Readership Get!

It pains me to walk in the shoes of my readers. I know their typical day consists solely of refreshing www.rickyroutes.blogspot.com every 2.4 minutes, waiting, oh patiently waiting for an update. And alas, they rarely come. For this, I give my apologies.

But on to things. Granny M's service and funeral were beautiful and moving. There was a lot of crying, but also a lot of closure. I think we are all at peace within, though the 4th of July will never be the same. Witness below, in order for Granny M to receive offerings in the afterlife, according to tradition, we had to burn paper replicas. This is us sending her a car and maid/butler. Quick story: I just learned that Granny M always wished she had learned to drive so that she could take us places.




Also we are coming dangerously close to closing the deal on our house. Scary times. Here's a peek at the progress. Right now, the completion date is slated for April 15.




Speaking of taxes, this is the first time I OWE California money! I hate this state.


Rhyme time,

Ricky

Crystal Brawler

There's been a lot of funeral planning going on these past two weeks, getting things perfect on the perfect day (based on Chinese calendar and tradition). I used my awesome Photoshopping skillz to create a fitting portrait of Granny M and helped write her mini-bio. March 10 is the wake and March 11 the service and burial and reception. Apparently according to tradition, we are supposed to wear a brand new shirt (that's not black) to the reception. It's supposed to signify moving forward. Any excuse to spend money on new clothes is fine by me.

So I went to Macy's but found nothing but a really awesome solid black tie. Then went to Express For Men. I had never bought anything from them before, but saw that they were having a sort of shirt sale. There was a wall of fitted or modern fit shirts, each priced at $60. But if you buy two, each is only $40. And if you buy three, each becomes only $30. Well, originally I did not like any of the shirts I tried on. But passing a different table, I found a white striped shirt that looked awesome! And then the dressing room attendant suggested other shirts for me and the guy had good taste because I ended up getting four shirts. But it's okay because now I have a new Express credit card.

But even sooner is the long-awaited launch of Super Smash Bros. Brawl. I've got my pre-order down, but I'm afraid I won't be able to get it at midnight tomorrow. Well, it don't matter. I'll still get my Brawl on on Sunday morning. Come by and challenge me. I promise not to Pika-spam.

Ellvin Kelvin will be back Sunday evening and he'll be hanging with us for the week. I'm hoping to take some time off to tear up the town with him.

I hope to buy a kick ass super fitted suit next Wednesday.

I need LASIK.


Pika! Lightning!!!

Ricky

Fallen

My Granny M has passed. We received word at work this morning that she was rushed to the hospital after complaining of dizziness. And before we knew it, she was gone. We were assured that she went peacefully.

In all honesty, it hasn't really hit me yet. We left work in tears early to be with family, but I know that until the funeral, it just does not seem real.

But it's hard. She took care of all of us for so long. I had always referred to her as a trooper and she was a trooper till the end. And we'll all greatly miss her. God, we miss her so much already.

Words of Wisdom

I have these two fortune cookie fortunes that I wanted to share with y'all:

"An angry man opens his mouth and shuts up his eyes."

"People who are late are often happier than those who have to wait for them."

Truer words have never been spoken. It's like someone took my deepest most personal thoughts, ripped them from my soul, and jammed them into stale cookies.

I'm sorry. I need a moment.


All choked up,

Ricky

Taking Shape

Not much time has passed since we got our pre-dry wall tour of the house, but things have been going up fast! The dry wall looks completely installed inside and it's looking like a house now! With livable space and everything!

I'm so excited to be moving in soon. In preparation, I've been watching A LOT of HGTV. I've got some good ideas about the colors I want to paint my room and how I want to decorate the other rooms. But one of the things I want to quickly set up is the backyard. I'm thinking of installing a porch in the backyard and fancily landscaping the place. I want this done quickly because I want a new dog as soon as possible.

No new pictures this time, but I'll remember to bring my camera next week for an update.


Ciada,

Ricky

Casa de Construction

Come with me as our Field Manager takes us through our half-built home. It may be a little boring and shaky and for that I apologize. But if you're interested in watching our home go up from start to eventual finish, enjoy!




Remix mastering,

Ricky

Close Calls & Spider Dreams

I had a big "to do" planned for this story, but I realize that there's not much to say. So I'll just say it.

The four of us Routes family members were driving home from The Addams Family's house last Sunday. It was raining and late. I opted to be the man behind the wheel because I was the only one wide awake. I was leisurely going my own pace and got stopped by a signal. The light turned green and I started to cross, but in the corner of my eye, I noticed headlights fast approaching. I slowed to a stop, weary of crossing, just in case the guy didn't stop. And I was lucky to listen to my instincts because the fucker didn't stop. He sped through the intersection. I honked twice. There was a slight hesitation on his part as he crossed the red light; like maybe he had fallen asleep at the wheel and my horn startled him. I can't help but think that if this was any other situation, I would have simply saw the green light and hit the gas. But something (maybe the leisurely pace I was taking or the pit of my stomach) saved us that night.

