I haven't updated this in quite a while but I just had the coolest chat with a bus driver that I really wanted to write about.
It was about 8:50pm at the bus stop on Q and Connecticut. I was sitting in the shelter/overhang area next to one of the bus drivers on her lunch break. She was a tall black woman probably in her early thirties and we just sorta started talking. I really like talking with strangers but I really need to be in the right mood to do it and I guess today was one of those days. She sorta made it easier cause these British tourists were asking her how to get to Georgetown and then what would be a good place to meet somebody. She turned and asked me, and being a person who's been to georgetown twice I had no idea so I said "iunno, wisonsin and M?" which is a relatively major intersection. She agreed and the brits were on there way.
Once you sort of have an opening with someone it's much easier to start a conversation so I noted that I never really go to Georgetown because i'd have to ride my bike there and I'm too lazy to do that. Then from there we had a conversation going and she explained to me how the DC bus system is run really well and that people who need to get their lunch break are dispatched relief drivers and that as a result no one ever misses their lunch. Then I was able to ask her about if buses were slower in the summer and she told me they definetely were because of all the toursits, either asking for directions, or even just the amount of jaywalking builds up. Not to mention the delays from the presidential/diplomatic convoys which freeze Connecticut Avenue regularly. She told me that when a bus passes you it's probably cause a bus behind them caught up and that when the buses run on time the schedule makes it so less standing crowds form.
I think by this point we were cool and she ended up telling me that she used to be a dean at a college and got laid off so she was driving buses. She'd majored in English as an undergrad and had two masters degrees in organizational management and some other business admin related field. She used to teach classes at her school in VA and was in the process of studying for her PhD in organizational management. She lamented that people treated bus drivers like they were dumb and lacked education without knowing the whole story.
I told her that her story was super indicative of 2010. Well educated folks, working to get even more well educated, stuck working random jobs to make ends meet and that she should really consider writing a book or something about her experiences. She got kind of excited and started saying how there were a lot of parralels with her education and her current work because "management is getting people to do what you want for your goals" and that as a bus driver she still has to do this with her passengers. I said something like "yeah you have to be, ok you have to get off the bus... cause it's the end of the line" and she found it hilarious and said now she really does want to start writing about it. I really hope she does and I'm gonna keep an eye out for it.
Woo talking to strangers!
Friday, June 4, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
I should update this more
I'm in a coffee shop in greenwhich village and i haven't been able to use the bathroom because the toilet was clogged and the girl working here was like i can't fix it cause i'm the only one here. So i plunged it for her and after wards realized they were out of toilet paper. Now i have to go somewhere else and i'm not even done with my coffee. FML
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
Random Encounters of the Last Few Days
So in the last 4 days these random things have happened to me.
Chilling at a crosswalk with my ipod on and this sorta crazy looking homeless dude starts talkin to me. He mumbled (in a friendly way for a while) and then told me I should power my ipod with a potato. So on one hand it's true that potatoes can make electricity I wonder how many it would take for this to really work. Anyways he was nice.
Walking back from a bar me and two of my house mates say this shorter latino dude down accross the street carrying a big knife. He started to threaten us. It was awkward so we started running and saw a cop and told him what was up. I'm sad it made me take a detour from doing to Don Juan's for some drunk munchie pupusas but at least i didn't get stabbed.
Waiting for Mable and Gloria on 16th and U I was standing in a bus stop for shelter (this was during Snowpocalypse II) and there was this dude in like a german airforce flight suit. We chatted for a while over some ciggarettes he offered me and discussed his previous deployment as a Marine in Iraq and the difficulty of securing the Afghan/Pakistani border. We were in agreement that predator drones would not win the war. He was cool. His name was fred and he was on his way to law school eventually but was just looking for a bar.
Walking around last night I saw some kids throwing ice blocks at cars. They totally broke a cabbie's windshield. The cab driver was furious. When i went to CVS it looked like the cops had caught them but at the same time I thought the kids who did it were wearing all black so iunno.
Just now, at the starbucks I'm sitting in, a guy comes up to me and hes like if you let me use your computer for 10 mintues i'll give you 20 bucks. I was like what are yuo gonna do? and he was like check my email to get some numbers. So I told him i'd do it if he let me type. So he dropped 20 on my laptop and I was like ok lets do this. I was sorta worried he was like a terrorist or something but when we logged on to his hotmail it was all facebook and amazon updates. Anyways we found an email with some phone numbers and it took like 5 minutes and then he left. Easiest 20 I ever made.
