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September 30, 2004

Nester

These days I've taken to spending more time with my two best friends: my bed, my books. For some reason I'm not keen on going out these days; it just seems more productive to stay at home and cough up the mucous that had been stuck in my throat that day. I don't even drink anymore... the last time I was drunk was when we took Jassi to Von's two weeks ago. What's wrong with me?!

Considering I spent well over $300 on alcoholic beverages last month, this is probably a good thing. I am well on my way to financial recovery, and the first thing I'm gonna do when I'm out of the red is buy myself a Powerbook to celebrate the victory. My wonderful Toshiba Satellite has gasp its last breath after just two years of faithful service and I'm going to take that as a sign to finally bid adieu to Microsoft and say bonjour to Apple.

So here I am, sober and content with my books and broken laptop, while my friends are, at this moment, dancing the night away at Neighbors or karaoke-ing at All American. My life has once again slowed down to routine, at least for now. Marty Pants has asked Booga and myself to be a part of the MAVIN magazine cover, so it looks like I'm gonna have to dig in my closet for that prom dress that's been gathering dust for the past year. Goddamn I'm a catch.

Posted by Charlie at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)

September 28, 2004

Dans Un Nouveau Jour...

A time for new beginnings, I guess. Kenny's off to school tomorrow. *sniff* My little boi's all grown up! Man, he has to share a little room with TWO other people. I would have gone insane had they stuck me in a triple, but with overcrowding in the classes and dormitories, the administration currently has no way around this.

You should look into getting an apartment of your own next year, Kenny.

In lieu of the new school year, we went and caught that movie "Supersize Me" by Morgan Spurlock. It was a very well made movie in the tradition of Michael Moore's "Shooting For Columbine," but I had read many interviews of the guy and was expecting the movie to be extremely graphic. Spurlock was speaking in his interviews about having his digestive tract coated with so much fat and oil that during his 'detoxing' phase his foods just passed right through him. I want to see blood-covered stool, goshdarnit!

Whatever, I spent most of the movie watching Kenny's ex, so it wasn't a total waste.

Posted by Charlie at 10:02 PM | Comments (1)

September 25, 2004

I Heart Jassi

Ever since I was young, I have had to deal with my peers' crushes with teen idols. New Kids On The Block. Debbie Gibson. Brad Pitt. Jonathan Taylor Thomas. I never quite understood this childhood phenomenon. I never had posters of any celebrity posted up on my bedroom wall. But these days, if you mention the name 'Jassi' I will scream like a little bitch. Our obsession with our new friend just won't stop. There is just something about Jassi that is so... I don't know... exceptionally mesmeric.

Anyway, I'm not going to let this fixation go anytime soon. My friends can attest to this. So, if you have a Friendster account, please, please add Jassi as one of your friends! She's only been in Seattle for a little over a week now, but is in dire need of more people to share our love for her.

I think I'm going crazy... for JASSI!

Posted by Charlie at 03:00 PM | Comments (0)

September 23, 2004

Le Sigh

There are what - six billion people living in this small world? Many idealists would argue that out of those six billion people, only ONE of them is destined to be your partner, your soulmate. I find this notion of love by destiny somewhat daunting and frankly, a bit ridiculous. I am by no means a fatalist, but sometimes I often wonder... "what if I never met you?" I've been thinking a lot these days.

Posted by Charlie at 08:19 PM | Comments (0)

September 21, 2004

The New Playstation 2

You can always trust Sony on mouth-watering design. They announced their new Playstation 2 model today, and the console is over 70% smaller than the original Playstation 2 model. Go here for some more drool-worthy photographs. My faith in Sony has been restored, after their disastrous misstep in using their ATRAC format for their VAIO Pocket Player.

Posted by Charlie at 08:45 PM | Comments (0)

A Pissing Rampage

In my efforts at detoxifying my system and getting over a nasty cold, I've doubled my daily water intake and thus have been going on a pissing rampage at the office. No, not the kind of rampage where you douse bitchy bosses and fiery crotches, but rather the kind of rampage that takes hold of your already small bladder and will not let go. That doesn't make sense. Anyway, I've been pissing a storm. Ivan-quality.

