Super Surprise Welcome Back Slumber Party!

This night was definitely something to remember.  I have the best group of friends ever, they threw me a surprise welcome back party and I was only gone for 3 weeks!  I was in Oregon for an extra 2 weeks because my dad and uncles thought it would be a good idea for me to practice engineering stuff at my uncle's machine shop.  I learned a lot! Learned that I definitely belong in the Bay Area with all my friends haha.

When I got back Brian tells me on facebook that we were watching a movie at his house at night and I was thinking sweet, totally down.  When I get there theres a finish line banner saying "welcome back Chad!", a comments table cloth laid out, and custom lampshades with my name on it.  Haha man it was great, thanks Brian.  I ran through the finish line banner 4 times!

During the party, I found out that the party was pre-planned and a secret FB event.  I then realized how I got fooled by so many people.  I feel so fooled!

1.  Anjuli's AIM profile said 9/26 ******** *****, which was Chadwick Party, I had no idear.
2.  I'm leaving my house to Brian's for what I thought was a movie and Andy's outside waiting.  I'm trying to find my deodorant cus I just showered.   I swear it was in my backpack but I can't find it at all! I was like WTF i just saw it this afternoon.  Turns out when I was out with Andy and Alex, Angel came by to grab all my stuff for the slumber part of the party.  Even my parents knew about it!  My dad at dinner was like so you got a party tonight eh? and I didn't even get the hint, i just said no, just watchin a movie.
3.  When Andy drives me to Henry's house we're at Safeway and Henry shows up in PJ's.  Andy goes "why the hell are you wearing that, go home and change"  Then when Henry's grabbing his blanket and pillow, I'm waiting with Andy outside, and he goes "Hey chad look at that sign its hella funny" haha i naively start reading the sign, (it was actually pretty funny, it was a disgruntled neighbor yelling at people stealing their plants).  THEN he starts wrestling me! So it's at night, and we're wrestling each other for a while, with people walking by while Henry loads the car haha.  CLUELESS

The best part was all the people that came, it made me really happy! Let's see there was.. Brian (party host extraordinaire), Priscilla (thanks for cookies!), Andy (sly bastard), Henry (won my money), Anjuli (nice bridge and/or trees haha), Angel (sly bastard), Kevin, Alex, Baajinia, Melanie, Bobby, Carolyn, Gary (joketelling machine), Felicia, and Gabe (thanks for Blokus and pizza).  It was great seeing everyone again! It cured my friend deprivation instantly. 

We did a lot of random fun things, like poker, cranium, Selk bags, Sanrio drawing?!.  People in Selk bags are hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing when Andy and Brian put them both on and started dancing and fighting each other lol.   Just a word of advice to people messing around in Selk Bags, those things are slippery.  haha Brian yelled EAGLE!! to Andy and ended up flat on his back hitting his head on the floor O_O.  Oh, Alex, Andy and I started a living room moshpit and I poked in the eye haha that pit ended in like 10 seconds.

Gabe brought this board game called Blokus (you can play online with friends)! that we played when most everyone had to leave (you guys missed out! haha)  It's pretty fun, easy to learn, but its challenging, we gotta play again sometime.  Then we played some always hilarious "I Never" (Andy won, that guy has lived life) and fell asleep to Observe and Protect at like 6AM @_@.

Fight Night: The Crack 12/2X/2009

The Crack.  It decides life or death, devastation or glory.  To me, it conjures memories of the utmost fear.  Fear that you've taken your least breath.  Fear that you may never see anything other than bedsheets smothering your face.  It's the closest to death that I've ever come to. 

Haha this is another one of my Goals posts, and the thing that drives this goal is pretty much pride.  You see, my cousin and I have been wrestling since before we learned how to walk

haha my head is HUGE, oh... how I used to push him around

poke poke

But for some reason, for the last year or two, Dillon has become much more powerful than me.  I mean, suree.. maybe he's always been stronger and more athletic, but now It's not even a contest anymore.  Maybe its from the subconscious pent up rage from when we were kids...

This time around, our wrestling came about because of a practical joke.  As in I personally RickRolled the fool on his voicemail mwahahahha.  He was so slighted that he threatened to put me into The Crack.  Now with us, issuing a challenge like that is no laughing matter, it's the threat that ends all threats.  So I did not take it lightly, I said.. bring it on!!!

SPARTAAAA

What followed was him methodically placing each of my limbs in to this so called "The Crack".  Sure I had him in a headlock or two, but there was not one moment where I had a remote chance of escaping certain death.  Now this crack is so tight, that it slightly compresses your ribcage as you fall through.  You can't take full breaths, because there's not enough space for your lungs (yeeesh!).  The emotions I went through were: cockiness (i was taunting him), sudden fear (as i neared The Crack), sheer panic (when i lost 1 arm to the fateful fissure), reflection on my life (as I fell through), and finally humilidepression.  Thats right, humilidepression.

