Quikboy's space

So there’s been some activity going on in June. I’ve seen three movies so far: The Taking of Pelham 123, Terminator Salvation, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

I really liked Pelham 123. I love that type of movie where a disaster/calamity happens and you see a different personality arise from characters. I also wanted to see how the bad guys would take advantage of the system. I also really liked the MTA control room they showed in the movie; it looks so awesome even if it’s not real. It’s a pretty good movie, though it’s geographically incorrect in many areas.

I also really liked Terminator Salvation. I thought it was pretty good, and some of those characters were hot. It’s also interesting how bleak and desolate the word has become. I was pretty impressed with how they did all those effects. I thought the humanity aspect was great. The ending was pretty nice too. I just love to see those nasty machines die. The part where Marcus talks to the creepy video screen where the creepy woman was talking was also interesting too. I thought it was weird still seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger naked again in this movie (was that really him?) and it made me laugh.

I didn’t Transformers 2 at all. It’s not my kind of movie in the first place, and cars that become robots? Dumb. I mean the effects were nice, but I just don’t like the plot. Also that creepy girl that was way into Sam seemed way too suspicious from the start. It was good, but not that great. I didn’t see the first movie either, but my coworker Jessica Krejci at Quiznos said she would let me borrow it. I only saw this movie because Chloe Halley and her chums wanted to see it.

I got a brand new camera! It’s a Sony W290. It has 12.1MP, 5.0X optical zoom, 3.0” LCD, it can take 720p HD videos in MPEG4 format, among other neat things. I got the silver-colored one. I might have gotten a Sony T90 instead that was even more expensive and had a touchscreen and even more compact, but the one feature that I didn’t think was so great, was it’s optical zoom. The T90 had 4.0X while the W290 had 5.0X. The camera costs $229 at Best Buy.

Unfortunately, we also had to buy a dumb Memory Stick Pro Duo, because Sony doesn’t use SD cards. I don’t know if it’s actually better, but it works. I also bought a case where I can hook it to my belt and that’s about it. I’ve taken some photos, but I haven’t uploaded anything yet. I might later.

For Father’s Day, which we did just last Sunday (because my sister had a wedding to go to, so we couldn’t eat out), we went to a place called HB Japanese Steakhouse on FM 1960. I don’t like Asian cuisine much, but Japanese steakhouses are generally ok. The interior was actually pretty, and there was even a crystal chandelier in the entrance (though I don’t know if the crystals were real). It looked like a nice sophisticated Japanese design, and we were seated around a grill. We had Onion soup (pretty good), a salad (yuck), fried rice (which could have been less oily) and then the main course. The main course had grilled shrimp (which I didn’t like), grilled vegetable of some sort (which I didn’t like), and then our steaks with mushrooms. The steak tasted great, and I even ate some of the mushrooms with it. Then dessert came with only three flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. Boring! I took vanilla, though now I wish I got strawberry. Pretty good place if you like Japanese stuff. It wasn’t busy that Sunday night.

I’m still working at Quiznos, and work isn’t that hard anymore now that I’m used to it. My friend Andy Bailey now works there too, because I suggested he work there. He’s not doing too bad. There’s also this guy called “Victor2” which I guess is because we already have a Victor working there. I have yet to meet him, but he seems to be a rather silly person.

I’ve been pretty bored. I haven’t really done much this summer. I did visit my cousins Athena & Alex’s house, and they’ve visited here, but that’s about it. We just most played Mario Party 8. Otherwise than that, it’s been boring. I’ve been really meaning to hang with some friends, but I just don’t know what to do. It’s been really HOT so far. We’ve had 100+ temperatures in a row. They’ve even been considering banning some fireworks. It’s nuts. I hope to go to the beach later this summer if it’s not so hot. I’m also planning on taking a driving course at Sears. I’m kind of excited because I’ll soon have some freedom, but I’m also disappointed because this is yet more growing up and driving has come at a great expense to me.

That’s about it lately.

So after getting hastily dressed, I ran to Brianna Donahue’s house, and after getting her make-up on, Brianna, her mom, and her godmother B.J. and I got into her Toyota Corolla (or something Toyota) and we tried to get there as fast as we could when we left at around 5 PM. We tried to use the car’s built-in GPS but it couldn’t find the place. I only just knew one way to get there, and it would probably be the most congested. We ended up trying to go on a shortcut to get there.

That’s the approximate route. So to go just about 14.62 miles, it took about 45 minutes. Yikes. We were suppose to get there by 5:30 but the traffic was horrendous. This is exactly why I think cars can be a stupid mode of transportation. It’s completely ridiculous.

So we got there, I got into the building and told the guy at the front to let me in early because I was passing out programs for the National Honor Society. So he pointed me upstairs and I met up with some of my classmates. Lindsey Safi, Stephanie Quintana, Yahya Khan, Austin Alsguth, and Dylan Cole (I think). So we just passed out programs to people who walked in. We had to dress nice for the occasion, and I was freaking out a bit, because I wasn’t sure if I was suppose to wear a tie or not. All the other guys were, and so did Jacob Triska, Bryan and Alvin Cheng, and Chris Charles who came in a bit later. Hope Adams and Jackie Bontke also came in a bit later too. So we passed out the purple programs, and sometimes it’s a bit difficult if a whole pack comes in at once, and the people in the middle of the stream you have to reach over to pass out a program, which may obstruct other people from moving forwards.

