My Super Team

I have been wanting to do this post for a while. Let's say you had to pull off the perfect plan(heist, expedition, rescue, etc.), what characters in movies would you be choosing to form your perfect team? In a perfect team, you are going to need a bunch of different components, so which characters over the years would be the best choices to accomplish your goal? The perfect plan is probably going to require a LOT of people, so I am going to allow 12 in my plan. I won't include any super heroes as that would just make it too easy. This is who I came up with:

1. Keyser Soze - Every good team begins and ends with a good leader. A leader who both commands respect and has the intelligence to pull off the perfect plan. I don't believe anyone else fits this bill quite as well as Keyser Soze. Take this part from the movie and tell me someone else would be a better choice:

"He lets the last Hungarian go, waits until his wife and kids are in the ground, and then he goes after the rest of the mob. He kills their kids. He kills their wives. He kills their parents and their parents' friends. He burns down the houses they live in, the stores they work in. He kills people that owe them money. And like that, he's gone. Underground. Nobody's ever seen him since. He becomes a myth, a spook story that criminals tell their kids at night. "Rat on your pop and Keyser Soze will get you." But no one ever really believes. Keaton always said, "I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him." Well, I believe in God -- and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze." Easily, my leader...

2.Dutch - If you have some brains, you are going to need some brawn. Anyone who beat a Predator has to be tough enough for my group. Would you mess with him? "If it bleeds, we can kill it." Yeah, you're coming with me Dutch.








3.Marv - Every big team needs two enforcers. I wouldn't send in Dutch alone. Marv will definitely be an asset. Who is going to mess with my posse with these two guys leading the way?!?! Major asskickers!!!




4.Memphis Raines - My Driver. You need a guy who knows how to handle any car. You need a guy who can escape anyone in pursuit. There was not even a second thought as to who my driver would be. Sure, all 12 of my team won't fit inside Eleanor, but I'm sure he can handle any ride.





5. El Mariachi - You're going to have to have a guy who is a smooth talker, a ladies man, and an ass kicker all at once. Having El Mariachi on my team, with all his weaponry and ability to woo women is a good idea.







6.Mrs. Smith - If you have a male smooth talker, you need a femal one too. Mrs. Smith can woo the guys and then kick their ass. The guys won't know what hit them!





7.The Bride - Man or woman, she can kick ass. She can pretty much cut through anyone, anytime. Maybe she should even be up at the top with my brawny guys. She could give them a run.





8.Stanley Jobson - Every good team needs a good computer guy. Stanley will be able to pretty much crack anything. No technoloy will be too hard for him to understand. For some reason, this was the best picture I could find.






9. MacGyver - Why is he on the team? Because he is friggin' MacGuyver. I don't think I need to further explain myself.








10. Jason Bourne - This guy can do everything. Technology, covert operations, kicking ass. My whole team could go down and he still might be able to pull it off by himself. He is a one man army.






11. John Mason - On ever team, there is an old guy who has been there, done that. My old guy just happens to be able to still kick butt. He escaped from Alcatraz. He belongs on the team.







12.Doc Holliday - Finally, you need a good buddy. I guy who will follow you into hell. A guy who is absolutely dedicated to watching your butt and will be there through thick and thin. There is not a better sidekick than Doc. You have to feel safe with him watching your back.







There is my posse, my super group, my gang. I am sure I left someone important off so feel free to tell me who you would have included or omitted.

Why do I.......?

As usual, I come to the board to solidify the randomness in my mind. Ya see, all too often I find myself letting things slide that I actually like doing. I would like to tell myself that it is just procrastination and that makes me just as average as everyone else out there, but I prefer to arrive at another conclusion. I have discovered a lil narcissism and ego in my mind that tells me it's something else, so that I can stand out from the rest of yall.

For example, I like to fancy myself a writer. I have poor grammatical skills and I have a tendency to stray from the heart of the point, but a writer nonetheless. I know what you are asking yourself right now? What writing have you ever done Rich? We didn't notice. First of all, F U!. hehe jk More than likely if you are reading this you are one of the people that have actually read anything I have written. That being the case you must also notice that I go through stretches of not writing at all. I could say boredom or writer's block is what keeps me from blessing yall with my quips and witicisms, but that would be a lie. I guess it took the right person to be able to help me find what is wrong with how I go about things on a daily basis. It is all about the RIGHT motivation.

When I go unchallenged I have a tendency to marinate into my current situation. It brings about the ability to tell myself that I will get to it eventually. No finer example of this point exists like the time I completely half-assed my research paper for my senior year English class. Shout out to Mr. Bordeaux. Forgive me if I spelled your name incorrectly sir. I was the top student in the class. I even got an award signifying the accomplishment. Basking in all this as if it was my destiny to do well in my scholastic endeavors, I marinated and let it all slide. What resulted was a research paper that was written the night before it was to be handed in for grading. No heart and no motivation behind it, just simply scared into the duty of handing it in cause I was told to do so. As a result, the entire class was taught a lesson that took me until now to truly learn. I can still remember him saying it in class. It went something like....

"I would like to warn all of you graduating seniors that this is not the time to slack off and put aside your responsibilities. It can happen to the best of us. The student with the top grade in the class got a D on the research paper because he avoided his responsibilities. Don't let this happen to you."

Maybe that wasn't verbatim, but you get the point. I guess I just let that be a defining moment for too long cause I never actually turned it around into a positive. I continued doing just as I had done with that research paper with far too many things in my life. Perhaps it was because it was a secret embarrassment that I could continue the habits that led to this point in my life. I guess I should just apologize to Mr. Bordeaux for not getting it sooner. A teacher teaching and I just let it slide. I also owe Rebekah Brantingham an award. If I remember correctly, she was number two before the research paper. The only reason I got it was because they had a deadline for deciding who had the top grade before the whole ceremony and I was number one at that time. Least I get it now. Ya don't actually learn anything unless you go through it for real. Not a hidden embarrassment that only you know about, but something that forces you to adapt and overcome. With that I say the next time you see me just slap me across the back of the head and tell me it's about F'n time Rich. Better late than never right?

I will attempt to stay on course and write as much as possible. Hopefully I will someday actually write something good one of these days. Thank you for your time fellow blog patrons. As usual please spread the virus. Remember to put the toilet seat down once you are done with it and finish your veggies or no dessert for you. Or is it desert? I always forget. See what a private school education gets ya. :) Next time I will attempt to point out why there is no such thing as a true-story or non-fiction writing. I may be wrong, but it might still be worth reading. Rabble Rock!


P.S. Just had to for further proof of why she is my number one. Any girl that can flip me off and look like that doing it has my heart. Or is it another part of me? Ok so I am going way too adult and crass on everyone. I promise to tone it down. Maybe. :)

And another thing....

Anyone out there have a movie that they are completely embarrassed to admit that they like? One of those movies you know only 100 people saw when it came out in the theatres and that if you told anyone that you own a copy they would laugh at you mercilessly? I thought about it for a while and came up with mine.

Simply Irrresistible starring Sarah Michelle-Gellar and Sean Patrick Flanery

The story is goofy. It's just plain out there and for some reason it's just my favorite romantic lil flick in my world. I guess You take what you want from a story sometimes and I am solo on this bandwagon. I just wanna believe love is just goofy and magical. Damn too much on my mind. Rabble Rock people!

At "MOM's" request......

Number one. The undisputed number one gal. The anti-Britney. Christina Aguilera. Nevermind the many charting-topping songs she has blessed her voice with. Forget the fact that 50 years from now she will still have a career cause that voice is her most impressive talent. And put aside all false impressions you have from ONE song and video. This is that girl you take home to your parents and say can you believe she digs ME? This is that girl that you tell all your boys about cause there is no way they would ever one-up you. This is that down-ass chick that you leave your entire family for cause it's definitely worth the ride. Forgive my crass attitude and the picture to the left, but I am a single male who lives with two guys. CUT ME SOME SLACK!





Yes "Love Don't Cost a Thing" was not the greatest movie. But I will watch it again and again and again just to be able to see Christina Milian change up her style every five minutes and make every outfit look hotter than the last. Plus if you caught her in "Be Cool" then you know that she can sing too. I got a thing for women who can sing. Call it the ballad lover in me, but something about a soft velvety tone will always make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Yeah it happens to guys too. Deal with it!











This fine actress has graced us in "Boat Trip", "Chasing Papi", and "Rush Hour 2". So if you don't know her by name or face it is more than understandable. But, for my money it's the accent that always gets me with this gal. I'm guessing a theme is coming out from this list, but I'll let everyone else decide what that is. All I have to say is if I was gay she would turn me straight in a nano-second. Plus she makes a business suit look fierce and her dance moves are quite nice. Roselyn Sanchez everyone!!! Give her a round of applause.











Had to get one blonde on here. While Stacy Keibler may be more mainstream currently, Miss Trish Stratus is the WWE Diva I would choose to get into the ring with. The Anti-Lita. She went from eye-candy to the number one female in the business. She is athletic, charismatic, and simply stunning. Through her fitness magazines and her weekly appearances on cable TV she has made quite the life for herself. I can't hate the player or the game and I will (pardon my corniness) submit to her anyday.



