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| News of the Day Archive- October 20-27 |
| October 20/21- On Sunday I woke up at around noon, and signed online shortly before getting ready for work at 1:00. I shaved, something I neglected to do before going to the cabin, before showering and heading down to SpeedZone. I showed up to work and clocked in, before getting a drawer, and helping out Montes on Operations side. For the first few hours of my shift I helped out the Sunday customers, which are by far the worst of the week, and never really let the line get too long. Occasionally I would help out at redemption, though most of my efforts were spent at my drawer. At about 3:30 or so Phillip went on break, so I took over the duties of walking the gameroom, this time with a radio. As I was fixing Super Shot I heard my name being called, and it turns out it was Gina who was calling me on the radio, but I didn't answer because I wasn't sure if I had heard it or not. So it did a lot of good to carry the radio if I didn't even answer it. Well Phillip eventually took over the games and I went back to work on my register, where things were pretty standard until about 4:30 when David started working. He told me to lock up my drawer and roam for the rest of the night, which was perfectly fine by me. I ended up doing games mostly, though I did help out at redemption on occasion until 5:15 when I went on my break. While in the breakroom I caught the first inning of the Angels game, which turned out to be pretty good for them. At 5:45 I came back from break to people needing assistance in the gameroom, though I had given the keys and radio to Jason. He was nowhere to be found initially, but we eventually got a hold of him, and he gave me the keys and radio, and I resumed my duties. I pretty much just walked around, helping the occasional customer, when David cashed out my drawer at about 6:45, and I was inexplicably off by about $.50 or so, which had me a little puzzled. After I was cashed out I hung around doing the same thing I had been doing before, and covered things, at David's request, while he was on break. At a little after 8:00 I was able to call it a night, and headed home. Once at home I sat at the computer for a little while, as I ate some pizza for dinner, and watched some tv. At about 9:30 I headed over to Starbucks to join Shay and Big Chris for the usual rap session. We sat there shooting the breeze for about an hour and a half about things like the Angels. As we walked back to the car I spotted a dirty pair of ladies underwear on the ground, so naturally Shay was compelled to kick it at Chris, and likewise. Eventually Shay kicked it onto the windshield of a car in the parking lot, though we never saw the owner as we stood in the parking lot for a few minutes. A little after 11:00 I came home and sat online, while watching a movie to work on the new movie quote for the day. It took a little longer than I had anticipated, so it was kind of late when I had finished. I went to bed relatively early at about 3:00 or so. The next day, Monday, I woke up and thought to myself that I was tired. I weighed the pros and cons of going to class, and I figured the sleep outweighed the act of driving to class, so I deliberately slept in. With no remorse I woke up at about 11:30 and signed online. I took care of a couple things online, and ate a little something before eventually having to get ready for work at 2:00. I showed up promptly and was given a drawer, as I was to expect since I am the only one working during the day. Things started pretty slowly, and never picked up throughout the shift. I killed the first hour or so by chatting with Paul when he'd go in, and putting away the shot glasses, and mugs that Wendy had asked me to do. I took my time since I figured I would have plenty more to come up with as the day progressed. I spent a lot of time walking to operations to make sure everything was in order, but after the first time going there and fixing things, I really didn't have a reason to go over there. At one point I had a family go to redemption, followed by someone that wanted an application. We didn't have any so I went to the back office to get one, though Rachel didn't have any. She had to make copies, and sort of took her time doing it, which in the meantime Forrest came and told me I had some people at redemption. He said I should tell one of the gametechs next time, and I probably would have if I had expected it would have taken so long. And to top it off, the guy ended up leaving, so the wait was made in vain. At around 4:45 I went to organize some calendars when I felt like I put my hand in something red and sticky, and I thought it was like a syrup from some sort of drink, or candy. I washed my hands, a little disgusted, and continued on my way. A few minutes later I was helping someone at redemption and felt the same substance, though this time on the counter at redemption, and after examining my hand I realized I had cut myself on my right pinky finger. I don't know how or where, but it was bleeding, and even though it wasn't a large cut, it did continue to bleed, drop by drop. It eventually stopped, and I went on my way. Things stayed pretty dead and I continued my work, discussing with David some possible schedule changes for me. My shift was supposed to end at 6:00, but I was told that my relief would be running late, so I ended up staying until about 6:30, at which point I was cashed out. I ended up being $.40 short, but I expected it, so in essence I was perfect. I came home and signed online, and ate a couple cold pieces of pizza, before my mom made dinner. Dinner was ready, and I was eating with my parents at about 7:45, which was pretty good. My mom made like a homemade version of chicken fingers, which were really good, with some cut up potatoes that were basically fries, so it was like I was on break at work. Good stuff. I went back to the computer and watched some Fear Factor, and checked out some things online before meeting up with Shay, Little Chris, and AJ in my backyard. We sat back there discussing things like Chris' drinking, and AJ reading Laffy Taffy riddles. Some of the riddles were pretty funny, and had me laughing, while others were just plain stupid. AJ just kept eating the candies, and nearly finished the whole bag, though he didn't because he gave some to Shay, Little Chris, and Big Chris who eventually showed up as well. At about 11:15 everybody left and I came into my house to watch a little tv, and check out some things online again. I had a chat with Gabe about being right and wrong, which lasted about an hour, probably an hour too long in his opinion, but I didn't mind it. I guess I can talk about meaningless things for a long time without even thinking about it, which tonight so clearly demonstrated. I watched some Conan, Coach, and Cheers, while trying to write this update. It's now about 3:30, and I really should be getting to bed since I