Posted by Charlie at 08:28 PM | Comments (0)

September 19, 2004

AFRA

Check it out: AFRA is this human beatboxer based in Tokyo and New York City and boy is he bombdiggity! He recently collaborated with my favorite music prodigy artist Yoko Kanno on the latest campaign for Fuji Xerox. A very talented young man indeed.

Posted by Charlie at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)

September 18, 2004

The Best Picture Of Me In A While

I can hear the modeling and casting agents pounding at my door right now. :)

Posted by Charlie at 01:16 PM | Comments (0)

A Night On The Town

So last night was Jassi's first night in Seattle, right? We decided to give her a proper introduction to the Seattle nightlife, so we took her to Von's and their famous $3 martinis. Jassi was feeling a little grey and jetlagged, but after a few Manhattans she was feeling just fine. It was a good thing she brought her parasol; we were sitting outside and the Seattle rain was relentless. She was such a trooper; even when I spilled my seventh drink on her and accidentally decapitated her, she was still all smiles.

Posted by Charlie at 01:14 PM | Comments (0)

September 17, 2004

A Week of Misgivings

The atmosphere around the office hasn't been one of cheer or ease as of late. With magazines rejecting our ad submissions and past deadlines, I am surprised that I'm still working here. A graphic designer was suddenly fired last week. Threats of sexual harassment lawsuits whisper their way around the office. 1846 and I have been researching Craigslist for prospective replacement jobs; at times we hate working here and at other times things are bearable... only if the bosses aren't breathing down our necks, however. I really like my coworkers here, and I know that this company is going to get big. But there are these sacrifices one must make when working at a start-up, and that usually involves financials. I'm not making much here; neither are most of these folks. I guess the primary thing driving us to work for this company is our desire to see this company thrive.

Things are looking up, finally. We've had two local television stations come to conduct interviews; some coworkers and I have started a weekly cocktail gathering; and best of all, I made a new best friend. Her name is Jassi. I love her. We all love her. She's the kick-ass personal assistant of the ages. 1846 and I have posters of her all over our cubicle, and sometimes she gets to sit in on one of our meetings. She can be a little quiet, but that's usually because she's coming down from a night of pot smoking. Oh, Jassi!

Don't you just love her?

Posted by Charlie at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)

September 13, 2004

That's Professor Charlie To You!

My Barneys bill came in today. Ouch. So I decided to take a little weekend job tutoring these ESL kids, as I'm suffering from attention withdraw and I need to stay distracted and busy. These girls are already sophomores in highschool, and yet they're already learning college-level mathematics. Smart bitches. I wouldn't know where to begin in defining Postulate 5, but luckily I was able to win them over with my charming smile and awe-inspiring sense of fashion. One of the girls' moms has taken to zipping and unzipping my black jacket. I like being cute. *wink!*

Posted by Charlie at 09:32 PM | Comments (0)

September 11, 2004

Changing Teams

I've been meaning to make the Switch to Apple for a while, almost 3 years to be exact, back when Steve Jobs introduced that G4 Cube and made me start salivating for their products. A Microsoftie at heart, I have always scoffed at Apple's advertising campaigns, viewing them as guerilla attempts to discredit an honest-to-goodness hard-working company trying to forge a pioneering path in the realm of technology. (Forgive me; I literally grew up with Microsoft in my backyard)

I have always known Apple to be innovative and very conscious in their product design, but I had already invested so much money on Windows programs that until recently I thought it would be unfeasible for me to invest in an Apple. I did my research; I wanted desperately to get one of the Titanium PowerBooks when they first came out, but with reports of paint flaking, I decided to hold off until something better came along.

