LONG RUN THROUGH DB

After lunch, I was trying to motivate to write that letter to the endodontist, but instead, I just worked on my EDD form.  I sat around, washed some dishes and basically tried to relax before I got on the road.

Today, I decided to run my 8.5 miles on the road instead of the track at Lorbeer.  I wanted to see how it felt and it turned out much better than I thought.  I was a little worried about the length, but I ran slow and stopped at some lights.  But I did try to run it all the way through and the tough part wasn't the huffing and puffing.  I never felt out of breath.

What was tough at the end was the pain in the knees.  It's such a repetitive motion that when the legs don't get a chance to stretch out or to bend, it's just stressing the same spot the whole time.  That's the toughest part about it all and I worry that I'm doing damage over the long run.  But the way I look at it, people run way more than me and they are just fine so what's the big deal?

After, I just iced my feet and took a shower.  I didn't hand out any candy this year because I was too lazy and tired to go to the store to buy candy.  So I just kept the lights off and no one came through.  The rest of the time I just watched tv and ate snacks.

RECOVERY DAY

Jared woke me up so I went downstairs to hang out with him and tell him how the rave was.  He told me about homecoming and then it was time for lunch.

I was glad the oxtail sinigang was leftover because it was perfect for a next day meal.  We also had some nilaga since there wasn't really that much sinigang left.

Then Adam came over to hang out and kick back.  We ate a chocolate bar and chilled a little.  I tried downloading Drive from Piratebay, but the copy just wouldn't play on the PS3 smoothly.  Adam got picked up later, and Jared and I left for Corona so he could face judgement day.

Apparently, he broke the pool table at the clubhouse, and when Kimi found out, she freaked out.  Jared knew he was in trouble and he didn't want to tell her before homecoming.  Anyway, she had him talk to their neighbor who is on the HOA board.  But he wasn't there so he talked to his wife instead.

Patty was there drinking, so I had some drinks while we hung out to talk about what happened to the pool table.  When Patty left, we actually got a chance to talk about the family and what it means to them.  I told Jared and Kylie (since Karina already left to spend the night at her friend's house) that they need to work on thinking about the family and their mother more and I told Kimi she needs to work on how she reacts to stressful situations.  It's much easier to talk about issues when there's another party there to help mediate and that's pretty much what I was doing.  I don't know if anything was really solved, but I did feel like people had an opportunity to get their feelings across in a safe way.

I left around 10PM and just drove home to chill out.

(written 10/31/11)

HARD HAUNTED MANSION

I figured I'd have to leave around 12:30PM to make the screening of Super 8 at Paramount at 2PM.  So I decided to do a little run even though I didn't feel like it shortly after getting up.  A strange thing has developed with my left foot.  Before, I used to feel very sore on the outer metatarsal, right on the left side of the foot between my pinkie toe and the one next to it.  But I'd been icing the foot and massaging it to try to get the soreness to go away.  Now, it's not very painful and all my icing and work on it might have helped.  But now, the top of my foot feels sore when I begin running.  It goes away after a few minutes, but I can't help but wonder if it has anything to do with all the tendons and connections running around there.

After showering, I got dressed as Driver and brought my jacket along.  I didn't wear it inside the screening, but the shirt with the jeans is a cool look.  Anyway, I got to the screening just in time and I got a pretty good seat near the back where I like to sit.  The movie was good, and the sound was really important in the movie, but all in all, I just wasn't that impressed.  I liked Elle Fanning's acting chops, but the movie just reminded me of a wannabe Spielberg epic.  Not as good as E.T., but better than Transformers is what A.O. Scott of the NY Times said and I agree with him.

Then I drove over to Venice to pick up some goods from Josh.  He was watching the Cal game and we smoked a little before I took off.  I didn't realize Jansen and BJ and El were gonna be so late, so I didn't stay long.  Afterward, I went to In-N-Out to have a Double Double with out the bun.  It was freakin' delicious, but I'm not sure I'd want it all the time.  You still feel like something is missing, especially when you don't order fries or a drink with the meal.  But I didn't want too much in my stomach since we were gonna party tonight.

I parked about 1.5 miles from the Shrine after doing a little drive-by.  There's security all over the place around the USC campus so it felt very safe to walk around or park my car.  I guess they have it when there's a football game or maybe every weekend just so the kids don't get into any trouble.