can't afford to miss anymore classes on Tuesday. October 22- After sleeping for a little over three hours, I woke up at about 7:00 and dragged myself out of bed to get ready for school. I was out the door by about 7:20, and was making decent time the trip there. Since I was slightly ahead of schedule I figured today would be a good opportunity to actually try taking the 57 to Temple, and going that way to school instead of going my normal route on Grand. I kept in mind that Shay claims that he never hits traffic, and it is actually quicker. Well as I got off the freeway and turned onto Temple I hit more traffic than I had ever seen on Grand. Things were moving at a snail's pace, and it grew increasingly closer to 8:00, so when I got to Pomona Blvd. I was desperate and figured I would just take that to Valley, then to Grand and go my normal route. However once I was in the turn lane I noticed that it cleared up just past Valley up ahead, so I ended up going down Pomona to Valley, only to practically make a U-turn back to Temple. When I finally did get to Mt. SAC there weren't any parking spaces in my usual lot, so I was forced to park in the next one over. I ended up being about five minutes late to my class, but since my Religion teacher asks a question everyday, I didn't miss the lecture. We finished up the lecture on Confucianism, and were let out at the normal time around 9:15. I went to Biology and talked with Robert before eventually being let in to the classroom. We got our last quizzes back and I edged out Robert by scoring 10 out of 15, while he got a mere 6. Craig Petersen also threatened us with a quiz, so Robert and I moved from our seats in the very back to the next available from the front, as he likes, and said a cheerful "good morning". I don't think he was planning to give one anyway, but we like to think our efforts were not in vain. We spent the class time discussing pesticides, and things of the like, so it was pretty interesting as usual. When class let out I walked to my car expecting to get caught in the traffic that I usually see coming from the lot I was in, but to my surprise there wasn't any. So to avoid getting caught in any potential traffic, I left in a hurry. I took the 57 to Brea Canyon Road, so that I could make my way over to the gas station on Whittier and Harbor to fill up my nearly empty tank. It cost me about $29 to fill up my tank, and I drove home at around 11:30. I had a little something to eat before falling asleep at a little after noon. I woke up at around 1:30, not very refreshed, and got ready for work, which I showed up about five minutes late to. I got a drawer, and things didn't start off very well. One of my first customers was a bunch of deaf people, so the communication factor became an issue. They specifically asked me for the "Ten Buck Tuesday" wristband by pointing to the sign, so I sold it to them. However, they wanted to play the redemption games, and seemed almost mad at me because I didn't know what they wanted. The lady couldn't read lips which would probably be on the top of my priority list if I were deaf, so I was reduced to writing some things out. Eventually the matter was settled and I continued on my work. Overall I did not like the shift, though there were some minor highlights, mainly due to the fact it was the Tuesday special. For one thing you have to spend more time per customer than normal because you have to explain it to them, and half the time they still don't understand, which is really frustrating. Since you spend more time per customer, it is much easier for a long line to form on you, and things are made much worse when you have people at redemption, followed by the phone ringing. Sure, that sounds like a worst case scenario right? It is, and it happened more than once during my shift. The last hour and a half or so could best be summed up with that situation since it was pretty constant. When my 6:00 relief came in it was a sight for sore eyes. I could not wait to get out of there, though things would have been much better had there been a second person there. At a little after 6:00 Jim cashed out my drawer, after taking care of a $10 refund for me. He counted my money and looked at the computer to find that I was $10 short. This was exactly what I did not want to happen, to be short when a manager cashed me out, and it surprised me because I could not think of a single instance that I had made a mistake, and figured I must have just made a mistake. So he started telling me that if the money didn't come up somewhere when they counted the safes, then I would get a write-up. However, when Jim went to the actual cash out screen, which had all my receipt totals and is used for the actual cashing out procedure, as opposed to just a page with my total cash on it (if you don't follow, don't worry about it, you won't be tested), the correct total was the cash I had in my drawer. The total I had was $1645.75, and that's what the cash out screen had me as, while the other was $1655.75. We realized that the latter page had not been refreshed since the refund was given at the end of my shift, so it still had that figured into it. That was a sigh of relief, and I left with a perfect drawer on my mind. I came home and my mom made some dinner, which I ate. After eating I watched some tv, while sitting online. After watching some of the Seinfeld episode I think I dozed off for about an hour or so. I woke up at about 9:30 and sat at the computer for the next couple of hours, while watching tv, which included one of my favorite episodes of The Simpsons. That is the Radioactive Man movie episode. "Up and at them!" I went to sit outside, and at around 11:30 Gabe showed up in my backyard, so we chatted for a little while. Paul and Angela showed up, because he had stopped by to give us our copies of the cabin drawing. They stuck around for about ten minutes, then went on their way, while Gabe and I continued discussing a variety of topics. Eventually at around 12:45 Gabe called it a night, and I came inside, where I watched some Conan, and then worked on the night's movie quote. That took about an hour, then I started writing the News. It's now almost 3:00, and I am about to finish it. October 23- Today I overslept yet again for my Philosophy class when I woke up to see my clock read 9:27. I could have driven to school and made it to the last forty five minutes of class, but I didn't really want to. I took advantage of the situation, even though it puts me behind in that class, and went back to sleep until about 10:15, at which point I dragged myself out of bed and got dressed. I was out the door by 10:30, and drove to class, which wasn't too bad since I didn't hit any traffic. I parked next to my class and sort of studied the thirteen steps a coach should take for the Sports Management class. Robert and AJ pulled up and parked next to me, and I chatted with them for a couple minutes before the teacher showed up and we went to class. He gave