Holy Shit!

Yeah, it's been over a month since I last scrawled in here. My apologies. I miss writing in this, and hopefully I'll keep up the habit of writing in it every so often. Blame Twitter and Facebook.

I'll be fraink;

Things that have happened:
-Went to my 3rd ever White Sox game @ The Cell. They lost. Though I wore a black shirt, I remained in my seat and silently cheered in my head when they did lose.
-I turned 21! I also won $350 dollars when Dad took Ate Jen and I to the riverboat casino in Elgin that night. The moolah was won in slots and blackjack, though I lost about $100 in roulette.
-Been relaxing and drinking with friends whenever I can; in particular, just had a BBQ/jam session at Dave's on Friday. I grilled ridiculously good burgers, all the while dancing to Michael Jackson (RIP homie) and Earth, Wind, and Fire. Rock Band/Guitar Hero World Tour was played into the wee hours of the morning. I also broke Dave's couch. :(
-Jess' graduation. She's going to Loyola with me next fall, and I am beyond stoked!
-Ate Jen graduated and passed her nursing boards with Jason! Jason landed a job @ St. Mary's in the ER, while Ate Jen continues to look for a job. In the meantime, being a waitress @ Little Quiapo and nightly challenges vs. me on Bejeweled Blitz via Facebook are what she's been up to.
-Manager @ work is making my life hell, fucking with my hours and all. I recently got a few back, but she still pisses me off.
-The Cubs have not been playing like anyone expected them to, but this weekend looked promising.
-So many celebs have been peacing out, left and right. Gahhhh!
-Dates/movie nights/mushy stuff with Nadia :)

Things that are going to happen:
-Cathy, my cousin from Austria, is coming to Chicago for her internship @ Mom's hospital. She'll be living with us for about a month and a half, starting in mid-August, and I can't wait!
-Garcia Family Reunion in Montreal, Canada. August 2009. I bought a Montreal Expos (RIP) hat just for the occasion.
-Big ass jam session @ Dave's, date TBA
-Walter, Jeff, and Shane raid Binny's Beverage Depot, date TBA

So yeah, that's about it for now. I'm gonna try my best to keep this updated. Signing off!

My Friday Evening

Needless to say, I'm pretty content.

Shamon!

Despite my sore condition of my entire body, I can officially Moonwalk.

That is all for now.

So......Sore.......

Gah, it hurts whenever I try to move. I guess it's from all the shock my muscles have been undergoing in the past 2 days due to all of this sudden exercise. 2 more workouts for the week, and a hell of a lot more to go for the entire summer.

This morning was quite comical. I wake up to the sound of my phone's alarm as usual. I try to extend my hand to the nightstand, only to rear it back in a shot of pain and general soreness. Then I tried sitting up, only to be pushed back down because my abs hate me. My sister even came in and made no effort to try and help me get up. I tried going back to sleep, but the pain wouldn't let me. Gradually, I gained enough energy to turn on my belly. I stopped for 5 minutes or so before rolling out of bed onto the floor.

My workout buddy Sergio and I worked out our legs today, seeing that we were both still really sore in our upper bodies (to be worked on tomorrow). I've learned that I have stronger legs than I thought; I maxed out at a little over 200lbs on the leg press, and my calves weren't tingling at all after working those out. My quads were hurting a lot more than I expected during leg extensions, but the pain is good. Burned some calories on an elliptical, and did some more leg workouts. We finished our day by eating some salad that I enjoyed greatly, and finished it in about 10 minutes. For the rest of the day, sitting down and walking up and down stairs have been increasingly difficult: a sure sign that the workout has done its job.

Man, this is weird. Me talking about exercise and eating healthy, I mean. Ah well, change is good. I'm going to be keeping this up all summer long. Watch out world, I'm getting healthier!

Time for some Sally's!

Beatles Late-Bloomer = Me

I can't believe I'm getting into The Beatles now. It's a shame, really. I mean, throughout my life, I've heard and enjoyed many Beatles classics, but I've never gotten around to getting any of their material for myself, until yesterday. I bought The White Album and Let It Be at Reckless, along with an album by Ben Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama. Quite an excellent soundtrack for a day kind of like today. Haven't got much on the agenda today, aside from watching and taking care of Jac.

Maybe I'll sit out on my porch and finish up The DaVinci Code; I haven't read it up 'til now, but saw the film when it came out. I read Angels and Demons, and didn't see the film yet. Good stuff.

Time to relax.

