Tuesday, November 14, 2006

A Couple Things

I know I should continue on my (good) homework trend that I've had this week, but I wanted to present you with a few things that I feel you should know or be aware of:

- I added a new blog to my "Blogs I Frequent". Mike's Bloggity Blog Blob was found by me via Entertainment Weekly's online page. They asked this blogger (since he was a self-proclaimed STAR WARS virgin) to watch the six STAR WARS films back-to-back-to-back-to-you get the idea on Cinemax. He did and presented his report and it now appears on their web page. A big RAMBLER'S congratulations goes out to Mike from Canada - that's cool! I am now going to visit his blog frequently and look forward to what he has to say (it's mostly entertainment-based). Keep up the good work sir!

- Also on Mike's blog today was a video from his friend Travis and it was really top notch. If you have ten minutes, and you enjoy cool fight choreography, then watch this:



- I registered for classes for the Spring 2007 semester, my last at ol' Tumbleweed Tech. I got all of my classes just fine and they complete my work at AVC, so I should be good to go to CSUN in August. Cards are starting to fall, stars are beginning to align, or maybe all my work is just starting to pay off, but it seems that I will, in fact, be out of the Antelope Valley in NINE MONTHS! I'm excited, scared, and filled with every other form of emotion possible. Wish me luck and I will of course be keeping you up to date.

- Basketball has begun (the coaching) and I now have very little free time. As I did in the waning weeks of last semester, my blogs will become less and less frequent, but come mid-December, I should be back to my 3-4 a week. Hang in there!

And. . . .

- Friday is going to be a great, great day because I will be WITH (thanks to Alex for picking up my blunder ha ha) Heather and we're going to see HAPPY FEET at Arclight in the Dome. Nothing could be better cuz she will be happy :D

Hope you all have a great week -

I'll talk to ya when I talk to ya,

JUSTIN

P.S. And to deal with my struggling (2-5) SUNS, I found this video from two All-Star Weekends ago - it's from the Dunk contest that Amare should have won. Enjoy!

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Swinging Sans Sleep and the Stupid Suns

Who doesn't love alliteration?!?!?!?

That my friends is just two things (actually there are three topics in that title) that I would like to relay to you about my last five days and six nights (I posted Friday evening with a long night in front of me). It's been hella busy and it's been hella fun (a hella shout out to my Northern Cali friends wherever they are!)!!!

So you ready??? I sure hope so! Notice that this is not a GRAB-BAG, but the possibility that this will be non-chronological is very, very likely. But stick around, cuz you never know!!!

And here we go:

- I'll start with some Youtube videos. Enjoy!

Miracle Shot



I Know Them (and it's a parody by the way)



Weird Al's new video ("White and Nerdy")



For Heather (one more week baby!)



Now that you've enjoyed that, let me tell you about my weekend. Holy crap!!!

- Friday night I went to the Laugh Factory. Funny as always. Well, most of it. Tom Papa was first and he was very funny. Then another guy who was weird buy only kinda funny. Then two acts in a row that were terrible. Then Mike Marino, whom I have seen before and thought was hilarious!!! This guy rocks! All in all it was a fun experience. However, I didn't get home until 0200 and didn't fall asleep til 0300. Why was that a probelm? Well. . .

- I was up at 0630 on Saturday morning to begin getting ready for Manny and Jenn's wedding. We had to be at Jenn's house at 0800 for pictures. We were there and did barely anything the entire time! I was a bit perturbed, but hung in there just fine (I wish I had been bribed like my brother - he was the ring bearer and if he was good then my mom told him he could get CURIOUS GEORGE! I want a movie too!!! haha). The wedding began at 1130 and was over lickity split. The reception lasted almost four hours and was absolutely awesome. We danced so much - it was great! Heather and I even swing danced for the first time since our big performance so long ago. It made her day and I was glad to do it :D It was a blast all and all. Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Manny Ferniza - Best of luck and I hope Cabo is treating you well!

- Sunday was the Chargers game. Wow. What an experience that was!!! We had pretty decent seats (on the opponent's side of the field, 35-yard line, lower level) except for the fact that the sun was beating on us for the entire first half! It felt like it was on me, it was so hot! The game was most fun in the fourth quarter when the sun went behind the stadium walls. Then it was cool :D The Chargers won but it was a close game, which made it even better. Lots of stories from that journey - maybe I'll divulge later. . . but my picks were terrible! I went 7-7!!! I now sit one game behind two guys tied for third. I'm close. . .

- The week so far has been ok. Lots of homework for the Rambler here. After tomorrow's classes are over, I will only have four weeks of school left! I'm very excited!

- Bowling on Monday night was awesome!!! Not only did my average for the night (159) exceed my usual average (150), I got a new personal record! In an early game (I wanna say it was the third or fourth game) my scorecard looked like this: 7 /, 9 /, X, X, X, X, 9 /, S8 1, X, 9 / 7 - - - Anyway, that was good for a 216 which beat my old high by seven pins! I only had one open frame (that split in the seventh frame pissed me off so much!) and I had five strikes. I was stoked!!!

- I have continued reading THANK YOU FOR SMOKING and am now almost halfway through it. It's really good - I wanna watch the movie again!

- And finally, I officially am in a state of depression thanks to the horrendous 1-4 start by my Phoenix Suns. We have now lost to the Lakers by 8, Jazz by 4, Clippers by 6, and Spurs by 5 (in overtime). It's terrible!!! We held leads of nine or more in all of those games and we cannot finish strong at all! Boris Diaw is bothering me the most right now. Not only did he come back this season with quite a few extra pounds (put down the Twinkies buddy!) but he seems scared to do anything he did last season. His 18-foot jumper that was automatic last year has been attempted maybe three times, even when he's open. He is scared! What the hell Boris!!! Nash is doing his thing (20 points/12 assists) and Barbosa has been consistent (almost 20 a game) but no one else has been any sort of consistent. They need to get their act together fast!