us the midterm which was basically just writing down the steps and leaving, so needless to say I finished it in no time, despite having only studied it for about five minutes. I hesitated to hand in my test, and waited for someone else to do so before I went up, and I was shortly followed by the Bustos brothers. From school I went over to Wendy's to get some lunch, and I drove home. I got to my house at around 11:45, and ate my food while sitting online. For the next few hours I sat at the computer, and occasionally tried to get some sleep, though I had a hard time. I played a little of the pinball game on my computer, and that was about all I accomplished for the day. At about 5:30 I shaved, and showered, before heading off to work at 6:00. I showed up to SpeedZone where it was really dead, though I was still happy that I didn't get a drawer, and instead the honor went to Nattisha. I walked the gameroom, which pretty much meant that I watched the Angel game when I could get the chance, talking to John at the bar, and whoever else was around. I talked to Taylor Hooks for a little bit and she had told me something that really made my day. She said she was overhearing a conversation in the back office between managers about how some cashiers only get about two days a week while I consistently get four or five. At first that sort of made me mad that I was singled out (by Jim), but then she said that McGee added that I got the days because I was one of the best cashiers, to which Jim agreed! The fact that my name was being mentioned behind my back in a positive light made me happy to say the least. At about 8:00 or so I helped out Taylor clean up Monte Carlo room because she said the group left a lot of food. It didn't take too long to actually clean up the dishes, glasses, and other miscellaneous articles, so I was able to get some of the food shortly afterward. However, I set it off to the side and went to work on Natissha's drawer while she got a chance to eat. When she was done I went back to the room and ate my plate, while Jesus and Taylor chatted. The food was pretty good and I made a small mess while trying to eat it. Oh well. When I was done I went back to work, struggling to find something to keep me busy. I walked the game room incessantly, though I rarely found anything to fix, and/or clean. I talked to John a lot, occasionally with Nattisha, and some more with Taylor. While I was organizing the SpeedZone Calendars I got a paper cut, which didn't bleed a lot, but did hurt. After coming out of the bathroom to wash it off I started talking to Robert Taylor for a little bit. We were joined by Bustos, and we covered quite a few topics like a t-shirt idea, and taking tests. Eventually we had to get back to work, and I spent the remainder of my shift walking around, and trying to look busy. At about 10:40 we took care of all the closing procedures, so when it came 11:00 there wasn't much to do. When Nattisha cashed out she ended up being $80 short, and I couldn't help but wonder if maybe I had done it by mistake since I helped out on her drawer. I can't think of any moments that I could have, but it's always possible. I was able to clock out by 11:07 since I was ready, and everything was done. I joined Gabe in the parking lot, who was bored, as well as Robert Bustos and Robert Taylor. We sat around for a couple minutes before Gabe, Taylor, and myself went to 7-11. I got a hot dog and a Slurpee which really hit the spot. We sat in the back of my truck covering an array of topics including South Park, SCTV, music, and smoking. The three of us were there until about 12:50, at which time we all left for home. I came home, signed online while looking for a good quote, and then decided to write the News. It's about 2:45 and I have an early class tomorrow. October 24- I woke up pretty late, and didnt start getting dressed until about 7:20, and was out the door just before 7:30. I got to school a little later than normal, which would have put getting a decent parking spot in jeopardy, except for the fact that today I was parking near the baseball field/ wildlife sanctuary for my later Bio class. Though I was the fourth car in the lot, I got the first spot which meant I would be able to get out in a hurry. I walked to my Religion class where I most likely failed the Confucianism/Taosim quiz. During the rest of the class we started discussing the first three chapters of Genesis in the Bible. At the end of class I got together with my group to discuss meeting for our project which is due next Tuesday. Since we have to go to a Buddhist temple, and the only time available is on Sundays we decided to meet at Starbucks by Mt. SAC at 10:30 (if somebody reads this that happens to be awake on Sunday morning, give me a call at 10:15. I should be on the road by that time, so if you wake me up, I'm running late!). I left class and as I was walking to the wildlife sanctuary for Bio 6 I saw Robert, though I wasn't positive it was him at first. But after examining the trademark walk I figured it was, though he ended up turning around so I didn't have to use my detective skills any longer. We got to the sanctuary where Craig Petersen was letting people in, and shortly after 9:30 he closed the gates and began the tour. I was sort of looking forward to the class because I've driven past the sanctuary many times and had never really seen what was inside of it. So we started walking around, and saw many different types of trees, plants, as well as some birds. Robert and I participated a couple times in the discussion, though we both had our share of wrong answers. In my opinion the class time really went by pretty quickly because it was pretty interesting to walk around in there, but before I knew it we were headed back to the gate. Once outside Robert and I walked to my car because I had agreed to drive him to his class, which was on the other end of campus. I drove him over to Building 12 fearing I would hit a lot of traffic, however to my surprise I hit very little. It may have been the route I took which was toward the back of the school (the back referring to the opposite side from Temple). I drove home without incident, and sat at the computer with absolutely nothing on my agenda for the evening. No work, no plans, nothing. Naturally I had succumb to my lack of sleep, and even took the time to get under the covers of my bed, which I rarely do when I take a nap. I fell asleep some time around 1:00, and didn't wake up until about 3:30, though I'm not quite sure since I really didn't have a reason to keep an eye on the clock. I watched tv while sitting at the computer for the next few hours, until at about 6:30 when I finally got dressed (which most of the time is different from getting dressed for school). I headed over to SpeedZone because I needed someone to take my shift on Sunday due to the previously stated group project. I rememebered that Taylor Hooks had shown interest the day before so I asked her and she took