My second story involves a dream I had. I was in a room where a couple had just finished having sex. I guess I was the creepy guy in the corner. All of a sudden the woman began literally eating the man; really devouring the man. He willingly gave himself to be dinner. And I thought nothing of it; simply "oh, she's one of those people; those black widow types." However, when I woke up, I was entirely grossed out by the mental remembrance of the woman eating the guy black widow-style.

That's enough from me. But as a preview for my next blog, I will finally have a video! It's a tour of our new house! Tune in next week.


Lost,

Ricky

Bringing Up the House

Things are going up quickly at our new house and I just realized that I haven't posted any pictures!

I'm sorry.

Take a gander at these:







Spruce Moose,

Ricky

BIGcasino

I named this blog after the Jimmy Eat World song not only because it's Vegas-related, but because I listened to them on the entire drive to Nevada and it's embedded in my head.

But to the point: we're back! And I lost money!

Here's how it went down...

We left at around noon and got there in about three hours. We checked into the Excalibur hotel and then met up with Agent J and his folks to watch the Cirque du Soleil show LOVE.

Impressions of the show: It started out spectacular-like. Really in your face, curtains dropped, and people literally flying in every-which-way. It was amazing. But the funny thing is, the show, to me, doesn't live up to Cirque. Now I don't consider myself a Cirque du Soleil expert. I'll leave that role to Erico Suave and MacArthur. But the problem I had with this show is that there was just way too much dancing and not enough Cirque acts. There were big sequences where an acrobatic act was happening, but it was either drowned out by so much dancing around (you had no idea where to look) or it was such a miniscule acro-stunt that it barely registered as an act. Was it just part of the choreography?

And then most of the acts consisted of girls climbing ropes, wrapping themselves, and then dropping. There's only so much of that I can take before I start to fall asleep, which was very well the case. However, the music was perfect and the visuals are outstanding. The use of lighting and projections is phenomenal.


The next day, we went to dinner with the co-workers for the ex-Big Boss's 4th retirement celebration. We just can't let go, it seems. We had the buffet at the Bellagio and I ate entirely too much food. It wasn't even that great of food either. There was some interesting white-people's take on Sweet and Sour Soup and some dry ass sushi. But what made up for it were the two plates of desserts I had; the best strawberry tart in the world and some other stuff.

After the dinner, a bunch of us went to the new Palazzo to our very own reserved Craps table and played. And boy did we play the casino! Tim and I hit pretty awesome hot streaks on the dice and made a nice chunk of change. By the end of the night, my pockets were full of $5 chips. Added all up though, it only came out to around $150. I would have had more too, but I have this problem of not knowing when to walk away. But this was the most fun I've ever had gambling.

I also played some Pai Gow Poker, which pretty much sucked. The asshole next to me was uber-rich and decided to play as dealer. He got a straight as his best hand and a pair of 8's as his second best and won everyone's money. I walked away after that crap. I played some Roulette, but wasn't nearly as lucky as the last time I played. Video poker was good to me this time. And I still have no idea how I lost $15 of a $20 bill from one spin of a slot machine.

After the exhilarating Craps game, I was done gambling. The next day, we stayed at the Rio and ate some amazing barbecue from a new place called RUB BBQ. Then Timotei and I went to see Penn & Teller. They are hilarious and pretty cool. They sometimes show you how they do tricks, but even when they show you, it's amazing how carefully choreographed the tricks are. The best thing though is that they met with the audience after the show for autographs and pictures. Penn is a freakin' monster!




There you have it! There are already plans in place to make this co-worker Vegas trip an annual thing. I'd love to go back with them soon.


Money mooching,

Ricky

Monster Bash

Ever since that teaser trailer hit with the Transformers movie, I'd been dying to see CLoverfield. I did a ton of research on the movie and got caught in the hype and I'll just say that it lived up to it!

This movie is relentless in its execution, creating very scary moments that the audience can feel. A shot of the monster headed in the camera's direction and then just the sound of it approaching is chilling. This was the most fun I've ever had watching a monster movie.

It's amazing how well the special effects are done. There is so much destruction. The scope of the movie is huge. The video camera work is extremely convincing. And the action sequences that the producers planned out are incredibly creative. There's even an ingenious device in place to incorporate flashbacks into the movie.

I loved it. Now I consider myself a Blair Witch Project fan (or maybe apologist), but really, I was only a fan of the idea. There are three parts of that movie that I can say I enjoy: the beginning interviews on the Blair Witch, the laughing children scene, and the creepy ending image. But not much at all happens in that movie.

By contrast, Cloverfield is a Blair Witch movie, but stuff actually happens. This movie is short, but doesn't feel too short because it is one hell of a ride.

In other news, I'm headed off to Vegas today for my former boss's boss's retirement hoopla. Gonna see the Cirque show LOVE tonight!


And gamble!

Ricky