this is my first entry of 2009. exciting.

my new year celebration was a bit more relaxing than i had wanted it to be, but still good nonetheless. it was the first time in four years that my dad, my mom, jamie, and myself (oh, and kobe!) spent it together. the last time all four of us were together for the countdown was january 1st, 2005 in vegas. 2005 seemed to start off okay, but as history proves, it was THE worst year i've ever had in my 25 years of existence. so this 2009 celebration was a breath of fresh air.

my day started with a mini-meeting/evaluation/bank errand with jackie. then i came back home and continued with a flyer design for jayvee studios. kept at that for a few long hours, while my sister dropped off some stuff and headed out for dinner with cousins. my dad came over and we all had dinner. stuck around for a little bit, then headed out to pick up my sister, who had a couple drinks.. she was fine to drive but didn't want to risk this holiday famous for sobriety checks. we get to her place and greet kobe. and tune into the almost vegetable dick clark and ryan seacrest for the countdown. we decided to be fobs and throw coins in the air at midnight. i honestly dont remember doing that when i was little haha. then we kinda sat around like "now what?" haha. come a knock at our door, and my aunt and her husband come to visit. she gives me a belated christmas present. and to my delight. it's a little clip-on led light. meant mostly for laptops so you can see the keyboard in the dark. so nerdy yet so useful! woot. haha.

after a little bit, i head over to jackie's to see how the bmodders are enjoying the new year celebration. they were pretty gone and not before long started to pass out. after some drinks and a game or two including catchphrase, i head back to jamie's and finally sleep.

let's hope for a good year ahead!

p.s. i'm cleaning my room.. wha???!

a random survey.. i haven't done this in a while :D

( click for survey )

2008 is almost gone!

but it's ending pretty alright..

all four of us (five including kobe) spent christmas eve and christmas day at my sister's new place. christmas in general gets less and less hyped for me every year, but i've noticed our gatherings become more intimate.. if that makes any sense. we started our christmas eve at the pomona house for dinner, then we packed up all our stuff and presents into my sister's truck and headed to her place. after settling there for a bit, we headed out to the st. paul the apostle catholic church, which is a really nice church. when i heard we were going to a church in chino hills, i thought to myself, "hmm, i wonder if this is the church eddie and regina go to.." we got to the church 15 minutes early and it was PACKED. standing room only in the main cathedral. we were directed to a side-set mass in a smaller room, with more available seats. and i saw eddie singing in the choir! but the small room didn't have the grace and awesomeness of the big room, so we decided to stick it through and just stand in the main room. after we settled and found our standing spot, someone taps my shoulder. i turn around and it was nick! yay for seeing some of the bmod fam on christmas day! anyways, my family looked like a-holes because we left right after communion to avoid the crazy traffic that was sure to keep us from leaving any time soon. got back to jamie's and proceeded to eat and open presents. blazer jeans slacks jacket best buy card and tools! after settling down, we all head to sleep. the temporary couch in jamie's living makes for a very uncomfortable slumber area...

on christmas day, we have a quick lunch, and my dad comes back for dinner again. most of this night we just spent inside, and the rockbanding craziness ensued for hours. it was my dad's first time playing it and he was doing pretty well on both guitar and drums. my mom sticks to singing all the time. after a bunch of late night rockbanding and snacking, my mom and i decided to stay there another night. we leave pretty early the next morning, leaving kobe behind at my sister's permanently!! yeah, it's sad that kobe is moving out from the house also.. but since my sister is living by herself, and kobe seemed to be happily enjoying a new setting, it seemed like it was for the better. so my christmas was fine and dandy.. hope yours was just as great or better!

a couple days before christmas, bMod had an awesome performance at avalon's toys for tots drive. but the night ended in blurs since a bunch of us got a little crazy with the drinks.. ahem me vince carissa jackie arvin eric.. no bueno!! but a fun night indeed. CLICK HERE for the performance.