it. Though I took her 3-10 shift on the same day. I was figuring I'd lose six hours of work for the week, but instead I gained an hour, though at what cost? Oh well, I talked to Taylor for a couple minutes before heading outside to chat with Gabe for a couple minutes. As I was leaving Jenine showed me an old picture of me in the computer, which I think I like better than the one I have now, so next time I work I'm going to try making a new nametag for me. So I left, and it was about 7:10. I figured I hadn't watched the train roll into Fullerton in a while, so I took a drive down to the station. I listened to some Jimmy Eat World on the trip down, and got into the parking lot at about 7:30. I like going to the train station, it gives me a few minutes to just think, and be by myself because I know that I will never run into anyone while I'm there. Promptly at 7:42 the Eastbound Southwest Chief rolled into the station. I didn't feel like getting out of my car so I probably looked like some pervert just sitting there in a darkened parking lot, but I don't care. The train sat there for only a few moments, and pulled out on it's Eastward journey to Chicago at about 7:50. I sat there for about another ten minutes in the solitude of my '92 Ranger before finally heading home. I was hungry, but for some reason not completely starving despite not having eaten all day. On the way I stopped by Wienershnitzel (sp?) where I got a total of three chili dogs, a corn dog, large fries, and large Pepsi. The total of my meal came out to $7.50, and I came home to eat. I sat online eating my food, and watching a little tv. At 10:00 I started watching Modern Marvels about stealth technology on the History Channel, before leaving midway through it to go to SpeedZone again. Gabe had mentioned stopping by to do something after work, and since my evening was pretty much dead, I did. Gabe got out early so he was in the parking lot with Big Chris when I got there at about 10:45. Big Chris went to do his thing, so Gabe and I stuck around in the parking lot before going inside so I could see if the schedule was posted. It wasn't so we ended up playing pinball with a card I happened to have. We stuck around inside for a few minutes before going back outside to the parking lot. At about 11:15 Shay showed up, which was about the time that Gabe decided he felt like leaving. I told him I left in the middle of a great Modern Marvels to go there, but it had no effect on him. Seeing we weren't doing anything Big Chris left because he was hungry, so I decided to stay with Shay while he finished his last cigarette. It was about that time that Big Chris called me and told us to go to the Bustos residence since AJ was there by himself. So we went over there. Naturally Chris was eating when I got there. We didn't do a whole lot, but it was more than I would have done had I been at home. We started watching some tv, while Chris heated up another pizza in the oven, which was around the time that Shay left. So we sat in the kitchen to eat the pizza, which was really good. Eventually 1:00 rolled around and Little Chris showed up. At about 1:30 Robert showed up, though until Little Chris had called him a few minutes prior, we didn't know where he was, leading AJ to speculate he could have been face down in the pool for all he knew. We stuck around until about 2:00, when we all left, except Chris and I hung out in the front yard while he smoked a cigarette. I came home where I turned on the tv and noticed the very same Modern Marvels I had missed earlier was on again. I wanted to watch it, but at about the same spot I left at earlier, I fell asleep. I didn't wake up until about 5:45, which was about the time I heard my dad walk in my room to turn off my tv. I put my away message on my computer, crawled under the covers, and finished my night's rest. I wrote this update the next morning, and I must say I don't like the way it was written. It has way too many awkwardly worded sentences, not to mention those that are too short, and choppy. Oh well, maybe my next one will be better. October 25- After officially going to sleep at 5:45, I woke up at around 11:15, which is somewhat early for me on a day I have nothing to do in the morning. At around 11:30 my mom offered to make me an omelete since she was going to eat too, so I took her up on it. I'm not much of an omelete person but I liked that one as I watched the Wonder Years. When I was finished with that, I spent about the next hour or so writing the News for the day before, since I had fallen asleep before I could do it. I finished that at around 1:15 and spent the next few minutes just sitting at the computer and watching American Gladiators. At around 2:00 I headed over to SpeedZone because today was payday, and since I didn't work I had to make a special trip down there for it. I got my check, which was a pitiful $216, at a mere thirty-seven hours of work. But that's going to change for the next check. While I was there I picked up Taylor's Wednesday shift, which she had left a message on my machine asking if I could. So I took care of that, and as I was leaving I saw Gabe, who also went to pick up his check. So I went to the back office with him so he could get his money. When he was done he asked if I wanted to get something to eat, and I reluctantly agreed even though I wasn't really that hungry. But before that I stopped off at Washington Mutual so that I could deposit my check, which took me about fifteen minutes. I got to the mall at about 2:50 where I was meeting Gabe, and he was already waiting for me. Once there, I opted, as always, for a slice of pizza and a soda, while Gabe went for Hawaiian cuisine. We ate, chatting about various things, when at around 3:30 we saw Alfred, Paul, Little Chris, Robert, and Charles Chatong, who had all gone to see Jackass. They joined the conversation briefly before they decided to go eat at Taco Bell, which apparently is no longer a part of the food court. It's not like we're talking quantum physics here. So we all left, and I finally got the chance to see Little Chris' car. I must say that it looks nice, minus the sticker he has on the right window, but overall it's a bummer since we can no longer make fun of him. Oh well. That's about the time I went home, where I naturally sat online. It was starting to rain at about this time, and as I sat on the computer I looked outside my window to see the coveted cushions on the seats getting wet! So I ran outside and started moving them under shelter, when I noticed that one of them had a Black Widow hiding underneath it. I now know where they hide during the daytime, so I can get rid of them in the future. After I hid all the cushions, I went inside and got dressed. By the time I showered, and got dressed, it was about 4:45, and I finished just as Nick came to pick me up to go to Knott's. I figured since it was raining I would wear a baseball cap, and my "Pacific Trails" jacket, for lack of a better term. It