Wednesday, April 30, 2003
cheap bowling tonight! woo-hoo!!

posted at 7:08 PM

Monday, April 28, 2003

this weekend was a pretty good one. starting off w/ the party on friday. it got pretty crazy, what w/ the cops and hellicopters and all. it was pretty ridiculous if you think about it...all of that was so completely unnecessary. but you gotta give it up to the hosts for getting all that attention. but even though it was all pretty cool, it kinda sucked that they broke up the party so early. it was only like 12:30!!! things had barely even gotten started! but oh well. afterwards, some of us went to del taco, laughed cuz wakerly almost got into a fight, then went back to the house (after dropping off some people, including this random guy whose name was actually guy, who somehow ended up hanging out w/ our group). pat, brian, and wakerly left soon after that, though, cuz jen had already passed out. then me and nicki crashed in our respective boyfriends' rooms, while they went off w/ some of the neighbors to ihop. and that was friday.

then saturday, i got up ridiculously early to go get my tires checked out, cuz i got a flat this week (yes another one! sucks, don't it?). but anyway, seems that they were able to patch up the problem ones, instead of me having to get new ones. so *whew*. hopefully that'll hold out, cuz i have any more problems w/ them, i'll probably have to get new ones anyway. but i'm not gonna worry about it. but the reason i did that so early was because me, rick, and pat were gonna go to the festival of books at ucla. and so we did. there was a lot of traffic, though, so we got there like at 2. we saw sandra cisneros do a poetry reading, and man, she was really good! she was the one i most wanted to see, and i'm glad i wasn't disappointed. i totally woulda bought one of her books and had her sign it if the line wasn't so long. but yeah, i've always liked her writing, cuz there's just always been so much for me to relate to in there. good stuff, dude. then we went to see michael crichton for a bit, and that was just alright. he kinda went off on his weird scientific theories, which were kind of interesting, but ultimately not very captivating (at least, not in that setting). but after about 25 minutes or so, we left to go watch the rock bottom remainders, which is this band made up of all these famous writers (stephen king's in it, although he wasn't there saturday, but there's also amy tan, dave barry, matt groening, and some others that i forget), but it was really really entertaining. they're basically a cover band, and there's just so many of them on stage that there's a lot of energy up there, and it was really fun. matt groening had a really funny dance that me and rick were trying to imitate. but then when they were done, the festival was pretty much over for that day, and we all hung out in westwood for a bit to try to avoid traffic, although there was still a bunch we had to fight when we did decide to leave. then we dropped off pat, then me and rick took a bit of a nap, then we went out w/ ian to see city of god. and it was really really god. i highly recommend it. it was brazil's entry into the academy awards this year (i don't know if it won or not, i don't think so, though), and it's basically about the slums of brazil and all the gang violence that goes on, and the ultimate repetitiveness of it all. and even though the themes are so serious, it was really entertaining to watch. and later i found out that it was over two hours long, but sitting through it, i did not feel it at all, cuz it was so engrossing. but anyway, i kept thinking about it all day yesterday and today, and the story and the images are still so vivid, so that's why i know it was good. really damn good! then afterwards we went to eat at norms, cuz we were passing by and none of us had ever been there. hehe, it was funny cuz the girl's bathroom was pink and the boys bathroom was blue. oh, and i also discovered what a bad sense of direction ian has, cuz he was driving and he was taking all the wrong turns!! haha, it was pretty funny. and that was saturday.

then sunday, after sleeping in and lounging a bit at rick's, i came home and lounged some more over here. ahhh...it was great! i pretty much came home, showered, and plopped myself in front of the tv. i rarely do that, so it's nice when i get a chance to. then i went to bed early and that was sunday.

now it's monday, and work is done, my belly's full, and my clothes are ironed. and now it's time to go to sleep again. goodnight!