the day after christmas, some members of the team were dying to see one another after our almost 4 days away from each other, so we schedule a dinner at bj's. good times. then some of us head to wal-mart, and then i end my night rushing home, packing, and heading to cesar and andrew's to stay the night before snowboarding! i barely get any sleep, but who cares. we leave the house at 5am. and get to the mountain pretty early. so early that we were one of the first to get a run on the mountain! a very awesome session for me. landing more jumps. i finally carved and conquered down the diamond slope that always scared me to death!! but then i was dumb and tried to carve down an ice double diamond run.. ended bruising my knee. but made up for it with the last run where me rk and andrew literally sped down miracle mile without stopping. quite a rush!!


cesar rk me and andrew (not pictured: shelly and charmane)


but poor shelly fractured her pelvis from a pretty hard fall.. oh no!! get better!!

after snowboarding, the drive home was HORRIFIC. took over 3 hours.. people were just stupid driving down the mountain. how about this for an idea.. if you're going to stop to take your chains off your tires, how about doing it OFF the road? and not in the middle?

anyways, after a nice dinner courtesy of cesar's parents, i headed home for a quick change and shower then to locust lounge for terminal. busy night tonight woot! ended up great and ended blah.. so it canceled out and it was just a night.

anyways, for all the audiophiles out there - chris cornell (lead singer of the bands soundgarden and audioslave) just released a new single collabo with timbaland! the mixture sounds pretty freakin awesome. and upon further research, the solo album he's releasing, Scream, is going to be almost entirely produced by timbo with guests spots justin timberlake and some production from ryan tedder of onerepublic! i really can't wait for this! and i know some of you can't either.. so here is the first couple singles off the album, "Scream f. Timbaland" <-- click!

probably gonna see one more quick update before the year's end... til' then, goodbye!

started the day off with a nice sandwich for lunch (yeah i never wake up in time to eat breakfast).. then headed out to jayvee studios in alhambra to drop off a print order for joanna.. and to pick up a hefty check. woot. then i went to downtown pasadena to purchase [something] since i was already out west, even though it was still kinda far.. then i head home in bastardly traffic. took about 2 hours.. filled up cuz my gas tank was pretty much empty when i left pasadena, went to the bank to deposit the check, then target to buy some random stuff, then stopped by mcdonald's before i went home.

i was amazed to see that the $1 double cheeseburger is no longer on the dollar menu anymore! gasp! omgwtfbbq! it is now $1.19!! instead there was a new menu item in its place called the "McDouble." having no idea what that was, it was the first thing i google'd when i got home as i enjoyed my more than $1 double cheeseburger. turns out, the McDouble is almost identical to the double cheeseburger, except it only has a single slice of cheese. hah. interesting.

i find this fine because.. while i do love meat/cheese, getting one less slice would, in my opinion, not make much of a difference.. and the cheese that mcdonald's uses is so strongly flavored with fake soy stuff (even though i still like it) that one slice would probably do the job.. but regarding paying the same price for less burger: i wonder what's the next thing that'll go up in price at the famous eatery??

McOmg!

kobe had a visit to the vet on monday. he has been pretty sick for the past few weeks. he developed skin rashes around his body which results in more scratching and licking which results in more coughing up hairballs. and he's also noticeably depressed. literally just sitting up and staring at a blank wall no more than a foot away from his face. the doctor diagnosed him with flea allergy dermatitis. which is easily treatable. but the thing is, kobe does not have fleas. upon further research, i found that the allergic reaction can be started by just a single flea bite, who decided to bite him and leave. his depression/anxiety is caused by a sudden change in the household (moving to a new place, or someone moving out), and with my sister moving out, i'm guessing that's the case. but either way, he now has meds that is keeping him both not itchy and happy.

in music news, common's new album "universal mind control" leaked! this has been a very anticipated album for me. a little weird that it only has 10 tracks.. but 7 of them are neptunes produced. all of you know that i'm a sucker for the neps.. and while i do enjoy listening to this album, i must admit that i miss common's usual jazz/soul influenced sound. production-wise, i love it. the neptunes sound great.. which is saying a lot considering i haven't been liking TOO much of their recent stuff. common on the other hand.. hmm.. i have to mention that he has fallen down lyrically. his words just lack the substance that he had for such albums like resurrection or like water for chocolate.. for die-hard common fans, this album is going to be a definite flop much like electric circus (man, that album was.. interesting..). but anyways, while i know this album is going to be a disappointment to many, it's still a handful of rich-layered and top-notch neptunes sounds. my top tracks are: universal mind control, gladiator, and inhale (i hear chad shining like crazy on this track).

