Monday, June 14, 2006

I woke up at around 8:30 AM. I had a rescheduled doctor's appointment later that morning up in Roseville. After my appointment, I was thinking of what to do with my birthday money. So I went to a couple of stores like Circuit City and Wal-Mart to shop around for an iPod. Apparently, I would have to blow my entire birthday money to get one and I had other thing to worry about. So I guess I'll hold off on the iPod until I can afford it.

Later on, I went to walk around at the Galleria at Roseville for awhile. I went into Crate & Barrel for the first time. That store was nice! It even had it own escalator! The second floor of the store was furniture, but I didn't go up there. I ended up buying a little sauce container with a pourable spout for $1.25. It was probably the only thing in there that I could afford. After leaving Crate & Barrel, I walked around the mall some more and some guy at the T-Mobile kiosk stopped me and tried to sell me a new cell phone, but I told him that I was in a hurry (even though I wasn't) and didn't have any time. The things people do for commission.

06 . 06 . 06 *cackle laugh*

Man, am I having one hell of a birthday... Literally! lol... Who knew my birthday would fall on a devilish date? Anyway, nothing out of the ordinary has come up yet. I'll have to find out what the rest of this day is going to be like. Thank you everyone for the birthday greeting! If you didn't say "happy birthday", I'm thanking you in advance. =)

Memorial Day weekend

The Jazz Jubilee is back in town, although I never really attended the event and in the past. Sounds like fun, except that you have to pay a high admission price to get in. So this Memorial Day weekend, instead of being out on the road, I'm spending it at home. High gas prices are still out of control and I think it's affecting my social life, because I virtually use the car to go out and kick it with my friends. I rarely use public transportation, although I was thinking of going downtown by taking the bus and the light rail one day.

Mother's Day weekend

I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day. I gave my mom a Hallmark card and some roses. Like they say, it's the thought that counts. Didn't do a whole lot else that day, except that my brother came up to visit for the day... and to do his laundry... lol.

Getting reacquainted is hard

It's been several years since I've been in contact with anyone from high school. It's also been over a decade since I've been in elementary and junior high. I've always wondered what all these people I've met over the years -- these old classmates of mine... Old friends of mine -- are doing now. I remember them, but the sad part is that I don't think anyone even remembers me. My ten year high school reunion is coming up in about a year, although there is a reunion coming up in a few months for alumni between 1993 - 2000, but I doubt I'll go because it's expensive and I'll probably don't know anyone there. If I do go to my reunion next year, what am I gonna say to them when I tell them I'm going by my nickname again? I went by my real name throughout high school and it was becoming a big identity crisis for me. I go to school as "Steve" and outside of school, I'm "J.R.". What a weird and funky feeling. I went back to using my nickname altogether after high school when I went to college for awhile. For now, I'm using MySpace.com to try to get reacquainted with old friends, but that too is doing very little. *sigh*

eBay as a Seller

I'm not new to eBay. I'm familiar with it like everyone else. I've bought from them before. The thing is that I'm new to selling. Yes, I started selling on eBay a few months ago and so far, I've sold six things already. I figured that everyone does it to earn some extra cash, so what the heck, let me join in on all of this. It's been a trial-and-error thing for me so far, but I'm getting the hang of it.

A day at the slots

My parents invited me to lunch at the buffet at Cache Creek Casino Resort and man was it good! It was my first time back there since their renovation was completed a couple of years ago. I last went there when the old casino was still standing and that was a few years back. Anyway, I enjoyed the buffet and played a few slots. I didn't win anything or lose a whole lot, it was pretty fun.

Caught a bug

Actually, I came down with a cold a week ago and it's bugging the hell out of me. I'm feeling a little better now and it should go away in a couple of days.

My cousin's inviting my brothers and I to go down to L.A. this weekend to celebrate her birthday. I hope I can make it. I haven't seen my relatives in over two years.

The New Year's So Far...