I waited till about 9PM for them to arrive.  It seemed like such a waste of time waiting around, but oh well, what are you gonna do?  There were people already inside the Shrine so we still had to get two tickets sold.  We couldn't find parking, so Jansen decided to just drop us off and give me the tickets to sell.  It wasn't hard finding two people who needed tickets, but they didn't want to spend more than $85 so I said it was a done deal even though I was looking to sell it for $100.  I regretted not putting my foot down when I watched people walking up and down the sidewalk looking for tickets after it had been sold out.  I screwed up, but that's the panic of the market in action.

Jansen parked the car at a lot so we all got in line to get inside.  They were really strict with the check-in so I had to take the bullet out of my shoe and put it in my taint.  It worked like a charm but I was really worried that it would just slip out somehow and it'd go to waste.  But all was fine and dandy so it was party time when we got inside.

It wasn't really very crowded which was good and bad at the same time.  Good in the sense that it wasn't packed and you could move around, but not so good in the sense that there weren't a lot of hot chicks to look at.  Still, it was fun and the music was great and BJ and El had a good time since their friends were also there.

We finally bailed about 1:45PM before the even ended so we could get out of there before the mad rush of cars.

(written 10/31/11)

FIRST DAY ALONE

Moms was picked up by PrimeTime shuttle at 3AM this morning for her trip to Greece and Turkey.  We were waiting outside around 2:40AM but the shuttle arrived late.  It was actually hard for me to stay up even though I generally go to sleep very late.

So I took a nap most of the day, or morning I should say.  I woke up for lunch, then had a long talk with Shirl that filled up most of the afternoon.  She was bored and I had nothing better to do, so I just talked.  We didn't really talk about anything interesting, but the good news is that even though the salon that wanted to hire her didn't hire her, they are willing to talk about doing something like a commission-only structure.

I spent some time trying to upload some boxing torrents, but I had no luck.  I'm definitely missing something and it doesn't look like the forums on the site are very helpful.

I did some laundry, washing some of the jackets I bought from JCPenney and some undies.  Then I played some poker.  Tomorrow should be more interesting since it's party time at HARD.

FOOD HEADACHE

I had trouble sleeping last night for some reason.  I'm not sure why.  I was tossing and turning and couldn't really get to sleep for more than an hour at a time.

I didn't really want to get up but kind of forced myself up.  I walked downstairs to eat some lunch.  I had some leftover oxtail sinigang but I suspect it wasn't enough.  After taking a nap in the afternoon, I found myself a bit hungry and with a terrible headache.  I tried eating some snacks but it wasn't helping.

I wasn't feeling up to it, but I had to get moms a new memory card for her trip to Greece & Turkey.  I got an 8GB card for her so she could take as many pictures as she wanted and probably a decent amount of video too.

We went to get some pho down the street and after eating a nice bowl, my headache was gone.  It's kind of like taking an aspirin.  You know the headache is probably somewhere still there lurking, but you don't feel any more pain.

I just hung out and relaxed afterward, watching a lot of recording on the ol' dvr.

SLEEPY AS HELL

I ate fried chicken for lunch and also re-fried some tofu that didn't have the crunch that I liked when moms cooked it last weekend.  I'm on a crazy love for tofu but I enjoy the silken and softer kind much more than the firmer because of its texture.  There's nothing like a crunchy outside and a soft center.

I did a little run before dinner, trying to run faster and challenge myself a little.  Plus, it was getting dark and I don't like to run in the dark.  I found myself tired after the run and after dinner, I was really sleepy.  It didn't take much to want to get to bed, so I slept on the couch and walked upstairs to get to bed.

(written 10/27/11)

I HATE MY TEENAGE DAUGHTER #3

I'd never been booked on this show on a Monday so I wondered what they were doing.  It turns out they do a lot of rehearsing on Monday, and that's pretty much what we did.  There were three different scenes to rehearse, so I guess that's why they brought us all in.  I feel lucky because somehow I'm remembered, but at the same time, there are a variety of regulars that come in to work the show so they don't always get the same people.

It was kind of hard to remember what scene we were working on because we weren't given any sides or anything to look at.  Only the waitress gets something to look at since she's working the most.  The rest of us either walk in and take a seat at the coffee shop, or just start at a table sitting already.

We got out in close to eight hours so I just went home afterward since I felt pretty tired.

(written 11/4/11)

ONCE AGAIN, THE LONG RUN

It's always hard to motivate when you party the night before, but it wasn't so bad today and I was up and running on the road since I figured it would make sense to see tough it is to run long distances on the road, but more realistically, I was tired from last night.

