone had thought. Next time I won't be so quick to let a game like this be pushed onto us.

Later in the day we met up at Jeff's house to go out to dinner, in celebration of My, Josh's and Bethany's birthdays. We went to Claim Jumper up in Northridge. There were 20 of us. It was a LOT of good food. Afterwords a bunch of us went to Steve's house for a lovely Christmas Party. It was wonderfully beautiful. The rooms we were in looked like they were straight from a magazine. And even funnier yet, is that Trisha's work had decorated it. Right when we got there, Josh found a comfortable corner to hide in, Jeff asked everyone as many awkward questions as possible, and I just hung around the food. As much as I wanted to sample the wonderful looking food, I couldn't stuff myself any more. Simply Marvelous.

On Sunday I gave a talk in church. It was maybe five minutes. I didn't want to go too long in fear of me telling inappropriate stories. I was also released from my calling. I was kind of surprised that they got around to it so soon, but whatever. A moment of excitement overcame me as I was informed of this. I saw all my free time, and hobbies, and video games, and TV watching, and movies and the like, flash before my eyes. It was glorious. It was a lot of hard work, as I was only on board the Activity-Boat for the busy season from July to now. And I still have to deal with some of the service auction stuff, but thats mostly the fault of the other ward not properly handling the stuff.

In the evening we went to Trisha's for her second annual Cookie party. It was great! not that she needs my validation. I ate five cookies before anyone else. The second time I tried five at once they clogged my throat, but luckily someone brought Milk to the rescue. Milk is like Drain-O for the Cookie-clogged throat. Trisha made us dinner too. And had birthday cake for us. It was fabulously delicious. In the first 10 minutes of being there, I was both stuffed, and reaching a sugar overload. I had to ease myself off the sugar high gradually after the 30 minute binge. Every 10 minutes I'd eat a cookie, then 15 minutes, then 20 (all frosted of course), till it became just eating plain cookies and milk. Oh, I can't wait till next week's Gingerbread house Extravaganza at Greenfield!

I'm listening to The lion, the witch and the wardrobe right now. Actually I just finished it. It was only ok. I got sick of it at the end. It may have been great in the 60's but now, I just wanted to see what they had done with the movie. Its a very juvenile story it seems. Who would ever want to read anything else by that author other than kids? I'm debating not continuing reading the series, and waiting for the movies.

Lunch was sponsored by some cafe up on ucla campus. It was in the ugly neuro-science building. It was the worst thing ever! I had lunch with Kim today. I ordered what I thought would be the quickest thing to get, pizza. Not only did they charge me more than the posted price for not being a student there, it took them 25 minutes to make it! Holy Crap, I should have called ahead! I had to bug them twice about it, in fear of them having forgotten or something. Oh no, its coming. 10 minutes go by. Oh they are getting it ready right now. 5 minutes later, finally! It wasn't a matter of hunger, it was a matter of principal. I was really close to demanding a refund.

Daily Update

Last night Cheryl and I went to one of Eric's comedy improv things. It was lovely. It was funny. I left giggling. Some of the characters they portray are super annoying, which I really dislike, but I realize they are just trying to be funny. We had dinner at Wendy's. I think Cheryl was weirded out by how fascinated I was with my Vanilla Frosty Root-beer Float. That and when I tried to put all five chicken nuggets in my mouth at once and pour barbecue sauce down my throat. If I was to do it again, I wouldn't try to get everyone's attention in the restaurant by barking like a walrus. On the way home it was dark and raining, and scary. I thought I saw Dementors flying around in the distance. If they had gotten to close, I would have had to stop my car, and go and kick their asses. But I didn't have to. not this time.

After I got home I started working on my talk while watching the Food Network. It was the cake decorating show. It was inspirational and cool.

My injured ankle is well on its way to recovery. I can now move it in all directions, although a full range is not yet possible. One thing I have noticed is that in my recovery I've shifted much of my left leg's weight assignment, to my right leg. My right leg, having carried more that its share my weight for about two weeks now, has become sore itself. The prolonged pressures have taken its toll. Now I need to be careful on both legs because my right lower leg is more tired now. This is not a huge problem. I just have to be careful to avoid any ninja attacks.

I'm listening to Arckid right now. I don't think they have an album out, but I heard them on a new york radio station, and found them on myspace. They're killer.

Lunch was sponsored by In N Out and I-tallian chocolate. Emilio came back from his month long trip in Italy and brought chocolate treats. In N Out raised their prices slightly due to the increased bank card charges.

Daily Update

On the way home from work I decided to stop by the store to get some juice and other healthy items. In the parking lot, I was verbally attacked by the attendant, I don't know what language he was speaking, but he finally handed me a valet ticket. I was annoyed at his munchkin attitude. So instead of taking the ticket I just started coughing on him, with an ignorant attitude. I casually took it from him after I had already started walking away. While in the store, there must have been a sale on candy and sweets, cause there was at least one whole heard of water-buffalo running the aisles. I had to use every precaution when walking around. Random stampedes were an often occurrence. I had to fight one or two of them off with a huge candy cane stick. I took refuge on the gift card aisle. Even on the way out I ran into a parade of zombie like old folks on the pharmaceuticals aisle. Then back in the parking lot the little leprechaun creature almost attacked me again, speaking some weird tongue, but I threw the paper at him as if it was a firecracker, then ran off.

I spent most of last night 'trying' to write a talk. I went over to Jeff's for inspiration and assistance, but we ended up talking about a myriad of other things. Then he opened some chocolate, which gave me to much energy to think straight. At home my internet searches also proved fruitless. I got distracted by fighting the Battle of my life as well.

I'm listening to Eragon still. The story has become irrational, and I don't fully believe that a 15 year old kid wrote it. the words are complex, and the phrases are to complex for an annoying little brat. ... ok, now I'm done with the second book, only 9 more months until the third one comes out. It was a good read, but they didn't end it in a good spot. Its like in the middle of a big battle it seems.

Lunch was sponsored by Jamba Juice.

oh, and in case you're still wanting more...
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1202157408
(i got the idea from stacy and laurel)

dAILY uPDATE

It was a busy day at work. I guess maybe I shouldn't have taken so many Breaks. It just seems so weird for a Non-Smoker to take a 5 minute break every 15 minutes. But Why shouldn't I, I have rights too. If smokers go un-harassed in this, then I shouldn't be bothered either.

