yesterday was a really good day.

i started with a dream about willy cheung who had turned really bad and started hooking up high school and college students with copied textbooks for a cheap price. i also had a cigarette with him. i smoke cigarettes, do drugs, and drive stick in several of my dreams. go fig.

Latino Families is my favorite class this quarter. i learn so much about Latino culture in a very entertaining way. my professor made me laugh twice today. i never laugh in class. my class started 7 minutes late. my class ended 20 minutes early. nice.

as i was discussing my oil change today, i convinced the Jiffy Lube guy to give me a $10 discount cause "i'd really appreciate it." i am embarrassingly the worst bargainer on the face of this planet. i almost felt bad for him when he agreed to help me out. "i really appreciate it," i said. but more than saving myself a Hamilton (IT'S ALL ABOUT THE HAMILTONS BABY!), i really appreciated the speedy work on the oil change and car wash.
[side dish: as i looked up my reading assignment on my Sports Psych syllabus, my shocked eyes fell upon Reading Assignment: None. that means i'm done with my reading for the week! that's nice #2.]

today, i was reminded of how much i love my cluster boys. sure they don't always answer my discussion questions or meet every week with their accountability partners...but they do make me laugh. meeting up with john/p. david, eating Bucca and drinking Cha's with the rest, and watching Sliding Doors with the "tee-hee's" was just what the doctor prescribed.

i had a really nice drive back home too. there's nothing better than driving in your car-washed vehicle with a new air freshener and Michael Jackson hits on a bare 5 freeway night. Michael Jackson songs make you feel really cool. you have this super-natural confidence that you can sing and dance well whenever you listen to his music. i love it. it was so appropriate for tonight's drive.

to conclude a marvelous January 24th, my family waited for me to come home before they went to bed. my mom randomly walked into my room in her funny looking pajamas to ask me how to print out spreadsheets with the gridlines. even she realized how ridiculous the situation was. we both had a good laugh. just about everyday, i also experience a secret happiness whenever i receive a package with a cd/dvd in it. it's like having Santa Clause deliver you gifts on a daily basis. today, i got my Gone in 60 Seconds Director's Cut dvd, Stone Temple Pilots Thank You, The Offspring Greatest Hits, and Bad Boys of Rap Volume 2 cd.
[dessert: even i find it hysterical that i enjoy rap so much. in fact, you'd be surprised how many rap cds i actually bought. but yeah, Bad Boys of Rap Volume 2 is really really good. most of the songs are about having sex or killing people. this is NOT the reason why i like rap. rather, i like rap because of the creativity of the lyrics and the attitude behind the music. unfortunately, today's artists have definitely lost the true flavor of original rhymes and beauty in the ghetto. as Gang Starr once said: "Hip hop is not, what it is today." i couldn't have said it better myself.]

so it's official. i've fallen in love with a new girl. her name is Paltrow. Gwyneth Paltrow.

Thought of the Day: $400/month.
Song of the Day: Michael Jackson-Billie Jean

since i don't feel like studying, i'm going to blog.




when dinko told me that he really needed to stop buying dvds, i can really empathize these days. last night, i calculated how much i've spent (so far) on cds and dvds. cds = $362.08 and dvds = $98.03. if i calculate this correctly, my credit card bill for the month of january is going to exceed a G. that's not good. and since we're on the topic of misfortune, might as well share a little more. i got fired from my tutoring job earlier today:

lady: you're supposed to come in today right?
me: yes.
lady: well, eugenia told me she's been wanting a girl tutor so what are we going to do?
me: oh that's alrite.
lady: ok, well you can pick up your pay today.

i have mixed feelings on this one. i really really did not enjoy tutoring that girl or meeting that mom woman. high demands. really high demands. at the same time, a job's a job and i lost it. anybody want to help pay for my credit card bill?

Matthew 26:56-...then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

if there was one man who really felt betrayal and abandonment, it was our Lord Jesus Christ. if you want to see loneliness and embarrassment and shame to the max., just look at Jesus who hung on the cross. how many times have i deserted and fled from Him? how many of my sins has the Lord forgiven? i have lost count from the beginning...and so has He. the Lord has reminded us of this Gospel a thousand times. would He remind us once more.

Thought of the Day: Hard-boiled egg.
Song of the Day: Crystal Lewis-Seasons Change

westminster conference was SO good! it was like a retreat for me that i desperately needed. "no sermon is better than the TEXT."
-Dr. Hywel Jones

amen, Dr. Jones!

