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| News of the Day Archive- October 7-12 |
| October 7- Today I woke up and got dressed at around 8:45, and then looked for some tennis balls in my garage. I found two, and took a raquetball for my lesson in Sports Management since I had to teach the class how to juggle. I also poured myself a cup of coffee that my mom had left percolating for me. As I was walking out the door the coffee tipped and I spilled it all over my arm, and the left side of my t-shirt. I was running a little late so I couldn't change, and simply had to dry myself off and get on the road. I parked, and got to class on time after an uneventful trip to school. In Philosophy class we basically had a review for our test on Wednesday so things were pretty simple, and we were able to get out of class about ten minutes early. I walked to class where I ran into Nick and chatted with him for a few minutes until we both had to part ways. I went to Sports Management where the teacher had me go first to present to the class my lesson plan. I used the tennis balls he had taken and demonstrated as simply as possible how to juggle three balls. A couple of people from the class came up and tried to juggle, and they had mild success, however there wasn't enough time to let them keep going since there were some other people that had to teach. I was followed by a guy teaching the class how to put on a water polo cap. Robert tried to follow the instructions, but was having trouble with some of the rings that the strap had to go through in order to tighten the cap. He was the last of the four or five people to figure it out, even after some diagrams were drawn. It was pretty funny to watch him struggle. There was a short lesson on proper breathing techniques, and then we were let out of class at about 11:30. I drove home and sat online for a little while, eating a tv dinner, just waiting for the time that I had to go to work. That's pretty much all I did until about 1:30 when I got ready for work, and showed up to SpeedZone at 2:00. When I got there I was given a drawer and a couple of tasks from Wendy, which I welcomed since it gave me something to do. The first was to put some shot glasses in one of the drawers which unfortunetely did not take much time. The next was putting some mugs on a shelf and that took a little longer, and before I knew it about half an hour was gone. The next task was to put a bunch of redemption price tags in numerical order. I was sure to take my time doing that, helping out the occasional customer while putting the tags in order. About an hour or so later I was finally finished putting them all in order and had nothing to do. So I just stood around for the next hour, occasionally walking the gameroom, and helping out customers. At about 4:50ish David gave me some bags that needed to be filled out for the bank. Each bag had to have "Speed Zone, 034, 17871 Castleton St. City of Industry, CA 91748" printed on them. During my last hour of work that's about all I did and I managed to get through about thirty or so, but there were plenty more where that came from. At a little after 6:00 I was cashed out by David and I stuck around talking to Paul and Cody, who seemed to be really busy. For about the next hour, off the clock at this point, I talked to Paul, Cody, and Taylor Hooks pretty much the entire time. We were standing outside by Slick Track in front of one of the rooms watching part of the group that was supposed to be in there. It was In-N-Out and we were talking about them, making jokes and carrying on. The conversation moved inside, before back out by the tracks, all the while there weren't any customers. At a little after 7:00 I decided it was time for me to go home, where my mom made dinner. I ate since I was pretty hungry, having only eaten the tv dinner earlier, and watched some tv while sitting online. That's pretty much all I did for the next few hours until about 10:00 when Little Chris and Shay showed up to sit in my backyard. I was kind of tired so I was probably a little grumpy in the backyard tonight. Eventually Steve, Gabe, Big Chris, and Paul showed up, where the conversation varied from the usual SpeedZone, to school lunches, to farting and defecation. We were back there for a few hours until about 1:15 when everybody decided it was time to leave. I came inside and looked for some things to eat, and managed to find a couple things to hold me over for the night. It is now about 2:35 and I have an early class so I should really get some sleep. October 8- I woke up late today, at about 7:15, so I got dressed pretty quickly and was out the door by 7:25. By the time I got to the parking lot at school I had to park in a different row than normal, but still had a decent spot. I went to my Religion class where the teacher was running about ten minutes late, and when he got there we listened to a guest speaker on Sikhism. His name was Captain Singh and he talked for about forty-five minutes, so I just kind of tuned him out and wrote out some things to keep myself busy. When class ended I went and waited in front of Bio 6 until we were allowed into the class. We got our tests back and I got a 79 out of 100 despite not studying, or reading the material, while Robert got an 86 after putting some more effort into his studying. For the next hour and a half we discussed overpopulation, including how the United States is the most overpopulated in terms of consumption than any other country on the planet. Interesting stuff. Class let out and I went on my way, getting home at about 11:30 where I signed online and caught up on reading the journals that were updated. At about 12:15 my mom heated up a Digorno pizza, and it was really good. I was pretty tired and fell asleep at around 1:00, not waking up until about 4:30 to Saved By the Bell. I watched that, and sat online for some time before getting dressed at about 5:30 for work. I tried to clock in for work as late as possible so that Daylo, who was working also, could get the drawer since I downright loathe working Tuesdays. Daylo wasn't there so I had to take the drawer and for about the first half hour things weren't too bad by myself, though it seemed like everytime I had a customer the phone would ring. That got a little old and I was thinking that Daylo forgot about his shift, however he did eventually show up. As far as work was concerned I had to explain to just about every customer the "Ten Buck Tuesday" concept which got really old, really fast. It's bad enough explaining to them how the cards work, let alone the exception to the rule. There was some Mexican guy that I tried explaining the situation to, then found him later in the gameroom playing games, so I had to tell him he couldn't without a wristband, and afterwards he tried talking to me about how he didn't understand (in broken english of course) and shook my hand for some reason. Occasionally I had a long line, but I was able to clear it within a few