I was on hwy 29, coming from Jenny’s pinning ceremony in Napa and driving towards Vallejo, when I see an oddly familiar car in my rear view mirror. Teal civic, rectangular yellow fog lights, fuba antenna. I believe my exact words were “Holy shit, that’s my car!!”. Then I slowed down to let it pass me so that I could take a closer look. It passed me then cut in front of me. It was undeniably, unmistakably, my old civic:

The shiny stainless steel RS-R exhaust is a dead giveaway. The paint job, too. It’s a darker teal than the stock honda teal, courtesy of Grandpa Willie. It was a fucking trip. First, I was just amazed seeing it again, and it still having all the exterior mods that I did to it (fog lights, fuba antenna, exhaust). The only thing different was the tinted hatch, and they replaced the "civic" panel, from black to red. Then it dawned on it, “damn, that thing’s still running?!?!” I wonder if the current owner changed out the engine or something, because this is what it looked like when we gave it away back in 2005:

Couldn’t even drive it away. It only had 3 good cylinders and was constantly having some kind of problem. It was just a never ending money pit. We gave it away to the filipino contractor who renovated our bathrooms. We didn’t ask for anything cause it really wasn’t worth anything, other than having sentimental value for being my first car. It was more trouble than I cared to continue to take on, and at the time, I had the M3, so I was all good. I really didn’t get a good look at the driver, I just know it was a guy, so I don’t know if it’s the same people. But kudos to them for sticking with it. They have way more patience than me. Long live the civACK!!!

Two kpop concerts in two days. SM Town LA 2012 in Anaheim and the Korean Music Wave in Google in Mountain View. Basically spent the entire weekend spazzing out over kpop with a ton of other kpop fans. It was awesome. The only thing not awesome about the whole trip was that at both concerts, camera other than cell phone cameras were not allowed, which was fucking bullshit. At SM Town, people who snuck in a camera and got caught using it were kicked out. Hella messed up. I have a feeling SM Town’s going to sell a dvd or blu-ray of this concert, as well as a photobook, hence the no cameras policy. And at the KMW, the signs said “strictly no cameras” but at the front gate, no one checked for cameras and there were no metal detectors, so I totally could’ve brought in a camera. My iPhone pics hella suck. All my pics turned out either blurry or hella grainy. But still, it was a kick-ass weekend.

Me, Shann, Jayr, & Ricky. Yes, Shann's shirt is just a white tee with pink glowsticks taped onto it in a shape of a heart.

And of course, we went to a korean bbq spot. This pic is from the 1st one we went to, Cham Sut Gol, on the day we got there. They were ok, but their ice cream was really good. And we got our cute waitress to take a shot of soju with us.

We also went to another korean bbq place, Byul Daepo - Star BBQ, after the concert. That place had better meats and also played kpop in the restaurant, but the place was hella cold. They didn't have vents above the grills, so they were just blasting the fans & ac units, but it was totally worth it.

And now for some grainy, blur-o-vision pics of the concert!

My Girls! Only 7 we there, as Yuri & Yoona had to stay in Korea to film their dramas that currently airing.

My Girl, Tiffany. Had to take a shot of her on the screen cause she didn't come to our side of the stage.

Best shot I could get of Seohyun. All my other pics were either hella blurry or hella bright. I really wish I had my regular camera.

Sunny! Chris was soo happy.

My initial view at the Korean Music Wave at the Shoreline Amphitheater. Not too bad, right up near the front rail in the lawn area.

My awesome view of a blue pole, after stupid security moves the crowd back away from the front rail. It was ok, I still had a view of most of the stage and the big screen to the right of the stage.

So there were these frozen burger patties in the freezer. They were hella stuck together, and the way I usually get them to separate them is to use force: slam them on the kitchen counter. That usually works, but didn’t this time. Plan B is to use gravity: hold it up about chin high and let it drop to the floor. That usually works, but didn’t this time. Plan C is to use leverage: wedge something between the patties and lift. Can you guess what I used as the wedge?

I’ve never had any problems with sharp tools of any kind. I’m pretty cautious around those things, and rightfully so. Sharp things are sharp! But actually, I’ve used a knife to separate frozen burger patties aplenty of times before and never stabbed myself. And every time, I’ll put my left hand behind the stack of frozen patties (imagine at 12 o’clock on a clock) to keep the stack from moving. Then with my right hand, I try to wedge the knife in front (at 6 o’clock). And every time, I catch myself in that position, realize that that’s a horrible place to put my left hand, and then re-position my left hand so that it’s pushing down on stack, away from any danger or accidental stabbage.

Well, this time, I didn’t re-position my hand. I left it at stab-o-clock. It actually didn’t hurt at all, and it didn’t appear to go that deep, but fuck, my left palm was a gushing pool of blood. I figured it wasn’t that big of a deal, that if I applied pressure to stop the bleeding, and then bandage it up, that I’ll be a-okay and not have to go to the emergency room. And it was really bad timing because that day, both Shann & Gabe were done with finals and went back home to Vallejo & Pinole, so I was all by myself.

