A Glimpse Inside

:: What's New in the World ::

Quote
"I hate you."
-Event Staff

In The Off Hours
Books :: None currently...
TV :: Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, The 4400, Entourage
Anime :: Naruto, Bleach, Gundam SEED Destiny, Sousei no Aquarion
Music :: DHT - Listen to Your Heart

happiness is... • Annoying Event Staff • No More Work • Night Pictures • Winning at Poker

unhappiness is... • No income • Expensive gear • Integrating flash and DBs • Driving long distances

Weekend Aftermath Report...
And damn was the fallout huge. Well I guess the place to begin is Sharks in Irvine though there's not much to tell. But that's more from lack of remembering than a lack of actual events. Long story short I drank way too much, got blacklisted from the bar, they marked both my hands with X's, I threw up in the bathroom and all over myself if reports can believed and from the damage to my silk shirt strongly supports such claims, got thrown out of the club and spent the remainder of the night in a metal fold chair. Total time in club: less than 1 1/2 hours. I just think that has to be some sort of record. LOL. Damn. Woke up on Jorge and Polo's couch with the hang over from hell. *sigh* Took me all Saturday to normalize out but did I rest up that night? Haha! Yeah right. Comon now, you should know me better than that. So of course, it was up to LA and Century Club Saturday night and what a night of craziness that turned out to be. Good thing I didn't miss it.

I guess everyone should know that I was going to stay sober but I was just too tired. My feet hurt and I had no energy. Ellen can vouch for me; she tried in vain to get me to dance. So you see, I just had to drink. Otherwise I wouldn't have enjoyed myself at all. But I maintained, much to everyone's surprise. It was even Josie's birthday and I didn't get faded! I had about 4 drinks, though 2 contained 151. *sigh* Damn Josh Tran and damn Richard. But after that the night was thoroughly enjoyable. Joanne and Laurhens had decided to come up with us from SD, but after meeting up with Vicky and her friend, Jeff, in front of the club, I managed to lose them for the remainder of the night. You know, that club is pretty big when you think about it, though that didn't stop Vu from exploring every of inch of it that night. Honestly, there are so many stories from Saturday night I'm at a lost of where to begin. We had like mad heads in attendance and everyone had a different night. It's like we were all at a different club.

So lets begin with the crew: Richard, Lan, Stace, Josh Tran, Yanni, Shelly, Polo, Jorge, Sheldon, Janice, Josh Liang, Mat, Tim, Sam, Alberto, Ellen, Steaming Steve, Annie, Ervin, Bruce, Chester, Vu, Deek, Nela, Linda, Jason and Jason, Tuan, Eric, Josie, Liz, Dave, Jaime, Cuong, Marilyn, Vicky, Jeff, Joanne, Laurhens, and of course myself. There were also a few people who made surprise and not-so-surprise guest appearances. I ran into Jose and Laura from the up north and Larry, Taka and those crazy guys from UCSB. Damn I didn't even realize it was so many, but you can see why there were so many stories.

So here goes. Chester was running around with his superstar shirt all night, price tag still on, and celebrating it was only 11:30 with complete strangers. Yanni managed to sneak in with an ID Lan mysteriously found in her purse of some black chick who is 5'8. For those who don't know, Yanni is 4'9", but a "tall" 4'9" she assures me. She got jocked all night by fugly guys who I wouldn't and didn't let Shelly save her from. At some point in the night, Albert almost had to fight a group of black guys with no back up because of her. Jorge and Sheldon, not to be outdone, managed to mack on some equally fugly girls. Some normal white dude gets up on the gogo platform and shows off his g-string. WTF? I didn't even know they made them for guys. Janice went on stealth mode, and yacked "discretely" in a corner. Some coward manages to hit a girl in the head while aiming for someone else, and then runs off into the crowd. Josh Liang somehow got suckered into taking care of Tuan's girlfriend for part of the night. That just sucks. Lan actually got rejected by a guy. Haha, poor her! Richard found out that Pepcid AC actually does work. He drank and didn't look like he was about to burst into flames. LOL. Alberto got proposition from freaky deaky fun and lets everybody know it. Josh Tran goes MIA and comes back with some digits. Jen's crew (you might remember her from the Vegas report) and my crew push us together for a little mandatory reunion. It was quite embarassing for us and quite hilarious for everyone else. After apologizing profusely for our drunken actions in Vegas, we immediately started talking shit to each other. I challenged her to a rematch at some later date, which she accepted. Uh oh. Here we go again. The night even included a slow dance with Shelly (Josh and Yanni pushed us together, seems like a lot of that going), during which I looked over to see a bunch of fools in a group hug jumping up and down during a slow jam. Then I realized, oh wait, that's Vu and Chester.

