The rest of the weekend.

Anyways...after Friday nite..i originally thought i had a busy weekend planned. When i looked at it again though, i found that i could actually just step back and take a time out. Saturday morning, Karen and i decided to make breakfast and clean up around the house. After sprinkling strawberries and powered suger over her first ever french toast, we ate breakfast and later went out to rake the yard. She had to leave to pick up a friend from the airport and i effectively passed out tired after she left. Didn't wake up till midnite (missing my friend's bday party) and totally energized at such a late hour. I then proceeded to watch a the MUMMY with the director's dialog and clean my room. I find it a lot more interesting to see the background and understanding of how a piece of work comes together...much like my interest in history (in a general sense). Anyways...movie and cleaning leads to another late nite.

I wake up Sun morning to Justin's call about going to dragonboat. Its soon followed my my cousin's call to come over for pancakes (seems we were the only ones in town as family went to Vegas. Damn...maybe next week). Well..it got me out of bed and on the road to pick up my sister and see Justin and Mel (who were competeting..and had driven down from Norcal). After much driving..and asking people for directions (both the gas station guy and the Ruby's owner were from OC..and had no clue about directions in Long Beach)...we finally found it. Watched a couple races and caught up with Justin. It was a beautiful day..a bit on the hot side. Couldn't believe how many teams and people were out there. Marveled at all the names...TeamLARD, Ripple Effects, Killer Guppies, GUnutz...high school teams as well as teams from other states.

Well..the best part of the weekend was just spending time with my sis. We caught up on a lot of things and just enjoyed the day and each other's company.

Breaking My Cardinal Rule of Clubbing

So...tonite was that meeting with Kaila and her manager. As a meeting..it went ok. For a clubbing nite....ai ya.

So i got into Level 3 in Hollywood and Highlands. I felt pretty good since the last time i tried to get in with my friends, we waited in line for 1.5 hours only to leave. The interior was ok..but this looked like a slow nite. Stood around, had a Crown and coke, while i waited to meet up with the manager. Watched the other acts teh manager brough it, before i finally broke down and asked if this girl i was looking at was actually Kaila. Thank goodness it was, since i thought my nite would have been in vain. After meeting with the manager a bit, we talked about about building the relationship to showcase his other groups. Best part was when i was about to leave i met this guy who was exactly the type of contact i was looking for. Seems he has ties to the Japanese industry and someone I'm hoping will get us some big acts for next year.

Anyways, my cardinal rule of never going to a club without a group of friends..or at a minimum a wing girl was broken tonite. I was put on the comp list and wasn't even sure if i could bring anyone else. Therefore, most of the nite was just sitting in VIP and wishing i had some real friends around to chill and have fun with. Oh well...looked at it as a business meeting from the beginning..and didn't realy change anything. As far as the peeps...i think i'm definately getting old(er). Much of the typical trashy looking girls...as "attractive" as i may think they are...were all pretty much the same. I used to (desire) and drool over these girls (ok..maybe a lil still). Now i'm just....over it.

Still feeing like karoke to Usher. Maybe gonna try some dance moves =p. Anyways..if i hit a club..i think i'll hit 24 hour fitness.

Posting now since the weekend looks busy.

Meeting Kaila and manager tonite.
Dragon Boat Races - Justin and Mel are down for the weekend.
Possible Soju and Korean BBQ on Sat nite with Nea and Dave

Plus clearing out the bedframe from Garland's room as well as assembling the table i just got from Mark. Bye bye encino apt...and many fond memories.

Now just need to make it thru the rest of the day.

Financial independence?

So i sat at the bank today and got schooled. There were a number of reasons why i wants to improve my understanding of my financial situation. With Garland moving in, I decided it was time to make sure he could open his room window and therefore decided to invest in replacing the other half of my house windows. Now the first set cost me 3 months to cover....but thanks to my cheap ass last month (spent less than a $100 on the credit card)...i can try to pay for the rest of it now.

Also..with much talk of housing bubbles bursting, interest rates, points, float, bubble baths, rubber duckies....shit...as u can tell... I'm not all that interested in much of the financial world. Guess i'm pretty old school in that sense. I work and get paid. Hopefully for what i'm worth or more. I get a bill...i pay it. If i'm having a hard time...i don't spend. I don't lavish much on myself....but when i do..damn..its pretty lavish. I am the eternal college student. I stay up till 2am..and can live off cold pizza. Anyways, i digress.