Last night it was Guy-Night. I got together with Chris and Mike and we watched funny movies. Then it turned out that the Victoria Secret fashion show was on right after our movie. Hmmm, what a coincidence. So we had to sit and comment about how much we all disliked all the gay guys in the audience. I mean really!, what would 'they' be doing there? and there were a lot of them. I brought along a notebook in case any inspiration came to me for the talk that I have to prepare. Needless to say, but none came to me. I think instead of speaking on their topic, I'll make my own instead. That could be funny. I hope you all realize that it could very well
be a 10 minute stand up comedy sketch for me.

When I got home I felt the urge to take up the Battle of my Life, one more time. This time I was fighting off the annoying Elves of Rivendell. I used much trickery and brute force to destroy the 'Good' forces. I used the strong had of Sauron, and many powerful dragons, and fireballs to vanquish my foe. Although in the movies I like the lord of the rings elves, but I took great pleasure in conquering them on the battle field. A formidable foe none the less.

Then after the hour grew super late, I think it was 12:59-and a half when I went to bed. Only after my head hit my pillow I realized that my slight cold wanted sleep sooner than

I'm listening to the kid Eragon be stupid. The story is interesting though. The boring parts have picked up to a decent pace again.

Lunch was sponsored by California Pizza Kitchen. Sara joined me. It was the first time I'd been there for lunch. It was yummy and filling.

Daily Update

Last night was the culmination of the Service Auction Preparation. A mere 30 minutes before I was to be announcing the families that we had, I received the email from the bishop giving us the info, yes the one that I'd been waiting for all day. It wasn't that much info, but it was indeed a relief. I quickly printed them out and then ran up to the church to hand them out. I had fun doing the shopping last year, but this time I has absolutely no interest in stressing out further. I joyfully handed out the assignments to every one else offering what few suggestion I had. Then they were off, so I went to find something to eat. I had to laugh multiple times, as the Secret Santa Season was a breath of fresh air this time. As everyone left, it was like letting out a dozen doves from a bag hidden behind me, as the wind blew them upward as the sunshine beamed down on me. My temporary burdens seemed to be driving away from me. Ah, the peace.

At work I've decided to activly ignore my desk neighbor. Steve has weird habits that are beginning to annoy me. Bursting out in swear words is one of them. Another is arguing with paper and computer keyboards. Today at work he was trying to talk to someone on the phone about his 'Screenplay'. Being fro LA, I sometimes feel like i'm the only one who hasn't written one. I secretly chuckled at him for this. Then Steve turned to me afte one of his outbursts and was mumbling something. As he was looking right at me, I had to muster all my strength to ignore him from only 3 feet away.
Today was one of those, "Oh, are you free? We need this done before you leave" days. Luckily the head boss wanted to leave more than he wanted me to finish. I loved it.

During lunch as I was wondering around I ran into Jasen neilson. We chatted for a minute.

I'm listening to Eragon right now. He's love-sick. Although the story is slow, it has me hooked just barley enough to keep listening.

Lunch was sponsored by In N Out today.

daily update

I don't remember being so exhausted after a party weekend. I left work early to go and set up for our C-mas party. Set-Up lasted until 10:30. My energy was completely spent.

On Saturday I treated myself to my yummy pancakes. During work on friday I scheduled a hair appointment, with the Philippino chick who Susan knows. I didn't have to tell her, or remind her about what kind of devilish good looking 'do' I needed, the second I sat down she went to work. Again she rambled, as I only understood maybe three quarters of what she was saying.

But then the fun continued as I went shopping for our party. I made the mistake however to go to multiple stores instead of just one simple one. next time I'll save time by focusing on one! The time ran out so quickly. I had a football watching appointment at Jessica's place. It was great fun. It was just me and the girls for a while. Then Danny Doom showed up. And USC won. I had to really hold back and not call Evan the second it was over, cause he's the nice one to remind everyone he knows of every time ucla wins. But I held back. I then rushed home to finish the finalization of the party stuff. Things were only complicated as jeff wanted to use his own stereo equipment rather than what was there. Good Grief Charley Brown. But it all worked out. We also had to buy desert stuff at the last second too. It barley all fit in my car. The party ended up being a huge success I think. Lots of people liked it. After a bit I chose to hide on the dance floor because of all the stuff that needed to be done. Then after a while I had to sit down again, whithered from tiredness. And thats when people found me and put the tasks and questions to me. Oh the joy of planning for 'needy' people. It was a vicious cycle. then the cleanup which lasted until 1:30am. I'm pretty sure I asked my committee to stay and help, but I guess they had 'other things' to do, unlike me. I'll kind of be glad when they fire me from this calling, this calling of stress and Use. But whatever.

We brought the extra food to the church for the mix & mingle afterwards. I've never seen so many people in line so quickly after the meetings end! I didn't think the food would last, but apparently it was blessed enough to feed the 200 extra people who showed up. But I cut in line anyway. I felt justified in this since I was the one who procured them for us in the first place. The best desert award went to Courtney Bean. I mean Wow, that thing was good.

In the evening we went to Catherine's for her Advent Sunday. It was a nice little get-together. Jeff wanted to stay till the cows came home and everyone else wanted to leave or go to bed, so I had to angerly remind him multiple times that its our time to leave. He didn't understand my annoyance, But I'll remind him of it next time HE's ready to leave before me.

Then I had to stay up later than I wanted emailing on official church buisness. oh, bah humbug.

so my little bratty sister is on a mission apparently. I just found this out. She has been emailing home really prideful and annoying letters. It makes her look really bad in my opinion. She is the essence of the phrase 'sisters are blisters'. Everything seems to be a competition, and she always has a story better than everyone else, and she is never wrong. Its to bad; if she even slightly humble she might be a great missionary. I think she has something to prove instead. I wonder if she even knows that she is supposed to help people find religion, instead of HER.