After the club, we loitered in front of the club for god knows how long. People most likely not to remember the night: Jorge, Josie and Bruce. Chester was running around trying to find the rose lady and I'm was still getting laughed at. Slowly everyone left to go to JRs but somehow I managed to get left behind. I had to wait in front of Century Club till 3:15 for Richard to pick me up. I was so skurred. No phone, in the middle of LA, by myself. Even the bouncers started leaving. Never again! I decided to go home with Richard instead of JRs but on the car ride back, we had no head lights, and damn are some parts of the 5 dark, and no radio. Meanwhile, at JRs, Chester manages to expose himself to Jaime, who gets skurred, and runs and hides in the car for the rest of the night. Poor Jaime. Chester zips up his fly and goes back to eating his lobster. Eventually everyone rolls back to SD. Return times by car: Jorge - 4:10, Richard - 4:45, Vu - 6:00, Alberto - 7:30. And of course what clubbing weekend would be complete without the ritual Sunday afternoon pho session which lasted for 2 1/2 hours, a new record. Ok, that's it, I'm done, finally. Z need rest...

:: posted by Z [10:52 AM] ::
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Cheesecake Concoctions and Random Ramblings...
First things first, behold, my latest cheesecake concoction! I got the recipe off of a website while looking for a raspberry marble cheesecake. It's a strawberry mousse cheesecake. It cooks in half the time and is a lot easier to make than my standard cheesecake. It does offer several problems I hadn't anticipated, but I'll spare you all the boring baking details. I was quite proud of my presentation though; isn't it pretty?. Heh. Oh yeah, I've come up with a new form of torture. It consists of making cheesecakes, taking a pictures with my digital camera of them and sending the pics to Nela via AIM. Aren't I a stinker? Yeah I know. Tee hee. It's good to be evil sometimes.

Moving on, thank goodness its Friday! Friday morning started off rather badly. I had been sitting down no less than 5 minutes when I was suddenly and bombarded with all sorts of questions regarding projects I was working on and files I had checked into configuration management. *sigh* It took an hour to sort everything out and I wasn't even suppose to be working on that project today. Later on, my day became much improved. I finally got passed a major roadblock in my other project, and now it's just a few minor details and I'll be done, a full 3 weeks ahead of schedule. Can you tell I'm trying to impress my boss? It's the time of the year where we get evaluated and get raises. Gotta show the flag a bit.

But enough of work, it's time to play! And where shall I go tonight, why I believe it will be the Shark Club in Irvine. So if you're bored, put on your club gear, your game face, and roll up. It's gonna be a dope time. Swervin, Annie Bananie, Bruce and Steamin' Steve gonna make an appearance and you know it's always dope when you get those bunch of chracters together. You know I didn't club at all last weekend! I think I'm going through withrdawl. How sad is that? Nothing a little hiphop won't cure. Ok, time to go to the store for some SoCo and Cactus Cooler, oh yeah... you know what's up. Chances of staying sober tonight: 0.08%. Oh wait, that's the legal BAC to drive. Haha. I always get those two confused! Silly me!

:: posted by Z [6:33 PM] ::
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Tag Teamed...
So here goes... Last week I invited Joanne to go to the Century Club this Saturday but since she doesn't really know any of my clubbing friends, she told me she was going to invite a friend to go with her which was totally fine with me. Then last night, while chatting on AIM, she tells me that she invited Tracy and askes me if I knew her. This struck me as kinda funny cause I talk to Tracy all the time. So I immediately IM Tracy who was online as well and ask her if she was going to Century Club to which she replied in the affirmative. This is where my troubles began, and it was all over a extremely poor choice of words. I said "weird" then proceeded to crack up. I'm not exactly sure why I found the situation amusing but I did. It's probably because I don't ever really hang out with Tracy, we just chat online. Don't you have AIM friends like that? Anyway, she took my comment the wrong way and inferred from it that I would find her presence uncomfortable or awkward, which is completely false. But as girls are often opt to do, she cut and pastes my comments to Joanne who also draws the same conclusions and proceeds to coax the "truth" out of me. Needless to say, my first few attempts at an explanation fell on deaf ears and were immediately rebuffed by pharses like "comon, you can tell me the truth" and "you can be honest." Anyway, long story short, after about 20 minutes of professing the normalcy of having Tracy come, they both grudgingly accept what they see as my version of the truth. Though Joanne informs me that they'll both wear shirts that say "weird" on them to Century Club. *sigh* Asian girls are so sensitive sometimes... And Penny just had a good laugh at my expense when I explained to her my predicament. So what have I learned from all this?

