Conclusion of Variety

From Aug 8-12 Stephanie and I went up to Seattle, WA. Emily gave us a ride to airport and by 4:00pm we were in our hotel. I gave Nate a call and we had dinner at the “Barking Frog” which was real nice. On Tuesday we got up and visited the Seattle Center which included the Music Experience, Scifi Museum, and the Space Needle. In the evening we had dinner on the bay. The next we met up with an internet friend, Jessica and we all went to the Underground Tour which is a look at old Seattle that is under the city. We later walked around and went shopping. Stephanie and I both got Tom Bihn Bags and later visited a cool book store, toy store, and Pikes Market.

On Thursday we headed back down to the bay and visited the aquarium and then went on a bay tour. After that we had a great lunch on the bay where I had an oyster. We then headed up to the Seattle Library (which is state of the art and really cool). Finally, on Friday we checked out at 11am and had to leave our bags at the hotel. We headed to the science center which was more for kids and then went and saw a movie. We got back at 12pm.

The rest of the weekend was suppose to be filled up by Gamefest which I was running two games. However, the event was so poorly planned that I only had one person show up for each of my games so I couldn’t run at all.

Overall, a great 9 days starting with the weekend of Aug 6th with Jack Johnson, on Sunday was the tennis match and I picked up a 60″ TV from my friends Andy and Liz. The 8th-12 was Seattle and then a relaxing weekend with a dissapointing Gamefest.

Ok, my blogged just got spammed and I’m annoyed as hell by this. Unfortunatly, as far as I know there is no way to remove comments in blogger. To prevent future spamming I am going to “registered users” on comments so if you want to comment you have to sign up. If it continues I’ll switch to only allowing members of my blog to comment which I might do anyway.

The weekend was pretty eventful. It starts out with a Friday game of Pirates where two friends that I game with: Liz and Andy say that are getting rid of a 60″ TV. Both myself, and another player, Albert, blurt out yes. Albert just managed to get in his yes before me but his girlfriend gave the big no. All I had to do was pick it up.

On Saturday I was lazy and layed around but during the evening was Jack Johnson. The reason I put the link is because just about everyone I mention it to says “Jack who?” The funny thing is that I had no idea who he was until Stephanie introduced him to me. However, the concert was packed. The closest thing I can compare him to is Tom Petty or Dave Matthews and though I’m not a fan I do enjoy his music.

Sunday was crazy. It starts off with picking up the TV. I met up with Andy (not the one who gave me the TV) who had a truck. We drove down to Encinitas and after about 40 min managed to get the TV in the truck and tied down. We finally got it back to my apartment.

By this time I was running late for the finals for the Acura Tennis Classic, a womens pro tennis tournament held here in San Diego. Stephanie and I went with Jonathan and Michelle. We got something to eat and headed up to our bleachers. The stadium was pretty small so we still had a good view.

The first match was a disappointing 6-0, 6-3 Mary Pierce of France against Japan’s Ai Sugiyama. The second match was a doubles tournament between Conchita Martinez and Virginia Ruano Pascual against Ai Sugiyama and Daniela Hantuchova 6-7 (7), 6-1, 7-5. This was very exciting as the two were very close but duruing the final set the let everyone come to the front seats since so many people left after the singles final.

Last weekend was very piratey. I started of on Friday I went to the first Pirate rpg the used GURPS. Then on Saturday was the Gay Pride Parade and festival which included a pirate float. Finally, on Saturday night Jonathan, Michelle, Stephanie and I went to see “The Pirates of Penzanz.”

Pride was tons of fun and that parade was the best one I’ve ever been to. There is soemthing special about Pride that felt safe and wild at the same time. I really got into it and took over 50 pictures which I have never done. Erik and Emily went with us to the Parade and just about everyone got sunburnt.

After the parade Stephanie and I walked to the festival which was about a mile away and a long walk in the sun. I bought tickets and lunch and we watched Male flag twirlers and then a feminist folk singer for awhile. After that we walked around and as expected most of the booths targeted homosexuals. Most of them were political but everyone was having fun. The one booth I did stop at had a sperm towel that you could win so I played the “spin the wheel” game. I didn’t win the towel but I did get a dog tag with a hunky cowboy on it.

Stephanie and I only had a few hours to rest before we were off to the musical. “The Pirates of Penzanz” was a disappointment. The music and dancing was alright but it was hard to understand what they were saying and what was going on. I what I could understand was silly but I did have fun hanging out at the Moonlight theater again in Vista. Stephanie was so tired and bored with the musical she fell asleep during the second half.

Apparently, I have been dating Stephanie for a year now. I say apparently, because I don’t remember the exact date but she did. So, July 28 2004 I met Stephanie for the first time at a Cafe in Pacific Beach. We later had dinner at a Mexican Restaurant and then walked along the boardwalk.

