Damn You Tito

This is what my weekend consisted of:

*Rented UFC 2009 and got really into it at first. I was knocking fools out left and right. Then I went up against Tito Ortiz. Who proceeded to handle me like nobody's business. So I fought him two more times. And lost two more times. However, I avenged my two losses to Chuck Liddell. What's that you say? You have no idea who these guys are? This is Tito and this is Chuck. And yes, this is a video game...

*Randomly saw the movie Up on Friday night. Very, very good. 3D was pretty cool too. Pretty much went because IGN gave it 4.5 out of 5. And I feel it lived up to it. My roommate stated he "had a smile on his face" the whole time.

*Speaking of my roommate, if anybody likes the electric side of music, check out a mix he posted here.

*Last night, I watched the Curious Case of Benjamin Button. And this morning I finished it. However, I actually liked the length. The movie was really good -- until the end. I don't know, call me a critic, but a movie that big deserved a bigger ending than just random shots of people. I just expected more...

*But the biggest thing is that I have dipped into the world of 20something bloggers. And wow, the response was pretty awesome. It's pretty cool to get random comments on your page and branching and all that good stuff. Feels different than the spacebook because on 20something, people actually want to reach out and be reached out to, or else, why would they be there? So because of that, I give the following shoutouts to:

You

You

You

You

&

You

Thanks for the comments and for the new reading material. Now I'm off to either watch the MTV Movie Awards, fall asleep early, or both

Random lyric of the day:

No one will ever see things the way I do
No one will try
All my friends think that I'm gone
But I swear, I swear I'm not
I swear I'm not

Driving Slow on Sunday Morning

I’ve been Tagged by: jakinthebox & Southern Domestic Goddess

So here are my tag rules:

* List Six Unimportant Things That Make You Happy.

* Mention and link to the person who tagged you.

* Tag six of your favorite bloggers to play along, and comment on their blog to let them know they’ve been tagged. (not going to do that, still new to this, but MeMe, you can feel free to if you'd like

Things that make me happy:

1. Joining a blogging social networking group and not only being greeted but instantly branching out

2. Listening to my headphones while walking on campus and hearing a song that makes me rock out while walking and not caring that I am pretty much dancing in public

3. Concerts

4. Staying up till four or five in the morning playing Rock Band with friends

5. Visiting friends and having friends visit me

6. Standing on a beach watching the waves and listening to my iPod

Oh and a litte shoutout to myslef -- this is my 25th blog... I have kept up with something finally

Girls are Complicated

So the saga continue on two fronts:

1) "this girl" was sick, so I decided to try and pull the sweet card and bring her soup and crackers along with some gummy worms because of a status she had put up. She wasn't there so I left it. When she called me HOURS later I went over there and watched the duel. While watching she does the cute legs on me thing. I would be into this whole scenario, but the fact that she has a boyfriend is making it weird. It's like I feel I am getting the signals, and I want to act, but the boyfriend thing is throwing me off. I'm not the kind of the guy that messes around like that. Sigh.

2) my ex-girlfriend and I talked today. For the first time in months. And on the phone. And it was a long conversation. It was a good one though. No yelling or guilt trips. She is doing a lot better in life and from talking to her I realize I am doing a lot better also. I'm still not ready to be friends though. I wanna be able to communicate if needed, but friends is out for right now. She just mentioned her boyfriend's name and I clammed up. But i do feel a friendship coming for us soon. She is coming back up here to go to school. Can you saw awkward? Sigh.

In other news:

*I'm catching up on the duel, but apparently i'm pretty behind. Just saw Easy get eliminated. Pretty sad about that.

*Started my "assistant music director" job at WEGL today. Basically, I listen to music and say whether it is good or not. Pretty sweet. And we signed up for our shows this summer. Wednesdays it is going to go like this: 5-6 is Frisco, 6-8 is Me and 8-9:30 is Matt Walker. Should be some good Wednesdays.

*Bought some records today: Band of Horses, Kings of Leon and Minus the Bear. This vinyl business is not good for my wallet.

*Also bought some books today. Got one I have been wanting for a long time, "Scar Tissue" by Anthony Keidis. Hopefully I can get into it.

Random lyric of the day:

Do you never wonder?
No, no no no

You girls never know
Oh no, you girls'll never know
No you girls never know
How you make a boy feel

getting back into the habit

I did a bad, bad thing. I downloaded Taking Back Sunday's cd. I am only going it to listen to it a couple of times before it comes out, then I PROMISE I will pay for it. Maybe even twice if I can find the vinyl. So far I am very happy. They sound very grown up. But I am sure I will give a detailed review later.

Speaking of music, i have officially begun learning the piano. I have messed with learning the C, D, E, F, G, A, & B keys. It's a start.

I need a new car. My current trial and tribulation includes my back lights staying on even when the car (and the light switch) is turned off. So I bought a new part and finally got it replaced after a while of messing with it (a mechanic, I am not). Guess what? It still doesn't work. Sigh.

Bad news? I was very close to being mean to "this girl" today. She was making me feel bad about not hanging out with her and I really wanted to say something along the lines of "why don't you hang out with your boyfriend?" But I don't know, guess I just don't have it in me...