handles rain a little better than others I have, so that's why I took it. I went with Nick to pick up Jeannine, but she was running late, so we waited in front of her house. While waiting, Smitty called me a couple times, and we told him that we were waiting. Jeannine showed up at about 5:15, and I took my spot in the backseat of the car for the ride to Smitty's apartment. We got there at about 5:30, and as Nick parked he inadvertantly put my back door next to a concrete slab connecting the street to the sidewalk, while Jeannine's was next to muddy grass. I couldn't help but point it out, which was sort of funny. We went to the apartment where Smitty and Elaine were waiting, and after only a couple of minutes, we were out the door and ready to leave. The driving situation was still unclear at this point, but it turns out that Nick ended up driving all five of us. Jeannine rode shotgun, while Smitty, Elaine, and myself sat in the back. The ride was a little awkward because I was the only person unaffiliated, but I tried to make the best of it. While on Harbor Nick was going to make a right onto La Habra and without thinking I asked him what he was doing. Though I never said not to turn, I'm sure it was implied, he stayed on Harbor. So we went to Imperial where we hit a lot of traffic. On the way there the conversation was pretty steady, though there were a couple of dead spots, but rehashing the old memories made for comforting topics. At about 6:20 we got to Knott's and parked. It was raining at this point, and though it wasn't a downpour, it was enough to get us wet. I paid Nick the $40 for the ticket and the five of us walked to the park. Walking was a little strange because I wasn't quite sure how far apart, or who I should walk next to, or whether I should walk next to anyone. I opted more for the latter, unless I was addressed directly. We went through the metal detector, and I really didn't have any trouble except for my keys, but it was merely a minor inconvenience. As we walked in and gave our tickets, I grabbed a map of the park, since I always like to be prepared. Once inside, we stood by the water tower, in the rain, waiting for Ben and Melissa to join us. There was a basketball game next to us, and I watched as two kids took shots, and they did rather poorly, not that I could do much better. However I was pretty impressed by the worker's that played because they made shots with the greatest of ease. The five of us stood there for a while, making conversation, noting how just about everybody in a hooded sweatshirt looked like Ben in my opinion. This was about the time I started messing with the zippered neck of my jacket, something I did for about the first two hours of being there. Finally at about 6:45 Nick called him, or at least Melissa's phone, and found out that they were running late. So we decided to start without them, and begun by finding a locker for Nick and Jeanine. It took about ten minutes or so, and when they were done we decided to go to Supreme Scream because that has been traditionally the first ride we get on. On the way there Nick stopped to buy a pretzel, and from there we came across a maze, an Alien one, so since there was no line we decided to go through it. It was pretty good, though when we got out of it my equilibrium was thrown for a loop since there were some spinning rooms, and strobe lights. Now a little disoriented, we decided to head over to Supreme Scream. The walk to that was a little awkward again, which was sort of an recurring theme just about everywhere we walked. At Supreme Scream we waited in line, and Nick tried reliving the old "the park's closing at 10" routine, but nobody was having it. Not like the last time. The line was surprisingly long, considering it had been raining, though by this time it had stopped, and overall things were pretty dead. When we got up to the front I was first, and when they asked how many were in our group, I felt a little weird saying five. So they directed us to the dots to stand on, and I immediately tried to figure out the least uncomfortable seating arrangement. There were two spots: one with two seats, and one with four. So when we were allowed on I figured I would sit in one of the four, so that each couple could sit together, while I wasn't forced to being alone. So I ended up sitting with Nick and Jeannine, while Smitty and Elaine took the other side. The guy forced me to leave my cap on the ground before we went up, and were dropped back down. Like always, it was a good ride, and the view was great. After getting off of that, and watching Smitty get dressed all over again, since he feels the need to take just about everything off before going on, we headed over to the Log Ride. Lines were another awkward moment, and it was very similar to the walking situation, so I'll leave it to the reader to assume that at most every line. While in line Smitty bought a Pixie Stick, which was another recurring theme of the night. While in line I took the opportunity to to start bringing up movie quotes, namely from Ghostbusters and Speed to name a couple, sort of in the spirit of Ben since he wasn't there yet. When we got to the front, and we had five again, it would again be an awkward seating arrangement. The front of the log seats two, while the back seats three (technically, though practically it's a tight fit), so that meant I had to sit with one of the couples. As it turns out I sat in the very back with Nick and Jeannine, while Smitty and Elaine took the front. Needless to say I got to know Nick a little more than I would have liked to in that tiny space, with very little leg room. We got through the ride, which had some people in it to scare us, and we got out. Once we were done with that we decided to head over to Boomerang, a ride that I don't think we had gone on in the two years I went prior. We waited in line, which wasn't too long, though the park was livening up since the rain had stopped. At one point somebody said the word "peanut" and that reminded me of two peanut jokes I had heard. So as I was telling them a couple guys cut in front of us. I thought the jokes were hilarious, and still do, though they went unappreciated with the crowd, and have yet to elicit a decent response from all my audiences thus far. As we waited Nick kept saying things about the guy that cut in front of us. Just as we were about to get on the ride Ben called Nick and said they were at the park, and were waitng for us at the exit. As we got on the ride, I was by myself, until some Asian guy joined me. I didn't mind at all. The ride was good as always. When we got off the ride I talked to Ben, and met Melissa, whom I had read about in Ben's journal. Nick and Jeannine were hungry, so they went to eat at a place called "Eat". The line was long for food, and they were the only ones eating, so in the midst of discussing movie quotes, and online journals with Ben, Nick called me over and told me that since they were the only two