Sam's Blog

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jfk

John F. Kennedy was such a wise man. I would like to share some of my favorite quotes from him:

"Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth."

"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names."

"A child miseducated is a child lost."

"And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

"Art, that great undogmatized church."

"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."

"Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."

"I'm an idealist without illusions."

"If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity."

"It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war."

"Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate."

"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind."

"Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly."

"Things do not happen. Things are made to happen."

RIP JFK. We miss you a lot.

Link: http://www.whitestripes.com/

These past few weeks have been nonstop action-packed and I am finally starting to slow down. I don't even remember the last time I sat down to post. Either way, I will give a condensed version of what's been going on with life.

Saturday (November 12th)- Mike's Punks and Preps party. So much fun. A lot of people showed up, including Marty and Angie! We were all dressed up. Josh was a prep, which looked so odd to me because he would NEVER wear anything like that ever in his normal life. It was cute, but totally not him. Many punks and reformed punks were there. Wynne and Buff Mike made their annual appearance, along with Alexis and her twins and it was good times. Angela even made it out and so many others. We stayed up way too late! Check out the pictures here.

Sunday - Brunch at Swingers, shopping with Alexis all day long. I bought so much winter clothes, anticipating the colder weather. But lately, it's been at least 80 degrees everyday and fabulous. I can't help to just smile in the sunshine because I know that it will go away soon enough. It is quite lovely though.

Monday - Dinner with M at Buca di Beppo. I swear we're becoming regulars there. The waitor always remembers us! Yummy!!

Tuesday - Work mixer. We had a get together with all of the staff in my department. A lot of people went, surprisingly. It was at a place called The Daily Pint, which was a dive, but very cozy. We all had to turn in a baby picture of us and there was a contest to see who can guess the most. The prize was an ipod nano, so I really wanted to win. The contest was really hard and considering that I've only been there a short time, I didn't really know everyone on my floor. So sad. I could've used a nano! I met up with Angela later and studied at Iso Cafe in Westwood. It was my first time eating there since it had changed from Relaxtation. The food was quite yummy, but I miss their chicken salads. No one else makes them like that.

Wednesday - Work. Class. Lisa's Birthday. We went to house of Billiards to play some pool and kick it. It was a very nice and low key celebration. Happy Birthday Lisa!

Thursday - Work. Client event at The Geisha House. A lot of clients and executives from New York attended and it was nice to meet everyone that I deal with face to face. The food was SO good and I had a great time at the bar.

Friday - Work. Main event. We have a yearly event at work. They taped the event today, but it won't air until December, so I won't talk to much about it. It's an awards ceremony and they try to get a lot of performers and famous presenters. It was very cool this year and the afterparty at the Cabana Club was so awesome. I'm not normally excited when I meet people, but that night, I was at a loss for words for most people. It was a weird feeling, but I was able to survive. The drinks and food helped a lot.

Saturday - I tried to sleep in, but people kept on calling. I figured that I might as well get up and I layed around on the couch and watched a Wayne's World marathon and caught up on all of the TV that I missed that week. It was nice to just relax. Later that evening, Josh and I went to Palms Thai with Angela. It was celebrating our anniversary kinda. We weren't too big on it though. It was great to see Angela and see her in her element (eating good Thai food makes her happy).

Sunday - Cleaned up and did some chores and laundry. Went to El Compadre for the other Lisa's birthday. The service was not that great, but the food was pretty tasty. We randomly saw Quentin Tarantino there dining with a fine Asian lady friend. We felt like dessert afterwards and went to Mel's Diner. Yummy chocolate cake ala mode! Pictures of both Lisa's birthdays are here.

Today - Work. Dinner with M as usual and Lisa joined us! We went to The Cheesecake Factory and had a lovely time freezing our booty off because it was so cold in there. I am glad that I was able to hang out with both of them, especially with the holiday coming up, I don't know when I will be able to see most people.

No matter how much sleep I get, I am always tired. How is this so? Am I that behind on sleep that even though I sleep in, it is not enough? I can't believe that Thanksgiving is this week already!