minutes, but it wasn't always easy since I had to explain the situation to just about everybody. Every once in a while I would walk the gameroom and occasionally have to tell people that they either had to leave or buy a wristband, which never got me into any confrontations. Daylo however said that everybody he kicked out gave him grief, and I think it has something to do with our slightly different approaches to the customer. At some time during the night I told a couple guys that they needed to buy the wristband for the gameroom in order to buy the Turbo Track wristband, which came directly from the managers. While I was helping out the next customer telling them the same thing, they came back saying that they asked Jenine and she told them they could buy Turbo Track separately, which used to be true, however had since been revised. So naturally they wanted to talk to a manager so I called Jim assuming he would tell them the same thing, which he should have. He came out, and talked to them, the end result being that I could sell them the Turbo Track wristband separate. It's always nice to see managers back up their employees like that. It was sort of a small thing, but I still would have liked him to back me up especially since they had specifically changed it only a couple hours prior. Overall I didn't like the customers that were there tonight, just like I don't like the Sunday customers. At around 9:15 or so I called up Gabe in tower because Shay wanted to know about the Finch/Sugarcult show in Irvine the next day. When I called him I guess I interrupted Taylor telling him something about her group, but I didn't have a line at the time so I wasn't really inconvenienced. That's pretty much all that happened at work, and 11:00 eventually rolled around and I cashed out my drawer, which was back to being perfect. Daylo and I cleaned up pretty quickly as we usually do and were done with everything by about 11:15 or so. We went out and sat on my truck waiting for Gabe, and at about 11:30 Paul showed up listening to some Saved By The Bell songs on a CD. We chatted a few minutes before all the outside workers finally got out, including Gabe who said he had to clean the rooms that groups had used. I was in the clear because nobody told me a thing about cleaning any rooms. From there I went to Tommy's, followed by Gabe and Paul, and went to my house where the three of us sat in the backyard. My Tommy's #2 combo with chili-cheese fries was delicious. We sat in the backyard just discussing the various topics that we usually cover, including SpeedZone which seems to be the topic of choice everyday. At about 1:30 they left and I came inside my house to watch some tv and write the News. October 9- I woke up at about 8:50 and got dressed pretty quickly, and was out the door by about 9:00. My trip to school was going fine, and I was even ahead of schedule somehow until I got to Grand by Valley Blvd. where construction cost me those precious minutes that I had made during my trip. I got to my Philosophy class where we took a test, and overall it didn't seem too bad, though I think the first was a little easier. I was done by about 10:05, so I decided that I wasn't going to wait around for an hour to go to my Sports Management class, especially since the Bustos brothers wouldn't be there either. On the way home I stopped by Burger King and got some breakfast to take home. Once at home I sat at the computer eating my breakfast, and trying to make some adjustments to the web page. I started watching some tv and that's about all I did until about 1:45 when I took a shower, and actually got dressed (unlike getting dressed for school). I headed over to SpeedZone to talk to Rachel in Human Resources to ask her about my eight days in a row. She explained to me how it meant during essentially the pay period, and I understood that. However, that is what the manual INTENDED to say, but it is not what it says, and there is a difference, so I think a phone call to corporate might need to be in order. For the record I hold nothing against Rachel and instead place the blame soley on the poorly worded manual. From "the Zone" I went to the bank and got a little cash since I was pretty low on funds, and came back home. I got home at about 2:45 and read Dennis' journal, which apparently is only going to be rarely updated, and then headed over to Sean's house at 3:15. We were meeting up to see Finch and Sugarcult at Irvine Spectrum for free. After I got there Sean, Steve, Gabe, and Ricardo started putting their demos into envelopes along with flyers for their upcoming show to pass out in Irvine. While they did this I learned that just about everybody only wanted to see Finch, and I was the only one that wanted to see both. At about 3:40 Steve, Gabe, and myself piled into Little Chris' car, while Sean rode with Ricardo. After realizing that neither of them in the other car had a cell phone, I passed Steve's phone to Sean while on the road in a rather smooth fashion I must say. The ride to Irvine was pretty smooth, and we hit virtually no traffic which was a complete surprise to me, especially on the 5. We got off of the freeway at 4:20, which Gabe was quick to point out, and after finding a parking spot in lot G, we walked over to the corner where all the action was taking place. Once inside the gated area, the four Nutwood members were quick to start handing out their demos, and flyers. Little Chris and I just sort of stood around looking at all the people there, noting how we really didn't fit in too well with the crowd. For one thing, I wasn't wearing any black. We waited until 5:00 when Finch started playing, and shortly into the first song, Letters to You, I got a phone call from Dennis. I talked to him through the first song or two, and let him hear the music, as well as Tom, and then my attention went back to Finch. We were pretty far back but it was still a good show, since I had been waiting to see them for a while. At around 5:45 they ended and Sugarcult would be going on next. Without a doubt I wanted to stay. Ricardo and Sean had said before we even left that they planned on leaving right after Finch, but they were in their own car. Little Chris said that whatever the majority wanted in his car, he would do that. So that left the decision to Gabe, Steve, and myself. I made it clear that I wanted stay. However when Gabe said that he was willing to leave I knew that I didn't have a shot at staying since I knew Steve would want to leave, and he did. They did say they were willing to stay, but I could tell they wanted to leave, and I didn't want to be the only reason for all of us staying so I conceded defeat, regretfully. Disappointed to say the least we walked back to the car and drove home. On the 5 we hit a lot of traffic until around Santa Ana where it started to clear up in the carpool lane. There wasn't much conversation in the car, but I didn't mind since I didn't feel much like talking anyway. In retrospect I probably should