Archive for December, 2004

Almost 2005

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 31, 2004
in Life, Movies, Rambling, Sad and Vacation
. 1 Comment

Well, it’s obviously been a while since my last post. I’m “home” now and this time by “home” I mean my apartment. Rolled in about 4:30 on Tuesday. I had originally planned on coming back Monday, but I was easily persuaded to stay the night in Chicago. Had a great time in Chicago. Got to hang out with Greg and Lisa and watch the game Monday night. Also played some games at an arcade for a few hours with Joe, Smitty and Greg. Had some great food and some great laughs. Always great to see those guys.

Christmas was alright this year. That’s a first in a while. It’s really hard to understand not wanting to go home for the holidays if you’ve never experienced that.
While at la casa de mis abuelos, my uncle Tim was saying how nothing spreads Christmas cheer like the gift of a summer sausage. This was before I informed him that Taylor gave me a sausage for Christmas. That just added more validity to his story. Also, to top it off, when I returned to work I found a sausage on my desk with a bow from my boss. Summer sausage - such a manly gift.

Work’s been kind slow and a little boring. Mostly because I’ve been by myself. So you see, it wasn’t really a big deal that I didn’t show up on Tuesday. There was nobody around to even know that I didn’t show up. I’m gonna head in after I get done writing this and install a few things on some machines. Hopefully I won’t be there too long and hopefully nobody will show up to bother me. Oh, newsflash -> The best time to go to Wal-Mart is 3:30am. If you didn’t know this already, then I pitty you. I don’t hate people, I just hate congested crowds full of whining kids, oblivious mothers chatting while blocking isles with their carts, irresponsible cart pushers that hit me and my cart, etc ,etc, etc. My kind of shopping is when there’s less than 20 cars in the parking lot and I see hardly anybody when I’m in the store. That rocks.

I’ve been thinking a lot about Asia lately and what’s been going on out there. While waiting for machines to download updates and install them today (yesterday) I had a lot of time to read news articles and view pictures different news organizations have taken. It’s horrific. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to be there and have experienced it. I’m also deeply saddened by the knowledge that many people in my country, the United States of America, will probably forget about this in a few months. People go on and on about Sept 11th. This was a tragedy, however, roughly 3,000 people died and now they’re saying at least 120,000 people have died in the earthquake and tsunami. That’s a lot of people. Whole families and villages have been wiped out. This is a tragedy. All I can really effectively do is pray at this point. I’ve thought about donating some money, but I’d like to know where I can donate and 50% of it won’t be eaten up by overhead costs of the company handling my donation.

Well, looks like another New Year is quickly coming upon us. I am now the owner of Garden State and Napoleon Dynamite. I feel completed in a way. Michael, Tim and little Whipple came over and we watched them the other night. Definitely good times. I think I’ve seen Garden State 5 or 6 times and Napoleon Dynamite 8 or 9 times now. Well on the way to becoming classics like Office Space. Well, now that I have a plethora of food I’m all set for festivities. Toll and I shouldn’t go hungry tonight.

Trip Home Eve

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 27, 2004
in Friends, Life, Liz, Movies, Story and Vacation
. 2 Comments

You know, sorta like Christmas eve but not. Anyways, it’s been a good trip home. I appreciate the ones that were praying for me cause I know it had to have made a difference. Going to my grandparents’ house rocked as usual. Lots of good eats. Last night Andy and I both said, “i’m so full i could not eat for two days……who’m i kidding, i’ll be hungry in the morning.” I usually eat so much during the holidays. The problem comes in that I don’t have anywhere to work out like I’m usually doing so then I’m a little bit fatter for a week or two. Oh well, maybe I’ll finally learn someday to stop my gluttonous ways.

We were supposed to go eat lunch with my dad today but he canceled cause his wife’s grandma was dying. I figure you can look at that one two ways. 1 - once again other stuff is more important than his kids or 2 - this is a blessing cause I don’t have to be around him. I like to look at it in an option 2 sort of light. He did call back later and wondered if we could do breakfast but when I told him I had to be left by 9am he asked if he could mail me a card.

So….tomorrow I’m going home via Chicago to see Joe, Cheryl, Smitty and Claire. It’s gonna be a rockin day. I love those people and really wish I could see them more, but we’re all turning into adults these days with our jobs and whatnot so we don’t get to see each other much. If you didn’t know, the Smitty is engaged so congratulate him if you haven’t already.

I got my mom to watch Elephant tonight. That was cool. She thought it was a good movie and we talked about some of the characters/character types in the movie and stuff like that. I suggest you see it if you haven’t already. It’s pretty “real” in the fact that they don’t have 25yr olds playing high schoolers doing non-high school things. It’s also only 80min long so it’s quick. Quick but good.

