Gabe Starts To Wonder About His "Friends"

I've got these three friends, at least that's what I'm told they are, who never seem to invite me out with them. Here's the story.

About 6 months ago me and my "friends" used to hang out a lot. Anytime one of us wanted to do something, the others would all be texted or called. One day, that stopped. One night I was talking with one friend online before dinner. This friend got a text from a second friend about meeting the third friend out for drinks. I ate dinner and never received an invite.

About an hour later I get a text from the first friend tell me that the three of them are out at a bar together. I let them know that I'm pissed about not getting an invite and that I don't want to hear about their fun anymore. They don't listen and start texting me about every little detail of fun that they are having, sending me pictures, basically just pissing me right the fuck off! So the next day I let them know about it. I let them know that I didn't care if they had fun without me, but that rubbing it in my face wasn't cool. Plus, it would have been nice to at least be invited. Since we're "friends" that shouldn't be too much to ask right?

Next, our story jumps ahead to my shitty Friday (last week). I decide to get out of town to blow off some steam and post about my plans on facebook. Now, I don't plan much at all, so I'm starting to think that making my plans public is a bad idea. Things never go the way I envision them, even when I'm only planning a few hours in advance. Anyways, I post online that I'm planning on leaving town and friend 2 invites friend 3 over saying "let's get everyone together" on my post. I don't care that they wanna get together because I'm leaving town. I just think it's a stupid idea to say "let's get everyone together" on a post that says "I'm leaving town" to a third party. Go write on that third party's wall or something! Don't make the original poster feel like they are missing out on something! Apparently they did not remember the one point I tried to make to them last time I was left out of the fun.

Now let's take the story to tonight. Tonight is a night that has got me seriously thinking about deleting facebook because all I do is see things that I'm not a part of and it makes me angry. Tonight I see a facebook post from friend 3 saying "dinner with good friends makes me feel better" or something like that. And of course, like a faithful lapdog, friend 1 is commenting on it because they were at dinner together. I used to think that I was a good friend of friend 3. And I used to think I was a good friend of friend 1. But apparently the two of them can get together and not think of me at all. Today's episode wasn't as bad as the first two, but it's still frustrating when you find out that certain people don't think of you the same way that they used to.

Oops! My Bad!

I have stayed in almost every Friday night of this year. This is what happens when most of your friends are married I guess. I never plan anything more than a few days in advance. So when I try to invite people out for a beer, things never work out because they already have plans. This leaves me at home watching tv or a movie. Pretty pathetic for a decent looking single guy.

So on Thursday I decide to post up a message on facebook seeing what people have planned for Friday night. Did I get messages from friends saying they are heading out to a bar? No. I get one friend (friend #1) laughing at me. I wasn't exactly feeling the love that night.

Friday morning as I'm driving to work, I started to think about my situation. Sitting at home on another Friday night doesn't sound like fun to me. Then I remember something: I'm single and I have a condo in Las Vegas! Fuck it! Let's go to Vegas tonight! I don't have anything packed and I'm supposed to work a little late today, but that won't be a problem. My mind is set, I'm going to get away from everything that is bothering me here and have some fun in Vegas with my brother and his friends for the weekend. Oh boy was I wrong.

Flashforward to 5:30pm. We're installing a new fiber switch in the server room and we're about to connect the last fiber plug. As I'm watching the lights on the switch to make sure things get plugged in correctly, I lean against the wall and hit the Emergency Shut Off button. Shit! The entire room powers down. My shoulder has just shut off every server in the company. Instead of leaving work in five minutes and heading home to pack for Vegas, I'm now going to spend the next 3 hours bringing up every server and checking all kinds of different systems that my company relies on. My boss and one other coworker have to stay later than expected as well. And another employee has to be called back into work to check on another system. Needless to say I feel like shit.

I don't get home until 9 pm. I'm in a shitty mood and my "friend" (#1) who laughed at me is hanging with my roommate (#1). Bitch, moan, have a few scotches, and go to bed.

Saturday morning, I'm still pissed off because of work and because I'm not waking up in Vegas like I had planned. Instead I've created more crap to deal with. I get a text from a friend (#2) asking if we're still going to hang out that night. I let her know that I'm not in the best mood for it at the moment. Then she seems a little pissed off and tells me to go to Vegas. I think she read my Friday facebook post a little late and thought I was planning to go on Saturday. It happens.

