A reassuring dinner.

This short clip was recently discovered, thanks to Christine. This took place in Johnna's house in January of 2008.  It was a delightful dinner of fondue and margaritas.  I remember that day very distinctively, thanks again Courtney.

Lets explore your talent.

What's My Name

Ft. Christine

Dance me through the panic

I'm going to buy clothes, lots of it. I've come to peace with my debt, and I realize that it's not going to be resolved anytime soon.  Within my years of college I have spent about 45 grand somewhere.  That's a lot of money on things that I don't even remember.  I need to buy shit, thanks credit cards.

Fontenelle

There are three things I've always loved, but never understood - photography, music, and women.

You knew, you knew.

This took forever to get the singing just right.  Marty's inspirational words, "Sing better," got me over this obstacle of a song.  Fuck Sharon.

Pickle my tickle.

A new record of seventy-two beers was reached yesterday. It was helped by two factors. One, we had more people this time around. Second, we played Chandeliers.  This game was introduced to us in Lake Arrowhead, and it has been quite a hit.  A clever game which involves everyone, and it can also empty mulitple beers within minutes.  New faces were added to the mix yesterday, and this time it was held at Amy's house.  Burgers and sweet potato fries were served, hands were bitten by the pup, and a series of recklessness dancing and jokes ensued.  I got way too full way too early, mainly cause I dominated the first few games of Chandeliers, haha.

Duet for one.

To Whom It May Concern

Black Inches in Blonde Freaks.

This weekend blew by way too fast.  Lake Arrowhead was pretty, considering the luck that we stayed in an orgasmic house/cabin. The Mckee's vacation home was a surprise to most of us.  There were twelve of us in total, and the three stories of space was more than enough to facilitate the slumber party.  The view of the Lake was relaxing, especially when you have a two story balcony/loft.

Ping pong and Foosball tables, Xbox 360, and Direct TV kept us fully occupied during the times of recovery and recuperation. Good friends with lots of alcohol in a lake-view cabin for the weekend, good times.  Here are some of the much anticipated pictures.

By the way, taking these pictures while drunk and operating manual focus might be the hardest task in the world.

Falling over my head.

If you're so funny, then why are you on your own tonight?

And if you're so clever, then why are you on your own tonight?

If you're so very entertaining, then why are you on your own tonight?

If you're so very good looking, why do you sleep alone tonight?

Excuse me?

Some people need to really think twice before saying certain words.

I was not magnificent.

It has been over a year since I have stepped foot inside the Halstead's household.  Courtney's uncle (Steve) and aunt (Cindy) are always so warm with hospitality.  I feel extremely welcomed by them because they were there for me during the worst times in my life.

Marty and I went over to see Courtney for the first time since her return and we caught up with her and the family.  Uncle Steve took the time to sit down with us to catch up with how we were doing with our directions in life.  After a few uncertainties in our voices, he voiced his opinion about us.  "You guys are way to young to be talking about this stuff, you need to be more relaxed."  Truer words have never been spoken, and I simply replied "Thank you."  It's good to be reminded once in a while that things don't need to be as stressful as they seem.  That man kept offering Marty and I beer, what an awesome uncle.

Poison and Wine.

I woke up today thinking about someone.  Three years later and for some reason, she was on my mind.  I must have had a dream that was immediately forgotten prior to waking up, because the image of her was still vivid.

No blog was created at the time, or I would've definitely dedicated a post to her back in the day.  So here it is, all from my recollection. Three summers ago, my mother and I went to China for two weeks.  Intended as a vacation, we were in a tight schedule following a tour group.  The only city that we were able to spend more than one night in was Beijing, the capital. The hotel was decent from what I can remember, and the lobby was especially cozy.  Up until 7pm of everyday, we were not allowed to be separated from the tour group.  You were free from "meeting points" and "setting timers" after dinner.  My mother and I had already made some travel friends among the tour group, and we were ready to explore more of the local attractions of Beijing.  So on the first night, we met up around 8pm at the lobby.  That's where I met her for the first time.

She was just standing there behind the bar, cleaning glasses with no customers to deal with.  I suppose it was a slow night, and I'm glad it was.  My mother and our new travel buddies were discussing how to approach this night out.  Things were going to be tough because out of us four, my mom was the only one that could speak Mandarin.  She then decided to ask her for some traveling advice and tips.  They talked for a good ten minutes or so while I just sat in the lobby, waiting.  My mom came back and told us that she got the girl to become our personal tour guide for the night. WHAT!?

Her shift had just ended, so she went inside the double doors and quickly changed.  She came back out with a black leather jacket with matching black jeans on heels.  Her hair was half down with a bit still tied up.  The way she presented herself made me believe that she was at least 23 or 24 (I was 20 years old at the time, mind you).  My mother then introduced her to the rest of the group and we quickly learned that she doesn't speak or understand English.  Mom would then become the translator from that point on.

She took us through subways, walking through shortcuts to get to the food and shopping district of Beijing.  The place was populated with tourists and locals alike, vendors with merchandises and rare foods filled the streets.  The whole block was lit up and the air smelled delicious.  Scorpions, cockroaches, beetles, seahorses were served on sticks, and skewers of amazing fried foods were sold at ridiculously cheap prices.

It started to rain halfway through the walk down the food marketplace, luckily for us, we had three umbrellas. There were five of us to work with, so the two travel buddies used one, my mom used another, and the last umbrella was left for me and her.  As people were starting to get sidetracked and distracted with bizarre shops, we all slowly got separated.  At that point, I couldn't believe that in a mere two hours of realizing her existence, I would be shielding her from rain, with no one but strangers all around us.  We noticed that we had lost track of the others, but we weren't in a rush to catch up. She made me try this gross looking dessert, which turned out to be delicious.  We walked slower than normal, and not a single word was being said.  We could not communicate at all through words, rather we did it in body motion and eye signals.  It could've gone horribly awkward, but it wasn't.  We later caught back up with my mom and the others, and we proceeded back to the hotel.

During the following night, we were able to see her working again.  But we were too tired to go anywhere, so we all just stayed in the lobby and talked.  We made constant eye contact but the language barrier limits our interaction.  She then took out a napkin and wrote her name in Chinese for me.  I then wrote mine in return on the same napkin and she read it out loud, making fun of how silly is sounds.  That night ended quick and we exchanged hugs and we parted ways.  The next morning, on our way out the hotel and I hoping to see her again at the bar, but she wasn't there.  It happens.  Till this day, I never knew her name because she kept that napkin.

My mother obviously loved her and she later told me that the girl was 21 years old.

Don't stop writing.

So I was going through all of the bloggers that I follow, and nearly half of them have been removed from existence.  Such a sad thing to see.