A forgotten gal who just cracked her way back into the top five after she got a divorce from the crackhead she was married to for a year. Jamie Lynn-Sigler. Otherwise known as the princess of the well-known mafia family, The Sopranos. It's her voice, but for a different reason. It's just so damn cute. I mean this in a completely non-disgusting way. If she was my daughter she could make me do anything by batting her eyes and saying, "Please Daddy." That cute and innocent thang is working for me. And no that doesn't mean I wanna sleep with my daughter. Right? :)

That's it people. Now discuss this amongst yourselves and always remember get 8 hours of sleep every night. Don't forget to floss as well. Aren't ya glad ya asked MOM? :) Rabble Rock!

What part of "no food" don't you understand?!

Our policy in Labor and Delivery is not to feed anyone. Yeah, it's harsh, especially if you're in labor for, like, 12 or more hours, but there's good reason... First, if, God forbid, things went bad and we had to rush you to surgery, you wouldn't have a belly full of food. There's a reason they tell you not to eat past midnight the night before a surgery you may be having. Second, when your body is doing something as major as having a baby, the last thing it's thinking about is digesting a tummy full of food. If you put too much in your belly, your stomach isn't really going to be able to deal with it and it's going to give it back to you. There's enough vomiting involved with having a baby anyway, why add to it? It's no fun for you, and even less fun for those of us who have to clean it up.

With that in mind...

I had a patient last night who was being induced because her baby was over a week late. She mentioned she was hungry and looking forward to breakfast. Now I have to be the bad guy and tell her our policy. So I tell her that she's not allowed to eat, and I tell her why. She says, "Well, what if I have someone bring me some food from home?" Like it was a matter of us not wanting to feed her. I tell her again that that's not the issue, it's that she's not allowed to eat. She says, "What if I send my husband to the vending machines?" Obviously she's not getting it, so I try a different route. I say to her, "Anything you have to chew, you're not allowed to have." She seems to understand that and looks a little worried, so I explain to her that she can have juice. She seems to understand and I go to leave when she says to me, "What about crackers?"

Back on track

Well, I did what I had to do! In my last post, I said I needed to get my poker game back on track. I needed to play well. Saturday night, I accomplished my goal. Not only did I do well, but I won the whole damn tournament. Yeah, I won $140 which is great, but the win over my friends(who are all very good) was definitely the thing I needed. If I won 10 bucks, but still beat 8 other players, I would still feel just as good. I needed it to get some of my confidence back and I think I did what I needed to. I wish all my goals could be accomplished that quickly. I guess my next poker goal would be to do well in my next tournament. A friend is having a 27 player tournament on Saturday, and although I don't need to win, I would like to just do well. We'll see...

Ummmm....wow!

While reading through my celeb gossip sites last night, I learned about this girl, Melissa Theuriau, who is supposedly the hottest newsgirl in the world. I decided to find some pictures and OH MY GOD!!! This girl is gorgeous! Apparently she does the news in France and after seeing some pictures, I have to agree. What's the best part? In one of the pictures, she is talking about SOCCER! Yup, she is SO on my top five now. I showed Jess the pics and even she said, "Wow!" So, what do you think? Guys who read but don't post, what do you think? Don't be shy...

Disneyland

Been over a week since I posted something- sorry about that. Life has been pretty hectic. My first non-referral sale closed on Wednesday so the last week or so before it was really crazy. I don't know how agents who have 5 or 6 deals at once do it because I was going crazy! Alas, it closed and it called for a celebration. What better way to celebrate than by going to Disneyland. Actually, the trip was planned way before the deal came about, but it sure was a nice reward.

Jess and I left for Disneyland with her dad and stepmom on Wednesday night for three great days in the Magic Kingdom. Most of Thursday was spent at California Adventures, Disney's other theme park there. It was my first time there and I was not disappointed. It is a little smaller than I thought, but it had some great rides including the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. That is a FUN ride. The latter half of the day, we park hopped over to Disneyland and rode some rides including the new and improved Space Mountain. They really did a good job with it. Very fun and the new soundtrack is great. Friday we also spent in Disneyland with Saturday being a light day of a few rides and some shopping. One bad thing was that Pirates of the Carribean was closed the whole time. It is closed until June while they add some Johnny Depp character to the ride. I am sure it will be cool, but it was disappointing not to be able to ride it. Overall, the parks were pretty empty as it wasn't really a holiday season and the weather wasn't that great. It was FREEZING. It was supposed to rain the majority of the trip, but we only got about 1 good hour of rain on Friday morning. There was actually hail in that hour. Other than that though, the weather wasn't too bad, but enough to keep some people home. The only bad part was that it was windy which kept them from doing the 50th anniversary fireworks show. That really bummed us out as it is supposed to be great. What can you do though? Overall, it was a great trip and I already wish I could go back.

So with that and my escrow out of the way, it is time to focus on more business. I am supposed to meet with the couple that want to list their house with me sometime this week. They told me to call back when I got back from vacation. I called them yesterday, but I have yet to receive a call back. Hopefully, this is going to happen really soon. At least I now have my own desk! That was fun.

In addition to work, I need to get my poker game back on track. Last year I was player of the year and this year I just can't get my game on track. I have made very little money and I always seem to finish in the middle of the pack. I need a good win to get me going again because this losing things really sucks. We'll see if I can start something good this weekend...

The Oscars

Oh, where do we begin, where do we begin...

I guess we should start with the biggest disappointment. The film that won Best Picture was Crash. I know in the review post I said I'd be ok with it if it won. I was wrong. Dead wrong. I was devastated. It was an ok movie, but it wasn't better than Brokeback Mountain. It WAS NOT the best picture of the year. Manuel and I sat completely still, mouths agape when it was announced. It honestly occurred to me to stop watching the Oscars after this traveshamockery (travesty, sham, mockery).

It was SUPER uncool to cut off the speech for the people who came to the stage representing Crash after it won. Best Picture is only the biggest category, let the people have their time in the spotlight.

I HATED, LOATHED and DESPISED the fact that background music played during the acceptance speeches. I found it VERY distracting. So distracting, in fact, that I tuned out the vast majority of the speeches. I tend to tune out most of the acceptance speeches anyway, but I found the background music more of a reason to do so.

Most of the dresses looked nice. Charlize Theron's dress looked terrible. What was that thing on her shoulder? My dad said it perfectly when he said, "That's a big ass bow!" You know what it looked like?A pillow on her shoulder! It was there in case she got bored she could lay her head down and take a nap. It was disappointing coming from someone who is usually so beautiful.

And what was with the guy who won whatever it was for Brokeback Mountain? See, I don't even remember what he won for because I was so appalled that he was wearing jeans! He had a tux on top and jeans on the bottom! Hello? It's only the biggest night in Hollywood! Couldn't you find something a little more fitting to wear?!

Did you see Jennifer Garner almost fall?

Jon Stewart did a fantastic job. I don't really know him - I don't watch The Daily Show so I didn't know what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. He was funny without seeming to try too hard. I'd be pleased if he hosted again.

So there it is, our Oscar review. We welcome your comments and opinions.

ROCKY TEASER TRAILER!!!!

If you have been reading my blog, you know I am jazzed about the upcoming Rocky movie. Well, the teaser trailer is HERE!!! Like a good teaser, it doesn't give anything away about the movie, but just gets you excited. This one gave me chills!!! Check it out and please let me know what you think...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5II-BBVQMvU&search=Rocky%20Balboa

Jessica and Manuel at the Movies

Well, we're done seeing all the movies nominated for Best Picture. It feels good to be done, especially when we didn't want to see a few of them to begin with. In this post both Manuel and I will give our opinions on the movies. Here we go in the order we saw them...

Munich
J: I'm tired of Steven Spielberg. All of his movies lately are the same - epic length, gratuitous violence, pro Jew. The length - whatever. If it takes you that long to tell your story, fine, but parts of Munich were slow. It probably would have gotten the same point across if he cut those parts out. The violence - it seems he does it just for shock value. I am by no means a violence prude (Pulp Fiction is my favorite movie) but it seems like he does it because he can. Graphic stuff too. Pro Jew - He's Jewish and I can appreciate that, but does he have to use his films as a platform to preach about it? I know and understand the hardships Jews went through, but really. Who made him the leading authority on Jewishness? The comments he made in regard to Life Is Beautiful totally made me lose respect for him.
Movies that exemplify my point: Munich, Saving Private Ryan (not so much the Jew part) and Shindler's List.
So, overall, it was pretty good. It was a good story and I thought Eric Bana did a good job portraying what it did to him, the things he had to do in the movie. Not, however, my pick for Best Picture...

M: This was an absolutely great film. I actually never once thought it was long and drawn out. It is almost 3 hours and I never felt the need to look at my watch. The movie is a drama but parts of it felt like a really good action movie. How can you go wrong with a movie about assassins with a hit list? I felt that Eric Bana did an awesome job and you really feel for the characters in this story. I dislike Steven Spielberg personally, but I thought he made a great film.

Capote
J: I had no idea what this movie was about, and going into it, I had no idea who Truman Capote was, besides and author. As it turns out, I really liked it. I really got into the relationships formed in the movie and I cared about the characters. I was pleasantly surprised. Not my pick for Best Picture, although I wouldn't be completely devastated if it won.

