Great Expectations

I am less than two weeks away from leaving southside and joining the dirty northsiders in Mira Mesa. My area code would become 858.

I was looking forward to this day; I really was. April 29th was going to be with my parents, my girlfriend, and my realtor, all around me, watching as I sign the escrow papers and get handed the keys. My realtor Marc said he would bring the champagne to celebrate as the ink dried on the sheet.

Unfortunately, my expecations will be dashed. I won't have anyone around me when I sign. Due to my house being a short sale, I will have to sign the papers at least a week in advance. I'd have to use my free time to go by myself, and sign the papers. No fanfare, no clapping, no encouragement. Just myself and an escrow officer. Maybe a handshake.

The keys aren't going to be handed to me after I sign. I have to wait for funding to be put through, and then my name added as owner of record of the house. That process takes at least a few days. After that, my own realtor will give me the keys.

There is a life lesson in this, I'm sure. Maybe this means the housewarming will be amazingly epic.

I'll buy a hookah lamp.

What a girl wants

I can't sleep, so I'm going to write myself into sleeping.

If there's one thing I have learned being with Trang, it's that when women want a man, they don't want physical strength, they want mental strength. It's the maturity that they crave.

There are times when she points out to me things that are supposed to be common sense, yet it's impossible to learn until you go through it once. You can be told the right way to act or the right way to do something, but it's the hands on experience which get you there.

The majority of my friends are all younger than me, and it's a role that I embrace. I like being an older leader, and putting the responsibility upon me to be a "guide" so to speak. Yet every day, I learn from either Trang, or someone else, what it takes to be mentally mature and strong. And like I said, the best way to do those things is to do those things the wrong way first, so you know exactly what not to do.

I'm not referring to specific examples, I'm just thinking right now what I'm about to embark upon in the next few weeks. I'm about to buy a house. Seriously, a house. We're talking about a home. I'm looking at my room which is getting emptier and emptier by the day, and I'm amazed as to what I'm about to get into.

I'm not supposed to be scared of this. It's supposed to be exciting. A younger, non mature man, would be afraid to take on the responsibility, the commitment, the role of being a homeowner. And I sit here dumbfounded, because the day is getting closer and closer and I can't believe I'm about to do this.

I have a problem of pessimistic foreshadowing. One of my immature flaws is that if I desire something so much and want it so bad, I eventually lose it, and it comes crashing down, and I sit there holding the pieces and wonder what I did wrong. Hell, take into account any of my exes. Not one of them complained that I didn't love them enough. They all said that I am a very loving person and have a great heart. But it's just that overbearing amount of love which made them nervous that they couldn't return it. No, really, all of them had said the same thing to me, in a different way.

But how do you live life not loving something as much as you can? Are you not supposed to go 100% all-out? I thought life was about embracing your experience, grasping the present, and making the most out of it.

My house is 17 days away and I'm sitting here wondering if I'm going to jinx myself and fall in love with the idea of having a house. Will escrow fail? Will the gift letter check get caught by the underwriter (I'll explain what that means in a future blog)? Will the short sale bank reject the request for repair form?

Trang reassured me that I don't need to be afraid of these things. Just know that I'm buying a house, something that hardly anyone has ever done, at my age, at this point of my life.

It's just an example of someone younger than me, pointing out how to be mentally mature.

If embracing the present is the first way of life, learning from your peers is the second.

Rain? Preposterous!

At the Padres and Dodgers game yesterday, Jeff and I went out around 4pm to watch batting practice. Jeff actually managed to catch a ball thrown from Orlando Hudson into the stands.

Afterward, I caught a t-shirt from the Pad Squad. It's a blue SD shirt that says Padres on the back. You won't believe how many times I've tried to catch a shirt from them.

During the middle of the game, Jeff and I made it onto the big screen. I was waving my towel, and the cameras put us up there. I had no idea what to do so I started jumping up and down like a maniac.

I was hungry so I bought beer and nachos to eat; which I've never had at Petco Park before. Bud Light tastes like crap, but dem nachos be delicious, especially with jalapenos.

It was the most "productive" time I've had in a single day at a Padre game.

Ignore the fact that the game was rained out and suspended after 6 innings, so we didn't even get to see how the game finished (they continue the game on Saturday night).

It makes you realize what you go to the park for. You don't go to watch the game; you can do that on TV any day you want. You go because you want to do all the park-related stuff like drink beer, eat nachos, catch baseballs, win t-shirts, and defend your team from enemy fans.

Welcome back, baseball season!

Some updates

1. I'm trying to buy a house. It's hard as hell lol. If/when I finally finish the process, I will walk you guys through the entire process from A to Z. Just know that this is probably the most responsibility I've ever taken on, and I'm loving every minute of it.

2. My bracket for March Madness got its ass beat on Day 1. I only have 10 out of 16 lol.

3. I don't like moving because it involves an assload of organizing and cleaning and most importantly, deciding what you "need" and what you "kinda need" and what you "don't need".

4. After eating at Todai and Onami, I think Fuji Sushi Buffet needs to also move down from Sacramento to San Diego.

Grammy Night 2011

Music is life. It makes you feel good, it makes your blood rush, it makes your heart beat, and it gets you moving. It can also relax you, make you fall in love, or lullaby you to sleep.

Music is here for you.

