So far, I've gotten into Sac State and UC Davis, and have been rejected by only UC Santa Barbara. That's 2/3, or .667 batting average. Pretty freaking good if you ask me, although if I compare it to how it was when I applied to college in high school, I only got into 2 out of the 6, which comes out to a .333 average. I guess I'm just psyched about it finally being baseball season again, I'm not exactly sure.
I'm still waiting on Berkeley, which is supposed to send out decisions on Friday, but I'm not really worried to really anxious at this point. I'm in at UCD, which for some reason, was the only one I truly really cared about. Something tells me that even if I got in at Berkeley, I would still choose Davis over it. How bizarre...
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Listen to the music
A 70s Ventura Barney Kessel copy, an imitation of a Gibson guitar of the same name.
It took my uncle a whole year to finish it, but it's finally done.
You see, a friend of mine gave me this guitar for my 20th birthday. It was in absolutely putrid shape at that point. She kept it in her garage for a good part of the year, without a case. Before that, her dad (the original owner) kept it in storage for a good long while as well, out of the case. I'm not exactly sure why they were so hell-bent on destroying this guitar, but they pretty much succeeded.
When I first got this guitar, it had the wrong kind of strings on it (someone somehow stretched piano wire on it), the electronics were all shot (the pick-ups were pretty much fried), the jack somehow found it's way loose and was rattling around inside, and the neck was pretty much unplayable.
Well, somehow, my uncle go it back to at least playable shape. He replaced the pick-ups with some Epiphone ones that work and have a great warmth to them, he rewired everything so that it actually plays, he fixed the bend in the neck, and overall just cleaned the poor soul up. It is now it pretty respectable condition, although there is still a lot of work I would like done on it.
I'm considering taking it to a real luthier, but for now, as long as it plays, I guess I can deal with it.
Maybe I'll get my first gig sometime soon. Who knows?
Monday, April 19, 2010
Picnic Day, 2010
I'm on the fence about drinking. I guess I'm just not a fan of it.
You see, a few days ago now was the annual Davis tradition of Picnic Day. For years, the only thing I really knew of it was the cute little parade that marches through downtown. As a kid, this was the most bitchin' thing about Davis, because when the floats would trot on by, we would spray the ones we liked with silly string. As we got older, some of my friends would spray the floats with water guns. Eventually they outlawed silly string, not because of the people in the floats complaining, but because planners found that cleaning up the string was way too much of a hassle...
Anyway, once we got even older, we realized that the real reason so many people converged on Davis that day was because of all the crazy parties that would go on at the frat houses and bars. As a teenager, this was a mild curiosity, looking on at possible analogs of myself as the flopped along from bar to bar, hitting on any piece of ass they saw along the way. In my mind I was thinking, will I really be that way when I am of that age?
Well, I guess not, and thankfully so. I can count the number of alcoholic drinks I've had on one hand, and quite frankly I don't really plan on making that number grow exponentially, even though I turned 21 this past January.
To be even more frank, the novelty of even watching people drink and flop around wears thin after 3 years of college. As me and my girlfriend were riding our bikes to the parade at around 10 in the morning of this past Picnic Day, we must have passed by at least 3 houses where people were already playing beer pong. Is the only this day exists is for people to have an excuse to drink? Maybe it's because I haven't really let loose in my life, some friends of mine would probably say, but I don't really feel the need to let loose in that way. I want to be in control of my actions. I am afraid of what I would do if I were drunk.
I don't know if I will come off as an asshole or something, but one other thing about the drinking part of Picnic Day that annoys the hell out of me is how it brings all of these totally douche-bag-ish people to Davis who I know, I know! don't even go to UCD. There was this group of absolutely sketch-ass mother fuckers who set up camp in the middle of Central Park as me and my girlfriend were leaving downtown. Maybe they were just having a good time, but from what I heard from the cops later on was that quite a few groups, probably them included, go kind of rowdy and tazers were deployed on some people. While as an advocate for civil rights and everything, sometimes some people have it coming.
What this rant is really trying to get at is that even though I such easy access to alcohol, that even though quite a few of my friends are total drunkards and would totally love it if I "loosened up" and knocked back a few, I don't feel the need to at all. It's weird, really. Something inside of me is saying that "what would be the harm?" While the other, much bigger side of me, is saying "don't betray your beliefs." I'm not talking about religious beliefs, I'm just talking about the belief I have that I don't need alcohol to be a "cool" person.