Good news? The No Doubt/Paramore concert is next weekend. Along with that comes Jme's visit. Hopefully the weather won't be crappy like last time. And since her boyfriend isn't here for his friend to steal she might be in a better mood. Did I mention a massive water balloon fight?

Random lyric of the day:

Well I'd like to see all roles reveresed
to watch you hang on every word,
I'd like to see you have your way

I keep my grammer well rehearsed
correct each studder every slur
Come on have your way with me

off the top of my head

*mini semesters suck -- but this one isn't too bad

*i've spent a lot of time lately with a girl who I feel is almost becoming my younger sister. I get this weird protective feeling over her. If she were any cooler, my current best friend who lives away may need to get worried (but she shouldn't)

*my dad might come visit me -- and stay the night. What?

*so i'm stuck in a situation where i'm pretty sure I like this girl and she uh, has a boyfriend. More on that later.

*it's hard to hold a grudge. I've broken down and tried calling my ex-girlfriend the other day. Her phone went straight to voice mail. I haven't tried again. Maybe in another month or two.

*i need to get back into this blogging thing. Get myself out there more.

*more details later... for now is bedtime

Random lyric of the day:
I've been roaming around
i was looking down at all i see
painting faces, building places i can't reach

you know that i could use somebody
you know that i could use somebody
someone like you

Fin

So where did I leave off? Monday? Check.

Monday:

Asked my brother Dan the night before if he wanted to join us for our San Francisco trip and he actually said yes. The cool thing about it is I never really got close to him, in fact one summer actually tore us apart while that same summer brought my other brother Nick and I closer together, so this gave us a chance to spend some together. And it was a really good time. We got to San Fran and the first thing we did was bought a ticket to Alcatraz and toured that. All the stuff I have done before, but I was younger so I only remembered bits and pieces. But it was Frisco's first time visiting the city he got his nickname from and Dan's first time visiting the landmarks, so it was a good experience. But honestly one of the most memorable moments came on the boat ride from the city to the Alcatraz Island when a big thing of water splashed on us for a second and we started yelling like we were causing scenes in high school. From there, we just visited the wharf and then made our way to the Golden Gate Bridge. By the time we got there, it was starting to get dark so that added to it, but messed up our picture taking efforts haha. We walked to the first section of the bridge and ran back because it was starting to get cold. Sidenote: if you ever visit Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, eat at a place called Wipe Out Bar & Grill. I had the BEST pineapple pizza in history.

Tuesday:

Here is where we had a mini adventure. We wanted to hit a couple things: the Winchester Mystery house in San Jose and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. Then Frisco heard that there was a drum and bass event in San Francisco. And we were starting in Modesto. And had to end the night in Monterey. So here is what our travels for the day looked like:



Recap: Winchester Mystery house was cool with stairs leading to ceilings and doors opening to walls and the bathroom the floor below, Santa Cruz sucked because we got there an hour after the Boardwalk closed but we ate up time at an arcade, Frisco had a good time at the drum and bass thing and I did too... till I started falling asleep. Ended in Monterey at about 4 in the morning.

Wednesday:

Besides the day we did nothing in Modesto, this might have been our chillest sight seeing day of the whole trip. We started off the with a trip to the Montery Bay Aquarium. Then just kind of shopped around on Canarry Row (i think that's what it's called). One cool spot was we found a record store and I officially jumped into the record game. Now I just need a player haha. Ended the night with watching the Soloist. Pretty deep movie, kind of got me in that frame of mind and when we got back to the hotel, it had a view of the beach from the balcony and I went on down and put on my ipod and just watched the waves. Pretty cool moment.

Thursday:

Started the trek to LA but had to backtrack to Modesto because I forgot to get my laptop. Made it to San Dimas around 10 or so and saw the last of the Grey's Anatomy season finale haha. But I was at my uncle's so man was I in my happy place.

Friday:

Decided we were going to give Hollywood a try. I should have mentioned that during this road trip we have kind of been scouting different cities. San Francisco is kind of winning, with Santa Fe close behind as far as cool places to live. But Hollywood, or the LA area? No sir. WAY too much traffic. And Hollywood was just kind of... sketchy. Did pick up some records from the Virgin store though. Then it was family time, consisting of spending the rest of the time playing wii.

Saturday:

Went to my cousin's baseball game and watched him get a hit that started a rally so that was awesome. Then my other family from Monrovia, another city on the outskirt of LA, made thier way over and we had some intense Scrabble and some awesome steak.

Sunday:

Said our goodbyes and started the drive back. Figured we would get as close to Albuquerque, New Mexico as we could. Got about two hours out and stopped to get a motel.

Monday/Tuesday:

After a two hour tourist stop in Albuquerque, we decided we were going to pull an all nighter. So we drove 23 hours from there to Crestview, Florida and about passed out when we pulled up. Oh, and I was fighting a mild sickness. But my sister had a night class when I got there so I tried to stay up a few more hours. But when we did finally call it a night I think I was out in seriously 2 minutes.

Wednesday:

The official end. Swapped the cars back out in Daleville and made it to Auburn at about six. Matt Walker had a little barbecue and we just kind of hung out.