Later I get a call from another friend (#3) who is on her way to Vegas and wanted to invite me out for drinks after her and some of her friends see a show. So now I've fucked up at work, I'm pissed because my get-out-of-town plans didn't happen, friends are upset with me, other friends aren't showing me love, and I'm missing out on more fun in Vegas. Excellent. Then the informercial pitch man comes out and says, "But wait! There's more!"

Saturday night my roomies and friend #1 are planning to go a country bar near my place. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a fan of country music. I don't mind listening to it in someone's car but this weekend I'm just not feeling like hearing it at all. I send a text to another friend (#4) to see if she is free for a drink because I'm trying to avoid the country bar and need to get out of the house. She says she has plans, but might be up for a drink depending on when her party ends. I'm already sure that's a polite way of saying no, so I make other plans with my brother. We head out to this tiny dive bar in Rowland Heights. A few of his friends are there which is a welcome change for me. I have a few beers and then get a text from one of the country bar goers (roommate #2) saying they feel dissed that I would go to a gay bar, but not the country bar (the gay bar was on monday with a friend (#6) that I hadn't seen in a long time). Having never heard anything like this from this friend I'm a little shocked. I text back saying I'll go next time, but we'll see about that.

It's Sunday now. I wake up and I'm still not in the best mood so I go out for a run. Running while pissed off is great! I get to think terrible thoughts about all the people who have pissed me off and get a good workout too. I ran 4.1 miles in 35 minutes and 41 seconds. Two minutes faster than my previous best time. Maybe it's because I'm pissed off, or maybe it's because I changed my route so that I'm not running uphill at the very end. Either way...running and writing this post has helped my mood some. Now I need some lunch.

Confused Much?

Monday night I got a text from a friend who I hadn't hung out with in a long time. She was inviting me out for a drink with her girlfriend. That's girlfriend, not girl friend. Yes they are gay. Since I hadn't hung out with either of them in a long time I was quick to say yes to going out for a beer. Then I found out they wanted me to meet them at a gay bar. I'm secure with myself so I still was up for it.

The bar isn't far from my place, so I meet the girls there. They've brought along a guy as well. He's a cool guy that's easy to get along with. Inside the bar, they've got the LOGO network on and it's playing a show that I can only describe as the drag queen version of American Idol. It was quite entertaining to watch. Anyways, we have a few beers, play some pool, sit on the back patio. We move around a lot since the place is practically empty.

A couple guys talk to our group since we now have 7 people there and there are only about 5 other people in the bar. While playing pool one guy starts to talk to me. Let's call him Jack. Jack starts asking me questions, making conversation. He asks where I'm from, how long have I lived in California, have I been to this bar before. All easy to answer questions. Then he asks if I'm new to the gay scene. I think I was a little confused as to what my answer should be. I thought he was asking if I had been to any gay bar before. I just responded that I had only come to the bar tonight because I was invited by my friends. We kept talking for about a minute after that and then he started to talking to someone else around us.

I never had a problem with Jack talking to me that night. I'm positive he was gay and I guess trying to see if I was too. Although I didn't realize this at the time. After we had talked, the guy that came with my friends walked by me asked how it went. He knew that I was straight, so I guess he was joking with me about my conversation with Jack. My roommate talked to her gay friend about the situation and found out that I unknowingly told Jack that I was gay and vulnerable. So apparently I'm a gay tease.

Just to recap my confusion: I'm a single guy who hasn't been on a date in months. I have guys who wink at me in the bathroom at work. And now I am a straight guy who likes to lead on gay guys. My head hurts.

Stuck Between a Rock and a Hard Place

It's an age old saying. When forced to make a tough decision people say they are "stuck between a rock and a hard place." It has probably applied to you at least once in your lifetime. Today it applies to me.

Sometimes life doesn't always go the way you planned. You make decisions based on the information that you have and hope for the best. But when things change, you have to change with them. Sometimes those changes are simple, and sometimes they aren't. I'm being vague for a reason. I know nobody reads my blog, but I'm still not about to drag anyone through the mud on here. All I will say is that a change happened today and it has me in the middle. The bad part is that I don't have a decision to make. I can't choose one option or the other. I have to take both. And to quote Swingers, "there's the rub."

