Savings? That's so unAmerican!


Hooray! I finally got my first paycheck today!

Short story: Payday was last Friday. My boss told me that the check was cut, but they didn't know where it was. Said it was probably shipped to my house. So I check the mail Friday night (of course, no luck). Saturday, no luck. Sunday, waste of time. Monday, still no luck. Tuesday at work, I checked my email and learned that HR has been sending me notices that I could have picked up my check last Friday from them. They sent another notice on Monday, but I was dumb enough not to check my email. So Tuesday, they sent one last email telling me that it will be shipped to my house since I failed to pick it up.

Anyway, I got it today and am very happy with the total. I already have plans for it too.

I'm getting an iPod. I'm a little afraid of spending so much on essentially a walkman, but I figure I listen to enough music to make it worth it (and I haven't purchased a cool gadgetty gimmick lately).

So, those are my plans. I know I should put my money into savings, but oh well. I can't be expected to grow up just yet. Screw that!

Anyway, work's good. It's kinda fun and the hours pass by pretty quickly, but it drains me. And the trains smell.



Shopping spreefully,

Ricky

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Now There's Nothing Special About New York!


...okay. New York still rocks. It's still got Los Angeles beat with the whole excitement and skyscrapers and theaters thing, but... and I do have a point...

Today marked the end of my second week of work and it's going pretty well. I'm used to the tasks I gotta do, but I still make a few careless mistakes here and there. I should be getting my first paycheck real soon and I'm anxious to see how much it's for (I'm expecting a lot and I've gotten clearance to buy an iPod with it!).

Anyway, after work, my mom and I took the subway (Metro Red Line) to Union Station. Yes folks, the Los Angeles subway system. When I was in New York, the subways were the best way around the city and they were awesome. I loved zipping down the lines and ending up in a completely different part of the city. And now that I'm back on the west coast, I miss it.

So I was excited when Mother Routes suggested taking the subway. We walked down the stairs (which were surrounded by more beggers than I saw in New York) and found ourselves in an impeccably clean station! It had nice white tile walls (THEY WERE CLEAN AND ACTUALLY WHITE!) and some artsy artwork you can probably find at a McDonald's. The place was clean and didn't smell.

There were kiosks where you could buy a ticket for the subway, but we already had our Metro train tickets. There are no turnstiles to duck under. The subway is based on an honor system. You get on and sometimes they'll have people checking for tickets. No ticket? You get a ticket. $250 fine.

The wind picked up in the tunnel and you could see and hear it coming. But this isn't the loud clanking noise you hear when the F train approaches; these trains whir like whispers! They are quiet and smooth!

You walk in and the seats are lined with some cheap red velvet knock off material, but it's comfortable! The train is as fast as New York's and very enjoyable.

Upon exiting, we saw surveillance cameras everywhere and some police officers on Segways patrolling the station. It felt really safe. AND CLEAN!

I hope they expand the lines to include a lot more places around Southern California. I'd love to just hop on a subway and spend a day in the city and then take a train home. I think the subway system is what I loved about New York the most. It was so easy to get around, I was jealous. Of course, I guess we can just drive with our cars and whatnot, but where's the fun in that???

SUBWAYS!

In other news, I've been addicted to the Wicked OBC soundtrack since I got it last Saturday. I also love the Avenue Q OBC album.

And I'm almost done with the last (as of now) Dan Brown book Deception Point. It only took it about 97 chapters to get to the good part, but I guess it was worth it. Well actually, so far it's pretty boring. Not much is going on (unlike the nonstop thrillingness of Angels & Demons. Now there was a book that was "unputdownable!"). But I'm almost done. Okay I lied. Angels & Demons did have a point in the middle where it started to lag, but the ending was completely explosive! I hope the same happens with this book. But so far, I'm not motivated to read it right before bed and when I wake up (like Digital Fortress). It's more of a "read on the train-ride home" book. Apparently 2 other people on the train agree with me. I see this book everywhere.

And lastly, I still haven't seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind! And watch Wonderfalls on FOX at 9pm. It's uber-great!



Defying gravity,

Ricky

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A Piano, a Violin, and an Asian Guy on Lead Guitar (& Also Some "Who Cares" Band From New Zealand)


I went to a great great concert today! So great!

It was at UCI's Bren Center, undoubtedly the best venue I've been to yet. I'm a fan of the smaller venues, standing room only, but sometimes they get too crammed and you can't find a seat. Well at the Bren Center, they have a huge floor and stadium seating all around; the best of both worlds.

The concert was jam-packed; pretty much sold out to little high schoolers. Anyway, first to play was Steriogram (the band from New Zealand). They were okay.

Then Rufio was next and they were awesome! It was worth being piled on by hundreds of teenagers (and not being able to breathe) to feel their music amidst the sea of jumping kids. Too bad they only played around 6 songs though... but it was still great.

