NEW YEARS EVE AT TOGETHER AS ONE

Jared and I did a light P90x chest and back workout. I showered and then we cooked some steaks so I could eat and get ready for TAO with Jansen.

I ate about 3/4 of the steak since I didn't want to be too full. But I got hungry later and that was not too pleasant but bearable with all the crap we brought with us.

I got to Jansen's and we immediately left for the sight where Pacific Festival was held. But there were a few things we still had to do. One was meet-up with Jared (Josh's roommate) to pick some stuff up. Then we had to wait for Tyler to get home so we could pick more stuff up.

By the time we headed to TAO, the car line was pretty long and we had a little bit of a wait. Parking was $20 and then we were ready to go in. My little package that I button to my taint was perfect and I wasn't nervous at all about getting through security.

The night was pretty fun, but I feel lame for not getting a New Year's kiss or even full hug on. There were plenty of chicks as as Jansen once said, it seems so easy until you actually start working on trying to hook up. It's funny that he said he lacked the confidence but I guess it all comes with practice. Tonight was probably a D+.

(written 1/1/12)

NYE EVE

Moms went to Valley View so I stayed here at home just chillaxin' and waiting for New Year's Eve. Jared came over later in the evening since he wanted to hang out with Marissa. K. Noel and Amanda said they were going to happy hour as they dropped him off, but I told them Apaculco had closed down.

When Jared got back home later in the evening, we just hung out and played Call of Duty. After a session, he conked out and that was that.

(written 1/1/11)

TIX FOR TOGETHER AS ONE 2012

Jared spent the night last night and when I woke up, he was already fussing around with his new laptop. He wondered if he should return it for a smaller one, but it didn't seem like Dell sold any that were smaller and the same cost. I was surprised how big the 15" laptop was. It looked like a 17" old school Powerbook in terms of its size.

As I ate lunch, Jared got picked-up by Marissa and off he went. I chilled for a little then realized I was still hungry. So I made some potstickers and got ready to pick up the tickets I'd been asking for on CraigsList for the New Year's party. Lia called to see if I wanted to video chat, but for some reason, we couldn't connect. So I left and told her another time perhaps.

I caught some traffic on the 60 and 15 freeway intersection for some reason. I ran a little late and finally met up with Yenessia next to In-N-Out in Rancho Cucamonga. She was pretty hot with a little tattoo and a cute face. She showed me the receipt that her boyfriend had for the tickets, but she wasn't trying to make any money. She was just trying to sell them at cost since her boyfriend was out of town.

I gave her the $120 and off I went back home. I had a weird headache which I think came from hunger, so I ate some snacks to try to calm it down. I was falling asleep when I finally decided to start cooking the chicken wings for dinner. I did three flavors - lemon pepper, garlic parmesan and a grill mates chicken seasoning. I think I like the lemon pepper the best because I couldn't really taste any parmesan and the chicken seasoning was just ok.

SMOG CHECK

The only thing I had on my list of things to do today was the smog check. The small item was to get my EDD form in the mail. The next small item was to return the car rental.

After that, I headed to Pomona to get the smog check. It was $28 out the door and I passed. I was a little worried I wouldn't pass since last year, I remember the guy saying I barely passed. Maybe I barely passed again this year, but maybe all the fuel additives and hard driving cleaned-out my engine. Maybe it was also the recent oil change. Who knows? I need to show Rich the results so he can tell me.

When I got back, Jansen came over and I started cooking another recipe for the Tommy's chili clone. This one was just as thick, but the color was better. I guess the key is to brown the roux as much as possible to give it a deep, caramel color. But the chili was still missing the reddish color of the original, and I suspect that has something to do with the chili powder or paprika.

I had the same thing with moms for dinner, but she added a little guacamole to it all. Surprisingly, it filled me up and I wasn't really very hungry the rest of the evening.

I just watched the Cal v Texas Holiday Bowl and they lost and didn't even cover the spread. However, I think they'll be better next year, but I don't see them as a powerhouse or anything.

THE LONG DRIVE HOME

After eating lunch at Fats, we packed our stuff and headed home. It was a full car since Jared was riding down with us.

The initial drive became immediately interesting because Jared and I argued about using the words "gay" or "retard" to describe things negatively. The bad part of it was that the girls didn't participate. The good part was that Jared did and we ended our conversation with a little more understanding. But we still had a long drive home.

There was traffic for some reason and it seemed like a lot of it was due to crashes or to someone getting too close and having to stop, causing the line to back-up. I passed on gas until Lost Hills and the good thing was that it was the exit right after a big back-up from a big accident that caused us to stop and wait for around 30 minutes.

I dropped moms off at home before heading to K. Noel's since she had to wake up early and there was no point waiting around in the car.

My estimate of 11PM was pretty good and we got to K. Noel's around that time. After dropping the kids I just went home.

(written 12/28/11)

OTOW ORCHARDS

Tired from the partying last night. Too tired to get up early and head out to Sac. So I stayed for lunch with Shirl and we went to the pho place we always go to. I ordered their giant bowl and had so much, I had to take it to go.