PS. Hey, Chicago Cubs, what the fuck? Do us all a favor and find your bats and swing for the fences. Only this time around, score some runs too. That is all.

Oh! Whoops.

Yeah, please excuse the lack of updating. I've been busy with enjoying my Summer vacation, trying to spend less and less time on the computer as possible. Right now, that's not really working in my favor. But, a lot has happened over the past week or so.

I'm in the middle of a book called "All Families Are Psychotic" by Doug Coupland; I'm really digging it. I stumbled across it in Half Price Books last week. When I opened it up, an old newspaper article fell out of it. Turns out it was a review of the book. On the opposite side, there was a small bit about the Arizona Diamondbacks winning the World Series. "Shiiit," I thought. I must say he's kinda like the Canadian Chuck Palahniuk, but not as sadistic. Speaking of Palahniuk I finished his newest novel, "Pygmy." It was loads better than "Snuff" but to be fair, anything is probably a lot better than "Snuff." I'll still take "Fight Club" or "Invisible Monsters" any day. I seem to have fallen in love with my "" keys.

Nadia and I caught a Cubs game on Wednesday, in which there were a total of 3 (!!!) rain delays. The 2nd rain delay was 4 minutes long. I lol'ed in my seat. Before the game, she showed me around the entire ballpark, including the bleachers and the office where all the workers clock in and whatnot. I even got to the brick wall during batting practice, thanks to her sister working that area for the day. Rich Harden looked at me, and I fell somewhat faint. It was a pretty sweet experience; I hope to go to the Confines a lot more this summer.

Also, Ate Jen graduated from college last week. I was her photographer during the ceremony; Mom was in tears and Dad was smiling the entire time. It was just....awesome to witness. Seeing my big sis (and Jason) and all the other graduates gave me some extra motivation to kick ass for my last year.

Dad's in the Philippines. Again. He left the day after Ate Jen's graduation. He'll be back the day before my 21st birthday...hopefully he can get me into the boat and we can win some serious moolah on the Blackjack tables. Oh my God, I'm turning 21 soon.

Saturday night marked the first Sally's visit of many over the summer. McMano and Dave and I all swapped stories, and talked about music. We usually do that. We also agreed to make a summer band, along with Walt. 1 Dude, 2 Spics, and a Mick: one working band name.

I'm signing off; gonna read outside.

Finals Week: Day 4

Theory kicked my ass a little. I fucking owned my Ethics one, and I'm stoked that I don't have a final until Saturday, my last one. But hot DAMN, triple overtime win in the UC by the Bulls! Insane. Let's get 'em in Beantown and take this series!

No cool photo for today. :'( Maybe next time.

Finals Week: [Study] Day 3

Today was chock full of studying with the best study group ever: Walshy, Katrina, and Sheriff. I fell asleep in a chair in the IC for almost an hour, as I was in the middle of typing up a study guide for tomorrow's ethics final. In the basement of the library, I managed to finish off my final paper and continue work on the study guide.

We started off the day with some breakfast from the Bananas Foster Cafe:


Hot damn, that omelet and those home fries were tasty. Unfortunately, they actually didn't have any Bananas Foster on their menu. Though it WAS the breakfast menu....I will investigate further next time.

I even got to sell a few books.


I still have more to sell. I'm pretty sure I spent all of that today on food.

Finally, as you all should know, today was 31 cent scoop day at Baskin Robbins.




Yep, those ice cream scoops didn't know what hit 'em.

By the way, there is a case of Swine Flu in Rogers Park. I say they give us all A's and save us from this epidemic. 2 finals tomorrow, they're both going dooooown. That is all.

Finals Week: Day 2

Yesterday, I finished an entire 12 inch buffalo chicken pizza from Leonas. Today, I dominated a 10 inch sausage and pepperoni pizza from Carmens. That's the one pictured. Victory/post-final pizzas, if you will. Needless to say, I crushed both my exams as much as I owned those pizza pies. Tomorrow's an off day to study. I continue my rampage Thursday, with Theory in the afternoon and Computer Ethics at night. Time to recharge, probably with yet another pizza.

Finals Week: Day 1

So begins finals week. After killing my first one, I headed to the library's basement with Katrina and Sheriff to get some extra studying done for tomorrow's afternoon final (number 2 of 5). I'm feeling good about this one; I plan on staying up late tonight (gotta see the Cubs game of course), then pulling off some more studying time at school before the final. Here's to going 2 for 2 on killing final exams....