Then Yellowcard played. I went to sit out because most people were there to see them... ho-hum. They were good, but they're not that great. They had a long set too.

And then I had to get back on the floor for Something Corporate. Man, now they rocked. So many great songs (and they even played Konstantine)! Their last songs though were If U C Jordan and Punk Rock Princess. I hate those songs.

Overall, one of the best concerts I've ever gone to. And well worth the money!



Spelling 'konfusion' with a K. And liking it.

Rockin'

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"New York is thattaway, man!"


Yes, I'm back from New York. No, I'm not dead.

The trip was excellent. And I'd hate to sit here and recap every friggen thing, so I'm just gonna say what Ellvin and I did...

Saw 4 shows (RENT, Wicked, Avenue Q, Little Shop of Horrors)
Saw 1 basketball game (Sixers vs. Knicks; Sixers won in double overtime)
Went to the Empire State Building observation deck
Wandered around Times Square
Ate at Rocco's on 22nd (as seen on TV)
Visited and made fun of "art" at the Met
Went to Rockefeller Center
Rode the subway
Ground Zero
Downtown Manhattan
Ate Shwarma
Ate a strawberry tart
Saw John Hampson play (from Nine Days)
Went to Philly (it sucks)
Met Kerry Butler

Overall I had such a great time. New York is the best. It's exciting and fun. LA feels so boring and plain compared to it. I can't wait to go back.

In other news, I started my job yesterday. It's tough doing full time work, but I'll get used to it. It's good money, so I will get used to it. My boss is really nice. My arm is starting to hurt like my mom's because of the way my computer and keyboard are set up. I miss my days of doing nothing though...



Being tired,

Worky

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Brotherly Love... My Ass!


***Warning! The following rant contains vulgar language that may not be suitable for some cousins.***

So, check this ya'll.

Ellvin Kelvin, his friends, and I took a road trip to Philadelphia today (first state of the union or whatever that crap is) and the town is incredibly dull.

Firstly, you can't find parking anywhere unless you're willing to give your first born away for the first 1/2 hour. We ended up settling with a $14 flat rate structure (which was virtually sold out!). FOURTEEN F***ING DOLLARS for three hours of parking.

Then, when we got out of the car, we were hungry, so naturally we went to get authentic Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches. Let's just say that they're TERRIBLY overpriced and not even that good. They were good, but UC Riverside had the same quality cheesesteak sandwiches (with real cheese too... not crappy Cheeze Whiz).

Disappointing.

Then, we look for stuff to look at and the best we could do was Independence Hall (which we needed to obtain a free ticket from two blocks up in order to go into... SCREW THAT!) They had a Congress Hall with a reproduction of the Declaration of Independence. The place was in dim lights and no flash pictures were allowed... FOR A COPY OF THE REAL THING. WHO GIVES A FREAKIN' CRAP???

The Mint building looked like a total bore, the Congressional Museum was a total bore, and guess what... Philadelphia is a complete and utter waste of time. Nothing there! Sure the town is quaint, but the sightseeing value is wayyyyy low. Go to Washington D.C. instead. (BTW, they do have the Liberty Bell, but we didn't care to actualy visit it). We did find Ben Franklin's final resting place... and it was really odd and tacky seeing a small souvenir shoppe inside the cemetary.

ANYWAY, after killing mucho time, we went to our main event... the Sixers vs. Knicks basketball game.

By this time, we were hungry again, so we went to go buy another Philly cheesesteak sandwich. What else are you supposed to eat when you're in Philly? So we go to the lady working, who we'll call Jean to protect the innocent... Ellvin Kelvin asks for two sandwiches "and that's it." She asks in a grumbly, sourpuss voice, "with onions?" We say "yes." She pulls two sandwiches out and then grumbles under her breath, "wa-als." Ellvin Kelvin nor I could understand her. So we ask her "what?" She repeats, "wa-als." Again, she's mumbling this under her breathe; it's very inaudible. Ellvin Kelvin and I look at each other bewildered. We're thinking that she could be saying something about the price, so he asks one more time "I'm sorry?" So she takes a deep breath (obviously annoyed) and yells (like really yells) "WHAT ELSE???" Ellvin Kelvin and I are shocked. She continues, "I HAVE A BAD VOICE AND YOU MAKE ME SAY THIS 1000 TIMES!"

At this point, I'm thinking of what to say to the bitch. We just stay quiet, give her the cash for the two sandwiches, and then leave. Of course, we think of a number of comebacks that we should have said to that bitch. I really wish we just said "no" to her and walked away without buying anything.