After saying my goodbyes, I left for Otow orchards, the little orchard I saw on Huell Howser's videos. It was much smaller than I thought it would be. Just a rundown little farm with a bunch of mature persimmon trees. I was here for the hoshigaki. They came in a sandwich plastic bag and there were about seven of them inside. But they were over $25 per pound! Yipes! I figured I'd never be there again, so I bought two bags along with some chocolate persimmons that I wanted to try.

The orchard isn't very far from K. Paul's place, but Jared asked me to pick him up at the hotel they were staying, just down the street from K. Paul's place. I guess the poor kid was bored and didn't really want to hang out with his parents. When I got there, he wouldn't answer his phone, so I left. But when I was on the freeway, he called and I had to turn around and go back.

We got to K. Paul's, but no one was home so we waited. But there was traffic after church, so K. Paul and fams asked me to just meet them at the restaurant we were going to eat.

We all met at Iron which is a pretty fancy restaurant. K. Paul really likes to celebrate at nice places which is awesome because no one but he can really afford this type of restaurant. I ordered the lamb shank which came with mashed potatoes. It was delicious, but I was shocked at how flavorless it was. It seemed to need salt and it totally lacked that flavor. Jared's steak was the same way so given the prices, I don't understand how the flavor could be that way.

When we all got back to the house, I went into a food coma and fell asleep on the bean bag. I forgot how comfortable those things are.

(written 1/13/12)

LEAVING FOR EL DORADO HILLS

The goal was to leave at 7am, but we didn't get out of LA until 8am. There was no traffic and the drive up was relatively good. We stopped for breakfast and lunch along the way so it took us about 8 hours. When we finally got there, we wanted to surprise Lia, but it turned out she already knew that the girls were coming.

We had KFC for dinner and then I left for the city to hang out with Shirl. It took about an hour and a half to get to the city. I crossed the Bay Bridge and I was at Shirl's right on time. The gate was open and so was the door. Wide open. So I walked in and no one seemed to be home. Turns out someone left the door open and luckily for me, I had a place to chill while waiting for Shirl to get home from a drink with someone. That bitch!

So the only thing that Shirl pretty much had planned was hanging out and eating at Domo. Ryo invited all his best regulars to the place to eat all the sushi that was going to be leftover for the holidays. I had eaten a little, but was still hungry enough for damn good sushi.

Ping met us at Ryo's place, but we were a little too early since there were still people hanging out and eating dinner. So I asked if we could stop by Sugar so I could see my girl Ginger. She was working the bar tonight, so I didn't get a chance to really chat her up. But she did recognize me so that was a good thing.

Shirl, Ping and I hung out for some drinks but the sweet part was that Keyvan hooked up a connect for some Yay Area shit. I spent a hundee for probably two grams and it was a-ight. That was for later though, so off to Ryo's we went for our feast.

The night was spent eating and drinking sake and meeting people who were also regulars. Surprisingly, I saw that bastard Stephen Santamaria eating along with everyone. He recognized me immediately and it was good seeing him. I don't know what it was about him at Winkler, but I always thought he was such a cool guy.

It got a little crazy as the night wore on, probably because of all the sake. But it was time to move onto Ping's place. We brought Edgar with us, one of Shirl's friends who is an editor. At Ping's, Edgar crashed while we continued to party. At around 4AM, I was bushed, and said we should jam even though there was plenty of room at Ping's. I just couldn't hang anymore and when we got to Shirl's, it was super easy to fall asleep.

(written 1/4/12)

(written 12/26/11)

VARIOUS THINGS TO DO

I woke up and walked down to Enterprise to get the car. But they didn't have one for me, so I just went home and told them to call me when they were ready. In the meantime, I had some breakfast and started to wrap some gifts. Then they called and said I could pick-up the car.

So I walked back down and a Civic was ready. It was a little dirty and banged up but hey, it's a rental. Then I deposited a check at BofA and also got some change for the money I am giving K. Noel's kids. It's the first time I've given them money and I hope they will like it.

Then I went home and had lunch and did some more wrapping. Somehow, I ended up taking a nice long nap. Then I got up and went to Farm Assist to pick-up for Jansen. No checks arrived today so I didn't have any more checks to deposit.

When I got back home, moms got home and I cooked some steaks up. Good thing I cooked them all, because K. Noel got here with the kids not having had dinner. I just gave them the leftovers which was great because then there won't be any food here to spoil while we're away.

X-MAS SHOPPING WITH JARED

I made some California rolls for lunch with moms, then we headed out to Corona. I dropped her off at the Crossroads church where she met-up with Karina, Kylie, K. Noel and Amanda. There was a song and dance performance there that they wanted to watch, but I passed and headed to the house to meet up with Jared.