So..this investing in the house, figured it'd be good to try to use the "money i'm making" from buying the house...to help pay for some of its aesthetics. So i sit and talk to the bank officer.

For the most part, she's really surprised i had little to know comprehension of my loan. Well..someone explained it to me someday..and i believed him..so i signed. Now i want to ask about it again. She explains to me more about my loan...but again....housing bubble became bubble bath..and i started staring into the space behind her. Then came a series of questions that brought me back to reality.

BANK: Do you plan on keeping your house?
Ray: umm...yes.
BANK: Why are you paying additional to the principal?
Ray: umm..to pay it off?
BANK: WHY? if you plan on staying there, you can invest in other things.
Ray: I have a account with you...i want to maintain my minimum balance to get the max on my interest
BANK: WHY?..our checking interest rates are crap.

So ...yeah. She told me..looking at my income, she's surprised i'm not starving and living the life of a hermit. Granted my "nest egg" has been getting a bit smaller lately...but thats understandable with the "home improvement" stuff i've been doing.

Anyways...walking out...i starting thinking my next career move will be a island hermit...where i can trade my daily collection of shells and coconuts...in exchange for native trinkets and fruits. I'll have to go primal to get me some fish or meat.

Oh yeah...IRS just dinged me for not stating my $4 income from disney stock in 2003. Frickn eh.. ... I need to find my island.

today is my aunt's bday and we had a great dinner for her. 2 bbq grills, rib eye steaks, specialty chicken, some pasta salad, grilled mushrooms. Yumm. I've got food in the fridge to last me for a week.

The best part about it was that the family was all together. My parents, aunts, cousins and sister were all here.

Humm...what else can i talk about. Not sure..haven't been inspired to write much as of late. I truly need some inspired writing for my annual review. Unfortunately I keep putting it off. As far as pmx stuff, i'm feeling a bit resigned. Glad its coming up soon and somewhat hoping for it to be over.

Need to start prepping that room for my new roommate. Work was calm...
Anny says to write more...but really just haven't had time to sit and think about things. ugg..still have my annual review to do at work.

Day Recap - i need a nap =p

crazy day at work...but finally got a handle on it. Worried that this week would look much like the past 2 weeks. Fortunately that is not the case.

Actually didn't get to eat all day. Tired and starving, headed home and got a call from my cousin for dinner. Basically had a hot plate dinner, cooking up beef, lamb, tofu, vegetables and such. It was really good...especially just us sitting around and being together.

Going to do somehting like that for my aunt's bday coming up this wed as well. In all the craziness...its nice to just be able to stop and relax.

Day Recap - busy busy

Obon festival...getting a lion pooh capsule...SUPER no 2 ramen...Pork cutlet curry...Koreans in the Philippines.

Sunday. Nice, hot, full of friends. And now i have a new roommate.

Tired..so may fill in later...but yeah. quite a weekend.

Day Recap - too much

btw..got a flat of strawberrys for $7..so shortcakes anyone?

ahh....relaxing day today. Had a good day cleaning the house and karen helped in the front room. Finally decided how many t-shirts to keep and got the clothes off the floor. Garland checked out the room and looks like i've got a new roommate =). Plus got to hangout with Reuben again. Anyways..its still hot...and i've got a meeting tomorrow.

Day Recap
Activity: Cleaning house

well..made it thru the week. Today wasn't too bad. Had to take care of a couple things...but happy to announce 4 more musicians for PMX. I'd have to say I'm biased since i've been recruiting people that i like...even if i never really followed them. Adult Contemporary and some RnB. Plus...that special model-singer i talked about earlier this week.









Not entirely done though...just need to keep going. Can't wait till Labor day weekend and this is over (whew).

Day Recap
Sit-ups/Push-ups: 0
Activity: Game nite with Coworkers
Reading: disk 9 of 9 - Attack of the clones

Can't wait for the weekend..and trying to survive the heat. Got the windows open and the fans going. Maybe get a central air system..but doubt it will happen within the next few years.

Day Recap = 0

Today wasn't too bad. Still had a lot to do and mentally shot. Went home to visit the family and Cube. Had to put a bark collar on him. Didn't think he'd like it too much, but seems to be ok with it.
I'd write..if i had time.

Day Recap - 0

MY GOODNESS. Got to work..and got on the phone. Hours on end with Microsoft...it was unbelievable. Course everyone calls me during those times as well. Anyways..nothign to report...besides it getting hot and hotter.
Will compose more when i have more time.