Today during lunch I was going to try a NY Pizza place, but they didn't have what I wanted, so Lunch ended up being sponsored by Socko's and Ralph's Orange Juice. Then I went to Best Buy. On the way there I saw that Chanel 4 was there filming. They had a camera there on the sidewalk filming the pedestrians it looked like. I didn't want to leave this opportunity alone, so I stopped in front of the camera and started chewing my food with open mouth. That didn't seem like enough for a 'live camera' so I then started 'pawing' at myself, As well as checking for belly-button lint in a peculiar manner. Then I felt it necessary to start regurgitating the sandwich I was eating hacking it up like a mother bird would do for a new hatchling as I stood there. After a few seconds of spitting up food and making weird noises, I ended my 'show' with a 'snot rocket' from each nostril and then moved on. I was proud of myself as I thought of the 11 o'clock news having the 'Public Street' background as they yacked about whatever celebrity had a DUI that day. On the way back from Best Buy the camera was still there with light in its eye-piece, so in stead of ignoring it, like 'They' would want me to, I snapped back and gave the camera my best Zoolanderesque 'Magnum' pose. but then turned back and started scratching my butt. I mean I was really goin' at it! It was a good minute before I thought it wasn't funny anymore. Then I continued on my way.

I'm listening to Eragon make dumb decisions right now.

Daily Update

It was cold, dark, and clear. It was getting late as well. I had a list of stuff to do for the christmas party. The stores were a mad house as I attempted to fight my way thru the crowds. I had to steal the shopping cart from an old lady, and elbow a couple of old folks to get to the christmas light department at target. I was purchasing for the C-mas party you see. On the way out I passed by the old lady who's cart I stole. she had reinforcements from her grand-kids i guess so as soon as she got close to me, she yelled and pointed at me. as the kids started charging, I had to use my shopping cart as a battering-ram to break through their defenses. On contact the kids went flying, but not as far as they would have if my cart had been full. they were like a hoard of gypsies. In fact I'm sure thats what they were, rambling in gibberish. The old bag was barking out Gypsy commands in her weird Armenian tongue. I pushed my cart thru the broken defenses at a quick pace. Two of the brats that flanked me grabbed at my legs so I felt obligated to kick them away from me. Every 5 seconds I would check for my wallet; after all they were gypsies. I also had to do whatever I could to avoid their gypsy spells. I grabbed a plastic santa figure and threw it at one of what seemed like 12 kids, plastering him to the floor like a linebacker running into a quarterback. I still felt the spells coming like little snowballs being thrown, so I grabbed another Christmas figure, this time a spiked Christmas tree and started swinging it like a baseball bat. It was effective in frightening a few other of the little gremlins away. Their numbers were half as strong but they were still strategizing against me. I tested them by starting to walk away. It worked for a second before they started sprinting toward me in a little Umpa-Lumpa sort of way. I finally took two more out by tipping the greeting card shelf over on them as we rounded that corner. There was one more who lept for me with a fierce veracity. Luckily I caught him and threw him to the floor, then tipping an adjacent shopping cart over on him then putting something heavy on top of it so he couldn't escape. With that I saw the ol Gypsy bag at the end of the asile with one little brat at her side shaking her head at me. I politely gave her the finger and pointed to my lips, then my butt, then back to her, as I continued my run for the safety of the registers. Once there, I expected some sort of response to this matter from the employee, but nothing. They were oblivious to the people they had lurking in their store. I went home from there.

Next I stopped by Cheryl's place for a second. I wanted to try to tell her and her roommate what just happened but I figured they wouldn't believe me so I kept my mouth shut. We were going to watch the Office, but I showed up much to late for that re-run, so I teased her roommate instead. I then went home. It was early so I stayed up and hung out with the roommates for a bit. Then to bed. It was a good night's sleep.

But that doesn't mean that I got up early. I showed up right on time as I always do.

Lunch was sponsored by the Corner Bakery. their noodles are so good.

I'm still listening to Eragon. He's trying to work his 'magic' with the elf maiden.

daily update

My rolled ankle is still sensitive. I ended up not taking any pictures of it in fear of it grossing me out later in life. I've suffered enough from ankle/foot injuries, and I'm still sensitive about my right reinforced steel ankle/foot. I have full up and down maneuverability, but side to side is still very tender. Three days ago now I removed the temporary 'ace' compression bandage with hopes of further training it to heal and to move. I've now worked the limp out of it, and am still pushing to further rehabilitation.

During the thanksgiving break I had my foot under 24 hour guard. It was tightly wrapped, but would quickly tire from the extended shopping trips. I have never really been shopping with 'The Trio' before (that would be Brandi, Lacie, and Tiffany - my new sisters.) When I go shopping I know what I want, and I go get it. Most guys are like that. But with the Trio, If its in a store, it needs to be looked at, analyzed, inspected, and even tried on. There were a lot of stores at all the malls that we went to in Salt Lake I tell you! I currently am thinking of a visit to the Park City Outlet Mall. Although my ankle was tightly wrapped, it felt sore; the muscle kind of sore when you've worked out a lot and the muscles are tired. It felt good to bend it, a relief kind of pain. But as I would walk around, chasing the Trio, it was like a chasing a pack of wild kids in a carnival. Every new store they saw was a new possibility, a new adventure, and something new to try on. I don't think there was a single store that they didn't try something on at. Even the kitchen supply store, where I only thought they sold pots and pans. Oh no, they found the aprons, and yes, they were tried on. I should have gotten us to stop at a gas station to test my 'Try Everything On' theory. After that adventure I was exhausted. And all, or most, of my ankle energy was depleted. So now, without the extra bracing support, my ankle feels similar to after an 'Extreme Shopping Trip' with the girls.

Last night Catherine and I went to Costco to shop for the Ward Christmas Party. We filled the back of my car completely full of plates cups and flatware. It was an adventurous trip, cause Catherine hadn't been in a Costco store for a long while, so she was going wild most of the time. And other than my milk spilling and leaking everywhere it was great. and I got to eat at their Hot Dog Stand. Then we stopped by some place called Trader-Joe's. I thought it was supposed to be a fancy expensive place, turns out it a dump! Low prices must mean low quality to them, cause it looked like I had walked into a store from the early 80's (thats not meant to be a good thing). Tonight I have to go find more stuff for the party.

Work is still busy. And 'Denim Steve' sounds like a Walrus. I guess he was sick this time.

Lunch was sponsored by Jamba Juice, and a bit of second hand smoke from a bunch of European chicks. (on my way to lunch I saw Silvia. I stopped and stared at her, and waited for her to see me. when she was about 15 feet away she threw her hands in the air and yelled something like 'hello'. the 4 guys with her looked confused. We chatted for a minute.)