My first blog of 2006! Anyway, let's put that aside. Already 21 days into the new year and so far, I seem very optimistic about this year. My fight with depression seems to be getting better. I'm planning to go back to school and focus on my education so I can finish up college and get the career i'm shootin' for. I'm also trying to get back into shape. After hearing about heart disease, diabetes and obesity so many times, it's time to 86 the junk food and instead indulge myself in a salad. Yeah, I know. It just doesn't sound right.

Christmas '05 in the books, New Years coming up

Well, another Christmas has passed and I pretty much enjoyed it. My brother got me a new George Foreman grill for Christmas. It's The Next Grilleration G5 with the five interchangable plates that you can take off and easily clean. I haven't tried it out yet, but i'll probably enjoy cooking on it!

I'm hopefully planning to go down to Los Angeles for New Year's because my relatives are throwing a little New Year's Eve party. I haven't seen my relatives for over two years now and I think this will be a perfect excuse to visit.

Christmas Eve

Yep. It was down to the wire. I hurried out to the stores before closing to get some last minute gifts and gift wrapping supplies that I didn't get a chance to get eariler.

I just want to wish everyone a safe Happy Holiday season, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

How do people get their driver's license?

There's never a day when I'm out on the road people are courteous to one another. There's lane swerving, not signaling, tailgating, people cutting you off and giving you the finger and the worst part: speeding at 150,000 miles per hour (I know it's exaggeration, but you get the point). Before you know it: road rage. People are always complaining about "people speeding through my neighborhood" and all that crap when it's them themselves doing it, so they're pretty much hypercritical about it. I also hate it when middle-aged people always put down the younger people about their driving habits when it's also them doing it, too. Oh, and for all the people who like to show off with their souped up sports cars or BMWs or Mercedes or whatever gas guzzling SUV it is by speeding down the freeway -- stop it. It's not impressing anybody and you're putting responsible drivers' lives like mine in danger. That is all.

There's always a first time

I seemed to have done that twice yesterday when I was getting lunch and getting something to drink.

For lunch, I went to L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. I walked in and the workers up front greeted me "aloha". How cool. A little taste of Hawaii. =P Anyway, I tried the Chicken Katsu meal complete with rice and macaroni salad. It was really good, especially the macaroni salad.

Later on, instead of going over to Jamba Juice like I usually do, I went over to Robeks Juice, another chain that recently opened up here. The worker briefly explained to me about what they offered and I tried the Mahalo Mango. It was pretty sweet and tangy, but really good.

Catching up again

It's been awhile so let me get myself up to speed. I've been getting out of the house more spending some time with friends. It's better than staying home in bed feeling sorry for myself. My therapy is going well and I'm trying to get back on my own two feet. Everything seems to be going well. Last week, my friend and I spent the day at our friend's ranch just outside of Marysville. I even helped feed some of the animals, which was a pretty dirty job. Hey, someone has to do it, but it's not going to be me!

Hurricane Katrina

From CNN to Fox News Channel to MSNBC and, of course, The Weather Channel. The big story I've been seeing for the past few days is Hurricane Katrina. It roared into Louisiana and Mississippi with a vengeance and caused unimaginable flooding and widespread destruction that I've never seen before. I am really feeling for all those people who've lost everything and are forced to start over from scratch. It is really sad to see how New Orleans, Biloxi and other surrounding communities are going to recover from this, but I know they'll have courage and strength to get back on their feet and rebuild.

Catching up

It's been awhile since my last entry so, let me get myself up to speed. My mom's on vacation and i'm stuck here at home with my dad and my kid brother. It's been almost a month since my mom's been away and the tension at home was kind of building for me. There's been a few altercations, but I try not to let them bother me.

I went up to Reno about a week ago. I first stopped at Boomtown and had their special all-you-can-eat lobster buffet. I've never ate so much lobster in my life! I probably had around seven. After that, I played a little bit on the slots and headed into town. I played a little more of the slot machines and when I got tired, I decided to sleep overnight at the Silver Legacy. In the morning, I pretty much drove around town just to look around. I left Reno at around 9:30 that night and headed home.