1) Never call or say the word "weird" in referrence or even in the general facinity of a girl.
2) Never talk online to two girls who are friends at the same time. At least if they talk about something you said to one after the fact, you won't be there to get tag teamed.
3) You will find absolutely NO sympathy from other girls.

:: posted by Z [10:10 AM] ::
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School, Study, Stress...
Oh I just wanted to take a moment and hope that the few people still stuck in school had a good first day back. These include but are in no way limited to Josh Tran, Chris, Casey, Tracy, Albert, Ellen, Carolyn, Goldie and Katie. Dang the number sure is dwindling fast isn't it? But of course there are also those lucky individuals who are in grad schools that have been in session for several weeks now. I hope everyone's not getting too stressed out. I know the pressure has been getting to some people, aka Mat. Remember, think about the light at the end of the tunnel. As for me, I'm happily and steadily going along at work. Ah, it's so much nicer and less stressful than school ever was. Plus they pay me. But alas, I do have to admit I miss UCSD, if only in the slightest. The gameroom, the price center, library walk, CLICS, the parties, the people. How soon till it all becomes just another faded memory? Well I better end this before I am drawn too deeply into this nostalgic whirlpool. I think I'm getting misty eyed already. Heh.

:: posted by Z [4:53 PM] ::
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Cafe W...
Yet another Ed Hsu dining experience. This time it was off to Hillcrest again to a little restaurant called Cafe W with Ed, Justin, Josh Tran and Stace. I really don't know where Ed comes up with all these places, but why do they always end up in HIllcrest? Heh. Just kidding. Actually only three have been in Hillcrest. Besides, it gives Josh Tran some time to brush up on his skills if you know what I mean and I know that you do. Heh. Diners beware however, because Cafe W isn't your typical restaurant; it is a "tapas" style one. This means that you're expected to order several dishes and share them among your group. The portions of these dishes are quite conservative to say the least. In a word, they're tiny. In two words, theyr'e fucking small. Prices for each plate range from $8 to $14 and the dishes are varied and unique. This is not, however, to say that they are all good. In total, I believe we had eight dishes. If you do however plan on partaking in the cuisine at Cafe W, let me offer a friendly word of advice in terms of menu selection. The flat iron steak was the best plate of the night. However the word "steak" is misleading. It was so small, Josh Tran called it a "sausage." The mussels and penne pasta with noisettes of beef were also two good dishes. And now for the flip side. Do not get the curry vegetable tempura, duck quesadilla or chicken pizza. These were all nothing special or down right bad. The highlight of the entire affair was dessert. We ordered three dishes: angelfood cake with peach sorbet, gingerbread pudding and some sort of berry short cake or cobbler. All of these desserts were rather good, but the gingerbread pudding was the best. All in all, a fairly fun evening. Stace managed to finish off three buckets of veggies (she's such a pig), we discussed ideas on creating the super pho shop, and fought constantly about car seating arrangements. Yup, quite a night.

:: posted by Z [3:06 PM] ::
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Relive, Recount, Recap...
Monday is almost over so I better hurry up and make my weekend aftermath report. You know what they say, better late than never. My weekend was actually very chill and very inexpensive. Total cost: $30 + 1 raspberry cheesecake. We were suppose to go see Ballistic on Friday night but everyone was just too lazy. Oh well, I'll live. I'm not sure how believable Lucy Lui would be as an action hero either, though my friend Julia assures me she kicks a lot of butt. I'll reserve judgement until I see it for myself. So aside from baking my cheesecake, it was a rather quiet Friday night. It would set the trend for the remainder of the weekend.

