I haven't posted anything in a while, and I feel like I have to write something, so I'm just gonna write about whatever......

I've been playing Portal 2 on PC for about a week. The 1st one was pretty awesome, but kinda short, like you could beat it in maybe 4 hours. I've already logged maybe 6 hours, and I think I'm close to the end, but I'm not really sure. The writing is brilliant, like in the first game. But man, this game makes me think. It seriously makes my head hurt, thinking too much/hard and the fact that first person shooters give me a headache after an hour of play. But it's totally worth it.

I don't know how I did it, but I managed to sprain the achilles tendon on my right foot while I was sleeping. That's not an actual diagnosis by a doctor, and I don't even know if spraining your achilles is even possible, but that's what it feels like. I woke up with my right foot feeling a bit off. I went to sleep the night before feeling fine, and I was even at the gym on the elliptical machine and treadmill just hours before I went to bed, and it felt fine then. So something had to happen while I was asleep. Exactly what is beyond me. It's almost exactly like that time when I woke up with a hella pain in my right knee. Didn't know what caused that either, other than me being asleep. Maybe it's just old age? Or a whack superpower that I didn't ask for (not that anybody would want it)

Today is my cousin Elway's birthday. Happy Birthday, cuz!!! He shares the same birthday as my girl, Jessica Alba

Tomorrow, Chris, Jayr, & I are leaving for SoCal to go to the Korea Times Music Festival. Shann was supposed to go, but had a prior commitment to PCN that he couldn't get out of. Even though our girls SNSD won't be there, at least there's still Sistar, 4minute, and G.NA. Should be good times.

We're staying with Tones Friday night. He's gonna take us out to some burger & beer bars. And then he's gonna take us to a Hawaiian breakfast spot the following morning. I wish we had more time down there. There's some many cool spots that he could take us to. I definitely need to come back.

I guess that's it for now. Between all of us, we'll probably take hella pictures, so I'll post those up on my next entry.

Now, off to Applebees....

just a profanity-laced letter to the two girls that I wish I could punch in the face:

They make me sooooo angry (urge to kill rising......). They don’t have a consistent workout schedule, so I can’t knowingly avoid them. I try to go at different times and just hope that they’re not there. Every time I go and see that they’re there already, I just wanna turn around and come back later, but I never do. Going to the gym shouldn’t be a test of my patience & tolerance.

With most of my attempts to plan stuff for Friday & Saturday falling through, it's sort of amazing that Sunday turned out to be so great. I guess 1 out of 3 is better than an 0-for.

The main reason I wanted to work for the state was for the “job security”. I knew that the benefits and retirements plans were good, but I really didn’t know any of the details or how great it really is. They say it’s never too early to start thinking about retirement, so in the past 3 weeks I’ve attended 2 retirement related seminars that my work has sponsored. Now I know what all the fuss is about.

Coming into this job, I wasn’t sure how long I wanted to stay. I figured I’d stay for the "security", for the peace of mind, but if something better came along (i.e. - a higher paying job, dream location, etc.), I’d just leave. But after learning all about the state’s pension plans and other benefits, I don't see myself ever leaving.

If I stay and work for the state for the next 25 years, I could possible retire at age 55 and my pension would be 52% of my normal salary. If I retire at 60, I could make 71%. Or 85% at 63. Or 90% at 65. And I would supplement that with my 401k & 457, which I’m starting now, so by the time I retire, they’ll both be at a nice amount. I’m pretty sure Social Security won’t be around anymore, but I probably won’t need it.

The pension is great, but what’s even better is the health benefits. If you work for the state for at least 20 years, you get 100% vested health insurance, meaning the state will pay for everything, along with dental & vision. Health insurance can get expensive, especially at older ages. So being fully covered is a big load off (financially & emotionally) and one less thing to worry about.

As long as I stick with the state, my post-retirement life is set. Even if a better opportunity comes along, I don’t think any private company would match the pension and health benefits. And it shouldn’t be that hard for me to stay. What I do isn’t all that difficult and I don’t mind doing it (I don’t love it, but I don’t hate it either). Just as long as I don’t have to stay in Fresno the entire time. I’ll eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later, get transferred closer to the bay. Heck, I’ll even consider SoCal too, just as long as I’m out of Merced & Fresno.

So with that more or less taken care of, I can focus my attention on other things, like finding someone to share my retired life with....

Jayden's 2nd birthday was on March 31, but his party was on the 27th. I know I'm a little late, but I had to get the pictures developed (film!!). A lot of my shots were either blurry or didn't have enough light. I'm going to switch to a higher speed film (ISO 800) and see if that helps any.

Anywho, here are some of the pics that turned out semi-decent:

Here's Vince & a drooling Cyrus

2 P's & a loser

Miss Photogenic herself

I was using a 50mm lens, so I have to be a certain distance to get in focus. Well, Kimmy kept on moving closer to me as I was setting up the shot. And this is how it turned out.

Vince & the birthday boy

Jasmine building a block tower

Crimson smash block tower!! I was hella funny cause Jasmine specifically told Crimson, "don't knock it over, okay?", but he did it anyways.