have just been selfish and had everyone stay, but I guess that's just not me. We got back in Rowland Heights at about 7:00. I didn't feel much like hanging out so I just went home, and I think everybody else did anyway so it didn't much matter. I came home, and after making a phone call to my dad, got some Del Taco for dinner. We ate at about 7:45 and I briefly chatted with my parents before coming to my room and sitting online. Probably at around 8:30 or so I must have fallen asleep, and didn't wake up until about 10:30. Once I was awake I started working on the Movie Quote Page for the site. While I was doing that there was a little activity on the message board, and for a moment it seemed like the days of old. I flexed a little of my powers on the board just for the sake of doing so, while continuing to work on the site. I worked on that until about 1:45, which was about the time I started writing the News. It's now about 2:45 and I should be getting to bed, I have an early class tomorrow. October 10/11- I woke up at about 7:10, which is later than I would like to when I have an 8:00 class, and got dressed, heading out the door at about 7:25. I drove to school, and it was a little foggy, though yesterday was a little worse. When I got there it was around 7:50 and the parking lot was filling up. After sitting in the car for a couple of minutes I walked with Robert part of the way to class before heading to Major World Religions, where we started discussing Taoism and sort of going over the test. I got a 34 out of 50, which isn't very good, though I did get a couple extra credit to bump me to about a 37. Class let out a little early, at around 9:00, so I walked over to my Bio class where I didn't see very many people from my class. So I decided I would kill some time by walking over to the vending machines by building 9, but they didn't have what I wanted. So I walked to another vending machine where they didn't have what I wanted there either. Since the purpose of my walking was to just kill time, and I had done that, I bought a bag of Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar since it didn't really matter what I bought from the machine. By this time it was about 9:15 and I headed back to class where I only had to stand there a couple minutes before being joined by Robert, then a couple more before being let in class. Robert and I took our seats in the "F" row as Petersen so fondly refers to it, and left some seats open in the front. Petersen made note of that and gave us all a quiz, but not before telling us that we should read the test first, and stressing following directions. He handed out the quiz and had us write the new Ecologic principle given to us on Tuesday, so since I didn't know it I settled on my favorite "man is stupid". We then got to take the actual quiz, and the first question wasn't too bad, but I could sense that it would be ten questions dealing with numbers and statistics. So I decided to heed Craig's advice and skimmed down the page where I noticed something, something very important at the bottom of the page. Upside down in small font were the answers to ALL of the questions! So I carefully read the questions, then the answer, and double checked it to make sure that I put down the right answers since that would just be embarassing to miss one after having the answers. Craig Petersen was walking around the classroom and when he got by me I made it obvious that I was looking at the answers, and he noticed, tapping me on the shoulder and grinning at me. I was the first person done and I handed my test and as I sat back down at my chair Mr. Petersen made a gesture about the principle that I didn't know. Oh well, at least I got the questions right. As people took their tests up to turn in he was asking people how many they got, and the answers varied from 0 to 7, only a few saying they got all 10. When Robert handed in his test he started laughing quietly, as was I, so I assumed that he noticed the answers too. After everyone finished Craig took a survey of everybody and how many questions they think they got right, and only about six of us thought we got them all. That's when the secret, which wasn't much of one, was revealed and Robert asked me why I didn't tell him? At which point I wonder, what was he laughing at then? The rest of the class was spent discussing overpopulation again, and the dire situation that we face. Class ended at it's normal time, 11:00, so I went to my car and drove home. When I got home I sat at the computer, and watched a little tv as usual, and didn't accomplish very much for the ensuing hours. At about 1:00 Paul inquired about going to Black Angus at around 3:00, which sounded good so I agreed. Shortly after that I started playing some SimCity 3000 and continued running my city from the last time I played. I, as Mayor Anaya I was able to get my population up to about 50,000, and accumulate only about $30,000. Not too bad after 50 or so years, so I'll keep working on it from time to time until everything starts to deteriorate. At about 2:45 I stopped playing and took a shower before signing back online at a little after 3:00. I saw Nick online and asked if he wanted to go with us to Black Angus, but he had to go to Coin Star first. So at about 3:30 Nick and I drove over to Albertson's, which was the only place that we knew had Coin Star, and proceeded with the "trash" jokes. Once at the machine Nick started pouring the small cup of coins, and I figured there wouldn't be more than ten dollars, but to my surprise there was slightly over $35 in it. We got Nick's money, then drove over to Black Angus where we met up with Paul and Ricardo at about 4:00, and went inside to get some food. It was pretty dead, and Alfred did a whole lot of nothing while we were there. Since appetizers were half off, that�s what we all got, and I was the only person that got the Wagon Wheel Sampler, which was good, as usual. Everyone else got a new sampler platter, but I can�t recall the name of it. We sat there, talking about the usual things including Disney Channel shows, and baseball, among a slew of other topics. Big Chris eventually showed up, and joined in the conversation . At about 5:45 we decided to head over to Best Buy to check out some things, so we all piled into Nick�s car and drove past Jim�s Crab Shack on our way there. Once there we wandered over the DVD�s and spent some time there, just taking in all that were there, which was about the time I started feeling like I wanted to buy something. So I made my way to the CD�s and browsed there for a while, debating whether or not I should buy Finch since I only had a burned copy, or Ignite for the same reason, or try to find something I didn�t already have. After a while of looking at just about everything I ended up not getting anything, however Paul and Ricardo bought a couple things. At about 6:45 or so we went back to Black Angus where we met up with Alfred in the parking lot, and talked to him around