Friday, June 27, 2008

Cheat Day

They weren't joking when they said the last 10 pounds are the hardest to lose and take the most time. I'm working out, doing both cardio and weight training, often and well, but progress is soooo slow. When I was super obese and I started dieting, the pounds just melted off. Now they stick like gum under a desk. Both are gross.

Anyways, on a brighter note, today was fun! It was my cheating day haha. I never had one since I started my new exercise/diet regimen in April, although you're supposed to set aside one day a week where you let yourself cheat on the diet, but not necessarily eat yourself to death. That would be gross anyways. But I haven't done it before because I'm a very driven person, and I'd rather just head straight on without sacrificing a day, but now I think I needed it. Good thing I got it out of my system.

So I started off with another session of high intensity interval training at Mesa Verde. Sprinting, I must say, is really fun. You know how if you stare at a clock, waiting for one mere minute to pass, that minute feels like forever? While you're sprinting, it goes by like nothing. My huge calves finally come in handy, too. So right after that I go home and see that I have a text from Katrina about going to the mall to get Stephanie's present. Woo! Mall time. I showered, got ready, then left for the mall. When I got there, I was close to the escalator on the bottom floor so I looked at whose F.A.C.E. was there. Jessica's was! I took a picture to send as a picture text to her, but the mall security dude standing by made me delete it. Apparently you can't take pictures at the mall? I didn't know that. Neither had I seen a mall security guy before at North County. Whatevs, no skin off of my back. After Katrina arrived, we looked around Forever 21 for a while. Nothing good. We checked a bunch of other stores too like Spencer's, AE, with no luck. Finally we found some cute and funny shirts at Anchor Blue. One has a picture of a carton of milk saying "Whip me!" and an egg saying "Beat me!" and another has a picture of a broken crayon saying "Oh snap!" We thought they were really funny so we got them. Theeeen it was time for me! Haha. I got new sunglasses and a new earring. Yay.

Steph's party was fun! It's always great to reunite with people I don't see regularly anymore. Kristen, Steph of course, and (Backseat) Becky were there, as well as others. I was the only guy, which didn't surprise me. :]

Afterwards I got home and did some more bad things. Oh well, like I said, it is my cheat day! I'm glad I'm not having those obsessive feelings of hatred against myself that some people get when they "fall off the train" on a diet. At least I know I'm not obsessive about it.

Now I'm bored. What a surprise! I think I'll be lazy and read some more of The Golden Compass. I've only read like two chapters and already it's much more interesting than Eragon was. I felt really disconnected from the characters in Eragon even though I'd normally be attracted by the story itself, whereas I really feel like I see and understand the characters in The Golden Compass. I'm so glad I finally have time to read for fun.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Beach Day!

So yesterday was a beach day and it was very fun, I must say. It started out pretty normal. I went to Mesa Verde and started high intensity interval training that I've heard so much about. Supposedly it compacts a long cardio workout into a shorter amount of time. It was more engaging, I must say that. So you warm up for five minutes, sprint as fast as you can for one, then slow it down for four minutes. Repeat, then cool down. I liked it, actually. My timing wasn't that great though since the sun already burned off the marine layer by the time I finished my warm up and it was on the hot side.

I got home, took a shower, then had to vacuum cobwebs in the garage since my mom said my dad said I would have to do it the next day (today). As far as chores go, this one was pretty random, but it was also kind of fun. I hate my garage because it's a mess of clutter and useless crap that my parents have accumulated over the years, but seeing the spiderwebs disappear was at least more interesting than cleaning a bathroom or something. That being done, I started getting ready for the beach.

I haven't gone surfing in like two years, and the difficulty of getting my 8'6" longboard onto my mom's CRV reminded me why. I have to take off the stupid rack things, put on different rack things, put on the surfboard, and yeah. It sounds simple, but it takes a while and and it's not fun doing it in the midday sun. I wish I had either a smaller board (since I'm like 30 lbs lighter than when I bought that board) or a truck so I wouldn't have to deal with that mess. Anyways, Jenny and Heather came along when they were supposed to, and after coordinating with Kevin, we picked him up on the way to the beach. I finally met his mom for the first time, and she totally was not the lady I thought was his mom that I saw at a Wind I concert.

So during the drive on the 56, I look in my rearview mirror and my leash is dangling from the end of my board. I wrapped that shiz but it still came undone. I didn't think it was touching the ground, but after I parked I found out that it was. A couple of guys were telling me on the road that it was dangling, which was a little embarassing, but whatever. Oh yeah, we listened to I Kissed a Girl on the radio during the drive, and for the rest of the day, and today too, it's been stuck in my head. I kissed a girl, and I liked it... even though I wouldn't like it, and you all should know why. :p

The beach excursion itself was fun! We picked a nice big empty spot in front of Tower 6. The surf didn't look too bad to me when we first got there, and there were a few surfers in the water. I went in and it just got progressively worse. Good thing I have a longboard, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to catch anything. I caught two waves. I pearled on the first, which isn't surprising since I haven't been surfing for 2 years. I caught the second and rode it in pretty well, which surprised me. Then I called it quits because the surf was just terrible. It felt good to paddle out past the break though. More and more people came, and we had a nice-sized group. We went swimming even though we were in the surf zone. Apparently it didn't matter since all of the surfers left. There was a whole lot of seaweed in the water, ew. It got tangled around my legs more than once.