Not to worry though. I'm adept at making adjustments and small changes to make things work. I have no problem adjusting to new situations and I'm sure that I'll be able to do just that with this situation. I'll make a couple calls, change a couple plans, and everything will be just fine. It helps that I don't plan too far in advance because it means that I have less changes to make. Life is so much easier and manageable when you're an optimist like me. =)

The Year in Review

It's New Year's Eve! Today means a lot of different things to different people. To some, it signifies the end of a year they'd like to forget. To others, it's the end of a year that they wish would never end. I'm somewhere in the middle.

2009 had a lot to offer to me. For starters, I was single for the entire year. And some people look at this as a bad thing, but I don't. It allowed me to do a lot of things I probably wouldn't have been able to do if I had a demanding girlfriend. I started working out and running to help get myself into better shape (beer belly gone). I was able to spend lots of time with my friends as well as reconnect with friends I hadn't seen since high school. Most of the friends I reconnected with were girls which might not have been as easy to do with a girlfriend.

This past year was also a good year for me at work. For the most part my job is pretty easy, but it's going to get much more difficult with the start of the new year. It will be more difficult because I was challenged by my boss to take on new responsibilities. As mentioned before in this blog, I will be studying for my CCNA certification. This means that I will be doing a lot of reading and might have to skip a few nights out with friends. We'll see about that though. I was also asked by the owner of the company if I would be willing to track our trademarks. To be honest, when I was asked if I could do this I said yes because some training would be involved. Also, I can't tell the owner of the company that I am not willing to learn something new. That would be career suicide! So with some training, that will be another responsibility that I'll be taking on next year.

Another great part about this past year was the fact that I finally moved out again. I had been living at home ever since I graduated college in 2004. There are certain reasons that I didn't move out before now (condo, car, etc.) but I wouldn't change my purchasing decisions given the chance. I love my car and I love being able to roll out to Vegas and not have to worry about a room whenever I want. Being single is good for that too because it's usually a last minute decision to head out to Sin City. And you all know how much I hate to plan in advance. The roomies have been loads of fun and our house is looking great. We've only got a one year lease but if things go well, I'm sure we'll try to extend it. Hopefully next year I won't be talking about moving at the end of the year because that would just be way too stressful during holiday season.

Even though I know this blog is does not have hundreds of readers (or even ten for that matter) I'd like to take a moment to thank all my friends, new and old, for helping me enjoy a great year. Thanks to all my Rowland Heights friends. You guys have been there from the start and I'll never forget it. Thanks to my new Upland, Rancho, and La Verne friends for always providing loads of fun no matter what. Thanks to all my old high school friends who I reconnected with this year either through another friend, or at the reunion. Seeing you guys again was one of the highlights of my year. Thanks to all my OC friends down in Newport and the ones who have moved away up north. I really need to get down there more often. Someone needs to start the happy hour thing up again. Thanks to my old college friends from San Diego. Even if I haven't seen you in a while, you still influenced me in some way this year (i.e. facebook and aim).

Finally, I hope everyone has a great time tonight at their New Year's Eve parties. Be safe, and ring in the new year with style! Cheers!

I've Moved

During this past year I had been looking to buy a condo and take on a roommate. I searched lots of different areas only to find that nothing nice was in my price range. Finally, some friends of mine decided that they wanted a bigger place and so the 4 of us decided to move in together.

We found a house in La Verne that we all liked and so we jumped on the application process and got accepted. We moved in last Saturday when it was raining on and off all day long. That made it a big adventure. Covering couches and dressers and beds with giant blankets to save them from rain was tough. Even more difficult was the fact that I couldn't help move all day long. I had my company Christmas party to go to that night. At the party I got pretty drunk, won a $10 iTunes gift card, and danced with two beautiful girls. So it was a good time.

Back to the house now. We've been here for a full week now and the house is pretty much all put together. We have a Christmas tree fully decorated, lights outside of the house, and a nice living room where we can all relax together. For now, we are all perfect roommates. Nobody has pissed anyone else off, but it's early. I'm hoping we can keep this streak alive for a long time to come. If anything changes, you can bet I'll be writing about it here.

One Full Year

Hi again all! No, I didn't forget about this blog. Ok, maybe I did for a little while. But I'm back again.

November 8th just recently passed and that date holds special meaning for me. It's the one year anniversary of my good friends Jeff and Beth. I had a great time being a part of their wedding down in San Diego last year. We all had a lot of fun! I'm not sure what they did for their first anniversary but I did manage to send them my best wishes. I'm sure they had fun.