I'm listening to Eragon. Its still a bit confusing and disjointed. I'm waiting for something cool to happen.

Daily Update

I'm so pissed right now. I just got back from lunch. As I was sitting down my left pocket rammed right into the corner of a solid wooden table. I immediately heard the sounds of Lego's and crystal falling, and crashing into the hard and unforgiving floor; Crashing, snapping, and breaking sounds filled my ears. I froze as my mind analyzed the situation. My left pocket is where I keep my phone. Denial swept over me, as disbelieve filled my soul. I had just checked the time only seconds earlier. I slowly reached into my pocket. My fingers gently prodded around to inspect the situation. Yes, there was a phone and a few other small papers. I pulled my cell phone out of its hiding place. I gingerly brushed my thumb over the severely cracked surface. It looked like it was the remnant of an old battle field, the face might have even stopped a bullet. My phone looked back at me and quietly said, "I'm broken". A tear rolled down my cheek as all the memories of my phone passed in front of my consciousness. I was only interrupted by the Hippo's next to me who had started diving into their trough. It was feed time. I was mad at myself for changing my mind at the last moment and going there instead of Panda. I'll never change my mind again.

I also had memories of going to the phone store only yesterday to inspect new phones. I have evil plans to 'upgrade'. I've had them for a while now actually. Last night I found out that I still have 5 months on my T-Mobile contract before I can cancel, Otherwise I'll be slapped with a 200 smacker penalty for breaking the contract early. My new choice will be to join my brothers Family plan at cingular. It will be better, it will be cheaper. I will tell you more about it when the time is right.

Last night I met with the Bishop. No I'm not in trouble again, why do you always think that? We, and his two helpers, discussed the outcome of the service auction. After that I was given a cookie that I thought would rip the fillings right out of my head it was so hard.

Also last night I took up arms to fight the battle of my life. I just got the game last week, and I've already conquered the battle field in the name of Good. Now I'm playing the Bad Guys. Its rather fun. Last night I took particular pleasure in destroying the Shire, and killing every single Hobbit I saw. They were no match for my hordes of Orks and Goblins. I cut thru them like butter, and then sacked Bagend, Bilbo and Froto's house. It was a complete and utter victory!

More from the co-workers: So Steve, my desk neighbor continues to talk to himself, the wall, and to the computer in an outdoor voice, I've seen no end to this annoyance. Today must be Denim Day in Steve's Closet, cause thats what he's wearing, including Denim socks and underwear probably. He's also sick, thus speaks like a horse. And just to make sure that everyone knows he's sick, he wanders around coughing on people. Of the two or so months he's been here, he's only been present maybe half of those days. Our time together is filled with complaining and bickering, and then the swearing. most of the time when he complains its about his back, or health, or the computer not doing what he wants it to (user error) it seems like he's just informing me he'll be leaving early, or won't make it in to work the next day. He's become predictable.

Did you see the Dancing With The Stars results? Julianne from my ward won again.

Lunch was sponsored by The Corner Bakery, unfortunately.

I'm listening to Eragon still. I'm at the beginning of the second book, and its becoming confusing and disjointed. I'm loosing interest unless he 'hooks-up' with the Elf princess or starts killing Orks soon.

Daily Update

I stayed at work late, like normal lately. I went home and dove into the huge bowl of spaghetti that was left from Sunday night. From there I thought about going to FHE. then I thought about it again, and even again. Each time My mind was perplexed about showing up only for a few minutes to show my support. But I had an appointment to watch Hitman with Jeff on the Fox Lot.

It was a cool movie, kind of like the Bourne series, but more gruesome killing. Yes, it was a lot like the Borne Identity. It was fun. The one part they could have left out was was the 'love interest'. A little to much.

After that, I found it necessary to drive downtown to make a deposit at my ATM down there. Usually it goes quick and easy, but this time someone was plotting against me. All my usual parking was filled, so I had to park farther away. Annoying for a still recovering ankle. I get to the ATM and all of the deposit envelopes are gone, How ridiculous! At one time I stock-piled some in my car so I scurry back to my car and then search for such an envelope, but to no avail. I looked everywhere, and I didn't feel safe staying in one place for to long, so I reluctantly decided to make the trek deeper into the campus to the second known ATM. I start walking in the most direct direction, when I realized that I can drive onto the campus late at night with little trouble, so then I turned again, back to my car. I drove to closest possible, most inconspicuous spot to the Central ATM. As I arrive I notice many envelopes scattered all over the ground. After a quick investigation, I realized that they belonged to another bank. Relieved, I went to my goal, but only to notice that the screen said 'Out of Order'. NO! I thought. How could this be? someone was indeed out to get me. So I had to act ever so aware. To my fortune I found extra envelopes in stock at that location. I horded a few and went back on my way. So then again, I had to make the trip from my parking spot back to ATM #2, my primary destination. After having braved the many wily students, and shadows, I safely arrived, only to find many questionable people there waiting in the ATM transaction room. I puffed my chest up, held my arms up to fight, and made mean looking faces at the people there. After the guy and two little asian chicks left I made my transaction safely, then was on my way again. Another successful trip. I ran into a few trolls on the way, but luckily they ran away when I howled at them.

Today after lunch I passed a bum wearing shorts. He was the most filthy person I'd ever seen. Scales of dirt clung to him like babies cling to their bottles. I immediately wanted to get a garden hose and turn it on him, as well as scraping him down with a bristly push-broom, just to rid him of the caked on filth that was plaguing his skin. Wouldn't it feel better to be clean? Don't you think that people wouldn't be as afraid of you if you didn't look like that? I wondered in my head if the batter of dirt would come off with an ice scraper, or even a straight razor. Then I realized that I didn't want to be any closer than 10 feet to him. After all, I hate the smell of ammonia, and dead rotting things, like the bugs that I'm sure live in that frazzely head of hair.

Lunch was sponsored by D'Amor's Pizza. it was Good, but I don't feel the need to go back for a while.

I'm listening to Eragon fight the battle of his life right now.

