25 Things

There's some nonsense chain letter on Facebook going around right now that has people writing 25 things about themselves and then tagging 25 other people so they can do it. Well I would have done this on facebook but I don't need everyone thinking I'm weirder than they already do so I'll just write it here so nobody will read it.

1. I have too many interests spread across the spectrum, I like sports and art and cooking and way too many things. I'm just too eclectic sometimes.

2. Folding laundry is the bain of my existance, I can never do it consistantly and thus it sometimes lays in a pile in my room.

3. I have 14 pairs of shoes, which I think is alot for a guy. I have about 2 pairs I should throw out. 4 pairs for working out including 2 for wrestling/boxing and one for biking. One pair of flip flops, boots, and boat shoes. Two pairs of dress shoes, one at work and one at home.

4. I go to cooking class about once a month or more and I learn to cook these marvelous meals but then I rarely get to cook them since I only ever have myself to cook for.

5. I'm part of the space defense force, we defend the planet from aliens and asteroids, not many people know that about me.

6. I like tons of kinds of music, I don't really have a favorite kind and i'll listen to anything.

7. I've lived about 22 different places in my life. Sometimes I try to count them all in order and I get confused. People always ask me where my favorite place to live was and I don't really have an answer. Each place has it's own unique story or fun things about it, each place has it's problem.

8. I have no connection to San Diego other then my job out here. When I moved out here I didn't know any friends or have any family out here.

9. My friends tell me all the time that I'm too nice, as though it were a bad thing. I don't know if that's true they just tell me that.

10. I'll eat anything, like anything. I didn't always feel that way but now I'll eat any kind of food from any ethnicity on the planet. I also don't have a favorite anymore but it used ot be mexican.

11. My signature is jacked up, it's never the same and if you try to trace it it's not even remotely close to spelling my name. I can literally write my name 25 times on a sheet of paper and it's different every time.

12. I have awful handwriting, but I send people letters and cards handwritten because I think it's more personal and meaningful. Writing hurts my hand if I do it for more then a minute since I broke my thumb and never got it set after the 10th grade.

13. I get less than 2-3 hours of sleep a night, and I never crash for like 12 hours straight. This has been going on for almost 2 years and I haven't found anything that makes it better.

14. I don't drink caffiene almost at all. On the rare occasions where I do have it, it's not a pretty sight and I'm like a super energetic kid. It also makes me feel sick.

15. My favorite sports teams are the Philadelphia Eagles, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Toronto Maple Leafs. My second favorite teams are the Red Sox, the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Washington Capitals. I don't like any professional basketball teams, I like or dislike individual players.

16. I have a great sweater collection but never use it since I live somewhere so warm. I do have a really nice sweater collection though.

17. I have no problem biking through traffic on my road bike but riding motorcycles or being around them scares me.

18. I dislike scary movies and in fact close my eyes whenever somehting scary is about to happen. I won't even watch them at home when my roomate watches them.

19. I surf the internet too much at work, I need to cut down.

20. I'm terrible at keeping in touch with old friends, I wish I was better because I think about people alot and wish I talked to them, I just rarely do.

21. I want to learn to surf better but I'm afraid of going out there in front of all the cool california surfers.

22. I almost never get angry at people in real life. Most of the time if you see what you think is anger is actually faked. Someone could punch me in the nose or hurt my arm and I wouldn't get mad at them.

23. I overexaggerate more then anyone in the entire world.

24. I like to read science fiction, the problem is that I'll find an author or genre I like and completly read every book in like a week and then have nothing to read. I read very quickly.

25. I think there's only one person in the entire world who knows my true political feelings and how I really think about politics. She always forgets as well. Even my parents and best friends don't know how I feel or vote and I like to keep it that way. If forced to talk about politics I'll become a contrarian and refute everything that's said, even if there are two people in the conversation from different political spectrums.

26. Is completely unprepared for an zombie apocalypse.

Speaking of biking...

These are some photos I took on my bike ride home from work. The photos suck because I can't aim a camera to save my life and also I was on the other side of the road. But my ride takes me up and down Mission Bay Drive and it's simply gorgeous, and it is very quiet as there usually aren't many cars since the 5 is right next to the road. So as long as you look toward the bay it's very pretty.

