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Sunday, April 26th, 2009 at 1:47am

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Well, well. Here we are. The end of April, and things are finally starting to change for the better.

I’m realizing how much I use the camera on my phone. It’s almost entirely replaced my regular camera, except at big events or planned outings. But when I’m just out and about, my phone is what’s documenting my day-to-day life. I’d be totally fine with that if only camera took better photos. C’mon iPhone 3. Don’t let me down.

The biggest news of the month is that I got a new car. It was half spur of the moment, half planned. My dad and I were out all weekend shopping around. Day one was basic looking around, sitting in cars and getting familiar with them. All of the cars I was most interested in seemed to be very tiny inside. So, it was an all around good learning experience. The car that stood out the most to me was a Pontiac Torrent. So, day two was spent online looking other dealerships with the same car for us to shop between those.

The car I ended up picking was a 2007, so it’s still pretty young and in great shape. My biggest gripe with it is the odd color of the paint job. They call it “Charcoal” which is really stretching it. In the shade, it’s kinda grey. Any other time it’s got a purple tint to it, and in direct sunlight if you get close enough it goes brown. It’s odd. It’s a far bigger deal in my head than it actually is, I know.

But otherwise, I love the damn thing. I think what pushed me over the edge on it was the interior. Near immaculate. Everything is a sexy black and red combo. It feels like a new car, which was my biggest concern going into the whole ordeal. So, basically… I win.

Because we weren’t 100% prepared to buy a car, when we finally decided that we were going to, my dad and I were down in Escondido without my old Explorer to trade in. I called my mom to have her drive it down for us, which means I had to rush through the car and clean it out as best as possible. After 11 years, the crap can really start to pile up (I especially giggled when I found a stash of condoms in the center console I had completely forgot about). With the hustle-and-bustle of cleaning the car out then being shuffled off to do the paperwork, and get the keys for the new car… I didn’t really process the fact that I would never see my old car again.

It was until I was in the new car, driving off the lot that I drove past my car. It kinda hit me. I’m never gonna see that car again. I felt kinda stupid for getting all emotional about it. But, eleven years, god dammit! That’s a long ass time!

So, new car. That’s a big ass item off my list I get to check off. Now I just need to come up with a name for it. My old car never got a name, and that always bothered me!

Yesterday was Tera’s 27th birthday. She and I, plus two other of her girlfriends, went out to a few bars. It had been so long since I was out at a bar. The first place we walked into was blasting the oonts-oonts-oonts of horrible techno music, and packed wall-to-wall with douchebags. Tera and I immediately looked at each other with the familiar “we’re too old for this shit” look. We got one drink, drank it quickly to a new place.

It’s actually a pretty good feeling to walk into a place like that and feel totally over it.

We were all out til 2am. At about 1, one of the girls took off, leaving just Tera, her friend Ali, and I. I think by this time we were all drunk enough to really get a good conversation going, and just be silly. It was great to be out with Tera, laughing and being stupid.

I wasn’t home and in bed until close to 4 in the morning. Which meant I spent most of the day today sleeping, and being groggy as all hell. Which also meant I didn’t get much done today. But that’s okay, it was totally worth it.

I’ve got more going on lately, but I feel like I’ve covered enough for one night.

Goodnight Moon.
Dream On.

Sunday, April 19th, 2009 at 2:17am

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A few weeks ago I read some article posing the question “Is Twitter killing traditional blogging?” I scoffed a quick “no” at it, and went on with my life—Twittering away, and going weeks between blog posts. Maybe I was wrong. With my half dozen updates about my day-to-day life throughout the day, when it comes time for me to sit down and write about what’s been going on, I feel like I’ve covered it all.

Times are fairly crazy right now. There are a lot of big things happening all at once. So far I’m keeping my sanity.

Work has been exceptionally good lately, actually. Breaking out of the normal routine of magazine work has been a very welcomed change. Lately, I’ve been doing a lot of web work. And what’s more, I’ve been a strangely proud of the work that’s been coming out of it. That’s something that doesn’t really happen too often for me there.

Early last week I made a small after work Disneyland trip with Tera. We were only up there for 4 hours maybe. Grabbed some food, bought some stuff, rode some rides. Had lots of giggles. I miss that damn woman. We always have such good times together.

Big thing #1. New apartment. Danny and I set out to sign a new lease at a joint called Island Club today. Turns out the $1,299 price that was quoted to us only applied to one unit, which was absolutely not made clear to me on my first visit. The rest of the units were up in the high 1400’s, which changed our minds a lot. Certainly not going to pay that price for much less apartment.

We visited a new place called Sunset Views (I do get a kick out of these apartment complex names). About 100 square feet bigger than where we’re at, for $1,350. They’ve only got one unit open now that’s for immediate move-in, which (sadly) we cannot do. We still have a 30-day notice to give at my current place, which we’ll be giving tomorrow.