The rest of the day consisted of talking, lounging about, and just being. It felt good to be in the presence of good people, having a good time, not worrying about anything. The fact that I no longer, nor will I ever, see these people again on a daily basis makes each get-together much more special. When it started to get cold, we all decided to go chill at Jeff's. I dropped off my riders, put away the surfboard, showered, and followed along. It was mostly Rock Band again, which I'm not too interested in. I know maybe three of the songs on the whole list and I'm not into rock music that much anyways, so that's probably why. If they had like Alternative Rock Band I would be all over that! Even Pop Rock Band. I stayed there until about 9 then got home... I was so tired, but it was a good kind of tired.

Today was the complete opposite. I went to the gym and put in 45 minutes of cardio while listening to new stuff, like I Kissed a Girl haha. I saw Ms. Stewart at the gym, which didn't surprise me since she's a health nut. I just didn't know she lived close by. After that I was just lazy all day and did nothing out of the ordinary, and here I am. Bored again. But tomorrow will be fun! Mall in the morning to go shopping for a present (and maybe new shades?) and then party in the afternoon! I'm excited! :]

Monday, June 16, 2008

Pwnage

What used to be my darkest fear is now the light that illuminates my future. Pwned.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Signs of Success

I just remembered today how I heard/read somewhere that the most successful people keep a diary or journal about what they see everyday and how they feel, so that's a motivator to keep this blog going although I'm probably the only person who reads it. Oh wells.

My last Band Banquet was yesterday! It was so bittersweet. Taking pictures during the reception was really fun. I'm getting better with my aim when taking pictures of myself and others, except for that one or two. I looked over all of my pictures like three times today. I just can't stop looking at them because everytime I do, my mind just floods with memories of the wonderful people in the picture. If I had the money and patience, I would print them all out on photo paper and put them in an album. Maybe I'll invest in a digital photo frame later instead... this is the 21st century after all.

So anyways after the reception, dinner was... interesting. We had a stowaway under our table who didn't pay his assessment. That was just strange. I played a drinking game with Jenny and Jeff, haha. It was fun. The awards dragged a little bit, but I wasn't bored or anything. The senior recognition slideshow was really entertaining! I love how mine turned out. Mission accomplished, I got Andrea bawling! I know it sounds mean, but it shows how much she cares. She, Jenny, and Heather know how much I care for them. I mean, I freakin sang falsetto on camera for them! I enjoyed it, though. Also, I made the Scarlet Rank! Yay for that. Presenting the Sundevil Spirit Award to Jay was fun too. I spent a lot of time on that framed award. I thought it really sucked how all of the award items get passed along and the recipients must eventually relinquish them all as well, so I hope I started a new tradition by allowing the recipients to keep something to remember the year they received the award. Elisia and I didn't have any words planned or anything so I just penned them really quick before we were called up to present.

Hmmm what else happened before the dance? Oh yeah, the leadership announcements. Some things went the way I wanted them to, others didn't. I'm glad no new flute section leaders were added, partly because I personally don't like the idea of somebody replacing me in the quartet and partly because I don't think it would have worked out anyways. For other sections, all I can say is good luck... I think a couple of mistakes were made. But then again, everything happens for a reason, we just have to wait and see. One thing wasn't a mistake for sure though, and that's Monica getting drum major! I was rooting for her all the way. She'll be an excellent drum major for the next two years, and I'm sure she'll be a great end to the Riturban legacy at Mt. Carmel. What a sad thought, the end of a line. I guess I'm the end, too. No more Pagadors! Well it's possible, but highly unlikely, since Pagador is a really uncommon last name.

Uhhhh what else? I only had two hours of sleep last night, actually this morning I should say, so my mind is kind of out of it. The dance was really dumb. That DJ was seriously the worst by far I have ever seen at any event. First he played a lot of swing music... that's inevitable since the juniors in APEL always have their dance of the decades before band banquet. But he played too much of it... then he moved on to old music which sucked for dancing when it first came out. I left after a while and literally waited an hour for him to start playing something good so I could go back in. Then he played more swing music. WTF. There was a little bit of drama going on during the dance, and I tried my best to be supportive of my friends. It all worked out, at least in the short term, however. I'm sure it'll resolve itself soon.