We left to go shopping and our first stop was Ross. They had a surprising amount of stuff that were pretty cool. Then we did some shopping at stores nearby like a girl's store and Bed Bath & Beyond. We took a break at Tommy's by having some chili cheese fries, then went to Walmart to finish up. It was fun doing shopping with Jared and just hanging out with the guy. He's grown-up to be one awesome dude and I am thankful he is in my life. Unfortunately, he's facing some difficulties with his girlfriend, but everyone goes through that so I told him it's just part of life that he'll need to work through.

We brought some pizza back for dinner and after that, we watched Crazy Stupid Love. For some reason, the kids weren't into it and talked crap about it, but I guess it's because it's a much more grown-up movie that didn't resonate with them. Karina was dying of boredom, but what was she going to do?

I asked Amanda and K. Noel if we could take the gifts with us, but they hadn't been wrapped. Mom wasn't really in the loop about what was going on, so she just thought that they were still coming up for Christmas and leaving Jared. It's tough to keep everyone informed and I have to remember to try to do that better. It's just so exhausting. On the way home, I told her what was being planned, but at the end of the day, it all came out the same way we thought it would.

I called K. Paul to chat with him about it all and I'm glad he's not taking it all too seriously anymore. He seemed really pissed about it before, but I guess the time in Hawaii has chilled him out. We can't really blame K. Noel for not coming up, but all the varied reasons just make it seem so lame.

When we got back, I played online poker on Bovada which was Bodog previously. I'm not sure why they changed, but it's all the same essentially. The only thing that sucks is that you can't move the table around so that your icon is on the bottom of the screen. Instead, you have to play with a perspective much like Party Poker.

TOMMY'S CHILI CLONE

Jared and I finally decided to clone the chili that Tommy's is famous for. But we didn't read the instructions well enough and didn't cook the roux long enough. So when everything was added to the chili, it looked a bit grey and unappetizing. So Jared just kept it on a low simmer for a long time and it looked better, but still didn't have that Tommy's appeal.

We basically made that for dinner and I also made some California sushi rolls, but I felt like it just wasn't enough food for everyone to be satisfied. Oh well, we'll get 'em next time.

(written 12/29/11)

NCIS LA #3

Last Friday, there was no traffic so I got to set way too early. NCIS LA shoots the scenes with the two nerdy kids in Paramount, so I figured I could get there pretty easily. But I didn't realize the traffic from the tanker fire on the 60 this week changed everything. Traffic was crawling on the 10, from about West Covina, all the way to about Atlantic Blvd. I had to call Central twice. The first time, I said I'd be 20 minutes late. The second time, I had to tell them I was going to be another 20 minutes or so late. They weren't pleased.

When I got to set, thankfully, by the grace of God, they hadn't shot anything yet. But I was the only one they were waiting for. Wardrobe and props had to see me separately, and then the PA walky talkied over to Rob Maroni that I was finally ready to go. I guess I'm lucky that they were still rehearsing and that Maroni kind of knows me from LOLA because no one was really angry about it. That and the fact there were plenty of background to work so it wasn't like they needed any one tech op (which is what I was cast as).

It was freezing inside the stage and it seemed like all the other extras were regulars. We did some work on the set. I now have an official crush on Renee Felice Smith who plays an intelligence analyst inside the ops set. My type is generally petite, nice body and an attractive face. She and the other gay ops guy are always having fun and doing dumb things which make her doubly attractive to me.

Right before we broke for lunch, I started to fill ill. I began thinking that I must have caught something on Childrens Hospital last night because I felt hot and my eyeballs were feeling tender. That's always the sign that I have some kind of temperature. Oh well, I thought, I'll just have to go through it. Lunch was lunch and I didn't have much of an appetite. Part of it was that I had to take a mean shit. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty.

We worked and worked and finally wrapped and it was also hiatus for the cast and crew until next year. So everyone was in a generally jovial mood. I walked across the street to an office and it turned out to be the production office for Happy Endings. There, I found a men's bathroom that was pretty quiet. I went into a stall and was already farting before I could sit down. I didn't realize that there was someone in the next stall already. Thankfully, he got the hint and finished up what he was doing. That left me alone where I could maximize my thrust with full abandon.

After that gnarly episode, I walked with a little hop in my step. I felt better, and I didn't feel sick anymore. Was it diarrhea that made me sick? I don't know, but I knew I was freakin' hungry. So I stopped by a B health rated Thai place that was actually pretty nice inside. I wondered if it was a front because there were some cute, young Thai chicks working with some thuggish looking Thai dudes and no one was inside eating except the chicks. I guess it was already late and besides, it's Friday in Hollywood.

I was actually in such a hurry to get out of the parking lot, I forgot to get my $7 back from the lot attendant. So I drove back there and got my money. He was cool about it. Then I stopped to eat some of the pad thai I'd ordered. I felt a lot better. Then I took some medicinal herb and that really helped put me in a good mood. I got home and watched tv with moms until we both fell asleep on the couch.