So yeah, around 7:10 we had no more programs so we called it quits. I tried finding a good entrance, but I settled on the one closest to the left side of the stage, the side the graduates went off the stage. So I sat there through the Magna Cum Lade, Summa Cum Lade, and then the Cum Lade. I saw several of my friends going on the stage, and somewhere in the Ms of the rest of the senior class, someone blew a bullhorn or something. Mrs. Dubose did the first ones, then Mr. Higgins, then some lady and Mr. Bay. The last person on the list, got a large round of applause. Must be cool to be that person!

So after that, I left the building and tried to scout out as many of my friends as I could to take at least one more picture before that’s pretty much the end of it. I only managed to get a few, before Brianna was texting me that we were leaving. I remember managing to get one of Conley Norris, Katherine Humpheys, Sara Radtke, and I wanted to get one of Jason Gamble but he was too busy looking for his family. It took FOREVER to get out of the parking lot. Like maybe 30 minutes at least. We’d come to a standstill a lot, and Rebecca’s dad (who left early) was wondering how much longer it could take for us to reach Joe’s Crab Shack.

Finally, we vamoosed, and when we reached the intersection of Barker Cypress Rd. and West Rd. was a swarm of activity with officers trying to coordinate traffic. There were even light markers on the road to direct traffic with and lights and stuff. Man it was crowded. After Briana reported that her dad said that Joe’s Crab Shack was closing in 15 minutes, and we hardly got out of the exit of the Berry Center, we called back to go to the 59 Diner on I-10 instead. So we got there, and I’ve always wanted to go to to the 59 Diner (at Willowbrook). The interior is pretty neat, some interesting vintage stuff, some photographs, neon signs, and a cozy diner feeling. I order the Texas Sampler with French toast instead of pancakes and a vanilla milkshake. We got our drinks first, and Brianna bragged about how the shake were so good, and they were! There was even extra that came in a metal cup. However, as we were waiting for our food orders, I drank some more, and I got kinda nauseous. I guess the shakes are so good, they can fill you up pretty fast.

The food arrived, and I thought it was ok, but I didn’t like the sausage that was on my plate. It was the very dark and thick kind, and I think those taste AWFUL. I ate them anyway, but gosh, I thought it would be the more lean and thin type. The 3 bacon strips were nice and long, the French toast was all right, as well as the eggs and hashbrown. I wasn’t really too satisfied though. The service was pretty friendly though, the waitress and a guy stopped by at our table a few times to check up if we needed anything, but that’s about it. I went home, promised Brianna I would go to her party, and that’s about it.

I’m planning on going to Trey Woodruff’s party, Brianna Donahue’s, Kayla Anderson’s, and David’s.

So on Monday, June 1, 2009, I did a study session with Chloe Halley in the afternoon. She picked me up, we went back to her apartment to fetch her laptop and history book, and we stopped by Sonic to get some iced slush (I got watermelon) and she even paid for mine, because it was happy hour and everything was half off. I didn’t argue with that.

So we went to the Harris County Public Library at the Fairbanks Branch. Chloe had her library card form filled out, the one she got when we went to Lone Star College branch to do some research for are Sociology religion project on Vodun, and she wanted to get her card. Well she came back upset, because her mom needs to be present there, and she was going on how she’s practically an adult and fully responsible. Well anyway, she didn’t like the woman who turned her down, and didn’t want to be within eyesight of her. But eventually, we had to move over to the study tables, so we could plug Chloe’s laptop to get some juice. We eventually found the HCPL network, and used Chloe’s e-mail as our identification. So we took the online tests from the textbook site, and we did Chapter 19 using the book pretty much. Then we went on to 20, but it got so boring and tedious that Chloe started going on her Facebook and well I just checked out some books that I could find relating to U.S. History, and requested Murder on the Orient Express for my summer reading. We checked the books, and vamoosed to my house to study there.

We had to take an alternative route, when we found out the Fairbanks N. Houston road was extremely congested (we noted this earlier when we left my neighborhood) because of some of the traffic lights not working. This is exactly why an infrastructure based on automobiles is stupid. Anyway, I showed her an alternative way that might be speedier and it worked. We got to my house, got on my computer, and Chloe looked around and chatted with my bros. As much as I complain about this subdivision, Chloe actually wants to move over here. She thinks the houses are pretty nice, and that’s really all that matters to her. So anyway, she thinks my littlest bro, Andrew, is very cute. A lot of people have that impression. So as we’re studying, Andrew and Chloe like to talk and play around, and it got in the way of studying.

So finally, we went to downstairs to get something to eat. I pulled out a bag of Anytizers chicken balls, and we munched on them while we studied on the all the amendments and presidents after Reconstruction. We asked Alan to quiz us, and I tallied who got more right. I remember getting more correct .

Well I took the the test the next day, and it was somewhat hard. I should have studied less about amendments and presidents, and more on the actual events. I ended up getting an 88 on it. My semester average before was a 89 average, and after the final, it was still an 89 average! I should have just exempted it for high school!

So after taking that test, I just stopped by the Senior Breakfast to chat up with the seniors just one more time before they graduate. I’m really going to miss some of the seniors I know. I’ll probably rarely ever see them again. I saw Jason there, and the other Jason, and Eric, and Raj, and Katherine, Sara, Andy, Ty, etc.

I even snuck in the auditorium while they were briefing over how the ceremony would work. Sigh. Memories. Well that’s about it.

Last week was a rush of schedules, quick classes, tests, and last minute stuff before the end of the school year. Some people skipped the last few days, and it’s been chaotic. I had my schedule changed a lot for next year, and here are the courses:

• English IV K
• Government K
• Economics K
• Calculus AB K
• Environmental Science AP
• Street Law
• Psychology AP
• Food Science
• Beginners Food Science
• Early Release

Not exactly the schedule I wanted, but it will do. So yeah, it’s been hectic. I have to take a U.S. History Dual-Credit final, because this test also counts for my grades at Lone Star College whether I exempt or not, and I decided not to exempt this from my high school because I have an 89 average, and if I study super hard, I can achieve an A on my GPA. I got a 91 on my final last year in this class. So maybe, just maybe it won’t be bad.