My goal was to just run two miles at a time to get to eight miles.  The first two miles wasn't bad, but when I rested, the next two were tougher than I remember.  Then it started to get really dark and somewhat cold.  The next two miles got me to six and it was way too late to try to run another mile on the track.

Instead, I just ran home so my total was really only seven miles.  The thing I noticed about running on the road was that it wasn't as hard on the knees.  I guess the different grades and different movements along a road changes the stride a little.

(written 10/27/11)

PRE-HALLOWEEN PARTY

The kids came over with K. Noel minus Amanda since she was in the South visiting family.  I asked them if they wanted to go to my tailor in Brea so I could pick-up the jacket I had done and see if there were any suits to purchase.

The last time I was there, I'd dropped off some material to make the jacket seen in Drive.  The jacket came out better than I'd expected, although it was still very much a costume jacket.  If I make enough money, I'm gonna buy myself the real thing because of how cool I think the movie and the jacket itself is.

Then Jared and I started looking at the suits and a lot of other people started to come in because I guess it's homecoming season.  Normally, Nino's in Brea is empty except for myself, but not this weekend.  I asked Saida if this was normal, and she said no.  It was due to the going out of business - everything must go signs she had put up.

There were two tuxedos I'd seen last time.  One was a 40 and another was a 38 and those happen to be Jared's and my sizes.  Unfortunately for me, they were both too big for me.  But the 38 fit Jared really well and he decided to purchase it as an investment.  He still wasn't sure if he should buy it because he didn't know what he was wearing for homecoming.  He figured he might as well save the tux for prom.

Then we all stopped by the Korean store to buy some watermelon and mangoes.  But the mangoes weren't ripe, so we skipped on them.  Instead, we bought other things for dinner like some blue crabs that were on sale for just $1.99 per pound and they were alive!  We also bought some pot stickers and finally the watermelon.

When we got home, the girls started washing their dad's car to make some money.  Of course, Karina complained about all the work she'd done for not much money but they actually did a decent job.  While they were doing that, I was on the pc wasting time.

Then I started steaming the crab.  It takes about 20-30 minutes to steam them babies and I'm never sure if they should be overcooked or undercooked.  But they were steaming really good so I decided to quit at 20.  They weren't meaty crab, but their insides were nice and fatty.

They all left around 9:30PM.  Shortly after, I headed out to Kimi's because it was party time.  We headed out to Riverside to a gated community filled with fancy homes.  The party we went to had a DJ and the party was held outside in their backyard.  There was a pool and a little in-laws house that was filled with sports stuff and a bar.  A true man-cave.

There was also two tables filled with food, a tap full of beer and just bottles and bottles of liquor.  It was ridiculous how much booze was there.  I couldn't help but wonder what these guys did to allow them to roll this way.

There weren't really that many people or at least there didn't seem to be.  In fact, there were a lot of people, easily over 100 but the place was so big, it didn't ever seem full.  Also, the chicks that were there were with dudes, but of course, there were a few single ones.  I actually met a little cutie Lupita, but all-in-all, there weren't that many lookers.  The best part of the night (other than Lupita) was when a couple recognized the costume I wore.

Finally, the party winded down and we bailed.  I took Kimi home, we chilled a little at her place and I drove home and crashed.

(10/25/11)

RINGER #3

Only seven of us were recalled and we all kind of wondered why.  I had noticed the 2nd AD yesterday looking around and picking people off her list of background.  Was it what we wore?  Was it the color?  Was it our location during the shot?  Was it because we weren't really seen?  Who knows?  Maybe it was just dumb luck.

We did the usual.  First was checking-in.  Then wardrobe to retrieve the same thing I had yesterday.  The cool part was that they dry cleaned my shirt for free.  I got the tie I wore yesterday and then hair looked at us.  A little gel for most of the men and the lady thought we looked great.

Back at the catering tent, we ate our breakfast.  It was exactly the same as yesterday.  Hash browns, corned beef hash, bacon, breakfast sausages and a white egg omelet for me.  Half way through the meal, I realized I got way too much food and probably shouldn't have gotten that slice of honeydew, watermelon and pineapple.  Still, I ate it all since lunch wouldn't come for another six hours.

We were moved to the same holding location inside stage 2 and immediately put to work.  We stood inside the apartment while the principals stood outside on the balcony to talk.  It was a snap and took about five to ten minutes.  Then back to holding.

There we stayed for the next eleven hours.  Some talking, some snoozing and some reading or browsing their phones.  I did all of that.  Lunch provided a nice break, but was comprised mostly by me arguing the fine points of Cesar Milan's method with an Aussie chick who was psychologically suspect.  One rule that I broke is debating with a crazy chick.  You'll never get your point across.