(written 12/18/11)

CHILDRENS HOSPITAL

My call time was pretty late today which was a good thing. It allowed me to get my oil changed at Midas. Nitin Patel made room for me and did his usual thing. He recommended a brake fluid change and a power steering fluid change. Of course, their $90 each. He saw the look on my face and said think about it and maybe we can do it next time you come in. Oddly, the tech didn't say anything about my struts.

After lunch, I headed out to Van Nuys. The location was the same place that Hawthorne was shot so at least I knew how to get out there. What sucked was that the rate was low, just $114/8. When I got there, someone said that the show is just 15 minutes long, so then we didn't feel so bad about the rate.

We did a rehearsal then broke for lunch. We all played crew members for a show within a show. It was one of those long, no-cut walk and talks, so when it was time to shoot, we did take after take after take. That kept us working until 11:40PM and a few people had to stay longer. I was glad not to have been chosen to stay because my call time for NCIS LA tomorrow is pretty early.

BONES #3

I was trying to get out of here by 6AM for a 7AM call time in Whittier, but I was running late. I called the call time change box to see if there was a change and indeed there was. It was pushed back 30 minutes. So I lagged a little and filled out my EDD form. By the time I left, it was 6:45A and I started to stress. I started to stress more when I noticed major traffic on the 60, but it was pre-mature because it was just a little accident. When I passed it, it was clear sailing and I got to Whittier with about ten minutes to spare.

The base camp was at a former correctional facility for juveniles, but it had been closed down long ago and was said to have been destined for redevelopment in the next month. I had breakfast then we got our vouchers and headed to wardrobe. They liked my suit so I was good to go.

The scene was fairly simple. I had a feeling we only had that one scene when I heard that there was a jail scene being shot in the afternoon. Our scene was in front of a chateau and Bones pretends to have a pregnant woman in the car just to get a room. But the chateau and the rooms are all full, so it takes a little convincing (with the fake pregnant woman pretending to go through labor and just push the baby out in front of the chateau.) Normally, it wouldn't matter, but since we are paying guests who are there for a wine event, the guy running the place doesn't want to bother us. So he sends them out to a spare room.

After shooting the scene, we spent a little time in holding where I got to chat about Christianity with Anna Lia who I had worked on Hawthorne before. She didn't witness to me then, but this time, she was able to since I opened the topic up by asking what book she was reading in the bible she was studying.

It was very interesting to speak to Anna Lia because although she has her opinions, she isn't one to try ramming her beliefs down your throat. She was open to answering questions I had and it was fun to speculate and discuss things with her.

Before we knew it, we were wrapped. I thought about going straight to LA, but instead, I drove home to rest and wait for the SAG Holiday event. So I took a nice afternoon nap until Janet called. We made plans for me to pick her up around 7:15P.

But when I left to pick her up, there was big time traffic on the 10. Apparently, the tanker that had caused a fire on the 60 diverted all traffic to the 10 so that was what I was caught in. So I told Janet I was late and got there about 7:40P.

When we got to the SAG building, the party was pretty much what I expected. It wasn't fancy at all and everything took place inside the lobby. There was food that was served, but it really wasn't very good. Oddly, as Janet said, it reminded her of a homeless shelter because of all the types of people that were there. I noticed there were a lot of old people and it made me wonder who decided to show up to this thing? One thing was certain - it definitely did not have any A-list stars and I would have been shocked to see anyone like that show up. A bit disappointing, but it was what it was.

Afterward, we went back to her place so I could see Monkey, her new cat from the hood. Dulce and Monkey immediately hid when she opened the door while Benjamin was there to great us. He liked the Angry Birds wand I got him and we played for awhile, but I was really more interested in getting Dulce and Monkey to play. Unfortunately, they didn't, so I guess it will take more research to figure out what they need to become more social. We also got to build her new cat tree that I'm sure the cats will like. I just wonder if they will all climb it or if one of them will be the king.

TOUCH #2

I got to Culver Studios pretty early this time since I gave myself two full hours to get to my 9AM call time. But traffic was extremely light and I guessed that it was because of the holidays. Maybe people left for vacation early or what not. Nevertheless, I was about 50 minutes early, so I just chilled in my car for a little then slowly walked to the studios.

Holding was inside building 0. I didn't get a chance to chill there the last time I worked on Touch because I was standing in. But this time, I got a desk with a chair and just three other backgrounders working the day with me. I set-up my chair and when I knew we wouldn't be working any time soon, I took a nice little nap.

The rest of the time was spent reading all my magazines and the Far Side Anniversary book I purchased from the library. I forgot how much I enjoyed the Far Side and I kept giggling after each cartoon I read about. The other backgrounders were cool and nice so a few conversations with them made the day go by a little faster.

A black guy I'd seen working background before got hooked up with what Chad the PA says is the first upgrade for the season. Kiefer Sutherland apparently hooked him up by telling him to say something and as we all know, no one is going to say no to Kiefer. So just like that, he got a nice $800 paycheck for saying a couple lines.