Anyway, she basically ruined the event for me, so I had to say something. So I went back and discreetly got her name from her namebadge, went to the first floor and asked if they had a guest services booth (they did), and I went and told my story to the supervisor who was very shocked about what happened. He told me that he was glad I notified him about this and I left. I hope that bitch gets fired pronto. What a skank. Sure she was old, and I probably shouldn't have wished bad things on her, but I really hope karma bites her ass. Stupid old bitch. I will no longer have pity for old folks, especially when they're crabby ass bitches.

The game was cool; it went into double overtime.

We got back and I hate Philadelphia and will be happy as a clam if I never go to that boring sh**hole ever again.



Feeling Will Smith's pain about leaving Philly to go to awesome Bel Air,

Ricky

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Greetings From the Windy City... (Well New York is Pretty Windy)


HIYA!

Guess where I am. Yes, I'm in New York visiting Ellvin Kelvin on a sort of last minute trip decision (planned at the end of January or so [I don't really remember]).

Anyway... before I get to the New York goodies, I gotta 'splain how the interview went.

It went pretty good. I was nervous as hell the night before. I flipped through the remaining chapters in the Richard Beatty book and then went to sleep. I woke up and got ready slowly... not wanting to do it. I was dressed all professional, suit and tie and everything!

My first interview was with an HR woman. She was awesome! She tried to calm me down and loosen me up a bit from my tense, nervousness by joking around and asking me about my New York trip and working at Disneyland. She really made me feel at ease about the whole interview thing, but I was still scared for the upcoming ones.

After a 15 minute talk with her, she asks me if I'm interested in a full time permanent job (instead of the temp job I was applying for). After saying no, then yes, then no, I finally said "yes I am interested" and she handed me a job description for an Administrative Assistant job that she was trying to fill. I didn't know what to do, so I told her I'd get back to her on that.

I then went to the second interview with my mom's boss and he was a cool guy. He asked me a few questions about Disneyland and told me about the job. His questions were kinda tough and I think I did a bad job answering them clearly, but I survived.

Next I went to talk with his boss who was a bit more scary to talk to. It went okay though. He asked me a few things about my computer skills and I asked him a few questions about possibly moving up in the job. After his interview, I had to talk to some of my mom's co-workers who I've met before and are super nice.

So anyway, to make this long story shorter, I got the job. And then the HR woman called me in my mom's cubicle and asked me if I wanted to interview for that full time permanent job that day. After much deliberation, I came to the conclusion that it's a better idea to learn the job my mom does because it's better. Yeah. Better.

Anyway, that was that. I start work the Monday morning after I return from New York (which is Sunday night).

Okay. Then I packed in an extreme hurry and went to the aeropuerte. I left on JetBlue airways...

The plane ride was a red-eye and I really did have red-eyes after. I slept for maybe an hour and was awaken by the turbulance of the plane. Violent turbulance. I spent my time on the plane staring at the little airplane figure that represented where we were over the United States till it reached from California to New York. Thus... RED EYES!

Ellvin Kelvin's friend Turok picked me up and we went back to his place. I met his other room mate and they're all cool. We went into the city to eat at a diner in Times Square and then we saw my first New York show... Starsky & Hutch at the United Artists theater. It was good.

Flash forward to today... we woke up late and went down to the Metropolitan museum. I also rode the subway for the first time which was dirty as all hell, but fast and efficient. The museum was really fun and we have some really cool pictures for a cool future Route.

Then we got half-off tickets to see Rent. The cast wasn't that great. I was disappointed. The second act was better, but I wasn't impressed.

Now I'm here. The end.

Sorry to cut things short, but I gotta take a shower. New York is filthy. Lots to do in the next few days, so see you shortly.



Preparing for a snow storm,

Ricky

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The End to my Unemployment Woes?


First of all... what "unemployment woes?" I'm loving this "staying at home/not doing a damn thing except for things that I wanna do/lazying about around the house/being a complete bum" thing.

But, I suppose I ought to find some sort of job.

So Mother Routes put in my résumé at her work for a temp position to get my foot into the company door. And, as it always works out, I have an obstacle in the way before I can enjoy my New York Experience. I have an interview for the job on Friday (I also leave for New York that night).

So, I'm a bit nervous. I've been reading this book called The Interview Kit by Richard H. Beatty in preparation for the interview. It's helping a little to prepare me for what I should say, but it's doing nothing to calm my nerves. I suppose that's normal. When I had to interview for my job at Disneyland, I was nervous as sh**. So... just wish me luck ya'll. I'm scared, but I'm just gonna roll with it, get through it, then pack up and leave on a Jet Blue plane.

In other news, I'm very excited about visiting New York now. At first, I was scared. This will be my first time flying alone, but it shouldn't be too bad. It's a red-eye flight, so I can just sleep through it. Or if I can't sleep, then I have my last Dan Brown book to read (I've been saving it for the flight actually). And more than likely, I'll be listening to music on the way.

Okay, I got nothing else to say. Please, just let me cry in preparation for this interview.



Sobbing,

Ricky

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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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