posted at 10:13 PM

Monday, April 21, 2003

awww, so sad my long weekend is over!! how the hell did that happen? it totally didn't even seem any longer than a regular weekend. well, maybe it did a little bit, cuz i remember thinking to myself on saturday how cool it was that i still had a whole other day left, but then sunday just seemed to go by really really fast. oh well. i suppose now i can catch up on my sleep. hehe, it's funny cuz i know that i always say i'm gonna catch up on sleep on the weekends, but then i never do, cuz i like to stay up late w/ rick. =) oh man, he was cracking me up last night! of course, he was tickling me, but besides that. we were just being silly. ah, good times. he left my place at around 11:30 or 12, so it wasn't too too late, but it was prolly later than i shoulda been up, considering i had to get up at 6 this morning. totally worth it, tho. =) but that's why i plan on catching up on sleep tonight.

well, if lack of sleep is the sign of a good weekend, then this was a good one. i did kind of a lot, and it was pretty good times. thursday night was jen and jason's birthday sake bombing thing. friday i had a nice dinner w/ rick, then there was the skatebot party (the jello shots were good!!). oh, we also went to that one party on ellendale, but it was whatever. ian had given me, jen, and rick a ride over there, but we didn't stay very long. ian told us about his crazy airbag story (his airbags were just kinda hanging out of their little compartments). weird shit, man. then saturday, me, rick, and his friend kim went to old town pasadena for a matinee to see rabbit proof fence, which i really liked even though it was pretty sad and it made me cry. but i was expecting to, i suppose. after the movie, we found this cool cafe and had some good sandwhiches for lunch. then we went to check out her place, cuz she lives in a mortuary (or what used to be a mortuary, i should say). hehe, "the morch" she calls it. it was pretty cool. their living area is very nice and spacious and everything. the downstairs is where all the morch stuff is. there's an embalming room and like, a chapel, or whatever you call it where they hold the services. all of that's left empty, tho, cuz her and her roommates are just caretakers of this place until it's sold or whatever. she showed us this horror movie they shot there, which was pretty cool cuz you saw how they made this place look totally stereotypical (cobwebby and creepy and stuff), as opposed to how it normally is, just empty. and actually, almost cheery, even. at least from the outside. cuz the building is white w/ green trim. but that was a cool little visit. then that night, i joined the crew that went out to celebrate jen's birthday. we went to star shoes and the beauty bar in hollywood. i hadn't been to either before, but i think i liked star shoes better, if only for the fact that there was a dance floor there. also, tho, i think it was a slow night at the beauty bar. anyway, i had a pretty good time. i'm glad jen did, too, cuz it seemed that she was getting a bit down that others in our group didn't seem to be having all that much fun. but i think me and brian were pretty good about trying to tell her, you know, whatever, it's your birthday, you have a good time, don't worry about the others. and when we were at the beauty bar, john kept getting her free drinks, so i'm sure that helped. so after the bar kicked us out at closing, we went to eat, and on the way there, there was just a really freaky accident. this car was just driving really fast, perpendicular to traffic, if you can picture that, and it crashed into some newspaper thingies. and we were pretty close to it, which is why it probably seemed like a really bad accident, but by the time we drove that way again after we finished eating, the whole thing had been cleared up. so it probably wasn't as bad as we first thought, but just that it happened right in front of us was pretty freaky. anyway. sunday i went home for a little bit to visit my family, then came back to an awesome easter dinner that jordan had cooked. he had invited a few friends over, and i invited rick, and we had ourselves a good meal. rick stayed for a bit after (this was when all the silliness ensued), and then he left, and then i slept, and that was that.

posted at 7:39 PM

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

i was sitting at work today, and all of a sudden i found myself thinking about this book i wrote when i was in kindergarten. or i guess, a book i made is a better way to describe it, cuz it's not like i was writing a novel or anything in kindergarten, you know? anyway, it was this book i made about an elephant. and i had drawn all these pictures of this elephant and the words were dictated by me to my teacher, and there was no story, really, i just described what was in the pictures. and for the cover, i made a clay elephant, and painted it and everything. and i remember this book got some kind of award. there was some other kids in my school that got selected, too, and those of us that did got our books displayed somewhere. i can't really remember where. my parents probably would, though. maybe at some library somewhere, i dunno. the award was just like a ribbon or a certificate or something, but i thought it was pretty cool that it was on display and everything. and also that, if you think about it, i'm an award-winning writer!! heheh. at least, that's what i think now, cuz at the time i don't really think i knew what was going on. all i remember about that day was that my parents took me to this place (on a school day!! and just me, too, none of my sisters where there, now that i think about it) and there was all these books written by all these kids. i remember shaking hands w/ some older, probably important people, but i had no idea who they were. i think i remember my mom saying at some other point that the mayor was there, but i dunno. anyway, i got to wondering what ever happened to this book. i remember i got it back after it being on display or whatever. and i remember seeing it stashed away amongst my mom's collection of child pride objects (you know, like those hand prints that everyone seemed to make in school for mother's day, etc.). and i remember at one point, the clay elephant on the cover broke. and i think that was the last time i ever saw it. =( i suspect it might've gotten thrown away after that. sad.

