Loot or Junk?

For the past 6 months, I was a member of Lootcrate's monthly subscription. I had been receiving these boxes filled with random "loot".  Within each box, you were surprised with themed merchandise ranging from tv shows, cartoons, video games, comics, and movies.  However, with the six boxes combined, I had zero luck with receiving anything worth of personal value.  I quickly realized that my money was better spent on purchasing items that I wanted rather than leaving it up to chance.  So Lootcrate is a thing in the past, with all of items being given away to Vanessa and my nephews. 

Right where we are

This will be my recap for the year two thousand and fourteen.

This past year seemed longer than usual. When thinking about all the things that had happened in 2014, I kept thinking to myself that it felt way longer than just a year ago. For example, Vanessa and I took our biggest vacation to date to the Bahamas in January. From visiting the fabled Hogwarts and enjoying a royalty lifestyle on a 3 day cruise, it seems way too recent for me to forget how wonderful that week was. A more recent vacation that is still fresh on my mind was in Zion, where we balanced ourselves with roughing it and lounging it. It was also the place where I lost my knees, again.

After all the data collecting for the post, I had realized that I had done a lot this past year. Thanks to Vanessa, these posts keep getting bigger and bigger every year, and I hope this tradition never ends. From painting George and Peanut to practicing our archery skills, we were able to have our moms meet for the first time during our obsession with Indian cuisine. We continued our television (online) marathon with completely catching up on the Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, Attack on Titan, and True Detective. Our gaming habits lives on as well with games such as Isaac, Don’t Starve, A Wolf Among Us, both seasons of the Walking Dead, and Battleblock Theatre. We ended our two year relationship with Disneyland and invested our savings into next year’s Coachella (I don’t wanna talk about it). I was able to witness both Childish Gambino and Death From Above 1979 live, as well as restarting a brief recording session with Hannah for a few songs. I was able to plan Vanessa’s birthday, the 6th annual Wongsgiving, and co-plan for Vanessa’s Halloween party at her place.

I visited Vegas twice this year, once for an insane hangoveresque bachelor party and the other for Halloween as a bunch of Gotham baddies. Waldena’s wedding was the highlight of the summer with nearly everyone I know drinking and dancing the night away. I finally got myself trapped into graduate school. And with my work hours being increased towards the end of the year, I slowly watched both of my money and time slip away. The year ended with a Secret Santa tradition over some KBBQ and with a last minute birthday bash for me in Pomona. Thank you for the most beautiful guitar I had ever seen, Vanessa.

 With so many things planned for this year, I can’t wait to recap this one.

6th Annual Wongsgiving

It's been 6 freaking consecutive years that I have hosted Wongsgiving! Holy cow, who knew this tradition would've lasted so long. Despite the attendees constantly changing throughout the years, I think we have a pretty set core now to our group. This was one of the prettiest years yet. Thanks to the help of Vanessa with the decor shopping, I was able to set up the most beautiful dinner table for the party of 16. With setting up the lights, moving my backyard around, decorating the tables, and cooking the turkey, I was pretty stressed the day of. This seems to always happen to me. Despite having a rough afternoon, the night was nice. The weather wasn't too cold and the food that everyone brought was delicious as always. I don't think this tradition will be ending anytime soon, I hope.

I'm a Machine

Nearly 10 years ago,  I listened to a band called Death from Above 1979.  They were one of the first new age rock groups that I stumbled upon thanks to Sherman and Marty.  A few years later, they disbanded, leaving me hating myself for never making an effort to go see them.

Seven years later, Death from Above 1979 announced a reunion tour, launching a new album.  I made no mistake again this time and got tickets as soon as they were available.  The two people I went to the show with were nostalgically Sherman and Marty.  It was an awesome night watching two talented people making all that noise with just a base guitar, keyboard, and drums.  It felt like high school all over again for one night.

La Catrina

The Day of the Dead was always taught to me as a child growing up, but I never had a chance to experience it until this year. Vanessa and her family always have great decor for any occasion, and this holiday was no exception. When I saw pictures of Vanessa in full "skeleton" makeup, I was determined to set up a photo shoot. The pictures, however, came out decent due to having bad lighting. But nonetheless, my girlfriend can pull off a gorgeous skeleton look. Who knew. :)