So take a bunch of napkins and press down on my left left, then bandage it up with a self-stick bandage wrap that I still happened to have when I twisted my ankle (the first time). Then I managed to drive to CVS and buy some gauge, neosporin, medical tape, more bandage wraps, and butterfly closure bandaids. I had to make another trip to a Rite Aid to get more stuff. I thought I had everything covered.

side note:
Driving a stick shift fucking sucks when you can’t use your left hand. I couldn’t grip the steering wheel with my left hand at all, so I had to steer AND shift with the my right hand. Shifting and turning with one hand is damn near impossible, even if you try to use your knees to steer somehow. But yeah, I made it back both times safely.

So I go into work the next morning, left hand all bandaged up. Ever try typing on a keyboard with a cut on your palm or your whole palm bandaged up? Yeah, it doesn’t work. It hurts. Since my palm was bandaged up it was elevated off the keyboard, making me have to reach further to press the keys. And when I applied pressure to my fingers, it went through my palm to the cut, and it hurt. I realized that I really did have to go to the ER to get checked out.

The ER wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. TV shows and movies make ERs look like a clusterfuck of worst-case medical chaos with drama everywhere you look. Couldn’t be further from the truth. I waited for maybe 10 minutes, and left maybe 10 minutes later. No drama what-so-ever. The ER doc tested my hand to see if I hit a tendon or nerve, but luckily I didn’t. Since I used a butterfly closure bandaid and the cut wasn’t that deep and the cut was over 12 hours old and kind of started to heal already, I didn’t need to get stitches. Doc said stitches would actually increase my chances of infection. So they had me just rinse out the cut under running water, and then a nurse applied neosporin and a bandaid, and the doc gave me a prescription for antibiotics as a safety measure. And that’s it. I paid $50 for all that. Pessimist Eric thinks “$50 for a glob of neosporin and a stretchy bandaid??!?! fucking bullshit!.” Optimist Eric thinks “$50 for the peace of mind to go to the hospital without an appointment and be immediately examined by a licensed medical doctor and be assured that there is no tendon or nerve damage to your hand.” I’m all for peace of mind, but fucking a, Pessimist Eric’s got a point.

When I was younger, I had really bad allergies and asthma, and I was always going to the hospital to either see a doctor, pick up meds, or get a weekly allergy shot. Nowadays, I kind of take pride in the fact that I don’t get sick often or have to go to hospitals to see doctors or be dependent on medication to function. So now, when I have to go to the hospital, it’s more something kind of major.

I more or less have allergies all year round, but they get worse during peak allergy season (spring time). Usually, I can just take a claritin or zyrtec and I’ll be fine. But the other night, my allergies got so bad that it triggered my asthma. I hadn’t had a bout of asthma in maybe 16 years. But I could totally tell, with the wheezing and labored breathing. And the timing was weird cause it was the middle of the night and I was asleep. I had to go get checked out because breathing problems are scary, so I scheduled an appointment that same day.

After getting check out, my doc put me on Singulair, which treats both allergies & asthma. He also recommended Allegra over Clartin and Zyrtec, which is the strongest of the three, but most expensive. I don’t care about the price, cause it hella works better than the others. He also put me on Flonase, which I had been prescribed before never worked for me. It actually made my nose-related allergies worse. Turns out that I was totally using it wrong, so, so wrong. My previous doc was waay off, cause now that I’m using it correctly, it’s working. For me, it’s kind of weird being able to clearly inhale through both nostrils (one or the other is almost always clogged or something). And lastly, just more emergencies, I have a rescue inhaler. I really could’ve used one the previous night, but I didn’t have any that weren’t expired, since I hadn’t had to use one since maybe freshman year in high school.

So basically I went from taking no meds to being on 2 different allergy meds plus 2 others when needed. I don’t like being dependent on meds. The Singulair is for 90 days, and the Flonase is for at least 2 weeks so that it starts to take effect, then I ween myself off it slowly, so it’s more like a month. Well, at least I can breath.

So I twisted my left ankle. AGAIN. This time, I happened to step in a pot hole as I was walking in a crosswalk. I was rushing across because there was a car coming and I totally didn't see it. This was right outside my office, so when I got back inside I immediately elevated & iced it, unlike last time, when I had to wait almost 2 hours to get home & ice it down (had to wait for my co-workers to finish their racquetball match, then drive me home).

Now I kinda know how Stephen Curry feels. Just bad luck, I guess, so what am I going to do? I might have to start taping this thing down or wear a brace or wrap on a regular basis. It freakin sucks hobbling around like this. No bueno. Well, at least I get to work from home for next couple of days.

The Giants lost to the Brewers, 4-6 Timmy and the strike zone seemed to be on a break, it was soo bad. He's definitely not the same pitcher this year. Like, it's really bad if Zito's doing better than you.

Anywho, our seats were in sec 336, the last upper section down the left field line, so we were right next to the left foul pole.

Went with Tj, Patchi, & Elway.

It was Japanese Heritage Night, and I got the those special tickets, so we got a free sake set: a sake bottle and 2 sake cups, but sadly no sake. The regular give-a-way was a set of orange texting gloves, or gloves that have the fingertips cut off.

For the past couple of years, my first game of the season is always a Giants game. Even if it's the A's/Giants game, they play in SF first. But whatever. I'm a Giants fan too, but always an A's fan first.

possible captions for this pic:

• "When in Rome....."
• "What? I lost a bet...."
• "It was on sale"
• "I don't always go to Giants game, but when I do, I sport the team's hat & jersey"
• "A's? The who now?"

Or that pic just sets up this next pic:

You know it!! It's what's on the inside that counts, right? I bleed green & gold. A's #1 for life!!