Day Recap - 0

crazy crazy day...and going on to crazy crazy nite.
Still going but will fill you in later.

Day Recap - 0

Coming back to MPK...
The weekend was fun..and eventful. Lots of stuff to talk about...but right now just need to get some rest. Did pretty good. Only spent on food, tolley fare, and a donation to the Christopher Reeve foundation. Came home with Superman dogtags and a Flash T-shirt.

Comic Con has changed quiet a bit.

Day Recap
Sit-ups: 20
Push-ups: 20
Activity: driving from SD
Reading: 0

made it thru day one of Comic Con. Great times hanging out with Martin..and meeting up with Donny and Jojo. Well...worked my hours and got my Flash T-shirt. We'll see about doing it again tomorrow. Just tired..

Day Recap - 0

Made it thru friday.....and now heading down to SD. Be at Martin's over the weekend.

Room 1 done.
Room 2 almost done. Its almost friday!!!

Still deciding for the weekend....but looks like Comic Con. ahh...the memories. Last time i was there was 1993. Geeez.

Milestones

First off, after dinner with the cousins, i come out to learn that my car is dead. Stupid headlights left on drained the battery. Fortunately was able to stop Alfred and Brenda and faced one of my fears...Jump starting a car.

It actually shouldn't be too bad..but i have this fear of sparks, smoke, fire, EXPLOSION!. Yeah..and why does everyone have a different method to jump start their car...anyways. Alf (cus i stepped 10 feet away) had his car turned off..and attached the two connections to the truck. He then put both connections to my dead battery. Now..most cars guys will say..thats all wrong...since the negative on the dead battery should be grounded to the car. Well..there is a reason for this detail.

Now...with both cars off...he tells me to start my car. I asked why his shouldn't be running, but realized..just listen. So i attempt to start the car. After the second try it works. Good Stuff.
Well..i figured to let it run a while, but alf says not to worry. I stopped and started the car..and it still worked. I even stopped and started as i got gas less than a mile away...and yes it worked again. Score.

Well..it didn't work this morning.

Ugg...so i call Alfred..but he's unavailable. I see my cousin John is home..but i dont' want to wake him. I call up my friend Andy, and he says he will come right over, after his friend arrives...and i call my dad to get some fatherly advice. He says from the sounds of it..its the battery.

So i come to my first milestone for today.

Not wanting to be even more late for work (cuz i had a lot to do), i go across the street and "barrow" the battery out of my aunt's decomissioned Accord on her drive way. Remembering the details of last nite (and the fact the cars weren't running) i proceed to jump start my car from the spare battery. Success! Conquered that obstacle.

I'll talk about the second milestone tomorrow.

Day Recap
Sit-ups: 0
Push-ups: 0
Activity: Jumpstarting car =p
Reading: Attack of the Clones - Great since i lost my radio presets due to battery

Music director in action
It feels good when things go your way. Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.

-aim convo-
rw: hello -----
rw: my name is r w and i just wanted to let u know i sent u an email today about a possible musicial performance if you were interested
rw: i figured you likely have a lot of fan mail, so just look for the one from -----@pacificmediaexpo.com
rw: thanks..and i look forward to hearing from you
www.pacificmediaexpo.com
model-singer: hey!
model-singer: yah my manager was going to give u a call
model-singer: we are very interested
model-singer: just hoping we have my live show pulled together by then
model-singer: working on releasing new material
rw: wow..cool..
rw: are u working on another cd as well?
rw: better question...meaning to be released soon?
model-singer: new single in a month
rw: well..this is my work AIM,
rw: but if your manager wants to get a hold of me...email is best
my number is -----
rw: hoping we can work something out
model-singer: ok great :-)
model-singer: ill have him send u an email today
rw: thanks.>
i'll follow up with a media kit and such
rw: just tell him to let me know what you would need to perform
model-singer signed off at 4:39:28 PM.

----------
He goes for the fade away...and its goooood!!!

Hopefully i can announce who it is relatively soon.

Day Recap
Sit-ups: 20
Push-ups: 20
Activity: Chicken Nuggets with Karen....Dinner with cousins.
Reading: Attack of the Clones 5 of 9. There was soo much to the story that the crappy movie didn't cover.

After such a "busy" weekend, it was nice to come back home and just relax. Finishing up things at work, i headed home and decided to have dinner with my aunt and cousin. We ate some pineapple fried rice and some chicken, add a lil bit of pasta and then cranberries. Granted it was a hodgepodge of different things, the company and the talk was well worth it. You just have to take a step away from your "life" at times, and just sit back and appreciate.