M: Blegh! I just didn't care about this movie or the characters. I know you were supposed to feel for some of the characters and get emotionally attached but I couldn't care less. I'm sure that Philip Seymour Hoffman did a great job in accurately portraying Truman Capote, but I just saw it as another example of the Academy's love of giving nominations to actors who portray retarded/weird individuals. And even if he had the absolute best performance of the year, I thought the story was still craptacular and didn't deserve to be nominated. I believe that one good performance does not make a whole movie.

Brokeback Mountain
J: I LOVED IT! Loved it loved it loved it!!! Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger are both beautiful men who portrayed beautifully two people in love. It's simply a love story, only it's between two men. The scenery was beautiful, the story was beautiful, overall, just a super super super movie that really touched my heart. I cried at the end. I really developed a caring for the characters. And I know everything I have to say is all scattered and jumbled, but this movie really touched me and I can't really put into words how I feel about it. My pick, overwhelmingly, for Best Picture.

M: It kills me to say this, but this was a really really good movie. I figured it would be pretty good based on all the rave it's been getting, but I didn't think I would like a movie about two gay men quite so much. Most of the time, I think ANY love story is quite boring, let alone this one being about two guys. However, the way this movie is done just really makes you feel for the characters and feel their pain and everything they're going through. There are a couple of scenes that could be potentially quite hard to watch for someone who is homophobic, but you just have to get past that and see the movie for how good it is. I did not cry at the end.

Crash
J: It took a second time for me to really appreciate this movie. It's good. The story is good - how everybody's life is linked and how one thing effects so many other people. It's touching, the things that happen to each person, each little life. The working, the heartache, the fear, the prejudices, the life, the death. I really liked it. Not my pick for Best Picture, but I'd be ok if it won.

M: I'm really torn about this movie. The movie has a good story and it's easy to get emotionally attached to the characters, but there were other things I just didn't like. I didn't like how every single person in this movie was just so easily connected storyline wise. It's like you just got a bunch of random people and just had them run into each other in a 36 hour period. You can't have THAT many people having THAT bad of a day, meeting up all at once in a ginormous city. It's just not realistic, which is something a drama like this should be. I know you have to stretch the imagination to believe something like this could happen to make the story work, but it was almost too contrived. It was a good movie and I could even watch it again, but I did find some faults.

Good Night, and Good Luck
J: Just like Capote, I had no idea what this movie was about going into it, nor did I know who Edward R. Murrow was. And, unlike Capote, I was not pleased when it was over. It was boring. It was a history lesson. I paid $7 to go to school for an hour and a half. The lesson was interesting, but I didn't care about the characters. The story was told using real clips from the events of the time, with actors inserted between. If that's all it takes to make an Oscar nominated movie, I can friggin' do that! Nowhere near my pick for Best Picture.

M: I had read about what this movie was about before I saw it so I was mildly intrigued. I think McCarthy-ism is an interesting subject in history so I figured I would be pleased with this movie. Unfortunately, the movie just didn't do it for me. I didn't care about any of the characters and I thought the plotline was actually pretty thin. The subject matter is fairly interesting, but I just thought it was presented poorly.


Jessica liked the movies in this order, from best to least:
Brokeback Mountain
Crash
Capote
Munich
Good Night, and Good Luck

Manuel liked the movies in this order, from best to least:
Brokeback Mountain
Munich
Crash
Capote
Good Night, and Good Luck

My Mind

I had a dream last night. It was too vivid and real to forget. It wasn't a fantasy kinda dream. It just was a flip side of my life. The "It's a Wonderful Life" version where I find out what if this all went the other way. It kinda went down like this.

I dreamt I woke up and just needed to do something just for me. Completely selfish and without regard for all others. I knew how all my other friends let themselves go and be that bad version of themselves and I could tell that it was just my turn to do it in my own way. I called into my boss and got the day off with some well crafted truth twisting. I avoided the rush of my roommates rising from their slumber, so that I could avoid the obvious 20 questions of me not following the typical regimen of the day. I hit a nice lil breakfast spot and got my fill then made the call I hadn't made in 2 months. When I heard her voice it was sweet symphony to my cold-blooded heart. I could feel her hands shaking through the phone as her surprise to my call was tangible. After an emotional 5 minutes of small talk we agreed to meet. I knew my roommates scheduel and that my girl had not seen my new home. An empty house with the girl I love. Sometimes being bad is just oh so irresistable and tempting. I could resist any kind of peer pressure there was throughout my life. My weakness was just this one thing. I could never say no to her. After a drive in the sunny California afternoon we just spent the rest of our time together in this park that had just become "OUR" spot. It wasn't the scenary as much as it was just the company that made the day drift by oh soo smoothly as if we were an episode in a WB drama TV series. I just wished I could record this day and put it in a permanent loop. I could even feel her lips on mine as she kissed me goodbye and...............

5 am Time to wake up. I just got paid, but it's all going to my rent. I swear the first thing I hear in my head is, "I love you boo." But it was just a dream. I am not that bad guy after all. I didn't spend the day doing as I wished without regard for anyone else. All I get to do is say hi to my stuffed bear and wish I was that brazen and spontaneous. That she would actually take my call if I ever made it. Just another weekend at work. Nothing special.....

P.S. Shout out to Cassie. The song is titled "Somos novios (It's Impossible)" by Andrea Bocelli & Christina Aquilera. It is on Andrea Bocelli's album Amore. I have no idea what they are saying, but I know you are a Christina fan too, so figured I'd share in case you hadn't heard this new song she is on. Damn that girl can sing "The itsy bitsy spider" and I'd be all over buying that album. Rabble Rock!

It's My Birthday!

Happy birthday to me! Today I am 28 years old - getting up there... In 2 years I'll be 30, but let's not think about that right now...

I had to go to work tonight. I was scheduled to work the night of the 21st, and about 1030 am on the 21st work called and asked me if I wanted to stay home the night of the 21st and work days on the 22nd. I said heck no, that's my birthday! I told work it was bad enough that I had to be there when it became my birthday. They offered me to be on call - stay home and get $10/hour to be available if it gets busy and they need me. I said what the heck. So I was on call until about 8pm, then work called and asked me to come in. I got there at 830pm and started working at time and a half, because that's what they pay if you get called in. Heck, the equivalent of holiday pay on my birthday - that works!

They were so sweet too. I love the girls I work with. A few minutes after midnight they sang to me and gave me hugs.

And I got to go home at 330am, so working 7 hours isn't too bad. And I'm back on call again, getting paid $10/hour to sit here and write this.

So what are my birthday plans? Manuel has to work today, probably until about 1 or 2pm, so I'll sleep while he's at work. We're going to see Brokeback Mountain at 4pm, then we'll go out for dinner at BJ's after. And that's it. I'm a simple girl. Dinner and a movie with the man I love works for me.

So happy birthday to me!

GNR update

The time is drawing near! Pat Martin on 98 rock said he has heard some new Guns N Roses stuff and it should be very soon before they start playing it on the radio. As I am typing this, I just got word that they will be playing new stuff THIS MONDAY!!! Rejoice! I feel like dancing as much as Axl does in this video!!!!!

Guns N' Roses - Garden Of Eden (With Paper)


Provided by VideoCodes4U.com

Still going...

My escrow is still going that is. Had a few difficulties this week with the house inspection, but they will probably hopefully be ok. The biggest obstacle has been working with the other agent or agents rather. They are just so hard to get a hold of and it makes my job a lot harder when I have to wait for answers and I can't get them right away. They also don't seem very bright. One time I did get a hold of one of the agents on her cell to ask her a question. She replied with, "I can't get that info for you right now because I'm nude right now and it is on the other side of the house." Ummm....eww! What I am going to do with that info? Why tell me that? And if you are about sixty years old, do you think I WANT to know that? If all goes well, we close on the 8th of March so keep all fingers and tose crossed. The only disappointing think is that the day my clients get the keys to their new house, I will be in Disneyland and won't be able to do the honors. Pretty sad that I can't deliver keys for my first transaction, but what can you do?

No word on my upcoming listing yet. The owners are in Hawaii this week so hopefully I will hear something this upcoming week so I can know something. Will keep you all updated...

Funny Pic

Star Wars fans should appreciate this...

The other night at work...

