命運輪變
God isn't done pulling my marionette strings. Not by a long shot. Just as images of 150 mL beakers, erlenmeyer flasks, and graduated cylinders float in my head brushing away the quasars, red shifts, and string theory, life gives me a alarm call. I met Chris the other day and apparanently, I have been made Physics Club Treasurer. No small feat, I can tell you that, considering the huge membership of 10 people in this massive conglomerate. I think nothing of it and continue on my merry way. I run into Michael this morning and he tells me there was a meeting yesterday. Oh no, I might be impeached for missing the first meeting of the new term. He then tells me Anne has some astronomy thing that he thinks I am "perfect" for. His words not mine. So now the quarks and stellar nurseries spring back to life invading my daydreams. I must not fret though because, I often make big deals out of little things. Anne's "astronomy thing" could very well be helping her setup some telescopes outside for a new wow sighting of a once-in-a-lifetime celestial phenomenon. But then again, Anne works part-time at JPL...
You know whats the worst thing about your car constantly left-turn signaling at random rates? Sometimes it goes racer faster, sometimes it blinks in random seccession giving the impression a baby is playing with the stalk. What's worse is spending 10 bucks on what you thought was the magic replacement part, only to find the error is elsewhere down the line. So today, pissed as hell, I ripped open the steering wheel and funked with the stalk. Now it works. Brilliant? I think not? The car is playing me. Tomorrow when I go out there, it will tick-tack again.
Had an awful nightmare the other day. All I remember is the end. I called Nga a snob and a bunch of other words associated with it. She got wholly postal, tears in her eyes she ripped me a new one and yelled at me until I almost crid. So I just wanted to say, "Sorry Nga. I didn't mean it."
A Break
Finally, after month's of staring longingly into them as I pass by them in the halls, I've finally received one. Month's of yearning and pleading have finally produced fruits of passion. My classroom door proudly proclaimed: "Class Cancelled for today." Oh what wonderful words! It sheds a little light into the darkness of my moonlit life. Blame my math and science classes, taught by nerds and professionals who have no life to live, for the lack of cancelations. And now I take my first class of diversity, religion 335 and it has blossomed upon me like a puppy just opening his eyes to the world. At an opportune time as well because the scheduled quiz was not studied for. Let me not flutter and waist this gift away. I will now engorge myself in endless books 'till I puke and pass out.
Where's the cool?
Not much new to report today, but I filled out two work orders at the housing office today. One to fix the garbage disposal and one to fix the ac. When I woke up at 7PM today, I found they had come and fixed the disposal. That's pretty speedy work. But why is the AC still not working? Why is AC so hard for me to obtain in this life?
"Nothing finer in this world than central air."
I really want to see Bewitched.
Roommates
It's been a week since I've been here and I think I have made a few rush judgements on my roommates. I got my own room so I only have two other roommates in the room across the hall.
Tony is a big tall black guy. I think he's gay because he speaks very feminine. I already mentioned that he hardly says a word to me. Anyway, I spent my first day there cleaning out the kitchen. There was milk in the fridge since February. Food that was expired since 2001. Trays of mold growing in the fridge. I think it used to be food but I can't see through the fuzz. I know that Josh doesn't cook so I thought I might as well consolidate an clean out anything not edible. I didn't think Tony would mind. It's not just that food was left everywhere growing old. It's that there were unopened packages of the same thing also growing old. So if I found a package of cheese that had mold on it, I would also find 2-3 more packages of the same cheese with slightly less mold on it. Same for pancake syrup, peanut butter, and even flour. Who bakes? Tony came home and was surprised I washed everything and cleaned up the kitchen. He even thanked me. I found out that he had secured a corner of the kitchen for his stuff which means the rest of the food belongs to people who doesn't live here. He told me, "Josh is a cool roommate but he is a little messy. I'm glad you like to be clean like me."
Cool, I thought, gay men sure are clean.
But now I know better. It just dawned on me that a large portion of the expired food was found in Tony's corner. In fact, Josh is hardly at home at all, let alone the kitchen, so that most of the old food in the fridge is his. And he just left it there to grow old until there was no space left in the fridge to put anything.