Chilling at a crosswalk with my ipod on and this sorta crazy looking homeless dude starts talkin to me. He mumbled (in a friendly way for a while) and then told me I should power my ipod with a potato. So on one hand it's true that potatoes can make electricity I wonder how many it would take for this to really work. Anyways he was nice.
Walking back from a bar me and two of my house mates say this shorter latino dude down accross the street carrying a big knife. He started to threaten us. It was awkward so we started running and saw a cop and told him what was up. I'm sad it made me take a detour from doing to Don Juan's for some drunk munchie pupusas but at least i didn't get stabbed.
Waiting for Mable and Gloria on 16th and U I was standing in a bus stop for shelter (this was during Snowpocalypse II) and there was this dude in like a german airforce flight suit. We chatted for a while over some ciggarettes he offered me and discussed his previous deployment as a Marine in Iraq and the difficulty of securing the Afghan/Pakistani border. We were in agreement that predator drones would not win the war. He was cool. His name was fred and he was on his way to law school eventually but was just looking for a bar.
Walking around last night I saw some kids throwing ice blocks at cars. They totally broke a cabbie's windshield. The cab driver was furious. When i went to CVS it looked like the cops had caught them but at the same time I thought the kids who did it were wearing all black so iunno.
Just now, at the starbucks I'm sitting in, a guy comes up to me and hes like if you let me use your computer for 10 mintues i'll give you 20 bucks. I was like what are yuo gonna do? and he was like check my email to get some numbers. So I told him i'd do it if he let me type. So he dropped 20 on my laptop and I was like ok lets do this. I was sorta worried he was like a terrorist or something but when we logged on to his hotmail it was all facebook and amazon updates. Anyways we found an email with some phone numbers and it took like 5 minutes and then he left. Easiest 20 I ever made.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
merry fishmas! SNOWPOCALYPSE II
I must apologize i've gotten really terrible at updating this, which i'm sure is sort of the way all blogs go. a big part of it is i think my daily life is getting more routine and mundane so there's less and less where i'm like AWESOME I NEED TO BLOG ABOUT THIS. anyways let's see what i can remember from the past week or is it two weeks now?
lesse
monday i had lunch with the girl from the cap event and we were supposed to meet at 1 at union station food court but i got confused and went at noon. excellent. On the plus side i found another taco bell in dc! i've got half a mind to go there during my lunch breaks since the ride is only like 8 minutes but it feels sort of silly to pay the 2 buck fare for the bell. As I was waiting for her I walked around the food court and felt like Don Fannuci from the Godfather part 2 cause everyone was offering me samples of food. For some reason no matter what the food stall it was always bbq chicken?
i think tuesday i went to watch gtown play university of southern florida at verizon center. random i know, but scott (ignats friend) had tix for $4 and that's pretty good four dollar entertainment. it was a big upset too not that i really care. the gtown crowd was really lackluster but their mascot jack, the bulldog, did wear a fetching rugby polo. one of my coworkers is a gtown alum and a pretty hardcore fan and she told me the story of the hoyas and their cheer hoya saxa which means "what stones!" like "what stones our defense are, not allowing a single yard!" what makes it extra geeky is that it's not just latin or greek, it's both.
This weekend was also SNOWPOCALYPSE II which was pretty rad. ESPECIALLY CAUSE I HAVE A 3 DAY FUCKING WEEKEND! but on a more annoying note when i went to buy groceries on thursday (mind you this is only a 2 day storm) fucking everyone panics and stocks up like it's the end of the world. This means no produce, no meat, and waiting at least an hour in line. It's not like when they're snow out you can't go anywhere. Fucking redic. really. mcdonalds is open, so is your beloved chipotle, now stop over reacting and buy a sensible amount. It doesn't help that the cashiers at grocery stores, or stores in general are all at least 4 times slower than in CA. This really makes me wish everyone just did everything on commission. incentive to work faster cause i swear they make a point of not trying and just chatting with their friends like you haven't been waiting for over an hour.