One More Day!

I seriously cannot wait for tomorrow, for 2 main reasons:

1) Dad finally comes home from the Philippines after a month and a half sojourn!
2) Opening Day for the Cubbies!

I've been waiting for this day for a long while now and I'm too stoked. Lately, things have been fantastic. School has been a real pain, but I've been handling it very well; all I really have to do now is focus my time and effort on papers and projects. I have a good grip on all of them, so that's good. Also, like I said a few entries ago, I finally pulled the trigger on asking Nadia out, and I got what I wanted. :D Needless to say, I've been happier and had some swagger put back in my step. I'm looking forward to what the summer is going to bring for the both of us this year!

And now, a few points:

-At school on Friday, Katrina and I brought our karaoke mics to Zips, and plugged in. All we were missing was alcohol; it was fantastic nonetheless. We sang for about 4 straight hours, I missed both my classes (lolz), and we even got other passerbys to sing their own stuff. Even though the security guards came down during Sergio's rendition of Stan by Eminem, we still had a great time.

-Speaking of school, I have 6 more papers to write for the semester, and I have 3 weeks left. I wrote 2 this weekend, and I have another 2 to concentrate on over Easter break. Laaaaaaame.

-Thank you, Chicago Bears, for finally seeing the light and spending some coin on a franchise QB by the name of Jay Cutler. I always loved Orton and I'll miss him, but it's about time that we step it up a bit and really try for another shot at the Superbowl!

-Twitter, though at first stupid and confusing to me, has been really addictive. I created my profile waaay back in November, but it hasn't been until recently that I've been updating my status every few hours. Thanks, Red Eye for getting me into this damned fad.

Now that baseball's getting into full swing, I have to get my fantasy team's line up ready for the week. Man, I hope we kick some Astro ass tomorrow. Like for serious, I hate that team with a passion.

Let's Go Cubs!

My Earth Hour

View 1, from my window.



View 2, thinking about blogging.

Not pictured: bag of pita chips, tub of hummus.

*Sigh*

Being home alone 80% of the time is nice at first, but it gets too damn quiet around here. Ate Jen's always hard at work at her clinicals into late night hours, Mom's always working, and Dad's away still. I miss him a lot too, so I figured I post this:



I love this song. Here's to more family togetherness soon.

Opening Day.....Hurry Up!

The countdown to Opening Day is in 18 days and 19 hours, and I really can't wait for it to get here. I'm 100% certain my mood will pick up once baseball rolls around. Speaking of which, I just got out of a live draft for my fantasy baseball team (yes, I am a nerd). I'm pretty proud of my lineup, in particular my pitching staff. Here it is:

Catcher - Joe Mauer (Minnesota Twins)
1st Base - Kevin Youkillis (Boston Red Sox)
2nd Base - Chase Utley (Philadelphia Phillies)
3rd Base- Chipper Jones (Atlanta Braves)
Shortstop - J.J. Hardy (Milwaukee Brewers)
Outfield - Grady Sizemore (Cleveland Indians), Shane Victorino (Philadelphia Phillies), and Mark DeRosa (Cleveland Indians)
Utility - Ryan Theriot & Derrek Lee (Chicago Cubs)

Bench:
Nick Swisher (New York Yankees)
Mike Napoli (Los Angeles Angels)
Ryan Zimmerman (Washington Nationals)
Mike Fontenot (Chicago Cubs)
Andre Ethier (Los Angeles Dodgers)

I recently heard about Youkillis' injury, and I hope he heals soon; same goes for Mauer....

Pitching Staff
The Starters:
Tim Lincecum (San Francisco Giants)
Cole Hamels (Philadelphia Phillies)
Ted Lilly (Chicago Cubs)
Edinson Volquez (Cincinnati Reds)
John Danks (Chicago White Sox)

The 'Pen
Francisco Rodriguez (Los Angeles Angels)
Mariano Rivera (New York Yankees)
Huston Street (Colorado Rockies)

Let's hope these guys post up nice numbers. But we all know it's all about the Cubs :)

Have a good night guys.

Lazy Sunday Evenings...

