hope that i get old before i die…

and this time it’s working *for* me instead of against me i just got a job offer from a company which is a lot like the old company i was working for, except this one doesn’t have that whole “we train people how to handle office clashes” thing to live up to. in other words, the bullshit factor is very low and all the people seem very cool so far. i never applied for this job though, which is the best part. i applied for a job with a different company and they liked me so much that instead of hiring me themselves ( ) they passed my resume off to this company. when i got the call for the interview i had no idea who this place was but i’m not one to turn down an interview, even if i don’t remember who it is i applied to. yes, it happens, which is why i save the web page of every job i apply to, just in case i apply to the same job twice. yes, that’s happened as well. but the important thing is that i will have a “real job” very soon, and i barely had to do anything to get it!

i live with a chihuahua. for the most part these dogs have always kind of bothered me, because they are always yapping and acting all tough. the so-called “napoleon complex” etc etc. this dog happens to be a very chill chihuahua that almost never barks and very rarely acts all tough. the one thing this dog does not have is a responsible owner. my roommate works long long hours, being that we live on the south side of LA and she works on the north side. and the traffic situation makes it hard to get home before 8pm. usually she takes the dog with her, but sometimes she can’t. when she can’t, it’s usually up to me to make sure the dog gets his walk in so that he doesn’t go all over the house.

case in point: i came home today about an hour ago (11pm) after being gone all day. i gave the dog a brief walk in the morning like i always do (because i’m not completely sure he gets let out unless i do it). anyway, i was gone from 9:30am until 11pm and i set my bag down on the floor like i always do and this dog runs up and pees ALL OVER it. i mean like a big ass puddle sitting under my bag. and the only reason i can think of is that he never went out at all from the time i left until i came home. it’s obvious my roommate cares very deeply about this dog, but she has admitted to me that she doesn’t like to pick up after him, and i know he doesn’t get walked nearly as often as he needs to. if only he could be trained to use the litter box…..

i haven’t smoked (or otherwise ingested) pot for over two years with only two exceptions. for the most part, the cravings stopped a long time ago, with the occasional flare up from time to time. lately though, i feel like having another one for old time’s sake. and the only thing holding me back is the fact that i don’t know if i’ll be tested at a new job when i finally get a good position somewhere. well, that and the fact that i don’t know a single person here who i could approach about finding some. …and not having the money to get any to begin with. but i know that this craving will also pass eventually. they always do if i ignore them long enough. the last thing i want to do is to turn into a lazy-ass stoner again. that won’t do anyone any good, especially me…

well i’m sittin alone saturday night
watching the late late show
a bottle of wine, some cigarettes
i got no place to go
but i saw your other man today
he was wearing my brand new shoes
and i’m down to seeds and stems again too

i met my old friend bob today
from up in bowling green
he had the prettiest little gal
that i’d ever seen
but i couldn’t hide my tears at all
cause she looked just like you
and i’m down to seeds and stems again too

now everybody tells me
there’s other ways of gettin by
they don’t seem to understand
i’m too far gone to try
now these lonely memories
they’re all i can lose
and i’m down to seeds and stems again too

well my dog died just yesterday
and left me on my own
the finance company dropped by today
and repossessed my home
but that’s just a drop in the bucket gal
compared to losing you
and i’m down to seeds and stems again too
got the down to seeds and stems again blues

or… why you should never leave a sporting event until the game is actually over.