My favorite performance of the Grammys tonight:

1. Eminem, Rihanna, Dr Dre, Skyler Grey
- I need a doctoooooooooooorrrrrrrr

2. B.O.B., Bruno Mars, and other person
- Bruno Mars can drum! That guy is boss

3. Mick mother fuckin Jagger
- Did you know he can move like that?

4. Muse
- I get pumped every time I hear that weeeWEEE guitar riff.

5. Cee-Lo Green, Gwenyth Paltrow
- Those muppets were awesome as hell.

6. Rihanna, Drake
- Q: why do guys go to clubs? A: to get what Drake got from Rihanna. Seriously, if any of you ladies out there want to know the correct way of moving your legs, watch Rihanna's performance.

7. Arcade Fire 2
- We just won Album of the Year! Fuck you producers, we're giving everyone an encore! *takes equipment back from the stage crew and plugs everything back in*

8. Katy Perry
- Using video from her wedding gets her creative points, and her set design was cute.

9. Jennifer Hudson, Christina Aguilera, etc
- Opening performance for Aretha Franklin's tribute. It was a great touch; Aretha's music never gets old.

10. Justin Bieber, Usher
- Usher sounded great with OMG, Bieber was alright with his newer song, but I hate Jaden Smith and his parents. He is a classic case of lucky nepotism and I hate it. And what's with the Mortal Kombat drummers? Bieber really needed to do some more solo stuff; Jaden took up the camera.

11. Lady Antebellum
- A great song, but it was still the same song we've heard.

12. Lady Gaga
- Always creative, but performance didn't make me go whoaaaaa like she's done before.

13. Barbara Streisand
- A beautiful voice for her age

14. John Mayer, Norah Jones, Keith Urban
- Norah Jones is getting older and her voice is getting better. And Urban on the guitar is great. Dolly Parton is a true icon.

15. Bob Dylan
- Alright, but I'm not old enough to appreciate his music

16. Arcade Fire (first performance)
- My head hurts from the lights after watching that.

I thought so

I was having a conversation with someone just now, and they just said the wrong thing at the wrong time. I immediately ended the conversation, because I no longer wanted to talk to them.

It was a simple 3 word sentence.

"I thought so."

When talking to someone, you'll often hear it. Someone will ask you a question, and you'll reply. If the questioning person says "I thought so", it means they already knew the answer to your question.

So what's the purpose of saying "I thought so"? I'll tell you exactly what it is. That sentence means "I knew what the answer is, I just want to validate what I thought, because validation makes my ego feel better. And I love improving my ego!"

Think about it-- no really, think about it. Does the sentence "I thought so" improve anything in a conversation? Does it add any information? Does it add any context? No, it doesn't do anything. All it does is come off as "woohoo I guess what your response was going to be, I'm awesome!". If you really are after validation, couldn't you have just kept the sentence "I thought so" to yourself, and congratulate yourself in private? No, you congratulate yourself in public, because what's the point of congratulating yourself if there's nobody to see it?

Q: "What's wrong?"
A: "I'm angry"
Q: "Is it because of.... (educated guess goes here)?"
A: "Yeah"
Q: "I thought so"

See, what was the point of saying "I thought so" at the end?

Here is how I would handle it if someone said that to me:

Q: "What's wrong?"
A: "I'm feeling sad"
Q: "Is it because of.... (educated guess goes here)?"
A: "Yeah"
Q: "I thought so"
A: "Congratulations, want a god damn cookie?"

I have two friends (who shall remain nameless, but they know who they are) who say "I thought so" all the time. Actually, one of them says "I knew it" a lot. "I knew it" is the same thing as "I thought so", it just requires less brainpower to expend.

I hate it when people gloat. I hate it when people gloat in front of me. I even hate it more when people gloat at my expense. It's part of my personality: I don't take criticism well, and I don't like people making me feel lower, or making themselves feel higher.

And if you just said "I knew it" after reading that paragraph, then we're going to have issues.

So what do you say instead of saying I knew it, or I thought so?

You say "I see".

That's all, two words. Two words that mean "ok I learned something". It's the same thing as "oh ok". It means that you're not stroking your ego in front of them, it means you're listening to them.

Got it, world?

ic.

What you don't know can't hurt you

So I went running today, and it felt good. 51:19 to do my 4.2 mile route? After eating like an oink for 2 weeks during Christmas and New Years? I am on the road to RECOVERY!

I got home, took off my shoe, and noticed I had a blister on my inside arch.

Why is it that when you don't know about it and don't see it, it doesn't hurt, but when you DO see it, it's the most terrible pain in the world?

Knowledge is pain and ignorance is bliss :D

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After looking at the Disneyland pictures last month (yes I went to Disneyland; there's going to be a LOT of catching-up to do in my blog this year), I was unsatisfied at how I looked with Trang. I had my double chin, and I looked frumpy.

I looked back at my Disneyland Half Marathon photo in September of 2009, and I looked GOOD.



Look at how toned and motivated I looked (Jeff did an awesome job of the angling in the photo). I had just completed my first half marathon, and I was in love with how my body was pumping.

I want to register for the 2011 Disney Half Marathon, and undergo the same regimen I did for that. Run once a week, pumping out the 4.2 mile route I made from Tait -> Linda Vista -> Via Las Cumbres -> Friars -> Ulric -> Tait.

And now I have the bonus of P90X phase 2. My favorite workout by far is still Core Synergistics, mostly because of those hilarious superman bananas. You have to think that with the resistance trainings that come with P90X, and the intense cardio I get from my 4.2 track, I should be in my Disney shape in no time.