FRIDAY - it started snowing at like 12 so i got to leave work early! man seh! i went to this place called "so's your mom" which is a deli which used to be owned by some new yorker but now by what appears to be a semi fobby korean family. The girl that works there is pretty cute so i might try to eat there more. i'm just sayin. I also felt like it was finally time to buy some booze. I went to this liquor store on the way back to my place since in DC you can't buy liquor in grocery stores. I saw these two very obvious 15 year olds with 1 fake id between the two of them buy a handle of sky, a 5th of smirnoff, and some cranberry juice. I even commented ot the dude working there after they left that there was no way those kids were 21. he said the ID was good so i guess there it goes. Anyways I was feeling mcnulty-y so i wanted to get some Jameson. And i did. and it came with 2 free tumblers. i rule. That night Cynthia from ucla/seng and mables friend had a party. it was like 90's themed and they played all the songs that made me wish i was older in middle school. Those songs were way more fun to dance to. they were still club bangers but they felt like they had more soul. perhaps too much because the speakers got blown out. Either way they had a half keg, some spiced cider, and gratuitous bottles of beer. The wind going there and back was insane. literally had an umbrelly completely horizontal cause thats how the snow was blowing. straight man vs wild.
Saturday was also just madness. The district was pretty much completely covered in snow and there were enourmous snowball fights going on at meridian hill/malcolm x park and dupont circle. Early in the morning I realized that all 3 of our toilets were out of TP so I suited up and made my first brief foray into the madness. Luckily I survived and made it back with 6 rolls. Pete, one of my housemates, let me borrow his spare boots for the trek into the great arctic wilderness. As we ventured out you would see all sorts of cool stuff. The sort of hilly street near my house had a guy skiing on it. That's pretty cool. DCSKI should be like a thing ppl do (maybe SKIDC is better?) I think in cities where it snows a lot people don't all go outside and play but this was essentially record setting snow for DC (twice this winter!) and was really like an awesome public event. Like literally just tons of people walking around outside. It was pretty cool since the snow really flattened out the difference between the sidewalk and the road which is sort of symbolic of how these two spaces are designated for different things (vehicles v ppl) but since this line was covered in ice everyone just walked in the street. The occasional car would go by but this felt really old school in that the road was for pedestrians and the odd vehicle which i guess would have been a horse drawn carriage back in the day.
It really speaks to the isolating effect of cars. You dont' really see the people in your community, you just drive your enclosed metal shell, listening to your own music, and doing your best not to make eye contact with others cause it's awkward.
Meridian Hill/Malcolm X park was pretty sweet. Lots of dogs, people playing football, making snowmen, and at the end there was at least a 400 person snowball fight ongoing. The steps at the end of the park had iced over and people were sledding/skiing/ snowboarding down them. It was pretty amazing, there were lines and people cheering. Def some empty beer cans cause this was essentially the snowpocalypse and the rule of law had been weakened. Pete and I did see this one guy just slide down like 6 steps without losing his footing, while talking on the phone, as if nothing happened. It was amazing. we wondered if he'd been practicing it all day waiting for someone to be around to see him.
There was also this awesome dog that was really into digging and rubbing herself on this one patch of snow. Like it was cute and awesome cause when dogs dig they get really into it and she was just rolling in it in such a omgimsohappyway. I'm pretty sure it was yellow snow though because you could see the color difference and dogs do that kinda shit. I didn't want to tell the owner cause she was too amused and my worry whethere thats normal dog behavior or if her dog was just deviant and in to rolling in pissy snow.
dupont circle was even crazier. There was an estimated 3-4k people there and they were engaging in like old school snowball warfare. dupont circle has 3 rings, the inner one is the park area with the fountain, then there's one lane, a sidewalk, and another lane. On the northern edge/connecticut ave you had those three rings with the two inside being the most intense. People were just yelling and throwing snowballs at each other. It was largely the two outer rings vs the inner one. Once in a while someone woudl just scream and charge and it would lead to a battle in the lane until they'd had enough and would go back to their lines to throw. I bet this is what neadrathal warfare was like. Before language all you could do was yell. I bet this is what it looked like when one tribe tried to take over anothers camp. Lots of yelling and throwing and disorginazation. Cars would drive through and everyone would just go nuts and throw hella snowballs at them. This looked like it shocked some people while you could tell others were driving through for that reason exactly. Neither fire trucks nor police cars were spared. It was like innocuous civil unrest. One SUV had these dudes that were opening their windows and egging people on. One other angry asian dude opened his window and this girl pegged him. He got mad and got out to retaliate but she was really owning him and like dodged, pegged him back, and when he got back in his car threw and even bigger piece of snow that got throw the window. It was awkward cause you could tell this man felt like his pride and maniless were being super challenged but he was just getting owned and couldn't assert his dominance. There was also this accord driving by and had a hardcore looking cholo dude in there. After his car got snowballed he rolled down his window slowly, revealing the teardrop tattoos under his eye and made a slow look around of "who the fuck was that?" i was pretty scared cause i was only 5 ft away and he looked like he meant bidness.