Nick�s car. At about 7:15ish Nick mentioned that he was going to some screening at work, so that meant he was going home, and that the rest of us were going to do something as well. So Nick dropped me off at home where I changed into some pants, and put on a long sleeved shirt since it was pretty cold outside. At about 7:45 or so Alfred came and picked me up, with Paul and Ricardo in the backseat, and we drove down to Brea. Once in Brea we went to Tower Records where we started to look at the magazines. Alfred started looking at a magazine called Bizarre, and judging from the title, I think you can figure out what kind of pictures were in it. From there we went upstairs to look at some more CD�s, like we didn�t see enough at Best Buy, though I still sort of had the itch to buy something. During my perusing I came across the Ignite CD for $8.99, which was cheaper than at Best Buy, so I picked it up. The rest of the guys were a little preoccupied at times with the notion of finding Burning Tree Projekt�s CD, but their attempts were in vain. Finally at about 9:00 I made my purchase, being the last of us, and we started walking out of the store when we looked at some of the cartoon, and tv DVD�s for about five minutes or so, before finally leaving. The four of us walked over to Coldstone�s to get some ice cream. It was only the second time I had ever bought anything from there, and I got the same thing I had the last time, which was good. It was French Vanilla, brownie, and caramel, the name being �Grandma�s Greatest� or something to that effect. We sat outside at a table talking about the usual tripe: art, literature, and politics. At the time I didn�t realize it, but we sat there for a while, and didn�t end up leaving there until about 10:20 or so. We drove back to �the Heights� where we made the required stop at 7-11 for replenishments. I got a Super Big Gulp of Coke, a Big Hunk, and a new pack of gum since I was running low and smashed my old one in my pocket. We went to Ricardo�s so Paul and Ricardo could pick up their cars, and I rode with Paul since he wanted me to see the cabin trip drawing. It�s looking really good with the color added. We all went over to my house where we sat in the backyard, as usual, later being joined by Shay. The topic of choice for a long period of time was the Angels tickets for the World Series, and the money involved. Later in the evening we were joined by Robert, Big Chris, and eventually Little Chris (it seems like I�m forgetting somebody). We sat back there discussing other topics, namely the much anticipated cabin trip, and what the potential driving situations would be like, all the while the group whittling down until it was just Paul, Little Chris, and myself. The three of us talked about things like Chris� car, and Knott�s Scary Farm before calling it a night at a little after 4:00 (Midnight Society to the core!). I came inside my house and was dead tired, so I pretty much went to bed at around 4:30 or so. I woke up at around 1:15 and signed online. I didn�t do much other than that and watch some tv, while constantly looking in my kitchen trying to find something to eat. At about 3:00 I ate some waffles that I found in my freezer, and were pretty old since they were behind things I hadn�t seen moved in a long time! They didn�t taste too bad. At about 3:40 my mother gave me a haircut, since I had noticed I was getting a little shaggy. At a little after 4:00 we were finished and the haircut looked ok, though my mom has done better, but I�m not complaining. I got showered and dressed, half ready for work (meaning my work shorts, and a Roscoe�s shirt), and drove over to Smitty�s house. He had asked if I could take some things to his new apartment, so I agreed since I didn�t work until 7:00 and I kind of wanted to see his new place. When I got there Kris Ellison was there too, and they were just cleaning out some desk. We loaded up two parts of a couch into the back of my truck, while Ryan put some things in his car. Kris drove with me and we listened to Ignite since I happened to have it in the CD player, though I don�t think he was impressed. The apartment was just over the hill, off of Harbor near the Paul�s �King of Big Screens�. I parallel parked the truck pretty well considering I didn�t have a rear view mirror. Kris and I sort of just sat in the back of my truck (after having a small confrontation with the Mexican guy putting in the doorknobs and curtains) waiting for Smitty to come back out after going inside when Elaine drove up. I hadn�t really seen her since the Chain Reaction show. Kris and I then started to move the part of the couch out of my truck, up the short stairs, and across to the apartment, while Ryan hardly carried anything. Even though the couch wasn�t that heavy, I started to get a little tired and naturally began to jokingly complain. Once we got that load of things into the apartment, we drove back to Ryan�s house to pick up some more. So we made the short trip back to his house, this time listening to Nutwood since Kris seemed to want to hear it. When we got there I got a chance to walk in his house, which I hadn�t done since the old days when we used to hang out there. This time we piled the other half of the couch into the back of the truck, which required some bungee cords since it sort of hung out the back. Once that was in the car, it was back over the hill to drop it off. We got there and I�ll give you one guess who lifted that couch? Smitty and Elaine had the cushions, while Kris and I got the honor of carrying the heavy couch. Naturally I had to continue making comments about things like that since I like to point out those types of situations for some reason. The two of us carried the couch in, and I was really out of breath when we got into the apartment. We set it down then took a seat for a minute while Alec and the two other guys (I don�t remember their names) sat around. It wasn�t much of a rest before we got back into our cars and drove back for a third, and final trip for me since I had work. This time we went back for a desk. Once at Ryan�s we did our best to take it apart as much as we could so that it would fit in the back of the Ranger. We fit it without much of a problem, but as we were leaving I noticed one of the drawers falling out, so I stopped, and we did what we could to keep them closed. However not much further down the street they came out again, so this time we got wise and put the bungee cord that wasn�t being used over the desk. Smooth sailing from there. Once there we sort of stood around the back of the truck talking for a couple minutes, before Kris and I took the lightest part of the desk and carried it up to the apartment. Luckily, by the time we got back to the truck the other guys were carrying the heavy part of desk up, which was a relief. By this time it was about 6:40, so I bid my farewell to the group, who was planning to drink there to break in the place, and drove straight to work. I clocked in at