164. Acoustique

Just purchased this album on itunes...

It's divine. If you don't know Foreigner too well the songs you've probably heard of are 'Cold As Ice', 'Feel's Like The First Time', and 'Juke Box Hero'. Also the Elvis song at the end is sick. You might recognize it if you saw the movie 'Walk the Line'.

Here are the songs...

1. Long, Long Way From Home


2. Cold As Ice


3. The Flame Still Burns


4. Double Vision


5. Fool For You Anyway


6. Say You Will


7. Starrider


8. Waiting For A Girl Like You


9. Feels Like The First Time


10. Juke Box Hero


11. That's All Right (Elvis Cover)



You can download it from me HERE if you wish.

163. Cough Cough

Any other time I'd be kind of fascinated by the fact that I'm about to drive into a huge cloud...

...but when you know it's just a giant, urban qweef of all sorts of smoke, pollution and scum... and that with each breath you take your insides are turning a mildewy-green color and being slowly eroded away, bringing you closer and closer to a painful, tortuous death... it just doesn't quite have the same appeal.

162. I lykes it whens i reeds gewd.

I pass the Kumon Learning Center every morning on my way into work. This is the sign that hangs outside the building...

Doesn't that face just exude 'success'?

161. Get. In. Mah. Belly!

In the words of Simon K. W. Ho and Charles Taylor Borda...

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFAAAAAAAATTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This would be the result if by some miracle I ended up marrying the hot Wendy's girl from Deposit, NY and she cooked me Double Bacon Chi's for the rest of my life. A wish...

160. A taste of the good life.

My stepmom (Gail) had a business conference Tuesday-Thursday of last week at the St. Regis Resort and Spa in Dana Point, CA (right next to Laguna Beach). I took off work Thursday and Friday so that I could go down and chill with them Wednesday night til Sunday. Here's a little recap of my mini-vaca.

Wednesday night:

• Get out of work at 9pm (after quite a stressful evening I might add).
• Drive about an hour south to the St. Regis in Dana Pt. (ps I took a highway on which I came across a toll for... wait for it... $5!!! what in the eff is that noise?! Needless to say I never took that road again.)
•  I drive up to the front entrance of the absolutely massive hotel and am greeted by a staff worker who opens my door for me and welcomes me to the resort. He proceeds to remove all my belongings from my car and loads them up onto one of those gold hotel dolly thingys and shows me to the room.
• The room is gigantic. The master bed is not even against a wall... its caddy cornered so as to both face the big screen tv and the full wall of windows. The bathroom was equally as huge. The cot was probably more comfortable than the bed I sleep on at home. Tried to steal it on Sunday but couldn't quite fit it in my car... plus I think the bellhops were a little suspicious when I rolled the cot out the front entrance.

Thursday:

• Woke up at 7am for golf. Grabbed breakfast at a little cafe inside the hotel. Brought the bags out front where we got a ride down to the hotel course. Arrived at the course where a worker welcomed us and grabbed our bags before we could even get out. He took them down to where we'd be starting, loaded them onto a golf cart and hooked us up with a couple water bottles.
• Played 18. Here's a view from hole #3...

 

glorious.

• I found out I actually play a lot better when I take about 5 months off from playing.
• Finish up. Another dude comes over and starts cleaning our clubs immediately upon returning to the club house. He then takes our golf shoes after we take them off and goes and cleans them himself (I found out you never really have to do anything for yourself around this place).
• My dad goes into the pro shop and complains about the people in front of us taking forevs and the condition of the course... we get two free games of golf for Saturday. SCORE.
• My dad and I went and got lunch by the pool and waited for Gail to be done with all her boring work stuff. The condiments at our table were quite miniature (use the french fries and the hamburger bun for perspective)...

