sunday

Heard of Lunesta? It’s one of the many new drugs that claims to solve every one of your problems. Do you have high cholesterol? There’s a drug for that. Are you depressed? Here, have some Prozac. Erectile dysfuction? There’s plenty for thatproblem. Are you tired? Stressed? Yup, there’s a drug for that too! But anyways, back to Lunesta….did you know that one of the side effects of a drug that’s supposed to help you sleep is DROWSINESS?? Holy cow. Who knew that a sleeping pill could induce drowsiness. Whoever invented the drug or wrote the damn “Important Safety Instructions” is a genius. I’d like to meet that person.

But on to more pleasant things. I bought two CDs today: Death Cab for Cutie and Miri Ben-Ari. Even though I’ve already downloaded for Death Cab, to prove that I’m not a complete music pirate, I do buy CDs of of albums that I really, really like (Black Eyed Peas, Death Cab, Killers, oh no, I didn’t buy that one). And I’m so glad those guys finally stopped playing caps. Not that it mattered to me, seeing as it’s way past 1:30 and I’m still up blogging. BLOGGING…of all things. Well, I guess that’s better than doing conapps :).

Oooh, guess what new video game they’re coming out with now? World Series Poker Tournament!! How exciting do you think that is? You get to play poker on your PlayStation…ooohhh….thrilling. I dunno, there’s some element of excitement that’s missing. But tell me if I’m wrong…please….

It’s been more like 2.5 days here, but I’m already feeling like I’ve been here too long. Well, the Fiji boys are definitely making an event of it and playing caps right now. It’s amazing how much I can sleep through now after having slept in the city a lot. I’m accustomed to tuning out loud noises and what-not and just completely passing out. I wish I had learned that WHILE I was still in college. That could have been useful.

But yeah, so far so good. Just been hanging around, already saw a lot of people. The Triangle house is pretty bad ass. They did an awesome job remodeling it. All of the rooms are bigger with recessed lighting and a built-in deck. Pretty sweet, kinda makes me wish I lived there. And holy cow Angie Harmon is wearing an awesome dress on The Tonight Show….I wonder who the designer is…

Oh, and by the way, I’m in Indiana :D. Is it weird that when I fly to Indiana, I feel like I’m flying home? Even more so than when I fly to Cali. Of course, I do miss the awesome weather in Cali…what the fuck is up with the lame Taco Bell commercials?

I’ve found that everytime I go somewhere, I always look for a piano to play. And once I’ve found the piano, I can’t remember any damn songs (I’m not in student mode where I play a song so many times I’ve got it memorized). So I go to the internet and look for free sheet music, which usually proves to be successful. But lately, with all the copyright hoopla, it’s getting really difficult to find anything free on the internet.

While I was still in school, I used to be able to upload pdf documents of current music I was playing. Unfortunately, our accounts got deleted over a month ago. And I figure having my own server would allow more flexibility for my blogging/playing/testing purposes. There’s only so much you can do on blogspot :P.

But seriously, what’s the big deal with sheet music?? If anything I’m doing free promotion for the artists. I think those Hollywood megastars need to remove the sticks from their asses and see the benefits of free distribution.

How many times have you been stuck on the metro and not knowing where your next stop is? Okay, probably not often, seeing as America doesn’t have the most sophisticated public transport system as in Europe. The issue is this guy uploading metro maps of New York, San Francisco onto iPods. Not a bad idea right? Apparently, the previously mentioned states are pissed off because of some copyright thing (does this remind you of Napster in the late 90s??) and has asked him to remove the maps from his website.

Truthfully, I think those states are retarded. If anything, the guy (William Bright) is helping the public transportation business and doing a little free advertising for it as well. If I had a map of the DC metro on my iPod, I’d be out there right now wandering around. Too bad I’m enthralled in the new Crate & Barrel magazine…so many pretty serving pieces..

I’m afraid I’ll be blogging a lot today. I have the option of wandering around DC via the metro, but it’s really cloudy and windy out, and that just puts me in the mood for staying at home and watching movies. And eating. Cuz I’m really hungry and haven’t eaten anything all day yet.

Brian and I saw “A History of Violence” yesterday, and it was fucking awesome. I read the review in USA Today a couple of days ago, and it received four out of 5 stars. Now most of the time, I don’t take much value of those movie ratings and editorials, becuase most of the time they don’t agree with my preference. But USA really did get it right. The plot seems predictable but there are many twists that you’re left with surprises throughout the movie. And damn…those sex scenes are pretty explicit. It’s a bit bloody and graphic, but the effect emphasizes, rather than distracts, Viggo Mortensen’s character. The best part are the witty lines that lighten the mood from the previously described scenes.

I’ve come to find that Washington D.C. is like the local neighborhood pool. Little kids come in and out, and while you’re in, you do a little swimming, a little diving, a little wading. Except the little kids are a bunch of twenty- and thirty-somethings. It also seems like it’s a place where young people come to meet potential mates and then get married. I’m not sure if this is the culture I’m used to, but DC is definitely a city where young people can easily find other young people.

Another thing about DC–people smoke A LOT. I was at a French restaurant last night with Brian and saw a poster that said “Ban the Ban,” meaning, stop the ban on smoking in restaurants/clubs/bars. Now I’m not a smoker, and I don’t particularly want to contract lung cancer from second-hand smoking (even though I’m pretty sure I already have), but I really love the fact that you can’t smoke in those venues in California. I mean seriously, step your ass outside if you wanan light the couch on fire. It’s pretty bad when too many people are smoking inside so that you have to go outside for fresh air, and then you find out more people are smoking outside cuz it’s too hot inside. That pretty much takes out all the fun in clubbing for me. It’s not that I dislike smokers; I just dislike the fact that they’re taking my fresh air.

I’m posting from the glamorous capital of the U.S.A….and yes, I been wearing too much Juicy, but is that possible? Speaking of Juicy…which rhymes with Gucci…I bought another item from Gucci! If brand loyalty is an addiction, then I’m beyond rehab. I might as well die with the addiction.

Anyways, just arrived in DC Friday night and chilling with my buddy from college, good ol’ Brian. Haven’t done anything touristy, because honeslty, I already did that the first time I was here. I’m also afraid that it’s gonna be hella crowded and touristy in the–well for lack of a better word, tourist area (the Mall, Capitol, White House). Besides, I’m here to do some house hunting and really become acclimated with the area. Unfortunately, I think I’ve passed that point of no return where if you stay in one place too long, you become too comfortable and don’t want to move. Hence, my waning enthusiasm to move to the East. But I’m keeping an open mind, and I am really trying to look for someplace to live, if I need to move here.

My impression thus far is that Washington DC is full of rich people. High school girls walking out with Tiffany bags are definitely prevalent, and the women are “cold as ice, hard as nails” — i.e. bitches. While there are bums on the street, I haven’t really seen any typical suburban middle class families. At first I thought the Washington Metro area was like a countrysidesque version of San Francisco, but after seeing the nightlife, it’s kind of intimidating out here. Well, I could be completely wrong since I’ve seen so little of the city, but that’s just my first impression.

I just spent the last…3 days in Vegas (Sunday through Wednesday, which would technically make 4 days) and before anyone asks–No, I did not gamble. I had no desire to, and granted I might have made some money, I definitely had more fun spending money. In fact, I spent about $2000 in the span of two days. I know, crazy. And my shopping list? It’s not like I carried back 10 bags with me…I bought only like 8 articles in clothing and accessories, all of which have some foreign name like Gucci, Oscar de la Renta, Ted Baker, BCBG Max Azria, Juicy…okay yeah some of those names are English. But what amazes me the most is the night show at Treasure Island. Those who have seen the original show know that the 10 minute spectacle depicts the battles between the pirates and British of the good ole days when people used boats for business rather than pleasure. The new show now features the sexy Sirens of the Sea (i.e. half-naked women) battling a crew of seamen–yes, shocking. It’s a case of Las Vegas gone Hollywood Vegas-style…if that makes sense. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

Oh but here’s a neat factoid I learned. The Cirque du Soleil show featured in Bellagio “O” is actually named after the word for water in French, or “eau” (pronounced the same). It’s clever, because, well the entire thing is set in a 5 million gallon tank of water, or something ginormous like that.

Fight the Flood T-Shirt 

For all you Halo geeks (yeah, I’m one of them) - Help support the American Red Cross in its efforts to rebuild from Hurricane Katrina. Bungie Studios and the Bungie Store will be donating at least $15 from each shirt sold which will go straight to the Red Cross and directly to the disaster relief.

Shouldn’t Master Chief be meleeing the flood rather than kicking it?