This is the Hill area near the bottom (south) of Mission Bay Drive where lots of people fly kites. In the morning there are two separate workout groups that are there early in the morning. One is run by a guy wearing an army workout uniform and the other is run by a guy with a huge stomach and sometimes an attractive woman. People usually fly kites every day here.

This is the second part of that hill (where people don't fly kites because of trees)

This is a group of trees near a gazebo that is a little bit farther north then the hill. Just north of it is the Hilton Resort which is the only buldings on the drive except for the visitor center. People usually play soccer next to the gazebo you can see there on the left.This is a parking lot north of the Hilton, I have no idea what I was taking a picture of here.

This is where the bay comes really close to the road, it's close for the whole ride basically but it's within spitting distance at this point. Lots of people walk on that path you can see in between the road and the water.This is a picture looking north across the bay into Pacific Beach. You can kinda see a trailer park right across the water, and it's the nicest trailer park ever, they have security and fences and all the trailers look nice.Same picture as the last one but from a different angle. You can see clouds in this picture which aren't there every day. That's also toward the end of my ride by the bay.

So that's about it, it's like this just about every day.

I can't feel my fingers

It's stupid to complain about cold here, because it's not, it gets chilly in the morning but that's about it. Sometimes it gets really chilly, and you don't really check the weather report out here because you can pretty much guess what's coming. Somewhere between about 65-72 with sunshine and maybe a cloud and if you guess that every day you'll be right about 90% of the time. But if it's been a particularly cold night, and you happen to be biking to work in the morning going about 15-18 mph into the wind with the belief that it was supposed to be warmer today (based on what a co-worker said) you could get a little bit cold. So this morning when I left my house wearing all my biking gear and a sweatshirt, my ears and hands basically "froze" and now 2 hours later I'm still cold.

I'd idle up to a heater and warm up like you could back in DC but they don't have such things in my office. It's silly of me to complain about being cold given that it's snowing heavily in other parts of the country so I'll stop.

What I actually accomplished this last weekend

Given the list I had going into the weekend, let's see what I actually did:
- Go to grocery store----Status: Completed
I will admit that the only reason this task was completed was that I was hungry on sunday mid morning and went by Vons after finishing another errand. I decided since I was there that I should grocery shop for the rest of the week since I was feeling kinda lazy.
- Do laundry----Status: Completed
Again I was bored on saturday evening and went to the bar to play pool and drink while doing laundry. For some reason I generated much less laundry this week than normal.
- Fold Laundry ----Status: Failure
Not only did I not fold my laundry after I was done, it got to sit on a bar stool for an hour or so while I was playing pool (badly) and listening to music in the bar.
- Go buy new dress shoes for work----Status: Completed
This coincided with my hunger and since I had no food at home I was forced to go out to get food, it was at this time that I decided that I could stop by the shoe store and pick out what I wanted before I ate. Luckily my willpower held out and I was able to purchase the dress shoes with all different kinds of textures that make it feel like I have rocks in my shoes at all time.
- Go to the bike store and get a new tire for my road bike---Status:Completed
This errand was completed on saturday after I felt guilty for being a lazy piece of crap and sitting around the house with a hangover all day. Luckily I was drunk when I woke up so I worked out and then the hangover kicked in and I suffered on the couch. But at about 2 I felt like I'd wasted the day so I walked and got a new tire in the sunshine.
- Go to the DMV to register my car----Status: Total failure
The biggest and most important item on my list went uncompleted due to general sloth and laziness.

So all in all it looks like a semi-productive weekend looking at what I wanted to do and what I actually did. 4/6 which might not seem bad, until you notice that the most important things I needed to do were also the ones I didn't do. I award myself no points, and may god have mercy on my soul.

Things I need to do this weekend

Making a list to see how much I actually accomplish this weekend:
- Go to grocery store
- Do laundry
- Fold Laundry (which is an entirely different chore than doing laundry)
- Go buy new dress shoes for work
- Go to the bike store and get a new tire for my road bike
- Go to the DMV to register my car now that it has finally passed inspection


Not too much stuff but we'll see how much I actually get done by sunday evening.