That date also marks the one year anniversary of me being single again. Bittersweet day don't you think? Since that day I've been working out and running on a regular basis. Being single gave me a lot of extra time and I've put it to good use. In that time I managed to work off most of my beer belly and I'm now able to run 4 miles without stopping at a pretty good pace. Losing 10 pounds in one year has got my weight down to a svelt 147! That's very close to what I weighed my senior year of high school which was over 10 years ago.

Speaking of one full year, 2009 is almost at an end. It's about time to start working on those new year's resolutions right? I had three resolutions that I made this year and I'm proud to say that 2 of the 3 will be completed.

1. Run a 5K

On December 5th I will be in Las Vegas for the Great Santa Run which is a 5K for charity. I was a part of this run a couple years back, but I didn't actually run the race. I jogged/walked with my mom, but had a great time. How could you not have fun when you're surrounded by close to 10,000 other people in santa suits? Visit http://www.lasvegassantarun.org/ for more info.

2. Move to the beach

This one is a partial completion. I am in the process of moving out with a few friends right now, but I don't think we are going to end up near the beach. The beach is expensive and pretty far from all of our jobs. I wouldn't mind the commute because you always get to come home to the beach! But I'm alone on this one. Oh well.

3. Get my CCNA certification

This is the one that isn't completed but I have started the process, finally! CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate. It's a certification that applies to working on Cisco networking equipment like switches and routers. I've bought a couple thick books that are guides to everything I need to learn to pass the test. I'm on chapter 5 of 36 total. I hope to have the certification by the end of next year.

How are you guys coming on your new year's resolutions? To be honest, I think this is the first year that I've actually worked on one of my resolutions. That's why I'm kinda proud of it and writing about it here in the blog. If you haven't started, the year isn't finished yet. Still a month and a half to get working. If you at least start one, it'll feel great I promise!

10 Years Goes by Fast

My title isn't talking about how long it's been since I wrote here, but it has been a while. This past weekend I had my 10 year high school reunion. The class of 1999 had dinner, drinks, a little dancing, and a nice slideshow at Angelo & Vinci's in downtown Fullerton Saturday night. There were about 100 people who showed up which was more than the past 2 reunions combined.

The organized reunion only lasted until 10pm but a lot of the group went to The Matador Cantina just down the street for some more fun. At the bar, there was also another seperate group who didn't go to the actual reunion. The bar was so super packed full of people from my high school that I was a little lost.

I talked to plenty of people I hadn't seen in years, exchanged a couple phone numbers, and had a few drinks with the rowdy crowd. When the night started I felt a little out of place because I didn't have a date to bring. Most people showed up with their spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, fiance or whatever and I went stag. I felt better about myself when all those people went home at 10pm to take care of their kids. HA!

Anyone who didn't go to the reunion missed out on a lot of fun. If you haven't had yours yet and are thinking of not going, I'd advise against that. Go. Have some drinks. Have fun! It's much better to have gone and hated it, then to sit at home and wonder how much fun you could have had. When everyone is posting pictures and talking about the fun they had, you'll be sorry if you passed up the chance to go.

Staycation Lunch Day 4: Subway???

Yeah, Subway. Lunch today wasn't spectacular, but the day in general was a lot of fun. I wasn't planning on doing much today because I was pretty worn out after yesterday's fun in the sun. But I ended up being invited out to Venice Beach by Natalie, so I went! We picked up her friend Matt and stopped for Subway sandwiches before heading out to Venice. I had never been to Venice Beach before today and really didn't know what to expect but I knew that it would be an adventure

We got lucky and found great free parking about 20 paces from the beach. After that it was straight to the boardwalk to check out all that VB had to offer. We passed by muscle beach and saw some guys working out. They really need to wear more clothes. Some outfits leave nothing to the imagination. Then we passed by the basketball courts from the classic movie White Men Can't Jump. I was then asked to sample 3 different hip hop cds by unknown artists, but refused.


There were some rather interesting "performers" on the boardwalk. There was the Worlds Best Wine-O who had a shirt that said "Jingle Bells! Jingle Bells! Help me get drunk today!" He also sang it. There were some homeless people with funny signs like "At least I'm not your kid" and "Kick my ass for $1." Then there was a guy playing guitar on roller skates with a portable amp who would follow people around as they were trying to make phone calls. He made for some great entertainment while I enjoyed a strawberry banana smoothie.