We work with anesthesiologists all the time at work - epidurals, c-sections, etc. Just like anything in life, some of them are nice, some are not. I have a story to tell about what happened the other night, but in order to appreciate it even more, let me give you a background story involving me and the same anesthesiologist...
I had a Spanish speaking patient who wanted an epidural. As Dr. G was putting it in, he makes small talk with me and says, "I should really have my wife teach me Spanish." I say, "What does your wife do that she knows Spanish?" He says, "She's Mexican," with this tone like I'm supposed to know that. He goes on to say, "She's a nurse." I ask what kind of nurse. He says, "She works in the ICU. You know, real nursing," implying that what I do is not real nursing. For once in my life, I was speecless.So now you know my foundation with this guy, and there is example #1 that he's a jerk.
So the other night I got a patient who was really uncomfortable. I got her an epidural right away. He was ok during the epidural. Not nice, never nice, but tolerable. No jerky comments. So my patient gets comfortable and watches TV and sleeps while she labors.I went on break about 1am. My patient started to get uncomfortable, so the nurse covering for me called Dr. G to give her an extra dose of medicine. Here is their conversation:
"Dr. G, this is A, I'm covering for Jessica's patient in room # while she's on break. She's really uncomfortable. Could you come give her a bolus?"
"A, that patient is a fat pig. I don't really care."
WHAT?!?!?! He came and gave the extra does of medicine, but to make a comment like that?! That was TOTALLY unprofessional. A wrote him up for it. I come back from break, and of course A tells me this. We talk about what a jerk he is.
Later in the night, the epidural bag runs empty, so I call Dr. G to come hang a new one. See, I'm not allowed to do anything with the epidural except shut it off after the patient delivers. He's a little cranky that he has to get out of his nice warm bed to do such a mundane task, and I don't really expect anything else from him but to be cranky about it. Really though, I can understand. But here's the kicker - IT'S HIS JOB.
So he comes, hangs a new bag, and goes back to bed.Well, here's where it gets interesting...
About 20 minutes later, the epidural pump alarms "air in line." I call him:
"Dr. G, it's Jessica. The pump in room # is alarming air in line."
"Fuck." And he slams the phone down. Nice... VERY professional. I write him up for that too. Well, about 20 minutes after he comes to fix the pump, it starts alarming again... GREAT. It is alarming "distal occlusion," which means something is wrong with the tubing between the pump and the patient. At least I'm smart enough to look at the tubing first, to make sure it's not kinked, because can you even imagine if I caled him again and all it was was the patient laying on the tubing wrong? Oh my goodness... So I check the tubing and there's no kinks. The pump is still alarming, so I got back to the nurse's station. I tell the charge nurse that I have to call him again. I tell her that after his last few jerky comments, I'm really quite afraid to call. I ask her to call him for me, as it is part of the charge nurse's job to protect her nurses. She won't call him for me though, so I pick up the phone and dial.
"Sorry Dr. G, it's Jessica again. The pump is alarming distal occlusion. I checked the tubing for kinks but it's still alarming."
"You nurses don't know how to do a gad damn thing with those pumps, do you?"
"As far as I know, we're not allowed to do anything with those pumps."
"That's bullshit. Yes you are. It's your fucking nurse managers that won't give you an inservice. Fine. I'll come down the hall for the 25th fucking time."
And he slams the phone down in my ear. AGAIN.Well, needless to say, I'm LIVID. So angry, in fact, that I'm working REAL hard not to cry.And you know what I did? Wrote him up for that too.
1) I did not deserve to be spoken to in that way. It's not my fault that the pump was alarming - I didn't make it mess up.
2) It's not right that a nurse should be afraid to call a doctor to do patient care. It is my job to advocate for my patient. Intimidation by a doctor gets in the way of and affects patient care.
3) That's harrassment. The doctor-nurse relationship is seen as a superior (doctor) subordinate (nurse) relationship, and for a "superior" to speak to a "subordinate" like that, well, it doesn't fly.
4) His outburst was completely and totally unprofessional.
Granted, I wouldn't like to be called to get up and down like a jack-in-the-box, but that's part of being the in-house anesthesiologist. IT'S HIS JOB. If he doesn't like the hours, become a dermatologist, or a podiatrist, or something else that doesn't have middle of the night hours.I'll never know what comes of this, but you can bet I made sure the proper higher-ups will see the report.It's just sad that we're treated like crap too often. And people wonder why we're unhappy at our jobs and there's a shortage of nurses...

Escrow is a good word...

For the first time, not including the 2 referals I have sent out that have closed, I am in escrow. This time though, it is with my own buyers. I met these people about 5 months ago and it has been a long but enjoyable process finding the perfect house for this couple. They finally decided on one this Saturday, we made an offer on Monday, and by yesterday, our offer was accepted. So as of today, escrow is being opened on a house and I am the agent doing the work. I LOVE IT!!! All the paperwork is a little overwhelming the first time, but I am surviving and if all goes well, it will be well worth it. We are scheduled to close March 8th so think good thoughts between now and then.

No news yet on the listing I got. Because of some family issues, I still have not been able to sign paperwork with them. I am excited, anxious, nervous all in one, but I don't want to push TOO much and make them get mad. I really want to get the listing on paper and on the board at work so I can get my own friggin' desk at work. I am tired of spreading out on the community desk and then having to pick everything up at the end of the day. Once these people sign and paperwork gets going, a desk to call my own will finally be mine! Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes ok here....

Fear Factor

I had a patient last night who was Armenian and had only been in the US for 5 months. She spoke very little English. I took her into a room and told her what the plan was, and she said to me, "I am sorry. I am very nervous. I have much fear factor." HA! HA! HA! To tell me she was afraid, she said "fear factor." How cute is that?!

Unhatched chickens and unexpected eggs

The old saying goes, never count your chickens before they hatch. Never is that more apparent than in real estate. Until escrow is closed, you can consider it an unhatched egg. I have another example of this happening in the past week. There was a lady that I have been working with who was referred to me by my aunt. The lady wanted to buy a house or condo here in town once her condo in southern Cal sold. We have talked a lot over the past few months and I got a basic idea of what she wanted and where. I couldn' wait for her condo to sell because she said we would start looking once it sold. We,, it finally sold this week and she emailed me to tell me that and....... that she wanted to take a break from looking for anything and that she would keep me in mind whenever she started to look again. It just disappoints me because I actually thought I was pretty close to the point whee we would start looking for something. Then this happens and it sounds pretty dead for now. What scares me even more is that this is what my former friend said to me to right before she turned around and bought something through someone else. Did this happen? I don't want to ask for fear of offending the person if she really does just want to chill for now. I guess we will just have to wait and see...

But sometimes eggs come along that you didn't even expect. To make a long story short, I now have a listing! Yes, the parents of a good friend of mine called and told me they wanted to list their house. I went over, presented my material, and they want to list with me. Paperwork has not been signed because they have been really busy so it is still just a verbal agreement (scary), but they have started prepping their house for the sale. If all goes as expected, there will be a sign in front of their house in about 3 weeks or so with MY name on it. This is great, but technically until it sells, it is an unhatched egg. Wish me luck...

Oscar Nominations

Every year Manuel and I make it a point to see all the movies nominated for Best Picture. This year the 5 films are:

Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night and Good Luck
Munich

What follows is my opinion/thoughts on the nominated films...

Brokeback Mountain - I really haven't heard a bad thing about this movie. Fran told me it was just a good love story. I'm actually looking forward to seeing it. And yes, I will take Manuel and yes, he will be one of the only straight men in the theater!

Capote - I'm not even sure who Truman Capote is/was. Hell, I obviously don't even know if he is alive or dead! Seriously though, I know he was an author, but beyond that, I don't know, nor do I care. I am not at all interested in seeing this movie.

Crash - We Netflicked this movie a while ago. Manuel fell asleep (not because it was terribly boring, but because he was terribly tired.) I thought it was ok. It wasn't fantastic. In fact, I was surprised that it was nominated for Best Picture. Usually I can watch a movie and have an idea that maybe it's an Oscar caliber film, and I got no such feeling while watching Crash.

Good Night and Good Luck - Just like Capote, no interest. And, just like Truman Capote, I'm not really sure who Edward R. Murrow is/was. Again, alive or dead? Did I even spell his name correctly?

Munich - I detest Steven Spielberg. I think he is self-righteous with a holier than thou attitude. Research what he said about Life Is Beautiful, and you will understand where my hatred comes from. Anyway, as much as I dislike him, I generally like his movies, so I'm curious what Munich has in store (besides being the usual, epic length preachy story.)

Usually Manuel and I do pretty well in guessing the 5 nominees. This year, not so much. In fact, I had no clue what to expect for Best Picture besides Brokeback Mountain. Manuel said he had it narrowed down to 10 movies.

So as we see them, I'll keep you updated. Manuel and I love the Oscars, so this is a very exciting time for us!

Soundtrack

Time for an interactive post. I have discovered over and over again that in my life songs have a much deeper meaning than the notes, beats, and lyrics that make up it's recipe. I was given a collection of 4 mixtapes on CD recently and they were a musical autobiography of the person who gifted me said CD's. I started thinking bout my own soundtrack to life and this is what I came up with. I had to limit myself to 13 tracks cause I wanted my soundtrack up to this point to be one whole CD. And there had to be at least a couple of songs from before 2006 cause it has been a long 27 years and they all deserve to be represented as best as I can recall. So, play along everyone and tell all what is your soundtrack. Mine is quite the collection, but fitting.
1. Nas - One Mic
2. Evanescence - Bring me to life
3. Shaquille O'Neal - I know I got Skillz
4. Hoobastank - The Reason
5. Nelly and Kelly Rowland - Dilemma
6. Mario - You should let me love you
7. Montell Jordan - This is how we do it
8. 2Pac - Ambitionz az a Ridah
9. Denis Leary - Lock n' Load
10. Shawn Michaels - Sexy Boy
11. LL Cool J - 4,3,2,1
12. Nsync - I thought she knew
13. Lloyd and Ashanti - Southside

That bout covers it. Some are very self-explainatory. Some are a lil more personal and complicated. So are yall feeling me or what? Rabble Rock!

