Halcyon Repose

I finally got some back logged pictures put up.

Jeremy’s Bachelor Party

Jeremy’s Wedding

and

Brenden’s Birthday

all lined up for your viewing pleasure. Everyone on the right side of the hallway please. No pushing no shoving.

So the rain is finally over (for now), unfortunately it looks like it will return in full effect next week. Hopefully this weather will rain itself out by the time my parents are able to come and visit.

It was nice and sunny though, and for some reason my mood was pretty bleak. Now that Daylight Savings time is upon us, I actually get out of work while the sun is still shining (yay!). I was looking forward to a taking a nice long drive, probably south on the PCH towards Laguna and maybe a bit beyond. My plans were foiled by Jess when she called to see if I wanted to do dinner.

We had originally made plans, but when she asked if I wanted to hang out with her and some of her friends at a Karaoke bar, I declined. I was more in a pensive mood, and hanging out with a bunch of peeps that I hardly know… wasn’t really something I was looking forward to. Apparently dinner with her was still on though, and while big group outing was not looking like fun, one on one time was definitely doable. No matter how bad of a mood I am in, hanging with Jess helps me forget for awhile… at least until I drop her off and things come crashing down on me again.

So we hit up Shin-Sen-Gumi’s, where she rarely gets to visit since she is normally working during the evenings, and pigged out on ramen and gyoza. I then dropped her off at the Karaoke bar, but seeing as how no one else was there at the time, I stayed so that she would be unable to spend any time drawing and instead had to spend her time being social.. mwuhaha.

So on the way home, I didn’t go for a long drive like I wanted, but I did get to turn up some thumping rap music and drive really fast. It scares me sometimes how fast I will be going in the new car. I’ll pick up speed, barely hit the gas and when I look down I am going way over the speed limit. Scary… but strangely exhilarating in that masculine sort of way…

Music: Prozzak – Cruel Cruel World

Why my music choice this evening? Prozzak is who we have to thank for the likes of Gorillaz. Prozzak was the first animated band, and the two animated band members, Simon and Milo, became a big success on the internet scene. I can remember downloading their videos back in the day, and when I found their first album ‘Hot Show’ in a discount bin in a CD store in Atlanta, I had to grab it. It has been an album that I always manage to come back to, and tonight, Simon’s quest to find love (the overriding theme of all of their albums) along with the name of the band seemed to fit my mood.

So if anyone needs it to rain, just let me know, and I’ll wash my car. For the past 3 Sundays, I have washed my car, and every single Monday it has rained. It rained most of last week, not really clearing up at all till Saturday afternoon. I checked the weather before hand this time, and even though I saw it would rain today and tomorrow, I just couldn’t go another week with my car dirty.

I am still all giddy about my car, but the sad thing is that I got into my old Integra to move it this weekend, and I realized that it doesn’t feel like my car anymore. A very sad moment, take my word for it.

I know I haven’t taken the time to write up the whole car story yet, nor have I posted the pictures that I have already uploaded to my webserver.. my only excuse is Oblivion.. and it is a darn good excuse at that.

At long last, I have finally managed to get my hands on a beautiful 2006 Mustang GT. I was able to pick her up at 9:00pm Friday evening, and I snapped a couple of pictures Sunday evening while I was detailing her. I realized that I had less than 10 minutes of daylight left when I took the pictures, so they are not the best, but they get the point across (basically that my new car is beautiful).

Of course after spending 4 hours detailing her, it just so happens to rain the next day, so I won’t be able to take more pictures till after I get a chance to wash her this weekend.

The story on what I had to go through to finally get my hands on this car is a long one, and I hope to post it soon.

In the meantime, I leave you with this image of me attempting to eat Brenden’s brains:

I have decided that I really need to take the time to make some adjustments to the look of this site. I like how clean it is overall, but some things, like the color scheme and the graphics, need a slightly more masculine feel to them. I also need to update the back end of the website, not that it will be visible to anyone but myself. These are both lofty goals, and will both sit on my plate for many more weeks to come I am sure.