I am so glad that me and my girlfriend still had fun at Picnic Day without drinking, or even getting near a single drop of alcohol. Granted, the drunks walking around that day were worth a chuckle or two. But I just hope that at least some of them can see that life doesn't have to be enjoyed in a haze where you don't really remember what you did last night.
I am no crazy religious conservative asking for temperance, I'm just a person who doesn't feel the need to drink alcohol.
This picture pretty much sums of Picnic Day; drunkards everywhere...
You see, a few days ago now was the annual Davis tradition of Picnic Day. For years, the only thing I really knew of it was the cute little parade that marches through downtown. As a kid, this was the most bitchin' thing about Davis, because when the floats would trot on by, we would spray the ones we liked with silly string. As we got older, some of my friends would spray the floats with water guns. Eventually they outlawed silly string, not because of the people in the floats complaining, but because planners found that cleaning up the string was way too much of a hassle...
Anyway, once we got even older, we realized that the real reason so many people converged on Davis that day was because of all the crazy parties that would go on at the frat houses and bars. As a teenager, this was a mild curiosity, looking on at possible analogs of myself as the flopped along from bar to bar, hitting on any piece of ass they saw along the way. In my mind I was thinking, will I really be that way when I am of that age?
Well, I guess not, and thankfully so. I can count the number of alcoholic drinks I've had on one hand, and quite frankly I don't really plan on making that number grow exponentially, even though I turned 21 this past January.
To be even more frank, the novelty of even watching people drink and flop around wears thin after 3 years of college. As me and my girlfriend were riding our bikes to the parade at around 10 in the morning of this past Picnic Day, we must have passed by at least 3 houses where people were already playing beer pong. Is the only this day exists is for people to have an excuse to drink? Maybe it's because I haven't really let loose in my life, some friends of mine would probably say, but I don't really feel the need to let loose in that way. I want to be in control of my actions. I am afraid of what I would do if I were drunk.
I don't know if I will come off as an asshole or something, but one other thing about the drinking part of Picnic Day that annoys the hell out of me is how it brings all of these totally douche-bag-ish people to Davis who I know, I know! don't even go to UCD. There was this group of absolutely sketch-ass mother fuckers who set up camp in the middle of Central Park as me and my girlfriend were leaving downtown. Maybe they were just having a good time, but from what I heard from the cops later on was that quite a few groups, probably them included, go kind of rowdy and tazers were deployed on some people. While as an advocate for civil rights and everything, sometimes some people have it coming.
What this rant is really trying to get at is that even though I such easy access to alcohol, that even though quite a few of my friends are total drunkards and would totally love it if I "loosened up" and knocked back a few, I don't feel the need to at all. It's weird, really. Something inside of me is saying that "what would be the harm?" While the other, much bigger side of me, is saying "don't betray your beliefs." I'm not talking about religious beliefs, I'm just talking about the belief I have that I don't need alcohol to be a "cool" person.
I am so glad that me and my girlfriend still had fun at Picnic Day without drinking, or even getting near a single drop of alcohol. Granted, the drunks walking around that day were worth a chuckle or two. But I just hope that at least some of them can see that life doesn't have to be enjoyed in a haze where you don't really remember what you did last night.
I am no crazy religious conservative asking for temperance, I'm just a person who doesn't feel the need to drink alcohol.
This picture pretty much sums of Picnic Day; drunkards everywhere...
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Over the hump
Spring break ended a few days ago and now I'm right back at it, trying to finish out this semester the best way possible. My vacation wasn't too hectic, but it wasn't totally relaxing either. It started out with me, my sister and my dad voyaging down to Anaheim for her annual cheer competition. This is me being kind of bored and taking random pictures around the Anaheim convention center-
That was on Friday, the day of her stunt competition. We got there on Thursday and stayed until Sunday. The drive over there was punctuated by a lot of moments of utter boredom, when all I could really do is take totally random pictures like this-
Also on Friday, after that short competition was over, we decided to make a trip over to Huntington Beach. We didn't really know how to get there, but there were some sings that said "Huntington Beach this way" and such, so we just kind of followed those. Eventually we found it, off of an avenue called "Beach avenue." Really creative. This is some of what we saw-
On Saturday, while my sister was having fun at Disneyland (of which, we were staying pretty much right next to the whole time), me and my dad went around LA, where we probably only drove around 30 or so miles, but with LA traffic, we commuted for a good 3-5 hours easily. It was somewhat worth it, however, as we got to go to Hollywood Blvd and I got to take some pretty cool pictures, like this-
Other places we went to on Saturday were this little shopping area called The Grove, which had some pretty expensive looking restaurants and boutiques, but otherwise was just an open-air Arden Mall, and some hella ghetto-ass places around Los Angeles as we got lost a few times. Not really fun...