Yesterday, I worked at Quiznos I saw two people who I kinda know: Taylor Bean and this girl from my Interact club group. I saw the girl first, and I don’t know her name, but she used to be in my Interact club; she was even wearing that shirt as she pointed out she was in the club. Her mom was with her, and saying how cool it is that we help out, and I felt myself kinda blushing. They were really nice, and they both didn’t want red onions on their sandwiches. Taylor came in later, and I know him because we’ve been through elementary and middle school together, and he’s in my 6th period Tech Theater class. He’s usually tardy or skipping, and he’s rough sort of guy and likes to work out, and has some pretty pumped biceps even though he’s normal size. So yeah, I saw his dad and him there. On Saturday, I saw two old neighbors: One was Mr. Tisher (Kelcie’s dad) and another guy named Jesse. I saw Jesse first, and I hardly recognized him. It’s been so long. He used to be really mean when I was a kid, and sometimes he’d throw my stuff up in a tree with one of his buds at the bus stop. He likes to ride dirt bikes and he graduated the same year as my cousin Huong. Anyway, he either didn’t recognize me or said nothing about me. Then later that day, I saw Mr. Tisher, his daughter Lindsey and a friend of hers. They all had footlongs.

So yeah, from time to time, I’ll catch someone I know. I also met this interesting fellow named Matt Norman (or something like that) and he mentioned some stuff that got my attention. He was saying he wanted to be in the military and stuff, and like he had a 4.0 GPA and got a perfect on some military test, that the recruiters were trying to find him to get him to enlist. He wants to be in the Navy if I recall. He also said he used to work at a Quiznos before, and that some of the stuff we do isn’t protocol. Like he should be able to see through the tea containers, there should be labels on a bunch of stuff, some stuff needs to be raised 6” off the ground, and other stuff. He stayed there real long, more than an hour as we chat. Later, Hilario and Ryan (who I earlier found out to be Kirk Trygstad’s brother!) dissed him, saying that some of the stuff he said wasn’t true and whatever. Oh well. But he definitely was interesting to talk to.

So today, I’m hoping to go to IHOP with Chloe Halley so we can study for our final exam. I also need a new digital camera. As soon as I can get one, I can take some memories of the seniors I met, graduation ceremony, and other stuff going on this summer. My mom wants to drive me and my bros to Iowa so we can check out the town she grew up in (Ames), but my dad doesn’t want my mom driving alone. Sigh. Well I hope things can get better.

I really wanted to get my mom a new coaster. Since I don’t have a car, I left it to my dad and my bros to find a good one at Target (I had work Saturday afternoon), but they couldn’t find one. My sister has some nice metallic ones at her house, and I wanted something similar to that. My mom loves to watch her soap operas at night, and she often takes a cup of warm water to the coffeetable, and lays it on some of my newspapers (even when I haven’t checked it out yet!), so I thought a coaster would be a good idea.

On Sunday, my dad and I went to Costco and looked around for a gift. I really thought a cheesecake would be a great idea, after tasting a sample at Sam’s Club (well I wanted some too) but my dad bought roses instead. Roses are ok for a girl, I guess, but roses die at some point, and they’re just something pretty to look at. I’d rather buy a long-lasting gift that’s useful.

So we went home, and there was this Eureka marathon, and I missed some of the episodes, and my dad wanted us to clean the house a bit. I really wanted to (sometimes I do it when I’m not busy), but by the time the last show ended, he already vacuumed and cleared the dining and living room. Sigh. I really wish I could be of more use, but it’s not everyday a good TV show marathon comes up.

My sister stopped by, and she brought in some of her latest cooking creations, a tray of sliced apple tart with some type of jam on it. We’d save it for later after eating out somewhere.

Just right about after my sister stopped in, mom came home. We discussed where we should go (mom ate something earlier that day) and finally we went to a Chinese restaurant. I DISLIKE Chinese/Vietnamese restaurants of any type pretty much. Why?

1. A lot of seafood on the menu – Seafood tastes awful in my opinion; lots of sodium, eyes staring at you, stuff that was alive (or still alive) only half an hour ago are on your plate, and it’s just yucky to me. I’ll only go as far as fish sticks.
2. Chopsticks – I’m no good with these. They aren’t as versatile as just having 3 separate utensils, or even a spork. I could always get a fork though.
3. Asian people – I already see enough Asian people in my subdivision, I don’t want to see more
4. ‘Dirtiness’ – Asian establishments are notorious for bad sanitary conditions. I guess it comes from a lot of these kitchen people and owners living in Asian countries where cleanliness wasn’t much of a concern for people. I remember going to this other Chinese/Vietnamese style restaurant, and there was a small roach in the ice, and my coke glass was disgustingly dirty.
5. Lack of eco-friendliness – Asians, specifically the older types, aren’t really eco-conscious. Since the food is shared, there are always bits left on all the main dishes, and I have feeling that instead of being composted, they go into the garbage. Smoking is generally tolerated (outside) and it stinks as you go up to the door of the place. I can point out a lot of other stuff too, but it’s too much.
6. Used to most of that stuff at home and in childhood – I don’t understand why my family loves to go to these type of restaurants, when they can already make it at home (most of the times even better than what we’re served). I got really tired of this type of food, and now I avoid it when I can.

