I am the fucking king of the world....the master, of all I survey. Today, for the first time....*drumroll* I baked bread. Damn straight. You heard me right. I'm all giddy about it. I've always been intimidated by baking for some reason. Maybe its because you can't really just wing it, there's alot of precise measuring involved. And a lot of trust to boot. For instance, you pop it into the oven, and trust that when you open the oven door 50 minutes later, it'll come out lookin' beautiful.
There's just something so damn cool about being able to bake bread. Its been a staple in man's diet for hundreds of years. I feel like you could just throw me in the fuckin' Outback with some flour, yeast, water, an onion and some rosemary and I could make it. Its a primal, survival thang.=)
So, as my first attempt, I made an olive bread, with onion, garlic and parsley. Classic Mediterranean. From start to finish, it took about 3 1/2 to 4 hours, most of which was waiting. I had to do it McGyver style. Because we have no large surface to mix or knead the dough, I used my housemate's wok. Its the largest container-type deal we have in the house. It worked out because its half bowl, half flat surface. So I just floured it and went to it. While I was kneading the dough in the wok, my housemate came out of her room and gave me this look like, "what the heezy are you doing??"
When the bread was finally done, I invited my housemate to try it, and she did. The response was, *chew chew* "Its okay...its pretty good." Me? As I bit into the first slice of it, I was stoked. The crust was dope, and although the inside was a bit moist, it was good. I ate friggin' half a loaf straight out of the oven...which comes to about 3/4s a pound of bread yo=) About halfway through, I broke out the olive oil and just dipped and ate. Didn't even bother to sit down.
I'm pretty sure my housemate doesn't appreciate bread the way I do. Bread isn't really a big part of Chinese cuisine, which she's really more accustomed to. Me? I damn near have a hernia when I taste some dope, fresh, warm bread.
So there is the story. I've got a loaf and a half just chillin' in the oven. Should last me through tomorrow. So I got over one of my "inhibitions." I am empowered...not to mention, at the moment, I'm feelin' like some hot shit.=)
1/4/2003 11:57:02 PM
Wednesday, January 01, 2003
Okay, so we didn't go to a strip club. Instead, we went to the embarcadero celebration, complete with fireworks and an assload of people. Actually, I spent an hour and a half trying to meet up with D and the others. Man, it was times like that that not having a cellphone really hurt. I was on payphones all over the place and must've spent a good 3 bucks in change alone coordinating where to meet. Man, I probably got all types of different germs on me from touching all those nasty payphones. I was really contemplating hooking up with Di and his friend in the Japantown Radisson instead, but D kept assuring me it would happen.
So we finally hooked up at 11:30 and made our way to the Embarcadero. I have to say it was pretty underwhelming. Okay, we fought our way past throngs of people to see a 15 minute fireworks display. Big whoop. Afterwards was when some fun started happening.
By chance, we saw A and his girlfriend passing by, and we decided to get a drink. So we hiked it on up to Jillians' at the Metreon and got into the party for free, thanks to connections with the doorman (saved a whopping 40 bone cover charge). Inside, we got hooked up with free champagne and shots. I didn't spend a dime, except a fiver to tip the doorman, and another fiver to tip the bartender hooking us up with the free liquor. All in all, not such a bad time.
Afterwards, we all ate at Denny's. Inbetween all this, there was downtime for people just to converse and kid around. Oh, btw, if there are strange typos or odd sentance structure in this post, the last of the alcohol is working it's way through my veins as we speak, so yeah...
I just got home about 15 minutes ago to some strange dude lying on our living room couch with the lights turned off and the tv turned on, volume really low. I just gave him the "what up" nod and went on to my room. Its 5:23am right now, and I'm fuckin' beat. Perhaps more later...now...to bed!
1/1/2003 05:25:19 AM
Tuesday, December 31, 2002
I watched the Two Towers again...for free....again...yesterday=) I went with Aj, and I used that free ticket (the one you get from buying the DVD) that H gave me. I admit, I nodded off for like 5 minutes during a slow part about one third of the way through the movie, but I attribute that to having sat too close to the screen, and tiring myself out by darting my eyes all over the gigantic screen. Makes me wonder why the hell anyone would want to watch an IMAX movie. You'd get friggin' whiplash swinging your head all around trying to take it all in.
