vitae fortunae debentur

test toilet

2010-01-02T19:06:38Z

Hello 2010. So far, so good, except for the diarrhea I've had the past few days. I'm getting older, which means I'm running out of time.

This is the end

2009-12-27T17:52:52Z

I guess 2009 was okay. I left one job. Found another. My heart shattered. I moved on. And I'm still broke. It's a pretty average year for me.

Honestly, I should be happier. I have awesome friends. I love what I do at my job. I could be making more money, but it will come in time. My family supports me, somewhat. Well, they understand at least. I guess I'm just tired of being lonely at times.

Is it terrible to be jealous of my friends' relationships? I think so. Regardless, I do sometimes. I'll try to dedicate 2010 to finding a mate. I always thought if I just lived my life, they would just come. I figure now I have to try harder.

If you're happy, then I'm happy!

Unwelcome vacation

2009-12-15T17:13:19Z

Starting from last Friday, I have a whole fucking week off. The reason is because the hotel is just so damn slow and they don't have any work for me. Well, I was supposed to work that Friday, but with deductions and cost of getting there, I calculated that I would only make $40 for 8+ hours of work. Fuck that, I thought. I went and played Magic instead and actually won the tournament. Saturday was another long-filled Magic day too, in which I pretty much lost a lot, but gained in cards. I probably earned as much money in cards as I spent, so I guess I'm even.

I went to the doctors the other day about my high blood pressure. Ever since I lost my old car (RIP Deathmobile), I've been randomly checking my blood pressure count in random supermarkets on those cuff machine things. I've been getting absurd numbers like this consistently. It made sense because of the massive amount of stress with not having a car and work and all, so I made an appointment. The doctor basically said I was normal and not to worry about that. At least my co-pay is only $5.

I've been trying to get back into frisbee again. Ever since I've restarted playing Magic, frisbee has taken a backseat. My priorities in life seem to go Work->Drinking->Magic->Frisbee. That doesn't do well for my physique, so I went out last night and played. My frisbee sense is not tingling, as I made a lot of dumb mistakes and I felt like I was gonna die half the time. It's hard to have a well-rounded life sometimes.

I had a dream about eating pizza today. I'm gonna eat pizza today.

Where there is love, I'll be there

2009-12-06T08:47:54Z

This will be a Magic: the Gathering post. Although it is mostly about nerdy shit, if you want to read about vomiting, making friends, and having a good time, go ahead and read it. If you don't know anything about M:tG though, you'll get lost for sure.

I can't begin this story about the day before talking about the night. Friday night (12/4/09), that is. I did Friday Night Magic at Paladin Tech and Game in order to test out the final version of my deck. For reference:

4 Jackal Familiar
4 Goblin Guide
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Hellspark Elemental
4 Hell's Thunder
4 Ball Lightning

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Burst Lightning
3 Act of Treason
3 Earthquake

4 Teetering Peaks
18 Mountain

SB: 4 Goblin Ruinblaster
SB: 3 Pithing Needle
SB: 3 Quenchable Fire
SB: 3 Manabarbs
SB: 1 Act of Treason
SB: 1 Earthquake

The only question marks I had for the deck were Jackal Familiar (sucks late) and Quenchable Fire in the sideboard (slow finisher vs Vamps/Jund/White). Anyways, off we go.

Round 1 - WW Soldiers

Game 1: I know this guy who's playing. I always tend to play him somehow. I knew he was running Soldiers so it was gonna suck. I raced him down but he had all the removal and Harm's Way to deal with my stuff. Honor of the Pure and Veteran Armorsmith is good game for me.

Game 2: Earthquake comes in but it's not gonna matter. I do get him down to 3 but when he sides in Celestial Purge on my last attacker sealed the win for him.

0-1 in matches, 0-2 in games. Fun start!

Round 2 - Boros Bushwhacker

Game 1: We had identical turn 1 and 2 plays. Mountain -> Goblin Guide -> Attack, then Mountain -> Hellspark -> Attack. I thought I was playing the mirror until he played a Plains. I had the answers with Earthquake, and he couldn't recover. I win with a good sized Earthquake.

Game 2: I board in an extra Equake and the Quenchables to see if it'll work. I never drew them, but I didn't really need them. He got manascrewed, which sucks, but his Narrow Passage stalls me a bit. Earthquake for the win, once again.

1-1 in matches, 2-2 in games. Confidence is definitely up. I'm bad at remembering play-by-play details. More on why that is later.

Round 3- Iona-Polymorph

Game 1: I was talking to this guy earlier, and he said he just didn't want to face an aggro deck. Oops. I didn't lose any life, and my life totals for him read 20->18->13->7->0.