Link: http://www.islandrecords.com/thekillers/site/home.las

Yeah yeah, I know I'm a year behind in music, but I have been liking The Killers more and more lately. I think it's the song Mr. Brightside that did me in. I just love it...not even for any particular reason, but it's my favorite song on their album and overall, I think they're one of the better new bands out there. I remember this time last year, they had just released their album because Matt played it on repeat at Mike's annual party. His party is coming up this weekend, themed punks or preps (last year it was pirate or princess). I, of course, will be punk just because it's more fun. I just have to figure out a cool outfit. I think I have half of it, but we will see. I'm always indecisive when it comes to things like costume parties. But I know that it will be way fun considering last year's party was a success!

This past weekend was great. I was kinda bummed after my car accident, but I got everything reported and taken care of. Josh's annual Animation Fall Screening was on Friday night and I was able to leave work in time to catch it. The films were great and a lot of the new students are so talented. It was an excellent show, minus one film that was just...odd. I didn't stay for too long because my good friends Alison (and Curtis was there with her visiting from Ventura) and Kristy wre visiting and I had SO much fun. It was just what I needed. They wanted to go to a trendy bar. I took them to the new hotspot, DJ AM's club, LAX in Hollywood. We already had a late start and there was a huge line still at midnight when we got there. We waited for a while. The bouncers were rude and they were letting in random people (including a guy that pulled up in a Ferrari or Lamborghini type car) who was only 3 feet tall (I kid you not, he was really short). At that point, we all just wanted drinks and a warm place to chill so we left. We walked around and I took them to Beauty Bar on Cahuenga. I had been there once before when I first turned 21 and I remembered that it was small, but cute. We spent some time there and bar hopped around there, ending up at Tokio and dancing our hearts out. It was a great time, but seemed very short. We had more energy and decided to go to Avalon, which is normally open 'til 6am. I also knew that one of my favorite bands, Fischerspooner, was playing there that night, though I figured that their set was probably over. We got there and they were closed!! I couldn't believe it. Anyway, The Spider Club was next door and they had an after hours club as well, so we figured since we paid for parking already, we might as well stay. We waited. Waited more. And waited more. I hate LA because of that. It's not like the club was packed or anything. There were about 50 people outside and I don't see why they couldn't just let us all in. That's why I hate going to clubs! Argh. Anyhow, we were friendly to some guys in line that said that they "knew someone" yada yada and they could get us in. I was skeptical, but lo and behold, they got us in shortly after. I ran into an old friend that I used to work at Starbucks with, Mike (McG is what we call him). He was there with his crew and it was nice to see him after so long and it was good to meet his new girlfriend that I had heard so much about. We danced and danced and eventually tired ourselves out. We left the club at 4:30am and all had a bacon wrapped hot dog (I couldn't help it, they looked so good and were extra yummy because I was starving). Yum! The girls had to be on Jamie's film set at 8:00am the next day...I don't know how they do it.

I slept in for a bit and met up with the girls again in the afternoon on Saturday. They needed to get groceries at the Thai market because Kristy was going to make Thai food for dinner for the cast and crew on Jamie's film. I was the driver (mainly because they all weren't familiar with LA at all and they always got lost driving around in general here). Traffic, shopping, yada yada and by the time we got back, we had to hurry up and cook tons of food for the set. It was actually way fun because for some reason, there's an interesting bond between women while cooking. I can't explain it, but it's nice and very comfortable. The girls decided to go to Mexico (Rosarito) for the night and I opted out because it was just for the night and I was still tired from the night before. They are rockstars though. Much Red Bull was had this weekend. I opted to watch Good Night and Good Luck with Josh and his crew. It was an excellent and beautifully shot film. I liked it a lot. It may be slow to some or people may not like it because it's in black and white, but it is a film worth seeing. I love history in movies, and this movie especially because they integrated real footage from McCarthy's hearings and such.

On Sunday, Josh and I went to see the girls at Jamie's place and Kristy made an excellent dinner. We just chilled there for hours and hours drinking wine and talking about life. We had a lot of great laughs and it was just so nice to see them again. I miss them a lot. There's always that special connection between high school friends that you can never get with anyone else, even college friends. I feel very lucky to still have them in my life and see them as often as I do. I think that we will be growing old together and our kids will be friends as well. That would be so awesome! It is too soon to tell, but just the thought of it brings a smile to my face.