Thanksgiving Day Update

Wow, its been almost a week, I'm so sorry to keep you in the dark about my adventurous life. Going back to last Tuesday, I stayed up super late trying to finish the Service Auction List. I finished around 2:30-3am-ish. And then realized I still had to pack, and clean my room and stuff like that. I took a few minutes to check emails, n' stuff like that. I was also listening to music at the same time. Partially for enjoyment, but as well to practice my complex Multi-tasking skills.
So during one song I heard a strange beeping noise. It was weird, but didn't think about it to long. Seconds later the song changed but the beeping persisted. It immediately hit me that it was an Alarm! Oh Crap! I had lit a candle in the bathroom earlier that evening and forgot about it. I ran to the rescue and only had to blow out the extended wick to extinguish the trouble. After waving my hand and batting the alarm down, all was fixed. I also found solace in Fighting the Battle of My Life once more. I have taken up arms against the evil trolls of Middle-Earth
once more. Finally around 4:30 I was set and laid down, thinking about how good a rest would be, but then quickly realized how horrible it would be if I wasn't awake to get a ride to the airport at 5:30. So I stayed awake. I dozed off for a few minutes, but when I realized it, I quickly snapped awake.

Wednesdays journey went by quickly. The second I sat down on the plane I fell asleep and didn't awake until we landed in Utah. It was 30 degrees there. I was happily greeted by Brandi-licious Chocolate Chip Cookies at my house! They were almost the best things ever! Having just judged in a Cookie competition, I felt that these cookies need to be entered next time to be judged.

My new sister's family also joined us later that evening. From there we Put marvelous puzzles together, watched wonderful TV shows, and ate lots of chocolate and treats. I saw it as an incentive to go back to Salt Lake for Christmas, despite the freezing cold. My little brother showed me how cool Guitar Hero on his computer was while my brothers and new sisters discussed wild tales of unbelievable size. In the evening we didn't have a set dinner, but we took full advantage of all the food laying around at our disposal.

Thanksgiving Day was a day of pancakes, turkey, and Football watching. The food was SO GOOD. My mouth now knows what heaven will taste like. I fully abused myself with the amounts I ate. It was spectacular. The Turkey, Mounds of potatoes, rivers of gravy, heaps of stuffing, baskets of rolls, loads of healthy stuff, and gallons of root-beer... then there were the stacks of pies. I'm drooling just thinking about it. After fighting off a thyrotrophin nap, I enjoyed a successful battle of usc college football. The girls dove into the newspaper to find all the ads for
needed/non-needed shopping places. I went with my dad later to go to a store. That was a big mistake. We went to CompUSA. As we got there they had all 8 registers open with at least 80 people in line for each one! That and every thing we might want was already gone. My dad was surprised to see people out that late at night, and it made him mad. I wasn't sure what part of the word 'Biggest shopping day of the year' he didn't understand.

On friday I again treated myself to pancakes, just to remind myself I was on Vacation. Later a large group of us went to paint ceramic plates. It was awesome! we had some really cool ideas. I'll tell you more about it all later.

Later we went to Chuck-A-Rama for Tiffany's birthday. Another great binge session.

On Saturday we went shooting. It was also fun, but Dave forgot the rifle ammo so I didn't get to shoot 'ol Betsey'.

Today at work I heard a horrible sound come from out front. I sprang to see what was the matter, and saw a motorcycle rocking on its side, wheels still spinning, and some lady running to the back of her car, as well as 3 or 4 on-lookers.

I'm listening to Eragon right now.

Lunch was sponsored by good ol In N Out.

Ut-Oh, the boss is coming, I gotta go...more explanations later...

Daily Update

It was definitely a busy weekend. On friday night we had our second installment of Lord of the Rings Night, with 'the Two Towers'. It was fun I thought, because of the running commentary of how 'gay' Froto and Sam were, and others in the movie too. It was a whole new aspect to movie watching. My foot was ultra swollen and looked like a marshmallow.

On Saturday I woke up to the welcome treat of Mike making French Toast for Rich and Jake. Oh, don't mind if I do! These cinnamonie treats made my morning most joyous.

Jeff took us to see 'Mr. Majorium's Wonder Emporium' at the Fox Lot. It was definitely a kids show, and mildly entertaining! When I say Kids I mean 8-10 years old. They even made Natalie Portman look like a little boy, which made it super weird when she kissed Dustin Hoffman. Dustin acted like a freakin retard the whole movie. That didn't help my opinion of it. Natalie was pretty sassy, except for her boyish hair.

I went Christmas shopping in the evening. I ended up finding a lot of cool stuff for myself; and I told myself to go back to a few stores later in the season too. When standing in line at Ross, buying one small can-opener, it took me maybe 20 minutes to get through the line. Long lines, Cash register failures, employee incompetence , and everybody demanding service all at once seemed to make time go by really slow.

In the evening Jeff and I went to a Birthday party with a Redneck theme. It was nice. Lots of people. Its not to often that the cops get called on a Mormon Party. I was a little disappointed in them there for trying so hard to play 'Root-Beer' Pong. A stupid drinking game. I was mad that I went when Kerry approached me and asked if I would speak in church. At first agreed, but then demanded

Again I Stayed up super late, this time I was composing 'sign-up sheets' for the detailed volunteer service that I'll be requesting from the dear people in my ward for our Christmas party. There is much to do before Christmas comes.

On Sunday it was business as usual. Just before church ended I heard Ryan and Kelsie talking about having a cookie bake-off between her and Jeff. I immediately had to step in, and 'handle' the situation, (or organize it.) I declared myself a supreme judge in Chocolate chip cookie baking, and also allowed Laurel to assist, then Later Evan was also asked to judge as well. Evan is very critical of everything, so he did well. I arrived a bit late, due to other church duties, but there was a roaring crowd of people ready to observe this intense competition. It was only 20 minutes before the panel of judges was lined up and ready to pronounce their verdict. It was an intense judging session I tell you. Each cookie had their own unique quality that was unmistakably brilliant. Jeff's freshness, Kelsie's sweetness; I really should have taken pictures of the beautiful cookies. They were both Cookies worth remembering. Jeff's had a little more Bite, as Kelsie's had a nice touch of sweetness. Both Bakers indeed touched their cookies with love. The judges meaningfully bit into each cookie's spongy center, and analyzed each chew carefully. We had to occasionally cleanse our pallet's with a gulp or two of milk before we would switch between competitors cookies. Jeff's was a little touch of goodness all over again. It was a mound of cookie with chocolaty fault lines riddled throughout. I liked Kelsie's cookie more than I thought I would. It was sprinkled with sugar on top, yet still provided just enough sweetness to be exquisite, and each bite was memorable. Jeff's was a mound of gloriousness that had a little 'Bite' that befriended my taste buds quickly. When all was said and done, Jeff won the competition with 92 points, to Kelsie's 91 points. I thought that Kelsie's Cookie would win, but after we broke it down into scoring categories, we all voted that Jeff's had that little something more. We had to redo our scoring cause Danny, the self-appointed arbitrator, announced that we had to for some long winded legal reason. There were a lot of people who showed up to watch the judging (and to taste for themselves too.) Next time we should video tape it and then send it in somewhere.

