mornings

i’m not a morning person. i sleep poorly, and therefore am always tired in the mornings no matter how late i get woken up. when i have my way and no interruptions, i dont wake up till 2pm. even waking up at 10 am is painful for me. i’m just too damn sleepy.

despite my hatred of waking up early though, i think that there’s something really great about mornings. i love how serene and peaceful they are. the few times i’m awake by 7am or so, i’m impressed by how the world looks without all the people in it. empty highways, uncrowded streets, everything is all shiny.. it’s like being in an alternate universe.

back when i worked at starbucks, for some god awful reason, sometimes i ended up working the morning shift. i had to be in the shop by 5am. i’d take my first break at 6:30. even though i’d be disgustingly tired, i really savored those 15 minutes periods of sitting on the empty patio, watching the sun slowly ascend in the sky, and drinking my 3rd cup of coffee…

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getting on track

i spent the morning in traffic court. again. for the third time.

most people i know have never even gone to traffic court, much less three times. i, on the other hand, due to being generally flaky etc, keep ending up in these kind of situations: traffic court, collection agencies, SF City Tow, bench warrants (accidentally issued to my dad, oops!), loss of my license, etc etc. for years now, i’ve never been able to pull my shit together. i used to file my taxes on april 15th just before midnight. i ignored my credit card bills and just threw them away without even opening them. every single movie i’ve rented, i’ve returned late… even managing to lose a few of them all together. i’ve gotten enough parking tickets to wallpaper at least one of my walls, if not my whole room. my cell phone would be shut off every single month until i paid them off. my credit cards got closed one by one. my bank account would end up about 1,000$ in overdraft every single month.

and then… somehow i changed. i fixed all my bad habits (well, maybe not the city tow one, doh!). i started paying bills on time. i fixed my credit history. i’ve become super diligent in my money matters. it’s crazy and weird to think i’m actually responsible now, and have paid off all my debts. i think a big part of it has been that i need to save $$ for my trip so i’ve been very money-conscious lately. it feel really good to have my shit together.

anyways, getting back to this morning, i was in traffic court because of a ticket i received over a year ago. i had a) speeding b)no registration c)no proof of insurance and d)failure to appear. all of it put together added up to $1,044 and a threat that i’d lose my license if i didnt pay by the 17th. luckily, through past experience, i knew i could get that fine wayyyyy down if i went to court instead of paying it. my decision paid off: fines lowered down to 188$. fuck yes!!

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sinko de mayo

yesterday was cinco de mayo so we got some people together to go celebrate. the plan was to go to the mission, get dinner at a taqueria, and then go get margaritas somewhere nearby. when we go to the mission, most of the places were going off. people all over the place were celebrating, and a lot of the bars were totally packed w/ people. man, everyone loves cinco de mayo…. except… well.. no one really knows what the hell it is. out of the people i talked to and asked, none of them really knew what cinco de mayo was all about. really people just wanted to go out and get drunk.

i dunno… all of it kinda made me sad in a way. tons of people come flooding in to the mission because it’s known to have a large mexican population… most of these people, like me, aren’t mexican. they’re just out to celebrate a mexican holiday that they know nothing about and frankly probably dont really give a fuck about.

and then there’s the other side. the mexican busboys and mexican servers working in the taqueria that we went to, they sure as fuck weren’t celebrating cinco de mayo. they were working their fucking asses off trying to feed the rush of people who swarmed the place on cinco de mayo. it was probably one of their toughest days ever. the mexican guy who walks from restaurant to restaurant playing his guitar and asking for money… he sure as hell wasn’t celebrating cinco de mayo. the mexican homeless people crouching on the corner… they chose to forgo celebrating as well, instead they sat and shivered in their dirty grubby clothes.

i don’t know… maybe i’m looking at everything the wrong way… but somehow the whole scene just struck me as really not cool.

of course, despite all that… i had a good time and got drunk. *sigh*

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allergies

saturday morning we drove down to Casa De Fruita. there was this wine festival going on and caryn’s dad’s band was playing. yes, caryn’s *dad’s* band. it’s pretty impressive and crazy to me that her dad plays bass in a band. most people i know, their dads watch tv, or their dads barbecue, or their dads sit around and yell at their kids… their dads sure as hell dont do cool shit like play bass in a band. sure, maybe his music isn’t my absolute favorite, but the adults at the festival were *loving* it and dancing up a storm (i’m sure all the wine they drank helped too). anyways, it was really fun to kick it and watch him rock out.

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getting to know the neighbors

for about 2 years now, we’ve lived upstairs from this guy rahul. even though we’re neighbors, i’ve really only interacted w/ him very little. he’s come to a couple of our parties, but other than crossing paths with him in front of the house, we never talk.

friday night, he invited us and the neighbors in the next house over to dinner. he made some hellza good indian food. we drank wine. we shot the shit. we went to a bar, and had more drinks. it was really cool. it’s crazy that it’s taken 2 years for all of us to hang out.

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robot stories

if you live in SF, you should *REALLY* go see this movie: http://www.robotstories.net/index.html

it’s fucking brilliant, incredibly emotional, and really makes you think. it’s composed of 4 completely separate stories and every one of them is totally gripping from the very beginning. it’s only playing until may 6th, so hurry!

“Built around the themes of love, death, family, and of course robots, Korean director Greg Pak’s ‘Robot Stories’ beautifully styles four tales. Through narratives both hilarious and touching, humans are forced to interact with robots in a way that eerily reflects the growing influence technology has on our lives… Each story is stunningly executed and moving in its own right.”

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