my thanksgiving was intimate. thanksgiving day consisted of us (mom, dad, sister, myself) of going to my sister's new condo in chino hills and cooking. we had turkey for once, which is very untraditional for us since we all pretty much prefer chicken. we had canned cranberries, cornbread stuffing, beef, mashed potatoes, candied yams, apple pie, ice cream, veggies, fruit, wine, and beer.

but since my sister's place is brand new and there's not really much in it yet, so the four of us had nothing to do but eat, listen to music, and talk about random things.. even had a random discussion about columbus and trying to remember his three ships.. which we couldn't.. and we didn't have internet to look it up.. we had nowhere to sit/nap because it is pretty unfurnished.. haha. but before the night ended, we made a quick stop to our house and got her one of our spare couches. yay for something to sit on! to anyone else, it would have been a boring failure of a thanksgiving (other than the food), but i loved it.. spending time with the family is something i've learned to never take for granted.

the next morning was black friday.. i had no intention of buying anything since i'm 1) broke and 2) not really looking for anything in particular.. but my sister on the other hand, with the new place, shopped. we'll just say after a very full and tiring day of shopping (best buy, bed bath & beyond, great indoors), we managed to get: 52" Sony BRAVIA lcd tv, Playstation 3, RockBand 2, and a chandelier.

got back to the place and didn't hesitate to hook up the tv/ps3/rockband2 combo. but first testing a blu-ray disc and ogling at the crisp picture-ness. man.. no more dvds for us, haha! my dad came by and helped us get the chandelier up. was a lot harder than we expected considering we had no equipment or mounting kit. got the tv mount on the wall. and the rest of the night consisted of us playing rockband, eating, and drinking beer.

now my mission is to find someone with metal gear solid 4: guns of the patriots who would let me borrow it for a bit now that i can finally play it. hah!

and tonight is..... bMod thanksgiving dinner for more fattyness!! and then locust lounge afterwards for more drankness!!

and the holidays are starting!!

i had myself an awesome thanksgiving!! details to come later..

how's this for a shameless plug?

my friends vince and bert are opening a brand new club for saturday nights at locust lounge in pomona. right next to rooted movement. free parking all night. cheap drinks ($5 well drinks woot!). bert is dj'ing and i'll be taking pictures! myron and jan are mc'ing!



go! all the cool people are doing it.. well the cool 21 and ups.. haha..

this weekend was prelude in norcal. click for pics!

a good handful of bmod heads took a trip up from friday night to sunday night.

friday night drive up was pretty easy; aside for passing the Sylmar fire near Valencia.. that was crazy.. it had just started on the hill and fire trucks were barely getting out to extinguish it. low visibility on the freeway because of smoke and raining ash.. but after passing that; things were fine.

it wasn't until we were already settled up north at the Marriott Hotel when we found out that the fires had spread all throughout SoCal and hitting really close to home.. while our weekend was fun and memorable, that wildfire worry still stuck at the back of all of our heads..

saturday morning, we all get up and head out to the city. have lunch at fisherman's wharf complements of anthony's dad (thanks!!), and he also takes us across the golden gate bridge for the san fran newbs. our car had quite the moment with "defying gravity" played as we 'flew' across the bridge.

we then headed to prelude, getting lost in the process because of wrong address information, but my trusty gps, Bartholomew, showed us the light. the actual competition was alright... but i really like Tm's performance. they killed it hard.

after the competition, we go on a quick run, and head back to the hotel.. which was the hotel all the non-norcal teams were staying.. mainly bmod tm and project d.. our hotel room was crazzzzy! tm's room was crazzzzy!! people were all over the place.. i'm surprised neither of our rooms were kicked out of the hotel, haha.. met a lot of dance heads.. and somehow my night winded down and ended in the outside staircase with jed, jun, shay, bam, and robbie..

