a hawaiian birthday

emmi and steve celebrated their birthdays — hawaiian style this time around over the weekend. i [url=http://www.ocliw.com/things/weekends/emmiSteve2004/]took a few pictures[/url] and it was good to be able to catch up with some people i haven’t seen in a long time. they had a huge floating island in their pool that was kind of cool to see. i’ve never seen such a contraption before.

it brought back a lot of memories while i was there, but i had to leave early so i wasn’t able to stay for the late night activities. so much so has changed since i last saw them all, it was all rather overwhelming.

—–

ambitious failure

yesterday i had boldly claimed that i would go and make cookies. instead, what happened? i ended up doing some work instead. so silly. oh well, at least the work is done and i felt like i had accomplished something. that being said, i still feel like i’ve got a lot of work to do.

my room is quickly becoming a bit of a mess. i don’t know what happened. i think that i’m going to try and clean it up tonight.

i’m making dinner for maureen to celebrate her birthday tonight. i think i’m going to have to opt for something quick because i don’t have a lot of time, so i’m not sure if i’ll resort to steak as my backup or if i should go and try something else. decisions, decisions. well, i’ll do a little recipe hunting and we’ll see how that goes.

—–

cookies

i don’t know why i have such an affinity for chocolate chip cookies, but there’s something about them that i love. i was going to bake some yesterday, but as i started to get all of the ingredients together, i realized that i didn’t have any flour, sugar, or brown sugar. heh, just the key ingredients to making cookies, that’s all that was missing.

so i didn’t make any cookies yesterday, but i’m definitely going to go pick up the ingredients on the way home from work today and whip up a batch. mmmmm cookies.

—–

uh oh…

a recent interview with O.J. Simpson…

Simpson also took time during the Fox interview to hype a new reality show he wants to do.

“It’s a takeoff on something called Punk’d, an MTV hidden-camera show featuring Ashton Kutcher pranks on celebrities,” he explained toVan Susteren.

“It’s me doing gags as Juice…what they call ‘juicing’ people.”

oh dear…OJ juicing people. it’s a reality horror show in the making.

—–

recently heard…

me: i only recently started this health kick. i used to sit and watch tv all the time and just relax.
friend: don’t you feel that’s a waste of time?
me: nah, i think it’s really relaxing.
friend: but if you sit around all the time you’ll get fat.
me: see, i have this theory. if i am going to have a gut in the future anyway, why should i fight it? i should embrace it and start working on it now.
friend: i hate to break it to you, but women don’t like fat guys…unless you’re rich, then it might be ok.
me: oh dear. so i have to either get rich quick and be happily fat OR i have to be poor and unhappily work out to be fit?
friend: yup.
me: *sigh* i wish it was easier to be rich.

biking on canada road

mike, paul, leeya and i went biking on canada road this sunday. the road is closed off and set aside just for bikers and rollerbladers so it was a nice opportunity to do some street biking. i’m actually surprised at the amount of street biking that i’m doing and i’m amazed at how much of a difference a pair of slicks will make. i’m very tempted to get another couple of wheels and tires for road biking. after riding paul’s bike with slicks, i noticed quite a big difference.

[url=/image.php?image=/images/2004/0607/IMG_6970.jpg&title=canada+road+biking][/url] i met up with the other three at mike’s house and we started to gather together all of our stuff. paul and i ended up biking while leeya and mike were blading. i wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to put everything into the back of paul’s car, but paul assured me that it would fit. and it did…just barely. we actually had to deflate my rear tire so that it would fit ever so snugly into the back of the station wagon. it was a tight fit, but everything did manage to fit in ok and we were headed off.

[url=/image.php?image=/images/2004/0607/IMG_6973.jpg&title=canada+road+biking][/url] [url=/image.php?image=/images/2004/0607/IMG_6974.jpg&title=canada+road+biking][/url] [url=/image.php?image=/images/2004/0607/IMG_6976.jpg&title=canada+road+biking][/url]

the trail itself is a 4 mile out and back line with rolling hills. it was pretty easy going for the most part, one of the easier trails i’ve gone on recently, but it was nice to be able to go out. we took a few breaks here and there. there were a few steep hills and mike was telling me that there were a few scary moments on his blades. i don’t know if i have it in me to blade anymore. i am definitely not comfortable enough to go on blades and big hills…just can’t do it.