I woke up at 9 today and didn't feel like getting up. Oh boy. I really need a break from staying up late. My foot's swelling has gone down enough for me to see how horribly deformed and discolored it is. The dramatic bruising goes all the way from my heel up to my toe knuckles, mostly on the outside of my foot. Luckily my super human healing powers has preventing anything more severe from happening, an it has repaired me enough to be able to walk without limping so soon after the incident.

Today Steve is talking/swearing like either a old English Mizar, or a cripple little English orphan girl. I'm not sure which, cause they both sound the same. I think he's listening to the 'voices' in his head more and more.

Lunch was sponsored by In N Out. (I didn't feel like venturing to far away from my work nest today. My damaged ankle is feeling loads better, but Still very sore. I'm also feeling luckily today, so I didn't really wrap it up in bandages and braces.

I'm listening to the story of Eragon right now. Its quite fascinating I tell you. I'm hanging on every word that they say.

Daily Update

I was up till 2:30 last night. I was meticulously writing an email to someone very important. But never mind that. the point is that I stayed up late.

My foot is feeling much better. When I walk, I feel the good kind of pain. Not the dull throbbing pain that you don't want to feel. I get anxious though and then walk on it to much, then it hurts to sit down.

Last night I stopped by Veteran to watch college football and then Rainman. Scott was really into watching How Tom Cruise dealt with his brother. Tom's character got annoying to me so I wanted to leave. Then Ryan came in so I decided to ask for money from our Europe trip. After all, I had just settled up with Jeff myself, so it was on my mind. He was willing to do the same, until he got a phone call from his special 'Someone'. Then both Jeff and Scott informed me that it might be a while. As he filled his phone friend in on EVERY aspect of his day, the routine became drab and tedious to listen to. I boisterously interrupted him several times, but to no avail. I was within arms reach of him, but I was Oh, so distant. I painstakingly stayed until the end of Rainman, hoping that his call would end somehow. His boring sappy conversation finally came to a close. After exchanging handshakes I said goodbye and was trying to make my way to the door when Ryan asked where I was going. "Ryan, I've been waiting here bored out of my mind listening to you kanoodle with your phone", "but you just got here" he responded. Our time spent together was only but a split second in time for him, as it was almost an hour for me. I shed a tear as I told him that he doesn't care like he used to. He felt bad for a second, before I started laughing at him.

I'm listening to Hole right now.

Lunch was sponsored by Marvin's. It wasn't as good as it was a few days ago. Their staff has changed again.

Daily Update

I went running last night... well, kind of. At first the terrain reminded me of a spot of the Brazilian Amazon that I once saw, but it wasn't that. It was located just above the Australian Outback track that I've visited so many times before. That place was closed though for some national run-around-like-retard day. the Path we took was different. It was the road to Hades. I thought that I could take it. I thought that I knew better than the dark roads of the underworld. I thought that my night vision abilities, my cat like reflexes, and Spiderman like intuition would keep me safe. It currently stands: Track 1, Jim 0. As I was negotiating the tricky path, my eyes drifted toward the oncoming traffic, the street, the dim/non-existing lights in the area. Everywhere they shouldn't have gone. Then all of a sudden my foot hit ground, slipped sideways into a 6 inch water channel, and tugged awkwardly on the ligaments in a manner that would make me feel an immediate and extreme stretching sensation and then even a 'pop'. We were running down hill at the time so I had lots of momentum which proved even more painful. I was forced to used my now worthless and incapacitated stump of a foot to support myself for a few more strides, thus preventing my body from flailing into approaching traffic on Sunset Blvd. At first when I felt the Popping sensation I thought to myself, "Woah, that can't be good, 'ouch' that might even Hurt". But then with the next 5-something strides that i was forced to take, Each foot pounding burst escalated the pain to the point of me shrieking out in agony as all 200 pounds me pushed down onto my once healthy ankle. After I slowed to a safe speed I just dove into the dirt on the side of the path desperately wanting immediate relief from this problem. I cried out in disbelief that my one sure foundation of a foot-joint befell this unspeakable damage. I feared the fate of my other ankle, the right one. Too many times I have seen it surcome to the torturous injuries of the world. To many times I thought it wasn't as bad as it actually was. My life didn't exactly flash before my eyes, but my future did. I took a moment of silence to get a realistic grip on reality though. I also used that moment to catch my breath and clear my mind of evil thoughts. Luckily for me Kristen was there with me. She had been there before, and was keen to the whiles of the Hades Trail. Although she was watching out for me, warning me of the dangers constantly, it just wasn't enough. So after I regained my composure. I tested the extent of the injury by slowly putting pressure on it. I eventually made it up to my feet and slowly tested out my walkability. At first my whole foot was numb with pain. I was able to walk a short distance before the paint made its way through all my neurons to my brain. The pain became pretty excruciating to tell you the truth. I didn't want to give in to the injury so I kept walking. We were at the furthest distance from the car possible, and I felt helpless. I cautiously used KA as a crutch until I built up the nerve to support myself. We made it around the corner a small stretch before She noticed the pain was to much for me to walk. So she, realizing that I was becoming unable to walk on my own, ditched me under some tree and ran ahead to get her car and come back and rescue me. Something like a 10-15 minute wait until she rolled up to rescue me from this Hadi-Bruin Hell that I was resting in. The Trail to Hades got to me. The evil path before me was stronger than I thought it was, that is why it won. It won the Battle, but not the War. I will be back. And I will conquer!

So after a little bit I went to the store and purchased injury treatment supplies for the upcoming trials ahead. I was going to be going to a movie, but that had to be canceled. I was able to hobble around on it slowly, so it was only a sprain, not anything worse.