eating that we could all go get on something and they would catch up with us. I'm not quite sure why, but throughout the night that was another recurring theme, asking me for approval of things. Like "Mike, let's go on this" or "Mike, where are we going?" and things of that nature. So we decided to head over to the Clown Maze, which Ben had fond memories of from our last trip. Though the line was long, it went pretty quickly, which the mazes were pretty good at. When I was in line I got a call from Dennis, and I talked with him for a minute or so before continuing with my evening. The maze was pretty good, and I pretty much stayed at the back of our group for most of them. I found that to be the least uncomfortable spot in our line. Ben was a little disappointed that he didn't see the chainsaw wielding guy that got him the last time. When we got out of that maze it put us in an arcade, and after seeing Big Haul, I immediately thought of SpeedZone. After that Ben was itching to get on Bigfoot, as was I since it was tradition, so we walked over to see if it was open, and to check out a maze based on horror movies. While walking there I saw the theater where there was a show starrind Ed Alonzo. I knew I had heard that name somewhere, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Well, Bigfoot was open, but we opted to go into the maze first, and as we were in line I got the chance to tell Melissa about the "time we almost died". Just as I finished the story, with the aid of Smitty and Ben, we went inside the maze. It was pretty interesting to see the movie references, including a room based on Seven. When we were done with that we decided to get on Bigfoot Rapids. As we waited in line I tried calling Nick to find out where he was at, but I guess in the wilderness I couldn't get any service. So the five of us got on, after waiting for a few minutes in line, and I was ready. I figured I would get wet, but I counted on this being my year of that not happening. I was wrong. I would say that I got wet the most of everybody in the boat, but I didn't mind since that's part of the fun of going to Knott's. When we got off the ride, Nick and Jeannine were waiting for us, so we got back in line for another shot. Now there were seven of us, and the boat seats six. It was decided in line that four would go in one boat, and three of us would go into the other. I went with Ben and Melissa, and we all took separate seats, because Ben wanted to be able to maneuver from the potential splashes. I was already wet so I had no plans of moving and I embraced the fact that I am cursed on that ride. Needless to say I got wet, and as Ben put it, I was "talking like a sailor". I was wet, and uncomfortable, but like I said, I didn't mind since it's part of the fun. When we got off of that ride we decided to go to the nearest maze, which was called "Blood Bayou". In line I made a comment that Ben reminds me of Louis Stevens from Even Stevens, and everybody that had seen the show agreed. It was pretty funny. While in line, Smitty bought some more candy, which he had done before since the Log Ride. The actual maze wasn't one of the more scary ones, but it was still fun to walk through. I laid low in the back, and the guy behind me kept trying to go around me for some reason. When we were done with that maze we decided to try out Ghostrider which was at about 11:30, but the line was extremely long, so we decided to instead go to Camp Snoopy. Throughout the night thus far, one of the more non-awkwardness recurring themes was the reciting of movie quotes, mainly with Ben, though Nick joined in, and even occasionally Smitty. All throughout the night I had to walk a tightrope of giving the couple's their space while at the same time trying to have a good time. When at Camp Snoopy we went into a maze in there. Smitty and Elaine always went first and this time they told me to, so I did. There were a couple times that I jumped as the result of someone scaring me, and that was pretty fun. Once we finished that, we headed over to the smaller rides, which was around the time I got a call from Gabe and I talked with him for a minute or so. There was a slight disagreement on which to go on, and we ended up going on the swings. Those were fun, but since I was still wet from riding Bigfoot, that combined with being swung around in the cold air induced hypothermia, but I managed to get through it. We sat down for about five minutes before getting in line for another maze. Since the line went through a walkway the workers occasionally stoppe the line to let people through, which split the group in two temporarily. However it gave Ben an opportunity to use a Speed quote which was pretty funny. "What about the rest of us?". In line, Smitty bought yet another candy, which made me wonder if he was stoned or something. As we walked through the maze I was last, and the woman behind me was really getting scared by everything, and a couple times she even grabbed my arm. She apologized, but I didn't really care that she did it, and I continued on my way. Once we finished that maze we went to see how the line was for the Mine Ride, but it was really long, so we decided instead to head over to the Kingdom of the Dinosaurs. Ben was sliding around on the wet ground, which was pretty interesting to watch, and he eventually settled down once we were in line. That's when the fun began. Ben and I started talking about movie quotes, and I feel a little bad for Melissa because I started talking to Ben for at least half an hour, just about movie quotes, with only brief intermissions while they spoke. We covered a few movies in depth like Go, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, though I had the most fun reciting quotes from Jaws. We went back and fourth like an old Vaudeville routine, and it was pretty fun. Also while in line I had an epiphany. It hit me: I remembered who Ed Alonzo was. He was none other than Max from Saved By The Bell in the early episodes! I wanted to see the show for that purpose after that, but we were in line for quite some time, and the last show started at 1:00, and it was about 12:55 when I realized who he was. So we got on Kingdom of the Dinosaurs, which wasn't changed to be scary, but was still a nice, relaxing ride. When we got off the ride I got a call from Gabe asking me how tall Conan O'Brien was, and my guess was that he was 6'4", though I wasn't positive. While we were in the store that the line dumps you off in, pretty much everybody bought some candy except for me, though I was starting to get hungry, but that's not really important. It was now about 1:30 and we figured we had to end with tradition and headed over to Bigfoot for one last ride for the year. Ben and Melissa were more than happy to go on, while Nick sort of had to convince Jeannine to get on, but she did, though she held both Nick and I responsible if she got wet. Smitty and Elaine opted to sit out for the last ride. The line was not too long for