It has been a great year that included a lot more dates including movies, Padres, camping, Disneyland, and Vegas. We now stay at her place on the weekend and that has been working well.

The future also bodes well as we have our Seattle trip in about week and we are currently making plans to visit Las Cruces, NM for Thanksgiving. Who knows what else will happen but I have high hopes because we get along really well.

Some classic moments from the past year

Comic con 2005 was a lot of fun. For the first time I preregistered for all four days. This let me go to preview night on Wednesday. So, after work I headed over to the con and hung out for a few hours to help set up the Dream Pod 9 booth which Jonathan was working at. There wasn’t much I could do so Michelle and I ran and got something for everyone to drink. Right after that I had to leave to meet up with Stephanie.

The next day I got to the con around 11am. I met up with the DP9 booth again and noticed that only Jonathan and Robert DuBois (marketing director of DP9) were working. Oscar (who was suppose to help) couldn’t until Sunday so I offered to get them anything they needed and stopped by regularly. I walked the convention for awhile I took a look at the Firefly rpg which looks a lot better than I thought as it isn’t going to be d20.

Around 12:30 I decided to get Jonathan and Robert something to eat and ended up going with Eric, my old roommate who had disappeared last November. We got to talk and I got an idea of what he going through so it was good to talk to him. I had to hurry back because I had a photoshop panel (coloring comics) at 1:30.

After the panel I met up with Scott, Dede, and Dede’s brother Alex. I then walked around with Scott for awhile until another panel about essays on pop culture came up. After that I walked around and hung out with the DP9 crew until 7pm and then we all jumped on the trolley and head home and then to Hodads (local burger joint with awsome hamburgers).

The next day I got there at 10 and the doors weren’t open. When they did open I beelined it to the DP9 booth where I helped out. I sat around and answered questions until about 12:30 and then got lunch with Albert, his girlfriend Jenny and their friend Ping. After that I was back at the DP9 booth until Scott came by around 3:30 and I got a cup of coffee with him and then bought con tickets for Stephanie, Erik, and Tom (who was to help with the con on Sat). I left a little after 5pm.

On Saturday Stephanie, Erik and I got their around 11:30. It was packed, more crowded than I had ever seen it. The three of us managed to wonder the dealers room staying together. It took us a few hours to wonder the area though we didn’t get a good look at anything. We then met up with Scott and company for a bit. I was planning on going to a Firefly panel but as we headed to meet Scott I noticed a huge line. I stopped and asked what it was for and the woman told me it was for Firefly. So, I skipped that and went to a Graphic Novel panel with Stephanie.

After the panel we did some last minute shopping and left. We decided to have dinner at Old Towne, then we went to Stephanie to watch Erik’s “Red vs Blue” DVD. By that time I had enough and didn’t go back on Sunday.

Overall this comic con wasn’t as good as last years. It was fun but the surprises and excitement from last year were lacking. The panels weren’t very good either. I’ve decided that next year I’ll probably go on Friday and Sunday, and skip Saturday completely.

On Friday Stephanie, Jonathan, Michelle and I went to the dance club, On Broadway. On Broadway, from what I gathered, is the premier club in San Diego as all the club goers I know always recommend it first. As a result I have avoided it because I’m not interested in the “premier club”, I just interested in having fun dancing. However, one of Jonathan’s coworkers said he could get us on a guest list so we decided to go for it.

First I had to get some new clothes. I hate clothes shopping but didn’t want to look like I was dressed for work. So, we all headed down to Old Navy which I had never been to. I got a pair of khakis, a red t-shirt and a button down shirt that goes over it. After that we ate a California Pizza Kitchen and then headed back to Jonathan’s to get ready.

By the time we finished getting ready it was 10:30 and we decided to take the trolley. Luckily we bought tickets just in time for the trolley to pull up. On Broadway was a block from a trolley station. We got in line (apparently it isn’t difficult to get on the guest list) and Jonathan went up and talked to a host. He told him we were not on the list but gave hime two half price tickets. This did not bother us as we planned on paying $10 a person to get in which is what the half price ticket offered. However, we only had two tickets for four people. So, I went up to the guy and told him I was on the guest list and got two more passes.

We headed in and after getting lost in a hip hop room we ended up in the tecno room. We got some quick drinks then headed for the dance floor. I think everyone enjoyed dancing for 30-40 minutes. We then took a break and by the time we got back on the dance floor it was too crowded. After about 15 minutes we left.

Again we managed to jump right on a trolley. We relaxed until the trolley reached the Old Town Station and announced it was its last stop. We got off and asked if there were any more trolley and the guard said no. We were only one stop away from out station so we had to walk about a mile to get back to Jonathan’s. At one point a guy jumped out of a car at a intersection and headed toward us quickly. Both Jonathan and I jumped thinking he was going to attack us but he curved and headed into a Taco Shop. Must have been real hungry.