Pete and I met up with Valerie and then Alex and went to Z-Burger in Tenleytown which was quite a trek but they were doing a promotion where if there was more than a foot of snow burgers were only a dollar. Sadly pete and val paid full price cause this didn't apply to the veggie burgers. They wer dank and shit and tasted almost like in and out. Afterwards we went back to the house and watched the BBC documentary clever monkeys which was pretty badass then the men who stare at goats which sucked.
God this is long.
Yesterday was superbowl sunday!!! WHO DAT? WHO DAY? WHO DAT SAY DEY GON BEAT DEM SAINTS?! America's underdog won!!! I dont' understand how so many ucla girls can love reggie bush. He's the fucking enemy. He went to u$c and i'll never cheer for him. I still wanted the saints to win so i was happy. We went to Scott's friend's house and I ate insane amounts of chips and wings. The superbowl for me is cheeto day. I fucking love cheetos but rarely eat them. On the superbowl I go all out. Cheetos, nachoes, bean dip, cheese dip, and salsa. That and beer. Lots and lots of beer. Good folks there but there was def a diff group dynamic to hanigng out with a group of middle/upper middle class white kids who aren't hipsters. I'm gonna write an entry on it in a bit but this one has gone on too long.
WHO DAT?
lesse
monday i had lunch with the girl from the cap event and we were supposed to meet at 1 at union station food court but i got confused and went at noon. excellent. On the plus side i found another taco bell in dc! i've got half a mind to go there during my lunch breaks since the ride is only like 8 minutes but it feels sort of silly to pay the 2 buck fare for the bell. As I was waiting for her I walked around the food court and felt like Don Fannuci from the Godfather part 2 cause everyone was offering me samples of food. For some reason no matter what the food stall it was always bbq chicken?
i think tuesday i went to watch gtown play university of southern florida at verizon center. random i know, but scott (ignats friend) had tix for $4 and that's pretty good four dollar entertainment. it was a big upset too not that i really care. the gtown crowd was really lackluster but their mascot jack, the bulldog, did wear a fetching rugby polo. one of my coworkers is a gtown alum and a pretty hardcore fan and she told me the story of the hoyas and their cheer hoya saxa which means "what stones!" like "what stones our defense are, not allowing a single yard!" what makes it extra geeky is that it's not just latin or greek, it's both.
This weekend was also SNOWPOCALYPSE II which was pretty rad. ESPECIALLY CAUSE I HAVE A 3 DAY FUCKING WEEKEND! but on a more annoying note when i went to buy groceries on thursday (mind you this is only a 2 day storm) fucking everyone panics and stocks up like it's the end of the world. This means no produce, no meat, and waiting at least an hour in line. It's not like when they're snow out you can't go anywhere. Fucking redic. really. mcdonalds is open, so is your beloved chipotle, now stop over reacting and buy a sensible amount. It doesn't help that the cashiers at grocery stores, or stores in general are all at least 4 times slower than in CA. This really makes me wish everyone just did everything on commission. incentive to work faster cause i swear they make a point of not trying and just chatting with their friends like you haven't been waiting for over an hour.
FRIDAY - it started snowing at like 12 so i got to leave work early! man seh! i went to this place called "so's your mom" which is a deli which used to be owned by some new yorker but now by what appears to be a semi fobby korean family. The girl that works there is pretty cute so i might try to eat there more. i'm just sayin. I also felt like it was finally time to buy some booze. I went to this liquor store on the way back to my place since in DC you can't buy liquor in grocery stores. I saw these two very obvious 15 year olds with 1 fake id between the two of them buy a handle of sky, a 5th of smirnoff, and some cranberry juice. I even commented ot the dude working there after they left that there was no way those kids were 21. he said the ID was good so i guess there it goes. Anyways I was feeling mcnulty-y so i wanted to get some Jameson. And i did. and it came with 2 free tumblers. i rule. That night Cynthia from ucla/seng and mables friend had a party. it was like 90's themed and they played all the songs that made me wish i was older in middle school. Those songs were way more fun to dance to. they were still club bangers but they felt like they had more soul. perhaps too much because the speakers got blown out. Either way they had a half keg, some spiced cider, and gratuitous bottles of beer. The wind going there and back was insane. literally had an umbrelly completely horizontal cause thats how the snow was blowing. straight man vs wild.