What was I searching for?

I came out to San Diego for a reason, I don't always remember what that reason was, but I know I had a checklist at one point. I feel lost sometimes, unsure of what I'm supposed to do or where I should go. It's not a good feeling, in fact it borders on despair. I'm so independant now that I don't really have anyone I want to ask for advice, and even if I did I'm not sure I would listen to them. I know life isn't supposed to have a compass or a map, I'm not sure I even need either, I just wish I knew what I was supposed to be looking for or doing. It makes me feel cold all over to think about such things, it feels like it's about -10 degrees as I'm writing this. I want to find my own way, accomplish the goals that I set for myself, do the things I want to do...it's just that I forget what all those things are. Where did I go wrong? I guess I should have taken a left at Albuquerque.

All my hard work, gone in an hour!

Yesterday evening I had dinner with my father and some of his co-workers at a Brazilian Barbeque place (I alluded to it in the post about the piano). The food was great, the salad bar had everything you could possibly want in a salad bar, the wine, atmosphere (minus hilarious piano music selection), and servers were all top notch. I ended up having a big salad, whcih I was warned before hand not to do, and while I was working my way through that the servers started bringing around the various dripping meats. It was a who's who of delicious meat, and I tried to moderate which ones I tried, and the amount of bacon that was wrapped around like half of the different things was significant. I also don't like bacon (I know it's weird) but if it's wrapped around a piece of sirloin then I'll buck up and eat it. My favorite was the skirt steak, which was like 90% fat but tasted amazing, the baby back ribs were also amazing as was basically everything that came by our table. The point of all this is to say that not only was the meal good, it was also filling even though it contained relatively few calories.

But regardless of the amount of calories, it becomes clear pretty quickly that with such a big meal, all the hard work and exercise I'd put in during the weekend was destroyed in a blaze of glaze and barbeque goodness. I went for a bike ride on saturday, went to the gym later in the day, worked out friday night, went boxing and wrestling sunday morning and then went for a run to blow off steam when the eagles lost (godamn Eagles). I ate relatively well especially on sunday and monday and then didn't booze much. But Brazilian Barbeque wrecked all that, I might as well have been smoking cigarettes while sitting on a chair made of jelly doughnuts all weekend! Damn you and your delicious selection of 18 meats brought to the table by handsome servers! Damn you and your all too tempting salad bar with everything I could ever want! Damn you and your funny and engaging waiter named Benny! I'll get you Benny, if it's the last thing I do...which if I've just had another huge meal at your restaurant it will be.

Sharp as a cotton ball sometimes

For days and weeks I've been talking to folks in DC about what they are doing during the inauguration. I had stories from dozens of people letting me know that all federal workers are staying home today and not going to work. Hell even my father and some of his co-workers scheduled business out here in San Diego during this time period so he didn't have to be in town for the extra crowds. I talked about it LAST NIGHT how no federal workers were going to work in DC today...and yet I was bright enough to complain to my boss that several folks who work in the Pentagon hadn't answered my e-mail/calls from Friday afternoon yet today....

An old take on a new classic?

At a restaurant last night they had a piano player rocking out to all kinds of crazy tunes. He hit up Coldplay, and did "Under Pressure" by Queen, had some other really odd choices for piano tunes. You just don't expect to hear contemporary or classic rock songs coming from a piano at a nice restaurant like that. It was good don't get me wrong, but just odd that the selection of music was so eclectic given that there are so many great piano songs to choose from (my personal favorite is "Wonder Boy"). It's like if you were at a wedding, everyone was all dressed up nicely and it was elegant, then the DJ started playing KISS or NWA or something out of place. It just doesn't quite fit, like lounge music at a formal dinner (although if Richard Cheese was playing I'm sure it would be amazing).