so yeah, i was having all these thoughts, and then i thought, whoa, that is so random, how the hell did i get to thinking about this book i wrote in kindergarten? so i decided to retrace my thoughts. and it was pretty interesting doing that, cuz i totally came to the exact thing that triggered it all. the steps between thoughts were so perfectly clear, it was pretty crazy. but what happened was this: i was following up on a case at work, and i had to call this attorney whose last name was Parry. so i called this lady, and then i had to record my notes on this conversation. and i was writing her name, and i thought to myself, is parry right? or is it perry? and i had to look it up again. but yeah, it was parry. but then this got me thinking about the name perry, and then, i don't really know why, but i thought about how jen used to like this guy named perry. i think it was because he's the only perry that i really know of. so i was thinking about how jen used to like this perry guy, and then i remembered, oh yeah, he's one of the guys that she wrote a poem for (i've read them on her blog). and then i thought, wow, that must be pretty cool, getting inspired by someone to write a poem, or just create something like that. and then for whatever reason, i could picture rick saying something to me like, "man, why don't you ever write me any poems?" which is funny, cuz this is something i don't think rick would ever actually say. but i had that thought, and then the response in my head to him was some snide comment along the lines of, "dude, i made you a mixed cd, and i made you a book (my valentine's day present to him was this photo book thingie that i made), which is something that i've never done for anyone before!! what more do you fucking want?!?!" hehe. and then i thought about it, and i was like, yeah, those are really the only creative things that i've ever made. and then i thought, well, except for when i was a kid in elementary school. cuz then i remembered of all those arts and crafts things like the handprints, and the picture frames, and the macaroni necklaces, etc. and then i remembered, oh yeah, there was that elephant book, too. i wonder what ever happened to that? and that's how i got to thinking about my elephant book.

posted at 7:05 PM

Monday, April 14, 2003

i had the weirdest dream last night. oh my god, it was soooo fucking weird! i dreamt that i had written this book, and it was about god, or about "the afterworld" and what happens after death and stuff, something along those lines, but i'm not quite sure exactly what it encompassed. and at the same time my book came out, this other book came out about the same topic, only it had a different view of what happened, or what you were supposed to do, or of what was the right path, or whatever. and in the dream, the time had come to make a choice. and apparently the only choices were to believe what was in my book or to believe what was in this other book. and everyone had to choose which one they believed. it was like the end of the world or something, and you had to make a choice. and the weird thing was, that even in my dream, i had no idea what was in my book. i had no idea what exactly people had to choose from to believe. and if people asked me about it, i wouldn't say anything about the content, i didn't try to defend the stance that was in the book, all i would say is "you have to make your own choice." oh, and another thing, was that apparently, the easier choice to make was to choose the other book, and not mine, cuz it seemed like a lot more people were choosing the other book. and even i didn't really know what the right choice was, which is why i kept saying that you had to make your own choice, and choose what feels right for you. and a really unsettling part of the dream was that my youngest sister, crystal, had decided that she believed the other book, and since my whole stance on this was that you had to make your own choice, i just let her go. and then later i was reunited w/ the rest of my family (i'm not sure where they came from), but then they were all asking me where's crystal, where's crystal? and then i got really really sad and panicky and i kept saying, oh my god, why did i let her go? and even my family was all like, why didn't you make her stay? and it was just really really sad, but then in the end, she showed up, and i guess sided w/ my book, and then we were all together again. and then at the end, there was this movie, like it seemed like someone had made a movie about these books, but it was just kinda playing out there, like a projection, just everywhere. only it wasn't like you were watching, you just kinda saw what was happening in this movie. and i guess a good way to describe it was that it was like a mass vision, everyone was seeing what was happening in this movie at the same time. and it was totally silent. the whole world had gone quiet, and the movie itself was silent. and all it was really, was images. at first, there were all these images of like, empty chairs, and lots full of empty cars, and then they showed all these shoes, like all the people were gone and all that was left was the shoes, empty shoes. and another image that i remember very clearly was these surfboards on a beach, standing up in the sand. just kinda left there, no owners, islands on an empty beach. and then after that, all of a sudden, you see lots of people, and they're all brushing their teeth. and in the end, this is all supposed to mean, that in fact, my book was the right choice. the first images were supposed to represent the emptiness of the wrong choice, i suppose, and then the people brushing their teeth showed my book was the right one because i guess i talked about it in the book, and it was supposed to represent something about cleansing (why the teeth, i dunno). in the dream, it was supposed to have been in the bible that before you went into heaven or wherever it is that you go, you went through this cleansing process of brushing your teeth. and that was pretty much it. nothing about what actually happened once this choice was made.