I took some pictures on Sunday, but nothing really interesting. I was too tired and exhausted from the trip to really want to do anything worthwhile. I just wanted to go home and sleep in my own bed again, which is the thing about spending time away from home that I like: realizing how much I really do love my own bed in my own room where I can be king for at least the night. Nothing better than coming home and plopping right on that bed that seems to remember your body like a well-worn glove.
On Wednesday of the actual week of spring break (I got a little bit of a head start with mine), me and Hannah decided to trek down to Monterey for a little spring break getaway. I totally underestimated the distance from where I live to Monterey, which is a good 3 hours. Needless to say, I was totally pooped at the end of that trip, of which I decided to turn on the little trip counter on my car just to see how much driving I did. It clocked in more than 500 miles that day. Shit.
But, it was totally worth it. Spending the whole day with my love would make any day bearable, but also visiting the cool vistas of the Monterey piers and Monterey Bay Aquarium was just the icing on the cake. Not to mention, after we went to Monterey, we decided to meet up with her friend in San Carlos up north by San Francisco for dinner. More of a drive but still a great end to a good day. Plus, I got pictures like this from the aquarium-
Overall, it was a great spring break, something I needed to rejuvenate myself for the last 6 weeks of school left. Just 6 more weeks left of school at Sacramento City College. I can't believe it, but yeah, I am over the hump and everything is just downhill from here, although I still have quite a bit of work to do for all of my classes. But still, I can almost see the light at the end...
That was on Friday, the day of her stunt competition. We got there on Thursday and stayed until Sunday. The drive over there was punctuated by a lot of moments of utter boredom, when all I could really do is take totally random pictures like this-
Also on Friday, after that short competition was over, we decided to make a trip over to Huntington Beach. We didn't really know how to get there, but there were some sings that said "Huntington Beach this way" and such, so we just kind of followed those. Eventually we found it, off of an avenue called "Beach avenue." Really creative. This is some of what we saw-
On Saturday, while my sister was having fun at Disneyland (of which, we were staying pretty much right next to the whole time), me and my dad went around LA, where we probably only drove around 30 or so miles, but with LA traffic, we commuted for a good 3-5 hours easily. It was somewhat worth it, however, as we got to go to Hollywood Blvd and I got to take some pretty cool pictures, like this-
Other places we went to on Saturday were this little shopping area called The Grove, which had some pretty expensive looking restaurants and boutiques, but otherwise was just an open-air Arden Mall, and some hella ghetto-ass places around Los Angeles as we got lost a few times. Not really fun...
I took some pictures on Sunday, but nothing really interesting. I was too tired and exhausted from the trip to really want to do anything worthwhile. I just wanted to go home and sleep in my own bed again, which is the thing about spending time away from home that I like: realizing how much I really do love my own bed in my own room where I can be king for at least the night. Nothing better than coming home and plopping right on that bed that seems to remember your body like a well-worn glove.
On Wednesday of the actual week of spring break (I got a little bit of a head start with mine), me and Hannah decided to trek down to Monterey for a little spring break getaway. I totally underestimated the distance from where I live to Monterey, which is a good 3 hours. Needless to say, I was totally pooped at the end of that trip, of which I decided to turn on the little trip counter on my car just to see how much driving I did. It clocked in more than 500 miles that day. Shit.
But, it was totally worth it. Spending the whole day with my love would make any day bearable, but also visiting the cool vistas of the Monterey piers and Monterey Bay Aquarium was just the icing on the cake. Not to mention, after we went to Monterey, we decided to meet up with her friend in San Carlos up north by San Francisco for dinner. More of a drive but still a great end to a good day. Plus, I got pictures like this from the aquarium-
Overall, it was a great spring break, something I needed to rejuvenate myself for the last 6 weeks of school left. Just 6 more weeks left of school at Sacramento City College. I can't believe it, but yeah, I am over the hump and everything is just downhill from here, although I still have quite a bit of work to do for all of my classes. But still, I can almost see the light at the end...
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