about 6:50, something I haven�t done in a long time, and got my check from David. He also gave me a till and told him I�d be helping him again with the things like damaged cards, and things of that nature. Shortly into my shift I was looking for something to do so I looked for some receipt paper to put in the clock out room since it was out when I had gotten to work earlier. I asked David so he said we needed to get some more from the GP shop. We walked over there, with a dolly, and got some boxes of cups, as well as our purpose, the receipt paper. Once we got the paper back inside, we had to put blue, or green marks with a pen on them to distinguish them between redemption, and POS paper. That didn�t take too long, and before I knew it, we were done, and I was putting the paper by the clock out, looking for something to do. I talked to Phillip a little before being summoned by David to help fold some SpeedZone shirts. So I did that, getting through three small stacks, before we finished the box. From that point on I sort of just hung around redemption, while occasionally helping out at my register on operations side. Things never really got busy, even in the game room when Phillip went on break and I walked it for half an hour. For some reason time seemed to go by really fast tonight, and before I knew it, it was already past 10:00! There were two cashiers on operations side with me, however for a long time I was the only one, and the line never seemed to stop, though it was never too long at any given moment. I was kept busy pretty much the entire night with dealing with customers. I didn�t really have any problems during the night, though I thought I would at around 11:30 when I had sold a group of five people $35 cards since I didn�t realize how late it was. It would have been different had I warned them we closed in an hour and a half, but I hadn�t since I didn�t realize how late it had gotten. Oh well, they never came back to me. At about 12:15 David told me to take my drawer over to cash out, though he ended up just putting it in cash control so that I could help out at redemption. For the last hour or so it was just me and another girl closing, so David kind of told me to take charge and make sure everything got done. I like working with David because he makes me feel like I should take on some responsibility with the other workers. So I took care of the customers, then started making sure everything was clean, before David officially did cash me out at about 12:45. My drawer was perfect, as usual. I shredded some tickets, then went back outside the room to deal with some more redemption, even walking around a couple minutes before closing and telling the people to take up their tickets. Promptly at 1:00 the announcement was made and I kicked it into gear, helping out the couple straggler customers, walking the game room and checking the bathroom. On my watch we were pretty much done by about 1:10. Pretty good in my opinion considering it was just two of us, and for a Friday. So I clocked out, after checking the game room, and went over to Ricardo�s house where everyone was at. I showed up and found Gabe, Dennis, the Chris�, Ricardo, Robert, Gil, and Matt Jeckman. I joined the conversation, which was of typical nature. Shortly after I got there, Gil and Matt left to do something. We continued discussing the usual art, literature, and politics (I�ll come up with something else one day), though cabin trip, Nutwood, and eating are some common topics we covered. We pretty much just sat there like we usually do, until about 2:30 when Ricardo kicked us out of his backyard, and I came home. When I got home I checked up on the other journals, before finishing up this News update, which I had started earlier in the day. I sit here watching Dead Poets Society while writing this, which has taken about an hour and a half. Not to mention the other part I wrote, which was probably at least half an hour�s worth. It�s now about 4:30 and I think I should call it a night pretty soon.October 10/11- I woke up at about 7:10, which is later than I would like to when I have an 8:00 class, and got dressed, heading out the door at about 7:25. I drove to school, and it was a little foggy, though yesterday was a little worse. When I got there it was around 7:50 and the parking lot was filling up. After sitting in the car for a couple of minutes I walked with Robert part of the way to class before heading to Major World Religions, where we started discussing Taoism and sort of going over the test. I got a 34 out of 50, which isn't very good, though I did get a couple extra credit to bump me to about a 37. Class let out a little early, at around 9:00, so I walked over to my Bio class where I didn't see very many people from my class. So I decided I would kill some time by walking over to the vending machines by building 9, but they didn't have what I wanted. So I walked to another vending machine where they didn't have what I wanted there either. Since the purpose of my walking was to just kill time, and I had done that, I bought a bag of Ruffles Sour Cream and Cheddar since it didn't really matter what I bought from the machine. By this time it was about 9:15 and I headed back to class where I only had to stand there a couple minutes before being joined by Robert, then a couple more before being let in class. Robert and I took our seats in the "F" row as Petersen so fondly refers to it, and left some seats open in the front. Petersen made note of that and gave us all a quiz, but not before telling us that we should read the test first, and stressing following directions. He handed out the quiz and had us write the new Ecologic principle given to us on Tuesday, so since I didn't know it I settled on my favorite "man is stupid". We then got to take the actual quiz, and the first question wasn't too bad, but I could sense that it would be ten questions dealing with numbers and statistics. So I decided to heed Craig's advice and skimmed down the page where I noticed something, something very important at the bottom of the page. Upside down in small font were the answers to ALL of the questions! So I carefully read the questions, then the answer, and double checked it to make sure that I put down the right answers since that would just be embarassing to miss one after having the answers. Craig Petersen was walking around the classroom and when he got by me I made it obvious that I was looking at the answers, and he noticed, tapping me on the shoulder and grinning at me. I was the first person done and I handed my test and as I sat back down at my chair Mr. Petersen made a gesture about the principle that I didn't know. Oh well, at least I got the questions right. As people took their tests up to turn in he was asking people how many they got, and the answers varied from 0 to 7, only a few saying they got all 10. When Robert handed in his test he started laughing quietly, as was I, so I assumed that he noticed the answers too. After