On Saturday, it was a ton of errands and then a quick power nap before I finished my cheesecake and headed up to Santa Monica to Winny's house warming party. I have to admit, I'm not use to a house party environment anymore. It has been some time since I last attended one. The atmosphere is quite different from that of a club; it's more intimate and the only one I knew there was Winny. Luckily, the majority of the people there were her roommates' friends, so we were in the same boat. My cheesecake was a hit with everyone after I convinced them I actually made it myself. I guess the VONS box I had to use to transport it was slightly misleading. Heh. After this is where the night took a turn for the worse. I decided, in my infinite greed, to try to do everything in the same night. So Winny and I got in my car and attempted to meet up with everyone at AD. After getting lost (who knew you couldn't get to the 101 from the 10E?) and Winny getting carsick, Richard calls me and informs me that AD isn't admitting anyone, so they're all going to Century Club. *sigh* Why is it always Century Club? Anyway, long story short, Winny's too tired and sick to go, so we decided to go back to her place. I missed the 110 and we ended up driving on Wilshure all they way down (about 25 minutes). It was like the never ending road. We don't have roads like this in SD. After that, I just wanted to pass out. But unfortunately my night wasn't over.

Richard calls me at around 2:30 and askes me to go to JR Cafe and meet up with everyone. Despite assurances that it was close, it ended up being a 20 minute trip and everyone was pretty much faded when I arrived. The food was good though, even though Richard and I had rice porridge, fried rice, won ton soup and a club sandwich to split between the two of us. Don't ask. I have to thank the admiral for helping us out with all the leftovers. I managed to get myself thoroughly lost on the way back home. Though not really lost because it turns out I was actually only 1 street away from Winny's place but didn't know it. *sigh* When I finally got back to Winny's around 4:30, everyone had already gone to sleep. I quickly joined them in slumber, but at 6:30 some bastard next door decides to fire up his motorcycle and damn was it loud. It took me a while to go back to sleep but I eventually managed the task. In the morning it was breakfast with Winny at the Omlette Parlor and then another power nap before the 2 hour carride home. Thanks Winny for putting up with me for a whole weekend. I wish I could say I was staying in SD next weekend, but alas it is not to be. LA here I come again...

:: posted by Z [9:41 PM] ::
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Cheesecake Creation...
Well I finally got off my fat rump yesterday, dusted off my KitchenAid mixer, and made a cheesecake for the first time since Carolyn's birthday back in April. It had been so long, I needed to print out the recipe again. Things went rather smoothly, or so I had thought, until I took the cake out of the oven. I'm not sure whether I had over beat the batter, there by airrating it too much, or perhaps I simply baked the cake for too long at too high a temperature, but the end result was about an inch of rise and cracks. Dang I'm rusty. Earlier this year, I had crackproof cakes. *sigh* Anyway, this morning I concealled the cracks with the raspberry topping and fresh raspberries so no one will be the wiser! Heh. I did make another mistake this morning however. I accidently had bought strawberry jam instead of raspberry jam yesterday at Stater Brothers. I didn't realize this until I had already scooped a large amount of the jam into the sauce pan. Then I had to get a spoon and try to remove the strawberry parts from the raspberry parts. It wasn't that fun. But at last I prevailed and finished my masterpiece. I guess it just means I'll be that much more ready when I make Nela's cheesecake next week. But since I have strawberry jam now, I guess it will be a strawberry cheesecake. I haven't made one of those yet :) I hope Winny and her guests appreciate my efforts.

:: posted by Z [4:40 PM] ::
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Old Thoughts with New Words...
I wrote this first poem several years ago, though the exact date currently escapes me. It was sometime during the spring of 1999, a year that I remember now only as a dream or perhaps a fleeting vision of a life lived by someone else. The second one is something I've been kicking around for a few weeks now, but lacked the inspiration to solidify until this Monday. Both poems demonstrate my early expressions in spoken word and rap, poetry that is meant to be read aloud and to a specific rythym. They are less two seperate works, and more the continuation of a complete thought whose answer still eludes me.