drive back down was chill.. i slept half of the way, woke up at kettleman for in&out.. and we finally got home.. passing by what was left of the Sylmar fire (the same one we passed on the way up).. it was still not contained.. and in its path we saw the 400+ homes that it took.. it was a very sad sight to see.. eerie.. and literally looked like a warzone. highest of hopes go out to anyone and everyone who has been affected by the fires, especially gigz' extended family.

this weekend was a nice break for me.. for the past two weeks, i've been consumed with photoshoots.. and with that comes editing, uploading, and retouching.. scheduling the shoots around everyone elses schedules.. and for doing so, the team was very thoughtful enough to all pitch in money so i can have a free trip to norcal!! aren't they awesome!?! anyways, here are the results, and a few examples, from those photoshoots:


click for photoshoot pictures

i've been very bad at updating..

and it's not because i don't have anything to say.. i have a lot actually. but for once, i've felt like publicizing my opinions on certain matters would land me in a ditch.

but why is it now that i've barely felt apprehensive about posting my personal opinions when for the past 6 years of having this very public journal, i've never held back?

that's just it, i shouldn't have to hold back. this is me, utterly exposed. knowingly public, and i will not give a damn.

* * *
people who think they are flawless when just about everyone they've made contact with can't stand them. sure, you can take pride if a couple people out there talk about you. they probably have nothing better to do with their lives and for some reason find your life more interesting. but when just about everyone has a problem with you; then it's obvious that you need to check yourself. look in the mirror. and finally realize that you are a cancer. to yourself and everyone around you.

homewreckers. i put all of you in the same class as cheaters. i blame my family's misfortune on one. and for anyone out there to even remotely put themselves in a position to homewreck: be ashamed of yourselves. how dare you put lives at risk. this is not a game and you are not in a place to make people pawns. be desperate, but dont bring other already established couples down into your desperation.

cigarettes. now, i understand that i am in no place to tell someone "you need to stop smoking." but having watched someone i care about go from being a "social smoker" (which to me means "i only smoke when other people around me do.. because i'm still stuck in high school and i think it'll make me look cool") and turn into a relatively heavy smoker, really disappoints me. after having voiced my opinion and pouring my heart out there letting people know how much it hurts me, and to see it continue.. really hits a personal nerve. and because it's so personal to me, i am in no place to enforce anything. but what really offended me, was that a certain individual put the responsibility on ME, as well as people he calls his brothers and sisters, to follow a certain condition in order for him to quit.

meh..

this past election was pure craziness. very happy to see obama take presidency. it's about time america caught up with the rest of the world leaderwise. but how ironic is it that the presidential election result that proved a world looking past discrimination, would have proposition 8 pass in the same election, showing that discrimination is still very much alive. very disappointed in society.. and even worse, humanity. although hypocrisy calls and i cant really say much because i didn't vote.. but i wanted to so bad! i filled out the registration form and put it in our "outgoing mail" area.. to see it gone, and i assumed someone sent it in for me.. but no one did, and i have no idea what happened to the form..

that is all. recent events shall get its own entry. banana banana kbye.

i want to go snowboarding.. alone..

but i wont because that's dangerous..

but something about just me, the mountain, and my music.. sounds so good right now. that combination is bliss -- freely moving down a slope with only my music as my company. my eyes focused on the seemingly endless white ahead. it's the most free i've ever felt, and it's something i always find myself wanting.

yes, it's a very lone wolf wish to make, i know.. but it is solitude i crave, not loneliness.

back in action. i got my laptop back last week, but it's been so hectic with maxt out and auditions that i've not been able to keep anyone updated about anything!

bmod debuted our new set for the beginning of the year. Oz. and we took home 2nd place in our division. maxt out was a lot of fun.. but i wasn't too fond of the staff/security.. there weren't many staff walking around to help with anything. i mean there was a bit of staff; but they were all busy, and not many were just out to help the audience/performers.. and i understand that it's either a way to make money or its a liability for the venue itself, but i didn't like how the performers weren't allowed to bring their own waters in. i saw a number of people collapsing backstage especially after they performed. and a bmod member who is diabetic was refused access to the venue unless she threw it away. she pleaded with security to let her take it because she was diabetic but they replied sarcastically, ".. yeah sure" personally, i'd prefer next year's maxt out to be back in the auditorium. it has more of a dance show feel there rather than a dance expo. but all-in-all, it was taken as an experience to grow from. check out our performance video HERE. kinda hard to get a real feel of it from the video, but i heard it was pretty insane to watch live.

