winter brlog

so, completely stealing kevin's blogging idea, i've decided to write a winter break blog. it seems that kevin and i have similar goals for our respective winter breaks. my break is longer, however, and i mentioned from the beginning my three main goals to accomplish before spring semester starts in late jauary.

1. drum lessons

this is something that's been on my mind for a while. i am an OK drummer right now. i didn't start playing drums until i was around 21 or 22 years old, and i pretty much taught myself with a little help from people around me. i wanted to get some lessons in january to maybe learn some basics that were never burned into my brain from a young age as is the case with like, real drummers. i do this with the hopes of drastically improving my speed/tightness ala mitch mitchell, or at least get some solid technique down.
i have extra motivation to do this, since my friend steve's girlfriend amanda coordinates lessons at the place i'm thinking of going to.

2. get into shape

this past semester of school sort of fucked me up. i worked like 25 hours a week on top of a 12 credit schedule. i also happened to be taking a history class (latin american history-awesome) and a literature class, so this spelled tons of reading for me. this being said, i often found myself eating quick, shitty foods instead of cooking something healthier for lack of time. this also sapped my motivation to exercise. for a while i was banging out 3-4 mile runs a few times a week, but the one-two combo of louis moving out plus my lack of time has caused me to do more sitting around than running. it's okay though, this week i've gone running a couple of times and have been cranking out some serious pushups. i rule.

3. write/record my folk album

i find that when i do record something on my own, it tends to be not bad. i always seem to find an excuse to not do it, but this past semester i actually had legitimate barriers to productivity. no excuses now, however. i want to work on my Fell Winter project, but i sort of want to just write a bunch of little folk songs and make an album. both will be possible, perchance?

so yeah, those are the three main goals i have for winter break. this friday i leave for san diego to visit my sister for a few days. it will be cool to get away for a while, hang out with sister and eat some good food.

roommate battle

Vs



















so this past september, my roommate louis (depicted above on the left) of over two years moved out of our house and the room adjacent to mine to pursue employment up north. i found this very lame considering the enjoyment i derived from having him right next door. the pain of this loss, however, was dulled a few weeks ago when my friend nikki (right) moved in. though nikki hasn't been moved in for all that long, i thought it would be interesting to do a little side-by-side comparison of my former and current roommates, judging nikki's progress against louis's past performance in several different categories. here we go.


Cheapness

ok, so to anyone that knows louis this category is kind of obvious. or is it?

louis: louis is really, really, really cheap. case in point: about six months ago louis's girlfriend was visiting for a few days. louis decided to cook some spaghetti sauce and asked me if he could use the red pepper that i had in the crisper, saying that he would "replace" it. "sure", i said, assuming that a few days later an equivalent piece of fruit would be back in the fridge. a few days later i was digging around, looking for something to cook when i see this tiny little red pepper chillin in the fridge. it's funny because my first reaction was shock. i didn't think about it at all, my brain just instantaneously processed the absurdity of louis's cheapness in replacing my actual red pepper with one that more closely resembled a red jalapeño than a bell pepper.

nikki: nikki is not cheap at all. i remember going to a bar with her and ringing up a $100+ tab within like an hour and a half or something silly like that. she quickly scooped up and paid the bill before i had the chance to put anything in. ridiculous. this is the kind of person she is-she gives and gives. you have to stop her sometimes.

while this comparison seems to lead to an obvious winner in this category, let's not be so hasty. the upside to louis's cheapness is the comic value that it brings. kevin and louise will remember countless evenings of me singing the tune to popular songs with the lyrics altered to express how cheap louis is. example: "i'm just mad about coupons, i like saving money..." and so on and so forth("mellow yellow"). while this holds considerable value for myself and others lucky enough to experience it, it's not enough to take the category.

advantage: nikki

hangin'

this category refers to the frequency, quality and diversity of hangs with the respective roommate.

louis: i had some seriously quality hangs with louis. there would be the occasional night out at a party or in some bar which was always a good time, as louis is a fun, interesting dude, and a particularly humorous drunk. there were also countless nights of me procrastinating on doing schoolwork by making a visit to louis's room only to find him buried deep in public health literature, writing out a potential journal article or grant proposal. i would annoy him, ask him inane questions, play the guitar better than him. still, he always entertained my queries/comments and never seemed at an imposition. my favorite times with louis, however, were our runs. he was someone to talk to and he kept me motivated. that these runs no longer take place makes me sad.

nikki: nikki is automatically at a disadvantage n this category, not because of a lack of quality in our hang-sessions, but simply because she works allll the time and is scarcely around to hang out. this is unfortunate, because we often have a good, long bro-down about like you know, life and shit. also, she's always game for going out to lunch/dinner and few other girls can put away bourbon like she can.

despite nikki's many assets, the fact remains that she is simply not around enough. i wish she was, but...

advantage:brown


looks

this one is tough. both roommates are very attractive.

louis: tall, thin, in good shape, and possessing lincolnian features. louis drives the ladies wild with his looks, not to mention his boyish charm.



nikki is also thin, pretty and in good shape. her excellent bar service isn't the only reason she pulls in the big tips.

her height is deceptive. seriously, she'll be like 4 inches shorter than me, then 20 minutes later we're the same height. i don't know what this means.



look at those dimples. come on!

advantage:nikki

in summary:

it looks like new roommate nikki comes in 2-1 over old roommate louis. not to worry, louis. i still have much love for you, and will never forget the times we shared.

happy thanksgiving!

so today i went over to my mom's place for dinner and the usual thanksgiving family hang sesh. seeing as my sister now lives in san diego and decided not to come around for the holiday, it was just her and me. usually, i would grumble and assume this to be a stressful event, because of the absence of my sister, who is usually a good buffer between me and my mom who tend to annoy each other. this wasn't the case however, and things went down pretty well. we decided to fry up some turkey cutlets in lieu of the traditional 12 hour affair that usually takes place and results in 23lbs of cooked turkey which would be excessive for the two of us. so anyway, i made some delicious garlic mashed potatoes, fried up some green beans with a little garlic, olive oil and sliced, roasted almonds. the almonds definitely boost this dish up from like a 4 to a 6 or 7. we cooked up biscuits then made a simple salad with arugala, a little basil, lemon juice and olive oil. it was light, fresh, and delicious.






so yeah, my mom and i got along well;worked strong as a team even, made/ate some scrumtralescent dishes and chilled. i even remembered to call my aunt in south carolina. pretty good thanksgiving, i'd say.

hi

my name is david. people i know have blogs or comic diaries and they're really good, so i decided to try my hand at this, in the hopes that my own bloggings will be half as blog as their blogs.