Game 2: I board in Manabarbs and Pithing Needles for the pesky Planeswalkers I saw. I kept a mediocre hand though and the game goes late which is terrible for me. I really need to win quick. He pulls off an Ajani Goldmane ultimate thing and makes a 20/20 Avatar, but that wasn't really game. I had enough blockers and life to whittle his life total down, weakening the Avatar, but he ended up Polymorphing into Iona, which pretty much sealed the game for him.

Game 3: I mulligan into a 1-land hand but with Pithing Needle. I drop that one, naming Ajani Goldmane, then draw into another land and another Needle, this time naming Elspeth. I got him down to 4 when Manabarbs came down and he had all 4 casting cost(cc) shit in his hand.

2-1 in matches, 4-3 in games. Pithing Needle was definitely the star, as it is my only defense vs Planeswalkers. Did you know that Jackal Familiars can attack together? That's what I learned, which won me Game 3.

Round 4 - Vampires

Game 1: This kid is kinda young, but nice. He was Filipino, and I yelled "Who paired the only Asians together?" When he went turn 1 Guul Draz Vampire, I got thrown off a bit because I haven't seen aggro Vampires for a while. I'm usually used to playing against a more midrange-ish Vampires like the one Ryan runs. ANyways, we trade for a bit, but he gets enough land to start Tendrils-ing shit while I can't draw a burn spell to save me. His life gain and larger Vampires make me a dead duck.

Game 2: Quenchable comes in for its final test. Will you be useful?, I thought to myself as I put it in. I had this game pretty much locked up with awesome removal and some decent Act of Treason-ing. I get him to 6 and play the aforementioned Quenchable Fire, putting him on a one turn clock. He had one other Vampire out (Nocturnus I think) with six land. He untaps and draws the most unexpected card I have ever seen: Blood Tribute. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" I asked.

"CC: 4BB. Kicker- Tap an untapped Vampire. Opponent loses half life. If you kick this, you gain that life."

What. WHAT. WHAT! The game shifts momentum from there, as more big Vampires come out and I basically go from 20->10(Tribute)->1. I topdeck an Earthquake and kill myself. Magically, that is.

2-2 in matches, 4-5 in games. Quenchable proved too little of a threat, as the life gain and crazy technology of that kid got the best of me. I told someone else that I now knew what it felt like to be raped. I end up 7th or 8th out of 18 or some odd people. Two packs of M10 yield me nothing, while Blood Tribute kid pulls a Baneslayer out of a single M10 pack. What a lucky jerk.

Billy K. talks me into going downtown to Backbooth with Miles, Luciana (sp?), Priscilla (sp?), and Onell. It had been raining a lot all night, so the bar was pretty dead. We danced a bit and I drank more than I thought apparently. We took Colonial all the way home for some reason, and I started getting that nauseous feeling I get when other people drive and I'm drunk. When I am drunk and drive (Don't ever do that btw.), I actually do better on the not-puking side. I fight the urge to yak or exit the car while it moves and puke until I get home. I actually thought I was okay for a while. I tried to take out my contacts, but dropped the lens case under the bed. I struggle to reach for it while on my bed, give up or something, puke on said bed, and pass out shirtless. I'm such a fucking lightweight sometimes.

5 hours later, 7:30AM, 12/5/09, I wake up. You can imagine how confused I was. "Why is this puke here? Why is my shirt off? Why are my contacts still in? Why is the light on? How the fuck did I wake up without an alarm?" Staggering, I pulled off my dirty sheet and blanket off the bed and throw it on the floor. Still shirtless, I do some morning stuff and by 8AM I was out the door to a Magical adventure that is 2009 Florida State Championships. See why now I can't remember much from FNM?

I grab a coffee and English muffin sandwich at Dunkin' Donuts and head over to Phoenix Games, where the tournament is being held. It was a cold morning, so the heat came on in the car. I love my defogger in my car, btw. The car is really growing on me with all its features like A/C and a speedometer. Back to magic. The store was really big. I hadn't been to an event this big since 2002 GP Tampa, although that was much larger in venue. This good-sized shop crammed 190 players in there, somehow. I was fortunate that I packed all my stuff the night before, before I went out, because I was not feeling great enough to remember what the hell was even in my deck. I paid my $25 (!) and tried not to pass out.