Danny and I very much like the new Sunset Views place. It’s very close to where I live now, so my commute to work won’t change. It’s bigger, got a fireplace, two balconies, A/C, washer dryer, the whole nine. Unfortunately, our only real plan right now is to cross our fingers, knock on some wood, and hope that something else opens up closer to our move-out date. Not a very sold plan, but it’s all we got right now.

Big thing #2. New car. Last weekend my brakes died. Completely. While it was in the shop, the mechanic must have said something to my dad that kinda spooked him about the state of my car. The phrase “ticking time bomb” was used. So, I’m in dire need of a new car, as soon as possible. Everything on it works rather well right now, but there is apparently lots of potential for that to all go to hell any day now.

Dad and I walked up and down all of Car Country Carlsbad looking at the used pre-owned cars. There were no clear winners, except for the very first car we saw. The other 15 or so cars we got looks at weren’t really speaking to me, at all.

It’s a bit crazy to be doing the new car thing at the same time as the new apartment thing. It seems to be the way the chips have fallen this time around. Thankfully, the money I’m saving in a new apartment can easily be thrown towards a car payment. I’ll call that the silver lining, I guess.

I’ve got more things to write about, as always. I haven’t forgotten about the Top 5 countdown, either. I’m trying to settle on 1 more day, and have to speak to a certain someone first. She’s got a way better memory than I do.

Goodnight Moon.
Dream on.

Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 12:44am

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The current plan is that I will continue to look for places to move to online. Make a nice list, and this coming (three-day) weekend, Danny and I will go check them out. Whether or not we sign a new lease this weekend or not, we would like to give notice here. That gives us a hard deadline, and both of us work better that way. Working down instead of working up.

I finally finished Steamboy tonight. I hate to split movies up between two viewings, but my first time through I was way too tired and fell asleep. Sad. I’ve got one more DVD at home I need to watch, and then I’ll start getting new Netflix. I’ve had these three for a few weeks now. Getting all caught up on House kinda killed my Netflix rhythm.

Over the weekend, we all went to an art show that Todd had some work hung at. It was cool to see his work up in a gallery, but the crowd and gallery itself was the pretty typical pretentious faux-art crowd. Todd texted me beforehand, as a heads up, that Sergio will probably be there. I figured as much. I haven’t seen the guy in a year and a half, but I’ve been well aware of Todd hanging out with him. I’ve got some pretty strong feelings about that, but I’ll keep them to myself for now.

So, as soon as I walk in I see Sergio. We make some sort of eye contact. He doesn’t come up to me, and I don’t go up to him. And that was about the extent of my interaction with him all night long. Sucks, but oh well.

I’ve been doing very good with keeping to myself. Keeping myself sane while being alone. Looking forward to coming home to an empty apartment, if even to just veg on the couch, is a huge step above where I was a few weeks ago. Even Friday and Saturday nights have been okay. There’s no end in sight, I know that much.

Of course, the flip side to that coin is that I’ve got nothing to write about anymore.

Goodnight Moon.
No Day But Today.

Saturday, April 4th, 2009 at 1:26am

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A Friday night spent completely indoors, and I’m just fine. It’s been a good night. Spent some time working on my site, even thought I think I left it in worse shape then when I started. I watched a lot more House. One episode in particular hit me a little too hard.

“I’m in a rut. I want to stop, but I don’t know how to change.”

“Well, the only wrong thing to do is nothing.”

Danny and I have decided to give our notice and find a new place to live. Our complex is, once again, trying to raise our rent. The price of being on a month-to-month, I suppose. But I strongly believe in the policy of “just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.”

Anyway. A rather hilarious two-page note was left on our door. Page one said that our current rent is $1,500 (which it isn’t), and if we want to stay month to month we would have to pay $1,520 (that’s a twenty dollar increase for the slow folks at home). Page two of the note says we’re currently paying $1,625 (which we are) and if we want to stay month-to-month we would have to pay $1,670… a difference of $45 this time.

So clearly their thumbs are firmly lodged up their asses, and they don’t have a clue as to what’s going on.

And why the sent me two of the same forms with different information on them (stapled!) is beyond me.

So, we’re going to move. Danny and I are well aware of how lazy we are, so we need to stick to it. I think as soon as we give notice (which we should do soon, actually), that will put our ass in gear. I know for a fact I work better when I don’t have a net to catch me.

I have no idea where I’d like to move to. Somewhere relatively close to where we are now. Although, I found myself thinking about Carlsbad the other day. Danny doesn’t want to move any more north, and I don’t want to move any more south. So, we’re kinda stuck right where we are.

A move will do me all kinds of good. Being in a new environment will help make me feel less rutty. I could use a lot of that.

Goodnight Moon.
No day but today.