Father's Day


Today we celebrated Father Routes' glorious birth...

The day started when I woke up and had a piece of toast. Actually, I had two chinese bow bows (breads) and a slice of Swiss Roll cake and a yogurt. I was trying out a new pull up work out to improve my grip and strengthen my back when Mother Routes called me from work and asked me to secretly buy a cake for Father Routes.

I drove off to Baskin Robbins just in time to share the shop with a bunch of retarded, hyper, annoying high schoolers. I looked for any cake that had Cookies and Cream. I was trying to find a white cake, but had to go with chocolate forcibly. I paid for the cake and hid it in the freezer. When my parental units got home, Mother Routes and I snuck the cake over to the Oblong's house in a box (disguised as "games for the kids").

We ate dinner and then had cake. Not many people were there (I thought there were gonna be more, so I bought a BIG cake), so we got to eat as big a slice as we wanted. I ate two. It was damn good!

We still have half the cake left, so we brought it home and now I have breakfast set for the next three days.

Today, I finished Digital Fortress. It was nicely paced and interesting, but a lot of the characters pissed the hell out of me. There aren't that many likable characters in the story. There are many points in the book that lag completely and I just skimmed because it got frustrating. And sometimes the main character is a complete idiot. She doesn't see the most obvious of happenings when they occur; and she's supposed to be incredibly smart. But it had a great enough twist and enough fast paced action to keep me drawn through the story.

One thing though: Dan Brown's books all feel the same. If anyone has read these books, I think they know what I'm talking about. I don't wanna say why this is because it will ruin the stories for everyone, but I hope he approaches his next novel differently. I mean, the books are still good, but it gets a little too predictable after a while.

Tomorrow, I may go to Disneyland with my cousins. We'll see though.



Drawing on my hand,

Ricky

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Invading Nevada


The short, somewhat spontaneous trip to Vegas to celebrate Erico Suave's birthday came and went quickly.

Erico Suave, MacArthur, Mrs. Suave, and I left on the 18th for the windy city of Las Vegas. It was very windy. But first, Mrs. Suave got a speeding ticket from a jerkass of a Barstow cop. I'm sure it was due to racial profiling or some jazz.

Anyway, we stayed at the Monte Carlo, which I always saw as a really expensive resort. Well, it was pretty affordable and looks very high class. It was nice.

It was my very first time gambling. I first tried the slots and it was pretty bogus. I'd lose my cash/credits faster than David Faustino's career plunge. So I tried my hand at the black jack tables. After a few tips from the nice dealer and an old wise smoking lady, I was on a roll. There was a point when I had around $80 in chips (from an initial $20 bill). But my luck soon waned and I didn't know when to walk away. So I finally lost most of it and just took away $25.

Then I tried slots again and was on a roll there too. But again, I didn't know when to stop and lost all of my 200 quarter credits.

We then went to see the Cirque show Zumanity. It was very different from all the other Cirque shows. First of all, it featured naked performers! It was like Cirque had a child with a Las Vegas floozy. The acts were hot though. Two naked chicks doing tricks in a giant glass goblet with water... a school girl doing hoola hoops in the air... a strip show on a television. Two of the acts were straight up strip shows. They were cool, but not really up to Cirque standards. There were less acrobatic acts and more of the glitzy Las Vegas glamour. Still a good show though and pretty cheap.

Back to gambling, I tried my luck again and lost all my money.

So my luck didn't pan out this trip, but hopefully it'll improve in future visits. Ellvin Kelvin will be teaching me how to play craps so I can play that next time around.

On my way out though, I took the toilet paper from the hotel room, two pens, and a cookie from the buffet! Take that Vegas! You thieving vixen!

P.S. My Route coverage of the Vegas trip is already up at my website. Check it out!



Cashing out always with zero,

Ricky

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Finally! An Update on The Routes!


