Monday, April 24, 2006

no joke

Ann Lynn has a meeting with MTV today. Nobody is sure what the meeting is about, but it's exciting nonetheless. They got a hold of the EP and called Josh up and asked to meet with the band. While the boys are having their fancy meeting, Andrea and I are going to 3rd street in Santa Monica to shop. Wish all of us well!
p.s. They have a show at the Lava Lounge on Thursday night that is going to be fun. Come on out! -a

Monday, April 17, 2006

disappointed

i just ate a really disgusting hamburger. i hate it. i threw most of the stupid thing away. i can't leave work for lunch today so matt said he would bring me something. i really wanted a meatball sandwich but the stupid meatball sandwich place wasn't open yet. so i settled for a burger from this place called bjs. not bjs the pizza place that they have "down the hill". that place has good food. this is a different bjs and their hamburgers suck. matt will disagree with me, but i'm telling you, they suck. matt had suggested that i get a hot dog from circle k and now i wish i would have. it definately would have been better than that stupid disgusting hamburger! all this to say, i'm going back to eating pizza three meals a day. pizza has yet to let me down.

Friday, April 14, 2006

On the brighter side of things.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching an old toothless couple eat McDonald's Baked Apple Pies.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Good Afternoon, Welcome to Big Bear.

When I'm not drafting or building or maintaining, I'm in the vacation business, or the travel business if you will. I take reservations, book rooms, check in guests, as well as give recommendations for ski rentals and restaraunts and hiking trails. Usually I hate this very much. It's not easy being surrounded by people who are fresh on holiday, excited about buying souvenirs and sleeping in and drinking cosmopolitans. However I've found that with a little effort and a slight adjustment in attitude, my position here can be quite enjoyable. It's a lot like what I imagine Christmas as a father would be like. For example, it's not about you as it is about them. You've had your turn, or will soon. You're in control of first impressions. You set the mood. You can sneak off to the kitchen for a quick brandy blazer and be back before the kids put the batteries into Teddy Ruxpin.
So I don't know if battery operated talking bears have much to do with it, but other than that this is how I feel. Check in day is like Christmas. Our customers are like children. I'm the first person they see. I set the mood. I give them things, not gifts, but room keys and maps, and I send them off in the right direction.
I like to think that I'm a significant part of these peoples time away from home. I like to think that I just might play a role in helping them enjoy their vacation that much more. I like to think that even though I would rather be on vacation, while I'm not, I will do what I can to be a part of or as close to the active remains of the worlds community of travelers.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

memory

a few winters ago, when i lived by myself above the liquor store and rosie and suzanne lived in "the slum", suzanne and i had nothing to do. as on most occasions when we have nothing to do we found ourselves at teddy bear drinking coffee. after several hours we had consumed an absurd amount of coffee, were much too hyper for our own good, and reverted back to jr. high and thought it would be a lot of fun to walk to k-mart. we took a cup of coffee to go and began the three-mile walk in the freezing cold snow. about, oh, ten minutes into the walk we realized that this was a dumb idea, not fun at all, and that k-mart was much farther than we thought it was. in order to make the time go by faster and distract us from the cold we decided to sing every song that we knew by heart, starting with bohemian rhapsody. we had so much fun with that one that we switched gears and decided to quote wayne's world in its entirety (we rule at this, by the way). we were part way through when we arrived at k-mart, which was closed, and started making calls for someone to pick us up so we wouldn't have to walk back to teddy bear where my car was parked. we couldn't get a hold of anyone, but we still had wayne's world so we started the walk home. we were in the middle of "did you find bugs bunny attractive in a dress playing a girl bunny?" when we noticed that there was a group of shady looking guys walking behind us. fifteen minutes later they were still behind us and we started to get worried. we started imagining all the things they might do to us. like kidnap us or shank our achilles. we started to get angry, "who do they think they are? they can't mess with us." we formed a plan. if they tried anything we would go completely nuts, we would be a fury of teeth and nails. we got really worked up and brave until we passed through a section of the street with no lights and it seemed very very dark. we lost all our gumption and started running, yelling "no, not my achilles! anything but my achilles!" looking back, i don't think those guys were following us at all and probably thought we were complete freak shows. but that night forever solidified our fear of getting shanked in the achilles.

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

still?

it snowed six inches last night and it's still coming. i'm annoyed. it's freezing. i don't have any snow boots because three months ago it didn't look like i would need them. i like winter, i like all of the seasons. i love the snow and i love bundling up. but i like these things at their proper time. the appropriate time for snow and winter is from november to the begining of march. sometimes it creeps in a little early in october, that's ok. but this is silly. it's april for god's sake. this isn't alaska, this is southern california! this year in november, december, january, and even february: no snow. in fact, it was kind of warm. no winter like behavior. march rolls around and suddenly winter decides to show up. well i say, you had your chance winter. make room for spring. i want to wear cute shoes. anyway, if this nonsense keeps up through may i'm getting out of here. hey talbots, how is the weather in ventura? can matt and i share a room with ewan?

it's not just the ill timed weather that's getting me down. i just finished reading "gone with the wind" and it's got me in a funk. matt tried to tell me that it's just a book and the people aren't real so i shouldn't get upset. i can't help it. i have to take a little break before i start something else. any suggestions of something to read that is not so emotionally taxing?-a

Monday, April 03, 2006

Good Days of Old

This morning I stood in the shower for probably fourty five minutes, soaking up the hot water, staring at the floor, and reflecting on some good days of the past. I noticed that these good days, for me, all encompass the same qualities. For example, these days usually begin fairly early in the morning. They usually take place in nice weather. They are most often experienced outdoors. They don't fall on or around a work day. And among other things, there is no serious responsibility involved. That is the way life should be lived.

1989: We spent the evening at The Conastoga Hotel playing in the pool and listing off, in order, which rides we were going on the next day. Splash Mountain had just opened. Star Tours was new. I bought a jaw-breaker the size of my head, and licked it three times a day for the next seven years.

1992: After a big day at summer camp I came home to find a Hawaiian Luau Birthday party waiting for me. All my friends were present, including Derek, Josh, Seth, Steve, Chad, and Danny. That night we watched Stand By Me, and then I beat Chad at Blades of Steal.

1997: Last day of my sophmore year. We ditched and went out to the rocks, where we jumped in the lake, lounged in the sun, drank Cactus Cooler, and listened to NOFX until nightfall.

1999: We went to the Heule's cabin on the edge of Zion in Utah. We had an early breakfast at a local ranch, rode horseback through the hills, had lunch on the trail, headed back to the ranch for a climbing wall, took a dip in the pool, played paintball, rode quads through the desert at sunset, and went back to the cabin to shoot rifles and skewer up shish-kebabs

2001: Derek and I were in the middle of a backpacking trip down the coast of California, just north of Santa Cruz, when we decided to mellow out for the day and find a place to sleep. We found a thicket of bushes with a cave like grotto inside, where we set camp. We sat on the edge of the cliff to share a few cigarettes and watch the sun go down. Then we gathered driftwood, had a fire, and ate ramen noodles with salami.

2004: Honeymooning on Oahu. We were up at dawn to rent a car and explore the island. We traveled up the east shore, had lunch on a Macadamia farm, snorkled with sea turtles in a shallow lagoon, leaned into the wind at Nu'uanu Pali, ate "shave" ice on the north shore, hiked the jungle to swim Waimea Falls, and made it back to Waikiki by evening for lobster and coctails.

These were good days. What do we have to do experience more days like this, together, and soon?