So anytime I’m at one, I’m not happy.  So this different restaurant didn’t surprise me. We had to wait a long time (well, I can’t be too harsh since it was on Mom’s Day) but it took like 8 minutes to come back with the drinks we ordered. And they charge for refills too.

There was also these two annoying Asian kids running about, and stomping on the platform that our table (and a different table) rose up upon. My sister told them two times during our visit that she wants to speak with their parents, and they’d buzz off. Can their parents not teach them some manners (they knew their kids were bugging us, as my sister said). My two younger bros don’t act like that at all.

Food came, we ate. I just ate rice and some tenderized beef. It wasn’t too bad, but I’d rather have something else tasty. Then we went home. Boring!

So we got home, I changed and we gave mom her gifts. My sister bought her a fancy teapot (claimed that I chose it) and two small jars of orange jam that was part of the pot of jam she worked on at 4 in the morning. There may have been something else, but that was about it.

So I’m going to try to make this post as fast as possible:

Since my last post, I’ve been biking around during spring break. The Tuesday or Wednesday before bring, I took a very long and exhausting bike ride to the KFC near Walmart.

According to the drawing tool on Live Search Maps, it took roughly 4.55 miles. So that’s 9.10 miles for the roundtrip. It wasn’t easy either, trying to dodge around the fierce traffic on Fairbanks. I chose to go to KFC because I heard about the KFC snacker boxes, and they seemed pretty good. According to the TV ad, it claimed it was 99 cents, and I really wanted the one with the popcorn chicken and potato wedges. Unfortunately, when I went there, it turned out it was actually $1.99, but you could get a regular drink combo with it for just $2.99 so I bought that. It was good of course, but I don’t know why the ad said 99 cents. I’m going to investigate this the next time I go.

I also biked to Willowbrook Mall on Monday during spring break. Now THAT was a VERY long ride. I didn’t plan on going to the mall, but I ended up trying to see if I could make it. Previously, I had attempted to walk the route, but I got halfway there and was absolutely too exhausted. It’s is a very arduous route. I had to stop at a Shall/Jack-in-the-Box gas station and wait for my mom to pick me up on the way home.

Luckily, I made it! It took 7.47 miles (I took minutes tracing my route with the Live Search Maps tools) and again, this isn’t something that probably most Houstonians could accomplish. I went to the mall, hid my bike in some bushes (no bike racks, plus I don’t have a bike lock) and I went inside, and it was a pretty slow day. I ate some Chic-fil-A, and then started back home at around 6PM. I stopped by Denny’s on the way there, and it was all right. Not sure if IHOP is better or not, because they seem pretty much the same. I had a French Toast plate with a side of hashbrown for about 7 dollars and something. The server had mistakenly thought I wanted to order to go, when I wanted to stay in, so I had an extra 10 minute wait time, but I didn’t really care, even though I was worried about the sun going down. He was really nice, and made it up to me by giving me a free drink of my choice, and I chose a lemonade. Very refreshing after an arduous ride.

I then left, and it got dark faster and faster. By then, I was getting worried. I’ve discovered that in surburban Harris County, there are often LONG stretches of roads with no street light or traffic lights. These are stretches where cars LOVE to go fast. So it’s really frightening as you’re biking and you see a cars headlights coming up or hear the sound of one, and you have to make yourself conspicuous to make sure you don’t get killed. As I went along the race track, I was very fortunate that there weren’t many cars going down, but it was almost pitch dark. Going along Fairbanks was even worse, and I had to resort to walking with my bike in the median as cars raced down the roads. Ugh. I was also pretty darn angry when I reach the corner of the Valero station, and the corner was just messed up! A thick wire coil stuck out from the ground for like 2-3 feet, and I almost got really hurt. There were also chunks of concrete around, like there was an explosion or something. How are people suppose to walk and stuff if you’ve got dangerous stuff like this around? I made it home, and that was it.

I went to the Rodeo on the last Saturday before the break ended. I went with my cousin Minh and his girlfriend Nancy. We walked around, ate, I went on a few rides (they didn’t feel like going on rides), and then we left to go see “Knowing” at 4:25. Unfortunately, due to the traffic, we got there a bit late, and ended up getting tickets for the 7:25 showing instead. So we drove over to Memorial Mall, hung out, they let me stay there while they went off to a Korean restaurant off site. I like this mall better than Willowbrook. It’s much bigger, there’s a section where the storefronts look like Main Street USA, and the food court is also larger, and there’s beautiful artwork displaying iconic Texas stuff we know, and maps printed on the tables, etc. Awesome. There’s also a merry-go-round and an ice skating rink there (NHL regulation size too!). There’s also a lot of domes throughout the mall, and they’re all unique and it’s just cool. There was also this classic clock stand in the center under a dome, and it just looked so awesome, I really wanted to photograph it. Great place to shop.

So they picked me up, we went back to SMG, and the entrance at the stairwell was PACKED as people wanted to get in. Luckily, we squeezed through and got in because we bought our tickets earlier. The movie room was a bit smaller than a usual standard theater, but it was fine. I ordered the Grilled Cheese (5.99) that came with one grilled cheese sandwich with fries, and a Pepsi. When I ate, it tasted SO good, in my opinion. It was like toasted to the right degree that it was crisp and buttery on the outside, but warm and cheesy on the inside. The fries had a good seasoning and tasted great too. Mmm. They should open up a cafe. Knowing was all right. I thought since Nicholas Cage was in it, it would be more action/suspense type of film. Also, since it involved a code, I was expecting something similar to National Treasure (which I liked!). The beginning was great, the middle seemed slightly weird but still good, but the end was just too weird for me. It’s not too bad of a movie, but I just don’t like the ending, period.