• Once Gail got out of her meeting her, my dad, a few of her co-workers and I went kayaking off Dana Point. Pretty boring in my opinion. (ps it was gray and cloudy the entire time we were in the laguna area. completely unlike the rest of southern california. bizzaaah).
• Went out to eat with the same people at a mexican place. My dad accidentally ate an extremely hot pepper and his face melts off. He needed to leave the table and compose himself. Just to prove that I am way manlier than him I ate the same pepper once he returned. Everyone was amazed that I showed absolutely no reaction whatsoever... I was crying on the inside.
• We got back to the hotel and find a dance party at the hotel bar. We grooved like there was no tomorrow.

Friday:

• Woke up. Ate Breakfast. Drove into downtown Laguna Beach.
• Ate lunch and walked around checking out all the shops and art galleries etc. Walked around for hours. My legs were tired as can be.
• Finally called it quits and headed back to the hotel (keep in mind that every time we decide to leave the hotel someone goes and gets our car and every time we return someone is standing there waiting to open our doors for us. Sidenote: housekeeping comes not once per day... but twice every day. Oh... and we had our own personal butler. Whattup.)
• Cleaned up, dressed up and headed out to dinner near the hotel. Food was delicious.
• Headed back to the hotel and ordered Horrible Bosses on the tv. "Speaking of entrapment... I'm gonna go see that girl about her vagina."

Saturday:

• Woke up at 6am for golf at 7:30. Same treatment as before. Like we were kings. 
• I played like absolute garbo until the last couple holes.
• 18th hole. I hit one of the longest drives I've ever hit. 250+ yds. about 100 yds left to the hole. I pitch it perfectly (over a pond mind you) onto the green to set up a lonnng birdie opportunity. I get up to my ball... read the green... read the wind... read the crowd that has gathered to watch me sink this epic putt... I step over the ball... one practice swing.... one last look at the hole... let it rip... perfect line... IT. COULD. GO. ALL. THE. WAYYYY....... or it could stop about an inch short of the hole. SON OF A FUCK STICK. Woulda been my first bird ever. Shame.
• Back to the room to regroup. Headed out to show my Dad and Gail LA.
• First stop: Venice Beach. The crazies were out in full force. Most notable 'homeless' person: dude was holding a sign that read 'need money for penis reduction surgery' and kept complaining about how his back hurt.
• Second stop: My apt. They both took the office bathroom for a test drive.
• Third stop: Hollywood sign. 
• Fourth stop: Downtown Hollywood. Walk of fame. Growman's Chinese Theater. Hand/footprints in the ground. The crazies were out in full force once again. Funniest thing ever... there was this little child (7 or 8 years old) that was literally deathly afraid of the dude dressed up as Spiderman. Like... was literally screaming/crying and pulling his mom the other way. Of course his mom was just standing there laughing cuz honestly it was hilarious.
• Sidenote: My dad bought me a sick watch while we were in Hollywood.
• Ate dinner and then headed back down to the hotel.

Sunday:

• Woke up and headed to Newport beach to go to Sharkeez. Rise and Shine breakfast: Two eggs (any way you want them), French toast OR pancakes, bacon, and hashbrowns for... go ahead, try and guess... you won't even be close.... $4!!! Did I mention that it comes with an hour of all you can drink mimosas?! BOOM. It was packed with Steelers fans cuz the game was on. Pure craziness. Barely found a place to sit. Had to ask some peeps if we could share their table. Oh I definitely walked outa there with a solid buzz goin'.
• Hit the beach in Newport cuz the sun was actually out.
• Headed back to the hotel around 4. Napskyyy.
• Went back to downtown laguna for some dinner. Once again... delicious.
• Walked around a little after dinner. Came upon the scariest manikin in the history of manikins in a store window...

• Headed back to the hotel. Gathered my belongings, loaded up the car and headed back up to my apt.

Quite a week/weekend. Literally lived like royalty for 4+ days. Gotta give a huge shout-out to my pops and Gail for spoiling me with luxury accommodations, delicious food, golf, and gifts for the duration of that little trip. Loved every second of it.

159. Lunch Break

Today my lunch break has consisted of watching the water dry at the US Open...

Exhilerating.