818's and Heartbreaks

This post should be epic...

in length.

So I'm sitting here on my last night of Spring Break contemplating the ridiculousness that has ensued in the last 10 days. It has basically been a downhill ride the whole time. Lets recap.

The Good

I watched Domino on the plane to San Jose. Its a pretty obscure movie based on the true story of Domino Harvey, introverted Hollywood heiress turned bounty hunter, and her exploits in the LA crime world. Keira Nightly plays Domino, Micky Rourke plays her boss Ed Moseby and Lucy Lui plays FBI agent Taryn Mills. The movie progresses through flashback sequences and interviews between Domino and Taryn. It could use a little more action, but the story is told well and it ceased to surprise me. This is a movie that you could watch a bunch of times and figure out new things each time. Definitly check it out if you get a chance.
Kelly stayed with me the first weekend back. So that basically meant excessive amounts of eating out, exploring and lounging around: my favorite things in life :) And of course, here are some pictures entailing my food escapades.

Kahoo Ramen in San Jose was our first stop. It wasn't as good as I expected. The spot was tiny and the ramen was spicier than I had liked, but it was good nonetheless. I still prefer Tajima's in Kearny Mesa.Tartini in Cupertino has decent froyo, but the crepes are amazing.

Sushi o Sushi in Santa Clara is our standard sushi spot. Expensive but fuckin baller.

The Red Crane in Cupertino was probably the most expensive meal I've ever paid for, but also one of the best. Asian fusion at its finest.
We also got a chance to check out He's Just Not That Into You. After all the hype about this movie, it didn't impress me TOO much. Don't get me wrong, its still a good movie and its definitly not the typical chick flick. It centers around real life dating situations between different characters who are all connected in one way or another. Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson and Ben Affleck star as a few of the intertwined characters. The ideas that the movie tries to parlay are definitly realistic and different from typical "happy ending" date movies, but it was just too long for my liking (2 hr 9 min). I'd say rent it if you and the ladyfriend are trying to stay in for the night.
Ok and then after Kelly left, I spent the majority of the next few days working on my resume and attempting, to no avail, to find a summer internship in the Silicon Valley. So if anyones got the hookup then HOLLA ACTHA BOYYYY

On Wednesday Will came up from LA so we met up with a few of the Bay Area heads and showed Will around San Jose. Took him to Smoke Eaters (aka University of Chicken, aka Cluck You's) in Santa Clara. I felt hella bad because I told him to get Traditional Death Wings (3rd spiciest) and he was dying trying to finish all 15 of them ahhaha. After that we chilled at Valley Fair and got some Red Mango, which is officially my favorite froyo spot. Then we lived the true San Jose life and kicked it at Tapioca Express and later that night, at Starbucks. Next we went to Hot Pot City in Milpitas for some late night all you can eat hot pot. And as usual, we got too greedy and over-ate and all had MSG induced food comas and stomach aches. Will, Scott and Eric all ended up spending the night and the next day we went to Falafel's Drive In in Santa Clara for lunch (They were on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives on the Food Network). Its the best Middle Eastern food in town and they have a bombass banana shake. And finally, we went to the aforementioned Tartini to get the now famous crepe. After that I split from the guys as they went to stay at Scotts place in Oakley.

I noticed a lot of change in San Jose this most recent trip back home. Its subtle, but its definitly there. Everyone seems to have new crowds. Everyone seems to be utterly sick of being stuck in San Jose. Everyone seems to be quitting bad habits and picking up better ones. Everyone seems to be maturing. Its refreshing to not only see everyone again, but also to see everyone progressing and moving in a positive direction. I wish I had spent more of my Spring Break in San Jose.

The Bad

On Friday, I drove down to LA with Ku and Brian. Things were fine until we passed Pasadena around 3pm. We got stuck in the worst traffic of my life. We stayed on the 5 for an hour and barely moved anywhere so we decided to take local. We ended up driving through East LA, the most Mexican neighborhood I have ever seen (and I've been to Tijuana twice in my life). What should have been a 6 hour drive ended up turning into a 9 hour drive through cholo infested waters. We should have taken it as a sign of bad things to come.

*This part belongs in The Good but then it would ruin the chonological order of the blog, oh well.

We stopped off in West Covina to visit Joyce's new house/mansion and went to Stephanie's birthday dinner at Macaroni Grill in City of Industry.Then we went to Room 302 in Diamond Bar and had the best shaved ice I've ever had.

*Alright back to The Bad

So the main reason we all came down to SoCal early was to meet up with Mel and go to Paid Dues in San Bernadino. However, Friday night we all realized that due to bad planning and communication, none of us really wanted to go to the conert. We had all thought the others had wanted to go and nobody spoke up, so in the end we were stuck with 4 tickets that we didn't want. So I made a craigslist posting on friday night and by saturday at 8am our phones started going off. We were able to sell our first ticket at full price ($55) easily to some guy in Irvine. However, the rest of the day was spent haggling and negotiating with unreliable people all the way from Santa Clarita to San Marcos. We eventually had to settle with selling 2 tickets for $30 each to a girl in West Covina after we were flaked on, ignored and led on by everyone else. And in the end, after countless text messages, phone calls and miles driven around LA county, we were unable to sell our last ticket. We initially paid $220 for the 4 tickets and ended up earning only $115 in reselling, resulting in a $105 loss between the 4 of us. It was one of the most mentally straining days of my life, you just had to be there to really understand the ridiculousness that went on from 8am to 6pm.