After all that waiting, we were finally called in for the last shot of the day.  It was pretty ridiculous actually.  No sound was used for the shot and we just stood there as part of the party in the apartment.  And that was that.

I drove home, picked up some sugar and headed to Jansen's to help him bring some furniture upstairs.  Then we watched half of Horrible Bosses.

(written 10/22/11)

RINGER #2

I have to remember that when my call time is after 9AM, I don't have to hurry as much as I normally do.  I was about half an hour early, even having eaten a bowl of cereal before getting there.  Little did I know that breakfast was being provided.

I checked-in then went to wardrobe.  Takashi, the costumer, liked my suit, but didn't like the tie so much.  He decided to go with more of a New York style tie, but when I was walking into stage 2, his boss saw the tie and didn't like it.  So I had to go back and change ties.  The one I ended up with was a cool purple one that everyone seemed to like.

The scene was some kind of auction for teachers with high priced goods.  I was paired with Lauren, a chick who went to Arizona St. but was originally from Arkansas.  She's one of the few people who have guessed my ethnicity on the first guess.  Apparently, she had some good friends who she grew up with who were Filipino, so I guess that's why.

The entire day was going to set and being set-up to stand around like we were in a fancy party.  Sometimes I was used, and sometimes not, which allowed me to nap from time to time.  We worked pretty late, and were wrapped around 11:30AM.  That should be some decent overtime considering my call time was at 10:30AM.

When I got home, I watched an episode of Game of Thrones which I am a fan of now because it's freakin' awesome.  It makes you feel like you are watching a life and death game of power and politics in a different medieval world.

(written 10/22/11)

TRYING OUT A PEPIN RECIPE

After lunch, I bought some ingredients to try out Jacques Pepin's recipe for a kind of corn gretin.  You use about four cobs of corn, a few tablespoons of flour, three eggs, a cup to a cup and a half of half & half and salt and pepper.  All of this goes inside a food processor, but I used a blender.  Then, pour the stuff into your container and grate some Parmesan or  swiss cheese on top and place inside a 375 degree oven.

I think it probably could have used a little more salt because I found it a little bland.  Or maybe the corn could have been better (it was a little old) or maybe I could have used a processor instead of a blender.  The top never did quite brown and I suspect there wasn't enough sugar to brown the top or it wasn't cooked long enough.

I did all this after jogging down to Wells and getting some money for the work Don the plumber did at the Pomona duplex.  We talked about Ninito Donaire and whether he is better than Pacquiao.  I guess we'll see since he's up for a belt this Saturday.

Other parts of the dinner included some frying.  I fried some chicken wings and also some tofu.  After dinner I tried using a different recipe for the carrot bread.  I didn't realize wheat flour can't be substituted exactly with all-purpose so I had to add more moisture in the form of more cream and oil.  After some research, I realized I should have just added more cream and didn't need the extra oil.  The bread came out moist but also too oily in my opinion.

(written 10/22/110

MORE ERRANDS

When you have the day off, it's amazing how much time you feel like you have to do things.  And then you realize how much time you can waste too and the day becomes less about doing things, and more about trying to fill-in the time with things to do.

Today, I decided to go back to Walmart to return the glasses I bought there.  I'll probably return them again after I use them, but it depends if Jared wants to keep them or not.

Then I noticed a Home Depot nearby so I went in there to find the gloves I need to finish up my costume.  They didn't have any but I figured it was worth a shot.

I then went into the Sears Outlet to return an umbrella that was just $2.  It was broken, so I exchanged it with a smaller one that wasn't as big or as nice.

Nordstrom Rack was right next door, so I decided to go in to see if they had those gloves.  My next stop would be the regular Sears at the mall.  But when I went to the gloves rack in the women's accessories section, they were right there.  They were a little small and they were $35.  I wasn't going to pay that, so I looked at some of the other gloves and noticed that the price tags were pretty much all the same.  The only difference was the price listed.  So I found one for $10 and left with it and the gloves to do the swap.

I felt like someone was always watching me so I took my time and pretended to look at the shoes.  Slowly but surely, I was able to put the $10 tag on the plastic string and slowly but surely, removed the $35 tag.  I was a little nervous when I was at the cash register, but the guy was cool and it was no big deal.  I walked out with a big smile on my face and immediately put the gloves on in the car.