it was all so strange. and i'm actually really surprised that i remembered all this w/ so much detail, cuz most of the time, i barely even remember having dreams, much less what they were about, and even less so remembering all these crazy details. but yeah, this was definitely up there in terms of weird.

posted at 9:09 PM

Sunday, April 13, 2003

oh yay!!! chris called me today! what happened was that i got an e-mail from him this week, a mass e-mail actually, w/ his new info, cuz apparently, he just recently moved. and so when i got that, i e-mailed him back, just a short one, saying congrats on the new place and just asking him what was up w/ him and stuff. i didn't know if he'd reply or not, cuz of all the, you know, stuff. but he called me, and we chatted for a pretty long time just catching up and stuff. he seems to be doing well. and he seemed totally cool to me, i didn't really sense any tension at all, thank god! altho, i kinda got the feeling that he was subtly trying to find out if i was still going out w/ rick or not, cuz like, he asked if i still hung out w/ the orange house kids, and there was another question that he asked that was also general, but like, w/ undertones. i forgot now. maybe something like, "are your friends all doing good?" which i thought was a bit weird, cuz he really only knows like two of my friends fairly well (emily and jen), so why wouldn't he just ask about them directly? but i dunno, it could all be in my head. but anyway, since he asked general questions, i answered generally. but w/ enough detail to show that yes, my life is still very much entrenched w/ all the orange house ppl, therefore putting the implication there, that yes, i'm still dating rick, but w/out ever having to say it. especially since he didn't ask. so yeah, i guess that aspect of things is still a bit weird, but everything else seems cool. when we were saying goodbye, he even asked me if i still had his number, and was like, "give me a call anytime," which i thought was really cool. it was just nice being able to have this conversation w/ him, cuz i was just thinking to myself (probably when i got his e-mail earlier this week), how it was so sad how i've never been able to stay friends w/ anyone i've dated (except for rick, but i don't know if that counts cuz we ended up getting back together, anyway. there's tyler, too, i suppose, but i don't think a few times hanging out really counts as dating. and plus, we were always more friends than anything else). but i've always had this hope w/ chris, and it looks like we just might be able to work through all this and make it work! that makes me happy. =)