- Emptiness - 1999
comfort, complacent, contempt, contorted
how did our lives become so distorted
a thousand miles from where we started
what we seek, what we find, what we hide
the swell of nothingness that eats inside
and swallows whole our soul and all in sight
and still we pretend to attend, to hold fast
as a man caught in the storm clutches the mast
praying that dear God might save us at last
from the truth, from ourselves, from everything and nothing at all
and the emptiness that resounds and rebounds it echoes and crumbles the walls
and pearched high above, we stumble, and tumble and fall

- Again - 9.16.2002
and so it begins again, as it was back then
saying the words that manifest and coalesce without end
I ran from the thoughts that I can't seem to escape
so I scribble these lines before the pharses all fade
times may have changed but the condition remains
I've said it before and this is more of the same
the emptiness I know that resides in my soul
it started a crack, now a huge gaping hole
I might have fallen back then, now I struggle to stand
I stagger and walk, but no one offers a hand
I search for the truth and an ounce of integrity
all i find is the truth: there's no bounds to hypocrisy
how can people search for the truth when they lie to themselves
how can people shortchange their souls till all they have is a shell
how can they look in my eyes, their lies drip from their lips
and they don't even know, the thought's making me sick
try to contain, try to maintain, try keep it all in
but the torrent that rages can't be held to within
and as hard as I try, the moisture builds in my eyes
as I summarily fail to keep it inside
acidic tears that burn thin streaks down my cheeks
I feel the emptiness rise, I feel my legs going weak
still afraid of everything and absolutely nothing at all
and once again I stumble... and tumble... and fall

:: posted by Z [10:31 AM] ::
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Birthdays and BBQs...
Well it's Monday, again, and that means two things: 1) I'm extremely fatigued and 2) it's time for the weekend aftermath report. For those who didn't know, and I can't possibly imagine how you couldn't, Saturday was my birthday. I finally got a chance to break in my new grill setup with my friends, my brother consequently has had over four BBQs since my mom and her friends finished building and installing everything, and I have to say it was dope. I had a few last minute cancellations, and some no-shows, but those who did come made the whole affair worthwhile. We were scarfing down tbones (my mom), steaks (Tim's apt), hotlinks (me), bratwurst (Ed), chicken, corn (Chester), macaroni salad (Thomas), greed salad (Janice), and torilla chips with salsa (Jorge and Josh Tran). Vu busted out his crazy turnable setup, and after a brief infomercial (normally $999, but if you act now within this special limited time offer, his price to you, only $499.99!), he proceeded to fill my neighborhood with songs laced heavily in profanity, much to my neighbor's annoyance. So after we got a complaint, it was all 80s, all the time. Needless to say Nela was a happy camper. As was Albert who managed to swallow about five drops of alcohol and was thoroughly buzzed, though seeing Albert dance and sing "Hey Mickey!" is an event I would not care to relive hehe.

In the evening, it was off to Club Axiom in downtown San Diego and for once we actually made it in time for the guestlist! I guess miracles do never cease. Unfortunately, and I'm not sure whether it was due to our general fatigue, the fact that we had been drinking earlier during the day, or simply all the meat we woofed down at the bbq, but no one could get a decent buzz. And those of us who did, did so only after a significant number of shots, and the resulting buzz was anything but pleasant. Chester described it as shitty, and for lack of a better word, I agree entirely with his assessment. I drank in the low teens but barely felt anything. Lan managed to yack on Tim, Richard and myself. And Chester found the only cute girls at the club. One of the more enjoyable parts of the night was El Coti's afterwards and the always famous, and highly secret (so shhh! and don't tell anybody) carne asada fries with nacho cheese.

The next day, Sunday, recovery day, it was off for a quick pho session and what is quickly becoming a post clubbing ritual with us. But due to time constraints, it wasn't the 2 1/2 hour ordeal it was last Sunday, where the nice and courteous staff of Pho Hoa Cali continually looked in the direction of our table in disgust and a general longing for us to vacate the premises immediately, and take our loud, profane and rated R comments with us. And there was also one more problem left over from the previous day's festivities. In my overzealousness, it seems I had overestimated not only the number of people who would come to my little shindig but also the amount of food which they would consume. Bottomline, we had mad leftovers. Solution, you guessed it, another bbq, back to back. Yes we're crazy. So around 7pm, a small but distinguished party converged on my little house in PQ once again. I fired up the grill and we killed off the steaks, bratwurst, salsa, chicken, corn and macaroni salad. So full. So tired. Must kick everybody out! So it ends, another glorious weekend in the life of me. Stay tuned for upcoming stories, rants and general ravings.

:: posted by Z [11:24 AM] ::
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Where the Party At...
Hey boys and girls out there in webland! Well, come tomorrow I will have seen another 365 1/4 days come and go, one complete circuit around the Sun, and I'll officially be one year older. 24. Dang when you say it like that it seems like such a short time span, and in many ways it has been. But it was a great year and I honestly can't complain. And as I'm often opt to do, I am having a celebration to mark the occassion with the people in my life who made this year so great. So if you're one of those people, would like to be, or just plain bored and hungry on Saturday, drop on by for sun, food and fun. You can swim, play pool or just chill, grub down and listen to DJ Vudo kick out some crazy beats. I hope everyone can make it. Here's the 411.