Even though I had fun dancing I didn’t care for atmosphere of On Broadway and I do not think I’ll go back. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find a fun, no meat market club to go dancing at.

Also, this weekend I want to see “War of the Worlds” and had breakfast with Stephanie’s running friends (there was a group of 20). I always feel uncomfortable at these things as it is always huge groups and I don’t know anyone but Stephanie. So, I didn’t say much taking a don’t speak unless spoken to attitude.

This 4th of July weekend I went with Stephanie to her dad (Phil) and Lupa’s house in Lancaster which is a dessert community about an hour outside of LA. We left around 11am and got there about 2pm. It was around 95F out when we arrived.

We got the full tour of the house which was real nice. It was two stories, three bedroom, 2 1/2 bathrooms and a nice yard in the back. We spent most of the time talking. Actually, it was mostly Lupa and Phil who are retired so they have been going on a lot of trips. We also got to see a lot of slide shows.

On Saturday we went and saw “Guess Who” then we had dinner with Stephanie’s aunt and uncle. Even though the days were almost unbearable outside (reminded me of Cruces) the evening were nice. We sat outside until 9:30 and the temperature was fine. We also got in a few bad movies because in the evening we would sit down and look through the movie channels. There was usually only one movie starting at the time we sat down so we would watch it.

We left around 12:30 on Monday and got back around 4pm. Stephanie and I were tired when we got back so we sat around and watched movies.

I plan on moving my reviews of plays and stuff back over to my blog and probably shortening them a bit. I’m basically trying to figure out what this blog is for. Back in Feburary I started posting a bunch of pointless stuff on Valentines day. When I started my Live Journal I realized I would rather put that silly stuff up on there and keep interesting things on my blog.

After I started the Live Journal I thought I would keep this updated every week – 2 weeks. I didn’t want to give a review of every weekend so slow weekend went up on Livejournal. I have decided by incorporating a mini review with what I did during the weekend (and getting rid of my review blog) I can justifying posting more here.

I intend to look back at this blog someday but not look back at my Live Journal. So, I might print it out or something in the future.

Last weekend Stephanie and I went to “Cold Comfort Farm.” A play that was held in Coronodo and based off the book. There was also a movie starring Kate Beckinsale. The book itself was a parody of a English genre involving melodrama in run down farms.

I liked the play more than movie as the it was over the top. As a matter of fact I wasn’t sure if the movie was comedy as I didn’t find it that funny, just amusing. The play was hilarious and I couldn’t stop laughing. At first I didn’t like the convention where the protagonist, Flora Post, talks to the audience. My favorite part is when the father of the farm (who is also the local preacher) preaches to the audience. He had a great bit about hell and how there is no butter there.

Two weeks ago I went and saw “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” This was had Jessica John who I had seen in “Burn This.” It was a three hour play with two intermissions but I never got bored. The actor who played Big Daddy stole the show.

Overall, tons of fun a the theater and the first time Stephanie and I went and saw a play twice in a row.

Yesterday morning I was getting back from Stephanie’s and hoped in the shower to get ready for work. I hoped out planning my day and thinking what should I take for breakfast when I suddenly realized I had jury duty that day. I hop over to my desk to see what time I have to be there. I have 30 min. I throw some stuff in my backpack and run out the door.

I decide to take the trolly but miss the 7:30 trolly by seconds. I have to wait another 15min until the next trolly arrives. I have to be there at 7:45. I finally arrive at 8:00. Luckily, the assume that people are going to be late so I only missed the beginning of a speach given by the judge.

I end up waiting and reading the rest of the morning until they give us a two hour lunch break. I visit Borders Book Store then grab something to eat at Ralphs (which I remember have good food and decent prices when we ate there during Comic Con).

When I get back I get called to sit through a jury selection. I am among 42 people selected from a two week trial. They tell us the case is about two lesbian women who are fighting over a house. I immediatly start to roll my eyes and get annoyed. Civil Court cases annoy the fuck out of me and though I can see the need for having a jury trial for fighting over the rights to a house, a fail to see why it needs to be 2 weeks.

I was sitting there as the lawyers dismissed jurors and I was hoping I would be dismissed, hoping they would call my name so I could go home. All of a sudden I heard it, well, an attempt at it anyway. I stood up thinking I would be thrilled to leave, to know that I wouldn’t have to sit through this annoying trial; but I wasn’t, I was thinking “why the hell didn’t they want me.” The lasted for about a minute then a gleefully left satisfied that I could go back to work.

In other news I went swimming over the weekend and saw “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and had dinner with a bunch of Stephanie’s online friends.