At work I have been working with this dude Ray. I told you about Ray yesterday, but I want to reiterate how much I dislike the way he says 'Thank You', cause his lips move as if he's saying 'I love you', and needless to say I'm sure his thoughts are saying 'I want to do you'. Yes, it's gross, but its true so thats why I said it. But it will be a while before I work with him again I think. We had this presentation at 1pm yesterday, and he was telling me to change stuff up until 12:30. Just so you know, Printing is more than just hitting a button in Architecture. I didn't finish printing stuff until 2, but luckily the clients didn't show until 2 either.

Lunch was sponsored by In N Out.

I'm listening to my co-workers talk about how much of 'Ladies Men' they are. Its pretty outrageous, and somewhat unbelievable. I think they're just looking for attention, but they won't get it form me that way. They'll have to quote Anchorman or something for that to happen.

Daily Update

I went running last night. I made the trek back to the Wild Sahara. The track was dark and mysterious. It rustled quietly with the fallen leaves of anticipation. There weren't as many cars there as normal. The few existing street lamps flickered with angst. During my 'light' stretch my muscles reminded me of how long it had actually been since the last jaunt around the forbidding desert track. Then all of a sudden, in a snap, as a flash of light, I sprang into action! The abrupt pavement did not try to be kind to my familiar foot treads. The shadow tried to play with my mind, the texture tried to mess with my stature, and the ambiance emotions. I swiftly covered the ground like the mysterious Panther. Each dark paw would fling dust into the air as it kicked up the dirt of the track. The wind raced through my fur as the pads of my paws pounded the pavement. For an instant I thought I saw movement in the shadows. Just as Peter Pan had a 'Shadow' problem, I threatened my shadow to say close, other wise I'd never come back for it. I saw other creatures lurking in the shadows from time to time. I only passed 2 girls, and 8 guys this night. Lots fewer than last report shows, a 61% decrease in traffic. As I was swiftly grazing by each side of the track, I noticed a lot fewer adversaries than in summer. But I did notice that the streets that I was on resembled those of Medieval Vampire Russia. I fear that the enemies that I scared away may have left the few remaining Evil-Doers victim to vampires. I'll have to be on the lookout the next few times I go.

So yesterday I was racing to finish a project with Ray, the interior designer guy. Ray is VERY soft spoken, whispers in fact. And he whispers really close to your ear. He does things differently. He is from Brazil. Ray is married. Ray has a picture of him and a girl on his desk. I don't think Ray is Straight. Every time Ray says 'Thank you' It looks like he's blowing you a kiss. Jim doesn't like when Ray says Thank You. Ray Likes to say Thank You. Ray also likes to call me James. Ray says 'James' twice as slow as every other word in the sentence. Jim is a little worried. Ray does things differently when working. Ray must be in close proximity to a person to work with them. Ray also carries a pen like a cigarette, and whips it around like its a magic wand. Jim doesn't like Pen's racing in front of his face when trying to listen to the crap that Ray is whispering. Everyone else that Jim works with is much more efficient than Ray. Jim should suggest Ray takes lessons. Jim should teach Ray a lesson. Jim should spill something on Ray's Man-Purse. Jim is funny. Jim will have to work on it.

Lunch was sponsored by Marvin's Diner. It was much better than last time. But the service is horrible. It shouldn't take 20 minutes to fry a burger and fries, and the guy who comes in 5 minutes after me should Defiantly NOT be served at the same time as me.

I'm listening to Pennywise right now.

daily update

I got a call from my dad this morning. He told me that Thanksgiving was Canceled. I told him I didn't believe him, but then he said that the rest of the family had just moved, and that I shouldn't try to follow. After two seconds of confusion I started cautiously chuckle wanting to believe that it was a joke. After all, he had used this one before on us, and we actually did move as my older brother was on his mission. After another moment of silence he starts laughing like a goom-bah and tried to claim to be funny. But the point of his call was to inform me of a different thanksgiving venue. Apparently Boise isn't going to work out. How lame. I haven't realized it yet, but I'm about to figure out how lame 'non-refundable tickets' are.

FHE was last night. After working late I went over there to help make Birthday Cards for terminally ill children. Its actually quite difficult due to all the sayings you can't say; like get well, feel better soon, God loves you, Hold on, You're a winner, etc. It was funner than I thought it would be. Lots of people were pretty creative. Then there were some guys who took it a little to far and started making cards that said 'hurry up and die, I pay enough taxes already'. and stuff like that. I shook my head at them.

I'm listening to MXPX right now.

Lunch was sponsored by Panda Express.

Daily Update

On Friday everyone had stuff to do so I just ended up watching tv. So I consider it to be productive.

So the Service Auction finally came. It was a huge headache, but also a huge success. After all was said and done we raised $10,325. People were very generous with donations and services. The 'big ticket' item of 2 first class tickets to Hawaii went for 1400 its self. Aloha!

After words, Renee Ko was having her birthday party at Fairburn. I got there a bit late after having to add up lots of cash, and it was in full swing. There was food there, but it was only small healthy snack type stuff. Sorry, but I wasn't in the mood for light healthy snacks. After having been too frantic to eat since noon, I needed more than rice crackers, cherry tomatoes and chips. Luckily Kristen had a few extra cinnamon rolls hidden away. I talked her into showing me where the stash was so I could sample the goods.

During the party she wanted to take a picture with me, and me, being in a funny mood, decided to play with her emotions a little bit. Every time Someone would try to take a picture I would change my face to be 'funny'. The only reason she knew, was because everyone in the crowd started laughing. Then she started previewing each picture (digital camera). That picture preview is both a blessing and a curse I tell you. Every girl I know, after having their picture taken NEEDS desperately to approve each picture taken of them. And in this situation R-ko would check it, then each and every girl in the room would get in line to look and see if they were somehow in the image. So with this extensive process, you can imagine all the time it took to take only a few picture with her. I had a lot of funny faces.