When we finally got to start working, it was late in the evening. Apparently, they left our scene for last. In the meantime, I just kept snacking on all kinds of shit. Popcorn, candy, soup, whatever crafty put out, we were eating. My farts were gnarly and hot and I wondered if it was what I ate today or yesterday that were making them stink.

I got a chance to see Danny Glover work. Man, that guy is old. No more Lethal Weapon in him. He's more of an elderly type now and he walked like one too. But he's an old pro and it was a pleasure seeing him work. I was cast as a social worker inside a children facility and just did a simple cross. It was one scene but hey, that's how it goes sometimes. You wait all day for one scene that is ridiculously simple. I wasn't arguing because we got a meal penalty and overtime so it was a good day.

I didn't get a chance to visit Janet so hopefully we'll be able to connect tomorrow.

(written 12/15/11)

PS3 FIXED!

I cruised over to Brian's house in Corona (or is it Chino?) to get my PS3 fixed. I watched him seat a chip on an Xbox first, then he took the PS3 apart to take a look at it and test it. He was pretty certain the laser had gone bad.

But I was getting hungry so I told him we should go eat lunch first. We ate pretty far away and it was raining, but he was doing me a favor, so I wasn't complaining. I treated him to lunch and we talked a little about him and Charlotte. He's a pretty sensitive guy and sometimes I think Charlotte exaggerates the issues she sometimes has with him.

When we got back, I ordered the laser from eBay and Brian continued on my PS3. He wondered if the board on the blu-ray player could be bad, so he tested it with a good, working blu-ray pack. It worked great, so he asked if I wanted to just go ahead and take the system as is. I said it's all good because now I didn't have to come back. I told him I'd give him a new screwdriver that he will find very useful when working with small screws.

On the way back home, I stopped by JCPenney to return the black bomber jacket. I didn't really like the way it fit and although it was nice and warm, it was obviously fake leather and I never really wanted to wear it with anything.

Then I went to the library to rent Harry Potter which I thought screwed up my PS3 in the first place. It turns out it was fine and it was indeed the messed up laser that just got jacked. I was a little disappointed with the movie because lots of people die and it was just mostly war with very little plot.

(written 12/29/11)

2011 LA COUNTY HOLIDAY HALF

The day had finally arrived. It was time to run the half marathon.

I woke up around 5:45AM, put some clothes on, drank a little carrot juice and left by 6:15AM. The race didn't start until 8AM, but I wanted to get there a little early to warm-up, pick-up my bag of goodies and be able to put it away in my car.

It was very cold when I got to Fairplex. The air was crisp and there weren't really a lot of people. Not just yet. By the time I checked-in and got my freebies, people started streaming in. The biggest group was Students Run LA. There were bus loads of them along with teachers in yellow shirts.

What surprised me were all the different costumes some people were wearing. I saw Gumby, a bunch of tutus, lots of candy cane socks and reindeer ears. It turned out that this event wasn't as serious as I thought it was. A lot of people were there to have fun while they ran, but I got the feeling that many were there to challenge themselves very much like I was doing. I'm not so different after all.

Thankfully, it warmed-up. About ten minutes till race time, I used the restroom for one last urination. Then I got in line. They were staging the runners so they put the fastest ones up front and the slower ones in the back. The students were last.

I got to the start line a lot faster than the Bay to Breakers, but this race probably only had about 2000 participants. It seemed like a lot more. We were off and running and it was still quite cold so the first few miles went pretty easily. I tried turning my radio on and then it died. The damn batteries didn't charge right! I hate that fuckin' charger! It was no use no matter how many times I tried to turn it on. Ashley jinxed me by telling me that one should run and feel one with the run. I would have to do it here.

There was plenty of water unlike when I nearly died of thirst during the triathlon. The first water table came at about 2.5 miles and it was around about every two miles or so after that.

I felt great for the first six miles. It was like too easy. I stretched a little after mile 7. But then, the pain started to arrive around mile 9 or 10. It wasn't in the knees which made me glad. It was in my toes. I like my shoes, but my toes run a little wide and the D sized width is just a little too tight. I've used E sized with good results, but I noticed it was a little too loose. I wish they made a D+ or E-. Anyway, because of this, I developed blisters on the sides of the toe next to the pinkie.

My shoulders began to feel fatigued too. When I hit mile 9, I thought I only had three miles left, but then I realized it's 13.1 miles and I still had four miles to go. One mile isn't that far, but when it's your last one, it seems further than it is. At least in training.

But when I got to the last mile, there was so much encouragement from strangers, it was easy going. I even sped up on the home stretch. I looked at the board and saw that I could hit two hours, 15 minutes if I hurried. I made it just in time.

At the end, there were students who put "blankets" made of foil around us, put a medal around our necks and gave us a bunch of granola bars and a banana. I walked around in a daze for a bit and started to notice how much the bottom of my feet hurt as well as my blisters. It was like I could finally feel the pain that was always there.

I limped for a little while as I picked up my jacket and keys from the personal storage area. Then I walked back to my car to get my bag of goodies to see if I could pick-up anymore stuff at the health expo area. Unfortunately, there really wasn't anything that wasn't already there in the morning. After hydrating with some water, I made my way back to the car.