You may not care, but it's a relief that I finally got around to updating the big site! I actually had the Route, WDW picture update, 90% complete two weeks ago. I wrote out the story and uploaded the pictures, but I decided to hold off on 10 extra pictures I had to reprint off of Erico Suave's negatives. That took a total of a week to process and pick up. But now it's all done. Check it out here.

I'll have another update by the end of this week. A simple Highlight of the Vegas trip in T-minus 2 days.

In other news, I finished Howl's Moving Castle this morning. Funny thing about that book. I thought it was going to be a straight forward children's fantasy story like Alice in Wonderland, but as I progressed through the book, characters were fully fleshed out, events that seemed minor eariler in the book turned out to be major happenings, and it had layer upon layer in a complex story. But it was really enjoyable. I really liked the book. And I'm not much into fantasy novels (unless it's Harry Potter). I'll probably read it again to fully understand everything that happened because I'm still confused about a few of the story elements. But, I did the next best thing. I gave the book to K-mart to read and then we'll discuss it when she's done.

So, now I'm on to reading Digital Fortress. This book will take me a while.

And one final story. I was taking a poopie early this morning (okay, it was at 2pm) and I didn't have my contact lenses on at the time. I look at the floor and see a huge black dot moving towards the toilet. So I freak out and grab the only thing I could really reach... the roll of toilet paper. But instead of being brave and taking a few sheets and smashing it, I took the whole roll and smashed it over the spider. It didn't work. The little dot kept moving nearer. So I smashed it again, this time harder and with a crushing twist of the wrist.

So there it stood, smashed into the Charmin roll, leaking its brownish fluid and fossilized into the paper. It was gross. What can I say though... I'm a wuss when it comes to spiders.



Killing Wizard Howl's spiders,

Ricky

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Where in the World is RickyRoutes?


Just some news to drop. I know I still don't have the Walt Disney World Route posted (still waiting on a couple of pictures, but it's just about ready to launch), but I've got plans coming up...

Firstly, Erico Suave's birthday is next Wednesday... so in honor of that, we're going to Las Vegas baby! My first time gambling! When I was under 21, I always told myself that I'd go to Vegas right after I turn 21, but no one would go with me (okay, people were willing, but plans never materialized... till now). Hooray! I'll have a Highlights picture up from Vegas and of course a nifty trip report in the form of a blog.

We're staying at the Monte Carlo and also seeing Zumanity (Cirque du Soleil) while down there. Hopefully I can win big and leave this wretched boring life for good! Just kidding.

Also, Ellvin Kelvin suggested out of the blue that I visit him during his spring break so he can show me around New York. So, I asked my parents and they were happy to send me. So I'll be spending a week down there early March and you can bet I'll be taking massive pictures while there (with a digital camera this time so the picture-to-Route turnaround time won't be very long).

In other news, I bought the rest of Dan Brown's novels Digital Fortress and Deception Point. I'll be reading those as soon as I'm done with Howl's Moving Castle.

And lastly, today is Ellvin Kelvin's birthday!!! Wish him happy birthday if you see him!

It's also Granny M's chinese birthday! Wish her happy birthday if you see her!

And it's Valentine's Day! Happy that people.



Looking for a new album to listen to,

Ricky

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Boredom 2 - The Sequel of My Life


Interesting how things work out... or perhaps don't work out.

So today I was subjected to driving and long periods of nothingness.

I took Mother Routes to her annual doctor check-up. So that was three hours of sitting and waiting and moving offices and sitting and waiting and moving offices and standing and waiting and waiting and waiting...

BAH!

It was okay though because I had Howl's Moving Castle to read. The book so far is a really sweet story, but I'm finding the fantasy element of the book hard to read. The same thing happened with The Phantom Tollbooth.

Eh, I'll finish it soon. It isn't very long, but the chapters are. After reading Dan Brown books and Big Fish, I'm so used to quick and concise chapters. I'll deal.

Then, while I was relaxing at the computer, coping with my 4 hours of sleep the night before... I got a call from Father Routes. Turns out that his car died somewhere near Irvine and he needed me to pick him up. So I drove all the way down there and after getting lost a few times, I finally found him standing with his business partner Antonio.

Well... it so turns out that they were headed to a business meeting/lecture/presentation somewhere in Corona and I was being dragged to it. So when we got there, it was very awkward eating dinner at a stranger's house, but I was a gentleman. Then we started the presentation and it turns out that it so happens to be a big recruitment campaign for a pyramid business thing where we'd have to sell some herbal supplements (or buy and use and spread the word) and easily earn big bucks. Sound too good to be true?

Four hours later, after the lecture became focused around me (being a Business graduate and a young entrepreneur) I was hoping so hard that we'd end it already and finally we did. I don't know if I buy what they were saying. Sure they're rich and stuff, but it just seemed like something fishy was going on. So I don't think it's right to get involved with this thing, but whatever my dad whatever.

So yeah, quite possibly the saddest, most uneventfully dull, wasteful days I've ever lived.



...and waiting...

Ricky

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Less Relaxing -- More Taxi-ing


Hola mis amigos.

Today I spent the morning as a veritable taxi cab. Mother Routes took the day off of work today to help my aunt, Oh Suzanna, out around the house. So I was the taxi cab that drove her to my aunt's house. Then we picked up Oh Suzanna's mother-in-law so that she could have lunch with us. Then I took her mother-in-law back home later in the day... thus, a taxi cab. It was no problem though. I was happy to help.

Before I left there to hang out with friends, I helped harvest some oranges and lemons from Oh Suzanna's trees in the backyard. While trying to cut an out-of-reach orange down with scissors, I caught my pinky between the two handle sides and pinched it hard. A bubble formed on the end of my finger and started to fill with blood. It feels weird. Very hurty. I was whining about it for a while, but decided to tuf it out. Between you and me though, I'm still whining.

In other news, I'm just about done with Angels & Demons. I just have the denouement left to read and it looks like there's one final twist coming. The book was full force intensity from the beginning, but somewhere near the end of the second act, the flow tapered off. It was probably just a dead point in the book, but it seemed like the writing got sloppy or wouldn't get to the point and that made me really annoyed to read through it. But after those couple of chapters and a night's rest, it got good again. (It was probably just my mood yesterday night. I was feeling a bit antsy and annoyed by Celebrity Mole... this season is just terrible!) But the book is still really really nicely written, intense as hell, and "unputdownable."

And finally, I have my WDW pictures developed, but I'm holding off on posting them till I get a few reprints developed from Erico Suave's film negatives. So, it's coming. It's coming.



Charging you a metered per-word rate on these blogs,

Gnopükindabak Ricky

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"If God Didn't Want People Eating in Church, He Would Have Made Gluttony a Sin"


Real quick story of a lunch gone terribly well...

I was driving home from Riverside today after picking up my diploma and decided I wanted a much-craved chicken quesadilla from Rubios Baja Grill. I remember eating the $6 quesadilla during college and thinking it was the most delicously well spent $6 ever. Maybe I was just really hungry back then...

So I pull into the Rubios and go in. I was really hungry, but really wanted the quesadilla. So I figured I'd get something else along with it. Two fish taco combo? Too much. I'd just settle for an extra burrito to fill the lunch void. After the cashier totaled the full $10 meal, I forgot that I needed a drink to wash it all down. He said he'd just give me the drink, but he forgot instantaneously.

When the food came, I realized that it was a LOT of food. A business woman sitting at a nearby table watched with a weird look on her face as I passed and sat down behind her; as if she were thinking, What a fatty. I decided I could eat it all (including the chips). Anything is edible when doused with salsa. Fresh salsa.

So I tackled the burrito first. Muy bueno! Very very good! No-- Great! It was really good. And green salsa is also very delicious. After, I was feeling kind of fullish, NOT foolish for buying all the food. Then I started taking in some chips, but immediately realized I was filling up on useless chips.

So then I began to consume the long-awaited quesadilla con pollo. On first bite, it tasted kinda funny and also smelled weird. Like the chicken had been grilled too long and thus had a burned taste. The smell was that of dog food. Seriously. But I'm not Mexican so what do I know? When I got to the third quesadilla slice (of four), it really (and pardon my language) tasted like sh**! TOTAL SH**! Like I stuck a piece of cow dung in my mouth, chewed on it, got some stuck in my teeth, and then realized I was eating crap. It was NASTY. I still convinced myself that it was just a little burned, but one particular bite was just way too much for me and I spit it out. I quickly crammed the rest of the pedo queso down my throat and the aftertaste was absolutely disgusting. I needed a drink to wash down the taste, but damn that cashier!!! I ate some chips, but that didn't work.

I got up quickly and went down towards Starbucks to get a drink, but stopped at the new smoothie place to see what they had. A mango smoothie caught my attention, so I went in and got it. It was pretty good! I'll be going there more often now.

So that's the end. The moral of the story is that I ate 2 full meals at Rubios and a "meal-replacement" smoothie... ALL FOR LUNCH!

I'll be writing my next blog from the toilet.



Preparing to poop out the poop flavored chicken,

Ricky

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Since When Did I Turn Into a Book Worm?


Hmm. A week passed. Actually. A whole month passed.

Most peculiar.

I'm really sorry for the lack of updates to my website (The Routes). Like you care right?

I'm just kind of ashamed to have only one update in the month of January. See here's the thing... Ellvin Kelvin now owns Timotei's digital camera, so Timotei had to buy another one (albeit a better one too). So we were unable to take random pictures during family get-togethers and activities and junk. But once things get back to normal (and we get used to the new camera's settings), I should be back to many updates. And I might actually get to doing that "Who's Who at The Routes" section I've been putting off.

I took the Walt Disney World pictures for developing on Wednesday, so they should be done now. I just have to pick them up. So that update, I promise, will come very shortly.

In other news, I recently went to Barnes & Noble and bought two more books to add to my book club list. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown and Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. I stopped reading The Phantom Tollbooth to read Angels & Demons which is excellent. It talks about anti-matter and the conflict between science and religion. I bought Howl's Moving Castle, a fantasy book about witches and (um) moving castles, because it's going to be the next Hayao Miyazaki anime film.

I really love reading the Dan Brown books. I'm thinking of picking up his other two (non-Robert Langdon) novels Digital Fortress and Deception Point. Though I wish I could get his books in hardcover format.

And lastly, I got The Critic, the entire series on DVD. Which I am going to watch now. I'm still waiting on the Scrubs DVD. Please please release it on DVD.

BTW, it was K-mart's birthday yesterday! Wish her happy birthday if you see her!



Reading on through February,

Ricky

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Boredom - The Story of My Life


Welcome to nothingness. Well, welcome to non-eventfulness?

Whatever! You get the point. I'm bored. And nothing has happened since I returned home from the east coast.

Okay, maybe one thing.

I finally got to finish reading The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I can't recommend it enough, it's so good (unless you're heavily Christian and are insecure or offended easily about your faith). The book draws on a huge conspiracy theory that ultimately gives ideas that could crumble Christianity. But that's only part of the fun/coolness. There are several little details hidden on Leonardo Da Vinci paintings that hint at the "truth." In other words, it's fun to try and figure out the puzzles and codes as the book progresses and to see these little details (stuff hidden in plain sight within very public paintings) that are easily missed.

I can't wait to see the movie which will probably be out sometime next year. Meanwhile, I've picked up another book (one that I've been putting off reading), The Phantom Tollbooth. Yes, the children's book. But I find that children's books, along with being a lot quicker and easier to read, are a lot more interesting that adult books. After I'm done with this book (or most likely midway through it), I will pick up Dan Brown's first Robert Langdon novel Angels & Demons. Also on my list is Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire (which is also a musical).

And lastly, it was Angel Wing Jasmine's birthday yesterday! Wish her happy birthday if you see her!



Waiting for a Phantom Tollbooth to appear in my room,

Ricky

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A Warm Welcome Back to Those of You Who Made It


Hello!

La La La!

I'm back from zee Florida trip and I don't really feel like totally recapping the entire trip (nor you with reading it), so I'm just gonna highlight different things.

The plane flight wasn't bad at all. The only thing that sucked was the two stops (making for 3 take offs and landings) and also the fact that we had to sit apart for the longest leg of the flight. Everyone wants the damn window or aisle seat.

I sat in between an older baldish man from New Orleans and this kinda scary looking skinny man. I just listened to music and read The Da Vinci Code through the whole flight. The older baldish man talked to me for a little bit about how much he loved The Da Vinci Code. The kinda scary looking skinny man just sat in his seat, staring out the window. He just looked scary, but was actually nice when the flight landed.

We went to Magic Kingdom first and it was empty on an off-season Wednesday. We basically finished the park by 4pm, leaving us time to go see La Nouba (Cirque du Soleil) at Downtown Disney. The new ride, Mickey's Philharmagic, was awesome! Best 3-D show out there. It's just really charming and beautiful.

Then La Nouba! It was fantastic! Just awesome. The music is great and the acts have so much variety. My favorite was these little asian girls who do tricks with Diablos. They were so amazing and made me so proud : ) The music was awesome as well... so I bought the soundtrack.

The next day, we went to Epcot. We rode the new ride, Mission: Space, first. It was okay. Not as intense as I thought. But it was still fun. We explored the park for the whole day and ran out of things to do. Then we saw Illuminations, the nightly fireworks show, which was awesome as always.

Next day was Disney-MGM Studios day. It got crowded because of a stupid college cheerleading competition. So there were annoying bubblegum poppers everywhere. We hit Tower of Terror 4 times that day. Love that ride! Then saw Fantasmic! that night up in the front row. We got drenched.

Saturday, we had to hit Animal Kingdom in the morning and then go to Magic Kingdom for Spectro Magic (the nighttime parade) and Wishes (the firework show). So we blazed through Animal Kingdom, which I love now, and did a few things. But while we were there, we figured that coming down to Florida and seeing La Nouba only once was kind of a waste. So we called for tickets. We got tickets (all seated separately) for the 6pm show and left Animal Kingdom early to see it. The seats weren't as great as the other ones, but they were still good and the show was still awesome. After the show ended, we had to run to Magic Kingdom and made it just in time to watch Wishes and then Spectro Magic.

On Sunday, we hit Magic Kingdom again to finish off some things we couldn't finish on Wednesday like Pirates and Tiki Room: Under New Management. We ended up playing there for a long time before deciding we wanted to ride Tower of Terror again. We went to Disney-MGM Studios for a quick ride on Tower, then took a boat to The Boardwalk Resort and a bus to Downtown Disney to hang out at Disney Quest.

At Disney Quest, they have a bunch of Virtual Reality/Interactive games. The coolest was a game called Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle of the Buccaneers. You stand on a boat with 6 cannons (3 on each side). One person steers the boat while the others use the cannons to rapidly fire cannonballs at other boats to steal their treasure. The action is all around you and it's the most fun game there.

They also have a thing called Cyberspace Mountain where you design your own roller coaster and then actually ride it in a simulator. That was cool and extremely popular, but it got me sick.

Then Monday was our "finish-up-Animal-Kingdom-and-back-to-MGM-for-more-Tower-of-Terror" day. We ended up going on Tower 7 times during the course of our trip. That ride is so much freakin' fun!!!

I got four rolls of film for a future Route and I will definitely get those pictures developed sooner than my Winchester Mystery House photos. So bear with me... there will be an update on my site very soon... finally.



Jag lagging and slacking,

Ricky

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