I found Joe, who was the only other person I knew there, and we talked for a bit while registration began. Joe is like me in the Magical sense. He just got back in it too, and still tries to maintain an actual life with Magic on the side for some flavor. He teaches at UCF and is getting his PhD in Psychology, something I could have done, but instead I decided to change my whole life junior year and go into the restaurant industry. Joe is a pretty cool guy. He also plays at open mic at Underground Blues on Tuesday, along with Carolyn and other talented people. He ended up playing Jacerator, with some tips from me with Pithing Needle in the board. I still ran Red Deck Wins (sometimes), but with a different sideboard. I ended up pulling Quenchable Fire for Magma Rift, for extra Baneslayer/Broodmate/big dude kill, and Pyroclasm in the for singleton Equake/Act. Joe and I would basically be cheering mates for each other all day.

Round 1 - 5-color Planeswalker Control

Game 1: I come out fast with some early action with Goblin Guide and friends. I only get Blightning'd once but it didn't really matter. I'm still nursing this hangover, so thinking took a bit longer. My speech during the game was also light, which loosened up my opponent a bit. Maybe too loose in the long run, as his chatter got somewhat condescending. I decided I would be chatty all day instead of stiff and serious like a lot of people there were. You gotta have fun while playing. Anyways, I went for the kill with an Earthquake for 5 when he was tapped out.

Game 2: Needles, Ruinblasters, and Barbs come in, with me taking out some Familiars and speedier stuff. That would prove to be a flawed strategy, but I really hated Familiars still, but they were essential in order to win. I needed to be fast but still have a control aspect. I really didn't see a lot of his deck Game 1 since I won so quick, but I kept a slower hand with Barbs and some shit. Barbs his and he starts losing some life but busts out an Ajani Vengeant, which is terrible. With no Needles in sight and a Sorin Markov coming out on his side, the game quickly got out of hand.

Game 3: I kept a slow hand but with Needle, which was played, naming Jace Beleren for some stupid reason. I figured then if he just had that, he couldn't draw into more stuff, which really won him Game 2, as he sifted through his deck to find the appropriate Planeswalkers and cards. That was probably the biggest mistake I made, or maybe it was keeping the marginal hand. Familiar came down, but his friends kept getting killed, so he stayed at home for a long time. I land stall a little bit and the longer the games go, the better it is for him. Vengeant comes out again and life becomes difficult. From there on, it was me just Bolting his Planeswalkers to stall until I finally just die to Sorin again.

0-1 in matches, 1-2 in games. Joe ended up losing his first match too, facing Vampires. He came to root me on after his match ended. That would probably be the only time he would finish before me, since his deck is so slow. I wrote a ton of notes to sum up every match in my little notebook. If I want to get better, I'm gonna have to remember what I did right and wrong. Notes help this, as I remember more when I write shit down. I was still hung over, by the way. I later asked a judge what would happen if I had to puke during the match. Could I get up and puke, or did I just have to find a bag and puke in that?

"...we'd let you get up," said the judge.

Round 2 - BYE!

Yeah, I know. It was good and bad. It's good because it's a free win, but bad because now I don't have any tiebreakers. If I were 6-2 in the 8 rounds of Swiss, I'd probably not make the cut because of the bye. I ended up watching Joe's match. He played a girl (There were a surprisingly large amount of women playing, like 10 or something. Some of them were cute! Joe's opponent was not.) who played Vampires with red and heavy discard stuff. A discard deck vs a deck that makes you draw means the draw deck will win. Joe was making really bad plays though, not paying attention to the full scope of the match. Probably the worst play he had was activating his ultimate Jace ability with only nine counters on it, which won him Game 2. She didn't notice either, but I sure as hell did. I pulled him outside after the match and told him to be careful about shit like that. That could of costed him the match, or even the whole tournament. I told him to focus and just try to look at everything and be aware at all times. I got less hung over just standing there. I should have just went over to the pizza place and got food for Joe and I. Between round 3 and 4, I found my English muffin sandwich and got really happy. It's the little things that make life sweet.

1-1 in matches, 1-2 in games.

Round 3 - Jund

Game 1: Yes, I thought to myself. This is the deck I wanted to see for the rest of the tournament. If I get out fast, I can win quite easily. I start swinging with Goblins and a Ball Lightning, but we race for a bit with his Bloodbraid Elf and Sprouting Thrinax. I had a questionable play late game which really didn't matter in the end. He was at 2, with two Thrinaxes (one was a 4/4 via Oran-Rief, the Vastwood) and a 3/3 Putrid Leech. The Thrinaxes were tapped, while the Leech was untapped. I was at 8 life, had 4 land and an Act I was waiting to play. I end up playing the Act on his 3/3 Thrinax to attack into the Leech. I get the tokens, to act as chumpers. I played an unkicked Bushwhacker and ended my turn. What I forgot was that he held a Maelstrom Pulse that I saw eariler with Goblin Guide. My tokens went away, but I was still able to chump block with the Bushwhacker. I'm not sure if it was the best play in that situation, as I was afraid of Terminate with stuff to unearth in my graveyard. In the end, it didn't matter since I topdecked a Lightning Bolt to kill him.

