This evening I will drive down to the SD area with Ben to go camping for the Labor Day weekend. I swear, I have been camping more in the last 4 months than I have in the last 15 years! When I asked for tomorrow off, apparently my coworkers were commenting that I didn’t seem like the camping type. My boss asked if this was a fair assessment, at which point I mentioned the lack of camping until I started going out with Ben. So, I suppose I basically answered that question in the affirmative!

At any rate, it should be nice down there—warmer than here, and hopefully not too cold at night. We’ll be by the ocean too so I’ll be able to get a bit more sun before summer officially ends.

I probably won’t have any internet until I get back, so I hope you all have a great weekend!

Posted at 5:18 PM | (0)

On Tuesday night I went with Ben to see Stevie Wonder perform at the Bowl. I had no idea the guy still toured, but apparently he does, and we are one of the few stops he will be making.

The concert had tons of people in attendance, and it was of course quite a different crowd than that at 311 the week before. More older people, people with children, that sort of thing. Because Stevie Wonder has soooo many songs spanning a really long time, I didn’t know a bunch of the stuff he played, but he did play a few of his more popular such as My Cherie Amor, I Just Called to Say I Love You, and Part Time Lover. At any rate, I had a nice time and enjoyed the show. Oh, and I ate a churro there—have I ever mentioned how awesome churros are? I hadn’t had one in awhile, so I forgot that they are so good. :)

Posted at 8:21 AM | (0)

I came to a startling revelation yesterday when I was down in Ventura to spend the afternoon at the beach—the town has a lot of, for lack of a better word, “interesting” people in its midst.

The Habit, a Santa Barbara-based burger joint, has a location in Ventura, and while inside waiting for food, I don’t think I observed a single “normal” person. Now, I realize that normal is a pretty subjective term, but all of these people had something weird about them. For instance, there was the 30-something mom with the poofy curly 80s hair and long dress, the two young sisters with purple streaks in their hair, the gangsta-lookin’ dude with his girl, the hipster geeky dude, the girl wearing a super bright red wig, and more people with tattoos than you could shake a stick at! It was truly a surreal experience, especially if you’ve eaten at the SB County locations.

The beach was no exception to the oddness, and the highlight was a photoshoot of a girl in a bikini wearing huge dangly hoop earrings and doing cartwheels. Ok, this last one could very well have taken place on a beach in SB, but point is that I had no idea that Ventura was so “interesting”—I was always under the assumption it was a quiet middle-class suburb full of soccer moms and whatnot. Man, I am obviously so sheltered having lived in SB for so long—heaven help me if I were to hit up a burger place and beach in LA!

Posted at 8:29 PM | (2)

So, for my next knitting project, I have chosen to make the Mirepoix Bodice from the Fall 2007 issue of Interweave Knits.

I thought it looked kinda cool, and also of importance, it features techniques that I haven’t tried before—namely fair isle and steeking. Fair isle is the part with the multiple colors (there are 7 colors in all), and steeking is having extra stitches so that you cut the fabric to make holes for the sleeves.

Anyway, I seem to like picking projects that are probably a bit more than most sane people would tackle on their first effort at a new technique. I usually have no idea how to do half the stuff I make before I start, but just figure I’ll learn as I go. Thanks to the internet you can usually find video tutorials and forums where you can get help, so it usually isn’t a problem.

While doing a search to see who else was planning on knitting this sweater, I found that someone started a Mirepoix knitalong, which is basically a group you join where everyone is going to knit the same item at the same time. The group technically isn’t beginning the sweater until October 1—they wanted to give everyone time to get all the yarn and stuff, but I had already begun before I even found the group. Knowing me though, and how it always takes me like 3 months to finish anything, I’ll still have plenty of work left on this thing by the time the KAL starts. I also figure it’s probably good to get tips and suggestions from other people working on the same thing—especially when I get to the fair isle part.

Anyway, I don’t seem to make too many knitting posts, despite the fact that I’m always working on SOMETHING, so I figured I’d write one now, especially since I joined this group. If anyone else is interested in making this same sweater this fall, they should totally join. :)

Posted at 10:21 PM | (0)

Last night Ben and I went to the SB Bowl to see Matisyahu and 311. There was an opening act at 6pm, but we missed them because we decided to stop for some food first. We actually showed up after Matisyahu had already started, but seeing as how I only know 2 songs by him, and we were there for those, I don’t know what we missed.

The concert was good, and there were a lot of people in attendance. It’s only the 2nd time I’ve ever been there—the first time being when I saw Jack Johnson several years ago. Our seats were decent, although we did manage to get a little closer towards the end of the night.

We had had a couple drinks both with dinner and at the concert, so we walked the almost 2 miles back to my place. Luckily SB is a pretty safe place (well, not for gang members, who like to stab each other), and the Bowl doesn’t allow music to go past 10pm, so we weren’t wandering around too late into the night. As it was, the concert only went until about 9:40pm, so we didn’t get back all that late. Overall a good evening. :)

Posted at 9:14 PM | (1)

Luckily, somehow, it seems that the smoke and ash decided to go away this weekend, allowing us to actually see that the sky is indeed blue. I didn’t take much advantage of this on Saturday afternoon, instead only going outside when Ben and I went out to dinner.