[url=/image.php?image=/images/2004/0607/IMG_6978.jpg&title=canada+road+biking][/url]

i wear bike gloves when i ride and after this trip i happened to look down at my hands and saw tan lines! i remember telling [url=http://jimmy.ocliw.com]jimmy[/url] that i was afraid of getting tan lines when i go out and bike in the sun, but he reassured me that it would never happen. later in the evening, i was talking to a friend of mine and she told me that it looked like i had used the self-tanning lotion and had forgotten to put some on the back of my hands. lovely.

[url=/image.php?image=/images/2004/0607/IMG_6987.jpg&title=canada+road+biking][/url]

after biking we went to san mateo where we were planning to eat at sushi sam’s. when we got there we found that it was closed! it’s been so long since i had gone there and i was looking forward to eating there that day. instead we ended up eating at this burger place, which was pretty good, but my heart was still longing for some sushi sam’s.

saturday, wait…sunday always comes too late

no posts yesterday. i spent most of yesterday drugged and unconscious. the drugged part was voluntary, the unconscious part, not so much. i woke up feeling rather ill, but shrugged it off to my usual morning grogginess. i stayed in bed longer than usual hoping it’d get better and eventually left the apartment at 6:40…much later than usual. as i left the apartment i thought that it’d get better.

traffic was just atrocious trying to drive up 101 to 880. it turns out that they closed the 880 offramp and construction was seriously backing things up. what usually takes about 10 minutes took me about 45 minutes to travel. by then, i finally decided to turn around and go back home.

an hour after i had left the apartment, i was back. i took some medicine and went back to bed. i didn’t wake up until nearly lunchtime. after that i got some lunch and then went back to bed until the evening when john woke me up for dinner.

all of yesterday was spent either sleeping or eating up until that point. it was pretty bad. but luckily things got a little bit better and i felt much better and i hung out at greg’s until about 2AM. ugh.

and now it’s saturday. the day’s half over and i’ve yet to do much of anything. i’ll be bumming over to steve’s place later today to partake in the BBQ festivities. it’s been a while since i’ve seen the ibm gang.

so i’m looking forward to that and i’m looking forward to catching up with some people who i’ve not seen in far too long. i think that i’ve been kind of bad in keeping in touch with people and i guess it’s time for me to do something about it.

i’m looking forward to playing volleyball on sunday. jen’s team and my team are matched up against each other. it should be great fun. a bunch of people are playing in the shindig tournament today and tomorrow. hmmmm, i wonder if i should find a female partner to play in these tournaments. it would be fun…

—–

stealing jimmy’s picture

jimmy, nelson, and i went to fremont older this past weekend and this is a picture that jimmy took of me while climbing up a hill. in the picture it doesn’t look like the hill is very steep, but it is much, much steeper than one thinks.

this trail wasn’t so bad and i actually am looking forward to doing another bike ride. i’m not sure where i want to go though, but i’ll have to keep an eye out for some good trails. perhaps i will venture out and do something along the pennisula this time. that might be fun.

oh well, the weekend still feels so very far away anyway, so i guess i should put those thoughts away and concentrate on the immediate, more pressing things…like how am i going to manage the survive the day? i’m so tired.