See, Josh is a mess and he admits it. A good thing though is he hardly ever eats at home so he has very few unwashed dishes. And doesn't make a lot of mess.
Tony, however, is just... I don't know what the word is to describe him. But he doesn't wash dishes. The stuff just piles in the sink. I have to clean it because there wouldn't be any room to do anything if I didn't. I mean the stuff sat there the whole week until I cleaned it today. He bought pizza on Sunday and on Wednesday leftovers in the box was still on the kitchen counter. Hello? Put it in the fridge? Throw away your boxes? And then for some odd reason he through out the trash which surprised me he did something clean. It was the last trash bag so now he is just leaving his trash on the kitchen counter. He had two mugs in the tub. I don't know what he was doing with them. But there were two mugs when I went into the shower today. I came back from class one morning and found the heat on. He said he was trying to "knock out the cold from the morning." Dammit, didn't I choose a roommates who wanted AC on all the time? Turn on AC in the middle of summer???? I don't think the housing people actually look at the applications. I mean I kept getting billed for a room for 6 months even though I didn't live here and now I have an empty bed next to me which could be used for someone. I tried to setup DSL the other day and Tony asked me why. I said I just wanted to use the internet faster. Then he just gave me the face like he was snubbing me. Josh was there and asked him if he wanted access also and he just pretended we weren't there and talked on the phone. We said all you need is a wireless card or ethernet card. He said, "I ain't got any of those so forget about it." Fine, you can pay 20 bucks for your slow internet while we share broadband for less. Oh and he likes to leave the light on in the kitchen and hallway. Sure we don't pay for electricity but that is just a damm waste.
Anyway, we are three people who are very dirty in the way we live. I admit it. Josh admits it. Tony is just a hypocrite and as I see the mound of trash grow on the kitchen counter top, it just makes me mad. I guess I will leave off with good things so it doesn't sound like I am too one-sided.
Tony still rarely says a word to me, but when he got pizza that one day, he offered me some.
Yesterday's tomorrow
I'm not feeling very well today. I'm going through some intense withdrawal and hunger pains. I'm like a pregnant woman. It must be from all the bingeing I did over the 2 weeks I got off school. I ate like a madman because I knew when I came back I would have nothing. I think I went a little overboard. I think I drank like 10 cans of soda over the weekend. I just couldn't stop myself. Last night, I fought off my urge to drink my 3rd can of the day. And it hurts. It hurts somethin' fierce. Add to that my hunger pains. There is no store within walking distance so I just had two Dijournos pizzas the last 4 days. Woe is my lazy butt.
Heard that movies are on its 17th week of falling sales. On the radio, they came up with a lot of reasons for this. I don't think movies have gotten worse or better the past couple of years. They've been more or less about the same. A big difference is cost though. All those fancy computer animations have increased the cost of the movies and thus, ticket prices have gone up significantly. Normally, I am the bad "consumer" who says, I can just download any movie I want. But seriously, I haven't been downloading movies. Well, it might be because suprnova went down. But generally, I'm just not interested in movies all that much anymore. The critics all loved Cinderella Man yet, it didn't do well at the box office. Like I told Nam, that name is just stupid.
A whole lot more girls have shown up for summer school so it makes class a little more intersting for me. I get all new lab instructors again this quarter. I hate adjusting to a new style of grading. Always takes me a couple of low lab grades before I get the hang of it.
Stupid questions:
"Hey John, you got a printer?" asks Tony, my roommate
"Yeah, you need to use it?" I replied.
"Does it work?"
Why would I bring a broken printer from home and offer it to you? Idiot.
"Have you looked up information for the trip?" asks my friend.
"Yeah, but I haven't found anything yet." I said
"Are you sure you looked up stuff?"
What kind of question is that? So I'm lying to you then?
Summer 2005 observations
Ever since the salty-salty-crusted outside meat of a Cattleman's steak a couple years back, I've had in the back of my mind to age and cure my own meat. The restaurant menu had a brief description of aging the meat in wooden barrels full of special salt. As I've said often, Ky and I think alike so he mentioned last week of aging meat after having some good steak at Macaroni Grill. I opened up this month's Maxim and lo and behold: instructions on how to age meat in your fridge. Coincidence?
Another difference in the lifestyle between the Bay Area and LA has been pronounced. I mentioned earlier in the ubiquitousness of a Ti-8x calculator to Calculus students or students in general in the Bay Area. Down here they still go gaga at my semi-computer calculator. It's like when Meg went down to Dixie in Famliy Guy and the yokels were gawking at her city stuff. Anyway, I had taken for granted that everyone had their own computer. But here, sometimes there is only one computer in the house and they have to wait in line. Even worse, of the 10 people I've talked to in the campus housing, only 2 people actually had a computer. The heck? You're in college and you don't have a computer and I have 3? Anyway, there goes my plans of tapping into someones WiFi network.
HBO is a great channel. I've watched so many movies this past weekend, that I didn't even think of driving back home.
Rafting next year, sometime in June 2006 $120, Class III, Saturday and Sunday. Anyone interested?
Dorm
I've finally arrived at traditional college life, albeit 7 years late. You know what they say, "Better late than never."
I arrived at the front counter of housing services and the lady just handed me my keys with little fanfare. I don't know, I expected an entourage of people who will cheer and hip hip hooray for a new roomie. Something... anything... But wild dreams are just that. At the very least, someone should walk me to my room and show me how to use things and what not to do. I remember At Santa Cruz there were signs on every door saying welcome to all incoming tenants. Even at UCI there was a lot of comotion. (Darn my spelling) Anyway, I walk up to my apartment and fumbled awkwardly with the magnetic army necklace type key for about 5 minutes before I managed to get the door open. Cool, I thought, I got one of the double room apartments not the 4 room apartments. I went into my room and noticed my roommate wasn't there so I just plucked what I had on a bed and went to go get myself a residential parking permit.
I was in line for about a minute at the cashier's office when a girl came up besides me. She had a really clean smooth face, either that or she puts on hella make-up. I make it a point not to stare directly in people's faces so I don't know for sure. She started talking on a the phone as the line snaked on. Then I realized she's edging up really close to the mom in front of me. What the hell? She's trying to cut. Pretty soon, she is in front of me. A couple of years ago, I would have just let it slide because I am in no hurry. But as Kim puts it, "It's the principle" When she finally got off her phone, I tapped her on the shoulder, "You came in after me, you're supposed to be in back of me." This time I wanted to turn away even faster without looking because she had metal coming out of the bottom of her lip. There was metal on the side somewhere too. Pretty girl has to ruin her face like that...
"Oh I'm sorry." she politely murmured while moving aside. I moved in front her.
Then she whips around and glares at me, "If you've been here how come I didn't notice you."
I wanted to scream at her because she's a bitch and wouldn't notice anyone who's not wearing a Rolex and an Armani suit.
"I was standing on the right and you came into line on the left."
Jeez, if you got off the phone once in awhile, you'd notice people around you. Anyway, this little story noteworthy because for once, I stood up for myself. It starts with the little things.
I had dinner with Mandy, picked up my stuff from her place and went to my room again. I was contemplating how to get everything from my car off in the distant parking lot to my dirty little room with a hole in the door. Just then a big black guy came out of the darkness and stared at me. "Who are you?"
"Hi, I'm John, I'm the new guy." I muttered.
"Oh you're in the other room." Then he turned around and went to his room.
Ok, little rude, but that's alright. I'm rude too.
He walked in and out without saying a word to me as I lugged my stuff in. Ok, that's more rude than me now.
Later that night, I go outside twirling a roll of tape casually skipping my way to my car. I felt good that I figured out my problem. See, you have to stick your parking permit to a plastic hanger. The sticker, however, disintegrates into a mess on the hanger after 3 months in the sun. The sticker won't come off cleanly. I soaked the plastic hanger in hot water angrily scratching at it for an hour trying to clean it off. Oh yeah, it's a clear hanger and you have to see through both sides of the permit, that's why I can't just stick a new permit on top of the old one. Anyway, I figured I could tape over the plastic hanger with clear tape and then place the new permit on the tape. INGENIOUS huh? ... Whatever, screw you, I thought it was neat. so I walked out of my apartment and see two guys pick up a box ripping and spilling out clothes.
"Hmmm, you two guys look like you need tape."
So for the cost of a bit of tape, I enlisted two guys to help me move my crap to my room. Actually, I picked up the roll of tape a couple of months ago on the ground.
Even later that night, Tony's roommate: Josh, arrived with a chick. Dude, was cool. He even told me Tony's name. Tony takes a while to warm up to people apparently. Josh however, treated me like his bestfriend after just knowing me. "This is your place, just have fun." He told me AC is broken so we have to put in a work order on Monday. Don't worry about rules or anything. If you bring anyone over, it's cool. If you bring a chick over, be sure to bring one for him too. I don't have a roommate for some reason. No one know's why but it's cool, I don't need a roommate asking me why I am watching Last Samurai on HBO at 3AM in the morning. Because I've never had HBO and it's free dammit. Heheh.
Let's see what tomorrow brings.
Reliability
A few thoughts I've been having.
My dad was late to pay car insurance last month. The policy wasn't canceled or penalized or anything. It was only a couple of days late. But I wonder what would happened had an accident occurred during that time. My car is under his name, so I elected to pay it for him this month so that I don't possibly find out. I decided that he could paid me back two weeks later than the next due date. I come back home with excuses that he had to pay for other things. He'll pay be back on his next pay check. So he's late to pay a late bill??? Disappointment will be coming on the 20th. That will be his next paycheck and he will be either say he doesn't have it or pay me half.
My sister opened up a new credit card last month. I told her not to. The last time she opened up one in hopes of transfering balances, they gave her a $1000 dollar credit line. In the scope of her debt, this is chump change and a waste of my time to have to worry about another bill to pay. We ended up just paying it off after one month. So it's over a year later and she said she would call in and make sure she gets the a high credit line first before signing up. Her credit should be way better now, why not give it a try? The company surprised even me by giving her a $500 credit line. I didn't think it would be lower than last time. So I saw the bill and told my sister this is your crap, you deal with it. I don't want to be responsible for it. The bill is due on the 16th and she's done nothing with it. She actually waited until I came home to talk to me about it. What happened to phone and email? So I said, pay off the bill. So on Thursday I told her to pay it off. On Friday the bill is still on the table. So I decided to to emphasize the impending due date to her that if it doesn't go out by Monday, it will be late. I nearly pleaded with her to at least write a check and put it in an envelope ready to be sent. And right now the bill is still on the table. I would love to really just leave it alone and not worry about it. If she is late, it's her own damm fault. I tried. But in the end it comes back to me because I hold the bulk of her mountain of debt. Any problems on her side delays the time for me to return the debt to her. So tomorrow when she goes to work and may or may not realize she forgot about the bill again, I would have sent it in for her. Of course I can't forge her signature.
Mandy is always late. I could have come home on Monday night but Mandy says please stay until Wednesday. Mandy is so nice to me so I said I will. I said I will be back Thursday next week, Mandy says please take me home on Wednesday. I'm a pushover so I say yes. Besides, Mandy is so nice to me. Mandy says we will leave at 6:30 AM Wednesday morning after she does her Ebay stuff. I tell her, you're not going to wake up that early and besides there's traffic. Let's leave at 10 AM instead. We left at 3PM. 5 hours late.
Mandy is always late, so anyone linked to her is always late. This statement isn't fair. But my mind is so messed up, that's what it seems like. Rafting ended up being a bust because we were one hour late. We had to do the half day trip because the bus already left promptly at 9. I'm not saying it's anyone's fault. Rafting ended up costing $147. The heck? I've never paif more than $70 to raft. Why is it so expensive? We got a guide, that's why. I've never had a guide. Sure a guide is better because they know where to go and how to steer. But if you had a stranger in your little powwow, would you talk much? So we ended up silently drifting down the river barely saying anything. And it was an easy ride too because the guide steered us around trouble. Mandy who never rafted before even said, "Class 3 is so boring."
Bros before hos. Jack enlightened me on this last month. It just took me this long to reflect. Now, that it's been 26 years since I've held this philosophy down. I'm hard pressed to think of a situation where I've deviated. I've been trying to think of a situation where I would choose a girl over a friend. But I haven't been able to. Which is hard to believe since so many of the people I often hang with are of the female variety. I wonder if anyone could prove me wrong.