On Sunday, however, I went over to Ben’s around 11am to go to the beach. We left around noon and walked the little ways down to the beach and spent about 5 hours down there. I had my magic sunblock on and so for the most part I came back unburned, despite being out during peak hours, in the water, and not reapplying. It did make it more obvious where I was lax about applying—but even those spots are just pink and not the color of lobster. All in all it was a lovely day and as a bonus, the beach was practically deserted. It will probably get a bit busier once UCSB is back in session, but that’s still over a month away.

Posted at 5:16 PM | (0)

The Zaca fire, which has been burning since the 4th of July and is expected to continue to burn until the beginning of September, has still been steadily raining ash on everyone in Santa Barbara. Blue skies have been replaced by a smokey, ashy, thick haze uglier and more opaque than smog, although in areas where you can see through to the sky, it does make for some interesting cloud formations, colorful sunsets, and an intensely bright orange sun.

Last night I joined Ben at another Thursday concert in the park. Despite the probably unhealthy air conditions, a large number of people were gathered for the free show. When night fell on the park and they turned on the lights near the stage, it illuminated the ash floating to the ground like tiny snowflakes. A little weird, and also a bit disturbing to see how much is in the air. Opening my windows to get some air in my hot, stuffy apartment has resulted in my kitchen table and other various items near the windows to be covered in a fine layer of ash.

It’s supposed to be sunny and warm this weekend, and I would love to be able to take advantage of it by being outside, but I suppose it will just depend on how ashy it is. Oh well, if I stay indoors, I suppose it gives me more time to work on my new knitting project, for which the yarn just arrived this afternoon, woo!

Posted at 9:35 PM | (4)

Don’t you hate when you’ve been sitting at an odd angle, only you don’t realize it until you decide to stand up and your leg practically buckles under you because it’s completely asleep? Even worse is that shortly thereafter the feeling starts to come back and that pins and needles feeling always seems more intense when you didn’t know the leg was asleep to begin with!

Not that that happened to me today or anything…..ahem……though, that’s not as bad as when that happened to me back in the dorms and I attempted to climb down the ladder from my lofted bed and practically collapsed on the floor! Good thing this isn’t something that happens on a regular basis. :)

Posted at 6:48 PM | (2)

Fill this out about your SENIOR year of high school! The longer ago it was, the more fun the answers will be!!

I got this from Jessica, and it’s been awhile since I’ve posted a meme, so why not!

1. Who was your best friend? Melany and Kevin

2.What sports did you play? What are these “sports” of which you speak?

3. What kind of car did you drive? 1988 Ford Tempo, light blue.

4. Friday night… where were you ? Probably watching TV with my parents—I know….rebel!

5. Were you a party animal? Nope. See #4 above!

6. Were you considered a flirt? I highly doubt it. Maybe quiet?

7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Nope.

8. Were you a nerd? I definitely wasn’t popular, but I had a friends in several different groups. But if you count being in AP classes and trying to get the highest possible A+ in Spanish class as nerdy, then I suppose the answer is yes.

9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Never.

10. Can you sing the fight song? Possibly…had to go to all the football games for tall flags, so I’m sure it would come back to me.

11. Who was your favorite teacher? Ms. Conrado

12. Where did you sit during lunch? Shoop’s room.

13. What was your school’s full name? La Serna High School

14. School mascot? The Lancer.

15. Did you go to prom? Nope.

16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? I could take it or leave it. HS wasn’t a traumatic time for me or anything, but I like life a lot better now.

17. What do you remember most about graduation? My aunt yelling at our server at Olive Garden at my graduation dinner. I think he was new, and they assigned just him to our huge party!

18. Where did you go senior skip day? Was there one?? I don’t recall doing this, but I do recall leaving campus after taking AP tests in order to go to Disneyland with several other people who had annual passes.

20. Were you in any clubs? Not unless you count ones a bunch of us created mostly to look good on college applications (ie. The Physics Club).

21. Where did you go most often for lunch? They had already stopped letting seniors off-campus for lunch a few years prior. I pretty much never ate lunch anyway.

22. Have you gained some weight since then? Only a couple pounds—I can still wear all the stuff I owned back then (this is actually bad, because I should probably not still have stuff in my closet from a decade ago!)

23 Who was your February-formal dance date? No one, I didn’t go to HS dances.

24. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I think so. It’s the weekend I’d be going home for my birthday anyway. Hopefully a few people I know (and used to hang out with) go so I’ll have people to talk to.

25. Who was your home room teacher? Mrs. Harrelson.

26. Who will repost this after you? Who knows!

27. Who was your high school sweetheart? No one.

28. Do you still talk to people from high school? Very few, and pretty much only Kevin on a regular basis.

29. Did you win prom queen or king? Nope, but I suppose that’s a good thing, since if I had won, I wouldn’t have been there to accept my crown!