-Your Highness-
Even though Rotten Tomatoes gave it a low rating (24%), I still found it funny. Lots of dick jokes, but plenty of funny one-liners. Profanity sprinkled into old-timey english is hilarious. Oh, and this movie renewed my crush on Natalie Portman. She kicked all sorts of ass while looking mighty fine. If she got awards for Black Swan, she should get some for this too

-Azukar Sushi-
Tried out a new all-you-can-eat sushi place in Sac with the guys on Saturday. It’s not your typical sushi buffet, though. Here, you order rolls & sides off a menu and they make it for you fresh. Nothing is pre-made or just sitting on a buffet line. You just stay at your table and they bring everything to you. It was a little pricey, $22 for dinner, but the dinner selection of rolls & sides was pretty big. And everything was really good. The only thing that could be a problem is that there was only 1 guy taking all the orders. There were only maybe 2 or 3 other parties when we were there, so it wasn’t an issue for us. Well, at least not until the end of our dinner, when the place started to fill up. There were other workers there that totally could’ve been taking orders, but I guess the main guy is a control freak or something. His memory was impressive, though. On the menu, every item had a name with an associated number, with maybe 70 or 80 items total. If you were to say the number, he’d say the name back, and vice versa.

Before going, I read reviews on Yelp, and it was either hit or miss, love it or hate it. In our case, we loved it. If we had come an hour later, we probably would’ve hated it. But the place is still very good, and I’d definitely go there again, but not if the place is hella packed.

Can’t really compare it to Mizu’s, though, since Mizu’s is a traditional all-you-can-eat buffet with a long line of pre-made food. Azukar is an all-you-can-eat sushi bar that makes everything fresh. A better comparison would probably be Fuji’s in Davis. They’re also an all-you-can-eat sushi bar, but they do pre-make rolls & sides on their sushi boats, but they do make things on request. But I like Azukar way better.

-Warriors / Kings game-
This, in all likely hood, was the Warriors last game against the Sacramento Kings, since the Kings will most likely move to Anaheim next season and become the Anaheim Royals. If that’s the case, in my 4+ years of watching Warriors / Kings games, I will have never once seen (live, in person) the Warriors beat the Kings. Whenever I watch, the Kings win. Every. Time. It was great when I was a Kings fan first, but now I’m a Warriors fan first. I still support the Kings, but not when they play the Warriors (like how I’m a Giants fan, but not when they play the A’s).

The Warriors had won the last 3 games I watched (last loss I witnessed was in Nov when I also lost my sony digicam). I was hoping this streak would end with this game, but sadly this was not the case. We lost, 103-104. So close.....

I ended this season 4-2, which is probably the best season in the 4 years I’ve been watching with Jaymi. Hopefully next season will be even better and maybe even with the Warriors in the playoffs.

Last week, my grandma went to the ER for dizziness & vomiting. She’s pretty old, and has had previous issues with her heart and lungs, so they ran numerous tests on her, and did a bunch of blood work. But after 4 days of testing and observation, they didn’t know what was causing her symptoms. So they just released her and just said to come back if the symptoms return.

On Saturday, my mom went to the ER for lower abdominal pains. They gave her meds to temporarily relieve the pain. They did a bunch of scans and blood work, which all came out normal, and after 4 hours of observation, they didn’t know what was causing her pains. So they just released her and just said to come back if the pains return.

Really, WTH, doctors!?!? All those years in med school and all we get for a diagnosis is a shoulder shrug and a dumbfounded look on your face? THE worst thing they can, and did, say is "we have absolutely no idea what's wrong with you".

thur: Insidious screening, Sapporro-Ya
fri: WonderCon
sat & sun: cars - maintenance & surgery

I'll post individual posts for each day when I have the time.

Surgery on Jay's car......again. He's got waaayy more patience that I do. I would've said "eff this" long, long, long ago (to me, it's not worth all the headache, time, & $$$).

Chris modding his car that he's had for less than 24 hours. At least it's more or less the same exact car, so at least he could re-use his old parts.

I also washed my car and rotated it's tires, did an oil change on dad's car, fixed the X5's a/c fan, changed the air filter on the sentra & swapped out some burnt bulbs, and sealed a big paint chip with clear coat on mom's car. No pics of any of that, so you'll just have to take my word on that.

Some people need to go grow up. They should need to take responsibility for their own actions and not place the blame on others. Blaming others won’t fix your problems. Also, live within your means. It only makes sense to spend what you make, right? And maybe save a lil bit. It doesn’t hurt to plan ahead or think about the future. And if you want something, you have to work for it. More often than not, you have to work hard for it. You shouldn’t expect things to just be given to you, as if you’re entitled to it. Life’s never than easy. I wish it was, but I didn’t make the rules.

And another thing, lying does no one any good. It hurts the people being lied about and it will hurt the people lied to if when the truth eventually comes out, and it makes the person(s) doing the lying look like a complete jackass. It’s lose-lose for all parties involved.

One would think these are basic, fundamental concepts that shouldn’t be difficult to comprehend, but I guess some people just don’t get it, or just don’t want to.