After alternating between dancing (during the rare occassion a good song came on) and chilling outside the ball room, the dance ended and we all left. Afterparty at Jeff's! That was fun. I dropped off some kids there then went home to take a shower because one of my pet peeves is feeling all gross and in need of a shower. Then I came back and hung out with people. We watched people playing Rock Band. I still don't really understand why people like that game and Guitar Hero so much. They don't really appeal to me. Later I jumped on the trampoline with Matt, Lara, and Taylor. Taylor came up with the freakiest story about some little Mexican ghost girl who was going to come up from under the trampoline and stab us up the ass. Then of course Matt had to freak us out various times hahaha. The rest of the time I was awake consisted of playing Apples to Apples and just talking. I think I fell asleep around 5? I can't remember specifically.

When we all got up again around... 8, I think, we just watched really freaky YouTube videos and talked some more. And now my tiredness is getting the best of me and I don't really feel like blogging about the rest haha. Whatevs, I'm a 2nd semester senior about to graduate. I'm allowed to be lazy and not finish things.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Band Banquet Blues... literally

So today was a giant mess of driving, shopping, more driving, and financial hardships. Well not really financial hardships, but problems having to do with accessing my money.

First off, after school I went to After Hours with Katrina to look for a blue vest... no luck, all I found were funky ones with a higher price tag. Alright, that settled it down to either blue or pink from Men's Wearhouse. Then we went to Michael's really quick because I needed some large paper to make myself extra space for Yearbook signings since the $3 extras they sell are so overpriced and bad quality anyways. And I got a frame for a special reason, one you'll all find out about during Band Banquet. So after I come home and the Mesa Verde traffic dies down, I head off to Men's Wearhouse. Right before the exit onto Mira Mesa Boulevarde, I realize that I left my 10% off coupon at home. Eff my life. Sooo I just go the store and have them hold the vest for me since I'll be coming back. I'm almost out of gas so I head to the base to get some. It's $4.22, ew. I paid with what I had left on one of my debit cards, which turned out to be almost a full tank anyways. Yay for that.

Then my brother calls and asks me to get something from the commissary. I go to the Marine Exchange first to look at shoes. I was looking for blue or white Converses... their idea of white is apparently creamy yellow. Not what I want, so I go to the commissary, get the goods, and head to the self-checkout. Apparently my PIN number on my other debit card doesn't work because I kept trying to buy something with the wrong PIN a couple of months ago and I have to reset it still. Strange how that works, since that same card still worked when I didn't have to enter my PIN. Well, I guess that makes sense, but whatever. Soooo I go to the Navy Federal Credit Union office on base and try to reset my PIN before I pay the $60 for the vest and more for the shoes once I find them. Turns out that they can't reset my PIN on the mini card I just got in the mail since my real one got glue all over it. Now I have to wait for them to send me a new big card, then I can reset it. That'll be after next week, so I'm pretty much screwed in the debit card area since my other card has like $5 in it.

Alright, time to head home and eat dinner. After I grab the Men's Wearhouse coupon, I go back to buy my vest. No problems there, and it turns out that the vest is 50% off like it said on the website, plus my additional 10% off from the coupon I got in my e-mail. Yay! I'm a happy guy. So I go to Shoe Pavilion in Carmel Mountain to try to find Converses again. No luck. They didn't have the right shade of blue in the men's section and they didn't have the right size in the women's section. I don't understand why they don't just put all of the Converses together since they're unisex anyways. On my way back to my car I decided to try at Ross, just for kicks. Of course there's nothing good there. The only thing close were these really weird blue Vans made out of some grassy material. Apparently Vans is going green? Good for them, but those shoes were fugly as hell. I looked around in the men's section just for fun too, and I actually found some good stuff among the ugly poor people stuff. I decided to buy a new outfit since I reached my first milestone by dropping 5 lbs (YESSS!) and according to the store's tags, I saved $50 off of retail price. I thoroughly checked the clothes to make sure they're not factory mistakes, just extra stock. Katrina, you'd be proud of my shopping skills!

Sooooo I get home to make sure everything fits well since the dressing rooms at Ross are gross and these are the first Small sized clothes I've bought since like... elementary school? Haha. They all fit fine (again, YESSSS!) and dandy, but when I tried on my vest, my mom noticed there's a stain on it. You can't really notice it up close, but from far away it's very clear. Great. So I call the Mira Mesa store and ask where the other nearest location is that carries the same color and size since I know that was their last one. The nearest one with a Medium is Clairemont, but the nearest one with a Small is in El Cajon. My turquoise vest from last year's banquet is pretty loose on me now, so I want to go with a small. That means going to El Cajon. Luckily, and finally I get to use that word, my brother will be in the El Cajon area tomorrow so I'll have him exchange it for me. I called up the place and had them hold it for me. Well that was a lot of work for 3 items of clothing, but it's worth it I'm sure. I'll go to great lengths to look my best, within reason of course.

:]

After I shower maybe I'll talk about prom? Maybe.

Sounds good, right? On my way out Corey calls out to me and I see he's there with Jeff and Kim. It was cool running into them since I just saw them at the band room last after school.