The next weekend, on during Sunday, I went to Studio Movie Grill again, only this time with actual friends. I got free movie passes from my cousin Huong, and everyone thought it was a good deal. So we got there (after getting my dad to hurry up and take me, after moving stuff from mom’s shop for the biannual floor waxing), and we just made it in the nick of time. So who went? Well Brianna, Tyler, Kayla, Chris, and this girl whose name I never catch went and we had a blast. We saw Monsters vs. Aliens. It was all right, but I’m not into animated films done in this style.

So after the movies, we wanted to hang out around the new development, but my dad already arrived so Kayla went on without us.

The other Friday, I took a “sick” day from school, because I had so much work to be done, 3 tests, that I just didn’t feel like going to school. NOT something I enjoy, but it had to be done. Of course, I do have to make it up later, which I did. That’s about it so far.

I had a busy weekend, and a Monday. So let’s start off with last Friday, 3/6. I called my aunt, and she finally answered after calls I initially made earlier during the week. I’ve been hoping she would be able to take me to the Houston Livestock Rodeo ever since Athena suggested she might take her and Cousin Alexandra at Alison’s birthday party in late February. Aunt Nicole said she probably might at the party, after teasing me about only talking to her about taking me to the Rodeo and not saying even a hello, so I had some hopes. I tried calling earlier this week to establish a schedule, since I had this conference I wanted to attend during the weekend, but she didn’t answer my calls, and I HATE leaving voice mail. I hate my stupid voice, and I don’t want it left on a person’s device to hear.

Unfortunately, her plans to take me during 4-9 collided with my conference hours, which took place from 11 AM on Saturday morning, all the way to 11 AM on Sunday morning. So I had to make calls, and see if I could leave and go at those hours. Problem was, even if I could, my aunt did NOT want to drive for almost an hours clear across from NW Houston, all the way to NE Houston to Channelview High School.

Well on Saturday morning, my ride, Jonathan Hart, failed to tell me that he couldn’t take me. He claimed he sent me a text message (25 minutes after he was suppose to be there, and finally answered his phone!), but I never received it. So I had to wait for my dad to come. Aunt Nicole kept calling at that time, seeing if I could come later, so since Jonathan couldn’t take me, I didn’t see any point in going all the way over to CHS. So I went home, and then dad took me camera shopping again. We went before we left to go to my ride, but there wasn’t a lot of time, and Best Buy didn’t have the stock I was looking for (I really wanted a digital cam for the day’s events, and I wanted one NOW!). Unfortunately, I was only slightly a bit late (my aunt is usually late btw), and she got really ticked off.

So we head downtown in her Lexus. We parked at someplace along Main St. new the Metro Transit Center. Here’s a picture:

Earlier, my aunt had stopped at Randalls to get some fresh twenties out of the ATM. Unfortunately, machines in downtown don’t like big bills. They often want exact change which is kinda stupid. So we parked at a spot, remembered the number 133 and went to the machine for the transaction, but it was pretty complicated, but we managed to get through. She put the receipt underneath the windshield, and we left.

We crossed over to the MetroRail station, and the machine thing there is also kinda weird. I’m not sure, but I don’t think my aunt successfully paid for the party of 6. As we got on, this lady also explained her trouble with the machine, and you could still see the dollar bill hanging out. Turns out Metro doesn’t check fares. Kinda sad that honest people like us, that try to get on legally have to deal with some dishonest people just hopping on when they can. It’s a wonder how they get funding. Would be nice if it were free.

So it seemed to take like 20 minutes to get there. Kinda surprising, since the current rail line is only 7 miles long. It only got crowded as we got closer to the rodeo. Good thing they’re finally expanding the rail line to 20 miles and adding more rail cars by 2012. So we got there, and went to buy our tickets and entered in.

To make a long story short, we entered into the carnival grounds, and we went on tons of rides. I really liked the rides like the very big Ferris wheel (La Grand Wheel, the largest portable ferris wheel in the Western Hemisphere), the mini roller coasters, the spinning-type rides, and the Sky Ride (1700 gondola sky ride). My aunt bought a lot of tickets to go on the rides, and we used some of the coupons to get food. I really love the plate of fries at Juicy’s! It’s like a whole big chunk of fries. Last year, it took me awhile to each the whole thing, but my cousins, bros, and my aunt helped eat it up real fast! It was about 9PM when we left.

So as we were heading over to Channelview, I made constant calls to see if it was all right to go in, and I got the OK. Aunt Nicole stopped at the McDonalds on Sheldon Rd. at I-10, and I ordered a Chicken Selects. We drove onto Sheldon Rd. until we finally hit Channelview High School. I got out the car, took my stuff, and thanked my aunt for the wonderful day and the ride here.

I ran to the front doors, and kept banging the doors to the place, and motioned for the group of teens standing next to the statue inside to open up the darn door. It took more than a minute to get their attention, and then I realized it was Chris Charles who opened the door. Finally! I got in, and my aunt drove her Lexus away. So most of the day’s events already went by, and they already had their enchiladas for dinner. So I walked around, studying the way the school was designed. I liked the wall of paned windows that stood out in the cafeteria and the main entryway. The main entryway is sort of like an indoor courtyard, and there’s a falcon statue right in the center of the mini pavilion. Funny thing is, is that the JVHS mascot is also a Falcon. This school was kinda like the opposite of ours.