—–

the ultimate love test

ABC has this new show called [url=http://abc.go.com/primetime/lovetest/index.html]the ultimate love test[/url]. the latest in reality tv trash, this show invites four couples to test their love by separating them for three weeks while one goes off to a sunny resort in cabo san lucas while the other stays at home. the only contact the couples will have is email and video clips the show’s producers edit and display to them.

as an extra bonus, these four couples each already have existing issues which have led them to the show. they all are at a crossroad, deciding whether or not to take the next step in the relationship or to walk away and seek their true love.

amber and diego
amber wants to travel around the world and see the world and all of its sights. diego is more rooted in his hometown and wants to settle down. amber feels trapped in this town because of her love for diego. amber was sent off to cabo and introduced to roy, this handsome, travelled doctor who seemingly can give her the adventure she seeks. my guess after the first episode is that amber won’t fall for roy, but she will realize that the world is too small for her in vermont and she needs to go away on her adventures.

kenesha and brandon
these two are a cute couple. kenesha is ridiculously hot. the problem, however, is that kenesha has severe trust issues with brandon. apparently he has cheated on her, but they are still together. brandon has been sent off to cabo where a girl from his past is ready to greet him and flirt with him. i don’t know, this is a hard one because it seems that brandon is trying to be genuine about being faithful to kenesha, but i think ultimately he won’t be able to do so. and even if he was faithful to her in the show, can this test of three weeks really give kenesha the security that she is looking for? i think she is far too plagued with insecurity to really get over it. and i think brandon has too much of a wandering eye.

heather and frank
two musicians who have been dating for two years. frank originally stole heather away from her ex, CR, and now heather is sent away to cabo to be with her ex who is still in love with her and is ready for a commitment. frank is terified of commitment and any sense of responsibility it seems. he also still lives at home with his parents which the show paints as being quite negative. i don’t know…i know i could never live at home again, but are you a loser if you are a guy and you still live at home? i don’t know if that’s such a fair judgement. i think that frank just isn’t the guy who will step up as much as heather wants, so it’ll be a matter of whether or not whatever he does will be enough for her.

carolyn and jayre
man, this girl is so pushy and this guy is so whipped it’s crazy. i think he knows that he’s whipped too and he acts out and says things so it doesn’t seem like he’s so whipped, but i think that ultimately, he must like it. jayre’s fantasy is to date multiple women at once and he’s met with many women at cabo. carolyn is a jealous, needy, control freak who will probably break up with jayre after seeing his behavior.

so who do i think is going to win? i really want amber and diego to win. i think that this process might make diego a little bit more willing to travel a little bit and i think that amber will truly realize how deep her love for diego is.

this show is about as messed up as one can get, though. pitting couples against their worst relationship fears. i think the draw to the show is that i can relate to a lot of these couples and the problems that they’ve had.

for example, i’ve dated a girl who was just as controlling, manipulative, needy, and push as carolyn. i hated it and i feel the guy’s pain. i think he really needs to figure out what he wants in a girlfriend and if he really likes those qualities then he needs to suck it up and take it like a (whipped) man.

i’ve also dated a girl like Frank who can’t make up her mind about anything. it’s like she doesn’t have an opinion about anything and she idly sits by while the world passes her by. i can relate to heather’s frustration about him not being spontaneous and not wanting to do something fun.

and i’ve also dated a girl like amber who wanted to go travel, see the world, go out and have fun all the time. i was much like diego back then, very rooted in where i was, trying to be more grounded and realistic. i didn’t want to have that kind of an adventure. she desperately wanted to go out and have fun and experience new things all the time. these two are exteremes at either end of the spectrum and i remember when i was in such a situation as well. it’d be interesting to see if they can resolve their differences.

watching a show like this makes me realize some of the things that i’m looking for in a girlfriend.

i want someone who i feel passionately about. someone whose love i would profess on the rooftops for all to hear and whose love would be returned to me. i would do things for them motivated by my love for them, not just to go through the motions.

i want someone who has a sense of adventure, but isn’t driven to seek adventure so much so that they don’t want to settle roots. they should have a desire to experience life, go out and try some new things, but also have a place to come back to when the day’s events are done.

i want to be with someone who believes in an equal partnership in a relationship, not someone who believes that they are the boss and can just have their way or expect to be told to do whatever they say. they are someone that i want to share my life with, not live my life for me or live their life for them.

i want to be with someone whose kindness draws people to them. their warmth invites frienliness out in others. those are the gifted people who have that angelic glow about them.

man…i might as well want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket.