Long week in review . . .

Well, its been a week since i last updated, so i guess i should catch up. Last weekend was christmas shopping with the family. It was just a little crowded at the usual shopping places, but it was fun. We also saw die another day, which i thought was a great movie.

Monday i saw two towers again with Liz. That was fun. I figured that although it was lord of the rings, on a monday there wouldnt be much of a line. I was pretty off. But it was ok cuz i still got good seats thanks to my habit of getting places nice and early. It took Liz a while to get there from her place because the roads were crammed with more late christmas shoppers. But the movie was good the 2nd time, and i saw Emily Tueller there!

Chirstmas eve and Christmas were about the same as the past few Imus holidays, which basically meant hanging out, relaxing, and eating lots of food. I got a ps2!! Probably the best christmas present i've gotten since turning 15. Madden is quite honestly awesome, and nighfire is pretty cool too.

Yesterday me, vic, jen, eric, and edith got together and drove around looking at christmas lights. There were some really good decorations. Lots of use of disney characters; i think mickey was the one we saw the most. Afterwards, we headed over to coldstone cuz jen wanted ice cream, where we standed outside for about 15 minutes before deciding to go in when we discovered that they had just closed. So we picked up ice cream at albertsons instead. We stopped by some other places looking for spoons, until we decided to go through the wendy's drive through and ask the guy there for some. I thought it was pretty funny. It was so funny, that we drove over to jack in the box and went through the drive through and asked for 5 ketchup packs. Then we went to the drive through at carl's jr and asked for cup lids. Heh heh. Allright, it was funnier then it sounds, ok??

Ok, i'm going to go play ps2 now.

Today was quite busy. It started out waking up nice and early to the sound of rain falling outside my window. Then me, derek, vic and jen drove down to mission valley to get in line for lord of the rings. Jon, eric and raymond met us there shortly after. The movie was awesome, but of course we knew that before seeing it, right? Afterwards we paid a visit to that one place we call mt carmel, and were able to pay a visit to mrs hepler. Most of the other teachers were gone, either to westview or just home for the day, so there wasnt much else. It was strange, it seriously felt like i had only be gone for just a week or two, and if i woke up tomorrow and u told me that we were still attending high school i probably would believe u. Same goes for seeing everyone again. I havent seen derek jen, eric or raymond for a good 3 or 4 months, but it felt like we were still up to the same tricks we've always been up to. How interesting.

So The Two Towers. What's there to say? Great visuals, great acting, great battle scenes, great storyline. If i had to find something to complain about it would have to be the fact that a few of the good characters got pretty diminished roles in this one (namely the females and the wizards). Mike's Grade: A

Another movie i saw recently was ice age. Pretty decent movie with some good laughs, but its not anything great. I didnt particular fall in love with any of the characters. John Leguizamo can get a little annoying after awhile, and ray romano just wasnt all that interesting. The duo really fall short of anything woody and buzz or even mike and sully did. After toy story, bugs life, and monsters, i'm pretty wary about any non-pixar computer animated movie, but still, a decent movie if u need something to watch over the weekend. Mike's Grade: B-

Well, winter break officially started a couple weeks ago, so now i'm back to having tons of free time on my hands. So, if anyone ever wants to do something, give me a call.

Me, Jon, Vic, and Lang drove over to North County Fair yesterday. A couple of stores have changed since i was last there, which was back in september with jon when i got my current sunglasses. The christmas decorations were nice though. Oh, me and vic had another of our famous nickel bets. This time it was whether or not we would see anyone from mchs at the mall, vic betting we would and me betting we wouldnt. I won. Although i kinda expected seeing someone, especially during christmas time.

So what have i been up to recently. Bowling with jon and mall with the others have been the notable exceptions to staying home doing various stuff that i've been meaning to get to. I even cleared out my dresser that was covered with junk from the last year! I'm quite proud of myself.

I watched K-19 the other day. Pretty good movie, if you like submarine movies. Not a lot of action though, but still pretty good. If u want action u can watch u-571 since USA has been showing it every day.

As far as lord of the rings, i'm pretty much free anytime forever. So give me a call when plans start to get formed.

"What a bright time its the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go gliding in a one horse sleigh"

I woke up late this morning and was late for my literature final. Gasp! Okay, so i was only a minute and a half late, but still, i think that qualifies as a near-crisis. I even set the alarm clock last night and went to sleep early so that exact thing wouldnt happen. I even distinctly remember waking up to the alarm and pressing the snooze button! Oh well. I got the final finished way ahead of time so no harm done.

Called up Jon and we headed over to miramar for some 50 cent pool and 2 dollar-something bowling. Pool was fun as always, but i needed practice. I think all the games were won or lost by default. Bleh. Bowling actually went pretty well, considering how horrible i am at it. I think i made 2 or 3 strikes. Yay for me! My lucky ball was a green 11 pounder, so ill always have to remember that.

Afterwards, we were kinda bored so we called up chang for ideas, but he was busy doing chores. I gave Jon jen's dorm number so we called her up too, but she was working on an essay so couldnt talk much. Apparently, she has her finals after winter break. Thats definitely no fun. What good is a vacation if you have to keep finals in the back of your mind?? I called up vic too, but it seems he's still in the dorms. So we drove down to best buy and looked around there instead. Then we went over to barnes and noble, where me and jon read through Relationships for Dummies. Very insightful.

Wow, I cant believe christmas is in less than 2 weeks. Geez, where did all the time go. I havent really gotten into the christmas mode yet, other than the lights my dad put up the other day. Last christmas feels like it was just yesterday. Well, no it doesnt, now that i think about. I actually cant remember what happened last christmas. Huh. I'm not sure i even got any presents. Well, this is gonna bug me for a while.

"Thats the Jingle Bell Rock"

Calc and Chem midterms are out of the way, thank goodness. Both were about what i expected, so i think i did pretty decent.

Jon came home today!! Coolness. Now we can go do fun things again just like way back when last summer. Hopefully starting with bowling and pool, assuming i have enough money for that.

I talkted with eupheme online for the first time in a long time, so that was cool. MCHS doesnt have vacation till after next week, just like last year. Wow, i remember those 3 weeks taking forever to get through, and then being rewarded with lord of the rings on that last friday. That was fun.

Sara suggested getting together to discuss tale of two cities. Just like old times. Sounds like good fun to me!! Who's up for it!?

Allright, well, i think ill go to sleep pretty soon so that i will be able to keep my eyes open while driving to my 8am final tomorrow morning. Later kids.

I havent really figured out whether I'm still feeling leftover effects of senioritis from 6 months ago or if I've always been this unmotivated. It has been so hard lately to get myself to study, which is not a good thing seeing as how finals are just around the corner. I'm pretty sure there used to be a time when i could get myself to study for more than 15 minutes straight without taking a break.

Raymond, I've found that "Not much" has worked as a pretty good reply to "What's Up" for me, and its usually true too. By the way, your writing is always very interesting, you have an inner knack at putting together words in a way that is . . . well, interesting (a talent that i am obviously lacking at the moment). So if you put all your thoughts down into words forever, i wouldnt mind if i never got to hear you speak again (ok, that didnt come out right either, but u get the idea ;)

Chargers: 8-5

Random Stuff:

My writing teacher cancelled our final presentations and brought us donuts and orange juice instead. How cool. Guess she wasnt that bad afterall.

Anyone know why theres a korean bbq almost everyday on library walk?

Ack, finals. Finals arent fun. Thankfully with writing out of the way i'm down to 3 finals, each on a different day. Also, in literature, which im taking pass or fail, we got an outline that pretty much gives everything thats on the test. So that should be allright. Chem will be important. The situation is that i've done excellent on 2 of the 3 midterms, and not so good on the third. Luckily, our professor drops the lowest grade, so ill be fine as long as the final goes well. Calc will be tough, so i dont really want to think about it yet.

Great picture of me on your website Chang, that could be you for all i know. Just call me the mysterious Shadowman.

Sorry Eric. Youll get that playstation back soon :P Maybe ill get a ps2 for christmas. Hey, we need to have a madden tournament sometime during winter break. You think youre ready for a rematch Big D??

Just out of curiousity, why is Berkeley called Cal? Wouldnt it be simpler to call it Berk?

Vic, your writing teacher is pretty freaky. I remember reading about this guy who got all obsessed with one of his coworkers and then did all sorts of freaky stuff like stealing her clothes and calling her a million times at night. Hmm, anyway . . .

End of the Quarter: 9 days

Chargers: 30
Broncos: 27

Hello again. I hope everyone had an enjoyable couple of days off. For those interested, Vegas was about the same as usual. Thanksgiving dinner somewhere other than at home was kinda cool. We ate at the Mirage buffet, and after waiting in line for a good hour and a half we stuffed ourselves with turkey, prime rib, mashed potatoes, stuffing, apple cider, pies, cookies, fruits, jello, and lots more. Yum. I played lots of fun arcade games as usual, not really any new games out. I also suck at slots, if thats possible. I think i won once the whole trip, earning a total of one dollar. Hmm. I also got to see rain in vegas for the first time in a long time, so that was cool.

We ended up staying in two different rooms, due to my mom requesting another one because she didnt like the view. Over the past few years my family has learned not to settle in too much when getting to a hotel room, since 9 out of 10 times my mom will end up moving us to another room because the floor isnt high enough, there isnt a nice view, its too far from the elevators, etc.

Well, here we are at week 10, with four days of finals coming up next week. Then its a very welcome three week break for a merry christmas, and this time finally get to see you out of towners again.

Chargers: 8-4, first place