obvious reasons, and we all piled into the boat. Things started out pretty much the same as the other rides, and I got wet yet again. There were about three instances that I got wet, pretty much all on my right side, and I was one of the worst in the boat as far as getting wet was concerned. At the last wave Jeannine got splashed, so it's probably a toss up for who got most wet. Ben stayed dry again, as he was the entire night. When we got off of the ride it was about closing time, and they roped off Bigfoot so we started walking out. The entire walk back was no exception to the theme I mentioned earlier, though Ben started spouting out some quotes from time to time making it alright. We got to the car with no trouble, and we parted ways with Ben and Melissa, though we would shortly meet up with them. Nick's car took a while to defrost the windows, but after about five minutes we drove to the far corner of the lot to find Melissa's car, since Ben doesn't drive. When we found it Nick and Ben exchanged CD's, we said our goodbyes and were on our way home. Nick had a little trouble finding the best route home, and went to La Palma with the idea of turning onto Beach, but due to the traffic he decided to continue on La Palma, and make a U-turn so he could make a left onto Beach instead, hoping there would be less traffic. It turns out the traffic was more, so he instead stayed on La Palma and drove down to Harbor. Conversation was to a minimal on the car ride home because it seemed like everyone was tired. It looked like Smitty and Jeannine fell asleep, and pretty much the ride home was quiet. Nick drifted to the edge of the lane a couple times which kind of concerned me, but I think he's just a bad driver (I'm kidding Nick). It didn't take long to get back to our area, and Nick dropped off Smitty and Elaine at his apartment. Then Nick dropped me off at about 3:10, and I came inside the house where I signed online. I looked up on the Internet Movie Database both Ed Alonzo, and Conan O'Brien. I was right on both: Ed Alonzo was Max, and Conan was 6'4". I briefly talked to Gabe before calling it a night. I put my away message on and fell asleep from an interesting evening at about 4:00. Overall, despite the awkwardness I felt in just about every action I made, and every comment I made, it surprisingly did not detract from the overall fun I had on the evening. October 26/27- On Saturday I woke up at around noon, and spent the first hour or so sitting at the computer. I would occasionally talk to my dad about the USC game on tv, while trying to find something to eat, and ended up settling for a couple bowls of Corn Flakes. I put a little too much milk in the second, and was thus forced to dump about that last third of it. At about 2:00 I sat down and started writing the News for the evening before, which was somewhat of a challenge. That took quite a while, as I watched tv, and occasionally listened to some music, which served as distractions as I wrote. I continued to update the News and wasn't finished until about 5:30, so I had to sort of rush to get showered and dressed. Despite running a little late, I actually managed to get to work a minute or so early. My 6:00 shift started with me at redemption, where things weren't too bad, though even a couple customers is enough to ruin your day. I was there for the first hour of my shift, until the 7:00 workers showed up and they sort of took over the duties. I wandered around for short while, covering where I was needed whether it be at redemption or the games, before David gave me a drawer. We were a little short staffed, so I sort of anticipated having to do more work than normal. I went on drawer, and fortunetely the evening was pretty slow and the line never really got too long. When things were slow I would help out at redemption, or just sort of stand around. The slowness didn't last for too long, and even though it wasn't extremely crowded, I was kept pretty busy. At around 9:00 Jenine wanted to go on break, so she moved her drawer from redemption to operatoins, and I did the opposite. While at redemption side I was sort of busy, though there were plenty of dead periods at the same time. I often would look over to operations and see a line, and rather than call people over, I would let them wait. Daylo went on break at around 10:00 which meant that I was in charge of both my register and the games. At about 10:40 we were pretty busy, and I mentioned to David that it would be best if I took my break then because Brian would be leaving at 11:00 so we would have an extra person to cover for me. Things were kind of hectic at the time so he told me just to take a fifteen minute break, without clocking out, and I did not object. I ordered some chicken fingers, and ate them in a hurry in the breakroom. I was finished with my break at about 10:55 and I went back to my drawer, which surprisingly had no crowd. There were a few people at redemption so I really didn't have to worry about it, so my efforts were concentrated on my register. At about 11:45 Jenine cashed out, and she was the only other cashier besides me, so I was on my own for the last hour and fifteen minutes. That's when the fun began. I knew that I had to get through the customers as quickly as possible because though at the moment the line was short, any hesitation would get me in trouble. I'm glad I took that approach, because despite talking as quickly as I could, and getting through the customers, I still had a constant line, but it never grew to a worrisome length. I maintained a feverish pace for at least half an hour, and it never let up at all during that time. When I thought I had reached the end of the line, somebody else would walk up. I was pretty tired after all of that, so the last half hour sort of dragged on. When closing time came around Daylo wanted to be done within ten minutes, but it just wasn't going to happen. Jenine had been sent home early, and we didn't even realize it, while Marisa, who also was closing, was nowhere to be found for most of the time. We disappointed a lot of people at redemption, but I didn't care. We took care of what needed to be done, though it took longer than expected and I clocked out at about 1:17. As I walked out I saw Shay and Gabe driving out of the parking lot. Thanks for waiting. A little peeved, I sat and talked with Daylo for a couple minutes before heading over to Robert's house. When I showed up, nobody was there, so I called up Little Chris to find out where everyone was at, and he informed me at his house. So I went there, where Gabe, Ricardo, Shay, AJ, Big Chris, and Little Chris were watching Pet Sematery 2. The movie seemed to be pretty stupid, so we watched the infamous Broken Notes video. The video I did not get to be a part of because of my civic duty as an American: jury duty. But I digress, that was an experience of my life not covered by the News of the Day. The video was entertaining, and was good for what it was. When that was