Plans for New Years Eve are still up in the air at 6:17pm. S can't hang tonight, which is really too bad. Not only do I owe him a drink, but I wanted to see him get wasted. D on the other hand, called me just a few minutes ago and told me our original plans may fall through, because the club/event we all were planning on going to costs about 85 bones to get into. And there's no way in holy hell I'm paying that. He did mention his friend calling him to hang out. She and a few of her girlfriends want to go to strip bar tonight. Now, you ever get the feeling that one of your friends is trying to hook you up? Well, thats the feeling I was getting man...telling me, "yeah man, you may be able to hook up with one of her friends...they're all from up here you know..." Uh huh.=) But if nothing comes up, I think I may be heading out with him and a few other guys I know...along with those girls. A strip club on NYE wasn't exactly what I would've wanted to do, but what the hey...y'go with the flow, no? I'll let you know what I end up doing. Gotta make some calls...later all. And have a good time out there tonight.
12/31/2002 06:27:01 PM
Monday, December 30, 2002
So I finally saw Two Towers the other day. Hot damn, was that awsome or what? I swear though, that film had "guy movie" written all over it. I mean, epic battles, swords, honor, comaraderie, platonic, brotherly hobbit love. I am just so surprised to find that quite a few chics dig this movie. (and not just because Legolas) I went with S, who works at the big Regal theatre out in Pleasington. I hopped on the bart out there, he picked me up and we headed straight off to watch it. Afterwards, we grabbed a bite at Chili's. Strangely enough, my first time there. I had the blue-cheese bacon burger and it was some hot shit. S paid for our dinner, and I later told him that he'd gotten us in the movie for free, paid for my dinner, I felt like I was on a f'ing date man..heh. I owe him a long island on New Years.
Yesterday, I pretty much chilled at home and took it easy. I didn't feel like calling anyone. Instead, I just felt like spending the day hermit style and it was quite enjoyable. I re-watched the first LOTRs which ate up the 3 hours from 10-1. Afterwards, I hopped online and a strange, coincidental thing happened. I got an instant message from an ex girlfriend I hadn't talked to in over a year. Coincidental in that I was really thinking about calling her and getting in touch, and maybe even meeting up while I was down in San Diego. We chatted a bit and she asked if I wanted to talk on the phone, so I called her. After a few minutes of talking, it was as if I'd talked to her only last week, and we were back into a really relaxing flow. Quite a few things had changed in that year we hadn't talked. She just got out of a relationship recently, and moved up to Orange County 3 or 4 months ago for school. She seems to be doing really well job wise, as she's currently raking in the dough=) But she was always great at working with people. I know thats one of the things that attracted me to her, and a characteristic I just realized I look for in a girl. I look for girls who are really social, and know how to handle themselves in those kind of situations. Oh, and get this: When I brought up Two Towers, she said she loved that movie, and actually cheered when the Elves(her favorite) came to aid at Helm's Deep. Heh...that cracked me up.
I caught her up on what I've been up to, and some of the changes I'd been through. We reminisced about times past and laughed at how we sometimes argued over things that, now, don't seem to matter much at all. Its so comforting to still be able to talk to someone who you shared so many special moments with. With her, even though we hadn't talked for a year, I never thought for a second that I'd never talk to her again. I always knew we'd talk sooner or later, and its uncanny that she got in touch with me when I'd been contemplating getting in touch with her. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel something for her, talking to her all night like that. So we talked till at least 6 in the morning, and I finally told her I'd be selfish if I kept her on any longer, knowing she had to work 12pm the next day. I'm to call her next week to work out some way to meet up while I'm down in San Diego.
Today was another chill day, and started around 2:30pm=) when S woke me up with a phone call. I went for my "morning" run, and after coming back and relaxing for an hour or two, I made some of the calls I'd been meaning to make. Basically, seeing what people have been up to, and their plans for New Years. As a result of these calls, I'm meeting up with my buddies A and M tomorrow to watch Two Towers again=P Yeah, I can't get enough of this fucking long movie. That, and I've got this free ticket burning a hole in my pocket. I called Di, and he has pretty much been drunk since we got off school a week ago...heh. Crazy nut. When I mentioned New Years, his response was, "whoa, I could've sworn that fuckin' passed already!" Maybe the drunken coma he's been in contributed to his skewed perception of time and space.
I also watched my Iron Giant dvd again tonight. With each consecutive time I watch that movie, it gets to me more. The animation is beautiful, and the story and pacing really hit the spot. Its short, sweet, touching and funny.
So I just sent off an e-mail to H to kinda smooth things over, and let him know where I was coming from, when I reamed him out on Christmas Eve. Sure, he's in Japan now, but from what I understand, internet access is everywhere there. Anyways, I feel better about the whole thing now that that e-mail is sent off.
Voila, an update on what the dilly has been dallying. Currently 3:09am, and its time for me to get to bed if theres to be any hope of getting up early to meet the guys tomorrow, and staying perky through that 3 hour epic. Nite man.
12/30/2002 03:12:14 AM