This week had gone by pretty fast. Work is getting better, though there was a huge complication that was fixed today and I was super duper stressed about it and I feel better now that it has been resolved. I found out that the new guy that they hired is starting on Monday. Yay! Though he still needs to be trained, it is exciting to know that there will be someone here so that I can take off some personal days and make room for the holidays as well.

Some people from my team at work and I went to a screening of Get Rich or Die Trying Monday night because our partner company produced the film. It was surprisingly better than I thought it was going to be. It was really loud though...to the point where I am wincing everytime there is a loud gunshot. 50 Cent is not that bad as an actor. His big white teeth were a bit distracting, but I think that he's fine overall. But it is your typical coming-of-age reformed gangster that wants to become a rapper story (which I am sure is semi-autobiographical).

I stayed at work pretty late on Tuesday and met up with M for dinner after her class got out at 10pm. It was nice to talk to her. Now that we have been meeting on Mondays, (except this week because of the screening) it just feels a bit off, as though more time has gone by since the last dinner. Anyhow, she's going to Vegas this weekend and I am jealous! I love that place...but like most things, only in moderation.

I had my midterm in class yesterday. I think I did okay, there were a few questions that were hard for me to comprehend because of the wording that she used, But it was okay and since everyone is required to get a 100%, I think I may be one of the many people that have to retake it because I am sure I missed one question. No big deal really though, it's going to be the exact same test so I will do fine the next time, now that I understand what her questions mean. I hate tests. Ugghh! At least it was pretty easy though. Yesterday marked the return of the show Lost from its 3-week hiatus and we were all excited. Did the usual gathering at Emud's place and had popcorn and brownies. They treat us so good there every week. I am glad the show is back on (in time for sweeps coincidentally, heh).

It feels like I've been running around everywhere and am rushed to do things (except of course for today, luckily). So I am glad things are slowing down to a pace that I am comfortable with. I don't think that I can handle all the work and all of the play that has been happening recently. I need relaxation time and I am glad that I am finally able to get it.

I am currently in my old home...my old apartment where Lisa and Sia still reside. I love it here. We had Clementine (which I missed so dearly since Little Santa Monica Blvd, has been going through major construction) and it was yummy and then Lisa picked up some Sprinkles cupcakes. It was absolutely divine. I think we're going to see a movie soon, maybe Jarhead or Prime, but not sure. It's nice to have time again!

Oh yeah, Happy Birthday Mike!! See you Saturday night. Proper!

Link: http://www.crashfilm.com/

I had a very bad day. I guess it wasn't as bad as it COULD have been I guess. I am sure that there are tons more people that are having a far worse day than me. But relatively in the grand scheme of what I call my life these days, it wasn't that great.

Anyways, work was crazy and I had a lot of things that I had to do today. I finally left work and was on my way to Costco because I was helping with the craft services for Jamie's new film that is currently in production and I'm on Lincoln Blvd going South. All of a sudden, I get rear ended and then I hit the person in front of me. Luckily, everyone was okay and not injured. A few scratches on the cars and that's it. I felt it hit really really hard though and thought that it was going to be bad. I just hate to have to deal with this whole thing now and get the insurance involved and such, but it has to be done. I am still a little shook up and a bit rattled from the whole incident, but I will be fine with a good night's rest, hopefully. Ah well, tis life I suppose. It could have been way worse and I am grateful that it wasn't serious. Many thanks to Josh for dropping everything and meeting me at the scene. This is one of the many reasons why I love him so much.

In the end, I was able to go to Costco before they closed and got everything. Pretty productive, I must say. But there were certain little things that were good this week. My midterm was cancelled, but I have to take it next week, which is great because I didn't study that much for it to begin with. One of my supervisors got me a great gift for no real reason and I thought that it was so nice of her. I finally had a sandwich from Bay Cities. I kept on hearing so much about it and finally I was able to taste the pure delight of the "Godmother" sandwich. Yum. Alison and Kristy are on their way to LA as I am typing this. I can't wait! But I am exhausted right now and so the partying will happen tomorrow night. Fun fun!