I was now Driver or at least I felt like him.  I drove to Pomona to my hair stylist, got my hair cut and went back home.  There, I switched into my new dri-fit shirt I bought from the Sears outlet yesterday and did a short run.

After dinner, I baked a different version of some carrot bread.  I didn't realize that wheat flour is not recommended as a substitute for all-purpose, but I could tell something was wrong with the batter because it was way thicker than normal.  So I added extra oil and some milk which the recipe didn't call for.

One of my beliefs is that if the batter tastes good, so will the final product.  But the batter was only ok.  It wasn't as sweet as I liked and I was afraid to add more sugar because it could alter the consistency of the batter.  I just crossed my fingers and then took a shower.

After the shower, I worked on the pc.  Something about the spooler subsystem app error.  I was worried it was some kind of virus or malware and spent some time running anti-virus/malware on the pc to make sure it wasn't.  It wasn't, but I'm glad I ran something because there was a trojan horse found.  Of course, it was under the "visitor" account.  Probably the kids once again.

I looked for some solutions with no luck.  Finally, I decided to follow Microsoft's advice and delete some of the registry keys.  It was kind of scary, but it was more scary in my mind than anything else.  It was a simple right click and delete and a reinstall of the Samsung printer driver.  That was it.

SHOPPING AND SEEING ACCOUNT DROP

I woke up and did some printing of the pictures of the Drive costume I've set my heart on.  I think it may have gone a little out of control, but that tends to happen when I focus in on something.  I get somewhat obsessed by it and can get a little crazy trying to achieve my goal.  That's happened with online poker and now I kind of felt it with this costume.

After lunch, I headed to my tailor in Brea.  Sadly, her store is closing, but on the good side of things, that meant all her suits had to go.  The ones I was looking at were a brown suit and a tux that would probably need to be tailored.  They went for $65 and that's pretty cheap for a suit and probably worth it.

I showed Saida my pictures on the iPad to give her an idea on what the jacket should look like.  I gave her all the material I purchased from the fabric store as well as the print out of the pictures of Ryan Gosling's Driver character.  I'm saddened to hear that her shop is closing down, but I guess that's just the nature of the economy.  I'd always wondered how a tailor shop could stay open as a stand alone shop.  She charged me $40 and I wonder if that's a good price but it's probably fair considering all the work she's doing.  She needs to put the cuffs on the arms, a collar and the ribbing on the bottom of the jacket.  It all made me realize that I need to learn how to do this shit.

Then I headed to Community Tire to see if Kevin could hook me up with the tire stem caps.  He did and even added some chrome stems so that the whole thing looked cool.  I was happy, but still a little bummed out that the original stem caps had been thrown out with my old tires.

Next was a stop at the Sears outlet store.  I actually wanted to go to Sears, but saw the outlet store was right in the same complex as Walmart.  I was hoping to find my gloves and glasses, but instead, all I found were some dri-fit shirts and tank tops that were cheap, I couldn't resist purchasing them.  When I tried to use a Sears cash card, it turned out it was expired.  Thank goodness they decided to give me a new card when I complained when calling them.

Then it was off to Walmart where I bought some snacks and found some glasses that should work for Driver.  I couldn't find any gloves, but I did buy some microfiber cloths.

At the end of the day, I was surprised I'd spent over a hundred dollars.  It's not a lot of money, but at my relative salary, it's not cheap for me.  I'm not sure how long I can sustain living on the cheap, but I sure don't want it to last too long.  As much as I hate our society based on consumption, I too am subject to the desire of want.

CHILLIN' WITH KYLIE AND JARED

I woke up with Jared working on some of his SAT stuff.  I kind of helped him think about writing a little more strongly and paying more attention to his grammar and building his arguments.  The writing section of the SAT is only 25 minutes long and that's a lot of pressure to write an essay.

Then we had lunch which was some Korean spare ribs that were really tough.  I felt like they needed to be cooked much longer, but they were cooking at the same time as the chicken which actually came out nice and tender.

Kimi picked them up around 2:30PM on their way to Zach's birthday at Zita's.  After they left, I took a little nap before running my 7.5 miles.  It wasn't too bad because I changed my stride a little during the run which helped take some of the stress off the knees and feet.  It was tough, but I felt like my endurance is really high right now because I never really felt out of breath.

I had dinner with moms and just hung around watching tv until it was time to get to work.  I dyed some of the ribbing material I purchased yesterday a dark brown.  It came out nicely and was much easier than I thought it would be.  Then I did a little tracing of the scorpion that's going to go on the back of the jacket I purchased.  All I need now is my brown gloves and some glasses and then I'll have my costume in order for the party this weekend.