Game 2: I bring in Ruinblasters, taking out Familiars again. He kinda land stalls, and not from my Ruinblasters even. My deck does what it does with Guides and more Guides followed by an Earthquake for the win.

2-1 in matches, 3-2 in games. My round 3 opponent, Justin, was a cool cat. He appreciated my social banter and we just talked all during our match about anything other than Magic, while inserting our Magic terms with our play. He was young and funny. It was like being at home and playing with an old friend. It was easily the loosest person I played against, but it was super fun too. He was gracious in defeat even in a manascrew. I was finding out that Magic players weren't all nerds with no social skills. A lot of them are quite friendly. Justin and I would chat on and off during the tournament.

Joe ended up losing to Boros. I told him to stay in and see how far he got. I didn't want to be alone anyways. My momentum was starting to build, as was my confidence. The hangover was pretty much gone, as I tore into that hidden gem of an English muffin sandwich.

Round 4 - Jund

Game 1: I was excited to see a Savage Lands come down on his side. Unlike my round 3 opponent, this guy had been playing Jund a lot longer. We traded damage a bit until Broodmate Dragon came down. I Act'd his Dragon but he ended up just taking the damage instead of killing his token friend. I lost shortly after that.

Game 2: Act, Ruinblaster, and Magma Rifts came in for the first time. I wasn't trhilled about Magma Rift, but I really had no other plans and the card seemed like a decent choice. I took a gamble on a 1-land hand but with 2 Bolts and a Guide to get things going. I stalled on two land with Hell's Thunder and Ball Lightning in my hand for the longest time. He seemed to stick to five land for a while, which was cool because I didn't want to see the Dragon again. Sure enough, he came down, and I started to manaflood after all my haste-y stuff was used up. He had the answers and I ran out of gas, or had too many gas with all the land I drew. I don't know, I just fucking lost.

2-2 in matches, 3-5 in games. Joe won, which was good. His matches were way more interesting to watch. He basically just stalls out until he can Time Warp into goodness with Jace and Archive Trap. I got to see all the endings to his matches, since he used up almost all the time in every single round except the first. I think he played vs Eldrazi Green. That guy was really sad he lost. He looked that way, at least. As for me, I was looking to bounce back.

Round 5 - Jund

Game 1: This guy was a meticulous shuffler. He was also the only local Orlando player I played all day. He plays at Cool Stuff, so it was a Cool Stuff vs Paladin matchup. He seemed nice enough though, despite the other things people have said about that place. We trade for a bit until he does something ridiculous like Blast->Bloodbraid->Thrinax. Not cool. Fuck yeah I lost.

Game 2: Ruinblasters, Rifts, and Act come in, with Equake and some dudes leaving. I do my shit and attack with lots while blowing up a land or two. I didn't even lose any life.

Game 3: Sb options stay in. I kept a marginal hand, and he gets out some tokens via Siege-Gang Commander. This is where my lack of playtesting really hurt me, since I sided out an Equake when more sweepers would have been nice. I did Equake away his Goblins, but Thrinax came out, which brought more tokens later. He whittled me down with his tokens then Broodmate came down. I didn't really have a ton of action. Cool Stuff - 1, Paladin - 0.

2-3 in matches, 4-6 in games. I end up dropping after some thought. Joe won again, vs a very nice guy in a suit playing the Cascade Spreading Seas deck. Mr. Suit was a cool dude, even helping out Joe with a misplay of his. He went for Archive Trap in response to Mr. Suit fetching a land. The correct play is to wait until after he searches, then Trap in response to something else. Mr. Suit was kind enough to not care and mill anyways. I wished to find more people like Mr. Suit who played Magic.

Joe was getting a good head of steam now, at 3-2. My reasons for dropping was that I was just tired of losing to my "best" matchup due to my bad plays. Also, a draft that was forming was close to filling up, so I dumped another $15 into that and stuck around. I wanted to root on Joe anyways.

I always say that I'm better at Limited than Constructed. I guess I just like it more, since it requires less of a money investment. Back in the day, my Constructed decks were poorly built because I was so broke. Now that I have a job, I can buy whatever I want. Sometimes. It was a 3 Zendikar draft, and I won't get into much details about the matches because round 1 went on for about an hour and a half. I usually force black in 3x Zen drafts, but I got cut off super quick, despite a Disfigure pick 2. I got passed some monster green both ways, so I ended up with this green/black landfall deck with Khlani Expedition/Frontier Guide/Baloth Woodcrasher and much more.