Saturday was also just madness. The district was pretty much completely covered in snow and there were enourmous snowball fights going on at meridian hill/malcolm x park and dupont circle. Early in the morning I realized that all 3 of our toilets were out of TP so I suited up and made my first brief foray into the madness. Luckily I survived and made it back with 6 rolls. Pete, one of my housemates, let me borrow his spare boots for the trek into the great arctic wilderness. As we ventured out you would see all sorts of cool stuff. The sort of hilly street near my house had a guy skiing on it. That's pretty cool. DCSKI should be like a thing ppl do (maybe SKIDC is better?) I think in cities where it snows a lot people don't all go outside and play but this was essentially record setting snow for DC (twice this winter!) and was really like an awesome public event. Like literally just tons of people walking around outside. It was pretty cool since the snow really flattened out the difference between the sidewalk and the road which is sort of symbolic of how these two spaces are designated for different things (vehicles v ppl) but since this line was covered in ice everyone just walked in the street. The occasional car would go by but this felt really old school in that the road was for pedestrians and the odd vehicle which i guess would have been a horse drawn carriage back in the day.
It really speaks to the isolating effect of cars. You dont' really see the people in your community, you just drive your enclosed metal shell, listening to your own music, and doing your best not to make eye contact with others cause it's awkward.
Meridian Hill/Malcolm X park was pretty sweet. Lots of dogs, people playing football, making snowmen, and at the end there was at least a 400 person snowball fight ongoing. The steps at the end of the park had iced over and people were sledding/skiing/ snowboarding down them. It was pretty amazing, there were lines and people cheering. Def some empty beer cans cause this was essentially the snowpocalypse and the rule of law had been weakened. Pete and I did see this one guy just slide down like 6 steps without losing his footing, while talking on the phone, as if nothing happened. It was amazing. we wondered if he'd been practicing it all day waiting for someone to be around to see him.
There was also this awesome dog that was really into digging and rubbing herself on this one patch of snow. Like it was cute and awesome cause when dogs dig they get really into it and she was just rolling in it in such a omgimsohappyway. I'm pretty sure it was yellow snow though because you could see the color difference and dogs do that kinda shit. I didn't want to tell the owner cause she was too amused and my worry whethere thats normal dog behavior or if her dog was just deviant and in to rolling in pissy snow.
dupont circle was even crazier. There was an estimated 3-4k people there and they were engaging in like old school snowball warfare. dupont circle has 3 rings, the inner one is the park area with the fountain, then there's one lane, a sidewalk, and another lane. On the northern edge/connecticut ave you had those three rings with the two inside being the most intense. People were just yelling and throwing snowballs at each other. It was largely the two outer rings vs the inner one. Once in a while someone woudl just scream and charge and it would lead to a battle in the lane until they'd had enough and would go back to their lines to throw. I bet this is what neadrathal warfare was like. Before language all you could do was yell. I bet this is what it looked like when one tribe tried to take over anothers camp. Lots of yelling and throwing and disorginazation. Cars would drive through and everyone would just go nuts and throw hella snowballs at them. This looked like it shocked some people while you could tell others were driving through for that reason exactly. Neither fire trucks nor police cars were spared. It was like innocuous civil unrest. One SUV had these dudes that were opening their windows and egging people on. One other angry asian dude opened his window and this girl pegged him. He got mad and got out to retaliate but she was really owning him and like dodged, pegged him back, and when he got back in his car threw and even bigger piece of snow that got throw the window. It was awkward cause you could tell this man felt like his pride and maniless were being super challenged but he was just getting owned and couldn't assert his dominance. There was also this accord driving by and had a hardcore looking cholo dude in there. After his car got snowballed he rolled down his window slowly, revealing the teardrop tattoos under his eye and made a slow look around of "who the fuck was that?" i was pretty scared cause i was only 5 ft away and he looked like he meant bidness.
Pete and I met up with Valerie and then Alex and went to Z-Burger in Tenleytown which was quite a trek but they were doing a promotion where if there was more than a foot of snow burgers were only a dollar. Sadly pete and val paid full price cause this didn't apply to the veggie burgers. They wer dank and shit and tasted almost like in and out. Afterwards we went back to the house and watched the BBC documentary clever monkeys which was pretty badass then the men who stare at goats which sucked.