ON THE HUNT FOR COSTUME STUFF

After eating lunch, I headed out to JC Penney to purchase another jacket.  I'd already purchased one at Kohls but I wanted a brown one that is a little thicker, but pretty much the same style.

JCP had a sale where you get $10 off any purchase of $25 or more.  After looking at the jackets, I thought it might make sense to just come back for another purchase so I can get another $10 off the jacket.  Why buy everything at once when you can get $10 off again?

Then I headed out to Hidden Valley golf course where Jared was waiting for me.  We wanted to see if I could get on the course as a spectator pretending to watch Jared play golf.  We hit on the range for awhile trying to find just the right time to get on.  Finally, there was no one waiting to hit on hole #1 so we went inside the starter's building only to find out that the Irish dickhead that Jared was talking about was running the cash register.

He told us that I could not spectate, but when we explained that Jared was part of Get A Grip, he told us I could get a cart for $20.  But he also told us it was jam packed, so we said forget it and just left.

Jared then called his buddy up at Trilogy to see if we could play there.  His friend said we could, so we headed out.  But first, we stopped by Walmart to see if I could find some of my costume parts.  I was looking for some ribbing that would be attached to the jacket, but an employee told us that they no longer had a fabric department because they had to make room for the grocery store.  She told us to go to Main and 6th in Corona since there was a fabric store there.

We headed out there and couldn't find the store.  We saw a tailor though, and asked them where it was.  They pointed us in the right direction and told us that the store closed at 4pm.  It was 4pm when we got to the door and thought it'd be closed.  But it wasn't and we walked inside to ask them about the ribbing.  They didn't have any that was the right color and they said that it was difficult to find.

Instead, they suggested I purchase some ribbing that is normally used for colors.  It was light brown, but I figured I could dye it to the correct color.  I bought all the pieces along with some fabric for the scorpion and it cost me about $12.

When we got to Trilogy, the guy that Jared knows said we couldn't play so we were bummed out.  We were tired of hitting golf balls on the range, so we just left.  We stopped by Michael's for some dye then I took Jared home to his moms.  The girls were there and Karina was trying to leave to pick Shawn up.  I left at the same time but Jared and Kylie decided to come with me since they were going to their grammy's the next day.

We stopped by Cici's for dinner and it was terrible.  It was cheap, but the pizza had a cardboard crust and wasn't very good at all.  I likened it to something like Little Ceasar's or Chuck E. Cheese without the entertainment.  But it was cheap, so I guess you get what you pay for.

Jared decided to go to Knott's with Marissa while Kylie and I watched Revenge on demand.

(written 10/17/11)

HANGIN' OUT AT HOME

Didn't do jack today.  Didn't go out since Jansen was leaving for San Diego.  So I chilled and just watched tv.

(written 10/22/11)

BODY OF PROOF #4

I'm happy that Summer is booking me on this show.  It's shot at Disney and it's a little far, but I kind of like the show because the day is usually pretty long.

I saw Kaoru again today.  I was cast as the usual clerical guy inside the medical examiner's office.  I noticed that a lot of the people in scrubs tend to have an edge in their look and I suppose that's pretty consistent with a typical coroner's office.

We didn't work much, and they ran a little late, so I got a chance to nap and read the paper.  When we did get to work, the scenes weren't very long so it was relatively easy.

But we ran late so I didn't get a chance to see the SAG screening that I rsvp'd for.  By the time I was wrapped, it was 11:30PM.  I wasn't booked for Friday so I decided to head to Brea to help Jansen kill time since he was going to camp out for the iPhone 4s.  We ended up drinking a beer at the Shady Nook and watching X-Men First Class.  It was pretty good, but I left before the movie ended since it was close to 4AM and I needed some sleep.

(written 10/17/11)

HARRY'S LAW

I was booked as a bank teller and sent to WB.  I gave myself an hour, but only had five minutes to get to lot W and thank goodness it was close to the entrance.  I wasn't the last to check-in, but I was one of the last.

As soon as we got through wardrobe, we were walked over to one of the IS buildings.  The ground floor was made to look like a bank, and the cameras that were set-up looked like mini-digital ones that are used for security.  I believe that's what the scene was, a flashback scene that uses a non-HD format.

In two hours, we were done, but we were held for another hour until we wrapped.  What a great feeling that is, to work for two hours and get wrapped.  I drove home sleepily and when I got home at 10:30am, I took a nap till about 12:30PM.