Earlier this evening I got some pizza with Kat, Matt and Janee. That was a lot of fun. These are some of the few friends I have left from those good ol high school days and I don’t get to see them very often either. They’re like family to me. We also went to Target to bother Tyler since he had to work. Just like old times. Well, I probably need to head to bed and get some sleep for the morning drive and stuff.

Hey Liz - we should watch a movie or something when I get back.

Napoleon Dynomite

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 24, 2004
in Life, Movies, Music and Vacation
. 0 Comments

My plans at acquiring the funniest movie from 2004 were foiled today by Best Buy being out of stock. I don’t think Pedro or his cousins would be happy about this. I do have a signed picture of Napoleon and Kip on my TV for crying out loud. You’d think I’d be treated better than this.

Oh, and have I ever mentioned how I hate traffic and extremely crowded commercial areas? That means I just love having to actually try buying something during the holiday season. So instead of rewinding, be kind and buy gifts early so you can more easily be kind to others.

Fiesta

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 24, 2004
in Favorite things, Friends, Funny, Story and Vacation
. 0 Comments

Well, one mexican feast down, one to go. Had some amazing chalupa as is usual during Christmas. Mom never lets us down. Tomorrow we head to grandma’s house for some delicious enchiladas and other delights. I’m hoping to be able to see Kat, Tyler and Matt on Sunday for some awesome Harris pizza. That’s one thing I definitely miss about not living here anymore. That’s good stuff. I’m also hoping to see Joe and Cheryl sometime while they’re in Chicago. We’ll have to see what happens.

Quote of the day:
Me - “You know, it would be cool to marry a hispanic cause..”
Andy - “Dude ¡Latinas are hot! I watch TV. I know what I’m talking about.”

Pick-me-up

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 21, 2004
in Friends
. 0 Comments

just got done talking to gunga. i always enjoy talking to him. he’s a good listener and a lover of good food and mexican things. he even knows some español. he even told me something i knew but hadn’t heard from anybody in a very long time. it went something like this, “don’t let anybody steal your joy at christmas no matter how big a jerk anybody is to you this week”. that’s some good advice if you ask me.

Going Home

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 21, 2004
in Faith, Life and Movies
. 0 Comments

Tomorrow I only have to work 2hrs then I get to take off for break. Yea Christmas. I always look forward/don’t look forward to going home. It’s kind of a oxymoron or something. Really hard to explain and lots of long stories that aren’t fun to remember. I’m talking to Andy right now. Apparently dad called and wants to know when we are going out to his house. I told him I am not going out there. He doesn’t understand why. It must be great to not really know much about our dad. He’s the youngest and has been around for the least if you will. So he’s asking me why I feel that why and I’m trying to explain myself. Turns out I’ve mentioned a few things he had never heard about. I don’t really think it’s my place to make my dad out to be a horrible person. It’s not like he needs any help doing that. Grrrrr, i just hate having to deal with this. It’s like a never ending story only there isn’t a cool dragon and a kid named Sebastian. I guess the comfort I have is that God doesn’t put you in these kinds of things if you can’t handle them. I just wish I sometimes had friends that have been in similar situations that know about this kind of stuff that I could talk to sometimes. I definitely have people that are willing to listen to me when I occasionally talk about it, but it’s not like they understand. At least I don’t perceive them as completely understanding. It’s not that they don’t care though and I really appreciate it when people do listen to me.

Well, I should probably get some things packed, put my clean clothes away and do the few dishes I have. Oh, tonight Elaine and I watched He loves me, he loves me not. It’s another Audrey Tautou movie only this time she’s a psycho obsessive person. It was really weird to see her in this kind of role. It was a really good movie though. A lot like Sliding Doors. So a big thanks goes out to Elaine for introducing it to me. Well, I should probably get on those things I need to do.

Lord of the Rings

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 19, 2004
in Faith, Friends, Life, Movies and PJ's
. 0 Comments

Well, yesterday was the big Lord of the Rings marathon down at JRod’s. We had grandiose plans of a lot of people but it ended up just being JRod, Toll and myself. It was still good times though. The only drawback was that we spent the whole day sitting on the couch, laying on the couch, eating food and picking up food to eat. You kinda go a little stir crazy and your wallet can really start digging into you. Watching all three extended versions in a row was quite an experience though. If you have 12 hrs to spare I suggest you try it sometime.