auditions went pretty smoothly for me. having held so many already, the process was like second nature.. having taken so many people in this time around, it's kinda scary knowing i'll have to get used to a brand new group of people. we had our first meeting with them last night. a lot of fun. for some reason, we never fail to pick the fun people. i saw a lot of them fitting in nicely with our current team. but that's just the social aspect, and we'll see how the newbies are in the working/practice environment come this tuesday.

anyways, here's to more than just 3 updates a month from now on!

on one of my few accesses to the internet...

from my previous entry, you'd know that i should have gotten my laptop back on the 7th of october.. but alas, on that day, i got a call from HP, saying they would be holding my laptop hostage for even longer due to backorder of parts.. upon hearing this, i was kinda ehh.. shoulda seen it coming, i guess i can wait a couple more days.. but then she goes ahead and says, "but you should be expecting your laptop to be delivered on the 21st of october" wtf!! that's like an entire month away! argh.. anger much? yes..

so all my historian-ness is still being put on a nasty hold.. i'm able to upload pictures still, but not as often.. bmod website is hard to update without my laptop.. etc.. and it sucks that i wont have my laptop the day auditions for bmod starts..

with all the tech talk aside, my mom left for a mexican riviera cruise on the 9th.. and she'll be gone for a bit.. and after that i think she's going to vegas with her friends or something? and then after THAT, she's going to chicago.. so she's going on a crazy trip haha.

the bmod and grv broomball social was last night.. it was crazy fun. i fell quite a bit going for the ball resulting in a couple bruises on my knees. which doesn't help since they were already hurting from bmod's hell week that we just went through. but last night was a nice break from dancing. before the social, a chunk of bmod headed to bubba gump's shrimp co. in anaheim. good times there. after the social we headed to big jeff's new place in west covina. chilled with patron and vodka. grv is awesome.

well goodbye for a bit. back to my non-laptop-ness..

no update for a while.. which is what happens when i have limited computer access!!

it is wednesday today.. which means it is about the 6th day without my beloved laptop.. it has definitely changed my daily routine.. my access to the Internet has drastically been reduced.. which is crazy weird.. because i pretty much live on the Internet.. haha. i shipped the notebook out on friday before leaving for World of Dance and HP received it yesterday morning.. and according to their website, i'll be getting it back on Oct. 7th. the bmod website updates have come to a stop because any attempt i make to use dreamweaver on this crappy desktop results in a long hang and a crashing computer. same thing when im simply trying to manage my flickr photos online. or when im converting videos to put on my ipod.. so yeah, definite change.. it's as if the Hatian from Heroes is living in my house and all my powers are taken away.

world of dance was awesome. the drive up there felt pretty long though.. we got there around 7 or 8pm i think? checked in.. then me gigz neil and danny headed out to hooters right next to our hotel for dinner while we waited for bert vince carissa jackie and some sheroes to get there.. and since it was pretty much too late to do anything else, we just went on a drink run and chilled in our room for the rest of the night. the radisson in dublin was the 'official' place to stay for all the WoD attendees.. so there were dancers all over the place. i was a goob and forgot my toiletries bag at home.. so i had to buy a toothbrush/toothpaste thing from a vending machine.. no one in my room wears contacts.. so i had no contact solution to borrow. found out that Sheroes were staying in the room above us so we went up there and i asked to borrow matt's contact case and some of serena's solution as they were having some kind of mini-meeting.. quite embarrassing.

the next morning, me gigz danny neil carissa and bert headed out to the city and had brunch at fisherman's wharf. headed to World of Dance right after. and ok.. i love going on road trips because our destination usually has weather that is better than anything pomona can offer.. but in Alameda (where WoD was), it was pretty darn hot and humid as if we were in pomona. but as far as the event goes, i enjoyed it much more than last year's WoD at the pomona fairplex. most likely because i was able to roam around and watch the event rather than work at the rooted table the whole night. although, i'd wish for larger venues for future WoD's.. a lot of people are left standing because the seats fill up so fast. loved the Sheroes set.. they totally killed their performance. choreo cookies won the event, and they deserved it. they took control of the audience and it was dead silent because of awe during their closer. that night, we lightly afterpartied (since we had a long drive home in the morning). alexis and matt came down to our room for a little, then some of us headed over to kaba modern's room (didn't get to meet the whole team though, only the Americas Best Dance Crew reps were there). headed back and everyone ended up sleeping for the night.