on another note, last night was such a strange night! emily invited me to go w/ her, adam, jen, and kevin to this party in los feliz. and adam's brother, gabriel, ended up hanging out w/ us, too. so we all go, and it turns out that it's at the old grand royal studios, and it was alright. i now know what they mean when they say the "los feliz hip, trendy crowd." but yeah, we saw this one band play called dirty little secret, who were alright, altho i think we all agreed the singer's voice was, well, not alright. i was really enjoying myself at one of the other rooms, tho, where there was this dj spinning some pretty cool, like 80's synth is the best way i can describe it. i didn't recognize any of the songs, but i was digging it. it was really cool in there, too, cuz there was this lighted up thing w/ kinda arcade designs on it. it just looked really cool. but yeah, we got bored after a while, and then we left. stopped by adam's place for a bit, then decided to go to fred 62. and that's when it got all crazy. you can read about it in more detail on jen's blog. basically, emily made a big scene in her drunken state, which ended up kinda awkward, but for the most part, i thought it was pretty funny. i have to say that emily running down the street, yelling out "don't touch me," when no one was actually touching her, was hilarious. all in all, i don't think anyone really cared about these drunken scenes. i think jen was kinda embarrased, but she took in stride. i mean, what else can you do when someone's drunk, you know? oh, and the other thing that made it a really strange night was how this random homeless guy comes up and starts talking to me, kevin, and gabriel when we were outside fred 62 (jen and adam were inside trying to deal w/ emily). and i don't know why, but kevin decides to tell this guy that he's my pimp (!). and i was just like, oh, haha, funny joke, kevin. but he keeps going on about it!! he's like, "c'mon, let's make some money," and he just thinks this is the most hilarious thing in the world. but in the end, what can you do but laugh, you know? man, that kevin's a weird one. but yeah, that was the night. i got home a little past 4am. and now my sunday's almost over! nooooooooooooooo!! =(

posted at 6:23 PM

Monday, April 07, 2003

doh! thwarted!! this girl from work, clara, had invited me to go to a space twins concert tonight at the house of blues, cuz she got free tickets somehow. but we get there, and turns out it was canceled! or actually postponed til may 6th. so oh well. we might try to go again then. she said i'm more than welcome to keep the ticket. so we just might do that. but anyway, we get there, and instead of the young, indie crowd i was expecting, i see a kind of older crowd. a lot of people my age, but then a lot of people that seemed significantly older. and then i see kiis fm banners up, and i'm just like, what?!? turns out that it was some record release party for some band/group/person/whatever called boomkat. i say it like that cuz i have no idea if boomkat is just the one girl who was the singer, or if the name refers to the whole band. i'm guessing it's probably just the girl. but it was interesting, to say the least. we stayed for one song, pretty much, and then just left. it was something that i definitely would never have gone to, even though it was free. some kind of pop act, i guess, but w/ a dj, and it seemed to me that she had one of those "i'm blonde and cute, but w/ an attitude" persona going on. she kinda reminded me of avril lavigne, but a little older, and sadly, not as talented. and she had an aggravating voice. to me, anyway. but at least clara and i had somewhat of a good time ripping on it. the one good thing from all this was that i got to come home a lot earlier than i was expecting, and so i get to sleep more!!! yay!

posted at 11:21 PM

Sunday, April 06, 2003

wow, this is so weird!! i found this random guy talking about my blog through my blog tracker thingie, cuz i guess some people wandered over to it through his blog, and so i followed the link back. but how freakin' weird!! it just does not get any more random than that. i think the weirdest thing for me is how my blog is being referred to in such a, for lack of better word, academic context. but yeah, it was pretty weird finding this article, but i dunno, i still got kind of a kick out of it. i thought it was funny how in the beginning of the second section, he refers to me as "our young friend jessica." but anyway, me and rick got to talking about how this whole blog thing is such a can of worms. there could be so many people out there reading this that i don't know about, coming upon it searching for such random things as: "USC basketball" pictures; laptop, spilled orange juice, clean; "entertainment jobs" and "temp agencies"; first gyno exam; seattle souveniers; and charles shaw wine!! hehe, that laptop/orange juice one made me feel pretty good...at least i'm not the only dumbass who's ever done that! but yeah, rick was saying how it kinda freaked him out how much all these strangers could potentially know about me and, because of all his appearances on here, him. but i was saying how that didn't really bother me as much as people who i could potentially know, having found my blog through search terms that hit a little too close to home (orange house, kscr, and kyla and jen-which was by far the freakiest, etc.). cuz w/ the random strangers, whatever, i'll never meet them, so what do i care what they know? but w/ these other people, i could conceivably run into them some day, and they would know so much more about me than i would about them. it's a vulnerability issue, i guess. anyway, lots of food for thought w/ these here blogs.