I also noticed like 2-3 flat-screen panels very high up on the columns in the cafeteria; pretty fancy! As you stepped in from the main entrance towards the cafeteria, you notice that it raises a few levels – probably because of floods? I saw octagon and circle-shaped tables, which is much cooler than the boring rectangle ones we have at JVHS for the most part. There was a wing we were allowed to go into, but there weren’t any classrooms – just the more prominent areas like 2 gyms and dressing rooms, an auditorium, and the front office and administrative stuff. It was a big hallway, with high ceiling, and skylights built-in along certain edges. The first gym was a place where you could drop your bags or sleep (however, an alarm kept ringing randomly from certain time intervals the ENTIRE night – so much for sleeping! ), the 2nd gym was for those that wanted to play basketball, the auditorium was for movie-watching, and there was dancing and food going on in the cafeteria, and in the main entryway, for awhile was a little casino thing. Now, they weren’t betting real money of course, but they just played with chips, and you could exchange those for raffle tickets for the morning’s raffle contest. Blackjack, poker, craps, and whatever gambling stuff I don’t know.

So I met up with friends I found, got them to tell me what went on, and then I had a little fun. The movies playing in the auditorium were Hoodwinked, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Yours, Mine and Ours (love this one!), Casino Royale, and that’s all I remember seeing up to. So the night dragged on, and I just walked around a lot, had conversations with people, and I even did a little homework with my textbook there. This chaperone even came up to me, and said she was proud of me . I just thought I should get some work done while I was ahead, but I didn’t even get much done really. There was Papa John’s pizza that came in, and I tried some, but I didn’t think it was as great as people led me to believe it was.

So eventually morning came up sooner than I expected (darn the Daylight Savings Time!), and I enjoyed some delicious kolaches for breakfast. Then we had to file into the auditorium so we could hear who the candidates for president and VP of the District could be, but I didn’t really care too much about this. Then came the real excitement: the raffle contest!

There were things like gift cards ranging mostly from $5-$25 from places like Starbucks, Wal-Mart (a lot from El Campo High School), Chili’s, Barnes & Noble, etc. Other stuff included gift baskets, toys, and even 12 3rd row tickets to a Rockets game. I didn’t win a single thing

We had to clean up afterwards and go home. I mingled around with other students to get my last chance at meeting people across Houston, and that was it! Luckily, the girl’s mom could give me a ride, but it was taking forever! I talked to the foreign exchange students of Rotary, and I became interested in becoming a foreign exchange host. I’m still going to see if it’s ok with my parents. Finally her mom came, and then we left. Again, I was a bit disappointed when she asked what my ethnicity was, because I looked Asian, so I told her what I was, and she asked if I spoke the language, and I said no. I wasn’t surprised when she started saying I should know the language since it’s part of my ‘culture’ but the girl shushed her mom and we got outta there. I fell asleep a bit, and woke up at a Shell gas station. I wonder what took so long when her mother went into the convenient store, but I was happy to see her bring some drinks. That was mighty gracious of her. I chose the Tropicana apple juice, and was delighted at how tasty it was (I’m usually a Minute Maid fanboy), and thanked her. We finally got to JVHS, and my dad was there. Yay!

Later that day, my dad left to go somewhere, but I needed a ride to go to work. Darn! I called him to come back, and he was pretty upset, and even though I was like 15 minutes late, my manager there which is a good thing.

On MONDAY, I had to help volunteer for this Book Fair/Family Literacy Night at Frazier Elementary. I walked all the way there, since I didn’t know of anyone who could give me a ride, and I grabbed some Dominoes pizza along the way ($4.00 for a 10” pizza seems good to me!) I chose the easy job of manning a raffle ticket (not again ) table. There were some neat prizes including games (drat, I forgot what they were, but they weren’t half bad!) Prang markers, colored pencils, letter magnets, and 4 individual $25.00 gift cards for the Book Fair (books only). Wow. However, I was astonished at how very few people came (usually at Reed Elementary, there’s a LOT of people that come during book fair night) and it was a rather scant crowd. They put a lot of effort into this, and I’m still flabbergasted that not many students came to check it out. There were 14 prizes, and I think I only submitted 17 tickets (or at least less than 20). I moseyed towards the cafeteria where they just had storytelling and milk & cookies, and I got 2 cookies along the way from a teacher.

I called my mom, and she was suppose to come at 7:45PM to get me, but she came at 8:09PM. I really wanted her to bring an hour log form, so I could confirm my hours were actually accredited, but by the time she got there, almost everyone had left the building, but the janitors. Sigh. This is what happens when you don’t have a car in suburbia, and depend on others.

Well that’s about it so far. I know I wrote a lot, but hopefully you’re not dull to death.

Last Saturday, I went to the Mr. Falcon show at Cypress Ridge High School (the auditorium at school is kinda in disarray with all the construction and moving around and stuff). It’s basically sort of like a beauty pageant, but for 25 lucky senior guys at JVHS. Among them were (by contestant/sponsor/escort :

1. Ben Martinez – Freshman Friends – Sarah Amason
2. Patrick Scott – Girls’ Soccer Athletic – Rachel Motl
3. Tyler Bench – Athletic Booster Club – Haley Howell
4. Kyle Calbat – Freshman Friends – Katelyn McCreary
5. Jeremy Friedrichs – Athletic Booster Club – Mandy Esparza
6. Joseph Flores – Falcon Forensics – Eugenie Yang
7. Victor Lopez – JVTV – Christie Skipworth
8. Jesse Pyle – JV Players – Brittany Gergen
9. Trey Woodruff – Gold Dusters – Cynthia Le
10. John Wilkes – Athletic Booster Club – Bethany Evans
11. Robert Ottmann – Cheerleaders – Megan Hodges
12. Justin Cantanese – Girls’ Soccer – Mallory Mayes
13. Brett Childress – Senior Ladies – Kristin Anderson
14. Tyree Chism – Athletic Booster Club – Blake Herbert
15. Barrett Cliett – JV Volleyball – Taylor Coen
16. Michael Connor – Senior Ladies – Shelby Buchanan
17. Trey Briggs – Athletic Booster Club – Ryan Smith
18. Cody Parkinson – Cheerleaders – Kelsey Luciano
19. Lee Barker – JV Players – Kristen Troxler
20. Tyler Cox – Varsity Girls Volleyball – Courtney Stone
21. Hunter Gregg – PALS – Becca Rogers
22. Billy Schoelman – Varsity Swim – Lauren Shadle
23. Evan Klinge – Gold Dusters – Suzi Waak