God this is long.
Yesterday was superbowl sunday!!! WHO DAT? WHO DAY? WHO DAT SAY DEY GON BEAT DEM SAINTS?! America's underdog won!!! I dont' understand how so many ucla girls can love reggie bush. He's the fucking enemy. He went to u$c and i'll never cheer for him. I still wanted the saints to win so i was happy. We went to Scott's friend's house and I ate insane amounts of chips and wings. The superbowl for me is cheeto day. I fucking love cheetos but rarely eat them. On the superbowl I go all out. Cheetos, nachoes, bean dip, cheese dip, and salsa. That and beer. Lots and lots of beer. Good folks there but there was def a diff group dynamic to hanigng out with a group of middle/upper middle class white kids who aren't hipsters. I'm gonna write an entry on it in a bit but this one has gone on too long.
WHO DAT?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Goobelygook
Yes yes ya'll gonna continue with the blog ya'll...
hmm I'm not exactly sure where i left off so if i forget something it may simply not be worth remembering. Let's see:
The greek deli makes crazy ass beef stroganoff. One "small order" is easily two meals MADNESS. It was amazing. I want some right now.
There's these tents that sell food across from the safeway here. It's mostly Salvadoran food cause the empanadas and tacos i had sort of sucked but the pupusas were awesome. I think i ordered the gringo ass options. I saw everyone else got the chicharron and yuca so i guess i'll get that next time.
So I finally got to hang out with the girl i met a month ago at the center for american progress thing. It was chill, she drove me around MD which is her home area. The geography of everything is just so diff. Like it's all brick and the houses are far apart. University of Maryland is really spread out. Not UCSC spread out but here you can see it all where Santa Cruz is sort of islands in a forest so it's not as noticable. We ate at a Fuddruckers cause she was suprised I'd never been to one. She's pretty cool, sorta goofy, sings a lot and appreciated R Kelly's masterpiece "Real Talk." Afterwards we went to this bar/restaurant to meet some of her friends. They weren't there yet so we were kicking it and she told me how her dad was like some super badass back in El Salvador and had some really cool nicknames that I'm forgetting. One of her friends did come and he was sort of standoffish at first but after I threw in some sort of funny jokes he seemed to come around. The DJ played a lot of 80's including "Nothing but Flowers" by the Talking Heads. Great Song. The beer there was ok, they tried to reproduce a lot of western beers but couldn't really nail it.
We got a new legal intern at work so I'm no longer alone in the hallway. He's cool. we're def less productive as a tandem cause we talk too much.
Saturday night I hung out with CatMan's friend Arlene. First we went to the Heights and I got the gumbo which was way better than the chum they fed me, andy and wayne. Afterwards I went home to shower cause I'd just gone to the gym. Arlene told me to text her when I was done getting manpretty which I thought was funny. I met back up with her and we went to her friends house. They were def super hipsterish but nice people. One of them, named Aurora or something totally lives in the apt behind my house and apparently went to Paly. We hung out there and polished off a bottle of jameson jimmy mcnulty style (not really, we used pepsi). They had a cat who's pretty skittish. I was able to pet him a few times but he was overall not down for the petting. We went from there to this super hipster party. Let me stop and say that it's been a while since a real Hipster party for me. between the ucla radio stuff and a few scattered ucsc ones I've kind of been to a lot of these now. They can be characterized by a few things in my mind: 1. obviously lots of hipsters 2. a crowded as talking room. 3. semi empty dance floor. 4. Music is never top 40 but is usually a mix between popular hip hop, michael jackson, 90's r&b and maybe a few actual hipster songs. I think since everyone hates on everyone else's music the safe choices end up being the ones everyone their age listens too, whether it's as a "isn't this ironic we like this too" mood or more direct enjoyment. They did have a keg tho and i still like people even if they're hipsters if they're good people. They wouldn't play anything besides slow carribean dance music tho so it got sort of old. On the way home I stopped at this place called Don Juans. Another Salvadoran(while saying it's also Mexican place). For $7 I got a combo with a chicken burrito, pupusa and enchilada. Kinda madness. I chatted with the kid who worked there for a while and then went home ate it and watched commando.
commando deserves it's own paragraph really. shit is 25 years old. Straight up 1985 release. This was way before anyone ever imagined that Arnold (john matrix [really it was matrix wtf]) could ever be governor. All his lines are terrible and there is zero character development. His villian is just some random guy who was apparently a former member of arnold's unit and holds a grudge for some reason. Arnold shoots like 60 ppl, all while shooting from the hip with various fully automatic weapons. It's crazy how much more we demand from our action movies now. There just has to be way more complex cinematography and at least an attempt at character development to really make it today.