Then I ate lunch and took another nap until about 4PM.  That's when I did a short jog and then got to washing my car.  It's been dirty for so long, I feel like a bum everytime I look at it.  It shouldn't be this way, but I'm the only one preventing myself from changing.

After dinner, I showered and then headed to Shirl's.  We picked-up some boba at Boba Time, then went back to her parents' place to watch Hot Tub Time Machine which was pretty funny with many stupid moments.  It never took itself too seriously, so the tone was good.

KOREAN FOOD AT HOME

K. Noel brought the kids over.  The timing was perfect because I had a long run ahead of me and the girls all left with Jared to go shopping with Amanda.  K. Noel stayed behind to work on his handicapping picks and moms started working on dinner.

Shirl met me at the Lorbeer track and she just could not do much.  She ran a few laps, then petered out and rested.  I had a few miles left when she finished, so she was gone by the time I was done.

When I got home, moms asked if I could help her cook dinner.  I cooked the bulgogi meat and noticed that there was so much moisture, the meat didn't brown the way I wanted it to.  Maybe I will try grilling it next time to keep it dryer and to caramelize the meat more.

In the evening, Jansen, Shirl and I watched Drive in Brea.  It was awesome.  I loved it and it's easily the best movie I've seen this year.

(written 10/18/11)

DINNER AT ZITA'S

PARTY IN CORONA

Shirl had dinner with some family friends, so I waited for her to get home.  All I did today was walk to the library to return a Phillip K. Dick anthology and return Thor at the Albertson's Redbox.

She finally returned quite late, about 10PM.  She said she was still down to go to Corona so I picked her up and off we went.

We got to Citrus Grill while the party was in full swing.  The music was going and as usual, there was no cover. I warned her that Kimi and her crew might not be there, because when we started looking around, we didn't see any signs of her.

The first person I recognized was Pat and she was looking great.  She was showing off her plentiful cleavage and was sitting next to Erin and Amber.  Erin has a new cut and color now, what Shirl described as rockabilly. Amber I'd never met.  There was also a teacher that Kimi invited and I never got her name.

All of these women were birds of a feather, the one thing that seemed to define them was either divorce, or the possibility of a divorce.  That creates a certain kind of energy, but the good news was that the entire night was filled with women who were either married or somehow attached to people who were married.

It was still a fun night however, filled with dancing a lot of drinking, especially from Kimi.  The odd thing is that I didn't see Kim drink a single drink the whole night.  Apparently, it all happened during the day.  I blamed Pat for letting her get to that state, but it was more jest than anything.  Pat said it started at 2PM and I always wonder who people can drink for that long of a period.

We ended up back at Kimi's to chill out a little.  Then Shirl gave Amber and Erin some style tips with their haircuts.  It was pretty rough, but at least they got a stylist's advice for free that other stylists may not want to give.  She was blunt but honest and I think that's what these women needed.

(written 10/9/11)

DRIVE TO THE DRIVE-IN

Shirl and I did a little jog in the morning that was really, really easy.  I haven't been training very consistently lately ever since Shirl got into town.  But I don't blame her, it's definitely more me and my time management.

In the afternoon, I just watched some tv and did a little acetone wash on the goodies.  I've finally run out and must order more.

Then I picked up Shirl in the afternoon so we could watch the Cal game here at home.  It was a good first half, but then Oregon started kicking their ass and Cal would go on to lose by way more than the 23 point spread.  I guess they just suck again.

Jansen came over to pick us up and we all went to the store to buy some treats for our movie.  He also rented Thor from Redbox since he had a code.

When we got to the Mission Tiki drive-in, Drive was on the screen that was shutdown due to filming of a commercial.  It was a big disappointment, so instead, we watched Contagion.  It was difficult to watch since there were three of us and we couldn't really see the screen in the bag seat.  The better strategy is to probably watch it from further away so that the screen isn't blocked by anything when you're close.

It was a cool movie and it's always fun when you can fuck around in the car and eat and fart and tell jokes without really disturbing anyone but yourselves.

We got back and Shirl and I ended up watching Thor.  It sucked and I expected way more from Kenneth Branagh.

(written 10/7/11)

LANDING THE EAGLE

I woke up pretty late today, around 11:30AM>  I felt so tired from last night, even though I didn't do a single thing.  I wonder if it was all that dessert or if it was the starvation I felt I went through before finally eating dinner last night?

I cooked a steak and had kim-chi with it for lunch.  Then I spent some time watching tv, waiting for Shirl to call me when she was ready.  She finally did, around 2PM and that's when Andy, my Westside connect, finally texted me back to let me know I could do the landing anytime between 2 and 9PM.