i think i'm very close to resolving this car thing w/ the neighbors. woo-hoo! well, i guess it's been mostly my fault that it's dragged out so long cuz i haven't been on top of this shit, been putting off calling the insurance company and such. but whatever, my reasoning was that they waited so long to get to me in the first place, i can certainly take my time to get back to them. but anyway, i will call the insurance company tomorrow to ask how much my rates would go up if i reported this incident (i already called the claims department today, which couldn't answer my question, but gave me the number to the place that could), and as soon as i have the answer to that, i can call the neighbor lady again and either take her offer (if it's still on the table) or tell her that i'm just going to file a claim. there is one other option, i suppose: paying the $700 to get their car repaired, but i seriously doubt that'll happen. cuz a) i simply can't afford it, and b) i really don't think my insurance rates would go up that much, considering that's how much my insurance cost me for the whole year. i'm thinking that at this point, i'm really leaning towards just reporting it, and letting the insurance deal w/ it, cuz right now that seems like the simplest way. i can just wash my hands of it and let it be done. if i did anything other than that, i would have to deal w/ drawing up some kind of release form and getting it notarized and basically covering my ass so that they can't try to rip me off down the line by saying that i never paid them or something (not that they would, but still...like i said, gotta cover my ass). and then the biggest thing, of course (and i think i've said this before), is that the whole point of insurance is for situations like these! to pay anything out of pocket seems a bit ludicrous. it's like, why bother paying for insurance in that case, you know? regardless, the end seems near, and amen to that! =)

posted at 8:38 PM

Tuesday, April 01, 2003

oh, one more thing. i thought of this as i was preparing for bed (ie:brushing my teeth and taking my pill). they got us during PMS!! at least me and jen, i think emily may have already had her period. they're lucky we're not being more bitchy about this whole april fool's thing. did you hear that, rick?!? lucky!

posted at 10:43 PM

ah, april fool's. rick and michael got me, jen, and emily back for our practical joke last year. well, sort of, anyway. they couldn't really get emily cuz they don't have access to her place like they do for me and jen. they basically took all of mine and jen's clothes from our closets (when we weren't home) and switched them, so jen has all my clothes and i have some of hers. emily has the rest of jen's stuff, apparently. oh, and jen also has my alarm clock and i have her phone. so yeah, haha, good try guys...but ours was still better!! =P to their credit, though, i think this woulda been a lot funnier to us all if we weren't expecting it. but as it was, we knew that they'd probably try something to get us back, and so we've been on alert. and also, we just set the bar so high last year, how could they even come close? hehe. *pats self on back* (yes, someone has a mighty high opinion of herself!) =) oh, one more thing...on my calendar, on the april 1st square, rick wrote "free foo fighters show," in reference to our joke from last year. hehe, i thought that was a nice touch. the only thing now is getting all our stuff back. =( grrrr...i'm trying to be a good sport and not letting it bother me. oh well.

anyway, not much else going on in life. did the saturday night sake thing at orange house this weekend, which was lots of fun. seven sake bombs i think the final count was! went hiking w/ bob finally on sunday, then went over w/ him to the knitting factory, where rick, lawrence, and pat met us and bob got us all into the rahzel show for free. yay bob! i really liked the opening act (they were called lifesavas), and i liked rahzel, too, but i was sooooo tired when he was on. at times, i think i may have fallen asleep while standing up!! it took all i had to not just plop myself down and conk out! the show ran late, too, which is why i only got about 4 and a half hours of sleep that night (cuz of having to go to work so early and all), and why i've been so tired thus far this week. that and plus i've been sick. cold and such, altho i'm mostly recovered now. mornings are still a little hard. eh. hopefully i'll have enough energy tomorrow to get my ass over to orange house to swap mine and jen's stuff. i guess i have to, cuz i won't have anything to wear to work otherwise!

anyway, the only other thing is the car stuff w/ the neighbors. last time i talked to them (tuesday, when i wrote the last blog entry), the lady suggested that instead of calling my insurance company, i pay part of the money ($300) and then help her out for a few hours for a couple of weeks helping her look after her baby. mighty weird, eh? but i dunno, i guess it's an alternative. i asked her to put something down in writing so i could look it over, but she hasn't gotten back to me. oh well. i still plan on calling my insurance company, tho, if only to find out how much my rates would go up if i reported this. i have to see which way is more beneficial for me, of course.

and, doh! it's past my bedtime again. =( someday i will catch up on my sleep!!



posted at 10:27 PM