Gearing up for the holidays and all. Work really drug out on Friday cause I couldn’t really do much while waiting on somebody else. So I ended up just sitting behind the desk doing nothing for 5hrs or so out of my day. It looks like tomorrow should be productive so hopefully a lot will get accomplished. I also have 5.5hrs to get rid of this coming week so I’ll get to take off nice and early on Wednesday.

Getting back for Christmas should be fun. Holidays are nice because I get to see some family like Becky, Andy, my mom, los abuelos, however, there’s always the added stress of my dad. I was talking to Becky today and she was saying she hopes he doesn’t try to call or anything. I’m most definitely in agreement with that one. She also said Andy went and visited him the other day. I’m really not sure why but I admire him for it at the same time. That verse in the Bible about honoring your father and mother is soooo much easier to obey when you have a cool, loving and caring father and mother. I really thank God that I have one cool parent. I can’t imagine what it would be like to have none.

Hi back

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 17, 2004
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

Tara’s wave

My response:

Christmas Banquet

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 16, 2004
in Cheese, Friends, Life and Sad
. 2 Comments

Tonight was the infamous Christmas Banquet for faculty and staff. Good food as usual and this year we got a cool gift. A little basket with two large hunks of cheese, some sausage and some nuts. Much more cooler than last year in my opinion.

Today I’ve been saddened by the realization that more of my friends are leaving from Taylor. I have a list of phone numbers of friends still here so I don’t have to look things up. As I was looking at this list I realized some of them won’t be relevant anymore. Squatz has graduated and Crickit sort of has. He’ll be in DC for the spring so I basically won’t be seeing him for a long time. Mel also came into work today and told me she’s getting a job at Marion General which is really cool for her because this will be more medical experience for her in what she eventually wants to do. The sad part (for me) is that she won’t be working in the spring. She’s definitely a good friend. Hopefully I’ll still see her around occasionally. After next semester there’ll be even more people heading out into the ‘world’. Bendog, Liz, Elaine, Deron, Mike, Sarah, Jordan, Laura and many others. At least Toll and Lofton will still be around. I need to find more friends that are actually going to be around. I’ve been trying, really I have.

Well, enough of this sadness. It’s the Christmas season. There’s lots of things to be thankful for and happy about. Saturday we’re having a movie marathon of epic proportions. Soon I’ll be feasting on mexican food with the familia. I’ve been thinking of sending out a ‘Christmas email’. My first thought was no, cause I got this thing if people want an update. However, not everyone reads this. So maybe some of you avid readers will be seeing an email from me in the near future. If you do I’ll try to make it cool and not lame.

Tradition…

Published
by
Chalupa
on December 13, 2004
in Favorite things, Friends, Funny, Story and sIIs
. 1 Comment

So every semester since who knows when we always go to Outback during finals week. Now I of course don’t have finals to take but I gotta keep the tradition going. JRod is the only other person around that was originally in on it. So tonight was me, Crickit, Squatz, Bleu, Toll, Moser and JRod. We got to Outback but they were closing really early for a Christmas party so we decided to head to Texas Roadhouse instead. The waiter asked how we were doing so I informed him we were a little annoyed cause we have this tradition of going out to eat and Outback didn’t want our business so we were hoping Texas Roadhouse could treat us right. Our waiter’s name was Mikey and Mikey was cool. He was amazed at our ability to eat the free bread and drink the free refills. I would give a low estimate that we consumed at least 12 things of bread. It was pretty good. We then paired up and shared appetizers then all orders large, manly steaks…except Crickit - he got this tiny little piece of fish (poor sap). Mikey finally learned that we needed a lot of bread and refills. So learning from this he also brought us two bottles of steak sauce. Good man. Mikey earned himself a nice tip. I would consider going back if Mikey would be our waiter.

The only bad part about the restaurant was the people around us. They had lame birthday things. Even Mikey said the birthday thing he had to go participate in was anti-climatic. Then some idiotic 21yr old at a huge table next to us got up on this saddle and rode it like his life depended on it before puking a large portion of his stomach’s contents outside (luckily). Oh alcoholism, aint it great? It wasn’t really that bad cause it’s the people that make or break the situation, not the atmosphere - and my group was definitely a good one to be with.

Work was kinda slow today which was nice. Those slow days can be few and far between. Also found out today that Elaine got promised 30hrs/week at the library for next semester with her own office. That rocks. ¡Congrats Elaine! Also found out she’s gonna be around til the 21st so I got somebody else to hang out with. Toll will also be around and there’s JRod and Tara in Indy. I should be able to keep myself entertained.

Well, I guess all I have to say is ‘hurrah’ to another finals week where I have no finals….and that’s all I got.