Jared had sent me a text and I replied letting him know how fast I ran the half. I felt good, but tired and even though my training got me up to eleven miles, thirteen wasn't really that much more. I think the hills I ran made me tougher because the half was pretty runner friendly meaning there weren't any steep hills.

I noticed that during the relatively steep parts, I was passing people while during the downhill parts, people were passing me. It didn't matter to me because throughout the day, you would pass people or they would pass you. My goal was not to walk and I was able to do that. I only walked a little when I was getting water.

When I got home, I had lunch and I pretty much relaxed the rest of the day after showering. My body didn't hurt or anything, but my feet did feel some ache. I was glad that I tried out this one Kool'NFit spray on my legs that felt really good. It was like methol and icy and cool and smelled great too.

At night, I fell asleep on the couch and just walked upstairs after waking up.

DAY BEFORE

Jared and I visited Long Beach State this morning. It was empty, but we got a chance to drive around campus and walk around different parts of it. Jared wasn't impressed. I forgot that he went to such a huge high school. He found CSULB to be like a bigger high school. Things seemed old and he didn't see anything really cool.

After, we went to Roscoe's for lunch. We split a meal and had a waffle and fried chicken. Binggoy had told me to carb up as much as I could the day before the half marathon so I was glad to eat.

Then I took Jared home and he had to hang out a little before leaving for work. I met Scott, the guy he got into something with and ended up breaking a pool table together. We went into the play room where the pool table was to look at it. It just seemed strange that the table could break so easily. Either they were lying or the pool table did have something wrong with it to begin with. It was impossible to inspect underneath the table because the table was so heavy. You couldn't even lift it. Which makes you wonder more, how the hell could it go down so easily?

After dropping Jared off, I went home to try to eat as much as I could. I took a nice dump which made me wonder if I should try taking a dump tomorrow morning or tonight before the half marathon.

When I looked at the website to get directions for the half marathon, I noticed that it was 13.1 miles long. I only trained up to 11 miles so I started to get a little nervous. Would I be able to make it without walking a lot of it? Would I break down at some point and struggle? All of these questions will be answered tomorrow.

(written 12/12/11)

PS3 NOT WORKING!

I have a feeling my PS3 is fucked. I think it's just the blu-ray player so I guess that's the good news. But what happened? I think the disc from the library fucked up the balance on the player and it is just jacked now. Hopefully it can be repaired and I will definitely be making a call into the library to let them know this may have happened.

I tried waking up early this morning to get used to running early in the morning since the half marathon starts at 8AM. But I ended up leaving at 9AM since I was doing some computer stuff and just wasting time this morning. I did a very short run since I want to save my energy for Sunday.

In the afternoon, I took moms' car to get gas and get a car wash. But before that, I got a haircut at a salon that was owned by Indians. It was $10 plus my $3 tip and $1.50 for the credit charge. Man, I haven't paid that much for a haircut since I don't know when. But it was cool since it included a shampoo, but I still like the $8 Pomona cut.

Then I went to Walmart to buy some things. I bought a windbreaker for running, a hydration belt for my long runs (if I decide to continue running), a cat toy for Janet's cats, some toffee peanuts, a lock for the Pomona duplex and a headlight cleaner.

After dinner, I tried vacuuming the PS3 and doing a full restore. I don't think it helped but we'll see.

TOUCH

Booked as stand-in today for Touch, a new series produced by Tim Kring and starring Kiefer Sutherland. When I got to Culver Studios, I tried to park on the lot, but the guard said that stand-ins aren't allowed to park on the lot. Damn Brian at Central. He didn't have the correct information. But I was cool since I had time still.

I pretty much got started right away. After arriving around 9:30AM, I was put in and introduced to the AD and given some sides. When I looked at them, I noticed that the scene I was standing in for was only 2/8th of a page with no dialogue. Just an Indian guy sitting at a bus stop in front of a green screen. I got excited because I knew it would be a short day.

But then I realized I shouldn't be so happy because there's a whole day of scenes to shoot and I may be used as a utility stand-in. So I started to prep myself for a whole day. Then after about an hour the scene was done and they moved on and into stage 15. I never realized how deep Culver Studios was and how many studios were on the lot.

So I walked in and hung around for about an hour when I finally asked the PA what I was supposed to do. He said I would be wrapped since the guy was done with his shots today. And that was that.

I told Jansen I was paid $163 for just two hours of work and he told me I owed him lunch. So I drove down to Santa Ana from Culver City and we ate at a pho place. After lunch, I drove to Brea and realized that I had reserved some slots for some movies tonight. But I didn't really want to drive back to LA just to watch Tree of Life and besides, I had to take a shit.

I stopped by my tailor in Brea, but the jacket was still jacked. She said she needed to bring the collar in a little more and that she'd need another week to get it done. But there's time since they're not closing shop until January 15 next year.