As far as actually working on something, I pretty much cleaned out the larger of the two bedrooms. Sorting through piles of clothes and deciding what to put in a storage and what to give/throw away. And now just thinking about tackling the rest of the week. Got a call from Donny and that was nice catching up. Now i have to figure out soon what to do for the weekend. Work Comic Con in SD....or friends and family in LV? *ponder*

Day Recap
Sit-ups: 0
Pushi-ups: 0
Activity: Late nite boba with Strawberry Brick toast. Cleaning room
Reading: Attack of the clones - disk 4 of 9. (need to get next one soon.)

Ahh...today was just...relaxing.
Sitting by the pool...eating hot links, burgers, tri-tip....yummm. Getting me hungry again. After a late not of just hanging with the guys, i woke up to an enjoyable afternoon of sitting in the sun. The BBQ was a success as even people from Norcal made it down to hang out and chill. Shooting hoops into the pool and a visit by the Team America Swim team... all and all a good day.

Day Recap
Sit-ups: 0
Push-ups: 0
Activity: Eating
Reading: Attack of the Clones

Today Karen and I went to the King Tut exhibit for my company outing. I was hesitant about going to the exhibit when i first heard of it, but when i later learned it was returning to Cairo for an indeterminate amount of time, decided i wanted to see it. Missed out on my day off since i though it was going to be available, but lucked out that there were some last minute cancellations.
I'd have to say i was really impressed with the presentation. It had a very hollywood feel to it...Especially the intro. The exhibit was really fairly long but had some pretty cool artifacts.
After LACMA, I headed out to Ventura County for Eunice's bday. While i was expecting typically bbq food, was pleasantly surprised with soo much traditional Filipino food. Oh man...there was soo much food and it all tasted good. Wanted to take more home with me but couldn't since i was crashing at Jerry's place.
I'm there right now..and so far..so cool. More like a guys nite out..raiding Ralphs and watching movies. Tomorrow's the picnic, but for the most part just looking forward to a nice day in the sun.

Day Recap
Sit-ups: 0
Push-ups: 0
Activity: LACMA - King Tut
Reading: Attack of Clones - Annakin sees Padme again.

Yeah its friday. Time for a weekend of fun in the Sun. PMX stuff is on the move and hoping to close out stuff relatively soon. Not much into writing today...think i'm gonna focus more on getting those two rooms ready.

Day Recap
Sit-ups: 20
Push-ups: 20
Activities: humm..getting crepe today =p
Reading: Attack of the clones. This author isnt' as good as the first book. Tries to make up for it with sound effects, but tough sale.

i love the fact that this is a short week. Hurry weekend =).
Plans for the weekend are the King Tut exhibit on Sat, followed by bday party in Ventura. Then got the PMX picnic on Sun. Sounds like a relaxing weekend of food and sun.
Got one room just about finished and ready for renting. Need to clear out much to get the other one.

Anyone going to Comic Con this year? Thinking about going but likely to make just the weekend and wondering if anyone has any hook-ups. Let me know. Thanks

Day Recap
Sit-ups: 0
Push-ups: 0
Activity: a cookies and juice run before Karen's midterm
Reading: Finished phantom Menace. Starting Attack of the clones.

Back to work today and could hardly get up. Collected on my DVD purchase as well as Amazon..then realized i need to go on credit card lock down. =/ Been paying it off, but it doesn't seem to want to go down. Anyways...not too bad at work. Solved a problem in Australia and nudged my boss again about sending me there. Maybe one day. If not, i'll plan my own vacation (humm...lock down again...gotta save).
So yeah...need to clean up those two rooms and start looking for roommates again. Anyone looking for a place to crash in Monterey Park? Hoping to get it ready by the end of this month.

Day Recap
Sit-ups: at class
Push-ups: at class
Activity: Got back to Hip hop class today. It was really fun. Cool routine
Reading: Last disk of Phantom Menace. AAAlmost finished it today. Definately in the morning.

last day of vacation. Trying to get stuff done. Woke up late but did get to clean up the bathroom. Gym bag is set up again for some afternoon work outs and hopefully gonna finish the last 2 CDs of Phantom Menace.
Today's activity was taking family picture for church. Made it thru traffic and hot weather to take some pretty good shots. I think its been a while since we've all been together like that. It was nice and unfortunately awkward at times. Hopefully it won't always be like that.
Went home afterwards to spend some time with Cube. Later that nite went with Dad to take the Knights picture as well. Nice seeing some of the old Knights out there, and was recruited to another project (as if i had time).
Back home now with stuff to do. Good nite