I had it so bad, I started making excuses (Stage 1: denial) about how he's 15 pounds heavier than me (ok maybe more like 10).  So naturally I challenge him to this rematch.  Come Christmas break, we will meet again at The Crack to find out who really cherishes life more.  For now, we'll both be training rigorously so that we can both be at the best shape of our lives.  Target Weight? 160lbs.


Here's my initial workout plan!:
www.hundredpushups.com
www.twohundredsitups.com
www.twentypullups.com
www.twohundredsquats.com

I've tried these but never finished it, but now I'm running on a different fuel.  What kind of fuel is this? That's right Leonides, Glory!!

Buzz!!

Funnest party game of recent!  Well its kind of a old game, but I just played it this month when my cousin got it for only 30 bucks! It's so much fun, we couldn't put it down.  You can play with up to 4 friends, and everybody gets their own personal buzzer!  If I find it for 30 bucks, I'm buying it, even though I dont have a PS3 yet (I'll get one in the next year! maybe.) 

Its got all kinds of trivia, like movies, tv shows, music, science/tech, nature. So its usually a close game everytime.  And the competition gets pretty intense (yelling, cursing, and even occasional choking) hahah.  Anyways I want to introduce this to my pals, so.. whoever has a PS3.. early X-mas/B-day present?

WTB: Yamaha

Imagine if it was all black, or all white.  mmm.. sexy.

Anyways, this is something I've wanted since... last year? But its hefty price has kept me from owning this beautiful beast.  Electric Violin!! how awesome would that be!!?  It all started when I was playing in my room to relieve some stress.  (dont take that out of context)  And my roommate yells at me to shut my door and keep it down.   At first I was pissed off, but then it dawned on me that not everyone likes classical music.  If only I had a violin only I could hear!

Tada! introducing the Yamaha SV-150.  I like the looks.  I mean its modern looking but still retains the classic violin shape.  I'm not into the awkward Quasimodo shaped electric violins that are out there, too craasyy.

And not only does it let  you practice silently, you can hook it up to an amp, to your computer to record, but the best of all is the control module that lets you add effects for fun!  Man it would be so cool to fake a rock guitar solo on this baby. OO! after watching the below video, it also lets you load MP3's and jam to them.  c'mon.. lottery!

Demo at the NAMM show!

Goal: 2 Songs to Learn

Once in a while I get inspired to learn a song. Actually it happens a lot, but I rarely follow it through, so I'm gonna make these my goal so I actually do it.

1st song!: Flight of the Bumblebee

This is a great violin piece, and I wanna learn it. Who cares if its insanely hard, who cares if it'll take me years, I needa learn it! Here's world record holder David Garett playing it:



Heres some reasons I wanna do it:
1. I've lost my finger speed, and want to get it back
2. I have horrible spiccato, and this is pretty much all spiccato. (Wiltron needs to work on his spiccato too!)
3. It's short!

2nd Song: Piano Man
Okay, I may be cheating cus I've started learning this maybe a month or 2 ago, but I haven't learned it all yet. I got inspired by Andy to play this song, and I was like hey! why dont I learn the piano, and you learn the harmonica part! Dude learns it in like 2 hours. He's still waiting on me (yeeeesh).. maybe ill have it by christmas? haha

Billy Joel Ladies and Gentlemen (don't mind the mustache):


I'm maybe 70% done agghh. I always learn about that much of piano songs cus they make the endings so damn hard. I'm a pianoob.

Goal: 3 a day

k, it's been nearly 4 months of unemployment, and honestly I've lost steam in the jobsearch. But I really want to go out there and continue challenging myself in engineering because I'm feeling so unfulfilled. (There's no place room for feelings here!)

So, my new goal is 3 job applications a day. And if there really isn't any left, I'll do at least 1 hour of self-study and CAD practice for that day.

I'll update in like 2 weeks or something. Wish me luck!

Update 9/23: hahahahhahaha 3 is way too ridiculous, it just makes me angry and discouraged.  So I'm dropping it down to 1 a day heh

Life and Level

A good friend of mine introduced these 2 fellars to me one day, and after 1 episode of their show "Life and Level" I was hooked!

He described it as the Nerd Jackass, and that description fits their show exactly.

Let's start with the 1st episodes;


So far all the guys I've passed it on to have had a blast. If you're a gamer and love slapstick then I'm sure you'll enjoy it. I think these guys deserve to be paid for what they do, so spread it around!