November 2005

Last Week!

November 28, 2005: Well, it's been a week since my last update - but I can blame some of that on me going home for Los Angeles, and if I can blame someone else, you know I will. So there's that out of the way. Speaking of which, how fun was it to go home? Lots! I got back home on Thanksgiving morning, and got to catch up with Mom and Harv for a while before company came over, including my stister Stacie and her 'kids' (they're both around 18) and my old neighbors EB and Andrea. Stacie and I rocked out to ABBA songs so you know that is always a good thing. I drank some of the Russian vodka that Mila had brought back from Russia for me, and dayum, they really do know how to make good vodka. You can barely even taste the normal pungent odor of vodka which is so characteristic of stuff you get here in the states. Anyways, the next day, I took Harv with me to Sears because I wanted to get new tires. Lately I've been not too confident with the performance of my tires - one is always losing air like a som'bitch and the ride has definitely been rougher. And there was some tread, but not lots. And with me heading on a very long drive shortly, plus having to drive around in slush, mud, snow, and water, I wanted piece of mind. You know how much piece of mind costs? $560. That's it! So call this # - operators are standing by!! But I've got brand new Michelins on my car, and the ride is definitely smoother. And I do indeed have piece of mind. Afterwards mom and I went down to Laguna Beach to visit the Hobie store - it seems to have become a tradition to get to that store once a year or so, but especially before I PCS. I picked up some cold-weather Hobie clothes because I don't have much need for board shorts in freezing temperatures. I still can't fucking believe I'll be living in freezing snow temperatures in less than a week. I'm being a pussy with Vegas dipping into the 30s overnight. How am I going to be when that's the HIGH!!!!???? Time to 'Man Up', Barnes.

Came back to Vegas on Saturday cause I knew I had lots of cleanup around the apartment to do, and I'm glad I did. It seems on Sunday I-15 was shut down for 3 hours. That would so NOT have made me a happy camper. I did manage to get all my DVDs out of their cases and into binders which will be accompanying me on the drive out. Also got rid of all my CD cases now, and all my CDs are in binders for good. It's kind of liberating to get rid of some of that extra crap. But movers coming into your house and going through all your things is also a surefire way to realize you still have way too much shit. Books for example. I have a TON of books. I actually think there may be a literal ton of books in my apartment. No kidding. I could drop all my books on you and you would die. A horrible painful death. I'm sitting in my old office room and see all the many boxes of books and fear for my life. But luckily everything is all packed up and I just await the movers to come back tomorrow and get it all in the truck. And then I will be moved out of Eastgate Apts, nearly three years exactly since I moved in. It's scary to think that the Azores were that long ago - I think of that for a few reasons. First, I just rewatched my May 2002 video of me, Jason and Wendy's trip to Europe back then. God that was funny shit. At the end of tape was some stuff Byron had shot for Connie of his apartment, and also some of his drives around the island. That brought back memories. And then Dorrian leaves a guestbook entry - all the planets are aligning for some weird reason. yet that reason better not be to go back to the Azores - I have no desire to go back there without the crew I had out there. No gracias.

Well, I figure I'll go see what movie is playing and go do that. Can't watch TV.... Oh, forgive me if the updates in the next few days/weeks are not too frequent. I am not sure I'll have Survivor access nor Internet access. Fingers crossed! speaking of which, I need to call DirecTV before heading out to the movies! Later!
What's New? The Episode 11 Survivor page. I've given up on my Amazing Race page. Too much work and too little motivation this go round. But I do hope the Linzs kick ass and win this thing!

Single digits left at work! BOOYAH!

November 20, 2005: Yep, I'm excited about that. A few things to clear up before I leave, but for the most part, I'm done. Sweet. Anyways, I'm just trying to enjoy some of my favorite things to do out here in Vegas, and last night was a Hofbrauhaus night. So much fun, but so much blech the next day. Definitely hungover but at least not pukey. Yay for no pukey! I didn't take my camera, but Linus did. I have pictures, and I'll put selected ones up from that night, but not all. Definitely not all.

So, I'm headed to Los Angeles for one final driveback and to spend Thanksgiving with Mom and Harv. Like I said, this will be the last time I drive back to LA for a while. I can't even foresee when I'll ever actually drive there again. Unless I get stationed somewhere in California after Colorado. I'll mostly be a plane traveler for the next few years to go anywhere, including LA and Las Vegas. Time to rack up the frequent flyer miles. Seriously, can't believe I'm moving in a few weeks!

Oh, does anyone out there have DirecTV? It looks like that's what I'm going to be going with out in Colorado Springs, as that's the only company who provides HD programming. I'm such a snob now I MUST have high def Lost or Alias or any of the number of shows that broadcast in HD. It's so awesome. But if there's anybody out there with feedback on DirecTV service, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

What's New? I've put up my Survivor Ep 10 page.

Immersed in Emotions, etc.

November 16, 2005: Trite headline, but yes, there's lots going on in my head, which has helped contribute to my reluctance in updating the site. For that, much apologies! But I shall try to clarify below:

Happiness: I can't tell you how stoked I am to be moving, into my own house no less. I'm happy also that Schofield is back at work - his presence was missed and I don't feel so bad about leaving work now, knowing he's there. But that's traipsing into other emotions, so I'll get back on track. The past few weeks have been a lot of fun too. On my birthday, I got TWO cakes! One cake, with chocolate fluffy icing and marble cake inside, was given to me by the awesome Porsche and Noemi. So I had a few pieces of the cake first thing in the morning. Then Shmofield came in a few hours later, right before lunch, with a HOME-made cake, much like I have done, and it was excellent. So along with happiness, I was damn full! No lunch needed for me, and even when we went to Arby's, I didn't eat a damn thing. Well, just a few mooched fries. So sue me. Schofield also got me a Best Buy gift card, which was awesome. Thanks Schofield! As of press time, it was spent yesterday. The second half of the day was tre annoying, but I'll get into that emotion later. The after-work part of the day was redeemed when I got to spend a lot of time with Mom and Harv, who had come up that weekend. We had a great dinner at Benihana's in the Las Vegas Hilton, Mom gave me some birthday money which will be used for Colorado Springs house fun, and I was able to forget about the negative stuff. That night, I met up with Fox and we went to Sunset Station to play some craps. Fox's birthday gift to me at this point was to roll absolutely fantastically, making each of us a few hundred bucks. NICE! I ended up losing it all back, but had a brief bounceback when a Wheel of Fortune machine paid off. I took the next day off, did some stuff I can't really remember, but in the evening, I went to dinner with the Schofields (sans Amber), having a great time and lots of laughs. I couldn't fight off the gambling urge on the way home, and had to stop at Sam's Town. It was freakin' packed, but after waiting a bit, I found a spot at a table and made a hundred bucks or so. On Saturday, I met up with the folks again at Paris, having dinner at the fabulous Steakhouse. You really can't go wrong there, as long as you have the funds to pay for it. I played craps again that night, but had some seriously bad luck. Blech. We will never speak of it again!

Speaking of craps, we've played quite a bit these past few weeks, and have done pretty damn good, going to the Luxor and making some bucks (a few hundred for both of us again) and then going to Sunset Station again, and while Fox didn't do that great, I had one of my best rolls ever. In fact, I was down to my last $25 (out of $300) and ended up rolling amazingly, skyrocketing my bankroll back up to $600. It was incredible.

And then finally, Mila came up to visit this past weekend, and we had a freakin' blast. She came up on Friday (Veteran's Day), and we had a fun and funny lunch at Olive Garden, hung out most of that afternoon at my apartment, watching TV and just generally having a lowkey yet great amount of fun. I even taught her how to play Dance Dance Revolution. Another devotee has been created! The next day we had a more 'Vegas' day, heading out to meet her friend Catherine at the Fashion Show Mall, then going to visit Wynn and Caesar's Palace. We then got dressed up and went to Mikado at the Mirage (just like Benihana's), followed up by going to Mandalay Bay and seeing Mamma Mia! I had wanted to see this once more before leaving Vegas, and the opportunity presented itself. I love when it does that! The cherry on top of this day was going back to the Mirage with Mila and both of us cleaning house during some gambling. She won $225 on a NICKEL machine (4000 credits!!!) and I won $130 on craps - this was all between 1 and 3 in the morning now, and neither of us were tired in the least. I will admit, I think I've been catching up on sleep since that evening, but it was fun nonetheless. A great way to celebrate Vegas once more before I take off.

So there's the happiness section.

Anger: I'm angry because I can't stand this fucking job anymore. It's taking more and more willpower to keep my mouth shut. Fortunately I know I can keep my trap shut, but it's so damn hard especially now that I'm down to literally a week left of work, considering Thanksgiving holiday and outprocessing and moving days. I've actually moved out of my desk and given it to Schofield. Further, I'm no longer answering the phone and I have put myself in a more 'advisory' role so that Schofield becomes the POC for these people. And let me tell you, I can not wait to slide silently out of this place and not have to deal with a bunch of self-serving diva assholes anymore. I should restate this and say, not have to deal with the Quantity of self-serving assholes that are here. I know you can never escape them completely, but when you're surrounded by them, it's a little rough. And when your direct supervisor causes you lots of anger and stress and disappointment, well, that just makes a shit pie that much shittier. But that's all I will say on that, because as others have warned me, I probably shouldn't vent completely on this. It's not too smart to do so. But anyways, just know that I can't wait to give this organization the bird as I'm driving out to Colorado.

Hopeful: I really am thinking this new assignment and location is going to be amazing. I am excited about owning a home, moving into it and just having my place to live. I also can't wait to be a flight commander. I'm just excited about change.

Sad: I am bummed about leaving Vegas though, even when I thought I wouldn't be. I'm bummed because I do have a few good friends here - namely Schofield and Fox and their associated families. It's been really the thing that's kept me sane, because if I didn't have them to vent to or hang out with, I would have gone insane long ago. In fact, I'm quite certain I would be getting out for sure because I'd be certain that the military just sucks. It sucks a lot, but it's a tolerable amount of suckage for now. I do know that I'll be coming back to Vegas a lot though, with airfare being pretty reasonable between here and Colorado Springs. I also can't stay away from playing craps that long!

Lonely: You know, I keep thinking that one day, I'll meet someone and won't be alone still. Yet I guess I'm just too lazy to look or something, or am waiting for the perfect one. I don't know, but the older I get, the more hollow I feel. Even with the few priceless friends I have, here I go again, moving to a new place and having to start out again, all by myself. It does get old. I'm used to it now, but obviously (since I'm writing it here) it still gets to me. And now I've shared too much.....

So with that, there's an update for you guys. Sorry it's been awhile, but at least it wasn't a month like Robbie!

To Michancy, thanks for the drunk dialing - it's been entertaining, to say the least! Sorry I haven't picked up the phone when you call - I'm a shmuck. I get in my moods where i just don't want to talk to anyone because I frankly don't have anything to talk about besides my last time playing craps. Oh, and that i hate my job. And you've heard most of that before. But I do apologize, still, for not answering!

To everybody else, I'm back! I'm not going to bother trying to update my Survivor and Amazing Race pages with explicit pages for all the episodes I've missed - I'm just going to have to pick up where we are. C-Money, send me Survivor thoughts!

I just downloaded a shitload of pictures off of my camera (I forgot I hadn't downloaded the rest of my Colorado pics from the Royal Gorge bridge, Seven Falls, and the horrendous drive from Denver to Vegas), and I will probably get them up this weekend, when I'm not busy trying to get my apartment ready for the movers. EEEK! I'm moving!!!!! They better not hurt my TV.

It's My Birthday!

November 3, 2005: Can't write too much right now as I'm basically heading out the door to work (<sigh>....working on your birthday....sucksucksuck!!!!... but I took tomorrow off, so at least there's that), but I wanted to remind the world how wonderful today is. So go out and celebrate this special day as if it were YOUR birthday too. Just send the presents my way - you don't get any unless it IS your birthday. Geesh, some people. So greedy! Happy Birhday to Me!!!!!!!!!

Shoot me an email if you want to. I may respond. (okay, you know I will - what else have I got to do?)