The 5 things that pissed me off last week...

It is still Wednesday by a couple of hours, but this almost turned into a Thursday column. Lazy...

#5 - I washed my car this week because I had to go show some clients some more houses. This is the first time it has been washed since the incident with the crazy car kicker guy. The dent looks worse than I thought. It just made me mad all over again. Jackass...

#4 - My computer has a virus that I can't get rid of. It really isn't too bad, but it makes my computer freeze now and then when I am on internet explorer. I am sure it is just some fairly harmless spyware, but it is REALLY annoying. All pathetic losers who think it is fun to create computer viruses instead of going out and getting a life should die. Jackasses....

#3 - A guy came to one of my open houses this past weekend. Without getting into details, the guy was a total jerk. He was complaining about the most useless stuff and just being overall rude as if I built the friggin' house myself. Get over yourself. Jackass....

#2 - I am sick of the roller coaster ride the Kings are taking us on. Thursday night, I went to Arco to check them out against the Lakers. It was the best game of the year so far and the team actually looked good. I started to get hope again. Of course, they followed it up with 3 craptacular losses on the road where they appeared braindead half the time. Stop giving me hope. At least Peja is now gone, lazy Jackass!

#1 - For the first time in forever, the phone rang when I was answering floor calls at work. Yeah! Better yet, the person on the phone asked if I could meet them at a house later in the day to show it to them. OF COURSE!!! I made an appointment at 3:30, left an open house early....... and they didn't even show up. How rude and inconsiderate can you get? JACKASSES!!!

It REALLY Wasn't Meant To Be...

The new date for the Disturbed concert was finally announced. It was rescheduled to March 6th. Yeah, I have to work that night...

I've come to the realization that we just weren't meant to see them in concert. I don't think the signs could be any clearer. So I'll get my money back and we'll have $100 extra dollars that we didn't have before. That's cool...

Would You Rather?

Would you rather...

burn down an orphanage

or

run over a litter of kittens with your lawn mower?


Hmmm... I'm not a cat person, but still, I can't even phathom cold heartedly killing animals, so I'll have to burn down the orphanage (not that I can phathom killing children either...)

Soon, the MAN will be returning...

Some are saying it will happen as soon as March, others say later this year, but Axl Rose has confirmed that the new Guns N Roses album will be released THIS YEAR. Yes, I've been waiting forever this moment it seems. Yeah, there will be no Slash, Duff, and Matt, but it will be a Guns N Roses album with Axl on vocals(as crappy as they may be now). God, I can't wait. Don't you let me down AGAIN Axl!!!

Guns N' Roses - You Could Be Mine


Provided by VideoCodes4U.com

The five things that pissed me off last week

I am not sure when this turned into a Wednesday column. It used to be a Monday column, then a Tuesday column, and now a Wednesday column. I am 100% sure that it is because of laziness. Anyways, here ya go...

#5 - We get assigned time at work to answer calls and pick up clients. It seems like every time it is my time, my phone does not ring even though the person BEFORE me got calls, and the person AFTER me got calls. It was funny at first, but it is really getting annoying. How can one person be this unlucky? Just another sign that the real estate gods hate me and want me to leave.

#4 - The last three days, the paper boy hasn't placed our paper on our porch. It has been way down the driveway. Sure, you can call me lazy for not walking out to get it, but when it is guaranteed to be on your porch, I have a right to complain.

#3 - I am in a poker rut. I haven't played for money since my last post, but my online fake money account has gotten smaller the past week after many bad games. I don't know what is going on. Did I use all of my poker voodoo? I have a real game Saturday so we shall see.

#2 - Another real estate winner! I was referred to a buyer because the guy only spoke Spanish. The exciting part was that he already knew what house he wanted. All I had to do was show the house to the wife because she hadn't seen it yet. If she liked it, we sign papers and my first transaction would be done. Simple right? Well, we were scheduled to see the house on Tuesday afternoon. I called Tuesday morning to confirm. What did they tell me. They found a house they liked better the night before and signed papers. Like that, deal gone. You know, if this keeps up, I am going to have to start looking for a new job in about 6 months and that is 100% the truth. I hate that because I LOVE my job...

#1 - Is there any doubt of what would be #1. Of course it would have to be psycho hillbilly road rage man(that would be his super villain name.) Even when I think of the events (go back a few posts if you don't know what I am talking about), I start to get so steamed!

It's been a shitty couple of days...

Not figuratively, but literally.

Friday I had a doctor's appointment. My doctor is on the 2nd floor. I took the elevator up, and the second the doors opened, I smelled poo. I figured that someone just walked by and farted. Nice.

I exit the elevator and start down the hall to the office. The smell of poo is only getting stronger. I'm a little baffled. Then I see it. But I have to ask myself if I'm really seeing what I think I'm seeing. As I get closer, sure enough, my suspicions are confirmed - a human turd is laying on the carpet in the hallway. And man does it smell.

I make it to my doctor's office, and as I open the door, the office staff is laughing. "Did you survive the trip down the hall?" they asked. "Barely," I answer. "How does something like that happen?" I ask. "We heard an older person had an accident," they reply. "No kidding. Who's in charge of cleaning that up? I wouldn't want that job!" I say. We all laughed.

But really, HOW does that happen? Even if an old person did have an accident, how does the turd come out of your bum, out of your underwear, and out of your pants? I have never seen anything like that before in my entire life! I mean really, when you're on your way to the doctor, you don't think, "I better watch my step in the hallway - wouldn't want to step in poop!"

And then today Orko pooped in his crate. Again. THAT'S nothing new. What was new - and not pleasant - was that he stepped in it before I let him out. Obviously I didn't know this or I wouldn't have let him out. But I didn't know it, so I opened the door and out he ran. Out of the bedroom, down the hall, to the kitchen, back down the hall, back to the bedroom, depositing little footprints in poo all over the carpet. Nice.

So Manuel and I spend the next hour or so cleaning up after him - me giving him a bath and Manuel scrubbing the carpets. It was EXACTLY how we planned to spend our evening.

So yeah, it has literally been a shitty couple of days...

Disturbed sucks!

Ok, not really. They remain one of my favorite bands, but I'm a little frustrated with them...

We bought tickets to see them in concert on August 8th, 2005. Apparently there was a scheduling conflict and that date was postponed to January 13th. Today. Apparently at the concert in San Francisco last night, the lead singer blew out his voice/vocal cords, thus, tonight's show is postponed also. There's no news about the new date yet.

But what the heck?! I'm beginning to think the band doesn't want to play in Sacramento. Either that or we're not destined to see them in concert.

We had tickets to see then right after we got married. We also had tickets to see Aerosmith a week or two before. The Aerosmith concert was rained out and rescheduled to the same day as the Disturbed concert. We chose Aerosmith.

So that's three chances to see Disturbed in concert, none successful.

Whatever, the lead singer is still super cute. I'd kiss his vocal cords better, even if he doesn't want to play in Sacramento.

So Mad, I Can't Even Think of a Title

This morning, I had an eye doctor appointment. I go to turn left into the parking lot and I see that someone is coming out of the entrance. The exit is right next to the entrance, but I figure this guy is just an idiot. Even though he is in the way, I have plenty of room and I go. As I pass by him, I realize that he is flipping me off with a really angry look on his face. Whatever,it is way too early in the morning to bother with something like this. I pull into the parking lot and park. Out of the corner of my eye, I realize that he is coming back in the parking lot at full speed where he proceeds to park behind my car so it is boxed in. I figure I better lock my door. He gets out and he starts yelling at me about how I am the type of person that drives up everyone's car insurance. The F-Bombs and A-Holes are flying left and right out of his mouth. I calmly tell him (with the window closed of course), that I had the right of way, he was going the wrong way, and I was doing nothing wrong. He then yells more and spits on the car. I figure this is going nowhere and decide I'll just let him yell until he gets tired. He then yells at me for not talking to him and proceeds to start kicking the car. Needless to say, it was time to call the police on my cell. As I reached for it though, he ran back to the car and took off. Because of the angle I was at and where I was parked, I could not get his license plate. I got out and sure enough, my car door has a dent in it. I checked in to my appointment and then went back out to check on the car just in case he came back. This white trash hick was defintely off his rocker and I wasn't putting it past him to go back home and then come back with Junior and Cletus for more mayhem. Was I scared? Not really. I was just on high alert and ready for anything. I didn't reach for my phone right away because if he was crazy enough to warrant a phone call, he would have done something by the time the cops got there anyways. However, when he started kicking the car, I had had enough. I'm not going to report it though. Before I came to this conclusion, I called and asked my friend Gabe who is a Highway Patrolman. He told me as a friend, it sucks that that happened, but as a law enforcement official, he could honestly tell me it would be a waste of time. He went on to tell me all the reasons why and it made sense. Frankly, all I have is a description of him and I know he drives a green Aerostar. After that, there is nothing the cops can do and it would be a waste of time. So, I usually stew on things that make me mad for a long time so you can imagine how long this will be on my mind. I had a meeting at work and I don't even remember what we talked about. I know this is going to stick with me for a while. I am just so irate right now.

The 5 Things That Pissed Me Off Last Week (or so)

Holidays are long gone so the hate returns....