The lady from Channel 2 (KPRC), Mariza Reyes, was the hostess of the show. I think she did a pretty good job of entertaining the audience, and even delved a bit into her past to spice things up. Of course, she couldn’t help but mention, “Oh, and did I tell you I’m on Channel 2?” Jokingly of course. Someone in the audience (can’t recall who) asked, “Hey, will you marry me?” She would reply, “Young man, do you want me to go to jail tonight?” Laughter.

The judges had interesting backgrounds also. Mandy Geserick, of Ms. Texas American Dream 2009, was judging. Two football guys from University of Texas, Steve Moore (was even in Mr. Falcon 2006!) and Britt Mitchell. The other judge was Cody Hendrix, a current senior at JV (I wonder how he got chosen…). UPDATE: Kristen was nice enough to read this blog post, and tell me that he recently had cancer or something, and can't go to our school anymore. So I think it was a nice thing they did, letting him be a judge.

So the talent portion was pretty sweet. There were a lot of dance routines, but my favorites had to be the Matrix Ping Pong and the Beyonce skit. The Matrix Ping Pong was pretty neat – Kyle Calbat and Robert Ottmann were two figures playing in the dark, illuminated by glowing stuff, and they played ridiculously fast. Well cameras started flashing from the audience, and it became quite obvious there was a third person wearing black clothes helping move the ping pong and whatnot. It was amazing how fast they changed angels, including sideways, and how very versatile they got around. I thought it was pretty neat, and hadn’t seen this before.

The Beyonce skit was nice too. I’m not sure who was in it, but I think Cody Parkinson and Trey Briggs were in this one. I don’t recall seeing Trey (I sat far back), but I guess those were the only two that could have done it. So there’s some movie director shooting a music video with Beyonce, and she want two sexy slim female back-up dancers. Well Trey and Cody come up, wearing some really tight black clothes (you could see their thick abs and legs sticking out) and they were wearing high heels! It was hilarious. As they’re dancing to the beat, Beyonce keeps interrupting, saying she’s not sure she can do it with these two. In the end, she gives in and they do a quick dance. Hehe.

Then there was the swimsuit portion. It was ok. The guys’ escorts were all wearing beach/summer clothes, and as the guys walked upstage, the escorts greeted them and they walked to the front and waited along the sides for everyone to finish. Then came intermission. I scurried around, looking for a ride home. The same usual replies: “Can’t, have a ride with someone else” or “No room in my car” or “Going somewhere else after” and whatnot. Sigh. I mingled around I guess, but as usual, I wasn’t happy on the inside.

There was a silent auction going on, a raffle, and last chance to vote for Best of “Eyes”/Best of “Smiles”/Best of “Pockets”. I forgot who won those.

Then there was a formal wear portion. Classy looking suits (by Al’s Formal Wear?) and then Haylee Hoelscher, from Houston Christian High School, sang some song with words like ‘big money’ or something where she looked like a prima donna (which she isn’t, as far as I know) and it had a 1930s-like vibe and she’d come up to each guy and ‘sass’ them, and they’d respond very shy, or drop to the ground, sweat, or something of that effect. It was also humorous. Probably planned. In the end of the act, all the guys whipped out some pretend money and showered it all over her. Pretty cool. UPDATE: Kristen, again, was nice enough to tell me that it WASN'T PLANNED. It all happened with improv. Neat!

Then came the Contestant & Escort Choice Awards. I think my friend Kristen got some prize.

After that was the 50/50 Raffle Winner, and then Best Eyes, Best Smile, and Best Pockets Awards.

Then it came down to the five finalists. They were asked questions.

First was Tyree Chism. When asked what would he do if a freshman asked for help or directions to his class on the first day of school, someone in the audience yelled “TRANSFER!” and that brought the whole auditorium into laughs. I even saw Tyree, and other guys (including the audience) slapping their knees and laughing so hard. I’m not sure what he answered with, but it got him 4th runner up.

2nd person, I think, was Justin Catanese. He was asked if he could go anywhere in the world, where would he go. He first responded with “a beach”. He described why he would like a beach, but when pressed for a more exact location, he finally ended up with “California”.

3rd was Tyler Cox. He was asked who would he meet if he could meet anyone he wanted. He said he would make his grandfather, who died and he never met (I think) and went to Texas A&M and played football there, and he seemed to be a cool guy, and I think it brought quite a tear-jerker around the audience, and you could hear the females with their sympathy.

Then there was Brett Childress. I don’t remember the question, but the audience roared with laughter when he cracked his voice. Mariza is like saying it’s all right, “Guys do that all the time around me” :)

5th was Trey Briggs. I don’t remember his question or answer.

So Tyler Cox was the ultimate winner (forgot the runner-ups), and then people started leaving. I’m happy for T-Cox that he won. I had him in SAT College Prep last semester, and he was always a goofball, and I found that he was kinda funny. He’s nice, like a bunch of other guys, and I think he wanted to go to LSU, but he mentioned a different college, up North that I can’t recall. He has B lunch like I do, but I don’t see him often.