over, Little Chris wanted to watch Blood In Blood Out, which was some cholo movie he can't stop talking about. Rather than watch it, I started playing some pool by myself, and saw just how rusty at the game I am (not to say that I was any good). When I finished playing against myself, I got kind of bored so I decided to watch the movie. Needless to say it was on par with Pet Sematery 2. I couldn't take much more of it and I left, with Ricardo, at about 3:30, or 2:30 depending on whether or not you set your clocks back yet. When I got home I checked a couple things online before calling it a night at around 4:00, or 5:00. Today, I woke up at about 9:00, but didn't get dressed until about 9:45, which was by design. I'm not usually up that early on any day without a reason, and today's was a group project. So I drove over to the Starbucks by Mt. SAC (I guess nobody read the News the other day because I never got a call) where I met up with the rest of my group. I had gotten there at about 10:20, and the final of three people got there by 10:35. My group members' names are Javier, Elise, and Usma. Javier ended up driving, so we went to the Hsi Lai Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights since the project was for my Religion class. We got there at about 10:45, and had a little trouble finding parking. The four of us walked up to the temple a little apprehensive, and not quite sure where to go or what to do. Luckily we found a guy in our class that was going for the same reason, and he spoke some Chinese which helped us out. It turns out that we missed the English ceremony, so we went to one in Chinese. We went to the main hall where the session had already begun, and we took a seat off to the side. I must say, all the monks, and workers were pretty helpful. We got into the hall at about 11:00 and caught them in the middle of chanting, which I assumed would have lasted for a few minutes. I was wrong. The chanting stopped at around noon! It was a little boring as I tried to take some notes for the class. When the chanting finished, the monk spoke for about twenty minutes about suffering, and that was the conclusion of the ceremony. When we finished with that, we found a monk girl to talk to, which was part of our assignment, and we talked to her for a few minutes which was pretty interesting. She told us that we could go get some food, since by going to the service, you get a meal, and we were even given a ticket as we walked out the door a couple minutes prior. We reluctantly agreed, partly because the guy from our class that spoke Chinese, Steve (who is a white guy by the way), mentioned it was part of the experience. I ate some noodles and sort of imitation beef, both of which were pretty good. We spent a little bit more time eating than I had wanted, considering I worked at 3:00, and we didn't leave there until about 1:10 or so. On the drive home I learned that my group member, Elise, dated the brother of Christina Reed, Big Chris' ex-girlfriend. Earlier while I was talking to Javier, I discovered he knew some SpeedZone people like Daniel Guzman, Taylor, and Theresea. It was just kind of weird seeing the whole "six degrees of separation" concept in action, especially twice in one day. We got to the Starbucks at about 1:45, and I drove home. Without school traffic I got home in no time, which was about fifteen minutes. When I got home I ate some Jack In The Box that my parents had bought for me thinking that I was still asleep at home, and then signed online for about half an hour. At about 2:30 I got ready for work and was out the door by 2:50. When I got to Batson I made a U-turn because I realized I had forgotten my phone, which cost me about three or four minutes. I ended up clocking in to work about five minutes late. When I got there I was given a drawer, and was in a bad mood because I downright loathe Sundays. I started out working at operations side and just about every customer bothered me in some fashion, whether it be their indecisiveness, inability to speak English, or the fact that they wait until after I tell them the price to look for their wallet. Luckily it wasn't very busy because I think I would have hurt someone, since it was bad enough that I know I wasn't very nice, and/or patient with a vast majority of the customers. At about 3:30, like I expected, Phillip gave me the keys and radio to watch the gameroom, though I stayed on my drawer to help out Taylor since the line had gotten sort of long. Eventually i had to focus my attention on the gameroom because the Sunday crowd just can't seem to have a good time without breaking things. Stuck cards, tickets won't come out, the puck wouldn't come out, and games taking money were just a couple problems I dealt with. Each passing moment I grew angrier and angrier towards the mob, and I was unhappy to say the least. I helped out at redemption because they needed it, and pretty much abandoned my drawer for a couple hours as I sort of took over gameroom duties when Phillip left for good. At about 6:00 things sort of died down which was a great relief, though Brian, who was supposed to come in at 6:00, called in sick so David asked if I could close, and I agreed. At about 7:30, Jenine, who was at the redemption side register asked to go on break, so like the day before, I moved my drawer over as well, and took on double duties. I was doing the games, and worked my register, though I left the latter to others to use, and concentrated mostly on the games. It wasn't until about 8:15 that I decided to go on break too, so David told me to just leave the drawer open so it could be used while I was gone, and I did. I ordered some fries and watched the final inning of the Angels game in the breakroom with some of the security, and track guys. I saw them win the World Series before heading back to work, where I did not feel like being at all. Things were really dragging and I hated each and ever customer that came up to my drawer. I helped out in the gameroom, and gave up my duties at the register to Christina, who was the only closer. So for the last hour and half or so it was just her and I, but it wasn't busy so things weren't too bad. Things were so slow that we spent a few minutes trying to open some diary from redemption (which I figured out how to open within about twenty seconds), and talk about things like Jackass. Mike Khieu, and Chris Lem were even inside talking with us because it was pretty dead. In fact, David even took the liberty of cashing out my drawer at 10:45, without Jim's knowledge and thus risking a write-up for himself. I was $.40 over, but there were a few different people that used my drawer so that could have been the cause. Once I was cashed out I drove home where I started watching tv while sitting online, as usual. I spent a while updating the News, and watching In The Line of Fire on tv, among other things. It's now about 2:15 and I am going to try and get some sleep after updating the movie quote. |