Apple introduced the iPod to further whet my appetite, but with battery life being a paltry eight hours it quickly turned me off. I had a Sony MD player that was getting 50 hours with only one AA battery. But soon my music library was getting too massive for the MD player, and when Apple introduced its 4th Generation iPod with its innovative Click Wheel, I knew it was time for me to bid adieu to my MD player.

I bought myself the 20GB iPod when I was in San Francisco, and it's amazing. I love it, from the minute attention of the design to its many pragmatic functions. I already bought another $150 worth of accessories just to keep me iPod happy. I can use it as a portable hard drive, an electronic Rolodex, a makeshift mirror, the possibilities are endless!

Posted by Charlie at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)

September 10, 2004

My San Francisco Treat

I miss you already.

It all started with a simple request. I had promised Cynthia that I would get her a dozen or so curried pastries from the city of San Francisco should I ever go back there. The opportunity soon came around Labor Day, when T invited me over to the Bay Area for some R&R, something I really needed and wanted.

One delayed plane flight and four hours later, I landed in the Bay Area. The place hasn't changed since the last time I was here, which is nice.

Berkeley is a wonderful town. It is so quaint and artistic and busy and... I don't know... beautiful. T took me around the Berkeley campus, which was still busling with wide-eyed freshmen even around 9 at night. The campus is much more beautiful at night, and gave me a much better impression than the last time I visited this place, five years ago, when I was considering which undergraduate university to attend. A slight pang of regret hit me as I was eating the wonderful French food that they have down there.

We were both too tired to do anything, so we rented movies and crashed for the night.

T had to host an APC retreat that weekend, so on Saturday I set out on my own to the city to do a little sightseeing - aka - time to give my credit card a little exercise! I wasn't able to check into my hostel until 2PM, so for 4 hours I lugged around my baggage and shopping bags like an old bag lady. I must've spent 2 hours in the Diesel store alone, although I only made out with several of their fannypacks. My love for Diesel is slowly dimming as the impending Seattle store opening draws ever closer.

By noontime I was thoroughly worn out. The sun was beating upon the Bay Area in record highs, and the sheer weight of my shopping excursion was making my body ache. Luckily I was supposed to hang out with my cousins and my sister, so I sat at a coffee shop for however long waiting for them to come pick me up. I haven't seen Siri since her sister's funeral several years ago. Something about California has really calmed her down, made her content. She's really happy here, it seems. We had lunch in Chinatown (a very big mistake) and looked for pastry shops that sold curried buns, but to no avail.

The kids are awesome. Liam and Sarah are so bright and inquisitive. Liam saw the fannypack I was wearing and decided that he should get one as well. *wipes away a solitary tear* I really enjoy being a role model. Siri and Pat want me to move closer to them so I can play a more active role in the kids' lives. If only the job market were more optimistic...

One of my main goals on this trip was to visit the SFMOMA and Asian Art Museum again, but once I checked into the hostel I pretty much crashed and slept for the next four hours. I really should make more friends in the Bay Area; both Jane and Lloyd were out of town so I couldn't hang out with them. Instead, I took a nice long bath and waited for Ryan to get ready so we could hit the bars.

Ryan brought along his friend Jeff, a big fan of prefunking. He brought along a huge jug of Bacardi rum and between the two of them downed maybe like a third of the bottle! And I thought I was a heavy drinker. Nonetheless, both of them were substantially buzzed by the time we hit the streets of Castro. We immediately hit The Bar for some more drinks. I had a Liquid Cocaine and a Tokyo Tea; I couldn't finish the Tokyo Tea, knowing that downing the rest would entail worshipping the porcelain throne for the next few hours. I was so drunk at this point I was offering my Tokyo Tea to complete strangers, asking if they want to finish my drink. Luckily many people were willing to comply.