What: BBQ, fun in the sun, good food, good people
When: Saturday, Sept 14th, 1:00pm
Where: My place, 8882 Polanco St.
Who: All you fine people
Why: The obvious reason, Me! =)

Be there, or be square, gotta go now, but see you there!

:: posted by Z [11:26 AM] ::
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A Day in Rememberance...
At 11:30 this morning, I found myself a part of the last thing I would have ever expected, a large human american flag made up Cubic employees in rememberance of the victims of 9/11. I stood in the middle of our parking lot, in my white lab coat, along with my other coworkers that made up the 5th white stripe of Old Glory, recited the Pledge of Allegiance at exactly 12 noon PST and then observed sixty seconds of silence. It was almost surreal. It was also a PR field day. Four local news stations were there to witness the event along with other photographers with still cameras. I wish I could have taken a picture atop the observation tower to see how we looked as a whole from up high, but luckily Cubic was nice enough to provide this picture to the right. Anyway, just thought I'd share a rather unique event in an otherwise boring corporate life. Now I have to get ready to go up to Irvine for a farewell dinner. No rest for the weary...

:: posted by Z [5:02 PM] ::
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Poetic Burp...
A little something I threw together while reading "The Killer Angels." The first two lines came from an old Irish song they use to sing during the Civil War, and as the title suggests, is about parting company. I found it oddly appropriate since Ted is leaving for Japan tomorrow, this time for a whole year. I'm not sure what's more distrubing, the fact that losing people has become so common place or the fact that it no longer moves as it once did.

- Such Sweet Sorrow -
it may be many years
it may be forever
as we stretch the twine
that binds us together
across time
across space
till nothing remains
but the faded image of a face
the fragile memories
of times long since passed
that scatter with the slightest breeze
like so much fallen ash
yet what once was
always will be
and resides irreparable
in the holds of history
and upon our next meeting
I wonder will we embrace
and exchange warm greetings
or shall we stare as strangers do
in the awkwardness
of someone once close to you
who time
that indiscriminate force
has rendered unfamiliar
and then you'll be
someone I do not know
but only fondly remember

:: posted by Z [8:44 AM] ::
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What We Want...
I was having a conversation the other day with an old friend of mine about what we want out from life, and of course the same cliches kept coming up. "Why are we never satisfied with what we have?" "Why do we never appreciate what we do have until it's gone?" These questions have plagued us since man first put thoughts to words, and for the common person, I feel we are no closer to any answers. Perhaps it is simply human nature, and that hunger that can never be sated is hard coded into our being at the genetic level. Or perhaps it is a sociological manifestation that has become so pervasive, we now take it for granted as inherent in ourselves. I, like many others I'm sure, have fallen victim to this pitfall many times. And although I like to think of myself as a person who learns from their past mistakes, I have found it difficult to learn this particular lesson. The clarity of vision while standing from an objective and pacific perspective is hardly comparable to the view from deep within the maelstrom our personal lives often descend into, or appear to at least. This trait is not always a bad thing however. Our unrestrainable desire has fueled almost every discovery and adventurous journey man has ever endeavored upon this planet. But in the context of our interpersonal relationships with one another, it is often a negative force that drives people apart. He asked me "What's wrong with wanting more?" And I replied "The difference between wanting more with the person you're with and want more than the person you're with is the difference between making something great and making something end." I hope he understood. I hope I do too.

:: posted by Z [1:58 PM] ::
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Century Club Craziness...
The Cast: Me, Ted, Josh Tran, Chester, Vu, Polo, Janice, Steph, Stace, Josie, Jocelyn (no this isn't a typo), Albert, Tim, Karen, Lan, Neilan, Kelly, Esther, Christine and all those damn crazy Western pharamcy students.
The Setting: The Century Club, Los Angeles
The Time: Saturday night to the early hours of Sunday morning