Day Recap
Sit-ups: 20
Push-ups: 20
Day Recap: Family Photo
Reading: Phantom Menace disk 8 of 9

Happy July 4th
Spend the day rounding out AX. One last walk thru and hanging out with Mark. Found it odd when i tried to call various members of the family and not getting anyone. Seems they were all out to the movies or sleeping. Spent my day with Karen and watched 7 Brides for 7 Brothers.
Now that AX is over, I think I'm ready to take care of some relationship issues i have with various people. Feeling pretty confident about myself and my place...but there are some things i wish were better.

Day Recap - 0

I'm not sure what it is about me..but i do thrive under a certain amount of pressure. Don't get me wrong...its not like i can't relax...but if its too quiet it seems unnerving.
Anyways, today i found myself mostly stuck in the room. Our personal PMX project was supposed to close, but we kept running into issues. Too many people involved and conflicting stories...plus a general lull about PMX...some people where about to lose it.
Well..after multiple meetings and various scenarios...it is done. I personally got to talk to our newest guest of honor and am happy to say together we worked out a deal..allowing me to say =)

Pacific Media Expo proudly welcomes
our Comedian Guest of honor to PMX 2005
Rex Navarrete

The rest of PMX seems to be coming together...and i'm actually getting more excited about it now that AX is over.
Attending AX was just plain weird to me this year. Walking thru the exhibit hall with nothing really interesting to buy, nor recognizing any anime cosplayers. I'd have to say the best moment for me was when i saw my AX/PMX family in aaron's room. It wasn't about any convention or anything else...just us being us.
My regret for the weekend was not being able to make it down SD on Saturday nor getting the chance to see my friends at Downtown Disney. Hopefully when the schedule settles down a bit...i'll be able to visit.
Good news is that even thought the King Tut exhibit is sold out till July 11, my office was able to secure a ticket for this Sat. So i'm gonna get to see it. Yeah!

humm...my first AX...and i'm not staffing. Had and still have some mixed feelings about it all. Drama continues...and as much as i try to stay away from it..its still there. I wasn't even going to be here till Sunday...but drama called.
The day started out good. Plans to go family bbq and jojo's SD party. Got out the house late and had to talk people through things as i packed my bag. Made it to Heritage park for my aunt's bday party - thrown by Mila. It was a lot of fun. Alfred and Brenda were there (although I thought they would be SD for a wedding) as well as all the aunts and cousins. I had just missed the parents, but was still there as Tony's family and Kuya Bigboy came. The day was not complete without a minor water fight and rozelle getting the worse of it =p. Through the day i was getting AX/PMX drama phone calls...but i was happy where i was.
Unfortunately, duty called as well as looking at 2++ hours of traffic to try to make it to SD, so i found myself in anaheim. Trying to mediate and come to a solution, i was able to get everything out..but we weren't able to close our issue. That will hopefully be resolved tomorrow.
Anyways...got to see Sam and Will...as well as the AX crew. It doesn't feel the same..and I really didn't expect it to. Hung out with Garland for dinner and headed to the dance. Techo not my style, but i had fun with it. Later on met with Sam and the Ventura crew and just felt at home. That is/was AX to me. Its always been about the people.
Signing off for the nite. Hope i'll be sober enough for post tomorrow.

Day Recap
Sit-ups: 0
push-ups: 0
Activity: Family BBQ
Reading: 0

Somehow may dad and i did it again. Had some projects to do around the house and i knew there was no way dad could avert my house project. I had spent the previous day clearing out the area in preparation to make some stairs. Well...all is not a loss. While planning on how to set up the stairs, told my dad about how i wanted to make a pseudo deck outside my back door. So, while we were shopping at Home Depot, the stair project was changed to the patio deck project.

Thing is, i felt pretty accomplished as i basically did it all myself. Waterproofing the boards, nailing the supports, and eventually flipping it over. I'll see tomorrow how much i like the feel of wood under my feet as i step out in the morning.

drama you ask, hey..its life. Not necessarily for public consumption, but likely to be shared with everyone else's baggage over dinner or a drink. We are all faced with challenges, but is how we handle these obstacles that make our character.

Day Recap
Sit-ups: 0
Push-ups: 0
Activity: Deck building
Reading: The vote of no confidence in the Senate - Phantom Menace