What is fun about Limited is how much the game can swing in someone else's favor at almost any point. At one point I had a Woodcrasher equipped with Trusty Machete, with Khlani active, I popped it playing two more land with my other land drop, and he just bounces him with Into the Roil. Game 3 was probably the best game I've ever played though in my entire Magic career, and definitely the best game of the day. We were at a very tense moment in the game, with me attacking strong with Woodcrasher and Turntimber Basilisk (deathtouch is my favorite thing ever in Limited). My opponent was probably the opposite of me. If I am loud and boisterous during play, he was calm and cool and didn't say a fucking word most of the time. He even shuffled quietly, and all cool like. Instead of saying "Pass turn" or "Go" after the end of his turn, he just waved his hand, as if he were a host of some restaurant, showing a guest to their table. I obnoxiously said "Go ahead!" after each turn of mine. At one point, while he was making a tough decision about what to bounce, I blurted out, "Win, lose or draw, this is by far the best game I've played all day."

"Same. This is what Magic is all about," he responded.
"We're doin' it! This is the real fucking thing here!" I yelled. I'm so fucking obnoxious.

I ended up winning that match. It took so long that a whole round of the main tournament had gone by and Joe had won again. That made him 4-2, with good chances to at least win some packs. He tied vs Naya Lightsaber, the deck that won Worlds, then won vs Standard Dredge, which surprised the fuck out of me, since he said he had zero experience vs the deck. I saw his hand in Game 2 with 4 Time Warps with a Jace out about to go ultimate. Pretty awesome. Joe finished in 27th place, which left him very happy. He got 6 booster packs, and I got 1 from going third in my draft. In the main tournament, I finished 123rd.

It was a good experience. It was easily the most fun I've had in a long time. I can't remember the last time I had so much fun. I have learned a ton about real tournament play, people, Magic, and all things nerdy. Tonight I have blown up my deck and reworked it into something completely different. Here's a hint: Raging Goblin, go.

Go Red Go.

Today starts the day I use tags. I'll try to limit myself to five tags:

nerd
drunk
frisbee
work
women

Older

2009-11-30T21:25:08Z

So my car died. I had my 93 Toyota Corolla ever since I graduated high school. I've had such good times in that car, and such terrible times. I never loved any inanimate object as much as I loved that car. And I killed it. I wsa being cheap and trying to stretch out a delayed oil change, which resulted in an awesome hole in the engine block on the way home from work. In times of crisis, you really see who your true friends are. I was able to get rides from various people putting my schedule ahead of theirs. I will never forget them. I'm definitely not worthy of their friendship, but I'm eternally grateful. I have a new car now. It's a 2002 Chevy Cavalier. It has everything my old car didn't have: A/C, a working speedometer, a trunk, and other fancy shit. I'm not in love with the car yet, but it gets me to where I need to go.

Work has been quite busy lately. I've had several run-ins with management, and I think I've stood my ground and had my presence felt. I feel like I almost own that place right now. I just need to make more money. It'll be one year in April, so I'll ask for a raise then. I know I deserve it, since I'm only one of three people in the entire hotel that knows how to run the sushi bar.

With all the worries about the car and work, I've noticed that I've been under a lot of stress. Although those machines at the supermarket seem like bullshit, I've sat in those blood pressure chairs and gotten my blood pressure measured lately. It's been high according to the machine's numbers. I had some blood work done a couple of months ago and everything was quite normal. I'm still worried about it though. I even called my mom, who has had high blood pressure in the past, and she basically said that because I'm not fat, I have nothing to worry about. Still, it's a concern to me. I might have to schedule another doctor's appointment to see what's up.

In other hedonistic news, I've been playing an awful amount of Magic lately. I still suck at it, but I feel a great amount of joy playing it. Isn't that the point? Florida State Championships is this Saturday, and I'm considering taking Saturday off in order to play. Sad, but enjoyable; that's how I see Magic. I've met some decent people from playing too. We all can be normal and play stupid cards.

I'm trying to enjoy life as much as possible these days, but I'm still overall lonely. Friends help, but I really need to find a significant other soon. I never took it too seriously, but maybe being in a decent relationship could improve my quality of life. At least I'd something to live for, or look forward to. It wouldn't be the end of the world if I was alone, it would just be lonely.

Quick hits

2009-11-16T05:13:06Z

- My car died. It's all my fault. Put oil in your car if you love it.
- I've been working a ton. I have three 15-hour days back to back to back.
- I currently hate my life.