Sunday was chill. One of the guys who lives here's parents were in town from houston. They bought us Dominos which, btw the commercials are not lying about, it is waaay better (still not like great but it's totally edible) and boxed wine. They also made root beer floats which I was unable to partake in. We played Wario Ware with his parents which was pretty funny. After they left we got pretty buzzed and watched the emperor's new groove. not a bad movie, it's got the guy who does Brock from the venture bros, john goodman, and david spade. The football games were pretty nuts too.
I had to use the eggs i had left over cause they were gonna go bad so I made a scramble. It was orignally intended to be an omlette but when you use half an onion, 4 pieces of brocolli, and two pieces of turkey balogna, 3 eggs aren't enough. It came out really good and reminded me of the Hobo Omlette at Teddy's Cafe in West LA. Sigh. Halcyon days to be sure.
Did anyone notice how long the mass effect 2 commercial was? it was like a fucking minute long. swear. they muse have spent hella money on that spot. I know it's not the superbowl but this has to be one of the most watched games of the year anyways.
I finally uploaded all the dc/nyc pics. Dogs in Sweaters in New York was a big success!
This entry is getting way too long but 1 more event! I went to a Yelp Elite event today on U st. It was pretty cool. Open bar, oysters, beef puffs, creamy cheese eggrolls, hummus, and belly dancer. It was pretty awkward being by myself at first. I eventually just went up to a table and introduced myself and said I didn't know anyone here. The girl I was standing next to pretended to fain. I sorta just stared the first time, then she was like"you were supposed to catch me" so she did it again and I awkwardly caught her. It was awkward. She introduced me to some other folks then dissapeared. I met two ppl who were like consultants for software architecture, which to me sounds pretty fancy but they insisted it wasn't. They funny thing about yelp event is you know you can talk to all the strangers about food cause they're gonna be into it, otherwise they wouldn't be there. I met these other two girls, one of whom was going to LA for a friends wedding and I got excited and told her to check out some places. I had to write my name on her hand so she could friend me on yelp and get the downlow. It was funny cause her friend totally whispered to someone in that "I think he can't see me whispering" way that girls do. One of the girls that works for yelp is a UCSC senior and doing UCDC which was super random. We're going to hang out at some point which should be chill. Woo yelp in a new town
anyways i leave you with this vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lbtR-Vm6nQ&feature=player_embedded
hmm I'm not exactly sure where i left off so if i forget something it may simply not be worth remembering. Let's see:
The greek deli makes crazy ass beef stroganoff. One "small order" is easily two meals MADNESS. It was amazing. I want some right now.
There's these tents that sell food across from the safeway here. It's mostly Salvadoran food cause the empanadas and tacos i had sort of sucked but the pupusas were awesome. I think i ordered the gringo ass options. I saw everyone else got the chicharron and yuca so i guess i'll get that next time.
So I finally got to hang out with the girl i met a month ago at the center for american progress thing. It was chill, she drove me around MD which is her home area. The geography of everything is just so diff. Like it's all brick and the houses are far apart. University of Maryland is really spread out. Not UCSC spread out but here you can see it all where Santa Cruz is sort of islands in a forest so it's not as noticable. We ate at a Fuddruckers cause she was suprised I'd never been to one. She's pretty cool, sorta goofy, sings a lot and appreciated R Kelly's masterpiece "Real Talk." Afterwards we went to this bar/restaurant to meet some of her friends. They weren't there yet so we were kicking it and she told me how her dad was like some super badass back in El Salvador and had some really cool nicknames that I'm forgetting. One of her friends did come and he was sort of standoffish at first but after I threw in some sort of funny jokes he seemed to come around. The DJ played a lot of 80's including "Nothing but Flowers" by the Talking Heads. Great Song. The beer there was ok, they tried to reproduce a lot of western beers but couldn't really nail it.
We got a new legal intern at work so I'm no longer alone in the hallway. He's cool. we're def less productive as a tandem cause we talk too much.