So after getting some money at the bank, I picked-up Shirl and we headed to LA.  Little did I know there would be so much traffic.  I mean, I know it's raining and everything, but give me a break.

We finally made it to the Beverly Center, and the eagle landed.  We went inside to take a pee break, but Shirley found a make-up store that she needed things from.  We left the Beverly Center, then went to the Griffith Observatory.  Shirl had not been there for a very long time, and I was happy to take her there because I love the view and the free science stuff.

Afterward, we headed to Thai town and did a little eating and shopping.  Shirl was looking for a specific appetizer, so we stopped by Suam Luong to see if they had it.  They didn't, so instead, we had some fried fish cakes.  They were good, but we had to find what Shirl was looking for.

So we headed to the Thai Town plaza and sure enough, at a super market, we found what she was looking for.  And I gotta say, it was good stuff.  It's these little sticky tapioca balls filled with good, sweet things, and you wrap a little lettuce leaf and some cilantro around it, then eat it with some chili pepper.

Then we headed to Ashley's place.  Thank god she got home because I needed to take a serious shit.  I could barely hold it when I sat down and let it all go.  I think it was probably the pho from last night.  I'm not sure, but it was definitely not pleasant.

We hung out till around 10PM.  We had good conversation and some goodies that kept us going.  We left and headed to The Mint, a little bar with live music on Pico.  We had a few drinks there and then just went home.

SHIRLEY COMES DOWN FOR A VISIT

I had a dental appointment today to finally get my crown installed.  When it was put it, it was pretty tight and I think it changed my bite slightly.  That made me think that one of my teeth was hitting the crown, but it wasn't.  So all that adjusting was for not really.  What really happened is that my tooth in the back was moved slightly because of the tight fit, and that was hitting the back lower tooth.

Anyway, after all that, I got a standard cleaning and I came out of the office two and a half hours later.  That is way too long and I don't appreciate it.  I really gotta consider switching offices, but then again, I kind of like Dr. Rafela and my hygienist Carlos.

I cooked a steak for lunch then headed over to Shirl's parents place.  We chilled for awhile, and then did a little pruning of her mom's chili plant.  Her mom also got a little present in the form of a cute little chihuahua puppy, only two months old.  She suffered from home sickness and leash anxiety, but then calmed down after all that stress.

We left the poor dog alone while we went to Rowland Heights for some Pho Hoa.  The broth there was delicious, but the prices are pretty high and the portions not so great.  Still, some of the best broth I've had.

Then we went back to her parents and watched Unstoppable.  Pretty cool movie, but not really great or anything.

FLOOR CLEANING

I always know when the floors are dirty because I walk around barefoot all the time.  And when my feet get dark and I have to wash them in the sink, I know the floor is dirty.

So I did a serious clean today.  I used a mop today instead of the Swiffer deals and discovered how much easier it is to clean.  The hard part is rinsing the mop in the sink because it gets very dirty.

Anyway, I also used a floor shine to see if the floor would look any more shiny.  It didn't smell very good, but I actually think it did add a little luster to the floor.

After dinner, I cooked that recipe that Pati has on the web since I watched her show again today and knew that the tomatillos in the fridge were getting pretty ripe.  The adobo sauce I had was great, but I don't think I needed to use all of it.  Also, I think it's best to add the tomatillos later because by the time the chicken finishes cooking, it's already cooked down to pretty much nothing.

ANOTHER LONG RUN

All I thought about today was the long run I had coming my way.  I didn't feel really well either, with my cold feeling worse than during the week.  I guess it's finally hit that stage where you start to cough and that's where I was.

I didn't enjoy my long run and it even felt painful at a certain point.  But the good news was that I could run the entire 6.5 miles without stopping.  I think the cool air helped a lot to keep me from feeling thirsty or tired.  My knees felt the brunt of it all and that's probably because of the way I'm running.  It seems like my stride really puts a lot of stress on the knees.

I just rested when I got home.  I didn't even feel that thirsty, but it's probably because I ate a ton of watermelon and food for dinner.

(written 10/3/11)

SLEEP, OH BITTER SLEEP

Moms went out to play at a casino and I lounged around all day feeling tired and not very good.  So I tried napping and eating and resting and hydrating the entire time.  I wanted very much to go to Joyce's party, but like Jansen once said, the mind is willing but the body is weak.  That's pretty much exactly how I felt.

(written 10/3/11)