30. Where did you work durring your senior year? Krikorian movie theater in La Mirada for a month (left to take higher-paying Sears job), Sears for 3 months (until my evil, heartless boss let me go on Xmas Eve!), and Regal Cinemas in Whittier for 7 months until I left for UCSB.

Posted at 3:53 PM | (1)

Last night, Ben and I went out to get some dinner at a Mexican restaurant. This restaurant happens to be near a Mary Kary office. I parked my car next to a huge white Cadillac with “Mary Kay” written on the side. A blond woman was standing outside the car talking to a darker haired woman inside.

OH. MY. GOD.

The dark haired woman was quite possibly the scariest person I have ever seen in my life. She was older, but I am not sure HOW old, because she had clearly had a lot of work done. And she also clearly still had a lot of wrinkles. So either she had some botched surgery, or she is like 137 years old. She also had on a TON of makeup, which did nothing to enhance her look. I was actually surprised that she didn’t haunt my dreams last night, she was that frightening.

A few minutes later another dark-haired lady with poofy hair came out of the office, and she too had clearly had work done. Only, her face had that whole I have no wrinkles because all my face has been stretched back into my scalp look to her. Not as frightening as the first lady, but still a little disturbing.

These are the women representing Mary Kay?! I recall going to a few parties with my mom back when I was in junior high, and no one looked that scary. But perhaps it’s only the higher-ups that are so fake, not the lowly peons they send out to host little neighborhood parties? One thing is for sure, if THAT is the face of Mary Kay, I will gladly continue with my makeupless existence!

Posted at 3:22 PM | (1)

Well, at least not at the moment. Nothing noteworthy to write about from the last few days. Just thought I’d write this little post for the benefit of my sister who, now that she has no classes for the summer, likes to check my site for updates a couple times a day. Hi Lisa!! And sorry you had to check all those other times only to find nothing new, dude! :)

Posted at 2:52 PM | (1)

Yesterday, for my mom’s birthday, we took her to see Wicked at the Pantages Theater in LA. She had been wanting to see it, and so we decided to buy her tickets without telling her. This plan backfired a bit, in that she bought herself tickets a few months earlier without telling me or my sister. So, we wound up having to sell the 2 extra tickets we were now stuck with (hooray for Craigslist!), but we still all went and enjoyed the show.

Afterward we went to dinner and all had a ton to eat—including desserts! We then went home and I stuck around for a little bit, while I packed up my things to head back to SB. On the drive back, I made a quick detour to visit my sister’s house to see her 2 new kittens—they were very cute.

This post would’ve come earlier, but it seems that I am indeed in the midst of a cold—I had picked up a cough about a week ago, but last night it turned into runny nose. So that’s pretty lame, considering my colds usually only last a week total. Hopefully it will run its course soon—blah!

Posted at 9:23 PM | (0)

If you are familiar with Santa Barbara, you are aware that the city is in the midst of its Fiesta celebrations—which began on Wednesday and will last until Sunday. In all my years as a full-time resident of SB, I have never actually partaken in any of the activities. This year, I appear to have broken that tradition.

On Thursday night, I went out with Ben and some of his friends that were in town—we got dinner and then went to Dargan’s for some drinks and pool. Dargan’s was nice in that it didn’t have a cover or a line, and in fact, was pretty empty inside—a nice alternative to the crowded locations such as Q’s or Tonic. And speaking of Tonic, there was apparently a shooting right outside there last night—police shot a man drawing a weapon in what is a very crowded area during a very busy time of year. Pretty scary, considering that if I had gone downtown last night, I could very well have been in that area. The dude was from Oxnard—why do the Oxnard people always have to come up to SB and cause trouble?!

Anyway, luckily last night I went camping by the beach with Ben and some of his friends—after viewing the parade with him earlier in the day. Everyone is actually going to stay up there until Sunday, but I am home in Whittier for the moment because my mom’s birthday is tomorrow and we are taking her to see the musical, Wicked.

I left everyone around 11am, and hit the road for LA around noon. Not long after I arrived home, my mom, dad, and I hit up the Orange County fair. It was actually a bit disappointing this year, as the stuff we expected to be there wasn’t. There were at least still some cool things in the arts and crafts exhibit—that’s always my favorite part, because people make some really neat things!

That’s about it for now—though shortly I am going to go see the latest Harry Potter movie, wooo. :)

Posted at 8:26 PM | (2)

When you decide to take a shower, get your hair all lathered up with shampoo, and then the water slowly stops pouring out of the shower head, until finally there is no water at all. It is then that you realize that someone in your building has decided to turn off the water in order to do who knows what kind of plumbing-based things. So there you are, all wet, yet with no water with which to rinse the shampoo out of your hair. You contemplate walking out to find out what is going on, but then you’d have to yell at someone while you have a head full of shampoo—which, while driving home the point of how sucky giving no notice is, isn’t high up on your list of things you are dying to do. So, you wait about an hour or so until you are sure the water is back on to stay, and finally, finally you are able to rinse out the shampoo that has probably now permanently bonded to your hair.

I’m just sayin’…

Posted at 10:47 PM | (1)