No work = all play

2009-10-26T17:17:51Z

My boss Yoshi called me to inform me that the sushi bar would be closed from Thursday to Saturday, setting up the gauntlet that is two birthdays of people named Billy. Billy K.'s was on Thursday, which resulted in a pretty decent party. On Friday, Ryan, Billy K., Rita and myself nerded it up with some Friday Night Magic. My only win of the night was versus Billy, while Ryan went to place 3rd. I need to play more! We also went out on Friday to Backbooth, where lots of dancing occured. Saturday was Billy D.'s birthday, which was a costume party inspired by United Nations day. I forgot to even get a costume, so I wore a stupid hat. After a lot of drinking, we somehow ended up in a Korean kareoke bar on OBT. I'll spare most of the details. The Facebook album is enough.

I'd rather be working than having all this fun honestly. Coming up with rent is going to be a hassle.

Obsession: For Nerds

2009-10-21T05:29:46Z

Last Saturday I had the day off. No one was around to do anything, so I went to a Magic: the Gathering draft at my local card shop. I hadn't drafted in many, many years, but I had read up on what new cards are good and what aren't. I went alone, and of course I knew it was gonna be a clique-y type place. I spent most of the time before the thing started staring at my phone.

Drafting started and it was odd to be back in this position, but fun at the same time. Rushes of feelings returned to me as I held shiny new cards in my hand. A part of me is alive again, and the new and old of my being are being merged. Whenever I play for some sort of prize though (Top 8 were getting booster packs), I get a little nervous. I had a decent deck, but since I haven't played at a tournament level in so many years, I was a bit rusty. I ended up losing every match I played. Goodbye $25.

It wasn't all bad though. There was one other person who didn't know anyone in the shop. He was meandering around me while I did nothing on my phone and daydreamed about whatnot. It was inevitable that we were going to talk, because we were the only two people in the shop who didn't know anyone else. Finally, I said something like "That sun is fucking bright" or something like that and he instantly sat down and we started chatting. He's in the same boat as me: back into Magic but with no one to play with. We exchanged phone numbers and agreed to get back to better play together.

I just totally picked up a dude in a card shop. What the hell is happening to me?

You know what I hate

2009-10-16T17:00:21Z

I really hate it when people go to "10 items or less" lines with more than 10 items. The same premise is true for people who turn right on "No Turn on Red" intersections. Signs were put in places for a reason. Let's just ignore all signs, then everyone will be running stop signs, drinking bottles labeled "POISON," and running around on slippery wet floors without caution.

And that was your weekly edition of "You know what I hate."

Jimmy M. - Gone with the Wind

2009-10-15T17:16:13Z

The wedding was quite wonderful. The venue was small but intimate. I met a lot of people who I knew but did not remember their names. Pictures are better than words, so here are a few.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nikkiandnate/sets/72157622581472798/
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=155619&id=567426176&l=543c225c95

And yes, we did go dancing directly after the wedding. Yes, Nikki is still wearing her wedding dress.

The family

2009-10-10T02:11:24Z

I'm at my mother's house in preparation for the Nikki's wedding tomorrow. I used to dislike my mother a lot for her meddling in my life but since she's backed off, she's more funny than anything now. I just hooked up three VCRs around the house and explained how they worked for her. She definitely has more VCRs than anyone I know.

I'll be here all weekend, even though I am supposed to work Sunday. On my first work schedule this week, I didn't have the weekend off. I went to the chef that was in charge of scheduling and got it changed for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. On Thursday, they changed it AGAIN without telling me. I did glance at it, and saw that I had to work on Sunday. With all the bullshit they throw at me, I'll be calling in on Sunday. It's rare that the whole family gets together and I won't miss any of it. I don't care what work says. Family comes first.

I'm going to try on my wedding clothes now. I'm sure everyone will have some random comment about it.

Worn out

2009-10-06T17:07:22Z

This is kind of a horribly busy week for me. I bought expensive pants for the wedding on Saturday. Wednesday morning I have a doctor's appointment to see if my blood sucks. Thursday I'm making sushi for hundreds Jewish people. Friday I'm going back to St. Pete and seeing if the car can make it. And Saturday is a fucking wedding. I definitely need more money, or a more frugal hand on my wallet.

You can't escape

2009-10-03T19:16:25Z

A terrible thing has happened.

Ryan, a friend from St. Pete, makes a weekly visit to Orlando, and last time, he brought some Magic cards. Billy K. and him were playing on the table, and I was sucked in once again. Seeing the shiny cards with the weird pictures and all the nerdy shit came back to me. I just bought a whole deck today with money I can't afford to spend, but I can't help it. I'm back.