When I got home, I just played Call of Duty World at War until moms got home. After dinner, I noticed something was wrong with the ps3 because it refuses to play any discs. I noticed that it got fucked when I paused the game to talk to Jared. It just won't play anything and I have no idea if it has to do with the bluray fuck up from the library.

MENTALIST #3 - HUBBLE 3D

I worked on the Mentalist for the third time today. I thought for sure that Adam, one of the casting people at Central would not want to book me after my being late yesterday. But he did so I guess it's all good.

We worked on location at the Millenium Biltmore hotel in downtown LA. Parking was at Pershing Square but base camp was across the street from the square. All the extras congregated around the breakfast catering tent and just stood around and waited.

Central called me and asked where I was. I told Brian at Central that I was at base camp standing around with a bunch of other extras. He said the PA was looking for me, but when I looked around, I didn't know where to go. But Brian said Arek is looking for you and thankfully, I heard Arek's name on a CB from another production person. I asked her where he was and she said he was at wardrobe. You're background? Ok, I'll let him know.

So when I got there, it was a bit past 8AM and my call time was 7:30AM. Since I was a bellman, I was supposed to get fitted first, but they were just finishing-up on the other bellman and the doorman. Wardrobe seemed confused and little unorganized, but so did the PAs. I thought Arek could have walked to where we all were and give an announcement, but that's just how these things go sometimes.

When we wrapped, it was around 4:30PM and the Hubble 3D screening was at 7PM. So I drove down to the California Science Center, found a free parking spot on the streets in the hood right across from the Center, and called Janet to kill some time. Actually, she called me so it was perfect timing. She'd been exhausted from the parent teacher conference week and so she was unable to talk to me yesterday. When I told her about the Hubble screening, she seemed so interested in it like she wanted to go. But I found that reaction surprising because she's so against NASA. Am I over-thinking that?

Then I jogged down to find it the center. I'd never been there before and now I want to take the kids. It's your typical science museum for kids, but I love that shit and I think the kids would too. I jogged around the Coliseum twice and it took about 25-30 minutes. I jogged slow and I even used the restroom. I just wanted to kill some time and work some muscles before the half-marathon this Sunday.

By the time I got back to the Center, there was a pretty long line. But the theater is quite large since it's IMAX and there was plenty of space when you got in. I sat in the 2nd to the last row.

That movie could have been so much cooler, but there was a lot of subject matter about the Hubble being repaired that I'd seen get so much better coverage that I thought it was kind of pointless. But still, watching everything in 3D is so cool, especially the star traveling shots. Man, that shit is a trip!

Afterward, I stopped by Ashley's to kick it and shoot the shit. I probably stayed too long, but the conversation was funny and interesting.

PARENTHOOD #4

I almost slept way too long this morning. My call time was 9AM and I woke-up at 6:55AM. The goal was to leave by 7AM. But apparently, I turned the alarm off by pressing the snooze button too many times. It wouldn't go off anymore!

But I jammed and was out of the house by 7:20AM. Not bad, but not good enough because there was major traffic on the 210 and I was late by 23 minutes. I had to call Central to let them know I was running late and I felt terrible about it. I just hate knowing that it might affect my ability to get work. But I think as long as you get in 30 minutes or earlier, they tend to be ok with it.

When I parked the car in the backlot, I was the only one in the van that was driven to wardrobe. But, the other extras were still in line and John, the PA, said that he had already gotten a call from Central and heard I'd been in an accident. But I told him that I wasn't in one, I was just late due to one that was on the freeway. He said either way, I'm not technically late if I'm in line at wardrobe. He was cool and it's probably because he knew we wouldn't be shooting our scene for awhile anyway.

There wasn't much time to rest or relax because I was driving my car pretty much the entire time. There was one scene inside the campaign office, but other than that, I was driving. It was pretty fun to drive around and around, but I worried that people were looking at my old ass car and wondering if it would die. There was one time when everyone looked my way and I wondered if my poor car was making too much noise. Later, in the last scene, one of the crew guys asked what year my car was. I couldn't tell if he thought the car was cool or that it was a piece of shit.

Still, there was a Universal security guy who asked about my car because he's into Hondas since he has one. I asked him bunch of questions about modifying just to shoot the shit.

It was a little more fun today because Chris the Latino Hari Krishna and Chris Chen were both working today. So was Jenny Savage so we got to talk a little about life and how we fit in it.

I also did some work in regards to Christmas. Moms wants everyone to come along to K. Paul's place and it took some work with Amanda to figure out how they were gonna go up. I gotta say, if it wasn't one excuse, it was another. I tried to lay it out with her and tell her that I was feeling that they weren't really interested in going up. It certainly felt that way. But she tried to reassure us that they definitely wanted to go up but that there were things preventing them from going.

One was that Kimi had the kids on Christmas. When I told her she didn't have an issue with that, Amanda said that Kimi never told them she was offering them for Christmas. And when I told her she sent numerous text messages asking K. Noel, she said that she may have read them and that it wasn't clear that she was offering. Besides, she says, K. Noel wants Kimi to share Christmas with her children. I would never want to spend Christmas without my son CJ, she says.