From Venice, we headed up to the Santa Monica Pier to check out things there. Again, I'd never been to the Santa Monica Pier before, so I was stoked to check it out. I snagged a slice of pizza and a soda for a quick bit of energy (very healthy, I know) then we cruised down the pier to check things out. I fought the urge to pay $6 for a picture of me with a wood cut out of Van Damme and watched some kids at the trapeze school on the pier. We saw a band playing a concert and a couple break dancing crews then headed back to the car.


It was prime traffic time, so we decided to not go straight home yet and stopped at Amoeba Music in Hollywood first. This place was the third first for me today! As I walked into Amoeba, I was just in awe of the massive selection in front of me. Racks and racks and racks of new and used music, dvds, and even VHS tapes! (For anyone under the age of 20, those are movies) There was even a free live concert in the store. The Sa-Ra and Creative Partner gave a 25 minute performance that was being filmed by MTV2.


After spending an hour in Amoeba Music and picking up 6 or 7 cds and dvds I ended up buying only 3. I bought used dvds of Fight Club and The Prestige as well as a cd by The Faint. All three for under $30. That's one great deal! I'll definitely have to go back there when I have an actual shopping list so I'm not so overwhelmed. Maybe tomorrow I'll stick to my plan of staying local. We'll see.


Since I didn't really eat anything worth taking a picture of, I'll show you guys the sign we saw while walking back to our car in Venice Beach. I can't decide if it's a clever way to meet a girl or just a pathetic attempt. You decide.

Staycation Lunch Day 3: Fred's in Huntington Beach

Originally I intended my lunch tour to be me visiting places I'd never been before. But when the weather is so nice and I'm on vacation, how can I not go to Huntington Beach for a day?

Today I went down to a familiar place called Fred's on Main Street. Fred's has great mexican food and margaritas which I've had in the past. Today I felt like a big mug of Shock Top. It's a great tasting beer which has become a new favorite for me. I'm not sure if that's because it tastes so good, or because I discovered it at Dodger Stadium. Either way, I like it and I'll keep ordering it whenver I can.

After my huge caloric intake yesterday at Pink's Hot Dog stand, I decided I'd better run. So when I arrived at Fred's with my stomach growling I wasn't surprised. I ordered some chicken taquitos to go with my giant beer. Not a huge meal, but I knew that the beer would fill me up. The taquitos had some melted shredded cheese on them as well as a good helping of guacamole. My stomach was thankful and stopped growling.

After lunch, I cruised around Main Street and bought a couple new RVCA tshirts. One was on sale, the other just looked to good to pass up. Then I rented a bike and apparently thought I was Lance Armstrong because I went on an 8.8 mile ride. The bike that I rented was a beach cruiser which means riding home against the wind is hard as hell! My legs were burning for the last couple miles.

The workout was good preparation for the night though. I met up with Michelle, who lives in HB, and I got to hang out with her and some of her friends for the night. We had a few drinks, talked about her birthday celebrations, and laughed it up at a cool dive bar called Suds. It was good being able to catch up some since we hadn't hung out in over a year.

Today took a lot out of me. So I'm probably going to stay closer to home tomorrow and just relax by the pool. Gotta work on my tan some more, you know?

Staycation Lunch Day 2: Pink's Hot Dog Stand

Today I decided to throw caution to the wind and calories too! Pink's Hot Dog stand in Hollywood has been around for 70 years. I've only been around for 28, but I still had never visited. This iconic eatery needed to be visited this week.

I gathered a few friends to head out there with me today which was nice. Thanks again Jeff, Brandon, and Tracie. Like Jeff said, "There's nobody I'd rather be stuck in traffic with than you guys." It's a good thing we like each other, because getting home from this place took about 2 hours. The long car ride home was worth it because the hot dogs were amazing!

Every different hot dog on the menu sounds amazing! We all had a tough time trying to pick just one to order. I bounced around between the Mulholland Drive Dog, LA Philharmonic Dog, the Bacon Chili Cheese Dog, and the Planet Hollywood Dog. You will have plenty of time to study the menu and flip flop orders because there is always a line. We waited in line for about 45 minutes before placing our orders.

I finally settled on the Planet Hollywood Dog. It's a polish sausage (mild or hot) with grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, 3 strips of bacon, and nacho cheese sauce (pictured above). Pair that up with an Orange Crush and you've got a meal!