We met up with Joyce after and she attempting to salvage our terrible day by taking us to 21 Choices in Clairemont and La Villa Kitchen in San Dimas.Afterwards she took us to a Color Guard competition that her old high school was participating in. I'm not guna lie, Color Guard was actually pretty fun to watch. Some of the shit they were doing was actually pretty amazing. Its just one of those things that you don't think is cool until you witness it in person.

We ended up driving back to SD that night and arriving around 3am

The Ugly

We got robbed.

Over Spring Break someone broke into our apartment somehow and stole hella shit. Luckily, we had locked the TV, PS3 and XBOX 360 in Scott's room. But they took all 4 of the PS3 controllers, an XBOX 360 controller, about 30 movies and like 10 games that were in the living room. Roughly estimating, we lost over $1000 worth of shit, most of which was Scott's (about 90%).

After Friday and Saturday, I wasn't ready to call this the worst weekend ever, but after coming home on Sunday to find out our shit had been stolen, I think I can safely say that this was the worst weekend of my life.

Lets try to brighten things up with the beautiful girlfriend....

pumping gas.

Cherry Poppin'

Please excuse the length and generic layout of this first blog. The last time I blogged was October of 2005 on XANGA. Damn, its been almost 4 years. I used to love writing about myself but I'm having a sort of mental block right now. I think I write the best when thoughts come at random (on the toilet, laying in bed, skydiving, etc.).

ANYWAYS, so I'm sitting here waiting for Kelly to come over and I decided what better way to get in touch with my high school friends than to stalk their blogs? Plus, Kelly got me a digital camera for Valentines Day so I might as well chronicle my photographic exploits via blog. And this shit should keep me busy over spring break while I waste away in San Jose without a car and with De Anza having finals.

Oh yea speaking of car, we recently put my 2nd car to rest, RIP 1991 Toyota Corolla. No more loose clutch, broken passenger window, cracked windshield, jammed transmission, and shocker decal. You will be missed.

THE FUTURE???

Alright, so onto the pictures...

Here are some pictures of my recent food exploits from my facebook album dedicated to gluttony ("this is why i'm fat"):

Extraordinary Desserts on Valentines Day. Oh the hypebeast of dessert spots. Camped for an hour to get these bad boys.

My first, and probably last, time at Olive Garden.

The Pantry in Downtown LA; the best diner I've been to. Get the toast and coleslaw.

Hash House in Hillcrest has the biggest fucking portions I've ever seen, you can't tell by the picture but that plate is about as big as my abdomen. Just look at the way it dwarfs that standard pepper shaker. And that Watermelon Kiwi Lemonade is quite possibly the greatest drink of all time.Sushi Deli 2 in Downtown SD probably has the cheapest non-shitty sushi I've ever had, about $25 for all of this is a steal.


Alright so after seeing all of that you probably think I'm some fat bastard, but when I'm not indulging myself, I actually eat pretty healthy.

My weight has fluctuated pretty wildly in the last few years. I was only 130 up to my sophomore year of high school. Then I delved into the world of weight lifting and protein shakes and by junior/senior year i was 150. And then add 5 more pounds from excessive drinking my freshman year of college and that put me at 155, my peak. Pissed out that 5 pounds of alcohol over the summer and entered sophomore year at 150. And now, throughout my sophomore year, I've gone through a plethora of different diets. Lets take a moment to assess them. (All were combined with a constant workout regime)

Special K diet

Program: Basically eat a Special K thing (they seriously have everything from waffles and protein waters to meal bars and, of course, cereal) for breakfast and lunch. Eat whatever you eat normally for dinner. Eat two Special K snacks (basically smaller versions of the normal Special K things) twice daily.

Cost: $40 for a 2 week supply

Weight Loss: 3lbs in 2 weeks

Overall: I was basically paying hella money to eat LESS, I felt constantly hungry and unfulfilled. By the time dinner arrived I gorged uncontrollably because I had under eaten the whole day. And all of the Special K food sucks, except for the Fruit and Yogurt Cereal. I did lose 3lbs but it was only because I was eating so little. Definitely not worth paying for overpriced foods that taste terrible and don't fill you up.

Hydroxycut

Program: Take 1 serving (1-3 pills depending on tolerance) twice daily, 30 minutes before meals. Supposed to suppress your appetite and give you energy for working out.

Cost: $30 for a 1 month supply

Weight Loss: 4lbs in about a month or so

Overall: It definitely worked, at first. It suppressed my appetite, but as I used it more my body became more immune to it. Eventually it wasn't working as noticeably as when I first began taking it and my weight-loss began to stall. I lost 4lbs and it was hella cheaper than Special K, but it took about a month to lose the weight and most of it was at the beginning of the month. Bonus points though for making me feel crazy at the gym with nonsense amounts of energy.

Eat Healthy

Program: Cut out carbs except for wheat wraps, wheat bread and whole wheat cereal. Eat smaller meals every 3 hours and generally just eat healthier.

Cost: ???

Weight Loss: 2lbs in 1 week and counting

Overall: The best out of the three. Natural, cheap and effective. Since I'm eating small meals often, my metabolism is getting boosted and helping my body process food faster. Cutting carbs really helps too, especially RICE (the betrayer of asian peoples)

Moral of the story - eat healthy, diet naturally, and don't use drugs (except for recreational purposes)

And for those who have been keeping count and actually reading all of this shit. I'm currently at 141 and my goal was always to reach 140, so just ONE MORE POUND. Too bad Spring Break just started and that means home cooked food and dining out with the girlfriend.

Speaking of the girlfriend, shes here so PEACE OUT