everyone finished Craig took a survey of everybody and how many questions they think they got right, and only about six of us thought we got them all. That's when the secret, which wasn't much of one, was revealed and Robert asked me why I didn't tell him? At which point I wonder, what was he laughing at then? The rest of the class was spent discussing overpopulation again, and the dire situation that we face. Class ended at it's normal time, 11:00, so I went to my car and drove home. When I got home I sat at the computer, and watched a little tv as usual, and didn't accomplish very much for the ensuing hours. At about 1:00 Paul inquired about going to Black Angus at around 3:00, which sounded good so I agreed. Shortly after that I started playing some SimCity 3000 and continued running my city from the last time I played. I, as Mayor Anaya I was able to get my population up to about 50,000, and accumulate only about $30,000. Not too bad after 50 or so years, so I'll keep working on it from time to time until everything starts to deteriorate. At about 2:45 I stopped playing and took a shower before signing back online at a little after 3:00. I saw Nick online and asked if he wanted to go with us to Black Angus, but he had to go to Coin Star first. So at about 3:30 Nick and I drove over to Albertson's, which was the only place that we knew had Coin Star, and proceeded with the "trash" jokes. Once at the machine Nick started pouring the small cup of coins, and I figured there wouldn't be more than ten dollars, but to my surprise there was slightly over $35 in it. We got Nick's money, then drove over to Black Angus where we met up with Paul and Ricardo at about 4:00, and went inside to get some food. It was pretty dead, and Alfred did a whole lot of nothing while we were there. Since appetizers were half off, that�s what we all got, and I was the only person that got the Wagon Wheel Sampler, which was good, as usual. Everyone else got a new sampler platter, but I can�t recall the name of it. We sat there, talking about the usual things including Disney Channel shows, and baseball, among a slew of other topics. Big Chris eventually showed up, and joined in the conversation . At about 5:45 we decided to head over to Best Buy to check out some things, so we all piled into Nick�s car and drove past Jim�s Crab Shack on our way there. Once there we wandered over the DVD�s and spent some time there, just taking in all that were there, which was about the time I started feeling like I wanted to buy something. So I made my way to the CD�s and browsed there for a while, debating whether or not I should buy Finch since I only had a burned copy, or Ignite for the same reason, or try to find something I didn�t already have. After a while of looking at just about everything I ended up not getting anything, however Paul and Ricardo bought a couple things. At about 6:45 or so we went back to Black Angus where we met up with Alfred in the parking lot, and talked to him around Nick�s car. At about 7:15ish Nick mentioned that he was going to some screening at work, so that meant he was going home, and that the rest of us were going to do something as well. So Nick dropped me off at home where I changed into some pants, and put on a long sleeved shirt since it was pretty cold outside. At about 7:45 or so Alfred came and picked me up, with Paul and Ricardo in the backseat, and we drove down to Brea. Once in Brea we went to Tower Records where we started to look at the magazines. Alfred started looking at a magazine called Bizarre, and judging from the title, I think you can figure out what kind of pictures were in it. From there we went upstairs to look at some more CD�s, like we didn�t see enough at Best Buy, though I still sort of had the itch to buy something. During my perusing I came across the Ignite CD for $8.99, which was cheaper than at Best Buy, so I picked it up. The rest of the guys were a little preoccupied at times with the notion of finding Burning Tree Projekt�s CD, but their attempts were in vain. Finally at about 9:00 I made my purchase, being the last of us, and we started walking out of the store when we looked at some of the cartoon, and tv DVD�s for about five minutes or so, before finally leaving. The four of us walked over to Coldstone�s to get some ice cream. It was only the second time I had ever bought anything from there, and I got the same thing I had the last time, which was good. It was French Vanilla, brownie, and caramel, the name being �Grandma�s Greatest� or something to that effect. We sat outside at a table talking about the usual tripe: art, literature, and politics. At the time I didn�t realize it, but we sat there for a while, and didn�t end up leaving there until about 10:20 or so. We drove back to �the Heights� where we made the required stop at 7-11 for replenishments. I got a Super Big Gulp of Coke, a Big Hunk, and a new pack of gum since I was running low and smashed my old one in my pocket. We went to Ricardo�s so Paul and Ricardo could pick up their cars, and I rode with Paul since he wanted me to see the cabin trip drawing. It�s looking really good with the color added. We all went over to my house where we sat in the backyard, as usual, later being joined by Shay. The topic of choice for a long period of time was the Angels tickets for the World Series, and the money involved. Later in the evening we were joined by Robert, Big Chris, and eventually Little Chris (it seems like I�m forgetting somebody). We sat back there discussing other topics, namely the much anticipated cabin trip, and what the potential driving situations would be like, all the while the group whittling down until it was just Paul, Little Chris, and myself. The three of us talked about things like Chris� car, and Knott�s Scary Farm before calling it a night at a little after 4:00 (Midnight Society to the core!). I came inside my house and was dead tired, so I pretty much went to bed at around 4:30 or so. I woke up at around 1:15 and signed online. I didn�t do much other than that and watch some tv, while constantly looking in my kitchen trying to find something to eat. At about 3:00 I ate some waffles that I found in my freezer, and were pretty old since they were behind things I hadn�t seen moved in a long time! They didn�t taste too bad. At about 3:40 my mother gave me a haircut, since I had noticed I was getting a little shaggy. At a little after 4:00 we were finished and the haircut looked ok, though my mom has done better, but I�m not complaining. I got showered and dressed, half ready for work (meaning my work shorts, and a Roscoe�s shirt), and drove over to Smitty�s house. He had asked if I could take some things to his new apartment, so I agreed since I didn�t work until 7:00 and I kind of wanted to see his new place. When I got there Kris Ellison was there too, and they were just cleaning out some desk. We loaded up two parts of a couch into the back of my truck, while Ryan put some things in his