right on bro!

Last night was poker and Burnout 3 at 81st Street. I played in the first poker game, came in 5th (out of 8), and then played Burnout for the rest of the night. It was fun.

Ran a couple of errands yesterday also.

Feel like going back to bed…

My audio cables are, for the most part, now organized. I bought some pegboard and hooks from the hardware store, and now they’re all hanging (if a bit messily) from the board. Before, I just threw the cables in a box, and whenever I had to extract one, it turned into a job of untangling fifteen different ones. I’m not sure why I didn’t do this a long time ago - it would have saved me a lot of headache.

This is for all of the recording and music production I haven’t done lately. I have a bunch of stuff coming down the pipe though, including finishing my current band’s demo, and re-recording some old songs from the past four years. Soon, soon, soon…

What else? I finished season 2 of Alias last night. The two-year jump is annoying, although I guess you could make the argument that the current storyline was getting a bit stale.

Also been playing a bit of poker online, getting back into it with the free games. Not quite ready to play for money yet though.

The end of season two? Come on…ridiculous.

My local Washington Mutual branch has the worst new security system I’ve ever seen.

Long version:
In order to get into or exit the office, you have to go through a series of two doors, each of which has a set of two lights, one red, and one green. Only one person can enter at a time, even if you’re coming to the bank with someone else. You wait for the light to go green, then enter through the first door. Then you wait for the first door to close, and then the light on the second door to turn green, and then you pass through the second door and into the branch. Oh yeah, there’s a metal detector/scanner thing in between.

Short version:
The process for entering/exiting the bank is very much like the white room at the entrace to SD6 in Alias.

Anyone heard of this system before? It’s called prison. Not that I’ve ever been to one (knock on wood), but that’s what it looks like on TV, and TV is never wrong. The new system is incredibly slow and feels really, really unwelcome.

I wonder if my local branch has got hit before, but I doubt it. They’ve also had major problems with being way too crowded all the time. This is certainly going to make it worse. Nice work!

In other news: Dumped off a bunch o’ crap at Goodwill yesterday, ran some errands, had dinner with an old friend. Can’t believe I’ve been in LA for so long.

Also got the new Karate album, “Pockets.” It’s really, really good.

Operation Cleaning Out the Pad is going well. I threw out a bunch of crap this weekend, and some other stuff I’m going to put on Ebay (anyone dying to purchase an OEM copy of Windows 98 SE or a Lexion Reflex effects unit?) or give to Goodwill.

Alias update: I’m almost done with the 2nd season. No additional questions so far.

It’s time to start weighing options for what I’m going to do this fall. I’m thinking about driving across the country to visit my folks, my brother and his wife, and some friends. There would be no specific timetables, just a kind of “I’ll get there when I get there” trip. I’ve always wanted to do this since I was in my Kerouac-esque teenage years. Other options include maybe taking off to Europe or Asia for a few weeks.

Or, maybe I’ll just stay home and play video games all day…

Yesterday was Halo day at my cousin’s house in Northridge. It was super fun - had about 12 people show up. Mostly Slayer games, but there was a nice mix of free-for-all and team-based play, and the competition ranges from one dude who pretty much rules all of the games to beginning players. Also played Chiron for the first time - that map is pretty crazy. I guess these Halo gatherings are like the modern day version of drinking buddies at the bar or the neighborhood bowling league.

Also, I’m continuing the cleanup in my place. Went through the boxes in the closet and threw out a ton of crap. Today will either be the old clothing, or the crap I have piled up in my bedroom.

So Sony finally announced the add-on maps for SOCOM II. It’s really, really weak - there are 3 maps, and they only come on some demo discs in different issues of the official Playstation magazine. And they require the hard drive. So, in order to play the 3 maps, you have to shell out $100 for the hard drive, plus $10 for each issue of the magazine. $130 for 3 maps? AND they’re not gonna be available until later this year, and they’re coming out one per month. Sony came weak with this. I’ll pass, thank you very much. $130 can go towards an Xbox and Halo 2, or 2-3 other PS/2 games.

I watched no Alias yesterday.

So Joey said something yesterday that I’m feeling right now: When you’re not working, or in school, or doing something where you’re getting out of the house on a regular basis, the weekend doesn’t mean anything special. It’s just another day. Well…actually, the weekend might be two days to avoid going out unless you can help it. Less traffic and people on the weekdays. Except for the highways.

Yesterday I met with some people regarding a new business idea that I’ll be working on for the next couple of weeks. I doubt I’m going to make any money off of it anytime soon, but it’s an interesting idea. Also, jammed down to Downey to pick up my bass.

Then, I watched like 8 episodes of Alias. Francie’s restaurant on the outside is the Hollywood Hills coffeeshop (which is actually now closed in real life), which is a block down the street from me. It’s definitely not the coffeeshop inside though.

Question: How much do you think Sydney get paid by SD6? CIA? Do you think she files expense reports? She must have a huge makeup budget.

I bought a Jerker yesterday. I was having ergonomic problems with my old trestle/tabletop setup - it was too high off the ground. The Jerker is pretty cool - got it set up already. There’s already tons less shoulder and leg tension when I’m sitting. Also saved a bunch of space with the shelf above the monitor, and it looks better overall.

Since I’ve not had to go to an office five days a week, I thought my schedule would totally flip itself as it normally does - sleep all day, stay up all night. That has not been the case so far. Probably a good thing.

Yesterday I only watched half an episode of Alias. I know Matt is keeping tabs on this. It was the episode where there’s an exterior shot of Francie’s restaurant, and it’s a shot of the block that I live on. Pretty cool.

Question for Matt and/or other Alias fans: If Sydney has to run through the park and what not to get to the FBI/CIA center where her mom is being held, then how does she manage to show up dressed up in business casual clothing?

Kicked it yesterday. Ran a couple of errands and watched some episodes of Alias in the morning. Then, hung out with Chris, where we played video games and online poker (not for money though). That was the first time I’d played poker online - it was pretty fun, and less intimidating than playing in person.

There was a brief period in the afternoon where I turned on the TV and started watching “Cops.” It felt like I’d bottomed out already. I turned the TV off. At least it wasn’t Judge Judy, Oprah, or Dr. Phil (although there were a few seconds of each yesterday).

Don’t get me wrong - I’m doing great. That few minutes, though, was pretty eye-opening. I’m starting to realize the implications of this time in my life - I can do almost anything right now, and fortunately I have some resources that give me a period of time to try new ideas and do things I’ve always wanted to do. But I ain’t gonna waste my time in front of the TV watching stuff I don’t really want to watch.

Time to get my day started. What are YOU going to do today?

Matt came over yesterday and I helped him put together his new PC. It was a lot of fun, and he’s got a pretty good system for recording porn now.

All right, so Speedle got worked from CSI: Miami because he didn’t clean his gun. I knew he was going to get worked, but I think this is pretty lame, because it already happened to him in the first year. I would have hoped that his death would have been something a bit more nobler than a self-working. Weak.

Woke up earlier, I feel a lot less jet-lagged. Sipping coffee and listening to Brian Eno’s “Apollo” CD. Got a few errands to run today, and gotta schedule some work, but other than that, it’s low-key, bust-at-your-own pace this week. I could get used to this…