#5 - Saw a bunch of cool things to buy at this fun store in San Francisco on Thursday. I wanted this and that and so on. Too bad we are way too poor to buy anything right now.

#4 - Still no luck on the real estate front, but the new year seems to have picked things up again slightly. Lets see what happens in the next month or so.

#3 - Went to the Kings game on Sunday and it was craptacular. I am not sure that I have ever seen them play worse. I wish that was the first time I had seen that this year, but I have been saying it way too much.

#2 - The annoying lady behind me at the Kings game. I have sat in front of many drunken idiot before, but this lady was just annoying. First of all, she sounded like the old lady from Goonies and Throw Momma From The Train. I hope you know who I am talking about as it makes it more annoying. Secondly, she had a 4 word vocabulary. This is not a joke. She only said 4 words....over and over again. Her vocabulary consisted of Bibby, Peja, No, and Defense. And she said it in that annoying voice of hers. Far and away though, she said Bibby more than anything else. I believe she yelled it around 476 times before she left after halftime. This wouldn't be that bad if she only said it when Bibby had the ball. But nope, she said it when Bibby had the ball, when Bibby didn't have the ball, when Bibby was in the game, when Bibby wasn't in the game, when the KIngs were shooting a free throw, when the PACERS were shooting a free throw, during timeouts, and during HALFTIME! What the hell?

#1 - The absolutely crappy poker game that took place on Saturday at my house. I was all excited for the 1st game of the new season and what happens - I go out first. If that wasn't bad enough, I didn't even win a single hand. Didn't even come close. The cards were just so bad that I never even had a chance. What can you do though, it happens.

How long will you live?

Go to this website, answer a few questions, and figure out a) how long you are expected to live and b) what you're doing a good job at and where you need to improve.

I'm going to live to 86.7 years old, which is apparently less than it should be, but I'm ok with that. 86.7 is a long life.

http://www.agingresearch.org/calculator/quiz.cfm

Standing ovation!

Did anybody read the article in today's Bee titled, "It's Hip To Be Grammatically Correct"? Well, I did, as educating the world about proper grammar, especially misplaced apostrophes, is my goal in life. A round of applause to Gina Kim for writing an article such as this, where she not only includes interviews and quotes from grammar/English teachers and researchers as to why people are choosing to correctly use grammar, but she also addresses some common grammatical mistakes and corrects them.

I must say that there were a few different parts of the article that stood out to me and really rang true. I'd like to share them with you.

"Claiming, 'Who cares how I say it or write it, as long as I am understood,' is like claiming, "Who cares what clothing I wear, as long as it keeps me warm and covers my nakedness.' But clothing performs more than those functions. Your choice of clothing says something about your taste, your awareness of others."

"With the accent, we think of where you're from. With the grammar, it's where you went to school, what job you have, the kind of people you hang out with."

Ms. Kim, as I said above, also includes a mini test for readers to find the mistakes in the given sentences. Number two, following my own crusade, reads, "Martha made some homemade soup and sandwiche's." The answer reads as follows: "Martha made some soup and sandwiches. In this case, "homemade" is redundant, and the apostrophe in a plural noun is wrong wrong wrong." That's my favorite - not just one "wrong," but three!

All I have to say is this: Remember that how you speak and how you write says a lot about you. If you use words incorrectly when you speak or punctuation incorrectly when you write, people may perceive you as less intelligent or educated than you are. Just look at all the flack President Bush gets for his errors. Take pride in yourself and you abilities. Try to put forth the best you that you can.

I'll close with my favorite part of the article:

"I think people who use grammar correctly are sexy because it means they're smart."

It's a New Year...well, 8 days ago

Yup, the calendar now says 2006. It is hard to believe that is the current year. I graduated high school TEN YEARS AGO!!! Has it really been that long? Has it really been FIVE years since I graduated college? It really is true that time flies faster when you get older. I am about 6 months out from hitting 28 and I am starting to wonder where the years went. The only saving grace is that I don't feel like I am 28. My body does sometimes yes. But I still feel like a young guy at heart. That can be good and bad but I mostly see it as a good thing. Not a day passes where I wish it was ok for me to get out action figures and start playing. Why? I don't know. Will I ever outgrow that? Will I be 65 and still playing video games? I am sure that having a kid sometime down the line will affect my fun time significantly, but right now, I don't see myself wanting to outgrow this.

So what do I have in store for the new year. I don't know that anyone has ever had a New Years Resolution and kept it so I won't go that route. I would like to be successful in my job. I love my job and don't know what I am going to do if things don't pan out. Sure, I could go back to teaching, but I hated that job. I don't see myself going back to that. I am right at the 6 month period so hopefully things are going to start panning out soon. I would hate to be 28 years old and looking at a third career after failing 2 careers. Sure, that fits with my above paragraph of not growing up, but my career is something I would actually like to be adult in. Pray, cross your fingers, whatever that in 6 months I am talking about how successful I am in Real Estate.

As you read in a previous post, I won player of the year in poker. I would like to continue being a decent poker player this year and win some more money. On the first day of the year, I started this goal out on the right foot and won the very first poker tournament I played. Not bad to win one right off that bat. However, I played 2 tourneys last night and didn't win any money in either one of them bring my plus/minus for the year in poker to -$10. Not a big loss, but after winning my very first tourney, it would have been nice to follow up with some more money to really build that confidence up. Only time will tell.

It should be an interesting and maybe life changing year. I'll let everyone know all about it...

Dog or Ewok?

Which is Orko the dog and which is Wicket the Ewok?

Who messed up here?

The other day Manuel and I did some running around. At one of our stops, I told him I'd run in and he could wait for me in the car - it was a quick thing. I do what I have to do, then come out and see our car parked. I walk over to the passenger side and go to open the door, only to find it locked. I look inside the car and nobody is there. I look around for Manuel but can't see him/figure out where he'd go. I'm really puzzled now... Then it occurs to me that this may not be our car. I walk around to the back and look at the license plate. Sure enough, it's not ours. Now I'm feeling kinda dumb, but the fact remains that I can't find my husband or our car. I begin looking around again when I hear a honk. I look in that direction and there's my jerk of a husband, sitting 3 spaces away, laughing hysterically. HE WATCHED THE WHOLE THING! I get in the car and tell him that was mean. He agreed and said he'd do it over again in a second.

So am I the dork for going to a car that looked EXACTLY like ours, or is he a jerk for letting it all happen? You make the call...

My my my, how time flies...

January 5, 1996 is an important day in Manuel and my relationship. That is the day we went on our first date. 10 years ago! What the heck?! Can you believe it?! Where has the time gone? 10 years...

It started with him calling me on January 2nd to ask me out. He called and, as I found out later, chickened out and ended up asking me what our Spanish homework was. But he got his nerve up again, called back, and asked me if I wanted to go to the movies with him. I obviously accepted.

So the big First Date rolls around. He picked me up at home. We went to see Twelve Monkeys at the old Cinedomes. When the movie was over, we went to Leatherby's for ice cream. We talked and talked. Manuel spilled his strawberry milkshake all over and made a big mess! See, the shake came in the glass, and the extra came in the metal cup. He went to pour the extra from the metal cup into the glass, but it was a clump of ice cream and came plummeting toward his glass at full speed. His first reaction was to catch it, so he did, which left him with a handful of strawberry shake. We laughed about it, but I found out later that he was positive I wouldn't go out with him again after that. How dare he think me that shallow. How could I resist someone as great as him?

Below is a picture of the movie ticket stub from that first date. How cute is Manuel that he saved it?! It is faded and hard to see, but if you look real hard, you can make out the date and the movie title.

That's how it started. And as they say, the rest is history...

Why I always wanted to be Jimmy Reardon

OK. First you have to understand that it is 2 am. So, this is destined to sound crazy. There is this movie from the 80's called, "A Night in the life of Jimmy Reardon." Not the greatest movie of it's generation, but some things always stick out to people as things they saw for the first time and got their minds to being curious about more than just kids stuff. Just having watched it again for the first time in many years I have uncovered my secret role model. I have always wanted to be Jimmy Reardon. Here is why.......
He spent the entire movie trying to get to Hawaii. All he needed was $188. At 17 he just wanted to get away and start anew. Turns out all I needed was $5,000. I just didn't have Mr. Reardon's drive and determination to get it by any means neccessary.
He spent the entire movie either talking his way into or accidentally falling into the arms of many beautiful women. His best friend's girl, His Mom's best friend, A college girl at a diner he met at 2 am, and even the Hawaii-bound virgin rich girl played by the girl of my teenage dreams Meredith Salenger. Being as that I was too caught up in having my head up my ass back in the day, I might have been just like Jimmy. Dreams I do still have.
I wish I was that smooth a dresser. Sport coats and ties. Nice ass sweaters. Yeah, I said nice ass to describe how a sweater looks. SO WHAT! Those shoes too. Someday I am gonna walk into a room looking that smooth.
In one of the final scene's he is sprawled out flat on the wet asphalt with a bruised eye and a busted lip from having got his ass whooped by the dude who just drove away with the girl of his dreams, Miss Hawaii bound herself. Having spent many a nights getting that beat up over the past few years I know exactly what that is like. That said, I would still wanna be on that ground beat up just like Jimmy. I'd rather chase the ONE than be given SOME. That's a thinker again folks. My new stolen motto fits right here. I'd give up a 1,000 tomorrows for just one yesterday.
Jimmy eventually finds out that his Mom's best friend has not only had him, but his father as well. Jimmy finally comes to realize that the parent that stood before him was also a human being afterall. Sometimes it takes something dramatic to bring this sort of enlightenment about. In other cases it just finally dawns on a kid that people just aren't what we've come to think they are. If only I had followed the teachings of Jimmy Reardon long ago. Oh the trouble I would have saved. I'd be in Hawaii with my tanned gorgeous wife and I wouldn't be up at 2 30 am watching House Party 4 starring IMX. That'll be funny to someone out there. Rabble Rock!