I am still waiting on my car. I got the call at the end of last week that it was 1-3 weeks away, and of course the closer it gets, the harder it becomes to wait. I went in yesterday to start the approval process for a car loan at my credit union, and I found out that my credit isn’t bad, but I don’t have a lot of it. In fact I was told that my credit rating was on the borderline on what they accept. This started me thinking, and I realized that not only did I have to have a co-signer for all of my previous cars (except my current one, but it was used and $8K is more like a small loan than a car lease), but that this car was going to be twice as expensive as any that I owned before. Thankfully I got myself all worked up over nothing, because I not only got approved for my requested amount, but a little extra… Just in case.

So I know I have the money for the car. I have already purchased a new suspension for the car (the one thing the Mustang’s are weak in), and a short shift kit to decrease the throw in the gear shift. It all comes down to how much longer I can hold out. I wonder if anyone offers a short-term cryogenic freezing process….

Last weekend was our annual executive meeting for the center. Of the four executive members, three of us don’t get paid for keeping the center up and running, so we make plans once a year to treat ourselves to a night/day out. Last year we went to Magic Castle where we had a blast, and this year we rented a limo and took a trip to Temecula for some wine tasting.

Now I have always been under the impression that California had good wine, and that Temecula would be sort of the low end of the spectrum. I must say I was very pleasantly surprised. I had some wonderful wines, and visited a few vineyards I would highly recommend. The one that sticks out most in my head is Stuart Cellars. They don’t mass produce their wine, and they only sell their wine at the winery, but I was blown away by their wines. I might be new to the whole wine lifestyle, but I can already tell the difference between an $8 bottle of wine and a $18 bottle of wine. The wine I had from Stuart Cellars was an even bigger improvement. I even joined their wine club, which means I will get bottles delivered directly to me.

Beyond the wine tasting not a lot more has been going on. The one other thing worth mentioning is that I put a new car on order. I am so excited, but it will take another two months before my new baby is delievered to me. I can hardly wait…. It is just as well, it will be well into March before I will be able to afford the car, but after hearing how long the special order process was, I decided to go ahead and get mine started..

Yay excitement! The only question now is to go with the racing stripes or ditch them. I have ordered them all ready, but they are aftermarket installed at the dealer, so I can back out at any time. One part of me drools over them, the other more pratical wonders how many cops per week will ‘notice’ my car.

We had a youth tournament at the fencing center this weekend. An amazing turnout, that kept us busy the entire weekend, but it looked like the kids had fun (all 190 of them). I was planning on coming home and crashing at about 10 tonight, but I started playing Guitar Heroes, and next thing you know it, it is after 2am.

My wrists are sore from playing for so long, and shoulders are stiff… perhaps that game should come with a warning sticker.

I actually had a night free, and I actually spent it working on getting the Wedding Pictures up. It’s amazing!

I think I like the thumbnail albums better than the text links. While I don’t get to write up any witty remarks (I sometimes like to think of myself as sharp), it does come out looking better overall.

It is REALLY frickin nice out today. Not a cloud in the clear blue sky, little smog, and the sun is shining brightly bringing the temperature up to a welcome 84 degrees. I don’t wanna be at work today. I would much rather be at the beach with my bike or better yet my rollar blades, or out on the disc golf course. Instead I am stuck at work where all the window blinds are drawn. BLEH

Good news is that I have gotten back into the habit of jogging each morning, and I have officially dropped the 5 lbs I picked up over the holidays. Go me!!

I have been so lax on updating. Work has been crazy, and most of my free time has been spent hanging out with the roommate. Hopefully I’ll actually be able to post some life stuff at some point in time.

Oh yeah, and my cousin’s wedding pictures, need to finish those up so I can post them as well.

Baby steps……