....such as these rule. For the last few hours, I've been tearing my fingers to the bone, working on Three Mile Bikeride by Craig D'Andrea (almost have it!!!!). My fingertips have been peeling and whatnot. During my breaks, I've been passively watching Apocalypto (holy crapolas, what an awesome movie), That Thing You Do! (shut up), and Mythbusters. Anything BUT doing my homework; I could really care less about it right now, I mean, I completed my paper draft which is due tomorrow, and I worry about nothing in my other classes, seeing that I just took midterms for them 2 weeks ago. Speaking of which, my Spring Break is over already. A few reasons why that sucks:

-It's over, and it felt/was waaay too short
-My friends start coming home as early as this week
-I don't want to go to school yet

The next time I have a break is around Easter, so I shouldn't complain. But whatever, I'll do what I want!

After a somewhat horrendous day at the CBC, I got a haircut at my favorite Hair Cuttery by my workplace. Vanessa did a stand up job as always. But as my hair dried from my shower, I couldn't help but try and mess with it a bit. Unfortunately, I wound up looking several things: 1) Moe, of Three Stooges fame, 2) an Asian anchorman, and 3) a horrible Beatles impersonator. I see myself wearing a hat many times this week. I won't have too much to worry about though, my hair grows real quick.

Another thing that concerns me, but shouldn't: the Cubs' progress in Spring Training. Sure, we're down a few guys due to trades and the WBC. That, and there's about 60 people at camp, so everyone gets a chance to play; especially the dudes in our farm system. But I think we've lost 6 straight games up to this point. Like I said before, it shouldn't worry me (we finished 15-15 in the Cactus League last year, and wound up winning the NL Central Division), but I just can't help it. Bradley's hurt, Soriano's swatting at everything and can't seem to make key defensive stops, and D.Lee hasn't hit for extra bases this Spring (as far as I know). On the bright side, our starting pitchers seem to be doing well, and a few people have been showing they're ready (Theriot, in particular). I guess you could say I'm too excited for Opening Day.

I'm hoping for a relaxing week back to school, despite a small midterm on Friday. I KNOW I'm going to kick some ass on that one.

Well, back to guitarring.

Now, Where Was I?

Oh yeah. The last post was kind of a tease, not going to lie. But I'm going to try and get back into the swing of things here. I miss this!

I've been on Spring Break for the past week. Funny how I really haven't had much time to write in this either, given all my free time. Let's just say that this semester (or year, come to think of it) has been the busiest one for me yet. The whole month of February was kind of a whirlwind for me, especially at school. Projects (recycling for my Human Impact on the Environment class), papers, theory dictations (SATB arrangements! w00t!), and exams were all involved in the mix, plus dealing with the crazy commute home from my 7-9:30 PM night class downtown. Although, I do get to see some interesting characters on the El. Anyway, there really wasn't a lot of times where I wasn't studying or doing something school related. But hey, all the hard work is paying off!

A couple more things:

Dad's in the Philippines for business, again. But this time, he won't be back until mid-April. I have to be the man of the house and the head of "security detail." I'm getting used to it, but I miss my Pop, especially because my Mom has been working overtime lately, and my sister is busy with her last year of nursing classes, and getting ready for graduation (!!!). Our schedules are insane. Come to think of it, I don't think I've seen my sister in like...1 and a 1/2 days. Weird.

There's this girl at school that I've been getting to know better recently. Her name is Nadia, and she is pretty awesome. But more on her later...

Last Friday, I was lucky enough to see this man:


Andy McKee! That's a harp guitar he's using, and it sounds pretty sexy. If you haven't heard of him, go on YouTube, and look up his name, now. One of his videos ("Drifting") has over 19 million hits, and with good reason. I saw him at Schubas, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues in the city. It's small and intimate, and the acoustics are great. But yeah, I was lucky enough to meet him after the show, get an autograph (or two) and get my photo taken with him. The photo I speak of is currently the obligatory Facebook profile picture. But yeah, Andy is one of the coolest musicians out there; he's really humble and honest. He spoke with all his fans after the show, and even had a few drinks with them. And goddamn, he can really work his way with open tunings.

Speaking of open tunings, I've been listening to a lot of Craig D'Andrea as of late, and I'm working on learning Three Mile Bike Ride by ear. It's...beautifully haunting in a way. Check it out!




Oh! And let's not forget about one minor detail:


That's right folks, baseball is (almost) here! And the Cubs Spring Training? Let's just say that when I saw the Cubs and Sox square off on Wednesday night on TV, I felt re-energized, even more so when the pitchers and catchers reported to camp the day before Valentine's Day. Anyway, despite our 7-6 loss that night, I was just too happy/ecstatic that baseball was back on the air, and it reminded me that Opening Day is just around the corner. Speaking of the Cubs, I acquired tickets on Wednesday also. Life is a whole lot better when you have Cubs tickets. :D I got them for Nadia and I; we're going to a Padres night game, in hopes of seeing Jake Peavy and getting some cotton candy. Plus, it's been a few years since she's been to a game where she doesn't have to work at Wrigley/is a customer so I'm really looking forward to it! It's in May, but hey, now I have even more to look forward to!