What's wrong with people?

The other day we were driving somewhere, and the craziest thing happened! We've drawn a little diagram to help you understand. We realize the numbers are small, but 1 is on the bottom and 4 is on the top.

The red X is us, waiting to turn left at a light. Along comes a car, the black square. He's driving along (#1), then all of a sudden, he goes into oncoming traffic (#2)!
He stops in the middle of the intersection, in front of oncoming traffic (#3), then pulls into the parking lot on the other side of the intersection (#4). He gets out of the car, walks to the sidewalk, raises both hands into the air and flips the bird toward traffic going in our direction. Then, with both arms still in the air, he yells something along the lines of "You want some?!" He goes back to his car, looks at the driver's side, then gets in and speeds off through the parking lot.

We just looked at each other and laughed. What else can you do?

Would You Rather...

I'm a little disappointed in the lack of participation lately, and I figure this might be because the choices are too horrific. I mean really, that last one was a bit over the line, but I swear I found it in a book and didn't think of it myself...

So on a lighter note, I'll give a less gruesome choice. But on this one, you have to not only choose, but list your choices for everyone to see.

Would you rather...

Be granted the answers to any three questions

or

Be granted the ability to resurrect any one person?

My choice is to get the answers to any three questions, and my questions are:
1) Is there a God?
2) What REALLY happened with the JFK assassination?
3) What happens after we die?

Nobody Puts Baby in The Corner...Beeyatch!!!!

The New York Post is reporting that Patrick Swayze is currently in the studio recording a rap album. Really. I'm dead serious here. It is not often that I am rendered speechless, but I don't know exactly what to say about this. It will probably still sell more than Kevin Federline's album...

Fill in questionnaires are fun...

I saw this on a great blog that I read all the time(http://neuroticnonsense.blogspot.com) and thought it would be fun to fill out myself...

Four Jobs you've had in your life:

Fast food - Carls Jr.
Campus Tour Guide at UC Davis in college
Elementary school teacher
Real Estate Agent

Four movies you could watch over and over:
Not necessarily my 4 top favorites, but 4 I don't get bored of watching over and over
From Dusk Till Dawn
Gone in 60 seconds(The remake)
Kill Bill 1&2
Seven

Four places you've lived:
Torrance
Davis
Sacramento
Antelope


Four TV shows you love to watch:(Top 4 is hard to choose)
Lost
CSI Vegas
My Name is Earl
Scrubs


Four places you've been on vacation:(I've been all over CA so I'll pick outside the state)
Washington DC
Vegas
New York
Mexico

Four websites you visit daily:
joblo.com
egotastic.com
neuroticnonsense.blogspot.com
myspace.com

Four of your favorite foods:
Cheeseburgers
Pizza
Mexican food(since I'm Mexican, is it just called food?)
Good Italian (Ziti, gnocci, riceballs)

Four places you'd rather be:
Vegas
New York
Europe
Cruise ship to anywhee

The Four Books You Must Read Before You DIE...
I Am Legend - GREAT vampire book with a twist
Angels and Demons
Da Vinci Code
The Harry Potter Books!

Copy and paste this in the comments, I would love to see what other people say...

Happy New Year Everyone!

Enjoy the great music - my views on the new year coming soon!

Blue Man Group - I Feel Love


Provided by VideoCodes4U.com

Happy New Year!!!!!!

I'm SO drunk! :-)

Happy happy new year to one and all! May 2006 grant you all your hopes and dreams. I hope and pray it does for us.

Who needs babies?

It seems everyone I know is pregnant. A good friend would be happy for them. Not me. I am jealous beyond belief. The green-eyed monster has a hold on me like you wouldn't believe. The other day we found out one of our friends is pregnant, and we saw her that same day. I didn't talk to her at all about it, didn't even congratulate her. I'm so terrible...

It's just hard when the only thing you want in the world is to have a baby. We've been trying for a year and a half with no luck. It's so hard, so disappointing, so frustrating. Our friends are good people, would be good parents and are deserving so I feel even worse that I'm not really happy for them. But we are good people, would be good parents and are deserving too...

Everyone who knows we're trying says that it will happen when the time is right, and I know that in my head, but my heart doesn't understand. So in the meantime, I'm separating myself from it. It is just too painful. Don't expect me to ask you questions about your pregnancy, gush over your growing belly, or go to your baby shower and really have a good time. If this makes me a terrible, selfish, self-centered person, I'm sorry. I just can't constantly be reminded of what I desperately want and can't have.

But I've come to a realization (maybe this is me trying to fool myself into thinking I don't really want babies, but whatever works...) I have 2 great dogs that I love and treat just like kids. I feed them, bathe them, teach them, take them to the doctor, play with them, hold them, cuddle them, and in return, they follow me everywhere I go and know Manuel and I as "Daddy" and "Mommy." They are wonderful and make me very happy, and really, isn't that what it's all about? Kids, dogs, whatever...

Would You Rather...

We got a few of these books for Christmas (NOT '"The Holidays") and have been having fun going through them. We're getting tons of ideas, some of them quite putrid, as this one is. Good luck with this one. Personally, I'd rather kill myself than actually do either. But remember, you HAVE to choose one...

Would you rather...

Stick your entire head up an elephant's butt

or

Lick a corpse clean after an autopsy?

This choice was actually in one of these books. Where do they come up with this stuff?!

So since I HAVE to choose, I'd stick my head up an elephant's butt. Licking a corpse is rancid, but licking a corpse clean after an autopsy is even more rancid. I shudder to think...

Left Behind

For the past 5 months or so, the only books I have read have been from a 12 part series called Left Behind. There was some magazine reading here and there, but these were the only books I picked up, mostly on weekends at open houses. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I finally finished the final book. After 12 books and nearly 5,000 pages, I finished the series that I simply could not put down. So what's it about? Well, it's a religious series that doesn't have to be read by a religious person to be enjoyed. Basically, at the beginning of the first book, millions on the planet disappear which we learn right away are the ones who were strong believers in God. The rest of the people "left behind" eventually start dividing into two sides - a side that believes that if they believe in God, he will come back for them in seven years and a side who follows the new leader of the world who just happens to be the anti-christ. The suspense in this story was just amazing and also quite gruesome at times. It was very much like the Stephen King story, "The Stand." If you liked the book or movie adaptation, you will love this series. Yes, it's long, but the story is just amazing and hard to put down. There is SOME religious preachiness, but for the LARGE majority, anyone can enjoy this. My wife is almost done, loves it, and as I said before, she is not religious. My mother in law also read it after getting good recommendations from me about 3 books in. Simply put, it's a great story.

OK, stop the nonsense

This whole anti-Christmas campaign has got to stop. It seems like that is all I am hearing about lately; the newspaper, tv, the radio. You can't get away from it. Now, I understand that some people are not religious and that is ok with me. My wife isn't really a religious person, but she still says Merry Christmas. It's just a word. When you say Merry Christmas to someone, you are saying, "I hope you and your family have a happy day on the 25th of December. Most people (not all) are not saying, celebrate Christ our Lord Jesus on the 25th of December or else you are going to hell. Sure, there are SOME people like that but the large majority who wish you a Merry Christmas are simply wishing you a good day. But all of this controversy now and talk of changing everything to Happy Holidays is just sickening. Are we going to now shop for a holiday trees? Are we now going to sing holiday carols? Are we going to watch on tv, "A Holiday Story" and "How the Grinch Stole the Holidays?" Probably not, but if some people get their way, that appears what it might come to. And so what if you aren't religious and someone says Merry Christmas. I wouldn't get pissed off if someone said Happy Hanukah. I would just thank them and take the well wishes. GET OVER IT!!! Oh, and I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas...