The best was when the pianist started playing "Stairway to Heaven". Nothing like a little Led Zeppelin with your meal. The best part was during the song various people in my party would break out singing parts or doing air guitar, just rocking out and laughing at the piano cover of the greatest song ever. I especially enjoyed the part towards the end of the song where they have that huge Jimmy Page guitar solo and the song goes from being a soft calm song to a bit more rock and roll. You knew that the crescendo of a piano probably wasn't going to match the enthusiasm of a wicked sweet guitar solo, but the pianist did his best and had me rocking out in an odd setting (read: innappropriate). Although I guess it's not odd if the pianist at the restaurant is the one playing these rock hits, I was hoping him might break into some Black Sabbath or maybe some Aerosmith to go with my second glass of wine.

Life here is hard

Today (14 January) at lunch the temperature was around 73 degrees, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. How do people live in this place for years dealing with weather like this? I forgot my sunglasses at home and had to walk to get lunch into the sun. I was forced to squint and sometimes cover my eyes with my hands to provide shade. Unbearable. The hardships and the climate of this place is just so bizzare I don't know how people can stand it. I don't want anyone to cry for me or try to help me, but I'm not wearing short sleeves today, so I might feel slightly overdressed when I walk around the base today. It's ok, I'll adapt and overcome, try to adjust to these extreme weather conditions.

Someone seriously told me today, "This is like D.C., except there you need sunglasses because the snow is so bright." Lord knows how he's been able to survive out here in this challenging climate, it's what separates the men from the boys.

My new life coach

So there I was, sitting in a dive bar at 9 in the morning saturday morning in Las Vegas eating breakfast. It was a nice little place well off the strip and the food was fantastic. On my left was my friend and this girl he'd met the night before, on my right was my new life coach. Yes as I sat there eating my delicious breakfast (and it was fucking fantastic) the drunk man at the bar next to me started talking to me. It turned out that this guy was a retired Cirque du Soleil actor and former Olympic gymnast from Romania.

Turns out Marius had won a bronze medal in the highbar at the Seoul Olympics and had placed 15th in the overall competition, he also competed in Barcelona. After that he went and worked for Cirque du Soleil for 10 years. But on this particular day he took to the time to explain to me what was wrong with my fitness plans, which sports he liked and why I shouldn't like Manchester United. In the space of 20 minutes he insulted my workouts, my sports teams, my choice of athletic endeavors, and which MMA fighters I liked. All in all it was a humbling yet wonderful experience that ended slightly prematurely (like all my sexual experiences) when his wife came into the bar and dragged his drunk ass out to the car.

However in the wake of this encounter it's made me wonder if that's not exactly what I need, a daily reminder of what's wrong with my life from a drunk former athlete at 9 in the morning. A refreshing look at my life from the perspective of a storied Romanian Olympian. For all his criticisms he was a really nice guy and I enjoyed talking to him immensely. I'm thinking of calling him up and asking him to be my new guiding light. A life counselor if you will, a coach to keep me on the straight and narrow. And then his wife to drag him out before he's done criticising something.

Happy Three Kings day!

Or as I like to call it, Mortality Reminder Day. When people ask me what I'm doing for my birthday it's as if they want me to tell them I'm doing something crazy stupid. Because they always seem disappointed with the answer I usually give, which is, "Bike to work, work, go to the gym at lunch, and then go home and cook myself dinner." I think for whatever reason people want me to give a much more extreme answer, something more age appropriate I guess like, "I'm going to get hella drunk and then break into the zoo and headbutt all the marsupials after I get done making out with strippers." Maybe that's what I'll say next time someone asks me.

I do dislike my birthday, it's an annual reminder of all I've failed at and what I've gotten worse at over the last year. Sure I could dwell on what I've accomplished or the things that I've done well. But I'd rather think about how much older and worse looking I am, and how I'm likely to die alone in a failed auto erotic asphyxiation attempt. (I'm kidding about all this...or am I?) Maybe I'll hold off on doing that until I'm 30 or something.

A simple equation you can follow

Boxing + Wrestling + Working out=Hurty Ribs
Hurty Ribs + Uncomfortable bed= No sleep
No Sleep + Low amount of work = You're not gonna have a good time


The shame of it is that I didn't think my ribs even hurt that bad until I was in bed, and I didn't even get punched in the stomach! We were just training. But apparently I have to suffer with even less sleep if my ribs hurt, so the 2-3 hours I get turns into 0. Not cool.