Thought of the Day: Orange County?
Song of the Day: Green Day-Brain Stew

this quarter, i'm taking Sport Psychology, Chicano/Latino Psychology, and Mind/Body Problem got replaced with Chicano/Latino Families. that Mind/Body class was just too crazy. too much reading, students leading discussions, crazy difficult concepts with .001% of finding a solution. i even went out of my to ask...

me: so what if we do find the solution? what would that mean for us?
professor: right, so what's the point of the class...blah blah blah...it means we would learn more about ourselves and who we are...blah blah blah...it's a very intimiate issue.
me: ...

i bet the solution to the Mind/Body question is God.

it wasn't too hard for me to drop that class cause i seriously felt like i wasn't going to get anything out of it. so what if the hottest girl in class was sitting right next to me? this crap is hard and futile! (man, she was truly attractive). but anyways, i spent 8/14 hours reading and tutoring today. really really burnt out for a first week of class. but i found it really ironic how my Latino Psych book is called Latino Families in Therapy while my Latino Families book is called The Handbook of Chicana/o Psychology and Mental Health. i can't help but speculate that my two professors got drunk one night and thought it'd be hilarious to switch their syllabi for the quarter. you crazy UCI professors!

Thought of the Day: Uh-huh!
Song of the Day: Smashing Pumpkins-Eye

i am an organization freak. i love order. i love completeness. i love logical patterns. growing up, most of my toy time was spent putting them away in a particular area and order. my lego creations had to have a consistent number of colors and shapes. i used to tear up and start over on my dinosaur drawings that had different size body parts. i hated letting people borrow videos or toys because it would break the pattern of my collection. my dad used to rearrange all of his classical music cds according to composer or genre after i "disorganized" them by color countless times. today, after reorganizing MY cd collection for, perhaps, the fifth time (so far), i see that i'm still that same compulsive little boy. well, i've gotten a lot better about the borrowing thing. so what if barrel lost my Every Thought Captive? so what if terrance never found my Summer Mix Mac Vol. 8? so what if that stupid leonard guy returned my Ivy Mega Mix cd case without the cds? i can let those things go. i notice the break in pattern but it's ok. i am a creature that is capable of forgiveness...sometimes.

i think we all have an innate desire for order and design. we are attracted to objects that are complete and whole. nobody likes to see their new cellphone get scratched up. who likes to buy a book with a bent/torn cover? even with physical attractiveness: studies show that the more symmetrical a face looks, the more likely people will find it attractive. order and design = beauty! it's in our nature! but the $64,000 question is WHY?! probably b/c our maker is also one who takes pleasure in the same things. God is not a god of chaos and inconsistency. He is absolutely logical and orderly. our atoms and particles and planets and universes operate under laws that have to obey laws that have to obey laws that have to obey God. everything makes sense b/c God made it. creation is truly beautiful b/c our Lord is infinitely more beautiful.

i start school tomorrow after having a break that was 1 day short of 5 weeks. old friends have grown apart. new friends have grown closer. ("haha...kinda like my cds," said Phil the Loser). i am looking forward to some great things this quarter. even though it's been 9 days into January, i feel like 2006 REALLY starts tomorrow. every day is a day that the Lord has made. let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Thought of the Day: Elvis.
Song of the Day: Queen-Don't Stop Me Now

lots of crazy things have happened in the first four days of January 2006. for the first time in a long time, i made some New Year's Resolutions. my most practical one is probably going out to Sunday Even Worship Services with or without EM. YG has been having evening services for a while now, and i finally went to my first one this past sunday (on January 1st). i figured if i am willing to make it out to EM's monthly night services, i should definitely be willing to go out to YG's weekly services. church is church. Sabbath is Sabbath. i think it's a great way to observe the Lord's Day.




along with my new cd collection, i also added 16 new dvds to my legitimate movie favorites. i am still looking for Moulin Rouge, Good Will Hunting, and Cincinnati Kid for under $10. there is a part of me that really hurts when i see the total price on my graphing calculator. but there's also another part of me that feels really good about what i'm doing. it truly does feel "so fresh and so clean clean."




speaking of fresh and clean, yesterday's snow at Mt. High was really nice. i went snowboarding with 15 others who, for the most part, had a really good time (sorry, tina). snowboarding is pretty expensive, but after 6 hours of improving heel/toe, hearing first-timers repeatedly reminding you of how much fun they're having, and watching doe eat snow so many times in a row (a rhyme!), you'll know where that $47 went. every time i go snowboarding, i see a lot of pretty girls. i am so sore.



the USC vs. Texas game was the craziest college football game my eyeballs have ever experienced. two words. arrogant humbled. another two words. Vince Young. just two more. BAD BEAT. lol.



my last crazy happening of 2006 was when i was doing my bathroom reading this morning. i turned my Calvin & Hobbes to pg. 256 expecting to read just a few more pages til the end of the book. pg. 255 was the last page with a comic in the book...it was the trippiest feeling! Happy New Year, reader. The End.

Thought of the Day: Selfish.
Song of the Day: Red Hot Chili Peppers-Parallel Universe