Google my name and see the exploits of my nerd-dom. I used to play. A lot. I guess I quit because there was no one to play with, and I needed the money that the cards provided. Playing now seems to bring a nostalgic feeling back in me, when life was simpler and more fun. Plus now, I can drink while playing, which is a big bonus.

Zombieland was amazing. Go see it. I left the theater grinning like an idiot.

Still got agreeableness

2009-09-28T04:29:26Z

My sister is getting freakin' married in two weeks, and she brought some friends to Orlando for a 2nd bachelorette party last Friday. I brought my own crew (Billy K., Dave, Palermo) for shits and giggles at Barbeque Bar and Backbooth. When I saw my sister, she was already hammered. Much dancing and some drinking (I was driving so I didn't get shitty) occurred and I'm sure pictures will end up on Facebook or some Internet site soon. She's getting married, man. Weird. Still need to get that suit.

On Saturday I met up with Billy D. at McRaney's, since he didn't go out on Friday. On the way, Palermo and I almost got hit by this random trailer hitch that separated from a car in front of us. Luckily the trailer hitch veered out of our way and into the middle median wall. Sparks flew and it was cool and scary all at once.

Because I was bored, I took the eHarmony test again and got the same result, which is "Go fuck yourself." I'm going to try again in five years for when it's supposed to work or something and see what happens. I have no idea what I'm doing with my life sometimes. But I know on Monday I'm going bowling. One day at a time, my beauties.

Hello beer, my name is Jimmy.

I have eye boogers

2009-09-25T04:39:37Z

I haven't felt totally awesome about myself lately. I just feel like I'm not a good person. I'm not sure how to explain it really. I am reminded every now and then that I am not great.

I never called back the people that got me my current job. If it wasn't for a nice Japanese woman I used to work with, and a loyal Rangetsu customer that referred who doesn't even know me, I would not even be in Orlando. I don't even know if they know that I got the job, but I never called them to tell them I did and thank them for their help. One of the chefs at work who knows the Rangetsu loyalist reminds me of this every now and then.

This reminds me of how I tend to use up people and forget about them when I move on to another phase in my life. Maybe I burn too many bridges. I don't even know how they catch on fire. I just tend to move on quickly and forget the past. It makes me wonder if I'll even make any long-standing friends, and if I even have any right now. I've become somewhat antisocial lately because of this.

I wouldn't want to hang out with me, but for some reason I am still trying. Tomorrow I'm going downtown with Billy D. and whoever else decides to go. I'm meeting Nikki on her 2nd bachelorette party. We'll probably get into some sort of dumb trouble, but I hope Billy has a good time. He's going through a lot of shit and I'm trying to break open his shell a bit and show him a decent night. No, I will not have sex with him.

I really dislike my life at this point.

Sore

2009-09-14T19:52:55Z

I still don't have a second job. It's hard to find a suitable job where I can work earlier during the day and be off in time for my full-time job at night. My mother left me a voicemail the other day (without showing up as a phone call, how the hell do people do that?). She basically was asking ME for money. ME. The brokest person in the entire family. I was going to hit HER up for money this month. I didn't get the full details yet, but it seems like she wants to take some class for something. If I had the money, of course I'd help her. She's my freakin' money. Nikki can't, because she's getting married in a month, and I have no idea what Linda does with her money. This is only more motivation to get a second job and thus end my life.

Epic

2009-09-05T19:04:14Z

This was a long time ago, but it's still my highest score. I just thought I'd share it with the world.

I still haven't found a 2nd job.

Down and dirty

2009-09-03T18:51:06Z

I've been having more awesome diarrhea lately. I have to conclude its those damn Publix pain relievers, because the shit (or non-shit) happens when I take the stupid things. I guess my body really hates acetaminophen or something. It also doesn't help that I drink on a regular basis, so maybe I should take it easy for a while. I'd hate to not have a liver and die or something.

The 2nd job hunt is not going well. I've sent out a couple of resumes out, so we'll see how it goes. I might go across the street from my current hotel to the new Hilton that just opened to see if I can snag a job.

My stomach feels like crap.

Pile it on

2009-08-30T00:28:22Z

I feel better now. You should never take the ability to take a shit for granted. It's pretty awesome. I went about 3 days without making a solid bowel movement, which is about as disgusting as it sounds. I guess the whole sickness was a 24-hour thing.

I got more problems though. They're closing the sushi bar down for a couple of weeks, so I have from now until next Friday (9/4) off. Then I work three 3-hour shifts in the morningtime on Friday (9/4) through Sunday (9/7), then finally a normal shift on Thursday (9/10). This is terrible. What am I going to do for money this month? There's no way I'll be able to pay all my bills plus get some things on that buy list for October. I'm gonna have to find some alternate sources of income, like a part-time job or the donating of some sort of liquids. I have plenty of options that I need to explore this week.

