Make mine a double

The last several days have been pretty eventful so I had much time to one of these.  

I had the day off of work on Wednesday, thanks to the pumpkin carving contest I won back on Halloween, so my family and I went to Disneyland for the day. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day. The forecast had said severe thunder storms, this was not even close to being true. In rained lightly for about ten minutes and then was a perfect sunny 70 degrees. The predicted rain must have scared off the masses because there was hardly anyone there, which resulted in short lines all day.  We ended our fun filled day by having dinner at The Blue Bayou (the restaurant inside The Pirates ride).  The food was pretty pricey but, it's safe to say it was one of the best meals I've ever had.

Thursday wasn't too exciting, just went to my Aunt's house up in Carlsbad for Thanksgiving, ate my weight in tofurkey, then went to Nathan's for some last minute party prep.

On Friday, I discovered my true calling in life.  Nathan's party was pretty much perfect, minus a douche bag or two (but David saw to it that the clown got his lumps, the other received no lumps but still found a way to shed some blood).  I'd never experienced a party from the other side of the bar before Friday night but, it was a night I'll never forget.  I wasn't really drinking all that much myself but, there was a certain buzz that came over me just watching how happy my drinks were making people.  This was no small task and couldn't have been successful without the help of my countless assistants, mostly Martin.

I can't stand feeling like a day is over before it's even began.  That's pretty much what Saturday felt like.  I mean we got some much needed house work done to transform the Kowalski house back into the Kowalski home, but it seemed like we'd barely woken up and the sun was already beginning to set.  We found time at the end of the night to reward ourselves for the overall success of the previous night by drinking the remainder of the keg and playing board games.

Sunday was pretty uneventful since I woke up feeling terrible. I'm petty sure it was just the result of drinking too much the two nights prior and my body crying out for a detox. I got some much needed rest though, and ended the night with some sushi.

The next party you see me tending bar at may look slightly different. The drink slinging Chris Chadwick of the future will look something like this.

Something Corporate

With the Black Friday party growing larger by the minute, Martin and I decided it needed some corporate sponsorship. It didn't take very long to decide that Wal-Mart was the obvious choice. It wasn't quite as easy to pull off as we had planned but, 24 hours and 5 trips to 3 Wal-Marts later, we managed to score $60.00 in essential party supplies.  Actually we're not done yet, we still have a couple of items to return for gift cards, but since it seems only the Santee store is dumb enough to allow these kind of activities, it'll have to wait a day or two.

I'm going to Disneyland tomorrow with the family and should return full of holiday joy. Not even the predicted rain storm can get me down. Between Disneyland, Thanksgiving, and Black Friday, the next three days should be amazing.

Adventurous weekend

Thursday (not technically the weekend but who cares)-

• Went to Justyn's to hear Martin's angelic voice
• Soup Plantation with my family
• Parkway Billiards 

Friday

• Santee tree lighting ceremony (got a $20 Oggi's card)
• Fillipi's (pronounce it how you want, it still sucks)
• Got duped out of watching Wall-E
• Settled for an Office mini marathon

Saturday

• Designed a flyer for the most ridiculous party this town will ever see
• Fry's
• Submarina with the MEN
• Wrote and partially recorded song number three
• Fashion Valley with NK and Flo
• Super spontaneous trip to LA for "dinner"

Sunday

• Research for Nathan's party
• Craigslisting in Chulauana with Justyn and Sheila 
• Brief nap
• Charger Game at Kate's
• Online party promotion

It's so much easier to do these weekend recaps when you don't drink at all during the weekend. Which pretty much means, next weekend will be damn near impossible.  I'm not even going to bother promoting the party on here since everyone's already on the VIP list.

Entourage

The East County Entourage: (left to right) J-Bell, Martin, Nathan, Chadwick, and Loi.

Case of the Fridays

Fridays at work have become an eight hour game of looking as if I actually have work to do. It's always been pretty slow on Fridays, mostly because people tend to apply for loans at the beginning of the week, rather than later. However, it's gotten to the point where there is very little work during the week, with a larger percentage of people getting their loans denied, and basically nothing on Fridays. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy relaxing and looking forward to the weekend, but the thought of getting laid off is somewhat unsettling. Anyway, I'm ready to get my E.C. tree lighting on tonight, should be fun.

$1.99

Someone pinch me! A full tank of gas for twenty dollars? I never thought gas would get this cheap again. Honestly, I expected it to start going back up after the elections, but I guess not.

I guess the Santee "Annual Tree Lighting Extravaganza" is this Friday, should be fun. Personally, it still feels a little too early for the Christmas season, Halloween is barely over. Maybe once I see that tree ignite in all it's East County glory, I'll begin to feel the joy of the season.  If nothing else, it'll be something fun to go out and do.

Also, I've begun the lengthy process of downloading all the albums that are messed up on my iPod.  It's taken me awhile to get around to it but, I'm really sick of wanting to listen to something, only to find out that it won't play.

Weekend recap

Friday

• Quantum of Solace at 12:01 am
• Red Lines with "The Entourage" 
• O.T.D.(Office till dawn) at Flo's

Saturday

• Another productive jam session (two songs in two weeks)
• Got some "Stones" (not Keystone) from the new Henry's 
• Shots of peach rum "oh barf"
• Got to bed at a decent hour for some much needed sleep

Sunday

• Got duped at the taco shop
• Charger game at Kate's
• Nap time
• Sushi Sunday

Another great weekend!  I'm pretty excited about the way this band thing is going.  It's been great just hanging out with good friends and making music.  Plus the song writing has been pretty effortless, thanks to Nathan. As for now, it's back to the grind but, these fun weekends make the five days in between fly by.

Who needs sleep?

This whole staying up until all hours of the night thing is really starting to get pretty comfortable.  There was a point, not that long ago, where the idea of going to a midnight movie on a work night just seemed ridiculous.  Not that it mattered much, seeing as how I rarely stayed awake for the entire movie. 

 Overall I wasn't too terribly impressed by the new 007 movie but, it was well worth staying up late to go see.  

Not to contradict my earlier statement but, I should probably keep this brief so I can get some sleep.  I've got another big weekend ahead of me, with lots of The Office still left to be seen.  In fact, I think I might just go watch tonight's new episode before I fall asleep.

EDIT: "How great was it that they worked the word 'duped' into the movie?"

That's what she said

My night started off by going to dinner with my Grandparents, which is always exciting. Don't get me wrong, I love spending time with them but, I always end up feeling like I have to filter everything I do or say around them.  Anyways, that was just the dull intro to what quickly became a great night.  The Office has always been one of my favorite shows but, there's something exciting about watching it with a small hand full of people who mean the world to you. Especially, when it's people who are experiencing it for the first time. Long story short, one episode quickly turned into a twelve episode marathon that lasted til 5:00am.  The whole evening can be summed up in one word, EPIC!

We got duped!

It's time to put another fun-filled weekend to bed but, first here's a re-cap of how it went down.

Friday:

• Power outage at work, everyone got sent home early
• Got some drink at "Tap-X" that tasted like shit
• Tasty food at Sam Woo
• Destroyed Rock Band at the Kowalski house (ooh ah ah ah!)
  
• Ghost walk

Saturday:

• Santanas with Nathan and Justyn
• Super productive jam session 
• Fashion Valley (Nathan got duped)
• Justyn got himself a new Zune
• Got an iPod shuffle for $20
• Broke my straight edge with the G1 bartender
• Karaoke with Martin in the Jetta
• Santanas...AGAIN!

Sunday:

• Charger game at Kate's
• Nap time
• "Sushi Sunday"
• Iron Man at Flo's

Other than the fact that I saw my "best friend" KG way too much, I'd say it was a pretty epic weekend.

Run like the wind

First off, let me say that I think it's hilarious that this has basically turned into a "running blog".  That being said, let me tell you about tonight's run.  Tonight I ran with my new teammate, that John Mayer looking mother fucker we all know and love, Martin (Latin heart throb) Rivera....and Justyn came too.  It's so much easier to push yourself when you run with someone else, especially Martin. Every time I start to think I've had enough, I just think about all the shit I'm going to get for quitting, and find a way to suck it up.  It's moments like tonight that I really wish I hadn't smoked as much and or as long as I did but, that's in the past and part of the reason for wanting to get back into shape. There's something about the pain I feel in my legs the next morning that feels so good and makes me want to do it all over again. I've got a long way to go to even consider that marathon but, this is a nice little start.

Once you go black...

Barak Obama is set to become the 44th President of The United States and the first black one. I find it funny that the media is portraying this as a "land slide victory", when in reality if you look at the popular vote, it was only by a two percent margin.

I'm curious to see how Obama did locally in home sweet Santee.

Election Day

After four long years of waiting, it's finally here. Election Day! There seems to be far more buzz surrounding this election than normal, especially from young people. It's sad that it took an idiot president to get people to care but, whatever works. Hopefully everyone gets a chance to make it out to the polls today, regardless or who/what you're voting for. You may not care at the moment but, a lot can happen in four years and you might between now and then. It takes very little effort on your part and you don't have to vote for everything but, you should vote for something.


This is probably the closest thing to a political post I will ever do.


P.S. Take down all the proposition signs, it just looks trashy.

The wait is over

It wasn't supposed to be here until November 10th but, my G1 has arrived.  So far it's a pretty neat little device, it has it's bugs but, that's to be expected with new technology. 

Halloween was nothing short of amazing.  We got it started with the "Woo Woo" , thanks to the G1.  That pretty much set the tone for the night.  People got a little too drunk,  some lost their keys, while others just fell asleep in public.  All in all, a great night.  

That being said, I feel like it's time to cut back on the excessive drinking and start making healthier decisions.  I'm not sure if I'll be running the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon or not but, it'd be nice to be in good enough shape to attempt it and not have it seem laughable. 

Oh yeah, thank you Bell family for the free dinner at the Barona buffet... so good.