Four words: I need a break! Century Club makes it eight consecutive weekends in a row spent away from San Diego. I think perhaps I might overdoing it just a tad. But next weekend I am determine to stay put, because well it's my bday and the party is at my place. But damn, what a night of craziness. I think the bartenders were slipping something extra in everyone's drinks. Chester was straight up faded. Ted was battling and miming away. Albert was on a crazy natural high the whole night. Vu was running around looking for security cause some girls got their asses stolen. Jeff was scanning all the ladies with his x-ray digital camera. Tho was on his mission, as always. Josie and Joce pulled an American Pie 2 on Vu and Albert, "If you touch each other, we'll touch each other." Dayam. Janice broke up with Chester, or was it the other way around? Damn I hope Polo knows. I somehow managed to maintain the whole night. It must be those classes I've been attending with Vu (Maintaining 101 - for more info go to www.djvudo.com). And then the after party at JRs... sex sex and more sex. Orgies. Trimming. Panties. Vu laid down the rules for the orgy: if you're a guy 1) don't look at me, 2) don't touch me, and 3) don't make any noises. Haha. Joce sets a 5 minute time limit to bust a nut. WTF? Linda says she shaves. Chester says "YES!" They finally manage to kick us out of JRs but Albert is still eating (what a slow poke, even Josie finished before him). And when we're all leaving, Chester and Vu try to stowaway in Joce's backseat. "Shhhh! They'll hear us." Got back to SD at 6:30 in the AM. Thanks to Albert for driving, sorry I couldn't stay up. Anyway, running off of four hours of sleep. I think it's time for a little nap...

:: posted by Z [5:34 PM] ::
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Vegas Momento...
Well just when I thought Vegas was done and forgotten, Josh Tran receives a little momento via snail mail. Remember back to our first real day in Vegas, the Bellagio Buffet, and a certain waitor that was hitting on him? If you recall, Josh Tran knowingly gave Wayne, that was our waiter's name, his address, in hopes of receiving free stuff such as champagne and tiny cognac glasses. Well he didn't exactly get what he was hoping for, but what he did get was this quiant little card shown to the right. Click image to enlarge and Click here to see the content of that card. For those incapable of deciphering Wayne's scribbled script or just simply too lazy make the effort, here follows a complete transcription of the card.

Dear Mr. Tran,
Just wanted to let you know that I wasn't joking!
Someday those little snifters that
you adore will arrive at your
door step.
I know this card looks a
little funny - but it was the
first thing that I could find.
Say hello to your friends and
please stop by to say "Hi" next time
you are in town even though you may not be in the mood
for another buffet.
Sincerely,
Wayne / Bellagio Buffet

Well I think the card speaks for itself. You can infer what you will from its content. But if you know me, you know what I'm thinking. Haha. Josh Tran. He's so pretty, he effects both teams. LOL.

:: posted by Z [11:42 AM] ::
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A Story Totally Worth the Effort...
But a small disclaimer, it is not for the faint of heart or stomach as it were. Click here and read away.

:: posted by Z [6:37 PM] ::
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A Little Update...
Well, Chester did some recon for me and it turns out that Jen blacked out before I did. Phew! So I'm in the clear. She doesn't remember anything and apologized as well. I also think that it means I could drink more since I blacked out after she did. A small victory, but a victory nonetheless. Heh. Go me!

:: posted by Z [6:54 PM] ::
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Vegas Labor Day: Play by Play...
Alright, well actually I'm going to start the report a little bit before Vegas because for us hardcore party people, Labor Day weekend actually started on Thursday night and it was bumping at the Mayan. Proof Positive was in effect, throwing their annual gig, Superstar and as usual, the party was phat. Not as crowded as I expected, but that didn't really matter. The drinks were strong and music was tight. The people that were there were hella cool. And I gotta give a special shout out to Nela, Sam, Tho and their pharmacy school crew. They had class at 8am Friday morning, and they still came out. Bottom line, Western pharmacy students are crazy party animals, but I'm sure they know that. I did end up drinking a little bit too much, though it was nothing compared to the amount Ted drank, who was, hands down, the drunkest fool up in that place with a BAC (that's blood alcohol content for all those non-alchies out there) of 0.12+. We don't know how high it actually was because the breathalyzer only went that high. As usual, Ted was venting the violence towards me, but unlike most times, that night I was faded enough to throw it back. It led to Nancy getting kneed in the face (Ted says sorry girl) and a little scuffle outside Garden Cafe which Josh had to break up before the security guard came. Anyway, crashed in LA at Yanni's, went to NBC for dim sum in the morning, drove to Hacienda to pick up Steph, then drove home to SD to prep for Vegas. Thursday was a just a prelude of things to come.