Saturday night I hung out with CatMan's friend Arlene. First we went to the Heights and I got the gumbo which was way better than the chum they fed me, andy and wayne. Afterwards I went home to shower cause I'd just gone to the gym. Arlene told me to text her when I was done getting manpretty which I thought was funny. I met back up with her and we went to her friends house. They were def super hipsterish but nice people. One of them, named Aurora or something totally lives in the apt behind my house and apparently went to Paly. We hung out there and polished off a bottle of jameson jimmy mcnulty style (not really, we used pepsi). They had a cat who's pretty skittish. I was able to pet him a few times but he was overall not down for the petting. We went from there to this super hipster party. Let me stop and say that it's been a while since a real Hipster party for me. between the ucla radio stuff and a few scattered ucsc ones I've kind of been to a lot of these now. They can be characterized by a few things in my mind: 1. obviously lots of hipsters 2. a crowded as talking room. 3. semi empty dance floor. 4. Music is never top 40 but is usually a mix between popular hip hop, michael jackson, 90's r&b and maybe a few actual hipster songs. I think since everyone hates on everyone else's music the safe choices end up being the ones everyone their age listens too, whether it's as a "isn't this ironic we like this too" mood or more direct enjoyment. They did have a keg tho and i still like people even if they're hipsters if they're good people. They wouldn't play anything besides slow carribean dance music tho so it got sort of old. On the way home I stopped at this place called Don Juans. Another Salvadoran(while saying it's also Mexican place). For $7 I got a combo with a chicken burrito, pupusa and enchilada. Kinda madness. I chatted with the kid who worked there for a while and then went home ate it and watched commando.
commando deserves it's own paragraph really. shit is 25 years old. Straight up 1985 release. This was way before anyone ever imagined that Arnold (john matrix [really it was matrix wtf]) could ever be governor. All his lines are terrible and there is zero character development. His villian is just some random guy who was apparently a former member of arnold's unit and holds a grudge for some reason. Arnold shoots like 60 ppl, all while shooting from the hip with various fully automatic weapons. It's crazy how much more we demand from our action movies now. There just has to be way more complex cinematography and at least an attempt at character development to really make it today.
Sunday was chill. One of the guys who lives here's parents were in town from houston. They bought us Dominos which, btw the commercials are not lying about, it is waaay better (still not like great but it's totally edible) and boxed wine. They also made root beer floats which I was unable to partake in. We played Wario Ware with his parents which was pretty funny. After they left we got pretty buzzed and watched the emperor's new groove. not a bad movie, it's got the guy who does Brock from the venture bros, john goodman, and david spade. The football games were pretty nuts too.
I had to use the eggs i had left over cause they were gonna go bad so I made a scramble. It was orignally intended to be an omlette but when you use half an onion, 4 pieces of brocolli, and two pieces of turkey balogna, 3 eggs aren't enough. It came out really good and reminded me of the Hobo Omlette at Teddy's Cafe in West LA. Sigh. Halcyon days to be sure.
Did anyone notice how long the mass effect 2 commercial was? it was like a fucking minute long. swear. they muse have spent hella money on that spot. I know it's not the superbowl but this has to be one of the most watched games of the year anyways.
I finally uploaded all the dc/nyc pics. Dogs in Sweaters in New York was a big success!
This entry is getting way too long but 1 more event! I went to a Yelp Elite event today on U st. It was pretty cool. Open bar, oysters, beef puffs, creamy cheese eggrolls, hummus, and belly dancer. It was pretty awkward being by myself at first. I eventually just went up to a table and introduced myself and said I didn't know anyone here. The girl I was standing next to pretended to fain. I sorta just stared the first time, then she was like"you were supposed to catch me" so she did it again and I awkwardly caught her. It was awkward. She introduced me to some other folks then dissapeared. I met two ppl who were like consultants for software architecture, which to me sounds pretty fancy but they insisted it wasn't. They funny thing about yelp event is you know you can talk to all the strangers about food cause they're gonna be into it, otherwise they wouldn't be there. I met these other two girls, one of whom was going to LA for a friends wedding and I got excited and told her to check out some places. I had to write my name on her hand so she could friend me on yelp and get the downlow. It was funny cause her friend totally whispered to someone in that "I think he can't see me whispering" way that girls do. One of the girls that works for yelp is a UCSC senior and doing UCDC which was super random. We're going to hang out at some point which should be chill. Woo yelp in a new town
anyways i leave you with this vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lbtR-Vm6nQ&feature=player_embedded
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