Later, she remembered that Jared might have work. Well, looks like we'll have to stay because Jared's job is important and we don't want him to spend Christmas alone or without us.

After all was said and done, that was the sticking point so we'll have to wait to hear whether Jared can go or not. But I'm just feeling that they really don't want to go up and are trying to find a way out of it. I just wish they would come out and say they'd rather not go up rather than making excuses. We should be beyond that by now, but hey, we have some issues on our end as well so no body's perfect.

PARENTHOOD #3

I was called back as a campaign staffer from an earlier episode. I saw a lot of the same people but a few missing ones. I got to Universal in pretty good time and thankfully, there was a van that was shuttling people to the stage. There I met Jenny Savage, an actor who reminded me a lot of Vanessa from up north because she's petite, very fit, has the same kind of body, but more interestingly, has the same type of energy. Her hair was similar except instead of being black, it was red. Instead of being Latina, she was French/Viking as she called it.

The day was filled with running around the campaign office and doing that multiple times. Thankfully, I had a desk so I was able to sit most of the time. After lunch, we got a long break when they didn't need us so I was able to cat nap a little. It helped because I'd only had about four hours of sleep, but closer to three and a half.

They kept us after we had finished shooting in case they needed us for the promotional campaign ad they were shooting. So we kind of hung around a little and I got a chance to drink a Coke Zero. I think it helped me on my drive home because I didn't feel sleepy at all. Maybe it was because there wasn't that much traffic and I was actually able to get home just before 6PM. Still, my official wrap time was 4:30PM so that was still a long drive.

After dinner at home, I crashed for a few hours because the lack of sleep finally hit me. Then I watched some tv for a little bit, some Call of Duty World at War and then it was time to get to bed.

ZITA'S BIRTHDAY

After lunch, I headed off to Zita's to celebrate her birthday.  I was designated as the bbq-er and was happy to do it.  No one was there when I arrived except for Kimi, Bill and Zita.  So I had time to run a scan on Aunt Pat's computer.  First was Malwarebytes.   Thankfully, the pc allowed me to install it without issue.  It found over 3000 items!  Most of it was adware, but still, that's a lot.

Jared helped cook the Korean short ribs.  Later, the Kreps came through and we had a feast.  It was awesome.  Also, Pat came through and just bitched about her daughter lying to her.  I told her to watch I Hate My Teenage Daughter.  But boy it must be tough to be a parent.  Still, I think women worry much more than men.

I also ran the anti-virus program that was newly installed on Aunt Pat's pc.  It found 9 threats, so we'll see if that was it.

I got home feeling like I had diarrhea, but I never pooped it out.  Maybe it was more of the 2nd movement after the initial one.

BLISTERING RUN

I did my long run with my new shoes and boy did I screw up. I'm only a week away from the half marathon and I end up with a blister on my right pinky toe. I had a feeling something was wrong when my toe hurt as I ran. I thought it was just a little painful thing, but no, it was a full on blister.

Water had already built-up and that's what causes pain. So I had to stop and check it out. I wasn't sure if I should just walk home, call home or what because I didn't have a phone and I had no change to make a call even if I found a phone. So I decided to just pop the blister and continue with the run.

It was quite grueling because I knew that every step I took probably made the blister worse. As I ran, there would be moments of pain and moments where it seemed like there was no pain at all. It was all dependent on whether my toes were rubbing against each other or whether they weren't.

By the end, I had run about 11 miles and that was with a little bit of rest. I immediately iced my feet and cleaned my toe so it would not get infected. Then I rested the rest of the night.

(written 12/28/11)

VISITING EVE

I did a little work outside measuring the distance different sprinkler heads are from one another.  Hopefully the place I go to for the free sprinkler heads will help me figure out which ones I need.

After dinner, I went to visit Eve, Jansen and Tam's new baby girl.  Tam's other sisters and Aeron and Melissa came along too.  We didn't do much since everyone started leaving before we could get anything going.  But Jansen and I actually did sneak away for awhile to visit a local dispensary.

We did get to start 30 Minutes or Less which we never finished and Friends With Benefits which we did.  Then people went to sleep and Jansen and I stayed up playing Call of Duty Black Ops till about 3:45AM


(written 12/4/11)

SPRINKLER FIXED

Ron Richler from California Lawn Service came over to work on the busted sprinkler pipe.  When he dug it up, we realized it wasn't a pipe, but the riser that was attached to the sprinkler head.  What Ron said was that if the sprinkler head is hit by a lawn mower multiple times, over time, it will crack the riser and that's what happened in his opinion.  Regardless, it was $40 to do that work.  I think it's probably a fair deal because although it wasn't really that hard, there's a lot of digging and getting dirty.

That was pretty much the main thing that was done today.  I also printed out a voucher for some free sprinkler heads and I'll have to do some work tomorrow to see how large an area is needed for the new heads.

(written 12/4/11)