The rest of the gang ordered the Mulholland Drive dog (10" stretch dog with grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, 3 strips of bacon, and nacho cheese), the Bacon Chili Cheese dog, and the America The Beautiful Dog (12" jalepeno dog, bacon, pastrami, lettuce, and chopped tomatos). Everyone was full after finishing their hot dogs but I'm ready for dessert. If you're going to eat bad, you might as well go all out. I need some ice cream now!

Happy 4th!

Yeah, I realize that today is the 5th of July, but I was busy yesterday and I couldn't post. Friday, the 3rd, I went down to San Diego with a couple friends for the day to enjoy the great weather and watch the Dodgers play the Padres at PetCo Park. Friday was also the first game back for Manny Ramirez after his 50 game suspension.

We had some lunch in Old Town San Diego with a couple of excellent and LARGE margaritas. Then we spent some time by the pool of our hotel which was amazing. Pool on the 5th floor with a great view of the ocean and the downtown buildings. I didn't put on any sunblock, and got a little red. We didn't notice because we had a cooler full of beers next to us. Oh well.

After freshening up, and a quick stop at the hotel bar, we got a cab to the park. The place was covered with Dodger Blue everywhere! I had a feeling that a good amount of Dodgers fans would make the short trip down to San Diego, but there were much more than I had expected. I'd say at least half the stadium was filled with Dodger fans. Manny went 0 for 3 with a walk and came out of the game in the 7th. But the real highlight of the night was the Friars 5 for $5 deal. This deal got you a soda, cookie, peanuts, popcorn, and a hotdog! To make it even better, you could substitute a draft beer for the soda and still get the whole thing for only $10! It made the entire trip worth while.

For the 4th I had some friends over for a potluck and margaritas. We also had some nice weather here so some people jumped into the pool. With the potluck, we had 4 different types of chicken, but they were all good. We didn't set off any fireworks, but we heard them going off all around us. Legal and illegal fireworks. It was definitely a fun night and I think everyone had a good time. Hope your holiday was fun too.

Options are good.

Having options is always good. If someone walks up to you and says that they want to take you to a baseball game, but gives you three different dates to choose from, that's good! It's definitely better than a tuesday night game when your favorite show is on.

So recently I've had the humbling experience of being able to sit front row at a baseball game. But not just one, I have the option to sit front row at three different games if I want to. I've been lucky enough to meet a guy who has the ability to provide me seats front row to the Mariners, Milwaukee Brewers, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. It's really a great deal! I'm definitely taking the Dodgers tickets. The Mariners tickets may be next but I'm not so sure about the Brewers tickets. They are kinda far and I'm not a big fan of the midwest.

I'm very grateful to have this guy and I plan to put him to use. Updates may follow. We'll see how things turn out.

Quick Hits!

I've neglected my writing duties for a few weeks. Sue me. Here's a few short notes about what's been going on since I last wrote.

• My last Vegas trip was a lot of fun. I didn't win any money, but I did meet up with some girls I hadn't seen since high school. We went to club XS at the Wynn (girls $20, guys $50), hung out at the Venetian Pool (bikinis and high heels), and had some sourdough waffles for breakfast one day. Good times.
• My friend Damien was back in town from the east coast for a couple weeks. He's in the Navy and doesn't get to come home often so I spent plenty of time with him and the rest of our friends. I partially blame him for me not writing. We went to the beach and became pyros around a bonfire, had a pool/wii/bbq party, went to his mom's graduation party and got plenty hammered. Actually, I was drinking for about 2 weeks straight after I got home from Vegas. Met up with a couple other girls I hadn't seen since high school because of D as well. More good times.
• I bought tickets to see Blink 182, Taking Back Sunday, Weezer, and Asher Roth for September 17th at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater. Didn't get pit tickets like I had hoped, but I'm just excited for the fact that I actually got tickets at all. Now I just have to figure out who I want to take as my date. I saw Blink 182 once my freshman year in college at San Diego State. They put on a great show and I had a blast! But that was almost 10 years ago now. The band had been on hiatus for the past 4 years, so being able to see them again is going to be a real treat.
• Over the last two weeks I also got a couple of new cds. I got the new Eminem cd titles Relapse. He is back at it again and just as good as ever. Of course if you didn't like him before, this album probably won't change your mind. But I'm a fan of his, so I enjoy it. I also got the new Taking Back Sunday album. I figured that if I'm going to see them in concert I better know their new stuff. I've got their other 3 albums, so I'm sure I'll have fun anyways. They are going to be the surprise hit of that concert, IMO.