car. Kris drove with me and we listened to Ignite since I happened to have it in the CD player, though I don�t think he was impressed. The apartment was just over the hill, off of Harbor near the Paul�s �King of Big Screens�. I parallel parked the truck pretty well considering I didn�t have a rear view mirror. Kris and I sort of just sat in the back of my truck (after having a small confrontation with the Mexican guy putting in the doorknobs and curtains) waiting for Smitty to come back out after going inside when Elaine drove up. I hadn�t really seen her since the Chain Reaction show. Kris and I then started to move the part of the couch out of my truck, up the short stairs, and across to the apartment, while Ryan hardly carried anything. Even though the couch wasn�t that heavy, I started to get a little tired and naturally began to jokingly complain. Once we got that load of things into the apartment, we drove back to Ryan�s house to pick up some more. So we made the short trip back to his house, this time listening to Nutwood since Kris seemed to want to hear it. When we got there I got a chance to walk in his house, which I hadn�t done since the old days when we used to hang out there. This time we piled the other half of the couch into the back of the truck, which required some bungee cords since it sort of hung out the back. Once that was in the car, it was back over the hill to drop it off. We got there and I�ll give you one guess who lifted that couch? Smitty and Elaine had the cushions, while Kris and I got the honor of carrying the heavy couch. Naturally I had to continue making comments about things like that since I like to point out those types of situations for some reason. The two of us carried the couch in, and I was really out of breath when we got into the apartment. We set it down then took a seat for a minute while Alec and the two other guys (I don�t remember their names) sat around. It wasn�t much of a rest before we got back into our cars and drove back for a third, and final trip for me since I had work. This time we went back for a desk. Once at Ryan�s we did our best to take it apart as much as we could so that it would fit in the back of the Ranger. We fit it without much of a problem, but as we were leaving I noticed one of the drawers falling out, so I stopped, and we did what we could to keep them closed. However not much further down the street they came out again, so this time we got wise and put the bungee cord that wasn�t being used over the desk. Smooth sailing from there. Once there we sort of stood around the back of the truck talking for a couple minutes, before Kris and I took the lightest part of the desk and carried it up to the apartment. Luckily, by the time we got back to the truck the other guys were carrying the heavy part of desk up, which was a relief. By this time it was about 6:40, so I bid my farewell to the group, who was planning to drink there to break in the place, and drove straight to work. I clocked in at about 6:50, something I haven�t done in a long time, and got my check from David. He also gave me a till and told him I�d be helping him again with the things like damaged cards, and things of that nature. Shortly into my shift I was looking for something to do so I looked for some receipt paper to put in the clock out room since it was out when I had gotten to work earlier. I asked David so he said we needed to get some more from the GP shop. We walked over there, with a dolly, and got some boxes of cups, as well as our purpose, the receipt paper. Once we got the paper back inside, we had to put blue, or green marks with a pen on them to distinguish them between redemption, and POS paper. That didn�t take too long, and before I knew it, we were done, and I was putting the paper by the clock out, looking for something to do. I talked to Phillip a little before being summoned by David to help fold some SpeedZone shirts. So I did that, getting through three small stacks, before we finished the box. From that point on I sort of just hung around redemption, while occasionally helping out at my register on operations side. Things never really got busy, even in the game room when Phillip went on break and I walked it for half an hour. For some reason time seemed to go by really fast tonight, and before I knew it, it was already past 10:00! There were two cashiers on operations side with me, however for a long time I was the only one, and the line never seemed to stop, though it was never too long at any given moment. I was kept busy pretty much the entire night with dealing with customers. I didn�t really have any problems during the night, though I thought I would at around 11:30 when I had sold a group of five people $35 cards since I didn�t realize how late it was. It would have been different had I warned them we closed in an hour and a half, but I hadn�t since I didn�t realize how late it had gotten. Oh well, they never came back to me. At about 12:15 David told me to take my drawer over to cash out, though he ended up just putting it in cash control so that I could help out at redemption. For the last hour or so it was just me and another girl closing, so David kind of told me to take charge and make sure everything got done. I like working with David because he makes me feel like I should take on some responsibility with the other workers. So I took care of the customers, then started making sure everything was clean, before David officially did cash me out at about 12:45. My drawer was perfect, as usual. I shredded some tickets, then went back outside the room to deal with some more redemption, even walking around a couple minutes before closing and telling the people to take up their tickets. Promptly at 1:00 the announcement was made and I kicked it into gear, helping out the couple straggler customers, walking the game room and checking the bathroom. On my watch we were pretty much done by about 1:10. Pretty good in my opinion considering it was just two of us, and for a Friday. So I clocked out, after checking the game room, and went over to Ricardo�s house where everyone was at. I showed up and found Gabe, Dennis, the Chris�, Ricardo, Robert, Gil, and Matt Jeckman. I joined the conversation, which was of typical nature. Shortly after I got there, Gil and Matt left to do something. We continued discussing the usual art, literature, and politics (I�ll come up with something else one day), though cabin trip, Nutwood, and eating are some common topics we covered. We pretty much just sat there like we usually do, until about 2:30 when Ricardo kicked us out of his backyard, and I came home. When I got home I checked up on the other journals, before finishing up this News update, which I had started earlier in the day. I sit here watching Dead Poets Society while writing this, which has taken about an hour and a half. Not to mention the other part I wrote, which was probably at least half an hour�s worth. It�s now about 4:30 and I think I should call