(warning! this is a post about baseball. if you do not like baseball, just be patient and i’m sure i’ll be back in a few days with something else to say that isn’t of a baseball nature )

so the guys i work for got free tickets to the dodgers game tonight against the san diego padres from their parents. after trying unsuccessfully to find someone to take the 4th ticket, we ended up selling it for less than face value in the lot. the game started out pretty well, the padres scored four runs in the top of the 1st and the dodgers answered with one run in each of the first two innings. it was tied 4-4 all the way till the 8th inning, when the score was 6-5 at the end of the 8th. during the 6th, 7th and 8th innings, people were steadily filing out of the ball park. i mean, i understand a little bit, because it *is* a monday night after all. people still have to work and go to school, etc etc.

when the padres scored 3 runs in the top of the 9th to take the lead 9-5, people started heading for the exits in DROVES. my friends were talking about heading out and i told them, tongue in cheek-ly, “they only need one grand slam and they’re right back in this!” we kind of laughed about it, but when the first two dodgers each hit a home run, we started getting hope that the dodgers would at least make a game of it. the two lead off home runs prompted the padres to bring out trevor hoffman, the man who is about to become the all-time saves leader in baseball history, and the man who apparently hasn’t blown a save against the dodgers for several years. well, hoffman gave up two more home runs, giving the dodgers 4 home runs in a row! the last time a team hit 4 home runs in a row in one inning was 1964! and apparently it has never happened to tie a game EVER.

so we go into the 10th inning, and through a couple of well-placed hits, the padres take a one run lead going into the bottom of the 10th. the first batter for the dodgers gets walked, and then nomar garciaparra came up and blasted a ball literally out of the park to win the game. this was one of the best baseball games i have seen in person, probably the best one i’ve seen in the majors. and the exact reason why you should never leave the game early without an absolutely perfectly good reason to leave before the game is actually done. in the words of the great yogi berra, “it ain’t over till it’s over”

i don’t know what it is, but all this week i’ve felt like i wanted to eat sushi at a real sushi restaurant, not some cookie cutter place that only serves up california rolls and their ilk. basically a place where i can get an authentic experience and not feel like i’m ordering from the mcdonald’s of sushi bars. for anyone who is familiar with the los angeles area, i started my journey in venice by driving east-ish up venice boulevard. i had to find a branch of my bank so i could deposit my paycheck, cause otherwise it wouldn’t matter where i end up without money to pay for my meal. and of course i missed the one on venice so i just kept driving. most of the sushi places i saw didn’t look like what i was looking for anyway. and if anyone reading who knows the area tells me otherwise, that’s my story and i’m sticking to it

then i remembered that there are a couple of places on sunset boulevard and i also have a bank branch near at least one of them, so i took a drive up to “weho” (west hollywood for those not familiar with the local vernacular) and went to find my bank which is on sunset and crescent heights. and for no reason apparent to me, i missed that one too… i mean, *REALLY* missed it. by the time i realized i missed it, i was already at least a mile away. and when i looked at the mountain of traffic heading back where i came from if i turned around, i decided i should just keep driving.

and lucky for me, i found another branch on the corner of sunset and vine and i decided i should try heading north on vine and see if there was any good place for sushi in hollywood proper. took a right on hollywood and got stuck in traffic. just as i was passing through the first light, i noticed it. sitting there nestled in a two story strip mall kind of set back a little from the road was a place called “sushi ike” (that’s sushi ee-kay ). i drove around to find a place to park and there just happened to be a good spot right across the street. FOR FREE!! finding free parking in hollywood is like winning the lottery, only without all the money and riches.

well, i have to say it was an incredibly great sushi experience. all the food was prepared right in front of you and you just order it as you want it. they had this jack mackerel that was just incredible, and of course the salmon is a surefire winner, even in the cookie cutter places. i met some very interesting people, including a woman who worked in the travel industry arranging tours for people visiting california, and a guy who also works in IT doing a similar job as me. we talked for quite some time (i had already paid my bill btw) when the waitress came over and started grabbing my glass and the remnants of my dishes. i said “oh, am i getting kicked out?” and she said “yes, so sorry”. then the cooks started giving me shit for sitting there, but it was just them having some fun with the situation. and i didn’t understand half of what they said anyway, and neither did the people sitting next to me. but the general theme of the night is that i accidentally stumbled upon one of the best sushi restaurants in the entire metro area, and i also met some great people in the process. i know they say that LA is the land of fake tits and botox, but i’ve met some incredibly down to earth, *real* people from all over and i just love the reaction when people find out i’ve only been here about a month. everyone assumes i’ve been here at least a year because i know how to get around town without the freeways and it’s really entertaining to me to get that moment of surprise from all the people i meet

well, my aussie friend tae maree has bestowed upon me the task of filling out another one of these blog surveys. so here it is:

1… Three things that scare me
there is a school of thought that says that admitting your fears gives your enemies control over you…

2… Three people that make me laugh
carina, my old karaoke buddy mario, and my cousin vinny (yes i actually have a cousin vinny)

3…Three things I hate the most
closed minded people, long slow-moving lines, $5 soft drinks consisting of 4oz of drink and 10oz of ice

4…Three things I don’t understand
the infatuation with paris hilton — i didn’t realize having no talent was enough to make you a celebrity, string theory, and why hot dogs come in packs of 10 but hot dog buns come in packs of 8

5…Three things I’m doing right now
watching a cool band on tv, filling out this survey, coming down from the few beers i had at the bar not too long ago…

6…Three things I want to do before I die
breathe, have a good meal, get a good night’s sleep

7… Three things I can do
fix cars/motorcycles/computers, play guitar, pick the best line to get into at the store

8… Three ways to describe my personality
introverted, outgoing, “mostly” harmless

9… Three things I can’t do
operate a nuclear submarine, force dumbasses to drive like normal human beings, see through walls (that don’t have windows in them)

10…Three things I think you should listen to
WMSE, music made by real musicians, me!

11…Three things you should never listen to
parishitltonjessicasimpsonbritneyspearsmary-kateandashley and any other faux celebrity who has marginal talent at best

12…Three things I’d like to learn
any language available except klingon, how to throw a 100mph fastball, how to swim like a fish and live underwater

13…Three favourite foods
mexican (NOT taco bell!), burgers, some kind of steak on the grill

14…Three beverages I drink regularly
water, sprite, shiner bock

15…Three shows I watched as a kid
night court, all in the family, headbanger’s ball

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5315834.stm

israeli prime minister ehud olmert wants to hold talks with palestinian prime minister mahmoud abbas once they finalize the exchange of prisoners. olmert says he wants to return to the road map for peace, which calls for palestinians and israelis both to stop violence against each other. it also calls for israel to stop building settlements, period. not, “build new settlements in ones you already say you’re keeping even though everyone else in the world except the US acknowledges that the original settlements were illegal to begin with”. not, “build new settlements in other parts of the west bank even though PM olmert has said he wants to unilaterally withdraw from the west bank”. no new settlements period. i doubt these new talks will amount to much, especially since abbas is not part of the hamas government. it seems like he still has some power, but it may only be what israel is willing to allow him to have for some lip service to the peace plan which doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon….

so the other night i hung out with a friend i haven’t seen in over two years. we went to go see talib kweli and met for sushi before the show. at the time we were the only ones in the restaurant and the waiter/possible owner was friendly and let us sit wherever and did all the waiter stuff that we expected. and his co-worker/possible brother (they really did look the same — you had to be there i guess) was also pleasant doing the waitstaff thing for us. but somewhere in the first 10 minutes they suddenly started coming over and talking to me literally every time i turned around. we were there for almost an hour and i would say for easily 45 minutes there was not a moment that went by that at least one of them was coming over to talk to me. not to “us”, but just to me. it started with talking about living in los angeles, then moved on to texas, then other subjects, then they started questioning me about their computers. my friend kept mentioning that we had a lot of catching up to do but they just sailed right over her and kept coming back to me. at one point she said it was “like coming up to a doctor after hours and complaining about your health problems”. she told me later that if she didn’t know any better she would have thought they were hitting on me. i don’t know if i would say that, but it was truly truly disturbing how they wouldn’t leave me alone. even when we got up to leave they wanted to know all about my digital camera i was carrying with me and we practically had to break our way out of there just to get them to stop talking. the food was good, but i’m not sure i’d ever go back there again. at least, not without an elaborate disguise….