woke up in the morning, got ready, and checked out. our car stopped by a subway before we left dublin. which turned out to be the longest stop ever with the most complicated non-english speaking employees. drive home went a lot faster and smoother than the way up. i was trying to sleep as much as possible so i wouldn't die at practice that night. we got home safely, and thus ended a pretty fun trip to the bay.

"Could we see when and where we are to meet again, we would be more tender when we bid our friends good-bye.." - Marie Louise De La Ramee

i was recently reminded of this quote because i witnessed someone who still values the "goodbye." living in a spoiled world, we never expect anything bad to happen. we casually bid farewells, sure to see our friends soon.. but how sure can we be? so eager to move on to our next daily, routine, and robotic task, that we forget and take the time we spend with each other for granted. just something for you to think about..

* * *

last night's backup session for my notebook failed.. because we forgot to bring Acronis.. but tonight, with the power of uber-nerds vince and myself united, my backups should be complete!! and then my notebook and i will finally part ways on friday morning!!

this weekend is World of Dance.. im excited.. but not really.. im going to be excited once we get all the ride situations sorted out.. it's all out of whack right now because curveballs are being thrown left and right.. of who's going, not going, when they can go.. so we really cant tell if we need a rental car or not because everyone's all confused, and most are just expecting everything to fall into place magically forgetting that things need to actually be planned out. ehh.. it'll be taken care of tonight at practice..

so i've pretty much backed up all my valuable files on my laptop.. and tonight vince and i will be using Acronis to take an exact image of my computer at its current state (so that if HP has to reformat my computer to factory settings, i can use the image to make an exact replica of how my computer is today when i get it back). then tomorrow i get to pack my lappy in a box and ship it out to hp.

and that will render me laptop-less.. and pretty much useless for the next 2 weeks or so.. AHHH!

what will happen to me? will i somehow go on a trip to find myself? have a self revelation? have a more broad and positive outlook on life? or will i waste away with my non-laptop-ness and shrivel up into a tiny ball of self-loathing and get blown away with the cool fall breeze?

either way, HP is covering all shipping and repair costs under warranty (which is up today i think.. but since i opened the case before it expired, im good)

aaaaand office premieres tomorrow night!

the bay this weekend for world of dance!!

menorah hora owns!! anyways, bmod's avalon performance was this past friday. crazy fun if you ask me.. probably the most fun i've had at a club performance. it's also our first time having a set tailored just for clubs separate from our competition set. so having fun and crowd pleasing was the theme. having not eaten anything at all since early afternoon, it didn't take much for me to have a grand ol' time after we performed; as we welcomed neil as the newest member of the 21+ club. fun shenanigans at denny's to follow the club.

saturday, after a long night at the club.. i had to wake up early to get ready for my cousin's wedding. all the way back in LA. this is the second time a cousin of mine (around my age) gets married.. one of the telltale signs i'm getting old!! wedding was quite nice. all the bridesmaids were bawling as crystal walked down the isle. emotastic. the reception followed in downtown. mike (aka "dj mike-e" to everyone outside the family) and i were eager for the 2-hr open bar to precede the reception. feeling QUITE good already when the reception started, it did not help that every bottle of wine had a guest's name tagged onto them. but then i started feeling a bit down when a certain someone said they wouldn't be joining us that night.

season four of heroes premiered tonight! purrty good episode. looking forward to what the rest of the season has in store. there was a random but funny quote thrown in somewhere in the middle of the episode that made me laugh to myself.