So that was it. Some cool stuff has happened since then but I will discuss all that when I return to normal blogging. For now, here are some samples of the pictures from the trip so Jme will get off my back.

The Halfway Point

I need to write this down before I forget...

Tuesday: Finished up finals, hung out with Jessica and then Matt, packed up and left Auburn at about 7 or 8, stopped in Troy to see Jme and arrived in Daleville to spend the night before starting our journey in the morning.

Wednesday: Woke up and went to Tracy's to see the kids before they went to school. Picked up Frisco's moms car (she helped out with saving us on a rental) and at about 9:30 headed for Troy. Made a last minute stop in Wal-Mart for Frisco to pick up some things and then after passing Montgomery, it finally felt like we were in unfamiliar territory so that's when it felt like our journey really started. Making only one stop in a KFC in a town called Demapolis we crossed through Alabama to Mississippi before we saw a sign that said Jackson was only 70 miles away. Frisco didn't realize our path took us through Jackson and he had family there, so after a few phone calls, we ended up stopping for a couple hours to see his aunt, uncle, and some cousins. And before we hit Jackson, here was the conversation we had. "What is Cassie's kid's name?" "I'm not sure..." "Is it Jackson?" "Yea, I think so" "We should stop and get her something from the town because of the shoutouts she was giving us on twitter" Our conversation after we crossed into Louisiana "DANGIT, we forgot to get Cassie something" So you can see that this whole freestyle thing wasn't really working. Finally, at about 12:30, made it to Jacksonville, Texas where my grandparents on my dad's side live and stopped there for the night.

Thursday: Had a wonderful breakfast from my grandparents, who spent the time that we were there calling my roommate Sisqo and we didn't have the heart to tell them that his name is Frisco. They gave us a bunch of stuff to take a road, stuff we didn't even ask for (cookies, bananas, jellybeans) and we left there at about 11. Crossed through Dallas and thought about stopping but couldn't decide on what to do so we just kept driving. It worked out because we got to Lubbock at about 6 or 7 and I saw my cousin Kayla first. She is a year and a day younger than I am and we were really close when we were little. Now, she is the only one out of the 11 of us cousins to have kids, and she has two. First time seeing them and it was kind of crazy. Met up with my aunt and uncle and who took us out to eat and was probably the coolest thing when she met Frisco when she was like "Can I hug you?" and proceeded to give him a hug that lifted him off the ground, something i know Jme would have enjoyed. Then just spent time at my aunt's house snappin pictures and getting beat by super smart 8-year-old cousin in video games. My other cousin Alicia also came over to say Hi before having to leave so study for a final.

Friday: Left Lubbock in the morning with our destinations to be the Four Corners, where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah all meet at one point, and then to get to the Grand Canyon. However, we looked at the map and saw that Santa Fe was only a couple hours north. So we headed north. This is where we had our first experience of tons of picture taking. Santa Fe was an awesome city to visit as that city, along with other parts of New Mexico, had in indescribable look to them. I say that because I honestly can't find the words to describe them. But we walked around the Plaza for a good two hours and looked at all the amazing art and visited this chapel with a set of stairs that has been featured on Ripley's Believe it Or Not. It was like a spiral staircase that had no support. Once again, I can't really describe it, but I will post pictures. At about 5, we decided to make our way to the Four Corners, arriving at about 11 to find out that it isn't really a spot, but a monument. A monument that closes at 8. So needless to say we were pretty bummed. Especially because after Santa Fe, Frisco drove the entire way to the point. I tried to pick up after that with our goal to be to hit the Grand Canyon and get a hotel there, but I only made it about an hour or two into Arizona before we called it a night.

Saturday: Drove about two hours and then hit it: The Grand Canyon. Once again, words cannot describe this place. All Frisco kept saying was that it looked like a painting, like it wasn't real. It was crazy because when we were in the gift shop and we looked at pictures, we were like "we know what that looks like in person" Some of the coolest things there was walking off the trail and daring ourselves to further to the edge. We never got too crazy though, but it provided some pretty awesome picture shots. After the Grand Canyon, we were faced with an option. Drive a little while and find a hotel. Or drive 10 hours to Modesto and make it there at about 2 or 3 in the morning. We made it to Modesto at 2:30.

Sunday: My brothers had surprised me by being here when we showed up and we didn't get to sleep till about 4 due to going to Jack In The Box and then enjoying our Oreo cookie shakes in at the part. When we woke up we tried to make some plans, but just ended up spending the day with my brothers and my mom and grandma. But for the most part, with my brothers. I sometimes felt like I was letting Frisco down because we weren't going anywhere, we just stayed in Modesto, but he never showed it if he was. I am very thankful for that because I don't get to see my brothers but maybe once a year and this time it was only for a day or two.

So now, it is Monday morning and our plans are to take the day to explore San Francisco, then in the next few days hit up Santa Cruz, Monterey, and then the LA area. Wonder what else we will randomly do...

Twitter

So maybe a detailed post later, but for now, for the two out of my three "followers" that have twitter, check this for the next two weeks:

http://twitter.com/CaliRoadtrip