It just can't be easy, can it?

So cold

2009-08-26T19:01:49Z

I feel like absolute shit. I think I ate some terrible raviloli last night. I felt so cold during sleep that I put on tons of clothes. I woke up all sweaty and stuff. This morning gretted me with explosive diarrhea, which hasn't really stopped. I've decided not to work today, which the first time I've called in. Come on body, don't be weak.

Aches

2009-08-25T18:58:15Z

The tournament was a sort of let down, but fun nonetheless. Instead of about 80 people, only around 50 showed up. They had to edit down to four teams, which makes for a short tournament. I was on the pink team, with a large shirt that didn't fit me. If I wanted a pink shirt, I would at least want it to fit. Since it didn't, I decided to cut it to a midrift 80s style thing with no sleeves for good measure. I looked ridiculous. Our team came in not last, which is my goal in any tournament. It was fun, but it could have been more fun.

I saw District 9 with Lamas and John S. afterwards. It was a pretty awesome movie, but I was so tired. The next day I was pretty sore from all the running on Saturday. I've also developed a tooth ache in my upper left area of my mouth. I probably have a cavity or my wisdom teeth are pushing again. Before insurance, I would just kinda suck it up and eventually forget about tooth aches. Now that I have insurance, I can do about the same, but know that I can get it fixed for hopefully cheaper than without insurance. I have no immediate plans to get it checked out. I have so many things to buy in the course of the next two months, but with no money to do so. These are the things I desperately need:

sushi knife

a suit for my sister's wedding in October

a new phone AND phone plan, because my other sister is deciding to jack up my monthly rate, and my current phone is become a piece of shit

September's gonna suck.

Snap, crackle, life

2009-08-21T16:32:06Z

I'll be hopefully playing in a hat tournament tomorrow, if I can find a ride. I'd rather take my Deathmobile on the trip, but if I have to, I'm sure I could make it. I need the mini-vacation because work has really gotten to me lately. We've been opening until midnight due to this Surf Expo that's in town. These guys fill up the hotel and swarm the lobby bar til it closes. They could be eating more, but they haven't, which is disappointing. Today is supposed to be the worst day of it all, but the final day as well. I can feel myself more short-tempered. I was randomly sick on Wednesday, with my nose just leaking constantly every five minutes. Since then, I've been groggy on Nyquil, so I'm just not as peppy as usual. Yesterday my manager told me I used to have a better personality. Too bad he's stupid and useless. It still somewhat got to me. My mood shifts way too much. I wish I was just always happy all the time. I don't that's the case for anybody though. It would be too perfect.

Vague

2009-08-16T07:16:52Z

The Internet makes me lonely. It shows how alone I am in this real life. I could be somewhere else, doing something different, being with someone new, but I'm stuck here in my real life. The escape I used to feel with being online now makes me lonelier when I'm done. I have to make more of an effort to do what I want, when I want. Someday, I'll see all the people behind the text. You guys and gals made up a significant part of what I am today.

This September

2009-08-14T03:58:15Z

There's word going around the hotel that the sushi bar is going to be closed for two weeks. What the hell am I gonna do for a job if that happens? It's probably true, since the hotel is so dead in the month of September. I might have to get a part-time job or something.

This week has kinda sucked. I've been quite lonely in this house. It doesn't help that I've also been broke, so I can't go out anywhere for people interaction. I hate being alone, although I do gravitate to it. I like the solitude at times. But being alone gets lonely. I could call people to come over, but that seems like such a hassle. I get paid tomorrow, so at least I get some spending money to do SOMETHING.

EDIT: I have a new theory; if you put a fried egg on anything, it makes it 10 times better. I threw one on a hot dog with Fire sauce and it was amazing, so amazing I had another. I wish I could get my pictures from my phone to my computer. Next up, fried egg pizza.

EDITEDIT:

The Internet is amazing. And so am I. Sometimes.

Massive swearing ahead

2009-08-11T17:30:57Z

I'm so fucking frustrated right now. This computer is a piece of shit. The admin profile somehow got lost or some shit and I just want to kick this asshole computer into oblivion. I need a new computer but I don't have any fucking money. I need to buy a new knife first. My sister is trying to charge me $100 for a phone I barely use. Fucking ridiculous. Why do I need a stupid phone? The only calls I get are from creditors or whatever asshole needs me. Fuck man. Why do all my computers die on me? I don't want to work today. I don't want to do anything.