A Fictional Short Story by Wes Slater

PICK UP THE PHONE


To answer the phone or not to answer the phone? I could not decide and yet the time was going to come when I would have to make a choice. I could only pick up my cell phone and stare at it in an attempt to make it ring. If it did ring and I answered it I would no doubt find out the truth. If I let it go unanswered then I would be letting go and moving on with my life. My bedroom walls were closing in on me as I sat in my chair staring at a TV screen. I kept changing the channels, but was so lost in my dilemma that it was an exercise in futility. It appeared nothing could free my mind from this psychological prison.
As I sat back in my slightly cracked leather chair and took a deep breath I could feel my entire body tense. The pressure was palpable and I was surrounded by a living space that had been turned into a shrine dedicated to one person. A smile crept across my face as I spun in my chair and absorbed the world I had created for myself. It seemed that if a reminder wasn’t on my body it was preserved in a time-locked capsule to make sure that moment in time was captured for all eternity.
I faced the window in my bedroom and looked down to my bed, which was overrun with inanimate objects that reminded me of Jillian. She had given me the navy blue bed sheets with carnation decorations that covered the twin-sized bed. The pillowcases matched the bed sheets and next to my pillows was a gift that had long outlived its initial usefulness. Snowflake was his name and he was a tiny white teddy bear given to me for a Valentine’s Day gift almost 3 years ago. It had been personalized with a black leather necklace with a pendant that spelled out Jillian’s name on it as well a see-through pair of undergarments. Snowflake made me feel comforted and safe and he even smelled like my Jillian. I swear I could smell Charlie Blue on any person because of how exposed I was to it every night. Not that I ever had any problems getting a good nights rest, but this bedspread always did the trick.
Getting up from my chair and laying on my freshly made bed, I closed my eyes and could still hear those words in my ear as if she was there on top of me whispering them into my ear. I always believed it was just the moment making her tell me she loved me, but that was always the allure of my Jillian. I never knew where she was coming from at any given moment. I opened my eyes and thought to myself how lucky I was to have a lock on my bedroom door. My father would not have approved of that kind of behavior.
The reminiscing was doing my heavy heart some good until I saw the picture frame face down on my desktop. It was no secret to the other people in my life that I was seeing Jillian, but they didn’t know the entire story. The picture frame was only open and standing when I was the only one in the room. I walked over to the frame and opened it up. The picture on the left side of the frame was my beautiful Jillian at her best. The picture to the right side of the frame was that of Junior, Jillian’s 7-year old son. It was always bittersweet looking into the eyes of a family that wasn’t my own. I was the world to one of them and a ghost to the other. Depending on my mood I could be found smiling at the sight of these pictures or crying.
I set the frame down and turned to face my door when I was struck with a happier memory. I could remember how corny I thought it would look in my room before I even did it. My friends for this one act would ridicule me, but it had to be done. I had never been given balloons as a gift before and I couldn’t just let them go by letting the air out and trashing them, so I did what any mentally challenged person would do for love. I deflated those balloons, framed them and hung them up on my door. One balloon read I Love You and the other had MI Amor embroidered on it. I couldn’t help but laugh at it because it wasn’t that long ago that my bedroom walls were covered in posters featuring bikini clad women. Now I had replaced them with balloons.
All this soul searching had me amazed at how the last three years of my life had come to be summed up by a room full of memories and one single phone call. I always had a feeling that it would all end badly because it was always going to come down to a simple question for Jillian. Him or me? He was there before me and had taken her down the aisle, but I was the one who made her feel like she was a princess. I didn’t know it was possible to hate someone I had never met, but I discovered anything is possible. I always gave Jillian the benefit of the doubt because of her family situation and I felt ashamed that I could not do more to be able to help her out of the life she had committed to long ago. But she never made it easy for me to think I was her number one choice. Feeling the necklace around my neck reminded me of that everyday.
The necklace had a pendant with a name on it and it read, "Cali." She would have been a year old this past week. I joked with myself that even a virgin could get lucky more than once on the first night. I did and the decision was made before I even knew it was a decision to make. I even helped Jillian pay for the procedure, but she wouldn’t let me go with her to get it done. I use to be able to tell myself that I can get through that kind of pain with her by my side, but as it turned out I was the only one going through any pain. For some reason, Jillian decided to come clean with me one day several months back and revealed to me that I was carrying a torch for a child that really never existed. But my love for Jillian wouldn’t let me simply turn my back to her. It altered my entire perception of reality and love.
My daydream ended immediately with the vibrations coming from my desk. It was my cell phone. Jillian had sent me a text message earlier in the day that she really need to talk with me and that it was important, but all this thinking had gotten to me. I was frozen and as the phone kept vibrating I could feel a tension leave my body as if I was finally letting go. She would never choose me no matter how long we keep this up. No matter what I did she would go home to him. Junior would always come before me. The phone stopped ringing. It was the first time I ever ignored her call. I didn’t feel any guilt or any need to call her right back. I had let go of my dream. Seconds later, I could hear tires squealing from a fast moving car right outside my house. I walked outside to see what the commotion was and was stopped cold by what was waiting for me at my front door. A dozen red roses and a bunch of balloons were on the ground and a tiny box was tied to the balloons. I picked up the box and opened it and revealed a platinum ring.
Was I wrong? Did Jillian finally choose me? With my mouth open I felt salty-water drip onto the ring in the box. What had I done?

Lighting Sucks Yo - AGAIN

If you remember a couple of months ago, I posted about my friend's house in Oklahoma being struck by lighting. Well, what do you know, it happened again, IN THE SAME SPOT! Now, they say that lighting never strikes the same place twice. Obviously, that is not true. Needless to say, she is installing some sort of lightning rod on the top of the house to divert the lightning should it miraculously happen again.

VICTORY!!!

Saturday was the season ending poker tournament at my house. After a long season of many tournaments, 10 of us gathered to win the year long prize pool and the coveted player of the year title that comes complete with a trophy. What a time for the best tournament of the year! This tournament lasted about 4 and a half hours and took many twists and turns. 6 of the 10 players had the chip lead at one point, many of them after being the short stack for a while. With 5 players left, I had the lowest amount of chips. However, I battled my way back and was even in chips with Jason as we went heads up. After a foolish move by me, he had 7 times as many chips as me. Again, I battled back, took the chip lead, and at 11:30, I was the 2005 poker champion. Yes, I won a stack of money, but being the player of the year among my friends means so much more. I can't wait for the new season to start January 7th!

The 5 Things That Pissed Me Off Last Week

#5 - The Kings still suck. You know, they are going to have to make some moves real soon because the ship is sinking. At almost a third of the way through the season, it is obvious that the problems probably aren't going to just correct themselves.

#4, 3, 2, 1 - Yes, the next 4 spots are taken up by one group of people - Christmas shoppers. What is it about the holiday season that just brings out the worst in people. At the stores, people just become grumpy, self-centered idiots. Yeah, it is more crowded out in the world and nobody likes that. Deal with it. That is what happens. And remember, YOU are not the most important person out there. It is bad enough when people are out walking in the mall, but it gets even worse when they are in the car. On Saturday, I drove to the bank and back home - a 10 minute trip. I almost got hit by FOUR different cars. Cars weaving in and out of traffic, cars trying to fit where they can't, and cars that just can't wait their turn. All in the holiday spirit! Just relax out there, slow down, use your head, and don't be an ass out there. You won't like me when I am angry.

Would you rather...

Would you rather immerse you naked body in a bathtub of cockroaches

or

dive naked head first into a pool of chewing tobacco spit?



Um... Yick to both, but since I HAVE to choose, I'll go with the cockroaches.

Something to believe in.

Sooooo. Once again it's that time to fulfill an obligation to my peeps. The year is almost over and I do what everyone does at the end of the year. What did I learn this year? I don't mean to go all Yoda on everyone, but I can't help but feel I have done ALOT of sitting in exile and thinking. I discovered a few things about myself and life......so here it goes

A girl can make a guy do anything. THAT is so true.
I was an angry young man growing up and I blamed alot of people for all of my disappointments.
I finally found something to believe in, and I was so wrong.
I miss my family. Mostly I just miss her.
The end does not justify the means. EVER.
It is possible to have a CD by Chamillionaire, Craig David, and Fort Minor and still be cool. That one a is a thinker.
Moving out is cool. Guess this cooking thing is easy.
You can find friends in the strangest of places. Even MySpace.
I will never get tired of buying shoes.
Finally I must steal this from my man Ne-Yo. I am so sick of love songs, but why can't I turn off the radio?
Peace my peeps. Oh and a special shout out to Cassie. Thanks for the compliment because every writer wants feedback, good or bad. But an honest writer wants to have the effect that my writing has on you when you read my posts. Spread the virus kid. OUT!

What the Hell?!?!?!?

Man he's a weird dude...

The Five Things That Pissed Me Off Last Week

5- The gym I joined in JULY still hasn't opened yet. They keep delaying the opening because of building issues. I stopped by today and they said hopefully by the end of the week. Yeah right. C'mon..I need the exercise. Hurry the "F" up!

4- The Walmart by my house is nearing completion. Damnit....go somewhere else you bastards!

3- Comments, comments, comments. Yup, you've heard this all before. Maybe I need to repost that step by step instruction sheet on how to leave a comment. Have nothing to say, leave a, "Hey Manuel, you are so cool," or a "Hey, man I wish I was you, " or something of that nature.

2- Kings still suck. Sure, they ended the week on a two game winning streak and actually looked decent. It still doesn't make up for the monstrosity that was the beginning of the week.

1- The aformentioned bitch at the open house. I don't think I need to add any more to that.

Miami Vice BABY!!!

The trailer is out for the '06 version of Miami Vice! It looks friggin' AWESOME!!! Go see it now at http://www.bacardilive.com/ Yeah, it is weird that it is on this website, but it must be a sponsor or something. Anyway, I cannot wait for this!!! GO GO GO and leave me a comment on what you think...