Eariler, a friend of mine went up north to see a friend of ours for awhile. We browsed around his ranch for awhile and then went into town later that night for dinner. We went to a buffet that I know i'll never go to again. It was a good value, but the food overall was mediocre. Even my fortune cookie tasted like it's been sitting in that restaurant for years! I knew I should've gone to Sonic across the street.

You know, I just had to say this: to the person in the red Honda Civic that drove past 28th and G Streets in Sacramento at around 2:20 AM early Sunday morning on 8/21/2005 that also revved at me... grow up.

Goin' out for a cap... wow

That's exactly what I did last Thursday. I had my heart set out for a New Era Cap, which would be my first. So I decided to head on out to Arden Fair Mall and walked around for awhile. I went into Footaction and Lids to see if there were any that I liked and they pretty much didn't have what I wanted. So, after I paid off my bill at Macy's, I left the mall empty handed. So as a last resort, I decided to head on out to Florin Mall because it was the only other mall in the area with a Footaction. When I got there, gosh. The mall didn't look any better. It still had two vacant department stores, not to mention the several vacant storefronts inside the mall. The only department store there was Sears and if they closed their Florin Mall location, that's probably the end of Florin Mall. Anyway, I went into Footaction looking for a new cap and they also didn't have what I wanted. So I saw Champs Sports and went in there. I found a black New York Yankees cap that I seemed to like. I had a coupon from Footaction and they accepted it, so I pretty much got $10.00 off and I was happy. So oh yeah!

4th of July Weekend

I hope everyone is playing it safe out there this holiday weekend. I know I am. I haven't really planned anything this weekend, so basically anything goes for me. I'll either stay home and have a barbecue or go to my friend's house and then later watch some fireworks at the park.

Sonic Drive-In

They've been around for a long time, but the first time I heard about Sonic was a few years back on TV when they started airing several of their commercials. I was wondering what and where the hell is a Sonic Drive-In. So I checked their website and I was trying to find the nearest one. There were none around here and the nearest ones at the time were down in Bakersfield, a four and a half hour drive.

A couple of years back, my friend and I would frequently take 50 minute trips up to Yuba City to visit a friend of ours. When I was up there one time, we were driving around and lo and behold I found a Sonic! I was surprised to see one and we decided to pull into the place and experience it firsthand. We pulled into one of the many covered parking spots with it's own menu boards, pushed the red button, ordered our food and about a few minutes later watched a carhop deliver our food on roller skates. It was pretty cool eating our meal in the car since that was the whole idea. The food was awesome, especially the tater tots. Plus, they give you little mints. =P

For the next couple of years, I would frequent Sonic at least once a month since it was a bit of a drive. Other Sonics were opening up and down California, but none still haven't opened in the Sacramento area. A new location in Woodland is about ready to open and that was good news, but what really got me excited was that I saw a "coming soon" sign right across the street from the Natomas Marketplace with the Wal-Mart and near where they're putting in that new Promenade at Natomas shopping center with the Target and the Sam's Club. I'm finally gonna have one near me! Woohoo! It'll be awhile before it opens, but it should be worth the wait.

Aren't we gettin' a lil' shaky

No, I'm not talking about some dance. California has been getting a lot of earthquakes lately. Two significant ones happened off the Northern California coast near Crescent City and Eureka and two happened in Southern California near Yucaipa and Anza. The one near Crescent City even prompted a tsunami warning up and down the entire West Coast, but luckily a tsunami never materialized. It seems like this "Big One" that people keep talking about just might come, but I just wish it didn't come during my lifetime. I have friends and relatives in the Bay Area and the L.A. area and I'd be so worried about what would happen to them if this "Big One" were to hit. My relatives survived the Northridge earthquake back in 1994 and I was glad to hear they were all okay at the time. This is getting crazy.