Speaking of Nadia, we watched Coraline yesterday night. In glorious 3-D! The move pretty much confirms my beliefs that 1) Teri Hatcher IS evil, 2) Claymation isn't a dying art, as some people have said, and 3) music can really do a number on one's mood. Honestly, within the first minutes of the movie, I was hooked. The music was so....eerily whimsical; I felt like I was in a video game. Plus, They Might Be Giants does a song in the movie, and I was stoked about that! The animation was spectacular and Dakota Fanning did a nice job, partly because I didn't actually see her. lolz. A very good film, I definitely recommend it. The rest of the night consisted of eating dinner at Red Robin, where my ex-CBC manager is now working. I said hi to him, and he wound up taking care of our bill; it was quite a pleasant surprise! We also drove. A lot. I showed her my neighborhood and my old stomping grounds at Pats. Then I drove her home. It was a great and relaxing evening. We're not technically dating, but yesterday night definitely was one. In my book, anyway; she thinks so too. :D Come to think of it, I'm kinda slow to pull the trigger on asking a girl out, but maybe that'll change very soon.

So it is now Friday. The sun is out, the weather is beautiful, and I only have today to enjoy the rest of my break, because Saturday = weekend/work/write papers/read for school. It sucks too, because my friends are coming home the week I go back to class. Lame! Looks like I will probably go downtown to walk and enjoy the sounds of the city. Or, stay at home, make a pizza, and watch Ratatouille for the 14th time. Damn, I love that movie.

Oh, and one more thing. I got new glasses on Monday! I think they're pretty sharp.
I'll do my best to keep this up, now that baseball is coming around and I have even more to talk about. Wish me luck!

I'm Back!

Yep, the title ain't lying!

But I will write more later, seeing that my car has been warming up already, and is ready to go take my sleepy ass to school.
Time for another hell week to commence...

Looking Forward

I am happy that my only class this morning was cut short due to the inauguration happenings. Katrina and I hustled down to the main student center, where there were about a few hundred people, huddled around a big projector screen. We kinda just squeezed our way through (it helps when you have short friends) the crowd, and got up close. We got in right when Biden was being sworn in, followed by the musical number featuring Yo Yo Ma. Loved it.

Then, Obama took his oath, forgot" part of it, making him pause and repeat himself, and became the 44th President of the US. Most laughed during that funny moment in the oath; some scoffed. But I'm sure everyone laughed when Dubya was zoomed in on, bundled up, with a look on his face that said, "Man, I can't wait to be done with this." Good riddance.

The speech that followed was inspiring. People cheered and applauded at points. He didn't say anything that shook me to my core, but I'm really looking forward to living in a new age, and whatever it may bring. You'd be stupid to say that nothing's going to change. It's going to take a while, but I remain hopeful. I tip my hat to you, President Obama.

Oh Lord...

I have been laughing at this for about 10 minutes now, and it just gets funnier....have a looksee!



The rest of his videos are pretty awesome too!

Back to Reality

My cousins have come and gone. The Bears have been eliminated from playoff contention (and so have the Vikings, HAH!). DeRosa has been traded, in return for 3 minor league pitching scrubs and Aaron Miles. We got Milton Bradley, though I am not as excited as I thought I would. Almost all of the holiday leftovers have been eaten, and friends have been going back to their schools.

Post-Christmas/New Year's blues? I think so.

Gotta head down to school to purchase my books for next semester, which starts in 5 days. Shit.

Ah well, gotta bite the bullet and enjoy what's left of my vacation. Here are some videos that Christine recorded at the Starbucks open mic last Saturday:

Wonderwall


D'Yer Wanna Be a Spaceman?


Whatever


Realize w/Katrina


There are more, but I'm too lazy to put them up. Peace out kids.

...*concern*...

I'll be making an appearance at a Starbucks in Skokie tomorrow evening, around 7 (Dempster & Karlov). During the little time I've had for practice, my headphones broke on me. Could this be a bad omen...?? Sheesh, I really hope not.

Plus, I have to wake up for work in less than 5 hours. Shit.

Damn these pre-gig heebie jeebies....