At the end of the party, when I wanted to leave I noticed R-Ko trying to pick her stuff up and leave. Although it was kind of funny to watch that scramble, I offered to help carry stuff to her car. Little did I know, but she misinterprets this offer to 'here, let me hold all your crap so you can take 50 more picture of the three remaining people here, that you probably already have pictures of'. So I had to take pictures of her and B, then her and K, then K and B, then her and both of them, then each one in stupid korean-esque poses. It went on and on. Finally I prod her out the door, then R-Ko wanted to walk slow, and slide her heels on the ground at 2 inch strides. You're right Renee, I didn't need to sleep tonight. I kept asking where she was parked in hopes of me just dropping her stuff off, but I could barley drag which direction her car was out of her. And she wouldn't point no matter how many times I asked her to. After a 1 block trek we find her auto. and now I want to say good-bye. I wave and wish her well as I am walking away, to my car, but she would have none of that! She started to squeal/scream as if I had just slashed her tires! What?! did something happen? Oh, NO. She just wanted me to say goodbye within a certain distance from her. As well she thanked me about 20 times, which was a lot to much, which turned her from gracious to annoying. Do you know how some girls voices will go up a few octaves (to a squeal) when they get excited? well, thats what she did. Except as she did that, the squeal also got louder and louder. Thank goodness I was already walking away cause from 50 feet away it still heart my ears! I honestly became concerned about her waking the neighbors, and me being the only guy on the street and her the only girl shreeking, I saw a potential problem for me being there. I tried to shush her, but then the squeals only got louder cause she got more excited about something. And she was talking so fast about something that I couldn't understand her very well. After I got away I sighed in relief.

Church was cold. I started a new sketchbook. I think a few to many people saw me sketching and being funny in the back row with Rob than paying attention. oops. After church Rob invited me over for dinner at Fairburn. I spent a few moments over there with Robs Home teaching group; then the main 'Church After-Party' was at Laurel's Flat. It was a sweet set up, with a wet bar in front and Guitar Hero off to one side, a large kitchen in the back, and space to play games off to the other side.

Lunch was sponsored by the Corner Bakery. Mmmm

I'm listening to Skid Row right now.

I've had pancakes every morning since Friday.

Daily Update

Last night was terrific fun. I think almost all of you were there, so I don't need that much of a recap, but it was Jessica's birthday. We went to some sassy Mexican place in Beverly Hills. It was pretty expensive for being mexican. It was good food. They took their time serving us so when our food actually did arrive I was pretty hungry. In order to combat my hunger pains, I started taking some of the largest bites I've ever taken in public eating establishments. It took me a few seconds to realize that the food was a LOT spicier than I'm used to! It felt like someone had just hooked up a car battery to my tongue. I hate that feeling. One good thing was that I didn't splash my food on the people sitting next to me. The After-Party was at Jessica's. For a few minutes I think Danny was trying to eat Kami's cat. Then she noticed it and She got mad. So then everyone settled down. Oh, and of course we got Danny to sing his rendition of the birthday song. I even recorded it, and i'll post it soon on the ol Blog-a-roonie. Its a must see.

But, on the way over to Jessica's party I stopped by Borders again, to get Jessica something. (I don't like showing up to a birthday party empty handed) And the lady at the counter has been getting to know me quite well lately. Over the last few days she's gotten nicer and nicer. So yesterday as I whipped through the check out line she was enthralled with: What I was getting, the Wrapping paper I was getting, the bow I was getting, and the fact I was getting it. I explained that it was for a birthday that I didn't know about yesterday (during my Christmas shopping) And she was so willing to help me out. Although she was the only person on the register she offered the use of their gift wrapping station to me, and I even think she wanted to
help me out. Good thing she didn't cause there was a long line. Their security dork was checking me out as I was wrapping my present. So I asked him if he wanted to come and help, or if he was just 'checking out the goods' as I stuck my butt out and slapped my back side in a sassy Maggie-like manner. So he just walked away. After the fact, I realized that I shouldn't have done that cause if was a 'fruit' then there would have been a bigger problem if he got any closer, namely me punching him in the head until he stopped bleeding.

Lunch was sponsored by In N Out.

I'm listening to Guns N Roses right now.

(ok, this was weird. One of the cleaners at my work just asked me, in his thick accent, something about going to a strip-club with him I think. I accidentally responded "no I don't want to see your mom like that". Luckily he didn't understand me. But if he did understand me... I leave everything of mine in Utah to my brothers, and all my possessions in LA to Jeff and Josh. Ok, now he just left the building. I think he just went to his car to get a gun. Thats it, its the end of me. Its been nice knowing y'all. oh wait... no, he just got a squeegee to clean the glass. That was a close one. Does anyone know how to say "you smell bad" in Mexican slang?)

Daily Update

I went running last night. It about took the life out of me. It felt like it had been a month since the last time. We went up to the Australian Outback Track. There were Wallabees everywhere. We had to avoid them cause I think they were carrying some sort of engineered virus. All the 'carriers' looked like high-school aged mutant zombies. Luckily I was bigger than all of them, so they stayed away. I was sleek and cunning as the best Hyena possible. I didn't have a watch to tell me exactly how superb I was, but I was. trust me. My angry claws gripped the pavement
like velcro and would I would speed away like a car tire. On the last lap I tried to use up every last bit of positive energy and sure enough I did. about half way thru the last lap I felt the last drop evaporate off my brow as I quickly slowed to a trickle. I tried to hurry, but I was spend. It was a good feeling on the walk back to my cave.

I felt compelled to stop by Stan's Donuts this morning. I got a 'Chocolate Halloween Delight, and a Coconut Surprise. I don't know why he has out his Halloween supply, but when I took the first bite, I realized why. It was like going back in time a full week. I was still dancing around in the fitting room of the Harry Potter Store. The sprinkles on top of the donut reminded me of Scary houses from Scooby-Doo. And the whole assortment of sprinkles made me think of the Last
time I had Lucky Charms Cereal. The little candy moon's and ghosts were a joy to think about and a pleasure to eat. and the purple and orange sprinkles were just bedazzling. I wonder if I stop by there tomorrow if it will be the same experience. Don't worry, I'll let you know.

Wandering around Westwood was weird today. I kid you not, I saw a real live ninja. I think it was a she, but not sure. its face was covered. I had to laugh at it when it walked by, cause it didn't seem to threatening. I though of pushing it in the street and laughing at it, but I didn't cause It could have been the mysterious 'Lizzard-Face' Ninja. I didn't want to risk it so I continued on with my donut experience. Later I saw a bunch of freaks.

Lunch was sponsored by Jamba Juice.

I'm listening to No Doubt right now.