Oh, and the Texas Aggie Wranglers came to perform. They said they’ve been to lots of places around the world, and they can often do it for free, if they can. Their performance was pretty epic. It was like country dancing, but with really bold moves. The guys can really swing those girls! I’ve seen them go under their partners, tossed around the partner, in the air, and all over the place. They did a pretty slick job, and it’s incredible how they have such flexibility.

Right after the show, I instantly started searching for rides. I was desperate! My parents went off to a wedding, I don’t have my own ride, home is 9 miles away in the dark, and my aunt was babysitting 5 children! I got tired of being rejected. It always usually happens like this. Argh. I hate depending on people for transportation. I’d love it, if we could live with a car-less society, but it ain’t happening anytime soon. So I finally resorted to calling my aunt. I bought a booklet of the event for $1. I went in the backstage area, and I could see volunteers, escorts, and contestants milling about, but I guess I must have missed Tyler leaving. I helped Jasper Gates move one of the contestant’s drum set out.

As I was waiting on sidewalk near the stage area, and seeing cars emptying the parking lot before my eyes, a kind woman asked if I needed a ride, but I said it was all right. So she left, and someone who I presumed was her husband, asked if I could use a ride, and when I declined, he said he’d wait until my ride came, because he really didn’t want to leave me alone. There really are good people in this world.

So we chatted a bit, and I found out his wife was like a co-chair person or something, and that his daughter, Courtney Stone was a contestant. I didn’t find out until later, she was Tyler’s escort, and I missed a good opportunity to shoot some questions. So we chatted and chatted. He smoked a cigarette, and I usually really dislike that, but considering his gracious waiting, I just sat. He had some yellow Volkswagen beetle with lumber and stuff sticking out the trunk.

Finally my aunt came, after I barked some more directions, and I thanked him for standing by, and went home. Car was packed, and we lucky to get home fast.

I really enjoyed Mr. Falcon, but as usual, going to any school functions always brings me sadness. I often wish I was capable of doing the fantastic stuff that people display to the audience, but I grew up the wrong way, and I’m practically cruddy at doing almost ANYTHING right. I guess a bit of jealousy is in there, but it’s my fault. I just don’t have confidence in myself, and I feel like I’m always falling apart. Same old story. When people are nice to me, I often think it has to do with politeness rather than actual geniality. I just don’t have the components that make a great guy. I just feel inferior in comparison to great people I meet everyday, and I just don’t think I have a promising future.

Well that’s about it. Just been more and more work at Quiznos lately. I got my first paycheck, and after taxes, I got around $123. Not bad! Considering it’s 19 hours. But work often leaves me exhausted. I’ll get through this ordeal somehow.

It’s been awhile, but I’ve been working at Quiznos. It’s been exhausting, but at least I’m making some much-needed money. I started training on around January 10th, and did training for 3 days, 3 hours a day. They felt I did a great job, so Kelly, the manager I see often, hired me. I started getting paid on January 30th.

Making sub sandwiches isn’t as easy as you think. You have to listen to the customer’s order carefully, so you don’t bother him or her by asking to many questions. You have to remember the types of sandwiches really well, or you can take a glance at a cheat sheet on the wall, or the menu in front of you. Often times, customers are picky about what they want/don’t want on their sandwich. The three questions I’m suppose to ask are:

1. For here or to go? (determines if it goes on a silver or black toaster tray)
2. White or wheat? (if not already mentioned)
3. What size? (if not already mentioned)

When you’re done creating the core part of the sandwich, you send it through this toaster, which acts as a conveyor belt and toasts the sandwich to make it really warm and melt the cheese a bit.

Then you add lettuce, or whatever onto it. Then you wrap it. There’s a certain way of wrapping too. The employees want me to package it securely, leaving almost no gaps so that the sandwich doesn’t tumble out too much. The cash register is ok, and I’m getting the hang of it.

All the cleaning stuff, making to-go bags, washing equipment, is really easy-peasy. I can handle that, but I don’t like making sandwiches. Too demanding! So I get paid about $6.55 an hour. I guess that’s not too bad.

My manager also allows us to have a free sandwich and fountain drink, as a complimentary part of a workday.

However, work can be so time consuming. Commute to work can be hard – if it weren’t for a good friend who often drops me off on the way home after school – but waiting for my mom to pick me up can be quite a hassle. Also, on weekdays, doing a shift 4PM in the afternoon, all the way till 9PM on the night, doesn’t leave a lot of room for free time. I’m usually exhausted after a day’s work, and homework starts piling up. Sigh. I just really need the money, and don’t want to ask my parents for the moolah. If I can get my own money, I can start having a real relationship with a girl. Being broke, and depending on your parents to provide money and transportation for a date just doesn’t feel right. In every book or movie/tv show, the guy is always able to provide for himself and his girlfriend. So should I.

I was late Sunday, because I thought I came in at 4 just like I did on the weekdays. Boy was I wrong. She put me on the schedule for 10-6. Sigh. I came in at 4, and my coworkers were saying, “Hey, you were suppose to be here at 10…”. Poor Victor got called in, but at least he was being paid. I still felt bad I let Kelly and Victor down like that. I decided to help them close shop, and we closed at 5, since it was the Super Bowl (good thing I wasn’t missing that!). I’m being more careful of what days AND times I’m working now.

Hopefully as I get more into my job, it will be less stressful and become more of a routine. Having my own money would be great though, and I hope my grades don’t suffer. That’s what working at Quiznos is like so far.

It seems that everyone knows I work there now.