When I finally did get home to SD, I only had two hours to get ready. After rushing to shower, eat, and pack, I got to Tim's apartment around 7:30pm. But as often happens, people were lagging; Lan, Josh and Steph to be specific, though whose actual fault it was, is still in debate. The ride was long and bumpy in the 15-person van Richard rented from Enterprise. We didn't get to Vegas till 3:30 in the AM. A quick trip to the LV Hilton to pick up Stace and we were off to the Barbary Coast for some late night snacking. Vu and Chester's crew met up with us there, though I doubt some of them remember that because as usual, they were faded. Casey straight up blanked on my name and Vu didn't realize I was there for a good 15 or 20 minutes. They wanted us to go to Drai's for the after party but we were all too tired and just went to our hotel at Boardwalk for some shut eye. Chester and Vu's crew however, followed us to our hotel and got our room number by telling the front desk that Albert ran off with Vu's sister. After Vu banged on a few doors that didn't belong to us, security came and escorted them away. It was the calmest day we had in Vegas.

The next day we wanted to hit up a buffet, though there was some contention about which buffet was the best: the Bellagio or the Alladin. We decided to try the Bellagio first and honestly the food there was crazy good, especially the beef wellington. We had a dope waiter who spent more time hitting on Josh Tran than serving our drinks, but it only added to the atmosphere and the overall experience. Josh gave the waiter his address, Richard got faded off three glasses of champagne and we all got good and stuffed. Afterwards we all headed back to the girls room for a power nap. That night we headed off to Rain in the Desert at Palms and it ended up being the most chaotic clubbing experience of my life. The lines were wack and the bouncers were crooked. We had to bribe our way in, $450 for 40 heads. I gotta give mad love and props to Chester and Steve for setting that shit up and picking up a lot of the bill. Everyone was pissed off and I decided to get faded in order to make the most out of the night. I was doing fine until I met a girl named Jen from Irvine. I was coasting at about ten drink and was pretty buzzed. But then she starts shit talking about how she could out drink me. So we start going shot for shot. At around 3:30 everyone wants to leave. As I'm leaving she wants to have one more drink with me. I'm not sure what happened after that because I blacked out. But the scene that I have piece together from second hand accounts is quite frankly, appalling. So I'll take this moment to apologize to Jen, who I cussed out (don't ask me why), her crew, who I made wait for her for thirty minutes outside the club, and to everyone in my crew I was being violent too. Drunk insanity. That's my only defense. My bad completely.

On our third and final day in Sin City, we started by checking out the Alladin buffet to decide finally who was right, Albert or Richard. And though the Alladin buffet was $12 cheaper, the Bellagio was hands down the better buffet. So if you need to get your grub on in Vegas, head for the Bellagio (shameless plug). Afterwards the girls went to shop, the guys went to gamble and I went to sleep. That night we decided to go to Studio54 at the MGM Grand. Half of us got faded and the other half of us got bored. In fact, Stace was so drunk, she tried to order a #1 animal style at the bar. Heh. The music was wack for most of the night until about 1:30am but by that time it was too late. Besides, my feet and legs hurt from dancing hard at Rain. So around 2:30 a bunch of us left and went to eat. We didn't get back to our hotel till around 5:00am. I went to sleep and all the guys went to gamble more. But at 5:45 Josh and Josh came back suddenly. It turns out that Josh Liang had feinted three times in the casino from dehydration. I guess he took the saying "party till you drop" too seriously. He drank some water and quickly proceeded to pass out. We woke again at 6:45 and prepared for the long trek home. After we dropped of Stace at the Hilton, we were on our way.

The ride home was quick, probably because we spent the good majority of it passed out. Thanks goes out to Richard and Nick for driving. We stopped off in RC to eat lunch, wait for Steph's friend Tiff to come pick her up, and drop off Nela. After that, it was straight back to SD. Once we got back to Tim's place, we chilled for few minutes before going our seperate ways. It did feel a little sad parting company after such a crazy weekend but you know what they say about all good things. And even though there was a lot of negatives that happened, it was still a memorable trip and I wouldn't have missed it for anything. So in closing, a final thanks for everyone who made the trip worth going on: Lan, Nela, Richard, Stace, Nick, Ellen, Albert, Josh Tran, Josh Liang, Steph, Vu, Chester, Erv, Annie, Steve, and Casey.

:: posted by Z [1:07 PM] ::
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