The rest of the night of quite a blur... I remember going to a very packed Cafe, evidently at a strip night. Whatever. We headed straight for the restroom to take a piss and left the place quickly. Ryan wanted to go to Pendulum to get his clubbin' on... but we were there for only five minutes before he started to get sick. We left the place just in time for Ryan to start vomiting everywhere. Everywhere. I was so drunk at this point I didn't even care that we was vomiting on my shoes and drooling on my pants. I was quite the supportive friend, rubbing his back and encouraging him to let it all out. He was making these terrible retching sounds that could be heard a mile away. The entire spectacle was happening in front of hundreds of bois too, but for some strange reason I didn't feel like I was having a good time, nor did it seem like a chore to take of Ryan.

We decided to call it a night. It wasn't even midnight yet. Even though it hadn't even been an hour since they picked me up we figured it was best to take Ryan home. Jeff, quite sobered up from Ryan's elegant public display of disgorgement, became our designated driver. I held Ryan's head steady in the back seat as he convulsed into a plastic bag. I had vomit and drool on my clothes, but you know what? I was A-OK with that. Because I was drunk. I don't even remember taking these pictures below.

I passed out quite gracefully on my bed in the hostel, and woke up in that state where you're still drunk, but can feel that impending hangover starting to take over. T was to pick me up around noon-ish, and so after I checked out of the hostel I trekked my way to Union Square like a transient and planted myself in front of the Macy's building for the next hour, reliving in my head the wonderfulness and craziness that has happened in the past few days/weeks.

It seemed T had a similar night as mine, taking care of the sick. We had brunch at a wonderful French cafe, but it was so hot I thought I was getting a fever at one point. My hangover lingered on, and so we took it easy. The rest of Sunday was spent recuperating, although we did manage to squeeze in time to check out Japantown and get some dinner at a curry house. No curried buns here, however. And you would think a pastry shop in Japantown would carry some!

Morning Morning. After bidding a fond "see you later" to T, I took the CalTrain down to Sunnyvale for a farewell barbeque with my cousin. I've never been to their new house, which is one of the Eichler buildings that were so popular back in the 1950s. Kind of like a more accessible version of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs, the Modernist design has held up pretty well over the years. The layout is very open with few walls. I like it here.

My appetite had been waning these past few weeks, and somehow being at my cousin's place brought it back in full force. I was chowing down on coconut shrimp, chicken, spanakopita, grilled asparagus, and curry like there was no tomorrow. I miss Siri's cooking.

Kay and Don soon met up with me, and soon we were at the airport waiting for our flight back to Seattle. For some reason I was still hungry, so I ordered a BBQ Chicken Pizza at the airport as a snack before getting on the plane.

So no, no curried buns this time. As the plane began to take off I stared out the window at the land below, pondering the state of this uncertain yet hopeful future.

Posted by Charlie at 03:26 PM | Comments (0)

September 02, 2004

We're Live!

One of the best things about working at a start-up is that sense of exhilaration that stems from venturing into the unknown. The advertisements that we worked so hard on for the past few months are finally appearing in magazines nationwide. I have a feeling we're going to be getting some "cease and desist" calls from the record labels very soon. Whatever. It kicks ass.

Posted by Charlie at 01:40 PM | Comments (1)

September 01, 2004

The Last Days Of Summer

The first day of September is here and already this morning I was awakened periodically by the sounds of torrential downpour. Rain is quickly making a comeback here in Seattle, and to many locals it's a sign that things are finally shifting back to the routine. I love autumn. It's just cold enough to layer several designer pieces, yet warm enough to sport a t-shirt if one wishes. The trees are bursting in colors of red, orange, and yellow. Squirrels are everywhere, scrambling for every little piece of nut to store before the earths gets to cold to dig in.

I, however, am not ready to settle into the routine. I'm escaping the cold weather for four days of warmness in the Bay Area, looking to hook up with friends, family, and... yes. I hope it'll be fun. I haven't seen my cousins in several years.

The rain subsided by mid-afternoon today, and the sun came out in full force on Seattle, giving us its farewell warmth before it slowly begins to fade into the winter skies. I took more pictures of myself to celebrate the occasion.

Posted by Charlie at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)