Today, I'm heading out to the Dodgers game with my brother and my neighbor. I'll be sitting in the Loge section today. Loge 165 if my memory serves me correct. Today's tickets come with a free reception complete with Dodger Dogs, cheeseburgers, chips, peanuts, sodas, cookies, and other goodies! Later tonight I'll be heading to a friends house for some beers before he gets shipped off to Korea. Who knows when I'll be back again, but hopefully it won't be 3 weeks again.

Post Vegas/Pre Vegas Part 1

This past weekend in Las Vegas was loads of fun! Friday morning I drove up with my neighbor who was visiting her pregnant friend. We made good time, getting into town in about 4 hours. I dropped my neighbor off with her gal pal and headed to my condo. Dropped off my brother's new wheels at our place in Henderson and made myself some lunch, then headed to the strip.

I met up with my friend and his family at the Miracle Mile shops. Some of them wanted to walk around and shop (lame!) so we headed back to the hotel room for a quick drink and to head down to the pool. After some sun and an AMF we decided to do a little gambling. With a new batch of AMFs quickly made up and a little food in our stomachs we headed to Planet Hollywood to play some video blackjack and wander around a bit. I lost $20 on blackjack and penny slots in about 15 mins so I decided to move on to Roulette. I played for about 15 or 20 mins and made my money back plus a little more. About $45 in all. Remember the $20 bet increments from the last post? Anyways, a win is a win.

We moved from there to staring at the girls in The Pleasure Pit, all very attractive. After a little bit of gawking we decided to play some poker. My favorite. Unfortunately, the cards were not very kind to me. I didn't win my first hand for over 2 hours! After that beat down we headed back to the hotel where my buddies girlfriend had finally arrived. She had to work, but flew in after a long day and was ready to party.

We ate some dino chicken nuggets (they are the best) had some redbull vodkas and a little Patron, then decided to walk towards the strip for a bit. We started walking at around 1:30 am. On our walk, we decided that a midnight swim in the 24 hour pool would be a more fun idea. We got changed and headed down to the pool with more redbull vodkas at 2:30am. The pool was surprisingly not empty. Plenty of people had the same idea that we did, and a few people partied too hard. We saw one person passed out on a pool chair. Drinking at the pool always leads to interesting times and tonight was no different. I ended up making $20 to swim naked across the entire pool and back. It was, by far, the most exciting way to earn a quick Jackson. My buddy and I convinced his gf to do it too. Since she had never been skinny dipping, we figured this was as good a time as any. Plus he said he would cover her $20 skinny dipping debt to me.

Saturday "morning" was spent down by the pool again for a couple hours. Really it was about 12:30pm when we finally got down there. My buddy and his gf had a wedding to go to, so I got changed and headed out to make a bet on the Preakness horse race. I had a couple exacta boxes and bet on three different longshots to win just for the hell of it. Nothing panned out for me, but I won some money back on a quarter wheel of fortune slot machine, so it was all good. After that I walked to MGM Grand and played some poker for a few hours. Got a couple beers and made a little money there too. Chilled in the pool for a while saturday night, no skinny dipping this time. Got back to the room around midnight and started watching Eagle Eye. A really entertaining movie that I should have watched sooner. My buddy also made some awesome cinnamon rolls. After two of them, I called it a night.

Sunday morning, my buddy and his family all took off at 5am. I slept in until 9. I checked out, packed up, and headed back to my condo to load up a couple things to take home. I thought about gambling at Green Valley Ranch, then I thought about laying out by our pool. I ended up staying home and playing some Rock Band for a couple hours before picking up my neighbor and driving home. Made pretty good time getting home and had a good chat with my neighbor. When I got home, I pretty much just relaxed and got ready for the new work week.

You may have noticed that the title says "Pre Vegas" as well as "Post Vegas." It's pre Vegas because I'm heading back out to Sin City again this weekend. I'm not taking friday off this time, but I do have the holiday on monday, so it will be another three day weekend in the desert for me! This time I'm heading out there for my brother's birthday so I'm sure we'll have plenty more to drink and loads of fun. I don't think I'll get my good steak, but I'm sure I'll have some other stories for you next week. See ya back here then.