it a night pretty soon. Ocrober 12- I woke up at about 11:15 and started getting dressed since I had work at noon. I drove to SpeedZone and clocked in at about 12:05 and started off my shift not doing a whole lot. David gave me a till, but told me to lock it up and just sort of make sure things ran smoothly, so I basically just hung around redemption, and walked around the gameroom a couple times to pick up trash. I went out and got some golf balls while Taylor Hooks told me about the new rumor that a new salesperson would be hired that would "help out" with cash control. Naturally that made me mad. Oh well. After getting a soda from the bar and briefly chatting to John about Nutwood, Back to the Future, and CKY, I noticed that a longer line was forming so I went to my drawer where I quickly had a lot of people go to my line, but I quickly dispensed them, and kept the line at a reasonable length. After being there for about an hour David told me to head over to take out to help expedite for Ronald since nobody was back there to help him out, so I did. Luckily it wasn't that busy while I was back there, and since it had been such a lont time since I had worked back there I felt like I was getting in the way, but I managed to contribute for about an hour. The line was getting pretty long at the only cash register so I went and opened up shop, and was shortly thereafter joined by Montes, so naturally we had no line for any extended periods of time. After a while of sitting there, during some dead periods talking to Jason, and helping out customers, I went over to redemption to help out before heading over to my register again. Nothing too significant happened while I was at my drawer, and I went back to check to see if Ronald needed help, but he didn't, so I continued on my drawer. At a little after 6:00 Gina cashed out my drawer, and naturally I was perfect. I went to the bank where I deposited my check, and then went home for a couple of minutes to change my clothes. At about 7:00 I went over to Smitty's house to help him move his refrigerator to the apartment. This time his stepdad was helping out, and I guess he's moved a lot so he seemed to have a good idea of what he was doing. After loading the refrigerator in the back of my truck, Phil, his stepdad, asked if he could drive my truck, and since I honestly didn't feel too comfortbale having to drive so carefully, I let him. The trip over the hill was slow and uneventful while I rode with Smitty and Alec, and we parked in front of the apartment to unload it, which wasn't too bad, though we had to get it up some stairs. We had a dolly so things weren't that bad, and it only took a few minutes to get it into the apartment. When we were done unloading all the other things they had brought, I stuck around for about ten minutes or so looking at the apartment again. At about 7:45 I left and drove over to Olive Garden, where I met up with Ricardo, Paulina, and Steve. We stood there waiting for our table to be called, when Little Chris and Dennis returned from their trip to SpeedZone, and we continued to wait, while watching the annoying little kids around us play. Finally at around 9:00 our table was called and we sat down in the somewhat small booth. We eventually grabbed a chair, that I sat on for the duration of our meal. Everybody ordered the never ending pasta, and I opted my usual, spaghetti and meatballs, with minestrone soup. The soup came, and after everybody got their bowls they asked for cheese, so when the waitress put it on their plates she accidently dumped a little in my Coke, so she brought me another (though I didn't ask her to, so no OCD comments yet). The soup was great as usual, and a short while later the pasta came to our table. I finished off my first plate with relative ease, and moved onto my second, along with Steve, and Dennis. I got the same exact thing and was able to eat my second bowl, and I was feeling in good shape, despite having not really eaten anything all day. The third bowl came, and just about everyone else was down for the count, while Little Chris ventured into his second bowl. I polished off the third bowl, still feeling alright, and eating more because I was actually hungry, and not just for the novelty of eating the most in our group. In the middle of my fourth bowl a waiter came with a fifth bowl that I hadn't even ordered yet, but I gladly accepted. I finished off the fourth bowl probably quicker than the others because Dennis and Chris didn't even realize I was working on my fifth at the end. After taking about four bites from that last bowl, Dennis tried throwing a mint wrapper from the mints that came with our check into my pocket, but he missed. It landed in my food, and even though I was still hungry, I was not going to eat the rest because of my self-diagnosed Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (though I don't think I would technically be diagnosed that for a couple reasons). The hunger took over and I compensated by cutting out the portion that the mint had touched, and put it on a separate plate not to be eaten, and finished off the remaining three quarters of the spaghetti. By this time I was full, though not uncomfortably full, and that was about the time we decided to leave. In the parking lot Ricardo wasa ble to pick me up just to see if he could (since Chris wasn't willing to let him) and spin me around which left me a little dizzy. We thought of things to do, and ended up deciding to go to Paulina's house to watch a movie, so her and Ricardo drove over to Black Angus to pick up Alfred's Blockbuster cafd. The rest of us waited in the parking lot sitting in Dennis' car, when they returned. While everyone else went to Blockbuster, I went home because the more I stood around, the more I became uncomfortably full. I got home at about 11:15 or so, and signed online before taking care of some business. I sat online and talked to Ben for a little bit before heading over to Paulina's at about midnight. It turns out that Ricardo had rented Evil Dead, which was some horror movie made what we thought to be the late 70's, but was instead the early 80's. The movie was pretty creepy at times, and funny since it was a typical horror movie, with some unconventional scenes in it. We made light of the situation, making comments about everything, but it doesn't seem like everyone likes to watch movies in that way. However I look at it as comedies and horror flicks are fair game for making jokes and comments, it's dramas that you need to be quiet for. The movie ended at about 1:30, we all left, and ended up standing outside talking. It was Little Chris, Dennis, Steve, Big Chris, and myself standing outside before being joined by Gabe, Paul, and Robert. Finally, at about 2:00 or so we disbanded, and all went home since it was pretty cold, and at least I was tired. I came home and sat online for a little while, contemplating whether or not to update the News, and instead decided to get some sleep instead. |