***SPOILER***

*sylar is picking at claire's exposed brain*
claire: are you gonna eat it?
sylar: eat your brain? *leaning closer* claire, that's disgusting..

haha..

on the uber-nerdier side of things.. i have to start backing up my laptop.. probably going to take the Acronis approach and make an image of my laptop in its state right now. since my birthday, i've noticed that my wireless would stop working.. i'd give my computer a restart, and it would work again.. but later on in the month, i noticed that no matter how many times i'd try to restart, my notebook would not recognize that a wireless card was installed. upon further research online, it is not a faulty card, but a faulty motherboard.. not giving the card enough power to start up during boot. the only time i can get wireless access is if i leave my computer off for 45mins-1hr. pretty frustrating and tedious if you ask me.

my notebook has only a few more days left on its warranty.. so i jumped the gun and went to online support. after straight up telling the scripted robot support representatives that i knew what the problem was (the motherboard), they still attempted to troubleshoot and fix the problem. they failed of course, so now they are sending me a box to throw my notebook in, to send back to them, and get it repaired. i had originally hesitated taking the warranty route because i'd be without my laptop for so long, and instead just forking over 80bucks and getting an external usb wireless dongle.. but when they said it averages around 7-10 days once shipped out, i decided to let them fix it. so tomorrow/today, i'll be backing up all my stuff as they'll probably factory reset it while it gets fixed..

so the rest of my week looks to be pretty crazy..

thurs: im going to predict a very long and tiring practice.. after the club performance on friday, im going to have to opt out of some pieces...
fri: clubbing at avalon. performing on stage. bmod and grv.
sat: crystal's wedding in glendale/LA
sun: props making day. and practice night.

bmod's team retreat was this weekend. i had myself a blast. we stayed at the mission beach house in san diego which was right next to the shore. great people, great cooking, movie madness marathons, the shenanigans with gigz and the cholitas, visit by froi (yay <3 menorah hora!), rapping, the 'love you' song, 5 & a dime, neighborhood, and the list goes on.

we had the place reserved till monday, so a smaller group of us took advantage and got our money's worth. had to fly down the freeway home on monday though in order for gigz to get to class in time. i had absent-mindedly left my last box of contact lenses in his car when he dropped me off.. and coincidentally, my right contact tore just a little bit enough for it to become irritating.. so i found an old box in my room (-4.00 perscription, i'm currently -5.00 though) and put them on.. they work, but things are a bit blurry..

finally got a replacement for my ipod from the one that flew across my old car during the accident at a velocity so high that it shattered the screen upon impact of whatever it hit on the other side of the car.. went to the apple store the day the new 2008 fall line was released (thx to irmy for the heads up!). surprisingly enough, they didn't have the new 120GB (supposed to be $249) on any display.. they only had the old 80GB ($249) and 160GB ($399) out there. i asked a representative about it; he said i was the first one to ask about the new classic. yup. im a classic kind of guy. yeah, the new nanos and the new touches have updated firmware and all the sparkly new features.. but i refuse to limit my music carrying capacity by capping. the guy came back to the front with my 120GB in hand.. and i handed him my old shattered ipod to get a 10% discount for the recycling program. so i have been reunited with my music (portably) and i'm glad that my "tap check" consists of four taps again.

there's gonna be a lot of random and unsorted stuff in this entry.

bmod practices have been getting very tiring for me.. but in that "getting a lot of stuff done" kind of tired.. so a good tired.. but at the same time, wishing i wasn't in so many pieces kind of tired.. haha!

me, jackie, rj and jean highly recommend the new pita snack at jack in the box.. in our opinions it was quite good. and only a dollar something. you get pita, inside is your choice of chicken (crispy or grilled), fish, or steak.. and then you get cheese, lettuce, and a really good chipotle sauce in there that is just nicely spiced.

give nkotb's album "the block" a listen. you may be surprised.

the iron man dvdrip leaked.. as well as the dark knight screener... and yeah, the dark knight was quite hyped.. i think too hyped for me, because i was expecting a little too much from it.. i thoroughly enjoyed iron man though. but it suffers from transformers syndrome.. where it's fine the first time you watch it.. but anytime after, you'll be extremely bored during the first half.

the CMA music festival is going to air tonight in about 25 minutes.. not that anyone who reads this would care.. haha. i lose.

anyways, shameless plug:

     
bmod will be holding workshops in san jacinto on sept 20
as well as auditions for the team on oct 20-23. come out!