Well I'm exhausted all of a sudden and am gonna hit the hay. Got a History test in the morning (o, I took a Bio test today and I have no idea how I did - sound familiar?) to study for when I wake up. O, one more thing: A new issue of THE EXAMINER came out this week - AVCers! Pick up your copy - it's awesome again!

Hopefully I can blog again before this weekend, but no promises - sorry folks! Justin's busy!

Until that next post,

JUSTIN

Friday, November 03, 2006

A Kinda Grab-Bag: The Rápido Version

Ok, so it's been since Monday that I've posted. I'm sorry.

You see, this has been my "vacation" week in that I have not worked at JC this entire week. So I've been trying to get school stuff done as well as have some good old fashioned fun before I get into my last five weeks of school. And I have done just that. So, here's a quick recap of my week with much more detail coming this weekend after even more events (Manny/Jenn wedding, Laugh Factory, Chargers game) go down. Enjoy!

- Saw SAW III on Monday night. It underwhelmed. Yes, it was a good tie-in to the first two films, but from what I remember (I only saw the first two once - on the last two Halloweens respectively) I was much more impressed with them. This was a fun horror film, though. If you saw and liked the first two, there is no reason to think you won't like this one. (Grade: C+)

- Bowling on Monday night was just ok. I did not bowl very well (my average that night was 130 instead of my usual 150) and neither did Chris (he barely averaged over 100). However, the reason that we were ok with it all was that it was free!!! We made friends a couple weeks ago with some guys who work there and since we were cool (I guess) they offered to sign off our games since we come every Monday night. So we got just under $30 of bowling fun for free on Monday night! Score!

- School was blah on Tuesday because I was so excited about going to the SUNS/LAKERS game. I met George down at STAPLES (the Staples Center, for those who don't know) around 1730 and we grabbed some dinner at the FOX Sports Box place - it was ok. We watched some of the BULLS/HEAT game (a great blowout by the BULLS - it was awesome!) and then headed in to find our seats. They were great (Nosebleeds, center court, row 2 - really good though) and we had a blast at the game. SUNS lost 114-106 - more on my SUNS on Sunday. Thanks George - I had a great time and I can't wait for March (more on that on Sunday too).

- Wednesday was usual (Biology and English) and then I spent most of the night watching my SUNS get their first victory of the season against the Los Angeles Clippers. Not a great day, but at least my team won!

- I slept in on Thursday so I missed Journalism and went just for History. After that, I went home and worked on some homework before Aimee's last volleyball game of the year. They won. She had a great year (for a rookie!) and I'm very proud of her! After her game, I came home and got ready for my exciting night at MULLIGAN'S! Justin set up another bachelor thingy (only guys though) for Manny at the family fun center. We paid $13 to do whatever we wanted as much as we wanted. If you have six guys at a place like that, I don't think there's any doubt where they would end up: the GO-KARTS! There was no one else there, and the guy running it was super cool, so we rode them for probably a total of an hour or more. He would also let us go for up to twenty minutes straight since there was no one else in line! It was an absolute thrill and I can't wait to do that again sometime!

- After Mulligan's, we went back to their house and chilled. I beat Manny at MADDEN 2004 (the first time we ever met he absolutely destroyed me at that game and I was left with no self-confidence - well, since I've been practicing recently, I challenged him to a rematch to regain my dignity) 80-29! I think I got my dignity back! Then we played poker and I won :D A good night for me you could say! I didn't get home until 0200 but went right to sleep.

- I slept in until almost noon today and didn't do much (I watched last night's OFFICE episode though) until 1600. That was the wedding rehearsal. We did that and then went to TEXAS CATTLE CO. for the dinner part. It was yummy! I'm heading out to Hollywood tonight to go to the LAUGH FACTORY with Heather, Chels, and their friend Kira who is California visiting from New York! Should be fun - -

- Recent purchases: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 3 and TOP GUN on DVD; THANK YOU FOR SMOKING book, new Chuck Pahalniuk book (guy who wrote FIGHT CLUB)

- Football Picks for Week 9 (home team in CAPS) - sorry I don't have time to give you blurbs about each game, but I will provide my forecast:

Atlanta over DETROIT - Barely Breathing Easy

Cincinnati over BALTIMORE - Nailbiter

Dallas over WASHINGTON - Barely Breathing Easy

Green Bay over BUFFALO - Walk in the Park

NEW YORK GIANTS over Houston - Walk in the Park

ST. LOUIS over Kansas City - Nailbiter

CHICAGO over Miami - Walk in the Park (Note: I predicted a 38-9 victory last week for the Bears over the 49ers and it ended up being 41-10. I'm incredible!)

New Orleans over TAMPA BAY - Barely Breathing Easy

JACKSONVILLE over Tennessee - Walk in the Park

Minnesota over SAN FRANCISCO - Barely Breathing Easy

SAN DIEGO over Cleveland - Walk in the Park (I'll be there!)

Denver over PITTSBURGH - Nailbiter

Indianapolis over NEW ENGLAND - Nailbiter

SEATTLE over Oakland - Barely Breathing Easy

- More Christmas gift ideas:

Anything SUNS (gift cards to their online store, t-shirts, jerseys, license plate thingys, anything)

- And finally, a video for you to enjoy:



Happy Friday!!!

Goodnight,

JUSTIN